Emma Raducanu: Gigi Salmon says Brit will ‘take positives’ from Australian Open run, and she praises Jack Draper | Tennis News

Emma Radukanu will take “positives” from her third-round run at the Australian Open, while Jack Draper produced an “incredible effort” to go through three consecutive five-set matches, Gigi Salmon says.

In her latest Sky Sports column, Gigi Salmon talks exclusively from Melbourne, where she discusses Emma Radukanu’s run to the third round, Jack Draper’s remarkable tournament, Daniil Medvedev’s total fines, Daniel Collins’ on-court antics and Daniela Hantuchova missing training.

Imagine playing tennis in your legs for 12 hours and 35 minutes over three matches and 15 sets, managing an ongoing hamstring problem and knowing that four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz is up next. That was the challenge facing British No. 1 Jack Draper, which became mission impossible.

We are lucky enough to be court level behind the baseline when commentating matches at Rod Laver Arena.

Next time you’re watching on TV, look out for the darkened and thankfully reinforced glass behind the baseline, the end where the players come out and us behind it. It’s a fantastic view and you can see the emotions of the players. as they head back to the glass, and that includes the look of dismay on Jack Draper’s face as it becomes clear to him that he won’t be able to continue, finally calling it a day at the end of the second set.

Jack was dealing with hamstring tendinitis that went down into his back, surprising himself with how well it held up considering how much he had to play and put his body into.

Although he did admit in his post-match press conference that he was probably dealing with a “ticking time bomb”.

All the same, Jack has been putting in incredible effort to get through three tough five-set matches and already saying he won’t be part of the Great Britain Davis Cup squad when they face Japan next month, he wants to: get fit and back on the court for the ATP 500 in Rotterdam to watch Sky Sports Tennis at the beginning of February.

Positive for Radukanu

Speaking of timing, Emma Radukanu, who is coming off the inevitable sting of a 6-1 (6-0) third-round loss to world No. 2 Iga Sviatek, must take positives from a career-best run at Melbourne Park that was interrupted in the season. pile up because of a back problem.

Next up is the WTA 250 event in Singapore which will start later this month – Live on Sky Sports Tennis.

Week two began on Monday with the Channel 9 host apologizing for comments made by the Australian Open mainstay that Novak Djokovic found disrespectful, which included: “Novak, he’s overrated. Novak, fire him.”

While awaiting an apology, Djokovic refused to do his post-match interview with Jim Courier, later clarifying that it was nothing against Jim, whom he greatly respects, and he did fulfill his other post-match commitments.

In my opinion the comments overstepped the mark, if it was an attempt at a joke it wasn’t a very good one.Hopefully we’ll hear more from Djokovic if he beats Carlos Alcaraz when they meet in the quarter finals.

The largest amount of Medvedev’s fines

In a lively first week, last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev lost to 19-year-old Larer Tien and in the process was fined more than £60,000 in his two matches.

The fines were for throwing the racket, for which he received a point penalty, for not doing the post-match press conference and for breaking the net camera.

It is the largest fine in Grand Slam history and will be deducted from his prize money of £102,000.

What a start to the year for Medvedev, whose second child, a daughter named Victoria, was born in January.He arrived in Melbourne just days before the tournament and flew home a few days later.

Collins’ “big, fat paycheck”

Another one who comes out swinging at anyone in his path is Daniel Collins.We talked to the American quite a bit last year Sky Sports Tennis in what was to be his final year of touring as he looked to the future to settle down and start a family.

Because her fertility journey was difficult due to endometriosis, Collins decided to delay her retirement and return to the tour. who will hear that he does it. doesn’t care what people think.

It went to another level in his second round match against Australian qualifier Destani Aiawa, understandably a partisan crowd, Collins would win 6-2 in the third, cheered by a crowd that was clearly against him.

After blowing them kisses while winning the match, he said in a court interview: “You know, I was thinking during the game, I was like, ‘hmm, if I’m here, I might as well get that big, fat paycheck, I just love a five-star vacation, so some of that check will go to that, so , thanks guys.

He doubled down on his comments in his postgame press conference before taking on Madison Keys in the next round.

Collins has a strong personality, but having gotten to know him a bit on tour last year, he’s a nice guy who doesn’t enjoy being in the limelight and, in fact, it’s hard to believe if you’ve seen him during his courtroom antics, he wants to retreat. it.

Coach Hantuchov

Now, thanks to Andrea Petkovic, I know what “hexenschus” is, literally translated as “witch’s shot”, better known as lumbago.

This came amid talk of Jacob Fearnley’s straight-sets loss to Sasha Zverev, with Jacob forced to take a medical timeout for lower back pain and Andrea joking that he had a “hexenschus” on him.

And when it comes to my dual role of commentating and coaching, I think I’ve been nominated again as a coach for Daniela Hantuchova, who plays in both Legends events, but so far I’ve missed all of Dani’s training, which I haven’t done well. so I’m not sure I’ll make it to the end of the week with my coaching credentials intact.

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