Was she retiring? Was she ill? Was she rolling out a new line of athlete-approved candy? Speculation grew frenzied as Maria Sharapova walked across what she would later call a “fairly ugly carpet” and stepped to the microphone in a Los Angeles hotel ballroom on Monday. But as she unfolded

It’s still possible, at least theoretically, to make a case that tennis isn't a good fit for the Olympics, though you won’t read it in this column—if the Games are good enough for Serena Williams andRoger Federer (and Rafa and Novak and pretty much every other player), they’re good enough

Serena Williams served for the match before bottoming out against Vera Zvonareva during Wednesday's Eastbourne clash, a rematch of the 2010 Wimbledon final. On a second set point, Zvonareva fired an inside-out forehand, wrong-footing Williams with such severity that she lost her footing and fell on her butt behind the

By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan Last Week's & This Week's Tournament Wimbledon (ATP & WTA - Grass - Wimbledon, England) - Gentlemen's Singles - Ladies' Singles - Gentlemen's Doubles - Ladies' Doubles** - Website - TV Schedule By the Letter T...ennis Channel requested that Justin Gimelstob make a "substantial"

From individuals to organizations, weekend warriors to professional players, minute observations to big-picture ideas, tennis has been top of mind across the board over the past two years. “I feel like this is the tennis boom part two,” says Trey Waltke, general manager of the Malibu Racquet Club in southern

The third round of action at the BNP Paribas Open features some incredible matches. I’m most intrigued by an exciting showdown between Linda Noskova and Iga Swiatek. This is a rematch of their third-round encounter at the Australian Open, where the 19-year-old shocked the world with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

“Nice match on clay, first match. Jeez! First match here, tough.” Jessica Pegula’s post-match reaction said it all Tuesday night. The world No. 5 lost the first five games of her clash with fellow American Amanda Anisimova, before battling to a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory at the Credit One

Before each day's of play at the Australian Open, we'll preview and predict three must-see matches. There are at least two hurdles you must clear to win a major title. First, you must be able to perform well in the tournament’s biggest arena. On Friday, with his four-set win over

TOKYO (AP) — Novak Djokovic's return from injury had a stuttering start at the Japan Open, with defeat Monday in the opening round of doubles. Yet for the No. 1-ranked Djokovic, playing at the tournament for the first time, the result was less important than emerging from the match unscathed.

1. Intimidate with attitudeSince winning the 2007 Australian Open, Serena Williams has improved her conditioning and returned to the top of the game. But the most important part of her resurgence, I believe, is the confi dence she regained in Melbourne last year. For a while, Williams seemed dejected

It might have taken the casual observer a few moments to identify which of the players was which, but in a battle of young, on-the-rise, blonde Germans, Angelique Kerber beat Sabine Lisicki, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-5. Lisicki, two years younger, had more experience on this particular stage, playing her third

The WTA tour is planning a significant increase in televised matches as well as other changes, as described by WTA CEO Stacey Allaster just before the off-season began. The governing body wants "all 2,000 main-draw singles matches on the WTA across our 54 tournaments" shown either on television or online

PARIS (AP) The next player facing Novak Djokovic as he seeks to win the French Open for the first time is an opponent he's never played before. Thanasi Kokkinakis, who turned 19 last month, is one of two teenagers looking to reach the fourth round. The 84th-ranked Australian has never

Austrian Sandro Kopp is experiencing one of the most successful stretches of his tennis career. The 24-year-old fought his way through the qualifying rounds at last week's Roma Garden Open, then powered past Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan, No. 3 seed Hady Habib of Lebanon and local favorite Federico Arnaboldi to

Daniil Medvedev bleeds, literally, for his first title of 2022 “The good thing about tennis is that in one week you can turn around your season,” Daniil Medvedev said after his 7-5, 6-0 win over Cam Norrie in the Los Cabos final on Saturday. This is true, but it’s not

“I’ve never actually experienced playing a final with a full stadium,” Iga Swiatek said after her 6-2, 6-2 win over Belinda Bencic in the final of the Adelaide International on Saturday. By now, the pandemic has gone on long enough that it’s the packed arenas, rather than the empty ones,

(2) Maria Sharapova vs. (3) Victoria Azarenka Head to Head: Azarenka leads 7-5 The baseline becomes a measuring stick when Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova face off. Both women are aggressive baseliners who willingly give up ground about as often as the Mona Lisa flashes a frown. Two former No.

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Listen to Novak Djokovic’s opponents explain why he is as successful as he is — why he will begin his pursuit of a fifth consecutive and eighth overall Wimbledon championship on Monday; why he also will be attempting to claim an Open era-record 24th Grand Slam

With Roger Federer hanging up his racquet until January and the US Open debate raging on, maybe the best thing a tennis fan can do right now is put the future aside and concentrate on the present. That’s where this weekend’s special events come in. Three of them will be

These are officially the dog days, a cryptic designation that at least makes sense in tennis, because August marks the reappearance of the game’s biggest dogs. Last week we saw the return of Roddapova to the winner’s circle; this week we get something even better, our first televised look at