Federer has helped create a new team competition, the Laver Cup, that will start in September, and Laver presented the trophy to him on Sunday night — at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The Laver Cup, named after Australian tennis hero Rod Laver, has won plaudits from the players.
|
|
Working with 1 sheet laver at a time, place laver on a sushi mat, shiny side down.
|
|
Rod Laver and Roger Federer are separated by 43 years of age and more millions of dollars than Laver would care to count.
|
|
But there was more sympathy than belief in the early roars of encouragement he received in Laver Arena, with Rod Laver himself in the front row.
|
|
Team Europe claimed victory in last year's inaugural Laver Cup, named after Australian tennis great Rod Laver, with Federer beating Australian Kyrgios in the final match.
|
|
Five tennis legends – Rod Laver, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe – came together for a press conference to announce details about the Laver Cup on Wednesday.
|
|
S.) beat Stolle (Australia) 9-7 18843-1 6-4 1962 Laver (Australia) beat Marty Mulligan (Australia) 6-2 6-2 6-63 1961 Laver (Australia) beat McKinley (U.
|
|
The Laver Cup is a three-day team-tennis tournament dreamed up by Federer (and his management team) and named after his tennis idol, the Australian great Rod Laver.
|
|
He was the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four grand slams simultaneously and was halfway to the calendar-year slam that Australian great Laver achieved in 1969.
|
|
Federer broke down in tears — not for the first time — during the trophy ceremony in Rod Laver Arena as Laver himself was taking pictures with his phone from the front row.
|
|
On Tennis PRAGUE — The first draw in the history of the Laver Cup was over, and Team World decided to have the first on-court huddle in the history of the Laver Cup.
|
|
The history of the Laver Cup, of course, is short.
|
|
"I love the black charcoal court," Laver said last week.
|
|
Each Laver Cup team has six players and a captain.
|
|
No man has done that since Rod Laver in 1969.
|
|
"It was money," Laver explained on Wednesday, standing alongside Federer, his noticeably taller and prodigiously wealthier tennis descendant, after heralding a new event — named for Laver — scheduled to debut in September 2017 in Prague.
|
|
Everything seemed to improve at the Laver Cup in late September.
|
|
" To which Laver replied, "I can't do much with my game.
|
|
The Laver Cup is being held Friday through Sunday in Geneva.
|
|
Federer rolled past David Goffin of Belgium, 6-503, 6-1, 6-4, in the final match of the evening at Rod Laver Arena, which Laver himself attended after speaking with Federer in the locker room.
|
|
The Laver Cup, named after Australian tennis hero Rod Laver, is attempting to add new excitement to the sport in an already crowded calendar and was the brainchild of Federer and his sports management company Team24.
|
|
Nigel Sears, 58, had collapsed on a staircase inside Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Tiley also hit back at Benneteau's criticism of the Laver Cup's integrity.
|
|
Laver is a jazz saxophonist who also directs the college's jazz band.
|
|
A lawyer for Laver did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
|
|
Last year's inaugural Laver Cup sold out in just a few hours.
|
|
"There's a lot more talent out there at the moment," said Laver.
|
|
The Laver Cup courts could not be any more black, organizers said.
|
|
"It's really interesting and unique," he said at last year's Laver Cup.
|
|
"I think it was just relief that it was over," Laver said.
|
|
It is a quiet moment, if not a peaceful one, and the crowd in Rod Laver Arena, which included Laver himself, stayed hushed on Tuesday, just as crowds around the world have stayed hushed with Sharapova mulling her options.
|
|
He also quit after his second match at the Laver Cup in September.
|
|
Previous champions with four consecutive titles include only Rod Laver and Don Budge.
|
|
Nathan Chaim Laver, who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated.
|
|
"I think that is probably the best thing that could happen," said Laver.
|
|
He has long admired and appreciated Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall from Australia.
|
|
Rod Laver Arena has been a sweet and sour place for both men.
|
|
Now that the Laver Cup is an ATP-sanctioned event, that might happen.
|
|
Tennis great Rod Laver, 79, snapped the moment on his mobile phone for posterity.
|
|
"Yes, the tennis rackets (there's a) different technology there," Laver, 80, said on Tuesday.
|
|
We'll start with this year's Laver Cup, when a "hot chick" made him lose.
|
|
Sporting In October and November, the sport exists (Laver Cup!) and doesn't exist simultaneously.
|
|
Last month in Geneva, Federer and Zverev were teammates again in the Laver Cup.
|
|
We could see the gleaming roof of Rod Laver Arena in the near distance.
|
|
Laver, one of tennis's greatest champions, had won at West Hants as an amateur.
|
|
Some of their rallies drew gasps from the sellout crowd in Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
To the spectators, who included Rod Laver himself in the front row of Laver Arena, Federer also delivered his trademark blend of deftness and punch, flowing to the ball wherever it bounced and then striking it with precision and a dash of venom.
|
|
In the 19833s, it hosted a tour event that attracted the great Australian Rod Laver.
|
|
LONDON — The Davis Cup and the Laver Cup are getting a new team-competition companion.
|
|
"It's all good," she beamed to the relieved Rod Laver Arena crowd after the match.
|
|
On Friday afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, bolstered by increased strength, she hit 25 winners.
|
|
In 1968, the start of tennis' professional era, Wimbledon champion Rod Laver took home £2,000.
|
|
"It was the first, and there was no way I was missing it," Laver said.
|
|
Laver has long said it was one of the most grueling matches of his career.
|
|
"He didn't do anything like that," said Laver, who won the fifth set 26-22.
|
|
By Tuesday, though damp, the courts were playable when Laver and Roche began the match.
|
|
When Laver started slipping and sliding across the grass courts, he switched to spiked sneakers.
|
|
TENNIS-LAVERCUP Zverev completes Laver Cup win for Europe GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) - Alexander Zverev snatched the Laver Cup for Team Europe as he beat Canada's Milos Raonic in the final rubber of a thrilling three days of action in Geneva's Palexpo Arena on Sunday.
|
|
If you follow your thumbs, you will be deeper in than Rod Laver in no time.
|
|
"I'm very excited to be playing the Laver Cup in September," Fognini said in a statement.
|
|
"Rod Laver is someone I've always thought was very inspiring," Federer said in an interview Wednesday.
|
|
"A male in his 50s fell ill in Rod Laver Arena this evening," the statement said.
|
|
It will be a great day facing him in one of the best arenas, Rod Laver.
|
|
He plays freewheeling matches against Rod Laver and parks his red convertible under the Eiffel Tower.
|
|
Among the past greats in attendance were Maria Bueno, Rod Laver, Manolo Santana and Guillermo Vilas.
|
|
It's where we first saw Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, Billie Jean King and Margaret Court.
|
|
"We were just a small part of a big decision being made by Wimbledon," Laver said.
|
|
Laver has seen Federer play much better and generate much more emotion here through the years.
|
|
The sunset over Laver Arena, as it turned out, was more magical than the semifinal below.
|
|
Federer has long admired Rosewall, Rod Laver and the leading players of Australia's golden tennis era.
|
|
After all, the Laver Cup is technically an exhibition, even if it hardly felt like one.
|
|
Asked if the New York Open's black courts infringed on the Laver Cup brand, Zacks laughed.
|
|
At the very end of the display is Rod Laver, the champion in 1962 and 163.
|
|
The retractable roof on what is now Rod Laver Arena was a big attraction in 1988.
|
|
Rod Laver Arena now has a wraparound digital screen at court level and electronic line calling.
|
|
"Now the ace level is creating — not a problem — but it's a lot less rallies," Laver said.
|
|
Federer, speaking at a launch for the Laver Cup which is being held in Geneva from Sept.
|
|
Roger Federer has posted an incredible selfie alongside his Team Europe teammates ahead of the Laver Cup.
|
|
Laver talks about his namesake tournament, the importance of amateur tennis, and why shorter matches are better.
|
|
Federer and Godsick insist that they don't view the Laver Cup as a rival to Davis Cup.
|
|
In 1968, the start of tennis' professional era, Wimbledon champion Rod Laver took home £2,000 or $2,619.
|
|
The heat remained suffocating as the afternoon wore on yet the Rod Laver Arena roof remained open.
|
|
Estonia's Anett Kontaveit, seeded 28th, opens proceedings at Rod Laver Arena against 2018 runner-up Simona Halep.
|
|
"That was a big moment," Steve Zacks, the Laver Cup managing director, recalled in a recent interview.
|
|
Laver then beat Roche 193-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 for his second Grand Slam.
|
|
He won his fifth in a row here on Saturday at Rod Laver Arena, which seats 15,000.
|
|
"It's just unbelievable what the government and Tennis Australia has accomplished," Laver said in a rare interview.
|
|
Beyond the ATP Finals and the new Laver Cup, there are just three ATP Masters 500 level tournaments.
|
|
He entered Rod Laver Arena for his Federer match-up to a soundtrack of Blur's Britpop anthem "Parklife".
|
|
"I improved 100 percent as a professional while I was unable to play in the majors," Laver said.
|
|
Laver, who lived near San Francisco, joined UBS AG after ending his 13-year stint at Credit Suisse.
|
|
MELBOURNE, Australia — Emilio Nava stood at the microphone on the court of Rod Laver Arena and smiled broadly.
|
|
That was 232 hours 238 minutes faster than the real match of the day at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
For now, the Laver Cup, which begins Friday at the United Center, remains an exhibition with higher aspirations.
|
|
Laver soon responded with a congratulatory tweet post, noting that he would love to meet the young star.
|
|
"I woke up this morning to this terrible news, super sad," the Spaniard said on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
She beat Magda Linette, 6-4, 6-2, to end play at Rod Laver Arena on Day 2.
|
|
The inaugural Laver Cup will be played next year at the O2 Arena in Prague on Sept. 22-24.
|
|
As for the U.S. Open, which starts next week, Laver was initially reluctant to predict a men's singles champion.
|
|
Sweden's Bjorn Borg is captain of the Europe team at the event named after Australian tennis great Rod Laver.
|
|
In addition, Tiley, 56, is an investor in the Laver Open, a tournament owned by Federer, according to ESPN.
|
|
"Laver Cup is a competition that unites us all and it was really unusual to see," the Serbian said.
|
|
"It means the world to come out here on Rod Laver and play, thank you so much," he said.
|
|
He's been met on court after wins here previously by the tennis greats Laver, John McEnroe and Jim Courier.
|
|
What few at Rod Laver knew was that there was a third family member on the court that day.
|
|
"By the end of the Laver Cup, they looked more of a charcoal shade than straight black," Fasold said.
|
|
In the US, Prime Video also livestreams professional volleyball with the AVP league and the Laver Cup tennis tournament.
|
|
But he will still be rightfully the main attraction at the Laver Cup in Chicago, the tournament's second year.
|
|
Whittaker was slated to headline the event in a much anticipated bout with Kelvin Gastelum at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
BOURNEMOUTH, England — The original and atmospheric clubhouse where Fred Perry and Rod Laver once turned heads is long gone.
|
|
Cox then lost quickly to Laver, dropping the last 23 games as the top professionals — as expected — took control.
|
|
The fan reaction in Prague and Chicago was similar, and to me it's distinctly Laver Cup — very special indeed.
|
|
"He had beaten me the year before in four sets, so I just said, 'Let's hit out,'" Laver said.
|
|
Each won two major titles, and they played their first doubles match together, representing Europe at the Laver Cup.
|
|
At Rod Laver Arena this Friday afternoon, the education of Taylor Fritz took a significant, though bruising, step forward.
|
|
The case is Laver v Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-00828.
|
|
"It's just a great honor that my name is going to be on this," Laver said in an interview Friday.
|
|
Though the Rod Laver Arena rumbled with the threat of an upset, Raonic barely celebrated and marched straight off court.
|
|
Federer, 36, noted that the tennis world has changed since the earlier generations, mentioning Billie Jean King and Rod Laver.
|
|
Roof closed on Rod Laver Arena, where fifth seed Venus Williams will continue her opening round match against Belinda Bencic.
|
|
In 2017, the Laver Cup, a tennis competition based on the Ryder Cup, will hold its inaugural edition in Prague.
|
|
Federer said he hoped the Laver Cup would provide a better bonding experience than the Tour and the Davis Cup.
|
|
Sunday's victory was Djokovic's fourth major title in a row, something no one had achieved since Rod Laver in 1969.
|
|
Sharapova, the 2008 Australian Open champion, got play started on Rod Laver Arena and needed only 63 minutes to advance.
|
|
But for at least the inaugural Laver Cup, Team World is closer to a national team than an international team.
|
|
A few years later, in 1962, Konchalski worked the championship match in which Rod Laver claimed his first Grand Slam.
|
|
What's clear is that the Laver Cup has pounced on an opportunity in a fallow part of the tennis schedule.
|
|
Federer, in particular, was concerned about needing a wild card to even get into the Laver Cup, his own event.
|
|
The other main stadiums are named after Rod Laver, who is also still alive, and Hisense, a Chinese electronics company.
|
|
Asked whom among the current crop he would most like to have the chance to play, Laver did not hesitate.
|
|
"I think (the injury) was similar to what he had at Laver Cup time," Hewitt said of Kyrgios's collarbone problem.
|
|
MELBOURNE, Australia — It was Novak Djokovic against Roger Federer on Thursday night in Rod Laver Arena in the semifinals of the Australian Open, but if the organizers of a new tennis competition have their way, it will soon be Djokovic and Federer playing on the same European team for a trophy called the Laver Cup.
|
|
But the inspiration for the Laver Cup came from Federer, according to his longtime agent, Tony Godsick, who said that Federer charged him more than two years ago with creating something that would have the potential to endure and would honor Laver, an Australian who was the only player to complete two Grand Slams.
