Forward To The Past
that Melbourne has ever seen.
Federico Mariani
Anyone who thought that Federer’s win
It was Roger who struck first, and then second, and once more a third time. Then, it was Rafa, who also struck three times. Finally, Roger cracked another blow, followed by Rafa’s coup de grâce. Four Slams, four Masters 1000 tournaments, and one Tour once again utterly dominated by this dynamic duo. The year was supposed to be about new things: Murray was the new number one,
Down Under was a fluke was to be immediately disabused of that notion. In quick succession, he bagged Indian Wells and Miami as well, a trio of tournaments so tough to win back-toback that Federer struggled to do so even as a young man. And, of course, he was no longer a young man. He emphasized this by withdrawing from the entire clay season in order to rest his body.
and a new year-end tournament – the next-gen ATP Finals – was created to
With Rafa’s resurgence, Federer did not
showcase all the young talent on the
fancy his chances on clay anyway, and
Tour. Roger and Rafa were supposed to
was happy to let the Spaniard run wild in
quietly fade into the background as the
Europe. And run wild he did. Monte
newcomers took over. The old timers had other plans, however. In fact, it was clear from the very start of the season that things would not go according to plan. Instead of consolidating his new status as world number one, Murray was unceremoniously hustled out of the Australian Open in the fourth round. Djokovic, who everyone thought would furiously fight to regain his lost crown, fared even worse, not even making it past his second match. Federer and Nadal, on the other hand, marched towards the championship match with relative ease, where they put on a display to rival any
Carlo, Barcelona and Paris were all
absence of Murray, Djokovic, Wawrinka,
conquered without much resistance, a
Nishikori and Raonic. Add to that the fact
theme that would continue on throughout
that Federer was injured, and the trophy
the year as these two men marched
engravers were already getting started on
onwards.
the “R” for Nadal’s inevitable win. The final was even more lopsided than the
Indeed, Federer faced almost no
Federer-Cilic match, as Kevin Anderson
resistance at Wimbledon, and the entire
never stood a chance. With his opponent
two-week affair was seen by many as
overwhelmed and overmatched, Nadal
having an inevitable outcome: a Swiss
sleepwalked to another trophy, his first at
victory. The non-final against Cilic
Flushing Meadows since 2013. It was
confirmed that line of thinking: there was
also his first hardcourt title since January
no beating these two this year.
of 2014, a long wait, but a worthwhile one for the new world number one.
But if Wimbledon seemed like a foregone conclusion, the US Open would be even
So 2017 was a case not of back to the
more so. Even before the event started,
future, but rather forward to the past. But
the field was drastically weakened by the
who deserves the credit (or blame) for such an outcome? Well, as always with these things, a combination of many factors led to Federer and Nadal’s rampaging triumphs. Firstly, they should be praised for playing their cards perfectly. They stopped and rested when they needed to, and played only when it suited their end goals. They played incredible tennis when it mattered most, and adjusted their games in order to counter the onslaughts from the youngsters. The other side of the story, of course, is that the competition was not exactly up to challenging Federer and Nadal. Murray and Djokovic started the season
disastrously, and continued on that path until the middle of the year, when both of them essentially gave up. To be fair, injury played a large part in their poor form, but there is likely also a psychological component to their lack of energy and poor play. The question now is: what lies ahead of us? Will Murray and Djokovic return from their extended layoffs with the same levels of determination and energy that Federer and Nadal showed at the start of the year? Will 2018 be a mirror of this season, only with those two protagonists winning everything, and with the Swiss and Spaniard finally fading from view? If 2017 has taught us one thing, it’s to never say never. But it’s unlikely that Federer and Nadal are ready to call it quits just yet.
It’s been quite a year for Rafael Nadal. Now that he’s on the precipice of becoming the No. 1 ranked player again —the first time since June 2014—the Spaniard’s rise back to the top has been one inspiring story for 2017. How did he do it?
Back on Top of the Rankings: Rafael Nadal Veronica Bruno
Knocked out of the French Open for only the second time, it looked like Rafa was a spent force by the end of the clay season of 2016. Defeated by Marcel Granollers in the third round at Roland Garros, during Djokovic’s reign of dominance, he withdrew from Wimbledon and pulled out of several events last year. Despite two early clay titles at Monte Carlo and Barcelona and an energetic Olympics run that resulted in a second gold medal (and almost Bronze) in doubles, Nadal lost before reaching the quarters at the US Open and by the time the Spaniard entered the Masters
1000 event at Shanghai China, the former world No. 1 looked like a shell of his younger self, going out in his first match in the China event, to Viktor Troiki. He ended the year sidelined with a wrist injury. Like his famous rival, Roger Federer (#fedal), 2016 was full of heartache, injury, disappointment, and self-doubt. Federer even joked about the state of each other’s health and game when the two met at the opening of Nadal’s tennis academy last fall. Prior to their matchup in the Australian Open final, Federer joked, “I went to open his academy and I told him, ‘I wish we could do a charity match or something,’ but I was on one leg and he had a wrist injury and we were playing some mini tennis with some juniors, but it was the best we could do.” But courage, belief, and love for the sport that has rewarded him so much motivated his road back to No. 1. Nadal talked about the difficult road back to top form with the ATP before the Cincinnati Open this year. “A lot of things have happened since the last time I was in this spot. Injuries and some tough moments, of course, but I have held the passion and the love for the game, and that’s why I have the chance to be back in that position again. So I’m just trying to enjoy the moment and just trying to be ready to compete well here.”
And what a year it’s been. The 15 timegrand slam has appeared in an incredible eight finals, half of which he won, all on clay. He’s made two grand slam finals, most impressively his record 10th (and 15th grand slam) French Open title. At age 32, he fought off younger opponents to get to the Miami Open hard court final. With Federer out of the Cincinnati Open, Rafael Nadal has taken over the number one spot for now, although if the Swiss player can recover, he will likely throw his hat back into the ring, and the fight for the top spot will probably continue for the rest of the year. In the meantime, the Spaniard will be enjoying the achievement. “I am having a great season,” said Nadal. But how did he get there? “Love for the game” and gaining his
confidence back The great passion Rafa has brought to the sport has made him beloved among sports fans everywhere. It’s also clearly been a motivating factor to inspire his comeback. He has achieved so much in tennis and what has made him an incredible ambassador for the sport has helped sustain him through injuries and setbacks. He clearly loves tennis and tennis fans love him right back. No one digs deep like Rafael Nadal when he’s down in a game, but the tennis legend is only human and even Nadal gets nervous. The 10-time French Open champ discussed losing his confidence when injuries and a loss in form plagued him back in 2015. “I am feeling more tired than usual, feeling that I don’t have this self
confidence that when I hit the ball I am going to hit the ball where I want to hit the ball,” said the Mallorican native. He talked about his road back. “Now I need to fix again the nerves. The self-control on court, that’s another issue.” At the time, he hadn’t won a grand slam since the French Open the year before, in 2014. Taking the time and rest necessary for recuperation Rafa has the reputation for going the extra mile in matches, but something had to give towards the end of 2016. Coming back after a disappointing clay season that saw him ousted in the third round, the “king of clay” skipped the grass season, including Wimbledon, in order to give his mind and body rest and the best chance to represent his country at the Olympics, where he achieved a doubles
gold with compatriot Marc Lopez. He also almost clinched another singles medal, in a thrilling match against Kei Nishikori the day after the doubles win. But four events later, something had to give and Nadal closed out his 2016 season early after Shanghai and took time to allow his wrist to heal. He skipped the ATP World Tour Finals, a competition he has surprisingly never won, and spent time recuperating and preparing for 2017. Adding a new coach, Carlos Moya Part of the preparation for a more successful 2017 was adding another coach in addition to Uncle Tony. Good friend and former French Open champion himself, Carlos Moya joined Rafa’s team in December. With the coaching
relationship came also a different approach to the champion’s game. Moya worked with Rafa on his backhand and his second serve percentage. He also took a different approach to Nadal’s practice sessions, encouraging him to shorten them, while making them more intense. The new practice approach paid off when the Mallorcan player entered the 2017 season with a more varied game. Taking advantage of the decline of Djokovic and Murray Where Federer and Nadal have emerged as top players again, Djokovic and Murray have performed as shadows of themselves. In 2016, the Serb and Scot battled it out for the top spot after Djokovic’s French Open crown, but with Murray taking the next grand slam at
Wimbledon and then surging ahead afterwards, everyone thought the race for No. 1 would continue into this year. But both Murray and Djokovic have had their share of injuries since the beginning of the year and now both players have dropped out for possibly the rest of 2017—at least Djokovic will likely stay that way— the British player is slated to follow Djokovic and drop in rankings. Federer has also withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open and if he comes back, will probably move up to No. 2, and might even make a run for the top spot himself, depending on his recovery in time for the US Open and possibly afterwards in the remaining Masters 1000 events. In the meantime, Nadal is the last man standing, now almost guaranteed to be No. 1, and possibly retain the spot until the end of the year. What an incredible journey back to the top the Spaniard has had. “So I’m just trying to enjoy the moment,” Nadal said in a press conference. He certainly should.
