FRENCH OPEN
Nadal in Doubt for French Open
Defending champion Rafael Nadal remains a doubt for the French Open after pulling out of next week’s Monte Carlo Masters with an ongoing hip injury.
The Spanish world number 14 has won the tournament in Monaco 11 times but is not fit to return to action.
The 36-year-old has not played since his straight-set second-round defeat by American Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January.
World number two Carlos Alcaraz is also out of Monte Carlo through injury.
The Spaniard, who is chasing Novak Djokovic for the number one ranking, has hand and back problems.
“After two months abroad I am happy to return home, but sad because I finished my last match in Miami with physical discomfort,” said Alcaraz, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the last four of the Miami Open, on Twitter.
“I will not be able to go to Monte Carlo to start the clay-court tour. I have post-traumatic arthritis in my left hand and muscular discomfort in the spine that needs rest to prepare for everything that is to come.”
Nadal had expected to be out for six to eight weeks after an MRI scan following his Melbourne loss showed a tear in his left psoas muscle.
But missing the start of the European clay-court season leaves him short of match practice before the Roland Garros event he has won a record 14 times, which begins on 28 May.
“I’m still not ready to compete at the highest level,” Nadal said on Twitter.
“I will not be able to play in one of the most important tournaments of my career, Monte Carlo.
“I am not yet in a position to play with the maximum guarantees and I continue my preparation process, hoping to return soon.”
Canada’s world number seven Felix Auger-Aliassime will also miss next week’s event with a left knee issue, but has said he hopes to be back for the Madrid Open which starts on 26 April.
Venus Williams will compete in doubles at the French Open later this month, organisers confirmed on Wednesday.
Williams, 45, will partner with Hailey Baptiste, 24, for the clay-court tournament at Roland Garros, which begins on May 24 in Paris.
Williams, however, will not compete in the singles tournament.
She was a wild-card entry at the Australian Open, where she lost in three sets during the first round to Serbia’s Olga Danilovic.
Williams is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles. She has won seven Grand Slam titles in singles and 14 in doubles, including the French Open in doubles in 1999 and 2010.
-Reuters
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Newly-crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff, the first Black American to win the title in a decade, said on Saturday her victory in Paris was for people back home who looked like her and struggled amid ongoing political turmoil.
Gauff battled from a set down to beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 and lift her first French Open crown and her second Grand Slam title after the 2023 U.S. Open.
She is the first Black American to win the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015.
“It means a lot (to win the title), and obviously there’s a lot going on in our country right now with things — like, everything, yeah. I’m sure you guys know,” she said, smiling but without elaborating further.
“But just to be able to be a representation of that and a representation of, I guess, people that look like me in America who maybe don’t feel as supported during this time period, and so just being that reflection of hope and light for those people.”
There has been ongoing political turmoil in the United States following the election of President Donald Trump last year.
Trump’s first few months in office have featured an unapologetic assault on diversity and inclusion efforts, unravelling decades-old policies to remedy historical injustices for marginalised groups in a matter of weeks.
In his second term, Trump revoked a landmark 1965 executive order mandating equal employment opportunities for all, slashed environmental actions to protect communities of colour and ordered the gutting of an agency that helped fund minority and women-owned businesses.
The actions have alarmed advocates, who say they effectively erase decades of hard-fought progress on levelling the playing field for marginalised communities.
“I remember after the election and everything, it kind of felt a down period a little bit and my mom told me during Riyadh (in November 2024) ‘just try to win the tournament, just to give something for people to smile for’.
“So that’s what I was thinking about today when holding that (trophy).
“Then seeing the flags in the crowd means a lot. You know, some people may feel some type of way about being patriotic and things like that, but I’m definitely patriotic and proud to be American, and I’m proud to represent the Americans that look like me and people who kind of support the things that I support.”
Trump has previously denied claims he has employed racist attacks and an agenda throughout his political career.
-Reuters
Paris St Germain forward Ousmane Dembele got a roaring welcome usually reserved for tennis champions when he carried the freshly-won Champions League trophy onto centre court on Monday.
The French soccer club beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the showcase match in Munich on Saturday to clinch the trophy for the first time before the players and staff got a heroes’ welcome in the French capital on Sunday.
The festivities for Dembele, who was voted the Champions League Player of the Season, continued on Monday when he carried the shiny trophy onto Court Philippe Chatrier in front of more than 10,000 people.
He was wearing a white T-shirt with the word “triumph” written on it.
Paris St Germain’s Ousmane Dembele presents the Champions League trophy on the Philippe-Chatrier court before the fourth round match between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Britain’s Cameron Norrie REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Organisers could not have timed the brief ceremony better, with Europe’s most prestigious soccer club trophy arriving minutes after world number 361 and wild card Lois Boisson of France stunned third-seeded American Jessica Pegula in three sets to reach the last eight in the upset of the tournament.
“Ici c’est Paris, (This is Paris)” shouted Dembele as the normally more reserved afternoon tennis crowd erupted with cheers.
“Exceptional, it was a magic moment in Munich. We played an exceptional season and were rewarded with our first European Cup,” France international Dembele told the crowd.
“The individual titles are fine but it is the collective titles that matter. We will try to win as many titles as possible.”
Novak Djokovic, the 24-times Grand Slam champion and three-times winner in Paris, was on court later for a straight sets win over Briton Cameron Norrie and he was quick to congratulate the Paris club, having joined in PSG’s Sunday festivities.
“An incredible season for PSG so congratulations to all Parisians,” the Serb said after his 100th career win on the Roland Garros clay. “It was amazing to be there yesterday.
“Two days ago during the game I was playing and it was a bit complicated to get to my hotel afterwards, complicated being an understatement. The roads were quite the show.”
PSG are only the second French side to win the European Cup after Olympique de Marseille in 1993.
-Reuters
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