Paul Pogba will miss France’s World Cup defence as he needs more time to recover from knee surgery, his agent announced on Monday.

“Following yesterday and today’s medical review in Torino and Pittsburgh, it is extremely painful to inform Paul Pogba will still need recovery time from his surgery,” said Rafaela Pimenta in a statement.

“For this reason, Paul will not be able to join Juventus’ squad before the World Cup break nor the French National Team in Qatar.”

Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri had already said on Friday that it was “very unlikely” that the 29-year-old midfielder would play for his team before Serie A breaks up for the World Cup.

Italian media reported earlier on Monday that Pogba could be out for around 15 days with a thigh injury.

Pogba hasn’t played for Juve since re-signing for them from Manchester United in the summer, hurting the meniscus in his right knee in July.

He initially elected not to go under the knife in a bid to make the Qatar tournament which kicks off on November 20.

However after returning to training early last month Pogba changed his mind and opted for surgery, which kept him on the sidelines until two weeks ago when he recommenced partial training with Juve.

Missing the World Cup is another blow in what has been a hard year for Pogba, who is also embroiled in an alleged extortion plot involving his own brother.

Mathias Pogba, 32, was charged last month along with four other people, all close to the World Cup winner who filed a complaint with Turin prosecutors in July which said he was being blackmailed for 13 million euros ($12.6 mn).

Paul Pogba told investigators that his blackmailers wanted to discredit him by claiming he asked a marabout (holy man) to cast a spell on Paris Saint-Germain and France star Kylian Mbappe, which Pogba denies.

Source: AFP

Karim Benzema was rewarded for his remarkable success with Real Madrid by winning the Ballon d’Or at a star-studded ceremony in Paris on Monday, while Spain’s Alexia Putellas retained the women’s prize.

Benzema, who is the first French winner of the most prestigious individual prize in football since Zinedine Zidane in 1998, scored 44 goals in 46 games for his club last season as Real won the Champions League and La Liga.

Fifteen of his goals came in the Champions League, including hat-tricks in knockout wins against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea and three more across both legs of a stunning semi-final defeat of Manchester City.

The 34-year-old, who also won the UEFA Nations League with France, succeeds Lionel Messi with the Argentine not nominated this year after claiming the prize for the seventh time in 2021.

Benzema pushed Sadio Mane into second place, although the Bayern Munich and Senegal star did have his off-field work recognised as he was given a new award named after former Brazil star Socrates.

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City and Belgium was third, with Barcelona and Poland star Robert Lewandowski coming fourth.

Winning the award, which is organised by France Football magazine, caps a remarkable career revival for Benzema, who was frozen out of the France team for five and a half years because of his involvement in a blackmail scandal over a sextape involving teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

He was later handed a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros ($73,848) for his involvement in the affair.

However, he returned to the national team for last year’s European Championship and will now go to the World Cup in Qatar with France next month.

He will turn 35 on December 19, the day after the World Cup final.

Compared by his Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti to “a fine wine”, Benzema has got better with age and is the oldest winner of the Ballon d’Or since the very first, Stanley Matthews in 1956.

The former Lyon striker is also the fifth Frenchman to win the prize, with Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Jean-Pierre Papin all getting their hands on the trophy before Zidane’s victory in 1998.

The award was previously based on a player’s performances over the course of the calendar year.

But the format has changed, with the prize now based on a player’s record over the last season.

Putellas eyes return from injury

That may have helped Putellas win the women’s award despite suffering a serious knee injury in July that saw her miss the European Championship with Spain.

Instead, Putellas’s performances with her club Barcelona were recognised after she top-scored in the Women’s Champions League to help the Catalans reach the final.

They lost that final to Lyon, but Barca did win a domestic league and cup double.

“It makes me even more annoyed to be injured, but I am very happy to be here,” Putellas said.

“To retain the trophy is much harder. When I injured my knee I thought my chances of winning it had gone but in the end the jury based their decision on the whole of last season, of which I only missed one month.”

The 28-year-old edged out Beth Mead, who had scored six goals for the England side that won the Euro on home soil.

Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia came third.

It is just the fourth time a women’s Ballon d’Or has been awarded, with Norway’s Ada Hegerberg winning the inaugural prize in 2018 and Megan Rapinoe triumphing in 2019.

There was no ceremony in 2020 due to the pandemic, before Putellas won her first a year ago.

Her injury means she is unlikely to make it a hat-trick next year, although she hopes to play again this season.

“The knee is doing well. I just need to focus on recovering and if everything goes as I hope — and as the doctors and my club hope — I hope to be back playing this season,” she said.

Barcelona and Spain midfielder Gavi won the Kopa Trophy for the best player aged under 21, while Lewandowski received the award for last season’s top goalscorer, renamed the Gerd Mueller Trophy, for the second straight year.

Benzema’s Real Madrid teammate Thibaut Courtois won the prize for best goalkeeper of the year, named after former Soviet Union great Lev Yashin.

Source: AFP

One person died Thursday following violent clashes that started outside a soccer match on the outskirts of Buenos Aires before spilling into the stadium and onto the pitch, authorities said.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas as they attempted to stop fans attending the match between top-flight teams Boca Juniors and Gimnasia y Esgrima from pushing into the already crowded venue.

The unrest outside the Carmelo Zerillo stadium in La Plata, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Argentina’s capital, continued inside, where shocked spectators were seen squeezing through fencing to escape the violence and get onto the field.

“There were about 10,000 people around the stadium trying to get in, some with tickets, some without. Everyone could see that the stadium was very full,” said Eduardo Aparicio, head of a government agency tasked with preventing violence in sports.

“All this is being investigated,” including “the actions of the police,” he added.

Authorities at San Martin hospital in La Plata confirmed the death of 57-year-old Cesar Regueiro from cardiac arrest as he was being transferred from the stadium to a hospital.

A cameraman for sports channel TyC was injured by rubber bullets while dozens of spectators were suffering from the effects of tear gas and had been taken to hospitals, according to local media.

‘The air became unbreathable’

The game was suspended after nine minutes due to a lack of security, referee Hernan Mastrangelo said.

“It affected all of us on the field,” he added. “The air became unbreathable. The situation got out of control and there were no security guarantees.”

Explosions were heard inside the stadium and smoke from the fumes quickly reached the pitch.

The players, the referee and technical staff members were forced to evacuate the field.

At the same time, fans, including children being led or carried by adults, rushed from the stands and onto the pitch, where people were seen sitting or lying down apparently recovering from tear gas exposure.

“The first thing I saw was that people had started to flee the stalls and I began to feel the effects of the gas. I thought about my family and I started to worry,” Nicolas Contin, a Gimnasia player, said from the locker room where he had carried his young son.

“I’m angry about everything that happened.”

The match came at a critical point in Argentina’s Primera Division, with Gimnasia trying to stay in the title race and Boca looking to move into first place.

“What was going to be a party ends in this. It hurts us all what happened, it is tremendous and we regret it,” Boca Juniors manager Hugo Ibarra told reporters.

Clashes inside and outside Argentina’s stadiums have resulted in more than 300 deaths since soccer became professional in the 1930s, with two-thirds of the deaths occurring after the 1990s, according to a local NGO.

The violence in La Plata comes just five days after one of the deadliest disasters in soccer history in which 131 people were killed in a stadium crush in Indonesia.

The incident in the city of Malang also descended into tragedy after police fired tear gas into packed stands.

Source: AFP

Indonesia’s hopes of hosting world sports events in future will depend on the credibility of its investigation into the weekend’s football stadium disaster and safety reforms, analysts have warned.

The tragedy on Saturday in Malang left 125 people dead and more than 300 injured after police fired tear gas in a packed stadium to quell a pitch invasion by fans, triggering a stampede.

It was one of the deadliest disasters in the history of football.

Analysts said that while there have been similar tragedies in other countries — although rarely on such a scale — it will undoubtedly affect Indonesia’s reputation when it comes to hosting big international competitions.

It could not have come at a worse time — Indonesia has bid to replace China as hosts for next year’s Asian Cup football and a decision is due in two weeks.

