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      Sebastian, Nelly and Jessica Korda Succeed in the Family Business

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      Petr Korda has long envisioned greatness for his children, the pro golfers Nelly and Jessica and the tennis pro Sebastian, who won his first-round match at Wimbledon.WIMBLEDON, England — Sebastian Korda watched from his father’s hotel room in London on Sunday night as his sister Nelly achieved a major dream, winning the Women’s P.G.A. Championship in Atlanta. Two days later, on a different sort of green, Sebastian kept the family business booming. More

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      Future Tennis Stars Get an Early Start at the Junior Championships

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      The events often feature future stars, like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov. “I couldn’t believe the level of play,” one observer said.At Wimbledon in 2016, Chris Fowler dragged his ESPN broadcasting partner Brad Gilbert to the semifinals of the boys’ Junior Championships. They were treated to a preview of two future stars: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov, who won the tournament.“I couldn’t believe the level of play,” Gilbert recalled.That event looked like a snapshot of things to come. Shapovalov defeated Alex de Minaur in the finals; de Minaur beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarters. All three have since broken into the ATP Top 20, while Tsitsipas reached the Top five.Denis Shapovalov defeated Alex de Minaur in the Boy’s Singles Final at Wimbledon in 2016.Adam Pretty/Getty ImagesYet Gilbert was initially unenthused about watching because it easily could have been a replay of the 2014 Junior Wimbledon finals when Noah Rubin beat Stefan Kozlov before both vanished into the lower rungs of the ATP Tour.The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors is important to the development of many players 18 and under. In 2019, there were over 600 ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors tournaments, with about 8,000 boys and 7,000 girls playing at least one tournament. Its Grand Slam events are held alongside the professional tournaments.At Wimbledon this year, 64 boys and 64 girls will be competing in main draw singles. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, who won the girls’ singles title at the 2020 Australian Open, is still competing as a junior and will be at Wimbledon, as will the most recent Boys’ French Open champion, Luca van Assche.Winning a Junior Slam is obviously a meaningful triumph, but that does not mean it is a barometer of future success. Roger Federer and Andy Murray won Junior Slams, but Rafael Nadal showed that you can go from boy to man while barely playing in the ITF Juniors. Venus and Serena Williams, along with the recent champions Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka, also skipped playing in the Juniors circuit.Earlier this month, Luca van Assche won the Boys French Open. He, too, is competing in the Juniors at Wimbledon.Christophe Ena/Associated Press“A good junior career is a good start, but never a guarantee,” Stan Wawrinka, winner of the 2003 Junior French Open, wrote in an email interview. “I never even dreamed of winning a Grand Slam until I eventually did at the 2014 Australian Open,” his first of three.Jeff McFarland, creator of the Hidden Game of Tennis website, said that Wawrinka was smart to keep his dreams modest. Winning a Junior Slam is less predictive than being a top pick from college football or basketball.“Tennis has such an unstructured development system, so it’s hard to say what these wins might indicate,” McFarland said, adding that the physicality of the modern game makes it difficult to know how players will evolve when their bodies have yet to fully develop. “They may be the cream of the crop in the Juniors, but at the next level everybody is that good.”The Junior Slams have produced more top women than men in the last 15 years: the Grand Slam winners Victoria Azarenka, Simona Halep, Ashleigh Barty, Jelena Ostapenko and Iga Swiatek; the No. 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Karolina Pliskova; and a lengthy list of Top 10 players.The boys’ side peaked from 1998 to 2005, with Federer, Murray, Wawrinka, Andy Roddick, Marin Cilic and the Top 10 players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils. The next eight years produced Dominic Thiem, who won the United States Open last year, but otherwise it was a meager crop, But since 2014, a new generation has emerged: Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz and those stars of that 2016 Wimbledon tournament.McFarland said a successful pro career needed not include a Grand Slam — especially on the men’s side, where Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Wawrinka have won all but four titles since 2004 — or even cracking the Top 10. The Junior Slam winners Leander Paes and Jack Sock foundered on the ATP Tour but won multiple Grand Slams in doubles, while Richard Gasquet, “who the average American fan never heard of, has nearly $20 million in prize money,” McFarland said. “No one would call those careers a failure.”Still, McFarland said that since 1990 only half the male Junior Grand Slam winners even hit the Top 50, while only one-third of Junior Slam finalists reached that high. Girls fare better, with two-thirds of the Junior Slam winners and half of the runners-up breaking into the Top 50. (McFarland said winning multiple Junior Slams, as Azarenka and Roddick have, actually did predict higher pro earnings.)“Honestly, winning a Junior Slam doesn’t give you as much help as you might think,” said Elina Svitolina, the 2010 Junior French Open champion, who had reached No. 3 on the WTA Tour. “That’s only the beginning — you have to work so many hours on and off the court to not have the Junior mentality anymore, because when you start to play the women’s circuit it’s completely different.”Stan Wawrinka beat Brian Baker in 2003 to win the Junior French Open. “A good junior career is a good start, but never a guarantee,” Wawrinka said recently.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWawrinka said he saw more positives.“The pro tour is a completely different level,” Wawrinka said, “but traveling on the Junior tour helps you get used to the travel routine at a young age — the jet lag, different food and being away from home is not always easy for juniors.”Sofia Kenin, a Junior U.S. Open finalist, said having soaked up “the vibe and atmosphere” at the Grand Slams as a junior helped prepare her mentally when she won last year’s Australian Open and reached the finals of the French Open.One issue that McFarland and Gilbert raise about the Juniors as a predictor is that many top young players opt instead for low-level pro tournaments, either because they want the challenge or for economic reasons.“It’s more of a commitment to build your junior ranking — the international travel can cost as much or more than the pro tour,” Gilbert said. Winning the Australian Junior Open, he said, is less predictive than the other three majors perhaps because it requires more travel for American and European players.The result, McFarland said, is that the winners “may not be facing the best talent.” Indeed, of Svitolina’s six opponents en route to her Junior Slam win, only two later broke into the WTA’s Top 150.Gilbert said that ideally the winners of the Junior Slams should be granted a wild card into the main draw of that Grand Slam the next year.“This would give young players the incentive to play in the Junior Slams and bring more talent back,” he said. More

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      It’s Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon. Don’t Roll Your Eyes.

