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 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
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 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
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 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
There’s so much about Wimbledon that’s right, more than the other three major tournaments and, for that matter, any other major sporting event in the world. No overt commercialism. Hushed, respectful crowds. A sense of reverence for the sport. An awareness of the importance of tradition. Clean, white clothing, free of loudness or attitude. A […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
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 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/23/2014
It did not take long for the 2014 Wimbledon tournament to provide a stormy, polarizing moment. After only two hours of play, Sloane Stephens — owner of six consecutive round-of-16 or better showings at the majors, the longest active streak in women’s tennis — crashed out of the All-England Club with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/22/2014
Clay-court fans and the backers of immensely successful clay-court players view the French Open as the crown jewel of every year. The longtime chroniclers of tennis — those who have been around for at least 40 years in the press boxes and media centers of the sport — will calmly point out how marginalized grass-court […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/20/2014
The Wimbledon men’s singles draw is out. Click on each quarter of the draw to scan the full 128-player field. * If there’s a single theme which looms over the 2014 Wimbledon men’s tournament, it is that the first week can no longer be seen as an easy, breezy prelude to the second week. This statement […]
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The Wimbledon ladies’ singles draw was announced Friday morning. Click on each quarter of the draw to see the full 128-player bracket, with 32 players in each quarter. What stands out in the WTA portion of the 2014 Wimbledon bracket? As is the case with Novak Djokovic’s quarter in the men’s draw, it is as […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/17/2014
The following list is sure to raise some pointed questions and spirited disagreements, but it is based on the simple contention that a significant match and a great match aren’t one and the same thing. Many far greater and more memorable matches have been staged at Wimbledon, but only a few other men’s matches can […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/16/2014
The All-England Club is where history lives and breathes more fully in tennis. So many of the sport’s important dramas and contentious rivalries have come alive in its most tradition-soaked setting. Keeping in mind that this list is not a measurement of pure quality or drama, here are the 10 most significant women’s matches of […]
