Cameron Norrie accidentally hits spectator with racket in Auckland loss – video

Britain’s Cameron Norrie apologised and avoided disqualification when a racket he threw in the air struck a spectator at the ATP Tour tournament in Auckland on Tuesday. Norrie was facing match point against Facundo Díaz Acosta of Argentina when he lightly tossed his racket, which struck a woman in a court-side box who was unhurt. Norrie received a warning from the chair umpire and went on to lose 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the tournament. He reached the final in Auckland in 2023. “I wasn’t meaning to do that but it’s still not ideal to be doing that and I’ve never done something like that,” Norrie said. “[The spectator] was laughing and I just said: ‘So sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.’ And she said: ‘Yeah, I’m completely OK.’ Footage courtesy of ATP Tour.

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Cameron Norrie accidentally hits spectator with racket in Auckland loss

  • Player receives warning during defeat to Díaz Acosta
  • ‘I’m not happy with how I behaved,’ admits Briton

Britain’s Cameron Norrie apologised and avoided disqualification when a racket he threw in the air struck a spectator at the ATP Tour tournament in Auckland on Tuesday.

Norrie was facing match point against Facundo Díaz Acosta of Argentina when he lightly tossed his racket, which struck a woman in a court-side box who was unhurt. Norrie received a warning from the chair umpire and went on to lose 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the tournament. He reached the final in Auckland in 2023.

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Naomi Osaka says she and rapper Cordae are no longer in a relationship

  • Osaka shares relationship update on social media
  • She and Cordae became parents to a daughter in 2023

Four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka says she and her partner, rapper Cordae, “are no longer in a relationship”.

Osaka posted the news on social media Monday, less than a week before the Australian Open tennis tournament begins. Osaka won that event in 2019 and 2021. She also owns two titles from the US Open.

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Nick Kyrgios named in Australia’s Davis Cup team after five-year absence

  • Former world No 13 to face Sweden in qualifying tie from 31 January
  • De Minaur, Thompson and Kokkinakis also selected in squad

Nick Kyrgios is in line to make a sensational return to Australia’s Davis Cup team for the first time in more than five years. The 2022 Wimbledon finalist, who’s been taking the first tentative steps on the comeback road after long-standing injuries, is a shock selection by captain Lleyton Hewitt for the qualifying tie in Sweden in Stockholm starting on 31 January.

In the team nominations unveiled on Monday, the 29-year-old’s name in Australia’s four-man outfit raised eyebrows as he’s shown no interest in the men’s “World Cup of tennis” ever since he last played against Belgium in November 2019.

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USA win United Cup as Coco Gauff lays down marker against Iga Swiatek

  • Gauff defeats world No 2 Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 in Sydney
  • Fritz clinches title with 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 victory over Hurkacz

In her short time as a professional tennis player, even as her career flourished and she established herself as one of the best in the world, Coco Gauff’s great progress was often overshadowed by the match-up she just could not solve. By last June, Gauff had lost 11 of her first 12 matches against Iga Swiatek, an opponent she is likely to play for many more years.

What was once a painfully one-sided non-rivalry may have finally turned into one of the best match-ups in professional tennis. On Sunday evening at the United Cup in Sydney, Gauff registered her second consecutive win over Swiatek, toppling the five-time grand slam champion 6-4, 6-4 after two hours of sublime tennis from both champions.

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Elena Rybakina defends suspended former coach as WTA investigates claims of misconduct

  • Stefano Vukov is under investigation by the WTA
  • 2022 Wimbledon champion was ‘never mistreated’

Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, has insisted that her former coach Stefano Vukov did not mistreat her during their coaching partnership after it was revealed that Vukov is under investigation by the Women’s Tennis Association.

A WTA spokesperson confirmed this week that Vukov is being investigated for allegedly breaking the WTA’s code of conduct and he is provisionally suspended from the tour until the investigation has been concluded.

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Swiatek and Boulter showcase new lease of life for mixed doubles format

The United Cup attracted a healthy field of top players and this dynamic and intense event appears to be thriving

Towards the end of the frantic, tension-filled mixed doubles tussle between Poland and Norway at the United Cup in Sydney, Casper Ruud took a deep breath as he stood on top of the baseline alongside his partner Ulrikke Eikeri and prepared to serve. With just a narrow 4-3 lead in the third set match tie-break, the following minutes would determine Norway’s fate in the competition.

Ruud fired down a heavy topspin serve and then he traded forceful crosscourt groundstrokes with Poland’s Jan Zielinski from the left side of the court. But then, all of a sudden, his focus shifted. Ruud sharply changed directions, instead opting to hammer forehands down the line towards Iga Swiatek on the baseline in an attempt to overpower her and break her down. Not only did Swiatek firmly hold her ground, though, she maintained immaculate depth under pressure and methodically wrestled the initiative back from Ruud. By the end of the point, it was Swiatek who pounced on a short backhand from Ruud and curled a crosscourt forehand winner past Eikeri at the net.

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USA to face Poland for United Cup title, Sabalenka and Osaka advance to finals

  • US beat Czechs, Poland defeat Kazakhstan in Sydney
  • Aryna Sabalenka powers past Andreeva in Brisbane
  • Naomi Osaka close to ending trophy wait in Auckland

Former champions the United States returned to the final of the United Cup mixed team tournament with a fortuitous victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday and set up a title clash with Poland, who hammered Kazakhstan.

