AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Djokovic shrugs off dad drama to reach 10th Australian Open final
Novak Djokovic shrugged off controversy involving his father to reach a record-extending 10th Australian Open final on Friday and set up a blockbuster decider with Greek trailblazer Stefanos Tsitsipas and a battle for the world number one ranking.
Nine-times champion Djokovic maintained his perfect semi-final record at Melbourne Park with a 7-5 6-1 6-2 win over outgunned American Tommy Paul at Rod Laver Arena, where his father Srdjan was a conspicuous absentee.
Earlier on centre court, Tsitsipas saw off Russian 18th seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(2) 6-4 6-7(6) 6-3 to become the first Greek to reach the title match in a city boasting the biggest Greek population outside the southern European nation.
Srdjan Djokovic created a distraction for his son ahead of the semi-final after a video emerged showing him with fans holding Russian flags, which were banned at Melbourne Park early in the tournament
Amid calls from the Ukraine embassy and media pundits for Djokovic Sr to be banned from the tournament, he declined to attend the semi-final, saying he wanted to avoid “disruption” for his son.
Djokovic defended his father, saying he had been “misused” by Russian fans and that media had misinterpreted the video as a show of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war,” Djokovic, who grew up in Serbia during the wars in former Yugoslavia, told reporters.
Djokovic said he hoped his father could return to his players’ box for the final on Sunday, though Tennis Australia declined to comment when asked whether Srdjan would be welcome.
A year on from being deported from Australia on the eve of the tournament due to his lack of COVID-19 vaccination, drama has found Djokovic again at Melbourne Park.
He was criticised for ducking off court for an unauthorised toilet break early in the tournament and later hit out at media for scepticism about his hamstring injury.
On Friday, a man in the terraces held up a Ukraine flag when Djokovic served in his direction against Paul.
Djokovic was in a foul mood even as he raced to a 5-1 lead in the first set, repeatedly yelling at his players’ box in Serbian.
He bickered with the chair umpire over the time taken to get a towel between points, drawing loud jeers from fans.
Sensing his chance, Paul raised the pressure with some outstanding tennis, breaking the Serb twice and levelling the match at 5-5 after edging Djokovic in a 30-shot rally.
Desperate for a player to give Djokovic a proper match, the crowd was firmly in Paul’s corner, cheering the Serb’s errors.
However, that was as good as it got for Paul, as Djokovic knuckled down to win 14 of the last 17 games in a stunning counter-attack 15 years to the day after his first Australian Open title as a 20-year-old.
Despite the emphatic win, Djokovic said the fuss over his dad had affected him.
“Of course, it’s not pleasant for me to go through this with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia,” he said.
“It’s not something that I want or need. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis.”
There was far less drama earlier as Tsitsipas won his first Australian Open semi-final on the fourth attempt.
Sunday’s decider will be a re-match of the 2021 French Open final, which Djokovic won from two sets down to leave the Greek heartbroken.
The winner will take the number one ranking from Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.
“I’d like that number,” said Tsitsipas.
“It’s a cornerstone final … I’ve been wanting for many years now to put Greek tennis on the map, and me and Maria (Sakkari) have done an incredible job.”
Tsitsipas can rely on a huge contingent of Greek fans to rival Djokovic’s army of Serbian supporters.
They were in full voice as he traded breaks with Khachanov in a see-sawing opening set before taking control in the tiebreak.
Two sets and a break down in the third, Khachanov showed great courage to fight back to 5-5 and take the tiebreak after Tsitsipas blew two match points.
Tsitsipas quickly regrouped, though, and closed out the fourth set in dominant fashion.
“Serbia is also a very small country, just like Greece,” said Tsitsipas.
“I hope we in Greece can achieve the same thing they have in recent years — win multiple Grand Slams.”
-Reuters
Jannik Sinner retained his Australian Open title with an emphatic 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 win over Alexander Zverev on Sunday, breaking new ground for Italian tennis and leaving his German rival smarting after a third Grand Slam final defeat.
