“No,” she replied without missing a beat.

She was kidding no one. All present knew Swiatek would rather face former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, whom she had beaten four times in eight attempts, than cross swords once with her Latvian nemesis Jelena Ostapenko, the victor on all six occasions they have met. The Polish defending champion managed to keep a straight face for all of two seconds before dissolving into laughter. 

“Am I a good liar?” she enquired with a grin. “Let’s say it doesn’t matter, really. Oh my God, I couldn’t play poker.”

No doubt Swiatek’s mood brightened further when Rybakina went on to dismiss Ostapenko in straight sets. Once in the Latvian’s shoes herself, however, it was not long before her mood dropped. Less than three-quarters of an hour, in fact – the time it took for the big-hitting Rybakina to blaze her way into a seemingly unassailable 6-1, 2-0 lead. By that stage, Swiatek was showing signs of the kind of agitation that has surfaced with unwelcome frequency in this season of struggles. It did not bode well.

This time last year, the 24-year-old was queen of all she surveyed, ranked No 1 and so dominant on her beloved red clay that she racked up 19th straight victories on the surface, winning titles in Madrid and Rome before claiming her fourth Roland Garros crown in five years. Now, a set and a break down against an opponent in irresistible form, Swiatek looked on course to suffer the heaviest defeat by a defending champion since Serena Williams salvaged just four games against Garbiñe Muguruza in 2014. An ignominious exit beckoned, but Swiatek was not done.

“I was feeling pretty bad, so I kind of accepted that I could lose the match,” she said. “But it didn’t change the fact that I wanted to fight for it.”

Fight she did, somehow summoning the will and tenacity to turn both the tide and, quite possibly, her entire season, as she recovered to claim an extraordinary 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. It was her 25th in succession at Porte d’Auteuil, a milestone only Chris Evert, Monica Seles, Bjorn Borg and Rafael Nadal have reached since the dawn of the open era in 1968. Tough days lie ahead, but there is a growing sense of momentum around the world No 5.

“I think I needed that kind of win to feel these feelings that I’m able to win under pressure, and even if it’s not going the right way, still turn the match around to win it,” said Swiatek. 

“For sure, it’s a great confirmation for me. I for sure wanted to have a match like that. Obviously it’s great to also have full control over the match, but against great players it’s not always going to be possible. I’m happy that I fought, and I also problem-solved on court.”.

The most pressing problem, having fallen behind at the start of the second set, was how to arrest the relentless tide of winners flowing from Rybakina’s racket and gain a foothold in the contest. Swiatek’s solution was to raise her physical intensity, chasing down every lost cause and forever forcing her opponent to play one more ball. She retreated further behind the baseline to return the 12th-seeded Kazakhstani’s penetrating serve and found greater shape on her forehand. She used her venomous topspin to break the lines and push Rybakina back off the baseline, and ramped up her footwork and aggression. 

Swiatek also rode her luck, first when Rybakina netted an inviting forehand volley at break point down in the fourth game, then when she survived a service game in which she produced three double faults. Suddenly, Rybakina was no longer playing at the same exalted level, errors creeping into her game as her focus wavered for the first time.

“There was a moment in the second set, when I had the volley on top of the net and I lost, it was a big turnaround,” said Rybakina. “She stepped in, she started to play more aggressive and I was down already.

“Also, physically, I started with very good intensity, I was aggressive. In the second set it was quickly she went up, so it was tough to come back. Generally, I think I wasn’t pushing well with the legs on the serve, so it was a bit tough.”

The decider was nonetheless a tight affair, and Swiatek did well not to let her focus waver after the ninth game, when both players thought the Pole had secured a break that would have left her serving for the match. The chair umpire, Kader Nouni, had other ideas, correctly ruling that Rybakina had not double-faulted as called, and the 25-year-old made the most of the reprieve, holding for 5-4. 

Swiatek, though, was not to be denied. Serving to stay in the match, she held to love, then capitalised on a string of unforced errors from Rybakina to move within touching distance of the last eight. After sealing victory with a vicious cross-court forehand winner, she clenched her fists and roared with delight. 

Swiatek now faces a quarter-final showdown with Elina Svitolina, who saved three match points in a 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over last year’s runner-up Jasmine Paolini. Two summers ago, the Ukrainian defeated her at the same stage of Wimbledon. But as this match demonstrated, Swiatek is a different creature on the red dirt; having defied the odds here, she could just be tougher than ever to stop.

The post Swiatek climbs off the canvas to beat Rybakina at French Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The 28-year-old Czech defeated Elena Rybakina, the former champion and runaway title favourite, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, to reach her first final at the All England Club, where she will face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini at the weekend. 

