Category: Tennis

• World No 10 suffers heavy loss to Matteo Berrettini

• Russian destroys racket before placing in courtside bin

Daniil Medvedev smashed his racket several times then placed the remnants in a courtside dustbin during a humbling 6-0, 6-0 loss to Italian wildcard Matteo Berrettini at the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday, as the world No 10 suffered his first tour-level defeat without winning a game.

Medvedev capitulated in 49 minutes, failing to earn a game point on his own serve and committing 27 unforced errors.

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• The 23-year-old British No 1 also sat out Miami Open

• Post-viral symptoms from illness stall comeback

Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from next week’s Linz Open as she continues to recover full fitness. The British No 1 also pulled out of the Miami Open as she recovers from post-viral symptoms on the back of an illness she picked up in Romania in early February.

Having also opted to sit out Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Australia, Raducanu is now likely to focus on a possible return to the WTA Tour in Madrid that starts on 21 April.

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While Jannik Sinner’s duopoly with Carlos Alcaraz looks unbreakable, Aryna Sabalenka is dominating despite a more competitive women’s top 10

“No, I think it’s all an individual sport,” Jannik Sinner says, chuckling quietly, as he reflects on another triumphant fortnight at the Miami Open after his efficient win over Jiri Lehecka. Sinner had been asked whether he was aware that his win meant the maintenance of one of the defining records of this new era of men’s tennis: since the Madrid Open in April 2024, every tournament with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz present has been won by either player. The duopoly continues.

Unsurprisingly, Sinner was far more focused on what the victory meant to him. By following his Indian Wells triumph with a title in Miami, he secured one of the greatest achievements of his career in the Sunshine Double. He has now won three consecutive Masters 1000 titles and 34 consecutive sets at this level. This was an immense feat, further underlining his enduring dominance over all challengers aside from his great rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

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Jannik Sinner beat 6-4 6-4 Czech 21st seed Jiri Lehecka in a rain-interrupted Miami final to become the first man since Roger Federer in to complete the Sunshine Double.

Sinner is just the eighth male player to win Indian Wells and Miami and has now won 34 consecutive sets at Masters level, dating back to his triumph in Paris in November. He is just the third man behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to win three consecutive Masters events and the first to do so without dropping a set in each of those three triumphs.

• Sinner sees off Lehecka to complete Sunshine Double without dropping a set

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• Rybakina completes 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win

• American slumps to fifth straight defeat to Kazakhstani

Jessica Pegula had her chances. Midway through the second set of yet another showdown with Elena Rybakina, the American had engineered a flawless start. After bulldozing through the opening set, Pegula’s level at the beginning of set two put her in with a fair shot of snatching a win against her Kazakhstani opponent, who has dominated their recent meetings.

Instead, Pegula departed Miami with another tough lesson to parse through after being shown once again that the best players in the world pounce on even the smallest drops in intensity. Despite her mediocre start, Rybakina produced a brilliant comeback to reach the Miami Open semi-finals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

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• UK participation levels more than doubled in 2025

• 860,000 Britons played padel at least once last year

It was once seen as a quirky upstart or continental fad. But padel now has nearly a million players across the UK after participation levels more than doubled in 2025.

According to LTA figures seen by the Guardian, 860,000 Britons played padel at least once last year – up from 400,000 in 2024 and 129,000 in 2023 – as the racket sport’s dizzying rise continued.

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• Australian loses 6-2, 6-2 in last 16 against world No 2 Kazakh

• Gibson had beaten five top-20 tennis players in three weeks

Talia Gibson’s impressive run at the Miami Open has come crashing down at the hands of world No 2 and two-time grand slam champion Elena Rybakina.

The in-form 21-year-old Australian, who came through two rounds of qualifying in Florida before upsetting Czech Sara Bejlek, Japan’s four-time slam winner Naomi Osaka and American teenage sensation Iva Jovic in the main draw, suffered a 6-2, 6-2 loss in her last-16 clash with Kazakh Rybakina.

