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It’s Rafa way or the highway for Nadal convert Swiatek

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Iga Swiatek will start her bid for a second title at the Madrid Masters now fully immersed in RafaWorld after hiring a former collaborator of the King of Clay as her coach.

The one-time world No. 1 heads into battle in the capital under the tutelage of Francisco Roig, who most recently tried to guide Emma Raducanu in a short-lived collaboration.

Swiatek is fresh off a training block at the Nadal academy on the island of Mallorca and keen to test out her new coaching setup in a tournament stress test.

The 22-year-old who won the Madrid title in 2024 admitted that having Nadal around during some of her training produced some unaccustomed nerves

“First 15 minutes of practice, I was so tight,” Swiatek said on Monday prior to her start. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, how should I play? He’s watching, he’s right there, you know.

“Rafa gave Francis more space to coach me, From time to time, he was giving me tips and also telling me some stories, how he struggled with some stuff and how he managed to work on them and what were his solutions,”

The WTA elite player appreciated the fresh insight: “It was really nice to get that perspective. It was still a big challenge to have two new people on the court and start playing on clay after hard court. 

“Honestly, it was probably one of the best practice weeks I had before a clay-court season. So I’m really happy that I could experience that.” 

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Tien’s great re-set ties Laver at 3-all

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Laver Cup debutant Lerner Tien showed he’s fast on the rebound as the American took inspiration from coach Andre Agassi to level the Laver cup score a 3-3 with a Saturday win in London over Flavio Cobolli.

Tien, at 20 a young gun on the Rest of the World side, defeated Italy’s Roland Garros finalist 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

With Day 2 win counting two points each, the victory in 97 minutes put teammates Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz on level-pegging heading into their later singles tests against Europe.

World has won four of the previous five titles in the exhibition run by Roger Federer’s management group in honor of the Swiss icons tennis idol, Rod Laver..

Tien, who won the spring Geneva ATP title, said he has to make a major reset after losing the second set to Cobolli, fighting back to win the match tiebreak third set at the O2.

“I can reset pretty easily,” the No. 13 said. “In this format, the score does not matter so much. Everyone always had a chance.

“To put the second set behind me was  pretty good.”

Tien dropped serve twice in the second set after winning the first. But his deciding set fightback made the difference for his side.

“I just went into lockdown, there are some moments where the ball if just there to go for it. It was still tough to get through.”

The youngster gave full credit to Agassi for his inspiration. “Andre has given me more knowledge than everyone combined.  It’s good to have a voice like that on the sidelines encouraging you. It’s very helpful.”

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Europe grabs Laver lead on opening day

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Casper Ruud and Rafa Jodar combined to start and finish Friday’s opening stage of the Laver Cup as their victories sent Europe into a 2-1 lead over Rest of the World in London.

Norway’s Ruud began day 1 play with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-8 defeat of Argentina Francisco Cerundolo while Spanish prodigy Jodar finished off the programme 6-2, 6-4 ovr Alexander Bublik in a winning debut at the team exhibition conceptualised by Roger Federer in 2017 to hour is tennis hero Rod Laver.

Jodar, who turned 20 only days ago, spent 84 minutes in adding a point for Europe coached by French legend Yannick Noah and earning his own 38th match win of this breakthrough season.

“It was a pleasure to represent Team Europe for the first time. I felt great on court. I played against a tough player… I think the atmosphere was great, so thank you everyone for coming” the winner said.

The unpredictable Bublik was unable to match it with the Spanish youngster ranked 14th 

Jodar won eight of his final nine service points for the win. Jodar and Carlos Alcaraz combined for a one-two punch in the concluding doubles rubber, defeating Bublik and Taylor Fritz to end the day with a 3-1 European lead

Main photo:- Casper Ruud opens the scoring for Team Europe – ISF Ltd

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Sinner knee not right – pulls from Beijing

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Jannik Sinner on Friday announced another injury setback, with the world No. 1 withdrawing from the September start of the China Open in Beijing.

The Italian who has not played since defending his Wimbledon title in July, has been on the injury list ever since, missing the Masters events in Canada and Cincinnati and skipping the US Open. 

Sinner won the Beijing event a year ago and could  now be in doubt for the Shanghai Masters next month.

“Hello everyone, Jannik here,” Sinner posted on social media.

“I want to send the warmest greetings to the Chinese fans. I’m very sorry to announce that I won’t be able to play in Beijing this year.

“My knee is not there, where I would like [it] to be, and I am not ready to compete yet. But I will do everything possible to be there on court as soon as I can.

“What I miss the most is, of course, the tournament, the fans, and the atmosphere. I’ve had a great, great time in the past, winning the title also last year, and I’m very disappointed that I cannot defend it this year, but I’m very happy to come back next year. 

“So I wish everyone a very good tournament and I’ll see you all very soon on court again.”

This season has been a roller coaster for the 24-year-old who won five Masters 1000 titles in a row in 2026: Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome.

Main Photo:- Jannik Sinner won Beijing trophy in 2023. – by ISF Ltd

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