Tennis

Jul 14, 2020 Associated Press The Swiss Indoors tennis tournament has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers say it would be “irresponsible and logistically difficult to go ahead” amid uncertainty about public health and the economy. Tournament head Roger Brennwald says “social distancing or matches played behind closed doors were out of the

9:25 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com When the global coronavirus pandemic shut down the WTA Tour in March, CiCi Bellis suddenly found herself with indefinite free time. But, having spent the better part of the past two years dealing with injuries and being sidelined from tennis, she knew immediately how she would pass the time. The

11:36 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Sam Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, is now a mom. The 36-year-old Australian tennis pro announced Monday on Instagram that her partner, Liz, gave birth to a girl in June. “Life in lockdown during coronavirus has been challenging in many ways but personally it’s been one

4:34 PM ET Associated Press WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Tennys Sandgren celebrated a game-clinching point in pandemic-appropriate fashion, retrieving the ball himself in the absence of ball kids, and exchanging an awkward fist-to-elbow bump with a teammate as the World TeamTennis season started before mask-wearing fans on Sunday. WTT’s nine teams have come together

6:46 PM ET Associated Press STATELINE, Nev. — Former tennis player Mardy Fish birdied the final five holes Saturday to take a three-point lead over former Buffalo defensive tackle Kyle Williams in the American Century Championship. The celebrity tournament is being played without fans at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course because of the coronavirus pandemic. The

8:03 AM ET Associated Press LONDON — The Tennis Integrity Unit has raised concerns over 24 “suspicious matches” at exhibitions organized while the men’s and women’s tours are shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic. The TIU, which investigates match-fixing cases in the sport, said Friday it received reports of the matches at private tournaments staged

4:45 PM ET Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. — On Richmond’s Monument Avenue, the collection of towering statues honoring Confederate veterans was interrupted by one noticeably different: a monument to Black tennis legend and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe. The Ashe statue seemed safe from defacement during recent protests over racism and police brutality, when protesters

9:30 AM ET The All England Club, which hosts Wimbledon, announced Friday that it will pay prize money to all players who would have qualified for the canceled tournament. Pulling from a pot of £10 million ($12.6 million), the organization will distribute prize money to the “620 players whose world ranking would have enabled them

8:58 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com After being at home for several months because of the global coronavirus pandemic, Sofia Kenin was more than eager to return to competition. So when the opportunity arose to play World TeamTennis this summer, she jumped at the chance. It was only after she agreed to participate that she realized

7:33 AM ET Pro-tennis player Dayana Yastremska has defended pictures she posted on social media of her doing blackface as “misunderstood.” The World No. 25 ranked player posted four photos of herself with half her body painted black and a caption which read “Equality.” Following criticism, Yastremska deleted the pictures and posted an explanation on

5:29 PM ET The WTA has launched a second, new tennis event after negotiations to host both an ATP and WTA draw as usual at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. collapsed. The Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky, will take place during the same time frame (Aug. 10-16) as another new WTA event, the

3:57 PM ET In another demonstration of cooperation between the ATP and the WTA, the women’s tennis group has announced that it will reboot and substantially alter its rankings system in a way nearly identical to the path chosen by the ATP. “In order to balance fairness and flexibility for all players, the WTA Rankings

6:00 AM ET It’s like Puerto Rico can’t catch a break. First, in September 2017, came a borderline Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful ever to hit Puerto Rico and the mainland United States. Hurricane Maria caused an estimated $90 billion in damages and killed more than 2,900 people in Puerto Rico. Just

10:06 AM ET Three of the top four players from Spain will be headlining the UTR Pro Series-Spain, a three-event series that will be played on successive weekends beginning Saturday in Barcelona. Conspicuous in his absence: ATP No. 2 ranked Rafael Nadal, who has not taken part in any of the growing number of “reopening”

7:35 AM ET AFP via Getty Images Novak Djokovic has accused critics of subjecting him to a “witch-hunt” after his regional Adria Tour tennis event ended in a novel coronavirus fiasco and said he was still uncertain whether he would play at the Aug. 31-Sept 13 U.S. Open. Images and videos of the players hugging

9:21 AM ET Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has slammed Dominic Thiem for defending players who competed at the ill-fated Adria Tour and subsequently tested positive for the coronavirus. Kyrgios has repeatedly criticised organisers and players at the abandoned event in the Balkans, where Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki all tested positive for

10:31 AM ET The DraftKings All-American Team Cup, the first pro tennis event in the U.S. to take place before paying spectators, ended Sunday at a tennis and fitness center in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. It was rocked Friday night when Frances Tiafoe, the popular captain of the young “Stars” team, tested positive for the coronavirus,

4:23 PM ET On Monday, the ATP announced the revisions it is making in the rankings system due to the lengthy suspension of official tournament play caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The tour’s ranking system has been in place with no comparably major modifications since the rankings were first published in 1973. “In anticipation of