Andy Murray Hopes Latest Davis Cup Match Will Not Be His Last - UBITENNIS
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Andy Murray Hopes Latest Davis Cup Match Will Not Be His Last

Sunday at the Emirates Arena marked the 41st time Murray has won a Davis Cup match since his debut in 2005.

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GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: Davis Cup by Rakuten Glasgow Group Stage 2022 at Emirates Arena on September 18, 2022 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Pedro Salado / Quality Sport Images / Kosmos Tennis)

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is prepared for the possibility that his last Davis Cup match played in Glasgow on Sunday could be the final one of his career. 

The former world No.1 eased to a 6-4, 6-3, win over Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko during what has been a disappointing event for the host nation. Great Britain entered their final tie of the group on Sunday knowing they had failed to secure qualification for November’s finals after suffering losses to the Netherlands and USA. Nevertheless, Murray gave home fans something to cheer about with a largely solid performance that featured 33 winners and nine aces. 

Although closing the match out was harder than it seemed for Murray who admitted afterwards that he started to feel emotional about the possibility of playing the team competition in his city of birth for the last time. 

“I only thought about it at about 5-2 in the second set. I wasn’t thinking about it before the weekend, during any of the doubles matches or anything. I kind of realized that as I was playing the match.” He said. 
“I lost my focus a bit and felt a little bit emotional about that. But, yeah, I wasn’t thinking about that throughout the rest of the week I guess probably because there was always another match coming as well.”

Throughout his career Murray has played in 51 Davis Cup matches, winning 41 of those. In 2015 he guided his country to its first title in 79 years by winning 11 matches in a row. 

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and this seems to be the case for the 35-year-old who describes his decision not to play in the event last year as a ‘mistake.’ As for the future, Murray has vowed to play the Davis Cup if he is selected to do so but acknowledges he faces stiff competition. At present, Britain has nine players in the Pepperstone ATP top 100 – four in singles and another five in doubles. 

“It’s not going to be easy with the players that we have. Someone like Jack Draper is improving all the time. He’ll be involved in the team for many years. Then I don’t know which way the captain will go with the doubles after the results here, as well.” Murray said about being selected in the future. 
“I don’t know what the future holds in that respect but if I’m selected I’ll definitely, definitely be involved.”

Murray’s next tournament will be in less than a week at the Laver Cup where Roger Federer is set to play the last match of his career. 

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World No.634 Laura Samson Reaches First WTA Quarter-Final At 16

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Laura Samon - image via itftennis.com/ photo credi: Manuel Queimadelos

Laura Samson has become the first player born in 2008 to reach the quarter-finals of a WTA event after producing a surprise win on Tuesday. 

The 16-year-old wildcard stunned second seed Katerina Siniakova 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the second round at the Prague Open. Her triumph occurred a day after she dropped just two games against Tara Wurth in her opening match. This week is Samson’s Tour debut after playing 10 events on the lower-level ITF circuit. 

“I’m extremely surprised,” she said during her on-court interview after beating Siniakova. “I didn’t go into it as favorite. I’m so proud of myself and I hope I will continue to play like this. As I was going into the second set I thought, ‘I have nothing to lose, I didn’t play good in the first set.’ I’m not really sure when [I thought I could win], I just believed myself in the third set.” 

Samson is the latest Czech player to break through following a sucessful junior career. Last year she won the Wimbledon girls’ doubles title and was runner-up in the French Open singles tournament in June. She is currently No.3 in the ITF junior rankings but has been ranked as high as No.1. 

Earlier this year, Samson decided to change her name on the Tour by dropping the last three letters (ova). The reason why she did so was to avoid getting confused with another player. 

“I first noticed it last year, there was a problem that I was getting strings (the) of Lyudmila Samsonova,” she told tenisovysvet.cz.

“I also talked about it with her and, for example, according to the schedule, she also sometimes thought she was playing, but it was me,” 

“I would have liked the ending -ová, but unfortunately it turned out like this.”

