Vasek Pospisil, right, and Félix Auger-Aliassime of Canada look on during their first round doubles match against Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin of France at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal, Aug. 5, 2019.
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
After finally putting an end to the whole idea of the Big Four in men’s tennis, Félix Auger-Aliassime was still showing a respect that is no longer due.
“In the back of your mind, you know you’re facing Andy Murray,” the 20-year-old Montrealer said after winning his second-round match at the U.S. Open on Thursday night. “You never know what tricks he has in the back of his pocket.”
No tricks, as it turns out. I’m not sure the man has pockets any more.
Story continues below advertisement
A large part of Murray’s reputation was based on his ability to return serve. He’s one of the greats in that regard. Against Auger-Aliassime, Murray had no break points and no break opportunities. He went down 2-6, 3-6, 4-6.
That isn’t losing. That’s being wiped out.
Murray is in the midst of a comeback no one really wanted. He’s tottering around out there on a metal hip, trying to reassert himself in a game that has passed him by.
A generation ago, the Scot would have had the sense to quit. He’s 33 years old and already half-bionic.
Thirty-three used to be ancient in men’s tennis terms. Pete Sampras quit at 31. Boris Becker was the same age when he called it a day, and he hadn’t mattered much in years.
Maybe recency bias is to blame here. The Roger Federers, Serena Williamses and Tom Bradys of the world have convinced Murray that it is quite reasonable for humans to operate at their physical peak until 40.
As anyone who has ever been 40 will tell you, that is a dirty lie.
Story continues below advertisement
At this U.S. Open, we are finally beginning to see the reality of time reassert itself.
By Friday, the oldest remaining player in the men’s singles draw was reigning champion Novak Djokovic. He’s 33 and a half. But I understand he can turn bilge water into vitamins using only the power of his brain, so he has an advantage.
Federer is MIA because of knee surgery. Rafael Nadal is taking a pass because of COVID-19.
This was the year the old guard stood down. We are left wondering what they’ll look like whenever they decide to stand back up.
Men’s tennis has spent years waiting for the situation at the top to change. It finally is, if incrementally. Murray’s done. Federer is on his way out. Nadal has to be close behind. It just stands to reason. (And, yes, that one has been written before. Many times.)
On a nice, local note, Canada is a major storyline in whatever change is occurring. Three Canadian men (Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil) made it through to the U.S. Open’s third round this week. That had never happened before.
Story continues below advertisement
It might’ve been four had Pospisil not advanced via some Canadian-on-Canadian crime, making Milos Raonic look old and creaky.
Raonic’s only finish line now is a major title. The only one left to play is the French. Which means Raonic’s season is effectively over.
He’ll be 30 when they start up again. Just last year, you’d have said, “Thirty? Is that all?” But 30 is starting to feel like the other side of the mountain again. Especially when you are a spindly 6-foot-5 and playing a sport that puts more G-forces on your joints than a rocket launch.
Raonic is no longer mid-career. He is well into the second half of his tennis journey. His time no longer seems like ‘right now’. It feels as though it was the Wimbledon final in 2016, the one in which he ended up being overcome by the moment against Murray.
Imagine where Canadian tennis would be now if that match had gone the other way?
Instead, the breakthrough was left to Bianca Andreescu, who won the women’s title at the U.S. Open last year. We are about to see if tennis majors are like four-minute miles – you have to see that it can be done in order to be able to do it yourself.
Story continues below advertisement
Regardless, Auger-Aliassime is now always going to be the most obvious threat. He was shaky in his opener, then dominant against Murray. Within a few days, if it gets that far, he’ll likely have to get past Dominic Thiem.
Thiem has been tennis’s No. 1 contender for what seems like a hundred years now. The Austrian is 27 and hasn’t won anything that matters. By that age, Bjorn Borg had already been retired for a year.
Like so many of his cohort – Raonic being one of them – Thiem seems scarred by his unlucky place in the tennis timeline. He is consistently brilliant right up until he convinces a few people that he’s finally figured it out. Then he plays as though the point is to put the ball through the net, rather than just over it.
Someone on Auger-Aliassime’s side of the bracket is going to get their chance against Djokovic. You’d like to make that last sentence conditional, but you know in your bones it isn’t. Djokovic may be a bit of a wing-nut, but he is also as guaranteed as government bonds.
It’s got to the point where you don’t admire the Serb’s consistency so much as you are confused by his ability to keep himself interested. Surely, even he must get bored by how good he is.
That’s all you’re hoping for now – some change, something a little different. This U.S. Open is an advance look at what men’s tennis will look like in its next iteration. And so far, that’s not very compelling. It’s a bit of a battle royale out there – a whole bunch of guys swinging chairs at each other.
Story continues below advertisement
We still need to figure out the rivalries, the must-see encounters, the running feuds. The women’s side has Serena Williams and her march to 24 Grand Slam titles. What does men’s tennis have? Djokovic plowing over the field like this is a monster truck rally.
It’d be a nice change if someone found a new script, never mind flipping this one. And it would be something special in an otherwise desultory sports year if that someone wore the Maple Leaf.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