The archipelago country of about 270 million people will also host the FIFA U-20 World Cup in May. There have been calls online for Indonesia to be stripped of that right.

Indonesia, which defied warnings about poor preparations to stage the Asian Games in 2018, has also expressed an interest in hosting an Olympics for the first time in 2036.

“It certainly tarnishes the reputation of the country and tarnishes the reputation of football there. They can’t escape that,” Los Angeles-based crowd management expert Paul Wertheimer told AFP

“But it is what they do now that will determine whether the reputation sticks or not — whether they can learn from this tragedy and produce standards of care that will impress the world,” said Wertheimer, who heads the consultancy Crowd Management Strategies.

“The first thing I thought was: why was tear gas being used?” he added, also highlighting overcrowding and failure in crowd management as among the possible missteps.

FIFA, football’s world governing body, prohibits the use of crowd control gas by police or stewards at pitch-side.

“I think everything has to be reassessed,” Wertheimer said, adding there also needs to be retraining of personnel on managing crowds as well as “an educational component that focuses on the fans and the public, what their roles and responsibilities are for the safety of themselves and everyone else”.

Indonesia has formed a task force to investigate the tragic events at Kanjuruhan stadium, where 32 children were among the dead.

‘Huge wake-up call’

Mustafa Izzuddin, a visiting professor of international relations at the Islamic University of Indonesia, said global scrutiny will not just be on football.

It will be on Indonesia’s ability as a whole to host future sporting events and even on its ambitions to become a key player in world diplomacy.

The Southeast Asian nation has struggled to shed a reputation for generally lax safety standards — its airlines were previously banned in the West because of safety issues.

“The stampede, tragic as it may be, is a huge wake-up call for Indonesia to look at all these security measures for all the sporting events that they are going to be hosting from this point forward,” Izzuddin told AFP.

“It’s a critical time for Indonesia to ensure that any investigation is credible and that punishments are meted out,” he added.

“More importantly, Indonesia must provide the necessary assurance to the wider football community that it is serious about curbing football violence.”

Having watched football matches in Indonesia, Izzuddin noted that violence often happens in places far from urban centres, making it necessary for provincial officials to play a “pivotal role” in ensuring safety.

Wertheimer said that Indonesia can salvage its reputation at home and abroad with the right response.

“Will they respond with a thorough investigation that leads to substantive changes that protects the public going forward?” he asked.

“If they do that, over time, Indonesia will reestablish a positive reputation in the international community.

“And it probably will regain the confidence of the Indonesian public as well.”

Source: AFP

Cameroon legend, Samuel Eto’o, believes that an African country can win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to take place between November 20 and December 18 this year.

No African country has ever gone past the quarter-finals of the quadrennial Mundial. Only three; Cameroon at Italia ’90, Senegal at Korea-Japan 2002 and Ghana at South Africa 2010 editions, have reached the stage.

However, Eto’o who happens to be the Qatar Legacy ambassador while in Ghana opined that this could be the year for Africa to not only surpass her quarter-final record but possibly win the FIFA World Cup title.

“First of all I feel at home and I don’t need a reason to be back home,” Footballghana.com quoted Eto’o as saying.

“However I came with our brothers from Qatar for our national teams to get the best possible information so that they give us the best results, and why not? Win the World Cup for us,” Eto’o said.

 Eto’o also took to his Twitter and Instagram platforms on Saturday to further tout his belief in the ability of African teams at Qatar 2022.

“Great to be here in Ghana speaking about the limitless potential of African football. This World Cup will be our World Cup. Who agrees?,” his Twitter and Instagram posts read.

Eto’o represented Cameroon at four FIFA World Cups; 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014.

The five teams representing Africa at the 2022 FIFA World Cup are Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia.

Source: Agency Report

Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi paid a high price for an underwhelming first season with Paris Saint-Germain when he was left off the 30-strong list for this year’s coveted football award.

Lucy Bronze, who was runner-up in 2019, is one of three members of England’s Euro-winning squad to be short-listed for the women’s award.

