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      With Win in Paris, Novak Djokovic Secures Year-End No. 1 Ranking Again

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      He bolstered his claim to being the best men’s player of this era by securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for a record seventh year.PARIS — When Novak Djokovic was 7, the world of elite tennis was a distant place, visible only on the television screen of his parents’ pizzeria in the Serbian mountains or the modest family apartment in Belgrade.His two young children have a much better view.On Sunday, as he hustled and pondered his way through his rematch with Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic’s son, Stefan, 7, and daughter, Tara, 4, were in the front row along with friends, family and stuffed animals.When Djokovic finally prevailed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, to win the Paris Masters for the sixth time, he met Medvedev at the net and then walked, beaming, toward his children to embrace them in the stands.“A special day for me,” Djokovic said. “It’s the first time both my kids are together to watch a match of mine.”It is one of the perks of enduring sporting excellence and one of the inspirations: to give your offspring a memory of you in full flow.“It’s one of the biggest reasons why I keep on playing,” Djokovic said. “I always dreamed of having my children in the stands.”His longtime rival Roger Federer, a father of four, has reveled in the experience. So have many leading athletes, from football’s Tom Brady to women’s soccer’s Christie Pearce, in an era when more superstars have found a way to stay longer at the top.At 34, Djokovic is riding the same wave and not yet ready to get off. He proved it in Paris, where he rebounded from a demoralizing stretch that could have left him reeling.Djokovic kissed his son, Stefan, after defeating Medvedev.Thibault Camus/APAfter failing again to win a medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in August, Djokovic got within one match of achieving a Grand Slam only to lose the U.S. Open final in straight sets to Medvedev. Rod Laver remains the last man to win all four major singles titles in the same year. He completed the Grand Slam in 1962 and 1969, and judging by the steady improvement of Medvedev and the new generation of men’s stars, it is difficult to imagine that Djokovic will have another chance to join Laver’s club.But after seven weeks away from the tour, Djokovic reminded fans of his resilience, talent and resourcefulness with his performance in Paris.He bolstered his claim to being the best men’s player of this golden era by securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for a record seventh year, breaking his tie with Pete Sampras. He also broke another tie with Rafael Nadal by winning his 37th Masters 1000 title and became the first man since Andre Agassi in 1999 to win the French Open and Paris Masters in the same season.Medvedev, the gangly Russian shock absorber, had looked unstoppable as he rolled over a weary Alexander Zverev in Saturday’s semifinals, barely making an unforced error. Meanwhile, Djokovic had only squeaked past an inspired Hubert Hurkacz in a third-set tiebreaker in their semifinal, struggling for consistency off the ground and in his own service games..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}But Djokovic found a new level and a new tactic against Medvedev, borrowing a yellowing page from tennis’s traditional playbook by serving and volleying 22 times and winning 19 of the points when he did.It was an astute attempt to take advantage of Medvedev’s extremely deep return position, but it still required Djokovic to make a series of brilliantly angled volleys and drop volleys to keep the ball out of Medvedev’s long reach. More impressive was that the tactic continued to work throughout the match even after Medvedev had a chance to adjust.“It won Novak the match for sure,” said Mark Petchey, the veteran coach and analyst. “It’s been a changeup strategy for Novak in the past, a surprise tactic, but Daniil knew it was coming and still couldn’t stop him.”It helps that Medvedev slaps relatively flat returns and passing shots compared with a player like Nadal, whose dipping topspin can make it harder to hit decisive volleys. New paradigm? Probably not, but it was certainly effective indoors on Sunday despite the relatively heavy balls that, in theory, should have made winners more difficult to produce.“He puts a lot of returns back in play, and he’s just so good at staying in the point and making you suffer and forcing you to do an unforced error,” Djokovic said. “So you have to have in a way controlled aggression against him.”He added, “I wanted to keep him on his toes, so he doesn’t know what’s coming up next, to be a little bit unpredictable.”It is surely easier to surprise Medvedev at this early stage of their rivalry than men whom Djokovic has faced for more than a decade, like Nadal and Federer. But though Djokovic and Nadal had a memorable duel this year in Paris, with Djokovic prevailing in a four-set semifinal, Djokovic versus Medvedev has been the most compelling rivalry of the year.Djokovic beat him in straight sets in the Australian Open final, lost in straight sets in New York and then won their best match yet in Paris. It would be no surprise if they met once more this year at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, which will begin on Sunday on another indoor hardcourt.Medvedev has become Djokovic’s most compelling rival over the past year.Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock They have become increasingly comfortable with each other and even trained together recently near their Monte Carlo residences: a rare occasion for a No. 1 and No. 2 player. Their meeting at the net after Sunday’s final was full of warmth despite Medvedev’s disappointment, and Djokovic has perhaps never applauded an opponent’s winners as often as he did for Medvedev’s in Paris. That was in part because the level was so high, particularly when they were locked in baseline exchanges that both were able to extend far beyond the norm with their extraordinary defensive skills.“He’s probably my biggest rival in tennis at the moment,” Djokovic said.The question is whether either of them will make the long trip to Melbourne for the Australian Open, where the state government of Victoria has indicated that players will be required to be fully vaccinated for Covid-19. According to the ATP Tour, 25 percent of the top 100 singles players remain unvaccinated. Djokovic, who contracted the coronavirus in 2020, and Medvedev, who tested positive for coronavirus in April, have declined to disclose whether they are vaccinated. Both said in Paris that they would decide whether to play the Australian Open after the tournament made its formal policy clear.“I don’t want to be part of the stories about the assumptions and what ifs,” Djokovic said. “When the official conditions and requirements to travel to Australia and play in Australia are out, then obviously I will see what I personally do with that, and also the bigger group of the players. Because the situation is obviously different in Australia than most parts of the world.”The announcement is imminent, according to Tennis Australia, which will officially launch the tournament next week with tickets going on sale on Nov. 19.Skipping the trip would be no small sacrifice for Djokovic, who is in pursuit of a 21st Grand Slam singles title to break his three-way tie with Federer and Nadal. Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open champion, has won nearly half of his majors on the hardcourts in Melbourne. Though he remains No. 1 after another brilliant and resilient season, he can sense the pressure from below from Medvedev, 25, and his peer group, who have no children in tow just yet.“He’s the leader of the next generation,” Djokovic said. “They are already there, and they are challenging the three of us old guys, and we’re going to try to hang in there.” More

