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Djokovic To Begin Grass Campaign At The Queen's Club

  • Posted: Jun 11, 2018

Djokovic To Begin Grass Campaign At The Queen’s Club

Jun112018

The Serbian reached the final at the event in 2008

Novak Djokovic said after his quarter-final loss at Roland Garros that he was unsure if he would compete during the grass-court season. But the Serbian has ended any uncertainty, accepting a wild card into next week’s Fever-Tree Championships at The Queen’s Club.

“I am very excited to be playing the Fever-Tree Championships again. I have happy memories of reaching the final at The Queen’s Club 10 years ago and also winning the doubles title the last time I was there,” Djokovic said according to a press release. “The grass courts are always perfect, the atmosphere always great and I am looking forward to playing in front of the British crowds again.”

It will be the Serbian’s fourth main draw appearance at the event, and his first since 2010. Djokovic advanced to the championship match in 2008 before falling to Rafael Nadal.

“We have been hoping Novak would come back to play in the Fever-Tree Championships for years and this is fantastic news for all of us,” Tournament Director Stephen Farrow said. “Novak is one of the best players in the sport’s history, he adds even more strength to our player line-up, and we can’t wait to see him on grass at The Queen’s Club.”

Djokovic joins a star-studded lineup at the ATP World Tour 500-level event, which includes World No. 1 Nadal, five-time winner Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and World No. 5 Marin Cilic. In total, 11 players inside the Top 20 of the current ATP Rankings will be in action, with other exciting stars such as Nick Kyrgios and #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov also on the entry list. Defending champion Feliciano Lopez will attempt to retain his title.

Four of Djokovic’s 68 tour-level titles have come on grass, including his most recent championship victory at Eastbourne last season. The 31-year-old will attempt to maintain the momentum he gained from his semi-final showing in Rome, followed by his trip to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

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Federer Motivated With No. 1 On The Line

  • Posted: Jun 11, 2018

Federer Motivated With No. 1 On The Line

Jun112018

The Swiss begins his campaign in Stuttgart against M. Zverev

Roger Federer makes his long-awaited return to action this week at the MercedesCup, competing for the first time since Miami. And right away, there is a lot on the line for the Swiss. If the top seed reaches the final, he will regain the No. 1 spot in the ATP Rankings on 18 June.

“I think that’s a bit of extra motivation,” said Federer, who trails Nadal (8,770 points) by 100 points. “But then again, having lost here last year in the first round, for me, it resets the goals as well, and just take it one at a time and don’t think too far ahead. Not that I did that last year, but on grass, margins are very slim. It’s not so simple, especially when you haven’t played in three months.”

You May Also Like: Read & Watch: Roger Ready For Return

Federer holds a 2-2 record in Stuttgart, including an opening-round loss last year against Tommy Haas. But he then went on to triumph at Halle and Wimbledon, building what would turn into a 16-match winning streak.

“I came back very strong and my reaction was very good after losing here against Tommy,” Federer said. “I didn’t drop a set for the rest of the grass-court season, which I was very happy about. So I just hope I can find my rhythm and range a bit earlier. But very excited to be here. I’m motivated because of all these reasons. It’s been a while, I haven’t played matches, so I’m happy. Obviously I don’t want to be on a three-match losing streak… I want to break that as well.”

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On 19 February, Federer regained World No. 1 for the first time since 4 November 2012, holding the spot for five weeks before his loss in Miami against Thanasi Kokkinakis allowed Rafael Nadal to take it back. While Federer took the spot again for the week of 14 May, Nadal has held it since thanks to victories in Rome and at Roland Garros, which was no surprise to the 36-year-old.

“I kind of expected Rafa to win the French Open,” Federer said. “He was again that good on clay leading into the French Open that I thought he was going to win. So by him winning, it just creates a situation that I was expecting.”

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More than anything, Federer is excited to get back on the court for match action again. He will play Mischa Zverev, who he has beaten in all five of their previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, on Wednesday.

“I’m fresh, I’m healthy,” Federer said. “That’s why I’m happy and confident to be here that things can turn out very well for me this week.”

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Errani's ban increased to 10 months after cancer drug shows up in test

  • Posted: Jun 11, 2018

Italy’s former world number five Sara Errani’s ban has been increased from two to 10 months after a cancer drug showed up in a failed test.

