Latest news with #claycourts
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie win to move into French Open second round
Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie led the way on another impressive day for British tennis players on the clay courts of Paris as Britain's two most successful active male players moved into the second round of the French Open. Norrie took a significant step in his attempts to re-establish himself at the highest level of the ATP tour as he toppled the former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev, seeded 11th, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 after trailing 3-5 in the final set. Later, Draper maintained his composure to secure his first career win at the French Open by defeating Mattia Bellucci 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Sonay Kartal, meanwhile, continued her steady, assured rise by dominating Erika Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 to win on her main-draw debut. After victories for Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Jacob Fearnley on Monday, this is the first time in the open era that three British men and three British women have won first-round matches at Roland Garros and the most British players into the second round since 1973. Draper returned to Paris for his third career appearance in a curious position. He continued his incredible rise this year by finally breaking through on clay and he entered Court Suzanne Lenglen as a top-five player at a grand slam tournament for the first time. At the same time, he was still seeking his first French Open victory. Under those circumstances, the early nerves he displayed were not surprising. He struggled with his serve from the start, double faults piling up, and he was tentative behind his usually destructive forehand. Across the net from Draper stood a familiar foe in Bellucci, also a 23-year-old left-hander, who he first faced in doubles alongside Jacob Fearnley when they were only 12 years old. Despite being only 5ft 9in tall, Bellucci is an explosive, dynamic and wildly entertaining player. His fast left arm propels his wicked yet inconsistent forehand and he is a great athlete with ample variation in his game, which he demonstrated throughout a strong start as he quickly led 5-1 before taking the first set at 6-3 with a sweet underarm serve. Draper remained calm after conceding the first set and his slow start eventually gave way to a dominant performance. 'He came out, played really aggressive from the start, some amazing shots, caught me a little bit off guard,' Draper said. 'I'm really proud of the way I was able to turn it around.' Norrie's victory against Medvedev is the joint best win at a grand slam tournament of his career. It also marked his first victory against Medvedev after losing all four of their previous meetings in straight sets. Norrie had started the match extremely well, pairing his typical discipline, durability and consistency with greater aggression on his forehand. As the Russian forced himself inside the baseline and began to dictate, however, Norrie lost control and the match flipped dramatically. Down 3-5 in the fifth set, though, Norrie locked down his game and found his way to an incredible escape, reeling off the final four games of the match to win. Afterwards, Norrie described the victory as one of the top wins of his career. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'Outside of Alcaraz, Sinner and Novak, would be probably the fourth toughest draw for me in terms of matchups and players,' he said. 'Extremely good win, especially my record with him. What's his ranking, 12 or 11 in the world? In a slam, best-of-five, beating him in five sets is impressive for me.' It is difficult to overstate the significance of this victory for the former British No 1. After the highs of winning the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event in 2021, facing Novak Djokovic in the 2022 Wimbledon semi-finals and climbing to No 8 in the ATP rankings, the past few years have been extremely difficult. Although injuries have played a part, he has struggled even when he has been healthy on court. Two weeks ago, the 29-year-old fell to No 91 in the rankings, his lowest since 2018. Norrie is an extremely ambitious individual but in order to find his way again, he had to take a step back and detach himself from his intense expectations and simply enjoy the game of tennis again. A turning point came after another easy first round loss at the Miami Open in March. 'After Miami, I felt I was trying too hard and forcing things too much,' Norrie said. 'I took some time, thought about everything in my career and my personal life and I think I was setting expectations too high. I talked to my team, a long meeting, just to try to enjoy the tennis a bit more and look for good moments. I started winning straight after that and started watching matches back, and I looked a lot more like myself on the court. 'Why not go and enjoy it, go and play and compete. Looking back after my career, you're gonna miss competing and miss the tough moments, and I don't want to regret that.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
French Open 2025: Taylor Fritz upset by Daniel Altmaier, eliminating top American men's seed
