LONDON: There's no single explanation, of course, for all of the injuries to players in the latter stages at Wimbledon this year. This much is certain: The timing could hardly be worse.
The man Novak Djokovic was supposed to face on Wednesday, Alex de Minaur, withdrew hours before their scheduled quarterfinal because he jarred his hip at the end of a victory two days earlier.
“I'm devastated,” de Minaur said. “The problem with me going out and playing is that one stretch, one slide, one anything, can make this injury (recovery) go from three to six weeks to four months. It’s too much to risk.”
Taylor Fritz’s fourth-round opponent, Alexander Zverev, slipped on an unworn patch of green grass in his previous match. That caused a bone bruise — and maybe worse — that Zverev complained left him on “one leg” in his loss to the American at what the two-time major finalist characterized as a wide open opportunity to grab a first Grand Slam title.
Danielle Collins' last Wimbledon appearance before retirement ended with tape wrapped around her hamstring, the work of a trainer during the American’s fourth-round loss to 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova. Collins chalked it up to failing to “think about every little step that you take.”
“There's been a ton of injuries on the grass. Left and right, it seems like people are going down. I am, I guess, frustrated that I feel like I was focusing on my tactics and kind of what I needed to do to play at a high level. Usually, I feel like, on other surfaces you’re not having to think so critically about your movement,” Collins said. “The one second I take my mind off of it, not think about every little thing I’m doing with my footwork, it ends up happening.”
The falls keep happening. The injuries are adding up.
“It’s unfortunate, obviously,” de Minaur said. “You never want to see this.”
He called his mishap “more of a freak injury,” related to the “excessive amount of force” used to slide on grass.
Madison Keys, the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up, was in tears when she stopped because of a hurt leg at 5-all in the third set of a Week 2 match against Jasmine Paolini, who reached Thursday's semifinals.
Emma Raducanu, who won the U.S. Open three years ago, withdrew from mixed doubles — which was supposed to be Andy Murray's last event at Wimbledon — because of a sore wrist, then needed a medical timeout later that day after falling in the third set of a singles loss.
No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya cited a bad wrist when she quit in her fourth-round match against 2022 champion Elena Rybakina. No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov retired from his fourth-round match against Daniil Medvedev with a leg problem.
“It’s normal for the second week at Wimbledon to be feeling niggling things on your muscles, because it’s tough — the grass, getting down low, coming into the net. It's more on the muscles than the joints on the grass," 2003 Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis said. "So I’m sure lots of people will be feeling it now with little things here and there.”
Count Djokovic among those who think part of the issue is that all of the rain during the tournament — so much that the mixed doubles final was shifted from Thursday to Sunday, and play began a half-hour earlier than usual on most courts Wednesday — has made the grass more slick and the footing less sure.
So has shutting the retractable roofs at Centre Court and No. 1 Court, the only two arenas with that luxury during wet weather.
“Once you close the roof, you know that the grass is going to be more slippery. So there’s more chances that players will fall. Unfortunately, some of the falls have caused some of the players to withdraw,” Djokovic said.
“It's part of this surface. You can’t really change that," added the seven-time champion at the All England Club. "I mean, it’s grass. It’s a live surface, and it reacts to different conditions.”
The pattern began at grass tourneys that preceded Wimbledon.
Marketa Vondrousova retired from a match in Berlin after hurting her right leg there. When she showed up at Wimbledon, she became the first defending champion in 30 years to lose in the first round and acknowledged: "I was a bit scared because of my leg.”
The woman who beat her last week, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, stopped at Wimbledon because of a back issue in the third round against Krejcikova.
Frances Tiafoe pulled out of the Queen's Club tournament before Wimbledon after spraining a ligament in his right knee when he took a tumble. Tiafoe played at the All England Club with a black sleeve over his knee and made it to the third round before losing to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic tore the meniscus in his right knee during a match at the French Open, had surgery and returned to competition less than a month later. Ironically, he thinks it's possible that might have helped him stay upright this fortnight.
That's because, years ago, Djokovic was one of the first players to regularly slide on grass the way they do on clay. He has cut down on those movements this time at Wimbledon, being extra careful to avoid risking falls.
“It’s probably part of my, I guess, different kind of movement on the court that I’ve been really experimenting with because of the cautiousness — because of the knee and everything that was happening prior to the tournament,” Djokovic explained. “The first couple rounds, I was still not maybe willing to go (for difficult) balls and slide and make splits.”
Other theories include: More and more baseline play on grass, and less serving-and-volleying, creates longer points and extra running, which translate into a greater likelihood of slips; less comfort on grass because players tend to grow up practicing and competing on clay or hard courts; and a brief grass portion of the schedule that doesn't allow for accumulating a lot of experience on the turf.
Then there's the general wear-and-tear of a season.
