Tennis

May 25, 2022 PARIS — Rafael Nadal will momentarily take his attention off his bid for a 14th French Open title on Saturday evening when he travels to the Stade de France to watch his beloved Real Madrid face Liverpool in the Champions League final as they seek to secure their 14th European Cup triumph.

5:10 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Most tennis fans didn’t know Leolia Jeanjean‘s name prior to the French Open. Even many of her peers didn’t know much about her going into the event. After all, the world No. 227 had never played in the main draw of any tour-level event, let alone a major, and had

11:50 AM ET Associated Press PARIS — Make that 30 in a row for Iga Swiatek. The top-ranked Swiatek routed Alison Riske 6-0, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the third round of the French Open and extend the longest winning streak in women’s tennis since Serena Williams won 34 in a row in 2013. The

2:30 PM ET Irina-Camelia Begu has apologized after she was hit with a code violation following an incident where her racket bounced into the stands during her second-round win over Ekaterina Alexandrova. Alexandrova ended up losing the match and has since called for a change in tennis’ rules to prevent this from happening again. The

5:52 PM ET ESPN News Services PARIS — Rafael Nadal reached 300 career Grand Slam match victories by defeating Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round at Roland Garros. The only real blip for 13-time French Open champion Nadal on Wednesday night in Court Philippe Chatrier came near the end, when he was

6:22 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com It had been four-and-a-half hours of battling and sliding on the court. But in the end, Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish teenager with sky-high expectations, outstretched his arms, first placing them atop his head, and then pointing them towards the crowd. For several seconds, he stood on the court, embracing every

4:39 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Barbora Krejcikova, the reigning French Open singles and doubles champion, will not be defending either of her titles during this year’s event. The world’s No. 2 player lost in the first round of singles action on Monday to French teenager Diane Parry, and had to withdraw from doubles on Wednesday

8:23 AM ET Britain’s two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray said on Wednesday the major would never feel like an “exhibition event” and most people only care who wins after the Grand Slam had its ranking points stripped by the ATP and WTA Tours. Organisers the All England Lawn Tennis Club took the decision to ban

4:25 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com When asked about the decision to not award ranking points at Wimbledon this year, four-time major champion Naomi Osaka said the tournament will now be “more like an exhibition.” Other players have responded with anger, confusion and thoughts of skipping Wimbledon altogether. The announcement, made on Friday by the WTA

7:42 AM ET PARIS — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bid an emotional farewell to tennis in a special presentation on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros after losing his first-round match Tuesday at the French Open to Casper Ruud. Tsonga, 37, announced last week he’d bow out after this year’s tournament, bringing an end to a career

5:30 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com The look of disappointment was obvious all around the grounds at Roland Garros during the first two days of play. Ons Jabeur. Garbine Muguruza. Naomi Osaka. Anett Kontaveit. And defending champion Barbora Krejcikova. With play suspended on every other court due to rain on Monday afternoon, all eyes were on

5:03 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Tennis has long been known for being fashion-forward, but typically, with all due respect to Rafael Nadal‘s capris era, the most fun and daring looks have been worn by the women. (Please see: Williams, Serena) But that changed on Monday at the French Open when Marton Fucsovics took the court

2:03 PM ET Simon Cambers Rafael Nadal chalked up yet another record at Roland Garros on Monday as he won his 106th French Open match. The 13-time champion cruised to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 first-round win over Jordan Thompson of Australia, wrapping up the victory in just over two hours. 1 Related Nadal’s win-loss record

7:00 AM ET AFTER 3 HOURS and 35 minutes of tennis on the red clay court in Madrid, Carlos Alcaraz aims his serve out wide. Novak Djokovic, who has spent more time ranked No. 1 than anybody, lunges, grunting as he reaches awkwardly with his backhand to return the 19-year-old’s serve. Alcaraz is up 6-5

3:21 PM ET ESPN News Services American teenager Coco Gauff did not let 10 double-faults, 12 break points or a warning from the chair umpire about receiving coaching from her father disrupt her progress into the second round at Roland Garros. The 18-year-old Gauff began her trip to Paris with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over

8:24 AM ET Kelly CohenESPN Rafael Nadal‘s career has been spectacular and his career on clay has been unlike any other in the history of the sport. And Nadal loves Roland Garros. Period. But only recently he returned from a rib injury while also dealing with chronic pain in his left foot that kept him

5:09 PM ET Associated Press GENEVA — Casper Ruud retained his Geneva Open title by beating Joao Sousa 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (1) in the final on Saturday. One day before the French Open starts in Paris, eighth-ranked Ruud’s seventh career title on clay courts lifted his record in finals to 8-3. The Norwegian has

4:33 PM ET Associated Press Martina Trevisan of Italy won her first WTA title after beating Claire Liu of the United States 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Grand Prix Sar La Princesse Lalla Meryem on Saturday. The No. 85-ranked Trevisan and No. 92-ranked Liu were playing their first career final. Trevisan was under