Agassi: My Mullet Almost Fell Off at 1990 French Open: During the 1990 French Open finals, Andre Agassi's first trip to a Grand Slam final, the "Image is Everything" pitchman was paranoid about his hairweave mullet falling off during the match. "The evening before the match, I stood under the shower and felt my wig suddenly fall apart," he writes in his autobiography. "Probably I used the wrong hair rinse. ... During the warming-up training before play I prayed. Not for victory, but that my hairpiece would not fall off." Agassi lost the match to Andres Gomez -- the only Grand Slam title of the Ecuadorian's career.

posted by rcade to tennis at 11:18 AM - 6 comments

Agassi Admits Crystal Meth Use in New Book: Andre Agassi admits in his upcoming autobiography to using crystal meth in 1997, which -- probably not coincidentally -- was the year he fell to 141st in the world rankings.

posted by TheQatarian to tennis at 09:46 PM - 13 comments

Nadal and Roddick speak out against the 11 month tennis season.: After injuries force Nadal, Roddick, Federer and Andy Murray out this season, some of the top players are outwardly expressing their distaste for a lack of offseason. "It's ridiculous to think that you have a professional sport that doesn't have a legitimate off-season to rest, get healthy, and then train," Roddick said. "I just feel sooner or later that common sense has to prevail."

posted by dfleming to tennis at 10:58 AM - 10 comments

American Tennis Legend Jack Kramer Dies: Jack Kramer, the No. 1 men's tennis player in the world during most of the '40s and the 1947 Wimbledon champ, has died at age 88 in Los Angeles. The first executive director of the Association of Tennis Professionals, Kramer led the 1973 Wimbledon boycott, had his name on the best-selling wooden racket for decades and helped create women's tennis by giving them such miserly prizes on his tour. "The single most significant figure in the history of his game," writes Frank Deford. "Now, with Kramer's death, the only other significant athlete from the pre-war era who is still living is Bob Feller, the baseball pitcher."

posted by rcade to tennis at 01:45 PM - 5 comments

Kim Clijsters Wins US Open: For the past two years, Kim Clijsters thought it was more important to get married and have a baby than to play tennis. Now that she's won the U.S. Open as an unseeded player, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3, perhaps Clijsters has her priorities back in the right place.

posted by rcade to tennis at 12:01 AM - 38 comments

Serena Williams Loses U.S. Open Match for Threatening Line Judge: Serena Williams lost the U.S. Open quarterfinal to Kim Clijsters when she was penalized a point for threatening a line judge who called a foot fault. With the score 6-4, 6-5 and 15-30 in the 12th game of the second set, Williams double-faulted on a foot fault -- which appeared to be a bad call -- and then walked over to the judge and reportedly said, "I swear to God I'll fucking take this ball and shove it down your fucking throat! Do you hear me? I swear to God. You better be fucking glad that I'm not, I swear." After the line judge told the chair umpire what had been said, Williams was told about the penalty and responded, "I didn't say I would kill you." See the video and her post-match press conference. Here's another clip for lip readers and more details on who said what when. "Without a doubt, this penalty was warranted," wrote Tom Perrotta on Tennis.Com. Unfortunate quote by Williams afterward: "My idol is John McEnroe."

posted by rcade to tennis at 10:40 AM - 66 comments

Novak Djokovic Impersonates John McEnroe at U.S. Open: After his fourth round victory at the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic entertained the crowd with his impersonation of John McEnroe (see the video), which prompted McEnroe to come down from the broadcast booth and impersonate Djokovic as they played a few points. Two years ago, Djokovic did his versions of Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal.

posted by rcade to tennis at 11:15 AM - 8 comments

Unheralded American Reaches U.S. Open Quarterfinals: Melanie Oudin, a 17-year-old from Georgia, continued her run of upsets at the U.S. Open, defeating 13th-seeded Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3. She's already defeated No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva and No. 29 Maria Sharapova, becoming the youngest American to reach the quarterfinals since Serena Williams 10 years ago.

posted by rcade to tennis at 06:31 PM - 9 comments

Federer's Footwork: Artful and Efficient: Study, study, study.

posted by justgary to tennis at 03:30 PM - 4 comments

Tennis Player Scores with I-Kissed-a-Cokehead Defense: The International Tennis Federation's tribunal panel ruled that tennis player Richard Gasquet inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub, enabling the 23-year-old Frenchman to avoid a long ban for drugs. After he tested positive in a urine sample in March, Gasquet said that he made out with a woman named Pamela at a dance music festival in Miami and must have ingested trace amounts of the drug through her slobber. Gasquet was "on the balance of probability, contaminated with cocaine by Pamela" and, therefore, not significantly at fault for the doping offense, the panel ruled. Whether it was Pam Anderson, Pam Dawber, Pamela Sue Martin, Pam Oliver or some other Pam was unavailable at press time.

