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      Carlos Alcaraz Plays Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open

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      Alcaraz is one of the most exciting next-generation talents in sports, and is the youngest player in the men’s draw at the Australian Open. He faces Matteo Berrettini in the third round.VILLENA, Spain — The rowdy tennis academy Christmas party was underway in the adjoining room. But Carlos Alcaraz was sitting calmly at a table surrounded by trophies and talking about the beauty of training in this place that was remote, relaxed and “tranquilo.”It was hard not to detect a metaphor as the dance music pounded through the wall.Alcaraz, a dynamic and genial Spaniard who is one of the most exciting next-generation talents in sports, will have to keep blocking out a great deal of commotion to fulfill his justifiably big dreams.At 18, he is drawing comparisons to Rafael Nadal, his compatriot, at the same age, even if their styles are dissimilar and Alcaraz has a photo of Roger Federer, not Nadal, in his room. But like Nadal back in the day, Alcaraz is a genuine prodigy: already ranked 31st on the tour and seeded at that spot at the Australian Open, where he has advanced to the third round despite contracting the coronavirus in November and skipping all the lead-in tournaments.“I think he’s got greatness written all over him,” said Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras and Federer, now works with the top-ranked American Taylor Fritz, and is generally wary of praising players too soon.There is a photograph of Alcaraz standing with Roger Federer on a shelf in his bedroom.But Alcaraz, the youngest player in the men’s draw in Melbourne, can certainly carry you away with his airborne, all-court brand of tennis.At 6-foot-1, he is the same height as Federer and Nadal yet considerably shorter than the leaders of the new wave — Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini — all of whom are 6-foot-4 or taller. But on the court, he does not look like an under-leveraged underdog.His game is a bewitching blend of quick-strike power, abrupt changes of pace, and quicksilver movement resembling that of a gymnast as he slides into splits in the corners and maintains his body control even in extreme positions.“His game is electric,” Annacone said. “It’s a bit like lightning in a bottle. He’s got that fast racket, like Andre Agassi did, and he’s got the fast feet like Rafa does. He can play up on the baseline, and he can back up when he needs to. So, he has a lot of things so naturally already at 18 and he’s already 30 in the world, so I just can’t imagine how good he’s going to be in two years if he stays healthy.”Alcaraz is coached by Juan Carlos Ferrero, a self-contained Spaniard and former world No. 1 whose calm gaze seems well-suited to the stark, long-horizon landscape near Villena in southeastern Spain full of medieval fortresses and open space. Ferrero grew up near here and now is one of the owners of the JC Ferrero Equelite Sport Academy, where Alcaraz boards and trains.Alcaraz is able to maintain control of his body even in extreme positions.Jason O’Brien/EPA, via Shutterstock“The key this year is to keep working well and not think for a moment that the hard work is already done,” Ferrero said. “But knowing Carlos and the values he and his family have, I’d be very surprised if he lets success go to his head.”Alcaraz was born into a tennis family in El Palmar, a suburb of Murcia, about an hour’s drive from Villena. Alcaraz’s paternal grandfather, also named Carlos, helped transform a hunting club in El Palmar into a club with tennis courts and a swimming pool. Alcaraz’s father, also named Carlos, learned to play the game, inspired by the achievements of Manuel Santana, Spain’s first men’s Wimbledon champion, who died in December.A night time view of El Palmar, a little town outside Murcia where Alcaraz was born.But despite becoming one of the best players in Spain, Alcaraz’s father lacked the money to pursue a professional career for long: stopping at age 20 and becoming a tennis coach and administrator at the club. Alcaraz, the second of four sons, has taken the family passion to the next level.At age 3, he was already hitting balls against the wall at the club in El Palmar with a small racket.“There was no way to get him away from there,” his father explained. “I was already tired and ready to go home after working all day and Carlos would be pleading with me: ‘Play with me, here on the wall!’ It would be after 9 o’clock, and I’d say. “OK but only 20 minutes.’ And after 20 minutes, we’d go an extra 30 minutes, and he would want more and more. And I’d be the one to say, ‘This can’t go on, dinner’s ready and we have to go home.’ And he’d start crying again.”The father soon realized that his son was a quick study, and he made sure that Alcaraz acquired a full tennis tool kit, including the drop shot that Alcaraz put to such effective use Wednesday in his second-round victory over Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.Alcaraz’s family could not afford to support his travel and training, but they received backing from the Murcian businessman Alfonso Lopez Rueda, a family friend who provided the approximately 2,000 euros Alcaraz needed to travel to a junior tournament in Croatia when he was 10 years old. Alcaraz’s father, Carlos, was also a tennis player, having been inspired by Manuel Santana.After Alcaraz lost in the final and returned to El Palmar, Lopez Rueda said he would be delighted to continue providing financial assistance.“Carlos and our family are forever grateful to him,” Alcaraz’s father said.With Alcaraz’s talent and junior results, other benefactors eventually arrived, including I.M.G., the global management agency that has long had a major presence in tennis.Albert Molina, Alcaraz’s agent with I.M.G., worked with David Ferrer, the retired Spanish star, and with Ferrero, which is how the coaching connection was made in 2018 after Ferrero had split with Zverev on acrimonious terms.Alcaraz spends weekdays at the academy and returns to El Palmar on weekends. “I once planned to remain at home, but it was hard to find practice partners,” he said. “I think if I would have stayed in Murcia, it would have taken longer for me to rise. In Murcia, there are more distractions. Lots of friends. Going out at night. Here in the academy I don’t have that.”Ferrero appreciates that Alcaraz’s father does not interfere with his coaching. Ferrero, nearly as lean at age 41 as he was in his prime, won the French Open and reached No. 1 in 2003 before Federer and Nadal took command. He has been where Alcaraz wants to get.