The City of Tennis by Giulio Nicoletti
Getting to Melbourne Park is not complicated. It is in the center of the city, close to Flinders Station and Birrarung Marr Park, and just a stone's throw from the Yarra River. Melbourne Cricket Ground is also not far off, though in sports terms it might as well be on the other side of the planet. It's like a trip out of town, the game of cricket. The one hundred thousand people that regularly gather there bring along with them picnic baskets, and sunbathe on the terraces while the game is being played. Children run around and play their own games, and to a casual observer it might seem that nobody is actually aware that a cricket match is being played just a few feet away.
You never see them enter, and you never see them leave. But from the windows of the nearby Hilton, you can see that the stadium is packed to the rafters. Sport lies at the very heart of this area, and there are many ways of reaching Melbourne Park. You can, for example, take a pleasant stroll along the Yarra, or hop on one of the trams leading up to the Rod Laver Arena. That’s where the tennis is. At the heart of the city. And the Australian Open will, of course, lie at the heart of the city for quite a long time to come. The contract linking the city to the tournament expires only in 2036. City officials are always looking for ways to ensure that the year’s first Slam remains in Melbourne well beyond that, and even now construction is under way on various improvements to the existing facilities. This is somewhat ironic, of course, since the Australian Open already boasts the biggest and most advanced grounds of any of the Grand Slam events. It was the first Slam to boast a retractable roof over its main show court, and indeed many innovations that are now being
adopted by other Slams started in Australia. Wimbledon finished its own roof for Center Court a few years ago, and the French Open is also looking to expand its grounds and put a roof over at least two courts in the coming years. Flushing Meadows, which hosts the US Open, is the only Slam that has no existing plans to build a roof over any of its stadiums. The massive size of the main stadium makes a roof almost impossible, leaving organizers with very few options. The work currently underway in Melbourne Park is due to be completed by 2015, with the Australian Open of 2016 being the first event to use the new facilities. Margaret Court Arena is being made significantly larger, while new courts and extensive new parking facilities are also on the cards. Margaret Court Arena will become the third court on the site to get a retractable roof, and seating capacity will be increased to 8500 (from the current 7000). The Eastern Plaza will get 21 new courts, with at least 8 being indoor courts. This new training area will also be open to the public, accessible from the new entrance which is due to be constructed on Olympic Boulevard. It’s going to be quite an architectural feat, the new entrance, and the plan is to make it an attraction in itself. Near the entrance there will be an additional 1000 parking spaces. But for those who wish to imagine the immensity of the new area that will contain all these changes, there is one area of concern. If you were to walk from Hisense Arena to the opposite side of the park, where the new courts are being built, you would have to cover a whole two kilometers. That’s more than a half an hour’s worth of walking, and in the Australian heat that’s easier said than done. Melbourne Park is celebrating its 25th birthday, so if it were a tennis player it would just be reaching is prime now. However, this wonderful site is only in its infancy, and with each new expansion it is becoming more and more extraordinary. Yes, the construction can be painful, with entrances, parking and permits changing every year. But once this $363 million project is completed, Melbourne will truly be the City of Tennis.
Ten Things That Make the Australian Open a Slam Like No Other by Francesca Cicchitti (1) The large eucalyptus plants located along the road leading to the entrance of the magnificent Melbourne Park complex give off an intensely pleasant and intoxicating scent. It is especially alluring on very humid days when it rains. (2) The first thing you notice as you walk through the main entrance is a disproportionate statue of a short man with a racquet in his hand. It is particularly striking because there are none quite like it at any other stadium in the world. Upon closer inspection it is revealed that the unflattering statue 足 created by a sculptor whose name we choose not to disclose 足 is of the great Australian tennis legend Rod Laver. He was the last man, 41 years ago, to achieve the calendar Grand Slam. The statue was erected in January of 2000 when the main court, the Rod Laver Arena, was dedicated to him. (3) As you venture into the truly enormous
complex you come across a huge billboard detailing the Melbourne Park Project. This is a project of truly magnificent proportions. It involves an expansion to Melbourne Park that will include an additional 6000 seats for the Margaret Court Arena, which will also be getting a roof. When it is completed the Australian Open will be the first Grand Slam to feature three covered courts. There’s only one problem: the distance between the last court to the right of the Rod Laver Arena and the last one to the left of the HiSense Arena is a full two kilometres. Travelling tips? Take the little train which runs next to the complex, or perhaps buy a scooter. The choice is yours. (4) The initial phases of the Melbourne Park Project are already visible. There is a new area called ‘the oval’ which is an immense village dedicated to the spectators who, after watching a match, can buy a memento from one of the many stalls. There are large kiosks that sell food and drinks that suit everyone’s taste. Everything from immense hot dogs smothered in mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup to normal sandwiches and a variety of drinks are available. This is all accompanied by many kinds of music. Indeed music has become a big part of the Australian Open. There is a stage to the side of the oval where some of the best bands in
Australia can be seen. There are even musicians wandering around the complex entertaining the crowds. (5) Advertising is approached in a very unique and entertaining way at the Australian Open. For example, there is a group of young men walking around Melbourne Park dressed as penguins. Every now and again they start break dancing in front of one of the entrances, all the while singing an advertisement for a telephone company. (6) If the stress of watching tennis is getting to you, you can always go and relax in the Evian booth. Here several experts will give you a relaxing face, temple and neck massage. A refreshing Evian water mask is also available to prepare you for your next match. (7) The most enjoyable booth at the Open is one where you can have your face painted with colours that don’t harm your skin and wash away easily with water and soap. Two skilled painters create different pictures on the faces of younger spectators, who often stand in a queue for up to an hour. The most popular designs are country flags and typical Australian flowers and animals. (8) The traditions of the people of Melbourne are unique and should be treasured. Many of these wonderful folk will shun their normal clothes and
wear only traditional Melbourne wear: bathing suits. (9) The postal service booth is surprisingly entertaining and original. Not only famous people feature on stamps at the Australian Open, as a photographer will take your picture and then place it on a stamp for you. (10) A carpet of people, especially youngsters who were unable to find tickets for the central courts, can be found camped out in front of the giant screen that shows important matches. This fine Grand Slam tradition is faithfully observed in Melbourne, and these spectators are often the loudest and most enthusiastic.
My friend the genius by Francesca Cicchitti
Martin Mulligan, who played Rod Laver in Wimbledon final, talks about the great man and his accomplishments. At his home in California, Rod Laver uses the Anthony Wilding Memorial Trophy as a doorstop. During the amateur era, Laver won many large trophies, and the Memorial Trophy is one of many had he snagged in 1962. That year, "Rocket” Rod Laver, at age 24, won his first Grand Slam as an amateur. He would, of course, repeat the feat seven years later, in 1969, but as a professional in the Open era. Nobody has managed the feat since. "Rod dominated 1962, it was amazing what he could do," remembers Martin Mulligan, Laver’s opponent in 1962 Wimbledon final. Rod was a small man, weighing just 68 kg. But he could perform every shot in tennis with seemingly little effort, and routinely left audiences spellbound. Despite his small stature, he had an immense forearm, and could hit with the kind
of power that belied his tiny frame. "He knew how to play all the shots" Mulligan knows better than anyone just how unstoppable his countryman was at his peak. "Rod was an example to us youngsters, and we tried to learn from him,” he says. “He was really good, really fast, and had all the shots: the slice service, an awesome net game and unbelievable baseline strokes. He was the first lefty to really hit topspin shots off his backhand. Charles Hollis was his first coach, but Harry Hopman also had a big influence on him. But yeah, Rod left us all open-mouthed with his
game." But even though Laver was a world-renowned champion, many people remember his humanity, kindness and generosity above all else. "Rod is truly a great man," Mulligan insists. "I met him when we were in the Australian Davis Cup team, and he was always so kind to all of us. There were some friendly rivalries on the court, but off the court he was a great gentleman and friend. He’s still that way today." Though he lost to Laver many a time, Mulligan did manage to get the best of his compatriot on a few occasions.
