Page 21 - Tennis

Don't think anyone will ever come close to Djokovic: Former world no. 17

With the Australian Open currently on, defending champion Novak Djokovic has once again been dubbed as a favourite to retain the title, and former world No. 17 Bernard Tomic of Australia firmly believes there will be no one to challenge the great Serbian. Djokovic is the leading Grand Slam winner in the Open Era of tennis. He also has the chance of winning the most Grand Slam titles across eras, as another win would allow him to surpass the all-time record of Margaret Court. Djokovic is eying his 25th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Tomic, who has lost to Djokovic on all six instances in the ATP circuit, dubbed him a "freak" and also the "G.O.A.T", besides adding that to beat him, one has to play at the highest level at all times. "I was lucky enough to beat Djokovic at the Hopman Cup 11 years ago (chuckles). He is a freak. "You have no choice but to play at the highest level to beat him. And, if you lower your level even the slightest against him, you will lose," he told

Australian Open 2024: Alcaraz sets up quarterfinal clash against Zverev

Carlos Alcaraz completed a Grand Slam set by reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time, setting up a showdown against Olympic champion Alexander Zverev. The 20-year-old Wimbledon champion missed the season-opening major in 2023 because of injury but is more than making up for lost time. The No. 2-seeded Alcaraz beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in less than two hours Monday to open the night session on Rod Laver Arena. He has dropped just one set en route to the last eight. Zverev is there for the third time but is coming off some long five-set wins, including a four-hour, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) fourth-round victory over No. 19 Cameron Norrie. It was the 32nd five-set match so far at Melbourne Park, a tournament record in the Open era. Their match on Margaret Court Arena was prolonged after being delayed briefly when a protester threw anti-war pamphlets onto the back of the court in the third set. The protester was escorted out by security. No. 3 Danii

Davis Cup: Team India begin preparations for arch-rivals Pakistan tie

Braving cold conditions, the Indian Davis Cup team began its preparatory camp for the upcoming grass court tie against Pakistan, keen to find a second singles player in the absence of top-ranked Indian Sumit Nagal. Country's top singles players -- Nagal (ranked 137) and Sasikumar Mukund (ranked 463) -- have pulled out of the tie February 3-4 tie in Islamabad. Their absence means that Ramkumar Ramanathan is the only singles specialist player in the team. Captain Rohit Rajpal has to choose between Yuki Bhambri and N Sriram Balaji to play the second singles. Bhambri, at 61 in the ATP doubles list, is the team's highest ranked player and will certainly play the doubles rubber as well. Veteran Rohan Bopanna, who is India's best doubles player, has retired from Davis Cup. Niki Poonacha is also an option but he is ranked as low as 783 and the team may not field him in singles. Both Bhambri and Balaji took a day off since they travelled straight from Melbourne after competing in the ...

Medvedev, Noskova, Yastremska advance to Australian Open quarterfinals

Daniil Medvedev is through to the Australian Open quarterfinals along with Dayana Yastremska and Linda Noskova, the latter two players for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament. Medvedev beat Nuno Borges 6-3 7-6(4) 5-7 6-1 on Monday to reach the last eight. He'll play either No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz or French wild-card entry Arthur Cazaux. Yastremska beat two-time champion Victoria Azarenka 7-6(6) 6-4 while 18th-ranked Elina Svitolina was trailing Noskova 3-0 when Svitolina retired with a back injury. Azarenka served for the first set twice and had two set points at 6-5 but couldn't take them and Yastremska won the opening set on her second chance after 74 minutes. The Ukrainian then led 3-0 in the second set but Yastremska won six of the next seven games to clinch victory, ending with 37 winners. "I think I need to take a thousand breaths because my heart I think is going to jump out of my body," Yastremska said. "During the match, I was imagining how I lost already like

Australian Open 2024: Bopanna-Ebden enter quarter-final with 7-6, 7-6 win

India's Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden entered the men's doubles quarterfinal of the Australian Open with an impressive 7-6 7-6 victory over Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Croatia's Nikola Mektic here on Monday. The 43-year-old Bopanna and his Aussie partner, who are seeded second in the draw, were broken early in both sets but showed themselves to be up to the task with some great returns against the 14th seeds. The Indo-Australian pair will now meet the sixth-seeded Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

After divorce with Sania Mirza, Shoaib Malik ties knot with Sana Javed

Pakistan's former captain Shoaib Malik announced on Saturday that he has married a second time to the country's popular actor Sana Javed in Karachi after getting divorced from Sania Mirza. The cricketer who was previously married to Indian tennis star, Sania, with whom he has a son, released a photograph on a social media platform with his new wife, with the words "And We created you in pairs". Their five-year-old son Izaan lives with Sania. Sania's father Imran Mirza told PTI that "it was a 'khula'", which refers to the right of a Muslim woman to unilaterally divorce her husband. There have been strong rumours since 2022 about differences between Shoaib and Sania leading to a split, and they have rarely been seen together in the last couple of years. Just a few days back Malik also unfollowed the Indian star on Instagram. Shoaib and Sania had got married in Hyderabad in the Indian player's hometown Hyderabad in April 2010 and they use to live in Dubai. Sana Javed who has starre