From Challenger To Champion: The Rise Of Pablo Carreno Busta Marco Di Nardo At the beginning of 2013, Pablo Carreno Busta was playing Futures tournaments, the lower level of tennis events populated by hopefuls and has-beens. These players are all looking to scrape together enough points to regularly qualify for Challengers, the next rung up, or ultimately Tour-level events, where the real action is. Having come close to the Top 100 in 2011, the Spaniard was forced to sit out several months due to injuries, which badly set back his plans. When he eventually returned to the courts, he was ranked 654 and had a long journey ahead of him.
He found his feet quickly at Futures level, losing a final early in the year before winning seven straight tournaments. From there, he moved on to Challenger events and qualifiers for ATP tournaments. Here, his fortunes were decidedly more mixed, though he managed to qualify fairly regularly for Tour events, he tended to lose early. His first real breakthrough came in April of 2013 when he reached the semi-finals of the ATP 250 event in
Portugal. He lost to Stan Wawrinka, but he proved to himself and others that he was capable of playing well at that level. After qualifying for Roland Garros and losing to Roger Federer in the first round, an energized Carreno Busta hit the Challenger circuit hard, earning several titles. By the end of the year, he was the king of the Challenger circuit, and had won more matches across all the
levels of competitive tennis than anyone else. Yet he still faced a major problem: he found it hard to consistently compete in the big leagues. Over the next two years, this pattern would repeat itself, with routine wins on the Challenger circuit (three titles in 2014, two in 2015) but mediocre performances at Tour level (he won 13 of his 38 matches in 2014, and 14 of 39 in 2015). So when 2016 rolled
around, few were expecting Carreno Busta to have a breakout year. He did not have much of a presence in the public’s imagination, lacking any show-stopping shots or on-court flair, and was on few people’s radar. That’s a shame, since he should have made headlines for his performance at the ATP 250 event in Sao Paulo, where he came back from 0-6, 3-6 to eventually win 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 against Albert Ramos. But he did not
boast about it, and the miraculous feat went largely unnoticed. He would attract some notice later that week by reaching his first ATP final at that very same tournament, though he did go on to lose to Pablo Cuevas. Having reached his first Tour-level final, something clicked for Carreno Busta, and he started finding his feet on the ATP Tour. He reached another final in Estoril, and won two titles in Winston-Salem and Moscow. So by the end of 2016, Carreno Busta had proven that he could play well at Tour-level, and on different surfaces to boot. He had become a complete Tour player, and as the 2017 season rolled around he would have been forgiven for thinking he had peaked at a professional tennis player. Little did he know, however, that he was just getting started. The season was still
young when Carreno Busta started further improving on his own personal bests. He reached the third round of the Australian Open, and soon afterwards reached his first ATP 500 final in Rio de Janeiro, though he ultimately lost to Dominic Thiem. But it was at Indian Wells that he took his first step towards becoming a bigtime player. Thanks to some wonderful play and an open draw, Carreno Busta made it to the semi-finals before running into the buzzsaw that is Stanislas
Wawrinka. The result was enough to propel him into the Top 20 for the first time, and in way of celebration he won the title in Estoril a short time later, beating Gilles Muller in the final. This success on clay heading into Roland Garros proved invaluable practice, as Carreno Busta beat Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, as well as Milos Raonic in an epic fivesetter in the fourth round. He had made it to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time, but at a price: he was so
exhausted by all the tennis that he had to retire from his match against Nadal. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but given his incredible accomplishments, it was minor setback in the scheme of things. He certainly wouldn’t let it get him down, to be sure, and coming into the US Open he was about as confident of doing well as any other person in the draw. And the draw was kind to him as well. Andy Murray wasn’t playing, and other top players like Marin Cilic
lost early on. The Spaniard made the most of this opportunity, winning his first five matches in straight sets and advancing to the semi-final as the only contender not to have dropped a set up to that point. And when Carreno Busta took the first set in that semi-final, it seemed as if his momentum would carry him straight into the championship match at Flushing Meadows. But unfortunately, it was not to be. The tall South African, Kevin Anderson, was too much in the end, with his serve proving too deadly in the latter stages of the match. Thanks to his heroic efforts in New York, Carreno Busta broke into the Top 10 on 11 September. Considering that in January of 2016 he was not even in the Top 50, this is an almost unbelievable achievement. Having come so far in such a short time, one cannot
help but wonder what the future holds for the Spaniard. With the top of men’s tennis in such flux, and with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic likely both out for the rest of the year, there is still plenty of room to maneuver for players like Carreno Busta. He is currently 8th in the race
to London, and very well placed to finish the year strong and qualify for his first ATP World Tour Finals. Should he do so, it would certainly be the perfect end to the perfect year.
Jared
that is just the latest of
Donaldson’s
season, the most
At the beginning of the
impressive coming in
season, Donaldson was
Meteoric
Cincinnati, where he
playing mainly
Rise
reached the quarter-
Challenger events,
finals before eventually
languishing outside the
falling to John Isner. He
Top 100. But thanks to
also claimed the most
his much-improved
important scalp of his
ranking, he is now able
career in Cincinnati,
to automatically qualify
beating 14th-ranked
for, and compete in,
Roberto Bautista-Agut in
Tour-level events.
Alex Bisi It seems that every other week, a talented new youngster is making waves on the ATP Tour. And increasingly, these rising stars are American. The latest specimen to capture our attention in this way is Jared Donaldson, who was born in 1996 and is enjoying a very good, if somewhat low-key, season. At the time of writing, he was sitting just outside the Top 50 at 51. Many people saw him for the first time at this year’s US Open, where he reached the second round and pushed fellow young prodigy Lucas Pouille to five sets. But
the first round.
his accomplishments this
Unlike his fellow
when he goes up 0-30,
Milan from 7-11
countrymen, his main
and 48% of the time
November. For him to go
weapon is not his serve,
when he gets to 30-40.
from a near complete
but his return. He is,
Those are mighty
unknown to being among
statistically, ranked 32nd
impressive numbers
his generation’s top
in terms of his return
indeed.
players is some feat, and
game, where players like
we have a feeling we will
John Isner and Jack
With the solid results he
be hearing a lot from him
Sock are ranked 80 and
has posted so far this
in the future.
