Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune are electrifying the ATP Tour in a way unseen since another certain trio – the sport is in good handsLast week, shortly after Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played the point of the year so far – exchanges of 80mph cross-court forehands; Sinner hooking the ball back from behind him; Alcaraz falling and recovering; the kind of exquisite drop shots and physics‑defying sliding we’ve come to expect from both; and, finally, a triumphant Sinner whipping up the crowd after a fruitless dive from Alcaraz left the Spaniard sprawled and breathless on Miami’s Hard Rock court – their colleagues took to social media in adoration and disbelief.“Guys, are you from this planet?” and “What...
Novak Djokovic touched his finger to his temple after winning the Australian Open from within his own vacuumStefanos Tsitsipas has always had a Novak Djokovic problem. It was a lost-the-last-nine-matches type of problem – not the archetypal self-affirmation statistic for his bathroom mirror. Now it is 10 and he is no less of a competitor for it, merely the latest victim of a champion who, in Tsitsipas’s own post-match words, is “the greatest that has ever held a tennis racket”.At least he is not alone. A lot of people have a Djokovic problem, and the list is not limited to other players (though 22 grand slam singles titles means there are many of those). The public, the media, even Ukraine’s...
The nine-times Australian Open champion shows no sign of a hangover from last year’s controversy and is the player to beatIn the hours after Novak Djokovic was briefly freed from government custody in Melbourne last year, his visa cancellation overturned on procedural grounds, he headed straight for the tennis court to resume his suspended preparation for the Australian Open. His first hitting session was played out behind closed doors at night, but by the time he returned in the day, chaos reigned over Melbourne Park. Fans and journalists alike tried to slip inside Rod Laver Arena, drones whirled overhead just to get an unauthorised glimpse of him in action.Outside of Park Hotel,where he was being detained, Djokovic’s fans congregated to...
The nine-time Australian Open winner is keen to put debacle of deportation behind him but his public reputation is tarnishedNovak Djokovic’s quiet return to Australia this week could not be starker in contrast to the absurdity surrounding his arrival in Melbourne and subsequent deportation last January.There has been no social media post nor any official words from the nine-time Australian Open champion as yet, though he did practise on Wednesday at Memorial Drive in Adelaide. Continue reading...
Officials are hoping for a positive summer that serves as a full stop to an absurd run of shocking luck for the Australian OpenWhen spruiking a summer starting on Thursday with the heavily promoted United Cup, Tennis Australia opted for a mantra pointing to an optimistic future for the sport. The story, the national federation proclaimed, starts here and over the past week the world’s best players have begun arriving for the country’s annual festival of tennis.While there is no exclamation mark to punctuate the slogan for the 2023 Australian Open, local officials are hoping for a positive summer that serves as a full stop to an absurd run of shocking luck for the tournament. Continue reading...