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Serena Williams Prepared a Little Differently for This U.S. Open

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Serena Williams Prepared a Little Differently for This U.S. Open

An underdog with the oddsmakers in opposition to the No. 2 seed, Anett Kontaveit, on Wednesday, Serena Williams will likely be again on acquainted floor as the favourite in opposition to the unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic on Friday.

The phrase is out, expedited by the roars in Arthur Ashe Stadium: Williams has labored her method with nice pace again into kind and into the third spherical of her closing U.S. Open.

It’s exceptional however not essentially astonishing, even just a few weeks from her turning 41.

“We are able to all experience a motorbike at an older age, and as soon as the jitters are gone, you’ll be able to even experience a motorbike with out holding the handlebars,” mentioned Sven Groeneveld, the main coach who works with Bianca Andreescu and lengthy coached Maria Sharapova.

“It’s like strolling for Serena,” Groeneveld mentioned. “She has performed tennis 90 p.c of her life.”

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Williams has no scarcity of constructive recollections to attract on from her youthful years of pulling out of tailspins in a rush.

In 2007, she got here into the Australian Open unseeded and ranked 81st, having performed simply 5 tournaments within the earlier 12 months and dropping early in her lone warm-up occasion.

However she quickly locked in, defeating six seeded gamers, together with the top-ranked Sharapova within the closing.

In 2012, Williams was crushed within the first spherical of the French Open by Virginie Razzano, a Frenchwoman ranked 111th. It was Williams’s earliest defeat to this point in a significant match, and it left her reeling and unusually open to vary.

She introduced on a brand new teaching marketing consultant, Patrick Mouratoglou, and although she performed no tuneup occasions earlier than arriving at Wimbledon, she shortly labored her method into devastating kind. She received the title after which performed what’s broadly thought-about the most effective tennis of her profession to win the Olympic gold medal in singles and in addition in doubles along with her sister Venus on the London Video games on the identical grass courts of the All England Membership.

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That was, past doubt, a no-handlebars second, however she is coming from even additional again this time: enjoying no aggressive tennis for practically a 12 months, arriving on the U.S. Open having received simply certainly one of 4 singles matches this season and ranked, unusual however true, No. 605.

“I simply assume as a result of Serena is Serena and is a superb athlete, that the extra apply and the extra apply matches she will get, she will be able to play her method into an occasion,” mentioned Kathy Rinaldi, the USA King Cup captain. “You’ve seen her do it previously, and in the event you watched the match in opposition to Kontaveit, her motion to me received higher and higher by the third set, and I simply assume a terrific athlete can try this.”

Some health coaches for different gamers had been nonetheless shaking their heads on Thursday at their thoughts’s-eye photographs of Williams’s struggling to cowl courtroom on the Nationwide Financial institution Open in Toronto and the Western and Southern Open in Mason, Ohio: tournaments wherein she misplaced final month in early rounds.

“The change in a month is unbelievable,” mentioned Maciej Ryszczuk, the health coach of the world No. 1, Iga Swiatek.

However Williams mentioned she felt her degree in apply was typically fairly excessive as she returned to the tour, however that this was not carrying over into matches. The exception was the Western and Southern Open, the place she was coping with what a number of folks had mentioned was a flare-up of knee tendinitis: one thing that neither she nor her workers has confirmed.

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However Eric Hechtman, Williams’s new coach, mentioned the platform for the success up to now in New York was in place.

“The shotmaking was there, and the serve was there,” he mentioned in an interview after her victory over Kontaveit. “She was truly shifting nicely in apply, so in New York, we added in some extra side-to-side working drills, and I believe that’s helped.”

So have the sellout crowds of practically 24,000 in Ashe Stadium which are solely in Williams’s nook.

“That stadium is so huge, and when you pack it in like that with a bunch of fired-up folks, it’s a sport changer,” Hechtman mentioned. “It takes just a little little bit of time to get some rhythm, however it’s beginning to come collectively. It was a terrific win in opposition to Kontaveit, however it’s nonetheless simply the second spherical. None of us are getting carried away.”

A loss in opposition to Tomljanovic

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would truly convey Williams full circle. She additionally misplaced within the third spherical in her first U.S. Open singles look in 1998 and has by no means didn’t go farther in her 19 appearances since then: successful six titles.

However the expectations are totally different this 12 months. Given her current degree of play, the third spherical appears like an achievement. However the problem as Williams goes deeper within the match will likely be to handle the load that comes with stacking up singles matches and doubles matches. She performed doubles along with her sister Venus at a match for the primary time in additional than 4 years, dropping within the first spherical Thursday to Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

In contrast to common tour occasions, the Grand Slam tournaments enable a day of relaxation for girls’s singles gamers between every spherical of singles, with occasional exceptions. In contrast to the lads, who play best-of-five-set matches, the ladies play best-of-three-set matches.

