Latest news with #Sinner
Times of Oman
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Times of Oman
Wimbledon: Sinner, Djokovic in same half of draw, Alcaraz to start against Fognini
London: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will kickstart his Wimbledon campaign against 38-year-old Fabio Fognini in round one, while the world number one Jannik Sinner will play his first-round game against compatriot Luca Nardi. The tournament will start on Monday, and the draw for the tournament took place on Friday. Sinner's pursuit of his first Wimbledon title could depend on a semifinal clash against Novak Djokovic, a seven-time champion in London. The number one player, Sinner, competes against Nardi, while Djokovic, competing at sixth-seeding, his lowest since 2018, will kickstart his tournament for a record-tying eighth Wimbledon title against Frenchman Alexandre Muller, as per ATP's official website. Djokovic, who prevailed over Sinner in the quarterfinal of the 2022 Wimbledon and the 2023 semifinal, is seeded for a quarterfinal match with British number one Jack Draper. Draper will kickstart against Sebastian Baez and could face an in-form Halle champion, Alexander Bublik, in round three. In the bottom half of the draw, Alcaraz, who is on his career-best 18-match win streak, will start against Fognini and could meet eighth seed Holger Rune in the quarterfinals, and if he wins, his semifinal opponents could be Oliver Tarvet or Leandro Riedi, both of them Grand Slam main draw debutants. The world number three and three-time major finalist Alexander Zverev, whose campaign will start against Arthur Rinderknech, is seeded for a quarterfinal clash against Taylor Fritz, who faces Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in his opener and maintains an 8-5 lead over Zverev head-to-head. (
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Alcaraz, Sinner, Sabalenka and Swiatek top Wimbledon bill but have work cut out
About three hours and 45 minutes into his duel with Carlos Alcaraz three weeks ago, Jannik Sinner lowered himself into his return stance for what he hoped would be the last rally of a near-flawless fortnight. Sinner held three championship points for what would be one of the most monumental victories of his career. Just one of those three would have earned him a first grand slam title away from hard courts and redefined the terms of engagement with Alcaraz, the only player to beat him for 10 months. Sinner would then have drawn level with the Spaniard on four grand slam titles. The margins that determine success have always been precarious but few occasions exemplified this like Paris. Instead of Sinner reinforcing his status as the world's best, Alcaraz produced another legendary moment in his young career with one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Although the Italian remains No 1 and the best player in the world based on his performances over the past year, on the eve of Wimbledon Alcaraz is the player to beat. Since Roland Garros, the momentum and good vibes surrounding the champion have only increased. He followed his three-day interlude in Ibiza by winning at Queen's Club for a second time. While he still considers clay his favourite surface, the 22-year-old's grass record is astounding. He has amassed 29 wins and three defeats, winning 25 of his past 26 matches on the surface. He has more grass-court titles – four – than losses. He heads into Wimbledon as the clear favourite and will attempt to become the fifth man in the Open era to win the singles title three times in a row. It will take time for Sinner, who is nine months older, to come to terms with the French Open defeat, which was still playing on his mind when he lost in the second round of the Halle Open last week to Alexander Bublik. But another grand slam tournament also provides him with an opportunity to forge ahead with fresh motivation. Alcaraz and Sinner have shared the past six grand slam titles, shutting out the rest of the field and until there is a significant shift, it is difficult to choose the rest of the field over these two players. Novak Djokovic, however, continues to relish the challenge of trying to disrupt the youngsters. At the age of 38 he has clearly been third-best player at the grand slams this year, reaching two semi-finals, with victories over Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. On grass, where the seven-time Wimbledon champion's understanding of the surface is second to none and the faster conditions are more helpful to his ageing body, Wimbledon has always represented his biggest opportunity of becoming the oldest slam champion in the Open era. It is clear that Jack Draper will command the most attention at the beginning. The