It has become an opening-week ritual at the Grand Slams. At some point, typically on Thursday or Friday, we’re informed that this was the “first time in 50 years that an American male hasn’t reached the third round of a major.” Or that “no U.S. women are in the quarters

Yes, in between games, the DJ at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia—the Italian Open to us old-timers—revs up the crowd with 2 Unlimited’s 1990s synth-dance classic “Get Ready for This.” A favorite for decades in minor-league baseball parks across the USA, it was once judged to be the No. 1 “Jock

If Friday’s semifinal between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic could have been billed as a Clash of the Grand Slam Titans, Andy Murray vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the Fight of the Flawed Talents. Each man is on the short list for the dreaded Best Player Never to Win a Grand

MELBOURNE—Serena Williams took her time making her way into Rod Laver Arena on Sunday afternoon. This wasn't unusual; no tennis player has perfected the you’re-not-going-to-rush-me walk of authority the way Serena has. The local Australian television commentators wondered, jokingly, if she wanted to spend a little extra time showing off

This year marks the 50th anniversary of TENNIS Magazine's founding in 1965. To commemorate the occasion, we'll look back each Thursday at one of the 50 moments that have defined the last half-century in our sport. Why, after 77 years, would it be easy? Future generations of British sports fans

NEW YORK—It had been a while since I’d last seen Serena Williams play live. I caught a few games of her loss to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon, but nothing else since last summer. It’s always a little bit of a shock to see a living legend right in front of

Would you believe that Rafael Nadal lost his game on Sunday? It started midway through the first set of his final against Kei Nishikori in Monte Carlo, when Nadal suddenly couldn’t find his forehand. He missed an easy putaway long; he drilled another into the net; he shanked another into

There wasn’t much that separated Borna Coric and Alexander Zverev during their long, grueling, and never less than intriguing first-round match at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday. The two 18-year-olds wore virtually the same red-and-white Nike kits, which they sweated through with equal thoroughness. They played similarly powerful

For someone coming from Manhattan, the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows can seem like a trek deep into the New York boroughs. To get to the courts where former U.S. Open quarterfinalist Tim Mayotte has his academy, though, you must go even deeper. When I visited this spring, I

“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising.” So said British author Cyril Connolly. Did he foresee, all the way back in the 1930s, the rise, and thus far the fall, of Richard Gasquet? As a kid, the Frenchman, who this Saturday won his first tournament in three

Part of me wondered, as I began watching his first match in a month today in Montreal, whether Andy Murray would be at all changed by winning Wimbledon. Would Moaning Muzz be replaced by a sunnier new self? Would accomplishing the goal of a lifetime make him a more peaceful

It’s a rare occasion when a match between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic is the warm-up act in a semifinal bill. But it wasn’t going to be any other way today, with Andy Murray playing in the afternoon's other match, against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tennis days don’t get much bigger, at

Is it time, after their go-the-distance finales at the U.S. Open and Shanghai, to start thinking of Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray as the next great tennis rivalry? It may already be the best matchup of 2012: The Scot and the Serb have played five times, and they've split two

It would have been difficult to imagine during any of last year’s Grand Slams that the women would be competing, drama-wise and depth-wise, with the men any time soon. But a few weeks and one intense little dynamo from Belgium later, the WTA is the talk of Melbourne and the

For years, we’ve heard that Nick Kyrgios is a “player who loves the big stage.” Certainly his haircut, his earrings, and his penchant for uncensored self-expression would have led you to believe that this is a guy who relishes being the ringmaster at the circus. The fact that, as a

It’s time to reshuffle the deck and do it all again. The surface is similar, the country is the same, the air is still hot, and few of the faces have changed. But they have been moved around a little, and that’s just enough to make Key Biscayne feel fresh.

The passing shot ticked the top of the tape and bounced upward. Normally a sudden change in trajectory like that is enough to spell doom for a player charging the net. This time, though, the net-rusher tracked the ball with his racquet, watched it a little more closely than he

MELBOURNE—Every tennis fan knows that first-two-days-of-a-Slam feeling, the days when you can’t keep up. The days when you look up and see that the seventh seed, whom you had no idea was playing, was upset five hours ago, and that the up-and-comer you wanted to check out is two points

PARIS (AP) — Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 when she skipped the news conference after her first-round victory at the French Open on Sunday — and drew a stunning warning from all four Grand Slam tournaments that she could face stiffer penalties, including disqualification or even suspension, if she continues

DOHA, Qatar (AP)—Sam Stosur of Australia upset the No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki Wednesday at the WTA Championships 6-4, 6-3, keeping alive the race for the top ranking for at least one more day. Stosur, a runner-up at the French Open who knocked off then- No. 1 Serena Williams in that