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 took a further step towards a defence of his 2025 title at the ATP Munich event with a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 hammering of Canada’s Gabriel Diallo on Thursday.
The German who won his only title of 2025 in his home nation faced an opponent carrying an injury in the 73-minute loss.
“I think he had some issues with his back and wasn’t serving fully in the second set anymore. Very unfortunate,” the 28-year-old world No. 3 said.
“Of course I am happy with the win and getting an easier match today.”
After days of cold weather, the spring sun finally made an appearance in the Bavarian capital.
Zverev advanced the the last eight with five breaks of serve and will bid fro a return to the semi-finals against fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo, a winner over Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-0.
“I played well from the baseline. I probably didn’t serve well in the first set, but it got better in the second. I am trying to improve every day,” the winner said as he reached a second straight quarter-final here..
Zverev has won their last four meetings.
“I’ve never beaten him on clay, which is his favourite surface, but I am definitely looking forward to the challenge,” Zverev said.
“I’m very happy to be at this stage, facing a tough opponent. That’s what it’s going to be tomorrow.”
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev with his 2025 Munich trophy
Roland Garros will continue to buck the trend of electronic linecalling, with Grand Slam tournament boss Amelie Mauresmo laying down the law on Thursday in Paris.
Unlike the other three majors which have sent teams of line judges into early retirement, the clay major will stick with the tried and true for another edition beginning on May 24.
In addition to tradition, the skid marks left on the dirt by ball makes determining in or out subjective enough to often require a keen eye.
“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said of the electronic systems currently in use.“Our decision was to stick to our way.”
But the former WTA No. 1 suddenly flipped the script when it comes to the controversial suggestion that women should play best-of-five-sets at the four majors just like the men.
The idea has drawn scorn from top women, but that does not dissuade Mauresmo.
“You can’t change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?” the former Wimbledon champion said.
“This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”
The Wimbledon winner admitted that she had often yearned during her playing days for longer contests.
“When I did the Masters (season-ending) final ( 2005) I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”
The former player would not be drawns out on the dreaded night matches at Roland Garros, formerly a fully daytinem event.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said.“Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
Also on the table are likely to be the distribution of night matches, with women barely registering in the night-tiem hours during the 2025 edition.
On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men’s doubles final will be played before the women’s singles final and not afterward.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” the TD said. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
In the continuing prize money arms race among the four Grand Slams, Roland Garros announced a rise to a global USD 72 million in player payouts, a rise of USD 6.25 million.
Carlos Alcaraz quit the Barcelona Open with a wrist injury and cast serious doubt on his fitness and availability for run-up events prior to next month’s French Open.
The Spaniard who lost his No. 1 ranking to Jannik Sinner through Sunday’s loss to the Italian in the Monte Carlo Casters final was unable to carry on at his home event in Barcelona.
Alcaraz quit the clay event prior to his second-round match against Tomas Machac. The Spaniard injured his wrist in a first-round win over Finn Otto Virtanen and warned that he could make no solid commitment yet to furue play due to his injury.
“It’s with great sadness I have to go back home to start my recovery as soon as possible with my team, with the doctors, with the physio, and try to be as healthy as possible as soon as possible for (future) tournaments,” he said.
“Let’s hope, that you can see me back on a tennis court as soon as possible.”
Alcaraz is now touch and go for the Madrid Masters oddly starting in a week next Wednesday as the ATP stretches out the Masters events in an unpopular money-spinning exercise.
Alcarraz could face a serious hit to his ranking if he cannot front up in the Spanish capital and next month in Rome, with titles to defend in both venues.
“But I’ve seen today’s tests, and it’s a slightly more serious injury than we all expected.
“In the end I have to listen to my body, what won’t affect me later on: That’s why I have to withdraw from this tournament.
“I never like to withdraw from any tournament, but especially from this one,”
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