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      The fiery star’s march toward history could force his detractors into an uncomfortable position: giving him his due.At first glance, this year’s Wimbledon, returning after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world’s most famed tennis tournament in 2020, looks to be a diminished affair.No Rafael Nadal. After a bruising defeat to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open, Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a need to heal.No Naomi Osaka. She announced last week that she would continue her hiatus to care for her mental health.Roger Federer will stride again on Centre Court, but he is nearly 40 and still shaking the rust from an injured knee. As time passes, so do the chances that Serena Williams will make another winning run.But Djokovic will be there, fresh from victory at Roland Garros and taking dead aim at the record books. Winning Wimbledon, which begins next Monday, would give him his 20th major title, tying him at long last with Federer and Nadal. It would also keep alive his quest to win four majors in a single year, the Grand Slam, something not achieved on the men’s side in 52 years.He sits now on the precipice of history, which creates a bind for his many stubborn detractors: Ignore and deride his stirring march, or finally give the fiery and efficient Serb his just due.Here’s why the haters, and those simply unmoved by his ascent, should give Djokovic reconsideration.His minimalist approach redefines tennis mastery.In a sport that breathes aesthetics, that lives on the awe-inspiring flow of points and balletic movement of its most outstanding practitioners, Djokovic’s pared-down approach is as divisive as Rothko’s color blocks.More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesFederer has Rembrandt’s flair: all those baroque swings and gracefully artistic approaches. Nadal’s physical, looping groundstrokes recall a heavyweight boxer’s pounding left hooks.But Djokovic’s game has its beauty. No top player has ever been as flexible, as able, on every surface to twist and bend and turn an outright mad-dash defensive sprint into a sudden attack. More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.He is a minimalist, spare and unencumbered by the need for showy flair. Is there an eye-catching aesthetic to that? You bet.He’s not a robot. He’s Houdini.There are too many slashes at Djokovic on the internet to count. They say he’s a machine. A robot. Nothing more than the world’s most expansive squash wall.Hogwash.Yes, he wins … and wins, and wins. Over the last decade, nobody has done more of that in tennis. But there is nothing predictable about how Djokovic goes about it. There are all-out, percussive beat downs — blurs of brilliance that mix power and defense and deftness — as in his straight-sets demolition of Nadal in the final of the 2019 Australian Open.There are also vivid displays of guts, grit and staying power. His recent Roland Garros title was all about that. But remember, too, the six-hour, five-set marathon against Nadal to win the Australian Open in 2012. And, of course, the comeback from two match points down to nip Federer in the epic Wimbledon final of 2019.Don’t forget 2010 and 2011, when Djokovic twice rose from the ashes to knock off Federer in the semifinals at the U.S. Open, beating back two match points in both cases. In 2011, Djokovic not only came back from two sets down, he saved the first match point he faced with a from-the-heels forehand return that rocketed past his rival and stung the line for a clean winner.Federer promptly wilted, losing every remaining game, drooping off as if disgusted by the audaciousness of his opponent.If you think a profound penchant for Houdini-like escapes is boring, well, maybe you’re beyond convincing.Djokovic’s flaws redeem him.Yes, he can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, his coaches, umpires and peers. At his temperamental nadir, the 2020 U.S. Open, he struck a ball in anger that hit a lineswoman, leading to his default from the tournament.At his most heedless, he tried to hold tournaments last year in Serbia and Croatia during one of the worst periods of the pandemic. The exhibitions were canceled after he and other top players came down with the coronavirus.Djokovic has proved himself all too human in the best, worst and most searching ways. He does not hide from it. Despite the myriad clips of him raging on the court or appearing tone deaf off it — as in April when he said he did not think coronavirus vaccinations should be mandatory on the ATP Tour — his journey has always been public facing.His flaws, and the openness with which he reveals his interior life, make him more interesting than his near-perfect, more restrained peers.Yes, Djokovic can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, umpires and his coaches, as he did during the 2018 U.S. Open. Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressWithout him, tennis would be a monotonous duopoly.For years, men’s tennis seemed defined by a single rivalry: Federer versus Nadal. Two great champions, two contrasting styles.Their lasting connection came to define this era of the sport. Then Djokovic barged and bullied his way in. He is the third wheel, different from Federer and Nadal in almost every way, including the fact that he does not hail from well-to-do Switzerland or Spain, but from an Eastern European country many fans cannot find on a map.For his haters, all of this is a bitter pill to swallow, one they must choke down with frequency.Djokovic now holds the upper hand in head-to-head wins over both rivals. Since 2011, he has captured 18 major titles, seven more than Nadal and 14 more than Federer in that span.After winning this year’s Australian Open, a newspaper headline summed up tennis’s uncomfortable truth: Djokovic might be the greatest of them all.If a rested Federer can stir the old grass-court magic, maybe we get the title bout everyone wants: a rematch of the heart-pounding 2019 All England Club final.Novak Djokovic will find himself in a familiar spot, facing a boisterous crowd intent as much on Federer winning as on seeing the Serb crumpled in defeat.Should recent history hold, Djokovic will raise the champion’s trophy again, another rebuke to the holdouts who refuse to embrace one of the most exciting champions in all of sport.Wimbledon diminished? Not quite. More

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      For Novak Djokovic, Two Down and Two, Maybe Three, to Go

