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Category: Tennis News

“What Would Novak Do?” Asks Medvedev

Posted on by Chirag

Danni Medvedev won his quarter finals match against the young Canadian Aliassime yesterday in a thrilling five set match. Hope seemed to have been lost for Medvedev as he lost the first two sets to the Canadian. However in one of the best comebacks in Australian Open history, Medvedev went on to win the next 3 sets straight in a row to secure his spot against Tsitsipas on Friday.

Post the grueling match, Medvedev was in a good mood, and said ““I have no idea!” When asked about the intense heat and physicality.

“I mean, talking about the match point, I managed to serve well. If it had been a second serve, we never know what would happen. Talking about the whole match. It’s funny this bag, I usually come with a lot of (spare) clothes, just in case, you know six shirts, three pairs of shoes, whatever. Now it’s empty!”

“I didn’t really know what to do,” Medvedev explained. “Actually I don’t know if people are going to like it but I told myself ‘what would Novak (Djokovic) do?’”

At this point, the crowd serenaded him with boos with the mention of the World no. 1 

“Because he is one of the greatest champions, or Rafa (Nadal) or Roger (Federer) to be honest, they’ve won so many matches like this.”

At the mention of Nadal and Federer, the crowd cheered in response.

“And I just thought ‘ok, I’m going to make (Auger-Aliassime) work.’”. “If he wants to win it, he needs to fight until the last point, even if it’s 5-0, 40-0 for him, I’m going to try to make him tired for the next match, you know? Just fight until the last point, and it worked.”

A Beaten Shapovalov Feels Unfairly Treated During Match with Nadal

Posted on by Chirag

Dennis Shapovalov, the young Canadian sensation lashed out at Nadal and match referee Carlos after losing to the Spaniard in a thrilling five set quarter finals match yesterday. The Canadian felt an unfair treatment towards him favouring Nadal and also fellow ‘Big Three’ members, Djokovic and Federer on the tour.

“You started the clock so long ago and (Nadal is) still not ready to play,” he said, approaching Bernardes after dropping 3-6 in the first set. “You’ve got to code him.”

As he was preparing to serve, Bernardes appeared to hold the game, to which Shapovalov said, “(Nadal) is not ready to play.” 

The umpire responded, suggesting Shapovalov was not ready to play after approaching him. Shapovalov fired back: “Are you kidding me? You guys are all corrupt.”

“I misspoke when I said he’s corrupt or whatever I said,” he said after the match. “It’s definitely emotional, but I do stand by my side. I think it’s unfair, you know, how much Rafa is getting away with.”

“There’s got to be some boundaries, some rules set. It’s just so frustrating as a player. You know, you feel like you’re not just playing against the player. You’re playing against the umpires, you’re playing against so much more,” he continued. “I’m not trying to take away anything they’ve done, of course, they’re great champions, they’re the legends of the game. But at the end of the day, when you step on the court it should be equal for everyone.”

“Of course – 100% he does, 100%. Every other match that I have played, the pace has been so quick because the refs have been on the clock after every single point,” he said, via the BBC. “I’ve been ready to play for a minute and a half, and he tells me he’s not going to give him a code violation because I’m not ready to play. To me, it’s a big joke if somebody says that.”

Australian Open Quarter Finals Set Up as Zverev Upset by Shapovalov

Posted on by Chirag

The Australian Open is well into its second week with the prize money reaching $538,500 for players exiting the tournament in the quarter final stage.

4 out of 8 players have already made it to the quarter finals already and will be playing their matches tomorrow morning. As for the rest of the 4 spots, matches are currently underway at the Rod Laver and John Cain Arenas to set up 2 more quarter finals matches for Wednesday.

As expected, Monfils, Berettini and Nadal made it to the quarterfinals, however in a shocker, the German World no. 3 Alexander Zverev lost in straight sets to the young Canadian Dennis Shapovalov and missed out on facing Rafael Nadal.

With Medvedev and Tsitsipas expected to win their Round 4 matches today and eventually win their own respective quarterfinal matches on Wednesday, it looks like Medvedev and Tsitsipas will be taking on each other in the semi finals. 

Over on the women’s side, crowd favourites like Raducannu and Osaka lost out in Round 2 and 3 respectively. Yesterday in Round 4, more favourites like Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep also exited the tournament. This leaves only one favourite and current world no. 1, the hometown girl, Ashleigh Barty. She will be playing the American Jessica Pegula tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena prior to the Monfils vs Berrettini match.

