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Coco Gauff had more free time at Wimbledon this year than she ever had thanks to a surprising defeat, her inaugural first-round exit at the tournament since the 19-year-old burst onto the scene at the All England Club in 2019. She lost to Sofia Kenin, a former Grand Slam champion working her way back up the rankings; made it to the third round in doubles; then spent a good chunk of her unexpectedly light schedule screaming support for good friend Chris Eubanks from the stands.

Coco Gauff

As for her singles match, she and her new coach, Pere Riba, had dissected the loss and set it aside within 48 hours. When she arrived home in Delray Beach, Fla., there were just a few days to spend time relaxing with extended family and little tennis talk to be heard.

“Then, honestly, got back to training,” Gauff said. “After a Grand Slam, people think you get, like, a couple weeks off, but it’s really just more like a couple days.”

Gauff is well accustomed to the relentless rhythm of the WTA Tour by now, four years after her surprise run to Wimbledon’s fourth round jump-started her professional life. She found time Sunday for a phone interview hours ahead of a win over 2021 U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in a jubilant — and sweaty — exhibition match in Atlanta before traveling to Washington, where she will help headline the revamped women’s event at the DC Open.

coco guaff

The tournament was elevated this year from a WTA 250 to a WTA 500-level event, meaning more rankings points and more prize money are at stake for the women, while the men’s event remains an ATP 500-level tournament.

Main-draw play begins Monday at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center. And Gauff, ranked seventh in the world, will be focused on the game plan she and Riba have put in place during their short time together as she begins preparation for a hard-court swing that peaks at the U.S. Open in August.

The pair had met only over Zoom before deciding to work together ahead of a Wimbledon tuneup tournament in late June. Gauff, whose father, Corey, also remains a constant coaching presence on her team, was in between coaches following the Miami Open this spring and instantly connected with Riba, a 35-year-old former top-100 men’s player from Spain.

“He used to play on tour not too long ago. He’s pretty young for a coach, and he has a great personality. You have to travel with this person. You see them more than your family — you want to make sure you get along on and off the court,” Gauff said, laughing. “We’re working together right now through the U.S. Open, and obviously if things go well, we’ll continue after.”

One of their priorities is transforming Gauff’s forehand from a defensive bailout shot to an offensive asset.

At Wimbledon, Kenin picked on Gauff’s weak side throughout their match, going after her Western-grip forehand — in which her palm is turned skyward under her racket at the point of contact, creating heavy topspin — and waiting for Gauff to make an error.

Her modus operandi going forward is centered on aggression. It’s a style of play that brought her success against some of the tour’s top-ranked players, including No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, against whom Gauff owns a 3-2 record, and No. 3 Elena Rybakina, against whom she won a memorably tight three-set match in Toronto last year. Gauff said she is placing her focus on her serve and the first shot of a rally.

“I should be playing that aggressive style, focusing on my serve plus one,” Gauff said, referring to the first two shots of a point. “There are times I’ve served 126 miles per hour, and I think for me, you know, I’m not going to hit 126 every time. But I definitely want to increase my first-serve speed average. It’s not that I can’t get there; it’s that sometimes I need to trust in it. So it’s committing on the serve every single point.”

Gauff is aiming to bring a similar ferocity to the mental side of her game. Positivity is key there. Gauff is hardly a storm cloud of intensity and dourness on the court, but she would like to adapt a better mind-set about her in-match performance and her achievements over the course of the season. She struggles on occasion to keep her performances at Grand Slams from overshadowing incremental progress or smaller titles won throughout the year.

“Even last year, I made the finals of the French Open, and it felt like I had a bad tournament,” Gauff said of her 6-1, 6-3 loss to Iga Swiatek. “Immediately after, I was like, ‘That tournament was bad.’ Because you get so close to your goal, it just makes it feel even worse when it doesn’t happen. I think it’s just finding the balance — it’s still something that I struggle with, trying not to base all my success on the Grand Slams. But, you know, when those are your biggest goals, it’s hard not to.”