56, respectively.
year, he is in a good
According to the ATP
position to qualify for the
and Infosys, Donaldson
Next Gen ATP Finals,
breaks 63% of the time
which takes place in
The Race For Number One Marco Di Nardo
With the end of the tennis season fast approaching, and with all four Grand Slams already over, the race for the WTA number one ranking is still very much on. Of course, this was only to be expected in a year when Serena Williams essentially did not play due to her pregnancy. Pundits have put forward several names
one at the end of 2016, briefly managed to retake the top ranking, but her form has dramatically fallen off since. That left the door open for the relatively unknown Karolina Pliskova to ascend to the throne, only to be quickly surpassed by Garbine Muguruza. But more than the regular rankings, the Race rankings can give us an even clearer picture of who has been playing the best so far this year. The Race rankings, of course, only take into account your points earned in the current
to take over the top spot, but for the most
calendar year, and not from the previous
part the expected candidates – Simona
year, as the regular rankings do.
Halep, for example – have failed to make the most of this incredible opportunity.
Incredibly, of the top seven players in the Race rankings, only one has won a
Angelique Kerber, who was world number
Grand Slam this year. That person is
Garbine Muguruza, who is number one in
done enough to become the best player
the Race as well as the regular rankings.
in tennis. It is this recent run of success
The winners of the other three Slams are
that has placed Muguruza in prime
well out of position and unlikely to
position to claim the year-end number
challenge for the number one ranking this
one. Indeed, she is the clear-cut favorite
year.
to end the year on top.
Muguruza had a tough start to the year,
But, of course, the rest of the Tour will not
and dropped as low as 15 before
just sit by and watch her march to a year-
Wimbledon. But at SW19 something
end number one ranking without a fight.
clicked for the Spaniard, and she went on
Her chief challenger, many will argue, is
an extended streak of excellent form that
Simona Halep. It seemed inevitable at
culminated in her becoming the new
one point that Halep would take over the
world number one. That run included
women’s Tour, especially with Serena
winning Wimbledon, reaching the semi-
Williams out. But when the moment
finals at Stanford, the quarters in Toronto
arrived to finally take the leap into
and winning Cincinnati. By reaching the
greatness, Halep hesitated. Up a set and
quarters at the US Open, she had finally
a break in the French Open final, she
could not close it out. Yet despite this
never advancing past the quarter-finals
massive setback, Halep has been
and failing to defeat Halep at the French
incredibly consistent this year. She has
Open, even though she had a massive
only won one title – in Madrid – but has
6-4, 5-1 lead. She also still has a shot at
reached the latter stages of almost every
number one, but failing to scoop up
event she has participated in. She
much-needed points at the Majors might
received a rough draw at the US Open,
ultimately prove her undoing.
playing Maria Sharapova in the first round, which dented her chances of
Karolina Pliskova, who is currently fourth
challenging for number one. Still, her
in the race, was world number one before
chances are very much alive, but she will
Garbine Muguruza unseated her. A
have to start winning more tournaments
combination of factors makes her unlikely
instead of just doing well in them.
to make a major push for number one again this season, but she can’t be
Elina Svitolina has been a bit of a
counted out entirely. Her strong serve
revelation this season, winning five titles,
makes her unplayable on faster services
including Dubai, Rome and Toronto. In
at times, and a lucky break or two might
the Slams, however, she let herself down,
change things towards the end of the
season.
ever finished the year as number one. And she did it twice, in 2010 and in 2011.
Who could have imagined that, at age 37,
Wozniacki has reached six finals this year
Venus Williams would have one of the
(Doha, Dubai, Miami, Eastbourne,
best seasons of anyone on Tour in 2017?
Bastad, Toronto), but has yet to win a
She became the oldest player to ever
title. Though she has been very
play in two Slam finals in the same year,
consistent, her struggle to win
and it would have been three if Sloane
tournaments may end any realistic
Stephens had not prevailed in their
chance she has of ending the year as
closely contested US Open semi-final.
world number one.
With her wealth of experience, she might very well win the WTA Finals, at which
All of the players we have mentioned so
point the year-end number one will
far are within 1100 points of the number
possibly come into play.
one spot in the Race rankings. If we go
The last in our group of contenders is
beyond that, we come across a few more
Caroline Wozniacki, a long shot
of our 2017 Slam winners. Jelena
candidate with an ace up her sleeve: she
Ostapenko, for example, who won the
is the only one of the challengers to have
French Open without having won any title
at all before that. Sloane Stephens, the
contenders, they may very well ruin
US Open champion, was ranked 957 in
their chances in the process.
July before reaching the semi-finals in
After years of continuity at the top of
both Toronto and Cincinnati and
both the men and women’s rankings,
ultimately triumphing at Flushing
we are now seeing the top spot
Meadows. Johanna Konta is also worth a
changing hands comparatively quickly.
mention, having won Miami, but she has
It’s a refreshing change, to be sure, and
struggled at some of the other big events.
we can’t wait to see who manages to end the year as the best of the best.
These last few names may not be able to reach the year-end number one ranking, but they can certainly affect the race in a big way. Should they defeat any of the
mental training regime. He wanted to forge both an iron body and an iron mind. “I was afraid to look deep inside me and find nothing,” he explained later. “But if I did not find the courage to do so, then I would just continue to complain.”
Mental Edge
Alessandro Mastroluca How Alexis Castorri helped Kevin Anderson reach the US Open final. Behind every successful man, there is a great woman. In the case of Kevin Anderson, there are two. One is his wife, Kelsey, who put her accounting career on hold in order to travel with Anderson on Tour and manage his finances and business dealings. The other is famed sports psychologist
Alexis Castorri, who has helped players make the most of their mental game since she first changed Ivan Lendl’s career in 1985. “Unfortunately, I will never fully understand tennis,” Castorri has said of the sport. “Like golf, it is a sport that cannot be mastered entirely because of all the constantly changing elements.” Having lost so many Grand Slam finals, Lendl decided to embark on a punishing new diet and
When Castorri joined Lendl’s team in January of 1985, she bet him a thousand dollars that he would win the US Open that year and become world number one. The program they followed was based on logotherapy, and focused on Lendl’s mental attitude towards his game. Particularly important was facing the fear of losing, and putting it behind him before he stepped on the court. Lendl spent a lot of time on relaxation and visualization techniques and, ultimately, Castorri won her bet. When Lendl took over as
Andy Murray’s coach, he introduced him to Castorri. “When I looked at early films of him playing, he played with such happiness and excitement,” she said of Murray. “So, my initial thought was that he needed to bring back the zest. But I believe you start that off the court. Andy is a creative genius, a tactical and technical genius, so he needed to reconnect with his inner strengths” Castorri, who also works with golfers and businessmen, also helped the Scot communicate better with Lendl. “I’m interested in helping a person become the best they can be,” she told the Daily Telegraph. “That means talking about their lives in total. Tennis is part of it but not the whole of the conversation.” Thanks to her, the Scot managed to process the
warm reception he had from the crowd and the public after his Wimbledon loss to Roger Federer in 2012. “He hasn’t always been fully supported by the whole of the UK,” she recalled of the time. “After the way he spoke when he lost the Wimbledon final…perhaps more people warmed to him, because he was revealing a side of himself that they hadn’t seen before. It’s a simple lesson but if you can
learn to be yourself – the most positive form of yourself – then good things tend to happen.” It was a lesson she also bestowed upon Kevin Anderson. He needed extra support to win tough matches and get over bad losses. After so many years in a career, it can be difficult to revolutionize one’s technique and strategy. But mentally, there is always room for growth no matter what.
“It's crucial to believe in your game,” Anderson said of himself. “I feel that I just need to talk to her to have a better understanding of my tennis. She has a great deal of experience, we have a good relationship and I'm sure we can translate that to my performance on court.”
Because their goal is to get you to understand things better, to make you think, and on the court the less you think the better. His job is to create doubts, to put all the cards on the table. But in tennis, if you have to think about your game, on the court it is not good to bring doubts with you.”
