Best Of 2016 Third Quarter
Best Of 2016 Third Quarter
Aug022016
Switzerland’s world number four Stan Wawrinka has withdrawn from the Rio Olympics because of a back injury.
Wawrinka, 31, aggravated the injury during the Rogers Cup in Canada, meaning five of the men’s top-10 players will not participate in Rio.
Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic and Dominic Thiem have also withdrawn.
“I would like to have witnessed my third Olympic Games,” Wawrinka said. “This will not be possible now.”
Wawrinka suffered a shock second-round defeat at Wimbledon this year, losing to Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, who was ranked 165th in the world.
The injury is another blow for the Switzerland team after 34-year-old Federer, the world number three and 2012 silver medallist, withdrew with a knee injury.
That leaves just two remaining players – Martina Hingis, whose last appearance at the Games was in 1996, and Timea Bacsinszky – from the initial six-member Olympic team.
World number seven Milos Raonic and world number eight Berdych cited the Zika virus for their pullouts.
#NextGen star will look to upset Georgia fans on Tuesday
American Taylor Fritz will find himself in an unfamiliar spot when he makes his debut at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Tuesday evening. The 18-year-old California native likely won’t be the fan favourite, despite the fact that he’s playing in his home country.
In the first round, Fritz will face former University of Georgia All-American Austin Smith, who received a wild card into the main draw. Smith grew up in Atlanta and played No. 1 for the Georgia Bulldogs this past spring.
“If the crowd’s against me, I don’t blame them. I’m playing a Bulldog in Atlanta,” Fritz said. “I hope some people cheer for me.”
Smith, who will be making his ATP World Tour main draw debut, would prefer fans stay loyal and root for the hometown favourite.
“I hope the fans all stay on my side,” he said. “But Taylor is a great opponent. It’s going to be a fun match and I’m looking forward to it.”
The 22-year-old Smith has played in ITF Futures events but only one ATP Challenger Tour main draw. He and compatriot Patrick Daciek lost to American Bjorn Fratangelo and Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 6-4 at the Binghamton Challenger a year ago.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Smith said of his match with Fritz, which is taking place on ‘College Night’ at the tournament. “Hopefully it will be an exciting match. Hopefully the fans will get into it.”
Smith also said he’s not above trying out his best Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe impression to jeer on the crowd. “I’ll try my best for sure,” he said, “but we have to just get out there and focus on the tennis before anything else.”
Fritz will be looking to carry over success in his personal life to his tennis career. The 18 year old married Raquel Pedraza on 7 July in Rancho Santa Fe, California. “Having the best team around me will ultimately make me the best player. Raquel is an important part of that team and I’m very lucky to have her by my side,” Fritz said earlier about his wedding.
Read More: Fritz Weds Raquel Pedraza In California
The #NextGen star returned to home soil two weeks ago at the Citi Open in Washington. The 6’4” right-hander swept Israeli Dudi Sela, No. 62 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, 6-3, 6-4. In the second round, Fritz fell to #NextGen counterpart Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-4, 6-2.
This week Fritz is one of 11 players making their Atlanta debut.
“I’m just looking forward to playing on hard courts in my home country and hopefully doing well,” he said.
This week also marks the first time Fritz has been seeded in an ATP World Tour event. He’s the eighth seed in a draw that features compatriot John Isner as the top seed, Aussie Nick Kyrgios as No. 2 and South African Kevin Anderson as the third seed.
“It’s a really strong field here so I’m excited to do my best,” Fritz said. “I’m liking it here a lot.”
British teenager Gabriella Taylor is “thankful” to have overcome a mystery illness that forced her to withdraw from junior Wimbledon.
The 18-year-old spent four days in hospital in an intensive care unit after having to retire from her girls’ singles quarter-final.
Taylor, from Southampton, is yet to be given a diagnosis.
“It was such an awful experience, probably the worst time of my life,” she told BBC Sport.
Taylor, ranked 375 in the world, has not picked up a racquet since she was forced to stop playing shortly after losing the first set against Kayla Day of the United States on 7 July.
“I couldn’t continue,” she told BBC South Today. “It was heartbreaking.”
“It started the day before as a stomach bug and I managed to overcome it by winning my match that day.
“But, the day of the quarter-final, I woke up and felt 10 times worse. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me in one of the most important tournaments of my life.
“I’m just thankful to be out of hospital and to all the staff at Southampton General who supported me and helped me through it.”
You can now add tennis alerts in the BBC Sport app – simply head to the menu and My Alerts section
All-time great also says he feels he could have done better
John McEnroe said he thinks he did a “reasonably solid” job during his recent coaching stint with top Canadian Milos Raonic. But, like players who regret decisions after a match, the ATP World Tour legend also said he’s second-guessed his coaching in the weeks that have followed his initial work with Raonic.
“You always feel like you can do things better,” McEnroe said on Sunday at the BB&T Atlanta Open. “I felt like I did everything I could in the period of time I was given, but then afterwards I started thinking maybe I could have said or done something else. So you never can quite feel like you’ve done that A+ job.”
McEnroe joined Raonic’s team in late May and stayed with him until after the Wimbledon final on 10 July. The 25 year old achieved a career breakthrough with McEnroe by his side. For the first time, Raonic reached a Grand Slam championship final (Wimbledon, l. to Murray). The 6’5” right-hander also works with Carlos Moya, former No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and Riccardo Piatti.
“It’s nice to be around and if you can make that little bit of difference and help someone… that’s something I would take pride in,” McEnroe said.
The left-hander was in Atlanta to play an exhibition match with Sergi Bruguera, who has coached Richard Gasquet for the past three years. Bruguera agreed with McEnroe about second-guessing decisions. The 14-time tour-level champion also said the more time coaches can spend with players the more they can study them and learn how to best work with them.
“You need as much time as possible,” Bruguera said.
Raonic and Gasquet are part of a well-documented trend of current ATP World Tour stars hiring former greats to join their teams. Twelve-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion Andy Murray has re-hired Ivan Lendl. Stan Wawrinka, No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, also worked with 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek during the recent grass-court season.
“I respect the young players out there that are trying to be the best they can be and maximise their potential,” McEnroe said. “Sergi can obviously bring something to the table from his own experience. I’d like to think that I could as well.”
Bruguera, like McEnroe with Raonic, has been a part of career breakthroughs with Gasquet. This season, the 30-year-old Frenchman won Montpellier for the third consecutive season. Gasquet also reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time (l. to Murray).
Bruguera said he has particularly tried to help Gasquet with being more professional and more solid throughout the entire season. “I was really focused on that,” he said. “You can always improve in every area.”
McEnroe said he plans to rejoin Raonic in the near future, most likely at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.
“It’s a process,” McEnroe said of working with a player. “[You’re] always trying to think of things and ways to try to get to know the person as well as possible.”