Novak Djokovic opens ATP Finals beating Casper Ruud

Associated PressNov 15, 2021, 9:45 PM EST

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

TURIN, Italy — Five-time champion Novak Djokovic reopened his ATP Finals account and beat Casper Ruud 7-6 (4), 6-2.

He’s attempting to match Roger Federer’s record of six titles at the elite season-ending event for the top eight players.

In the other group match, Andrey Rublev topped 2018 champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4.

Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev won their group singles on Sunday.

After his match, Djokovic was presented with the trophy for finishing the year ranked No. 1, a feat he accomplished for a record seventh time – breaking a tie with childhood idol Pete Sampras.

In an on-court interview, Djokovic recounted how he fell in love with tennis watching Sampras when he was “4 or 5 years old” and asked his dad to buy him a racket.

“Now I’m here and I’ve won this (trophy) seven times, one more than (Sampras) – incredible,” Djokovic told the crowd in Italian. “The dream continues. I hope to play this great sport for a couple of years.”

Later, when asked about his on-court comments, the 34-year-old Djokovic said he doesn’t have a number in mind for how many more years he wants to play.

“I don’t want to impose a limit to myself at all, because I still enjoy playing tennis, and I really enjoy competition and playing at the highest level,” the 20-time Grand Slam champion said. “Being No. 1 in the world, there is no reason for me yet to think about leaving tennis. I really am in a good place at the moment.”

Following a two-month break after his loss to Medvedev in the U.S. Open final, which ended his pursuit of a calendar-year Grand Slam, Djokovic returned this month and won the Paris Masters. He’s won six straight matches.

Ruud, a first-time qualifier, broke serve in their opening game when Djokovic fell and dropped his racket as he changed direction to run down a lob. Djokovic managed to pick his racket back up and hit a weak reply but Ruud quickly finished off the point.

A double-fault from Ruud handed Djokovic the break back and evened the set at 3-3. Djokovic then began holding easily and putting pressure on Ruud’s serve, enabling him to wear down the Norwegian during the tiebreaker.

Helped by fast conditions inside the Pala Alpitour, Djokovic won a near-perfect 20 of 21 points with his first serve in the opening set, and 35 of 39 throughout the match.

Djokovic served 10 aces and Rudd nine.

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.