After five seasons of almost unchallenged dominance, Novak Djokovic had to finally cede the top spot in the rankings to Andy Murray in 2016. Though he had lost his number one ranking to Rafael Nadal at the end of 2013, and even to Roger Federer in 2012, this time feels different. The loss of the ranking denies Djokovic a few privileges. Firstly, had he won that last match against Andy Murray, he would have equaled Pete Sampras for number of years ended at number one. He would also have, had he won, completed a hat trick of ATP World Tour Finals wins combined with year-end number one finishes. For Murray, of course, reaching the top spot was the culmination of a career’s worth of
IL 2016, A Year Of Change by Marco Di Nardo
blood, sweat, tears and heartache. Always seen as the lesser member of the Fab Four, he now has a real claim to be named alongside Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. The fact that he sealed the year-end number one ranking with a win over his old nemesis Djokovic makes it all the sweeter. But 2016 was about more than just a change at the top. Milos Raonic reached his best-ever ranking at number 3 in the world, and is now arguably the main challenger to the duopoly established by Djokovic and Murray. He won just one title, beating Federer in Brisbane to start the season, but he was incredibly consistent. He was the only player to reach at least the quarter-finals of the first four Masters
1000 events of the year. He also reached the semi-final at the Australian Open and the final at Wimbledon. As usual, though, it was Stan Wawrinka who proved to be the most dangerous of all when playing his best. For the third consecutive year, the Swiss won a Grand Slam against all odds and against a favored opponent. Each of his Slam wins have come against the world number one at the time. At the Australian Open in 2014 he beat Nadal in the final, while he defeated Djokovic at Roland Garros in 2015 and Flushing Meadows in 2016. Three Major titles in three years for Stan, who is now closer to completing a career Grand Slam than Murray. The Brit is missing Melbourne and Paris, while the Swiss only needs Wimbledon.
given the choice at the start of the year between ending the season as world number one or winning Roland Garros, we are sure he would have chosen the latter option. Winning the French Open was a long time coming for the Serb, who had been stopped short so many times by so many people that it became a bit of an obsession for him. Winning the trophy meant that he held all four major titles in his possession at the same time, something only Rod Laver had done in the Open Era. Of course, the Australian accomplished that in the same calendar year, something which nobody else has done. By winning the first two Slams of the year, Djokovic also became the first person since 1992 to accomplish that feat (Jim Courier was the last before him). Despite all the setbacks of the second half of the year, 2016 will still go down as one of Nole’s most successful campaigns. He won two Grand Slams, four Masters 1000 titles and
Djokovic, of course, was tipped by many to complete the calendar Grand Slam this year, and after a decisive victory at the French Open it seemed as if he might really pull it off. However, a sub-par second half of the season put an end to any such talk. That being said, if
seven overall trophies. The one major thing still missing from Djokovic’s trophy cabinet is an Olympic gold medal. Andy Murray has no such lack in his collection, having won his second gold medal in a row in Rio. He is the first player to ever achieve this feat. The player who put an end to Djokovic’s Olympic dreams was none other than Juan Martin Del Potro. The ATP Comeback Player of the Year ousted the Serb in the first round in straight sets, and also beat Nadal in the semifinals. Delpo also won a title in Stockholm and helped Argentina win the Davis Cup. This latter
achievement was particularly impressive given the matches he won to make the dream a reality. He beat Andy Murray in five long sets during their semi-final clash, and then went on to beat both Ivo Karlovic and Marin Cilic in the final, the latter in an epic five-set marathon. But what about Federer and Nadal? Federer, for the first time in 15 seasons, did not even
win an ATP title. Several injuries forced him to miss the majority of the year, including the entire second half. In the end the Swiss fell to number 16 in the world, and the only reason he didn’t fall lower was because he reached the semi-finals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Nadal also had to end his season prematurely thanks to injury, though he did win titles at Barcelona and Monte Carlo. He also won the gold medal in doubles at the Olympics, alongside his friend Marc Lopez, becoming the first player in history to win all four Grand Slams, the Davis Cup, and the Olympics in both singles and doubles.
