Three-time champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from ATP 1000 Indian Wells, where he made the final last year.

Nadal's incredible streak of nearly EIGHTEEN straight years of never leaving in the top 10, dating back to April 2005, will likely end in March.

Unreal record. Not impossible; Nadal could be slated to face Djokovic in the fourth round at Roland Garros if he’s seeded anywhere in the #13-#24 range.

https://twitter.com/saucyboy09/status/1630615910141534209

Things complicated for Novak Djokovic, as you may’ve heard, but he never meaningfully stopped being ATP’s best player and surpassed Graf’s pro singles record today with his 378th week at #1.

Next target, if he wants it? Mike Bryan has a whopping 506 weeks at ATP #1 in doubles…

https://twitter.com/benrothenberg/status/1368992585872707596

Adding women's records to the Djokovic conversation--which has been embraced as he approached this Graf mark in recent weeks--adds some other interesting new targets.

Most obviously, Serena's record 23 pro slam singles titles, which Djokovic's 22 trails by just one...

On an unfortunate incident at #CincyTennis yesterday:

During the first set of the women's qualifying match between Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova, one of the players complained to the WTA chair umpire, Morgane Lara, about a woman sitting in the stands...

(1/12)🧵 This spectator was named Lola.

She lives near the #CincyTennis tournament in Mason, OH, and was sitting with a Ukrainian flag draped around her body. Lola also wore a vinok, which is a Ukrainian floral wreath crown.

Lola was not saying anything, watching the match silently...

(Safe to say, #ImJustHereForTheHandshake)

#Wimbledon MY GOD THEY DIDN'T SHOW THE HANDSHAKE WTF

After winning the second set, Kyrgios saying he wants Tsitsipas defaulted for hitting a ball into the crowd and hitting someone.

Tsitsipas got a code violation warning.

Kyrgios calls for the supervisor, then wants more supervisors (lol).

"I want all of them!" As replay shows, Tsitsipas did indeed backhand a ball into the crowd.

Couldn't tell at first look if it hit or injured anyone.

#Wimbledon

Doing some digging into precedents, it seems clear that the Djokovic deportation is delaying the #AusOpen scheduling release considerably.

In both 2017 + 2018, the Day 1 OOP was released on Saturday evening; it's now Sunday afternoon.

This is holding the other players in limbo. (Periodic and important reminder that Djokovic could have avoided all this rigamarole by simply getting vaccinated like 97%+ of his tennis player peers have.)

Court is in session, with Novak Djokovic's case coming in front of a panel of three judges.

Watch here:

Whether or not you're on Novak Djokovic's side here, one thing is clear:

His arrival in Australia accelerated this country's courtroom streaming technology capabilities by *decades*.

#AusOpen draw ceremony is in an hour.

Here's a brief rulebook thread on how it will work with seedings re: Djokovic, as his fate remains unknown.

If Djokovic pulls out of #AusOpen in short time left before the draw (very unlikely), #2 Daniil Medvedev would become #1 seed. If Djokovic pulls out after #AusOpen draw but before Day 1 order of play is released, #5 Andrey Rublev would be moved to Line 1 of draw to take Djokovic's slot. #17 Gael Monfils would move onto Rublev's line, and Alexander Bublik would become #33 seed and move onto Monfils' line.

New:

In Instagram statement, Novak Djokovic says that he found out his positive PCR test after he went to the children’s award event but *before* he did a photoshoot and interview with L’Equipe. Djokovic also added a bit on his Australian Travel Declaration misstatement, calling it a “human error and certainly not deliberate.”

Visit from the trainer on the first changeover of Bernard Tomic's match. He's taking his pulse before serving down break point. #AusOpen ^Tomic was taking his own pulse before serving, to be clear. He got broken.

Tomic was hyping up his return to #AusOpen competition quite a bit on social media, but this is rough going for him against in-form Roman Safiullin.

The Djokovic deportation appeal hearing is underway. I've gotten an (audio) pipeline in, but technical issues persist. Will do my best to keep folks up to date.

Opening arguments now from Djokovic's lawyer, who is focusing on fairness. The Djokovic deportation appeal hearing stream is now working for me; good luck to the rest of you.

play.quickchannel.com/play/iahx0qa

A question lingering: if Djokovic was claiming a coronavirus positive in last six months as reason for an exemption, when did he get it?

According to BBC, his lawyers say that Djokovic tested positive very recently, less than a month ago, on December 16.

bbc.com/news/world-aus… December 16 was a busy day for Djokovic:

In addition to purportedly getting a PCR test for Covid that came back positive, Djokovic also was part of a maskless, indoor panel discussion and attended a maskless, indoor ceremony for a stamp being made in his honor on that day.

Had to check out the scene myself at the Park Hotel where Djokovic is being detained and where his supporters have gathered to protest his impending deportation for being unvaccinated. #AusOpen Crucially, the Park Hotel has also been used to detain refugees seeking asylum, some of whom have been imprisoned there for years.

Raducanu was untouchable at #USOpen so far, but this is her first match here (and first career match) against a top-40 foe.

And Bencic is a gold medalist just last month, so not just any top-40 player.

Bencic has put pressure on her right from the jump, instilling some doubt. Raducanu settled and balling now.

On serve, 4-3*, with eight winners to Bencic's four.

#USOpen

People find that satisfying? A super-talented young player emerges and plays 2.5 hours of jaw-dropping, world-beating tennis…and then enough time passes for regression to the mean and normal programming resumes, and it’s deflating. Djokovic earns the win, sure, but yawn.

https://twitter.com/amigatehouse/status/1401918164888342531

Part of the appeal of sports, I truly believe, is that anything can happen. The any given Sunday principle that sees things like Mickelson winning in his 50s.

In men’s tennis at Slams, the margins are just too big to ever derail the top guys, and it’s cruise control to a fault.

Djokovic 6-1 in the third with some ease, upping his level after an off-court break and running away with it. #RG21 And now Djokovic already up a break in the fourth. #RG21

OK, so here is the story of Sam Querrey fleeing Russia after testing positive for coronavirus:

[thread] 49th-ranked Sam Querrey entered the ATP 500 St. Petersburg, and was slated to face second-seeded Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the main draw.

Before that match, however, Sam tested positive for coronavirus.

So, too, did Sam's wife, Abby, and eight-month-old son, Ford.

Sascha Zverev six days ago after Adria Tour coronavirus cluster:

“I deeply apologize to anyone that I have put at risk...I will proceed to follow self-isolating guidelines...stay safe 🙏.”

Sascha Zverev four hours ago: This is my concern with tennis attempting to come back mid-pandemic: not that precautions can’t be taken, but that too many tennis players are conditioned to be wildly self-centered and have no concept of how to act for the greater interest of a larger group.

Undaunted, ATP #1 Novak Djokovic continues to give his big platform over to some truly nutty pseudoscience blabber.

Not as potentially dangerous as being anti-vaccines, but NO, you cannot change the molecular structure of water with your emotions, ffs.

And by big platform, look at these numbers Djokovic has already gotten for this content.

That’s why it matters what he puts out and espouses and endorses.

Read the full victim impact statement from Randall Kaplan, the man beaten by Justin Gimelstob last Halloween. (1/5) Kaplan statement (2/5)

With rain ending today's play prematurely, figured I'd do a brief thread on the match-fixing allegations against surprise French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato, which don't seem to be widely understood. (I wrote about Cecchinato's case for @NYTSports back in 2016, shortly after he was given an 18 month ban and fined 40,000 euros by the Federation of Italian Tennis (FIT) for his involvement in three betting-related offenses.

nytimes.com/2016/07/25/spo…