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Thoughts on BeIN Sports staying onboard with the weekly Men’s ATP Tour for another three years in Australia and what does it mean for Stan Sport as the home of Grand Slam Tennis alongside Nine

by Sports Benches

Just heard about the BeIN Sports’ renewal of the weekly Men’s ATP Tour rights for another three years going into 2025 but no word about Stan Sport being on their radar at all – not even the WTA Tour as well as the majority Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup rights other than Australian-only games via free-to-air Nine. 

You can say that they are the home of Grand Slam Tennis along with Nine but again, it wouldn’t be sustainable if they have everything Tennis all on the one go – as these things don’t tend to happen anymore these days unlike the long past.

Sure, 10 and Optus may be great examples like A-League/Matildas/Socceroos on 10 as well as Premier League & FA Cup via Optus but they don’t have much other sports rights though.

For example, Sky Sports used to have everything English Domestic Football on top of the UEFA Club competitions and England National Team matches. Now it’s just all of English Domestic Football while everything else is via TNT Sports (Half of Premier League games and UEFA club comp content) and ITV (National team).

You never know what could happen though but at the moment, it seems Stan would want to add things when appropriate as weekly tour Tennis despite tempting wouldn’t work – and not many people would have the time to watch it anyway. So BeIN is your best bet if you want to look at your favourite players every week for now while there’s always free-to-air Nine for everything else too.

Plus, there’s a whole bunch of other sports Stan has to offer throughout the year anyway like Rugby, UEFA soccer, Grand Slam Tennis and Motorsport. With the Motorsport part though, it remains to be seen if IndyCar will come back next year due to the change of domestic rights holder from NBC to FOX. 

Also keep an eye out for the new-look SRO Australia National series that is set to replace SpeedSeries (the one they previously covered back in 2022-23) going into next year, their headline category is the National GT World Challenge equivalent competition. 

They currently have the European GT World Challenge comp as it wouldn’t be a surprise if it ends up on Stan again with some secondary free-to-air content on Nine like it was before with mixed to little success when it comes to SpeedSeries. But I reckon they may as well trust their instincts by going with Seven & 7Plus online (they’re all free-to-view options) since Motorsport Australia would still be involved in some capacity. 

And don’t forget they are currently in talks with Supercars to secure the 2026-30 TV rights contract off Fox Sports (majority) and Seven (secondary with 7 major races live). Sure, there won’t be happy fans out there having to sign up with another subscription provider like we’ve saw with SpeedSeries but at least, Nine could show all Sunday races live with everything exclusive to Stan behind a paywall. 

Not going to make my verdict but if Foxtel can offer the same thing when it comes to all other Sunday only races on Kayo Freebies like they’re currently doing with Netball Australia, that wouldn’t be much of an issue either. Plus, Seven would be heavily committed to cover AFL first (shared with Fox) since it will cost them lots of $$$ to cover every season ahead of the Australian Summer of Cricket (also shared with Fox) amongst weekend Horse Racing.

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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 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: 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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Tennis news today: Carlos Alcaraz reigns supreme once again with his 2nd straight Gentlemen’s singles Wimbledon crown in straight sets from last night v Novak Djokovic

by Sports Benches

It has been another main event rematch of the best youngster Carlos Alcaraz v the best veteran Novak Djokovic at Centre Court for the 2024 Wimbledon Gentleman’s Singles Final after an incredible two weeks through the early rounds and then the 2nd week Finals until were left with the last two remaining in SW19. The winner of the Final belongs to Alcaraz, who was simply too good all along including that 3rd set arm wrestle through the very end of that stage, as he successfully defended his crown here for the second straight year in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2 & 7-6 via the 7-4 tiebreak. Now it will be a week-long break before the next Summer Olympics will arrive on what is going to be another two weeks beginning next Friday 26th July.

