|
American Williams, a 23-times singles Grand
Slam champion, and Swiss maestro Federer, who won 20 majors, had
an outsized impact on the sport, both on and off the court, and
their absence has been keenly felt.
International Tennis Federation (ITF) chief Haggerty hoped the
Grand Slam title race between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic
would continue for a while longer but said the likes of
19-year-old U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz were already
proving themselves on the big stage.
"I go back to when I was younger and would hear some of the same
concerns that were raised when Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim
Courier ... when that generation was retiring and moving on," he
told Reuters on Tuesday.
"And we've seen that the void that people thought might be there
was filled with top players. I say the same thing today.
"We have had good matches on the men side with Alcaraz and
Jannik Sinner. In the Australian Open we saw some of the young
American players come through to the quarter-finals."
Haggerty said the women's game was also in fine fettle with
Roland Garros and U.S. Open winner Iga Swiatek filling the void
left by former world number one Ash Barty after her retirement.
"People were concerned with who's going to be the top woman
player," Haggerty said. "And Swiatek went on a great streak of
wins and showed the world she was the one.
"Tennis has some great stories and personalities as well that
will continue to grace the stage and make it the important sport
that it is."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
