Irish-Australian James McCabe suffers first-round defeat at Wimbledon
The 21-year-old from Sydney, currently 181st in the ATP rankings, reached the main draw having come through last week's qualifiers.
The Hungarian, who sits 58th in the ATP rankings, saw off McCabe 6-1 6-4 6-4 on Court 11.
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Wimbledon player James McCabe's Irish father: 'If the tennis court hadn't been where we rented, I don't think he would have picked up a racket'
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Elsewhere on day two at the All England Club, world number one Jannik Sinner has got his tournament under way with a straight-sets win over fellow Italian Luca Nardi.
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Later, Novak Djokovic takes on Alexandre Müller on centre court.
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Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
'We were at our peak': Stephen Hiney still 'sore' about 2013 defeat to Cork
Calling La Sirène in the south of France. A family holiday briefly interrupted. A most obliging Stephen Hiney. Today's semi-final gets a look in - eventually. The 2013 semi-final is given precedence. Twelve years later, that semi-final is still a 'sore point'. 2013 was Hiney's 12th's season in blue. He was beating for 30. He'd seen woeful times. He'd seen wonderful times. August 2013 had the potential to surpass them all. The natural reflex of almost everyone involved in the semi-final is to go straight to Ryan O'Dwyer's second yellow on 50 minutes. Dublin led by the minimum. The momentum swung red thereafter. Such is Hiney's character, he neither begins with the sending-off nor attaches defeat to their numerical disadvantage. He begins instead with himself. 'My own performance was disappointing. Conor Lehane's pace, there were times I couldn't get hold of him. Maybe in years previously, but not at that stage,' he recalls. One can't but be impressed by such unprompted introspection. Maybe that's why when we went to Anthony Daly earlier in the week looking for a 2013 Dublin steer, Hiney was one of the first names he came back with. 'We were confident. Maybe others didn't, but we certainly thought we had a chance in that game,' Hiney continues. 'We had already done something we hadn't done in a long time which was to win Leinster, but we felt the opportunity was there to get to the All-Ireland final and potentially cause a massive upset. It probably still is sore that we didn't, but Cork won and we couldn't say we were hard done by. We did perform, just didn't quite get there.' He drifts between the past and present. Points to the 2021 and '24 Leinster finals as occasions where the Dublin team promised in the build-up but under-delivered on the day. Dublin performed 12 years ago, but did they under-deliver in not at least reaching the final day? 'That year, I think, yes. We were at our peak. Dalo had got us to a point where we were fully bought in, we were getting the most out of the players we had on a consistent basis, which is a really difficult thing to do. 'Even after 2013, I felt we are going to push on from this, contest a lot more Leinster finals and have more silverware. But the reality is, we haven't. It stagnated and we haven't kicked on.' During Dalo's six-year spell in the capital, they did a couple of sessions with the army rangers in the Curragh, particularly in Donnelly's Hollow, which the rangers turned into a torture chamber for the Dublin players. The rangers would remark to the then manager that Hiney was one of the toughest GAA players they'd ever encountered. And this about a chap diagnosed as an insulin-dependent diabetic at 15. At age 22, he was told he'd a 'slim chance' of ever hurling again after undergoing corrective eye surgery, while there was a cruciate rupture six years on again. The diabetes meant needles were packed into the gearbag before the socks and togs. 'On a regular day, my insulin levels would be absolutely fine. Come matchday, as the body prepares for the adrenaline, the fight or flight, it is just producing and releasing energy into my body at a level that was nearly counter-intuitive. 'Heading into Croke Park to play in front of the biggest crowds I would ever have, you would see my blood sugar levels start to rise with that adrenaline. A couple of hours out from the game, you'd need to start to take on a little bit more insulin. You'd then have a big comedown nearly the second the final whistle went as the adrenaline would flow out of you.' Just as Dublin's graph was rising under Dalo, the construction sector was hurtling in the other direction. Hiney was a senior engineer with Sisk. The downturn prompted a career pivot. His brother spotted an Aldi advertisement in the Sunday Business Post regarding an area manager role. 'It intrigued me. Joined in January 2012 and never looked back. Definitely an obscure change from construction to a German discount retailer.' He and the family relocated to Edinburgh for the three years pre-Covid as he served as operations director for the west coast of Scotland. He's currently store operations director for Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, and the greater Leinster region. The ladder climbed, the same as with Dublin. Rounding back to this evening. The holidaying Hiney's don't check out of La Sirène until tomorrow morning. 'A real pity to miss it. Niall [Ó Ceallacháin] is my age, so we would have been on the same Dublin development squads the whole way up. David Curtin is with him from Ballyboden, who I would have hurled with for many a year. If they can get the Limerick performance out of the players again, Dublin will be very hard to beat. 'There definitely was a chat about coming home for it, but hopefully there'll be another big day after it.'
