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      Australian Open Organizers Hope the Drama Stays on the Court

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      Covid-19, wildfires and extreme heat have all disrupted the tournament in the past.Craig Tiley doesn’t sleep much. It’s a habit he picked up during three years of army training in his native South Africa.But as chief executive of Tennis Australia and tournament director for the Australian Open, which begins Sunday at Melbourne Park, since 2006, Tiley finds that slumber is overrated and inconvenient.“Maybe I get that sense of fear of missing out,” said Tiley, who was the tennis coach for the University of Illinois team that went 32-0 in 2003. “I always want to be up and around, especially when you’re under pressure.”There has been no shortage of difficult situations for Tiley and the Australian Open over the last several years. Often lauded as the happy slam by players and spectators, the open, which has had memorable tennis over the years, as when Serena Williams won a three-set battle with her sister Venus in 2003, has taken hits that have threatened the relaxed atmosphere and the tournament itself.“Unfortunately, the tournament’s been plagued by some very bad luck the last few years, said Rennae Stubbs, a Sydney native and former world No. 1 doubles player who is now a television commentator. “It’s been a bit of a disaster, and all of it completely out of the tournament’s control.”The fires that plagued Australia in 2020 enveloped Melbourne in a smoky haze.Getty ImagesThree years ago, wildfires filled the skies over Melbourne with smoke so thick that play was hindered and the tournament almost postponed. A year later, Covid-19 restrictions were so stringent that players were forced to quarantine in hotels, many unable to practice until days before the start of play. And last year an unvaccinated Novak Djokovic was deported before he ever got to hit a ball.The extreme heat of the Australian summer is nothing new and has disrupted play in the past, as in the 110-degree temperatures that had players wilting in 2014. That year, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Caroline Wozniacki complained that their sneakers and water bottles were melting into the hard court. One player, Peng Shuai, vomited on court and another, Frank Dancevic, fainted.In 2018, Simona Halep spent four hours receiving intravenous fluids at a Melbourne hospital after she lost an almost three-hour, three-set final to Wozniacki in the sweltering heat.Djokovic accused the sport of not caring enough about the health of players. The tournament then updated its excessive heat policy that takes into consideration on-court temperatures, the strength of the sun, air temperature in the shade, relative humidity and wind speed. If certain thresholds are met, matches can be suspended and the roofs closed on the main show courts.The intense heat helped spawn the 2020 fires. Some were so close to Melbourne that tournament officials considered postponing play because of the thick smoke and poor air quality.Also that year, there were protests at the tournament, including by the tennis greats Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe over Margaret Court, the former Australian player, after she accepted an invitation to return to Melbourne Park to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her winning all four majors, called the Grand Slam, in 1970. The park’s secondary stadium was named after her in 2003.Court, who holds the record for winning the most major singles titles with 24, is now a Pentecostal pastor in Perth and created a divide in her homeland because of her opposition to gay marriage. The tournament went ahead with its celebration of Court, but did not give her a microphone to speak to the crowd.“When you get a stadium named after you, you have to understand that people who are walking through those doors may be gay, and insulting those people is totally unacceptable,” Stubbs said. “You are essentially an ambassador for our sport and for our country. You can think what you like but just don’t say it.”Tennis players were quarantined for 14 days upon arrival in Melbourne for the 2021 tournament as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to rage. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty ImagesThe open signals the official start of a new season, which is one of the reasons players love it. Players are eager to show off new strokes, new coaches, altered bodies from hours spent in the gym during the tours’ brief off-season and new sponsored tennis clothing.“Everyone’s coming from cold climates to the sun of the Southern Hemisphere,” said Mark Woodforde, who captured 12 doubles major titles, 11 of them with fellow Australian Todd Woodbridge. “They’ve had their holidays, are well rested physically and mentally, and they’re eager and excited to be back.”That changed in 2021 because of the pandemic. Determined to hold the tournament in spite of heavy governmental restrictions, Tiley pushed back the start date to allow time to put players on chartered planes and have them quarantine for two weeks in hotels before they were allowed to compete.Despite his efforts at creating a bubble to keep everyone safe, several people tested positive, prompting lockdowns with no time off to practice for many players. Some players even improvised their exercise routines by hitting tennis balls against shuttered windows and turning beds on their sides to serve as backboards.Then last year, Djokovic created an international incident when he arrived in Melbourne unvaccinated — a breach of Australian protocols — and was deported before he was ever allowed to step foot on the court. The tournament was saved by some extraordinary on-court action, including championships by Rafael Nadal and the hometown hero Ashleigh Barty.Djokovic, then the reigning champion, refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and was deported from Australia ahead of the 2022 Open.Darko Bandic/Associated Press“It’s a real testament to Craig and his staff that, despite all the obstacles with Covid, they were able to put on the event the last two years while still playing by the rules,” said Rajeev Ram, who won the 2020 Australian Open doubles tournament with his partner, Joe Salisbury, and played for Tiley at Illinois. “It would have been easy to just say, ‘No tournament,’ but they got creative, and the players really benefited from that.”Another reason the players refer to the open as the happy slam is because of the way they are treated.“We design this event around having fun,” Tiley said. “Our whole mission and position is ‘playful premium.’”For fans, there is an on-site beach, dozens of restaurants and bars, a field full of family activities and a water park.Players are lured by grants to pay for their travel, even for junior competitors for the first time this year. They are also treated to a variety of medical services, including a new foot treatment area; new performance spaces, including three gyms, a preparation/recovery center and ice baths; and an area that offers a nutrition bar and mindfulness activities. There is also a beauty salon and on-site tax advisers.Despite its rocky recent history, the Australian Open is often known as the happy slam because of its spirit and the way visitors are treated. Alana Holmberg for The New York Times“The environment they create is akin to the way Aussies treat people,” Woodforde said. “The tournament doesn’t ever say no to a request. They work hard to create a stress-free environment for everyone. They want people to say, ‘Do we have to go home?’”Tiley said that Australians love their sport and entertainment.“They would choose to invest in that before anything else,” he said. “That’s a great attribute to have from your fans when you’re in this business.”After all the tumult of the last few years, Tiley is optimistic about a turnaround. By mid-December, he said, ticket sales for ground passes were up by more than 30 percent compared with last year. “We’re seeing this absolute pent-up demand for everything.”“Our ultimate responsibility is to deliver a global tennis championship,” Tiley added. “These tournaments in London, Paris, New York and, of course, Melbourne, are massive entertainment events with multimillions in global audiences. At the end of the day, my job is to run the best event possible under the circumstances.” More

