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Hall of Famer Rosie Casals honors friend Pancho Gonzales and Hispanic Month with kids clinic at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Pancho Gonzales was not only one of tennis' most dynamic champions, he was a devoted doubles player as well.

One of Gonzales' favorite doubles partners, 5-foot-2 Rosie Casals, earned the ultimate respect from the iconic champion. Casals was one of the only partners Gonzales permitted to hit smashes when they shared the court.

More: How Pancho Gonzales' Greatest Comeback Changed US Open

Hall of Famer Casals joined forces with the Richard Pancho Gonzalez Youth Foundation and USTA SoCal staffers and volunteers to honor her late friend and celebrate Hispanic month with the second annual Kids Tennis Fiesta at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Both Pancho Gonzales and Rosie Casals learned to play tennis on California's public courts.

Casals' Love and Love Foundation and the Pancho Foundation are continuing the Hall of Famers' mission of teaching tennis to kids.  

Rosie Casals (center) with members of Pancho Gonzales' family at Indian Wells Tennis Garden

The eldest of seven children in a Mexican-American family, Gonzales was a self-taught player who grew up playing at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, a few miles from the Compton, California public park courts where Venus Williams and Serena Williams learned tennis decades later.

The daughter of immigrants from El Salvador, Casals picked up tennis playing on San Francisco's public park courts.

Casals and Gonzales' family, including his sons and former doubles partner, Richard Gonzales, Jr. and Dan Gonzales, were on hand along with USTA volunteers and coaches teaching at the foundation's second kids' clinic at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. And for the second year, Rafa Osuna, nephew of legendary former No. 1 Rafael Osuna, and his wife Claudia attended and helped coach a group of performance juniors

About 120 children participated in the Indian Wells' clinic.

Photo credit: NorCal

In addition to tennis drills and games, there was food and goodie bags for the children as well as mariachis and pinatas in a festive celebration of Hispanic month.

Further, as a extension of Hispanic month, the Gonzalez Foundation continued the month conducting kids' clinics at the Santa Maria Boys Club, which featured about 40 junior player participants.

Photo credit: NorCal

The Foundation concluded its clinic tour at Riverdale High School, a local Modesto, CA high school to teach three schools that participate in NorCal's HITS program. HITS is an acronym for Honesty, Inspiration, Tennis and Sportsmanship. About 80 junior players participated in the clinic.

The Foundation hopes to make its Hispanic Month tour an annual event.

"It really went well. We hope to extend out our tour next year," said Greg Gonzales, Pancho Gonzales' nephew and co-founder of the Richard Pancho Gonzalez Youth Foundation. "We're very grateful and appreciative of both the USTA's Southern Cal and Northern Cal staff and volunteers who contributed so much time and effort to the clinics."

Photo credit: Richard Pancho Gonzalez Youth Foundation

The Russian talks about the keys to his success after his second career Masters 1000 title run in Shanghai

Daniil Medvedev credits his steady improvement and maturity as a player and person for his ability to overcome lopsided head-to-head results with top players. The Russian, now ranked No.4 in the world at the back end of a season that has seen him win four titles, notch 59 wins and become just the fifth active player to reach six consecutive finals, has snapped losing streaks to Borna Coric and Alexander Zverev to win titles this fall.

More: Medvedev Pulls out of Moscow Due to Fatigue

“I think I just became a better player than I was when I played him four times before,” he said after winning for the first time in five tries against Alexander Zverev on Sunday in Shanghai. “For example, it was same against Coric. Before the final in St. Petersburg, I was quite nervous because I lost four matches, I think (he entered with a 1-4 lifetime record against the Croatian).

Medvedev says that something clicked this summer and since then he has hit another level with his tennis.

“I think I became a better player than I was even in the beginning of the year, and that's why some of these results can change like this,” he said. “I think it's everything together, like something clicked in my game in USA. I don't know why. I think it's just the hard work that I have been doing.”

Medvedev says that he understands his game and the way he needs to play to be successful more than ever before.

“I started to understand even more about my game, even more I would say about my serve, about my volley, about everything, like kind of what do I have to do when?” he said.”That's why many of these matches, as I say, I could have lost at least three sets here but finally didn't lose one. That's why [in] crucial moments I kind of know what do I have to do and where do I have to play—If I have to play it with spin or slice or dropshot, stuff like this.”

