Peng Shuai: New video 'insufficient' evidence of Chinese player's welfare – WTA
A video claiming to show Chinese player Peng Shuai out with friends is “insufficient” evidence of her welfare, says Women’s Tennis Association chief Steve Simon.
A video claiming to show Chinese player Peng Shuai out with friends is “insufficient” evidence of her welfare, says Women’s Tennis Association chief Steve Simon.
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals on Sunday to charge into their third championship match at the season finale.
The doubles final in Turin will be contested between the French pairing, who are looking for their second title at the season finale, and Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who defeated World No. 1 team Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the first semi-final.
There are few doubles pairings more experienced at the Nitto ATP Finals than Herbert and Mahut, who have played six of the past seven years, made the semi-finals on their past three appearances and did not drop a set en route to the title in 2019.
The French pairing had their winning streak snapped by Ram and Salisbury during the group stages, but did not drop a set in their other round-robin matches. Granollers and Zeballos had saved four match points earlier in the tournament and brought a 2-0 record in the ATP Head2Head into the semi-final clash, but found themselves comprehensively outplayed throughout the 76-minute match.
Herbert and Mahut made a scintillating start: Mahut hit an incredible return to break Zeballos in the Argentine’s first service game of the match. By the time the French pairing had raced to 3-0, they had won 13 of the first 15 points and Zeballos’ racquet had hit the court. Herbert and Mahut went on to close out the set 6-3 in 33 minutes without having faced a break point.
They would not face one in the second set, either. Mahut continued to shine, hitting a jaw-dropping return winner to earn break point as Granollers served to open the second set. He even hurdled the net at one point while chasing down a drop shot.
The Spanish-Argentine pairing managed to hold to open the second set, but were under consistent pressure on serve and were broken to love in the eighth game.
The only hint of a change in momentum came when Herbert was serving for the match, when he went down 0-30 before finding a crucial ace. Mahut backed him up with an impressive volley and the pair closed out the win to reach their third final at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Sunday’s final will be a rematch of the round-robin clash between Herbert/Mahut and Ram/Salisbury, which took place on Tuesday. Ram and Salisbury narrowly won 6-7(7), 6-0, 13-11.
Following his loss to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals, Casper Ruud was in a reflective mood on Saturday as he looked back fondly on his breakthrough season and the experience he has gained in Turin.
The 22-year-old won five tour-level titles and became the first Norwegian to crack the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings in 2021.
“It has been a great year for me and my development as a tennis player,” Rudd said. “Getting to know my opponents more and playing this tournament has been a great experience. To finish a very good year off here in Turin has been a great experience for me and something I will be eager to try and repeat and be back here next year.”
[FOLLOW FINALS]Ruud was making his debut at the season finale and went 2-1 in Green Group action as he advanced to the semi-finals. It is a tournament the World No. 8 feels will be crucial for his development as he aims to return to the Pala Alpitour next year.
“I got the perfect feedback on what I have to work on in my game to compete with the top guys in the world for next year,” Rudd said. “I played the World No. 1 and No. 2 this week and they beat me fairly comfortably, so that makes me want to seek revenge and become a better player next year.
“When next year starts, I will have it in the back of my mind. Every week and every match matters. It was only a couple of matches that made the difference of qualifying for the tournament. I am proud of the year and am looking forward to next year. If I can keep playing well, I can have another year like this year.”
A large part of Ruud’s success has been down to his differing fortunes on hard courts, with the 22-year-old capturing his first tour-level title on the surface in San Diego in October. Prior to this year, Ruud held a 16-27 tour-level record on hard. But he went 25-10 this season on the surface.
On his improvement, Ruud said: “I have brought a lot of match confidence playing big on big points and winning the right points in many matches. Many of the matches I have played this year have been decided by only two or three points. The majority of all of my wins have been decided by only a few points, but that is something you build up when you play a lot of matches.
“It is easy to doubt yourself in the toughest moments, but this year has been great for me when it has come down to this as I have played aggressively and well on the biggest points.”
Daniil Medvedev moved to within one match of retaining his Nitto ATP Finals title Saturday, cruising past Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 to earn his ninth consecutive victory at the season finale.
