Robin Soderling blew Group B at the ATP Tour Finals in London wide open with a shock straight sets victory over world number two Rafael Nadal on Monday.
World number one Roger Federer had to battle from a set down to beat Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6 7-5 6-1 in their Group A opener at the ATP Tour Finals in London on Sunday night.
WTHIGOW Melanie Oudin? -- Tom, Riverwoods, Ill.
Novak Djokovic continued his superlative end of season form with a straight sets demolition of second seed Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Paris Masters on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal ended the Paris Masters run of defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday to help fellow-Spaniard Fernando Verdasco book his spot at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 1. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. Now this was The Greatest Match Ever: All England Club, Gentlemen's final, King Federer vs. The Everyman with the 145 mph serve. After the afternoon shadows had overtaken Centre Court, after the longest fifth set in the history of the tournament was over and the breathtaking four-hour, 16-minute epic had come to an end, Roger Federer put on the white jacket embroidered with the gold 15 like an emperor slipping on his cloak. Federer had won more Grand Slam singles titles than any player in history. Yet, the better story on that July afternoon belonged to the loser, because there had never been a loser that more deserved to win than Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.
We'll start this week with two open calls. I received my ballot for the 2010 inductions to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Doubles is the theme this year and the nominees are Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva (as a team), Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge (as a team), and Anders Jarryd (individually).
Top seed Roger Federer crashed out of the Paris Masters as a tearful Jean Benneteau produced a sublime performance to beat him 3-6 7-6 6-4.
A few thoughts from the tennis world ...
Novak Djokovic upset Roger Federer in the final of the Swiss Indoors tournament on Sunday to end the world No. 1's bid for a fourth successive title at his home event.
Robin Soderling blew Group B at the ATP Tour Finals in London wide open with a shock straight sets victory over world number two Rafael Nadal on Monday.
World number one Roger Federer had to battle from a set down to beat Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6 7-5 6-1 in their Group A opener at the ATP Tour Finals in London on Sunday night.
WTHIGOW Melanie Oudin? -- Tom, Riverwoods, Ill.
Novak Djokovic continued his superlative end of season form with a straight sets demolition of second seed Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Paris Masters on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal ended the Paris Masters run of defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday to help fellow-Spaniard Fernando Verdasco book his spot at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 1. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. Now this was The Greatest Match Ever: All England Club, Gentlemen's final, King Federer vs. The Everyman with the 145 mph serve. After the afternoon shadows had overtaken Centre Court, after the longest fifth set in the history of the tournament was over and the breathtaking four-hour, 16-minute epic had come to an end, Roger Federer put on the white jacket embroidered with the gold 15 like an emperor slipping on his cloak. Federer had won more Grand Slam singles titles than any player in history. Yet, the better story on that July afternoon belonged to the loser, because there had never been a loser that more deserved to win than Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.
We'll start this week with two open calls. I received my ballot for the 2010 inductions to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Doubles is the theme this year and the nominees are Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva (as a team), Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge (as a team), and Anders Jarryd (individually).
Top seed Roger Federer crashed out of the Paris Masters as a tearful Jean Benneteau produced a sublime performance to beat him 3-6 7-6 6-4.
A few thoughts from the tennis world ...
Novak Djokovic upset Roger Federer in the final of the Swiss Indoors tournament on Sunday to end the world No. 1's bid for a fourth successive title at his home event.
Roger Federer will play Novak Djokovic for the title at the ATP tournament in Basel after contrasting semifinal victories on Saturday.
Italy are in a strong position to claim the Fed Cup after building up a 2-0 lead over an under strength United States team in the final in Reggio Calabria.
New world No. 1 Serena Williams will take on her older sister and defending champion Venus in the final of the season-ending WTA Championships in Qatar on Sunday as injuries again took their toll on the world's top women tennis players.
Second seed Serena Williams stormed into the semifinals of the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, while sister and defending champion Venus kept her slim hopes alive.
Be sure to check out Andre Agassi's revealing autobiography excerpt in this week's Sports Illustrated. I'll be taking all questions on the must-read next week.
Are you really equating a couple of sets of exhibition tennis to the demands of a long tour season? -- Henry Brito, Atlanta
American tennis legend Andre Agassi has admitted using crystal methamphetamine a year before he won the French Open in 1998, and that he lied to the sport's governing bodies in the same period about a positive drugs test to avoid a ban.
