Australian Open day 8: In memory of Kobe Bryant

First we need to talk about tennis: Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round of the Australian Open 2020, qualifying for the quarterfinals, where he will face Dominic Thiem. Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza and Anett Kontaveit also reached the quarterfinals of the first Slam of the season.

Then comes the moment of memory and condolence. For Kobe Bryant, legendary basketball player died yesterday in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, in the county of Los Angeles (California). The 41-year-old's 13-year-old daughter Gianna and another seven people also lost their lives in the same crash.

Nick Kyrgios wore the no. 8 Los Angeles Lakers t-shirt while entering the Rod Laver Arena for his match against Rafael Nadal. Naomi Osaka posted a moving tribute to Bryant on Twitter, but messages of affection and emotion came from the whole world of tennis.

WTA decided to give the players, experimentally, the opportunity to take advantage of coaching directly from the stands. The change was necessary after a few borderline episodes, the most famous of which happened between Serena Williams and Patrick Mouratoglou during the 2018 US Open final, which cost the American a warning.

Here are all the quarterfinals matches! Men's singles: Rafael Nadal vs. Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka vs. Alexander Zverev, Roger Federer vs. Tennys Sandgren and Novak Djokovic vs. Milos Raonic. Women's singles: Ashleigh Barty vs. Petra Kvitova, Sofia Kenin vs. Ons Jabeur, Anett Kontaveit vs. Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

There will be a new champion in the women's draw after Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Angelique Kerber in their last-16 match.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3aQqHAL