“I’m still quite young, and I’m going through a period where everything is new for me, and Juan Carlos already has lived through this, and he can really bring me that experience that other coaches cannot,” Alcaraz said. “He lived it from the inside.”Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach, won the French Open and reached No. 1 in 2003.And what tip from Ferrero has proved the most helpful so far?“Above all, he told me not to be in a hurry,” Alcaraz said. “That I’m going to get the experience and play the tournaments and learn the ropes, and that there’s no need to get ahead of the process. I need to live all these moments and not be in a hurry for the results right away because I’m going up against the best in the world for the first time in all these tournaments that I’m playing for the first time. And I need to enjoy it and respect it and acquire the experience I need to have a clear vision of it all.”That has not stopped coach and pupil from announcing lofty goals for 2022 that include securing a spot in the top 15. Alcaraz made clear on Monday that he would prefer making the top eight and qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.What is obvious as Alcaraz prepares to face the No. 7 seed Berrettini in the third round on Friday in Melbourne is that the best players in the world are already nervous. He might not have a driver’s license but he does have game.A late-night training session in the gym at Juan Carlos Ferrero Equelite Sport Academy in Villena, Alicante, in southeast Spain.Just ask Tsitsipas, whom Alcaraz beat at the 2021 U.S. Open in a fast-twitch, third-round thriller that ended in a fifth-set tiebreaker and overflowed with audacious shotmaking.“Ball speed was incredible,” Tsitsipas said. “I’ve never seen someone hit the ball so hard. Took time to adjust.”Alcaraz reached the quarterfinals in New York, where he retired for the first time on the main tour, stopping in the second set against Felix Auger-Aliassime because of a thigh injury.“That was really unfortunate,” Alcaraz said. “I don’t like to retire from anything, but the pain was so bad that I was worried I was going to do something more serious if I kept playing.”But the Tsitsipas match has stayed with him. It was, in his view, the best example so far of how he wants to perform. He played positive, attacking tennis with full intensity — “Beastly,” Alcaraz said with a chuckle — but also enough enjoyment in the moment to keep from getting tense. There were smiles under duress.“I’m a kid who needs to be happy and lively on the court,” Alcaraz said. “When I’m dead serious the whole time, it’s not a good sign for me. It makes me more nervous.”“I’m going through a period where everything is new for me,” Alcaraz said. “Juan Carlos already has lived through this”.What caught Ferrero’s attention was how Alcaraz reacted to the big stage of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis-specific stadium in the world with its 23,771 seats. Off the court, Alcaraz is cheerful and easygoing. Ferrero uses words like “cercana” (close) and “abierta” (open) and “fiel” (loyal).But with the ball in play, he is fierce and intense.“On court, he’s a fighter,” Ferrero said. “The best players have character, a lot of it. To be in the U.S. Open and play Tsitsipas on the largest court in the world, if you don’t have character you shrink. Carlos is quite the contrary. He seems to get bigger, and that to me is a very good sign.”Getting stronger is also part of the plan. Alcaraz spent much of this off-season the same way he spent much of last off-season: doing strength and conditioning work to prepare himself for best-of-five-set tennis and a busy schedule. Going sleeveless in Melbourne was partly a link to Spanish tennis stars past (like Nadal and Carlos Moya) but also an expression of confidence in his more muscular build.“We know that this year I’m going to have to play some long matches, and so it’s important to feel strong physically,” Alcaraz said. “Knowing that you can hold up is very important.”Ferrero likes the comparison of Alcaraz to a car with a powerful motor that requires a chassis that is sturdy enough to support it.“You can have great shots at 17 or 18 but if you don’t have the physical level, too, it’s not sustainable,” Ferrero said. “It’s essential work, but it has to be done right. You can’t go too fast.”“I’m a kid who needs to be happy and lively on the court,” Alcaraz said. “When I’m dead serious the whole time, it’s not a good sign for me. It makes me more nervous.”The academy in Villena was founded by Antonio Martinez Cascales, Ferrero’s longtime coach. There were just two red clay courts when Ferrero arrived at age 15, but it has 20 courts now and has grown into one of the leading academies in Spain. There are hardcourts, including an indoor hardcourt, and an artificial grass court as well as a pool, cabins and a sprawling clubhouse decorated primarily with memorabilia from Ferrero’s career.One clay court is named in honor of David Ferrer; another in honor of Pablo Carreño Busta, the 30-year-old who remains, at No. 21, the highest-ranked player based at the academy even if Alcaraz has become the focal point for the news media. “People focus on me because I’m young and doing very well, and people are always interested when you do things at a young age,” Alcaraz said. “But I am really not trying to focus on that.”He acknowledged that it was flattering but wildly premature to be compared with Nadal in light of Nadal’s 20 Grand Slam tournament singles titles and long run at the forefront of global sport.“I don’t want people to know me as a mini-Nadal or second Nadal,” he said. “I just want to be Carlos Alcaraz.”And who might that be?As the dance music continued next door, Alcaraz did not hesitate.“He is a young, humble guy who knows what he needs to do,” he answered. “A kid who wants to make his dreams come true and is working for that, training for that every day. I think I’m on the right path with my team here at the academy, and I hope in 10 years if we meet again in this room, I will have made my dreams reality.”Samuel Aranda More

