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      The Special Magic of Wimbledon Returns, Changes Included

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      The pandemic forced the tournament’s cancellation in 2020 and led to some changes this year, but much of its tradition is back.Serena Williams leaned back in her chair and thought.The seven-time Wimbledon champion had just been asked about the one thing she is looking forward to upon returning to Wimbledon for the first time since the coronavirus shut it down last year. Suddenly, Williams burst forward, as if she had just had an epiphany.“I love the grass,” Williams said this month at the French Open, though she also admitted that she hadn’t even practiced on the surface since she lost to Simona Halep in the 2019 final. “What I love most about it is just the cleanness of it. I just think it’s so chic and so crisp. That’s a good word: crisp.”Crisp may be the perfect word to describe the aura of Wimbledon. Those iridescent green grass courts are immaculately manicured. It is the only professional tournament that still requires its participants to wear logo-less, all-white clothing. The facilities, including a Royal Box that features signature purple-and-green blankets, oozes decorum.And it’s not just Williams who understands the significance of the only major still played on grass.Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, serving to Simona Halep at the 2019 tournament. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images“Wimbledon is something magical,” said Elina Svitolina, a semifinalist in 2019. “We know the rules are quite strict, and it’s going to be even more strict this year. But you’re just in white, and you’re in such a nice, historical venue, so the whole atmosphere makes stepping on the court an experience.”Now Wimbledon, which begins on Monday, is back, though it looks and feels quite different this year. Attendance is capped at 50 percent for the Centre and No. 1 Courts, while smaller show courts can seat 75 percent of capacity. For the semifinals and finals, seating capacity is expected to rise to 100 percent on Centre Court.There are also strict regulations regarding vaccination and testing protocols. All ticket-holders are required to show proof of Covid status upon entry, either in the form of two vaccination doses or proof of a negative Covid test within the past 48 hours. While moving around the grounds, all attendees must wear face coverings, though they are free to remove them while at their seats. The players have their own set of rules in place that allow them to be exempt from public quarantine requirements while also keeping themselves and the public safe.“This will be a Wimbledon like we’ve never known it before,” said Dan Evans, the British No. 1 in singles. “It’s obviously an amazing place to play tennis, but my overriding feeling is that it will be very different to what we know.”Because tickets are being distributed through mobile devices this year, some traditions have disappeared. No one will be permitted to camp out for spare tickets, for example. Because the players are required to stay at a designated hotel in London, spotting celebrities outside their rental homes in Wimbledon Village is gone. And for environmental reasons, the plastic cups adorned with pictures of strawberries for the traditional Wimbledon dessert strawberries and cream have been replaced with sustainable cardboard containers.As with other major championships this year, prize money has been redistributed, with more going to early round losers. This year, the men’s and women’s singles champions will receive £1.7 million (about $2 million), down from £2.35 million in 2019, but those who fall in the first round will get £48,000, significantly more than than two years ago.Other changes include players on all of the courts, not just the premier ones, being allowed to challenge the calls of linespeople and have them verified by Hawk-Eye Live, a device that uses 10 cameras around the court (though no linespeople have been cut as a result, as