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      Sometimes Tennis Is a Waiting Game. And Waiting and Waiting.

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      Games can take a long time, and players waiting to take the court for the next match have to find ways to stay sharp.When Felix Auger-Aliassime won the first two sets of his men’s quarterfinals against Daniil Medvedev at last year’s Australian Open, Gonzalo Escobar started prepping for his mixed doubles semifinals, the next match in Rod Laver Arena. As the third set progressed, Escobar and his partner Lucie Hradecka, along with their opponents Jason Kubler and Jaimee Fourlis, began loosening up.But Medvedev won that set in a tiebreaker, forcing the doubles players to switch gears. They lay down, covering their bodies to stay warm. At first they chatted, then Hradecka listened to music while Escobar talked to his wife before watching the match.With Auger-Aliassime ahead in the fourth set, the doubles players again grew silent and serious, resuming their physical preparations. But again Medvedev prevailed.“It was very tiring,” Escobar said.Again, they lay down. Escobar ate a banana, energy bars and gels to keep his body fueled. The fifth set lasted another hour until Medvedev won. Escobar said that when the doubles players finally entered the court, Medvedev “looked at us and said, ‘Sorry guys.’”In most major sports, the athletes know their start time. Tennis, however, is a guessing game: The previous match may be over in an hour or last for three. And Grand Slams deepen the uncertainty because men play a best-of-five instead of best-of-three format, as they do in other tournaments. Longer matches produce more seesaw battles, forcing waiting players to continually adjust their physical routine and mental preparations.Even a match seemingly near the finish offers no guarantees.“It can be two sets to love with one player up 5-4 and the match could be over in five minutes, or it could last more than two hours,” said Craig Boynton, who coaches Hubert Hurkacz. “You’re estimating and observing, but it’s all guesswork.”Boynton was coaching John Isner in 2010 when Isner beat Nicholas Mahut at Wimbledon in a 70-68 fifth set that stretched across multiple days, eventually forcing officials to shift waiting players to other courts. “I’m happy all the Slams now do fifth-set tiebreakers,” Boynton said, which prevent final sets from going on indefinitely.Alex de Minaur returning a shot against Filip Krajinovic during the first round of men’s singles of the 2022 U.S. Open. That match began after a long period of waiting, during the four-hour five-setter that preceded it.Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesAlex de Minaur, who followed a four-hour five-setter in his first 2022 United States Open match, said afterward that the key was to be “mentally versatile.”“You have to do everything to prepare as if the match before yours will go three sets and then adapt,” he said. “You can’t let it have a negative impact or waste too much energy, although that’s easier said than done.”Many coaches request the first match of the day to avoid this issue, said David Nainkin, who coaches Brandon Holt (the son of Tracy Austin, who won the U.S. Open in 1979 and 1981). “The third match is the toughest slot — you can be on any time from 2 to 6 p.m.”Certain matches offer more predictability, said Peter Polansky, who coaches Denis Shapovalov. If Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal is trailing the 50th-ranked player two sets to one, Polansky would say “let’s wait it out,” but if either superstar is leading by a set it’s more likely time for “high-alert mode” to get ready to play.But repeatedly leaping into high alert can be draining, said Austin, whose 1981 U.S. Open final against Martina Navratilova followed a five-setter between John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis. Austin didn’t want to feel rushed so, anticipating an ending, she taped her feet and got dressed.“I was ready to go and I’d get charged up, but then their match would extend,” she said. When the men finished, Austin felt “a little sapped by the emotional roller coaster” and lost the first set 6-1, but bounced back to win the match.Shifting scenarios give experienced players an edge, Austin said. “It’s a gradual learning process. You develop tools and routines in those situations.” She said one factor was figuring out whether you prefer being around people or in a quiet space alone.Caroline Garcia warming up before a match against Iga Swiatek during the 2022 WTA Finals. Garcia also hit the gym while waiting out a five-setter before one of her matches at the U.S. Open, to “fire myself up a bit.”Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesAfter waiting out a five-setter before her fourth-round match at the U.S. Open, Caroline Garcia noted that she passed part of her limbo reading, before prepping her rackets and then going to the gym to “fire myself up a bit.”Some players meditate or even nap once a match extends, Polansky said, although it’s tricky because a final set can be a quick 6-1 laugher. At the opposite end, many players will gather with their team and play cards or board games.“You don’t want to do anything that will fatigue you mentally,” Polansky said, noting that spending too much time staring at a phone as matches elongate can be detrimental.When a match suddenly goes to a fourth or fifth set, Nainkin said some waiting players change their location, perhaps leaving the locker room for the lounge, “just to reset mentally and get out of ‘ready to go mode’ for 30 minutes.”If the end of the match is exciting, many players watch while getting ready, he said, which also helps them pace their warm-ups. Some players, however, just have their coaches tracking the score. “The coach’s job is to have a read on the match so the player can switch off entirely if the match goes to a fifth set.”Timing your food is also essential, Garcia said. “You don’t want to eat too much, but if it goes to a fifth set you need to have another snack while waiting.”But numerous smaller details must also be factored in. “Some players want their ankles taped right before match time so it’s stiffer, while others want to walk around and break it in,” Boynton said. “Some want to get limber and sweaty and then use the last few minutes to go through the game plan, but others don’t.”In a close fourth set, he added, Hurkacz will get on the treadmill and do sprints then undo his shoelaces and do a few stretches and wait. During a tiebreaker, he’ll lace up again, but if the match goes to a fifth set, the shoes come off and he’ll ask for another round of rice and vegetables.“Everyone has their own process and talking about it sounds crazy, but it’s just normal to us,” Boynton said. “You don’t have to be the best at dealing with it, you just have to be better than your opponent.” More

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      War and Motherhood Sidelined Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina. She’s Ready to Return.

