Harris puts defeat aside to focus on doubles
There was disappointment for the 30-year-old on Wednesday when he lost 6-3 6-4 7-6 (9-7) in the second round to Portugal's Nuno Borges.
Advertisement
Harris said although it was a "frustrating" defeat, his opponent had been "pretty solid from his serve and from the baseline, so it was a tough match".
"But it is what it is and we move on to the doubles now," he said.
Reaching the second round at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships marked the player's best run at the event, after losing in the first round on his debut in 2024.
Reflecting on Wednesday's match, Harris said: "I had my chances and I think I missed one passing shot on set-point by an inch.
"I had a couple more set-points, so you've got to take those kind of chances in these matches, but that's tennis, it's always like that.
Advertisement
"He's a very solid player from the back of he court, so if you're not doing enough with the ball he's going to move you around all day.
"In the third set I think I was feeling the ball a lot better, had a bit more rhythm in my service games, but I couldn't take the tie-break in the end."
Harris praised the "great support from the crowd" as well as the messages from friends and family on the Isle of Man.
"Big thanks to them and I was just gutted that I couldn't take it further," he said.
Looking ahead to his doubles match on Thursday against Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik and Flavio Cobolli of Italy, Harris said playing alongside fellow British player Marcus Willis was something he was relishing.
Advertisement
"Marcus is a great doubles player and if we put a great performance together we can win some matches."
Harris was defeated in straight sets in his second round match on Wednesday [PA Media]
Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Related internet links
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
5 storylines to follow at the 2025 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament
The Cincinnati Open returns to Mason with a new two-week format and expanded player fields beginning on Tuesday, Aug. 5 from the Lindner Family Tennis Center. There are 96 players in both the WTA and ATP singles field this year, compared to 56 in 2024. This summer's fields include 119 total players who have won a title during their career and the top 56 players from both the men's and women's tours. Here are five storylines to watch for in Mason. 1. Will Cincinnati get an Alcaraz-Sinner showdown? The last four meetings between the ATP's top 2 players, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, have been in a tournament final. Sinner snapped a five-match losing streak to Alcaraz with a four-set win on Sunday, July 13 to claim the Wimbledon title. So far this year, Alcaraz has wins over Sinner in Rome and Roland Garros. Will they meet up in Cincinnati? Alcaraz was involved in the last Cincinnati final featuring the World No. 1 and No. 2 when he fell to Novak Djokovic in a thriller in 2023. Sinner is trying to become the first back-to-back Cincinnati men's singles winner since Roger Federer (2014-15), who won the tournament seven times. Alcaraz followed the runner-up finish in 2023 with an upset loss in the Round of 32 to Gael Monfils last summer in Cincinnati in what the Spaniard called the "worst match that I've ever played." 2. Can WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka defend Cincinnati Open title? WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka enjoyed a breakthrough last summer in Cincinnati. The Belarusian did not drop a set and won 62 of 95 total games en route to winning her first hard-court title since 2020. Previously, Sabalenka suffered semifinal setbacks in Cincinnati three times (2018, 2022, 2023) and a pair of Round of 16 exits. Sabalenka is in the same boat as Sinner, trying to become the tournament's first repeat champion since a legend did it a decade ago. Serena Williams was the last to do it, going back-to-back in 2014-15. Sabalenka, one of six past Cincinnati Open champions in this year's field, has three titles this season, including a hard-court crown in Miami. 3. Will this be Novak Djokovic's final Cincinnati appearance? There have been retirement speculations surrounding 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Will this be his last appearance in Cincinnati? Local fans haven't seen Djokovic since the marathon win over Alcaraz in the 2023 final, which lasted a tournament-record 3 hours and 49 minutes. Last summer, Djokovic withdrew from the Cincinnati Open following the quick turnaround from his Gold Medal run at the Paris Olympics. Djokovic has reached the Cincinnati Open finals eight times and captured three titles (2018, 2020, 2023). 