Tag: Tennis

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A hundred years from now, a tennis nerd will ask the floating hologram next to his ear about the great male players from the early part of the 21st century.

The hologram will wax poetic about a triumvirate of players known as the Big Three: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. They ruled the sport before the advent of nuclear-powered strings and 200 miles per hour serves, winning around 70 Grand Slam titles between them. 

Then, almost as an afterthought, it will mention a couple of others who won a few of Earth’s most important tournaments, before the tours expanded to include the exoplanets of Alpha Centauri.

“Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray won three Grand Slams each and were the next best of the era of The Big Three,” the hologram will say.

Humans of 2124: do not trust your holograms, especially if they mention that in his final Wimbledon competition, likely the penultimate tournament of his career, he had to endure a 21-year-old deciding to blow off a mixed doubles match with him at the last minute. Emma Raducanu, his compatriot who is reviving her nascent career with a run into the second week at Wimbledon, withdrew in order to prioritise her singles chances in an open draw, over a chance to be on court with Murray, her idol, for what figured to be his final match on the Wimbledon grass.

So other than a planned doubles effort at the Olympics, this really is it for Wimbledon, allowing the efforts to secure his proper spot in the tennis lexicon to begin. No disrespect to Wawrinka, an excellent player with a fine career, but Murray didn’t spend the past three decades bucking convention, being the ultimate thorn in the side of so many assumptions about tennis, to have holograms and the tennis nerds that employ them remember him in the same sentence.

Maybe this is what kept Murray going the past year and a half, desperate for one more run to the business end of the grandest events in the sport long after pretty much everyone could see that wasn’t in the stars. Maybe this is why he hobbled onto courts to take on the best players in the world when climbing stairs was becoming a struggle.

In March, Murray stood in a hotel gym with Brad Gilbert, the former pro and longtime coach, in Indian Wells, California, late at 4 am. An early rising insomniac and a jet-lagged Scot jabbering about new racket technology, Murray telling Gilbert that he might have found a new stick that could give him a little extra… something.

Something that could prove that he still had the magic.

Maybe Murray really was sticking around simply because he loved just about everything about his job — the feel of the racket in his hands, the life of a globetrotting superstar, the incomparable highs that the heat of competitions produced. He burned with jealousy watching players like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as they started out on their journeys. He would have gone back to the beginning if he could have, not to change anything necessarily, but just because he would have loved to do it all again.    

“I want to play tennis because I, you know, I do enjoy this,” he said last year in Surbiton, where he was playing a Challenger event instead of the French Open to get extra time on the grass ahead of Wimbledon. 

“I love it. It’s not like this is like a massive chore for me.”

Murray and his new Yonex racket in Geneva, earlier in 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images)

It never really was, even if that’s the way it looked as he growled his way through 1,000 matches. But it was also the joy of playing a game he loved, and proving just about every assumption about him and his sport wrong.

First there was the idea that a Scot could even be any good at junior level tennis. Golf maybe, but not tennis. Too many talented kids from friendlier tennis climates and locales to contend with. There weren’t many indoor courts, and not too many expert coaches other than his mother, Judy, and surely not enough top-tier competition to help him develop, other than his older brother, Jamie. 

Murray wasn’t about to let that get in his way, whether that meant training harder during those first formative years or taking the radical step that few of his peers took.

“My mum did her best to create an environment for not just us two, but the players that were of a sort of performance level, and to get us together as much as we could because she understood how difficult it was,” Jamie Murray said during an interview last year.

“Obviously, Andy left when he was 15 — he went to Spain, he made the decision: ‘I really want to be a tennis player and to do that, I need to go to Spain to train’ and he was obviously very headstrong in that and he went. I stayed at home.” 

Habits form early in tennis. In most cases, a 25-year-old’s forehand won’t look all that different from his 15-year-old version. Same goes for attitudes and approaches, like Murray’s penchant for bucking conventional wisdom.

So Andy, nice junior career, but surely you won’t be able to win much against Federer and Nadal, or even your buddy from juniors, Djokovic. Born at the wrong time. Tough luck. 

He beat Nadal seven times and Federer and Djokovic 11.

Murray and his buddy from Serbia playing doubles together at the 2006 Australian Open. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

OK Andy, nice that you can get the occasional win against top players, but a British man hasn’t won a Grand Slam in nearly a century. Can’t happen. 

And then he won the U.S. Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, despite more pressure than any player of the modern era has likely ever felt on Centre Court.

And don’t forget about the losses, including five Australian Open finals, only to either Djokovic or Federer, like so many of his losses in the finals or semifinals of big tournaments. 

“I’m playing against guys that are winning these tournaments like 12 times each year in their careers,” he recalled during an interview last year.

And yet he still won 46 tournaments, including 14 Masters 1000 titles, the level just below a Grand Slam, far more than any player of his era other than the Big Three. Not to pick on Wawrinka, but he won 16 titles, just one a Masters 1000. 

