INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—The best courts at the Grand Slams are, in no particular order of preference, Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park, the Grandstand at the U.S. Open, Court 3 at Wimbledon, and Court 2 at Roland Garros. They share many of the same traits. Each is either the third-largest

Yes, in between games, the DJ at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia—the Italian Open to us old-timers—revs up the crowd with 2 Unlimited’s 1990s synth-dance classic “Get Ready for This.” A favorite for decades in minor-league baseball parks across the USA, it was once judged to be the No. 1 “Jock

MELBOURNE—The novelist Graham Greene lived a life filled with more than its share of pain and ugliness, but he tried to leave all of that behind with his final book, which he insisted be published after his death. It was called A World of My Own: A Dream Diary. Over

Messy, up and down, briefly brilliant, at times hard to make sense of, at other times totally predictable, and a dogfight throughout, the last match of the women’s season was a microcosm of the WTA year as a whole. Kim Clijsters, having not played at all since the U.S. Open,

Is it time, after their go-the-distance finales at the U.S. Open and Shanghai, to start thinking of Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray as the next great tennis rivalry? It may already be the best matchup of 2012: The Scot and the Serb have played five times, and they've split two

Wimbledon is over, but there’s no way it could end here without one last Keeping Tabs for the road. One last, sad, Keeping Tabs for the road. As much as the papers and the general public in Great Britain may rip him, you do get the sense that the nation

Yes, this column’s headline is also the name of a Journey song. It was the first thing that came to mind when I tried to think of a phrase to encapsulate the pro tours this week. Not Shakespeare, not Hemingway, not even Jagger/Richards—Journey. That gives you an idea of what

“Everything about this is different,” Tennis Channel’s Brett Haber said halfway through Andrey Rublev’s 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Rafael Nadal in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals on Friday. (Extended highlights above.) The most obvious difference, of course, was the result, which was full of firsts. Rublev recorded his first win

If you like your tennis tournaments to have the air of a three-ring circus, this has been the week for you. The Masters event in Bercy has stood logic on its head on a daily basis. Take the bittersweet case of local journeyman Julien Benneteau. Buoyed by his home-country crowd

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

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—The rematch of the longest match in tennis history certainly was a lot shorter. A year after needing 11 hours, 5 minutes spread over three days to finish a match that ended 70-68 in the fifth set, John Isner required only about two hours and a mere three

PARIS (AP)—Needing one point for an upset win over Justine Henin at the French Open, Sam Stosur wavered, hitting a double-fault. The Australian took a deep breath and tried again. This time she launched a confident serve into the corner, setting her up for an overhead slam to seal the

PARIS—For years, I used to walk out to the side courts in the early days of tournaments and look for Li Na. She wasn’t around too long back then; semifinal and final-round appearances were rare for her, so I had to take my chance while I had it. What I

Greetings, everyone. Yesterday in Melbourne, the top players put the hammer down. After two exciting and sometimes unpredictable rounds for all but the dominant ATP and WTA stars, order was restored. At least temporarily. Granted, there were a few exciting three-set (WTA) or longer encounters between well-matched opponents. But by

MIAMI, Fla.—I don’t know how you say “anarchy” in Serbian, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were spelled J-A-N-K-O-V-I-C. Is there a player out there who can so blithely and comprehensively upset the beautiful internal logic and orderliness built into this game? Jelena Jankovic ought to be waving a

Picby Pete Bodo If you were present when Svetlana Kuznetsova won the French Open in 2009, on a sunshot day when the jam-packed Court Philippe Chatrier resembled a bowl of multi-colored gumdrops, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was someone else out there, facing off this morning against

As most of you know, I met with Pete Sampras on Tuesday in Los Angeles, more or less wrapping up some loose ends for his autobiography, which will be available next summer, in time for the US Open, perhaps even Wimbledon. We have a good working draft that still needs

Venus by Bobby Chintapalli, Contributing Writer Venus Williams is going through a (tennis) midlife crisis. I’m sure of it. Not sure of it in the way I might be if Venus told me so herself. More in the way of someone who’s watched Venus for a while, someone who knows

NEW YORK—The success of Chinese women in recent years often raised the question: What about the Chinese men? How come the ATP tour doesn’t have three, four, or five Chinese players who regularly appear in the main draw at the majors? The topic is a little too broad to broach

by Pete Bodo Q: What are the chances that Caroline Wozniacki, 2010's No. 1 ranked player, will silence all the skeptics by winning the Australian Open? A: Well, a few days ago the prognosis was certainly good, despite the hex that seems to befall players who earn the No. 1