The Russian soared through the round-robin stage with a perfect 3-0 record and played with such confidence against Ruud as he overpowered the Norwegian with his flat and deep groundstrokes in a dominant performance to advance after 80 minutes in Turin.
“As soon as you are a set and a break up you feel like you are in control, but that is when the danger is,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “You need to stay focused and fight for every point. In the last game I had 0/30 on my serve, and until the last point, it is never over. So I am happy I was able to finish it.
“I think all the matches were a great level. Different opponents and different styles. I managed to win all the matches. It was not an easy match [today]. When you are in the final you can’t complain, so I am just looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully I can have my best match.”
Medvedev now leads Ruud 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having also defeated the World No. 8 on grass in Mallorca in June en route to the title.
[FOLLOW FINALS]The 25-year-old, who downed Dominic Thiem to lift The Brad Drewett Trophy in London in 2020, will face either five-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Novak Djokovic or 2018 titlist Alexander Zverev in the championship match.
Earlier this season, the World No. 2 captured his fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto, before he ended Djokovic’s Grand Slam hopes in the US Open final to win his maiden major title. Medvedev arrived in Turin following a run to the championship match in Paris, where he lost to Djokovic, who gained revenge for his defeat at Flushing Meadows.
Medvedev trails the Serbian 4-6 in their ATP Head2Head series, but leads Zverev 6-5, having won their past five meetings, including a three-set win at the Pala Alpitour this week.
“At this moment we are the Top 3 in the rankings,” Medvedev added. “Just three of us left here, so I am looking forward to a great match tomorrow no matter who I play. I had a few tough matches against Novak lately and a few tough matches against Sascha and one here this week, so it is going to be interesting.”
Medvedev made a quick start against Ruud as he soaked up the 22-year-old’s heavy-hitting, while imposing his explosive game on the Norwegian to break early. In the fast conditions, the Russian was strong on serve in the first set, winning 85 per cent (17/20) of points behind his first delivery as he sealed the opener after 42 minutes.
The World No. 2 continued to control proceedings in the second set as he coped with Ruud’s variety to great effect, dealing with the 22-year-old’s slice and drop shots to move 4-2 ahead. Medvedev then raced to the finish line, firing 17 winners and committing 14 unforced errors in the match to secure victory.
Ruud was making his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals and edged Andrey Rublev to qualify for the semi-finals as he went 2-1 in Green Group action. In a breakthrough season, he has earned 55 tour-level wins, holding a 25-10 record on hard courts. Before this year, Ruud was 16-27 in tour-level matches on hard courts.
The 22-year-old clinched five tour-level titles in 2021 and became the first Norwegian to crack the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings in September.
Joe Salisbury is the first Briton to reach the ATP Finals doubles final after winning through in Turin with American partner Rajeev Ram.
Title sponsor Nitto, in cooperation with Casa UGI, is gifting the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals’ mascot kid programme to the Casa UGI organization.
Casa UGI, which was established in 1980, provides support to children who are battling cancer. It also helps the children’s families, doctors, nurses, and volunteers.
Nitto is providing the children with the memorable experience of welcoming the players on the court. Afterwards, the kids watch the action alongside their families from some of the best seats inside the Pala Alpitour.
In a statement, Nitto said: “Nitto is supporting those who take on challenges. As title partner of the Nitto ATP Finals, we sincerely hope that many children will have an incredible experience at the Nitto ATP Finals, and that the heated battle between the world’s best players will become a treasured lifelong memory which will inspire them, as they move forward toward a bright future.”
Nitto has also donated tickets to Casa UGI, local tennis schools and frontline workers during the pandemic.
Early in his career, Casper Ruud embraced his clay-court success and wanted to follow in the footsteps of Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem by becoming a menace on the surface. Although the Norwegian has done that, he has had a Ruud Renaissance elsewhere: hard courts.
The 22-year-old has reversed his fortunes on the surface in 2021 in a big way. And after advancing to the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday with a victory against Andrey Rublev, Ruud is two wins away from lifting the trophy at the season finale on his least-favoured surface.
