PARIS: Japan’s Miyu Kato became a French Open champion on Thursday, four days after she was controversially disqualified from the women’s doubles for accidentally hitting a ball girl.
Kato and her German partner Tim Puetz defeated Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the mixed doubles final at Roland Garros.
“It has been challenging mentally in the last few days after my unjust disqualification from the women’s doubles,” Kato told the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd, reading from a prepared statement.
“Thanks to all the players for their heartfelt messages of support. I used that positive energy on court here today.
“I am now looking for a positive result to my appeal so I can reclaim my prize money, points and my reputation.”
Puetz said he hoped the title would help Kato after the drama of the default.
“I hope this is redemption for you after what happened. The support you received was well deserved.”
The 28-year-old Kato and her Indonesian teammate Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted on Sunday after a gentle lob from the Japanese player left a ballgirl in tears and shaking.
Initially, the pair were handed only a warning by the chair umpire but their opponents Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo protested and urged the tournament supervisor to look again at the incident.
Kato and Sutjiadi were then disqualified. Kato also had to forfeit her prize money.
“I hope the ballgirl is OK and I hope we get to play Marie and Sara again,” said Kato.
Disqualified Japanese player Kato becomes French Open champion
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Disqualified Japanese player Kato becomes French Open champion
- Kato and her German partner Tim Puetz defeated Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the mixed doubles final at Roland Garros
- "It has been challenging mentally in the last few days after my unjust disqualification from the women's doubles," Kato told the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd
Djokovic ‘overwhelmed’ after ‘greatest rival’ Nadal’s retirement
- He clashed 60 times with Djokovic, who edged their rivalry 31-29
- “He remains the greatest rival that I ever had,” said Djokovic
SHANGHAI: Novak Djokovic said Friday he was “overwhelmed” by the news of Rafael Nadal’s retirement and called the Spaniard “the greatest rival that I ever had,” but said he has no plans to stop.
Nadal announced Thursday that he will step back from tennis after the Davis Cup finals in November, ending his 22 Grand Slam-winning career.
He clashed 60 times with Djokovic, who edged their rivalry 31-29.
“He remains the greatest rival that I ever had. He has impacted me a lot as a player, my development, he has inspired a lot of people around the world,” said Djokovic, speaking after he beat 19-year-old Jakub Mensik in three sets to progress to the Shanghai Masters semifinals.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion said that the news had come as a shock despite the Spaniard’s struggles with injury.
The 37-year-old Serb is now the last man standing from tennis’s golden era, with Roger Federer retiring in 2022, and Andy Murray calling it quits this year too.
“I’m playing, you know, still keep going... but part of me left with them, that’s for sure,” mused Djokovic.
“The era of the four musketeers, so to say, the four of us and all the rivalries we had was incredible,” he said.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed, to be honest, but, you know, I still have the desire to play.
“Fighting against a 19-year-old for two and a half hours on the court is something that still drives me... and I try to get the best out of myself.”
Rafa Nadal announces retirement from professional tennis at end of season
- Decision effective after the Davis Cup final
MADRID: Rafael Nadal on Thursday announced he will retire after the Davis Cup finals in November, ending a career which brought 22 Grand Slam titles, global respect and inspired epic, iconic rivalries with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
"I am retiring from professional tennis. The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially," Nadal said in a video on social media.
"It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life everything has a beginning and an end."
The 38-year-old Spaniard is set to end his two decades as a professional with 92 titles and prize money alone of $135 million.
He dominated the French Open where he won 14 of his majors, his first arriving just days after his 19th birthday in 2005, his last in 2022 making him the event's oldest champion.
On the famous crushed brick of Roland Garros, he lost just three times in 115 matches.
He was also a four-time champion at the US Open and a two-time winner at the Australian Open, his first triumph coming in 2009; his second 13 years later.
Nadal also won Wimbledon twice, in 2008 and 2010 despite grass considered to be the surface most likely to expose any shortcomings in his game.
His five-set victory over Roger Federer in the 2008 championship match, which ended in almost complete darkness at the All England Club, is widely regarded as the greatest Slam final ever played.
Nadal claimed a career Golden Slam when he took Olympic Games gold in 2008. For good measure, he also won five Davis Cups.
Nadal was a five-time year-end world number one and never left the top 10 from 2005 until March this year.
In total, he spent 209 weeks in top spot and between 2004 and 2022, won at least one title every year.
In his long rivalry with close friend Federer, who retired last year, he enjoyed a 24-16 edge. Nadal surpassed Federer's mark of 20 majors in Australia last year.
He and Djokovic, the all-time leader with 24 men's Grand Slam titles, met 60 times with the Serb just ahead by two.
An underpowered Nadal was swept aside by Djokovic in straight sets in their final meeting at this year's Paris Olympics.
Despite his record-breaking career, Nadal was plagued by injuries, a painful by-product of his all-action, brutal-hitting style.
Ankle, wrist, knee, elbow and abdominal problems caused him to sit out 16 Grand Slam tournaments and withdraw mid-event on five occasions at the majors.
At the 2022 French Open, he admitted that his title charge would have been impossible without daily pain-killing injections in his foot.
Nadal then underwent a medical procedure which required nerves in the foot to be burned to allow him to extend his career.
However, the creaks in the body were getting louder.
An abdominal strain forced him out of Wimbledon where he had made the semi-finals.
He was then struck down with a hip injury at the Australian Open in January as he crashed out in the second round -- his earliest exit at the majors in seven years.