Australian Open 2024: Sabalenka crushes Tsurenko, reaches 4th round

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka reached the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday with a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Lesia Tsurenko. The second-seeded Belarusian, who won her first Grand Slam title here 12 months ago, needed just 52 minutes for victory at the Rod Laver Arena. She has dropped just six games in three rounds so far. Last year, Iga (Swiatek) won so many sets 6-0 and this is one of the goals, to try to get closer to her, Sabalenka joked. I'm just super-happy with the level I'm playing so far. Hopefully, I can just keep going like that or even better." The pair did not shake hands as is the convention for Ukrainian players against opponents from Russia or Belarus but Tsurenko congratulated Sabalenka verbally. Sabalenka will play Amanda Anisimova, who continued her comeback with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Paula Badosa. Anisimova, who took seven months out of the game last year for mental health reasons, hit 40 winners on her way to the fourth round. It's quite unbelieva

Australian Open: Blinkova upsets Rybakina in a record-long tiebreaker

Her hand and her legs were shaking, she'd missed nine match points but also saved six, and Anna Blinkova was 41 points into a wild tiebreaker that was the longest ever in a women's Grand Slam event. Elena Rybakina, last year's Australian Open runner-up, was just as anxious on the other side of the net. When Blinkova lunged to retrieve a backhand, aiming just to keep the rally alive, and Rybakina's next backhand sailed wide, it finished off a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20) second-round victory Thursday that she'll never, ever forget. It took me courage, she said. It took me some certain calmness to stay in the present moment and to play point by point no matter what happens. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who was runner-up here last year to Aryna Sabalenka, saved two match points in a third set that contained six service breaks. Blinkova twice served for the match but couldn't finish off, and a double-fault in the 12th game sent it to a 10-point tiebreaker. Once there, 13 minutes after

Australian Open 2024: Swiatek escapes with a narrow win over Collins

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek rallied from 4-1 down in the third set to escape with a narrow 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over 2022 runner-up Collins on Thursday and advance to the third round of the Australian Open. Swiatek held the momentum to start after recovering an early break, leading by a set and a break before the American player rallied to take the second set and race to a 4-1 lead in the third. Swiatek absorbed the sustained pressure from Collins' powerful groundstrokes until she regained momentum and went on a match-winning five-game roll. Oh my God. I don't even know, Swiatek said of how she managed to come back. "Honestly, I was on the airport already. But I wanted to fight to the end. "I'm really proud of myself, because it wasn't easy." Both players beat past Australian Open champions in the first round. Swiatek defeated 2020 champion Sofia Kenin and Collins had a three-set win over 2016 winner Angelique Kerber. Swiatek had two match points at 15-40 in the last game but against Col

Australian Open 2024: 16-year-old Andreeva beats Wimbledon finalist Jabeur

When their paths crossed after first-round wins, 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva saw Ons Jabeur make a light-hearted gesture that signaled she could see her. The three-time Grand Slam runner-up probably didn't really see what was coming her way at the Australian Open. The first set was over in 20 minutes. The match was over in 54 minutes Wednesday, with Andreeva advancing to the third round 6-0, 6-2. In the first set, I showed amazing tennis, she said. "I honestly didn't expect that from myself. I'm super happy with the level that I showed." Andreeva went into the tournament knowing that a first main draw win at the Australian Open completing a Grand Slam set could pay off with a second-round encounter against one of her childhood tennis inspirations. Sixth-seeded Jabeur reached back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2022 and was runner-up at Wimbledon against last year. Andreeva admired the Tunisian star and observed how she approached the sport, on and off the ...

History created at Australian Open: All you need to know about Sumit Nagal

Sumit Nagal, the man from Jhajjar, will next play China's 18-year-old wild card entrant Juncheng Shang on Thursday (January 18). Shang is ranked 140th in the ATP rankings.

Alcaraz overpowers Gasquet to win first Australian Open match since 2022

The bugs bothered Carlos Alcaraz in his first match at the Australian Open for two years, and so did the 37-year-old veteran Richard Gasquet. For the first set, at least. After taking an hour and 12 minutes to clinch the opener in a tie-breaker, second-ranked Alcaraz raced through the rest of the match in another hour against the tiring, sweat-soaked Frenchman for a 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2 win on Tuesday night. The first two games took a combined 17 minutes, with the 20-year-old Alcaraz needing a few moments to try to remove a persistent insect that was bothering him behind the baseline just before he held for 1-1. Both players used their rackets to push the bugs away from the court after the eighth game, and Alcaraz was at it again after the first set. There were few distractions after that until Alcaraz was serving for the match and the game went to deuce five times before he closed with an ace. He threw in some drop shots and slices that made Gasquet run, saying it shows he's playin

