I had hoped to write a hardcore piece looking into the relative importance of the serve and return of serve in today’s game. Doing text commentary on the Olympics last weekend had forced me to watch tennis in a way I never had before, because I had to think of

MELBOURNE—Every tennis fan knows that first-two-days-of-a-Slam feeling, the days when you can’t keep up. The days when you look up and see that the seventh seed, whom you had no idea was playing, was upset five hours ago, and that the up-and-comer you wanted to check out is two points

It’s strange to see a (1) next to Ana Ivanovic’s name—the Serb has been outside the Top 10 since June 2009, at one point falling to No. 63. Yet her nadir may have actually occurred during her halcyon days, when she was world No. 1. As the top seed at

I have a funny feeling that I know just what Thomas Hogstedt is not wanting to think, but thinking nonetheless, right now: “Okay, we’ve got her right where we want her!” The “we” would be coach Hogstedt and his protégé, Maria Sharapova. The “her” would be Serena Williams, who will

Carlos Alcaraz kept hopes of reaching a second consecutive Nitto ATP Finals semifinal alive on Wednesday, overcoming illness and Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 7-6 (8) to score his first win of the week and improve to 1-1 in the John Newcombe Group. "I surprised myself a lot, the way I played

This year’s Australian Open got off to an ominous start, with a match-fixing story that lasted all the way into week two. But the tournament finished in fine style, with a well-earned upset by the women's winner, and a pair of brilliant back-to-back performances by the men's. Here, in the

It’s been an historic summer, a tearful summer, a lordly summer. We’ll likely never witness a month of all-time achievements like the one we just saw from Roger Federer. But it’s also been one-sided summer, because the person who has defined this era with Federer, Rafael Nadal, has been missing.

Most times in a tennis match, a player is aware if he is or isn’t gaining traction. Rallies, points, games and sets give tangible signals of what’s occurred and, hopefully, if not conclusively, what’s to come. But when you play John Isner, clarity vanishes in the face of a playing

PARIS (AP) — Jelena Ostapenko is a young woman in a hurry. On the day she turned 20, Ostapenko became the first unseeded French Open finalist since 1983, using big and bold groundstrokes to end points lickety-split on the way to beating 30th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 7-6 (4), 3-6,

When Daniil Medvedev is on autopilot, is there anyone who can shut him down? We’ll find out if world No. 1 Novak Djokovic—a champion with his own zen-sational capabilities—has a yes answer come Sunday, after Medvedev reached his first Australian Open final with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Stefanos

“What’s wrong with U.S. tennis?” Among pundits and the American public, it’s a question that never goes out of style. I thought it might be different at this year’s Australian Open, a tournament in which 17 U.S. players reached the second round, four U.S. women made the second week, and

ROME, Italy— Rafael Nadal pulled off a vintage comeback at the Internazional BNL d’Italia, roaring back from a set down to defeat Zizou Bergs, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, score his 70th win in Rome, and book an intriguing second-round clash with No. 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz. WATCH: Rafa's incredible stop-drop-and-roll shot

Puncher vs. counter-puncher makes sense. One player attacks, the other uses that pace to fire back. Puncher vs. puncher isn’t as elegant, but you can certainly follow it. Two guys take turns belting the ball. Counter-puncher vs. counter-puncher is harder to figure. Neither can play their game. They’re robbed of

Roger Federer has been missing in action since Wimbledon, but he had plenty to say when Baseline caught up with him in April. Looking back, what he said was quite telling when you consider everything that has transpired since then. At that time, he was ranked No. 3 and deciding

By TW Contributing Editor, Andrew BurtonCreatureslightdark Morning, all. Yesterday saw an epic struggle between the forces of light and darkness. There are fundamentally two ways to win a tennis point: through an opponent's error, or through hitting the ball to a place where he or she can't get to it

From rapper Lil Wayne hyping up cult fave Jelena Ostapenko to singer P!nk meeting with both of the Ladies finalists, it’s been all about unexpected crossovers at Wimbledon this year. Add NBA player Jimmy Butler and Formula 1 star Lando Norris to the list: The Miami Heat small forward—a famous

Climbing the ladder to top-level professional tennis isn't supposed to be as easy as Emma Navarro has made it look over the last 18 months. The former NCAA champion hasn't skipped steps in her steady ascent on the WTA tour, and on Sunday at Wimbledon, she'll hope to level up

Even in the annals of the tennis rankings, there has rarely been anything quite like the scene currently unfolding at the top of the men's game. Five players, all Grand Slam champions, are all in the running for the No. 1 position. While Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic began the

*Okay, I don't have a lot of time here, but Bob - much reviled, equally beloved - transcribed a CBS-broadcast booth riff and posted it at my The Two Faces of Belgium post. It's been such a big hit (you should have heard L. Jon and Lisa Dillman and others

It wasn’t the French Open final, with a career Grand Slam as the big reward. But if you wanted to come up with an achievement that will resonate in history as fully as earning all four majors might, beating Roger Federer at Wimbledon in what will be remembered as one