Latest news with #EurosportGermany
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
In Wimbledon exit, Aryna Sabalenka reflects on what she learned from her Coco Gauff comments at French Open
Aryna Sabalenka wasn't going to make the same mistake she did the last time she lost in a Grand Slam tournament. "You're not gonna see a Roland-Garros press conference," Sabalenka said jokingly to open her news conference Thursday, following her Wimbledon semifinal defeat to American Amanda Anisimova. Advertisement Sablenka was referencing her post-match comments that downplayed Coco Gauff's French Open final victory in June. Sabalenka added before laughing: "Anyone who was waiting for that, you can leave right now." Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus and the world No. 1, admitted that Anisimova was the better player Thursday and played braver tennis than her. Anisimova, 23, came into Wimbledon as the No. 13 seed and now will play for her first-ever Grand Slam title. She outlasted Sabalenka in a back-and-forth semifinal match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. In the process, Anisimova improved her head-to-head record against Sabalenka to 6-3. Advertisement Sabalenka, who noted her return game was not up to her standard Thursday, found herself trailing 4-1 in the final set. "I still came back. I still had chances," Sabalenka said. "Then the last game, she just smashed my serves. I have to say that she was more brave today. Maybe when I was just trying to stay in the point, she was playing more aggressive. Sometimes I was just stopping my arms, making mistakes I shouldn't be making. I think I should've been a little more brave today and remembered that I'm on the top of the ranking, and I can do that. I think at some point in the match I forgot about that.' Sabalenka's remarks Thursday were much more composed than the ones she delivered last month after losing to Gauff, who had also defeated her in the 2023 US Open final. At the time, Sabalenka attributed Gauff's French Open final victory more to Sabalenka's own mistakes — she made 70 unforced errors — and less to Gauff's level of play. Sabalenka went as far as suggesting that Iga Świątek would have beaten Gauff had Świątek advanced to the final. The next day, Sabalenka walked back those comments in an Instagram post, stating that Gauff "deserved to win" the French Open final. Sabalenka later told Eurosport Germany that she reached out to Gauff to personally apologize. Sabalenka was asked Thursday how her French Open final defeat to Gauff, and the subsequent backlash she received for her post-match comments, influenced the humble way she processed her Wimbledon semifinal loss to Anisimova. "I just don't want to face that hate again," Sabalenka said with a laugh before continuing. "No, I mean, we're all people. We all can lose control over our emotions. It's absolutely normal. Every time when I was really that close in this match today to completely losing it and start yelling, screaming, smashing rackets, I kept reminding myself that that's not an option, and it's not gonna help me stay in the match and fight for my dream. Even right now I took a bit more time before doing my media, just so I can be Aryna, not that crazy person at that media day at Roland-Garros.' Thursday's semifinal match between Sabalenka and Anisimova included two delays, each related to fans struggling with the London heat. During both stoppages, Sabalenka offered help by bringing water over to the stands. Advertisement "I just hope they feel better," Sabalenka said after the match. "It didn't interrupt [my play] in any ways. I was able to play my game. It didn't matter how long the pause was. "I just hope they feel better." Sabalenka is a three-time Grand Slam champion, but she's still searching for her first Wimbledon title.
