PARIS (AP) — Retired 14-time champion Rafael Nadal will receive a tribute at the French Open on Court Philippe-Chatrier on May 25, the tournament’s opening day.
“Rafa has left his mark on the history of the French Open in so many ways, that’s why a tribute ceremony will be held in his honor,” French Open director Amélie Mauresmo said on Thursday. “We want the tribute to be special, exceptional. We want it to be a surprise for everyone.”
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion who retired in November, already has a statue rising in the alleys of the clay court Grand Slam. He will also feature in an exhibition in the tournament museum and lend his voice to the official French Open trailer.
“We wanted to do the tribute last year, to be transparent, but he refused at the time,” Mauresmo said. “He wasn’t sure that it was his last Roland Garros. Now that he is retired, he is happy to receive it.”
Nadal holds the record for the most French Open titles with 14. His last appearance at the tournament was in 2024 when he lost to Alexander Zverev in the first round.
“Rafael Nadal and Roland Garros are inseparable. We have a strong history together,” said Gilles Moretton, president of the French Tennis Federation. “Amélie and I went to see him not long ago because we wanted to do something important for him. We still had some frustration from last year.”
Organizers also plan to build on the success of the 2024 Paris Olympics by setting up a fan zone with giant screens showing matches. Located at Place de la Concorde in central Paris, the venue will be free and open to up to 5,000 fans.
“We saw an incredible atmosphere last summer in Paris. We plan on surfing on this success,” Mauresmo said.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE - a view of center court Philippe Chatrier during the semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament between Poland's Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — Syrian security forces began deploying Saturday in a neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo after days of intense clashes with Kurdish fighters that killed and wounded dozens.
During the day, several drone strikes were reported in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, leading authorities to stop civilian flights at Aleppo International Airport until further notice, state TV said.
The fighting between the two sides is the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad in December 2024. At least 22 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced.
U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack held talks in Damascus Saturday with top officials, including President Ahmad al-Sharaa, and called on all parties to cease hostilities and return to dialogue.
“Violence risks undermining the progress achieved since the fall of the Assad regime and invites external interference that serves no party’s interests,” Barrack said in comments posted on X. “We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, immediately cease hostilities, and return to dialogue,” he added, saying that fighting undermines the deal reached in March between the government and the Kurdish leadership.
He said recent developments in Aleppo were “deeply concerning,” and Washington's objective “remains a sovereign, unified Syria — at peace with itself and its neighbors — where equality, justice, and opportunity are extended to all its people.”
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that two Kurdish fighters blew themselves up while surrounded by security forces without inflicting casualties, as gunfire was still heard in the neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud around noon Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, an explosive drone hit the Aleppo Governorate building shortly after two Cabinet ministers and a local official held a news conference on the developments in the city, state TV said. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Syria’s state TV aired the footage, which allegedly showed the drone exploding in the building, and blamed Kurdish fighters for the attack. The main Kurdish-led force in the country denied the reports, saying its fighters did not attack a civilian target.
From the early hours, Syrian security forces were sweeping the neighborhood after calling on residents to stay home for their own safety.
Hundreds of people who fled the neighborhood days earlier were waiting at Sheikh Maqsoud’s entrances to be allowed in once the military operations are over.
Clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid, after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge their forces into the national army. Security forces have since captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in the five days of fighting, while government officials reported at least 10 civilians were killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas.
Syria’s Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told state TV that Kurdish fighters used civilian buildings including hospitals and clinics during the fighting. Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.
The Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls much of Syria’s northeast, said that security forces targeted Khaled Fajr Hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud, putting the lives of patients and paramedics in danger. It called on the international community to intervene to force government forces to stop shelling.
State TV reported that at least one security member was wounded when a drone fired by the SDF struck the neighborhood.
Associated Press journalists said bursts of gunfire could be heard as government-deployed drones flew over Sheikh Maqsoud.
The Syrian military declared the neighborhood a “closed military zone” since Friday night as it launched a “clearing operation.”
On Friday, Barrack discussed the developments in Syria with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman. The U.S. envoy said Jordan offered support to efforts aimed at consolidating the ceasefire and the peaceful withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Aleppo.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A woman and her children react with distress as civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Kurdish citizens wave their group and Lebanese flags during a protest against the Syrian government military operation in Aleppo, in front the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A Syrian police convoy secures the area just outside the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A Syrian police convoy gathers in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
