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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

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      As the Australian Open plays on, Victoria officials order a ‘circuit breaker’ Covid lockdown.

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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 storyBiden Announces a Big Vaccine Deal, but Warns of HurdlesAs the Australian Open plays on, Victoria officials order a ‘circuit breaker’ Covid lockdown.Feb. 11, 2021, 11:13 p.m. ETFeb. 11, 2021, 11:13 p.m. ETLivia Albeck-Ripka, Christopher F. Schuetze and Spectators watching Serena Williams at the Australian Open on Friday. The remainder of the tournament will be held without spectators.Credit…Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesMore than six million people in Victoria, Australia, will enter into a snap lockdown for five days in response to a coronavirus outbreak at a quarantine hotel.The order came as the Australian Open was being held in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, but the tennis tournament will continue — without spectators — the authorities said on Friday.Victorians will be allowed to leave home only for essential shopping, work, exercise and caregiving, and must wear masks whenever they leave home.But while sports and entertainment venues will be shut down, professional athletes like tennis players will be classified as “essential workers” and allowed to continue their matches.“There are no fans; there’s no crowds. These people are essentially at their workplace,” Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, told reporters on Friday. “It’s not like the only people that are at work are supermarket workers.”Tennis Australia said in a statement that it would notify all ticket holders of the changes and continue “to work with the government to ensure the health and safety of everyone.”The lockdown, which goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, comes after an outbreak at a Holiday Inn near the Melbourne Airport that was being used to house returned travelers.By Friday, 13 people linked to the hotel had tested positive with the new virus variant that first emerged in Britain. In the past 24 hours, five new cases have been identified, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 19.Describing the lockdown as a “circuit breaker,” the authorities said it was critical to stopping the spread of the variant, which is highly infectious and has outwitted contact tracers before they can contain outbreaks. Similar snap lockdowns in Perth and Brisbane in recent months were successful in quashing infections.“The game has changed,” Mr. Andrews said. “This is not the 2020 virus.”He said he hoped Victorians, who endured among the longest lockdowns in the world last year, would work together to prevent the state from entering a third wave of the coronavirus. “We will be able to smother this,” he said.The order had ripple effects in Australia’s other states, which all announced travel restrictions with Victoria. International flights, excluding freight, into Melbourne were also canceled.In other global developments:Germany will close its border to the Czech Republic and the Austrian state of Tyrol starting Sunday as it tries to protect against new variants of the virus. As part of that effort, Germany this week extended its national lockdown for another month.New Zealand will receive the first batch of its 1.5-million-dose order of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine next week and expects to begin vaccinating its border workers on Feb. 20, ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday. The country, which has all but eliminated local transmission of the virus, has additional purchase agreements with Janssen Pharmaceutica, Novavax and AstraZeneca, and expects to start vaccinating its wider population in the second quarter of this year, Ms. Ardern said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Australian Open: Sofia Kenin, the Reigning Champ, Is Knocked Out

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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 storyAustralian Open: Sofia Kenin, the Reigning Champ, Is Knocked OutThe 22-year-old American lost in the second round to an unseeded player, Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.Sofia Kenin, who was seeded fourth at this year’s Australian Open, has struggled to find her form this year.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesPublished More

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      2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Wednesday Night

