Ugo Humbert released despite resistance
Holger Rune, 10e world, was too strong for the Frenchman Ugo Humbert (106e) which he eliminated 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) on Saturday at the start of the afternoon at 3e round of the Australian Open to join the Russian Andrey Rublev (6e) in 8e of final. “The third set was very hard, Ugo was serving very well”, underlined the 19-year-old Dane, winner of the Masters 1000 in Paris in November, title candidate in Melbourne and who was almost seriously injured in a fall in the first game of the second set on Saturday. At the end of the race, he twisted his right ankle and hurt his right wrist when he fell. He remained lying down for a moment and then seated on the court, before having his ankle bandaged when he changed sides. He then resumed and finished the match a priori without any real embarrassment. “I was in a bit of pain, but the doctor told me there was nothing so I tried not to notice it”he explained.
Ugo Humbert (24), who held the shock well in the third set, led 4-2 in the tie-break but finally bowed by sending his last forehand into the net.
Opposite, Holger Rune is taking part in his second Australian Open: last year, he lost outright, before reaching the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros, his best result in a Major so far.
Benjamin Bonzi gives in after a good start
The 48e was the last Frenchman able to qualify for the 8es finals of the Australian Open men’s draw, but he was dominated on Saturday mid-afternoon by Alex De Minaur (24e), 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-1. Benjamin Bonzi, who played for the first time in his career at 26 years old a 3e round of the Grand Slam tournament, resisted until the tie-break of the first set which he lost without scoring a single point. Too much in trouble on his faceoff (he had 22 break points to defend and saved 15), committing too many unforced errors (42, double his opponent), he could not upset De Minaur.
It is therefore the Australian who will face Monday for a place in the quarter-finals Novak Djokovic (5e), who struck Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday night (28e).
“For a first, it was fun to play, even if there is no score in the end. There are things to learn from this match”said the Frenchman after his defeat on the Rod Laver court. “I inevitably lose the thread a little after the first set, as long as he gains confidence. He was stronger than me in service too, with more free points. So it becomes complicated […] Casually, the first set lasted an hour and ten minutes, and it leaves traces when it does not fall for you, especially against a guy who plays at home on a big court “he pointed out. “There are a lot of things to learn, it was the first time I won such a long five-set (duel) in the match before”he also noted in reference to his showdown against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno (24e) won in the fifth set super tie-break after losing the first two.
Caroline Garcia let her joy explode after her victory in the 3rd round in Melbourne, on hard surface, on Saturday evening.
the 4e world player overturned a match of the 3rd on Saturday eveninge very bad start to finally beat the German Laura Siegemund (158e) in three rounds, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, and thus reach the 8es final of the Australian Open, where she will be the only French representative.
“She played very well, used my ball speed very well”admitted, about a tough opponent, the 29-year-old Lyonnaise, who will face the Polish Magda Linette (45e) for a place in the quarter-finals.
Unable in the first set (4 winning strokes, 16 unforced errors) to set up her game against a German who succeeded in everything, Caroline Garcia had to wait for the second set on Saturday evening to regain efficiency in the service and thus rebalance the debates and equalize at a set everywhere.
More unforced errors than winners
But Laura Siegemund hung on without ever making it easier for her opponent.
Thus, when “Caro” Garcia made the break to lead 4-3 in the third set, she had to fight to confirm on her own face-off. And it was finally her who concluded on the service by Laura Sigemund on her second match point, and when the German had had three chances to win her game. “The last game sums up the whole game”, estimated Caroline Garcia, who saved a total of six break points out of nine conceded. But she finished with more unforced errors (37) than winners (29), which is never a reassuring indicator. “I didn’t play very well, but I’m very happy with the way I fought,” added the French right-hander, victorious at the end of 2022 from the Masters and who would see herself starting the 2023 season with a success in Grand Slam.
The Australian Major is the one of the four that has been the least successful for her historically: she has only reached 8 there once.es finals (2018) and remained on a defeat in the 1stis round last year.
The Tunisian Ons Jabeur, a young woman of character, is one of the players followed in “Break Point”. Photo: AFP
Just as “Drive to Survive” managed to revitalize Formula 1, the documentary series “Break Point” breathes a breath of fresh air into world tennis, betting on an immersive and fashionable format.
For this first season, there is something to tell. Because a page in the history of the little yellow ball turned in 2022, when Roger Federer and Serena Williams hung up their rackets. Neither will Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic be forever and, with them, their fans are aging. Hence the interest of this new product offered.