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      He has won the Australian and French Opens, but achieving a Grand Slam won’t be easy. He must successfully defend Wimbledon. Then there’s the U.S. Open. And don’t forget about the Olympics.PARIS — With his 19th career Grand Slam singles title in hand, Novak Djokovic is chasing more tennis milestones unreservedly.No complexes. No playing it cool.“I’ve achieved some things that a lot of people thought it would not be possible for me to achieve,” he said Sunday after winning his second French Open.The odds were stacked against him from the start of his journey. His family were ski racers, not tennis players, and lacked the means to finance his career without considerable sacrifice. He grew up in Serbia in a time of conflict, when Serbia was an international pariah and traveling outside the country was a challenge.He still left home — for the first time at age 12 — and found a path to the top of a brutally competitive global sport. Perhaps more remarkably, he has endured at the top.He first reached No. 1 on July 4, 2011. Nearly 10 years later, he is amid another extended reign at No. 1 and to watch him think on his feet (or fly through the air with his elastic limbs) is to observe a form of tennis genius. His game is not as smooth and artful as Roger Federer’s. His point-by-point tenacity is not as obvious as Rafael Nadal’s. But he is the complete package, with no weaknesses other than an intermittently shaky overhead. He has become the sport’s most steely-eyed competitor, and while watching him ward off danger and big deficits, it is easy to forget that he was once considered a player without staying power, prone to midmatch retirements.Now, he is the one in everybody else’s head, and that could be helpful as he pursues, at the same time, the men’s record for Grand Slam singles titles and a so-called Golden Slam.Djokovic with the French Open’s Coupe des Mousquetaires, his second Grand Slam trophy this year.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesAfter winning in Paris, he is just one major singles title behind Federer and Nadal’s 20. But the chase that will generate bigger buzz is Djokovic’s attempt at age 34 to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic singles gold medal in the same calendar year.“He is so amazingly great that it would not surprise me, but it’s a perfect game in progress, so it’s difficult to talk about,” said Brad Gilbert, the coach and ESPN analyst, using a baseball analogy.Steffi Graf is the only player to have completed a Golden Slam. But Djokovic now has a chance to make his own run after winning the Australian Open and the French Open this year.Wimbledon, which starts on June 28 in London, is the next target. The Olympics in Tokyo and the U.S. Open in New York will follow.“Everything is possible,” Djokovic said. “And I did put myself in a good position to go for the Golden Slam, but I was in this position in 2016, as well. It ended up in a third-round loss in Wimbledon.”That defeat was a shock. When Wimbledon began in 2016, Djokovic had won four straight majors, although not in the same calendar year, and had just won the French Open for the first time. But he ran into Sam Querrey in the third round at the All England Club. Querrey, a tall and big-serving American who thrives on grass, upset him in a match that lasted two days because of rain delays.“If Novak is not the best returner of all time, he’s on the very, very short list,” said Craig Boynton, Querrey’s coach at the time, in an interview on Monday. “But from the start of that match, he just couldn’t read Sam’s serve, and Sam was hitting line after line.”Querrey won the first set in a tiebreaker and then rolled through the second set before play was suspended because of darkness. As this year’s French Open proved once more, Djokovic is adept at using off-court breaks to change the flow of a match. Against Querrey, he did the same, returning after a night’s sleep to win the third set but then failed to serve out the fourth. Querrey rallied to finish him off. Djokovic then went into a tailspin from which he did not emerge until the spring of 2018.Djokovic after he defeated Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2019.Nic Bothma/EPA, via ShutterstockTennis remains a game of momentum. If Djokovic defended his 2019 title at Wimbledon — last year’s tournament was canceled — and lost at the Olympics, he would still have a chance at the Grand Slam heading into the U.S. Open. Only two men have achieved a Grand Slam in singles: Don Budge of the United States in 1938 and Rod Laver of Australia in 1962 and 1969.No man has come close since then, although Serena Williams came within two matches of achieving it in 2015 before being upset in the semifinals of the U.S. Open by Roberta Vinci.“It gets more and more interesting as it builds,” Boynton said of a Grand Slam. “You saw what happened with Serena. She’s human. We’re all human, and so is Novak. I would think he would be able to handle it, but you just never know. You never know what stumbling block is right around the corner. Novak is making it look easy right now, but I’m telling you, it’s just not that easy.”Djokovic actually has not made it look easy over the last two months. He lost early in Monte Carlo and at the first of two tournaments in Belgrade, then fought his way through two tough matches before losing to Nadal in the final of the Italian Open. After winning the second tournament in Belgrade against a low-grade field, he came to Paris feeling better about his game but still had to overcome two-set deficits twice at Roland Garros and also had to play one of the matches of his life to defeat Nadal in a four-set semifinal.Djokovic played a match of his life against Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinal.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThere was also the extended scream he let rip after his quarterfinal victory over Matteo Berrettini that spoke volumes about the state of his inner peace. But Djokovic can change his mood as quickly as he changes directions on a tennis court. He has learned how to turn a negative into a positive, imagining that when fans chant Federer’s or some other opponents’ name they are actually cheering “Novak.”On Sunday, in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic had pockets of support but the majority of the 5,000 fans were pulling for the newcomer. Djokovic still prevailed, draining some of the suspense from his comeback from two sets down by going up a break early in all three of the final sets.Djokovic gave a child who had cheered and coached him a hug and his racket after the final at Roland Garros.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesWhen it was over, he went to the side of the court and spoke with a boy in the front row, embracing him and giving him the racket he had used to close out the victory. “He was in my ear the entire match basically, especially when I was two sets to love down,” Djokovic explained when I asked him about it. “He was actually giving me tactics, as well. He was like, ‘Hold your serve, get an easy first ball, then dictate, go to his backhand.’ He was coaching me literally. I found that very cute, very nice.”Leave it to Djokovic, an expert at blocking out the static and focusing on the essential, to hear one of the few voices in a big crowd wishing him well.That skill could come in handy as he chases history. More

