Tennis News

From around the world

Serena, Swiatek, Raducanu Draw Inspiration From Nadal At Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2022

Serena, Swiatek, Raducanu Draw Inspiration From Nadal At Wimbledon

Spaniard seeking to complete third leg of calendar Grand Slam

Never before has Rafael Nadal entered Wimbledon after winning the year’s first two Grand Slam events. But with the 2022 Australian Open and Roland Garros titles in tow, a trophy in his 15th Wimbledon would put him on the brink of the Grand Slam — winning all four majors in the same year. That feat that has not been achieved in men’s singles since Rod Laver in 1969.

Tennis fans and players alike have taken note of the 36-year-old’s historic season, including many of the WTA’s most popular players.

“He’s done a lot in 2022. He’s been busy,” Serena Williams said Saturday in her Wimbledon pre-tournament press conference. “I’ve always been a Rafa fan… so obviously I’m always rooting for Rafa. He’s been really inspiring in everything that he’s done this year. And he has a lot more to do.”

ATP WTA Live App

Williams named one of her dogs after the Spaniard — Christopher Chip Rafael Nadal, a Yorkshire Terrier. The 40-year-old Williams, who is preparing for her first competitive singles match since last year’s Wimbledon, is eager to join Nadal among this season’s Grand Slam champions.

WTA World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who captured the Roland Garros singles title earlier this month, is similarly impressed by her fellow Paris champion. The Pole enters Wimbledon on a 35-match winning streak after scoring her second title in the French capital. She also reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open, where she was able to watch Nadal’s five-set comeback against Daniil Medvedev from inside Rod Laver Arena.

“I watched the Australian Open final live and I could see how much work he’s putting [in],” she said. “Sometimes when he’s not even playing his best tennis, how he’s coming back, finding solutions on court, it’s a great inspiration.

“For sure, the way he’s coping with [the] injury and the pain that he has, it’s just the example of how the best kind of athletes deal with that. It’s just really inspirational. Only Rafa could do it, you know?”

You May Also Like:

Nadal ‘Positive In Terms Of Pain’ Entering Wimbledon

Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu also had her say on the Spaniard. Though the 19-year-old is firmly in the spotlight as she returns to her native Great Britain for her second Wimbledon, she has managed to find time to watch the likes of Nadal and Novak Djokovic on the practice courts.

“I’m 19…  just to be watching Rafa and Novak at such close range, to be able to take part and try to learn from them, walk amongst these great players, it’s still special,” she said. “I don’t think it really ever changes when you’re watching those greats. It’s amazing to have them around leading such a great example.

“It’s only my second Wimbledon, and I’m really new to this still. It’s a really special feeling.”

Nadal, the second seed at Wimbledon, is set to open his campaign on Tuesday against Francisco Cerundolo. It will be his first competitive action since he lifted the Roland Garros trophy on 5 June.

Source link

Two-Time Champ Murray Hunts His ‘Good Tennis’ For Wimbledon Bid

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2022

Two-Time Champ Murray Hunts His ‘Good Tennis’ For Wimbledon Bid

Former World No. 1 opens campaign against Duckworth

Despite his promising start to the grass season being cut short by an abdominal injury, Andy Murray is taking plenty of belief from his recent performances as he prepares to open his 2022 Wimbledon campaign against James Duckworth.

“I think I showed a couple weeks ago [in Stuttgart] that there was still good tennis left in me,” said Murray in his pre-tournament press conference in London on Saturday. “I beat a guy [Stefanos Tsitsipas] in the top five in the world. I was neck-and-neck with [Matteo] Berrettini, who is one of the best grass-court players in the world before his injury. I played well against [Nick] Kyrgios, as well.”

You May Also Like:

How Murray, Djokovic Cut Down Big Servers On Grass

The former World No. 1 marched to the final at the ATP 250 event in south-west Germany without dropping a set. Despite a three-set loss to World No. 11 Berrettini in the championship match, Murray feels it is proof he still has the game to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the draw at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. His coach, eight-time Grand Slam champion Ivan Lendl, feels the same.

