Category: Tennis

Hugo Gaston has been one of the bright players in the world of tennis.  The 24-year-old Frenchman was No.2 in the world as a junior in 2018. Two years later, playing his first French Open at the Roland Garros, Gaston beat Stan Wawrinka in the third round in five sets. It took Dominik Thiem five sets to beat Gaston in the fourth round. Thiem went on to win the US Open later that year. Quite excited about playing the Tennis Premier League (TPL) to be staged at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai, and particularly enthused with the 25-point format, Gaston was candid in admitting, in a chat with The HIndu, that one had to be good for a week or two to have a nice run in a Grand Slam. “Everyone wants to win. It is not enough to be good in a match. You have to be good for a week or two. I am happy with the way I have reached No.75 this year, from being 115. It has been a good long year, and I hope to do better next season,” said Gaston who was ranked a career-best 58 two years ago. He will be playing for the Chennai Smashers along with Conny Perrin of Switzerland and Rithvik Bollipalli. “I have not seen the two players. They have played TPL before. I am coming to India for the first time. Conny is Swiss, so she may speak French. I know that Bollipalli won the ATP 250 doubles in Metz. Should be nice to play with him. I am looking forward to competing well for the team and hopefully we can win,” said Gaston. He was happy to be playing doubles and mixed doubles in the TPL, as his focus on singles does not give him time for the other formats on the Tour. “I play mixed doubles only at the French Open. It will be good to play some doubles in TPL,” said Gaston. Having heard “a lot of good things” about the league from Sumit Nagal, Gaston said that he was looking forward to playing India’s best player at his home. “Sumit can do a lot of things on court. He is a strong player,” said Gaston who had beaten Sumit in the Hamburg Challenger in 2020, when the latter retired midway through the second set. He may not get much time to see India, but Gaston hoped that “Sumit and Rohan Bopanna can drive me around”. Coached by the former world No.14, Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, Gaston said that he was working hard on his game, with the guidance of his mentor. “The coach tells me to believe in myself and enjoy the competition, the journey,” said Gaston

World number one Jannik Sinner said his off-court turmoil over doping accusations was “heartbreaking”, after winning the Davis Cup with Italy on Sunday to complete a stellar year. The 23-year-old won the Australian Open, U.S. Open and ATP Finals before starring for Italy as they claimed a second consecutive Davis Cup triumph, but admitted he is not able to play with a completely clear head. Sinner is still waiting for the outcome of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) appeal against his initial exoneration for twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March. “Of course it’s in the head a little bit,” said Sinner. “The most important part is all the people who are around me, who know me as a human being trust me — that’s also why I kept playing the level I have. “Those who know me, I was emotionally a bit down, a bit heartbroken. Sometimes life gives you difficulties and you just have to (deal with) it.” After Italy defeated the Netherlands in the final, Dutch captain Paul Haarhuis said from the outside the doping case against Sinner was impossible to analyse. “About doping, we never know what happened,” said Haarhuis. “What’s my feeling? Jannik is an unbelievable nice guy, a great player, but we never know what happened.” Sinner prevously told the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) that small quantities of clostebol found in his system were due to “contamination by a member of his staff who had applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol on his own hand to treat a small wound”. The ITIA accepted Sinner’s claim and he escaped a lengthy ban, but WADA appealed and is demanding a suspension of one to two years. Sinner became the first player since 20-time Grand Slam winning Swiss great Roger Federer in 2005 to go through a season without a defeat in straight sets. The Italian defeated Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor in the second singles rubber to clinch the Davis Cup, after Matteo Berrettini beat Botic van de Zandschulp in the opener. “Coming back as defending champions and winning again is one of the best feelings,” said Sinner. “I’m very happy and glad that we managed this. The whole team, we gave 100 percent, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes which all of you cannot see.” Berrettini had a superb tournament, winning once in doubles against Argentina in the last eight and singles rubbers against Australia and Netherlands. The 2021 Wimbledon runner-up hailed Sinner’s performance over the season, since he inspired Italy to glory a year ago. “It’s a special experience (to watch Sinner)… last year when we were here we were looking in each other’s eyes and saying that this guy is someone else, something different,” said Berrettini. “We’d never seen someone hitting the ball so hard, so flat, since then he’s lost six matches and as you can see he’s the most humble guy on the planet.”

