PARIS: Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal, absent from the courts for almost a year with a hip injury, announced Friday that he would return to competition in Brisbane next month ahead of the Australian Open.
“Hello everyone, after a year away from competition, it’s time to come back. It will be in Brisbane the first week of January. I’ll see you there,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner said in a post on social media.
Former world number one Nadal has not played since his defeat in the second round of the Australian Open last January, a tournament he won in 2009 and 2022.
“I think I don’t deserve to end like this,” said Nadal, referring to his Melbourne exit last year.
The 37-year-old has undergone surgery twice since and having slumped to 663rd in the world after a year without playing declared in September that the 2024 season was going to be his last.
Nadal will try to return to the highest level in Australia with the aim of competiting at the French Open which he has won a record 14 times.
He has been overtaken in the number of Grand Slam tournaments won by Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, who now has 24 major titles.
The Spaniard had already experienced a 2021 season undermined by a foot injury, and was eliminated by Djokovic in the semifinal of the French Open.
Nadal confirms Brisbane return ahead of Australian Open
https://arab.news/p74xu
Nadal confirms Brisbane return ahead of Australian Open
- “Hello everyone, after a year away from competition, it’s time to come back,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner said
- “I think I don’t deserve to end like this”
Eala sees ‘new era for Filipino sport’ after first Grand Slam match win
- Eala: I’m feeling good, it’s my debut in Grand Slam doubles so I’m feeling happy to be playing with Renata and to have my first Slam win
- Eala is part of a new generation of Filipino sports stars
- She lifted the 2022 US Open girls’ singles trophy and reached the semifinals at Miami in March when, ranked 140th in the world, she beat three Grand Slam winners in Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek
PARIS: Alexandra Eala on Tuesday achieved a first Grand Slam match win for a Filipino woman, saying she hoped her doubles success at the French Open was part of “a new era for sport” in her country.
She teamed up with Mexico’s Renata Zarazua to defeat Britain’s Emily Appleton and Spain’s Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers 7-5, 6-4 and book a place in the second round.
The win came two days after the 20-year-old, the first woman from her country to compete in a Grand Slam, was eliminated in the first round of the singles by Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-0, 2-6, 6-3.
“It’s so heartwarming,” Eala told AFP of her Grand Slam match win.
“Of course, it’s always good to come back and compete well after a singles loss, especially after a tight one.
“I’m feeling good, it’s my debut in Grand Slam doubles so I’m feeling happy to be playing with Renata and to have my first Slam win.
“Of course, it was a difficult (singles) loss but in the end I think there’s things to take away and I try to do better in the doubles.”
The support from home has been “positive,” she said.
“They’re happy to see a Filipino competing in the main draw in Paris.”
Eala is part of a new generation of Filipino sports stars. She has trained since the age of 13 at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca, Spain.
She lifted the 2022 US Open girls’ singles trophy and reached the semifinals at Miami in March when, ranked 140th in the world, she beat three Grand Slam winners in Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and world number two Iga Swiatek.
“I think we’re entering a new era for Filipino sport,” the 73rd-ranked player said, pointing to the success of gymnast Carlos Yulo who took two gold medals at the Paris Olympics last year.
“Filipinos are very talented and very hard workers. There’s a support, a community, because it’s not often you (have) seen Filipino athletes excel on the international stage, so every time someone does good we’re very happy for them.”
Jabeur slams French Open for not scheduling women’s matches in night sessions
- “In Europe, in general, it’s unfortunate for women’s sports in general. Not for tennis but for in general,” Jabeur said
- “I hope whoever is making the decision, I don’t think they have daughters, because I don’t think they want to treat their daughters like this”
PARIS: Tunisian player Ons Jabeur slammed French Open organizers and broadcaster Amazon on Tuesday for sidelining women’s matches from the coveted night sessions, with none featured at the claycourt Grand Slam in almost two years.
The last women’s singles match to be played under the lights of Court Philippe Chatrier was a fourth-round encounter between Aryna Sabalenka and Sloane Stephens on June 4, 2023.
The French Open has one evening match, this year starting not before 2015 local time (1815GMT) and in France is exclusively broadcast by Amazon’s Prime service.
“In Europe, in general, it’s unfortunate for women’s sports in general. Not for tennis but for in general,” Jabeur said after losing her first-round match at Roland Garros.
“I hope whoever is making the decision, I don’t think they have daughters, because I don’t think they want to treat their daughters like this.
“It’s a bit ironic. They don’t show women’s sport, they don’t show women’s tennis, and then they ask the question, yeah, but mostly they (viewers) watch men. Of course they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together.”
