
I'm either labelled a robot or hysterical - Swiatek
Iga Swiatek is "not proud" of the way she took her frustration out on a ball boy but has criticised the "standards" she faces as "not healthy".
The 17-year-old has enjoyed an incredible few weeks as she won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February, beating Grand Slam winners Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina en route to the title. Andreeva took her unbeaten run to 12 matches as she followed it up with another dazzling run at the Indian Wells Open as she again beat Swiatek and Rybakina to reach the final. She has now surged up to a career-high No 6 in the WTA Rankings and many believe it is only a matter of time before she wins her first Grand Slam title. "She is a complete player, Mirra. I actually compare her to Carlos Alcaraz." Navratilova told wtatennis.com. "She doesn't have the power of some other players, but she hits the ball really well, down the lines – and defends. That's what reminded me of Alcaraz. "She turned defence into offence. She had Sabalenka scratching her head – 'What do I have to do to win the point?' That's how people feel playing him. "And she's 17? I mean, the way she plays is more like [Justine] Henin. She's got the slice and is really great down the line on both sides. "Henin attacked the down-the-line return. Moved well, but Mirra has a bigger serve and a bigger game."
Iga Swiatek is "not proud" of the way she took her frustration out on a ball boy but has criticised the "standards" she faces as "not healthy".
The five-time Grand Slam winner came in for criticism during her Indian Wells Open semi-final defeat to Mirra Andreeva after she smashed a ball from a ball kid on the ground and it came close to hitting the youngster. She was booed by those in the stands while social media users also slammed her over the "ugly and dangerous" incident. There have also been a few other contentious moments involving the world No 2 as she smashed her racket during her loss to Jelena Ostapenko at the Qatar Open. In a passionate Instagram post, Swiatek wrote: "I see there's been a lot of recent talk about changes in my on-court behaviour and emotions. Although I'm not comfortable explaining myself, it's time I share my perspective to stop the speculation and baseless theories. "First, about the incident during my last match. It's true - I expressed frustration in a way I'm not proud of. My intention was never to aim the ball at anyone but merely to release my frustration by bouncing it on the ground. "I immediately apologised to the ball boy, we made eye contact, and nodded to each other when I expressed regret that it happened near him. "I've seen many players bounce balls in frustration, and frankly, I didn't expect such harsh judgments. Usually, I control such impulses, so half-jokingly I can say I lack experience in this and misjudged my aim in the heat of the moment." Swiatek has not won a title since she successfully defended her French Open crown in June last year as she endured a difficult final few months of the 2024 season following her failed drug test in August. She returned a positive sample for the banned substance trimetazidine, but she was cleared of any wrongdoing as her melatonin medication was found to be contaminated. The Pole was given a three-month ban and missed a series of high-profile tournaments, resulting in her losing the world No 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka and she admits she has produced "weaker performances" recently. The 23-year-old continued: "Secondly, regarding emotional expression. The second half of last year was extremely challenging for me, especially due to the positive doping test and how circumstances completely beyond my control took away my chance to fight for the highest sporting goals at the end of the season. "This forced me to rearrange certain things within myself. In Australia, after weaker performances in previous years, I played without expectations, focused solely on my work, accepting that another Australian Open might not go my way regardless of my efforts. Thanks to this mindset, I performed very well and was close to reaching the final. "In the Middle East, however, it struck me hard that my positive test result case, missing two highly-ranked tournaments in October, and last year's exceptional results (winning four 1000-level tournaments and a Grand Slam in the first half of the season) will keep affecting my ranking and basically take away my chance for No 1. "This realisation deeply upset me. You could see this on the court in Dubai. "I know that playing while stuck in past frustrations, over things beyond my control, isn't the right path. My team and I recognised this issue almost immediately (with their experience, probably faster than anyone could imagine), but shifting perspective takes significant time, effort, and team support."