Medvedeve, who pulled out of this week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow, leads the ATP in wins with 59 and hard court wins with 46. He has notched eight Top 10 to nearly double his career total and he has won his last eleven tiebreakers to improve his tiebreaker record to 23-8 overall.

Tennis is all about strategy–reading the game, thinking the game, feeling the game. @DaniilMedwed always has a plan when he steps on court.

How do you #FightSmart ??? 🔻 https://t.co/kI1Ajpc8Xv pic.twitter.com/fa64rQNfdd

— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) October 12, 2019

He says he recognized that he doesn’t have the weapons that can take the racquet out of his opponent’s hands so he has had to become a better tactician and employer of variety and the element of surprise.

“I have a smart game play, because I do think that I don't have some arms that other people may have,” he said. “Like even talking about the serve, I improved it a lot, but for example, I cannot serve 230. I don't know why, but I cannot do it.

“So I have to play with my game. And as I say, I started to understand my game much more and trying to mix things up, trying to choose the best shot possible in every situation. I think, if I make these results, it means that I can play smart.”

The Colombians have won the last two major doubles titles.

That was fast.

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah have locked down the ATP’s year-end No.1 doubles ranking for the first time.

The Colombians are the the second all-South American team to finish year-end No. 1 (in the history of the ATP Doubles Team Rankings since 1984), following in the footsteps of Chile’s Hans Gildemeister and Andres Gomez of Ecuador in 1986.

Cabal and Farah have claimed the last two Grand Slam titles of 2019. At Wimbledon they became the first Colombians to win a major doubles title when they won an epic four hour and 57-minute final against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. At the US Open they backed up their performance with another title run.

The pair have won five titles from seven finals in 2019.

The Japanese megastar is having a productive run with her dad as her head coach in Asia.

Naomi Osaka is undefeated since parting ways with coach Jermaine Jenkins, and her father Leonard Francois has taken the reigns as Osaka has now gone undefeated in her last six matches, including her run to her fourth career title at Osaka a few weeks ago.

Osaka is enjoying the winning—and the family time.

“Yeah, it feels like it took me back a little bit because he's always been around, but he's been in the shadows for the most part,” Osaka told reporters after her second-round win over Andrea Petkovic at the China Open. “I would say he is a person that knows my game the most. He's kind of the person that knows the trigger words, whether good or bad. Definitely it's been very nostalgic. I think we're getting along good."

The 21-year-old World No.4 says her dad likes to use phrases to keep her focused and motivated.

What is one of his favorites?

“He likes saying, ‘It's not rocket science,’” she said.

Anyone who has ever tried to hit a tennis ball like Osaka does might disagree, but whatever works is good for Osaka.

Osaka, who owns a 34-11 record on the season now, will face American Alison Riske in the round of 16 at Beijing on Thursday.

The Greek has set his goals for the remainder of the 2019 season.

  
Stefanos Tsitsipas   has had his share of ups and downs in 2019; The Greek struggled in his last two majors, falling in the first round of Wimbledon and the US Open. But Tsitsipas still has lots to look forward to in 2019. He’s likely headed to his first ATP Finals appearance in November, as he is ranked sixth in the ATP Race to London standings. But Tsitsipas doesn't want to crawl into London–he wants to come in on a high. The Greek told the ITF that he has lofty goals for the remainder of the 2019 campaign.

“It’s been a great year, it’s not over yet—there’s plenty of tennis ahead,” The World No.7 told the ITF while playing Davis Cup this week in Athens, Greece. “I’m really happy with my performance so far. There have been some ups and downs, but I’m trying to figure a few things out and not make the same mistakes over and over again.”

Tsitsipas, who helped guide Greece to March’s Davis Cup Group II play-offs told reporters in New York that he was having trouble finding inspiration, and he elaborated on those feelings again in this interview with Reem Abulleil.

“I would describe it as not feeling [myself] when I’m on the court,” he said. “That drive that you have when you are out there, wanting to give your every best shot that you have. Not being able to because simply, you don’t have that spark in you. I’m trying to recreate that and bring it back to my game. [I am trying to] declutter and become fresh and new again.”

