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2024 Davis Cup group stage week: Australia now one step to November’s Finals after a 3-0 whitewash win v Czech Republic

by Sports Benches

Gotta say the Aussies were too good v Czech Republic in their 2nd match of the 2024 Davis Cup group stages following a 3-0 whitewash ahead of the 3rd and final series tie this Sunday/Monday AM v Spain.

Glad to hear that Thanasi Kokkinakis was superb once again through the best of three sets in the opening singles game v Jakub Mensik. The first set was easy and although he was unlucky to close out the first attempt during the 2nd set tiebreak, but he found a way though to get things done without too much of a fuss towards the end though by 6-2, 6-7 (2-7 tie) & 6-3.

Going into the next game with Alexei Popyrin, okay, this was a bit different when Tomas Machac had to retire hurt not long after the 2nd singles game was started – in which was so unfortunate to hear.

But a win is a win for the Aussies as they were happy to take it with the series win now already locked in 2-0 before we had one doubles tie to finish off the day featuring Matt Ebden & Max Purcell. The duo have been an unstoppable force as always this time in straight sets 6-4 & 6-2 v Jakub Mensik & Adam Pavlasek.

Now the Aussies still sit on top of Group B with one more series tie left to settle this weekend – they should be good to go for November’s Finals week as long as Spain win tomorrow v France. That way, they will do their absolute best with that Playoffs spot warranted by going all the way against one of the Top sides – especially when playing against one of the host nations over in Valencia. And let’s hope they will bring back Alex De Minaur back in time instead of Popyrin for one of their two singles matches alongside Kokkinakis.

Bring it on to wrap up Australia’s Davis Cup group stage week regardless of result that will hopefully put in a position where they can win that legendary trophy at some point soon enough.

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2024 Davis Cup Group-Stage Week: Matt Ebden & Max Purcell saves the day for the Aussies thanks to their doubles-deciding win over France with 2-1 in this 1st match tie 

by Sports Benches

Gotta say it has been a great finish to the 1st of the three Davis Cup 2024 group stage series matches for the Aussies v France from overnight in Valencia, Spain. Thanasi Kokkinakis got away with a pretty good start when he was simply at the top of his game v Arthur Fils in straight sets, even though this opening singles game wasn’t so easy indeed – 7-6 via 7-4 tiebreak & 7-6 via 7-3 tiebreak. Although in the second singles match, Ugo Humbert was too good for Alexei Popyrin also in straight sets (3-6 & 2-6) which was so unfortunate where Humbert tied with the Aussies at 1-1 apiece for France.

But this tie wasn’t over just yet with the doubles match to settle v the French featuring one of the Paris 2024 men’s double Olympic gold medalist Matt Ebden & one of the new US Open men’s double champ Max Purcell going up against Pierre Hueges Herbert & Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Fortunately, Ebden & Purcell saved the day thanks to our best doubles playing strikeforce as seen regularly across the grand slam tournaments and team group circuit.

They fired off really well where there were some bumps along the way when it comes to the second set but eventually found a way to close out though with the 2-1 series win v France. The final score was 7-5, 5-7 & 6-3 as the Aussies are now onto the 2nd of three series ties in Group B v Czech Republic on Friday morning. Then they will do the best they can possible depending on other results to finish off the group stage weekend on Monday morning v one of the top-ranked sides in Spain.

All they have to do is keep on fighting as another series win would see them one step closer towards locking in that November Finals week spot where the final eight teams will be competing for that one prestigious silverware & no doubt we’d like to have it back this time around after back-to-back recent Final attempts like last year and the year before (in 2022).

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2024 US Open Men’s Final: Jannik Sinner secures his 2nd major title over USA’s Taylor Fritz in straight sets in New York

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Grand Slam Tennis season has ended this morning at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York with a thriller US Open men’s Final where one of the next generation superstars & current Australian Open Champ Jannik Sinner (Italy) secured his 2nd major title over USA’s Taylor Fritz in straight sets by 6-3, 6-4 and 7-5.

