Tag: Tennis

Nadal Reaches Australian Open Quarterfinals for 14th Time

MELBOURNE, Australia—Rafael Nadal finally got the better of a crazy, long tiebreaker and knew he’d won half the battle. After saving four set points and missing with the first six of his own, Nadal finally clinched a tiebreaker that lasted 28 minutes and 40 seconds to set himself on course to secure a spot in…


Australian Open Fans Barred From Entry Over ‘Where Is Peng Shuai?’ T-shirts

Tennis Australia’s security has stopped two spectators from entering Melbourne Park for the Australian Open after they refused to remove their shirts featuring a message supporting female Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. On Friday, Australian human rights activist Drew Pavlou uploaded a video on Twitter in which his friend Max Mok and another tennis fan…


Australian Open Chief Denies Reports Djokovic Will Sue Tennis Australia

MELBOURNE—Australian Open chief Craig Tiley said he does not believe Novak Djokovic will sue Tennis Australia following his deportation from the country, and that he expects the world number one to return to play at the Grand Slam event next year. Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open on nine occasions including the last three…


Medvedev Wins Over Aussie Crowd in Win Over Dutch Opponent

MELBOURNE, Australia—As Daniil Medvedev sat courtside trying to re-hydrate during a changeover, an image of nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic flashed up in the stadium behind him. It was in the third set Saturday, and it was like the absent No. 1 was looking over the shoulder of the player who is effectively the…


Anisimova Upsets Defending Champion Osaka at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia—Within an hour of her third-round loss at the Australian Open, defending champion Naomi Osaka had consigned it to the past. It’s part of her new resolution for 2022. No dwelling on what’s already happened. Osaka had two match points against 60th-ranked Amanda Anisimova in the third set Friday, and she missed two backhands….


Hampered Raducanu Suffers Defeat by Kovinic in Australian Open

MELBOURNE—British teenage tennis star Emma Raducanu was unable to find the solution to her latest Grand Slam puzzle on Thursday, as a combination of a blistered racket hand and an inspired Danka Kovinic derailed her Australian Open plans in the second round. The 17th seed, who rocketed to fame by winning last year’s U.S. Open…


What Happened to Australia? From COVID ‘Double Speak’ to Deporting Djokovic; World Shifts on COVID-19

What happened to Australia?—the world asks in astonishment. With the dust not yet having settled from the shock deportation of tennis world No.1, Novak Djokovic, the Australian foreign minister has revealed the dumbfounding, underlying reason why he canceled the tennis star’s visa. Ontario is among the latest of world cities to drastically revise its COVID…


A Serbian View on the Djokovic Debacle

Commentary It is a sad day when the future of tennis depends on an arbitrary decision of members of the political class. But this is precisely what happened in Australia when the Federal Court dismissed Novak Djokovic’s appeal against the cancellation of his visa by the Immigration Minister Alex Hawke. Djokovic’s gracious behaviour following the…


Medvedev Withstands Kyrgios, Crowd to Advance in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia—Daniil Medvedev faced a hostile crowd and a full array of Nick Kyrgios’ outbursts and tricks, and still remained calm for long enough to reach the third round at the Australian Open. The 115th-ranked Kyrgios worked up the crowd, hit ’tweeners and drop shots, mixed up the pace of his groundstrokes and tossed in…


‘No Natural Justice’: Federal Court Reveals Reasons for Djokovic Deportation

The Federal Court of Australia has revealed its reasons for dismissing Novak Djokovic’s legal challenge to his visa cancellation, which ended a week-long saga where the male world number one fought to stay on Australian shores to compete for his 21st Grand Slam. In a unanimous decision by the full bench, Chief Justice James Allsop,…