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Rafael Nadal received criticism from an American congresswoman after making some comments about his arch-rival Novak Djokovic following his comeback from a prolonged injury layoff.
Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shut down critics of NCAA women's basketball star Caitlin Clark after a controversial incident involving a late buzzer beater.
Naomi Osaka's sister Mari accused their father of abuse and emotional harassment. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic's tennis greatness was questioned by former Australian tennis pro John Alexander.
On that note, here's a quick rundown of the day's biggest headlines:
1) Rafael Nadal receives backlash from American congresswoman for his remarks on Novak Djokovic
American congresswoman Claudia Tenney slammed Rafael Nadal after his comments about Novak Djokovic in an interview with the Spanish publication El Pais went viral.
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Nadal, who made his comeback at the 2024 Brisbane International after being away from the sport for nearly a year due to injury, claimed that Novak Djokovic hasn't evolved as much as he and Roger Federer have. The 22-time Grand Slam champion also admitted that watching Federer play excited him more than watching Djokovic in action.
Tenney has now taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express her disappointment at Nadal, whom she believes is envious of Djokovic. She called the Serb the greatest tennis player of all time as well.
"Disappointing envy from Nadal. @djokernole is not only the greatest tennis player - EVER - for so many reasons, he’s my choice as the greatest athlete in the modern era. No one else has had the mental toughness and grace to overcome the needless obstacles and petty political tropes hurled at him repeatedly," she wrote.
2) Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shuts down NCAA star Caitlin Clark's critics
Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian has shut down the critics of college basketball star Caitlin Clark who plays for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Clark, a household name in college sports right now, was involved in a controversy in a recent game against Michigan State when she won the match for her team with a late buzzer-beater with an eventual score of 76-73. However, due to a miscommunication between the arena clock and the broadcast clock, many believed that the buzzer beater should not have been counted.
Ohanian, a vocal supporter of women's sports in general, took to X to defend the 21-year-old. He wrote:
"Put some respect on her name @CaitlinClark22."
3) Naomi Osaka's sister Mari accuses their father of abuse and emotional harassment
Naomi Osaka's older sister Mari recently accused their father, Leonard Francois, of abusing her since childhood and harassing their mother Tamaki.
Mari, a former WTA pro, revealed in a now-deleted Instagram post how Francois continues to abuse her family and trespass into their house and threatened to call the cops the next time she saw his face.
"I want you to know how disappointed and disgusted I am in you, as a father and human being in general," Mari Osaka wrote. "You have failed in every way imaginable. You have abused me since I was young and continue to harass my mother. You continue to emotionally abuse her and trespass into our home when you have your own."
"I'm making this public knowledge because you are a coward who hides behind his physical ability to beat me down and our refusal to call to cops on you. This is it, I'm really done with you and the next time I see your face I am calling the police. Consider this a threat," she added.
The 27-year-old also said:
"The way you have hurt me and our family honestly I wont regret it if they kill you so yea come back to the house and threaten to beat me up again. I will fight back and I will fight for both of us. I will kill you unless you kill me first by bringing a gun like the coward you are."
"So go ahead let's see what type of man you really are even though I've already known since birth I'm the daughter to the devil. God help me when he comes again," Mari Osaka continued.
4) Novak Djokovic's tennis greatness was questioned by John Alexander following United Cup injury timeout
Former Australian tennis pro John Alexander thinks World No. 1 Novak Djokovic's calculated use of injury timeouts kind of puts a damper on how great of a player he really is.
Alexander's comments came a day after Djokovic won his United Cup singles match against Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka. The Serb was having wrist issues and took a medical timeout after losing the second-set tiebreak. However, he bounced back stronger after that and won the match with a score of 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-1.
"The injury timeouts — if there is a question mark over his greatness in his entire career, it's the way he has, in many people's minds, strategically used injury timeouts," Alexander said (via ABC Tennis Podcast).
"After the loss of the second set, take an injury timeout to have his wrist massaged for some five minutes, breaking the opponent's concentration, maybe having thoughts entering into his opponent's head 'gee maybe he'll default, I'm all over for the night'. Then he picks himself up, wins the next five games, wins that third set 6-1," he added.
What is the foot injury that has troubled Rafael Nadal over the years? Check here
