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...
A commitment to equality had been questioned after the introduction of the men-only ATP Cup sparked a seething reactionThe triumphant announcement of a mixed-teams event across Australia to launch the next summer of tennis stems from a crisis of conscience three years ago. Billed as a world first “showcasing equality at the highest level of the sport”, the United Cup will feature the world’s best men and women and is a positive step forward for tennis.Three years in the making, the 18-team, $23m event promises to be a celebration of tennis at its best to whet the appetite leading into the Australian Open at Melbourne Park. Bar for the onset of Covid-19, it is a competition that would have started...
Swiss who won 20 grand slam titles combined balletic grace with accuracy, power, shot selection and competitive willTime and simple human wear-and-tear told us Roger Federer had to stop playing professional tennis at some point. Here is a man who was winning grand slam tournaments before the iPhone was invented, while Tony Blair still a very popular prime minister, and who first won Wimbledon a month before Carlos Alvarez was born.And yet the news Federer intends to retire now at the ludicrously advanced age of 41 still feels like a shock, an oversight, a rumour that got out of hand. Is everyone really sure about this? Continue reading...
Last year she was kicked off a practice court in a New York park; now Cincinnati run hints at a return of that carefree youngsterAn hour into Emma Raducanu’s startling third-round match at the US Open last year, she still, somehow, had not lost a single game. In the second grand slam event of her career, the 18-year-old had lined up against the eternally steady Sara Sorribes Tormo, a match-up that seemed destined to push Raducanu to her limits. Instead, the youngster tore her apart. Raducanu led 6-0, 5-0 with a match point on her opponent’s serve, then a game later, served out the win over her top 50-ranked opponent. With it, the idea of what she could really achieve...