The women’s side of the French Open has seen plenty of upsets. Only three of the 10 top-ranked players made it through the third round, with high-profile competitors such as No. 1 Naomi Osaka and No. 10 Serena Williams among them. After her loss to 20-year-old American Sofia Kenin, Serena Williams, who has battled persistent […]
Women at this year’s U.S. Open have displayed incredible athleticism and shrewd strategy. We’ve seen blistering serves and masterful groundstrokes in the nearly two weeks of play. But we’ve been missing a powerful, ancient weapon: the serve-and-volley. The tactic is all but extinct from women’s tennis, despite still being incredibly effective. Through the quarterfinals in […]
The last time we saw Serena Williams in a grand slam final, she was beating her sister Venus for the Australian Open crown in January 2017. A lot has happened to Serena over the nearly 18 months since, but despite all the challenges, she’s back in another final — this time with a chance to […]
Who is going to win the women’s singles title at the French Open? Maybe Simona Halep, who is ranked No. 1 but has yet to win a major. Or Garbiñe Muguruza, who won the title in 2016. Or 36-year-old Serena Williams, who had played just four singles matches since she won the Australian Open last […]
Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s episode (July 12, 2017), in the middle of the second week of Wimbledon, we’ve got a very special treat: a “Stat School” with FiveThirtyEight tennis expert emeritus Carl Bialik. Carl breaks down how we should judge a tennis player by the […]