French federation President Gilles Moretton defended the tournament’s choices, saying on Monday the ‘best match’ was scheduled at night.
“Sometimes ... for the night session, we need to put the better match, we think could be for the spectators,” Moretton told a press conference on Monday.
“Maybe we will have a few, I have no idea, a few female matches on the night sessions. We’ll see. Depends on the schedule, who is playing who, which will be the best match.”
Reuters has asked Amazon Prime for comment.
Wednesday’s night session was scheduled to feature France’s Hugo Gaston against Ben Shelton before the American withdrew from their second-round meeting.
Organizers revised the schedule and the night match will now pitch 10th seed Holger Rune v
American Emilio Nava.
DAYTIME MATCH
In the women’s draw, four-times winner and defending champion Iga Swiatek is taking on 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu during the day.
“Every year we talk about it. My position didn’t change. I like playing days, so I’m happy that I’m done and I can have a longer rest,” Swiatek said on Monday.
“But, on the other hand, people just try to look to even things between men and women. You can find that in the schedule a little bit, and you can ask us all the time but, honestly, my answers are not going to change, so I don’t mind.”
The WTA addressed the topic of unequal distribution of matches in the evening session last year by saying that fans wanted to see the excitement and thrill of women’s tennis on the biggest stage and in premium time slots.
“To continue building the value of our combined product, a balanced match schedule that features both the best in men’s and women’s tennis is critical,” the elite women’s body said then.
Jabeur remains disappointed with the scheduling, however.
“It’s a shame from the federation, a shame from Prime, that they made such a contract like this,” she said.
“A lot of great players, they deserve to be there (in the night session). One of the matches was Naomi (Osaka) and Paula (Badosa on Monday). Such an unbelievable match. They were supposed to be there.
“Like last year, Iga and Naomi (Osaka) was supposed to be there. A lot of great matches, they should have been there.
“I’m not sure what kind of fans (Moretton is) talking about. I know I’m a fan. I will watch that match.”
Andreeva digs deep to sweep past Bucsa, into French Open second round
- Sixth seed Andreeva advanced 6-4, 6-3 past her 98th-ranked opponent with two aces and four breaks of serve
- “I just tried not to think about last year’s results,” said the 18-year-old
PARIS: Rising Russian teen star Mirra Andreeva booked her ticket to the second round of the French Open on Tuesday, recovering from an early double break before reeling off a straight sets win over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.
Sixth seed Andreeva, who had an impressive run to the semifinals at Roland Garros last year, advanced 6-4, 6-3 past her 98th-ranked opponent with two aces and four breaks of serve.
“I just tried not to think about last year’s results,” said the 18-year-old.
“It’s always tough to start a tournament. I felt like she was playing good today. My goal was just to keep fighting, playing, and showing everything I can, trying to put a lot of balls in the court. Then in the end, point by point, I managed to find my rhythm.”
Playing her first Grand Slam match as a top-10 seed, the player from Siberia needed to come back from 3-0 down in the first set in damp and chilly conditions in Paris.
“If it’s cold I suffer a bit in (the) warm-up,” said Andreeva. “But to be honest I don’t feel the difference when either it’s hot or cold.”
Andreeva pulled out a winner down the line to revive her game when Bucsa was serving at 3-0, 30-0.
She won 10 of the next 12 games to take a 4-1 second-set lead and needed just one break of serve in the second, sealing victory with 25 winners to Bucsa’s 16.
She next plays either American Ashlyn Krueger or Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands for a place in the third round.
The Russian reached the quarter-finals on clay in both Madrid and Rome, losing both times to American Coco Gauff.
“It’s not what I would wish for. But I can say that overall these two tournaments on clay that I played, they were not that bad,” she said.
“There are a lot of positives that I can take and a lot of experience that I also can take with me. Now I’m going to try to do everything I can the best way I can while I’m playing here.”
Alcaraz wins Roland Garros opener, Swiatek makes strong start
- Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open
PARIS: Carlos Alcaraz powered into the French Open second round on Monday with a resounding win to start his title defense, while three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also eased through at Roland Garros.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and will face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two.
Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic.
“The first round is never easy, and coming here as a champion is even more difficult,” said the Spaniard, who has won both the Monte Carlo Masters and Italian Open titles on clay this year.
“But I started well, found my rhythm, and I’m happy with my start.”
Alcaraz beat world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the Rome final just over a week ago as the Italian returned from a three-month doping ban.
