Lebensgefährte von Sabalenka: Ex-NHL-Spieler Kolzow mit 42 verstorben

Konstantin Kolzow, früherer NHL-Profi, ist im Alter von 42 Jahren verstorben. Der Belarusse war der Lebensgefährte der Weltranglisten-Zweiten im Tennis, Aryna Sabalenka.

Kolzow (o.) am Rande eines Länderspiels zwischen Belarus und Russland Ende 2023.

Kolzow (o.) am Rande eines Länderspiels zwischen Belarus und Russland Ende 2023.

picture alliance/dpa/TASS

Der Eishockey-Klub Salavat Yulaev aus der russischen Stadt Ufa teilte die Nachricht am Dienstag mit, ohne genauer auf die Umstände des “plötzlichen” Todes einzugehen. Auch der belarussische Eishockey-Verband drückte öffentlich seine Trauer aus.

Kolzow spielte von 2002 bis 2006 für die Pittsburgh Penguins in der NHL, nahm 2002 und 2010 mit Belarus an den Olympischen Spielen teil. Zuletzt arbeitete er als Assistenztrainer für Salavat Yulaev.

Seit 2021 war er mit der Weltklasse-Tennisspielerin Aryna Sabalenka liiert. Die 25-jährige zweimalige Australian-Open-Siegerin wollte in dieser Woche beim WTA-Turnier in Miami starten und nach einem Freilos am Freitag ins Geschehen eingreifen.

Raducanu pulls out of Miami Open with reported back injury

Emma Raducanu has pulled out of the upcoming Miami Open due to a reported back injury.

The 21-year-old Briton had been due to face Xiyu Wang on Tuesday in the first round, but her name has been taken off the draw and she will not play at the WTA 1000 tournament.

Afterwards she spoke about feeling “positive” following an injury-disrupted 2023.

“It was a good success, I would say,” said 2021 US Open winner Raducanu.

“I think I have handled myself a lot better on the match court. I was a lot more positive and hungry to play, and that showed I think in the tennis that I did play.”

The latest injury is Raducanu’s first setback of the season when she appeared to be putting the worst of her fitness problems behind her, having missed much of the previous two years with various ailments.

She underwent wrist and ankle surgery last year but she had been able to compete in the Australian Open, the Abu Dhabi Tennis Championship, the Qatar Open, and the ASB Classic so far in 2024.

As a result of Raducanu’s fitness and form struggles, she is currently ranked No. 288 in the world, meaning she was obliged to start in the first round while top-ranked players enter the tournament in the second round in Florida.

Iga Swiatek is the defending Miami Open champion after triumphing last year.

The world No. 1 has been in impressive form after her Australian Open second-round disappointment, and she has won the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Masters over the last month.

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Raducanu pulls out of Miami Open with reported back injury

Emma Raducanu has pulled out of the upcoming Miami Open due to a reported back injury.

The 21-year-old Briton had been due to face Xiyu Wang on Tuesday in the first round, but her name has been taken off the draw and she will not play at the WTA 1000 tournament.

Afterwards she spoke about feeling “positive” following an injury-disrupted 2023.

“It was a good success, I would say,” said 2021 US Open winner Raducanu.

“I think I have handled myself a lot better on the match court. I was a lot more positive and hungry to play, and that showed I think in the tennis that I did play.”

The latest injury is Raducanu’s first setback of the season when she appeared to be putting the worst of her fitness problems behind her, having missed much of the previous two years with various ailments.

She underwent wrist and ankle surgery last year but she had been able to compete in the Australian Open, the Abu Dhabi Tennis Championship, the Qatar Open, and the ASB Classic so far in 2024.

As a result of Raducanu’s fitness and form struggles, she is currently ranked No. 288 in the world, meaning she was obliged to start in the first round while top-ranked players enter the tournament in the second round in Florida.

Iga Swiatek is the defending Miami Open champion after triumphing last year.

The world No. 1 has been in impressive form after her Australian Open second-round disappointment, and she has won the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Masters over the last month.

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Murray drawn against Berrettini in Miami Open first round

Andy Murray has been drawn against Matteo Berrettini in the first round of the Miami Open.

The former world No. 1 takes on the experienced Italian in the round of 128, with the 32 seeds not introduced until the next round.

The winner of the tie will go on to play Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Murray was last in action at Indian Wells, where he beat David Goffin in straight sets in the first round before losing out to fifth seed Andrey Rublev.