other tournaments have done). And there also has been the introduction of a serve clock on all courts.Like Williams, Roger Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion, is currently ranked No. 8. Christian Hartmann/ReutersSeedings are according to the WTA and Association of Tennis Professionals rankings, which means that the champions, Roger Federer and Williams, both now ranked No. 8, could meet the top seeds Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty in the quarterfinals. In the past, Wimbledon has often deferred to past champions when making seedings.Simply adjusting to playing on grass — with its hard-to-grip surface and uneven bounces — will be a challenge for players, many of whom have not competed on the surface in two years: When Wimbledon was canceled last year, the few grass-court warm-up events were as well. This year, because the French Open was postponed by a week to allow for the lifting of more Covid-19 restrictions in France, there has been even less time to for players to make the transition.“Nobody practiced on grass because there was no reason to,” said Daniil Medvedev, who is seeded second. “It’s not going to be easy this year.”For most players, nothing is certain this year. Barty enters the tournament still nursing a hip injury that caused her to retire during her second match at the French Open. Halep, the defending champion, didn’t play that tournament because of a calf injury. She withdrew from Wimbledon on Friday. Dominic Thiem, the reigning United States Open champion, also withdrew, because of a wrist injury sustained earlier in the week.Naomi Osaka, the world’s No. 2 player, also withdrew from the tournament, citing a need for more time away from the game. She also pulled out of the French Open citing mental health issues. And Williams, still one shy of tying Margaret Court’s record of 24 major singles championships, has played a sparse schedule this year. She reached the semifinals at the Australian Open in February, losing to Osaka, the eventual champion.Barbora Krejcikova, the winner at the French Open, has never played the main draw at Wimbledon, but she is seeded at No. 15.When Rafael Nadal announced that he was pulling out of Wimbledon and the Olympics following a semifinal loss to Djokovic at the French Open, the most intriguing story lines at Wimbledon suddenly became Federer and Djokovic.Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion, has played just eight matches in the last two years and two weeks ago lost unexpectedly to Felix Auger-Aliassime at a grass-court warm-up in Halle, Germany.Novak Djokovic, the 2018 and 2019 champion, eats a blade of grass (a personal Wimbledon tradition) after beating Federer in 2019.Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThen there is Djokovic who, with his wins at the Australian and French Opens this year, is halfway to a Grand Slam. If he also wins a gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo, he will accomplish the Golden Slam, which has been done only by Steffi Graf, in 1988.“Everything is possible,” Djokovic said after he beat Alexander Zverev to win his second French Open. “I did put myself in a good position to go for the Golden Slam.”Wimbledon is already thinking ahead. In 2022, the All England Club, which holds the tournament, will add play on the middle Sunday of the event, which traditionally was reserved for rest and rejuvenation of the courts and the players. The All England Club also recently unveiled plans to expand into neighboring parkland and create an 8,000-seat show court that the club expects to be ready by 2030.But for this year, people who treasure the tournament are relieved it’s back.“Wimbledon is such an anchor for all of us,” said Jim Courier, a former world No. 1 and current Tennis Channel commentator. “I think it will be rejuvenating for the sport as a whole. It’s going to be a relief that Wimbledon is back and going to be visible again.“Wimbledon,” Courier added, “is that perfect blend of the old and the new. They’ve gotten it right in so many ways. We missed it.” More