Across a fortnight packed with uncertainties, Rybakina had seemed the one sure thing. While her fellow top-five seeds were buffeted and toppled – Jessica Pegula in the second round, Iga Swiatek in the third, Coco Gauff in the fourth – the 25-year-old Kazakhstani defied the prevailing mayhem, making serene progress through the second quarter of the draw. Aside from Germany’s Laura Siegemund, who pushed her to a decider in round two, no one had taken more than three games in a set against Rybakina. She knew the course and distance, having won the title two summers against Ons Jabeur, and was mercifully free of the health problems that afflicted her in Rome and Paris. Surely she would be the one to step up, reaffirming the notion of a women’s “big three” by joining Aryna Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion – sadly forced to withdraw through injury on the first Monday – and Iga Swiatek, the French Open winner, as the third different champion in three grand slams?

It was a solid enough argument, but it overlooked a number of intangibles. Krejcikova, a former world No 2 and winner of the 2021 French Open, also knows what it is to go the distance at a major – even at Wimbledon, where she has won two doubles titles. She too had advanced to the last four for the loss of just one set (albeit her opening-round win over Veronika Kudermetova, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (1-7), 7-5, could barely have been tighter). Above all, Krejcikova had won both her previous meetings with Rybakina, and was no doubt one of the last players Rybakina would have wished to see obstructing her path to a third major final. 

After a shaky start, Krejcikova made all those factors tell. She drew on her experience, maintaining her composure and positivity after losing all but one of her first four service games. As Rybakina launched a blistering early barrage, establishing a 4-0 lead, Krejcikova’s mental game was outstanding, the Czech responding to any rare sign of encouragement with a clenched fist. Often in tennis, such gestures are mere bluster, designed to intimidate the player at the opposite end, to let an opponent know that you are there. Not so with Krejcikova, whose stoic detachment is a defining quality of her game, even if her self-exhortations did grow in ferocity as the afternoon wore on. 

Krejcikova also switched up her tactics from the second set onwards, approaching the net more often, using drop shots, crafting angles, moving inside the baseline. Rybakina, who smoked 19 winners in the first set to offset her 15 unforced errors, began to miss, her aggression no longer cancelling out her mistakes. By the time she righted the ship, it was too late.

“At the beginning she was just playing really well, she was just smashing the ball and she was [making] a lot of winners,” said Krejcikova. “But I felt that if I just stayed in the game, and if I kept fighting and tried to just stay there with her, that I’m going to get my chances.

“I felt that I had to maybe put a little bit more pressure on her just to change it. I was just looking for some options, and one of the options that I have is to serve and volley.”

The upshot is that an eighth different women’s champion in eight years will be crowned on Saturday, when Krejcikova will attempt to emulate the Centre Court victory of her late mentor, Jana Novotna, 26 years ago. She referenced the Czech legend in her on-court interview.

“Years ago, I was working with Jana Novotna, she won here in 1998,” Krejcikova recalled. “At that point, she was telling me a lot of stories about journeys here, and how she was trying to win Wimbledon. I was so far, really, when we had this talk. Now I’m here and I’m in the finals. Wow.”

The post Krejcikova stuns Wimbledon favourite Rybakina appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The irony of a 6-4, 6-2 reversal that gives the 25-year-old Czech an unwanted place in the record books alongside Steffi Graf, who became the first defending women’s champion to go out in the opening round when she was beaten by Lori McNeil 30 years ago, will not be lost on Vondrousova. 

Last summer, she arrived in SW19 with just one win from four previous visits, and left as the first unseeded women’s winner in history. This year, she walked through the gates of the All England Club as the defending champion, and was beaten by a woman who had never previously claimed a main-draw victory at a major. 

Such are the sport’s vicissitudes, not least at Wimbledon, where an eighth different champion in eight years will be crowned on Saturday week unless Elena Rybakina, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse, can repeat her title triumph of two years ago.

There were mitigating circumstances for Vondrousova, who retired from her last-16 match against Anna Kalinskaya in Berlin last month after suffering a hip injury, and here she appeared hesitant from the outset, with three of her seven double faults coming in the opening game. As she admitted afterwards, however, her travails were as much mental as physical.

“Today I was a bit scared, you know, because of my leg too, but I don’t think that was the reason [I lost],” said Vondrousova. “I felt nervous from the start, but she was also playing a good match. 

“Overall, it was very tough. It’s tough feelings also to go back. I feel like everybody just expects you to win maybe, so that’s tough too. I was happy to be back on the Centre Court, but it just didn’t go as planned today.”

As Vondrousova laboured under the weight of expectation, Bouzas Maneiro rose to the occasion magnificently. Encouraged by her opponent’s shaky start and alive to the dangers inherent in the wily Czech’s game, the 21-year-old never appeared overawed, holding her ground in the baseline exchanges, varying her service patterns with craft and intelligence, and visibly growing in belief as the match wore on. 

