Archive for the ‘Tennis News’ Category
Goings on so far
The hustle and bustle of a Grand Slam season has died down, the chatter and gossip and winners and pictures have started to fade as a (rather good) memory into the back of our minds. Now comes the long stretch, that long wait until the next Grand Slam event. In between times, however, the players do not get that kind of rest and restoration. They continue to pound the circuit, looking for form and progress that will stand them in good stead in the future. As there has been so much going on, with tournaments starting only days after the Australian Open ended, I’m going to highlight a selection of the most interesting and note-worthy pieces of news so far.
Dubai
Everything’s happening at the Dubai Championships. First, Roger Federer pulls out of the tournament – what would have been his first since winning the Australian Open – with a lung infection. Not wanting to put his health at any further risk, the Swiss has said he is hoping to take just two weeks off to recover, and should be back for the Indian Wells tournament. We wish the world no. 1 a speedy recovery; the word ‘infection’ is never good, and lets’ hope recovery goes well for him.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were therefore seen as the ones that would go head to head for the title – which the Djoker took last year – in Dubai. Unfortunately, Andy Murray has suffered a shock exit in round 2, beaten by Janko Tipsarevich 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-3. The Scot had appeared to be going into the whole tourna more »
2009
It’s probably quite obvious as to why it has taken me at least two weeks to write this rather bulky blog. The clue is in the title: this is a look back at the year 2009. Writing a ‘Looking back’ blog in sport is rather like writing about the history of a country with a 1000 word deadline. I.e. impossible. That is why historians write books that are around about 5 tombs in length and need a crane to get them off the shelves. A similar feat would be needed if I were to write an in-depth story of the past year in tennis.
So, how am I going to do this? By choosing ten highlights of the year as a way of looking back.
1) Federer cries at Aussie open
I know, this one has been done to death. But it just shows how perceptions of others’ emotions can be wrong. The world saw Federer dissolve into tears as Nadal took the Australian Open trophy from him after a gruelling final match, and they decided that it signalled the end of a shining career. It was soon obvious that this was not the case. Federer has hardly had a slump of a year, winning the next two Grand Slams in surprising finals.
2) Soderling takes out Nadal
We all know this one. ‘Pulling a Soderling’ is now in our tennis-related vocabulary. Soderling is now the one to watch at any tournament. And he recently topped this fantastic year with a finals appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals after Andy Roddick dropped out.
3) Serena blows up at referee, accuses opponents of cheating…
…and generally behaves a more »
Andre Agassi certainly ‘Open’ in his new book
Yes, I am leaving these last two blogs of the year rather late. In fact, if you live in Australia or New Zealand it’s already the year of 2010. So, apologies for cutting it rather fine.
But one of the most controversial pieces of news of the year 2009 needs to be discussed before the year is over: Andre Agassi’s autobiography ‘Open’. The revelations about his father, his hair and his drug taking were rather more than the tennis world expected of a player’s autobiography.
But what were these revelations? One, for example, was his hair piece. Having a full head of hair was obviously a pressure that the star felt heavily. In the French Open final of 1990, he wore an elaborate hair piece to hide his baldness. Instead of concentrating entirely on the match, he claims he was more worried about his wig coming off. Who wouldn’t be? I’m not sure how he concentrated at all with something on my head that could potentially come flying off.
Agassi’s most sensational revelation in the book was his drug-taking. After taking crystal meth, he managed to persuade the Association of Tennis Professionals that he had taken the drugs by accident. He promptly got away with it all. It wasn’t a one off, either. With Gasquet going through hell and back to prove his innocence to an over-zealous and almost dictatorial ITF and WADA, it seemed a particular insult to his plight at the time.
Admitting that Agassi had in fact hated and feared tennis for years broug more »
The Finals Finale
Maybe I am just a tennis-starved Brit who has never quite seen anything as exciting as this come to her home soil, but I am already trawling to find the date for tickets to go on sale for the ATP World Tour Finals 2010.
The final big tennis event on the year came into London in a surprising amount of support. The BBC seemed constantly surprised that anyone turned up to the O2 when Andy Murray wasn’t playing, but I hope it proved to them the worth of following the tennis hysteria some countries can catch when tournaments sweep by.
The singles finals was broadcasted live by the BBC in England, which is an accolade in itself as Andy Murray hadn’t even made it to the semi-finals. With Juan Martin del Potro being the first so far in the competition to beat Robin Soderling, and Nikolay Davydenko having sent the world no. 1 out into the cold, it was a final match-up that no-one could have predicted (and if they did, then please point them out to me, I need to grovel at their feet). It was a little and large line-up, with Nikolay Davydenko standing 5ft 10in (1.78m) to Delpo’s 6ft 6in (1.98m). The Russian is quick, nimble, with a lot of power behind his shots he delivers at some devastating angles. The Argentinean is powerful, quick to read the game, with the arm span of a small Boeing jet.
At the end of his semi-finals win over Soderling, Juan Martin responded to a listing of his great achievements this year by gushing ‘Yes but I am still sing more »
ATP World Tour Finals
Walking up to the O2 arena from the North Greenwich underground stop on Wednesday 25th November, alongside a thousand or so other fans with tickets clutched in hand, I started to get an idea of what exactly the Barclays ATP World Tour Final has done for London. Here – in a stadium that was belittled and despised as a pathetic eyesore not long ago - tennis was coming to London in a way it never had before. It was the antithesis of the traditional strawberries-and-cream, soggy weather and knitted cardigans Wimbledon.
On the walk up to the front doors, a covered walkway is passed with ten feet high posters of all the stars appearing in the tournament. The inside is a wonderful mix of consumer sponsorship and a new, exciting world where tennis is fun and plays to an audience of 17,000. Suddenly, tennis in England is cool.
