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sports Diabierna 20 Mei 2022
Naomi Osaka gets rematch as she returns to French Open

By HOWARD FEN- she withdrew from Roland
DRICH Garros ahead of her second-
AP Tennis Writer round match last year, reveal-
PARIS (AP) — Naomi ing that she has dealt with
Osaka will not have the anxiety and depression.
luxury of easing into her Because she is not seeded at
return to the courts of the French Open, she was
the French Open, facing a not safe from facing a seeded
tough foe in her very first opponent right away, so that’s
match. what will happen against
No. 27 Amanda Anisimova,
Week 2 at Roland Gar- a 20-year-old American who
ros, meanwhile, could be was a 2019 semifinalist in
quite fascinating for Novak Paris.
Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Anisimova won their third-
Carlos Alcaraz — the three round encounter at the
leading favorites for the Australian Open in January
men’s title ended up on the by a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6
same side of the bracket for (5). Osaka was the defend-
the clay-court Grand Slam ing champion at Melbourne
tournament, meaning only Park.
one can reach the final. The possible women’s quar-
Thursday’s draw at Ro- terfinals in Paris are Swi-
land Garros also set up two atek against two-time major jcikova used phrases such my best tennis,” Djokovic could face No. 6 seed Alcaraz
tantalizing possibilities in runner-up Karolina Pliskova, as “extremely amazing” and said in French on Thursday, in the semifinals. Alcaraz
the fourth round for No. and No. 3 seed Paula Badosa “something incredible” while as he marked his chance to is just 19, recently won the
1-ranked Iga Swiatek, the against No. 7 Aryna Sabalen- discussing what happened in get back on the Grand Slam Madrid Open on clay and
2020 champion who is cur- ka on the top half of the field, 2021 during a brief appear- stage after missing the Aus- became the youngest man to
rently on a 28-match winning and defending champion ance at the draw ceremony tralian Open because he is break into the top 10 in the
streak. She might need to go Barbora Krejcikova against and noted with a smile: “This not vaccinated against COV- rankings since Nadal in 2005.
up against 2018 champion Si- No. 5 Anett Kontaveit, and clay suits me.” ID-19 (the French Open has Alcaraz could meet No. 3
mona Halep at that stage or No. 4 Maria Sakkari against Nadal, he of the 13 titles on no such requirement). seed Alexander Zverev in
2017 champion Jelena Ostap- No. 6 Ons Jabeur on the bot- the red stuff in Paris, and “Last year in Paris was the quarterfinals.
enko — who just so happens tom half. Djokovic, a two-time cham- perfect result. Roland Gar-
to be the last woman to defeat Last year, in her first time in pion, could say the same, of ros was maybe the hardest of The potential quarterfi-
Swiatek. the main draw of singles at course. my career — of all the Grand nals on the other half of the
The tournament begins Sun- the French Open, Krejcikova Djokovic, who is the defend- Slams I have won,” he said. bracket are No. 2 Daniil
day. won both that trophy — the ing champion and seeded “Very emotional, tiring, but Medvedev against No. 7 An-
Osaka is a four-time Grand player she beat in the final, No. 1, could meet Nadal in at the end, the result arrived.” drey Rublev — two Russians
Slam champion who used to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the quarterfinals. A year ago, Nadal leads the Grand who will not be allowed to
be No. 1 in the rankings but announced this week her Djokovic beat Nadal in the Slam title standings among compete at Wimbledon be-
has slipped to No. 38 in part season is done because of an semifinals, before erasing a men with 21, one ahead of cause of that country’s inva-
because of a lack of activity. injured knee — along with two-set deficit against Stefa- Djokovic and Roger Federer. sion of Ukraine — and No. 4
That included time off for women’s doubles. nos Tsitsipas to win the final. If the Djokovic-Nadal show- Tsitsipas against No. 8 Casper
a mental health break after So it makes sense that Kre- “I am very motivated to play down happens, the winner Ruud.

Female referees to officiate men’s World Cup for 1st time

have used is ‘quality first’ and something normal and no the 2018 tournament in Rus-
the selected match officials longer as sensational,” Col- sia.
represent the highest level of lina said. The extreme heat in Qatar
refereeing worldwide,” said Among the male referees is led FIFA to decide in 2015 to
FIFA Referees Committee Janny Sikazwe of Zambia, move the tournament to the
chairman Pierluigi Collina, who blew the final whistle at cooler months in the Gulf
who worked the 2002 World an African Cup group match emirate.
Cup final. “In this way, we after 85 minutes and again 13 FIFA has picked 24 men to
clearly emphasize that it is seconds before the 90 min- work on video reviews. The
quality that counts for us and utes were complete, with VAR system made its debut
not gender.” Mali leading Tunisia 1-0. in 2018.
Salima Mukansanga of Rwan- About 30 minutes after the FIFA said 50 referee-and-as-
da and Yoshimi Yamashita of match, officials ordered the sistant trios began preparing
Japan are also on the list of teams back on the field to re- in 2019 for World Cup duty,
By GRAHAM DUNBAR caused controversy when ref- 36 referees preparing for the start play but Tunisia refused. with the project affected by
AP Sports Writer ereeing a chaotic African Cup 64 games at the tournament, The result was later ratified limits on international travel
GENEVA (AP) — Female of Nations game in January which will be played from by the Confederation of Af- during the COVID-19 pan-
referees will make World while suffering with heat- Nov. 21-Dec. 18. rican Football despite an of- demic.
Cup history this year by stroke. The 69 assistant referees in- ficial protest by Tunisia. Two referees were picked
working games at a major French referee Stéphanie clude Neuza Back of Brazil, The match was played in heat from each of Argentina, Bra-
men’s tournament for the Frappart already worked Karen Díaz Medina of Mex- and humidity in Cameroon, zil, England and France.
first time in Qatar. men’s games in World Cup ico and Kathryn Nesbitt of and Sikazwe later explained All the officials — who were
qualifying and the Champi-
Three female referees and ons League, after handling the United States. he started to become con- not allocated into specific
“I would hope that in the fused in the intense condi-
teams of three — face future
three female assistant refer- the 2019 Women’s World future the selection of elite tions. technical, physical and medi-
ees were announced Thurs- Cup final. She also refereed women’s match officials for Sikazwe will be working at cal assessments this year,
day by FIFA among 129 of- the final of the men’s French important men’s competi- his second World Cup after FIFA said.q
ficials selected for World Cup Cup this month. tions will be perceived as handling two group games at
duty, including one man who “As always, the criteria we