Sir Andy Murray 'legacy' tennis centre plan scrapped
The proposed £20m facility at Park of Keir would have included tennis, padel and pickleball courts.
The proposed £20m facility at Park of Keir would have included tennis, padel and pickleball courts.
Novak Djokovic begins his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title with victory over Radu Albot in the US Open first round – and settles a family score in the process.
Like slipping into a comfortable bath, Novak Djokovic eased into his title defence at the US Open Monday night, albeit with a few wrinkles to iron out in the coming rounds.
Returning to hard courts for the first time since Indian Wells in March and playing his first tournament since winning Olympic gold on clay in Paris three weeks ago, Djokovic didn’t bring his cleanest game to Arthur Ashe Stadium. The four-time champion threw in 10 double faults, put just 47 per cent of first serves into play and made 40 unforced errors.
[ATP APP]But despite the stains on the stats sheet, Djokovic was always in full control of his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Albot, closing out the 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win in two hours and seven minutes, sending fans on their way just before midnight.
Joking before the match that he was seeking revenge on Albot, who has wins over his brothers Marko and Djordje, Djokovic captured a record 78th win by a male inside Ashe.
“I wanted to kick start the tournament in the right way and I think I did,” Djokovic said on ESPN. “Some ups and downs which I think is normal, getting the rust off your shoulders coming off a different surface and the Olympic Games.
“I haven’t played on hard courts for six months, so I’m still finding that groove, finding the tempo on the court.”
Moving into a tie with Roger Federer for most wins at the Open (89), second only to Jimmy Connors (98), Djokovic was untroubled in his return to hard courts in his first appearance since claiming the Olympic singles gold medal in Paris, where he completed the career Golden Slam.
Chasing a 25th major to break a tie with Australia’s Margaret Court, Djokovic next faces fellow Serbian Laslo Djere, who defeated German Jan-Lennard Struff in five sets.
The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings is also hunting his 100th career title this fortnight.
Djokovic, who won the first of his four US Opens in 2011, improved to 30-7 on the season. Over his Grand Slam career, the 37-year-old is 62-1 versus players outside the Top 100 and at the US Open he is 41-0 against players outside the Top 50. Albot slipped to 107-147 according to the Infosys ATP Match Wins Index.
The defending champ cruises to R2 🚢 @usopen | #USOpen | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/b7dGrz52za
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 27, 2024
World No. 138 Albot was making his 10th US Open main draw appearance after qualifying for the third time.
Albot had momentum for a fleeting moment in the second set when he broke back at 2-all and led 40/0 on serve, but Djokovic responded with a flurry of penetrating returns to win five consecutive points to reclaim the lead in emphatic fashion.
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Emma Raducanu aims for her first US Open win since lifting the 2021 title as she and three other Britons begin their campaigns on Tuesday.
Britain’s Harriet Dart races into the second round but qualifier Jan Choinski ran out of steam in his US Open main draw debut in a five-set thriller.
Less complaining, more winning. That has been the motto lately for #NextGenATP star Shang Juncheng and it has proven plenty successful.
The Chinese 19-year-old ticked off his latest first on Monday when he earned his maiden US Open win against 27th seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in three hours and 34 minutes. Shang has now reached the second round of every major main draw (also the Australian Open and Wimbledon) he has played this season.
“Very happy and tired. Very tired. Interesting match against Alex. He has everything, he throws anything at you, some second-serve bombs, also drop shots, underarm serves, anything,” Shang said. “You really have to focus the whole match, and I’m glad I did all the way ‘til the end. It was just a good win, and hopefully I can continue.”
It has been the best season of Shang’s young career. The teen is currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, putting him in good position to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF for the first time.
Results that stand out include his first two ATP Tour semi-finals in Hong Kong and Atlanta, a trip to the third round of the Australian Open and a quarter-final in Eastbourne. Entering 2024 he had not reached a tour-level quarter-final.
“I think mentally, I’m a different person, also physically,” Shang said. “Not too many things have changed.”
The Chinese star has played more aggressively and improved his serve. He even explained that he is still growing height-wise. But the big difference has been in his mind.
“Until Eastbourne this year, if I remember exactly, I was complaining so much about the grass that I had no idea how to move on it, and every two steps I would slip. And so me and my parents and also my coach, we made a deal,” Shang said. “No complaining during the match, and then we’ll count it as one match. Whenever you get to 50 matches, that’s when you have another breakthrough.
“Right now we’re counting, I think, to 16 matches. Today I was complaining a bit in the second and third, but gladly, in the fourth and fifth, I brought it all back together and had the focus again.”
It is a work in progress, just like everything in a tennis player’s game. And in many ways, it’s natural to have dialogue with your team during a match.
“If you’re really anxious, or if you’re really mad at something and nothing is working, obviously first thing is you go to your team and ask them, ‘What is going on?’ And the truth is that they did nothing wrong,” Shang said. “You’re out there by yourself, and you’re making the mistakes. So for me, it’s better to just forget about the mistake. It doesn’t matter how big it is, [you have to] just keep moving forward, because what you can do is focus on the next point and stop thinking about the past.”
[ATP APP]Shang is the second-youngest player in the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Live Rankings at World No. 67. This time last year, the teen had to go through qualifying at the US Open and lost in the final round.
That match, against Otto Virtanen, was a three-setter that lasted two hours and one minute. “I ran out of gas pretty bad,” Shang recalled, cracking a smile. The lefty charged through five sets in nearly double the time on Monday.
Entering the season, Shang owned four tour-level wins. He has claimed 18 this campaign alone and is eager to push for more, starting with his second-round encounter with Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena.
