Tennis legend Maria Sharapova has confirmed her retirement from the sport in an emotional statement. The Russian, 32, won five Grand Slams during her career including Wimbledon glory as a teenager in 2004 but says she lost her battle with injuries. In an exclusive essay written for Vogue and Vanity Fair, Sharapova said: "How do you leave behind the only life you’ve ever known? "How do you walk away from
American tennis star Billie Jean King has been a leading critic of Margaret Court’s comments on the LGBT community, but has promised to dial down her condemnation of the Australian. King called for Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena to be renamed after the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion said tennis was “full of lesbians” in 2017. Court, who is currently a Pentecostal pastor in Perth, also called young transgender Australians “so
Rafael Nadal captured his third Mexican Open title on Saturday as he beat Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-3 in Acapulco. Nadal survived 10 aces from Fritz and broke the service three times to outperform the 22-year-old American. “I couldn’t be happier. I played a great event from the beginning to the end,” Nadal told reporters. “Acapulco was the first big title that I won in my career, so to be able
Novak Djokovic insists he doesn’t expect to go through the season unbeaten after extending his winning streak to 21 matches. On Saturday, Djokovic was too strong for Stefanos Tsitsipas as he won a fifth Dubai Championships title. Djokovic’s last defeat was to Roger Federer at the season-ending ATP Finals in November. Since then he was unbeaten at the Davis Cup, ATP Cup, the Australian Open and now in Dubai. After
Rafael Nadal expressed his relief after overcoming ‘very humid’ conditions to reach the Mexican Open final. Nadal is no stranger to heavily perspiring during his matches and it was the case again in the late evening semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov in Acapulco. The world No 2 dropped his serve in the third game of the match before hitting back and going on a run of four games in a row
Novak Djokovic tipped Stefanos Tsitsipas for greatness after beating the Greek star in the final of the Dubai Championships. In a battle between the two top seeds, Tsitsipas made the stronger start but Djokovic kept his composure needed just the single break to win the first 6-3. In the second set, Djokovic appeared set to run away with the match after breaking to lead 3-2. But Tsitsipas broke straight back
Novak Djokovic extended his winning run to 18 matches as he outclassed Stefanos Tsitsipas to win a fifth Dubai Championships title. It was a cagey opening to the match with both players happy to play extended rallies. In the fifth game of the match, Tsitsipas earned his first break point after Djokovic put a forehand into the net but the world No 1 served his way out of trouble. Djokovic
Novak Djokovic came from a set down to beat Gael Monfils to book his place in the final, while Stefanos Tsitsipas got the better Britain’s Dan Evans in the other semi-final. This will be just the fifth meeting between Djokovic and Tsitsipas, with their current head-to-head rivalry level at 2-2. What has been said? Djokovic on Tsitsipas: “He’s one of the leaders of the new generation. He’s now established [as
The top two seeds at the Dubai Championships meet in the final as world No 1 Novak Djokovic takes on ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic is aiming to win a fifth title in Dubai and continue his outstanding start to the season. The Serbian has won his last 20 singles matches which includes success at the ATP Cup and the Australian Open. On Friday, for the umpteenth time, he demonstrated
Petra Kvitova battled past world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty 6-4 2-6 6-4 on Saturday morning (AEDT) to set up a Qatar Open final against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. The two-time Wimbledon winner overcame a second-set blip to reach the 37th WTA final of her career and her second in Doha, where she won the 2018 title. Kvitova ended a run of four straight defeats to Barty, including in the Australian Open
