Raducanu, Emma (2002- )

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Tennis

      Wimbledon, a Longstanding Tradition, Opens with a Flurry of Changes

      by

      One hundred years after the opening of Centre Court, it’s a season of change at the All England Club, what with the barring of Russian players and a new set of green doors.WIMBLEDON, England — It is about tradition this year at Wimbledon on the 100th anniversary of Centre Court, but as the defending men’s singles champion Novak Djokovic walked back onto the grass on Monday to launch this year’s tournament, it was also about change.There is plenty of it at the All England Club in 2022: large and small; obvious and subtle.The big stuff: Russian and Belarusian players (and journalists) have been barred because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The tournament has been expanded from 13 days of play, with no matches scheduled on the first Sunday, to a full 14 days that will leave no respite for the grass and the leafy neighborhood.The little stuff: The benches and desks in the Centre Court press seats have been replaced with padded chairs. All England Club members with their circular purple badges no longer serve as moderators at news conferences. Now, the stars sit alone at the rostrum, as they do nearly everywhere else in the tennis world.Djokovic passed through a set of green doors to meet Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea in their first-round match.Paul Childs/ReutersAs if to underscore the theme, Djokovic and his first-round opponent, Kwon Soon-woo, arrived on the most celebrated court in tennis in novel fashion.Players have long exited the clubhouse and made a hard left, passing behind a screen with a club member leading the way, before taking a hard right and stepping onto the grass.Beginning this year, they walk straight ahead and unaccompanied out of the clubhouse and onto the court through a new set of green doors that are quickly closed behind them.It seemed unceremoniously abrupt to those used to the old ways and fond of the murmurs from the crowd that used to build into cheers as the players navigated the passageway before coming fully into public view.But the pixie dust was still there, as Djokovic confirmed after his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory, which seemed even closer than the score.“Childhood dreams were realized here in 2011,” Djokovic said of the first of his six Wimbledon singles titles. “I will never forget that. It will always have a special place in my heart. Of course, every time I step out there on the court, there is this goose bumps type of feeling, butterflies in the stomach.”It happens the first time, too, as Emma Raducanu later confirmed. All in a rush last year, she became a global star and a superstar in Britain by winning the U.S. Open at age 18, becoming the first player to win a Grand Slam singles title as qualifier. Victories have been much harder to come by since then, but she already had fine memories of Wimbledon after reaching the fourth round in her first appearance in the main draw last year.Emma Raducanu of Britain in her match against Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium.Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated PressMonday, however, was her first match on Centre Court, and though she has barely played on grass this season because of injuries, she managed the moment, and a tricky opponent in Alison Van Uytvanck, to win 6-4, 6-4.Raducanu may not be ready to take over women’s tennis. No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who just turned 21, has taken up that air and space. But Raducanu clearly knows how to rise to an occasion.“From the moment I walked out through those gates, I could really just feel the energy and the support and everyone was behind me from the word ‘go,’” she said. “I just really tried to cherish every single point on there, played every point like it could have been one of my last on that court.”That was imaginative thinking indeed, considering that Raducanu, Britain’s first women’s Grand Slam singles champion since Virginia Wade in the 1970s, is poised to be a Centre Court fixture for a decade or more if she can remain healthy.Andy Murray knows the drill. He, too, became a Centre Court regular in his teens and eventually lived up to the billing by ending a 77-year drought for British men in singles by winning Wimbledon in 2013 and again in 2016.Playing with an artificial hip at age 35, Murray has proved his love of his craft beyond a reasonable doubt. Though he will never bridge the achievement gap that separates him from the Big Three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — each with 20 or more major singles titles — Murray remains a threat on grass on any given afternoon.He demonstrated it with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over James Duckworth that closed play on Centre Court on opening day, almost exactly eight hours after it had begun and almost exactly 100 years after the first opening day on Centre Court.Britain’s Andy Murray celebrated his first-round victory over James Duckworth of Australia.Hannah Mckay/ReutersThat was on June 26, 1922, after the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club moved from its cozier, original home on Worple Road after purchasing land on Church Road to accommodate a new, larger stadium. The main court at Worple Road had been called Centre Court because it was actually at the center of the grounds. The club kept the name even though the new primary court was no longer so central.The new Wimbledon got off to a soggy start with rain and more rain, forcing the 1922 edition to finish on a Wednesday, but it was still a popular success with worthy singles champions: the stylish and long unbeatable Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen and the Australian men’s star Gerald Patterson, a two-time Wimbledon champion nicknamed “The Human Catapult” because of his big serve (he could volley, too).Both Lenglen and Patterson would have been in for a few surprises if they had been watching on Monday. Centre Court is now rainproof with its retractable, accordion-style roof that was put to good use for Djokovic’s and Kwon’s duel.The electronic scoreboards and the touch screen operated by the chair umpire would also have caught their eyes, as would the once-unthinkable fact that the chair umpire for Monday’s opening men’s match was a woman: Marija Cicak. More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Tennis

