Nadal Not Far From Solving Djokovic Puzzle
The Australian Open is like a restless dream for fans in the United States. It's strictly nocturnal, generating images both brilliant and bizarre in the dead of night and then va...
Tennis
Win Over Federer a Seminal Moment for Isner?
Peter Bodo, Tennis World
Father Time Busy - and He Always Wins
Mike Lopresti, USA Today
Courageous Venus Fights to Return to Court
Greg Couch, Fox Sports
Isner Rides Big Serve to Upset of Federer
Pete Bodo, Racquet Reaction
Women's Tennis Fading Into Irrelevance
Tim Joyce, RealClearSports
John Isner feels that this time, "it clicked." It really did. He could almost hear it. Click! Isner was trying to describe what he took away from his upset of Roger Federer on red...(full article)
Today's interview guest is Father Time, who's been in the news a lot lately. Kobe Bryant mentioned him just the other night, and there were reports he was at Pebble Beach on Sunday...(full article)
This isn’t the way the Great American Tennis Story is supposed to go. Venus Williams’ story isn’t over yet, but it looks like it’s going to have the wrong ...(full article)
Only a select handful of players stand a chance of beating Roger Federer, the all-time Grand Slam singles champion, with the sort of stylish, versatile tennis he has come to person...(full article)
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times ... it is the season of light, it is the season of darkness. A slightly updated Dickensian description is the most apt way of art...(full article)
Related Videos
More Recent Articles
Big 4 No More: It's All Djokovic
The leading men played overtime in Rod Laver Arena in the homestretch of the Australian Open this year, and they often exchanged pleasantries with Laver. Rafael Nadal expressed h...
Djokovic at His Best When He's at His Worst
Imagine if, after the First Battle of the Marne, the Allies and Central Powers had girded their loins for the long trench battle ahead, only for the United States to surprise eve...
Men's Tennis the Best Game Going
One of these days men's tennis is going to get boring again. There will be a fallow period. Greats will retire, get hurt, fatten up, open bad restaurants, babble on TV and buy vi...
Djokovic 'Doing Something Fantastic'
As the fourth set melted into the fifth and the fifth hour approached an unfathomable sixth, this tennis match seemed to pass into the surreal: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, ex...
Djokovic's Victory One for the Ages
SI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim after Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 on Sunday to win the Australian Open in...
Order Restored to Women's Ratings
"Screech for the Stars!" screamed the headline in Saturday's Herald Sun and Victoria Azarenka did just that, reaching the pinnacle of a Grand Slam title in her first final by out...
Murray Targets No. 1 This Season
Murray’s five-set defeat to Novak Djokovic on Friday night extended his long run without a Grand Slam title, and took his head-to-head record against the other thre...
Azarenka Restores Order to Women's Rankings
"Screech for the Stars!" screamed the headline in Saturday's Herald Sun and Victoria Azarenka did just that, reaching the pinnacle of a Grand Slam title in her first final by out...
Aussie Final Battle of Wits as Much as Skill
The cream rises and, in men’s tennis at the moment, it just stays there. When Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal walk out onto the court at Rod Laver Arena to play the Australian ...
Djokovic Outlasts Nadal in Epic Final
In a match with extraordinary comebacks and momentum shifts, Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. It was a battle that defies...
Murray Improving, Still Can't Handle Djokovic
For a good three hours, the semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray here was, to put it bluntly, a mess. Both players were fighting themselves as much as the guy across ...
Nadal Looks to Prevent 1-Sided Rivalry
For the first time in the Open era, which began in 1968, the same two men, Nadal and Novak Djokovic, will meet for the third consecutive time in the final of a Grand Slam tournam...
Murray Shows He's on Verge of Greatness
The quality of his tennis certainly suggested to me that he is on the path towards that elusive first major title. The way he is playing, it might happen sooner than you thi...
Finalists Nadal, Djokovic Fire Shots
All the top three's charitable talk of new challengers ready to end their grand slam hegemony at the Australian Open has come to nothing and the top two seeds Novak Djokovic and ...
Djokovic Survives Epic, Sets Up Final vs. Nadal
FEDERER versus Nadal has been superseded. Another, less sexy rivalry has quietly supplanted it between a Spaniard and a Serb, a lefty and righty, a baseliner and a baseliner. Tom...
Will Murray Take Different Approach to Djokovic?
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will meet in the semifinals of the Australian Open. Last year, it was in the finals, but why quibble? Just like last year, both men have slashed t...
Has Murray Improved This Year?
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will meet in the semifinals of the Australian Open. Last year, it was in the finals, but why quibble? Just like last year, both men have slashed thei...
Nadal Beats Federer, Never in Doubt
It was close. It was at times riveting. But the end was never truly in doubt. And now it appears that the great Roger Federer may never unlock the key to his mystery – his absol...
Federer Stumbles, Loses to Nadal Again
Roger Federer didn't have a Rafael Nadal problem on Thursday night at the Australian Open, he had a Roger Federer problem. The 16-time Grand Slam champion was plagued by inconsiste...