Messi, who won the title last year, had been an ever-present amongst the nominations since 2006 and a regular feature in the top three since 2007 with the exception of 2018.

But Messi, 35, has missed out on the 2022 award following his switch from Barcelona to the French capital.

A change in the format has also worked against the Argentine superstar with the Ballon d’Or no longer acknowledging the best player over a calendar year.

Instead, it is based on a season’s record highlighting “the individual performances” and the “decisive and impressive character” of the nominees, according to the criteria.

After leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2021, Messi was unable to stamp his genius on a PSG team desperate for a Champions League title.

The French champions suffered a last-16 exit at the hands of eventual winners Real Madrid.

In total, Messi scored only 11 goals for PSG with his relatively indifferent club form failing to impress France Football magazine, the organisers of the Ballon d’Or which will be awarded in Paris on October 17.

PSG teammate Neymar also misses out after a season where he scored 13 goals in 28 matches.

The remainder of the list of nominees throws up few surprises.

French international striker Karim Benzema is the overwhelming favourite after being the architect of Real Madrid’s 14th Champions League title.

He finished the European campaign with 15 goals.

Benzema is likely to become the fifth French winner after Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991) and Zinedine Zidane (1998).

In the 2021/2022 season, Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 appearances for a Madrid side who also won the Liga title.

His goal in Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the European Super Cup took the 34-year-old to 324 goals for the Spanish giants.

That edged him ahead of Raul in the club’s all-time list with only Cristiano Ronaldo in front of him with 450.

“He’s in line for the Ballon d’Or. Is there any doubt? For me, no,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Manchester United’s Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, is nominated again this year.

Benzema is joined on the 30-man list by teammates Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, 2018 winner Luka Modric, Vinicius and former Chelsea player Antonio Rudiger.

Beaten Champions League finalists Liverpool have seven players nominated, the most of any club.

They are Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Sadio Mane, since transferred to Bayern Munich, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk.

There is a 20-strong list for the women’s Ballon d’Or including English stars Bronze, Millie Bright and Arsenal forward Beth Mead who won the Golden Boot at the women’s Euro.

France have four nominations — Selma Bacha, Kadidiatou Diani, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Wendie Renard.

Defending champion Alexia Putellas, who was ruled out of the Euros with a last minute injury, and Norwegian star Ada Hegerberg, the first winner of the prize in 2018, are also in the running.

The 20 female nominees:

Selma BACHA (FRA, Lyon)

Aitana BONMATI (ESP, FC Barcelone)

Millie BRIGHT (ANG, Chelsea)

Lucy BRONZE (ANG, Manchester City puis FC Barcelone)

Kadidiatou DIANI (FRA, PSG)

Christiane ENDLER (CHL, Lyon)

Ada HEGERBERG (NOR, Lyon)

Marie-Antoinette KATOTO (FRA, PSG)

Sam KERR (AUS, Chelsea)

Catarina MACARIO (USA, Lyon)

Beth MEAD (ANG, Arsenal)

Vivianne MIEDEMA (HOL, Arsenal)

Alex MORGAN (USA, Pride d’Orlando puis Wave de San Diego)

Lena OBERDORF (ALL, VfL Wolfsburg)

Asisat OSHOALA (NGA, FC Barcelone)

Alexandra POPP (ALL, VfL Wolfsburg)

Alexia PUTELLAS (ESP, FC Barcelone)

Wendie RENARD (FRA, Lyon)

Trinity RODMAN (USA, Spirit de Washington)

Fridolina ROLFÖ (SUE, FC Barcelone)

The 30 male nominees:

Trent ALEXANDER-ARNOLD (ANG, Liverpool)

Karim BENZEMA (FRA, Real Madrid)

Joao CANCELO (POR, Manchester City)

CASEMIRO (BRE, Real Madrid)

Thibaut COURTOIS (BEL, Real Madrid)

CRISTIANO RONALDO (POR, Manchester United)

Kevin DE BRUYNE (BEL, Manchester City)

Luis DIAZ (COL, FC Porto puis Liverpool)

FABINHO (BRE, Liverpool)

Phil FODEN (ANG, Manchester City)

