Injury scare for Djokovic at Hopman Cup

Updated December 31, 2012 20:23:54

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic suffered an injury scare at the Hopman Cup when the world number one hurt his leg as fans pushed towards him while he signed autographs.

Djokovic had wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi at Perth Arena when the incident happened.

The Serbian left his racquets and bag on the court and limped straight up the players tunnel to receive a medical assessment in the locker room.

He was unable to complete a television interview he had agreed to after his victory over Seppi.

Djokovic only arrived in Perth from Abu Dhabi late on Sunday and says he was troubled by jet lag.

"I felt this morning that I was dream-walking," he said. "I broke the ice after the first set and started to feel better."

Serbia held an unassailable 2-0 following Djokovic's win and he later returned to the court to partner Ana Ivanovic in the dead mixed doubles rubber, where they lost 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to Seppi and Francesca Schiavone.

Earlier, Ivanovic had begun the day by beating Schiavone 6-0, 6-4.

Djokovic is taking part in the mixed teams event to be guaranteed at least three matches in his build-up to the Australian Open, which begins on January 14.

Reuters

Tags: tennis, sport, perth-6000

First posted December 31, 2012 17:43:15

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Top seed Azarenka survives French Open scare

Updated May 29, 2012 06:45:14

Victoria Azarenka battled back from a set and 4-0 down to defeat Italy's Alberta Brianti on Monday and avoid becoming the first top seed in history to be knocked out in the French Open first round.

World number one Azarenka won 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2 and will face German qualifier Dinah Pfizenmaier for a place in the last 32, but she flirted with disaster for much of her two-hour, 16-minute battle on Philippe Chatrier Court.

The 32-year-old Brianti, who had never won a match in four previous main draw appearances at Roland Garros, was left to regret squandering a break point in the fifth game of the second set.

She was on the verge of a 5-0 lead when Azarenka sent down a second serve ace to stay in contention, the point proving to be the significant moment in the match.

Azarenka, who won her first major tournament at the Australian Open this year, came into Roland Garros nursing a shoulder injury which had forced her to pull out of the Italian Open two weeks ago.

And it appeared that she was heading for a shock exit until she reeled of 12 of the last 14 games as Brianti ran out of steam.

The 22-year-old Azarenka, twice a quarter-finalist in Paris, ended the match having committed 60 unforced errors and serving up six double faults.

"I started well but my game just collapsed," admitted 22-year-old Azarenka.

"I tried to stay concentrated but I don't know how I got out of it.

"The important thing in that really miserable moment, I stayed strong and I just went for my shots."

Defending champion Li Na of China advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Romania's Sorana Cirstea, a quarter-finalist in 2009.

"I'll just try my best," Li said, when asked to rate her chances of a successful defence.

"It's tough for me to stay at the same level all the time."

Li will face France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon for a place in the last 32.

Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska took just 49 minutes to wrap up a 6-1, 6-0 win over Serbia's Bojana Jovanovksi and will take on Venus Williams for a place in the last 32.

French eighth seed Marion Bartoli also went through, beating Czech qualifier Karolina Plizkova 6-3, 6-3.

Vera Zvonareva, the 11th seeded Russian, withdrew with a right shoulder injury while German 12th seed Sabine Lisicki slumped to a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to America's Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The United States already have 10 women in the second round, their best performance since 2003.

The other big seed to fall was Italy's 17th seed Roberta Vinci who was defeated 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 by Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

German Mona Barthel (30) and Romanian Monica Niculescu (32) also lost in the first round but Dominika Cibulkova (15), Flavia Pennetta (18) and Jelena Jankovic (19) all advanced.

AFP

Tags: tennis, sport, france

First posted May 28, 2012 22:06:38

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Nadal survives big injury scare

Updated January 17, 2012 07:00:32

Rafael Nadal has revealed his Australian Open bid was nearly over before it started after he suffered crippling pain in his troublesome right knee on the eve of his first match.

Nadal, who brushed aside America's Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the second round, said he had been fit leading up to the grand slam but was hit by the worst knee pain he had ever experienced on Sunday.

The Spanish world number two was only able to take to the court for his early evening match after intensive treatment including physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory drugs.

"I had a fantastic week of practice with nothing of pain, not one bad feeling on the knee and not one place on my body. So I was really, really happy with everything," said Nadal, who played with the knee heavily strapped.

"But yesterday afternoon the most strange thing ever to happened to me. I was sitting on a chair in the hotel. I felt like a crack on the knee, but is nothing really strange. Happens a lot of time with articulation, movement.