4. Iga Swiatek coming off Wimbledon domination This summer marks the first Cincinnati Open with a new WTA No. 1 since 2021. That year, Iga Swiatek was No. 8 and fell to Ons Jabeur in the Round of 32. Over the last three years, Swiatek has arrived in Warren County as the top-ranked WTA player but has suffered back-to-back semifinal defeats to the eventual champion (Sabalenka in 2024 and Coco Gauff in 2023). Swiatek made history in capturing her sixth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Her win over Amanda Anisimova marked just the second time in the Open Era that a Grand Slam winner did not drop a game (6-0, 6-0) in the final. Swiatek has reached the semifinals in two 1000-level, hard-court tournaments this year (Indian Wells, Qatar). 5. Will American tennis stars make a run at Rookwood Cup? Of the 37 nations represented in this year's Cincinnati Open, the United States has the largest contingent with 24 players. That includes a half-dozen players currently ranked in the top 10 in their respective tours. On the women's side, there have been two American winners since Williams went back-to-back: Madison Keys (2019) and Gauff (2023), both in the field this year. There's also No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the runner-up to Sabalenka in 2024 and No. 10 Emma Navarro, who has fell in the Round of 64 in Cincinnati in back-to-back years. It's been 19 years since the Cincinnati Open has seen an American win the men's singles title, when Andy Roddick claimed the 2006 crown. Last year, Frances Tiafoe was the first American to reach the Cincinnati Open men's singles final since 2013. There are two Americans in the ATP Top 10 in Taylor Fritz (No. 5) and Ben Shelton (No. 10). Shelton reached the Cincinnati quarterfinals in 2024, and Fritz is a two-time quarterfinalist (2022, 2023). This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 5 storylines to follow at the 2025 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Really special.' Here are the local products to watch in the 2025 Cincinnati Open
Part of the star-studded fields for the 2025 Cincinnati Open include a few players with local ties. There are 16 overall players with college experience competing in the Cincinnati Open. That includes Peyton Stearns, a Mason native who won NCAA singles and team titles for the University of Texas. Stearns is currently ranked in the top 40 in the WTA Rankings after changing coaches in the spring. The 23-year-old is now working with Slovenian Blaz Kavcic, a former professional player on the ATP tour. "Blaz is positive on and off the court," Stearns told The Enquirer. "It's helped me with confidence going into Rome. I didn't have many wins but had been putting a lot of hours on court and the positivity has helped a lot." In May, Stearns charged to the semifinals of the Rome Open, a 1000-level event, with victories over two Grand Slam tournament champions Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys. It led to a career-high ranking (No. 28). Stearns is still searching for her first main draw victory in her hometown tournament after bowing out in the Round of 64 of the Cincinnati Open in back-to-back years. She had a first-round qualifying victory in Mason in 2022. Caty McNally set to return to Cincinnati Open after elbow injury Madeira native Caty McNally will make her first on-court appearance at the Cincinnati Open since 2022 after being awarded a main draw wild card. This time last year, McNally was on campus in Mason but still recovering from elbow surgery. It was the same elbow issue that caused her to withdraw from the tournament in 2023 before ultimately opting to go under the knife in March 2024. "It's crazy to think it's been that long since I've played in Cincinnati," McNally told The Enquirer. "Getting to play there would be incredibly rewarding." One year ago, McNally had just been cleared to begin hitting the ball again. She had to tame her passion to get back to the player she was before the injury, which meant conquering the stressful and mentally exhausting weeks of rehab. "I think a big part of it was the mental side of things," McNally said. "Being able to be positive with myself, give myself time and be patient with the heeling. I had to know my elbow was OK. It's that mental hurdle I had to face. It was a long progression. I remember some points in my rehab that I would walk in and just start crying. To be able to face those demons and prove them wrong has been really nice." In November 2024, she made her return in the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, Michigan and won her first match. Since then, McNally has steadily improved her ranking and had a strong showing at Wimbledon, where she won in the first round over Jodie Burrage. In the Round of 64, McNally was the only player to win a set