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    Roger Federer to Miss Australian Open and Maybe Wimbledon

    Recovering from his fourth knee operation, Federer, at 40, has no illusions about winning a 21st major title. He wants to return for different reasons.TURIN, Italy — With top-ranked Novak Djokovic and most of the world’s other top men’s tennis players gathered here for the ATP Finals, the absentee Roger Federer gave an update.It was far from reassuring for all those eager to see him return to the tour.In an interview that appeared in French in a Swiss newspaper, La Tribune de Genève, Federer, 40, ruled out playing in next year’s Australian Open, which is set to begin on Jan. 17 and is the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.More unexpectedly, he also all but ruled out Wimbledon, which begins in late June.“The truth is that I would be incredibly surprised to play Wimbledon,” he said.For now, Federer, one of the greatest players in tennis history, continues to recover from his fourth and most complicated knee operation, which he indicated required surgery on both the meniscus and articular cartilage in his right knee. He said his tentative plan was to return to competition at some stage in the Northern Hemisphere summer next year, which could mean a comeback on North American hardcourts. But that timetable is far from a sure thing. For now, he said, doctors have told him he can begin running in January but probably not return to full tennis training until “March or April.”“We can sum up my ambitions this way: I want to find out one more time what I’m capable of as a professional tennis player,” he said. “I am fighting for that, and I’m very motivated. I feel the support of my team and my family. We’d all like for me to be able to say farewell on my terms and on a tennis court.”Federer, still ranked 16th, has played only 19 tour matches in the last two seasons and not at all since losing, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0, in July to Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals of this year’s Wimbledon. Federer’s right knee was troubling him during that match, as it had been for much of the grass-court season, but the lopsided score of the final set was particularly deflating. Federer has developed a deep connection with the All England Club, where he has won eight Wimbledon singles titles, a men’s record.Federer left Wimbledon’s Centre Court after losing his quarterfinal match to Hubert Hurkacz in July.Pool via REUTERS/Edward WhitakerHe said in the Tribune de Genève interview that he hoped to give his fans a better memory.“The simplest thing would almost be to say: ‘That’s it. I gave a lot, received a lot, let’s stop it all,’” he said. “But to give everything to come back one more time is also my way of thanking the fans. They deserve better than the image I left during the grass-court season this year.”Federer speculated that he might not be able to return until 2023 from this operation, which he said was more serious than his previous knee operations.“If you push the reasoning further, it doesn’t make much difference whether I return in 2022 or not until 2023,” he said. “At 40 or 41, it’s the same. The question is whether I can keep pushing myself hard day after day. Today, my heart says yes. So I’m going step by step. It’s another challenge like I’ve faced many times in my career, sometimes without the public realizing it. And even if I know very well that the end is near, I want to try to play some more big matches. It won’t be easy but we’re going to try.”Despite his smooth game, Federer has played through plenty of discomfort through the years: dealing with lower back problems from his early 20s and with recurring knee pain in the second half of his career. There is, of course, the possibility that he continues with his rehabilitation and concludes that a comeback is impossible. Doctors who have not treated Federer have suggested that the long recovery period indicates that this latest operation was an attempt to regenerate articular cartilage in his right knee, perhaps with microfracture surgery.“Basically, there are two types of knee cartilage: the meniscus is one, and the articular cartilage is the other,” said Bill Mallon, an American orthopedic surgeon and former professional golfer. “Articular cartilage is the covering of the bone that allows almost friction-free movement of the knee joint. Articular cartilage has very little blood supply, so it regenerates very poorly, if at all. And its ability to regenerate is completely age dependent. The younger you are the more chance you have of that cartilage regenerating.”Federer remains tied for the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles with his longtime rivals Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. Nadal, who has been out of action since August because of a recurring foot problem, has announced that he intends to return to the tour in January. But Nadal, 35, and Djokovic, 34, are significantly younger than Federer, and the other men taking part in the elite ATP Finals are even younger, all in their early to mid-20s.“Obviously Roger is an icon of our sport, and people around the world love him,” Djokovic said on Wednesday after qualifying for the semifinals in Turin with a 6-3, 6-2 round-robin victory over Andrey Rublev. “They love watching him play, love seeing him around.” Djokovic added, “I’m sure he doesn’t want to end his career this way.”Federer withdrew from the French Open in June after a grueling third-round win.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesNicholas DiNubile, an American orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knee surgery, said it would be challenging to return to the tour after articular cartilage surgery.Federer said he had surgery this time not only so he could resume his tennis career, but so he could also live a more active life in the years ahead, playing sports with his children and friends. But Federer, an optimist by nature, is not yet prepared to aim for retirement. He wants more of what only elite competition can provide.“If I am committing myself fully to my rehabilitation, it means there’s a chance I can come back,” he said. “If I am doing strengthening, bike, pool and balance exercises, and if I was working my upper body when I was on crutches, it’s because I believe. Will I come back for a short run, or something bigger? Nobody knows. Not the doctors. Not me. But I am fighting for that.“Let’s be clear: My life is not going to fall apart if I don’t play another Grand Slam final. But it would be the ultimate dream. And in fact, I still believe. I still believe in these kinds of miracles. I’ve experienced them. Sports history writes them sometimes. I’m realistic. It would be an enormous miracle. But in sport, miracles exist.” More