Australian Open 2024: Bhambri-Haase pair crash out after first round loss

India's Yuki Bhambri and his Dutch partner Robin Haase squandered three match points in the deciding set to go down against Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Rafael Matos of Brazil in the Australian Open men's doubles first round here on Tuesday. The unseeded Indo-Dutch pair lost 6-1 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (7-10) in the opening round match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes. After Bhambri and Haase won the first set, their opponents made a comeback into the match by taking the second set in tie-break. Bhambri and Haase then had three match points after they were 5-4 up in the deciding set but they wasted all of them. The deciding set also went to the tie break which Barrientos and Matos won. The 31-year-old Bhambri from New Delhi had made it to the Australian Open third round in 2014 when he partnered Michael Venus of New Zealand and that was his best performance in a Grand Slam doubles event. Last year, Bhambri had won his maiden ATP title at the Mallorca Championships doubles ...

Australia Open 2024: Watch when Tsitsipas' outrageous shot stuns the fans

The seventh seed won 38 games, made 28 unforced errors, and broke Bergs' service seven times to progress after three hours.

Australian Open 2024: Sumit Nagal upsets 31st seed Bublik, enters 2nd round

Sumit Nagal entered the second round of the Australian Open 2024 after he defeated 31st seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2, 7-6

Djokovic named Balkan athlete of the year record 8th time ahead of Jokic

Novak Djokovic was named the Best Balkan Athlete of the year on Monday for a record eighth time, ahead of NBA star Nikola Jokic. The 36-year-old Djokovic won three Grand Slam titles in 2023 to take his record tally to 24, while Jokic was named the NBA Finals MVP after leading the Denver Nuggets to the title. Both are from Serbia. The results of the annual poll were published by the Bulgarian News Agency. A total of 58 athletes received votes in the poll this year, with Bulgarian basketball player Alexandar Vezenkov coming third. Long jumpers Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece and Ivana Spanovic of Serbia, who won the men's and women's world championship titles last year, were fourth and fifth, respectively. This was the 50th anniversary edition of the Balkan poll, which is traditionally conducted by the national news agencies of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. This year, organizers also expanded the vote to .

Australian Open 2024: Two-time winner Naomi Osaka knocked out by Garcia

Osaka was beaten by 16th seed Caroline Garcia in the first round of the Australian Open 2024, which also marked her return to Grand Slam appearances after a one-year hiatus

Australian Open 2024: Defending champ Djokovic fends off Prizmic in 4 hrs

Until he took on defending champion Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena on opening Sunday in Australia, Dino Prizmic had never played a Grand Slam match. The 18-year-old Croatian qualifier, who was born seven months after Djokovic made his Grand Slam debut in 2005, made it last as long as he could, unsettling the 24-time major winner at times before Djokovic finished off the match 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic made his Grand Slam debut at Melbourne Park in 2005 and has developed a record at the Australian Open that no man can match, with 10 titles here among his unprecedented career haul. The first set played out just about as expected. From there, it became quite a ride. Prizmic took the second set off Djokovic and went up a break in the third, stunning a capacity crowd before the world's No. 1-ranked player broke back and took the set. Prizmic didn't give up when he trailed 4-0 in the fourth, either, saving a breakpoint before getting a service break back. He saved three match

Australian Open 2024: Rublev survives a tough 5-setter, Sinner wins opener

Andrey Rublev felt like his Australian Open first-round match against Thiago Seyboth Wild was going to end just like his friend Daniil Medvedev's did at the French Open last year against the clean-hitting Brazilian. After wasting four match points in the 12th game of the fifth set, Rublev fell behind 5-2 in the match tiebreaker before regaining his composure, winning eight of the next nine points and clinching a 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6) victory. He slumped to the ground, then got up quickly, embraced Seyboth Wild, who was making his debut in the Australian Open main draw and roared triumphantly. Seyboth Wild upset major winner Medvedev in the first round at Roland Garros last year and Rublev admitted he felt the momentum going the same way before he decided to relax and go for broke. For sure, I will not forget this one, the fifth-seeded Rublev said. Thiago is a super dangerous player. Super talented. He's hitting so hard, so clean. Fifth set, I had so many opportunities. I tho

Anisimova's comeback on track, reaches the 2nd round in Australian Open

An extended break from tennis has already done Amanda Anisimova some good at the Australian Open, where she reached the second round of a Grand Slam event for the first time since Wimbledon in 2022. Anisimova beat 13th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to advance in just her second tournament back. A teenager on the rise in 2019 when she beat reigning champion Simona Halep to reach the French Open semi-finals, Anisimova played her first match since May last week in Auckland after taking a break from tennis, citing burnout. The most important thing is that I feel a lot more refreshed. I'm enjoying practising. I'm enjoying every second that I'm out there, she said. Even when I was down today, I was still just enjoying the challenge. At the time she started her break last year, Anisimova said tennis had become unbearable and she had to prioritize her mental well-being. That meant missing the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, following first-round exits at the 2022 US