Sport FRIDAY 28 MAY 2021 14 Al Attiyah, Al Thefiri aim to defend series leads in Jordan Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah THE PENINSULA — DEAD SEA winner of the Jordan Rally faces com- Henry Kahy faces local driver Asem holds the Palestinian flag petition from former QMMF President Aref in the MERC3 section for two- ahead of Jordan Rally. The 2021 Jordan Rally got underway Nasser Khalifa Al Atya and Oman Rally wheel drive cars and Saudi Arabia’s on the shores of the Dead Sea Team driver Abdullah Al Rawahi. Saleh Al-Saif rounds off the starting yesterday. Twelve cars and compet- Meshari Al Thefiri has won the last line-up in a T4 Can-Am Maverick X3. itors from eight nations will now tackle three MERC2 championships in his Mit- Today, crews tackle two loops of 10 demanding gravel stages today and subishi Lancer Evo X and the Kuwaiti three special stages, starting with a run tomorrow in the Dead Sea, Mount Nebo takes a nine-point advantage in the through the 9.8km of Syagha from and Jordan River areas close to the secondary ‘showroom’ category into 09.19hrs. The brand new challenge of lowest geographical point on earth. the opening stages today. Adasiyah (34.70km) follows at 09.58hrs Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah will be His two closest rivals, Rashid Al and the loop is completed with a blast hoping to extend his eight-point lead Mohannadi and Zakariya Al Ofi, have through the 11.34km of the Baptism Site in the FIA Middle East Rally Champi- not made the trip to the Hashemite special from 11.17hrs. onship in the absence of closest rivals, Kingdom but local drivers Shabi After a return to the Dead Sea Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Khalid Al Shaban and Ihab Al Shourafa and the Service Park for a mid-leg regroup and Suwaidi, who pushed him hard at the Lebanese trio of Alex El Feghali, Ahmed chance to refettle the cars, the loop of opening round in Qatar at the end of Khaled and Shadi El Fakih will be three speed tests are repeated at January. hoping to push him all the way. 12.58hrs, 13.37hrs and 14.56hrs, On this occasion the 13-time Lebanon’s defending champion respectively. French Open: Djokovic, Nadal and Federer in same half of the field AP — PARIS Djokovic in the quarter-finals. Naomi Osaka vs. No. 6 Bianca The other possible men’s The Big Three top the leaderboard for Grand Slam men’s singles Andreesscu. Four-time major Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal quarter-finals on their side is titles: Federer and Nadal head to Roland Garros, where play begins champion Osaka announced and Roger Federer all ended up Nadal vs. No. 7 Andrey Rublev. on Sunday, tied with 20, while Djokovic has 18. Federer could meet Wednesday on Twitter that she in the same half of the French On the other side of the Djokovic in the quarter-finals. The other possible men’s quarter-finals would not be doing news con- Open men’s field in the draw draw, the potential quarter- ferences during the French yesterday, meaning no more finals are No. 2 Daniil Medvedev on their side is Nadal vs. No. 7 Andrey Rublev. Open. than one of them can reach the vs. No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and A year after withdrawing Archer won’t final. No. 4 Dominic Thiem vs. No. 6 Serena Williams is in a quarter of the women’s draw filled with familiar from Roland Garros before the The Big Three top the lead- Alexander Zverev. second round because of an rush return erboard for Grand Slam men’s Medvedev is a two-time faces. That includes possible games with 3-time major champion injured left Achilles, Williams singles titles: Federer and Nadal Grand Slam finalist but is 0-4 Angelique Kerber in the 3rd round, two-time Wimbledon champ Petra will face 74th-ranked Irina- head to Roland Garros, where for his French Open career. Kvitova in the fourth and either two-time Australian Open champ Camelia Begu of Romania to risking T20 play begins on Sunday, tied with Thiem won last year’s US Victoria Azarenka or No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals. begin things. They met once 20, while Djokovic has 18. Open and twice has been the before: On red clay in Rome in World Cup Nadal beat Djokovic in runner-up in Paris. 