2004-2007 Roger Federer’s results from 2004-2007 are the most remarkable 4 year period any male player has compiled. The accomplishments for these 4 years are too numerous to name in a single column, but 3 top highlights are Federer winning 11 Grand Slam titles, 3 Year End Championships and 41 total tournament titles. This…
Category: French Open
Thomas Muster Retires Again
Thomas “Coach” Muster? A lot of good can be said about how hard Thomas Muster worked on and off of the tennis court. Muster is best know for his perseverance to overcome a freak knee injury and his amazing clay court play in 1995. Muster played a sort of visceral tennis that often looked like…
Youtube Tennis 10-17-2011 through 10-22-2011
3 Good Youtube Videos on Tennis 1. Andy Murray Winning an Asian Triple Crown Great court coverage 2. Marat Safin vs. Pete Sampras 2000 US Open The comments about Safin learning to serve and volley seem dated. Maybe this match was the tactical turning point. 3. Henri Leconte vs. Boris Becker 1988 French Open Good…
2011 Was a Good Year for the WTA
The Sky is Falling? Those who follow tennis have often made complaining about the admittedly convoluted leadership structures in professional tennis into an art from. Beyond that, the ATP Tour has enjoyed a lot of continuity among top contenders since 2004. This continuity has allowed for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to be…
Best One-Handed Backhand Ever (Poll)
Some Backhand Videos: Stefan Edberg – A series of great backhands from Edberg against Lendl Roger Federer – Saving match point at Wimbledon 2008 Petr Korda – Korda passing Sampras at the 1997 US Open Rod Laver – Laver vs. Bjorn Borg in 1976 Ivan Lendl – Nice backhands by Lendl vs. Becker Gustavo “Guga”…
Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten: Coming to a Hall of Fame Near You
Gustavo Kuerten My earliest impressions of Gustavo Kuerten were mixed. I saw him play Jim Courier in the first round of the 1997 Davis Cup and could not believe Courier was struggling to post a 4 set win over such a frail looking opponent. My first impression of Guga was that he was too skinny…
Review of ‘Unmatched’ ESPN’s 30 for 30
ESPN’s 30 for 30 Takes on Navratilova and Evert Review of Unmatched Directed and Produced by Lisa Lax and Nancy Sterm Winters It was by accident that I got to watch this great sports documentary. Considering that Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova won 36 combined singles Grand Slam titles and faced one another 80 times,…
#2 Rafael Nadal vs. #1 Novak Djokovic
The Final 128 players and 6 single elimination matches later to get to this point and form should not hold so neatly should it? At Wimbledon and now the US Open we are treated to a #1 versus #2 showdown. In 2006 through 2008 we got these matches between Federer and Nadal in Paris and…
Stosur vs. Williams: 2011 Women’s Final Preview
Samantha Stosur versus Serena Williams Both players are among the most powerful on the women’s tour. Stosur beat Serena at the 2010 French Open. I can give a lot of reasons to try to make this sound like a close match on paper, but to be honest Serena Williams looks like a heavy favorite. Here…
Jimmy Connors Part 2
Preface Novak Djokovic just completing a 2 sets to love comeback in the US Open semifinal makes writing this a bit surreal. I think comebacks from 2 sets down are one of the most unique events in all of the sporting world. Jimmy Connors turned the momentum of one such comeback into an indelible memory…
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 