Category: Tennis

Novak Djokovic will have his visa ban overturned and will be able to compete at the Australian Open, according to reports in the country.

Speculation has been rife that, following the change of government in Australia and the dropping of vaccine mandates, the automatic three-year ban given to Djokovic when he was deported in January would be quashed.

And Australian media reported widely overnight that the decision has now been taken, meaning Djokovic can bid for a 10th title at Melbourne Park in January.

The Serbian holds the men’s record for most titles at the tournament and has not been beaten there since 2018.

Djokovic arrived in Melbourne in January believing he had the correct paperwork to enter the country despite not having been vaccinated against Covid-19.

But he was detained at the airport and taken to an immigration hotel, with then immigration minister Alex Hawke using his personal powers to cancel Djokovic’s visa.

Hawke based his decision on the notion Djokovic’s presence in the country could stoke anti-vaccination sentiment, making him a danger to public health, as well as the potential for civil unrest.

Djokovic took his case to the Federal Court of Australia but was unsuccessful in his attempts to get the decision overturned.

The 35-year-old was asked about his hopes of playing in Australia following his first match at the ATP Finals in Turin on Monday, where he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas.

He said: “Nothing official yet. We are waiting. They [his lawyers] are communicating with the Government of Australia.”

Rafael Nadal has been eliminated at the group stage of the ATP Finals in Turin and his 19-year-old compatriot Carlos Alcaraz confirmed as the youngest season-ending world number one.

Nadal’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals were all but ended with a straight-sets loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday, and Casper Ruud’s later win over Taylor Fritz confirmed the Spaniard’s fate.

Nadal began the week with a chance of finishing the year ranked world number one but he suffered an opening loss to Fritz before his 6-3 6-4 loss to the Canadian.

Ruud’s 6-3 4-6 7-6 (6) win over Fritz confirmed Nadal’s fate, sending the Norwegian through as winner of the Green Group with Fritz and Auger-Aliassime to face each other for the runner-up spot.

“When you are facing all the circumstances that I faced the last six months, to be here is positive,” said Nadal, who has struggled with injury and recently became a father for the first time.

“To experience what’s going on is not a big surprise. That does not mean that I am not sad about the results. It’s something that can happen.
“I just accept that tomorrow I start my 2023 season. That’s all. The only thing that I can do is keep working, keep doing the things that I need to do to give myself a chance to start with real chances in 2023.

“I don’t think I forget how to play tennis, how to be strong enough mentally. I just need to recover all these positive feelings and all this confidence and all this strong mentality that I need to be at the level that I want to be.”

There was the jarring sight of Toni Nadal, the guiding hand in his nephew’s career for so long, sitting in Auger-Aliassime’s box, with the young Canadian currently under his tutelage.

It was Nadal who threatened a break in the early stages but the 22-time grand slam champion then faltered in the eighth game, throwing in more of the errors that marred his performance against Fritz.

Auger-Aliassime, who lost to Ruud on his debut on Sunday, moved ahead again early in the second set and produced a strong serving display to boost his hopes of reaching the last four.

Having won the Australian Open and French Open in the same year for the first time, Nadal’s 2022 season is now ending with a whimper, and he must try to avoid a fifth successive loss when he takes on Ruud on Thursday.

Alcaraz is the first teenager to finish the year as world number one, and beats the record set by Lleyton Hewitt who was 20 when he achieved the feat in 2001.

Wimbledon belonged to Novak Djokovic once again, but the seven-time champion now finds himself relying on political intervention to continue his season.

Djokovic defeated Nick Kyrgios in four sets to make it four titles in a row at the All England Club and 21 slams in total to move him back to within one of Rafael Nadal.

Quite where Djokovic will play next, though, remains to be seen. After a couple of low-key weeks where most players take the chance for a break, the tour picks up again in North America at the end of July with the hard-court swing building up to the US Open beginning on August 29th.

But the United States and Canada both still require travellers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter, meaning Djokovic, who has made it repeatedly clear that he will not take the vaccine, faces another major hole in his schedule.

“Whether or not I’m playing any tournament soon, I’ll definitely be resting for the next couple of weeks because it has been quite an exhausting and demanding period for me the last few months,” he said. “A lot of tennis, which I was very happy about. I got what I wanted here.

“Then I’ll wait hopefully for some good news from USA, because I would really love to go there. If that doesn’t happen, then I have to see what the schedule will look like.”

The removal of ranking points from Wimbledon over the barring of Russian and Belarusian players means Djokovic has dropped from three to seven in the standings, while Kyrgios has slipped from 40 to 45.

Djokovic will not be overly concerned about his place in the rankings and may not play much again until the tour returns to Europe in the autumn, with his place at the ATP Tour Finals virtually guaranteed by virtue of his Wimbledon victory.

“To be honest, I doubt that I’ll go and chase points,” he said. “I don’t really feel any pressure or necessity to play a certain schedule.