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      Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams Have Promising Paths at Wimbledon

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      For the first time, seedings at the tournament, which begins on Monday, did not take into account a player’s past performance on grass.Wimbledon conducted its draw on Friday, and for the first time past grass-court success was not a special factor in the seedings.It has been a long road to this moment, but then Wimbledon, the oldest of all the major tennis tournaments, has no shortage of history.Started in 1877, it took 50 years to begin seeding players and nearly 100 more for the All England Club to decide that it would adhere exclusively to computer rankings for the men instead of using a seeding committee or a grass-court seeding formula.“I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Mark Petchey, a coach and former player from Britain who is now a television analyst. “At the end of the day, tennis is very much a meritocracy, and you should definitely get the reward for the matches and the tournaments you’ve played before.”Tennis being tennis, not everyone agrees.“I hate it,” said Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst and a former top-five player. “If I’m the commissioner, I like that you can change the seedings on grass based on your success or lack of success on that surface.”But uniformity is now the rule on tour and at the four Grand Slam tournaments, which now all seed the men solely according to the rankings. Wimbledon retains the right to adjust the women’s seedings but has rarely exercised that right. As usual, it followed the rankings precisely this year, even though that meant that the No. 2 seed would be Aryna Sabalenka, the powerful Belarusian who has won just one singles match at Wimbledon and has yet to get past the fourth round in any Grand Slam singles tournament.Sabalenka, ranked fourth, has such a lofty seeding because No. 2 Naomi Osaka and No. 3 Simona Halep have withdrawn from Wimbledon. Osaka did so last week, extending her break from the game to protect her mental health but saying that she would play in the Olympics. Halep, the reigning Wimbledon champion, withdrew shortly before the draw on Friday because of a left calf injury that had already prevented her from playing in the French Open.Halep won the singles title in 2019 with a brilliant performance in the final against Serena Williams. Wimbledon was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic. Though Halep was eager to try to defend her title and trained this week at the All England Club, her calf remained tightly wrapped. She ultimately decided that she was not fit enough to compete.“I gave it everything I had,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “After having such special memories from two years ago, I was excited and honored to step back on these beautiful courts as defending champion. Unfortunately, my body didn’t cooperate.”She joins an increasingly long list of absentees. The men’s tournament will be without the two-time champion Rafael Nadal, the 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic and the Grand Slam singles champions Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka. The women’s tournament will also be without the American Jennifer Brady, who lost to Osaka in the final of this year’s Australian Open; she has developed plantar fasciitis.Despite Brady’s withdrawal, 21 American women are in the singles draw, the most since 1995 and by far the most women from any nation this year. The field includes the 41-year-old Venus Williams and the 39-year-old Serena Williams. Venus first played at Wimbledon in 1997 and has won five of its singles titles, the most recent in 2008. Serena first played in 1998 and has won seven singles titles, the most recent in 2016.Venus, who is unseeded in what could be the final Wimbledon for both sisters, will open against Mihaela Buzarnescu, a 33-year-old Romanian with a Ph.D. in sports science. Serena, seeded sixth, will face the unseeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich, a former top-30 player from Belarus.Serena, still chasing a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, has a promising draw. If she reaches the fourth round, she could face the 17-year-old American Coco Gauff, who is seeded 20th in her second Wimbledon, after a stirring run to the fourth round in her debut in 2019.Ashleigh Barty, the No. 1 women’s seed, will play Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round. Their match should be played on Centre Court and give Suarez, a former top-10 player returning from cancer treatment, a fittingly grand stage for her comeback.Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 and the reigning men’s singles champion, will play on Centre Court on Monday against Jack Draper, a 19-year-old British wild card. Djokovic’s draw looks clement, even if he could face a second-round rematch with Kevin Anderson, the tall, big-serving South African who is now ranked 103rd. Djokovic defeated him in the 2018 Wimbledon final.Djokovic, on track for a Grand Slam after winning this year’s Australian Open and French Open, is heavily favored to defend his title and the men’s record of 20 major singles titles, now shared by Nadal and Roger Federer. The other leading contender in his half of the draw is No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the young Greek whom Djokovic defeated on clay in the French Open final. Tsitsipas’s all-court game also looks well suited to grass, and his first-round opponent is the American Frances Tiafoe.“I don’t know if it’s this year or next year, but I’d be very surprised if Tsitsipas doesn’t win Wimbledon,” Gilbert said. “I’m very impressed with his movement, willingness to play defense and his transition game. He knows how to move forward.”So, of course, does Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion. He is in the other half of the draw with No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev and No. 7 Matteo Berrettini, the forceful Italian who won the grasscourt title at the Queen’s Club Championships last week.Federer, 39, lost to Djokovic in a classic five-set final in 2019, after holding two match points. He is back for at least one more Wimbledon after two knee surgeries, but he has struggled for consistent form in his few tour appearances this season. Federer, the sixth seed, faces a tricky first-round opponent in Adrian Mannarino, a flat-hitting French veteran who thrives on grass.The surface remains an unusual challenge even though playing conditions are now more similar to hardcourts than in the serve-and-volley days of Rod Laver and Pete Sampras. The All England Club switched to more durable grass in 2002. The bounces are higher, and baseline play is now the rule instead of the exception.“Grasscourt tennis is still different, even if it’s nothing like the ’80s or ’90s when you’d drop the ball on the grass and it didn’t bounce, and it was really imperative to come forward,” Gilbert said.The movement remains specific. It is easier to slip, particularly after a split step on fresh grass behind the baseline. Quick directional shifts can be challenging, and with the tour’s grass-court season lasting only a few weeks, young players often need several seasons to grasp the nuances.“It’s very tough to walk on grass and just pick it up if you practice predominantly on clay or hardcourts,” Petchey said.That was part of the thinking behind preserving a grass-court bias in the Wimbledon seeding. The All England Club sought to balance its draws by giving the best grasscourt players a boost. A seeding committee long made those decisions, but leading men like Gustavo Kuerten and Àlex Corretja grew increasingly disgruntled about being downgraded at Wimbledon. Corretja skipped it altogether in 2000, along with his fellow Spanish stars Juan Carlos Ferrero and Albert Costa.The All England Club responded by eliminating the subjective element, deploying a seeding formula in 2002 that factored in recent grass-court results. But that, too, is now gone for the men. The rankings, and only the rankings, will rule. More

