Carlos Alcaraz's fate-kissed tribute to Rafa Nadal as freakish stat makes French Open win iconic: 'I'll keep it forever'
In a thrilling French Open 2025 final, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 after a five-hour battle. Sinner, emotionally challenged, showed vulnerability despite his typically composed demeanor, losing to the resilient Spaniard.
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Jon Rahm says LIV's smaller fields contribute to top-10 streak
Jon Rahm has finished in the top 10 of every LIV Golf event since he joined in 2024, but called himself a "realist" in acknowledging that it's due to the circuit's smaller fields. After winning twice in 13 events in 2024, the Spaniard has racked up eight more top-10s this year. However, that is without a victory and his highest finish was a tie for second in the season opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. LIV's three-day events feature 13 four-player teams and two wild cards competing in daily shotgun starts, so Rahm only needs to be better than 44 players to card a top-10 result. "I would happily trade a bunch of them for more wins, that's for sure, but I keep putting myself in good position," Rahm said on Tuesday ahead of this week's U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh. "Listen, I'm a realist in this case. I've been playing really good golf, yes, but I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't easier to have top 10s with a smaller field. "That's just the truth, right? Had I been playing full-field events, would I have top 10 every single week? No. But I've been playing good enough to say that I would most likely have been inside the top 30 every single time and maybe even top 25, which for 21 straight tournaments I'd say that's pretty good. I still would have had a lot of top 10s, that's for sure. "I think winning is equally as hard, but you can take advantage of a smaller field to finish higher. As much as I want to give it credit personally for having that many top 10s, I wouldn't always give it as the full amount just knowing that it's a smaller field." Rahm's other top-10 finish this year was the most impressive to date a T8 at last month's PGA Championship. That came on the heels of a T14 at the Masters. He also finished T7 at last year's Open Championship, so Rahm continues to post quality results when up against the most elite fields in the world. This week he returns to Oakmont, where he finished 23rd in 2016, 11 strokes behind winner and current LIV player Dustin Johnson. Rahm won his lone U.S. Open title to date five years later at Torrey Pines, and said he is embracing the "extreme challenge" of tackling the notoriously difficult Oakmont. "It never ceases to amaze, in the sense of the history, the old-school feel of the clubhouse," said Rahm, 30. "Even when you just stand on the putting green, seeing the whole property, you know you're somewhere special. It's quite iconic. It's one of those things that makes it a great venue and a great championship. "I think you embrace it. You know how great it is. Once you start the tournament, all of those things kind of go away. It's business at that point. It's time to post a score." Field Level Media
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Tennis-Raducanu leads British trio into second round at Queen's Club
LONDON, - Emma Raducanu had a comfortable straight sets win over Spain's Cristina Bucsa and was one of three Britons to reach the second round of the WTA 500 tournament at Queen's Club on Tuesday. Bucsa had won their only previous meeting in the first round of this year's Singapore Open, but this time the Spaniard was no match for the 22-year-old wildcard and Raducanu strolled to a 6-1 6-2 win. "I'm still trying to find my groove on this surface," Raducanu said. "I knew today would be a very difficult match, I lost to Cristina earlier in the year so I was trying to make sure that didn't happen again and fight to get myself into the second round." Raducanu is likely to face a tougher task in the next round where she could meet current Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova if the Czech seventh seed overcomes Slovak Rebecca Sramkova. Top tier women's tennis has returned to Queen's Club for the first time since 1973 and the home crowd had plenty to cheer on day two with Katie Boulter and Heather Watson also winning their first-round matches. "To have the women back here, it feels very special," Boulter, current British number one, said. "It's something I've dreamt of, actually walking out on this court, after the last couple of years coming as a fan watching the men." Boulter beat Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6 1-6 6-4 while Watson defeated Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-4 6-3 to earn a second-round clash with another Kazakh, fourth seed former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. The other Briton in action, Francesca Jones went down 6-2 6-4 to American McCartney Kessler who will meet top seed Zheng Quinwen.
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Women's tennis continues to look for its superstar
New Delhi: For the first time since 1984, both the men's and women's Roland Garros singles finals featured the world No.1 and No.2. One of the big takeaways from this statistic was that the world's best players got through the draw as expected, and in the cruel Majors world the chances of that happening are very rare. Still, seedings and rankings count for something. There are indicators of form, mindset and match-ups. That is usually true, but in the women's game you need to come prepared for everything and anything. Upsets have often been the order of the day and world No.361 Lois Boisson's run to the semi-final on Grand Slam debut while taking down seeds Elise Mertens, Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva was an indication of that. Coco Gauff really took to clay this year, winning in Paris after reaching the finals at Madrid and Rome. Her 18 match wins on the surface are a tour high. But what won her the Roland Garros final was heart. More than the game or the tactics, it was her spirit that prevailed. But it doesn't always happen that way. Gauff, 22, is one of the undisputed stars of the women's game and her marketing potential is great too. But her game is still evolving. She can find a way past volatile players such as Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys, but can struggle against the more patient opponents. The same is perhaps true of Sabalenka too. She no longer struggles with the mental side of the game as much as she once did but as the final showed us all, she hasn't quite managed to put that behind her completely. She is the world No.1 but she got that position after Iga Swiatek was hit with a reduction in ranking points for non-participation in mandatory tournaments. And sometimes, it looks like she lacks belief, this despite already winning three titles and reaching seven finals this year. The third piece of the top group in women's tennis is Swiatek — a player who once looked set to rule the game. But the one-month doping ban she served early this year seems to have taken her off-track. She was the reigning queen of Roland Garros, but this year she seemed tentative. And that perhaps is one way to describe how things are. Marketa Vondrousova, Gauff, Sabalenka, Swiatek, Barbora Krejcikova, Madison Keys — these are the names of the winners of the last eight Grand Slams in women's tennis. Six different winners. Three you'd recognise and three unpredictable talents. It's chaotic on most days. And, some might argue, fun too. But many yearn for the days when Serena Williams ruled the roost. You'd have a Maria Sharapova to challenge her. And Justine Henin or Kim Clijsters or Venus Williams. There was a proper rivalry there and that is one thing that the women's game lacks currently. The rivalry is what makes the superstar. And the superstar is who draws people to the stands. Renowned tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou was asked to weigh in on why there were no women's matches scheduled at French Open during the night section this year. Not everyone would have liked his reply but he did make a point. 'Most of the people who go to stadiums are not core fans of tennis — they want to come back home and say 'I saw Djokovic' or 'I saw Alcaraz'. If they come back and they say 'I saw Swiatek', it's not the same,' said Mouratoglou. He added: 'It's not only about leading players like Iga Swiatek, who is a four-time winner, and a three-time (reigning) winner at the moment. She's not a superstar like Serena when she was playing or Sharapova when she was playing. 'In 2021, I was coaching Serena and they scheduled her at night, it was the only women's match scheduled at night. She's a superstar. Even if it lasted one hour, people would come home and say: 'Wow, I have seen Serena Williams'.' There is a lot of talk about how you shouldn't compare players across eras but that is exactly how the fans operate. They see a young player and then run that player against someone they used to root for in the past. It is a mental comparison – not always accurate but everyone does it. The challenge for the current group of the players is to raise the level of their game to a point where the comparisons don't seem like a stretch anymore. And if someone can rise above the rest in doing that and stay there, that's when things will really start to get interesting.
