Lilli Tagger wins French Open girls title
Making her junior Roland-Garros debut this year, the 17-year-old Tagger beat eighth-seeded Hannah Klugman of Britain 6-2, 6-0 in the final on Saturday.
Tagger saved all five break points she faced and hit 19 winners.
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Cosmopolitan
22 minutes ago
- Cosmopolitan
You Haven't Met This Version of Aryna Sabalenka Yet
Welcome to Cosmo Sports, our new series where we get unprecedented, all-day access to some of the most influential names in collegiate and professional athletics. We capture a full day in their lives to give you a deeper sense of who they are, not just what they do. Casual tennis fans likely first encountered Aryna Sabalenka during Roland Garros (aka the French Open) back in June. During the two-week tournament, she delivered blistering forehands, fiery fist pumps, and ferocious 'Come on!' screams. She made it to the finals and it ended with a dramatic three-set loss to America's tennis sweetheart Coco Gauff. ensued. Here's what happened: During the on-court trophy ceremony, Aryna said she played awful tennis, then in the post-match press interview, she lamented that she played the worst tennis final of her career, placed blame on the conditions, and went on to say Coco only won because she played terribly. Understandably, these comments didn't sit well with spectators. But while the internet was going off, calling her 'a bad sport,' 'sore loser,' and 'sour grapes,' I sat on my phone, watching her interviews, feeling conflicted about the entire thing. I've played tennis my entire life, so unlike casual fans, I understood Aryna to a degree. That's not to make excuses for the moment—staying composed is part of the gig as a professional athlete. Let me break it down. At the professional level, tennis is unlike many other sports in that the loser speaks immediately after a major final loss—there's zero time to process what transpired, to gather your thoughts and emotions, or to briefly yell profanities in the comfort of a closed locker room. You're expected to stand alone in front of 14,000 people, mic in hand, and graciously congratulate your opponent while in the aftermath of your loss. Then, moments later, you're shuffled into a conference room to answer a flurry of often critical, performance-based press questions. Some days, you just might fall short and drop the ball. Maybe this is what they mean when they say sports are a microcosm of life, because how many times does something like this happen in the minutia of the day-to-day, be it with friends, partners, family members, or colleagues? Mistakes happen and judgment lapses—it's simply a part of life, whether you're a world-class athlete, working mom, both, and/or everything in between (and aren't we happy our bad days aren't in front of tens of thousands of people?). The day after the match, Aryna posted an apology to her Instagram Story and later said she wrote privately to Coco to properly congratulate her on the win. The two are on good terms now—there's a video of them dancing at Wimbledon to prove it. If that's how you first came across Aryna, allow me to give her the reintroduction she deserves, one that's fitting for the player who's dominated women's tennis the past few years. In 2023, she won the Australian Open as her first Grand Slam title, and in 2024, she won the tournament again. Later that same year, she took home the trophy from the US Open. In total, Aryna has 20 WTA singles titles under her belt, and today, she's ranked as the No. 1 women's tennis player in the world—a spot she's held since November 2024. This season, she's reached the finals of both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon. And in a few short weeks, she'll be the favorite at the US Open, where she's poised to defend her title. Through the years, I've watched and admired this champion and determined competitor, but it was the Aryna I got to meet over Zoom who captivated me most. 'I can be pretty tough sometimes,' she confesses, 'but overall, I think I'm more of a chill person. When I compete, I am a tiger—I'm fighting for my dreams out there; there's no time to be nice. But I'm also definitely fun and easygoing, too.' It's this lightness, coupled with an unrelenting intensity, that is so distinctly Aryna—the one her 4.3 million combined Instagram and TikTok followers often get to see. And as of July 17, her fans will get an even more authentic look at the tennis pro's personal life in her new YouTube series, Aryna's Arena. Just ahead of Wimbledon, Aryna and I chatted while she was fresh out of practice and in the middle of her recovery routine. During our interview, I got to see and understand Aryna's many sides: the one that films TikTok dances after practice, the one that gets influenced by social media to bulk-order skincare from Sephora, the one that goes on luxurious vacations with her boyfriend, the one that almost quit tennis in 2022, and, of course, the one that wins Grand Slams. You just finished playing Roland Garros and Berlin, and now Wimbledon is coming up. What are you most looking forward to about playing there? It's a dream slam. It's so classy and beautiful. The stadium, the locker rooms, the dining room, and everything feel so special. It's amazing to be in that environment and to have a chance to compete and play on the grass. When you were a kid watching these