{"id":102428,"date":"2025-08-28T15:55:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102428\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T15:55:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:55:18","slug":"us-open-tennis-champs-alcaraz-federer-and-nadal-love-golf-golfers-say-the-tennis-stars-have-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102428\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open Tennis Champs Alcaraz, Federer And Nadal Love Golf. Golfers Say The Tennis Stars Have Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014\u00a0Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>\u00a0is among the tennis stars getting into the swing of things at\u00a0the U.S. Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A golf swing, that is.<\/p>\n

After his first-round victory at Flushing Meadows this week, the five-time Grand Slam champion used his\u00a0racket to pantomime using a club on the course<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 perhaps a nod to one of the spectators in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium that night, golf star Rory McIlroy.<\/p>\n

Plenty of athletes eyeing a trophy on the hard courts of New York, including the person Alcaraz beat in the 2022 men\u2019s final, Casper Ruud, and 2024 women\u2019s runner-up\u00a0Jessica Pegula<\/a>, are swapping fuzzy yellow tennis balls for dimpled white golf balls as a way to relax. So are past tennis greats such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz and Ruud sometimes travel on tour with their clubs. Even during Wimbledon last month \u2014 when he famously went golfing with Andy Murray on off days \u2014 and while preparing to go to the U.S. Open, Alcaraz made sure to find opportunities to put the rackets in the bag and tees in the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time that I can,\u201d Alcaraz said with a smile.<\/p>\n

Tennis stars take to Instagram looking for a game of golf<\/p>\n

Ruud, one of tennis\u2019 best golfers, went on social media to post a\u00a0photo with Alcaraz on a course<\/a>\u00a0recently and captioned it: \u201cWho should we challenge to a match??\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Federer asked \u201cAnyone ready to take on the two of us??\u201d with a picture showing him and Nadal when they hit the links in Mallorca in July.<\/p>\n

The serve-and-volleyers can also chip and putt<\/p>\n

Golfers say their counterparts have got game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTennis players are good golfers, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia said. \u201cI\u2019ve played with a lot of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His report on fellow Spaniard Nadal?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a fighter, just like he was as a tennis player,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Federer, like many in retirement, has thrown himself into a game he didn\u2019t have as much time for when he was working.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a lot of potential. Great technique, as you can imagine,\u201d said McIlroy, who teed it up with Federer a few months ago. \u201cHe didn\u2019t play a ton when he was playing tennis because it always (bothered) his lower back a little bit. But he\u2019s really getting into it. He\u2019s super keen. He went and got fitted for clubs. His wife, Mirka, is playing, his kids are playing. It\u2019s turned from a tennis family to a golf family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sebastian Korda comes from a family that\u2019s both. His parents were professional tennis players \u2014 Mom, Regina, was ranked in the top 30; Dad, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open and was the runner-up at the 1992 French Open \u2014 and his sisters, Nelly (ranked No. 1 until recently) and Jessica, are pro golfers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both individual sports and, as an athlete, you want to be competitive at anything you do,\u201d Korda said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of challenges in golf, and as tennis players, we kind of love problem-solving. That\u2019s a big part of our sport: figuring things out.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what lured Pegula back to the course. She\u2019s been playing since she was young, but had one of those rounds last year that makes even passionate golfers put away the clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a meltdown and I was like, \u2018This isn\u2019t helping me,\u2019\u201d Pegula said.<\/p>\n

She stayed away until just a few weeks ago. Her swing and enjoyment of the game came right back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is relaxing, but it\u2019s also mentally a challenge. I like to kind of problem-solve and think through it and try to be smart with how I\u2019m playing,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cI feel like it kind of sharpens me a little bit mentally. I finally was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019ll play for the first time.\u2019 I actually played pretty well, considering I hadn\u2019t played all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the tours were in Madrid this year, she outdid Ruud in a\u00a0closest-to-the-pin<\/a>\u00a0challenge posted on YouTube. Neither golfs during the European clay-court season; Ruud explained that courses are too far from major cities that host tournaments.<\/p>\n

The U.S. hard-court tennis swing offers chances to tee it up<\/p>\n

There are more options in the New York area, which will host golf\u2019s Ryder Cup shortly after the U.S. Open. The Norwegian has played Winged Foot, home to multiple golf U.S. Opens.<\/p>\n

\u201cNortheast America has great golf courses, as well as Palm Springs and Miami,\u201d said Ruud, who said he\u2019s nearly a scratch golfer.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz isn\u2019t there yet. But he intends to keep playing 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re walking to the next hole, you\u2019re just forgetting about everything else, just enjoying the moment and enjoy being with your friends,\u201d he said. \u201cI just love being like that.\u201d<\/p>\n