It’s a bummer from Djokovic whose grand slam run this year didn’t see him hoist any of the three majors so far & he’s only got the US Open left to hopefully finish things off on a high come early September, especially being the age of 37. He gave his all with class at times including the 3rd set to try and keep himself in the game but he was way off the pace for the most part unfortunately with Alcaraz being the better player throughout the Final. He might had some great battles both past, present and the future of these Spaniards – we’ll see how long he’s got left before he eventually calls it a day alongside Rafael Nadal.

And Alcaraz is the man of the hour and the day right now at SW19’s Centre Court following another brilliant performance during a Final on the grass courts last night. As said, he was too good through the first two sets over a veteran champion who is around the mid to late 30s. Now that’s without saying that Alcaraz had the easiest time ever when Djokovic did his best to keep him in check, particularly during the 3rd set. But at the end of the day as most elite champions need to do, Alcaraz demonstrated his toughness well through the very end of that stage to close out in three straight sets. What’s next for him now is to win the Olympic Tennis gold in Paris in a few weeks time, as well as winning the US Open again later this year & then he can go and finally be the next Australian Open champ come January 2025 at Melbourne Park – more to come soon enough.

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It’s the Spanish rising star Alcaraz v Seasoned Serbian legend Djokovic now for Sunday’s Wimbledon Final following their respective semi-final wins v Medvedev and Musetti

by Sports Benches

Daniil Medvedev’s hopes of a Wimbledon breakthrough Final will have to wait next time after he lost to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz despite having the opening set via the tiebreak. However, Medvedev just couldn’t build on that good start unfortunately where he lost it the whole way through no matter how close he was before it was too late, and that puts the Spaniard to the Final spotlight once again as Alcaraz had the better pull to wrap things up (7-6 via 7-1 tie, 3-6, 4-6 & 4-6). 

Then in the 2nd semi Lorenzo Musetti put up a best show on what has been his first grand slam semi-final at age 22 including the 2nd set that gave him a 2nd chance to try close things out at the tiebreak. At the end of the day though, it was Novak Djokovic who dominated Centre Court all along in straight sets – even when going up against another young gun wasn’t easy    before he found a way to settle the score with him (4-6, 6-7 via. 2-7 tie and 4-6). 

Now it’s the rising star v the seasoned veteran for the men’s singles trophy come tomorrow night. Novak still has some unfinished business left to add yet another grand slam title onto his big trophy cabinet & he won’t let that young superstar stop him that is the next big thing after his former arch-rival Rafa Nadal. Meanwhile, Alcaraz has been at the top of his game with lots of energy to outshine the Djoker to make it two Men’s Wimbledon titles – having just won the Roland Garros on clay last month on top of his Wimbledon crown last year as well as the US Open nearly two years ago. 

Two days to go now with the women’s singles Final later tonight at SW19, which is 2024 Roland Garros runner-up Jasmine Paolini (Italy) v 2021 Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic). Then it’s showtime to finish the 14th & final day’s play tomorrow night between Alcaraz v Djokovic on what has been another great fortnight of Wimbledon in 2024.

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Thoughts on Alex De Minaur forced to pull out from Wimbledon due to a hip injury with Novak Djokovic now through to the another semi-final now via walkover

by Sports Benches

We thought we all have woken up this morning hoping Alex De Minaur has played in another grand slam Quarter-Final this time on the grass courts at Wimbledon, even if it means taking on Novak Djokovic. However, a hip injury stopped him from taking part unfortunately where he limped towards the end the other day v Arthur Fils in the R16, and that is going to take some time to recover at this stage. With that being said, Djokovic will go straight to the semis against 25th seed Italian Lorenzo Musetti – an opponent De Minaur would’ve like to face had he took part & win that upset.

It’s a bummer that he couldn’t bring himself to Centre Court just hours before his next scheduled match, having endured an excellent grand slam campaign so far this year. We know that recovery time means he will be out for the Olympics by representing the Australian Olympic Team, but you never know if he can recover in time for the US Open that will begin in late August-early September. If not, another good Davis Cup run followed by homecoming return in January would be the perfect chance for De Minaur to finally make such a big impact like Ash Barty.