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    The WTA Finals Provide a Fitting Finale to a Zany Year

    Favorites who were virtually unknown a year ago. Big names missing in action. And, as usual, a championship completely up for grabs.GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Karolina Pliskova let out a good long breath Sunday afternoon when she finally defeated Barbora Krejcikova to finish off her round-robin play at the WTA Finals Sunday afternoon.After three sets in intense sun, there was nothing left to do but wait for the evening session’s outcome, and then, perhaps, play the final two matches of this ridiculously long and taxing year filled with restrictive bubbles and unmatched drama — and more Covid-19 tests than anyone cares to think about.Finally, mercifully, the 11-month endurance test that has been women’s tennis this year is approaching a fitting end in this near-mile-high city in central Mexico.Everything about these WTA Finals is so 2021. The season essentially began with more than two dozen players locked in their hotel rooms in Melbourne, Australia, for two weeks because they flew on planes with other players or coaches who tested positive for the coronavirus upon their arrival. So it was only proper that this tournament, which was supposed to be in China, faced its own pandemic-related upheaval. Tour officials had to scramble, moving the tournament out of a country that had largely prohibited foreigners from entering the country.As the final matches of the year were unfolding, tour officials were also confronting a claim this month by the Chinese player Peng Shuai, 35, who in a social media post said she had been sexually assaulted by a top official in the Chinese government. Her post has since been taken down, and on Sunday, Steve Simon, chief executive of the WTA Tour, which does extensive business in China, called on officials there to investigate the claim fully and transparently.The tour’s ties to China are deep though. After her match on Sunday, hours after the WTA released its statement condemning the Chinese, Pliskova was asked to film a promotional spot on behalf of the WTA in which she watched messages wishing her well from Chinese fans on an iPad, then recited a short script that culminated with, “I hope to see you soon in China.”A spokesman for the WTA said the message was targeted to Chinese fans, not government officials.Beyond logistical hurdles and the mounting China controversy, the most fitting tribute to this roller coaster of a season is that the eight players who earned the privilege of playing in the WTA Finals were about as random a collection as anyone could have imagined. In a sport in which seemingly any player can win a tournament, in which even a teenage qualifier this year surged to a Grand Slam event title, nothing was more appropriate than hearing player after player here confess to not being able to fathom at the start of the year that they would qualify for this exclusive championship.Paula Badosa of Spain said that in In January in Abu Dhabi, her coach told her that if she maintained her level she would make the top 30. Badosa, a fast-improving 23-year-old, told him that was impossible, that she would settle for the top 50.After winning the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., in October, she cracked the top 10. “I didn’t even expect it,” Badosa said ahead of her first match here, a 6-4, 6-0 demolition of the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 1 seed. “Even less expected to be here in the WTA Finals.”Paula Badosa has moved into the top 10 and won her first two matches in Guadalajara.Francisco Guasco/EPA, via ShutterstockHas there been a tennis season when the beginning and the end looked so different, and not merely because empty stadiums have given way to filled arenas? In February, after the Australian Open, where Naomi Osaka of Japan won her second consecutive Grand Slam singles event and the fourth of her career, she appeared ready to take control of the sport. Ten months later, she is on indefinite leave as she deals with her mental health. No one knows when, or if, she will return.Serena Williams made the semifinals in Australia and appeared poised for a serious try for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. She has been sidelined with injuries since the early summer. Ashleigh Barty of Australia, the 2021 Wimbledon champion, passed on the last two months of the season after an exhausting half-year on the road.The American Sofia Kenin, who arrived in Australia as the defending champion, endured an emergency appendectomy, Covid-19 and a split with her father and coach, Alex Kenin. She tumbled out of the top 10. Simona Halep of Romania, the No. 2 seed in Australia, battled injuries and is now ranked 22nd.The only player to make it back to this championship from 2019, the last time it was played, was Pliskova of the Czech Republic. In place of the usual stars are players like Maria Sakkari, a 26-year-old from Greece with a physique more typical of a mixed martial arts fighter than a tennis player. She cracked the top 20 only last year.The biggest name in the game at the moment, Emma Raducanu of Britain, the qualifier who won the U.S. Open in September, is not here because she did not qualify. The qualification requirements were made when everyone just assumed that anyone good enough to win a Grand Slam event would certainly be among the top-ranked players still playing at the end of the year. In a perfect world, the tour finals would feature all the Grand Slam champions and finalists.Alas, this championship has just a single Grand Slam singles champion from this year, Krejcikova, known until recently as a doubles specialist, who came out of nowhere to win the 2021 French Open. There is just one other Grand Slam finalist — Pliskova, who lost to Barty at Wimbledon. There, Barty looked like she might not lose again for a while, but she did not even make the second week of the U.S. Open and called it a season.As the last preliminary-round matches opened Sunday, little known Anett Kontaveit of Estonia — no one’s current idea of a tennis star — had emerged as a worldbeater, the winner of her last two tournaments and her first two matches in Mexico. Kontaveit, 25, was the last player to qualify for Guadalajara, but the first player to make it through to the semifinals.“I feel like I can take on anyone,” Kontaveit said Friday, after she blasted Pliskova, 6-4, 6-0, hitting the ball harder and flatter than in the past. “It’s really just trusting my shots a little more, going for it, but going for it with margins.”Badosa, too, has continued her new tricks, fulfilling the promise that the tennis cognoscenti had predicted when she was a rising junior. She finished last year ranked 70th, and spent much of the first part of the year losing crucial points in her biggest matches. Not these days: On Saturday, she won nearly all of them, floating across the baseline as she knocked off Sakkari, 7-6 (4), 6-4.“It’s experience,” Badosa said. “I was quite new at the beginning of the year.”Anett Kontaveit was the first player to make it through to the semifinals.Ulises Ruiz/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWith three days to go, the WTA Finals are shaping up as a glimpse of what the next season holds for this topsy-turvy sport rather than as a crowning of a champion of champions. Given the tumult in recent years, expecting anything specific from any one player from month to month, much less season to season, has become something of a fool’s errand.It’s better to just digest the competition as a snapshot of who is hot and who is not at a moment that just happens to be the end of the season.Those snapshots include Kontaveit almost never missing; Badosa wearing out the paint in the corners of the court with her forehand; Sabalenka blasting 120-mile-per-hour second serves and willing the crowd into her corner in a come-from-behind, three-set win over Iga Swiatek of Poland on Saturday night.“I kept saying, ‘You have to get through this challenge, you have to get through this challenge,’ again and again,” Sabalenka said at the end.She was talking about the match. She could have been talking about the season. More