Nice, Andy, but the No 1 taking in this era is out of reach.

He got there in 2016, when Nadal and Djokovic were still in their prime and Federer still had another three years of winning Grand Slams and making finals.

It didn’t come easy.

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“I basically just did everything, you know,” he recalled. “I would be on the running track. I’d be in the gym, lifting weights, I’d be doing core sessions, I’d be doing hot yoga, I’d be doing sprint work, speed work, just chucking everything at myself.”

He paid a price for that, putting so much stress on his hip that he had to undergo resurfacing surgery in 2019. Doctors told him he’d be lucky to be able to hit tennis balls with his children one day. He turned those words into a challenge to prove them as wrong as he possibly could, rising to 36th in the world last summer. 

He relished being a kind of guinea pig, one of the first top athletes to test the limits of a hip made largely of metal.

Murray’s hip first derailed him, then became one of the symbols of his career. (Ashley Western / CameraSport via Getty Images)

“No one really knows where that limit is,” he said.

“I want to see what that is.”

All of that, though, was just the competitive contrarian in him, which extended to his off-court empathy for subjects and people that the sport can relegate or try to avoid.

Male tennis players have never shown all that much respect for the women’s game. Murray talked it up and hired a female coach, Amelie Mauresmo.

They also rarely speak ill of their fellow players, or support any action that might cause much discomfort to one of them. Murray was among the first to criticize the ATP Tour for dragging its feet for months before announcing it would investigate domestic abuse allegations against Alexander Zverev. The German settled a case involving charges brought by his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child out of court, during the French Open.

Murray bought a condo in Miami and studied the training and business habits of NBA players to see what he could learn from them. When he didn’t like how management companies treated athletes, he opened his own shop. He bought an old deteriorating hotel in Scotland where his family had celebrated weddings and other important moments, even though advisors told him it was a terrible idea. He and his wife, Kim, have turned it into a luxury destination. He collects art.

Murray joins Kim and his team at Wimbledon after winning it, finally, in 2013. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

 So, of course he was never going to leave the tennis court when everyone else started planning his retirement. Of course he was going to do it his way, trying to wring every last chance he may or may not have had for glory out of his body, and that new Yonex racket he tried earlier this year, which led him to Gilbert in Miami at 4 am.

He would not just acquiesce, even attempting to return from back surgery on a spinal cyst in time for one last singles match on Centre Court that he would likely lose. There is a reason Murray holds the record for coming back from two sets down, overcoming that deficit 11 times, that last one at the 2023 Australian Open, when he played for ​​five hours and 45 minutes and beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-5 just after that magic time, 4 am.

After some 30 years of going about life and tennis that way, old habits die hard.

Murray knew the end would come eventually.

Taking on conventional wisdom is one thing. Beating time and ageing is an altogether different animal. Murray just had to give it his best fight, which was the easiest part of the hardest thing, because he’s never known any other way. 

(Top photos: Joe Toth/AELTC Pool, Simon Bruty/Anychance / Getty Images; Design: Dan Goldfarb for The Athletic)

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The news that Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the French Open with a torn meniscus was one of those moments at Roland Garros where the gasps were audible.

It wasn’t a huge shock given Djokovic said he was unsure if he would play his quarterfinal after picking up the injury in a fourth-round win over Francisco Cerundolo. Still, to lose the world No. 1 and defending champion in this manner is huge.

But what are the implications of Djokovic’s withdrawal — for him, the event, and the sport in general?

What it means for Novak Djokovic

What is Djokovic’s injury?

Djokovic withdrew from the French Open on Tuesday with a tear in the medial meniscus of his right knee. The meniscus is a semicircle of cartilage that sits on the inside half of the knee joint. It’s an extremely common injury among active adults, especially middle-aged men, and can bring varying amounts of pain.

In tennis players, especially over a long playing career, it’s more likely that any tear will be a slow degeneration that gets aggravated rather than a sudden, acute tear. Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are among the players who have had surgery on a torn meniscus in the last few years while in their mid-30s, even if the former was a freak injury while running the bath for his kids.

Recovery does not always involve surgery. Some people opt to avoid surgery – which can produce long-term complications like scarring and arthritis – and recover with physical therapy by building up the muscles around the knee. Whether that is an option can depend on the severity of the tear, and even if it’s not, the type of surgery also depends on the severity of the damage, whether acute or built up over time.

American No. 1 Taylor Fritz played at Wimbledon 23 days after an operation on a meniscus injury, but that was treated with a debridement, which trims the damaged section of the meniscus. If Djokovic’s injury is too severe for that, a full repair using stitches will be required, which extends the recovery time into months.

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Novak Djokovic withdraws from French Open with knee injury

What are Djokovic and his team saying about his injury?

Not much. The team was still absorbing the diagnosis and the reality of Djokovic not being able to continue defending his title on Tuesday evening and there was no immediate decision about whether he would undergo surgery.

