10:50 PM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — World No. 1 Ash Barty would value the rebuilding of her native Australia in the wake of devastating bushfires — which have claimed 28 lives and destroyed millions of wild animals — over winning her home Grand Slam. The 23-year-old Queenslander, who booked her place in the last 32

Jan 20, 2020 Peter Bodo Close ESPN.com Staff Writer Peter Bodo has been covering tennis for over 35 years, mostly recently for ESPN. He is a former WTA Writer of the Year and the author of numerous books, including the classic “The Courts of Babylon” and the New York Times bestseller (with Pete Sampras), “A

2:45 AM ET MELBOURNE — Sania Mirza’s first Grand Slam match since becoming a mother ended with an early exit as the Indian retired with a calf strain during her women’s doubles first-round match at the Australian Open on Thursday. Sania and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok were trailing 2-6, 0-1 against the Chinese team

7:20 PM ET The image remains fixed in memory, like one of those perfect snapshots that you never throw away: Tommy Paul, 18 years old, and Taylor Fritz, 17, junior champion and runner-up respectively at the 2015 French Open. They’re grinning as they pose for the camera, the Stars and Stripes draped like a cape

4:41 AM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — “Coco-mania” is alive in Australia as Coco Gauff makes another run at a Grand Slam tournament. She must get through Australian Open defending champion Naomi Osaka to continue it. Less than five months after their memorable meeting at the US Open — one that Osaka won in straight sets,

12:50 AM ET ESPN News Services MELBOURNE, Australia — Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic avoided the same mistake he made three years go when he met a wild-card entry in the second round of the Australian Open. Djokovic required all of 95 minutes Wednesday to beat Japanese wild-card entry Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a

11:25 AM ET Associated Press LONDON — Top-ranked doubles player Robert Farah was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation on Tuesday pending a disciplinary hearing into his positive doping test. The ITF formally imposed the suspension hours after the Australian Open began. Farah had been due to play in Melbourne with long-time doubles partner

10:53 AM ET ESPN News Services Alexander Zverev will donate $10,000 for every match he wins at the Australian Open to go toward the bushfire recovery effort. If he wins the Australian Open title, the seventh-seeded Zverev is promising to donate all his prize money. He is already committed to $10,000 after overcoming a frustrating

2:35 AM ET Britain’s Johanna Konta and Kyle Edmund have both been knocked out of the Australian Open in the opening round after suffering straight sets defeats in Melbourne. World No. 13 Konta, who made it to the semifinals of the tournament in 2016, was the first big-name player to be knocked out of the

5:30 AM ET Simon Cambers a MELBOURNE, Australia — When Coco Gauff beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon last summer, it was a huge shock. The 38-year-old knocked off by an almost unknown 15-year-old on her favorite surface, the hallowed Centre Court at Wimbledon where Williams had been the queen of grass five times. But seven