However enjoying doubles on what would usually be a restoration day might nonetheless create a better threat for the 40-year-old Williams. The final time she and Venus performed doubles in a significant — on the 2018 French Open — Williams withdrew from singles earlier than the fourth spherical with a pectoral harm aggravated throughout a doubles match.

Mouratoglou, who had endorsed in opposition to enjoying each occasions as a result of Williams was getting back from an extended layoff, was displeased, and Williams had not performed singles and doubles along with her sister at a significant once more till now.

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However in what’s most definitely Williams’s closing match, this feels like a heart-over-head choice.

“I really feel prefer it’s been essential for her to be part of this,” Williams had mentioned of Venus. “She’s my rock. I’m tremendous excited to play along with her and simply try this once more. It’s been a very long time.”

Hechtman, who additionally coaches Venus Williams, mentioned he absolutely supported the choice. “I believe it’s nice she’s enjoying doubles,” he mentioned of Serena. “It’s not simply the doubles, it’s the very fact you get the reps on serves and return and play factors and play with the group once more.”

Hechtman had not pushed for Serena to play doubles in her warm-up occasions.

“This can be a totally different scenario,” he mentioned. “It’s her final match. It’s a Grand Slam and you’ve got the time off in between singles matches, and usually you apply on that day, so as an alternative you’re enjoying doubles. I talked to her just a little bit about it in Cincy, and it was like, ‘You recognize what? This completely is smart.’”

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What additionally made sense to Hechtman was the choice to play tournaments in singles heading into the U.S. Open, which Williams didn’t do earlier than Wimbledon, the place she misplaced within the first spherical to Concord Tan, an unseeded Frenchwoman.

“I personally thought we had been very prepared for Wimbledon,” he mentioned. “The one factor we didn’t have was these matches. Even when she was just a little banged-up in Cincy, I believe these tournaments had been essential to attending to the extent she’s hit right here. You may’t say definitively they made the distinction, however I might say they had been essential.”

Scouting and preparation have additionally been vital in New York. She had not confronted Danka Kovinic, her first-round opponent, or Kontaveit and has not performed Tomljanovic both. Hechtman mentioned he and Williams had been getting enter on opponents from the USA Tennis Affiliation’s analytics crew, working intently with Rinaldi and David Ramos, a director for efficiency analytics.

“It helps us see clearly how Serena’s strengths match up in opposition to opponents’ weaknesses, and we go from there,” Hechtman mentioned.

Hechtman mentioned he additionally welcomed the arrival of Rennae Stubbs, an ESPN analyst, coach and former No. 1 doubles participant, who has been offering counsel in New York.

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“They’ve been pals for a very long time, and the extra constructive folks — it is a very emotional state — the higher it’s,” he mentioned. “I’m all for it. Look, I’m right here to win so something that’s going to assist us recover from that mountaintop.”

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Nelly Korda maintains LPGA Tour domination with 6th win in 7th start

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Nelly Korda maintains LPGA Tour domination with 6th win in 7th start

Nelly Korda’s dominance on the LPGA Tour continued Sunday as she picked up a one-stroke victory over Hannah Green to win the Mizuho Americas Open on Sunday.

It was Korda’s sixth tournament victory in her last seven starts. She saved par on the 18th hole, which gave her just enough to defeat Green.

Nelly Korda poses for a picture after she won the Mizuho Americas Open golf tournament on Sunday, May 19, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

“Oh, my gosh, six,” Korda said. “I can’t even really gather myself right now with that, the head to head that Hannah and I had pretty much all day. Wasn’t my best stuff out there today, but fought really hard on the back nine.”

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“It was just amazing to share the stage with Hannah.”

Korda still has quite a long summer to go, but six wins puts her within striking distance of reaching the LPGA record for most wins in a season. Mickey Wright set the mark in 1963 with a 13-win season.

She is the fourth player to win six times before June 1, joining Babe Zaharis, Louise Suggs and Lorena Ochoa. She is also the first golfer to win six times in a single season since Inbee Park in 2013.

She now looks for her seventh victory in two weeks at the U.S. Women’s Open, an event she has yet to win.

“Obviously, it’s on the top of my priority list,” she said. “I just know there is never any good when you put more pressure on yourself. Just going to stay in my bubble that week and take it a shot at a time.”

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For Green, she took the loss in stride.