There is lingering anger over the decision by tournament organisers not to listen to Djokovic’s warnings that the courts were becoming dangerously slippery because of the constant rain during the past week and then the quick shift to dry conditions Saturday night and Monday afternoon when he played.

About an hour after the tournament announced the withdrawal, Djokovic posted on Instagram confirming the nature of the injury and added: “My team and I had to make a tough decision after careful consideration and consultation.”

When will Djokovic return to tennis?

It’s too early to tell. Meniscus tears vary in severity. Needless to say, if Djokovic does appear at Wimbledon on July 1, he likely will not be as formidable a force as he has been for more than a decade when he has solidified his position as the world’s best grass-court player.

After Wimbledon, the tennis world’s focus turns to the Olympics at the end of July, where Djokovic will be desperate to win a first-ever gold medal at the Games.

What it means for the French Open

What does this mean for the French Open draw?

Djokovic’s withdrawal blows the top half of the draw wide open. Casper Ruud, the runner-up for the past two years, has a bye to the semifinals, where he will play the winner of the quarterfinal between Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur. Zverev is looking to reach a fourth straight Roland Garros semifinal, while de Minaur had never gone beyond the second round here until this year.

What does this mean for tennis more widely?

Whatever happens, there will be a new winner of this event for the first time since 2016, when Djokovic won his first title. Djokovic’s withdrawal also extends his difficult start to the year, where he is yet to reach a final. It’s the first time since 2018 that he has entered both of the first two Grand Slams of the year and won neither.

It also means a new ATP Tour world No. 1, with Jannik Sinner guaranteed to take that spot come Monday, June 10, achieving the milestone for the first time in his career.

Djokovic’s ranking position may tumble further. He has 1,200 points to defend at Wimbledon, 1,000 at Cincinnati, and 2,000 at the U.S. Open, making for a total of 4,200. Should he not be able to compete at those events, he will lose all his points from them (in addition to the 1,600 points coming off on Monday after his relatively early exit here), and his ranking would be down at around No. 8 in the world.

He would then be touch and go to even make November’s ATP Finals for the top-eight players of the year and in line for his worst year-end ranking since he finished just outside the top 10 in 2017 after an injury-ravaged season.

Two-time losing finalist Casper Ruud is straight into the semifinals (Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images)

What does this mean for the French Open organisers?

Djokovic pulling out is a nightmare for the French Tennis Federation (FFT).

He blamed the tournament and “very slippery” court for his injury on Monday and said his team would be speaking to the relevant event staff. The strength of feeling from the Djokovic camp was still there on Tuesday.

Djokovic’s exit also dramatically increases the chances of Zverev being crowned the champion on Sunday. Zverev, the No. 4 seed, is defending himself in a court hearing in Berlin over allegations that he abused a former girlfriend during an argument in 2020.

In October, the Berlin criminal court issued a penalty order, fining him €450,000 ($489,000; £384,000) in connection with the charges from Brenda Patea, a model and social media personality who is the mother of his daughter. Zverev denies the charges. In Germany, a prosecutor can seek a penalty order on cases it considers simple because there is compelling evidence that it should not require a trial.

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Alexander Zverev is a French Open favorite – while his domestic abuse hearing begins

The defendant has a right to contest the order, which Zverev has done. On Friday, the court hearing began in Berlin, which Zverev did not have to attend. It continued on Monday, with Patea’s testimony given behind closed doors, and will carry on during a series of non-consecutive dates this month and next.

Unlike other league sports, the ATP Tour and tennis in general do not have a formal policy on domestic abuse. Zverev winning one of the biggest prizes in the sport would be an extremely uncomfortable situation for the tournament and the sport as a whole.

What do the players think?

Taking a quarterfinal off the schedule doesn’t really do much good for anyone. For Ruud himself, it means a potentially rhythm-disrupting three days off, while for spectators with day tickets for Wednesday, it means they are a singles match short. For Zverev and de Minaur, whoever advances to face Ruud may perceive themselves to be at a disadvantage. A withdrawal at this stage of the tournament — similar to the semifinal withdrawal of Rafael Nadal from Wimbledon in 2022 — immediately invites questions over sporting integrity.

One solution would be for Cerundolo, the man Djokovic beat, to be reinstated. The “lucky loser” already exists in tennis: players who lose in qualifying before main draws begin can stick around at the tournament venue and still enter the event if a player in the first round withdraws.

This concept hasn’t been applied to the actual tournaments. When asked about the possibility, semifinalist Sinner made the argument that is most often presented in opposition: “He lost already, no?”

Although reinstating the 23rd seed would bring back a match for spectators, and it would be hard to argue that Cerundolo would not be a deserving winner if he got through three elite players, it’s an imperfect solution. Djokovic, despite his injury, beat him fair and square to pick up the ranking points and prize money attached. In tennis, these are the breaks.

(Top photo: Ibrahim Ezzat / NurPhoto via Getty Images)