Rafael Nadal, the 21-time grand slam winner, says the recently announced introduction of final-set tie-breaks across all grand slams will make the biggest impact at Wimbledon, rather than the French Open.
Tennis' Grand Slam Board announced this week that first-to-10 tie-breaks will be trialled across all grand slams with immediate effect, as a means of providing "greater consistency" to matches which go the distance.
Previously, each grand slam was free to adopt its own rules for deciding longer matches, with the Australian Open the only one to use first-to-10 tie-breaks at 6-6 in a deciding set.
Wimbledon, for example, used a first-to-seven tie-break to decide final sets which reached 12-12.
Speaking after dispatching Reilly Opelka in straight sets at the Indian Wells Masters, Nadal, who will look to add to his Australian Open triumph in the year's other three majors, explained he was not for or against the changes.
The 35-year-old also, however, predicted the alterations would have a bigger impact at Wimbledon than at the French Open, which he could win for a 14th time at Roland Garros in May.
"I don't care much, honestly!" said Nadal. "I am not in favour or not against, that's what they decided, and happy with it or not, I don't think I'm going to make a big difference.
"But I read that every [tournament] is going to have the same, and in some ways that's positive.
"I don't think at Roland Garros it will make a big impact. In my opinion the biggest impact is going to be at Wimbledon, [where] sometimes it's so difficult to break serve, so the matches become very long.
"I don't feel that for Roland Garros it will change a lot. Okay, [without the changes] it can be a few more games, but I don't think at Roland Garros you're normally going to go to 22-20. At Wimbledon, that can happen."
The longest men's singles match played at a grand slam, judged by the number of games played, came at Wimbledon in 2010, when John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68.
By contrast, the longest men's singles match in French Open history saw Fabrice Santoro beat fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 3-6 16-14, in 2004.
After defeating Opelka in his round-of-16 tie at Indian Wells, Nadal will now face Australia's Nick Kyrgios for a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier in the week, the Spaniard became the first-ever player to reach 400 wins at Masters 1000 tournaments by beating Dan Evans in the last 32.
Like father, like son – Shaqueel van Persie makes Youth League debut
Robin van Persie handed a UEFA Youth League debut to his son Shaqueel for Feyenoord on Tuesday.
Van Persie, the former Arsenal and Manchester United star, is now coaching Feyenoord's Under-18s team and the Under-19s team.
And while taking charge of the latter side in the Youth League, Van Persie handed his son Shaqueel his debut in the competition as a 56th-minute substitute against Atletico Madrid.
Van Persie junior could not help his father's team avoid defeat, however, with Iker Luque scoring the only goal of the game in the 81st minute.
Shaqueel the real deal?
Shaqueel van Persie made his European debut five years and 104 days after his father last played in a European match for Feyenoord, where he finished his career.
The 17-year-old, who was born during Van Persie's stint at Arsenal, began his youth career with Manchester City before moving to Feyenoord in 2017, a year before his father joined the same club.
He has already represented the Netherlands at Under-16 and Under-17 level.
LeBron James shrugs off minutes milestone after suffering heaviest career defeat
No player in NBA history has spent more minutes on the court than LeBron James, but the latest record means nothing to the Los Angeles Lakers star.
That is because it came in what was James' heaviest career defeat – a 138-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
In his 21-year NBA career, James' previous worst loss came by 42 points in a 136-94 reverse to the Indiana Pacers in February 2019.
As Joel Embiid racked up 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the Sixers' rout, James accumulated another 30 minutes on the court.
That took his career total, across both regular season and postseason games, to 66,319 minutes in his career, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 66,297 minutes.
But the record was of little solace to the 38-year-old, who told reporters: "That doesn't mean much to me."
Asked about what the Lakers need to do to ensure heavy defeats do not become a common occurrence, James said: "What needs to change in order for that not to happen again? Um, a lot.
"I don't know how a team [should respond]. I can only speak for myself, and I don't like it."
James' teammate Anthony Davis said: "Feel like we just weren't together. A lot of quick shots, one-pass shots, no-pass shots.
"They started making a lot of shots. And when their lead kind of opened up a little bit – 15, 20, 25 – I think we all tried to be the hero to make the team come back instead of just sticking with it.
"We've got to look at it, embrace it, own it. Guys don't take it personally for whatever's said in the film, and then move on from it."
It was a bad day for both Los Angeles teams, with the Clippers also losing.
They went down 104-113 to a Denver Nuggets team that was shorn of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.
Former Laker Russell Westbrook became embroiled in a debate with a fan.
"I mean, it's unfortunate," Westbrook said.
"Fans think they can say whatever they want. I'm not going to say [what was said] now because it's not appropriate, but I'm just protecting myself.
"It's just unfortunate fans think they can get away with saying anything and, personally, I won't allow it. I've [taken] a lot of people saying anything and getting away with it, but I won't stand for it."
Travis Kelce makes NFL history in Chiefs comeback win
Travis Kelce made NFL history as the Kansas City Chiefs recorded an entertaining victory in Week 12.
The Chiefs fought back from 14-0 behind to win 31-17 at the Las Vegas Raiders, improving their 2023 record to 8-3.
Kelce hauled in six catches for 91 yards to help launch the comeback, with Rashee Rice adding eight receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Sunday's game saw Kelce become the fastest tight end to reach 11,000 receiving yards in NFL history, achieving the feat in 154 games.
The 34-year-old only needed 15 yards to reach the landmark and comfortably passed that in Las Vegas, taking his career total up to 11,076.
Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez held the previous fastest mark after hitting 11,000 after 191 games.
Kelce is only the fourth tight end ever to reach the total. He still has a while to go to catch Gonzalez (15,127) in yardage, but is moving ever closer to Jason Witten (13.036) and Antonio Gates (11,841) in the TE standings.
"We went down 14 points, and it's a tough thing to come back from that," said Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
"Our guys battled back, and I'm proud of them for that."
A prime-time matchup against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field is up next for the Chiefs, who are top of the AFC West as they look to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The Denver Broncos (6-5) are their closest challengers in the division.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