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      Naomi Osaka Skips News Conference, Drawing Tennis Officials’ Ire

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      The heads of the Grand Slam events warned Osaka of escalating penalties, including default, if she continued to not “do press,” as she vowed she would not last week.PARIS — Naomi Osaka’s return to the French Open was triumphant as she won her first-round match over Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday in straight sets. But Osaka did not emerge unscathed from the tournament’s opening day.She was fined $15,000 by Rémy Azémar, the French Open tournament referee, for declining to appear at a mandatory postmatch news conference and warned that she risked stronger penalties, including default from the tournament, if she continued not to fulfill her media obligations.That surprisingly stern warning was delivered in a statement signed by the leaders of the four Grand Slam tournaments: Gilles Moretton, the new president of the French Tennis Federation; Mike McNulty, the new head of the United States Tennis Association; Jayne Hrdlicka, the head of Tennis Australia; and Ian Hewitt, chairman of the All England Club, which runs Wimbledon.The Grand Slam events’ leaders also emphasized that repeat violations by Osaka could lead to “more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions.”Osaka, a four-time major singles champion who is one of the sport’s biggest stars, is now faced with a choice. Before the French Open began, she announced that she would not do “any press” during the tournament, citing the need to preserve her “mental health” by avoiding repetitive and potentially negative questions from journalists.But if the intent was to limit distractions and find inner calm, she now faces a potentially bigger concern in Paris if she continues to abstain from news conferences.“It’s developed into a power struggle,” said Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion who is covering the French Open as an analyst for Eurosport. “Press conferences are crucial to Grand Slams to get the players’ perspective of their match, and it’s a collective responsibility for players to continue to grow the sport. I think we’ve lost sight of the early days, the ’70s, when there was no women’s tour, and that generation talked endlessly to the press to promote the sport and themselves. The players today are making a tremendous amount of money, and there are trade-offs.”The Grand Slam leaders expressed frustration with Osaka’s lack of engagement with tennis officials, explaining in their statement that the French Open management team had “tried unsuccessfully to speak with her to check on her well-being, understand the specifics of her issue and what might be done to address it on site.”The Grand Slam leaders said they had written jointly to Osaka to remind her of her obligations and of the consequences she faced for not complying with the rules. The leaders also emphasized the importance of equal treatment.“We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs or achievement,” the statement said. “As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honour their commitments.”Leading players such as Andre Agassi, Novak Djokovic and Venus and Serena Williams have skipped news conferences after defeats and been fined. But this is the first instance of a top player making it clear in advance that she did not intend to speak with the news media during a Grand Slam tournament.Osaka, who is based in the United States and represents Japan, is the world’s highest-paid female athlete, with the bulk of her earnings coming from sponsorships. She has raised her profile not simply by winning major titles but by advocating social justice; she wore masks that honored Black victims of violence, including police violence, after matches at last year’s United States Open.Fabrice Santoro, an on-court interviewer at the French Open, asked to talk to Osaka after she won her first-round match on Sunday.Julian Finney/Getty Images“Naomi certainly makes us think and examine the status quo,” Evert said on Sunday. “I respect Naomi and what she’s done for social issues and for the game but everyone needs to communicate and come up with a solution.”Tennis leaders followed Osaka’s lead last August when she withdrew from the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open to protest racial injustice, tournament organizers called off all play that day in a show of solidarity. She played her semifinal, but there is clearly less consensus this time, suggesting that Osaka may have misread the room. The Grand Slam tournaments even brandished the possibility of a “major offense” investigation if she continued to break the rules, which could lead to further fines or suspension from future Grand Slam tournaments. The grounds for such sanctions would be the rule that defines a major offense as “a series of two or more” violations of the code of conduct within a 12-month period, which “when viewed together establish a pattern of conduct that is collectively egregious and is detrimental or injurious to the Grand Slam tournaments.”Repeatedly skipping news conferences could be considered a pattern of conduct. Evert said tennis leaders and Osaka should meet and work through the issues before “this blows up anymore.”Osaka has had, in general, a positive relationship with the news media. But in her announcement on social media ahead of the French Open, she said, “I have often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health, and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one.” She focused in particular on players being required to speak after defeats.Osaka, whose decision caught some members of her own support team by surprise, did not say whether she was experiencing a specific mental-health issue, but she made it clear in her social media posts that she felt strongly about taking a stand. “If the organizations think that they can just keep saying, ‘do press or you’re gonna be fined’ and continue to ignore the mental health of the athletes that are the centerpiece of their cooperation then I just gotta laugh.”The Grand Slam leadership said on Sunday that players’ mental health was “of the utmost importance to the Grand Slams.”