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      Trust Me, Sports Without Fans Is Not Sports

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownFifth seed Stefanos Tsipsipas celebrated facing a cheering crowd after winning his second round match.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesTrust Me, Sports Without Fans Is Not SportsFor five days the Australian Open had cozy stadiums half-filled with fervent fans, and sports once again felt normal. Then a snap lockdown quieted the stands.Fifth seed Stefanos Tsipsipas celebrated facing a cheering crowd after winning his second round match.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesSupported byContinue reading the main storyFeb. 14, 2021Updated 6:05 a.m. ETRemember what sports was like with crowds? Listen.Recorded as Nick Kyrgios took on Dominic Thiem in Melbourne on Friday night.MELBOURNE, Australia — For roughly the past two decades, the analytics crowd has peddled the idea that sports is essentially math, that what unfolds on the field of play is predictable and intelligible if viewed through a proper algorithm. Occasionally that crowd has even been right. And in many ways the pandemic sports environment was an analytics aficionado’s dream, a chance for games to unfold in a laboratory, free of the noise, both literal and figurative, that can turn an expected outcome into a beautiful mess.Now, nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, we really do know the roar of the crowd is as vital to sports as a ball or a net. The artificial crowd noise that Major League Baseball, the N.F.L., the N.B.A. and the N.H.L. have piped in, both for those in the stadiums and arenas and for people watching at home, is a terrible facsimile that makes the spectator-free games feel nothing like sports at all. What stage actors refer to as the “fourth wall” — the metaphorical barrier between performers and spectators — doesn’t exist in sports. A crowd’s passion can seemingly help power comebacks. Its scorn can smother one, too. For five glorious days at the 2021 Australian Open, I got to experience that noise again, because government officials allowed up to 30,000 fans, about 50 percent capacity, to attend the tournament each day. It was both a joy and a revelation to rediscover the power of what quantum physicists call the “observer effect” — the fact that any observation, however passive, alters an outcome — even in a half-capacity crowd of tennis fans. Sports felt like Sports once more.Nick Kyrgios and Dominic Thiem in one of the last matches with a crowd before the tournament closed to the public.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesFans left the Australian Open on Friday after it was announced that the tournament would proceed without spectators for the next five days.Credit…Jaimi Joy/ReutersThen on Friday, the coronavirus did what it has done so relentlessly for the past 11 months: It shut down the party. A recent outbreak was what much of the world would consider a nuisance. But in Australia, which has managed the pandemic more effectively than any other major economy, it qualified as a critical mass.The cluster of coronavirus cases grew to more than a dozen, and the state government of Victoria, where Melbourne is, declared a “snap lockdown” of five days, beginning at midnight Friday.Everyone, except those deemed essential workers, must stay home, though two hours of outdoor exercise and one hour to go to the grocery store or pharmacy are permitted. Players and people considered essential in running the Australian Open will be allowed at Melbourne Park. Spectators, sadly, must stay away until perhaps the singles semifinals, scheduled to start Thursday.“The players will compete in a bubble not dissimilar to what they have done throughout the year,” said Craig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, which organizes the tournament.No one is happy about it.Fans watched Serena Williams during a practice session at Melbourne Park ahead of her second-round win.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York Times“It’s been really fun to have the crowd back, especially here,” Serena Williams said after she beat Anastasia Potapova in straight sets in the third round Friday. “But, you know what, at the end of the day we have to do what’s best. Hopefully it will be all right.”I am here to tell you it won’t be. After what I witnessed during the first five days, it’s going to be terrible, without the essential dynamics that make sports the ultimate in improvisational theater.Nick Kyrgios, the tennis antihero everywhere except Australia, where he is beloved, rode the fans to a miracle Wednesday night. He saved two match points in the fourth set against Ugo Humbert, the rising 22-year-old Frenchman. Then he edged Humbert in the fifth set in front of an explosive crowd that never gave up on its hometown hero.Kyrgios is the rare tennis player who brings in rugby fans. They screamed their heads off to keep Kyrgios alive and Humbert, the No. 29 seed, on edge until the very last point.“Half-packed and it felt like it was a full stadium,” Kyrgios said. “I got goose bumps toward the end.”Humbert lost those two match points, even though he was serving. He heard the fireworks from the seats a few feet away. As he watched Kyrgios both encourage it and soak it all in, his eyes appeared to fill with fear. There was another set to play, but the crowd was not going to let Humbert get out alive.Fans cheer on Nick Kyrgios of Australia.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesKyrgios has attracted a raucous fan group at the Australian Open.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesIt is not a stretch to say that Humbert wins that match easily on a quiet court.Kyrgios and his crew were back at it Friday night, when he took on Dominic Thiem of Austria, the reigning United States Open champion. The roars started as Kyrgios broke Thiem in the first game. As the crowd bellowed, Kyrgios waved his arms and cupped his ear, signaling to his fans that if he had any chance against the machine-like No. 3 seed, they were it.And so began three-plus hours of interactive drama, with all the seat-banging, taunting and fist-pumping needed for someone who has barely played in a year to stay competitive with one of the best players on the planet. As the match stretched into the fifth set and past 10:30 p.m., a strange clock watching began, because fans were supposed to be home and observing lockdown by midnight.In the end it wasn’t enough, as Thiem prevailed in five sets, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, but it’s hard to believe it would have been close without it. “It’s not the same sport without the crowd,” Kyrgios said.So, here is one big reveal of the past week: All those star athletes who have always insisted they are so locked in that they do not hear the crowd? Well, it seems pretty clear they have been lying.Spectators watched the evening matches outdoors on the big screen at Melbourne Park on the fifth day of the Australian Open.