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    Playing Tennis Is Tough. So Is Being the Director of a Tournament.

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    Former players often run big events, and they have to deal with such requests as better food and accommodations. “As tournament director you know that not everyone is going to be happy,” one said.If Frances Tiafoe has his way, every player lounge at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament will have table tennis and video games. There will be top-shelf food, “Not some dry chicken, but quality stuff that doesn’t taste like cardboard,” Tiafoe said in an interview in September, and tournament directors will loan players luxury cars for the week rather than forcing them to rely on tournament transportation.Most important, Tiafoe, a U.S. Open semifinalist this year, wants the scheduling of matches to be fair and equitable for all, not just the game’s stars.Casper Ruud, the eighth-ranked player in the world, agrees with Tiafoe about the food, but he cares more about having a spacious gym on site for the players to warm up and cool down.“Some players like to eat pasta, others like more meat, and some like to eat rice, so having good chefs who can cook fresh food that’s something the players really appreciate,” Ruud said during the Laver Cup in Berlin last month.Masters 1000s are the highest-level tournaments on the ATP Tour, offering the most prize money and ranking points outside of Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. Opens. There are nine such events, including the Rolex Paris Masters, which begins Monday. More than half of those tournaments — Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome and the Rolex Paris Masters — are run by former touring pros who have become tournament directors.Two former female world No. 1s, Amélie Mauresmo and Garbiñe Muguruza, also are tournament directors, Mauresmo for the French Open and Muguruza at the WTA Finals, which begin Nov. 2. All offer a unique perspective on players’ wants and needs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      For These Olympians, the Bling Is the Thing

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      Athletes at the Paris Olympics have been sporting some seriously high-wattage accessories. Here are nine of our favorites.For the approximately 10,500 athletes competing at the Paris Olympics, accessories — often of the ultrashiny variety, perfect for capturing the eye of dozens of photographers — are a way to celebrate their countries, their families or their achievements on the world’s biggest stage.While some of the looks are impractical for competition — see Simone Biles’s diamond-encrusted goat pendant, which she showed off at a news conference after winning her sixth Olympic gold medal — most of the athletes with standout style have actually worn their accessories while competing. Yes, even the sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, with her seemingly mileslong black-and-neon acrylic nails.The Olympic rings are a popular motif, but other athletes have turned to the more personal. The American sprinter Noah Lyles, for instance, rocked a sparkling chain-link necklace when he won his first gold medal, in the 100-meter final, and the Korean sharpshooter Kim Yeji wore her daughter’s plush elephant toy on her waist while competing.No matter what or whom they choose to honor, athletes are using the world’s biggest stage as a spotlight for their beloved bling. Here are some of our favorite looks.Simone Biles posed with her goat necklace. “The people love it, and some people hate it,” she said. “So it’s like the best of both worlds.”Loic Venance/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSimone Biles’s Diamond Goat PendantIt’s not often that an Olympic gold medalist sports an accessory that outshines the medal. But Ms. Biles, who won her sixth Olympic gold medal, in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition, did just that when she donned a custom-made pendant with 546 sparkling diamonds in the shape of a goat — a reference to her status as the greatest of all time.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Paris F.C. Set Tickets To $0. Should Others Do the Same?

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      When Paris F.C. made its tickets free, it began an experiment into the connection between fans and teams, and posed a question about the value of big crowds to televised sports.Neither Paris F.C. nor St.-Étienne will have much reason to remember the game fondly. There was, really, precious little to remember at all: no goals, few shots, little drama — a drab, rain-sodden stalemate between the French capital’s third-most successful soccer team and the country’s sleepiest giant.That was on the field. Off it, the 17,000 or so fans in attendance can consider themselves part of a philosophical exercise that might play a role in shaping the future of the world’s most popular sport.Last November, Paris F.C. became home to an unlikely revolution by announcing that it was doing away with ticket prices for the rest of the season. There were a couple of exceptions: a nominal fee for fans supporting the visiting team, and market rates for those using hospitality suites.Everyone else, however, could come to the Stade Charléty — the compact stadium that Paris F.C. rents from the city government — free.In doing so, the club began what amounts to a live-action experiment examining some of the most profound issues affecting sports in the digital age: the relationship between cost and value; the connection between fans and their local teams; and, most important, what it is to attend an event at a time when sports are just another arm of the entertainment industry.When Paris F.C. made its tickets free in November, it did so with a few exceptions: fans supporting the visiting team and those using hospitality suites still have to pay.Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      An Opportunity at Paris Masters After a Taxing Tennis Season

