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Jannik Sinner reacts to Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz’s shock US Open exits after statement win

By Admin September 1, 2024

Jannik Sinner addressed the upset defeats suffered by his rivals Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 US Open as he continued his title bid with a dominant victory.

The world No 1 reflected that the surprise losses prove “anything can happen in this sport” as he outlined his approach of staying focused on himself.

Alcaraz crashed out of the hard-court major in a stunning straight-set second round defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp on Thursday. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who was seeded third, won the previous two Grand Slams at the French Open and Wimbledon.

READ: Defeated Carlos Alcaraz makes brutal ‘not changing’ admission after stunning US Open loss

Djokovic, who was the defending US Open champion, followed Alcaraz out of the tournament on Friday after a four-set third round loss to Alexei Popyrin. The 37-year-old Serbian claimed the gold medal at the Paris Olympics in his previous event.

With the exit of his two biggest competitors, Sinner emerged as the clear favourite to win the men’s singles title at the US Open.

The 23-year-old Italian star solidified this status by steamrolling Christopher O’Connell 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium court in the third round at Flushing Meadows.

Sinner broke the 30-year-old Australian five times and did not face a single break point on his own serve in a one-sided contest. He now holds a 2-1 record against O’Connell, who is currently ranked 87th in the world.

In his on-court interview after his victory, Sinner gave his reaction to the upsets of Alcaraz and Djokovic.

“As we see, anything can happen in this sport,” Sinner said. “I try to stay on my side of the net. Taking it day by day. Each opponent is a tough challenge. Trying to enjoy every moment on the court.

“There have been a couple of upsets. Let’s see what’s coming. I’m happy to still be here and hopefully play as many matches as possible.”

On the match, Sinner added: “For sure, today was a great match. I knew I had to play very solid throughout the whole match. We played a few times.

“The serve was working well today. I’m happy about my performance. Obviously thanks everyone for the support. It’s been amazing.”

Sinner will face either Tommy Paul or Gabriel Diallo in the last 16 of the US Open as he continues his bid to add a second Grand Slam title to his 2024 Australian Open crown.

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Coco Gauff makes admission about ‘collapsing mentally on court’ ahead of Emma Navarro rematch

By Admin August 31, 2024

Coco Gauff came through a tough three-setter against Elina Svitolina to set up a fascinating rematch with Emma Navarro at the US Open and she acknowledged ahead of the clash that she will “need to bring it and mentally”.

Defending champion Gauff made a sluggish start against Svitolina in the third round as she looked to be on her way out after she lost the first set and found herself break point down in the second set.

But she held her serve and broke in the sixth game before dominating the deciding set for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in what was her 10th consecutive win at the US Open.

READ: Iga Swiatek admits she ‘doesn’t feel safe’ as ‘hate’ flows in her direction

Up next is fellow American Navarro, who defeated Gauff at Wimbledon just over a month ago.

The 20-year-old was world No 2 at the time and was the heavy favourite, but she was never at the races as her compatriot came away with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

“With Emma, I feel like that match at Wimbledon I think I mentally just literally collapsed on the court. I was very frustrated, and she played well. That was, I think to me, the best tennis she played, like that tournament,” she explained.

“Obviously, I didn’t see her first round, but I watched a little bit her second and third. I think that was like the best she played that week.

“Yeah, so I think going into this match, I have to expect her to play her best tennis, and I just need to know that I need to bring it and mentally be there from the beginning to the end because she’s going to be a tough opponent.”

Gauff is looking to become the first player since Serena Williams won three in a row from 2012 to 2014 to successfully defend her title.

But she knows there is still a long way to go in the tournament and needs to keep the expectations to a minimum.

“At the end of the day, to defend would be great,” the third seed said. “But I feel like it’s an unnecessary amount of pressure to put that on yourself. When you step on the court, you just have that feeling. It’s like, ‘OK, I know I can perform really well here. I’ve done it before in the past, and I’ll do it again.’

“That’s been my motto. I know I have the chance to do it again, whether it happens 2024 or years in the future, I think I have the belief that I will do it again.”

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Defeated Carlos Alcaraz makes brutal ‘not changing’ admission after stunning US Open loss

By Admin August 30, 2024

Carlos Alcaraz sensationally admitted that he feels like he is “not changing” after crashing out in the second round of the US Open.

World No 3 and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz came into New York as one of the favourites for the title, looking to add to his 2022 US Open triumph.

