Andy Murray receives Australian Open wild-card entry

Associated PressDec 27, 2020, 6:03 PM EST

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

MELBOURNE, Australia — Five-time Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray has been given a wild-card entry into the first Grand Slam tournament of next year.

Former top-ranked Murray has slipped to No. 122 in the ATP rankings after several years of battling hip injuries and surgery.

“We welcome Andy back to Melbourne with open arms,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said Monday. “As a five-time finalist he has been an integral part of so many amazing matches and storylines in the recent history of the Australian Open.”

Murray made a teary retirement announcement in Melbourne two years ago before undergoing a second round of surgeries to extend his career.

“His retirement was an emotional moment and seeing him come back, having undergone major surgery and build himself back up to get onto the tour again, will be a highlight of AO 2021,” Tiley added.

The rescheduled Australian Open will be played from Feb. 8-21, three weeks later than the original date in order to allow players and officials to spend 14 days in quarantine once they arrive in Australia. The players will be allowed five hours of practice each day at Melbourne Park, but must stay confined to their hotel rooms otherwise.

Also receiving a wild card was Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is also recovering from a series of injuries and hasn’t played a tour match since the 2019 U.S. Open. He missed the 2020 Australian Open due to glandular fever.

Fellow Australians Destanee Aiava and Arina Rodionova gained wild cards into the 128-women’s draw.

India’s Sumit Nagal and China’s Wang Xiyu were awarded wild cards from the Asia-Pacific for the men’s and women’s main draw, respectively.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.