"The first was at the Australian championships on clay, and the second in Sydney on the grass. He actually had match point in both matches, but I ended up winning." The nickname "Rocket" was bestowed upon Laver by Harry Hoppman in 1956, who saw it as a wonderful pun based on Laver’s hometown Rockhampton but it was also a reference to the tremendous power he could generate. Among the many anecdotes that Martin Mulligan revealed in his interview, the most interesting relates to the Wimbledon final, where Martin was beaten 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Mulligan was tired before the match, as in those
days it was played on the Saturday, and he had played a tough semi-final on Thursday, followed by a lot of training on the Friday. "Things were different then, a Rolls Royce picked us up at the hotel and took us to the Club." The sense of royalty was heightened by the fact that Queen Elizabeth II was going to watch the final for the first time ever. The excitement overwhelmed him when he first stepped onto the court. "It was then that I lost my breath. I knew that Rod wanted to prove his superiority, and I have to say that that he did! He who was famous for his long matches,
quickly crushed me in straight sets.” The final Grand Slam? According to Martin Mulligan, you cannot make comparisons between Laver and the champions of today. "Anything's possible, but I do not think there will ever be a player who can get two Grand Slams like him." Two prominent Italian journalists, who were also good friends with Laver, agree with Mulligan’s assessment of Laver as a person, as well as his legacy. Gianni Clerici remembers him as a civilized fellow, of great simplicity, and very nice. A unique player who had reached the highest levels of the sport but was still a terrific person. "In the evenings we went out to dinner together, we talked about everything, even of tactics, I remember when he asked me how he played Laver Pietrangeli, which were his strong points,” Clerici remembers. “Those were different times. I cannot say that nobody will be able to make a Grand Slam, but it will be very hard." Rino Tommasi agrees: "He was a great man and a great player, a person who did so
much but never let it go to his head. He was always willing to talk, even if you meet him today it’s still the same. A few years ago I met him in Sydney at the airport and we had a pleasant conversation. Some of the current champions, perhaps, could make a Grand Slam…but two is almost impossible." And if we ask Rod Laver? He told us that nothing is impossible, and if you want something in life, with sacrifice you can get it. "When I won my first Grand Slam in 1962 it was very hard for me, but looking back to '69, it was even more so,” he now remembers. Because I was facing strong opponents, professionals, and to win it gave me even greater satisfaction."
The Ultimate Fighter by Federico Mariani
Lleyton Hewitt bids farewell to tennis at his home Slam, and fans start to reflect on Rusty’s legacy. When the final point was played, Lleyton Hewitt’s face betrayed no sadness. Though it must have been a bittersweet moment for the man who never gave up to finally give up, he showed only joy and appreciation for the warm and extended applause from the audience. Hewitt’s biggest wish in his professional life was to win the Australian Open, and while he never managed to do so, the reception he enjoyed at this year’s event went a long way to making up for that. Hewitt’s career will be remembered for many things, but what his opponents will undoubtedly take away from their matches against him is his fighting spirit. While the world has become used to the fighting spirit of players like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, they pale in comparison to Hewitt’s never-say-die attitude. The man was pathologically incapable of giving up, and would happily have gone a hundred sets even on the worst day when he was being steamrolled by his opponent. Perhaps even more remarkable than his
perseverance was his talent or lack thereof. Short by modern tennis standards, and lacking any major weapons, few coaches would recommend such a player turn pro. Even fewer would ever imagine that he would one day win two Grand Slams and become world number one. Yet that’s what he did, and for 80 weeks he sat atop the tennis world, dominating players ten times as talented as him. His defense was unmatched, and he was able to simply outlast almost anyone he played, no matter what they threw at him. Of course, his time as the top player in the world has not gone unnoticed by the sceptics of the sport. He was lucky, they say, before he played in an in-between era with no real competition. Agassi and Sampras were at the tail-end of their careers, and Federer was not yet near his peak. There is some truth to this, but it has been largely overblown. Marat Safin, for example, loomed large at the same time as Hewitt, as did players like Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian. He still had to earn each and every win, and Grand Slam trophies don’t just fall in one’s lap. Yet despite his success, Hewitt failed to enjoy the widespread popularity that top
players usually command. A major reason for this was Hewitt’s attitude. While his neversay-die demeanor was what took him to the top, one aspect of it was that he came across as extremely rude and arrogant. He would burst into ridiculously loud choruses of “come on” at the drop of a hat, and stare down his opponents as he were a bull and they bullfighters. On more than one occasion, it almost seemed as if there might be a physical altercation on the court due to his brash behavior. This was never more true than when Hewitt made apparently racist remarks about his opponent, James Blake, at a match during the US Open. The firestorm
surrounding that incident would haunt Hewitt for a long time, and his flippant reaction to people’s concerns did not help matters. But Hewitt had been through tougher times in his life, and he would be through tougher times ahead. He would, for example, have to undergo three major surgeries to repair his battered body. His superb defense came at a price, and he continually had to pay it. Few players would have been able to come back from such operations, but Hewitt did, and though he wasn’t the same player he had been before, he still enjoyed tremendous success on the Tour.
Unfortunately, that success never came at the Grand Slam level. Over the past seven years he has reached the quarter-final stage of a Slam only once, and has had to bear countless devastating defeats to players he was, on paper, much better than. But his fighter’s spirit never wavered, nor did his cries of “Come on.” Even when he was being completely blown away, the belief that he could win not only the match, but the entire tournament, was everpresent. His last match was, perhaps fittingly, against the next-best fighter on the Tour, David Ferrer. The Spaniard’s story is very similar to Hewitt’s,
though he has never won the Slam that he probably deserves. Hewitt’s fight is now over, at least as far as being on the court is concerned. Shortly after his last match, he could be found in the coach’s box at one of Bernard Tomic’s matches. Hewitt has already stated his intention of helping Australia’s next generation of stars, and they will no doubt benefit from his input. While Hewitt’s days on the court are done, he is far from finished with tennis.
Here We Go Again by Marco Di Nardo
Coming into the 2016 season, the worst seemed to have passed for Rafael Nadal. His previous full year on the Tour had been a disaster, and saw him posting a string of horrible results. He never advanced to the latter stages of any of the Slams and was often humiliated in his matches against other top players. After his loss to Fabio Fognini at the US Open, a match in which Nadal gave up a two sets to love lead, the Spaniard hit rock bottom. The only way from there was up, and he started playing with a little more confidence. The Asian swing of the Tour was productive for Nadal, and while he still couldn’t compete against the likes of Federer and Djokovic, things were getting better. 2016, therefore, seemed like a season of rebirth. Nadal had been down and out before, only to come back stronger the next year. Even Roger Federer had come back from a terrible 2013 season to return to top form. Andy Murray, too, had experienced downturns in his fortunes in 2014, falling out of the Top 10. But he bounced back strongly from there, rising as high as number two in the rankings. So a strong start to 2016 seemed very possible for Nadal, even if it were not a given. Though it was just an exhibition event, Nadal’s performance at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship was encouraging. He beat David Ferrer and Milos Raonic en route to a third trophy and $500 000 prize, and seemed more at ease with his game than at any time over the preceding year. The first official event of the year for Nadal, the ATP 250 event in Doha, held even more good news. There the Spaniard defeated Pablo Carreño, Robin Haase, Andrey Kuznetsov and Illya Marchenko before falling to Djokovic in the final. It was a disheartening beatdown
6-1, 6-2  but there were enough positives during the week to make him feel confident about the Australian Open. His first match in Melbourne was against Fernando Verdasco. Certainly not the easiest draw in the world, but Verdasco’s best tennis was well behind him, and though he had reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open some years before, he was but a shadow of that player. Yet somehow Nadal made Verdasco look like a world champion in their first round encounter, letting his opponent boss him around the court. Nadal also could not take advantage of the countless errors Verdasco made, and ultimately lost the match as much as Verdasco won it. The final score, 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, cannot convey just how out of sorts Nadal was. It was just the second time in his career that he was forced to leave a Grand Slam without a single victory to his name. What seemed like a season of rebirth is now a year of desperation for Nadal. If he cannot reestablish his foothold near the top of the game now, he may never be able to again. The next few months will be telling, but unfortunately for Nadal most of those tournaments will be on hard court  not his best surface.