Azarenka Overcomes Head Games
Victoria Azarenka stood to serve at 0-3 in the second set against Kim Clijsters on Thursday afternoon. Two birds circled around and in front of her, well within the range of Azar...
Tennis' Usual Suspects Continue to Dominate
At the Australian Open, the four mightiest men—maybe the best foursome in sports—reached the semifinals again. It's the second straight time they've occupied all four spots i...
Federer May Be All Out of Grand Slams
ONCE the dust settles on another epic edition of the Roger and Rafa show, the conclusion reached is one which will be hard for the tennis world to swallow. As outrageous and dram...
A New Chapter in Nadal-Federer Rivalry
From the moment Rafael Nadal threw that verbal jab at Roger Federer, exposing their vastly different views on the tennis schedule, the Australian Open has been a referendum on th...
Big Four in Final Four Yet Again
The gulf between the haves and the have-nots of men's tennis has never been vaster. Sure, Tomas Berdych took a set off Rafael Nadal in their quarterfinal match -- but he's ranked N...
Djokovic Ailing But Still Overcomes Ferrer
DEFENDING champion Novak Djokovic last night ensured a reprisal of last year's final against Andy Murray when eliminating David Ferrer but the scoreline is not an accurate portr...
Next Chapter in Tennis' Greatest Rivalry
IF CHAPTER 27 of sport's most durable one-on-one rivalry was decided by form, then most fancy that Roger Federer would score his 10th victory over Rafael Nadal tonight and thus q...
Clijsters Barges Into Aussie Semis
The good news for Caroline Wozniacki is she’ll no longer have to endure the onslaught of questions regarding her status as the WTA’s Slamless No. 1. The bad news is her quest...
Clijsters Upends No. 1 Wozniacki
World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki is clearly a talented tennis player. She has precise groundstrokes, an acceptable serve, is one of the fittest in the game and is continually playi...
Utterly Brilliant Federer to Face Nadal Next
Warning to the remaining five men in the Australian Open: Roger Federer has turned back the clock. Utilizing his full arsenal, a cache of weapons that no player has likely ever po...
Serena's Game Falls Apart in Australia
It's not that she didn't try, because she did. It's not that she wasn't fit enough to play, because she was. But Serena Williams, a five-time champion at the Australian Open, put...
Few Surprises as Aussie Open Hits Midpoint
The analytics from the 2012 Australian Open: After seven days of play, we've seen multiple umpiring controversies, zero Americans remaining not named Williams, four smashed racke...
Serena No Longer a Sure Thing
“Yeah, I know, Serena lost the first set to Makarova, I saw that. She was down in the second, too. You know this is how she does it. She’s not moving well, she’s shanking ...
Murray Advances to Quarterfinals
Andy Murray has taken just 49 minutes to move into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin was forced to retire through injury after losing t...
Tomic May Counter Federer's Magic
Bernard Tomic has played so well and been such a sensational story at his native Australian Open, that it's easy to forget that he still hasn't matched the win streak he posted at...
Clijsters Fights Off Li in Rematch
We’ve had controversies, breakthroughs, surprises, bad calls, and epic matches so far at this year’s Aussie Open, but they’ve almost all come on the men’s s...
Generational Divide in U.S. Women's Tennis
Christina McHale, a 19-year-old New Jersey native who lost to No. 13 seed Jelena Jankovic in the Australian Open's third round Friday, says she has never spoken to Serena. Neither ...
Feared U.S. Tennis Void Now a Reality
And, poof, just like that, American tennis is gone. No, not just from the Australian Open, where the last American man standing, John Isner, lost before the first weekend of the ...
Tennis Players United for Change
Irritability. Discontent. Unrest. The tennis world is full of all of those, and that’s just over the rules governing timeouts and treatment for cramping in extreme heat. A bigg...
Anticlimactic End to Hewitt-Roddick Rivalry
As far as careers go, it's been a dead heat. On Thursday night in Australia -- back to the present -- Hewitt and Roddick met for the 14th time. It was the earliest they've ever m...
World of Tennis Filled with Grumpy Stars
When Serena Williams announced, "I don't love tennis today" during her first post-match press conference of 2012, some people were disgusted, some were sympathetic, some were dis...
Peers Djokovic, Murray Growing Further Apart
WHILE Andy Murray had a nasty first-round match against a talented youngster that lasted more than three hours in the furnace of Hisense Arena, Novak Djokovic spent less than hal...
Nadal Wrong to Criticize Federer
It was the middle of the 2011 French Open and Rafael Nadal was in a press conference, talking at length about something that I couldn’t quite follow. I knew that winning thi...
Will New Stars Emerge from Women's Draw?
Forecasting how a women’s Grand Slam draw will unfold over the course of a fortnight has become a tedious act of analytical folly. Finding the form of the women’s field is so ...
Storylines Aplenty for Australian Open
On his way to winning the first of his six French Open titles, Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the semifinals of the 2005 tournament, their first meeting in a Grand Slam e...
Is Tennis Getting Too Soft?
