Roger Federer decided to downplay his chances of winning the last Grand Slam of the season; US Open 2018. Federer, who won the tournament on five previous occasions, singled out his rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the leading two contenders to lift the trophy.

“I’m not the favorite; they are. Rafa and Novak, in my opinion,” – said the 37-year-old. “I’m happy that my level, you know, is there. I just need to figure out my game, get used to different balls. It’s always beautiful when you play with different balls here and there. That’s going to be just something I’m going to be working on. I just gotta come up with a lot of energy, and then hopefully I also have a chance after 10 years to do something special again at the Open.“

Roger Federer started the 2018 tennis season in the best way possible, winning the Australian Open and becoming the first man to win twenty Grand Slam titles. After reclaiming the No.1 position on ATP rankings, Federer skipped the second Grand Slam of the season, French Open, in order to focus on Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, Swiss was looking to defend the title he won in 2017 but was stopped by South African Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals.

Before the US Open, Roger Federer finds himself ranked second on ATP rankings. Rafael Nadal is the top-ranked tennis player in the world, while Novak Djokovic is ranked sixth.

The post Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic Favorites to Win US Open According to Roger Federer appeared first on SportzBonanza.

US Open 2017 has come to an end, with Rafael Nadal winning the men’s singles and Sloane Stephens taking the women’s singles title. Rafael Nadal faced South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in the finals and cruised through 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 match winning his 3rd US Open and 16th Grand Slam title. On the other side, Sloane Stephens also didn’t sweat too much against Madison Keys, winning the finals with 6-3, 6-0 to claim her first Grand Slam. Men’s doubles saw Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău ending on the winning side of the 6-4, 6-3 match against Spanish duo Feliciano López and Marc López. Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis defeated Lucie Hradecká and Kateřina Siniaková in women’s doubles finals clash.

This was the second Grand Slam title for Rafael Nadal, who previously won the French Open as well. The Spaniard rarely looked out of comfort in the tournament, never playing 5 sets during his road to the title and winning the likes of Andrey Rublev and Juan Martin del Potro. “For me personally, it’s just unbelievable what happened to me this year after a couple of years with some troubles: injuries, moments playing not good. From the beginning of the season, it has been very emotional.” – said Nadal after his win.

Unseeded Sloane Stephens celebrated an unlikely win against Keys and ended her comeback in a spectacular way. Stephens had to withdraw from US Open 2016 due to right foot injury, which eventually made take a break from tennis for 11 months. Sloane Stephens managed to defeat Dominika Cibulková, Anastasija Sevastova and Venus Williams on her road to the finals. “I had surgery in January and if someone had told me then that I would win the US Open, I would have said it was impossible. This journey has been incredible and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”- said Stephens after the match. By winning the US Open 2017, she became the first American women outside the Williams family to win a major’s single’s title.

The post Rafael Nadal and Sloane Stephens Are Your New US Open Champions appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The US Open 2017 women’s singles are turning out to be full of surprises. The latest one was directed by 20th seeded Coco Vandeweghe.She won the match against the top seeded and No. 1 ranked tennis player on WTA, Karolina Pliskova, and secured herself a spot in the US Open 2017 Semi-Finals. To make the feat more impressive, Vandeweghe finished the job in 2 sets, with the final score being 7-6(4), 6-3. The loss against Vandeweghe meant Pliskova will lose her top spot on WTA, which will go to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

Vandeweghe was ecstatic after the match saying: “When I won this event as junior at 16 I always dreamed of being on the main stage. It is a process and here I am. I couldn’t wish for anything better.“

Coco Vandeweghe’s victory meant she joined Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens in the semifinals. Everyone then waited for the outcome of the match between Madison Keys and Kaia Kanepi. Keys won the match with 6-3, 6-3 and ensured that there will be All-American semi-finals of US Open 2017. This is the first time since 1981 that there are all four American players in the final four of US Open.

Vandeweghe will face Keys in the first match of the semi-finals, while the second match will see the clash between Williams and Stephens. This means that only Venus Williams is left standing from the Top 10 seeded players in the US Open 2017.

Alongside Vandeweghe’s win against Pliskova, another major upset we saw in this year’s tournament is defending US Open champion and 6th seeded Angelique Kerber being defeated by Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the first round. This was the first time since 2005 that the defending champion didn’t make it past the first round.

The post Coco Vandeweghe Defeats Top Seeded Karolina Pliskova and Secures US Open 2017 Semi-Finals appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Rafael Nadal stormed through his US Open 2017 Quarter-final match against Andrey Rublev and booked his place in the semi-finals. Everyone expected for Roger Federer to join Nadal but Federer didn’t have the strength to go through Juan Martin del Potro who ended on the winning side of the 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 match. This meant that we are still short of US Open matchup between Federer and Nadal. In the last 10 years, Federer vs. Nadal matchup was just one match shy for six times. Considering Roger Federer is already 36 years old, this may have been one of the last chances for that to happen.