Rafael Nadal thought about taking a mental health break from tennis a few years ago but “conquered it by always moving forward” and “slowly became myself again,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion writes in an essay posted online on Tuesday, less than a month after the last match of his career. “Physical pain I was very used to, but there were times on the court when I had trouble controlling my breathing, and I couldn’t play at the highest level. I don’t have trouble saying it now. After all, we are human beings, not superheroes,” Nadal says on The Player’s Tribune. “Thankfully, I didn’t get to the point of not being able to control things like anxiety, but there are moments with every player when it’s difficult to control your mind, and when that happens it’s difficult to have total control of your game,” he says. “There were months when I thought about taking a complete break from tennis to cleanse my mind. In the end, I worked on it every day to get better.” The 38-year-old Nadal headed into retirement after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup in November, following two seasons filled with injury issues that limited him to competing only sparingly. In the essay, he writes about the chronic pain in his left foot that first surfaced when he was 17 and says he was told then that he “would probably never play professional tennis again.” “I spent many days at home crying, but it was a great lesson in humility, and I was lucky to have a father — the real influence I’ve had in my life — who was always so positive,” said Nadal, who won a record 14 championships at the French Open. He mentions being nervous before matches, and some of the highlights of his career, and notes: “I hope that my legacy is that I always tried to treat others with deep respect. This was the golden rule of my parents.”

Rafael Nadal thought about taking a mental health break from tennis a few years ago but “conquered it by always moving forward” and “slowly became myself again,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion writes in an essay posted online on Tuesday, less than a month after the last match of his career. “Physical pain I was very used to, but there were times on the court when I had trouble controlling my breathing, and I couldn’t play at the highest level. I don’t have trouble saying it now. After all, we are human beings, not superheroes,” Nadal says on The Player’s Tribune. “Thankfully, I didn’t get to the point of not being able to control things like anxiety, but there are moments with every player when it’s difficult to control your mind, and when that happens it’s difficult to have total control of your game,” he says. “There were months when I thought about taking a complete break from tennis to cleanse my mind. In the end, I worked on it every day to get better.” The 38-year-old Nadal headed into retirement after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup in November, following two seasons filled with injury issues that limited him to competing only sparingly. In the essay, he writes about the chronic pain in his left foot that first surfaced when he was 17 and says he was told then that he “would probably never play professional tennis again.” “I spent many days at home crying, but it was a great lesson in humility, and I was lucky to have a father — the real influence I’ve had in my life — who was always so positive,” said Nadal, who won a record 14 championships at the French Open. He mentions being nervous before matches, and some of the highlights of his career, and notes: “I hope that my legacy is that I always tried to treat others with deep respect. This was the golden rule of my parents.”