“I achieved that historic weeks at number one that I worked for all my life. Now that that’s done and dusted, I prioritise slams and big tournaments really and where I want to play, where I feel good.

“Could be Laver Cup (in London in September), Davis Cup is coming as well. I love playing for my country. I’m going to try to be part of that.”

Djokovic spoke after his victory about the emotional toll his deportation from Australia in January took, and the three-year ban on returning to the country that is automatically imposed in such scenarios means he may not be able to play another grand slam until the French Open next spring.

The Serbian’s team have lived through it all with him, and coach Goran Ivanisevic said: “It’s very emotional. If I can say it was a sh*t year, a tough year, especially for him, but also for us that were close to him.

“This was a huge thing what happened to him. We all expected from him after a couple of weeks, ‘OK, forget about Australia, let’s go back and practise’. It’s not happening like this. It took a long time.

“For some people, they don’t recover. They will never play tennis. This was a big shock. It was a shock for me, and I was there. I was free. Imagine for him.

“Unbelievable how he recovered and how he got through that. It’s really for me heroic because it was not easy to digest all the things and come back to play tennis.”

A huge amount of anticipation surrounded the final match-up, with Kyrgios playing for a slam singles trophy for the first time, but Djokovic handled the occasion exceptionally well, recovering from losing the first set and calmly exploiting his opponent’s moments of weakness.

Ivanisevic said: “You cannot prepare for a match against Nick Kyrgios. Nick Kyrgios is a genius, tennis genius. He doesn’t know what he’s going to play next in the point.

“We just concentrated on what Novak has to do, the things he has to be careful of. When somebody is serving like Nick Kyrgios, for me he is the best server in the game by far. Unbelievable tennis player.

“But also he knew, on this stage, when Nick starts to talk, he’s going to be vulnerable. It happened in the third set when Nick was 40-0 up, 4-4, suddenly Novak broke him and he was talking to his box. You need to take every chance you get because you don’t have too many.”

Rafael Nadal’s bid for the calendar year grand slam is over after he withdrew from Wimbledon due to an abdominal injury.

The 22-time grand-slam champion battled through the issue to beat Taylor Fritz in five sets on Wednesday to progress into the semi-finals in SW19 but scans a day later revealed the severity of the injury.

Nadal was set to play Nick Kyrgios in Friday’s semi-final but his Australian opponent will now receive a walkover into a maiden major final.

At a press conference on Thursday evening, Nadal said: “Unfortunately as you can imagine I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament.

“As everyone saw yesterday I have been suffering with a pain in the abdominal and something was not OK there. That is confirmed, I have a tear in the muscle and the communication is too late.

“I was thinking the whole day I was thinking about the decision to make but I think it doesn’t make sense to go, even if I try through my career to keep going. It is very tough circumstances but it is obvious if I keep going the injury will be worse and worse.”

Nadal looked set to retire during his quarter-final against American Fritz on Wednesday evening, but somehow recovered to claim a 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6 (4) victory after a gruelling four hours and 20 minutes.

The 36-year-old had strapping on his stomach and at times appeared in so much pain that his father and sister, watching from the players’ box, were gesticulating for him to quit the match.

He practised at Wimbledon on Thursday afternoon but, in a 7.20pm press conference, he announced he was unable to continue, ending the Australian Open and French Open champion’s hopes of winning all four majors in the same year.

The Spaniard insisted he made his tough decision due to the abdominal issue preventing him from being able to serve.

“I never thought about the calendar slam, I thought about my diary and my happiness,” Nadal said.

“I make the decision because I don’t believe I can win two matches under the circumstances. It is not only I can’t serve at the right speed, it is I can’t do the normal movement to serve.

“After that to imagine myself winning two matches, and for respect for myself in some way, I don’t want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level I need to play to achieve my goals.”

Serena Williams was unable to summon the old magic as her Wimbledon return ended in a first-round defeat to little-known Frenchwoman Harmony Tan.

Stepping out on court to play singles for the first time since leaving Centre Court prematurely and in tears after suffering a hamstring injury in the opening round 12 months ago, Williams was rusty and error-prone.

The will remained and, cheered on by a supportive crowd, she looked like she might stumble over the finish line after coming from a set down and then saving a match point in the 12th game of the decider.

But instead Williams suffered just her third first-round loss at a grand slam, going down 7-5 1-6 7-6 (7) in a deciding tie-break at 10.35pm after three hours and 10 minutes in what could well be her Wimbledon farewell.

Tan, a 24-year-old debutante ranked 115, is the type of player Williams used to beat before even stepping on court but no one, including probably the 40-year-old herself, knew what to expect here.

Williams was rusty in the extreme in the first two games, her footwork leaden and her ball-striking wayward, but she gradually began to find some rhythm.

The American was particularly vocal, shrieking at every winner and error, and it worked as she moved into a 4-2 lead.

But the main question mark was always going to be around Williams’ fitness and she was puffing hard as Tan eventually broke back after a long service game.

The Frenchwoman could not hope to match her opponent for power but had considerable success with deft drop shots and lobs and looked to be enjoying herself as she moved into a 6-5 lead.

