Tag: Tennis

LONDON (TIP): Serena Williams insists she doesn’t care about making history even though the world number one can add more lustre to her legacy with victory over Garbine Muguruza in Saturday’s Wimbledon final.

As if winning the sixth Wimbledon title and 21st major of her career wouldn’t be enough to underline Williams’ credentials as one of the all-time greats, she has a slew of other milestones within reach in her 25th Grand Slam final.

After demolishing Maria Sharapova to move into her eighth Wimbledon final, Serena, who has a remarkable 38-1 record in 2015, is just one victory away from holding all four major titles at the same time — a rare feat she last achieved in 2002-03.

A win over surprise finalist Muguruza would also make the 33-year-old American the first woman to land the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back since she last achieved the double in 2002.

Perhaps most significantly, lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time since 2012 would leave Serena needing only to defend the US Open to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to claim a calendar Grand Slam.

But rather than dwell on those legacy-defining possibilities, Williams made it clear the only reason she is in such a privileged position is because she no longer frets about her place in the pantheon of tennis greats.

“I don’t want the pressure of that. It’s been okay just to free my brain,” she said. “I’ve won so many Grand Slam titles. I’m at a position where I don’t need to win another Wimbledon. I could lose on Saturday. Sure, I won’t be happy. But I don’t need another Wimbledon title. “Getting to 18 majors was super stressful for me. I was so desperate to do it. After that, I’ve just been really enjoying myself.”

While coy about her achievements, Serena admits her success is fuelled by a fiercely competitive streak that refuses to dim even at an age when many of her former rivals have long since retired.

“I really hate losing. So I’m that kind of person that will work hard, work harder than anybody else to make sure I don’t get that,” she said.

“I keep reinventing myself, always try to improve something or get better.”

Williams, the first woman to reach the finals of all four majors consecutively since Justine Henin in 2006, is heavily favoured to defeat Muguruza, a Grand Slam final debutant who has just one tour-level title compared to Serena’s 67. But Williams need only recall her shock loss against Muguruza at last year’s French Open to ensure she guards against complacency.

“It’s definitely not an easy match-up. She actually has a win against me. She’s given me problems in the past,” Serena said.

ROME (TIP): Indo-Swiss tennis combine of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis did not live up to expectations as the top seeds were upset by Hungarian-French pair of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets in the women’s doubles final of the $2,428,490 Rome Masters on Sunday.

The third seeds took just an hour and 13 minutes to come out on top with a 6-4, 6-3 win on the outdoor clay courts of Foro Italico in the first ever match between the two pairs.

This was Sania and Martina’s, ranked World No.1 and 2 respectively, fourth final together, having won at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston earlier in the year.

The match did not go in favour of the top seeds right from the start as Sania and Martina were shocked in the fifth game of the first set when Timea and Kristina broke them and held serve to extend the lead to 4-2.

Sania and Martina finally earned two breakpoints for the first time in the match when the third seeds were looking to close the set on their service game at 5-4. However, both opportunities were wasted as Timea and Kristina won the set to take the lead in the match in only 38 minutes.

The third seeds took the momentum into the second set as they immediately broke their opponents.

INDIAN WELLS (TIP): Though Roger Federer has not won a Grand Slam singles title since he claimed the Wimbledon crown in 2012, the Swiss master believes he is playing some of the best tennis of his career at the age of 33.

He outclassed his long-time rival, Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, with a brilliant all-round display in the final of the Dubai Championships earlier this month and cannot recall ever serving better.

“I feel like I am playing very well,” Federer, a 17-times grand slam singles champion, told reporters on Wednesday while preparing for the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Well Tennis Garden.

“I am serving as good as I ever have, I am playing very good attacking tennis and I am playing very committed, which is maybe something I haven’t always done throughout my career.” 

Asked if there was anything he could no longer do on the court as he approaches his mid-thirties that was effortless for him a decade ago, Federer replied: “Not really.

“I have a hard time remembering back how I felt in 2002,” he added, sparking loud laughter in the interview room. “(Ten years ago) I felt like I was more insecure with my game, I was more worried about a bad day.

“Today I don’t feel like I have that many bad days any more. Maybe sometimes you just come out and it’s just not working. That sometimes happens and it happened very few times in the years when I was very dominant.” 

Federer returns this week to one of his favourite venues, having claimed four titles at Indian Wells, including a unique run of three in a row from 2004-2006.