Briton's past year has been remarkable, with the 23-year-old rising from No 40 to No 4, winning his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells and reaching his first slam semi-final at the US Open. Draper has everything he could possibly want to make a deep run on the grass – a well-rounded, increasingly complete game and his destructive lefty serve and forehand are well-suited to the fast surface. While most British players have some sort of early breakthrough at Wimbledon, Draper, at 23, has never passed the second round and his success has come on foreign shores. He has never experienced the pressure and attention that comes with being a top home player and genuine contender on Centre Court. In the long run, Draper has the character and single-minded focus to handle these situations and produce his best tennis but the coming week will be a fascinating test of his character and current readiness for these moments. The women's draw is shrouded in even more uncertainty. Aryna Sabalenka has clearly established herself as the top player but, like Sinner, she arrives at Wimbledon with her ego bruised after her dramatic three-set defeat to Coco Gauff in the French Open final. Her tactless comments after the defeat, and the backlash they generated, only made things even more difficult for her. The Belarusian remains the favourite to win a first Wimbledon title, where the grass aids her ultra-offensive shotmaking. Beyond Sabalenka, there is even less clarity. Gauff has solidified herself as a true championship player by winning her second slam in Paris. However, despite her breakthrough run coming at Wimbledon, when she reached the fourth round from qualifying on her slam debut as a 15-year-old, the American, now 21, has struggled to find her best on grass. Iga Swiatek's difficulties on grass are similarly well established but, with every year, the former world No 1 does appear to grow more comfortable. After an extremely difficult period on court this year, she did leave Roland Garros with her head held high despite her dominance in Paris coming to an end after her semi-final loss to Sabalenka. As is often the case, contenders could come from anywhere. Five months on from her stunning triumph at the Australian Open, Madison Keys remains effective both on grass and at slams. Mirra Andreeva's improved serve should make her even more dangerous this year. In a sport where the margins are so tight, and there are so many players capable of performing at a high level on their day, this Wimbledon may well be decided by whoever truly rises to the occasion when they most need to.
The Hindu
11 hours ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Exploring why nobody wants to face Alexander Bublik on Wimbledon's grass courts
After losing to Alexander Bublik in the final of Halle, former World No. 1 and 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev paid his opponent the ultimate veiled compliment. Congratulating Bublik, Medvedev said, 'Keep playing like that, I hope you're in Carlos [Alcaraz's side of the] draw at Wimbledon. Please, Carlos or Jannik [Sinner's] side of the draw at Wimbledon!' It's a sentiment many others on the ATP Tour share. Bublik is a player other players don't fancy facing, but one they hope will take out a big name or two, thus clearing their own path. The 6'5' Bublik owns a monster serve, a punishing forehand and a dizzying array of drops, slices and trickshots. At his best, he can take the racquet out of his opponent's hand. But even at his worst — he is prone to ups and downs — he is a disarming, distracting handful. Expect the unexpected Indeed, Aleksandar Kovacevic, who defeated Bublik in Montpellier earlier this year, found himself confronted by a string of successful underarm serves at one stage and a bemused ball boy, who Bublik handed his racquet to, at another. 'I was not expecting to play against the ball kid, but you always know there's going to be something funny with him [Bublik],' Kovacevic said. 'It's not the first time he's having fun out here. It's not a bad thing. But for me, obviously, and for any opponent that he has, it's important to stay locked in and focus.' It's not Bublik's worst his rivals are fearing ahead of Wimbledon, however. The 28-year-old heads to London on the back of his best Major run and in possession of his second Halle title. ALSO READ | Wimbledon 2025 preview: Sinner, Djokovic plot to prevent Alcaraz hat-trick At Roland-Garros, Bublik made history, becoming the first male player representing Kazakhstan to enter the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles event. It was a remarkable performance for the quality of players he defeated but also for the fact that it came on clay, a surface that doesn't play to his strengths. 