Category: Tennis

The match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios opens up a direct channel between the BBC of old and a world of toxic internet hatred

It’s always best to take a sceptical view of the constant flow of BBC-bashing newspaper stories, which are often simply bogus outrage expressed for commercial gain. Even the war-on-woke, cod-ideological stuff – Clive Myrie INSISTS hamsters can breastfeed human robots – the bits that make you want to smear your face with greengage jam and weep for England, our England, with its meadows, its shadows, its curates made entirely from beef. Even these come from a hard, transactional place.

Basically, it’s the licence fee. The BBC is free at the point of delivery, but paid for by a national levy. The BBC is also a direct commercial competitor to every other form of legacy media, all of which are trying to find ways to survive and recoup revenue.

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• Williams back in ITIA pool for first time since 2022

• Move required before any potential competitive return

• Could be eligible to play again as early as mid-2026

Serena Williams has taken the procedural move required of any player contemplating a competitive comeback, after the 23-time grand slam singles champion re-entered the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) registered testing pool for the first time since 2022.

Williams, 44, has not played an official match since her run to the third round of the US Open more than three years ago. Although she described her departure at the time as “evolving away” from the sport rather than a hard retirement, she filed the paperwork with the ITIA that September that exempted her from the sport’s stringent whereabouts requirements. To return to competition, however, players must make themselves available for out-of-competition testing for six months before they are allowed to enter an event.

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British No 1 on home comforts of Bromley, joys of commuting and being ‘creeped out’ by paparazzi

Emma Raducanu has garnered many endorsement deals in her nascent career, but there is perhaps one elusive sponsorship that would be most pleasing to the British No 1 women’s tennis player: ambassador of the London Borough of Bromley.

During a roundtable discussion with tennis journalists at the end of a gruelling yet satisfying season, Raducanu is merely attempting to describe a quiet off-season spent in her family home when she finds herself delivering a sales pitch about the benefits of living in Bromley. “I’m just so settled,” she says. “I’ve barely been in the UK this year because I’ve been competing so much, but I think just spending really good quality time with my parents has been so nice. I have loved just being in Bromley. It just reminds me of when I was a younger kid and it’s the same bedroom, same everything.

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Players are being worn down by a cluttered calendar and lack of unity over their welfare from governing bodies

Elina Svitolina simply could not go on. Her hopeful start to the 2025 season had given way to despair as the mental and emotional strain of constant competition, travelling and stress left its mark. The 31-year-old understood that competing would only make things worse and, in September, Svitolina decided to prematurely end her season, citing burnout.

The world No 14 is not alone in feeling suffocated by her sport. This has been another year filled with incredible performances and gripping matches, but the past 11 months have also been defined by the physical and mental ailments endured by many of the sport’s stars.

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• Italians win singles matches against Busta and Munar

• Alcaraz and Sinner both absent for Davis Cup final

Italy have been crowned Davis Cup champions for a third successive year, after victory over Spain. The two teams reached the final despite the absence of their respective star players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in Bologna this week.

And it was Italy who retained their title after Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli won their singles matches on Sunday. Berrettini beat Pablo Carreño Busta 6-3, 6-4 in the opening contest and an entertaining tussle between Cobolli and Jaume Munar followed in which the Italian charged back to win 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

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Former Wimbledon champion on how taking accountability for his crimes allowed for rehabilitation, watching Novak Djokovic from his cell and the new era of brotherhood in the sport

“I heard the screaming and I didn’t know what it was,” Boris Becker says as he remembers staring into the dark in Wandsworth prison, just over two miles from Wimbledon’s Centre Court where he won the first of his three men’s singles titles at the age of 17 in 1985. “Were people trying to kill themselves or harm themselves? Or couldn’t they deal with their loneliness? Or are they just making crazy noises because they have lost their minds already?”

Becker had been sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year jail term. Amid his insolvency, he was found guilty of not declaring all his assets so that additional funds could be distributed to his creditors. The judge confirmed that his money was used, instead, to meet his “commitments to his children and other dependents, medical and professional fees, and other expenses”.