Ultimately, 2016 was a year of change on the men’s Tour. The old guard will attempt to make a major stand in the new year, with Federer and Nadal in particularly hoping to return to their former form. It remains to be seen whether the youngsters will be able to do anything about it.
Will Djokovic beat the two historical Federer's achievements? by Gatto Luigi
Disorientated, incredulous, almost unrecognizable. Against Murray at the ATP Finals in London, Novak Djokovic was the perfect photography of the bad second half of the season where the Serbian never was at his best level despite the finals reached at the US Open and in London, taking advantage especially in New York of the bad form the top players went through, since the only top 10 player faced was Stan Wawrinka in the final. And the main problem, like in most of the cases when you speak about Champions, is not the forehand or backhand or physical issues, despite the arm injury suffered since July. During his pressers Djokovic said many times the necessary to take weeks off, showing almost to have the desire to get away of the pressure and the enormous Roland Garros expectations on him. And then the "old" Djokovic comebacks, vulnerable in the long matches and unsure in the key moments. It's unknown if The separation with Boris Becker will affect him in a good way. The German coach did his job: six Grand Slam titles won, helped Djokovic to be at his best level mentally but he did his job. Djokovic
would do better to have only one coach in his team, it means his reference point Marian Vajda. The only "problem" is: can Vajda travel in almost all the tournaments the whole year? Nole can travel without a coach for one or two tournaments like happened in Miami and Shanghai this year, where he was followed by Pepe Imaz, but the "mental" coach can't replace the tennis coach. So how can he find again motivation for the next season? Surely the Nadal and Federer's comeback, who aim to return at
their best level, could motivate Djokovic to be the one we saw in the first six months of 2016 where he earned 8.000 points, a lot of amount that could affect him in the rankings if doesn't get very good results. THE RECORDS TO BEAT - If only until a few months ago Roger Federer's 17 Grand Slams titles were reachable, now there isn't any certainty anymore. Djokovic, who won so far 12 Majors, will turn 30 in May and we saw many times how once they are over 30 great Champions go through a slow decline. Five titles are left to equal the Swiss player,
six to pass him. The situation is even more complicated for the record of the weeks as World No. 1: Nole is at 223, and to overcome Federer at 302 he will have to be at the top of the rankings for around a year and a half. It's difficult to do it but it's right to try. And who knows that right from these complicated but possible achievements the fear in the Djokovic's head and spirit, an human being who in the last two years and a half wasn't so human
Federer’s Master Plan by Federico Mariani
In a short while, the offseason will be over. The first official tournaments will be upon us in the early new year, when tennis fans can finally satisfy the craving they have been suffering since the end of the 2016 season. Some of those fans might even, despite their better judgement, indulge in watching the International Premier Tennis League before then. That is, despite the recently announced absence of both Roger Federer and Serena Williams, who withdrew due to the event’s financial problems. That means, of course, Roger Federer will have a few extra days off before he returns to the courts for the first time since the Wimbledon semi-final. Since that time, seemingly forever ago, many things have happened in the world of tennis. Juan Martin Del Potro returned to his previous Slamwinning form, leading Argentina to a Davis Cup
victory. Andy Murray dethroned Novak Djokovic, becoming the best player in the world. Stan Wawrinka hit another patch of unbelievable form, which led him to a third Grand Slam title in New York. In such a confused world, one can only wonder at the number of trophies the Swiss Maestro could have won had he not been injured. In order to assure that he is not in the same position again at the end of 2017, he has been carefully compiling his schedule for
what might very well be his last go around the carousel. It is not likely that he will announce his farewell season, as Kobe Bryant famously did, but it’s not unreasonable to speculate that his career is nearing its end. The former world number one will first set foot on a court at the Hopman Cup, a kind of general warmup event for the Australian Open. His events after the year’s first Major include Dubai and Indian Wells, with confirmation that he will also appear on the grass courts of Stuttgart. It
is clear, however, that his schedule as currently defined leaves plenty of room for flexibility depending on his health and form. In recent days, Tony Roche - Federer's former coach - openly speculated that we will definitely see Federer win at least one more Slam. Phrases like that would have until recently been dismissed as a kind of tribute to the greatness of the 17-time Grand Slam winner. The second half of 2016, however, with the rise of Murray and the fall of
Djokovic, has given this statement a little more weight. Wawrinka and Raonic, who are close behind the Serb and the Brit, are formidable but not unbeatable opponents, and the rest of the field cannot be seen as major obstacles should the Swiss return to his best form. Federer decided to skip, on medical advice, the entire second half of the 2016 season. He made this sacrifice so that he might return stronger at a later time. That time is now. If ever there was an
opportunity for a former champion to take one last triumphant lap around the track, that opportunity is right now for Roger Federer. His meticulous planning has always been a strong point, and it might once again prove to be his trump card. If everything plays out the way Federer envisions, 2017 will be a very interesting year indeed.
