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      Darlene Hard, Strong-Willed Tennis Star Before Pro Era, Dies at 85

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      Hard, who was outspoken and independent minded, was the top-ranked American woman from 1960 to 1963.Darlene Hard, a sturdy and strong-willed Californian with a power game who won 21 Grand Slam tennis championships as one of the last stars of the amateur era, died on Dec. 2 in Los Angeles. She was 85.Anne Marie McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., which inducted Hard in 1973, confirmed the death but did not give a cause.Hard flourished in the late 1950s and early ’60s, when tournament tennis was the domain of amateurs. Along with her, the women’s game featured stars such as Althea Gibson and a young Billie Jean King, Maria Bueno of Brazil and Margaret Court of Australia, all future Hall of Famers.Of the Grand Slam tournaments, Hard won the United States amateur titles in 1960 and ’61 and the French title in 1960. She reached the United States finals in 1958 and 1962 and the Wimbledon finals in 1957 and 1959. She also won 13 Grand Slam championships in women’s doubles with eight different partners, and five in mixed doubles, often paired with Rod Laver.She was ranked No. 1 in the United States from 1960 through 1963, and No. 2 in the world in 1960 and ’61.Gibson played with more power than many women before or since, and Bueno was noted for her grace, but Hard’s aggressive game — big serve, strong overhead and punishing volley — made her a winner. At 5 feet 5½ inches tall and 140 pounds, her main success came on grass courts, where three of the four Grand Slam tournaments were played. (The French Open was, and still is, played on a clay surface).Hard was unusually outspoken at a time when most top players lacked the assertiveness that some display today. She once said of dominating Australian tennis officials: “They treat you not as a player but a puppet. Between tournaments, I was not asked to play in exhibitions — I was ordered to play in them. It was not ‘Miss Hard, would you mind playing?’ It was ‘Miss Hard, you will play.’”Hard belonged to four victorious teams in the Wightman Cup, the annual competition between British and American tennis players. She showed her independent mindedness then, too, earning the irritation of the American team’s captain, Margaret Osborne duPont.DuPont called Hard a “disrupting element” in an official 1962 report. “She insisted on practicing her way instead of complying with the captain’s wishes and those of the other team members,” duPont said.Hard took part in a match that made tennis history on July 6, 1957, losing in the final that made Gibson the first African American woman to win Wimbledon (by a 6-3, 6-2 score). Before the match, as customary, both players curtsied to a young Queen Elizabeth II. Afterward, the queen spoke to them for a few minutes. Then Gibson, following protocol, backed away. An overly enthused Hard, however, in an eyebrow-raising breach of etiquette, turned her back to the queen and skipped toward the locker room.Hard and Althea Gibson after the 1957 Wimbledon final, in which Gibson became the first African-American woman to win the event, defeating Hard. Keystone/Getty ImagesDarlene Ruth Hard was born on Jan. 6, 1936, in Los Angeles and grew up in nearby Montebello, Calif. Her father introduced her to football, basketball, baseball and softball. Her mother, a good amateur player, taught her tennis on public courts.After high school, Hard spent four years on the tennis circuit. Then, she later said, “I decided I didn’t want tennis for a life, so I went to college. I wanted to be in pediatrics. I guess I always wanted to be a doctor.”She went to Pomona College in California and in 1958 won the first intercollegiate tennis championship for women. She graduated in 1961.While at Pomona, Hard had a hitting session with a 13-year-old player who had demonstrated some promise: Billie Jean King.“Darlene Hard had a major influence on my career, as an athlete, teammate and friend,” King was quoted as saying on the Hall of Fame website. The two went on to play doubles together in the first Federation Cup, in 1963, the premier international women’s team tennis competition. King — for whom the cup is now named — recalled how they had overcome two match points to win the final, a highlight of both of their careers, she said.Hard returned to tennis after graduating and worked as a waitress between tournaments. In 1964, with only $400 in the bank, she turned professional and played on a South African tour with Bueno. She soon started giving tennis lessons in the Los Angeles area, leaving behind tournament play.But in 1969, the year after pros were accepted into major tournaments, she returned briefly to international competition, teaming up with Françoise Dürr to play doubles at the U.S. Open. Down 0-6, 0-2 in the final, they rallied to capture the title, 0–6, 6–3, 6–4.Hard went back to teaching tennis and owned two tennis shops. One of her tennis students, the director of student publications at the University of Southern California, offered her a job in the office in 1981. Hard remained there for nearly 40 years.Information on her survivors was not immediately available.In “We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women’s Tennis” (1988), which King wrote with Cynthia Starr, Hard described her dedication to the sport.“I didn’t do it for money,” she said. “I was the last of the amateurs. I won Forest Hills and I got my airfare from New York to Los Angeles. Whoopee.” She continued: “But we still went for our titles. We went for the glory. I was happy. I loved it. I loved tennis.”Frank Litsky, a longtime sportswriter for The Times, died in 2018. Daniel J. Wakin and Jordan Allen contributed reporting. More