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    Jane Brown Grimes, a Rare Female Force in Tennis, Dies at 80

    She was a top executive at three organizations, including the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where she was later inducted.Jane Brown Grimes, who as one of the rare women executives in tennis in her time modernized the International Tennis Hall of Fame, ran the rule-making body of women’s tennis and was president of the United States Tennis Association, died on Nov. 2 at her home in Manhattan. She was 80.The cause was cancer, her daughter, Serena Larson, said.“Jane did everything behind the scenes,” Chris Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, said in an interview. “She didn’t crave attention and quietly went about her work. Not a lot of women tennis players know what she did, because she was under the radar.”In 1989, Mrs. Brown Grimes, as managing director of the Women’s International Professional Tennis Council, which governed women’s tennis, headed talks that led to a change in title sponsorship of the women’s tour — from Virginia Slims, a cigarette brand marketed to women, to Kraft General Foods. Both were owned by Philip Morris (now the Altria Group).Anti-tobacco activists, as well as some players, had for years demanded that women’s tennis move on from its tobacco sponsorship, the financial backbone of the tour since the early 1970s, to one that promoted a healthier lifestyle.“Jane was a very strategic, intelligent leader, and she was clear that the council had to move away from tobacco,” said Anne Worcester, who was director of worldwide operations for the Virginia Slims series and succeeded Mrs. Brown Grimes as the council leader in 1991.Pam Shriver, who won 132 titles in her career, acknowledged in an interview that “there were no apologies for Virginia Slims being a sponsor.” But, she added, “By the time Jane was in a key position to make a change, she made it happen.”Mrs. Brown Grimes speaking to Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, widow of the tennis star Arthur Ashe, during a match in 2008 at the U.S. Open in Flushing, Queens. The Ashes’ daughter, Camera, is on the left.Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg NewsJane Trowbridge Gillespie was born on Jan. 20, 1941, in Freeport, N.Y., on Long Island. Her father, Samuel Hazard Gillespie, was a litigator who served as the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1959 to 1961. Her mother, Ruth (Reed) Gillespie, was the head librarian at the Collegiate School in Manhattan.In her youth, Jane played on her grandparents’ clay tennis court on Long Island and regularly attended the United States National Championships at Forest Hills, Queens — the precursor to the U.S. Open — with her family. She reveled in watching stars like Althea Gibson, Margaret Court, Tony Trabert and Maureen Connolly.“They were my movie stars,” she told The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., in 2009. “They were my idols.”She studied history at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and received a bachelor’s degree in 1962. After working as a fact checker for Life magazine and then for a documentary filmmaker, she joined the Manhattan office of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1977.Starting as an event planner, she became a fund-raiser before rising to executive director of the Hall of Fame in 1981, a post she held until 1986. Working mainly from its Manhattan office, she helped raise money to rehabilitate buildings at the Hall, in Newport, R.I., and was the director of tournaments held on its grounds.After leaving to join the women’s tennis council, Mrs. Brown Grimes returned to the Hall as president in 1991 and stayed through 2000, overseeing the acquisition of tennis memorabilia critical to the Hall’s historical mission and continuing the renovations.She was elected to the board of the United States Tennis Association in 2001 and then rose through its ranks to become volunteer chairman and president in 2007. The second woman to hold that position, she served through 2008. During her two-year tenure she particularly championed youth programs and was involved in the U.S.T.A.’s acquisition of the Western & Southern Open.“Jane was one of the few who paved the way for other women to have leadership roles in tennis,” Ms. Worcester said.Mrs. Brown Grimes was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her sons, Jim Schwarz and Ames Brown; her brother, Sam Gillespie; and five grandchildren. Her marriage to Marshall Schwarz ended in divorce, and her marriages to Ames Brown and Charles Grimes ended with their deaths.Ever curious, Mrs. Brown Grimes continued her education well into her later years. She earned an M.B.A. degree from Baruch College in Manhattan in 2012, then used her knowledge of tennis to earn a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge in 2015.Her thesis was about the 1986 Federation Cup tournament in Prague, which marked Martina Navratilova’s return to her homeland for the first time since defecting to the United States in 1975 from what was then Czechoslovakia. Mrs. Brown Grimes had attended the tournament.“When it was over and the U.S. had won, Martina was given a big microphone and started her speech in English, but within about 10 seconds she switched into Czech and the place went nuts,” Mrs. Brown Grimes said in an interview with Steve Flink of Tennis.com this year. “Her mother was sitting in front of me, and down a ways, and she was in tears.”When she died, Mrs. Brown Grimes had nearly finished her dissertation in history at Cambridge — about women’s tennis during the Open era, after tournaments were open to professionals and not just amateurs in 1968. More

