Previewing the Men’s Australian Open

Interesting Potential Early Matches 8 Mardy Fish vs. Gilles Muller 1st Round 4 Andy Murray vs. Ryan Harrison 1st Round Andy Roddick vs. Robin Hasse 1st Round Andy Roddick vs. Lleyton Hewitt 2nd Round Andy Roddick vs. Milos Raonic 3rd Round (If the first two don’t get Andy, I think Raonic will) Juan Monaco vs….

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Previewing the Women’s Australian Open

Interesting Potential Early Matches Kim Clijsters vs. Li Na could be a great re-match in the round of 16. Maria Sharapova could have a nice match with Serena Williams, but I don’t think Sharapova will get there without having a reliable serve.  My gut says Sabine Lisicki clips Sharapova. Final 8 Picks 1 Caroline Wozniacki…

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2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many…

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Milos Raonic Leads a New Wave

Historical Waves Tennis players tend to arrive in waves.  Pete Sampras was so dominant that his generation, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Sergi Bruguera, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Muster, Michael Chang, and Richard Krajicek, more or less eclipsed the next group of promising players.  To be sure, Gustavo Kuerten, Patrick Rafter and Yevgeny Kafelnikov made marks…

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Happy New Year and Links to My 2012 Predictions

Tennis Abides Community, I’d like to wish all of you a happy new year and a great start to 2012.  I am looking forward to the Australian Open starting soon.  Big news with Andy Murray hiring Ivan Lendl.  I am not sure what to make of it, but it is an interesting hire.  Here are…

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Should Mixed Doubles be an Olympic Event?

I have not watched mixed doubles in years, but I did watch at the 2011 Wimbledon and saw Jurgen Melzer destroy the doubles specialist male player on the other side of the net.  What do you think about the 2012 Olympics having mixed doubles as a medal sport?  

Johan Kriek Making a Difference: Past Australian Open Champions Part 1

Past Australian Open Champions Part 1 – Johan Kriek Note: Leading up to the 2012 Australian Open, I am going to take a look back and some of the Australian Open champions from previous eras and report anything interesting that I find.  South Africa’s Johan Kriek may be one of the most anonymous tennis players…

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How Roger Federer avoided the Eddie Felson Trap

The Huslter chronicles a pool player named “Fast” Eddie Felson who seeks to play pool at a level never before reached, but whose personal failings and poor judgment in terms of associations contributed to his banishment from the game he plays like no one ever has.  This scene and abbreviated quote below demonstrate Fast Eddie’s…

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Tennis and Health: Why the United States Needs to Embrace Tennis

Tennis magazine’s most recent issue includes an article on tennis and nutrition.  My home country of the United States, for all of its good qualities, has several alarming trends in regards to health and fitness.  It is my belief that most of these trends can be reversed by improving the standard US diet (something like…

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