When Jack Draper retired injured again at the Australian Open, he had to be patient - and is now celebrating the biggest title of his career.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion owns a lavishly expensive property in Florida and spends some time in the US state with his wife and children, but he has had more time than he anticipated to prepare for what will be his fourth tournament of 2025. A shock 2-6, 6-3, 1-6 defeat against Dutch lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp in his first match in Indian Wells ensured the Serbian had a lot of time to fill before he played his next match in Miami and he has been photographed attending a party with actress Jessica Alba and Eva Longoria in Miami. Footage has also emerged of Djokovic training at the Miami Open venue, where he has been working with his coach Andy Murray. The three-time Grand Slam champion was a shock choice to be Djokovic's new adviser ahead of the 2025 season, but their partnership got off to a great start as they combined well in the Serbian's run to the Australian Open semi-finals. Now Djokovic is hoping their relationship will continue in what may be his final season on the tennis tour. "I want to keep going, like the same day we finished the [Australian Open] tournament, so I told him that," said Djokovic of his partnership with Murray. "But, for him, it took some time to go back and reflect on the partnership, speak to his people, his family, and see how committed he wants to be and where he can travel with me and work in terms of the schedule. "So I was very glad when he decided to keep going [for] Indian Wells, Miami, and most of the clay-court season. We're going to speak after Miami, obviously, but I think the plan is to go all the way till the end of Roland Garros, and hopefully Wimbledon as well. "I'm enjoying the relationship with Andy. I still feel like we are going through the process of getting to know each other on the court in a different way than we have known each other for 25 years. So it's obviously a new role for him. "He's also exploring it and trying to understand how he can excel in it. I'm trying to communicate as much as I can on the court, off the court, for us to be able to connect better. "I think we had a great tournament, great run in Australia. I like the way I played, to be honest. It was unfortunate to finish the tournament the way I did it, but it was an injury issue. "But, in terms of the game, I think I played maybe the best tennis that I played in quite some time. Since the Olympics, actually. So I definitely attribute that to the work I had with Andy." Djokovic will be looking to piece together a winning run in Miami alongside Murray, as he aims to add to his five title wins in the Sunshine State in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The 17-year-old collected the biggest prize money windfall of her career as she was handed $1,124,380 after her thrilling 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Sabalenka. She won her 12th straight match as she swept to victory in the biggest match of her career so far, as she backed up her first WTA 1000 title last month at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships by claiming one of the biggest titles in women's tennis. In doing so, Andreeva is the youngest player to notch 12 consecutive WTA 1000 wins since the format's inception in 2009 and she is the youngest player in the last 40 years to defeat World No. 1 and No. 2 in a WTA event, after beating Iga Swiatek on her way to the final." "After the first set, she killed me once again and I didn't know what to do. I was a bit negative with myself because I had a lot of opportunities and didn't convert them," Andreeva told Sky Sports. "After I went on a toilet break, I tried to think and calm myself down, I looked in the mirror and said a lot of positive things, even though it wasn't easy, and just like that I tried to bring myself back and in the end it worked. "I would say I'm a little surprised that I did it [WTA 1000 titles] so soon, but I feel confident in my game and know what I'm going to do and what to expect from myself as soon as I go on court. "I didn't feel relaxed. The whole match I felt super nervous. After the first set, I just realized, that, oh, well, what I do now, it doesn't work, so I have to change something. "In the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive. I didn't try to overhit her, because I don't think anyone can overhit Aryna, because she's super-powerful player. "I tried to really, I don't know, create something to make her uncomfortable, and, you know, point by point, game by game, I managed to do that. In a remarkably mature on-court speech, Andreeva injected humour and charm into her comments as she said: "I'd like to thank myself! For fighting until the end, for always believing and for never quitting. "I tried to run like a rabbit because Aryna was sending bullets [across the net] and it was hard." Andreeva also showed great maturity on court in this match after she was blown away by Sabalenka in the opening set. The youngster had lost her previous four meetings against Sabalenka and was an outsider going into this match, but she held her nerve as the two players exchanged service breaks in the third set. The nerves must have been rising to the surface for Andreeva in the closing stages, but she held her nerve to get over the line. "I'll meet you next time on court.. probably it won't go your way," said Sabelenka with a wry smile. "I have a love-hate relationship with this place. It feels like paradise to win here, but I am not happy getting the smaller trophies!" Andreeva will rise to a new career-high ranking of No. 6 after this week with her status as the rising star of the women's game assured after this success.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz stepped forward as the new kings of the ATP Tour as they shared the four Grand Slam titles between them in 2024, but now they could have a new rival to contend with in Draper. Draper's first ATP Masters 1000 title did not come as many do for rising stars of the game, as he was dominant in most of his wins and the names he beat in Indian Wells suggest he has arrived at the top of the game. Young gun Joao Fonseca was no match for Draper and Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton went the same way as they were well beaten by the Brit. Alcaraz then had no answer to Draper in the semi-finals, with Holger Rune also looking beaten long before the final point was played in the final. The 6-2, 6-2 scoreline highlighted Draper's dominance, with his power-packed serve and loaded topspin forehand too much for Rune to handle in a one-sided final. This win will fire Draper up to No. 7 in the ATP Rankings and with two wins against Alcaraz already on his record, the current top two in the rankings will be looking at this young gun as a rival to be wary of. Alacarz's comments that he was 'nervous all day' prior to his semi-final against Draper suggested the Brit is not an opponent he relishes playing against and now the Brit has confirmed he can handle the pressure of the big occasion as he won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in thrilling fashion. "It is an incredible feeling," Draper told Sky Sports. "I wasn't expecting this. I put in a lot of work over time. I'm just so grateful and happy to be out here to play with my body feeling healthy and feeling great in my mind. "All the work I've done over the last few years, it feels like it's all coming together on the big stage. I cannot put that into words. "I have put in a lot of work over time and I'm so grateful to be out here, with my body healthy and feeling great in the mind. "It feels like it is all coming together on the big stage I feel like I deserve it. The amount of adversity, the sacrifices, the time people around me have put into me. "It's an emotional feeling to know how much you've gone through to be here now. To say I'm going to seventh in the world tomorrow. I cannot tell you how much that means to me. "I had a few ups and downs and some low energy in the match against Carlos [Alcaraz]. I learned from that. I knew Holger would come out and play so good tennis so I needed to be aggressive and play to win from the first ball. "I did an amazing job at that, didn't allow him to play, and dictated the match really well." Draper's calm assurance in his post-match interviews suggests his maturity will now allow him to compete for all the big titles in the sport moving forward. When you win a title as prestigious as Indian Wells in the convincing manner Draper just did, it sends a huge message to everyone else in the men's locker room… including Sinner and Alcaraz.