Williams had a chance to draw level and force a tie-break but looked anxious and was unable to convert as Tan moved ahead.

With darkness closing in, a brief pause for the roof to be closed worked in Williams’ favour. She cut out some of the errors, and the shrieking, and set about retrieving the deficit, breaking Tan in the second game of the set after a remarkable run of 12 deuces.

When Williams, who won the last of her seven singles titles here in 2016, moved 3-1 ahead in the deciding set, it appeared the hard part was behind her.

But two doubles matches in Eastbourne last week were scant preparation for a return to grand slam singles and things became complicated once again.

Williams began to show her emotions once more, leaping to celebrate the good moments and waving her arms in despair at the bad.

She slid deeper into trouble after failing to serve out the match at 5-4 but put away a drive volley to save a match point at 5-6 and force a deciding first-to-10-points tie-break.

Williams moved into a 4-0 lead but, on the stage where she has triumphed on so many occasions, this time there was not to be a happy ending.

Alexander Zverev has undergone surgery on torn ankle ligaments following his fall in the French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal.

Zverev fell and twisted his ankle at the end of the second set at Roland Garros on Friday, yelling in pain as Nadal rushed around the net to help.

The German was helped to his feet but taken off the court in a wheelchair for treatment.

After five minutes the 25-year-old re-emerged on crutches to inform the umpire that he could not continue.

Zverev has now confirmed he has had surgery on the injury but has not placed a time frame on his return.

Writing on Instagram, Zverev said: “We all have our own journey in life. This is part of mine. Next week I’ll reach a career high ranking of number 2 in the world, but this morning I had to undergo surgery.

“After further examination in Germany, we received confirmation that all three of the lateral ligaments in my right ankle were torn.

“To return to competition as quickly as possible, to ensure all the ligaments heal properly, and to reclaim full stability in my ankle, surgery was the best choice.

“My rehab starts now and I’ll do everything to come back stronger than ever!

“I am continuing to receive so many messages and would like to thank everyone once again for supporting me during such a difficult time.”

Rafael Nadal reclaimed his crown as the king of clay with a dominant victory over Casper Ruud at the French Open.

Roland Garros royalty returned to the throne as Nadal roared to a 14th title courtesy of a 6-3 6-3 6-0 win over first-time finalist Ruud.

Nadal is two days past his 36th birthday and suffering with a chronic foot problem, which has prompted rumours of retirement.

But he brushed aside Norwegian eighth seed Ruud to claim a 22nd grand slam victory to take him two ahead of great rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer at the top of the all-time male rankings.

As expected the quarter-final win over Djokovic, the outgoing champion, proved Nadal’s biggest hurdle on his way to the ‘decimocuarto’.

By contrast, it was a walk in the Paris sunshine against Ruud, 17 years to the day since the Spaniard won his first title here.

Such is Nadal’s longevity he is now frequently coming up against players who idolised him as children.

Ruud, 23, is one of those, having been in the crowd when Nadal won his eighth title, against David Ferrer in 2013.

The Norwegian also trained at Nadal’s academy in Majorca, regularly playing practice sets with his hero.

This was their first competitive meeting, although the first set had all the intensity of a knock-about in the Spanish sun.

It was a rude awakening for the underdog when he was broken straight away, and although Nadal let him off the hook with a loose service game, the opening set was soon in the bag.

A double fault gave Ruud a break to love for a 3-1 lead in the second, but he was unable to press home the advantage as Nadal dipped into the energy reserves to hit straight back.

When a forehand winner zipped down the line to bring up set point, Ruud shook his head in despair, and promptly double-faulted to give Nadal a 2-0 lead.

Little went right for Norway’s first male singles grand slam finalist, and when he feathered a simple volley into the net Nadal was two breaks up in the third.

In the end it was a procession, with ‘Viva Espana’ blaring out from a band in the stands as Nadal added the Roland Garros trophy to the Australian Open he won earlier this year.

Whether his ageing, ailing body allows him to collect any more remains to be seen.

In his acceptance speech Nadal did, at least, scotch any thoughts of imminently hanging up his racket.

“For me personally, it is very difficult to describe the feelings that I have,” he said.

“It’s something that I never believed, that I would be here at 36, being competitive again, playing on the most important court of my career one more time in a final.

“It means everything to me. It means a lot of energy to try to keep going. I just want to say ‘merci, merci beaucoup’.”

“I don’t know what can happen in the future but I am going to keep fighting to try to keep going.”

Ruud’s name was added to a list of victims also including Djokovic, Federer, Ferrer, Mariano Puerta, Robin Soderling, Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka.

Gracious in defeat, he said: “This is a first time for me so let’s see how I do. The first and most important thing is to congratulate Rafa.

“It’s your 14th time, 22nd all round in Grand Slams. We all know what a champion you are.

“Today I got to feel how it is to play against you in a final. It’s not easy and I’m not the first victim. I know there have been many before.”