"I stand up. I felt the knee was a little bit strange. I moved the leg like this two times to try to find the feeling.

"After the second time, the knee stays with an unbelievable pain completely straight. I really couldn't move the knee like this. I have no movement on the knee."

The 2009 champion said he then spent a "hard afternoon" doing an ultrasound at Melbourne Park and an MRI scan at a hospital, but the tests came up clear.

"Seriously, yesterday during the evening I wasn't 100 per cent sure I would have the chance to play, because with the movement of that knee I felt that I will not be able to play," he said.

"I did a lot of treatment. The MRI was positive. Nothing wrong shows the MRI. So that's always a lot of calm. But still the knee, you know, with the pain."

Nadal, who believed the tendon may have been pinched, said he achieved full movement in his knee late on Saturday after a lot of work on it but was still in pain.

"I wake up today (Monday) morning with a little bit better feeling. I did all the treatment. I was all the day doing the treatment.

"I started the match with a little bit of a scare at the beginning, and nervous because I was really disappointed yesterday. But, you know, after the first 10 games... I started to play with normal conditions.

"The best thing is I felt the knee very well." He added he was upbeat about his fitness for the rest of the tournament.

"I was much more scared about the first match than the rest, because today now I have 48 hours to the next match.

"So I am really confident that having the worst feeling that I ever had in my knee yesterday and today was able to play. I have fantastic hope that's going to happen the same for after tomorrow."

The injury scare will also send shivers down the spines of Open organisers who have lost the marquee player to injury in the quarter-finals of the past two tournaments at Melbourne Park.

Nadal suffered tendonitis in both knees for several months in 2009 and was forced to miss Wimbledon.

He will meet Tommy Haas in the second round after the German beat American qualifier Denis Kudla 7-6, 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Nadal's uncompromising style is sometimes blamed for his injury problems, and he complained this week that the demands of tennis could leave him in poor physical condition by the end of his career.

"He (Roger Federer) finishes his career like a rose because he has a privileged physique. But neither (Andy) Murray, nor (Novak) Djokovic nor I will finish fresh as a rose," he told Spanish media.

The Spaniard claimed the Australian Open title in 2009 but was forced to retire hurt against Andy Murray in 2010 and was hampered by a left adductor injury in his quarter-final defeat to David Ferrer last year.

AFP/Reuters

Tags: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted January 17, 2012 06:46:25

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Nadal powers on, Murray in injury scare

Posted May 28, 2011 23:27:00

Top seed Rafael Nadal and fourth seed Andy Murray both reached the last 16 of the French Open on Saturday but while the Spaniard hardly broke sweat, Murray finished with a damaged right ankle.

The 24-year-old Scot had been coasting along at 6-2, 2-1 and deuce on German Michael Berrer's serve when he jarred his right ankle badly trying to run down a drop shot.

Murray won the point, but he hopped about in agony and then collapsed onto his back in the red dirt of the Suzanne Lenglen showcourt.

After taking painkillers and having the ankle strapped at a medical time-out, Murray resumed to clinch the break and lead 3-1.

But clearly still in some discomfort, he then dropped serve for the first time in the match and screamed out his frustrations at his coaching staff in the tribunes.

Limping between rallies and looking distraught, Murray somehow dug in to break the Berrer serve again and then held his own comfortably enough to lead 5-2.

Murray took the set 6-3 to go two sets up, but he still looked in some discomfort and requested another medical time-out from the umpire at the next change of ends.

Another break in his favour gave him the perfect start to the third set and he then won the next three games to go 4-0 up.

Murray duly wrapped up a third straight straight sets win but there will be serious doubts about his fitness ahead of his fourth tie against Serbian Davis Cup hero Viktor Troicki on Monday.

The 15th seeded Troicki saw off Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last 16 of a major event for the first time.

Nadal made it through to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 win over Croatian qualifier Antonio Veic in a centre-court mismatch.

It was the Spaniard's 41st win at Roland Garros against just the one defeat since he made his debut in 2005, but such was the paucity of the opposition that the win will answer few questions about his actual form.

His next opponent will be either compatriot Fernando Verdasco, against whom he has a 11-0 win-loss record, or Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic, who were in action on Court 1 later Saturday.

Nadal had admitted he was struggling to find his best form after two uncustomary tough opening rounds against giant American John Isner, who took him to five sets, and Spanish compatriot Pablo Andujar.

