nope Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Roger Federer Was Better Than Vintage
“It’s not so much fun,” said Tomas Berdych, the 10th seed at the Australian Open, after getting picked apart in a neat 92 minutes. “I would rather be in the stands watching than on the court.”...

Gael Monfils, At The Peak Of His Career, Is Still A Good Clown
Gael Monfils cannot turn down an opportunity for a good show, not even with set point in the Australian Open. With the second set at stake, in the middle of a rally, the Frenchman chose to go behind the back. His second-round opponent Alexandr Dolgopolov, whether thrown off by the mild sidespin or ...

When Serena Williams Asks For An Apology, She Gets It
Serena Williams, fresh off her 6-3, 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova in the second round of the Australian Open, was in no mood to dwell on the negatives. So when a reporter asked about her 23 unforced errors, she was sure to extract an apology:...

Denis Istomin, The Bespectacled Wildcard, Dismantled Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic is often likened to a machine, and his wins share that metallic flavor: suddenly the teeth of the cogs are all lined up, they’ve been set in motion, and what once felt like a tennis match becomes a grind towards an inexorable conclusion. ...

Nick Kyrgios Stopped Giving A Shit And Crashed Out Of The Australian Open
Lots of choice words spill out of Nick Kyrgios’s mouth—many of them amusing, wounded, self-righteous—but you don’t need to hear a single one to understand how he feels about the game at a particular moment in time. You can see that spelled out on the court, in the way he chooses to swing his racket ...

Stan Wawrinka And Kei Nishikori Had To Work At The Australian Open's First Round
The first round’s over in the Australian Open and no giants have been toppled yet, but two are already exposing their vulnerabilities: No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka and No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori were both stretched to five sets in their opening matches....

Serena Williams Loses To World No. 72, Commits 88 Unforced Errors
Serena Williams, the second-ranked woman’s tennis player in the world, lost to No. 72 Madison Brengle in a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 upset at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand last night. ...

Just Rafael Nadal Holding A Koala
One of the under-looked perks of tennis stardom is that you’re often being handed marsupials. Rafael Nadal got to hold this koala at the start of the Brisbane International. His grin and the bear’s claws appear to be saying very different things....

Juan Martin Del Potro May Not Play The Australian Open
The resurrection of Juan Martin del Potro was one of the quiet joys of 2016. He’d been out of the game for two years, he’d sunk lower than the No. 1000 ranking, and his wrists seemed like they’d never again be capable of bashing those flat, unforgiving groundstrokes. Yet somehow he snagged a silver ...

Nick Kyrgios Likes To Look Cool As He Makes His Opponents Look Silly<em></em>
Nick Kyrgios is the bold bad boy in a sport where it’s frowned upon for fans to make noises during play. Tremble as you realize that this youngster, well ... he truly might not give a damn....

Saint Louis University's New Mascot Is Hungry For Your Soul
Saint Louis University’s mascot is the Billikens. No, a billiken is not a type of lake, an airplane, or an offbrand big cat. It’s a “mythical good-luck figure who represents ‘things as they ought to be’” according to the school’s website. Things apparently ought to be horrifying, because the updated...

Graziano Pellè Newest Player To Get Stupid Rich By Going To China<em></em>
International tournaments are prime opportunities for both emerging and established talents to showcase their skills on the biggest stages in hopes of securing a move to a more prestigious team or league, and the raise that usually comes with. Graziano Pellè played well enough at the recently conclu...

Fuck Everything About This Video Of A Dude Hoverboarding Along The Edge Of A Tall Building
Yeah, no, I’m good with having just clicked on this video, figured out what’s happening, then clicking away. Maybe you want to watch the whole thing! It’s a free country....

Novak Djokovic Didn't Even Have To Play His Best To Win The Australian Open
Remember when the Roger Federer v. Rafael Nadal rivalry—featuring a contrast of styles, eight Grand Slam final matchups, and, according to some, maybe the greatest tennis match of all time—was going to eat tennis and shut out any other would be champions for a decade plus? That era feels like a dist...
![Even Angelique Kerber Thought She Wouldn't Beat Serena Williams [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/Image_Not_Found_1x_qjofp8.png)
Even Angelique Kerber Thought She Wouldn't Beat Serena Williams [UPDATE]
All that stood between the #7 tennis player in the world exiting in the opening round of the Australian Open to an unranked opponent was a single point. Angelique Kerber was down to match point against Misaki Doi in the second set, until she found her form, roared back, and took the second and third...

Line Umpire Suffers Blast To The Nuts
Here’s an Australian Open line umpire taking a blow “down under” during today’s Federer-Berdych match. Ow ow ow ow ow....

Novak Djokovic And A Heckler Reach An Amicable Consensus
Novak Djokovic was, by one metric, historically bad last night for a Grand Slam match winner. He held on to beat Frenchman Giles Simon 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the round of 16 at the Australian Open, but he committed 100 unforced errors. In a way, this is more indicative of Simon’s style (as y...

Even Roger Federer Went Nuts Over This 27-Stroke Rally Between Maria Sharapova & Lauren Davis
American Lauren Davis has forced a third set against fifth seed Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open after winning a second-set tiebreak. That came despite her unforced error at the end of this remarkable 27-stroke rally—one that got Roger Federer, awaiting his turn against Grigor Dimitrov, out of...

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Stops Play To Assist Injured Ball Girl
A lovely little moment at the Australian Open today—lovely for everyone except the ball girl who got whacked in the face with a ball and had to be helped off the court....

So It Looks Like Rafa Benítez Is About To Get Fired Here Pretty Soon
Things are not going well for Real Madrid right now. Fresh off their humiliation at the hands of Barcelona last month, their humiliation at their own hands in the Copa del Rey a couple weeks ago, and their failure to keep pace with their two biggest rivals in the league by dropping points this past ...