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      WTA Finals, a Nomadic Tournament, Lands in Mexico

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      A last-minute deal brings the event to Guadalajara. But what about that altitude?After two decades of wandering the globe, the WTA Finals had finally found a home, or so it seemed in 2019.That was the first year the finals were held, to great fanfare, in Shenzhen, China, under a deal that would keep the tournament there for 10 years.The event has not been back since, and on Wednesday it will instead be played in Guadalajara, Mexico, after an agreement in September.The tournament, which has been played under different names over the years, has long been a bit nomadic. It was held at Madison Square Garden from 1979 to 2000 and has moved five times from 2001 to 2013. It then spent five years in Singapore.The pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s tournament, the first time it had not been held since the finals began nearly 50 years ago, when the finals were called the Virginia Slims Championships.This year, with the Akron WTA Finals Guadalajara, that means some players will be competing in one of the biggest tournaments outside of the Grand Slams in the third different city in the last three finals.“I personally don’t care if the location changes every year; it’s always exciting to be able to compete in the event,” said Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain, who qualified three times from 2015 to 2017 and is one of the eight players invited to play singles this year.For months, the WTA planned a return to Shenzhen, while having parallel discussions with other cities, including Hong Kong.“Knowing the situation was less than clear, we had a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C,” said Micky Lawler, the WTA president. “We wanted to give our top players a chance to compete the way they deserved to end 2021, but putting on events is really tough during a pandemic, and circumstances keep changing and are out of your control.”The tour ended up going with Plan D: Guadalajara.“I personally don’t care if the location changes every year,” Garbiñe Muguruza said of the WTA Finals.Dean Lewins/EPA, via Shutterstock“It’s very difficult to plan an event at this scale, and they offered a great solution in a market where we already had a tournament,” Lawler said, referring to the lower-level tournament held there in March. (The No. 1 seed was 46th-ranked Nadia Podoroska of Argentina.)The WTA was impressed by the team that ran that tournament, but also there was no Plan E, Lawler said. “This wasn’t a situation of ‘Let’s choose between places,’” she said. “It was, ‘We don’t want a second year in a row without a WTA Finals, so let’s put all our resources together and make this work.’”Lawler said that Steve Simon, the WTA chief executive, was running weekly board meetings and that the tour held constant discussions with the players and the sponsors. “Everyone’s attitude was that this was not what we planned for, but they would support it because it was better than no tournament.”While Lawler is certain that there will be challenges — she points to a sudden Covid-related lockdown that started during a recent tournament in Moscow — she is confident that they will be surmountable. Many of the players are certainly eager for the tournament, even if there are obstacles. (The exception is Ashleigh Barty, the tour’s top-ranked player and the defending champion. She is skipping the tournament to avoid another stint in quarantine after returning to her native Australia.)Karolina Pliskova said reaching the WTA Finals was always a personal goal when the season started. This is her fifth straight year at the tournament, making her the only player besides Muguruza with experience in the event. The newcomers competing in singles are Paula Badosa, Anett Kontaveit, Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari and Iga Swiatek.Pliskova, who is the only person to play in Singapore, Shenzhen and now Guadalajara over three consecutive WTA Finals, said the shift in locales erased some of her advantage.“It’s better for players who have never played in the tournament because if it was in the same place each year, players who had been there would know how the courts play and know all the activities and would feel more relaxed,” she said. “This year, everybody is basically starting from zero.”The biggest difference between Guadalajara and pretty much any other WTA Finals location is the altitude. The city is about 5,000 feet above sea level, which will make the ball fly faster but trickier to control, while also challenging players to catch their breath after long rallies.Guadalajara is about 5,000 feet above sea level, an altitude that will affect how the ball flies and how players breathe.Getty Images“The altitude is a salient factor, and it came up in conversations with the players, but everyone’s in the same boat,” Lawler said, adding that it is no different from having a surface that favors certain players. “These players are the best of the best, so while some will love it less, they’re going to adjust.”Krejcikova said that she had no experience playing at that altitude, but that she did not care about how it would change the game. “I’m just happy to be going to the WTA Finals,” she said. “I always wanted to play against the other top players to see where my level is.”She said that she believed that the bigger hitters and servers might benefit from getting extra velocity on their power shots, resulting in shorter points, but that she would not decide how to adjust her game until she practiced there.Muguruza said the strongest players might benefit from the altitude. But the extra velocity comes with a catch. “It will be the ones who can control their power who will have more opportunities,” she said, because balls could easily sail long or wide.Pliskova said she might change the tension on her strings to give her more control or more spin.“I don’t want to change too much — my game is my game — but I may change a little,” she said, adding that someone who was good at defending might benefit if players could not control their shots, as long as they were in good enough condition to handle long points at that altitude.Although the WTA hopes to return the finals to Shenzhen in 2022, there is hope that this rare visit from the game’s best players will give the sport a boost in Mexico. Heather Bowler, a spokeswoman for the International Tennis Federation, said in an email that at the recreational and amateur level Mexico had the lowest ratio in the region of players to population and the lowest percentage of female players.“Bringing an elite-level tournament, WTA Finals will drive awareness and increase an appetite for the game, so it certainly is a good basis on which to build on in the future,” she wrote, “and the WTA should be a great catalyst for sport in the region and for Mexico as a nation.”Lawler said that while nothing was in the works, increased interest could eventually lead to bigger tournaments and more resources for young players in the region, creating a positive cycle. “If there is an appetite to build something in Mexico, we would do everything we can to support it,” she said.Krejcikova said she thought about the way the sport and the players were seen by girls at every tournament, but especially when it was someplace new.“I hope we are good examples for them,” she said, “and can have a big impact on the younger generation in Mexico.” More