posted by rcade to tennis at 04:56 PM - 6 comments

Monica Seles talks about her hair, her fridge, her body, and being stabbed in the back: The former teenage prodigy won eight grand slam events before being attacked at age 19 by a deranged fan. She came back to win a ninth, but was never the same again. In this interview she reflects on her career, and on being a teenage girl under the spotlight. "My generation was the last when you were marketed really as a tennis player - Graf, Hingis. But when Anna Kournikova came along, there was this whole other thing - suddenly it was all about looks. Tennis is pretty unforgiving if you are carrying weight. You are expected to wear short skirts, and you are compared to all these 16- and 17-year-olds.

posted by rumple to tennis at 03:21 PM - 8 comments

Federer Outlasts Roddick in Longest Wimbledon Final Ever : Roger Federer won a record 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon Sunday over Andy Roddick, in a line that goes down in history: 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14. The only time Federer broke Roddick's serve was in the deciding game.

posted by rcade to tennis at 02:00 PM - 18 comments

Wimbledon Raises the Roof: After nearly 90 years of rain delays on Wimbledon's Center Court, which was built in 1922, at 5:19 p.m. Monday, Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo played the first point under the new retractable roof. "This is the first time ever at Wimbledon somebody is waiting for rain," said Ian Ritchie, the club's chief executive.

posted by rcade to tennis at 06:27 PM - 6 comments

Fan Accosts Federer During French Open Final: A fan carrying a red flag jumped onto the court during the French Open final Sunday, trying to put something on Roger Federer's head before fleeing security and jumping the net, then getting creamed in the first open-field tackle in the history of the event. See the video. And by the way, Federer won the event for the first time.

posted by rcade to tennis at 01:10 PM - 17 comments

Nadal Suffers Shocking Loss at French Open: Four-time champ Rafael Nadal has been beaten at the French Open, ending a 31-game winning streak at the tournament. The "Swedish sledgehammer" Robin Soderling -- the 23rd seed at the event -- defeated Nadal 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the fourth round. Nadal's loss gives Roger Federer his best chance to complete a career Grand Slam.

posted by rcade to tennis at 12:18 PM - 7 comments

Grunting Girl Makes Quite a Racket at French Open: Fans at Roland Garros got an earful of first-time French Open qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito, 16, of Portugal. "Grunting is an inadequate term to describe the extended, high-pitched wails that De Brito produces during and after most strokes," the New York Times reports, along with audio. Her third-round opponent Aravane Rezai complained to the umpire about the noise.

posted by rcade to tennis at 07:46 PM - 15 comments

Laver Says He's Not The Greatest: As the first Grand Slam of the year begins in Melbourne, a look back with the only player to have won all four Grand Slams in a single year. Twice. As an amateur and again as a professional. And he thinks Roger could do it...

posted by owlhouse to tennis at 05:06 AM - 5 comments

Photos from the Wimbledon men's final, 2008: Marc Aspland is the multi-award winning Chief Sports Photographer for the Times. This is his collection of photographs, and some of his comments on them, from what he considers to be "possibly the best men's final I shall ever see in my lifetime". If you need a quick reminder, there are highlights of the match here, and some terrible poetry reading from the main protagonists here.

posted by JJ to tennis at 10:19 AM - 5 comments

Cheating Eight Year Old: Player banned from an Under 10 tournament for 'receiving instructions' from her father through a headset.

posted by owlhouse to tennis at 06:50 PM - 16 comments

Serena won't play Indian Wells; WTA's new rule won't change it: Serena and Venus Williams' ongoing boycott of the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells, Calif., could jeopardize their participation at other tournaments under recently adopted rules for mandatory events set to kick in next year. (edit) The Williams sisters have steadfastly declined to participate at the Pacific Life Open since 2001. That year, Venus defaulted to Serena minutes before their semifinal started. Spectators subsequently jeered Serena in the final. The sisters and their father, Richard, have said they believe the crowd's actions were racially motivated.

posted by knowsalittle to tennis at 10:36 AM - 86 comments

Nadal-Federer epic the most thrilling of all the Wimbledon finals: I came here to see what the buzz was and was shocked to see Nadal/Federer hadn't been posted already. I only saw part of the match and sadly missed most of the last set, but it seemed pretty epic to me, especially during the 4th set tiebreaker.

posted by drumdance to tennis at 01:45 PM - 44 comments

Jaeger Bomb -- I threw the 1983 Wimbledon women's final to Martina: Now a Dominican nun, former women's tennis star Andrea Jaeger says in an interview she tanked the final against Navratilova after a confrontation with her father the day before. Jaeger, who was 18 at the time, also says she saw Navratilova that same evening and got the cold shoulder. "I couldn't have done that in her position, but all I thought at the time was, 'I've changed her routine and affected her. I can't go out and try in the final now'."

posted by wfrazerjr to tennis at 12:41 PM - 11 comments

Williams Defeats Williams for Wimbledon Crown: For the first time since 2001, Venus Williams defeated her younger sister Serena in a Grand Slam final, taking her fifth Wimbledon championship in two sets 7-5 and 6-4. Their career record against each other is now even at 8-8. Although a sportswriter described past Williams vs. Williams finals as underwhelming and error-prone, this was a dramatic match that included the fastest serve ever by a woman at Wimbledon: Venus' 129-mph ace in the second set.

