Tennis
WIMBLEDON CHIEF FEARS ‘NO MORE TENNIS THIS YEAR’
Wimbledon chief Richard Lewis admitted on Thursday (April 2) that he feared the remainder of the 2020 tennis season could be wiped out.
Tennis has been in lockdown since early last month and is not scheduled to return until July 13 at the earliest following the cancellation of Wimbledon for the first time since World War II on Wednesday.
The decision to axe the sport’s oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam event due to the coronavirus pandemic followed the French Open’s unilateral switch from its traditional May-June slot to September-October.
The double body blow resulted in the entire claycourt and grasscourt seasons being abandoned.
“I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say that there may be no more tennis this year,” said All England Club chief executive Lewis.
“But I would like to think that things will settle down so that tournaments can be played sooner rather than later. Who knows what will happen?” Lewis told the Guardian that, despite his fears, he hoped that the season’s next Grand Slam, the US Open in August-September could take place.
“Let’s hope the US Open and Roland Garros (rescheduled to start in Paris a week after the final of the US Open in New York) can take place,” he added.
“The optimist in me – and I am often not optimistic – still hopes the American hard-court season, the big tournaments, the Masters and the Premiers, will take place: Montreal, Toronto and then Cincinnati.
“But we all know that’s probably tenuous at the moment.
Earlier on Thursday, the president of the Spanish tennis federation (RFET), Miguel Diaz, said he hoped the sport could return to the courts “in the last quarter of the year”.
“I think that in the last quarter of the season we will be able to see tennis again, we don’t know if it will be with fans in attendance or without, but I think our sport will return to the courts,” said Diaz, in a statement released by RFET.
In Spain, he said, “we have had to suspend dozens of tournaments that were on the calendar” at all professional levels.
Top-level tournaments such as the Madrid Open, a joint ATP and WTA event, and the Barcelona Open and Mallorca Open, both on the ATP Tour, have been scratched in the aftermath of the rescheduling of the French Open and the cancellation of Wimbledon.
Diaz said it was “logical” that Wimbledon decided to cancel, but added: “I think that now tennis becomes secondary.” “What is needed is to heal.”
-AFP
Tennis
Osaka parts way with her coach
Naomi Osaka has parted ways with coach Wim Fissette after four years together across two stints, the 26-year-old announced late on Friday.
The former world number one won two of her four Grand Slam titles under the guidance of the Belgian, but is currently 75th in the rankings having returned to the tour nine months ago after a lengthy maternity break.
“Four years, two slams and a whole lot of memories,” Osaka wrote in an Instagram post.
“Thanks Wim for being a great coach and an even greater person. Wishing you all the best.”
Of the 16 tournaments Osaka has played this season, she has made the quarter-finals in only two – Doha and ‘s-Hertogenbosch – and the Japanese player has also failed to go past the second round in each of the four Grand Slams
-Reuters
Tennis
Five US women in top 15 in the world for first time in two decades
Five players from the United States are ranked in the Women’s Tennis Association’s top 15 for the first time in two decades, the USTA said on Monday.
World number two Coco Gauff led the American charge followed by sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula and Danielle Collins, who climbed two spots to ninth on the list amid a remarkable farewell season.
Madison Keys was ranked 14th while Emma Navarro hopped two spots to a career-high 15th after reaching her first major quarter-final at Wimbledon.
The last time five American women featured in the top 15 was May 24, 2004, when Lindsay Davenport was fourth in the world
-Reuters
Tennis
Venus Williams among sporting figures to get own Barbie doll
Seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and Australian soccer player Mary Fowler are among nine athletes to get a Barbie doll in their likeness as toy maker Mattel seeks to shine a light on women sports role models ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Mattel unveiled the dolls on Wednesday, each with their bespoke accessories. Fowler’s wears gloves and holds a football while Williams’ doll, dressed in an all white tennis dress and visor as well as wearing earrings, comes with a miniature racket.
The former world number one said she hoped to motivate young girls into sports with the doll.
“I literally can’t imagine my life without sports and without the game,” Williams said in a video, in which she held the doll.
“I want other young girls to have that invaluable experience of playing a sport and what it teaches you and what you learn and what you take from it, not just that moment (but) for the rest of your life… I think it’s so important for girls to be in sports.”
Other sports figures to have a doll in their likeness include French boxer Estelle Mossely, Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda, Spanish doctor and paratriathlon athlete Susana Rodriguez, Italian former swimmer Federica Pellegrini, Canadian soccer player Christine Sinclair as well as Mexican and Brazilian gymnasts, Alexa Moreno and Rebeca Andrade.
The dolls, unveiled as Barbie turns 65 this year, “(recognise) the impact of sport in fostering self-confidence and ambition among the next generation”, Krista Berger, senior vice president of Barbie and Mattel’s Global Head of Dolls, said.
“By shining a light on these inspirational athletes and their stories, we hope to champion the belief that every young girl deserves the opportunity to pursue her passions and turn her dreams into reality,” she said in a statement.
-Reuters
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