Andy Murray 9/10 Who would have thought Andy Murray would end the year as the world number one? Nobody, and that’s a fact, even though now many pundits will claim to have predicted it. The season started in a familiar vein, with Murray playing well in Melbourne until the final, where he experienced the inevitable meltdown. But the return of Lendl changed everything, and all that followed was a direct result of his influence. Yes, Murray won Wimbledon almost by default, and a large part of his rise to the top was Djokovic’s inexplicable implosion down the stretch, but Murray’s season was nevertheless epic.
The Year In Review by Adriano S.
Novak Djokovic 8.5/10 Tennis is very much a “what-have-youdone-for-me-lately” sport, and people are quick to forget just how spectacular Novak Djokovic was in the first half of 2016. After Roland Garros, pundits were openly proclaiming that he would complete the calendar Grand Slam, something which only Rod Laver has done in the Open Era. His stumble in the second half was perplexing, to be sure, but his season overall was still incredible, with two Slam victories and a championship round appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals. Juan Martin Del Potro 10/10
What a comeback year. Most people would have been happy if Delpo just finished the season in one piece, but instead he treated us to some of the best tennis of the year throughout the season. The Davis Cup victory will be remembered as his signature achievement of the year, but beating Djokovic in Rio changed the face of the Tour for the rest of the season. Stan Wawrinka 7.5/10 Without his exploits at Flushing Meadows, Stan’s season would have been relatively mediocre. Luckily for him, however, New York did happen, and he won the third Slam of his suddenly legendary career. As maddeningly inconsistent as he can be at times, he’s still perhaps the most exciting player on Tour when he’s playing well. Rafael Nadal 5.5/10 How many times in 2016 did it appear as if Nadal was just a few matches away from returning to his old self? Too many. The wrist injury didn’t help, derailing him at the most important event of the year for him (Roland Garros) and destroying all the progress he had made up to that point. The fact that he had to end his season prematurely says just about everything you need to know about the year that was for Rafael Nadal. Roger Federer 4.5/10 2016 was about as close to a disastrous season as Federer has ever had in his career. Surgery kept him out of much of the first part of the season, and another injury kept him out of the second half entirely. He had a good run to the Wimbledon final, but other than that 2016 was basically a complete write-off for the
Swiss. Marin Cilic 7/10 A topsy-turvy year for Cilic, who at times seemed like the player who won the US Open just a few short years ago. Winning his first Masters 1000 evet in Cincinnati was significant, but the twin disasters against Federer at Wimbledon and Del Potro in the Davis Cup final makes the season bittersweet at best. Dominic Thiem 7/10 Perhaps the most likely of the young players to win a Slam in the near term, Thiem played at a Top 5 level for most of the year. However, the physical demands of
maintaining that form for months on end eventually caught up to him. He is an incredible talent, but here is still work to do. Milos Raonic 7/10 Raonic was a bit of a revelation in 2016, reaching the final at Wimbledon and ending the year at a career-high 3 in the rankings.