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      Iga Swiatek, Voted a Fan Favorite, Turns to the Finals

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      She shocked the sport when she not only won the French Open, but dominated it. Building Legos helps her relax.Iga Swiatek likes Legos and long books. Both help keep her mentally sharp for the grueling matches she plays on the WTA Tour.While quarantined in her hotel room for two weeks before the Australian Open in February, Swiatek, 20, completed the contents of two giant Lego boxes that she carried from her home in Poland. When she began competing at the United States Open in August, she was three weeks into reading “Gone with the Wind,” a long American classic.A year ago, after shocking the sport by winning the French Open without dropping a set (she lost just 28 games in seven matches), Swiatek became the lowest-ranked woman, at No. 54, to win the title. She was also the first player from Poland to capture a major and the youngest woman to win at Roland-Garros since then-18-year-old Monica Seles in 1992.Swiatek qualified for her first WTA Finals, the eight-woman championship, last year, but the event was canceled because of the pandemic. A year later, after winning the Adelaide International and Italian Open and reaching No. 4 in the world in September, Swiatek, now ranked No. 10, has qualified again.The following conversation has been edited and condensed.How disappointed were you when last year’s finals was canceled?I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed because last year was pretty tricky for me. I was happy that Roland-Garros was the last tournament because I could learn how to deal with all the new reality and new obligations. And it wouldn’t have been fair [to contest the finals] since there were so few tournaments and many players didn’t play. I know that the Covid situation and the break that we had on tour probably helped me a lot. I don’t know if I would have had the same success if we didn’t have Covid.Iga Swiatek returned a shot to Anett Kontaveit, of Estonia, during the third round of the U.S. Open in September. Last year, she became the lowest-ranked woman to win the French Open. Elise Amendola/Associated PressWhen you were a little girl, did you ever imagine being among the Elite Eight?I never thought about it because there are so many other players with great experience. But after I won Roland-Garros I had the feeling that anything could happen in tennis right now.In Guadalajara, you will be playing with pressureless tennis balls to combat the effects of the 5,000-foot altitude. How will you adjust?I have no idea. I have to try this. I played in Madrid (about 2,100 feet) for the first time this year, and my shots were flying like crazy. So we made some adjustments, and by the end I played really solid tennis. Guadalajara is going to be even worse, so I really need to get used to the conditions.In Indian Wells you had the chance to visit with Andy Murray, and now you want to practice with him. What do you want to learn?I told him we should practice on grass because, even though I reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year, I feel like every day can be tricky on grass, and I need some more power and more experience to be solid there.You were voted the WTA’s fan favorite for your drop shot and your singles play. What did that mean to you?It meant a lot because when I have a hard time finding the motivation to practice I always remember that tennis is entertainment. I love playing in stadiums, especially when I win, and I love the support I get from people.You recently donated $50,000 in support of World Mental Health Day. What have you learned about yourself and your own mental wellness after traveling for so many years with your own sports psychologist?It’s hard to separate what I’ve learned from the new experiences I’ve had and from just growing up. When I won Roland-Garros I was 19, and that’s a period of life when you learn a lot about yourself even when you’re not an athlete. I feel like there is a pretty crazy mix between my personal and work life because being an athlete is a 24-hour job. But I wouldn’t change this experience for anything because I think it gave me a lot of knowledge about myself and wisdom that I can use later in life. More