However, in one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, the former world No 1 was comprehensively outplayed in a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 loss to Botic van de Zandschulp on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

JUST IN: Iga Swiatek admits she ‘doesn’t feel safe’ as ‘hate’ flows in her direction

It was a scintillating performance from the world No 74, who claimed just the second top-five win of his performance in convincing fashion.

But it was a messy performance from Alcaraz, who was broken six times across the match and hit 27 errors compared to just 21 winners.

And the 21-year-old pulled no punches post-match.

In a brutal press conference, he admitted that he is “not changing” and is failing to learn from past defeats.

He said: “There was a lot of emotions I couldn’t control, it was kind of up in some points, then I lose in some points and it gets down.

“It was like a rollercoaster in my mind – it can be like that if I want to think about big things. I have to improve it, I have to learn about it.

“There’s a few matches that I’ve felt like that, where – after every match that I felt like that – I always said the same: I said to learn about it, I have to think about it. If I’m feeling what I’m thinking right now, I’m not changing. That’s the problem.

“If I’m going to sit here after the matches that I feel or I felt like that I couldn’t deal with it, that I couldn’t change the match, couldn’t push up a little bit and say I have to think about it, I have to learn about it, I’m never going to change. It’s going to be really tough if I want to improve, so I can’t say much about it.

“It was a fight against myself, my mind, during the match. In tennis, you are playing against someone who wants the same as you – to win the match.

“You have to be as much calm as you can, you have to think better during the match and try to do good things. Today I was playing against the opponent and I was playing against myself, in my mind.”

Defeat for Alcaraz comes after a summer that has become more increasingly difficult for him.

Initially, he was flying high after triumphs at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, though has now lost three of his past four matches.

The Spaniard was beaten in the Olympic Games final to Novak Djokovic and then lost his opening match at the Cincinnati Open to Gael Monfils, before his round two defeat in New York.

Defeat also means that, at best, he will stay as world No 3 after the US Open, with Alexander Zverev guaranteed to move ahead of him in the ATP Rankings.

Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic could also leapfrog him with runs to the title.

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Iga Swiatek admits she ‘doesn’t feel safe’ as ‘hate’ flows in her direction

By Admin August 30, 2024

Iga Swiatek has admitted she feels threatened by the abuse flowing her way online, as she opened up in his latest US Open press conference.

The Pole, gunning for a second title at Flushing Meadows, dropped just one game as she dispatched Ena Shibahara 6-0 6-1 in 65 minutes.

Only three players (Margaret Court – 11, Maria Sharapova – 8, Evonne Goolagong – 8) have registered more sets of 6-0 score line from their first 22 matches in women’s singles at US Open than Swiatek (7) during the Open Era, with her status a favourite to win a second title in New York strengthened by her dominant win against Shibahara.

READ: Carlos Alcaraz is one of 4 men to hold record that eluded Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer

Yet it was her comments in her post-match press conference that may have been her most significant contribution to the game, as she spoke about the impact online abuse can have on her.

Swiatek insisted she doesn’t follow all the abusive messages flowing her way on social media, but the level of venom coming her way does occasionally get through.

“I’m only kind of seeing the messages from my close ones, the ones that I already accepted, but for sure there is a lot of hate,” she said, suggesting her social media feeds are restricted to messages from approved followers.

“It would be nice if we can try to educate people and also maybe in the future have some solutions as, you know, using Al to make it safer for us.

“Because I feel like we can’t be on the internet and feel like kind of safe anymore. You have to really be careful about what you’re reading and who you’re following.

“I know that there are some tools that, for example, Roland Garros offered for us, like this app that we can have on the phone, and it’s going to block the hateful messages.

“My team also has been kind of looking in my case what kind of messages have been blocked or not when we’re using this app. It would be nice if we had more opportunities to use these kind of tools because it’s always some kind of help.”

Swiatek will doubtless avoid the social media barbs as she looks towards the second week of the US Open and she is excited by her form heading into the business end of the tournament.

“I was just happy with the way I played, not overpowering and being really solid and picking the right shots to be reactive, I am happy with everything,” said Swiatek.

“I felt in much better rhythm. I was a bit tense in my last match. I just wanted to focus on myself and that’s what I did.”

The withdrawal of No 4 seed Elena Rybakina from the US Open due to illness could have an impact on Swiatek as she was due to meet her old rival in the semi-finals in New York.

Swiatek will now play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round, with American Jessica Pegula the most threatening player in her section of the draw.

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Carlos Alcaraz is one of 4 men to hold record that eluded Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer

By Admin August 29, 2024

Carlos Alcaraz preserved his unbeaten record in opening round matches at Grand Slams with his four-set victory over Li Tu at the 2024 US Open.

