Tennis Page 63 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Naomi Osaka Is Tearing Up The Tennis Court But Bummed She Can't Play <i>Overwatch</i>
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Naomi Osaka is enjoying an excellent run at Indian Wells. She unseated Maria Sharapova in her very first match, then cleared out the trickiest veteran Aga Radwanska and two more foes to earn a spot across from fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinal. The No. 44, 20-...
Venus Williams Beats Serena 6-3, 6-4 At Indian Wells
The first tournament run of Serena Williams’s comeback ended at the hands of a familiar opponent—her sister, Venus Williams, who defeated her 6-3, 6-4 tonight in the third round at Indian Wells. ...
Very Good Underdog Yoshihito Nishioka Is Out
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Stand within 10 yards of Stan Wawrinka’s backhand and you realize, immediately, that he belongs to a different species. If somehow you find yourself on a tennis court with him, it is must only be to retrieve the ball he’s just pulverized, or to hand him a towel. That is not t...
Serena Williams Is Back, And She's Not In The Mood To Talk Drugs
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The first two points of Serena Williams’s comeback ended on unforced errors, and the arena, just over half-full on a cool desert night, was silent, totally, as if smothered by a heavy quilt. Maybe they weren’t sure to expect, after the childbirth, the complications, the blood ...
Here Are Some Tennis Contraptions You Really Don't Need
All you really need to play tennis is a friend....
Novak Djokovic Might Be Boned
Indian Wells, tennis’s “fifth major,” begins today in southern California. Last year the men’s draw produced one of the most evil sections of a draw you will ever see: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, Nick Kyrgios, and Sascha Zverev all crammed unhappily into one c...
A Shot So Strange And Good You Have To Laugh
Fabio Fognini, tennis’s sleepy pirate and occasional misogynist, is typically the one doing all the comical, soft-handed trick shots in his matches. I’m the irritable eccentric here in my dumbass camouflage-and-skulls getup, says Fabio Fognini, to no one in particular. But while serving out the matc...
Now Here Is One Cool-Ass Tennis Move With Potential Dick-Punishing Consequences
Second-seeded Fabio Fognini defeated third-seeded and three-time defending champion Pablo Cuevas in the Brasil Open semifinals today in Sao Paolo, 6-4 6-2. But hell with the results: the real winner here is Cuevas, for pulling off this slick-ass move in the second set:...
Dammit, Rafael Nadal Will Be Out For A While
Subtract Rafael Nadal from any given tennis tournament, and boom—the participants collectively give 10,000 percent less of a shit about winning. He treasures every point of every match in every tournament. The man who won 16 Slams, including two last year, reportedly cried for two hours straight aft...
A Serena Williams Practice Is Where Discipline Meets Greatness
It’s a gray afternoon on Feb. 7 and the windows of the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina are decorated with large, human-sized tennis balls. Crows pick through the trash near a sign announcing the symphony, and someone has vomited coleslaw in the mulch near a satellite truck. It is o...
Shapo Begged On His Knees
Kei Nishikori, you were missed. The Japanese star popped a tendon in his right wrist in mid-August, closed up shop for the year, and then sat out the Aussie Open last month. Since then he’s warmed up with some low-key Challengers, and this week entered just his second tour-level event since his inju...
Frances Tiafoe Beat The Rest Of His Class And Got Himself A Title
Twenty-year-old Frances Tiafoe came to Delray Beach as a wild card entry with a wild forehand. He left as the youngest American to win an ATP title since Andy Roddick got his back in 2002, and with an impressive pile of bodies in his wake. Taking down Juan Martin del Potro was the first omen of big ...
Frances Tiafoe Is An American To Root For
Remember this kid? If you do at all, maybe it’s because you saw him last August, thriving in New York’s late summer humidity: dressed in all-black, whaling away with an unruly forehand, and placing his foot on the throat of every Federer acolyte—making them believe God might actually die in the firs...
Jury Finds USTA Liable For Eugenie Bouchard's Slip And Fall In U.S. Open Locker Room
Eugenie Bouchard, currently ranked No. 116 in the world, was a top-five tennis player once upon a time. Rewind back to her 2014 season, when she reached the Australian Open and French Open semifinals, then the Wimbledon final, and surged to a career-high No. 5. Her success slowed in 2015, but in Sep...
Shapo Beats The Bot
A rite of passage, for any young tennis player, is figuring out how to defeat the servebot. A servebot is a large person with two simple desires: to crush serves as fast as possible and to move around the court as little as possible. The servebot will not play long rallies. He will give you no chanc...
Fabio Fognini Pulls Off A Zany, Totally Accidental Trick Shot<em></em>
Set point, nerves jangling, sweaty palms—it’s not all that uncommon for a player’s racquet to slip out of their hands on the followthrough of a serve under circumstances like these. It is, however, completely nuts for that racquet to then strike the court at such a precise angle so that it bounces n...
Roger Federer Is The Oldest No. 1 In Men's Tennis History And Also Is Everyone's Dad Now
Robin Haase started strong but appeared to vomit into a garbage can during a changeover in the final set of today’s 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to Roger Federer. With the third-round victory at Rotterdam, 36-year-old Roger Federer will become the oldest No. 1. in the history of the ATP, reclaiming the top r...
Report: Ballboy Did Not Hear Ryan Harrison Make Racist Remarks To Donald Young In Tennis Match
Two American tennis players with a history of conflict had a lengthy argument during their New York Open match on Friday, which they followed with another exchange of words during the post-match handshake. That much we know for sure. Everything that came after has been disputed by both parties. ...
This No-Look Drop Shot Is Hot Shit
Long-time Roger Federer victim Philipp Kohlschreiber just played an excellent match, earning two set points in the first set before dropping the tiebreak, then committing some untimely double-faults in his final service game to lose 7-6 (8), 7-5 in the second round at Rotterdam. Kohlschreiber spent ...
Roger Federer Has Fully Dropped The Illusion Of Being Human
The 36-year-old even did the ceremonial net-cord hand-wave apology after, as if to say, “I am sorry that I took up this sport, which you play for an honest living, and play it like a glitchy video game.”...