Trust, belief in one’s own abilities…these are values that also helped Petra Kvitova win two titles at Wimbledon. After her victory in 2014, she went out of her way to that her psychologist Michal Sfar, which whom she has been working together since 2009. However, not all coaches are sold on sports psychologists. Patrick Mouratoglou, for example, does not believe they are very helpful in tennis.
But for those who live in a career that requires the perfect balance between fluidity and rationality,
“I believe in psychologists, I think they are very useful, I went to myself so I know what I'm talking about,” he told Reuters. “I just do not think they're good with tennis players.
who often experience fleeting moments of perfection followed by long periods of doubt and reflection, finding the right perspective can be the key to success. It certainly worked for Anderson, who trained for years with his father, and started training at an early age with his brother Greg. Both got tennis scholarships for college: Greg went to the University of Kentucky, while Kevin went to the
University of Illinois. “Kevin has always kept a low profile,” Greg, who now heads a tennis academy in New York, said of his brother. “He has always kept a lot inside, but he is a perfectionist with an old, disciplined game. That's why he has progressed slowly but steadily.” Anderson does not like to show off, and at home does not even exhibit his trophies and memorabilia. He is an atypical tennis player who loves to read, considers all aspects of any matter and hides his artistic temperament. He also like to play the guitar, something which Castorri and his current coach, Neville Godwin, used to get Anderson to be more expressive. Thanks to their suggestions, Anderson started showing a side of his personality that the fans never knew. The overly cerebral tennis player started talking from the heart.
Sloan Stephens: The Future Of Rock And Roll Alessandro Mastroluca
“I saw my tennis past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw the future of tennis and its name is Sloane Stephens.” While this famous quote from John Landau might have, in its original form, referred to Bruce Springsteen as the future of rock and roll, it applies quite nicely to the new US Open champion, Sloane Stephens. On the fateful Saturday when the final was contested, Madison Keys was obliged to assume the role of Landau, marveling at the incredible performance of her friend and opponent across the net. In the leadup to the final, much was made of the fact that the two players were friends. Indeed, the hug they shared at the end of the match was like the many hugs they had shared in their difficult early years on Tour. There had been many injuries, setbacks and heartbreaks in both their careers, and for a long time they helped each other through the tough times. Now they could embrace in happier circumstances: the good times had arrived. Their hug would prove to be only one of many iconic moments on that Saturday evening. Shortly after the match ended Katrina Adams, the USTA’s first black president, kissed Stephens’ cheeks in
congratulations. Looking on from crowd, Stephens’ mother, Sybil Smith, could barely contain her emotions. She was the first African American swimmer to earn All American honors. These were all important moments, especially considering the recent Charlottesville protests, which had again highlighted racial tensions in the country. Chris Evert emphasized that tennis had become a sport of inclusion, having long since lost its image as a pastime only for privileged white people. Evert has known Stephens since she was a junior, and has for long been a proponent of the youngster’s talents. There have been many ups and downs over the years for Stephens, but Evert believes that, after suffering a stress fracture in her foot in 2016 and missing
4-5 and 30-30 there was a 25-stroke rally in which Stephens defended brilliantly before going on the attack and hitting a winner. More than any other point in the tournament, it embodied her new fortitude and determination.
almost a year’s competition, she is now hungrier and more determined than ever. Stephens has for many years been pegged as a potential future champion, able to follow in the footsteps of the accomplished Serena Williams. But that constant pressure has been hard on Stephens, and in her darker moments she found herself questioning her life in tennis. But after her extended time off in 2016, her passion for the game was reignited, and now she fights for every point as if it is her last. That characteristic helped her a lot at the US Open, where she had to play a total of four threesetters en route to the final (against Dominika Cibulkova, Julia Goerges, Anastasija Sevastova and Venus Williams). Her match against Williams was particularly brutal, but the intensity brought the very best tennis out of her. At
She had returned from the brink of the Top 1000 (it was not too long ago that she was ranked 937), and in front of a packed Arthur Ashe stadium Stephens was proving that she truly belonged at the top. That the site of her first Grand Slam triumph was at the same tournament where she learned of her father’s dead in 2009 made it even more special. Her father, John Stephens, was drafted by the New England Patriots in the first round in 1988, the same year her mother was honored as an all-American swimmer. Fast and competitive, he ran for 1168 yards in his first year and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. But he did not have a very long career, leaving the NFL after seven seasons. Stephens never knew her father that well, and spoke to him for the first time when she was already 13 years old. He died in 2009 in a car crash, and Sybil Stephens has always tried to focus her daughter’s attention on her father’s positive characteristics. He had a dark side, however, and it was only a matter of time before his daughter found out about it. He had been accused of sexual assault multiple times, and even plead guilty to
one such incident. But, despite all of his flaws, his wife still believed him to be a good person. “John was a good man with a dependency problem that was not taken care of in time,” she said some years ago. While he didn’t know his daughter very well, John Stephens was proud of her, and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be a big star one day. He turned out to be right. Unlike her father, who had an aggressive playing style on the field, Stephens has chosen another route on the court. Only 19.4% of her shots produce winners or extract errors from her opponents. Instead, Stephens plays a more patient game, playing solid defense while waiting for her opponent to slip up. If she gets the opportunity for a winner, however, she is more than capable of taking advantage. Her friend Madison Keys, like Serena Williams, is much more aggressive. So, in fact, are the majority of successful women on the Tour. To illustrate that fact, one need only consider that 31 of the last 45 Slam winners have been aggressive players (as measured by their statistics, they ranked in the top third of aggressive categories). From her match against Julia Görges through the final, Stephens hit only 61 winners against 88 unforced errors. According to every available statistic, it
should be hard to win a match at WTA level with such numbers, but Stephens does it routinely. In fact, she has a very good record against aggressive players, beating them 60% of the time since 2014. Stephens likes to keep things light offcourt, and can often be seen joking around. When asked what her main motivation to win a Slam is, she simply asked whether anyone has seen how big the check for the winner is. But behind her relaxed demeanor is a player who has fully embraced the words of her coach, Kamau Murray: “no matter what the conditions, always accept the challenge and do your best.” That's what he said to Taylor Townsend
in 2014, on the worst day of his life. While driving her to a tournament, he suddenly asked her to take the steering wheel, as he had lost sensation in the left part of his body. He was having a heart attack, but as the ambulance was taking him to the hospital he implored her to still play her tournament. Stephens started working with Murray last year. He is not a big-name coach, as so many players are hiring these days, and is more used to helping players get scholarships through his XS Foundation, which he founded. But Stephens credits him for a lot of her recent success, saying he has an incredibly calming presence. “He has helped me to believe in myself, to trust in my abilities. He has helped me
use what I have.” Even he, however, could not believe it when in April, three months after foot surgery, Stephens called him and announced that he is ready to train. At first, she could only sit on the court on a wooden bench. Then, on an office chair with the back removed. It was mid-May before she could get on her feet, but she couldn’t run yet. “If they had told me then that I would win the US Open, I would have said it was impossible,” she remembered recently. Murray, a complete athlete who also played basketball and attended Florida A&M, worked in the pharmaceuticals sales for ten years and knows the value
of strategic planning. Before every match, he provides Stephens with a concise game plan, by phone, with the best tactics to use. During her downtime, Stephens took the opportunity to give some youngsters tennis lessons. “It was great,” she recalled enthusiastically. Murray learned a lot from his best friend, Quentin Richardson, a former NBA player who now works in player development. From him he learned that preparation, lifestyle and victories are inextricably linked. “With Sloane I wanted to combine the dots,” he told the New York Times. "Because everything is connected, everything is important.”
