open Page 28 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
A Letter To Juan Martin Del Potro From A Guy Who Gave Up Too Early
QUEENS, N.Y.—Sir, I am sorry that I missed your U.S. Open tennis match on Monday evening. I missed it because I saw the first two sets and you looked dead in the water, an expression I’d assumed was about fish until looking it up last night and learning it had to do with boats. Anyway, down 6-1, 6-2...
U.S. Open Top-Seeded Players Are Already Dropping Like Flies
As the U.S. Open heads into its first weekend, let’s have a moment of silence for all the top seeds gone too soon....
Pro Tennis Player Can’t Stop Thinking About Those Mesothelioma Ads
If you’ve ever listened to the radio or watched daytime television, you know this ad: “If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma you may be entitled to financial compensation.” Of course you know this. There’s even a years-old meme....
A Beginner's Guide To Enjoying Tennis
We’re in the middle of the U.S. Open, that two-week phase of the solar year in which the average American citizen is most likely to be struck by tennis. It could be you. Or maybe you’ll watch 10 minutes of tennis and yell, “This shit is boring!” before returning to episodes of Chopped. Nobody would ...
The Kids Are Winning—Just Not The Ones We Thought
Sure, tell a story about tall boy who’d grown out of the pinstriped pajamas that Pharrell Williams designed for him, rolled down the swaggy calf-high socks after they got uncomfortable, and let himself be crushed under the weight of a half-dozen glossy features hailing him as the future. Alexander Z...
Caroline Wozniacki Doesn't Think Maria Sharapova Deserves To Be On Center Court
After her second-round upset loss to the perpetually underestimated Ekaterina Makarova, U.S. Open five-seed Caroline Wozniacki unloaded on both the USTA’s scheduling strategy and Maria Sharapova, who has played both of her matches so far on center court. Wozniacki doesn’t think this is right:...
Don't Wag Your Finger At Denis Shapovalov
No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won the point of the match, and probably the point of the night, against 18-year-old potential trend-setter Denis Shapovalov early in the second set of their second-round clash on Arthur Ashe Wednesday night. Feeling the crowd’s energy and trying to pump himself after droppi...
Alexandr Dolgopolov Gets Miffed At Match-Fixing Questions, Says He Doesn't Have Many Online Friends
Former top-20 player Alexandr Dolgopolov came under the scrutiny of tennis’s anti-corruption group last week because of strange betting patterns around one of his matches. The Tennis Integrity Unit tends to speak in generalities rather than naming particular contests, but when asked, a spokesperson ...
Frances Tiafoe Is A Work In Progress, But Holy Crap Do I Want To Watch The Progress
It takes a lot to win a share of crowd loyalty in Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City in the year of the resurrection of Roger Federer. It takes so much that it did not appear remotely possible for anyone not named Rafael Nadal. But last night at the U.S. Open, over five improbable sets, someone ea...
Nick Kyrgios Hurt His Shoulder, Had A Mini-Therapy Session On Court, Smashed A Racket, And Lost
Nick Kyrgios, to his credit, did not retire after injuring his shoulder early in the third set of his first-round match against his fellow Australian John Millman. He lost the first set 6-3 and won the second 6-1, then clutched at his shoulder early in the third set. Picking up an injury in the firs...
Frances Tiafoe Pushed Roger Federer To The Edge
In a markedly soft U.S. Open field—no Novak Djokovic, no Stan Wawrinka, no Andy Murray—third-ranked Roger Federer was brought to the brink in the very first round by unseeded 19-year-old Frances Tiafoe, who took him five sets deep tonight....
El Shapo Gets His First Major Win
Denis Shapovalov, the 18-year-old Canadian hereafter known as El Shapo, achieved something big today: He wore a normal hat without a busted-ass strap....
What Bad Player Did You Inexplicably Love As A Kid?
Kids are captivated by the most random things, including some athletes who weren’t actually all that great. Let’s remember some guys—here are some of the Deadspin staff’s old, strange loves, with varying levels of explanation:...
The U.S. Open Men's Draw Is A Joke
If you’re a man who can stand upright without anything hurting, you’ve got as good a shot as anyone to win the 2017 U.S. Open. Gone are the elites usually clotting the late rounds of majors. Of the top 11 players in men’s tennis, five of them are too hurt to play: No. 11 Milos Raonic, No. 10 Kei Nis...
I Doped Like Maria Sharapova And It Was Actually Pretty Great
I have some personal news I’d like to share: I’m doping. With performance-enhancing drugs, even. The same kind that got tennis star Maria Sharapova banned from the professional tour for 15 months, and the reason she needs tournaments like the U.S. Open—which starts today in New York—to offer her wil...
Victoria Azarenka Says She May Miss U.S. Open Due To Child Custody Battle
Victoria Azarenka, the former world No. 1 who returned to the tour earlier this year after giving birth to her son Leo last December, is embroiled in a custody battle with her son’s father, Billy McKeague, a golf pro she met in Hawaii, and it may force her to miss the U.S. Open that begins later thi...
Can More People Hit A Home Run Or Dunk A Basketball?
In this week’s Funbag, reader Benjamin asked this excellent question:...
Maria Sharapova Gets U.S. Open Wild Card, Will Play First Grand Slam Since 15-Month Doping Ban
Ready yourself for takes: the U.S. Tennis Association has granted Maria Sharapova a wild card into the U.S. Open main draw, meaning she will play her first Grand Slam since he return from a 15-month ban for use of the substance meldonium, a heart disease medication said to improve recovery. In gener...
Which Deadspin Staffer Would Make The Best Ball Person?
Have what it takes to be a ball person at a pro tennis tournament? Yeah, we thought so, too. When the U.S. Open begins at Flushing Meadows on August 28, a whole fleet of ball people will mobilize to ensure every match runs as smoothly as possible. We will not be among them....
Stan Wawrinka's Done For The Season
Defending U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka announced today he is undergoing a “medical intervention” on his knee and will miss the rest of the 2017 season. ...