Britain's Jack Draper is helped by a controversial video call to earn a coming-of-age win over four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Rune shot to prominence when he beat Novak Djokovic on his way to a first ATP Masters 1000 title win in Paris in 2022, but he has struggled to live up to the hype that enveloped around him after that memorable success. Rune was viewed as the next big star of the men's game after that win in the French capital, but he has fallen off that pedestal over the last couple of years. Now the young Dane is roaring back to the top and after beating Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling Indian Wells semi-final 7-5, 6-4, he is now just one win away from a return to the top ten of the ATP Rankings. "It means everything," said Rune. "The job is not over yet, but it feels amazing. Playing Daniil is one of the toughest challenges for me on Tour. "I managed to beat him the first time [we played], but we know each other well. I obviously had the right tactics, but it was still so difficult because he puts in great effort and is super solid. So, I'm very proud of myself. "It's about finding the right tempo, and luckily I've got good leg work, so I can reach many balls. It's a very specific tactical plan that I made with my coach yesterday evening and this morning. "It's about finding the right pace and which shots to hit, because so many players miss too many shots against Daniil. He makes you go for more, so I'm super proud that I managed to find the right rhythm." The return of Rune is a welcome boost to the men's game, as he boasts a bright and vibrant character that would be a welcome addition to the business end of the game's biggest tournaments.
Draper's second career win over Alcaraz will see him break into the top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his career, with his win laced with intrigue from start to finish. This bizarre match started with a blaze of powerful hitting from Draper, as he blew Alcaraz off the court to win the first set in double quick time. With Alcaraz spraying errors at an alarming rate, he appeared to be a little rattled as he faced some powerful hitting from Draper. Yet the young Spaniard is not a four-time Grand Slam champion for nothing and he powered back into the match with a stunning second set that he claimed without dropping a game. Draper appeared to be struggling with the heat in Indian Wells as his game fell apart in that second set, but the real drama was still to come. With the scores tied at 1-1 in the deciding set, umpire Mohamed Lahyani inserted himself into the story as he declared Draper had got to a short ball before it bounced twice. Draper instantly called for a video review and it was clear the Brit had got his racket under the ball, with Lahyani then declaring the point should be replayed. To add to the drama, Draper then asked for another video review as he claimed the point should be his as Alcaraz failed to get the ball back into play. The correct decision may have been to replay the point, but it was awarded to Draper and he went on to break the Alcaraz serve. He backed that up with another break of the Alcaraz serve as errors started to flow once again from the Spaniard, with Draper finally getting over the line after he served for the match for the second time. "I've watched a lot of Carlos here and I was expecting him to come out all guns blazing," said Draper. "It was the opposite. There were a lot of errors. Then in the second set, I lost concentration, the energy was drained from my body and I don't know what happened. "I went to the toilet at the end of the set, looked in the mirror and said: 'You are in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 and a win to make the top 10 in the world against Carlos Alcaraz in a full stadium. I had to give everything I've got. Don't worry about nerves. I had to go for it. Now I have to lift myself for the final." When asked about breaking into the top 10 he added: "It feels unbelievable. When they said it on the court, I got emotional. I've been through so much in recent years with injuries. This is such a tough sport, we give so much to it. It feels incredible." The magnitude of Draper's win was highlighted by the reality that he ended Alcaraz's 16-match winning run at Indian Wells and if the hype around the young Brit wasn't already reaching fever pitch, it will go into overdrive now.