The teenager will next take on world No.248 Oksana Selekhmeteva with the winner of that match progressing to their first WTA semi-final.  21-year-old Selekhmeteva is a former top 10 junior player who came through two rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw. She is a two-time junior Grand Slam champion in doubles. 

There are five seeds remaining in the tournament, including top seed Linda Nosková who will play Germany’s Ella Seidel in her next match. 

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Alex De Minaur Overcomes Injury To Fulfil Olympic Dream

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ASlex de Minaur - Roland Garros 2022 (foto Roberto dell'Olivo)

Alex de Minaur says it is a ‘dream come true’ for him to represent Australia in the Olympic Games after missing the event three years ago.

The world No.6 had been in a race against time to be fit for the Olympic tennis event after suffering an agonising injury setback at Wimbledon earlier this month. At the All England Club de Minaur reached the quarter-final stage for the first time and was set to take on Novak Djokovic. However, he was forced to withdraw from the match after tearing the fibre cartilage in his hip region after suffering a ‘freak’ injury. At the time of the announcement, it was estimated that he would be sidelined from the Tour for three to six weeks. 

However, the 25-year-old appears to have recovered fairly quickly in time for Paris with the tennis tournament starting on Saturday. It will be de Minaur’s debut in the Olympics after he was forced to pull out of the Tokyo Games due to a positive COVID-19 test. 

“To finally be able to represent Australia in the Olympics is a dream come true,” he wrote on Instagram on Tuesday morning.

“I’m very passionate when I play for my country and wear the green and gold, so this is another one of those moments. 

“I’m extremely excited to lace up for Paris 2024.”

De Minaur is bidding to become the first male player from his country to win an Olympic medal in the singles event. He has already won two ATP titles this year in Alcapulco and s-Hertogenbosch. Since the start of January, he has won five out of 11 meetings against top 10 players. 

“It’s really great news – we’re actually expecting Alex to arrive in the village ahead of the official draw (on Thursday) and we know he’s been working with his rehab team quite extensively since the conclusion of Wimbledon,” Australian chef de mission Anna Meares told the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

“He’s hungry to be here, he wants to be a part of this team and we will offer as much support as we can in that process.

“He’s coming – we will wait to see that process. He still has time … injury can be a really stressful thing for an athlete and the more you rush it, the more problems you can potentially cause.

“We’re leaving it in the hands of Alex and his rehabilitation team … it will be a decision purely by them.” 

De Minaur is one of five Australian men playing in the Paris Olympics. The others are Alexei Popyrin, Matthew Ebden, John Peers and Rinky Hijikata. 

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Wrist Injury Threatening To End Holger Rune’s Olympic Dream

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Holger Rune will have a second medical opinion on Monday before deciding if he is fit enough to play at the Olympic Games, according to his team. 

The Danish world No.17 recently retired from his quarter-final match at the Hamburg Open due to a knee injury. The hope at the time was that his withdrawal would be just a precautionary measure ahead of the Olympics. However, he is also dealing with a second issue that appears to be more serious.

According to TV 2 Sport, Rune has been struggling with a wrist issue and underwent a scan on Sunday which his mother Aneke says ‘doesn’t look promising.’ Aneke is also the manager of her son’s career. Rune’s Olympic dreams now rest on the outcome of a second medical expert that he will visit tomorrow who has a better understanding of the sport. 

“Unfortunately, it does not look promising after the first medical opinion after the review of the scan of the wrist,” Aneke Rune told TV 2 Sport.

“We are waiting for two tennis-specific doctors who will give a second opinion tomorrow (Monday). Tennis wrists look different from regular wrists, so we’ll hold out hope for one more day.” 

Rune is one of three Danish players entered into the Olympic tennis event along with Caroline Wozniacki and Clara Tauson. The country has only won one medal in tennis before which was at the 1912 Games when Sofie Castenschiold won silver in the women’s indoor singles event. 

So far this season, the 21-year-old has won 27 matches on the Tour but is yet to claim a title. He reached the final of the Brisbane International and then the semi-finals of three more events. In the Grand Slams, he made it to the fourth round of the French Open and Wimbledon. 

It is not known when a final decision regarding Rune’s participation in Paris will be made.

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