The queen has abdicated. The throne is bare and the pretenders are circling at the French Open, which began on Sunday, with expectations high for an unusually large number of women players who feel they have been handed the rarest of opportunities. For the first time in almost a decade, winning at Roland Garros will not mean having to beat Justine Henin.
Triple champion Rafael Nadal and the man whose ambitions he has thwarted each time in winning those titles, Roger Federer, both made smooth progress into the third round at the French Open on Thursday. Second seed Nadal brushed aside French qualifier Nicolas Devilder 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 to take his Roland Garros record to 23 wins in 23 matches.
Maria Sharapova almost became the first women’s top seed in French Open history to lose in the opening round on Wednesday as Rafael Nadal showed her the way to master a Roland Garros sandstorm. Russian golden girl Sharapova toiled for two-and-a-half hours before squeezing past teenage compatriot and world number 104 Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 8-6.
Torrential rain brought chaos to the French Open on Tuesday, with six hours of play lost and title favourites Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal amongst the victims of the deluge. Only 13 of the day’s planned 72 ties were finished in the three hours of play possible between the downpours, leaving 59 of 128 first-round meetings still to be completed.
Tennis greatness is measured in Grand Slam triumphs, but that doesn’t make the game’s best players immune to the lure of Olympic gold. Andy Roddick has decided to skip the Beijing Games in August in order to prepare for a run at the US Open, but for most of the top players on the ATP and WTA tours, the Games remain a key event in the 2008 calendar.
World number one Roger Federer, in search of his first title of 2008, took no chances on Sunday as he moved smoothly into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters Series. The top-seeded Swiss, who enjoyed a first-round bye, defeated Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 in his first ATP outing since a first-round ouster at Dubai last week.
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/ 29 February 2008
Thirteen-year-old British diver Tom Daley is set to compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing later this year. His age has raised the question of whether there should be should be an age limit for competing at the Games? Two prominent sports people offer their opinions.
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/ 26 January 2008
It was to be the Glam Slam, the squealer versus the squeaker. Instead, Saturday’s Australian Open women’s final was a battle of brinkmanship and jangling nerves. Ana Ivanovic blinked first and Maria Sharapova was the champion. Russia’s tennis Tsarina beat Ivanovic 7-5 6-3 to make amends for last year’s final defeat by Serena Williams.
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/ 25 January 2008
Wimbledon crowds could learn a lot from the Australian Open. Like the British, the Australians have no players to speak of, so they do the next best thing and adopt a few for the purposes of the fortnight. They fell in love with Martina Hingis. Then it was Kimmy Clijsters, the Belgian obliging by getting engaged to Lleyton Hewitt. Now it’s Aussie Ana.
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/ 25 January 2008
Defeat in the final of the 2007 French Open has not left a seed of doubt in the mind of Australian Open finalist Ana Ivanovic — quite the opposite. That painful loss to Justine Henin has in fact helped the 20-year-old Serb prepare for Saturday’s Melbourne Park showdown, Ivanovic told reporters on Friday.
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/ 24 January 2008
Serbian fourth seed Ana Ivanovic staged a barnstorming comeback to down Slovak ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday and set up an Australian Open final against Maria Sharapova. Ivanovic looked like wilting in humid conditions with the roof of the Rod Laver Arena closed due to rain.
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/ 24 January 2008
Maria Sharapova’s father on Thursday escaped punishment for a throat-slitting gesture at the Australian Open, but the ”gutter behaviour” cemented his place in the club of infamous tennis parents. Yuri Sharapov has been a fixture courtside at the season-opening Grand Slam, often unshaven and wearing dark glasses.
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/ 24 January 2008
Russian fifth seed Maria Sharapova crushed injured Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1 in a one-sided semifinal on Thursday to reach her second successive Australian Open final. It means Sharapova, a losing finalist here last year, will meet either Serbian third seed Ana Ivanovic or Slovak ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova in Saturday’s title decider.
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/ 23 January 2008
Roger Federer was at his dominant best on Wednesday to book a place in the Australian Open semifinals as Ana Ivanovic brought Venus Williams’s tournament to a juddering halt. The Swiss ace kept his cool in two close-fought sets against 12th seeded American James Blake before running away a 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 winner.
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/ 22 January 2008
Russian Maria Sharapova produced a blistering performance to overpower world number one Justine Henin 6-4 6-0 in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Tuesday. The fifth seed was in ebullient mood, smashing 30 winners as she took a tight first set and ripped through the second to line up a semifinal against Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic.
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/ 22 January 2008
A listless Serena Williams stumbled out of the Australian Open on Tuesday, the champion jettisoned by Serbia’s ”wounded animal” Jelena Jankovic. Rafael Nadal continued his assault on the first Grand Slam of the season with a muscular defeat of Finn Jarkko Nieminen and will next meet either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Mikhail Youzhny, who clash later on day nine.
