Ryan Harrison, who will be 20 next month, is suddenly on the Davis Cup team, since Mardy Fish just unexpectedly quit after having "funny feelings." (That's a quote.) Harrison left the juniors at 16, is a chatty Twitter enthusiast and is currently ranked 66th. That makes him the 5th-highest ranked American tennis player. (They also passed right over Donald Young when picking a replacement, which, hmm.) The Davis Cup begins Friday, where they face France. So everything is thrown into an uproar, and it would be very nice to have any faith in American mens' tennis. Anyway, no pressure, teenager! It's not like we're all [...]
For years, conversations about the women’s game have revolved around players missing from the tour—past Grand Slam champions Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo all retired young. Henin, Hingis and Clijsters unretired. Henin and Hingis have since re-retired. Clijsters, who has stuck around and won three Grand Slams during her comeback, is not in New York this week, having withdrawn with a stomach muscle injury. That leaves the returning Serena Williams as the favorite during this fortnight. But what about world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki? Is she the latest in a long line of pretenders—Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safina—that have held the top spot in Williams’ [...]
During the Sony Ericsson Open this last week, spring in Miami ended, hot storms blew in and then the pasty out-of-town visitors baked each day in the green bowl of the Crandon Tennis Center stadium. As they sat and reddened, the top three ranked men were left to play together in the three final slots.
As the sun slipped down in the penultimate men's game, Rafael Nadal, whose outfit features at least 12 visible logos (one on each side of each shoe; over the heart; the shorts; each wristband; the headband; and at least one on each sock), and who apparently cannot be provided with comfortable underwear by his sponsor [...]
An exhausted liveblogger was just forced to blog for ten hours. Xan Brooks, of the Guardian, was barely keeping it together.
"9.10pm: Is it over? It is not over. For a brief moment back then, I thought it was over."
"8.40pm: It's 56 games all and darkness is falling. This, needless to say, is not a good development, because everybody knows that zombies like the dark."
"8.20pm: Wow, is that really the time? I must go home; can't think what's kept me. Wa-ha-la-ha-la-ha-la!"
Good news though! Liveblogging was finally canceled due to darkness. Bad news: there'll be more tomorrow.
Over the weekend, as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s titanic battle at the Australian Open effectively put an end to the sport of tennis, I played an hour of the game inside Grand Central Terminal. Up until recently, I had no idea there was an actual, full-size tennis court inside one of the most famous train stations in the world. I would wager that many of the 70,000-plus commuters who pass through every day don’t know about it either (perhaps they missed these photographs, as I did). But there I was, tennis bag in hand, with a voucher to play for one hour at the Vanderbilt Tennis [...]
This year’s U.S. Open featured breakthroughs for promising Americans such as Donald Young, John Isner and Sloane Stephens; instant classic matches (including the 2nd rounder between Gael Monfils and Juan Carlos Ferrero); the longest tie-breaker in women’s Grand Slam history (between eventual champion Samantha Stosur and Maria Kirilenko); the longest women’s U.S. Open match (between Stosur and Nadia Petrova); lots of rain; lots of scheduling mishaps; and, what could be, the seeds of a possible union for tennis players. Still, the three biggest storylines of the 2011 U.S. Open unfolded during its final weekend.
3. Roger Federer, Choke Artist? Roger Federer—#3 seed, 16-time Grand Slam event winner, Greatest Tennis Player [...]
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are the clear favorites at this year’s U.S. Open. Djokovic is playing at an insanely high level and has distanced himself from the rest of the Big Four—Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. And as far as the women, the withdrawal of two-time defending champ Kim Clijsters clears the path for Serena Williams to win her fourth U.S. Open title. But since both Djokovic and Williams suffered injuries at a recent warm-up tournament, it might be premature to dispense trophies just yet. Some questions remain: Can Andy Murray somehow get by Djokovic to win the big one? Do any American males have a [...]
For those who are into doing some deep analysis, here's a nutty compilation video of Novak Djokovic's last 40 match points. Related: Here's video of Rafael Nadal nearly biting it in an endless match against… unseeded and relentlessly tall babyface John Isner this morning at the French Open. BIG, BIG DRAMA.
Hey, what did you do this weekend? If you were Rafael Nadal, you dropped by a penguin nursery in Melbourne with your trainer, after destroying a competitor in the Australian Open and having nearly-naked underwear ads hit the Internet. You're lazy. (via)
There are two things I do not give a flying fig about, and those are tennis and people who live outside of New York who have opinions on local landmark and zoning permit issues. Man, seriously, shut up about the tennis! I know: you people like it. That's nice. That being said, if you are a New Yorker subscriber, which surely you are, then you can read about the British Open, which is much more interesting in the telling by John McPhee than the U.S. Open is through the channels of the various unintelligible Twitters of New York Times employees with extraordinarily nebulous jobs.
Over the weekend in the far-off and forgotten colony of Australia, a long-standing problem in athletics was finally solved! Tennis, a thorny question that first began plaguing the English in the 19th century, is now complete, with the conclusion of a record five-hour-and-53-minute match to end the Australian Open. Ecstatic with their work, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic pretty much nearly barfed during the trophy ceremony. (Nadal actually sat on the net; Djokovic was pretty much face-to-knees; finally, two little convicts scurried onto the court with chairs for the pair.)
We expect word later today from the upcoming Sony Ericsson and then the U.S. Open about their cancellations, [...]
One of the best things about tennis is that you can switch allegiances every decade or so. That’s unacceptable in team sports. Changing teams reveals serious character flaws. There is one exception to that rule: If the franchise relocates to another city, then you, the fan, can pick a new favorite. (For example, when the New York Islanders leave Nassau County in 2015, I can acquire a new favorite hockey team. They’ll probably be Canadian. The Winnipeg Jets, perhaps?) Tennis is different. We're not rooting for laundry. We're rooting for individuals. And individuals get old and retire.
Growing up, my guy was Goran Ivanisevic. There were a few reasons why [...]
Are you following tennis great Novak Djokovic on the Internets? He has been documenting his attempt to get with a squirrel for days. This is how you prepare for Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour pretty much single-handedly created the fame of maybe-yesterday's tennis superstar Roger Federer and now? The front of Vogue's website is plastered with an enormous nearly-naked Novak Djokovic, who is on a 39-game winning streak, likely the best tennis player in the world, certainly the most fascinating man in tennis to watch play right now, and GOOD GRAVY, IS HE EVER REALLY VERY NAKED. (Unfortunately, Vogue went to press before his recent trouncing of Rafael Nadal on clay, but Sports Illustratedhas us covered.)
John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have resumed the longest tennis match in history (apologies to those of you who think they all are). How long will today's Guardian liveblogger suffer? The match is currently 63-62 in Isner's favor, but you know how these things go. Update: And now you can stop paying attention to tennis: Isner beats Mahut 70-68.