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      After Australia, Djokovic Is Likely to Meet Problems in France and U.S.

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      With Novak Djokovic back in his native Serbia, unable to compete in the Australian Open because he is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, a big question mark looms over what comes next for the world’s top male tennis player.The French authorities said this week that players must be vaccinated to compete in the French Open — the next of the four Grand Slam tournaments, scheduled for May.If Mr. Djokovic refuses to get vaccinated, he is likely to miss a second major tournament in a row, reflecting a major shift in how public officials approach Covid requirements and potential exemptions. As emblematic as Australia’s refusal to give Mr. Djokovic special treatment has been, it might just be the beginning.The authorities in Spain, where Mr. Djokovic owns a house, have urged him to “lead by example” and get vaccinated. In Monte Carlo, where Mr. Djokovic also has a house, the organizers of a tournament that he has previously won said they were awaiting guidelines from the French government for the 2022 edition in April.Mr. Djokovic might be able to compete in Wimbledon in June, but under current guidelines he could be barred from competing in the U.S. Open a few months later, since foreign travelers must be vaccinated to enter the United States, with very limited exceptions.After France adopted a Covid pass law on Sunday requiring people to be vaccinated to enter restaurants, cinemas and sporting arenas, the country’s Sports Ministry said that no exemption would be made for athletes.“Who would understand if we asked our citizens to make an effort and respect the rules if we authorize some to get out of them?” Stanislas Guerini, the leader of President Emmanuel Macron’s party, said on French radio this week. He called Mr. Djokovic’s behavior in remaining unvaccinated “irresponsible.”The French Open is scheduled to begin on May 22, and Mr. Djokovic is chasing a record 21st Grand Slam title. He, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have each won 20.Mr. Djokovic is one of only three top-100 men’s players to be unvaccinated, and some of his rivals welcomed the French decision.“At least they’re saying, ‘OK, no unvaccinated players are allowed to play in the French Open,’” said Alexander Zverev, who is currently world No. 3 in men’s tennis. “We know that now in advance, and I can imagine there’s not going to be any exemptions, and that’s OK.” More

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      Novak Djokovic’s Fight to Play Tennis Unvaccinated Could Be Just Starting

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      The days-long battle to enter Australia to defend his Open title presages headwinds he may face if he attempts to travel the world without being vaccinated for Covid-19.Novak Djokovic has fought through adversity of his own and others’ making for as long as he has been playing tennis.He beat extraordinary odds to become a champion, emerging from the former Yugoslavia despite economic hardship and a conflict that turned Serbia, his homeland, into an international pariah and made it difficult for him to travel and train. Once on tour, he had to contend with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, well on their way to becoming two of the game’s greatest players. Djokovic caught up to them and now holds a career edge in both rivalries. He has also been ranked No. 1 for 356 weeks, a record.Djokovic, stubborn and resilient, has had tougher fights in his career than the one he has faced this month with the Australian government over his visa. But this battle, which continues, is unlike any other he has encountered. It could do him lasting damage despite his surprise victory in Australia on Monday, when a federal court overturned the revocation of his visa on procedural grounds. The ruling still does not guarantee he will not be deported by Australian immigration authorities ahead of the Australian Open, which begins next Monday.Djokovic’s five-day detention, ended by the court ruling, was a blink of the eye compared with the detentions of some longstanding asylum seekers with whom he shared his Melbourne hotel. Djokovic, unlike some of his fellow lodgers, was also free to leave the country at any time. But the experience had to be draining, and it came after a phenomenal but emotionally taxing season in which he came within one match of achieving a Grand Slam before losing the U.S. Open final to Daniil Medvedev. He was also beaten at the Olympics and the ATP Finals by Alexander Zverev.Serbian tennis fans and antivaccination protesters rallied outside the Park Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, in support of Djokovic. Diego Fedele/Getty ImagesBased on transcripts provided to the federal court, he landed in Melbourne near midnight on Wednesday with the seeming belief that all his papers were in order, including his medical exemption from vaccination. He soon learned otherwise.While it is highly unlikely that Djokovic, an outspoken skeptic of vaccines, will find himself sequestered again in any other country over visa issues, the trouble in Melbourne presages some of the headwinds he could face in the months ahead if he continues to attempt to travel the world without being vaccinated for Covid-19.Governments are running out of forbearance in instituting or debating vaccine mandates, and some tennis officials are running out of patience, too. And the pace and direction of the coronavirus pandemic and its variants are unknown.The next major events on tour after the Australian Open are the Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, Calif., and Miami, which both start in March. But the United States now requires that visitors be fully vaccinated to travel to the country by plane unless they are U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents or traveling on a U.S. immigrant visa. Only limited exceptions apply, and it is unclear whether Djokovic would qualify for one or would even want to try to qualify for one after the Australian imbroglio.The French Open, which is the next Grand Slam tournament of the season after the Australian Open, begins in May and appears less problematic. The French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, told French national radio last week that she expected Djokovic would be allowed to enter the country and compete if unvaccinated because of the health protocols that are planned for major international sporting events in France.Djokovic’s family held a news conference on Monday in Belgrade, Serbia, after Djokovic was to be released from an immigration detention center in Melbourne after a court order.Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty ImagesBut in the same interview, Maracineanu emphasized that any athlete, French or foreign, who was a resident in France would be required to show proof of vaccination to have access to sports training facilities. That is a sign of which way the mistral is blowing. Some professional leagues have left loopholes in place, but gaps are also closing for the unvaccinated.Djokovic, who has long held nontraditional views on science and taken unorthodox approaches to his health, finds himself in the distinct minority with more than 90 percent of the top 100 players on the ATP Tour now vaccinated. If the ATP has made no official statements of public support for Djokovic during his detention, that might not be because Djokovic is now leading a new player group that has been critical of the ATP but because the ATP has pushed increasingly hard for its members to be vaccinated.In 2022, the tour will not require vaccinated players to take more than an initial test once they arrive at a tournament unless they develop symptoms. Unvaccinated players and team members will have to be tested regularly, and the tour will no longer cover the cost of follow-up testing for the unvaccinated.That will pose no hardship to Djokovic, who has earned about $154 million in career prize money and hundreds of millions more off court. But the tour rules do emphasize that Djokovic and the few remaining unvaccinated players are outliers.The Australian authorities have hardly wrapped themselves in glory during L’Affaire Djokovic. There were mixed signals, conflicting memos and other miscommunication between state and federal officials and Tennis Australia, which runs the Australian Open.If there had been a united, coherent effort that sent a clear message about the grounds for medical exemptions from vaccination, Djokovic’s overnight interrogation and visa cancellation could have been avoided.Djokovic after winning the Australian Open last year.Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesHe most likely would not have risked going to Australia if he had understood that the federal government did not consider a recent case of Covid-19 to be grounds for an exemption. But while Djokovic won in court on Monday, he has undoubtedly lost support in some chambers of the court of public opinion, though he has become a martyr for the anti-vaccine movement and among his countrymen.The Novak Djokovic Standoff with AustraliaCard 1 of 4A vaccine exemption question. More

