Tennis Page 67 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Roger Federer Literally Couldn't Hit This Ball
Today at the Shanghai Masters, Roger Federer played his first match since he left the U.S. Open looking like he’d fallen in the pool. Federer barely survived a sharp Daniil Medvedev to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, but the Russian, who ripped through seven wins last week to qualify and win Tokyo, made the shot...
Nick Kyrgios Is Just Another Grump Railing At The Umpire Now
Nick Kyrgios is no longer playing well or amusingly enough to justify the usual apologist disclaimer, so let’s just get to the point. On Monday at the Shanghai Masters, where he has tanked for two years running, he once again flirted with nihilism as he lost to world No. 104 Bradley Klahn, 4-6, 6-4,...
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...
Naomi Osaka Has Various Tea-Related Feelings About Her Bizarre U.S. Open Final
Naomi Osaka dominated a whole major for two weeks, including the final match, but collective memory has been dominated by the argument between Serena Williams and umpire Carlos Ramos. Everyone with any feelings about that has, by now, aired them out in public: Williams, Ramos to an extent, former pl...
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...
Reddit Founder Logs On To Defend His Wife Serena Williams, Wrestles With His Own Creation<em></em>
Reddit’s co-founder Alexis Ohanian has been steadily posting online in support of his wife, Serena Williams, after her well-documented spat with an umpire in the U.S. Open final. One recent tweet by Ohanian called attention to an infamous Roger Federer outburst at the 2009 U.S. Open final, drawing a...
This 84-Shot Rally At The Davis Cup Is Tennis Hell
Over the years and across dozens of blogs, Deadspin has tried to make a case for watching and enjoying tennis, the sport being played in last weekend’s Davis Cup rubber between France’s Nicolas Mahut and Spain’s Marcel Granollers....
Umpire Who Gave Nick Kyrgios Pep Talk Gets Suspended For Two Tournaments Without Pay
During a second-round U.S. Open match on Aug. 30, umpire Mohamed Lahyani descended from his chair to give a mopey Nick Kyrgios a pep talk that included the words “I want to help you,” raising questions as to whether he overstepped boundaries as a neutral party. Lahyani has now been punished for his...
Tennis Umpires Aren't The Enemy Here
The Times of London reported Tuesday that some anonymous tennis umpires had considered boycotting Serena Williams’s matches after her spat with umpire Carlos Ramos derailed her U.S. Open final against Naomi Osaka. As this story has been picked up, shorn of context, and redeployed in unfamiliar conte...
Hypothetical Grievances Presented By An Australian Newspaper To Defend Its Big-Lipped Serena Williams Cartoon, Ranked<em></em>
To riff on Serena Williams’s spat with umpire Carlos Ramos in the U.S. Open final, the Melbourne Herald Sun published an illustration of the tennis player, drawn by editorial cartoonist Mark Knight, which has since been met with international disgust. Today, like any normal newspaper, the Herald Sun...
Naomi Osaka Paid The Price For The Feud Between Serena Williams And Carlos Ramos<em></em>
If your tennis brain has only room for one takeaway from the U.S. Open, let it be this: Naomi Osaka was the most dominant player in the world over the last 14 days. With the exception of a fourth-round test of will, all of Osaka’s matches, including the final, were straight-set, open-and-shut, surg...
Like The Rest Of Us, Tennis's Governing Bodies Are Arguing About Serena Williams
Through a series of statements, tennis’s governing bodies (the Women’s Tennis Association, the U.S. Tennis Association, and the International Tennis Federations) are staking out their positions on the sad and entirely avoidable debacle that was the U.S. Open women’s final. ...
Serena Williams Hit With $17,000 Fine For Her Part Of U.S. Open Final Shit-Show
The second set of Saturday’s women’s U.S. Open final was a total debacle, featuring a suspect code violation for coaching, and then an even more suspect game penalty for “verbal abuse,” triggering an insane and exhausting sequence where Serena Williams called down a tournament referee and brought th...
Sensitive Ref Pushes Serena Williams To Melt Down And Ruins Naomi Osaka's U.S. Open Victory
Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams in straight sets to win the U.S. Open and become the first Japanese tennis player to win a Grand Slam. Unfortunately, the historic win was marred terribly by an officiating controversy....
Naomi Osaka To Upcoming U.S. Open Final Opponent Serena Williams: "I Love You"
Last night, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka beat Madison Keys in a U.S. Open semifinal match 6-2, 6-4 to advance to her first grand slam final, where she will face Serena Williams, who has played in 31 of them. How is Osaka feeling about playing Serena? Pretty good!...
The Best Match Of Dominic Thiem's Life Wasn't Enough To Beat Rafael Nadal
Every once in a while an athlete will just make you eat your words and your low expectations. Typically they’ll do this by winning; on Tuesday night, Dominic Thiem did it while losing his U.S. Open quarterfinal, pyrotechnically....
Men Should Play Best Of Three Sets, And Anyone Who Says Otherwise Is A Weenie Like ESPN's Brad Gilbert
At the grand slams—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open—men play best-of-five set matches, and these matches are often too long. (Men play best of three sets at all other tournaments, except the Davis Cup.) At Wimbledon this year, John Isner and Kevin Anderson played for more than ...
Naomi Osaka Has Been Ruthless And Efficient At The U.S. Open
There was one close one—a fourth-round victory over Aryna Sabalenka that took her all three sets—but beyond that, the U.S. Open has been one continuous bloodbath for Naomi Osaka, the 20-year-old No. 20 seed. These are massacres on the order of Rafael Nadal carving up Roland Garros. Three times, she...