Tsitsipas, who learned this week that Greece has qualified for next January’s ATP Cup, says he has a firm idea of what he’d like to accomplish by the end of the season.

“I really want to win a Masters by the end of the year,” he said. “That’s a great thing to have in your trophy list. I’m really planning on doing something soon to get there. I really want to finish the year in the Top 8 so I can make the Nitto ATP Finals and have a good, strong finish to the year in London.”

Tsitsipas, who reached the semifinals at this year’s Australian Open, owns a 37-19 record on the season with two titles in Marseille and Estoril.

If you’re wondering why Tsitsipas has been missing from social media over the last week, it’s all part of the Greek’s plan to re-center himself and his game. He says he has elected to shut it down for a period to remove the stress keep his mind focused on his tennis.

“It seems like it’s working,” says Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas will next been seen at the Laver Cup next week in Geneva, where he will join Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on Team Europe against Team World.

“For me personally it’s like a dream come true to be part of this incredible team, with Roger and Rafa, who I’ve looked up to since I was a little kid, along with Dom [Dominic Thiem], Sascha [Zverev] and Fabio [Fognini].

Tsitsipas on Laver Cup: “I am proud of myself for being invited. Playing in a team with Roger and Rafa is a dream come true. It will be fun spending time with them and I believe they will give me some advice”.

— Vicky Georgatou (@VGeorgatou) September 14, 2019

The three-day event kicks off on Friday September 20 in Geneva.

The great Rafael Nadal pulls closer to Roger Federer and GOAT status with his New York title. Join Tennis Now for a look inside the numbers.

    Rafael Nadal     closed the gap on Roger Federer in terms of Grand Slam titles won, and he also moved closer to the top of the all-time US Open title list. Let’s look closer inside the numbers of Nadal’s latest triumph.

19: Number of major titles that Nadal has now won. He’s just one behind Federer for the all-time major singles title lead now.

4: Nadal’s four US Open titles move him past Novak Djokovic and into a tie for fourth on the all-time Open Era title list with John McEnroe. Only Roger Federer (5), Jimmy Connors (5) and Pete Sampras (5) have more titles than Nadal in New York.

12: Number of consecutive Grand Slam titles that have been won by the Big Three of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. The trio has now won 51 of the last 59 majors.

5: Nadal has now won five titles since turning 30, which is the record. Djokovic, Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall have each won four Slams after turning 30.

19-8: Nadal’s record in Grand Slam finals.

20: Number of consecutive wins Nadal has notched against Russian players. He has not fallen to a Russian players since 2011 in Doha when he los to Nikolay Davydenko.

11: Number of consecutive wins that Nadal has notched. The Spaniard has won 27 of his last 28 matches.

640: Number of ranking points that Nadal trails Djokovic by in the ATP rankings. The Spaniard leads Djokovic in the Race to London standings by 1940 points.

966-196: Nadal’s lifetime record. He’s just 34 shy of reaching his 1000th win.

206-1: Nadal’s record when he leads by two sets to love in Grand Slams.

The Spaniard is just pleased that he has given himself another chance to win more majors.

Rafael Nadal is into his 27th career major final and on Sunday in New York he will bid to move just one shy of Roger Federer on the all-time Grand Slam titles list with 19. But the Spaniard knows he has a tough task ahead of him as he prepares to face Russia’s Daniil Medvedev for the second time this summer. Nadal dropped just three games against Medvedev in the Montreal final on a windy day, but he knows he’ll have to be ready to face the rising Russian.

“I need to be playing at my best,” Nadal said. “I think at the end of the match I increased my level again today. I need to hold this level if I want to have chances on Sunday. If not, is so difficult. He is very, very solid.”

One thing is certain: Nadal will not be worried about chasing Roger Federer on the all-time major titles list. If it happens, great. If not, that’s the sport.

“When I arrived here, my goal was to produce a chance to compete for the big thing again,” Nadal said. “Here I am.?” Nadal, has reached three Grand Slam finals this year and made it to at least the last four of every major. As long as he keeps giving himself chances to win titles, he’ll be fine.

