ATP
No cakewalk for Carlos
CONTROVERSY over the size of a birthday cake engulfed the Madrid Open on Friday as both Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka celebrated their birthdays.
Organisers gave both cakes – and that’s where the controversy began.
Sabalenka received hers backstage, as she wasn’t playing, but Alcvaraz, who was on court at the Manolo Santana Stadium, received his cake in full view of the fans.
And the cake was twice the size!
Some questioned the gender issue again – but Madrid does pay equal prize money – and Holger Rune received a cake, equal in size to Sabalenka’s, without a murmur of dissent.
Tournament director Feliciano was quick to defend the organisers’ choices, as he also mentioned that Holger Rune got a similar cake.
“I’m surprised by this reaction after this gesture! 1. Carlos had just won his match to reach the final. 2. He was playing on centre court. 3. The tournament is played in Spain, even though it is an international event. PS: I hope Rune wasn’t also upset by his treatment.”
Meanwhile, back to the tennis…
Rafa, who’s Rafa?
Travel Madrid’s metro rail, system and you will soon realise Spain is moving on, ready to embrace their next big tennis talent: Carlos Alcaraz.
Countless adverts run the length of the rail network, all with the face of the world No.2 on them, with barely any sign of Nadal.
The Murcian-born player, 20 on Friday, is now taking over from his idol as Spain’s No.1 star, some say it’s becoming as loud and passionate as Beatlemania. Some.
But Alcaraz just takes it in his stride, seemingly undaunted by all the media hype.
Even when soccer stars from the famed Real Madrid come looking for an autograph as Vinicius Junior, Fede Valverde, Dani Ceballos and Rodrygo did last week.
For the record, he currently has 9 titles to his credit including 1 Grand Slam (US Open), 3 Masters 1000, 3 ATP 500 and 2 ATP 250.
And Rafa? He was hoping to return in Rome next week, but it’s not be and now there is massive question mark over Roland Garros.
STILL in Spain, The Madrid Open has come under fire for using models instead of ball girls and boys.
The models, both men and women, have been used on the tournament’s main court, La Caja Magica Stadium, which played host to Carlos Alcaraz’s 6-4, 7-5 quarter-final win over Karen Khachanov.
IS it all over for Emma Raducanu?
The young Brit announced during the week she would miss both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year after undergoing surgery on her right hand.
Raducanu will also have procedures on her left hand and her ankle, in a bid to overcome a series of injuries that have plagued her career since she won the US Open in 2021.
Raducanu posted a picture of herself laying in a hospital bed with her fingers protruding from a large bandage.
She is unlikely to return to action until September at the earliest, ruling her out of New York as well.
“It is safe to say the last 10 months have been difficult as I dealt with a recurring injury on a bone of both hands,” Raducanu wrote on social media.
“I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try [to] heal it. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.”
The 20-year-old will drop out of the world’s top 100 this week, but many are now asking if her career is now almost at an end.
She is now in the sporting version of the last chance saloon, if this series of operations doesn’t see an improved win-loss margin when she does eventually return the court, it could all be over before she is 22.
AMANDA Anisimova has hit back at cruel fans who believe she has the wrong body to succeed in tennis.
One fan sent her a private message after she posted a picture on social media.
It read: “The most unathletic body ever! Narrow shoulders and giant boobs.”
Anisimova replied ‘thank you’ but then added the screenshot to her story with a caption stating: “I don’t know what to think? The amount of people who comment on my body every day on social media … will never understand what the hyper fixation is about. But enjoy your life, I’ll go enjoy mine. Thanks for all the input.”
SERENA Williams certainly made jaws drop in New York during the week when she attended the annual Met Gala and revealed that she and husband Alexis Ohanian were expecting their second child.
Williams, 41, let is slip – or was it planned? – during an interview, showing off her bump and telling everyone baby No.2 was on its way.
Then later joking she might call the new arrival after a Disney character.
“I was thinking about… I don’t know the gender, I don’t know if we’re having a girl or a boy,” Williams said.
“So, I’m thinking about some names and I was like maybe I should do something with my favourite Disney characters because I love Disney and as you know, I’m like their biggest fan.
“So, if it’s a girl, it could be like Maleficent, that’s how you say it? It could be Scar if it’s a boy, love Scar, misunderstood a little bit. What else? Gaston, how could I forget Gaston?
“Ursula, classic, got to love Ursula. Lady Gothel, maybe I can call her Lady Gothel if it’s a girl. So just been through these names. Telling you, I’m onto something.”
Sunday Serve is happy to admit it knows of none of those names.
FORMER world No 276 Baptiste Crepatte has been banned from competing at ATP Tour and ITF-sanctioned tournaments after he was found guilty of match-fixing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
Crepatte has been given a three-year ban for multiple breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program rules, which “caused significant damage to the sport’s integrity”, according to the ITIA.
The 29-year-old contested the charges, but the independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer, Professor Richard McLaren upheld the charges.
IGA Swiatek took aim at the scheduling at the Madrid Open after losing a three-set final to Aryna Sabalenka.
The world No.1 finished her round-of-16 match at 1am and was playing until midnight in the semi-final.
“It’s not fun to play at 1am though but I’m happy anyway that I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final,” she said.
“This hour is tricky only because what’s going on after, you know, going to sleep really late and then waking up the next day. But before the match and during, I don’t think it matters. We just have to kind of adjust tactics.”
AND finally …
Tennis reporter Bastien Fachan has had some fun with AI generated paintings that look align with several player’s nicknames.
Fachan posted the images on his Twitter profile in a thread and featured players include Tsitsipas, Sinner Djokovic, Nadal, Shapovalov, Schwartzman, Rune, Ruud, de Minaur, Medvedev and Musetti.
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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