We’ve heard of Throwback Thursdays, but tennis in 2017 has been a throwback year. The Australian Open featured a Williams Sisters and a Federer-Nadal final. Even Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reached her first major semifinal since 1999. Newly minted number ones Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber saw dropoffs from their 2016 results at the earliest stages of…
Tag: Tennis History
Spain vs. Switzerland in Men’s Tennis since 1992
Does the Federer-Nadal rivarly go deeper than just two men? Probably not, but because Stan Wawrinka said he was tired of answering questions about Roger Federer I got to thinking about their two home countries in the past 25 years of men’s tennis. Let’s Look Deeper Grand Slam Singles Titles: Switzerland 22 – Spain 20…
Wimbledon Retrospectives – The Five Least Memorable Men’s Finals
… from my point of view and in my viewing life. Upfront, I did not see the 1983 final so it is off the table. Also, last year’s final could very well be on this list, but I need some time to see what was memorable from a very ho-hum match. 5. Lleyton Hewitt d….
ATP: Star Studded Start to 2017
There are established stars on the ATP Tour and of course there are younger players seeking to become established. Thus far in 2017, many of the established players have faced off on multiple occasions. If I limit this exploration to players who hold major singles titles, we have seen these match-ups in chronological order….
No Ordinary Time? Part 1 – Raising Questions
No Ordinary Time? Part 1 of 3 The General Narrative is that since 2004 ATP Tennis has entered a golden age of unprecedented quality and consistency. It seems reasonable to ask how different tennis of the past 10-15 years has been from what came before it. A Few Obvious (?) Differences The STRINGS – Spin…
Tennis History: Two Vintage Youtube Videos
Borg vs Laver (!)
Throwback Thursday – A Look at the Last Points Played by World Number Ones
This is an interesting look at the final points of former number one players in tennis. For a person to go from being so dialed in to tennis to no longer playing on the main professional tour could be a jarring reality. Pete Sampras is one of the few players to ever win his or…
Australian Open 2017: Federer Changed the Narrative
History Roger Federer’s career has been marked by a lot of record setting. Yet, his head-to-head deficit versus Rafa Nadal has been the source of a lot of debate. Roger won their first 5-set major final by taking the 2007 Wimbledon final in an epic fashion. The 2008 Wimbledon final was a sequel that surpassed…
Australian Open 1992 – My Favorite Final of the 1990s
I have been pressed for time quite a bit in recent weeks, but with the Australian Open starting next week I thankfully do again have more time to devote to tennis. My favorite Australian Open final ever was the 2012 marathon between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. This match also stands out to me because…
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 