“We individually and collectively have significant resources dedicated to player well-being,” the statement said. “In order to continue to improve, however, we need engagement from the players to understand their perspective and find ways to improve their experiences.No leading player has yet expressed publicly a desire to follow Osaka’s lead by skipping news conferences. The main draws of the previous generation — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Serena Williams — have regularly answered questions after each match despite becoming global stars.There is concern among tennis leaders that Osaka could set a precedent at a time when social media has given stars a broad platform to reach the public directly. But the Grand Slam leaders emphasized that the news media still played an important role.“A core element of the Grand Slam regulations is the responsibility of the players to engage with the media, whatever the result of their match, a responsibility which players take for the benefit of the sport, the fans and for themselves,” their statement said. “These interactions allow both the players and the media to share their perspective and for the players to tell their story. The facilitation of media to a broad array of channels, both traditional and digital, is a major contributor to the development and growth of our sport and the fan base of individual players.”Osaka’s next match is on Wednesday against Ana Bogdan of Romania.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesOsaka was not silent after her 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Tig on the main Philippe Chatrier Court on Sunday. She answered three questions from the on-court interviewer, Fabrice Santoro, after the match and a few more queries on her way off the court from Wowow, the Japanese broadcaster with whom she is under contract.But she declined all other television requests and skipped the news conference. After earning more than $55 million in the last year, she can afford the $15,000 fine and other fines that might come her way. The bigger question is whether she wants to risk jeopardizing her participation in the French Open. She has struggled on clay and never advanced past the third round in Paris, but the tournament remains one of the pillars of the sport.The next chance to escalate or defuse the tension comes in the second round on Wednesday against Ana Bogdan of Romania. More

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      Australian Open Offered Unexpected Lessons About Pandemic Sports

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenOsaka Wins TitleMen’s Final PreviewDjokovic’s RideWilliams’s Future?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAustralian Open Offered Unexpected Lessons About Pandemic SportsThe goal was to hold a major international sports event without putting public health at risk. Mission accomplished, but pulling it off presented major, unforeseen challenges and many sleepless nights.Naomi Osaka won the women’s singles final, claiming her fourth Grand Slam championship.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesFeb. 22, 2021Updated 8:06 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — The leaders of the Australian Open wanted their intricate safety strategy to teach the sports world important lessons for the coronavirus pandemic: How to hold a major event with big crowds without worsening the dangers to public health.It pulled off its event — a collection of tennis tournaments played over three weeks in a major city of a country that has sacrificed much to minimize infections and deaths. But as the virus inevitably made its presence felt both directly and indirectly, the Australian Open experienced unforeseen headaches and complications that became warnings for the next group that tries to pull off a major international sporting event (hello, Tokyo Olympics).Surprise setbacks are inevitable, and don’t expect to make many friends.As the Australian Open closed Sunday night with Novak Djokovic winning his ninth men’s singles title here, it was clear that the difficulties could last for months or perhaps even years.Craig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, said local organizers of the Tokyo Games reached out to him for advice about staging the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin in July. “I just told them, ‘Good luck,’” he said.Tennis Australia officials regularly briefed reporters on coronavirus protocols.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesProblems started even before participants traveled internationally, as tournament organizers had to scramble to make sure they could get to Australia following late cancellations of charter flights. Once the players were in Australia, strict quarantine restrictions got even tighter for roughly 25 percent of the athletes for two weeks. Then there was an unexpected day of isolation and emergency testing just before the start of the marquee event. And a statewide lockdown, prompted by infections that were not related to the tournament, banished fans from Melbourne Park for five days, a move that cost organizers dearly in ticket revenue.Amid the changing dynamics, those involved with the tournament had the persistent worry that if even a few players tested positive the event would have to shut down. That was the ante backing the deal organizers made with government officials to stage the tournament without endangering the public, a prospect that meant strict protecting against a reintroduction of the virus to the Melbourne region, which had emerged from a 111-day lockdown last year and was living life much as it had before the pandemic.Jessica Pegula, who made the women’s singles quarterfinals and whose family owns the Buffalo Bills of the N.F.L. and the Buffalo Sabres of the N.H.L., said the challenge and complexity for those organizing and competing in worldwide events is far more complicated than for domestic leagues and the N.H.L., which has teams in Canada and the United States.Jessica Pegula during her quarterfinal match against Jennifer Brady.Credit…Daniel Pockett/Getty Images“It’s so tough with an international sport having to travel,” Pegula said. “Do all the logistics of going to another bubble, figuring out I got to get tested three days before, I got to get my results, make sure I get tested when I land.”Organizers were somewhat ready to deal with some developments, like a shift to empty stadiums in the middle of the tournament. But other difficulties they were not prepared for at all.