the times | Thursday May 26 2022 2GM 71
Sport
university and share accommodation
with friends.
That said, I do think her present
arrangement is working well. I have
watched her train with the LTA’s
technical consultant, Louis Cayer, in
recent weeks and was impressed with
the detailed sessions. Cayer helped
Greg Rusedski in the early part of his
career, has done great work with the
British doubles players and found his
expertise being tapped into by
Murray on occasion. He is an
incredibly knowledgeable figure who
can act as a fatherly figure, and they
seem to have a very good
relationship.
As we memorably saw last year, the
faster grass courts will suit
Raducanu’s aggressive game in the
coming weeks. Everything is there
technically for her. She has got a
great return of serve, moves
beautifully and has no issue bending
her knees to get to the low balls. The
draws should be kind because of her
status as a seeded player and the lack
of ranking points at Wimbledon
ironically may actually help her
because there is no pressure to defend
the 240 points she earned for
reaching the fourth round last year.for her to string victories together
regularly but at least she is still
picking up wins. Take away her run to
the US Open title and her progress
would be considered as quite normal
for a player of 19 years old. But last
year’s momentous achievement
means that we are all expecting so
much from her every time she plays.
Raducanu’s demeanour on court is
generally good but I have noticed a
different pressure-induced expression
on her face compared with New York,
where the smiley teenager was
lapping up a new and fun-filled
experience. Off the court I can only
begin to imagine what her life is like.
When she is not training, she will be
in demand every single moment
between now and Wimbledon.
Encouragingly, she always seems to
have her feet on the ground in terms
of how she is processing it. Never
does she sound as if she is panicking.
In interviews she is great at
articulating how she is trying to cope
with it all, but still there must be so
much going on underneath. Bear in
mind that most young girls her age
are in their first year of university.
Physically there is still work to be
done. It is exhausting trying to
reproduce such a high level every
time you go on the court, something
that is not required on the junior
circuit. Having periods of complete
rest from the sport is so important as
it can be exhausting if you are also
draining your batteries off the court
through meetings with agents,
coaches and sponsors.
Lessons can be learnt from Andy
Murray, who admitted that he wished
he had taken more time out rather
than running himself into the ground,
while Novak Djokovic wisely looks at
his career in blocks of three: rest time,
training time and match time.
Admittedly I have been surprised
with the direction of Raducanu’s
coaching set-up. No one can have
predicted that she would be looking
for a fourth coach in the space of a
year when everything was on an
upward curve with Nigel Sears.
But when you go on the tour, it is a
very different situation to living at
home and training with someone
every morning or afternoon. When
you travel you are living in each
other’s pockets for an enormous
amount of time. With that can come
irritations like any normal teenager
might experience when they go off toAlcaraz avoids early exit
with thrilling fightback
Stuart FraserCarlos Alcaraz kept his hopes of a first
grand-slam title alive with a stunning
second-round comeback that had the
Roland Garros crowd in raptures. The
19-year-old Spaniard saved a match
point and prevailed against his com-
patriot Albert Ramos-Viñolas during
an enthralling four hours and 34 min-
utes on court.
Alcaraz was on the brink of a shock
early exit when he faced match point
against serve at 5-4 down in the fourth
set, and again he looked in trouble
at 3-0 down in the decider. But the
courage that has impressed so many
seasoned observers during his rise to
No 6 in the world was evident again
here as he battled back for a remarkable
6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory.
“I feel tired,” Alcaraz said. “It was a
great battle against Albert. We fought
until the last point.”
Alcaraz was not the only contender toproduce an escape. Alexander Zverev,
the world No 3 from Germany, saved a
match point in his 2-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5
win against Argentina’s Sebastián Báez.
By contrast, Cameron Norrie, the
British No 1, is progressing with little
fuss, defeating Australia’s Jason Kubler
6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Tomorrow he faces Karen
Khachanov, the world No 25 from
Russia, as he attempts to reach the
last 16 of a grand slam for the first time.
