Serena Williams couldn't believe what she was seeing. A nearly naked man had just run on court while she and sister Venus were playing doubles at the Australian Open, prancing around before being arrested. "I just thought, my eyes, my innocent eyes," Williams said Saturday, still chuckling at the memory.

His much-touted rematch at the Australian Open against Marat Safin a dud, Roger Federer decided to talk less about his own stellar play and more about two guys who will soon put away their rackets. Federer avenged his 2005 Australian Open semifinal defeat to Safin with an overpowering 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (5) win at Rod Laver Arena, keeping him on track for a 14th Grand Slam singles title that would tie...

Unseeded Marcos Baghdatis has knocked No. 23 Mardy Fish of the United States out of the Australian Open in the third round. While the 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win looks like an upset, Baghdatis is a former top 10 player who is coming back from wrist and back injuries. He played only 12 tournaments last year and dropped to his current ranking of 99th in the world.

A night after being dismissed by the defending champion as an Australian Open favorite, Andy Murray let his play provide a striking reply. Murray routed Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 Thursday in a second-round match to stay on track for his first Grand Slam title. Murray is trying to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a major.

James Blake advanced to the third round of the Australian Open after a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over French qualifier Sebastien de Chaunac. In the seventh game of the final set, de Chaunac had a heated discussion with a fan who appeared to be heckling him. Security removed the man from the stadium two games later with Blake serving for the match.

Marat Safin arrived in Australia a few weeks ago sporting cuts and bruises from a Moscow fight. He appears to have recovered from his wounds, moving into the third round of the Australian Open and a match against the man he beat en route to his 2005 title, Roger Federer. With the dark bruise under his right eye now a distant memory -- he gave few details on his rumble in Russia other than to say he...

Yen-hsun Lu had barely walked off the court at Melbourne Park on Wednesday after one of his biggest career wins when his mobile phone started ringing. "I picked up the phone and my friends were calling to congratulate me," Lu said. "I could tell they were all happy for me." His friends back in Taiwan had good reason to be excited.

Boisterous Bosnian and Serbian fans traded ethnic chants across a court Wednesday while Bosnian-born Amer Delic held off France's Paul-Henri Mathieu in a five-set match at the Australian Open. Delic, representing the United States, said he realized he was the middleman in what he called "a circus" but had no control over the spectators, whose noise disturbed the last two sets and affected both...

The U.S. Tennis Association will become a minority owner in World Team Tennis in an effort to expand the USTA Junior Team Tennis program. The USTA will own 25 percent of WTT, with co-founder Billie Jean King and commissioner Ilana Kloss remaining the majority owners, the groups announced Tuesday. "We've been looking for an opportunity like this for a long time," King said, "and I can't think of a...

Serena Williams got chills just thinking of the symmetry -- Americans marking the birthday of late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. just before the inauguration of their first black president. A long way from Washington, D.C., the nine-time Grand Slam champion has been tracking coverage of Barack Obama's inauguration from Melbourne.

Video clip (#1) of pro tennis player, Feliciano Lopez (Spain).

Being the daughter of one of the most volatile tennis fathers was never going to be easy for Jelena Dokic. Just how difficult became apparent after her first-round Australian Open win Monday, years after the antics of her father, Damir, last hit the headlines. "It was real difficult to take all that, what was going on off the court, all the outbursts," Dokic said.

Players may be trimming their spending on designer gear and watching with chagrin as their investments sag, but officials say tennis has largely been insulated from the global financial crisis. The sport's efforts to expand around the world have paid off with diversification that other sports can only envy.