Injuries were a problem, however, and he was inconsistent at times against the very best players in the world, but things are definitely on an upward trajectory for the Canadian. Kei Nishikori 6.5/10 Not much improvement on the 2015 season for Nishikori. When he’s at his best he’s an absolute joy to watch, and nearly unbeatable, but his body lets him down too often, and he needs to learn to beat lesser opponents more swiftly early on in tournaments. There is still hope for Nishikori in 2017, but he needs a spark. Gael Monfils 6.5/10
Same old Gael in 2017. He was healthy for the most part, which made a welcome change, and in some ways it was his best season. But his shenanigans in big matches continue to cost him dearly, and it’s clear now that he will likely never live up to his full potential. David Goffin 7/10
One of the more underrated players on the Tour, Goffin had an excellent season that saw him rise to the upper echelons of the game for the first time. He doesn’t have the power of some of his younger peers, but his speed and accuracy more than make up for it. Certainly one to watch in 2017. Pouille, Kyrgios and A.Zverev 6.5/10 Leaving aside the Australian’s off-court issues, all three of these men had decent seasons that point to more success in the future. They are not quite on Thiem’s level at the
The Murray Era Has Begun by Giorgio Giannaccini
It has been a good year for the Murray family. Andy Murray became the top ranked player in the world, won Wimbledon and the ATP World Tour Finals and, most important of all, finally tamed Novak Djokovic, who had haunted him in big events for so very long. Indeed, Murray has made Nole, once seemingly inhuman and utterly unstoppable, look all too human. Jamie, though not as celebrated as his younger sibling, has in some ways had an equally spectacular year. He reached the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, partnering with Bruno Soares. They qualified for the prestigious year-end event thanks to their spectacular results throughout the season, chief of which were two Grand Slam victories at the Australian Open and US Open. Jamie also reached the world number one ranking for the first time in his career in April. Though he dipped to number four in the rankings by the end of the year, he is still playing very
well and might return to the top spot at any time. Should Andy also be ranked number one, it will be the first time two brothers have held the top ranking in both singles and doubles at the same time. Even though his career is turning into a mighty impressive one, Jamie will likely never manage to step out of the shadow of his brother’s achievements. That being said, he will keep trying until his dying day. As their mother revealed to CNN recently, they have always competed with each other in everything. “No matter what they did,”
she recalled, “whether they were playing cards, dominoes, Monopoly, golf or football, they were always competing against each other. They enjoyed themselves but argued a lot. They invented the games, scoring systems and rules. But they never really played a lot of tennis together. They couldn’t get through 30 minutes on the court without fighting.” And if the two faced each other in a competitive match…all bets were off. “The story that always springs to mind was when they played against each other at a tennis
tournament,” she continued. “I had taken a lot of children down from Scotland. I'm driving back in the mini-bus, it's quite dark and Andy has beaten Jamie in the final of this U12 event. They start having a fight in the back of the mini bus. Andy's hand is over the back seat and eventually Jamie has taken enough and nails his fist into Andy's hand. There was blood and I had to stop the bus, we dress the wound, separate them and drive the few hours back. We had to take Andy for a tetanus shot because the nail was ripped and the nail has never grown in straight. But it's a reminder about being humble and never bragging
about beating anyone, especially your brother!" But all of this is water under the bridge, of course. The two brothers co-exist in harmony now, and can even be on the same court together without fighting. Indeed, during Britain’s 2015 Davis Cup campaign, the two played extremely well together. “Andy and I have practiced a lot of sports together and we were always very close,” Jamie recalled recently. “We are constantly driven to improve. Of course, we also fought a lot, as happens among siblings. But there were not many players in
