8:36 AM ET Madrid Open organisers have been advised by local health authorities not to stage the tournament next month due to the rise in coronavirus cases in the Spanish capital and are evaluating their options, they said on Saturday. The Madrid Open, which was rescheduled to take place from Sept. 12-20 and features both
Tennis
4:34 PM ET Associated Press PALERMO, Sicily — More than 400 coronavirus tests were carried out on tennis players and staff members ahead of the Palermo Ladies Open and all of them came back negative. The WTA tournament, with qualifying beginning Saturday, marks the return of tour-level tennis following a five-month break for the coronavirus
6:33 AM ET Serena Williams will be leading the drive to reboot pro tennis in North America after nearly five months without any official tournament play due to the coronavirus pandemic. It seems appropriate, even uplifting, during a time of great anxiety and uncertainty that the player many view as the greatest of all Grand
11:47 AM ET Associated Press As coronavirus cases spike in other parts of the country a month before the U.S. Open is supposed to start in New York, the U.S. Tennis Association said Friday it “continues its plans” to hold its marquee event and another tournament beforehand. The U.S. Open — usually the year’s last
7:15 AM ET Britain’s Andy Murray expects some of the top male players to follow women’s world No. 1 Ash Barty in skipping next month’s U.S. Open in New York due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Australian Barty said on Thursday she was not comfortable travelling to the United States amid the pandemic for
6:53 AM ET Naomi Osaka will play in next month’s U.S. Open in New York, the 2018 champion’s management team has told Reuters. Several media reports had said she had not registered for the tournament and had decided to skip the event, which kicks off on Aug. 31 and will be played under strict bio-security
6:43 AM ET Three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has said tennis is “missing a trick” by not including more team events involving both men and women on the main tours. Mixed doubles is currently played only at the four Grand Slams on the professional tennis circuit. “I think sports miss a bit of a
6:45 PM ET ESPN staff World number one Ashleigh Barty has confirmed that she will not play in the U.S. Open due to the coronavirus pandemic. Barty, the reigning French Open champion, said in a statement on Thursday (AEST). “My team and I have decided that we won’t be travelling to the U.S. for the
2:15 PM ET Serena Williams and Australian Open champ Sofia Kenin headline the entry list for the Western & Southern Open, but five of the WTA’s top 10, including No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, have chosen not to enter. Barty, No. 2 Simona Halep, No. 6 Bianca Andreescu and No. 10 Naomi Osaka (No. 10) did
12:18 PM ET The top ATP pros, led by No. 1 Novak Djokovic and US Open defending champion Rafael Nadal, are on the “acceptance list” for the Western & Southern Open, which was released Wednesday. While the appearance of Djokovic and Nadal on the list does not guarantee that they will end up competing in
5:40 AM ET Nick Kyrgios has hit back at Borna Coric on Wednesday after the Croat said he was not bothered by criticism of Novak Djokovic‘s Adria Tour exhibition where several players tested positive for the coronavirus. Djokovic, Coric, Grigor Dimitrov and Viktor Troicki all tested positive during the event in Serbia and Croatia, which
3:18 PM ET Associated Press A women’s professional tennis tournament that was supposed to be played in Tokyo in November has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest event scratched from the sport’s calendar. The Toray Pan Pacific Open already had been postponed from September because of the COVID-19 outbreak that has put
7:45 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Clayton Almeida will never forget the phone call he received from his former teammate Gustavo Zanette one Friday morning in June. “Did you hear they’re going to cut the program?” Almeida was confused. Surely he wasn’t talking about the Winthrop University tennis teams, where he had played from 2002 to
9:49 AM ET Associated Press PALERMO, Sicily — Second-ranked Simona Halep withdrew from the Palermo Ladies Open on Sunday following a quarantine ordinance issued by Italy’s health ministry. Given the recent rise in Covid19 cases in Romania and my anxieties around international air travel at this time, I have made the tough decision to withdraw
2:56 PM ET Simona Halep‘s appearance in the Palermo Ladies Open is questionable after Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza decreed a mandatory quarantine of 14 days for people coming to Italy from Romania or Bulgaria in an attempt to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. Halep, the defending Wimbledon champion from Romania, is the top
3:59 PM ET Associated Press ROME — Two Grand Slam champions. A finalist from last year’s French Open. A handful of top-20 players. With second-ranked Simona Halep joined by 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and last year’s Roland Garros finalist Marketa Vondrousova, the upcoming Palermo Ladies Open will be like no other. “The entry
8:12 AM ET Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Retired Dutch wheelchair tennis great Esther Vergeer said Friday she has successfully completed breast cancer treatment and will resume her work schedule. The 39-year-old Vergeer, who had a winning streak of 470 matches during her record-breaking career, said she will return to work as the leader
9:32 PM ET Associated Press Eleven men’s and women’s tennis tournaments planned for China in October and November — including the WTA Finals — were canceled Thursday amid the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than try to move or reschedule any of those events, the ATP and WTA tours announced they were scrapping all of them after