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 [...]
Professional tennis might look like an attractive gig, especially at Wimbledon, but while the money’s good for those who reach the middle rounds of main draw events, the sport is unforgiving in the way it shapes reputations. One only had to watch Friday’s third round at the Big W to understand why. There are only [...]
In her comeback from a shoulder injury, Maria Sharapova has walked a tightrope, fighting hard to win matches without the form and fitness produced by the regular rhythms of competition. On Wednesday at Wimbledon, the three-time Grand Slam champion lost her balance. Unable to overcome a spate of untimely errors, Sharapova dropped her second-round match [...]
In a span of just under 29 hours of time, Svetlana Kuznetsova has radically reshaped her reputation. Forced to play on back-to-back days by the quirks of the French Open’s scheduling format, Kuznetsova found an extra ounce of will to complement her level of skill. The seventh seed, just one day after outlasting Serena Williams [...]
In sports, it is often said that “speed kills.” While few people would doubt the truth of that statement, it takes more than raw footspeed or pure velocity to rise to the top of the heap in professional tennis. Dinara Safina showed why on Thursday afternoon in Paris, and that’s why the world’s top-ranked female [...]
It could well be that the first Tuesday of June in 2009 will represent a mere blip on the radar screen of Dominika Cibulkova’s tennis career. Then again, if this tireless Slovakian becomes a powerhouse in her profession, she’ll look back on a magical afternoon in Paris as the moment when her life changed forever. [...]
It wasn’t an open secret–make that a French Open secret–that the women’s tournament at Roland Garros was going to be a free-for-all, an unpredictable event with few clear favorites from round to round and match to match. Day two of women’s singles competition in Paris affirmed the unconventionally conventional wisdom, as two dangerous floaters were [...]
As the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters heads toward a pair of Saturday semifinals, it’s just as the oddsmakers predicted heading into the tournament: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray join a Swiss tennis player in the final four. Oh, wait: Stanislas Wawrinka, not Roger Federer, is the man representing Switzerland as the year’s first [...]