Two-time reigning Australian Open champion Sinner takes center stage in the night session against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who can expect to enjoy much of the support under the lights on Court Philippe Chatrier.
It is the first of two successive potential French opponents for Sinner, who could meet the retiring Richard Gasquet in the second round. Gasquet, 38, takes on another wild card, Terence Atmane, in his 22nd and final Roland Garros.
“It’s definitely going to be different,” Sinner said of the atmosphere that awaits him in Paris after he received a warm welcome back in front of home fans in Italy.
Taylor Fritz of the US became the first high-profile casualty in the men’s draw as the fourth seed lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to German Daniel Altmaier.
Norwegian seventh seed Casper Ruud, a two-time French Open runner-up, got his bid for a first Grand Slam title under way with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over veteran Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Swiatek entered the tournament on a near year-long trophy drought but showed signs of form in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova.
Her struggles since the last of her four French Open titles have been well documented, but she broke her 42nd-ranked opponent four times in a strong display.
The five-time Grand Slam champion’s remarkable win-loss record in the tournament now stands at 36-2.
“I knew I needed to stay proactive and try to use my weapons. I’m happy with my performance and it was a solid match,” said Swiatek, who also beat Sramkova in the second round of this year’s Australian Open.
Swiatek, who has dropped to fifth in the world rankings, will next face former US Open champion Emma Raducanu after the Briton defeated China’s Wang Xinyu 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Raducanu is playing at the French Open for the first time since a second-round exit on her debut in 2022.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka, who had a match point against Swiatek in the second round at Roland Garros a year ago, was knocked out by Spanish 10th seed Paula Badosa in a tense three-set battle.
Badosa, an Australian Open semifinalist earlier this year, fought back from a set down to win 6-7 (1/7), 6-1, 6-4.
Osaka has still never got past the third round at Roland Garros.
Former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina battled past Argentinian qualifier Julia Riera 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, two days after lifting her first WTA title since April 2024 in Strasbourg.
American ninth seed Emma Navarro suffered an embarrassing 6-0, 6-1 loss to Spanish world No. 68 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in just 57 minutes, only winning a game when her opponent double-faulted to gift her a break when serving for a double-bagel victory.
Rafael Nadal gets a farewell ceremony at a tournament he won a record 14 times
- There were plenty of active players on the program for Day 1 of the year’s second Grand Slam tennis tournament
PARIS: Rafael Nadal’s first French Open match in the tournament’s main stadium came on May 25, 2005 — a straight-set victory in the second round against Xavier Malisse. That made Nadal’s career record in the tournament 2-0, and he was just getting started on the way to what would end up as a 112-4 mark and 14 championships at Paris.
On Sunday, 20 years to the day after that win, Nadal was scheduled to be back at Court Philippe-Chatrier, only instead of competing, he was going to be feted by the French tennis federation for all that he accomplished on the red clay.
“Celebrating the King,” was the way the event was described on social media by the official Roland-Garros feed. There was no exact time for the start of the ceremony, only word that it would begin after the three day-session matches in Chatrier would finish — so perhaps somewhere around 5 or 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m or noon ET).
There were plenty of active players on the program for Day 1 of the year’s second Grand Slam tennis tournament, of course, from No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka to two-time major runnerup Jasmine Paolini, from US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton to Paris Olympics medalists Zheng Qinwen and Lorenzo Musetti.
None, though, was likely to draw as much attention and adulation as the 38-year-old former player with 22 total Grand Slam titles and known to all as “Rafa,” who played his final competitive match in the Davis Cup in November. Some folks did not think the tribute to him after a loss in his last appearance there lived up to what it should have been, and event director Feliciano Lopez had to defend it.
Other tournaments put off holding celebrations for Nadal this season, including Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome.
It just seemed fitting to all that the next big show should come at the site of so many of those lefty uppercut forehands, so many sprints to reach seemingly unreachable shots by opponents, so many triumphs.
This is the way Nadal described the fans in Paris: “They give me the love and the support every single second I have been on court.”
They were expected to pack the house on Sunday and it sounded as if some players planned to take in the scene, too, although at least one, four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek, was going to need to make sure it wouldn’t interrupt her preparation for competition.
“I need to be aware that, for sure, I’m going to cry,” Swiatek said. “I would love to be there, because we should all kind of get together and celebrate Rafa and what he did for our sport and what kind of inspiration he was and still is.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas — twice a Slam finalist, including at the 2021 French Open — joked that Nadal won the trophy 29 times in Paris.
“It will be tough,” Tsitsipas said, “to see him go away.”