Asked why he felt no one had managed to match his feat since by winning at least two consecutive BNP Paribas Open crowns, Federer replied: “I just think it’s a coincidence.

“If you are playing well here, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to win this one a few times in a row, to be honest.” 

The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is the first of back-to-back Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour, with the Miami Open scheduled to follow from March 25.

Though the two tournaments are extremely well run and attract the best players in the world, Federer has never been a big fan of them being squeezed together.

“I don’t mind the 10 days but when it’s back-to-back 10 days there’s a lot of time that gets wasted, especially for those who lose (in the) first round,” he said.

DUBAI (TIP): Roger Federer’s bid to extend his record of Dubai Open titles to seven carried him into the semifinals with record-breaking speed and to a meeting with the new wunderkind of tennis.

It took only 20 minutes on Thursday for the 17-time Grand Slam champion to win the first set 6-1 against Richard Gasquet, whereupon the Frenchman shuffled up to the net, offered his hand, and retired, suffering with a bad back.

It was disappointingly anti-climactic but it did create the intriguing prospect of Federer facing Borna Coric, the 18-year-old Croatian who only got into the main draw as a lucky loser, but who has now become the youngest semifinalist in the tournament’s 23-year history. Coric, described by world number one Novak Djokovic as “definitely one of the most talented players in the world right now”, scored a trampling 6-1, 6-3 success over former Wimbledon and US Open champion Andy Murray. Federar says Coric plays a little like Djokovic. “I agree he is more into the Djokovic kind of type of player from the baseline, very steady,” Federer said.

MELBOURNE (TIP): Rivals believe Roger Federer can still add another Grand Slam to his record tally after his shock early defeat at the Australian Open.

The Swiss maestro made his earliest exit from the tournament in 14 years when he suffered a four-set loss to Italian veteran Andreas Seppi in the third round on Friday.

The defeat meant the 33-year-old star has now not won a major title since Wimbledon in 2012, raising fresh doubts as to whether he can add to his record 17 Grand Slams.

Federer, the world number two, said there was nothing to read into his latest Grand Slam loss and that he was still feeling fresh and playing at a high level.

“It’s not like I’m playing shocking or I’m feeling shocking. If I were you, I wouldn’t read very much into that,” he said.

Seppi had lost all his previous 10 encounters and had only taken one set off the Swiss before dumping him out.

Britain’s Andy Murray, who has been beaten by Federer in three of his five losing Grand Slams, said his rival still has it in him to win more “If I had to bet I would probably bet that he would win another one,” Murray said.

“He’s still playing great tennis. But Roger knows more than anyone how difficult these competitions are to win.

“Obviously, when he was playing at his peak he made it look extremely easy, but it’s not. It’s not an easy thing to do.

“You can easily lose against guys that are in the top 100 in the world. They’re all very, very good players.

“Roger was one of the favourites at the start of the event, he’s definitely still got chances to win Grand Slams.”

Murray was on course to face the second seed in the quarter-finals and shapes as one of the major beneficiaries of his absence.

He first must get past Bulgarian young gun Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round before a potential quarter-final against Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios or Seppi.

Kyrgios, 19, who toppled Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year, said he had found it difficult to put aside the thought of potentially facing Federer further in the draw before his loss.

“It’s hard not to think about playing possibly the greatest of all time. Everyone wants to play Roger,” Kyrgios said.

“I can only dream about what Seppi is feeling to beat him in four sets on Rod Laver. That’s massive for him. But I get to play another great guy that’s been on tour for a long, long time.”

BERN (TIP): Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer has said his wife is a competitive individual who fights for every point even in friendly knock-ups against him during holidays.

Federer’s wife Mirka played the game professionally, attaining a career-high singles ranking of World No. 76 in 2002, but was forced to retire in 2002 due to a persistent foot injury.

She met the 17-time Grand Slam champion during the 2000 Olympics and married him in 2009.

Since the blossoming of their relationship, Mirka has been a constant member of Federer’s entourage on the tennis circuit, attending his matches.

Federer said his wife’s tennis was rhythmical and he finds it difficult to counter, especially when on holidays when he is in a relaxed mood.

“Well, she plays a very rhythmical game and me … well, me not so much,” Federer was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun on Thursday.

“So, I avoid playing tennis too much on holidays because you don’t want that kind of competition when we are relaxing!”

The couple has four children – two pairs of identical twin girls and also identical boys.