The top American seed at the 2025 French Open was eliminated with No. 4 Taylor Fritz losing his first-round match to Daniel Altmaier on Monday. Fritz's defeat continues his struggles playing on clay courts, recently demonstrated by a first-round loss to Marcus Giron at the Italian Open and a fourth-round exit versus Casper Ruud at the Madrid Open. Monday has not been kind to American seeds at Roland-Garros with women's No. 9 seed Emma Navarro falling to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro earlier in the day. This story will be updated.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
French Open 2025: How to watch the men's and women's singles opening rounds at Roland Garros
The second Grand Slam of the year begins on Paris' clay courts Sunday morning, with the first round of French Open action across men's and women's singles. Sunday also marks the debut of a massive new U.S. broadcast deal for the tournament with TNT, but the defending champions aren't in action until the following day. Carlos Alcaraz begins his singles title defense on the men's side Monday; Iga Świątek starts her pursuit of a fourth Roland Garros triumph in a row, which would be unprecedented in women's tennis in the Open Era, on the same day. Here's what you need to know for the tournament's opening three days. Alcaraz arrives at No. 2 in the world rankings, up one spot after his victory at Rome's Italian Open earlier this month. He defeated rival and top-ranked player Jannik Sinner, 7-6(5), 6-1. But it was Sinner that claimed the first Grand Slam of 2025, winning the Australian Open final 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 against No. 3 Alexander Zverev, before being sidelined for three months during an anti-doping ban. Advertisement The Italian now goes for his maiden French Open title. He'll face France's Arthur Rinderknech, with two more Frenchman, Terence Atmane or Richard Gasquet, vying to be his potential second-round draw. Alcaraz had been slated to take on former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori in the first round, but he withdrew at the last minute. Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri instead gets the daunting task of facing the Spaniard. Those two are tournament favorites, understandable considering that this duo has shared the past five Grand Slams. The highest-ranked Frenchman coming into this French Open run is 20-year-old Arthur Fils at No. 14. He was a first-round exit in both 2023 and 2024, but has much loftier aims for this year. Novak Djokovic is aiming for his fourth French Open title, after triumphs in 2016, 2021 and 2023. On the women's side, Świątek goes for a record fourth-straight tournament win. She hits the weekend fifth in the WTA rankings, trailing Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini. Sabalenka lost to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final (6-3, 2-6, 7-5), but she has since won in Miami and Madrid. She is listed as the betting favorite to start the event. The first round will run from Sunday through Tuesday, with singles second-round action on Wednesday and Thursday. Sunday's programming is set to honor Rafael Nadal, the all-time great who retired last year. The Athletic's Matthew Futterman on forthcoming TNT broadcast updates: 'Change rarely comes quickly to tennis media. Coverage of a Grand Slam tournament today doesn't look all that different from 10, 20 or in some cases 30 years ago, despite huge technological advances. The camera angle slanting down from above, which can flatten the real shape of the players' shots. Two familiar voices, likely stars from decades past, reciting the most entrenched ideas about the people on court. Post-match analysis from different voices in the same demographic, mostly looking ahead to the next match and divining what, if anything, the result means for the grand narrative of the tournament… TNT's promise to tennis fans is something different. Interviews with coaches mid-match, some of whom will be mic'd up. Interviews with players at practice sessions. New camera angles. And whip-around coverage reminiscent of the NFL's Red Zone, which spends game days hopscotching from one game to another when teams have scoring opportunities. In Paris, where tension and drama arise, TNT says, the cameras will go.' Streaming and betting links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. (Photo of Carlos Alcaraz: Dan Istitene / Getty Images)
Times
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Jack Draper falls just short against Carlos Alcaraz at Italian Open
For all the progress made by Jack Draper on clay courts in recent weeks, a 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz left the British No1 conceding that he is still learning the 'chess' game required on clay. After reaching the final of the Madrid Open ten days ago, Draper had battled fatigue and struggled to find his best form in Rome and, although he was highly competitive against Alcaraz, the world No3 always had the edge, completing victory in one hour and 37 minutes. Draper, the world No5, was facing a player whose prowess on clay enabled him to win his first French Open title last year. Although Alcaraz had not been at his sharpest in the early rounds in Rome, having missed the
