0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/11/2014
A weekend in Canada, a change of sceneWas the most I bargained forAnd then I discovered you, and in your eyesI found the love that I couldn’t ignore. — Canadian Sunset, 1956 * Norman Gimbel, the lyricist for a song that’s almost 60 years old, knew what a weekend in Canada could do for the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/6/2014
NOTE: Attacking The Net was created this year to cover the major tournaments, with the possibility (no guarantees, though…) that it could cover more of the tennis calendar in the future. This blog will go largely dark for the next month. You’ll get post-tournament wrap-ups on the Monday morning after the Canada and Cincinnati tour […]
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The story of ESPN’s performance in week one at Wimbledon is archived here. Why was this account so lengthy? Very simply, ESPN (and at times, ESPNEWS) covered Wimbledon with only one television channel at one time. ESPN covered tennis until the early World Cup match came on, and ESPNEWS then filled in. However, the WorldWide Leader […]
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The story of a memorable gentlemen’s singles final at Centre Court Wimbledon begins in Melbourne, Australia, on January 29, 2012. On that night, Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open final, 7-5 in the fifth set over Rafael Nadal. Djokovic was so close to winning in four sets, but Nadal uncorked a string of clutch points […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/5/2014
One of the most influential figures in the history of modern tennis, Billie Jean King, has uttered one of the most succinctly profound truths about competitive athletics: “Pressure is a privilege.” If you’re feeling the butterflies that accompany a Wimbledon singles final or any other championship match, you’re enduring the pressure every tennis player wants […]
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press
0 comments by Matt Zemek
For the casual sports fan — in America but also in other nations — the final weekend of Wimbledon is much like Christmas or Easter Mass for the fallen-away or secularized Catholic. You watch. You go. It’s an event. You might even catch a moment of inspiration and walk out of the cathedral with a new […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/4/2014
One of the most important sports books of all time, whether or not you’ve read it, is Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis, published in 1974. Gallwey explored the mental dimensions of tennis, unearthing insights that coaches in the sport have used ever since. Gallwey’s view of tennis has spread to other sports. Pete […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/3/2014
In tennis, the hammer — the weapon that can take the racquet out of an opponent’s hand — is the serve. In the face of a hammer, it is up to the opponent to show enough steel to get serves back and create attritional baseline tennis with extended rallies that wear down the quick-strike artist. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/2/2014
Novak Djokovic, pictured above, is the odd man out in Friday’s Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles semifinals. At age 27, Djokovic is neither the old man Roger Federer is, nor is he part of the “young gun” generation led by Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic. For the most part, Wednesday’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon — which followed victories […]
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There were two kinds of upsets to marvel at on Tuesday, as Wimbledon became “Wimbledonnybrook.” One of those upsets offered a portrayal of an underdog surpassing a favorite on the favorite’s own terms, as Angelique Kerber outfought one of the best fighters in women’s tennis, Maria Sharapova. The write-up for that match is here. The […]
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It was a memorable Tuesday afternoon at the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Two significant upsets visited SW19. On the men’s side of Wimbledon, Nick Kyrgios had no mercy in his takedown of Rafael Nadal. A write-up of “Kyrgios Eleison’s” victory can be found here. A few hours earlier, on the same hallowed patch […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/29/2014
Here at Attacking The Net, it’s important to document, instance by instance – for better or worse – the way in which tennis broadcasters cover the major tournaments. We did this in our debut at Roland Garros a few weeks ago, so we’re definitely going to do so again for Wimbledon. Roland Garros, as diehard […]
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The day was a wet one at Wimbledon, with rain persisting long enough to force all non-Centre Court matches to early-evening or nighttime conclusions. Some matches didn’t even finish, creating a backlog that will disrupt the second-week schedule at the All-England Club. (More will be said on that subset of problems in a separate piece […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/27/2014
Look at the photo of Petra Kvitova. Notice the background of shade, contrasting with the ribbon of golden light on the top of Kvitova’s head. That’s the kind of camera shot that can be found at Centre Court Wimbledon during the five o’clock hour on a sunny summer afternoon. During that particular part of a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/26/2014
To the uneducated observer, tennis is a simple sport — just whack the ball and keep it within the painted white lines. Thock! Thock! Thock! Thock! The sport is easily pigeonholed as a genteel pursuit in which fans seated on the sides of a stadium turn their heads — left, right, left, right — as […]