NDTV
20-06-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
The Magic Of Carlos Alcaraz
The Stade Roland Garros is named after French World War 1 fighter pilot and aviation pioneer (Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros). Over the years, another high-flier, albeit in tennis apparel, became synonymous with the venue. Winning 14 singles titles at one Grand Slam event will have that effect. Most tennis fans in fact believe that what Rafael Nadal managed to accomplish on the red clay of Paris is not just otherworldly, but frankly impossible to replicate. But a certain 22-year-old, who was barely into his second year on this planet when his compatriot, Nadal, won his maiden French Open title in 2005, would no doubt have pictured himself winning title number 15, someday. Carlos Alcaraz will have no memory of how Nadal beat Mariano Puerta to triumphantly lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires 20 years ago, but he made sure every serious tennis fan in the world will forever remember how he came back from being two sets down to successfully defend his French Open crown, while saving as many as three Championship points (match points in a final). Read that again. Only two men before this had saved Championship points en route to winning a Slam title in the Open Era - Gaston Gaudio in 2004 at Roland Garros and Novak Djokovic in 2019 at Wimbledon. Since the Open Era began in 1968, there had been only eight men who had come back from two sets down to win a Grand Slam final. On June 8, Alcaraz became the ninth. The ninth man in 57 years. It's not the most logical of things, but it is a facet of human nature that sometimes it takes a herculean effort to make people realise the obvious. There of course has been a lot of talk, for a while now, about who the worthy successors will be of the Big 3 (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic), and names like Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been on top of the list of potentials. But after what we witnessed on the court Philippe-Chatrier of the Stade Roland Garros in the French Open men's singles final this year - a clash of two different but supremely effective playing styles, in what was the longest ever final played at the venue (5 hours and 29 minutes) - there's no doubt that tennis fans will officially anoint both players as the biggest torchbearers of the new era in global men's singles tennis. This is the rivalry in men's tennis to watch out for, for now. The last six Slam titles have been shared by the two best players of this generation. It wasn't a surprise then to hear six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker say on Eurosport Germany, "It was the same with Federer, Djokovic and Nadal. What epic duels they've had over 15 years - and that's exactly the level I see Carlos and Jannik at." Seven-time Slam champion, Mats Wilander, told TNT Sports, "I thought: 'This is not possible - they're playing at a pace that is not human.'" A new era in men's tennis has well and truly begun. There's absolutely no doubt that tennis, like most other extremely physical sports, is mostly a young person's game. As the body ages and the reflexes become slower, it takes longer and longer to recuperate physically. Consequently, more and more 'older' players are left by the wayside. This is also one factor that made the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic titans of the sport - they didn't seem to be afflicted by the usual tyrannies of ageing, like most mortals. But even so, to win five Grand Slam titles by the age of 22 is a monumental achievement. Alcaraz is the third youngest man to clinch five Slams after Bjorn Borg (21) and Rafa Nadal (22). But then, Alcaraz has always been "a phenom". He turned professional at the age of 15 in 2018 and broke into the men's top 100 rankings by 2021. He finished as the world number 35 that year (2021), after making it to the US Open quarter-finals - the youngest men's singles Grand Slam quarter-finalist since the then 18-year-old Michael Chang in 1990 at the French Open. From a first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist to a five-time Slam champion in four years. Now, that is some super-fast progression. However, what is most remarkable about Alcaraz's development, so far, is that he is as comfortable on the fast (not as fast as it used to be of course) Wimbledon grass as he is on the slow, grind-it-out clay of Roland Garros. Most tennis players who come out of the Spanish stable are clay-court masters, because they are reared on clay from a very early age. Out of the 22 Slam titles that Nadal won in his career, 14 were won on clay - that's almost 64% of his total tally. Most people feel that a Spaniard's favourite tennis surface will always be clay, but Alcaraz has turned that stereotype on its head. Some experts feel that clay, in fact, does not really suit his high-risk, high-reward style of play because the longer rallies increase the chances of unforced errors for him, among other factors. So far in his career, Alcaraz has won Slam titles on all three different varieties of courts - hard, grass and clay, having clinched the US Open, Wimbledon and French Open titles. Some might feel hard courts might suit his game the most, but that would be inaccurate, going by his progression - he won the US Open in 2022 as his maiden Slam title, but hasn't won a hard-court Slam since then, while winning two Wimbledon and two French Open titles since then. Even the all-time greats like Federer, Rafa and Novak have been vulnerable on certain surfaces. Federer, who won 20 Grand Slams, managed to win just one French Open title. Nadal won Wimbledon just twice. Djokovic, in fact, is one player who has come very close to being almost invincible on all surfaces, but he, too, clearly prefers hard and grass courts. So, which is Carlos Alcaraz's favourite surface? The scary thing is: he might be a complete all-surface player. Of course, he has miles to go before he can legitimately earn that epithet, but even some of the legends of the game have conceded that he might have the best qualities of the Big 3, rolled into one. Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi told TNT Sports, "....You gotta remember this guy has defence and speed like Novak, if not more. He has feel like Federer, you could argue at times if not more. He has RPMs in pace like Rafa. You could argue maybe even more." There have been only four men in this century who have won at least one Grand Slam title four years in a row. Alcaraz is the fourth. The first three were Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. There's a certain steely determination that runs through Alcaraz's veins. And it's not surprising. After all, he does have tennis in his blood. Carlos' father is a tennis player-turned-coach and handed Carlos a racquet at the age of four. That is when he joined the Real Sociedad Club de Campo de Murcia, where his father was coach and administrator. His father lit the spark, and it was noticed by no-nonsense manager Albert Molina when Carlos was just 11. Molina is also from Murcia (like Alcaraz) and was instrumental in the global talent-management company, IMG, signing the prodigy. He also introduced Carlos to former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who joined the Alcaraz camp as head coach in 2019. A recent Netflix documentary revealed how Molina was quite upset with Alcaraz when the youngster went to Ibiza for a holiday after losing to Nadal in the 2023 French Open. Molina felt the then 20-year-old was not taking his upcoming commitments, including Wimbledon, seriously. Alcaraz had the perfect reply for his manager - his first Wimbledon title, just a few weeks later. This anecdote shows, in many ways, how Alcaraz can switch on in an instant and can fuel himself with positivity and confidence, no matter what the situation. In the French Open final this time, Alcaraz was down love-40, trailing 3-5 in the fourth set against Sinner. He managed to save all three match points to turn the match on its head, before going on to win the fifth set tie-break and the Championship and scripting one of the all-time greatest comebacks in the sport. Alcaraz is only the second male player after Roger Federer to have remained unbeaten in his first five Slam finals. Ferrero, who has been coaching him since Alcaraz was 16, has gone on record to say that even he thought the Spaniard wouldn't be able to come back from that position, but "...with Carlos, everything is possible." Those might just turn out to be prophetic words.
Gulf Today
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Wimbledon wild card for Kvitova; Sabalenka seeks Gauff's apology
Petra Kvitova is returning to Wimbledon after the 2011 and 2014 champion was awarded a wild card Wednesday for this year's tournament. Kvitova last played at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament in 2023, and became a mother for the first time when her son was born during last year's Wimbledon tournament. Kvitova made her return to the WTA Tour in Austin, Texas, in February after 17 months away from the court and is currently ranked 572nd. Kvitova, from the Czech Republic, was the only non-British player to get a singles wild card to the main draw on Wednesday. The other seven players with wild cards for the women's draw include British players Heather Watson, Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage, while Dan Evans is among seven British players given a wild card for the men's draw. One more men's wild card is due to be announced 'in due course,' organizers said. Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka says she has written to Coco Gauff to apologise for the 'unprofessional' comments she made following her loss to her American rival in the final of the French Open. Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka pose with their trophies after the final match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris on Saturday. AP Speaking to Eurosport Germany, the top-ranked Sabalenka said her remarks after her 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 loss to Gauff at Roland-Garros this month were a mistake. In her post-match press conference in Paris, Sabalenka had suggested that the result was more due to her own errors than to Gauff's performance. 'That was just completely unprofessional of me,' Sabalenka said. 'I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then. You know, we all make mistakes. I'm just a human being who's still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. But what I also want to say is that I wrote to Coco afterward - not immediately, but recently.' Sabalenka hit 37 winners but finished the final with 70 unforced errors - compared to Gauff's 30. She said she wrote to Gauff to apologize and 'make sure she knew she absolutely deserved to win the tournament and that I respect her.' 'I never intended to attack her,' Sabalanka added. 'I was super emotional and not very smart at that press conference. I'm not necessarily grateful for what I did. It took me a while to go back and think about it, to approach it with open eyes, and to understand. I realized a lot about myself. Why did I lose so many finals?' Sabalenka, a three-time major champion, also lost to Gauff in the 2023 US Open final, where she also won the first set. 'I kept getting so emotional,' Sabalenka added. 'So I learned a lot. Above all, one thing: I'm the one who always treats my opponents with great respect, whether I win or lose. Without that respect, I wouldn't be where I am today. So it was a tough but very valuable lesson for me.' The man accused of stalking tennis player Emma Raducanu tried to obtain tickets to Wimbledon but was blocked by the All England Club's security system, British media reported Tuesday. The BBC and others reported that the man tried to apply for tickets through the public ballot for the Grand Slam tournament that starts June 30. His name had been red-flagged. Agencies
