Here are your top tennis headlines today
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s gesture to Ali Carter spotted
Ronnie O’Sullivan indicated that he is keen to put an end to his ongoing feud with Ali Carter at the Crucible. The Rocket extended a hand to his rival before their World Snooker Championship clash, in what was billed by many as a grudge match.
Carter emerged a few moments before O’Sullivan ahead of their first-round clash, but the cameras cut away before the pair greeted one another, prompting rumours of a frosty exchange before the match had even got underway.
However, the BBC cleared up the situation, showing footage of O’Sullivan greeting his opponent and cracking a smile as he prepared to end his hiatus.
Barry Hearn makes bold Crucible claim
Barry Hearn has spoken about the ongoing talks over the future of the World Snooker Championship. The Crucible holds the rights to host the event until 2027, but conversations are taking place to discuss whether the competition will head elsewhere beyond that point.
The Crucible can only hold 980 fans and Matchroom Sport boss Hearn is hopeful of a bigger venue hosting the event in the future to increase revenue. He told the Metro: “I haven’t heard enough about it. I’m having a meeting with Sheffield Council in early May. I wait to hear what they’re saying. The clock is ticking. I don’t know if people think I’m bluffing – it would be a bad move if they did.
“I’m hoping they give me a plan that ticks my boxes and that is the improvement of facilities for players and spectators and the bigger number of seats to cope with the demand. And obviously, we run a commercial business, we’ve got to maximise revenue.”
Stephen Henry takes aim at Judd Trump and Zhou Yuelong
Snooker legend Stephen Hendry has hit out at Judd Trump and Zhou Yuelong during their first-round clash, going as far as saying one frame was ‘vile’. The seventh frame lasted over 43 minutes, with Zhou eventually cleaning up to reduce Trump’s lead to 5-2. Afterwards, both players headed for a break.
Speaking about how the frame panned out, Hendry was asked about the word he used to describe the play mid-match, to which he replied: “There was a few of them. ‘Vile’ was one of them. Look, you’re always gonna get frames like that. Long matches – best of 19s – you’re not gonna get every frame [featuring] big breaks and finished in 12, 13 minutes.
“You’re gonna have these. And they’re obviously just as important on the scoreboard to win. The good thing about winning them – you can quickly forget about it. Judd’s lost it, so he won’t be happy; it sort of interrupted his rhythm a little bit. [The frame was] one for the purists, shall we say.”