“It’s been relentless,” a sleep-deprived Tiley said of the daily problems as he watched the women’s semifinals last week in a bunker beneath Rod Laver Arena. “A roller coaster from the start.”Government officials imposed a hard lockdown for 72 players who were aboard charter flights that carried 10 passengers who tested positive after arriving in Australia. The new restrictions meant those athletes, even if they continually tested negative for the virus, could not leave their hotel rooms at all for 14 days before the first tuneup tournaments before the Open. Some of those rooms had windows that could not be opened, which became a magnified irritation when some of the players were not allowed to leave for any reason.Organizers had also set aside 11 exercise bicycles in case some players were isolated, but after getting more bikes for the players who couldn’t leave their rooms, they got similar requests from the rest of the field since their training was limited to two hours on the court and 90 minutes in the gym each day. So, Tiley needed several hundred bicycles, plus yoga mats, kettlebells and medicine balls.Only one player tested positive, Paula Badosa of Spain, and organizers could not do much for her beyond transfer her to a medical hotel and keep her there for 10 days with no exercise equipment.Once the quarantines ended and the warm-up tournaments began, a security worker in the main hotel for players tested positive. Health officials ordered more than 500 people who were staying there, including many players, to be tested and remain in their rooms for the day. The start of the Australian Open was five days away, and no one knew what another positive result might prompt. Fortunately there were none.But five days into the championship, a small outbreak in the Melbourne region caused health officials to send the entire state of Victoria into a five-day snap lockdown. They allowed the tournament to continue, but without crowds.Tiley said that cost Tennis Australia as much as $25 million in ticket revenue, money that it desperately needed because crowds were already limited to 50 percent of capacity and the tournament has so many extra expenses this year.Each day without crowds, more tarps with the Australian Open logo appeared on the seats in Rod Laver Arena. Workers installed them as soon as manufacturers could deliver them to make the tournament look better on television.An empty Rod Laver Arena on Day 6 of the tournament following a hard lockdown of Victoria to curb a coronavirus outbreak.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesThen came the injuries to several top players, especially on the men’s side — Djokovic and Alexander Zverev played their quarterfinal match with tape on their abdomens. Grigor Dimitrov’s back seized during his quarterfinal. Matteo Berrettini of Italy, the No. 9 seed, could not take the court for his fourth round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. Some players blamed injuries on the quarantine and limited training.“I want to understand what continuation of the season post-Australia is going to look like, because this is definitely not good for the players in terms of their well-being,” Djokovic said.The problem is that what is good for athletes, who thrive on routine and training and normalcy, may not be good for anyone else, and finding a balance that will satisfy everyone will be a major challenge until Covid -19 in no longer the menace it has become.An organization with a seemingly airtight plan to keep everyone safe had to scramble to make it to the finish line. Tiley said it was worth it, because no one can say with certainty that all will be well a year from now. The challenges and the need to adjust on the fly will be with everyone in sports for a while yet.“You can either choose to play and go through whatever you have to go through, or you stay home and practice and that’s it,” Dimitrov said in a philosophical moment. “We all know what is going on in the world, we all know what is going on in every single country. It’s tough. It’s very uncomfortable. It makes life difficult for so many, not only for us as athletes but people around the world.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Medvedev’s Australian Open Loss Shows the Men’s Tennis Gulf Is Still Strong

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenOsaka Wins TitleMen’s Final PreviewDjokovic’s RideWilliams’s Future?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMedvedev’s Australian Open Loss Shows the Men’s Tennis Gulf Is Still StrongThe players at the top, starting with Novak Djokovic, have yet to be significantly challenged by the new generation.Daniil Medvedev, right, watches as Novak Djokovic accepts an 18th Grand Slam singles trophy, his ninth at the Australian Open.Credit…Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesFeb. 21, 2021, 10:56 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — With a lone tear streaking his right cheek, Daniil Medvedev accepted the runner-up trophy after the Australian Open men’s final on Sunday night. He stepped to the microphone and told an engaging story about nervously hitting with Novak Djokovic for the first time as a young player, when Djokovic was the men’s world No. 1 and Medvedev was on his way to a year-ending ranking of No. 655.It wasn’t a stretch for the Rod Laver Arena audience of roughly 7,000 to visualize the picture that Medvedev, 25, was painting of an overmatched skinny player being schooled by the multiple major winner. What Medvedev was describing sounded strikingly similar to what the fans had just witnessed in Djokovic’s 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory against Medvedev in their first meeting in a Grand Slam final.Medvedev, who will ascend to a career-high No. 3 in the new rankings, looked less like a player riding a 20-matching winning streak — snapped by Djokovic — than an outclassed hitting partner. Djokovic returned serves that had gone for aces in Medvedev’s previous matches and he hurried and harried Medvedev into 30 unforced errors against 24 winners, only three of which came off his backhand, which Medvedev usually wields like a hammer to nail points.Djokovic’s elastic arms, which allowed him to stretch for serves that others would just watch fall for aces, increasingly unnerved Medvedev, who had averaged 3.7 aces a set in his first six matches. Against Djokovic, he produced six total. Medvedev’s opening service game set the tone for the match; he put all of his first serves in play and was broken.“It’s the kind of match I won throughout this tournament that he won today,” said Medvedev, who closed out his opponents in straight sets in five of the first six rounds. “Probably he made his game that good today that I couldn’t stay at my best level.”Medvedev had 30 unforced errors against Djokovic.Credit…Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty ImagesMedvedev lost to Rafael Nadal, who is tied with Roger Federer for the career record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles, in five sets in the U.S. Open final in 2019. And now he has become Djokovic’s latest victim in his run of 18 Grand Slam singles titles — including nine at Melbourne Park.At Medvedev’s age, Djokovic had six Grand Slam singles titles and had lost in the finals of two others, to Nadal and Federer. He had reached No. 1.How deep can the sport be if the only player other than the Big Three in men’s tennis — made up of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal — to hold the No. 2 spot since the summer of 2005 is the 33-year-old Andy Murray?“Of course when you’re out there, you want to beat them,” Medvedev said. “You don’t care that it’s the Big Three or the Big 100. But that’s why they have so many Slams. They’re just really good.”He added: “I’m not shy to say this. It’s just the truth.”Djokovic, 33, described the next generation as “hungry.” It is led by Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, 27, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, 22, who defeated Nadal in the quarterfinals. But only Thiem, the reigning U.S. Open champion who has graced three other major finals, has broken through in the biggest events, and his U.S. Open title came in a tournament that Nadal and Federer did not enter and that Djokovic exited through a disqualification rather than a defeat. What is keeping this generation from feeding its appetite at the Grand Slam banquet?“They have definitely the quality to reach the heights of major tournament trophies,” Djokovic said.He added: “But Roger, Rafa, myself are still there for a reason. We don’t want to hand it to them, and we don’t want to allow them to win Slams. I think that’s something that is very clear. Whether you communicate that message or not, we are definitely sending that vibe out there.”Medvedev’s body language grew increasingly negative as the 1-hour, 53-minute final wore on. He muttered to himself. He looked imploringly at his coach. He smashed a racket. He hurried shots and points. By the third set, Djokovic was everywhere on the court and inside Medvedev’s head.“Next time if I play Novak here in the final, I for sure am going to do some things on the court, maybe off the court also, differently, because at least I would have this experience,” Medvedev said, adding, “So I’ll try to do something better. Doesn’t mean that I will succeed, but that’s the life of a tennis player.”The life in the sport that Medvedev has carved out for himself seemed more distant than a speck on the Mediterranean Sea horizon the day he was introduced to Djokovic in Monaco and began hitting with him.Djokovic arrived late for their first session. And that, Medvedev said, remains the worst thing he can say about him.“He was super nice to me,” Medvedev said. “I was really shy. I was just playing some balls, trying not to miss, for sure really stressed.”From then to now, tennis seems, much like the flat-footed Medvedev on Sunday, several steps behind the players on top.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Novak Djokovic Wins Australian Open Final Over Daniil Medvedev

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenOsaka Wins TitleMen’s Final PreviewDjokovic’s RideWilliams’s Future?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyNovak Djokovic Wins Third Straight Australian Open TitleThe victory for the top-ranked Djokovic, in three sets over the fourth-ranked Daniil Medvedev of Russia, gave him his 18th career Grand Slam title.Novak Djokovic of Serbia after his victory in the Australian Open men’s singles final against Daniil Medvedev of Russia.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2021Updated 9:26 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — They come nearly every year now, this new crop of challengers in men’s tennis who so desperately want to begin their time in the sun, to win the championships that everyone in the game values most and beat the three players considered the best to ever play on the biggest stage.And each year, they fall short, making the task seem even more impossible.This is how it went Sunday night at Melbourne Park, where Novak Djokovic did what he always does. Djokovic, the veteran from Serbia ranked No. 1 in the world, both defeated and discouraged the fourth-ranked Daniil Medvedev of Russia, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, in the Australian Open men’s singles final.The victory gave Djokovic his ninth Australian Open singles championship, a tournament record on the men’s side, and the 18th Grand Slam title of his career. Djokovic has made nine Australian Open finals and won each time, including in the last three years.With this Grand Slam championship, Djokovic is now just two behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the race to achieve the most major men’s singles titles in a career. Djokovic, 33, is a year younger than Nadal and six years younger than Federer, who will soon begin his comeback from two surgeries on his right knee, though it remains to be seen whether he will be a championship contender or embarking on a farewell tour.Grand Slam titles are the first measuring stick in any discussion of who is the greatest player of the modern and professional era of tennis, also known as the Open era, which began in 1968.The Big Three of men’s tennis, as they are known, have 58 now. Players under 30 years old have just one. The younger ones, like Medvedev, 25, who moments after the loss called Djokovic and his cohorts “cyborgs of tennis,” are all too familiar with the math.“When they are in the zone they are just better tennis players,” Medvedev said.Djokovic was in the zone Sunday night, playing what his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, called “a masterpiece.”It was a victory Djokovic needed badly, Ivanisevic said, after he was disqualified from the United States Open in September for swatting a ball that hit a line judge, and the drubbing Nadal gave him in the French Open final in October.“I have to agree with my coach,” Djokovic said of Ivanisevic’s assessment of the past few months. “I wanted to start this year in the best possible fashion.”His prospects did not look promising.Shortly after arriving in Australia, Djokovic became a public enemy when he requested special treatment for 72 players put on 14-day hard quarantines because 10 people on three chartered flights those players took to Australia tested positive for coronavirus upon arrival.Then came an injured abdominal muscle — doctors, he said, have told him it is torn — that nearly forced Djokovic out of the tournament. Yet he survived a five set test in the third round and a four-set challenge with two tiebreakers in the quarterfinals.He managed the abdominal injury better than he expected, then vanquished the hottest player in tennis. Medvedev had a 20-match winning streak heading into Sunday night.Attempting to place a little more pressure on his challenger, Djokovic called Medvedev “the man to beat” in the tournament. In reality though, few doubted Djokovic’s edge. He entered the match as the two-time reigning champion and with a well-earned aura of invincibility at Rod Laver Arena in the late rounds.Djokovic’s 18 Grand Slam singles titles place him two behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s career record in men’s tennis. Djokovic is the youngest of the three.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesRod Laver Arena sits a few hundred yards from the Yarra River, and just a few miles from Port Phillip Bay. When evening comes and the lights turn on, gulls flock to the rafters and squawk through the night. With Djokovic playing so many of his matches at night here, it becomes difficult not to imagine those birds as his personal vultures, bearing witness as he slays his latest victim.The reasons for Djokovic’s dominance here are both physical and psychological. The final always takes place at night. Those night matches that the birds come for, along with legions of Serbs who scream the “Olé, olé, olé, olé,” chant when their favorite son most needs it, are often played in cooler temperatures than those that take place during the warm, dry days of the Australian summer. Heat has always tended to melt Djokovic. A cool evening, like the one on which he met Medvedev, is his favorite playing partner.Also, players say the shift in the weather completely changes the conditions of the court. Balls stop popping off the ground, keeping so many of Djokovic’s hard, flat groundstrokes below his opponent’s knees and out of their strike zones. What looks like a simple backhand is anything but, especially when the player hitting the original shot has never lost the ultimate match here, and too often the opponent’s counter ends up wide, long or in the middle of the net.Medvedev made 67 errors, 30 of them unforced, though against Djokovic the difference between a forced error and an unforced one is negligible. Djokovic served just three aces, but he won 73 percent of the points on his first serve and 58 percent on his second serve, numbers that usually translate to a dominant night.Djokovic won seven of 11 break points and 16 of the 18 points when he came to the net. He outsmarted a player considered to be among the smartest and most creative in the game by keeping Medvedev guessing and setting the kinds of traps Medvedev has been known to lay for his opponents, hitting three shots to set up the winner on the fourth.Neither Djokovic, Federer nor Nadal have been beaten in a final to a player currently younger than 30.Dominic Thiem of Austria came close, outplaying Djokovic for long stretches in last year’s Australian Open final before Djokovic prevailed in five sets. That match appeared to hint at a shrinking gap between the veterans and the young players trying to nip at their heels.But as Djokovic lifted the trophy once more in Melbourne, he made it clear that he had no intention of giving up ownership of the crown he claims as his own and the court he calls his second backyard anytime soon.Djokovic said it was a matter of time before Medvedev and his peers started winning Grand Slams, but at the moment he is in a race against history and his two biggest rivals. It drives him, and there is no thought of slowing down.“I don’t feel like I am older or tired or anything like that,” he said.Daniil Medvedev broke his racket in frustration during the second set.Credit…Brandon Malone/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesNor does he look it.Before Sunday’s match, Lleyton Hewitt, a former world No. 1 and a two-time Grand Slam champion in the 2000s, said Medvedev was going to need to create a moment to make himself believe that he could beat Djokovic on this night, on this court, like when Hewitt won the first-set tiebreaker against Pete Sampras in his first triumph at a Grand Slam final.The first test came early for Medvedev, after Djokovic broke him in his first service game and cruised to a 3-0 lead. But a game later, Medvedev outclassed Djokovic on a 28-shot rally that had both players sliding from sideline to sideline to get his first chance to break Djokovic’s serve. Minutes later it was 3-3. Game on.Five games later the set appeared headed for a tiebreaker, but the moment of truth for Medvedev arrived sooner. Serving at 5-6 and down a point, he sent a forehand wide with Djokovic pushing to the net, and caught a bad break as what could have been the winning shot on the next point ticked the top of the net cord and gave Djokovic a sitter for an easy passing shot.Just like that, triple set point. Big serves saved the first two, but then Medvedev sent a forehand into the net. The big hill that no one in Medvedev’s generation has been able to summit suddenly seemed that much higher.After prevailing in that first set, Djokovic shifted from a steady run into a sprint. He broke Medvedev three times in the second set and had him breaking one racket, swatting the ground with its replacement and shrugging his shoulders at his coach, as if to say there was nothing he could do.“Even if I would have done better, it doesn’t mean that the score would be different,” he said.On match point, Djokovic rose for a lob, stretched and whipped one last winner past Medvedev. He collapsed in celebration on the court then rose quickly, pumping his arms at his box and the crowd. By March, he will have spent more weeks holding the No. 1 ranking than any other man. The reign goes on, for Djokovic and for the Big Three.“Roger and Rafa inspire me,” Djokovic said as he sat next to the winner’s trophy. “That is something I have said before. I will say it again. I think as long as they go, I’ll go.”And then he just might go some more.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More