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesHere was Novak Djokovic, who has won this championship eight times. He has described Rod Laver Arena as his backyard. He was getting ready to play a game the other day, when a clump of women with a Serbian flag stood up and serenaded him with the “Ole-Ole” tune, culminating with, “Novak Djokovic is hot, hot, hot!”Djokovic gave up on trying to play cool. He stepped back from the court, started giggling, then shook his head to regain his focus.Here was Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, trying to serve out the third set for what would have likely been the biggest win of her career, an upset of Simona Halep, the No. 2 seed. She was in front of a hometown crowd that carried her all night but couldn’t will her to victory.“I felt that rush of people just cheering for you,” Tomljanovich said, her voice breaking following the loss. “I’m afraid to say it, but it could be the highlight of the year with the atmosphere and the crowd.”She is not the only one. I do not know what I am dreading more about the end of this assignment — the last freezing month of a winter in the Northeast, or the largely empty version of sports that the pandemic has wrought.It’s something, yes, but it is not sports.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      An American Made Week 2 at the Australian Open. He Avoided Djokovic and Nadal.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAn American Made Week 2 at the Australian Open. He Avoided Djokovic and Nadal.The next generation of American men are still searching for a big win on a Grand Slam stage against the best players.Mackenzie McDonald was the only American man to make it to the fourth round of the Australian Open.Credit…Andy Brownbill/Associated PressFeb. 14, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — American men had an awfully good start at the Australian Open. They won seven of 10 matches, placing the most male players from the United States in the second round of the tournament since 2017.Then things got real in a hurry.Only Mackenzie McDonald, 25, a former N.C.A.A. champion out of U.C.L.A. who is battling his way back from hamstring tendon surgery, and Taylor Fritz, a big-serving Californian who is 23 and still evolving, survived to Round 3. By late Saturday afternoon, only McDonald remained.The names of the two men responsible for a lot of the American carnage are familiar: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. In the span of roughly 55 hours from Wednesday afternoon through Friday night, Djokovic and Nadal dispatched Francis Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh and Fritz.Those wins continued what has become more than a decade of mostly frustrating efforts for American men going up against the game’s so-called Big Three — Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer — especially in the Grand Slam tournaments.According to Greg Sharko of the ATP, the master of match records for men’s tennis, the last American to beat Djokovic at a Grand Slam event was Sam Querrey, who bested him in the third round of Wimbledon in 2016. Since then, Djokovic has won 16 straight matches against American men at all tournaments.Nadal’s win over Mmoh was his 10th straight over an American. The last American to beat Nadal was John Isner, the 6-foot-10 serving machine, at the 2017 Laver Cup. Earlier that year, Querrey beat Nadal at a tournament in Acapulco, Mexico. At the time, Nadal had won 16 consecutive matches over Americans, dating to the summer of 2011.Federer has not lost to an American in a Grand Slam tournament in the past 15 years. Andre Agassi beat Federer at the 2001 United States Open, when Federer was 20.There is, of course, little shame in struggling against Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, who skipped the Australian Open to recover from knee surgery. They are the best of the game’s modern era, the winners of 57 Grand Slam singles championships. For years, they mostly lost to one another in the biggest events.But the failure of an American man to register the kind of signature win that can imbue a fledgling career with invaluable confidence is emblematic of the larger struggle. A country that once dominated the sport has struggled for years to find a successor to Andy Roddick, the last American man to win a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2003 U.S. Open, even as American women continue to thrive.Isner, 35, is the lone American in the top 30. In the 1990s, just as tennis was becoming a truly global sport, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier were mainstays of the top 10. Canada, which is about one-tenth of the size of the United States, has three men in the top 20. Also, the Australian Open takes place on a hardcourt, the surface that most Americans grow up playing on.“I think I’m more than capable, but it’s a matter of not what I do against Novak but what do you do every day,” Tiafoe, 23, said after he had lost his hard-fought four-set, three-and-a-half-hour battle with Djokovic. “Those matches, losing matches, I don’t think I should.”Fritz came a step closer to beating Djokovic on Friday night, pushing him to five sets as Djokovic struggled through an injury he described as a torn muscle on the right side of his midsection. Fritz appeared to have Djokovic beaten early in the fifth set but fell short as Djokovic began pounding serves and ripping forehands into the corners, as he had early on in the match.An hour after it ended, Fritz remained distraught over too many missed first serves and errors off his forehand. He had taken Djokovic to a tiebreaker in the first set and had then lost seven of the next eight points.