Defending champion Venus Williams suffered an opening round-robin defeat to Russia's Elena Dementieva on the first day of the WTA Championships in Doha on Tuesday.
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska crashed out of the Kremlin Cup after she slipped to a straight sets, 6-3 6-3, defeat to Russian Maria Kirilenko in Moscow.
A few thoughts as tennis takes its annual autumnal tumble off the radar ...
Nikolay Davydenko came out on top in a high-quality final with top seed Rafael Nadal to win the Shanghai Masters title in straight sets on Sunday.
Top seed Rafael Nadal was given a scare before being handed a place in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic remain on course for a final showdown at the Shanghai Masters as both cruised into the quarterfinals with convincing victories in China on Thursday.
Former world number one Rafael Nadal beat James Blake in an entertaining three-setter but newly-crowned U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro exited the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.
Australian Open organizers have granted a wildcard to former world number one Justine Henin to play in the opening grand slam of 2010.
Novak Djokovic is up to number three in the world after defeating Marin Cilic in the final of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday.
Marian Cilic will face second seed Novak Djokovic in the final of the China Open on Sunday after handing world No. 2 Rafael Nadal his first defeat in Beijing.
Top seed Rafael Nadal fought off a determined challenge from American James Blake to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing on Thursday.
World number one Dinara Safina and third seed Venus Williams crashed out in major upsets at the China Open in Beijing on Monday.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic made no mistake in his opening round match at the China Open in Beijing as he saw off Romania's Victor Hanescu in straight sets 6-3 7-5 on Monday.
Maria Sharapova landed the Toray Pan Pacific Open title in Tokyo on Saturday as her final opponent Jelena Jankovic was forced to retire injured in the first set.
Maria Sharapova stayed on course for her first tournament victory since returning to the WTA Tour with a battling three-sets victory over Alisa Kleybanova in the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
Olympic champion Elena Dementieva became the latest seeded casualty at the Pan Pacific Open, going down 6-2 6-7 6-1 to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the second round in Tokyo.
Without any second thoughts, I would say that Jack Kramer was the single most significant figure in the history of his game, tennis.
Sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro, in his first Grand Slam final, stunned defending champion and top seed Roger Federer to take the men's singles title at the U.S. Open in New York.
NEW YORK -- The U.S. Open felt like two separate tournaments. The first was an exciting, spirited 10-day party, played amid ideal conditions. The second was a soggy circus. But in the end, the sun came back out and we were treated to some compelling finals. Herewith, some scattered observations and opinions:
Unseeded Belgian former world number one Kim Clijsters' return to women's tennis culminated in a U.S. Open women's singles title after she beat Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki 7-5 6-3 in New York on Sunday night.
SI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer S.L. Price, who is covering the U.S. Open in New York, after Serena Williams was penalized on match point in her 6-4, 7-5 loss to Kim Clijsters in the semifinals Saturday night. Clijsters will play Caroline Wozniacki in the final at 9 p.m. ET Sunday.
Former women's champion Kim Clijsters has claimed her biggest victory since her comeback from retirement after beating third-seed Venus Williams at the U.S. Open on Sunday.
SI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer S.L. Price, who is covering the U.S. Open in New York, after Melanie Oudin's 6-2, 6-2 loss to Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals Wednesday night. With her deep run, Oudin is projected to make her top-50 debut and could climb as high as No. 43 when the rankings come out following the Open. She is the youngest American to reach the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam since Serena Williams in 1999.
Former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal quickly wrapped up victory in his U.S. Open quarterfinal against Fernando Gonzalez as the predicted continued rain in New York briefly held off on Saturday.
The Williams sisters have reached the women's doubles final at the U.S. Open for the first time in a decade after being taken to three sets on Thursday.
According to the tennis shibboleth: "You can't win a Grand Slam title in Week 1; you can only lose it." Well, Week 1 is over and now it's Showtime at the U.S. Open. Five plotlines to follow over the next seven days:
At a bare minimum, when you've represented Robert Kennedy, Arthur Ashe, Michael Jordan, and Jimmy Connors, among others, you ought to have some good stories. And Donald Dell doesn't disappointment. A well-known figure in the tennis world for being the sport's first agent, helping to found the ATP Tour and serving as a U.S. Davis Cup captain, Dell, 71, mixes practical advice and war stories in his new book, Never Make the First Offer.
