ATP
On another planet
IS Nick Kyrgios for real?
Flat earth, pyramids made by aliens … what has he been smoking?
His hometown of Canberra has been long known as a liberal-lefty enclave where free thinking thrives, but really, to this level?
Is he deliberately winding the media up – or did he miss high school completely?
On the Egypt pyramids, Kyrgios said: “I don’t think the pyramids are man-made.
“The doors are pretty big, and we as humans don’t need doors as big as those ones.”
Or has April Fool’s day come 34 days early this year?
Appearing on boxer and Youtuber Logan Paul’s ‘Impaulsive’ podcast, Kyrgios told Paul the Earth could be flat.
Sad to think his childish stupidity has gained more traction than his other comment, more relevant to tennis, that he would have quit the game if he had beaten Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.
“I think I would have retired at least for a year or two,” he said.
“I think I can win a grand slam. Wimbledon I was right there. I was two sets away. I won the first set and I thought this is it. And then I just didn’t stay in the moment and he stayed super composed.”
“I feel like I could do that. It’s weird, but I feel like it’s not even for me though. I feel like it’s for everyone else. All the haters as well. I could finally just rest. I could just go home and sleep in my bed and not deal with the s***.”
Then, to confuse the audience even more, the focus shifted to who the greatest tennis player of all time was.
And Kyrgios compared Roger Federer to … wait for it … Michael Jordan.
That’s Michael Jordan the basketball star, not erm, Michael Jordan the tennis Grand Slam winner.
“Federer and Jordan are very similar, but I think Novak (Djokovic) is statistically better,” he said.
He then dismissed the likes of Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi as not in the same league.
Quite a few would disagree there.
EMMA Raducanu could use fellow teenage Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz for inspiration as the Spanish world No 2 spoke about three setbacks that followed his US Open win last September.
In an interview for Vogue magazine Alcaraz was asked about the most difficult time in his career.
“I had a bad period after I won the US Open,” he said. “That sounds like I’m making it up.”
Alcaraz said he struggled to comprehend what he had achieved in New York and said it was hard, adding that no one on his team was enjoying life.
“Juanki (coach Juan Carlos Ferrero) wasn’t, seeing me so shut down and lacking in spark. I thought, Where do I go now?”
Alcaraz’s dip continued, but he kept believing and despite losses and injuries, he returned at the Argentina Open last week and won the tournament.
His tale could offer some hope to Raducanu, who has slid down the rankings with a dramatic loss of form since her US Open triumph.
Alcaraz, meanwhile, is a nominee for the 2023 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.
He is among the six nominees, along with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Alcaraz had an incredible season in 2022, starting the season from outside the top-30 and finishing as the youngest No.1 in ATP history.
ATP Chief Executive Andrea Gaudenzi has repeated the organisation’s opposition to any ban on players from Wimbledon on the basis of their nationality.
The ATP Tour allows Russian and Belarussian players to compete but only under a neutral flag.
But the men’s tour is totally opposed to the banning Russian and Belarussian players from any tournament, as happened at Wimbledon last year.
The ATP even slapped them with a fine and stripped the tournament of rankings points.
“I want to reiterate that we always condemn and will condemn war,” Gaudenzi said.
”I know it’s obvious to say this, but it’s important to repeat and reassure because we send this message very clearly.”
“I think we (the ATP) are very much in line with the guidance of the IOC. Our players cannot play under their flags in team competitions like any other sport.”
Gaudenzi insists that it isnt the ATP’s place to intervene in politics or the personal expression of players.
Neither the ATP or the WTA, who are equally opposed to bans, has made it clear what sort of punishment will await Wimbledon and British tennis should another ban be instituted this year.
QUOTE of the week … “He doesn’t know the gender yet, only I do.”
Naomi Osaka confesses to knowing the gender of her baby, but boyfriend Cordae doesn’t.
FORMER world No.1 Victoria Azarenka has called for a “deserving” venue to host the WTA Finals, after the poor end of season event in Texas last year.
