There’s an ominous look to the red clay as this highlight reel begins. The bright midday sun in Madrid has baked it back to its elemental state; the court appears to be as dry and dusty as a desert, as hostile as the surface of Mars. It’s a place where

My reactions to David Foster Wallace and his writing come in conflicting forms. First there’s the man himself. After hearing about his suicide last September, I wrote that I was stunned to learn about his psychological problems, which had been going on for decades. I’d read most if not all

Sometimes, it all seems to be too much. Too much tennis, that is. Too many important events for the players to handle and the fans to process. You might, in a certain mood, say that about this weekend. The men come out of the Arabian desert straight into Davis Cup

NEW YORK—When Juan Martin del Potro’s 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 quarterfinal win over Roger Federer was finished, the two players were in agreement. “I think I deserved to win in the end,” Del Potro said. “Juan Martin deserves it more,” Federer said. Before the match, some of us had

Serving it out. It’s a uniquely pressurized situation, equaled perhaps only by holing out at 18 when you’re one up in a golf tournament or nailing down the last strike of a close baseball game. In those two situations, the extra pressure comes from knowing that while you have the

At 11:00 Sunday morning two men entered the grounds at Melbourne Park holding the men’s and women’s championship trophies. They brought them in by hand, right out in the open for everyone to see. Not surprisingly, they were head-turners. Every straggling fan who walked past them stopped and looked back

MELBOURNE—The man had just hit a glorious winner. Turning to a friend, he asked, “Weren’t we put on earth to experience this state of bliss?” The reply: “No, we were put on earth to suffer.” Ecstasy and agony, twined and twisted, never more so than when Nick Kyrgios and Rafael

CHARLESTON, S.C.—The book on Sloane Stephens was that she only got up for big events. A semifinalist at the 2013 Australian Open at 19, Stephens went on to reach the fourth round at each of her next five majors, including a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon. Yet it took her until

Phpje4yjupm [Andrew Friedman/Rolo Tomassi and I got to talking the other day, and I invited him to write a post on the substance of our conversation. Here, are his ruminations on Men's Final day. Enjoy - Pete] You’re all dead, and if you ain’t, you oughta be…I’m the one is

The day after Andy Murray became the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years, I have to believe that someone, somewhere in Bourges, Rennes, or Clermont-Ferrand, turned to a friend and asked, “When is it going to be our turn again?” He would have been thinking, of course,

NEW YORK—Once upon a time, this opening-day column would have been devoted to one or more titans of the American game, an Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, or Andre Agassi, and the subject might have been an evaluation of his chances to win or defend the title. Instead, the

Dent by Pete Bodo How could we not lead our nominal News of the Day with anything but Taylor Dent's decision to retire? It seems like just yesterday that I was down at the IMG Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and Taylor was enthusiastically telling me that he fully expected to

The next time Maria Sharapova loses to Serena Williams, she just may drop all that “She’s a great player, she was just too good today” hooey and snarl, “I’ll follow that b to the ends of the earth. . .” That’s the first thing that occurred to me when I

I have a date with Serena Williams. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's in 10 years, by which time I might be coyote bait. So someone prepare to act as my stand-in. It all started in the press conference after Serena's stunning 6-3, 6-2 win over

Craig Tiley has been on an impressive winning streak ever since he leveraged his role as Tournament Director of the Australian Open into an appointment as CEO of Tennis Australia. But evolving events during this pandemic suggest that he may be overplaying his hand. “We will send a signal to

WATCH: This year's US Open coverage will come from none other than last year's champion, Dominic Thiem.

The main theme of the lackluster round-robin portion of this year’s ATP World Tour Finals was “blowout.” There were a number of truly impressive performances but, alas, no great matches. That changed dramatically on knockout semifinal Saturday. By the time it was over—after Roger Federer had stared down four match

By Jackie, TW Social Director Evening, TWibe! How was everyone's Thanksgiving weekend? I hope you all had a joyous and restful holiday and that the tryptophan didn't render you too lifeless. As for me, I had a wonderful time celebrating with my friend. I'm thrilled that my family is back

Close Line

Over the next three days, we'll look at how the coronavirus crisis has impacted one aspect of tennis in a particularly cruel way: the college game. On Monday, Steve Tignor looks back on a season at the top for the University of Southern California men's team—before it suddenly stopped. He