Sunny American tennis locales must not agree with Elena Dementieva. The woman widely regarded as the best player never to win a Grand Slam tournament on the WTA Tour fared poorly in the Indian Wells-Miami stretch of the 2009 season. Two weeks after a humiliating second-round loss amidst the palm trees of Southern California, Dementieva [...]
The high seeds just keep tumbling out of the women’s field at the Sony Ericsson Open. Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina injected shock value into the weekend with early-round stumbles at the Crandon Park Tennis Center, but by the time darkness fell on a crazy Sunday, two more bombshells did further damage to a bracket [...]
The WTA Tour portion of the Sony Ericsson Open represents a bomb shelter after a wild weekend in South Florida. Before the round of 16 begins, the women’s bracket has already been blown wide open. Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic lost to Gisela Dulko in the second round on Saturday night, 6-4, 7-6 (5), while second-seeded Dinara [...]
Rafael Nadal hit 13 winners and committed 17 unforced errors in Sunday afternoon’s championship match of the BNP Paribas Open. Under normal circmstances, such a performance would have led to a decisive loss. But this was no ordinary day in the California desert, and Nadal, of course, is no ordinary player. In the face of [...]
Tennis was not meant to be played in high winds, so when gusts of 20-30 miles per hour overwhelm a tennis match, the losing player can’t be blamed for inferior execution. The survivor should be saluted for enduring incredibly difficult conditions. Consider Vera Zvonareva, then, one of the better survival stories on the WTA Tour. [...]
On Saturday afternoon in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Rafael Nadal produced a performance that was entirely typical of the No. 1 player in men’s tennis. However, don’t let the word “typical” suggest that the Mallorcan master had an easy day at the office against a determined Andy Roddick. Nadal ultimately prevailed in Saturday’s second [...]
It’s been known to happen on a tennis court: One player experiences a scary moment and gives the appearance of physical shakiness, only to see an opponent lose concentration. This is precisely what occurred in the first men’s semifinal of the BNP Paribas Open, as fourth-seeded Andy Murray recovered from a fall to blitz second-seeded [...]
Physical fitness is part of the battle in the world of men’s tennis, but it can sometimes feel like an insult to tell a player that he won a match only because of superior stamina. Friday afternoon in Indian Wells, Calif., Andy Roddick made sure that any comparisons with rival Novak Djokovic would be confined [...]
Vera Zvonareva used to be the kind of player who would fuss when a match didn’t go her way. Friday afternoon in the California desert, this gifted Russian took a big step forward in the world of women’s tennis. No longer an emotionally volatile performer who would telegraph her feelings to an opponent, Zvonareva allowed [...]
Following his epic five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in this year’s Australian Open 2009 semifinals, Fernando Verdasco transformed his tennis reputation from pretty-boy shotmaker to elite-level contender. Given this rise to prominence, fans and pundits wanted to see the Spaniard take on the big boys in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif. When [...]