'I hate clay, I hope not to step on it for the next ten years,' he said before the tournament. 'I hope the clay-court season ends soon so I can play on grass.' But Bublik found his footing on Paris' red dirt to beat Alex de Minaur from two sets down and Jack Draper from a set down. Both were inspired victories. De Minaur, a particularly difficult man to put away because of his exceptional footspeed, was on a streak of four consecutive appearances in Major quarterfinals. Draper was the fifth seed on the back of a strong run during which he won the Indian Wells title and reached the Madrid Open final. Back on his favourite grass, Bublik showed just what a threat he can be on a fast, slippery surface. He became the first man not named Alcaraz to beat World No. 1 Sinner in 49 matches. He extracted a measure of revenge for the quarterfinal loss at Roland-Garros with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. It was Bublik's second win over Sinner in six matches, both coming on Halle's grass. ALSO READ | New-look Wimbledon prepares for life without line judges Bublik saved three break points in the first game of the second set before gaining the crucial break to lead 4-2 and smashed three aces when holding serve to force the decider where a break to go 4-3 up proved decisive. 'It's a special one — I had never beaten the top one [No. 1] in the world, that's an accomplishment,' said Bublik, who struck 36 winners, including 15 aces. 'It's a very fast surface, so I had for certain a better chance than at Roland-Garros. I tried to be clutch. I just kept serving and putting him in uncomfortable positions. Tried to return as much as I could. Serve aces so the ball doesn't come back. It worked well.' New maturity Bublik continued to serve big and rip winners on his way to the final, where he had a mental obstacle to overcome. He had lost his six previous meetings against Medvedev, winning only one set in the process, but produced a superb exhibition of grass-court tennis to end that streak. So often the showman, Bublik showed his new maturity with a calm 6-3, 7-6(4) victory. 'I was cursed against you, Daniil,' he said in the post-match ceremony. 'From the mental point of view, that's the toughest match I ever played in my life. I have never beaten Daniil. He's a super tough player to play, especially with my gamestyle, and today everything clicked, mentally and physically. That's one of the wins of my career.' The Halle triumph certainly made many in the tennis world sit up and take notice. ALSO READ | Plotting the contours of the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry: Men's tennis' new main-event Andy Roddick, a three-time runner-up at Wimbledon, likened Bublik's unconventional style to former World No. 8 Radek Stepanek's. Both players, he said, kept opponents off-balance on grass because they always carried the threat of rushing the net, 'except Bublik kind of hits the ball bigger'. Roddick also said Bublik is 'among the 10-15 best grass-court players if he is in form and engaged'. Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker liked what he saw from Bublik in the Halle final, calling it 'great grass-court play' which made his heart 'beat a little faster'. Bublik will enter Wimbledon feeling completely different mentally to what he did a year ago. Ranked as high as No. 17 last June, he experienced a slump that left him outside the top-80. 'I had such tough months from last Wimbledon to probably this summer,' said Bublik, who climbed 15 places to World No. 30 after his Halle triumph. 'I was close to calling it quits after Wimbledon because I was not enjoying it. I dropped in the rankings and I didn't know why. I didn't want to play, I had no joy. Now this is happening. Quarters at the French. Winner here. It's beyond my wildest dreams of what I could achieve. It has been a big renaissance of my career.' Harnessing unorthodoxy In addition to rediscovering the joy of playing, Bublik has also found a way over the last month to extract the most from his unorthodox game. The key has been using his serve to platform his variety, touch and guile. As he said, 'On grass, if you lose your serve, it is maybe tough and I am a guy who doesn't lose a lot of serves. 'If Bublik can serve to potential and hold his nerve, he will be a threat on Wimbledon's lawns. He will know that he can improve on his round-of-16 appearance in 2023, but he isn't getting ahead of himself. 'Tennis is a brutal sport,' he said. 'When I was ranked 17th in the world, I started treating it like a job, a sport that was too demanding. But this isn't track and field, it's not a race against time. There's a ball, and you can do anything with it. That — you must never forget.'
