%LEAGUE_NAME% Tennis Draws

Fucsovics,Marton2

Nardi,Luca0

O'Connell, Christopher

Van de Zandschulp, Botic

Halys,Quentin

Kotov,Pavel

Safiullin, Roman

Virtanen,Otto

News

Mirra Andreeva becomes youngest-ever WTA 1000 winner

Andreeva defeated Dane Clara Tauson 7-6(1), 6-1 in a 106-minute final to clinch the second title of her young career. She had previously won the Lasi Open in mid-2024. The Russian is the youngest-ever woman to lift a WTA 1000 trophy. She will also enter the world's top 10 for the first time in her career. The 990 additional points gained this week means that Andreeva will rise from world No. 14 to the world No. 9 spot - the youngest woman to reach the elusive top 10 club since 2007. "I set a goal for myself to be top 10 by the end of the year, and it's just February and I have already made it, so this is something incredible for me, and I'm just super happy with the way I was playing today," said the Russian during her post-match interview. "I was hella nervous, I think you could see during the match, all those double-fault mistakes, I'm just really happy that I could manage and deal with the pressure, and now it just feels amazing. "Honestly, it was hard, because all those thoughts were coming into my mind. In the first set, I feel a bit lucky. This is something I dreamt of and now my dream came true. I'm speechless right now." Andreeva's goal to be in the top 10 may have come considerably earlier than she thought, but a future goal of the top five may be on the horizon for the newly-crowned Dubai champion. "Now when you enter Top 10 and the higher your ranking is, the slower and longer its going to take for you to be even higher because the difference in the points is very, very short, very small," Andreeva stated. "I think it's going to be hard to enter Top 5. This is the exact goal that I'm going to set for myself, to be Top 5 by the end of the year. I'm very curious if I will be able to achieve it." Speaking about the final itself, the victor explained: "When I managed to win the first set, I felt like, ‘Well, OK, this is I think one of the first times when I actually lead in the score, that gave me a bit of confidence." "I missed some shots that I usually don't miss. [But] if something doesn't go your way, OK, fine, you forget about it, play one point at a time. "I've been listening to a lot of LeBron James interviews. What he said is it's easy to be confident and to play good when everything goes your way. What makes you a champion is when you're giving your best when you don't feel great. "That's what I tried to do today." Earlier in the week, Andreeva had beaten three Grand Slam champions - former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the second round, Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals, and Elena Rybakina in the last four. The soon-to-be world No 9 needed only eleven participations in main-draw events before she got her hands on the trophy, the fewest since Paula Badosa at Indian Wells in 2021 - with the Spaniard needing just ten. Mirra Andreeva will next participate at the BNP Paribas Open, in Indian Wells, with main-draw matches taking place from March 6 - March 14.

1 hour ago

Roland Garros to give favourite son Rafael Nadal huge retirement send off

The 14-time champion will be honoured at a tournament which he dominated more than any other player in the sport – perhaps in any sport. Nadal said his goodbye to professional tennis at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, after he fell to Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-4 – with Spain losing the overall tie to the Netherlands. "There will, necessarily, be something for Rafael Nadal, a very big tribute," Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Tennis Federation, said to Europe 1 radio. "A real tribute, very important. We are attached to it. The [Davis Cup] tribute was not really the one that we had to pay him We were ready last year and he wasn't ready, he was still a player. "We went to see him at home, at the beginning of December, with Amelie Mauresmo to talk to him about this tribute that we will organize for him, and talked to him about the future." Moretton also hinted at a future direct relationship between Nadal and the Parisian Grand Slam: "We will give the outlines in some time of this role of ambassador that he can hold with us. The two 'brands', Rafael Nadal and Roland-Garros, are one. So yes, we are considering things with him." Long-time rival Novak Djokovic harshly criticised the tribute that the Davis Cup Finals gave the Spaniard, upon his retirement in Malaga. "I saw the video [of the ceremony]. I don't know, I don't know if Rafa maybe didn't want to make too much of a fuss about it in order not to bother other teams, matches. I don't know, to be honest, but I feel bad that I wasn't there," said the Serb, who had planned to be at the tournament if Spain progressed past the Netherlands. "We were together on the court in Riyadh, that was the moment, a nice moment. I saw him play at Roland Garros, we played each other at the Olympics. The ceremony, if you want my opinion, wasn't done properly. "Maybe Rafa himself wasn't sure whether he'll play or not, if he can play some more, and then maybe it was too late to do something bigger. I don't know, really." The 24-time Grand Slam champion wasn't the only one who was critical of the tribute. Nadal's last coach, and Grand Slam champion, Carlos Moya stated: "The feeling we are all left with is a bit scruffy and shabby. It's true that it's a Tuesday night, but this is sport and we knew months in advance that if Spain lost, Rafa would retire. Nadal is far above all this." However, Nadal – himself – was often understated, but, by the sounds of it, the tribute in Paris will be significantly more grandeur, at a tournament which he made his second home.

1 hour ago