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      Serena Williams Turns Back Time at Australian Open

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySerena Williams Turns Back Time at Australian OpenAgainst Aryna Sabalenka, Williams called back to a much earlier phase of her career, well before she was the undisputed queen of her sport.Serena Williams beat Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open after several times looking close to defeat.Credit…William West/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 14, 2021Updated 9:47 a.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams became a time traveler on Sunday, pulled back to the past to essentially face down her much younger self.Across the net from her in the fourth round of the Australian Open stood the 22-year-old Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who turned pro at 14, like Williams, and whose strategy called to mind Williams’s game plan at the same age: If at first you don’t succeed, hit harder.Williams, 39, stared down Sabalenka, and after two gripping hours, Sabalenka blinked. In the 10th game of the deciding set, Sabalenka mustered one point on her serve as Williams, a seven-time champion, seized the break and a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Simona Halep, who dispatched the 19-year-old Iga Swiatek in three sets.Williams’s longevity makes it easy to forget that before she was the game’s grande dame, she was its whiz kid, collecting nine WTA singles titles, including one Grand Slam, before she was out of her teens.Sabalenka, a nine-time winner on the WTA Tour, and Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, are the latest in a long string of polished phenoms threaded through Williams’s career. One of the biggest stars to emerge, Naomi Osaka, saved two match points to beat Garbiñe Muguruza on Sunday. Still, from Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles to Maria Sharapova and Sloane Stephens, Williams has watched many young talents come and go and, on occasion, stray far from tennis.A sport with a history of suffocating its young has not stifled Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion in singles whose love for the game seems to have deepened over time. Against Sabalenka, she studied a page of written notes during changeovers as if she were back in high school. She fiddled with her “Queen” necklace. She dug balls out of the corners and ran from side to side as if she were on a school blacktop at recess.Darren Cahill, one of Halep’s coaches, described Williams’s movement as the best he had seen from her “in a long, long time” and said, “If you can stay in more points and get more balls back, stay alive, then she’s got the power to turn those points around.”What Williams is doing is also inconceivable to the younger Americans, three of whom have followed her into the second week. Marveled, one of the three, the 28-year-old Shelby Rogers: “What she’s been able to accomplish is absolutely incredible because some days I wake up now and I’m like, ‘OK, I’m not 21 anymore.’”Williams’s serve usually allows her to win her share of easy points. But against Sabalenka, her main weapon continually misfired. Williams put 52 percent of her first serves in play and recorded eight double faults, including one in the fifth game of the third set, which gave Sabalenka two break points.With the state of Victoria in Day 2 of a hard lockdown, no fans were in the stands, but the restrictions placed on the local populace did not extend to Williams’s inner circle, which includes her husband, coach, agent, hitting partner and older sister Venus, 40, who lost in the second round.Williams didn’t need to be told by the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, that her entourage qualified as “essential workers,” a classification that made it possible for them to attend the match. Her team is elemental to her success, and she looked over often to where everyone was seated. When she was down 15-40 in that fifth game, Venus raised both hands as if signaling a touchdown and they locked eyes.Williams’s sister Venus Williams was in the stands for support at crucial moments during the match.Credit…Loren Elliott/ReutersWilliams’s most recent Grand Slam championship came at Venus’s expense at Melbourne Park in 2017, when she was two months pregnant with her first daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian. Since becoming a parent, Williams has found her voice as an advocate for working mothers everywhere, speaking openly of the hardships, both physical and emotional, that she and others on the WTA Tour — and in the wider world — confront daily while balancing their jobs and child-rearing.But in that telepathic moment between the sisters, Serena was not tennis’s earth mother. She was transported back in time to her early years as a pro when she looked to Venus for direction.“When I hear her voice, it just makes me calm and confident,” Williams said. “Yeah, I think there’s something about it that just makes me feel really good.”She got her first serve in on the next three points and won them all, earning an advantage with a 126 mile-an-hour ace. Williams closed out the game on a frazzled Sabalenka’s forced error.Sabalenka fought back, winning the next three games to draw even at 4-4. At that point, she said: “I felt like I should win it. I felt like I was fighting really well.”But so was Williams. She held, and with Sabalenka serving to stay in the match, Williams got enough balls back to fluster her younger opponent, whose service game ended with a double fault and two forehand unforced errors.“I just needed to play better on the big points,” Williams said. “I knew that I could. I still hadn’t reached my peak. I was like, ‘OK, Serena, you got this. Just keep going.’”Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus threw her racket in frustration as she missed opportunities against Williams.Credit…Hamish Blair/Associated PressAfter 23 major singles titles and hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements and motherhood, how does Williams find the motivation to keep chasing a tennis ball?The answer could be found in how Williams spent her off day. After her Saturday practice, she put her daughter down for a nap and then made work calls to the United States, finalizing orders and obsessing about fabrics for her fashion line, S by Serena, which she described as her “second career.”There’s a method to Williams’s multitasking. She has been doing it her whole life, she said. She never played a full tennis schedule as a junior and has never played a full schedule as a pro.“I still went to college, I still did a lot of other things,” Williams said. “I had other careers. It was impossible to burn out.”Convention holds that Williams continues to play because she has Margaret Court’s career record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles in her sights. But the truth might be simpler.“I like my job,” she said. “I like what I do. It’s pretty special I get to come out and still get to do it.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Sunday Night

