Category: Tennis

Last month she had a post-defeat meltdown and insisted she was done with tennis. On the eve of Wimbledon, she talks about what really happened – and why her ‘aggressive’ face gives people the wrong impression

It’s less than a month since Aryna Sabalenka told the world that she felt like walking away from tennis. The world No 1 had suffered an almighty implosion. Sabalenka is as famous for her implosions as she is for her on-court ferocity. But this was a different level.

She had been playing at her imperious best in the French Open, one of tennis’s four major tournaments. Winner after winner from the back of the court, and when she bullied her opponents back to the baseline she’d dupe them with the most delicate drop-shot. In the last 16 against Naomi Osaka she looked invincible. And then came the quarter-final. By now, all her main rivals were out. The 28-year-old had a clear path through to winning her fifth grand slam singles title. Again, she was playing well against the world’s No 25, Diana Shnaider. Sabalenka won the first set easily, 6-3, and was 5-3 up in the second set. Victory was an inevitability. And then it happened. One game lost. Then another. And another. The wind had picked up, playing conditions got ever worse, the organisers failed to close the roof. And Sabalenka was walloping shot after shot out of court.

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Shorter points help the 39-year-old at SW19, where Jannik Sinner hopes to show French Open upset was a blip

For the 21st time in his long and fruitful career, Novak Djokovic arrived at the All England Club on Monday and began his preparations for another Wimbledon in earnest. The 39-year-old worked his way through his tentative first steps on the grass courts of Aorangi Park, movement exercises complementing his sparring on court. He found his rhythm against local hitting partners and tussled with other champions. His training sessions included a catchup with his old friend Marin Cilic and then he broke in the grass on No 1 Court with the world No 1, Jannik Sinner, iron sharpening iron.

The ultimate goal is the same as it has been for some time: Djokovic, the seventh seed, returns to Wimbledon again seeking to become the oldest grand slam singles champion in history by winning an unprecedented 25th grand slam title. At 39 years old, his chances of achieving this goal naturally lessen with each tournament, but he has repeatedly shown that, if fortune favours him for two weeks, he is more than capable of taking advantage.

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Her motivations for returning may be hard to gauge but there is no doubt the returning former champion will steal the early spotlight at SW19

At the southernmost point of the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s vast grounds, Serena Williams was starting another day of training as the clock ticked down to her first singles match after four years of retirement. Her training partner for the morning, Marta Kostyuk, soon joined her on court 10 in Aorangi Park, the quaint practice area reserved only for players.

Kostyuk is one of the more extroverted players on the tour and she is widely known for speaking her mind under all circumstances, but when Williams greeted Kostyuk and thanked her for the training session, for once the Ukrainian looked at a loss for words: “No, thank you for playing with me,” she responded.

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• Draper to play sixth seed Taylor Fritz in first match

• Ostapenko and Sabalenka drawn in Raducanu’s quarter

Serena Williams will face Australia’s Maja Joint at Wimbledon in her long-awaited return to singles competition after four years of retirement, a match between two players born nearly 25 years apart.

Joint, a talented 20-year-old who won Eastbourne last year, has struggled badly this year, compiling a 3-15 record. The winner of their first round match could face the in-form Filipino 25th seed, Alexandra Eala.

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All-time greats have questions to answer in SW19 while Raducanu and Draper have to show they can stay fit

Serena Williams left it until the last minute to take the final available singles wildcard at Wimbledon and dramatically escalate her comeback from retirement. It is hard to imagine this was all part of her master plan. If she knew she was ready to compete against the best in the world from the beginning of the grass court season, Williams would have surely tested the waters at Queen’s Club or in Berlin, rather than playing doubles. But here she is, unable to resist the pull of Wimbledon, where she has won seven times in singles. Williams’s career has been filled with so many magical moments and at 44 years old, after four years of retirement, she is back at SW19 attempting to create a few more magical moments.

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• 23-year-old spotted in protective boot on Wednesday

• Raducanu’s last match was HSBC Championships final

Emma Raducanu faces a race to be at full fitness for Wimbledon after her preparations for the tournament were disrupted by injury.