tours, were there pros you loved or inspired you? I watched Serena and Sharapova's matches in my early teens. I loved the way they were dominating the tour. I wasn't really crazy about someone, and there wasn't someone who inspired me to be an athlete. I think it's a good thing, because somehow I managed to be and stay in the moment and enjoy what I was doing at the time. When you think back on that younger athlete, what do you want to tell her? I would tell her to enjoy the journey because even when you hold the trophy, all you remember is the struggle—what you went through and what it took to be in your position. Life is tough, but I always find that something good comes after tough times. It was such a long process. A lot of tennis is in your head. You're always talking to yourself and dealing with emotional moments. We truly tried everything to fix my serve and nothing worked. I thought maybe it was a sign to quit and do something else. But it ended up being a turning point for me. I stayed with it, worked even harder, and mentally, I found myself. I got through by trying over and over again. I talked a lot with my team and brought new people into the team. It's very important to have the right people around you, especially during those moments. It's all about support. Loyalty, connection, and character are super important to me. I need to trust the person, feel safe around them, and know that there's not going to be any leak of information or anything like that. I call my team a family. It's important to bring good people into the family. Crazy! On a serious note, I think they would describe me as someone who is ready to help whenever. I'm the kind of person that if someone around me needs help, I'm gonna do everything I can for them. So, crazy but also very kind. What does your inner monologue sound like during tough moments? You're always talking to yourself and dealing with emotional moments. There's a bad mindset and a good mindset you have, and you are just trying to balance them during the match. It's a fight, it's tough, but it's also beautiful if you can get through it and you can get those wins. Then you feel super proud and like you improved. That's the beauty of the sport. Outside of tennis, do you have other dreams? Like, are you someone who wants to get into acting or write a book? I would love to write a book. I also want to have a brand, something fashion-related or maybe beauty products. It's a very tough business to get into, but I would love to try. I always see you shopping at Sephora on social media. Your skin's really glowy. What's your routine? I cannot stop ordering and trying beauty products. My routine is a lot of moisturizing and serums. I have a lot of devices, too, like one from Medicube. The device is strong, and I can see and feel it working. I do a lot of masks and facials. Most of my treatments I do at home by myself. Whenever I get a good recommendation, I'll go, but I actually just did my own facial yesterday. I do it whenever I have a minute. I have so many good recs for facials in New York City—I'll send you my list for when you come for the US Open! What about makeup? Do you wear it during a match or only off the court? I wish but no. I mostly just wear makeup whenever I go for dinner. You won't believe it, but I have a professional makeup kit that is over 10 pounds for sure. I have so much stuff and I keep ordering and trying new things. I save whatever I see on Reels and TikTok, and then I go to Sephora and buy it. I love doing it. That's so relatable. Do you only wear sunscreen when you play then? Does it get in your eyes when you sweat? It does, so I only apply it once because I'm sweating so much. I know it's bad. I did a skin scan recently and it showed that my skin is damaged like crazy from the sun. So I'm trying to get better with more sunscreen. I mix what I use, but right now, I'm reaching for a La Roche Posay one. It's really gentle. They make great sunscreen. I noticed you wear a Whoop. I started wearing one, and I'm obsessed with my sleep and strain scores. Are you? I really focus on my hours of sleep and my Whoop age. I sleep a lot and my Whoop age is 19.9. I'm going backward. You're a baby in Whoop years! They probably do it on purpose to make me feel good. What's yours? I just turned 34 and my Whoop age is 30.9. I was excited about it, but then my friend who also just turned 34 said her Whoop age was 25! Do you sleep good? Not really, so I need them to hack mine so I feel good about myself, too! Outside of sleep, what other ways do you prevent burnout during such a long season? Doing stuff I enjoy—a quick vacation, a good dinner. If it's during the tournament, I'll go shopping or watch fun movies. I love to do social media stuff. I love to share myself with people. When I have a little time after practice, I go on TikTok, find a cool dance, and do it as part of my recovery routine. Other times, I just want quiet time somewhere or to stay home watching Netflix and drinking tea and having cookies. It's nice to just switch off. Speaking of vacation, I saw on Instagram that you were in Greece in June. What kind of vacationer are you—someone who's having cocktails on the beach or someone who wants to go to a city and shop? All of them together, please? Drinks by the beach, good music, and ideally, a shopping center nearby. Mykonos was perfect for me—it has a lot of beach clubs