Despite being World No.1, very few had much faith in Andy Murray living up his seeding and make the final. Fast forward…
| French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May- 11 June |
| Coverage: Listen to live radio commentary and follow text coverage of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Rafael Nadal has rediscovered his game and his aura, and now he looks ready to take his title back.
The Spaniard, who plays Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals on Friday, is just two wins from a record 10th French Open – ‘La Decima’ – and his first since 2014.
“It’s starting to be the way it was,” Carlos Moya, who joined Nadal’s coaching team in December, told BBC Sport.
“That was one of the things that we wanted back, that the opponent feels he’s playing Nadal again and if they want to beat him, they’re going to have to work really hard.”
They might have to work hard but thus far Nadal’s opponents haven’t had to spend much time on court.
The Spaniard, 31, has been getting them out of there in close to 90 minutes per match, reaching the semi-finals for the loss of just 22 games in five matches – the fewest games lost to this stage of a Grand Slam since best-of-five matches were introduced.
Twelve months ago, Nadal was forced out of the tournament through injury, and two years ago he was brushed aside by Novak Djokovic. In 2017, he has looked unstoppable.
There is no question Nadal has rediscovered his mojo on the clay, but opinion is divided over whether he is back to his very best.
His new coach believes he’s not far away.
“I think he’s really close to 100%,” said Moya. “He’s played some matches this year when his level was really good.
“It’s hard to compare with the old Rafa, but I think if he’s not at the same level, he’s close to that.”
Nadal might be the king of clay but his game looks increasingly like hard-court tennis on the red dirt.
Successful in a stunning 76% of points behind second serves, and 69% of first serves, Nadal is then winning 62% of his points in under four shots, as opposed to just 15% in rallies of more than nine strokes.
And it is his most famous shot that once again dominates Roland Garros.
“The wheelhouse of the Nadal renaissance has been his forehand,” says Craig O’Shannessy, strategy expert for Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the ATP World Tour.
“He has hit 61 forehand groundstroke winners to the semi-final, with the majority hit straight down the line.”
The image of Nadal might be of long, grinding rallies from deep behind the baseline, but the reality in 2017 is that plan A is stepping in, opening up the court early, running around his backhand and cracking a forehand winner.
Nadal has missed five Grand Slams through injury, and was forced out of last year’s French Open with a wrist problem which saw him also miss Wimbledon and curtail his season after the US Open.
The punishing nature of his baseline game led many to speculate from the early years that his would be a much shorter career than those of his rivals.
However, rested and rehabilitated, he returned at the start of 2017 to reach his first Grand Slam final since 2014 in Australia, before once again dominating the clay-court season.
“I think everybody is a little bit surprised by his performances again, but when he recovers physically 100%, he gets the confidence to fight,” said former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
“I think being physically fit is the key to his performances right now.
“He had no injuries in the last six months and I think it’s very important for him to feel like this.
“He’s also recovering balls the same as before, impossible points that in the last year maybe we didn’t see from him, because he couldn’t move as well.”
One of the great coach-athlete relationships in sporting history will end this year when Toni Nadal – ‘Uncle Toni’ – steps away from life on the tour.
The 56-year-old, who made the decision to change a natural right-hander to play left-handed, will return to the family’s home of Majorca to concentrate on running his nephew’s tennis academy.
His departure lends an extra dimension to Nadal’s quest for another title at Roland Garros, the place where he and Toni began an extraordinary story 12 years ago.
“He always says one of the biggest things for him is to have his family very close,” said Ferrero.
“So to have his uncle as somebody who is there all the time in important moments, bad times, injuries, everything – of course Toni is one of the important people he’ll always have in his life.”
The succession plan is well under way, however, with former French Open champion Moya brought on board in December.
“It makes me very proud,” said Moya. “I know who I am with, how big in the history of this sport he is, so I try to make the most of every day I have with him.
“It’s been a learning experience for me.”
There were widespread calls for a change in the Nadal team when he went through his prolonged slump, and Ferrero believes Moya’s introduction will bring a new dimension to the coaching set-up.
“To have someone on the team like Carlos, who knows all the time what is going on in the match because he played on the tour, I think it’s very important to have someone who can then go to the locker room and talk about the match,” added Ferrero.
“Rafa can talk with Toni as well but Carlos went through all the matches like he did, so it’s something Rafa didn’t have before.”
