In an interview, Roger Federer opens up about the emotions of his goodbye at the Laver Cup and about the future of men’s tennis. “Nobody needs to play like me, by the way,” he said.
Federer kept alive a one-handed backhand, tried rushing the net on returns and helped popularize the between-the-legs shot. And with the Laver Cup, he showed that tournaments can be different, too.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were defeated by Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe in a tight Laver Cup match that included plenty of highlights and fond sentiments.
Tiafoe had plenty of big moments in the U.S. Open. And Sock has won four Grand Slam doubles titles.
The protest disrupted the tournament on a day when Roger Federer was scheduled to play the last competitive match of his career.
After more than 25 years on the professional court, Roger Federer announced his plans to retire. Federer is the first man to win 20 Grand Slam titles and is considered one of the greatest athletes ever.
One of the greatest rivalries in tennis history will end in harmony on Friday when Roger Federer plays his final competitive match with Rafael Nadal as his doubles partner.
A look at the great matches between Federer and Rafael Nadal as well as Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Wimbledon may have been more fitting. But the Laver Cup, which Federer helped create, will offer a poignant send-off at O2 Arena for one of the greatest players of this era.
Federer, who announced his retirement last week, hinted his final competitive tennis could come Friday alongside his longtime rival Rafael Nadal.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all have credible claims to be considered the best. Here are a few ways to consider their gaudy stats.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all have credible claims to be considered the best. Here are a few ways to consider their gaudy stats.
Federer’s moves made even blowout matches worthy of watching. And the moments in which he fell short made his legacy even more intriguing.
Roger Federer’s retirement will augur opportunities for a new generation of players not named Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic.
Tennis had lost its cachet in the early 2000s before Federer made the classic sport modern and the modern sport classier.
His one-handed backhand, inside-out forehand and powerful serve helped fuel his championships.
For more than two decades, tennis fans admired Roger Federer’s every move as he won 20 Grand Slam singles titles.
Federer, who won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, said injuries and surgeries had taken their toll on his body. His final competitive matches will be next week in London.
Alcaraz, the 19-year-old winner of the men’s U.S. Open, said he “worked really hard so that things like this could happen.”
No matter how clear the potential, you never truly know what a tennis player is capable of until they have to fight for the biggest points on the biggest occasions.
Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish sensation, beat Casper Ruud of Norway in four sets to capture his first Grand Slam championship and take the top spot in the ATP world rankings.
At 21 years old and already a superstar in her home country of Poland, Swiatek is a bona fide No. 1 with a package of tennis skills both innate and acquired.
Swiatek, the world No. 1, beat Jabeur in straight sets to capture her first U.S. Open singles title. It is her third Grand Slam title and first on a surface other than clay.
Sunday’s match is not only a battle for the U.S. Open men’s singles title. It will also determine the next world No. 1, and whoever wins will rise to the top spot for the first time.
Frances Tiafoe’s rise to the top echelon of tennis is an inspiration, but tennis officials are trying to build a U.S. system that relies less on kismet to produce a Black champion.
Swiatek will look to affirm her place as the top-ranked player, while Jabeur could become the first African woman to win the U.S. Open.
The 19-year-old from Spain ended the talented American’s deep run in New York in five sets and will play Casper Ruud of Norway for the men’s singles title.
Ruud, the No. 5 seed, has already played in one Grand Slam final this year.
Men’s tennis will have a first-time Grand Slam winner by Sunday: Frances Tiafoe, Carlos Alcaraz, Karen Khachanov or Casper Ruud.
Fans will get to see what one of the next great tennis rivalries could look like on Friday at 7 p.m.
Jabeur, who lost this year’s Wimbledon final, will get another chance to win her first Grand Slam singles title after beating Caroline Garcia of France in straight sets.
Top-ranked Swiatek will play for her third Grand Slam title. Jabeur, who lost this year’s Wimbledon final, will get another chance to win her first major title.
Frances Tiafoe’s ascent has been the talk of the U.S. Open, but his path to the pros is difficult to follow for other young Black men hoping for a career in tennis.
Kader Nouni, called the “Barry White of tennis,” used to worry that his deep baritone distracted from the job, but now he’s comfortable in the umpire chair.
College coaches can be found across the U.S. Open’s outer courts during the juniors competitions, displaying their school colors while searching for the next star recruit.
Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have a title in their sights.
At the junior tennis club in College Park that gave Tiafoe his start and where he still trains, coaches and aspiring players cheer him on, and never stop working.
The Spanish teenager needed five sets and more than five hours to reach the semifinals in a match that ended shortly before 3 a.m. in New York.
Wimbledon barred players from Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine. At their first Grand Slam since the French Open, Karen Khachanov and Aryna Sabalenka are making a run.