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      U.S.T.A. Chief Michael Dowse Stepping Down After Two Years

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      During his relatively brief tenure at the U.S.T.A., Dowse has had to navigate the coronavirus pandemic and the financial pressures it created.In an unexpected move, Michael Dowse, the leader of the United States Tennis Association, announced on Wednesday that he would leave the organization in March.The decision caught players, officials and U.S.T.A. board members by surprise. Dowse, 55, has been officially in his post as the association’s chief executive officer and executive director for less than two years.His predecessor, Gordon Smith, spent 12 years in the position, but Dowse, the former president of Wilson Sporting Goods Co., said he was ready to move on from having day-to-day management duties at a single organization.“After 15 years of being president or CEO, I am ready for more balance in my life and moving more into the role of adviser, consultant or board member in the broader arena of sports,” Dowse said in a statement to The New York Times.During his relatively brief tenure at the U.S.T.A., Dowse has had to navigate heavy weather: some of it in the forecast; some of it completely unexpected.He was hired, after an extensive search, in late 2019 to focus on reinvigorating community tennis and participation in the sport. He was also brought in to reduce the U.S.T.A.’s operating costs and made significant cuts in several areas, including player development.But the coronavirus pandemic created major financial pressure in 2020 by threatening the association’s ability to stage the U.S. Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments and the U.S.T.A.’s primary source of revenue each year. Unlike Wimbledon, the U.S.T.A. had no pandemic insurance in case of cancellation. It was unclear for months whether the 2020 U.S. Open would be held, but the tournament went ahead without spectators, allowing the U.S.T.A. to preserve a significant chunk of its operating revenue through existing broadcast and sponsorship deals.In 2021, the Open allowed for full attendance during the main draw, and the tournament struck a powerful chord with New Yorkers and fans eager to return to watching tennis in person.Dowse planned to leave his base in Orlando, Fla., and return to Phoenix.“We want to thank Mike for his deep commitment to tennis and the steady hand he showed at a time of extraordinary challenge and uncertainty,” said Michael J. McNulty III, the U.S.T.A.’s chairman of the board and president, in a statement.As an outdoor sport conducive to social distancing, tennis got a big boost in participation during the pandemic. The number of people who played at least once in 2020 rose 22.4 percent from 2019 to 21.6 million players, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. But keeping those new or returning players in the game will be a major challenge: one that will be left to Dowse’s successor.The other leading candidate when Dowse was hired was Lewis Sherr, the U.S.T.A.’s chief revenue officer. Other candidates included Todd Martin, a former top player who now leads the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and Stacey Allaster, a former head of the WTA who is the U.S. Open tournament director. But with the U.S. Open expansion and construction essentially complete, the U.S.T.A.’s focus will remain on grass-roots development, which could lead the organization to hire from its board of directors. More

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      Emma Raducanu, After U.S. Open Win, Keeps Her Feet on the Ground