Vondrousova, meanwhile, committed 28 unforced errors, her erratic performance epitomised by a string of misses as Bouzas Maneiro served for the opening set. Stick or twist, nothing seemed to work for the champion, who erred with a pair of big forehands, then changed tack to no avail, sending a more conservative chipped backhand long. As Vondrousova thrashed a final backhand into the net to go a set down, Bouzas Maneiro roared in triumph, turning to her box with a clenched fist and a look of steel in her eyes.

Having dropped serve again at the start of the second set, Vondrousova broke back immediately, just as she had done in the opener. But Bouzas Maneiro was not to be denied, moving ahead for a second time after drawing an error with a deep return, then spearing a backhand winner to consolidate her advantage with a love hold. Even as Vondrousova held in the next game, staying in touch with a brilliant running lob, she grimaced. The Czech would soon be put out of her agony. With 68 minutes gone, Bouzas Maneiro steered a placement down the line to claim the biggest win of her career.

“In my mind, I think that I had no pressure today to play against her,” said Bouzas Maneiro. “Of course, first round is difficult for these players who won the last year. But I had no idea about [Vondrousova feeling nervous].

“I know she’s an amazing tennis player and she has a good level, so I was trying to not think about it, just thinking about myself, thinking I had no pressure. Of course, I was thinking that maybe she had a little bit more pressure than me.”

Iga Swiatek, who knows plenty about such pressures, came through a testing opener against Sofia Kenin, the former Australian Open champion, in straight sets. Despite electing not to play any matches on grass following her French Open victory last month, the Polish world No 1 looked sharp as she despatched Kenin 6-3, 6-4 to notch up her 20th straight win.

“For sure it was a solid start, and not an easy draw, so I’m happy that I have a chance to play another match here,” said Swiatek. “Nowadays on the WTA [Tour] it’s pretty easy to play against grand slam champions even in the first round, so we have to be ready for everything. These are experienced players, so there’s no time to get into the tournament slowly, you need to be ready straight away.” 

Vondrousova, shorn of her title and set to drop out of the world’s top 10 when the revised ranking list is published after Wimbledon, can attest to the truth of that sentiment.

The post Wimbledon champion Vondrousova in shock early exit appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Swiatek, a quarter-finalist last time out, will get her campaign underway against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who defeated Coco Gauff in the opening round 12 months ago. It will be a repeat of their first-round meeting in Melbourne earlier this year, which Swiatek won in two hard-fought sets. The 23-year-old also defeated Kenin to win her first title at Roland Garros in 2020.

Swiatek could face Germany’s Angelique Kerber, whose three grand slam victories include the 2018 Wimbledon title, in round three, ahead of a projected meeting with Jelena Ostapenko, another former major winner. The 13th-seeded Latvian has won all four of their previous meetings – although, if she is to get a crack at a fifth, Ostapenko will first need to negotiate an intriguing opener against Alja Tomljanovic, the Australian wild card who accused her of faking injury during a feisty third-round win in 2021.

Swiatek is projected to face Marketa Vondousova, the Czech defending champion, in the last eight. Vondrousova will play Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain in the first round and could go up against Danielle Collins, the 11th-seeded American who is competing at Wimbledon for the final time, in the last 16. 

If the seedings hold, Swiatek will play former champion Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals. The 25-year-old from Kazakhstan opens against Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and could face Ons Jabeur, whom she defeated to win the title two summers ago, for the third year in a row in the last 16. The Tunisian, seeded 10th, will begin her bid to reach a third straight final against Moyuka Uchijima of Japan. 

In the bottom half, third seed Aryna Sabalenka will open her campaign against Emina Bektas of the United States. The Belarusian, who practised with Jabeur on Centre Court shortly after the draw was made on Friday morning, is expected to face Qinwen Zheng in the last eight, in what would be a repeat of this year’s Australian Open final. 

Propping up the draw is Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, who will start her first major as the world No 2 against fellow American Caroline Dolehide. Should the 20-year-old advance to the last eight for the first time, she could face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, the eighth seed and French Open finalist, who reached the Eastbourne semi-finals this week.

Domestic interest will centre on Emma Raducanu, who opens against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 22nd seed, and Katie Boulter, the British No 1, who faces a potentially tricky start against former semi-finalist Tatjana Maria.

The post Iga Swiatek handed tough Wimbledon draw appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

On an afternoon of major upsets at the French Open, Andreeva, 17, fought back from a set down to claim the biggest win of her career against Aryna Sabalenka, becoming the youngest women’s grand slam semi-finalist since Martina Hingis in 1997. Sabalenka, the second seed and reigning Australian Open champion, struggled physically from the outset and on several occasions looked close to throwing in the towel.

It was a desperate stroke of misfortune for the 26-year-old Belarusian, particularly after Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, was earlier beaten by Paolini in straight sets. With Iga Swiatek, the world No 1 and defending champion, already through to face Coco Gauff in the top half of the draw, the expectation was that the top four seeds would reach the semi-finals in Paris for the first time since 1992. But a bold and brilliant performance from Paolini put a dent in the notion of a women’s big four which Andreeva, to her immense credit, hammered home.

“I tried to stay in the game, stay focused, not to wait for her mistakes, to try to finish everything by myself,” said Andreeva following her 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4 win.

“If we look back, I wouldn’t expect myself playing [in the] semi-finals, because that was just kind of a dream for me in the beginning of the tournament.”

Andreeva’s dream was Sabalenka’s nightmare. A pair of early breaks could not disguise the Belarusian’s discomfort on serve and sluggish movement and, as she fell behind against an opponent she had dismissed comfortably in each of their previous two meetings, she gestured agitatedly to her support team. After seven games, a doctor arrived on the scene, pills were administered, and Sabalenka somehow summoned the strength to recover from 3-5 down and see out the set.  

But Andreeva held firm, maintaining her concentration despite the weight of the occasion and the distracting nature of Sabalenka’s predicament, and having levelled the contest she showed admirable composure to recover from a break down in the decider. Serving to stay in the tournament, Sabalenka fought off a first match point with a courageous forehand winner, but Andreeva would not be denied. The teenager ripped a backhand winner down the line to bring up a second opportunity, and this time she converted it with an inspired defensive lob. 

In Paolini, she will face another opponent enjoying her finest run at a major. The Italian, who started the year ranked 29th, had never been beyond the second round at this level before reaching the last 16 of the Australian Open in January. Two months later, she was scheduled to face Rybakina in the Dubai quarter-finals only for the former Wimbledon champion to withdraw with illness. Paolini went on to win the WTA 1000 event, defeating Anna Kalinskaya in the final, and her growing belief that she can compete at the highest level will be reinforced when she breaks into the top 10 for the first time next week. 

A near-flawless first set gave Paolini the platform for a 6-2, 4-6. 6-4 victory over Rybakina, the Italian dropping just one point on serve while threatening the world No 4’s delivery throughout. It has been a difficult few weeks for Rybakina, who was forced to abandon her title defence in Rome because of sickness, and has since struggled with sleeping problems and media controversy. She has been winning in Paris even without playing her best tennis, and put herself in a position to do so again after shrugging off an error-strewn start to force a decider, but a poor service game at 4-4 handed Paolini the initiative, and the Italian served out for a famous win.

“I think I started to play better, with more consistency, last year,” said Paolini. “Match by match, I felt more convinced that I can play at a higher level. But it was a process, it’s not like I switched something [on], it was a process. 

“Now, I step on court and I say to myself that I have a chance to win the match. Before, sometimes when I was playing against the top players, I was like ‘OK, I need a miracle to win this match,’ so I was already losing the match before even playing.”

Now the shoe will be on the other foot: seeded 12th and by far the more experienced player, Paolini will go into Thursday’s semi-final as the favourite. Then again, as she and Andreeva proved, that doesn’t always count for much.

The post Andreeva stuns Sabalenka to reach French Open semis appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Few will have forgotten the 24-year-old Kazakhstani’s impassive response to winning Wimbledon two summers ago, when she ambled to the net to shake hands with nary a smile, although plenty seem to have forgotten how she dissolved into tears at her press conference afterwards.

A woman of contrasts and contradictions, Rybakina hits big, but speaks softly. She commands attention with her percussive power, yet retreats into her shell once the final ball has been struck. Shyness, however, should not be confused with weakness.

Like the similarly introverted Iga Swiatek, Rybakina is not afraid to speak out when occasion demands. At last year’s Canadian Open, she accused the WTA of “weak leadership” over scheduling issues that meant she had to battle until 3am to complete a quarter-final win over Daria Kasatkina. Rybakina was one of the first players to call out the shambolic organisation of last year’s WTA Finals in Cancún, and has been similarly strident in her criticism of the extended WTA 1000 format. She may be reserved, but she is no pushover.

On the court, Rybakina’s tennis has spoken volumes at this year’s French Open, much as it has done throughout a year that has brought three titles and 33 victories, a record bettered only by Swiatek. Rybakina has yet to drop a set in Paris, and on Saturday she continued her serene progress by calmly despatching Elise Mertens, twice reeling in the 27th-ranked Belgian from a break down in the first set before moving through the gears to win 6-4, 6-2.

Off court, however, Rybakina’s Roland Garros has been anything but serene. Facing the media has never been her favourite part of the day job, but time and experience have made her more forthcoming, and she is typically an engaging and unassuming interviewee. In Paris, though, Rybakina’s press briefings have been far from typical. Following her opening-round win over Greet Minnen, she gave short shrift to an innocuous question about her health and the effect of the court conditions, before adding: “I don’t know guys, the questions are quite the same, so I don’t know what to say any more.” 

A brief but awkward silence followed, before the search for a more palatable line of inquiry began. Playing under the closed roof on Chatrier? “The same as previous years. Guys.” The key to winning the title? “It’s quite basic, you need to work hard, do all the things usually you don’t want to do. Simple questions, simple answers.” How about a few words on that distinctive beige kit; a custom number, perhaps? “These colours, I didn’t choose, it was the brand who chose for me,” Rybakina shot back as, somewhere in Tokyo, a Yonex sponsorship executive curled up into a ball and wept. And so it continued.

It should be said that Rybakina, while mildly exasperated, smiled as she addressed her interrogators. With the possible exception of a slight shake of the head after replying to one question, her tone was one of detached bemusement rather than rudeness. Nonetheless, the relationship between press and players is symbiotic. Journalists on deadline need quotes. Athletes need coverage to improve their profile and marketability. Without mutual goodwill, press conferences are a waste of everyone’s time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rybakina was not requested for interview by the media following her second-round win over Arantxa Rus. That in turn sparked a predictable social media storm, with opinion split fairly evenly between fans of rival players only too ready to condemn Rybakina for her part in the standoff, and those who believe that all journalists ask stupid questions, all of the time. It fell to Ellen Perez, the Australian doubles specialist, to offer a more nuanced take. 

“Do I think her answers were great? No,” Perez wrote on social media. “Do I think some of the questions were mundane? Sure. Do I think some of the questions were fine? Sure. Do I think the journos are being petty? Absolutely. Do I think she’s happy now? Yep.”

All of which would be fine, if Rybakina were indeed happy. But as she returned to the press room after her win over Mertens, the Kazakhstani was hardly a picture of joy. For a couple of minutes, it all went swimmingly. Then she punctuated an answer with the rider, “Always, the question is being healthy” – at which point, things started to go downhill.

Rybakina’s health issues, the latest of which came when she withdrew from last month’s WTA 100 event in Rome with illness, are well documented. She struggles with allergies at this time of year, and last season was forced to pull out of the French Open before her third-round match after struggling to sleep and suffering from fever, headache and breathing issues. Most athletes are guarded when discussing injury or illness, and Rybakina is no different. No player wants to give their next opponent the skinny on their physical state. All the same, she could be forgiven for feeling that she has offered enough context on the situation in the past to render further questions redundant.

That said, Rybakina was the one who raised the issue of her health. The enquiries that followed can hardly have come as a shock. First up was the obvious question: exactly how healthy was she, following her withdrawal from Rome? “Struggling a bit with sleep,” came the answer, but otherwise “feeling pretty well and focused.” Had she undertaken any tests to explore the deeper reasons for her problems? “No,” she said with a wan smile. So what was the issue with sleep? “Everybody when they work a lot, it’s not easy to sleep and then the recovery is not the greatest,” Rybakina replied evasively, her discomfort evident as she glanced at the moderator. 

At that point, it would probably have been smart for everyone simply to cut their losses. Instead, two further questions about Rybakina’s sleeping problems followed, both of which drew terse replies, before we arrived back at square one. 

“Well guys, I think everybody faces some issues, it can be anything,” said Rybakina. “So I don’t know what to answer on that.”

Given that her first-round press conference also got off on the wrong foot following a question about her health, it should not be beyond the wit of man or woman to make an educated guess at what is bothering Rybakina. If she doesn’t wish to discuss her health every time she faces the media, there is little to be gained by pressing her on the issue, particularly with the facts already on public record. Three years after Naomi Osaka boycotted the French Open media before withdrawing from the tournament on mental health grounds, the need for empathy should be uppermost in the minds of all. 

Equally, Rybakina must be as wary of unforced errors in the press room as she is between the white lines. A question may feel intrusive, or repetitive, but ultimately the media are there to promote a deeper understanding of the players. It is up to Rybakina to choose what face she wishes to present to the world.

The post Elena Rybakina: enigmatic ice queen – or plain rude? appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

After weeks of uncertainty over Nadal’s prospects of competing at the tournament, there was an audible murmur of disbelief at the draw ceremony as Zverev, the fourth seed, was confirmed as the 14-time champion’s first opponent. 

It was clear the unseeded Spaniard would face a top-eight player from the moment his name emerged at the top of the second quarter of the draw, but Zverev represents one of the toughest assignments he could have landed. The contest will be a rematch of their ill-fated semi-final of two years ago, which ended with the German Olympic champion rupturing ankle ligaments late in the second set after more than three hours of mesmerising play.

Much has changed in the interim. Nadal is now languishing at 276 in the rankings after struggling to overcome abdominal and hip problems that have brought him to the brink of retirement. Zverev, meanwhile, fresh from winning his biggest title in almost three years in Rome last week, appears to have put his injury woes firmly behind him. 

To judge from his recent comments about Nadal’s French Open prospects, however, the German is unlikely to be lulled into a false sense of security by his opponent’s relatively modest record of five wins from eight outings in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome.

“Rafa is going to play a lot better than he did in Madrid and Rome,” said Zverev at the Italian Open last week. “I’m certain about that.”

Many will balk at the possibility of the German bringing the curtain down on Nadal’s Roland Garros career, given that the 27-year-old’s trial for alleged domestic abuse begins in the Tiergarten district court in Berlin on 31 May. Zverev, who is not required to attend the proceedings, has consistently denied the charges.

Nadal, whose proud record of having never lost two consecutive clay-court matches will be on the line after his defeat to Hubert Hurkacz in Rome, is likely to take a measured view of the situation, much as he did when he was drawn in the same half as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in 2021. 

“That’s part of the game,” Nadal said then. “That’s how the ranking works. I mean, there is not one sport that is more fair than tennis on that. 

“There is a ranking. The seedings are made with the ranking that you had during the last year. So that’s how it is.”

A possible source of consolation for the Spaniard is that, should he somehow find a way past Zverev, his path through the top half would begin to look a fraction less daunting. David Goffin, ranked 115, is a possible second-round opponent, and from there he could expect to face Tallon Griekspoor, the 26th seed, followed by a pair of former quarter-finalists in Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev. The odds remain stacked against a deep run, but Nadal has performed too many miracles in the 16th arrondissement to regard Zverev’s progress as a foregone conclusion. 

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and top seed, will open his bid for a record 25th grand slam title against French wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert. In the lower half of the draw, Jannik Sinner, seeded second, faces Christopher Eubanks of the United States, while Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, plays former finalist Andy Murray in a battle of three-time grand slam champions.

In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek will begin her title defence against a qualifier ahead of a potential second-round meeting with Naomi Osaka, who opens against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. The Polish world No 1, vying for a fourth title on the Parisian clay, has landed in the opposite half of the draw to Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, who has won four of their six previous encounters, most recently in the semi-finals of last month’s Stuttgart Open. 

“I love this place, so I’m always excited to come back,” said Swiatek at the draw ceremony. “It feels like home.”

If the seedings hold, Swiatek will play Coco Gauff, the US Open champion, in the last four, in what would be a repeat of the 2022 final. First, though, the 22-year-old would potentially need to navigate a last-16 meeting with Barbora Krejcikova, the champion of three summers ago, followed by a quarter-final showdown with either Marketa Vondrousova, a finalist in 2019, or Danielle Collins, who is playing some of the finest tennis of her career in her final season on tour. Gauff will open against a qualifier, while Rybakina plays Greet Minnen of Belgium.

Aryna Sabalenka props up the lower half of the draw. The second seed will open her challenge for a second straight major, following her successful title defence at the Australian Open in January, against Erika Andreeva, a 19-year-old Russian ranked 101. The Belarusian, a semi-finalist last year, is expected to face Maria Sakkari, the Greek sixth seed, before disputing a place in the final with Rybakina.

The post Nadal draws Zverev in French Open first round appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The Serbian world No 1, who had just completed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Corentin Moutet of France, collapsed to the ground clutching his head before security staff ushered him away for medical treatment.

As footage of the incident captured by a spectator began to circulate on social media, the first concern was for Djokovic’s welfare. The hard bottle, possibly made of metal, fell at quite a speed and landed directly on the top of the 36-year-old’s head, making an audible thud as it hit the ground. Barely less alarming was the thought that the missile might have been thrown on purpose. 

However, a statement issued by tournament organisers allayed concerns that Djokovic had suffered serious injury and confirmed that he had been “accidentally hit”. That was confirmed by the release of video taken from a different angle, which showed that the bottle fell from the backpack of a spectator as he leaned forward to high-five the 24-time grand slam champion.

“Thank you for the messages of concern,” Djokovic later wrote on social media. “This was an accident and I am fine resting at the hotel with an ice pack.”

It was an unfortunate conclusion to what was otherwise a fairly unremarkable evening’s work for Djokovic, who was playing his first match since losing to Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters last month. After dropping three of the first four games against Moutet, the top seed reeled off seven in a row to seize control of the contest, eventually easing to victory in an hour and 25 minutes. 

“I haven’t practised with a lefty in a while, so it took me a little bit of time to adjust to the different rotation of the ball,” said Djokovic, who did not speak to the press afterwards, in his on-court interview. 

“The first four games were quite bad from me, a bad start. I lost both of my service games. But then I played well. I lost only one game from 1-3 down.

“Corentin is a very talented player. He has great hands and is very unpredictable, you don’t know what’s coming up next. So I had to stay focused, which I did, and it’s a good opening match.”

Officials said Djokovic was evaluated by doctors before leaving the Foro Italico, bloodied but unbowed, to nurse a bump on his head. He is scheduled to face Alejandro Tabilo, the Chilean 29th seed, on Sunday.

“He was upset, but he seems OK,” Alessandro Catapano, a spokesman for the Italian Tennis Federation, told the Associated Press. “We’re also very upset about what happened, and we are trying to figure out who it was and understand the dynamics.

“The police came and asked for information, but the person who did it had already left. We’re going through all of the video and camera angles to see if we can determine what exactly happened.”