Hats off to Sinner on an excellent championship-winning performance, who simply couldn’t resist the best of Fritz, as his result goes to reflect these high standards set in today & tomorrow’s elite Tennis world. His opponent there may not been Novak or Alcaraz but it’s still a Final and Sinner was never out of place all along, especially when playing on the hard courts. Sure, there’s some room for improvement when it comes to Roland Garros and Wimbledon. But as said, he’s always good on the hard courts considering his great success at these Aussie and US Open grand slams as well as last year’s Davis Cup triumph for Italy.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t the match Taylor Fritz was hoping for in front of his home fans where he too wasn’t bad against this next generation champ in Sinner. He had some great moments at times that could’ve sparked a huge shift when he was so close to at least winning a set of each one in this US Open Men’s Final. However, he just couldn’t quite find the checkpoint that put him under all sorts of pressure before it was too late off the back of some poor double fault serves, etc. He came back from a long way where he’s been improving throughout the 2024 Grand Slam season with 2 x Quarter-Finals followed by a breakthrough Final on home soil & sure this isn’t going to be the last we’ll see the best of Fritz going into 2025.

Now bring on Davis Cup week starting Tuesday/Wednesday AM our time in Valencia, Spain where our Aussies are set to begin their journey with matches against France & Czech Republic before we finish off the weekend v hosts Spain. 

Let’s hope we can get that November Finals spot booked in on time with our great line-up led by Team Captain Lleyton Hewitt that features Alex De Minaur (depending on his hip), Thanasi Kokkinakis & Alexei Popyrin including our strong doubles arsenal with the likes of Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson & Max Purcell.

We’ve been in the big dance twice even though the Aussies didn’t win that trophy while seeing Canada and Italy dominate centre stage back in 2022 & 2023 respectively. However, our best crop of men’s players are still trending everywhere with De Minaur always in the last 8 over his last three grand slams; So does Ebden & John Peers who won Olympic gold in Paris last month, and don’t forget Purcell & Thompson yesterday as well in the men’s US Open doubles Final win. 

So lots to look forward with the best of Australian Tennis over the next few months between now and this summer ahead of the next Australian Open at Melbourne Park from mid to late January.

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2024 US Open Tennis Women’s Singles Final: Aryna Sabalenka so dominant on the hard courts that sealed her third grand slam triumph in straight sets v USA’s Jessica Pegula

by Sports Benches

Aryna Sabalenka is now your 2024 US Open women’s champion following her straight sets win v USA’s Jessica Pegula 5-7 & 5-7 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. This is the first time she has won this major at Arthur Ashe Stadium following her runner-up finish last year to Coco Gauff while she continues to defend her 2nd straight Australian Open women’s title from 2023.

So close from Pegula who was so close to turning this around on both occasions including the 2nd set, having won some battles thanks to a brilliant start to the game along the way v the top-ranked opponent. She just couldn’t quite find the finishing touches unfortunately while Sabalenka won them all throughout the Final. It’s been a huge journey though to make it this far, especially when playing on home soil – hopefully we’ll see more of Jessica Pegula next year following a series of previous grand slam Quarter-Finals.

And what a game as always for Sabalenka  who got away with her third grand slam championship this time outside of the Australian Open in New York. There’s a reason or two why she’s so dominant in these hard courts and yet she’s done it once again also against a different grand slam finalist from start to finish. She didn’t even drop a set either when her finishing play was top-notch too as wondering who is really there to challenge Sabalenka now? Maybe Iga Swiatek, even though she’s normally good on clay or Coco Gauff if she can be good consistently on future grand slams other than late 23-early 24.

If the women’s final wasn’t enough, the US Open Saturday’s activities went on with the Men’s Doubles Final featuring own our Aussie pair of Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell v Germany’s duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz. Glad to say that Thompson and Purcell has done it in straight sets that marked their first major trophy together with Purcell’s 2nd since the 2022 Wimbledon tournament alongside Matt Ebden, even though their match wasn’t easy having felt so relieved to cross the finish line at the end of the 2nd set tiebreak. Sure that is going to help with Australia’s Davis Cup team run going into next week v France and Czech Republic as they’ve been in the big dance before and there’s no doubt they’re going to smash it once again.

Now that the Women’s Final is done, there’s one more game left on the US Open schedule tomorrow and that will be the Men’s Singles Final from 4am AEST between 2024 Men’s Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner v USA’s Taylor Fritz.

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2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-finals day in New York review: Sinner def. Draper in straight sets while Fritz caps off magnificent comeback after a long five-setter v Tiafoe

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the 2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-final day at Arthur Ashe Stadium was a joy to watch – one was Jannik Sinner so dominant & top good for Jack Draper while Taylor Fritz held back strong v Francis Tiafoe after a long five sets out of the best American winner. 

Now it’s the current Australian Open champ Sinner v the ever improving American Fritz for Sunday’s big Final (Monday 4am) with Aryna Sabalenka v USA’s own Jessica Pegula up first for the women’s main event tomorrow (6am).