Scotland, and each of us wanted to be better than the other. I'm sure Andy would say the same, he always wanted to beat his older brother.” Both brothers were promising prospects when they were young, but whereas Andy almost instantly went on to bigger and better things, Jamie suffered a major downturn early on in his career. He was number two in the under-14 rankings at the time when Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet were already around, and decided to go to a tennis federation in Cambridge for eight months in order to further his tennis
education. It was not a pleasant experience. Andy Murray, in fact, blames the academy for ruining his brother’s career. According to him, Jamie never realized his full potential thanks to the Cambridge institution. “To be honest,” Jamie recalls of the experience, “it did not last long. It was just eight months and I should not have been as affected as I was. But when you're young, traumatic experiences can have a more lasting effect.” After the ordeal, Jamie stopped playing for a few months. Eventually he decided to start up again, but he was no longer the top
talent he had been going into Cambridge. “It's the only thing I would change in my life,” he said. “I should have taken a different path, but I got carried away by events.” Yet despite all of this, Jamie decided not to give up on a professional career in tennis entirely, but rather to change specialties. It was a wise choice one that changed the course of the doubles Tour for years to come. “When I was sixteen I realized that I was not good enough to compete in singles. Fortunately, I switched to doubles.” Years later, he is now one of
the top doubles players in the world, with multiple Grand Slams and a Davis Cup under his belt. There is every reason to believe that he will carry this success on into the new year, as Jamie is always looking at ways to improve himself. “I think there are things we can do to improve our game,” he said. “We must be aware, and this is also exciting for us. We hope that next year we can play at a very high level and end the season ranked number one.”
The Return Of The Tower by Giorgio Giannaccini
For the first time in more than five years, Argentine tennis fans have real hope. Juan Martin Del Potro is back, staying healthy and playing well. Can he be a real threat in 2017? Coming back from injury is a tricky proposition for any sportsperson. We are used to players like Rafael Nadal making it look easy, returning to their top form almost instantly after a long injury layoff. But the reality is that most of the time it’s not so simple. Just ask Juan Martin Del Potro, one of the most talented and unlucky players in the history of tennis. Del Potro’s rise to the top of the game has been well documented, and after he won his first Slam at the US Open in 2009, it was universally assumed that he would remain a constant presence in the Top 10 for years to come. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he lifted that trophy, the trouble started. Since then he has experience almost non-stop wrist injuries that have kept him off the court for months at a time. Every time it seemed as if things were getting better, he would suffer another heartbreaking setback. In March of 2014, for example, he was forced to undergo surgery on his wrist, and was forced to sit out the rest of the season. He returned the following January, immediately reaching the quarter-finals in Sydney, but he quickly realized that his wrist was not right. He took more time off and had another surgery. In 2015 we saw almost the exact same series of events play out. Delpo returned in March at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami, ranked 616 in the world. By June his wrist had flared up
again and he underwent yet another surgery. When Del Potro returned in February of 2016, few people believed he would last for long. Fans had had their hearts broken so many times, they did not even dare hope that he would play the entire season. Yet, such is Delpo’s popularity, that he was greeted by cheering crowds every match he played. Starting his comeback in Delray Beach, ranked 1045 in the world, Del Potro reached the semifinal at his first event, where he was eventually beaten 7-5, 7-5 by Sam Querrey. At Wimbledon, Delpo made a few people sit up and take note of his comeback. He beat Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round in four relatively straightforward sets. He lost in the next match against the talented young Lucas Pouille, but the Argentine had done enough to convince a great many people that this time his return was for real. He was staying healthy and playing well well enough to beat the world number three just a few months after returning to the courts.
nerve and body proved that they were still world class. By the time the final rolled around, a week of intense competition had finally caught up to the Argentine. Though he fought hard up until the end, he was clearly not at his best in the four-set loss.