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      How China Censored Peng Shuai

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      This article is published with ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative newsroom. When inconvenient news erupts on the Chinese internet, the censors jump into action. Twenty minutes was all it took to mobilize after Peng Shuai, the tennis star and one of China’s most famous athletes, went online and accused Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier, of […] More

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      Serena Williams Will Miss Australian Open With Injury

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      Williams, 40, withdrew from her second straight Grand Slam event, saying, “I am not where I need to be physically to compete.”Serena Williams has announced her withdrawal from next month’s Australian Open, extending her absence from the sport that she long ruled.“I am not where I need to be physically to compete,” Williams said in an announcement on Wednesday as the Australian Open released the list of entered players for the 2022 tournament.Williams, a seven-time Australian Open singles champion, is now 40 and has not played on the WTA Tour since June 28, when she retired late in the first set of her opening round match at Wimbledon because of an injured right hamstring.The injury was slow to heal, and it also kept Williams from competing in this year’s U.S. Open. Williams did not mention the hamstring injury specifically in her statement on Wednesday, saying only that she had decided to withdraw because of “the advice from my medical team.”While Williams confirmed her absence, the Australian Open said that Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 men’s singles player, was entered in the event, which is set to begin Jan. 17 in Melbourne.The state government of Victoria is requiring that all players be fully vaccinated to compete, and Djokovic has declined in recent weeks to reveal his vaccination status or confirm if he will play in the Australian Open, where he has won nine singles titles. But he is on the entry list, only a week after his father decried the vaccination requirement as “these blackmails and conditions” and suggested his son would not play.Williams said she was “excited to return and compete at my highest level,” but it is unclear when or if she will be able to achieve that goal.Williams, ranked 41st, has not won a Grand Slam singles title in nearly five years: She captured the Australian Open in January 2017 when she was two months pregnant with her daughter, Olympia. She returned to the tour in 2018 after Olympia’s birth and remarkably reached the singles finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2018 and again in 2019.But though she won her only tour title since her comeback in January 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand, she has struggled to sustain momentum. She has shown flashes of strong form, returning after the tour’s five-month pandemic hiatus in 2020 to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open, where she lost a taut three-set duel against Victoria Azarenka. At this year’s Australian Open in February, Williams arrived in Melbourne in excellent physical condition and was impressive in the early rounds but was defeated in straight sets by Naomi Osaka in the semifinals.The Australian Open has been the scene of some of Williams’s greatest successes. In 2003, she won her fourth straight Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne. In 2005, she saved three match points in the semifinals in a classic match against Maria Sharapova and went on to beat Lindsay Davenport in the final. In 2007, she came into the tournament unseeded and swept to the title. In 2017, she won while pregnant without dropping a set.But it is now unclear if she will return to the tournament where she has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles: one short of Margaret Court’s record. More

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      Novak Djokovic to Play in ATP Cup, Organizers Say

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      The No. 1-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic will participate in the ATP Cup in Sydney, Australia, in January, the tournament’s organizers said on Tuesday. The announcement came after weeks of speculation about whether Djokovic would travel to Australia for the Australian Open Grand Slam because of vaccine requirements.The ATP Cup announced that Djokovic would play on the Serbian team in the tournament, which will take place during the first nine days of the month. The cup is a precursor to the Australian Open, which will be held in Melbourne from Jan. 17 to Jan. 30. It is still unclear if Djokovic will be taking part in that competition, however. He could not immediately be reached for comment.Australia has placed a temporary two-week ban on international arrivals because of the Omicron variant. Before that, the government announced that some categories of visa holders would be allowed to freely enter the country if they were vaccinated. Officials placed caps on the number of unvaccinated travelers who could enter the country per week, and they were required to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.In October, Djokovic, the reigning champion and a nine-time winner of the Australian Open, told a Serbian news outlet that he might not attend the Australian Open because he would not reveal his vaccination status.Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, the state of which Melbourne is the capital, has said that Victoria would not permit entry to unvaccinated players.Last week, Mr. Djokovic’s father, Srdjan Djokovic, said that his son was unlikely to participate in the tournament “under these blackmails and conditions.”Novak Djokovic’s remark in October set off rounds of contradictory statements between Australian government ministers and tournament organizers about entry requirements for international visitors.Alex Hawk, the immigration minister, said that unvaccinated players would not be able to enter Australia.The Women’s Tennis Association told its players in a leaked email that unvaccinated players would be allowed to enter the country, though they would have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.Prime Minister Scott Morrison said something similar: Unvaccinated players would be able to enter, but would need to comply with quarantine requirements for the state in which they arrived. More

