REILLY OPELKA

Nursing a nagging foot injury, Rafael Nadal improved to 18-0 this season, edging Reilly Opelka 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) on Wednesday in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.

While the “will he or won’t he” question remains for No. 1 Novak Djokovic and his participation in the Australian Open the rest of the tennis world returns to work this week to prepare for the season’s first major.

The pandemic-delayed fourth edition of the Laver Cup — and first without Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic participating — began Friday with Team Europe taking a 3-1 lead over Team World thanks to victories in singles from Matteo Berrettini, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev. Italy's Berrettini, the runner-up to Djokovic at Wimbledon in July, saved 12 of 13 break points and came back to edge Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in a match tiebreaker 6-7 (3), 7-5, 10-8.

Emma Raducanu’s qualifier-to-champion run at the U.S. Open has vaulted her 127 spots in the WTA rankings to a career-high No. 23.

This is the first time in U.S. Open history that no men or women from the host country has made it to the quarterfinals in singles.

Novak Djokovic has extended his pursuit of the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men's tennis since 1969 by beating the last U.S. singles player at the U.S. Open.

Emma Raducanu quickly seems to have figured out this Grand Slam thing.

Novak Djokovic has moved into the third round of the U.S. Open as he tries to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam and collect a 21st major championship.

Reilly Opelka, at 6-foot-11, has a big serve that's making him a threat at the US Open. He's having the best season of his career.

How long is too long to take in the bathroom.

Novak Djokovic has started his bid to make history at the U.S. Open with a four-set victory over Danish teenager Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune.

Alexander Zverev opened his bid for a second straight U.S. Open final appearance with a win in his opening match.

The Associated Press has learned that teenager Coco Gauff and Australian Open runner-up Jennifer Brady will lead the U.S. Olympic tennis team at the Tokyo Games.

There are four American men in the French Open's third round for the first time in 25 years: John Isner, Reilly Opelka, Stevie Johnson and Marcos Giron.

A few years ago, a star athlete dropping out of a major tennis tournament over mental health issues might have been seen as a sign of weakness.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal won a total of three matches over younger players and will renew their record-setting rivalry in the Italian Open final.

Rafael Nadal has ended a run of three straight losses to Alexander Zverev with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over the German to reach the Italian Open semifinals.

Rafael Nadal showed he’s still got the stamina to withstand much younger challengers in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) comeback win over 22-year-old Denis Shapovalov that secured him a spot in the Italian Open quarterfinals.

The last American man to win a Grand Slam tournament was Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open in 2003, and there's no sign the drought will end anytime soon. “But I don’t see it being what it once was ever again.”AdOpelka, for one, isn’t surprised the United States has the same number of seeded men in Melbourne as, say, Bulgaria or Norway. The United States has four seeded women in Melbourne, including Kenin and Serena Williams. That’s a challenge, because those kids want to play basketball and football.”The United States Tennis Association has inner-city programs in more than 250 locations. Opelka (ranked 38th), Fritz (ranked 31st), Tommy Paul (53rd) and Frances Tiafoe (64th) are all 23 and good friends who root for each other.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic makes a forehand return to United States' Frances Tiafoe during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. 1, had never beaten anyone in the Top 5, and now he'd just won a tiebreaker against Novak Djokovic to level their second-round match at the Australian Open. But it wasn't quite enough to beat the eight-time Australian Open champion, who won the 3 1/2-hour afternoon match 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-3. AdAnother U.S. Open champion, Naomi Osaka, needed only an hour to sweep Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3. 29 Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a rollicking night cap full of turns and twists.

Serena Williams of the U.S. screams in the first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Kristie Ahn of the U.S. at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. Both began this French Open with straight-set victories against overmatched foes in Court Philippe Chatrier on Monday. Nadal began his attempt to pull even with rival Roger Federer for the most by a man, 20, by beating Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. He'll be aiming for his 18th major championship at this French Open, which he finally gets underway Tuesday with his first Grand Slam match since being disqualified at the U.S. Open. Among the other key results on Day 2 of a chilly, pandemic-postponed French Open were losses by 2019 runner-up Marketa Vondrousova, who was beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Polish teenager Iga Swiatek; three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber; 2017 U.S. Open finalist and 2018 French Open semifinalist Madison Keys; and men’s seeds No.

Naomi Osaka, of Japan, leaves the court after winning her match with Anett Kontaveit, of Estonia, during the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, in New York. Soon after, the whole tournament was put on hold for a day. Osaka tweeted that as a Black woman, she feels compelled to pull out of the tournament to put a focus on police shooting Black people. "Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach. I have to be patient, to try to enjoy every single match I play here after six months without competing.

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, returns a shot from Tennys Sandgren during the third round at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)NEW YORK Novak Djokovics neck felt much better, and his tennis looked much better, in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over unseeded American Tennys Sandgren at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday that improved the No. The Western & Southern Open is usually held in Ohio but was moved to the U.S. Opens site in Flushing Meadows this year to make for a two-event, no-spectator bubble amid the pandemic. He has won five of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments, including at the Australian Open in February. Womens quarterfinal matchups set earlier in the day were two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka against Anett Kontaveit, former No.

A trainer works on the neck of Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, during his match with Ricardas Berankis, of Lithuania, during the second round at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in New York. 1-ranked Djokovic was playing his first ATP match in six months because of the coronavirus pandemic; he pulled out of the doubles event Sunday because of his neck. That major championship's site in Flushing Meadows is hosting the Ohio-based Western & Southern Open, too, as part of an unusual doubleheader with no spectators. Like Djokovic, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka emerged with difficult wins, while two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova, the No. Djokovic now meets American Tennys Sandgren, a 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (5) winner over No.