Tag: Tennis

PARIS (TIP): Rafael Nadal and the other members of the “big four” know that a new band of brash youngsters are on the horizon, but the Spaniard showed on May 29 they will not be handing over the keys to the game’s trophy cabinet just yet.

The Spaniard was up against Austrian wunderkind Dominic Thiem in the second round of the French Open and while the 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline did not do his opponent justice, Nadal was clearly the master as he took another step towards a record-extending ninth title at the claycourt slam. World number one Nadal raised his game significantly to snuff out any chance of an upset, fending off a mini crisis in the third set when 20-year-old Thiem began to threaten.

At nearly 28, 13-time Grand Slam champion Nadal knows his career is probably entering the final chapters, but says any takeover at the top is not imminent. “Our generation is now on the way out, you know, like Murray, Djokovic, Ferrer, and Berdych and others, and Tsonga, as well, we have been here for a long while,” Nadal told reporters. generation is walking away and others will replace us. It will not come overnight, but it will come. “I am almost 28.

Djokovic and Andy are 27. Federer is, I don’t know, 32. The new generation, new players, have to come. We’re not gonna be here for 10 more years.” That is for the future though and for now Nadal only has eyes on adding another Roland Garros title to his CV. After a patchy, but his own high standards, claycourt season he was pleased to move up a notch against Thiem.

“I played the way I wanted to play. I resisted when he was going for his shots, very powerful forehand and a good backhand, ” Nadal, who will face Argentine Leonardo Mayer next, said. “When I had to play long points I did well. When I had to attack and move him, I think I did well. “I went to the net a few times. I’m happy that the way I returned today.” It was indeed more like the Nadal that has been virtually unbeatable for a decade.

BRICKWALL DEFENCE His forehand was spinning cruelly, his defence was brickwall and his determination unquenchable. Thiem’s booming groundstrokes, particulaly his inside-out forehand, caused Nadal trouble but Nadal too often had the extra shot and after recovering from a break down in the third set he sealed the win on his second match point.

“He lost one match here in 10 years or something, so I knew that it was going be the biggest challenge in my tennis career,” said Thiem. “I will be learning a lot from today’s match, for sure. It’s really important to play against these guys a lot, against these top guys, because it’s more important than every practice, I think.

I hope I can take a lot with me from this match.” Thiem, who stunned Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of the Madrid Masters this month, looks on his way to the top and Nadal was impressed. “The normal thing is Dominic will be there in a short period of time, and he will have his chances to become a top star and fight for these tournaments,” he said.

PARIS (TIP): Rafael Nadal targets a ninth French Open title with his lethal clay court game and enduring confidence facing their biggest crisis in a decade. The Spaniard, whose stirring comeback from a seventh-month injury lay-off was one of 2013’s headline acts, boasts a formidable record of eight titles, 59 wins and just one defeat on Roland Garros’s famed crushed red brick.

But the cracks are beginning to show. With his 28th birthday just around the corner, the world number one has spent the spring strangely disorientated on the same European clay courts where he once conducted business with a deadly if humble precision. His defeat to world number two Novak Djokovic — the man many expect to dethrone him as king of Paris on June 8 – – in Sunday’s Rome Masters final marked the first time since 2004 that he had lost three clay court matches in the same year.

Nadal, a seven-time Rome champion, was taken to three sets in four of his five matches in the Italian capital. He successfully defended his Madrid Masters title but only after Kei Nishikori, having won the first set of the final, was forced to retire with a back injury. Before that, Nadal was knocked out in the quarterfinals in Barcelona by compatriot Nicolas Almagro and exited the Monte Carlo Masters also at the lasteight stage at the hands of David Ferrer.

At both those events, Nadal was an eight-time champion. But Nadal is not reaching for the panic button just yet. He still boasts a 13-4 clay court record over Djokovic, including victory in the 2012 Roland Garros final and in the 2013 semifinals where he had trailed 4-2 in the fifth set. “Two weeks ago, my chances to play well in Roland Garros were not very high.

