open Page 42 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Immigrant Sport: What Ping-Pong Means In America
I am standing in a gaggle of table tennis players in a dark bar in Grand Rapids, Mich., on the Fourth of July. Before us, another table tennis player named Donald Hayes is playing Millipede. Donald and the others are all competing in the U.S. Open, the biggest ping-pong tournament in America, but ri...

Kei Nishikori Beats Novak Djokovic, Makes It To The US Open Final
In a huge upset, Kei Nishikori topped Novak Djokovic, a finalist in this competition each of the past four years, in four sets to advance to the US Open final. The Japanese announcers were predictably hype when calling the final point of the match:...

Wozniacki Advances To US Open Final After Peng Collapses, Retires
In today's Women's US Open semifinal, Caroline Wozniacki won by default after her opponent, Peng Shuai, was forced to retire due to injury. Above, you can see Shuai dropping to the court in pain and being wheeled off....

U.S. Open Ballgirl Runs Down Rogue Bag
That's some good hustle. ...

Today's shot. You may as well go read the WSJ's fun little item on tennis players refusing to use sunscreen: "Cara Black, a doubles player from Zimbabwe, said she uses a zinc cream. Ukraine's Olga Savchuk said the one lotion that doesn't bother her is available only in Japan and South Korea, so Japa...

15-Year-Old Catherine Bellis Upsets 12-Seed At U.S. Open
Catherine Bellis turned 15 years old in April and sits at 1,208 on the WTA's rankings. At the start of the day, her career record as a pro in singles matches was 8-4. That record has improved to 9-4, as Bellis just finished off 12-seeded Dominka Cibulkova in a first-round match at the U.S. Open. ...

Single Bee Delays U.S. Open Match, Nearly Outwits Three Ballkids
A stubborn bee with a really excellent sense of comic timing caused a brief delay during a first-round match at the U.S. Open, pestering Kimiko Date-Krumm to the point where three ballkids had to come out and put on a slapstick routine in an attempt to chase it away....

Rafael Nadal Withdraws From U.S. Open
Rafael Nadal will not defend his U.S. Open title when the tournament starts next week, announcing today that he will not compete as he recovers from a wrist injury....

Tell Us About Your Go-To Foodstuff
Do you have a go-to food? Something that you can whip up with your eyes closed when you need to get some food on the table and don't have the time or resources to experiment?...

Rory McIlroy Is Your British Open Champion
Rory McIlroy just made his dad a lot of money....

Two-Tone Foreheads Are Back In Style
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....

If Rory McIlroy Wins British Open, His Dad Will Win 10-Year-Old Bet
This story has been out there for a while, but this is the last chance for McIlroy to make his dad some easy money. In 2004, when Rory McIlroy was 15, his dad and some of his buddies bet 400 British pounds, the equivalent of $171 U.S. dollars each, that McIlroy would win the British Open before ...

Wily Mo Peña Hits Massive Home Run In Japanese All-Star Game
Wily Mo Peña has been playing in Japan since 2011 and represented the Orix Buffaloes for the Pacific League in this year's All-Star Game, played Saturday at Koshien Stadium. Peña smoked the first pitch he saw from Hanshin Tigers 20-year-old pitcher Shintaro Fujinami and damn near hit it out of the...

John Daly At The British Open: A Gallery
There are many great pictures available of John Daly. This, from Friday action at the British Open, is one of them. There's a lot going on: the half-smoked cig, the bleached-blonde mullet, the jack and coke in the Dallas Cowboys travel cup, it's almost enough—amazingly—to distract from those pants...

Happy Golf Dog Should Be Atop The Open Leaderboard
Who's a good doggy? Who? Who? Not you! Because you...are a great doggy....

That's Not How Putting Works, Ernie Els
Hi there, Ernie Els. I understand that you are successful professional golfer, so I hesitate to overstep my bounds here by telling you how to do your job. Still, I think you should know that this isn't how putting is supposed to work:...

Your Germany-Argentina Open Thread
The final match. Talk here....

Your Brazil-Germany Open Thread
Well, it's already 1-0, Germany, but it's still early. Talk about it here....

Your Netherlands-Costa Rica Open Thread
Here it is, the quarterfinal match-up that looked the most predictable going in, which probably means Costa Rica breeze past the Netherlands into the next round, 3-0. Either way, talk about it here....