
Novak Djokovic joins Roger Federer in elite record with 100 title wins in Open Era
Legendary Novak Djokovic equalled Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors to win 100 titles in the Open Era. Playing at the Geneva Open on Saturday, May 24, Djokovic battled from a set down to clinch his 100th tour-level title.The Serbian star beat Polish sixth seed Hubert Hurkacz 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-6(2) in Geneva. He was already the 3rd highest title holder in the Open Era and now etched himself into an elite club which, till date, only belonged to Federer and Connors.HISTORY. AGAIN. @DjokerNole wins his 100th ATP title in Geneva!!#GonetGenevaOpen pic.twitter.com/so4NW0aKLc— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 24, 2025advertisementConnors tops the list with 109 titles to his name, while Federer, one of the all-time greats, has 103 titles to his name in the Open Era.
The title also ends Djokovic's dry run in the tennis circuit. His last title came when he won gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024. The latest triumph comes at the perfect time as the record 24-time Grand Slam champion bids for a fourth crown at the French Open, which starts on Sunday, May 25.
Recently, Djokovic parted ways with coach Andy Murray after crashing out of the Madrid Open in the build-up to the Grand Slam. The move came after his first-round loss to Italy's Matteo Arnaldi. He had said he would make a decision about his coaching setup after a few more tournaments.It is going to be tough work for the legendary Serb at the French Open as he has been drawn in the same half as World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.Must Watch
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Indian Express
8 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘Look at me, you PIG' snaps controversial tennis star Fabio Fognini during tense handshake after defeat to Corentin Moutet at Stuttgart Open
He might be on his last leg of his tennis career, but the passions haven't certainly dimmed for the 38-year old Italian player Fabio Fognini. At the Stuttgart Open, Fognini, the former world no. 9 playing on a wildcard entry for the event, called his rival Corentin Moutet a 'pig'. The incident came at the end of the first-round game, where emotions bubbled up. At one point Fognini snapped his racquet over his knee and threw it away. Moutet won the match 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, hit a ball into the stands to celebrate and walked over for the customary handshake. Even as Fognini kept saying something to him, Moutet didn't respond verbally, just patted his opponent on the back after the handshake, and moved away from him to shake the referee's hand. Fognini hadn't stopped talking. Spicy handshake 🌶️@moutet99 wins the battle of the entertainers 6-4 6-7 6-3 vs Fognini 🍿#BOSSOPEN — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 10, 2025 Angered by something, Fognini reportedly snapped in French: 'Regarde-moi, petit cochon!' – or 'Look at me, you little pig!' He then allegedly added in Italian, 'You're a piece of s***!' The fracas has been reported by the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, and others. Fognini is no stranger to on-court controversy. In the Tokyo Olympics he apologized for yelling at himself with an anti-gay slur during a loss. ''Obviously I didn't want to offend anyone's feelings,' Fognini added. 'I love the LGBT community and I apologise for the nonsense that I let out,' he had written on an Instagram post with a rainbow background. In the US Open in 2017, he was ejected out of the doubles tournament for vulgarly insulting the chair umpire during his first-round loss in singles. He was then handed a suspended ban of two Grand Slam tournaments. Louise Engzelle, the Swedish umpire, had reported Fognini after he called her, in Italian, very abusive words, that can't be reported here even with the usage of asterisks.


Hindustan Times
22 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
The story of Roland Garros' terre battue
One of the many factors that made the Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner Roland Garros final remarkable was its duration: 5h29m. Before Sunday, the longest French Open final was 4h24min, Mats Wilander v Guillermo Vilas, an hour and five minutes shorter. Rafa's longest final lasted 3h49m vs Novak Djokovic in 2012, his longest match at the venue 4h 53m, vs Paul Henri Mathieu, fourth round 2006. What Sinner and Alcaraz did was give to their audience over an unusually lengthy period of time an exhibition of cut-glass shot-making and creativity on a surface that demands precision quality at every exchange. Clay is the most bruising of tennis surfaces because it blunts power, reduces the serve to an opening salvo and offers at least a semblance of a level playing field to the hard-running counter-puncher. Every stroke, every rally, every game is a ceaseless inquisition. Over footspeed and aglity, awareness of court geometry, control of stroke play over shoulder and at ankle, and endurance of muscle, heart and lung. The fine powder of Roland Garros' brilliant orange, the 'terre battue', its crushed earth ends up everywhere. On the players' clothes, caking their bodies following tumbles and slides and lunges during play. It is rumoured that some of this magic powder dust may even have found its way into bloodstream. In the RG merchandise store, not only does the colour dominate every product, 'authentic' powdered clay has also been packed into keychains (15 & 25 euros) and there's a 15 euro 'snow globe' which upon shaking produces a 'clay storm' confetti over the Chatrier court. There's more that lies beneath the clay, says David Rebuffet assistant court maintenance manager in the French Tennis Federations' (FFT) operations department. He explains the transverse layers that make up Roland Garros' five-layer 80cm thick block of the courts : 'there are big stones at the bottom, then gravel, bottom ash (from coal residue) and lime stone.' And