Novak Djokovic had just wrapped up last season by winning the ATP Finals for a record sixth time when, rather than looking ahead to 2023, his mind immediately went back to the way 2022 began: He was unable to compete in last year's Australian Open after being deported from the

LONDON—For the second time in three seasons, a Russian baseliner is undergoing a career transformation at a Grand Slam. Just as a then-ranked world No. 114, Aslan Karatsev, stifled the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov at the 2021 Australian Open, 92nd-ranked Roman Safiullin is turning heads at Wimbledon.

NEW YORK— Watching Daniil Medvedev labor through match after match at this US Open, it seemed that he was playing in borrowed time. This industrious fellow had endured three debilitating weeks in a row on hard courts over the summer, reaching the finals of Washington and Montreal, then winning his

PARIS—The men’s version of this year’s French Open feels like a peak moment, a summit, one that we’ve been building to for a long time. The Old Masters, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have taken their hits but they’re still surviving; if their quarterfinal wins are any evidence, they’re as

PARIS (AP) Sometimes, when everything's on the line, it's easier to play like there's nothing to lose. Novak Djokovic knows that drill. Four times on a gray, drippy Tuesday at Roland Garros, Djokovic got ready to serve on the red clay and listened to the French fans cheer against him,

MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) Vera Zvonareva ran off 11 straight games in a 6-3, 6-0 win over Marion Bartoli at the Australian Open on Tuesday to reach the semifinals for the first time in 25 majors. The 24-year-old Russian's best performance in six previous trips to Melbourne was the fourth round -

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Rafael Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon because of a torn abdominal muscle on Thursday, a day before he was supposed to play Nick Kyrgios in the semifinals. It is the first time since 1931 that a man pulled out of the oldest Grand Slam tournament before a

“I can’t lie to myself,” Rafael Nadal said of his decision to withdraw from Indian Wells on Wednesday evening. He had arrived early to try to be ready, and even played an exhibition with Carlos Alcaraz over the weekend. But the 37-year-old couldn’t overcome his latest hip injury in time

The last time Roger Federer lost before the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam, Facebook was three months old, Rafael Nadal had never played, let alone won, the French Open, and John Kerry looked like he might become the next President of the United States. That defeat came in 2004 to

Justine Henin has announced her retirement from tennis for the second time, saying her elbow injury will no longer allow her to compete successfully. In a statement on her website, Henin said, "I spent the last days undergoing various medical tests and they have confirmed that my elbow has been

Professional tennis made its return this week with the WTA event in Palermo, as did a handful of Top 20 women’s players—and it’s only a matter of time before the biggest names are back on court, too. So in case you’ve forgotten, here are the Top 5 players on the

MELBOURNE—Tennis aficionados had been waiting for this battle of the ball carvers, and for once a highly anticipated match went beyond its billing. Bernard Tomic and Alexandr Dolgopolov carved the ball every which way, and often the same way, for dozens of shots at a time. Much of the match

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Just as she was starting to show glimpses of returning to form, Venus Williams was let down by her serve and her concentration at crucial times and lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Ekaterina Makarova on the first day of the Australian Open. The No. 22-seeded Makarova upset

Novak Djokovic swiveled his neck in circles and shifted from side to side, standing in Julien Benneteau's shadow, while the Frenchman gnawed at his fingernail as the pair awaited the call before stepping onto stadium court this afternoon. It was the last time the world No. 2 would trail the

• PicBy Pete Bodo* Less than a month after this year's trophy presentation at Wimbledon, the top players will return to London and the All England Club for another go-round on the grass. But this time the stakes will not be a couple of million dollars but the shiny gold

Serena Williams seemed destined to make history from the time she first stepped onto the court at the U.S. Open. Instead, she found herself planted firmly on a list no athlete wants to be: A victim of one of the bigger upsets in sports history. Roberta Vinci's stunning win Friday

PARIS (AP) At the outset, Serena Williams was grimacing and cursing and, worst of all, losing by a lot. Then, suddenly, the 19-time Grand Slam singles champion was putting shots right where she wanted, imposing her will as only she can. And the only anger Williams displayed was directed at

PARIS (AP) -- Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak to 21 matches and stayed on course for a third straight Paris Masters title after beating Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in the semifinals on Saturday. After defeating Wawrinka for the second time since losing to him in the French Open

The women’s draw for Roland Garros is out, and there are a number of tricky first-round matches, particularly for some of the biggest names in the game. Here are five to keep an eye on:

Rafael Nadal will not make the trip to the U.S. for the Miami Open, sharing on Twitter that his efforts will be focused on getting healthy for the his most dominant surface. “Sad to announce that I won’t be playing in Miami, a city that I love,” he wrote. “I