tennis Page 17 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Novak Djokovic Was Finally Imperfect And The Kid Won
I was ready for this all to be about Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic, having reclaimed the No. 1 ranking, was ready for this to be all about Novak Djokovic. His level of play over the last half of the season, and specifically over the last week, is a psychoactive substance. Sunday marked the end of t...
When Roger Federer Says "Jump," The Tennis World Says "How High? And Can We Pay You?"
French journeyman Julian Benneteau, who peaked at world No. 25 in 2014, retired from tennis this year, freeing him up get candid about how favors actually work on the professional tour. Tennis is hush-hush about its rampant conflicts of interest and less than transparent about the benefits afforded ...
This Tennis Ball Passing Through A Racket Is A Blessed Sports Moment
The Oddly Satisfying video might be the great viral genre of our time, and it has the potential to make serious inroads into sports. There’s free fodder everywhere, what with all the synchronized movement, strangely curving projectiles, scalp-tingling bat sounds, and so on. So here’s a good one, fro...
Novak Djokovic Says His Saudi Arabia Exhibition Match Against Rafael Nadal Is Off<em></em>
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were widely criticized for their scheduled participation in a reputation-laundering exhibition match in Saudi Arabia, amid the kingdom’s war in Yemen, the ongoing inquiry into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the usual slew of human rights abuses. The mat...
Bjorn Borg's Teen Son Loves Tennis And Roasting His Father<em></em>
The New York Times’ Andrew Keh has a nice profile of Leo Borg, son of legend Bjorn and one of Sweden’s most promising tennis prospects. As the article makes abundantly clear, Bjorn and his wife Patricia are concerned that their 15-year-old son has opted to follow his 11-time-major-winning father i...
Roger Federer Put This Serve Directly Into The Garbage Can
Roger Federer has cut an unusual path into the fourth round at Paris: he played just two sets of tennis to get there. He had a first-round bye, then second-round opponent Milos Raonic withdrew from the tournament, and then he defeated the sleepy pirate Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 6-3. So all of a sudden, a ...
Borna Coric Leaves Skid Marks Everywhere
In terms of tennis, Borna Coric takes after his stylistic predecessor, Novak Djokovic. One of the aspects he can imitate pretty well is his quick movement, as well as his willingness to slide his sneakers across ridiculous stretches of hardcourt:...
What More Details Do Rafael Nadal And Novak Djokovic Need To Cancel Their Saudi Arabia Exhibition?
As of now, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic are still slated to play in a December exhibition in Saudi Arabia, and have yet to decline the invitation even as details about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continue to emerge. Nadal and Djokovic cited the duration of their com...
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...
Wimbledon Weenies Finally Make A Little Progress With New Fifth-Set Tiebreak Rule
In order to solve the problem of damagingly long and pointless marathon men’s matches at Grand Slams—like this year’s men’s semifinal between Kevin Anderson and John Isner, which lasted a painful six and a half hours, including a three-hour fifth set which Anderson eventually took 26-24—Wimbledon br...
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...
Ellen DeGeneres, Drunk With Power, Tries To Set Up Naomi Osaka With Michael B. Jordan
Life came fast at Naomi Osaka. After she skipped the hype machine of the junior circuit, went pro, and won some local fame in Japan, Osaka won her first professional title of any kind at Indian Wells this year, and her second at (sheesh) the U.S. Open. Within days of hoisting that second trophy, she...
Ukrainian Tennis Twins Banned For Life And Fined $500,000 For Match-Fixing
Two 35-year-old low-level professional tennis players you’ve never heard of, Ukrainian twins Gleb and Vadim Alekseenko, have been banned for life and fined $250,000 each, after being found guilty of match-fixing over an eight-month period in 2015 and 2016, the Tennis Integrity Unit said in a statem...
Novak Djokovic Is On A Blistering Tear
At Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic reascended, and he’s more or less stayed there ever since. It took awhile to fully jar himself out of his blue period, but the Serb is back to dominating in all in the old ways, barely leaving so much as a scrap for anyone else. When Novak Djokovic is in full flow, he ta...
Rafael Nadal And Novak Djokovic Look Forward To Being Pawns In Saudi Arabia's Shameless Image Rehab
On Oct. 7, one day after Reuters first reported the alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkish officials later said was tortured and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Head of Saudi Arabia’s General Sport Authority Turki Al-Alshaikh announce...
Markelle Fultz Is A Deranged Weirdo Who Doesn't Know How To Use His Limbs
Philadelphia 76ers basketball forgetter Markelle Fultz fouled out in 19 minutes of dreadful action this morning in an exhibition game in Shenzhen, China, against a skeleton-crew Dallas Mavericks team without DeAndre Jordan, Harrison Barnes, and Dirk Nowitzki. He looked real bad! But somehow not near...
Three Thai Tennis Umpires Banned For Life For Betting And Match-Fixing
Three Thai tennis umpires have been banned for life after being found guilty of match-fixing and betting offenses at low-level tournaments, according to a release from the Tennis Integrity Unit, an anti-corruption group....
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...
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...
No Man Under 30 Has Won A Tennis Major<em></em>
Happy birthday to Marin Cilic, who turns 30 today, and thanks for making tennis history. As of Sept. 28, no men’s tennis player under the age of 30 has won a major. This has never occurred before in the sport. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martin Del P...