Lineup

Features

TENNIS

28 Serena Williams

Was her bizarre Wimbledon a sign of her final fade or the dawn of a new era of dominance?

By S.L. Price

BASEBALL

36 The Royals

Here we are, on the cusp of September, and a team mocked for three decades is drawing a line in the first-place sand

By Ben Reiter

SPECIAL REPORT

40 Curtis Malone

He headed D.C.'s top AAU program—until he was convicted of dealing cocaine and heroin

By Pete Thamel

LONGFORM

48 Kobe Bryant

Even the most competitive athletes must confront The End and its attendant changes

By Chris Ballard

• Roger Federer

• Nick Punto

• Michael Phelps

• Becky Hammon

Departments

2 SI Digital

4 Leading Off

10 Inbox

13 Scorecard

21 Faces in the Crowd

24 Just My Type

Dan Patrick: How Clayton Kershaw keeps it real

68 Point After

Steve Rushin: My latest summer fling: tennis

SI HAS REGIONAL COVERS THIS WEEK: AL TIELEMANS/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (MO'NE DAVIS); ROBERT BECK/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (BRYANT); CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP (ROYALS)

PHOTO

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDY LYONS/GETTY IMAGES

WINDOW INTO GREATNESS Williams's serve looks dangerous even from the rafters of the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where on Sunday she won the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio.