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They are in a hurry, this younger cohort of tennis stars, with no interest in waiting their turn to take over their sport, or respecting their elders. On a warm Sunday evening in Rod Laver Arena, Jannik Sinner, the 22-year-old fast-rising star from Italy, became the latest member of the ‘next generation’ to win a …
Zheng Qinwen has reached her first Grand Slam final. In fact, she is the first person from China to do so in 10 years. Zheng grew up watching the last Chinese Grand Slam winner, Li Na, and has said she has watched the 2014 Australian Open final ‘at least 10 times.’ If you have been …
This is getting awkward. Alexander Zverev, the German tennis star set to face trial in May on a domestic abuse charge, keeps dicing with elimination from the Australian Open, which would save the sport from a subject that no one wants to talk about. Then the world No 6 staves off defeat, escaping tight tiebreakers …
It happened again. Of course it did. Two tennis players, starting near midnight, battling nearly to sunrise in front of a scattering of fans, with a squad of kids in their early teenage years scurrying after balls at nearly four in the morning. Last year it was Andy Murray duelling with Thanasi Kokkinakis until the …
It was late September when Naomi Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion and transcendent star of her sport, finally got on the phone with her former coach to talk about her next comeback. Wim Fissette is a cerebral Belgian who thinks long and hard before taking on a player, even one with a resume like …
By now, nearly two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is a familiar rhythm to Elina Svitolina’s days. The missile attacks from Russia generally happen overnight, so in the morning, just after she opens her eyes, she grabs her phone to see where the bombs have fallen. There is a call to her …
Goran Ivanisevic has seen it happen so many times over the past four years. His star pupil, Novak Djokovic, shows up to the practice court in a foul mood, griping that his game is a disaster, that he needs to get better… at everything. His serve, his attacking play, even his backhand — one of the …
For months, Rafael Nadal has been trying to temper expectations for his comeback, telling the world that he had little sense of whether he would ever return to his championship form or anything approaching it. On Sunday, Nadal showed the world why he was so cautious. At 37 years old, he knows how brittle he …
There was no champagne courtside. So, as Matteo Berrettini embraced Jannik Sinner after Sinner’s victory over Alex de Minaur last month to clinch Italy’s first Davis Cup title in 47 years, their teammate, Matteo Arnaldi, did the next best thing: He shook a water bottle and poured it over Sinner and Berrettini. Sinner, 22, ended …