On Wednesday night del Potro was better and more confident player. Federer just couldn’t find his rhythm, something that troubled him since US Open 2017 started. In the first two matches, against F. Tiafoe and M. Youzhny, he had to go five sets to get a win. He then faced F. López and P. Kohlschreiber respectively, finishing both matches 3-0. This gave hopes that Federer might be able to go all the way and claim his 20th Grand Slam title, but at the end, he couldn’t live up to expectations.

“It was one of those matches where if I ran into a good guy, I was going to lose, I felt” – said Federer after the match. It wasn’t a secret that Federer didn’t come 100% fit on the tournament. He previously struggled with the back injury that also prevented him to compete on the French Open.

Federer and del Potro faced 22 times so far, with Federer claiming the victory 16 times. The two faced in US Open in 2009 as well, when del Potro defeated Federer in the finals and claimed his first Grand Slam title.

Federer had an amazing 2017 so far, winning Australian Open and Wimbledon, and bringing his Grand Slam titles count to 19. His current 2017 record stands at 39 wins and just 4 losses.

The post Roger Federer Defeated by Juan Martin del Potro in US Open 2017 Quarter-final appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Roger Federer is now 17-0 against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny after defeating him in the US Open 2017 round of 64. Since 2000, Youzhny and Federer met 17 times, and the Russian never managed to beat the great Roger. But this time, he looked close. Roger Federer is struggling with the back injury and had played five sets against Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday. Youzhny also pushed Federer to five sets, and even 2-1 lead after the third set.

“My preparation hasn’t been good at all here. I knew I was going to maybe struggle early on. Maybe I struggled more than I would have liked to. But I’m still in the draw, which gives me a chance.” – Federer said about his performance.

Win again Youzhny saw Federed extending his unbeatable run on Grand Slams in this year having won Australian Open and Wimbledon. He skipped the French Open. US Open 2017 was an opportunity for Federer to claim his 20th major title, but it looks like he is already in problems early in the tournament. Federer remained confident about his abilities and expressed a belief that he will manage to find his rhythm while as the tournament progresses. His next opponent is 31st seed Feliciano Lopez.

Top seeded Rafael Nadal also wasn’t as convincing against Japan’s Taro Daniel as expected. Nadal lost the first set 4-6 but picked up the pace in rest of the match with 6-3, 6-2, and 6-2. “It’s true that I didn’t play very well tonight but at the same time it’s true that I’m through to the next round,” said Nadal after the match. Nadal will face Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in the next round.

The 2nd seeded Andy Murray, withdraw from the tournament 24 hours after the draw was made, citing hip injury as the reason why. If he had quit the tournament day earlier, Roger Federer would be moved to 2nd seed and that would open a possibility for Federer – Nadal final. Since Murray waited on an extra day, Federer and Nadal are on course to meet in the semi-finals.

The post Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Advance to the US Open 2017 Round of 32 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

On Tuesday we witnessed another major upset at US Open 2017. Last year’s US Open Women’s Singles champion, Germany’s Angelique Kerber has ended her journey to defend the title by being eliminated in the first round by Japan’s Naomi Osaka. On the WTA World Ranking, Kerber is ranked 6th but is on her way out of the top 10 for sure while Osaka is currently ranked 45th and will see an improvement in her ranking after US Open is completed. Kerber is the first defending champion in the last 12 years to be eliminated so early. Something like this didn’t happen since 2005 when Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Ekaterina Bychkova.

Majority of the matches on Tuesday were canceled because of the rain but the match between Kerber and Osaka was completed. It probably helped that the Japanese tennis player was swift and finished the job in 2 sets beating Kerber 6-3, 6-1. Kerber looked powerless while Osaka strolled through their 65-minutes match.This was also the first time that Osaka has managed to beat a top 10 tennis player.

Compared to the last year, when she was number one ranked female tennis player in the world, 2017 isn’t shaping well for Angelique Kerber. In 2016, besides US Open, she won the Australian Open as well and even managed to reach Wimbledon final. This year, Kerber suffered multiple blows, including elimination from the French Open where she was No. 1 seed. That was the first time in the tournament’s history that No. 1 seeded player was eliminated in the first round.

Now, 4 out of the top 10 seeded tennis players in woman’s singles are out of the US Open. The 9th seeded Venus Williams is pregnant and doesn’t participate in the tournament. The 2nd seeded Simona Halep was eliminated by Maria Sharapova while 7th seeded Johanna Konta suffered a defeat in her match against WTA 78th ranked Aleksandra Krunic.