      Entering Wimbledon, Emma Raducanu Carries a Heavy Load of Expectations

      by

      Emma Raducanu came out of nowhere to win the U.S. Open at 18 years old. Things have been a little rocky ever since. The British tennis-sphere gasped earlier this month.For the third time this year, the teen sensation Emma Raducanu had to quit in the middle of the match because of an injury. Just weeks before Wimbledon, her participation in the event, the most anticipated homecoming this sport has experienced in years, appeared to be in jeopardy.A lengthy headline in The Daily Mail put it this way:“Emma Raducanu has ‘no idea’ if she’ll be fit for Wimbledon as she RETIRES just 33 minutes into her first match on grass since last summer, after US Open champion struggled through just seven games with ‘freak’ injury to her left side.” (Emphasis theirs.)A day later, however, Raducanu, who is 19 years old, put out word that she expected to be just fine for Wimbledon, which begins Monday. But there will still be jitters until she takes her first swings, most likely on Centre Court, and perhaps manages to win her opening match. A kingdom is dreaming.“This is stress that is off the scale really,” said Annabel Croft, a British former professional and once rising young star who is one of a handful of women with an inkling of the kind of pressure Raducanu is under.Wimbledon is where it all began a year ago for Raducanu. Back then, she was just weeks removed from taking her university entrance exams, a practically unknown player with smooth strokes and an ability to glide across the court. Raducanu cruised to the fourth round at Wimbledon, charming the fans with her athleticism and graceful style before retiring with breathing difficulty against Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia.As it turned out, that run was just a warm-up. Two months later at the U.S. Open, she won 10 consecutive matches on her way to the title. Raducanu became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam title since Virginia Wade in 1977.Raducanu, a British citizen born in Canada to a Chinese mother and Romanian father, was seemingly built for the global sports stardom that has followed.British fans’ expectations of Raducanu mean that the pressure on her is “off the scale,” the former tennis player Annabel Croft said.Neil Hall/EPA, via ShutterstockThere was the Met Gala, and then millions of dollars in sponsorships from the highest-end corporations — Porsche, Tiffany and Co., British Airways, Evian, Dior and Vodafone, and on and on. Now, when someone says “Emma” in Britain, they more likely mean Raducanu than Jane Austen. She has become the game’s ultimate disrupter.Coco Gauff, the 18-year-old American, said in May that Raducanu had altered how she viewed winning a Grand Slam title — meaning she now believes anyone could do it, even her. Gauff made the finals of the French Open earlier this month.Raducanu’s unlikely path could inspire more players: Developing into a Grand Slam winner while shunning tennis academy life and preparing to attend one of England’s storied universities. Winning one of the sport’s four major championships in just the second try. Doing it with a seeming immunity to pressure.Raducanu recently announced that she has decided not to hire a full-time coach. She has been through four, and she has determined that what she really needs is high-intensity hitting partners. “Sparring,” as she put it recently. That will get her more used to the pace of the highest level of tennis. Playing without a coach is also something most top players just don’t do.For this disruption to be successful, at some point Raducanu’s results will have to return to the level she reached at the end of last summer. Her record is an undistinguished 8-11 this year.She and her former coaches have said she got tripped up by Covid-19 in December, which interrupted her off-season training. She entered the season in a diminished physical condition. That, perhaps, led to the nagging injuries and not having the season she had hoped for. She said recently that because of the U.S. Open win and the 2,000 points it produced, her ranking (No. 11) is probably better than her game.All of this, of course, would be fine if Raducanu were just another player just beginning her second year as a full-time professional. Raducanu is so new to this life that last month in Paris, where she played in the main draw of the French Open for the first time, she said she is looking forward to her second full year as a pro because she would no longer be so clueless about her surroundings every week.“I’m always asking where everything is,” she said. And yet, Raducanu is the reigning U.S. Open champion, and the first Grand Slam champion to emerge from a qualifying tournament. She was the BBC’s sports personality of the year for 2021, and the reason the Lawn Tennis Association, which oversees tennis in Britain, reports a boomlet in participation since September.For seven consecutive months, adult monthly participation has steadily increased, said John Dolan, a spokesman for the organization. Women’s participation during the first three months of 2022 was stronger than it has been the past five years. Annual participation among 16- to 34-year-olds is up 10 percent.“My academy is absolutely packed with little boys and girls wanting to be the next one,” Clinton Coleman, a global scout for IMG, the sport’s top representation firm, and the head professional of a London tennis center, said of the Raducanu phenomenon. “Never seen anything like it.”Simon Briggs, the tennis correspondent for The Telegraph, one of the major British news organizations, said that a year ago he thought he was going to have to find another line of work. Andy Murray’s career had hit its twilight and Britain’s talent pipeline seemed out of gas.Raducanu received medical attention before retiring from her fourth-round match at Wimbledon last year.Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA, via ShutterstockThen Raducanu made Wimbledon’s fourth round. Briggs had to write a story on her virtually every day once she began the summer hard court season in North America. Three days after Raducanu lost in the second round of the French Open, Briggs was still filing stories about her.“She’s got to be the biggest female sports story here since the Second World War,” Briggs said last week.Jo Durie, a top 10 player from Britain in the 1970s who commentates on tennis for the BBC, said people who don’t even follow sports often stop her in the market to ask about Raducanu.“She’s so well-known people expect her to play well and win all the time,” Durie said. “Of course it’s not fair. She’s so young.”It’s possible only Christine Truman can understand what Raducanu’s transformation into “Emma” has really been like. Truman, 81, reached the semifinals of Wimbledon when she was 16 years old and won the French Open two years later. The victory earned her a voucher worth 40 pounds ($112 in the United States at the time) that could not be used on anything tennis-related because that would violate the rules then on professionalism. But she became a household name practically overnight.She was tall and blonde and easily recognized and could not go to the bread line, or ride the escalator down to the subway, or visit the pharmacist without being stopped. She met Winston Churchill, who had sent her congratulatory telegrams. He was quite old by then, though it was still a thrill for her.“Winston, it’s the tennis girl,” Clementine Churchill said to her husband, who shook Truman’s hand.In her mid-20s, Truman said, she thought she could both “have fun” and stay at the top of the game. It did not work so well.Her advice to Raducanu?“Remember what made you good and don’t lose sight of that,” she said in an interview last week.And hire a coach.“They can spur you on when you’re doing well and bring you back up when you’re doubting yourself,” she said. “If they have the belief, it rubs off on you.” More

