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...
Supreme shotmaker has positioned herself as one of the game’s elite with understated self-belief and calmness under pressureElena Rybakina stepped up to the baseline to face match point in the Miami Open third round on Saturday night with her game in total disarray. While Paula Badosa had erected a wall on her side of the court, refusing to offer up any mistakes, Rybakina’s unforced errors piled up to the skies. She had missed countless routine backhands, she had shanked decisive drive volleys and her frustration increasingly surfaced as she trailed 6-3, 5-4. Her brief time in Florida, it seemed, was coming to an end.Instead the pressure of standing a point from defeat steadied her. Rybakina slotted in a sweet, angled...
Sport gives us an opportunity to see people at the greatest moments of their lives, but also at their sometimes-tragic worstOne of sport’s many affirming beauties is its intimacy: we get to see people experience the most ecstatic and most mortifying moments of their lives, live. Yes, they’re seeking fulfilment and validation in the wrong places and yes, this is your super soaraway Joy of Six about to volunteer an unsolicited self-help tip but, immeasurably wise though The Awakened Family is – if you’re a parent or a person, read it – how many titles, belts or majors has Dr Shefali Tsabary won? Exactly. Continue reading...
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 Australian matched the former Wimbledon champion for tenacity, but not for experience and match managementSometimes chants work, sometimes they do not. And the great minds in the gallery who endeavoured to stretch the word “Kokkinakis” across the breadth of the Seven Nation Army riff had been too ambitious with their syllables. It was a bit Billy Mack, except that Christmas is All Around topped the charts – this lot had no excuse. At least back in the Lleyton era we got “Walking in a Hewitt wonderland”. Now we must endure “Let’s go, Kokky, let’s go”.Granted, it was after 10pm by the time Margaret Court Arena welcomed Thanasi Kokkinakis and Andy Murray, and with late nights come the inevitable late-night...