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Aryna Sabalenka apologises to Coco Gauff in letter after 'unprofessional' French Open press conference
Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff (from left) I Credits: X/@Olly_Tennis_ French Open 2025: Aryna Sabalenka has issued an apology to Coco Gauff after her emotional remarks during the French Open press conference drew criticism. The world number one admitted she 'absolutely regretted' her comments, confirmed she messaged Gauff privately, and reflected on what she described as a tough but valuable lesson. According to reports, Sabalenka first blamed her loss on unforced errors rather than crediting Gauff's performance. She later walked back those comments on Instagram, stating, 'Coco handled the conditions much better than I did and fully deserved the win'. Speaking to Eurosport Germany, Sabalenka admitted: 'That was just completely unprofessional of me. I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then'. Aryna Sabalenka on post-match comments after loss to Coco Gauff at Roland Garros, 'I spoke to Coco afterward... I wanted to apologize and make sure she knew she absolutely deserved to win the tournament and that I respect her' 'That was just completely unprofessional of me. I… — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 17, 2025 She said she finally reached out to Gauff, telling her, 'She absolutely deserved to win the tournament and that I respect her'. Sabalenka explained it took time to reflect: 'It took me a while to revisit it, to approach it with open eyes and to understand. I realised a lot about myself. Why did I lose so many finals? I kept getting so emotional. So it was a tough but very instructive lesson for me'. Looking ahead to Wimbledon: A potential rematch With Wimbledon starting June 30, both players could face each other again soon. Sabalenka is turning the page as she heads into the grass‑court swing, while Gauff remains focused after her hard‑earned Roland Garros victory. Their next match-up will be watched closely by fans, with many eager to see how Sabalenka's recent reflection will impact their rivalry. 18/6/2025 11:32:53
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aryna Sabalenka in startling new act towards Coco Gauff after 'unprofessional' act
Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she apologised to French Open winner Coco Gauff for her 'unprofessional' comments after capitulating during the final in Paris. Gauff one a close three-set final over Sabalenka at Roland Garros, but the World No.1 was left in tears after the defeat having felt she could have played much better. While Sabalenka finished with 30 winners, she also made 70 unforced errors as her game fell apart in the third set. The World No.1 was visibly upset after the defeat with the American winning her maiden French Open title. Speaking after the final, Sabalenka largely dismissed Gauff's comeback and claimed her errors cost her another grand slam. "It was honestly the worst tennis I've played in I don't know how many months," Sabalenka said. "Conditions were terrible, and she simply was better in these conditions than me. I think I was overemotional and I didn't really handle myself well. I think she won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes from, if you look from the outside, easy balls." But after the clay court dust has settled on her defeat, Sabalenka has revealed she took the loss poorly. Speaking ahead of her first grass-court match this year in Berlin, Sabalenka said she reached out to Gauff to apologise for her comments. "That was just completely unprofessional of me," said Sabalenka to Eurosport Germany. "I let my emotions get the better of me. "I absolutely regret what I said back then. We all make mistakes. I'm just a human being who's still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. The difference with me is the world is watching." RELATED: Tennis world in frenzy over news about Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka De Minaur responds to 'awful' revelation from Boulter amid Wimbledon setback Sabalenka was seen tearing up during the French Open post-tournament ceremony, but her comments in the press conference caused a stir. "I cannot go out there every time against her in the finals of the Grand Slam and play such terrible tennis," Sabalenka said at the time. "It felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just there laughing saying, 'let's see if you can handle this'. Honestly, sometimes it felt like she was hitting the ball from the frame. Somehow magically the ball lands in the court, and you are kind of on the back foot." Gauff's win marked her first French Open title to go along with her maiden US Open triumph. The 21-year-old will head into Wimbledon in form, but she has not always enjoyed success on grass. The power-hitter has never made it past the round of 16 at Wimbledon, despite having reached it three times in her young career. She will be boosted though having achieved the World No.2 ranking after winning in Paris. Meanwhile, Sabalenka will also feel she can carry some momentum into the grass court campaign as she looked to add her first grand slam title to her collection in 2025.
