Category: Tennis

World No 1’s spellbinding effort dismantled by Alcaraz in the fifth set to conjure theatre in Paris and a rivalry for the ages

By the end, it felt cruel to want more. Look at the state of these men: bedraggled and dishevelled, dragged into a place of wildness and madness, of mental atrophy and physical dismay. You, on the other hand, have spent the last five and a half hours sitting on your couch, eating snacks and gorging on the finest sporting theatre. You want this prolonged for your entertainment? You want more of this? And of course the only real answer is: yes. Yes, please.

Twilight zone at Roland Garros. Two sets each, six games each: the shadows ravenous, the noise bestial, every thrill laced with a kind of sickness. By the end, admiration began to meld with pity. Pity for their teams and families, trapped in the convulsions, feeling a spiralling hypertension with every passing moment. Pity for the tennis balls, being smacked and beaten mercilessly across the Paris night. Pity for the watching Andre Agassi, who you could swear had hair when this match started.

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• ‘I just have to manage it,’ Briton tells reporters

• Prize money for WTA 500 event to be £1m

Emma Raducanu has admitted she is unsure how her body will hold up to the rigours of the grass court season after another back spasm in ­training. The 22-year-old’s latest injury ­concern came as she was preparing for the first women’s tournament at Queen’s Club for 52 years, and left her unable to practise for several days.

It was Raducanu’s second back spasm in three weeks, after initially experiencing the problem against Danielle Collins in Strasbourg a week before the French Open, and as a result she goes into the Queen’s Club event with low expectations.

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Carlos Alcaraz came back from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreak, retaining his title in one of the greatest finals ever played, in any sport

Sinner reckons Alcaraz is the favourite, but notes he’s improving on clay. He’s moving better and more confident and knows that if he serves well he’s very difficult to beat. If he can get his line forehand going too, he’s almost unbeatable.

“Wondering how the doubles have gone in Paris,” begins Andrew Benton. “The dear old doubles always seems to get scant coverage, but games are so nice to watch.”

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Gauff claimed her first Roland Garros title, her second Grand Slam to deny the world No 1 in an epic three sets

The roof is open and the wind is blowing in, which adds a variable. It could get a bit swirly.

Via the BBC, plucky Brit news:

Teenager Hannah Klugman was unable to become the first Briton in almost 50 years to win a French Open juniors title after losing in the girls’ singles final.

The 16-year-old, competing in her first junior Grand Slam singles final, was beaten 6-2 6-0 by Austria’s Lilli Tagger.

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• Djokovic has nowhere to hide against relentless Sinner

• Queen’s to offer equal prize money by 2029 | Mail Daniel

Musetti 1-1 Alcaraz* How can you be sponsored by Nike and turn up in beige and cream? Someone needs to ave a word wiv someone. Up 15-0, Alcaraz plays the shot he missed on break point, a spiteful forehand down the line, but at 40-15 a hopeful and, dare I say it, lazy drop, gives Musetti a sniff. For all the good it does him: a backhand falls long and the champ looks good. Of course he does.

Musetti 1-0 Alcaraz (*denotes server) A netted forehand gives Alcaraz 0-15, then a long backhand restores parity and a good point for each players takes us to 30-all; already Musetti is under pressure. And when Alcaraz wallops a forehand from the backhand corner to the Italian’s backhand corner – exactly the kind of shot we talked about earlier – he can’t control his response and must now face break point. Alcaraz quickly manipulates the rally to open a passing lane down the line … only to hit the net, a let-off for Musetti. And from there, he closes out a highly necessary hold.

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• American ends wildcard’s fairytale run in two sets

• World No 2 reaches second Roland-Garros final

Coco Gauff said she had to block out the home support as she beat French wildcard Lois Boisson to reach the final at Roland-Garros on Thursday.

Boisson, the world No 361, sent shockwaves around the tournament by becoming the first wildcard to reach the semi-finals, and a notoriously fierce crowd can be a challenge even for the most seasoned players, but Gauff came prepared.