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      The 18-year-old returns to the court at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., as a headliner, richer and more famous. She still needed a wild card.It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged: Your life will not be the same after you win the U.S. Open as a little-known qualifier at age 18.Emma Raducanu has noticed the changes: a hitting session with the Duchess of Cambridge and red-carpet appearances at the Met Gala and at the premiere of the new James Bond film “No Time to Die” at Royal Albert Hall in London.There are more funds in her bank account (and plenty more on the way). There are wide-eyed looks from people she meets day to day.But not everything has been transformed.“My parents didn’t make a big deal out of it at all,” Raducanu said when we spoke this week. “When I’ve been at home, everything has felt really normal. The Bond premiere, playing tennis with the Duchess and the Gala, I love those experiences, but at the same time I mean when I got back onto the training court, it was like this is where I really wanted to be.”Raducanu will be back on a stadium court on Friday night as she makes her return to competition in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., against a tough opponent in Aliaksandra Sasnovich, an unseeded 27-year-old Belarusian once ranked in the top 30. It will be Raducanu’s debut at Indian Wells and her first match since her fact-beats-fiction run in New York, where on Sept. 12 she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.More remarkable still, she did not lose a set in 10 matches, proving impervious to the pressure as she limited her social-media use off court and stuck with her aggressive game plan on court by attacking returns and groundstrokes and hitting serves on the lines.Raducanu plays quietly with no grunts, few shouts and smooth footwork. But her shots are explosive, and she now has much of the world’s attention after playing in just two Grand Slam tournaments. She is also without a coach after splitting with Andrew Richardson, who was on a short-term contract when she won the Open.“I feel the good thing is I’ve still got so much room to improve, and I won a Grand Slam,” she said. “It hasn’t really sunk in. I don’t know if it ever will, but I feel like now instead of feeling I’ve got a lot of pressure I feel like free, like loose. Because you play tennis to win a Grand Slam, and I won a Grand Slam so now it’s just a bonus.”Raducanu has a point. Talented players, like the third-ranked Karolina Pliskova, 29, who became an elite professional player in her teens, are still chasing a first major title. That quest brings its own pressures, but quick and unexpected success comes with its own set of challenges.Max Eisenbud, Raducanu’s agent, was also Maria Sharapova’s agent when she became a global star in 2004 by winning Wimbledon at age 17.“The difference between Maria winning Wimbledon and Emma winning the U.S. Open really comes down to social media,” Eisenbud said. “There was no social media in ’04. The social media just made things move so fast this time. It’s just in warp speed.”The response to Raducanu’s victory, be it from the Queen of England or Chinese officials, was global, immediate and quantifiable. Raducanu had about 10,000 Instagram followers in June. She had more than two million after winning the U.S. Open.“Yeah, I know, it’s crazy,” Raducanu said, sounding sheepish. “It doesn’t feel real numbers, but I’m happy and really grateful that anyone wants to actually, like, follow me. I don’t think I’m that interesting, but it’s pretty cool.”Sponsors certainly find her intriguing. Shortly after her victory in New York, she became a global ambassador for Tiffany & Company, the luxury jewelry brand, but Eisenbud said the deal was agreed to before the Open, after her surprise run to the fourth round of Wimbledon in July.Her stock has now soared rather higher. “The iron’s hot,” Eisenbud said. “We’re striking.”Raducanu celebrates with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open in September.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesRaducanu is hardly the first young player to win a Grand Slam tournament in this egalitarian era in women’s tennis. Jelena Ostapenko and Naomi Osaka were 20 when they won their first majors. Bianca Andreescu was 19 when she won the 2019 U.S. Open, and she won it, like Raducanu, in her main-draw debut in New York.Andreescu, a Canadian, has played little since that victory because of injuries and is now ranked 21st as she returns to Indian Wells to defend the title she won in 2019.Andreescu was asked this week what advice she would give to teenagers like Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez, the Canadian 19-year-old whom Raducanu beat in that highly unlikely Open final.“The advice I would give is always to remain grateful even if you are having the hugest success, because it can all be taken away from you in a split second,” Andreescu said. “I feel I didn’t savor it as much.” She added, “Just stay humble, remain grateful and continue to work hard because everyone says at least in my experience it’s easy to get to the top but staying at the top is what is the hardest part.”There is no shortage of candidates for the top in women’s tennis, where 14 different players have won major singles titles in the last five seasons. But as a Canadian-born Briton with a mother from China and a father from Romania, Raducanu seems well equipped for global stardom.Eisenbud, who also represents the retired Chinese tennis star Li Na, understands the commercial opportunities for an athlete able to communicate with the Chinese public. Raducanu recorded a video message in Mandarin after winning in New York and recorded another message in Romanian ahead of her scheduled appearance at the Transylvanian Open later this month.Raducanu, who does not consider herself fully fluent in either language, said she often speaks Mandarin with her mother. “I’d say it’s like 50-50,” she said. “Just because sometimes it’s like secret language, and it’s actually very helpful.”She said she does not speak Romanian with her father. “But I have to speak Romanian with my grandma, because she doesn’t speak any English,” Raducanu said.Raducanu will headline a night session this week in Indian Wells, Calif.Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports, via ReutersUnlike many tennis stars, who are often home-schooled from an early age, Raducanu attended high school in Britain, completing her final exams this summer before embarking on a full-time professional career.“I hope that part of the story can get out there,” Eisenbud said. “Because there are so many families out there who are taking their kids out of normal school and being home-schooled that have no chance to play pro tennis, and I think it’s pretty sad. It’s everywhere you turn, and I think kids being home-schooled, you lose a lot of the social aspects and all these other things.”Raducanu certainly has an opportunity to influence her peers. While Coco Gauff, the 17-year-old American player, and Osaka have used their platforms to speak out on social justice, Raducanu told me she is more interested at this stage in promoting an active lifestyle than in political activism.“I’m really passionate about helping younger kids get into sport, especially young girls, because I think sport taught me so much and gave me amazing opportunities,” she said. “The confidence I have now, I don’t think I would have if I didn’t play sport.”She recognizes that she and her family are an immigrant success story at a time when immigration is being curtailed in Britain and other developed nations. But she does not want to be a spokesperson on such an issue at this stage.“I think that’s for a later time,” she said. “I feel I’m still quite young. I just want to focus on the things I really feel a strong connection with as of now, but maybe when I grow older, then I’ll develop more different insights.”As of now, her development as a tennis player is simply astounding. She needed a wild card to get into the Indian Wells tournament because the date of entry came before the U.S. Open. Her ranking was too low at that stage, but so much has changed so quickly. She is seeded 17th and will make her debut on the main stadium court as a night session headliner.“That’s crazy, because I was just scraping the qualifying acceptance list,” she said with a laugh. “And to be seeded I just can’t believe it. I never thought my ranking would be this high so soon. It’s just an amazing thing to see, and I’m really proud of myself.”Raducanu has become a celebrity in the aftermath of her U.S. Open win.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images More

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      Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott Did What Novak Djokovic Could Not