Hannah Green at the Mizuho Americas Open

Hannah Green of Australia holds up her ball after sinking her putt on the first green during the final round of the Mizuho Americas Open golf tournament on Sunday, May 19, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

XANDER SCHAUFFELE WALKS IT OFF WITH 18TH-HOLE BIRDIE TO WIN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

“I mean, to lose to Nelly kind of like is — it’s sad, but then it’s also Nelly Korda,” Green said. “You know, like she’s obviously so dominant right now. To feel like second behind her is quite nice. Unfortunately, the bogey on the last has a little bit of a sour taste.”

Korda has 14 career LPGA Tour wins.

Green won the JM Eagle LA Championship, an event Korda had to pull out of before the tournament started. Rose Zhang broke Korda’s streak with a win at the Cognizant Founders Cup. She had to withdraw from the Mizuho Americas Open due to an illness.

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Nelly Korda and Gianna Clemente

Nelly Korda, right, poses for a picture with AJGA champion Gianna Clemente after winning the Mizuho Americas Open golf tournament on Sunday, May 19, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Clemente won the amateur portion of the event. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Korda did not play in the Honda LPGA Thailand, HSBC Women’s World Championship or the Blue Bay LPGA events.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Grant Fisher could help U.S. end its distance race drought at Paris Games

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Grant Fisher could help U.S. end its distance race drought at Paris Games

When Grant Fisher stepped to the starting line for the 10,000-meter final at the Tokyo Olympics, he knew he had to cover a lot more than 10 kilometers to get to the front of the field.

“I remember lining up next to Joshua Cheptegei and he had just broken the world records in the 5K and the 10K,” Fisher said. “He just run 26:11. I had just run 27:11.

“And I was like, ‘Man, how am I even going to get close to this guy?’”

A little more than two months before the start of the Paris Olympics, that gap has closed considerably. Fisher has run 26:33.84 and has the best time in the world at 10,000 meters since Cheptegai, a Ugandan, set his record in 2020. That makes Fisher one of the favorites to strike gold in this summer’s Games, something no U.S. distance runner has done in four decades.

“When I was growing up, the narrative was you can’t run with the East Africans,” said Fisher, 27. “I’ve been close. Some work to be done, of course. And yeah, people are closing it down.”

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Joan Benoit, who won the women’s marathon in 1984, was the last American to climb to the top of the medal podium in a race longer than 1,500 meters. Frank Shorter was the last U.S. male to do that, winning the marathon in 1972. No American has won a distance race on the track since 1964, when Billy Mills upset a loaded field to win the 10,000.

“I like that we’re even having this conversion,” said Mike Scannell, Fisher’s coach. “That means maybe we are entering the stage where we’re in the conversation for a podium slot in Paris. My initial read on that is yes, things are going extremely well for not just Grant, but for all Americans.”

The long road to this spot began in 2001, when former UCLA coach Bob Larsen and Joe Vigil, who coached distance runners for the U.S. Olympic team, began training their athletes in the 7,900-foot altitude of Mammoth Lakes. Three years later Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor became the first American distance runners to step on an Olympic medal stand in 20 years, with Keflezighi winning silver in the men’s marathon and Kastor bronze in the women’s race.

No other country won two medals in the marathon that summer, and in the four Olympics that followed Athens, Americans won nine Olympic medals in the distance events. Now, all of the top U.S. distance runners live and run at altitude, with most congregated in Flagstaff, Ariz., Park City, Utah, or Boulder, Colo.

“We did some things that got everybody’s attention,” said Larsen, a member of the national track and field Hall of Fame. “Everybody had kind of given up that they were going to be able to catch [the Africans].”

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Since Chris Solinsky became the first American — and first non-African — to break 27 minutes at 10,000 meters in 2010, five U.S. men have done so. Yet if the Americans have caught the Africans, they haven’t passed them because they haven’t won a distance event in the last nine Olympics. And doing that will involve more than just running fast, since tactics and luck are just as important.

“One guy gets to win gold every four years. So it’s a lofty goal,” said Fisher, who trains in Park City, Utah. “Winning gold’s tough. And it’s not just East Africans you have to worry about.”

Cheptegei agrees. Despite holding the world record in two events, the Ugandan has won just once in four Olympic finals.

“Everybody who qualifies for the Olympic Games, you really have to respect them,” he said. “It’s not really a simple task.”

Gold medalist Joshua Cheptegei, center, is flanked by silver medalist Mohammed Ahmed of Canada and bronze medalist Paul Chelimo of the U.S. after the 5,000-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics.