The world No 3, who is the defending French Open and Wimbledon champion, saw off Tu, who is ranked 186th in the world, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 at Flushing Meadows.

The Spaniard is one of only four men who have not lost in the first round of a major, with even the Big Three suffering this fate on multiple occasions each.

JUST IN: Iga Swiatek joins Serena Williams and other legends with two stellar achievements at US Open

Roger Federer lost six opening round Grand Slam matches, Rafael Nadal has lost three, while Novak Djokovic has lost two.

Here are the four players with a 100% win rate in opening round men’s singles matches at Grand Slams in the Open Era (in 128-player, seven round draws).

Rod Laver – 11-0

Rod Laver won all 11 of the first round matches he played in Open Era Grand Slam tournaments that used the 128-player draw, seven round format.

From these 11 campaigns, the Australian icon secured titles at Wimbledon (1968 and 1969), the French Open (1969) and the US Open (1969). In total, Laver won 11 majors and 72 singles titles recognised by the ATP in his career.

Ken Rosewall – 15-0

Ken Rosewall amassed a perfect 15-0 record in opening round contests at 128-player draw majors in the Open Era.

From these 15 Grand Slams, the Australian great won the US Open in 1970, while he was also a runner-up at Wimbledon (1970 and 1974) and the US Open (1974). Rosewall won eight major titles and 40 ATP-listed singles titles overall.

Carlos Alcaraz – 15-0

Alcaraz has won every first round match he has played in his 15 Grand Slam main draw appearances in his career to date.

The 21-year-old Spanish star has secured four titles from his 14 previous major campaigns and has reached at least the quarter-finals nine times. Alcaraz’s opening round win at the 2024 US Open took his Grand Slam record to a superb 60-10.

Bjorn Borg – 26-0

Bjorn Borg holds the record for the most opening round major matches won without losing, having finished his career with a perfect 26-0 record.

The Swedish legend won 11 Grand Slam titles and advanced to the quarter-finals or better in 21 of his 26 major main draw appearances. Borg compiled an outstanding 141-16 Grand Slam match record.

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Iga Swiatek joins Serena Williams and other legends with two stellar achievements at US Open

By Admin August 29, 2024

Iga Swiatek achieved two impressive feats that highlight her immense success and consistency with her opening round victory at the 2024 US Open.

The world No 1 earned a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6(6) win against world No 104 Kamilla Rakhimova on Arthur Ashe Stadium to begin her quest to win a second US Open title.

Swiatek was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set and won five straight points after trailing 3-6 in the tiebreak — saving three set points in the process — to prevail.

READ: Iga Swiatek stands firm on ‘crazy’ scheduling comments and insists tennis is going in the wrong direction

The Polish star is seeking her sixth Grand Slam title, having won the French Open in four of the last five years and the US Open in 2022.

“At the beginning [it was] good, but then I got a little bit tight and my opponent used that, so I was trying to get back to my game,” Swiatek said in a post-match interview. “I’m pretty sure that day by day I’m going to get more rhythm.”

With her opening round triumph at Flushing Meadows, Swiatek became the fifth-youngest woman in the Open Era to win 20 consecutive Grand Slam first round matches at 23 years and 88 days.

Swiatek started the streak at the 2019 US Open after suffering the only opening round exit in her major career at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.

Maria Sharapova is the youngest player to win 20 straight opening round women’s singles Grand Slam opening round encounters, having achieved this at the age of 21 years and 37 days.

Caroline Wozniacki (21 years, 321 days), Lindsay Davenport (21 years, 351 days) and Gabriela Sabatini (22 years, 247 days) are the only other woman to accomplish this at a younger age than Swiatek.

In addition, Swiatek’s win was her 80th Grand Slam victory in her 97th match and only two tennis legends have reached this milestone in fewer matches this century.

Serena Williams earned 80 wins from her first 93 major singles matches, while Venus Williams achieved this in 94 matches.

Swiatek will face world No 217 Ena Shibahara, a 26-year-old Japanese qualifier, in the second round on Thursday.

Shibahara struck 57 winners during her three-set win over Daria Saville, which is the highest number any player hit in the first round of the women’s singles event in New York.

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‘No friends here’: Carlos Alcaraz opens up on his relationship with Novak Djokovic

By Admin August 28, 2024

Carlos Alcaraz revealed he shares a “really good friendship” with Novak Djokovic off the court after making a winning start to his campaign at the 2024 US Open.

