Archive June 1, 2025

French Open 2025

Location: Roland Garros, May 25 – June

The guy was 40 years ago, but this year he was in the top four, which is a remarkable accomplishment.

Alexander Bublik is undoubtedly not the first to notice. Jack Draper has been a household name all year.

The British number one’s rise has been unavoidable.

After advancing to the US Open semi-finals last year with a string of impressive performances in 2025, including winning his first ATP Masters title at Indian Wells, Draper has since risen in the rankings.

Bublik will now attempt to stop the soon-to-be-world number four after making it to the fourth round of the French Open.

For me, Jack is insane, he said, “sorry, Jack.” “It was his first day here,” he said. Are you getting ready for the UFC, I ask?

British tennis fans might have just found their next major tournament contender in 23-year-old Draper, according to the 23-year-old.

Tim Henman, a former world number four from the UK, recently stated to BBC Sport that Draper’s best qualities, including his left-handed serve and crunching forehand, could “work on any surface.”

However, Draper had never won a clay-court major before this year, with the majority of his success occurring on grass or hard courts.

He made incredible progress on the surface this year, and he won his first clay final in Madrid in April.

Draper’s ability to recover from the injuries that have plagued him in the past has contributed significantly to his improvement on the slower surface.

He will now face a second Grand Slam quarter-final only with the world number 62.

And while Draper had the best year of his career, Bublik dropped from 17th in the 2024 rankings to as low as 82nd in March.

The Kazakh traveled to Las Vegas that month to blow some steam, which caused a radical change of course.

He claimed that the reason for my fall was not a lack of attitude or practice.

“It was the exact opposite,” she said. I waited patiently for the results, and I just sat there.

“I was like, it will come if I practice more and hit my forehands better,” I said. It didn’t, and then I realized, “OK, why am I sacrificing so much?” For what? ‘”

When asked if the trip to Nevada was a training trip, Bublik replied, “No, Vegas, Vegas, like Vegas, like a hangover thing.

Three good days, I must say. I had merely let it out. I said, “I’m useless now, I can’t win a game, so let’s see how it turns out,” so let’s see how it turns out.

Bublik arrived from Vegas three hours before his next match and won his next competition, the Challenger tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. Last month, he also won on clay in Turin.

Two British men have advanced to Roland Garros’ fourth round for the first time since 1963.

After defeating compatriot Jacob Fearnley, Cameron Norrie and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic square off on Monday at Court Philippe Chatrier, respectively, is in the last 16.

Despite having risen to eighth in the world in 2022, world number 81 Norrie has endured a difficult couple of years.

However, Norrie, 29, now advanced to the fourth round of Slams with the win over Fearnley.

“To make the second week for the first time is really, really good and at a time when I wasn’t really stringing a lot of matches and victories together,” he said.

For various reasons, I was able to build on the momentum that I’ve really struggled to achieve over the past year and a half.

Ahmedabad, Qualifier 2, Indian Premier League

Mumbai Indians 203-6 (20 overs): Suryakumar 44 (26), Varma 44 (29), Azmatullah 2-43

Punjab Kings 207-5 (19 overs): Shreyas 87* (41), Wadhera 48 (29), Ashwani 2-55

By five wickets, the Punjab Kings won.

With victory over Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won their first Indian Premier League final in 11 years by winning 87-run unbeaten.

With an over to spare, Shreyas clinched a five-wicket victory by smashing Ashwani Kumar into the stands and chasing 204 to win.

Mumbai posted a score of 203-6 in their 20 overs after the match had begun in Ahmedabad after it had been raining for over two hours. Jonny Bairstow scored 38 off 24 balls while Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav each scored 44.

The final, which will take place on Tuesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, will feature Kings and Bengaluru.

“I adore such big events,” said Shreyas, the match’s winner.

No overs were lost in the toss, but Punjab did so before the rain started.

Before Varma and Bairstow combined for 51 runs, Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis removed India opener Rohit Sharma for just eight when play finally started.

Mumbai was in a good position before both fell in three deliveries, thanks to another strong partnership between Varma and Suryakumar, worth 72.

However, Naman Dhir’s 37 off of 18 balls gave the five-time champions a challenging total.

With 38 off 21 balls, including 20 from India’s fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, Australia wicketkeeper Josh Inglis set up Punjab.

However, when Inglis was taken out by Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya, the team were a distant favorite after Nehal Wadhera scored 48, with Kings needing 48 from 26 balls.