Murray won gold at both the 2012 and 2016 Games, and is a three-time Grand Slam champion.

He has struggled for form and fitness since major hip surgery in 2018, and he went back under the knife in 2019.

For many athletes the severity of the surgery would have precluded a return to the sport, but last year was a high point in his post-surgery career, claiming the Aix-en-Provence, Surbiton and Nottingham trophies.

Berrettini has also battled injury issues over the last year but comes into Indian Wells on the back of a run to a second-tier Challenger final in Phoenix.

Murray won their last meeting in five sets at the 2023 Australian Open.

Alcaraz will meet Aleksandar Vukic or Roberto Carballes Baena in the second round.

World No. 3 Jannik Sinner, the second seed and in the opposite side of the draw to Alcaraz, will face either Pedro Cachin or a qualifier in his opener.

The first round matches in Miami begin on Wednesday, March 20.

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What does Djokovic’s Miami withdrawal mean for world No. 1 battle?

Novak Djokovic’s return to Indian Wells and the Miami Open was supposed to be a chance for him to bulk up his lead as world No. 1 over Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

With no points to defend, having not played either event since 2019, Djokovic had the chance to pull away at the top of the rankings.

Instead he could start the clay season with the world No. 1 ranking up for grabs.

Djokovic’s shock third-round exit at Indian Wells to Luca Nardi saw him gain just 50 points, while Alcaraz defended his title and Sinner made the semis for the second year in a row.

So how much can Alcaraz and Sinner gain on Djokovic across the next fortnight? And when they could replace him as world No. 1?

Djokovic still in strong position – for now

Even though he will start April with just one match win since the Australian Open, Djokovic will still be world No. 1.

He is guaranteed to stay atop the rankings for three more weeks, which would see his total time spent as No. 1 reach 420 weeks.

Djokovic leads the rankings on 9,725 points, 920 points ahead of Alcaraz and 1,415 ahead of Sinner. Daniil Medvedev is in fourth place on 7,765 points.

Alcaraz can add a maximum of 640 points to his total if he wins the Miami Open, while last year’s runner-up Sinner could add 400 if he lifts the title.

If Alcaraz wins Miami and beats Sinner in the final then the rankings ahead of the clay season could be:

  • Novak Djokovic – 9,725 points
  • Carlos Alcaraz – 9,445
  • Jannik Sinner – 8,710

World No. 1 on the line in Monte Carlo?

The real fun looks set to start in the clay season.

If Alcaraz does win the title in Miami then the No. 1 ranking will be on the line in Monte Carlo, which is a Masters 1000 and the first big event of the European clay swing in April.

Alcaraz and Djokovic both missed the tournament last year so will have the same amount of points to gain.

Sinner made the semi-finals in Monte Carlo last year so isn’t able to make as big a gain as Alcaraz or Djokovic.

However, across the entire clay season Sinner does not have many points to defend.

Djokovic will defend 2,315 points over the clay swing, most of which will be at the French Open where he is the defending champion, and Alcaraz has 2,265 points to defend.

Sinner will only defend 585 points to defend on clay, which gives him the chance to make up ground.

Can Sinner get to No. 2 in Miami?

The live rankings ahead of the Indian Wells semi-finals had Sinner moving up to world No. 2 for the first time.

But Alcaraz battled back from a set down to reach the final and swing things in his favour.

If Sinner had reached the final he would have got to world No. 2 and had at least a 350-point lead over Alcaraz heading to Miami.

Now Alcaraz has a 495-point advantage and also has fewer points (360 v 600) than Sinner to defend in Miami.

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Watch highlights as Alcaraz beats Sinner at Indian Wells to end Italian’s winning run

Sinner will looking to recover properly for Miami after appearing to hurt himself taking a fall in his semi-final against Alcaraz.

“At the moment, I feel a little bit everything on my body. But it’s normal. It’s sport. You know, you have to accept this,” he said afterwards.

“I had some problems, just small problems, but it was okay throughout until the third set. Then when I fell, I felt a little bit the elbow because I fell over the elbow and I rolled over. So was for me after tough to serve.

“Hopefully we will see in the next days if physically I will be good for Miami, which is for me personally the most important.”

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Halep’s return: What happened and who will she face in Miami?

It’s been over 560 days since Simona Halep played a competitive tennis match.

Her last appearance on a tennis court at the 2022 US Open was followed, two months later, by the news that she was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.

The former world No. 1 has not been able to play since and might have feared her career could be over after being given a four-year ban last September.