His wife Mery was in tears as she watched him struggle through to the end.
Nadal possibly sensed the writing was on the wall in the Laver Cup in London two years ago when he played alongside Federer in the great Swiss star's final tournament.
At 41, and unable to shake off a knee injury, Federer called it quits.
The two men wept and even grasped each other's hands as the Federer era ended.
"When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too," said Nadal.
Sinner crushes Medvedev to set up potential Alcaraz Shanghai semi
- In the first set, the Italian broke Medvedev in the second and sixth games to murmurs of surprise from the crowd
- Sinner beat Medvedev in the semifinals in Miami, the quarter-finals of the US Open and in the Australian Open final
SHANGHAI: World number one Jannik Sinner had a surprisingly straightforward 6-1, 6-4 victory over an injured Daniil Medvedev on Thursday to reach the Shanghai Masters semifinals, where he could face chief rival Carlos Alcaraz.
In the first set, which lasted only 25 minutes, the Italian broke Medvedev in the second and sixth games to murmurs of surprise from the crowd.
The Russian kept holding his shoulder which he sadi had “some niggles” the day before and received medical attention several times during the match.
“I’m obviously very happy, I think we know each other very well... It was a very tactical match,” said Sinner.
“It’s a great feeling to be in the semis here, it’s a very special tournament.”
This was the fifth time Medvedev and Sinner have met in the latter stages of tournaments this year.
Sinner beat Medvedev in the semifinals in Miami, the quarter-finals of the US Open and in the Australian Open final, but the Russian ended the Italian’s hopes in the last eight at Wimbledon in an epic five-set battle.
In the Shanghai semifinal, Sinner could meet Alcaraz again after the Spaniard defeated him at the China Open final in Beijing last week.
Alcaraz will later on Thursday play Czech Tomas Machac in the last eight.
Aryna Sabalenka relishes ‘much-needed’ tennis rivalry with Iga Swiatek
- Top-ranked Iga Swiatek is absent from the field in Wuhan and withdrew from the China swing after splitting with her coach
- Sabalenka has a chance to close the gap on the Polish world number one with a strong run in Wuhan
WUHA, China: World number two Aryna Sabalenka said Wednesday that she believes her rivalry with top-ranked Iga Swiatek is “much-needed” in women’s tennis.
The Belarusian advanced to the Wuhan Open third round with her 50th victory of the season, 6-4, 6-4 against Katerina Siniakova.
Swiatek is absent from the field in Wuhan and withdrew from the China swing after splitting with her coach of three years Tomasz Wiktorowski.
Sabalenka has a chance to close the gap on the Polish world number one with a strong run in Wuhan, with the battle for the top spot likely to come down to the wire at the season-ending championships in Riyadh next month.
“Having this rivalry with Iga is something big for tennis and something much-needed, I would say, in women’s tennis.
“To keep this competition going would be really good for tennis,” said Sabalenka, who will next face Yulia Putintseva in the last 16.
Sabalenka, 26, spent eight weeks at the summit of the rankings last season and says reclaiming the world number one spot is one of her biggest goals.
“I hope she’ll figure out the coach situation and she’ll be back in the finals in her best shape.
“Hopefully we can play against each other there in... a fight for world number one.”
Coco Gauff followed up her China Open title in Beijing on Sunday with a smooth 6-1, 6-2 win over Viktoriya Tomova.
Gauff has a seven-match win streak and faces 13th seed Marta Kostyuk in the last 16.
Kostyuk received a walkover after her opponent Amanda Anisimova withdrew with a left hip injury.
“Both mentally and physically I’m a little tired, if I’m being honest,” said Gauff. “But when I got on the court, I felt fine.
“How I approached Beijing, I was like, I want to approach this how I would play tennis as a kid.
“Sometimes I try to go back into that mindset and realize at the end of the day this is my dream now, and it was my dream as a kid.
“If I don’t want to do it for myself now, I can definitely do it for myself then.”
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova crashed out to American qualifier and world number 102 Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 7-5 in just 94 minutes.
Seventh seed Krejcikova let a 3-1 lead slip in the opening set, as well as a 5-3 advantage in the second.
The 22-year-old Baptiste will next take on Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the quarter-finals.
Top tennis player Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
- Jannik Sinner put some old demons to rest in overcoming American Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6 (7/1)
- Medvedev and Sinner have met four times this year already in the final stages of tournaments
SHANGHAI: World number one Jannik Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals, after both had straight sets victories on Wednesday.
Sinner put some old demons to rest in overcoming American Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), while Medvedev took out Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Shelton, ranked 16, knocked Sinner out at the same stage last year, but on Wednesday the Italian looked confident from the start as he won in 88 minutes.
The US Open champion pulled ahead in the ninth game of the first set, breaking when Shelton hit long, then dominated the second set tiebreak.
“It was very tough, you don’t have so much control when you play against him... I just tried to stay strong mentally,” said Sinner.
World number five Medvedev and Tsitsipas were meeting for the 14th time.
Tsitsipas started the second set strongly, breaking in the first game, but Medvedev broke in the fourth and eighth to progress.
Medvedev and Sinner have met four times this year already in the final stages of tournaments.
Sinner beat Medvedev in the semifinals at Miami, the quarter-finals at the US Open and in the Australian Open final, but the Russian ended the Italian’s hopes in the last eight at Wimbledon in an epic five-set battle.
Also in action on Wednesday are world number two Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Sinner in the China Open final a week ago, four-time Shanghai champion Novak Djokovic and world number three Alexander Zverev.