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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 story2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Wednesday NightRafael Nadal and Ashleigh Barty will play on Day 4 of the tournament.Sam Stosur of Australia will face Jessica Pegula, the American who upset Victoria Azarenka in the first round.Credit…James Ross/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 10, 2021Updated 7:51 a.m. ETHow to watch: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern on the Tennis Channel, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on ESPNEWS and 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. on ESPN2 in the United States; streaming on the ESPN+ and ESPN3 apps.Jessica Pegula of the United States upset the 12th seed, Victoria Azarenka, in the opening round for her first match victory at a major tournament, and she will now face the Australian veteran Samantha Stosur. Although Stosur has focused on playing doubles over the past few years, she is still a force in singles, especially with a home-court advantage.Her fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin certainly benefited from that advantage in his first-round upset of the 13th seed, David Goffin, and he will now meet Lloyd Harris. A win would put Popyrin, who is ranked 113th in the world, into the third round for a third straight year.Here are more matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are best guesses and are certain to fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Rod Laver Arena | 9 p.m. WednesdayAshleigh Barty vs. Daria GavrilovaAs the world of professional sports slowly reopened amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ashleigh Barty, the world No. 1, decided not to travel to tournaments and stayed in Australia. That decision, which she attributed to concerns about bringing the virus back to her home country, kept her out of the U.S. Open and prevented her from trying to defend her French Open title.Questions about the level of Barty’s preparations were quashed as she won the Yarra Valley Classic last week and then defeated her first-round opponent in the Open without dropping a game.Ashleigh Barty in her first-round victory.Credit…David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDaria Gavrilova, a former Russian national who now represents Australia, received a wild-card entry into the main draw of the Australian Open. Struggling with chronic foot injuries, she took a year away from tennis after the 2019 U.S. Open. She returned in time for the rescheduled French Open in October, defeating Dayana Yastremska in the first round. However, she has not been playing at her peak, and she will certainly struggle against the overpowering, aggressive brand of tennis that Barty has mastered.Court 13 | 9 p.m. WednesdayCasper Ruud vs. Tommy PaulCasper Ruud, the 24th seed, last year became the first Norwegian to win an ATP title and became the highest-ranking Norwegian in tour history, surpassing the mark set by his father, Christian Ruud, who reached No. 39 in 1995. Now Ruud is aiming to reach the third round for a third consecutive time at a major, solidifying his place in the top 25. In his way is a familiar opponent. Ruud defeated Tommy Paul in the second round of the French Open in October.Paul, the world No. 53, had his best result at a Grand Slam last year, reaching the third round of the Australian Open by upsetting Grigor Dimitrov in a thrilling five-set match. Paul followed that up with an impressive win over Alexander Zverev in Mexico just a month later but was unable to carry that momentum into the second half of the season. Now he must be hoping that the quicker surface in Australia will favor him against Ruud, who tends to prefer playing out longer, more strategic points.Rod Laver Arena | 3 a.m. ThursdayCoco Gauff vs. Elina SvitolinaCoco Gauff seemed fully in control of her first-round match, easily beating Jil Teichmann. Just a week before, in a tuneup tournament, Gauff had needed three sets to defeat Teichmann. On Tuesday, Gauff increased her intensity, choosing to dictate as many points as possible rather than giving Teichmann the time to settle into craftier exchanges.Coco Gauff in her first-round win.Credit…Jason O’Brien/EPA, via ShutterstockElina Svitolina, the fifth seed, is a gifted defensive player who tends to soak up pressure, coaxing unforced errors out of offensively minded opponents. Svitolina’s consistency allows her to await the proper moment to unleash a counterattack, usually in relatively low-risk situations. For Gauff, this will present a particularly tough challenge. Although Gauff has shown from her breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2019 that she is mentally tough, being worn down by a defensive veteran can be unusually disheartening.Rod Laver Arena | 5 A.m. ThursdayRafael Nadal vs. Michael MmohWhen he secured his 13th French Open title in October, Rafael Nadal tied Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam singles titles among men. Of Nadal’s 20 Grand Slam titles, only one was captured at the Australian Open, in 2009. Nadal, 34, has been the runner-up in Melbourne four times, losing in memorable matches to Federer, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka. Now, as he seeks to surpass Federer’s total, he will need to hold off some rising stars.Rafael Nadal in a training session at Melbourne Park this week.Credit…David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesNadal’s opponent tonight, the 23-year-old Michael Mmoh, has never been past the second round at a Grand Slam tournament. Now ranked 177th in the world, he had to play in the qualifying draws to make it into the Australian Open, and he struggled through a grinding five-set match against a fellow qualifier, Viktor Troicki, in the first round. Mmoh’s quick, aggressive style can put an opponent on his back foot, but that will be tough to do against Nadal, whose defensive skills, while often overlooked, are just as exceptional as his offensive prowess.