However, Shreyas kept his side in the lead and he flicked the switch to smash four sixes in the 19th over in a clinical finish after needing 23 runs off the final two overs.

The first qualifier match saw RCB take eight wickets to defeat Kings in the final match.

In the group stage, both teams scored 19 points, with Kings only managing to hold the top spot in terms of net-run rates.

Stuart Broad, a former England international, will play for South Africa in the opening match of the World Test Championship against Australia later this month.

Broad, 38, will start his first coaching position since leaving at the end of the 2023 Ashes on June 9th, working as a consultant for one day at training.

In 167 Tests, Broad took 604 wickets, placing him behind James Anderson and James Anderson in England’s all-time list.

He took 153 wickets in the Test against Australia, which is the most by any player in test history.

He has worked as a TV pundit since he retired, but he will assist South Africa in getting ready for Lord’s on June 11 when the World Test Championship final begins.

On Tuesday, the Proteas travel to Arundel Castle Cricket Ground in Sussex to play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe.

Joe Root “is only getting better with age,” according to England captain Harry Brook, is likely to give bowlers all over the world chills.

Root’s epic 166 not out against West Indies in Cardiff, a title he also holds in Tests, made him the top run-scorer in one-day internationals over Eoin Morgan, the world’s best captain.

When England were trailing at 133-5 in the pursuit of a victory of 309, he withstood all of West Indies’ pressure.

A Yorkshireman’s 98-ball century was raised after the Yorkshireman reached it comfortably with a six and a four before he sprinted into the next gear in his stand of 143 with Will Jacks, which left the helpless bowlers at his mercy.

He is unbelievable and only getting better as he gets older, according to Brook, who added an 85 for Root and kept Root’s slipstream in a flawless knock while making 47 and adding an 85 for the third wicket.

He’s a great player and a great bloke, and I admire him for it. He exerts the most effort among all the people I’ve met.

When asked what the milestone meant, Root improved Morgan’s tally of 6, 957 runs to 42, before adding that there is still room for improvement with his record of 18 426 runs, which Sachin Tendulkar holds.

When that’s not a burning desire for me any more, it’ll be time to stop, said 34-year-old Root, “Until that desire, that desire to turn up and get better every day and add to the group – the desire to be not out at the end of a chase like that,” said the 34-year-old.

“But that’s not the case right now, and it doesn’t seem to be.” I’ll continue to work with the intention of helping us win games and, hopefully, win series.

West Indies controlled the majority of the second ODI by making three catches in the opening 20 overs before two run-out chances, followed by Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, and Jos Buttler, who all managed to score three ducks in the chase.

However, Root’s class dominated, making his 18th ODI century almost certainly one of his best.

Former England fast bowler Steven Finn told BBC Test Match Special, “We are running out of things to say. He’s just on this constant journey of ticking everything off before him.”

He now stands head and shoulders above the competition, and his innings today demonstrates that.

turning the strike over

Only two batters have a higher non-boundary strike-rate than Root (minimum of 2,000 non-boundary runs) since his first appearance in ODIs. Root leads all non-boundary balls with a strike-rate of 59.89, followed by England’s Jos Buttler, who is second with 63.77, and South African’s AB de Villiers (65.77).

high management

Root has only a 11.1% false-shot rate in ODIs since the start of 2018. Only one batter in world cricket has a lower false-shot percentage than Root-New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (11%) in matches between Full Member countries.

Great against spin

Root has the next best English batter in terms of runs (70.3) in his ODI career. Buttler is the next best (52). Only five batters have ever allowed fewer than 1,500 runs against spin in ODI history: Babar Azam (Pakistan), Mike Hussey (Australia), MS Dhoni (India), Michael Bevan (Australia), Shai Hope (West Indies), and Michael Bevan (Australia). Only Dhoni out of these has scored more runs against spin than Root, and none of them have had a higher strike-rate than Root’s 90.

runs on solid balls

Root averages 47.7% against deliveries outside of the channel off stump and 77 against those that are delivered. On this line, the typical right-handed batter has only 33 pitches on average. Root capitalizes on the width, scoring a score of 94.5 and striking a score of 109 when the ball is wider than that.

Master of the middle overs

Between overs 11-40, Root averages 66.6 at a strike rate of 87. Only two batters in international cricket have allowed more than 2 000 runs on average and at a strike-rate higher than Root’s (Iran’s Virat Kohli, 70.7, S/R 93), and De Villiers, 68.9, S/R 97).

constantly evolving