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    • Australian Open, Day 11: The day Azarenka cheated tennis

      Victoria Azarenka — Getty ImagesTennis is a game of strategy. Like chess, you hit a shot here or there not to actually win the point, but set yourself up a few plays later to win the point. It's a mind game against your opponent that can bring out the best and worst in players that are struggling against their foes and against themselves.

      But we don't need this. Not what Victoria Azarenka did on Thursday at the Australian Open.

      Azarenka is the No. 1 player in the world. She won the 2012 Australian Open for her only Grand Slam title, and has gone through an almost Andy Murray-like turnaround in her career to become the player she is today. She's incredibly solid and intimidating to play and has plenty of talent to get past opponents no matter how talented they are. But her tactics against American Sloane Stephens in the semifinals just seemed dirty.

      Azarenka won the first set against Stephens handily on Thursday, beating the budding star 6-1 and putting her just a single set away from her second straight Aussie Open

      Read More »from Australian Open, Day 11: The day Azarenka cheated tennis
    • @serenawilliams@serenawilliamsNo, that is not something you might see on "The Nutty Professor," that is actually Serena Williams' right ankle, courtesy of Serena's Twitter feed late Wednesday evening.

      Williams lost to American Sloane Stephens in her quarterfinals match at the Australian Open, the first time a younger American had ever beaten Serena and while it was a huge upset a lot had to do with the health of Williams.

      And as you can see, it was justified.

      Williams spoke after the loss on Wednesday saying, "I’ve had a tough two weeks between the ankle, which is like this big every day," and motioned to something that you might consider that big, but wow, that looks painful.

      Hopefully the ankle, and Serena, return to form when the French Open rolls around in late May.

      Read More »from Serena Williams tweets out a picture of her incredibly swollen ankle
    • It must be frustrating to play someone like Roger Federer. At 31 the man can still move like a teenager and hits multiple shots per match that have to make the opponent just roll his eyes in dismay.

      Jo-Wilfried Tsonga understands what I'm saying. During his quarterfinal loss to Federer on Wednesday at the Australian Open, Federer hit a drop shot that clipped the net and left Tsonga gassed and on Federer's side of the court.

      In jest, Tsonga appeared to make a fake racket-hitting motion at the 17-time Grand Slam champion to which Federer responded with a smile.

      It might be pressure-packed tennis, but have a little fun every now and again, right?

      h/t Game On!

      Read More »from Video: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga jokingly takes a racket swing at Roger Federer
    • Australian Open, Day 10: Serena upset, Federer slides past Tsonga

      Roger Federer — Getty ImagesThere are few times that an entire country can appreciate how big an upset in a Grand Slam event really is. We've seen big names go down because of injury before, but to see a young American in Sloane Stephens take out the biggest name in the women's game (and one of two sisters that brought women's tennis back to the United States) is pretty remarkable.

      What Stephens did on Wednesday night shouldn't be soon forgotten. Sure, she had Williams on the ropes because of injury, and catching her at such a vulnerable point is pretty lucky for the 19-year-old, but it wasn't like Williams was planning on retiring at any point in the match (The best example of this came when Stephens was serving for the second set up 5-4 and after going up 30-0 had to watch Williams repeatedly bang winners off Stephens' second serve, showing that while she might not have a ton of mobility at that very moment, she could still sting a forehand).

      It wasn't a win with an asterisk for Stephens. She beat Williams in

      Read More »from Australian Open, Day 10: Serena upset, Federer slides past Tsonga
    • ESPN really thought Serena Williams won the Sloane Stephens match

      TwitterA lot of the times with favorites you can just put them into the next round without really watching the match. It happens early on with guys like Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, and women like Maria Sharapova and, yes, Serena Williams.

      But on Wednesday at the Australian Open, Williams didn't advance to the semifinals in Melbourne, Sloane Stephens did. The match was an epic win for the teenager and was the upset of the tournament.

      Unfortunately nobody told ESPN's graphic guy. The above screengrab, courtesy of Romi Cvitkovic, shows Serena in the semifinals.

      Oh well, at least it's still an American, eh?