But the teen is remaining level-headed. Win or lose, there is less complaining and more of a focus on staying in the moment. That includes not dwelling too much on his success.
“Whenever I win or I do something bad, I try to forget about it, because if you’re always staying in the past, I feel like you can’t really enjoy the present,” Shang said. “I take days off. Sometimes I don’t want to practise, just like a normal guy. I try not to think about too much of the other things that happened before, just focusing on the present and what’s going to happen in the future as well.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]He may not be a home favourite nor a former champion, but Diego Schwartzman’s connection with the New York crowd has always run deep.
The former No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings completed the final match of his US Open career on Monday afternoon, when he fell to Gael Monfils in four sets on Grandstand. Just a few hours after another former Top 10 star in the PIF ATP Rankings, Dominic Thiem, also completed his final New York match in emotional circumstances, it was fan favourite Schwartzman’s turn to step up to the mic.
“It’s difficult to speak. I am a guy who cries a lot. Sorry,” said a tearful Schwartzman in a post-match interview as the crowd cheered him on. “I’m not supposed to cry now, I have to be strong.”
We’re not crying, you’re crying 🥹
❤️ @dieschwartzman @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/kNxajGLFvM
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 26, 2024
The two-time US Open quarter-finalist Schwartzman had already summoned one final hurrah in New York by coming through qualifying last week to secure his 11th consecutive main-draw appearance. Monfils proved too strong in Monday’s first-round clash, however, ultimately prevailing 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Even in defeat, Schwartzman was happy to add some more cherished New York memories before bringing his career to a close.
“[These are] special moments, like you saw before on the screen,” said Schwartzman, referring to a montage video played on court after the match. “Once again, playing here, 11 times in a row. Playing in a Grand Slam, at the US Open.
“I did great, but I think [also] the entire crowd, today and in the years before, all the Latin American people, all the American people here. I don’t know why they take care of me so well every year, and I’m not sure if I deserve it or not, but I’m really grateful for all the years I have been here.”
Schwartzman is not done yet as a competitor on the ATP Tour. The 32-year-old has said he intends to retire next February at home in Argentina.
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Andy Murray has been immortalised at his original tennis club, with a 20-foot mural now adorning a once-barren wall at the Dunblane Sports Club in Scotland.
Dubbed the ‘People’s Tribute to Andy Murray’, the work shows the Scot’s trademark roaring celebration with the words: ‘Sir Andy. Warrior. Legend.’
The mural is an initiative developed by Tennis Channel, which has also produced a companion short film, and executed by Sift Creative and their global production team.
Distributed by Tennis Channel, the short film, The People’s Tribute – Sir Andy Murray, features inspirational tributes from fans and people close to Andy, capturing the former World No. 1’s impact on them, the sport and the country. It also features a timelapse of the creation of the mural.
The mission of the video is to create an emotionally fueled and artistically driven tribute, marrying the concepts of mural creation and fan testimonials connected to Murray’s career moments and achievements.
Watch the short film on YouTube.
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Defending champion Coco Gauff says she is treating this year’s US Open as a “victory lap” after comfortably beating Varvara Gracheva in her opening match.
At peace with his impending retirement and the end of his US Open career, Dominic Thiem was happy to sign off in New York with a final appearance on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon.
“Everything was a bit different,” said Thiem in his post-match press conference after his straight-sets defeat to Ben Shelton. “I tried to enjoy, I tried to really soak up every moment in this stadium. It was really nice. I think I was able to focus on the match, but of course I don’t have that level anymore that is required to really go head-to-head with players like Ben.
“This I also knew before, so of course I tried to enjoy as much as possible, but still, I was focusing on the match pretty good.”
New York will forever love Domi ❤️
2020 champion @domithiem bids an emotional farewell to the US Open 🥹@usopen | #USOpenpic.twitter.com/Zfx5KJlx5s
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 26, 2024
Thiem will end his career later this year as the owner of a 23-9 record at the US Open. That tally includes the highlight of the Austrian’s career: his run to his only Grand Slam trophy at the 2020 edition of the hard-court major.
“When I came first here as a pro, I straightaway played fourth round, and that gave me a boost for all the upcoming years,” said Thiem, when asked to reflect on his US Open career. “I think it’s like that. If you have really good memories or if you have a good start at something, this really gives you positive vibes for the future. It was like that, because the only really bad year I had here was 2019, when I lost in the first round and when I was not 100 per cent healthy.
“Other than that, I almost only had great highlight years. The 2017 [five-set match] against [Juan Martin del Potro], which was back then a really, really tough loss to handle. But now, it’s a legendary match, which I really like to remember actually, and then of course the epic [five-set 2018 quarter-final] with Rafa [Nadal] was great.
“But still, 2020 is above everything, and is also above everything else in my tennis career.”
[ATP APP]Thiem will bring his career to a close on home soil in October at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, whose time at the top of the game was curtailed by a long-term wrist injury, is ready for his next chapter.
“I’m happy. I was struggling enough, the last years, especially since I was not able to come back to my level,” said Thiem. “But once I took the decision this year in March, from this moment on, I was happy about it.
“Obviously I was also able to kind of prepare already this new chapter that is coming soon. Honestly, I always loved playing on Tour, and I was very patient about it, but honestly, I also always really enjoyed being at home and to have, as much as it was possible, a kind of normal life at home.
“That’s why I really look forward to this now, now that the normal life is now coming. That’s why I think it’s not that difficult for me, and that’s why I’m really also happy with my decision.”
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