Tennis

1:13 PM ET Romania’s Sorana Cirstea has said brands value players’ looks above their performance while drawing up contracts, saying that Adidas told her “it’s better to look good and be in top 20 than to not look that good and be No. 1.” Cirstea, who is ranked No. 38 in the women’s singles, made

Nov 1, 2022 Associated Press PARIS — Rafael Nadal is a different man. He’s losing sleep over his newborn baby and not so much the No. 1 ranking. Even with all of his absences, Nadal has a shot at finishing the season as the world No. 1. He has racked up 5,820 points, trailing only

12:31 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com An Instagram post by Venus Williams reflecting on the 28th anniversary of her professional tennis debut raised speculation that her legendary career could be nearing an end. “On this day 28 years ago I made my debut to professional tennis,” Williams wrote in the caption alongside two photos of her

8:59 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — Maria Sakkari couldn’t help but smile a wide smile after taking a pair of tiebreakers to edge Jessica Pegula across more than two hours of big-hitting baseline action in front of a sparse crowd Monday as round-robin singles play began at the WTA Finals. Sure, the

3:12 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — The Davis Cup finals and qualifying matches will become an official part of the ATP Tour calendar in 2023 as part of a partnership between the men’s circuit and the International Tennis Federation announced Monday. The two governing bodies and promoter Kosmos Tennis will work together to try

2:50 PM ET ESPN News Services FORT WORTH, Texas — Iga Swiatek’s body of work in 2022 speaks for itself. She’s been No. 1 in the rankings since April. She owns a tour-leading eight titles, including two at Grand Slam tournaments. She’s collected a year’s-best 64 victories heading into the WTA Finals that begin Monday,

1:04 PM ET Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland — Felix Auger-Aliassime won his third straight title in October, beating Holger Rune 6-3, 7-5 in the Swiss Indoors final on Sunday. Auger-Aliassime went through his five matches at Basel without dropping serve, and he saved all three break points Rune had. The ninth-ranked Auger-Aliassime added the Basel

5:18 AM ET World No. 1 Iga Swiatek said she was left feeling confused after Simona Halep was handed a provisional ban for doping and hoped there would be more clarity soon on the future of the Romanian player she has looked up to. Two-time major winner Halep was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis

1:16 PM ET Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland — Felix Auger-Aliassime extended his perfect career record against top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz by winning 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals at the Swiss Indoors on Saturday. The ninth-ranked Canadian improved to 3-0 against the US Open champion and ran his overall win streak to 12 matches in October. Alcaraz

10:11 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — A season ago, Iga Swiatek only qualified for the WTA Finals with a couple of weeks to spare. She was the fifth of eight players to get into the season-ending event for women’s tennis, a situation she found stressful. Swiatek was so dominant throughout 2022 that

6:01 PM ET Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland — Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz will face No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Swiss Indoors semifinals after both advanced in straight sets Friday. Alcaraz, who won the US Open last month, clinched a 6-3, 6-4 victory0 against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta with a service winner. “It is difficult

3:56 PM ET Associated Press SYDNEY — A new team competition with $15 million in prize money will open the 2023 tennis season ahead of the Australian Open. Tennis Australia announced the formation of the United Cup on Friday, saying it will involve women and men from 18 countries competing from Dec. 29 to Jan.

5:49 PM ET British No. 1 Cameron Norrie was knocked out of the Vienna Open after losing in straight sets to American Marcos Giron on Thursday. Giron defeated Norrie, world No. 13, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour, 22 minutes to set up a quarterfinal tie against Grigor Dimitrov, who beat beat No. 3 seed Andrey

4:51 PM ET Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland — Stan Wawrinka delighted home fans again at the Swiss Indoors, digging deep to beat Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round on Thursday after failing to serve out the match in the second set. Two days after a straight-set win over No. 3-ranked Casper Ruud,

4:35 AM ET Dmitry Tursunov has said he decided not to continue coaching Emma Raducanu at the end of a trial period with the former US Open champion because of “red flags” he could not ignore. Raducanu won the US Open title in 2021 but has since fallen to 76th in the WTA rankings. The

4:47 PM ET Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland — Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz eased into the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors by beating Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Spaniard clinched the win with his only ace in a second-round match where he had 20 winners and made just nine unforced errors. Alcaraz’s

1:20 PM ET British No. 2 Daniel Evans beat Karen Khachanov in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals of the Vienna Open on Wednesday. Evans, 32, beat Khachanov 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes to set up a tie with either Denis Shapovalov or Taylor Fritz. Elsewhere on Wednesday, No. 1 seed

9:50 PM ET Novak Djokovic says he has been given ‘positive signs’ that he will be allowed to enter Australia and compete in the Australian Open in January despite being under a three-year visa ban. The Serbian, whose ban was imposed along with his deportation for his potential to cause “civil unrest” as a “talisman