But he wasted no time in getting on top of Veic, the world number 227, who made it through the qualifiers and then scored a five sets win over Russia's Nikolay Davydenko to reach the third round in what was just his second major event.

The five-times defending champion smoothly moved 4-0 ahead before Veic got off the mark but the first set was pocketed by the Spaniard 6-2 in just 26 minutes.

Veic put up some resistance at the start of the second and had a break point but Nadal erased that with a big crosscourt forehand after a bruising rally.

That was about as good as it got for the Croatian who found himself overpowered by the five-times champion for the remainder of a one-sided contest.

- AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, france

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Nadal survives French Open scare

Updated May 25, 2011 13:22:00

Defending champion Rafael Nadal risked a shock French Open elimination against big-serving American John Isner before prevailing in five sets to reach the second round.

Bidding for a record-equalling sixth Roland Garros crown, an off-colour Nadal had to fight back from a one-set deficit to win 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-4 in a four hour, five minute thriller on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"Tres, tres difficile!" said Nadal in an on-court interview, after a victory he greeted by leaping off his feet and punching the air.

"He was a very, very tough opponent. His serve is almost unstoppable at times, so I just want to congratulate him for this fantastic match.

"It's important to go through these difficult moments. I would prefer to win in three sets but I'm trying to be positive so maybe that can help me in the future."

Nadal went through last year's tournament without dropping a set and had never lost a set in the Roland Garros first round, but he found himself 2-1 behind after being undone by Isner's booming serve in consecutive tie-breaks.

Isner took a 5-2 lead in the first tie-break and when a wayward return from Nadal gifted the American four set points, Isner grabbed the opportunity to level the match with a lusty serve that left the champion floundering.

The 24-year-old was not patrolling the clay with anything like his usual authority and two spurned set points in the third set allowed Isner to drag him into another tie-break.

Once again, Isner assembled a 5-2 lead and when Nadal needlessly netted a backhand the American pounced, slamming home a forehand return to take the set.

Isner proved his stamina by outlasting France's Nicolas Mahut in a world record 11 hour and five minutes marathon at Wimbledon last year, but Nadal closed the door on an upset by asserting control of the fourth set.

With a packed central court scenting an upset, Nadal dug deep to level the match and then procured the single break of serve he needed in the decider to take his place in the second round where he faces Pablo Andujar.

Murray cruises

British fourth seed Andy Murray comfortably moved into the second round by dispatching stylish French qualifier Eric Prodon 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

He will play Italy's Simone Bolelli for a place in the last 32.

"It was a tough match," said Murray, whose best Roland Garros performance was a quarter-final showing two years ago.

"There was no rhythm to the match at all. He didn't want to have long rallies so he hit a lot of drop shots and changed the pace of the ball."

Fifth seed Robin Soderling, runner-up for the last two years, overcame a second-set wobble to defeat American lucky loser Ryan Harrison 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 and set up an encounter with Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.

Austrian eighth seed Jurgen Melzer, a losing semi-finalist last year, beat Germany lucky loser Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, but there was a shock defeat for 11th-seeded claycourt specialist Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Almagro has won three claycourt titles this year and reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals on two occasions, but he came a cropper in a 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 defeat by Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot.

"He's a very aggressive player and he hit the ball well today," Almagro said.

"I started the match well, won the first two sets but then lost the tie-break. I served for the match in the fourth set. Nothing to do.

"He was better than me and in the end, he beat me."

Kubot, who had never won at the French Open before, prevailed in three hours and 50 minutes and will now meet Carlos Berlocq of Argentina.

Rising Ukrainian star Oleksandr Dolgopolov, the 21st seed, 20th-seeded German Florian Mayer and America's Sam Querrey, the number 24 seed, also came through their first-round ties.

- AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, france

First posted May 25, 2011 06:00:00

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Bartoli in French Open injury scare

Posted May 22, 2011 10:20:00

Top French hope Marion Bartoli had an injury scare ahead of the French Open on Saturday when she was forced to abandon in the final of the Strasbourg Open with a painful left thigh.

The top-seeded Bartoli was trailing 6-4, 1-0 against Germany's Andrea Petkovic when she decided not to play on, having earlier called for a medical time-out at 5-4 down in the first set.

Seeded 11th for Roland Garros, the top-ranking French player is due to play Georgia's Anna Tatishvili in the first round of the French Open on Monday.

"It's really disappointing because I had been playing well but then the pain rapidly started to get worse," she said.

"It's awful, but you just have to accept it. I've got one and a half days to recover. We will see how the pain develops. Time to pray for a miracle."

- AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, france

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