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

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

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      Rafael Nadal Will Skip Wimbledon and Tokyo Olympics

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      The Spanish star said a short turnaround between the French Open and Wimbledon did not allow enough time for his body to recover.Rafael Nadal, a 20-time Grand Slam tournament winner, will not go for No. 21 at Wimbledon this year, he announced on Thursday. He also pulled out of the Olympics, and in doing so became the latest top athlete to suggest that compressed sports schedules after the pandemic were asking too much of their biggest stars.“Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” he wrote in a series of posts on Twitter. “It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision.”“The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition.”The fact that there has only been 2 weeks between RG and Wimbledon, didn’t make it easier on my body to recuperate after the always demanding clay court season. They have been two months of great effort and the decision I take is focused looking at the mid and long term.— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
      His withdrawal came a day after the basketball star LeBron James blamed the N.B.A.’s compressed schedule for a string of injuries to some of its biggest names, and as coaches and medical experts in Europe were warning about the physical demands on players competing in the monthlong European Championship.Nadal has struggled with injuries during his career, and Wimbledon is played on grass, a surface that is not his favorite. (He has won there only twice, and now will have missed the event three times since 2009.) The Olympics in Tokyo will be played on hardcourts.Nadal most recently skipped last year’s U.S. Open in New York, citing concerns about the coronavirus.Nadal cited the short turnaround between the French Open and Wimbledon as the reason for his withdrawal, saying it would not give him enough time to recuperate.Nadal, 35, is coming off a memorable French Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic last week. In a bid to win the tournament for the 14th time, Nadal won the first set before eventually losing in four. Djokovic went on to win the tournament.Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer, 39, are locked in a battle to amass the most career Grand Slam singles titles. Nadal and Federer have 20 and Djokovic has 19. No other player has more than 14.Nadal has played in three previous Olympics, winning the singles gold medal in Beijing in 2008. In 2016, he carried the flag of Spain at the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. More

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      In Making the French Open Final, Djokovic Edges Closer to His Rivals