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      For Barbora Krejcikova, Tennis Grew on Her

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      She first played for fun, but she has gone on to win the French Open and is half of a formidable doubles team.Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic never dreamed of a pro tennis career.She did not wallpaper her bedroom with posters of great Czech players, hit balls against a wall late at night while pretending she was playing match point at Wimbledon or spend hours as a 7-year-old working out in the gym. She did once, however, after winning a local junior tournament, receive an Andre Agassi promotional poster, but does not remember what she did with it.“I always loved tennis, always wanted to play, but only played for fun,” Krejcikova said in a video conversation last month. “I only realized later, when I was 16 or 17 and playing junior slams, that this was something that I would love to do. That I wanted to be in the same locker room as the superstars and play against them someday.”Three years ago, Krejcikova was ranked outside the world’s Top 200 in singles, but reached No. 1 in doubles with her countrywoman Katerina Siniakova. Now she is ranked a career-high No. 3 in singles and is the first player since another fellow Czech, Karolina Pliskova in 2016, to qualify for the WTA Finals in singles and doubles. Pliskova will also compete in the event, in Guadalajara, Mexico, which makes two of the eight singles players Czech.Krejcikova qualified by winning the French Open in June and reaching the quarterfinals at the United States Open and the round of 16 at Wimbledon.“What happened this season, it’s really hard to describe it,” Krejcikova said. “I mean, it’s just perfect. It was this amazing season and really my big breakthrough. I’m really glad that things went the way that they went.”Krejcikova, 25, is the latest in a long line of great Czech women tennis players. Vera Sukova reached the Wimbledon final in 1962. Martina Navratilova reached two major finals while representing Czechoslovakia in 1975, then won 18 majors, including nine Wimbledons, after she defected to the United States.Hana Mandlikova, Jana Novotna and, more recently, Petra Kvitová, are all major champions, and Pliskova, who reached the final at Wimbledon this year before losing to Ashleigh Barty, was ranked No. 1 in 2017. Sukova’s daughter, Helena, won 14 majors in doubles.Barbora Krejcikova, right, with her doubles partner, and fellow Czech, Katerina Siniakova, during a match at the U.S. Open in September.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesThe Czech Republic won the Fed Cup six out of eight years, from 2011 to 2018. Krejcikova made the team, playing doubles in 2018 and ’19. She made her singles debut in the competition, now renamed the Billie Jean King Cup, in Prague last week.“There is only one reason that so many Czech players have been successful, and it’s because the coaches there all teach good technique,” said Mandlikova, winner of four majors in the 1980s before she served as the coach of the 1998 Wimbledon winner Novotna who, in turn, became Krejcikova’s mentor. “Sometimes that takes a little longer to develop, but it stays with you for your whole life.”Krejcikova was not unknown as a junior. At 17 she won the 2013 European Junior Championships in singles and doubles. The same year, she and Siniakova captured junior doubles titles at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.Still playing together on the WTA Tour, the pair won the French Open and Wimbledon in 2018 and the French this year. They also won a gold medal at the Olympics in July. This is the third time they have qualified for the WTA Finals, where they were runners-up in 2018. Krejcikova is also a three-time Australian Open mixed doubles winner.“I remember when we played the Australian Open in 2020, she was in qualifying for singles and was ranked like 120, 130 in the world,” said Nikola Mektic, half of the world No. 1 doubles team. “To be Top 5 now is a major accomplishment for her. And she still keeps playing doubles and mixed, so hats off to her.”Krejcikova has been trying to improve her singles game. From 2014 to 2019, she played the qualifying tournaments at the four majors 16 times, advancing to the main draw only once. She trained for several years at the TK Agrofert Prostejov, the same club where Kvitova trained.“Petra is a legend,” Krejcikova said. “I used to watch her a lot, and I always wished that I could hit some balls with her. But then we were on the Fed Cup team together, and now I have a different perspective. It’s just crazy.”Kvitova said she believed that doubles success had made Krejcikova a better singles player. “It’s the variety of her game and how she is seeing it from the doubles as well,” said Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon winner. “She has a kick serve too which not many players have. And she has drop shots, slice, topspin, serve and volley, whatever, it’s all there.”In January 2014, when she had just turned 18 years old, Krejcikova and her mother, Hana Krejcikova, knocked on the door of Novotna’s house in Brno, looking for advice. Novotna agreed to work with Krejcikova.“I would say that the connection to her was a huge guiding light for me, and I really appreciate that she gave me her time and wanted to help me and not someone else,” Krejcikova said of Novotna, who died of cancer at age 49 in 2017. Because of Novotna, Krejcikova has become involved with the WTA’s Aceing Cancer campaign.“Even when everyone else was in the Top 100 and I was playing I.T.F.s [International Tennis Federation tournaments] and qualifying, she always told me: ‘Be patient, you’re going to be like me. Keep improving, and you’ll get there one day.’ And, out of nowhere, I’m here.” More