There was a less literal casualty in the women’s event after Elena Rybakina, the defending champion, withdrew before her opening match against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu with illness. Rybakina, seeded fourth, has enjoyed a strong start to the European clay-court swing, winning her third title of the season in Stuttgart before losing a tight three-setter to Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid Open semi-finals.

“I am disappointed to have to withdraw from Rome this year, but unfortunately I do not feel well enough to compete,” Rybakina said in a statement. “I have such good memories from last year and was looking forward to defending my title.

“Rome is so special to me, and I look forward to being back next year to reclaim my title and play in front of the Italian fans.”

Ons Jabeur, another former champion in the Italian capital, was upset by Sofia Kenin, who recovered from a break down in the decider to claim a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win over the Tunisian eighth seed. It was the 2020 Australian Open champion’s sixth win in eight meetings with Jabeur. 

“I definitely feel like I’ve come a long way,” said Kenin, who has two wins in a row for the first time since last September after beating Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in the opening round. “I’m not too happy with how this season was going, but I’m happy it’s going in the right direction.

“I feel like the hard work is paying off and the fact that I’m still fighting, training every day, working hard on my fitness, I was feeling like it was all going to come together at some point.”

Kenin will face Rebecca Sramkova, a 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) winner over Katie Boulter, the British 26th seed, on Sunday.

The post Djokovic ‘fine’ after being hit by water bottle in Rome appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

It feels like a lifetime ago that the 25-year-old Belarusian supplanted Swiatek as world No 1 only to relinquish the crown eight weeks later at the WTA Finals in Cancún. The six months since have been a mixed bag for Sabalenka, who won her second grand slam title at the Australian Open, then suffered an unexpected dip in form that was compounded by tragedy in her personal life.

Her struggles have continued at the Madrid Open, where she has been taken the distance in all but one of her matches so far, but there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. On Thursday night, Sabalenka produced her finest performance of the tournament to win an absorbing semi-final battle against Elena Rybakina. In the process, she ensured she would not be overtaken as world No 2 by Coco Gauff, maintained her defence of the title she won last year against Swiatek, and ended Rybakina’s 16-match winning streak on clay. 

None of those outcomes looked likely when Rybakina, who had barely put a foot wrong all night, lined up an inviting short ball that would have given her a match point late in the second set. But the world No 4 screwed a forehand narrowly wide, then compounded her mistake with another error, and suddenly Sabalenka had an unlikely route back into a contest she had trailed by a set and a break. 

It was a reprieve she grabbed with both hands, battling to a 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory that not only kept her nestled behind Swiatek in the rankings but also set up a rematch of last year’s final against the 22-year-old Pole, who earlier defeated Madison Keys in straight sets.

“Probably that was the key moment,” said Sabalenka, perhaps somewhat unconvincingly, given that she initially struggled to recall it. “I don’t know how I was able to come back in this match. Probably she missed her opportunities, I used my opportunities. Maybe that was the key point; I don’t even remember. My memory is terrible.”

The latter claim was as unpersuasive as the Belarusian’s alleged recollection of Rybakina’s pivotal miss. Asked if last year’s win over Swiatek was the best performance of her career on clay, Sabalenka remembered it vividly enough to go even further, pronouncing it the best of the 26 tour-level finals she has contested. Some things clearly stick in the mind. 

“I would say definitely that was the best match I ever played, especially on a clay court,” she said. “I think the level was just super high. It was clean, it was an intense, powerful game. I think that was the best final I ever played.”

Judging by the dominant manner in which Swiatek dispatched Keys, Sabalenka will need to reach similar heights in Saturday’s final if she is to retain her crown. Having dropped her only set of the tournament to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the previous round, the Pole moved smoothly through the gears against Keys, securing an early break before stretching her lead in trademark style. The 20th-ranked American had her moments in the second set, but they were few and far between. A repeat of her 2022 win over Swiatek in Cincinnati was never on the cards. 

“Tennis-wise, I feel like I’m playing better every day,” said Swiatek. “But on the other hand, it doesn’t really matter, every day is different. I would say in finals it’s more about the mentality and how you maintain the right attitude and focus.”

Sabalenka showed those qualities in abundance against Rybakina, fashioning a win that owed as much to sheer force of will as the quality of her play. Suffocated early on by Rybakina’s destructive serving and precise, powerful play off the ground, the Belarusian found herself a set down in 24 minutes. When Rybakina then snatched another early break to open up a 3-1 second-set lead, Sabalenka looked down and out. But having forced her way back into contention, she matched Rybakina step for step down the stretch, fighting off two break points at 5-5 before winning five of the first six points in the climactic tiebreak to create the platform for a memorable victory. 

Rybakina, who had not lost a deciding set since her shock defeat to Anna Blinkova at the Australian Open, could only reflect ruefully on a result that ended a run of 12 consecutive victories when taken the distance. The most recent of those three-set wins came when she recovered from two match points down against Yulia Putintseva in the previous round, but there was to be no repeat of the stunning winners that baled her out of trouble on that occasion.