Beneath seven flat-screen TVs and one large pulldown screen, members of the Racquet Club of the South gathered Monday to watch and celebrate one of their own.
World number two Andy Murray brushed aside U.S. wildcard Taylor Dent 6-3 6-2 6-2 in third-round action at the U.S. Open.
NEW YORK -- What we learned on the seventh day into night ...
NEW YORK -- What we learned as the Melanie Oudin bandwagon begins to overflow following her 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Maria Sharapova ...
Grades for the 2009 U.S. Open after six days:
Third seed Venus Williams stepped up her bid for her third U.S. Open title with a convincing 6-4 6-2 win over fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Wednesday.
NEW YORK -- A few thoughts on a day of goodbyes at the Open ...
Roger Federer began his defense of the U.S. Open title with a routine straight sets victory over American wildcard Devin Britton at Flushing Meadows on Monday.
SI.com's Jon Wertheim breaks down the men's and women's seeds at the U.S. Open. Read on for the top first-round matchups, dark horses to watch and his predicted winners.
Andy Murray's bid to reach a second consecutive U.S. Open final has been made harder after the world number two was handed a difficult draw for the final grand slam event of the year.
A 'bag before the big dance (and we don't mean this).
Instead of the Ad-In, Ad-Out format, we're going to try something new on Monday, a "best-of-three" recap of the week plus other random thoughts:
With the last Grand Slam of the decade kicking off next Monday, here's a look at five of the most pressing questions entering the U.S. Open:
Fourth seed Elena Dementieva defeated fellow-Russian Maria Sharapova in straight sets on Sunday to claim the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Roger Federer sent out an ominous message to his rivals by claiming the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati with a straight sets demolition of Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday.
The world's top two players will meet in the Cincinnati Masters semifinals on Saturday after Roger Federer and Andy Murray progressed from their respective quarterfinals.
Second seed Serena Williams stormed into the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto with a straight sets victory over Czech qualifier Lucie Safarova.
This time last year, Vera Zvonareva was playing her way to the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics. Now she is ranked No. 7 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and gaining strength after an ankle injury earlier this season. In a recent interview with SI.com, the 24-year-old Moscow native discussed her thoughts on the success of Russian women, her experience as a ball girl and her other life as a student of international affairs.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina has crashed out in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, joining third seed Venus Williams and sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in suffering an early exit.
History was made last Friday at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, when the world's top eight players took part in the quarterfinals of the same tournament for the first time since the ATP Tour starting the rankings in August 1973.
Andy Murray clinched the No. 2 world ranking in men's tennis despite struggling with his serve in Saturday's semifinal victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Montreal Masters.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both crashed out of the Montreal Masters at on Friday night as the world's top eight contested the quarterfinals at the same event for the first time in tennis history.
Andy Murray furthered his chances of claiming the world number two spot with a straight sets win over Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Kim Clijsters' blistering return to competitive tennis gathered pace on Thursday with a hard-fought victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in Cincinnati.
Since advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon in late June, Melanie Oudin of Marietta, Ga., has continued her rise to a career-high ranking of No. 68 on the Sony Ericcson WTA Tour. In a recent interview with SI.com, the 17-year-old discussed life as a qualifier, her decision to be home-schooled and her views on grunting.
Let me be the 12,764th person to ask you: Does Kim Clijsters' win over 13th-ranked Marion Bartoli show how weak the women's game is today, or is Clijsters really that good a player to come back after a two-year absence and knock off a player who just beat Venus Williams in the Stanford final? -- Curious Fan, New York
Former world number one Kim Clijsters made a triumphant return to tennis on Monday night beating 12th seed Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets at the WTA event in Cincinnati.
Roger Federer survived a push from Canadian Frederic Niemeyer on Tuesday, winning 7-6 (3), 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Juan Martin Del Potro edged top seed Andy Roddick to successfully defend his Legg Mason Classic title in Washington with a 3-6 7-5 7-6 victory in Sunday's final.
1. Wimbledon I don't remember my first brush with Wimbledon, but my mom does. I was 3 years old in the summer of 1975 when Arthur Ashe defeated Jimmy Connors in the men's final, a moment that she celebrated by picking me up, holding me in front of the television and telling me, "He looks like you! He looks like you!" This was my mom's way of telling me that anything in life was possible -- that I, too, could grow up and do anything I wanted. She was right. I wonder what it would be like to sit at Centre Court and see the grass and watch Federer, Nadal and the Williams sisters. I'm sure I would think about Arthur Ashe. I'm sure my mom would, too.