“Listen, tennis is a very physical sport at the moment. For sure, the rallies are longer. Matches. Scheduling. Finishing late,” 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis said. “It’s very demanding on the body. ... A lot of things are changing that (contribute) to players getting injured.”
Injuries are adding up at Wimbledon and determining the outcomes of matches
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Injuries are adding up at Wimbledon and determining the outcomes of matches
- Taylor Fritz’s fourth-round opponent, Alexander Zverev, slipped on an unworn patch of green grass in his previous match
- “It’s unfortunate, obviously,” de Minaur said. “You never want to see this”
‘Hate it’: Tien beats friend to set-up NextGen final against Fonseca
- Sunday’s final will feature the two youngest players in the eight-man field with Fonseca having the advantage of already beating Tien
JEDDAH: Learner Tien defeated close friend Alex Michelsen to reach the NextGen ATP Finals title match on Saturday but admitted he “hated” having had to face his American compatriot.
The 19-year-old left-hander, ranked at 122 in the world, came through 2-4, 4-2, 1-4, 4-0, 4-1 in a semifinal which boasted tennis legend Rafael Nadal among the spectators.
“I can’t put it into words right now,” said Tien who hit 21 winners past the 41st-ranked Michelsen.
“I am really happy with the win but I hate it against him, but that is just how it goes. I started smiling when I came out here and saw him on the other side of the net, but I am really happy to get through and think I played really well.”
Tien will face Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, the lowest-ranked player in the draw at 145, who eased into the final by seeing off France’s Luca Van Assche 4-2, 4-2, 4-1.
Fonseca is the second youngest man to make the NextGen final after current world number one and two-time major winner Jannik Sinner who took the title in 2019.
The Brazilian has won all of his four matches in Jeddah this week, a run which included the biggest win of his career against 20th-ranked Arthur Fils of France.
“Today was a great match. I played really solidly,” said Fonseca after his one-hour victory.
“He didn’t have too many chances because I was playing so aggressively and making all the shots. There is one more match to go, and I hope I can for it.”
Sunday’s final will feature the two youngest players in the eight-man field with Fonseca having the advantage of already beating Tien during the group stages.
Learner Tien’s ‘victory royale’ sets him up for promising 2025
- American teenager to face good friend and compatriot Michelsen in Jeddah Next Gen semifinals
JEDDAH: As American teenager Learner Tien wrapped up a four-set victory over Arthur Fils on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, his next opponent, Alex Michelsen, rose to his feet on the sidelines to applaud his good friend and point to a message printed on the back of his sweatshirt: “Victory Royale” — a nod to the hours he and Tien have spent playing the video game Fortnite together.
“We play a lot together. So it’s kind of a joke,” Tien told Arab News in Jeddah on Friday. “Our agent got us tracksuits that say it on the back. We both got different colors.”
Tien and Michelsen share more than just a love for video games and matching tracksuits. They have trained at the same academy in Irvine, California for the past four years under the tutelage of Jay Leavitt and Eric Diaz, and share the same agent, Mats Merkel of IMG.
Their friendship will briefly take a backseat when they square off in Jeddah on Saturday evening, as they vie for a spot in the final at the prestigious 20-and-under tournament.
“It’s really cool I think,” said Tien. “I’ve been telling him that we are going to play at this tournament for a while. We’ve played, obviously, before, but never at the professional level. I think he’s 2-1 on me in singles. He tries to count doubles and say it’s 4-1, but I only count singles; so he’s up one on me right now.”
Despite missing three months of action earlier this season due to a fractured rib, Tien has amassed a 62-13 win-loss record over 2024 across all levels, including a trio of titles on the Challenger Tour.
He started the season ranked 473 in the world and hit a career-high mark of 114 last month to position himself as one of the top Next Gen players on the men’s professional circuit.
When he returned from his injury layoff in May, he won a stunning 28 matches in a row across six different tournaments, setting the tone for a strong finish to the season here in Jeddah.
“I think a lot of things changed for him mentally when he got injured,” Diaz told Arab News on Friday. “He matured a lot, started working a lot harder, taking things a little bit more seriously — not that he didn’t prior, but you could see the maturity level change. He diligently worked, diligently analyzed what he needed to get better at and he really went after it.”
This isn’t the first time Tien has benefitted from taking a break from tennis. When the pandemic shut down the tour in 2020, it came at a time where Tien needed some time away from the sport to be a regular young teenager, although ‘regular’ might not necessarily be the right word, since during that hiatus, Tien managed to graduate from high school at the age of 15.
At 16, he won his first of two USTA U18 National Championships and at 17 he attended the University of Southern California for a semester before deciding to turn pro.