But I will arrive now more encouraged,” insisted Nadal, who will nevertheless go to Paris with just one European clay court title for the first time in 10 years. Djokovic is the man in ascendancy. The right wrist injury which forced him to miss Madrid was forgotten in his fightback from a set down to beat Nadal in Rome.

The Serb fired an incredible 46 winners to the Spaniard’s 15 — an almost unheard of brutality on a slow clay court with Djokovic keeping Nadal on the backfoot with his willingness to come to the net and confidence in his ability to hit forehand winners. Djokovic, who still needs a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, has now beaten Nadal in their last four meetings.

He has also captured five of the last seven Masters and could reclaim the world top ranking by the end of Roland Garros. “I played with no pain and increased the level of tennis as the week in Rome went on,” said Djokovic, who turns 27 on Thursday. “Winning against Rafa in the final of a big tournament on clay, his preferred surface, is definitely a confidence booster. Experience helped me stay calm and play the right shots at the right time.”

LONDON (TIP): Serena Williams can match Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles and is favourite to take another step towards that milestone at next week’s French Open, according to fellow American Chris Evert. World No. 1 Williams, 32, has 17 singles majors on her CV and if she retains her French Open title she would join Evert and Martina Navratilova in second place on the list.

Despite being the wrong side of 30, Evert believes Williams is still improving on clay and is now prioritising Grand Slams rather than playing at full tilt at lower level events. “I think she’s peaked pretty well for the French Open,” seven-time French Open champion Evert said during a conference call organised by broadcaster ESPN who she will be commentating for during Roland Garros. “I think after the last two years of her playing more tennis than she’s ever played, I think she came into this year exhausted. I think her priorities really are the Grand Slams this year.

She knows what her place in history is now. She’s gunning for those Grand Slam titles.” Williams was totally dominant last year, winning 11 titles including the French Open and the US Open. Last week she warmed up for her defence of the French Open by cruising to the claycourt Italian Open title in Rome, dropping only 22 games in the process.

“The French seems to be opening up for her. She has an apartment there. She lives there. She practises a lot there. Patrick (Mouratoglou), her coach, is French,” said Evert. “I think this tournament will motivate her. If she’s healthy and fit, she’s got it under control. She’s learned to play on the clay a lot better from Patrick. “She’s improved her defence skills.

She’s always had the offence skills. She’s more fit. She’s moving better. She is patient with herself.”She doesn’t have to go for the winner on the fourth shot. She can wait eight or nine shots and go for the opening. She’s more intelligent and thinking more clearly on the clay than she ever has.” Evert picked former French champions Li Na and Maria Sharapova as Williams’s main rivals with another former winner Ana Ivanovic, who beat Williams at the Australian Open, back in the frame.”She’s beating some pretty good players,” Evert said. “I like her attitude out there. You can tell she wants it. As far as winning a Grand Slam, I don’t know.

LONDON: Roger Federer could play for another four years and add to his tally of 17 Grand Slam titles, according to former No. 1 Pete Sampras. Speaking ahead of an exhibition match against Andre Agassi in London on March 3, Sampras said on a conference call Wednesday that he is impressed by Federer’s longevity.

“I’m amazed that he is up for more tennis,” Sampras said. “He has done everything in the game and he could walk away tomorrow feeling great about it. But he still wants to travel and compete and I’m in awe of it. He is a true lover of the sport.” Following a disappointing 2013 season marred by back problems, Federer started this year on a high. Now working with new coach Stefan Edberg, he reached the final of his first tournament, at Brisbane, and then made the semifinals of the Australian Open for the 11th consecutive year. His run at Melbourne included wins over 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.

Sampras, who retired after winning his 14th Grand Slam title at the 2002 US Open, said Federer should be comforted by a streak that finally ended with a defeat to Rafael Nadal. “I thought his level was quite good,” Sampras said. “When you’re playing against Rafa and if you’re not quite on your game then it can seem like you’re struggling. Rafa is a rock. But I do see Roger building from that, I think he’s going to do well this year.” Asked if Federer could win another Grand Slam title, Sampras said the Swiss “can do it” if he plays his best tennis.