World number one Dinara Safina crashed out of the WTA tournament in Los Angeles as Maria Sharapova battled back reach the quarterfinals with a three-set win over Alona Bondarenko.
Maria Sharapova took a step closer to her first tournament victory since January 2008 as she moved into the semifinals of the L.A. Women's Tennis Championships on Friday night.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina became the first player to qualify for the season-ending WTA Championships after winning her opening match at the L.A. Women's Tennis Championships in Carson, California.
The grassroots renaissance of tennis in the United States was the subject of an Associated Press feature that appeared online and in many newspaper sports sections over the weekend. The story argues, among other things, that "today's dearth of top American professionals" hasn't curtailed the sport's post-2000 growth:
Maria Sharapova continued her rehabilitation from injury with a comfortable victory at the L.A. Women's Tennis Championships on an opening day that saw early exits for three of the four seeded players in action.
Top seed Serena Williams has crashed out of the Bank of the West Classic, but her older sister Venus reached the semifinals after thrashing Maria Sharapova.
Tennis superstar Roger Federer is the "proud father" of twin girls after his wife Mirka gave birth overnight to Charlene Riva and Myla Rose.
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the popularity of the WTA Tour rivaled its men's counterpart, when stars like the then-up-and-coming Williams sisters held court with Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, Justine Henin, Mary Pierce and, yes, Anna Kournikova.
While the 16 remaining players in the men's draw competed at Wimbledon on June 29, Richard Gasquet was a few miles from the All England Club, fighting for his career at a tribunal hearing. Three months earlier, the French player had tested positive for cocaine, triggering a two-year ban under the World Anti-Doping Agency code. In a sport with no guaranteed contracts and a short career shelf life, this was, potentially, akin to a professional death sentence.
It's always struck me as shabby when a commentator or columnist ignites controversy and then slips away like Laura Dern in the last scene of Citizen Ruth. Last week, I took issue with Roger Federer's Wimbledon attire -- and, more specifically, the Nike taste-makers who determined Federer's dignity and humility required more edge. The responses, pro and con, were as intense as they were numerous.
Each week, SI.com's Richard Deitsch will report on newsmakers from the world of TV, radio and the Web.
Andy Roddick had just taken the first set from Roger Federer in Sunday's Wimbledon final, inducing roars from the Centre Court spectators, when my wife-to-be posed a perfectly sincere question.
The Wimbledon grass has always been a bit of a yoga mat for Roger Federer, who routinely moves around Centre Court at mental and physical ease while his more bruiser-like counterparts clip-clop on its blades.
Some scattered thoughts on a historic Wimbledon ...
Serena Williams is looking to forge her place in tennis history after winning her 11th grand slam title at Wimbedon on Saturday.
Roger Federer claimed his record 15th grand slam crown and sixth Wimbledon title as he beat Andy Roddick 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 in an epic final on Sunday.
Serena Williams has avenged last year's Wimbledon final defeat by sister Venus to claim the grass-court major for the third time.
American sixth seed Andy Roddick ended Andy Murray's hopes of winning Wimbledon after beating the British number one in four thrilling sets on Centre Court on Friday.
Five-times champion Roger Federer is through to his seventh successive Wimbledon final after a comfortable straight sets Center Court victory over German veteran Tommy Haas on Friday.
The annual grand slam at the All England Club is always packed with tennis drama, but Wimbledon is also synonymous with many other traditions around the game.
This is our last "crumpet" for Wimbledon 2009. Time to do magazine work (though I'll continue periodic tweeting and podcasting). If you'd like, you could read this tomorrow; think of it as tape-delay. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. We'll be back Sunday with a Wimbledon wrap-up!
Defending champion Venus Williams ensured the Wimbledon final would be another family affair with a devastating performance against Russia's Dinara Safina in Thursday's second semifinal.
Serena Williams fought back from the brink of defeat to stay on course for her third Wimbledon title with victory over Elena Dementieva in the longest women's semi-final in history.
WIMBLEDON, England -- While marveling at Venus Williams's play on grass....
Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is through to his 21st grand slam semifinal in a row after crushing big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in straight sets on another scorching afternoon on Centre Court on Wednesday.
A total of 28 staff at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships have been asked to stay at home with suspected swine flu.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
Photos
Video
