Wimbledon 1989 The Wimbledon 1989 semifinals featured Boris Becker fending off Ivan Lendl over two-days and five sets 6-4, 6-7 (2), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Stefan Edberg returned to the final by ousting a resurgent John McEnroe 7-5, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5). Becker then avenged his 1988 Wimbledon loss to Edberg by taking the title 6-0,…
Category: Tennis History
Factors Contributing to the Rise of the Big 3
In 2007, Novak Djokovic entered the top 3 in the world. The current top 3 are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer. This is not normal (or was not normal). So how did we get here? I’ll take my best shot at answering. Transcendent Talents – While Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have a…
Comparing Rafael Nadal’s 12 French Open Titles Across Sports
John Wooden coached UCLA to 10 NCAA basketball titles in 12 seasons. This is indeed impressive. Advantage Rafa – Rafa played while Wooden coached. Perhaps, Wooden should be compared to uncle Toni Nadal. Similar points can be made in terms of compairing Rafa to Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach. Playing and coaching are different. Tom Brady…
Roland Garros: Crazy 9s? Another Historic Result? If so, Which One?
1989 – To Be 17: Chang and Sanchez-Vicario Pull UPSETS to Grab Singles’ Titles Chang rallied to beat Lendl in the round of 16 and then toppled Edberg in 5 for an improbable title Sanchez-Vicario defeated a seemingly invulnerable Graf in 3 sets to take the title 1999 – Graf Caps 22 Slams While Agassi…
Rafa and Federer Post Gaudy Numbers
Making his 14th R4 appearance at Roland Garros! 👏 🇪🇸 @RafaelNadal serves up a 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Goffin. | #RG19 pic.twitter.com/0DIq5H9UpD — ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) May 31, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Rafael Nadal is 89-2 at Roland Garros! 89-2! One could be 18-2 and have a 90 percent winning percentage. Just add an extra…
Court/Real/Royal Tennis National Open Footage
I saw Court/Real/Royal Tennis for the first time when I visited the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI in 1999. It gave me some context for things like the Tennis Court Oath from the French Revolution. Still, even watching it played for 10 minutes or so the notion of chases and galleries were…
Stan Lee – In Memoriam: Tennis Heroes
Tennis and comic books commanded much of my attention from 7th through 9th grade. Comics faded in my life but tennis persisted.* I was a Marvel fan collecting Silver Surfer and Thor comics for the most part with a few Dark Horse Godzilla comics thrown in for good measure. Comic books stoked the imagination of…
Strokes of Genius Documentary Airs on July 1st
While I consider Novak Djokovic’s 5 set 2012 Australian Open final victory over Rafael Nadal to be the greatest match ever played (to this point?), this should be an interesting documentary.
Is Tennis Dying in the US? Part 1
A couple of weeks ago, a strong junior player asked me, “Don’t you think tennis is a dying sport in the US?” My first reaction was to think no followed by I hope not. I didn’t vocalize either of those views though. I tried to think about things as this is a complicated question. …
Food for Thought on Nadal’s Grand Slam Haul
Howard Bryant of ESPN pointed out after the 2017 US Open that those dismissing Nadal as only a threat on clay are wrong due to Rafa having as many non-clay majors as Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. 11 Roland Garros Titles = Borg + Wilander + Courier’s Haul or 11 Roland Garros Titles = Borg…
