Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open victory sees him inch closer to Roger Federer’s record February 3, 2020 Novak Djokovic’s eighth victory at the Australian Open has cemented his position as the most successful player to ever grace the grand slam. The Serb’s gutsy 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Dominic Thiem yesterday saw him claim an eighth crown in Melbourne – more than any other player from any other era. The [...]
Roger Federer defies age and logic to set-up Australian Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic January 28, 2020 When Roger Federer steps out onto the court at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, even he may be surprised to have made it to the Australian Open semi-finals again. The six-time winner has twice looked certain to be heading for an early exit at this year’s competition before coming back from the brink of [...]
Australia bushfire crisis brings out the best of Nick Kyrgios January 14, 2020 Given the national state of emergency caused by the bushfires engulfing the country, the Australian tennis team could have been forgiven for forgoing the ATP Cup. Instead the team, inspired by the unlikely figure of Nick Kyrgios, provided many of the highlights at the inaugural tournament in Sydney, which concluded yesterday. Australia sailed through their [...]
Who needs Andy Murray? Davis Cup run offers Great Britain cause for optimism November 24, 2019 If there was trepidation or at least uncertainty in the Great Britain camp on the eve of the Davis Cup last week then it would have been no surprise, given recent developments. A drastic overhaul of the 119-year-old tournament had prompted concerns for the future of the event, while results this season offered little hope [...]
Stefanos Tsitsipas: Why the charismatic, gangly Greek likened to Bjorn Borg is the man most likely to challenge Federer, Nadal and Djokovic November 18, 2019 It’s a question that feels almost as old as the old guard themselves: is [insert name of young buck here] the man to break Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s stranglehold on men’s tennis? Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev have all been touted as saviours, yet none has managed to [...]
It’s the Davis Cup, but not as we know it: the lowdown on the ‘world cup of tennis’ taking place in Madrid November 17, 2019 After 118 years of the Davis Cup being played over the duration of the tennis season, this week it is replaced by a new version that is decided over just seven days. The revamp will some of the world’s best players compete for 18 countries in Madrid in a format designed to equate to a [...]
ATP Finals 2019: The battle for world No1 ranking and four more things to watch at the O2 this week November 10, 2019 Winning the final and biggest ATP Tour event of the year will be enough motivation for the eight taking centre stage at London’s O2 Arena this week, but for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic the world No1 spot is also on the line. Nadal currently leads Djokovic in the rankings by 640 points, but the [...]
Kyle Edmund out to rediscover form at US Open after stuttering 2019 August 27, 2019 As Andy Murray’s hip injury has taken him to the brink of retirement during the last two years, the weight of being Britain’s best male singles player has come to rest on Kyle Edmund. Edmund, who begins his US Open campaign against Spain’s Pablo Andujar today, has been the national No1 since March 2018 but [...]
Naomi Osaka getting back to her best as she bids to retain US Open title after ‘worst months of her life’ August 22, 2019 A relatively unknown entity outside of the tennis circuit at the turn of 2018, Naomi Osaka was still to crack the world top 40. She made that breakthrough in March of last year but it was at the US Open 12 months ago that she announced herself to a much wider audience. Having previously only [...]
How 15-year-old American tennis star Cori Gauff can avoid the pitfalls of being a child prodigy July 21, 2019 A month ago few people knew who 15-year-old Cori Gauff was – and with good reason. Although she had caused a stir on the junior tennis circuit, Gauff was ranked No313 in the world before the offer of a wild card into Wimbledon qualifying, in her own words, “literally changed my life in seconds”. Gauff [...]