MELBOURNE—From my limited experience, it seems that the Aussie papers split the difference well. The trashy Murdochian tabloid mentality is still in evidence, but it comes with a less vicious edge than it does in the U.K. Meanwhile, the more serious columnists serve their opinions without the pomposity we’re used

Now that Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi have suffered early demises in D.C., let’s take a minute to look ahead. Monday will mark the return of the big boys to North America, as the summer’s first Masters event begins in Toronto and the U.S. Open Series hits high gear. Roger

After two weeks of rain and a week of floods, Roland Garros finally stumbled onto high ground on Friday. The four favored players in the singles semifinals did what they were supposed to do—turn in winning, and mostly outstanding, performances—to set up a strong pair of finals for the weekend.

LONDON (AP) In his first six months as president of the International Tennis Federation, David Haggerty has had anything but a quiet time settling into the new job. Not with allegations of match-fixing and corruption, Maria Sharapova's doping case, and disputes over prize money buffeting the sport. ''Yes, there were

"That’s what champions do": Of all the clichés associated with tennis, this one might be the most painful on the ears. Sometimes I feel like I will, literally, weep with gratitude when a commentator doesn't say these words after a great player makes a clutch shot. So I was happy

Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open on Monday and

For a few pure and shining moments on Monday in Paris, Rafael Nadal sloughed off the burdens of age and injury and played like the paragon who has claimed 14 Roland Garros singles titles. Serving in the fifth game of his first-round match with Alexander Zverev, the soon-to-be 38-year old

NEW YORK (AP)—Grit was not going to be enough to get Maria Sharapova through this one. Not with nine double-faults, including three in a row. Not with a total of 36 unforced errors. And certainly not with No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark across the net Monday in the fourth

The men concluded the first day of fourth-round play with two wildly entertaining matches. Once the second day got underway, the women answered with two of their own. First, Dominika Cibulkova got a step closer toward returning to the final with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over the unseeded but

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Rafael Nadal has a new injury scare—a tendon problem in his right knee that nearly forced him to forfeit a first-round match at the Australian Open that he managed to win easily. Roger Federer, defending champion Kim Clijsters and top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, also bothered by injuries coming into

I just played every point super tough, which I think you have to do against her. Jessica Pegula after her 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina

Okay, this may not be quite enough to make you rush out and find a tutor to each your child Hungarian, but sometimes knowing an obscure language has certain advantages. for instance, you can ignore the subtitles pasted on that obscure film that won the Palm D'bore medal at the

Tennis is not only the fastest moving sport, it’s also the one that moves most effectively on multiple fronts. This is something that critics who grumble about the lack of an off-season sometimes forget. You take a week’s vacation, far from newspapers and electronic devices (as I just did, sojourning

By TW Contributing Editor Rosangel Valenti ** Hi everyone. Pete is taking a break from Crisis Center duty this weekend, so you're hearing from me today and will again tomorrow. As always when in Crisis Center mode, we ask that the day's chat stays focused on tennis until the matches

Peter Bodo continues his year-end awards—12 in all, for 2012—with the best performances in doubles. He previously made selections for Coaches of the Year, which includes an explanation of the process and his choices for Player of the Year. You can see rest of the awards, and the dates they'll

Gkby Pete Bodo The ATP's year-end championships (officially the Barclay's ATP World Tour Finals, but that's for now; the name of the event has changed too often for us to feel it's a settled issue) is about to get underway, and one thing we know about this event is that

by Pete Bodo **LONDON—As little as two weeks ago, Rafael Nadal appeared ready to trade his Nike grass-court shoes for a pair of flip-flops, his specially concocted energy and recuperation drink for a pitcher of sangria, and his Babloat Aeropro Drive for a Shakespeare Ugly Stick. But it turns out

INDIANAPOLIS—A mere 28 hours before his 55th birthday, John McEnroe put on a marvelous display of finesse tennis in Indianapolis to take down Ivan Lendl and Jim Courier and claim the PowerShares QQQ Challenger title. Playing at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, New York Knicks fanatic McEnroe saw the Indiana Pacers' hardwood

Luke and I have been listening to a song lately called Cowboy Logic (hat tip to the composers, Don Cook and Chuck Rains). The lyrics go like this: This is a serviceable comparison for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it works whether you love

*96482432 by Pete Bodo Mornin', folks. A few notes before we get to the Fed Cup theme. Hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl last night. While my "Go canonized equines!" may have been obtuse, it wasn't intentionally so, nor an endorsement of the Colts. I was indeed a fence-sitter, although