31/05/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | MAY 31, 2025

28

Jannik Sinner in action during his second round match against Richard Gasquet. – REUTERSPIC

Report card Team by team review of the English Premier League season 1: LIVERPOOL

penultimate game as they dropped as low as seventh in the table with manager Pep Guardiola saying the team’s crisis was costing him sleep. They crashed out of the Champions League early and their FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace meant they ended the season with no silverware for the first time in eight years. 4: CHELSEA Chelsea left it late to achieve their target for the season by qualifying on the final day for the 2025/26 Champions League, thanks to a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. With more than £1 billion (RM5.5b) spent on players by the club’s US owners since 2022, Enzo Maresca faced pressure in his first season as coach to get Chelsea back into Europe’s elite competition. The Blues were second in the Premier League in December before a poor run made a top-five finish a struggle. Chelsea finished fourth but Enzo Maresca’s personnel and tactical changes masterminded the Blues comeback to lift the Conference League trophy with an ultimately dominant 4-1 win over Real Betis in Wroclaw on Thursday. It was Chelsea’s first trophy since the Club World Cup in February 2022 and their first major prize since the 2021 Champions League. 5: NEWCASTLE UNITED Eddie Howe’s side ended a memorable season with their first domestic silverware for 70 years and a return to the Champions League.

Arne Slot enjoyed a superb first season after replacing fan favourite Juergen Klopp, exceeding the hopes of supporters, many of whom would have been content with a top-four finish and a cup run. Liverpool had the League sewn up long ago, thanks to a 26-game unbeaten League run as Arsenal faltered and Manchester City imploded, though one March week when they were knocked out of Europe and lost the League Cup final took some of the shine off. The departure of local boy Trent Alexander Arnold to Real Madrid also leaves big shoes to fill. But with the talismanic Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah tied down and further reinforcements to come, Liverpool are in a good position to prove this slightly surprising title was no one-off. 2: ARSENAL Mikel Arteta’s side are in danger of becoming the perennial nearly men as another season of rich promise slipped by without anything tangible to show for it. Manchester City’s surprising decline should have opened the door for Arsenal to win a first League title since 2003, but instead a third successive runners-up spot, this time by a huge margin, felt like regression. They came close in the Champions League, losing a tight semifinal to Paris St Germain. But those two ties highlighted what Arsenal must address, chiefly a world-class striker to get them over the line. 3: MANCHESTER CITY Salvaged an otherwise poor season by clinching a

Sinner, Djoker march on Zverev, Gauff make swift progress into third round F RENCH OPEN veteran Richard Gasquet’s career ended in defeat by Jannik Sinner while seasoned campaigner Novak Djokovic her second-round defeat by Krueger in New York last August. “She’s a powerful and aggressive player. I knew I had to play well… I suffered and struggled with my serve, but I’m happy I found a way to stay calm.”

continued his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title by battling into the Roland Garros third round yesterday. Third seed Alexander Zverev, teenager Mirra Andreeva and American title contenders Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys all won on a windy afternoon but former champion Barbora Krejcikova and ninth seed Alex De Minaur crashed out. Top seed Sinner brought the curtain down on Gasquet’s long professional journey, hammering the 38-year-old 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 for his second win over the local favourite in as many editions of Roland Garros and then led the tributes. “We’re different generations, but it’s your moment. You played in such an incredible era of tennis and everyone will recognise you, even after retirement,” said Sinner, before a touching video tribute featuring Gasquet’s peers. Gasquet’s compatriot Gael Monfils, also 38, lit up the evening session on Court Philippe Chatrier as he pushed fifth seeded Briton Jack Draper in a sensational match that had a partisan crowd screaming for more. Draper eventually won 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 but had to battle back from 5-2 down in the fourth set to avoid a decider. “My brain was fried out here. I’m not sure if I am going to go to sleep tonight because my brain is just all over the place with what he was doing out here,” Draper said of the man he described as a magician. While Sinner and Gasquet showcased clean hitting in their match, third seed Alexander Zverev had to chase down dozens of drop shots from Dutchman Jesper de Jong before securing a 3-6, 6-1, 6 2 6-3 victory. Surprise 2024 semifinalist Andreeva took apart the powerful Ashlyn Krueger 6 3 6-4 with her inventive approach and confirmed her calibre on the sport’s slowest surface after runs to the Madrid and Rome quarterfinals this season. “This match wasn’t easy, I’d lost to her at the US Open,” Andreeva said, reflecting on

Pegula, Krueger’s frequent doubles partner this season and the third seed, had to battle against fellow American Ann Li but found her best level when it mattered to prevail 6-3, 7-6(3). Gauff moved ahead by beating unseeded Czech Tereza Valentova 6-2, 6-4 while fellow Grand Slam champion Keys overcame Briton Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-3 but it was the end of the road for 2021 champion Krejcikova who fell 6-3 6-3 to Veronika Kudermetova. Three-time French Open champion Djokovic had to work but the 38-year-old

Their 2-1 League Cup final win over Liverpool was a perfect representation of the Magpies this season, with the defence capping a fine collective performance with a goal from Dan Burn, and striker Alexander Isak showing the potency of their attack by notching the second. With the mercurial Isak attracting attention from Premier League rivals and clubs around Europe, Howe will have to convince the Swedish

Champions League berth with a 2-0 victory at Fulham on the final day. Their hopes of a fifth successive League title began well but a mid-season nose dive saw them fall off the pace and they missed a top-two spot for the first time since 2016-17. Ballon d’Or winner

continued his quest for more history after his 100th title in Geneva last week as he beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-2 7 6(1). The Serbian’s sixth

Rodri suffered a serious knee injury in late September and would not return until the season’s

victory in a row marked his longest winning streak since his run to the Paris Olympics gold at the same venue last year.

Arne Slot. – REUTERSPIC

“Mentally you have to be concentrated throughout such a match. Corentin is very quick, he is a fighter, especially in the third set,” said Djokovic, who

c a m e close to losing the third set.

“He had set point. At that moment a n y t h i n g c o u l d happen but I stayed in the set. At the right time I found a good serve.” – Reuters