Happy Slam the Australian Open may be — it certainly looks like a happy place to those following it wistfully on TV from the other side of planet Earth — but you had to admit it was rather grim. With…
Rafael Nadal gestures to show the tall, slim Russian at the other end of center court in Arthur Ashe Stadium that he is holding new tennis balls. The man opposite, standing so far behind the baseline he is almost next…
There have been no allegations of Russian machinations and American gullibility or complicity in the annual drama called the U.S. Open. There will be an American in the ladies’ singles draw, Serena Williams, going for her 24th Grand Slam trophy,…
Americans were fresh and happy as a sunny day at Flushing Meadows, and a sunny day it was for the U.S. Open’s first day. They earned places into the second round of the last Grand Slam of the year, with…
Roger Federer on serve. One point to close and he wins the match. It is hardly any point, and it is scarcely any match, but Federer has won on this court — Centre Court at the All England Club, in the…
Commenting on our U.S. Open coverage, a reader observes that a penalty is not the same as a warning during match play and we spun the beginning of the drama in the women’s final, when the queen of Queens —…
In a major boost for American tennis in the year’s last Grand Slam, it was Yankee Doodle Dandy in the three doubles draws. Mike Bryan won in the men’s doubles, ably aided by Jack Sock standing in for injured brother…
Serena wins the ladies’ draw, Roger the gentlemen’s. Or so the unstoppable momentum of the best players of the 21stcentury would suggest. But it ain’t over till it’s over, and Miss Williams next faces a Camila Giorgi who is enjoying…
You can’t ask for much better than Del Potro vs. Federer, two of contemporary tennis’s best known faces, in the men’s final, and Osaka vs Kasatkina in the ladies’. The desert tennis paradise of Indian Wells owned by Oracle’s Larry…
A ten-time winner at any tournament is rare; to pull it off at two tournaments in a fortnight is almost certainly — you can look it up — unprecedented. But Rafael Nadal — the 30-year-old tennis genius from Manacor, Spain…