MELBOURNE, Australia — Her Grand Slam losing streak up to four matches, Maria Sharapova surely was aware questions about her future would be coming. She was not able to provide answers. Might this have been her last trip to the Australian Open, a tournament she won in 2008 as part of a career Grand Slam? […] More
MELBOURNE, Australia — As the reigning Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka opened her season earlier this month, she checked herself as she expressed her goals for the rest of the year. “I think just to try as hard as I can every match,” Osaka said. “Because for me, when I feel like I do that, […] More
MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff was a qualifier and Grand Slam rookie when she played Venus Williams for the first time. That was at Wimbledon in July, and Gauff’s first-round, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the five-time Wimbledon champion sent shock waves through the All England Club and beyond, far beyond. Much has changed in six […] More
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian Open, site of epic jet lag and searing heat, has long been a struggle against the elements as much as a tussle against the opponent across the net. Scheduled in the Australian summer, the Open is where the former champion Ivan Lendl donned a Legionnaire’s cap to combat the sun […] More
In the 1970s, many top players did not even bother showing up for the Australian Open. The country was too remote, the prize money too low, the facilities erratic as the event moved from city to city, and it was held over the Christmas holidays. The tournament moved to mid-January in 1987 and found its […] More
Many do not recall her 1979 victory in the tournament, which is about to begin this week in a country ravaged by fire. More
In 2010, the three best players on the ATP Tour were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. A decade later, they retain the top three rankings. Still, eventually new names will rise to the top. Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev combined for dozens of singles titles in recent years and […] More
MELBOURNE, Australia — In the shadow of the country’s bushfire crisis, the best tennis players in the world have traveled to Australia for the first Grand Slam event of the decade. There will, however, be some notable absences when the Australian Open begins on Monday. Bianca Andreescu, the 19-year-old Canadian who won the United States […] More
