Britain’s former world number one Andy Murray says practising with Swiss great Roger Federer has helped build his confidence before he makes a long-awaited singles return at Wimbledon.
Jelena Ostapenko beats Estonian Anett Kontaveit 6-3 6-3 in the the final of the Eastbourne International as Alex de Minaur edges out Lorenzo Sonego in the men’s final.
Nick Kyrgios announced in his pre-tournament press conference on Saturday that he will compete in mixed doubles at Wimbledon with former WTA World No. 1 Venus Williams.
“The mixed doubles pair of the tournament!” Kyrgios exclaimed after making the announcement.
The Australian on Tuesday took to social media to seek a partner for The Championships, tweeting “MIXED DUBS WIMBY????”
MIXED DUBS WIMBY???? ???
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 22, 2021
Kyrgios has found his match. Williams is a two-time mixed doubles winner at Grand Slams, triumphing at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 1998.
Kyrgios has played mixed doubles before, most recently with Amanda Anisimova at last year’s Australian Open and Desirae Krawczyk at Wimbledon in 2019.
Watch the best shots as Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko beats Estonian Anett Kontaveit 6-3 6-3 in the Eastbourne International final to win her first WTA title for almost two years.
Fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez captured their third ATP Tour team title on Saturday with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald in the Mallorca Championships final.
Despite it being a semi-final match in Mallorca, the Italian-Argentine tandem have been crowned champions due to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Carlos Gomez-Herrera withdrawing after their semi-final victory on Thursday.
”The second set was really tight, as always, it massively depends on one or two points,” Bolelli said. “We wanted to win this tournament, we played three really good matches. It was the second tournament for us on grass together.
“This is the third title for us, so it is a very good year at the moment and have confidence for Wimbledon next week. I really enjoyed this week, the tournament was really well organised with good facilities.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Bolelli and Gonzalez won 88 per cent (30/34) of their first-service points and broke serve four times to record victory in 68 minutes. They won the Chile Dove Men+Care Open title in Santiago and the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma earlier this year, and are 20-7 on the season.
The fourth seeds raced ahead in the opening set, not facing a break point on serve to claim it in 25 minutes. Bolelli and Gonzalez then battled through the second set to move to 3-1 in tour-level finals this year.
Daniell and Oswald captured their only ATP Tour team title at the Forte Village Sardegna Open in Sardinia last October, and are now 15-13 on the season.
British tennis is considered ‘too white, male and posh’ by many. BBC Sport speaks to those trying to change perceptions and increase diversity in the sport.
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Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will be aiming to win a first singles Grand Slam title at Wimbledon this year. However, the Roland Garros finalist will not only take to the court in the singles at SW19, he will also team with his brother Petros Tsitsipas in the doubles.
The Greek pair overcame Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau in the first round at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April, and played together at the Australian Open (l. to McDonald/Paul). This will be their eighth tournament of the season together, and they will face Jaume Munar and Cameron Norrie in the first round.
The World No. 4 will be in for a busy tournament if he advances to the latter stages in both draws, because Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam where doubles is played on a best-of-five-sets format.
Two other top 20 singles players will also be in action. Australian Alex de Minaur, who this week is at a career-high No. 18 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, will partner countryman Matt Reid, and they will play British team Luke Johnson and Anton Matusevich. Casper Ruud, the 12th seed in singles, will partner Andre Goransson. The Norwegian-Swedish tandem takes on Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez.
Lloyd Harris, No. 51 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, will play with World No. 67 Alexei Popyrin, and they will face Americans Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren.
The top seeds are Croatian pair Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who are in red-hot form ahead of Wimbledon after winning their seventh tour-level title of the season at the Viking International Eastbourne on Friday. Mektic and Pavic have lifted three ATP Masters 1000 titles this year, but missed Roland Garros.
They will begin against Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski, while second seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will be targeting a third straight title after winning Roland Garros and the cinch Championships in London. The French tandem won the Wimbledon crown in 2016 and plays Facundo Bagnis and Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round.
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who reunited at Roland Garros this year (l . to Monroe/Tiafoe), have collected 15 tour-level titles together, including Wimbledon in 2017. The Polish-Brazilian team will join forces for a second time this season in London, and take on 2012 champion Frederik Nielsen and Franko Skugor.
Jelena Ostapenko will face Anett Kontaveit in the women’s singles final at Eastbourne, with Alex de Minaur facing Lorenzo Sonego in the men’s final.