The four-time Grand Slam champion declared, though, that there are “no friends” on the tennis tour once players take to the court to compete.

Alcaraz and Djokovic have faced off seven times so far in a fascinating intergenerational rivalry, with all of their encounters coming in finals or semi-finals at big tournaments.

JUST IN: Iga Swiatek stands firm on ‘crazy’ scheduling comments and insists tennis is going in the wrong direction

Djokovic holds a 4-3 advantage after winning the pair’s most recent clash in the gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics at the start of August. The duo could meet in the final at the US Open as they are on opposite sides of the draw.

Alcaraz defeated world No 186 Li Tu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the New York Grand Slam to set up a second round match against 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp. Djokovic downed world No 138 Radu Albot 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in his first match.

Speaking after his first round win against the Australian qualifier, Alcaraz spoke about his rivalry and relationship with Djokovic.

“Well, obviously we have a good rivalry,” the world No 3 said. “Every time that we step on the court, we played really high tennis. Every time that we faced against each other, it has been a really good and intense match.

“But, yeah, we have a really good friendship off the court. We talk a lot in the lockers every time that we see each other around. With his team as well.

“Once we step on the court, there are no friends here on tour, but after that, after the court, I have a really good relationship with a lot of players, and one of them is Novak.”

The 21-year-old Spaniard also outlined the need to raise his level as he assessed his performance against Tu.

“Well, first of all, I’m really happy to get through and get a chance to be better the next round,” Alcaraz reflected. “Obviously, I felt well on court. I think I hit the ball well. I moved well.

“A few things that I have to improve if I want to, you know, keep going in the draw, but obviously I have to give credit to him as well that he played really good tennis and today surprised me a little bit in the second set. After that, really I leave the court happy with my performance.”

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Iga Swiatek stands firm on ‘crazy’ scheduling comments and insists tennis is going in the wrong direction

By Admin August 28, 2024

The tennis season is too long and things need to change, says Iga Swiatek as the world No 1 called on the “people who are in charge” to fix the crammed calendar.

Swiatek has not been afraid to voice her opinion about the lengthy tennis schedule in recent months as at the Cincinnati Open she complained that tennis authorities are “pushing and pushing for us to play more” and pleaded that “we deserve to rest a little bit more”.

The Pole added: “Obviously it is not our decision, but for sure I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It’s not going to end well.”

READ: Coco Gauff bringing the vibes again as she makes confession about ‘feeling off’ before US Open

Former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov did not agree with Swiatek’s comments and he lashed out on social media writing: “”Is someone pushing you to play??? All you fricking do is complain!!

“I’ll tell you what you deserve! You deserve to get paid a lot less than you do now!! How about that??”

Swiatek, though, is not the first player to complain about the schedule and she won’t be the last and the five-time Grand Salm winner stuck to her guns following her first-round win at the US Open when asked about the calendar.

“It would be easy to fix for people who are in charge, but they already made plenty of decisions and they promised so many things to tournaments, basically, I mean, WTA, for example, that it would mean for them to change their mind, which is tricky because it’s business,” she said.

“But I think players are aware that this is crazy what’s going on and the schedule is really tough.

“I spoke about it in Cincinnati, for example, and there are people saying that I don’t have to play so many tournaments. But truth to the fact is that we have so many mandatory tournaments that we literally need to show up and we don’t have time to work on stuff or live peacefully because from one tournament we’re going straight to another.

“We don’t even have time at the end of the year because literally the first tournament starts on the 29th of December. So yeah the season is for sure too long.

“I think it needs to be changed because also I think it’s going to be better for fans and because they’re not going to see their favourite players like pull out or getting injured so much, I think, and we can present better quality, I would say.”

Previously there were only 15 mandatory tournaments on the WTA Tour, but the rules were changed in 2019 and that figure now sits at 21.

Players now have to compete in the four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 events, six WTA 500 tournaments and the WTA Finals (if they qualify).

On top of that, several of the WTA 1000 events have been expanded to two weeks, adding to the already compact calendar.

Swiatek added: “I said at the beginning, I saw from last year that we don’t have much influence on what’s going on upstairs and basically these rules have been changed without us even knowing about them.

“These decisions about mandatory tournaments were shown to us after we spoke to WTA about it, we want to at least be in the loop, you know, but it would be nice for us to have some impact because I don’t think our sport is going in the right direction because of that.”