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      Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in four fierce sets and will try to win his 19th Grand Slam title against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday. PARIS — This golden age of men’s tennis got a little shinier on Friday night. It is harder to deepen the impression at this advanced stage: after all the comebacks, marathon duels and winners under pressure over nearly 20 years of close character study. But Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, in their 58th meeting, still found something inside themselves that spoke to their public, which was allowed the privilege of staying in their seats past the 11 p.m. curfew by the French authorities.It was the right move on many levels. It might have prevented a riot, but above all it was welcome because clearing the main Philippe Chatrier Court would have stopped the flow of a great match that was transcendent in part because of the force of its tidal shifts.The third set was the best example, and one of the most compelling sets to be played at Roland Garros: 91 minutes of grit and pure talent reflected in both grinding rallies and bold swipes of the racket from all sorts of compromised positions. No two tennis players have been better at turning defense into offense, and no two men have played each other more often in singles in the Open era.It was 5-0 Nadal after five games, but Djokovic worked his way back with deep focus, channeling his intensity. There were no screams on Friday night like the one he produced after beating Matteo Berrettini on this same court on Wednesday in another late night match.As against Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final, Djokovic seemed to grasp that he did not have mental energy to squander. He prevailed on Friday because he was the steadier flame down the stretch and the more devastating returner.Nadal won no fewer than 73 percent of his first-serve points against his first five opponents in Paris this year. He won 59 percent against Djokovic. Nadal faced 22 break points combined in his first five matches. He faced 22 break points in one night against Djokovic, who can absorb pace and read service directions like no other.After his brilliant 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory, Djokovic has a chance to win his 19th Grand Slam singles title on Sunday.Nadal and Roger Federer are tied for the career men’s lead at 20 and might remain forever tied. But Djokovic is closing and, as he proved again on Friday night, he remains capable of beating the men on their surfaces of choice.He also holds the career edge over both: 27-23 over Federer and 30-28 over Nadal who could have reeled him back in with a victory.Nadal reacted after his loss on Friday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesDjokovic is now the only man to have beaten Nadal twice in Roland Garros, with the first victory coming in the 2015 quarterfinals when Nadal was in a rare funk.But Djokovic’s achievement this year is more impressive when you consider that Nadal had beaten him five times in a row on clay, including last year’s straight-set romp in the French Open final and last month’s Italian Open final.Though the mood leaned toward superlatives on Friday night, they have played consistently high quality matches against each other (the 2018 Wimbledon semifinal) and longer matches (the 2012 Australian Open final).Nadal had moments of greatness in this semifinal, but was not routinely great, missing backhands by the bunch and losing his way in the crucial third-set tiebreaker with a double fault and a rare missed forehand volley into an open court.“These kind of mistakes can happen, but if you want to win, you can’t make these mistakes,” Nadal said with typical clarity and humility.Certainly not against a champion of Djokovic’s caliber. The crowd, limited to 5,000, sensed the vulnerability and urged Nadal on. It was a sign of how his relationship has deepened with the Roland Garros public. When he lost to Robin Soderling in 2009, he was wounded by the crowd’s hostility. But he has earned their respect and some of their allegiance with his point-by-point commitment. Djokovic had his share of support as well, but to get to 19, he still has one more hurdle, and though he will be a favorite in the final, the 5th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas should not be underestimated.Tsitsipas, a hirsute Greek with a one-handed backhand and an all-court game, has beaten Djokovic twice already on Djokovic’s favorite surface: outdoor hardcourts. Tsitsipas is prepared for this late stage in a major, and his purposeful walk between points is a hint at his inner drive and aggressive instincts. He can win points in all manner of ways, but his best chance against Djokovic may reside in pushing forward.They played in the semifinals of last year’s outlier of a French Open, staged in October after the French Tennis Federation shifted the dates because of the pandemic. Djokovic won the first two sets, but Tsitsipas rallied to force a fifth set and then ran out of steam more than belief, losing 6-1.Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrated his semifinal victory on Friday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThat is the challenge against Djokovic. He has the endurance and resilience under pressure to take your best shots, find solutions and impose his will in long Grand Slam matches. While it is tempting to think that Djokovic might be diminished by Friday’s 4 hour 11 minute effort, he already has proved that he can bounce back.“It’s not the first time I play an epic semifinal in a Grand Slam and then I have to come back in less than 48 hours and play the final,” he said.He has until late Sunday afternoon, and it bears remembering that Tsitsipas played a taxing five set semifinal on Friday as he held off Alexander Zverev.“It’s time for me to show that I’m capable,” Tsitsipas said of Djokovic.The Big Three have formed an unprecedented roadblock to the younger set, disrupting the normal cycle of men’s tennis. Federer is now an outsider at 39 but still a contender on quick courts like Wimbledon and is already back on the grass in Halle, Germany. Nadal just turned 35, and Djokovic recently turned 34.The majors, not the No. 1 ranking, are his clear focus and after beating Nadal in Paris, thoughts of a Grand Slam are hardly out of the question. Djokovic once held all four major titles, but neither he nor Federer nor Nadal has completed a Grand Slam by winning all four major singles titles in the same calendar year. No man has achieved it since Rod Laver in 1969.No matter how much it felt like a final, it was only the last step to the final, and now Djokovic will try to win his second French Open after beating the man who has won an improbable 13. More

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      Roger Federer Pulls Out of French Open

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      The 20-time Grand Slam event champion withdrew after a brutal third-round match that lasted until early Sunday morning.PARIS — After winning a grueling third-round match that finished well after midnight, Roger Federer put an end to his French Open, withdrawing from the tournament on Sunday.Federer, 39, was scheduled to face ninth-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the fourth round on Monday, but decided he did not want to risk pushing himself beyond his comfort zone.Federer, seeded eighth, was playing in only his third tournament in the last 16 months after two knee operations in 2020. Though he won the French Open in 2009 and has had strong clay-court results in his career, he ruled out his chances of winning before this year’s tournament even began, recognizing that he had played too little to be able to succeed on clay in a long series of best-of-five-set matches.Federer, the oldest player in this year’s men’s singles tournament, was also in a brutal half of the draw. It includes his two main rivals: No. 1 seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 3 seeded Rafael Nadal, a 13-time French Open champion.“After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation, it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery,” Federer said in a statement. “I’m thrilled I have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on the court.” More