New Indian Express
14 hours ago
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Wimbledon's draw puts Alcaraz against Fognini in the first round. Coco Gauff faces Yastremska
LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz will begin his bid for a third consecutive Wimbledon championship and put his career-best 18-match winning streak on the line by facing the volatile Fabio Fognini in the first round at Centre Court when the tournament begins Monday. The singles brackets for the grass-court Grand Slam tournament were set in Friday's draw, including potential men's quarterfinals of No. 1 Jannik Sinner against No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 4 Jack Draper against No. 6 Novak Djokovic — who has won seven of his 24 major trophies at the All England Club — No. 2 Alcaraz against No. 8 Holger Rune, and No. 3 Alexander Zverev against No. 5 Taylor Fritz. The possible women's quarterfinals are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 6 Madison Keys, and No. 4 Jasmine Paolini vs. No. 5 Zheng Qinwen in the top half, and No. 2 Coco Gauff vs. No. 8 Iga Swiatek or 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, and No. 3 Jessica Pegula vs. No. 7 Mirra Andreeva in the bottom half. In addition to Sinner, Djokovic, Draper and 2024 semifinalist Musetti, the top half has No. 10 Ben Shelton and No. 13 Tommy Paul of the United States, along with Alexander Bublik, an unpredictable and underarm-serving player from Kazakhstan. He reached his first major quarterfinal at the French Open by defeating Draper — his potential third-round opponent next week — and then won a grass-court title at Halle, Germany, for the second time, beating Sinner along the way. Alcaraz and Sinner could only meet at Wimbledon in the July 13 final, which would be rematch of their epic showdown for the French Open title won by the 22-year-old Alcaraz for his fifth major trophy. In Fognini, Alcaraz faces a 38-year-old veteran who has been ranked as high as No. 9 and was a French Open quarterfinalist in 2011 but is currently No. 130 and never has been past the third round in 14 previous appearances at Wimbledon.
Hindustan Times
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Jannik Sinner makes shock pre-Wimbledon decision, parts ways with two key coaches: Report
ATP world number one Jannik Sinner has parted ways with his fitness trainer and physiotherapist right on the eve of his bid for a first Wimbledon title, with the sudden decision coming days before the start of his tournament against fellow countryman Luca Nardi. Italian publication Corriere dello Sport reported that Sinner's team will not include Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio, who have been part of the Italian's team since September 2024, when the tournament begins in SW19 next week. World number one Jannik Sinner prepares for his attempt at a first Wimbledon title.(REUTERS) Panichi and Badio have been part of Sinner's team since he let go of Umberto Ferrare and Giacomo Naldi, with the pair being relieved of their duties after their role in Sinner's high-profile doping case came to the fore last year. However, after less than 10 months in which Sinner has dominated men's tennis, he is set to move on from his new team as well. Sinner won the US Open, the Nitto ATP Finals, and the Australian Open with the pair joining his team alongside high-profile Australian coach Darren Cahill, but his three-month suspension means he essentially spent just 6 months with their guidance. Reasons haven't been made clear about Sinner's decision to end his collaboration with Panichi and Badio, but it will certainly be a central question asked during the 23-year-old's pre-tournament press conferences. Sinner's attempt to bounce back from heartbreaking Roland Garros loss vs Alcaraz? Panichi and Badio were both formerly part of Novak Djokovic's team, Badio between 2017 and 2022, and Panichi between 2019 and 2024. Their presence helped Djokovic maintain his fitness levels and extend his career to break and extend the record of the man with the most grand slam titles, as well as most weeks at world number one. Sinner will be smarting from a pair of losses to Carlos Alcaraz since his return from suspension, first at the ATP Masters in Rome in his return tournament at home, before the titanic five-set blockbuster in which he squandered match points in the French Open in Paris. Sinner's warm-up to Wimbledon didn't go to plan either, as he was knocked out of the grass-court Halle Open by Kazakhstan's mercurial Alexander Bublik, the eventual champion of that event. The Italian is gunning for a first Wimbledon title, his fourth major victory, and has been handed a relatively straightforward path through his draw, avoiding a nightmare quarterfinal matchup against Djokovic. The Serb is still in Sinner's half of the draw, however, and the seven-time champion will be looking for revenge after losing each of the last four matches against his younger counterpart. Both are staring down the barrel of a final matchup against back-to-back defending champion Alcaraz in the final.
