After this week’s opening round play in the Davis Cup, 96 of the world’s premier singles players and 32 stellar doubles teams will head to the desert, where only the strong survive. An impressive field, only equaled by Grand Slam events, is expected for the year’s first of nine World Tour ATP tournaments.
The Open 13 in Marseilles, France, an ATP 250 event played on indoor hardcourts, has completed most of its 14 first-round matches. The tournament field was supposed to include Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro, but the two stars pulled out of the event for different reasons (and, for that matter, with different levels […]
The first thing that needs to be said about Marat Safin is that 99.5 percent of human beings would love to have this enigmatic Russian’s problems. This magnetic Muscovite with movie-star looks, a body tailor-made for tennis success, and a full assortment of formidable skills won over $14 million, traveled the world, won two Major […]
Marin Cilic and Andy Murray are putting their demons behind them. Two young guns in the world of men’s tennis finally showed a readiness to seize one of the biggest prizes in their sport. Tuesday at the Melbourne Park tennis complex, Cilic and Murray punched tickets in a semifinal showdown. The 14th-seeded Croatian and the […]
While Justine Henin’s victory over Yanina Wickmayer stole the show in the women’s singles portion of the 2010 Australian Open, Sunday’s men’s singles showdowns hardly disappointed, either. Two titantic tilts headlined a delicious day (and night) of action at the Melbourne Park tennis complex. In the match of the afternoon, reigning U.S. Open champion and […]
Juan Martin del Potro has to carry a rangy, lanky, 6-foot, 6-inch frame around a tennis court. He doesn’t have the smooth, gliding footwork of Roger Federer, whose rather compact frame enables him to reach shots with relative ease. He lacks the thick, muscular build of Marat Safin, a man who probably had the greatest […]
QUESTION: Can Nikolay Davydenko break through? Much like the Kim Clijsters-Justine Henin debate on the women’s side, tennis aficionados are wondering if Davydenko, the sixth-seeded Russian, can become a force at major tournaments, beginning with this event. Davydenko has defeated Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in two separate events over the past two months, at […]
Serbian superstar and national icon, Novak Djokovic, maintained his number four ranking at a time when he seemed poised to make a run at the top. Known as a moody player who sometimes lacks the will to overcome minor setbacks, Novak continued to struggle in his Grand Slam appearances while prospering in his regularly scheduled […]
In Israel, a land attuned to the ancient texts of the world’s monotheistic faiths, the words “my cup overflows” possess a considerable amount of historical weight and meaning. That phrasing comes from scripture, of course-it’s no small thing in the Holy Land to encounter a lavish and abundant blessing. Now, 108 years after the Davis […]
After all he’s been through in his life, Tommy Haas finally found reason to smile at the end of another long journey on a tennis court. The German, along with Croatia’s Marin Cilic, produced a third-round match of considerable quality at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. The slugfest evolved into a sprawling and soaring showcase that […]