Dan Evans, the British No 2, faces
Sweden’s Mikael Ymer today and is ex-
pected to progress given he is ranked 63
places ahead of his opponent at No 32.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
remain on track for a blockbuster quar-
ter-final. Djokovic overcame the awk-
ward scenario of going up against his
former coach Marian Vajda when he
defeated Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 6-2,
6-3, 7-6 (7-4), while Nadal saw off
France’s Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.
6 TV: Dan Evans v Mikael Ymer, live on
Eurosport at approximately 4pmWimbledon won’t be
exhibition – Murray
Stuart Fraser Tennis Correspondent,
ParisAndy Murray has come out in defence
of Wimbledon in the world-ranking
points row by insisting that the
championships “will never feel like an
exhibition”.
After the announcement by the ATP
and WTA on Friday that Wimbledon
will be stripped of points because of the
ban on Russians and Belarusians after
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several
players have referred to the most pres-
tigious tennis tournament in the world
as an “exhibition”. Naomi Osaka, the
former world No 1 and two-times
grand-slam winner, said she was even
considering skipping the event because
of the inability to improve her ranking.
Murray is absent from the French
Open because of his preparations for
the grass-court season but the com-
ments of others have clearly riled him.
He won two of his three grand-slam
titles at Wimbledon, in 2013 and 2016,
and is a full member of the All England
Club. “I follow golf very closely and
have no idea how many ranking points
the winner of the Masters gets,” he
wrote on Twitter. “Me and my friends
love football and none of us know or
care how many ranking points a team
gets for winning the World Cup. But I
could tell you exactly who won the
World Cup and the Masters.
“I’d hazard a guess that most people
watching on Centre Court at Wimble-
don wouldn’t know or care about how
many ranking points a player gets for
winning a third-round match. But I
guarantee they will remember who
wins. Wimbledon will never be an exhi-
bition and will never feel like an exhibi-
tion. The end.”
Murray’s comments come the day
after Martina Navratilova insisted that
she would never have skipped Wimble-
don over a lack of ranking points.
Speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored
on Talk TV, the nine-times Wimbledon
singles champion struggled to under-
stand the position taken by Osaka.
“It is nice if you can walk away from
a potential £2 million payday,” Navratil-
ova said. “I don’t understand the men-
tality. I would like to sit down with her
[Osaka] and tell her about Wimbledon’s
history. I always played for the trophies,
not the points and not the money.”TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLANDThe rankings explained
How do the ATP and WTA world
rankings work?
Players earn points for every match
they win. The number depends on
the category of tournament.
Wimbledon as a grand-slam event
normally offers 45 points for a first-
round victory and 2,000 points for
winning the title.Why are rankings so important?
Seedings for events are based on
rankings, with the top 100 generally
securing a main-draw spot at grand-
slam events.There can also be
financial rewards from sponsors for
players who reach a certain ranking.What does the removal of points
mean for players at Wimbledon?
It is bad news for those who did well
last year. Because the rankings
cover the past 52 weeks, the players
would, normally, be defending the
points they earned at Wimbledon- But the removal of points
means they cannot earn them back.
For example, Novak Djokovic may
retain his title again but will lose
2,000 points from last year.
What does this mean for the state
of the world rankings?
The irony is that Daniil Medvedev, a
Russian who is banned from playing
at Wimbledon because of his
country’s invasion of Ukraine, is
likely to become the world No 1. He
will lose 180 points after reaching
the quarter-finals in 2021.Why is tennis in this mess?
There are seven governing bodies:
the ATP, the WTA, the ITF, the sport’s
governing body, and the four grand-
slam events. The rankings are
owned by the ATP and WTA, and an
agreement is in place with the
grand-slam events for points to be
offered. Sadly there was a
breakdown in diplomacy after
Wimbledon’s decision to refuse
entries from Russia and Belarus, and
the ATP and WTA retaliated by
claiming that the ban compromised
the fairness of the rankings.Raducanu won six of
her 11 matches during
the clay-court season