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      China's Peng Shuai Makes #MeToo Claim Against Zhang Gaoli

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      Peng Shuai’s accusation against Zhang Gaoli takes the country’s budding #MeToo movement to the top echelons of the Communist Party for the first time.Peng Shuai, the professional tennis star, publicly accused a former vice premier of China of sexual assault, igniting an online firestorm of attention to a #MeToo allegation that for the first time touched the pinnacles of Communist Party power.Ms. Peng made the allegation in a post on Tuesday night on her verified account on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. In it, she described an assault that began an on-and-off consensual relationship with Zhang Gaoli, who from 2012 to 2017 served on the party’s Politburo Standing Committee, the top ruling body in China.The post was removed within minutes, but the allegations swirled through the country’s heavily controlled internet, fueled by the fame of the accuser and the accused. That kept the censors inside China’s Great Firewall scrambling.Searches of her name and even the word “tennis” appeared to be blocked, reflecting the extraordinary sensitivity within China of discussing misconduct by party leaders.“The impact of #MeToo has been accumulating for three years,” Lü Pin, an activist who founded the now-banned Chinese online forum Feminist Voices, said in a telephone interview from New Jersey, where she now lives. “When the first women began talking about their experiences three years ago, no one could have imagined that it would reach this high level.”Ms. Peng’s accusations could not be corroborated. In her post, she acknowledged that she would be unable to produce evidence of her accusation, suggesting at one point that Mr. Zhang had expressed worries that she might record their encounters.She could not be reached for comment. The State Council, China’s governing body, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The authorities have charged government officials with sexual misconduct before, often in conjunction with corruption investigations. Never before, though, has an accusation of sexual misconduct been leveled publicly against as senior a political leader as Mr. Zhang.“These allegations are not shocking in substance but are shocking in the target,” Bill Bishop, the founder of Sinocism, a newsletter on Chinese affairs, wrote.Zhang Gaoli, the former vice premier, in 2014. As a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, Mr. Zhang was once one of the most powerful people in the country.Kim Kyung-Hoon/ReutersAn economist by education, Mr. Zhang, now 75, rose through the ranks of the party and government. He served as governor of Shandong, the coastal province, and then as party secretary in Tianjin, the provincial-level port city on the Bohai Sea. As vice premier from 2013 to 2018, he was one of seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, headed then, as now, by China’s leader, Xi Jinping.“I know that for someone of your eminence, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, you’ve said that you’re not afraid,” Ms. Peng wrote in her post, “but even if it’s just me, like an egg hitting a rock, or a moth to the flame, courting self-destruction, I’ll tell the truth about you.”Women in media, at universities and in the private sector in China have all come forward with accusations of sexual assault and harassment — only to face pushback in the courts and censorship online.In China, many women say, there remains an ingrained patriarchal tradition of using positions in business or government to gain sexual favors from subordinates or other women. In 2016, the country’s top prosecuting agency listed the exchange of “power for sex recklessly” as one of six traits of senior officials accused of corruption.The accuser in another high-profile harassment case, Zhou Xiaoxuan, posted a note expressing sympathy for Ms. Peng, illustrating how widely the accusation became known despite the censorship. “I hope she’s safe and sound,” she wrote.Ms. Zhou, who in 2018 accused a prominent television anchor of sexual harassment four years earlier, emerged as a trailblazer of China’s fledgling #MeToo movement and also a victim of the social and legal challenges women who come forward face. In September, a court in Beijing ruled that she had “tendered insufficient evidence” to prove her case against the anchor, Zhu Jun, who has sued her for slander.Mr. Zhang retired in 2018, when, according to Ms. Peng’s account, the two resumed a relationship that had begun when he served in Tianjin, which would have been between 2007 and 2012. She said he had first assaulted her after inviting her to play tennis with him and his wife. “I never consented that afternoon, crying all the time,” she wrote, not specifying when exactly the assault occurred.At the time she was soaring through a professional career that would propel her to a No. 1 ranking in doubles with the Women’s Tennis Association in 2014 and as high as 14th as a singles player.With her partner, Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan, she won the doubles championship at Wimbledon in 2013 and again at the French Open in 2014. That year, playing singles, she reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open. She remains ranked 189th in singles and 248th in doubles, last playing at the Qatar Total Open in February 2020, according to the association.She was one of the athletes who broke out of the country’s sports system, which mandates that most train under state coaches and give most of their earnings, even from endorsements, back to the state. She was one of the first to reach an agreement to allow her to train and travel by herself and keep a larger share of the earnings.Her post continued to circulate in screen shots and other messages even after it was deleted, a testament to the resonance accusations like hers has in Chinese society.“The censorship is not working,” Ms. Lü, the activist, said. She added that while it was important that people were discussing the issue, “changing policy is the most difficult part.”Chris Buckley More

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      The Next Generation of Men’s Tennis

