Osaka won’t play at Wimbledon, citing injury
Naomi Osaka pulled out of Wimbledon on Saturday, citing a lingering problem with her left Achilles tendon and marking the second consecutive year she’s decided to sit out the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
The four-time major champion and former No. 1-ranked player posted a photo of herself on a grass court and wrote on Twitter: “my Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time.”
Osaka has not played an official match since losing in the first round of the French Open to Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-4 on May 24. During that match, for which she said she took a painkiller, Osaka tried to stretch her tendon by tugging on the toe of her shoe at changeovers and squatting to flex her lower leg between points.
After that defeat, Osaka said she was leaning toward missing Wimbledon because the professional tennis tours aren’t ranking points awarded — a response to the All England Club’s decision to bar all players from Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine.
“I’m not sure why, but I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way. Whenever I think something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%,” Osaka said then. “I didn’t even make my decision yet, but I’m leaning more towards not playing, given the current circumstances.”
Eugenie Bouchard, who was the runner-up at the All England Club in 2014, announced Friday on social media that she would not play at Wimbledon because there are no ranking points available. Bouchard is working her way back from surgery
on her right shoulder.
Osaka did not play at Wimbledon a year ago as part of a mental health break she took after pulling out of the French Open before her second-round match.
She has not won a match at the All England Club since getting to the third round in 2018. Osaka lost in the first round of Wimbledon in 2019, and the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Top-ranked Medvedev reaches Halle final with win over Otte
HALLE, GERMANY » Back-toback finals in grass-court tournaments would seem an ideal Wimbledon warm-up for most players. But Daniil Medvedev can’t play at the All England Club this season.
The top-ranked Medvedev beat Oscar Otte 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Saturday to advance to the final of the Halle Open, a week after he was runner-up at ‘sHertogenbosch. Otte had set point at 5-3 up in the first set
but Medvedev broke back before forcing the tiebreaker.
The 26-year-old Russian will play either Nick Kyrgios or Hubert Hurkacz in Sunday’s final.
Wimbledon starts June 27 without Medvedev or any other players from Russia and its ally Belarus. Wimbledon’s decision to impose the ban over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine broke with the other Grand Slams and with the men’s and women’s tours, which won’t award ranking points for the grasscourt major.
Bencic reaches Berlin Open final with win over Sakkari
BERLIN » Belinda Bencic is back in the final of the Berlin Open for the second straight year in her quest for a first grass-court title in seven years after a hard-fought win over Maria Sakkari on Saturday.
Bencic will play either French Open finalist Coco Gauff or top-seeded Ons Jabeur
in Sunday’s final.
Playing amid a sweltering heat wave in the German capital, Bencic needed more than three hours to beat secondseeded Sakkari 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 in their semifinal match.
Bencic had set point in the first-set tiebreaker before her Greek opponent won the next three points to take the set.
Defending champ Berrettini reaches final at Queen’s Club
LONDON » Matteo Berrettini was unfazed by a rain delay in beating Botic van de Zandschulp on Saturday to reach the Queen’s Club final for a second straight year and deftly handled a marriage proposal.
The defending champion beat Van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to eight games.
During his on-court interview, the second-seeded Italian was propositioned from someone in the crowd.
“Let me think about it,” a smiling Berrettini responded.
Berrettini has won 19 of his last 20 grass-court matches with the only loss coming to Novak Djokovic in last year’s Wimbledon final.
He will play Filip Krajinovic of Serbia or Marin Cilic, the two-time champion from Croatia, in Sunday’s final.
The Italian hasn’t lost since his return to competitive play after three months out with a hand injury. He beat Andy Murray in Stuttgart last week to claim his third grass-court title.
Gasly to return to AlphaTauri as F1 “silly season” begins
MONTREAL » Pierre Gasly is “100% confirmed” to return to AlphaTauri next season, and teams believe Oscar Piastri is ready for a promotion into a Formula One seat.
But Williams expects its lineup to remain unchanged through the end of the year — great news, if true, for Nicholas Latifi — and McLaren boss Zak Brown said his relationship with embattled driver Daniel Ricciardo has never been better.
All that was revealed Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth event on this year’s calendar and a solid six weeks before F1’s “silly season” of driver movement is expected to hit full swing.
Speculation has swirled since last month when Brown publicly put Ricciardo on notice to pick up his performance with McLaren. Although the Australian has a contract that runs through 2023, Brown revealed there are “mechanisms” for McLaren to end the deal early.
But as the series returned to Canada for the first time since 2019, Toronto native Latifi has admitted that his seat with Williams is not secure. There have been suggestions Latifi could be replaced after Sunday’s race by Piastri, the reigning F2 champion. Piastri has a oneyear deal with Alpine as the reserve and test driver, but the team had promised to help him find an F1 seat for 2023.
Alpine principal Otmar Szafnauer said “yes” when asked if Piastri was ready for the promotion, but said he had no information beyond the speculation swirling through the paddock that the Australian was set to replace Latifi.
Verstappen edges Alonso to win pole for Canadian Grand Prix
MONTREAL » Max Verstappen overcame slick conditions to win his second pole of the season, and Fernando Alonso used the wet track to earn his first front row start in a decade in rainy qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Saturday run for Verstappen, the reigning Formula One champion and current points leader, was no surprise even though its the Dutchman’s first career pole at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Instead, it was 40-yearold Alonso who brought the crowd to its feet with a thrilling run to qualify second. He jumped ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton as time expired and drew a rousing ovation from the rain-soaked spectators.
“It is an unbelievable weekend so far for us,” said the Alpine driver. “The car was mega. I was so comfortable driving this car, and the fans pushed me to make an extra push.”
But can he convert it into his first F1 victory since 2013 on Sunday, when weather conditions are expected to be greatly improved and the track dry?