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on:Feliciano López vs. Lorenzo Sonego — 7 p.m.Mackenzie McDonald vs. Borna Coric — 11 p.m.Jessica Pegula vs. Sam Stosur — 6 a.m.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      A Stumble, a Scream and Venus Williams Is Out 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 storyA Stumble, a Scream and Venus Williams Is OutWilliams played through a painful ankle injury in her second-round match against Sara Errani. But her grit could not prevent her latest defeat.Venus Williams needed treatment on her ankle and knee in the first set.Credit…William West/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 10, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams moved toward the net in pursuit of a short return, a little stiffly because of her liberally taped left knee. Altering her stride when she saw the ball clip the net, she rolled her right ankle. Her anguished cry echoed through Melbourne Park’s John Cain Arena, causing the fans sprinkled throughout the stands to sit up straighter.At that point, Williams, the grande dame of American tennis, trailed by 1-5 and 0-15 in the first set of her second-round match against Sara Errani of Italy.“I didn’t understand what she had in the beginning,” Errani said, adding, “I was scared.”Errani said she pleaded with the chair umpire to do something. “I was telling him to go, please go to her,” she said.Williams, 40, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and the oldest woman in this year’s Australian Open, was down. But she was not out.Trainers were summoned, and Williams held back tears in back-to-back medical timeouts as her right ankle was taped and her left knee was mummified.Sara Errani, right, said she pleaded with the chair umpire to call for help when Williams rolled her ankle.Credit…Jason O’Brien/EPA, via ShutterstockAt No. 81 in the world, Williams was ranked 53 spots higher than Errani, a qualifier. Williams’s streak of never having lost to a player outside the top 100 in 20 previous trips to the Australian Open was about to end. But in that moment on Wednesday, Errani was taking no chances.“I was thinking to be ready, that anything can happen,” Errani said.On Monday, Williams had dispatched Kirsten Flipkens to become the sixth woman in her 40s to win a main draw singles match at the Australian Open, joining a group that includes Billie Jean King.Asked afterward if she thought of her age when she was on the court, she stared sternly at her inquisitor and asked, “Would it be front of mind for you?”“Not necessarily,” he replied.“There you go,” Williams said.After her injury was treated on Wednesday, Williams rose and hobbled to her side of the court, dragging her left leg behind her. Somehow, she won two points before dropping her service game and the first set, 6-1, in 44 minutes.During the changeover, Williams sat with her head in her hands, disconsolate. But she was not done.She gingerly rose and made swing and serving motions with her racket and shuffled from side to side to test her sore right ankle and her stiff right knee. And then she played on.Williams lost the first point of the next game after an 11-shot rally. She loped forward on the second point but netted her volley. She earned a point with a blistering return of a serve, then lost the game when, on the 11th shot of the rally, Errani landed a drop shot that Williams could not chase down.Serving flat-footed, Williams was broken at 30-40 with another drop shot, which she tracked down but returned long.Williams hung in — earning three break points in the next game and then saving two before losing her next service game. After Errani held her own serve again, Williams was down by 0-5.Serving to prolong the match, Williams had a game point at 40-30 but couldn’t convert it. She staved off two match points — the first with a forehand winner on a 13-shot rally — before Errani converted her third to win, 6-1, 6-0, in 1 hour 15 minutes.“Not really happy to win like that,” Errani said in an on-court interview. “I was so sorry for her.”In a news conference afterward, Errani said she focused as best she could “on my tennis and what I had to do and that’s it.”Williams, 40, did not speak with reporters after Wednesday’s loss, and it was unclear if she had played her final singles match at the Australian Open.Credit…Hamish Blair/Associated PressWilliams, who declined an interview through the WTA, left the grounds. Will she be back for a 22nd Australian Open?