Looking for Tennis and Racket Sports International News?

The RacketSTAR Tennis News Blog and Article Feed gives you up to the minute news and information about the Players and Sports Updates.

Federer Gracious in Praise of Sunday Opponent at Aussie Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — As befitting his status as a 17-time Grand Slam champion and as an astute judge of the sport, Roger Federer’s reply to a simple question about his next opponent was handled with the same aplomb as one of his stylish groundstrokes.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 20: Roger Federer of Swizterland celebrates his win in his third round match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic walks on on day five of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 20, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

The player in question was Kei Nishikori, who plays Federer in a fourth-round night match Sunday at Rod Laver Arena.

“I’m a big fan of his game,” Federer said. “He’s got one of the best backhands out there. I love how he can crush it down the line or cross-court. He’s got wonderful second serve returns. He’s fast on his legs. Strong in his mind. I know how tough he is as the match goes along. He finds his range and his rhythm, he’s tough to stop.”

Federer said he’ll need another strong service game if he’s going to give Nishikori some trouble. In Federer’s win over Tomas Berdych on Thursday, he didn’t face a break point and he won points on 95 percent of the first serves he got into play – 39 of 41, and all 16 in the third and final set.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1591 Hits

Nadal Holds off Zverev to Reach 4th Round at Australian Open

The 14-time major winner is on the comeback after an extended injury layoff, yet he finished stronger in the 4-hour, 6-minute match on Rod Laver Arena as Zverev tightened up with cramping and nerves.

“I enjoyed a lot this great battle. I was losing the last couple of times in the fifth set and I said to myself, today’s the day,” said ninth-seeded Nadal, who had lost eight of the previous nine times he’d trailed 2-1 in a best-of-five set match.

His 30-year-old legs, conditioned by 236 Grand Slam matches, carried him all the way.

Zverev’s creative shot-making in the first set and during the tiebreaker in the third gave the 19-year-old a confident start. But Nadal, the champion here in 2009, didn’t let him get too far in front.

In an exchange of breaks in the fifth set, Nadal broke to open, then dropped his own serve, before breaking Zverev again.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1623 Hits

Lucic-Baroni, Brady Take Different Paths to Success at Slams

How they ended up here, however, couldn’t be more dramatically different.

Lucic-Baroni has been on this stage before, another lifetime ago, when she made a dream run to the Wimbledon semifinals in 1999 at the age of 17. Soon after, she was out of the sport entirely and was forced to spend years scraping her way back to the majors.

Brady, meanwhile, is experiencing everything for the first time – winning a match at a major, telling her life story at packed news conferences.

Now, one will advance to the quarters – a spot neither could have imagined at the start of the year.

“One of my goals, actually, was in the next couple years to be playing in the second week of a Grand Slam,” Brady said after her 7-6 (4), 6-2 upset of 14th-seeded Elena Vesnina on Saturday. “I wrote it down and told myself, you know. I said it, but I didn’t say it confidently.”

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1619 Hits

Serena Williams Breezes Past Nicole Gibbs in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams’ 17th appearance at the Australian Open remains on track – the 22-time Grand Slam singles champion beat fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 19: Serena Williams of the United States celebrates a winning a point during her second round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic on day four of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 19, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Watch Australian Open on Tennis Channel

The 23-year-old Gibbs, making her 12th appearance overall at any major, had two game points at 1-1 in the second set, but allowed Williams to come back and break her serve.

Williams was broken at 5-2 while serving for the match, but did the same to Gibbs in the next game to complete the win in 63 minutes.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1653 Hits

Makarova Survives Cibulkova’s Comeback at Melbourne Park

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Ekaterina Makarova didn’t make it easy on herself, blowing a one-set, 4-0 lead over Dominika Cibulkova, but the Russian player advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 21: Ekaterina Makarova of Russia celebrates winning her third round match against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia on day six of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Watch Australian Open on Tennis Channel

After taking a medical timeout for an injured right elbow in the third set, the 2015 Australian Open semifinalist broke Cibulkova’s serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead, then held to win the match in 2 hours and 54 minutes.