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      Several players have broken through at the Paris Masters recently to win their first top-tier title. A well-rested Novak Djokovic may stifle that trend this year.It should come as no surprise that tennis’s Big Three — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — have dominated the Masters 1000 tournaments with nearly the same record-setting thoroughness as they have the Grand Slams. They’ve won a combined 103 of these top-tier tournaments; throw in Andy Murray and the title tally reaches 117.The Big Three won all but one Indian Wells crown from 2004 through 2017 and, with Murray, 12 of 15 Miami Open championships through 2019. Nadal won 10 times in Rome and 11 in Monte Carlo, with Djokovic winning a combined eight times at those two tournaments. The list goes on, with these legends typically filling a final’s other slot in most years, too.But there’s one slight weakness: the Rolex Paris Masters, which begins Monday. Djokovic has won it six times. But Federer, now retired, won it only once. Murray has won once, and Nadal has reached onlyone final.Last year, Holger Rune, then 19, won his first Masters 1000 in Paris, joining a list of surprising winners that since 2010 includes Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Jack Sock and Karen Khachanov, none of whom ever won other Masters 1000 singles titles. (Three others — Denis Shapovalov, Filip Krajinovic and Jerzy Janowicz — reached their only Masters 1000 finals here.)Novak Djokovic has won the Paris Masters six times.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesSeveral factors make Paris different, including that it’s the last big tournament of the year. “People are tired,” said Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst and former pro. “That brings a lot of unpredictability.”Vedran Martic, Khachanov’s coach, noted that Khachanov was just 22 when he won, explaining that it’s easier for younger (and lower-ranked) players to find success after a long, grinding season. They have not been playing as deep into tournaments week after week as top-ranked players have, which gives them fresher legs. (Older players, he added, may also be more likely to have wives and children eager for their brief off-season to begin.)Craig Boynton, who coaches the world No. 11, Hubert Hurkacz, said the court surface in Paris kept the ball from bouncing high, making it tougher for players to set up shots and win quick points. “That is taxing mentally and on the legs,” he said, emphasizing that the fatigue factor in Paris is typically more mental than physical.“Attitude is most important at this time,” Boynton said. “In the locker room, people say, ‘Who’s crispy?’, meaning ‘Who’s burned out?’” Guys can get to Paris super crispy thinking about their vacation and want to get it over with and move on.”Young players feeling good in the fall can gain confidence and get on a roll, as Rune did last year, Gilbert said. “If you get hot, that’s a good tournament to capitalize on.”Martic agreed to an extent, saying that in 2018 Khachanov had just won in Moscow and was in a good groove. But he added, “It’s difficult to point to one reason: He also plays well indoors and likes Paris and the crowds and atmosphere there.”The calendar matters in other ways, too. Federer withdrew from the Paris Masters or skipped it four times in the 2010s, partly because his hometown tournament in Basel, Switzerland, immediately precedes it. He not only won Basel seven times in that decade (and 10 total), reaching the final two other times, but also devoted extra energy to supporting the event.More significant, Boynton said, is that on the heels of Paris is the ATP Finals for the top eight players. That’s even more prestigious than a Masters 1000. Three of those four times Federer bowed out of Paris, he played in the Finals; Nadal played the Finals four times after either skipping Paris or withdrawing mid-tournament because of injury.Gilbert said that if a strong performance at the Paris Masters could send a player into the ATP Finals, however, “that’s a great motivator.” And, he added, money matters, too, pointing to a new wrinkle this year that will reduce crispiness.The ATP will distribute $20 million among the top 30 players with the most rankings points accrued from Masters 1000 tournaments and ATP Finals. “That’s a significant amount of money, and my guess is that everyone close to the bonus pool will be up for a real battle,” he said.However, any opportunity to break through comes with a Novak-size caveat: Djokovic, the most successful of the Big Three at this level, has reached the finals in seven of his past eight visits.This year, he will be well rested. So, despite prior unpredictability and the factors favoring youth, the odds remain strong that an older man will be playing on the last day in Paris. More