“When I was watching him play against Rublev, your mindset is just that he’s really good now,” He’s not just a clay-court player who is starting to get better,” former World No. 4 Brad Gilbert told ATPTour.com. “He’s just a good player now and that result didn’t surprise me.”
Entering the season, Ruud was 16-27 in tour-level matches on hard courts. This year, he is 25-9 with victories against Rublev, Turin competitor Cameron Norrie, former World No. 1 Andy Murray, Argentine Diego Schwartzman, 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov and more. Only three players own a better winning percentage on hard courts this year, and they are the three other semi-finalists in Turin: Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
It has been a work in progress for Ruud, who focussed on his hard-court game during the ATP Tour’s suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year. He spent the time making himself comfortable being uncomfortable.
“You have to be even faster with the legs and quicker with the steps, reacting quicker than maybe when you’re standing two, three, four metres behind the baseline,” Ruud told ATPTour.com at the time. “It’s definitely been a challenge for me. In some practices I’ve felt like I’ve made more mistakes than I usually do because stepping more into the court is higher risk than staying back and playing with more topspin.
“It’s more comfortable being aggressive than being on the defence and running around all the time. You have to try to be as aggressive as you can but for some people it comes more naturally than others.”
Ruud’s team, spearheaded by his father, former World No. 39 Christian Ruud, has known Casper’s strongest surface is clay, where he has time to hit as many forehands as possible and grind down opponents. But Christian never lost faith that his son had potential on hard.
“On hard courts you have to stay inside the baseline more and take the ball on the rise. He has improved that a lot, especially on the backhand side. He has beaten some good guys on hard courts this year and previously,” Christian told ATPTour.com in August. “While his favourite surface may always be clay, I think he can do well in the future on hard courts.”
Ruud’s surge on hard came quicker than they might have expected. The Norwegian claimed his first ATP Tour title on the surface at the San Diego Open, where he lost just two games in the final against Norrie. Now, he is shining in Turin at the Pala Alpitour.
Early in the week, several players noted the court’s quick speed, which would seemingly be unfavourable for Ruud. But Gilbert, who has been following the Nitto ATP Finals closely from his home in California, believes it has been closer to a medium speed. And the Norwegian has thrived, defeating Norrie and Rublev to advance to the semi-finals against Medvedev.
Gilbert remembers watching Ruud two years ago in Houston, where he made his maiden tour-level final. And a couple of things stick out that the former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick believes has made a big difference.
“He’s improved his serve a tonne. That’s his most improved shot. Both his first and his second. He’s incredibly improved on both those shots,” Gilbert said. “His forehand is his big weapon and in the past he’d hit a lot of home runs, but have a lot of misses. He’s so much more consistent and accurate with his forehand as well. Those two shots are why he is playing so much better.
“He’s gotten consistent, he’s gotten solid and he’s learned to not overplay, not play differently from what he tries to do on clay where he’s so good.”
Early in his career, Casper Ruud embraced his clay-court success and wanted to follow in the footsteps of Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem by becoming a menace on the surface. Although the Norwegian has done that, he has had a Ruud Renaissance elsewhere: hard courts.
The 22-year-old has reversed his fortunes on the surface in 2021 in a big way. And after advancing to the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday with a victory against Andrey Rublev, Ruud is two wins away from lifting the trophy at the season finale on his least-favoured surface.
“When I was watching him play against Rublev, your mindset is just that he’s really good now,” He’s not just a clay-court player who is starting to get better,” former World No. 4 Brad Gilbert told ATPTour.com. “He’s just a good player now and that result didn’t surprise me.”
Entering the season, Ruud was 16-27 in tour-level matches on hard courts. This year, he is 25-9 with victories against Rublev, Turin competitor Cameron Norrie, former World No. 1 Andy Murray, Argentine Diego Schwartzman, 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov and more. Only three players own a better winning percentage on hard courts this year, and they are the three other semi-finalists in Turin: Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
It has been a work in progress for Ruud, who focussed on his hard-court game during the ATP Tour’s suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year. He spent the time making himself comfortable being uncomfortable.
