TheNewsGuru

Tag: Tennis

  • Serena out of French Open after losing to Rybakina

    Serena out of French Open after losing to Rybakina

    Serena Williams’ quest for a 24th grand slam singles title goes on after a fourth-round defeat by Elena Rybakina at the French Open.

    Having come into the tournament with low expectations, Williams had looked solid through her first three matches.

    With big names falling by the wayside, the American surged up the list of title favourites.

    She went into the match against her 21-year-old Kazakh opponent as the only top-20 player left in the bottom half.

    But an unexpected finalist is now guaranteed after Williams fell to a 3-6 5-7 defeat.

    Rybakina was not born when Williams made her debut at Roland Garros but a brilliant start to 2020 marked her out as a potential major challenger.

    She has not shown the same form this season, and this was her first time through to the last 16 at a slam.

    But she played a calm and controlled match on the biggest stage of her life.

    Rybakina’s big serve and powerful forehand frequently proved too much for Williams, who did not play badly but lacked precision at important moments.

    Rybakina moved ahead early, breaking to lead 3-1.

    Although Williams responded with a break back for 3-4, she dropped serve again straight away and the young Kazakh clinched the set on her fourth chance.

    The second set followed a similar pattern, with Williams staying in touch with Rybakina but vulnerable every time her opponent found her hitting zone.

    A final break for 6-5 proved the key —- Rybakina appearing nerveless as she converted her first match-point.

    Williams can at least take a good week of match practice into Wimbledon, which is surely her best chance of finally claiming that elusive 24th.

  • Federer withdraws from Roland Garros

    Federer withdraws from Roland Garros

    Roger Federer withdrew from the French Open on Sunday after winning through to the fourth round, citing a desire not to rush his return from injury.

    The 39-year-old Swiss prevailed 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 over Dominik Koepfer on Saturday night.

    It was the longest match he has played in 18 months, following double knee surgery.

    The contest lasted three hours and 35 minutes.

    The 20-time grand slam winner has played few tournaments over the past 18 months and said a need to rest his body was behind his decision to withdraw.

    In a statement released by the French Open, Federer said: “After discussions with my team, I’ve decided I will need to pull out of Roland Garros today (Sunday).

    “After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation, it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery.

    “I am thrilled to have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court.”

    Tournament director Guy Forget said: “The Roland Garros tournament is sorry about the withdrawal of Roger Federer, who put up an incredible fight last night.

    “We were all delighted to see Roger back in Paris, where he played three high-level matches. We wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”

    Federer entered the clay-court major with a 1-2 win-loss record for the year, most recently losing to Pablo Andujar in Geneva last month, and little was expected from him.

    However, three wins on the spin showed he is not finished yet at the highest level.

    His withdrawal suggested he wants to preserve himself for Wimbledon, which starts at the end of the month.

    Federer had been due to play ninth seed Matteo Berrettini in the last 16 on Monday.

  • Novak Djokovic pulls out of Paris Masters

    Novak Djokovic pulls out of Paris Masters

    Novak Djokovic has decided not to enter the Paris Masters because he has no points to win at the event as he bids to retain world number one spot come end of season.

    “I won’t play in Paris as I can’t add to my points tally but I will go to Vienna and London,” Djokovic said ahead of the event beginning Nov. 2 to Nov. 8.

    “I can win up to 500 points in Vienna as I didn’t play there last year and there are also a lot of points available in London.”

    Djokovic clinched a record 36th ATP Masters crown when he won the Italian Open title in Rome last month.

    The Serb surpassed Rafael Nadal who confirmed he would enter the Paris Masters after winning his 13th French Open title on Oct. 11.

    Djokovic, who won the Paris Masters last year, will not lose any points over skipping the event.

    This is because the ATP Tour’s revised ranking system due to the COVID-19 pandemic allows players to retain points from last year.

    Asked if he was content to allow world number two Nadal to catch up with him in the Masters race, Djokovic said: “It’s not my priority.

    “ My immediate task is to collect as many points as I can in a bid to put as much distance between myself and the chasing pack ahead of next season.

    “I want to go down in history as the world number one with the most weeks at the top of the ATP Tour and I will do all I can to make it happen.

    “Whether Nadal plays in Paris or not changes nothing because it’s all in my hands.”

    Djokovic, who claimed his 17th major honour when he won this year’s Australian Open, was confident upcoming Serbian talents would follow in his footsteps one day.

    “The last 10 or 15 years have been fruitful and the success has yielded players like Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic and Hamad Medjedovic.

    “It’s great to see our youngsters winning tournaments,” he said.

  • Serena continues bid for 24th Grand Slam title with first round victory

    Serena continues bid for 24th Grand Slam title with first round victory

    Serena Williams took her first step towards a record-equaling 24th Grand Slam title on Tuesday by defeating Kristie Ahn 7-5 6-3 in the first round of the U.S. Open.

    The 38-year-old showed signs of nervousness early on, double-faulting twice to hand her opponent the first game before going 2-0 down after a routine hold from Ahn.