Irish Examiner
7 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Emma Raducanu goes down swinging in thrilling loss to Aryna Sabalenka
Emma Raducanu reminded the tennis world what a special talent she is before her Wimbledon hopes were ended with a narrow loss to world number one Aryna Sabalenka. The 22-year-old played some electrifying tennis under the roof on Centre Court but was unable to apply the finishing touches, eventually going down 7-6 (6) 6-4 after exactly two hours. The first set alone took 74 minutes, with Raducanu saving seven set points and creating one of her own, while she led 4-1 in the second before Sabalenka recovered to set up a fourth-round clash with Elise Mertens. Raducanu will now drop to British number three behind Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal, who is the last home woman left in singles, but that will not be the case for long if she can maintain this level. The former US Open champion has made it her goal to close the gap to the world's best and, having lost twice heavily to Iga Swiatek in the other two grand slams this year, she can feel very differently after her performance here. 'She played such incredible tennis and she pushed me really hard to get this win,' said Sabalenka. 'I fight for every point like crazy. 'What an atmosphere, my ears are still hurting. I was telling myself, just pretend they're cheering for you, and I was having goosebumps.' Unlike Jack Draper, Raducanu is naturally at home on grass, with her exceptional ability to take the ball early, particularly on return, mitigating her lack of pure power. She gave Sabalenka a decent run for her money in their only previous meeting, in Indian Wells last spring, and a clean return winner off a second serve in the opening game showed the Belarusian that she very much meant business. Raducanu played an almost flawless match to beat former champion Marketa Vondrousova in the second round and, although this was a very different prospect, the 22-year-old once more appeared calm and clear-minded. She had the top seed under pressure again in the fifth game, bringing up three more break points and taking the third when Sabalenka netted a backhand. That was greeted by a huge roar from the packed stands, but Raducanu then made her first missteps serving at 4-3 to hand the advantage back amid a run of eight points in a row for Sabalenka. A forehand winner played from virtually sitting down by Raducanu earned a clap from Sabalenka but too many errors had crept into the home favourite's game and a netted forehand gave her opponent a first set point. She saved that with an ace, and Sabalenka remarkably missed backhands on every one of six more opportunities before Raducanu finally held in one of Centre Court's more memorable games. It seemed impossible for it not to be a key moment, and Sabalenka had a face of thunder after watching two Raducanu passing shots fly beyond her reach. Concern replaced cheers when Raducanu suffered a nasty slip in retrieving a short ball, briefly staying down clutching her left hip before gingerly getting to her feet. It did not stop her creating two break points, though, and Sabalenka overhit a backhand to leave her opponent serving for the set. This time Sabalenka did not let Raducanu off the hook, forcing a tie-break, where a drive volley hooked wide of an open court at 5-4 looked like it might have cost the world number one when she then netted a return to give Raducanu a first set point. But Sabalenka saved it in style with a drop shot before finally taking her eighth opportunity, this time making no mistake at the net. It was important for Raducanu to recover from the disappointment quickly, and she did, producing two strong holds of serve and taking advantage of a dip from Sabalenka to move 4-1 ahead in the second set. Sabalenka has been far and away the best player in the world over the last year but suddenly she was struggling to live with Raducanu, who played a series of sublime points to create a chance to win a fourth game in a row only to just miss with a forehand. Had she taken it, a deciding set was most certainly on the cards, but Sabalenka, who is the only top-six seed left in the tournament, barged the door wide open and charged through it, reeling off five games in a row.