Tomas Machac looked set to draw the Czechs level at 1-1 in their semi-final and was serving for the contest against Taylor Fritz, but an apparent cramp took its toll and he lost three straight games before throwing in the towel at 7-6 (4), 5-6.

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Iga Swiatek bundles brilliant Boulter and Britain out of United Cup after epic

  • ‘Exhausted’ Pole edges out British No 1 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4
  • Boulter so close to securing biggest win of her career

Over the course of the past 18 months, by far the most rewarding period in her blossoming career, Katie Boulter has gradually established herself as one of the best players in the world. She has won noteworthy titles, defeated top opponents and embedded herself inside the top 30.

Yet no battle in her career has quite matched the delirium of an unforgettable night in Sydney when she went shot-for-shot with the greatest active women’s player, Iga Swiatek, and came so close to securing the biggest win of her career. After three hours of tennis of the highest ­quality, Swiatek somehow survived a brilliant ­performance from Boulter, winning 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 to secure a 2-0 win for Poland over Great Britain and a spot in the semi-finals of the United Cup.

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Boulter’s win helps to see off Australia and fiance De Minaur in United Cup

  • British No 1 dominant in 6-2, 6-1 victory over Gadecki
  • Britain will face Poland in quarter-finals on Thursday

As the Great Britain and Australia teams lined up ahead of their highly anticipated United Cup tussle, Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter savoured the last moment of peace in their household for the day, greeting each other on-court with a friendly kiss on the cheek. Then they retreated to their opposite corners of the arena and prepared to do battle.

By the end of the night, De Minaur had claimed victory in their skirmish but Boulter and her team were triumphant in the war. Although Australia defeated Great Britain 2-1 in Sydney, the home nation was knocked out of the competition as Great Britain advanced to the quarter-finals of the United Cup.

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Kyrgios shrugs off lingering wrist pain in tight doubles loss with Djokovic

  • Djokovic double fault at 8-6 disastrous for star pairing
  • Kyrgios heads home to ponder Australian Open return

A fluent and upbeat Nick Kyrgios shrugged off the pain in his surgically repaired wrist as his Brisbane International comeback ended in a tight doubles loss.

The Australian fulfilled his promise to play alongside Novak Djokovic in the second-round men’s doubles after a taxing three-set loss to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday night. Such was the battering he took from the big-serving French star, Kyrgios had forecast a rough day for his serving arm and even suggested his scheduled Australian Open return later this month was in doubt.

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Wimbledon finalist Dabrowski played tennis season after cancer diagnosis

  • Canadian had surgery after April breast cancer diagnosis
  • Dabrowski returned to win mixed doubles bronze in Paris

Wimbledon finalist Gabriela Dabrowski has revealed she played through the 2024 season while receiving treatment for breast cancer.

The 32-year-old Canadian had kept her diagnosis in April a secret but detailed the battle she has been through in a lengthy Instagram post.

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Nick Kyrgios falls short in singles comeback against big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

  • Mpetshi Perricard served 36 aces to Kyrgios’s 15 in three-set victory
  • Australian backed up from doubles win alongside Novak Djokovic

Nick Kyrgios says he will “need a miracle” to contend for a grand slam title after an injury comeback loss that offered a sobering reality check.

The Australian could only shrug his shoulders as big-serving rising star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard left him with a “throbbing” wrist and crashed his comeback party in the Brisbane International first round on Tuesday.

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Emma Raducanu back injury leaves her facing race to be fit for Australian Open

  • Briton forced to withdraw from Auckland Open
  • Raducanu: ‘I picked up a niggle and won’t be ready’

Emma Raducanu has sustained another frustrating injury setback at the beginning of the new tennis season as she was forced to withdraw from the Auckland Open before her scheduled first-round match becuase of a back injury.

Raducanu, who was seeded sixth, had been due to start her season on Tuesday in Auckland against Robin Montgomery of the US but the 22-year-old has been nursing a back injury in recent weeks. Her back pain did not abate enough during her preparation, forcing her to withdraw from the tournament.

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‘Writing a book is tough but being a pro is harder’: Conor Niland on tennis’s periphery and reframing success

Author of William Hill award-winning book The Racket does not miss life on tour as world No 129 but holds no bitterness towards the game

Conor Niland laughs and, without hesitating, rejects the idea that he misses the intensity of competition which shaped and sometimes deformed his life as a professional tennis player who reached a high of No 129 in the world. “No,” he exclaims. “I found myself waking up with butterflies in my stomach on the morning of the William Hill [Sports Book of the Year award] and thinking: ‘I haven’t felt this in a while, and I don’t particularly miss it.’ I don’t think anyone enjoys butterflies that much.”

Niland scrabbled around on the Futures and Challengers tours, those brutal circuits of hell for players outside the top 100 where intensity is often defined by the need to win a match to earn enough money to pay a hotel bill or book a plane ticket out of Astana or Delhi and fly to the next tournament in the hope of climbing the rankings. The dream of becoming an ATP regular has now been replaced for Niland, who retired from tennis in 2012, by a very different dream which saw him deservedly win the Sports Book of the Year last month for The Racket.

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