Dinara Safina must be ruing the day her brother talked compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova out of quitting tennis. Newly crowed queen of Roland Garros Kuznetsova has revealed how Marat Safin, brother of beaten finalist Safina, talked her out of quitting tennis after she became disillusioned with the sport. Former women’s number one Safin helped talk Kuznetsova [...]
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 [...]
Later this week, the draw for the 2009 French Open will be announced in Paris, but before the brackets are made public, here’s an early look ahead at the year’s claycourt major. Part I – Men’s Preview As is the case in any sport, matchups matter. With respect to this year’s 15-day thrill ride at [...]
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 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 [...]
Three dependable veterans reached the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, the first major tournament of the new tennis season. The fourth member of that quality quartet emerged from relative obscurity to burst into the consciousness of tennis fans around the globe. Fernando Verdasco, the No. 14 seed and a non-factor before the tournament started, [...]
In some ways, the legendary career of Roger Federer has already entered a new phase. Calendar years with three Grand Slam titles aren’t likely to be repeated. Very genuinely, Federer is about to write a new chapter in his tennis life. The real question surrounding this 27-year-old superstar is as follows: How will this new [...]
The Men’s Draw at the Australian Open has gone vertical. Everyone is getting taller, the serves are getting bigger and the ground strokes even more authoritative. The play at Melbourne has been marked by impressive shotmaking, thunderous serves and leaving little doubt that the game is changing yet again. Could it be that Roger Federer [...]
In one sense, it was a huge surprise that tenth-seeded David Nalbandian crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round. Then again, one of the tennis world’s most puzzling players can never proceed through a tournament without serving up a surprise. On paper, the Argentine had no business ducking out of the year’s [...]
Day One of the Australian Open saw the lower half of the Men’s Draw get underway. With three Australian Men taking on tough challengers, the local fans clamored their support. Upset wins by Bryden Klein and Bernard Tomic and a tough four set loss by local favorite Samuel Groth signaled a good day for the [...]