The 30-year-old, who reached the French Open final in 2012, tested positive for banned drug letrozole.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted medication taken by her mother found its way into a family meal.

But it said that Errani was guilty of a “light degree of fault” which justified a 10-month ban.

The decision followed appeals by the Italian anti-doping agency, which asked for a longer ban, and Errani, who wanted her voided results to be reinstated.

Errani, who reached the final four of last week’s Croatia Bol Open but withdrew before her semi-final match, must now serve another eight months of suspension.

The winner of five Grand Slam doubles titles, she was initially banned for two months by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in August 2017 and her results from 16 February to 7 June that year were declared void.

Errani said her mother had been using the drug as part of her breast cancer treatment and had dropped some pills on a kitchen worktop where tortellini and broth were later prepared.

Letrozole increases lean body mass and was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) over concerns it was being abused by bodybuilders.

An independent tribunal, appointed by the ITF, said there was no evidence it would enhance the performance of an elite tennis player.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong’

Errani’s mother and father told a tribunal hearing in July 2017 that after the positive finding, they carried out an experiment which found the drug dissolved in a broth, plus a meat mixture for tortellini, without being detectable.

“Together with my family we have tried to understand how this contamination could have happened because I am 100% certain I haven’t taken a pill by mistake,” said Errani in a statement.

“The only viable option has been that an accidental food contamination occurred at some stage in the house.”

Errani said she was “very frustrated” and “extremely disappointed” by the initial sanction but was “at peace with my conscience and aware I haven’t done anything wrong”.

In 2012, she stopped working with Luis Garcia del Moral, one of the doctors at the centre of cyclist Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal.

“I’m not interested in keeping working with a person that is involved in these things,” she said at the time.

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Cecchinato Continues Dramatic Rise, Mover Of Week

  • Posted: Jun 11, 2018

Cecchinato Continues Dramatic Rise, Mover Of Week

Jun112018

ATPWorldTour.com looks at the top Movers of the Week in the ATP Rankings, as of Monday, 11 June 2018

No. 4 (Career High) Juan Martin del Potro, +2
The popular Argentine has risen back to his career-high of No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, which he first attained on 11 January 2010, after a run to his second Roland Garros semi-final (also 2009). Del Potro beat Top 10 stars John Isner and Marin Cilic in Paris, prior to losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. He returned to the Top 10 on 15 January 2018 and was previously at No. 4 on 10 February 2014.

View Latest ATP Ranking 

No. 27 (Career High) Marco Cecchinato, +45
The Italian, who was at No. 107 on 5 March this year, continues his dramatic rise to a career-high No. 27, after a 45-position rise with his first appearance in a Grand Slam championship semi-final in Paris, losing to Dominic Thiem. The 25-year-old beat David Goffin and 2016 champion Novak Djokovic. He captured his first ATP World Tour title as a lucky loser at the Gazprom Hungarian Open (d. Millman) on 29 April, which resulted in a 33-place rise from No. 92 to No. 59.

No. 50 (Career High) Maximilian Marterer, +20
The 22-year-old German, competing in just his third major championship, advanced to the fourth round (l. to Nadal) on his Roland Garros debut by beating Ryan Harrison, Denis Shapovalov and Jurgen Zopp. One month on from reaching the BMW Open by FWU Open semi-finals (l. to Kohlschreiber), Marterer moved up 20 places to a career-high No. 50.

No. 72 Jeremy Chardy, +14
The Frenchman, who was at a career-high No. 25 on 28 January 2013, captured the sixth ATP Challenger Tour title of his career at the Surbiton Trophy (d. De Minaur), having lost in the Roland Garros second round (l. to Herbert) a week earlier. He jumped 14 places to World No. 72.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 54 Mischa Zverev, +10
No. 55 Gilles Simon, +10
No. 77 Pierre-Hugues Herbert, +10
No. 80 (Career High) Matteo Berrettini, +16
No. 87 Nikoloz Basilashvili, +10
No. 96 (Career High) Alex de Minaur, +9

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The Four Keys To Rafa's Dominating Forehand at Roland Garros

  • Posted: Jun 10, 2018

The Four Keys To Rafa’s Dominating Forehand at Roland Garros

Jun102018

Spaniard won his 11th Roland Garros title and 17th Grand Slam crown

Chart

Finish to A.

