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
Tennis
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
12:43 PM ET Associated Press PARIS — Rafael Nadal‘s French Open set streak is over. His pursuit of a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title — including 14 at Roland Garros — remains very much intact. Nadal shrugged off dropping a set in Paris for the first time in two years and regained control Wednesday, whipping
1:58 PM ET ESPN News Services PARIS — Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev both have been viewed as potential future stars of tennis. Both have come close to Grand Slam titles. Now the pair of 20-somethings will meet each other for a berth in the French Open final after straight-set quarterfinal victories Tuesday. The No.
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
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
7:17 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