7:53 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — The Australian Open is set to begin Feb. 8, three weeks later than planned, as part of a pandemic-altered 2021 tennis calendar released by the men’s professional tour Wednesday. The ATP said that men’s qualifying for the season’s first Grand Slam tournament is being moved to Doha, Qatar,
Tennis
7:35 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Leylah Fernandez was already feeling slightly out of place on the tennis practice courts at the Australian Open days before the tournament was set to begin this past January. At 17, just a year removed from playing in the girls’ final and ranked No. 207 in the world, Fernandez had
12:30 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Roger Federer cast doubt on his immediate return to tennis on Sunday during an awards ceremony where he was being honored as Switzerland’s greatest athlete of the past 70 years. The 20-time major champion, who has been sidelined since February with a right knee injury, had previously targeted the 2021
3:29 PM ET Associated Press SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Alex Olmedo, who won the Wimbledon and Australian Championships singles titles in 1959 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987, has died. He was 84. Citing Olmedo’s son, Alejandro Jr., the Hall of Fame said Thursday that Olmedo died of brain
7:52 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com After a year like no other, we’ve made it to the tennis offseason. With the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the ATP and WTA tours for months — including the cancellation of Wimbledon — and dramatically altering the schedule and conditions at the events that did take place, it is hard
2:55 PM ET Associated Press Sofia Kenin collected the WTA Player of the Year award on Tuesday after winning the Australian Open in January for her first Grand Slam title and finishing as the runner-up at the French Open in October. The 22-year-old from Florida went 16-2 at the three major tournaments played in 2020
5:01 PM ET Associated Press Dennis Ralston, a five-time Grand Slam doubles champion who was one of the initial players signed to the professional World Championship Tennis tour in the 1960s and a member of the sport’s Hall of Fame, died Sunday. He was 78. He died of cancer in Austin, Texas, according to Darin
7:30 AM ET Associated Press LONDON — Ukrainian tennis player Stanislav Poplavskyy has been given a lifetime ban for participating in match-fixing activities, the Tennis Integrity Unit said Friday. The TIU said Poplavskyy took part in match-fixing and “courtsiding” activities on multiple occasions between 2015 and 2019. Courtsiding involves transmission of live scoring data from
4:35 PM ET Associated Press The U.S. Tennis Association has canceled its National Winter Championships in Arizona and Florida because of the coronavirus pandemic. The youth tournaments were supposed to run from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3. The USTA said Wednesday that it took into account recent CDC recommendations to limit interstate travel and problems
2:38 AM ET The 2021 Australian Open is reportedly set to go ahead on Feb. 8, three weeks after the original Melbourne Park start date. According to multiple sources, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has sent an email to players, coaches and managers outlining strict conditions, including two weeks quarantine. News Corp reported Tiley’s leaked
7:06 AM ET Associated Press LONDON — – Spanish tennis player Enrique López was banned for eight years on Tuesday for fixing matches at tournaments in 2017. The Tennis Integrity Unit said López cannot play in or attend any officially recognized tournament while banned. He was fined $25,000. The 29-year-old Lopez reached a career high
9:19 AM ET ESPN News Services Three-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka will be starring in a new Japanese manga comic book series as a cartoon character in a magazine for teenage girls. Osaka’s sister, Mari, helped produce “Unrivaled Naomi Tenka-ichi” — or “world number one” — which will be running in “Nakayosi” magazine starting
8:33 AM ET Associated Press HAMBURG, Germany — Tennis great Boris Becker said Wednesday he is stepping down from a position overseeing youth development and the Davis Cup team at the German Tennis Federation. The six-time major winner said he no longer had enough time to do the job that he started in 2017. Becker
7:01 PM ET Victorian Sports and Tourism Minister Martin Pakula concedes the 2021 Australian Open will “most likely” be delayed – but only by a week or two. Pakula on Wednesday also said the delicate negotiations between the governments and various stakeholders were close to a conclusion, after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews earlier told the
4:49 AM ET Andy Murray has said Lewis Hamilton is deserving of a knighthood but added that he doesn’t believe athletes should be given the award from Queen Elizabeth II. The Times reported that seven-time Formula One champion Hamilton would receive the honour in recognition of his achievements in 2020. 1 Related Hamilton, 35, has
7:17 PM ET LONDON — Daniil Medvedev winning the season-ending ATP Finals over Dominic Thiem on Sunday was a fitting end to tennis’ year in which very little went to script and the unexpected seemed to occur on a tournament-by-tournament basis. While Thiem, who had already won his first Grand Slam at the US Open
4:33 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Nearing defeat, Daniil Medvedev suddenly switched tactics at the ATP Finals and collected the biggest title of his career by beating U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Sunday. The fourth-ranked Medvedev became the first player to beat each of the men who were Nos.
11:34 PM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Tennis Australia said the dates for next year’s Australian Open in Melbourne should be known within two weeks. Chief executive Craig Tiley responded on Sunday to unsourced reports the season-opening grand slam event might be pushed back until February, March or even later. The tournament is scheduled