Instead, Rybakina could only reflect ruefully on the vital missed forehand that would have given her a match point and an opportunity to compete for a second straight clay-court trophy, following last month’s title run in Stuttgart. 

“It’s a pity to lose,” said Rybakina. “I had this ball on top of the net at 5-4, 30-30, it’s a pity when you have this opportunity, but I didn’t play it well… It is what it is.”

The post Sabalenka to face Swiatek in Madrid final after epic fightback appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

That, at least, was the impression as the world No 4 from Kazakhstan staged an extraordinary comeback from two match points down to defeat her countrywoman Yulia Putintseva in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.

Serving at 2-5, 15-40 in the deciding set, Rybakina looked destined for a first defeat on clay in 16 matches, an impression that deepened when Putintseva, who had tormented Rybakina with her finesse, sent the former Wimbledon champion sprinting forward in pursuit of a heavily undercut drop shot. Somehow, though, Rybakina intercepted the ball at shoelace level to flick an outrageous, improvised winner across the face of the net. With one match point erased, she promptly saved the next with an ace. 

Barely a quarter of an hour later, Rybakina completed a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory, her first in three meetings with Putintseva, who obliterated her racket in frustration. Rybakina now has a tour-leading 30 wins this season, including eight in a row following last month’s title run in Stuttgart. 

Yet her latest success owed nothing to burgeoning self-belief or a sense of invincibility. It was, she revealed afterwards, the product of an indifference born of physical and mental exhaustion. If Rybakina appeared nerveless on the brink of defeat, it had much to do with the extended format of WTA 1000 events, which now span a fortnight and are all mandatory. Quite simply, the 24-year-old would have welcomed a break before defending her title at next week’s Italian Open. 

“I feel very tired,” said Rybakina following her eighth match in 15 days. “[I’m] happy that in the end I pulled through the match and managed to win, but at 5-2 it wasn’t easy. I already was without any emotions, I was just trying to do what I’m supposed to do – and it turned out with a win.”

“I think these tournaments which became so long, it’s not very helpful, I would say, because if you’re fit, you’re fit, you’re going to play every day and the tournament finishes. But you stay in one place for almost two weeks, and it’s not like here you finish and you go rest. You go and you play another mandatory event. That’s definitely not making it easy. 

“I was not there with the legs, definitely, in the match. She’s a tough opponent, she’s a fighter, and she was playing well. In the third set it was very quick when I started to lose these three games in a row, 5-2 down, and after I think I didn’t have any more emotions, no frustration, no nothing. I was just going for every point. I was trying to do what I’m supposed to do, and then whatever happens, happens.

“I’m not here to complain. I’m playing and making good money, but I would say that it’s not the best thing when you are kind of without emotions and you’re just like on remote control going to play.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s a good thing… when you are already at the point where you are so tired that at 5-2, you’re just, ‘OK, if I’m going to lose, I’m going to have some vacation, because the next tournament is coming.’”

Of course, the best solution to fatigue is winning in straight sets – something that defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, whom Rybakina will face in the semi-finals, later achieved for the first time at this year’s event. Taken the distance by Magda Linette, Robin Montgomery and Danielle Collins en route to the quarter-finals, Sabalenka produced her best performance so far at the Caja Mágica to see off the Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-4 and maintain her pursuit of a third title. 

Andreeva, who turned 17 earlier this week, has climbed more than 150 places in the rankings since the pair met for the first time in the Spanish capital last year. Twelve months on, she has underlined her progress with impressive victories over Linda Noskova, Marketa Vondrousova and Jasmine Paolini. Sabalenka posed a challenge of a different order, however, feasting on Andreeva’s predictable service patterns and punishing every short ball.

“I dropped my level a little bit in the past couple of tournaments,” said Sabalenka, “so it was really important for me to get this tough win to feel the confidence again. 

“It gives me more belief and I started feeling better on court.”

The Belarusian world No 2 acknowledged Rybakina’s concerns about the length of the tournament, but pointed to the benefit of having a day’s rest between matches.   

“Personally, I prefer to have a day off,” said Sabalenka. “Two weeks’ tournament, it’s kind of long, but at the same time I prefer to play the match than have a day off. So for me, physically it’s better. That’s my opinion.”

It is nonetheless a curiosity of the longer tournaments that not every round is followed by a rest day. Rafael Nadal’s loss to Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday night was an obvious case in point. Many questioned why the five-time champion was obliged to play what will probably be his final match on Spanish soil barely 24 hours after overcoming Pedro Cachin in an epic three-hour duel the previous afternoon. It will be intriguing to see how Sabalenka and Rybakina fare in similar circumstances on Thursday night.  

The post Weary Rybakina ‘on remote control’ in epic Madrid win appeared first on Love Game Tennis.