Lawn Tennis

December 20, 2024 4:44 PM

Tennis-Australian Open to provide platform for pickleball from 2025

The Australian Open will embrace one of the fastest growing sports in the world when it hosts the inaugural AO Pickleball Slam on the final weekend of next month's tennis major with $100,000 in prize money. Invented in 1965 by a group of American friends, pickleball is a fast-paced paddle sport similar to tennis and badminton played on smaller courts using a perforated plastic ball, and interest has skyrocketed in recent years. Melbourne Park's court three will transform into pickleball centra...

Flawless Tabilo beats Djokovic in massive upset at Italian Open

Chile's Alejandro Tabilo took the world by surprise when he claimed the biggest win of his career. He defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-3 in the third round of the Italian Open on Sunday (May 12) in a match that lasted just 67 minutes. Djokovic has won the tournament six times, with his last title coming in 2022, but Tabilo was almost flawless on Centre Court, breaking the top seed four times while not conceding a single break point. "It's incredible. I came on court just looking ...