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowFans in Virus LockdownAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Sunday NightFour American players feature as the round of 16 concludes at the Australian Open.Jennifer Brady made the semifinals of the United States Open last year. Can she follow it up with a deep run at the Australian Open?Credit…Jason O’Brien/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 14, 2021, 7:53 a.m. ETHow to watch: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern on the Tennis Channel and 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on ESPN2 in the United States; streaming on the ESPN+ and ESPN3 apps.Jennifer Brady, the 22nd seed, played college tennis at U.C.L.A. After some initial success on the WTA Tour, reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open and United States Open in 2017, she struggled for a while. But this past September she broke through with a trip to the semifinals of the U.S. Open after winning her first WTA Title at the Top Seed Open.Having lost only 11 games across her first three rounds, Brady has shown herself to be a real contender at the Australian Open. Against the 28th seed, Donna Vekic, she’ll need to show the consistency she has used to get here.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are at best estimates and are certain to fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Rod Laver Arena | 7 p.m. SundayElina Svitolina vs. Jessica PegulaElina Svitolina, the fifth seed, reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and was the runner-up in the WTA Finals in 2018 and 2019. Remarkably, the defensive baseliner seems to thrive on faster courts, soaking up the pressure from other players and redirecting their pace into clever counterattacks.Jessica Pegula has had a career delayed by injuries. Now, the 26 year-old has reached the second week of a major tournament for the first time, without dropping a set. In the first round, Pegula upset Victoria Azarenka, the 12th seed and a two time Grand Slam champion. Although that match was perilously close, her second and third round matches were little more than mild inconveniences, as she lost just four games across four sets.Although Pegula is certainly improving and showing a high level of play, Svitolina will be a tough challenge. Svitolina’s consistency and former experience in the second week of slams will make her the clear favorite.Margaret Court Arena | 8:30 p.m. SundayMackenzie McDonald vs. Daniil MedvedevAt the 2019 French Open, Mackenzie McDonald tore a hamstring tendon off the bone, leading to a difficult surgery and a lengthy recovery process. Now, he has reached the round of 16, tying his best result from before the injury. McDonald was especially impressive in his second round upset over the 22nd seed, Borna Coric, keeping calm and drawing errors with his consistent, deep shotmaking.Daniil Medvedev, the fourth seed, struggled in his third round matchup against Filip Krajinovic, losing the third and fourth sets in spectacular fashion. Medvedev cycled between yelling at himself in Russian, his coach in French, and Krajinovic’s well placed volleys in English. In the fifth set, Medvedev settled back in and won six straight games.For McDonald to pull off an upset, he will need to exploit Medvedev’s natural volatility. Medvedev should be able to keep McDonald at bay if he can keep calm and use his varied shots to pull the American around the edges of the court.Rod Laver Arena | 11 p.m. SundayRafael Nadal vs. Fabio FogniniRafael Nadal, the No. 2 seed, has struggled with a small back injury throughout the first week of the Australian Open. However, this has not stopped him from rolling past his opposition without dropping a set. Nadal’s powerful topspin shots have consistently pushed his opponents around the court, depriving them of the time necessary to impose their own ideas upon a rally.Fabio Fognini, the 16th seed, has had a roller coaster week. He struggled in a five-set contest against a fellow Italian, Salvatore Caruso, but then dispatched the 21st seed, Alex de Minaur, in just three sets. Fognini, who won a doubles title at the Australian Open in 2015, has been to the round of 16 in Melbourne four times, and will have a difficult time overcoming Nadal.Rod Laver Arena | 3 a.m. MondayAshleigh Barty vs. Shelby RogersAshleigh Barty, the world No. 1, has moved through to the fourth round without dropping a set. In her third round victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova she played smart tennis, not going for big shots and allowing Alexandrova to overplay and extracting 30 unforced errors.Shelby Rogers, an unseeded player, has reached two major quarterfinals, but has never won a WTA tournament. Her inconsistency on tour can partially be blamed on ruptured cartilage in her knee, which required surgery in 2018.Barty and Rogers faced off in the quarterfinals of the Yarra Valley Classic last week, with Barty winning in a third-set tiebreaker. For Rogers to reverse her fortunes, she’ll need to play aggressively without over-hitting, a tough needle to thread.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Donna Vekic vs. Jennifer Brady — 9 p.m.Andrey Rublev vs. Casper Ruud — 11:30 p.m.Elise Mertens vs. Karolina Muchova — 2 a.m.Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Matteo Berrettini — 5 a.m.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Trust Me, Sports Without Fans Is Not Sports

