Showing posts with label Carlos Alcaraz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carlos Alcaraz. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 October 2026
Monday, 28 September 2026
AGASSI STEALS SHOW WITH JOKES ABOUT CARLOS ALCARAZ AND ALEXANDER ZVEREV AFTER EUROPE SEAL LAVER CUP GLORY
Andre Agassi was in a playful mood Andre Agassi watching his Team World lose the 2026 Laver Cup to Team Europe at London's O2 Arena on Sunday, with the American legend taking an opportunity to poke fun at Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz.
Zverev sealed a sixth Laver Cup for Europe with a straight-sets victory over Learner Tien, reclaiming the title Team World won in San Francisco a year earlier.
Europe had earned themselves three chances to win the tournament during the final round of singles matches, which they took at the first opportunity thanks to Zverev's win.
Alcaraz was set to play Alex de Minaur next had Zverev not beaten Tien but the Spaniard was not required for his final match after beating Taylor Fritz on Saturday and winning Friday's doubles contest alongside Jakub Mensik against Fritz and Alexander Bublik.
Alcaraz had a four-month injury lay-off and missed the Roland-Garros and Wimbledon Grand Slams as a result, before returning to the US Open earlier this month, where he exited at the quarter-final stage.
"How great is it to have Carlito back in the house? My man! We missed you! The game really missed you," Agassi said before Europe were awarded the Laver Cup trophy.
"In real time, I was missing you. I was praying every day that your wrist would get better somewhere in October… not before this weekend."
Former world No. 1 Agassi also took the opportunity to make some fun of Zverev, who made the most of Alcaraz's absence from the circuit this year to claim his first Grand Slam titles at the French and US Open.
"Congratulations, Sascha on a crazy year," he said. "Seeing you win [a Grand Slam] for the first time, I know how important that was for you.
"It was important for me too, because I can start watching your press conferences again where you’re not like. ‘Why do I always lose? Why do I always lose? I’m the third best in the world [pretending to cry].
"But then you win and then it’s like, ‘I’m only a one-slam champion; I’ve got to do it again.'"
Zverev laughed off Agassi's comments, which went down well with the London crowd, before joining his team-mates on stage to lift the Laver Cup.
Following his win, Zverev - who has featured at more Laver Cups than anyone else - made an admission about the current state of men's tennis after enjoying another team campaign.
"Winning as a team, there is no better feeling in sports," he said.
"We don’t have enough of it in tennis, being among these great players that I normally see across the net every week, and playing alongside two great captains, Yannick [Noah] and Tim [Henman].
"It’s just fun being out here."
- BEN SOUTHBY
Friday, 11 September 2026
Wednesday, 9 September 2026
Tuesday, 8 September 2026
Saturday, 5 September 2026
Wednesday, 2 September 2026
Monday, 31 August 2026
Saturday, 29 August 2026
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Saturday, 22 August 2026
SERENA WILLIAMS AND CARLOS ALCARAZ UNITE IN US OPEN MIXED DOUBLES
 |
| Serena Williams (file photo). Alamy Stock Photo |
SERENA WILLIAMS, A 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, and second-ranked Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, a seven-time Slam singles winner, will compete together in US Open mixed doubles, organizers announced Saturday.
The US Tennis Association announced mixed doubles pairings topped by 44-year-old American Williams making her return to the US Open for the first time since 2022.
Williams, a six-time US Open singles champion, captured the 1998 US Open mixed doubles title with Max Mirnyi.
She and Alcaraz received one of the last three wildcard entries into the main draw for mixed doubles, with other spots going to Czechs Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik and Americans Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul.
Williams played women’s doubles with her sister Venus for the first time since 2022 at Cincinnati but lost in the first round. Venus (46) was earlier this week among the players to receive US Open main-draw wild cards.
Mixed doubles will begin on Tuesday and conclude on Wednesday at the National Tennis Center, where the regular US Open begins on 30 August.
With Britain’s Jack Draper and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan withdrawing from the US Open mixed doubles, their former partners — Americans Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz — re-paired together as a team and were given direct entry into the main draw.
Diana Shnaider, left without a partner when fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev withdrew, will have the chance to find a new partner and play before the draw is made on Sunday ahead of Monday’s start of qualifying.
