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 […]
Tennis great Pete Sampras came from a set down to beat fellow veteran American Andre Agassi in a friendly encounter, the first meeting between the old foes since 2002. The compatriots captivated fans in the 1990s and early 2000s with their contrasting styles and personalities. Sampras was known for his serve and crafty volleys while […]
Roger Federer needed 16 games in the fifth and deciding set to win his 15th major tournament. Such a poetically appropriate detail helps explain how a legendary athlete became even more of an icon on Sunday evening at Wimbledon, and yet, in the aftermath of another classic gentlemen’s singles final at the Big W, that […]
As Roger Federer keeps winning Grand Slam matches, the history of tennis will continuously be rewritten. Most professionals play for numbers that deal with money; for a champion like Federer, the meaningful numbers can be found in the milestones he attains each time he steps on court. Federer made more record-keepers and stat geeks happy […]
Aside of Lleyton Hewitt’s upset win over Juan Martin del Potro, not much happened on Day 4 of the Wimbledon Championships. The All England Club featured some brief eruptions of action, but virtually no results that would cause a stir in the crowds who flocked to SW19. As the second round came to a close, […]
Marat Safin never liked the grass of Wimbledon and the tricky bounces created by tennis’s most organic playing surface. Now, the mercurial Russian won’t have to worry about returning to the All-England Club. The 14th-seeded Safin, who has made it clear that 2009 will be his last year on the ATP Tour, didn’t last long […]
When Roger Federer won his fourteenth Grand Slam singles title a few weeks ago in Paris, the number one storyline for the 2009 Wimbledon Championships became etched in stone. But as the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament gets set to start in suburban London, the gentlemen’s singles competition now owns a second supreme theme: Life’s […]
Throughout his storied career, and especially over the past three years, Roger Federer possessed feet of clay in the men’s singles final of the French Open. The second-best claycourt performer in the latter half of this decade showed a manifest ability to play for championships on the terre battue of Paris, but the Swiss legend […]
The 2009 French Open men’s singles final offers a surprising matchup, but anyone who’s watched the first 14 days of the 15-day event at Roland Garros would find it hard ignore the notion that Robin Soderling should be the man standing in the way of Roger Federer‘s path to an added measure of tennis immortality. […]
Whenever tennis fans are hungry, they always get Fed. Once in a while, lovers of this racket sport are given more comfort food than they can possibly comprehend. On an amazing afternoon (and evening) at Roland Garros, a sport gave the world a remarkable two-match display of heart, hustle and higher-than-high drama. At the very […]
