Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner can join Novak Djokovic as members of a new 'Big Three' in men's tennis over the coming years, before taking up the Serbian's mantle when he retires.

That is the view of four-time grand slam semi-finalist Tommy Haas, who believes Sinner's sheer power will help him build on the Australian Open title he captured last month.

Sinner recovered from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling Australian Open final in January, claiming his first grand slam title at the age of 22.

The Italian's triumph made him the third-youngest man to win the event since it moved to Melbourne Park in 1988, older only than Djokovic in 2008 and Jim Courrier in 1992.

That breakout victory led to suggestions that Sinner could join Alcaraz in becoming a regular challenger to Djokovic, who has largely dominated men's tennis in recent years, with Roger Federer retiring in 2022 and Rafael Nadal beset by injury problems.  

While Haas believes Alcaraz is currently a more rounded player than Sinner, he feels the Italian has every chance of adding to his first major crown in the coming years.

"Maybe with Al, it's a bit more of an all-round game, but I think Sinner is going to continue to work on his," Haas told Stats Perform. 

"He's already done a great job on movement, on defence. Maybe he doesn't actually need to learn to get to the net and finish more, but I'm sure he's going to try because of his powerful groundstrokes.

"If he keeps playing like he does, it's just so powerful. You're going to be reacting pretty much all the time against him.

"He's going to try to improve his serve, he's going to try to improve physically. If he stays healthy, if Alcaraz stays healthy, these two are going to be the ones playing for a lot of the big titles."

However, Haas also thinks there are other contenders capable of pushing for major honours, adding: "Then you have Holger Rune, you have these other young players coming up.

"He now has to step it up a little bit. I think there's been lots going on with his team, with lots of chefs in the kitchen, but he's got the right mindset, he's got the will, he's got the potential.

"You have [Alexander] Zverev, who obviously still believes he can and should win a slam, so there's a lot of nice contrast there. 

"Medvedev, on hardcourts you can never count him out, and he's only 27. I think there is still potential for those guys to keep doing well.

"[Andrey] Rublev, I feel like he's getting better on defence as well. He pounds the ball like no other. So if he gets a little bit tougher mentally, don't count him out. There's a lot of good storylines there."

Emma Raducanu has been given a wild card into the Qatar Open and will face Anhelina Kalinina in the opening round.

The former US Open champion revealed after losing to Ons Jabeur in the second round of the WTA Tour event in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday that she was hoping to play in Doha.

Her wish has been granted and the 21-year-old, who has won three of her six matches following her return from eight months on the sidelines, will open her campaign against 32nd-ranked Ukrainian Kalinina early next week.

 

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They have played once before, on the clay courts of Madrid in 2022, with Kalinina winning a close contest in three sets.

The winner of the match will take on big-hitting eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko, who has already won two titles this season.

Raducanu has shown early promise after returning to the tour at the beginning of January following her recovery from three operations last spring, on both wrists and one ankle.

A comprehensive first-round win over Marie Bouzkova in Abu Dhabi saw Raducanu produce some of her best form since her 2021 victory in New York, but she was disappointed by a 6-4 6-1 defeat against Jabeur.

“It was a tough match,” said Raducanu. “Ons is a difficult opponent so credit to her, she played really well and it’s just a match that personally I need to forget about.”

The Qatar tournament, the first WTA 1000 event of the season – the highest level of the tour – sees both Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff playing for the first time since the Australian Open, but Melbourne champion Aryna Sabalenka is not in the field.

Emma Raducanu’s bid to reach the last eight of the Abu Dhabi Open was ended in straight sets by world number six Ons Jabeur.

Britain’s Raducanu has been making encouraging strides on her comeback after eight months out following surgery on her wrists and ankle.

The 21-year-old briefly pushed three-time grand slam finalist Jabeur in a close opening set.

But Tunisian Jabeur, the runner-up at Wimbledon in the previous two years, was ultimately too strong in a 6-4 6-1 victory.

Raducanu dropped serve in the first game of the match and was soon a double break down at 5-1.

But the 2021 US Open champion gradually began to remind everyone of just how cleanly she strikes a ball at her best.

She saved three set points before breaking Jabeur’s serve to trail 5-3, and then a gritty hold brought her to within one game.

However, Jabeur comprehensively held serve in the next to take the first set in 50 minutes.