Delpo took further confidence from Argentina’s Davis Cup tie against Italy, where he and Guido Pella beat Fabio Fognini and Paolo Lorenzi to essentially clinch the tie for the Argentines. But the best was yet to come. In August, Delpo struck a blow that was heard around the world. Drawn to play Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Olympics, he not only defeated the world number one in straight sets, but he did so in one of the most spectacular and wellplayed matches of the whole year. It was such an incredible outcome that many pundits point to that match as the beginning of the end for Nole’s reign at the top. He just never recovered from that loss, the theory goes, and looking at the evidence it’s hard to argue. Del Potro followed that victory by beating Joao Sousa, Taro Daniel and Roberto Bautista Agut in the next rounds. Good players, but certainly not world-beaters. Then, in the semi-final, he faced a resurgent Rafael Nadal. The clash was epic, with each player giving every ounce of themselves on the court. It came down to a third set tie-break, and it was Del Potro whose
But the most important thing throughout all this, even more so than the results, was that Delpo was staying healthy. Many people wondered how he would recover from the physically demanding trials at the Olympics, but he silenced any doubts at the US Open. At Flushing Meadows, he beat the human dynamo that is David Ferrer, as well as the rising star Dominic Thiem. He eventually lost to the unstoppable Stanislas Wawrinka, but then the Swiss was unbeatable that fortnight, blasting through the draw and to the title in short order. Undoubtedly, however, Del Potro’s crowning glory came of 2016 came in the Davis Cup. First came the team’s semi-final win over the favored British group, a tie in which Del Potro beat Andy Murray in a marathon five-setter 6-4, 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. It was an incredible victory, and gave Delpo the significant distinction of having beaten Djokovic, Nadal and Murray all in the same year his comeback year. His masterpiece came in the final, another fivesetter against an old adversary, Marin Cilic. The five-hour clash was the most important match of the tie, and having also beaten Ivo Karlovic, Del Potro was the hero of the event. One can only hope that Del Potro will stay healthy in 2017 because, as we have seen, when his is playing the Tour is a much more interesting place. With Federer and Nadal waning, there is definitely room for a new champion at the top, and there is no reason
A Day At The Club by Cris
The sights, sounds and smells of a tennis club changing room are manifold. I know them well, and have come to miss them when I am away from the club for too long. From old socks to smelly T-shirt, it’s not always pleasant, but it does smell like home. The others who accompany me in the locker room share the same sentiment. Fresh out of the showers, I can still hear two men talking about a match one of them just finished. “Today he got me with his backhand,” the man was saying. “But I was tired, it happens.” Someone else is changing rapidly, racing to be on time for a match that begins in three minutes. He knows that if he doesn’t make it on time they will put another match on the court, forcing him to wait. We all talk about forehands, showers, serves and tiebreaks as if the matches played on the court are those of a Masters 1000 event, instead of just a normal club friendly. Not mentioned are the many mistakes that characterize
club matches, the framed balls and whiffed forehands. It’s just not polite to talk about such things.
much is a can of balls on the internet? At least three people will tell you they can buy their balls for cheaper.
Some people, who perhaps take everything a little too seriously, keep their ears perked for any information that might give them an advantage on the court. But after a while even they will be disappointed by the conversation. After all possible tactical angles have been covered, the players will turn from backhands and serves to the gear they use to hit these shots.
Then there are the courts. Where I play, there are mostly clay courts, and when it rains countless holes form on the surface. Apart from creating arguments, they serve their purpose: when a ball hits one of these holes, it takes on a mind of its own, spinning off in a random direction and all but ensuring a point for whoever hit the ball in the first place.
These arguments always scrape the bottom of the barrel, right along with the social gossip about why you haven’t seen a certain player at the club for so long. How
As I do my feeble warmups before the match just a few halfhearted jogs around the court I watch Mario and Gino play their weekly match on the court next to mine.
Word around the club is that they are good, among the best in the county, but when I look at them I realize they serve worse than Sara Errani. Yes, the yardstick for us club hackers are the still the same: the ATP and WTA. Fair? No. But it is what it is. There is the best and we judge ourselves and others against them. My opponent has not changed in the locker room. He came to the club already dressed and ready for battle. He takes two laps around the court. “Heck,” he tells me, “there was an open court! You should have made the best of it and started practicing. Come, let’s start.”