“I give myself another chance, as I did in Wimbledon, as I did in Australia, as I did in Roland Garros,” Nadal said. “That's the personal satisfaction. That's the personal happiness. You win, you lose. That's part of all the sport. Of course, I would love to be the one who achieve more Grand Slams, but I still sleep very well without being the one who have more Grand Slams.”

Nadal will also bid to tie John McEnroe for fourth on the all-time US Open Open era title list with four. If he gets it, he’ll be one behind the Open Era record of five, which is shared by Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.

Not bad for a clay specialist, no?

“I am happy about my career,” Nadal said. “I am very happy about what I'm doing. I'm going to keep working hard to try to produce chances. Sunday is one. It's just one more chance, that's all. My opponents going to keep playing. If I able to win on Sunday, okay, will be amazing. If I lose, I hope to keep having chances in the future to add things.

“But as I always say to you, and is true: I would love to be the one to have more [major titles than any other player], yes, but you cannot be all day frustrated or all day thinking about what your neighbor has better than you. You have to be happy with yourself. You have to do your way. If you are the one to achieve more, fantastic. If not, at least I give my best during all my career. That's all.”

The Spaniard was given high praise from a pair of peers on Wednesday in New York

Rafael Nadal: king of clay, 18-time major champion and… best fighter ever?

That’s what Matteo Berrettini and Diego Schwartzman are saying after Day 10 at the US Open. The Italian, who will face Nadal in Friday’s semifinals in New York, had big praise for Nadal when he was asked by a reporter after his five-set victory over Gael Monfils on Wednesday in New York.

“I think he's the greatest fighter ever in this sport,” Berrettini said. “It's unbelievable he's doing. I admire him, like, the way he's on the court, you know. Like his attitude is something that it's — I think it's close to the perfection. He's always, like, 5-0, 40-Love down, he's always there. It's something that's not that easy to do. So bravo.”

On Wednesday Nadal, true to form, fought through cramping to get past Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to book his eighth semifinal at the US Open. Schwartzman says that he’s never seen anything like the Spaniard. He was asked if he agreed with Berrettini—is Nadal the best fighter in history?

“[He is] like a lion in the middle, you know, in the jungle,” Schwartzman said. “He's a fighter. He knows how to play the important moments every single time. I played eight times, and every important moment he played better than me.”

Nadal was asked to respond, and he told reporters that there’s nothing special about what he does. There are many good fighters out there, Nadal told them.

“I don't like to talk much about myself, because it's not a beautiful thing,” Nadal said. “No, I think I had stable character during all my life, all my career. That helps to be normally in stable — I mean, mentally focused, mentally relaxed and mentally always ready to respect every opponent, to play every point, to play every game, to play every set and every match until the end, no?

“So that's one of the keys of the success. But honestly, is not everything. I think my success is not only because of the spirit of fight. There is lot of things after this. But of course I have the stories say that I have been, yeah, a good fighter on court with good character, positive character, and I am not the only one. There is a lot of ones that fight a lot.”

The Spaniard predicts big things for Coco Gauff, but says she should take her time.

Rafael Nadal knows a thing or two about having success at a young age. He’s the last teenager to win a men’s singles Grand Slam title, after all. The Spaniard sees great things in 15-year-old Coco Gauff, and told reporters his feelings on the American sensation after his victory over John Millman on Tuesday night in New York City.

I saw her a couple of days playing Wimbledon. I think she is very strong to be — she's 15? “She's tall and she has a lot of power,” Nadal said. “I think she has a great intensity playing. Let's see. Of course, looks like she has an amazing future in front. I really wish her all the very best.”

Gauff has only played three tour-level events, counting the 2019 US Open, but already brands are aligning with the rising star. New Balance, Head, Barilla Pasta—with Roger Federer’s Team 8 Agency backing her, more are surely to come.

Nadal says that it is still too early to tell what type of professional career she has. She should take her time, says the 18-time major champion.

“Is tough to put lot of pressure on her now or talk too much about her now,” he said. “Even if she's doing amazing things, she is very young.

“In my opinion, she needs to internalize the things step by step. If not, is easy to lose a little bit the perspective. I really hope that she has the right people around, and she will become a big star of this sport for sure.”