with glee, this, 'The red clay you see on top? that's just a 2 millimeter layer of crushed brick.' Two mm has no context until says it is the thickness of a standard matchstick. That's all the layer of the clay/ mud/ crushed brick at the top of Roland Garros. This is an incongruous omnipresence. But the 2mm crushed brick is not a show-stopper made of tissue paper. It is in fact the polish without which there would be no shine. At Roland Garros, the width of the match stick makes for a surface which has some 'give' for tennis' unique sideways movement, which can explore and maximise the geometry of the court. Without it no slide, no mark, no kick, no exaggerated spin, no fadeaway drop shot. Every morning at the Roland Garros, the thin layer of crushed brick is swept to clear what has been churned up 'from the day before.' The ground staff then use a large version of the squeegee, (aka think very large versions of the bathroom wiper) 'brush the court and get rid of small piles of play.' The purpose is to get rid of any possible bad bounces during play. Then a new layer of the 2mm clay/ crushed brick is spread over the court, with its final process being the watering of the court. Watering, says Rebuffet, is vital at the two ends of the day 'it helps keep the court nice and humid which is good for a proper playing surface.' In Christopher Clarey's recently-released layered and detailed 'The Warrior: Rafa Nadal and his Kingdom of Clay', there is a chapter called The Canvas. It delves deep into clay courts around the world and then zooms in on Roland Garros. The chapter closes with an astonishing story of the brickworks that make the Roland Garros clay. Defective bricks - 'chipped or cracked …not suitable for construction' arrive from a brickworks in a region near Lille and the border of Belgium to a factory in a town called Pontpoint. Two men operate a sixty-year-old grinding machine which crushes the bad bricks into powder with particles down to one-tenth of a mm in diameter. This clay which is found at Roland Garros is also sent to other tennis clubs in France and as The Warrior tells us exported to other countries too. There's really no telling how far dust can travel. Unlike Wimbledon, Roland Garros is not a private club. It is the HQ of the French Tennis Federation and their training centre. Rebuffet says there are 'events and competitions' on the courts during the summer and autumn, 'as well as training sessions for professional players and young athletes from the French training center.' The outer courts are opened until the beginning of winter, (it) 'depends on the weather conditions.' Chatrier can be used until the end of January 'covered and protected' from the frost. (At Wimbledon, the Centre Court is only used during their biggest fortnight but otherwise stays inactive all year round.) The courts are worked on between training sessions and the centre runs as good as all year around barring a few months in the winter. As a rule, the outer courts are closed from early November to late March, no events, no training. In this time, Rebuffet says, they are 'exposed to rain and above all, frost to naturally decompact the limestone layer.' From end March till May, the courts are again prepared one at a time and opened for training 'at the same pace.' Through the spring, three show courts plus the fourteen outer courts are steadily revealed in an ever-expanding grand stage set. They lie in wait for their multi-national cast of characters to arrive all at once and throw themselves into Paris' annual ochre opera.


India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
Carlos Alcaraz unwinds in Ibiza amid doubts over Wimbledon tune-up participation
French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz headed to Ibiza, a Mediterranean island in Spain renowned for its beaches and nightlife, to unwind after a demanding clay-court season that culminated in his French Open triumph on 8 June. The five-time Grand Slam champion shared a photo of himself with Tottenham Hotspur's Sergio Reguilon from a resort in remains to be seen whether Alcaraz will begin his preparations for Wimbledon, which starts on 30 June, at Queen's Club - a prestigious ATP 500 tournament and one of the few warm-up events ahead of the grass-court Grand is included in the entry list for Queen's Club, which gets underway on 17 June. Defending champion Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz, rising star Ben Shelton, and local favourite Jack Draper are among the prominent names set to compete at the ATP 500 event. However, Alcaraz's coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, has not confirmed whether the Spaniard will indeed participate at Queen's. Ferrero stated that Alcaraz will undergo medical check-ups following his holiday to determine if he is ready for the challenge in London."The plan is to play, but we'll make a final decision in a few days. We talked about it mid-tournament, and Carlos told us he was looking forward to going. After these days of rest, on Thursday or Friday, we'll do a test to see how he feels physically and mentally," Ferrero said following the French going to Wimbledon with great enthusiasm; Carlos loves playing there," he won Queen's Club on his debut at the tournament in 2023. However, he suffered a surprise second-round defeat to local favourite Jack Draper last year. Despite the setback, Alcaraz went on to claim the Wimbledon title, defeating Novak Djokovic in the Spaniard will be eager to defend his crown at Wimbledon and further assert his dominance on recently became only the third man in the Open Era to win each of his first five Grand Slam finals. He defeated World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in an epic Roland-Garros final that lasted five hours and 29 minutes. Alcaraz came back from two sets down and saved three championship points in the fourth set before prevailing in the longest men's singles final in French Open history. He sealed victory in a dramatic super tie-break, extending his reign on the red clay of Watch