Milos Matures by Giorgio Giannaccini
It seems fair to say that, at this year’s Australian Open, Milos Raonic has finally finished maturing into a top tennis player. Of course, Raonic has been a very good player for a long time, but he has never been able consistently produce the sort of results everyone knew he was capable of. It took a lot of effort, patience and more than a few coaches, but he seems to have finally taken the next step towards greatness. In many ways, it seems like just yesterday that Raonic was a tall, skinny kid with a big serve and not much else. His defense was nonexistent, and his lack of quick movement meant that he missed a lot of shots he had no business missing. But everything he was lacking could be fixed, and with a strong work ethic that is exactly what he did. Over the years he’s developed his serve to the point that it’s not just great it’s the best on then ATP Tour. He’s also developed his fitness into a weapon and improved tremendously on defense. These changes came slowly at first, when the Canadian replaced Frederic Niemeyer with Galo Blanco as his coach, but they were definitely noticeable. The real revolution, however, started when he teamed up with Ivan Ljubicic in 2013. With Ljubicic the focus was on movement more than anything else. Raonic is a tall player, and like so many others on the Tour he lacked the explosive speed that the shorter contenders have. Over time, his movement significantly improved, a change which naturally strengthened his groundstrokes as well. His forehand, which had been serviceable at best, became a true weapon once he had a little more time to line up his shots.
The backhand did not improve as quickly as the forehand though, and it took much longer for the shot to advance to a level where it could compete with the Tour’s top talent. The other thing Ljubicic encouraged Raonic to do was approach the net more often. He has a tremendous wingspan, and is a nightmare to pass if he can get a good approach shot off. He is no Pat Rafter at the net quite yet, but he can certainly hold his own and keep his opponents off-balance with his forays to the forecourt. Once all of these fundamentals had been strengthened, the results started coming thick and fast. He reached the quarter-finals at the French Open, finally losing to none other than Novak Djokovic. A few weeks later he went one step further, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon, where it took an in-form Roger Federer to final put a stop to his run. At the US Open, he lost to eventual finalist Kei Nishikori in the fourth round, but not without first putting up a tremendous five-set fight. He ended that season by qualifying for the year-end ATP World Tour Finals. Unfortunately, he succumbed to injury and was forced to withdraw after playing just two matches,
though by that point he had been eliminated from advancing to the semi-finals in any case. At the beginning of 2015, Raonic reached the final of the Brisbane tournament, but lost to Roger Federer. After that he reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open before running, once again, into world number one Novak Djokovic. The biggest scalp of his career came at Indian Wells shortly after the Australian Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semi-final in an epic for 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 contest. Building on all of this success, Raonic went on to reach the quarter-finals in both Monte Carlo and Madrid, and rose to number four in the world rankings. A very unfortunately timed foot injury then forced him to miss both Rome and Roland Garros, and he showed up at Wimbledon out of sorts and out of form. He lost to Nick Kyrgios in the third round there, before also losing in the third round of the US Open to Feliciano Lopez. It was at this point that he parted ways with coach Ivan Ljubicic, amicably it seems, with the Croat moving on to coach Roger Federer. Carlos Moya took over
from Ljubicic, and lead Raonic to a triumphant victory over Federer in Brisbane, where he won 6-4, 6-4. And so we come to the 2016 Australian Open, where a supremely confident Raonic raced through the draw with his ultra-aggressive game. He approached the net close to 40 times each match, constantly keeping his opponents on their toes and usually coming out on top when he did venture to the forecourt. He reached the semi-final, where he looked every bit the champion against Andy Murray. Unfortunately, however, he sustained an injury and was unable to complete what looked like a possible victory, eventually losing in five sets. But if Raonic can stay healthy, 2016 might just be a true breakout year for him. All eyes will certainly be on him at Wimbledon, where he has the best chance of succeeding at a Slam‌ at least for now.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, though after seven years of waiting, Fernando Verdasco’s vengeance was so cold it had long frozen over. In 2009, Fernando Verdasco came into the Australian Open in the shape of his life. He had just reached the final of the tournament in Brisbane (where he lost to Stepanek) and was brimming with confidence. His opening round opponent, Adrian Mannarino would quickly get a taste of just how confident Verdasco was, as he lost the first set 6-0. The second and third were no better, as he managed to scrape together just four games in the entire match. Arnaud Clement found Verdasco in a similarly
V for Verdasco by Giorgio Giannaccini
merciless mood in the second round, and also managed just four games in total. But that was nothing compared to the hammering Radaek Stepanek would get in the third round, as Verdasco exacted revenge for his Brisbane defeat by steamrolling the Czech 6-4, 6-0, 6-0. In three rounds, Verdasco had given up just 12 games, an unbelievable feat for anyone, but especially for the Spaniard, who had not been on such a run in his entire career. In the fourth round, however, things got more complicated. Verdasco faced Andy Murray, who many had pegged as the odds-on favorite for winning the whole tournament. He lost the first set 6-2 before winning the second 6-1, but then went down two sets to one as Murray
sealed the third 6-1. From that moment on though, Verdasco took control of the match with a series of breathtaking winners and aces. The final score was 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The whole tennis world now sat up and paid attention, especially his next opponent, JoWilfried Tsonga, as much of a heavy hitter as Verdasco, if not more so. Yet no matter how well prepared Tsonga might have felt in their match, Verdasco was like a steam train at that moment. Even if you knew it was heading your way, you would still get crushed by it. The Frenchman managed to steal just one set en route to a relatively tame defeat. Suddenly, Verdasco found himself in a Grand Slam semi-final. Not only that, but he had the most momentum of any player in recent memory, and seemed almost impossible to stop. Unfortunately for him, the unstoppable force was about to meet the immovable object: world number one Rafael Nadal. Most pundits expected Nadal to win handily, and that
Verdasco would simply collapse under the strain of the occasion. Nothing could have been further from the truth. From the very start, it was clear that this would be an epic contest. Nadal would hit an unbelievable winner, only to have Verdasco hit an even more spectacular one the next point. They traded blows, point by point, for the entire first set, which eventually ended in a tiebreak. Nadal, perhaps unprepared for Verdasco’s never-ending stream of massive forehands, momentarily lost his nerve and the set. The next set would be as tight as the first, though Nadal finally seemed to take control of the situation and came through with a 6-4 triumph. The third again went to a tie-break, with Nadal holding his nerve to take a two sets to one lead. For most observers, it seemed like the end for Verdasco. Hours of tough tennis had brought mostly heartache for the underdog, and the smart money was on him losing in four. He didn’t get that memo,
however. He stayed with Nadal with every swing of his racket, smashing winners seemingly at will. Yet another tie-break ensued, but this time it was Verdasco who won, leveling the match and sending it to a deciding fifth set. Though it might seem impossible, the more exhausted they became the better they played. Almost every point was a breathtaking affair, and for a while it seemed as if the match might never end. But all things must pass, and so did the match into Nadal’s hands. At 30-40 and training 4-5, Verdasco sadly double faulted his chances away. The match had lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes, and is still remembered as a classic by all who saw it. Seven long years have passed since then, but Verdasco no doubt often still thinks of the
match and his missed opportunities. So when he was again drawn to meet Nadal at the Australian Open, this time in the first round, he brought his A-game, even though he had not played that level of tennis in years. Nadal, unfortunately, had not thought to bring his Agame, and was utterly unprepared for Verdsaco’s ferocious onslaught. For a while it seemed as if the former world number one might pull through, and he even went up two sets to one, as in their classic match so long ago, but this time Verdasco held his nerve to win in five sets. He had, at long last, taken his revenge. He would go on to lose in his next match making the loss even more difficult to bare for Nadal, but he could rest easy that he had put to bed at least some of the demons of the past.
