Latest news with #ItalianTennis
CBC
27-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Canada's Auger-Aliassime gives up 2-set lead in French Open loss to Italy's Arnaldi
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime is out of the French Open after giving up a two-set lead in a 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 first-round loss to Italy's Matteo Arnaldi on Tuesday. Arnaldi, who roared back into contention after being soundly defeated in the second set, picked up his fourth and fifth breaks of the match in the final set. Auger-Aliassime saved three match points in the final game before his long return clinched the match for Arnaldi. The 36th-ranked Italian held serve throughout the final two sets, including Game 6 of the fifth when he faced double break point, to eliminate the 29th-seeded Auger-Aliassime. Auger-Aliassime, who had medical timeouts before the fourth and fifth sets to work on his left ankle, looked like he was headed for a convincing win. He picked up the first break of the match to go up 6-5 in the first set, then served to love to take a 1-0 lead. The Canadian carried that momentum into the second set, where he went up 4-0 by converting breaks in Games 1 and 3 and serving to love in Games 2 and 4, ultimately winning the set 6-2. But after Auger-Aliassime picked up his fourth break to open the third set, Arnaldi finally got to the Canadian's serve. The Italian scored breaks in the second and fourth games en route to taking the set 6-3. Arnaldi then tied the match 2-2 after converting the only break of the fourth set while looking increasingly confident on serve. Arnaldi next faces another Italian, No. 26 Flavio Cobolli. Auger-Aliassime, who entered the clay-court Grand Slam on a roll after reaching the semifinals of the Hamburg Open last week, failed to join fellow Canadians Gabriel Diallo and Denis Shapovalov in the second round. The farthest Auger-Aliassime has made it at Roland Garros is the fourth round, a feat he accomplished twice before losing to the eventual champion (Rafael Nadal in 2022, Carlos Alcaraz last year). Toronto's Victoria Mboko, the lone Canadian remaining in the women's singles draw, faces Belgium's Eva Lys in a second-round match Wednesday. Mboko won her Grand Slam main-draw debut with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over New Zealand's Lulu Sun in the opening round.
CNN
18-05-2025
- Sport
- CNN
Jasmine Paolini beats Coco Gauff in Italian Open final to become first home winner in 40 years
Jasmine Paolini beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 in the Italian Open women's singles final on Saturday to become the first Italian player to win the tournament in 40 years, before repeating the feat in the doubles final on Sunday. In doing so, Paolini became the first woman since Monica Seles in 1990 to win both the singles and doubles titles at the Italian Open, and the first player to do so in any WTA 1000 series tournament since Vera Zvonareva at Indian Wells in 2009. With Italian President Sergio Mattarella in attendance for the match against Gauff, Paolini fed off the energy of the home crowd and looked a class above her opponent to claim what is arguably the biggest win of her career. 'It doesn't seem real to me,' the 29-year-old said, per AP. 'I came here as a kid to see this tournament but winning it and holding up this trophy wasn't even in my dreams.' Neither player could hold their serve across the first three games, but Paolini won the fourth to take a 3-1 lead and was in command for the remainder of the set. The Italian then broke her opponent twice at the beginning of the second set to take a 3-0 lead, before Gauff broke back. But Paolini remained composed, re-establishing her three-game lead in the very next game and cruising through the rest of the set, eventually clinching the victory with a big serve down the middle on her second championship point and raising her arms in celebration. Paolini, runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon last year, is the first Italian winner at the Italian Open since Raffaella Reggi won the women's singles tournament in 1985. She is only the fourth Italian winner overall since the tournament began in 1930. The victory means she will move up to fourth in the world rankings ahead of the French Open, which begins on Sunday, May 25. 'Maybe I could have served better and put more balls in the court,' said Gauff, who had 55 unforced errors and seven double faults. 'I definitely could and can. But she played to win today and she deserved to win.' 'With the double faults, it's something I know I have to improve,' she added. Then, on Sunday, Paolini and Sara Errani, the reigning Olympic champions, twice came from 4-0 down to win the women's doubles final 6-4, 7-5 against Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens. Men's world No. 1 Jannik Sinner is hoping to complete a first ever Italian sweep of the Rome singles titles when he faces Carlos Alcaraz later on Sunday. The last Italian man to win the tournament was Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Malay Mail
