The visit of an uninvited guest did not prevent our tennis player from bringing the match to a landslide victory.
The next Wimbledon tournament attracts, like a magnet, environmental activists who now and then run out onto the court, trying to convey their theses to the world. It is unlikely that the participants in the matches can be satisfied with such unplanned visits, but fortunately for them, the activists at least arrange their actions without taking off their clothes.
Naked fans also looked at Wimbledon – one of these characters once embarrassed a Russian tennis player during a match.
Anna had to hide her face behind a towel.
second chance kournikova
At the turn of the century, Anna Kournikova was one of the most popular tennis players not only in our country, but also in the world. True, the Russian woman did not demonstrate absolutely dizzying sports successes: the highest position in the world ranking is eighth, and the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1997 became the best individual result in the Grand Slam tournaments. And yet, thanks to an active social life and participation in high-profile advertising campaigns, the girl could claim the role of a star in any major tournament.
At Wimbledon 2000, Kournikova was not among the top favorites in women’s singles. The top seed was Martina Hingis of Switzerland, and the eventual winner was No. 5 American Venus Williams, who defeated another US representative, Lindsay Davenport, in the final. Anna, having outplayed Frenchwoman Sandrine Testu at the start, flew out in the second round, losing to another athlete from France, Anne-Gael Sido. However, despite the personal failure, the Russian woman retained a second chance to compete for the trophy. To do this, it was necessary to excel in doubles.
Together with Natalya Zvereva from Belarus, Kournikova knocked out the South African and Czech-German couples from the fight. In the third round, they had to compete with athletes from the USA: Amy Frazier and Cathy Schlakeber. The opponents were not included in the elite, but it was dangerous to lose concentration in any case. However, how can one not be distracted when this begins to happen on the court!
“Only balls bounce”
During a short pause in the match, when the participants discussed the plan for the next segment, the referee asked to bring new balls, shouting “New balls please!”. And immediately after that, a naked man jumped over the fences. The intruder rolled across the grass, then ran along the court. Only after a minute and a half, the guards managed to neutralize the hooligan, driving him into a corner. At the same time, nothing worse than a fine shone for him, so it is unlikely that the fan was very sorry about what happened.
The tennis players were embarrassed by the sight of a naked fan: Kournikova hid her face behind a towel, Zvereva completely covered her whole head. The Americans reacted a little differently – both laughed, one of them did not even hide her eyes. For them, such hooliganism probably turned out to be more familiar – in North America, streaks gained popularity back in the 1960s. Nude people with social and political appeals and without them now and then appeared on all kinds of sports grounds in a number of Western and then Eastern countries.
The Wimbledon striker, who turned out to be Briton Mark Roberts, apparently planned to impress not the American tennis players, but Kournikova. The Liverpool bully had the inscription “Only The Balls Bounce” (“Only the balls jump”). It was the same slogan that sounded in the advertising of bras, the main face of which was Anna. If you pay attention to the fact that the word balls in colloquial speech is used as a designation for the male reproductive glands, then the humor of the whole situation, from the request of the judge to the mentioned slogan, is perceived a little differently.
True, one should not think that the English hooligan was somehow particularly obsessed with the Russian beauty. In such a shocking form, he appeared at sporting events hundreds of times, both before this incident and after. Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian watched naked somersaults over the net in the Wimbledon final, Mark scared the appearance of David Beckham during El Clasico and Zinedine Zidane with Michael Ballack in the Champions League final. The hooligan’s collection includes winter and summer Olympics, world championships in snooker, swimming, golf and curling tournaments. A naked Briton somehow even dared to appear at a dog show, covering the causal place with an overlay in the form of a cat’s muzzle.
PHOTO British streaker Mark Roberts (at any public event)
The hooligan succeeded in embarrassing Kournikova, but he did not knock him off his victorious mood. Together with Zvereva, they defeated the Americans in two sets – 6:2, 6:1 and advanced to the quarterfinals. The Williams sisters managed to stop the Russian couple only in the semi-finals, who eventually got the trophy. By the way, it was the best result for Anna at Wimbledon in doubles. So who knows, maybe it was the appearance of Mark Roberts with support in the form of a familiar slogan that helped the Russian woman achieve results.
After that, the famous streaker continued to frolic in other tournaments, and for Kournikova, the story with naked strangers did not end. In 2005, she was stalked in Florida by an American of no fixed abode, William Lepeska. Then the Russian woman had to be frightened for real, unlike the harmless Roberts, the purposeful homeless man swam to the island where Anna lived, and only a miracle saved the athlete from an unpleasant acquaintance – the fan tritely confused the address.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
(Melbourne) The ex-no 1 world Naomi Osaka (current 17e in the WTA rankings) qualified Tuesday in three sets for the second round of the Australian Open.
Crowned in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, the Japanese won 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against the Croatian Antonia Ruzic (65e).
The four-time Grand Slam winner will play in the next round against Romanian Sorana Cirstea (41e), who started the last Australian Open of her career at age 35 by eliminating the German Eva Lys (39e).
Entering the court with a white parasol, a wide-brimmed hat and a long white train, Osaka started the match with her feet on the ground to quickly lead 3-0.
Ruzic recovered to 3-3 before again losing three games in a row and the first set.
The Croatian responded in the second round, winning by the same score.
In the decisive set, Osaka broke from the start to break away at 2-0, but Ruzic came back to her level again before taking her throw in to lead 4-3, service to follow.
