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Murray sets sights on French Open title

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016
Andy Murray v Stan Wawrinka
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 3 June Time: Not before 14:00 BST
Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, the BBC Sport website and app.

Andy Murray believes he can become the first British winner of the French Open since Fred Perry in 1935 as he prepares to face Stan Wawrinka in the last four.

Murray, 29, plays the defending champion from Switzerland on Philippe Chatrier after 14:00 BST on Friday.

“I believe I can win the event. It’s possible and only a couple of matches away now. I’ll just give everything I’ve got the next few days,” he said.

World number one Novak Djokovic plays Dominic Thiem in the other semi-final.

In the women’s draw, Serena Williams takes on Kiki Bertens and Garbine Muguruza plays Sam Stosur, with both matches getting under way at 12:00.

Murray seeking to overcoming last-four flaw

British number one Murray has been to the last four at Roland Garros on three previous occasions, losing to Rafael Nadal in 2011 and 2014 and Djokovic in five sets last year.

Murray has won eight out of 15 previous meetings with 31-year-old Wawrinka, but has lost their last three – and all three on clay.

However, Murray has improved significantly on the surface in the past two years and beat Djokovic in the Italian Open final before heading to Paris.

“Stan is obviously playing great tennis,” Murray said. “It is going to be extremely difficult [but] hopefully I can play my best tennis and reach my first final here.”

Wawrinka pays tribute to Murray

Third seed Wawrinka, who won the tournament last year and the Australian Open in 2014, still feels his career is inferior to Murray’s despite matching the Scot’s tally of two Grand Slam titles.

“Now that I’ve won a second Grand Slam people say I’m closer to him,” the Swiss said.

“If you were to compare our two careers, he’s well ahead of me given all the titles, the finals, number two in the world.

“He’s in the ‘Big Four’ [along with Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer]. There is a reason for this. Maybe he has fewer titles than the other three, but he’s always been with them during the semis, the finals. His career is very, very impressive.”

Murray has racked up 36 titles, compared to Wawrinka’s 14.

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Djokovic beats Berdych to reach semis

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016
French Open
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 22 May to 5 June
Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, the BBC Sport website and app.

Novak Djokovic swept past seventh seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets to reach the French Open semi-finals.

The world number one came through 6-3 7-5 6-3 and will face Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem in the last four.

Serb Djokovic, 29, is trying to win his first French Open title and complete the career Grand Slam.

The singles quarter-finals will be completed on Thursday as Serena Williams takes on Yulia Putintseva, and Timea Bacsinszky plays Kiki Bertens.

Thiem, 22, beat Belgian 12th seed David Goffin 4-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 6-1 to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.

Djokovic through after racquet slip

Djokovic had won 23 of his previous 25 matches against Berdych of the Czech Republic, and was never seriously threatened after beginning their 26th meeting in commanding fashion.

Berdych appealed for officials to take action when the rain, which has dogged this tournament, returned – but the closest Djokovic came to a quarter-final exit was a potential disqualification in the third set.

He let his racquet slip out of his hand while angrily swiping at the ground and was relieved to receive just a code violation as it narrowly missed a line judge.

“I am aware that I have been lucky,” he said afterwards. “It was just some unfortunate bounce, but fortunate ending of the scenario. That’s all I can say.”

Djokovic was already two sets up after dominating for an hour and a half, and moments later he recovered Berdych’s early break of serve in the third set.

Berdych described the tournament director’s hesitance to halt play when the rain became heavier as “an absolute circus”, but the delay lasted a little over 10 minutes and Djokovic soon wrapped up victory on the resumption.

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Djokovic Qualifies Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2016

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Djokovic Qualifies Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2016

Jun022016

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Rain is no barrier to Murray's march

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016
French Open
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 22 May to 5 June
Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, the BBC Sport website and app.

The mind tends to wander when the rain’s lashing down in Paris, as it has of late.

Against the pitter-patter rhythm of early summer showers dropping on to regularly called-for clay-court covers, the faces of champions past appear in the puddles for an instant before vanishing into the gathering gloom.

Nastase, Borg, Wilander, Lendl, Brugera, Moya, Kuerten. And almost certainly the greatest of them all, Rafa Nadal. He fought back tears in the media room when he had to withdraw, injured.

It was all too much for the tennis Gods, though: the heavens simply opened, releasing what seemed like an eternal deluge.

Rain is no stranger to a certain Scotsman, of course. Andy Murray grew up in Dunblane cursing the sight of the stuff.

How was he supposed to practise on the few courts that did exist when it was chucking it down? There are precious few indoor courts now, never mind in the mid-to-late 1990s, when he was honing his skills however he could.

And to get good on ‘terre battue’, as they call it here, how on earth is that possible for someone from Scotland, where serviceable clay courts are in short supply on the few days a year when the rain holds off? He went to Barcelona when he was 15 to learn his craft on the red dirt of the Sanchez Casal academy.