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      Rather than struggling to compete on the WTA Tour most of 2022, the tennis star focused on her new daughter and raising money to help her fellow Ukrainians.Elina Svitolina, the most successful Ukrainian women’s tennis player in history, has not played tennis in 10 months.She is a new mother — her daughter, Skaï, was born in October — and Svitolina is, like many prominent Ukrainians, a crusader, focused on raising money and awareness for her embattled country.Based in Switzerland with her husband, the French tennis star Gaël Monfils, Svitolina has sensed that the wider world is losing interest in the conflict with Russia.“Here in Europe, a couple of times people came up to me and asked if there is still war going on in Ukraine,” she said in a video interview. “This was very, very sad for me to hear. I have close friends and family back in Ukraine, and I know what they are going through.”When hope and energy run low, she thinks of her 85-year-old grandmother Tamara, still in Odesa, the vibrant, strategically vital port on the Black Sea where Svitolina was born and lived in her early years.“The winter is very tough right now for Ukrainians,” Svitolina said. “Obviously, it’s very cold, and they are often without electricity and running water. My grandmother lives on the 13th floor, and she needs to walk all the way up to her apartment because she cannot use the elevator. She could get stuck, or there are no lights at all. I have many friends in different cities, and they tell me the same stories. No lights. No water. They are just sitting at home. Most of the time, the phones die after one day so you cannot connect with them.”With her grandmother and her compatriots in mind, Svitolina is using her clout to help keep the power on. An ambassador for United24, a Ukrainian fund-raising platform, she organized a gala event in Monaco in December that raised 170,000 euros, or about $181,000. She said that 57,000 euros that were raised have been earmarked for the purchase of generators for Ukrainian hospitals.“Without electricity in the hospitals, they cannot perform some essential surgeries,” she said. “Our goal for the generators is 10 million euros.” They have raised 2.9 million so far, she added. “But we need more help.”Svitolina, ranked as high as No. 3 in 2017, was a semifinalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019 and has long been one of the sport’s best movers and counterpunchers. But she has not played since losing in her opening round of the Miami Open in March. Newly pregnant and reeling emotionally after the Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, she said she realized she could not continue to compete. She spent days drained or in tears and has worked with a psychologist and leaned on Monfils and her family but also benefited, she said, from time on her own, time in her own head.“I didn’t touch a racket for seven months,” she said. “I wanted to switch off from tennis. I had maybe too much because of what happened in the end of February and all the nerves and all the pressure. The tournaments I played were probably too much for me mentally, so I was really happy to switch off completely. Right now, for me the goal is to come back, but I’m sure I won’t regret that I took this time off.”Svitolina and Monfils, a luminous, acrobatic talent and intermittent top 10 men’s player, were married in 2021 and are one of the game’s power couples. But Monfils missed much of the last season with foot and heel injuries.Both are targeting comebacks in 2023. Monfils, 36, has often talked about his desire to play until age 40, but, as a new father, he has shortened that timeline. He now plans to continue at least until the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where the tennis event will be held on the red clay at Roland Garros, the site of the French Open. Svitolina would like nothing better than to win a medal for Ukraine in those Games.But Svitolina, who only recently resumed training, is not planning on a quick return even if the back problems that troubled her before her hiatus are resolved for now.“I will try to be ready for the summer, but I try not to rush things,” she said. “Because I know I need to be very strong to be back on tour, because right now tennis is very physical. All your muscle groups need to be ready and after not playing for over seven months and not doing so much after pregnancy, of course, your body is different now. And I have to really break everything down into small pieces to put together the full strength of my body, which I will need if I want to get back to the top.”At 28, she certainly has time in a sport where more players are competing deep into their thirties and where more women also have made successful returns from childbirth, including Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams and Tatjana Maria, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2022 after her second extended break from the game because of pregnancy.“I’m sure that they worked extremely hard to get back where they were and some of them are even better,” Svitolina said. “So that certainly gives me hope and motivation I can do the same.”Svitolina’s only contact with tennis during her break came in July, when she served as the chair umpire in an exhibition to raise funds for Ukrainian children that was organized by Iga Swiatek, the young and increasingly outspoken world No. 1 from Poland.Svitolina has appreciated Swiatek’s public support but remains disgruntled about the pro tours’ decision to allow Russian and Belarusian players to continue competing, albeit as neutrals without national identification. While Wimbledon barred the Russians and Belarusians because of the war it was an outlier and was stripped of ranking points in retaliation by both the men’s and women’s tours, who also fined the tournament and Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association.“I was shocked to see this,” she said. “The U.K., they always supported Ukrainians; they helped so many Ukrainian refugees to find new homes. I think the tours should have respected Wimbledon’s decision rather than punish them, but it’s really hard to see what will change the tours’ position, even if I don’t agree or understand it.”Through her personal foundation, she said she had been involved in helping more than 100 young Ukrainian players and their families find new training bases even if some have had to return to Ukraine. But she has no illusions about the challenge ahead and is all too aware of the destruction. She lived in her early teens in Kharkiv, recently reoccupied by Ukrainian forces but one of the cities that has suffered the most damage during the war. The arena in which she and her Ukrainian teammates once played Fed Cup matches has been destroyed by bombing.“Our athletes and our sports have been thrown back at least four or five years, because all the stadiums, all the facilities in Ukraine were destroyed,” she said. “After the war is finished, I really want to help to build a tennis center that kids can use to train. And it’s not just facilities that were destroyed. I think our kids have mentally been destroyed as well. Some of them lose their parents. Some of them are homeless. They see these explosions, these shootings. A whole generation I think mentally is really facing a big struggle.”It has been a year to rue but, for Svitolina, a year also to savor.“The most horrible year with the war and also the most happy I would say with welcoming our first baby in October,” she said. “So, it’s a mixture of everything, but we are here right now, and for me it’s just important to do everything possible every single day that I can. And for now, the goal is for the Ukrainian people to at least have a little light in their lives.” More