“I just like being here,” she had said before this year’s tournament, professing a love for Australia. “I never leave early. I usually always hang around after, you know, if it’s not the result I wanted.”In 2017, Williams lost to her sister Serena in the final in Melbourne. Since finishing as the runner-up at Wimbledon and advancing to the semifinals at the United States Open later that same year, she has not advanced to the second weekend in singles at a Grand Slam. But earlier this week, she sounded as if she was not done trying.After her victory against Flipkens, Williams had said: “I’m trying to get better every day. I think that no matter what happens to you in life, you always hold your head up high, you give a hundred million percent. That’s what I do every single day. That’s something that I can be proud of.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      At the Australian Open: Rafael Nadal’s 17-Year-Old Heir Apparent

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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 storyThe ‘Next Rafa’: Nadal’s Heir Apparent Is 17 and Playing in the Australian OpenCarlos Alcaraz is thriving on the men’s tennis tour and reminding a lot of people of a teenage sensation in the early 2000s who was also from Spain.Carlos Alcaraz is getting hype in Spain as a 17-year-old prospect — with some in tennis calling him “the next Rafa.”Credit…Jason O’Brien/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 10, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — There are two Rafael Nadal story lines swirling about during this first week of the Australian Open.One involves the 20-time Grand Slam winner’s lower back, which, in his words, is not great, though it did not get in the way of his efficient, straight-sets win over Laslo Djere of Serbia in the first round Tuesday.The second story line involves a 17-year-old Spaniard named Carlos Alcaraz who has suddenly become known as “the next Rafa.” Nadal’s decision to practice with Alcaraz last week, in the final days leading up to the year’s first Grand Slam, raised the volume of the hype surrounding the teenage prodigy.And as Nadal was preparing for his first-round match, Alcaraz was pumping his fist to celebrate his first win in a Grand Slam tournament, over Botic Van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, a solid 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 beating.“He has intensity, he has the passion, he has the shots,” Nadal said of Alcaraz. “Then it’s all about how much you are able to improve during the next couple of years. It depends on how much you will be able to improve that will make the difference of whether he’s going to be very good, or if you’re going to be an amazing champion.”Prematurely declaring a teenager a future legend is as much a part of tennis as fuzzy yellow balls. For several years Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria was called “Baby Fed” because his precocious creativity and all-around game resembled that of the Swiss great Roger Federer. That was nearly a decade ago. Dimitrov is now 29, ranked 21st and still looking for his first Grand Slam title.There is always a yearning for the next big thing, and so the buzz around Alcaraz persists.Alcaraz, left,  practicing with Rafael Nadal this week. The teenager learned that Nadal hits the ball as hard in practice as he does in Grand Slam matches.Credit…Jason O’Brien/EPA, via Shutterstock“It’s been a while since we had a young Spaniard came along like this with the promise he is showing at his age,” said Jim Courier, the former world No. 1 and a two-time champion in Australia, referring to when Nadal announced himself with a win over Federer at 17. The expectations are indeed a lot for Alcaraz to shoulder, Courier said, but Nadal once felt that pressure, and so have others. “I suspect Carlos will keep the blinders on pretty tight,” Courier said.Alcaraz is hardly a Nadal clone. He does not hit with Nadal’s next-level topspin, and his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, said hardcourts would probably be his best surface rather than clay. Alcaraz shares none of Nadal’s on-court compulsions, such as making sure the labels of his water bottles face a certain way during matches or following a specific pattern as he walks to his chair on a changeover. But a Spanish player breaking out at 17 has implications.Alcaraz beat David Goffin of Belgium, ranked No. 13, last week during a warm-up event in Australia, which kick-started the “next Rafa” buzz at Melbourne Park. Then he drew the ideal first-round opponent — Van de Zandschulp, a 25-year-old who has never sniffed the top 100 and looked the part as Alcaraz ran him around the court and pressured him into 73 errors.Ferrero, the former world No. 1 who has been working with Alcaraz the past three years, said Alcaraz’s time practicing last week with Nadal and Andrey Rublev of Russia, the No. 7 seed, was a key to his success in the first round.“He got to see what great players do,” Ferrero said.That did not start out so well. Late last week, Alcaraz walked onto the court at John Cain Arena for a hitting session with Nadal, who immediately began pelting him with forehands and backhands, because Nadal practices as if he is playing a Grand Slam final, even when he has a sore back.