open Page 30 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Amateur Cameron Champ Is Smoking Golf Dingers At The U.S. Open
Near the top of a Saturday leaderboard that is noticeably missing the world’s top three players—Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day shot a combined 19 over par and all missed the cut—you will notice the excellent sports name Cameron Champ, sitting next to a little “a” in parentheses. Champ i...
![Blimp Catches Fire, Crashes At U.S. Open; Spectators Say Pilot Parachuted Out [Updating]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/atwfjkr690ynflzm4fqa.jpg)
Blimp Catches Fire, Crashes At U.S. Open; Spectators Say Pilot Parachuted Out [Updating]
Based on reports and video evidence from the scene, a blimp just crashed at Erin Hills golf course, the site of this year’s U.S. Open....
Cool Reflexes, Man
Lucas Pouille, who at one point projected to be a great tennis player but may end up just a good one, saved a match point against Jan-Lennard Struff today with some nifty reflex volleys. A few points later world No. 16 Pouille notched a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8) win in his second-round match at the Stu...
Roger Federer Faceplanted On The Grass
That little, fluttery lurch in your stomach? That’s the feeling of your Wimbledon hopes shriveling up just a little bit. Roger Federer, bearing a new haircut and the swollen expectations of fans spoiled by his season to date, was shocked by world No. 302 Tommy Haas in the second round of the Stuttga...
Phil Mickelson Announces He'll Skip U.S. Open For Daughter's Graduation, Decides Not To Withdraw Just In Case
Phil Mickelson announced a week and a half ago that he’d be skipping this weekend’s U.S. Open in order to attend the high school graduation of his daughter Amanda, which is scheduled for the first day of the tournament. But he’s since backtracked to say that planning to skip the event doesn’t necess...
Liquor Store Soccer Team Scores First Against D.C. United
Christos FC, an amateur Baltimore soccer team that never practices and is headquartered in a liquor store, is playing a fourth-round U.S. Open Cup match against D.C. United of MLS tonight. In the 23rd minute, Mamadou Kansaye scored on a free kick to give his club a 1-0 lead over the three-time Open ...
And Now, Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Federer-Nadal Show<em></em>
Rewind the tape all the way back to—sheesh—April 2, the date of Roger Federer’s last professional tennis match, a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Rafael Nadal to win the Miami Open. Afterwards he reportedly told his rival that he, Nadal, would “destroy” the clay court season, and Rafa delivered, piling up a 2...
Gary Player Is Still Out Here Roasting Fools
The real golf tradition unlike any other is players complaining that the U.S. Open course is too hard. Notoriously, in 2015, it was Chambers Bay in Washington, where all the big names lined up to trash the greens. The great Gary Player, invited there to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his career G...
No One Will Ever Do What Rafael Nadal Has Done
Predictions about whether a feat can or cannot be replicated have always struck me as naive. Earth will be around for a while and, at least until we write ourselves out of its story, will host billions and billions more humans, shaped and sized in novel ways, some of which make them particularly sui...
Golfer Complains Golf Course Is Too Hard
Ah, it’s that time of year, when the golfers playing in the U.S. Open complain about how hard the golf course is. Last year, golfers called Oakmont “brutal.” The year before, they slammed the greens at Chambers Bay. This year, the shaggy fescue at Erin Hills in Wisconsin is the problem. Kevin Na to...
Rafael Nadal Cruises To Record 10th French Open Title
Rafael Nadal won a record 10th French Open title today by making quick work of Stan Wawrinka, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Nadal faced one break point all day, and saved it. It was a brutal, dominating performance, and of a guy who just took out world number one Andy Murray, and notched a title of his own at Rola...
Jelena Ostapenko Wins French Open For First WTA Tour Win Ever<em></em>
Jelena Ostapenko earned her first WTA tour win in a big way: by dispatching Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 today in the French Open final. The Latvian is the first unseeded French Open women’s champion since 1933....
Rafael Nadal Took A Gifted Youth's Lunch Money, And His Will To Live
Towards the tail end of the clay season, even this skeptic had cast aside old doubts: 23-year-old Dominic Thiem is the future. Particularly on the dirt. But as of right now, the future still feels impossibly far away. Rafael Nadal, 31 years old and the best clay court tennis player past and present,...
Root For Stan Wawrinka, The Artful Troll
At his peak, Stan Wawrinka might be the best tennis player alive, but that peak is hard to find. Sometimes—right after winning his third major and reaching his career-high ranking, say—he’s just a bed-headed lump, tumbling out of the first round of tournaments courtesy of the world No. 91 or 72. Thi...
Meet Jelena Ostapenko, The Birthday Girl Who Could Win The French Open Out Of Nowhere<em></em>
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko had quite the day, and quite the last two weeks. The unseeded world No. 47 has booked a spot in the French Open final with a three-set win over Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland—oh, and she turned 20 years old today. Led by the on-court presenter, the crowd serenaded her with...
Rafael Nadal Is Two Wins From The French Open
Pablo Carreño Busta offered the only blip of diversity in a quarterfinals that was otherwise purely chalk: seeds No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 were all still in play. As nice as it was to see one of those three-name clay courters edge past No. 5 Milos Raonic in five sets and make his way into this rar...
With Her Attitude Adjusted, Simona Halep Makes Incredible Comeback To Reach French Open <em></em>Semis
Simona Halep, the world No. 4 whose participation in the French Open was questionable right up until the start of the tournament due to an ankle injury, played the match of her life against Elena Svitolina in the quarterfinals, coming back from a huge deficit to win in three sets....
Novak Djokovic Got Wrecked
Dominic Thiem has been the second-best player on this clay season, with the realest credential around: the only player to beat Rafael Nadal. During that run, Thiem’s worst loss came not at the hands of Rafa, but Novak Djokovic, who offered a brief flashback to the world-beating Novak of one year ag...
Gael Monfils Laid It All Out There
Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka are genuine late-bloomers—perhaps the only two pros to ever find their best tennis on the cusp of 30—and very good friends, too. Somehow, before today’s round of 16 match at the French Open, they had gone six years on the tour without playing one another. That fact bog...
Novak Djokovic Got Into It With A Fussy Chair Ump
Novak Djokovic’s skills were tested by the diminutive Diego Schwartzman in their third-round match at the French Open, and his patience was tested by the chair umpire, who hit him with a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. Here’s the conduct in question:...