2016, the year Begu reached the straight sets in the 2020 final Serena Williams, who has fourth round in Paris for the and Ashes for his record-extending 13th won three of her professional- fourth and either two-time Aus- No. 1 Ash Barty vs. No. 5 Elina deepest French Open run of her championshippp on the red clay y era record 23 Grand Slam titles tralian Open champ Victoria Svitolina, No. 4 Sofia Kenin vs. career. ofof Paris, butbut ifif theythey meet aagaingain inin Paris, is in a quarterquarter ofof thethe AzarenkaAzaren or No. 3 seed Aryna No. 8 Iga Swiatek in what would Other first-round matches prospects thisthis time, it wouldwould bbee in tthehe women’swomen’s drawdraw filledfilled SabalenkaSabal in the be a rematch of the 2020 final of interest include Swiatek semi-finals.semi-finals. with familiarfamiliar quarter-finals.quarterr finals. won byby Swiatek,Sw , and No. 2 againstgjJ, Kaja Juvan, a 20-year-y REUTERS — LONDON Nadal is rrankedanked and seedeseededd faces.faces. Thee ootherther oldold fromfrom SloveniaSlovenia whowho beatbeat No. 3 nownow andand so hehe couldcould That possiblep ossible KerberKerber in thethe firstfirst roundround in ParisParis England fast bowler Jofra havehave woundwound upup on eithereither includesincludes women’swomen’n s lastlast year;year; AzarenkaAzarenka againstagainst Archer (pictured) will not rush sideside ofof thethe bracket;bracket; as luckluck possiblepossible quarter-quarter- anotheranother owner of two major his return from elbow surgery would have it,it, he was matchups finalsfinals areare trophies,trophies, Svetlana Kuznetsova; in case it affects his primary placedplaced in No. 1 Djokovic’sDjokovic’s withw i th andand Kenin, lastlast year’syear’s AustralianAustralian targets of playing the half. three-t hree- Open champion,champion, against 2017 Twenty20 World Cup in India SoSo was Federer,Federer, timetime mamajorjor FrenchFrench Open champion Jelena and the subsequent Ashes whosewhose record for most championchampion Ostapenko.Ostapenko. series against Australia later weeksweeks atopatop thethe ATP AngeliqueAngelique NadalNadal andand SwiatekSwiatek areare thethe this year, the 26-year-old has rankingsrankings recentlyrecently was KerberKerber in favoritesfavorites to win the singlessingles said. broken by Djokovic and is thethe thirdthird titles,titles, accordingaccording to FanDuelFanDuel Archer underwent surgery currentlycurrently at No. 8 afterafter round,round, twotwo-time-time Sportsbook.Sportsbook. on his right elbow on Friday playingplaying onlyonly threethree matchesmatches WimbledonWim ble d on and has been ruled out of Eng- overover thethe past 15 monthsmonths champchhamp Petra land’s two-Test series against because of two opera-opera- KvitovaKvitova in New Zealand starting next tionstions on hishis rightright thet h e month. knee.k nee. The England and Wales FedererFed erer Cricket Board (ECB) will couldcoul d Rafael Nadal review his progress next meetm eet Novak Djokovic Roger Federer month with the bowler looking uncertain for England’s five- Test home series against India in August and September. “One thing I am deter- mined about post-elbow oper- ation is not to rush my Serena needs to be more comeback because my Osaka finds support after primary focus is to be playing for England in the Twenty20 creative, add variety to World Cup and Ashes later this year,” Archer wrote in his decision to skip press Daily Mail. column for the game: Mats Wilander “Those are my targets. If I REUTERS — PARIS that bring doubt into our minds, tournament only one person come back before then and REUTERS — PARIS the years. “And at her age, and I’m just not going to subject does not lose,” she said yes- manage to play in the home unless she changes some- Naomi Osaka (pictured) myself to people that doubt terday. “It’s tough emotionally Test series against India -- Serena Williams needs to be thing a little bit, becomes a received support from Iga me.” Expecting players to to cope with it; it is one of the then fine, so be it. If I don’t, I creative and add variety to little more creative, I don’t Swiatek’s sports psychologist answer questions after losses challenges that tennis brings. am quite prepared to sit out her game if the 39-year-old think Serena can overpower yesterday after the four-time amounted to “kicking a person It’s sometimes the summer. American wants to tame the all these women these days major winner said she will not while they’re down”, Osaka overwhelming.” “The way I am looking at current power-hitters on because they serve well, they attend press conferences at this added. MENTAL HEALTH things is that I would rather clay, seven-time Grand Slam hit the ball hard. She’s kind year’s French Open as the Sports psychologist Daria The last thing Abramowicz miss a few weeks of a year so singles winner Mats Wilander of competing with the same nature of the questions puts an Abramowicz, who works with wants to let Swiatek do when that I have a few more years said ahead of this week’s game against the women undue burden on players’ French Open winner Swiatek she loses a match is to face the in my career.” French Open. today. mental health. and travels with the teenaged media immediately after.