      Read More »from ESPN really thought Serena Williams won the Sloane Stephens match
    • Sloane Stephens upsets Serena Williams at Australian Open

      Sloane Stephens shakes hands with Serena Williams after defeating her. (Reuters)

      There are few moments when you can physically see the changing of the guard happening. One that comes to my golfing mind was Jack Nicklaus standing on the Swilcan Bridge, waving to the crowd during his last British Open as Tiger Woods was teeing off, prepared to win at St. Andrews.

      And while this might be different as Nicklaus was past his prime, it had a little bit of the same feel. Sloane Stephens, a 19-year-old American who has the eyes to be a champion and the stamina to live up to it, was paired against Serena Williams, possibly the best American women's tennis player to ever hit a yellow ball on a court that has seen five trophy ceremonies set for Serena.

      The match ended with Stephens upsetting the elder Williams 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, but there was plenty of action in between those numbers.

      Williams dominated, struggled, left the court and broke a racket from start to finish, but it was the teenager who kept her cool the entire match and was able to leave the winner on Wednesday at Rod

      Read More »from Sloane Stephens upsets Serena Williams at Australian Open
    • It was a heated quarterfinal match between Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens, a veteran American who might be considered the best ever versus an American teenager looking to make her first Grand Slam semifinal ever.

      And the pressure got intense during the third set as Serena went down 1-2 and took it out on her racket.

      Williams had struggled with back problems before this, winning the first set 6-3 before dropping her first set since last year's U.S. Open 5-7. It was this moment after Stephens won her serve that Williams lost it, breaking her racket and tossing it under her own chair.

      No worries, as Williams went on to win her next service game.

    • Australian Open, Day 9: Ferrer survives, Williams sisters fall

      Getty ImagesWe all have that one buddy that is just better at stuff than we are. They can beat us in ping-pong and horseshoes and H-O-R-S-E and no matter how hard you try, or how many points you get up that person, it's inevitable that eventually he will come back and take you down.

      Now imagine you are the 10th ranked player in a Grand Slam field and make a quarterfinals only to see that friend of yours across the net. That is Nicolas Almagro and David Ferrer. Both from Spain, Almagro headed into his Tuesday quarterfinal match against Ferrer with a lifetime 0-12 record against the fourth ranked player in the field and it was pretty obvious that over their careers, Ferrer had his number in basically all capacities.

      But the match started out different. Almagro was hitting some great passing shots and was pounding his serve and Ferrer seemed a step slow to basically all the Almagro punches.

      The first set went to Almagro and then the second, and it seemed that the bagel record that he held against

      Read More »from Australian Open, Day 9: Ferrer survives, Williams sisters fall
    • There are plenty of times professional tennis players frame a shot. Someone might pummel a serve their way or a mean forehand and in an attempt to put the racket on the ball, barely make any contact at all with the ball.

      But on a toss? Yeah, that isn't really the time when you see the sixth ranked player in the field basically shank a serve.

      Li Na did that on Tuesday at the Australian Open. Playing Agnieszka Radwanska in her quarterfinal match, one serve got a little away from her. No worries, as Na went on to win her match 7-5, 6-3, but one of the best quotes in the game said afterwards of the nasty shanked serve, "I wanna have good communication with the fans."

      Na is set to play the red-hot Maria Sharapova on Thursday in her semifinals match and is trying to advance to her second finals at the Australian Open in the last three years.

      Read More »from Video: Li Na hits one of the worst serves in professional tennis history
    • A tennis ball can be one of two things. Tossed around the house, it's a light, soft alternative to something heavy that might do some serious damage if your brother or buddy doesn't have the best hands. Smoked at 130 miles per hour, it can really cause some damage to any part of your body (just image the welts you used to have from wallball and multiple them by 50).

      On Sunday, as Novak Djokovic was in a heated five-set match with Stanislas Wawrinka and during the fourth set tiebreaker couldn't make solid contact with a Wawrinka serve. The result? A near decapitation of one of the poor ball boys.

      The ball brushed the front of the kid's face and true to Australian form, the boy barely blinked, staying in position for the next point. Thank goodness that bill looks like the one from "Sandlot," kiddo.

      Read More »from Video: Novak Djokovic almost took out a ball boy during his five set win

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