Tennis
FIFTEEN YEARS ON, HOW MAIDEN MONTE CARLO WIN SPARKED RAFAEL NADAL BREAKTHROUGH
Rafael Nadal celebrates the 15th anniversary of his first Monte Carlo Masters title on Sunday (April 19), a victory which sparked a breakthrough season, a maiden Grand Slam triumph at Roland Garros and set the Spaniard on the road to becoming one of the sport’s greatest players.
Nadal was just 18 when he beat Guillermo Coria in the 2005 Monte Carlo final.
Two years earlier, he had offered tennis a glimpse of the future when, at 16, he stunned French Open champion Albert Costa on the famous red clay on the shores of the Mediterranean.
His 2005 triumph was one of 11 titles Nadal captured that year – eight of them on clay at Costa do Sauipe, Acapulco, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, the French Open, Bastad and Stuttgart.
He also proved he was no slow-court bully, ending the year with hard court victories in Canada, Beijing and Madrid.
That success was also reflected in the rankings.
At the end of 2004, he was at 51; fast forward 12 months and he was the world No. 2.
Among his 85-trophy career haul, 11 have come in Monte Carlo including a record eight in a row from 2005-2012 and three more between 2016-2018.
In 76 matches at the event, he has lost just five times.
Despite his maiden victory in Monte Carlo, however, Nadal was not sounding confident about his chances at Roland Garros later that season.
“No, no, no. I am not favourite, no. It’s my first Roland Garros,” the teenager told reporters in faltering English, a language he was gradually mastering thanks to lessons of “20 minutes, 30 minutes” every day.
“I am playing good now, but I don’t know at the French Open if I’m going to play good or I’m going to play bad.”
He need not have worried.
Just weeks later in Paris, Nadal beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals and the now forgotten Mariano Puerta in the final, coming from a set down.
Eleven more Roland Garros crowns have followed for a Grand Slam haul of 19, just one behind Federer’s record 20.
Had it not been for a career-long struggle with wrist and knee problems – which kept him out of nine majors – that figure would likely have been even more impressive.
The ongoing coronavirus crisis has robbed Nadal, who turns 34 on June 3, of the opportunity to clinch a 12th Monte Carlo title.
However, the pause has given rivals time to reflect on Nadal’s 15 years at the top, with 209 weeks in the world No. 1 spot.
He has not dropped out of the top 10 since Monte Carlo in 2005.
“It’s obvious he has a champion’s mentality, what he’s managed to produce over the years on all surfaces, the way he was bouncing back from numerous injuries,” said top ranked Novak Djokovic.
The Serb holds a narrow 29-26 career edge over the Spaniard.
But Nadal is 24-16 against Federer and 17-7 over Andy Murray, the other member of the ‘Big Four’.
“The resilience, the intensity he brings – when you see him jumping around before you walk onto court, it already intimidates you. A mental giant and a physical giant,” added the 32-year-old Djokovic.
Murray agreed.
“I would say that, consistently, Rafa has been mentally the strongest,” said the Briton, who turns 33 on May 15.
“Even when he was 18, 19, which is so rare for the guys coming through. That’s normally the part that takes the longest.”
-AFP
Argentina’s 36-year-old Marco Trungelliti proved tennis dreams do not come with an expiration date when he became the oldest first-time tour-level finalist in the Open Era after beating the top seed at the Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finals in Marrakech on Saturday.
Trungelliti, who came through the tournament’s qualifiers, upset Italy’s defending champion Luciano Darderi 6-4 7-6(2) to break the previous record held by Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic, who reached his first final aged 34 years in 2015.
Darderi, ranked 19 in the world, was only six-years-old when Trungelliti turned pro in 2008. With the victory, Trungelliti secured just his second career top-20 win.
“Of course, I believed it, that’s one of the reasons that I’m here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible,” Trungelliti said in the on-court interview.
“I’ve worked a lot, me and my team and also my wife, my kid. We all believed in breaking the record basically and that’s exactly what we have done now.”
The milestone caps a remarkable journey for Trungelliti, who made his first ATP Tour semi-final in 2018 in Umag, Croatia – 402 weeks ago.
Having entered the tournament ranked 117 in the world, Trungelliti’s breakthrough week has already guaranteed he will crack the top 100 for the first time. He is currently ranked number 75 in the live rankings.
“It’s been happening the whole week, leaving the court with a victory,” added Trungelliti, who has dropped only one set at the tournament. “So hopefully (there) is one more to go.”
He will face Rafael Jodar on Sunday after the Spaniard prevented an all-Argentine final with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
-Reuters
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Serena Williams has been listed as eligible to return to tennis by the sport’s drug-testing body (ITIA) as of February 22, though it remains unclear whether the 23-time Grand Slam champion will make a stunning comeback to the women’s tour.
The 44-year-old raised eyebrows late last year after rejoining the tennis anti-doping testing pool, though she denied at the time the move signalled she was preparing to return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
She reignited speculation last month when she deflected questions about a possible return during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show.
The Women’s Tennis Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017, has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open.
-Reuters
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Serena Williams has re-entered the tennis anti-doping testing pool but the 23-times Grand Slam champion denied on Tuesday that the move had anything to do with her making a return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed to Reuters that Williams, who has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open, was among the list of players in its testing pool, which requires individuals to provide their whereabouts at any given time, every day, and participate in random testing
But as the story of 44-year-old Williams’ inclusion on the list, first reported earlier on Tuesday by The Athletic, gained traction and sparked talk about her potential return, the tennis great took to social media to deny a comeback was in her plans.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” Williams wrote on X.
Her agent did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters asking why the player had re-entered the testing pool.
Williams’ name appears on the ITIA website’s list of retired players and would be able to return to a sanctioned event after making herself available for out-of-competition testing for at least six months.
Last week former world number one Williams posted a series of photos on Instagram showing herself on a tennis court with her youngest daughter, Adira River, whom she gave birth to in August 2023.
In August 2022, ahead of her final U.S. Open, Williams announced in a Vogue article that she was “evolving away from tennis.”
Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017, had been chasing an elusive 24th crown that would have drawn her level with Australian Margaret Court, who holds the record.
The American came tantalisingly close to achieving that feat, featuring in four major finals since giving birth to her first daughter, Olympia, in 2017.
-Reuters
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