08/10/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | OCT 8, 2025

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Courting trouble Intensity of tennis schedule adds to ‘brutal’ week in Shanghai

SIDENETTING Mbappe undergoing treatment: Deschamps

KYLIAN MBAPPE is receiving treatment for a “small niggle” in his right ankle after meeting up with his international team mates ahead of the latest round of 2026 World Cup qualifiers, France coach Didier Deschamps said yesterday. The France cap tain sustained the knock at the end of Real Madrid’s 3-1 La Liga victory over Villarreal on Saturday, casting doubts over his avail ability to the national team for their upcoming qualifying matches against Azerbaijan and Iceland. “I spoke with Kylian, he had a small niggle but it’s not serious, otherwise he wouldn’t be here today,” Deschamps told reporters at the French team’s Clairefontaine base near Paris. “We will take the time with the medi cal staff to assess the situation and then see how it develops.” Les Bleus host Azerbaijan on Friday at PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium before travelling to CRYSTAL PALACE forward Jean-Philippe Mateta was called up to the French squad because of his “good habit” of scoring goals but the 28-year-old will still have to prove himself on the pitch and in training, coach Didier Deschamps said. Mateta scored 17 goals in all competitions last season as Palace won the FA Cup to lift the first major trophy of their 164-year-old his tory. He has previously played in France’s youth teams and featured at the Paris Olympic Games last year, winning a silver medal. “He has to do what he knows how to do, which is to play as naturally as pos sible,”Deschamps told reporters yesterday. “He has a good habit of scoring goals … so this is a big moment for him. He has to prove himself in the team, in training and during matches.” MIDFIELDER Rodri will miss Spain’s World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Bulgaria due to injury, the Spanish soccer federa tion (RFEF) said yesterday. The Manchester City midfielder, who returned in May after eight months out due to a serious knee injury, was forced off in the first half of Sunday’s 1-0 Premier League win at Brentford. “The decision follows medical reports provided by his club to the RFEF medical staff,” the RFEF said in a statement. City manager Pep Guardiola said last week that Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or last year, was unable to play three games per week, as his knee needed at least a year to fully recover. Spain, who won both their Group E qualifiers last month, host Georgia on Saturday and Bulgaria on Oct 14. Passport woes for Depay NETHERLANDS’ record scorer Memphis Depay 3will miss his country’s World Cup qualifier away to Malta tomorrow after say ing his passport was stolen in Brazil, where he plays for Corinthians. Depay, 31, broke Robin van Persie’s record with two goals in the 3-2 victory away to Lithuania in the Netherlands’ last Group G qualifier, taking him to 52, but will miss a chance to boost his tally against Malta, who the Dutch beat 8-0 at home in June. He is expected to leave on Monday for Amsterdam having missed his scheduled Sunday departure. “The plan I had in mind for this week will ultimately change somewhat because of this,” coach Ronald Koeman told a press conference yesterday. “He won’t start, no. Memphis couldn’t find his passport in Brazil, he went to the airport without one but that didn’t work, even if you’re Memphis,” Koeman quipped. Iceland three days later. … urges Mateta to compete for spot Rodri to miss Spain World Cup qualifier

Ű BY JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

both players received byes to the second round, but the relentless nature of the schedule comes at a time when players are feeling the effects of a long season anyway. Sinner’s retirement was the seventh of the week in Shanghai, to add to a string of injury-cur tailed matches from Beijing before then. Meanwhile, on the WTA Tour, the World No. 19 Daria Kasatkina became the latest player to end her season early. “The truth is, I’ve hit a wall and can’t con tinue,” the Russian-born Kasatkina, who now rep resents Australia, wrote on Instagram . “I need a break. A break from the monotonous daily grind of life on the tour, the suitcases, the results, the pressure, the same faces (sorry, girls), everything that comes with this life. “The schedule is too much, mentally and emotionally I am at breaking point and sadly, I am not alone.” Elina Svitolina and Beatriz Haddad Maia have also opted to end their seasons early in order to rest, with Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff adding to the criticism of the schedule as they enter the final weeks of the year. World No. 2 Swiatek called the season “too