“I know the tennis is in there; I just need to bring it out during the event now,” said Murray. “Obviously having Ivan on my team helps. We’ve had a lot of success in the past. We know each other well. He still believes in me. There’s not loads of people out there that have done over this last period, and he has. That definitely helps me.”

ATP WTA Live App

Murray’s injury hampered him at times against Berrettini and forced his subsequent withdrawal from the Cinch Championships at The Queen’s Club in London. Despite fears that it would also threaten his place in the draw at Wimbledon, the Briton is happy with how preparations for his home major, where he lifted the trophy in 2013 and 2016, have gone.

“I’ve been able to gradually progress my training this week and got to play a few sets, a lot of points,” he said. “The last few days have been good.”

His first-round assignment in London is a third tour-level meeting with the World No. 77 Duckworth. Like Murray, the Australian has been frequently frustrated by injuries over the past few years. After reaching his career-high of No. 46 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 31 January, the 30-year-old did not play again until May after undergoing hip surgery.

“He’s a guy that’s had quite a few operations,” said Murray. “He’s had quite a few injury issues over the years. He’s a proper hard worker. He finished last year extremely well, the second half of the year.

“Obviously I wish him well coming back from the surgery, and I’m sure we’ll have a good match on Monday.”

The 35-year-old also admitted he had to learn how to deal with the pressure of being a home favourite at Wimbledon early in his career. His fellow Brit and WTA star Emma Raducanu is preparing to play her home Grand Slam for the first time since her stunning US Open triumph in September, but Murray believes the personal nature of the experience makes it difficult for him to offer the 19-year-old advice on how to manage the hype.

“I haven’t given advice to Emma or any of the British players on how to deal with that side of things,” he said. “No one has asked me to. I’d be more than happy to, but I’m also not going to call up one of the players and just say, ‘Hey, this is how you should deal with it because that’s the right way to go.’

“Everyone is different. Everyone feels things in a different way, will handle it differently. I certainly didn’t handle things perfectly during the Wimbledon period, but I can also understand probably the different emotions and stresses that you can feel coming into this tournament. It is great and it is amazing, but there are challenges that come with it.”

Source link

Sampras-Chasing Djokovic Confident Of Smooth Transition To Grass At Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2022

Sampras-Chasing Djokovic Confident Of Smooth Transition To Grass At Wimbledon

Serbian seeking fourth straight Wimbledon title

In each of his past two Wimbledon trophy runs, Novak Djokovic’s opening match on the London lawns was his first grass-court match of the season. Now seeking a fourth straight title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the Serbian’s preparations have not changed.

His last competitive match was a quarter-final epic against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. By the time the top-seeded Djokovic takes to Centre Court on Monday against Soonwoo Kwon, he will have spent nearly a month between appearances.

“I didn’t have any lead-up tournaments to Wimbledon, but I’ve had success in Wimbledon in the past without having any official matches and tournaments,” said Djokovic.

“Over the years, I had success with adapting quickly to the surface, so there is no reason not to believe I can do it again.”

ATP WTA Live App

Djokovic discussed the delicate balance between rest and grass-court match play leading up to Wimbledon, explaining how later in his career, his priorities have shifted to the former.

“Over the years I learned how to play more efficiently on the surface as well”, he continued. “At the beginning of my career, I was still struggling a bit with movement and sliding, et cetera.

“I think movement is the biggest one really, the biggest adaptation that needs to be done on the grass coming from the clay, where players like myself slide quite a lot. On grass that’s not always possible. It is possible to slide, but you can’t do it as frequently or as often or maybe as free as you do it on clay.

“You have to be more careful with the movement, tactics, et cetera, different training regimen. Different position on the court. You have to be lower; everything kind of skids through the court. It’s very quick and bounces low, contrary to the clay, which bounces high.”

You May Also Like:

Djokovic Could Meet Alcaraz In Wimbledon QFs

At the event he called his “childhood dream tournament”, Djokovic has an opportunity to match Pete Sampras by winning his seventh Wimbledon title. That would put him one shy of Roger Federer’s record eight.

“I would like to be in the [final] to eventually make history,” Djokovic said. “Pete Sampras winning his first Wimbledon was the first tennis match I’ve ever seen on the TV. So of course there is a lot of connection to this tournament. Pete has won it seven times… Hopefully I can do the same this year.”