    But Williams fought back, winning three straight games before breaking Ahn’s serve to close out the first set.

    Ahn broke the third seed’s serve to start the second but Williams quickly found her footing.

    She fired off 13 aces and 28 winners during the match while harnessing her powerful return to keep her opponent on the run.

    A final serve forced Ahn into an error as Williams claimed a record 102nd U.S. Open match victory.

    It was her first straight sets win since the sport returned from the COVID-19 shutdown.

    Williams, who next faces Margarita Gasparyan of Russia, later told reporters she struggled to find her rhythm at first as Ahn displayed impressive versatility.

    “She really strikes the ball really hard. She mixes up a lot. She plays a lot of the different shots,” said Williams.

    “You don’t really know what to expect.”

    In typical fashion, Williams used her powerful serve to gain the advantage, winning 85 percent of her first serve points with a fastest serve of 124 mph.

    One of the most popular headliners at Flushing Meadows every year, she faced empty stands inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

    Spectators had been barred from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center due to concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

    “The hardest is making sure you stay pumped,” Williams said, reflecting on the lack of fans. “For me it was clearly easy because I’m always overly passionate. I love being passionate. It’s what I’m best at.”

    Williams, who reached the final of the U.S. Open in her last two campaigns, is gunning for her first Grand Slam title since 2017.

    It will help her to equal Margaret Court’s record in a depleted field in which six of the top 10 players are not competing this year.

    She had a frustrating stretch of performances leading up to the tournament, losing in the Top Seed Open quarter-finals before crashing out of the Western & Southern Open in the third round.

    “I’ve been losing matches on literally one point that could swing a match a different way. I’ve been playing a ton of tight matches,” Williams said.

    “I felt like, all right, I just wanted to be Serena, focused from the first point to the last point, no matter what happens.”

  • COVID-19: Nadal pessimistic of normal tennis return

    COVID-19: Nadal pessimistic of normal tennis return

    Rafa Nadal says he is very pessimistic about the possibility of tennis returning to normal any time soon because of the new coronavirus pandemic that shut down the sport last month.

    Professional tennis has been suspended until the end of July, at the earliest, and the Spaniard said on Sunday that serious problems stand in the way of a resumption.

    “From my point of view, I’m very pessimistic that the circuit can resume normal activity,” the world number two said in an online chat organised by the Spanish Tennis Federation.

    “In tennis, you need to travel every week, stay in hotels, go to different countries.

    “Even if we play without an audience, to organise any event you need a lot of people involved, which cannot be ignored. At an international level I see a serious problem.”

    The coronavirus outbreak has decimated the world sports calendar, forcing the postponement of the Olympic Games, which includes tennis, and the cancellation of Wimbledon.

    French Open organisers have rescheduled that event for the end of September, shortly after the U.S. Open, although Nadal said public health took priority over tennis tournaments.

    “We have already said many times we are in a very difficult moment, for everyone,” Nadal added.

    “Step-by-step it looks like things are slightly less bad, but we’ve been through one and a half very tough months.

    “lots of irreparable losses and other losses that are less important, but without doubt will cause suffering in society in the following months.

    “I hope it will be months not years because it’s also an economic issue as well. Lots of people are going to lose their jobs. These are sad moments when you see so many people dying.”

    Nadal, 33, said that even when tennis does resume the players will need to recover their fitness levels.

    “It will be a very tough job to regain fitness and you will need lots of discipline and lots of suffering,” he said.

    “The sooner we can resume activity the better. From the point of view about going back to competitions, I’m pessimistic.

    “But there are many other things more important than tennis.”

    Spain has been especially badly hit by the virus with 223,759 infections and 23,190 deaths.

    Nadal is due to play in a ‘virtual’ Madrid Open starting on Monday with 32 of the world’s best players swapping rackets for gaming controls in a computerised version of the tournament.

  • Commonwealth T/tennis Championships: A fantastic outing for Nigeria – Coach

    Bello Nasiru, national Table Tennis coach has described team Nigeria’s performance at the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships as fantastic.
    The coach told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on phone that the female team was 3rd in the competition holding at Jawaharhal Indoor Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha.
    He gave names of the female team members who won bronze medals in the tournament as Edem Offiong, Cecilia Akpan, Ajoke Ojomu, Aregbesola Nimotalai, Oribamise Tosin and coach Ifeoma Isaac.
    “Our female team has brought a great honour to Nigeria, they have shown other countries that we are coming out in a different dimension and deserve a podium finishing.
    “I am highly impressed with the glorious performances of our female team; they played in the team event and finished 3rd position winning bronze medal.
    “This will be the first time that Nigeria is recording such feat in this championships; it’s a very big achievement to the table tennis family and Nigeria at large” he said.
    The coach applauded Ishaku Tikon, the NTTF president for measures put in place to enhance female athletes, which according to him manifested in their skills and general performance.
    Nasiru said that other events such as singles and mixed doubles would hold July 20, while the female and male teams would also take their turns in the championship which ends July 22.

