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Irish Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Anyone for tennis from a burning planet?
Amid the opening-day downpours of Wimbledon in 1922, 'diehard old-timers' declared that the 'wrath of heavens' had unleashed itself upon the Championships. They blamed the sin of ambition: the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, responding to the superstar status of French postwar phenomenon Suzanne Lenglen, had just relocated to new, larger grounds. 'Our hearts were as leaden as the skies,' backroom staff member Norah Gordon Cleather, later the acting club secretary, wrote of that rain-thwarted first day. Walk into Wimbledon today and heaven's wrath will be well hidden. The site in the SW19 postcode of London is a purple-hued playground with textures far lovelier than can be captured by television. Even when it rains and those squads of highly trained teenagers pull the covers over the courts with military speed, there's an aura and a bloom. This is a place to prioritise pleasure. In New York, at the sweltering fourth Grand Slam tournament of the year, the mood can turn darker. READ MORE 'You cannot imagine,' said Daniil Medvedev, the Russian former number one, as he towelled off his hands and face during a 2023 quarter-final he played and won in the oppressive humidity and 33 degrees heat of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Looking straight down the lens of the TV camera next to his towel box, the 2021 US Open champion then flatly stated: 'One player is gonna die, and they're gonna see.' Medvedev is drama prone, but his soliloquy haunts me. I would prefer it if tennis players didn't die for my entertainment. If you watch the sport long enough, you already know how these elite athletes can fall dizzy and faint in the brutal conditions in which they ply their trade. As they dig deeper and push harder to win, heat stress can defeat them, dehydration hospitalise them. Their footwork falters, their shots spray wide. When they say they 'left it all out there on the court', what this sometimes means is they vomited into a courtside bin. Climate shaped tennis in its infancy. The crushed brick of the red clay at the French Open, or Roland-Garros, originated as an 1880s solution to the problem of scorched grass. After newly laid lawn tennis courts at a Cannes hotel were burnt by intense Riviera sun, powdered terracotta was applied to make them playable and more pleasing to the eye. Clay courts soon flourished wherever grass could not survive, the sport going global with the aid of pulverised ceramics. An employee sprays water on the distinctive clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris during the French Open. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images When the wind picks up, the surface attacks the players, its fine dust getting in their eyes and occasionally unravelling them. Still, the harshness of rogue clay has got nothing on the inhospitable hard courts of Melbourne in January 2020. Here any lingering image of tennis as a game of elegance and glamour was snuffed out by the apocalyptic feel of a city blanketed by bushfire smoke. During one Australian Open qualifying match, Slovenian player Dalila Jakupovic suffered a coughing fit, collapsed to her knees and retired from a winning position , saying afterwards that she had been scared. The match had been delayed by the haze for a single hour. That same day, people in Melbourne had been advised to stay indoors. These stark scenes seem a long way from the genteel, temperate-climate traditions found at Wimbledon and drawn upon by the All England Club to convincing effect. For this year's beautiful official poster, titled Tennis in an English Garden, graphic designer Sarah Madden has imagined the stands as a flower bed, with spectators sitting among hydrangeas, petunias, butterflies and bees as they admire a player exhibiting Lenglenesque grace. The royal box is populated only by flowers. Wimbledon Tennis poster 2025, Tennis in an English Garden by graphic designer Sarah Madden There's no sweat on display, no geopolitics, no confrontation, only serene greenery and the alluring ballet of tennis. When the All England Club says the poster highlights 'Wimbledon's distinctive blend of sport and nature', it doesn't sound like promotional hyperbole but the entire, 19th century-born point. Over the fortnight, the grass starts to die. The baselines go brown – in dry years, they will appear extra-scuffed. But this living surface is managed all year round by grounds staff accustomed to factoring weather variables into the science of court maintenance. They are adept at producing what Cleather, in her 1947-published memoir Wimbledon Story, called 'the velvet lawn'. When you're there, even on finals weekend, any wear-and-tear seems trifling. Instead, everything from the Boston Ivy that clads the exterior of Centre Court to the retractable roofs above the two main show courts conveys a sense of human mastery over the elements. The skill of the players nestles within feats of technology, engineering and horticulture. Sport, the epitome of our pursuit of excellence and a release valve for so many, must adapt fast to this global heating, parching, melting, and that means being prepared to change the rules Such ingenuity is embedded in its history: the creation of lawn tennis in the 1870s was only possible thanks to the invention more than 40 years earlier of the mechanical lawn mower. And yet the advent or spread of an array of sports still thriving today – soccer, golf, cricket, tennis – is more usually situated in the context of the late 19th-century surge in leisure time, a byproduct of industrialisation, almost as if the advances of the industrial revolution itself are too prosaic to dwell upon. Now the realities of climate change – a process set in motion in the century in which so many games were codified and popularised – has made sport vulnerable to visible disruption and material risk. It was a snowless December 2015 working for a ski company in the French Alps that got Madeleine Orr thinking it couldn't 'just be skiing'. Now a sport ecologist, the Canadian academic learned from experience that when a mountain can't 'open' because the snow gods have their