Category: Tennis News

The World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who was ousted from Australia right before the first major Grand Slam of the year due to not being vaccinated, has now made his stance very clear for the whole world.

When asked if he would forgo tournaments like the French Open and Wimbledon if there is a requirement of being vaccinated, Djokovic answered in the affirmative.

“Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay,” he said.

“The principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else. I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can,”

“I was never against vaccination. I understand that globally, everyone is trying to put a big effort into handling this virus and seeing, hopefully, an end soon to this virus.”

“I never used my privileged status to get into Australia by force. I was treated as anybody else. The circular e-mail that my team received was sent to all the athletes, both male and female, both qualification and main draws. There were hundreds of tennis players receiving that email. So, we were following the rules and when there was a possibility of medical exemption, I was using that and I applied.”

“I put forward my PCR test, my sufficient amount of antibodies that I had at the time and I got accepted by two independent Australian medical panels — anonymously, it’s important to mention. My name was not on the application,” added the tennis star.

Morgan Riddle, the famous TikTok influencer and girlfriend of tennis star Taylor Fritz is on a mission “to make tennis cool again”.

Tennis tournaments are not your average casual sporting events with hot dogs and beer,” Riddle says. “You can expect champagne, strawberries and cream, Nobu and getting to wear really cute outfits.

“If you’re looking for a sign to go to a tennis tournament this year, this is it.”

Riddle will continue to give her over 30,000 followers on Instagram and 200k plus on TikTok updated with the latest and greatest the sport has to offer. Even notable tennis journalist, Blair Henley approves of Riddle’s efforts and is wondering when she can purchase her “make tennis cool again” hat.

With Tennis also becoming as popular as the most watched sports in the world like Football, it is getting its own show. Recently streaming giants Netflix announced that they will be making a show following the best tennis stars on tour for the entire season ranging from the Australian Open to  the Nitto ATP Finals. After the success of the Formula 1’s Netflix season show Drive to Survive this sure seems like a way to get tennis to people.

Rafael Nadal, who recently won his 21st Grand Slam as he defeated Daniil Medevdev in Australia in an unforgettable comeback has been in everyone’s conversation when it comes to the GOAT.

The Spaniard now stands atop his competitors Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by becoming the only man in history to win 21 grand slams.

Nadal’s long-time physician made some interesting comments on Rafa’s legacy and everything he will leave behind in the tennis world.

 “In Australia, we witness the triumph of bravery.”

“To the victory of an extraordinary guy who turns his enormous private sacrifices into a great public recognition. Rafa gives it all. To the limit. You cannot demand more than you demand of yourself. And Rafa cannot be asked for more,” 

“He will go down in history as the ancient warriors of Troy, invincible, becoming an icon for society. He will leave a fabulous legacy for eternity,”

“To his physical power and mental strength, he adds a perfect team: Marc, Sebastián, Carlos, Rafael, Costa, Benito and the lessons of uncle Toni. All this forms an extraordinary cocktail, an infallible formula with which he manages to ensure that those small details that make the difference between defeat and victory always fall on his side,”

“For me it will be even more special returning this year after missing the tournament in October. See you soon in the tennis (and golf) paradise, Indian Wells”

Women’s tennis has rarely seen a player as good as Serena Williams. This force of nature battled through adversity and some of the best players in female tennis from across the world to stand tall with an impeccable record of 23 grand slams throughout her career. 

During all this she became America’s national sports icon as she continued to inspire people of colour and girls around the world to give tennis a shot. With her on court career still not over she has become a spokesperson for women in sports and equality.

Signing with Nike at a young age and continuing to be a huge part of pop culture she carved her way into the greats. Now, a collectible card made in the year 1999 that describes Serena as a rookie has set the record for the highest valued collectible card in tennis history with the sale amounting to $117,000.

The marketing director of the PWCC said, “We are extremely excited to see Serena Williams’ $ 117,000 and $ 96,000 card sales as it reaffirms what many of us already knew: that she is the biggest ever.”