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(Dylan Martinez / Associated Press)

That’s because most Olympic finals are more tactical than fast, one reason why Cheptegei’s world record is nearly a minute better than the Olympic record. And while the Americans have learned to run fast over the long distances, they’re still learning to run smart.

In the 5,000 meters at Friday’s Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA, for example, Fisher couldn’t match a blistering 54-second final lap from Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega, finishing behind four Africans in 12:53.30. It was the sixth-fastest time in the world this year but only the fifth fastest at UCLA that evening.

“I gave myself too much ground to make up in the last 200,” said Fisher, who ran just behind the leaders for much of the race. “Great time [but] I wish I was a little more competitive with those top four guys. I can’t give them that space on the backstretch. Close that down and I think I’ll have a better chance.”

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And he does have a chance, which isn’t something that’s often been said about American distance runners entering the Olympics. The competition has become so fierce, Fisher said he’s not even thinking about Paris since he first has to get through next month’s U.S. trials in Eugene, Ore., where the field is likely to feature six of the fastest 14 10,000-meter runners in the world this year.

“Nothing’s guaranteed. It’s a very hard team to make,” he said. “You can’t be focused on the Olympics because you’re getting ahead of yourself at that point. You know how it is it’s an Olympic year. Everyone’s focus is the Games.

“But you can’t overlook USA.”

Regardless of what happens in Eugene or Paris, that counts as progress.

“This sport is rich,” Barega said. “Sometimes one athlete wins, sometimes another athlete wins. Other athletes in America are coming. Not [just] Fisher. Many athletes in America. It’s good.”

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Timberwolves overcome 20-point deficit to stun defending-champion Nuggets in Game 7

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Timberwolves overcome 20-point deficit to stun defending-champion Nuggets in Game 7

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The NBA Conference Finals are set after the second Game 7 on Sunday saw the Minnesota Timberwolves take down the Denver Nuggets, 98-90.

Unlike the league’s earlier Game 7, when the Indiana Pacers made history with their fantastic shooting in a dominant win over the New York Knicks, this one was a dogfight in which Minnesota didn’t pull away until late in the fourth quarter. 

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The Nuggets, the reigning NBA champions playing at home in this matchup, had all the momentum going for them on Sunday – to where they had a 20-point, 58-38, lead early in the third quarter. 

Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves drives to the basket against Christian Braun #0 of the Denver Nuggets during the second quarter in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at Ball Arena on Sunday in Denver.  (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

Then, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards finally got shots to fall, and good offense led to great defense on the other end of the floor. 

The Timberwolves won the third quarter, 28-14, and they just kept it going into the fourth quarter. Minnesota would have a 30-point swing, which was capped by an Edwards three-pointer that made it 92-82 with 3:07 remaining in the game. 

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Nuggets fans at Ball Arena were screaming to keep their team in it, but the Timberwolves’ hustle proved to be too much in the end. 

PACERS SHOCK KNICKS WITH HISTORIC GAME 7 OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT, MOVE ON TO EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

Nikola Jokic, who was gassed at the end of this game after sitting just one minute, made his final bucket with 1:02 left to cut the T-Wolves’ lead to five points. There was still a fleeting chance they could come back, but Karl-Anthony Towns – Minnesota’s co-leading scorer – put an exclamation mark on the victory with a putback dunk on a Mike Conley missed layup. 

Towns finished with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting with 12 rebounds, two steals, two assists and one block to help his squad reach the Conference Finals. Teammate Jaden McDaniels also poured in 23 points on 7-of-10 from the field, including three three-pointers with six rebounds. 

Nikola Jokic dribbles

Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets looks to pass against Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at Ball Arena on Sunday in Denver. (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

The performance by McDaniels was needed because Edwards, who has been Minnesota’s go-to scorer, didn’t have the best day with the rock in his hand. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-24 shooting, including 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.

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However, his hustle never quit, as he had eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals for the T-Wolves.

Minnesota also saw quality minutes from the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, Naz Reid, who racked up a couple of clutch buckets in the fourth quarter, including a putback dunk like Towns. He had 11 points and four rebounds. 

For the Nuggets, they failed to hit their shots from three, finishing 24.2% as a team. Jokic, who went 2-of-10 from there, ended with 34 points and 19 rebounds during his marathon of a Game 7. 

Jamal Murray had a game-high 35 points, but he also struggled from three with only four of his 12 attempts falling. He went 13-of-27 in the field overall with three rebounds and three assists.

Anthony Edwards reacts on court

Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates a three point basket during the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at Ball Arena on Sunday in Denver. (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

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After the stunning come-from-behind victory, Minnesota will now play host to Dallas on Wednesday to kick off the series that will determine who represents the West in the NBA Finals.  

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