Controversial US Open Matches Akshay
The last Grand Slam of the year – US Open has had its share of controversy making one wonder whether something will happen at the Flushing Meadows this year to match some of the memorable moments of the past. Steffi Graf Vs Monica Seles, 1995 The US Open Finals between the German and the American was full of controversies with Graf winning this match 7-6, 0-6, 6-4. It was the first time Seles and Graf had met on a tennis court since a mad Graf fan had stabbed Seles during an April 1993 match in Hamburg, Germany. Seles hit what she thought was an ace on her set point in the first set, and she began to walk toward the sideline. But the ball was called out, and replays seemed to confirm that the ball was out. Graf came back to win that set 7-6, but
dropped the second set at love, before rallying to win the deciding set. Serena Williams Vs Samantha Stosur, 2011 Something went against Serena Williams at an important moment during her 6-2, 6-3 loss to Samantha Stosur in the 2011 Final. Serving at 30-40 in the first game of the Second Set, Williams hit an inside out forehand for an apparent winner. Williams had yelled "Come on!" soon after hitting the ball, before Stosur barely touched the ball with her racquet in an attempt to return it. During a later changeover,
Williams said some other things to Asderaki. "If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way," Williams was fined $2,000. Lleyton Hewitt Vs James Blake, 2001 One verbal outburst changed Lleyton Hewitt's 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over American James Blake into a racial controversy. An African American linesman twice called Hewitt for foot faults on critical points in the third set against Blake. Hewitt complained to umpire Andreas Egli, "Change him, change him. I have only been foot-
faulted at one end. OK. Look at him. Look at him, and you tell me what the similarity is. Just get him off the court. Look at what he's done." Serena Williams Vs Kim Clijsters, 2009 Yet another Williams’ outburst saw the American lose another final in New York. Williams had lost the first set 6-4 and trailed 6-5, 15-30 on her own serve in the second when a lines woman called a foot fault on her second serve. That double fault made it 15-40 and provoked Williams to unleash what
was reportedly an obscenity-laced rant directed at that line judge. Williams said to the lines woman, "I swear to God, I'm (expletive) going to take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat, you hear that? I swear to God." Williams was later fined $82,500 and placed on probation for her offense. Serena Williams Vs Jennifer Capriati, 2004 In what was one of the most controversial line call moments in US Open history, it involved Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati. Williams had as many as
three line calls go against her in the final game of her 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Jennifer Capriati. The mistakes may have cost Williams the match. It was a ruling made by chair umpire Mariana Alves in the first game of the final set that was the most controversial. It was so blatantly incorrect, in fact, that U.S. Tennis Association officials later apologized to Williams for the error and banned Alves from umpiring any more matches at that Open.
Top Men behind Women in Tennis Akshay Whenever a tennis expert or a fanatic of the sport talks about the unstinting support in the life of a tennis player then there's only one name that appears in the minds of everyone Swiss maestro Roger Federer's wife Mirka. The superstar met his better
half at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and even though after a couple of months he knew that she was the one with whom he was to spend his entire life, he never had the intuition that she would turn out to be the architect of his illustrious career. There’s a saying that behind every successful man there is a woman. But, how about the opposite - Can’t a man be the prime reason of the accomplishments of a lady? We take a look at men
who have been responsible for transforming women into the biggest stars of the sport. Max Eisenbud The Guy behind Sharapova’s Line of Products: At the summit of our list is the man known to have transformed Maria Sharapova into a global brand making her the most recognized female face in the world – her agent Max Eisenbud. Max met the Russian when she was training to be a professional tennis
player at the renowned Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida 15 years ago. At that time Eisenbud was just another salaried employee of the World’s No.1 sports management firm, but once Masha stunned Serena Williams in the final of Wimbledon 10 years ago, not only his fortunes swirled, he also transformed Maria into a multi-million dollar tennis icon. In an interview a few years back, Sharapova gave him the credit of masterminding her climb to the leaderboard of the biggest earning ladies’ of the globe. Eisenbud on the other hand, said, “I think I'm more of a facilitator, an organizer. I know when to bring things to her because she's in the middle of a tournament, and when she needs to stay focused some more, so it's not distracting her tennis. I think that's kind of my skill. We do probably anywhere between 30 and 75 emails a day between us,
so sometimes we don't even need to talk on the phone. She just sets the vision and I'm just able to try to do my best to try and follow her vision.” Jiang Shan When Na Li became the first Asian woman to clinch a Grand Slam in 2011 as she defeated Francesca Schiavone in the French Open Final, besides the media attention that she received, one more person shot to fame and that was her husband and then coach – Jiang Shan. The man whom many claim has sacrificed his own career to make his wife successful in a predominantly European and American sport. Before the end of his coaching relationship with Li during the spring of last year, until Carlos Rodriguez came in as his replacement, Jiang was coaching her wife since 2004. The Chinese pair’s relationship goes back to
1995 when the pair used to play for the Hubei provincial side. The two got married in 2006, two years after he started coaching her. He has accepted whatever has arrived with her wife – the love, the fury and the media criticism – he has acted as the calming force for Li who is famous for her angry outbursts whenever she is not doing too well on court. Declaring her love and adoration for Jiang, Li said at the conclusion of the Australian Open final in Melbourne: "Fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, I will follow you forever." Aleksandar Bajin He is nicknamed as the Big Sascha by the younger Williams as she considers him the man with whom she can share her sorrows and happiness – he has been the Good Samaritan in her life from 2007 to 2015. Bajin has seen it all – her
Grand Slam titles, her Olympics doubles gold with Sister Venus in Beijing, her first ever singles gold medal at the London Games and her reemergence at the top of the rankings aged 31 making her the oldest female to accomplish that feat. Serena back then said, "Outside of my parents, I think he's probably the most important person on the team. He's much more than a hitting partner. He's my older brother. He's family." He then switched to Victoria Azarenka’s team for two years and then recently joined Caroline Wozniacki’s team. Incidentally both these players are good friends with Serena Williams and spoke to her about Bajin. "I definitely talked to Serena about it," she said. "Just wanted to hear, and also how she feels about me working with him. You just want to know that you don't clash. She said he's a very hard worker, and she has nothing bad to say about him. She likes him a lot."