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      Putting Principles Before Profits, Steve Simon Takes a Stand

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      The WTA chief has spent years in tennis working quietly to put players first. Suspending tournaments in China over the treatment of star Peng Shuai has made him the most talked-about leader in sports.Guadalajara, Mexico, gave a party for women’s tennis last month, and when it ended, with Garbiñe Muguruza winning the WTA Finals, the season’s last tournament, confetti fell through the air and a mariachi band turned the Akron Tennis Stadium into a fiesta.In the middle of it, Steve Simon, the bespectacled chairman and chief executive of the WTA Tour, stood quietly and unsmiling in a blue business suit with his hands clasped. He shared the occasional quiet word with Chris Evert and Billie Jean King, or one of the local officials he had helped persuade into holding the event on short notice, after the regular host, Shenzhen, China, pulled out because of the pandemic.Simon had plenty else on his mind. As the tournament and closing celebration unfolded, a geopolitical crisis with women’s tennis at its center had occupied much of his time and he was leading the tour down an uncertain path.On Nov. 2, the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai accused Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier of China, of sexually assaulting her in social media posts that were quickly deleted.The Chinese government removed all mentions of Peng’s accusation, and coverage of Peng from news media outside China has been censored. She largely disappeared from public life, and Simon has been unable to communicate with her despite repeated attempts.On Nov. 13, Simon went public with his frustration, demanding that he and the WTA be able to speak with Peng independently and that Chinese officials conduct a transparent investigation into her allegations. If they did not comply, Simon said, the WTA would consider removing its nine tournaments from China, including the Tour Finals, moves that could cost women’s tennis tens and perhaps hundreds, of millions of dollars over the next decade.On Wednesday, Simon followed through on his threat, announcing that after weeks of failed attempts to communicate with Peng, and no sign of an investigation or evidence that Peng can speak freely, the WTA was immediately suspending all of its tournaments in China. Simon’s stridency, in contrast to other international sports leagues and organizations that do business in China, has turned Simon, a mild-mannered former tournament director who prefers to operate in the background and leave the spotlight to his star players, into the most talked-about leader in sports.“This is not where I wanted to end up,” Simon said in an interview Wednesday night, speaking about the WTA Tour, but also, in a sense, about himself.Peng Shuai competing at the Australian Open in 2017.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images“I don’t want this to be about me,” he added. “Nothing prepared me for it, other than just trying to do what is right and communicating that with the players.”Simon’s refusal to accept China’s authoritarian stance on human rights once it directly affected one of his players stands in stark contrast to several high-profile leaders in sports who have repeatedly bent to the desires of the Chinese, including Adam Silver, the commissioner of the N.B.A., and Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee.Simon has been concerned about Peng’s physical safety but also believed, as did the members of his player council and others he communicates with regularly in a player chat group, that the silencing of Peng and her sexual assault allegation amounted to a direct attack on the principle of equality upon which the WTA was founded.“It’s now December and we’ve not seen any meaningful progress,” he said Wednesday night.Simon, a 66-year-old Southern California native, played tennis at Long Beach State University and mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 1981 alongside Lea Antonoplis. He has spent his adult life in tennis coaching, running the tennis program for Adidas, and organizing and eventually directing the BNP Paribas Open, a joint men’s and women’s event in Indian Wells, Calif., known as the fifth Grand Slam.All along, Simon was quietly gaining authority within tennis circles, even if few of the players knew him particularly well. He began serving on the board of the WTA in 2004.In 2009, he worked to get Stacey Allaster, then the president of the WTA, appointed as the next chief executive. Allaster said during a rough moment for her candidacy, she privately asked Simon if he might be a better fit to lead the organization.“Without a blink he turned to me and said, ‘No, we’re going to stay the course,’” Allaster said.Six years later, after Allaster decided to step down, the WTA board unanimously selected Simon to succeed her. He has since cultivated the support of the sport’s biggest stars of the present and past, including Serena Williams and King, the founder of the WTA, while maintaining his decades-long relationships with the tournament directors who were his initial base of support.“He’s a rarity in sports,” said John Tobias, a prominent tennis agent who represents Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open women’s singles champion. “An executive who is always trying to put the focus on the tour and the players.”Before this month, Simon was best known for the work he performed behind the scenes, along with the former pro Charlie Pasarell and others, to bring Venus and Serena Williams back to Indian Wells after a 14-year absence. Serena Williams was ceaselessly booed by fans after her sister withdrew from a semifinal match between them. Williams believed that race had played a role in how fans treated her. She said at the time that Simon spent a long time listening to what she had to say on the matter and that played a major role in her decision to return.Understand the Disappearance of Peng ShuaiCard 1 of 5Where is Peng Shuai? More