own schedule, injuries follow. Skiers are funnelled on to runs with artificial snow, increasing the rate of collision, then the eventual arrival of heavy snow provokes overexcitement. Orr's own venture off-piste ended with multiple knee surgeries, she writes in Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport (2024), which explores how sport has become a victim of climate change, even as it is complicit in it. For evidence of sport's contribution to global warming, look no further than the 'climate crisis, what climate crisis?' approach exemplified by Fifa , the world football governing body, which has seemingly never encountered a stadium construction proposal it didn't like. [ Dangerous heat is a real threat for the 2026 World Cup. Are teams ready? Opens in new window ] Such casually immense carbon footprints rebound on the sport they are intended to benefit. The body keeps the score in the form of heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. When world players' union Fifpro criticises Fifa for not implementing cooling-break and match abandonment policies to the extent it says is necessary, the words of a wilting Medvedev loom large: 'One player is gonna die, and they're gonna see.' Tennis authorities have their own extreme-heat rules and heat-stress scales – in Australia, these have had to be continually re-evaluated, which tells its own story. Climate fears also enter the court in another way, with players now more often finding themselves sharing a workspace with activists equipped with dire warnings and glue. The Australian Open heat policy displayed on day two of the 2023 edition of the tournament in Melbourne Park. Photograph:Wimbledon does not escape. In 2023, Just Stop Oil campaigners protesting the All England Club's partnership deal with fossil-fuel financiers Barclays scattered jigsaw pieces and confetti on the grass . After this, the Wimbledon shop stopped selling jigsaws. A plan to expand the site into an adjacent golf course has also attracted some local ire, with one sign reading 'love tennis, hate concrete' – a perhaps unresolvable inner conflict in the age of mass sport. Before my first visit to Wimbledon in 2022, its rose arbour, ball-shaped topiary and pristine quilt of courts were just BBC backdrops. I thought it was the hot mess of Grand Slam tennis I was seeking: the gladiatorial competition, the chasing down of lost causes, the agony of match points squandered, the audacity of drop shots, the no-look handshakes, the last gasps of glory in injury-stalled careers. As a television viewer, it is the juxtapositions that compel. All sports hinge on rules, precision and fairness, but because tennis is more than averagely wrapped up in etiquette inherited from the Victorian leisure class, emotions and bodily functions that would be unremarkable in other sports can seem incongruous on its hallowed courts. Order and chaos have a habit of colliding, nevertheless. Other species, for instance, seem to love nothing more than rocking up to remind humans they can't control everything. Snakes, bees, cats and various birds have all been known to interrupt play. At Wimbledon, players have had to swat away flying ants with their rackets – the sight of Danish former number one Caroline Wozniacki shaking her personal swarm out of her plait in 2018 was one 'distinctive blend of sport and nature'. [ Everywhere you look in the world of sport now climate change is biting Opens in new window ] Billie Jean King, the legendary champion and equality trailblazer, once defined tennis as the 'perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity'. It's an old quote and I wonder if it's still true. When I watch, from home, a rally played during an earthquake (in Acapulco), a server rattled by the sonic boom of a fighter jet (in Paris) or those handshake-free matches between opponents whose countries are at war, tennis doesn't seem tranquil. But when I'm a fan-flapping spectator, tranquillity – the civilisation of it all – turns out to be what I value and aspire to most. Last summer a friend messaged me to say he had spent a sunny day at a cricket match somewhere in Dublin. This was as much a surprise to him as it was to me. I replied that when I was a child I used to think the old guys who sat watching test cricket for five days were mad. Now I envy them. At Wimbledon, I've found that the best part of the day can be the evening, after the crowd has thinned. I can spread out on shaded seats, drink red wine from recyclable plasticware and absorb a second-round meeting between, say, Petra Kvitová and Jasmine Paolini. The London heat rises up Centre Court, making me sleepier than the wine alone could manage, and my lower back relaxes so much, I realise how rarely it ever does. Tennis days are long. Matches are regularly paused because spectators, overestimating their capacity to withstand heat, require medical assistance. Buying tickets for outdoor tournaments in Italy or France, I study online seat maps closely as I try to work out the aspect of arenas, the quantity of sunshine I covet and the amount of exposure I will be able to take before I reach, in tennis parlance, break point. Heat, even in climates where it is expected, can feel ominous. Everyone wants to see exceptional play, or what commentators call 'tennis from another planet'. No one wants to see tennis from a burning planet. Back at sustainability-championing Wimbledon, it is still hard to conceive of the wrath of heavens as something dry, cloudless and stealthily deadening, even as climate scientists forecast more extreme and prolonged heatwaves for our future summers. But sooner or later, players, spectators and courts alike will be baked in ways that would never have been predicted when the first Championships was held in 1877. Sport, the epitome of our pursuit of excellence and a release valve for so many, must adapt fast to this global heating, parching, melting, and that means being prepared to change the rules. 'It gets late early,' is an old saying of baseball catcher Yogi Berra , or 'Yogi-ism', sometimes cited during best-of-three-set tennis matches that whizz by too quickly for the losing player to mount a comeback. In the climate emergency it gets late early, too. Some unforced errors, as players know, cost you the match.
