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
BRADENTON, Fla. — With her tennis career taking flight at age 17, Amanda Anisimova was abruptly grounded: out of last year’s United States Open as she grieved. Her father, Konstantin Anisimov, was just 52 when he died of a heart attack on Aug. 19, one week before the start of the year’s final Grand Slam […] More
MELBOURNE, Australia — In only her third Grand Slam event, Coco Gauff has challenges lined up that will already be familiar to her, as revealed in the Australian Open draw ceremony on Thursday evening. Gauff, 15, will open in the first round against seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, 39, as she did in the […] More
Serena Williams won her first singles title since giving birth, defeating unseeded American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 to win the ASB Classic on Sunday in Auckland, New Zealand. Though the implications for next week’s Australian Open are unclear, it was abundantly clear how much this long-awaited victory meant to the 38-year-old Williams. After finishing off […] More