Australian Open Defending Champion Naomi Osaka Knocked Out

Posted on by Chirag

In the Women’s draw of the Australian Open, the defending champion at the Australian Open was knocked out in the Round 3 of the tournament.

Osaka who on Friday was stunned by Amanda Anisimova at the Rod Laver arena as Anisimova won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5

The japanese champion comes third in surprising exits from this year’s Australian Open after the likes of Emma Raducanu, who was knocked out in the second round and Nick Kyrgios who lost to Medvedev earlier this week in Round 2.

“I fought for every point; I can’t be sad about that,” Osaka said. “You know, like, I’m not God. I can’t win every match, you know. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s, like, really special.”

While Anisimova said,“I think it was the hardest in the first set to be honest; I was just trying to step up my game, and I think that’s why my nerves were kicking in a little bit,” Anisimova said in an interview with The New York Times. “Because I knew that I had to really dig deep and just try to be more aggressive to give myself a chance to win today. But in the third set, I was not really nervous at all anymore.

“I love playing in these high-pressure moments, and I think it’s really fun to play in Melbourne in front of a crowd like that. So I was just trying to enjoy every moment really. I kept reminding myself, ‘I’m at a Grand Slam playing against Naomi Osaka, just try to enjoy it, because it’ll be over soon.”

Nadal Destroys Kachanov to Reach Round of 16

Posted on by Chirag

The 20 time grand slam winner looks ready to fight for another grand slam title and show the young and new era of ATP that the likes of Djokovic and himself aren’t done yet.

The Spaniard met Karen Kachanov in the round 3 encounter yesterday evening with a strong Head to Head record against the Russian. However since the past few matches between the two it has been difficult for Nadal to beat the youngster.

But this time, it wasn’t that hard for Nadal. Rafa took the first and second set at 6-3,6-2 and then surprisingly lost a set to the Russian as he tried new service return positions behind the baseline.

The Russian took the second set in quite convincing fashion at 3-6. But, just when it looked like Kachanov could pull a rabbit out of his hat and get this to an elusive 5th set tie breaker, Nadal stopped testing and went beast mode.

The Spaniard quickly pulled into the right gear and looked like the Rafa of old as he brought out his running down the line backhand and then his famous arm pump celebration.

With Nadal in the Round of 16, he will now face the frenchman Adrian Mannarino tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena. Alexander Zverev also qualified for the Round of 16 by beating Albot 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal Hasn’t Even Hit Top Gear Yet

Posted on by cbtfhome

The 20 time grand slam winner looks like he’s on his way to winning his 21st grand slam title or at least put up a huge fight to become the first ever person in history to get to 21 grand slam championships in history.

With Djokovic out of the picture for this years’ Australian Open, it was understood Nadal will need to just go through the motions and try harder to get to another title as it might be his last chance to get to one.

So far in this year’s Australian Open, Nadal has shown only dominance winning 2 straight matches with 6 straight sets and currently warming up for his Round 3 match scheduled for today at 2:45 PM IST emanating from the Rod Laver Arena against Kachanov.

Although the fans might be gearing up for a Zverev and Nadal semi final and possibly a Nadal vs Tsitsipas finals match, the Spaniard is not looking at the bigger picture currently but instead taking it match by match in the Australian sub continent.

“Well, the positive thing is I achieved much more than I ever dreamed. I was able to spend almost 20 fantastic years on the tour. The rest of the things nothing positive because arrives in the end,” Nadal said. “When you get older, the watch never stops, no (smiling)? That’s the circus of life.”

“You need to accept that. But it’s all good with me with that. I don’t know. I am in the third round. I need to win very tough matches to be there. Is not in my mind now. I have enough work I don’t like,” the Spaniard said.

“I think playing against Khachanov now, probably Khachanov, going to be a big challenge. Always is a big challenge against Karen. In my situation today going to be even more. I never think that far. You can imagine now less than ever, no? Just staying focused on my daily work, on what’s coming, and that’s it. One moment in time, that’s it,” he added.

Australian Open Starts to Sizzle Up as Zverev Reach Round 3

Posted on by Chirag

The Australian Open has been great this year with some of the best tennis we’ve seen in some time now. 

The likes of Rafael Nadal have already qualified for the third round and await their next match set for tomorrow. Another important player in his side of the draw is the young German Alexander Zverev. 

Zverev has now also reached the third round and if things keep going the same way, Nadal could end up facing Zverev in the Semi-Finals as the two fight for the finals spot against either Medvedev or Tsitsipas.

