Andy Murray skips Nottingham to focus on Queen's & Wimbledon
Former world number one Andy Murray will not play in the Nottingham grass-court event next week, instead focusing on being fit for Queen’s and Wimbledon.
Former world number one Andy Murray will not play in the Nottingham grass-court event next week, instead focusing on being fit for Queen’s and Wimbledon.
Carlos Alcaraz is 18, but he’s not playing like it at Roland Garros.
The #NextGenATP Spaniard upset 28th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday to become the youngest man to reach the third round at this tournament since 17-year-old Andrei Medvedev in 1992. Alcaraz is also the youngest man to advance this far at Grand Slam since 17-year-old Rafael Nadal at the 2004 Australian Open.
The Murcia-native is not the only teen who has made his mark this week, though. Lorenzo Musetti and Jannik Sinner, both 19-year-old Italians, also advanced to the third round on Thursday. The last time three teens reached the Round of 32 on the terre battue was in 2001, when Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo did it.
What makes this even more impressive for Alcaraz is that this is his main draw debut on the Parisian clay. Eight months ago, he lost in the first round of qualifying here.
After a tough four-set battle in the first round against fellow Spanish qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles, Alcaraz came out firing against Basilashvili. The Georgian is one of the biggest hitters on the ATP Tour, and he has enjoyed success on clay, having lifted the ATP 500 trophy in Hamburg twice (2018 and 2019).
But his teen opponent had no problem going shot-for-shot with the 29-year-old. Alcaraz was comfortable in rallies, forcing Basilashvili into mistakes. And any time the five-time ATP Tour titlist played a bit safer, the Spaniard stepped into the court and ripped the ball. He finished with 27 winners to Basilashvili’s 16.
Alcaraz let slip a break advantage at 4-3 in the third set, but he regained that edge immediately and pointed to his head as a sign of his mental strength. The #NextGenATP star consistently showed positive emotions throughout the match with fist pumps and roars of “Vamos!”, none more visible than after clinching his victory after one hour and 56 minutes.
The World No. 97, who first cracked the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings last week, will next play another big-hitter in German Jan-Lennard Struff, who eliminated Argentine Facundo Bagnis 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-4 after two hours and 18 minutes.
Struff is a similar player to Basilashvili, and he carried plenty of confidence after beating seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the first round. The 31-year-old is trying to make the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the second time (also 2019 Roland Garros).
Britain’s Jamie Murray reaches the French Open doubles third round with Bruno Soares, while Joe Salisbury seals his place in the second round.
Top seed Novak Djokovic produces another strong performance to reach the third round of the French Open for a 16th consecutive year.
Lewis Hamilton says the backlash tennis star Naomi Osaka has received following her withdrawal from the French Open is “ridiculous”.
Matteo Berrettini completed his 20th match win of the year (20-5 record) on Thursday for a place in the Roland Garros third round for the third time.
The ninth-seeded Italian raced past Argentina’s Federico Coria 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in just under two hours. Berrettini hit 46 winners, securing 82 per cent of his first-service points (42/51) and winning 81 per cent of his net points (25/31).
“I knew that I could beat him,” said Berrettini. I stepped [onto court] knowing that I could hurt him tennis-wise. I was serving well, playing aggressive. Everything was working pretty fine.
Berrettini, one of seven Italian men in the second round in Paris, is now 13-3 on clay this year, since returning from a hernia/groin injury. He captured his fourth ATP Tour title at the Serbia Open (d. Karatsev) in April and also reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in May, finishing runner-up at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Zverev).
The 25-year-old will next challenge compatriot Andreas Seppi, winner over Canadian 20th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round, or Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea.
After struggling with injury last year, Berrettini now feels he is in a better place on and off the court, with Thursday’s victory a further boost.
“I wasn’t in the best place on my career [last year],” said Berrettini. “I had a lot of injuries. It wasn’t an easy year for anyone. So, when I struggle, I struggle. When I’m happy, I’m happy. But before it was a little bit too dark. I have to work, and I’m proud of what I have done. Now I’m really looking forward to playing [the] next tournaments, next matches, because at the end now I feel I’m back again.”
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Elsewhere, 10th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman comfortably overcame Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and 21 minutes. The 28-year-old, who reached the Roland Garros semi-finals last year (l. to Nadal), improves to a 13-10 record on the season.
Schwartzman’s reward is a third-round meeting with German Philipp Kohlschreiber, who knocked out Russian 24th seed Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1 in three hours and two minutes. Before his first-round victory over Fernando Verdasco, Kohlschreiber had not won a match at ATP Tour level since February 2020 (d. Safwat) at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The 37-year-old hit 29 winners and won 76 per cent of first-service points against Australian Open semi-finalist Karatsev, who is now 22-9 for the season that includes the Dubai title (d. Harris).
