Top story
-
Sinner becomes “Jacob” for the Australian Open boss: the club player sympathises
Andrew Abdo, former head of the National Rugby League (Australia’s rugby league competition) and now director of the Australian Open, spoke of “Jacob Sinner” on 8 October during his first official presentation in Melbourne. He admitted the mistake in front of journalists.
Latest dispatches
It’s true, we checked
-
Zverev only learned he’d won when the umpire called “Game, Set and Match”
Alexander Zverev finished his match with a service winner without noticing: he dropped the balls and went to stand at the return. He only worked it out when he heard the umpire’s…
-
Zverev served out the US Open thinking it was 5-1, and our club player has a plan
In the US Open final, Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2. He said he had miscounted the score and served out the match believing he led 5-1, which…
-
Sabalenka tells a cameraman to back off, and Roland defends the out-of-shot
Straight after losing the US Open final to Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka used an expletive to tell a cameraman to move away while she sat with her team.
-
Sabalenka takes the mic minutes after losing, and Maxime wants to know whose idea that was
Beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 by Elena Rybakina in the US Open final, Aryna Sabalenka smashed her racket after match point, then spoke at the trophy ceremony. She loses both the world No.1…
-
Rybakina finishes the US Open on an ace after two double faults, Maxime investigates
Serving for the title at 5-2 in the deciding set of the US Open final, Elena Rybakina hit two double faults and two aces in the same game, and closed it out…
-
“You’re thinking too much”: our club player has found his Sunday philosophy
Aryna Sabalenka lost the US Open final to Elena Rybakina 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. In the press conference, to someone suggesting that experience of finals made the defeat harder, she replied: “You’re thinking…
-
Zverev has no idea why he bounces the ball 25 times, Roland still counts points
Alexander Zverev has been credited with more than 12,000 pre-serve ball bounces across his first five US Open matches, according to a fan count. The player said he doesn’t know why he…
-
“She’s in love with New York”: Jean-Pol says he called it back in January
Aryna Sabalenka’s three coaches, Anton Dubrov, Jason Stacy and Max Mirnyi, held a joint press conference before the US Open final, where they stressed how at home their player feels at Flushing…
-
7-6 (7) and 7-6 (6): our intern asks what the numbers in brackets are doing
Alexander Zverev beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) to reach the US Open final. Two of the three sets were settled in a tie-break.
-
A US Open match ended at 3.33am, and our club player sees nothing odd in it
Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz finished their US Open match at 3.33 in the morning. Several of the tournament’s night sessions ran extremely late, reviving the row over how night matches are…
-
Tiafoe wants crowds to talk and move, Maxime hunts for who invented the silence
Ahead of his US Open semi-final against Ben Shelton on Friday, Frances Tiafoe asked that tennis let spectators talk, move and take part, pointing to basketball and football as examples.
-
Shelton finished at 3.34am, plays again Friday: the club player on recovery
Ben Shelton, the eighth seed, beat Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals at 3.34am on Wednesday, the latest finish in US Open history. He faces Frances Tiafoe on Friday in the night session,…
The newsletter
The news, with a bit of spin, in your inbox
The dispatches worth your time, by e-mail. No ads, unsubscribe in one click.
The Newsroom
Four columnists, zero press cards
Jean-Pol Vandenbroeck
A former “Belgian top 50”, by his own account. Never wrong: when the facts contradict him, it’s the facts that changed.
Maxime
22, journalism intern, discovering tennis in real time. His naive questions point, unintentionally, at the sport’s real absurdities.
Céline, dite « la C30.4 »
Ranked C30.4, a club-level ranking, “since a transitional period”. Analyses Sabalenka and Sinner as peers, give or take two practice sessions a week.
Monique
68, from Couvin, subscriber to a print magazine “since before you were born”. Never criticises anyone: she compares, which is worse.
They are characters. They have a profile, tics, obsessions and no legal existence whatsoever. Meet them.