Number One Throughout The Years Giorgio Perri Since the advent of computerized rankings for women in 1975, the United States and Germany have almost exclusively dominated the top spot. From Monica Seles and Martina Hingis to Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin, there have been a few players from other countries to briefly interrupt the GermanAmerican domination, but they were generally few and far between. Steffi Graf, of course, is the first name that comes to mind when discussing long stints at number one. Overall, she spent 377 weeks ranked as the best player in the world, 186 of which was consecutive. This a record that seems so overwhelming that it might never be equaled. It is significantly more than any male player can boast of, the closest being Roger Federer with 302 weeks. As with the women’s rankings, the United States has loomed large
over the men’s rankings basically since the advent of the computerized system. Some Swedes (Borg, Wilander), Czechs (Lendl) and Germans (Becker) kept the Americans from being completely dominant force, but the US was by far the most successful country when it came to having number one ranked players. That is, until the turn of the century. Since then, the top spot has been changing hands mainly between Switzerland (Federer), Spain (Nadal) and Serbia (Djokovic). Nadal, of course, recently ascended to the throne in the ATP rankings once again, and when combined with Muguruza’s recent rise, we have a situation where the top ranking on both the men’s and women’s Tours are held by the same country. This is the first time in 14 years that Spain has had the top ranked woman in world tennis (Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was the last), and the first time since 2003 that two people from the same country has occupied both top spots (the last was in 2003, when Andre Agassi and Serena Williams were both number 1). The first time it ever
happened was in 1975, with Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors. Connors rose to the top spot in August of 1977, taking over from John Newcome and starting, with the help of John McEnroe, a true American dynasty of topranked players. Their chokehold on the top spot of the rankings would continue (with some interruptions from Lendl and Borg) until September of 1985, which was the last time McEnroe was ranked number one. During this time, from 1975 to 1985, the topranked women were Christ Evert and Martina Navratilova, with a brief appearance by Tracy Austin. Navratilova became an American citizen in 1981, and with Austin also being American this was a period dominated wholly by the United States. In September of 1985, Lendl became the world number one, and American dominance on both the men’s and women’s Tours
suffered a temporary crisis. Lendl would remain number one for the next three years, and it was not until February of 1992 that Jim Courier again took the US to the top. Navratilova surrendered her top ranking in 1987, and it would take until 1995 for Monica Seles to restore American pride on the women’s side. The interim period saw complete domination by Steffi Graf, who would be the on-again off-again world number one for almost an entire decade. She would briefly be co-number ones with Boris Becker, marking the first time that two Germans were at the top of the tennis world. The second great age of American rankings dominance started, on the men’s side, with Jim Courier in February of 1992, and would continue until about the turn of the century, with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras doing most of the heavy lifting. On the women’s side, the American flag would fly high again
with Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport, and several other women, including the Williams sisters, to more or less to the present day. But while women’s tennis in America has had no major crises in the past two decades, the same cannot be said of the men. The last time an American man was ranked number one was in February of 2004. Since that time, no nation has dominated both the men and women’s game at the same time‌until now. It remains to be seen how long Nadal and Muguruza will be able to remain co-number ones. After all, Nadal is nearing the tail end of his career. That being said, he certainly seems capable of playing at a high level for at least a few more years, and the young Muguruza has her whole career in front of her. For now, Spain rules the world of tennis.
Players Disqualified Over the Years! Akshay Be it anger or any other thing, players have been disqualified from matches over the years for different reasons, we take a look at a few!
saying “shut up”. The Chair Umpire immediately gave a code violation for verbal abuse and when Tarango protested, Rebeuh declined it and asked Tarango to play. The American stormed off court following a string of arguments with Bruno Rebeuh, who the former termed as “one of the most corrupt officials in the game”. Not wanting to miss out on the action, Tarango's wife slapped the official twice.
Jeff Tarango – 1995 Wimbledon Well I always thought Wimbledon was all about poise and elegance, but it was all ruined by legends like John McEnroe. In
David Nalbandian – 2012 Queen’s In a bizarre set of events, Marin Cilic was handed the Aegon Championships
1995 too there was another American named Jeff Tarango who faced off against Alexander Mronz in the Third Round. Tarango became furious with Umpire Bruno Rebeuh, who had ruled against Tarango a number of times. While preparing to serve, the crowd interrupted Tarango and he responded by
Trophy last year after David Nalbandian was defaulted from the match for injuring a linesman. Nalbandian lead 7-6, 3-4 in the match when a sudden splurge of anger overtook him and in a spot of bother he accidentally kicked the box the linesman sits in. The box smashed into pieces and some
part of it ended up hitting the linesman's leg and it started bleeding quite a bit. After some time when the Tournament Director inspected the injury, he decided to give the match to Cilic, who had no clue on how to react after winning the match in this fashion.
next to the net was at the receiving end, getting hit on her ear really hard. She initially fell to the ground, but then ran to her usual position in tears and medical helped was called immediately.
Tim Henman – 1995 Wimbledon Crowd favorite Tim Henman was once disqualified from his Home Grand Slam for slamming a ball into a ball girl. He along with doubles partners Jeremy Bates became the first players to be disqualified at Wimbledon in the Open
John McEnroe: 1990 Australian Open Always known for his on-court antiques, John McEnroe was at his vintage best – this time at the Australian Open in 1990 where he received the honor of becoming the first man since 1963 to be disqualified from a Grand Slam for misconduct. Bidding to win his first Grand Slam since the 1984 US Open, McEnroe took on
era when they were defaulted after Henman accidentally fired a ball into the head of a ball girl. The incident took place after Henman missed hitting a return of his own serve. As the ball-girl moved to retrieve the ball, a furious Henman the ball he had in his hands in frustration. The girl, standing
Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors in the Fourth Round. With the score favoring the American by 2 sets to 1, the southpaw trailed 2-4 in the Fourth and that is where all the trouble began. Committing a forehand error at 15-30, McEnroe threw his racquet in frustration to hand the Swede a couple of break points and also
earned himself a warning. Another unforced error from McEnroe saw him smack his racquet again, this time cracking it from the top. The chair umpire called another code violation, for racquet abuse. A fuming McEnroe started cursing at him and demanded the tournament referee to intervene (Ken Farrar). Farrar arrived and spoke to McEnroe, whose continued complaints and swears were audible to spectators and TV viewers. With Farrar’s approval, Armstrong called a third and final code violation: “Default Mr. McEnroe. Game, set, match.” Olga Puchkova: 2013 Citi Open Russian Olga Puchkova was defaulted from a match after hitting a line judge in the knee with a ball after losing a point in the third set. Puchkova said in a statement released by the tournament that she was “sincerely sorry” that she “accidentally” hit the official. “I wasn't looking where the tennis ball would go,” Puchkova said, adding that she apologized to the line judge. WTA supervisor Melanie Tabb commented even though Puchkova reassured it was an accident, the rules still required her to be disqualified from the match and the tournament. “I 100 percent believe her that that's true _ that she didn't mean to do it. She wasn't even looking in that direction. ... She was just hitting the ball in frustration
after she lost a point,” Tabb said. “It's not just the intention" that matters, Tabb commented. "It's the result of her action. And she did hit the line (judge). And he was bruised on his knee from the ball, because it was hit very hard.” “She didn't mean to do it, but it happened,” Tabb added. “Clearly, you hit someone with a ball, that's pretty much a default situation.”
Simona Halep and her Family: Things to know! Akshay
World No.2 Simona Halep has been one of the most consistent performers on the WTA Tour in recent times and has come tantalizingly close to claiming the World No.1 spot a couple of times. Family has a played a major role in Halep’s career and her success. Halep’s parents are Stere and Tania Halep, who are of Aromanian descent. She also has an older brother, Nicolae. She is presently single at the moment. Let’s take a look at some facts about the Romanian’s family you might not know. Nicolae inspired her to play tennis In a recent interview, Halep said it was her brother backed her decision to
become a tennis player. She was only four years old when she started playing tennis. “My brother Nicolae, who is six years older, played tennis and when I was four I wanted to start as well. My parents didn’t play – my dad was a recreational footballer,” Halep explained. “I’d love to play against Justine Henin,” Halep said in 2013. “Henin was my idol, and also Andrei Pavel from my country, Romania. I also like Roger Federer but he’s not my idol!”
Her father owned a Dairy Factory and a former footballer Stere Halep, is a former football player. He played for Sageata Stejaru in the lower leagues. While her mother is a stay-at-home mom, her father ran a dairy products factory in Romania. He shut the business down in 2015 as the business was not doing well and was losing almost 10,000 Euros per annum and needed help from Simona to keep the business alive.
Halep’s Cousin Nicica Arghir Committed Suicide In March 2015, Halep still played a match in Indian Wells, California after hearing that her cousin, 29-year-old Nicia Arghit committed suicide at his home. She won the match, which happened just days after his death, and dedicated the win to him. “It’s a painful situation for everyone, for me and for the family, for my family,” Halep said. “I just wanted to play this tournament
because he loved tennis. He played many years tennis. So I just decided to stay here, because I think it was a little bit easier for me to pass this situation.” Halep the Aunt! Halep’s brother recently had a baby, who he named after their mother, Tania. Halep said she needed a break from the tour and wanted to spend time with her family and meet her niece. “The previous two years I had my family here [at the WTA Finals], but now I’m
not that important anymore,” she told the media with a laugh. “My niece is the most important person in my family. They are home, so I’m alone, just with my team.” She spent the off-season with her family because it was important to see her niece grow up. “I will go home to spend some time with my niece, to see her starting to grow up,” she said.
