Tennis

8:43 AM ET The Reuters News Agency LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) – Prize money for this year’s Wimbledon will be a little over $49.4 million, a 5.2% reduction from 2019 when the grass court Grand Slam was last held, organizers said on Wednesday. Wimbledon was the only major to be cancelled in 2020 due to

1:13 PM ET Former world No. 1 Andy Murray won in straight sets on his singles return on Tuesday ahead of this year’s Wimbledon Championships. The two-time Wimbledon champion won in an emotional comeback in his cinch Championship tournament opener against France’ Benoit Paire at the Queen’s Club in London. 1 Related Murray beat Paire

1:33 PM ET Associated Press BERLIN — Former Grand Slam champions Garbine Muguruza, Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber were among the winners in the first round of the German Open on Tuesday. Muguruza saved both of the break points she faced in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea. That sets up a second-round meeting

9:15 AM ET Associated Press HALLE, Germany — Daniil Medvedev‘s grass-court season got off to a bad start after the top-seeded Russian lost his first-round match at the Halle Open to Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday. Medvedev was broken three times in a 7-6 (6), 6-3 loss. He was coming off reaching the French Open quarterfinals

4:33 PM ET Associated Press BERLIN — Madison Keys started her German Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech on Monday. Keys, who is ranked 28th, hit three aces and saved four of the six break points she faced. She will next face the top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the second

3:10 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Wimbledon will be allowed to have a full crowd of 15,000 at Centre Court for the men’s and women’s finals next month, a year after the tournament was canceled entirely because of the coronavirus pandemic, the British government said Monday. The grass-court Grand Slam tournament, which begins June

10:39 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Novak Djokovic won his 19th major title and second at Roland Garros following back-to-back comeback wins over Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Barbora Krejcikova proved she wasn’t just a doubles specialist with her first major singles title. Of course, she won in doubles too alongside her partner Katerina Siniakova

3:20 PM ET Simon Cambers PARIS — As recently as two days ago, it was widely believed that the hardest task in tennis was to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. But after a stunning come-from-behind win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open final on Sunday, following a defeat of Nadal in the semifinal,

1:59 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Novak Djokovic won his 19th major title and second at Roland Garros on Sunday with a comeback victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. He is now just one Grand Slam title away from tying Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer‘s record of 20. Despite being the overwhelming

2:27 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Before Barbora Krejcikova‘s beloved coach, former Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, died of cancer in 2017, she had a few final words for her student: “Just enjoy [yourself] and try and win a Grand Slam.” The unseeded Krejcikova made good on those words Saturday following one of the unlikeliest recent runs

12:33 PM ET Stefanos Tsitsipas is playing in his first career Grand Slam final. Novak Djokovic is vying for his 19th Slam title. There is plenty on the line for both players, who will face off in Sunday’s French Open men’s singles final. Djokovic is coming off one of the best matches of his storied

11:20 AM ET Associated Press PARIS — Unseeded Barbora Krejcikova won her first Grand Slam singles title by beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the French Open final Saturday. This was only the fifth major tournament in singles for Krejcikova, a 25-year-old from the Czech Republic. She is the third unseeded women’s champion in

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