Tennis | The Guardian

Stefanos Tsitsipas says Nick Kyrgios’s cocaine ban was ‘pretty much expected’

Guardian sport and agencies — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 01:27:05 GMT

Australian tested positive at event in June
Kyrgios and Tsitsipas have clashed in the past

Stefanos Tsitsipas says he is not surprised that Nick Kyrgios was suspended from tennis for taking cocaine.

“Pretty much expected, to be honest,” Tsitsipas said. “I am surprised it came so late, though.”

Australian tennis battlers savour ‘crazy’ pay days at US Open

Australian Associated Press — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:48:34 GMT

Kim Birrell, Maya Joint and James Duckworth advance on day two
Birrell plans to spend $265,000 pay day on upcoming wedding

An elated Kim Birrell plans on paying down her mortgage after surviving a match point and a restless night’s sleep to chalk up a life-changing US Open win in New York.

The gritty Gold Coaster wore down Croatian Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to finally reach the second round after losing all three of her previous Flushing Meadows openers in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

‘Pain-free’ Alcaraz brushes aside qualifier in US Open return after four months out

Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:35:02 GMT

Spaniard beats Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Alcaraz has not played since April with wrist injury

As Carlos Alcaraz edged closer to the conclusion of his first singles set in more than four and a half months, like so many times in his career instinct took over. Up 5-4, 30-15 in set one, Alcaraz swept forward to the net behind a precise wide serve and, when his opponent Roman Safiullin responded with a dipping backhand return directly to his feet, Alcaraz delicately pushed a half-volley over the net for a winner.

It was a gorgeous shot, a perfect example of the creativity and feel trademarked by Alcaraz that has been missed throughout his extended injury layoff. That touch of genius was followed, predictably, by a wide smile, a quick hold and a comprehensive victory as the Spaniard returned to competition with a stellar 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win against Safiullin.

US Open 2026: Alcaraz wins in straight sets on return while Fearnley and Sabalenka also progress – as it happened

Taha Hashim and Luke McLaughlin (for a bit) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 21:42:40 GMT

Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka began their title defences with comfortable victories on Arthur Ashe

Sabalenka eases through on her serve, advancing to the net to secure her first game of the tournament with a forehand volley. It’s 1-1 in the opening set against Osorio.

Sabalenka and Osorio are underway on Arthur Ashe, with the Colombian serving. She records two double-faults before Sabalenka seizes upon the second serve, whipping a blistering forehand to make it deuce. But the defending champion finds the net and the stratosphere, too, as Osorio holds to go 1-0 up.

Is this defeat at the US Open the one that forces Novak Djokovic to reconsider his end game? | Tumaini Carayol

Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:46:21 GMT

The Serb has his heart set on defending Olympic title in 2028 but his ageing body is screaming a resounding ‘no’

As the scoreline continued to cascade and the prospect of Novak Djokovic winning even one match in New York this year became increasingly remote, the 24-time grand slam title winner’s suffering and toil drove the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd to its feet in the early hours of Monday morning. With Djokovic trailing 3-1 in the fifth set, thousands of spectators stood in unison to salute their champion and urge him on. The moment reduced Djokovic to tears.

This was quite a familiar scene. Five years ago, the same crowd similarly offered a tearful Djokovic a standing ovation as his match against Daniil Medvedev slipped away. The circumstances surrounding those results, however, could have hardly been any different. Back in 2021, Djokovic stood three sets away from winning the calendar year grand slam, the ultimate achievement. Here, he was losing in the first round of the US Open against a clay-court specialist ranked outside the top 50, an opponent he would usually crush with disdain.

Aryna Sabalenka puts rough spell aside to open US Open title defence with victory

Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:36:57 GMT

Reigning singles champion beats Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-4
Men’s 10th seed Arthur Fils beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas

Aryna Sabalenka said she is determined to look ahead, rather than dwell on a difficult past few months, after beginning her US Open title defence with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Camila Osorio.

“The good thing for me is not looking back no matter what, if it’s good or bad, because I feel a good result can also stop you from performing well because you’re basically focusing on the past,” Sabalenka said. “I never look back. If I win the tournament or lose the tournament, today is a new day, and I have to stay in the moment.”

Venus Williams bows out after 2am following latest start in US Open history

Bryan Armen Graham at Flushing Meadows — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:27:10 GMT

Kenin wins 6-2, 7-6 (6) in late-night contest
Williams loses 15th straight tour-level match
First-round clash finally begins at 12.13am

Sunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, her entrance pushed deep into the night after Novak Djokovic’s bruising defeat by Argentina’s Mariano Navone went the five-set distance. The first ball was struck at 12.13am, the latest start to a match in US Open history, yet several thousand spectators remained to watch a player who has been part of this tournament for as long as the building itself.