|
|
S.) 6-4 6-8 6-19103 6-3 1965 Emerson bt Fred Stolle 7-9 2-6 6-4 63-5 6-1 1964 Emerson bt Stolle 6-3 6-4 6-43 1963 Emerson bt Ken Fletcher 6-3 6-3 6-1 1962 Laver bt Emerson 8-63 0-6 6-393 383-373 363 Emerson bt Laver 353-343 333-323 313-303 244-241905 244 Laver bt Neale Fraser 246-246 243-246 244-246 244-6 8-6 1959 Alex Olmedo (U.
|
|
Laver was five feet eight inches tall (1.73 meters), far smaller than the majority of players on the men's tour today.
|
|
"I saw Rod (Laver) there and Johnny Mac commentating in the box and we smiled a couple of times," said Kyrgios.
|
|
When Laver cleaned up all four grand slam titles in 1962 it seemed ludicrous to suggest he could get any better.
|
|
Pavic and Dabrowski saved a championship point before closing out the match tiebreak under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Williams, however, Williams broke again in the ninth game and then served out to end Radwanska's agony on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
There have been disagreements about the new Laver Cup team event, which the Australian Open and U.S. Open are formally backing.
|
|
Rod Laver was the only player to achieve the feat when he won all four Grand Slams in 1962 and 1969.
|
|
It is named for Rod Laver, who at age 2 has made the trip here from his home in Carlsbad, Calif.
|
|
But it's definitely going to be a really big goal for me to have a successful Laver Cup for everybody involved.
|
|
It's been an unbelievable rollercoaster," he said, "Bjorn, you're a great captain, and Rocket (Rod Laver), thanks for being here today.
|
|
If healthy, they will be teammates and likely doubles partners for Team Europe in the Laver Cup this month in Geneva.
|
|
Rod Laver won a Grand Slam in 1962, then did it again in 1969, an accomplishment that has never been matched.
|
|
"It's an amazing accomplishment, no doubt about it," said Federer, who has modeled his game and on-court demeanor after Laver.
|
|
Tennis Australia said on Friday it would hold a "Rally for Relief" exhibition match at the Rod Laver Arena on Jan.
|
|
But with Nadal's win at Rod Laver Arena, a measure of order was restored by a member of the old guard.
|
|
Laver lives near San Francisco, worked at Credit Suisse for 13 years and has worked for another Swiss bank, UBS, since leaving.
|
|
"I'd say the success of the Laver Cup has been seen as somewhat of a 'disruptor' to the men's game," he said.
|
|
Wimbledon champion Djokovic, who did not play in last year's Laver Cup, said he was looking forward to the competition's "refreshing" format.
|
|
Despite his five-week layoff following the U.S. Open and Laver Cup, Nadal seemed fresh and content when he arrived in Paris.
|
|
Roy Emerson and Rod Laver and are the only other players to have won each grand slam on two or more occasions.
|
|
If he comes closer to fulfilling his massive potential, he and his generation will be critical to the Laver Cup's uncertain future.
|
|
The Federer-backed Laver Cup, which pits a European team against one from the rest of the world, is held in September.
|
|
Clearly, the Laver Cup draws more attention than a regular tour event would draw less than two weeks after the U.S. Open.
|
|
If it's for charity it's different, because then it's about the show, but the Laver Cup is about winning, so it's different.
|
|
He hit no double-faults against Gerasimov, while bashing nine aces and landing 78% of his first serves at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
No matter that the Laver Cup awards no ranking points and has been created outside the structure of the regular men's tour.
|
|
He withdrew from the final day of play at the Laver Cup team event in Geneva on Sunday, citing a collarbone injury.
|
|
"Whatever they have done hasn't worked so far, so maybe a suspension is the only answer," Laver told The Sydney Morning Herald.
|
|
"Turning pro was the best thing I ever did," Laver said when asked how many other Grand Slams he might have won.
|
|
Crealy won the first two sets 6-3, 113-7, Laver the next two 6-2, 26-22, when it became dark.
|
|
"My teachers are giving me some time considering the circumstances," Gauff said to the delight of the crowd in Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Two years after losing in straight sets to Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena, Chung showed he has learned plenty in the interim.
|
|
The literary figures, CABOT and WELTY, were known to me, and I knew the name but not the clue for Rod LAVER.
|
|
The literary figures, CABOT and WELTY, were known to me, and I knew the name but not the clue for Rod LAVER.
|
|
In framed photographs, the brothers stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Rod Laver and Neale Fraser at a Davis Cup match in 1959.
|
|
"Maybe the fourth time will be with luck," she said in remarks to the crowd at Laver Arena, before leaving the court.
|
|
Federer was forced to play two tiebreaks after Evans impressed the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena with his splendid counter-punching skills.
|
|
Benneteau also criticised Federer's Laver Cup project, saying the exhibition team event, in which Tiley is also involved, represented a conflict of interest.
|
|
First to feel the heat will be 2008 champion Maria Sharapova, who kicks things off on Rod Laver against unseeded Briton Harriet Dart.
|
|
Laver won four Wimbledon titles and won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments in the same calendar year twice, in 23 and 26.
|
|
Tennis Australia has taken an aggressive role in event creation, cofounding the men-only Laver Cup and the ATP Cup in recent years.
|
|
Nadal was an enthusiastic participant in Laver Cup's debut in Prague last year, partnering with Federer in doubles and playing two singles matches.
|
|
But Laver Cup could be helped by the Davis Cup's shift to a more compact schedule that will eliminate a round in September.
|
|
The Laver Cup might be a sideshow, but it is, to a significant degree, his sideshow, and he intends to fight for it.
|
|
Rod Laver, who twice won all four Grand Slam events in a single year, has said he paid scant attention to his total.
|
|
The court in Laver Arena is playing quicker than usual, but it is still not quite a net rusher's or big server's paradise.
|
|
He became the first man to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at once since Rod Laver won them all in 26.
|
|
She beat the 181st-ranked qualifier Mona Barthel, 6-23, 21-28, in a fourth-round match Sunday afternoon at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Next year, the top players will have to choose (or not) among ATP Cup, Davis Cup, the Laver Cup and the Summer Olympics.
|
|
"Definitely not," Lendl said, chuckling some more before heading off down the crowded main hallway inside Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open.
|
|
Emerson, 82, attended Sunday's final at Rod Laver Arena, and, like the 47-year-old Sampras, he had a target on his back.
|
|
Transfer gimbap to a cutting board and repeat with the remaining laver, rice, beef, burdock root, egg, spinach, crab meat, and pickled daikon.
|
|
The greatest rivals in tennis today will put their personal competition aside to play together in the inaugural Laver Cup in Prague next year.
|
|
Williams, 35, a seven-time major winner and the eighth seed, trudged off Rod Laver Arena, waving to the crowd at 1:55 p.m.
|
|
The Belarusian needed just 56 minutes to defeat the teenager on Rod Laver Arena and will now meet Barbora Strycova in the fourth round.
|
|
That rule change brought back older stars like Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, who had given up their amateur status in the early 1960s.
|
|
Nicks concertgoer Jo-Ann George told the newspaper that she was removed from her $204 floor seat in Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Nov.
|
|
Fifth-seed Rafael Nadal will look to kick-start his own tilt at history against fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco at the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Tiafoe, the son of immigrants from Sierra Leone, was content with his performance and said it was an "unbelievable" experience on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Federer was presented with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup by Australian great Rod Laver, sharing an embrace with the 11-times grand slam champion.
|
|
"They could put it down on wood or cement, they even put it on ice a few times," Rod Laver said in an interview.
|
|
In taking a lead in honoring Laver, Federer and his agent are reminding the public of the Swiss player's place among the elite players.
|
|
Then came this weekend's Laver Cup, the second edition of the Federer-created team competition that pits Europe against the rest of the world.
|
|
The date change created conflicts with other events, including the Laver Cup men's team event headlined by Roger Federer that is scheduled for Sept.
|
|
The date change created conflicts with other events, including the Laver Cup men's team event headlined by Roger Federer that is scheduled for Sept.
|
|
In September, they were part of the winning European team in the inaugural Laver Cup, an event created by Federer and his management company.
|
|
Tennis Australia, like the United States Tennis Association, is a partner in the Laver Cup, the team event Federer's management group started in 2017.
|
|
"They never had an excuse to be on the same team before," said Tony Godsick, Federer's agent and the chairman of the Laver Cup.
|
|
It ended sourly with a 6-1 6-0 thrashing, a defeat that could have followed Wang onto center court at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"I'd have to say it's probably close to it," Laver said from New York, the last stop on his 50th anniversary Grand Slam tour.
|
|
The unseeded Rogers beat Simona Halep, the fourth seed, 6-3, 6-1, in the opening match on center court at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
He worked as a ball boy at a tournament in his native Austria that featured midcentury stars such as Rod Laver and Roy Emerson.
|
|
Laver said individuals and governments had a part to play in reducing the amount of plastic polluting the world's oceans, but the key was urgency.
|
|
"Congratulations Novak on a great effort in winning all four major titles," Laver said in a brief video posted on the Australian Open Twitter account.
|
|
Two years ago, the Australian Open tennis tournament had the banner of a British-based gambling company prominently displayed on the main Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Roger Federer has inflicted plenty of pain in a hurry on lesser tennis champions in Rod Laver Arena, ripping winner after winner in full flow.
|
|
Kyrgios is no stranger to the Laver Cup, having played for Team World in the first two editions which were both won by Team Europe.
|
|
The Swiss superstar took to Twitter and Instagram to share a snap of himself and his teammates ahead of this year's Laver Cup in Geneva.
|
|
Nick Kyrgios lost to Roger Federer at the Laver Cup over the weekend and said he was distracted by a "hot chick" in the crowd.
|
|
Laver won the calendar-year Grand Slam in 1962 before joining the professional ranks and effectively ruling himself out of five years' worth of majors.
|
|
But the Laver Cup is trying to gain initial traction within the short attention spans and looser national affiliations of the internet and globalization era.
|
|
"I think today was probably my sharpest match that I played," Barty told reporters after the one hour, 18 minute match on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
She reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, beating home favorite Ashleigh Barty in a noisy night match on a partisan Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
But Istomin's big moment will give many lesser-ranked men faith that they, too, can play the match of their lives in Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
But it is Thiem, 26, who will step on to the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday having won four of the pair's past five clashes.
|
|
Williams, 36, defeated the 24th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-210, 22015-214 (22014), in a big-hitting quarterfinal in the sunshine in Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Using wet fingers, press 1/4 rice onto laver in an even layer, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the side furthest from you.
|
|
"We ready," teased Qai Qai in a photo shared on Monday from the Rod Laver Arena, ahead of Williams' first match on Tuesday (which she won).
|
|
"Wow, what a night, I've waited a long time for this," the world number 34 said after receiving the trophy from Australian tennis great Rod Laver.
|
|
Konta will face seventh seed Angelique Kerber, who stunned twice former champion Victoria Azarenka 23-225 7-5 in the opening match at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
He will walk into Rod Laver Arena looking a little disheveled and expecting to find a way to beat Novak Djokovic in an Australian Open final.
|
|
S.) 6-3 187793-187783 187773-187763 187753 Neale Fraser (Australia) beat Laver (Australia) 187743-187733 187723-187713 187703-261 269-267 261877 Alex Olmedo (U.
|
|
"I just felt this was the perfect place to finish," Hewitt said to the crowd in Rod Laver Arena with his three young children beside him.
|
|
Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro, who towers at 6 feet 6 inches tall "can move as well as (a player who's) 6 feet one," Laver said.
|
|
This year, entering the ATP Finals, he had played just four indoor matches, a win over Milos Raonic at the Laver Cup and three in Paris.
|
|
From videos of farm animals to excitable tennis commentary, here are some of her Twitter and Instagram highlights... Such an awesome experience being on Rod Laver.
|
|
"Kevin Anderson has got a lot to be proud of," tennis great John McEnroe told reporters at a Laver Cup event in New York on Tuesday.
|
|
Interesting pic we dug up -- in 1990, Howe was honored at the All-Star Professional Sports Awards alongside Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Rod Laver. #RIP
|
|
S.) 6-3 187793-187783 187773-187763 187753 Neale Fraser (Australia) beat Laver (Australia) 187743-187733 187723-187713 187703-261 269-267 261877 Alex Olmedo (U.
|
|
But Federer wants to do all he can to ensure that his tennis baby, the Laver Cup, grows up to be a pillar of the game.
|
|
The topic was doubles, which Federer and Nadal will most likely play together in earnest for the first time at the inaugural Laver Cup this weekend.
|
|
Former world number one Rod Laver pledged to donate the proceeds of an auction of one of his favorite Dunlop 13 raquets for Australian bushfire relief.
|
|
"The wind was a massive factor today, changed end to end dramatically," the 24-year-old told reporters after a second success on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Spain's Garbine Muguruza blasted 270 winners as she quelled the challenge of local hope Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 3-6 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The stunning defeat at Rod Laver Arena came less than four months after Williams trounced Wang 6-1 6-0 in the U.S. Open quarter-finals.
|
|
S.) 6-1 63-5 6-3 1970 Ashe bt Dick Crealy 6-4 9-7 6-23 1969 Rod Laver bt Andres Gimeno (Spain) 6-3 6-4 7-5 1968 Bill Bowrey bt Juan Gisbert (Spain) 7-63 2-6 9-7 6-4 1967 Roy Emerson bt Ashe 6-4 33-1 6-4 1966 Emerson bt Ashe 6-4 6-8 6-19103 6-3 1965 Emerson bt Fred Stolle 7-9 2-6 6-4 63-5 6-1 1964 Emerson bt Stolle 6-3 6-4 6-43 1963 Emerson bt Ken Fletcher 6-3 6-3 6-1 1962 Laver bt Emerson 8-63 0-6 6-393 383-373 363 Emerson bt Laver 353-343 333-323 313-303 244-241905 244 Laver bt Neale Fraser 246-246 243-246 244-246 244-6 8-6 1959 Alex Olmedo (U.