Makarova won the last two games of the first set and the first four of the second. But Cibulkova, who had never lost to Makarova in three previous matches, won five games in a row to change the momentum of the game.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1609 Hits

116th Ranked Jennifer Brady into Fourth Round in Melbourne

U.S. qualifier Jennifer Brady has advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over 14th-seeded Elena Vesnina.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 19: Jennifer Brady of the United States celebrates winning her second round match against Heather Watson of Great Britain on day four of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 19, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)

It is the 21-year-old Brady’s first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament after she qualified in her first attempt at Melbourne Park. She had failed in previous attempts to qualify for the U.S. Open (three times) and Wimbledon and the French Open last year.

Brady will next play either Maria Sakkari or Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the Round of 16.

No. 16-seeded Barbora Strycova beat No. 21 Caroline Garcia 6-2, 7-5 to reach the fourth round, where she’ll meet either Serena Williams or Nicole Gibbs.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1694 Hits

Azarenka’s Exclusive Interview with Tennis Channel Live

Tennis Channel Live caught up with former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who dished on the joys of motherhood and tennis.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1699 Hits

Djokovic Suffers Shock Upset to Istomin in Melbourne

This has to go down as one of the biggest upsets in recent years probably only surpassed by Nadal’s French Open loss to Soderling in 2009. Djokovic had won the Australian Open five out of the last six years.

It is his best tournament and after returning to form in London last year and Doha this year you’d thought he is for sure the favorite to win the title. I didn’t even bother to watch the match because of the hours, thinking Istomin would hardly provide resistance.

How wrong I was. But any player around the top 100 can have a day like Istomin did where they just can’t miss and basically play flawless tennis. That’s just tennis and upsets happen. Djokovic didn’t even play badly in the 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 defeat.

CPA Australia Shot of the Day: Watch Novak Djokovic master the art of court coverage.@cpaaustralia #ausopen #beheardberecognised pic.twitter.com/1R1V1W5C7w

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2017



Loading ...
Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1671 Hits

Beyond the Baseline Podcast: Pliskova, Wozniacki, Cibulkova from Melbourne

On this week’s episode, Wertheim discusses Karolina Pliskova, Dominika Cibulkova and Caroline Wozniacki from Melbourne.

Following Day 4 at the 2017 Australian Open in Melbourne, Wertheim sits down with three remaining women in the draw—No. 5-seed Pliskova, No. 6-seed Cibulkova and No. 17-seed Wozniacki—to talk about their matches at the tournament so far. With Pliskova, Wertheim discusses her chances at the title, her twin sister and what it’s like to play with her, her run at the U.S. Open and more. With Cibulkova, Wertheim discusses her win at the WTA Finals in October, what it’s like to be in the tournament without Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova and more. With Wozniacki, Wertheim talks about her recent form (she’s won 25 matches since last summer), her run at the U.S. Open, her health and preparation before matches and more.

Listen to this week’s episode:

Watch Australian Open on Tennis Channel

By Jon Wertheim

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1675 Hits

Day Six: Holding Court on Tennis

Federer versus Berdych: Seems like old times

When the draw came out, it was clear that Roger Federer’s first true test would come in the third round versus Tomas Berdych.  Here was Federer, in his first tournament, up against a powerful, forceful striker who’d beaten him six times – including twice at Slams.

It hardly mattered.  Clinical, sparkling, displaying the routine kind of brilliance that no one now takes for granted, Federer swatted Berdych away like a fly, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.  Federer’s numbers were exquisite: 40 winners to but 17 unforced errors (2:1 is a superb and rare ratio).   Federer also cashed in four of five break points, never faced on his serve and won 20 of 23 points at the net.