When your opponent tells you this, there is no warmup of any kind in terms of tennis shots, you just start playing.
find one you are more willing than usual to put up with their idiosyncrasies. This is especially true when they are at the same level as you.
From the other court I hear shouting. "The ball was out"…"No, it was clearly in!"…"Look, I'm sure, I saw it!"
But no matter what level we all are, we feel like members of the ATP Tour. I start my match, without any warmup shots, and hit a real Andy Murray serve. The ball hits a whole and jumps wildly to the side fence. My opponent starts cursing, saying that the was ready to make a Nishikori jump and hit the perfect return, if only that damn hole had not found the ball.
But I know that after the match in the clubhouse they won’t mention this incident. They will talk about everything else, but not about that. The reason is simple: in a club player availability is more important than honesty. It can be devilishly hard to find a regular playing partner, especially if you live in a rural area, so when you
That's right, the thing that separates my opponent and Nishikori is the quality of the court surface. Who knows? Nishikori has never come to our club, maybe he’s right. Going back to the locker room after finishing with some sort of half-result (the matches at the club never cease entirely, they simply take extended breaks, sometimes ones that last for days or weeks), I see all the other Masters 1000 matches going on around me. Beyond racquet stringing dating back to World War II, continental grips that date back to World War I, deflated balls, makeshift showers and deflected trajectories, a tennis army is keeping alive the spirit of the best sport in
the world. Mario and Gino are done with their match. I ask them who won. “I was winning,” replies Mario “but now …it is over.” “Well, even at Wimbledon the sun goes down, then comes up the next day and they play again,” I console him. "It's true," Gino replies,
putting in his bag a ball so deflated that it would not do for the caretaker’s dog at Wimbledon. The changing rooms now are emptying, my opponent went home without changing and Mario and Gino are in the shower. Dodging their smelly socks and their T-shirts, I also head to the showers. Suddenly, someone stops
me and asks: “Listen, youngster, how much is a can of balls on the Internet?”
Paying attention to your opponent’s movements by Federico Coppini This is a critical component of the sport, since the most basic element of tennis is playing the ball into an area left exposed by your opponent. In order to do this, experienced tennis players use their
peripheral vision to remain aware of their opponent’s movements at all times. This allows them to quickly formulate a strategy to take advantage of their opponent’s court position. During a rally you must pay close attention to the opposing player’s preparation for their next shot. This includes both their movements and
the positioning of the racquet head as they strike the ball. Last-second changes in grip or racquet positioning usually reveal surprise tactics like drop shots. You must also learn to sense what your opponent is trying to do during rallies. If you can detect, for example, that your opponent is looking for a way of coming forward, you can remain aware of their intentions and be prepared when they finally make their move. Staying focused during long points is only part of a good tennis player’s abilities. One of the most difficult things in the sport is staying focused during the downtime that follows each
point. Those 25 seconds often contain many sources of distraction, which can be both exogenous (external) or endogenous (internal). Exogenous distractions are usually related to sight and hearing, such as listening to and watching things going on next to the court or in the stands. Things like a bad call or an
aeroplane passing overhead are silly examples that can seriously change the course of the match (as happened to Ivan Lendl in the Italian Open of 1988, when he got sidetracked by the noise of a jet). These distractions can also be related to your opponent’s attempts to break your rhythm and concentration by doing strange things (as was often the case with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe). Endogenous distractions are more abstract, and can be anything from a lack of confidence to a fear of failure. They are not always related to tennis either, and are often a result of off-court worries. Events of the previous day, plans
for the evening and other everyday concerns often creep into one’s thoughts on the tennis court, and these must be ignored at all costs. Many professionals have emphasised the importance of maintaining one’s concentration on the court, and the words of the great Rod Laver ring particularly true: "There are no secrets to building up concentration in a player.
