Justine Henin is evidently a magnet for two things at the 2010 Australian Open: the best efforts of worthy challengers, and great tennis theater. Ever since she escaped a routine first-round match against a tomato can opponent, Henin’s had to spill every ounce of energy in her small but willful frame in order to progress [...]
Day six of the 2010 Australian Open could have been compared to an exhausted runner who, after finishing a race and drinking ample fluids, immediately finds a soft bed and blacks out for 10 hours of deep, reviving sleep. Indeed, the end of the third round in the year’s first major tournament marked a point [...]
If the bottom half of the women’s draw at the 2010 Australian Open could be viewed as a battle of two nations, the one country that has created as much newsworthy activity as Belgium is clearly Russia. While Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Yanina Wickmayer caused much ink to be spilled after their Friday exploits, [...]
In the bottom half of the women’s draw at the 2010 Australian Open, two clear storylines are emerging after a fateful Friday in Melbourne. While Serena Williams and Venus Williams do battle in the top half of the draw, en route to a potential semifinal showdown, the bottom half of the women’s field has proven [...]
In the second week of a major tennis tournament, the world’s best tennis players fight for championships and compete at an elevated level. In the first week of a Big Four event, the main goal is merely survival. On day two of the 2010 Australian Open, sports junkies were once again reminded why Roger Federer [...]
In a match that reminded tennis fans of another epic encounter, Marcos Baghdatis returned to prominence at the tournament that first made him a household name. Three and a half years ago, at the 2006 U.S. Open in New York, Baghdatis – the colorful Cypriot with an endlessly expressive personality – warred with Andre Agassi [...]
Juan Martin del Potro has to carry a rangy, lanky, 6-foot, 6-inch frame around a tennis court. He doesn’t have the smooth, gliding footwork of Roger Federer, whose rather compact frame enables him to reach shots with relative ease. He lacks the thick, muscular build of Marat Safin, a man who probably had the greatest [...]
Real sadness, the kind of heartbreak which defines the human condition in its deepest vulnerabilities and its most profound moments of loss, exists in Haiti, where a nation screams in agony and wails in lamentation. Real hardship consists of buildings flattened, lives ended, dreams shattered amidst rubble and wreckage. There’s no question that sportswriters – [...]
Worthwhile developments and especially newsworthy scores after a packed day of action at Melbourne Park: FIVE-SET THRILLERS ABOUND The losses of Robin Soderling and Juan Carlos Ferrero (mentioned elsewhere on this blog) weren’t the only five-setters witnessed on a rather contentious Tuesday in Australia. Other extended wars dotted the landscape on the blue plexicushion courts [...]
Maria Sharapova’s injured right shoulder received a lot of medical attention last year, but a player with plenty of fighting spirit is still learning how to re-tool her game and rebuild the form that carried her to three major championships. The 2010 Australian Open began on Monday in Melbourne, with stormy skies and soggy weather [...]