Semi-Final Match 1

First of all, it was never an easy game when playing at a top-notch semi for the first time by the rising Brit in Draper, who defeated our Aussie own Alex De Minaur in the quarters the other day. He had some great moments to begin with the first two sets where he was so close to tying Sinner 1-1 but was underwhelming for the majority unfortunately, having lost the first set for the first time in this tournament before being quickly wiped out in the end. 

Meanwhile, we haven’t heard much for a while from Sinner but he still had a terrific year though including today’s semi v Draper, as this will be his 2nd grand slam final also on a hard court. Gotta say he was at his best where his next match v Fritz is going to be as good as it gets. He was tested with great difficulty by the Brit before Sinner won all two sets with a 2-0 lead and the Italian simply wrapped up the game without a fuss to book his next biggest match yet in three straight sets.

Semi-Final Match 2

Now this second semi was the one Americans long wanted to see in front of a brilliant crowd including some celebrity guests with both Americans who played one stellar of a match. But again, one can go through to Sunday’s Final which Fritz won while another will have to be eliminated from the last four in Tiafoe.

Commiserations to Tiafoe having made a good start alongside some brilliant fight to try and keep himself in the game with the first and 3rd set wins. It’s a shame he began to have slipped away in the 4th and even 5th sets before it was too late unfortunately. It would’ve been great if Tiafoe kept on pressuring Fritz as if Tiafoe was closer towards activating match point; But at the end of the day, you’re looking at a fighter who always been there & done that at major finals before in Fritz.

And congrats to Fritz on a stunning win from behind to beat Tiafoe as he’s the next American to play in a US Open men’s final since 2003 winner Andy Roddick back in 2006. Sure he had some near set wins & had Fritz won it, the match would’ve finished like the first semis game but this is about someone who never gives up. All he wanted to do is walk away was the win to punch his ticket into the main event & he has done it in the toughest of circumstances where he will be tested once again in the hope of finally winning his home grand slam v Sinner after his ever-improving 2024 season at age 26.

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2024 US Open Tennis Women’s Singles semi-finals Day Review: Aryna Sabalenka off to another final this time v Jessica Pegula after Pegula’s stunning comeback from behind

by Sports Benches

The 2024 US Open women’s singles semi-finals day at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York saw two brilliant matches with one unbelievable comeback during the second match from behind. 

Yes, Americans – particularly the home fans- would’ve loved to see both of their own players play in the big dance this Saturday. But at least one is still not out of the race just yet though when she’ll be going up against one the world’s best as a new champion will be crowned since Coco Gauff was eliminated in the Round of 16.

Semi-Final 1

In the first game, 13th seed Emma Navarro never had an easy time out there against Aryna Sabalenka, having won some early battles in the process including the 2nd set that led into a tiebreak. But again, Sabalenka proved to be world-class as always en route to her 2nd straight US Open Final from start to finish in straight sets (3-6 & 6-7 via 2-7 tiebreak). 

It’s been a great 2nd half grand slam season for Navarro with back-to-back knockout matches as more to come but never an easy game unfortunately against Sabalenka who always been in the finals many times before. 

Speaking of Sabalenka, sure, she may not be good on clay (French Open) & the grass courts (Wimbledon). But she’s been excellent on the hard courts that earned her 2 x recent Australian Open titles & looks like this weekend will finally be perfect moment to add a US Open trophy for the first time.

Semi-Final 2

Now here’s something that’s going to cheer the home crowd up, Jessica Pegula may have had a rough start in the first set v Karolina Muchova, but she fought back though from behind that marked one of her best matches to date. She went from bringing up the 3rd set decider after tying 1-1 apiece with Muchova to booking her spot following an easy finish on what is going to be Pegula’s first grand slam Final right here at home in New York v Sabalenka. The final score was 1-6, 6-4 & 6-2.

If there’s one person out there who will try to stop Sabalenka in its tracks, it’s Jessica Pegula with her best grand slam campaign at age 30. She proved to Sabalenka what it takes to fight from behind in the hope of winning her first grand slam singles title also on home turf. She’s come from a long, long way whose parents are business people and NFL owners of the Buffalo Bills & no doubt this next match for Jessica is like her own Super Bowl but she will be up against one of the world’s elite stars in Sabalenka.

And Muchova did the best she can to secure a grand final spot since the 2023 Roland Garros tournament, especially when she just came back playing here following a wrist injury as she had a great run along the way up. She thought she could get there thanks to a flying start but just couldn’t keep it up unfortunately when it comes to her long form where Pegula turned out to be the better player. Will we see more of her next year? Sure as long as she can keep her good grand slam record up from here like regular 2nd week ties including an extended finals shot, etc.

