0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/26/2015
The gentlemen’s singles draw for Wimbledon 2015 has been released, with seeded players in white: Here are the items of foremost importance after the revelation of the brackets: The biggest question in the men’s draw, in terms of pointing the path to the eventual champion, was whether Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer (the top two […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/24/2015
When Stan Wawrinka won his second major a few weeks ago in Paris, he forever banished the possibility that his only major title would come against a physically compromised opponent in the final. Wawrinka registered an achievement which will rightly change the way we think about him as a tennis player. Something else Wawrinka did […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/8/2015
The championship match of a major singles tournament always influences and changes the larger story of tennis, but much as some points in a tennis match are more important than others, some title tilts acquire more importance than others. Let’s be clear: What you’re about to read is not a final verdict on history or […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The 2015 French Open figured to be crazy… and it was. Let’s review the past two weeks, shall we? * 10 – WOZNIACKI’S WOES — NOT TO BE OVERSTATED, BUT NOT TO BE IGNORED, EITHER The (lack of) fortunes of Caroline Wozniacki in 2015 should not be given too much play after Roland Garros — […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/7/2015
The 2015 Roland Garros men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka carried the weight of history. It also carried the flavors of the 2009 final between a Swiss player and a man who had beaten Rafael Nadal earlier in the tournament. In 2009, one man was trying to win a career Grand Slam, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/6/2015
It’s all so deliciously historic, spiced with the flavor of recent tennis years at Roland Garros. Sunday in Paris, Novak Djokovic will play for a piece of immortality in the sport he has mastered so fully. The world No. 1 will get a chance to complete the career Grand Slam because he typically steeled himself […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/4/2015
It is one of the constant points of contention in the global tennis community: When is a player “faking discomfort” on the court, and when is pain real? There’s a double-meaning in the act of mentioning “discomfort,” because taking on the topic is supremely uncomfortable. Choosing to talk about player discomfort — real, false, or […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/3/2015
The toughest thing to do in tennis is to win the calendar Grand Slam, of course, so if you wanted to be really nitpicky about this conversation, fine — what’s about to be said is not 100 percent accurate. However, for all intents and purposes, the toughest thing to do in men’s tennis over the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 6/1/2015
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 5/22/2015
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 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 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 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 4/19/2015
Every tournament matters. Every non-exhibition competition in sports possesses value. Every time professionals take the court — in tennis or any other endeavor — they enhance their levels of integrity to the extent that they take pride in their work, putting in an honest day’s effort for an honest day’s pay. If one dares to […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/5/2015
The Miami Open — formerly the Sony Open and casually known as just “Miami” or “Key Biscayne” — has long been a sixth finger or toe on the tennis tour. This is not a commentary in any way on the spicy and alluring Miami area or the many people who work hard to put together […]