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    The Whirlwind of a Rising Daniil Medvedev

    He won his first Grand Slam this year and is ranked No. 2, and his impressed peers call him a genius and an octopus.Watching Daniil Medvedev speak is like watching a tornado from inside Dorothy’s farmhouse in “The Wizard of Oz.” His thoughts whirl at such a rapid clip that you do not even have time to run to a storm cellar.Then it becomes clear: Medvedev, the world No. 2 and winner of this year’s United States Open, answers questions a little like he plays tennis — fast and furious, seemingly without stopping to take a breath.“The most important thing is that I’m trying to be myself on the court,” he said on a video chat from Paris when told that his peers have described him as a chess master, a genius and an octopus. “I’m just trying to play good tennis and win matches. Then I let other people decide what they think.”In September, Medvedev, 25, of Russia, served as the ultimate spoiler when he upset the world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win his first major at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had already won the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon in 2021, and a win at the U.S. Open would have made him just the sixth singles player, and third man, to capture the Grand Slam. Medvedev’s win also denied Djokovic a record-breaking 21st career major. Instead, he, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are still tied with 20 majors apiece.“He has definitely improved a lot, and the Grand Slam win at the U.S. Open did not come as a surprise to me,” Djokovic said. “He has a tremendous serve, and he hits his spots in the box incredibly well. That’s the biggest weapon of his game, without a doubt.“Then, of course, that backhand is very flat, and he’s just as strong as a wall from that side,” Djokovic added. “He just doesn’t miss. And he’s improved his forehand a lot. He’s very professional and very smart on the court. He’s game savvy. He understands how to use the court, how to position himself when he’s defending, when he’s attacking. His net game has improved as well, so he doesn’t hesitate to come forward. Nowadays he’s become a more all-around player, more complete and, as a result, he’s a Grand Slam champion.”Djokovic, right, defeated Medvedev, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, to win the Paris Masters last week.Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesMedvedev is trying to defend his championship at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, which begins Sunday and has moved from London to Turin, Italy, this year. Last year, Medvedev beat Alexander Zverev, Djokovic, Diego Schwartzman, Nadal and Dominic Thiem to capture the title.When Medvedev first ascended to No. 2 in March, it was, in large part, because he won his last 10 matches of 2020 and his first 10 of 2021. He was finally stopped by Djokovic in the Australian Open final in February.“Daniil has perfected the game that he’s playing that not many players can play,” said the fourth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has lost to Medvedev six of the eight times they have played. “I call him ‘octopus’ for a reason. He’s just able to get balls that not many people are able to.”It is odd, then, that Medvedev constantly refers to his flagging self confidence.“There was a moment when I was not confident in myself,” he said. “I was doubting a few things about my physical abilities, my tennis abilities. I was in doubt, which is what tennis is all about. Then I won these two amazing tournaments [2020 Rolex Paris Masters and Nitto ATP Finals], beat a lot of top players, got a boost of confidence where I was like, ‘OK, I believe in myself. There is no reason not to believe anymore.’”“I call him ‘octopus’ for a reason,” said Stefanos Tsitsipas of Medvedev. “He’s just able to get balls that not many people are able to.”Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/ReutersMedvedev was never a prodigy. He was not ranked No. 1 in the juniors, never even went beyond the third round at any of the major junior tournaments. But that did not stop him from aspiring to play among the best.“I was never even in the quarters of a slam,” Medvedev said. “But when you come to these Grand Slams, no matter if you’re ranked 30, 20 or I think I was 13 at the max, you see all these top players that you look at on TV and they actually do normal things. They eat, they take a shower, they go play matches, they can even laugh with you juniors. And you actually feel in a way that you belong with this group.”Before Medvedev ever played tennis, he said he was known in the family for his temper tantrums around the house. His two older sisters, Julia and Elena, were powerless to control him.“I remember when I was 4 years old, I was a little bit ‘wanty,’” Medvedev said with a chuckle. “Like if I wanted something I could start crying. I think that’s the part that could sometimes show on the tennis court, especially when I was younger, because the thing is, what do you want on the tennis court? You want to win.”Medevedev has proved his petulance more than once in his pro career. In 2016, he was defaulted from a Challenger match in Savannah, Ga., for suggesting that the chair umpire was favoring his opponent based on race.Then, during the 2019 U.S. Open, Medvedev was booed by the New York crowd during a match against Feliciano Lopez when he got a warning from the umpire for tossing his racket and then snatching a towel from a ball man. As the fans roared their disapproval, Medvedev tugged on his ear, imploring them to continue.Then, during his post-match interview, Medvedev told the crowd: “Thank you all, guys, because your energy tonight gave me the win. If you were not here, guys, I would probably lose the match. So I want all of you to know, when you sleep tonight, I won because of you.”Medvedev was booed by the New York crowd during his match against Feliciano Lopez at the 2019 U.S. Open.Dominick Reuter/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe crowd responded by booing even louder. Medvedev won his next three matches before he was beaten by Nadal in the final.Just before the start of the Paris Masters in October, Medvedev and Djokovic had a two-hour practice session at the Mouratoglou Academy on the French Riviera. It was the first time the two had seen each other since their U.S. Open final in September. They chatted for 15 minutes after the practice, but neither one mentioned their encounter in New York.“It’s normal, no matter if you lose or win you don’t speak about these matches because there’s going to be one loser who’s not going to want to speak about it,” said Medvedev, who also lost to Djokovic last Sunday in the final of the Paris Masters. “And when I win I also don’t want to say, ‘Hey, remember …’”When Medvedev was about 14, he said, he read the book “Eragon” by Christopher Paolini. He was so captivated by the fantastical story about magic, glory and power that he read all 528 pages in three nights, at the same time imagining he was part of that world.Now that he is enmeshed in his own fantastical world, Medvedev refuses to revel in it.“I don’t look back too much in my life,” he said. “I like to think about the present and the future more than the past, even if the past is good. I use it more as confidence, to say, ‘Wow, I managed to win, to beat Novak in the final of a slam.’ I’m going to use it more if I have doubt in my career, which can happen.“If you lose first round or quarters of some tournaments, maybe two in a row, you’re always going to have questions, like ‘Am I going to be able to come back?’ That’s when you can look back at this match and say to yourself, ‘Wow, it’s possible.’” More