against Iga Swiatek, who would roll to the Wimbledon title. "I had a great experience there. I said, 'I think I want to go to Newport. I'm playing really good tennis,'" McNally said. "I want to try to keep this momentum." McNally did just that in the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island in July. In the first WTA event in 35 years in Newport, McNally upset top-seeded Tatjana Maria for her second career title on tour. "Being able to test myself physically and mentally like that is always good," McNally said. "It gives me a lot of confidence being able to prove to myself that I can play multiple matches in a day or five matches in a week. It gave me confidence in my body. Just nothing but good things over that week." McNally is 1-4 all-time in the Cincinnati Open, picking up a main draw victory in her last appearance in 2022. A pair of University of Kentucky products will play in Cincinnati Open Cincinnati Country Day product J.J. Wolf underwent surgery for a torn labrum in February and will miss the Cincinnati Open. However, there are a few players in the ATP field of local interest, including two former UK Wildcats. Gabriel Diallo, a three-time All-American at UK from 2020-2022, is currently ranked in the top 40 in the ATP Tour. He captured his first career ATP Tour title in June by winning the Libema Open Grass Court Championships. Liam Draxl, the ITA National Player of the Year in 2021 while at UK, is in the Cincinnati Open qualifying field. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Here are the local products to watch in the 2025 Cincinnati Open
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US Open prize money pool increases to record $90M, largest in tennis history
The U.S. Open will once again offer the largest total prize pool in tennis history when it begins in New York later this month. The USTA announced Wednesday it will distribute $90 million to players, a 20 percent increase from the $75 million it offered last season. It also puts the U.S. Open far ahead of the other three Grand Slams, as Wimbledon distributed roughly $71 million, the French Open $65.5 million and the Australian Open approximately $63 million this year. This year's men's and women's singles champions will each make $5 million, up from the $3.6 million that Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka took home last year. According to the USTA, the increase in prize money includes "double-digit percentage increases from 2024 in all rounds of all events for all players." Notably, that includes the new-look mixed doubles event that will take place at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center the week before the singles main draw. In an attempt to incentivize top singles players to play mixed doubles, the USTA is offering a $1 million prize to the winning team and $400,000 to the runners-up in a shortened 16-team format. The mixed doubles entry list includes eight of the top-10 men's players and six of the top-10 women, with two more teams still to be awarded wildcard entry. The prize money increase comes at a time when some players have questioned whether they are getting a fair share of the revenues created by the pro tennis tours and the Grand Slams. "I'm just going to state a fact," Novak Djokovic said at a news conference earlier this year in Australia. "The pie split between the governing bodies in major sports, all major American sports like NFL, NBA, baseball, NHL, is 50 percent. Maybe more, maybe less, but around 50 percent. Ours is way lower than that." While the Grand Slams offer by far the biggest purses – for many lower-ranked singles players, just getting in the main U.S. Open draw and losing in the first round is worth $110,000, often representing the bulk of their prize money for the year – reporting in the Athletic earlier this year showed that players earn somewhere in the teens as a percentage of total revenue generated by the four biggest tournaments. The Professional Tennis Players Association, an organization co-founded by Djokovic, filed an antitrust lawsuit earlier this year against the sports' governing bodies, including the ATP and WTA. US Open prize money pool breakdown Men's and women's singles champion $5 million Runner up $2.5 million Semifinals $1.26 million Quarterfinals $660,000 Round of 16 $400,000 Round of 32 $237,000 Round of 64 $154,000 Round of 128 $110,000 Men's and women's doubles Champion $1 million Runners-up $500,000 Semifinals $250,000 Quarterfinals $125,000 Round of 16 $75,000 Round of 32 $45,000 Round of 64 $30,000 Mixed doubles Champion $1 million Runners-up $400,000 Semifinals $200,000 Quarterfinals $100,000 Round of 16 $20,000 This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US Open tennis prize money pool increases to record $90 million