You might think that nine titles and a 77-2 career record would make Nadal stride through the gates of Roland Garros with at least a hint of a swagger.
“I won here nine times,” said the Spaniard, “and every year that I won I was unbelievably happy, but every year that I came back, I was unbelievably nervous.”
If Nadal carries that feeling with him as a matter of course, the looming prospect of making almost unfathomable tennis history must be an added burden.
Victory in Sunday’s final would make him the first player to win any of the Grand Slam titles 10 times in the open era, and only the second ever after Margaret Court’s 11 Australian Open wins.
| Nadal at French Open 2017 | |
|---|---|
| 5 matches | 65 forehand winners |
| 78 games won | 25 backhand winners |
| 22 games lost | 250 baseline points won |
| 76% second serve points won | 49 net points won |
| 69% first serve | |
“La Decima? No, no, no,” said Moya, when asked if it was a subject of discussion in Team Nadal.
“You know that it’s there but it’s coming more from the press and the people and the fans, than from Rafa and his team.
“We know it’s there but we believe also it can add some extra pressure, so we don’t talk about that.
“He probably does feel more pressure at this time of year, especially here.
“Every year he’s coming, he’s defending champion most of the time, or if not he knows it’s the tournament he has the biggest chances to win, so there’s always some extra pressure here.”
There have been plenty of people keen to re-anoint Nadal as the king of clay based on his resurgence this season, but the real tests still lie ahead.
The average rank of his opponents so far at Roland Garros has been 39, with Roberto Bautista Agut the highest at 18 in the world.
Now comes a step up against Thiem, the young Austrian who inflicted Nadal’s only clay-court defeat of 2017 with a stunning performance in Rome.
Get through that, and he faces a final against world number one Andy Murray or former champion Stan Wawrinka.
So is a Nadal victory inevitable?
“It’s difficult to say,” said seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe.
“That’s why I wanted to see him and Novak play in the semis – we could see is he really playing better than ever?
“Certainly he’s intimidating, there’s no doubt, and he’s the guy to beat. But I don’t think it means it’s over quite yet.”
Grand Slam champs face off once again in Roland Garros semi-finals
Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka will be the first to admit that much of their clay seasons didn’t meet their lofty standards, but they’ve raised their games at the right moment for a rematch on Friday at Roland Garros.
Murray defeated the 2015 champion in four sets at this very round last year, but the rematch is one some tennis critics may not have predicted at the start of the fortnight. Murray arrived in Paris with a 4-4 record on clay this year and lost before the quarter-finals in three of his four events on the dirt. Dropping sets in his first two matches this fortnight to Andrey Kuznetsov and Martin Klizan didn’t do much to fuel optimism, but he has fully turned the corner.
He bageled longtime rival Juan Martin del Potro in the third round and then scored a convincing win two days later over #NextGenATP player Karen Khachanov. On Wednesday, he started slow and finished strong in hammering 31 winners to defeat Kei Nishikori in a four-set quarter-final.
“I came in playing garbage,” joked Murray. “If someone had offered me a semi-final spot before the tournament, I would have signed up for that because I was not playing well at all. And practice also was not good. It’s been really good so far. I want to keep going.”
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Murray leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Wawrinka 10-7 and has won their past two matches, including a round-robin contest at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals in London. He’ll also take heart in knowing his victory over Wawrinka last year came under similar circumstances. The Swiss star soared into the final four while Murray struggled in several of his matches, but the Brit dug deep for a hard-fought win.
However, Wawrinka said the loss last year will have no bearing on how he approaches their battle on Friday.
“I remember he was playing better than me, but it’s a different year,” said Wawrinka. “I think he’s struggling a little bit since the beginning of the year, but he’s in the semi-final. So a champion like him, when they find a way to win matches, they play better and better. I expect him to play his best tennis.”
Both Murray and Wawrinka are aiming to reach their second Roland Garros final and become the 20th man in the Open Era to reach the final here on multiple occasions. Should Murray win, he’d become the seventh man in the Open Era to reach all four major finals at least twice. At 32 years and 75 days, Wawrinka is seeking to become the oldest finalist in Paris since Niki Pilic (33 years, 280 days) in 1973.
They’ve also both earned three Grand Slam titles in perhaps the toughest era in tennis history. A fourth major trophy would be highly significant for their tennis legacies.
But for both men, the flattering milestones won’t mean as much as achieving a place in another Grand Slam final.
