Hyeon Chung, it seemed, had played his part in the script, and he had played it well. But now it was time for him to step aside and let the star take over the stage. In front of a fully packed in Rod Laver Arena—with the Rocket himself in attendance—Chung

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open, the year's last Grand Slam tennis tournament (all times local): 11:40 p.m. Madison Keys grabbed the last four games to eliminate No. 4-seeded Elina Svitolina 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-4 and give the United States four women in the U.S. Open

"That’s where both Rafa and myself said, ‘OK, enough of this already.’ Let’s get back to 100 percent, enjoy tennis, enjoy the practice. Not just practice, treatment, match, treatment. All the time all you’re doing is fighting the fire.” When Roger Federer said these words near the end of the

NEW YORK—Jelena Jankovic isn’t happy. She throws her hand in the air and grumbles in Serbian toward the corner of the bleachers on little Court 4 here. It’s not clear if she knows anyone in that section, or if she just needs a place to aim her complaints. It’s also

It was a given that the story of the day would be the roof. Thunderstorms were in the forecast, and in the morning the All England Club slid its celebrated multimillion-dollar steel contraption across Centre Court. It may have been wishful thinking on their part. By the time a few

Note: This post has been simulcast over at Pete Bodo's blog. By this time at the Open I’m usually a little—OK, more than a little—burned out after two weeks in Queens. In the past, I’ve been tempted to phone in a post from the couch on Super Saturday. But that

WIMBLEDON, England—It’s Middle Sunday, and yes, both of those words are capitalized. Its a holy moment of rest for tennis writers, and anyone else who works at the All England Club every day of the fortnight. Wimbledon bowed to the forces of secularism—as well as NBC—when it allowed the men’s

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—The setting was pristine, as always, but the tennis on Monday was messy, sometimes ugly, and often surprising. How many times have two defending champions gone out in back-to-back matches this early? I’ll get to the biggest upset of the afternoon, Rafael Nadal’s loss to Alexandr Dogolpolov, tomorrow;

MELBOURNE—Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, it’s a special occasion by now, something outside the normal run of a tournament, even a Grand Slam. Their matches aren’t about No. 1, or even, to this viewer, about who’s the greatest tennis player ever. They feel like reverse exhibitions—exhibitions not for fun and

by Pete Bodo At some point, the superlatives fail you, and just putting them down on paper makes you feel like a phony because they're not supposed to roll off your tongue (or fingertips) left and right. They're called "superlatives" for a reason - and dispensing them as if they

After he startlingly lost in the French Open quarterfinals to Italy’s Marco Cecchinato, Novak Djokovic was in a state of utter despondency. He could not comprehend how that match got away from him in four sets. He wondered how in the world he had not advanced to the semifinals. He

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Only the trophy and the tears were missing from this latest Grand Slam installment of Rafa vs. Roger. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were on opposite sides of the net Thursday, meeting in the semifinals of the Australian Open. And Nadal was the winner again - for

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Maria Sharapova has avenged her Wimbledon loss to Petra Kvitova and returned to the Australian Open final for the first time since winning 2008 title. Sharapova broke Kvitova's serve in the last game to finish off a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory and set up a championship match

PARIS (AP) What a horrific dilemma this could be. The men's 100 meter sprint final and men's tennis final fall on the same day, Aug. 5, at the London Olympics. If forced, which would you miss: Usain Bolt possibly becoming the first man since Carl Lewis to win the 100

PARIS (AP) American teen Sloane Stephens and Maria Sharapova advanced on Friday, while Ana Ivanovic lost in the third round of the French Open. Stephens reached the fourth round by beating Mathilde Johansson of France 6-3, 6-2. Of the eight teenagers in this year's draw, the 19-year-old Stephens was the

PARIS (AP) Maria Sharapova is trying to break through at Roland Garros, while Rafael Nadal wants to make history there. Neither of the players ran into much resistance in their quarterfinal matches Wednesday - and now both are two wins from finishing the job. For Nadal, it would be a

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) Novak Djokovic brought some extra sports equipment to Wimbledon for the opening match at Centre Court on Monday: a golf club. And once he started playing tennis, the tournament's defending champion and top-seeded man probably wished he could take a mulligan. As something of an inside joke

Before there was Martina Hingis, tennis had another teenaged, horseback-riding Grand Slam champion who left the game too soon. Her name was Maureen Connolly, and she dominated women’s tennis for three years, until a 1954 riding accident ended her career at age 19. By then Connolly had become the second

MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) Whatever Maria Sharapova does at the Australian Open, she figures it'll be better than what she was doing last January when she should have been defending her title here. Sharapova was watching the season's first major on television from her home in Florida last year, tending to her

WIMBLEDON, England(AP) Now it's Maria Sharapova's turn to try to solve Serena Williams' serve on the slick grass of Wimbledon. Sharapova knows she can, because she has - even if it was a long time ago. Williams and Sharapova set up a fourth-round showdown at Wimbledon with straight-set victories Saturday.