But, even at that point, he would have been at least 10 years behind his new rival Rafa, who one guesses pretty much fell on to a clay court from his cot.

Now a clay court contender

How remarkable, then, to think that Murray’s name could adorn the famous Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy. A notion long-since banished from the realms of the fanciful. He started winning on clay last year and was only stopped from reaching a first French Open final in a five-set struggle with that rather handy journeyman from Serbia, Novak Djokovic.

On the red dirt this year, Murray mopped up another Masters series title – in Rome – having contested the final in Madrid and a semi-final in Monte Carlo. He’s a serial clay court contender these days, although it took him a while to find his feet on a more slippery than usual surface here at the Porte d’Auteuil.

As monsieurs Stepanek and Bourgue would attest, he did not play like a world number two against them in the first couple of rounds. What Murray displayed more than anything in those matches was desire and heart – as well as proving what is a fundamental truism in any kind of sport: a win is a win.

Much better tennis followed in the subsequent three rounds as his timing and confidence grew.

Stan stands in the way of final

So here he is at the semi-final stage, the Scot’s fourth appearance in the last four at Roland Garros – quite an achievement in itself. And no Rafa or, for now, Novak to worry about. Just the defending champion Stan Wawrinka, who, on his day, can blast anyone off any tennis court, whatever the surface.

Wawrinka was asked, having won as many Grand Slam titles as Murray (two), whether he and the Scot were roughly on the same level? “Oh no,” came the reply. “Andy’s way ahead of me.”

Mind games? Possibly. Modesty? Certainly. Or could it be that the Swiss has genuine admiration for Murray’s ability to sustain a high level of consistency at the majors over the past half-decade?

This is Murray’s 19th Slam semi-final. If he beats Wawrinka, he’d qualify for his 10th final. Those stats alone are worthy of celebration in this era of Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all jockeying for position as the GOAT. (Greatest Of All Time. Come on, folks, keep up.)

Should Murray still be here for the weekend, he will have reached the final of all four Slams, on all three surfaces.

And if that does indeed come to pass then Dunblane’s finest might look to the Parisian skies and thank them for this week’s dreadful downpour.

It’s not just his sense of humour that’s been largely dry these past few days. Murray’s side of the draw has been relatively unaffected by the awful weather, meaning he’ll have an extra day’s rest before the final, should he reach it.

That is another reason why the name Murray might make it on to the famous old trophy and why it could be his reflection that may appear fleetingly to the wistful daydreamer in next year’s Roland Garros raindrops.

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The Top 10 Match: Thiem vs Goffin

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

The Top 10 Match: Thiem vs Goffin

Jun022016

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Federer Ranked Fifth Most Famous Athlete By ESPN

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Federer Ranked Fifth Most Famous Athlete By ESPN

Jun012016

Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Nishikori join Federer on Top 100 list

Roger Federer ranks among the top five most famous athletes in the world, according to a new list released by ESPN. The 34-year-old Swiss comes in at No. 5 in the ESPN World Fame 100, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

“Whenever you play, you are worshipped by those who think that watching one of your matches is like seeing Nureyev or Olivier on stage,” writes ESPN, describing why ‘It’s Good To Be’ Federer. “You can wear gold-trimmed white blazers to walk on court and still carry it off. Writers pen love letters to you, saying that seeing you play tennis is like a religious experience. Even your rivals can’t bring themselves to hate you, you’re so darn nice.”

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic rank inside the top 20, at respectively No. 10 and No. 16, while Andy Murray is No. 31 and Kei Nishikori is No. 47. Four WTA players – Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Sania Mirza and Venus Williams – are also on the list, making tennis the fourth-highest represented sport after basketball (20), soccer (17) and American football (16).

The ESPN World Fame 100 is based on a formula created by ESPN’s director of sports analytics Ben Alamar, and combines salary, endorsements, social media following and Google search popularity.

Federer is scheduled to return to the ATP World Tour next week at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, and will compete in Halle the following week as the three-time defending champion at the GERRY WEBER OPEN.

View ESPN World Fame 100 

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Montanes Returns To Scene Of The Climb In Furth

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Montanes Returns To Scene Of The Climb In Furth

Jun012016

The Spaniard is looking to do one better than his runner-up showing at last year’s tournament

After making a run back into Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings this year, Albert Montanes is returning to the place where his most recent climb just began.

The Spaniard is competing this week at the $50,000 ATP Challenger in Furth, Germany, where he finished last year as runner-up. Ranked No. 155 at the time, he went on to reach two more ATP Challenger Tour finals over the next month in Padova, Italy and Prague, Czech Republic. Continuing to produce impressive results since then, Montanes is now ranked No. 95.

“Coming back into the Top 100 is always a positive thing,” said Montanes. “Now I can get into the main draw of many ATP World Tour events and also the Grand Slams. I changed my racquets and use Babolat now, which helped a lot with my game.

Montanes opened this year’s campaign in Furth with a first-round win over German wildcard Daniel Masur and then moved into the quarter-finals by defeating another German in Julian Reister. He credited the atmosphere around the grounds at Furth with contributing to his solid form this week.