|
|
Afterwards, in his news conference, he was less candid, noting only that the pace of the Rod Laver Arena this year allowed him to be more aggressive.
|
|
Nadal has announced he will join his perennial rival in the Laver Cup, which pits the best of Europe against a world team still to be named.
|
|
Finally winning the French Open would give him four consecutive major championships, something no man has achieved since Rod Laver won a true Grand Slam in 1969.
|
|
"I don't think Rafa would have played very well on the grasscourts that we used to play on," Laver, who is approaching his 80th birthday, told Reuters.
|
|
My favorite moment was on the way to Forest Hills when Rod Laver got off the train carrying two uncovered tennis rackets and walking along with me.
|
|
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The triumph of the underdogs at the U.S. Open this week shows the sport is in good health, according to Australian great Rod Laver.
|
|
Laver Cup, the brainchild of Roger Federer and his agent Tony Godsick, matches a European all-star team versus a squad representing the rest of the world.
|
|
"It is amazing where 50 years has gone to — time just floats away," Laver, now 78, said by telephone last week from his home in Carlsbad, Calif.
|
|
"For five years I hadn't been anywhere near Wimbledon, because it was not at a time slot that we could even be there as spectators," Laver said.
|
|
Halep said she would not watch the quarter-final clash that followed her match at the Rod Laver Arena and would instead relax and "enjoy the day".
|
|
Novak Djokovic won his first French Open to become the first man since Rod Laver in 123 to hold all four major trophies at the same time.
|
|
The fifth-seeded Pliskova followed her title win at the Brisbane International with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Sara Sorribes Tormo at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"Why not... it's completely open and flexible, but you have got to ask the Laver Cup people," 20-times Grand Slam champion Federer told reporters on Thursday.
|
|
Venus Williams became one of the first players to reach the third round by beating Stefanie Vögele, 6-3, 353-2, at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
|
|
As your correspondent at your service, I watched some old footage of Rod Laver playing tennis, and I can report back that he looks very good at it.
|
|
The judges' scores at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia were 29-20063, 30-27, and 30-27 in favor of the Auckland resident by way of Nigeria.
|
|
Babos and Mladenovic claimed their first grand slam title as a partnership, denying the Olympic champion Russians a sweep of grand slam doubles crowns at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Play was suspended for an hour at Rod Laver Arena, as Sears received treatment before being fitted with breathing apparatus and carried from the stadium on a stretcher.
|
|
The German 21st seed was being tied up in knots by double-sided Hsieh's angles and slices before her raw power prevailed at a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"I don't know how much degrees there was, but I felt okay," said Czech Karolina Pliskova, who raced to victory against Spain's Sara Tormo on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
During a technical interruption at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on the opening night of his solo Australian tour, Thomas told the audience how he deals with long flights.
|
|
Djokovic's effort to join an exclusive club which boasts only two male members — Don Budge and Laver — was thwarted in 217 by Rafa Nadal in the Paris final.
|
|
He holds all four Grand Slam singles titles and is trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win a season's first three majors.
|
|
"There are other rappers who have a more sophisticated wordplay, but the way his flow spills across the bar lines -- he sounds like a saxophone player," Laver says.
|
|
Nick Kyrgios lost to Roger Federer, 103-7(5), 7-5, 10-7, in the Laver Cup on Saturday — in part because he was distracted by the crowd.
|
|
Kerber said her scant match preparation would matter little when her tournament starts with a first round match against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
|
|
" As for whether the Laver Cup represents the most viable way forward for team tennis, Godsick is optimistic about the outcome of what he calls "a wonderful debate.
|
|
After proving Laver Cup could be done, Godsick and Federer now must prove it can be sustained, both economically and competitively, in a sport with a full calendar.
|
|
He was hardly an aberration; other titlists such as Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Pete Sampras were all committed net-rushers.
|
|
Tennis Australia is also a partner of the Laver Cup, another annual team competition, which began in 2017 and pits European players against a "World" team in September.
|
|
The Laver Cup, which was held in Prague last year, matches an all-star team from Europe against an all-star team from the rest of the world.
|
|
The Laver Cup is has offered itself as a stay against the exodus, banking on Federer's presence and the novelty of rivals becoming teammates for a few days.
|
|
Given a "1,000-word" dossier on Kvitova from coach Craig Tyzzer, Barty did her homework and aced the test against the twice Wimbledon champion at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The 143-year-old American took advantage of a misfiring Osaka for a brutally efficient 6-3 6-4 win in just 67 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
When Court campaigned to be honored at this year's tournament in the same way Rod Laver was last year for his 1969 Grand Slam, Tennis Australia went along.
|
|
On Monday, 15 minutes before the feature match between Rafael Nadal and Nicholas Kyrgios, Court walked before the crowd settling in at the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
How many times must he have watched Federer's matches from afar only to find himself just one point, one shot, away from beating him in Rod Laver Arena?
|
|
For now, the American men at the Australian Open are delighted to have taken over Locker Room B, just off the transport corridor deep inside Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
On Tennis PRAGUE — After a clean sweep of the first-day singles matches by Team Europe on Friday, "exhibition" was still a dirty word at the Laver Cup.
|
|
But that was an exhibition, and no matter how others might define that term in tennis, it is not the term in vogue here at the Laver Cup.
|
|
With his back to the wall, Federer shifted up a gear to save three matchpoints on serve, with the Rod Laver Arena Crowd gasping every time he survived.
|
|
Much like Wimbledon's ivy-covered stadium walls and grass courts, Laver Cup officials wanted the tournament's sleek, distinctive black courts to stand out and represent something to spectators.
|
|
The Australian confirmed earlier on Thursday that he would miss the remainder of the Asian swing after aggravating a shoulder injury he originally suffered at the Laver Cup.
|
|
The inaugural Laver Cup, a three-day event between a team representing Europe and one representing the rest of the world, will be played in Prague in September.
|
|
As Murray and Milos Raonic walked to their respective baselines to start their Australian Open semifinal match on Friday night, the entire Rod Laver Arena crowd went silent.
|
|
The 239th-ranked Kasatkina, appearing in her first Australian Open, bowed out to the defending champion, Serena Williams, 228-26, 24-24, in 113 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The 999 Noble Metals Pack, Adidas Originals' latest capsule collection, was announced last week, and two of its heritage sneakers, the Stan Smith and the Rod Laver, were reimagined.
|
|
And that's when the idea came of the Laver Cup, to name a cup after him and to also have captains which then lead a team of today's players.
|
|
Her footwork faltered and her level of play dropped like the barometric pressure outside, as bands of rain blew through, causing the roof at Rod Laver to remain closed.
|
|
"Ability-wise, he could be the best tennis player in the world, only he is the one that gets in his way," Laver said of the world number 13.
|
|
Nadal had seen off his first three opponents without dropping a set but it was soon clear at Rod Laver Arena that Schwartzman was cut from a different cloth.
|
|
Federer was still playing his match against American Taylor Fritz at the Rod Laver Arena when Tsitsipas was asked in his court-side interview who he was cheering for.
|
|
Serena Williams, who resumes her quest for a record-equaling 24th Grand Slam title, plays unseeded German Tatjana Maria at Rod Laver Arena in the second match on Tuesday.
|
|
Laver, now 78, returned with a vengeance winning Wimbledon in 1968 before going on to win another calendar slam in 1969 — the only player to achieve the feat twice.
|
|
There was no questioning the commitment of Raonic and Wawrinka as the pair slugged out a three-hour 44-minute thriller in the day session on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
As "Sweet Caroline" blared out of the sound system on a sweltering Rod Laver Arena, Wozniacki paraded around the blue hardcourt with a smile that spoke a 1,000 words.
|
|
Hewitt faced Spain's David Ferrer in his final match at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, a match in which he claimed to have "a fighter's chance," the ABC reported.
|
|
It took only 50 minutes for Serena to book the family reunion after Venus's tough three-set win over unseeded Coco Vandeweghe at the same Rod Laver Arena court.
|
|
I think pride of performance and of your own ability to get out there and win a match is always going to be there, especially in the Laver Cup.
|
|
The friendly rivals won a doubles match together in the inaugural Laver Cup team competition and evenly divided up the spoils that mattered most when playing on their own.
|
|
He was soon at a deep-dish pizza parlor downtown for a photo op with the 79-year-old Rod Laver, John McEnroe and the Australian star Nick Kyrgios.
|
|
Barty rode the support of a partisan crowd on Rod Laver Arena to become the first Australian woman in a decade to make the final eight in singles here.
|
|
That match was to be followed in Rod Laver Arena by No. 1 Novak Djokovic against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a rematch of the 2008 final at Melbourne Park.
|
|
But Nadal's expected absence in Chicago would certainly not help the Laver Cup as Federer and Godsick try to establish it as a meaningful competition instead of an exhibition.
|
|
The Laver Cup advertisements that were visible in Melbourne Park raised some eyebrows in the player lounge (there were also signs on site for Rafael Nadal's academy in Majorca).
|
|
The fashionable new surface was making its professional tour debut (it had previously been used in the Laver Cup exhibition last year) and most players seemed to like it.
|
|
Marin Cilic, 29, and Dominic Thiem, the 25-year-old Austrian star, decided to prioritize Davis Cup competition after the U.S. Open instead of recommitting to the Laver Cup.
|
|
This weekend's Laver Cup — a men's tournament being held in Chicago that features top players from around the world, including Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic — has got me wondering.
|
|
Living up to a pantheon of Australian champions that includes the likes of Rod Laver and Margaret Court has proved beyond the nation's leading players in the modern era.
|
|
Osaka's tame performance on Rod Laver Arena came less than four months after she beat Gauff easily 6-3 6-0 in the same round at the U.S. Open.
|
|
Kyrgios, who was visibly distressed as he entered the Rod Laver Arena, warmed up in the Los Angeles Lakers shirt, which had Bryant&aposs name and former number on.
|
|
Kerber left head bowed from Rod Laver Arena after a 6-2 6-3 defeat by 35th-ranked American Coco Vandeweghe, her final stand ending meekly in 68 minutes.
|
|
Rosewall, Laver, Pancho Gonzales, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle and Andrés Gimeno were among the competitors that year, chasing a first prize in singles of 1,000 pounds (about $19843,000 today).
|
|
"I'm very sorry to all the fans who came to see me play tonight in Zhuhai," said the Greek, who won the Laver Cup with Team Europe last weekend.
|
|
Later, as the Rod Laver Arena crowd celebrated Osaka's 22016-260 (210), 5-7, 6-4 victory, Kvitova looked around to congratulate her opponent — and couldn't find her anywhere.
|
|
Then she watched the 13th shot of the next point sail long, near her feet, to seal her 6-133, 6-4 victory with Zhang at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Florida-born Collins battled hard in the first set on a stifling day at Rod Laver Arena but ended up steamrolled 7-6(2) 6-0 by eighth seed Kvitova.
|
|
Fans at Rod Laver Arena who had fried in the sunshine applauded the announcement but Collins was not cheering after losing the tiebreak and being thrashed in the second set.
|
|
Stan Wawrinka and 63th seed Milos Raonic were locked at 26-22 in the third set having claimed one set apiece in their second round encounter on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Last week, his father-in-law, the tennis coach Nigel Sears, collapsed during a match, carted out of Rod Laver Arena on a stretcher and rushed to a Melbourne hospital.
|
|
He made his way from Hisense Arena, where Isner had played, to Tennis Channel's booth at Rod Laver Arena for Andy Murray's second-round match against Sam Groth of Australia.
|
|
Murray's father-in-law Nigel Sears, the coach of Ana Ivanovic, was taken to hospital on Saturday after collapsing in the stands during the Serb's match on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Thomas was playing at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena in Australia as part of his "The Great Unknown World Tour" on Saturday, when in between songs he conversed with the audience.
|
|
Serbia's Ana Ivanovic kicks off the action on Rod Laver against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova, followed by Spain's Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza, the third seed, up against Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens.
|
|
With both players holding serve, the set went to a tiebreak, where Federer prevailed in front of a sun-baked crowd of 16,000 that included Rod Laver and Bill Gates.
|
|
The 24-year-old said he had devised a strategy with his coach Amelie Mauresmo to topple the top seed in the semi-final at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Under a closed roof at the Rod Laver Arena due to morning showers, Barty broke Sakkari twice in each set to seal the win in an hour and 22 minutes.
|
|
On Friday, the honchos announced a partnership with the Laver Cup, the brainchild of Roger Federer's corporate group — a team event next year that will pit Europe against the world.
|
|
She returned to the Rod Laver Arena where the roof was closed due to stifling heat only to be overpowered by U.S. Open champion Osaka in the second semi-final.
|
|
"I didn't hit a tennis ball," he said in a courtside interview after mowing down seventh seed Nishikori in just over two hours under the floodlights at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
After soaking up the atmosphere of a night session on Rod Laver Court one last time, former world number one Hewitt spoke to the world's media about his greatest achievements.
|
|
"It's incredibly flattering to know that Rod Laver is the last one that managed to do that," Djokovic said of holding all Grand Slam titles at once, reported USA Today.
|
|
Hall-of-famer Rod Laver told Reuters this week that he was among his top picks to win the U.S. Open, along with Djokovic and Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro.
|
|
And on Sunday night, the elder statesman of the group, 37-year-old Roger Federer, faces 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas in a fourth-round match at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"It was great to spend some time with him and the rest of the team at the Laver Cup," said Cilic, who played with Federer on the victorious Team Europe.
|
|
Rafael Nadal, one of the main men on Team Europe, then became the first player in the history of the Laver Cup to try to sneak into an opponent's huddle.
