Tennis

MELBOURNE, Australia — Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber have held Grand Slam trophies aloft, and so have learned to keep their heads down when clusters of highly-ranked players start losing in the first week of majors. Wimbledon champion Halep and Kerber, who won her breakthrough major in Australia in 2016 and has added two Grand

Friday’s slate at the Australian Open was all sorts of funky. On the women’s side, seven-time champ Serena Williams lost against Qiang Wang, No. 3 seed and defending champion Naomi Osaka got pushed around by 15-year-old Coco Gauff and No. 10 Madison Keys got swept out by Maria Sakkari. On the men’s side, No. 6

Roger Federer‘s championship mettle was tested in the third round as the No. 3 seed survived in five sets against Australian John Millman. Federer, a six-time winner in Melbourne, came back from down 8-4 in the fifth set tie break to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8). “Oh, God, it was tough,” Federer said.

Wang Qiang‘s third-round upset of Serena Williams in the Australian Open on Friday will be remembered as one of the least expected results in Open-era history. It was not just because of the vast difference in the resumes of Qiang and the 38-year-old legend. The last time the two met, at the US Open some

MELBOURNE, Australia — World No. 1 Ash Barty would value the rebuilding of her native Australia in the wake of devastating bushfires — which have claimed 28 lives and destroyed millions of wild animals — over winning her home Grand Slam. The 23-year-old Queenslander, who booked her place in the last 32 of the Australian

Jan 20, 2020 Peter Bodo Close ESPN.com Staff Writer Peter Bodo has been covering tennis for over 35 years, mostly recently for ESPN. He is a former WTA Writer of the Year and the author of numerous books, including the classic “The Courts of Babylon” and the New York Times bestseller (with Pete Sampras), “A

MELBOURNE, Australia — Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev needed a medical timeout for a nosebleed before he beat Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Australian Open. The US Open finalist called for a medical timeout while leading 5-0 in the second set Thursday and needed treatment to stop

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Esther Vergeer, the retired Dutch wheelchair tennis star who had a winning streak of 470 matches during her record-breaking career, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Vergeer announced the diagnosis in a tweet Wednesday, saying her “full focus will be on the treatment and healing of the cancer. … I am

MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco-mania is alive in Australia as Coco Gauff makes another run at a Grand Slam tournament. She must get through Australian Open defending champion Naomi Osaka to continue it. Less than five months after their memorable meeting at the US Open — one that Osaka won in straight sets, then encouraged an

MELBOURNE, Australia — Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic avoided the same mistake he made three years go when he met a wild-card entry in the second round of the Australian Open. Djokovic required all of 95 minutes Wednesday to beat Japanese wild-card entry Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a swirling breeze at Rod Laver Arena

LONDON — Top-ranked doubles player Robert Farah was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation on Tuesday pending a disciplinary hearing into his positive doping test. The ITF formally imposed the suspension hours after the Australian Open began. Farah had been due to play in Melbourne with longtime doubles partner Juan Sebastian Cabal until announcing

MELBOURNE, Australia — There must have been times during his run to the final at the US Open last September, and his hate-love relationship with the crowd, that Daniil Medvedev felt like disappearing. But few people could have turned around an awkward situation as Medvedev did, first antagonizing the New Yorkers and then getting them

Rafael Nadal had a 6-2, 6-3, 6-0 win over Hugo Dellien in his first competitive match back on Rod Laver Arena since losing the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic last year. The top-ranked Nadal is chasing his 20th major singles title, aiming to equal Roger Federer‘s men’s record. He’s also aiming to complete a

MELBOURNE, Australia — When Coco Gauff beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon last summer, it was a huge shock — the 38-year-old knocked off by an almost unknown 15-year-old on her favorite surface in the hallowed place where Williams had been the queen of grass five times. But seven months is a lifetime for a teenager.

MELBOURNE, Australia — For all of the concerns about air quality at the Australian Open, it turned out the biggest issue related to playing conditions on Day 1 was heavy rain — which, hopefully, will also help tamp down the destructive wildfires burning in parts of the country. The three main arenas at Melbourne Park

MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer took another step toward a 21st Grand Slam singles title with a routine 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Steve Johnson at Rod Laver Arena on Monday. Federer, playing his first tournament of the season, wasn’t troubled in his match with the American player as he seeks his seventh Australian title.

Can anyone stop Novak Djokovic from an eighth Australian Open title? Will Serena Williams finally win her record-tying 24th career Grand Slam? And which players will emerge as the breakout stars in Melbourne? There are many compelling storylines going into the 2020 Australian Open, which begins Monday (watch on ESPN, ESPN2 and the ESPN App).

MELBOURNE, Australia — World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty insists she is not feeling any extra pressure to win this year’s Australian Open but joked on Sunday that seeing her face everywhere in the city has made her feel “a little sick”. The Australian, who won her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last summer,