It is a skill that is developed in the same way as the other components that together make up the game. The mistake many players make is that they don’t practice their concentration while they practice their shots. If the mind of a tennis player begins to wander during a training session, you can be certain that the same will happen during a match. When I used to train in Australia, as soon as I would begin to feel tired, I would try and increase my concentration. At the end of any tough training session I would force myself to work for a further 10-15 minutes in order to improve my concentration when under a physical kind of stress. I have always believed that I got more
benefit from those extra minutes than from the entire training session." So remember, being a great tennis player is not just about hitting winners or serving well, it’s about being focused 100% of the time, and like everything else perfecting that element of your game takes lots of practice.
Serena feels the magnetic power of the couch as well
by Federico Coppini When we look at Serena Williams or Novak Djokovic, we tend to believe that they are always motivated. That
they are always ready to go out there and practice extremely hard and compete with all of their heart at any point in time. We think that they do not feel that magnetic power of the couch that all of us other normal human beings feel. However, the difference between Serena and Novak and then all the rest of us is not in the feelings we experience. If you watch the Serena documentary, you will clearly see how she is often times struggling with motivation, and if you listen
to interviews with Novak Djokovic after his long anticipated French Open victory, you will get to know that he has struggled to find the motivation to keep pushing himself further. The difference is in whether we sit back in our couch and wait for the feeling of motivation to arrive. And if it doesn’t, we will stay in the couch not putting in the necessary work to simply have a shot at fulfilling our long-term goals and acting in accordance with our values.
A lot of us believe that tennis should be fun, and if it is no longer fun, we shouldn’t be doing it. But in reality, getting out of the magnetic field of the couch, all depends on how committed we are to achieving our goals. Being committed is much more important than being motivated. Committed to a bigger purpose. Having a clear set of goals and values that you follow.
If you do decide to go out on the practice court instead of sitting around waiting, you might just experience the motivation that you have been looking for. You might feel it as you step foot on the court, you might feel it half way through the practice session, or in some instances you might not feel it at all. But at least you did what was necessary to achieve your goals and follow your values  key ingredients for successful players.
So remember that what is important is to not sit back and wait for the feeling of motivation to come. Instead, get out there on the practice court. You may not have a perfect practice, but you have still come a long way if you are having a good practice on the days where you have no motivation at all.
C’ MON
by Francesca Amidei C'MON! A battle cry ... C'MON! An electric shock which awakens the life inside you ... C'MON! A clenched fist that gives you power ... C'MON! A way of thinking that will lead you to victory ... Four letters held together by an apostrophe. Four meanings bound together by the refusal to ever give up.
Australian Open 2016. Day 4: Thursday, 21 January. Rod Laver Arena, 7.00 pm. Lleyton Hewitt vs David Ferrer. After two hours and twenty minutes of play, the score was two sets to zero and five games to three in the third set. Everything was going the Spaniard’s way, and Lleyton Hewitt’s career was seemingly minutes from being over. These few lines, when read with keen eye, are enough to evoke images of a spirited fightback and eventual win for the Aussie. It was, after all, what he had done throughout his entire career. His fighting spirit was perhaps the most intense we have ever seen in any tennis player, and his strong defensive capabilities, combined with his excellent return, allowed him to win 615 matches as a pro, many of which he won while playing from a massive deficit. For 14 years he carved a deep impression into our sport, his untiring passion and fiery competitiveness leaving a mark on whoever was lucky enough to see him play. The brash youngster, who looked more like a
surfer than a tennis player with his long blonde hair and backwards-facing cap, took only 20 years and eight months to reach the top of the men’s rankings. He was one of the youngest players ever to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
That was the beginning of the two golden years between 2000 and 2001, which saw him win the title both at Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as two triumphs at the year-end championships. It was the culmination of many years of fighting for every point in every match, no matter what the circumstances. A philosophy that he would carry with him until the last day of his career. He didn’t win the match against Ferrer, but on that day it didn’t matter. The crowd remembered all the days when he did turn around such matches, and cheered as he raised his arms to the sky one last time and shouted, C'MON!