The world number one became Italy’s first player to win three Grand Slam crowns, moving past Nicola Pietrangeli who won back-to-back men’s titles at Roland Garros in 1959-60.
A year after mowing down Daniil Medvedev in five sets for his first major trophy, Sinner sapped his second Melbourne Park final of all drama as he wore down Zverev with suffocating pressure and claimed the match with clinical execution.
The one-sided win in the floodlit Rod Laver Arena underlined the 23-year-old’s status as the game’s pre-eminent hardcourt player , if robbing fans of a proper contest.
“It was an amazing performance from my side,” he said. “I want to enjoy this one. This one has a different feeling (and) means so much to me.”
For all Sinner’s joy, a long-standing doping case continues to hang over his head.
Though cleared to play by tennis authorities, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is seeking a ban which could derail his French Open plans. A hearing is set for April.
A ban may be the only way to stop Sinner, given how impervious he has been to the distractions.
Sunday’s win extended the U.S. Open champion’s winning streak to 21 matches.
“Many, many things happen off the court, what you maybe don’t know,” he said.
“When I go on the court, even if sometimes it’s very difficult to block these kind of things, I have the team and people who are close to me who trust me.”
For Zverev, the result was another bitter blow , his third defeat in three Grand Slam finals leaving him in tears.
His miserable night was compounded by a heckler in the crowd who made reference to domestic violence allegations he faced in recent years.
“First of all, it sucks standing here next to this thing and not being able to touch it,” the red-eyed German said of the winner’s Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
“Congrats to Jannik, you’re the best player in the world by far. I was hoping that I could be more of a competitor today but you’re too good.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to lift the trophy but I’ll keep coming back, I’ll keep trying.”
ZVEREV SMASHES RACKET
The match was all but over when Zverev dropped serve in the sixth game of the third set.
Arguably, the German’s spirit was broken before that by an unlucky net cord that turned the second-set tiebreak in Sinner’s favour.
It was 4-4 in the tiebreak when Sinner fired into the net cord and saw the ball dribble over.
Sinner thumped down a huge serve to raise two set points and converted the first, going for broke from the baseline with a furious forehand that kissed the line.
A gutted Zverev smashed his racket as he returned to his chair with the match slipping away.
There would be no last stand from him, nor any wobble from Sinner who did not cough up a single break point in the match.
Sinner sealed the win with a backhand passing shot on the first match point and celebrated by clambering into the terraces to embrace his entourage.
For Zverev, the wait for a maiden Grand Slam title will go on after he finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s French Open and gave up a two-set lead in defeat to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 U.S. Open decider.
There was more sourness as he went to the microphone to congratulate Sinner, with a person in the crowd yelling repeatedly: ‘Australia believes Olga and Brenda’.
In June last year, Zverev’s lawyers said he had agreed a settlement after the mother of his child, Brenda Patea, accused him of physical abuse and a German court closed the case.
Zverev repeatedly rejected the allegations by Patea.
In January 2023, the ATP, citing insufficient evidence, closed an investigation that had been launched after another ex-girlfriend, tennis player Olga Sharypova, accused Zverev of domestic abuse.
Asked about the heckler, Zverev said: “I believe there are no more accusations. There haven’t been for, what, nine months now.
“I think I’ve done everything I can and I’m not about to open that subject again.”
-Reuters
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Top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend claimed the women’s doubles crown at the Australian Open on Sunday after beating Jelena Ostapenko and Hsieh Su-wei 6-2 6-7(4) 6-3 in a gruelling final.
The victory at Rod Laver Arena gave Siniakova and Townsend their second Grand Slam title after their Wimbledon triumph last year while it was the 10th major title for Czech Siniakova, the doubles world number one.
“Big thanks goes to Taylor, we are having fun and that’s the most important, so thank you for playing with me. I’m really enjoying it,” Siniakova said after lifting the trophy with her American partner.
For Townsend, the win was a full-circle moment in her career after she won the title as a junior in Melbourne in 2012.
“This is super special to me, the last time I played on this court I was 15,” she said.
“This tournament was the start of me being able to live out my dream. I honestly didn’t think that it was possible for me to be playing on this stage.”