Leading the draw as the top seed, Djokovic could face countryman Miomir Kecmanovic in the third round, with Carlos Alcaraz a potential quarter-final opponent.

Source link

Tsitsipas Edges Bautista Agut For Maiden Grass Crown In Mallorca

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2022

Tsitsipas Edges Bautista Agut For Maiden Grass Crown In Mallorca

World No. 6 claims title on tournament debut at ATP 250 event in Spain

Stefanos Tsitsipas showed few signs of nerves in his maiden ATP Tour grass-court final on Saturday at the Mallorca Championships, where the second seed downed Roberto Bautista Agut to claim his first tour-level title on the surface.

In a topsy-turvy encounter, Tsitsipas was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set, but the Greek held firm to claim a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) win and clinch the ninth tour-level title of his career. The second seed was clinical with his opportunities at key moments to prevail after two hours and 31 minutes.

“It looks like I’m playing longer matches on grass than I do on clay,” joked Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “This was an incredible fight and an incredible battle. I know it can be difficult for one person to deal with the loss, but I think for tennis it is great that we are able to play at this high level and show our sport [at its limits].”

It was a Tour-leading 40th win of the season for Tsitsipas, who also lifted the trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April. The Greek moved past Ilya Ivashka, Marcos Giron, Benjamin Bonzi and Bautista Agut this week to improve his career record on grass to 14-10, and Tsitsipas climbed one spot to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his exploits in Mallorca.

Tsitsipas came out firing in the early stages and the Greek’s aggressive play earned him a 4-0 lead as Bautista Agut struggled to settle in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Although the Spaniard was able to regain his composure to reclaim one break, Tsitsipas found sufficient rhythm on serve to ease to the first set.

Bautista Agut appeared in deep trouble when Tsitsipas broke again in the third game of the second set, but the situation appeared to bring freedom to the home favourite. The Spaniard reeled off five games in a row from 1-3, demonstrating the sort of clean hitting that earned him a quarter-final win against World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Thursday, to roar back into the contest. Bautista Agut claimed the second set having struck 12 winners to just three from his opponent.

Despite the mid-match barrage from Bautista Agut, Tsitsipas was able to unlock the Spaniard’s delivery again for a 3-1 lead in the deciding set. Although the Greek stuttered when serving for the title at 5-3, he dominated the deciding-set tie-break to extend his ATP Head2Head series lead over the Spaniard to 3-0.

ATP WTA Live App

Bautista Agut was bidding for his second title of the year after he claimed the 10th ATP Tour crown of his career in Dubai in February. The Spaniard’s run in his homeland this week improved his record for the 2022 season to 23-8.

“I’d like to congratulate Roberto on your run to the final,” said Tsitsipas at the trophy presentation. “You are one of the toughest competitors out there and one of the toughest guys I have played. There is lots of respect from my side for [producing] such premium tennis at such a high intensity and level.

“You’ve done incredible things for our sport, especially against top players, and have proven yourself again and again, so congrats on an amazing week. I’m happy that we had such a good battle in the final.”

Source link

Nadal 'Positive In Terms Of Pain' Entering Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2022

Nadal ‘Positive In Terms Of Pain’ Entering Wimbledon

Spaniard reached the semi-finals in last Wimbledon appearance in 2019

Rafael Nadal last took the court for a competitive match three weeks ago, when he won his record-extending 22nd Grand Slam singles title and 14th Roland Garros crown. Now set to play Wimbledon for the first time in three years, the 36-year-old enters London halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

But in typical Nadal fashion, the Spaniard is focussing on the present. Fortunately for the second seed, the current situation is positive with regard to his chronic foot injury. After playing Roland Garros with his foot “asleep” as a result of frequent injections, Nadal underwent a new treatment to numb the problematic nerves in his foot for what he hopes is a more permanent solution.

“[I am] quite happy about how [it has] evolved,” he told the press on Saturday ahead of his opening-round match against Francisco Cerundolo. “First of all, I can walk normal most of the days, almost every single day. That’s for me the main issue. When I wake up, I don’t have this pain that I was having for the last year and a half, so quite happy about that.