Rafael Nadal pounded 126 forehand groundstroke winners from around the baseline over the past two weeks in Paris to win an unprecedented 11th Roland Garros title on Sunday. No piece of real estate mattered more to him than Position A.

Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday’s final, hitting 14 forehand winners from the back of the court, with nine (64 per cent) of them powering through his favourite forehand finishing location of A.

Tennis is a very much a C to C sport when rallying. Typically, two right-handed players trade blows through the Ad court at each other’s backhands, but don’t rally wide to D because there is too much risk with the singles sideline in play.

For Nadal, C is the perfect place to set up the point. Position A is where he drops the hammer.

You May Also Like: The Surprising Way Nadal Won His Eighth Rome Title

A study of Nadal’s forehand winners from seven matches at Roland Garros this year reveals the key patterns of play that formed the foundation of the Spaniard’s run to the title – and undoubtedly heavily contributed to his preceding 10 titles in Paris.

Nadal’s forehand has never been studied in such detail, with the following four elements revealing the inner workings of the biggest baseline weapon in the modern game.

1. Winners Go To A
Being left-handed, we naturally fixate on Nadal dominating through the Ad court to C and D against right-handed opponent’s backhands. That’s just where he sets the point up. Those are the body blows.

Nadal played five right-handed and two left-handed opponents at Roland Garros the past two weeks, and his game plan remained basically the same against them all: run around his own backhand in the Deuce court and finish out wide to A.

Location of Nadal’s Forehand Winners
Position A = 66% (83)

Position B = 2% (2)

Position C = 1% (1)

Position D = 32% (40)

2. Forehand Winners Are Struck From B & D
Nadal loves to run around his backhand and hit forehand winners standing in B, as well as go big from out wide in the Ad court from D.

Nadal Forehand Winners – Position Hit From
Position A = 20% (25)

Position B = 33% (41)

Position C = 14% (18)

Position D = 33% (42)

When Nadal was standing in B hitting a forehand winner, 68 per cent (27/40) were run-around forehand winners hit inside-out to Position A. This was a huge part of his run to his 11th Paris title. Just 32 per cent (13/40) were hit inside-in from B down the line to D. The modern forehand is all about inside-out.

When Nadal was standing in D, he hit a remarkable 80 per cent (33/41) of his forehand winners right down the line to Position A. Opponents typically want to cover the crosscourt, sitting on Nadal’s heavy, lefty forehand to their backhand. That’s exactly the finishing trap that the Spaniard looks to exploit.

3. Forehand Winners Happen More When Serving
We have never really made the connection between hitting forehands and hitting serves, but the two lived in perfect harmony for Nadal at Roland Garros. Right at two out of three of his forehand winners came when he was serving.

Forehand Winners
When Serving = 65% (82)

When Receiving = 35% (44)

4. The Run-Around Forehand Dominates
With Nadal being left-handed, the natural place for him to make contact with forehands is standing in the Ad court. Not so for forehand winners. Nadal’s run-around forehands standing in the Deuce court produced more winners at Roland Garros than his forehands from the Ad court.

Winners: Location Contact Hit From
Deuce Court = 52% (66) – Run Around forehands.

Ad Court = 48% (60) – Normal forehands.

Overall, Nadal hit 126 groundstroke forehand winners and committed 166 errors. That means if the last shot of the rally was a forehand groundstroke, 43 per cent of the of the time it was a winner, and 57 per cent of the time it was an error.

On the surface that does not seem impressive, but take into account that errors made up 66 per cent of total points at Roland Garros this year, and those 43 per cent of errors are viewed in an upgraded light.

Forehands to A took another major title in Paris on Sunday.

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Nadal 'not crazy' about catching Federer's Grand Slam tally

  • Posted: Jun 10, 2018
French Open 2018
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 27 May-10 June
Coverage: Daily live radio and text commentaries on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and app.

Rafael Nadal would love to surpass Roger Federer’s men’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles but says he is not “crazy” about catching his great rival.

World number one Nadal won his 17th major by lifting his 11th French Open title on Sunday, beating seventh seed Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-3 6-2.

“Of course I have ambition. But I can’t always be thinking of more,” he said.

Nadal, 32, is second behind Federer in the list of all-time Grand Slam titles, three clear of Pete Sampras in third.

  • Report: Nadal beats Dominic Thiem to win 11th title
  • Why does Nadal reign as ‘King of Clay’?
  • Quiz: How many multiple French Open champions can you name in two minutes?

