Tennis

8:26 PM ET Simon Cambers PARIS — On the sun-scorched clay courts of Roland Garros on Friday, Novak Djokovic did something only he and one other man, Robin Soderling, had ever done before: He beat Rafael Nadal. He also did something no one has ever done before: He wore down the King of Clay. The

11:00 PM ET “Watching Rafa play at Roland Garros to me is like watching your favorite movie,” two-time major champion Victoria Azarenka tweeted as Rafael Nadal was making short work of Cameron Norrie in the French Open’s third round. “You enjoy it a lot but you kinda already know what is going to happen.” This

5:23 PM ET ESPN News Services PARIS — Novak Djokovic stopped Rafael Nadal‘s bid for a 14th French Open title and handed the King of Clay just his third loss in 108 matches at the tournament by coming back to win their thriller of a semifinal 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 on Friday night. In

11:33 AM ET Friday’s French Open men’s semifinals are evenly split between the new and old guard: On one side, two fast-rising youngsters try to solidify their claim as the future face of the sport; on the other, a pair of no-doubt legends battle it out with history on the line. While some tennis observers

6:43 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova needed more attempts to reach a Grand Slam final than any other woman in the Open Era. Barbora Krejcikova had to get through the longest women’s semifinal match in the history of the French Open. Now Pavlyuchenkova and Krejcikova, two of the unlikeliest finalists in recent memory, will

11:06 AM ET Associated Press PARIS — Tour veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova endured long stretches where she didn’t enjoy tennis, and because her consistency and confidence were so elusive she considered calling it a career. Her persistence paid off Thursday, when the 29-year-old Russian advanced to her first Grand Slam final by beating unseeded Tamara Zidansek

5:37 AM ET Simon Cambers PARIS — It is a scene synonymous with Roland Garros: an umpire coming down from his chair to check a ball mark, the players and fans waiting for the decision and the crowd whistling or cheering, depending on their allegiance. The French Open is the only one of the four

8:15 PM ET Simon Cambers From a deafening silence to a jubilant chorus and back to silence again. Roland-Garros came alive on Wednesday, with 5,000 fans packed into Court Philippe Chatrier for the night session, a sense of normalcy seemingly returning to the tennis world as France began to relax its COVID-19 restrictions. And then,

2:15 PM ET Simon Cambers PARIS — It is 31 years ago to the day since 16-year-old Monica Seles beat world No. 1 Steffi Graf to win her first Grand Slam. At the time, Seles was the youngest woman to win a title, but back then, teenagers winning slams was nothing new; Graf and Arantxa

7:17 AM ET Associated Press Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic reached the French Open semifinals by defeating American teenager Coco Gauff 7-6 (6), 6-3. The 33rd-ranked Krejcikova will play her first semifinal at a major tournament against either defending champion Iga Swiatek or Maria Sakkari. Gauff had plenty of chances in the first set

3:13 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Tamara Zidansek was a three-time junior national snowboarding champion in Slovenia. She only picked up a tennis racket because her snowboarding club offered lessons in the summer. By age 12, she made the decision to focus solely on tennis — simply because she hated the cold weather. Now, she’s two

10:18 AM ET Simon Cambers PARIS — On Day 3 of this year’s French Open, Gael Monfils stood, arms aloft, soaking in the applause from the crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Eight months after Roland Garros was held with only 1,000 fans allowed on-site each day, here was one of France’s favorite sons, lapping up

9:01 AM ET Associated Press Tamara Zidansek is the first Slovenian woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. The 85th-ranked Zidansek beat Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 to become the first semifinalist of this year’s French Open. She had never been beyond the second round at a Slam prior to this tournament. Zidansek

12:57 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Coco Gauff became an overnight sensation in 2019 after defeating Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon. She was a 15-year-old qualifier with little name recognition outside of tennis circles and had just convincingly pulled off the win over her childhood hero and five-time tournament champion. Gauff’s global celebrity

7:00 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com THREE YEARS AFTER Serena Williams walked onto the court at Philippe-Chatrier for the 2018 French Open wearing a metallic black catsuit with a bright red horizontal stripe in the middle, her outfit is still widely discussed among tennis fans. Williams said it made her feel like a “warrior,” and it

7:17 AM ET ESPN News Services PARIS — A day after Serena Williams was eliminated from the French Open, 17-year-old Coco Gauff showed the future in tennis for American women is bright. Gauff served superbly to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Ons Jabeur on Monday. Gauff lost only

5:09 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com The stars seemed to be aligning for Serena Williams. By the time she took the court for her fourth-round match against Elena Rybakina at the French Open on Sunday, Williams was the highest-seeded player and the only top-20 player remaining on her side of the draw. In fact, she was

1:23 PM ET ESPN News Services PARIS — Serena Williams could not put together a comeback against a much younger and less-experienced opponent in the fourth round of the French Open, losing 6-3, 7-5 to Elena Rybakina on Sunday. Williams’ defeat came hours after Roger Federer withdrew from the tournament, saying he needed to let