UK Anti-Doping chief executive Nicole Sapstead to leave role after six years
Nicole Sapstead is to leave her role as chief executive of UK Anti-Doping to join the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
Nicole Sapstead is to leave her role as chief executive of UK Anti-Doping to join the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
The ATP Tour will return to Dallas, Texas, for the first time in more than 30 years next season when one of America’s longest-running tournaments takes anchor in the Lone Star state as the Dallas Open. The ATP 250, the only indoor tour-level event in the United States, will be held at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at Southern Methodist University.
The tournament, which will be held from 6-13 February 2022, had been played in New York for the past three years. It has a storied history, with former champions including legends John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Michael Chang, Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori.
The Dallas Open marks the return of ATP Tour tennis to Dallas for the first time since 1989. The World Championship of Tennis Finals was held in Dallas from 1971-89.
“GF Sports & Entertainment is proud to bring the Dallas Open, an elite ATP Tour tournament, to the premier Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas, beginning in 2022,” Tournament Director Peter Lebedevs said. “The Dallas Open will shine a global spotlight on the city and be much more than a one-week tennis tournament. In addition to entertainment programming and unique experiential opportunities throughout the tournament, our partnership with SMU and commitment to the community will be year-round and include business, community, tennis initiatives and events. We would like to thank the City of Dallas, our partners at SMU and the ATP for the incredible support during this process to help us bring this world-class tennis event to a world-class city.”
The Isner Family Foundation, established by 15-time ATP Tour Champion John Isner and his family, will serve as a non-profit partner for the event. The Isner Family Foundation provides financial support for qualified families to obtain necessities, such as meals, clothing, transportation, convenient lodging, car seats and medical supplies, while their children are under the care of Children’s Health, one of the largest and most prestigious pediatric health care providers in the country and the leading pediatric health care system in North Texas.
“I am excited to have an ATP Tour event in my home city and to show off Dallas to the other players on the Tour. The Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex is a premier venue. The players are really going to enjoy playing there in front of a knowledgeable tennis crowd,” said Isner, who was on hand for Wednesday’s announcement. “I am also proud to have the Isner Family Foundation be one of the non-profit partners for the Dallas Open, and I am looking forward to the positive impact the event will have on the local community.”
ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said, “It’s exciting to have ATP Tour tennis coming to Dallas, a city with such a rich sporting culture and strong roots in tennis. This is an important opportunity for tennis to continue engaging its passionate American fanbase and we look forward to watching the Dallas Open establish itself in its new home from next season.”
The waitlist for Dallas Open premium hospitality and tickets is now live. Fans can visit www.dallasopen.com to join the priority waitlist, and follow the event on social media @DALOpenTennis for all future updates.
Lorenzo Musetti got the better of fellow former junior World No. 1 and #NextGenATP Sebastian Korda on Wednesday for a place in the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon quarter-finals.
The 19-year-old Italian battled hard to beat the 20-year-old American 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in a rain-interrupted clash over two hours at the Parc de Tete d’Or.
“I lost my focus and he won the second set easily,” said Musetti. “I started the third set well with a break up, but then Sebi came back and he was playing really well. I played with my heart and my body. I am really proud of myself.”
Musetti, who beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round on Tuesday and is now 11-6 on the season, will next play Slovenian Aljaz Bedene. World No. 82 Musetti will be attempting to reach his third ATP Tour semi-final (also 2020 Sardinia and 2021 Acapulco).
[WATCH LIVE 1]Musetti gained the first break of the match courtesy of a Korda double fault in the fourth game, shortly before a 72-minute rain interruption. Play resumed at 12:14pm local time, and while Musetti could not convert one set point at 5-2, with Korda serving at 30/40, the Italian sealed the 40-minute opener in the next game.
Having saved two break points at 1-1 in the second set, Korda found his groundstroke rhythm and broke Musetti with a superb backhand winner down the line for a 3-1 advantage. The World No. 65 then won 12 of the next 15 points, clinching the 34-minute second set — after a run of five straight games — with a forehand winner.
Korda came close to breaking early in the decider, but it was Musetti who responded with a fine piece of anticipation on a backhand volley to take a 3-1 lead. Korda recovered to 4-4, but Musetti stepped up with two groundstroke winners in the 10th game en route to his third quarter-final of the season.
Korda, who reached his first ATP Tour final at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com (l. to Hurkacz), is now 11-7 on the year. Like Musetti (2019), he won the Australian Open junior title (2018).
Later in the day, Bedene won 82 per cent of his first-service points to overcome fourth-seeded Belgian David Goffin 7-6(4), 6-3 in one hour and 48 minutes.
Wimbledon says it is “confident” more than 25% of fans will be allowed to attend when the tournament returns to the All England Club next month.
Dominic Thiem won the 2020 US Open for his first Grand Slam title at the age of 27, and after fearing he would never become a major champion, he has his sights set on winning more.
After Thiem won the last point of a 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) marathon against Alexander Zverev in New York, the first 10 seconds were pure relief before reality hit: he had accomplished his greatest dream. It would take some time for Thiem to adjust to his new status as he became a favourite at every tournament and the expectations became much greater.