Erling HAALAND (NOR, Borussia Dortmund puis Manchester City)

Sébastien HALLER (CIV, Ajax puis Borussia Dortmund)

Harry KANE (ANG, Tottenham)

Joshua KIMMICH (ALL, Bayern Munich)

Rafael LEAO (POR, AC Milan)

Robert LEWANDOWSKI (POL, Bayern Munich puis FC Barcelone)

Riyad MAHREZ (ALG, Manchester City)

Mike MAIGNAN (FRA, AC Milan)

Sadio MANÉ (SEN, Liverpool puis Bayern Munich)

Kylian MBAPPÉ (FRA, Paris-SG)

Luka MODRIC (CRO, Real Madrid)

Christopher NKUNKU (FRA, RB Leipzig)

Darwin NUÑEZ (URU, Benfica puis Liverpool)

Antonio RÜDIGER (ALL, Chelsea puis Real Madrid)

Mohamed SALAH (EGY, Liverpool)

Bernardo SILVA (POR, Manchester City)

SON Heung-min (CDS, Tottenham)

Virgil VAN DIJK (HOL, Liverpool)

VINICIUS JUNIOR (BRE, Real Madrid)

Dusan VLAHOVIC (SER, Fiorentina puis Juventus)

Source:  AFP

FIFA on Thursday officially brought forward the opening match of this year’s World Cup by one day to November 20 in a rare schedule change so that hosts Qatar feature in the gala game.

Football’s ruling executive universally approved the decision, FIFA said in a statement while Qatar said it would give unspecified help to fans affected by the change.

On the old schedule Qatar against Ecuador was to be the official inauguration match on November 21 but Senegal against Netherlands would be the first match of the day. England against Iran would have been second.

“Host country Qatar will now play Ecuador on Sunday 20 November as part of a stand-alone event,” said FIFA.

“The opening match and ceremony of this year’s tournament at Al Bayt Stadium have been brought forward one day following a unanimous decision taken by the bureau of the FIFA Council today.”

“The change ensures the continuity of a long-standing tradition of marking the start of the World Cup with an opening ceremony on the occasion of the first match featuring either the hosts or the defending champions,” added FIFA.

Under the new plan, the Group A game between Senegal and the Netherlands has been shifted from 1:00pm (1000 GMT) on November 21 to a 7:00pm start. There is no change to England’s opening Group B clash against Iran.

Qatari organisers, who have spent billions of dollars preparing for the event, immediately welcomed FIFA’s gesture.

“Opening the first FIFA World Cup to be held in the Middle East and Arab world is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Qatar,” said the organising committee in a statement.

“The world will be watching as our proud nation kicks-off the biggest sporting event in the world against Ecuador.

“The impact of this decision on fans was assessed by FIFA. We will work together to ensure a smooth tournament for the supporters affected by the change,” they added without giving details.

Official countdown clocks for the event were quickly changed. The 100 day countdown to the opening match will now start on Friday, instead of Saturday.

The decision was also announced as Qatar staged the first official match at the Lusail stadium which will host the December 18 World Cup final.

Before more than 10,000 fans, and with players engulfed in air conditioning to ward off stifling summer heat, Al Arabi beat Al Rayyan in the Qatar championship.

Source: AFP

Tiger Woods turned down an offer of about $700-800 million to take part in the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series, the rebel circuit’s chief Greg Norman said.

Fifteen-time major champion Woods has always made clear his opposition to the series which is threatening to tear golf apart and triggered accusations of Saudi “sportswashing”.

Speaking in an interview on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, LIV chief executive Norman was asked if it was true that the American golf legend was offered “700, 800, a billion dollars” to join the breakaway circuit.

“That number was out there before I became CEO so that number’s been out there, yes,” Norman, a former world number one who is the public face of LIV Golf, said in the interview at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the third LIV Golf Invitational was held last weekend.

“And look, Tiger is a needle-mover, right? So of course you are going to look at the best of the best.

“They had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO, so yes, that number is somewhere in that neighbourhood.”