Associated Press
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
French Open Women's Champions
1925 Suzanne Lenglen, France 1926 Suzanne Lenglen, France 1927 Kea Bouman, Netherlands 1928 Helen Wills, United States 1929 Helen Wills, United States 1930 Helen Wills Moody, United States 1931 Cilly Aussem, Germany 1932 Helen Wills Moody, United States 1933 Margaret Scriven, Britain 1934 Margaret Scriven, Britain 1935 Hilda Krahwinkel Sperling, Germany 1936 Hilda Krahwinkel Sperling, Germany 1937 Hilda Krahwinkel Sperling, Germany 1938 Simone Passemard Mathieu, France 1939 Simone Passemard Mathieu, France 1940-45 No tournament 1946 Margaret Osborne, United States 1947 Pat Canning Todd, United States 1948 Nelly Adamson Landry, France 1949 Margaret Osborne duPont, United States 1950 Doris Hart, United States 1951 Shirley Fry, United States 1952 Doris Hart, United States 1953 Maureen Connolly, United States 1954 Maureen Connolly, United States 1955 Angela Mortimer, United States 1956 Althea Gibson, United States 1957 Shirley Bloomer, Britain 1958 Suzi Kormoczi, Hungary 1959 Christine Truman, Britain 1960 Darlene Hard, United States 1961 Ann Haydon, Britain 1962 Margaret Smith, Australia 1963 Lesley Turner, Australia 1964 Margaret Smith, Australia 1965 Lesley Turner, Australia 1966 Ann Haydon Jones, Britain 1967 Francoise Durr, France 1968 Nancy Richey, United States 1969 Margaret Smith Court, Australia 1970 Margaret Smith Court, Australia 1971 Evonne Goolagong, Australia 1972 Billie Jean King, United States 1973 Margaret Smith Court, Australia 1974 Chris Evert, United States 1975 Chris Evert, United States 1976 Sue Barker, Britain 1977 Mima Jausovec, Yugoslavia 1978 Virginia Ruzici, Romania 1979 Chris Evert Lloyd, United States 1980 Chris Evert Lloyd, United States 1981 Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia 1982 Martina Navratilova, United States 1983 Chris Evert Lloyd, United States 1984 Martina Navratilova, United States 1985 Chris Evert Lloyd, United States 1986 Chris Evert Lloyd, United States 1987 Steffi Graf, West Germany 1988 Steffi Graf, West Germany 1989 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Spain 1990 Monica Seles, Yugoslavia 1991 Monica Seles, Yugoslavia 1992 Monica Seles, Yugoslavia 1993 Steffi Graf, Germany 1994 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Spain 1995 Steffi Graf, Germany 1996 Steffi Graf, Germany 1997 Iva Majoli, Croatia 1998 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Spain 1999 Steffi Graf, Germany 2000 Mary Pierce, France 2001 Jennifer Capriati, United States 2002 Serena Williams, United States 2003 Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium 2004 Anastasia Myskina, Russia 2005 Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium 2006 Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium 2007 Justine Henin, Belgium 2008 Ana Ivanovic, Serbia 2009 Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia 2010 Francesca Schiavone, Italy 2011 Li Na, China 2012 Maria Sharapova, Russia 2013 Serena Williams, United States 2014 Maria Sharapova, Russia 2015 Serena Williams, United States 2016 Garbine Muguruza, Spain 2017 Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia 2018 Simona Halep, Romania 2019 Ash Barty, Australia 2020 Iga Swiatek, Poland 2021 Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic 2022 Iga Swiatek, Poland 2023 Iga Swiatek, Poland 2024 Iga Swiatek, Poland 2025 Coco Gauff, United States NOTE: Before 1925, the French Open was restricted to French players.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dusko Todorovic changed teams from 'chaotic' situation to break losing skid
The iconic clay courts of the French Open are barely made of clay at all There are few images in tennis more iconic than the red clay of Roland Garros. The arena in Paris hosts the French Open, the second grand slam of the year and one of the sport's most prestigious titles. The courts of Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen have played host to some of the most memorable matches in the sport's history.
