Canada’s Milos Raonic returns to Tommy Paul of the US in a men’s singles match on day four of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on July 6.Alberto Pezzali/The Associated Press
The other day, Milos Raonic was asked what tradition or ritual in tennis he would change if he could.
Raonic seems different since returning from his years in the wilderness. Less tightly wound. More forthcoming. The old Raonic would have slapped the question away. New Raonic just shot off the top of his head.
“‘Followed by’ matches,” the Canadian said. “I think it would change the average fans’ experience if they knew when a match started. And when, if they were excited for a match, when that would be on TV. Not with this ‘followed by’ stuff.”
Right? Seriously – what’s with ‘followed by’ in tennis?
This is the process at a big tournament in which most matches are followed by another, especially in the early going. So if Match 1 starts at 11 a.m., it is followed by Match 2, which might start at 1 p.m. Or 3. Or if Match 1 turns into a five-set all-timer, at 5.
How many fewer people would watch baseball if the Jays played some time after the Cubs’ game ended? ‘Coming up – the Cubs, followed by Toronto versus New York. We’ll get that second one started before midnight. Fingers crossed.’
There’s no fixing it altogether, but there is a way to make things better – start earlier. More available work hours in the day equals more certainty.
But morning starts are bad for TV audiences, which is bad for advertisers, which is bad for business. So the pain is passed on to players.
It would be one thing – still not a great thing, but a different thing – if that pain was spread around equally. But it isn’t. The lower you are on the greasy tennis pole, the more likely you are to get jobbed by ‘followed by.’
At this year’s Wimbledon, Canada’s Bianca Andreescu has been caught in that scheduling wood chipper.
Andreescu was scheduled to begin her tournament on Tuesday. She didn’t exactly get a prime-time spot – fifth match on Court 16. If the weather had been perfect, that would still have been a tough ask. The weather wasn’t perfect.
So after showing up and hanging around for hours, Andreescu was told to come back to try again on Wednesday. She was scheduled for the fifth match again, this time on Court 14.
More rain. That didn’t happen either.
The obvious thing would have been to schedule her first on whatever court for Thursday. That also didn’t happen. Andreescu and her Hungarian opponent, Anna Bondar, were given the second slot on Court 17.
On Thursday morning, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who plays under a roof on Centre Court or Court 1 with the cool kids, advanced to her third-round match.
Hours later, Andreescu, world No. 50, who plays out in the open with the rest of the WTA’s plebs, started her first-round match.
“It’s definitely very frustrating having to wait around. … That’s life for many of us,” Andreescu said. And that was after winning her match. It would be a lot more frustrating had she lost.
“I’m trying to control the controllables,” Andreescu said. “And those things I can’t control [shrug] until I’m seeded again.”
She gets it. Even at this level, the players exists in two worlds – haves (rankings) and haves not. By design, only one of them is conducive to winning majors.
If the seeds versus non-seeds is one dividing line, so is the young versus the aged.
The budding star of this tournament is Franco-Russian 16-year-old, Mirra Andreeva. You know how some people have that thing? That thing that’s hard to define that gets people interested? Andreeva has so much of it, she must make the sound of a cash register as she passes. If she is anywhere near as good as people say she will be, she’s going to be bigger than the Beatles.
But Andreeva is still 102nd-ranked in the world, meaning she also got put through the weather wringer. Her first-round match was played late Wednesday evening. Her second-round match began about 12 hours later. Andreeva ground her way through the first, and romped in the second.
“Today, I can say I feel fresh,” Andreeva said later, and then – “I feel tired. But that’s okay. I feel tired almost every day.”
Ah, youth.
Meanwhile, Raonic was over on Court 4-hundred-and-something proving his own point.
Playing ranked American Tommy Paul was always going to be a big ask for a man who is returning after a years-long absence. But playing Tommy Paul less than a day after his previous match was like asking Raonic to turn water to wine. Some miracles are too much to ask.
Halfway through the first set, Raonic was laid out on the deck while a physio worked on his shoulder. He muscled his way through the rest of the match. He even looked like he was fully in it at times. But it was never in any doubt. Raonic went down in four sets.
So how are things looking for Canada? Better than you feared, and not as good as you hoped.
Leylah Fernandez was a third-set tiebreak from upsetting world No. 5 Caroline Garcia. Though she lost on Thursday, Fernandez, 20, kind of, sort of resembled the player she was when she made a U.S. Open final in 2021.
The most hopeful development is Denis Shapovalov. Several good things happened for him on Thursday.
First, he won his second-round match.
Second, the guy you assumed he’d be playing in the third round, French Open finalist Casper Ruud, lost.
Third, the guy who beat Ruud, Liam Broady, did so in a five-set comeback. Afterward, Broady, a Brit, said, “I said to my mom this morning – she doesn’t like watching – I said, ‘Look, I’ve already won 80 grand this week so you can chill out.’”
Not exactly the eye of the tiger, is it?
And lastly, because of the goofy scheduling, Shapovalov and Broady will play Friday.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
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