Tennis Page 61 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
15-Year-Old Coco Gauff Upsets Venus Williams At Wimbledon
Cori “Coco” Gauff is still a teenager, but her legend precedes her. The first story I ever heard involving the American prodigy was about her serving incomprehensible heat while she was barely a teenager. Soon enough there were official figures to back that up. Last year at the Wimbledon junior tour...
This One Weird Trick To Defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas: Be An 18-Year-Old Canadian
Stefanos Tsitsipas, tennis’s vlog prince, has done plenty to be proud of in the last year, with wins over Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on hard court, a victory over Rafael Nadal on clay, and a current No. 6 ranking in the world. The breakout is nearly complete, and there is little else to wait f...
Untimely Sprinklers Derail Match Point
Life can be rough on the ATP Challenger tour, one rung below the pro tour you see on TV. World No. 317 Adam Pavlásek was just a point away from locking up his second-round win at the Challenger Bratislava over world No. 218 Elliot Benchetrit. Then six sprinklers came to life....
Dominic Thiem Got Closer, But Rafael Nadal Still Stepped On Him
Last year, in the first major final of his life, Dominic Thiem just seemed happy to be there. Flattened by a Rafael Nadal charging toward his 11th French Open title? That builds character. A dusty tennis great heartlessly roasting you at the trophy ceremony? Whatever, no shame in being outmatched....
Tennis Player Loses Match, Reacts With A Virtuosic Racket Smash
Mario Vilella Martínez played Tomislav Brkić today in the first round of the ATP Challenger in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Vilella Martínez broke in the third set to go up 5-3. With a chance to serve out the match at 5-4, he lost the game at love. Then he lost the next return game and began to crack....
Rafael Nadal Is Tennis Jail
“If you want to do or achieve something on the clay, inevitably, at some stage, you will go through Rafa,” Roger Federer said after his French Open quarterfinal, “because he’s that strong, and he will be there.”...
American Teen Amanda Anisimova's Singular Backhand Tore Up The Defending French Open Champ
Amanda Anisimova has a good backhand, so good as to foreclose any technical critique from the peanut gallery. She’s 17 years old and it has already been described by tennis commentators, perhaps accurately, as the best backhand on tour, and, hyperbolically, as the best of all time. I’ll leave those ...
What The Hell Are These Questions From The French Open Pressers?
Today at the French Open, No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens lost her quarterfinal match. She went to press after, only to field this question, as noted by tennis writer Ben Rothenberg:...
The Greatest Tennis Match Of The Year Was A Filthy, Hectic War
Forget the semifinals, the finals, or the shiny trophy ceremonies. The sweetest spot of a tennis major is the first weekend....
Nick Kyrgios Says He's "Fucking Done" During Tantrum, And It's Hard Not To Believe Him
Of all Nick Kyrgios’s many many many many tantrums, the one he unleashed today at the Italian Open was his most over-the-top display yet. On the heels of a brutally honest interview with tennis writer Ben Rothenberg, in which Kyrgios admitted winning tennis matches doesn’t make him happy, that he do...
Stefanos Tsitsipas Became One Of The Few To Take Out Rafael Nadal On Clay
He’d won over Federer on fast hard court at a major, and he’d won over Djokovic on slow hard court at a masters. Saturday brought an even thornier test for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek had lost all seven sets he’d previously played against Rafael Nadal, five of them on hard court. The last time the...
No One But Gael Monfils Could Have Pulled Off This Shot
Gael Monfils got wrecked in the opening set of his Madrid Open second-round match today, but he worked his way back into it. By the tail end of the second set, Monfils was feeling himself enough to test out this leaping ... forehand passing shot with all his weight hurtling in the opposite direction...
The Stefanos Tsitsipas Channel Is Always On
Minutes removed from making the 2019 Australian Open semifinals, Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-foot-4 and handsome as a lion, was talking about YouTube. With a microphone in his face and all the attention that comes with taking out Roger Federer two days earlier, Tsitsipas spoke his truth....
Justin Gimelstob Steps Down From ATP Board
Justin Gimelstob, the highly connected tennis figure with a long history of alleged violence, is resigning from his post on the ATP board of directors. Gimelstob felt he had become “too much of a distraction and a liability,” he told the New York Times from Madrid, where he had flown to personally d...
Tennis Player Disagrees With Call, Brings Out Phone To Document Ball Mark
A tennis player brought his phone onto the court to document something, and somehow that player wasn’t vlogging sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas....
Brad Gilbert Will Run For Justin Gimelstob's Seat On The ATP Board, May Spare The ATP Some Actual Decisions
Brad Gilbert, tennis world fixture, ESPN analyst, and high-volume tweeter, announced yesterday that he will run for a position on the ATP Board of Directors currently occupied by Justin Gimelstob....
Fabio Fognini Is One Slippery Noodle
When a tennis shot is shanked, shallow, spinless, or otherwise borked, the culprit is often a too-tight arm. The more an amateur tries to muscle the ball, the less they’ll actually accomplish. Power comes from relaxed muscles working in unison. There might not exist a material in the tennis universe...
Will Justin Gimelstob's Violent History Ever Make Him A Tennis Pariah?
Justin Gimelstob—the former tennis player and current coach, Tennis Channel commentator, ATP board member, and owner of a television production company who infamously weathered a shitstorm of his own making back in 2008 for being a sexist dick—is one of the most powerful people in tennis. For years...
Every Photo From The Monte-Carlo Masters Is Comically Decadent
Tennis, on clay, on the waterfront, in Monte Carlo, is about as decadent as sports get. It’s also about as photogenic as this particular sport gets, thanks to the play of light, sea, court, and loud tennis apparel. Courtesy of Getty photographer Clive Brunskill, below are some highlights from this y...
Tennis Broadcast Dominated By Commentator's Loud, Wet Snacking
It was difficult to pay attention to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s big 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Kyle Edmund in Marrakesh today, because much of the second set was dominated by the commentator’s ASMR-style munching. Wet mouth sounds, dry crunching sounds, and rustling bag sounds nearly matched the volume of tenn...