Britain's Jack Draper is helped by a controversial video call in his favour to earn a coming-of-age win over four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Listen as Britain's Jack Draper takes on current Indian Wells champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Defending champion Swiatek was beaten 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3 by ninth seed Andreeva in their last four clash, having previously been defeated by the 17-year-old at the Dubai Tennis Championships last month. Defeat for Swiatek ended the Pole's 10-match winning streak and halted her title defence, alongside preventing her from becoming the first woman to win the title three times. Victory for Andreeva sees her reach a second straight WTA 1000 final, after going on to win the title in Dubai. "I just went for all my shots," said the Russian. "My serve was great, and, you know, just felt super comfortable and super confident during the tiebreak. I kind of played on a roll. "But then the second set, it was a bit weird, but I can say that I really tried to do something, but I just felt like she literally overplayed me, because she was playing pretty deep with good height over the net. It was really hard to do something with these shots. "I just tried to hang in there and do something. And after, I went on a toilet break. I started to think what can I change? "And after, I just decided to kind of still play the same but maybe go for my shots more, trying to play a little bit more aggressive, and in the end, you know, I got the win, so I feel great. "I feel also that I was dealing with the nerves and the pressure pretty good, so I just feel proud of myself." Andreeva is set to hit a new career-high of world No 8 thanks to her run – and would rise to world No 6 if she were to beat Sabalenka in Sunday's final. World No 1 Sabalenka was emphatic in her semi-final clash, ending Madison Keys' 16-match win streak with an astonishing 6-1, 6-0 win over her Australian Open final conqueror. Victory for the Belarusian, coupled with defeat for Swiatek, will lead to a significant swing when it comes to the battle for top spot on the WTA Tour. Having failed to defend her title, Swiatek will drop 610 ranking points and will fall to 7,375 points come Monday's ranking update. In contrast, Sabalenka is set for a significant surge – having already bettered her fourth-round exit from 2024. Having reached her second Indian Wells final, Sabalenka has already earned 530 ranking points and moves up to 9,606 points in the WTA Live Rankings. Should she win the tournament for the first time on Sunday, the Belarusian will hold a staggering 9,956 ranking points come Monday. That would mean a 2,581-point gap between the world No 1 and world No 2 from next week, making a return to No 1 for Swiatek difficult over the coming months.
The Brit – currently sitting at a new career high of world No 11 in the live ATP rankings – had previously never reached the last four of a Masters 1000 event, falling in the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open in 2023 and the Cincinnati Masters in 2024. "You know, my tennis has been really improving all the time with more experience at the highest level, and I'm gaining more wins against top players like Ben," said Draper, after his victory. "Obviously today was tough conditions. Really tough opponent. I thought I competed great. Yeah, I did well to come through that one. "Unfortunately obviously in tennis you're in a sport where there is always the next match and you have to prove yourself every time. Certainly for myself, my mindset, unfortunately that, as well, I feel like I'm never content with anything. I always want to have more wins and more opportunities to play top players. You know, I just want to keep on progressing and keep on improving and keep on going for more success." The current world No 14 will next face Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, a player who beat 7-6(3), 6-3 back in 2024 at the Queen's Club. Overall, the Spaniard leads their head-to-head 3-1, including a second-set retirement from the Brit at the 2025 Australian Open. When asked about their last four encounter, Draper stated: "Carlos, you know, he's obviously a great champion, already doing amazing things in the game, so good for the sport not only for the players but for also spectators to watch him. "I think, you know, he's setting the benchmark really high, and that's good for a player like myself because I watch him and play against him, and I think what I need to do to be at his level and to hopefully compete for big events. "So, you know, I'd obviously love to get the chance to play Carlos again. I think it would be a great match. He brings so much to the court, especially in these conditions. He absolutely loves these courts. And yeah, it would be another opportunity for me to show, you know, hopefully that I belong at the top again." Draper is also looking to become the fifth Brit to reach the final at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Greg Rusedski was the first to reach the showpiece match, ultimately losing to Marcelo Rios in 1998. Four years later, Tim Henman – despite not loving slower courts – made Indian Wells final, before being dominated by Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1, 6-2. Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray reached the final in 2009, falling to tennis legend Rafael Nadal – in a match which observed winds reaching more than 40MPH. However, the losing streak was finally broken by Cameron Norrie at the postponed 2021 edition, battling back to defeat Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final and lifting the biggest title of his career.
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva beats defending champion Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells to set up a final against top seed Aryna Sabalenka.