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Malay Mail
Sinner leading the charge in golden era for Italian tennis
ROME, May 6 — Jannik Sinner will delight crowds at the Rome Open this week when the world number one makes his return to tennis, but the Italian's three-month doping ban has allowed other local rising stars to move into the limelight. Sinner was yesterday joined in the top 10 of the men's world rankings by Lorenzo Musetti, who is at number nine after reaching the Monte Carlo final and the last four in Madrid. Meanwhile Luciano Darderi and Flavio Cobolli won tournaments in Marrakesh and Bucharest in April, further underlining the strength in depth that Italian tennis has behind Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam winner. Filippo Volandri, captain of the Italy team which has won the last two editions of the Davis Cup, told AFP that 'Italian tennis is clearly in a golden age'. 'But it's been a long time coming, we're seeing the fruits of work which was started some time ago,' he added. The system works Volandri, who has been in charge of top-level male players for the Italian Tennis Federation (FITP) for the last nine years, showed AFP a graphic which illustrates Italy's recent progress. Between 2005 and 2015 Italian players won eight ATP titles—with seven of those in the lowest 250 category—but since 2016 the tally of tournament wins has more than trebled to 31. Five of those 31 wins have come in top-level Master 1000 tournaments, with another three being Sinner's Grand Slam triumphs. Sinner is responsible in total for 19 of Italy's ATP wins since 2016. 'Jannik is the product of a movement which had already given us Matteo Berrettini reaching the Wimbledon final (in 2021). He is the result of a system that works,' said Volandri. Michelangelo Dell'Edera, the director of the FITP's Higher Training Institute, told AFP that the federation runs a geographically-decentralised system which was put in place at the end of the 1990s. 'Every province has a coach from the federation for children between 8-10 years old, while each region has a manager in charge of players between the ages of 11 and 16,' explained Dell'Edera. Players were for a long time obliged to move to the national training centre at Tirrenia, just up the Tuscany coast from Livorno, but that is no longer the case. 'Decentralisation means making our skills available to young players and their coaches,' said Volandri. 'We're reaching out to them rather than tearing them away from their families and their lives.' 'Speed tennis' Dell'Edera said the renaissance in Italian tennis has also come via a change in training philosophy and playing style. 'To make a comparison with another sport, we've gone from the marathon, where players were slugging forehands and backhands, to the 100m, a sort of 'speed tennis' where the emphasis is on the serve and return, two shots which determine whether a point can be won,' he said. Every year for the past seven years, just before the Rome Open the FITP invites its 12,000 coaches to a seminar at the picturesque Foro Italico where the major clay court tournament is played. The seminar is held to discuss training, physical preparation and tactics, with guest appearances from big foreign names in the field such as Emilio Sanchez and Brad Gilbert, who were there on Saturday. Gilbert, the former coach of tennis icon Andre Agassi, is impressed with the work being done in Italy. 'They're getting to the top, they have Sinner. Sometimes you get to the top and you rest. If anything, they are spending more,' said Gilbert. 'They've made an incredible commitment and they've got a great supporting team. Sinner is the reward. 'But they started this thing 10, 15 years ago and they're still producing. I just watched this kid... Federico Cina. He is special.' Cina could have the chance to show how special he is as he will play Sinner in the second round in Rome if he gets past Argentinian Mariano Navone in his opening match. — AFP
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Jannik Sinner is back! Rome welcomes hometown hero with open arms as the world No 1 prepares to return at Italian Open following doping ban