– AFP
Monday, 27 July 2026
Thursday, 16 July 2026
Saturday, 20 June 2026
BBC PUNDIT CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE WIMBLEDON RULE CHANGE AND BLASTS 'INSANITY'
The tennis ace has urged the ATP to introduce a drastic rule change.
Former British tennis star John Lloyd has called on the ATP to reduce men’s Grand Slam matches to best of three sets. It comes amid ongoing suggestions that the hectic tour schedule is negatively impacting players and forcing them to miss tournaments.
Carlos Alcaraz has been the big casualty this year, with the Australian Open champion having sat out the recent French Open. His injury woes also mean he’ll be out for the upcoming Wimbledon Championship, as the effects of elite-level tennis begin to take their toll.
Lloyd is adamant that the solution is to reduce the number of sets the men play at Grand Slams, insisting the best-of-five rule is harming them physically. Commenting on the BBC’s Queen’s coverage, the former world No.23 remarked: “In my opinion, the calendar is awful.
“It has been for years. I think Grand Slams should be best of three sets anyway. I’ve said that for years. All the way through, or certainly from the quarter-finals. I’ve been saying this for years.
“We are going to see more and more injuries, mark my words, unless something is changed. It will happen, there will be more injuries. The best of five sets for four Slams, it’s not just the playing at the tournament that does it, it’s the preparation.”
To win a Grand Slam, players have to come through seven matches, and in a lot of those contests, they’ll be playing at least one more match than they would do during a regular Tour event. Across the course of a Slam, that can add up to just under three extra matches, while during an entire year, it could represent a couple of tournaments worth.
To win a Grand Slam, players have to come through seven matches, and in a lot of those contests, they’ll be playing at least one more match than they would do during a regular Tour event. Across the course of a Slam, that can add up to just under three extra matches, while during an entire year, it could represent a couple of tournaments worth.
Continuing with his assessment, he added: “In our day, the best of five in my day is the equivalent of the best of three sets now. The physicality of the players is night and day to what it was in my day. We have to change this. We will get more injuries unless something is done.
“Best of five sets, when players have to come out from the starting point, every match will be dynamic. People remember great matches, but they remember them because they were at Slams. Not because it’s five hours, a three-hour match will be remembered as much if they are at the Slams.”
- Amos Murphy
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Thursday, 7 May 2026
ALEXANDER ZVEREV LAMBASTED OVER 'DELUSIONAL' COMMENTS ON JANNIK SINNER AND CARLOS ALCARAZ
 |
| Alexander Zverev looks on during his match |
Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs has described Alexander Zverev as “delusional” following the German’s comments about Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Zverev was dismantled 6-1, 6-2 by world No 1 Sinner in just 58 minutes in the Madrid Open final last week — his ninth consecutive loss to the Italian star.
Following the match, Zverev controversially claimed that Sinner is ahead of “everybody else” and placed himself in a category with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
“Well, I think there’s a big gap between [Jannik] Sinner and everybody else right now,” said the world No 3.
“It’s quite simple. I think there’s a big gap between Sinner and everybody else.
“And I think there’s a big gap between [Carlos] Alcaraz, myself, maybe Novak [Djokovic], and everybody else. I think there are two gaps right now.”
Stubbs reacted to what Zverev said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, and the six-time major doubles champion did not hold back.
“The delusion. The delusion,” said Stubbs. “And here’s the thing. If he had said this, my respect level for him would go up. If he said, ‘Look, bottom line is, I’m a really good player. I get to a lot of finals. I get to a lot of semis. I usually beat every player,’ which is not the case, because who did he lose to the week before?
“It’s like, ‘I usually win X and Y matches, but the standard between Jannik and Carlos is clearly, as you can see by the points category, head and shoulders above me. I need to improve and figure out a way to even remotely push these two guys’.
“That, I would be like, respect, right? But to lump himself in with Carlos Alcaraz — who has literally won every major title, all of them, all four, by the age of like 21 — is insanity.
“And yet this guy, who has not even won a Grand Slam, is saying that he’s in that same category. Dude, what?
“And on top of it, can I add, the final was so bad, and he looked like a petulant child. And I know, apparently, from what Jim Courier said, he didn’t think he (Zverev) was 100%, whether he was injured or what was going on.
“But he looked like a petulant child who was in the sandbox and had thrown all his toys out and did not even think to dig his way out of anything. He tanked the last few games.”
- Ewan West
Monday, 13 April 2026
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)