Rod Laver

For most of his life, Michael Phelps has had little interest in self-reflection. Occasionally, though, when he is away from the swimming pool and when he is bored, he will type his name into Google images and stare at snapshots people have taken of him...

Michael Phelps was 15 years old the day he returned home to Rodgers Forge from his first Olympic Games in 2000. He had finished 5th in the 200-meter butterfly in Sydney, Australia, even though he was mostly ears and arms at that point, and it seemed as...

Michael Phelps insists he's never let all of the attention go to his head. It's a lesson he learned when he returned home from Sydney, Australia, in 2000 after competing in his first Olympics at age 15. His mother, Debbie, had blanketed his house in...

Cliff Drysdale did not — repeat, did NOT — down that Valium tablet 31 years ago, though I suspect he thought hard about it. He was 36 then, had been through enough tennis seasons to crack the top 10 and earn a few dollars, but was now...

Novak Djokovic started making peace with the crowd as soon as he lifted the trophy. After beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2) Sunday to win the Australian Open for his first Grand Slam title, Djokovic knew a little public relations were...

Is it coincidence that the FINA World Swimming Championships are taking place in a temporary pool inside Rod Laver Arena this week? After all, with sportswriters struggling to come up with ways to put Michael Phelps' performance - five gold medals and...

On a cool, windy morning, a mustachioed Michael Phelps and his American teammates churned practice laps in a pool near a stadium where workers were busy setting up for an Australian Rules football exhibition yesterday. When he was done, Phelps climbed...

His road, or better yet, his swimming lane to Beijing winds through, of all things, a famous tennis facility, Rod Laver Arena. Who knows? Maybe after Michael Phelps removes his goggles for the last time, tennis players will be competing at Michael Phelps...

Gracious athletes, even the great ones, always say that world records are meant to be broken. But it is simply hard to fathom that anyone foresaw a day when someone like Michael Phelps would come along and break them the way he is doing it now: night...

Here in the nation's second-largest market, a phrase the NFL has forced us to commit to memory, we have a saying that the nation needs to learn, because this was us in 2006: We're No. 2! Take a look at our sports teams and the last 12 months. USC...

Swimming Katie Hoff popped her head out of the water this morning, glanced up at the black and yellow scoreboard high above her head in Rod Laver Arena and flashed a huge grin. Contained in that grin was joy, but also a hint of relief. Hoff, a 17-...

This is how well things are going for Michael Phelps at the FINA World Championships: He broke his third world record in three days yesterday, and he did it nearly blind. Phelps had a bit of a goggle issue on the last lap of the 200-meter individual...