    • 125 Shares189 Views

      in Tennis

      Leylah Fernandez and Coco Gauff Advance at the French Open

      by

      She outlasted Amanda Anisimova, a hard-hitting American, showing the kind of big-stage composure that got her to the final of last year’s U.S. Open.PARIS — It is a new season and a different surface, but Leylah Fernandez, still tenacious and still a teenager, is back in the deep end of another Grand Slam tournament.She needed all of her resourcefulness and upbeat energy on this unseasonably chilly Sunday afternoon at Roland Garros.Amanda Anisimova, a 20-year-old American seeded 27th, is one of the biggest pure hitters in women’s tennis, capable of generating phenomenal pace with a seemingly casual swipe of the racket.She has a new model this season, which has helped her control her easy power. The 17th-seeded Fernandez spent nearly two hours digging in the corners and lunging for returns, but in the end, the counterpuncher beat the puncher 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 as Fernandez’s quickness, consistency and yes-I-can positivity made the small difference as she advanced to her first French Open quarterfinal.“She’s very offensive,” Fernandez said. “I just tried to be as offensive as her and just take my chances, and the balls went in today.”That is no coincidence at this stage. Fernandez, a 19-year-old Canadian, looks like a big-stage player and was part of perhaps the biggest surprise in tennis history when she and another unseeded teenager, Emma Raducanu, advanced to the U.S. Open final last year with Raducanu, a qualifier, winning in straight sets.The rest of the women’s field has certainly taken notice.“I’m thinking, especially if the U.S. Open taught us anything, that anybody can win on any day,” said Coco Gauff, an 18-year-old American who is seeded 18th at Roland Garros.Gauff played one of the better matches on Sunday, defeating No. 31 seed Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-0 to return to the French Open quarterfinals, where she lost last year to the eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova in an error-strewn match that Gauff ranks as one of the biggest disappointments of her short career because of the way she managed the most significant points.“I think that was the biggest lesson I learned last year in my quarterfinal,” Gauff said. “I had a couple of set points, and I think I freaked out when some of those points didn’t go my way. Today I didn’t freak out.”Instead, she gathered strength and showed increased patience on the clay, often engaging in long rallies with Mertens before going for winners (or hitting a lunging backhand around the net post).Her work on herself and with her new coach, Diego Moyano, seems to be paying dividends, and Gauff will next face one of Moyano’s former pupils, Sloane Stephens, in an all-American, intergenerational duel.Stephens, 29, is unseeded this year but has long thrived on clay and was a French Open finalist in 2018. On Sunday, she overwhelmed Jil Teichmann 6-2, 6-0. Stephens defeated Gauff 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of last year’s U.S. Open when they played for the first time on tour. But that was hardly the first meeting. Both are based in South Florida, and Stephens attended Gauff’s 10th birthday party and practiced with Gauff for the first time when Gauff was 12 and already planning on facing Stephens on much bigger stages.“Today I didn’t freak out,” Coco Gauff said of her straight-sets win on Sunday.Yoan Valat/EPA, via Shutterstock“I had a very competitive mind-set since I was a little girl,” Gauff said. “Yes, I looked up to her and all that, but I knew that I was going to be playing against her.”For those who followed the dueling Cinderella stories, Fernandez and Raducanu will be forever linked, but though both were seeded here in Paris, they have not been on parallel paths since New York.Neither has come close to taking the regular tour by storm. That has been reserved for a player who is only slightly older: the new No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who at age 20 has won 31 straight matches and remains a prohibitive favorite at Roland Garros, where she was a surprise teenage champion herself in 2020.But while Raducanu has signed a series of major endorsement deals and shuffled coaches, she has yet to get past the quarterfinals of a regular tour event since the U.S. Open. Fernandez has often lost early as well but she did defend her singles title in Monterrey, Mexico, in March and is now making her best run in Paris with a fine chance to go further considering that she will face the unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan in a rare quarterfinal between left-handers at Roland Garros.Sloane Stephens will face Gauff, her fellow American, in the quarterfinals.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFernandez said she put too much pressure on herself to succeed after the U.S. Open final.“I just wanted to be more offensive, more aggressive and improve my game as fast as possible,” she said. “I think I just understood that there is a process, and it’s still a long year, a very long year, and I just need to calm myself down, calm my mind down. And just accept that things are going to be tough, things are going to go sideways in a match, in a practice. And just understand that I’ve got more tools in my toolbox that I can use and just find solutions.”That last sentence sounds like she has been studying the Rafael Nadal phrase book, and there is indeed a touch of Nadal in Fernandez on court. She, too, is a speedy lefty with unorthodox technique. Nadal has his bolo-whip finish on the forehand; Fernandez has extreme grips of her own and often hits her two-handed backhand with her hands far apart.There are the intangibles, too: the in-the-moment combativeness; the resolute walk between points and the ingrained rituals. Anisimova might want to jot down a few notes considering her lingering tendency to get negative. She often grimaced at her errors on Sunday, mocking her own shots and flinging her racket across the red clay in frustration late in the final set to the sound of a few scattered boos from stands that were never more than half full on the main Chatrier Court.Fernandez seemed like a more composed and focused presence. Even if her game was a flickering flame, her commitment was not.“Every time I step out on the court I still have something to prove,” she said. “I still have that mind-set I’m the underdog. I’m still young. I still have a lot to show to the people, to the public so that they can just enjoy the tennis match.” More