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    It’s Been a Long Season on the ATP Tour

    With injuries and fatigue, it has taken its toll on the players, who say they will work through the challenges during these finals.Winning on the ATP Tour means surviving perpetual battles of endurance inside a war of attrition. Relentless baseline rallies lead to longer, more draining matches in a season that runs nearly year-round.There was additional concern that after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, this year’s schedule might take an even greater toll as players get back into shape.“Our season is too long given the physicality of today’s tennis,” the third-ranked Alexander Zverev said in late October. “We don’t really have time to let our injuries heal.”Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem were sidelined by injuries this year, and at the Paris Masters last week, the fourth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas retired with a nagging arm injury. Tsitsipas said he dropped out to preserve his shot at an even bigger prize, the year-end Nitto ATP Finals.The finals, which moves this year to Turin, Italy, from London, is what the game’s elite have been grinding to reach. The tournament has the game’s top eight players split into two groups of four that confront each other in a round-robin format before two from each half advance to the semifinals.Stefanos Tsitsipas retired from his Paris Masters match with an arm injury.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBrad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst, said the move to Turin should not impact the style of play because, like London’s O2 Arena where the event was played last year, it is indoors with a hard court made by GreenSet, which has produced relatively slow, low-bouncing surfaces.“So we could have more long rallies,” he said. He said that the week off between the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals should benefit the players if there were long points. (This final does not even end the season, with the Davis Cup Finals coming a few days later.)Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras and Federer and is a Tennis Channel analyst, said the players who made it to the ATP Finals feel a sense of accomplishment. “They understand the magnitude of this event, featuring the best of best, so they’ll do whatever they can to win.”The players said that they would indeed play through their fatigue after a grueling season. Zverev, Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev also said they would not change tactics with bigger serves or ground strokes, more drop shots or a race to get to the net — just for the sake of ending points quickly.“I’ll play the way I play,” Zverev said, who at the United States Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic won a 53-shot rally in a game where the other five points averaged nearly 20 shots each.Novak Djokovic is ranked No. 1 and will be favored to win the ATP Finals.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesTsitsipas said his game had not changed just because of the time of year, so the players strategies would not budge much either. “If there’s some sort of difference it will be very small.”Rublev said that Tsitsipas, who had the ability to charge the net and the finesse to win on drop shots, was perhaps best suited to change his game if the match demanded it, whereas he was set in his ways. “I’m an aggressive player, and I like to be the one to lead the rally, to dictate the point,” Rublev said. “This is the goal for all the matches.”The home crowd should give an advantage to Matteo Berrettini, ranked No. 7 in the world, the only Italian in the final.“Berrettini has a huge serve and a huge forehand, so he can keep points short,” Annacone said. “And this is a new event for Italy, featuring one of their top young superstars, so I expect the crowd to sound like a concert of Italian fanatics. Berrettini could be right there with the top players.”Annacone said Daniil Medvedev and Zverev had a strong shot at winning because they had proved their stamina, playing excellent tennis since the summer, adding that they had big serves and first strikes so they could shorten points without changing tactics.And Zverev proved his staying power in those long U.S. Open rallies, while Medvedev thrived on counterpunching and could wear tired opponents down, Annacone said. By contrast, Tsitsipas and Rublev have faltered in the second half of the season, making them less likely to survive this gantlet.Still, Djokovic, the world No. 1, remains the favorite. While second-ranked Medvedev beat him in the finals of the U.S. Open on a hard court, and indoors in last year’s ATP Finals, Djokovic has not lost an ATP match in the last two years to any of the other competitors. (Zverev beat him in the Olympics.)Djokovic also took time off after the U.S. Open, meaning he may be fresher than his rivals, which Annacone said could prove crucial.“It will come down to who is freshest and healthiest,” he said, “and can find their form that week.” More