|
|
Last September, the Laver Cup, an international team exhibition held in Prague, also used black courts manufactured by Haro, the company that built the ones for the New York Open.
|
|
Under siege for much of a riveting four-hour slog, the defending champion found himself behind after three sets for the first time in eight finals at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Tickets for under $15,500 for anywhere in Rod Laver Arena were nearly impossible to find; one ambitious Ticketmaster listing offered a pair of front-row seats for about $20,000 each.
|
|
Rose, a left-hander, was somewhat overshadowed in the Australian tennis elite by Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad — and later by Rod Laver, who is considered the country's greatest player.
|
|
And I hope that what we've done with the Laver Cup, by doing things a bit differently and with a 21st-century outlook, will help bring new fans to tennis.
|
|
He said he would stick with his scheduling plans for the rest of 2019, including the Laver Cup in Geneva this month, and then head to Australia again in January.
|
|
The last time Williams graced Rod Laver Arena, in 216, she dispatched her older sister Venus in the Australian Open women's final while in the early stages of her pregnancy.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Roger Federer survived a second set 'freeze' and an onslaught from Croatia's Marin Cilic to claim a record-equaling sixth Australian Open title on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
|
|
Joining Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson as the only men to win six Australian Open trophies, Federer also emulated Laver by winning his fourth grand slam title after his 30th birthday.
|
|
"It doesn't get much better for a captain than naming both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the Laver Cup in Geneva," former world number one Borg said in a statement.
|
|
Muguruza's performance against Kontaveit will have reassured Spanish hearts at Rod Laver Arena, however, as she pranced around a sun-splashed center court to fire 22 winners past the Estonian battler.
|
|
Second seed Rafa Nadal will battle the worst of the conditions when he takes on Australian wild card and world number 238 James Duckworth in the second match on Rod Laver.
|
|
It is a feat that is so difficult that it has not been achieved by a man since Australian Rod Laver won the second of his calendar Grand Slams in 29.
|
|
The top seed had to survive a tough opening match against Italian Camila Giorgi but destroyed the 90th-ranked Hsieh in exactly one hour in glorious sunshine at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The 29-year-old Serb is aiming to become the first man since Laver in 1969 to achieve the calendar Grand Slam - winning the four major titles in a single season.
|
|
In a terse press conference later he was asked whether any of the Australian greats such as Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall or Tony Roche had been inspirations for his chequered career.
|
|
In a bold bid to add a new tournament to an already crowded tour calendar, the Laver Cup pitched Europe's top players against a team from the rest of the world.
|
|
If you're Tony Godsick, agent to Roger Federer of Switzerland, and driving force behind the Laver Cup, whose second edition will be played in Chicago this weekend, the answer is simple.
|
|
There are legitimate questions and concerns about the Laver Cup, an event that Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick, essentially imposed on a sport that has long had an overstuffed schedule.
|
|
Djokovic, who participated in the "Rally4Relief" charity event at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, said athletes were blessed to be able to use their platforms to help with climate-related crises.
|
|
The 19-times Grand Slam champion raced over to check she was alright and then planted a kiss on her cheek, drawing a huge cheer from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
|
|
MELBOURNE, Australia — If Thursday night's straight-sets loss to Novak Djokovic turns out to be the last semifinal for Roger Federer at Rod Laver Arena, it was not a fitting sight.
|
|
Djokovic increased his career haul to 11 Grand Slam titles, including four of the last five, to join Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg at No. 5 on the all-time list.
|
|
Federer hit some vintage backhand winners, one that earned hearty applause in the second set from Rod Laver, who was sitting in the crowd at the stadium named in his honor.
|
|
With the help of Roger Federer in doubles action, Team Europe took a 3-1 lead Friday over Team World after the first day of the Laver Cup in Geneva, Switzerland.
|
|
The Laver Cup is determined to be different: from the black court, which actually looks closer to dark gray, to the tiny cameras lodged in the net to its unconventional format.
|
|
The Australian, however, broke back when Nadal was serving for the match in the fourth set, reigniting the contest and bringing the partisan Rod Laver Arena crowd back into the equation.
|
|
No. 17 Roger Federer closed out the evening on Rod Laver Arena with a wobbly but ultimately comfortable victory over qualifier Jurgen Melzer, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
|
|
That fired up Kyrgios and fans in the largely Australian crowd at Rod Laver Arena, a few of whom did their best to disrupt Dimitrov's rhythm between points and even serves.
|
|
S.) 276-272 276-274 2-6 6-4 6-4 63 Newcombe (Australia) beat Rosewall (Australia) 5-7 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-23 1969 Rod Laver (Australia) beat Newcombe (Australia) 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4 43 Laver (Australia) beat Tony Roche (Australia) 6-3 6-4 6-2 Pre-Open era: 1967 Newcombe (Australia) beat Wilhelm Bungert (Germany) 6-3 63-1 6-1 1966 Manuel Santana (Spain) beat Dennis Ralston (U.
|
|
S.) 276-272 276-274 2-6 6-4 6-4 63 Newcombe (Australia) beat Rosewall (Australia) 5-7 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-23 1969 Rod Laver (Australia) beat Newcombe (Australia) 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4 43 Laver (Australia) beat Tony Roche (Australia) 6-3 6-4 6-2 Pre-Open era: 1967 Newcombe (Australia) beat Wilhelm Bungert (Germany) 6-3 63-1 6-1 1966 Manuel Santana (Spain) beat Dennis Ralston (U.
|
|
It was the first of many classics at Kooyong, where everyone from Don Budge and Maureen Connolly to Rod Laver and Margaret Court to Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert made their marks.
|
|
On Sunday, as she ruthlessly went about her business in Laver Arena, she was in that quiet place that must resonate like a battle cry on the other side of the net.
|
|
Australian Stosur, who has a history of suffering attacks of nerves in front of home fans, struggled to serve out the match at Rod Laver Arena and double-faulted on match point.
|
|
LONDON (Reuters) - It cost him five years of grand slam silverware, but Australian great Rod Laver says the decision to turn professional made him twice the player he was as an amateur.
|
|
More remarkably, he became the third man after Don Budge in 103 and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969 to hold all four of the major singles titles at the same time.
|
|
Halep made only 10 unforced errors in the one hour, 11 minute contest on Rod Laver Arena and sealed victory with a deep return which Pliskova could only slap into the net.
|
|
In this case, there was also the pressure of a potential Grand Slam — winning all four major titles in the same season — which no man has done since Rod Laver in 1969.
|
|
LONDON (Reuters) - Australian great Rod Laver was as impressed as anyone while watching Rafael Nadal tear into the fourth round of Wimbledon on Saturday to stay on track for a third title.
|
|
Wimbledon is no longer a fortress for serve-and-volleyers like Laver or players who came later such as Americans John McEnroe and Pete Sampras, who dominated in the 1980s and 1990s.
|
|
The quarter-final will hardly be remembered as a classic, with both Venus and the 21th-ranked Russian surrendering serve with alarming regularity despite perfect conditions for tennis at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Venus will play an all-American semi-final against Coco Vandeweghe, who thrashed former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-33 6-0 in the following quarter-final at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
This year marks the second annual Laver Cup, a men's tournament being held in Chicago from Friday through Sunday that features 12 top players, including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
|
|
The day before, the heat had been so intense that Petra Kvitova's semifinal against Danielle Collins at the Australian Open was halted so the roof of Rod Laver Arena could be closed.
|
|
Like the Ryder Cup, which dates to 1927 and now pits Europe against the United States, the Laver Cup has captains: Bjorn Borg for Team Europe and John McEnroe for Team World.
|
|
By 19733, as he neared his 21973th birthday, the closest Gimeno had come to winning a Grand Slam title was losing to Rod Laver in the final of the 22009 Australian Open.
|
|
Federer has had some of his most stirring moments on the court that was once green and is now blue, where Laver himself still watches from the front row at age 81.
|
|
Deep in their bones, both craved victory in this fourth-round match in Rod Laver Arena — yes, even Kyrgios, who has been on a mission in 63, inspired in part by tragedy.
|
|
Nick Kyrgios struggled to hold back the tears before his Australian Open fourth round match against Rafael Nadal on Monday as he entered the Rod Laver Arena wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey.
|
|
Three years ago Djokovic became the first man since Australian great Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slams simultaneously when he beat Andy Murray to win the French Open.
|
|
The competition, named after 77-year-old Australian Laver, the only player to win two calendar year grand slams among 11 major titles in all, will be annual, except in Olympic years.
|
|
It was remarkable enough the first time — no man had done it since Rod Laver in 13 — and Djokovic is just three victories in Paris away from pulling off that sweep again.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Maria Sharapova scorched the Rod Laver Arena with her aggressive tennis to eliminate defending Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki 53-25 26-21 6-3 in the third round on Friday.
|
|
BRISBANE, Australia — Ash Barty, one of the most talented Australian tennis players of her generation, played Serena Williams on the opening night of the Australian Open in Rod Laver Arena two years ago.
|
|
Laver, now 77, did it twice and both times inside a calendar year for the Grand Slam, an achievement Djokovic can match with titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later this season.
|
|
Williams, playing in her first individual tournament since her semifinal exit at the United States Open, looked rested, not rusty, in a 222-21, 217-21999 victory over Radwanska at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The second set went on serve before Herbert and Mahut got the upper hand in the tie-breaker to seal the victory in an hour and 38 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The Scot had a pre-game chat with 11-times grand slam champion Rod Laver and placed a number of sumptuous lobs over the rangy American that would have impressed the Australian great.
|
|
In an often breathtaking clash laden with sumptuous shot-making, the Spaniard was rocked by the hard-hitting Schwartzman who broke him three times to claim the second set at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Aside from the appearance fees based on world rankings, members of the winning team get $250,000 in prize money while the losers get nothing at the tournament named after Australian great Rod Laver.
|
|
With a capacity of 19693,771, Ashe Stadium can hold nearly 9,000 more people than two other showcase courts with retractable roofs: Centre Court at Wimbledon and Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open.
|
|
Whether the Laver Cup can secure a permanent place in a crowded tennis calendar that faces a glut of new, revamped and resuscitated team events in the coming years remains to be seen.
|
|
Also, rival national-team events with shorter formats have surfaced, including the Laver Cup, which was started successfully last year by Roger Federer's management company, pitting a European Team against an International Team.
|
|
In recent years, they have supported each other's foundations by playing exhibitions and making appearances; chatted over coffee about tour politics and played doubles together in the Laver Cup team event, Federer's brainchild.
|
|
The changes for 26 include the demolition of the main public entrance to Rod Laver Arena and the construction of a pedestrian bridge into the grounds from the banks of the Yarra River.
|
|
"Me and my mom lol", Osaka posted, alongside a picture of her and Williams sat courtside at the Rod Laver Arena during a charity match to raise funds for the Australian bushfire appeal.
|
|
"That match was incredibly intense, and I think the best man won," said Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach of Serena Williams, as he stood in a corridor in Rod Laver Arena in the aftermath.
|
|
Tortured by nerves in a tense family affair, Serena had to produce some of her best tennis to overcome Venus who won the crowd at Rod Laver Arena by scrapping hard to the end.
|
|
In the ultimate throwback tournament, Serena met her sister on the same Rod Laver Arena court where 14 years before she had edged her in three sets to claim her first Melbourne Park crown.
|
|
In addition, "they were told if you went to Wells you could keep your deferred compensation, and if not you were out of luck," Robert Nelson, a lawyer for Laver, said in an interview.
|
|
Murray contributed to his downfall, a double-fault handed his first service game to his opponent, but the depth and accuracy of Djokovic's groundstrokes had the Scot chasing shadows on the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Djokovic said after his victory over Andy Murray that the feat, perhaps even augmented by an Olympic gold medal for the Golden Grand Slam, was possible and Laver was backing him all the way.
|
|
The 18-year-old Ukrainian is set to go up against Williams on Saturday in the third round match at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, where the annual sporting event is taking place.
|
|
Only Federer's 20 and Nadal's 17 outstrip Djokovic's tally of Grand Slam trophies, but on the strength of the champion's virtuoso performance at Rod Laver Arena, they will be looking nervously over their shoulders.
|
|
The winner of the all-German clash between seventh seed Angelique Kerber and Annika Beck, who open the day's play on Rod Laver Arena, will await either Azarenka or Strycova in the last eight.
|
|
" Laver, an 11-times Grand Slam singles champion, played the sport at the dawn of the professional era 50 years ago, a change that he calls "the best thing that ever happened to tennis.
|
|
Everything will be on the line when the top two seeds take to Rod Laver Arena as both chase a long-awaited first grand slam title as well as the world number one ranking.
|
|
Women's third seed Garbine Muguruza will be hoping to reach the fourth round for the third year running when she takes on Czech Republic's Barbora Strycova in the first match on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"When I look back, when I turned pro I was shellshocked," Laver, who will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking 1967 Wimbledon Pro tournament at the All England Club next week, told Reuters.
|
|
The last man to do it was Rod Laver, in 1969, and no one since Jim Courier in 1992 has gotten through the French Open with two of the four Grand Slam singles titles.
|
|
Federer, the career leader in men's Grand Slam singles titles with 17, considers himself a student of the past, appreciative of the risks Laver took, the pro Tour groundwork that was laid for him.
|
|
He also expressed confidence that the top players — drawn by the Laver imprimatur — would make it appointment scheduling despite its coming after the United States Open and an ensuing week of Davis Cup play.
|
|
PRAGUE (Reuters) - With a sold-out stadium, compelling matches and a doubles pairing of the world's top two players, organizers of the inaugural Laver Cup got what they wanted in the three-day event.
|
|
Radwanska managed her first break in the sixth game of the second set to level it at 3-3, giving the crowd on Rod Laver Arena an opportunity to produce a roar of support.
