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Rafael Nadal defeats Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 to win his ninth French Open title. What a disappointing end for Djokovic, who falls behind on his service game and double-faults on Championship Point. Nadal falls to his knees in celebration. Djokovic is sitting in his chair in disbelief, shaking his head and staring off into space.

PARIS — Maria Sharapova won her second French Open on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory over Simona Halep. The 6-foot-2 Sharapova and the 5-6 Halep presented a tantalizing matchup of power versus guile, experience versus new blood, and they did not disappoint, giving Roland Garros its first three-set women’s final since 2001. But just as she has all tournament, Sharapova raised her game when she was down. She was down a break early in the first set but rallied to win it. Halep served for the second set twice but could not close Sharapova out until a...

The Talk Shows May 4th, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas; Kevin Johnson, mayor of Sacramento, California; Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; Richard Williams, father of tennis players Serena and Venus Williams.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.; former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabber; former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

<p>Tennis star Maria Sharapova led a group of six notable Russian athletes for the torch lighting at Friday's Opening Ceremony.</p> <p>Sharapova was joined by pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, former gymnast Alina Kabaeva (who has been linked romantically to Vladimir Putin), figure-skating legend Irina Rodnina, wrestling star Alexander Karelin and former hockey goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.</p>

Li Na thanked her agent after winning her second tennis Grand Slam in Australia. "Max, agent, make me rich, thanks a lot" she said." Funny that proclaiming that you are rich is cool in China and Russia, but no longer in the good ole USA. Haven't communist countries heard about income inequality? Sharing the wealth? When is the last time one of our sport's stars proclaimed his or her wealth to the world ? Li Na ranks 85th in the world's highest paid athletes having won over $18 million dollars in her career. Li Na is anything but a communist,...

MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian Sauna Championships continued Friday, disguised as a Grand Slam tennis tournament. Advancement here depended on survival, on remaining upright, on shade and hydration and on the coolest accessory in sports, something called an ice vest. Much of the first week of the Australian Open had unfolded like an extreme sport. For four days, starting Tuesday, the temperature climbed over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). It was the longest heat wave in the Melbourne area in more than 100 years, according to the Herald Sun. The newspaper said 243 people had gone to the hospital for...

You can tell who the keepers of American culture are by, among other things, the anniversaries they mark. We're currently being invited to revel in memories of the "iconic" tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, the so-called "Battle of the Sexes". Robin Roberts of ABC News recalled King's "stunning triumph". ESPN explained to younger viewers that King "won for all women". The New York Times' Gail Collins gushed that King's victory 40 years ago was a message "for any woman who had ever worried about being laughed at if she stepped out of line." Really? One tennis...

<p>No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal won his 13th Grand Slam title by edging No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a riveting U.S. Open final filled with lengthy points and fantastic shotmaking.</p> <p>Nadal's victory Monday gave him a second championship at Flushing Meadows, and came a year after he missed the tournament with a knee injury.</p>

Top-seeded Serena Williams won her fifth U.S. Open championship and 17th Grand Slam title overall by beating No. 2 Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1 in a windy final. Sunday's match was the toughest test these two weeks for the No. 1-seeded Williams, who also beat Azarenka in three sets in last year's final.

A few months back, when I was swatting away the absolutely absurd notion that Brittney Griner could play in the NBA, I snarked, “Then again, Billie Jean King did beat a 55-year-old former pro that one time, so maybe Griner will totes fit into the NBA.” But even that bit of credit was unwarranted, apparently. Because it turns out the infamous battle of the sexes—in which the 30-year-old King routed the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs—wasn’t a legit match. Allegedly, the fix was in: The story is filled with fascinating nuggets. Like JVL, I hadn’t realized that Riggs trounced—just absolutely crushed, in...

Jean King, Bobby Riggs an 'elaborate mob setup' Tennis star Bobby Riggs, top, and Billie Jean King are shown in action during the "Battle of the Sexes" match in the Astrodome in Houston, on Sept. 20, 1973. The ultimate “Battle of the Sexes” — a 1973 match between the No. 2 -ranked woman tennis player and a retired male Wimbledon champion — was rigged so Mafia bosses could cash in on the betting, a new report claims. The incredible claims have been lobbed at the reputation of the late hard-court hustler Bobby Riggs, by one of his former country club...

"HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE, I'm Howard Cosell. We're delighted to be able to bring you this very, very quaint, unique event." On Thursday night, Sept. 20, 1973, 50 million Americans, fatigued by Vietnam and Watergate, tuned in to see whether a woman could defeat a man on a tennis court. Dubbed "The Battle of the Sexes," the match pitted Billie Jean King, the 29-year-old champion of that summer's Wimbledon and a crusader for the women's liberation movement, against Bobby Riggs, the 55-year-old gambler, hustler and long-ago tennis champ who had willingly become America's bespectacled caricature of male chauvinism. Before 30,472 at...

Tennis star Maria Sharapova has reportedly set in motion a plan to change her last name to Sugarpova for the duration of the U.S. Open. The Russian opened a candy company by that name and is said to have sunk half a million dollars into it. According to several reports, Sharapova has approached the Florida Supreme Court about the possibility of changing her name.

Network Says Full Court Needs to Weigh in on Whether Economic Loss is Required for Finding As expected, the Tennis Channel has filed a petition for full court (en banc) review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of a three-judge panel decision May 28 that Comcast did not violate the FCC's program carriage rules. That panel concluded that the FCC and Tennis had failed to make the discrimination case against the cable operator. In its petition, filed Friday july 15, Tennis Channel says that the ruling "departed from well-settled anti-discrimination law' and "ignored congressional intent and...

HT Drudge LONDON: Maria Sharapova blasted Serena Williams on Saturday for the American's controversial comments over a high-profile rape case and even criticised the Wimbledon champion's colourful private life. In an astonishing attack on the world number one, which comes just two days before Wimbledon gets underway, Sharapova told Williams to keep her opinions to herself as the bitter relationship between the two was laid bare.

Serena Williams has sparked an intense backlash after she suggested the 16-year-old victim in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case was asking to be assaulted. The world Number 1 tennis star made the astonishing indictment in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, which was posted online on Tuesday. In the article, Williams said the victim 'shouldn't have put herself in that position' and described her as 'lucky.' Some are already labeling the 31-year-old's remarks the most controversial of her career.

The CEO of the Tennis Channel, who also bundled millions of dollars for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign and was a co-chair of one of his fundraising committees, compared Comcast to a "brutal captor" and a rapist after the Tennis Channel lost a ruling in a federal appeals court. After a the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last month that Comcast did not have to include the Tennis Channel on its basic cable package, Ken Solomon, fired off an email to his employees. Solomon was sworn in on Obama's Committee on the Arts and the...

Tennis great Jimmy Connors hints his former fiancée, America’s on-court sweetheart Chris Evert, got pregnant and then had an abortion as they became the biggest stars and the most popular couple in the sport. The bad boy of tennis reveals in his new memoir, “The Outsider,” that just weeks before their planned wedding in 1974, “An issue had arisen as a result of youthful passion, and a decision had to be made as a couple,” Connors writes. “Chrissie called to say she was coming out to LA to take care of the ‘issue.’ I was perfectly happy to let nature...

Judges Have Issues with Statute of Limitations on Carriage Complaint, First Amendment Implications of Remedy A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals heard the case of Comcast vs. the FCC on Monday, challenging the FCC's first-ever finding in favor of a program carriage complaint and its imposition of a carriage remedy. While the judges usually wield a gavel, in this case is was more like a hammer, with the FCC mostly on the receiving end. Between the serious First Amendment issues with the FCC's carriage remedy expressed by Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the contract issues on which Judge...

I understand the Government is concerned about injuries in professional football. They are considering regulation to make the contact sport less injurious. While they are at it they should make it illegal to actually strike someone while boxing. Tennis is also a dangerous sport because ankle injuries are prevalent. And ping pong! Carpal tunnel syndrome is the bane of ping pong players! Think of all the knee injuries in Basketball. The Government is so wonderful at regulation. Think of all the great things they have done for us using their constitutional power to regulate. I forget, someone remind me of...