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      The wheelchair tennis stars Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott each added a fourth major championship to the Paralympic titles they won this year.The tennis Grand Slam is so rare that only five players can claim one, and no player at all has achieved the feat since 1988. The Golden Slam, winning all four majors and a gold medal in the same year, is nearly impossible. Only Steffi Graf had ever done it.Until Sunday, when it was accomplished twice.First came Diede de Groot of the Netherlands, who won the wheelchair competition at the U.S. Open to complete a sweep of the year’s four Grand Slam tournaments to go with her Paralympic gold medal.Later in the day, Dylan Alcott of Australia completed the same feat in the men’s quad event. (As opposed to those in the wheelchair division like de Groot, quad players also have significant loss of function in at least one upper limb.)De Groot defeated Yui Kamiji of Japan, the same woman she defeated in Australia, France and at the Paralympics, 6-3, 6-2. Her Golden Slam almost didn’t get started this year: She needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat Kamiji at the Australian Open.Despite the accomplishment, De Groot, 24, said she felt a little let down by her play: “After such a long time of traveling and just being everywhere in the world, also I think both of us are a little bit tired. I think you could see it in the match, unfortunately.”Sunday’s Open championship was the 12th in a Grand Slam singles event for De Groot, still behind the record of 21 set by her countrywoman Esther Vergeer in the early part of this century.Dylan Alcott celebrating yet another victory on Sunday.Seth Wenig/Associated PressAlcott defeated the 18-year-old Niels Vink of the Netherlands, 7-5, 6-2, to complete his own Golden Slam. It was Alcott’s 15th Grand Slam singles title. Because the quad event is only three years old at the French Open and Wimbledon, it was the first chance for any quad athlete to win a Golden Slam.“Everybody in this room asked me, ‘Are you thinking about the Golden Slam?’” said Alcott, 30. “I’ve said, ‘No, I don’t really care about it,’ all year. Of course I cared about it. It’s nice not to pretend anymore.”In 1988, Graf said after completing her Golden Slam at the Seoul Olympics: “I’m very excited. It’s something not many people after me will achieve.”It took 33 years. And then it only took a few hours. More

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      With Crowds Back at the U.S. Open, Young Stars Give Them a Show

