Category: Tennis

• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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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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• Britain face Australia after victory over Argentina
• Kazakhstan reach quarter-finals of mixed team event

The British No 1 Katie Boulter admitted she was dreading the prospect of playing against her fiance, Alex de Minaur, after leading Great Britain to victory over Argentina in the United Cup.

Boulter beat Nadia Podoroska in straight sets in Sydney, then paired up with Charles Broom in the doubles to win the tie after Billy Harris had lost his singles rubber to Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The 28-year-old could come up against De Minaur in a mixed doubles match when Britain face Australia on New Year’s Day.

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Novak Djokovic admits it is strange sharing insights and secrets his new coach Andy Murray, previously one of his biggest rivals. Djokovic is aiming to win the Australian Open for the 11th time next month and will be working with former Wimbledon and US Open champion Murray.

• Djokovic admits sharing tennis secrets with new coach Murray feels ‘strange’

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• World No 7 will train with former rival at Australian Open
• Veteran still critical of Sinner and Swiatek doping cases

Novak Djokovic admits it has been “strange” to have Andy Murray working as his coach but believes he will benefit from one of his greatest rivals taking a “fresh look” at his game.

The 24-time grand-slam winner also spoke of his frustration at being “kept in the dark” over Jannik Sinner’s doping case, accusing the game’s authorities of double standards and a lack of transparency.

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• Australia defeated 2-1 despite de Minaur’s emphatic 6-1, 6-4 victory
• Australia next United Cup tie is against Great Britain on Tuesday

Australia only have to point to recent history to know not to be disheartened by their opening night 2-1 loss to Argentina in the United Cup.

Alex de Minaur notched the only victory against Argentina, the world No 9 putting on a devastating display to beat Tomas Etcheverry 6-1, 6-4 at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena in 75 minutes.

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• Australian has accepted provisional suspension for anti-doping breach
• Thompson to play with Chris O’Connell at Brisbane International

The doping ban of Australia’s two-time doubles grand-slam winner Max Purcell has been described as “a joke” by his US Open-winning partner Jordan Thompson.

The 26-year-old Purcell was provisionally suspended over an alleged violation of tennis’ anti-doping program. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Monday that Purcell had voluntarily accepted the suspension, after admitting to a breach relating to a prohibited method.

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• World No 2 tested positive for trimetazidine in August
• Swiatek insists all anti-doping cases are treated the same

Iga Swiatek says she feared a more negative reaction to her doping ban, and insists that all such cases in tennis are treated in the same way. The Pole was handed a one-month suspension in November after a positive test for trimetazidine, which the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted was caused by contamination of a medicine Swiatek was taking for jet lag.

It was the second high-profile doping case to hit the sport this year after the men’s world No 1 Jannik Sinner’s two failed tests, for which he did not receive a ban. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) appealed that decision and Sinner may still be suspended, but Swiatek is not expecting a similar outcome.

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• British No 1 suffered hip problem in pre-season training
• ‘What’s most important is that I can have a long career’

Jack Draper faces a race against time to be in top physical shape for the Australian Open next month after suffering a hip injury during his pre-season training.

Having already cancelled plans to travel to Villena, Spain for an intense pre-season training block with Carlos Alcaraz due to his hip, last week Draper withdrew from the United Cup, his first scheduled event of 2024, and opted out of the Davis Cup tie slated for the weekend after the Australian Open in Tokyo.

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• Australian doubles star accepts provisional suspension
• ITIA yet to specify length of ban or any details of breach

Australian tennis player Max Purcell has been provisionally suspended over an alleged violation of the sport’s anti-doping program.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Monday that the two-time doubles grand slam winner had voluntarily accepted the suspension, after admitting to a breach relating to a prohibited method.

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