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New York Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Venus Williams' run at Citi Open ends with loss to Magdalena Fręch
In tennis, you win some and you lose some. Some days the ball flies off your racket and you can't miss. Some days, the ball keeps clanking off the frame. After a career that has lasted 30-plus years and is still going, Venus Williams knows this better than most. After winning matches in singles and doubles in a near-perfect start to her first tournament in 16 months, Williams looked every bit of her 45 years on Thursday night at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., as Magdalena Fręch of Poland beat her 6-2, 6-2 in the Round of 16. Advertisement Williams has lit up this tournament, and she started strong on Thursday, but after four games, she handed Fręch the first service break when Williams knocked a forehand into the net and then sent an easy, short forehand off the court as she charged to the net. She lost the next four games after that, struggling to land her serve consistently and to create any opportunities on her opponent's, as Fręch played steady, big-margin tennis and let Williams do much of her work for her. The loss came a day after Williams and Hailey Baptiste lost in the second round of the doubles, with Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai edging them in a match-deciding tiebreak. Despite Thursday's loss, this was a triumphant week for Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion who still has plenty of tennis in her hands, though she might have less in her legs. She struggled Thursday night whenever Fręch forced her to move to get to a shot. Still, she became the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour match since Martina Navratilova won one at 47 in 2004. 'Amazing,' Navratilova said of Williams in an interview Thursday. 'I appreciate it so much because I know what it takes.' Navratilova said winning a match after not playing one for 16 months — against the world No. 35 Peyton Stearns, no less — might be even more impressive than winning a match at 45. Navratilova said she continued to play singles sporadically because she was still winning titles in doubles in her mid-40s, and the occasional singles match made her better in doubles. That may be part of Williams' strategy because the Citi Open does not appear to be a one-off. She has received a wild card into the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, the main tuneup for the U.S. Open, and she has signed on to play mixed doubles at the U.S. Open with Reilly Opelka; One of the two of them can receive a wild card. Williams is both different and the same as the player she once was. She is a big hitter who plays first strike tennis, with a serve that powers the rest of her game. However, she has simplified that service motion, and her groundstrokes are shorter than they once were. When they are working, as they were against Stearns, they found open space all over the court. But they weren't against Fręch, and Williams sprayed more than 30 unforced errors over 16 games. Advertisement Williams received a massive ovation as she left the court at the tennis center that Arthur Ashe, one of her heroes in tennis and life, helped build. Ashe was a trailblazer for Black tennis players, and Williams and her sister, Serena, have followed in his footsteps. By all accounts on a sultry, thick Thursday night in the nation's capital, where she huffed and puffed and fought until the final ball, saving a match point before Fręch finished it by getting one last forehand error from Williams, she's not done blazing them yet. When it was over, Williams sat on her courtside bench with a huge smile, raised her hands and soaked up the love. And then she was off … to what only she knows.
Pink Villa
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Pink Villa
Throwback: When Serena Williams lost to Sakkari and compared it to ‘dating a guy you know sucks'
At the 2020 Western & Southern Open, Serena Williams held every advantage. She won the first set 7-5, then led 5-3 in the second. Yet Maria Sakkari clawed back. In a tense tiebreak, Williams lost her grip, and by the end, she trailed 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-1. Outraged with herself, Serena turned her post-match press conference into a confessional. She admitted her errors and likened them to constantly choosing a bad partner. The analogy struck a chord, painting her on-court battle in relatable, human terms. 'I keep doing this out here' Serena didn't mince words. 'I literally put myself in this situation,' she said to the reporters, according to Sportskeeda. Then she landed the punch: 'You know, it's like dating a guy that you know sucks.' She continued, 'That's literally what I keep doing out here. I have got to get rid of this guy… I had so many opportunities to win and I have to figure that one out.' The 23-time major champion blamed no one but herself for squandering match points at 5-3 and seeing a 4-1 tiebreak lead evaporate. She even flung her racket at how deeply the loss affected her. Just days later, Serena found her comeback. Facing Sakkari again in New York, she won 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3. At her next press gathering, she laughed about the boyfriend analogy and declared, 'Thank God I got rid of that guy. Never want to see him again. He was the worst,' per the publication. She later moved to the quarterfinals and defeated Tsvetana Pironkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, only to lose in the semifinals to Victoria Azarenka.