“He hits the ball very hard,” Alcaraz said of Nadal. “He tries to hit harder on every ball.”Alcaraz struggled at first to keep the rallies going more than a few shots. Nadal did not relent. Alcaraz took a while to adapt to the pace.There is no shame in that, since 17-year-olds are not supposed to be able to compete at this level of men’s tennis in 2021. The game is supposed to be too physically demanding for a teenager who is balancing professional tennis with his final year of online high school. But Alcaraz is already 6-foot-1 (the same height as Nadal), with broad shoulders and thick quadriceps muscles.But Tuesday’s win was his first best-three-of-five-sets match. He still has the complexion of a high school senior, and he prefers Instagram to TikTok. He worships the soccer team Real Madrid (Nadal does, too), though he gave up organized soccer when he was 10 to focus exclusively on tennis. He lives mostly at Ferrero’s tennis academy in Villena, near Spain’s southeastern coast, roughly an hour by car from Alcaraz’s home in El Palmar, where he returns every other weekend.Spain’s top men’s players, who dominated the top 50 not long ago and are still a force, have for years been a very close-knit group. They show up at one another’s matches and gather on the road to share meals and watch soccer.As Alcaraz battled Van de Zandschulp on Tuesday, he kept looking over and pumping his fist in the direction of Ferrero and Pablo Carreño Busta, the No. 15 seed at the Australian Open. Carreño Busta is 12 years older than Alcaraz and has become something of a big brother to him at Ferrero’s academy.Alcaraz played on Court 17, which is tucked in near a construction site, a busy railroad junction and the backsides of John Cain Arena and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. There are just a few hundred seats. It is Melbourne Park’s version of the boonies.Alcaraz does not figure to have many more matches there, but just before he headed onto the court, Carreño Busta reminded him to take a minute to savor the start of his Grand Slam career.“I was a little nervous,” Alcaraz said. “He told me to enjoy the moment.”He did. He won the first set in 25 minutes, tormenting Van de Zandschulp with nasty overheads, endless hustle and timely breaks of serve, often when Van de Zandschulp seemed to have the game in hand. “He’s very good, he’s very young,” Nadal said. “I really believe that he will have a great future because he’s a good guy, humble, a hard worker.”Nadal, with his questionable lower back, will face Michael Mmoh of the United States in the second round Thursday. Alcaraz will play Mikael Ymer of Sweden. Both Mmoh and Ymer, neither of whom has made the third round of a Grand Slam, needed five sets to survive their first-round matches, not exactly ideal preparation for facing off against the real Rafael Nadal and the player considered his heir.“It’s been a very fast progression for him, not that we are in a rush,” Ferrero said of Alcaraz. “This year I think he is going to make a really big step.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      At the Australian Open, Bianca Andreescu Is the Great Unknown

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAt the Australian Open, Bianca Andreescu Is the Great UnknownShe won the United States Open in 2019 but has barely played since then because of injury and the pandemic. Yet it is after long layoffs she has been the most dangerous.Bianca Andreescu of Canada won her first match in 15 months, a three-set nail-biter against Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu at the Australian Open on Monday.Credit…Paul Crock/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 9, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — As Bianca Andreescu vaulted from No. 152 in the world to the United States Open champion during 2019, she appeared to be playing with a tennis angel on her shoulder.And then good fortune left Andreescu, the 20-year-old Canadian, shortly after she lifted that U.S. Open trophy.Andreescu sustained a torn meniscus that October. Then came the coronavirus pandemic, which, combined with the knee injury, kept her from competing for all of 2020. She trained through the fall and into the new year to hit the ground running upon landing in Australia. Then her coach tested positive for the virus shortly after he arrived on a flight from Abu Dhabi, sending Andreescu into a hard lockdown for 14 days because of their contact. She pulled out of an Australian Open warm-up tournament last week rather than risk injury by doing too much too soon. “It’s super easy to ask yourself: ‘Why, why, why? Or what is the reason?’” Andreescu said recently as her quarantine was winding down. “Some of these things you cannot control.”Andreescu was one of 72 players who could not leave their hotel rooms, even to train, for two weeks. Several former Grand Slam winners and 21 women over all in the main draw were classified as close contacts to those who tested positive for the coronavirus after landing in Australia, which put them in them hard lockdown.Women’s tennis has been something of a