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      Novak Djokovic failed to win a Grand Slam, but there was a sense of renewal, exciting new players named Raducanu and Fernandez, and a sense that tennis is in capable hands.To fully appreciate the unmasked roars of 2021 at the U.S. Open, it was best to have experienced the silence and vast empty spaces of 2020.It was the contrast that made such a difference this year in the collective mood.“The crowd was the third player this year,” said Chris Evert, one of tennis’s grande dames, who played in her first Open in 1971. “The crowds at the U.S. Open have always been like this, but this year they just seemed louder.”Established stars like Novak Djokovic had missed the noise. Relative newcomers like Emma Raducanu were hearing it for the first time. The fans had missed the experience.The surprise upon everyone’s return to the tournament was how forcefully the newest generation of rising stars would storm the gates.Serena and Venus Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were absent at once for the first time in 25 years, and though it seemed that void would be much too big to fill, the young players piled in gleefully. With so many stars missing and so much prime tennis real estate available, young Americans like Frances Tiafoe and Jenson Brooksby became fixtures on the main show courts, playing thrilling matches. The Spanish 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, playing in his first U.S. Open, reached the quarterfinals and soon had fans chanting “Carloooooos” as loudly as they usually chant “Rafaaaaaa.”“I definitely think guys are trying extra hard because there isn’t Roger and Rafa,” Tiafoe said. “I see guys foaming in the mouth. Pretty funny to watch. I’m in the locker room cracking up.”Attendance was down from 2019, the most recent year when fans were permitted to attend. But volume and emotion were up, and the fans who watched from home or streamed back through the gates — after showing proof of vaccination — were rewarded with one of the most exceptional tournaments in tennis’ long history.“The crowd was the third player this year,” said Chris Evert, a former player who is now a broadcaster.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesAt one end of the continuum was Djokovic, 34, one of the biggest stars in global sport, chasing a rare Grand Slam — victories in all four major tournaments in the same year — and the crowning moment of a long career spent in pursuit of his rivals, Federer and Nadal.At the other end was the women’s singles tournament, which was improbably commandeered by the 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez and the 18-year-old Raducanu. But both singles tournaments turned out to be surprises. The top-ranked Djokovic was beaten soundly in Sunday’s final, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 by Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed. Medvedev, a gangly trilingual Russian, had never defeated Djokovic in a best-of-five-set match and was trounced in straight sets when they met in this year’s Australian Open final. But he was the fresher, more reliable player in New York, serving and returning better than Djokovic, who looked weary and off target. At one stage, he smashed a racket in frustration, and at another looked ready to smash a ball in the direction of a ball girl before stopping his swing.But this was still No. 1 vs. No. 2 for the trophy. Both Fernandez and Raducanu were unseeded, and Raducanu had to qualify for the main draw. But they surprised more experienced players round after round, in very different fashion, to set up perhaps the most improbable women’s singles final in the four Grand Slam tournaments. Raducanu, playing in only her second major tournament, prevailed on Saturday, but the players will long be linked for the spirit they conveyed together.Their appeal snowballed beyond their home markets — Britain for Raducanu and Canada for Fernandez. Fernandez’s parents have roots in Ecuador and the Philippines; Raducanu’s parents have roots in Romania and China, and on Saturday night Raducanu showed she was made for 21st century tennis stardom when she recorded a video message in fluent Mandarin for the Chinese audience.But on the ground in New York, Raducanu and Fernandez’s arrival on center stage created a sense of discovery and wonder. One long shot in a U.S. Open women’s final is rare enough, but two long-shot teenagers made it a scene. “There was a pent-up desire of people wanting to get out and wanting to experience events in person and time with family and friends and just to celebrate human greatness,” said Ellen Cummings, a fan from New Canaan, Conn., on Sunday before the men’s final.“I really turned out this year for Novak,” she said, “but the women’s tournament was like this unbelievable bonus. What Raducanu and Fernandez did was such a surprise and such a delight to watch.”Leylah Fernandez, left, and Emma Raducanu made surprise runs to the women’s singles final. Raducanu advanced through the qualifying draw to win the tournament.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThere has been much to bemoan of late and professional tennis has hardly been immune: from quarantines and isolation to Naomi Osaka’s existential crises that have often left her in tears in news conferences as she strained to manage her public role and private struggles in a sport she plainly excels at but that seems to bring her little delight at this stage.But the 2021 U.S. Open brought a sense of renewal and a sense that, in spite of it all, some of the kids were more than all right, able to summon the energy and optimism to take center stage and make the shots that mattered most. They lit up the largest tennis stadium in the world and then read the room beautifully, with Fernandez hitting just the right note as she talked about New Yorkers’ resilience on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.“We’ve witnessed such heaviness and pressure in the last year,” Evert said. “Such expectations and intensity and these two girls brought joy.”Youth, at this U.S. Open at least, was not wasted on the young, but the veterans reveled in the experience, too. On Sunday, Samantha Stosur, a 37-year-old Australian, won the women’s doubles title with her partner, Zhang Shuai of China, over the teenage Americans Coco Gauff and Caty McNally, two more young players full of hope and promise.It was a return to Arthur Ashe Stadium for Stosur, who won the 2011 U.S. Open singles title, upsetting Serena Williams in the final. Stosur is now very near the end of her career and has long been on the road, away from her family, because of the pandemic-era travel restrictions that make it difficult for Australians to return home.Samantha Stosur, top left, and Zhang Shuai, top right, in their match against Caty McNally, bottom left, and Coco Gauff.Al Bello/Getty Images“This year has been tough for everyone,” Stosur said. “This is the last two days of a trip that’s going to be four months for me away from home. I haven’t done that for a long, long time. To be going home with this trophy just means the absolute world to me. It makes everything worth it.”Stosur, like several other leading Australian players, did not make the journey to New York last year because of the pandemic. She had seen this year’s U.S. Open billboards with the slogan “The Greatest Return.” “Absolutely on point for this event this year,” Stosur said.David Mihm, a Djokovic fan from the small city of Eveleth, Minn., who had never attended a professional tennis match, bought a ticket for the men’s singles final after Djokovic won the penultimate leg of the Grand Slam at Wimbledon. “Right after the Wimbledon final, I thought this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’ve got to just go for it in case he does make it,” Mihm said.“I guess I was waiting for something real special,” he said.He did not get a Djokovic victory, but he did get something special. This U.S. Open, full of surprises and full of life, spilled over with signs of renewal and tennis’s bright future. Even Djokovic, who came one victory short of the sport’s ultimate achievement, chose not to end on a down note. A year ago, he had eliminated himself from the U.S. Open, inadvertently striking a lineswoman in the throat with a ball he hit in frustration after losing his serve early in his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreño Busta. Djokovic was defaulted from the match, played in an all but empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.Long the villain in New York, he returned this year, fighting his way through a series of intense tussles on the same court, gradually hearing more and more crowd support as he worked his way to the final. Microphone in hand, he made his appreciation clear through the disappointment on Sunday. “You guys touched my soul,” he said. “I’ve never felt like this in New York.”He was hardly alone in that sentiment this year at the U.S. Open, a tournament that felt all at once, both smaller and bigger than itself, and tennis too. More

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      Daniil Medvedev Wins U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic Falls Short of Grand Slam