    • 88 Shares129 Views

      in Tennis

      The Challenge for Young Players: Achieving Dominance

      by

      Tennis experts offer advice on how young women can improve their games and move up in the rankings.When Ash Barty retired in March, the conversation centered on how someone so young could walk away from tennis. For a Women’s Tennis Association champion, however, 25 is relatively old.Since Serena Williams’s last Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2017, 15 of 19 Slam winners have been 25 or younger, and 11 were women no more than 23. The new world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, won’t be 21 until the end of this month.However, most of that group failed to ensconce themselves at the top of the sport: Jelena Ostapenko, Bianca Andreescu, Sofia Kenin and, especially, Garbiñe Muguruza and Naomi Osaka are still threats, but all have Ping-Ponged up and down the rankings because of injuries and other struggles.That opens the door to the Top 10 for the next generation. But to reach the sport’s summit, these players must address their weaknesses. However, as the American player Coco Gauff noted, “It’s tough to work on new things when you’re practicing during a tournament because you don’t want to introduce something new just before a match.”Marta Kostyuk and Amanda Anisimova said they skipped tournaments, sacrificing ranking points, to make time for practice. “I have a good balance,” Anisimova said. “My game is a work in progress, and it’s not a speedy process.”Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst and former professional player, said that in the late fall, players out of contention for the year-end WTA Finals would be well served by taking more time off. “They should each do a major assessment after the U.S. Open to see if they want to retool a few things,” she said.They should learn to emulate Barty’s well-rounded game, said Martina Navratilova, a Tennis Channel analyst and the multiple Grand Slam winner. “She had variety in her shots and a Plan B or Plan C in every match,” Navratilova said. “You have to be able to hurt people in more ways than one.”Fortunately, said Rennae Stubbs, an ESPN analyst and former professional player, the competitors’ youth allows time to grow: “Yes, there are things they can improve, but the great players from the past all changed how they played as they got older and stronger.”Here are seven players no older than 22 and advice on how they could improve their games.Emma Raducanu at the Madrid Open tennis earlier this month. Manu Fernandez/Associated PressEmma RaducanuLast year, Raducanu, 19, who is ranked 12th, stunned the sport by winning the United States Open. But instant stardom can create problems, Navratilova said.“She’s getting thrown too much into the world outside tennis,” Navratilova said of distractions like social media. “And agents often try to get the bucks while the player’s hot.”Shriver, who reached a U.S. Open final at 16, can relate. “It changed my whole world,” she said. “It takes awhile to get resituated with your new identity and responsibilities.”Coco Gauff at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., in March,Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressCoco GauffGauff, 18, and ranked 18th, is working on her footwork and on staying calm under pressure, “making sure I take my time between points,” she said.Her elders prefer that she focus on her forehand. “It has gotten better, but it’s still the shot that goes off,” Navratilova said.Stubbs blamed Gauff’s extreme forehand grip, exacerbated by a long swing and not enough racket-head speed.For an athlete of Gauff’s caliber, time may provide the solution, Shriver said. “When you’re still growing into your body, it’s not easy to always have the same contact point on shots,” she said, “so some of this will change when Coco settles into her frame.”Leylah Fernandez in April playing in Vancouver, Canada. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressLeylah FernandezHer top priority, Shriver said, should be building up durability and strength: “She needs a strong core to withstand the power of the top players but also the week-in, week-out playing.”As a lefty, Fernandez, 19, and ranked 17th, must also use her cross-court forehand to pull players off the court on their backhand side, Shriver said, and earn more free points on her serve, Stubbs added. “Her service motion could get a little more fluid,” Stubbs said. “It gets a little discombobulated.”Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January.Dean Lewins/EPA, via ShutterstockAmanda AnisimovaAnisimova, 20, and ranked 33rd, has the shots to be a champion, Navratilova said, but must move forward and take balls earlier. “She hits a big shot to the corner, but is still six feet behind the baseline,” Navratilova said. “She needs to step in and take advantage.”Shriver said players like Maria Sharapova improved their speed and quickness through training. Anisimova is on board: “I’m most focused on my movement and becoming a better athlete, and I think it’s improved a lot over the last couple of months.” Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic at a tournament in Prague last year.Petr David Josek/Associated PressMarketa VondrousovaFor Vondrousova, 22, and ranked 35th, it’s about mental growth more than specific shots. “She’s very talented and has great variety in her shots, but sometimes she gets down on herself mentally,” Stubbs said.Her lack of fire could just be natural reserve, Shriver said, but to prove doubters wrong, Vondrousova must display a killer instinct in rallies: “She has a good lefty forehand, but needs to make it an intimidating weapon.”Clara Tauson of Denmark at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January.Mark Metcalfe/Getty ImagesClara Tauson“She has the world at her feet, but needs to get her fitness level up there,” said Stubbs, who expects big things as Tauson, 19, becomes more comfortable on the tour: “If she can get quicker, she won’t have to always hit the big shot.”Shriver said Tauson, who is ranked 43rd, had game-changing power but sometimes lacked intensity: “Maybe she’s just shy, but sometimes it feels like she’s not fully engaged. I’d like to see some passion on the court.”Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine at the Madrid Open earlier this month.Manu Fernandez/Associated PressMarta KostyukWith her father still in Ukraine, this Kyiv native has bigger things on her mind. “Most important is that she gets help dealing with this trauma, because it’s going to be in her life,” Shriver said, adding that Kostyuk, 19, must be patient with her tennis game for now.Kostyuk, who is ranked 58th, said that in addition to working on her shot selection during rallies, she was most focused on “staying in the present.”However, even without the horrors in her homeland, that is not easy to work on in practice. “It is a big part of it,” Kostyuk said, “but these are abstract ideas, so it’s not like just working on your down-the-line backhand.” More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Tennis

