Category: Tennis

• Five-time champion loses 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in second round
• Jack Draper sails to 6-4, 6-0 win despite tough draw

Novak Djokovic’s difficult start to the season continued on the North American hard courts as he crashed out of Indian Wells with an extremely poor performance in his opening match, losing 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the second round to the world No 85, Botic van de Zandschulp.

Despite producing arguably the best performance of the year in his four-set victory over Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open, Djokovic has now lost three consecutive matches since that triumph. The thigh injury Djokovic suffered during his win over Alcaraz forced him to retire from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev and then he fell in the first round of the Qatar Open last month to Matteo Berrettini.

Continue reading...

• Briton goes down 6-3, 6-2 to Moyuka Uchijima
• Indian Wells defeat follows difficult few weeks

After an extremely difficult month in which she was pursued across tennis tournaments in Asia by an obsessive spectator, Emma Raducanu struggled to find her range and rhythm on her return to competition and was comprehensively defeated 6-3, 6-2 by Moyuka Uchijima of Japan in the first round of the Indian Wells Open on Thursday.

Over the past few years, the organisers at Indian Wells have marketed the tournament as Tennis Paradise, a reference to the handsome mountainous landscape that surrounds the court and its warm, sunny weather. In reality, though, the conditions are often some of the most hellish on tour. Along with the slow conditions because of the dry, dusty desert air, gusty wind can make it incredibly challenging for all players.

Continue reading...

• Saudi Public Investment Fund pays for programme
• 320 players can take up to 12 months off and access IVF

The Women’s Tennis Association has become the first international sports body to introduce up to 12 months of paid maternity leave for players, in what it has hailed as a defining moment for women’s sport.

Under the new policy, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, players will also get access to grants for fertility treatments, including egg freezing and IVF.

Continue reading...

• Former world No 1 won US Open and French Open singles titles
• Stolle helped Australia win three straight Davis Cups from 1964

Australian tennis great Fred Stolle, a former world No 1, dual grand slam singles champion and three-times Davis Cup winner, has died at the age of 86.

To modern-day fans, Stolle will be best remembered for his colourful commentary and anecdotes after featuring on TV for almost 50 years. To old-timers and aficionados, Stolle will be regarded as a giant of the game during the halcyon days of the 1960s when Australia ruled the tennis world and Stolle ruled some of the country’s finest ever players.

Continue reading...

Banned world No 1 casts a shadow as tour returns to tournament at which sequence of events began that led to punishment

Early on during his stay in the California desert a year ago, Giacomo Naldi allegedly reached into his treatment bag one morning and accidentally brushed his left finger across the blade of a scalpel used to remove calluses, immediately drawing blood. Two days later, after Naldi had removed the bandage from his finger, his colleague Umberto Ferrara suggested he use the over-the-counter ointment Trofodermin to treat his healing wound.

Naldi and Ferrara were in Indian Wells as Jannik Sinner’s physio and fitness trainer respectively. According to Sinner and his team, as Naldi began to use the ointment to treat his wound while also conducting his daily treatment on Sinner without gloves and Sinner undertook two doping tests in the subsequent two weeks, these events put into motion the most high-profile anti-doping case in tennis history as he twice tested positive.

Continue reading...

• Briton describes her ordeal at hands of ‘fixated’ man
• Player due to be in action at Indian Wells on Thursday

Emma Raducanu has spoken out about her stalking ordeal for the first time, disclosing on Tuesday that she “couldn’t see the ball through tears” and could “barely breathe” after noticing the man who had followed her across borders throughout February was sitting metres away from her in the stands of her match in Dubai.

Raducanu had been competing in the second round of the Dubai Open against Karolina Muchova when she paused the match and was overcome with emotions, positioning herself behind the umpire’s chair while the spectator was removed. “I was very distraught,” said Raducanu as she prepares for the Indian Wells Open. “I saw him first game of the match, and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna finish’.”

Continue reading...

Recent losses seemed to reflect coaching uncertainty but impact of stalkers sheds new light on difficulties she faces

The season is ruthless and unforgiving, a significant tournament always on the horizon for its subjects. For Emma Raducanu, this means that after one of the most difficult experiences of her career, another encounter with a stalker, she has had little time to digest her emotions before the next big event is upon her.