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      A Continental Competition, All in One Neighborhood

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      At the eight-minute mark of the final of the CAN 18 soccer tournament, the players on the Mauritania team score three times in rapid succession.The balls hitting the goalkeeper’s small net sound like the blasts of a cannon. Boom. Boom. Boom. The last two happen so quickly that many in the crowd miss them.“Did they score?” the Ivory Coast fan squished next to me asks, looking stunned. “Yes, twice,” a Mauritanian fan on my other side responds gleefully.It doesn’t take long to understand that the annual soccer tournament of Paris’s 18th arrondissement is different: The stadium is a small, caged turf court in the middle of the Goutte d’Or — the dense, working-class landing spot for each new wave of immigrants to the city, a place where African wax stores and tailors for boubous compete with boulangeries and bistros among the crowded streets.The tournament was one of many around Paris inspired by the 2019 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, or Coupe d’Afrique des nations in French, the continental competition typically held every two years. The events have become so popular that the finals of one in Créteil, a southeastern suburb of Paris, were broadcast on Amazon Prime last summer.Mamoudou Camara floated the idea for the tournament on Snapchat in the summer of 2019. This year’s edition had 16 teams.In the Goutte d’Or, Mamoudou Camara’s principal aim wasn’t to shine a positive light on immigration and community spirit in his neighborhood, which is tucked behind the Gare du Nord — Europe’s busiest train station — and is among the city’s most impoverished, gritty and diverse areas. He was just thinking a tournament might help his friends survive the hot nights during Ramadan. He raised the idea on Snapchat, and by the end of that evening in summer 2019, six teams had registered. A day later, there were six more.Instead of holding the event in a far-off stadium, Camara and his friends decided to host it in their childhood nest, the mini court in the center of the urban park where they spent their summer nights and weekends, battling over a ball and rounds of Coca-Cola or Fanta. (The loser paid.)It offers a very different atmosphere than the marble statues and the manicured flower beds of the Tuileries and Luxembourg gardens. On game nights, the park, Square Léon, is buzzing with older men crowded around checker tables, little kids clambering up playground equipment and older women in West African dresses selling bags of homemade doughnuts and slushy ginger drinks that both tickle and soothe the throat.Just before the final match starts, a tambour player beats out rhythms.“In our neighborhood, we have all nationalities,” said Camara, 26. “We are proud to say we are multicultural.”Around 30 percent of the 21,000 residents in this neighborhood were immigrants or foreigners in 2019, according to France’s national statistics institute.Sixteen teams registered this year, the event’s fourth edition, to play 31 games over three weeks. On this June night, we are down to the finals. The Ivory Coast, a veteran team that won the inaugural tournament in 2019, is back in its orange and green jerseys, trying to reclaim the title. Challenging them is Mauritania — a team packed with young players, many of them semiprofessionals, wearing yellow and brown. The jerseys were created by a celebrated local designer who collaborates with Nike, and who has been invited to the presidential palace.The teams for Cameroon and Tunisia before their match. A local designer who has collaborated with Nike created the uniforms for the 2023 tournament.“For me, CAN is one of those moments when the neighborhood can revel in being a bit exceptional,” said Éric Lejoindre, the mayor of the 18th arrondissement.It is just one sign of how the tournament has matured. This year, the neighborhood city hall provides a small grandstand on one side of the court. Everywhere else, spectators stand, claiming their spots a good hour before the game begins.By the time the referee blows his whistle, we are standing eight rows thick.The court measures just 25 meters by 16.5 meters — about 82 feet by 54 feet — roughly one-seventeenth of FIFA’s recommended field size. It is framed by a low concrete wall, topped by a tall chain link fence.The confined area makes for an intense game of precision, tight tricks, bursts of speed and a blasting ball that echoes against the walls and crashes into the fence every few minutes.This is soccer by inches, with a team losing and gaining the ball within seconds.Camara and other organizers devised the rules: five players per team on the court; no offside; corner kicks are thrown in; any foul after the fifth within a half