His next opponent, Kei Nishikori, will pose a much different set of problems than Berdych.  Berdych strikes the ball in a rather linear, flat manner – often with little backup tools.  Nishikori is far more versatile, fast and able to mildly smother opponents with footwork and the occasional tactical surprise.  Federer-Nishikori promises to be a fantastic match.  Then again, at this stage of his career, Federer versus anyone is a delight to watch.

The View from the Inside

nadal-zverev
brookes
Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1652 Hits

Australian Open 2017 – America’s Young Brigade

Watch Australian Open on Tennis Channel

Less than ten years later, Opelka returned; beat Jeremy Chardy in the first round and left Jo-Wifried Tsonga looking happy to have escaped with a 7-6, 7-6 victory.

Opelka, at 6ft 11”, is not only the tallest of America’s hugely promising young brigade but seemingly the best equipped to win big on the ATP Tour in the coming years. But he is definitely not alone.

Chatting with Gullikson and his fellow USTA coaches, Jay Berger and Kathy Rinaldi, in the players’ restaurant at Melbourne Park, we had to be careful not leave anyone out because the list of youngsters who are standing on the threshold of stardom is long.

Just, for the moment, concentrating on the boys (and there are plenty of girls in the mix, too) we ran down the list: Opelka, Noah Rubin, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Michael Mmoh, Ernesto Escobedo, Jared Donaldson, Tommy Paul, Mackie MacDonald and Stefan Kozlov.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1657 Hits

Federer, Nishikori Continue to Dominate in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych continued their 12-year rivalry on the tennis court with a predictable result – a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory for Federer.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 16: Roger Federer of Switzerland walks out on court to play in his first round match against Jurgen Melzer of Austria on day one of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 16, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Watch Australian Open on Tennis Channel

The 17-time Grand Slam winner won for the 17th time in 23 matches against Berdych and handed the Czech player his sixth consecutive loss between the pair.

The 10th-seeded Berdych had beaten Federer twice previously at Grand Slams, and he was considered a big threat to the 17th-seeded Federer, whose ranking has dropped following six months off because of a left knee injury.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1552 Hits

Murray, Wawrinka Advance to 4th Round at Australian Open

Five-time runner-up Murray served out for a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Querrey, who has had recent form against the No. 1-ranked player in the third round of a major.

It was Querrey who ended Novak Djokovic’s impressive Grand Slam run in the third round at Wimbledon last year. At that time, top-ranked Djokovic had won four straight major titles – Wimbledon and U.S. Open in 2015 and Australian Open and French Open in 2016.

Murray, who gained the No. 1 ranking for the first time ever last November, is still in contention in Australia while both Djokovic and Querrey are out.

Six-time Australian Open champion Djokovic had a shocking second-round loss to Denis Istomin on Thursday.

Murray took no chances against No. 31 Querrey, fending off a break point in the decisive game in the first set and then staying in control of the 1-hour, 59-minute match.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1624 Hits

Defending Champ Kerber, Vandeweghe Advance in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Defending champion Angelique Kerber won the first eight games and went on to beat Kristyna Pliskova 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 20: Coco Vandeweghe of the United States reacts in her third round match against Eugenie Bouchard of Canada on day five of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 20, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Watch Australian Open on Tennis Channel

Kerber, who beat Pliskova’s twin sister, Karolina, in the U.S. Open final last year, next plays American CoCo Vandeweghe, who beat former semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard earlier Friday.

American CoCo Vandeweghe is the first woman through to the fourth round at Melbourne Park, defeating former semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1519 Hits

Unstrung: Novak Djokovic’s Early Exit at Australian Open

Watch Unstrung: Novak Djokovic:

 

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1600 Hits

Who is Denis Istomin?