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    Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the Winning Couple of Tennis

    They are ranked No. 1 in doubles and took the gold medal at this year’s Olympics.In tennis, doubles pairings are like marriages. A good one requires constant communication, flexibility, understanding and an ability to operate under pressure. When it works, magic occurs.Such is the case for the Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic who teamed up for the first time this year and are ending 2021 ranked No. 1 in the world. Together they won nine titles this year, including Wimbledon and a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and will be playing at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, which starts on Sunday.Mektic, 32, and Pavic, 28, have had great success with other partners. Mektic has won 17 ATP doubles titles with seven different partners, including six Masters 1000s and last year’s ATP Finals with Wesley Koolhof. Pavic has won 26 tournaments with seven partners. In 2018, he won the Australian Open with Oliver Marach and in 2020 he and Bruno Soares captured the United States Open. Pavic, left, and Mektic and won the gold medal in men’s doubles for Croatia at the Tokyo Olympics in July.Edgar Su/ReutersSometimes teams play together for years, enacting great success. And sometimes, despite the best efforts of both participants, partnerships, like marriages, simply run their course.At the end of 2020, Pavic and Soares were ranked No. 1 as a team. He was also No. 1 alongside Marach in 2018.Mektic also had a solid 2020, winning the year-end ATP Finals with Koolhof, reaching the finals of the U.S. Open and the semifinals of the French Open.But while they were still in London for the ATP Finals last November, Pavic approached Mektic, told him that he was breaking up with Soares and asked if he wanted to team up in 2021. Soares has since teamed up with Jamie Murray and they, too, have qualified for the ATP Finals.“I was the one that stopped playing with my ex-partner, even though we finished as No. 1,” said Pavic by video. “We were just thinking differently about some things, like the tournament schedule. I was 27, he was 38 then. We were at a different stage of our careers. But we finished No. 1, so there was no reason to think we would not continue playing together.”Mektic, who began to focus on doubles five years ago, was also surprised.“I still feel bad when I talk about it because I had a great partnership with Wesley, and I would have continued to play with him,” Mektic said. “But when [Pavic] asked me, it was just one of those things I couldn’t say no to. He’s the best player in the world and I thought this partnership could be the best team in the world. And I was kind of right looking at what we’ve seen this far.”Mektic and Pavic won their first 12 matches together before being stopped in the semifinals of the Australian Open. They then notched an 18-match win streak from June to August.According to both players, there is a fine art to playing doubles.“It’s a completely different sport,” Pavic said. “The singles guys are obviously better tennis players. They hit the ball better. But their understanding of the game, positioning, being in the right place at the right time on the court, it’s just not the same in doubles.”“It’s not all about forehands and backhands,” Mektic said. “Tennis-wise and personality-wise some guys are very individual, and they have problems working together with someone. Having good communication with your partner definitely helps.”Mektic and Pavic are aware that top singles players earn more prize money, get prime-time court exposure and receive greater sponsorship perks. But in some ways being No. 1 in doubles is better than being Novak Djokovic, who is ending 2021 ranked No. 1 in singles for a record seventh year.“It’s a different kind of life that Novak and the other guys have, and I can’t even imagine how it is,” Mektic said. “For us, you reach the top of your sport, but you still remain the same person and you’re not that popular. People are not going to stop you on the street and make you uncomfortable. In that sense, I like it this way. I like that I can just live a normal life.” More

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    With Win in Paris, Novak Djokovic Secures Year-End No. 1 Ranking Again

