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Osaka: Grand Slam Comeback Ends In 1st-Round Loss To Garcia, Gauff Advances At Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia – Naomi Osaka returned through the players’ tunnel after her Grand Slam return ended in a first-round loss, where her name is prominently displayed alongside prior Australian Open champions.
On Monday night, three matches into her return from 15 months off the tour and six months after the birth of her daughter, Shai, Osaka was defeated 6-4, 7-6 (2) by 16th-seeded Caroline Garcia in a tight match at Rod Laver Arena.
“The competitive side of me is really frustrated that I’m not winning these matches, of course,” Osaka said at a post-match press conference. “So I wouldn’t say, like, this comeback is how I thought because I’m delusional enough to think I could have won the tournament.”
She grinned before saying, “I think my delusion is what allows me to win the tournaments.”
Osaka won the U.SU.S.en in 2018 and 2020 and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021. This was her first loss in the first round since her debut in Melbourne in 2016.
After losing in the first round of the French Open and the United States Open in 2022, she took a break from tennis to care for her health. For now, she has no plans to take any additional breaks.
Osaka: Grand Slam Comeback Ends In 1st-Round Loss To Garcia, Gauff Advances At Australian Open
“Yeah, I think I just have to keep living day by day and training hard and playing a lot more matches,” she said. “And hopefully, my dreams will come true.”
The big-serving Garcia did not offer Osaka a chance at a breakpoint during the match. Most rallies were brief, with only three lasting more than nine strokes. The majority were less than four. Most of the service holds were comfortable, except Osaka’s one dropped game in the first set. That made all the difference.
“I have a lot of respect for Naomi as a person and as a player — 15 months she’s been away,” Garcia said. “I’m pleased to have her back. Six months after giving birth, she’s already playing well. We must exercise caution.”
Osaka was one of three former Australian Open champions who returned to Melbourne Park as mothers, including 2016 winner Angelique Kerber and 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki.
The Australian Open began on Sunday and will be played across 15 days for the first time, with the first round divided over three days to reduce late-finishing matches.
Osaka: Grand Slam Comeback Ends In 1st-Round Loss To Garcia, Gauff Advances At Australian Open
Nonetheless, it was 1:39 a.m. local time when Felix Auger-Aliassime completed a 4-hour, 59-minute victory over 2020 U.SU.S.en winner Dominic Thiem, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-3. A ball kid had to chase a bird off the court at Margaret Court Arena during the fourth set, which caused the audience to chuckle briefly. It then flew over the stadium briefly before play resumed.
Auger-Aliassime’s victory snapped a string of three consecutive first-round exits at majors.
Coco Gauff, the US U.S.en champion, defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-0 in the first match on Rod Laver Arena.
After receiving guidance from Andy Roddick, the 19-year-old Gauff, who won her maiden major at the U.S. U.S. in September, claimed she felt more confident in her serve.
Fourth-seeded Gauff only dropped one game on her serve in the second set and praised Roddick, adding, “He’s probably one of the best servers in history.”
Marketa Vondrousova, the Wimbledon winner, was eliminated in the first round after losing 6-1 and 6-2 to Dayana Yastremska while dealing with a hip issue.
Mirra Andreeva, a third 16-year-old, advanced to the second round after defeating 29-year-old Bernarda Pera 7-5, 6-2. She will face sixth-seeded Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up.
Alina Korneeva and Brenda Fruhvirtova, both 16, advanced after winning their maiden Grand Slam main draw matches on Sunday.
“I’m reallyd for this,” Andreeva remarked, playing Jabeur. “I’ve said several times that she’s the player I admire. I absolutely enjoy the way she plays. I’m confident it’ll be a fantastic match.”
Osaka: Grand Slam Comeback Ends In 1st-Round Loss To Garcia, Gauff Advances At Australian Open
Alex de Minaur, Australia’s newest top-10 player, advanced after former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic retired from their match. De Minaur was ahead 6-7 (6), 6-3, 2-0 when the big-serving Canadian quit injured.
Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 and 2022 finalist at Melbourne Park, advanced after his opponent retired from their encounter.
Medvedev had lost the first set but was up 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, and 1-0 when 22-year-old Terence Atmane retired due to cramps.
“When I was feeling tired in the third set, I looked up the other end and saw he was cramping,” Medvedev told reporters. “The conditions were fine, but it has not been hot these seven days, and then it was hot today, so you get more stressed.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final last year, defeated Zizou Bergs 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 to progress.
Adrian Mannarino defeated Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. Djokovic, a 10-time winner, is now the lone Australian champion in the men’s tournament.
Andy Murray, a five-time Australian Open finalist, fell to Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, and claimed it could be his last appearance in the season’s opening major.
SOURCE – (AP)
News
Canadian Man Arrested for TikTok Video That Threatened Trudeau
A TikTok video that went live earlier this week has led to a Toronto man facing charges of threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Andrew Marshall, 61, is facing two counts of uttering threats.
On Friday afternoon, the Ontario Court of Justice granted him bail with a surety and restrictions after the RCMP charged him on Wednesday.
Following Monday’s upload to TikTok, CBC Toronto conducted its own independent investigation of the video. Marshall vehemently opposes what he perceives as restrictions on free expression in Canada in it.
“I get them taken down all the time— I make videos — or all my comments, that are just simple comments,” Marsh says in the TikTok. “It’s just getting ridiculous, Marshall said.”
