open Page 19 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
American Teen Amanda Anisimova's Singular Backhand Tore Up The Defending French Open Champ
Amanda Anisimova has a good backhand, so good as to foreclose any technical critique from the peanut gallery. She’s 17 years old and it has already been described by tennis commentators, perhaps accurately, as the best backhand on tour, and, hyperbolically, as the best of all time. I’ll leave those ...
What The Hell Are These Questions From The French Open Pressers?
Today at the French Open, No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens lost her quarterfinal match. She went to press after, only to field this question, as noted by tennis writer Ben Rothenberg:...
The Greatest Tennis Match Of The Year Was A Filthy, Hectic War
Forget the semifinals, the finals, or the shiny trophy ceremonies. The sweetest spot of a tennis major is the first weekend....
Hank Haney Pretends His Casually Racist Take On Korean Golfers Was Informed All Along
Hank Haney, who was formerly Tiger Woods’s swing coach, earned some attention last week when his assessment of the field for the LPGA’s U.S. Women’s Open was essentially Hell, I don’t know any of them, but I think a bunch of them are Korean. Haney, who made the comments on his radio show about golf,...
Tiger Woods's Old Swing Coach Gets Real Shitty About Women's Golf On His Radio Show
Hank Haney is an old golf fogey who is best known for at one point being Tiger Woods’s swing coach. He now hosts his own radio show about golf, and during this morning’s edition of the show he said some pretty gross things about the LPGA....
Nick Kyrgios Says He's "Fucking Done" During Tantrum, And It's Hard Not To Believe Him
Of all Nick Kyrgios’s many many many many tantrums, the one he unleashed today at the Italian Open was his most over-the-top display yet. On the heels of a brutally honest interview with tennis writer Ben Rothenberg, in which Kyrgios admitted winning tennis matches doesn’t make him happy, that he do...
Stefanos Tsitsipas Became One Of The Few To Take Out Rafael Nadal On Clay
He’d won over Federer on fast hard court at a major, and he’d won over Djokovic on slow hard court at a masters. Saturday brought an even thornier test for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek had lost all seven sets he’d previously played against Rafael Nadal, five of them on hard court. The last time the...
No One But Gael Monfils Could Have Pulled Off This Shot
Gael Monfils got wrecked in the opening set of his Madrid Open second-round match today, but he worked his way back into it. By the tail end of the second set, Monfils was feeling himself enough to test out this leaping ... forehand passing shot with all his weight hurtling in the opposite direction...
Roger Federer Booted Up The Wii Tennis
To kick off their Miami Open quarterfinal Thursday night, Roger Federer handed Kevin Anderson a bagel. It was one of just six sets the big-serving Anderson has ever lost 6-0 in a 12-year ATP career, and his first-ever bagel in an opening set. Here’s how Federer chose to cut it up:...
Hell Is Trying To Get Into A Ballpark On Opening Day
Opening Day is here again, and you know what that means: hot dogs, dingers, the smell of the freshly mowed grass, and also the experience of standing in a line for 45 minutes because overdramatic security measures and some pointless new technology means that fans are slowly being let into the ballpa...
Tennis Wunderkind Félix Auger-Aliassime Is Ready To Face The Best
Ah, to be 18 again. A skeleton with no aches, the ability to deplete whole pantries of food without adverse effect, the optimism of seeing all your best years before you, and a lifetime 5-0 record against top-20 players in professional tennis. Fine, maybe that last trait is unique to Félix Auger-Ali...
Which Online Edgelord Mishaps Will Derail Trevor Bauer's Season?
It’s Opening Day, folks, and you know what that means: It’s time to speculate and make predictions about the upcoming major league baseball season. Which teams will win the divisions, wild cards, pennants, and World Series? Who’s gonna sock a ton of dingers? Which bizarre Internet Libertarian ailmen...
The Underarm Serve Trick Shouldn't Only Be Used By Nick Kyrgios<em></em>
The serve remains the biggest offensive weapon in the game of tennis. If a player can’t find a way to solve a dangerous server, they’ll struggle to find any traction in a match. So that returner has to find a counter of some kind....
Angelique Kerber To Teenager Who Beat Her Twice In One Week: "You're The Biggest Drama Queen Ever"
Angelique Kerber, a 31-year-old three-time major champion, couldn’t stomach losing to Bianca Andreescu, a prodigious 18-year-old, twice in one week. The first encounter was a gutting three-set loss to the wild card in the Indian Wells final; on Saturday, it was another three-set loss in the third ...
Nick Kyrgios Was More Than Happy To Be The Villain And Crush Some Forehands<em></em>
The crowd in Acapulco booed Nick Kyrgios all through his upset of Rafael Nadal, and kept that energy for his quarterfinal against three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka. When Kyrgios tripped in the first set and required treatment for a nickel-sized, oozing wound on his hand, they booed. When he hit ...
Nick Kyrgios Was More Than Happy To Be The Villain And Crush Some Forehands<em></em>
The crowd in Acapulco booed Nick Kyrgios all through his upset of Rafael Nadal, and kept that energy for his quarterfinal against three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka. When Kyrgios tripped in the first set and required treatment for a nickel-sized, oozing wound on his hand, they booed. When he hit ...
Nick Kyrgios Got Under Rafael Nadal's Skin In Front Of A Jeering Crowd<em></em>
First it was the upset stomach, then it was the wrapped knee, then it was the taped-up back. Ordinarily just one of these is a sufficient reason for Nick Kyrgios to pack it in and retire from a match, especially if it’s some rando across the net who doesn’t fully capture his fickle attention. But ag...
Nick Kyrgios Got Under Rafael Nadal's Skin In Front Of A Jeering Crowd<em></em>
First it was the upset stomach, then it was the wrapped knee, then it was the taped-up back. Ordinarily just one of these is a sufficient reason for Nick Kyrgios to pack it in and retire from a match, especially if it’s some rando across the net who doesn’t fully capture his fickle attention. But ag...
Tennis Prodigy Félix Auger-Aliassime Is Past The Internet Hype And Looks Like The Truth
As of today there are only two teenagers in the top 100 of men’s tennis. The game skews older than ever, and a player breaking into its top tier before even fully growing into his body has never seemed more difficult. There are no more Rafa-like wunderkinds ripping off major titles, and as baseline ...