International Tennis Federation Encouraging Rafael Nadal to Play it the 2024 Paris Games

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Rafael Nadal’s return to competitive play, one organization is encouraging him to get back in the game in time for the 2024 Paris Games.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is planning to do everything it can to encourage the 37-year-old former world No. 1 to compete in the Paris Olympic Games, the global tennis body’s chief David Haggerty tells Reuters.

Rafael NadalNadal has been sidelined since hurting his hip flexor in a second-round loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in mid-January and has yet to confirm his plans for next season following surgery.

Nadal had previously said he expects to retire following the 2024 season and hoped to play in the Paris Games with the tennis tournament set to take place at Roland Garros, where he has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles.

Nadal won the Olympic singles gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Games and the doubles gold eight years later at the 2016 Rio Games.

“We know what a champion he is and a medalist a number of times so it certainly could be a storybook ending, so to speak, for him. It would be great. Whether he does or not, will be up to him,” Haggerty told Reuters in a video call on Monday.

“But we’ll do everything we can to encourage him to play, because I think it would be great. Knowing that it’s in Paris, at Roland Garros, where he’s had such tremendous success would be a great venue for him to be able to compete at.”

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said earlier this month Nadal would return to Grand Slam tennis at Melbourne Park, but the player’s representative said no timeline had been set for his comeback.

Nadal has been stepping up his recovery and releasing videos on social media of his training.

“I think the main thing for him is just being healthy and feeling he can compete at the level that he wants to, because that’s the kind of competitor he is,” Haggerty said.

“He wants to be at the top of his game and we wish him the best.”

Conchita Martínez Named Tournament Director of This Year’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Conchita Martínez is overseeing the Cup…

The 51-year-old Spanish former professional tennis player, a former Wimbledon champion, has been named the tournament director for the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

Conchita MartinezTwelve national teams will play in Seville, Spain during the finals from November 7-12 in what is the 60th year of the competition formerly known as the Fed Cup.

The International Tennis Federation announced the appointment of Martínez at a news conference in London.

Martínez won Wimbledon in 1994 and helped Spain win five Fed Cups during the 1990s. She was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2020.

“I know today’s generation of players take as much pride in playing for their nations as I did, and I am excited to see that passion on show in Seville in November,” Martínez said in the ITF announcement.

Feliciano Lopez Appointed Tournament Director for Davis Cup Finals

Feliciano Lopez’s Cup runneth over…

The 41-year-old Spanish tennis player has been appointed tournament director for the Davis Cup finals, the International Tennis Federation has announced.

Feliciano LopezLopez, who won the competition with Spain four times, plans to end his playing career after this year.

The group stage will take place from September 12-17 in four European cities followed by the last-eight event in Malaga, Spain, from November 21-26.

“I have some special memories of playing in this competition so I am very happy to be taking a leading role in delivering these events,” Lopez said in the ITF announcement. “As tournament director, my sole focus will be to build on the recent success of the competition and make it the best it can be for players and supporters across the world.”

The Davis Cup was included as an official part of the ATP calendar under an agreement last year between the ITF and the men’s tour. Attendance in February’s qualifying events was up 10%.

Spain and Serbia are together in Group C, setting up a possible meeting between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. The Czech Republic and South Korea are also in the group, which will play in Valencia.

The United States will face Croatia, Finland and the Netherlands in Group D. That group will be hosted by Croatia, although the city and venue has yet to be announced. Defending champion Canada is in Group A along with Italy, Sweden and Chile — playing in Bologna. Group B consists of host Britain, Australia, France and Switzerland, and will play in Manchester.

The top two teams in each group advance to the Final 8 tournament. A record 155 nations entered the competition this year.

Lopez represented Spain in the Davis Cup five times and helped his country win it in 2008, ’09, ’11 and ’19.

“He is a Davis Cup legend and embodies everything the competition is about — passion, entertainment and pride in representing your country,” ITF president David Haggerty said.

Lopez became tournament director of the Madrid Open in 2019.

A three-time quarterfinalist at Wimbledon, Lopez is set to play in the grass-court Mallorca Championships beginning June 25.

Nicolas Jarry Defeats Grigor Dimitrov to Win Geneva Open Title

Nicolas Jarry is celebrating a big win…

The 27-year-old Chilean professional tennis player, unseeded in the tournament, defeated Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (1), 6-1 on Saturday to win the Geneva Open final and is poised to rise to his best ranking in a career that was stalled by a doping case.

Nicolas Jarry, The former No. 3-ranked Dimitrov was seeking his first title since the 2017 ATP Tour Finals, which lifted him to that career-best ranking.

 

Instead, the 54th-ranked Jarry eased to his second title this season, converting his first match point when Dimitrov could not return a powerful serve to his backhand.