The tournament, which features the top eight singles players and doubles teams, was to be held in Shenzhen, China until 2028 but had to be cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, moving to Guadalajara, Mexico in 2021.
The event was set to return to Shenzhen last year, but the WTA suspended tournaments in China due to the disappearance of Peng Shuai.
Fort Worth, Texas hosted the tournament last year and drew sparse crowds.
“We need something that is deserving of the Finals, Azarenka said in Dubai last week.
“In the last couple years with such short announcements, absolutely no time for marketing – in my opinion – it’s been undervalued.”
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
ARE Canada’s latest crop of players great underachievers. Promising so much but delivering little?
Not according to tennis legend John McEnroe.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is getting good reviews from Mac, who was speaking in Vancouver last week to promote the Laver Cup there in September.
“I think he’s going to win a major in the next year, 18 months at the most,“ McEnroe said. ”I think he’s made great progress.
“Back in my day, you’re like ‘I hope I play a Canadian.’ Not the case anymore.“
Dennis Shapovalov is another player that McEnroe believes could be in for bigger wins.
“Denis is hugely talented. He’s a good kid, he works at it,” McEnroe said.
” At times, he’s a little bit like a chicken with his head cut off — you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get from him, which is difficult to play against.
“Now, I firmly believe he could be in the top 10.
AND finally …
Please Boris. Shut up.
Disgraced German Boris Becker told the London Financial Times last week he was treated harshly during his time in jail last year.
And Becker, who has become a serial complainer, blamed advisors for his demise and then claimed jurors in his fraud case were too young to understand.
Once sentenced to two and a half years for deliberately hiding assets after being declared bankrupt in 2017, Becker was, as is the norm, sent to a London ‘holding’ jail, before processing saw him moved on to a lower risk prison in Oxfordshire.
Becker described Wandsworth Prison as a ‘shithole’ where he spent time teaching other inmates outside his cell rather than having to be locked up for hours on end.
He told the FT he taught maths – which is quite ironic given his sentence was for financial fraud.
The German then said his time at Huntercombe Prison in Oxfordshire was “surrounded by murderers, drug dealers and people smugglers.
“The British justice system is brutal,” he moaned.
Try the US system Boris, that’s brutal.
Can’t do the time, then don’t do the crime.
At his sentencing at London’s Southwark Crown Court, Judge Deborah Taylor said he had shown “no remorse and no humility”.
It seems like nothing has changed.
Alexander Zverev cooled the jets of a teenaged tearaway on Tuesday, schooling Spaniard Rafael Jodar 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to power to his fifth career semi-final at the French Open.
The world No. 3 German finished runner-up in Paris two years ago and is still seeking his first trophy at one of the majors.
Zverev has been a consistent presence at the business end of the event here, figuring iin five of the past six semis.
But the achievement doesn’t amount to much for the seed, who has his eye on the big prize.
“I want to keep going. I don’t really care so much about a semi-final,” he said. “I want to win all the matches in front of me.
“Today was a tough test against a good player – that’s it for now.”
The 29-year-old who becomes the ninth man to play five Paris semi-finals, got away slowly as the 19-year-old Jodar showed his intentions with an early break..
But the seed began turning the tables on his young opponent while trailing 5-2 in the opening set after dropping serve in the eight-minute opening game.
Jodar’s unravelling began as he served for the first set leading 5-4 but was unable to close it out.
From then on, Zverev was in control.
The German won the opener in a tiebreaker and dominated the second to claim that chapter also.
In the third, he broke the fading youngster in the first and last games of the set
before closing out the win with a running forehand down the line on match point.
“He had perfect rhythm in the first set and I didn’t,” the winner said. “I was playing too short and too defensive.
“The ball was also not bouncing as high as it did in (last week’s) heat, I had to flatten out my shots.
“He outplayed me at the beginning of the first, but I managed to come back.
he seemed a bit nervous when he served for (the set).
“I took my chances, it was a good match for me.”
