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DJOKOVIC AND SERENA WILLIAMS AMONG FAVOURITES FOR AUSTRALIAN OPEN TITLES

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BY MICHAEL PAVITT.

 

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and the United States’ Serena Williams will head into the Australian Open as favourites to win the opening Grand Slam event of the tennis season.

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Serena Williams will be aiming at her eighth Australian Open title.

Neither will head into the tournament as the defending champion, despite having won the first Grand Slam of the year on six and seven occasions respectively.

World number one Djokovic suffered a shock defeat at last year’s tournament as he continued his recovery from a long standing elbow injury.

The Serbian triumphed at Wimbledon last year, while his upturn in form continued with victory at the US Open.

The top seed will begin his campaign with a match against American qualifier Mitchell Krueger.

Roger Federer will also hope to add to his six Australian Open titles, with the Swiss star having triumphed for the past two years in Melbourne.

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The 37-year-old begins as the third seed, with Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin set to provide his first round challenge.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal is seeded second, while ATP World Tour Finals winner Alexander Zverev is the fourth favourite as the German seeks his first Grand Slam title.

While the quartet will hope to take the headlines at the end of the tournament, the build-up has been dominated by Andy Murray’s retirement announcement due to an ongoing hip problem.

The Briton, a three-time Grand Slam winner, has targeted Wimbledon as the “end point” of his career.

He has admitted that hip pain could mean the Australian Open, where he has been a five-time runner-up, could prove his final event, however.

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Murray has been handed a tough first round assignment, with Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut heading into their match as favourite to advance.

The women’s draw is headlined by Williams, who will be seeking a first Grand Slam title since the 2017 Australian Open.

The American missed the next four Grand Slam events due to pregnancy and the birth of her first child.

She made her Grand Slam return at last year’s French Open and began to show her best form at the US Open, where Williams reached the final before losing to Japan’s Naomi Osaka in controversial fashion.

The American will be among the favourites to reach the final in Melbourne and she will begin her campaign against Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

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Williams could be on collision course to face tournament top seed Simona Halep, with the Romanian currently seeking to build on her maiden Grand Slam triumph last year at the French Open.

The world number one and last year’s runner-up will face Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi in the first round.

Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki is the defending champion and is seeded third heading into the tournament.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the 2016 winner, starts as the second seed.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Djokovic beats Hurkacz to win 100th title at Geneva Open

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Geneva Open - Tennis Club de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland - May 24, 2025 Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts during the final match against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Novak Djokovic battled from a set down to clinch his 100th tour-level title by beating Polish sixth seed Hubert Hurkacz 5-7 7-6(2) 7-6(2) at the Geneva Open on Saturday.

The Serbian, who turned 38 on Thursday, becomes just the third man in the Open Era to win 100 ATP titles after American Jimmy Connors and Swiss Roger Federer.

“I had to work for it, that’s for sure. Hubi was probably closer to victory (in) the entire match than I was,” Djokovic said.

“I had some chances in the first set to break his serve, then had a bad game which ended up with the double fault on set point.

“I was just trying to hang in there, I don’t know how I broke his serve… but this is what happens at the highest level. Very few points decide the winner.

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“Incredible match, 7-6 in the third with a full stadium, beautiful atmosphere. I’m just grateful to clinch the 100th here.”

Djokovic’s last title came when he won gold at the Paris Olympics last year.

The latest triumph comes at the perfect time as the record 24-times Grand Slam champion bids for a fourth crown at the French Open, which starts on Sunday.

Djokovic banged down six aces and 34 winners in the contest, which lasted a little over three hours and five minutes, making it the longest clash of this year’s tournament.

Hurkacz had squandered a 4-2 lead in the decider as Djokovic clawed his way back to clinch victory in the tiebreak with an ace and stretched his career win-loss record over the 28-year-old Pole to 8-0.

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With the triumph, Djokovic is the first man to win a tour-level title in 20 consecutive seasons, with his first title coming at 2006 Amersfoort. He is also the oldest champion in Geneva Open history.

Djokovic, currently ranked world number six, will face unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald in the opening round at Roland Garros.