is at least in a position to do this. The WTA has mandatory requirements for top players to enter all 10 WTA 1000 tournaments and six WTA 500 events. The World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, though, opted to skip the China Open in Beijing and will enter the Wuhan tournament this week refreshed from almost a month off after winning the US Open title. “I think we made the right decision to take extra time for recovery and for the preparation,” Sabalenka said after arriving in Wuhan. “Physically, I feel ready to go.” Alcaraz is likely to feel a similar benefit once Shanghai is concluded, as the 22-year-old targets a strong end to the season and his first ATP Tour Finals title. Although complaints about the tennis sched ule run a little thin when Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic have signed up to the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia, to be played next week. And in the last-16 in Shanghai, it can feel like there are players strewn across the draw who are not only battling against the conditions but their own fatigue, mental and physical. The exception, perhaps, will be the 38-year old Djokovic, who chose not to play in any tour naments in between Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. He, too, is in the privileged position of not needing to chase ranking points or prize money, but it could be remarkably telling if Djokovic’s less-is-more approach proves suc cessful at this challenging point of the year. – The Independent

S OMEWHERE in Spain, Carlos Alcaraz can put his feet up and reflect on what appears to be a rather wise decision. While the World No 1 rests after winning the Japan Open title, he can do so safely away from the “brutal” conditions at the Shanghai Masters, where extreme heat and humidity has blown the draw wide open. Jannik Sinner is out after retiring from his third-round match against Tallon Griekspoor due to painful cramp. Novak Djokovic battled through, but only after throwing up on court during his gruelling win over Yannick Hanfmann on Sunday. Alcaraz pulled out of Shanghai, one of the ATP’s premier 1000 events, in order to protect the left ankle injury he sustained during his run to the Tokyo title. But even with a fully fit ankle, and without the extreme weather, Alcaraz could have foreseen such a situation unfolding as we enter perhaps the most demanding stretch of the tennis season and many players realise their tanks are close to empty. The nature of the new 12-day Masters events, of which Shanghai is one of the seven expanded tournaments played across the ATP season, asks even more of the players who go on a deep run the previous week. Alcaraz won the Japan Open title last Tuesday, Sinner won his China Open title on Wednesday, the same day the Shanghai Masters began. As top seeds,

long and too intense” and sug gested she could skip some mandatory events.

As a grand slam champion this sea son and with plenty of ranking points and prize money already banked, Swiatek

‘Terrible’ Zverev dumped out of Shanghai

Germany’s Alexander Zverev hits a return to France’s Arthur Rinderknech (not pictured) at the Shanghai Masters yesterday. – AFPPIC

WORLD NO. 3 Alexander Zverev said he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 yesterday. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tourna ment’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, the 54th-ranked Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had been “nothing unusual for me, unfor tunately, these days”. “Just no confidence, no belief in the shots … My year has been terrible, I’m just playing terrible tennis all round,” he said, visibly emotional. The German had injured his big toe towards the end of his last match in Shanghai but yester

day showed no sign of discomfort as he broke Rinderknech in the third game with a forehand. He nearly went ahead early in the second set, but Rinderknech recovered his composure and broke in the fourth game. “I’m not very sure (how I managed to turn the game around),” he said. “I fought like hell, tried everything. (Zverev) is such a good player... I knew it was going to be a battle. “Starting in the second set … I was able to be offensive at the right moment, in a smarter way,” he said. Keeping up the momentum, in the third set the 30-year-old broke in the third game. Zverev had to pause to change his shoes because sweat was pouring out of them, as spec tators wafted fans and wore cool packs on their foreheads to counter the suffocating humidity. But switching footwear was not enough to save the German, and a double fault in the sev enth game led to Rinderknech breaking again.

Holding with an ace to win, the Frenchman lolled his body in delighted disbelief, then danced around the court in glee. Zverev’s loss means world No. 5 Djokovic now leads ranking-wise as the tournament heads into the last 16, with the 24-time Grand Slam winner facing Spain’s Jaume Munar overnight. Alex de Minaur is the next highest seed after Djokovic through to the fourth round, comforta bly getting past Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 6-1, 7 5. The Australian will next meet Portugal’s Nuno Borges, who put an end to the hopes of home favourite Shang Juncheng 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3. Daniil Medvedev, the 2019 Shanghai cham pion, is through too, after beating Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). He will once again take on US teenager Learner Tien, who defeated him last week in the China Open semifinal. The 19-year-old beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to make the last 16 yesterday. – AFP