After winning four consecutive French Open Championships, tour opponents may have wished the fiercely competitive Spaniard would stay on his favorite surface. Those who know the feisty former number one player know that compromise is not his style. Nadal saw an opening and raised his game to take advantage of his extraordinary speed and shot-making [...]
In the second week of a major tennis tournament, the world’s best tennis players fight for championships and compete at an elevated level. In the first week of a Big Four event, the main goal is merely survival. On day two of the 2010 Australian Open, sports junkies were once again reminded why Roger Federer [...]
As the tragic news of professional tennis player Mathieu Montcourt’s death circulates, his as of yet unexplained death unearths a certain shameful side to the modern world of tennis. Montcourt’s body was found in his Paris apartment on Monday by his girlfriend and an autopsy is expected to be carried out as soon as possible. [...]
If ever a tennis match other than a Wimbledon final deserved a banner headline, in raging capital letters, this was it. The words are simple but substantial, and they carry the weight of 41 years of Open era men’s tennis: Robin Soderling defeated Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the 2009 French Open on Sunday. [...]
After ten months away from the WTA Tour, Maria Sharapova might be in the midst of re-learning the finer points of tennis technique, but while her groundstrokes still need polishing, there’s one thing the Russian superstar never forgot how to do: fight like hell. Displaying the mental toughness and combative spirit that made her a [...]
Lleyton Hewitt, like any good Australian man, knows how to throw a party. The grizzled veteran of the ATP Tour might no longer be a contender for major titles, but the two-time Grand Slam champion got the 2009 French Open started in style on Sunday in Paris. In a first-round rematch of one of the [...]
The world’s best clay court tennis player is Spain’s Rafael Nadal. On Sunday, May 17, 2009, the world’s best clay court tennis player did not win the Madrid Open, a Masters tournament featuring a Men’s Draw and a Women’s Draw. To the astonishment of the subdued home crowd, Rafael fell to the world’s second best [...]
They don’t call Spain’s glorious new tennis facility The Magic Box for nothing. In the very first year of its existence, the architectural marvel played host to one of the finest tennis matches ever contested, anywhere and anytime. In the decades to come, many more Madrid Opens will unfold at “La Caja Magica,” but the [...]
No champion tennis player ever wants to lose a match, but if a man of Roger Federer’s stature could ever accept defeat between the painted lines, he would want to bow out of a non-Grand Slam tournament against a close friend and countryman. On Thursday, that very scenario unfolded at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, [...]
The International Tennis Federation, which supervises Grand Slam tournaments, might think that there’s nothing wrong with maintaining the current system for the year’s four major championships. Have a draw, just like always. Create some suspense. Generate excitement and buzz. After all, it’s the way things are done around here, right? That line of argumentation has [...]