“It’s very motivating that we’re so close, but at the same time, we are so far,” Fritz said. “These guys are so good.”And so it was that McDonald, perhaps the most unlikely of all of his countrymen, became the last hope to put an American into the second week of the year’s first Grand Slam. McDonald showed promise three years ago when, not long after leaving U.C.L.A., he made it to the fourth round of Wimbledon, where he lost to Milos Raonic of Canada.Less than a year later, he sustained a torn hamstring tendon while playing doubles at the French Open and underwent surgery. After the operation, he couldn’t leave his apartment for three weeks, and he couldn’t walk for the better part of two months. Slowly, week by week, he began to allow his leg to bear more weight.During the last two years, he has clawed his way back, training at the United States Tennis Association complex in Orlando, Fla., and playing a mix of lower-, middle- and top-tier tournaments. He was No. 192 in the world rankings entering the Australian Open, where he has played nearly flawless tennis and has also been blessed by a friendly draw.His highest-seeded opponent, Borna Coric of Croatia, was the No. 22 seed. After beating Coric in four sets in the second round, McDonald faced Lloyd Harris, 23, of South Africa, who was playing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time and is ranked No. 91. It was close early, as McDonald won the first set in a tiebreaker, but not after that. McDonald cranked 12 aces and punished Harris with deep, hard backhands all afternoon.In the fourth round, he gets Daniil Medvedev, the crafty and powerful Russian who is searching for his first Grand Slam title. With Djokovic ailing and Nadal battling a balky but improving lower back, many experts consider Medvedev a favorite to win this tournament.After his win over Harris, McDonald insisted that American players had the raw material to challenge the greats, and everyone else who reaches the later rounds of a Grand Slam event.“The talent is there,” McDonald said. “We just have to stay focused and keep working hard.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      How a ‘Hard Quarantine’ Benefited a Player at the Australian Open

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyHow a ‘Hard Quarantine’ Benefited a Player at the Australian OpenWhile some players blamed strict virus measures for their troubles at the event, Jennifer Brady of the United States thinks it might have helped her advance.Jennifer Brady after her win over Kaja Juvan in the third round.Credit…Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/ReutersFeb. 13, 2021, 6:48 p.m. ETThe talk of the Australian Open is not just who made the arduous journey to the second week, but whether a so-called “hard quarantine” has taken a toll on players who did not.Several had to remain in their hotel rooms around the clock — deprived of a five-hour break for training and treatment afforded to everyone else — for 14 days after arriving if a passenger on their flight had tested positive for the coronavirus.Though Tennis Australia has not released a complete list of the players who were in hard quarantine, at least 26 players in the women’s singles draw were in the stiffer quarantine, including 12 of the 32 seeded players.Two former Australian Open champions, Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber, lost their first-round matches after going through the hard quarantine. Six other women who had endured it reached the third round, but all lost in decisive straight sets.“I mean, there’s no escaping the fact that we were in the room for two weeks before a Slam — that’s not how you prepare for a Slam,” said the 21st-seeded Anett Kontaveit, who lost on Saturday evening to Shelby Rogers.Brady said she believed a strict quarantine benefited her physically and mentally.Credit…Matt King/Getty ImagesYet consider the case of Jennifer Brady, the only woman who was in hard quarantine to advance to the second week.Seeded 22nd, Brady has not only survived, but soared: She defeated Aliona Bolsova, 6-1, 6-3, in the first round on Tuesday and went on to victories over Madison Brengle (6-1, 6-2) in the second round on Thursday and Kaja Juvan (6-1, 6-3) in the third round on Saturday.“At first I was a little bummed, and then I was like, OK, I’m fine,” Brady, of Pennsylvania, said of the hard quarantine in an interview on Saturday. “There’s worse things out there in the world than being stuck in a room for 14 days. It’s not the ideal preparation before a Grand Slam, but if you looked at it, you’d see you still have eight days before your first match at the Grand Slam.”Brady said she slept more than usual during the 14 days, often not waking up until around 11 a.m. She worked out twice a day, at noon and around 5 p.m. Brady’s coach, Michael Geserer, said that while Brady used tennis balls, a stationary bicycle and weights, her most important work was mental.“We couldn’t simulate on-court practice, but we tried as best we could to adapt to this new situation,” Geserer said. “The most important thing was the mind-set. We were not complaining. We were taking it.”Geserer said he admired Brady’s positive attitude.“She has bad days, but she tries to make the best out of her bad days,” he said. “That’s also important in matches: You won’t play your best tennis, but she tries to find a way to win.”For Brady, who surged up the rankings last season as she won her first WTA title and reached the United States Open semifinals, the forced confinement proved a welcome respite.“Coming out of the quarantine, speaking for myself, I was definitely a lot fresher mentally,” Brady said. “It was a long year for me last year. I didn’t really take a break. Deep down inside, I was a little bit fortunate that I had the 14 days in lockdown. It kind of helped me reset mentally — and physically, also.”As she eased herself back into physical activity when the quarantine ended, Brady was relieved by how she felt on the court.“The first two hits I had I was trying to feel the ball, and just get my feel for the court and moving, not trying to overdo it because I didn’t want to risk injury,” Brady said. “I was afraid I was going to be super-sore, which I actually wasn’t.”Far from being sore, Brady has been craving more time on the court. After her win over Juvan, which was straightforward except for an 18-minute service game midway through the second set, Brady immediately booked herself a practice court to hone her technique.Brady admitted, ultimately, that she did not expect things to work out as they had, finding herself in the second week of the Australian Open after her compromised confinement.“Yeah, I’m a little bit surprised,” she said.One aspect of this unusual Open for which Brady may be uniquely prepared is the lack of spectators. Because of a five-day “circuit breaker” lockdown enacted by the state of Victoria, matches are being played before empty stands, as they were at the United States Open in September.“I think especially in the first couple games of the match, having that atmosphere of having people cheer for you and wanting you to win, you put a little extra pressure on yourself,” Brady said. “Having no fans, it’s just you and your opponent out there.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Making Week 2 of a Grand Slam Is a Leap. And Not Just for an Extra $80,000 in Australia.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMaking Week 2 of a Grand Slam Is a Leap. And Not Just for an Extra $80,000 in Australia.The prestige and difficulty of reaching the round of 16 in a tennis major means many players need multiple tries to break through.Filip Krajinovic, right, lost to Daniil Medvedev in the third round of the Australian Open.Credit…Jaimi Joy/ReutersFeb. 13, 2021, 10:12 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — Filip Krajinovic was closing in on the fourth round when, in the fifth set of his match on Saturday against Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open, he retreated as if zapped by an invisible electric fence.Krajinovic had pushed the fourth-ranked Medvedev around the court at Rod Laver Arena while winning the third and fourth sets. But instead of his momentum carrying him into his first Grand Slam round of 16, Krajinovic won only 12 points in the decisive set as Medvedev prevailed 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-0.What happened?Krajinovic hit the tennis equivalent of the Olympic marathoner’s 20-mile wall. His higher-ranked opponent shifted into a higher gear and a tight, tired Krajinovic lost his nerve.“He was the guy who was going for his shots at the end,” Krajinovic said, referring to the fourth-ranked Medvedev, who has won 17 consecutive matches dating to the ATP finals last November in London.For Krajinovic, a Serbian player ranked 33rd, a lot was riding on the outcome of his fourth third-round appearance in his 17th Grand Slam. From the third round to the fourth round is a huge leap in class, akin to moving up in a jumbo jet from the 32 seats in coach to the 16 in first class, with $245,920 — an $80,692 increase over third-round money — stuffed in the zipped goody packet on the seat.At 28, Krajinovic is three years older than Medvedev, a Russian with nine ATP titles to Krajinovic’s zero.“I feel I’m improving, and that’s the most important thing,” Krajinovic said, adding, “I need to go back to work. If I work and I’m focused, I deserve it. I’m sure that someone upstairs is watching.”Medvedev had twice gotten as far as the third round in a Grand Slam before pushing through to the fourth on his third try. Against Krajinovic, he said, “for sure experience is a key.”He added: “I stayed calm. Maybe that’s why in the fifth set he started to do just a little bit more mistakes, just playing a little bit slower.”Medvedev likened the draw in the four majors to the steepest of all tennis ladders. “You need to make step by step,” said Medvedev, who added of Krajinovic, “I feel like if he will reproduce what he did today on the court, he can be in top 20 for years to come.”The 22-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud, like Krajinovic, was also playing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the fourth time. He’ll never forget his first time: It was at the 2019 French Open and he lost 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (8) to Roger Federer, the men’s career Grand Slam titleholder who is now tied with Rafael Nadal at 20 majors each. “You kind of think more of the experience of being in the third round than thinking about actually winning the match,” Ruud said.This time was different. Ruud, a former world No. 1 junior who has been ranked as high as No. 25, saw an opening against the 85th-ranked Radu Albot, who upset the No. 12 seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round.“I’ve had some tough draws, but I also really felt that this was a chance for me to break through,” said Ruud, who turned back Albot of Moldova, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, in two hours, 58 minutes.“I’m happy to have broken the barrier,” said Ruud, who became the second Norwegian after his father, Christian, in 1997, to reach the round of 16 in this tournament.Shelby Rogers beat the No. 21 seed Anett Kontaveit to reach the fourth round. “I think there is this little bit of aura around the second week of a slam,” she said.Credit…Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesOn the women’s side, three Americans advanced to the fourth round on Saturday. Jessica Pegula set the pace, beating Kristina Mladenovic in the first match at John Cain Arena. She passed the baton to Jennifer Brady, who beat Kaja Juvan in the second match on the same court.Shelby Rogers, the 57th-ranked player from South Carolina, saw that her friends had advanced and, not wanting to be left behind, went out and beat the No. 21 seed Anett Kontaveit on the first night match at Rod Laver Arena.“I think there is this little bit of aura around the second week of a slam,” said Rogers, 28, who has reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam twice, at the 2016 French Open and the 2020 United States Open. Her fourth-round opponent will be the world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty of Australia.Pegula, 27, is the only one of the U.S. trio who is breaking new ground by reaching the fourth round in singles. She upset No. 13 Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, in her opening match and has dropped 13 games in three matches. She said the groundwork for her victory on Saturday was laid in her straight-sets defeat to Petra Kvitova, a former world No. 2, in the third round of the U.S. Open last year.“With women’s tennis, I think the depth is so good right now,” said Pegula, whose next opponent is the fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina. “Sometimes figuring out how to scrape by the first week is really important when you’re not playing well. I think the best players find ways to win on their worst days.”Nadal, the world No. 2 who is bidding for a record 21st Grand Slam singles title, has found a way to scrape by during the first week with a balky back. His opponent on Saturday night was his British doppelgänger, Cameron Norrie, a lefthander who hits with a heavy topspin and defends well.Norrie, 25, has never advanced past the third round and his breakthrough will have to wait. Nadal, 34, handed him a 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 defeat at Rod Laver Arena. Norrie described the match as a good experience and said he’ll take “a lot” of positives from it. “I left the court feeling like I want to get better,” Norrie said.He added, “I did everything to try to make the second week. Rafa was too good.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Saturday Night

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Saturday NightIga Swiatek, Dominic Thiem, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are in the Australian Open’s round of 16.Iga Swiatek in her third-round win.Credit…David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 13, 2021, 7:30 a.m. ETHow to watch: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern on the Tennis Channel and 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on ESPN2 in the United States; streaming on the ESPN+ and ESPN3 apps.When four reigning Grand Slam champions appear in an order of play, you expect at least one of them to be a clear favorite to advance. In the Australian Open’s round of 16 on Saturday, that is not the case. Naomi Osaka, Dominic Thiem, Iga Swiatek and especially Novak Djokovic all face significant challenges.Djokovic struggled with an injured side muscle during his third-round victory over Taylor Fritz and will need to recover quickly if he is to challenge the in-form Milos Raonic. But for the others, the threat of elimination is less about their own issues and more about their opponents’ potential to play at a high level.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are at best estimates and are certain to fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Rod Laver Arena | 7 p.m. SaturdayNaomi Osaka vs. Garbiñe MuguruzaOsaka’s control of her third-round match against the creative and entertaining Ons Jabeur was exemplary. Although Osaka struggled to win points on her second serve, her first serve was enough to earn eight aces during a two-set win.Naomi Osaka attracted a new fan in her third-round win.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesGarbiñe Muguruza, a finalist at last year’s Australian Open, has dropped only 10 games on her path to the round of 16. Muguruza grabbed the initiative early in each match, using her powerful groundstrokes to dictate points and set up relatively easy winners.This matchup between two hardcourt specialists could have easily been a Grand Slam final, and speaks to the quality of tennis being played on the WTA tour. Tonight’s match should be an excellent wrap up to the first week of action.Margaret Court Arena | 9 p.m. FridayFelix Auger-Aliassime vs. Aslan KaratsevAslan Karatsev, a qualifier, is playing in the main draw at a major for the first time and has not lost a set, even as he upset the eighth seed, Diego Schwartzman. Karatsev’s powerful, well-placed serves have been a distinct advantage, forcing his opponents onto the back foot on the fast courts at Melbourne Park.Karatsev was a promising young player in 2017, before a knee injury sidelined him. He did not play an ATP-level event for three years. After his performance in Australia, Karatsev is guaranteed to be ranked in the top 100, and we will get to see more of the Russian without his needing to struggle through qualifying rounds.In the third round, Felix Auger-Aliassime, the 20th seed, was finally able to defeat his fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Auger-Aliassime reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Open before losing to Thiem and is now aiming to advance to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.Rod laver Arena | 11 p.m. SaturdayDominic Thiem vs. Grigor DimitrovThiem, the third seed, came from two sets down against Nick Kyrgios in the third round on Friday night. Thiem won the United States Open in September and reached the final of the ATP Finals, capping his best season on tour.Dominic Thiem in his win over Nick Kyrgios.Credit…Hamish Blair/Associated PressGrigor Dimitrov, the 18th seed and the 2017 ATP Finals winner, has never reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament. He has had a relatively easy run to the round of 16, beating the 2014 U.S. Open champion, Marin Cilic, in three sets and playing only seven games in the third round before his opponent, Pablo Carreño Busta, retired with an illness.Dimitrov has won the majority of his matches against Thiem, but the two last faced each other at the 2019 Paris Masters. Though Thiem is in better form now, Dimitrov is well rested and could wear Thiem down with aggressive baseline play.Rod Laver Arena | 3 a.m. SundayIga Swiatek vs. Simona HalepSwiatek, the 15th seed, won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in October. The 19-year-old will again meet Simona Halep, the second seed, in the round of 16. In Paris, Swiatek dismantled Halep, losing only three games as she used a variety of powerful rally balls and cleverly disguised drop shots to unsettle her opponent. It was a reversal of their meeting at the French Open in 2019, when Swiatek won just one game.Simona Halep in a socially distanced postmatch meeting at the net with Veronika Kudermetova.Credit…William West/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesHalep, a two-time major champion, was a semifinalist at last year’s Australian Open. Her aggressive baseline play is favored on hardcourts, but not by much. Swiatek’s mental toughness and consistency can allow her to stay in points much longer, even when on the back foot. Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Hsieh Su-wei vs. Marketa Vondrousova — 7 p.m.Aryna Sabalenka vs. Serena Williams — 9 p.m.Alexander Zverev vs. Dusan Lajovic — 2:30 a.m.Novak Djokovic vs. Milos Raonic — 5 a.m.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Goodbye to Fans at the Australian Open

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowTesting Australians’ VIrus AnxietiesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGoodbye to Fans at the Australian OpenA new coronavirus lockdown for the state of Victoria means five days of no fans at the Grand Slam tournament.Spectators exited Rod Laver Arena mid-match to meet a lockdown deadline on Friday night in Melbourne, Australia.Credit…Dave Hunt/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 12, 2021Updated 5:17 p.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — The reigning men’s champion Novak Djokovic was on the ropes on Friday when Melburnians were made to leave Rod Laver Arena. It was 30 minutes before the clock struck midnight, a Cinderella-like moment when their freedom turned to confinement and their lives reverted to what they experienced during a 111-day lockdown last year.As the Australian Open spilled into Saturday, it ended at 1:20 a.m. with Djokovic, the world No. 1, eking out a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 third-round victory over Taylor Fritz, an American ranked 31st. The stadium lights remained on overnight, but the electricity left the building as the state of Victoria entered a five-day quarantine at 11:59 p.m. that spared the tournament but not the spectators.The retreat of the fans did not sit well with Fritz. “I understand the fact that Victoria is going back into lockdown and people have to go,” he said. “If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t have played tonight if we weren’t going to finish the match on time.”A surreal fifth day of play provided a tableau of the times, with the best-laid plans redirected midstream by a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that was first found in Britain. By Friday, it had infected 13 people linked to a quarantine hotel near the Melbourne airport that was being used to sequester returning travelers.In the early afternoon, as Serena Williams, a seven-time champion, stepped onto Rod Laver Arena’s court for her third-round match, Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria stepped to a microphone a few miles away to announce a “circuit-breaker” five-day lockdown aimed at preventing a third wave of infection from inundating the state.Victorians, he announced, would be allowed to leave home only for essential shopping, work, caregiving and exercise. Sports and entertainment venues were shutting down, but professional athletes like tennis players were considered in the category of “essential workers” and would be permitted to continue their matches, albeit behind closed doors.It was bittersweet news for the players, who for the first time since last year’s Australian Open were contesting a Grand Slam in front of crowds, with the number of fans allowed on the Melbourne Park grounds each day capped at 30,000.The players had arrived in the country early and completed a 14-day quarantine aimed at protecting Australians from them, so eager were they to play in front of crowds in what promised to be a significant step toward their old normal. Instead, the players found themselves in the new normal established when they traveled last year to New York for the United States Open and to Paris for the French Open: sequestered to protect them from their hosts.“It’s going to be a rough few days for I think everyone,” Williams said after her 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory against the 19-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova.Serena Williams after beating Anastasia Potapova in the third round.Credit…Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesAll morning, rumors swirled around the tournament grounds, whipped into a tempest by spectators half-watching matches while they scrolled through their news feeds and studied texts from friends and family members.After Andrews confirmed the worst of the rumors, a bottleneck formed in the aisles, with spectators exiting the stadium to call airlines to rebook flights hurrying past those still filing inside. Two fans, Lauren Grundeman and Belinda Brown, waited until after Williams closed out her match to call Qantas Airways. Anticipating that flight schedules would be slashed in the coming days because of the lockdown, they wanted to move up their return travel to Sydney and leave in a few hours’ time.“We were too late,” Grundeman said. “All the flights today sold out a half-hour ago.”Grundeman and Brown considered themselves fortunate to secure seats for a Saturday afternoon return. They weren’t sorry that they came. It was worth the inconvenience, they said, to see Williams inch closer to a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title.“Definitely,” Brown said. “Serena is amazing.”Williams is a charismatic headliner, but the atmosphere was lacking its usual fizz, said Grundeman, who regularly attends the Australian Open. The lines to get inside, which are usually long, were nonexistent on Friday. There were no Swedes with national colors painted on their faces. No Dutch decked head to toe in orange. Grundeman described the energy as “flat.”Friday’s announced attendance, on a day tailor-made for soaking up the sun and world-class groundstrokes, was 22,299. Many Melburnians had said in interviews and letters to newspapers that they were forgoing this year’s event out of an abundance of caution. Brown said she couldn’t blame them.“If I was local, I’d be a bit like, we don’t need people coming and bring extra cases,” she said.Julie Dunlop rose before the sun and phoned her daughter. They held tickets to the day session Friday but Dunlop was discomfited by television reports that a lockdown — or “the dreaded L-word,” as she called it — was imminent. Should they soak up the sunshine before holing up in their houses? Or was the prudent play to stay away?“I was ready to pull the plug on it, but my daughter was keen to come,” said Dunlop, who warmed to the outing as she sat in the stands on an intimate outside court and watched the Australian doubles team of James Duckworth and Marc Polmans defeat Ricardas Berankis and Mikhail Kukushkin.Roughly 100 fans, most of them cheering enthusiastically for Duckworth and Polmans, filled the air with the sounds of solidarity. The Victorian premier hadn’t spoken yet, but Dunlop had a pretty good idea what he was going to say. “We’re lucky in one way to be here before it’s too late,” she said.Spectators cheered during the last match of the day on Court 3.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesIn the stands, fans were checking their phones constantly. But on Court 13, Polmans tuned out everything but his harmony with Duckworth. Afterward, his coach filled him in on the lockdown rumors.“My first question to my coach was, ‘Do you think they’re going to cancel the tournament?’” Polmans said.Craig Tiley, the Tennis Australia chief executive, stood outside Rod Laver Arena on Friday afternoon and wearily assured everybody that the show would go on. “The players will compete in a bubble,” he said, adding that their movements would be restricted to traveling from wherever they were staying to Melbourne Park and back. He told the athletes to be alert, not alarmed.Tiley kept this year’s tournament slogan, “No Place for Impossible,” in his jacket pocket. It was part of a speech best saved for another day. Friday’s news made a line uttered before the tournament by Williams’s sister, Venus, a better motto for the moment: “Stay positive and test negative.”The tournament bubble could burst any day, and then what?“It’s definitely a worry,” Polmans said, adding, “If one of the players tests positive, then I think the tournament’s going to be done.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Australians at Home Open Find Success After Year Without Much Tennis

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowTesting Australians’ VIrus AnxietiesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAustralians at Home Open Find Success After Year Without Much TennisFacing Australia’s strict quarantine rules, Ashleigh Barty, the No. 1 women’s player in the world, skipped tennis last summer and fall. So did some other Australians. They are doing just fine.Ashleigh Barty said she had “absolutely no regrets” about skipping some tennis events this year because of the pandemic.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesFeb. 12, 2021Updated 9:41 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — Ashleigh Barty plowed through the first two rounds of the Australian Open. No surprise there, as Barty, 24, is the top-ranked woman in the world. Except that Barty had a layoff of nearly a year before the run-up to the Australian Open because she opted not to leave Australia, her home country, for much of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.Nick Kyrgios, a folk hero of Australian tennis, similarly spent the past 11 months at home in Canberra, skipping two Grand Slam events and several other playing opportunities. He still captivated the tournament Wednesday night when he came back from two match points in the fourth set against Ugo Humbert, the No. 29 seed, and won it in the fifth in front of an electrified crowd. On Friday, he almost upset third-seeded Dominic Thiem, the reigning United States Open champion, but lost in five sets.The success of Barty and Kyrgios, and that of some of their Aussie brethren, has lifted the spirits of Australian tennis fans who know too well the ongoing disruption caused by the virus, even in a country that has managed the pandemic arguably as effectively as any major economy in the world. Australian players passed up millions in potential prize money and several chances to play on the biggest stages in the sport, but have somehow come through in form.“Absolutely no regrets for me,” Barty said this week as she prepared to play with the weight on her shoulders of her country and its 42-year Australian Open singles championship drought.The difficult decision Barty and her fellow Australians faced is hardly settled, and players from other countries may feel similar pressures as travel restrictions change.Australia’s government has said it plans to continue to require all passengers arriving from outside the country through the end of the year to quarantine in a monitored hotel room for two weeks.For months, Canada has required people coming into the country to quarantine for two weeks, with the possibility of daily checks from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In January, Canada stepped up those restrictions and is requiring a three-night stay in a hotel room for all incoming air travelers while they await the results of a virus test.The policies have forced a difficult choice on players from those countries: If they decide to play and endure all the international travel that professional tennis requires, they basically can’t go home until the end of the season in November — unless they choose to take a significant break.No one has any good answers. Felix Auger-Aliassime, the 20-year-old Canadian who lists his residence in Monaco but still has deep ties to Montreal, said he is trying to figure out when he might be able to see his sister and his parents during the year. He did a two-week quarantine when he returned to Canada last year but isn’t sure when he might be able to manage one again.Milos Raonic said he will probably play less this year so he can spend time with his family.Credit…Dean Lewins/EPA, via ShutterstockMilos Raonic, another Canadian with a residence in Monte Carlo, said he is unlikely to play a full season. He said he saw his parents for just five days last year, rather than for months at a time as he would in a usual year.“My family and those people that are close to me, they’re too important to neglect that aspect of my life,” Raonic said Wednesday after his second-round win over Bernard Tomic of Australia, whose tennis plans for the future are also somewhat up in the air.“It’s not easy,” Tomic said after the loss. “If I leave Australia now, won’t be coming back anytime soon, for sure.”Ajla Tomljanovic, one of the Australians who did play abroad last summer and fall, said the uncertainty of the schedule and the challenge of being away for so long had wreaked havoc with her game.“I’m not looking further than tomorrow,” Tomljanovic said after a brutal loss to Simona Halep, the No. 2 seed. Tomljanovich won the first set and led 5-2 in the third, then lost five straight games. “Everything is such an unknown. Anything can change any second.”That was partly what Barty, Kyrgios, Tomic, the former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur and several other Australians figured last year when they passed on the revived tennis tours rather than deal with the uncertainty of the virus and the strict policies in Australia, which for months even limited travel between states.Kyrgios notoriously has a love-hate relationship with the game. Tomic is trying to rebuild his once promising career at 28. Stosur, at 36, won her first match at the Australian Open since 2015. All said they did not touch a tennis racket for months, using the time away from the game as a reset. Stosur’s partner gave birth to a girl in June.Barty gave up the most — the unique opportunity to play as the top player in the world and the chance to defend her French Open championship.She spent little time keeping up with or following tennis.“It was more enjoying my time at home and being grateful and appreciative for what I have,” she said.She played a lot of golf. She attended Australian Football League matches and was famously photographed, beer in hand, at the A.F.L. final between Brisbane and Richmond. She got another dog, a Border collie.Barty watched Australian Football League matches during her time away from tennis over the past year. “It was more enjoying my time at home and being grateful and appreciative for what I have,” she said.Credit…Michael Willson/AFL Photos, via Getty ImagesThen, with Australia’s tennis season on the horizon, she got to work.At first glance it is not obvious what makes Barty so effective. At 5-foot-5, she is built like a soccer midfielder and shorter than many of her elite competitors. She lacks the intimidating, blasting serve that several of the taller players in the top 20 have. She has powerful — though not overpowering — strokes.There are few players who are more fit, though. She can defend every corner of the court on a point and rarely appears to be breathing heavily. On her shoulders and upper arms, her muscles appear to have muscles. She also mixes an unrelenting style with a complex, slicing backhand. She gives away little for free, even when she is aiming for the sidelines, which she does often, and she has a knack for finding an opponent’s weakness and picking it apart.“Her tennis smarts are incredible,” said Daria Gavrilova, who lost to Barty on Thursday and has represented Australia with her on the national team. “Before a tie we always play team analysis, like the opposition analysis, and she’s always spot on. She’s just spot on every time.”After the time away, Barty appears no worse for the lack of wear. She won her tuneup event last week, beating the two-time Grand Slam winner Garbiñe Muguruza in straight sets in the final, then began the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-0 win.While playing against Gavrilova, Barty wore a wrap around her upper left leg to support a muscle (ever the tactician, she refused to say which one). She insisted that the muscle soreness and the troublesome second set were not concerning or symptoms of rust.“Lost my way a bit,” she said of a rocky portion of the match.She appears to have found it, by following a surprising route, at least for now. She and the other Australians remain caught up in the nation’s remarkable Covid-19 success, which the country will not trifle with.“You have to do what’s best for you and where you’re based and situated throughout the year,” said Lleyton Hewitt, the last Australian to reach No. 1 in the world rankings. “There’s a lot of outside-the-box thinking that has to go on to be an Australian tennis player right now.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Novak Djokovic Beats Taylor Fritz but Is Hurt at Australian Open

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowTesting Australians’ VIrus AnxietiesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyNovak Djokovic Escapes but Is Hurt at the Australian OpenThe defending champion and eight-time winner battled a sore muscle on his right side in a five-set win over American Taylor Fritz.Novak Djokovic appeared to slip during his third-round match against Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open. He was bothered by an injury but still won.Credit…Andy Brownbill/Associated PressFeb. 12, 2021, 9:38 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic, the reigning champion at the Australian Open and the top-ranked player in the world, escaped an upset on Friday night to Taylor Fritz of the United States after hurting the right side of his midsection.Djokovic, who has not lost at this tournament when seeded No. 1, was injured in a bizarre match during which thousands of spectators were sent out of Rod Laver Arena as midnight approached because of a government-imposed coronavirus lockdown in the state of Victoria.Djokovic appeared in control of the match when he won the first two sets. Then he faltered badly as he battled what he described as a torn muscle in the right side of his abdomen but somehow sneaked past Fritz, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.“I was just trying to focus on what is going on with an injury,” Djokovic said after it was over. “It’s a tear of the muscle. I don’t know if I am going to recover. I don’t know if I am even going to step onto the court.”Djokovic is scheduled to face Milos Raonic of Canada in the fourth round on Sunday. Raonic will bring one of the biggest serves in tennis to a match that could present Djokovic, if he plays, with one of his biggest challenges since he started dominating on the hardcourts in Australia.For Djokovic, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, a loss would have brought a third straight major tournament that ended in disappointment. He was defaulted out of the United States Open in September when he swatted a ball that accidentally hit a line judge. In October, he lost badly to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.He came to Australia in search of his championship form, though he pulled out of an exhibition in Adelaide with bad blister on his hand. Still, he breezed through his first-round match against Jeremy Chardy of France in 91 minutes.In the second round though, he was pushed to the limit against Frances Tiafoe of the United States, who stretched him to four sets over three-and-half-hours on a steamy afternoon, even though Djokovic served 26 aces. Like a prize fighter jabbing at a cut, Tiafoe saw Djokovic struggling to reach wide forehands and continually forced him to stretch to his right.Still, he gave no hint that he was in any kind of significant distress after the match and entered the night against Fritz, who is from San Diego, as a heavy favorite.Djokovic predicted he might be in for a long night, however, especially on a court he described as the fastest he has ever played on at the Australian Open against a young player with a big serve and a powerful forehand.Djokovic received medical attention and frequently massaged his right side throughout the match after his injury.Credit…Kelly Defina/ReutersEarly in the third set, he appeared to slip, irritating the muscle on his right side. He said he felt a tear.He took a medical timeout and took the maximum allowable amount of anti-inflammatory medication.As the match continued, it was clear he was still having trouble changing direction or stretching for balls that were far away. Djokovic began massaging his side during every game and changeover. He said near the end of the fourth set, the medication began to work and somehow he became comfortable enough for a final push in the fifth set. He stayed aggressive on his second serve and began whipping his signature angled forehands.When Fritz’s last ball sailed long, Djokovic hollered in exultation, his voice echoing through the empty arena.“I honestly don’t know how I won this match,” he said. “I am very proud and at the same time sad and worried because there is definitely something serious happening with my injury and I don’t have much time to recover.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More