|
|
The world number two was forced to scrap for almost every point but finally subdued the indefatigable Spanish eighth seed after three hours and 20 minutes of punishing baseline tennis on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Trailing by a set and 0-2 in the second, the crowd, which included Rod Laver and Pete Sampras, tried to will better shots out of Federer with loud applause and shouts of encouragement.
|
|
Federer, the defending champion, beat Aljaz Bedene, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, on Tuesday in a night match, his first on Rod Laver Arena since clinching a career-reviving title here last year.
|
|
If it is just a quick weekend and we are doing mostly adult things (such as our trip to Chicago in September to watch tennis at the Laver Cup) then we leave them home.
|
|
Take for example a rare pair of Adidas Kanye West Rod Laver sample sneakers, which, according to Sole Collector, the company custom made for then newcomer rapper Kanye West as a gift in 2005.
|
|
The top seed was in ominous form on Rod Laver Arena, facing no break points and striking 42 winners to just seven unforced errors in his fifth straight win over 30th-ranked Carreno Busta.
|
|
Instead, the final match of this first Laver Cup reached a conclusion very much in tune with these times, as Federer held firm to defeat Kyrgios in three sets after facing a match point.
|
|
The 26-year-old smashed ninth-seed Bertens 6-3 03-3 on Rod Laver Arena in a little over an hour to advance to her first quarter-final at Melbourne Park since 2017.
|
|
The twice Grand Slam champion will meet former finalist Simona Halep on Thursday for a place in the title match after another confidence-building performance at Melbourne Park on a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Australia's Bernard Tomic takes on world number two Andy Murray in the primetime evening slot on Rod Laver Arena before Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai attempts to continue her fairytale run against American Madison Keys.
|
|
The match, held at Rod Laver Arena on a warm and slightly breezy evening, finished just 2 hours 4 minutes later, Djokovic winning in a full-blown knockout, 21984-22016, 22015-22016, 22011-22012.
|
|
As strong as Williams is, she could not quite push through the pressure of history and a free-swinging Kerber, who pulled off the 6-4, 3-193, 6-4 upset at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Hewitt was back on Rod Laver Arena to watch Australia's most promising young men's player, Nick Kyrgios, lose 6-3 6-4 1-6 6-4 to sixth seed Tomas Berdych in typically tempestuous style.
|
|
Named after tennis legend Ron Laver, the tournament was first announced during the Australian Open in January as a men's team event that will take place annually in September, but not during an Olympic year.
|
|
Williams, the six-time and defending champion, beat No. 43-ranked Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-1, 6-2, on Wednesday at Rod Laver Arena, a career record 79th main-draw match at the Australian Open.
|
|
The Serbian tennis player, the world's number one ranked athlete in his sport, romped to a dominant victory over Rafael Nadal at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena in the Australian Open men's singles final on Sunday.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Andy Murray would not have continued playing at the Australian Open if his father-in-law's health had deteriorated following his collapse at Rod Laver Arena, the world number two said on Monday.
|
|
Rosewall beat compatriot Rod Laver in four sets to win his second French Open title, 5003 years after his first, though his preparation for his return to the grand slam arena was not quite textbook.
|
|
Laver, who sat in the Royal Box as a guest of the club on the 50th anniversary of his return to the championships after the game turned pro, said it like watching a different sport.
|
|
"I consider myself extremely fortunate that I was able play professional tennis for a living for more than two decades," Haas said to an appreciative crowd that included retired greats Rod Laver and Pete Sampras.
|
|
He has nine since June, defeating Federer, Nadal, Del Potro and Alexander Zverev, and beating Kevin Anderson twice (Anderson had to settle for a victory in the Laver Cup team event in a super tiebreaker).
|
|
I want to bring some of the past champions to the Laver Cup like Fred Stolle and Roy Emerson and introduce them — let people know this is the reason why all of this is happening.
|
|
Australia's 11-times Grand Slam winner Rod Laver was presented with a miniature replica of the Wimbledon trophy on Centre Court to mark the 50th anniversary of his last title at the All England Club.
|
|
Before "Jimbo," tennis stars had been mild-mannered crooners such as Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Stan Smith, who with their wood rackets and white clothes personified the sport's longstanding culture of civility.
|
|
Federer played a big role in the 2012 negotiations, but he now has closer ties with Tennis Australia and the U.S.T.A., which are investors in the Laver Cup, the new team event he helped conceive.
|
|
That was never more clear than in last year's final when he routed Nadal 6-3 6-20143 6-3 with a devastating display that left the Mallorcan and the Rod Laver Arena terraces stunned.
|
|
World number one Nadal made the announcement at Melbourne Park's Rod Laver Arena during the "Rally for Relief" event where top players including Serena Williams and Australian Open defending champion Novak Djokovic led fundraising efforts.
|
|
Barty said she felt no extra pressure and could not wait to get out on court on Monday to face Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in front of what will be a partisan Rod Laver Arena crowd.
|
|
With the Australian Open set to kick off next week ... legends like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic joined Serena and Federer at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to get some pickup games in for charity.
|
|
" The Times said: "The roar heard at Rod Laver Arena when Federer held serve to even the match at two sets apiece was soon replaced by the groans and awkward silences that accompany an anticlimax.
|
|
GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) - Alexander Zverev snatched the Laver Cup for Team Europe as he beat Canada's Milos Raonic in the final rubber of a thrilling three days of action in Geneva's Palexpo Arena on Sunday.
|
|
Krejcikova and Mektic proved too strong for the reigning U.S. Open champions in the tiebreak, winning eight straight points on their way to a 5-7 6-4 (10-1) victory on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"The black court is the centerpiece of a really cool, contemporary look over all that is such a big part of how people identify with the Laver Cup," Federer said in an email last week.
|
|
On the way, she knocked out Venus Williams and last year's semi-finalist Ekaterina Makarova, so she was philosophical about her 7-5 6-2 loss to German seventh seed Kerber at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The Laver Cup — created by Team8, the agency that represents Federer — has the backing of Tennis Australia, which organizes the Australian Open, as well as the Brazilian businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann, a former Davis Cup player.
|
|
The Swiss fourth seed has been battling a cold at Melbourne Park but his game was in rude health as he smashed 18 aces and 45 winners in the late afternoon sunshine at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
But the 26-year-old looked flat as unseeded Edmund a fired-up Edmund bludgeoned 46 winners on his way to a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 quarter-final victory on Rod Laver.
|
|
Rod Laver Arena Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) v 3-Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 14-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) v Naomi Osaka (Japan) Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) v 4-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) From 0800 GMT 103-Madison Keys (U.
|
|
An eighth break early in the fourth set triggered serious alarm bells among the large British contingent on Rod Laver Arena but despite their exhortations, Murray was unable to fight his way out of his funk.
|
|
"I was really flawless, I felt great," said the 29-year-old, who is bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold the first three legs of the calendar grand slam.
|
|
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The final team members for the second Laver Cup tennis tournament were announced on Tuesday, with Briton Kyle Edmund joining Team Europe and Jack Sock of the United States named in Team World.
|
|
The victory for Williams, who is seeking a seventh Australian Open title and 22nd grand slam trophy overall, could not have been in sharper contrast to that of Sharapova, who preceded her onto Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"I've always said that the Laver Cup is my favorite week of the year, and how much it means to me to get around the team and play for something bigger than just myself," Kyrgios said.
|
|
Laver had sued on behalf of brokers who refused or claimed they were unable to move to Wells Fargo & Co, which was given exclusive recruiting rights when Credit Suisse shut the 275-broker private banking unit.
|
|
The Serbian world number one and his Swiss opponent have won eight of the nine titles on Rod Laver Arena since 22018 and 22018 of the last 228 on the bright blue courts in central Melbourne.
|
|
He said he was not worried about it and nothing was going to stop him from taking to the court and fighting it out for a fifth Australian Open crown on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
|
|
"Of course, it motivates me," said Djokovic, who earlier posed with his trophy for "the most beautiful and the most expensive" photograph of the night with four Australian tennis greats including Rod Laver and Roy Emerson.
|
|
But Federer was breaking away for a few hours, catching a private jet to Chicago to promote the Laver Cup, the team event that he helped create with Godsick and played at last year in Prague.
|
|
But it certainly looked like Djokovic and Gaël Monfils were playing an extreme version of the game in Rod Laver Arena as Monfils staggered about and leaned on his racket as if it were a cane.
|
|
The 19783-year-old Queenslander beat a hasty retreat from Rod Laver Arena after losing her first Melbourne semi-final 7-6(6) 7-5, shaking her head ruefully as she walked down the player's tunnel.
|
|
TA, meanwhile, said in a statement on Thursday that a fundraising 'Rally for Relief' event held under the roof on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, had raised more than A$4.8 million for bushfire relief funds.
|
|
He also foresees playing a role in the Laver Cup, a team competition between Europe and the rest of the world that he helped create and that will be held for the first time in September.
|
|
The packed Rod Laver Arena crowd, who were left gasping during the Serb's flawless display in the opening set, got behind the Austrian challenger in the hope of inspiring him to give them a proper contest.
|
|
Considered widely as the best returner of first serves and baseline player among contemporaries, Friday's match at the Rod Laver Arena showed that Djokovic was also right up there with the best servers in the game.
|
|
The 36-year-old sealed the win when Vandeweghe went long after 146 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to reach her second Melbourne Park final, 14 years after she lost her first to Serena in 553.
|
|
Seeded 17th after six months away from the sport nursing a knee injury, Federer's first round match against Austrian qualifier Juergen Melzer has nevertheless been awarded the prime spot of the final match on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt delighted the Rod Laver Arena crowd by extending his career for at least another two days with a 7-6(5) 6-2 6-4 victory over fellow Australian James Duckworth.
|
|
Ukrainian Svitolina came into the match riding high on a nine-match winning streak from the start of the season but, hampered by a hip injury, was completely outplayed by the aggressive Belgian on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Looking to achieve a feat that was last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969, the 11-times major champion appeared to be a in a hurry to escape the cold and dank confines of Philippe Chatrier Court.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Top seed and reigning champion Angelique Kerber was bundled out of the fourth round of the Australian Open by big-hitting American Coco Vandeweghe on Sunday, losing 6-683 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
When he responded with two majestic forehands, one apparently defying physics as it curled around the net post, they were in raptures in the stands and former great Rod Laver smiled in admiration from the Royal Box.
|
|
MELBOURNE, Australia — Fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland became the first player to reach the Australian Open semifinals, overpowering Spain's Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-1, 6-20083, in the opening match at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
|
|
"I was just playing my game, I was not thinking a lot about winners or errors, I was staying in the moment and trying to play every single point," a beaming Kerber said on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
On Tennis MELBOURNE, Australia — Sven Groeneveld was camped out in the media seats in Rod Laver Arena on Sunday, shifting his experienced gaze from his smartphone to Serena Williams, who was thumping winner after winner down below.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Defeated Grigor Dimitrov walked off Rod Laver Arena with applause ringing in his ears and his head held high after a performance of skill and resilience fell agonizingly short of toppling Rafa Nadal on Friday.
|
|
The 29-year-old, who was aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four grand slams in a year, suffered a third-round loss to American Sam Querrey at Wimbledon.
|
|
In a captivating tussle played out in stifling humidity, the Dane hung tough in a nerve-shredding final set to win 24-23(216) 3-6 6-4 under the lights at a heaving Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"This is going to be special, it's going to be fantastic to launch the year with this event and it will create interest immediately," said Tiley, who is heavily involved in another team event, September's Laver Cup.
|
|
Instead, he held firm, just like the not-so-distant days in 23 and 22017, when he dominated the sport and became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major singles titles.
|
|
Tennis in the pre-professional period bred a certain camaraderie exemplified by the close-knit group of Australians — Rod Laver among them — that traveled the world with rackets in one hand and postmatch libations in the other.
|
|
A former No. 1-ranked player, McEnroe still wears many a tennis hat and is the captain of the Laver Cup's Team World, which lost to Federer, Rafael Nadal and Team Europe in last year's inaugural edition.
|
|
Neither Rosewall nor Laver played a Grand Slam final under a closed roof, and though it was not raining on Sunday, temperatures in Melbourne surged again, hitting 103 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) in the late afternoon.
|
|
And so, come September 2019, the three-year old Laver Cup will be the venerable old institution among a gaggle of tennis tournaments that have nothing to do with either one another or the tennis season itself.
|
|
Jennifer Leigh Stencel and Evan Scott Levine were married June 3 in Margaretville, N.Y. Conor M. Laver, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated at the Margaretville Mountain Inn.
|
|
Watched by Australian great Rod Laver, Djokovic also produced some breathtaking skill, most notably a 360 degree spin close in that enabled him to get a backhand volley on a ball that had hit the net cord.
|
|
Laver, who defeated Gimeno by 6-3, 6-4 in the other semifinal, had not been back to the All England Club since winning Wimbledon in 1962, when he completed the first of his two Grand Slams.
|
|
Play in the doubles competitions began on time on the outer courts with fourth round singles action not due to start before 12 pm (0100 GMT) with seventh seed Petra Kvitova first up on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
World number 27 Kyrgios, who was scheduled to participate in the China Open and Shanghai Masters over the next weeks, had pulled out from the final day of the Laver Cup with the same injury last weekend.
|
|
Not long after Pouille and Raonic left Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic breezed into the final four, his quarterfinal match done in just 52 minutes when the eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori, of Japan, retired with a leg injury.
|
|
In the semifinals, Cilic will face Kyle Edmund, an unseeded surprise from Britain who upset the No. 22010 seed Grigor Dimitrov, 22017-210, 22018-22016, 22010-19693, 21969-22014, earlier in the day in Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Sunday's victory also gave Djokovic 11 major singles titles, tying him for fifth on the career list with Bjorn Borg, who was not in attendance at Melbourne Park, and Rod Laver, who was sitting in the front row.