The Future is… When? Mariano Gombi The future of men's tennis appears to have been present during the first week of the US Open. Teenagers and twentysomethings don’t set the rules in this sport, as they once did, but they can still break them from time to time. In the first four days of the tournament, Frances Tiafoe, a powerful 19-year-old American, pushed Roger Federer deep into a fifth set. Denis Shapovalov, an 18year-old Canadian and perhaps the most intriguing of the lot, showed impressive form against eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Andrey Rublev, a 19-year-old Russian who was not in the Top 100 until June, dismissed Cincinnati champion and world number 7 Grigor Dimitrov. But some of the results at Flushing Meadows were also confusing. Borna Coric, the 20 year-old Croatian, for example, beat fourth seed Alexander Zverev, and in so doing eliminated perhaps the most mature of all the young players. It shows that being young and talented are not the only necessary ingredients to being a long-term success on the men’s Tour. “The players when they come up, have this little window,” Zverev, who seems to
struggle in best-of-five matches, said before the Open began. “If they catch the wave, yes, they are there. Many guys can play well the first year, but how are you going to play your second year? Your third year? The fourth, the fifth? I mean, that's where you're really going to see how much you're going to develop.” For Grigor Dimitrov, it must seem like just yesterday when he was where Shapovalov and the others are now. Experts flattered him with the nickname “Baby Fed,” and after a stellar Junior career, which saw him win both Wimbledon and the US Open, he quickly graduated to the main Tour. Things went pretty well relatively soon, and Dimitrov ranked as high as number 8 in the world at just 23 years of age. He has, at times, shown tremendous promise, both in his play and his results.
Indeed, he arrived at Flushing Meadows fresh off a Masters 1000 victory in Cincinnati, and was expected by many to challenge for the title in New York. But, as has happened so often in his relatively young career, when he seemed to be flying the highest, he suddenly came crashing back down to earth. Against Rublev, he held 4-1 leads in the first and the second set, but squandered his advantage both times. He eventually lost 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Given the depleted field at the US Open, he left the tournament knowing that he let slip a major opportunity. One cannot help but notice how often this pattern has played itself out for the Bulgarian, and wonder if things will ever change. “I think I'm just starting my best,” Dimitrov said shortly after his triumph in Cincinnati. He might be right, but he’s no longer a
spring chicken, and he needs to work out these kinks sooner rather than later. Of course, tennis is no longer a sport dominated by youngsters. While the likes of Boris Becker and John McEnroe dominated as soon as they appeared on the Tour, the new norm is for players to only really hit their stride in their late 20s. Dimitrov is aware of this, and confident that the same will be true of him. “Careers range from maybe 8 to 10 years on the Tour, to perhaps 12, 15, or even 20,” Dimitrov said. “Someone told me the other day, 'You know, now you're considered a veteran.' I said ‘really?’ It was only a couple of years ago that I was the next generation. And now you're telling me that I'm a veteran?” What, then, does that make Federer, who remains the leader of the Tour at age 36,
and the winner of two Grand Slams this year? During the tournament, Rafael Nadal also expressed wonder at how well he was playing at 31. “If you tell me that I will be here at 31, being No. 1 in the world, especially, seven, six, ten years, I will not believe you,” he said in an interview. And for all his struggles with injuries, all signs point to Nadal playing at a high level for many years to come. Stan Wawrinka is perhaps the prime example of a late bloomer. He won the first of his three Slams at the age of 28. Similarly, Andy Murray did not start playing his best tennis until he was almost 30. Sam Querrey made it to the Wimbledon semi-finals a few months before turning 30, and Feliciano López reached his highest ever ranking (12) in 2015, the year he turned 33. While it is more prominent on men’s side, it’s also a growing trend among the women. Serena Williams, who is 36, is the most famous example, but her sister Venus is even older at 37. So while there is a lot of excitement about the talented young players flooding the Tour, it’s worth remembering that the old guys still have a lot going for them. How long they can keep the new generation at bay, however, remains to be seen.
What to if you have a weak second serve Federico Coppini
Although having a weak second serve is a major technical deficiency, all is not lost! Today, we have a look at what you can do to overcome this pesky weakness.
A weak offering Tennis experts agree: the second serve is even more important than the first serve. The reason is simple, if you have a good second serve, you can afford to make a mistake on the first. This gives you lots of leeway to try various things on your first serve. Unfortunately, not everyone has a good second serve. One way of approaching the problem of a poor first serve is focusing on landing the first serve.
You can do this by taking some pace off of the serve in order to get a higher percentage. It will still be effective, and will prevent you from having to hit that weak second serve.
Change direction If you are indeed forced to hit your second serve, a good strategy is to at least change direction on it as often as possible. If you have a weak second serve and constantly put the ball in the same
place, your opponent will have no trouble hitting each and every one as hard as he can. However, if you can place each one in a slightly unpredictable place, if will at least keep him somewhat off-balance. You can also actually use your slow pace to your advantage in certain cases. For example, if you can hit your serve at a bit of an angle and with some slice, especially on the deuce side, it will actually be very difficult for your opponent to hit an effective return. This is due to the fact that the ball is so slow and travels so wide. He will actually be out of position by the time he hits it, and will have to generate his own pace! Remember, at club level many people have poor second serves, so it’s nothing to worry about. Just manage it as best you can, as we have discussed above, and you will be fine. And don’t forget to be a bit courageous on your second serve every now and again!
As a Man Thinkith
Roger W. Breternitz CChtp
As a man thinketh...that’s the title of a very thought provoking book by James Allen, you can buy it in any book store for less than $5, yet the information in it is worth untold benefits, both monetarily and personally. How you choose to apply the concepts depicted are up to you. Since my instruction is about hitting a tennis ball into a
predetermined spot at just the right speed to cause your opponent to not return it, making you a winner…. let’s talk about how your mind can complete this goal. Here's a very important concept: “Thoughts are THINGS”, yet nobody really grasps the concept that what you think, and how you think, can actually shape your immediate and future reality. You might say, “Yea, yea, I know I should be more positive, look on the positive side of events, and situations”, and you
really do try to be that way, until the teeter-totter of events begins to slide in a direction away from what you had planned. Then the real test of how your thoughts exert pressure on the actual situation at hand will begin to play out. Here is an excerpt from the book: All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility
must be absolute. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His suffering and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.” Like I said, thoughts are Things. So, let’s examine how these “Things” affect our play and more over, our ability to WIN! In any competition there are two forces, usually two teams, two competitors, or two opposing forces that are both trying to achieve the same goal, becoming the victor. In tennis, you have one or two competitors trying to complete the same goal, to win more points in a match than the other
person or two people if in doubles. This is known as a combative contest. Which means the competitors have an actual affect on the immediate performance of each other. An example would be, when you hit a good offensive shot, it tends to make your opponent hit a lesser or worse shot. An example would be if you hit a great shot into the corner, it would cause your opponent to return a weaker shot that you could capitalize on giving you a greater edge in winning the point.