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Vogue Arabia
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue Arabia
Serving Looks: The Evolution of Tennis Style at Roland Garros
There are few fashion stages as rich in tradition—and ripe for subtle rebellion—as the red clay of Roland Garros. Each May, as the French Open serves up its spring spectacle of topspin and tension, the question isn't just who will win the title—it's who will serve the best look. Not the aloof, logo-dripped brand of cool seen courtside at a Knicks game, but a distinctly elegant je ne sais quoi —where form meets function in pleated skirts, crisp whites, and increasingly, elevated activewear with the ideal of runway lineage. Yet to understand the present, it's worth looking back. Tenniscore has always been a mirror of the moment—and a few steps ahead. In the early 1900s, women like Suzanne Lenglen glided across the clay in flowing silk dresses and bandeau headbands, breaking free from corsetry with every swing. Fast forward to the '70s and '80s, and style icons like Björn Borg and Chris Evert brought glam to the baseline with short shorts, gold chains, and perfectly feathered hair. The court became a catwalk, and the players—style stars in their own right. By the 2000s, enter Venus and Serena Williams, who redefined not just the game but the look of it. Serena's body-hugging dresses, knee-high boots, and that now-legendary black catsuit in 2018 turned Roland Garros into a battleground for fashion-forward athleticism and athletic-forward fashion. It was about performance, yes—but also about presence. Photo: Daniele Oberrauch /
Daily Tribune
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Tribune
Swiatek survives Rybakina scare
AFP | Paris Triple-defending Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek battled into the quarter-finals of the French Open yesterday, overcoming a bruising first set loss to eventually defeat former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. The four-time holder of the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, who has been struggling for her best form and has not reached a final since winning the title last year, was in serious trouble when trailing 2-0 in the second set. But the 24-year-old dug deep to clinch a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. Swiatek is aiming to become the first woman to win four straight Roland Garros crowns since Suzanne Lenglen 102 years ago. The Pole will next face Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, who knocked out 2024 losing finalist Jasmine Paolini, in the last eight on Tuesday. Swiatek is now on a 25-match winning streak at the French Open and boasts a remarkable 39-2 win-loss record in the tournament. Rybakina had won both of her previous career meetings with Swiatek on clay and the Kazakh dominated the opening set, hammering 12 winners past her bewildered opponent. 'Well it was tough you know, first set I felt like I was playing against Jannik Sinner,' said Swiatek. 'I needed to do something to get back in the game, but with her playing like that I didn't feel like I had much hope.' Rybak in a broke in the first game of the second set as she threatened to run away with the match. But Swiatek impressively turned the set around with a run of five straight games. The fifth seed looked to have finally seized total control with a break to lead 4-3 in the deciding set, only to hand it straight back. Swiatek was one game from defeat when trailing 5-4, but she managed to end Rybakina's resistance and held her nerve to serve out the match. Svitolina made the quarter-finals for the fifth time with a comeback 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 win over last year's runner-up Paolini, saving three match points in a dramatic opening match on Court Philippe Chatrier. The former world number three, who has never made a Grand Slam final, will be bidding to reach a first Roland Garros semi-final when she faces Swiatek. 'I still cannot believe that this match finished my way, ' said Svitolina. 'It was a really difficult match today, Jasmine was playing really well. It was really tough for me but I'm very happy I was able to stay composed and fight until the very last point.' Fourth seed Paolini, who won the Italian Open last month, fell to the same opponent for the second straight major tournament. Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen secured a quarter-final place with a hardfought three-set victory over 19th-seeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova. The Chinese eighth seed extended her winning streak at Roland Garros to 10 matches, winning 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-3 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