and some of them have shopping areas. Obsessed. Let's switch gears and talk about your relationship. I see you post a lot with your boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis. How did you two meet? We met when I was signing the contract with Oakberry. He's the founder and owner of the brand. I went to see the team, and he was there. We talked a little bit, but then later on, we just went out for dinner, and that's how everything started. We've been together for a year. What does his support of your tennis look like? It's very important for me to have my partner next to me. It's really cool that his work is also global. I realize not everyone is as lucky as me to have a partner who can travel with me and my crazy schedule while still working. It's just cool to see him in the box when I play. He motivates me to keep going. It means a lot. What's your ideal date night? It's different all the time. Sometimes it's just Netflix, and sometimes I like to go for a good dinner and listen to music. Okay, now it's time for our fun rapid-fire questions. What's your go-to cocktail order? Espresso martini. The last thing you bought that you were really excited about? My Birkin. Most famous person in your contact list? David Grutman [the hospitality entrepreneur who owns Miami hot spot LIV Nightclub]. The last person you texted? My boyfriend. Favorite pre-match song? 'We Are the People' by Empire of the Sun. Lipstick or lip gloss? Lipstick. Nights in or nights out? Nights out. Grass, clay, or hard court? Just because it's grass-court season, I'll say grass. If you could be a pro athlete in any other sport, which would it be? Boxing. If you were to write your book right now, what would the title be? How to Fight Through Challenges.
Forbes
22 minutes ago
- Forbes
Tecnifibre Debuts Special Iga Swiatek-Daniil Medvedev T-Fight Racket
Tecnifibre teams with Daniil Medvedev and Iga Swiatek to create a special-edition T-Fight ID tennis ... More racket. Tecnifibre's two lead tennis athletes share history—both have reached No. 1 in the world and have won a U.S. Open championship—and in a first for the brand, they both also share a racket frame in 2025, the Tecnifibre T-Fight. The French-based tennis company will celebrate all the sharing by creating a special-edition—and colorful—T-Fight ID (the ID stands for Iga and Daniil) making it available at retail on July 23 while also having both Swiatek and Medvedev play with the limited-edition colorway throughout the U.S. Open series. 'T-Fight has been our flagship racket, and we have very much been known for all-white rackets,' Philippe Oudshoorn, Tecnifibre North America brand director, tells me. 'White is a pretty important part of our brand, but we definitely wanted to do something that was different and make it a story about our athletes.' There were no better athletes to focus on than Swiatek and Medvedev, a pair that have worked together since 2020 during brand events while enjoying success on their respective tours. 'Daniil is a funny guy and has an authentic and joyful demeanor off the court,' Oudshoorn says, 'and it really loosens up Iga and you get to see who she is off the court. It creates this pretty funny dynamic.' Tecnifibre going blue for a limited-edition T-Fight tennis racket for Daniil Medvedev and Iga ... More Swiatek. Tecnifibre has seen exponential growth in tennis in the last few years, certainly owing to the success of the two ambassadors, Oudshoorn says. With the quality chemistry they have shown together 'it was the perfect time to do something Tecnifibre has never done before, something not white, dedicated to our athletes and to really tell their story.' The first order of design was settling on a color. Since both players have won a U.S. Open, Tecnifibre took inspiration from the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows to make blue the lead color, which is also a Tecnifibre brand color. To add an accent, and to keep with the U.S. Open theme, they sprinkled in green, doubly inspired by the Statue of Liberty in New York. 'There is a New York City nod from a design perspective,' Oudshoorn says. 'Daniil and Iga were involved in this and they both like the color blue. It is something still very Tecnifibre, but so very different because of the color.' MORE: Tecnifibre's Flagship Racket, The T-Fight, Gets A 2025 Update Medvedev and Swiatek will be the only Tecnifibre athletes using the special-edition colorway this summer. Tecnifibre will release two models at retail, one the 305-gram version Medvedev favors with a 98-square-inch head and an 18x19 string pattern and the other Swiatek's chosen 300-gram racket with a 100-square-inch head and 16x19 string pattern. The rackets feature a green flame logo inspired by the Statue of Liberty, with a '21' inside one flame and a '22' inside the other to represent the years each player won the U.S. Open. A trio of dampeners—a flame, bagel and pretzel—are also available as part of the Tecnifibre T-Fight ... More ID release. Tecnifibre expects this to be a one-off event, making the rackets true limited-edition releases. Along with the rackets, Tecnifibre will debut a blue bag and a set of three special-edition dampeners, a flame inspired by the Statue of Liberty, a bagel inspired by Swiatek and a pretzel inspired by Medvedev. The chemistry between Iga Swiatek and Daniil Medvedev help the co-created T-Fight ID tennis racket ... More come to life. 