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      I.O.C. Says It Held Second Video Call With Peng Shuai

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      Olympic officials said they ‘shared the same concern as many’ about the safety of the Chinese tennis star but offered no details of what they discussed with her.The International Olympic Committee said Thursday that it had held a second call with the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, trying anew to deflect criticism of its light-touch approach to China only months before the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.“We share the same concern as many other people and organizations about the well-being and safety of Peng Shuai,” the I.O.C. statement said. “This is why, just yesterday, an IOC team held another video call with her. We have offered her wide-ranging support, will stay in regular touch with her, and have already agreed on a personal meeting in January.”IOC Statement on the situation of Peng Shuaihttps://t.co/7wDhc0w33f— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) December 2, 2021
      As with an earlier call with Peng on Nov. 21, the I.O.C. did not release video or a transcript of the call, nor did it say how Wednesday’s call was arranged or who took part. The previous call included the I.O.C.’s president, Thomas Bach but also an I.O.C. member from China.Peng, 35, disappeared from public view more than a month ago after she accused Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier of China, of sexual assault. Her disappearance, China’s efforts to censor any mention of her allegations and its sometimes clumsy efforts to suggest she had retracted her claims, have only intensified concerns about her safety with tennis officials, fellow athletes and human rights groups.The I.O.C. statement, like its earlier statements on Peng, made no mention of her sexual assault claims, referring only to “the difficult situation she is in.”The latest call, which the I.O.C. said took place on Wednesday, came on the same day the women’s professional tennis tour announced it would suspend all of its events in China, including Hong Kong, until the Chinese government took several measures. It called for the government to stop censoring Peng, allow her to speak and travel freely and “investigate the allegation of sexual assault in a full, fair and transparent manner.”Olympic officials have been on the defensive for weeks for their relative silence on Peng’s disappearance, which critics of both the organization and of China have derided as an attempt to avoid even the appearance of criticizing a powerful partner. The looming Winter Olympics in China, which will make Beijing the first city to host the Summer and Winter Games, open on Feb. 4.The I.O.C. has countered that its effort to aid Peng has been a campaign of “quiet diplomacy,” a phrase it repeated in Thursday’s statement.“There are different ways to achieve her well-being and safety,” the I.O.C. said. “We have taken a very human and person-centered approach to her situation. Since she is a three-time Olympian, the I.O.C. is addressing these concerns directly with Chinese sports organizations. We are using ‘quiet diplomacy’ which, given the circumstances and based on the experience of governments and other organizations, is indicated to be the most promising way to proceed effectively in such humanitarian matters.” More

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      WTA Suspends Tournaments in China Over Treatment of Peng Shuai