|
|
That alone raises the possibility of a true Grand Slam, which requires winning all four major tournaments in the same calendar year and which no man has managed since Laver did it for the second time in 1969.
|
|
The British top seed takes on Ilya Marchenko in the last match of the afternoon session on Rod Laver Arena and will have to contend with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees Celsius as well as the Ukrainian.
|
|
The night after Roger Federer was stunned by Greek tyro Stefanos Tsitsipas, there was another sniff of an upset at Rod Laver Arena as 22-year-old Medvedev rocked the Serb with a furious assault of power hitting.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The Australian Open tennis championships were rocked late on Saturday when Andy Murray's father-in-law Nigel Sears collapsed during a match at Rod Laver Arena, overshadowing the world number two's advance to the fourth round.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Six-times champion Novak Djokovic emerged from the Rod Laver Arena furnace and into the third round of the Australian Open after putting suffering Gael Monfils out of his misery with a scrappy victory on Thursday.
|
|
"Unfortunately, even though I wished it was a good movie, I don't think it is a good movie, I'm sad to say," he said after the first session of Laver Cup tennis in Prague, according to The Telegraph.
|
|
MELBOURNE, Australia — It was after midnight, meaning it was officially Sunday, the day of his Australian Open singles final against Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray was in the audience at Rod Laver Arena shooting video with his smartphone.
|
|
China's Zhang Shuai will follow the Murray-Tomic match on Rod Laver Arena hoping to become the first qualifier to make the quarter-finals since Mexico's Angelica Gavaldon in 1990 when she faces 15th seeded American Madison Keys.
|
|
On Monday, Pliskova ended Australian interest in the singles draws with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Daria Gavrilova on Rod Laver Arena to set up a last-eight meeting with world number 79 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
|
|
Laver, renowned for his gentlemanly conduct on and off court during his heyday in the 1960s, said Kyrgios, like other modern players, needed to learn how to deal with disappointment on court without racket-throwing and the like.
|
|
Federer, seeded 17th at the season-opening grand slam after a knee injury cut short his 2016 schedule, demolished 10th seed Berdych on Friday to set up his clash with the in-form Nishikori on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Djokovic has won Wimbledon the past two years, and another victory at the All England Club would set up an attempt at the first men's singles Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 210 at the United States Open.
|
|
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco ruled that the plaintiff Christopher Laver was bound by an agreement to arbitrate employment-related disputes, and could not pursue his proposed class action on behalf of roughly 200 brokers.
|
|
True tennis historians know how much Laver sacrificed — specifically in the number of possible Grand Slam event victories he deprived himself of, settling for 11 — when he shunned the amateur establishment to become a barnstorming professional in 1963.
|
|
The 2014 champion bickered with Tsonga as the players rested on their chairs before the second set at Rod Laver Arena and then proceeded to dominate the French 12th seed, winning 7-6(2) 6-4 6-3.
|
|
He does acknowledge, however, that in getting to choose a format that intensifies the concentration of stars over a short period, the Laver Cup has a natural marketing advantage in the number of elite players it can present.
|
|
The seven-times champion lost a match point at 5-1 and saw another three disappear at 224-210 before crumbling to a 237-210 211-212 19953-21995 defeat to seventh seed Pliskova at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Sloane Stephens opened the day on Rod Laver Arena by advancing at the expense of her former doubles partner Timea Babos in a second-round match the women's tour billed as a battle of the so-called frenemies.
|
|
Summoning animus against him can be a psychological challenge, and it presumably only gets harder for those who played last September in the Laver Cup, the new and successful team event started by Federer and his management company.
|
|
He and other leading players, including Laver, Rosewall and Lew Hoad, played a circuit of pro tournaments but were not allowed to compete in Grand Slams like the French Open and Wimbledon because they were no longer amateurs.
|
|
She is still as charming as ever, lighting up the on-court interview after her match by admitting that, yes, she had seen the legend Rod Laver on the grounds but had been too bashful to approach him.
|
|
On whether he will play the Laver Cup, the new Ryder Cup-style team event in September that was the brainchild of Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick: For me, this is something I'm seriously looking forward to.
|
|
But while the European squad quickly disbanded to catch flights after celebrating with the Laver Cup (and drinking from it), World stuck together, dancing and singing along to a portable speaker in the hallway outside the team room.
|
|
The hometown pair's surprise run at Melbourne Park came to a screeching halt against the 11th seeds, who strolled to a 6-4 6-2 victory in 70 minutes on a balmy afternoon at the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
But that temporary arena was full and rocking on Friday for the opening day of the Laver Cup, the annual competition dreamed up by Federer and his agent Tony Godsick as a tennis version of golf's Ryder Cup.
|
|
Play started on time with most of the outside courts hosting first round doubles matches, while world number one Ash Barty opens the third round in the singles on Rod Laver Arena against Kazakhstan's 29th-seed Elena Rybakina.
|
|
But there was no hiding the other statistical stakes as Williams walked back into Rod Laver Arena, headphones around her neck and game-face in place, to play her older sister Venus Williams in the Australian Open final.
|
|
"There's no point for me to play if I can't really serve, because serving is my strength, my favorite shot," the Australian sixth seed, who also withdrew from last weekend's Laver Cup with the same injury, told reporters.
|
|
But no matter how much the powerful Berdych might want to change his lot in tennis, no matter how many new coaches and consultants he hires, there were higher forces at work in Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
|
|
Federer had dropped only two sets in his previous eight matches against Berdych but came desperately close to losing the opener on Rod Laver Arena when the 32-year-old served at 5-3, having secured an early break.
|
|
On a day when match-fixing allegations cast a pall over the tournament's opening matches, the purity of Federer's game shone through in a floodlit Rod Laver Arena as the Swiss master put on a masterclass of clean hitting.
|
|
And while Federer had warmed up on Rod Laver Arena with the roof closed earlier in the day, Cilic prepared with his usual routine on an outside court, apparently expecting the contest to take place in oven-like conditions.
|
|
"The fairytale continues for us, for me, it's incredible," Federer, who equaled Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson's Australian Open haul, said on court as wife Mirka and Australian great Rod Laver recorded to the moment with their mobile phones.
|
|
The Serbian's fifth crown in six years on his favorite court not only allowed him to match Roy Emerson's record Australian Open tally but also brought him level with Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg on 11 grand slam titles.
|
|
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Roger Federer won the inaugural Laver Cup for Team Europe on Sunday, beating back a fierce challenge from players from the rest of the world to claim the trophy in a dramatic final match of the weekend.
|
|
Runner-up to Williams last year, Sharapova booked a re-match against the American with a hard-fought 22-26 24-5 win over Swiss young gun Belinda Bencic in the early match on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
|
|
The loss under the Rod Laver Arena lights was emphatic but also showcased some classic Hewitt, as he scrambled for every ball, cursed a line judge and launched an angry tirade at the chair umpire before finally admitting defeat.
|
|
In an emotional presentation on Rod Laver Arena, seven-times grand slam champion Venus made clear her pride in her younger sister and Serena, whose victory ensures she will return to number one in the world, repaid the compliment.
|
|
But Mr Federer has also signed up for his share of more intense—and extremely lucrative—exhibitions, including Australia's season-opening Hopman Cup and his own brainchild, the Laver Cup, which held its inaugural edition last fall in Prague.
|
|
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ask Rod Laver how the sport of tennis has changed since he won his last U.S. Open title in 1969 and the former world number one does not hesitate: The guys today are big — really big.
|
|
He broke early in every set and the 18th-seeded Frenchman, who had lost only 13 games in his two previous matches, bowed out after two hours and two minutes of action on a sparsely populated Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Staging a clinic under the lights at Rod Laver Arena, the Spanish second seed tamed the Tsitsipas serve and racked up 28 sparkling winners against the man who knocked out double defending champion Roger Federer in the fourth round.
|
|
Only a nasty tumble in the third set on Rod Laver Arena stalled his march to victory and the top-seeded Briton said the right ankle he rolled on was "a bit sore" at the end of the contest.
|
|
The world number one fought back from the brink at 11-10 in the epic deciding set before finally serving out the contest on her fourth attempt after a taxing three hours and 44 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Less than a year later Wozniacki's dogged professionalism has paid dividends and with new fiance, former NBA star David Lee, leading the applause on Rod Laver Arena on a memorable night for Danish tennis, life could not be better.
|
|
Hearts have also been opened toward Kyrgios, who drew warm applause from the terraces last Wednesday during the "Rally4Relief" charity event at Rod Laver Arena where he broke down in tears when speaking of the toll of the bushfires.
|
|
"For me now, I do feel like I'm a bit more seasoned, even though I'm still relatively young, per se," said Osaka, who takes on Czech Marie Bouzkova in her opening round at the Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
|
|
The 27th seed Wang stunned Williams 6-4 6-7(53) 7-5 in a tense third round clash at Rod Laver Arena to consign the American to her earliest exit from the year's first Grand Slam since 2006.
|
|
Roger Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick, have already started a new Ryder Cup-style team event called the Laver Cup that will pit Europe against the rest of the world, set to be staged in Prague in September.
|
|
Top seed Nadal, with 210 major titles one short of Federer's mark, opened his campaign at Melbourne Park in style on Tuesday, hammering unseeded Bolivian Hugo Dellien 22009-163 216-22012 22014-0 at a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Qiang took the first set comfortably at the Rod Laver Arena, and could have had the match wrapped up in straight sets had it not been for an inspired turnaround by Williams at match point down in the second.
|
|
Williams had played so little in recent months, and across the net in Rod Laver Arena was Belinda Bencic, the 03-year-old Swiss with the precociously elegant game who already had upset Williams in their most recent encounter.
|
|
After the inaugural Laver Cup contested between Team Europe and Team World was held in Prague in 2017, last year's tournament in Chicago drew sellout crowds as Federer and world number one Novak Djokovic helped Europe win 13-8.
|
|
I just like it to be in the place that is super excited about hosting the Laver Cup like Prague, Chicago and now also Geneva has shown, that would be the same in China if it ever goes there.
|
|
The Spanish second seed came into the clash in outrageous form but was dominated throughout the 6-3 6-2 6-3 loss at Rod Laver Arena, the worst in his Grand Slam rivalry with the world number one.
|
|
The Melbourne Park victory earned the Serb an 11th grand slam trophy, bringing him level with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver, and the 28-year-old admitted such milestones are important to him after winning four of the past five majors.
|
|
He was friendly with tennis pros like Rod Laver and golfers like Arnold Palmer, a man at one with the country-club world inhabited by so many wealthy white suburbanites, the same people who viewed Vietnam War protestors with such contempt.
|
|
The British top seed said he heard a "few little crackles" on Wednesday after taking a nasty tumble in the third set of his 6-3 6-0 6-2 win over Russian teenager Andrey Rublev on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic was shaken up when a spectator was injured falling down the stairs on Rod Laver Arena but recovered her composure to ease into the third round at the Australian Open on Thursday.
|
|
Laver said Credit Suisse knew many brokers would not join Wells Fargo because its business and client base were different but entered the recruiting pact because a sale of the unit would have constituted a "change of control" requiring the payments.
|
|
In the opening match on Rod Laver Arena, the 30th seeded Russian was all over the 131st-ranked Dart from the first point and wrapped up the match in little more than an hour after a ruthless barrage of power hitting.
|
|
After exiting Melbourne Park without a quarter-final for only the second time in the last 18 years, the Swiss shrugged off a suggestion from John McEnroe that the Rod Laver Arena crowd had just witnessed a "changing of the guard".
|
|
Having regained control to put down sixth seed Marin Cilic 6-2 6-303(5) 6-3 3-6 6-1 under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena, Federer promptly lost it at the end of his victory speech.
|
|
With his triumph at the Roland Garros, Djokovic became the first man since Laver in 1969, and only the third in the history of tennis, to hold the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles at the same time.
|
|
Seventh seed Pliskova saved a match point at 5-1 down in the deciding set and another three at 5-4 before Williams crumbled 4-6 213-4 7-5 in front of a stunned crowd at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The third-seeded Muguruza, a Wimbledon finalist in 2015, needed only an hour to advance through the first round Tuesday, beating No. 85-ranked Anett Kontaveit, 6-0, 6-4, in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena on Day 63.
|
|
The Rod Laver Arena evening clash between the only two grand slam winners left in the women's draw had the feel of a showpiece final rather than a third-round match-up but only 21st seed Kerber rose to the occasion.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Defending champion Novak Djokovic returns to Rod Laver Arena for clash against Gilles Simon on Sunday as he looks to seal his place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the ninth year in a row.
|
|
After winning the Australian Open for a sixth time and then claiming a first French Open this year Djokovic, 29, was on course to complete calendar year Grand Slam — a feat last managed in 1969 by Australian great Rod Laver.
|
|
After a one-sided start in a midnight match at Rod Laver Arena, Wozniacki met stiff resistance from the 39th-ranked Spaniard who dug deep to save a match point in the second set before outclassing the Dane in the tiebreak.
|
|
The couple, who have been married since 2006, paid a visit to the Australian Open in Melbourne, where they were spotted in the stands of the Rod Laver Arena to watch the women's semifinal match between Naomi Osaka and Karolina Plíšková.
|
|
The 26-year-old Radwanska lost the first set in just 20 minutes on Rod Laver Arena before she got some momentum back in the second set but was unable to stop Williams' march to her seventh final at Melbourne Park.
|
|
Laver, who completed two calendar year grand slams and is regarded by some as the greatest player of all time, was speaking at the unveiling of a statue in his likeness outside Melbourne Park's main showcourt, which bears his name.
