Roger Federer's Back On Offense, Winning Everything That Matters

“He’s laughing, he’s an asshole,” said Stan Wawrinka, clutching a runner-up trophy, crying, and looking at Roger Federer, who was, yes, laughing. That’s a playful jab between guys who go way back, ever since Federer came to hit with teenage Stan at the national tennis center in their native Switzerland, but surely…

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The Indian Wells Men's Draw Is One Big Clusterfuck

Today, out in the Coachella Valley, the Indian Wells Masters will begin. It’s the highest-profile tennis tournament in the world after the four Grand Slams, dropping a fat bounty of 1000 ranking points on its winners. Everyone in the tennis universe should be excited, except for Serena Williams and all her fans, after…

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Old Man Federer Survives To Reach Australian Open Final

Thirty-five-year-old Roger Federer sputtered his way to the championship round of the Australian Open. Though his all-Swiss semifinal against Stan Wawrinka looked like a gutsy struggle on paper—five sets! 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3!—it actually lasted just over three hours, and the two major inflection points were injury…

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Now It's Just Rafael Nadal And A Bunch Of Gorgeous One-Handers

Rafael Nadal dug around and exploited two glitches in the Milos Raonic serving machine—two successfully converted break points, that is—to win his Australian Open quarterfinal 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-4. And now he’s surveying a field full of the prettiest one-handed backhands in all the land. Roger Federer’s got the regal…

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Stan Wawrinka Drained Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's Will To Live

The notion of athletes “wanting it more” than one another must be one of the most insufferably inane tropes of sports analysis, but halfway through an Australian Open match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka the commentators began flinging it, and at some point it actually began to stick. Tsonga looked…

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