However, earlier this month she was cleared to return after her ban was reduced on appeal and she will be back at this week’s Miami Open.

So what has happened over the last 18 months? And who will she play in Miami?

What happened to Halep?

Simona Halep’s career highlights include winning the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. She has also spent time as world No. 1 and has won 24 career singles titles.

Her last professional match was on August 29, 2022 in the first round of the US Open.

The match saw seventh seed Halep – who that summer had won Toronto and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon – shocked by 20-year-old qualifier Daria Snigur in three sets.

Shortly afterwards, Halep said that she would not play again that year due to having nose surgery.

The ITIA said: “Halep provided a sample whilst competing at the US Open in August 2022. The sample was split into A and B samples and the subsequent analysis found that the A sample contained FG-4592 (Roxadustat), which is a prohibited substance listed in the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.”

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Simona Halep is a two-time Grand Slam winner

Image credit: Getty Images

Roxadustat can increase the production of red blood cells, which can improve the oxygen supply to the body. Halep said the positive test was the “biggest shock of my life”.

“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth,” she said in a statement.

“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.

“I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out.”

Halep timeline – from four-year ban to Miami return

Date What happened
October 2022 Halep is provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for testing positive for Roxadustat, which is a prohibited substance
May 2023 Halep says on social media she has “lived the worst nightmare I have ever gone through in my life” after being initially charged. She also says her name has been “soiled in the worst possible way” and she was a victim of contamination. The ITIA says Halep has been accused of a “further and separate breach of the tennis anti-doping programme” following an independent assessment of her athlete biological passport.
September 2023 The ITIA announce that Halep is suspended for four years following breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). The statement said Halep had committed intentional violations. Halep said she plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
November 2023 Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou takes the blame for the doping violation. “There was no way to know it. But I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team – so me, basically – who brought her this collagen,” said Mouratoglou in an Instagram post. “We have done all possible tests to be able to establish that we are talking about a contamination. I’m very confident that this independent tribunal will recognise the fact that she never did doping. She is a victim and she has to come back to the court and be able to compete as soon as possible.”
March 2024 Following a CAS hearing in February, Halep’s four-year ban is reduced to nine months and she is able to return to tennis immediately. A statement from CAS said: “Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS panel determined that Ms. Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product. As a result, the CAS panel determined that Ms. Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional. Although the CAS panel found that Ms. Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”

Who will Halep play at the Miami Open?

Halep’s first match in 18 months will see her face Paula Badosa in the opening round of the Miami Open on Tuesday, March 19.

Badosa missed Indian Wells due to injury and has lost both previous meetings against Halep in straight sets.

The winner of the match will face world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the second round

Where else will Halep play?

Halep is currently unranked on the WTA Tour due to her lengthy inactivity.

She has got a wild card into the Miami Open and will need further wild cards to get into top-level tournaments until she can improve her ranking.

After Miami she is likely to continue her comeback in the clay swing.

Her first Grand Slam since the 2022 US Open is likely to be the French Open, where she was champion in 2018 and also a two-time runner-up in 2014 and 2017.

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Murray on latest Olympics ambitions – ‘I would want to be there by right’

Andy Murray says he “would love the chance to play in another Olympics” before retiring, but only if he feels capable of medalling – and earns a Team GB spot on merit.

That end date would still leave time for the three-time major champion to compete at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Paris Games – were he to be called up for the latter.

Murray is a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the men’s singles, beating Roger Federer in the final at London 2012 before ousting Juan Martin del Potro four years later in Rio.

But the 36-year-old has endured a difficult 2024 season, winning just three of his 11 matches and slipping to No. 62 in the ATP rankings, and he told The Times that his retirement plans remain undecided.

“I would love the chance to play in another Olympics, but also genuinely only if I felt like there was a chance of winning a medal,” Murray said.

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‘He’s such a warrior’ – Medvedev says he will be sad when ‘inspiration’ Murray retires from tennis

“I’m also very conscious that because of how amazing my experiences at the Olympics have been, I would want to be there by right and not just take one of the other guys’ spots, because it is a brilliant opportunity.

“We have top doubles players and also Jack (Draper), Cam (Norrie) and Evo (Dan Evans) in singles as well.”

Murray’s rank of 62 is below Norrie (31), Draper (42) and Evans (43), while Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are ranked 6th and 11th respectively for doubles.

The Scot played alongside Salisbury in the doubles at Tokyo 2020, reaching the quarter-finals.

