Tag: French Open

May Sports Betting Calendar: PGA Championship, NHL playoffs and Kentucky Derby

The NBA playoffs roll into the conference finals too.

Get your mint julep’s ready, because it’s May and that means horse racing season is upon us. Here’s your guide on what to bet this month, and nothing brings out the big spenders quite like Triple Crown races, beginning with the Kentucky Derby early in the month and Preakness Stakes later.

The NBA Playoffs also continue, with the second round giving way to the conference finals later in the month. And the Stanley Cup Playoff will get underway too, as the NHL looks to crown a champion.

Below is a look at all of these events and more coming up in May.

Odds via Tipico

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Young fan has adorable reaction after being gifted Novak Djokovic’s French Open-winning racket

A lovely moment between Novak Djokovic and this adorable young fan.

Novak Djokovic stunned the tennis world on Sunday after coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas for the French Open title, his 19th major men’s singles title in his career. Djokovic also made this young tennis fan’s day with the gift of a lifetime.

Mere moments after winning the French Open, his second Grand Slam title of the year, Djokovic passed off his game-winning racket to a young fan in the stands, who was ecstatic to receive such a gift from the No. 1 ranked tennis player in the world.

It’s a must-see reaction that will warm any fan’s heart at seeing such unbridled joy.

What a moment! When asked after the match about the fan and his gift, Djokovic stated that while he didn’t know the young boy, he had heard him shouting encouragements and tactics while he was down two sets earlier in the day.

“I don’t know the boy, but he was in my ear the entire match, especially when I was two sets down. He was encouraging me and he was actually giving me tactics as well…

He was coaching me, literally, and so I found that very cute and very nice. I felt like to give the racquet, the best person was him. That was kind of my gratitude to him for sticking with me and supporting me.”

Talk about a great way for Djokovic to cap off the weekend, especially after coming off the heels of stunning Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals as well. An unforgettable gift for sure!

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Barbora Krejcikova wins first-ever Grand Slam title at French Open

Barbora Krejcikova became the third unseeded women’s singles champion in the last five years at the French Open.

The French Open women’s singles final featured a pair of unknowns in Czech’s Barbora Krejcikova and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. But it was certainly a competitive final that ultimately went to the underdog.

Krejcikova defeated Pavlyuchenkova in three sets (6-1, 2-6, 6-4) to win her first-ever Grand Slam title. Even more impressive is that this was only the fifth major tournament in singles for Krejcikova, who became the third unseeded women’s champion in the last five years at Roland Garros.

Krejcikova and Pavlyuchenkova split the first two sets — dominating their respective sets — before Krejcikova held on to win the third and the title. After Pavlyuchenkova won the first game of the third set, Krejcikova soon after went up 2-1 before the set was tied at 3-3. That’s when Krejcikova started to pull away winning the next two games and fending off a late surge by Pavlyuchenkova.

But Krejcikova isn’t done just yet. She remains in contention to win the doubles title with partner Katerina Siniakova as the pair will face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Iga Swiatek in the doubles final on Sunday.

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Novak Djokovic stunned Rafael Nadal in epic French Open semi, and fans couldn’t get enough

Novak Djokovic topped the King of Clay in this marathon French Open semifinal.

The 2021 French Open men’s semifinal match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will surely go down in tennis history as one of the best and most intense ever.

It was an epic marathon match that lasted four hours and 11 minutes with Djokovic stunning the “King of Clay” with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-2 win. Djokovic won the last six games of the match, breaking Nadal several times, including in the final game for the win. He’ll face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final Sunday.

It was a quintessential matchup between two of the “Big Three” men’s tennis players, as they ferociously fought for every point. The third set alone lasted about 90 minutes with Djokovic winning the tiebreak.

Despite 13 French Open victories, Nadal’s loss Friday was only his third defeat in the Grand Slam tournament, and it was the first time in his career he lost after reaching the French Open semifinals. Nadal’s career record at Roland-Garros is now 105-3, while Djokovic became the first player to beat the clay-court rockstar twice.

It was one of the best tennis matches ever, and fans everywhere — including several players and other pro athletes — couldn’t get enough of it.

Naomi Osaka withdraws from the French Open, drawing support from tennis fans

Sports fans rallied around Naomi Osaka and her decision to withdraw from the French Open.

Naomi Osaka is one of tennis’s biggest and brightest stars of the future, and her announcement on Monday that she was withdrawing from the French Open and is taking a leave of absence from the sport sent ripples through the community. The announcement on social media came off the heels of the news that the 23-year-old was fined $15,000 by the French Open — and warned of possible future consequences — for missing mandatory media availability just days after Osaka announced she would not be speaking to the press at the event.

In Osaka’s announcement on Monday, the No. 2 ranked women’s tennis player detailed her struggles with mental health and depression since rising to fame after her 2018 U.S. Open victory. Osaka stated that she “never wanted to be a distraction” and that she was set to “take some time away from the court” with no set date for her return.

Tennis fans — and sports fans overall — rallied around Osaka’s open and honest announcement, lauding the 23-year-old for bringing mental health to the forefront of the conversation.