Category: Tennis

Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz lost for just the second time this year on Thursday when 25th-ranked Jiri Lehecka beat him 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open. Alcaraz’s only other defeat in 2025 was to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The 21-year-old Spaniard, ranked No. 3, won the Rotterdam Open earlier this month. The 23-year-old Lehecka, who is from the Czech Republic, will next face either eighth-seeded Jack Draper or Matteo Berrettini. “The match was up and down since the beginning,” Lehecka said after beating Alcaraz. “So for me to win a match like that against a player like this is a super big achievement. I believed in myself. I knew that I had the level to produce that kind of tennis. “I didn’t back down,” he continued. “I wanted to push him to his limits. The way I trusted my game was the key today.” Earlier, fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev saved one match point and needed eight of his own to subdue second-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8). Rublev reached his fourth semifinals in Doha, where he won the title in 2020. He’ll next face Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Daniil Medvedev when the Russian retired after losing the first set 6-3. “Unfortunately, I had food poisoning. Very disappointed to end my run here in Doha like this as I feel like I was playing well,” Medvedev said in a statement. Auger-Aliassime said on court he thought Medvedev was “playing normal” until he retired. “And then I broke, I held my serve. And he just told (the umpire) that he didn’t want to shake our hands because he was sick. I hope it’s nothing too bad. I was surprised,” the Canadian said.

Tennis world number one Jannik Sinner has accepted a three-month ban for doping having tested positive for a banned substance last year following a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), it said on Saturday (February 15, 2025). WADA had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against an independent tribunal’s decision in August to clear Sinner of wrongdoing after he failed drug tests. Sinner had tested positive for anabolic agent clostebol which he said had entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy. The case was set to be heard by CAS in April. “Mr Sinner will serve his period of ineligibility from February 9, 2025 to 11:59 pm on May 4, 2025,” WADA said in a statement, which will make him eligible to return before the French Open. “Mr Sinner may return to official training activity from 13 April 2025. “ WADA has formally withdrawn its appeal to CAS after they reached a settlement. 

Elena Rybakina said on Wednesday (February 12, 2025) that she was “disappointed” with the WTA Tour’s decision to ban her former coach Stefano Vukov following the governing body’s investigation into a potential breach of its code of conduct. “I’m just disappointed with the situation, and how the process went. I’m not going to comment much on that anymore,” Rybakina told reporters after her victory over Rebecca Sramkova at the Qatar Open. On Tuesday (February 11), the WTA said it had completed its investigation on Vukov and that his suspension “remains in place.” It did not specify how much longer he would remain banned. The Croatian coach, who had been under a provisional suspension, has denied wrongdoing. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, said last month at the Australian Open that Vukov “ never mistreated me ” in their years working together and that she disagreed with the provisional suspension.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep announced her retirement from tennis at age 33 after a first-round loss at a tournament in her home country of Romania on Tuesday, ending an injury-filled comeback from a doping suspension. Halep used a microphone to address the crowd in Cluj-napoca, Romania, following her 6-1, 6-1 loss to Lucia Bronzetti in the Transylvania Open. That was the first match of the year for Halep, who reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the first time in 2017 but is now 870th and was given a wild-card invitation to play in Romania. She had pulled out of qualifying for the Australian Open and a tuneup tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, last month because of pain in her knee and shoulder, the latest interruption of her career. Halep once stood atop women’s tennis, winning major singles trophies at Wimbledon in 2019 by beating Serena Williams in the final and at the French Open in 2018 by beating Sloane Stephens in the final. She also was a three-time runner-up at Grand Slam tournaments — at the Australian Open in 2018 and the French Open in 2014 and 2017. Ban and return But her last appearance at a major event came at the 2022 U.S. Open. That was where Halep lost in the first round to Daria Snigur of Ukraine 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 and tested positive for the banned drug Roxadustat. Roxadustat was approved for use in the European Union in 2021 to treat the symptoms of anemia caused by chronic kidney failure. It stimulates the body to produce more of the natural hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, which has long been a doping product favored by cyclists and distance runners to boost stamina. Halep initially was given a four-year ban that would have expired in 2026. But she appealed, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the penalty to nine months in March 2024. She argued that she was exposed to a contaminated supplement that caused her failed test. CAS determined that Halep bore “some level of fault or negligence” for not exercising “sufficient care” while using the supplement, but “she bore no significant fault or negligence.” So that is why, CAS said, “her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.” Halep made her return to the tour later that month at the Miami Open but has played a total of only six matches since then. She leaves the sport with 24 singles titles and more than $40 million in prize money.

