Current Affairs - Tennis

On 10^th September, 2023, Novak Djokovic claimed his 24th Grand Slam title, the highest number ever achieved by a player in the Open Era, with a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Daniil Medvedev.

Key Points

• Djokovic's Victory and Record: This victory also tied him with Australian Margaret Court for the Grandest Slam singles titles in history.
• Experience Pays Off: Djokovic's experience played a crucial role in his win, especially compared to his 2021 loss to Medvedev.
• Historic Milestone: Djokovic now boasts a 12-3 record in Grand Slam finals in his 30s, a notable improvement over his 12-9 record in his 20s.

Iga Swiatek secured a dominant victory in the Warsaw Open, her home tournament, defeating Laura Siegemund 6-0, 6-1 in just 68 minutes.

Key Points:

• Decisive Victory in the Final: In the final against Siegemund, Swiatek dominated from the start, winning the first nine games and never facing a break point, eventually claiming a convincing victory.

On 23^rd July, 2023, third seed Karman Kaur Thandi emerged victorious in the final of the $60,000 ITF women's tennis tournament held in Evansville, USA, defeating fourth-ranked Yuliia Starodubteva of Ukraine in a thrilling three-set match.

Key Points:

• Title Tally: This marks Karman's second title at this level, with her previous win at Saguenay, Canada, in October. Overall, it is the fourth singles crown of her career, including two wins last season, with one victory in Gurugram, India.
• Ranking Leap: Following her title win, Karman climbed 51 places in the ranking list, now standing at 210, making her the second-highest-ranked Indian player after Ankita Raina (ranked 200).

The 2022 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tier tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom from 27 June to 10 July 2022.

• Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event played on grass courts, others being – Australian Open - Acrylic Hard Court; French Open –Red Clay Courts; US Open - Acrylic Hard Court.

Major Titles

Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to claim his 21st major title, defeating Nick Kyrgios (Australia) in the final. With this win, Djokovic has now equalled Pete Sampras' seven triumphs at the All England Club and trails only Roger Federer, who holds the record with eight titles.

Women’s Singles: The ladies' singles title was won by Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan), who defeated Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) in the final. Ashleigh Barty (Australia) was the reigning ladies' champion, but did not defend her title after retiring from professional tennis in March 2022.

The 2022 French Open, season’s second Grand Slam tennis tournament after Australian Open was played on outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022.

Major Titles

Men’s Singles

• Spain's Rafael Nadal beat Norway's Casper Ruud in the men's singles final.
• It was his 14th championship at Roland Garros and 22nd Grand Slam title overall.
• Nadal’s victory came two days after his 36th birthday and made him the oldest title winner in the history of the clay-court tournament.
• The Spaniard’s first triumph in Paris came in 2005 at age 19. No man or woman ever has won the singles trophy at any major event more than his 14 in Paris. And no man has won more Grand Slam titles than Nadal.

Women’s Singles

• Top-ranked Iga Swiatek (Poland) beat Coco Gauff (America) to win her second French Open title.
• Iga Swiatek now has 35 wins in a row, the joint-longest winning streak by a women's player in the 21st century along with Venus Williams, who had achieved the feat in 2000.

• The 2022 Australian Open was the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022.
• Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka were the 2021 champions in Men's Singles and Women's Singles, respectively.
• Djokovic was unable to participate in the tournament after his visa was cancelled by Australian Immigration Ministry.

Major Title Winners

Men’s Singles

• Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Daniil Medvedev (Russia) to win the Grand Slam season opener - Australian Open title 2022.
• Rafael Nadal broke a three-way tie with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by claiming his 21st Grand Slam title.
• Nadal has now won all four major titles twice, something only Djokovic had previously accomplished in the Open era.

Women’s Singles

• Ashleigh Barty (Australia) beat Danielle Collins (USA) to win the Australian Open title 2022.
• It was her third Grand Slam title.
• Barty became the first Australian to win the event since Chris O’Neil captured the women’s title in 1978.

Men's Doubles: Thanasi Kokkinakis / Nick Kyrgios (both Australia) beat Matthew Ebden / Max Purcell (both Australia)

Women's Doubles: Barbora Krejčíková / Kateřina Siniaková (both Czech Republic) beat the pair of Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan) and Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil)

Mixed Doubles: Kristina Mladenovic (France) / Ivan Dodig (Croatia) beat Jaimee Fourlis / Jason Kubler (both Australia)

In response to controversy over the lengthy toilet breaks, particularly at the the US Open, which saw Stefanos Tsitsipas under heavy scrutiny after he took a seven-minute break during his match with Andy Murray, the ATP Tour has announced new rules relating to toilet breaks, attire changes to come into effect from 2022, in addition to a proposed change to the Medical time out rule, with starting dates to be announced.