“Until the start of the US Open, I would never expect to stand there at the end and lift the trophy,” Thiem said.
It was the first US Open final to be decided by a fifth-set tie-break and made Thiem the first player in the Open Era to rally from two sets down in a US Open final. He also became the first men’s singles Grand Slam champion born in the 1990s.
Now the World No. 4 is hungry for more. This week in Lyon at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes-Lyon, he’s the top seed and will pursue his 18th tour-level crown.
Also coming up is Roland Garros, where Thiem owns a 28-7 record with four of those losses coming against Rafael Nadal. Although he has yet to win a title in 2021, the Austrian will be keen for more success after a semi-final loss to Zverev in Monte-Carlo and a third-round exit to Lorenzo Sonego in Rome.
Raising the US Open trophy was a long time coming for Thiem. At the start of the 2020 season, he reached the Australian Open title match for his third Grand Slam final appearance following Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019. It would be his most competitive final to date as he had control of the clash against Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park. Instead, Djokovic would come back from two sets to one for the first time in a major final to crush Thiem’s dreams 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“It was very, very difficult to digest because I was starting to doubt [myself] a little bit,” Thiem said. “And starting to imagine what I [would] think about my career if I never did it after having this great chance.”
The Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to any more opportunities and gave Thiem a lot of time to think. He put the disappointment behind him and focussed all of his energy on New York, but he got off to a rocky start with an opening-round loss to Filip Krajinovic at the Western & Southern Open, where he won just three games.
Bouncing back quickly at the US Open, Thiem picked up wins over Marin Cilic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur and Daniil Medvedev before meeting Zverev in the final.
Nothing about the fortnight was normal, and Thiem called the New York bubble “a huge change for all players” as the biggest names in tennis competed without fans in the crowd.
“We were used to the packed stadium and then all of a sudden we lived the bubble life, we played in front of the empty stadium, especially in New York, it’s pretty tough,” Thiem said.
While the media touted Thiem as the favourite in the final against Zverev, nothing was guaranteed and the dramatic showdown would end in a fifth-set tie-break.
“I think everybody else declared me to be the favourite but me,” Thiem said. “I knew how good Sascha is and how difficult it is to play against him. The pressure was huge. I really thought this might be my final chance.”
But instead, Thiem is now in a position to chase more titles. His career may end up mapping out much like another one-handed backhand talent, Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss won his first Grand Slam at the 2014 Australian Open at the age of 29, and followed it up by winning Roland Garros in 2015 and the US Open in 2016.
Both Thiem and Wawrinka cracked the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings before the age of 24 and then took years to break through at the Grand Slam level. Thiem is hoping he can also add a few more Grand Slams.
“[Wawrinka] had five amazing years where he was playing well in all the big tournaments, winning two more majors,” Thiem said. “And that’s my goal, that I can use the huge boost that the US Open gave [me].”
Gael Monfils won his first match in 15 months on Tuesday, defeating Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-5, 6-4. After recovering from 0/40 when he served for the match to advance to the second round, the Frenchman launched a ball into the stratosphere, with no fans in site. It was partly a release of tension after a tough final game, and also a happy moment for the fifth seed.
“It was a little pleasure in a way. I was thinking you’re in a big stadium and obviously you want to send it to the crowd, but… there is unfortunately no crowd in the stadium,” Monfils told ATPTour.com. “But it still felt good.”
Monfils wears his heart on the sleeve, and he takes great joy in entertaining fans with his athletic game. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been limited fans or no fans at all, which is the case in Lyon.
“It was very tough for me. That’s why I think I haven’t played so much this year,” Monfils said. “This is not the sort of atmosphere I like to play in. I really like the communication with the fans, with the crowd, their energy. I’ve been struggling quite a lot. But I’ve been working as well quite a lot.”
This is Monfils’ fourth tournament of the season. The World No. 14 had lost eight consecutive matches entering this week, but he is adjusting to make the most of the situation and find the positives to motivate himself.
“I think it took me a long process for me personally to reset myself, to be motivated, try to enjoy what I’m doing,” Monfils said. “I love playing tennis. Tennis is part of my DNA, so it was a little bit longer than other players to settle down and admit to these conditions and try to be as happy as I can.”
Monfils says that having a crowd gives him extra adrenaline and motivation. Even if fans are cheering for his opponent, that pumps him up. And although this period has required adjustments to find other sources of motivation, Monfils is persevering.
“It’s a different adrenaline when it’s an empty stadium. It’s a different motivation,” Monfils said. “The fire is burning differently, and you have to definitely work more to build the fire.”
Pablo Andujar spoke on Monday in Geneva about how excited he was to play Roger Federer for the first time. On Tuesday, the Spaniard held his hands on his head in disbelief after upsetting the Swiss star in three sets to reach the Gonet Geneva Open quarter-finals.