Jannik Sinner claimed his second consecutive Australian Open championship on Sunday (January 26, 2025), never facing a single break point and using his complete game to outplay and frustrate Alexander Zverev for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in the final. Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, is the youngest man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93. Sinner rose to No. 1 last June, remaining there for every week since, and the gap between him and No. 2-ranked Zverev was pronounced as can be in Rod Laver Arena. This was the first Australian Open final between the men at No. 1 and No. 2 since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal — also in straight sets. Here’s how dominant Sinner has been since the start of last season: He has won three of the five major tournaments, including the U.S. Open in September, and his record in that span is 80-6 with a total of nine tournament titles. His current unbeaten run covers 21 matches, dating to last year. The only thing that’s clouded the past 12 months for Sinner, it seems, is a doping case in which he was cleared by a ruling that was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid twice last March but blamed it on an accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. Sinner initially was exonerated in August; a hearing in the WADA appeal is scheduled for April. While Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, Zverev is the seventh to be 0-3, adding this loss to those at the 2020 U.S. Open and the 2024 French Open. Those earlier setbacks both came in five sets. This contest was not that close. Not at all. There truly was only one moment that felt as if it contained a hint of tension. It was late in the second set, which Zverev was two points from owning when he led 5-4 and got to love-30 on Sinner’s serve. But a break point — and a set point — never arrived there. Zverev dropped the next four points, making it 5-all. Sinner then emerged with the ensuing tiebreaker. No surprise there: He went 4-0 in those set-deciders over the past two weeks and has grabbed 16 of his past 18. A year ago, Sinner went through a lot more trouble to earn his first Slam, needing to get past Novak Djokovic — who quit one set into his semifinal against Zverev on Friday because of a torn hamstring — first, before erasing a two-set deficit in the final against 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev. Beating Zverev allowed Sinner to become the first man since Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later. Sinner did it the way he so often does, with an all-around style that does not really appear to have any holes. Indeed, just about the only perceived weakness might be heading to the net, but he won 10 of 13 points when he moved forward against Zverev. Compare that with Zverev’s 14 of 27, which was in part a result of the way Sinner kept slipping passing shots by him. Watching Sinner cover the court is a bit like watching Djokovic do so, his sneakers squeaking as he transitioned from a sprint to a slide that often nearly ended in the splits. Zverev is 6-foot-6 (1.99 meters), Sinner is 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters), and both use long limbs to propel them from corner to corner at a considerable pace and to allow them to deliver deep groundstrokes with considerable power. And yet, as good as Zverev is — good enough to be ranked where he is; to have reached a trio of major finals; to enter Sunday with a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head series — it was Sinner who proved superior in every meaningful way on this night. He can’t serve as fast as Zverev, who held a 12-6 advantage in aces, but Sinner’s variety and ability to switch speeds and locations might be unmatched in the men’s game at the moment. That’s a big part of why he did not have to deal with any break points. Sinner, meanwhile, returned serves from Zverev that reached 138 mph (223 kph) and accumulated 10 break chances, converting a pair. The first, thanks to a passing shot, put Sinner ahead 5-4 after 44 minutes, and Zverev walked back behind the baseline, shaking his head while talking to his father and brother, who were seated in the front row of their courtside coaches’ box. There was more negative body language after Sinner served out that set at love to continue his crescendo, the final note an ace at 120 mph (194 kph). Zverev trudged to the sideline, shoulders sagging, and dropped his racket on an equipment bag adjacent to his bench, a gesture that conveyed annoyance more than anger. Later, it became the latter: Zverev cracked one racket on the court and used one racket to hit another on the sideline. Understandable, given what Sinner was doing on the other side of the net.