Serena Slips Up Again by Giorgio Giannaccini
Many fans wondered how Serena Williams would respond to losing in the US Open semifinals last year. She was so close to history, with only two relatively unknown people standing in her way, but was ultimately unable to overcome her nerves and her wily Italian opponent. She took the rest of the year off to lick her wounds, so all eyes were on her coming into Melbourne this year. Her response was pretty convincing. She gave up only three games against Hsieh Su-Wei in the second round, and just three in the match after that. Even in the fourth round Daria Kasatikna could not extract more than two measly games from the furious American. The quarter-finals were, in theory, where things would get tough for Williams. After all, Maria Sharapova awaited her in that round. She was broken early, and for a moment it seemed as if she might finally have a fight on her hands, but she quickly found her feet and rolled the Russian 6-4, 6-1. Agnieszka Radwanska was her semi-final opponent, and though the diminutive Pole generally makes her opponents play an extra shot on almost every point, Williams barely blinked, crushing her 6-0, 6-4. On this occasion, Radwanska’s bag of tricks did her no good. The second set was more competitive on paper, but nobody in that stadium doubted for a moment who would be the ultimate winner. As was the case in New York, she entered into this match as the odds-on favorite. Indeed, you would have to go far and wide to find someone who would bet against the American. Angelique Kerber had enjoyed a wonderful tournament and was in the best condition of her life, having lost several pounds in the offseason, but she was no match for Williams. Unfortunately for Williams, nobody told Kerber that.
From the start there were signs of trouble. Kerber was utterly unfazed by her intimidating opponent, and Williams seemed flat. Even her constant cries of “come on” could not snap her out of her funk, and before long the German had won the first set. Whether the nerves finally got to Kerber of if Serena just woke up, the second set was a different matter. Kerber’s shots missed their mark more often than not, and she seemed somewhat dejected heading to her chair after losing the set. But whatever is was that was bothering her seemed to fade away in the third, as she took firm control of the match and served it out like a player without a care in the world. Several explanations have been put forth for the victory. Many people simply say that Kerber was too good, and there is certainly something to that. She chased down every ball and forced Williams to hit winners over and over again, often luring her into error. But none of these explanations are quite convincing. Even if Williams was having an off day, we were expecting more of a fight than this. It might simply be that Serena has been without proper competition for too long. She has lost her edge, and has not been forced to improve on her game in a long time. She has been coasting for years, resting on her laurels and seeing her opponents beat themselves. Now those opponents have become stronger and more fearless, and she has been unable to fully cope with this change. In men’s tennis, this is rarely a problem. Federer has had to improve in order to beat Nadal on clay, whereas Nadal had to do the same to beat Federer on grass. Djokovic had to change almost everything about himself, including his diet, to finally rise to the level of his rivals. Another factor might be Serena’s physical condition. If Federer or Nadal did not get the
physical preparation they needed before a Slam, they would lose badly. A large part of Djokovic’s success over the past few years has been his continued health. Andy Murray, too, is only at his best when he is at his physical peak. Williams, on the other hand, has never worked particular hard on her body. Her strength has been her power, and she prefers to just stand still and hit the ball as hard as she can. She is nowhere near as quick as her rivals, and this might be catching up to her. Years of neglecting her fitness is now causing her to fall short at the most inopportune times in the biggest matches. Perhaps Williams has been her own worst enemy. Without anyone pushing her, she has let herself become lax and complacent. Only time will tell if she will be able to raise her game to a new level, before time finally catches up with her.
Angelique Kerber by Giogio Giannaccini
For Serena Williams, 2016 would hold no talk of the Calendar Grand Slam. While she had been the overwhelming favorite coming into the Australian Open final, and indeed many had thought she would win the Calendar Slam this year, it was the talented German Angelique Kerber who ultimately triumphed Down Under. Kerber, born in Bremen on 18 January, 1988, turned pro in 2003, and took ten years before producing her first big result 足 a semifinal appearance at the US Open. She won her first title in 2012 in Paris, then quickly followed that up with one in Copenhagen. The following year saw her lift the trophy in Linz before reaching two additional finals in other tournaments. The next season saw a dip in her performance as she struggled with fitness and form, but vowed to make changes heading into the 2015 season. She made good on her word, and her hard work paid off immediately as she reached the semifinals in Brisbane. This was followed by a dry spell, but she made up for that by winning the events in Charleston and Stuttgart, the latter after a great battle against Caroline
Wozniacki. She also triumphed at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, as well as the tournament in Stanford. After such a strong 2015 season, many people saw the potential of Kerber really breaking out this year. She started the year well, reaching the final in Brisbane before losing to Victoria Azarenka. In the Australian Open, she found her feet quickly after a slow start, easily dispatching of her competition and even beating Azeranka in the quarterfinals. The Belarussian had looked unstoppable up to that point, but Kerber was only getting started. She received a good draw in the semis, playing the unknown Johanna Konta. The match was as one-sided as most people expected, and Kerber found herself in her first ever Grand Slam final. In the championship match, Kerber used the same tactics as Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-final against Williams, unsettling the American with constant variations to her game. Equipped with probably the best defense on the Tour, the German ran down almost
everything Williams threw at her, and repeatedly forced the American to play on more shot  often resulting in an error. Williams seemed to struggle in particular with the short slices that Kerber threw at her, and at times appeared despondent at her inability to adjust to the German’s tactics. Some pundits have conjectured that Williams has been permanently bruised by her loss to Vinci in New York, and that her rivals are newly emboldened by her defeat. They now know that she can be beaten, and it certainly seemed
as if Kerber tapped into this belief in Melbourne. Kerber certainly seems capable of giving Williams a real run for her money the rest of the year, given that her style of play is particularly suited to the next Grand Slam in Roland Garros. Perhaps Maria Sharapova can study the tape of the match between Kerber and Williams, and then she can also join the party in 2016
The short, happy life of an Australian star by Fabrizio Fidecaro In Australia, she won everything. She was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, and rose as high as number three in the rankings. Daphne Akhurst was the pride of Australian tennis. The winner of the Australian Open is traditionally awarded the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. The trophy boasts extra long handles, with two poles crossed behind a laurel wreath being the cup’s main decoration. It was donated to the Open by the New South Wales Lawn Tennis Association in 1934, and was created to honor a champion who would not be returning to the event. The life of Daphne Jessie Akhurst was short and intense. The second daughter of Oscar James Akhurst, a lithographer, and Jessie Florence Smith, Daphne was born on April 22, 1903 in Ashfield, Sydney. As a child, she showed an early talent as a pianist, and won several competitions. She even went on to attend the State Conservatorium of Music, and became a music teacher, while also regularly
performing in clubs and restaurants. Fame on the court But while she was a wonderful musical talent, it was the court that gave her lasting fame. Her skills began to emerge at Normanhurst School, an institution of higher education which is particularly attentive to the mental and physical development of its students. The headmistress, Miss Mary Evelyn Tildesley, started organizing an annual tennis tournament for school teams, the Tildesley Shield. Akhurst won the inaugural championship, along with four consecutive titles at the New South Wales Schoolgirls' Championship. Shy and introverted,
Akhurst’s attitude radically changed on the court, where she appeared determined and confident. She had a wonderfully tactical mind, and splendid technique. Her first big victory came in 1923 in each the county of Cumberland, and it was the first of many. In January of 1924, she made her debut with the Australasian Championships, staged at Albert Park in Melbourne, and reached the semi-finals. Though she lost to Esna Boyd in the singles, she won the women’s doubles title with Sylvia Lance Harper, and the mixed doubles with Jim Willard. A year later, Akhurst was even better and more confident on the court. Though she struggled in her first match, her brilliant