Asked if starting high school when he was just 11 years old helped him make such big leaps in professional tennis as a teenager, Tien said: “I honestly did all that early just because my mom was a teacher, so she started me in school early. I really didn’t want to, but I’m glad she did it now. Obviously, it’s great to have all that stuff out of the way so I can just focus on tennis, like I’ve wanted to for a while. Having school, there was an incentive for me to play tennis instead. I’m truly grateful that she started me young, but I definitely didn’t enjoy it.”
Although Tien always knew he was good at tennis — a sport he was introduced to by his parents — he admitted he “didn’t love it” early on.
“(But) I thought I’d put so much time into it already, it would be kind of a waste just to stop. I thought that when I was 10 or 11. Thought that even more when I was 13 or 14, like, ‘Oh, I’ve played even longer now, it will be a bigger waste if I stop now,’” he reflected. “Then, I eventually found that love for it and it’s taken me to where I am today.”
He says the breaks he took during the COVID pandemic and his injury this year have helped him “reset” and made him appreciate the sport even more.
“Obviously taking time away from tennis, you end up missing it a little bit, so when you come back, you’re a little bit more motivated and it’s kind of easier to go out there day in, day out, just because you’ve been away for a while,” he said. “I think that really helped — especially this year. Coming back, I was a lot more motivated to practice harder and work on a lot of things that needed some work and it inevitably ended up helping me a lot.”
This is the first time Tien has competed in a tournament outside the US at the professional level and he’s excited to continue that trend when he heads to Hong Kong for the official start of his 2025 season, before flying to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
Previous Next Gen ATP Finals participants and champions have gone on to achieve great things on the tour, with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner both claiming Grand Slam titles and topping the world rankings not long after their participation.
“I think it’s cool to know that you’re following in their footsteps, going down a similar path to people that have had so much success — even recent winners having a lot of success,” said Tien.
“It’s definitely cool to feel like you’re doing the right thing and you’re taking the right steps to get to that level someday. But I don’t think there’s any pressure that comes with it.”
As he looks to enjoy his first full season at the ATP level in 2025, Tien is bracing himself for change, knowing he’ll be facing new challenges. Not only will the competition level get higher, he’ll also have to learn to adjust to a different calendar that features multiple surface changes, and a great deal of international travel.
His coach Diaz believes stepping up physically will be key for this next chapter of Tien’s tennis journey.
“The jump from the Futures to the Challengers, the difference is the physicality. And then the jump from the Challengers to the main tour is obviously physicality. Learner definitely has the footspeed, the hand speed… but continuing to develop and to become a man, he’s going to have to get stronger,” said Diaz.
Michelsen, who is a year older than Tien, has already made that leap to the ATP Tour and is ranked a career-high 41 in the world.
Diaz is aware both Tien and Michelsen will likely be facing off at tournaments more often moving forward, which will be an interesting dynamic given they share the same team.
“It’s really cool. Both Jay and I, it’s honestly something we never really thought would happen years ago when we started all of it. It’s a surreal moment,” said Diaz, looking ahead to the semifinal in Jeddah.
“Both of those boys have worked incredibly hard. They’ve pushed each other to get better and to improve. So to be on a stage like this now — and to have a guarantee one of them is in the final — is a pretty cool moment.
“Hopefully it does continue to happen, because I think that means they’re both continuing to push each other to get better. It would be an interesting thing. I’m not sure that either one of them would be there if it wasn’t for the other one. We’re big (believers that) iron sharpens iron. So it’s gone well.”
Rafael Nadal delights fans after landing in Jeddah for Next Gen ATP Finals
- The Spanish tennis legend toured the old city of Al-Balad and greeted a massive crowd at King Abdullah Sports City
JEDDAH: Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal began his three-day visit on Friday to Jeddah, where he took a tour of Al-Balad and met players and fans at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.
The Spanish legend started his time in Jeddah by visiting Al-Balad and taking a tour of Jeddah Historic District before making his way to King Abdullah Sports City, where the Next Gen ATP Finals are being played.
Nadal led a meet-and-greet and attended a prize-giving ceremony at an U-14 ATF tournament, which was held at a stadium next to the main competition.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion met future stars of tennis competing in the Next Gen ATP Finals — Alex Michelsen, Jakub Mensik and Joao Fonseca — before thrilling the massive crowd in the fan zone, where he signed autographs and posed for selfies.
Nadal, who is working with the Saudi Tennis Federation to support its ambition of inspiring one million people to engage — from playing to administration — with tennis by 2030, continues his tour of Jeddah on Saturday by meeting Saudi Davis Cup players ahead of the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals.
Semifinal lineup set for Next Gen ATP finals in Jeddah
- Learner Tien stuns top seed Arthur Fils to face Alex Michelsen at King Abdullah Sports City
- Van Assche defeats Basavareddy to set up clash with undefeated Joao Fonseca in Saturday’s other match
JEDDAH: The semifinal lineup for the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF was confirmed on Friday following a dramatic conclusion to the group stage in Jeddah.
