Karolina Pliskova Withdraws From Australian Open and Rafa Nadal Returns

It may be December, but that doesn’t mean that even the Tennis world is without a buzz. There are still plenty of big names making headlines. The good, the bad, and the downright embarrassing, so let’s take a look at some of the news from the past week or so!

Pliskova’s Hand Injury Woes

Karolina Pliskova has not only had to drop out of the Australian Open due to her hand injury, but she has also had to remove herself from two other warm-up tournaments. Karolina injured her right hand during training and has since said she will need to take some time off to recover. Pliskova has played against some of the great and has even made it to the Grand Slam finals twice in her career. While she was unable to win either of her appearances in the Grand Slam, she knows what it takes to play at the highest level and we wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her return.

Rafael Nadal Plays In Abu Dhabi

Rafael has had a hard few months. After injuring his foot, he has a number of major events which include the Olympics, Wimbledon, and even the US Open. Nadal made his comeback in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi. Despite losing to Andy Murray 6-3, 7-5. Nadal is also expected to play at the ATP 250 in Melbourne where his odds of winning are 17/1. This Tournament is in the first week of January. After a few months off, it is anyone’s guess if he will return with his full form or if it will take him a few matches to get back to his normal self.

Moroccan Players Banned For Match Fixing

Yes, you are reading that right! The Moroccan players have been banned due to a match-fixing investigation. It seems the players are being brought up on charges of fixing matches, receiving money, and just generally not reporting even being approached about similar discrepancies. The Players have all been named; Amine Ahouda, Anas Chakrouni, Ayoub Chakrouni, Mohamed Zakaria Khalil, Soufiane El Mesbahi and Yassir Kilani. The ITIA is not messing around and while it looks like most have received 9-year bans, Ayoub Chakrouni is reported to have received a lifetime ban!

While match-fixing is definitely not a joke, if you’re going to try and make money off of Tennis, or any sport really, maybe place some legal bets? There are plenty of betting forums that can even help give you odds and opinions on all things to do with sports betting. New York has even just approved licenses for mobile sports betting apps so expect to see those soon as well. These apps will allow you to place bets from anywhere your phone can connect to the internet in a bid to make things seamlessly easy.

Manuel Santana Passes Away

Sadly Manuel Santana has passed away at the age of 83. One of the best tennis players of his time, Manuel was at one point ranked No.1 and during his career, achieved a number of accolades. From winning the US Open and Wimbledon, Manuel also managed to be the first person from Spain to win a Grand Slam title. He won plenty more tournaments and even had an Olympic Gold Medal, making him one of the top athletes of all time from Spain. It is also a shame to lose someone, especially someone as accredited as Manuel! We would like to send our well-wishes and condolences to his family and friends at this time.

A Positive Test For Emma Raducanu

Unfortunately, Emma Raducanu has had to drop out of the Abu Dhabi event due to a positive test for Covid-19. Covid-19 has pretty much taken the world over for the past 2-years with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. According to an article on ESPN,  Emma has said “I was very much looking forward to playing in front of the fans here in Abu Dhabi, but unfortunately after testing positive for COVID-19, I will have to postpone until the next opportunity”. Emma has also stated that she is isolating and is hoping to be back on the court as soon as she can.

It is a shame to see the young superstar not in action at Abu Dhabi. Earlier this year, she made quite a few British people a fair bit of money when the odds were against her. England saw odds for her to win the US Open at only 18 years old were around 190-1 and even 200-1, making at least one bettor, £4,000 on just a £20 bet! After this, you can assure more people were hoping to place some bets on her for her upcoming matches but looks like they will have to wait a couple weeks now.

Closing Words

There is plenty going on in the Tennis world and there are plenty of matches to look forward to. One thing on the back of everyone’s mind is how will Covid Affect Tennis? Hopefully, it won’t affect things too much but as we have seen, it can change things worldwide with absolutely no notice. With events coming up in Abu Dhabi, Australia, and more, we will likely see more players having to isolate but hopefully, we won’t have any canceled events.