The usual trophies and prize money will be on the line for Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek and other top players at Wimbledon, but there is a significant change there this year: No one will earn ranking points, a valuable currency in tennis, when play begins June 27.
PARIS (AP) — The women's and men’s professional tennis tours will not award ranking points for Wimbledon this year because of the All England Club’s ban on players from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine, an unprecedented move that stands as a significant rebuke of the sport's oldest Grand Slam tournament.
GENEVA (AP) — Watching the recent news from Ukraine is “very upsetting," No. 2-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev said Sunday of the war that led Wimbledon organizers to ban him and other Russians from their tournament.
Two-time Grand Slam finalist Kevin Anderson announced his retirement from professional tennis on Tuesday at age 35.
The 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) South African was the runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the U.S.
MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic criticized Wimbledon's decision to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from taking part in this year’s tournament following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
LONDON (AP) — Tennis great Boris Becker was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Friday for illicitly transferring large amounts of money and hiding assets after he was declared bankrupt.
The three-time Wimbledon champion was convicted earlier this month on four charges under the Insolvency Act and had faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Two All England Club officials defended during a news conference Tuesday the “intensely tough and agonizing decision” to bar players from Russia and Belarus from Wimbledon this year because of the invasion of Ukraine.
Novak Djokovic will be allowed to defend his title at Wimbledon, despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19, because the shots are not required to enter Britain, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said Tuesday.
Roger Federer intends to return to tournament tennis after what will have been more than a year away from the tour by playing at the Swiss Indoors in October.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to announce plans Thursday to send additional military aid to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion, according to a U.S. official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Biden will deliver a Thursday morning address at the White House detailing his plans to build on the roughly $2.6 billion in military assistance the administration has already approved for Ukraine.
LONDON (AP) — Tennis players from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to play at Wimbledon this year because of the war in Ukraine, the All England Club announced Wednesday.
MILAN (AP) — Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini will miss the next three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments as he recovers from surgery.
The 25-year-old Italian, who is ranked sixth, had surgery on his right hand last week.
Serena Williams’ coach for a decade, Patrick Mouratoglou, is going to work with another Grand Slam champion and former No. 1, Simona Halep.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ash Barty did things on her own terms as she won three Grand Slam singles titles and spent more than two consecutive years at No. 1 in the women’s tennis rankings.
LONDON (AP) — All four Grand Slam tennis tournaments will now use a 10-point tiebreaker when matches reach 6-6 in the final set.
The Grand Slam Board announced the trial move, taking effect immediately, on behalf of the Australian, French and U.S.
DALLAS (AP) — John Isner beat Kevin Anderson to advance to the quarterfinals of his hometown Dallas Open on Wednesday night, outlasting the South African in their first meeting since a marathon in the Wimbledon semifinals in 2018.
Robert “Bob” Falkenburg, who saved three championship points en route to winning the 1948 Wimbledon men’s singles final at age 22 and brought fast food to Brazil during his post-tennis entrepreneurial career, has died.
MADRID (AP) — Manuel “Manolo” Santana, who reached No. 1 in the tennis rankings and was the first Spaniard to win a Grand Slam singles title, has died. He was 83.
The Madrid Open announced the death of its honorary president on Saturday.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ash Barty's Wimbledon title and hold on the No. 1 ranking helped her win WTA Player of the Year for the second time in voting results announced Tuesday.
Darlene Hard, an aggressive serve-and-volley player who won three major singles titles and 18 major doubles titles in a Hall of Fame tennis career, has died. She was 85.
She died Thursday at Northridge Hospital in the Los Angeles area after a brief illness, according to Mona Cravens, director of student publications at the University of Southern California, where Hard worked for 45 years.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Wimbledon champion Ash Barty finished No. 1 in the WTA singles rankings for the third consecutive season, while Katerina Siniakova topped the doubles rankings for the second time.
GENEVA (AP) — Roger Federer does not expect to return from his latest knee surgery in time for next year's tournament at Wimbledon.
The 40-year-old tennis great, who has won a record eight titles at the All England Club, said in an interview published Wednesday in Switzerland that it wouldn't make a big difference to him if he was to return in 2022 or 2023.
NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic is 27-0 in Grand Slam matches in 2021, moving him one victory from being the first man to win all four major tennis championships in one season since Rod Laver in 1969.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty, the top-ranked men’s and women’s players in the world, headline the entry list for the BNP Paribas Open, which is being played in the fall for the first time after being delayed twice because of the pandemic.