athleticism and understanding of the game quickly carried her to the final, where she again met Boyd. The older Boyd tried to overwhelm her opponent with aggressive play, and initially succeeded. She took the first set 6-1 with some terrific hitting, but Akhurst found her stride and took the second 8-6. The third saw Boyd race to a 4-1 lead, but Akhurst reeled off five straight games to take the title. She also won the women’s and mixed doubles titles with the same partners as a year before. Europe, here I am! A few weeks later, the NSW Tennis Association sponsored the first trip to Europe for a female Australian team. The World
Tour, the ancestor of the Fed Cup, traveled to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands. This last country is where they were finally defeated, but experiencing these new countries were an exhilarating experience for Akhurst. She reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, where she was beaten by Joan Fry, but The Times praised her wonderful fighting spirit. Akhurst also took part in other events, such as the Irish Championships (where she lost to Boyd) and Deauville, where she fell to the legendary Suzanne Lenglen. The golden year Returning home, Akhurst went from strength to strength. In 1926 she
triumphed at the Australasian Championships despite a knee injury. She didn’t lose a set, and crushed Boyd 6-1, 6-3 in the final. Her hat trick the next year was prevented only by a bad spot of luck. It was the first edition of the event at Kooyong (under the name "Australian" instead of "Australasian" Championships), and she was forced to withdraw due to flu in her second round match against Dorothy Weston. Boyd won the title that year after having lost a string of finals. 1928 was a golden year for Daphne Akhurst. She won the Australian Championships without losing a set, again beating her eternal rival Boyd in the
final. She also won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Then sailing for Europe, the Australian team this time won all of their 13 matches on the World Tour. Towards the top Success became routine for Akhurst in 1928. She won in Hamburg and reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. At Wimbledon, she reached the semi-finals in the singles (she lost to Helen Jacobs 8-6 in the third) and doubles (with Boyd), and reached the finals in the mixed doubles (with Jack Crawford, they lost 7-5, 6-4 to Patrick Spence and Elizabeth Ryan after leading 5-3 in the first set). This was her second and final appearance at the All England Club. By the end of the year, she was ranked third in the world behind Helen Wills and Lili Alvarez. In 1929, she won her fourth title at the Australian Championships, beating Louie Bickerton in the final. Once again, she triumphed in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles, winning her third triple crown. On the eve of the event in 1930, Akhurst announced her marriage and the impending retirement from
singles competition. She finished with a flourish, but not without experiencing a number of speed bumps along the way. She struggled for three sets in the quarterfinals against Kath Le Mesurier, and fainted after winning match point. But she recovered quickly, beating Emily Hood in the semi-finals and Sylvia Lance Harper in the championship round. It was a dramatic match, with Akhurst winning the first set 10-8, only to lose her way in the second and fall 2-6. She finally prevailed in a topsy-turvy third set (she threw away a 4-0 lead), and won her last Australian Championship 10-8, 2-6, 7-5. The following year, having retired from singles, Akhurst
won her fifth and final women’s doubles trophy. It was her 14th Grand Slam win. An abrupt end Her marriage to a young tobacco producer, Royston Stuckey Cozens, took place on February 26, 1930, at St. Philip Church of England in Sydney. Two years later she fell pregnant, and safely gave birth to her first child. Shortly afterward she became pregnant again, and was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy. On 9 January, 1933, she underwent a delicate surgery to avoid complications, but the situation worsened. She was still under anesthesia when she died. Just a week earlier, she had won the
doubles title at the Pratten Park Cumberland Championship with her friend Louie Bickerton. Bickerton married Cozens after Daphne passed. They both lived happily together until 1998. Daphne was inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame at the end of a moving ceremony held in 2006 at the Rod Laver Arena. A bronze bust of her was placed in Garden Square in Melbourne Park, alongside other Australian tennis legends. A lasting tribute to a great, but painfully unlucky, champion.
Trailblazer: a Conversation With Evonne Goolagong by Stefano Semeraro Her father Kenny used to dress like a dandy. His job was to “shear sheep, pick fruit, load hay and clean silos,” but in his spare time he could play a fair game of golf. Her great-grandfather, Jimmy Goolagong, was a great League rugby player, “and used to celebrate each try with a backward somersault in the try area.” Her great-great-grandfather, Old Bob Goolagong, was the Ibrahimovic of aboriginal football. Her great-grandmother, Dolly, was a well known hockey player, “and together with her six sisters, she formed the backbone of the Condobolin lawn hockey women’s team in the thirties.” Her other great-grandmother, Agatha, “used to jump on a racing cycle, lift up her skirt tucking it inside her panties so that it wouldn’t slip off and off she went. In a race she would have beaten the men by a matter of metres.” Some things are in your blood. They live inside you, like ancestral gifts. “When Evonne Goolagong played tennis,” an English journalist once wrote, “it was like seeing an antelope jump on the South African veldt, or a tiger pounce on its prey.” Evonne or “Miss Sunshine,” as she became known was Australia’s first aboriginal tennis champion. At the tender age of 20 she won both the French Open and Wimbledon, crushing the legendary Margaret Court 6-4, 6-1 in the final at SW19. “The match lasted sixty-three minutes,” she later recalled. “Not very long for a Wimbledon final, but long enough to change my life
forever.” Throughout her illustrious career she won an incredible seven Grand Slams trophies, including four Australian Open titles. She was able to leave tennis for extended periods of time, only to come storming back, winning everything in sight. She also won a Slam as a mother long before Kim Cljisters did the same thing and defeated none other than Chris Evert in the process. “The first set I won 6-1,” she recalled later. “[I played] near-perfect tennis. In the second, Chris served for the set at 6-5, but I knew I could not allow myself to go to a third set with her. The crucial point came at 3-3 [in the tiebreak], a rally of 31 strokes, and for once Chris was the first to make a mistake. Tennis matches are not things worth crying over. Win or lose, I have very seldom shed tears over them. But on the fourth of July, 1980, I did. And while I was travelling by car towards Knightsbridge in order to change for the dance,
my daughter Kelly on my knees, my husband Roger at my side, my eyes still wet, I saw again Kenny Goolagong holding me tight against him in the pub, and with his breath stinking of beer whispering in my ear ‘Go and destroy them all, Eve. Show them what you can do.’” After tennis, once she had become Mrs. Cawley, she lived in the Unites States for 20 years. In 1991 her mother died, the wise and beautiful Melinda, who had been born in a mud hut outside of Warangesda near Darlington Point. The tragedy prompted Evonne to return to her roots. She eventually decided to live in Noosa, Queensland, and see Barellan again. A little village of 900 souls in the Australian outback, it is the place where all the Goolagongs hail from. Evonne herself was born there in July of 1951. “Apart from my victory at Wimbledon in 1971, the most glorious day in the history of Barellan
was the second of January, 1932, when 116 teams of horses offloaded 13,000 bags of hay in the silos, establishing a new record for Australia.” Setting off to research the memories of her small town, Evonne slept in a tent and stayed true to the ways of her ancestors. On a magical night, she listened to her forefathers fill her soul, and understood that her father “knew his exact place in the Universe, and that the Old People, the aborigines living or dead, don’t know the feeling of hatred.” Today Evonne is nearly sixty, and still lives at Noosa, but she no longer plays tennis. “My hip does not allow me to play. But I still watch it, particularly if Federer is on the court,” she smiles. Though she cannot play, her heart is still dedicated to the sport. She has a camp, run in cooperation with the Australian Tennis Federation, which recently announced that it had acquired $750 000 to help fund operations at the institution. “The Goolagong Development Camp is in its seventh year,” she explains. “It is dedicated to young aboriginal men, tennis players from all over Australia. We give grants to the most promising young players. Today with us there are five local coaches who are in a position to teach anywhere. My target is to find funds to allow the camp to operate the whole year round and all over Australia. We work together with Tennis Australia, but it isn’t easy to find the money for the racquets and the clothing to be given to the young men. Last summer there was a young man who used to play wearing sandals. The tennis shoes that we gave him were the first pair of shoes he had owned in his life.”
