The fourth and final Grand Slam of the year has begun in explosive fashion.<\/p>\n
Before the tournament proper began, five-time US Open<\/a> winner Roger Federer returned to Flushing Meadows for an exhibition with Andy Roddick, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi.<\/p>\n Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik won the US Open mixed doubles title, in a tournament where the returning Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> partnered with 23-time major winner Serena Williams.<\/p>\n While that was going on, Stan Wawrinka was left in limbo after initially not getting a wildcard for the Flushing Meadows tournament, before eventually being handed one following an injury withdrawal \u2013 an issue that cannot be ignored<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now that the tournament is properly underway, here are some eye-catching stories over the past 24 hours or so.<\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz tipped to lose his opening US Open match by former finalist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Live WTA Rankings: Elena Rybakina overtakes Aryna Sabalenka at No 1, Alex Eala\u2019s new career high, Emma Raducanu -14<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n After reaching the final of this year\u2019s Australian Open and the last four at Wimbledon last month, hopes were high that Djokovic<\/a> could have a deep run in New York. But Mariano Navone had other ideas as he outlasted the 39-year-old over five sets on Sunday.<\/p>\n This was his first opening-round exit at a major since 2006, as Djokovic fought back tears<\/a>, but was unable to stop himself throwing up, in a demoralising defeat. The 24-time major winner also made a worrying admission that may inch him closer towards retirement.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cIt\u2019s something that I have been carrying pretty much every match this year \u2013 vomiting, throwing up. And then my whole body starts to collapse basically, cramping and pain \u2013 the back just gave up in the end and shoulder, and I couldn\u2019t close it out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When asked if he has learned anything about his health issues the past few months, he replied: \u201cI don\u2019t know [how I can solve the problem]. I don\u2019t want to go into too much detail right now. I\u2019m just trying to understand what\u2019s going on and how much longer I can keep going like this.\u201d<\/p>\n For more on that story, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is hard to argue that Alex Eala<\/a> is not the hottest property in tennis right now. The 21-year-old\u2019s surge into the top 20 has led to record crowds, sponsors throwing themselves at her, and sky-high numbers on social media \u2013 for her and those talking about her.<\/p>\n As the Filipina prepares to start her Flushing Meadows campaign, it has become clear that \u2018EalaMania\u2019 has taken hold, with Roddick saying she is \u201ccreating a movement\u201d.<\/p>\n And while some may be overawed by all this attention and pressure, former British No 1 Annabel Croft believes Eala is creating an \u201caura\u201d around her.<\/span><\/p>\n She said, \u201cI would imagine that she has built up some kind of locker-room respect right now where you build a certain aura and then that counts for quite a lot on the tour as well because players don\u2019t want to face you because of the record that she\u2019s building up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe keeps notching up the big wins, but she\u2019s also backing up the pressure wins. She plays under a lot of pressure with all of that excitement from the Filipino community. They turn out in their droves to watch her. That for some people would be a pressure, but she embraces it. She loves it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For more, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seven-time major winner McEnroe<\/a> has come under fire for his comments shortly after Navone beat Djokovic for the biggest victory of his career.<\/p>\n The 25-year-old came from two sets to one down to win 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 4-6 6-2 6-1 to set up a second round clash with Stan Wawrinka or Matteo Berrettini.<\/span><\/p>\n That has opened the draw right up, but instead of lauding the Argentinian, McEnroe made a throwaway remark that has not gone down well on social media.<\/p>\n He said from the commentary box, \u201cYou\u2019ll be playing your second round on Court 21. We wish you the best. And he is going to have to try and play with that effort and intensity but enjoy the moment, young man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The American has since been accused of being \u201cdisrespectful\u201d, and others have said he needs to put down the microphone over his \u201cdespicable\u201d remarks.<\/p>\n For the full story, visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Terence Atmane lost an epic five-set match to Jaume Munar in the first round of the US Open, in a contest where the Frenchman repeatedly struggled with cramp.<\/span><\/p>\n The 24-year-old, who is left-handed, even resorted to underarm serves with his right hand as the cramping took hold.<\/p>\n But the controversy occured in the fifth set when he was refused treatment by the physio, who deemed Atmane was cramping. The rules dictate that a player cannot receive a MTO for cramping but can get treatment on the changeover.<\/p>\n When the physio walked away, Atmane was then heard saying, \u201cExcuse me, can you just give me treatment and stop acting stupid,\u201d before asking for his credentials.<\/span><\/p>\n That has led some to say that the likes of Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner get favourable treatment over similar incidents. For the full story, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former finalist and third seed Jessica Pegula is into round two after beating Gabriela Ruse in straight sets, while former champion Daniil Medvedev \u2013 who recently talked about switching to a pickleball career \u2013 secured an encouraging victory over Hugo Gaston for the loss of just 10 games.<\/p>\n In-form Luca Van Assche knocked out Brit Cameron Norrie in four sets, while two-time major winner Barbora Krejcikova (seeded 27) lost in two sets to Kamilla Rakhimova.<\/p>\n Jenson Brooksby was in tears as he lost in five sets to Jaime Faria, and 46-year-old Venus Williams lost the battle of the US Open wildcards with a 6-2 7-6 (6) loss to Sofia Kenin.<\/p>\n A number of other matches were suspended due to rain. But Djokovic\u2019s loss was the biggest story of day one.<\/p>\n WHAT NEXT? <\/strong>Jessica Pegula shares interesting theory on \u2018special player\u2019 Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s US Open gamble<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The post US Open tennis roundup: Carlos Alcaraz \u2018bias\u2019, Novak Djokovic retirement hint, Alex Eala \u2019embraces\u2019 pressure<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The fourth and final Grand Slam of the year has begun in explosive fashion. Before the tournament proper began, five-time US Open winner Roger Federer returned to Flushing Meadows for an exhibition with Andy Roddick, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi. Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik won the US Open mixed doubles title, in a tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More US Open News<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1) Novak Djokovic in shock US Open exit<\/h2>\n
2) Alex Eala \u2018creates a movement\u2019<\/h2>\n
3) John McEnroe under fire<\/h2>\n
4) Carlos Alcaraz favouritism?<\/h2>\n
5) US Open headline results<\/strong><\/h2>\n