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      Steve Simon said Wednesday that the women’s tennis tour would not stage tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, because he has been unable to communicate with Peng despite repeated attempts.The women’s professional tennis tour announced Wednesday that it was immediately suspending all tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, in response to the disappearance from public life of the tennis star Peng Shuai after she accused a top Communist Party leader of sexual assault.With the move, the Women’s Tennis Association became the only major sports organization to push back against China’s increasingly authoritarian government. Women’s tennis officials made the decision after they were unable to speak directly with Peng after she accused Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier of China, in social media posts that were quickly deleted.The Chinese government quickly removed all mentions of Peng’s accusation, and coverage of Peng from news media outside China has been censored. She has not been seen in public except in the company of government officials in more than two weeks.Peng, 35, a Grand Slam doubles champion and three-time Olympian, resurfaced late last month in a series of appearances with Chinese officials, including in a video conference with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, which will bring the Winter Games to Beijing in February.“While we now know where Peng is, I have serious doubts that she is free, safe and not subject to censorship, coercion and intimidation,” Steve Simon, the chief executive of the Women’s Tennis Association, said in a statement.“If powerful people can suppress the voices of women and sweep allegations of sexual assault under the rug, then the basis on which the WTA was founded — equality for women — would suffer an immense setback,” he added. “I will not and cannot let that happen to the WTA and its players.”The WTA held its 2019 Tour Finals in Shenzhen, China.Aly Song/ReutersThe suspension comes just two months before the start of an Olympics that makes Beijing the first city to host both the summer and winter Games. The I.O.C. has not indicated that the Peng controversy would affect the Games, with Richard W. Pound, a Canadian lawyer and the organization’s longest-serving member, saying that the committee prefers “quiet and discreet diplomacy.”No other sports organization has followed the WTA’s lead.“We cannot walk away from issues related to sexual assault,” Simon told The Times in an interview Wednesday night. “If we do that we are telling the world that is OK and it’s not important. That is what this is about.”“It’s the right move and I’m so proud of the WTA for taking it,” Martina Navratilova, the former champion, said. “Now we are just going to have to see if the other sports, especially the ATP, will follow.”The governing body for the men’s tour, the Association of Tennis Professionals, asked for an investigation into Peng’s safety, but has not suggested it would boycott China. And on Tuesday, World Athletics, the governing body for track and field, affirmed that it would hold its relay championships in Guangzhou in 2023. The organization is led by Sebastian Coe, a leading member of the I.O.C.China is a vast market that has provided a huge opportunity for growth among sports organizations, including Premier League soccer, the National Basketball Association, and professional tennis and golf. Doing business in China has become both lucrative and complicated in recent years as the country’s government has cracked down on free speech and political protest. Its treatment of Muslim minorities has been deemed genocide by the United States and lawmakers in several nations.Michael Lynch, who led the sports marketing division for Visa during his 16-year tenure at the company, said he expected that tennis would not be the only sport to re-examine its business in China because of the treatment of Peng. “Let’s hope this is not considered a female problem,” Lynch said. “They are all athletes. It doesn’t matter sex or gender. If there is more pressure that needs to be applied, sports will support one another. What we saw with Black Lives Matter is this is about human rights and everyone is coming to the table and supporting each other.”Women’s tennis stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years by pulling out of China. The tour has a 10-year deal to hold its season-ending tournament in Shenzhen, where organizers committed to some $150 million in prize money and millions more on tennis development in the country. The organization also holds eight other tournaments in the country.“I don’t see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault,” Simon said. “Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.”Simon said that women’s tennis would not return to China until its officials could speak to Peng without government interference and a full investigation into her assault accusations could be conducted. “China’s leaders have left the WTA with no choice.”Peng accused Zhang, 75, of sexually assaulting her at his home three years ago. She also described having had an on-and-off consensual relationship with Zhang.Then she quickly dropped out of public life. As demands for an inquiry grew louder, China’s state-owned broadcaster released a message that it claimed was from Peng, recanting her accusations.“Hello everyone this is Peng Shuai,” it stated before calling her initial accusation of sexual assault untrue. “I’m not missing, nor am I unsafe. I’ve been resting at home and everything is fine. Thank you again for caring about me.”The message, which few believed was actually from Peng herself, only raised concerns further, as did additional photos and videos of her that began to appear — all from sources in China’s government-controlled media.Understand the Disappearance of Peng ShuaiCard 1 of 5Where is Peng Shuai? More

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      ‘He’s a really cool guy’ – Lewis Hamilton helping Emma Raducanu with advice on how to deal with pressure at young age

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      EMMA RADUCANU has revealed “role model” Lewis Hamilton has helped her deal with her newfound pressure and fame.The tennis star, 19, has seen her status skyrocket since winning the US Open in September.
      Emma Raducanu described “cool” Lewis Hamilton as a “role model”Credit: Getty
      Hamilton has given Raducanu advice on how to deal with pressure and fameCredit: The Mega Agency
      And Hamilton, who also rose to fame at a young age after winning the Formula One Championship in 2008 at the age of 23, has offered words of advice to Raducanu.
      Speaking after playing at the Royal Albert Hall, Raducanu said: “He’s just been really cool in helping me.
      “He said: ‘Be patient, you’ve just got to ride the wave. It’s all good. Don’t worry.’ Good reassurance.
      “He has been such a good role model for me in terms of helping me out through the next stage. He’s a really cool guy.”
      Raducanu is a big F1 fan having competed in motorsports as a youngster.
      And she is backing Hamilton to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, despite being a favourite for the award herself.

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      She said: “The BBC Awards are something that’s so far out of the realms of possibility for me to win. I’m rooting for Lewis in the race.”
      Raducanu and Hamilton, 36, met at the glitzy Met Gala Ball in New York in September shortly after her incredible Slam victory at Flushing Meadows.
      Raducanu’s appearance in the Champions Tennis Exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall was her first return to a UK court since that famous win, and she appeared to enjoy beating training partner Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 7-6.
      Emma Raducanu plays first game back in Britain after US Open triumph in Royal Albert Hall exhibition More