At 46 years old, ranked 611th in the world and making her record-extending 26th US Open singles appearance, Williams has grown accustomed to making history simply by showing up. Even by those standards this latest installment was, as she would later describe it, “completely insane”.

Ailing Novak Djokovic falls in US Open first round for earliest grand slam exit in 20 years

Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:43:29 GMT

Mariano Navone wins 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
Djokovic vomits numerous times and endures cramps

The first night session of the US Open this year was approaching the three-hour mark when Novak Djokovic walked briskly to the corner of the vast Arthur Ashe Stadium court, bent down and vomited the contents of his stomach straight into the towel bin.

This was neither the first nor the last time that Djokovic threw up during an excruciating four hours and 36 minutes of suffering, and his miserable night ended around midnight with the 24-time grand slam champion in tears as he was defeated 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 by Mariano Navone in the first round.

US Open tennis 2026: Pegula, Boulter and Medvedev advance while Norrie exits on day one – as it happened

Graham Searles, Stephen Flynn and Yara El-Shaboury — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 23:47:42 GMT

Jessica Pegula, the American third seed, began her campaign at Flushing Meadows with a straight-sets win

Krejcikova gets in a muddle after squandering a 40-0 lead on serve. Deuce. She fights back though. Wins the game with a lovely serve down the T. All square at 2-2.

Paolini delivers a dominant effort on serve to change ends at 3-2 up.

Hospitality boom and $100 chicken nuggets: how the US Open became obscenely expensive

Bryan Armen Graham at Flushing Meadows — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 12:14:27 GMT

Record crowds, premium seats and an unchecked resale market are transforming the self-styled people’s slam – and leaving ordinary fans fighting to get through the gates

It takes a truly exceptional affordability crisis to put Bill Ackman and Zohran Mamdani on the same side of the barricade. Yet this month the billionaire hedge fund manager and New York’s democratic socialist mayor found common cause over an unlikely grievance: the cost of getting into the US Open.

Ackman took objection to the cost of a grounds pass listed for $363. Mamdani responded to the broader uproar by securing 1,000 tickets for New York residents at $100 apiece, prompting more than 336,000 people to apply for them. Somewhere between the two sits the uneasy economics of the modern US Open, where a $65 ticket with no guaranteed seat on any court can fetch more than five times that amount on the tournament’s resale marketplace.

Novak Djokovic feels ‘as best as I can be’ before tilt at 25th grand slam title in New York

Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 22:58:49 GMT

Serb hopes to take advantage of wide-open men’s draw
Elena Rybakina has eyes on No 1 world ranking

Novak Djokovic said he was as prepared as he could be for the US Open as he attempts to take advantage of the wide-open men’s draw and battle for a potential 25th grand slam title.

Djokovic arrived in New York having competed only once after his semi-final run at Wimbledon, losing in his opening match of the Cincinnati Open to Thiago Agustín Tirante while struggling with the humidity. However, he now sees the silver lining in that defeat, which he believes gave him the time to make sure he was in optimal shape for the US Open. “I don’t like early losses anywhere, to be honest, but it gave me time to be prepared for US Open in a most adequate way,” he said. “I had almost a few weeks, actually two weeks, to really train and get my body and mind into the right state, prepared for what’s coming up.

Keep off the grass: British tennis players complain of marijuana smell at US Open

Press Association — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 09:57:15 GMT

Aroma wafts over courts from nearby Corona Park
Katie Boulter: ‘You smell it a lot. I’m not a huge fan’

Britain’s US Open hopefuls thought they had put the grass behind them when Wimbledon finished, but the smell of it is all around Flushing Meadows and they are not happy about it.

Marijuana is legal for adults in New York and while smoking is not allowed on site, the aroma of weed wafts over some outside courts from the nearby Corona Park.

Carlos Alcaraz believes ‘it is possible’ to win US Open despite long injury layoff

Tumaini Carayol in New York — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 19:34:26 GMT

The 23-year-old has not competed in singles since April
Defending champion faces Roman Safiullin in first round

Carlos Alcaraz believes he is capable of winning the US Open as he returns to professional tennis after a four-month injury layoff due to a right wrist injury.

Alcaraz, the defending champion in New York, will compete in singles for the first time since injuring his wrist at the Barcelona Open in April when he faces Roman Safiullin in the first round. “So, it is possible [to win],” Alcaraz said. “I think that many people have shown it. [Roger] Federer, [Rafa] Nadal, many people have shown that you can win a grand slam after having been injured for a long time or having had a very hard injury. So we’re going to try to tie ourselves to that belief that we can do it too.”

