I think Krygios got off a bit lightly there. Probably should have gotten a good behaviour bond.
The draw for the 2023 Davis Cup was made overnight. Australia, which lost to Canada in last year’s final, will be playing in Group B in Manchester.
Aussies have started pretty well in Paris, with Kokkinakis having a great opening round/day (wildcard too IIRC) victory, as well as our top ranked de Minaur and this year’s Aus Open star Jason Kubler progressing, as well as Storm Sanders. Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson play today. This comes after headline acts Kyrgios and top ranked Aussie/female Tomljanovic both pulled out again with persisting injury. Notably Rafa Nadal is also out. Meanwhile the Joker just got through in a scare. Up and coming new Spanish superstar (who missed the Aussie Open with injury) Carlos Alcaraz is through.
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Is Rolland Garros promoting/tie-in next year’s Olympics in its home city at all across the precinct or world feed or even Nine? No doubt it’ll be heavily utilised for the tennis matches at the games, which will take place just months after next year’s French Open.
Unfortunate way to go out
Feel bad for the girls. Should we let these things off if they were accidents? Seems unfair to just DSQ player(s) just because of an accident.
LOL, McEnroe just casually strolls past the finalist
Record 23 Grand Slam titles.
As Bruce McAvaney would say: “And once again the Joker… Is king”. Say what you like about Djokovic, but his performance last night in what was actually a really good final despite straight sets, was masterful, his willpower and mind over matter, just kept pushing Ruud, who to his credit did really well out of the gates and kept trying, Novak had his own faults at times. Wimbledon and remainder of 2023 will be interesting… Could he complete the ‘Grand Slam’ (winning all four majors in one year)? Or the ‘Golden Slam’ next year (the same but add the Olympic Gold Medal)!
I think at his age, and with all of the pressure of professional tennis, competition, social media influence, that’s too big an ask these days. A calendar year mens Grand Slam hasn’t been achieved since 1969.
Djoker plays better on grass than clay (arguably), so could go back-to-back Wimbledon again (could only see someone like a fit and in-form Kyrgios at his absolute best causing trouble a la last year - but not looking a chance to repeat this year) and Flushing Meadows like Melbourne Park where he owns so should have that hard surface in the bag.
It will all come down to injuries. We were saying the same thing about Nadal last year after he won the AO and RG. He was in peak form, then things came to an abrupt end. Similar thing with Federer a few years prior.
I’m still not a fan of Novak Djokovic though I agree he’s now officially the GOAT in men’s tennis
Looks like we are in for decades where the GOATs are 2 duds; Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic. Such a shame how close it was to being 2 great champions; Serena Williams and Nadal.
I think you’ll find she has her detractors too
I think if most of those detractors were forced to choose between Serena or Margaret as their champion most would choose Serena.
Imo Serena’s controversies are isolated events that are acceptable for someone under high scrutiny for a quarter of a century. No one is perfect. Margaret is just a plain rotten person.
She was a once in a millennium player though. A tough one.
Some sad revelations overnight, historic however, about Kyrgios’ previous mental health demons and what he went through at a Grand Slam (Sunrise was one that did a piece this morning)
https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1669121315536527360?s=19