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

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

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

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      Goodbye to Fans at the Australian Open

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

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      Novak Djokovic Beats Taylor Fritz but Is Hurt at Australian Open

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

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

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowTesting Australians’ VIrus AnxietiesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAustralian Open: Sofia Kenin, the Reigning Champ, Is Knocked OutThe 22-year-old American lost in the second round to an unseeded player, Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.Sofia Kenin, who was seeded fourth at this year’s Australian Open, has struggled to find her form this year.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesPublished More

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      2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Wednesday Night

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowTesting Australians’ VIrus AnxietiesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story2021 Australian Open: What to Watch on Wednesday NightRafael Nadal and Ashleigh Barty will play on Day 4 of the tournament.Sam Stosur of Australia will face Jessica Pegula, the American who upset Victoria Azarenka in the first round.Credit…James Ross/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 10, 2021Updated 7:51 a.m. ETHow to watch: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern on the Tennis Channel, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on ESPNEWS and 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. on ESPN2 in the United States; streaming on the ESPN+ and ESPN3 apps.Jessica Pegula of the United States upset the 12th seed, Victoria Azarenka, in the opening round for her first match victory at a major tournament, and she will now face the Australian veteran Samantha Stosur. Although Stosur has focused on playing doubles over the past few years, she is still a force in singles, especially with a home-court advantage.Her fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin certainly benefited from that advantage in his first-round upset of the 13th seed, David Goffin, and he will now meet Lloyd Harris. A win would put Popyrin, who is ranked 113th in the world, into the third round for a third straight year.Here are more matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are best guesses and are certain to fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Rod Laver Arena | 9 p.m. WednesdayAshleigh Barty vs. Daria GavrilovaAs the world of professional sports slowly reopened amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ashleigh Barty, the world No. 1, decided not to travel to tournaments and stayed in Australia. That decision, which she attributed to concerns about bringing the virus back to her home country, kept her out of the U.S. Open and prevented her from trying to defend her French Open title.Questions about the level of Barty’s preparations were quashed as she won the Yarra Valley Classic last week and then defeated her first-round opponent in the Open without dropping a game.Ashleigh Barty in her first-round victory.Credit…David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDaria Gavrilova, a former Russian national who now represents Australia, received a wild-card entry into the main draw of the Australian Open. Struggling with chronic foot injuries, she took a year away from tennis after the 2019 U.S. Open. She