The post US Open Defending Champion Angelique Kerber Defeated by Naomi Osaka appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Roger Federer decided to downplay his chances of winning the last Grand Slam of the season; US Open 2018. Federer, who won the tournament on five previous occasions, singled out his rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the leading two contenders to lift the trophy.

“I’m not the favorite; they are. Rafa and Novak, in my opinion,” – said the 37-year-old. “I’m happy that my level, you know, is there. I just need to figure out my game, get used to different balls. It’s always beautiful when you play with different balls here and there. That’s going to be just something I’m going to be working on. I just gotta come up with a lot of energy, and then hopefully I also have a chance after 10 years to do something special again at the Open.“

Roger Federer started the 2018 tennis season in the best way possible, winning the Australian Open and becoming the first man to win twenty Grand Slam titles. After reclaiming the No.1 position on ATP rankings, Federer skipped the second Grand Slam of the season, French Open, in order to focus on Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, Swiss was looking to defend the title he won in 2017 but was stopped by South African Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals.

Before the US Open, Roger Federer finds himself ranked second on ATP rankings. Rafael Nadal is the top-ranked tennis player in the world, while Novak Djokovic is ranked sixth.

The post Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic Favorites to Win US Open According to Roger Federer appeared first on SportzBonanza.

US Open 2017 has come to an end, with Rafael Nadal winning the men’s singles and Sloane Stephens taking the women’s singles title. Rafael Nadal faced South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in the finals and cruised through 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 match winning his 3rd US Open and 16th Grand Slam title. On the other side, Sloane Stephens also didn’t sweat too much against Madison Keys, winning the finals with 6-3, 6-0 to claim her first Grand Slam. Men’s doubles saw Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău ending on the winning side of the 6-4, 6-3 match against Spanish duo Feliciano López and Marc López. Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis defeated Lucie Hradecká and Kateřina Siniaková in women’s doubles finals clash.

This was the second Grand Slam title for Rafael Nadal, who previously won the French Open as well. The Spaniard rarely looked out of comfort in the tournament, never playing 5 sets during his road to the title and winning the likes of Andrey Rublev and Juan Martin del Potro. “For me personally, it’s just unbelievable what happened to me this year after a couple of years with some troubles: injuries, moments playing not good. From the beginning of the season, it has been very emotional.” – said Nadal after his win.

Unseeded Sloane Stephens celebrated an unlikely win against Keys and ended her comeback in a spectacular way. Stephens had to withdraw from US Open 2016 due to right foot injury, which eventually made take a break from tennis for 11 months. Sloane Stephens managed to defeat Dominika Cibulková, Anastasija Sevastova and Venus Williams on her road to the finals. “I had surgery in January and if someone had told me then that I would win the US Open, I would have said it was impossible. This journey has been incredible and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”- said Stephens after the match. By winning the US Open 2017, she became the first American women outside the Williams family to win a major’s single’s title.

The post Rafael Nadal and Sloane Stephens Are Your New US Open Champions appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The US Open 2017 women’s singles are turning out to be full of surprises. The latest one was directed by 20th seeded Coco Vandeweghe.She won the match against the top seeded and No. 1 ranked tennis player on WTA, Karolina Pliskova, and secured herself a spot in the US Open 2017 Semi-Finals. To make the feat more impressive, Vandeweghe finished the job in 2 sets, with the final score being 7-6(4), 6-3. The loss against Vandeweghe meant Pliskova will lose her top spot on WTA, which will go to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

Vandeweghe was ecstatic after the match saying: “When I won this event as junior at 16 I always dreamed of being on the main stage. It is a process and here I am. I couldn’t wish for anything better.“

Coco Vandeweghe’s victory meant she joined Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens in the semifinals. Everyone then waited for the outcome of the match between Madison Keys and Kaia Kanepi. Keys won the match with 6-3, 6-3 and ensured that there will be All-American semi-finals of US Open 2017. This is the first time since 1981 that there are all four American players in the final four of US Open.

Vandeweghe will face Keys in the first match of the semi-finals, while the second match will see the clash between Williams and Stephens. This means that only Venus Williams is left standing from the Top 10 seeded players in the US Open 2017.

Alongside Vandeweghe’s win against Pliskova, another major upset we saw in this year’s tournament is defending US Open champion and 6th seeded Angelique Kerber being defeated by Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the first round. This was the first time since 2005 that the defending champion didn’t make it past the first round.

The post Coco Vandeweghe Defeats Top Seeded Karolina Pliskova and Secures US Open 2017 Semi-Finals appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Rafael Nadal stormed through his US Open 2017 Quarter-final match against Andrey Rublev and booked his place in the semi-finals. Everyone expected for Roger Federer to join Nadal but Federer didn’t have the strength to go through Juan Martin del Potro who ended on the winning side of the 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 match. This meant that we are still short of US Open matchup between Federer and Nadal. In the last 10 years, Federer vs. Nadal matchup was just one match shy for six times. Considering Roger Federer is already 36 years old, this may have been one of the last chances for that to happen.

