Tennis
OSAKA SAVOURS DOUBLE SUCCESS AT US OPEN
Japanese star beats veteran for 2nd title and 3rd Grand Slam while pushing against racism
Naomi Osaka had just come back to secure a second US Open singles title and a third Grand Slam win.
She had tapped rackets with Victoria Azarenka, thanked the chair umpire and consulted a WTA Tour official about the media commitments to come.
Only then did she take a moment for herself, returning to the blue court where she became a star in 2018 and gingerly dropping to its surface, lying on her back, hands folded and eyes blinking as she gazed up through the open roof – all alone – for nearly 20 seconds.
“I was thinking about all the times I’ve watched the great players sort of collapse onto the ground and look up into the sky,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to see what they saw.”
Osaka, 22, is undoubtedly a great player already, and there was much for her to savour on many levels over the last few weeks.
Much to ponder, as well, as she took on not only some of the toughest tennis players in the world but also some of the thorniest social issues.
The Japanese, who is part Haitian and is based in the US, handled the pressure on both fronts and returned to the fore in the sport with Saturday’s gritty 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win.
She wore seven masks with different names for each of her matches to honour black American victims of police brutality and said it motivated her as “I wanted more people to say more names”.
She walked on court with a mask bearing the name of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy shot and killed in Cleveland by a white police officer in 2014.
Her time at the top has been impactful, though her win came in radically different conditions than did her first title run in 2018.
In that Flushing Meadows final, she defeated Serena Williams in a tumultuous match that turned ugly when the 23-time Grand Slam singles winner clashed with chair umpire Carlos Ramos after he called three code-of-conduct violations against her.
The crowd, upset at the treatment of Williams, booed during the awards ceremony, leaving Osaka in tears shortly after her Slam title.
But the same stadium was nearly empty on Saturday, as it has been throughout this unusual US Open where fans were not permitted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The lack of a crowd was never a factor, though, as she gradually found her range after a very slow start, becoming the first player in 26 years to win a US women’s final after losing the first set.
With her strong physique, big serve, powerful ground strokes, Osaka appeared ready to take command of the women’s game when she won a second successive Slam title at last year’s Australian Open, becoming world No. 1 in the process.
But she surprisingly split with her coach Sascha Bajin shortly after that victory in Melbourne and struggled to recapture the same form.
The five-month Tour hiatus, however, was a boon for her, becoming deeply involved in the social justice movement, attending a rally in Minneapolis, and speaking out on social networks and elsewhere.
She also worked intently on her game and her fitness at her new base in Los Angeles with new Belgian coach Wim Fissette, who has helped Azarenka and many other leading players win big titles.
“The quarantine definitely gave me a chance to think about a lot of things, what I want to accomplish, what I want people to remember me by,” said Osaka, who will jump six places to world No. 3 today. “It definitely helped me out.”
NYTIMES
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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