      Tennis Experts Offer Advice on How Young Players Can Improve

      by

      Tennis experts offer advice on how young women can improve their games and move up in the rankings.When Ash Barty retired in March, the conversation centered on how someone so young could walk away from tennis. For a Women’s Tennis Association champion, however, 25 is relatively old.Since Serena Williams’s last Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2017, 15 of 19 Slam winners have been 25 or younger, and 11 were women no more than 23. The new world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, won’t be 21 until the end of this month.However, most of that group failed to ensconce themselves at the top of the sport: Jelena Ostapenko, Bianca Andreescu, Sofia Kenin and, especially, Garbiñe Muguruza and Naomi Osaka are still threats, but all have Ping-Ponged up and down the rankings because of injuries and other struggles.That opens the door to the Top 10 for the next generation. But to reach the sport’s summit, these players must address their weaknesses. However, as the American player Coco Gauff noted, “It’s tough to work on new things when you’re practicing during a tournament because you don’t want to introduce something new just before a match.”Marta Kostyuk and Amanda Anisimova said they skipped tournaments, sacrificing ranking points, to make time for practice. “I have a good balance,” Anisimova said. “My game is a work in progress, and it’s not a speedy process.”Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst and former professional player, said that in the late fall, players out of contention for the year-end WTA Finals would be well served by taking more time off. “They should each do a major assessment after the U.S. Open to see if they want to retool a few things,” she said.They should learn to emulate Barty’s well-rounded game, said Martina Navratilova, a Tennis Channel analyst and the multiple Grand Slam winner. “She had variety in her shots and a Plan B or Plan C in every match,” Navratilova said. “You have to be able to hurt people in more ways than one.”Fortunately, said Rennae Stubbs, an ESPN analyst and former professional player, the competitors’ youth allows time to grow: “Yes, there are things they can improve, but the great players from the past all changed how they played as they got older and stronger.”Here are seven players no older than 22 and advice on how they could improve their games.Emma Raducanu at the Madrid Open earlier this month. Manu Fernandez/Associated PressEmma RaducanuLast year, Raducanu, 19, who is ranked 12th, stunned the sport by winning the United States Open. But instant stardom can create problems, Navratilova said.“She’s getting thrown too much into the world outside tennis,” Navratilova said of distractions like social media. “And agents often try to get the bucks while the player’s hot.”Shriver, who reached a U.S. Open final at 16, can relate. “It changed my whole world,” she said. “It takes awhile to get resituated with your new identity and responsibilities.”Coco Gauff at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., in March.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressCoco GauffGauff, 18, and ranked 18th, is working on her footwork and on staying calm under pressure, “making sure I take my time between points,” she said.Her elders prefer that she focus on her forehand. “It has gotten better, but it’s still the shot that goes off,” Navratilova said.Stubbs blamed Gauff’s extreme forehand grip, exacerbated by a long swing and not enough racket-head speed.For an athlete of Gauff’s caliber, time may provide the solution, Shriver said. “When you’re still growing into your body, it’s not easy to always have the same contact point on shots,” she said, “so some of this will change when Coco settles into her frame.”Leylah Fernandez in April playing in Vancouver, Canada. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressLeylah FernandezHer top priority, Shriver said, should be building up durability and strength: “She needs a strong core to withstand the power of the top players but also the week-in, week-out playing.”As a lefty, Fernandez, 19, and ranked 17th, must also use her cross-court forehand to pull players off the court on their backhand side, Shriver said, and earn more free points on her serve, Stubbs added. “Her service motion could get a little more fluid,” Stubbs said. “It gets a little discombobulated.”Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January.Dean Lewins/EPA, via ShutterstockAmanda AnisimovaAnisimova, 20, and ranked 33rd, has the shots to be a champion, Navratilova said, but must move forward and take balls earlier. “She hits a big shot to the corner, but is still six feet behind the baseline,” Navratilova said. “She needs to step in and take advantage.”Shriver said players like Maria Sharapova improved their speed and quickness through training. Anisimova is on board: “I’m most focused on my movement and becoming a better athlete, and I think it’s improved a lot over the last couple of months.” Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic at a tournament in Prague last year.Petr David Josek/Associated PressMarketa VondrousovaFor Vondrousova, 22, and ranked 35th, it’s about mental growth more than specific shots. “She’s very talented and has great variety in her shots, but sometimes she gets down on herself mentally,” Stubbs said.Her lack of fire could just be natural reserve, Shriver said, but to prove doubters wrong, Vondrousova must display a killer instinct in rallies: “She has a good lefty forehand, but needs to make it an intimidating weapon.”Clara Tauson of Denmark at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January.Mark Metcalfe/Getty ImagesClara Tauson“She has the world at her feet, but needs to get her fitness level up there,” said Stubbs, who expects big things as Tauson, 19, becomes more comfortable on the tour: “If she can get quicker, she won’t have to always hit the big shot.”Shriver said Tauson, who is ranked 43rd, had game-changing power but sometimes lacked intensity: “Maybe she’s just shy, but sometimes it feels like she’s not fully engaged. I’d like to see some passion on the court.”Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine at the Madrid Open earlier this month.Manu Fernandez/Associated PressMarta KostyukWith her father still in Ukraine, this Kyiv native has bigger things on her mind. “Most important is that she gets help dealing with this trauma, because it’s going to be in her life,” Shriver said, adding that Kostyuk, 19, must be patient with her tennis game for now.Kostyuk, who is ranked 58th, said that in addition to working on her shot selection during rallies, she was most focused on “staying in the present.”However, even without the horrors in her homeland, that is not easy to work on in practice. “It is a big part of it,” Kostyuk said, “but these are abstract ideas, so it’s not like just working on your down-the-line backhand.” More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Tennis

      Is Tennis Moving Into a New Golden Age? We Can Only Hope.

