When it comes to preparing for Grand Slam tournaments, the usual, methodical progression in tennis calls for practice matches followed by tune-up events, leading up to the big ones. But pandemic life has compressed so much that the 2020 tennis season now a cram course in competition. Ragged and rough,

Even in the highly predictable age of the Big 4, tennis can still remind you, every once in a while, that anything is possible. But few things have seemed less possible, at the start of a week, than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga finishing it with wins over Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Grigor

MELBOURNE—This weekend Roger Federer claimed that he was confident enough in his ability, and knowledgeable enough about his game, to forego any match warm-ups before this year's Aussie Open. So far, it's hard to fault his logic. Federer, who has had some trouble finding his best form in opening rounds

NEW YORK—If you've watched any of the first three night sessions of this year's U.S. Open, you could be forgiven for thinking that the top seeds are simply invincible. Seriously—look at the scores the winners have posted, and tell me why the USTA shouldn't just give them byes into the

The scoreboard screen behind the baseline displayed billboard-sized images of the players on Stuttgart's center court, illustrating the competitive quandary Marion Bartoli confronted. The world No. 7 spent the day feeling Mona Barthel's presence over her shoulder and looking overwhelmed facing the powerful German, who played larger-than-life tennis. The 21-year-old

Like all 12-year-olds, Jimmy Connors dreamed big. “My real goal in tennis,” the ambitious boy from Belleville, IL, told Dave Wohlfarth for the June 1965 issue of TENNIS Magazine, “is to play in England and to play on the Davis Cup team. I want to play for my country.” Unlike

MELBOURNE, Australia -- The scorching weather finally brought play to a halt on the fourth day of the Australian Open when the temperature topped 43F (109F), but not soon enough for some players who criticized officials for not stopping matches earlier. The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park

NEW YORK—Playing catch-up throughout the match, Grega Zemlja finally had Roger Federer where he wanted him: At the net and seemingly on the defensive. Then Federer bounced to his right, picked off the pass, and blocked a forehand volley into the open court in an exchange that typified the match.

It’s been more than 35 years since Ronald Reagan stated, during his first inaugural address, “Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.” We discovered heroes in every state, starting with the determined 69-year-old who won a match

The sounds of a professional tennis match are unmistakable: the pop of the ball off the strings, the intonations of a chair umpire, the crowd cheering in the stands. South Korea’s Duckhee Lee, a 19-year-old who rose to a career-high rank of No. 130 in the world earlier this year,

With history on the line, Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter battled for the 2000 Wimbledon title. At the 1999 Wimbledon tournament, Pete Sampras—one of the greatest champions to ever step foot on Centre Court—made history with his win over Andre Agassi in the final as he tied Roy Emerson with

There’s dissension in the ranks of Robert Kendrick’s rooting section. “Come on, Robert, be scrappy!” one of them yells, to the dismay of the woman down the bench from him, who may or may not be his sister. “Uh . . . scrappy?” Whatever the merits of the word, it

Good afternoon everyone – the on and off-court festivities have concluded for the day here in Stowe, so let’s dig a bit deeper into what occurred on the first day of the United States/Russia Fed Cup semifinal. As a journalist, it’s nice to see your assertions and hypotheses backed up

The Sony Ericsson Open is known for its flashy and unusual promotional events and remarkable photo ops. And now that sports-marketing giant IMG has ownership of the tournament, it is getting even more glamorous. Each year, a select group of players is chosen to swim with the dolphins at the

The biggest attractions in tennis play on Centre Court, and there’s been none bigger at this year’s Championships than John Isner. So it came as a surprise to see the man of the hour scheduled on Court 5 for his second-rounder against Thiemo de Bakker. Did he need to hit

Playing his first match in almost two and a half months, Novak Djokovic made a blistering return to action at the Laver Cup on Saturday night, needing just 72 minutes to defeat US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Djokovic hadn’t played a match since winning the

🎥 WATCH: Destination Tennis, The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman ⬆️⬆️⬆️

After a remarkable week-and-a-half in Key Biscayne, it all comes down to this match in the Florida sun. Victoria Azarenka knows she’s the favorite going into her Miami Open final against Svetlana Kuznetsova on Saturday. Vika is ranked more than 10 sports higher than Sveta, she’s 21-1 on the season,

The sartorial transformation of Roger Federer is complete, from head to—now—toe. On Wednesday, in his first tour-level match since both the 2020 Australian Open and the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Federer trotted around the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha not with Nike on his feet, but

Unbeaten beneath a roof this year, a foggy Petra Kvitova looked like a woman in need of fresh air as she motioned for her coach while walking to her courtside seat in the fifth game. It was a premature request: The game wasn’t yet over and the distracted Kvitova returned