0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/13/2015
The ATP side of the Wimbledon divide offered plenty of fascinating stories. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will get their own stand-alone treatment, so here are the five big non-final observations from the past two weeks at SW19: * 5 – CANADIAN SUNRISE There was no Canadian Sunset at Wimbledon — not when one realizes […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The latest edition of Wimbledon provided plenty of off-court controversies and sideshows, but Attacking The Net wants to keep the focus on the court. What were the most important developments of the past fortnight in suburban London for the members of the WTA Tour? Let’s take a look: * 5 – THE ART OF THE […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/12/2015
In the 2009 Wimbledon final, Roger Federer — down a set — fell behind in the second-set tiebreaker, 6-2. He improbably won a point on his opponent’s serve at 6-5 in that tiebreaker and eventually won the tiebreaker. Federer won the third set and then outlasted Andy Roddick in one of Wimbledon’s greatest championship matches. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/11/2015
Purely in a chronological sense, Serena Williams stands in the autumn of her career. If her career could be likened to a 12-month calendar year, she’s in late September as opposed to early April. More years are behind her than in front of her as a transcendent tennis player. Her first major title came 16 […]
He played in the 1954 and 1974 Wimbledon singles finals. Ken Rosewall might not have written the book on tennis longevity, but he certainly authored several chapters.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
When he attends the Australian Open, Ken Rosewall is a distinguished guest. He is a global legend, one especially cherished in Australia. He’s part of the phenomenal golden generation of Australian male tennis players, the group of marvelously skilled wizards who — from 1950 through 1967 — won 14 of 18 Davis Cup championships, part […]
0 comments by Joe Webb
After a thrilling Wimbledon final that saw Novak Djokovic defeat Roger Federer three sets to one for his third Wimbledon title, some of the best tennis players in the world on the ATP Tour are heading to Newport, Rhode Island for the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. The event begins on July 11 and runs […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/10/2015
In January of 2003, another old man — in tennis terms — won a major title. Andre Agassi, three months short of his 33rd birthday, became one of the oldest ATP major champions in the Open Era of professional tennis. His opponent in the final of the 2003 Australian Open, though, was not Andy Murray, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/9/2015
As a Spanish woman, Garbine Muguruza, prepares for a Wimbledon singles final on Saturday, the pages of tennis history turn. Back in 1974, 39-year-old Ken Rosewall contested the Wimbledon men’s final against 21-year-old Jimmy Connors. That’s a college freshman’s lifespan between the two competitors. In the annals of Wimbledon women’s finals with large age disparities […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/8/2015
A timeless lesson is something which exists in any point of human history. However, when talking about tennis or baseball or a few other sports, the idea of “timelessness” is more specific, since those sports aren’t played against the backdrop of a clock. Baseball players and solo-sport athletes — and any other athletes in sports […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/7/2015
For some fans of tennis and some fans of various sports, dominance is boring. What’s so special about seeing the same winner over and over again, the same movie over and over again? It’s not inherently right or wrong to look at sports this way — it’s simply a matter of taste and preference. The […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/6/2015
Manic Monday, as the second Monday of Wimbledon is referred to, claims a special place on the tennis calendar, mostly for good reasons. However, some of the effects of this day are unavoidably unwelcome. You can call it a “first-world tennis problem,” a consequence of the All-England Club’s annual decision (due to the politics of […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/5/2015
Those who watched Pancho Gonzales, at age 41, win a Wimbledon match in 1969 with sets of 46 (!), 30, and 20 games might regard him as the greatest fighter men’s tennis has ever known. (That 1969 match with Charlie Pasarell helped usher in the era of the tiebreaker one year later, an interesting side […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/4/2015
Twice in a span of 24 hours at Wimbledon, the same basic drama unfolded… and cut in different directions. On Friday, Serena Williams — one of the two players expected to make the women’s final — found herself at 4-4 in the third set on Centre Court. She lost serve at 4-4 and watched Heather […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 7/2/2015
When the story of this resplendent and unforgettable era of men’s tennis is written, the footsteps of Rafael Nadal will never stray that far from the footprints left by Roger Federer, and vice-versa. When this era is recalled 30, 50, or 75 years from now, any mention of one man will invariably bring the other […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/30/2015
In tennis, it’s important to emphasize the following point, lest this discussion veer in an unwanted direction: Much as duration of match and quality of match have little to do with each other, qualities such as parity and depth are value-neutral. They require circumstances in order to be seen as positive or negative. A division […]