Jarry celebrated by crossing the court to where his family was watching and passed his racket up to his infant son.

In Jarry’s standout week in Geneva, he beat current or former top-10 players on three straight days — two-time defending champion Casper RuudAlexander Zverev and Dimitrov.

It was Jarry’s third career ATP title, all of them coming at clay-court events in the lowest 250-level.

“It’s been a great year after a very tough couple of years. I’m very happy for that,” said Jarry, who was runner-up at Geneva in 2019 against Zverev.

Jarry is now set to rise above the career-high No. 38-ranking he reached in 2019 before a failed doping test interrupted his career.

He completed an 11-month suspension in 2020 after he tested positive for two banned substances, including an anabolic steroid, at the Davis Cup finals. The International Tennis Federation accepted that Jarry was not at significant fault for ingesting a tainted vitamin supplement made in Brazil.

Dimitrov was playing in his first final since February 2018 when he lost to Roger Federer at Rotterdam.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those,” the 33rd-ranked Dimitrov said when collecting his runner-up trophy. “It’s been a bumpy road but I’m very grateful to be back here and to be part of the final.”

The Geneva Open is the last warmup event on clay before the French Open starts Sunday.

At Roland Garros, Jarry will face 160th-ranked Hugo Dellien of Bolivia in the first round. The winner could then face 16th-seeded American Tommy Paul.

Dimitrov is seeded No. 28 in Paris and will first play 147th-ranked Timofey Skatov of Kazakhstan.

Marcelo Arevalo Becomes First Central American Man to Win Grand Slam Title with French Open Men’s Doubles Victory

Marcelo Arevalo has earned a place in tennis history…

The 31-year-old Salvadoran professional tennis player and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands won the French Open men’s doubles tennis championship by beating Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the U.S. 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final.

Marcelo Arevalo, Jean-Julien Rojer

According to the International Tennis Federation, Arevalo is the first man from Central America to win a Grand Slam title.

Meanwhile, 41-year-old Rojer is the oldest Grand Slam men’s doubles champion in the Open era. He also won the 2017 US Open title with Horia Tecau.

Arevalo and Rojer were seeded 12th. Dodig and Krajicek were not seeded.

Dodig and Krajicek held three championship points at 6-5 in the second set but were unable to convert any.

Arevalo had previously won five career ATP Tour doubles titles.

Rafael Nadal Wins International Tennis Federation’s Sportsmanship Award

Rafael Nadalis a good sport…

The 33-year-old Spanish tennis star, and the world’s top-ranked player, has won his second consecutive Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award and third overall.

Rafael Nadal

The award, which was announced Thursday, is based on voting by other players.

The International Tennis Federationalso announced its year-end awards, with year-end No. 1s Nadal and Ashleigh Bartynamed ITF World Champions.

It’s Nadal’s fourth selection and Barty’s first.

Rafael Nadal Named the International Tennis Federation’s Player of the Year

The 2017 tennis season may be over, but Rafael Nadal is still winning…

The 31-year-old Spanish tennis star has won the International Tennis Federation‘s male Player of the Year award.

Rafael Nadal

At 31, Nadal becomes the oldest ITF men’s world champion after a season in which he won a 10th French Open and a third US Open.

Nadal also became the oldest player to finish the year at No. 1 since the ATP rankings began in 1973.

But Nadal isn’t the only Latino award winner…

Garbine Muguruza was named the International Tennis Federation’s female Player of the Year.

The Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player and former world No. 1 dropped only one set en route to her first Wimbledon title and finished the year at No. 2 behind Simona Halep.

“Becoming ITF world champion in such a competitive year is amazing for me,” said Muguruza, who is also Spanish. “(Nadal) is a great role model for all of us, so it is a great moment for tennis in Spain.”

Nadal to Compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio

It appears Rafael Nadal will be swinging for gold this summer…

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis star’s name appears on the final entry list for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Rafael Nadal

Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam tournament champion hasn’t played since pulling out of the French Open because of an injured left wrist and needed the International Tennis Federation‘s Olympic Committee to approve his appeal because he hasn’t played Davis Cup.

Nadal won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

But Nadal isn’t the only Latino player set to compete at the 2016 Rio Games.

Twelve Latino players, including 2012 London Games bronze medalist Juan Martin del Potro, will compete in the men’s singles tournament.

In the women’s draw, six Latinas will be competing in singles, including French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, who will also compete in the doubles draw.

Half-Spanish tennis star Caroline Garcia, who won the women’s doubles title at this year’s French Open, will also compete in singles and doubles for France.

In all, here will be 64 players in the singles draws and 32 in doubles. Singles entries were based off the top 56 players in the June 6 rankings, with other ways to qualify for the final eight spots.