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      Holger Rune Making a Name for Himself in Tennis

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      As the 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz rose through the ranks in 2022, Rune, also 19, was marching through the top players. He even beat Alcaraz.Holger Rune speaks as he plays tennis — at a crazy fast pace, barely stopping to take a breath. His thoughts are deep and direct, as if he has much to say but not much time to say it.Rune’s footwork is exceptionally speedy, and his ascent up the rankings has kept pace. In just one year, he rose from outside the world’s Top 100 to a Top 10 ranking. He went from playing in lower-level tournaments at the beginning of 2022 to winning ATP events in Munich, Stockholm and Paris. At the Paris Masters, he upset five Top 10 players, including world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and 21-time Grand Slam singles winner Novak Djokovic, whom he beat in the final. At just 19, Rune was the ATP’s Newcomer of the Year, ending the season at No. 11.But there were problems for the Dane, whose squabbles with umpires, players and even his omnipresent mother, Aneke, garnered him unwanted attention. A verbal rumble after a loss to Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year had both players accusing each other of insults and untruths.For Rune, who begins contesting his second Australian Open this Monday, it’s all part of the maturation process.The following interview has been edited and condensed.Last year, you lost your first-round match at the Australian Open to Soonwoo Kwon after leading by two sets to one. What do you remember about that match?I was still very inexperienced, and it was physically and mentally hard to play five sets. After the third set I started cramping a little bit. Now I have a good take on playing long matches. It’s about saving some energy, and you can only get that by experience.You were the No. 1 ranked junior in the world in 2019. Some juniors find the transition to the pro tour very difficult, but for you it was seamless. Why?First of all, it wasn’t easy even though it was going quick. For me it felt like it took a lot of time, but on paper it didn’t. I was very eager and took all the steps. I have a big will to go through any challenge I get on my way to getting closer to my dream. That’s my focus every day that I step on the tennis court.In juniors, it looked like you played best on clay courts. Then you won 19 of your last 21 matches last year indoors on hard courts. Is that your new surface?That’s a good question. I don’t know honestly if I’m a clay-courter or a hard-courter. It depends. That’s why when people ask me if hard, clay or grass is my favorite surface, I would say all of them.Last year you added Patrick Mouratoglou to your coaching team, but you’ve been working with Lars Christensen since you were very young. What’s the most important thing Lars has taught you?I would say the discipline. If you look at me now from five years ago, I’m very different. I’m more structured in everything I do, on the court and off. Lars is also very technical. He’s still trying to help me learn stuff, and I’m very eager to improve.You had huge wins over Djokovic, Alcaraz and [Alexander] Zverev in 2022. Which one meant the most?I had one against [Stefanos] Tsitsipas too. But I’ve got to say, all of them in a way. But right now I’d have to say Novak. To play him in a final with all of the emotions and stuff is very big.You set a goal last year to be in the Top 25, and you made it to the Top 10. Did that surprise even you?When you stay in the moment you’re not surprised when everything is going so fast. But when I look back, I feel very proud of what I achieved. Ranking goals are important, but you can’t really control them because it depends on so many things. I’m happy with how things are going, and I’m very motivated to be in the best shape as possible in Australia. More

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      With the Australian Open Set to Begin, All Eyes Are on Rafael Nadal