posted by rcade to tennis at 10:55 AM - 9 comments

It's a sister slam! : Venus and Serena Williams cruised through the Wimbledon women's singles semifinal with straight sets victories over Elena Dementieva and Zheng Jie, to advance to their third straight all-Williams Wimbledon final.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 01:09 PM - 10 comments

Eight Wimbledon Matches Might've Been Tanked in 2007: The Sunday Times of London serves up a scorcher: "Eight matches at Wimbledon have been reported to the tennis authorities on suspicion that their results have been fixed by professional gambling syndicates." Hints are dropped, but no players are named. Five of the losers are playing in this year's men's singles.

posted by rcade to tennis at 06:20 PM - 9 comments

Wiimbledon crowns top 'tennis' champs: “Women, free beer and video games,” Participants play in the second annual Wii Tennis tournament at Barcade in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

posted by opel70 to tennis at 01:18 PM - 4 comments

Nadal wins 4th straight French Open in a rout.: Rafael Nadal put on a clinic against World #1 Roger Federer to match Bjorn Borg's record for consecutive victories at Roland Garros. He was so dominant, he felt he had to apologize to Federer for the result.

posted by cabuki to tennis at 02:02 PM - 21 comments

Henin retires. : Number 1 ranked Justine Henin has announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 10:30 AM - 14 comments

The mighty hath fallen: : Novak Djokovic knocks out Roger Federer in a straight-sets victory in the Australian Open semis.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 04:55 PM - 13 comments

Sampras defeats Federer in straight sets.: "Sampras never faced a break point and converted one of two against his opponent as he handed Federer a 7-6 (8), 6-4 defeat at the Venetian Macao arena, wrapping up a three-match Asian exhibition series between the two tennis greats."

posted by mr_crash_davis to tennis at 07:01 PM - 10 comments

Shades of Litvinenko! : When Tommy Haas fell ill and had to concede his Davis Cup semifinal match to Mikhail Youzhny, he (and everyone else, including the team doctor) assumed it was a simple case of a stomach virus. Now, thanks to a remark from a Russian trainer to a member of the German team, Haas's illness is being investigated as a possible poisoning.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 04:27 PM - 7 comments

Why Roger Federer Doesn't Care Who He's Playing: and why Rafael Nadal does well on clay. [via kottke]

posted by yerfatma to tennis at 11:57 AM - 3 comments

Justin Gimelstob Leaves Tennis as One of the Greatest (Interviews): At the end of his final U.S. Open match, a three-set defeat at the hands of buddy Andy Roddick Tuesday night, retiring journeyman Justin Gimelstob, 30, grabbed a microphone and interviewed Roddick at center court in front of the crowd. "What do you think was the key to the match," he asked Roddick, pausing for effect, "besides you being way better than me?" The match also featured a Gimelstob rant in which he called the chair ump "unpatriotic" and was rewarded with four successive first serves.

posted by rcade to tennis at 01:21 PM - 7 comments

Tim Henman announces his retirement.: In 14 seasons as a pro he reached 6 grand slam semis (1 French, 4 Wimbledon, 1 US), 4 grand slam quarters (all Wimbledon), won 11 singles titles, 4 doubles titles, and an Olympic silver medal. He made more than $11 million in prize money and was in the top ten in the world for the best part of a decade, reaching as high as number 4 at one point. Not bad for the man who most casual tennis fans in Britain know best for not winning Wimbledon, especially in 2001 [YouTube]. [wiki]

posted by JJ to tennis at 11:03 AM - 3 comments

Serving up a scandal: In the wake of suspicious betting patterns in a match in which Nikolay Davydenko retired with a foot injury, top doubles player Bob Bryan says a number of top ATP players have been contacted about throwing matches.

posted by wfrazerjr to tennis at 11:59 AM - 1 comment

Five is a magic number: : Roger Federer won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon championship Sunday, tying Bjorn Borg's record for most consecutive Wimbledon championships. The win over Nadal also marked the first time that Federer has needed five sets to secure a championship.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 12:12 PM - 10 comments

Two years ago : Venus Williams became the lowest-ranked player to win the Wimbledon championship in thie history of the tournament. Today she did it again, beating 18th seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-1 to claim her fourth Venus Rosewater Dish after entering the tournament seeded 23rd and ranked 31st.

posted by lil_brown_bat to tennis at 04:28 PM - 8 comments

Bird expert who wings in for Wimbledon: As tennis-lovers eat their strawberries they may be unaware of a dark brown presence swooping overhead - Mr Davis' hawk scaring away pigeons from the grounds.

posted by bobfoot to tennis at 06:19 PM - 9 comments

Pardon me, your red underwear is showing.: Tatiana Golovin had the Wimbledon referee reaching for his rule book when she sought to appear on court wearing red underwear.

posted by worldcup2002 to tennis at 01:45 PM - 12 comments

And so it ends...: Roger Federer ends Rafael Nadal's dominance of the clay court.

posted by boredom_08 to tennis at 06:43 AM - 7 comments