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• Plans for 39 grass courts were given approval in 2024

• Pressure has led to judicial review of that decision

Wimbledon’s battle to build 39 new grass courts on a nearby golf course has taken a fresh twist after local residents were granted permission to take a judicial review case to the court of appeal.

Last year the All England Club (AELTC) was given approval by Jules Pipe, the London deputy mayor for planning and regeneration, to build the courts on what used to be Wimbledon Park Golf Club – a decision that was then endorsed in the high court on 21 July. However, the Save Wimbledon Park pressure group challenged that verdict and on Monday it was announced that Lord Justice Holgate had granted a judicial review of the court’s decision.

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• Italian wins 7-6 (4), 7-5 in Turin final

• Sinner finishes year with six titles

On his favourite surface and before a rowdy home crowd, Jannik Sinner closed out his immense season with a statement victory against his great rival Carlos Alcaraz, putting together a supreme performance to defeat the Spaniard 7-6 (4), 7-5 and successfully defend his title at the ATP Finals in Turin.

Despite his season being slightly abbreviated because of his three‑month doping ban, and Alcaraz seizing the year-end No 1 ranking with a legendary year of his own, Sinner finishes 2025 with six titles, a 58-6 win-loss record and three of the five biggest titles in the year.

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Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(4) 7-5, winning the ATP Finals without dropping a set for the second consecutive year

Time for the Italian anthem. Tuuuuuune!

An exciting variable tonight: Sinner is playing at home. The Turin crowd will be partial in the extreme, the atmosphere steaming, and much as I’m sure Alcaraz can handle it, he’s not used to it.

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• Sinner wins 7-5, 6-2 to reach final for third year in row

• Defending champion chasing his sixth ATP title of season

Jannik Sinner continued his total dominance of the indoor season as he held off an admirable early challenge from Alex de Minaur before bulldozing his path into the ATP Finals for a third consecutive year with a supreme 7-5, 6-2 victory, extending his winning record against the Australian to 13-0.

Sinner continues to perform at an astounding level that has allowed him to rapidly rise the list of all-time great’s. In a season that included a three-month doping ban between February and May, Sinner will attempt to win his sixth ATP title of the year in his 10th final. The 24-year-old has won 30 consecutive indoor hard court matches and 14 matches in a row after his recent triumphs at the Vienna Open and Paris Masters. He has also won 18 consecutive sets at the ATP Finals.

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• Australian defeated world No 6 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 but had anxious wait

• Semi-finals spot confirmed after Carlos Alcaraz beats Lorenzo Musetti

Alex de Minaur has shown extraordinary resilience to bounce back from the depths of misery and book an “incredible” place in the last-four of the ATP Finals in Turin.

The Australian No 1, a picture of despair just a couple of nights earlier after feeling he had thrown away victory during defeat to Lorenzo Musetti, started his unlikely resurrection with a backs-to-the-wall 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win over Taylor Fritz on Thursday, his first ever victory at the season-ending championship.

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Already through to the semi-finals, Carlos Alcaraz was far too good for Lorenzo Musetti, a 6-4 6-1 win ensuring he ends the year as world no 1

Of course my wife ordered the shopping to arrive, then went to a work dinner. But it’s in, you’ll be relieved to learn, and they’re still knocking up.

Alcaraz, meantime, looks focused. He’ll not be taking it easy tonight, I’m sure.

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• Sinner beats Zverev 6-4, 6-3 to thrill home fans in Turin

• German must beat Auger-Aliassime to make the semis

It’s almost time … and out they come, the crowd going wild for Sinner. This arena is proper, steeply banked so it feels like everyone is on top of the action, and it makes a right racket.

Sinner, by the way, has won 27 indoor hard-court matches in a row. The predictable bounce is perfect for the way he moves and hits and in Turin, the thinner air is also helpful, giving the ball even greater pace. Zverev, though, quite likes all of that too, so we’ll see.

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