ATP
The good, the bad and the ugly facts
WHO is right and who is wrong?
Katie Boulter or Dan Evans? Those who believe British tennis is in a good place or those who think it is not?
Brit Boulter has pushed back at criticism of the state of the game in the UK, saying “we’re in a very good place”.
Really Katie? Really? When the facts are there that there is no British woman in the world top 100.
And not one British woman made the French Open draw. Not one. This has not happened since 2009.
Boulter is currently ranked at 125. Heather Watson is at 193 and injury-plagued, coach-less again Emma Raducanu is one hundred and something, after that amazing US Open win.
Evans last week questioned what was happening with the game in Britain, criticising the Lawn Tennis Association’s distribution – or lack of it – of millions of pounds of funds it has received from the success of Wimbledon.
”I personally think we’re in a very good place,” Boulter said. Really?
Boulter was speaking after winning a match at a low grade event at Surbiton, a suburb of London.
If Surbiton is ranking as a good place, then British tennis has a long, long way to go on the world stage.
But the story then took another twist as Evans, who was also playing at Surbiton, suggested Boulter may not be in a position to criticise the Lawn Tennis Association because she had received big grants from them.
OK, so you don’t bite the hand that feeds you, but, as Evans said, “the rankings don’t lie”.
Many countries have long been jealous of the money Wimbledon makes and hands out – yet those same countries all have better rankings.
British women’s tennis is at a low and there seems little chance of that changing for some tine to go.
If it wasn’t for one Andrew Murray, men’s tennis would be in the same position.
Photo: Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
DID anyone spot Serena Williams in Paris last week, showing daughter the Eiffel Tower?
The 23-time Grand Slam champion took to her social media channel to share footage of her visit.
“Paris, France. One of my favorite places to visit. Also, one of my favorite stops on tour at the French Open,” she said,
Williams said she enjoyed singing Katy Perry’s Roar during their carousel ride and dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower.
GREEK star Stefanos Tsitsipas was one player not too happy with the night game scheduling last week.
“The schedule has been a little bit difficult the last few days. I had some late-night sessions … not super late, but late enough for me to have my sleep schedule ruined, in a way,” he was quoted.
“Sleep is a very vital important thing, and recovery is “the” most important thing when competing and playing Slams.”
Yes, TV has a major say in scheduling of games, but Tsitsipas has a point when games run so late – sometimes into the early hours of the following day.
New York in September will no doubt again see some ridiculously late finishes.
FAREWELL to clay, hello grass. And hello again to Nick Kyrgios.
Kyrgios is preparing to make his first competitive appearance of the season at an ATP 250 grass-court tournament in Stuttgart this week.
The Aussie, who last competed on tour in October and has been recovering from knee surgery, is the No.8 seed in the men’s singles draw.
He faces China’s Wu Yibing in the opening round.
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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