The inaugural International Premier Tennis League, which has borrowed its format from the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League, suffered a blow when two of the world's most-famous female players snubbed the event.
National pride turned into a "rally of abuse" for tennis player Li Na after she shouted at Chinese spectators not to teach her how to play tennis during Saturday's tense final against Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open.
China's Zheng Qinwen reached the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Riyadh after claiming an impressive 6-1 6-1 win over Italian fourth seed Jasmine Paolini on Wednesday.
Images from the Australian Open semi-final played in Melbourne on Thursday.
China's Zheng Qinwen beat a struggling Elena Rybakina 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 in a grueling WTA Finals group stage match on Monday, notching her first career win over the Kazakh in their third meeting.
China's Li Na allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction after she advanced to her fourth Australian Open semi-final on Tuesday, mindful that an inquisition from coach Carlos Rodriguez earlier in the tournament had helped her get there.
Madison Keys, 29, is the fourth-oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the professional era.
Five singles matches were cancelled as persistent rain washed out a large chunk of play on the opening day of the Australian Open on Sunday, disappointing the large crowds that flocked to Melbourne Park.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka shook off a second-set blip to win three back-to-back Wuhan Open titles after beating Chinese fifth seed and home favourite Zheng Qinwen
All the action from Day 4 at the Australian Open on Wednesday
Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal when she held off Croatia's Donna Vekic for a 6-2, 6-3 win in a tense final on Saturday.
The last of the reigning women's Grand Slam champions was shown the door at the US Open Tuesday when error-prone French Open winner Li Na succumbed to unseeded Romanian teenager Simona Halep 6-2, 7-5.
Iga Swiatek has been not been at her world-beating best in the months leading up to the U.S. Open but the Pole has both the talent and mentality to lift her game for the final Grand Slam of the year, tennis great Chris Evert said.
Sabalenka has always had the power and, since addressing the frequent on-court meltdowns that once blighted her career, has shown a frightening level of consistency at Grand Slams.
Images from the Olympics tennis action at the Roland Garros, Paris, on Wednesday.
Roger Federer battered Adrian Mannarino so badly in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 romp on Thursday that the Wimbledon crowd began to root for the sorry Frenchman rather than their beloved six-times champion.
The Belarusian became the first woman since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013 to retain the title
Aryna Sabalenka beat China's Zheng Qinwen 6-3 6-2 to retain the Australian Open women's singles title on Saturday.
Images from the Friday's play at the Australian Open.
'After three decades of passion for our sport and playing for 1.3-plus billion Indians in the Olympics and Davis Cup, I am thrilled that my hard work has been recognised.'
German Sabine Lisicki sent another seismic shockwave through Wimbledon on Monday when she sent five-times champion Serena Williams packing in fourth round, while Li Na and Petra Kvitova advanced to the quarter-finals.
Tennis great Leander Paes says it is "humbling" to be the first Indian tennis player and the first Asian male tennis player to be nominated for the prestigious International Tennis Hall of Fame.
German Sabine Lisicki sent another seismic shockwave through Wimbledon on Monday when she sent five-times champion Serena Williams packing in fourth round, while Li Na and Petra Kvitova advanced to the quarter-finals.
Milestones in the progress of Chinese women's tennis after Li Na, the first Asian to win Grand Slam singles titles, announced her retirement from the sport on Friday.
Images from Day 7 of the 2024 Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday.
The Serena Williams vs Andy Murray match might have to wait as focus shifts on Novak Djokovic vs Li Na match.
Dominika Cibulkova grabbed control from the first game and overwhelmed fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 to become the first Slovakian to reach a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open on Friday.
Images from the women's singles final at the French Open in Paris on Saturday.
Milestones in the progress of Chinese women's tennis after Li Na won the final of the French Open on Saturday.
Retired Australian Open champion Li Na told the centre court crowd at Melbourne Park on Monday that she was expecting her first child with her husband and former coach Jiang Shan.
Kim Clijsters won her second straight Grand Slam title and the fourth of her career beating China's Li Na to clinch the Australian Open crown on Saturday.
Maria Sharapova will have the chance to turn the tables on China's Li Na on Sunday when they clash in the final of the Edgbaston grasscourt tournament.
Players will be banned from handing their towels to ball-kids at next week's BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, organisers said on Friday.
A disappointed Li Na admitted to an attack of stage fright in her humbling U.S. Open semi-final loss to Serena Williams and said she would have lost to any opponent she faced on Friday.
German veteran Tommy Haas provided a reminder of his claycourt skills to beat Stanislas Wawrinka on Thursday and reach the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters where Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will resume their rivalry.
Defending champion Serena Williams beat China's Li Na 6-0, 6-3 on Friday to reach her second consecutive US Open final.
The shock losses suffered by top two seeds Serena Williams and Li Na have left Maria Sharapova with a smooth passage and the Russian is primed to win her second Wimbledon title, 10 years after winning her first as a 17-year-old.
Eugenie Bouchard's Australian Open semi-final defeat at the hands of Chinese veteran Li Na would only provide her with a further springboard to greater success.
Disillusionment with negative reporting in her home media nearly saw Li Na give up the game last year in the wake of her early French Open exit, the Chinese No 1 said at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
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