“That’s why he’s playing, I don’t think he’s playing for anything else but to win some more majors,” said Sampras, adding that Federer’s best chance would be on his favorite grass surface, at Wimbledon. Sampras was 31 when he decided to hang up his racket for good, while the 32-year-old Federer has hinted he could keep playing until the Rio Olympics in 2016. “As long as Roger is enjoying it and he’s healthy, I can see him playing for another two, three, four more years,” Sampras said.

MELBOURNE (TIP): Roger Federer fought back from a mid-match stumble against Andy Murray Wednesday to set up a classic Australian Open semifinal with Rafael Nadal, as women’s champion Victoria Azarenka became the latest star to fall. After Nadal battled through an unexpectedly tough quarterfinal with Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, Federer showed both his vintage best and his fallibility in beating Murray 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3. The Swiss great was electric in the first two sets but he tightened as he neared the finishing line, and was broken when serving for the win before passing up two match points in the third-set tiebreaker. However, he extended Murray in a 19- minute hold at the start of the fourth set, then got the crucial break for 5-3 and, after setting up a third match point, he grabbed the opportunity with an ace.

“I thought Andy did well, he kept the ball in play and put the pressure on me and unfortunately I couldn’t get it done in the third set, with either the serve or the forehand missing. So I am happy to get the win in four,” Federer said. “I am much higher than I was last year and that’s very satisfying just because I have confidence in my movement.” Federer, in his 11th consecutive Australian Open semifinal, will face the man who has become his Grand Slam nemesis, winning their last five encounters at major tournaments. But a day after Novak Djokovic’s three-year Melbourne reign was halted by Stanislas Wawrinka, Nadal also flirted with disaster before getting out of jail against rising Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion, troubled by a huge blister on his racquet hand, went a set down against the exciting young prospect and, facing set points in the third, he was tottering. But Dimitrov, 22, went just long on the first set point and Nadal saved another before the Bulgarian gave him a one-set lead when, gifted an easy winner off a net cord, he ballooned his forehand out. “I was so lucky,” admitted the Spaniard, who ran out a 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 winner to set up a meeting with Federer in his 22nd Grand Slam semifinal. Djokovic’s defeat by Wawrinka, who will play Tomas Berdych in the other semi, ensures that one of them will be able to challenge either Nadal or Federer for their maiden Grand Slam title.

“I’m a bit shattered,” said Dimitrov, after his title hopes slipped away. “It’s tough losing that match, my first (Grand Slam) quarterfinal. I came out expecting nothing less than to win.” The women’s contest has been even more up-ended and there was an air of resignation rather than shock when Azarenka tamely followed Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova out of the tournament. The Belarusian world number two was unbeaten in two years at Melbourne Park but she was comprehensively dismantled by an inspired Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 5-7, 6-0. “I’ll be fine tomorrow.

I’ll be working tomorrow. It’s not the end of the world. But I’m not happy with what I did today,” said Azarenka. It ends a sometimes unhappy run of 18 wins at the tournament for Azarenka, whose loud grunting and perceived gamesmanship has earned her critics as well as fans in Melbourne. But it was a major scalp for Radwanska, who had lost all seven previous meetings with the Belarusian, and now goes into a semifinal with Slovak 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova.

“It’s hard to play someone I lost (to) so many times before. I knew she’s a great player. Especially here, she was playing amazing tennis,” said Radwanska. The upset also ensures the tournament will have a new women’s champion with none of the semifinalists — Radwanska, Cibulkova, Li Na and Eugenie Bouchard — having won before. Cibulkova reached only her second Slam semifinal when she also won against a favoured opponent in fast-rising Romanian Simona Halep.

Halep is set to break the top 10 in next week’s new rankings, but she froze in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal as the energetic Cibulkova dominated 6-3, 6-0 in one hour exactly.