“I don’t think we need extra motivation. When you arrive in the semi-final of a Grand Slam, the motivation is quite high,” said Wawrinka. “It’s always a great challenge to play the World No. 1 in a Grand Slam. It’s going to be a great match.”
Mexican-American duo book spot in first team final
Santiago Gonzalez and Donald Young reached their first Grand Slam championship doubles final on Thursday at Roland Garros. The Mexican-American team battled hard to knock out Fernando Verdasco and Nenad Zimonjic 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 28 minutes for a place in Saturday’s title match.
While Verdasco and Zimonjic clinched the first set, that saw early service breaks, it was Gonzalez and Young who had their 3-1 advantage clawed back in the second set. From 5-5 in the second set, the Mexican and American duo won five straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the decider. Zimonjic, who won the 2010 Roland Garros doubles title with Daniel Nestor, remains on 698 match wins.
Gonzalez has an 11-7 record in doubles finals, including one ATP World Tour 500-level title at the 2011 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (w/Scott Lipsky), but Young lost his only previous final appearance at the 2015 Memphis Open (w/Artem Sitak).
They await the winners of Colombian No. 16 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah or American Ryan Harrison and Kiwi Michael Venus, who contest their semi-final on Friday.
Farah, in partnership with Anna-Lena Grönefeld, finished as runner up to Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles final earlier on Thursday.
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.
If you listen closely, you can hear the crunch of pristinely trimmed blades as players take to the grass courts of the Aegon Surbiton Trophy in suburban London this week. The grass-court season is here, and the fresh smell of carefully groomed lawns is in the air on the ATP Challenger Tour, with three weeks of tennis set to commence in England.
The tournaments in Surbiton, Nottingham and Ilkley provide some of the more quaint and picturesque settings on the circuit, but which Challengers are held in the most scenic, breathtaking locales? We look at the 10 best, presented in alphabetical order by city…
Kunming Challenger (Anning, China)
One of two events in the Asia-Pacific region that feature on our list (see Noumea below), the tournament in Anning is located in the Yunnan region in southern China. With beautiful pastoral views of the surrounding countryside, the Hot Springs Tennis Center is a popular destination for players on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The nearby rolling hills and hot springs embed the venue in a serene setting. Former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic claimed the title in the tournament’s sixth edition this year. The $150,000 event is part of a two-week Chinese clay-court swing, which also includes the tournament in Qingdao.
Internazionali di Tennis di Cortina (Cortina, Italy)
The Alps in central Europe boast some of the most stunning mountain views in the world. Nestled in the Dolomite region in northern Italy is the beautiful ski resort town of Cortina, which hosts a €64,000 event on the ATP Challenger Tour in July. Few photos capture the true beauty of the Tennis Country Club Cortina, which basks in the shadow of the snowcapped peaks surrounding the courts.
“Cortina is a very beautiful place,” said #NextGenATP star Karen Khachanov. “I like to be in the mountains. I like to ski too and it brings back memories of being with my family in the mountains. It’s a different atmosphere being around nature and that’s why this tournament is so nice.”
Neckarcup (Heilbronn, Germany)
Some of the top Challenger destinations reside in Germany, with multiple ATP Challenger Tournament of the Year winner Braunschweig boasting packed crowds and world-class entertainment, and the indoor hard-court event in Eckental celebrating its 20th edition in 2016.
Tucked in the southwest corner of the country, less than an hour north of Stuttgart, is the sleepy city of Heilbronn. With the river Neckar curling around the downtown district and a vast expanse of vineyards dotting the surrounding region, Heilbronn’s tranquility provides players with a relaxed setting for a tournament.
One of the few remaining clubs on the ATP Challenger Tour to be founded in the 1800s, the TC Heilbronn Trappensee E.V. 1892 has hosted the Neckarcup for the past four years. World No. 10 Alexander Zverev broke into the Top 100 for the first time after lifting the trophy in 2015.
“That was my second Challenger title and I never played another one after that,” said Zverev. “It got me into the Top 100 for the first time, so it was a big step for me. The event is very well run and the organisation really tries to listen to players and improve every year. That’s why players really enjoy coming there. There are two stadium courts as well, which is not common for a Challenger event. And many spectators come out to watch.”
Aegon Ilkley Trophy (Ilkley, U.K.)