For now, we wish De Minaur a speedy recovery while Wimbledon will continue with the semis tonight. It will begin with back-to-back women’s singles matches that will follow the same with the men’s singles matches throughout Friday night & overnight Saturday morning.

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Carlos Alcaraz stuns Alexander Zverev after the third set to an unreal comeback through the 5th & final set sprint with his 1st Roland Garros Men’s title at Court Phillipe Chatrier

by Sports Benches

What a way to wrap up the 2024 Roland Garros Tennis tournament at Court Phillipe Chatrier thanks to an top-notch five-set showdown between Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and German Alexander Zverev. The Spaniard benefited from Zverev’s slow start with the opening set lead but Zverev eventually got himself really quick from the set down at 1-1 apiece before he was leading for the first time after another close 3rd set nettle going into the 4th set, 2-1. But Zverev unfortunately slipped away where not only Alcaraz brought the 5th and final set decider, he also fell short on his 2nd ever grand slam final despite showing A-game performance. Gotta say the poor start serves while unable to arrest Alcaraz’s restart past the 3rd set really cost him as job isn’t done yet for Zverev to hopefully win a major title on his third attempt at whichever might be next time.

At the end of the day, Alcaraz has just won another first ever major this time on the courts of clay in the year 2024 – having first done so at the US Open two years ago followed by Wimbledon last year. He too never gave up to reset himself both from that 2nd set disappointment and also the close 3rd set play where Zverev was on top for a while by quickly nailing his opponent down before he found a way at last to close things out also so quickly towards the very end after a long afternoon out on-court. What’s next for him is to defend his Wimbledon crown going into next month, don’t forget the Olympics gold too if possible & winning back the US Open in early September that would mean finally winning the Aussie Open like Rafa Nadal at least by January next year. The final score was 3-6 to Alcaraz, 6-2 to Zverev, 7-5 to Zverev, 1-6 and 2-6 to Alcaraz.

And on the Aussies here on show, it might be a long way away for someone to thrive in the women’s singles draw but we did so well however in the men with Thanasi Kokkanakis up until the 3rd round by American Taylor Fritz while Alex De Minaur got his breakthrough past the Round of 16 by shocking World No.5 Daniil Medvedev before he was eliminated a few days later by the eventual runner-up finalist in Zverev. Wished we could see more of De Minaur’s fightback where he was usually so good from the set down but upon playing his 2nd grand slam finals here, he just needs to be a bit more patient and we shall see him doing so well on a regular basis as hope De Minaur will go even deeper next time around sooner rather than later.

Australian Open already done at the end of January to kickstart 2024 followed by the Roland Garros tournament just now after another 15 days of play, even though we had some wet weather delays on the outside courts in the early rounds. Next stop, London, England for The Championships on the grass courts at Wimbledon starting Monday July 1st to Sunday July 14th. Then it’s a week-long off before we return to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics from Friday July 26th to Sunday August 8th,

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Carlos Alcaraz comes out strong v Jannik Sinner out of a five-setter where he will be joined by Alexander Zverev in a bid to win the Men’s Roland Garros Final this Sunday 

by Sports Benches

What a semi final to remember on clay last night by the young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz who is now on his way to Sunday’s big Roland Garros Final at Court Phillipe Chatrier after overcoming Australian Open champ Jannik Sinner in a long five-set contest.

Yes, he had a really poor start with Sinner winning the easy first set’s play. However, Alcaraz finally got the ball rolling where he managed to equalise his opponent at 1-1 apiece. Although Sinner never backed down in the hope of getting the job done following his 3rd set rebound, but at the end of the day, Alcaraz is the man that showed the best physical and mental toughness through the very end of that semi-final. The Spaniard rolled out the 5th and final decider following another close equalising set before he eventually found a way to close things out so quickly after a long afternoon on-court.

The final score was 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-3 at Court Phillipe Chatrier.