MASON, Ohio (AP) — Top-ranked Ash Barty beat Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open.
Barty will face two-time Cincinnati finalist Angelique Kerber, who won her quarterfinal when two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova retired during the second set because of a stomach problem.
MASON, Ohio (AP) — One long layoff was no problem for Ash Barty. She’s got this year’s Wimbledon championship to prove it.
She’s hoping to respond as well to another delay.
The top-ranked Barty’s second-round match in the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday was postponed after two rain delays totaling five hours pushed back the schedule in the second full day of play.
MONTREAL (AP) — Camila Giorgi completed a stunning run at the National Bank Open, beating Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-5 on Sunday to win the title in her first WTA 1000 final.
Giorgi, who was unseeded and came in ranked 71st, used a strong service game to best the sixth-ranked and fourth-seeded Pliskova, winning 71% of her first-serve points and finishing with seven aces.
Roger Federer is going to miss the U.S. Open and be sidelined for months because he needs a third operation on his right knee, a procedure he said will leave him with “a glimmer of hope” that he can return to competition.
TORONTO (AP) — Wimbledon quarterfinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime and countryman Denis Shapovalov were ousted from the National Bank Open in their native Canada on Wednesday.
Auger-Aliassime lost his first match, falling 7-5, 6-4 to Dusan Lajovic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rafael Nadal is back after missing Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics with a previously undisclosed foot problem, back after not lifting a racket for three weeks.
Nadal will return to competition Wednesday night at the Citi Open, making his debut at the hard-court tuneup tournament for the U.S.
TOKYO (AP) — With his Golden Slam bid over for at least another three years, Novak Djokovic rested his head on Alexander Zverev’s shoulder as his German opponent and friend consoled him.
“I told him that he’s the greatest of all time,” Zverev said.
TOKYO (AP) — With so much on the line — the Golden Slam, the calendar-year Grand Slam, Olympic singles gold — it’s been a mystery to many why Novak Djokovic entered the mixed doubles tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.
TOKYO (AP) — With the topic of athletes’ mental health and pressure being discussed at the Olympics, Novak Djokovic said “pressure is a privilege.”
The top-ranked Serb was asked how he deals with the pressure of attempting to accomplish something that no man has done before in tennis: completing a Golden Slam.
TOKYO (AP) — There he is doing the splits with the Belgian gymnastics team. Offering mental strength advice to Turkey’s volleyballers.
TOKYO (AP) — It wasn't the ending that Naomi Osaka — nor her multitudes of fans across Japan and worldwide — had expected.
The start of the Tokyo Olympics, however, will forever be a bright memory for the tennis superstar.
TOKYO (AP) — Naomi Osaka has the hopes of the entire host nation resting on her.
Novak Djokovic is attempting to accomplish something that no man has done before in tennis.
Both players are after something special at the Tokyo Olympics and both produced convincing victories Monday to reach the last 16 at Ariake Tennis Park.
TOKYO (AP) — Naomi Osaka is back playing, still winning, and also talking to the media again.
The Japanese superstar who lit the Olympic cauldron defeated 52nd-ranked Zheng Saisai of China 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday in her first match in nearly two months.
TOKYO (AP) — Naomi Osaka’s first match in nearly two months will come against 52nd-ranked Zheng Saisai of China in the opening round of the Olympic tennis tournament.
The second-seeded Osaka, who represents host Japan and is one of the top names at the Games, is returning to competition after she withdrew from the French Open following the first round to take a mental health break.
U.S. tennis player Coco Gauff has tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing her to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics.
“I am so disappointed to share the news that I have tested positive for COVID and won’t be able to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” Gauff tweeted on Sunday.
ROME (AP) — Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini announced his withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday due to a thigh injury sustained at the grass-court tournament.
The 25-year-old Italian said on Instagram that he had an MRI scan the day before and “was informed I will not be able to compete for a couple of weeks.”
TOKYO (AP) — Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur has tested positive for COVID-19 and has withdrawn from the Tokyo Olympics.
The Australian Olympic team's chef de mission Ian Chesterman told media in Tokyo on Friday that de Minaur was “shattered” over the news.
Novak Djokovic is going to the Tokyo Olympics, keeping alive his chance for a “Golden Slam.”
Djokovic, 34, posted Thursday on Twitter that he had booked his flight and was proud to represent Serbia at the Olympics.