With this in mind we try to be as “Combative”, as possible, putting as much pressure on our opponent as possible, and in so doing we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. The trick is to put just enough pressure on your opponent to make them miss, and not so much pressure on yourself to make YOU miss. So…sizing up your opponent is an important factor. You need to know how hard or easy you have to play to win. There’s no sense in knocking yourself out when all you have to do
is put the ball back anywhere, and let them make the error. Then the victory is easy, natural, and the Margaritas taste better in the clubhouse. As you may have figured out by now, we are that worst opponent, we are the nemeses that thwarts our winning efforts, and we are the person who by our own thoughts, either walks out the victor or the vanquished. No one else puts us under the pressure that we alone can exert all by ourselves, nobody can whip us like our own hand, and nobody and stroke us like we like to be stroked and revered like our own inner thoughts, and feelings. So, we have a choice, and it’s very easy to see in other players, how they are punishing or stroking themselves. Watch how these people deal with adversity and you may learn a lot about your own methods of regulating your thoughts. The really savvy person
learns by other people’s mistakes and triumphs. He-or-she takes the good from each experience witnessed, and applies it to their specific situation, and most of the time benefits greatly from the event and the information gained, without having to go through the pain of experiencing the actual results of wrong choices or destructive thoughts that they themselves generate. This is called learning by observation, and not experience. Which would you rather do, learn by watching someone else make
errors, or learn by doing it wrong yourself, which is called experience. Somebody once said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and that experience comes from bad judgment”. The first lesson is to notice your thoughts. Take note of what you are thinking in every situation, and look at how these thoughts make you feel, happy, depressed, aggressive, passive, or compassionate. Each thought is energy in itself, and it affects how you feel, concentrate,
and perceive your world around you. Feel like a winner, because you think you deserve to win, and you deserve to win because you have paid your dues, training, practicing, and tuning your equipment. Your thoughts must be of confidence that you will make the right choices at the right time, and allow yourself to accept winning as a by-product of your thoughts telling you that you will be successful in your goal of just doing the best job you are capable of doing. Here are some “Thought
excersises” that will improve your entire universe and intern your win/loss record in general. - Each day or before going to sleep think of all the good things that happened to you that day. - Relive the day from the time you got up until you go to bed. You’ll probably remember many good things that you took for granted. - Pick one goal, one area of improvement you want to change in your tennis, your life, your future, and give it
your full attention, and imagine it as an already accomplished fact. I guarantee if you were to do this for only one week your match win/loss would improve as well as many other things in your life. Yes thoughts are things, and these things regulate your life and affect your future, YOU are the only one that controls what you really think. Your thoughts are individual energies shaping your future, use them wisely. Keep your eye on the ball and good luck
Winning Concentration Di Roger W. Breternitz C Hp.
What’s the difference between getting 1st place and anything less? That’s the question that has been around plaguing us for as long as there has been more than one competitor in any kind of a contest. Since the legendary Robin of Locksley split the arrow that won the King’s tournament, and Maid Marian’s heart., the line between 1st and anything else has been usually very thin. In every sport, in every contest, every tournament it is all the same, it all comes down to usually the same people who get to the semi-finals and the finals, and step into the winner’s circle. Also you may notice the same people get close to winning and somehow find a way to do something that bumps them out of the winner’s circle. One of the greatest obstacles to winning in any sport or competition, is a little thing (or the lack of it) called concentration. We’ve all experienced this lack of concentration at some point in our competitive existence or even in our daily lives. You’re driving down the road, mile after mile, you settle in behind the wheel letting the cruse control make sure you do, or don’t, get a speeding ticket (great excuse to the Hwy. Patrol), you start thinking about how you should follow through next time you hit that backhand, or how you need to fix that something’er-
other on the what-ever at home, and you drive right by your turn-off! An easy lapse in concentration, but why? In this case, boredom, lack of a challenge, nothing to keep you focused. In sports however, it is usually the opposite that breaks a person’s concentration, too much challenge, or too much pressure. So, let’s examine some of reasons or situations that may break someone’s concentration. One big reason is what we usually have too much of, at some time in our lives…pressure. What is pressure? It could be the fear of making a mistake, it could be the fear of losing, and believe it or not sometimes it’s the fear of winning, but we’ll get in to that later. To illustrate pressure, imagine if you will a
competitors, and yes the fear of winning, which is the title of the next article that would take a book to do justice to, but back to concentration.
12” wide plank, 20-ft. long, resting on the ground. If I bet you $100 you couldn’t walk from one end to the other with out falling off, you’d probably take that bet. Now let’s take that same plank and run it between the top of two buildings 15ft. apart 100 ft. in the air…the day after you just lost your job, and your health insurance was canceled…that’s pressure. It’s the same plank, the same distance, but it causes the thought to creep into your mind (breaking your concentration) what if I slip, or what if I. The main point of the story here is fear. Yes fear...fear is the main reason for the destruction of concentration. The fear of losing, the fear of looking bad in front of friends, fear of being ribbed by
What is concentration anyway. Has anyone ever actually defined it, or broken it down into it’s finest elements? The art of concentration can be defined as it relates to sports in the following statement. Concentration is the total absence of conscious thought while performing an already programmed physical act. Now that you have the definition of concentration, what is an “Already programmed physical act”? That is an act (such as hitting an overhead into the sun) in which you have learned the proper form and execution, and have repeated this act with positive results (hitting it for a winner each time) enough times to make it somewhat automatic. When this happens, it is considered to be programmed. Well, if you can do it once or twice or several times, why can’t you do it ALL of the time? This is where concentration comes in. When the pressure is on and you really want to do good, (or you fear doing badly) the conscious mind starts giving the body actual instructions, get your racquet back early, follow through, don’t panic, and the list goes on. It is this extra conscious instruction that you “Hear” in your mind from the conscious thought center, that totally blows away your perfect ability to complete the “Already programmed act”
with surgical precision. This degree of precision you could attain, if you would just allow your body to do it without the “Extra” conscious help. Boiled down to a bottom line, “Don’t think, just DO”. How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, I was do’n ok until I started think’in about______ (you finish the sentence). Once you program your body to hit 5 or 6 “Down-the-line backhands in a row, you can hit 100 in a row, if you will just ALLOW the automatic portion of your body to react on it’s own and quit “Telling” it what to do. That’s what Championship Tennis Relaxation Reprogramming Tapes are all about, giving you the confidence to know your body can take you to the winner’s circle if you will just let it. Once you have the confidence you can really do it, you don’t need to be giving your body that “Extra” instruction to “Help” you win. In fact it’s that extra instruction the will always cause you to lose. CONCENTRATION TEST: Here’s a little test you can take right now to determine your ability level of maintaining tournament level concentration. Imagine if you will a large white background in front of you, and on that white background imagine a big red circle. Set up a timer to go off in one minute. Now...see if you can keep that picture in your mind for that one minute. Don’t let anything come into your mind, no conscious thought, blank, nothing, flatline as they say. Do it now.
Well, how did you do? Be honest... most people never make it to a minute without some form of conscious thought creeping in. This was only a test, but it can be an exercise you should do several times a day to build your concentration ability. Then when you really need to force all other thoughts out of your mind and the pressure is really on ... you – will – come - through! The best of luck to you and keep your eye on the ball!
What Makes
enhances spin.
Polyester Strings So
Many players find stiffer strings, like
Effective?
less flex, the ball spends less time on the
Mariano Gombi The first thing that draws players to polys is their durability. Strings generally snap because they grind against each other during play. Polyesters are less abrasive than other strings, resulting in less wear and tear. Gustavo Kuerten's polyesterstrung French Open run in 1997 set off a
trend that's become the norm. The texture and stiffness of polyesters also allow the strings to better bite the ball and apply additional spin. Additionally, polys actually move down at contact and snap back into place while the ball is still on the strings, which
polys, better for controlling the ball. With string bed, promoting a more consistent response – the analogy being the difference between throwing a ball against a concrete wall versus a pitchback. The caveat with many of the stiffer polys is that you need adequate racket head speed to enjoy the benefits. That’s not an
issue for pros, but it’s a definite concern at the club level. Otherwise, the strings won’t move at all, and it will feel like you’re hitting the ball with a rigid, wooden board. (For this reason, it’s recommended that polys be strung 5 to 10 pounds lower than nylon or gut).