But he has only played one Tour-level doubles match this season, losing in the first round of the Brisbane Open alongside Holger Rune.

“When I played with Joe, I had the conversation beforehand with him that my feeling was there was a greater chance of me winning a medal in doubles than singles,” Murray explained.

Murray has long had to field questions about when he will retire and admitted he was “bored” of the topic and remains unsure about the answer.

“It’s been happening since Wimbledon last year in most weeks. It’s something that I’ve had to talk about and entertain,” he said.

“Obviously at some stage the end will come. It’s not an easy decision to know exactly when that will be or when it should be.”

Murray was most recently in action at Indian Wells, where he defeated David Goffin in the first round before bowing out to fifth seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets.

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Alcaraz defends Indian Wells title with victory over Medvedev

Carlos Alcaraz defended his Indian Wells title after beating Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5) 6-1 in the final in California on Sunday.

After a tight opening set which Medvedev led 6-5, Alcaraz forced a tie-break which he edged 7-5 to take the advantage in the contest.

In the second set it was a different story as Alcaraz steamrolled the world No. 4 to clinch his first title of the year – and first since Wimbledon last summer.

Medvedev started the match strongly, breaking Alcaraz in the second game of the first set to stamp his authority on the match.

Alcaraz broke back in the fifth game to close the gap to 3-2, roaring back into contention following a brilliant rally.

The players could not be separated and required a tie-breaker as the set went to 6-6.

Alcaraz took an early 3-0 lead as Medvedev saw the early advantage slip through his fingers.

The Russian clawed the tie-break back to 3-2, but Alcaraz was too strong as he mastered a beautifully sliced forehand to move further clear and regain his three-point lead.

Medvedev once again rallied back to keep the exciting opener alive, but Alcaraz finally moved a set ahead when Medvedev went wide at set point.

Just like Medvedev had in the first set, Alcaraz broke in the second game for an early 2-0 lead.

The 20-year-old got into his groove in the second set and smashed a fantastic shot past his opponent before holding to love for 4-1.

He crucially broke Medvedev for the second time in the set for 5-1, and from there was able to cruise to victory for his second Indian Wells title.

Alcaraz is only the sixth player to successfully defend the Indian Wells crown.

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Wie im Vorjahr: Alcaraz bezwingt Medvedev im Finale von Indian Wells

Titelverteidiger Carlos Alcaraz hat erneut das ATP-Turnier in Indian Wells (USA) gewonnen. Wie im Vorjahr setzte sich der Spanier im Finale in zwei Sätzen gegen den Weltranglisten-Vierten Daniil Medvedev durch – diesmal mit 7:6 (7:5), 6:0.

Holte seinen ersten Titel in diesem Jahr: Carlos Alcaraz.

Holte seinen ersten Titel in diesem Jahr: Carlos Alcaraz.

IMAGO/Shutterstock

Nach 1:42 Stunden war es bereits vorbei, Alcaraz sicherte sich seinen ersten Titel in diesem Jahr. Im ersten Satz hatte Medvedev zunächst mit drei Spielen geführt. Anschließend kam der Spanier aber besser ins Spiel. Nach langem Kampf entschied er den Durchgang im Tiebreak knapp für sich.

Danach dominierte Alcaraz das Spiel, Medvedev fand keine Antwort mehr und brach ein. Nach nur 32 Minuten im zweiten Satz verwandelte der Weltranglisten-Zweite den Matchball zum Sieg.

Im direkten Duell der beiden Tennis-Stars hat er die Nase nun weiter vorne. In sechs Matches standen sich die beiden bisher gegenüber – vier Mal mit dem besseren Ende für Alcaraz. “Turniere zu gewinnen, hilft. Das gibt mit Selbstvertrauen für die nächsten Turniere und alles, was kommt”, sagte Alcaraz nach seinem Sieg, der ihm viel bedeute, da er angeschlagen nach Indian Wells gereist sei. “Ich hatte viele Zweifel, vor allem, was meinen Knöchel angeht. Ich habe nicht mein bestes Tennis gespielt, ich habe mich nicht gut gefühlt. Aber dann habe ich mich Spiel für Spiel gesteigert.” Der 20-Jährige hatte im Viertelfinale Alexander Zverev und im Halbfinale Australian-Open-Sieger Jannik Sinner, der mit 16 Siegen ins Jahr 2024 gestartet war, besiegt. Medvedev hatte im Halbfinale Tommy Paul aus den USA bezwungen.