“You have to be even faster with the legs and quicker with the steps, reacting quicker than maybe when you’re standing two, three, four metres behind the baseline,” Ruud told ATPTour.com at the time. “It’s definitely been a challenge for me. In some practices I’ve felt like I’ve made more mistakes than I usually do because stepping more into the court is higher risk than staying back and playing with more topspin.
“It’s more comfortable being aggressive than being on the defence and running around all the time. You have to try to be as aggressive as you can but for some people it comes more naturally than others.”
Ruud’s team, spearheaded by his father, former World No. 39 Christian Ruud, has known Casper’s strongest surface is clay, where he has time to hit as many forehands as possible and grind down opponents. But Christian never lost faith that his son had potential on hard.
“On hard courts you have to stay inside the baseline more and take the ball on the rise. He has improved that a lot, especially on the backhand side. He has beaten some good guys on hard courts this year and previously,” Christian told ATPTour.com in August. “While his favourite surface may always be clay, I think he can do well in the future on hard courts.”
Ruud’s surge on hard came quicker than they might have expected. The Norwegian claimed his first ATP Tour title on the surface at the San Diego Open, where he lost just two games in the final against Norrie. Now, he is shining in Turin at the Pala Alpitour.
Early in the week, several players noted the court’s quick speed, which would seemingly be unfavourable for Ruud. But Gilbert, who has been following the Nitto ATP Finals closely from his home in California, believes it has been closer to a medium speed. And the Norwegian has thrived, defeating Norrie and Rublev to advance to the semi-finals against Medvedev.
Gilbert remembers watching Ruud two years ago in Houston, where he made his maiden tour-level final. And a couple of things stick out that the former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick believes has made a big difference.
“He’s improved his serve a tonne. That’s his most improved shot. Both his first and his second. He’s incredibly improved on both those shots,” Gilbert said. “His forehand is his big weapon and in the past he’d hit a lot of home runs, but have a lot of misses. He’s so much more consistent and accurate with his forehand as well. Those two shots are why he is playing so much better.
“He’s gotten consistent, he’s gotten solid and he’s learned to not overplay, not play differently from what he tries to do on clay where he’s so good.”
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury booked their places in the title match at the Nitto ATP Finals on Saturday with a comeback win at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
The second-seeded American-British pair will aim to capture their third title of the season after they defeated top-seeded Croatian Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-4 in one hour and 34 minutes. It was their second straight victory in six matches against Mektic and Pavic this year.
“It felt really good to win, especially in this tournament, the biggest ATP tournament of the year,” said Salisbury. “The way we did it, coming from a set down and not playing our best. We were really up against it and we showed a lot of character, a lot of fighting spirit to stick in there [and] believe that we could turn it around and play our best tennis at the end.”
Ram and Salisbury will next play third-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the 2019 season finale champions, who beat fourth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday’s night session. They are tied 1-1 against Herbert and Mahut in their ATP Head2Head series, saving two match points in a 6-7(7), 6-0, 13-11 win on Wednesday in Red Group action.
[FOLLOW FINALS]In a clash of small margins, Mektic and Pavic gained the first break in the third game when Salisbury double-faulted on a deciding Deuce point. While Ram and Salisbury won 63 per cent of the Croatians second-service points in the 34-minute opener, they were unable to convert their lone break point chance at 1-2. Pavic, who was a continual threat on return of serve, was able to keep his cool to close out a love hold with an ace.
Knowing they needed to raise their games, Ram and Salisbury did just that in the second-set. In an incredible serving display, Ram won 20 consecutive first-service points overall and it was the American’s influence that took the encounter to a Match Tie-break, which they dominated for their 44th win of 2021.
Mektic and Pavic, the year-end No. 1s in the FedEx ATP Doubles Team Rankings, have a 61-13 match record on the season with nine titles.
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev is back in the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals, where he will play tournament debutant Casper Ruud for a place in the championship match.
It has been another impressive season for Medvedev, who won his first major title at the US Open and firmly entrenched himself at No. 2 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The Russian has also won four of his nine sets against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic this year, proving a difficult foe for the Serbian star. The pair could face one another again in the final in Turin if they win their semi-finals at the Pala Alpitour.
