As Melanie Oudin was celebrating her fourth-round victory over Nadia Petrova, her coach, Brian de Villiers, spoke about his pupil’s development, and why she wasn't a high-rated junior prospect. De Villiers, who teaches at a club in Atlanta, has coached Oudin since she was 9 years old, an uncommonly long

MADRID (AP)—Roger Federer rallied to beat Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) at the Madrid Open on Wednesday to narrowly avoid his earliest tournament exit in two years. Federer hasn't been eliminated in the second round of a tournament since the 2010 Rome Masters, and the 16-time Grand Slam champion

1. Despite the straight-set score of 6-3, 7-6 (5), Maria Sharapova played one of her best matches against Serena Williams. But there were two problems for the world No. 2. First, Serena Williams played one of her best matches against Maria Sharapova. Second—and this relates to the first problem—Serena snuffed

PARIS (AP)—Marin Cilic became the first seeded player to be eliminated from the French Open, losing to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 Sunday in the first round. The 19th-seeded Cilic, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, is a former top-10 player. But he

PARIS (AP)—Gael Monfils fought back from 5-1 down in the first set to beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters on Tuesday. The 12th-seeded Frenchman, runner-up to Novak Djokovic last year, will next face Fernando Verdasco of Spain. Verdasco needs to

SPECS Price: $249 Head Size: 97 sq. in. Length: 27 in. Weight: 12.2 oz. Balance: 7 pts. HL Swingweight: 340 RA: 61 Beam Width: 21mm

Given that Victoria Azarenka has always been a player with enormous potential, the fact that at 22 she had yet to contest a Grand Slam final was either disturbing or, to some, a sign that she probably had some fatal flaw. But in the final of the 25th Grand Slam

MIAMI, Fla.—Whatever happens in Sunday’s Miami men’s final, neither fans of No. 1 Rafael Nadal nor No. 2 Novak Djokovic will be able to claim fatigue as an excuse. Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych took care of that when they both pulled out of their Friday semifinals, giving the finalists

Hi everyone. I'm dug into the writing/editing bunker today, so there won't be a red-meat post. But the good news is that one of my chores today is writing up the lengthy meeting El Jon and I had with Toni Nadal during the US Open. I need to save the

Grimacing through gritted teeth, a weary Grigor Dimitrov withstood leg cramps, crashes to the court, lost opportunities, and the stubborn surge of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Through it all, the 21-year-old never lost his appetite for the fight. Persevering through a punishing physical test, Dimitrov fought off three set

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

Given that Victoria Azarenka has always been a player with enormous potential, the fact that at 22 she had yet to contest a Grand Slam final was either disturbing or, to some, a sign that she probably had some fatal flaw. But in the final of the 25th Grand Slam

Sydney suits these two. Li Na won her first Premier title here last year, and Victoria Azarenka reached at least the quarterfinals in two earlier appearances. They weren’t even supposed to be in this final, not after being breadsticked in the first set of their semifinal matches, but here they

Each day during the Australian Open, Richard Pagliaro will preview three must-see matches—and offer his predictions. 1. (2) ROGER FEDERER vs. BERNARD TOMIC Third Round; Rod Laver Arena, first night match Head-to-head: Federer leads 3-0

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

NEW YORK—Italians are famous for their sense of style and dramatic flair, and lately Italy’s female players have found a way to bring those qualities to bear on the tennis court, transforming them from merely “interesting” players into highly successful ones. The first in this recent wave were Flavia Pennetta

Mornin', everyone. Just a few thoughts, only indirectly related to Roland Garros, to set the table for y'all for the day's actions (Rosangel has been relieved of her posting duties for the rest of the tournament; her heart just isn't into it, and we all know about that, right?). I

98695336 by Pete Bodo You have to hand it to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal; they sure know how to work the dramatic moment. They meet today for the first time in about a year, exactly a year, if you're observing the Gregorian calendar (the one named for Greg Rusedski,

If you didn’t know better while following the score of the David Ferrer vs. Juan Martin del Potro match at the ATP World Tour Finals, you might have guessed that that Ferrer is 6’6” and del Potro is 5’9”, when in reality those figures are reversed. The harsh truth is

Perhaps newly elected Pope Francis petitioned for a little divine intervention on behalf of his Argentinian countryman Juan Martin del Potro. Surely, the Lord knew del Potro needed when it came to his history with Andy Murray. Del Potro, the gentle giant with the meat-and-potatoes game, has been consistently flummoxed