free-for-all for years. Factor in a forced lockdown and the return of a player who a year and a half ago seemed to have limitless potential, and the uncertainty becomes nearly unprecedented.A dozen women have won a Grand Slam singles title over the past four seasons. At the French Open in October, Iga Swiatek, 19, of Poland, entered the tournament ranked No. 54 and won the championship. Only Naomi Osaka of Japan and Simona Halep of Romania have won more than one Grand Slam title since 2017.But no one embodies that uncertainty here at the 2021 Australian Open more than Andreescu, who passed her first round test on Monday when she won her first match in 15 months, a three-set nail-biter against Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania.Andreescu will face Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan in the second round.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesThere were moments when Andreescu created shots and found the unseen angles, and plenty of others when she looked overwhelmed by a player ranked 138th in the world. She faces Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan on Wednesday (Tuesday evening, Eastern time).To Mary Carillo, the former player and longtime tennis analyst, Andreescu is among the most compelling players in the tournament. Carillo compared her to Juan Martín del Potro, who beat Roger Federer to win the U.S. Open when he was just 20, then sustained a series of injuries and never fulfilled the promise of that triumph.“When you see players like Juan-Martín and Bianca burn a hole in the sport the way they did, you know they’ve got the goods,” Carillo said. “You want to watch them put their games up against the very best. You know they can win majors. You want them to hang around and prove it was real, time after time, year after year, become one of the true greats.”Everyone in tennis knows Andreescu has talent to burn. She has power from the baseline and on her serve. She has the athleticism to chase down balls in the corners. At any moment, from any spot on the court, she can cut a slice with so much spin it dances when it lands. All this, plus the experience of winning a Grand Slam title, and she has only played about 50 WTA singles matches.But coming to Australia, Andreescu had not played a match since October 2019. The inactivity would leave most players with little more than a puncher’s chance for success. Andreescu, though, has shown a freakish ability to shake off rust and play deep into tournaments. A back injury kept her out of competition for two months in the fall of 2018. When she came back she won two titles on the lower tier I.T.F. circuit.In 2019, an injury to her right shoulder largely sidelined her from April until August. She returned for the Rogers Cup in Toronto, one of the most high profile tournaments outside of the four majors, and won after Serena Williams retired from the final with back spasms four games into the match. Then she reeled off another seven consecutive wins and became the U.S. Open champion.That is not normal. Angelique Kerber of Germany, the three-time Grand Slam winner, said that when injuries cause long layoffs, it can take months to find the motivation to get on court and go to your limit. “I think that’s the hardest challenge,” Kerber said.Andreescu can burn hot. She breaks rackets sometimes in practice, though fewer than she used to. She said she cried Sunday night in anticipation of her first round match here in Australia.The first 48 hours after she learned that her coach, Sylvain Bruneau, had tested positive were tough to grapple with. As she and others on her team continued to test negative, Andreescu snapped back into preparation mode.She did strength and fitness sessions on the stationary bicycle in her room with her trainer over Zoom. Her coach, who has remained healthy, put her through shadow hitting sessions, allowing her to work on her footwork. A devotee of visual imagery training, she spent hours imagining herself playing matches.Andreescu, pictured in Toronto after her U.S. Open win in 2019, practiced visualizing past wins to boost her confidence heading into the Australian Open.Credit…Carlos Osorio/ReutersShe watched her matches from 2019 and reliving those wins boosted her confidence. She also read — Charles Duhigg’s “Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity,” and Michio Kaku’s “Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100” — and played Call of Duty and NBA2K on her Xbox. She fiddled around with her new hobby, composing music.She watched the 2020 U.S. Open and the French Open on television with a mix of hurt and hope. Not being on the court bothered her, but as she took in the action, she pictured herself in that moment again and it felt good.And on Monday, when the two-hour, three-set test was over, she sunk into an ice bath and considered the silver lining in this first, uneasy duel. “Those matches are super good for me,” she said. It really shows that I can scramble when I really need to, or if there is some pressure I can dig my way through it somehow.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More