results in a penalty kick; and games last 30 minutes to an hour, depending on their importance.Two people livestream matches, and another camera is rolling for the referee to review plays.The first year, all players had to be locals, but the rules have since loosened, allowing players from elsewhere to participate. But those who grew up competing on the court quickly reveal themselves by using the side walls to their advantage, bouncing passes around defenders to their teammates and back to themselves.Martin Riedler, who three years ago formed the tournament’s French team, compared it to a boxing ring.The playing surface is much smaller than that of a full-size soccer field. “You have to be on your toes the whole time, which makes the experience so intense,” one player said.“You have to be on your toes the whole time, which makes the experience so intense,” said Riedler, who attended Santa Clara University in California on a soccer scholarship. He has packed his team with elite players who can hit the cross bar from the halfway line of a full field, but who also find the arena overwhelming. “You know you won’t sleep at night after a game.”Players slam each other to the turf, then pick one another up. They continually battle against the wall, so close that a spectator might graze them through the fence. They offer up-close renditions of spectacular maneuvers, flicking the ball over their opponents’ heads and spinning it around their feet. That is one of the beauties of a small court, the referee Bengaly Souré tells me. It’s a compression chamber of technical plays.“There’s no space, but they create space,” he said.When a player jumps and kicks the ball into the net midair, Souré turns to the fence and expresses his admiration.The crowd is part of the fun. Spectators shout their observations over the sounds of African beats, booming from loudspeakers. It is agreed that the player wearing No. 7 for Mauritania — who plays for a team in Italy — is a dangerous force. And though the Ivory Coast falls increasingly behind, the game could turn at any moment.The Guinea-Bissau team before a match.Some people claim their spots an hour before the match.“I’ve seen a team that’s losing 4-1 make a comeback,” said Makenzy Kapaya, a 37-year-old artist who grew up in the Goutte d’Or but later relocated to a less cramped apartment elsewhere. Like many in the crowd, he has returned to watch the games and to reunite with childhood friends.“If you have problems, people will help you here, no matter what your origins,” Kapaya said. The Goutte d’Or, a dense, working-class area, often makes news for unflattering reasons — drugs, prostitution, violence. The library closed for months three years ago because employees said they had been repeatedly threatened by dealers selling near its doors. Following the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk this summer and the subsequent protests across the country, the local police station was attacked.Éric Lejoindre, the mayor of the 18th arrondissement, pointed out that local volunteers had been quietly helping with homework, cooking and housing for years. A group of therapists in the Goutte d’Or hold regular listening sessions, setting out chairs in an abandoned lot for passers-by to unload their burdens.For all its problems, the neighborhood has huge heart, Lejoindre said.“Locals know it, but sometimes we need it to emerge in a spectacular fashion,” he said. “For me, CAN is one of those moments when the neighborhood can revel in being a bit exceptional.”Mauritania went on a scoring outburst as night fell.After halftime, the Ivory Coast players rally, bringing the score to 9-7. But then Mauritania yanks the plug from their energy and dreams. As the sky dims into an inky night, and spectators hold up their phones as lanterns, Mauritania scores again. And again. And again. Boom, boom, boom. The players start to do little dances after each goal.When Souré blows his whistle for full time, a crowd surges onto the tiny court to embrace the young Mauritanian team in a squealing cyclone of joy.Camara, who will take a few weeks off before beginning preparations for next year’s event, said he was continually surprised by how much joy the little tournament had brought to the neighborhood. At a time when anti-immigration sentiments are growing and identity politics are flaring in France, he said he considered it a unifying event. “We thought we were just starting something for fun,” he said, “but we created something bigger.”Red and white fireworks burst above the little park in the heart of the Goutte d’Or. The celebration will continue for hours.Spectators applauded Mauritania’s victory against Ivory Coast.Juliette Guéron-Gabrielle More

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      Victor Wembanyama Picked No. 1 Overall by Spurs in 2023 NBA Draft