Toilet Break & Change of Attire (Effective 2022)

• Players can take a maximum of three minutes once they have entered the toilet.
• Players will receive two minutes for a change of attire in addition to the three-minute toilet break.
• Note: Change of attire may only be done in conjunction with a toilet break (unless authorised by the Chair Umpire).
• A player may only take one toilet break per match.
• Toilet breaks can only be taken during a set break.
• Time violations will apply if a player is not ready within the allowed time.
• The ATP will also introduce new rules on medical timeouts, but the tour stated that they are not sure when the rules will come into effect.

Medical Time Out (Effective Date TBD)

• One three-minute time out per match to be taken during a changeover or a set break only.
• If the player cannot continue to the next change of ends, he will forfeit the points required to get to that change of ends/set break.

The 2021 US Open was the 141st edition of tennis' US Open and the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year.

• It was held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.
• Dominic Thiem and Naomi Osaka were the men's and women's singles defending champions.
• Novak Djokovic failed to complete a calendar year ‘Grand Slam’ in men's singles, a feat achieved by Rod Laver (Australia) in 1962.
• He won the other three Grand Slam events this year (Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon).
• Novak also failed to surpass Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for most major titles (21) by a male player.

Winners of Singles Title

Men’s Singles

• Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev (Russia) beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia) to win the men's singles title (First Grand Slam). He was earlier beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open 2021 final.

Women's Singles

• Emma Raducanu (UK) beat Leylah Fernandez (Canada) to win the women's singles title.
• Emma Raducanu became the first British woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam final.
• The 18-year-old world No 150 is the first qualifier to capture a Grand Slam title.
• Raducanu is the youngest US Open champion since Williams in 1999 and the first US Open women’s champion not to drop a set since Williams in 2014.

The third Grand Slam of the year - Wimbledon Championships 2021 took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.

Winners

• Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defended the Singles title as he claimed his 20th Grand Slam tournament title, defeating Matteo Berrettini (Italy) in the final. It was his sixth Wimbledon Tennis title and record of 20th Grand Slam trophy. Djokovic is now level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the list of most singles Grand Slam titles in men’s history. Having already won the Australian Open and French Open this year, top seed Djokovic needs the Olympic gold medal and US Open title to become the first man to ever win a Golden Slam.
• Women’s Singles: The Ladies' Singles title was won by Ashleigh Barty (Australia), who defeated Karolína Plíšková (Czech Republic) in the final.
• Men’s Doubles: Croatian pair of Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić won the title, defeating Marcel Granollers (Spain) and Horacio Zeballos (Argentina).
• Women’s Doubles: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Elise Mertens (Belgium) won the title, defeating Russian pair of Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina.
• Mixed Doubles: Neal Skupski (UK) and Desirae Krawczyk (USA) won the title, defeating British pair of Joe Salisbury and Harriet Dart.
• Boys' Singles: Samir Banerjee - Indian origin Samir Banerjee, an American tennis player won the Boy’s Singles at the Wimbledon 2021.

The French Open is a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France.

Major Titles

Women’s Singles

• Poland's IgaSwiatek defeated American Sofia Kenin to win the 2020 French Open for her first Grand Slam singles title.
• The 19-year-old Swiatek, at 54 the lowest-ranked woman to capture the Roland Garros title in the modern era, beat her sixth-ranked opponent to win her country’s first Grand Slam singles title.
• Swiatek is the youngest women’s French Open winner since Monica Seles lifted the trophy as an 18-year-old in 1992. She is the first teenage champion since Iva Majoli in 1997.
• Swiatek became just the second unseeded women’s Roland Garros champion in the Open era, joining Jelena Ostapenko who claimed the title three years ago.

Men’s Singles

• Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia) to win his 20th Grand Slam title, equalling Roger Federer, and his 13th French Open title.
• Rafael Nadal has won the most French Open titles, with thirteen (which is also a record for any player, male or female, in any one of the four major tournaments) and also holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the Open Era, with five from 2010 to 2014.