Each country is allowed a maximum of four singles players and two doubles teams for six players total on the men’s and women’s sides. Sixteen mixed doubles teams will be determined in Rio from players already in the Olympics.

Here’s the list of Latino players expected to compete:

MEN’S SINGLES ENTRY LIST

Argentina
Juan Martin del Potro, Federico Delbonis, Juan Monaco, Guido Pella

Brazil
Thomaz Bellucci, Rogerio Dutra Silva 

Dominican Republic
Victor Estrella Burgos 

Spain
Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Roberto Bautista Agut, Albert Ramos-Vinolas

Uruguay
Pablo Cuevas 

WOMEN’S SINGLES ENTRY LIST

Brazil
Teliana Pereira (ITF) 

France
Caroline Garcia 

Paraguay
Veronica Cepede Royg (TRI) 

Puerto Rico
Monica Puig 

Spain
Garbine Muguruza, Carla Suarez Navarro  

MEN’S DOUBLES ENTRY LIST

Argentina
Juan Martin del Potro/Maximo Gonzalez, Federico Delbonis/Guillermo Duran

Brazil
Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares, Thomaz Bellucci/Andre Sa (ITF)

Chile
Julio Peralta/Hans Podlipnik (ITF) 

Colombia
Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah

Spain
Marc Lopez/Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut/David Ferrer 

WOMEN’S DOUBLES ENTRY LIST

Brazil
Paula Cristina Goncalves/Teliana Pereira (ITF) 

France
Caroline Garcia [paired with Kristina Mladenovic] 

Spain
Garbine Muguruza/Carla Suarez Navarro, Anabel Medina Garrigues/Arantxa Parra-Santonja

 

Delgado Sets a New Men’s Record at Wimbledon

Forget the strawberries and cream… It looks like Jamie Delgado is the real fixture at the All England Club, at least for the last two decades…

The 37-year-old half-Spanish tennis player set a men’s record by playing at Wimbledon for the 23rd consecutive year on Wednesday.

Jamie Delgado

The British Delgado, predominantly a doubles specialist, and his partner Gilles Muller of Luxembourg won their first-round doubles match 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 over Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan and Divij Sharan of India.

The International Tennis Federation said Delgado played junior Wimbledon tournaments from 1992 to ’95 and played in Wimbledon men’s singles or doubles from 1995 to 2014.

Delgado isn’t playing in the men’s singles draw this year.

Delgado shared the Wimbledon men’s mark of 22 years in a row with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas. Knowles played men’s doubles last year, but he only entered an exhibition doubles event this year.

The longest consecutive Wimbledon streaks are held by two women — Virginia Wade played 26 years in a row and Martina Navratilova 24.

Fernández to Captain the 2012 Women’s Olympic Tennis Team…

She may have retired from professional tennis play in 2000… But that isn’t stopping Mary Joe Fernández from heading to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The 40-year-old Dominican American tenista will serve as the U.S. captain of the women’s tennis team at the games.

Mary Joe Fernandez

Fernández, who won three medals of her own in two Olympics appearances, was formally introduced on Tuesday by the U.S. Tennis Association.

“When I look back at my career, the highlight was being at the Olympics,” said the tennis commentator and ESPN analyst who won a gold and bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games and a gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. “Just being a part of it, something you’ve watched on TV as a little kid and cheered, and then all of a sudden you go to being there. You ask yourself, ‘Is this really happening?’ I’m really lucky to get to be part of that all again. Three times, wow, I’m very lucky to get to do this again.”

Mary Joe Fernandez

Fernández will await the nomination process of her team, which will kick off with the release of the post-French Open rankings on June 11. The Olympic tournament runs July 28 through Aug. 5 and will be held at the All England Club, the site of Wimbledon.

She’ll likely have Venus Williams and Serena Williams, Christina McHale and Varvara Lepchenko, plus doubles players Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond on her team.

The team will be finalized by the USTA and the International Tennis Federation, then submitted to the U.S. Olympic Committee for final nomination to the London Games in the

One of Fernández’s biggest challenges: monitoring the health of Venus Williams, who is hoping to play singles, doubles with her sister Serena, and mixed doubles, all while dealing with the symptoms of Sjorgen’s syndrome.

“Venus has been very open with me with about how she’s feeling, which I appreciate,” said Fernández, who also is the U.S. Fed Cup captain. “She’s been fantastic in letting me know what’s going on, and that’s important for us to know. She’s done an incredible job getting her ranking up so she can be on the team. We’ll see how everybody does at Wimbledon and make some decisions going forward. I think we’re all just really excited about heading to London, especially Wimbledon, for the Olympics.”