Tennis - Australian Open - Fourth Round - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 21, 2019. Romania's Simona Halep reacts during the match against Serena Williams of the U.S. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (Reuters) - Former world number one Simona Halep has appointed Thierry Van Cleemput as her new coach and will officially begin working with the Belgian at next week’s Qatar Open. Halep had planned to fly solo for the first few months of 2019 after former coach Darren Cahill left to spend more time with his family in Australia. French Open champion Halep began speaking with Van Cleemput at last month’s Australian Open after he split with world number 21 David Goffin midway through the tournament, according to a report on the WTA website. Van Cleemput had worked with his compatriot for the last five years, overseeing Goffin’s rise to the top-10. World number three Halep, whose pre-season was shortened due to a back issue, made the fourth round at Melbourne Park … [Read more...] about Tennis: Halep appoints Belgian Van Cleemput as new coach
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Tennis: Shaky Wawrinka suffers first-round defeat in Sofia
FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Australian Open - Second Round - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 17, 2019. Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka in action during the match against Canada's Milos Raonic. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson SOFIA (Reuters) - Three-times grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka fell at the first hurdle in the Sofia Open on Monday, beaten 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 by Romanian Marius Copil. The Swiss, who has fallen to 57 in the rankings, strolled to the first set in just 23 minutes after breaking Copil in the sixth game, but the Romanian became more and more comfortable as the match went on and bagged the second set after a tiebreak. Copil, who reached the tournament’s final last year, put up stubborn resistance from the baseline in the third set, wrapping up his first career victory over the 33-year-old Wawrinka, whose trademark backhand failed to fire. “It’s great to start with a win against Wawrinka,” said world number 56 Copil. “I made a few mistakes … [Read more...] about Tennis: Shaky Wawrinka suffers first-round defeat in Sofia
Tennis: Davis Cup champions Croatia among six seeded nations for…
(Reuters) - Davis Cup champions Croatia have been seeded second for the revamped 18-team finals week that will take place in Madrid in November. FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Croatia team celebrate winning the Davis Cup - Zagreb, Croatia - November 26, 2018 Croatia team captain Zeljko Kraja and team celebrate winning the Davis Cup REUTERS/Antonio Bronic Last year’s runners-up France were named top seeds on Monday while Belgium and the United States were also seeded alongside wildcards Britain and Argentina. The six nations will occupy the first slots across Groups A-F when the draw for the finals week is made in Madrid on Feb. 14. The seedings are based on the current Davis Cup Nations Ranking, with teams ranked seven to 12 - Spain, Serbia, Australia, Italy, Germany and Kazakhstan - set to be drawn into the second slot in the groups. The remaining nations ranked from 13 to 18 - Canada, Japan, Colombia, Netherlands, Russia and Chile - will be drawn into the third slot in the … [Read more...] about Tennis: Davis Cup champions Croatia among six seeded nations for…
Tennis: Bertens beats Vekic to win St. Petersburg title
Tennis - WTA Premier - St Petersburg Ladies Trophy - Sibur Arena, Saint Petersburg, Russia - February 3, 2019 Netherlands' Kiki Bertens poses as she celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Croatia's Donna Vekic REUTERS/Anton Vaganov (Reuters) - Second seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6(2) 6-4 to win the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Sunday and claim her eighth WTA singles title. Bertens, the world number eight, was slow out of the blocks, and found herself trailing 5-2 in the first set before staging a remarkable turnaround. “I would like to say to Donna congratulations on a great week and sorry for today,” Bertens said after collecting the trophy at a glittering presentation ceremony. “It was an amazing final to play... I will be back next year.” The Dutchwoman won 17 of 18 points to first draw level and then win the first-set tiebreak against Vekic, nearly breaking the Croatian’s will … [Read more...] about Tennis: Bertens beats Vekic to win St. Petersburg title
Government needs to step up and support tennis, says Mahesh Bhupathi after India’s Davis Cup failure
Mahesh Bhupathi is certainly not happy with India's performance in the recently-concluded Davis Cup qualifier against Italy and he is of the opinion that the Indian government needs to support tennis. India did put up a great fight but were outplayed by the Italians as they lost the qualifier 1-3. Although, the Indian team did well to live up to the expectations in doubles in the Davis Cup qualifier against Italy in Kolkata but that wasn't enough to secure them a place in the finals as Italy registered a 3-1 victory after winning the first reverse singles on Saturday to earn their first-ever Davis Cup World finals appearance. India's non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi is dejected with the way things are going ahead in tennis at the moment especially after the loss and has urged for government support for the growth of the sport in India. “We have three boys who can compete at this level. AITA doesn’t have the revenue to support players. The government needs to … [Read more...] about Government needs to step up and support tennis, says Mahesh Bhupathi after India’s Davis Cup failure