On Wednesday night del Potro was better and more confident player. Federer just couldn’t find his rhythm, something that troubled him since US Open 2017 started. In the first two matches, against F. Tiafoe and M. Youzhny, he had to go five sets to get a win. He then faced F. López and P. Kohlschreiber respectively, finishing both matches 3-0. This gave hopes that Federer might be able to go all the way and claim his 20th Grand Slam title, but at the end, he couldn’t live up to expectations.

“It was one of those matches where if I ran into a good guy, I was going to lose, I felt” – said Federer after the match. It wasn’t a secret that Federer didn’t come 100% fit on the tournament. He previously struggled with the back injury that also prevented him to compete on the French Open.

Federer and del Potro faced 22 times so far, with Federer claiming the victory 16 times. The two faced in US Open in 2009 as well, when del Potro defeated Federer in the finals and claimed his first Grand Slam title.

Federer had an amazing 2017 so far, winning Australian Open and Wimbledon, and bringing his Grand Slam titles count to 19. His current 2017 record stands at 39 wins and just 4 losses.

The post Roger Federer Defeated by Juan Martin del Potro in US Open 2017 Quarter-final appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Roger Federer is now 17-0 against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny after defeating him in the US Open 2017 round of 64. Since 2000, Youzhny and Federer met 17 times, and the Russian never managed to beat the great Roger. But this time, he looked close. Roger Federer is struggling with the back injury and had played five sets against Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday. Youzhny also pushed Federer to five sets, and even 2-1 lead after the third set.

“My preparation hasn’t been good at all here. I knew I was going to maybe struggle early on. Maybe I struggled more than I would have liked to. But I’m still in the draw, which gives me a chance.” – Federer said about his performance.

Win again Youzhny saw Federed extending his unbeatable run on Grand Slams in this year having won Australian Open and Wimbledon. He skipped the French Open. US Open 2017 was an opportunity for Federer to claim his 20th major title, but it looks like he is already in problems early in the tournament. Federer remained confident about his abilities and expressed a belief that he will manage to find his rhythm while as the tournament progresses. His next opponent is 31st seed Feliciano Lopez.

Top seeded Rafael Nadal also wasn’t as convincing against Japan’s Taro Daniel as expected. Nadal lost the first set 4-6 but picked up the pace in rest of the match with 6-3, 6-2, and 6-2. “It’s true that I didn’t play very well tonight but at the same time it’s true that I’m through to the next round,” said Nadal after the match. Nadal will face Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in the next round.

The 2nd seeded Andy Murray, withdraw from the tournament 24 hours after the draw was made, citing hip injury as the reason why. If he had quit the tournament day earlier, Roger Federer would be moved to 2nd seed and that would open a possibility for Federer – Nadal final. Since Murray waited on an extra day, Federer and Nadal are on course to meet in the semi-finals.

The post Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Advance to the US Open 2017 Round of 32 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

On Tuesday we witnessed another major upset at US Open 2017. Last year’s US Open Women’s Singles champion, Germany’s Angelique Kerber has ended her journey to defend the title by being eliminated in the first round by Japan’s Naomi Osaka. On the WTA World Ranking, Kerber is ranked 6th but is on her way out of the top 10 for sure while Osaka is currently ranked 45th and will see an improvement in her ranking after US Open is completed. Kerber is the first defending champion in the last 12 years to be eliminated so early. Something like this didn’t happen since 2005 when Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Ekaterina Bychkova.

Majority of the matches on Tuesday were canceled because of the rain but the match between Kerber and Osaka was completed. It probably helped that the Japanese tennis player was swift and finished the job in 2 sets beating Kerber 6-3, 6-1. Kerber looked powerless while Osaka strolled through their 65-minutes match.This was also the first time that Osaka has managed to beat a top 10 tennis player.

Compared to the last year, when she was number one ranked female tennis player in the world, 2017 isn’t shaping well for Angelique Kerber. In 2016, besides US Open, she won the Australian Open as well and even managed to reach Wimbledon final. This year, Kerber suffered multiple blows, including elimination from the French Open where she was No. 1 seed. That was the first time in the tournament’s history that No. 1 seeded player was eliminated in the first round.

Now, 4 out of the top 10 seeded tennis players in woman’s singles are out of the US Open. The 9th seeded Venus Williams is pregnant and doesn’t participate in the tournament. The 2nd seeded Simona Halep was eliminated by Maria Sharapova while 7th seeded Johanna Konta suffered a defeat in her match against WTA 78th ranked Aleksandra Krunic.

The post US Open Defending Champion Angelique Kerber Defeated by Naomi Osaka appeared first on SportzBonanza.