      by

      It will be hard to let go of aging stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, and troubled ones like Novak Djokovic. But the time is coming, if it is not already here.There was something for everyone. Roger Federer’s linen grace. Rafael Nadal’s punishing power. Novak Djokovic and his single-minded determination. The unwavering way Serena Williams dismantled tired tradition.For two decades, professional tennis bathed in the golden glow provided by an unalterable hierarchy of players with distinctive styles and personalities that combined to define the game in the 21st century.But time, and the coronavirus, changes everything.For the second major championship in a row, as the Australian Open plays out in searing Melbourne heat, Federer and Williams find themselves at home, healing from injuries at age 40. We may never see them play top-flight tennis again.Gone, too, of course, is Djokovic.It’s unclear when the world No. 1 will return to major championship play, and how the scorn of fans will affect a player who has spent his career yearning for adoration. Depending on how the pandemic unfolds, tennis’s most famed vaccine refusenik could end up barred from traveling to the countries hosting the year’s biggest tournaments, imperiling his quest to break well past the 20 Grand Slam logjam he is in with Federer and Nadal.Of the golden quartet, only Nadal made his way to Melbourne. A well-worn 35, he is coming off a foot injury that kept him out of the mix for most of last year.He looked sharp during the Australian’s early stanza, perhaps good enough to summon greatness again and raise the championship trophy for a second time. Even if he does, how much longer can the Nadal we have known be the Nadal we revere?What in tennis can be counted on anymore?Nothing.The days when the game could lean on the showstopping power of its rock star quartet to lure fans and add excitement — the days of penciling them in as locks to make at least the semifinals of every major title — those days are done.Remember when Naomi Osaka was supposed to be the next big thing? Right now, her last major title win, the Australian Open last winter, seems in this time-warped stretch as if it occurred a decade rather than a year ago.She left last year’s French Open midstream, using the occasion to open up about the anxiety and depression sitting heavy on her shoulders. She skipped Wimbledon, needing time away from the grind and glare. She lost early at the U.S. Open and the Tokyo Olympics. Last week, Osaka’s bid to repeat at Melbourne ended at the hands of the world’s 60th-ranked player.Remember Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez, the upstart teenagers who electrified last summer’s U.S. Open by making the women’s finals? Neither has done much since. Fernandez lost in the first round last week. Raducanu got tossed off in the second.Maybe there’s a silver lining in the game’s newfound uncertainty. Free of the shadow cast by the biggest stars, it’s easier to gain enthusiasm for a wider cast.During the initial week at Melbourne Park, that meant marveling at Amanda Anisimova, 20, as she ripped backhand winners past Osaka in an upset win. Or watching Carlos Alcaraz, 18, sprint, slide and stretch to keep a point alive before suddenly hauling off and smacking a full-throttle winner.Uncertainty provided more shine to the young Italian Jannik Sinner, as stunningly gifted an upstart as there is, as he pressed his way through the draw.Ashleigh Barty in action during her fourth-round match against Amanda Anisimova.Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/ReutersIt put more focus on Ashleigh Barty, last year’s Wimbledon champion, possessor of the smoothest game this side of Federer.Will Daniil Medvedev, who crushed Djokovic’s Grand Slam dreams by beating the Serb to win the 2021 U.S. Open, wrest away the world No. 1 ranking? What happens if he becomes one of the game’s consistent standard-bearers?In Melbourne last week, Medvedev flashed his quirky and almost unfathomable game. Several of his strokes look as if they were self-taught and honed at a craggy public park by playing with duffers — the reflex volley with one hand on the racket’s throat, the gawky forehand that sometimes ends with legs splayed and a strangulating follow-through.As Medvedev often has at Flushing Meadows, he showed he can be an engaging champion — witty, open and more than willing to play the villain with a wink.This year, the typically rowdy Australian Open crowd has been using Cristiano Ronaldo’s famed “Siuuu!” celebration shout during matches. That has angered several players, Medvedev included, who thought the chants were boos during his victory over Nick Kyrgios. As we might expect based on his past shenanigans at the U.S. Open, Medvedev raised hackles from the crowd when he scolded them for the chant in an on-court interview.He later explained with his customary willingness to draw ire: “It’s not everybody who is doing it. But those who are doing it probably have a low I.Q.”Imagine Federer saying such a thing about fans. Impossible. But maybe that’s a good and energizing change.It is difficult to let go of a generation.A new era has arrived. All we can do is embrace it, wait patiently, and hope for the best. More

