Former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick pulled out of the French Open on Thursday after failing to recover from right shoulder injuries.
Ferrero, champion at Roland Garros in 2003 and runner-up in 2002, has played only five matches this year. He’s ranked 72nd.
Roddick, who beat Ferrero in the 2003 US Open final, pulled out of the Italian Open doubles final last weekend and this week’s Open de Nice to give himself a chance of recovering in time for Roland Garros, which starts tomorrow.
Roddick, ranked 11th, has lost his last four singles since mid-March.
His best result at Roland Garros was the fourth round in 2009.
Organizers also said that 78th-ranked Richard Berankis of Lithuania pulled out because of a hip injury. All three men will be replaced in the field by a player who lost in qualifying.
Meanwhile, the defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal heaped the pressure onto Novak Djokovic’s shoulders on Thursday by insisting that the undefeated Serb is the favorite to win Roland Garros.
World No. 2 Djokovic has won all 37 matches he has played this year and has defeated Nadal in the season’s four Masters finals, including on clay in Madrid and Rome.
“I think he is the great favorite. He hasn’t lost a match since the start of the year and he’s playing in an incredible way,” five-time French Open champion and world No. 1 Nadal said on a visit to the Champs Elysees. “I do not fear Djokovic, but you have to applaud his success since the beginning of the year. This will be very difficult to repeat. I admire what he has done.”
Nadal also warned that his great rival Roger Federer, the 2009 champion and 16-time major winner, should not be ruled out as a contender when Roland Garros gets underway tomorrow.
“The Grand Slams are his specialty,” said the Spaniard, who is one title away from equaling Bjorn Borg’s record of six wins in Paris.
“I am always motivated and impatient to get my first match started,” Nadal said. “There has been a lot of talk about the Borg record, but I am only thinking about winning the tournament. The record will be a consequence of that. I can think about it afterwards.”
Nadal practiced for the first time on Thursday at the Suzanne Lenglen Court at Roland Garros.
“I played for about two hours, but it’s too early to tell what the conditions are like. The balls seemed to bounce a little higher, but it’ll take me a few more hours to know more,” he said.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
RSS