0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/1/2015
For the men at Roland Garros, the end of play on Monday evening marks the calm before the storm of four blockbuster quarterfinals. For the women competing for a major championship in Paris, everything is possible… despite what you might think about the hollowed-out nature of the bracket. In 2013, Serena Williams fended off Maria […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Every tournament takes on a life of its own, in any sport. Some tournaments become interesting from the very start and stay that way. Others start brightly but then slow down and descend into dullsville, with a predictable forced-march of a denouement giving fans and pundits very little to chew on. Still other tournaments gain […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/30/2015
Saturday’s third-round match at the French Open between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka began as a ho-hum affair. It became a match worthy of a major semifinal or final… and of the legacies of two major champions. It then gave way to two of the best post-match press conferences of 2015 (in any sport, not […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/27/2015
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (pictured above) didn’t score an aberrational victory over Simona Halep in last year’s U.S. Open in New York… because she defeated Halep again in the second round of the 2015 French Open on Wednesday. Lucic-Baroni, whose remarkable tennis story can’t be repeated enough, won a 7-5 first set and then hammered Halep (and […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/26/2015
No earth-shaking upsets occurred in the first round of the 2015 French Open, but on Tuesday, two players who left a noticeably positive imprint on the 2014 tennis season were quickly dismissed from Paris. In the men’s tournament, Grigor Dimitrov was swept out of France by Jack Sock, 7-6 (7), 6-2, 6-3, while in the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/22/2015
The men’s draw for the 2015 French Open has been announced. A one-word summary of the draw: KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! The doomsday scenario arrived for legions of Spaniards and Serbs on Friday in Paris. Rafael Nadal, seeded sixth at this tournament due to his struggles over the past few months, was slotted to play Novak Djokovic, the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The women’s singles draw for the 2015 French Open has been announced. What stands out about a bracket that features so many delicious (or perilous, depending on your viewpoint) uncertainties? You can debate which item is the second most important one on your list, but there should be no discussion about the top story to […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/21/2015
In the Southwestern United States, Cox Communications has been running a series of commercials for a number of years. The point is rather simple: Cox guarantees its products in ways that competitors are prohibited from making certain statements: This is what a lot of tennis journalists and commentators (though not all of them) are doing […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It is a basic reality of any bracketed tournament: It’s generally best to wait until the draw comes out to make more finite assessments of what’s at stake, who has a profound opportunity to create a lifelong memory, and which performers are uniquely vulnerable. With this in mind, we don’t yet need to delve into […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/17/2015
There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Then again, numbers — while often telling falsehoods and being eternally subject to manipulation — can also reveal powerful truths. As the Roman road becomes the path to Paris, and the clay Masters 1000 series gives way to the year’s second major tournament, the numbers tell the story […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
In 2012, Maria Sharapova conquered Rome and then Paris. Being able to win the last prominent lead-up tournament to the French Open, and to then claim Roland Garros itself, represented one of the more substantial clay-court achievements in recent women’s tennis history. Sharapova has once again lifted a trophy in Italy’s ancient city, but as […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/11/2015
Every year (since 2011), the chatter builds before the French Open: This is Novak Djokovic’s year. This is the year Rafael Nadal fails to win Roland Garros. Every year, Nadal gathers himself and his resources — no matter how many setbacks he suffers in the month of May — and conquers Paris in early June. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/10/2015
The 2015 Mutua Madrid Open — like the ones before it — is a point of intrigue and fascination, because this tournament has an inconsistent relationship with Roland Garros, the crown jewel of the clay-court season each year. On one hand, Madrid’s higher elevation lends itself to a more aggressive style, one in which quality […]
0 comments by Joe Webb on 5/1/2015
The 12-city tour of one-night tournaments played during March and April is coming to a close, as there are only three events left, all of which are taking place this week. The 2015 PowerShares Series is a competitive tennis circuit featuring legendary tennis icons and world-renowned champions Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, […]
0 comments by Joe Webb on 4/21/2015
The PowerShares Series, the 12-city tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30, continues Wednesday, April 22 in Boston at the Agganis Arena at Boston University. Andy Roddick will go for his seventh straight title and will be joined by John McEnroe, Todd Martin and James Blake, among others. Roddick remains in […]
