Tennis Majors

On this day, June 5, 1953, the first American tennis legend, Bill Tilden, died from heart complications at the age of 60. Amongst other feats, “Big Bill”, one of the most famous athletes in the 1920s and 1930s, had claimed six consecutive titles at the US National Championships (1920-1925) and led his team to win the Davis Cup seven times. However, despite his popularity at t...

Maja Chwalinska reached the Roland-Garros final having managed a heavy physical load and a cold along the way, the qualifier revealing she had been fighting illness during the closing rounds of her run to Saturday’s title match. The world No. 114, who came through qualifying and has played nine matches in roughly three weeks, said the cold had set in late in the fortnight but...

She came in Paris to qualify for the main draw. Maja Chwalinska finally made history. The 24-year-old Polish world No. 114, beat Russian 25th seed Diana Shnaider 7-6(4), 6-4 on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday evening to reach the final of a Grand Slam in only her third main-draw appearance at a major – and to land in historic company. She is the first qualifier ever to re...

Marta Kostyuk lost her first Grand Slam semi-final on Thursday, beaten by Mirra Andreeva, and with it went a 16-match clay-court winning streak that had carried her through the best spring of her career. She walked into her press conference and, asked what she would take from the fortnight, did not reach for the result. “For sure my streak,” she said. “I take it with me to th...

Mirra Andreeva, the eighth-seeded Russian, beat 15th-seeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 6-3 on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday afternoon to reach the final of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career —–a result that ended a 17-match Kostyuk winning streak on clay and reversed an 0-2 head-to-head against the Ukrainian, with both of those previous defeats having come ...