'This was such a critical piece to the story,' Oudshoorn says of the extra dampener touch. 'I think it is one of the biggest parts of what we created.' He says the dampeners help connect the stories of the two players. While Swiatek's bagel story is well chronicled (and again established with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the 2025 Wimbledon final), in 2020 Swiatek and Medvedev did a Q&A together and Swiatek described Medvedev's game like a pretzel, which produced plenty of laughter. Just a few days later, Medvedev posted a picture on social media of him holding a pretzel with a big smile, tagging Swiatek in the post. 'Seeing how relaxed they are and how much fun they have together, there is really cool dynamics,' Oudshoorn says. The dampeners, which come in a special box with all three styles, help tie it all together. 'There is just a certain amount of energy that is contagious and comes to life,' Oudshoorn says. 'It has been really fun and so critical for the brand to start marketing our athletes a lot more than just relying on results. It is great for everyone, the brand, Daniil and Iga.' This is also one of the first times a tennis racket promotion has been based on both a male and female athlete at the same time. 'We are all just through the moon to do this with Daniil and Iga,' Oudshoorn says, 'and honor their results and what they have done for the company.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
A historic win by 45-year-old Venus Williams resonates and shows there are no limits for excellence
WASHINGTON (AP) — There are plenty of reasons why this particular victory by Venus Williams in this particular tennis match — just one of hundreds — resonated with so many folks. That she's 45, for one thing. Only one woman, Martina Navratilova, ever has won a tour-level singles match while older; her last victory came at 47 in 2004. That Williams hadn't entered a tournament anywhere in 16 months. That she needed surgery for uterine fibroids. And when asked Tuesday night after beating her 23-year-old opponent, Peyton Stearns, 6-3, 6-4 at the DC Open what message others might take away from that performance and that result, Williams was quick to provide an answer. 'There are no limits for excellence. It's all about what's in your head and how much you're able to put into it. If you put in the work mentally, physically, and emotionally, then you can have the result,' she said. 'It doesn't matter how many times you fall down. Doesn't matter how many times you get sick or get hurt or whatever it is. If you continue to believe and put in the work, there is an opportunity, there is space, for you.' Williams has been winning at tennis for decades. Her pro debut came when she was 14. Her first Grand Slam title came at Wimbledon in 2000, less than a month after her 20th birthday. She accumulated four major singles trophies before Stearns was born and eventually wound up with seven, five at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open, plus another 14 in women's doubles — all with her sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles. 'I have so much respect for her to come back here and play, win or lose. That takes a lot of guts to step back onto court, especially with what she's done for the sport,' said Stearns, who is ranked 35th and won NCAA singles and team titles at the University of Texas. 'You have a lot behind you. You have accomplished a lot. And there is a lot of pressure on her and to kind of upkeep that at this age. So massive credit to her for that.' There were challenges along the way for Williams, none more public than the diagnosis in 2011 of Sjögren's syndrome, an energy-sapping auto-immune disease that can cause joint pain. More recent was the pain from fibroids — noncancerous growths — and shortly before the DC Open, Williams said: "Where I am at this year is so much different (from) where I was at last year. It's night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery.' As thrilled as the spectators — 'Who I love, and they love me,' Williams said — were to be able to watch, and pull, for her under the lights Tuesday, other players were rather excited about it, too. 'I commend her so much for being out here,' said Taylor Townsend. Naomi Osaka's take: 'She's, like, the queen. There's a royal air around her.' 'She's one of the best athletes of all time," Frances Tiafoe said. "Her and her sister, they're not only great for the women's game, not only great for women's sports, but they are so iconic.' Yet, there were some on social media who wondered whether it made sense for the tournament to award a wild-card entry to Williams instead of an up-and-coming player. DC Open chairman Mark Ein said it took him about two seconds to respond 'Of course' when Williams' representative reached out in April to ask whether a spot in the field might be a possibility. A reporter wanted to know Tuesday whether Williams took any satisfaction from proving doubters wrong. 'No, because I'm not here for anyone else except for me. And I also have nothing to prove. Zip. Zero. I'm here for me, because I want to be here,' she said. 'And proving anyone wrong or thinking about anyone has never gotten me a win and has never gotten me a loss.' ___ Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: More AP tennis: Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
