FRENCH OPEN
Factbox: Profile of Rafa Nadal who will miss the French Open
Factbox on Spain’s 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafa Nadal, who will miss the French Open for the first time since his 2005 debut at the claycourt major due to injury.
Age: 36
Country: Spain
ATP ranking: 14 (Highest ranking: 1)
Grand Slam titles – 22
* Australian Open (2009, 2022)
* French Open (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022)
* Wimbledon (2008, 2010)
* U.S. Open (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019)
French Open record
* Nadal made his debut at the French Open in 2005 and has a 112-3 win-loss record at Roland Garros.
* He was knocked out in the fourth round in 2009 by Robin Soderling, while he lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarter-finals and 2021 semi-finals.
* In 2016, Nadal withdrew before his third round match due to a wrist injury.
EARLY LIFE
– Born in Manacor, Spain to Sebastian Nadal and Ana Maria Parera.
– His uncle Miguel Angel Nadal was a former soccer player who represented Barcelona, RCD Mallorca and Spain.
– Introduced to tennis by another uncle, Toni, who encouraged his naturally right-handed nephew to play left-handed as it would give him an advantage.
– Turned professional in 2001 and won the junior Davis Cup with Spain in 2002. Won the ATP newcomer of the year in 2003.
CAREER TO DATE
– Won his first ATP singles title in Poland in 2004.
– Defeated world number two Andy Roddick to guide Spain to the Davis Cup title in 2004. Won the tournament again in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019.
– Won the French Open on debut in 2005 and a year later beat Roger Federer in the final.
– In 2007, he became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a hat-trick of Roland Garros titles.
– Won his first Wimbledon title in 2008 with a five-set victory over Roger Federer, a match dubbed the ‘the greatest tennis match in history’.
– Won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in singles. Clinched doubles gold with Marc Lopez at the 2016 Rio Games.
– Suffered his first French Open loss in 2009 to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
– Regained the title the following year, beating Soderling in the final. Also won Wimbledon for a second time in 2010 before claiming his first U.S. Open title, becoming the seventh man to win all four Grand Slams.
– Matched Borg’s record of six French Open titles with his 2011 victory and overtook the Swede in 2012.
– Became the first man with eight titles at the same Grand Slam when he beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the 2013 final at Roland Garros. He also won the U.S. Open that year.
– Became the first man to win five successive French Open titles in 2014.
– Won his second Grand Slam of 2017 at Flushing Meadows after a 10th French Open title in June.
– Claimed an 11th French Open title and his 17th major with victory over Dominic Thiem in 2018.
– Defeated Thiem again in the 2019 final to seal his 12th Roland Garros title. He also won a fourth U.S. Open crown by beating Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final.
– Matched Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles by defeating Djokovic in the French Open final in 2020.
– Got his 1,000th victory on the ATP Tour at the 2020 Paris Masters, becoming the fourth man in the professional era to achieve it.
– Suffered only his third-ever loss at Roland Garros in 2021 when he was beaten by Djokovic in the semi-finals.
– Missed chunks of the 2021 season, including Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open, due to a long-standing foot injury.
– Defeated Medvedev in the 2022 Australian Open final to win a men’s record 21st Grand Slam title.
– Beat Norway’s Ruud to extend his record with his 22nd Grand Slam title and 14th French Open crown.
– Knocked out of the Wimbledon semi-finals and U.S. Open last-16 in 2022.
– In 2023, he fails to successfully defend his Australian Open crown where Djokovic triumphed and tied his record for 22 Grand Slam titles.
– Announces on Thursday that he will miss this year’s French Open after failing to regain full fitness from a hip injury suffered at the Australian Open in January,
-Reuters
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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Fourth round action continued at the French Open on Monday with top seeds Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff in action while Novak Djokovic chases a milestone 100th win at Roland Garros.
British hopes rest on Cameron Norrie and fifth seed Jack Draper, who is up against the entertaining Alexander Bublik in the night session.
TOP MEN’S MATCH: NOVAK DJOKOVIC V CAMERON NORRIE
Djokovic came into the French Open having won his 100th career title at the Geneva Open and in the fourth round he can achieve something only 14-times champion Rafa Nadal has accomplished — 100 wins on the red clay at Roland Garros.
Djokovic’s third round victory over Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic was his 99th, equalling his own mark at the Australian Open where he has won the title 10 times. He also has 97 wins at Wimbledon and 90 at the U.S. Open.
“I’m just hoping to carry on. Every time I step onto this court I’m playing for history,” Djokovic said.
But if the sixth seed is to surpass Nadal’s jaw-dropping record of 112 wins at the French Open, Djokovic will find himself playing into his 40s.
Standing in Djokovic’s way is Briton Cameron Norrie, who downed Daniil Medvedev in the first round and has reached the last-16 for the first time in his career
“That match with Daniil was so tough, it was such a big test for me. To get through that, I thought I can take a lot of confidence from that,” Norrie said.
“To make the second week for the first time is so, so good and at a time where I was not really stringing a lot of matches and a lot of wins together.”
But he has work to do with Djokovic yet to drop a set while the Briton has lost all five matches he has played against the former world number one, including the semi-final in Geneva last month.
The pair played out a tense encounter in Rome in 2023 where Djokovic criticised Norrie’s attitude. Norrie hit an overhead smash at Djokovic’s leg when the Serbian had turned his back on the net having given up on a point.
TOP WOMEN’S MATCH: MIRRA ANDREEVA V DARIA KASATKINA
Andreeva has yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year and the Russian sixth seed showed she means business when she packed off Yulia Putintseva by winning nine of the last 10 games in their third-round encounter.
But Russian-born Kasatkina, who now represents Australia, is high on confidence after knocking out 10th seed Paula Badosa in straight sets.
Andreeva and Kasatkina practice together and the Russian 18-year-old said: “It’s going to be an entertaining match, for sure, because I think we both know each other very well. I think it’s going to be fun and also maybe pretty tight.”
Andreeva is looking to better her semi-final run at Roland Garros last year while Kasatkina beat her in the only match they have played, a roller-coaster three-setter in Ningbo last year.
“Mirra, she’s a very nice girl and an amazing player. We’ve been quite good with each other. I can even say that I think we are kind of friends,” Kasatkina said.
“The last one in Ningbo was a big drama match. Let’s see what’s going to happen here. We never met on clay before.”
-Reuters
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