How complex and contradictory is Dinara Safina’s career? One only needed to consider how the woman ranked No. 1 in the world managed to advance to her first-ever Wimbledon semifinal on Tuesday afternoon. Laboring for two and a half hours on a sweltering summer day in England, Safina played–by any reasonable standard–a grubby, patchy, subpar [...]

While Venus Williams enjoys a heaven-sent draw in the top half of the ladies’ singles bracket at Wimbledon, the bottom half of the draw is about to have its heavyweight encounter. On the best day of the entire tennis calendar–when every round of 16 match is played in both the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles fields [...]

Remember what was said yesterday about the elusiveness of consistency in women’s tennis? Saturday’s play at the All England Club only affirmed the theme. Shortly after sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic got taken out by no-name American Melanie Oudin, fifth-rated Svetlana Kuznetsova–the reigning French Open champion–succumbed to the firepower of Germany’s Sabine Lisicki. Unseeded but quite dangerous, [...]

Did anyone outside Melanie Oudin‘s family members, close friends, and coaches know about a 17-year-old from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia, before the 2009 Wimbledon Championships began? Didn’t think so. But now, this uncommonly resourceful teenager is on the minds of every pundit, scribe and broadcaster at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet [...]

Dinara Safina must be ruing the day her brother talked compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova out of quitting tennis. Newly crowed queen of Roland Garros Kuznetsova has revealed how Marat Safin, brother of beaten finalist Safina, talked her out of quitting tennis after she became disillusioned with the sport. Former women’s number one Safin helped talk Kuznetsova [...]

After ten months away from the WTA Tour, Maria Sharapova might be in the midst of re-learning the finer points of tennis technique, but while her groundstrokes still need polishing, there’s one thing the Russian superstar never forgot how to do: fight like hell. Displaying the mental toughness and combative spirit that made her a [...]

As the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters heads toward a pair of Saturday semifinals, it’s just as the oddsmakers predicted heading into the tournament: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray join a Swiss tennis player in the final four. Oh, wait: Stanislas Wawrinka, not Roger Federer, is the man representing Switzerland as the year’s first [...]

Sunny American tennis locales must not agree with Elena Dementieva. The woman widely regarded as the best player never to win a Grand Slam tournament on the WTA Tour fared poorly in the Indian Wells-Miami stretch of the 2009 season. Two weeks after a humiliating second-round loss amidst the palm trees of Southern California, Dementieva [...]

Tennis was not meant to be played in high winds, so when gusts of 20-30 miles per hour overwhelm a tennis match, the losing player can’t be blamed for inferior execution. The survivor should be saluted for enduring incredibly difficult conditions. Consider Vera Zvonareva, then, one of the better survival stories on the WTA Tour. [...]

Vera Zvonareva used to be the kind of player who would fuss when a match didn’t go her way. Friday afternoon in the California desert, this gifted Russian took a big step forward in the world of women’s tennis. No longer an emotionally volatile performer who would telegraph her feelings to an opponent, Zvonareva allowed [...]