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      Novak Djokovic said he was going to play this match as if it were the last of his career, that he was going to pour every ounce of his heart and soul into trying to do what few thought could ever be done again.It was not enough.With a startling display of power and creativity, Daniil Medvedev upset Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the U.S. Open on Sunday, ending Djokovic’s bid to become the first man in 52 years to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year. It was one last twist in a tournament that overflowed with stunning performances.For at least another year, Rod Laver will remain the lone member of the most exclusive club in modern men’s tennis, and the 2021 U.S. Open will forever belong primarily to an 18-year-old British woman named Emma Raducanu, who went from being the 150th-ranked player to a Grand Slam champion in the most unlikely tennis tale of them all.This was supposed to be Djokovic’s moment, the day that he would finally surge past Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and officially become the greatest player of all time.Djokovic was unable to put together any sustained momentum in the match, and was broken in his first service game.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesInstead, whatever spirits pull the strings of this uniquely exasperating sport intervened in the form of a lanky 25-year-old Russian, a neighbor of Djokovic’s in their adopted home of Monaco who is sure now to create any number of awkward encounters at Monte Carlo’s cafes and grocery stores and at the local tennis club where both of them train.Medvedev started fast, breaking Djokovic’s serve in the first game of the match and giving Djokovic few chances to take the first set. That was not supposed to matter. Djokovic, 34, had been shaky early in matches for two weeks, before raising his level and storming back for win after win. Surely, he would flip the script once more.And he had the opening, three break points on Medvedev’s first service game, and then another with Medvedev serving at 1-2 in the second set, when the sound system malfunctioned and interrupted one of Medvedev’s serves, giving him a fresh chance to save the game.When Medvedev took that point and then another, the weight of it all finally broke the man who had seemed unbreakable. Djokovic dismantled his racket with a violent smack on a court that had delivered him so many championships before.A game later, Medvedev curled a backhand onto Djokovic’s toes as he charged to the net, and when Djokovic’s volley floated long, the chance to crush a dream was just a few more games and one set away.“He was going for huge history,” Medvedev said. “Knowing that I managed to stop him, it definitely makes it sweeter.”Djokovic had beaten Medvedev most recently in a lopsided battle in February for his ninth Australian Open title, a moment that seems a lifetime ago, when no one was talking about anyone winning a Grand Slam.Medvedev, 25, is one of the younger stars of men’s tennis who has been looking up at the Big Three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesAnd yet, when the draw for the U.S. Open came out two weeks ago, it looked daunting for Djokovic. Matteo Berrettini, the big-serving Italian, loomed in the quarterfinals. Alexander Zverev, the talented German who knocked off Djokovic at the Olympics and was the hottest player in the world at the start of this tournament, was likely to be his semifinal foe. And if Djokovic could get through those players, he was most likely going to meet Medvedev, the world’s second best player, whose game, a beguiling mix of power and spins, seems to grow more dangerous with each passing month. He was a fitting final obstacle for Djokovic in the hunt for their sport’s biggest prize.Medvedev stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and is as skinny as a bamboo pole. At first glance, he looks like nobody’s idea of a professional athlete. He will scurry around the court creating shots that few can see coming, then bomb an ace or pound a flat backhand down the line.Coming into the tournament, conventional wisdom held that the only way to beat Djokovic was to take the racket out of his hands with so many unreturnable balls that one of the greatest defenders in the sport would not be able to survive the onslaught.Medvedev did that and so much more, pushing Djokovic back on his heels and handcuffing him at the net on those handful of points that decide every tennis match, with history on the line and 23,000 fans desperate to witness it.For Djokovic, the loss delivered a disappointment that practically no one but Serena Williams could understand. She had been the last player to enter the year’s final major championship with a shot at the Grand Slam. She, too, fell to an underdog, Roberta Vinci of Italy, on the same court in Arthur Ashe Stadium, in the 2015 semifinals.On a personal level, this loss most likely stung Djokovic in a way that Williams may never have felt. Djokovic has spent most of his adult life chasing legends who claimed this sport as their own just a few years before he burst onto the scene. He proved early on that he could be the equal of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, then sagged back, only to come back stronger and repeat the cycle time and again.The fans embraced the defeated Djokovic at the end, and he was grateful.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesHe entered this tournament tied with Federer and Rafael Nadal in the race for the most career Grand Slam titles, with 20. He desperately wants that record, to seal his legacy as the greatest player in tennis history.Djokovic’s compatriots from Serbia worship him, but he has been mostly unloved elsewhere, until Sunday, when seemingly everyone wanted to see him deliver. Djokovic has spent more time ranked as the world No. 1 than Nadal or Federer, and is the only one who has a winning record against those two chief rivals. Yet nothing would declare him as the greatest of all like winning the four Grand Slam tournaments in a single year.Federer and Nadal have never come close, and most likely never will. This year, Djokovic beat Nadal in his kingdom in Paris, where he has won 13 French Open titles. Then Djokovic captured Wimbledon for a sixth time in July, on the grass that Federer has long treated like his front lawn.He could not win the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo this summer for the fourth jewel of the so-called Golden Slam, something only Steffi Graf has accomplished.Djokovic soaked up the adoration of his fellow athletes in the Olympic Village, but lost to to Zverev in the semifinals and then to Pablo Carreño Busta in the bronze medal match. The heat and weight of the journey were beginning to take their toll.Djokovic took nearly a month off from competition, then came to New York to finish his mission, to make things right. A year ago he swatted a ball in anger after losing the first set of his fourth-round U.S. Open match, without any regard for where the ball was headed. It rocketed toward the throat of a line judge, requiring an automatic disqualification.Djokovic’s first six matches at the 2021 U.S. Open followed a mostly familiar pattern — some early shakiness, including losses in first sets of four consecutive matches, before Djokovic the assassin emerged to take care of business.It took five sets against Zverev in the semifinal. When that was over, and there was just one match to go, Djokovic embraced the size of the moment at hand — with his heart and his soul and everything else he had. Surely, that would be enough.Tennis, though, can be so hard sometimes, even for the world’s greatest player, who had made it look so easy for so long.“My heart is filled with joy, and I am the happiest man alive because you guys made me feel that way on the court,” Djokovic told the crowd. Ben Solomon for The New York TimesHe refused to go quietly, standing firm late in the third set and saving match point as Medvedev succumbed to the pressure of closing out his first Grand Slam title. He produced two double faults and an ugly backhand into the net, and Djokovic rode the deafening cheers of the crowd to battle back to within a game.It had taken so long for the fans to get behind him, an entire career really, but now they were there, and as Djokovic sat in his chair, he smiled at the throngs, teared up momentarily and pumped his fist, all the while knowing how deep the hole he had dug for himself really was.Maybe one day that moment will serve as decent consolation for not winning the Grand Slam. He would later say that those rousing cheers meant as much as a 21st Grand Slam title. There are worse things.Back on the court, Medvedev had his nearly insurmountable lead, and he made sure not to waste his second chance to serve out the championship. He blasted one last serve that Djokovic could not get back over the net, ending the most difficult of quests in a way that few could have imagined.There would be no Grand Slam, but there was love, and Djokovic, who is at once a sentimentalist, a warrior and a deep thinker with an impetuous streak that has often gotten him into trouble, knew that was not nothing.“My heart is filled with joy, and I am the happiest man alive because you guys made me feel that way on the court,” he said just before raising a plate instead of a trophy. “I never felt like this.” More