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      The defending champion, Nadal has lost six of his last seven tour singles matches and is struggling with his timing, confidence and composure. But don’t count him out.MELBOURNE, Australia — The first collective gasp of this year’s Australian Open came Thursday afternoon, four days before the tournament officially begins.The hubbub came at the start of the men’s singles draw when Jack Draper’s name appeared in the second slot in the 128-man field. That meant Draper’s first-round opponent was guaranteed to be Rafael Nadal, the reigning Australian Open champion and the No. 1 seed in the absence of the injured Carlos Alcaraz.The buzz in the room was a sign of the left-handed Draper’s gathering strength — a 21-year-old Briton, he is in form and up to No. 40 in the world — but also a reflection of Nadal’s disarray.One of the greatest champions in any sport, Nadal has lost six of his last seven tour singles matches, struggling with his timing, confidence and even his composure as he has been defeated by, in order, Frances Tiafoe, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open; Tommy Paul, in the first round of the Paris Masters; Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime, in round-robin matches at the ATP Finals; and Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur, in the recently completed United Cup team event.None of those six men has reached a Grand Slam singles final and neither has Hubert Hurkacz, who dealt Nadal his latest defeat — even if it was only in a practice match — in Rod Laver Arena on Thursday evening in front of a few thousand spectators (and a chair umpire).Hurkacz, a flashy shotmaker with an unflashy personality, is no pushover. He is seeded No. 10 in Melbourne and will forever be the last man to face — and defeat — Nadal’s friendly rival Roger Federer in singles.Hurkacz defeated Federer in straight sets in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2021, and he looked considerably looser and more relaxed on Thursday evening than Nadal, who kept casting concerned glances at his main coach, Carlos Moyá, after missing groundstrokes and first serves.“Rafa is certainly vulnerable,” said Todd Woodbridge, the Australian former star who is now an analyst for Australian television. “He had that faraway look on a changeover against Tiafoe at the U.S. Open and it looked like he had it again in the match against de Minaur last week.”But as Woodbridge and everyone else in tennis have learned repeatedly over the past 19 years, you cannot count out a player of Nadal’s talent and inner drive. He has repeatedly risen from the depths, most recently at the 2022 French Open, which he entered injured and slumping but then managed to win his 14th men’s singles title at Roland Garros.Another title run here in Melbourne looks far less likely, however. The opening hurdle is high with the 6-foot-4 Draper, who advanced to a semifinals match on Friday in the lead-in event in Adelaide.The son of Roger Draper, a former chief executive of Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association, Jack Draper was once considered uncertain to break through to the highest level because of his movement. But he has improved his quickness and court coverage significantly in recent seasons.Jack Draper of Britain will face Nadal in his opening match.Mark Brake/Getty Images“It will be amazing to play on a big court against him; he is a great champion,” Draper said in Adelaide about his first chance to play Nadal. “Whatever happens it will be a special occasion for me. I’m still very young in my career, so it’s great to have these sort of experiences and exposure to playing Rafa on a big arena.”Get past Draper, and Nadal could face the rising American Brandon Nakashima in the second round, Tiafoe in the fourth round and the former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals in what would be a rematch of their topsy-turvy, five-set Australian Open final last year.Nadal’s experience, grit and ability to problem solve in best-of-five-set matches should not be dismissed, and he has been focused on shortening points and coming to the net in his pretournament sessions this week. He pushed forward often against Hurkacz on Thursday.“I need to win matches, for sure, but the preparation is going quite well, practicing a lot and I’m in good shape,” Nadal said. “Then you need to demonstrate that in the matches in the official tournaments, but I am confident that if I’m able to have the last week of positive practices, why not?”Draper is not the only British player with a high-profile match in Melbourne. Andy Murray, Nadal’s contemporary and a former No. 1, will face the former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini in the opening round. Emma Raducanu, the big-surprise U.S. Open women’s champion in 2021, could face seventh-seeded Coco Gauff in the second round if both win their openers (and if Raducanu’s injured ankle continues to improve and allows her to take part in the tournament).Gauff, 18, struggled with her forehand and confidence at the end of the 2022 season, but had a productive off-season and on Sunday won the singles title in Auckland, New Zealand. The event was played indoors and outdoors because of frequent rain and lacked many of the other leading Australian Open contenders.The favorite in the women’s draw remains No. 1 Iga Swiatek despite her lopsided and emotional defeat to Jessica Pegula of the United States in the United Cup. But Swiatek, who faces the German all-court player Jule Niemeier in the opening round, is in a thorny section of the draw. Her eighth includes the Grand Slam singles champions Bianca Andreescu and Elena Rybakina as well as Danielle Collins, who lost in the final last year in Melbourne to Ashleigh Barty, who retired last March.There will be newcomers as well, including the 15-year-old qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova, the youngest woman in the tournament and part of the Czech Republic’s big wave of young talent that includes her sister Linda Fruhvirtova, 17, who is also making her Australian Open singles debut.Jessica Pegula, at No. 3, is the highest-seeded player from the United States among men and women.Patrick Hamilton/Agence France-Presse via Getty ImagesThursday’s draw delivered another rarity: a first-round match between two former Australian Open singles champions: Victoria Azarenka, the Belarusian veteran who won in 2012 and 2013, and Sofia Kenin, the American who won in 2020 but has since dropped outside the top 100. That matchup was all the more extraordinary considering that Azarenka and Kenin are the only Australian Open women’s singles champions in the draw. The seven-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams is now retired (or at least evolved). The two-time champion Naomi Osaka and the 2016 champion Angelique Kerber are pregnant, and so is Barty, although that happened after her surprise retirement at age 25.Much can change in a hurry in tennis, as Nadal knows well, and this year’s tournament is already a sea change from last year’s because Novak Djokovic is in the draw after being deported by the Australian government on the eve of the 2022 event because he was unvaccinated for the coronavirus.Now, after a change in government policy and after winning the warm-up event in Adelaide, Djokovic, still unvaccinated, can chase his 10th Australian Open singles title. He will face the unseeded Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena in the opening round on the opposite side of the draw from his longtime rival Nadal.Based on current form, Djokovic winning his 22nd major singles title sounds a lot more plausible than Nadal winning his 23rd. More