Post-Notes

Now that the Pegula v Sabalenka women’s singles Final is all set, the US Open semi-finals day continues tomorrow with the men’s action. First up is Jannik Sinner v Rising Briton Jack Draper (who defeated Alex De Minaur in the QF the other day) followed by an all-American affair between Taylor Fritz & Francis Tiafoe.

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2024 US Open Tennis: Alex De Minaur’s another grand slam Quarter-Finals shot got run down by Briton Jack Draper in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t the match we hoped for when Alex De Minaur took centre stage on what has been another grand slam Quarter-Final of 2024 this time in the US Open & got easily beaten in straight sets by Briton Jack Draper at Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

But proud to see him make back-to-back-to-back grand slam quarter-finals this year outside the Australian Open though where he fell short to Andrey Rublev in the Round of 16 tie back in January. Had he won this game, it would’ve still been difficult to walk into the semis either way by going up between the last Quarter-Final winner that’s going to start later on of Jannik Sinner (Italy) or Daniil Medvedev.

Yes, he’s getting back up to speed after that hip injury that ruled him out of the Wimbledon Quarter-Final match two months ago v Novak Djokovic. But as said, he simply wasn’t at his best today other than close 2nd set performance. 

Keep an eye on him going into next week with the Australian Davis Cup campaign against France & Czech Republic over in Valencia, Spain. He’s the glue to where the Aussies went all the way to back-to-back Finals in November last year and two years ago and hopefully he will help them go one better, so he can walk into Australian Open 2025 with an eye for a Quarter-Finals spot for the first time.

For now, Jack Draper is your winner en route to his first major semi-finals at age 22 after a brilliant performance from start to finish in straight sets (6-3, 7-5 & 6-2).

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Thoughts on Network 10 retaining the Socceroos and Matildas rights for another four years until at least 2028 with the 2027 Women’s World Cup as part of the package

by Sports Benches

Yesterday, Network 10 officially extended its successful Football Australia contract who will continue airing the Men’s Socceroos and Women’s Matildas matches for another four years between 2025-2028.

Although there will be a couple of changes that you need to know going forward:

  • Home Socceroos matches remains live on 10 & 10 play but all away matches will be behind a paywall via Paramount + with the final round of World Cup Asian group qualifying set to begin later this year – expecting this to be similarly arranged across both the Socceroos and Matildas future friendly games.
  • 2027 Men’s Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia only on Paramount + regardless if the Socceroos qualify or not. It’s a shame there won’t be at least some free-to-air content unlike the previous one earlier this year in Qatar but again, they’re a team who is not at the top band of Asia unlike Japan at this stage – especially when their A-League comp isn’t so strong compared to the Saudi, Japanese and Korean domestic leagues.
  • But there’s a lot more though ahead for the Tillies with six free-to-air 2026 Women’s Asian Cup games on home soil and 15 2027 Women’s World Cup games in Brazil live on 10 & 10 Play with the rest on Paramount +. At least the best of our women’s soccer team will be showcased on free-to-air with the Women’s World Cup rights being a new addition to 10 thanks to Football Australia who recently purchased the 2027 Women’s World Cup rights on its own & then putting it onto this next Football Australia rights deal in order to fetch the best value possible. Sure, 10 missed out the previous Women’s World Cup last year to Seven & Optus Sport when it was held on home soil & also New Zealand, with the next edition going to be held early during the morning our time. But it’s better than nothing though since the Tillies is still on the rise despite their poor Olympics group stage exit at Paris 2024, although you can tell there was no Sam Kerr at the time as she’s still recovering from an ACL knee injury. 
  • All other AFC tournaments including the next two U23 Men’s Asian Cup editions for 2026 & 2028 still on Paramount + as well as the Australia Cup domestic knockout competition. It remains to be seen if some of the Round of 32 games onwards will be split across 10 Play & Paramount + or even see most games only on Paramount + but sure the annual grand final though will still be on 10 & 10 Play after all.

Not a bad deal to keep an excellent product that worked so well for 10 if you look at the Socceroos’s whirlwind 2022 journey to the main World Cup draw via Play-Offs as well as the Matildas’ enormous rise over these last few years. 

What’s next now is to sort out with the A-Leagues whose contract will expire at the end of the 2025/26 season with an option for a three-year extension. Since the competition standards aren’t so good as said with the AFC club rankings, this really translates their poor ratings across 10 and Paramount + where games have been aired on 10 Bold over the last few seasons rather than the main channel except the grand final. 