Evonne already has her eye on the next aboriginal champion. “There is a very promising 14 year-old young girl,” she says enthusiastically. “Her name is Ashleigh Barty, and she has the qualities to become a champion.” In 1971, Goolagong accepted an invitation to participate as an “honorary white” in a tournament in apartheid South Africa. Many people at home never forgave her. Alan Trengrove, dean of the Aussie tennis writers, wrote an open letter, defining the match as “the biggest mistake of her career.” John Newfong, one of the leaders of the indigenous integration movement, defined her as “one that will be remembered not on account of her victories, but for bartering the responsibility towards her race with the prospect of being ‘white’ for a day.” Still, nowadays some people think that she should have raised her voice much more in defence of the aborigines’ rights. “Fight for one’s rights?” she reflects on the situation. “I was only 19 then and did not even know what apartheid was. But when I went back to South Africa the next year, I did it as a black, in the company of other blacks such as Bonnie Logan and Wanara N’Godrella. In that year a South African black, Dan Beukes, was allowed to play in the tournament at home. They were small steps forward, but they meant an improvement anyway. Today I think that it is more important for me to help the young approach sport, give them a chance.” Evonne discovered tennis at the age of seven at the little local club. She improvised matches with her brothers, using racquets borrowed from her neighbour who was called, maybe not accidentally, Mister Dunlop.
“I think that whoever is destined to become an athlete in any discipline spends a period in apprenticeship,” she wrote in her autobiography “Home!” “A period when one instinctively understands that this is one’s sport and will be one’s life. I think that this happened to me in the two summers when the Barellan War Memorial Tennis Club had become my own garden.” She needed fifty more years, a handful of Slams, a lot of happiness, some bitter experiences and the desire to find herself “in the great red of the Australian land” before she could return home. Before she could abandon the well-trodden road and retrace the steps of her ancestors. Barellan, Narrandera, Cummeragunga, Menindee, Wilcannia, Moulamein, Goodoga and Angledool are the stages of an initiation journey she undertook. “Cummeragunga. I have always liked the lyrical sound of that name. It means ‘my country’ in
the language of my people. At Menindee I went into a shop before resuming my journey. ‘I know you,’ said the woman at the counter. ‘Your mother always used to come here.’ And so it happened in the whole village. Linda Goolagong had been famous at Menindee. I had always known it.” At the temporary end of her walkabout, Evonne’s two halves had met again. “Since 1953, my parents have lived in a white town,” she wrote in her book. “And since 1966 I have lived in a white society, but the former never made a white woman of me, neither did the latter make of me something different from what I actually am, a proud aboriginal woman.” “At Noosa,” she told me in Melbourne, “I once organized a sale of clothes and racquets to raise funds for the people of Pitjantjatjara, for the women who welcomed me among them. At the moment I am working for the Indigenous Land Corporation, which is busy buying the land back from the State for the aborigines and
giving them an opportunity. There are still problems for my people, and to solve them we have to create jobs. In the resort of Uluru (the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock) only one indigenous person is employed. Very sad, isn’t it? When I was a young girl, my people could not even enter tennis clubs, and devoted themselves to soccer, Australian football, rugby. Many indigenous boys have quick reflexes, perfect coordination between eyes and hands. I want them to play tennis. If when I was a child the people from Barellan hadn’t bought me some clothes and a suitcase to go to Sydney, I wouldn’t be here today. My task now is to do the same for other children.” It is an ancient journey that goes on. “Yes, I am still learning a lot about my country’s culture and my origins. I am a Wiradjuri Koori, a woman of the Wiradjuri tribe, my surname in that language is pronounced Gulagallang, and means ‘big group,’ but also mob. My first dream had been to win the Australian Open, second came Wimbledon. The third is to teach what I have learned. The boys that I meet do not know who I am. I explain to them that I won as many as 93 tournaments, I met the President of the United States and the Queen of England, that I travelled all over the world. Then I take a piece of wood, like the one with which I used to play as a child, I show them how I began. They open their eyes wide, and I tell them that they can begin anywhere, with anything, if they really have a dream. And if they dream intensely about it, it is bound to come true. A tennis player, a champion, a mother, a teacher.” Before saying goodbye to her on the stairway of the Rod Laver Arena, I asked her what the
thing most worth teaching is. “It is a simple idea,” she replied. “It can be contained in two short phrases: look after the others, look after your land.”
That Stats That Matter by Marco Di Nardo
In tennis, statistics related to Grand Slams are universally seen as the most important when it comes to measuring the greatness of the sport’s best players. Perhaps the most important statistic in tennis is simply how many Grand Slams a player has won. But while this may be the easiest and most important number for fans to remember, it is not the only one. There are dozens of different statistics relating to Grand Slams that not only give us a new perspective of the sport’s biggest stars, but also help complete what is very often a shallow understanding of a person’s career. Today, we will look at some of these statistics. We'll start with the winning percentage for players after they’ve won the first two sets of a Slam match, then look at the most consecutive victories after winning the first two sets. Then, among others, we will examine the winning percentage after winning the first set, as well as winning percentages for each of the final rounds of the Grand Slams (quarter-finals, semi-finals, finals). In our first category, we look at the win/loss record after winning the first two sets of a Grand Slam match. However, a player must have won at least 80 matches to qualify for consideration. Surprisingly, the Swede Mats Wilander tops the list, followed closely by Bjorn Borg. They are the only two people never to lose a match in this situation. 1. Mats Wilander: 95-0, 100% 2. Bjorn Borg: 85-0, 100% 3. Jimmy Connors: 161-1, 99.4%
4. Andre Agassi: 156-1, 99.4% 5. Novak Djokovic: 152-1, 99.3% 6. Rafael Nadal: 151-1, 99.3% 7. Pete Sampras: 146-1, 99.3% 8. John McEnroe: 117-1, 99.1% Next, we turn to consecutive victories after winning the first two sets of a match. Roger Federer tops this list. Before losing to JoWilfried Tsonga in the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finals, Federer had won 178 straight matches after winning the first two sets. Rafael Nadal almost broke that record before losing to Fabio Fognini at the US Open in 2015. Pete Sampras, who comes in at number three, lost his very first Slam match after being up two sets to love. He did, however, not do so again until his retirement in 2002. 1. Roger Federer: 178 2. Rafael Nadal: 151
3. Pete Sampras: 146 4. Stefan Edberg: 120 5. Ivan Lendl: 119 6. Andy Murray: 113 The next category is consecutive matches without ever going down two sets to zero. Federer again tops the list, managing this feat 99 times in a row between 2004 and 2008. 1. Roger Federer: 99 (2004-2008) 2. Novak Djokovic: 49 (2013-2015) 3. Pete Sampras: 45 (1993-95) 4. Ivan Lendl: 43 (1988-90) 5. Jim Courier: 42 (1992-93) 6. Bjorn Borg: 38 (1979-80) 7. Andy Murray: 36 (2012-2013) After winning the first set in a Grand Slam match (with at least 150 victories), Rafael Nadal dominates the next category by
triumphing in 97.7% of these encounters. 1. Rafael Nadal: 173-4, 97.7% 2. Novak Djokovic: 189-7, 96.4% 3. Jimmy Connors: 205-8, 96.2% 4. Roger Federer: 269-13, 95.4% 5. Pete Sampras: 173-10, 94.5% The best winning percentage in Slam quarter-finals (with at least 15 victories) belongs to Roger Federer, with an impressive 83% win rate. 1. Roger Federer: 39-8, 83% 2. Novak Djokovic: 29-6, 82.8% 3. Ivan Lendl: 28-6 82.3% 4. Bjorn Borg: 17-4: 80.9% 5. Rafael Nadal: 23-6, 79.3% 5. Pete Sampras 23-6, 79.3% Bjorn Borg has the best record in Slam semifinals (with at least 15 victories), having recorded an incredible 16-1 run in his career. 1. Bjorn Borg: 16-1, 94.1% 2. Rafael Nadal: 20-3, 87% 3. Pete Sampras: 18-5, 78.3% 4. Roger Federer: 27-11, 71.1% 5. Ivan Lendl: 19-9, 67.9% Finally, the player who has the most efficient record in Slam finals (with at least 8 wins) is Pete Sampras. He only lost four finals in his career, with 14 victories. Nadal is second, with Borg appearing third. 1. Pete Sampras: 14-4, 77.8% 2. Rafael Nadal: 14-6, 70% 3. Bjorn Borg: 11-5, 68.8% 4. Roger Federer: 17-10, 63% 5. Novak Djokovic: 10-8, 55.6%
The Unsung Heroes Of The Davis Cup by Valerio Carriero
We are used to viewing tennis as an individual sport. This is true to such an extent that these days we even have trouble viewing doubles as “real” tennis, and the discipline has seen a massive decline in popularity as a result. Yet, even with this in mind, the Davis Cup has remained tremendously important in some quarters. This team competition can be heavily influenced by a person who doesn’t even take to the court: the captain. If he makes a poor player selection on any given day, it might mean certain defeat for his team. That being said, even in the sport’s biggest team competition, individual stars still loom large. Important singles players can often dominate their teams, dictating the outcome of the tie on their own. But even in such situations, the team’s fate might hinge on the performance of an underdog. In 2015, for example, Andy Murray decided to give his all in Davis Cup play, fully committing to the entire year’s ties. While this might seem to mean instant victory for Britain
