tennis Page 37 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Finally, Some More Shit-Talking In Tennis
Alexander Zverev, one of tennis’s two juvenile prodigies, claimed a tough win over Jan-Lennard Struff today and left the court on a pungent note. After beating his fellow German in this Munich Open quarterfinal, Zverev gestured at the clay and said, unmistakably, “This is my fucking court.” By the s...
Novak Djokovic, Looking For "Shock Therapy," Fires Entire Coaching Staff
Novak Djokovic’s odd year continues. After parting ways with head coach Boris Becker in December and struggling in the first quarter of 2017, he dismissed the rest of his coaching staff today, some of whom have been in his camp for over a decade: coach Marian Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil Gritsc...
Roger Federer Went To The Met Ball In A Sweet-Ass Cobra Tuxedo
Rafael Nadal kept himself busy in April, regaining his form on clay and raising trophies at Monte Carlo and Barcelona—freakishly, his 10th time winning each. What has his rival Roger Federer been up to in the meantime? Playing corny charity matches with Bill Gates and the guitarist from Pearl Jam, a...
What's Wrong With Novak Djokovic?
This time last year, Novak Djokovic was about to complete his fourth consecutive Grand Slam win—as dominant a run as the tour has ever seen. But this year, since the first week of January, he has yet to get further than the quarterfinals of any tournament at all....
Maria Sharapova Is Almost Certainly Going To Get A French Open Wild Card
The French Open has a dilemma: Do tournament organizers grant two-time French Open winner, five-time Grand Slam champion, and recently returned doper Maria Sharapova a wild card into the main draw, ensuing she’s part of the tournament when the first round begins on May 28? Should she receive a wild ...
What The Hell Did Rafael Nadal Do To This Ball?
Allow me to remove my foot from my mouth: Rafael Nadal is still the King of Clay, fine. He claimed his 10th title at Monte Carlo last week, and looks set to take his 10th Barcelona Open title too, unless Andy Murray snaps out of his daze or Dominic Thiem manages the upset. Maybe his 10th French Open...
Andy Murray Is Out Here Breaking Ankles
Andy Murray, who’s looked sloppy and out of sorts in today’s Barcelona Open quarterfinal, broke Albert Ramos-Vinolas’s ankles on this point in the final set, and it may have even saved his match. As the chuckling commentators note, this is tennis’s equivalent of a crossover. ...
Report: Maria Sharapova Won't Get A Wild Card For The French Open
How will women’s tennis welcome back Maria Sharapova—formerly its richest star, if not its most successful—after her 15-month ban for breaking its doping rules, however absurd those might be? Her return was bound to be messy. Because all of Sharapova’s ranking points dissolved during her absence fro...
Maria Sharapova Is An Annoying Brand, Not A Vile Cheater
Maria Sharapova is set to return to competition on Wednesday at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart after receiving a wild card entry to the tournament. It will be her first tournament since she was banned from tennis for 15 months after testing positive for a banned substance last January. While th...
Hall Of Famer Ilie Nastase Suspended From Tennis For Sexist And Racist Comments
Ilie Nastase is best known as a former world No. 1 who won the U.S. Open in 1972 and rolled through the 1973 French Open without dropping a set, becoming the first man to complete that feat. He is now the captain of Romania’s Fed Cup team, and made some much uglier additions to his résumé at a compe...
Maria Sharapova's Agent Blasts Players Criticizing Her Wild-Card Return
Following a two-year ban for doping, which was reduced to 15 months on appeal, Maria Sharapova is set to return to competition next week after she received a wild-card entry in Stuttgart. She was also given wild cards to Madrid and Rome. A handful of prominent players have questioned Sharapova recei...
Here Are Gorgeous Photos Of The Monte-Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, is perhaps the most photogenic and least accessible of all tennis tournaments. Live vicariously through these shots of elite athletes competing in a place where rich people go to lose enormous sums....
The Sun Set On Novak Djokovic
If you make a living standing outside and hurling a small yellow sphere up above your head so you can hit it down, sometimes an enormous yellow sphere is right behind it, and you just have to find a way to cope. Novak Djokovic, squinting and awash in light, couldn’t, as he lost to David Goffin 6-2, ...
I'm Jealous Of This Photographer's Situation
This towel-draped snowbird, posted up on the clay courts of Monte Carlo snapping photos of some of the world’s best tennis players, is my new hero. If you know who she is, please tell me so I can follow her life’s path. ...
Grigor Dimitrov Just Can't Seem To Break Through
Grigor Dimitrov, the talented but streaky member of a generation of men’s tennis players that’s been largely overshadowed by the longevity of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic cohort, looked poised to break out in 2017 when he started the year by winning 17 of 18 matches, knocking off three top-10 seeds al...
Serena Williams Is Definitely Pregnant, Definitely Won The Australian Open While Pregnant
Hours after Serena Williams, the most dominant tennis player of all time, appeared to announce her pregnancy by sharing and then deleting a photo of herself in a bathing suit captioned “20 weeks,” her publicist confirmed that she is indeed expecting her first child. ...
What It’s Like To Announce A Tennis Match That's Been Interrupted By Loud Sex Noises
Mike Cation heard a moan, and figured it was just two people in the stands talking loudly. The tennis announcer, working the USTA Pro Circuit’s Sarasota Open on Tuesday, looked at the crowd and saw everyone looking around. Then it became clear: This wasn’t two people talking. This was two people fuc...
The King Of Clay Is Looking A Little Wobbly
All the conditions seemed fit for Rafael Nadal. After so many hardcourt disappointments, a return to his dream surface, red clay, where every ball sails slow and high; a tournament where he’s posted a merciless 58-4 record in his career; no Roger Federers looming in the draw. Basically an invitation...
Serena Williams Appears To Announce Pregnancy
Serena Williams, the best female tennis player of all time and current world No. 2, seemingly announced today that she is expecting a child in a since-deleted snap. After winning the Australian Open at the end of January, Williams hasn’t played a single match, pulling out of Indian Wells and the Mia...
Sex Noises Briefly Derail Tennis Match In Florida
A tennis match today between Frances Tiafoe and Mitchell Krueger at the Sarasota Open was temporarily interrupted by the sounds of some fucking....