“It’s amazing. I still cannot believe it because for me, I said yesterday playing him was a dream. But of course beating him is another level,” Andujar told ATPTour.com. “It’s very emotional to play him and to beat him, given the conditions for him coming back and he’s not for sure playing his best tennis. But it really counts a lot to me and it’s very important for me and for the rest of my career.”
It wasn’t the first time Andujar faced a legendary opponent. The 35-year-old had played Rafael Nadal four times (0-4) and lost against Novak Djokovic twice. But he held his nerve against the former World No. 1.
“Of course I was nervous, but I tried to keep it as if it was another match. I have a lot of respect and I admire a lot Roger Federer. I really admire him, but I had to try not to think who I was playing against,” Andujar said. “I just tried to think about the game, about my game and tried to be 100 per cent focussed on that and I think I pretty much did it during the whole match.
“That’s one of the things I think I can be most proud of today. I kept believing and tried to go point by point, because sometimes for me it happens in other matches when I played someone so good like Roger or Rafa that I was so nervous that I couldn’t compete. I’m happy I was able to play my game and compete today.
“I am very proud, not for beating him. It’s the way I focussed on and treated the match… [I was able to] enjoy playing Roger Federer today. If I had lost, I would say the same thing, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]
Andujar is a four-time ATP Tour titlist, and he had already earned four victories against opponents inside the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. But the Spaniard had little doubt that this was his biggest individual win.
“As [far as wins, this is] number one for sure,” Andujar said. “To win a tournament could be more emotional, but this is something I think I will remember my whole life. Maybe winning four tournaments, not as much. It’s a different feeling.”
After his match, Andujar called his family. He has three children — Pablo Jr., Alex and Carlos — who are all under four years old, so they were too young to understand the significance of his achievement.
“I spoke to my wife and to my parents and they were very happy for me,” Andujar said. “When I spoke to the kids [I said], ‘Papa won a match.’ [They said], ‘Okay, bye bye!’ Even if I lose, even if I win, they are the same. They are happy. That makes me more relaxed. They don’t really care about my defeats or my victories.”
Regardless, this will be a moment they will be able to relive in the future, and Andujar will be able to tell the story for years to come.
“Not a bad day at the office,” Andujar said. “It was an amazing day.”
Roger Federer smiled and waved to the small crowd at the Parc des Eaux-Vives as he departed the court following his three-set loss against Pablo Andujar on Tuesday at the Gonet Geneva Open. But the Swiss star admitted he was disappointed with the result and his performance.
“It’s good to be back on the court, but then you lost a match like this and you’re down. It never feels great. I was looking forward to playing here, no doubt about it,” Federer said. “But this is a press conference where I have to explain how I feel about losing, which is never the greatest way of trying to explain why and how it all happened. But of course there were moments where I was really happy to entertain the crowd and [I was] looking at the long road that I’ve been on from the comeback.
“Sure, it’s rewarding to be back on a tennis court. But I expect better from myself. I feel like in practice I’ve been playing better, even in practice here. But then again as we know, matches are a different animal. I’ve got my work cut out there.”
During his post-match press conference, Federer used his hands to make the motion of going off a cliff to symbolise how he lost a 4-2 lead in the third set. That put an end to his 32-match winning streak on home soil.
“Of course at 4-2 in the third you feel like, ‘Oh, that’s nice that I was able to turn around the match.’ You start feeling better and that’s when it dips and everything is over 10 minutes later,” Federer said. “But we know how tennis goes and that’s where it’s so brutal sometimes. But I feel like I didn’t deserve it at the end. There was just not enough happening in my game.”
It wasn’t one particular mistake that frustrated Federer in the end. The 39-year-old admitted that as he searched for answers, he simply could not find them with his tennis in the key moments.
“I just could feel that [as] the moment was getting tougher, the game wasn’t there. Obviously [I was] missing way too much maybe to come through even though [I was up] 4-3 and a break. The chances were all there,” Federer said. “But again I thought he played good down the stretch and I just couldn’t come up with the goods.”
This was just Federer’s second tournament since the 2020 Australian Open after undergoing two arthroscopic right knee surgeries. In March, the Swiss lost in the Doha quarter-finals. The World No. 8 admitted that he did not expect to be in top form this clay season.
“Roland Garros is not the goal. The goal is the grass, so I still have time,” Federer said. “I’m disappointed for the tournament more than anything. I wish I could have stayed around and played some more matches for the people here because the atmosphere still is, considering [the circumstances], very good, and they seemed very happy to see me here.”
Even for Federer, a 103-time tour-level titlist, there are days when things don’t work on the court. He admitted it was a “pity” to not be able to find a way through despite that.
“I was a bit limited today I felt on the court and obviously here in Geneva, in Switzerland, we always have a bit of altitude, so when you start to play in two minds, it gets very difficult,” Federer said. “Obviously I wish I could have played more, but at the same time it is what it is now, so you’ve just got to accept it and move on.”
Roger Federer loses his first clay-court match in almost two years as Spain’s Pablo Andujar wins 6-4 4-6 6-4 in Geneva.
Serena Williams’ preparations for the French Open are dented by another early exit on clay as she loses in the second round in Parma.