Daily Mirror
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Brit slapped with highest Wimbledon fine after outburst as 12 players sanctioned
Wimbledon has fined 12 players, including a Brit, for unsportsmanlike conduct, racket violations and abuse of officials after the first week of the Grand Slam tournament Doubles player Henry Patten has been stung with the biggest fine as Wimbledon announced sanctions against 12 players. Wimbledon officials have released a list of misdemeanours after the first week of the Grand Slam, naming and shaming those who have overstepped the line. Patten tops the list, having been fined $12,500 (£9,180) for verbally abusing staff who tried to cut short his practice session. Patten is into the last 16 of the men's doubles at the All England Club and will play alongside Finland's Harri Heliövaara against the pairing of France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Australia 's Jordan Thompson on Monday. Patten and Heliövaara, who won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon last year, have earned £43,750 between them in prize money so far. That figure will increase to £87,500 if they progress on Monday, but Patten has already forfeited a significant chunk of that through his behaviour. His fine comes in ahead of the $6,000 (£4,400) fine handed out to Adrian Mannarino for unsportsmanlike conduct in his second-round clash with Valentin Royer. Mannarino came through qualifying to reach the third round at Wimbledon, earning £152,000, before losing to Andrey Rublev. Elena Pridankina has been fined $5,000 (£3,672) for unsportsmanlike conduct during her first-round doubles defeat by Jelena Ostapenko and Hsieh Su-wei. There are four players who have been docked $4,000 (£2,938): Zizou Bergs and Halley Baptiste have been punished for an audible obscenity, Varvara Gracheva for an abuse of rackets or equipment and Anna Kalinskaya for unsportsmanlike conduct. Jule Niemeier has been fined $2,500 (£1,835) for unsportsmanlike conduct in qualifying, while Alex Bolt, Chloe Paquet, Colton Smith and Luca Van Assche have all surrendered $2,000 (£1,468) for a variety of misdemeanours. That means Wimbledon has taken away $50,000 (£36,715) in total from 12 players, but the fines pale in comparison to those self-stylised bad boy of tennis Nick Kyrgios has racked up during his career. 'Look, I probably would have, in my entire career, man I've been hit with some big ones,' Kyrgios said a few years ago 'I would say, I'd be approaching around 800 grand (Australian dollars) I reckon.' That totals over £400,000. Back in 2019, the Australian was fined £90,000 and slapped with a suspended 16-week ban from the ATP Tour after committing eight offences during a match with Karen Khachanov at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. He has a long disciplinary history at Wimbledon, too, where he has fallen foul of the famous all-white dress code. Kyrgios was fined £11,700 in 2022 – the year he reached the final – for wearing eye-catching trainers. "I wore a red Jordan hat and red Jordans just walking out there," Kyrgios said. "Predominantly, you have to wear all white. I got fined about $16,000 for wearing a red hat and then my red Jordans."
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NC lawmakers to reallocate money from failed tennis facility
Charlotte City Council lost the match against Mason, Ohio, for the Western & Southern Open and now is losing the funding the state set aside for a new tennis stadium. As part of the House's budget technical corrections bill, state lawmakers will reallocate the $20 million that was promised to the city of Charlotte for the construction of a tennis stadium in the River District. A spokesperson for the city of Charlotte says the funding loss is expected. 'Since it never materialized, the funding was never sent to the city,' a city spokesperson said. 'We knew after the owner of the Western & Southern Open tournament decided to stay in Ohio that the funding would not be coming to the city.' Charlotte's loss is other counties' gain. According to the bill, the $20 million will instead go to: $5,000,000 to Appalachian State University to be used for the renovation project at Edwin Duncan Hall. $1,500,000 to Appalachian State University to be used for the renovation project at Wey Hall. $2,500,000 to Appalachian State University to be used for the addition and renovation project at Peacock Hall. $4,100,000 to Wayne County for a capital project at Rosewood Middle School. $250,000 to The Hudson Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $2,000,000 to North Catawba Fire-Rescue Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $325,000 to Grace Chapel Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $2,000,000 to the City of Lenoir to be used for Harpers Avenue Area infrastructure improvements. $110,000 to King's Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $200,000 to The Gamewell Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $275,000 to Caldwell County to be used for a new ambulance. $140,000 to Collettsville Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $600,000 to Patterson Fire-Rescue Department, Inc., to be used for capital improvements and equipment. $1,000,000 to the Town of Hudson for downtown infrastructure improvements. The remaining amount of funding allocated to Clay County in the sum of $2,000,000 in nonrecurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year for a new 911 call center may also be used for capital costs and equipment associated with the construction of a farmers market. The bill passed with bipartisan support and is now in the hands of the Senate.