The second seed converted a third break point to take the initiative at the start of second set.

This time Raducanu, who last reached a quarter-final in September 2022, had no answer to the flurry of winners – Jabeur hit 35 in all – as she bowed out.

“She didn’t make it easy for me, obviously,” Jabeur, 29, said in her on-court interview.

“Emma is such an amazing player, I wish her all the best because I know she can play much better. I am a big fan of hers.

“Emma had an amazing experience at the US Open and everybody followed her. She’s had an amazing career.

“Everyone has a different story, we struggle a lot, we go through a lot of things. But a lot of amazing women play on the tour.”

Andy Murray’s miserable run continued with a first-round loss to Tomas Machac at the Open 13 Provence.

The 36-year-old’s 7-5 6-4 defeat by Czech Machac in Marseille was his sixth in a row dating back to October and means he has won only one of his last 10 matches.

Murray has admitted he is weighing up when to retire, but he railed against a suggestion he could be tarnishing his legacy by playing on, writing on X, formerly Twitter last week: “Most people would quit and give up in my situation right now. But I’m not most people and my mind works differently. I won’t quit.”

This was not a bad performance against a player on the rise in 23-year-old Machac, ranked 66, but again there were costly lapses.

Murray recovered from an early break and appeared to have the momentum late in the opening set, only for Machac to break serve at 5-5.

The Czech then moved ahead early in the second set and Murray was unable to recover the deficit.

It was a significantly better day, though, for Heather Watson, who claimed her best victory by ranking since 2017 to upset ninth seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 7-5 at the Abu Dhabi Open.

Watson struggled in 2023, but she played confident, aggressive tennis to defeat 16th-ranked Russian Kudermetova and the win could see her break back into the world’s top 130.

“I know she’s such a great player so I knew I had to play really well today,” said Watson, who defeated former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round of qualifying.

“I just focused on what was in my control, my serve and just trying to be as aggressive as I can. I played really well and had a lot of fun out here today.”

Watson joins compatriot Emma Raducanu in the second round and will next face Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.

Harriet Dart, meanwhile, is on the verge of moving back into the top 100 after a 6-4 7-6 (0) victory over Anna Bondar in the opening round of the Transylvania Open in Romania.

Naomi Osaka fell to defeat against Danielle Collins in her opening match at the Abu Dhabi Open.

The four-time grand slam champion made her comeback last month following the birth of her first child, reaching the second round of the Brisbane International before losing a close contest to Caroline Garcia in her opening match at the Australian Open.

Those performances gave plenty of cause for encouragement but Osaka faded badly against American Collins, losing 7-5 6-0.

Rallies were few and far between in a first set dominated by serve until Collins claimed the crucial break at 5-5.

From there, the former Australian Open finalist ran away with the contest, with Osaka committing 20 unforced errors and looking dispirited as she dropped serve four times in a row.

Osaka plans to play a fuller schedule than she did prior to her 15-month break but it is clear the 26-year-old has plenty of work to do if she is to get back to the top of the game.

Collins, who is planning to retire at the end of the season, moves on to a second-round clash with top seed Elena Rybakina.

Emma Raducanu breezed into the last 16 of the Abu Dhabi Open with a 6-4 6-1 win over world number 26 Marie Bouzkova.

Raducanu recovered from a slow start to win 10 of the last 11 games and seal a meeting with second seed Ons Jabeur in the next round.

It was another promising display from the 21-year-old, who had impressed in her first-round win over Shelby Rogers at last month’s Australian Open.

Her aggressive tactics stunned her opponent, a 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist, as she hit back from an early break to reel off four games in a row and take the first set.

There was no looking back for Raducanu in the second as she pressed home her advantage to seal another win that suggests her injury problems may be a thing of the past.

Raducanu had returned from eight months out due to multiple wrist and ankle surgeries at the Auckland Open, where she pushed Elina Svitolina to three sets.

And her run in Australia was ended in round two where she defied a stomach bug to push Wang Yafan all the way in a match lasting just five minutes short of three hours.

Raducanu said: “I think in the beginning I was just adjusting to the speed of the court. I hadn’t played on this court this year yet, so I was kind of just adjusting.

“It was pretty quick and also a lot more still than it had been for the week, because it’s been very windy, so it was a different tempo. Marie is a really tough opponent.

