Tennis

12:01 PM ET Associated Press MADRID — If given the option, Rafael Nadal said he would scrap this season entirely so tennis could resume normally in 2021. The second-ranked Spaniard, who is 33 years old and has won 19 Grand Slam titles, said he hoped to resume playing this year but doubted it could happen

11:36 PM ET Although United States Tennis Association’s CEO and executive director Mike Dowse said last week that the US Open could conceivably be played in November in the California desert at Indian Wells, that is just one of several options the USTA is contemplating in its effort to host the final Grand Slam event

7:04 PM ET Associated Press MADRID — Novak Djokovic apparently broke confinement rules in Spain by going back to a tennis court on Monday. Djokovic posted a video on Instagram showing him exchanging shots with another man at a tennis club in the coastal city of Marbella, where the Serb has reportedly stayed. Djokovic filmed

3:26 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — A 21-year-old Egyptian professional tennis player once ranked in the top 300 was banned for life — just like his older brother was in 2018 — after an investigation found evidence of match-fixing. The anti-corruption Tennis Integrity Unit announced Monday that Youssef Hossam cannot compete in or even

11:25 AM ET Associated Press World TeamTennis is in discussions with several cities in an attempt to find one to host the league’s full nine-team schedule in one venue without spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic. WTT still hopes to start play on July 12, as scheduled. But that could change, as could the length of

6:20 AM ET Andy Murray has backed Roger Federer‘s call to merge the men’s and women’s tours, saying that many top male players believe it will be a positive step for tennis. “When you have a lot of the top male players now starting to discuss and talk about it, that’s definitely very promising,” he

5:19 PM ET Universal Tennis Rating has created two new events to help kickstart live tennis during the coronavirus shutdown, both of them four-player round-robin exhibitions that will be played on a private court West Palm Beach, Fla.,with a skeleton staff and enhanced safety precautions — but no spectators. The UTR Pro Match Series exhibition

4:49 AM ET Andy Murray prevailed in a tight men’s final against David Goffin at the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro on Friday, and Kiki Bertens routed Fiona Ferro to capture the women’s championship. Murray downed Goffin 7-6 (5) on the Tennis World Tour video game, while Bertens cruised past Ferro 6-1, giving her the

7:27 PM ET Associated Press Six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker thinks the US Open should not be held as scheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Becker, who won the title at Flushing Meadows in 1989, said: “New York was pretty much the worst city hit by the virus a couple of weeks ago. I

1:46 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPNW Writer Eugenie Bouchard came out strong over Donna Vekic in their Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro round-robin match on Monday, with the Canadian blanking her opponent in the first game before trailing 0-15 in the second. Then she was disconnected. Vekic saw a message on her screen that declared her

9:49 AM ET World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has said he initially struggled to adjust to the coronavirus shutdown and felt “empty and confused” at the uncertainty around the season restart. The sport is suspended until at least mid-July due to the virus, which has infected more than 3.19 million people and killed almost 227,000.

11:45 AM ET ESPN Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print Nick Kyrgios has criticised Dominic Thiem for opposing the notion that the top tennis players should help lower-ranked competitors who are struggling financially after the Austrian said “none of them are going to starve.” World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has urged players to contribute

3:01 PM ET Maria Sharapova is coming out of retirement to play. Serena Williams is embarking on another Grand Slam quest. Kevin Anderson, a 2018 Wimbledon finalist, is about to discover what it’s like to play doubles with an NFL quarterback. Those athletes and others will take part in the “Stay at Home Slam” on

9:15 AM ET Tennis can emerge stronger from its lengthy shutdown due to the coronavirus if the idea of merging the men’s and women’s tours becomes a reality, multiple Grand Slam winners Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova have said. The tennis season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the hiatus will

3:20 PM ET Chief medical officers from major sports leagues participated in a call Tuesday with Seema Verma, who is a member of the White House coronavirus task force and administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. The call, according to a White House official, was to go over how sports plays a

1:41 AM ET Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia — Stefanos Tsitsipas sent his tennis mate Nick Kyrgios a special 25th birthday greeting. Unfortunately for Kyrgios, it contained too much information. Tsitsipas, who is Greek, sent an Instagram message to Kyrgios, who is an Australian of Greek heritage. In it, Tsitsipas held up a cardboard sign that

1:45 PM ET Associated Press So here’s a dose of realism — or surrealism — for the first video game tournament of the coronavirus pandemic involving professional tennis players: A match supposedly was postponed Monday because of Rafael Nadal‘s balky back, except the tournament director later admitted he was just kidding. That bit of silliness

11:08 AM ET Associated Press A group of professional tennis players led by Dustin Brown will meet in a series of exhibition tournaments in Germany starting Friday. The live-streamed event will take place at an academy near the small town of Hohr-Grenzhausen. The men’s and women’s professional tours are currently suspended until July because of