open Page 21 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Andy Murray Might Be Done In Australia After Grinding Five-Set Loss
Andy Murray will not quit the majors without another characteristically nasty fight. His last French Open: five brutal sets before Stan Wawrinka put him to rest. His last Wimbledon: five more sets of agony with his hip all out of sorts. Today at the Australian Open—which, given his retirement announ...
Andy Murray Was A Real Person Walking Among Gods
When the words “tactician” or “technician” crop up, the way they do around Andy Murray, who just announced his forthcoming retirement due to chronic hip pain, there’s a whiff of euphemism in the air. Sure, this player is missing that certain oomph, but nevertheless! Even so! Alas! He persisted, and ...
Andy Murray Will Retire After Wimbledon Due To Chronic Hip Pain
An emotional Andy Murray used a press conference Thursday ahead of the Australian Open to announce that the remainder of his tennis career will come down to hoping his bum hip holds out long enough for him to retire from tennis on his own terms, six months from now, after Wimbledon....
Dan Evans Might Already Have The Shot Of The Year<em></em>
British tennis player Dan Evans, previously seen making logistically complex excuses for trace amounts of cocaine, is now trying to qualify for the Australian Open main draw. The world No. 190 faced world No. 208 Jurij Rodionov in the second round of qualifying today. All you need to know about that...
WTA Clarifies Rules, Clears The Way For Serena Williams's Catsuit And Leggings Of All Kinds
After being, uh, unsettled by Serena Williams’s “catsuit” at the 2018 French Open, French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli promised stricter apparel rules the following year, though not as austere as Wimbledon’s all-white mandate. But whatever he’s looking to do to eliminate his catsui...
This Tweener Lob Is Devious And Perfect<em></em>
It’s hard to pinpoint why Robin Haase, a journeyman ranked No. 47, stars in so many unusual highlights for a player of merely solid status. But the bendy Dutchman has a taste for loose, weirdo shot-making, and today, without warning, he briefly turned a first-round Basel Open match against Sascha Z...
After U.S. Open Debacle, Serena Williams's Coach Says Coaching Rules Should Be Changed
Serena Williams’s long-time coach Patrick Mouratoglou—who, during the U.S. Open final in September, was deemed by the chair umpire to have coached Williams from his seat in the stands, thereby earning her a code violation, which set off one of the weirdest and most controversial sports meltdowns ev...
There Should Only Be Two Sports At A Time
Starting tonight, and running through the end of the month, all four major North American pro sports leagues will be playing real, actual, meaningful games. This is too much sports! No one can possibly have time to watch that much sports, let alone read about all of it, or, damn it, to write about a...
Kei Nishikori Shows That Sometimes It Pays To Play Dead<em></em>
Like all games when played at the highest level, tennis often requires managing and toying with an opponent’s expectations. Do you think they’ll hit the ball cross-court? Ready yourself for that ball. But maybe they think you think they’ll hit it cross-court? Stay vigilant for the down-the-line. Wha...
Naomi Osaka Has Various Tea-Related Feelings About Her Bizarre U.S. Open Final
Naomi Osaka dominated a whole major for two weeks, including the final match, but collective memory has been dominated by the argument between Serena Williams and umpire Carlos Ramos. Everyone with any feelings about that has, by now, aired them out in public: Williams, Ramos to an extent, former pl...
Sloane Stephens Feuds With Opponent: "Fucking Bitch Tried To Hit Me"
In the very first round of the China Open on Sunday, a new baby beef was slapped on the grill. Down 2-5 on return in the second set against Sloane Stephens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova called for the physio to treat her right shoulder. The timing of that request—down two breaks, with the set on the opp...
Umpire Who Gave Nick Kyrgios Pep Talk Gets Suspended For Two Tournaments Without Pay
During a second-round U.S. Open match on Aug. 30, umpire Mohamed Lahyani descended from his chair to give a mopey Nick Kyrgios a pep talk that included the words “I want to help you,” raising questions as to whether he overstepped boundaries as a neutral party. Lahyani has now been punished for his...
Tennis Umpires Aren't The Enemy Here
The Times of London reported Tuesday that some anonymous tennis umpires had considered boycotting Serena Williams’s matches after her spat with umpire Carlos Ramos derailed her U.S. Open final against Naomi Osaka. As this story has been picked up, shorn of context, and redeployed in unfamiliar conte...
Hypothetical Grievances Presented By An Australian Newspaper To Defend Its Big-Lipped Serena Williams Cartoon, Ranked<em></em>
To riff on Serena Williams’s spat with umpire Carlos Ramos in the U.S. Open final, the Melbourne Herald Sun published an illustration of the tennis player, drawn by editorial cartoonist Mark Knight, which has since been met with international disgust. Today, like any normal newspaper, the Herald Sun...
Naomi Osaka Paid The Price For The Feud Between Serena Williams And Carlos Ramos<em></em>
If your tennis brain has only room for one takeaway from the U.S. Open, let it be this: Naomi Osaka was the most dominant player in the world over the last 14 days. With the exception of a fourth-round test of will, all of Osaka’s matches, including the final, were straight-set, open-and-shut, surg...
Like The Rest Of Us, Tennis's Governing Bodies Are Arguing About Serena Williams
Through a series of statements, tennis’s governing bodies (the Women’s Tennis Association, the U.S. Tennis Association, and the International Tennis Federations) are staking out their positions on the sad and entirely avoidable debacle that was the U.S. Open women’s final. ...
Serena Williams Hit With $17,000 Fine For Her Part Of U.S. Open Final Shit-Show
The second set of Saturday’s women’s U.S. Open final was a total debacle, featuring a suspect code violation for coaching, and then an even more suspect game penalty for “verbal abuse,” triggering an insane and exhausting sequence where Serena Williams called down a tournament referee and brought th...
Sensitive Ref Pushes Serena Williams To Melt Down And Ruins Naomi Osaka's U.S. Open Victory
Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams in straight sets to win the U.S. Open and become the first Japanese tennis player to win a Grand Slam. Unfortunately, the historic win was marred terribly by an officiating controversy....
Naomi Osaka To Upcoming U.S. Open Final Opponent Serena Williams: "I Love You"
Last night, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka beat Madison Keys in a U.S. Open semifinal match 6-2, 6-4 to advance to her first grand slam final, where she will face Serena Williams, who has played in 31 of them. How is Osaka feeling about playing Serena? Pretty good!...
The Best Match Of Dominic Thiem's Life Wasn't Enough To Beat Rafael Nadal
Every once in a while an athlete will just make you eat your words and your low expectations. Typically they’ll do this by winning; on Tuesday night, Dominic Thiem did it while losing his U.S. Open quarterfinal, pyrotechnically....