“And second thing, practising. I have been overall better, honestly. Since the last two weeks, I didn’t have not one day of these terrible days that I can’t move at all… The feeling and overall feelings are positive, because I am in a positive way in terms of pain, and that’s the main thing.”

ATP WTA Live App

Like at Roland Garros, Nadal made it clear that he would not discuss his injury during Wimbledon. But before his Tuesday opener, he answered several questions on the topic, admitting he cannot be sure how long the improvement will last.

“Of course, the treatment that I did didn’t fix my injury, not improving my injury at all, but can take out a little bit the pain. That’s the main goal,” he said.

“Honestly, I feel happy because the toughest thing is when you have too much pain — not playing tennis,” Nadal added. “Tennis is the second part of your life. Probably the toughest part is having pain on your life on a daily basis. If you don’t have pain outside of the tennis, it’s fine. Maybe you don’t play tennis. But the problem that I have is I have pain walking every single day. That sometimes affects your happiness… and how the attitude is not positive all the time.

“That’s all. Positive now. Let’s see what can happen in the future.”

Nadal was also asked to reflect on his stellar start to the 2022 season, which has seen him claim four trophies in six months, including the year’s first two Grand Slams. But the Spaniard is not looking back.

“Past is past,” he said. “Sport and life goes so quick. I am not a big fan of living on the things that you achieved because sport doesn’t give you that time to keep thinking on the things that happened.”

Despite the ongoing foot injury and a rib fracture that sidelined him for over a month following his run to the Indian Wells final, Nadal has compiled a 30-3 record in the season — a run of success that has surprised even him.

“I will never say a drama because drama are other things in life,” he explained. “Without a doubt, we are only playing tennis. But in terms of daily suffering, it has been tough in terms of every day going on the court without knowing if I am going to be able to finish the practice the proper way or finish the match the proper way. That’s tough to accept.

“But in general terms, it has been an amazing, positive six months in terms of tennis results. I enjoy it because it has been unexpected. But now is the moment to keep going, if I am able to be better with my body. Main thing for me is keep enjoying my daily work and my day-by-day playing tennis.”

Nadal’s path to a third Wimbledon title could go through sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime — whom he battled in a five-set Roland Garros fourth round — or Eastbourne champion Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, with fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini potential semi-final opponents.

Source link

Match Tie-Break Magic: Matos/Vega Hernandez Win Mallorca Title

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2022

Match Tie-Break Magic: Matos/Vega Hernandez Win Mallorca Title

Brazilian/Spanish duo improves to 15-3 for 2022 season

Their partnership is barely three months old, but a lack of experience was again no problem for Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez as they claimed the title at the Mallorca Championships on Saturday afternoon.

The Brazilian-Spanish duo came strong late in the championship match to secure a 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 10-1 victory against Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar. It is a second tour-level title for the pair, which only came together in March and was making its grass-court debut at the ATP 250 event in Spain.

“The victory feels amazing,” said Vega Hernandez after lifting the trophy in front of his home fans. “I started the week without knowing if I would be able to finish it as I had an issue in my abductor. We worked really hard with our team and to be able to finish the week like this is really incredible.”

“We had been playing for ten weeks straight,” said Matos. “We took two or three weeks off to rest and practice, and to see that the hard work paid off is really important for us to continue. And to do it on a surface that’s not our best one makes it also really special.”

ATP WTA Live App

Until the Match Tie-break, there was little to separate the two teams in their maiden ATP Head2Head series meeting. After clinching the first-set tie-break, Matos and Vega Hernandez fell short in the second-set tie-break despite rallying from 1/6 to level proceedings at 6/6. That disappointment was short-lived, however, as they dropped just one point in the decider to complete a two-hour, 23-minute victory.

Matos and Vega Hernandez lifted the trophy at their first tour-level tournament together in Marrakech in April, before reaching the final in Munich later that month and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. Their run in Mallorca, which included an impressive semi-final triumph against Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, takes the pair to a 15-3 record for the season.

Vega Hernandez admitted that their strong off-court relationship was a major contributing factor to the pair’s instant success. “It’s really important to get along on and off the Court,” he said. “I think that if there is chemistry off-court, it later shows on-court.”

Source link