Tennis Page 84 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
What The Hell Did Rafael Nadal Do To This Ball?
Allow me to remove my foot from my mouth: Rafael Nadal is still the King of Clay, fine. He claimed his 10th title at Monte Carlo last week, and looks set to take his 10th Barcelona Open title too, unless Andy Murray snaps out of his daze or Dominic Thiem manages the upset. Maybe his 10th French Open...
Andy Murray Is Out Here Breaking Ankles
Andy Murray, who’s looked sloppy and out of sorts in today’s Barcelona Open quarterfinal, broke Albert Ramos-Vinolas’s ankles on this point in the final set, and it may have even saved his match. As the chuckling commentators note, this is tennis’s equivalent of a crossover. ...
Report: Maria Sharapova Won't Get A Wild Card For The French Open
How will women’s tennis welcome back Maria Sharapova—formerly its richest star, if not its most successful—after her 15-month ban for breaking its doping rules, however absurd those might be? Her return was bound to be messy. Because all of Sharapova’s ranking points dissolved during her absence fro...
Maria Sharapova Is An Annoying Brand, Not A Vile Cheater
Maria Sharapova is set to return to competition on Wednesday at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart after receiving a wild card entry to the tournament. It will be her first tournament since she was banned from tennis for 15 months after testing positive for a banned substance last January. While th...
Hall Of Famer Ilie Nastase Suspended From Tennis For Sexist And Racist Comments
Ilie Nastase is best known as a former world No. 1 who won the U.S. Open in 1972 and rolled through the 1973 French Open without dropping a set, becoming the first man to complete that feat. He is now the captain of Romania’s Fed Cup team, and made some much uglier additions to his résumé at a compe...
Maria Sharapova's Agent Blasts Players Criticizing Her Wild-Card Return
Following a two-year ban for doping, which was reduced to 15 months on appeal, Maria Sharapova is set to return to competition next week after she received a wild-card entry in Stuttgart. She was also given wild cards to Madrid and Rome. A handful of prominent players have questioned Sharapova recei...
Here Are Gorgeous Photos Of The Monte-Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, is perhaps the most photogenic and least accessible of all tennis tournaments. Live vicariously through these shots of elite athletes competing in a place where rich people go to lose enormous sums....
The Sun Set On Novak Djokovic
If you make a living standing outside and hurling a small yellow sphere up above your head so you can hit it down, sometimes an enormous yellow sphere is right behind it, and you just have to find a way to cope. Novak Djokovic, squinting and awash in light, couldn’t, as he lost to David Goffin 6-2, ...
I'm Jealous Of This Photographer's Situation
This towel-draped snowbird, posted up on the clay courts of Monte Carlo snapping photos of some of the world’s best tennis players, is my new hero. If you know who she is, please tell me so I can follow her life’s path. ...
Grigor Dimitrov Just Can't Seem To Break Through
Grigor Dimitrov, the talented but streaky member of a generation of men’s tennis players that’s been largely overshadowed by the longevity of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic cohort, looked poised to break out in 2017 when he started the year by winning 17 of 18 matches, knocking off three top-10 seeds al...
Serena Williams Is Definitely Pregnant, Definitely Won The Australian Open While Pregnant
Hours after Serena Williams, the most dominant tennis player of all time, appeared to announce her pregnancy by sharing and then deleting a photo of herself in a bathing suit captioned “20 weeks,” her publicist confirmed that she is indeed expecting her first child. ...
What It’s Like To Announce A Tennis Match That's Been Interrupted By Loud Sex Noises
Mike Cation heard a moan, and figured it was just two people in the stands talking loudly. The tennis announcer, working the USTA Pro Circuit’s Sarasota Open on Tuesday, looked at the crowd and saw everyone looking around. Then it became clear: This wasn’t two people talking. This was two people fuc...
The King Of Clay Is Looking A Little Wobbly
All the conditions seemed fit for Rafael Nadal. After so many hardcourt disappointments, a return to his dream surface, red clay, where every ball sails slow and high; a tournament where he’s posted a merciless 58-4 record in his career; no Roger Federers looming in the draw. Basically an invitation...
Serena Williams Appears To Announce Pregnancy
Serena Williams, the best female tennis player of all time and current world No. 2, seemingly announced today that she is expecting a child in a since-deleted snap. After winning the Australian Open at the end of January, Williams hasn’t played a single match, pulling out of Indian Wells and the Mia...
Sex Noises Briefly Derail Tennis Match In Florida
A tennis match today between Frances Tiafoe and Mitchell Krueger at the Sarasota Open was temporarily interrupted by the sounds of some fucking....
Novak Djokovic Is Breakable
Taking the full view of 2017—the year of his supposed decline—it would have been perfectly on brand for Novak Djokovic to lose his first match on clay. When Gilles Simon took the second set here at Monte Carlo, that outcome seemed plausible. When Simon, hitting some astonishingly clean groundstrokes...
Tennis Player Hurtles Into The Stands, Hits The Ball Back Into Play
As if to prove that Roger Federer isn’t the only 35-year-old holding onto his gifts, French veteran Nicolas Mahut is still looking spry on the doubles court, doing the incredible....
Exasperated Columnist Begs Australia To Please, Please Ignore Nick Kyrgios
Here are the values at risk if you find Nick Kyrgios interesting, or, worse, deign to root for him: “self-respect,” “the surrender of your pride,” “Australia’s moral bottom line,” “our national sporting principles.”...
Nick Kyrgios Is Now A Used Car Salesman
Many athletes enjoy an enormous platform, capable of reaching millions. This platform can be used for platitudes about working hard and competing, or, in the case of tennis player Nick Kyrgios, for selling a used car....
Reporter Congratulates Loser Rafael Nadal On Win
Right after losing the Miami Open title to Roger Federer in straight sets Sunday, Rafael Nadal was asked how he felt about his “win.”...