Vasek Pospisil is a confident and proud young man. And why wouldn’t he be? He’s a 6’4” stallion with a Wimbledon doubles trophy on his mantle. But unlike many other athletes, the maple syrup-chugging, mushroom-supplementing Canadian’s interests aren’t limited to crushing serves and sticking volleys. He is a natural-born leader.

There’s no time for rest on the WTA Tour. After last week’s thrilling 1000-level event in Doha, we’re right back at it with another, in Dubai. On Sunday, February 16th, the Dubai Duty Free Championships begins. This event has been interesting over the years. While Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina

The greats of every era get more interesting as they get older and the magic gets harder to summon. So it is with Roger Federer. He shrugged off his 30th birthday earlier this month by saying, `It's just a number that's changed,'' though he knows it's hardly the only thing

Maria Sakkai vs. Iga Swiatek In a rematch of their Doha semifinal in late-February, world No. 4 Iga Swiatek takes on world No. 6 Maria Sakkari. Swiatek emerged as the winner after never having won a set against Sakkari in their previous three meetings. It will be interesting to see

News, gossip and other items of interest from the world of tennis: Advantage: Mr. PresidentLet’s start this Backcourt off with the President of the United States. As you may have heard, he and the First Family are vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. On the first day, he and wife Michelle

It's always interesting to see how a relatively low-ranked player will respond when he's in a position to upset a better one, especially if the latter happens to be a big name. There's a point where the forehands and backhands don't have much to do with it, but nerves and

*96296773 by Pete Bodo It figures. Just as I'm getting ready to take a vacation with my family, things get interesting. Vera Zvonareva wins Pattaya City - again. What is she, the new Balazs Taroczy (he won Hilversum, aka the Dutch Open, a startling six times). Maybe they're going to

First, Ashleigh Barty opted out of the US Open for health and safety concerns earlier this week. Now, countryman Nick Kyrgios is joining the WTA's top-ranked player in taking the same approach. In an Instagram video uploaded by Uninterrupted, the 25-year-old disclosed he would not be making the trip for

Here comes Novak Djokovic. Again. Whatever peaks and valleys Djokovic may have traveled through over the course of a season—the peaks are always much more common than the valleys—you can count on him to make the race for No. 1 interesting at the end. Since 2011, he has finished either

WASHINGTON (AP)—Mardy Fish knows what he'd have to do for his ankle to heal. He's just not interested in doing it. Still feeling the effects of a right ankle injury sustained two weeks ago in Atlanta, the top-seeded American beat Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday night to advance to

PARIS—At her best, Jelena Jankovic’s defensive skills and counterpunching abilities can pose many interesting questions for Maria Sharapova. Now coming out of an extended slump, Jankovic showed she’s still capable of such interrogations—even if Sharapova can come up with all the answers, as she did today in a French Open

NEW YORK—Patience is a virtue, unless you've endured a decade toiling for an elusive Grand Slam semifinal. When Peng Shuai took her double-fisted shot at a major breakthrough, there was no time for tolerance. Contesting her first major quarterfinal in her 37th career Grand Slam appearance, Peng wasn't interested in

With the season's first major tournament now in the rear-view, we're coming up for air Down Under and presenting the most interesting statements players made at the 2016 Australian Open. Some of them are droll, while a few are downright mean. Still, others are introspective. The Spin takes all comers,

On Sunday, Rafael Nadal dispatched 20-year-old Sebastian Korda, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 to ease into the Roland Garros quarterfinals. In press, reporters grappled with enticing the Spaniard with new, interesting questions after yet another routine win. So things got a little weird. Here's one question that turned heads. Q: So at

Ranked No. 52 in January, Matteo Berrettini wasted no time climbing to the top of the men’s game. Berrettini, now No. 8 in the world, qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals thanks to Denis Shapovalov’s thrilling upset over Gael Monfils in Paris. Had Monfils won, Berrettini would have found himself

Each Thursday, Joel Drucker will look back at a moment in tennis that warrants remembrance. Some will be significant, others humorous, and many in between. It's Throwback Thursday, tennis-style. Nearly a decade later they would join forces, one coaching the other. But on this day in Key Biscayne, defending Miami

Here's my latest Deep Tennis Q & A column from over at No Mas. Click over there if you're also interested in a piece about how Roland Garros got its name, which my friend Dave wrote. I’ve always thought it was funny that the place, and the tournament, is a

Mornin', Tribe. One of the tough things about a Grand Slam is that you can't call attention to all the interesting or significant things that happen during a tournament, especially when they don't occur in the singles draws, or don't figure as "must tell" stories. Over the next few days,

NEW YORK—Interesting things happen when two talented players who are also flawed competitors are thrown a Grand Slam match with a quarterfinal berth at stake. It’s a little like jamming two tom cats into a sack and tying the top closed. We were presented with one of those matches today,