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      Fixing this and that in their games, these 10 players could join the elite.Novak Djokovic dominated men’s tennis this year, but with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal wearing down physically, 2021 also signaled a changing of the guard: Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the French Open final; Matteo Berrettini reached the Wimbledon final; Alexander Zverev won the Olympic gold medal; and Daniil Medvedev reached the Australian Open final and then won the United States Open. All are 25 or younger.Now a new crop of youngsters, 24 and under, is charging up the rankings, but some will stall.To separate themselves from their peers, each must refine his game; these 10 are most likely to join the sport’s elite, if they improve one aspect of their game. Following is an assessment of each player from coaches, analysts and former professionals. Rankings are through Thursday.Casper RuudNorway, age 22; world ranking: 8Ruud’s speed and all-around game shine on clay, said Tom Shimada, a coach at the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy in South Carolina, “but now he has to figure out how to play on the quicker services.”Ruud needs more free points on serve, said Jimmy Arias, director of the IMG Academy’s tennis program in Florida and a Tennis Channel analyst. “He still has to grind on his serve and in three-of-five set tournaments that makes it difficult.”Patrick McEnroe, a director of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York and an analyst for ESPN, was pleasantly surprised by Ruud’s serves and instead feels Ruud needs “more firepower on his forehand, whether it’s more power or more spin.”Christian Bruna/EPA, via ShutterstockHubert HurkaczPoland, age 24; ranking: 9Hurkacz turned heads with his Miami Open win this year, but Arias said he needed to retain consistency because he sometimes lost to lesser players.McEnroe sees that as a lack of assertiveness despite his rise in the rankings: “He needs to be more aggressive with his shots, but also with his attitude. He could use a little swagger.”Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesJannik SinnerItaly, age 20; ranking: 11Sinner himself said he could not pick just one thing to improve. “I’m only 20 years old; I have to improve everything,” he said. “I have to improve the serve, my volleys and mixing up my game as well.”McEnroe and Arias said he needed variety and creativity in his approach. “He’s missing the subtleties of the game,” McEnroe said, “when to hit the ball at 60 percent or to slice it down the middle and make the other guy come up with something.”Carmen Mandato/Getty Images Felix Auger-AliassimeCanada, age 21; ranking: 12He sometimes gets tight, leading to service breaks at crucial moments. “He will just hand you a service break with two double faults and two inexplicable first-ball errors,” Arias said.McEnroe said Auger-Aliassime was a true student of the game, so he sometimes overthinks things. “He’s looking for the perfect shot, so he makes errors,” McEnroe said. “He needs to relax, just let it go and play with more freedom, trusting his athleticism.”Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesDenis ShapovalovCanada, age 22; ranking: 13Shapovalov has been captivating fans since he shocked Nadal as an 18-year-old at the 2017 Canadian Open, but Shapovalov’s power and style can work to his detriment. “He has tremendous weapons, but he’s going for a lot,” Shimada said. Trying to blast winners is “a tough way to consistently beat the guys who play unbelievable defense.”McEnroe said Shapovalov needed more high-percentage shots on his service return: “He tends to take big swings and has to be more consistent on the return, playing smart, neutral or even defensive shots to get in the rally.”Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesReilly OpelkaUnited States, age 24; ranking: 26Opelka needs confidence. “To reach the next level will require an evolution of his mind-set,” Shimada saidArias recalled watching Opelka double fault twice in a row in Atlanta this summer, then mutter repeatedly to himself, “I should have played team sports.”McEnroe said that at 6-foot-11, Opelka needed to maximize his size and power, going bigger on forehands, returns and serves. “He jokes about not wanting to be a ‘serve-bot,’ but he should play like one more often,” McEnroe said. “To beat the top players, he has to overpower them.”Scott Taetsch/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSebastian KordaUnited States, age 21; ranking: 38Korda soared from 119th this year, but his continued climb requires a better serve, Shimada said, citing his loss to Karen Khachanov at Wimbledon, where Korda was broken seven times in the fifth set as Exhibit A.“You can’t have that happen,” McEnroe said. “The serve has to get better, and he needs to get stronger and impose himself more.”Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesCarlos AlcarazSpain, age 18; ranking: 40Even for this article, which is essentially nit-picking, Arias, McEnroe and Shimada were stumped when it came to the dynamic Alcaraz, who jumped in the rankings from 141 this year.“If I had to pick one guy where you can’t come up with one thing, it’s Alcaraz,” McEnroe said. “He can do it all, and he has moxie.”Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressJenson BrooksbyUnited States, age 21; ranking: 56He believes he needs to commit to being physical and running through the ball in points to avoid going on the defensive. “That’s what I’m working on the most,” Brooksby said.While Shimada, McEnroe and Arias are dazzled by his movement and feel, and his unusual strokes and style, they said his big problem was really his serve.“For his size, [6-foot-4], his serve is mediocre at best,” McEnroe said.He will need a dangerous serve to win a major, but if he improves there, Arias said, look out.“With a bigger serve, he could be the American Daniil Medvedev.”Grant Halverson/Getty ImagesLorenzo MusettiItaly, age 19; ranking: 65He is straightforward in his self-analysis. “I need to improve my serve, but especially my return and especially on hard courts,” said Musetti, a clay-court specialist. “With my one-handed backhand, I need to work on stepping to the ball.”Give him points for self-awareness. “He just doesn’t do enough with the serve,” Shimada said, while Arias said that with a one-handed backhand, Musetti needed to at least get to neutral on returns (hit them harder so he does not start rallies at a disadvantage).McEnroe said Musetti “doesn’t step in as naturally as some other guys and needs to take the ball a little earlier.” More