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      Federer Escapes With a Win in a French Open Night Match

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      Still, he expressed doubt about his ability to play his fourth-round match Monday against Matteo Berrettini.PARIS — In a third-round night match that ended at 12:45 a.m. Sunday in a nearly empty center court, Roger Federer managed to summon the energy and inspiration to hold off Dominik Koepfer, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 7-5. “It was definitely unique in many ways, and I’m happy I found a way, also especially emotionally,” the 39-year-old Federer said. “How do you handle losing that second set? How do you handle to keep pushing yourself on and trying to feed off the energy of the team and all the people watching on TV?”“I was in many ways also playing for them,” Federer said of the viewers.Federer first played the French Open in 1999 as a teenager on a sunlit afternoon, losing to Patrick Rafter. Twenty-two years later, he had the dubious honor of playing in his first French Open night session. The sessions, new this year and created in part to increase television revenue, are being held without paying spectators because of pandemic curfew restrictions in Paris.There’s nothing quite like it ❤️ pic.twitter.com/A5SCKFptrs— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 6, 2021
      Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and now Federer have all played and won under the lights, but Federer came closest to big trouble, needing 3 hours 35 minutes to prevail.Next up: a daunting fourth-round match on Monday with Matteo Berrettini of Italy, but only if Federer decides to play. This is only his third tournament in 16 months after two knee surgeries, and he said he would make a final decision on whether to remain in the French Open only after seeing how his body reacted to Saturday night’s grueling match. Wimbledon, which begins June 28, remains his main priority.“I don’t know if I’m going to play,” he said of the Berrettini match. “I will discuss with the team, and I go from there.”It was not a great escape against Koepfer — Federer faced no match points and was not pushed to a fifth set — but it was certainly an escape.Koepfer, an unseeded German who did not begin playing tennis seriously until age 16, often extended the rallies by playing from well behind the baseline in the heavy, late-evening conditions. He was repeatedly rewarded with mis-hits and miscues by Federer. The Swiss star finished with 63 unforced errors to 51 winners.“I guess business needs to keep moving,” Federer said of the new time slot. “But one thing’s for sure: Days and nights on clay make a huge difference. You cannot compare the two, whereas on hardcourt, you feel it’s quite similar.”Federer was down a break of serve in the third set before recovering. In the fourth set, Koepfer lost his serve at 1-1 with a backhand error. After the chair umpire had descended from his chair to confirm the ball mark, Koepfer crossed to the other side of the net and, after looking back over his shoulder to make sure the chair umpire was not watching, leaned forward and spit angrily on the ball mark and wiped it with his foot.Other officials were watching, however, and Koepfer was given a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Though he started the next game at a 15-0 disadvantage, he still managed to break Federer back as the Swiss player missed a series of forehands. Koepfer shouted triumphantly, and Federer shouted in frustration toward his box, both men’s voices reverberating through the stadium.Only journalists, officials, tournament staff members and the players’ teams were in attendance.“Thanks for not falling asleep, everybody,” Federer said with a wave to the few, the very few, in the stands. More

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      At the French Open, Serena Williams Moves to the Fourth Round