Reuters

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Djokovic within two wins of 100th title as he turns 38

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Geneva Open - Tennis Club de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland - May 22, 2025 Serbia's Novak Djokovic is presented with a birthday cake after winning his quarter final match against Italy's Matteo Arnaldi REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth  Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H

Novak Djokovic marked his 38th birthday in style on Thursday, defeating Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-4 to reach the Geneva Open semi-finals and continue his pursuit of a 100th career title.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion avenged last month’s Madrid Open loss to the Italian and will next face Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who rallied to defeat Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.

“It’s great to be in the semi-finals again. Hopefully this year I can go at least a step further, that’s the goal,” said Djokovic, who lost to Tomas Machac in last year’s quarter-finals.

“I think I’m playing really good tennis. A straight-sets win, but it was much closer than the score indicates.”

After taking the first set, Djokovic trailed 4-1 in the second but stormed back with five consecutive games to seal the win in one hour and 40 minutes.

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The former world No. 1 admitted that smashing his racket in frustration helped him reset mentally and close out the match in straight sets.

“After the racquet breaking I kind of found my optimal state and balance mentally and emotionally to be able to play my best tennis when it was most needed,” Djokovic, who was presented with a birthday cake on court, said.

Djokovic is bidding to become only the third man in history to win 100 ATP titles, after Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).

-Reuters

 

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Players’ association files lawsuit against tennis’ governing bodies

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The PTPA is an independent players' union co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2019.PHOTO: REUTERS

The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) has filed a lawsuit against the sport’s governing bodies, accusing them of anti-competitive practices and a disregard for player welfare.

The PTPA, an independent players’ union co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2019, said on March 18 that after years of good-faith efforts to reform professional tennis, it had been forced to take legal action to end “monopolistic control” of the sport.

In a statement, it said that along with more than a dozen players, the PTPA had filed papers in a New York court against the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).

“Tennis is broken,” said Ahmad Nassar, executive director of the PTPA.

“Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardises their health and safety.

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“We have exhausted all options for reform through dialogue, and the governing bodies have left us no choice but to seek accountability through the courts. Fixing these systemic failures isn’t about disrupting tennis, it’s about saving it for the generations of players and fans to come.”

In response, the ATP accused the PTPA of choosing “division and distraction” and having no meaningful role in the sport.

“We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position,” it said in a statement.

“ATP remains committed to working in the best interests of the game – towards continued growth, financial stability, and the best possible future for players, tournaments, and fans.”

The WTA defended its record of growing women’s tennis, describing the lawsuit as “baseless”.

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“Every decision taken at the WTA Board level includes the input of players via their elected Board representatives, and athletes receive substantial financial rewards and other benefits from participation in the WTA,” the organisation said.

The ITF, meanwhile, stressed its goal is to ensure the growth of tennis as a global sport.

“As a not-for-profit organisation and global guardian of the game… we reinvest 90 per cent of our income into the global development of the game, via our 213 member National Associations,” an ITF spokesperson said.

Describing the various governing bodies as a “cartel”, the PTPA, which has also begun legal action in Britain and the EU, accuses them of paying “artificially low compensation to professional tennis players” and imposing a “draconian” ranking system that forces them to compete in certain tournaments.

The lawsuit also calls the schedule unsustainable, says players are made to play in extreme heat and often in the early hours of the morning, that tennis balls chosen by the tournaments are a factor in chronic injuries and that players’ privacy rights are being abused by random drug tests.

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Prior to filing the lawsuit, the PTPA said it met with more than 250 players across the tours, including the majority of the men’s and women’s top 20.

“The overwhelmingly positive player feedback was a resounding confirmation – change is needed now, and players are united in their fight for reform,” the statement added.

Serbia’s 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic has been a fierce advocate for change to the organisation of tennis, insisting that the revenues generated by the sport are not fairly shared out to players.

“Women and men who are around 200 and lower ranked in the world, they are struggling a lot,” he said in a CBS 60 Minutes interview in 2023.

“They can’t afford a coach, they can’t afford travels, they skip tournaments, many of them leave tennis who are super talented and maybe capable of reaching great heights.”

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The ITIA, which manages the sport’s anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes, responded to the lawsuit by saying: “Any credible international sport requires robust anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes, and we are proud of our role in contributing to a clean and fair sport.”

-Reuters

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