Gauff’s solution going forward is to concentrate on style rather than results, especially at the start of tournaments against lower-ranked players when she can escape with a win without playing her best. “Thinking about the way I’m playing is going to do better for me in the long run than thinking about whether I lose or win,” she said.

Serena Williams, a Tennis pro, showcased her baby bump in a workout video she shared on social media. Serena was wearing a pink crop top as she showed off her pregnancy workout.

The 41-year-old retired tennis star looked phenomenal as she recorded the video for her YouTube channel.

Serena paired her pink crop top with black leggings and purple trainers and she seemed to be in high spirits as she worked out in her home gym. Serena often shares updates and details of her routine with her 16.8 million Instagram followers.

serena williams

The video shared on her YouTube channel also featured her daughter, five-year-old Olympia, joining her mum as Serena worked out, reports Dailymail.

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The four-time Olympic Gold Medalist began with stretching exercises and then she went on to train her bottom, legs and arms with a range of exercises. She also did some exercises to strengthen her core on a light pink yoga mat.

Serena also showcased some of the breathing exercises and meditation that help in keeping composure.

The former tennis pro is expecting her second child with husband Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit.

Serena and Alexis publicly announced about expecting a new member to their family this past May ahead of their appearance at Met Gala 2023.

However, the couple has remained tight-lipped about the due date and gender of their upcoming child.

 

A former ATP professional has rubbished the comparison between Carlos Alcaraz’s win over Novak Djokovic and the one achieved by Roger Federer over Pete Sampras in 2001.

Federer’s win is a clear changing of the guard moment for tennis but Robbie Koenig doesn’t feel that Alcaraz has assumed the mantle of dominator of Wimbledon or tennis as a whole just yet.

Koenig feels that Djokovic is far from done and Alcaraz won’t have things all his own way just yet either.

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He would add that Alcaraz also did not achieve the same kind of dominance in beating Djokovic that Federer did when he blew past Sampras to deny him another title.

While Sampras would go on to win one more Grand Slam after that loss to Federer it became clear that his time as king of tennis was clearly over.

Koenig doesn’t believe that the same is true of Djokovic at this stage.

“[A] couple of commentators here were talking about the Federer-Sampras match being similar to that,” Koenig told the Tennis Channel.

“It’s not similar at all.

“Djokovic has won two majors here by the way and Alcaraz has just and only just sneaked out this one

“He’s [Djokovic] has such a disrupted last couple of years that, if he’s going to be in full flow and play the schedule he wants for the next three or four years he’s going to be challenging at the shop.

“I mean look how easily cruised through the draw at Wimbledon.

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“But there’s definitely no passing of the torch I don’t even think it’s remotely comparable to the Sampras-Federer match that everybody was talking about.”

Koenig is not willing to go out on a limb as to how many Grand Slams Alcaraz will end up with but believes he is more than capable of notching 15 or so if things go well for the Spaniard.

He feels that Alcaraz might have to guard against complacency to get the most from his career.

“If Carlos Alcaraz plays until he is 33. So, he has got 13 years. Let’s just say he plays for 12 more years, that is 48 more slams.

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“And if he doesn’t get too full of himself, I would say 15.”

“That is if he doesn’t think he doesn’t have to go out and work hard and it’s gonna come easy.

“He needs to continue what he’s doing now and looks like he will.

“He has that passion, that smile, that excitement, and that feel for what he’s doing.”

 

It has been over two years since Emma Raducanu broke onto the tennis scene, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon much to the delight of home fans. The youngster’s run to the US Open title that year catapulted her to worldwide stardom, and her journey has been well documented since.

Amid the frenzied media coverage, however, fans tend to forget that there are aspects of Raducanu’s young career that have hardly been talked about. Taking note of the same, Raducanu’s agent, Max Eisenbud, said her family’s handling of the youngster’s sudden stardom is not talked about enough.

emma racudanu

On the latest episode of The Tennis Podcast, Eisenbud said people often forget that Raducanu was still attending school when she made the second week at Wimbledon.

