1:37 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Rafael Nadal said he was feeling “not great” during his Australian Open news conference Sunday due to a persistent back injury that prevented him from playing in last week’s ATP Cup. “It’s true that for the last 15 days I have been suffering with the back,” he said. “So here
Tennis
3:05 AM ET Italian teenager Jannik Sinner saved a match point before battling past Russian Karen Khachanov 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(4) in a three-hour tussle to reach the final of the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne on Saturday. The 19-year-old Sinner looked set for a straightforward win after leading by a set and a break,
3:05 AM ET Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime moved a step closer to his maiden ATP title after a 6-1, 6-2 win over Corentin Moutet in the Murray River Open semifinals in Melbourne on Saturday. Third seed Auger-Aliassime, who had saved a match point against Egor Gerasimov in the last 16 of the Australian Open warm-up event,
1:02 AM ET ESPN News Services Alexander Zverev had to leave the court for treatment on his back in the second set of his must-win ATP Cup match Saturday against Daniil Medvedev, who went on to win in three sets to secure Russia’s victory over Germany and a spot in the final. No. 4-ranked Medvedev
10:52 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com After an eventful three weeks in Melbourne, filled with hard quarantines and some creative uses of hotel rooms, the 2021 Australian Open is almost here. While players continue to comply with the strict coronavirus protocols of the local Victorian government, the tournament could still give us the closest glimpse of
3:22 PM ET Andre SnellingsESPN Welcome to ESPN’s tennis contest for the Australian Open: Tennis Major Pick’em: Melbourne! What is it? It’s a free-to-play game, where you take a few minutes to answer a series of questions related to the upcoming Australian Open tennis Grand Slam event, which starts on Monday, Feb. 8, and ends
1:58 AM ET Ashleigh Barty will launch her Australian Open assault against world No. 77 Danke Kovinic while the draw hasn’t been overly kind to Australia’s leading men’s hopes. Women’s top seed for the second year running, Barty could face compatriot Daria Gavrilova in the second round at Melbourne Park. If she makes the second
4:44 PM ET Associated Press WIMBLEDON, England — Wimbledon organizers are planning for a reduced-capacity crowd at this year’s Grand Slam tournament, though other options remain, the All England Club said Thursday. The club previously announced that the tournament, canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, would go ahead with or without fans. The
5:46 PM ET Nick Kyrgios doesn’t always need tennis, but he says we do. Famed as much for his indifference to the sport that’s made him a living as his freakish ability and questionable on-court antics, Kyrgios offered no easy answers when it came to hosting a tennis tournament amidst a pandemic. But his sense
11:10 PM ET Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley said Australian Open would start as planned next Monday despite a worker at one of the Melbourne hotels used to quarantine players and their entourages testing positive for COVID-19. “We’re absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead,” he told reporters in Melbourne. “We are starting on
5:46 PM ET Nick Kyrgios refused to play for several minutes after receiving a time violation during his 6-2 7-6 (9-7) win over fellow Australian Harry Bourchier in an Australian Open warm-up event in Melbourne. Kyrgios fought off three set points in the second-set tiebreak before finally getting over the top of world No. 303
8:55 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE — Some players preparing for the Australian Open will have to isolate until they return a negative test for COVID-19 after a worker at one of the tournament’s quarantine hotels tested positive for the virus. Daniel Andrews, the political leader of Victoria state, called a late-night news conference Wednesday
12:50 AM ET ESPN News Services Ash Barty looked like the world No. 1 in the first set, then struggled the rest of the way against No. 52-ranked Marie Bouzkova before completing a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 win in an Australian Open tuneup tournament on Wednesday. In the third set, the 2019 French Open champion exchanged
9:54 AM ET Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland — Roger Federer is aiming to play his first tournament after two knee surgeries and more than one year out in Qatar next month. Federer told Swiss radio station SRF on Tuesday he has targeted the Doha Open from March 8-13. The 20-time Grand Slam champion said he
4:10 AM ET Nick Kyrgios has breathed a sigh of relief after making a typically lively return to tennis following a near year-long hiatus. Kyrgios overcame a leg injury to reach the second round of an Australian Open warm-up event in Melbourne with a gritty 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) comeback win over the lowly-ranked Frenchman
12:04 AM ET MELBOURNE — Controversial American Tennys Sandgren has overcome Australian John-Patrick Smith and his own temper to advance to the second round of the Open warm-up event in Melbourne. Sandgren berated himself, screaming “I hate this stupid sport”, before going on to secure a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory over local wildcard Smith. The
12:09 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-4 in a first-round match at the Yarra River Classic, one of six tuneup tournaments being played this week at Melbourne Park ahead of the Australian Open. The first major of the year was delayed by three weeks to allow
2:49 AM ET ESPN News Services Coco Gauff didn’t make it easy on herself in her first-round match at the WTA’s Gippsland Trophy on Monday. The 16-year-old American was up a service break in the second set and looked ready for straight-sets win until Jil Teichmann won the second-set tiebreaker. The players then went to