Veteran pair Nadal and Federer have won the past six Grand Slams as their younger rivals struggle to dislodge them at the pinnacle of the game.

Federer, 36, skipped the clay-court season for the second successive year, but will return for the grass-court season which culminates at Wimbledon next month.

“You can’t be frustrated if somebody has more money than you, if somebody has a bigger house than you, if somebody has more Grand Slams than you,” said Nadal, who will be top seed at Wimbledon.

“I’ve never been crazy about this kind of stuff. You can’t live with that feeling. You have to do your way.

“I’d love to have 20 like Roger in the future or more, but it is not something in my mind. I know I’ve had an amazing career so I want to keep fighting for these things.”

‘Tough times make this win special’

In a rare show of emotion, Nadal looked close to tears as he collected the Coupe des Mousquetaires again after beating Austrian Thiem.

He said it was because he had started the clay-court season with “some doubts” before going on to win a record-extending 11th title at Roland Garros.

Nadal did not play for more than two months after the Australian Open in January – where he withdrew from his quarter-final against Marin Cilic because of a hip injury.

He pulled out of planned appearances in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami before returning at the start of April for Spain’s Davis Cup tie against Germany.

It was his only appearance before winning the Masters title in Monte Carlo in April, backing that up with victory at the Barcelona Open and another Masters title in Rome.

“I had a lot of months with injury problems, so coming back to win is very special,” he said.

“I came back from five months without playing a full tournament.

“So coming back and having the chance to win in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and now especially here, it’s very emotional for me.

“I arrived so-so, with some doubts about this clay-court season.”

Thiem optimistic of final return

Thiem says he is “confident” his first appearance in a Grand Slam final will not be his last.

The 24-year-old finally reached the Roland Garros showpiece after losing in the semi-finals in 2016 and 2017.

“That’s my biggest goal, to get into the next one and then to do it better than today,” he said.

“Of course it’s going to be easier, a little bit, because it’s not going to be the first time anymore.”

Thiem is the only player to have beaten Nadal on clay in the past two years – winning in best-of-three set matches in Rome and Madrid.

However, he fell to a third successive straight-set defeat by the Spaniard at the French Open.

Thiem lost to Nadal in the second round on his Roland Garros debut in 2014, then again in last year’s semi-finals.

“I think it was the first time against him here in Roland Garros where it was a fight,” said Thiem, who told Nadal he remembered being 11 years old and watching the Spaniard win his first title in 2005.

“Honestly, I never expected that one day I would play the finals here so I am still really happy.

“Winning 11 times is definitely one of the best things somebody ever achieved in sport.”

How social media reacted to Nadal’s victory

American 12-time Grand Slam singles champion Billie Jean King: Incredible! Congratulations, Rafael Nadal #champion

German six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker: The legend continues… Rafael Nadal @rolandgarros #11

American seven-time French Open winner Chris Evert: Two warriors won at Roland Garros this year… fighters, grinders, with heart and passion…congratulations Simona Halep and Rafael Nadal

American former player Pam Shriver: Bingo legs eleven Rafael Nadal. Chasing RF!

Ex-Real Madrid and Portugal footballer Luis Figo: Congratulations!! Enhorabuena 11x winner Roland Garros. Amazing!!! One of the best sportsman of all times.

Spanish golfer and 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia: 11 @rolandgarros for Rafael Nadal!!! Amazing!! What a machine!! Enorme Rafa!!

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Nottingham Open: Katie Swan qualifies for WTA main draw for first time

  • Posted: Jun 10, 2018

British teenager Katie Swan qualified for a WTA Tour event for the first time with victory in qualifying at the Nottingham Open.

Swan was given wildcards for the Aegon Classic in Birmingham in 2015 and Wimbledon 2016 but had not reached a Tour-level event in her own right.

The 19-year-old beat Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert 2-6 6-2 6-1.

Swan is ranked 237 in the world and in 2016 became the youngest player to play for Britain in the Fed Cup, aged 16.

“It feels so good,” Swan said.

“It’s the first time I’ve got in on my own ranking, so it feels really good. All the hard work I’ve been doing this year is finally paying off.”

Swan – who joins compatriots Johanna Konta, Heather Watson, Katie Boulter, and Gabriella Taylor in the main draw – will play Germany’s Mona Barthel in the first round.

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