Tennis

Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of the U.S. Open. That means he will have missed all four Grand Slam tournaments this year. He reached his first major final at Wimbledon in 2022 and the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. But the 28-year-old from Australia has participated in just one official match all of this season — a loss in June in Stuttgart, Germany. Soon after that he withdrew from Wimbledon because of an injured wrist. He also missed the Australian Open in January and the French Open in May. The U.S. Open begins on Aug. 28 in New York. Jan-Lennard Struff also pulled out on Thursday.

Video review for double bounces and certain other rulings will be making its Grand Slam tennis debut when main-draw competition begins at the U.S. Open later this month. Players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at Flushing Meadows will get three challenges per set for things such as whether a ball touches a player's body, a player touches the net or a player was hindered by noise made while she or he was attempting a shot. The chair umpire will review a replay on the screen and decide whether a call should be changed. The system will be available on five of 17 competition courts during the two-week tournament in New York.

Total prize money and player compensation at this year's U.S. Open tennis tournament will reach a record $65 million. The U.S. Tennis Association announced its payouts Tuesday and said that number is boosted by increases in the amount of expenses covered. Last year's total compensation was about $60 million. Play in the main draws for singles begins on Aug. 28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and closes with the women's final on Sept. 9 and the men's final on Sept. 10. This is the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Open becoming the sport's first event to pay women and men the same. Both singles champions will get $3 million in 2023.

The DC Open tennis tournament is touting itself as the first combined ATP-WTA 500 event. That is two levels below Grand Slams and one level below Masters 1000s and was accomplished by elevating the women's portion through the lease of what had been a hard-court tourney in San Jose, California, played during the same week. While ostensibly that puts the men and women on equal footing in Washington, it still isn't equal all the way around. The men's champion receives a check for $353,445 while the women's champion earns $120,150. There are other stops on the professional tennis tours that include female and male players but don't pay them evenly. The plan at the tournament in Washington is to pay the men and women equally by 2027.

Carlos Alcaraz is the first man since 2002 other than Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray to win Wimbledon. It is the latest proof that Alcaraz is every bit as terrific a tennis player as folks have thought. He is just 20 and the third-youngest man to claim the championship at the All England Club in the Open era. And the No. 1-ranked Alcaraz's victory Sunday adds to his U.S. Open triumph last September that marked him as the sport's newest star. Djokovic said Alcaraz shares qualities with himself, Nadal and Federer. That sort of comparison is high praise.