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• Reviews allowed for double bounces and double hits

• Players not able to challenge electronic line calls

Wimbledon will introduce video review technology this year that will allow players to challenge judgment calls made by the chair umpire, the tournament’s organisers have announced.

Players will not be able to challenge the decisions of the electronic line calling (ELC) system that was introduced at Wimbledon last year, but video reviews will be available to check other scenarios, like whether a ball has bounced twice or touched a player’s racket or body.

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• All England Club wants 38 new courts and new stadium

• Campaign group SWP says it will ‘fight on’

Wimbledon has received a major boost to its expansion plans. The All England Club’s proposals to almost triple the size of the current site are not prohibited by restrictions on how the land earmarked for development can be used, a high court judge has ruled.

The plans, approved by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2024, could mean the construction of 38 tennis courts and an 8,000-seat stadium on the site of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, enabling the club to host qualifying matches for the tournament.

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• 40-year-old committed five anti-doping rule violations

• Matosevic, now a coach, critical of ITIA’s investigative practices

Six weeks after branding the International Tennis Integrity Agency “corrupt”, one-time Australian No 1 Marinko Matosevic has been handed a four-year ban for multiple doping offences.

An independent tribunal determined that Matosevic committed five anti-doping rule violations between 2018 and 2020, including use of a prohibited method through blood doping and facilitating another player to blood dope, providing advice to others on how to avoid positive tests, and use and possession of the prohibited substance clenbuterol.

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The most startling performances of recent months have involved revitalised tennis from Medvedev and Djokovic

In the uncertain early stages of his Indian Wells semi-final contest with Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev swiftly made his intentions clear. Having established a 3-1 lead, he chased down a trademark Alcaraz drop shot, then a lob, before slamming the door shut on the point by firing an ultra-flat inside-out backhand winner on to the edge of the line.

This was a statement point and it formed part of the most startling performance of the year so far. Few gave Medvedev a serious chance against Alcaraz, who had won their four previous meetings, conceding just one set. It took one of the best matches of Medvedev’s distinguished career to turn the tables on Alcaraz in only two sets.

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• Italian world No 2 clinches 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) win in Californian desert

• Women’s No 1 Aryna Sabalenka snaps her losing streak in final

Jannik Sinner claimed his first title of the year with victory over Daniil Medvedev in Indian Wells, while Aryna Sabalenka snapped her losing streak against Elena Rybakina in a thrilling women’s final.

Four-time grand slam champion Sinner had had a slightly underwhelming start to the season by his stratospheric standards but he was peerless in the Californian desert, not dropping a set through the fortnight.

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• Spanish world No 1 falls to first defeat of tennis season

• Medvedev wins 6-3, 7-6(3) to set up final against Jannik Sinner

Carlos Alcaraz said he was finding it tough to constantly have a target on his back and was surprised by the level of performance from Daniil Medvedev after the Russian handed him his first defeat of the season at Indian Wells.

Medvedev’s 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over the world No 1 in the semi-finals ended the Spaniard’s 16-match winning run to start the season. World No 11 Medvedev will play Jannik Sinner in the final on Sunday.

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• British No 1’s title defence ends with 6-1, 7-5 loss in quarters

• Carlos Alcaraz beats Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 to reach last four

Jack Draper was controversially ruled to have caused a hindrance to opponent Daniil Medvedev as his Indian Wells title defence ended in the quarter-finals. The 24-year-old Briton, looking understandably weary from his exploits in beating Novak Djokovic less than 24 hours earlier, went down 6-1, 6-4 to the former world No 1.

The decisive moment came at 5-5 and 0-15 in the second set when umpire Aurelie Torte decided to award Medvedev a point following a video review after Draper had raised his arms at a disputed line call and was deemed to have distracted his opponent, with Medvedev going on to seal a crucial break.

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