“I knew that going in I was going to have to play so many balls and I think in the beginning I was missing a few of the finishing shots, but I cleaned that up so I’m very happy about.”

For the second time in 12 months, Kaipo Marshall produced some fifth-rubber heroics to lead Barbados to victory and keep them in World Group II of the Davis Cup, tennis' premier male team competition. Marshall repelled the challenge of Rowland Phillips 6-4 1-6 6-2 to clinch a 3-2 victory over hosts Jamaica at the Eric Bell Centre in Kingston on Sunday.

"I'm super happy. These types of matches make you dig as deep as possible, especially with the fact that I didn't serve well this tie," Marshall explained having hit 12 double faults in the match.

Not even a lengthy rain delay when the Barbadian was leading 4-0 in the third could thwart his quest for glory, and by the time the match resumed just after 6:30pm Jamaica time, the majority of the partisan crowd had left the venue as the 21-year-old converted on his second match point to complete victory in two hours and 14 minutes, with the Barbados team racing on to court in short but rapturous celebrations.

It was only Marshall's second triumph in nine Davis Cup singles matches but his previous win came in similar do-or-die circumstances against Pacific Oceania in Bridgetown last year.

"I think I've had a crazy rollercoaster of a year since then, but that match definitely helped me in this match," he said.
The win keeps Barbados in Group II while Jamaica have been relegated to Group III.

Non-playing captain, Noel Rutherford said he was disappointed but not so heartbroken at the result. "You have to give credit to the Bajan team," he said.

"I thought we had it when we levelled it all after Blaise came out firing;, I thought we would have closed it off in the final singles but that wasn't to be, this kid came out fighting and you have to give him credit."

Blaise Bicknell won both his singles matches, but defeat in doubles alongside Phillips, plus wins for Darian King and Marshall over Phillips were enough to take Barbados to the win.

Blaise Bicknell brushed aside Darian King 6-1 6-0 to draw Jamaica level at 2-2 and extend their World Group II Davis Cup Playoff tie to a fifth and deciding rubber at the Eric Bell Centre in Kingston.

King, hampered by a left knee injury, was never in the contest as Bicknell dominated exhibition style.

"I played well throughout. Of course, he's not 100 percent but I thought I made very good decisions out there and I made him work for what he needed to."

Jamaica, who took the lead through Bicknell in the first singles rubber, fell behind after King beat Rowland Phillips to close Saturday and then returned alongside Haydn Lewis to snatch a thrilling doubles contest to start Sunday's action.

It means the tie will be decided by Jamaica's Phillips and Kaipo Marshall of Barbados and Bicknell, ranked 319 in the world said he has all confidence that Phillips can get the job done for Jamaica.

"If there's anyone I want in this position is Randy because he's Mr Davis Cup, as we call him."

Phillips is Jamaica's winningest Davis Cup player with 26 wins against 12 losses.

Marshall has recorded just one win in eight matches but that success came heroically against Pacific Oceania's Clement Mainguy last year when he rallied from a set and 4-5 down to win and keep Barbados in Group II.

The winner of this tie will remain in Group II, while loser will be relegated to Group III this summer. from my Galaxy

 

Darian King and Haydn Lewis have given Barbados a 2-1 lead over Jamaica after defeating Blaise Bicknell and Rowland Phillips in a thrilling doubles rubber in their World Group II Davis Cup Playoff tie at the Eric Bell Centre in Kingston.

King and Lewis rallied from a set down to secure victory 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The tie was locked at 1-1 after Saturday's opening day which saw Bicknell beating Kaipo Marshall 6-1 3-6 6-1 and King edging Phillips in a 6-3 3-6 7-5 thriller.

The Jamaican pair edged a very tight first set, after breaking Lewis' serve in the seventh game, before they closed it out at the second opportunity by again breaking the Barbadians in the ninth.

While the first set had just one break of serve, there were three in the second with Barbados claiming two in the third and seventh games before King served out the set at love.

It set up a blockbuster third set and it was Barbados who held their nerve on the back of an outstanding performance from Lewis.

The lefty volleyed and returned superbly and then closed it out with precision serving.

"I have been in this situation a lot of times and I understand Darian, he's been my partner for many years, so I know that he can get down, so a lot of times I have to be the one to take control."

The 38-year-old has been representing Barbados at this level for 22 years and he drew on all his experience in the final set.

He was clinical in the decider, controlling the big moments when others seemed indecisive.

