ATP
Anyone for a kebab?
CARLOS Alcaraz may have just picked up £2.35 million for beating Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, but the 20-year-old new superstar of tennis headed back to ‘normality’ after his victory.
No Rafa-style mansion, or Monte Carlo pad a la Djoko. No, for Carlos it was back to a humble apartment in southern Spain, an apartment over a Turkish kebab shop in Murcia.
The apartment, worth about 10% of his Wimbledon prize money, is owned by Alcaraz’s parents and sits above the ‘Turquesa Kebab & Pizza’.
Dad, Carlos Alcaraz González, who watched his son at Wimbedon, is a former real estate agent in Murcia, a couple of hours south of Alicante on Spain.
He also ran a local tennis academy where his son once trained.
Media reports that Alcaraz is now planning to build a new home for his parents with the millions he has earned from his exploits.
The new ‘mansion’ is to be built on three plots of land Alcaraz junior has bought, about 15 minutes drive from the current family home.
THERE’S low and then there’s Hungarian low … Amarissa Toth shocked the tennis world last week at the clay-court Budapest Open whe she deliberately removed a ball mark with her foot to deny her opponent, veteran opponent Zhang Shuai.
Shuai retired from the event in tears after an argument over a line call against her 20-year-old opponent.
To put it in context, the dram unfolded in the first set when a ball was called out that the Chinese player was convinced was in.
Even commentators agreed it was in.
Shuai argued with the umpire for several minutes before the event supervisor came on court.
Toth then walked towards the contested ball marking and scuffing it out with her foot.
Shuai yelled from her side of the net: “Wait, wait, wait, keep the mark! What are you doing? Why would you do that?”
Toth replied: “Because you’re making problems, that’s why.”
A visibly distressed Shuai had to then seek the assistance of a doctor.
The 34-year-old then retired from the match.
Amazingly, and totally wrong, Shuai was even booed off court by partisan Hungarian fans.
“All efforts on practice was wrong, because when you wanted hitting closer to the line, even touched the line still OUT,’ Shuai wrote afterwards on social media.
Toth’s conduct has since been crticised worldwide.
Australian Ellen Perez declared her disgust over the issue.
“Well that’s a quick way to lose respect from your peers. I’m actually shook by the level of disrespect from this girl,” Perez wrote of Toth.
“If I see this girl tomorrow I will tell her how disgusted I am.”
Another Aussie, Ajla Tomljanovic, was also angry.
“Absolutely disgusting behaviour,” she wrote on Twitter.
Daria Saville didn’t hold back when she posted: “Zero respect for this Toth girl. ZERO! I am so so so mad. I feel so bad for Shuai.”
NOVAK Djokovic was hit with a ‘record’ fine of $8000 for his racket abuse at Wimbledon last weekend.
But this ‘record’ is pitiful when you look at his earnings from the event.
Djokovic’s net worth is estimated to be $240 million and he picked up a cool $1.4 million for his runner-up finish.
Djokovic struggled to control his anger in a fit of rage during the fifth set, which saw him smashing his racket into the net post.
Surely it is time to change this farcical fines rule to a percentage of earnings instead of a set figure.
10 per cent of earnings to go to charity would be a far better option – and might, just might deter this insane behaviour.
DJOKOVIC has been branded the LOAT (Loser of all time) by a tennis fan, and it has angered Novak’s dad.
In response to the comments, Djokovic Snr told Republika: “May God help that man. If he can even be helped, and if he really means everything he wrote.”
Montenegrin journalist Nebojsa Sofranac posted on Facebook: “What did you do to him, Carlitos?
“So many illegal crazy volleys, slices and bombs that should be banned. And to inflame so much anger among lumberjacks who don’t even know how to count games, but know enough to curse a 20 -year-old boy who amazed the world?
“How many shepherds will stop watching tennis and cry in anguish on my wall? The Spaniard has given Novak a new nickname. LOAT, as many as 12 lost finals, the most in the Open Era, he is the ‘loser of all times’.”
SAUDI Arabia is looking to buy the United Cup – and the move is not going down well with fans.
The United Cup was introduced last year as a replacement for the ATP Cup as part of the Australian Open buildup.
The mixed teams competition with teams of 4 to 5 players from both the ATP and WTA Tours in a team format against each other has been a success Down Under.
According to the London Daily Mail, the Saudis are in talks with Tennis Australia about buying the event.
Photo: Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
INJURED Nick ‘King’ Kyrgios will step into the coaching booth this weekend at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Los Angeles, helping out Frances Tiafoe.
Kyrgios was to play the event but was replaced by Benoit Paire, and had previously said he would take part in some capacity.
“I will still be coming to LA and the UTS event,” he said on Tuesday.
He added: “Maybe I’ll coach… any suggestions?”
The decision is an odd one, given that Kyrgios himself has been ‘uncoached’ for many years.
JUST A THOUGHT:
The BBC’s viewing figure announcement last that 15 million people in the UK watched Sunday’s men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, but only 4.4 million watched the women’s final the day before explains perfectly the commercial realities as to why men’s tennis earns so much more than its female counterpart.
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev marked his new status as sure-thing year-end No. 1 by reaching the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday by posting a fighting 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (1) victory over Alexander Bublik..
The 29-year-old German whose two Grand Slam titles this season and the absence of injured Jannik Sinner helped him into the top spot for the first time, needed to save four early set points and deal with an ank;e issue on his journey into the last eight.
Zverev moved through in just under two and three-quarter hours to set up a match with last week’s Beijing finalist Alex de Minaur, The Australian booked his spot over Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4.
Zverev will be playing in his 40th quarter-final in a Masters 1000 and is on the hunt for an eighth trophy this season.
He said his ankle was giving problems – but not enough to affect the match outcome.”It was kind of understandable because I have been playing a lot of tennis, which is kind of a good sign because I have been playing well.
“I’m starting to feel my body more and more but happy to get through. It was a difficult match because he has been playing amazing tennis,” he said after coming from a break down in the deciding set.
De Minaur has bounced back nicely in Shanghai after quitting the Tokyo final against Carlos Alcaraz with an adductor muscle injury.
Stefanos Tsitsipas willed himself to a 401st Tour win on Monday, with the Greek advancing to the Shanghai Masters 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, over world No. 12 Taylor Fritz to reach the fourth round.
The win leaves the Greek with a 5-2 record against the American in a series dating back nine years.
The cerebral Tsitsipas credited the victory to some simple mental gymnastics.
“I was manifesting today’s match and trying to put myself in a victorious situation,” he said.
“I’ve always had big fights against him. Some of my biggest matches were played facing him on the other side of the court. I had to up my level.
“Once I started doing that, a lot of doors were open and I was really able to unleash my biggest potential out there.”
The match ended on an unusual note as the ball twice fell from the pocket of Fritz, causing each of the points in question to be replayed.
Tsitsipas missed on three match points in the mistake-marred game but secured the fightback victory a game later after two and a quarter hours.
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