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Grand Slam

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Last night’s Wimbledon ladies singles’ final of 2024 was epic where there were two first time finalists with Jasmine Paolini & Barbora Krejcikova but only one can settle to take home the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy at the finish line. At the start, Krejcikova had an easy 1st set lead but that doesn’t mean Paolini can’t either who also won an easy 2nd set battle brought this Final into a final set decider. It was neck and neck between those two in a one-set drag race but Paolini’s inconsistency to get the job done including at deuces forced Krejcikova’s hand, and she too found a way to get the job done past a series championship point attempts on has been her 2nd grand slam crown since the 2021 Roland Garros on the clay courts.

The final score at SW19 was 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4 as Wimbledon 2024 will wrap up tonight on the 14th and final day’s play with a main event repeat from last year between Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) v Novak Djokovic (Serbia) for the Gentleman’s singles Final.

Commiserations to Paolini with another grand slam runner-up finish following an excellent year so far, having built on that Roland Garros breakthrough with a couple of good wins here and there until the very end. She can be exceptionally mobile despite not being the tallest where the Italian had some good moments including that 2nd set comeback. She’s probably struggled to finish off the puzzle unfortunately when trying to win that arm wrestle towards the end. This is someone Italy should be cheering for on top of Jannik Sinner & Paolini will vow to keep on chasing that breakthrough title soon enough.

And what a moment for Krejcikova with another grand slam singles crown in a while over these last few years. She might be in and out of the Quarter-Finals on a couple of occasions since her 2021 Roland Garros breakthrough win, but the Czech never let her game slip away where class is permanent that gave her country another Wimbledon women’s singles crown after Marketa Vondrousova last year. She’s got some unfinished business ahead to have a regular crack in the last 8 during the 2nd week every year where she will need to keep that consistency at times. But other than that, she played another of her best matches last night & congratulations once again to Krejcikova who is now the new Wimbledon women’s singles champion.

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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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Last night’s Wimbledon women’s singles semi-finals day at SW19 was really good to watch with back-to-back three set ties that went down the wire as four finalists now set to become two ahead of Saturday’s main event at Centre Court. It’s going to be Jasmine Paolini from Italy going up against another Czech Republic player but this time in Barbora Krejcikova. Three more days to go with the Men’s semi-final day kicking off tonight with Daniil Medvedev v Carlos Alcaraz followed by Lorenzo Musetti v Novak Djokovic, with Djokovic not required to play the last eight two days ago due to Alex De Minaur’s hip injury.

Semi-Final 1

Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun the other day in the last 8 got away with a fast start before Jasmine Paolini didn’t give up at all by holding Vekic back on both sets – even though it wasn’t easy to pull off at all. However, the Italian finally saw light at the end of the tunnel on what is going to be another grand slam singles final following her breakthrough at Roland Garros last month. She hopes to go one better having fell short to the Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek from Poland including her same doubles final appearance that next day as the final score was 6-2, 4-6 and 6-7 with the 8-10 tiebreaker.

This is a breakthrough Vekic should be proud of after finally being able to go through in her first grand slam semi-final hoping she can go all the way following a really good start. She just couldn’t get the best out of Paolini as the game goes on & that semi-finals exit at the deciding end was really unfortunate. Let’s hope she can overcome that inconsistency after a few past rare Quarter-Final outings.

Paolini is having the time of her life at 28 and the way she stood up to Vekic was unbelievable from the opening set down to finishing off her way towards the finish line via a close arm wrestle. She might not be tall but so quick to wrap things up that Vekic couldn’t do to stop the ball from slipping past her in its tracks. It’s not too late from Paolini to become such a late bloomer in the elite world of grand slam tennis as this next breakthrough awaits in the hope of finally winning a major there.

Semi-Final 2

Now that tie had same difficulty shared by both players, although that was done without tiebreaks. 2022 Champion from Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina had a brilliant charge to open the match with the opening set lead but the game wasn’t over just yet when Barbora Krejcikova had a terrific restart to level the scoreboard at 1-1. Although that 3rd set battle was another arm wrestle with Rybakina not holding back to try and hold off top spot, but it was Krejcikova who got away unscathed on what is going to be another big match-up since her 2021 Roland Garros Final triumph. The final score was 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4.

Good to see Rybakina bounce back from that early-round disappointment at the Australian Open back in January with back-to-back knockout matches so far this year including this tourney at Wimbledon as sure she’ll keep on doing better from here. The only thing that held back her is the inconsistency following a good start but then struggled to keep Krejcikova away from her sight including during the final set decider under pressure before it was too late that sealed her semi-final elimination outside the Top 2 spots. There’s the Olympics coming up in a few weeks time back on clay where she didn’t do bad there as said with the Roland Garros up until the last 8 & she also did well in 4th behind Elina Svitolina during the last Summer edition in Tokyo.

And Krejcikova is here to fly the Czech flag hoping to give her country another Wimbledon women’s singles trophy this time by herself. She had some issues at the beginning but has always been great to hold her ground v Rybakina for the most part where she brought up the 3rd set decider before she overcame such a tough arm wrestle towards the finish line and she has done it in the hope of taking her 2nd grand slam women’s singles’ title this time on the grass courts. Other than a couple of rare Quarter-Final appearances, she has never lost in a Final before & Saturday could be another one of her best days yet as we’ll see how the Czech will go against someone is so quick & mobile in Paolini.

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