|
|
Players were handed ice towels to cool down as temperatures soared on the courts at Melbourne Park, reaching 67 at Rod Laver Arena in what has become a right of passage for players in the first grand slam of the year.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal take to Rod Laver Arena to reprise one of the great sporting rivalries of the modern age on Sunday, a fitting climax to an Australian Open which has sent tennis back to the future.
|
|
Team Europe, featuring the world's top two players, are overwhelming favorites to win the three-day tournament, which is named after Australian great Rod Laver, with a squad boasting a combined 36 grand slam titles against none for Team World.
|
|
The teams are captained by Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, whose own rivalry starting in the 1970s featured a contrast in temperament and style that made their matches the kind of must-watch events that Laver Cup organizers hope to showcase.
|
|
The third-seeded Dane broke Van Uytvanck once in each set and kept down her unforced errors to win the baseline battle in an hour and 33 minutes in the first match of the evening session at the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Following the exits of Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios, Australia will have to make do with having only one man in the last 16 as compatriots Bernard Tomic and John Millman face off in the night match on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
While Konta has never played the American great, who is bidding to win a record 23rd grand slam title in the professional era, the 25-year-old knows exactly what Williams has in store for her on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The Serbian defending champion granted Quentin Halys a 63-minute audience on Rod Laver Arena before despatching the French teenager 6-1 6-2 7-6(3) but he enjoyed a less comfortable ride in the post-match media conference.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number one Simona Halep quelled a tenacious Angelique Kerber fightback and saved two match points to reach her first Australian Open final with a riveting 6-3 403-6 9-7 victory on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.
|
|
The Laver Cup, a three-day team event between Europe and the rest of the world, became an official part of the ATP Tour in May this year following its runaway success in its first two editions in Prague and Chicago.
|
|
Beset by nerves early in the tense family affair, the American needed all her firepower and famed mental strength to fend off Venus, who scrapped hard to the end before going down 6-4 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Seaweed figures in a number of preparations, like hake with laver, and mussels with dulce-cured pork belly, as well as in cocktails flavored with homemade kelp bitters: 276 Smith Street (Sackett Street), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, 718-722-1069, sunkenhundred.nyc.
|
|
The 26-year-old world number three was the highest surviving seed in the tournament after the early exits of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic but was unable to live with the 14-times grand slam champion on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The teams were captained by Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, whose own rivalry starting in the 1970s featured a contrast in temperament and style that made their matches the kind of must-watch events that the Laver Cup hoped to showcase.
|
|
"Time will tell how big the Laver Cup will become," said Federer who later added he was pleasantly surprised at the level of support that players gave their team mates by watching the matches courtside rather than returning to their hotel.
|
|
Murray will meet his Melbourne Park nemesis Novak Djokovic for a fourth time in the title-decider, having fended off an injury-hampered Raonic 4-6 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Barty became the first Australian woman in a decade to reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park when she rallied from a set down to beat former champion Maria Sharapova 4-6 6-1 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Federer, 223, with a men's record 21968 Grand Slam titles, copped to uncertainty about sharing the Laver Cup experience with Djokovic, whose wins at the United States Open and Wimbledon this summer elevated him back into the chase-for-history debate.
|
|
Yet while it was the worst showing by the top seeds at the tournament in the professional era, Laver — who completed his second calendar-year Grand Slam 50 years ago — said it showed the depth of talent currently in the sport.
|
|
Rafael Nadal, 32 and back at No. 1, is skipping the Laver Cup after playing in 2017, but he would have had to skip it anyway after reinjuring his knee at the U.S. Open against Del Potro in the semifinals.
|
|
And though many in tennis say they believe the Laver Cup will prosper only as long as Federer remains a player, he plans to remain involved after he retires: as a future captain and influencer, not just as an investor.
|
|
Federer saved seven match points in a five-set thriller with American battler Tennys Sandgren only hours before but there was no luck of a second successive belter for the Rod Laver Arena fans, with Djokovic at his ruthless best.
|
|
"She&aposs a super brave girl," Rafael Nadal told the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, after accidentally launching a forehand into the face of a ball girl during his Australian Open second round match against Federico Delbonis.
|
|
Federer, who looked in ominous form in his 6-3 6-2 6-2 win over American Steve Johnson, takes on Serbia's Filip Krajinovic in the evening session on Rod Laver Arena, while Djokovic will meet unheralded Japanese Tatsuma Ito.
|
|
"I think I was more in disbelief," she said, referring not just to the pressure of playing the reigning champion but doing it for the first time on the show court, in front of 15,000 fans at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The tournament has had plenty of upsets, with Serena Williams shocked by China's Wang Qiang and Kenin dumping top seed Ash Barty from the semi-finals, but Belgian Henin expects class to win out at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal paid the ultimate respect to his Australian Open conqueror Dominic Thiem on Wednesday, seeing something of himself in the hard-working Austrian after falling short in a quarter-final classic under the lights on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Austrian Thiem booked his maiden final at Melbourne Park with a superb 3-6 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6(4) win in a battle against German talent Alexander Zverev under the roof at Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
|
|
The Swiss third seed scripted a nerve-wracking 6-3 2-83 2-6 7-6(8) 6-3 comeback victory on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday to continue his bid for a record-equalling seventh title at the Melbourne Park.
|
|
The 21-year-old American arrived in Melbourne after a breakthrough 2019 season when she won all three of her WTA singles titles and came in to Tuesday's clash at Rod Laver Arena with a 33-1 record against Jabeur.
|
|
Former world number one Andy Murray, who was awarded a wildcard last month, plays Argentina's Juan Ignacio Londero on Monday while Rafa Nadal has skipped the tournament with a wrist injury that also cut short his Laver Cup campaign last month.
|
|
Second seed Karolina Pliskova gets play underway on Rod Laver Arena hoping she does not follow Serena Williams and last year's champion Naomi Osaka out of the tournament after they were both upset in their third-round matches on Friday.
|
|
He broke Tiafoe's serve three times to breeze through the opening set, but the American came roaring back to level the match in the second, displaying a never-say-die attitude in front of an appreciative Rod Laver Arena crowd.
|
|
The Laver Cup format will be a rare chance to see the game's top players team up and Federer said he was most looking forward to appearing alongside long-time rival Rafael Nadal, who will also anchor the European side.
|
|
Wozniacki, 28, returned to Rod Laver Arena for her first-round match against Alison Van Uytvanck looking outwardly the same as she did when she outlasted Simona Halep on the same stage last year to win her first Grand Slam title.
|
|
Cheered on by a loud, flag-waving contingent of Greek fans inside and outside Rod Laver Arena, Tsitsipas displayed his varied toolbox, producing 22 aces, 30 more winners than unforced errors (68-38) and a nose for getting to the net.
|
|
After a trade of breaks, Wozniacki took the match into a deciding set after a double fault from former world number one Sharapova gave her a set point which she converted to level the entertaining encounter on Rod Laver Arena at 1-1.
|
|
The two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka walked into Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne knowing that the No. 2- and No. 3-ranked players were already out of the tournament and that the draw appeared to be breaking in her favor.
|
|
As the sun shone and more than 70,33 fans streamed through the gates at Melbourne Park, the great and the good of tennis officialdom filed into a room in the bowels of Rod Laver Arena to defend their record on battling corruption.
|
|
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Team Europe swept the singles matches at the inaugural Laver Cup on Friday before Australian Nick Kyrgios and American Jack Sock took down top-ranked Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych in the doubles to salvage a point for Team World.
|
|
Djokovic, champion for five of the last eight years at Melbourne Park, played a rare match away from Rod Laver Arena but still proved too strong for Italian Andreas Seppi, securing his 210th grand slam victory 6-1 7-5 7-213(6).
|
|
Only Australian Laver, who was on the court named after him watching the final, has managed to win all four grand slams in one year and Djokovic would have to break his Roland Garros duck to match the feat and make more history.
|
|
SYDNEY, June 6 (Reuters) - Australian tennis great Rod Laver has wished Novak Djokovic luck in matching his feat of securing all four grand slams in a calendar year, a day after the Serb secured ownership of all four of the sport's major titles.
|
|
Wawrinka bickered heatedly with the 12th seed during a change of ends after the first set before putting his aggression to better use, wrapping up the one-sided match in two hours and 15 minutes on a sun-bathed Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"Every time I play out here at Rod Laver Arena, it's like a second home," the 34-year-old Adelaide native told the fans after a typically pugnacious display in which he cursed a line judge and mouthed off at the chair umpire.
|
|
The on-court drama spilled into the stands early in the day at Rod Laver Arena, where a spectator was injured in a tumble down the stairs during former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic's 6-3 6-3 win over Anastasija Sevastova.
|
|
World number two Murray came from behind twice to topple the rangy Canadian, who was troubled by a leg injury and finally capitulated after playing majestically for most of the four-hour and three-minute contest at a flood-lit Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Osaka burnished her reputation as one of the cleanest hitters of the ball in women's tennis by smacking winners almost at will from both her forehand and backhand under the roof of the Rod Laver Arena which was closed due to extreme heat.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Nigel Sears, the coach of Ana Ivanovic and father-in-law of men's world number two Andy Murray, was taken to hospital after collapsing in the stands on Rod Laver Arena during a match at the Australian Open on Saturday.
|
|
Having thrashed Denis Istomin in his Melbourne Park opener, third seed Federer faced a different beast in world number 189 Evans, who made a mockery of his ranking and pushed the Swiss hard throughout a high-quality duel at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Yet he was given a standing ovation from the Rod Laver Arena crowd after his 7-6(20143) 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) loss to third seed Dimitrov, which capped a fruitful home summer including the Brisbane International title.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A revitalized Angelique Kerber stands as a huge roadblock to the maiden grand slam hopes of world number one Simona Halep and number two Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open women's semi-finals at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.
|
|
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took care of business in their singles matches before teaming up in an eagerly anticipated doubles pairing to extend Europe's lead over players from the rest of the world in the inaugural Laver Cup on Saturday.
|
|
Second seed Andy Murray, returning to court two days after his father-in-law was rushed to hospital, hit back for the old guard in the evening session at Rod Laver Arena though, banishing Bernard Tomic, the last home hope in the singles.
|
|
Sixth seed Cilic, who won his quarter-final when Rafa Nadal retired hurt in the fifth set, was again ruthless against a reduced opponent, ending 49th-ranked Edmund's dream run after just two hours and 23 minutes at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Having endured a decade of grand slam heartbreak against Spaniard Nadal, 17th seed Federer roared back from 3-1 down in the tense final set, riding a wave of crowd support at a heaving Rod Laver Arena to mow through five straight games.
|
|
Tuesday's sequel on Rod Laver Arena mirrored their clash on the same court seven years ago when Nadal prevailed in five hours 22009 minutes, the longest Australian Open match at the time, before going on to beat Roger Federer in the final.
|
|
Australia is a sports-crazed nation, and because it has turned out so many celebrated players (Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Margaret Smith Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Pat Cash, Patrick Rafter, the list goes on), tennis is central to its sporting identity.
|
|
"You can develop tennis to a very high level without an opponent because even in a match, you're really playing yourself," said Mr. Turner, a former touring professional who in the 53s played the likes of Stan Smith, Rod Laver and Ilie Nastase.
|
|
On Friday, they headline the men's top half of third round action at the Australian Open in the final match on Rod Laver Arena after a quirk of the draw due to the 17-times grand slam champion's knee injury last year.
|
|
Yet Laver, who many still feel is the best player ever to have graced the All England Club lawns having won four titles in the 60s either side of being outlawed, says the marauding Spaniard would have feared grasscourt tennis in his day.
|
|
"No, I spent five years traveling with (Ken) Rosewall, (Lew) Hoad and (Pancho) Gonzales, and I returned in 1968 a much better player than I was in 1962," said Laver, who won the calendar year Slam for a second time in 1969.
|
|
Britain's Murray was bamboozled by the serve-volley game of Mischa Zverev to exit after 363-1/2 hours on Rod Laver Arena, while fellow world number one Kerber's title defense was ended in little more than an hour by Coco Vandeweghe.
|
|
Under a blazing sun at Rod Laver Arena, the aggressive baseliner fought back from 4-2 down in the third set and was unflappable in the final tiebreak, closing out the match with a pair of booming serves past his Spanish opponent.
|
|
Start with agreeing on a more coherent schedule that does not include three men's team events within less than four months: the Laver Cup in September 2019, the revamped Davis Cup in November 2019 and the revived ATP Cup in January 2020.
|
|
We'll know a bit after this year's version: with Nadal absent from Team Europe and Team Rest of the World once again lacking in genuine star power, the Laver Cup faces an existential question: What exactly is it, and what will it become?
|
|
Thiem, twice a French Open finalist, came into the fourth-round clash against the 10th seed having won all five of the matches they have previously played and did not face a single breakpoint against the Frenchman on the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
The seven-times champion only added to a strong feeling around the tournament that the Serbian is again the man to beat at the year's first Grand Slam as he ousted the Argentine in just over two hours on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Despite blustery conditions, Federer served superbly from the start and hit winners at will against Johnson, who is ranked 75th in the world, and he was as ruthless under the closed roof at the Rod Laver Arena after play was interrupted by rain.
|
|
Murray, a five-time runner-up in Melbourne, was unable to counter the unrelenting net play of 50th-ranked Mischa Zverev, falling by 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-193 in a fourth-round match on Sunday afternoon at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Jen Gundry, a Nadal fan from Melbourne, balked at the prices at Rod Laver Arena but jumped at the chance to watch the final at Margaret Court Arena, which the tournament opened up to fans who bought grounds passes for about $23.
|
|
The fifth seeded Russian had to pull out of the leadup Brisbane International with a sore left forearm but was in full flight in a 6-2 6-1 rout of unseeded Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the early match at the Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
"It was a unique place in time, one where you realized very clearly that the sport would never be the same again," said Laver, who won the doubles with Emerson and lost a rain-interrupted singles final to Rosewall in four sets.