“I have a good feeling here. The club is nice, the food is good and everything is well organised,” he said. “We have a really good situation this week.”

At age 35, Montanes is now in his 17th year as a professional. Although many of his peers when he first began competing have long since retired, he said he has no plans to join them anytime soon.

“I love this sport. I’m still feeling good and I can compete with the top players and the young guns,” said Montanes. “Most importantly, I’m still having fun on the court and that motivates me to keep going. I want to try and stay in the Top 100 for the rest of my career.”

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Jaziri Flies The Flag For Tunisia In Career-Best Season

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Jaziri Flies The Flag For Tunisia In Career-Best Season

Jun012016

The 32-year-old has won two ATP Challenger Tour titles this year

After more than a decade on tour, Malek Jaziri is in the best form of his career and continuing to break ground for tennis in Tunisia.

The 32-year-old opened this year with a combined 1-7 record at ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events, but has dramatically turned his season around since then. He prevailed this March at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Guadalajara, Mexico, then won another $100,000 tournament in April in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe. Jaziri achieved a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking that same month of No. 64.

He’s now the top seed this week at the $50,000 ATP Challenger event in Furth, Germany. Jaziri opened his quest for a third ATP Challenger Tour title this year by defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in the opening round.

“My best results in Challengers this year have been on hard courts, but I’ve had good results on clay as well,” said Jaziri. “Furth is a good tournament for me because they treat the players very well here. I hope to do well this week.”

Jaziri has remained the top-ranked tennis player in Tunisia for eight years and has been a fixture on its Davis Cup team since 2000. He said that being the only Tunisian to currently compete on either the ATP World Tour or ATP Challenger Tour has given him extra motivation to produce big results.

“I’m proud to play for Tunisia and be the top player in my country,” he said. “It’s an honour for me and also a result of very hard work on and off the court.”

Despite having his best year on tour so far, Jaziri still has much loftier aspirations that he’s still continuing to work towards.

“My goal is to be ranked in the Top 10,” he said. “And why not? I want to win a Grand Slam as well.”

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Tweener! Watch Dustin Brown's 'Tweener Hot Shot

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Tweener! Watch Dustin Brown's 'Tweener Hot Shot

Jun012016

The stunning ‘tweener winner comes from Brown’s first-round match at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Manchester

Dustin Brown is racking the up Hot Shots in 2016. After his stunning behind-the-back volley winner this February at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Bergamo, the German followed it up on Wednesday with a tweener winner in his opening around against No. 2 seed Rajeev Ram at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Manchester.

With Ram serving at 2/2 in the second-set tie-break, the American approached the net with a low-bouncing slice backhand. Brown was forced to react and flicked a forehand between his legs for a passing shot winner, raising his arms in celebration.

“A lot of it (the entertainment) is how I am and how I learned to play tennis. It’s intuition and when the balls go in, everyone’s happy. I was on the wrong side of the court, so I ran and in my head I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ said Brown. “If I make it, everyone says ‘Great.’ If I hit the house behind the court, everyone says ‘What an idiot, how can he do that at 2/2 in the tie-break?’ The most important thing I’ve learned over the years is to come to terms with my tennis and how I can be dangerous, especially with these surfaces.”

Rewind: Watch Brown Hit Behind-The-Back Hot Shot In Bergamo

Brown went on to score the upset over Ram, 7-6(3), 7-6(3). He next plays fellow German Mischa Zverev in a second-round match on Thursday.

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Djokovic, Berdych Highlight Thursday Play At Roland Garros

  • Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Djokovic, Berdych Highlight Thursday Play At Roland Garros

Jun012016

Quarter-final matches to conclude, leaving the last four in Paris

Two Top 10 veterans and a pair of rising ATP stars will play for the final spots in the Roland Garros semi-finals on Thursday.

The 26th meeting between Novak Djokovic against Tomas Berdych is the first scheduled match on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The World No. 1 leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 23-2 and has won their past 10 meetings. But Berdych’s last win did come on clay (Rome 2013) and the Czech has won at least a set against Djokovic the three times they’ve played on the red dirt.

Djokovic, who has won every Grand Slam except Roland Garros, will be trying to reach his 30th Grand Slam semi-final, including his sixth consecutive in Paris. Berdych, meanwhile, has reached the last four at Roland Garros once before, in 2010.

A trip to the semi-finals and entry into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings will be on the line when David Goffin and Dominic Thiem meet. Their quarter-final match is the first scheduled contest on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Goffin, the 12th seed, has won four of their six FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. On clay, they’re even 1-1. But Thiem, the 13th seed, won their most recent contest on clay, a 7-5, 6-2 victory last year in the Gstaad final.

Whoever wins will crack the Top 10 for the first time and could rise as high as No. 7 on Monday if Berdych falls to Djokovic. The loser of the Goffin-Thiem match will still rise to a career-best No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

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