Overall it was a high quality match, with all four players having their moments.

King saved four set points when serving down 1-2 in the third, pulling out the marathon game despite a controversial line call unfortunately going against them.

Another big moment was when the Jamaicans saved four break points when Phillips was serving at 3-3, but Barbados ultimately won the marathon game after 20 minutes, which was the crucial break needed to take the match.

Blaise Bicknell is currently facing Darian King in the first reverse singles, a match Jamaica must win to stay alive in the tie, and remain in Group II.

 

Things remain evenly poised between Jamaica and Barbados at 1-1 in their World Group II Davis Cup playoff tie, as Darian King bettered Jamaican counterpart Rowland Phillips in an entertaining second rubber at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston on Saturday.

After Jamaica’s Blaise Bicknell recovered from a second set slump to beat Kaipo Marshall 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the first contest, King outlasted Phillips 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a tough encounter that took two hours and 54 minutes to decide a winner.

The contest, as expected, was characterized by long grinding rallies given the style of play of both King and Phillips.

In the end, it was the 31-year-old Barbadian ranked at 547 in the world that took top honours over his 30-year-old opponent, who played with a heavily bandaged right knee.

Action concludes on Sunday with the doubles rubber and reverse singles.

Blaise Bicknell recovered from a second set slump to beat Kaipo Marshall and give Jamaica the advantage against Barbados following the first rubber of their World Group II Davis Cup playoff tie at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston on Saturday.

Bicknell prevailed 6-1 3-6 6-1.

Despite a sluggish start, and the first three games going to deuce, Bicknell saved break point in the opening game of the contest and fought to a 3-0 lead, before ultimately running away with the set 6-1.

The 21-year-old Barbadian responded in the second set, breaking early, before shocking the partisan crowd by rushing to a 3-0 lead.

However, the 22-year-old Bicknell, ranked 319 in the world and number one in the Caribbean, momentarily pulled his game together with precise serving and strong forehands to level at three apiece.

The momentum again shifted with Marshall breaking once on his way to winning the next three games and take the set 6-3.

He saved three break points and squandered three set points, before holding his nerve when Bicknell dumped a backhand return in the net. 

Last year, Marshall heroically, came from a set and 4-5 down to beat Pacific Oceania's Clement Mainguy to keep Barbados in group II, but he couldn't complete this mission, as Bicknell, sensing the challenge, stepped up and ran away with the third 6-1, punctuating the victory with a second serve ace.

"I didn't play my best but I found a way to get the job done," Bicknell said following the win in sweltering heat.

"I played a good first and third set and once I relaxed I was comfortable,” he added.

Marshall also felt he was far from his best.

"I definitely didn't play the level I wanted to today, I felt definitely like I was right there with him, but I felt like I defeated myself,” he lamented.

Neither player hit their best game on the day, but ultimately, Bicknell's superior quality was the difference.

There were moments he looked like the man who is coming off his first ATP challenger title. His serve out wide on the deuce court in big moments was a major factor, and his heavy forehand also did a lot of damage.

Marshall struggled on second serve. He hit four doubles in his first service game, a problem which persisted throughout the match.

The day's second rubber between Darian King of Barbados and Rowland Phillips of Jamaica is currently underway.

Action concludes on Sunday with the doubles rubber and reverse singles.

On this day in 2020, Sofia Kenin won the Australian Open women’s singles title with a 4-6 6-2 6-2 victory against Garbine Muguruza.

The then-21-year-old American had never previously played beyond the fourth round of a grand slam and became the youngest winner of the title since Maria Sharapova in 2008.

She also followed in the footsteps of Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty and Bianca Andreescu, who all won their first slam finals in brilliant fashion in the previous 18 months.

Kenin’s emotions showed at various points during the deciding set and she dropped her racket and covered her face with her hands in disbelief when Muguruza’s second serve landed long on match point.

“These past two weeks, there have been a lot of emotions,” she said post-match.

“You guys could see after the match how much it all meant to me.

“This is such an honour. I’m so proud of myself, my dad, my team, everyone that has been around me. We’ve all worked hard. We’ve been through tough times. We did it. We fought. I’m just on cloud nine.”

Kenin followed up her Australian Open victory by reaching the final of the French Open later that year in October, but was beaten by Iga Swiatek.

Andy Murray has no immediate plans to call time on his career and vowed: “I won’t quit.”