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Bohs and St Pat's play out stalemate to leave Stephen Kenny winless in six matches
Premier Division: St Patrick's Athletic 0 Bohemians 0 Park life. St Patrick's Athletic turn their attention to European football without a win in six matches. The 4,919 crowd inside Richmond Park were served everything but a goal to decide in this engrossing Dublin derby. Dayle Rooney and Ross Tierney went close for Bohemians but far too many St Pat's players missed the target. As Richard Ashcroft finished his set in Cardiff with Bitter Sweet Sympathy, Bohs were peacocking their new FAI Cup strip and the iconic Oasis logo around Dublin 8. READ MORE The Verve lead singer was opening for the seismic return of Noel and Liam Gallagher at The Principality stadium, the first gig of a lucrative second coming for the Manchester band. This was no cup match though. Bohs made an exception to show off their latest piece of innovative marketing. The sky-blue Oasis gear should help fill the club's coffers when Dalymount Park is under construction. Besides the stadium DJ playing Blur tunes at every opportunity, the Brit Pop revival was never going to overshadow the football. Not around Inchicore, where there was plenty at stake for Stephen Kenny's men coming off a winless June. 'We cannot believe ourselves that we have had such a poor two weeks,' wrote Kenny in his programme notes after St Pat's missed an 'inordinately high number of chances' to leave them in a comparable situation to last season when the former Republic of Ireland manager was recruited midseason. Kenny turned the tide in July 2024 as his team embarked on a run to the precipice of the Uefa Conference League group stages. That journey begins again on Thursday with the visit of Hegelmann from Lithuania. St Pat's created the better chances in the opening half-hour only for Bohs centre half Rob Cornwall to deny Aidan Keena and Simon Power. However, the visitors should have taken the lead in the 38th minute when new signing Douglas James-Taylor blazed over a cut back by James Clarke. James-Taylor arrived from Drogheda United this week to replace French striker Lys Mousset, who was unceremoniously released by Bohemians. St Pat's should have led at the break only Power's effort missed the target before Jason McClelland slammed a shot off the crossbar. Half-time welcomed dozens of kids on to the Richmond grass to the sound of Blur's Song 2. Kenny benched teenager Mason Melia and winger Zach Elbouzedi following last week's scoreless draw in Cork while their creative force, Chris Forrester, continues to return from injury. All three eventually arrived but the sight of Jake Mulraney limping off, holding his hamstring, is not what Kenny needs before a European campaign. The excellent Power put the ball in the Bohs net early in the second-half only for a premature linesman's flag for offside. Replays confirmed the match official's error. With Dawson Devoy being smothered by Barry Baggley in midfield, The Saints seemed certain to break the deadlock. Somehow Jordan Flores cleared Kian Leavy's toe poke off the goal line. That did it for Kenny. Melia arrived on the hour for Keena. The under-21 international showed for every ball, mostly supplied by Leavy, but Cornwall held firm. Ultimately, the poor quality of St Pat's final pass summed up their season so far. Elsewhere, with Shamrock Rovers facing Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds on Saturday night, Derry City closed the gap at the top to eight points with an emphatic 7-2 defeat of Waterford while the post-Damien Duff era at Tolka Park formally began as Joey O'Brien's Shelbourne beat Cork City 3-1. St Patrick's Athletic: Anang; McLaughlin (Kavanagh 75), Redmond, Grivosti, McClelland; Lennon, Baggley (Forrester 80); Power, Leavy (Sjoberg 75), Mulraney (Elbouzedi 80); Keena (Melia 61). Bohemians: Chorazka; Smith (Mountney 71), Cornwall, Flores, Morahan; Devoy, McDonnell (Buckley 71); Tierney, Clarke, Rooney; James-Taylor (Whelan 71). Referee: Rob Hennessy.
