04/07/2025

SPORTS FRIDAY | JULY 4, 2025

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Malaysian Paper

/thesundaily /

Osaka ready to spread her grasscourt wings AFTER years of having a rather a strained relationship with Wimbledon thanks to being “paralysed by fear” at the thought of playing on tennis’s fastest surface, Naomi Osaka feels she has finally found her grasscourt wings. for a woman who has been ranked on top of the world. But after matching her best ever Wimbledon showing yesterday with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win over Czech Katerina Siniakova, who has won the Wimbledon women’s doubles title three times, Osaka feels she has finally overcome the fear factor on grass.

SHORTS Alcaraz ends Tarvet fairytale

won a title since their Grand Slam triumphs. While both were unseeded, Vondrousova would have fancied her chances of knocking out Britain’s big hope. After all, the 26-year-old had arrived at the All England Club fresh from winning the grasscourt title in Berlin, with victories over Australian Open champion Madison Keys and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka en route. However, it was 22-year-old Raducanu whose game sparkled on Centre Court as she produced the kind of carefree, yet formidable, shots that helped her to triumph at Flushing Meadows almost four years ago. “Today I played really, really well,” summed up world No. 40 Raducanu, whose getting over that and trying to spread my wings on grass. “I think it is working, and I think I am moving pretty well. Yeah, I just hope that in years to come and hopefully this year I can do a lot better in this tournament.” Osaka could not have picked a better year to enjoy a deep run at the tournament. Following the carnage of seeds over the first three days, the highest seeds she could meet before a potential semifinal against either world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or Australian Open champion Madison Keys are No. 13 Amanda Anisimova or No. 30 Linda Noskova – neither of whom are known for their grasscourt pedigree. – Reuters Centre Court erupts as Britain’s big hope knocks out Vondrousova

CARLOS ALCARAZ was in no mood to suffer probably the biggest upset in Wimbledon history as he crushed world No. 733 Ollie Tarvet’s hopes of a fairytale victory to reach the third round with a clinical 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win yesterday. Fired up by a home crowd who could not get enough of Tarvet’s tireless running and dogged resistance, the Briton was more than a capable sparring partner for Alcaraz, whose heavyweight hitting was in the end simply too much for the lowest-ranked player to begin the men’s singles draw. Tarvet, who came through three rounds of qualifying to earn a place in the tournament, showed no lack of belief ahead of the contest, proclaiming that he was confident he could beat anyone, making a point of lumping Alcaraz into the “anyone” category. Yet while the odds of an upset were vanishingly small, there were moments when Tarvet looked like he had the tools to unnerve the Spaniard, who was impressed with what he saw. “It doesn’t matter that he was 700 in the world,” said Alcaraz. “I was impressed with his level. I think he played a really good match.” “I just loved his game to be honest,” the Spaniard said on court. “I knew at the beginning I had to play my best tennis.” Sabalenka urges Zverev to open up to family ARYNA SABALENKA advised Alexander Zverev to seek help for his mental health problems before they can destroy him, with the world No. 1 pointing to herself as an example of a player who benefited from speaking with a therapist and her family. Zverev crashed out 7-6(3), 6 7(8), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 against Arthur Rinderknech at Wimbledon on Tuesday for his first opening round loss at a Grand Slam since the 2019 edition of the tournament, leaving the German third seed down in the dumps. The 28-year-old, who has had to deal with a number of off-court problems in recent years, told reporters after his defeat that he felt “empty” and was considering therapy. “I had a therapist for five years in my career,” Sabalenka said after her win over Marie Bouzkova yesterday. “I stopped I don’t know, maybe in 2022. It’s crazy to hear from someone like Alexander, because he has surrounded himself with his family. “It’s really important to be open and to talk about what you’re experiencing because if you’re going to keep it inside, it’s just going to destroy you. I think that’s something happening to him. “He just needs to open up to whoever is close to him… people who can accept whatever you’re dealing with. The moment you start talk about your problems, you start realising a lot of things. It helps to solve them.”