According to the CBC more and more people are threatening politicians. The commissioner of the RCMP has hinted that further measures may be necessary to ensure their safety.
In the TikTok video, Marshall explains in great detail how he would brutally assassinate Trudeau and Freeland “if it was up to him.”
Marshall attacks multiple groups throughout the roughly 11-minute TikTok video, including the media, Muslims, migrants, and the police who defend the government.
Among Marshall’s bail terms are the following: he must not communicate with Trudeau or Freeland; he must not use the internet to make social media posts or comments; he must not own any weapons; and he must not apply for a firearms permit.
During the bail hearing, the prosecution provided all of the evidence that is often not published.
Nate Jackson, Marshall’s attorney, stressed his client’s liberties and privileges as a Canadian in an email message.
“He has the right to freedom of speech, the right to reasonable bail and the right to a fair trial,” he said. “Having secured his release from custody, we will continue to defend Mr. Marshall’s Charter rights as his case proceeds.”
Neither Freeland’s nor the prime minister’s office would comment on the allegations, according to the CBC.
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Canada’s Unemployment Rate Hits its Highest Point Since 2017
As the job market remains dismal, the national unemployment rate in Canada has risen to its highest point since 2017. This has led some analysts to question whether the Bank of Canada should be reducing interest rates more quickly.
In spite of a net gain of 22,000 jobs, Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the unemployment rate increased to 6.6% from 6.4% the previous month. The rise was due to an uptick in part-time employment and a fall in full-time employment.
Outside of the pandemic years, the national unemployment rate has reached its highest position since May 2017, according to StatCan.
Rapid population expansion in Canada has increased the overall labour pool, but the country’s unemployment rate has persisted in rising.
The summer job market was especially tough for students, according to StatCan. Not including the pandemic, the unemployment rate among students going back to school in the autumn was 16.7 percent, which is the highest level since 2012.
Two days after the Bank of Canada dropped interest rates for the third time in a row, reducing borrowing costs to alleviate economic pressure, the most recent reading of the Canadian job market follows suit.
According to TD Bank economist Leslie Preston, who wrote a note on Friday, the central bank is “giving the OK” to keep dropping rates due to the bad August jobs report. Preston predicts two more quarter-point decreases at the remaining decisions this year.
According to CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham, there are indications that the labour market is quickly contracting more than initially thought, since the unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points greater than the record low of 4.9% in June 2022.
“Due to this, we believe the Bank should be contemplating a quicker rate of reductions in order to bring interest rates to less restrictive levels,” he informed clients in a letter on Friday morning.
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US Job Growth Falls Short of Expectations: Economy Struggles Under High Interest Rates
Last month, job growth in the United States was weaker than predicted, prompting concerns that the world’s largest economy is beginning to struggle under the weight of increased interest rates.
The Labour Department said that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, which was less than the nearly 160,000 economists predicted. It also stated that job gains over the preceding two months were weaker than expected.
However, the jobless rate went down to 4.2%, down from 4.3% in July.
The report is one of the most important indicators of the US economy and arrives at a vital time, as voters consider presidential candidates for the November election and the US central bank contemplates its first interest rate decrease in four years.
Analysts said the latest statistics kept the Federal Reserve on pace for a rate drop at its meeting this month, but did little to answer worries about the trajectory of the US economy or how much of a cut it should make.
“There has rarely been such a make-or-break number; unfortunately, today’s jobs report does not completely resolve the recession debate,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Soaring prices in 2022 caused the Federal Reserve to hike its key lending rate to 5.3%, a nearly 20-year high.
Faced with increased borrowing costs for homes, vehicles, and other debt, the economy has slowed, helping to alleviate pressures that were boosting inflation but exacerbating market concerns.
As inflation has fallen to 2.9% in July, the Fed is under pressure to decrease interest rates to prevent additional economic deceleration.
Although job increases in August fell short of expectations, they were greater than in July, when a slowdown aroused anxieties and triggered several days of stock market volatility.
Last month, construction and health-care firms hired the most, while manufacturing and retailers laid off employees.
Ms Shah stated that the data in Friday’s report was mixed, but provided enough concerning indicators that the Fed should make a larger cut.
“On balance, with inflation pressures subdued, there is no reason for the Fed not to err on the side of caution and frontload rate cuts,” she told reporters.
Others, however, felt the advances were just steady enough to warrant a 0.25 percentage point decrease, as markets had long projected – though this could signal more cuts than expected in the coming months.
Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics’ senior North America economist, predicted that the Fed’s decision will be “close run.”
“The labour market is clearly experiencing a marked slowdown,” he said, adding that the new statistics were “overall still consistent with an economy experiencing a soft landing rather than plummeting into recession”.
Concerns about the economy are a major issue in the US election.
According to polls, a majority of Americans feel the US is in a recession, despite healthy 2.5% growth last year.
Donald Trump has declared that the economy is headed for a “crash,” and his team instantly latched on the latest data to criticise Vice President Kamala Harris, publishing a press release titled “warning lights flash as Kamala’s economy continues to weaken.”
Democrats have defended their performance, claiming that the United States survived the pandemic and inflation better than many other countries.
They believe the slowdown is a sign that the economy is returning to a more sustainable rate of growth following the post-pandemic boom.
“Although hiring has slowed, the US job market continues to generate solid job gains and wage growth that is consistently beating inflation,” the White House Council of Economic Advisors stated in a blog.
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