“Sales also highlight the rapid growth of women’s sports cards over the past year. In 2021, we saw some records set for women’s cards, but the $117,000 sale is definitely a major step forward as it more than doubles the previous one.”

The biggest star in women’s tennis has a career total of 73 titles so far with 50 of those coming from WTA tournaments and 23 from Grand Slams. Becoming one of the handful of women to win the golden slam (all four grand slams in a calendar year).

World no 1, Novak Djokovic in a surprising turn of events has been included in the list for vaccinated players playing at the Indian Wells later this month.

The 20 time grand slam winner was given a medical exemption to the Australian Open only to be deported after a confusing couple of weeks in Australia. With the United States also enforcing laws that permit unvaccinated players to enter the country, it’ll be interesting to see if the United States government lets in Novak Djokovic if unvaccinated. 

However the issue is that Djokovic’s name has been seen under the list of vaccinated players allowed to play and confirmed for the Indian Wells in California latrine March.

As the ATP 1000 Masters tournament comes up, stars like Rafael Nadal and Ashleigh Barty have both been included in the list for the Indian wells. Cameron Norie, Emma Raducannu, Tsitsipas and Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev have all been confirmed for the tournament from 7th to 20th February.

This is what the organisers said, “The BNP Paribas Open will require valid proof of full vaccination to enter the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the tournament.

“Guidelines for the players are governed by the protocols established by their respective governing bodies, the WTA and ATP, as well as any restrictions established by the United States of America in regard to the vaccination status of international travellers entering the country.”

In an emotional turn of affairs last night the party crowd in Buenos Aires soon had the rugs pulled from under them as home hero Juan Martin Del Potro lost to fellow country man Fredrico Delbonis 1-6, 3-6 post which he mentioned that it might be his last professional match ever.

The former US Open champion talked about the situation later on in interviews in detail.

“It’s difficult to explain how I felt on the court. So many emotions,” del Potro said post-match. “The atmosphere was crazy, the people were crazy, and I had one of my best ever matches in my career with the crowd.”

After leaving the court, he had this message for fans hoping to see him play again: “I don’t know if it’s going to happen, because the pain in my knee is very high. But I will keep doing a big effort to fix the knee, and if I get that, maybe I will have another chance to play.”

Meanwhile Delbonis said, “There were so many feelings before the match when I knew I was going to play Juan Martin,” Delbonis said after his victory. “The days before were very exciting. So many things were going through my mind. Of course when I got on the court, when I see all the people there, the court was packed. It was amazing. I think the match as well was quite emotional. I want to leave the tennis on the side for a moment and try to express all the emotions that we had in the match.”

The Chinese female tennis star made allegations against the former Chinese premier regarding sexual assault and post that interview she was nowehre to be found for nearly a month. This sudden disappearance made the tennis world go crazy and jump into action. 

Organisations such as the Olympic committee and the ATP and WTA came forward by cancelling any Chinese events now and in the future which eventually got Peng Shuai back on an interview where it wasn’t clear whether she was being forced to say those words or was she actually talking like that.

Now she has come out to deny any past allegations saying, “”Considering my age, my multiple surgeries and the pandemic that forced me to stop for so long, I believe it will be very difficult to regain my physical level,”

“I would like to know: why such concern?…I never said anyone sexually assaulted me”.

“This post has given rise to a huge misunderstanding from the outside world. I hope that the meaning of this post will no longer be distorted. And I also hope that we don’t add more hype to this.”

“never said anyone had sexually assaulted me”.

However, in her first interview she said, “带我去你家，逼我和你发生关系” ? Which could be translated to, “”You took me to your house and raped me” or “You took me to your house and forced me to have sex with you” or “You took me to your house and pressured me into having sexual relations with you”.

The ATP and WTA are yet to make a statement on anything related to the Chinese tennis star.