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      Naomi Osaka Announces She Is Pregnant and Won’t Play in 2023

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      The tennis star, who withdrew from the Australian Open this week, posted a photo of an ultrasound on Instagram.The tennis player Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, announced on Wednesday that she is pregnant.She posted a photograph of an ultrasound on Instagram, and added, “One thing I’m looking forward to is for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone, ‘that’s my mom,’ haha.”She said in the post that she would be at the 2024 Australian Open.Three days ago, Osaka, 25, dropped out of this year’s Australian Open, which begins Monday. She has not played a tournament since September. Because of the missed time, she is currently ranked No. 47 in the world.Osaka won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021. She also won the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020. She has been involved in a relationship with the rapper Cordae since 2019.Serena Williams won the 2017 Australian Open while she was roughly two months pregnant. Osaka did not reveal how far along she was in the Instagram post.Osaka withdrew from the 2021 French Open after declining to attend news conferences, saying that she found them detrimental to her mental health, and she revealed that she had struggled with depression. She took a break from the game and also missed time with an Achilles’ tendon injury last year.Though she has lived in the United States since she was a toddler, Osaka, whose parents are Haitian American and Japanese, represents Japan and was given the honor of lighting the cauldron to begin the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.Because of numerous endorsement deals, Osaka is one of the top 20 earning athletes in the world and the highest-paid woman, Forbes has reported.Her business portfolio includes a skin care products company focused on people with darker skin tones, and she has written a children’s book. Last year, Osaka and her longtime agent, Stuart Duguid, left IMG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate, to begin Evolve, which manages Osaka’s business interests as well as other clients. More

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      Naomi Osaka Withdraws From the Australian Open

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      Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, was once widely considered the world’s top hardcourt player, but she has struggled to regain her form after injuries and time away from tennis.Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, has withdrawn from the Australian Open, the latest turn in an increasingly enigmatic career.The Australian Open announced Osaka’s withdrawal on Sunday in Melbourne. Dayana Yastremska will now move into the main draw of the tournament, which starts Jan. 15.Osaka, who won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, has not played a tournament since September, when she withdrew from a match in Japan with abdominal pain.Once seemingly destined to compete for the biggest championships in tennis for the next decade, Osaka has struggled to regain her form since she took two lengthy breaks from competition in 2021.The first break came after her withdrawal from that season’s French Open, where she went public with her longtime struggles with depression. She returned for the Olympic Games in midsummer, but after a disappointing early-round loss at the U.S. Open, she announced an indefinite break.Osaka returned to the tour compete in Australia last January, and she seemed to be well down the road back when she reached the final of the Miami Open in April. She said that she wanted to be No. 1 again. But an Achilles’ tendon injury cut short her clay-court season and also prevented her from playing in Wimbledon.Osaka then won just one match during the summer hardcourt swing in North America, a disappointing result because Osaka was once considered the world’s premier hardcourt player. The Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, is played on hardcourts as well.Despite her limited play and a ranking that sunk to 85th in the world last February, Osaka remains one of the highest earning athletes in the world, with endorsement deals that have pushed her annual income to more than $50 million, according to Forbes.And she remains very busy away from the court. Osaka launched a representation agency in May to take further control of her mounting business portfolio. Osaka and her longtime agent, Stuart Duguid, left IMG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate, to begin Evolve. Nick Kyrgios, an Australian tennis star, has since joined the agency as well.At the time, Duguid said that Osaka’s main priority remained winning tennis matches and tournaments but that launching Evolve allowed her to engage her interests in culture and business.“She’s not someone who likes to play video games and binge Netflix all day,” said Duguid, who has worked closely with Osaka since she was a teenager.Duguid predicted that Osaka’s business portfolio could grow to $150 million annually in the coming years through investments and ventures such as Kinlò, a skin care products company focused on people with darker skin tones.In December, Osaka released a children’s book, “The Way Champs Play.” She wrote that she hoped the book “inspires kids to chase their dreams and encourages them to believe they can do anything they put their minds to.” More