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      The Future of French Tennis Is About to Pass to the Next Generation

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      Gaël Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon have dominated the sport for France, but new players are arriving.The history of French tennis begins with Suzanne Lenglen and the Four Musketeers — Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste — all of whom dominated the sport in the 1920s and ’30s.For the last 20 years, the game in France has been ruled by four men who could easily be called the New Musketeers. Gaël Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon may have not achieved the success of their predecessors, but they are celebrated for their longevity, camaraderie and talent.They have grown up and competed against each other since they were juniors. Now in their mid-30s with their careers winding down, both they, and French tennis, are realizing just how valuable they have been to the game and just how perilous the future might be when they are gone.“Those guys have been huge for French tennis,” Sebastien Grosjean, the French Davis Cup captain, said by phone. “They all ranked in the Top 10 and played on every big stage for 20 years. Sometimes they were criticized for not winning a slam, but they happened to come along when three guys [Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic] won 20 slams and one [Pete Sampras] won 14. It’s hard to compete with that. But what they did do is amazing.”Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2019. Now 36 years old, he has 18 career ATP titles.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFrench tennis has a storied past. Lenglen, the first world No. 1 and a six-time Wimbledon singles champion from 1919 to 1925, won 83 singles titles during her short career.Between them, the Four Musketeers captured 20 major singles titles, including the French championships 10 times from 1922 to ’32. Together they won the Davis Cup six straight years, from 1927 to ’32.Since then, only two Frenchmen, Yvon Petra and Yannick Noah, have won major championships. Petra won Wimbledon in 1946 and Noah captivated the nation during his run to the French Open title in 1983.Gaël Monfils returning a shot to Jannik Sinner of Italy during the third round of the United States Open in September.Seth Wenig/Associated PressMonfils, Tsonga, Gasquet and Simon have not risen to that level, and time is running out.Tsonga and Simon are both 36 (Simon turns 37 in December), and Monfils and Gasquet are 35. They met as top junior players and often trained and traveled together.“I’ve known these guys since I was 11 or 12 years old,” Tsonga said by phone from his home in Switzerland. “We grew up together. We shared hotel rooms, school, training at the federation center. I remember playing Gilles in an under-12 tournament. What I remember most was that he was half my size and older than me. And I still think that I lost love and love.”All four were, at one time, ranked within the world’s Top 10 on the ATP Tour. Tsonga reached a career-high No. 5 in 2012 and was runner-up to Djokovic at the 2008 Australian Open. He also reached the semifinals there in 2010, as well as the semifinals twice at Wimbledon and twice at the French Open. He has 18 career ATP titles. Hindered by illness and injuries, including a fight with sickle cell anemia that saps his energy, Tsonga has limited his play this year.Monfils continues to entertain crowds with his acrobatic play, which features leaps into the air, balls hit through his legs and a smile that radiates across stadiums. A two-time runner-up at the Paris Masters, Monfils was ranked No. 6 in 2016. He has reached the final of an ATP tournament in each of the last 17 years. For him, being the best athlete was not always enough.“Maybe I’m stronger physically, but tennis is so much more,” Monfils said. “Mentally it’s tougher. I’ve been No. 6 in the world. Those five guys in front of me were stronger than me mentally, but I’ve been stronger than millions of other people.”Simon hit a career-high No. 6 in 2009, but is currently ranked just outside the Top 100. He reached the quarterfinals in Moscow two weeks ago and has played in the Paris Masters every year since 2006 and reached the semifinals in 2012.A former semifinalist at Wimbledon and the United States Open, Gasquet has ended the year in the world’s Top 10 four times. Once ranked No. 7, he reached the semis at the Paris Masters in 2007.Gasquet and Simon first met at a tournament for 10-year-olds. Gasquet was 8 and Simon was 9. They battled for three hours, and when Gasquet finally won he was so exhausted that he could not move and lost his next match. A few years later, he teamed up with Tsonga.“Jo was a little younger, and I was really winning everything at the time,” Gasquet said by phone. “Jo wanted to emulate me. Then we played doubles together in Davis Cup, and it was so much fun. I have so many great memories of the four of us. We always pushed each other to be better.”Ugo Humbert lunged for a return to Nick Kyrgios during their first-round match at Wimbledon in June.Glyn Kirk/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAll four men lament that they never won a major, even though they came close and each has amassed more than $15 million in career prize money. They all point to Noah, the last Frenchman to win a major, as a catalyst.“Yannick is a big name in French tennis, and an inspiration to all of us,” Monfils said. “To see that he made it, how he made it, how he fought through his career, that is very important.”In ways, the historical greatness has resulted in unfair expectations from French fans.“I never liked the comparison of these guys to the Four Musketeers because it just creates more pressure,” Grosjean said. “When you’re an athlete, you have to deal with pressure; that’s the way it is. We are a nation with a slam. There are only four of them. But to have a full stadium behind you is better than to have them against you.”Hugo Gaston in action in the French Open in June versus Richard Gasquet, a fellow Frenchman.Benoit Tessier/ReutersRegardless of when these four players retire, there is some hope for the next generation.Ugo Humbert, 23, is ranked in the Top 30 and has had wins over Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. He won a title in Halle, Germany, in June, beating Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev. Hugo Gaston, 21, sits just outside the Top 100. And there are six French junior boys ranked in the top 20 by the International Tennis Federation. Luca Van Assche, 17, won the French Open junior title this year, beating Arthur Fils, 17, in the final.“There was a gap between generations after the Four Musketeers, and there may be a gap after these guys leave,” Grosjean said. “We have some young players with potential, but it takes time to transition from the juniors to the seniors.”Tsonga knows that you can never predict the future.“I’ve been around too many years to know that you never know what will happen,” he said. “No one thought that we would be that good. But I’m proud of what we did as players, of the passion that we had playing for the same flag and the special friendship that we all shared. It has been a privilege to play for France.” More

