Tennis Abides is back, and that will require a longer post at some point, but I will just say life happens for the time being.

2022 Midyear Report

Male Player of the Year to this Point: Rafael Nadal – Rafa won a tune-up in Australia, then improbably won his 2nd Australian Open with the first coming in 2009, then won in Mexico, and finally lost a match at Indian Wells. A wobbly, by Rafa’s standards, clay season rounded into form with a 14th Roland Garros Title.

Female Player of the Year to this Point: Iga Swiatek – Iga played well in Australia reaching the semifinal round. She has dominated in recent months and is enjoying an active 35-match winning streak! Swiatek handled the pressure of being heavily favored and grabbed her 2nd Roland Garros title. Winning titles at Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, and Rolland Garros have led to a well-deserved #1 ranking.

Break Out Player of the Year: Carlos Alcaraz – His wins in Rio, Miami, Barcelona, and Madrid along with a few other strong showings have this 19-year-old in the top 10 and starring in a number of funny/annoying fictitious tweets regarding who he met in his youth that influenced his path a tennis phenom.

This is a pic from 2008. A young boy approached Jimmy Connors, asking for a photo. He told him he could be anybody if he followed his dreams. The boy turned out to be Carlos Alcaraz pic.twitter.com/aCxTQD0S8Q

— Brian Held (@econstatTeacher) April 6, 2022

• Stories of the Year to This Point: There are Several That I will Post in Something Resembling Chronological Order
• Novak Djokovic and the Australian Court System
• Ash Barty Winning her Home Slam and Retiring
• Rafael Nadal Winning his 21st and 22nd Majors
• Russian and Belarusian Players Banned from Wimbledon
• The ATP and WTA Stripping Wimbledon of its Ranking Points
• Iga Swiatek’s Active 35 Match Winning Streak

Some of these stories have been good for tennis, but a lot of 2022 has made professional tennis look disorganized and incoherent. The coalition ranging from the ITF to the WTA to the ATP to all of the national governing bodies has functioned better in the past. It may have functioned better because it did not face wars or pandemics in the past, but if this is the best the coalition can do, pro tennis may need to be brought under one tent at some point in the near future.

PS – This was just tweeted today and perfectly exemplifies the humor/aggravation of this trend. I generally laugh at these.

Fact of the day:

In 2015, Rafa Nadal actually managed to save a baby's life after it was struck by a wayward overhead Djokosmash during a practice session gone wrong by quickly feeding it some magic healing water from Djokovic's bag.

That baby grew up to become Carlos Alcaraz. pic.twitter.com/O5gLVTzOGA

— Swish (@Zwxsh) June 15, 2022