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Coco Gauff bringing the vibes again as she makes confession about ‘feeling off’ before US Open

By Admin August 27, 2024

Coco Gauff kicked off her US Open title defence in impressive fashion as she brushed aside Varvara Gracheva and she admitted afterwards that she is “feeling good” again following her recent struggles.

The American’s preparations for the final Grand Slam of the year were far from ideal as she lost in the third round of the Paris Olympics, going down in the round of 16 at the Canadian Open before her Cincinnati Open title defence came to an end in the second round.

Gauff slipped to No 3 in the WTA Rankings with Aryna Sabalenka moving ahead and many pundits have written off her chances of successfully defending her title.

JUST IN: ‘I wasn’t aware of it to be honest’ – Novak Djokovic sets new men’s record at US Open

Yet there were no signs that her confidence was low during her clash against Gracheva as she won 6-2, 6-0 in just 66 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“There is definitely a lot of pressure at this tournament, but I am just enjoying it,” she during her on-court interview. “Last year was incredible so I am just bringing those vibes this year. Whatever happens, happens.”

During the post-match press conference, she admitted that she “felt off” during her recent tournaments, especially at Cincinnati.

“I wasn’t surprised about my level because I was practicing really well this week. It was a really good practice week. I was just telling myself that I’m ready, that I had a great practice week,” the third seed said.

“I feel like I’m finding my game, whereas the other two tournaments that I played, at, even the practice sessions that I was doing … it was just, I just felt off. So this week, I just felt like I was really finding my game. So I was confident going in today. I knew based on how I was practicing, I can find my game regardless of the scoreline. Then it’s just about executing.”

Losing early in Cincinnati meant Gauff was able to spend more time on the practice court and it appears to have paid off as she had a better feel for the game.

The 20-year-old, who faces Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the second round, added: “I think just execution … decision making too. I think sometimes I could rush out of points faster than I need, and then there were times where I felt like in Cincinnati where, I don’t know, it was just so weird that shots I feel like I could make with my eyes closed.

“I was just messing, and today I was making those shots, I was like, okay, I know the ball’s going where I want it to go. So I was, okay, I feel good. [The] first round for me can sometimes set the tone for a tournament, whether you’re playing well or not, but just kind of the mentality going in.

“So I think I had a good mentality. Is this going to say I’m going to play great the next couple matches, yes or no? But I think the mentality I have going into this week will be there, and hopefully the execution stays there.”

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‘I wasn’t aware of it to be honest’ – Novak Djokovic sets new men’s record at US Open

By Admin August 27, 2024

The milestones continue to pile up for Novak Djokovic with the tennis great setting a new record for most wins by a man on Arthur Ashe Stadium with his latest victory at the US Open.

Fresh from completing a career Golden Slam following his gold medal success at the Paris Olympics, Djokovic opened his title defence at Flushing Meadows with a solid 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over qualifier Radu Albot in the first round on the showpiece court on Monday.

The victory was Djokovic’s 89th at the US Open with 78 of those coming on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the latter a new record for most wins on Ashe by a man.

READ: ANALYSIS: The story of Jannik Sinner’s doping scandal as fans and players wait with anger

He also joined Roger Federer in second place for most wins at the US Open with Jimmy Connors’ record of 98 safe for at least another year.

“I wasn’t aware of it [record for most wins on Arthur Ashe] to be honest. It’s the biggest stadium. Definitely the loudest we have in the history of our sport,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner said. “The night sessions are the best in the world on Arthur Ashe. Ever since the roof was introduced it became even louder. Electric atmosphere. Incredible energy.

“Obviously with some new rules this year with the crowd able to move around, there are a lot of things happening on court. We’re clocking midnight right now. I love night seasons, maybe not this late, but nevertheless it was great fun.”

Djokovic broke twice in the first set, three times in the second and once in the third although Albot did get some joy in the second set as he managed one break of serve.

The victory also helped him to extend his streak for most first-round wins at Grand Slams as he now sits on 71 – well clear of Roger Federer on 65 in second place with Chris Evert third on 56.

The second seed, though, acknowledges he needs to brush up on his game as he made 40 unforced errors, served 10 double faults and landed 47 per cent of first serves.

But considering it is his first match on a hard court in months, a win is always welcome.

“I wanted to kick start the tournament in the right way and I think I did,” Djokovic, who faces fellow Serbian Laslo Djere in the second round, said. “Some ups and downs which I think is normal, getting the rust off your shoulders coming off a different surface and the Olympic Games.

“I haven’t played on hard courts for six months, so I’m still finding that groove, finding the tempo on the court.”

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