Tiafoe backed up a win over Rafael Nadal with a quarterfinal victory over Andrey Rublev, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (0), 6-4.
Karen Khachanov of Russia needed five sets to put Kyrgios away, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4. He will play Casper Ruud of Norway in the semifinals on Friday.
Tiafoe, whose parents emigrated from the war-torn country before he was born, is the youngest American man to reach a U.S. Open quarterfinal in 16 years, and he has enough talent for two nations.
Garcia, the No. 17 seed from France, beat the 18-year-old American, who was playing her first quarterfinal at the U.S. Open, in straight sets.
The year-end event is due to return to China in 2023, but the tour said its suspension of tournaments there after Peng Shuai accused a former government official of sexual assault remained in place.
The Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where women use different balls than men, and the Wilson ‘regular-duty’ ball has gotten into some players’ heads.
Tennis has long thrived on singular stars, no one bigger than Serena Williams. But perhaps women’s tennis doesn’t need one big name to be interesting.
His loss to Frances Tiafoe was Nadal’s earliest defeat at a major tournament in more than five years and the first time he had been beaten in any major in 2022.
The often tortured tennis player said he was “really sick of letting people down,” after beating No. 1 ranked Daniil Medvedev to advance to the quarterfinals.
While other stars fade, the notorious “Super Brat” has become a subject of fascination and a ubiquitous presence, inside tennis and outside it, too. You have a problem with that?
The next generation of top American players has struggled heavily against Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in Grand Slams. Tiafoe broke through by winning, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Medvedev grew frustrated in a four-set loss that ensured neither singles draws will have a repeat winner this year. Kyrgios will play another Russian, No. 27 Karen Khachanov, in the quarterfinals.
Images of Serena Williams at the U.S. Open from the past 25 years.
In case you missed it: The defending women’s singles champion, Emma Raducanu, is out, and a few players not named Serena retired, too.
At the U.S. Open, Serena Williams laughed, rocked sparkly shoes, rang the bell at the stock exchange, beat two opponents, teared up and said goodbye. She didn’t win, but she didn’t lose.
On the advice of her father, Tomljanovic channeled Kevin Costner to beat the six-time U.S. Open champion in front of a raucous, partisan crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Her last match — at the U.S. Open and probably of her career — was a gutsy display of the power and resilience that have kept fans cheering for nearly 30 years.
This composite photo shows Serena Williams’s last match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on in my life,” Williams, wiping tears, said on court after the match.
The 18-year-old has advanced to the round of 16 in singles at the U.S. Open for the first time in her career. On Sunday, she will face the unseeded Shuai Zhang of China.
Also in attendance to watch Williams in Round 3 of the U.S. Open were the rapper Pusha T and the actress Heidi Gardner.
Venus Williams has not been clear about when (or if) she plans to retire from tennis.
Like Serena Williams, Andy Murray, finally healthy and fit, has given glimpses of yesteryear at the U.S. Open. Unlike Williams, he has no intention of walking away.
Analytics, scouting first-time opponents, additional coaching input, new footwork drills and treating doubles like practice — so far it’s adding up to winning.
Wu Yibing became the first Chinese man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since 1946. He says it’s his “responsibility” to pick up where the retired champion Li Na left off in growing the game.
Serena and Venus Williams lost the first set even after having a set point. They eventually were defeated, 7-6 (5), 6-4, by Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.
Fans are anticipating that Williams may go on a run — and that their chances to see her in person are waning.
Sometimes, all it takes is a text (or a DM).
Here’s how the U.S. Open’s Twitter account described Serena-mania: “SO MUCH CONTENT” (then 31 exclamation points).
Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who lost to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, said she had no interest in shaking hands with players who had not spoken out publicly against Russia’s invasion.
Since the Williams sisters first burst into tennis in the 1990s, their legacy has been tied to one another. They will play doubles in perhaps the final tournament of their careers.
Of course Serena Williams is confident. She deserves to be. And her opponents know that her improving game and overwhelming crowd support make beating her in this U.S. Open all the more difficult.
Kontaveit was up for the challenge of facing Williams in front of fans who had little interest in her winning as they celebrate Williams’s career. She forced a third set, but the fans got what they wanted.
Tomljanovic beat Evgeniya Rodina of Russia in three sets, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.
If two nights earlier was about posterity and sweet send-offs, Round 2 was about doing everything possible to win a tennis match, as Williams beat the world No. 2, Anett Kontaveit, in three sets.
Her entourage has included her 4-year-old daughter, two sisters and a handful of other celebrities.
The 18-year-old American beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania, 6-2, 7-6 (4), to advance to the third round at the U.S. Open.
Tiger Woods was among the celebrities at Arthur Ashe Stadium, along with Zendaya and Dionne Warwick.