Alcaraz has unfinished business off the back of his Wimbledon triumph last year despite some disappointments along the way. But he’s stepped up well into the next level at Roland Garros where it will be first big final there in the hope of winning his 3rd grand slam title. He first won the US Open two years ago before Wimbledon last year as 2024 could be the year he wins here and then come January he finally wins at Melbourne Park in 2025 – how about that? For now, he’s never backed down all along to stay in the game as just need to get that ball rolling right from the word go in the first set & he’ll get what he wants.

And Sinner unable to grasp the best out of Alcaraz when he just couldn’t close the game out despite leading a few times. He got straight into it to begin with where the Italian had some good moments to keep in check but then began to slip away once Alcaraz settled in after some time when pressure began to mount on him big time including the 5th set decider before it was too late in the end. It’s gutting to see him fall short after an outstanding last half year as said with the Davis Cup win for Italy & the Australian Open, but this was his first breakthrough (semis) on clay as he will surely look to rebound next time.

Alcaraz’s next opponent for Sunday’s men’s singles final will be joined by Alexander Zverev from Germany who defeated Alex De Minaur the other day during the Quarter-Final. Like the Spaniard, he too have bounced back so fast from the opening set down including a tight 3rd set battle v Norwegian Casper Ruud to book his 2nd major grand slam Final since the 2020 US Open. Having still yet to win a grand slam trophy at 27 following his first time loss to the now retired Dominic Thiem (Austria), can he really break his duck other than winning an Olympic Gold by defying the 21-year-old wonderkid? If not, will see unfinished business by seeing Alcaraz winning another first time major on clay who still has a big future ahead? It all comes down to this come Sunday night (our time) where it’s okay to stay up now going into overnight since the King’s Birthday public holiday (depending on where you live mainly in most states except WA and QLD) takes place the next day on Monday.

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Alexander Zverev’s impressive Roland Garros record on clay saw the Quarter-Final elimination of Alex De Minaur in straight sets at Court Phillipe Chatrier

by Sports Benches

Alex De Minaur’s breakthrough run on clay at the 2024 Roland Garros has come to an end this morning after he was defeated by World No.5 German Alexander Zverev in straight sets (6-4, 7-6 with 7-5 tie & 6-4). 

This was De Minaur’s 2nd grand slam quarter-finals appearance since the 2020 US Open with Zverev now off to another major semi-final on tomorrow v Casper Ruud from Norway, who got the walk over berth by default following Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal due to a knee injury.

Despite the knockout last 8 elimination, this is the best De Minaur has produced on-court having got away with an easy start in the first two rounds followed by some really good fightbacks that led to some terrific upsets along the way including Jan Lennard-Struff and Daniil Medvedev – even though he was a set down from the beginning. We saw some of his terrific class when he was so close earlier on and also during the 2nd set in a bid to turn things around but unfortunately just not quiet enough as we hoped for where he was out & done after the 3rd set.

Let’s hope he can keep on going on top of his Roland Garros breakthrough by being in the second week all the time that could hopefully see him challenge in the semis and even the singles finals sooner rather than later. It would mean a lot to the tennis world and the Aussie sporting fans once he comes back at Melbourne Park for the next Australian Open edition in January.

Looking at Zverev, he’s the one that holds the cards who knows a lot about this surface more than De Minaur. He worked his way really well one at a time before the German was able to speed his way towards the finish line with little to no strings attached. We all know how good he is having played in a bunch of knockout grand slam matches before including the last three Roland Garros editions. But he’s never won a Final before as Zverev only made it once back in 2020 at the US Open where he lost to the now retired Austrian Dominic Thiem in a long five-set contest.

With Djokovic now out due to injury, is he really the next man to be known as The King of Clay? Time will tell soon enough. We also don’t forget that he was the defending Olympic Tennis gold medalist too during the COVID-postponed Tokyo 2020 Summer Games three years ago.

Now the women’s singles semi-finals will take place later tonight and into the early hours of Friday morning at midnight and the same will follow with the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday night and early Saturday morning. It all takes place at the one & only Court Phillipe Chatrier arena.

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