The return of the prodigal son? More like the second coming. Jannik Sinner was greeted like a conquering hero as he re-emerged into the tennis world after his three-month doping ban. His press conference was the event of the day here at the Italian Open, with standing room only with excess journalists pouring out of the door. Perhaps the 23-year-old was nervous to face the media for the first time. He needn't have been. As the most famous red-head in Italy walked into the room he was greeted by a round of applause. Not everyone clapped but there was a fair few - doubtless Italian cousins of the lickspittles with whom Donald Trump has replaced actual reporters in his White House press briefings. If this was partly a symbol of the slow creep of cheerleading into sports journalism, it was also demonstrative of how Italy feels about their darling Jannik. He is seen as a victim; deserving of sympathy rather than censure. Italian Tennis president Angelo Binaghi said when the ban was announced, bringing closure to this saga: 'This is the first time that a shameful injustice makes us happy because our first thought is for the boy who sees the end of a nightmare.' Jannik Sinner was welcomed back to Rome with open arms as he prepares for his return from his doping ban In March of last year Sinner twice tested positive for clostebol, with it accepted that it entered his system during a massage Last month, Italian Open tournament director Paolo Lorenzi said: 'The important thing is that he starts playing again. The fact it will be in Rome makes it even nicer. 'We're waiting for him with open arms.' To briefly recap: in March of last year Sinner twice tested positive for clostebol. The International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted his explanation that the anabolic steroid entered his system via a massage and issued no ban. The World Anti-Doping Agency argued he should bear some responsibility and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, before agreeing a three-month ban with Sinner in February. The timing of that ban could not have been sweeter - for Sinner or the Italian Open. He has missed no Grand Slams and returns at his home event, where posters depict him with what look like angel's wings. Here at least, he is a Sinner in name only. Outside Italy there has been much criticism of the apparent ease with which Sinner's legal team agreed such a convenient ban. Comparisons have been made to sentences handed down to others, such as Australian Max Purcell's 18-month ban for an IV drip which contained no performance enhancing substances. Novak Djokovic said at the time: 'A majority of the players I've talked to in the locker room are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled. A majority don't feel it's fair. A majority feel like there is favouritism happening.' Serena Williams recently said she would have been banned for 20 years for the same offence. Speaking on Monday about the reaction of the locker room, Sinner said: 'At the beginning of the suspension I had some messages from players, from others I expected (something) and nothing arrived. Anyway now I'm trying to find myself on the court. I don't think about those who didn't call me. 'I spoke a bit with Jack Draper, we are great friends, also with Lorenzo Sonego. But everything will be fine. With time everything passes.' Jack Draper is one of the players who offered Sinner his support while he was away And so Sinner returns to the eternal city to find the tennis world much the same as he had left it. He is still the darling of Italian tennis and still world No 1. One thing we thought had changed was his relationship status, after he was pictured in Monte Carlo with Russian model Lara Leito. Unprompted, he scotched those rumours in the first answer of his press conference. 'I'm very happy, happy to be back here,' he said. 'It has been three long, long months. 'There's a whole lot of attention, also off the court. I was very surprised to see some pictures, which are nothing serious. I'm not in a relationship. So whoever is asking, it's all good.' Sinner referenced the fact that under the terms of the ban, until three weeks ago he was unable to enter any sporting arena - tennis or otherwise. 'To be honest, for me the toughest part was that, in the beginning, I couldn't watch any other sport in real life,' he said. 'Watching a football match in a stadium, I couldn't go. I wanted to support my friends in cycling or motor sport, I couldn't go. 'I tried to make the best of it, being ready mentally from the point when I started again to play tennis. And I was very glad to spend some time with my family.' Speaking about the deal with WADA, and his reasons for accepting it rather than trying to gain full absolution in court, Sinner said: 'When you go to court it can go both ways; nothing or a lot. So their agreement, I didn't want to do it in the beginning. It was not easy for me to accept it because I know what really happened but sometimes we have to choose the best in a very bad moment, and that's what we did. It's all over now so I'm happy to play tennis again.'