    • 100 Shares119 Views

      in Tennis

      Emma Raducanu Defeats Sloane Stephens at Australian Open

      by

      Despite being a Grand Slam champion herself, Raducanu had never faced one until she played and defeated Stephens in the first round of the Australian Open.MELBOURNE, Australia — Emma Raducanu wasted no time in announcing her presence in her first Grand Slam match since her stunning run to last year’s U.S. Open title.After hitting a forehand winner down the line past Sloane Stephens — the 2017 U.S. Open champion — Raducanu shouted a loud “Come on,” punctuating the first point of the match.From there, Raducanu was off and running, sprinting through the first set in 17 minutes with the loss of just four points. Though Stephens found her footing in the second set and was able to prolong rallies with her foot speed and counterpunching, Raducanu regained control in the final frame to close out the match 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 on Tuesday night in Margaret Court Arena.A Melbourne moment to remember ✨🇬🇧 @EmmaRaducanu opens her account at the #AusOpen with a first round victory over Sloane Stephens, 6-0 2-6 6-1.🎥: @wwos • @espn • @Eurosport • @wowowtennis #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/UeUbmdRy18— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2022
      When a backhand half-volley from Stephens hit the net to end the match, Raducanu dropped her racket and covered her face with her hands, a reaction rarely seen from a top player after a first-round win. Then again, rarely has a player reached the top after having skipped so many rungs on the ladder. Seeded 17th, this is Raducanu’s first appearance in the women’s competition at the Australian Open, and only her third Grand Slam event over all. During last year’s Australian Open, Raducanu was ranked 348th, opting to stay home and study for high school exams rather than traveling to Australia.Tuesday’s match, only the second night match of Raducanu’s career, was also the first time she had played a third set at a Grand Slam: Her run to the U.S. Open title last year, which began in qualifying, entailed winning 20 straight sets across her 10 matches.“I think 2022 is all about learning for me,” Raducanu said. “Being in those situations — winning a set and then having to fight in a decider — is definitely all just accumulating into a bank of experience that I can tap into later on down the line. Yeah, very happy that today I can add to that.”Despite being a Grand Slam champion herself, Raducanu had never faced one before Stephens.Tuesday’s match was the first time Raducanu had to play a third set at a Grand Slam tournament.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images“When Sloane was fighting back in the second set, I definitely accepted that,” Raducanu said. “I was almost expecting it, because she is a champion and you don’t just become one by rolling over.”Raducanu will play her second-round match on Thursday against the Montenegrin Danka Kovinic, another early steppingstone for a player who has already shot to superstardom in her home country. Raducanu’s U.S. Open win propelled her to the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award, and she was named an M.B.E. — Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire — on the Queen’s New Year’s honors list. Shortly after her triumph in New York, a congratulatory message to Raducanu appeared on the Royal Mail’s postmarked envelopes across Britain for four days.Stephens, 28, admitted that while both she and Raducanu had won in Flushing Meadows, their titles had little in common. “We won the U.S. Open, but our situations are very different,” Stephens said. “I think she is carrying a whole country, and that’s quite different than my win at the U.S. Open.”Despite her swift success, Raducanu has received blowback from members of the British media, who have suggested that she has not focused enough on her tennis after her results dipped following a windfall of endorsements. In Nike’s first video advertisement featuring the 19-year-old, the company dramatized those criticisms, showing Raducanu playing as phrases like “fluke” and “one-hit wonder” flashed behind her in capital letters.For those who had wanted to make uncharitable assessments, there had been some reason for concern: Raducanu had lost four of the six matches she had played since winning the U.S. Open, including a brutal 6-0, 6-1 loss to Elena Rybakina last week in Sydney.Raducanu, whose training before the match in Sydney had been limited by a recent case of the coronavirus, said she was “very happy to have turned it around so quickly” after that stark defeat.“The last week I put some great work in,” she said. “Sydney for me, wasn’t a deal breaker. I was still feeling positive; I just knew where I was at that point.”Stephens, who noted the “massive scream” Raducanu let out after the first point of the match, said that she could sense Raducanu’s readiness to silence doubters.“I think the hardest part is trying to prove that you are good enough to be where you are or good enough to stay where you are,” Stephens said. “The more you try to do that, I think, the more emotion shows and the more things are probably out of character than normally you would do, because you’re trying so hard to show and prove that you’re this person, or this ranking.”Raducanu said she also has had to learn to deal with self-criticism.“The biggest challenge is to be patient,” Raducanu said in her pretournament news conference. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Whether that’s practice, whether that’s off the court, I want to be the best I can all the time; sometimes it’s just not very viable.”She added: “I need to just relax. As long as the trend is trending upward, just a matter of small fluctuations, I think I can be proud. Whatever challenge that is, I feel kind of ready to face it now.”Sloane Stephens after losing a point to Raducanu.Tertius Pickard/Associated PressWhile Raducanu’s career continues to trend upward, Stephens said that her accomplishments have come in a “very backward” sequence.“It’s hard to manage,” Stephens said of Raducanu’s uncharted trajectory. “But I think if you have the right people in your corner guiding you, they will know when to take breaks. They will know when to push her harder, and they will know when she’s up for it.”Stephens had been expecting to be on a break of her own during this tournament. She married her longtime boyfriend, the soccer player Jozy Altidore, on New Year’s Day, and said she planned the wedding for January because she had “fully planned on skipping” the Australian part of this season. She said she had not wanted to take the risk of having to quarantine and of having to retread upon the pain she felt here a year ago: While enduring the mandatory hotel quarantine before last year’s Australian Open, Stephens attended the funerals of her grandparents via Zoom.“Last year, I had a very traumatizing experience in quarantine, and I just wanted to completely remove myself from that,” Stephens said on Tuesday. “No matter what, even if it was like two days, I didn’t want to do it.”Stephens, who said she had completed full-fledged off-season training, said people close to her were caught off guard when she decided to make the unexpected trip Down Under.“I think everyone was a little bit surprised,” she said. “But, yeah, I just was like: ‘I’m ready.’”Her opponent, Raducanu, proved that she was even more ready. More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Tennis

