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FRENCH OPEN

Nadal into 14th French Open final as Zverev quits with horror injury

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Germany’s Alexander Zverev (centre) is helped as he leaves the court, after being injured during his match against Rafael Nadal. PHOTO: AFP

Rafael Nadal reached his 14th French Open final on Friday (June 3) when Alexander Zverev was forced to quit their semi-final after suffering a sickening right ankle injury.

Zverev had to leave the court in a wheelchair after turning his ankle as he chased down the ball in front of the players’ boxes on Court Philippe Chatrier where his team and family were sitting.

The German was trailing 7-6 (10/8), 6-6 after more than three hours of play at the time of the horror injury.

As his piercing screams of pain echoed around the 15,000-seater court, a tearful Zverev was helped from the court by medics.

Minutes later, the 25-year-old returned on crutches and conceded the match, with Nadal embracing his heartbroken opponent.

“It’s very tough and very sad for him. He was playing an unbelievable tournament and he’s a very good colleague on the tour,” said Nadal.

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“I know how much he’s fighting to win a Grand Slam. For the moment, he was very unlucky. I’m sure he’ll win not one, but much more than one. I wish him all the best.

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Germany’s Alexander Zverev lies on court after being injured during his match against Spain’s Rafael Nadal. PHOTO: AFP

“It had been a super tough match. Over three hours and we didn’t even finish the second set. It’s one of the biggest challenges on the tour when he’s playing like he did today.”

He added: “For me, to be in the final of Roland Garros is a dream, without a doubt, but at the same time, for it to finish that way… I have been there in the small room with Sascha and to see him crying like that – I wish him all the best.”

Nadal, chasing a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam title, will play either Marin Cilic or Casper Ruud in Sunday’s final.

Until the dramatic end of the match, Zverev had been pushing Nadal all the way.

In a rollercoaster, 91-minute first set, Zverev broke in the opening game before Nadal levelled at 4-4.

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The Spaniard, dripping with sweat under the closed roof on Court Philippe Chatrier, saw three set points come and go in the 10th game as the German’s all-or-nothing hitting kept him in the match.

Nadal, celebrating his 36th birthday Friday, then saved four set points in a knife-edge tiebreak, one of them off a spectacular running crosscourt forehand.

A blistering forehand pass gave him the opener on a sixth set point.

Zverev, playing in the semi-finals at Roland Garros for the second successive year, hit 25 winners and 26 unforced errors in the set.

The second set was punctuated by eight breaks of serve. When Nadal broke for 2-1, he did so on the back of an exhausting 44-shot rally.

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Zverev also collected a warning for bad language as the set headed towards another tiebreak.

However, that became quickly irrelevant when his attempt to reach a second Grand Slam final ended in such dramatic circumstances.

Nadal becomes the second oldest man to make the final in Paris after 37-year-old Bill Tilden who was runner-up in 1930.

Victory gives Nadal, who knocked out world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, a 111-3 record at the French Open.

-AFP

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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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FRENCH OPEN

This win is for Americans who look like me, says French Open champion Gauff

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Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates with the trophy after winning the women's singles final against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

 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.”

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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’.

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“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

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FRENCH OPEN

Champions League trophy, Dembele get winners’ welcome at French Open

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French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 2, 2025 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

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.

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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.

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“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.

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“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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FRENCH OPEN

Djokovic seeks landmark 100th win at French Open

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French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2025 Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts during his third round match against Austria's Filip Misolic REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

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.

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“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.”

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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.

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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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