AP PHOTOS: Highlights so far from the French Open tennis tournament
This gallery, curated by AP photo editors, showcases highlights of the French Open tennis tournament through the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
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The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
AP PHOTOS: Tattoos, clay and bouncing hair bring the French Open to life
It's the small details that bring the French Open to life — a ball smashing into the strings of Quentin Halys' racket as he serves, red clay staining a ball boy's hand, or the burst of dust as Andrey Rublev knocks clay from his shoes. The tournament pulses with quiet moments: Cameron Norrie carefully changing the tape on his racket, players gripping balls smudged with red, sweat flicking from a wristband during a serve, and the Suzanne-Lenglen court mirrored in a spectator's sunglasses. Body art and jewelry stand out — Aryna Sabalenka's fierce tiger tattoo, Alexander Bublik's reminder to 'Always be a leader, not a follower' — while a tiny bug briefly lands on Alexander Zverev's shirt near his ram necklace. Even in a still image, Elina Svitolina's bouncing hair carries a rhythm unique to the Parisian clay. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. ___ AP tennis:
Times
41 minutes ago
- Times
Jannik Sinner beats Novak Djokovic to set up Carlos Alcaraz final
Novak Djokovic admitted that his French Open semi-final defeat on Friday may be his last appearance at Roland Garros as a 15-year-age difference proved too much for him to overcome against Jannik Sinner. The sport's best two players, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, will go head-to-head once again on Sunday as they continue the best active rivalry in men's tennis on Court Philippe Chatrier. This, however, feels like the most significant of all their 12 meetings as the first time they have stood across the net from each other in a grand-slam final. It is one of the final steps in the transition of power across generations. Djokovic is the last man standing of tennis's 'Big Three' after the retirements of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, and a grand-slam semi-final defeat is no shame for a 38-year-old. But ultimately a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) loss by Sinner was further proof that he is being overpowered and outlasted by these young whipper snappers. Afterwards, Djokovic gave a lingering wave to the crowd before kissing his hand and touching the clay court. He told reporters afterwards that this was done in the realisation that he possibly may never play again here. 'This could have been the last match I ever played here, so I don't know,' Djokovic said. 'That's why I was a bit more emotional at the end. If this was the farewell match of Roland Garros for me in my career, it was a wonderful one in terms of the atmosphere. 'Twelve months at this point in my career is quite a long time. Do I wish to play more? Yes I did. But will I be able to play here in 12 months' time again? I don't know.' Djokovic will still fancy his chances of a record 25th grand-slam singles title at Wimbledon, where experience counts on the grass, but that is for the end of this month. Sunday's match between 23-year-old Sinner and 21-year-old Alcaraz is not the future, it is the present. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. 'It was such a special occasion for me playing against Novak in a semi-final of a grand slam,' Sinner said. 'I had to step up and play the best tennis I could. It shows again what a role model he is for all of us, especially for young players. 'What he is doing is incredible. We are so lucky to see him play high-level tennis. He achieved so many things. He is the best player in the history of our sport. Playing against him here is amazing. 'Of course, I tried not to think about this, but before you're on court you feel the tension. I tried to prepare myself in the best possible way. I am very happy with how I did that today.' Sinner will start as the slight favourite as he has been far more efficient this fortnight, although the Italian did not admit as much. 'My head-to-head lately doesn't look great against Carlos, but let's see what I can do,' he said. 'I am happy to be here in the final, and we will see what we can do. Of course, I enjoy these moments. These are rare and special moments in my career.' Alcaraz has not been at his best and was taken to four sets for the fourth time in six matches in his semi-final on Friday, before Lorenzo Musetti's retirement forced a premature end. This was not the way Alcaraz would have preferred to secure his place in a fifth grand-slam final. He was leading 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0, 2-0 when Musetti, the world No7 from Italy, pulled the plug because of a left thigh injury that had him struggling to both move around the court and push up off his legs into his service motion. 'It's not the way that I want to win, to make the final,' Alcaraz said. 'I just wished Lorenzo a speedy recovery. I hope to see him soon on the court again, enjoying his tennis again. He's going to fight for finals and grand slams, I'm sure about it.' One element in favour of Alcaraz on Sunday is his head-to-head record with Sinner. He has won their last four matches to take a 7-4 lead, with the most recent taking place on clay in the Italian Open final last month. Alcaraz has also by far been the best performer during this European clay-court swing, although bear in mind that Sinner missed a large portion because of the tail end of his three-month anti-doping ban. Alcaraz has won 21 of 22 matches on the red stuff this season, including an ongoing 12-match winning streak since the start of the Italian Open. In the absence of Nadal, there will be a case to be made for Alcaraz becoming his active successor on this surface if he defends his title. Djokovic had played so well on Wednesday to outfox Alexander Zverev, but facing the power and speed of the Sinner forehand was on another level. The Sinner backhand was also proving rather handy with no unforced errors on this side in the first 76 minutes of the match. Sinner was in full control when he served for the second set at 5-4 up before Djokovic finally ended a 40-game streak, stretching back to November 2023, in which he failed to bring up a single break point against the Sinner serve. He broke back for 5-5 but his recovery was short-lived after handing the break straight back. Djokovic received a long massage of the area around his left hip and put up a decent fight in the third set considering. He even had three set points on the Sinner serve at 5-4 but failed to convert and lost out in the subsequent tiebreak. The first semi-final involving Alcaraz was essentially over after two sets when it became clear that Musetti was struggling with a thigh injury. He lost eight consecutive games after receiving treatment from the tournament physio and decided to quit after dropping his serve to go 2-0 down in the fourth set. 'I am really honestly sad and disappointed with how it ended, but still it was a great match so far,' Musetti said. 'I felt at the beginning of the third set when I was serving, I started losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind. It definitely was getting worse and worse, so I decided to stop. I think it was the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted.'