“I don’t think Emma Raducanu’s family got enough credit for how they handled her. The lead up to Wimbledon and US Open wins. Here’s a girl who never went to a tennis academy who stayed in school, regular school, her whole career all the way,” Max Eisenbud said.

Elaborating, he said that Raducanu had barely played any tennis in the lead-up to the Championships, crediting her parents for being brave in sacrificing her tennis development to ensure that she got an education.

emma racudanu

“I think we all know the story. She barely played leading up to Wimbledon because she was studying,” Max Eisenbud continued.

“I mean, these are like amazing things that I don’t think much of the British media talked about. And I think that’s a shame because I think that was very brave of her parents and her to again, sacrifice her tennis development for education,” he added

Emma Raducanu’s agent Max Eisenbud has praised the 20-year-old and her family for making a unique decision before she went on to win the US Open.

Emma Raducanu’s agent has praised the Brit for staying in school to complete her education before turning to tennis. Max Eisenbud said the 20-year-old and her family didn’t get enough credit for the decision, which he branded a “missed story”

emma raducanu

Raducanu has been sidelined in recent months after undergoing three surgeries in May and will also miss the upcoming US Open, where two years ago she became the first qualifier to win a Major title. It was part of her magical 2021 season, which started with a breakthrough at Wimbledon.

Ranked at No 338 in the world and aged just 18, she made her Grand Slam debut at SW19 just a few weeks after completing her A-Level exams and stormed into the second week. And Raducanu followed that up by lifting the trophy in Flushing Meadows later that summer.

But her agent believes that the beginnings of Raducanu’s story – her decision to stay in formal education until her A-Levels were done – has been missed out among the ongoing coverage of her rise. Speaking to The Tennis Podcast, IMG super-agent Eisenbud said: “One thing I’d like to add about Emma that I think doesn’t get enough.

Emma Raducanu

“I think after she won, I don’t think her family got enough credit for how they handled her [in] the lead-up to Wimbledon and the US Open wins. Here’s a girl who never went to a tennis academy, who stayed in school – regular school – her whole career all the way until the end.”

Eisenbud – who also managed the careers of Maria Sharapova and Li Na – explained just how rare the commitment to education was in professional tennis. “I can’t remember the last Grand Slam champion who didn’t leave school before the age of 14, who was willing to sacrifice her tennis development to make sure she got her education,” he continued.

“I think we all know the story, she barely played leading up to Wimbledon because she was studying for her [A-Levels]. I mean these are like amazing things that I don’t think much of the British media talked about and I think that’s a shame because I think that was very brave of her parents and her to again sacrifice her tennis development for her education.”

Weeks before her Wimbledon debut, Raducanu had completed her education at Newstead Wood – a selective grammar school. Later in the summer, she received her A-Level results, obtaining an A* in maths and an A in economics.

And Raducanu’s agent also thought it was unlikely that another big title winner would follow the same path. He added: “I don’t see that ever happening anywhere. I don’t think there will ever be another Grand Slam champion again that wins after going to regular school. So I think that story was a miss and I think overall though, the British press has done a pretty good job of following her and writing about her.”

Lionel Messi put on a show for his new set of fans when he took to the pitch to make his Inter Miami debut on July 21.

Messi was introduced alongside his former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets in the second half of Miami’s game against Cruz Azul in the League Cup.

With the game evenly poised at one-all, Messi was fouled just outside the area. The Argentine stepped up to take the free kick himself, sending the ball past the wall and inside the back of the net, sending the stadium into a frenzy.

serena williams

Among those who had gathered at the DRV PNK Stadium to watch the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner play was Serena Williams, who is a star in her own right as far as tennis is concerned.

Williams was in Florida alongside NBA legend LeBron James, NFL star Tom Brady, and socialite Kim Kardashian among other stars.

Footage showed Serena Williams shell-shocked after Messi’s freekick went in. The 23-time Grand Slam winner could not believe her eyes as Messi wheeled away in celebration.