The ATP Challenger Tour grass-court season concludes with the Aegon Ilkley Trophy at the 136-year-old Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club. Arguably one of the most picturesque venues on the Challenger circuit, the tournament is nestled adjacent to the idyllic Ilkley Moor, Cow & Calf Rocks and River Wharfe. With the rocks perched atop the moor, the expanse is 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level and overlooks the town and surrounding countryside.
“It’s pretty amazing in Ilkley,” said 2015 champion Denis Kudla. “There are lots of fans here supporting the tournament and the players. It has the environment that players love.”
Tennis Championships of Maui (Maui, Hawaii, U.S.A.)
Located steps from the Pacific Ocean on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the Royal Lahaina Resort is home to one of the player and fan favourite events on the ATP Challenger Tour. Mammoth waves crash on the adjacent shoreline as players hit the court for the $75,000 hard-court tournament. Held during the second week of the Australian Open in late January, its spot on the calendar is just as ideal as its breathtaking location.
“Maui is definitely a beautiful place,” said 2015 champion Jared Donaldson. “The scenery is great and the beach is awesome. You get to see the whales off the shore and I think it’s their mating time of year. That was my first Challenger title, so I got a lot of confidence from that event and have great memories.”
“I’ll be honest, it’s tough to focus on the tournament when you have the beach right there,” added fellow American Taylor Fritz. “And the resort is great. There’s nothing stopping you from going to the beach and relaxing all day. It’s just an amazing setting to have a tennis tournament.”
Monterrey Open (Monterrey, Mexico)
The Monterrey Open – a $100,000 event on the ATP Challenger Tour – made a strong introduction to the circuit with its award-winning inaugural edition in 2015. The co-Challenger of the Year, it is held at the base of a vast mountain range extending from the United States to Central America. With 3,700 m peaks towering over the Deportivo Alpino Chipinque, it provides one of the more picturesque Challenger locales and contributes to the tournament’s intimate atmosphere.
“The venue is beautiful. It’s a great Challenger that I would recommend to anyone coming out to Monterrey,” said former World No. 8 Mark Philippoussis, who competed at the concurrent ATP Champions Tour event. “The players are well taken care of and the people here are incredibly hospitable. They make you feel like you’re at home.”
Challenger BNP Paribas (Noumea, New Caledonia)
Travel to Maui and Noumea and you’ll be plunged into arguably two of the most stunning beach settings to host a sporting event of any kind. The capital of an island collectivity of France called New Caledonia, located off the east coast of Australia, Noumea is home to a hard-court event during the first week of the year. A short saunter from the Coral Sea in the South Pacific, the Ligue de Tennis du Ouen-Toro boasts breathtaking, unobstructed ocean views. Frenchman Gilles Simon is its most accomplished champion, going back-to-back in 2005-06 en route to ascending to No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
Tilia Slovenia Open (Portoroz, Slovenia)
The Croatia Open Umag is known as one of the hidden gems on the ATP World Tour, with its tennis complex located directly on the Adriatic Sea and the beach just steps away. Hop in your car and drive 30 minutes north of the city, crossing the Croatia-Slovenia border, and you will arrive in Portoroz, home of the Tilia Slovenia Open. With sea views that rival its ATP World Tour neighbor, the Sports-Recreation Center Marina Portoroz is also nestled along the Adriatic. It is home to 13 clay courts as well as two indoor and five outdoor hard courts, including a multipurpose stadium that seats 1,600 fans. #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev reached his first Challenger final there last year.
Movistar Open by Cachantun (Santiago, Chile)
Held in late October at the Club de Polo y Equitacion San Cristobal, the clay-court event in Santiago, Chile, is one of the premier Challengers on South American soil. Led by Catalina Fillol, daughter of former World No. 14 Jaime Fillol Sr., the event’s hospitality is just as impressive as the stunning peaks that blanket the region.
The Chilean capital is located on the southern edge of the Andes Mountains and provides players and fans with a jaw-dropping setting for a tournament. Founded in 1947, the historic club is now home to 20 tennis courts, including 19 under the lights, on its sprawling 60-hectare (148-acre) property.
“The venue is pretty amazing,” said Norwegian teen Casper Ruud, who reached the quarter-finals last year. “The weather was a little cold but it’s a beautiful club, a beautiful city and a beautiful country. The centre court is awesome and surrounded by the Andes Mountains.”
Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger (Tiburon, U.S.A.)