    He bolstered his claim to being the best men’s player of this era by securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for a record seventh year.PARIS — When Novak Djokovic was 7, the world of elite tennis was a distant place, visible only on the television screen of his parents’ pizzeria in the Serbian mountains or the modest family apartment in Belgrade.His two young children have a much better view.On Sunday, as he hustled and pondered his way through his rematch with Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic’s son, Stefan, 7, and daughter, Tara, 4, were in the front row along with friends, family and stuffed animals.When Djokovic finally prevailed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, to win the Paris Masters for the sixth time, he met Medvedev at the net and then walked, beaming, toward his children to embrace them in the stands.“A special day for me,” Djokovic said. “It’s the first time both my kids are together to watch a match of mine.”It is one of the perks of enduring sporting excellence and one of the inspirations: to give your offspring a memory of you in full flow.“It’s one of the biggest reasons why I keep on playing,” Djokovic said. “I always dreamed of having my children in the stands.”His longtime rival Roger Federer, a father of four, has reveled in the experience. So have many leading athletes, from football’s Tom Brady to women’s soccer’s Christie Pearce, in an era when more superstars have found a way to stay longer at the top.At 34, Djokovic is riding the same wave and not yet ready to get off. He proved it in Paris, where he rebounded from a demoralizing stretch that could have left him reeling.Djokovic kissed his son, Stefan, after defeating Medvedev.Thibault Camus/APAfter failing again to win a medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in August, Djokovic got within one match of achieving a Grand Slam only to lose the U.S. Open final in straight sets to Medvedev. Rod Laver remains the last man to win all four major singles titles in the same year. He completed the Grand Slam in 1962 and 1969, and judging by the steady improvement of Medvedev and the new generation of men’s stars, it is difficult to imagine that Djokovic will have another chance to join Laver’s club.But after seven weeks away from the tour, Djokovic reminded fans of his resilience, talent and resourcefulness with his performance in Paris.He bolstered his claim to being the best men’s player of this golden era by securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for a record seventh year, breaking his tie with Pete Sampras. He also broke another tie with Rafael Nadal by winning his 37th Masters 1000 title and became the first man since Andre Agassi in 1999 to win the French Open and Paris Masters in the same season.Medvedev, the gangly Russian shock absorber, had looked unstoppable as he rolled over a weary Alexander Zverev in Saturday’s semifinals, barely making an unforced error. Meanwhile, Djokovic had only squeaked past an inspired Hubert Hurkacz in a third-set tiebreaker in their semifinal, struggling for consistency off the ground and in his own service games..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}But Djokovic found a new level and a new tactic against Medvedev, borrowing a yellowing page from tennis’s traditional playbook by serving and volleying 22 times and winning 19 of the points when he did.It was an astute attempt to take advantage of Medvedev’s extremely deep return position, but it still required Djokovic to make a series of brilliantly angled volleys and drop volleys to keep the ball out of Medvedev’s long reach. More impressive was that the tactic continued to work throughout the match even after Medvedev had a chance to adjust.“It won Novak the match for sure,” said Mark Petchey, the veteran coach and analyst. “It’s been a changeup strategy for Novak in the past, a surprise tactic, but Daniil knew it was coming and still couldn’t stop him.”It helps that Medvedev slaps relatively flat returns and passing shots compared with a player like Nadal, whose dipping topspin can make it harder to hit decisive volleys. New paradigm? Probably not, but it was certainly effective indoors on Sunday despite the relatively heavy balls that, in theory, should have made winners more difficult to produce.“He puts a lot of returns back in play, and he’s just so good at staying in the point and making you suffer and forcing you to do an unforced error,” Djokovic said. “So you have to have in a way controlled aggression against him.”He added, “I wanted to keep him on his toes, so he doesn’t know what’s coming up next, to be a little bit unpredictable.”It is surely easier to surprise Medvedev at this early stage of their rivalry than men whom Djokovic has faced for more than a decade, like Nadal and Federer. But though Djokovic and Nadal had a memorable duel this year in Paris, with Djokovic prevailing in a four-set semifinal, Djokovic versus Medvedev has been the most compelling rivalry of the year.Djokovic beat him in straight sets in the Australian Open final, lost in straight sets in New York and then won their best match yet in Paris. It would be no surprise if they met once more this year at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, which will begin on Sunday on another indoor hardcourt.Medvedev has become Djokovic’s most compelling rival over the past year.Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock They have become increasingly comfortable with each other and even trained together recently near their Monte Carlo residences: a rare occasion for a No. 1 and No. 2 player. Their meeting at the net after Sunday’s final was full of warmth despite Medvedev’s disappointment, and Djokovic has perhaps never applauded an opponent’s winners as often as he did for Medvedev’s in Paris. That was in part because the level was so high, particularly when they were locked in baseline exchanges that both were able to extend far beyond the norm with their extraordinary defensive skills.“He’s probably my biggest rival in tennis at the moment,” Djokovic said.The question is whether either of them will make the long trip to Melbourne for the Australian Open, where the state government of Victoria has indicated that players will be required to be fully vaccinated for Covid-19. According to the ATP Tour, 25 percent of the top 100 singles players remain unvaccinated. Djokovic, who contracted the coronavirus in 2020, and Medvedev, who tested positive for coronavirus in April, have declined to disclose whether they are vaccinated. Both said in Paris that they would decide whether to play the Australian Open after the tournament made its formal policy clear.“I don’t want to be part of the stories about the assumptions and what ifs,” Djokovic said. “When the official conditions and requirements to travel to Australia and play in Australia are out, then obviously I will see what I personally do with that, and also the bigger group of the players. Because the situation is obviously different in Australia than most parts of the world.”The announcement is imminent, according to Tennis Australia, which will officially launch the tournament next week with tickets going on sale on Nov. 19.Skipping the trip would be no small sacrifice for Djokovic, who is in pursuit of a 21st Grand Slam singles title to break his three-way tie with Federer and Nadal. Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open champion, has won nearly half of his majors on the hardcourts in Melbourne. Though he remains No. 1 after another brilliant and resilient season, he can sense the pressure from below from Medvedev, 25, and his peer group, who have no children in tow just yet.“He’s the leader of the next generation,” Djokovic said. “They are already there, and they are challenging the three of us old guys, and we’re going to try to hang in there.” More

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    WTA Finals, a Nomadic Tournament, Lands in Mexico