Tennis has a new ball and it's making a lot of kids, parents and coaches angry. The ball is the same size as a regular tennis ball, but it's half yellow, half green and softer, an...
A Tennis Wish List for 2012
Grant me one tennis wish with the year’s first Grand Slam tournament looming, and there would be no hesitation: The game is in need of a compelling women’s rivalry, a...
Tennis or Tebow, It's All Trees, No Forest
Though he has won only one of the last nine Grand Slam titles and will soon be 31 and ensconced in tennis old age, Roger Federer is still one of the favorites in any tournament h...
Murray a Winner in 1st Event Under Lendl
For a sense of the respectful dynamic in Andy Murray’s relationship with Ivan Lendl, his new coach, you only had to listen to Murray’s gracious acceptance speech ...
Edberg on the Court? Time Out of Mind
For a few seconds, just an instant, I thought I was suspended in the most powerful, lucid dream I had yet experienced. And it occurred in the filtered winter light of day. It was...
Murray Makes Bold Move Hiring Lendl
Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell won an astounding 11 championships during his extraordinary career and is rightly considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time...
He's Now Best of the Best
The duopoly that became a trivalry has been reduced to a soloist. For years, Novak Djokovic struggled to invade the airspace of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the talented tenni...
Stosur Earns Matchup With Serena
Sam Stosur told her parents she wasn't leaving for school until Patrick Rafter won the U.S. Open. Growing up in Australia, Stosur was glued to the TV when her countryman captured...
Unwise to Write Off Federer Yet
The temptation is to write off Roger Federer after Saturday's most recent come-from-ahead capitulation, a 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 loss to Novak Djokovic that ensures the 30-y...
How Saturday Could Save the Open
Let's not mince words. This year's U.S. Open has been a bit of a clunker. Players have grouched about scheduling changes, complained about transportation and revolted over court ...
Women's Semis Preview
Now that Caroline Wozniacki is playing tennis worthy of her No. 1 ranking again, her semifinal match-up with Serena Williams has become the highlight pre-final match of the women...
Federer Eases Into Semifinals
The former world No. 1 eased into his eighth straight U.S. Open semifinal Thursday evening, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer’s only misstep of the night was w...
Roddick Tapping in to Anger
Grumpy Andy Roddick is back, and some sweet game has accompanied the surly attitude. It has been five years since Roddick was still alive on the second Friday of the U.S. Open, bu...
Perilous Conditions Stir Controversy
NEW YORK -- Rafael Nadal was eight minutes late for his fourth-round match against Gilles Muller on Wednesday. Word was he was getting taped in the locker room. The likelier scenar...
How Rain Affects Top Seeds
Well, it appears that Mother Nature may win her first Grand Slam before Caroline Wozniacki or Andy Murray does. A men's rainout today sent the the U.S. Open into territory where i...
Top Umpires Skip Open
This weekend, the men’s and women’s singles champions at the United States Open will take home at least $1.8 million each. The total prize money is a record $23.7 mill...
Women's Tennis Too Nice?
Caroline Wozniacki is the No. 1 woman in tennis, a sport that requires steely nerves, ruthless tactics and a willingness to antagonize opponents until they have a meltdown. Her n...
Like Tennis, Handshakes Change
The post-match handshake is as much a part of tennis as the fuzzy balls and first serves. Anyone who's seen the end of a match in this supposed gentlemen's game has seen it. Final...
Fish Out, But Federer Rolls
Mardy Fish found himself dealing with all sorts of problems as he tried to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second time. There was the brief flap with his opponent, 11th-s...
Tsonga Rallies to Eliminate Fish
Mardy Fish found himself dealing with all sorts of problems as he tried to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second time. There was the brief flap with his opponent, 11th-s...
Wozniacki Steers Clear of Upset
Midway through the second set tonight and an embarrassingly early exit staring her down, Caroline Wozniacki could have let the questions overtake her. The ones that ask whether s...
Young, Roddick Gain Round of 16
Andy Roddick reached the fourth round of the US Open for the eighth time in twelve attempts with a routine win over the Frenchman, Julien Benneteau. But the biggest cheers could ...
Cramping Just Part of Game
You don't often see Rafael Nadal flat on his back — unless he's winning Grand Slam titles. But there the defending U.S. Open winner was on Sunday, supine on the floor behind ...
Murray Routs Lopez, Faces Young
Andy Murray played one of the great sets of his career to kick-start a lop-sided beating of 25th seed Feliciano López 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the US Ope...
Wozniacki Streaks Past King
Dumping a drop shot into the net from point-blank range, Caroline Wozniacki playfully dribbled the mis-behaving ball with her white adidas' while her soccer-playing dad and head c...
Passive Djokovic Rips Davydenko
—At times tonight watching Novak Djokovic, I pictured Roger Federer during his peak years. At a certain point, after he’d won a few majors, that instinctive shot-maker...
Record Number of Retirements
Game, set, retire? A rash of mid-match withdrawals — 14 and counting as of Saturday afternoon — has pushed the U.S. Open into record territory. Never have more players ...