Siniakova and Townsend had several opportunities to break early on and finally converted a break point to go 2-1 up as Hsieh and Ostapenko struggled with their serve.
The third seeds quickly found themselves 5-1 down as Siniakova and Townsend consolidated a double break before the American sealed the set with an emphatic volley at the net.
After they traded early breaks in the second set, Townsend was once again effective at the net with an overhead smash that gave them a 4-3 lead before Siniakova held her serve to put them one game away from the title.
But Ostapenko and Hsieh, playing in just their second tournament as a pairing, broke back in the 10th game when Townsend served for the title.
A frustrated Siniakova threw her racket on the ground before the third seeds won the tiebreak and forced a decider. The Czech then lost her composure and was broken in the first game of the third set with three double faults.
But they quickly regrouped to break back and Siniakova converted a crucial break point to go 5-3 up.
This time, Siniakova served for the title, and despite another double fault with three championship points, they sealed victory when Townsend fired a volley at the net down the middle to win in two hours and 27 minutes.
“I think for our second tournament, playing a Grand Slam final is not bad,” Ostapenko said.
“Together, I hope there are many more trophies for us.”
-Reuters
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Novak Djokovic retired injured after losing the first set 7-6(5) against Alexander Zverev on Friday to put the German through to his first Australian Open final and extend his wait for a record 25th Grand Slam title.
Zverev will meet either Jannik Sinner or Ben Shelton in Sunday’s decider as he bids for his first Grand Slam title, but Djokovic will remain locked with Margaret Court on 24 major trophies until at least the French Open.
There were doubts about Djokovic’s left thigh following his taxing quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz when he took a lengthy medical timeout after the first set against the Spaniard.
The 37-year-old Serb skipped a training session on the eve of the semi-final and entered Rod Laver Arena for the afternoon match with the thigh strapped.
But there was little indication he was struggling until late in the set when he began trudging slowly between points and muttering in frustration at his players’ box.
He gave up the set by hammering a regulation forehand volley into the net and promptly walked to Zverev’s side to shake hands and embrace the German, leaving the crowd gasping.
With a rueful expression, Djokovic held two thumbs up and clapped at the terraces but there was a round of boos as the 10-times champion made his exit.
Djokovic later said he had been trying to nurse a torn muscle and he was in increasing pain as the set wore on.
“I knew even if I won the first set, that it’s going to be a huge uphill battle for me to stay physically fit enough to stay with him in the rallies, you know, for another God knows what, two, three, four hours,” the Serb told reporters.
“I don’t think I had that, unfortunately, today in the tank.”
‘SHOW SOME RESPECT’
Zverev said he was also surprised by Djokovic’s retirement but noted the Serb’s movement had fallen away in the tiebreak.
“I thought it was a high level first set,” he added.
“Of course there are some difficulties … in the tiebreak he was not moving. I did see him struggle a bit more.”
Zverev also admonished sections of the crowd for jeering Djokovic, who has dominated the year’s opening Grand Slam since winning his first trophy at Melbourne Park in 2008.
“The very first thing I want to say is, please guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,” Zverev said.
“I know everyone paid for tickets and everyone wants to see hopefully a great five-set match.
“But … Novak Djokovic is someone who has given this sport for the past 20 years absolutely everything of his life.
“He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, won this tournament with a hamstring injury.
“So please show some respect.”
The truncated semi-final win is a huge boost for Zverev’s hopes of finally winning a Grand Slam, having missed out to Alcaraz in last year’s French Open final and surrendering a two-set lead before losing to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 U.S. Open decider.
The rangy 27-year-old has been tipped for Grand Slam success since his teen years but was often thwarted by the likes of Djokovic and the now-retired Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
Zverev was strong on serve on Friday and appeared content to wage attritional rallies with the Serb while biding his time for chances.
Though failing to convert all five break points he had over Djokovic, Zverev was rock-solid in the tiebreak.
He thrashed a forehand down the line to bring up set point with a 24th winner before Djokovic made his stunning exit, a year after being shocked by Sinner in the semi-finals.
-Reuters
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