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      Wembanyama, the 19-year-old French basketball star, had been perhaps the most-hyped prospect since LeBron James.Victor Wembanyama had grown up in the suburbs of Paris dreaming about this moment since he was 12 years old. He had long felt as though he was different from everyone else, as though he could be great — and not just in basketball.He’d spent the past several months, and even the last few days, exuding cool calm about his future. But when his moment finally arrived, he couldn’t help but cry.The San Antonio Spurs selected Wembanyama No. 1 overall in Thursday’s N.B.A. draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. In doing so, they officially started the N.B.A. career of one of the most highly anticipated prospects in league history.“One of the best feelings of my life,” Wembanyama, 19, said. “Probably the best night of my life. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long. It’s a dream come true. It’s incredible.”The Charlotte Hornets selected Alabama’s Brandon Miller with the No. 2 pick. The Portland Trail Blazers chose Scoot Henderson, a guard from the N.B.A.’s G League Ignite, with the third pick. The Thompson twins from Overtime Elite, a semiprofessional league for prospects, went next. Houston took Amen Thompson with the fourth pick, and Detroit selected Ausar Thompson at No. 5.The Charlotte Hornets selected Alabama’s Brandon Miller with the second pick.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesScoot Henderson was the No. 3 pick overall, by the Portland Trail Blazers.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesEach team had five minutes to make its selection in the first round. Although the Spurs’ pick had been submitted early in the allotted time, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver waited until all five minutes had elapsed before announcing the selection.“Longest five minutes of my life,” Wembanyama said.His stomach began to flutter, and his family members grew quiet. They began looking at their watches.Then Silver finally called Wembanyama’s name, and a new chapter of his life began. He hugged his sister and his brother, who both cried with joy. He hugged his parents and then his agents.Later, backstage, someone handed him a Spurs jersey with his name on it.“Someone knew this was happening somehow,” he quipped.In San Antonio, Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich was thrilled.“He’s not LeBron, or Tim, or Kobe, or anyone else,” Popovich told reporters there. “He’s Victor.”Wembanyama talked about working to win a championship as soon as possible, and about the Texas breakfast tacos he’d heard so much about.Fourteen players from outside the United States have been selected first overall in the N.B.A. draft. Wembanyama is the first international top pick who did not play high school or college basketball in the United States since the Italian player Andrea Bargnani, whom the Toronto Raptors selected first in 2006.At more than seven feet tall, with the agility and ball-handling skills of a much smaller player, Wembanyama has drawn comparisons to N.B.A. stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. He has long admired those players, but he has often said he doesn’t want to be like anyone in particular. He has said he wants to “be something that’s never been seen before and will never be seen again.”Fans line up outside Barclays Center in Brooklyn before the N.B.A. draft.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesOn Wednesday, the N.B.A. took the unusual step of hosting a news conference just for Wembanyama before the other prospects addressed the news media in groups.“Welcome to San Antonio,” a reporter from Texas said during Wembanyama’s news conference. With the draft still a day away, the reporter quickly added, “Not yet.”Wembanyama smiled.“Not yet,” he said.Wembanyama had been projected as the No. 1 pick for this draft even before the 2022-23 season.The Spurs won the draft lottery in May, as Wembanyama watched with friends and family in France.