The only women’s match featuring Grand Slam singles champions in the third round at the Australian Open turned out to be an overpowering win by Iga Swiatek over Emma Raducanu on Saturday (January 18, 2025). Swiatek won the final 11 games of the match to beat 2021 U.S. Open champion Raducanu 6-1, 6-0 and become the first player through to the fourth round. The No. 2-ranked Swiatek, who agreed to accept a one-month suspension in a doping case late last year, has won the French Open four times and the U.S. Open in 2022. She is nearly halfway to a possible Australian title — her best result here has been a semifinal appearance in 2022, losing to eventual runner-up Danielle Collins. “I hit a few shots and afterwards I thought, This is what I practice for.’ From the beginning I felt like I was playing well,” said Swiatek, who won 59 points and lost 29 in the match. “I felt pretty confident, so at the end I could push for even more.” Eighth-seeded Emma Navarro is also into the fourth round after beating Ons Jabeur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Navarro has now played in 30 three-set matches at WTA level since the start of 2024, the most of any player over that span. Navarro was joined by another American into the fourth round, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen, who beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round. On Saturday, Michelsen beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2. “I played unbelievably, I don’t really know what’s going on,” he said on-court after his win. ”I am super happy . . . not a lot of words right now.” Scratchy Navarro dumps Jabeur out Emma Navarro ended the Australian Open of triple Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur, but it was another scratchy performance from the three-set specialist. The 23-year-old American eighth seed clawed through 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena to make the last 16 in Melbourne for the first time She will play either Russian ninth seed Daria Kasatkina or Kazakh 24th seed Yulia Putintseva for a place in the quarter-finals. But Navarro, the daughter of billionaire American businessman Ben Navarro, owner of Credit One Bank, again struggled to display the killer touch. She only converted six from 14 break points and was herself broken six times. It was the third match in a row she has needed three sets to progress. No other WTA player has been through more three-setters than Navarro since the beginning of 2024, with the American going the distance 31 times. “I love three sets,” she joked afterwards. Navarro’s frailties were exposed in the first set when she raced 5-0 clear but then imploded, giving up the next four games, but hung on. She was broken twice again early in set two and again at 5-3 with the Tunisian producing some astonishing drop shots to level the match. But Jabeur fluffed her chance in set three, squandering three break points in the third game, with Navarro then breaking for 3-2 and rounding out the win “I came out playing really well, but she had a really great four games (in set one),” said Navarro, a US Open semi-finalist last year. “In the second set I just wanted to stick in there.” Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina joined Swiatek in the last 16 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Dayana Yastremska, but only after receiving treatment on her back, while eighth seed Emma Navarro and ninth seed Daria Kasatkina also advanced. German Eva Lys became the first lucky loser to reach the women’s fourth round since 1988 when she beat Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 4-6 6-3 6-3, her reward a date with Swiatek. Michelsen also an early winner American Alex Michelsen was also an early winner on day seven of the championships, racing past 2023 semifinalist Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6(5) 6-2 on John Cain Arena. The 20-year-old Michelsen, who rallied from 3-0 down in the second set, joined compatriot Tommy Paul in the fourth round with four more Americans playing third-round ties on Saturday. “It’s easy to look at the score and be like, ‘Oh, he’s cruising’ but it doesn’t feel like that during the match,” said Michelsen. “These guys are always applying pressure, giving energy to try to knock you off your game.”

Novak Djokovic added yet another record to his lengthy list, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam matches played in tennis history by reaching 430 on Wednesday (January 15, 2025) at the Australian Open in what was a tougher-than-expected second-round victory. Djokovic improved to 379-51 for his career at major tournaments, a .881 winning percentage, by defeating 21-year-old Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 in a match briefly interrupted by light rain before Rod Laver Arena’s retractable roof was shut. Grand Slams, of course, they are the pillars of our sport. They mean everything for the history of the sport. … Definitely the most important tournaments,” Djokovic said. “I’m just blessed to be making another record, I guess, today.” Oh, yes, Djokovic already holds so many marks, many of which used to belong to Federer — who went 369-60 during his 429 Slam matches, a .860 winning percentage — and there are more on the horizon. A title at the end of the 15 days at Melbourne Park would be his 25th at a major, a number never reached by any man or woman. It would also be his 11th at the Australian Open, equaling Margaret Court for the most. It would make him the oldest man in the Open era — which began in 1968 — to collect a Grand Slam singles trophy (Ken Rosewall was about six months younger when he won the 1972 Australian Open). And it would be Djokovic’s 100th tour-level tournament title, a nice round number behind only Jimmy Connors’ 109 and Federer’s 103 in the Open era among men. Not everything has gone perfectly this week in Australia for Djokovic in his first tournament working with former on-court rival Andy Murray as his coach. Both of Djokovic’s matches so far came against a young player making his Grand Slam debut. And both times, he was pushed to four sets. In the first round, it was against Nishesh Basavareddy, a 19-year-old American who turned pro only last month and is ranked 107th. In the second, it was Faria, who is ranked 125th, giving him a bit of a hard time, especially during a four-game run in the second set. “He was playing lights-out tennis. … I had to weather the storm,” Djokovic said. “I think I responded very well in the third and, particularly fourth, (sets).”