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      At the French Open, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion defeated her fellow American Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-4, in her most convincing performance of the week.PARIS — Serena Williams’s tennis dress was green and billowed in the breeze. The tape on her right thigh was white and tight.It was a fashion clash, surely not what Williams had in mind when she approved this French Open ensemble. But the tape was a fitting symbol of her determination and persistence at age 39.Williams is not at her peak, and she looked rusty indeed when she returned to the tour and the red clay in Italy last month. But she is serving and scrapping her way into a much better place in Paris, and on an overcast Friday afternoon at a lightly populated center court, she produced her most convincing performance of the week to defeat a fellow American, Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-4.The match was less straightforward and symmetrical than the score. Collins, who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year, led by 4-1 in the second set after holding serve at love. The momentum appeared to have shifted, but Williams lifted, Collins dipped, and Williams did not lose another game.“Today in particular, this whole week thus far, I just needed a win,” Williams said. “I needed to win tough matches. I needed to win sets. I needed to win being down. I needed to find me, know who I am. Nobody else is Serena out here. It’s me. It’s pretty cool.”The one and only Serena is now back in the fourth round of the French Open, which is not unusual for a player who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles but is extraordinary at this advanced stage of her game.“I needed to find me, know who I am. Nobody else is Serena out here.”Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesShe is the oldest woman to reach the round of 16 in singles at Roland Garros in the Open era, surpassing her older sister Venus, who was 36 when she reached that round in Paris in 2017.“I personally can’t imagine still playing at this level at almost 40 years old,” said Chanda Rubin, a former top 10 player who is now a Tennis Channel analyst. “People get used to things, and we’re all guilty of it. You start seeing it more often, and it becomes less amazing, but what she’s doing is still amazing to me.”Success among older athletes is all the rage with Phil Mickelson winning the P.G.A. Championship last month at 50, Tom Brady winning a Super Bowl in February at 43 and Sue Bird winning a W.N.B.A. title last year at 39.There is clearly a role-modeling effect underway. Venus, who will turn 41 on June 17, is fading but still on tour, playing with tape and day-to-day pain of her own yet still hitting winners past women half her age.Roger Federer, who will turn 40 in August, remains in contention at this French Open after looking quick off the mark again on Thursday as he defeated his longtime rival Marin Cilic in four sets on the same patch of red clay where Williams beat Collins in cooler, heavier conditions.Seven Americans played third-round singles matches on Thursday, including four men: John Isner, Steve Johnson, Reilly Opelka and Marcos Giron. Williams was the only American to prevail, and I asked the 27-year-old Collins afterward if seeing Williams and other icons succeed late into their 30s and beyond made her view her own future differently.“I think that should give a lot of different athletes confidence, younger athletes especially, not to put as much pressure on themselves,” Collins said. “You’re seeing some of the greatest athletes in the world have some of their best success once they’re a little bit older. I think that goes to the maturity, the experience that they have at that point. It just shows how much of sports is a mental game, more so than just a physical game. It should give players confidence to see somebody like Serena or Tom Brady or Phil Mickelson.”Of course, Williams, Federer, Brady and Mickelson were all young phenoms before they became enduring superstars. What made them exceptional initially has helped keep them exceptional, but they have also had to adapt: training differently, eating more carefully and, in the cases of Williams and Federer, competing more efficiently.“Serena has had to make adjustments, just like Roger, to remain a factor at the majors,” Rubin said. “Look at Roger, being more aggressive and moving in, taking on that challenge, so I think that kind of adaptability is a requirement.”Even so, it has been quite some time since they reaped tennis’s biggest rewards. Federer’s last major singles title came at the Australian Open in 2018; Williams’s came at the Australian Open in 2017, when she was two months pregnant with her daughter, Olympia.Serena Williams acknowledged the crowd after her win on Friday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesBut both have continued to give themselves major opportunities: two match points for Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final against Djokovic; four different Grand Slam finals for Williams since her return from maternity leave.The odds of winning another major are against them. Federer, who will play Saturday night against Dominik Koepfer in the third round, is still in the half of the men’s singles draw with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. But Williams’s section of the women’s draw has opened up promisingly. At No. 7, she is the highest seed left in the bottom half after No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka experienced her latest Grand Slam setback by losing, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0, on Friday to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.The only Grand Slam singles champions left in the bottom half are Williams and Victoria Azarenka, who is not at her most dangerous on clay. There is also Marketa Vondrousova, a left-handed Czech who reached the final here in 2019.“There are some real challenges in front of Serena, but of course it’s possible,” Rubin said. “If you look at who’s left in her half, she has to feel pretty good about her chances. She can go toe-to-toe in any of those matches and lose them, but they are also winnable. That’s what you want, and she has to be feeling better about her game after seeing how she handled a tough challenge against Collins today.”Williams served and competed well, and will need more of the same in the next round when she faces Elena Rybakina, a 21-year-old who is seeded 21st. Rybakina, who was born and raised in Moscow, now represents Kazakhstan and has Williams-level power.But Rybakina has never faced Williams and never played a match of this magnitude. Even at 39 on her least favorite surface, Williams deserves to be the favorite. More