    A last-minute deal brings the event to Guadalajara. But what about that altitude?After two decades of wandering the globe, the WTA Finals had finally found a home, or so it seemed in 2019.That was the first year the finals were held, to great fanfare, in Shenzhen, China, under a deal that would keep the tournament there for 10 years.The event has not been back since, and on Wednesday it will instead be played in Guadalajara, Mexico, after an agreement in September.The tournament, which has been played under different names over the years, has long been a bit nomadic. It was held at Madison Square Garden from 1979 to 2000 and has moved five times from 2001 to 2013. It then spent five years in Singapore.The pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s tournament, the first time it had not been held since the finals began nearly 50 years ago, when the finals were called the Virginia Slims Championships.This year, with the Akron WTA Finals Guadalajara, that means some players will be competing in one of the biggest tournaments outside of the Grand Slams in the third different city in the last three finals.“I personally don’t care if the location changes every year; it’s always exciting to be able to compete in the event,” said Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain, who qualified three times from 2015 to 2017 and is one of the eight players invited to play singles this year.For months, the WTA planned a return to Shenzhen, while having parallel discussions with other cities, including Hong Kong.“Knowing the situation was less than clear, we had a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C,” said Micky Lawler, the WTA president. “We wanted to give our top players a chance to compete the way they deserved to end 2021, but putting on events is really tough during a pandemic, and circumstances keep changing and are out of your control.”The tour ended up going with Plan D: Guadalajara.“I personally don’t care if the location changes every year,” Garbiñe Muguruza said of the WTA Finals.Dean Lewins/EPA, via Shutterstock“It’s very difficult to plan an event at this scale, and they offered a great solution in a market where we already had a tournament,” Lawler said, referring to the lower-level tournament held there in March. (The No. 1 seed was 46th-ranked Nadia Podoroska of Argentina.)The WTA was impressed by the team that ran that tournament, but also there was no Plan E, Lawler said. “This wasn’t a situation of ‘Let’s choose between places,’” she said. “It was, ‘We don’t want a second year in a row without a WTA Finals, so let’s put all our resources together and make this work.’”Lawler said that Steve Simon, the WTA chief executive, was running weekly board meetings and that the tour held constant discussions with the players and the sponsors. “Everyone’s attitude was that this was not what we planned for, but they would support it because it was better than no tournament.”While Lawler is certain that there will be challenges — she points to a sudden Covid-related lockdown that started during a recent tournament in Moscow — she is confident that they will be surmountable. Many of the players are certainly eager for the tournament, even if there are obstacles. (The exception is Ashleigh Barty, the tour’s top-ranked player and the defending champion. She is skipping the tournament to avoid another stint in quarantine after returning to her native Australia.)Karolina Pliskova said reaching the WTA Finals was always a personal goal when the season started. This is her fifth straight year at the tournament, making her the only player besides Muguruza with experience in the event. The newcomers competing in singles are Paula Badosa, Anett Kontaveit, Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari and Iga Swiatek.Pliskova, who is the only person to play in Singapore, Shenzhen and now Guadalajara over three consecutive WTA Finals, said the shift in locales erased some of her advantage.“It’s better for players who have never played in the tournament because if it was in the same place each year, players who had been there would know how the courts play and know all the activities and would feel more relaxed,” she said. “This year, everybody is basically starting from zero.”The biggest difference between Guadalajara and pretty much any other WTA Finals location is the altitude. The city is about 5,000 feet above sea level, which will make the ball fly faster but trickier to control, while also challenging players to catch their breath after long rallies.Guadalajara is about 5,000 feet above sea level, an altitude that will affect how the ball flies and how players breathe.Getty Images“The altitude is a salient factor, and it came up in conversations with the players, but everyone’s in the same boat,” Lawler said, adding that it is no different from having a surface that favors certain players. “These players are the best of the best, so while some will love it less, they’re going to adjust.”Krejcikova said that she had no experience playing at that altitude, but that she did not care about how it would change the game. “I’m just happy to be going to the WTA Finals,” she said. “I always wanted to play against the other top players to see where my level is.”She said that she believed that the bigger hitters and servers might benefit from getting extra velocity on their power shots, resulting in shorter points, but that she would not decide how to adjust her game until she practiced there.Muguruza said the strongest players might benefit from the altitude. But the extra velocity comes with a catch. “It will be the ones who can control their power who will have more opportunities,” she said, because balls could easily sail long or wide.Pliskova said she might change the tension on her strings to give her more control or more spin.“I don’t want to change too much — my game is my game — but I may change a little,” she said, adding that someone who was good at defending might benefit if players could not control their shots, as long as they were in good enough condition to handle long points at that altitude.Although the WTA hopes to return the finals to Shenzhen in 2022, there is hope that this rare visit from the game’s best players will give the sport a boost in Mexico. Heather Bowler, a spokeswoman for the International Tennis Federation, said in an email that at the recreational and amateur level Mexico had the lowest ratio in the region of players to population and the lowest percentage of female players.“Bringing an elite-level tournament, WTA Finals will drive awareness and increase an appetite for the game, so it certainly is a good basis on which to build on in the future,” she wrote, “and the WTA should be a great catalyst for sport in the region and for Mexico as a nation.”Lawler said that while nothing was in the works, increased interest could eventually lead to bigger tournaments and more resources for young players in the region, creating a positive cycle. “If there is an appetite to build something in Mexico, we would do everything we can to support it,” she said.Krejcikova said she thought about the way the sport and the players were seen by girls at every tournament, but especially when it was someplace new.“I hope we are good examples for them,” she said, “and can have a big impact on the younger generation in Mexico.” More