On the other side of the  draw, Tsitsipas won his second round match against Baez, the Argentinian with 3 sets to 1 earlier today. Medvedev however will have a tougher opponent in hometown hero Nick Kyrgios.

The Russian and Australian are supposed to meet on court at 1:30 PM IST today to see who will go on to the fourth round. With only 7 spots left in the Round 3 and 25 players already in, we wait to see who will make it to tomorrow’s Round 3 kick off as the herd thins down to 32 players.

Breaking News: Nadal Dominates His Way Into Round 3

Posted on by Chirag

The King of Clay showed his dominance on the hard surface this morning with an incredible performance against Yannick Hanfmann. 

The Spaniard started out equal with the German as the two went 2-2 at a point in the first set. However post that was just Spanish power on display as Nadal took the first set at 6-2 with a sensational down the line backhand winner.

The second set followed with Nadal taking the win again, but Hanfmann getting a couple of crucial and amazing points. Post his 6-2, 6-3 lead he followed up by winning in straight sets as he took the last set at 6-4 after an interesting deuce.

The 20 time grand slam winner, Nadal, joked about how he hated the gym and loved the courts more after his quick match and now looks ahead towards the third round as the field thins down to 32 players.

With Zverev in action next, it begs the question that can it be a Zverev vs Nadal semi finals match in a  week’s time?

Over in the female side, Emma Raducanu defeated Sloane Stephens by 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 as she moves on to the second round

Breaking News: French Sports Minister Won’t Let Djokovic Play at the French Open if Unvaccinated

Posted on by Chirag

The Australian Open is well underway with only 10 spots left to be filled today in the second round. The likes of Medvedev, Murray and Nadal have all qualified with Tsitsipas playing his first round match late today.

The next grand slam of the year will start from the 22nd of May in France as Nadal hopes to continue his clay dominance in Paris. However for one of his biggest rivals in tennis, Novak Djokovic the drama just won’t end that easily. 

With France passing vaccination laws across the country, the French Sports Minister has made a public statement saying he can’t and won’t let Novak Djokovic come and be part of the French Open until and unless he is vaccinated. This means that Djokovic, who is not only missing the first grand slam of the year, will now possibly miss the second one as well.

Meanwhile, ATP released a statement regarding the Djokovic drama as well, saying, 

“Today’s decision to uphold Novak Djokovic’s Australian visa cancellation marks the end of a deeply regrettable series of events. Ultimately, decisions of legal authorities regarding matters of public health must be respected. More time is required to take stock of the facts and to take the learnings from this situation.

Irrespective of how this point has been reached, Novak is one of our sport’s greatest champions and his absence from the Australian Open is a loss for the game. We know how turbulent the recent days have been for Novak and how much he wanted to defend his title in Melbourne. We wish him well and look forward to seeing him back on court soon.

ATP continues to strongly recommend vaccination to all players.”

As the Covid virus continues to grow around the world again, Djokovic might have to finally give in to the demands and be fully vaccinated come clay season as he might not be able to play at the French Open and defend his 2021 title otherwise. 

Rafael Nadal Slides Through Australian Open Kick-Off

Posted on by cbtfhome

The 20 time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal started his Australian Open campaign this morning as he faced off against Marcos Giron the young American.

Giron, who had a similar style to Maxime, a fellow USA player who Nadal faced at the Melbourne Summer Set finals to win his first Melbourne championship. As expected, Nadal breezed past Giron in this opener in straight sets.

This is the first time Rafa has played a best of 5 since last year’s French Open where he unfortunately lost in the semi finals to fellow 20 time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic as he struggled with his knee and ankle issues again. 

Rafa displayed his amazing collection of beautiful shots as he completely ruled the court at the Rod Laver Arena against the young American. 

He started off calmly with a 2 games to 1 lead in the first set and then pulled out a no-look running lob to get his 3rd game. Since that moment it was all Rafael Nadal as he destroyed Giron with incredibly powerful forehands and absolutely genius backhands. 

Giron did manage to get in a few shots in the second set which prompted even Rafael Nadal to applaud the efforts. However, the former World No.1 proved too much for the World No. 66.

Nadal won the match 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in his purple shirts and green bandana as he moved on to face the winner of the Hanfmann vs Kokkinakis on Wednesday morning. 

Over in the women’s side, Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka were both in action as they teed off against their own respective opponents and won in straight sets quite comfortably.