The 46-year-old Woods has consistently declared his loyalty to the PGA Tour and said he has no intention of following the likes of other major winners, such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson in jumping ship to the upstart LIV.

“I disagree with it,” Woods said ahead of the British Open in St Andrews last month when asked about his fellow professionals who have been tempted to join the hugely lucrative but deeply controversial circuit.

“I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position,” Woods said.

“And who knows what’s going to happen in the near future with world-ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships?

“Some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships. That is a possibility. We don’t know that for sure yet.”

The LIV series, spearheaded by Norman and bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, offers record prize money of $25 million per 54-hole event with shotgun starts and no cut.

Source: AFP

Ons Jabeur can become Africa’s first Grand Slam women’s singles champion on Saturday, admitting the seeds of her history-making charge to the Wimbledon final were sown 12 months ago when she pledged: “I’m coming back for the title.”

Jabeur became the first African woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the modern era when she beat close friend Tatjana Maria in the semi-finals.

She will face Russian-born Elena Rybakina, now representing Kazakhstan, for the title.

Jabeur will seek to go one better than Irene Peacock (Roland Garros, 1927), Renee Schuurman (Australian Open, 1959) and Sandra Reynolds (1960, Wimbledon).

The trio of South Africans all reached Slam finals but missed out on the trophy.

Twelve months ago, Jabeur, 27, made the quarter-finals for the first time, losing to Aryna Sabalenka.

But on the way she knocked out five-time champion Venus Williams, 2017 winner Garbine Muguruza, as well as current number one Iga Swiatek.

Having never previously got past the second round at the All England Club, that run gave her the taste for more.

“Not to lie to you, the dream kind of started last year when I enjoyed playing here, enjoyed the crowd,” said the world number two.

“I didn’t play so many Wimbledons before. Usually it was the first and second round. It’s tricky on grass but I knew I was playing good on grass because of my game and everything.

“Melanie (Maillard), my mental coach, reminded me when I lost in the quarter-finals I told her like, ‘I’m coming back next year for the title’.”

‘One step away’

Maillard did not need convincing.

“She was like, ‘You will’. She knows that if I put something in my mind, I do it. I’m one step away from achieving it,” said Jabeur. “I hope it’s going to happen.”

Jabeur coasted through the first four rounds at Wimbledon this year before needing three sets to defeat Marie Bouzkova and then three more to see off Maria.

Her run to the final came after a dispiriting first-round exit at the French Open in May.

Jabeur had been one of the favourites for the title in Paris having won the Madrid clay court title followed by a runners-up spot finish to Swiatek in Rome.

But a quick reset after her disappointment in the French capital put her back on course.

“I have a great team behind me, even though sometimes — I’m not going to lie to you — I maybe thought I was never going to make it or never going to make a Grand Slam title or a Grand Slam final,” said Jabeur.

“I had to remind myself why did I start playing tennis, what kind of joy that tennis brings to me. As soon as I remind myself that, I get pumped, motivated to go.”

Jabeur, one of only three Tunisian women with a world ranking, has a 2-1 winning edge over Rybakina, with her most recent victory in Chicago last year.

Russian and Belarusian players are banned from Wimbledon this year following the invasion of Ukraine.

But there will be a Russian presence in the final after Rybakina, playing in her first Slam final, switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in 2018.

“I’m really happy representing Kazakhstan. They believed in me. There is no more question about how I feel,” said the 23-year-old.

“It’s already a long time my journey as a Kazakh player. I played Olympics, Fed Cup.”

Rybakina had never got past the quarter-finals of a Slam before this year’s Wimbledon.

But the grass courts of Wimbledon are the perfect platform for her game.

She has fired 49 aces so far and boasts the second-fastest serve in the women’s tournament at 122 miles (196 kilometres) per hour.

Saturday’s match throws up a radically different clash of tennis styles — Jabeur’s slice and change of rhythm facing down Rybakina’s raw power.

There could also a sharp contrast in celebration.

“She’s not someone who screams a lot every point. I respect that about her,” said Jabeur.

“I know she’s a very shy person even outside the court. Maybe I’ll be the one screaming on Saturday.”

Source: AFP