WIMBLEDON, England (AP) Being a defending champion at Wimbledon has its perks - none bigger than the honor of playing the opening match on the freshly manicured lawn of Centre Court. Despite slipping on the slick grass and falling behind early in the first set, Novak Djokovic quickly gained his

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) Serena Williams wins with so much more than serving, of course. Her groundstrokes are as intimidating as they come. Superb speed and anticipation fuel her court-covering defense. Her returns are more than solid, too. When that serve is on-target, though, it sure is something special, quite possibly

WATCH: Rafael Nadal's pre-tournament press conference.

It was a gloomy day all around for tennis fans in Paris, as clouds rolled in and the French favorites took it on the collective chin. Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Pauline Parmentier, and even the God From Across the Border, Roger Federer, were all sent packing. The crowds may have

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP)—The cold and “crazy” wind messed with Rafael Nadal, who played it too safe. Roger Federer handled the conditions better, acing Nadal on a match point that was delayed by rain drops. Federer won 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday night

NEW YORK (AP) Serena Williams' serve was broken for the first time at this year's U.S. Open. Twice, in fact. She dropped a set for the first time in the tournament, too, pushed to the brink by Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. In a match filled with fantastic shotmaking and

LONDON (AP) The Latest from Wimbledon (all times local): 7 p.m. A few hours after playing in separate matches on Centre Court at Wimbledon, Serena and Venus Williams teamed up to reach the semifinals in the women's doubles tournament. The American sisters beat Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (1),

by Pete Bodo NEW YORK—The match-point serve whistled straight and true, burning air toward the forehand corner of Novak Djokovic's deuce court; in one of the odd contortions that have become so familiar to us, especially in this, the year of Novak, his body did different and seemingly contradictory things

To watch all of the matches from the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro on demand, click here. SEMIFINALS Fiona Ferro d. Sorana Cirstea, 6-3 David Goffin d. Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-6 (6), after saving a match point in the tiebreaker. "He won, a few times, the tournament in real life. So

A look at some telling stats for the most successful women on the WTA Tour in 2006, as well as some things on the agenda for 2007. THE TOP EIGHT Justine Henin-Hardenne1. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE Titles won in 2006: 6 No year-end No. 1 has ended the year with fewer titles

The Germans know introductions. In 1996, before their famous ATP World Championship final in Hannover, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker appeared at the top of a set of steps and strode through a thundering, hyped-up audience to reach the court. It turned out to be one of the best matches

WIMBLEDON, England(AP) The last time they met, a Grand Slam title was on the line, the surface was clay and the weather was chilly and wet. This time, they played in the fourth round, the surface was grass and the conditions were sweltering. The result was no different, though, as

NEW YORK(AP) Any chance he got, on TV and on the Web, Juan Martin del Potro wanted to watch replays of Roger Federer's last shot sailing out to end the U.S. Open final. It was as if del Potro himself could not quite believe that he is now a Grand

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) On the verge of victory, Mardy Fish took a lusty swing and then staggered behind the baseline, his left calf cramping and his ability to continue in doubt. Three points later he limped into the quarterfinals, the last American standing at the Sony Ericsson Open. A

Borna Coric, it seemed, had finally done it. After playing for three sets and more than two hours against Roger Federer in Rome on Thursday, he had finally made a crucial shot, the shot he hadn’t been able to make all afternoon. Serving at 5-4 in the third-set tiebreaker, Coric

STANFORD, California (AP)—Serena Williams captured her first tournament title since returning to tennis, beating Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-1 to win the Bank of the West Classic on Sunday. The 13-time major champion overcame two breaks in the first set to rally for a dominating finish. She went ahead 5-0 in

Mylan World TeamTennis celebrates its 40th birthday this year. For more on WTT, including this season's schedule, click here. YESTERDAY (July 19) Springfield Lasers d. PHILADELPHIA FREEDOMS 20-19 Springfield looks to slowly be finding a rhythm during Mylan World TeamTennis’ 40th season, earning its second win in a come-from-behind victory

WATCH: Rafael Nadal's post-match press conference

PARIS—There’s been a notion at this year’s French Open that Rafael Nadal has been poor-mouthing his own play, talking himself down, putting on a woe-is-the-five-time-champ act. And there has been some of that. Before today, Nadal hadn’t come out and said that he had played well over the course of

After each round, Baseline will look back at the round that was at Roland Garros. 1 The French Tennis Federation stole the headlines ahead of the French Open with its decision to deny Maria Sharapova’s request for a wild card. Little did the FFT know that one of the players