BBC News
44 minutes ago
- BBC News
William to address Monaco forum in bid to help world's oceans
The Prince of Wales will travel to the South of France this weekend to call for more to be done to protect the world's what his team describes as a "landmark speech" in Monaco on Sunday - World Oceans Day - he will address environmentalists and, crucially, investors, to urge them to work together to protect our oceansPrince William will attend the Blue Economy and Finance Forum as founder of the Earthshot environmental prize which looks for solutions to the world's climate forum is the curtain-raiser to the UN Oceans Conference in Nice next week. 'The time is now' "The Prince of Wales feels passionately about action being taken to protect and restore our oceans," a Kensington Palace spokesperson told the BBC. "Tomorrow, he's going to be calling for swift, immediate global action. The time is now."Rising temperatures, pollution and overfishing are causing huge damage to the world's oceans and the communities that rely on this weekend will look at the role oceans play in global trade, food security and sustainable meeting will be held at the Grimaldi Forum, an eye-catching steel and glass venue, named after Monaco's own royal Albert II of Monaco is a supporter of many oceans projects and is a key player at the forum."This event will be more than a forum. It will provide an unique opportunity to bring together decision makers, finance professionals, philanthropists, NGOs and players from the private sector to turn ambition into action," he says. Last month, Sir David Attenborough's new film, Oceans, was released in gave his lifelong perspective on the value of oceans."After living for nearly 100 years on this planet," he says "I now understand that the most important place on earth is not on land but at sea and today we are living in the greatest age of ocean discovery."The film places the oceans as being at a crossroads, needing more action to help them continue as the "planet's support system".Prince William shares that has made his admiration for Sir David, who was an inspiration for the creation of the Earthshot Prize, David's storytelling around the environment is a powerful asset in getting public attention and buy in – something the prince is acutely aware of. The visit to France is an insight into how Prince William sees his role in the environmental space and part of his development as a global attending the forum in Monaco will be France's President Emmanuel Macron and President Rodrigo Roblez of Costa Monaco?Because, over the coming days, gathered in this wealthy, tax haven, amid the super yachts and holidaying multi-millionaires, is some serious cash and investors willing to spend it on protecting marine life and the oceans they live prince's speech and meetings will largely be in public on he will also hold a closed, private session with experts and the investor a pragmatic approach to using his royal soft power to draw in people who have the resources to help generate change. 'I have a job that should not exist' Throughout his life, the King has used his platform to bring the conversation about the environment into the son is now building on that, in his own way, to try to show that environmental solutions are worth the the oceans can be a difficult sheer scale of the work that needs to be done can make it less attractive to investors."I have a job that should not exist" is how Sam Teicher, the co-founder and chief reef officer of CoralVita often begins his business was the first winner of the million-pound Earthshot prize in 2021 for solutions to repair and protect oceans. CoralVita grows corals to restore dying this year's Earthshot nominations, only 9% have entered the "Revive Our Oceans" category."We are land creatures, it is out of sight and out of mind for a lot of people," says Sam will be in Monaco this weekend and describes his approach to raising money for his business as "trying to harness capitalism for good", stressing that "you need to be genuine and maintain integrity, you don't want to blue wash or green wash".And that strategy is BBC has learnt that CoralVita has just won funding of about £6m ($8.1m) with investors led by Builders Vision – a philanthropic organisation created by Lukas Walton, whose grandparents founded the Walmart chain in the United States. It is one of the biggest funding offers for oceans work and will mean CoralVita can scale up and accelerate its restoration projects to help preserve the ocean's investment power of Builders Vision will now also support the Earthshot Prize in a newly announced partnership. It again highlights the impact Prince William can have in linking up environmental solutions with investors. Royal stardust The Prince William factor has been a huge benefit to CoralVita as it works to scale up its business."He helps getting in front of people who would normally not think it was investible or that it mattered," says Mr Teicher."We need to expand out to bankers, government leaders, tech specialists. He gets more people around the table."And ultimately this is an event where money Mr Teicher the target is always the right type of investor."We aren't looking for people wanting a traditional five to seven year return," he says. "This is a long-haul problem. We need people in it for the long haul."