World number one Ashleigh Barty retires with injury from her second-round match against Magda Linette at the French Open.
Roger Federer is back, and he’s fielding your questions. The 39-year-old Swiss recently sat down with ATPTour.com in Geneva to answer fan questions ahead of his Roland Garros campaign.
He covered a lot of ground including which Federer is better, the 2006 version or the 2017 version?
“Somehow I’ll pick ‘06 instead of ‘17 even though in ‘17 [I was] more experienced…” Federer said. “But probably I was a little bit of a better mover in ‘06.”
When asked who his favourite WTA player is, the Swiss chose his compatriot Belinda Bencic. The duo won the Hopman Cup together in 2018 and 2019.
“She’s my best friend on the women’s tour, having played all the Hopman Cups with her, she’s been the best partner,” Federer said. “Hopefully, we can partner up again at the Olympics.”
Federer also gave shout outs to Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty and Serena Williams.
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His favourite hobby shouldn’t surprise anyone.
“It’s all about my children really,” Federer said. “Being a dad, being there for them. I like building Lego so that’s been a bit of a hobby of mine during the lockdowns. It was easy to sit down and take time to build a Harry Potter castle. That was some hard work there.
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He was pressed more on the topic though, as he answered who is easier to parent, the boys or the girls. Federer has two twins, 11-year-olds Myla and Charlene and seven-year-olds Leo and Lenny.
“I’d say right now the girls, but it hasn’t always been like this,” Federer said. “I think it depends on the daily mood. There are some serious mood swings going on from time to time, so it’s a battle but it’s a good one.”
As for whether or not coaching is in Federer’s future, it’s only going to be on his specific terms.
“I don’t have much interest to be coaching [on tour],” he said. “I would rather coach juniors and youngsters coming up. I would mentor them.”
Federer has shared a practice court with plenty of up-and-comers including #NextGenATP stars Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti.
“I really enjoy practising with the young guys,” Federer said. “Also welcoming them to the tour. Novak [Djokovic], Rafa [Nadal], everyone does the same, which I think is wonderful actually.”
Federer, playing in just his third tournament of 2021, is into the second round of Roland Garros, where he will face 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Don’t look now, but Daniil Medvedev has a chance to clinch No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings at Roland Garros. And he doesn’t need to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires to do it.
Coming into the clay-court major, it was known that Medvedev had a mathematical chance of becoming the 27th player to reach World No. 1. But given that the Russian had never won a round at Roland Garros in four prior attempts, the discussion seemed more academic than grounded in reality.
But once current No. 1 Novak Djokovic was drawn in the same half as 13-time champion Rafael Nadal, Medvedev’s stock rose as the Serb’s path to the final became tougher.
On day one, Dominic Thiem, who reached two consecutive finals in Paris in 2018-19, crashed out in the first round, throwing the bottom half of the draw even wider open. Then, Medvedev, treating the terre battue more like hard court, claimed his first Roland Garros win over Alexander Bublik and backed that up Wednesday with a four-set win over Tommy Paul to move into the third round.
The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, who is the only player on the bottom half of the draw who has made multiple Grand Slam finals (2019 US Open, 2021 Australian Open), is now eyeing a run all the way to the final, which might be good enough for him to replace Djokovic at No. 1.
If Medvedev reaches the final and Djokovic does not make the championship match, the Russian will become the first player outside the Big Four (Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray) to reach tennis’ pinnacle since Andy Roddick in November 2003. If Medvedev wins his first Grand Slam title in Paris, he will ascend to World No. 1 regardless of Djokovic’s performance.
On 15 March, Medvedev moved to World No. 2 for the first time, breaking the Big Four’s stranglehold on the top two spots. Before Medvedev, the last player outside the Big Four to hold a place in the top two was Lleyton Hewitt in July 2005.
For now, the Russian will be focussed on his third-round match Friday against 32nd seed Reilly Opelka.
Djokovic, who fell to Nadal in last year’s final, is on the same half of the draw as the 13-time champion and in the same quarter as 20-time major winner Federer. It is possible the Serbian will have to go through both to advance to the final.
The highest-seeded player besides Medvedev on the bottom half of the draw is fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, with whom he shares the bottom quarter. If the Greek star claims his maiden major crown this fortnight, he will climb to World No. 3 if Nadal does not reach the final. The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion is at a career-high World No. 5.
View the history of World No. 1s in the FedEx ATP Rankings
A men’s doubles pair due to compete at the French Open have tested positive for Covid-19, organisers say.