Tennis star Mirra Andreeva credits LeBron James for being the motivation behind her recent success ... and now the King himself is weighing in on her back-to-back wins -- giving her high praise after her hard work paid off!!
The 17-year-old Russian athlete defeated Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the Indian Wells Open on Sunday ... and weeks before that, she won the Dubai Championship.
Before her most recent victory, Andreeva mentioned how she had listened to an old interview involving James that resonated with her.
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"He was saying that even if you don't play 100% or even if you don't feel 100% physically, I'm gonna choose 100% mentally," Andreeva said.
Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner were all kissy-kissy while taking in a professional tennis tournament over the weekend — and Kendall Jenner also made a cameo at the event.
Timothée and Kylie appeared totally in love as they sat all cozy together in the stands watching a match Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California.
Check out the video ... it starts with Kylie cupping Timothée's face and kissing him on the lips. Kendall is seen standing in front of the couple with her back to the camera.
Tennis star Emma Raducanu had to pause her match Tuesday ... after she had an emotional breakdown over a fan's alleged disturbing behavior.
The bizarre scene unfolded during the 22-year-old's tilt with Karolina Muchova out at the Dubai Championships.
Raducanu had started off the showdown just fine, but after a few minutes on the court, she called for a timeout, began crying ... and then walked over to the chair ump.
Aryna Sabalenka won't win her third Australian Open in a row ... and, while she usually wins the break point, she reached her breaking point after the heartbreaking L -- taking it out on her trusty racket.
The Belarusian tennis standout was playing American Madison Keys in the final ... and, ended up losing the third set 7-5, dropping two out of three after battling back down 1-0 to force a tiebreaker.
After a hard-fought final point, Keys emerged victorious ... walking up to Sabalenka to hug -- which the superstar did politely, if a bit stony-faced.
The Australian Open crowd was none too pleased with Novak Djokovicafter an injury forced him out of his highly anticipated semifinal matchup against Alexander Zverev ... with spectators booing the hell outta the tennis legend as he walked off the court.
The injury -- a muscle tear that occurred in his quarterfinal victory against Carlos Alcaraz -- became too much for the 37-year-old to manage ... and after dropping the first set 7-6 (5) to the German star, he conceded the rest of the match.
Those in attendance were pissed with the development ... and jeered as Joker gave a thumbs-up gesture.
A rare piece of memorabilia from Roger Federer's historic career is on the auction block -- the racket from his 2004 Wimbledon victory ... which features a personalized autograph for his longtime friend and fashion icon Anna Wintour.
The Wilson nCode pro stock racket was used when Federer defeated Andy Roddick in four sets to secure his second title at the All England Club ... and is complete with all of the tennis legend's preferred customizations.
Federer signed the equipment for Wintour and her daughter ... "To Anna and Bee" is etched on the side, followed by his John Hancock.
Forget ice cream and rom-coms, Naomi Osaka's apparently turning to hoops to get her mind off her recent breakup.
The tennis superstar was at the Brooklyn Nets game Wednesday night -- just a couple weeks after announcing her split from Cordae.
The 27-year-old -- who was forced to retire in the third round of the Australian Open due to an injury -- appeared to be in great spirits at the outing ... smiling and throwing up a peace sign during a break in the action.
Tennis star Daniil Medvedev paused his Australian Open match to beat the crap out of a net camera this week ... an epic meltdown that apparently worked wonders, as he went on to win by the skin of his teeth.
The outburst happened as the Russian was on the verge of going down two sets to one ... when he lost a point on a solid rally with Kasidit Samrej, the 418th-ranked player in the world.
After the tough moment, Medvedev approached the net and unloaded his racket on a camera that was sitting on the net ... shattering it -- and damaging his racket -- in the process.
Tennis star Cameron Norrie lost it during a match on Tuesday, (accidentally) throwing his racket into the stands and nailing a female fan sitting in the first row!
The dangerous moment went down after the 29-year-old British native dropped a point during his ASB Classic match against Facundo Diaz Acosta in New Zealand -- where he was on the verge of losing the second set -- prompting him to fling his racket.
The hardware cleared a short wall and went into the spectators' area.
Luckily, the woman was able to get her hands up to block the racket, preventing it from hitting her in the kisser.
Naomi Osaka is entering the new year single -- the tennis superstar just announced she is no longer dating rapper Cordae.
The 27-year-old shared the news on her Instagram story on Monday ... saying the two will continue to be great parents to their baby girl, Shai, who was born in 2023.
"No bad blood at all, he's a great person and an awesome dad," Osaka said.
Serena Williams is adamantly denying she's making major changes to her appearance after a recent video of the retired tennis superstar went viral ... saying speculation she lightened her skin is BS!
"And no, for you haters out there, I do not bleach my skin," Serena said on Instagram Live while going through her makeup routine on Monday.
The clapback comes after numerous social media accounts focused on how Williams looked when she shared footage from her daughter's school play, with some commenting on the shade of her skin.
Alexis Ohanian, tennis legend Serena Williams' husband, detailed a recent health scare in a post on Instagram ... in which he says he got half his thyroid removed.
The Reddit cofounder and entrepreneur explained it all in a post put up on Thanksgiving day ... showing a snap of him with a scar on his neck while gowned up in a hospital bed -- saying the procedure came after "tracking some suspicious nodules on my thyroid for the last 4 years."
Alexis says the nodules kept getting bigger over time, and his most recent biopsy revealed "they’d very likely turn cancerous" -- adding he wasn't going to take a chance.
Rafael Nadal's 23-year career has come to an end ... and the legendary tennis player was overwhelmed with emotion as fans gave him a heartfelt ovation at the Davis Cup.
Nadal -- who was the No. 1-ranked singles player for 209 weeks -- had his last match on Tuesday in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain ... a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Botic van de Zandschulp.
After the final point, Nadal was honored with a retirement ceremony ... and the crowd's response left the 38-year-old in tears.
Rafael Nadal -- one of the greatest and most successful tennis players to ever pick up a racket -- just announced he's walking away from the sport ... with his last match slated for November.
The 38-year-old Spanish superstar broke the news in a heartfelt social media post on Thursday ... saying the decision has been a long time coming, especially with how the past two years have played out for him.
"I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations," Nadal said. "It is obviously a difficult decision and one that has taken me some time to make."
12:14 PM PT -- Frances Tiafoe just issued a mea culpa for his actions ... saying, "That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people."
Tiafoe said he let his frustrations get the best of him ... and he's disappointed with how it all played out.
"That's not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans."
"I'll be better for yall."
Frances Tiafoe absolutely lost it on an umpire on Tuesday ... cussing up a storm as he expressed his frustrations over a controversial call.
The tennis star lashed out following his loss to Roman Safiullin at the Shanghai Masters ... clearly pissed off about how things unfolded earlier in the match.
During the contest, the umpire gave 13th-seed Tiafoe two time violations ... the second one taking away Tiafoe's first serve on a crucial point in the tiebreaker.