      At the Australian Open, Everyone Not Named Djokovic Is Ready to Star

      by

      After Novak Djokovic’s immigration troubles, he is gone, but don’t worry: Plenty of other stars and story lines are ready for the spotlight.MELBOURNE, Australia — It has been an exhausting two weeks, as if a Grand Slam tennis tournament has been contested already — albeit in courts instead of on them, and with all the focus on two missed shots.Novak Djokovic’s battle with the Australian government ended on Sunday, when a court in Melbourne denied the unvaccinated tennis star’s request to overturn the government’s decision to revoke his visa. After dominating the news cycle and even delaying release of the match schedule, Djokovic left the country, unable to compete in the Australian Open, which begins Monday.“Australian Open is much more important than any player,” Rafael Nadal said in his pretournament news conference. “If he’s playing finally, OK. If he’s not playing, Australian Open will be great Australian Open with or without him.”Rafael Nadal practicing in Melbourne on Saturday.Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesContemporaries, and contenders?Djokovic’s cohort of champions, including Nadal himself, could make noise at this event. Nadal, who is also going for a record 21st Grand Slam title to break the three-way tie with Djokovic and Roger Federer, won a small tournament in Melbourne in the first week of the season and has been able to practice at full strength less than a month after contracting the coronavirus. Nadal, seeded sixth, opens against Marcos Giron of the United States on Monday.Andy Murray, the only player consistently able to hang with the Big Three during their primes, also enters the Open with confidence after reaching the final of the ATP tournament in Sydney last week.Ashleigh Barty of Australia is the favorite to win women’s singles.Andy Cheung/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA midtournament showdown loomsAshleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka ended their seasons after losses at the U.S. Open last year, and both looked rested and ready in the first week of this season. Barty, who had to complete a lengthy quarantine upon her return home, said on Saturday that she had made the decision to stop when she did last year for “the right reasons” for herself.“Ultimately I felt like I’d had a fantastic year,” Barty said. “I was tired. I knew that for me to give myself the best chance to start well here in Australia was to go home and rest. I have absolutely no regrets.”Barty, the top-ranked player in women’s tennis, won the singles and doubles titles in Adelaide in the first week of the season, positioning herself as a favorite to win her first Australian Open title. Barty has embraced being the home favorite and the pressure that comes with trying to be the first Australian man or woman to win a singles title here since 1978, the longest such home champion drought of any Grand Slam event.“I just have to hope that everyone understands that I’m giving it my best crack,” she said. “It doesn’t always work out exactly how you want to. But you go about it the right way, you do the right things and try to give yourself the best chance — that’s all you can do. That goes for all the other Aussies as well.”When the draw came out, the match that was quickly circled as Barty’s toughest test in her path to the title was a potential fourth-round encounter with the defending champion, Osaka, who is seeded 13th. After saying she was taking an indefinite break from tennis after her third-round loss at the U.S. Open, Osaka played well in her first tournament back this month, reaching the semifinals of a small event in Melbourne before withdrawing with a minor abdominal injury.Emma Raducanu will face Sloane Stephens in her opening match.Mike Frey/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRaducanu readies for returnEmma Raducanu, the shock 2021 U.S. Open champion who marched through qualifying and the main draw without dropping a set, has begun this season less auspiciously. After contracting the coronavirus last month, she said, her training has been limited to “maybe six, seven” hours on court before she played her first match in Sydney last week.It showed. Raducanu was blitzed, 6-0, 6-1, by Elena Rybakina.Raducanu has a tough test in her opening match, facing the 2017 U.S. Open champion, Sloane Stephens. Stephens, who married her longtime boyfriend, the soccer player Jozy Altidore, on New Year’s Day, also comes to the tournament without much competitive preparation.“Obviously you don’t win a Grand Slam without being very capable,” Raducanu said Saturday, referring to Stephens. “I think it’s going to be a tough match for sure. I’m going to go out there and enjoy the match, because just playing in this Grand Slam, I had to work so hard to be here.”Another first-round match of particular interest features two rebounding Americans: 11th-seeded Sofia Kenin, whose 2020 Australian Open title helped her earn WTA player of the year honors that season, opens against Madison Keys.Kenin, who struggled with injuries and family problems last season, showed promise during a run to the quarterfinals this month in Adelaide in her first tournament since Wimbledon. Keys, whose ranking had slipped to 87th, won a tournament in Adelaide the next week and rose to No. 51.Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, left, and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini during a practice session on Saturday.Andy Cheung/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBurst bubblesThough the Djokovic news might make it seem otherwise, there are far fewer restrictions for vaccinated players at the tournament this year compared with the strict hotel quarantines last year that compromised preparations for many athletes.But while the reins loosen on players, the landscape regarding the coronavirus pandemic has shifted drastically around them. At one time, there were only a handful of cases in the country each day; the rolling average is now over 100,000. Australia is heavily vaccinated, which has greatly reduced deaths and serious illness, but the tournament has still “paused” ticket sales at 50 percent for sessions that had not yet exceeded that amount in sales. All purchased tickets will be honored.Dylan Alcott of Australia has said he will retire after the Open.Martin Keep/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWhen g’day means goodbyeTwo Australian fan favorites are calling it a career at this year’s tournament. Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, has said that this will be her last tournament in singles. Stosur, 37, has said she may continue to play doubles with Zhang Shuai; the two won last year’s U.S. Open.Dylan Alcott, who won a “Golden Slam” last year in quad wheelchair singles, by winning all four majors and a Paralympic gold medal in the same year, will also retire. Alcott’s face is one of the most prominent in promotional posters for the tournament around the city, and the tournament plans to hold the final of his event in Rod Laver Arena.Alcott’s odds of a happy ending seem good: He has won 15 of the 19 Grand Slam singles events he has contested in his career.The top American, Taylor Fritz, is one of the players participating in a Netflix series about the men’s and women’s pro tours.Kelly Defina/Getty ImagesGame, set, match; lights, camera, actionLong envious of the popularity that Formula 1 racing received as a result of its Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” tennis players have expressed excitement about the start of production on their own documentary series.With cooperation between the tours and the four Grand Slams providing access to camera crews around the tour, filming is underway at Melbourne Park. Though the full cast of key characters from the men’s and women’s tours is not yet known, Stefanos Tsitsipas and the top American, Taylor Fritz, are known to be participating.Novak Djokovic won’t defend his Australian Open title this year.John Donegan/Associated PressHow to watch the Australian OpenWith a 16-hour time difference between Melbourne and the Eastern time zone, watching the year’s first Grand Slam tournament can make for its own sporting challenge, with sleep a ferocious opponent, depending on where in the world you are watching from.For the most part, the tournament’s day sessions begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time, with the night sessions in Melbourne beginning at 3:30 a.m. (Match times are subject to change.)In the United States, matches will be broadcast on ESPN and the Tennis Channel, and in Canada they will be on TSN.The complete match schedule can be found on AusOpen.com. More