This time it was the Japanese who held on to get back to 4-4, before inflicting a shutout then a new break on Ruzic to seal her qualification with a final winning backhand, after almost 2 hours 30 minutes of fighting.
Osaka played her first Grand Slam match on Tuesday since her semi-final at the United States Open in September, her best run in a major tournament since she returned to the circuit in early 2024 after the birth of her first child.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
(Melbourne) World No.2 Jannik Sinner, double title holder, benefited on Tuesday from the retirement of Frenchman Hugo Gaston (93e), injured his abdominals, to qualify for the second round of the Australian Open.
The 24-year-old Italian was leading 6-2, 6-1 when Gaston threw in the towel.
“It’s the abs that have given up a little. I felt the pain in the middle of the first round. I called the doctor immediately at the end of the first round to get an anti-inflammatory,” explained the Frenchman who suddenly felt “like a little stab”.
He fell during the first round after returning a drop shot from Sinner, but he assured that the injury and the fall were not linked.
On the other hand, the pain in his abdominals bothered him a lot “on serve and on high balls”.
“I saw that he was not serving at a very high speed, especially in the second set,” commented Jannik Sinner in his post-match interview on Central.
“I am very happy to qualify, to return to this place that I particularly cherish […]but that’s not the way I wanted to win this match,” added the world No.2.
Sinner’s next opponent will be Croatian Dino Prizmic (127e) or the Australian James Duckworth (88e).
For his first official match of the season, the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner took a little time to settle down, notably having to save three break points in the first game.
But once he managed to take Gaston’s serve in the particularly tight sixth game, Sinner unfolded, winning the next seven games. A few moments after snatching his only game in a one-sided second round, the Frenchman informed his opponent that he was giving up, after a little over an hour of match.
“Giving up pisses me off a bit,” Gaston commented. But hey, on the other hand I can’t afford to play at 50%, even 100%, to beat Sinner…”
Undefeated since his retirement at the beginning of October in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, the world No.2 scored a sixteenth victory in a row on Tuesday and joined Carlos Alcaraz (1) in the second round of the Australian Open.er), Alexander Zverev (3e) and Novak Djokovic (4e).
“I felt very well prepared, we worked a lot physically and on the court” during the offseason, said Sinner, who skipped the Davis Cup finals in Bologna in November to have an additional week of preparation for the 2026 season.
For his part, Lorenzo Musetti, seeded fifth, progressed due to the retirement of Raphaël Collignon of Belgium in the fourth round.
The score was 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 and 3-2. The nature of the injury has not been released.
Shelton hits hard
The 23-year-old American Ben Shelton inherited probably the worst draw, in the person of the first ATP player not to have been seeded, the Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
But last year’s semi-finalist, who made his name by reaching the quarter-finals in Melbourne in 2023 despite never having left the United States, was uncompromising and won 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5).
PHOTO MARTIN KEEP, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ben Shelton
“It’s always difficult to face Humbert in the first round, but I remained very calm, very focused on my game and I played better and better,” he stressed with satisfaction.
He will play in the second round against the Australian Dane Sweeny (182e).
Monfils eliminated in the first round of his last tournament in Australia
Gaël Monfils, who will end his career at the end of the season, was eliminated Tuesday in the first round of his last Australian Open by the inexperienced Australian Dane Sweeny (182e world) 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-5.
The 39-year-old Frenchman plays his 23e and final season. Ex-world No.6 currently 110ehe was playing his 20e Australian major since his first participation in 2005. He has reached the quarter-finals twice, in 2016 and 2022.
PHOTO PAUL CROCK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Gaël Monfils
“My journey began here in 2003 (in qualifying, Editor’s note). We are in 2026 and it is the finish line, but thank you all for accompanying me, you were great,” he told the audience from the court while generally only the winner of the matches, before the final, speaks on the field.
“I fought four hours again today, but this guy (Sweeny) is very strong. I wish him good luck,” he added to his winner.
For the latter, the victory is particularly beautiful, because in addition to having beaten one of the great names in tennis of the last twenty years, he offered himself his first victory in a Grand Slam tournament.
“It’s like I’m in a series… it’s incredible,” he commented. Before the match started, his goal was “win or lose, enjoy the chance to be there.”
As usual, the most popular French player since Yannick Noah spared no effort. And despite the encouragement of the public – in particular from a group of French people – the youth of his opponent (24 years old) visibly prevailed, as Monfils appeared so tired.
Broken one last time to be down 6-5 in the fourth set and the Australian’s service to follow, Monfils failed to reverse the situation.
“You’re here, you played your 20are Australian Open and you have entered a very closed circle: you are six players from the Open era (since the 1969 edition) to have reached this bar,” tournament director Craig Tiley told him, who came to greet him on the court.
“We want to thank you for your career, your attitude and the way you taught us how to play this wonderful game. Well done,” added Tiley.
Monfils’ last match in Melbourne, greeted by a hearty ovation from the public with “thank you Gaël” sung in the stands, lasted 3 hours 51 minutes.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Russian tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Danish Clara Tauson reached the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Pavlyuchenkova and Towson beat the duo Lyudmila Kichenok/Katie Volynets (Ukraine/USA) with a score of 6:7 (6:8), 6:4, 6:4. The meeting lasted 2 hours 52 minutes.
The next opponents of Pavlyuchenka and Tauson will be the winners of the meeting Guo Hanyu/Kristina Mladenovic (China/France, 16) – Alicia Parks/Dayana Yastremskaya (USA/Ukraine).
Grand Slam Tournament. Australian Open. Melbourne (Australia). Hard. Total prize fund: about $75 million
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