“I was just thinking I was feeling lucky that they got the pick as a franchise that has that culture and that experience in winning and making, creating good players,” Wembanyama said on Wednesday. “I really can’t wait.”The Spurs have had a strong history with French players and with the top pick in the draft.They drafted the French point guard Tony Parker late in the first round in 2001. He won four championships with the Spurs and was named the most valuable player of the finals in 2007. Another French player, Boris Diaw, spent more than four seasons in San Antonio and was part of the 2014 championship team.The Spurs have also had great success making the first pick in the draft. In 1987, they used the No. 1 pick to take David Robinson, who won the league’s M.V.P. Award in 1995, was a 10-time All-Star and won two championships with the Spurs. Then in 1997, San Antonio chose Tim Duncan first overall. Duncan went on to win five championships and two M.V.P. Awards, and he was named finals M.V.P. three times.Coming into a team with that kind of history might seem like a lot of pressure for a teenager like Wembanyama, but he has appeared to be unruffled by it.Spurs fans at Barclays cheer for Wembanyama.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesThe 2023 draft class onstage with N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver. Wembanyama stood at the back, a head taller than everyone else.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesOn Wednesday, Wembanyama had been asked about a comment from a pundit, who said that his career would be a disappointment if it wasn’t like that of Durant or the Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon.Wembanyama calmly dismissed the premise.“I’ve got such high expectations for myself that I’m immune to all this stuff,” he said. “So I really don’t care.”Wembanyama grew up in Le Chesnay, west of Paris, but left at age 14 to live about 20 minutes away in the dorms of his childhood club, Nanterre. He went to high school across the street. He has played professionally in France since he was 15, often competing against and with players much older than him. It meant he had few opportunities to lead a team.But last season, he starred for Metropolitans 92, a French club based in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. Most of his games were broadcast on the N.B.A. App.“Only this year I had the opportunity to learn to know this kind of responsibility,” Wembanyama said. “It is the best thing I learned in my career so far.”The team had created a plan to prepare Wembanyama physically and mentally for the N.B.A. In turn, Wembanyama became deeply invested in his teammates’ growth.One day in April, he told his agent Bouna Ndiaye that he needed a second athletic trainer because the first was overloaded. Ndiaye, assuming Wembanyama meant a second trainer for himself, found one and had been prepared to pay the second trainer’s salary to satisfy his client. But Wembanyama told him the trainer was for the whole team.“He told me, ‘Yeah, but you don’t understand,’” Ndiaye said. “‘My teammates need that. Because I believe in this team.’”Wembanyama said it felt “surreal” to hear his name called at the draft.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesThe club eventually agreed to hire another trainer.Wembanyama was named the most valuable player of his French league, the youngest ever to win that award, and led his team to a second-place finish. They lost in the finals last week.He got to New York on Monday, excited to experience the city he had seen only in films and on television.He rode the subway to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx from Columbus Circle in Manhattan on Tuesday. He jumped over the turnstile as he exited the train station in homage to Jacques Chirac, the former French president, who hopped a turnstile in the Paris metro in 1980. Wembanyama threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Yankees’ game against Seattle and laughed after it sailed wide.It had otherwise been difficult for Wembanyama to simply go out and see the city. The anticipation for what heights his career could reach had been building even before Thursday’s official welcome into the N.B.A.He was the first player to walk into the green room at Barclays Center on Thursday night. About two and a half hours before he heard his name called, he walked onto the stage for a moment. As he left the floor a minute later, he turned back to look at the stage one more time.“This is when it started to feel a little bit real,” Wembanyama said after he was selected. “It still isn’t completely real. At that moment I started visualizing.”In San Antonio, Spurs fans felt a new sense of hope after a stretch of losing seasons. They walked around yelling “Go Spurs Go!” In one bar, fans passed around a cutout of Wembanyama’s head for photographs.At a draft night party at the Spurs’ arena, the crowd was chanting “Wemby” an hour before the draft had even begun.Wembanyama said he had felt “so much love” from Spurs fans since San Antonio won the draft lottery last month.“I think there’s murals of me in the city center in San Antonio,” he said. “It’s just incredible. I could not ask for a better welcome than this.”Santul Nerkar More