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/ 21 January 2008
It was back to business as usual for Roger Federer on Monday as he clinically moved into an Australian Open quarterfinal against James Blake, with Venus Williams also working up a head of steam. The world number one rebounded from his uncharacteristic five-set scare in the third round to resume his sprint towards a 13th Grand Slam title.
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/ 20 January 2008
Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt says behind-the-scenes scheduling dramas unsettled his build-up to his big Australian Open match with Marcos Baghdatis that led to the latest finish in grand-slam history. Meanwhile, fifth seed Maria Sharapova brushed aside fellow Russian Elena Dementieva and Justine Henin stormed into the quarterfinals.
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/ 18 January 2008
Sixth seed Andy Roddick was knocked out of the Australian Open after a bad-tempered five-setter early on Saturday, joining 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo on the third-round scrapheap. The American fell on his sword after a marathon three hours and 53 minutes of intense tennis against German 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
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/ 17 January 2008
Novak Djokovic may soon be copping a satirical look at his own leisurely serving style from Maria Sharapova. The Russian court diva is among a handful of tour players said to appreciate — or at least not go ballistic — when the fun-loving Serb delivers one of his exaggerated impersonations of their serving styles.
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/ 16 January 2008
Police defended their use of pepper spray on rowdy tennis fans and the sport’s big guns kept on blasting at Melbourne Park as the Australian Open got back on track on Wednesday. As the fall-out of Tuesday night’s crowd trouble settled, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova all blasted their way into the third round of the year’s opening Grand Slam.
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/ 14 January 2008
Defending champion Serena Williams and top seed Justin Henin survived gritty encounters on the first day of the Australian Open on Monday, while Maria Sharapova set up a tough clash with Lindsay Davenport. Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo also showed glimpses of the form that won her the 2006 championship.
World number one Justine Henin goes into the Australian Open as the overwhelming favourite after an inspired 2007, but there is no shortage of challengers. Among them is superstar defending champion Serena Williams, who stunned the tennis world by winning the title last year in her comeback event following an injury-plagued 2006.
Former world number one Lindsay Davenport continued her impressive return to the WTA circuit on Saturday, outclassing France’s Aravane Rezai 6-2, 6-2 to win the Auckland Classic. The 31-year-old American comeback mum needed just 51 minutes to dispatch the 20-year-old Frenchwoman, offering fans a lesson in power and precision tennis.
American ace Venus Williams said she did not think corruption was a big problem in tennis, as she limbered up in Hong Kong for the Australian Open. ”No. I don’t think it is a big thing for tennis, to be honest,” she told reporters, when asked whether she had seen any evidence of match-fixing.
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/ 29 December 2007
It will be the year of the Golden Slam for tennis in 2008 and realistically only two names are in the running. Both Roger Federer and Justine Henin finished this year as clear number ones in their sport and they are set to dominate again. But from there to winning all four Grand Slams events plus Olympic gold in Beijing in the same calendar year is a huge step.
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/ 26 December 2007
Self-confessed chocoholic Maria Sharapova will get a chance to taste some post-Christmas forbidden fruit in the privacy of her hotel as she arrives on Friday in Singapore for a weekend tennis exhibition. The Russian former number one is facing compatriot Anna Chakvetadze on Sunday night.
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/ 12 November 2007
Justin Henin finished the toughest season of her career with one of her toughest victories at the WTA tennis championship. That’s exactly how she would have scripted it. Henin rallied to beat Maria Sharapova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday in the longest three-set final in the tournament’s history.
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/ 2 November 2007
The career of Martina Hingis ended in disgrace and tears on Thursday when she retired after testing positive for cocaine, an inglorious finale to a story that captivated world tennis for more than a decade. ”I have tested positive but I have never taken drugs and I feel 100% innocent,” the five-times Grand Slam champion told a news conference.
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/ 29 October 2007
Maria Sharapova clinched the final place at the season-ending WTA Championships on Sunday. She has qualified every year since winning on her debut in 2004. ”This has been a very frustrating year for me physically but I’m a big competitor and am determined to compete at the WTA Championships,” Sharapova said.
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/ 7 September 2007
Serb shot-maker Novak Djokovic and Spanish grafter David Ferrer on Thursday set up a US semifinal showdown for a possible challenge to top seed and defending champion Roger Federer. Dvkovic, the 20-year-old revelation of the year, showed remarkable composure in defeating Spanish veteran Carlos Moya 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
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/ 1 September 2007
World number one Roger Federer faces a lofty challenge in his bid for a fourth straight US Open title when he takes on wildcard John Isner in the third round on Saturday. Former champion Andy Roddick and women’s title holder Maria Sharapova are also in action but Federer could have the toughest match.