Over the course of his sterling career, Rafael Nadal has won 19 major titles, reached 27 Grand Slam finals, established himself as the mightiest competitor the game has yet known, and demonstrated a singularity of purpose in how he practices his craft. His combination of supreme physicality and incomparable mental

It was the least surprising of weekends, it was the most surprising of weekends. What was the best part of it? For me, it was the sight of Julia Goerges's father, Klaus, as he watched his daughter win the biggest tournament of her career before her home country fans in

You, the tennis fan tuning in without a care in the world, may think of this as the clay-court season. It may even be your favorite time of year. But for those of us who are paid to analyze the sport, the ides of April can bring with them a

Mardy by Pete Bodo MIAMI, Fla.—It's a measure of how much tennis has changed, even more than how far it has come as a popular spectacle, that on a day when Mardy Fish struggled to press forward as the American standard-bearer at the Miami Masters, his fans were routinely

NEW YORK -- Hard to believe this is the same Rafael Nadal who was home during the U.S. Open a year ago, nursing a bad left knee. Hard to believe this is the guy sent packing in the first round of Wimbledon in June, losing against someone ranked 135th. Looking

LONDON (AP) — The Latest from Wimbledon (all times local): 10:25 p.m. Novak Djokovic wants to play on Centre Court, too. Three-time champion Djokovic squeezed in his last-scheduled match on No. 1 Court on Wimbledon's 'manic Monday' just before darkness stopped play. Having played just one of his four matches

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) - Two hours before the Miami Open semifinal, Novak Djokovic practiced his returns in an empty stadium, the ball coming at him quickly because his hitting partner stood several feet inside the baseline to emulate big-serving John Isner. The drill helped. Djokovic achieved a breakthrough service

PARIS (AP) A year ago at this time, back home in Nashville, stuck wondering whether he'd ever make it back to the professional tour after a series of operations, Brian Baker did a favor for his father and uncle by taking the court for their entry in something called the

BRISBANE, Australia -- Serena Williams had a tough win over the woman she's predicting will one day top the rankings, setting up a semifinal match at the Brisbane International against current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. The reigning Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion showed plenty of emotion on key points

VINA DEL MAR, Chile -- Rafael Nadal wants to stop talking about the aching left knee that kept him away from the ATP Tour for just over seven months until his doubles victory Tuesday with Juan Monaco at a little-known clay court tournament in Chile. Nadal, whose inflamed knee has

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Top seed Marin Cilic of Croatia survived three match points in a third-set tiebreaker against Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. National Indoor Championships with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (7) victory Thursday. Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Tommy Haas withdrew late Thursday

By the end of Wimbledon, two players – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – had already locked up their spots at the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai. But with just about three weeks to ago before Shanghai begins, not a single other player has officially joined them. This year's unusually

Let’s start with a pop quiz: How many aces has Serena Williams hit this year? Who leads women’s tennis in percentage of service games held? Who breaks serve more often than any woman on tour? Who fights off the most break points? Whose second serve is the biggest liability? I’d

MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) Players may be trimming their spending on designer gear and watching with chagrin as their investments sag, but officials say tennis has largely been insulated from the global financial crisis. The sport's efforts to expand around the world have paid off with diversification that other sports can only

MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) Andy Murray understands what it will take to beat Roger Federer in the Australian Open final and finally fulfill the hopes of an entire nation. I'm going to need to play my best match ever,'' Murray said Saturday.That's what I plan on doing. If I do, I've

PARIS(AP) Serena Williams looked ill, and not only because she had lost five games in a row at the French Open. A trainer paid Williams a visit during a changeover, checked her temperature and gave her pills. Then came a third-set surge, and Williams beat 18-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on

PARIS(AP) For comic relief, Robby Ginepri did a couple of push-ups on center court during his fourth-round match Monday at the French Open. The laughs didn't last. Two points later Ginepri lost a pivotal game, and Novak Djokovic went on to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, eliminating the last American

WIMBLEDON, England(AP) The time Maria Sharapova spent away from her job made her enjoy it more. She's back at Wimbledon, healthy again and hoping to display the grass-court flair that helped her win the title in 2004 as a precocious 17-year-old. Sharapova started strong Tuesday, beating fellow Russian Anastasia Pivovarova

WIMBLEDON, England(AP) When it was finally over - after five sets, 183 games and more than 11 hours of play over three days - John Isner collapsed on his back on the grass as if he had just won the Wimbledon title. It was only a first-round match, but an

WIMBLEDON, England(AP) Justine Henin sweated a bit Wednesday at sunny Wimbledon, and not just because of the warm weather. The seven-time Grand Slam champion twice was broken serving for the match, then regrouped and advanced to the third round by beating Kristina Barrois 6-3, 7-5. Playing first on cozy Court