On the sidelines of the Australian Open, Netflix launched “Break Point” in mid-January, which bets on immersion alongside promising players to continue to arouse the appetite of sponsors and broadcasters, and open up tennis to a new audience.
“Enriching the experience”
“It is now necessary to provide more content on what is happening behind the scenes and outside” pour “enhancing the fan experience”explained in July the president of the world circuit of tennis (ATP), Andrea Gaudenzi, during a cross interview with his counterpart of Formula 1, Stefano Domenicali.
The format of the docu-series has proven to be a good bet for F1, with the launch of “Drive to Survive” in 2019. Closer to the drivers, in their daily lives or in the race, this production has been such a success only one 5e season will be released at the end of February on Netflix.
The phenomenon has benefited TV audiences. In the United States, one of F1’s priority markets since the Liberty Media group acquired the commercial rights to F1 in 2017, an all-time high was set in 2022: the season averaged 1.2 million viewers per race, 28% more than in 2021, according to figures from broadcaster ESPN. Having become “glamorous”, the discipline now attracts an audience “younger and more mixed”notes Thomas Sénécal, sports director of Canal +, its official broadcaster in France.
Five episodes
“Break Point”, a docu-series divided into five episodes, follows players who could embody the next generation in world tennis, with in particular the Australian Nick Kyrgios, known for his strokes of genius on the courts as well as for his strokes of mouth, or the Tunisian Ons Jabeur. In 2022, the latter had failed in the final of the prestigious Wimbledon tournament, a moment captured on filming.
But finding himself a figurehead of world tennis did not bring luck to Kyrgios who, like two players who feature prominently in “Break Point”, Paula Badosa and Ajla Tomljanovic, had to forfeit the Australian Open . The Italian Matteo Berrettini was eliminated as soon as he entered the competition and Jabeur fell Thursday to 2e round. To the point that we are now talking in Melbourne among the players of a … “Netflix curse”.
While waiting for the audiences of “Break Point”, sports docu-series continue to seduce, from football to rugby, via basketball with the series-event “The Last Dance” retracing the Michael Jordan era at the Chicago Bulls . On the same model as “Break Point”, we also find, at Netflix, “Cheer”, behind the scenes of a team of cheerleaders in Texas, or even “MotoGP Unlimited” at Amazon, on the MotoGP world championship. Netflix will also release “Full Swing” in mid-February, on golf, and already has a docu-series on the Six Nations Rugby Tournament in its boxes for 2024. The Tour de France cyclist 2022 will soon be in the spotlight, in partnership with France Télévisions. Finally, Canal + is also inflating its offer of sports documentaries, with in particular an immersion in the Top 14.
Injured Australian Nick Kyrgios was forced to withdraw before the Australian Open 2023. Is it the “Netflix curse”? Photo: AFP
Andy Murray finished his match against Thanasi Kokkinakis tired after a prolonged duel.
During his match of 2e tour of the Australian Open that took him into the early hours of Friday morning, Andy Murray yelled what many players, spectators and observers often think about the sometimes incomprehensible schedule of Grand Slam tournaments: “why are we playing at 3 in the morning?”
It was 4:06 a.m. Friday morning when Murray overcame Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (159e) after five hours and forty-five minutes of play and five hung sets, 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5. Never has the former world number 1, winner in his career of 46 titles including 3 Grand Slams, spent so much time on a court. The 35-year-old Scotsman, who returned from several right hip operations, has never finished a match so late. And for good reason, in the history of the Australian Open, only one match ended later, a duel at 3e round of the 2008 edition between the Australian Lleyton Hewitt and the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, concluded at… 4:34 in the morning. And there is better, or worse, elsewhere: it was 4:54 am when the German Alexander Zverev and the American Jenson Brooksby finished their match of the 1is round of the Acapulco tournament in 2022.
“It’s not good”
Back on the courts of Melbourne less than eight hours after his victory against Kokkinakis, to prepare for his third round duel against the Spaniard Roberto Bautista (25e), scheduled for Saturday evening (defeat in four sets of Murray), the Scotsman did not take off. “Rather than an epic match between Murray and Kokkinakis, it ended in a farce”dropped the Scot about the match finished Friday morning. “Some people have to work the next day”recalled on 66e world player. “If my kid was a ball boy for a tournament and had to come home at 5 a.m., as a father I would have exploded. It’s not good for them. It is also not good for referees and officials. I think it’s not great for the fans either, and it’s not good for the players.”
