Tennis Page 104 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Tennis Players Bill Simmons Would Do: Another Classic From The Secret Sports Guy Vault
It's a curious quirk of the internet that almost nothing survives of Bill Simmons's pre-ESPN work. After seeing last week's newly unearthed column from Simmons's AOL Digital City days, a reader sent along another Boston Sports Guy entry rescued from the dustbin of history. If you've got any old Simm...

Do Not Refuse The Post-Match Handshake Or Australians Will Boo The Shit Out Of You
Czech Tomas Berdych faced deafening boos and squeals (which are apparently some kind of Australian version of hissing) after refusing to shake the hand of Spain's Nicolas Almagro following Berdych's four-set win today in Melbourne....

Watch Tennis Player Stanislas Wawrinka Cop A Feel On An Unsuspecting Lineswoman
Your morning roundup for Jan. 19, the day we learned Tilapia and garbage have a close relationship. Video via Outside The Boxscore. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors....

Marcos Baghdatis Calmly Destroyed Four Consecutive Tennis Rackets Between Sets Last Night
After falling behind by two sets to Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of the Australian Open last night, Marcos Baghdatis went to his chair and calmly smashed four consecutive Tecnifibre rackets. The rage propelled him to win the following set, but Wawrinka took the match, 7-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1....

Holy Balls Serena Williams Is Ripped: Deadspin's Australian Open Preview
While Americans were freezing their Tebows off watching playoff football, the first major tennis tournament of the year kicked off in Australia, with temperatures in Melbourne hitting 92 on day one. Dylan Stableford, Deadspin's tennis editor, has a preview of the action Down Under....

Billie Jean King And Martina Navratilova Respond To Australian Legend's Homophobic Rant
Margaret (Smith) Court is a former Australian tennis great turned pastor in something called the Victory Life Church. Earlier in the week she made statements with regard to homosexuality, marriage and political correctness. Some of her thoughts are listed below:...

If You Knock On Her Door At 6 A.M., Serena Williams Will Retreat To Her Panic Room
"Serena Williams fled to the panic room in her Los Angeles mansion when she mistook a sports association drug tester for a dangerous intruder." Also notable: Serena Williams has a panic room. [NY Post, via TMZ]...

Andy Roddick Gets A Question Andy Roddick Doesn't Like, Storms Out Of Press Conference
Andy Roddick is known for three things, basically: he is an American who can serve tennis balls at high speeds, he is married to Brooklyn Decker, and he is a rather petulant subject with the press, or simply with authority....

Andy Roddick Has Had Three Wedding Rings In Two Years With Brooklyn Decker, His One Wife
He keeps losing them, see. And each time, he just goes out and buys a replacement. A very expensive replacement, we can only assume. But it has no substantial fiscal impact on Rich Athlete and Model Wife. So Model Wife isn't all that upset about it. [Busted Racquet]...

Djokovic-Federer Had Nothing On Christ-Satan, Says Writer Who Is Not Joking
"The match between Djokovic and Federer in New York was quite a spectacle, but it was nothing compared to Christ's victory over sin and death and Satan. 'And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.' (Colossians 2:15) Memo to ...

Rafael Nadal Was For Playing Tennis This Week Before He Was Against It
Rafa took to the microphones to decry tennis's crowded calendar: just four days ago he was in the US Open final, giving him little time to fly to Spain and prepare for today's Davis Cup match against Richard Gasquet....

Celebrating Serena Williams, Tennis Traditionalist
Serena Williams revived an old tradition in tennis in Flushing last night. She said some petty things to the chair umpire because she was angry and because she wanted to win—and because when you are not winning in a sport as lonely as tennis, there is only one person you can blame that is not yourse...

Once Upon A Time, Serena And That Same Chair Umpire Laughed Off Her Hindrance And They Replayed The Point
...And everyone lived happily ever after, until last night in Flushing....

Before Losing The U.S. Open Finals, Serena Williams Told The Umpire She Was An Unattractive Hater
Wow. Before Serena Williams got done wasting 73 minutes of everybody's time in losing the U.S. Open 6-2, 6-3 today, she made sure to tear into the chair umpire for a whole bunch of things related, and not related, to being issued a court violation for yelling at the opposition. Poor thing....

Watch Novak Djokovic Steal The U.S. Open Crowd, Momentum And Semifinal Match From Roger Federer
Momentum in sports, if you believe it exists, which I do, is a fickle thing. Take today's U.S. Open semifinal match between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, for instance....

Your U.S. Open Semifinals Open Thread
Weather permitting — and it's expected to do just that — both the men's and women's semifinals will be played in Flushing Meadows, NY today....

Grantland Republished David Foster Wallace's Epic 2006 Essay on Roger Federer, And You Should Go Read It Now
The late author's profile, written for the now-defunct Play, "constituted a dream pairing of writer and subject" that "still stands as one of the most stirring, illuminating essays ever written about the beauty of sport at its highest level," according to the Grantland introduction provided by Mich...

This Evening: The Guy In The Blue Shirt Behind Brooklyn Decker Would Like You To Know He Plays With Himself
Your p.m. roundup for Sept. 8, the day we learned a cow had died in Brooklyn. H/T to Brad for the U.S. Open photo. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors....

Andy Roddick Totally Flipped Out Over The Court Still Being Wet At The U.S. Open (Video)
And ESPN's cameras captured much of his tirade, which was directed at tournament referee (and USTA pro circuit director) Brian Earley during Roddick's fourth-round match this afternoon against David Ferrer. The match eventually was moved to the much smaller, 584-seat Court 13, where Roddick won in a...

Listen As Mardy Fish Calls Jo-Wilfried Tsonga A "Dumbass" During Their U.S. Open Match
Fish doesn't speak French, you see. Though it was Tsonga who eventually ousted Fish, the highest-seeded American, in five sets yesterday....