When the Australian Open men’s draw came out last week, no one (or maybe a few) actually believed that 30-year-old Denis Istomin would end six-time Australian Open champion Djokovic’s reign in the Land of Oz.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 19: Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan plays a backhand in his second round match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia on day four of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 19, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

However, there was one player in his draw that tennis pundits, commentators, and fans feared was capable of sending Djokovic home early. That did not happen as the second seed dispatched Fernando Verdasco in three quick sets in the first round.

But then the unthinkable happened. A journeyman who earned his Australian Open player credentials by winning a wildcard play-off decided to rewrite the script on Rod Laver, a stadium he probable has played at once or twice, or maybe three times.

Born in Russia, Istomin in now a resident of Uzbekistan (we’ll get to that later).

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1603 Hits

Picking up the Pace

As I settled into the couch that morning to watch the match, I assured my wife that we’d be at the beach by early afternoon. She and the kids did indeed hit the beach just after lunch. I, of course, never got there: Federer and Nadal played arguably the greatest match in tennis history, an epic that lasted nearly five hours and that because of multiple rain delays wasn’t decided until nearly 9:15pm London time, which was 4:15pm my time. Breakfast at Wimbledon became Cocktail Hour at Wimbledon. When they got back from the beach, my wife and children greeted me with stony silence.

The following year, we returned to the same rental house, and our first full day of vacation once again coincided with the Wimbledon men’s final, this one between Federer and Andy Roddick. Only after I promised my wife that there was zero chance the match would screw up our day—“honey, the forecast for London is great, and they’ve got a roof over Centre Court now—you have nothing to worry about!”—did she agree to let me turn on the television. That was an unforced error on her part. Federer and Roddick went the distance, and the 30-game, 95-minute fifth set took the match well past the four-hour mark. I did make it to the beach that afternoon, but I got there two hours after my wife and kids, and they greeted me with silence again.

When we started dating, my wife was pleased to discover that I was a lukewarm NFL fan and that she’d never be a football widow. Little did she know that she would become a tennis widow instead.

But I don’t blame myself for that: I blame it on tennis, and how the sport has evolved. While it might be a slight exaggeration to say that tennis is seeing an epidemic of marathon matches, there have been enough of them in the last decade to touch off a spirited discussion about whether the sport needs to find a way to speed things up. In Djokovic’s second-round loss earlier today at the Australian, the first game went to deuce eight times and consumed 16 minutes. The match lasted just under five hours. Ivo Karlovic and Horacio Zeballos spent over five hours on court in their first-round match at the Australian Open. The fifth set went 42 games and took more than 2 ½ hours to complete, with Karlovic finally securing a break in the 42nd game to take the set and the match. When you sit down to watch a best-of-five match these days, you do so knowing that you may need to commit four or five hours of your time if you don’t want to miss a point. That’s a lot to ask of even the most ardent fan. Some matches now take longer than the Super Bowl, the World Cup final (even when it goes to penalty kicks), and a full round of pro golf. The famous John Isner-Nicolas Mahut match at Wimbledon in 2010 lasted nearly as long as Wagner’s Ring cycle, eating up 11 hours and requiring three days to complete. Sure, that was extreme, but matches lasting four hours or more are not uncommon now.

The problem is that all of these protracted matches are coming a time when attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and a lot of people think that if tennis is to continue to prosper, it must adjust to the demands of a smartphone-addled audience. How might it do so? One oft-heard suggestion is to do away with best-of-five matches and to have the men play best-of-three, just as the women do. A few years ago, Tennis Australia unveiled an experimental scoring system, called Fast4, that is generating a lot of interest. It features no-ad scoring, sets that go just four games, and five-point tiebreakers with no requirement to win by two. In addition, let serves are played. Both the ATP and the WTA have turned doubles into a hotbed of innovation. For all doubles tournaments other than the four slams, they now use no-ad scoring, and instead of playing third sets, matches that are tied one-set all are decided by 10-point tiebreakers.