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      U.S. Open Winner Carlos Alcaraz to Miss Australian Open With Injury

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      Alcaraz, 19, the world No. 1, said he had injured his right leg during training.The year’s first major tennis tournament suffered a major blow on Friday when Carlos Alcaraz, the precocious men’s world No. 1 from Spain, announced that he was withdrawing from the Australian Open with a right leg injury.Alcaraz, a 19-year-old phenom with an acrobatic and all-court game, won his first Grand Slam singles title in September at the U.S. Open in often-spectacular fashion, prevailing in a series of compelling and frequently lengthy matches.His four-set victory over Casper Ruud of Norway in the final was the capstone to a breakthrough season and propelled him to the top spot in the men’s rankings, but Alcaraz has struggled with his health since then: withdrawing from the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, and Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain, with an oblique muscle tear in his left abdominal wall.He has not competed in an official event since retiring from his match against Holger Rune, another gifted 19-year-old, in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters in early November, though he took part in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi last month. Alcaraz returned to his training base in Villena, Spain, to recharge and rehabilitate for the 2023 season, but he said in a social-media post on Friday that he had injured the semimembranosus muscle in his right leg during a training session.“When I was at my best in preseason, I picked up an injury through a chance, unnatural movement,” he wrote, announcing his withdrawal from an exhibition next week near Melbourne and from the Australian Open, which will begin on Jan. 16.“I’d worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia,” he wrote. “It’s tough, but I have to be optimistic, recover and look forward.”Alcaraz’s withdrawal means that the Australian Open will be without the men’s No. 1 singles player for a second year in a row, albeit under starkly different circumstances.Last year, Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia on the eve of the tournament after arriving in the country without being vaccinated for the coronavirus and losing an extended and high-profile legal battle with the Australian government.But Australian government policy has changed, now allowing unvaccinated foreigners to enter the country, even without an exemption. Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open singles champion, returned to Australia this year and has received a warm welcome so far on his way to the semifinals of the lead-in tournament in Adelaide this week.Though Alcaraz finished the season at No. 1, becoming the youngest man to do so, Djokovic finished 2022 with the momentum, winning the ATP Finals for the sixth time. It was a triumphant finish to his strangest and most tumultuous season, in which his unvaccinated status kept him from competing in two majors (the Australian Open and U.S. Open) and four Masters 1000 events in North America. He also received no ranking points for winning Wimbledon because of the tours’ decision to strip tournament of ranking points in light of its ban of Russian and Belarusian players.Despite that major mathematical handicap, Djokovic is still ranked No. 5 and was the heavy favorite to win the Australian Open even before Alcaraz’s withdrawal. But the Spaniard’s absence eliminates the enticing prospect of an intergenerational duel down under between the reigning No. 1 and the longest-reigning No. 1.Djokovic, the elastic 35-year-old Serbian, has held the top spot for a men’s record of 373 weeks and has a chance to reclaim that spot by winning a 10th Australian Open title.Alcaraz, who reached the third round in Melbourne last year, will have to watch from afar this time and steel himself for the long haul in a grinding, global, increasingly physical sport made all the tougher by a short off-season.He had a 2022 to savor, winning five singles titles and providing a surplus of social-media clip material with his airborne, all-action style and taste for the abrupt and spectacular change of pace: often a thunderous forehand followed by a deft drop shot. He was also sportsmanlike, giving opponents’ points and the benefit of the doubt on multiple occasions.But his torrid run clearly took a mental and physical toll. After winning the U.S. Open, he won just six of his next 10 singles matches, failing to reach another final. He also lost both matches in the Abu Dhabi exhibition in straight sets, to Andrey Rublev and Ruud.His staying power, unlike his luminous talent, is, for now, a question mark. More