each time, the team found itself in an uncomfortable position in the first round against the United States. Murray won his first match in four sets against Donald Young, but in the next rubber John Isner raced to a two-set lead against James Ward. It was not an ideal situation, given the Americans’ strength in doubles. Should Isner win, the tie’s fate could come down to the final match and James Ward. Luckily for Britain, the tie would not come down to that. Ward, ranked 111, in perhaps the best match of his life, slowly chipped away at Isner’s mammoth serve until he had taken the match to a fifth set. Finally, at
14-13, he jumped the final hurdle and secured victory. It was a pivotal match, and one Murray could do nothing about fretting from the sidelines. Though Murray was still considered the hero of the tie, it was Ward’s heroics that actually saved the day. A similar occurrence happened in the 2006 semifinal between Russia and the US. Russia led 2-1 after the first two days, but Nikolay Davydenko, the world number five, could not compete due to fatigue. Instead, the responsibility fell to Dmitry Tursunov, who held the fate of the tie in his hands against the vastly superior Andy Roddick. He stunned his opponent by
going up two sets to love, only to then fall victim to his nerves and lose the next two sets. In the fifth, an epic battle ensued, and after 4 hours and 48 minutes the Russian came out on top. It was an incredible effort, and it booked Russia’s place in the final against Argentina. Tursunov would not play singles in the final (only doubles), and Marat Safin won the decisive fifth rubber, but his role in
securing the Cup for Russia cannot be understated. The 2010 Davis Cup saw, in many ways, the birth of the dominant Novak Djokovic we know today. However, though that Cup victory will always be remembered for Nole’s role, it was actually Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki who did much of the heavy lifting. Tipsarevic scored two crucial victories against the Czech Republic
in the semi-finals, while Victor Troicki won the pivotal fifth rubber in the final. So even when the best player in the world is on your Davis Cup team, sometimes it comes down to the little guy to secure victory.
Radwanska’s Rollercoaster Ride To The Top by Matteo Di Gangi
On May 25, 2015, Agnieszka Radwanska prepared for her match against Germany's Annika Beck. Radwanska was the undeniable favorite, but from the start she ran into trouble. The German, playing with no pressure, hit every ball as hard as she could, racking up 41 winners en route to victory. For the Pole, it was the latest in a long line of disappointments in 2015. The Road to Singapore rankings, which keeps track of each player’s points earned to date in a calendar year, showed Radwanska 1000 points behind the person ranked 8th. That was important, since only the Top 8 players would be invited to Singapore to compete in the year-end championship.
But sports in general, and tennis in particular, is a hotbed of unpredictable stories and improbably miracles. Following a good performance at Wimbledon (where she reached the semi-finals), Radwanska started to pick up confidence. She won the tournament in Tokyo and made the semifinals in Beijing before triumphing at Tianjin, a victory that sealed her participation in Singapore. Incredibly, she had somehow completely turned around what seemed to be a lost season. After suffering an excruciating loss in the US Open semi-finals, Serena Williams withdrew from Singapore. That meant the field was now wild open, especially with Maria Sharapova having just returned from injury. Simona Halep was injured as well, while Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova were not in top form. But even with all of that working for her, the Pole lost her first two matches against Sharapova and Pennetta, winning only one set. That meant that emerging from the group stages was spectacularly unlikely. But a series of strange events left her with an outside possibility of qualification: if Sharapova beat Panetta in straight sets and Radwanska beat Halep in straight sets, Radwanksa would be through. The first set was very close, and for a while it seemed as if Halep might run away with it. But Radwanska, who would not stop defying the odds now, pushed it to a tie-break and won the first set 7-6. Halep, exhausted from that effort, lost the second set 6-1. In the semi-final she faced off against Garbine Muguruza, and what followed was perhaps the best match of the whole tournament. Both women played incredible tennis, and the match went to and fro for hours. In the end, though, Radwanska’s experience won out, and she came away the winner 6-7, 6-3, 7-5. The Pole then went on to the final, where Petra Kvitova awaited. It was, without a doubt, one of the biggest moments of her career, second only to her 2012 final appearance at
Wimbledon. Luckily for her, however, Serena Williams was nowhere to be found on this day. Instead, she faced another one-win opponent from the round robin stages, Petra Kvitova. The Czech had been out of sorts in the preceding months, playing spectacularly at times and horribly at others. After winning the first set 6-2, it seemed as if it might be an easy day out for Radwanska, but the “good� Kvitova showed up in the second and won it without much trouble. Not to be outdone, however, the Pole came back strong in the deciding set, sealing victory 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. It was a result that nobody, absolutely nobody, would have predicted after her loss on that sunny day in May. When she burst into tears after the win, Radwanska might just have been thinking of that long journey, and how good it felt to finally come out on top.
Robin Soderling Retires by Alex bisi
On 23 December, 2015, Robin Soderling announced his retirement from professional tennis through Twitter. Absent from the Tour since 2011 due to a severe case of mononucleosis, his retirement had been long suspected by fans and pundits alike, even if he had not officially confirmed it. Still, people had been holding out hope that he would make a return to professional tennis, since he kept hinting that he would go back. But in the end, the combination of his illness and age forced him to call it a day. Soderling boasted one of the most powerful forehands on the ATP World Tour, and rose to prominence in 2009 when he became the first man to beat Rafael Nadal at the French Open. Though he lost to Federer in the final, he became an instant household name thanks to his exploits at Roland
Garros. The Swede turned pro in 2002, and quickly rose to the Top 100. By 2004, he had improved to 39 in the world and won his first title in Lyon. He then reached the quarterfinals at the Masters 1000 event in Paris. The following season was one of injury and frustration for Soderling, and he struggled to win matches and stay on court for very long. He dropped to 97 in the world before making a big comeback in 2016, reaching the Top 25 for the first time. The next two seasons saw Soderling treading water, unable to make huge strides in his game and never playing at a constantly high level. By the end of the 2008, needing a change, he severed ties with his coach, Peter Carlsson, and hired Magnus Norman, a move that would have a profound effect on his career. Though the relationship did not immediately bear fruit, it paid off in a big way at Roland Garros. In the fourth round, he faced off against Rafael Nadal, a player against whom he had lost brutally just a few weeks before. A massive underdog, he shocked the tennis world by beating the Spaniard, becoming the first player ever to do so on the Parisian clay. With that performance, and the eventual final appearance that followed, Soderling found himself on the brink of the Top 10. After Paris, brimming with confidence, Soderling also reached the quarter-finals of the US Open, where he lost to Roger Federer. That effort, however, along with several other good results, allowed him to break into the Top 10 for the first time. He travelled to the ATP World Tour Finals as a reserve that year, and replaced Andy Roddick in the competition when the American couldn’t
play. He advanced from the group stages, but was beaten in the semi-finals by Juan Martin Del Potro. The start of the 2010 season was a mixed bag for Soderling, losing early in Australia before posting some decent results during the American hard court season. He was uneven on clay coming into the French Open, but somehow found his best tennis and once again reached the final, beating players like Federer and Tomas Berdych along the way. Though he lost to Nadal in the final, he jumped to sixth in the rankings, and reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon soon after. Inconsistency returned after Wimbledon, however, and he played poorly until the US Open, where he again lost to Federer in the quarter-finals. In the Masters 1000 event in Paris he finally won his first big tournament, beating Gael Monfils and pushing himself to fourth in the rankings. He made another appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals, but did not make it out of the round robin stage. The end of that season also saw the end of his coaching relationship with Magnus Norman, and he instead started working with Claudio Pistolesi.