The sprawling wine country of Northern California welcomes the ATP Challenger Tour in late September to early October, kicked off by the $100,000 event in Tiburon. Located minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco, the Tiburon Peninsula Club is steps from a popular marina, which shuttles locals and tourists throughout the San Francisco Bay. During last year’s tournament, players enjoyed a cruise on a club member’s private boat.
Celebrating its 11th edition in 2017, the event has featured multiple future Top 20 stars, including 2011 champion Ivo Karlovic, 2012 winner Jack Sock and 2014 titlist Sam Querrey. #NextGenATP American Michael Mmoh reached his first ATP Challenger Tour final there last year, finishing runner-up to Darian King.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko became the first unseeded woman to reach the French Open final in 34 years by beating Timea Bacsinszky.
The 20-year-old defeated the Swiss 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-3 on Thursday to stay on course for a first WTA title.
Mimi Jausovec was the last unseeded player to reach the French Open final in 1983, losing to Chris Evert.
Ostapenko will play either Czech world number three Karolina Pliskova or Romania’s Simona Halep on Saturday.
World number 47 Ostapenko, who turned 20 on the day of her victory, edged a first-set tiebreak but looked to have lost her way in the second set when she lost four games in a row.
Bacsinszky was knocked out of the tournament at the semi-final stage at Roland Garros in 2015 and appeared determined to avoid the same fate as she comfortably closed out the second set.
But Ostapenko turned on the style in the decisive set, edging ahead at 4-3 with the 15th break of the match before holding for 5-3.
Ostapenko then hit a winning forehand to secure her place in the final, prompting the crowd to sing “happy birthday” as she celebrated the biggest win of her career so far.
Ivan Lendl says Andy Murray is “doing fine” as the Scot looks to return to form ahead of his French Open semi-final against Stan Wawrinka.
| French Open men’s semi-finals |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: Friday, 9 June |
| Coverage: Listen to live radio commentary and follow text coverage on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Britain’s Andy Murray will try and “find a way to get the win” when he takes on in-form Stan Wawrinka in the French Open semi-finals on Friday.
Murray, the world number one, will meet Swiss third seed Wawrinka in the opening match on Philippe Chatrier Court at 11:45 BST.
It is a repeat of last year’s semi-final, which Murray won before going on to lose in the final.
“Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to win,” said the Scot.
“It’s not always about how well you play or the level that you play at.”
Spain’s nine-time champion Rafael Nadal will play Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem in the second semi-final.
Murray, 30, arrived in Paris short of wins after a season interrupted by illness and injury, but has found his form over the course of five matches at Roland Garros.
However, the other three semi-finalists are yet to drop a set, while Murray has lost three so far.
“They are all obviously playing extremely well,” said Murray.
“Rafa’s had a great clay-court season, as has Thiem. Stan, this tournament, has played great. He won in Geneva [before Paris] so is obviously confident.
“I came in playing garbage. I’m the odd one out in the semis, but hopefully I can keep it up.”
It will be the 18th time Murray has played Wawrinka, with the Briton having won both last year’s meetings at the French Open and ATP Finals.
An added dimension to the contest is the fact that both men have won three Grand Slam titles, with Murray yet to win in Australia and France, and Wawrinka missing a Wimbledon victory.
The Swiss, 32, has won majors in each of the last three years and has been in scintillating form, hitting as many forehand winners (70) as Murray in three fewer sets, and six more aces at 30.
“Hopefully a different result,” was Wawrinka’s response when asked to look ahead to a repeat of last year’s semi-final.
“That’s what I expect and I hope.
“I think he’s probably a bit less confident. He’s a bit more hesitant. Hopefully I can take advantage of that and find solutions to beat him.”
Seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe:
“Andy’s much tougher to beat in best of five, he’s worked so hard on his conditioning.
“He exerted so much energy and effort to get to number one at the end of last year, I wasn’t surprised that he tailed off for a while.
“I think he’s been pointing towards the French for quite a while and he’s acting like the player that we look at and go ‘that guy’s ranked number one in the world right now.’
“You’ve got to live up to it.”
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash:
“I think Andy’s done really well. Grand Slams excite him. He puts the hard work in throughout the year.
“Stan’s the guy who’s a danger to everybody.
“Once he gets rolling he can just hit winner after winner and nobody can do anything about it, nobody can stop him.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, including Rafa.”
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