Tennis Page 70 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Glory Be To The Underachievers
Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios are two of the most watchable players on tour, with sure feel and shot-making for days. They may also be the two players with the most inborn talent but the least hardware to show for it. They are almost certainly the two players with the strangest “posts on this blo...
How Much Longer Will This Be Fun?
It’s not just that you can’t always get what you want—sometimes, once what you want finally materializes, you wonder why you ever wanted it in the first place....
Victoria Azarenka Says She May Miss U.S. Open Due To Child Custody Battle
Victoria Azarenka, the former world No. 1 who returned to the tour earlier this year after giving birth to her son Leo last December, is embroiled in a custody battle with her son’s father, Billy McKeague, a golf pro she met in Hawaii, and it may force her to miss the U.S. Open that begins later thi...
Frances Tiafoe, The Best American Teen, Gets Biggest Win Of His Career
Both of these players, aged 19 and 20, are nominally the “next generation,” but the latter has already arrived—he’s in the top 10 and has racked up more titles this year than anyone not named Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. The other one won today in Cincinnati....
All The Top Men In Tennis Are Broken And Calling It A Day
First it was Novak Djokovic, sitting out the rest of the season to just, uh, generally debug....
Maria Sharapova Gets U.S. Open Wild Card, Will Play First Grand Slam Since 15-Month Doping Ban
Ready yourself for takes: the U.S. Tennis Association has granted Maria Sharapova a wild card into the U.S. Open main draw, meaning she will play her first Grand Slam since he return from a 15-month ban for use of the substance meldonium, a heart disease medication said to improve recovery. In gener...
The Best Thing In Tennis Last Week Was A Teen In An Ill-Fitting Hat
Denis Shapovalov is a Canadian teen who could probably use a new hat, because the portion of the strap that dangles off the hat is at least twice as long as the portion of the strap that is cinched to the hat. He was ranked No. 205 at the start of this year and entered the Rogers Cup last week with ...
Roger Federer's Dream Season Might Be Finally Catching Up To Him
Roger Federer showed up to the Montreal final Sunday in the stuff he’d been winning in all week: stubble of a sleepless new dad (he is an old dad), toasted tan, shirt the color of a very clean piglet. He also showed up with a 35-2 record. Federer has alternated between two modes this season: rest or...
This Is The Slowest Possible Way To Not Lose
Alexander Zverev was down match point against Richard Gasquet in the third set of their second-round Rogers Cup match Wednesday. The resulting exchange wasn’t exactly fun to watch, but it was impressive, in the way endurance sports are. The best comparison would be two people pushing the last bite o...
Gael Monfils Wouldn't Lose
Kei Nishikori had Gael Monfils beat today in Montreal, thrice over. Nishikori was up 5-3 in the second, serving for the match. He was up 5-3 set in the third, serving for the match. He was up 6-2 in the third set tiebreak. And Monfils still won 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-6(6)....
World-Class Athlete Demoted To "Just A Pretty Face," According To World-Class Moron
Genie Bouchard, who was once ranked as high as No. 5 in the world, has been having a rough time on the court. She lost to 102nd-ranked Andrea Petkovic last week and 51st-ranked Donna Vekic yesterday, and her global ranking has plummeted to No. 70. This is certainly not the trajectory that either Bo...
Nick Kyrgios Hit In Butt
After retiring from three straight matches—at Queen’s Club, at Wimbledon, and in Washington, D.C.—Nick Kyrgios won a match Monday, a 6-1, 6-2 dismissal of Victor Troicki at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. A day later, he willingly got hit in the butt....
Roger Federer Turns 36, Is Wished Well By People He Has Owned
Today is Roger Federer’s birthday. He turned 36, won both majors he entered this year, and shows no signs of slowing. Here is an extremely charming compilation of birthday wishes from people he has regularly and/or recently owned....
You Can't Hit A Tweener Any Better Than This
Yesterday was only day one of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, but we might already have the shot of the tournament, courtesy of 20-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, who came up with one of the best tweener shots I’ve ever seen. ...
Sara Errani Banned Two Months After Testing Positive For Cancer Drug She Said Was Her Mother's
The former world No. 5 from Italy, Sara Errani, was banned from tennis for two months after she tested positive for the cancer drug letrozole, a drug that can be used to “increase lean body mass,” the International Tennis Federation said today. ...
Which Deadspin Staffer Would Make The Best Ball Person?
Have what it takes to be a ball person at a pro tennis tournament? Yeah, we thought so, too. When the U.S. Open begins at Flushing Meadows on August 28, a whole fleet of ball people will mobilize to ensure every match runs as smoothly as possible. We will not be among them....
Stan Wawrinka's Done For The Season
Defending U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka announced today he is undergoing a “medical intervention” on his knee and will miss the rest of the 2017 season. ...
Tennessean Tennis Pro Tennys Sandgren Is Out Here Doing Racquet Sports
Ava Wallace of the Washington Post has a fun story about Tennys Sandgren, ranked No. 102 in men’s tennis, who advanced in the Citi Open Wednesday afternoon after his opponent, 20th-ranked Nick Kyrgios, retired in the second set. Our man Tennys is a tennis pro, and his name is Tennys, which rhymes wi...
Novak Djokovic Will Sit Out The Rest Of The 2017 Season
Yesterday it already looked as though Novak Djokovic was going to miss the U.S. Open, and this morning the Serbian star announced that he will be sitting out not just the year’s final major but the whole 2017 season to recover from a right elbow injury. “I think I haven’t missed a single major event...
Novak Djokovic Will Likely Miss The U.S. Open With A Bone Bruise
Novak Djokovic retired from his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Tomas Berdych at 7-6 (2), 2-0, surprising the world. He’d taken a medical timeout between sets, he’d watched his serve get broken, and then decided that he was too hurt to play on, and shook the umpire’s hand. The last time he walked off...