  • Tennis: Osaka defeats Kvitova, wins first Australian Open title

    Tennis: Osaka defeats Kvitova, wins first Australian Open title

    Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka broke into tears after winning her first Australian Open title by defeating Petra Kvitova 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 4-6 in Saturday’s final.

    Osaka overcame the Czech star in a seesaw final to win back-to-back Grand Slams and become the new world number one.

    However, victory seemed to be inevitable for Osaka before Kvitova broke back for 5-5 on her way to winning 12 points in a row to lead for the first time since the start of the second set.

    She regained focus to take a decisive advantage in the decider, going on to replicate American Jennifer Capriati’s achievement of winning her first two Grand Slams back to back.

    The fourth seed broke for 2-1 in the decider, then served out to clinch victory in Melbourne.

    Eighth seed Kvitova, 28, was bidding for her first major title since being stabbed in a knife attack.

    Naomi Osaka is now the youngest player to hold the top spot since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, then aged 20, took the ranking in 2010.

     

  • Former world-number one, Maria Sharapova splits with coach

    Former world number one Maria Sharapova said on Friday she had split with her coach Sven Groeneveld, two days after losing a third consecutive match for the first time since 2003.

    The news comes after Sharapova, who said the decision to end their four-year partnership was “mutually agreed”, was beaten by 44th-ranked Naomi Osaka in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in California on Wednesday.

    After losing in the third round of the Australian Open to Angelique Kerber she was then beaten in the first round of the Qatar Open by Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu.

    She pulled out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

    Sharapova has struggled to recapture top form since her 15-month ban for taking the banned drug meldonium ended last April.

    “After four successful and challenging years of collaboration together, I would like to thank Sven for his incredible loyalty, work ethic and most importantly the friendship that we have formed that will go beyond this working partnership,” Sharapova said in a statement on her website.

    “Although we have mutually agreed to part ways during this time, I have been incredibly fortunate to have a team leader like him in my corner for the past four years.”

    Russian Sharapova won seven titles during her time with Groeneveld, most notably the 2014 French Open.

    A two-time champion at Indian Wells, Sharapova, currently ranked 41st in the world, won the Tianjin Open in October for her first triumph since returning to the WTA Tour, but has not come close to challenging for a tournament victory since.

    “Maria has been one of the most hardworking and professional players I have ever worked with,” Groeneveld said.

    “Her strength and fighting spirit will continue to be a force to reckon with and I have the deepest respect for her as a player and person.”

     

    Reuters

  • World number one Nadal to make Queen’s Club Championship return

    World number one Nadal to make Queen’s Club Championship return

    World number one Rafael Nadal will play in the Queen’s Club Championships in June – 10 years after winning the event as part of a summer treble.

    Nadal, who has withdrawn from the past two tournaments at the London venue, won the French Open and Wimbledon either side of his 2008 Queen’s title.

    “It was an unforgettable year. I am very excited to be playing Queen’s again,” the 31-year-old Spaniard said.

    Five-time champion Andy Murray also intends to return for the tournament.

    The British number one, 30, had hip surgery in last month after pulling out of the year’s first major, the Australian Open, and has targeted a comeback for the grass-court season.

    Nadal was forced to retire in the fifth set of his quarter-final against Marin Cilic in Melbourne, only the second time in 264 Grand Slam matches that he had done so.

    Twice a Wimbledon champion, Nadal reached the final at SW19 five times in six years from 2006 and appeared in the preceding event at Queen’s Club in each of those years.

    His 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic in 2008 is regarded as one of the great matches at the west London venue and when he beat Roger Federer in five sets at Wimbledon later that summer he became the first man to win the three coveted championships in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.

    Nadal is expected to compete again in Mexico this month as he attempts to keep Federer from the world number one spot and will be targeting an 11th French Open title at Roland Garros in May.

    Queen’s Club tournament director Stephen Farrow said: “We are delighted that Rafa is planning to return to the Queen’s Club.

    “His run 10 years ago will never be forgotten and to see him back at the top of the world rankings a decade later is a testament to his greatness and desire to achieve even more.”

     

  • Serena Williams ‘excited to be back’ on making return to tennis after giving birth

    Serena Williams was “excited to be back” after completing her first match since giving birth fourth months ago.

    The exhibition match in Abu Dhabi against Jelena Ostapenko was the American’s first match for 11 months.

    Williams struggled with her movement at first but played some fine shots in a 6-2 3-6 (10-5) defeat.

    Australian Open director Craig Tilley has said Williams is “very likely” to defend her title at the 2018 tournament, which starts on 15 January.

    Ranked 22nd in the world, Williams would not need a wildcard to play in the first Grand Slam tournament of the new season.

    “I’m excited. It’s good to be back on court, this is such a good time for me,” Williams, 36, told Eurosport.

    “Motherhood is phenomenal. I was a little worried out there – I looked at my camp and asked, ‘Is Olympia OK?”