The Japanese player, who has won all four of her Grand Slam titles on the hardcourts of Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows, has never found her comfort zone on the green, green grass of Wimbledon, making only four previous appearances during her 10-year professional career. During those four visits to the All England Club, she won a total of just five matches, with third round showings in 2017 and 2018 her standout performances – hardly anything to shout about

“When I was younger, I had no fear. I think when you are young, you fear nothing, and that’s one of the really cool things about it,” explained Osaka, now ranked 53 as she continues to try to recapture her best form after taking a maternity break in 2023. “But with age fear kind of crept along and, I guess, paralysed me in a way. Now I’m kind of just

Raducanu back to carefree best

W HEN Emma Raducanu hurtled across the baseline to whip an eye popping passing shot winner at Wimbledon yesterday, it signalled that she was once again capable of delivering the kind of potent shots that carried her to the 2021 US Open title. That sizzler, one of 18 winners Raducanu conjured up during her second-round 6-3, 6-3 destruction of 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, not only earned the British hope her first break of the match but it also had a hollering Centre Court crowd leaping to their feet. As fans and pundits hailed her electrifying performance, Raducanu admitted: “That was one of the best matches I’ve played in a long time. “There’s no better feeling than winning here at Wimbledon, winning on Centre Court. It honestly makes everything worth it. “You forget about everything, all the up and downs, mainly the downs, when you’re out there and you win. I just want to savour that one and enjoy it (because) it was really special.” Billed as a battle between two one-hit wonders, Raducanu and her Czech rival both had a point to prove when they walked on to Centre Court for the match. Their career paths have followed a similar roller-coaster of a trajectory – while Raducanu became the first qualifier in the professional era to win a Grand Slam singles title when she triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2021, Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon in 2023. Twelve months after BRITAIN’S Cameron Norrie returned to his favourite patch of Wimbledon turf to stun American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe and reach the third round with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win yesterday. Court One might lack the aura of the All England Club’s historic Centre Court but Norrie loves it, having won three matches there during his semifinal run in 2022. The chemistry was clear for all to see again on a mercifully fresh Wimbledon day as the world No. 61 recovered from losing a tight first set to bamboozle a flat-looking Tiafoe. “I was really happy with the schedule when I saw I was on Court One as it’s my favourite court,” said Norrie, who has reached the third round for the fourth time. “We both played high level but I stayed so calm experiencing the buzz of their incredible victories, both suffered

humbl ing first-round exits when they turned up to defend their Grand Slam titles, with i n j u r i e s contributing to their downfall.

Cue a rankings

freefall, both plummeting outside the top 150 and, until 10 days ago, neither had with

reward for reaching the third round is a showdown with Sabalenka. “ P l a y i n g Marketa, I

knew it was going to be v e r y challenging. She’s won Wimbledon. She’s in amazing form right now having won Berlin. I’m just very proud of how I went out there and

competed and k e p t committing and came through that one.” – Reuters

Emma Raducanu – REUTERSPIC

Norrie stuns Tiafoe on favourite turf

break proved decisive as he moved to within one set of victory. Tiafoe left the court for seven minutes for a bathroom break before the start of the fourth set but Norrie refused to be thrown off his stride and broke serve for a 4-3 lead. Again Tiafoe responded, but Norrie was relentless as he again pounced on the American’s serve before completing victory. The draw has opened up for Norrie with Czech 23rd seed Jiri Lehecka, whom Norrie expected to face in round three, losing to Italy’s Mattia Bellucci yesterday. “I’m just going to take care of my business. It was an amazing win today but there’s still so many good players in the draw. It only gets tougher,” he said. – Reuters

and I really enjoyed the battle. The atmosphere was amazing.” Initially it was the free-hitting Tiafoe who looked right at home, taking a tight opening set with a single break of serve, but everything changed at the end of the second. Norrie found himself in big trouble when serving at 4-4, going down 0-40. But he reeled off five points in a row to avert the danger and broke in the next game with a superb low backhand winner to snatch the set. Left-hander Norrie, who had never previously beaten a top-20 player at Wimbledon, bristled with energy in the third set, dictating the points as Tiafoe began to fade. Norrie failed to capitalise on one break of serve when he allowed Tiafoe to reply, but another