Iga Swiatek is the second high-profile tennis player to test positive for a banned substance this year, joining Jannik Sinner. While Sinner, currently the No. 1 ranked man, was fully cleared, Swiatek, who slid from No. 1 to No. 2 last month, accepted a one-month suspension that was announced Thursday (November 28, 2024). The International Tennis Integrity Agency said it determined that Swiatek’s tainted urine sample was because of a contaminated medicine she took and so she bore a low level of responsibility. “These are not cases of intentional doping. These are cases — in Sinner’s case … no fault or negligence. In (Swiatek’s) case, very low end, no significant fault or negligence,” ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said in a video call with reporters. “So I don’t think this is a cause for concern for tennis fans and the like.” Here is a look at the details of the two cases: Who is Iga Swiatek Swiatek is a 23-year-old from Poland with five Grand Slam titles who has been the best player in women’s tennis over the past 2 1/2 seasons, particularly on clay courts. She won four of the past five French Open titles, including the last three in a row, plus one U.S. Open championship, and has been ranked No. 1 nearly every week since April 2022. Swiatek also collected a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in early August. Swiatek’s urine showed low amounts of trimetazidine, a banned heart medication commonly referred to as TMZ, in an out-of-competition test on Aug. 12, 10 days after her last match at the Summer Games and shortly before the start of the Cincinnati Open. She was told she was being provisionally suspended on Sept. 12, eight days after losing to Jessica Pegula in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. It was found that the TMZ had contaminated a sleep aid, melatonin, that Swiatek’s psychologist bought for her at a pharmacy in Poland, where it is sold as a medicine. According to the ITIA report, Swiatek listed 14 medications or supplements she was using, although not melatonin. What is trimetazidine Trimetazidine is a metabolic agent that can help prevent angina attacks if used as an “add-on treatment,” according to the European Medicines Agency. It can increase blood flow efficiency and improve endurance — both crucial to high-end athletic performance. It is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list in the category of “hormone and metabolic modulators.” The substance was involved in past Olympic athletes’ cases involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva and 23 Chinese swimmers. Swiatek was given a provisional ban that began in September, after the U.S. Open, but that was lifted because she quickly offered a believable explanation for the contamination — one that was backed up by tests, the ITIA said. She missed three tournaments during the Asian swing after the U.S. Open, although at the time, she didn’t give the real reason for being sidelined. Eventually, the ITIA and Swiatek agreed she would serve a one-month suspension; because she was credited for the time she already missed, there were eight days remaining in a “one-month” penalty, so she is “serving” those now, even though the season is over. Swiatek was able to play in the WTA Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup. “The worst part of it was the uncertainty,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen with my career, how things would end or if I would be allowed to play tennis at all.” Sinner tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid twice in March, but nothing came to light until August, just before the U.S. Open, which he went on to win for his second Grand Slam title of 2024. As with Swiatek, the cases were kept quiet until they were resolved because both players offered what ITIA found to be plausible explanations. He blamed it on a cream his trainer used before giving Sinner a massage and so was cleared completely — although WADA has appealed that ruling — while Swiatek was found to have been “at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence,” and so was given a light punishment. Asked whether there are specific guidelines that determine the lengths of bans in such instances, Moorhouse said: “No, there isn’t. This is not where you put these things into machine and it spits you out a number at the end of it. It’s a case of considering everything in the round, take into account all the circumstances and facts in the case to come to the right outcome.”

India’s Yuki Bhambri made his first men’s doubles semifinals of the ATP 500 tour after he and his partner Robin Hasse upset third seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai on Thursday. India’s Yuki Bhambri made his first guys’s doubles semifinals of the ATP 500 excursion after he and his partner Robin Hasse disappointed 1/3 seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Dubai responsibility unfastened Tennis Championships in Dubai on Thursday. Bhambri and his Dutch associate Hasse, who came via the qualifying spherical to earn a spot inside the main draw, took one hour and 22 minutes to provide a incredible performance to conquer Britain’s Murray and New Zealand’s Venus 6-four, 7-6(1). inside the semifinal to be played on Friday, Bhambri and Hasse will face the second-seeded pairing of Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Austin Krajicek (america). however, there has been unhappiness in store for the Australian Open guys’s doubles triumphing pair of India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden, who misplaced inside the quarterfinals. The pinnacle-seeded pair of Bopanna and Ebden began well but their warring parties, Uruguay’s Ariel Behar and Czech Republic’s Adam Pavlasek got here from behind to emerge winners by using three-6, 6-three, 10-eight in a in shape lasting one hour and eleven mins. pay attention to the modern day songs, handiest on JioSaavn.com Behar and Pavlasek made a overdue rally to win the very last 4 factors of their clash towards the tons-fancied duo of Bopanna and Ebden.