Tennis

Hitting against windows, walls, doors, upturned beds, mattresses, and just about anything that can pass off as a surface. Daily testing, officials stationed along hotel corridors 24×7, alarms fitted at emergency exits to monitor movements and any breach of regulations drawing as much as $20,000 in fines and criminal sanctions. It’s a weird, wacky universe

Roberto Bautista Agut, the No. 13-ranked men’s tennis player, criticized the Victorian government’s handling of the Australian Open quarantine protocol in an interview Monday, comparing the experience to prison. “It’s the same, it’s the same, but with Wi-Fi,” he said to Israeli television channel Sport 5 when told his Melbourne hotel quarantine looked like he

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has ruled out any change in the best-of-five set format for men’s singles matches at the season-opening tennis major as three more COVID-19 cases were reported among the international arrivals for the tournament. There are 72 players now in hard quarantine and unable to practice because of nine active

LONDON — The Davis Cup Finals will expand to 11 days from seven in 2021, and the International Tennis Federation is considering holding the competition in three European cities instead of just Madrid. The ITF announced Monday that the international men’s tennis team event will run from Nov. 25 to Dec. 5, with 18 countries

7:33 PM ET ESPN staff The Australian summer of tennis is underway. Kind of. Players from around the world have begun to arrive Down Under in preparation for the year’s first Grand Slam, which is due to commence on Feb. 8 [AEDT]. But things aren’t exactly running smoothly, with nine people having tested positive for

Alize Cornet apologised on Monday after many social media users hit out at the Frenchwoman for criticising the country’s strict COVID-19 quarantine protocols ahead of next month’s Australian Open. Seventy-two players and their entourages have to isolate for two weeks and cannot leave their hotel rooms in Melbourne to train after infections were reported on

MELBOURNE — Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has confirmed the year’s first Grand Slam will go ahead from Feb. 8 despite anger from players forced into hard quarantine in Melbourne because of positive COVID-19 cases on their charter planes. Seventy-two players and their entourages have to isolate for two weeks in their hotel rooms

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is believed to be among a group of players set to be confined to their hotel rooms for the next 14 days after two positive coronavirus tests emerged from their charter flight. The Herald Sun has reported an email has been sent to all players and officials who were

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka was among the earliest arrivals into Melbourne on one of the 15 charter flights bringing players and officials into the city for the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year. And she wanted everyone to know she was pleased to be in Australia despite all the COVID-19 restrictions

Madison Keys, currently ranked No. 16 in the world, revealed she has tested positive for COVID-19 in a post on her social media accounts Thursday and was unable to make her scheduled flight to Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open. “I unfortunately tested positive for [COVID-19] before I was supposed to fly to Australia,” she

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal and last year’s Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem have both suffered setbacks with their coaches unable to make the trip Down Under for the year’s first tennis Grand Slam. Players and officials have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival in Australia before they participate in warm-up events from

Tennys Sandgren forced an early clarification of the COVID-19 rules as the first of 15 charter flights began flying Down Under to deliver players for the Australian Open. The two-time Australian Open quarterfinalist was given a special clearance to board one of the flights from Los Angeles to Melbourne despite testing positive for COVID-19 in

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Hubert Hurkacz was too good for Sebastian Korda in the final at the Delray Beach Open and, on the last point, a little lucky. Hurkacz hit a cross-court lob winner corner to corner to close out a 6-3, 6-3 victory Wednesday for his second career ATP Tour title. With a laugh,

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — – Aryna Sabalenka won her third straight tour title and 15th straight match by beating Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-2 Wednesday in the Abu Dhabi Open final. The fourth-seeded Belarusian, who won indoor tournaments in Ostrava and Linz at the end of last season, last lost in the third round

Britain’s Francesca Jones, who suffers from a rare genetic condition, reached her maiden Grand Slam main draw on Wednesday when she beat China’s Lu Jiajing in the final round of Australian Open qualifying in Dubai. Jones suffers from ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia syndrome, a condition which meant she was born with three fingers and a thumb

Australian tennis star Alex De Minaur has opened his 2021 season in style, winning his fourth ATP title at the Antalya Open in Turkey. De Minaur was leading Alexander Bublik 2-0 in Wednesday’s final when the Kazakh retired injured just seven minutes into the match. The 21-year-old world No.23 dropped only one set for the

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — No. 4-seeded Hubert Hurkacz advanced to his second career ATP Tour final by beating American qualifier Christian Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-4 on Tuesday at the Delray Beach Open. Hurkacz’s only other final was in 2019, when he won at Winston-Salem to become the second Polish tour-level champion in the Open era.

American tennis player Christian Harrison has been fined $3,000 by the ATP after refusing to take part in a mandatory on-court interview at the Delray Beach Open in Florida as it required him to wear a mask. The qualifier, ranked No. 789 in the world, stunned top seed Cristian Garin of Chile 7-6(3), 6-2 on