returned in time for the rescheduled French Open in October, defeating Dayana Yastremska in the first round. However, she has not been playing at her peak, and she will certainly struggle against the overpowering, aggressive brand of tennis that Barty has mastered.Court 13 | 9 p.m. WednesdayCasper Ruud vs. Tommy PaulCasper Ruud, the 24th seed, last year became the first Norwegian to win an ATP title and became the highest-ranking Norwegian in tour history, surpassing the mark set by his father, Christian Ruud, who reached No. 39 in 1995. Now Ruud is aiming to reach the third round for a third consecutive time at a major, solidifying his place in the top 25. In his way is a familiar opponent. Ruud defeated Tommy Paul in the second round of the French Open in October.Paul, the world No. 53, had his best result at a Grand Slam last year, reaching the third round of the Australian Open by upsetting Grigor Dimitrov in a thrilling five-set match. Paul followed that up with an impressive win over Alexander Zverev in Mexico just a month later but was unable to carry that momentum into the second half of the season. Now he must be hoping that the quicker surface in Australia will favor him against Ruud, who tends to prefer playing out longer, more strategic points.Rod Laver Arena | 3 a.m. ThursdayCoco Gauff vs. Elina SvitolinaCoco Gauff seemed fully in control of her first-round match, easily beating Jil Teichmann. Just a week before, in a tuneup tournament, Gauff had needed three sets to defeat Teichmann. On Tuesday, Gauff increased her intensity, choosing to dictate as many points as possible rather than giving Teichmann the time to settle into craftier exchanges.Coco Gauff in her first-round win.Credit…Jason O’Brien/EPA, via ShutterstockElina Svitolina, the fifth seed, is a gifted defensive player who tends to soak up pressure, coaxing unforced errors out of offensively minded opponents. Svitolina’s consistency allows her to await the proper moment to unleash a counterattack, usually in relatively low-risk situations. For Gauff, this will present a particularly tough challenge. Although Gauff has shown from her breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2019 that she is mentally tough, being worn down by a defensive veteran can be unusually disheartening.Rod Laver Arena | 5 A.m. ThursdayRafael Nadal vs. Michael MmohWhen he secured his 13th French Open title in October, Rafael Nadal tied Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam singles titles among men. Of Nadal’s 20 Grand Slam titles, only one was captured at the Australian Open, in 2009. Nadal, 34, has been the runner-up in Melbourne four times, losing in memorable matches to Federer, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka. Now, as he seeks to surpass Federer’s total, he will need to hold off some rising stars.Rafael Nadal in a training session at Melbourne Park this week.Credit…David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesNadal’s opponent tonight, the 23-year-old Michael Mmoh, has never been past the second round at a Grand Slam tournament. Now ranked 177th in the world, he had to play in the qualifying draws to make it into the Australian Open, and he struggled through a grinding five-set match against a fellow qualifier, Viktor Troicki, in the first round. Mmoh’s quick, aggressive style can put an opponent on his back foot, but that will be tough to do against Nadal, whose defensive skills, while often overlooked, are just as exceptional as his offensive prowess.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on:Feliciano López vs. Lorenzo Sonego — 7 p.m.Mackenzie McDonald vs. Borna Coric — 11 p.m.Jessica Pegula vs. Sam Stosur — 6 a.m.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More