Bursting off the baseline, Novak Djokovic made another pulsating dash to snare a drop shot and nudge an acute-angle reply. Stanislas Wawrinka stabbed a stretch volley into the open court for the winner, then stared at the opponent whose squealing sneakers were the soundtrack to this match and finally cracked.

MONACO -- Novak Djokovic began the defense of his Monte Carlo Masters title in flamboyant style Tuesday, taking only 45 minutes to beat Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-0 and maintain his perfect record against the Spaniard. The second-ranked Serb won 11 consecutive games and improved to 6-0 against Montanes, who has

PARIS (AP) -- For all the problems facing Taylor Townsend on Wednesday at the French Open, the 18-year-old American's first Grand Slam tournament, she always had her notebook to offer comfort and counsel. So along the way to beating 20th-seeded Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Rafael Nadal is counting on antibiotics to control his appendicitis so he can get through the Shanghai Masters this week. The second-ranked Nadal began feeling pain in his abdomen late Saturday, and the next day went to the hospital where the doctors confirmed he had the early

VIENNA (AP)—David Ferrer came from a break down in the final set to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3) on Saturday and set up a final against Andy Murray at the Erste Bank Open. Top-seeded Ferrer will appear in his fourth final of the season. He is

SINGAPORE—Serena Williams has been off her game plenty of times before, but the 18-time Grand Slam champion rarely plays horribly. But in her 6-0, 6-2 loss to Simona Halep at the WTA Finals, she never seemed to wake up and, simply put, couldn’t keep her shots in the court. Without

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) For more than four hours, American qualifier Tim Smyczek fought desperately for every point against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, chasing down everything the 14-time Grand Slam champion threw at him. Then, with No. 3-ranked Nadal serving at 6-5 in the fifth set, he gave his

From the top-ranked Russian's icy stare to a decorated champion's confidence-deficit disorder, the Spin's latest Fourhand takes on real and perceived shortcomings concerning some of the ATP and WTA's top guns: RAFANATICAL Rafael Nadal, 14-time Grand Slam singles champion, admitted to recent breaches in his usually steely in-match self-confidence (hat

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) Roger Federer will face Rafael Nadal in a final for the first time in 2 1/2 years on Sunday. The tennis greats both had straight-sets wins Saturday to set up a Swiss Indoors title match that is their first on-court meeting since January 2014, and first final

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) Sixth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France rallied past James Duckworth of Australia 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) to advance to the second round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Mannarino was the only seeded player in action and voiced his displeasure over

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) The tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open criticized the WTA Tour on Sunday, saying women's pro tennis players ''ride on the coattails of the men'' while describing them as ''physically attractive and competitively attractive.'' Raymond Moore, a 69-year-old former touring pro from South Africa, oversees

Sam Groth and Nicole Gibbs are giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional tennis all year long in My Tennis Life. To read more updates from Sam and Nicole, go to TennisChannel.com. Hola! I've just landed in Mexico after a 14 hour travel day from Drummondville to

Novak Djokovic is searching for his game and searching for answers following a three-set unravelling in the quarterfinals of the French Open. Djokovic led 4-2 during a tight first set against Dominic Thiem, but dropped the third 6-0 in a surprisingly one-sided defeat to the 23-year-old Austrian. "I play a

Bernard Tomic turned heads—not for the first time—during Wimbledon when he said he was “bored” and “couldn’t find any motivation” following his first-round defeat to Mischa Zverev. The 24-year-old Australian also said during his news conference at the All England Club that winning no longer satisfies him. The admissions cost

MONACO (AP) — Rafael Nadal won nine straight games to open his match against Dominic Thiem, quickly advancing to the Monte Carlo Masters semifinals with a 6-0, 6-2 victory on Friday. The top-ranked Spaniard is on course for a record-extending 11th Monte Carlo title. Thiem, an Austrian who is seeded

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

Players completing their rain-delayed matches on Wednesday joined in the complaints about playing in wet conditions at the French Open. Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep criticized the tournament on Tuesday, with the pair saying the courts were not playable. Their matches were the only ones that were completed that day,

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The last time Mirjana Lucic-Baroni won a match at the Australian Open, Bill Clinton was in the White House. That was 1998. This week, in a span of three days, she's won two matches here, including a dominant 6-3, 6-2 win over third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska on

On Monday, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Stan Wawrinka, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, in the first round of the French Open. Wawrinka has had a difficult year, doing everything he can to work his way back to 100 percent health. The three-time Grand Slam champion hasn't been the same since

PRAGUE (AP) — Barbora Strycova and Katerina Siniakova won their singles for the Czech Republic to take a commanding 2-0 over the defending champion United States in the Fed Cup final on Saturday. Strycova rallied from a set down to defeat Sofia Kenin 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4. Siniakova stretched the