The two-time Wimbledon winner, 36, was dumped out of the first round in both the Brisbane International and Australian Open and remains winless in 2024 following his third defeat of the new year.

Murray let slip a one-set lead against Benoit Paire to lose 6-2 6-7 3-6 in his opening match of the Open Sud de France and has not won a competitive match since his victory over Yannick Hanfmann in Basel in October 2023.

After the match, some questioned whether it was time for Murray to bring his playing career to a close, but the Scot has pledged to keep on fighting.

Murray responded to a post on X, formerly Twitter, by saying: “Tarnishing my legacy? Do me a favour. I’m in a terrible moment right now I’ll give you that.

“Most people would quit and give up in my situation right now. But I’m not most people and my mind works differently.

“I won’t quit. I will keep fighting and working to produce the performances I know I’m capable of.”

Andy Murray remains winless in 2024 after losing in three sets to France’s Benoit Paire in the first round of the Open Sud de France.

Murray, who exited both the Brisbane International and the Australian Open after his opening match, let slip a one-set lead against Paire, currently ranked 112, to lose 6-2 6-7 (5) 3-6 in just short of two and three-quarter hours.

Former world number one Murray raced into a 3-0 lead in the opening set after breaking Paire’s first service game and broke the Frenchman for a second time in the eighth game to wrap it up 6-2 in 38 minutes.

Paire, who reached a career-high ranking of 18 in 2016, responded by breaking Murray in the opening game of the second set and after the Briton broke back to level it up at 4-4, it headed for a tie-break.

Murray won three successive points from 5-1 down and saved a set point to claw it back to 6-5, but lost the next point on his serve and Paire clinched the tie-break 7-5 to level the match.

After both players had lost their serve early in the decider, Paire made the decisive break when 4-3 ahead and served it out to seal an impressive win.

Murray, who has said this year could be his last on tour if he is “not enjoying it”, lost in the opening round to Grigor Dimitrov in Brisbane and fell to Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets at the Australian Open.

Jannik Sinner became tennis’ newest grand slam champion at the Australian Open while Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her title.

The year’s first grand slam brought plenty of long matches and late nights and set the tone for an intriguing season to come.

Here, the PA news agency picks out five things we learned at Melbourne Park.

Changing of the guard

The shifting sands of the sport have moved extremely slowly over the last decade, but there is no doubt change is here – and more is on the way. No one will be writing off Novak Djokovic after one off-colour tournament – he still reached the semi-finals despite being nowhere near his best – but power is moving towards the youngest generation, led by Carlos Alcaraz and now Sinner. Rafael Nadal’s comeback adds extra intrigue heading towards the French Open.

Sabalenka setting the standard

Iga Swiatek remains world number one but not by much and, based on the last five slams, Sabalenka can lay claim to be the best across all surfaces. While Swiatek will be favoured to sweep all before her on clay again, she has work to do to prove she can be a consistent force on hard courts and grass. Sabalenka was awesome in Melbourne, never dropping a set and maintaining a sense of emotional calm that the rest of the locker room would have observed with some trepidation.

New Norrie

Cameron Norrie has been Britain’s Mr Dependable over the last three years, using his physical and mental prowess to battle his way into the top 10. But in Melbourne the 28-year-old showed a whole new attacking side to his game that was a joy to watch. Norrie pulled off the best slam victory of his career over Casper Ruud in the third round and pushed Alexander Zverev all the way to a deciding tie-break before bowing out. If he continues on the same path, he can put himself right in the mix at the biggest tournaments.

Raducanu back on track

Emma Raducanu may only have made the second round of her comeback slam before a tight loss to Wang Yafan but the signs were very encouraging. The 21-year-old played with conviction, looked good physically barring an unfortunate stomach bug and, most encouragingly, appeared happy and excited to be back on tour. It will take Raducanu time to find her level but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic, especially if she sticks with new coach Nick Cavaday for a sustained period.

Late night addiction

Tournament director Craig Tiley’s claim that extending the event to 15 days would somehow fix the problem of matches going late into the night was always farcical, and so it proved. Even only having two matches in the day session did not guarantee the night session began on time, and Daniil Medvedev’s second-round clash with Emil Ruusuvuori did not finish until 3.39am. Until tennis accepts that matches are becoming ever longer and schedules accordingly, nothing will change.

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