Last month, while she competed in a series of tournaments across Asia, Raducanu was pursued by a stalker across tournament sites, cities and borders, who attempted strategically to approach her when she was alone. His behaviour culminated in Raducanu spotting him in the stands during her second‑round match against Karolina Muchova in Dubai. Understandably emotional, Raducanu asked for the man to be removed. He was subsequently banned from WTA tournaments and signed an agreement to stay away from her.

Continue reading...

• Partnership to continue at US tournaments this month
• Pair worked together at Australian Open in January

Novak Djokovic’s partnership with coach Andy Murray will continue at Indian Wells this week and at the Miami Open this month, the PA news agency understands.

Murray is heading out to Indian Wells, California, on Monday for the BNP Paribas Open, which starts on Wednesday, with the Miami Open following on 19 March.

Continue reading...

• Briton expected to be offered extra security at event
• Zverev loses to Tien as seeds exit at Mexican Open

Emma Raducanu will return to action next week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

At the former US Open champion’s most recent tournament in Dubai last week, she was approached by a man displaying what the WTA described as “fixated behaviour” before her second-round defeat to Karolina Muchova. Raducanu was visibly distressed, hiding behind the umpire’s chair early in the contest after spotting the man in the first few rows of seats.

Continue reading...

• British No 1 beaten 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 but up to 12th in rankings
• Andreeva, 17, becomes youngest WTA 1000 title winner

Andrey Rublev was tested early on but finished in style to beat Britain’s Jack Draper 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 and win the Qatar Open on Saturday.

“It feels amazing. It’s the first time I’ve won the same title twice,” the delighted Russian said. “I’m really happy. I don’t know what else to say.”

Continue reading...

• British No 1 recovers to beat Jiri Lehecka 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3
• World No 2 Zverev shocked by Francisco Comesano

The British No 1, Jack Draper, produced another gutsy display to defeat Jiri Lehecka in three sets at the Qatar Open and reach the fifth ATP Tour final of his career, while world No 2 Alexander Zverev tumbled out of he Rio Open against Francisco Comesana.

Lehecka had stunned Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals in Doha and looked on course to claim another scalp when he won the first set. Draper required a tie-break to get the match back on level terms before he showed his class in the decider to take victory by a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 score.

Continue reading...

• British No 1 battles past Matteo Berrettini at Qatar Open
• Jiri Lehecka stuns world No 3 Alcaraz in three sets

Jack Draper reached the Qatar Open semi-finals in Doha after fighting back to beat Matteo Berrettini in three gruelling sets. The British men’s No 1, sidelined for a month with a hip injury before his return to action this week, overcame the 28-year-old Italian 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and faces Jiri Lehecka in the last four.

Draper let slip his third service game on his way to losing the first set before breaking Berrettini for the first time at 5-4 up in the second to level it up. The eighth seed broke Berrettini’s serve for the second time to move 3-1 up in the decider and that proved decisive as he then fended off break point against him to lead 5-2 before comfortably serving out for the match.

Continue reading...

Women in sport are left exposed by the lack of backing that men receive, and by toxic attitudes that must be called out

If you watched any of Emma Raducanu’s Tuesday match against Karolina Muchova, it was probably only the two clips, stitched together neatly for the news highlights. Raducanu approaching the umpire. Raducanu wiping away tears with a towel.

An emotional Raducanu is an instant headline, although this wasn’t a case of injury or frustration. Having seen a man in the crowd whose off-court behaviour had already concerned her, she was doing the sensible thing and reporting it. The Daily Mail reported that she was “reduced to cowering behind the umpire’s chair”. What a brilliantly multi-purpose use of language: paternalistic readers can get heroically angry on her behalf while the others write her off as a snowflake.

Continue reading...

• American is currently ranked No 974 in the world
• Former world No 1 has been out of tennis for nearly a year

Venus Williams has been given a wildcard entry for the BNP Paribas Open, which would make next month’s tournament in Indian Wells her first event in nearly a year.

The 44-year-old hasn’t competed anywhere on tour since a first-round loss at the Miami Open on 19 March 2024. That was less than two weeks after she lost her opening match at Indian Wells.

Continue reading...