|
|
In an enthralling semi-final featuring a rain interruption, a lighting failure and a plenty of drama besides, the fifth seeded Austrian shrugged off a sluggish start and was courageous on the big points to triumph under the roof at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Petra Kvitova compared the atmosphere created by Greek Maria Sakkari's supporters on Rod Laver Arena to "a soccer match" but cut through the noise and battled back from a set down to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Sunday.
|
|
The U.S. Open finalist broke Tiafoe's serve three times to breeze through the opening set, but the American came roaring back to level the match in the second, displaying a never-say-die attitude in front of an appreciative Rod Laver Arena crowd.
|
|
Starting his match at around 2100 local time under the closed roof of Rod Laver Arena, the Swiss appeared to be in a hurry to finish the contest, breaking his opponent's serve twice in the first two sets and thrice in the third.
|
|
"I think it's 40 years on the tennis tour that doesn't excite me, you know, straight," he said while laughing when asked to clarify an on-court statement he made about not wanting to watch his daughters play on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
That will be the holiday bargain on offer inside Rod Laver Arena on Saturday when Petra Kvitova and Naomi Osaka square off in the Australian Open women's final for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the top spot in the women's world rankings.
|
|
Williams, chasing a milestone 24th Grand Slam triumph, also saved two match points in the last game but netted on the third as the big-serving Czech shocked a packed Rod Laver Arena with her remarkable rally from the brink of defeat.
|
|
The 17-times grand slam champion, still finding his feet after a six-month break, had to save two set points and rally from 5-2 down in the third before closing out a galvanizing win on a breezy afternoon at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
In a complaint filed on Wednesday, Christopher Laver said Credit Suisse canceled deferred compensation owed to him and other brokers who did not join Wells Fargo under a "recruiting agreement" between the banks, by maintaining a "facade" that they had voluntarily resigned en masse.
|
|
Federer was the last match on the main showcourt in Rod Laver Arena on Sunday but because of an earlier lengthy five-set clash between Novak Djokovic and Gilles Simon, he did not begin his fourth round match with Goffin until 2248 local (1148 GMT).
|
|
The Spaniard looked every inch a 22016-times grand slam champion as he slugged it out with his 22-year-old opponent over nearly five hours on Rod Laver Arena to reach his first major final since the 21 French Open and 53st overall.
|
|
And so, in the pivotal moments of Wednesday's match, she forced herself to forget her record, the score — every figure threatening to hijack her focus — and play as if she were on a practice court in her native Germany and not at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia needs another great tennis champion and Nick Kyrgios has the talent to fit the bill providing he learns how to channel his frustration when things do not go his way, 11-times grand slam singles champion Rod Laver said on Thursday.
|
|
Wozniacki finally added her name to the grand slam winners' list at the 43rd time of asking after outlasting Halep 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 on a sweltering Rod Laver Arena, becoming the first Dane to win one of tennis's four biggest prizes.
|
|
The world number one Serb claimed a clinical 6-3 193-5 6-4 win over wildcard Tsonga at Rod Laver Arena, a match that finished after midnight and failed to live up to the players' intriguing rivalry at the year's first Grand Slam.
|
|
New York crowds, long recognized as the rowdiest in tennis, have created a unique problem not found in Wimbledon's more intimate setting where fans observe tennis etiquette or the Australian Open's Rod Laver Arena, which has about half the seating capacity (14,850) as Arthur Ashe.
|
|
Two tennis players who had only ever met as rivals on the pitch struck up an awesome friendship last week, thanks to the first-ever Laver Cup — a new tennis competition that pitches six European players against six players from the rest of the world.
|
|
Second seed Williams was broken three times in the opening set at Rod Laver Arena and again when coasting to the finish line in the second but shifted up a gear when it counted to close out the match in one hour and 46 minutes.
|
|
Brunson (otherwise known as UFC Fight Night 101) is to be held at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena—an impressive building, albeit much smaller than Etihad Stadium which held the UFC's last visit to Melbourne in front of a record attendance of over 56,000 spectators.
|
|
The event, named after Australian great Rod Laver, who won 11 Grand Slams between 1960 and 1969, drew sellout crowds last year as a number of top-ranked players such as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic took part with the Europeans winning 13-8.
|
|
The Spaniard, champion here in 2009, needed to be at his resilient best to come out on top after more than four hours of top quality shot-making and thrilling rallies which earned both players a huge ovation from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
|
|
A wincing Nadal struggled with a muscle strain in his upper right thigh from late in the fourth set before abandoning the match at 221-6 6-3 6-7(5) 13-2 2-0, leaving a packed Rod Laver Arena crushed with disappointment.
|
|
She backed up her Paris exploits to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals and third round in New York, and looked every inch a title contender in a 20163-1 6-4 defeat of Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone to open proceedings on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
A visit to United Center, the home arena of the Bulls and the Blackhawks and the site of the Laver Cup in September, was a big part of Monday's dense itinerary, which was focused on building interest for the event and creating social-media content.
|
|
The trip went off without a hitch, and a few hours after landing here in Melbourne, Chisholm was in Collins's player box at Rod Laver Arena, transmitting positive vibes down to the court during Collins's 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
|
|
Federer knows this, and he drank it all in as he returned to Rod Laver Arena, where he experienced one of the biggest buzzes of his long career last year by defeating his friendly archrival Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller of a final.
|
|
Actor Will Smith had a prime position in the crowd to see Kyrgios win for the first time on Rod Laver Arena, taking the last five points in the tiebreaker for a 7-33 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) victory.
|
|
But there may be new demands on top players with the success of last month's new Laver Cup, a team event set to take place over three days every September in non-Olympic years, and with the continued interest in reviving the World Team Cup.
|
|
Others think shifting the Davis Cup to earlier in the season — with the ATP's support — could be enough of a remedy, even if that could create a logjam in September with the Laver Cup team event, which Federer helped start in 2017 and now prioritizes.
|
|
But Nadal, who arrived in Prague little more than a week after winning the U.S. Open, said he felt the Laver Cup, where matches will be best-of-three sets with a super-tiebreaker instead of a full third set, was worth a quick turnaround.
|
|
Thrashed 6-43 6-4 by eventual finalist Kvitova 12 months ago, top seed Barty rode a wave of crowd support as she defused the twice Wimbledon champion's power game before running away with the contest on a glorious afternoon at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Having conceded one game to Wang in a U.S. Open trouncing four months ago, Williams staggered to an error-strewn 6-4 6-53(2) 7-5 defeat at Rod Laver Arena that sent shockwaves through Melbourne Park and tore open the women's draw.
|
|
Morning rain delayed play on the external courts for at least an hour but matches at the roofed showcourts proceeded only slightly behind schedule, with twice Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza taking on Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in the early match at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Playing against an opponent he defeated both times in straight sets in the past, Djokovic lost his serve four times in the match on Rod Laver Arena, where he beat Rafa Nadal in last year's final to pick up a seventh Australian Open title.
|
|
The Queensland-born Barty delighted the crowd on Rod Laver Arena when she mounted a comeback from a set down to beat American Alison Riske 6-3 1-6 6-4 on Australia Day, which marks the 1788 arrival of British ships to the continent.
|
|
The Australian Open on Monday marked the 50th anniversary of her 1970 feat of winning all four major titles in one calendar year with compatriot Rod Laver, who completed the calendar slam twice in 1962 and 1969, handing her a trophy to some applause.
|
|
The Australian Open on Monday marked the 50th anniversary of her 1970 feat of winning all four major titles in one calendar year with compatriot Rod Laver, who completed the calendar slam twice in 1962 and 1969, handing her a trophy to some applause.
|
|
With the temperature nudging 40 degrees Celsius (104F) at a scorching Rod Laver Arena, Muguruza was dragged into a see-sawing scrap by fourth seed Halep, who threatened to run away with the second set after losing her cool at the end of the first.
|
|
Laver, who turned 81 in August, is the only player ever to have won two Grand Slams — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Championship in the same calendar year — which he did in 1962 as an amateur and then again in 1969.
|
|
In the main draw on a wild card with a world ranking of 145, the 13-year-old Russian put up a dogged mid-match fight on Rod Laver Arena before crumpling to a 6-3 6-4 defeat at the hands of Donna Vekic.
|
|
The Dane looked every inch the world number two as she briskly served out for victory, which came when a crestfallen Fett dumped a backhand into the net after a shade over two and a half hours in the sun on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Sears was taken to hospital on Saturday after collapsing in the stands in Rod Laver Arena, causing about an hour long delay in Ivanovic's third round clash with American Madison Keys that the Serb later went on to lose 4-23 6-4 6-4.
|
|
S.) bt Dick Crealy 6-4 9-7 6-23 1969 Rod Laver bt Andres Gimeno (Spain) 6-3 6-4 7-5 1968 Bill Bowrey bt Juan Gisbert (Spain) 7-63 2-6 9-7 6-4 1967 Roy Emerson bt Ashe (U.
|
|
Using the mat as a guide, lift the edge of mat closest to you to roll laver up and over ingredients, forming a tight cylinder (take care to pull back the edge of the mat so as to not roll it into the gimbap).
|
|
Chasing a record seventh Melbourne title and his third in succession, the 103-year-old Swiss has been in ominous form at the year's first Grand Slam and his 6-2 7-5 6-2 masterclass at Rod Laver Arena was another warning to the Tour's upstarts.
|
|
The 34-year-old Williams lost the Australian Open final to the seventh-ranked Kerber 6-4 3-6 6-4 in just over two hours of scintillating tennis on Rod Laver Arena in which the German negated the American's power and capitalised on unforced errors.
|
|
The Australian Open has grown up along the way, adding a third stadium with a retractable roof and, this year, a digital wall that wraps around the court in Laver Arena at ground level and makes the other Grand Slam tournaments look like 20th-century relics.
|
|
A strangely off-colour Djokovic bowed out 103-6(8) 5-7 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena, the court where he won his sixth title last year and was widely tipped to clinch a record seventh in 10 days' time.
|
|
With defending champion and new mum Serena absent, 123-year-old Bencic's brilliant 6-3 7-5 win under the Rod Laver Arena roof ensured there would not be a Williams sister in the second round of the tournament for the first time in over 20 years.
|
|
Qualifier Kostyuk became the youngest player to reach the third round of a grand slam in over 20 years on Wednesday but her dream run was brought to a shuddering halt in a 6-2 6-2 loss to her fellow Ukrainian on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
But that mattered little Thursday as he heard the roars and felt the goose bumps; as he looked up in defeat to a standing ovation and then a recorded video on the Laver Arena screens with farewell messages from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Kyrgios.
|
|
The 37-year-old Williams, chasing a record-extending eighth Melbourne title in the professional era, barely broke sweat on a sunny afternoon at Rod Laver Arena as she racked up 20 winners and beat the 57th-ranked 18-year-old in a breezy 67 minutes.
|
|
A limited tour schedule allows him to preserve his body and improve the odds that he'll continue to pad his records, and it also gives him the opportunity to further transcend the ATP, lending his personal prestige to off-book endeavours like the nascent Laver Cup.
|
|
Top seed Williams took exactly an hour to dismiss Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei 6-1 6-2 in the second match of the day on Rod Laver Arena after fifth seed five-times grand slam champion Sharapova had routed unseeded Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 63-2 6-1.
|
|
Simon played a sublime match, returning with venom and scrambling hard for every ball before the defending champion and world number one found another gear to close it out 6-1003 6-7(1) 6-4 4-6 6-3 in the twilight at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
He's the first man to hold all four major titles since Rod Laver in 1969 and the player with a chance to do what Williams could not quite manage last year by completing the Grand Slam and winning all four majors in the same calendar year.
|
|
The Venezuela-born Spaniard made another determined push at Melbourne Park on Thursday, heaving herself out of a mid-match slump against Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the third round with a 6-3 3-6 6-63 win in the early match at Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
It was Federer's 24th victory at Melbourne Park and few of them can have been as hard as the four-hour, 20183-22018 24-23(2) 6-4 4-6 7-43(8) epic he shared with the teak tough world number 47 on Rod Laver Arena.
|
|
Buoyed by securing her first WTA title as a mother in Auckland two weeks ago, the 38-year-old American great kept her stay out on Rod Laver Arena to a minimum with a 6-0 6-3 trouncing of Anastasia Potapova in under an hour.
|
|
The idea was to promote the first edition of the Laver Cup, the team tennis competition between Europe and an International squad that will be staged in Prague in September and in which Federer wants to play a major role after helping to create the event.
|
|
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Roger Federer regained control after a slow start against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics to march into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 win on a chilly evening at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
|
|
What counts most at this muddled stage in men's tennis is that the Laver Cup clearly matters to many leading players — and not just its co-creator Roger Federer, who played like a champ and swore like a sailor with the trophy on the line Sunday.
|
|
What counts most at this muddled stage in men's tennis is that the Laver Cup clearly matters to many leading players — and not just its co-creator Roger Federer, who played like a champ and swore like a sailor with the trophy on the line Sunday.
|
|
The 23-time Grand Slam winner stepped on-court at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to play her first match of the tournament in a long-sleeved, black raincoat — despite the 33°C (91°F) heat — which she continued to wear for the whole warm-up.
|
|
In 2011, when Nadal was trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four straight major singles titles, he sustained a hamstring injury in the opening set of his quarterfinal against his Spanish compatriot David Ferrer and lost in straight sets.
|
|
But her mood and her power tennis are back on the upswing here, and if there were any lingering doubts about the state of Keys's game, she dispelled them in a hurry in Rod Laver Arena by overwhelming the eighth-seeded Caroline Garcia, 6-3, 6-2.
|
|