the-australian-open Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Saudi Arabia doesn't grant women equal rights, but plans to host WTA Finals
Saudi Arabia has already invested heavily in several sports. Now, the nation plans to make headway into women’s tennis and host the 2024 WTA Finals — if a deal can be reached....
Taking the Daniil Medvedev ride at the Australian Open
Most of my life, I have found tennis very easy and yet very hard to watch. It’s easy in that it’s a beautiful sport to gaze upon, the players’ ballet-like movements and the steady rhythm of the sound of the ball hitting the racket and then the court over and over can lull one into a lovely state of ...
In the headlines: History for Michigan sports; Jim Dolan sex assault case; Insanity at Australian Open
Sports are about numbers, and that isn’t just because scores are kept. A player’s height and weight matter, they’re ages, too. But the best moments are when things occur that haven’t happened in a long time, as sports are also a marker of time. We just witnessed the best seven days that a place with...
This year’s Australian Open is drunk
The Australian Open is already kind of geared for weirdos, at least on these shores, given that you have to sacrifice sleep and any usefulness the next day to enjoy it. But this year’s edition has been off the rails, making it even more worth it for those of us who are prepared to throw ourselves of...
A Draper not named Don threw up in a trash can on Monday
For fans of the iconic series Mad Men, seeing a person named Draper throwing up isn’t that much of a surprise. But unlike his alcoholic TV namesake, British tennis player Jack Draper didn’t have a drop of booze in him on Monday. ...
The US Open has been a tough watch the past few days
The US Open used to bill itself as “The World’s Toughest Tennis.” It’s New York, which has to bill anything having to do with itself as the “biggest and toughest” or the city will collapse in on itself. But the Open was on hardcourt, it was at the end of summer so it was hot, and they used to make p...
After 30 years (!!), it is finally time for Venus Williams to call it a career
Unlike at this time last year, the central figure of the US Open isn’t a Williams sister. Serena’s matches were all appointment television, maybe because of the known stakes, being one of tennis’ all-time great’s last event. And Flushing lost its luster after Serena’s third-round exit, until the sta...
History has its eyes on Carlos Alcaraz and his early quest to become tennis’ GOAT
Tennis is undergoing its Steph Curry moment. The way Carlos Alcaraz controls the country club sport through his racket is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Nearly a decade after Curry’s rise to superstardom, every high school sophomore thinks swishing a 40-footer is routine. It’s not, and every air...
French Open fans are the best
It was never a secret that Novak Djokovic was the third wheel to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Yet the Serbian planted himself into the conversation in two ways. First, a machine-like greatness over the past 12 years — 21 of his 22 Grand Slams have come since 2011, which is a period of condensed d...
Rafael Nadal’s body finally waves the white flag
It feels like tennis fans have been talking about when men’s tennis will enter its new era for forever now, simply because Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic had been carrying the brilliance longer than anyone ever had, longer than anyone could have anticipated. Guys don’t win majors in...
The Masters was supposed to be LIV’s big moment, but a Brooks Koepka choke turned it into their big disappointment
It’s the obvious joke, so let’s get it out of the way. The LIV Golf representatives at The Masters aren’t used to playing 72 holes! That’s why Brooks Koepka crapped the bed on Sunday and blew his lead, only to be passed by Jon Rahm, who won his first green jacket by four strokes! If only the Saudi-b...
Stop bitching about the World Baseball Classic
We tend not to appreciate things that don’t matter as much to us as it does others. If there’s anything more American than “I got mine,” I don’t know what that would be. That seems to be the trouble with the World Baseball Classic, even though with every iteration it seems to pick up more steam. The...
Novak Djokovic once again wins Djokovic Open
Once you claim a trophy double-digit times, the tournament is yours. So if the French Open is the Nadal Open, then the Australian Open is now the Djokovic Open. Djoker didn’t so much ease to a straight-sets win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, two sets went to a tiebreak, so much as he simply m...
So you’re telling me there’s a chance!
Tommy Paul didn’t play collegiate tennis. Instead, he came up through the junior circuit and turned pro in 2015. He’s one of the rare Americans who plays best on clay, yet his career breakthrough has come on the hardcourt of the Australian Open. Paul took down fellow American Ben Shelton on Wednesda...
Andy Murray can’t help himself
Andy Murray must really love tennis. At least he’d better, considering what he puts himself through every match in the past few years and over his whole career. It’s like he can’t get off the court when there have definitely been times he should get off the court, both in making his wins easier and ...
Once again, we’re left to ask the big question about Rafael Nadal
No one gets the Pete Sampras, except for Pete Sampras, obviously. It’s so rare to see a tennis player walk off the court for the final time having just won a Grand Slam, still capable of more but sated with what was already accomplished and unable to ignore the poetry of that particular signoff. The...
Now we know why Naomi Osaka is stepping away from tennis for 2023
For those who had questions about why Naomi Osaka dropped out of the Australian Open, or if she still cares about being a professional tennis player, you just got your answer....
Wrestle Kingdom puts NJPW back on track, maybe on some new ones too
The biggest event for weirdos and insomniacs, other than maybe the Australian Open, got back to normal service last night. And that’s New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom (bell time, 3 a.m. EST). Not only did it mark the return of actually cheering crowds for NJPW sho...
IDIOT OF THE YEAR: More dumbasses
WHY? Why must professional athletics function as such a powerful magnet for stupid, impetuous people? Ugh....
Novak Djokovic is stopping Novak Djokovic from playing in the U.S. Open
Update (8/25/22): It ain’t happening, chief....