Sixth seed Learner Tien produced a sensational performance against top seed Arthur Fils to open the evening session with a 4-2, 4-2, 3-4 (4-7), 4-3 (7-5) victory that created an electric atmosphere inside the King Abdullah Sports City stadium.
With only the winner advancing from the Blue Group to the semifinals, the tension was present from the first point, and it ensured a match full of drama and excitement. Despite being separated by 102 places in the PIF ATP Rankings, it was the lower-ranked Tien who seized control, securing early breaks in the first two sets to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
However, Fils refused to go down without a fight. The World No.20 from France, buoyed by the majority of the enthusiastic support, soon displayed his world-class ability to fight back and win the third set. A knife-edge fourth set eventually went to another tiebreak before Tien emerged victorious to continue a remarkably successful week in his first professional tournament outside the US.
The 19-year-old was supported by fellow American Alex Michelsen during his match against Fils, but the two friends will become opponents on Saturday when they play each other for a place in the final.
Tien said: “It was great from the moment we walked out. The crowd was great, the atmosphere was really good, and it carried throughout the match, so it was really fun playing out there.”
In the first of the two winner-takes-all group stage matches on Friday, sixth seed Luca Van Assche claimed the runner-up spot in the Red Group by defeating seventh seed Nishesh Basavareddy 3-4 (2-7), 4-3 (9-7), 4-2, 4-2 following an entertaining and competitive contest.
The 20-year-old Frenchman reached the last four on his debut in Jeddah last year and has now matched that result, having secured two wins out of three in the group stage.
Van Assche will next face Joao Fonseca on Saturday for a place in the final after the 18-year-old Brazilian topped the Blue Group with a marathon 3-4 (4-7), 4-3 (10-8), 4-3 (7-5), 3-4 (4-7), 4-3 (7-5) victory over the already-eliminated third seed Jakub Mensik in the last match of the day.
On playing Fonseca in the semifinals, Van Assche said: “He’s an unbelievable talent. I practiced with him four or five days ago, so he’s a tough opponent for sure. I know that I can beat him, so it will be a very good match — a tough one. But you practice to play these matches, so it’ll be cool.”
Day three got underway with second seed Alex Michelsen confirming his place as the winner of the Red Group after fourth seed Juncheng Shang retired from their match. The 20-year-old American was leading 4-1, 1-1 before China’s Shang called time early, having struggled with illness over the last two days.
Michelsen has enjoyed a successful return to Jeddah. He went winless on his debut appearance in 2023, but has been a leading star this year, winning all three of his group stage matches to ease into the semifinals.
Game Changers Falcons defeat Kites in World Tennis League thriller
- Falcons lead the way in table after second successive win
ABU DHABI: The Game Changers Falcons continued their impressive run in the World Tennis League’s third season, claiming a hard-fought 24-21 victory over the Kites in their match at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
The win marked the Falcons’ second successive triumph, placing them atop the points table with 53 points.
The TSL Hawks, victorious in the day’s earlier match, trail in second with 47 points, followed by the Kites with 46 points and the HonorFX Eagles with 34.
The evening began with a dramatic women’s doubles encounter as Simona Halep and Jasmine Paolini gave the Kites an early advantage, breaking the Falcons’ serve to lead 2-0.
However, the Falcons’ pairing of Elena Rybakina and Caroline Garcia regrouped to level the score and eventually pulled ahead to lead 5-3. The Kites mounted a comeback to tie the score at 6-6, forcing a tiebreak. Displaying resilience, Rybakina and Garcia prevailed, securing the set 7-6 and giving the Falcons an early lead.
In the women’s singles, Rybakina extended the Falcons’ momentum, dominating Halep throughout the set. With powerful and consistent play, Rybakina secured a 6-4 victory, pushing the Falcons’ overall lead to 13-10.
The mixed doubles match showcased intense competition, as Paolini and Nick Kyrgios faced off against Caroline Garcia and Denis Shapovalov. The set remained evenly matched at 5-5 before Paolini and Kyrgios broke serve and held their own to win 7-6, reducing the Falcons’ lead.
Then Andrey Rublev delivered a decisive performance for the Falcons. Building on his stellar form from the season opener, Rublev broke Kyrgios’ serve to lead 4-2. While Kyrgios attempted a comeback, Rublev held firm, closing out the set 6-4 and sealing the Falcons’ 24-21 win.
Speaking after the match, Kyrgios expressed his enthusiasm for the World Tennis League’s format.
He said: “Every game counts in the World Tennis League. When you look at the statistics, it doesn’t matter if a match seems lopsided — you want to fight for your team, and I love that.
“For me, this is the perfect return because it’s not overwhelming; (it’s) just the right amount of tennis. I also love the mixed doubles format. I never imagined seeing myself and Paolini on the same court, on the same side of the net, and that is really cool to witness.”