Follow Me by Alex bisi
The advent of smartphones has changed our daily lives in a profound manner, allowing us to stay in contact with people like never before. This includes, of course, celebrities, who fans can now follow more closely than at any time in history. As tennis enthusiasts, we can now keep abreast of the everyday activities of our favorite players as if they were close acquaintances. One of the most popular social media platforms is Twitter, which players have embraced whole-heartedly. Rafael Nadal, for example, boasts 8.85 million followers, while Novak Djokovic has 4.89 million. The Serb has managed to gain even more Twitter followers than Roger Federer (who has 4.4 million), despite the fact that he is often portrayed as being not very popular with fans. Federer, of course, nearly brings Twitter to a standstill with his #AskRF sessions. Andy Murray, the final member of the Fab Four, comes in at 3.41 million. Once we get out of the Fab Four’s intimidating aura, however, things slow down
quite a lot. Tomas Berdych has 255 000 followers and Stan Wawrinka 565 000. David Ferrer, however, outshines them both with 902 000. Nick Kyrgios, who has risen to prominence in a wave of controversy, has generated enough interest to command 162 000, while the more established Grigor Dimitrov has 239 000. Among the French players, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the most popular, with 794 000 fans, while Gael Monfils is not too far behind at 691 000. Richard Gasquet, on the other hand, has only 76 300. This is especially surprising given that peripheral players like Ivo Karlovic and Dustin Brown have 101 000 and 67 300
followers respectively. Karlovic has become somewhat of a Twitter celebrity in his own right for his humorous Tweets, such as those about Serena Williams in Australia. Both Brown and Karlovic also often respond to fans on Twitter, which might go some way to explaining their popularity. Other players have used the Twitter platform for less admirable purposes, such as the Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who has taken to Twitter repeatedly to detail his distaste for homosexuals. He is famous for saying he would never send his daughter to a female tennis academy for fear that they are all lesbians. He has also used Twitter to argue with other
players, most notably Sam Groth after their last match in Stuttgart. Among the women, there is a big gap between Serena Williams with 6 million followers and the rest of the Tour. Maria Sharapova comes in a distant second with 1.92 million, while Venus Williams is third with 1.36 million. Vika Azarenka, who is very active on her profile, has 71 400 followers, while Petra
Kvitova and Simona Halep have 284 000 and 38 100 respectively. Ana Ivanovic, who has been on Tour seemingly forever, has 662 000, but she is being threatened by the younger generation, who tend to be more active on social media than her. Eugenie Bouchard, for example, has grown to 584 000 followers, with Belinda Bencic going from zero to 28 000 very quickly, and Wimbledon finalist Garbine
Mugurza is already at 113 000. While the amount of Twitter followers a player has is certainly not as important as the number of matches they’ve won, it’s becoming an essential tool in the marketing and maintenance of a player’s brand. As younger players become more popular, it is a trend that will likely pick up steam as time passes.
The Small Bouncer
by Andrea Guarracino I am reminded of a story of a bouncer, one that worked at a popular night club. What made this bouncer so unusual was the he was a dwarf not exactly the kind of person one usually associates with such a physically demanding job. Yet despite his diminutive size, he terrorized the patrons of the club, and nobody would dare to try and enter without his express permission. Tennis players each have their only short bouncer, which terrorizes them each and every time they step out on court. Can you guess what it is? Well, it’s 91.4 centimeters high and 11 meters wide…so it’s short and very wide. Of course, I’m talking about the net. I often have members of my club or my students ask me what kind of racket or strings will improve their game. The vast majority of them complain that they hit into the net way too often. Unfortunately, there is no piece of equipment that will magically make the short bouncer go away. Instead,
you must use your wits and your technique to overcome it. I always tell my students that good players hit their shots at least one meter above the height of the net. To hit with this kind of top spin, it is important to always hit with a low center of gravity and drop your racket below the height of the ball before you make your move to strike it. If you can consistently do this, you will not only eliminate most shots that you would hit into the net, but you will also be able to hit aggressive shots with minimal risk of error. If you hit with a lot of topspin, the ball kicks off the court, which makes it very difficult
for your opponent to deal with it. It is the hallmark of the modern game that all players hit with a lot of topspin. If you want your game to stay current and relevant, you must learn to do the same. If you cannot do so, you will continue to make silly errors by hitting the ball into the net, and the short bouncer will terrorize you forever. Indeed, he may make life so difficult that you do not want to go to the club at all! It is up to you to stop that from happening, and show the bouncer that you belong on the court and can easily deal with him.
Injuries And Professional Tennis by Adriano S.
While tennis is widely regarding as a “low injury� sport, the reality is that tennis players are subject to injuries of all types. Tennis World investigates just what sort of pain pro players are in for on a daily basis. When you think about sporting injuries, your mind probably immediately drifts towards sports like American Football or boxing. Injuries suffered in these sports are undeniably horrible, but they are not the last word in sporting injures. Tennis, while not subject to the same sorts of traumatic injuries as boxing or other contact sports, still holds a feast of maladies for those who practice it professionally. Most of these tennis acute injuries, according to research, affect the lower body. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, citing data collected between 2009 to 2015, shows that the lower extremities suffer by far the most injuries (47% for males, 52% for females) when compared to the other parts of the body. In women, thigh injuries in particular are on the rise, while players under 15 increasingly suffer from lower back pain. When it comes to chronic conditions, the upper body in males seem to suffer most, with the shoulder being the most affected body part. Wrist injuries can also be chronic and almost impossible to shake, as evidenced by Laura Robson and Juan Martin Del Potro. Elbow afflictions are less common, but can also be very long-lasting.
In 2015 there were 250 withdrawals from matches due to injury, the majority in November. Generally, the WTA sees more withdrawals every year than the ATP. Muscle and tendon injuries are also common in tennis, for obvious reasons, but illness is not often cited as a major concern for players. However, it regularly affects them severely and disproportionately. Flu and gastroenteritis are frequent concerns, while more serious conditions like mononucleosis are also on the rise. Last year alone Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova were diagnosed, while Mario Ancic and Robin Soderling saw their careers prematurely ended by the disease. Even Roger Federer was afflicted by it in 2008.
Heat stroke and cramping, while not illnesses or injuries, are also frequent causes of match defaults. On rare occasions, head trauma can even come into play, as with Eugenie Bouchard and Casey Dellacqua. What are players supposed to do after injuries? The therapeutic possibilities are legion and should be discussed case by case. That being said, progress in the field has been explosive in the last few decades, and these days players can fully recover from all but the most serious of conditions. In terms of injury prevention, experts recommend stretching, targeted training, diet and a healthy lifestyle…along with some liberal slices of luck.