The good news that 10 is in no rush to stay covering Australian soccer when it comes to the A-Leagues but surely that’s up to the competition itself who needs to improve their standards as things won’t make much of difference if they stay running like this regardless of media partner before there’s nowhere else to look out for with competition at the end of the day. 

Although Foxtel would be happy to come back if it becomes available or 10 no longer wants it where some will be paywall and others would be free-to-view via Kayo Freebies (similar to what they do right now with Netball here), but an appropriate type of marketing, value and relationship with a particular broadcaster is key for that next domestic TV rights package.

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Thoughts on the World Athletics Diamond League competition now on Stan Sport

by Sports Benches

There was another new sport to the Stan Sport line-up yesterday off the back of Paris 2024 and it will be the World Athletics Diamond League competition when it comes to running & sprinting on track as well as throwing and jumping through the field. They will pick it up right away with a few events left to go this season as the final race on the calendar will be held in Brussels, Belgium on the weekend of 13-14 September next month. It’s never been a better time now to cheer on and follow our track and field athletes progress & also the world’s best if you can’t get enough after we’ve just witnessed in Paris 2024 as Stan Sport is the perfect place to bring these world-class Athletics/Track and Field events to you at home. 

Yes, these events were aired on YouTube prior to yesterday’s announcement in case you haven’t watch the Diamond League so far this year. But maybe that’s an extra offering to keep it up with their Olympics content when you can still view it for free I believe likewise with the Motorcycling Australia events such as the Australian Superbike Championship and Australian Motocross events as per Athletics Australia preview article two days ago. But we shall see tomorrow morning at 4am AEST for the Lausanne race event soon enough as would assume it will still be both on Stan Sport and YouTube since our interest levels aren’t as good on a regular basis compared to other sports here that requires a lot of $$$ to produce content.

Other than that, we could see the World Athletics Championships move to Nine from SBS next year in Tokyo, Japan since they’ve just acquired the Diamond League for their Stan Sport subscribers. Wondering if they gonna send some of their own on-air talent there or simply take the world feed like it was before. And could we see a Diamond League event here someday? Probably not when all our venues are covered for the winter Football season alongside some scheduling difficulties between April to September but I would love to see a World Athletics Championship event in Australia one day as you never know.

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Thoughts on the latest Brisbane Olympic Stadium proposal that is 100% privately funded following Australia’s best ever performance recently at Paris 2024 

by Sports Benches

Gotta love the look on that latest Brisbane Olympic Stadium design that won’t put pressure on the Government at all. You got the centrepiece venue in there with the athletes village on top as well as an aquatic centre, a warm-up track & many other hotel and commercial spaces. Yes, it doesn’t say much about transport nearby but at least the Stadium would be situated in the North Shore area of Brisbane. So not that hard compared to the QASC plan down south in Nathan with no transport. 

If accepted, it will be entirely private-funded with $6 billion to get this going between 2026-2031 – just one year out from the home 2032 Summer Olympics. 

But then it’s not even enough for the Government to change their mind unfortunately when they would like to have all of their proposed 2032 venues being publicly owned and operated, especially when you got Steven Miles in charge as Premier at the moment with the next State Election around the corner this October.

Well, if some of the venues we’ve seen two weeks ago from Paris 2024 was probably owned, why can’t Brisbane if they want to stage the best Olympic Games ever like our athletes do? Food for thought but I hope the current or even the future elected QLD Government can take the weight off their shoulders. Yes, it’s important what’s best for the state but this is an opportunity though to get things right. That way, they can send a really good message to NSW, VIC, WA and even the world that Brisbane can have a beautiful world-class stadium to stage world-class sports events and concerts.

There’s still at least 6-7 years away & one week already gone from the closing ceremony of Paris 2024, but we hope we can see light at the end of the tunnel going into next year before it’s too late & maybe Brisbane 2032 may not be good as Paris.

One thing for sure though is maybe just build the new world-beater Brisbane Olympic Stadium by itself that should normally cost around $1 billion like most other New Stadiums do nowadays rather than have $3-6 billion involving the other venues on top of the centrepiece Stadium.

I understand what’s it like to have the world’s best swimming events being held in an arena and even in a large-sized Stadium now like we’ve seen with the Paris La Defense Arena at the Olympics a few weeks ago, the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis two months ago for the US Swimming Trials, and now LA’s SoFi Stadium is going to be the proposed venue there for LA 2028. With the proposed 18,000 Brisbane Live Arena going to be the swimming venue, just turn back on the QASC renovation plan which doesn’t mean much when there’s little access to transport by going with the $1B Stadium. 

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