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      in Tennis

      The French Open’s Clay Courts Tell the Story

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      “When you step out on a newly made clay court that is clean, all the lines are perfect. It makes for a very pleasing visual experience,” Stefanos Tsitsipas said.

      “But there’s also beauty when the courts are dirty and messed up and you can see all of the footwork and effort that has been put in and you have a visual of that, of how much work has been put in in order for you to succeed in what you do.” More

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      in Tennis

      Stefanos Tsitsipas, So Near the Greats, but Not One of Them Yet

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      He has an impressive game, with a dominating serve and a huge wingspan. Winning a major is next on his list.LONDON — Stefanos Tsitsipas stood behind the courtside sofa in the O2 Arena on Sept. 22 watching Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray practice their doubles game.Tsitsipas applauded when Federer hit a classic backhand down-the-line passing shot — a stroke Tsitsipas has modeled his own picturesque one-handed backhand after — well out of Murray’s reach. Tsitsipas looked saucer-eyed when Federer hit another winner, this time a backhand volley off a Djokovic midcourt half volley.Eventually, Tsitsipas, of Greece, couldn’t resist any longer, and he climbed into the umpire’s chair so he could get a better view of the four legends who would be among his teammates in the Laver Cup, starting the next day.“I’m stunned by their level of play,” Tsitsipas said later. “Just admiring [Federer’s] natural ability to kiss the ball with his racket. That’s a beautiful thing to see.”There are many tennis experts who say that Tsitsipas’s game is also a sight to behold. With an enormous wingspan on the forehand and backhand, he looks almost eaglelike as he strikes the ball. He glides rather than rumbles around the court and uses a hammer of a serve to set up points that can be won with topspin and brute force.Tsitsipas knows that his game is particularly effective indoors, especially given that he won the ATP Finals in 2019 played at the O2 Arena in London.“I’m a player that can serve big, and I have a big forehand,” he said. “I have good placement around the court, and it helps that I’m not a player that stays back. I have so many options out there that I can use to close off points.”Diego Schwartzman, who lost to Tsitsipas at the Laver Cup, said that Tsitsipas was more patient and felt the ball well.“He has that combination where he can be aggressive and be patient,” Schwartzman said. “He has many chances to win Grand Slams.”Tsitsipas reached the semifinals at the Australian Open in January.Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesIt is the majors that have eluded Tsitsipas. At 24, he has already been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world and currently sits at No. 5. He enters the Rolex Paris Masters having won two titles this year, in Majorca and in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He was also runner-up in five other tournaments.While Tsitsipas reached the final at the 2021 French Open, losing to Djokovic, and has reached four major semifinals, including at this year’s Australian Open, he has often faltered when it mattered most. At the United States Open in August, he was upset in the first round by 94th-ranked Daniel Elahi Galan, a match in which he dropped the first two sets 6-0, 6-1.“I don’t think I have ever played so bad in my career,” Tsitsipas said. “And I know what happened.”The issue at the Open, Tsitsipas said, was his decision to experiment with new rackets, racket head weight, strings and string tension. The reason was an elbow injury late last year that forced him to retire in the first round of the Paris Masters, pull out midtournament at the ATP Finals and then have surgery after the season. Since then he has been trying to find the right equipment combination that will enhance his game but not hurt his arm.“The surgery was difficult to come back from, and there was a lot of doubting at the time,” Tsitsipas said. “There are certain decisions and moves that I need to take in order to prevent getting my elbow in that state again. But I should not have so much experimentation going on. It took away a lot of my confidence.”Tsitsipas is keenly aware that he is one of the best players never to have won a major.“I know where my tennis is capable of reaching and which zone I can be at,” he said. “I guess I’ll learn from all the mistakes. It was something that I don’t want to replicate again because it was psychological suffering. Those are opportunities that I need to grab.”Introspection is important to Tsitsipas’s personality. Asked about his favorite philosopher and his preferred quote, Tsitsipas didn’t hesitate.“I like the Socrates one,” he said. “‘I know only one thing: That I know nothing.’” More

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      So the Forehand Is Your Best Tennis Shot? You Sure?