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1560 Hits

Day Five: Holding Court on Tennis

Plot Twist #1 – or, You Can’t Go Home Again

On my 15-minute morning walk to Melbourne, I always listen to music, songs randomly surfacing on my iPod.  One that came up Thursday: Jackson Browne’s “Before the Deluge.”

With the energy of the innocent

They were gathering the tools

They would need to make their journey back to nature 

akhurst
Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1636 Hits

Upset Bug Claims Djokovic & Radwanska

Djokovic, a six-time Australian Open champion and the No.2 seed this year, had been to the third round or better at the last 33 majors, and had won 40 of his last 41 matches here. But all that came to an end as Uzbek wildcard Denis Istomin played the tennis of his life, ripping 63 winners – including 29 off the forehand and 17 aces – to win a four-hour, 48-minute marathon, 7-6(8) 5-7 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4.

It was the first time since 2002 that a Top 2 men’s seed went out before the third round here.

“All the credit to Denis for playing amazing. He deserved to win,” Djokovic said in his post-match press conference. “No doubt, he was a better player in the clutch moments. He stepped it up, played aggressive. Served very well, very precise. There’s not much I could do. Of course, I was not pleased with my performance overall. But, you know, I have to congratulate my opponent today.”

Istomin, who had never beaten a Top 10 player at a major in 10 previous attempts, was asked what he’d say to someone who told him before the tournament he’d beat Djokovic at the Australian Open.

“I would say, ‘Are you crazy or what?’” he replied. “Especially in five sets, for sure. For me, it was impossible to think that I can hold it five sets with Novak, physically and mentally. So I did well today.”

Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1646 Hits

Djokovic Loss Ranks Among Most Stunning Upsets

He had captured his season opening 2017 tournament with a triumph in Doha, eclipsing Andy Murray in the title round of that event. He had looked reasonably sharp and immensely motivated during a first round, straight set victory here in Melbourne over Fernando Verdasco. But Novak Djokovic was most assuredly blind-sided by the sterling showing of one Denis Istomin in the second round of the season’s first major, and out he went in four hours and forty eight minutes against a player ranked No. 117 in the world who needed a wildcard to get into the main draw of the “Happy Slam.”

There was nothing happy about what happened in Rod Laver Arena in this startling contest for Djokovic, who was bidding for a third title in a row. He was upended 7-6 (8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 by the 30-year-old from Uzbekistan. In my view, this one ranks right near the top of the shockers registered in the modern era of the men’s game. Seven-time Wimbledon victor Pete Sampras was knocked out in the second round at the All England Club in 2002 by lucky loser George Bastl of Switzerland in five sets, and no one saw that coming. In 2012, Rafael Nadal was bludgeoned by a madly inspired and almost reckless Lukas Rosol on the Centre Court over five sets on the hallowed British lawns, also in the second round. Those were indeed astonishing upsets.

And yet, Istomin’s triumph over Djokovic today may rank at the top of my list for many reasons. Not only is he ranked No. 117 in the world, but his career match record at the four majors was no better than 31-34. At the Australian Open, he was 8-10. His career match record in all tournaments was 195-209. The best he has ever done at a Grand Slam championship is to reach the fourth round. To be sure, Istomin has been ranked much higher in the past, rising to a peak of No. 33 in the world five years ago. But the fact remains that Istomin has been essentially a journeyman across his entire career. In 33 previous clashes against top ten ranked players in his career, Istomin had pulled off only one win, toppling David Ferrer at Indian Wells in 2012.

Moreover, Istomin walked on court with a 0-5 record against his renowned adversary. In those duels with Djokovic, Istomin had garnered only one of thirteen sets. Twice—in 2010 and 2014— Djokovic had handled Istomin in straight sets at the Australian Open. How in the world did this same player overcome a 12-time Grand Slam singles champion on this occasion?

170117-580x300-djoko-loss5
170117-580x300-istomin
Continue reading

Copyright

© Tennis Channel

  1566 Hits

RacketStar.com