LONDON—On the eve of his 35th birthday, there is no mid-life crisis for Radek Stepanek. Or, it passed. He is happy with new girlfriend Petra Kvitova and flourishing with his partner on court, Leander Paes, after breaking up with former pro Nicole Vaidisova and overcoming a career-threatening injury that might

*93325782 by Pete Bodo The faces today said it all, as far as I was concerned. There was Robin Soderling, crouched low to receive Rafael Nadal's serve at match point, the trace of a smile on his lips, eyes alert and glittery in the manner of an opportunistic wolf staring

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—“How does he do that?” Timea Bacsinszky used to wonder years ago, as she watched her countryman Roger Federer win match after match after match while hardly seeming to break a sweat. Bacsinszky still doesn’t know how the Maestro does his conducting, exactly. But she likes to think

When you think of Monte Carlo, who do you think of? The good Grace Kelly, maybe; the bad Princess Stephanie; the totally dominant Rafael Nadal. But the most famous and infamous ghost of the Mediterranean remains that of Bjorn Borg. In his cherubic Teen Angel days, the days when schoolgirls

There’s a problem, right at the start, with trying to write about John Updike. After you finish your first sentence, you might find yourself looking at it and mentally comparing it to the types of sentences you remember from books written by Updike himself. This is not a good way

Ion Tiriac had been dreaming of this moment for months. Finally, vindication was at hand, and all of the haters and whiners and traditionalist nitwits could stuff it. A left-handed Spanish star was on his knees, kissing the beautiful, slippery blue clay inside his Caja Magica. Then Tiriac stuck his

Thanksgiving weekend, as I wrote last week, is mostly about football. But it’s also about marathons—not the running kind; the lying-on-the-couch and watching kind. Holed up at the family home with few other entertainment options, flipping mindlessly through all 800 channels on your TV’s guide, you just have to hope

20060821_couple Ed. note - Let's leave our thoughts on The Firekitten (Martina Hingis), the Andys (Murray and Roddick)on the back burner for the moment; we'll have plenty of time to visit with them as the U.S. Open rolls in next week. Meanwhile, here is TennisWorld Spiritual Advisor Miguel "I play

NEW YORK(AP) Dinara Safina is the first to admit that what she really needs is some time off. She got it, though hardly at a good time - eliminated in the third round of the U.S. Open after an ugly week's stay at Flushing Meadows. It included: -Three poorly played,

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) Andy Roddick is holding his racket a new way on his serve - and he had some new guests in his Centre Court box Wednesday. `Just a slight little grip change,'' the eighth-seeded Roddick explained after beating Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the

*This week, TENNIS.com editor Kamakshi Tandon and I are discussing Johnette Howard's book "The Rivals," about the intertwining lives and careers of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. - Kamakshi, While women's tennis may never have a rivalry as perfectly symmetrical and symbolic as Chrissie vs. Martina, or be a forum

The year was 1975 and Ion Tiriac had just been notified that he would be spending his summer in something called the Hoosier State, where he would play for the Indiana Loves of World Team Tennis. It was a long way from Tiriac’s native Transylvania. The Vampyric One, perhaps after

We like to say that certain tournaments on certain occasions are wide open, that there are no clear-cut favorites or safe bets. But usually anything can’t happen. Usually there’s a player—his name might be Roger Federer—who at least qualifies as the default choice to hold up the champion’s trophy in

• RG by Jackie Roe, TW Social Director Hey there, TWibe. Pumped for Roland Garros? (Silly question.) Don’t forget to play the Suicide Pool, which is as much a TW Slam tradition as whining about cupcake draws. Here’s Mariya with all the info: The French Open '11 Suicide Pool is

INTERVIEW WITH THE CHAMPION: Ash Barty wins the Australian Open

FLASHBACK: The Break: Boris Becker sent to jail for flouting insolvency rules by hiding $3.1 million of assets and loans

It took a pandemic to stop Novak Djokovic this year. Before COVID-19 paused the sport, the Serbian won all 18 of his matches, led his country to the inaugural ATP Cup and collected a record-extending eighth Australian Open title. Ten of his victories were against Top 20 players, including Rafael

WIMBLEDON, England—If she had been competing in a tennis match, you would have said that Serena Williams “came to play” in the interview room here on Sunday. The anticipation for her press conference was such that many reporters sat through Roger Federer’s presser, which came immediately before Serena’s, just so

LONDON—Casual fans coming to Queen’s Club for one day will want to see Nadal, Murray and Roddick—all of whom were scheduled on Centre Court Thursday—but as someone who’s been here all week, I’m tempted by the Court 1 order of play: Verdasco v. Nalbandian, Llodra v. Tsonga, del Potro v.

• Picby Pete Bodo* I must confess, I really enjoy what I've come to think of as the ATP and WTA "diaspora weeks." That is, weeks when the pros are scattered all over the current global hot-spots of tennis (these weeks often precede high-octane events like the current Madrid combined).