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• LTA hopes profit from new venture will bridge gap

• 2025 prize pot at £1.042m for women; £2.12m for men

The LTA has pledged to secure equal prize money for the new women’s tennis tournament held at Queen’s and the mixed event in Eastbourne by 2029 at the latest.

Women’s tennis will return to The Queen’s Club in Baron’s Court, London for the first time in more than 50 years next week in the form of a WTA 500 event, one week before the annual men’s ATP 500 event at Queen’s. The player list includes Madison Keys, Elena Rybakina, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter.

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• No 2 seed recovers to win 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 in patchy match

• Gauff to face local hope Boisson in the last four

Coco Gauff passed her biggest test so far at the French Open as she scrapped her way past fellow American Madison Keys to reach the semi-finals. A scruffy match featuring 101 unforced errors and 14 breaks of serve ended 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 in favour of the world No 2. Gauff had previously not dropped a set as she quietly made her way through the friendlier side of the draw.

In a nervy first set Gauff overturned a 4-1 deficit to force a set point at 5-4, only to be taken to a tie-break, which Keys won. Gauff went 4-1 up in the second but found herself pegged back, before a break and a hold took the match into a decider.

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• Kyrgios has not played at All England Club since losing 2022 final

• Ongoing knee problem rules him out of this year’s grand slam in London

Nick Kyrgios’s Wimbledon absence will stretch into a third year after the Australian tennis maverick suffered a fresh injury setback.

Kyrgios has not played at Wimbledon since losing the 2022 final to Novak Djokovic, after a combination of knee, foot and wrist injuries.

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• Alcaraz continues title defense with straight-sets win

• Swiatek eases past Svitolina to book Sabalenka clash

Second set: *Paul 0-6, 0-1 Alcaraz (*denotes next server)

Signs of life for Paul, who grabs two points off Alcaraz’s serve for love-30. But Alcaraz rattles off four straight from there to escape with the hold.

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• French wildcard stuns third seed in three sets

• Gauff and Andreeva also through to quarter-finals

The French wildcard Lois Boisson defeated the third seed Jessica Pegula to reach the French Open quarter-finals and send shock waves around Roland Garros. The 22-year-old, ranked No 361 in the world, stunned the American 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to the delight of the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd.

Boisson’s only real claim to fame before the tournament this year was when Britain’s Harriet Dart complained to an umpire about her, saying “tell her to wear deodorant”.

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• World No 6 eases to 6-3, 7-5 win in 94 minutes at Roland Garros

• Former Russian’s first grand slam as Australian ends in fourth-round loss

Daria Kasatkina’s first grand slam as an Australian is over, ended at the French Open by her teenage phenomenon friend Mirra Andreeva.

Two months since being granted permanent residency, Kasatkina’s hopes of becoming the first Australian woman to reach the quarter-finals since Ash Barty’s triumphant year of 2019 finally unravelled 6-3 7-5 at the hands of the exceptional Russian-born 18-year-old.

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• Spaniard gives up point after admitting to infraction

• American men make quarter-finals for first time since 2003

Carlos Alcaraz called himself out for breaking the rules at the French Open and conceded a point during his fourth-round victory over Ben Shelton on Sunday.

Early in the second set, Shelton whipped a passing shot well out of Alcaraz’s reach. The Spaniard flung his racket and, as it flipped through the air, the strings somehow not only made contact with the ball but sent it back over the net.

Initially, the defending champion was awarded the point. But he told the chair umpire that he had broken the rules because he wasn’t holding his racket when it touched the ball. The point went to Shelton, and the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd gave Alcaraz a round of applause.

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Ach, Paolini breaks again – that’s loose from Svitolina, and she’ll be raging at her behaviour. At 4-2, it’ll take some work to get back into the set and, as I type, another gorgeous drop underlines the point. Paolini has the greater variety of shots, but Svitolina is canny, meeting aggression with aggression. We’re now at 30-all while, in the other match, it’s 2-2 and already a slog. Lovely stuff!

Yes she can! She’s worked her way into this match, stepping into court and looking to attack, no “rally balls”, to borrow Chrissie’s expression. A fantastic return, inside-out on the forehand, makes 15-40, and a long forehand means we’re back on serve at 3-2 Paolini.

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