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      Pandemic Speeds Adoption of Automated Line-Calling Systems

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      The accuracy of Hawk-Eye and Foxtenn are allowing tournaments to reduce the number of officials on the court.The ball streaks through the air toward the base line, topspin yanking it down right near the line. “Out,” shouts the line judge.For 15 years, a player who disagreed could protest with a challenge, and fans at the Rolex Paris Masters, and every other major tournament, would then look to the video screens, often clapping rhythmically, building toward when the Hawk-Eye line-calling system would provide true justice.The pandemic has changed the game. For safety, the hardcourt Masters 1000 tournaments this year, as well as the Australian and United States Opens, replaced line judges (backed up by Hawk-Eye for challenges) with a fully automated system, Hawk-Eye Live.Novak Djokovic said he supported the use of the review technology. David Aliaga/MB Media/Getty ImagesThis system, which the ATP debuted in 2017 at its Next Gen Finals, makes instantaneous calls. Automated line calling has increased confidence in accuracy, while raising questions about the game’s human element.A tour ruled by machines is still far in the future, but this temporary fix provides a sense of where line-calling may be headed.To retain some human element with Hawk-Eye Live, tournaments use recorded voices instead of beeps and boops. “It would feel wrong for tennis to become too robotic,” said Ross Hutchins, ATP’s chief tour officer. (One Hawk-Eye executive publicly floated the idea of using sponsor names, so instead of “Out” you might hear “Ralph Lauren.”)The challenge system demonstrated that line judges were right more often than players, but the machines are more accurate still. “Being the most accurate is the most important thing,” Hutchins said. Eliminating challenges also speeds up the game.Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked men’s player, said he liked the system.“I don’t see a reason why we need the line umpires if we have the technology,” Djokovic told ESPN this year. “I support technology. It’s inevitable for the future of tennis.”Removing people provides more space behind the baseline for players, said Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst and a former professional player, while automated reliability produces fewer distractions for players and thus better tennis: “It gives the players one less thing to worry about.”But Hawk-Eye Live does not actually mark the spot — it uses its cameras and data to project an estimation of where the ball will bounce. Shriver finds the idea of projected estimates disconcerting, given potential distortions like wind gusts. “It sounds like guessing,” she said. “People think what was caught was the physical bounce as it was happening.”An example of the Hawk-Eye technology in use during a match between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro.Mike Egerton/PA Images, via Getty ImagesRepresentatives from Hawk-Eye claim accuracy within 3.6 millimeters and self-reported 14 mistakes in 225,000 calls at the U.S. Open in 2020.A rival company, Foxtenn, uses cameras to capture the ball’s actual movement.“Our accuracy is perfect, and one thing that makes us credible is that the player sees the real ball bouncing in the replay, not a drawing,” said Félix Mantilla, director of sales and a former player. “I think only one technology will survive in 10 years.”For now, Hawk-Eye remains the dominant player.“We’re continuously innovating our technologies, while delivering the highest accuracy possible,” the company said in a statement.The tour has confidence in both systems, Hutchins said, adding that there was “absolutely” room for two. Yet it took Covid — and the need to limit the number of people on the courts — to push toward live line calling. And plans are to have Hawk-Eye Live as an option on the ATP Tour through only the first quarter of 2022.“This is not close to permanent,” Hutchins said. “We still want to understand the system’s impact more.”Feedback from fans has been mixed, and there are issues about the impact of developing future chair umpires. Hutchins said the cost of Hawk-Eye Live would be difficult for the hundreds of junior, future and challenger tournaments to pay for, meaning line judges will remain. “There will still be a pathway for chair umpires for a very long time.”Mantilla said that while Americans loved advanced technology and embraced these changes, Europeans were more traditional. “I don’t know if it will take 10 or 20 years for there to be no lines people left in major tournaments, but it will take time.” More