On Wednesday evening Raducanu was seen by Clay magazine leaving the All England Club wearing a protective boot on her right foot after not practising that day. She had been scheduled to train at midday on Thursday but did not practise for a second straight day.

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It is the stroke that looks easy but can be a nightmare for some of the world’s top players – even Novak Djokovic has the Djokosmash

Elite players are often at their most comfortable when speaking about the fine technical details of their game, but last month at the French Open, a straightforward question about the overhead smash initially drew little more than a regretful shake of the head from Novak Djokovic. “You’re talking to the wrong person,” he said, laughing.

One of the pillars of Djokovic’s legendary career is his complete game. In a sport where most players have a weak point, the 24-time grand slam champion has mastered nearly every stroke.

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• Australian veteran says four-year ban is a ‘disgrace’

• ITIA says strong testing means unpredictable timing

Ajla Tomljanovic has described the lengthy doping ban administered to Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon singles champion, as a disgrace and has accused the ­tennis anti-doping authorities of being out to get players even when they have done nothing wrong.

The International Tennis ­Integrity Agency announced on Monday that Vondrousova had been handed a four‑year suspension by an independent tribunal after the Czech player had refused to provide a sample to a doping control officer at her home last December at around 8pm.

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• ‘No compelling justification’ for not submitting a sample

• ‘Unpredictable testing is essential to protect clean sport’

Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon singles champion, has been banned from professional sport for four years after she refused an anti-doping test.

According to an independent tribunal, Vondrousova provided “no compelling justification” for declining to provide a sample after being notified at her home by a doping control officer in December. The 26-year-old is suspended from all professional events until 21 June 2030.

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• Seven-time champion, now 44, continues on-court return

• She will also compete in doubles with sister Venus

Serena Williams will make a stunning return to singles competition at Wimbledon after being announced as the tournament’s final wildcard on Sunday.

Wimbledon will mark Williams’s first singles appearance in nearly four years after retiring from the sport at the 2022 US Open and it marks a dramatic escalation in her comeback.

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• 28-year-old is first US player to win at Halle since 1993

• Tiafoe will climb to No 19 as Wimbledon nears

Frances Tiafoe beat fellow American Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-4 to win the ⁠Halle Open on Sunday, sealing the biggest title of his career and becoming the first American since 1993 to lift the ATP ⁠500 grass-court trophy.

Tiafoe ⁠set the ​tone early, breaking serve in the opening set and remaining composed on his own delivery to keep Fritz from settling. He carried ⁠that momentum into the second set, again striking early and dictating from the baseline to wrap up the win and snap a seven-match losing streak ⁠against Fritz since his first victory in 2016.

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Serena Williams’ appearance plus Raducanu and Boulter doing so well put the men’s event in the shade this year

One of the more amusing sights at the Queen’s Club tournament each year comes before even entering the grounds. On the first day of play on Monday, a deluge of spectators invariably descend on Barons Court station, just 150 metres from the entrance.

So many people passing through a tiny London Underground station naturally means long queues at the barriers. That congestion is not helped by many of them comically pausing in front of the gates to frantically search for their debit cards or desperately try to unlock their phones.

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Former world No 4 backs best man at his wedding to reignite Raducanu and hopes to entice Jannik Sinner to join Team Europe at the O2

“Tennis is in a good place, but I think it could be better,” says Tim Henman when asked about the state of the sport that has consumed most of his life. He will soon outline ways tennis could be improved but, first, it helps to remember that the 51-year-old played in six grand slam semi-finals, including four at Wimbledon, won an Olympic silver medal and became No 4 in the world despite constant gripes from part-time tennis supporters who wrongly said he lacked the grit of an elite player.

Yet grit filters through Henman’s memories and explains why he loves tennis while always striving to reach a better place. We meet at the Queen’s Club and the elegance of the venue provides a stark contrast to the series of cheap B&Bs where Henman lived, down the road in Earl’s Court, for two years at the outset of his career. Money was tight then and sometimes four young players could share a single room.

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