ATPTour.com caught up with Medvedev’s coach, Gilles Cervara, before the tournament to discuss his charge’s success, his budding rivalry with Djokovic and more.
How much did things change with Daniil’s US Open win?
I would say they didn’t, really. I didn’t see any difference in anything right now. We try to do the same, to try to do the best all the time. That’s our goal.
When you win a major, that’s life-changing. So how important has it been that he has stayed the same?
It helps you to try to keep focussing on the performance. When I say performance, it’s all the things around tennis: the physical side, mental side, the things we can still improve. There are a lot of things to improve all the time.
Of course the details are getting smaller and smaller. When I was younger, I read many times that Rafa said, ‘I need to improve this, this and this.’ I realised it’s exactly the same for us. It just becomes small details.
Success changes some people, but it seems like with Daniil that’s not the case. He still wants to play video games and all the usual stuff. How nice is it for you as a coach that he’s the same guy?
It makes the priorities still the same. The work on court and outside the court is about performance. We keep the same goals and focus on practice.
Daniil has been playing Novak a lot lately in important matches. Is it fun for you as a coach to try to solve that puzzle?
Yes, it is. It’s fun for me because I like to analyse many things to find solutions. Before the Paris final, we expected Novak could change something in his game and he did. Again, I read many times… I read that Agassi said Sampras made him better and Sampras said Agassi made him better. It’s exactly the same. When you play top players like this, after each match you try to find the solution to solve the problem. It can be the same for us if we have a chance to play Novak this week.
How tricky is it when he changes the game plan so much like he did in Paris and then you have to wonder if he’s going to change again or is he going to do what worked last week?
We know that he’s able to make another type of game. If you keep in your mind that he’s able to play like this, it makes you a bit more ready if it happens again. But now it’s our turn to find the solution first.
The Nitto ATP Finals was very important for Daniil last year. Just how important was it for him?
The good thing is I feel that winning doesn’t change anything for us. It means we want to win more and more and more. It’s just normal. When you come on court to do your best, to make the best shot, the best practice, when you play to win a match, it’s something totally normal for these guys here. It’s their job.
They are here because they want to win all the time. It’s nothing special. Maybe from outside it looks tough, but in fact it’s like the blood going in the veins. It’s the same.
Of course Novak is year-end No. 1, but is chasing World No. 1 one of the next big goals for Daniil? Or is thinking about that not so good?
It’s okay to think about this, it’s nothing bad. It’s a goal, so it’s trying to reach the goal. For me it’s if you play well, if you win more matches than the other players, then you will become No. 1. It’s just a process.
When you get closer to this ranking, maybe you start to realise that you can become No. 1 and you want it more.
Every week you’re focussed on improving but have you stopped to think how far you’ve come with Daniil over the past several years?
For myself, from my position, yes. Twenty years ago I couldn’t imagine I could be there even if it wasn’t one of my goals in my career and in my life.
I realised the road I made to arrive here and it makes this life with a very good taste. I’m proud of myself and realised that maybe I found the different ingredients to reach this position.
How important is it to finish this week on a high note?
It is important because it also gives a good dynamic for the next season. If not, it gives you another goal, to try to do better for the beginning of the year.
It comes back to what I said before. It means you want to do the best and finish the week as the winner and feel you are the best and did the best job you could do.
Have you ever had to have a talk with Daniil about that mindset?
For him I think it’s natural and for myself also. It’s like blood in our veins. You don’t think about having blood in the veins. We don’t have to think about it. It just is.
It is one thing for Daniil to get to this very high level, but how big of a challenge is it for him to stay there?
It’s always tough because you never know what can happen. It’s always unstable because you cannot control everything on court. You cannot control everything in your mind week after week. It makes this achievement a big challenge.
What has Daniil improved the most this year?
It’s so many things physically, mentally. Being able to stay at this level week after week. To stay stable during the whole year like this. Even during the clay season, there were tough moments before the French Open. To see he was able to find a good dynamic during the summer, it’s always a good pleasure and good feeling that he was able to find his best any time in the season even if just before it was tough.
All photos credits: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour.
