It seems like just yesterday that we were in Paris celebrating the “Serbian spring”—those heady days in 2008 when Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, and Jelena Jankovic were fresh faces and the talk of the tennis world. That May, all three players burst through to the semifinals at Roland Garros, and

In the electronic age there's no such thing as yesterday, and every tomorrow is eternally today - if you want it to be. I engage in such Deep Thoughts because this morning, long before Svetlana Kuznetsova jerked us around on an emotional string even more effectively than she exercises opponents

It remains not just the largest hole in his resume, but the only one—unless you believe that Roger Federer absolutely, positively must win the ATP 250 in Kuala Lumpur in order to be taken seriously as one of the greatest players ever to swing a racquet. I refer to the

by Pete Bodo* PARIS—Svetlana Kuznetsova called it her "worst dream" and quickly amended it to "worse than the worst dream." There she was, multiple Grand Slam event champion and a recent French Open singles titlist (2009) on these same red-clay courts, a former world No. 2 and a player recently

It was a bitter moment for Robin Soderling. He had trod the sod at Wimbledon over six wild and woolly days, like the newly appointed Marshall in a frontier town. It was time, he appeared to think, to teach a lesson to that wild young cowhand, Nadal, who was runnin'

Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur will meet for the women’s title Saturday at Roland Garros. Reporting from Paris, Peter Bodo answered some questions about this surprising French Open final. * What do you think each player needs to do to win the match?* Well, job No. 1 for Francesca

Pic by Pete Bodo As Davis Cup wins go, it wasn't a particularly earth-shattering one, although it certainly required a game spirit and great bounce-back abilities from Roger Federer. The Swiss former No. 1 barely had time to recalibrate his fancy watch from New York to Sydney (Australia) time before

Having watched Kyle Edmund play quite a few matches during the 2018 season, I was convinced that he belonged among the Top 20 and believed he might well be ready to take his place among the elite Top 10. He peaked at No. 14 that October after opening his campaign

22 March 2012, 7:42 p.m., Key Biscayne, FL.—Backstage, beyond the alphabet soup of credentials, enclosed in a fluorescent-lit cell of a room deep within the catacombs of Crandon Park’s stadium court, 11 men in black shirts stand weaving. I’m here with Team Luxilon, the official tournament stringers—actually, not so much

In his post-match presser yesterday, Rafael Nadal was asked if he felt Federer was getting better on clay. He took the question head-on, much like he took Djokovic, gored him, and with one toss of his powerful neck, tossed him out of the tournament. He replied:

YESTERDAY (July 17) Philadelphia Freedoms d. Washington Kastles, 22-15 (OT) The Philadelphia Freedoms picked up their first win against the Washington Kastles in three tries this season with a dominating performance on Thursday night. The Kastles' first loss to a conference opponent this season came in stunning fashion, as the

82606947 by Pete Bodo Mornin'. The tropical rains that besieged the northeast these past few days finally seem to have moved on, and it's bright, sunny, cool and fresh here at the farm in game-rich Andes this morning. There's a kind of stillness about the day before a major event

Nole by Pete Bodo Novak Djokovic won the biggest tennis match of his life yesterday in Madrid. It isn't like the title, or even the win over world No. 1 Rafael Nadal trumps an Australian Open title, a Davis Cup championship, or back to back hard-court Masters wins (over the

Ki by Pete Bodo One of the more encouraging developments for U.S. tennis in recent weeks was the American sweep of the girls 18- and 16-and-under titles at the Orange Bowl, a junior event that ranks right up there with the Grand Slam youth tournaments as an indicator for future

As of last week, Roger Federer suddenly found himself with two more mouths to feed. So he did the responsible thing and got on a plane to find work in Italy at the Rome Masters. His first day on the job proved to be nightmare, though, as Jeremy Chardy showed

It had to happen, right? When Rafael Nadal went into this year’s French Open draw seeded sixth, we wondered what life would be like if the nine-time champ had to meet the No. 1 seed, Novak Djokovic, in the quarterfinals. Now we may find out. The 2014 finalists have fallen

Credit Swiss Davis Cup Severin Luthi with making a great decision sometime Friday night or this morning. After consulting with his players, Luthi decided to yank the scheduled doubles team Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer in favor of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. The net result: A decisive, 6-3, 7-5,

WIMBLEDON, England—We have heard a lot about how different this Olympic iteration of Wimbledon will be, but after spending the day at the tennis, it’s clear to me that the differences are both greater and more subtle than just alterations in signage and acceptable attire. On the surface, it’s really

There are certain things every player strives to do regardless of surface or the ambient conditions. Putting an acceptable percentage of first serves into play, even on slow clay, probably ranks as the first commandment of winning tennis. But every surface and tournament is different, and tends to put a

MIAMI, Fla.—Stanislas Wawrinka, having won the first set of his third-rounder against Edouard Roger-Vasselin, stood there as the second was about to begin, dressed in his national colors, white shorts and a shirt so red that if there were a self-respecting bull within 50 miles it would have commenced to