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      It is usually the most powerful, but that greater strength may also be its greatest weakness. It can break down under pressure.During the Rolex Paris Masters, you will consistently see players taking a circuitous route to a ball, running around what should be a backhand to take a whack from their forehand side. Most players hit forehands harder and with more spin, seeking a better chance to seize control of the point.And yet that greatest strength may also be the greatest weakness. Despite the peril, players attack the opposition’s forehand while serving and during a rally because the forehand is also less stable and more likely to result in an unforced error, especially on a faster indoor court like the one for this tournament, which begins Saturday and runs through Nov. 6.“Around 90 percent of the time a player’s forehand is stronger, so you fear it more, but it isn’t always the most consistent,” said Steve Johnson, adding, “I’m one of the players who’s going to let it fly and litter the stat sheet with winners and errors.”Backhands, especially two-handers, are more compact so less can go awry.“The forehand is a bigger swing and a more complex shot technically,” said Michael Russell, who coaches Taylor Fritz. “If you look at the top-10 players you’ll see many hit their forehands quite differently, but the backhands have more similarities. So the forehand is going to break down more under pressure.”Taylor Fritz hits a forehand during a match in Indian Wells, Calif.Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesAttacking the forehand is more common than in the past because of changes in technology and playing style, said Wayne Ferreira, Frances Tiafoe’s coach. Modern rackets and strings enabled players to hit stronger backhands, while the desire to further amp up the forehand has led most players to more extreme Western grips, he said.(The Semi-Western and Western grips favored by many players, men and women, involve rotating the racket in the hand to the point that it looks almost unnatural to swing it, until you see a player whip through and rotate up on the ball creating tremendous topspin impossible with less nontraditional grips.)“The reason forehands are worse today is because of the grip — you can create more pace, but you’ll have a harder time controlling it,” Ferreira said, blaming training and development that locks in these grips when players are young. “Frances has a Western grip forehand, and I think it’s too far over, but sometimes it’s too hard to change it back.”Just because a player may be more prone to mistakes on their forehand does not mean you can just go after it all the time.Denis Shapovalov hits a forehand during a match in the Australian Open.Graham Denholm/Getty Images“You still try to stay away from that shot and then force the player to hit one when you have a good opportunity,” said Denis Shapovalov, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Paris Masters finals in 2019. “It’s a gamble any time you go there. You might get beat or you might get a point out of it.”Russell said that each point had many variables, including both players’ confidence, but said the court surface was also a crucial factor.“On a faster indoor court [like at the Paris Masters] or a grass court you have less time to prepare and a lower bounce, so guys with big swinging forehands have a hard time getting set,” Ferreira said. “On clay the ball is slower and bounces higher, so it’s more in the pocket where players are comfortable on the forehand.”Sometimes players begin targeting the forehand with their serve. If a player has a big backswing, Brandon Nakashima tries exploiting that by tossing in more serves to the forehand. “They will be more prone to mis-hits or shorter returns,” he explained.Russell said the shorter backhand swing made it easier to absorb a first serve’s power and block it back. Ferreira noted that while “you have to mix it up a lot,” most players prepared to return serve by setting up for the backhand, so players must adjust to serves to the forehand. (One-handed backhands require a more notable grip shift in those moments.)During rallies, Johnson said, attacking the forehand is necessary to open up the backhand. “I try to catch guys by surprise and go to their forehand when they’re looking for the backhand,” he said.Frances Tiafoe hits a forehand during a match at the French Open.Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesPlayers have to choose their spots, Ferreira cautioned. “Players do very well hitting inside out forehands from the backhand corner, but because of the grip they don’t do as well hitting forehands on the run as they used to,” he said. Ferreira said there were certain players (like Matteo Berrettini) with huge forehands where you need to be more careful and others (like Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner) where you’re more likely to gain a free point. “But even with Berrettini you can go to the forehand when he’s not expecting it.”Ferreira said players should also attack opponents’ forehands when they were hitting approach shots or at the net, because if they kept the ball down, with a slice or flat shot, it was more challenging for forehands to handle.Russell agreed that every player could be pushed on the forehand side, especially if they had to hit the ball while moving. “On the backhand they’ll use the slice as a defensive shot, but most players don’t practice the forehand slice, and you can make them late if they have to hit forehands on the run.”He said even Rafael Nadal, who with Roger Federer now retired is the forehand king, can be beaten on that wing. “If you can rush Rafa, he has a tendency to lift a little more,” Russell said, before adding, “but you have to execute it perfectly or you’re running on a yo-yo.Johnson said some players lacked confidence and pressuring the forehand early could pay off.“If they miss a couple early, they’ll stop going for as much on that shot,” he said. Not everyone falters, however. “Some guys can miss a hundred forehands in a row and won’t question going for the 101st one.”Nakashima and Shapovalov added a final caveat: A crucial moment, with the set or match on the line, may not be the best time to test your opponent’s forehand. “In a key point, you don’t want to get surprised by a big shot,” Nakashima said.Attacking the forehand at that juncture is like throwing a changeup instead of your best fastball with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, Shapovalov added. This tactic is a weapon to deploy, but wisely.“In the big moments,” he said, “you want to go where you’re confident and where the percentages are highest to win the point.” More