US Open tennis, Premier League and Itauma v Hrgovic – follow with us

Guardian sport — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 16:51:02 GMT

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

Shaky Sabalenka and wide-open men’s draw set stage for US Open drama

Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 16:39:37 GMT

Defending champion arrives at Flushing Meadows in poor form and with a host of challengers looking to usurp her

Under any normal circumstances Aryna Sabalenka would not have lost her third-round match at the Cincinnati Open last week. For all of her unforced errors, indecisiveness and the obvious tension surrounding her tennis, the world No 1 had led the unheralded Sára Bejlek 5-1 in the first set tie-break and then 4-1 in set two. She gave herself more than enough chances to close out a comfortable win.

Instead Sabalenka returns to New York trying to find a path through her greatest crisis since she first reached No 1 in the rankings more than three years ago. That straight-sets loss in Cincinnati extended a mediocre 17-7 record dating back to the beginning of April during which she has not reached a final. She has just one more chance to turn her fortunes around as she tries to claim her first grand slam title of the year at the US Open, the tournament she has won on the last two occasions.

Sports quiz of the week: US Open, Premier League and La Vuelta

Paul Campbell and Niall McVeigh — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:32:48 GMT

Have you been following the big stories in football, athletics, rugby league, cricket, boxing, tennis and cycling?

The hollowing out of Tennis.com is a warning for American sports journalism

Tim Joyce — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:54 GMT

The site once paired news and scores with distinctive voices. Its overhaul under Sinclair Media is the latest sign that serious tennis writing in the US is becoming endangered

A few weeks ago, as I often do, I went to the Tennis.com site to get an update about a match and to check out the commentary from my fellow tennis journalists. I was taken aback when, instead of the usual colorful graphics and info, I was greeted with a rudimentary-looking homepage that displayed only scores and rankings.

At first I thought it was a glitch of some sort. But sadly, no. As it turns out, Tennis.com, originally the online site of Tennis Magazine, is under a complete overhaul and will no longer be the home of esteemed writers such as Steve Tignor and Pete Bodo, robbing fans of unique and personal takes on the sport. It appears the longest running American tennis-specific publication is no longer alive in any form.

US Open: Carlos Alcaraz to face Safiullin on return as Sabalenka gets tricky draw

Tumaini Carayol in New York — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:34:51 GMT

Alcaraz back in action after four-month injury layoff
Novak Djokovic faces Mariano Navone in first round

Carlos Alcaraz has been handed a tough draw on his return to singles competition after a four-month injury layoff as he faces the in-form Russian Roman Safiullin in the first round of the US Open.

Alcaraz, the defending champion in New York, has not competed in singles since sustaining a right wrist injury at the Barcelona Open in April, with the Spaniard missing the French Open, where he was also the defending champion, and Wimbledon. He was understandably rusty and tentative with his first serve when making his first competitive appearance since the injury alongside Serena Williams in the mixed doubles event on Tuesday, with the pair losing in the quarter-finals and the 44-year-old Williams even outperforming him during large parts of their time on court. His opening match against the world No 98 Safiullin, who has risen more than 100 places in the world rankings this year after returning from injury and defeated Alcaraz indoors at the Paris Masters in 2023, will be a significant first challenge.

‘Grand slams are the engine to make a living’: Mackenzie McDonald on why players still compete when injured

Matt Hughes — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:27:48 GMT

American talks life on the professional circuit and those making sacrifices for a pay cheque, often compromising physical and mental welfare

For Mackenzie McDonald the players’ push for greater prize money and welfare contributions from the grand slam tournaments could result in the difference between putting food on the table and making a decent living.

After 10 years on the ATP Tour the 31-year-old American is not pleading poverty, but knows that life on the professional circuit can be a hand-to-mouth existence, with players’ physical and mental welfare often compromised due to their desperation to get back on court.

‘You start all over’: Linda Noskova battles fame and desire after Wimbledon glory

Tumaini Carayol — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:00:08 GMT

The women’s singles champion at SW19 on her off-court passions, growing up in Czechia, and the aftermath of achieving her dream

Linda Noskova has spent almost her entire life working towards mastering her sport. She began travelling around Czechia, Europe and then the world for tournaments before she was a teenager. Her life decisions have revolved around tennis for as long as she can remember.

Those early years prepared Noskova for the challenge of winning her first grand slam title, but the biggest lesson from her triumph at Wimbledon last month has been her lack of preparedness for everything that followed. The world did not come to a halt upon the completion of her ultimate goal. Life continues at the same pace, and now she must find her place in the sport once more.