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev in control at Roland Garros – by ATPTour.com
Matteo Berrettini took Italian revenge on Monday against the Argentine who knocked out Jannik Sinner with a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) fourth-round demolition of Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open.
Former top 10 player Berrettini, now mended after several seasons of intermittent injury absences sent the South American packing in a solid clay display.
The Italian saved three Cerundolo set points in the third-set tiebreaker, with Berrettini claiming a match point on an inside-out forehand, and following up with a serve winner..
“I feel great,” Berrettini said. “I’m happy with the support in a full stadium.
“This is why we train and fight, I’m enjoying the atmosphere with my team and family.”
Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime booked the last eight as he put out another South American in Canadian-born Chilean AlejandroTabilo 6-3, 7-5, 6-1.
FAA becomes the first Canadian man to complete the set of quarter-finals at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
The 30-year-old Berretini from Rome is competing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2021 when he also reached the last eight here.
The current No. 105 is the lowest-ranked men’s quarter-finalist in Paris since in 2007.
Cobolli lost his first set of the tournament as he ran up against an American with negligible experience on clay, defeating Zach Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5).
The 10th-seeded Italian’s victory put him into his second Grand Slam and his first in Paris.
“I was a little bit nervous to close the match today,” the winner said. “It means a lot, this tournament, for me.
“Sometimes it’s not easy when you have to close, especially when you are up in the score like I was today.
“But also Zachary played a really good match today after the second set… tennis is like this. At the end, I was happy, and that’s the important thing.”
Svajda came to the major with only one career match win on clay. He began correcting that in the third round by beating Francisco.Cerundolo.
Cobolli cruised through the first two sets but his perfect set record took a dent in the third as Svajda forced a tiebreaker and saved a match point after closing the Italian’s 5-1 lead and forcing a tiebreaker.
It took a tiebreak fourth set to settle the outcome after more than three and a quarter hours.
Alexander Zverev stayed on track for a possible fourth Grand Slam final as the highest seed remaining in the men’s draw at the French Open moved efficiently into the quarter-finals on Sunday.
The German who has finished runner-up at the Australian and US Open plus Roland Garros, defeated qualifying lucky loser Jesper de Jong 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1.
With this week’s second-round losses by world No. 1 and top seed Jannik Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic, Zverev could have one of his best chances at lifting a major trophy.
The 29-year-old reached his eighth Roland Garros quarter-final as he beat his Dutch opponent on de Jong’s 26th birthday.
He needed a tiebreak to secure the opening set but picked up momentum before crushing it in the third set to get off court in a relatively quick two and a quarter hours.
“I had some early difficulties but he started well,” the winner said. “But once I found my rhythm I felt comfortable on the court.
“That is important for my game. It’s (his game) is there, I just have to show it on the match court.”
With the recent 10-day heatwave now gone, temperatures dropped into the mid-20s Celsius, which should make for more comfortable conditions.
But Zverev is not so sure: “To be honest, I like the heat, I prefer it. My ball flies a lot faster through the air and opponents struggle a bit more.
“I also spend a lot of time in Florida so I’m used to the heat. But we have to make the best of it, things can change within one day.”
Zverev will bid for the semi-finals in a matchup against Rafael Jodar, the prodigy who won an all-Spanish fourth-rounder 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 over Pablo Carreno Busta.
The fightback took nearly three and three-quarter hours and put the 19-year-old into his first last-eight spot in only his second Grand Slam appearance.
He has reached the last eight here for a sixth straight year.
Jodar, ranked No. 707 a year ago, is the fifth man this century to reach the quarters in his main draw debut at the event.
The youngster made a 4-1 start in the opening set but soon found himself in a five-set dogfight against a 34-year-old dealing with a shoulder injury.
The winner of a clay title in March has now taken victory in 19 of his last 22 matches.
“He’s young and incredibly talented,” Zverev said of his next opponent. “He came onto the clay scene in two months.
“He will be a difficult challenge but I’ll be ready for it.”
Main photo:- Favourite Alexander Zverev wins third round match – by ATPTour.com
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