Start with the name: Guga. Then, the hair, a big bush of dirty-blond curls. The irrepressible smile. The joy he brought to the task of a grueling tennis match. The whipping, next-generation forehand ...

RIO DE JANEIRO — Gustavo Kuerten wasn't the first. When I sat down to talk to the three-time French Open champion and former No. 1 last week at the Rio Open, he went out of his way to emphasize the ...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — When Pele was a boy and too poor to buy a soccer ball, he’d make one out of old socks tied together and hone his moves in pickup games. The street was a crucible for the raw ...

PARIS – The face of Brazilian tennis no longer is able to smile on a court. Gustavo Kuerten can't play the game he loves — and that, for years, loved him back. He retired from the tour for good in ...

For our sixth annual Heroes Issue, we’ve selected passages from the last 50 years of Tennis Magazine and TENNIS.com—starting in 1969 and ending in 2018—to highlight 50 worthy heroes. Each passage ...

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 27 -- Like so many poor Brazilian boys, Fernando Costa had dreams of escaping the rough ghettos of Rio on a soccer ball. In this country renowned for ruling the globe's most ...

Professional tennis players call it “the Luxilon shot,” and, apparently, you can hear it coming. The ball crosses the net hissing and spitting like some enraged tropical insect. Its most lethal ...

PARIS (AP) — The face of Brazilian tennis no longer is able to smile on a court. Gustavo Kuerten can’t play the game he loves — and that, for years, loved him back. He retired from the tour for good ...

PARIS (AP) The face of Brazilian tennis no longer is able to smile on a court. Gustavo Kuerten can't play the game he loves - and that, for years, loved him PARIS (AP) The face of Brazilian tennis no ...

PARIS (AP) — The face of Brazilian tennis no longer is able to smile on a court. Gustavo Kuerten can't play the game he loves — and that, for years, loved him back. He retired from the tour for good ...