Each year, for the past 3 years, a player from nowhere has come out of "nowhere" and moved into the top 10. In 2007, that man was Novak Djokovic. In 2008, there were two men: Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In 2009, it was Robin Soderling. Is there someone that is basically unknown
It was only late November when the men's tour wrapped up the year, and already, into the new year, 2010, we're only 2 weeks away from the first Slam of the year. Most of the men spent December training. There are maybe 2-3 times during the year to hone your fitness. December is one of
I. Introduction It's been said that the mind is always with you or against you...Self-talk in us humans is instinctive, spontaneous and eternal. And perhaps so is our need for it. In fact, one commentator remarked that if we opened up a person's head, we would see a popcorn machine full of thoughts and emotions
I recently completed reading Eight-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi's highly publicized autobiography with some of those shocking revelations about recreational drug use and lying to tennis authorities about it. Frankly, I was disappointed. Although I have great respect for Agassi's on-court accomplishments and skills, his magnificent work for charity and the sport, and his
As we push onto 2010, all manner of news organizations are feeling the need to sum up the decade that was. Of course, there is an arbitrariness to picking years that end in nice round numbers like 0. Not everything fits nicely in a decade. Players like Stefan Edberg had the good years span across
Now that the tennis season is over, let's take a quick look back at 2009 and a quick look forward. Roger Federer. Federer started off 2009 making it to yet another Slam final. Although he started 2009 much like 2008, that is, struggling to find form, he still did his part by reaching the final.Â
You would think, with the year-end championship, this year called ATP World Tour Finals, which was played November 29th, that there would be no more tennis to be played. Au contraire. There was one last piece of unfinished business. The Davis Cup Final. Spain, again, found itself in the finals. They were heavily favored on
Andre Agassi once said that before him, there were players that could hit hard, and players that could hit on the rise, but none that could do both. Clearly, his short-term memory forgot about Jimmy Connors, but we forgive you, Andre. It was, however, Jimmy Connors' rival, Bjorn Bjorg, then the father of modern power
If you were to look at the post-US Open record, you'd point to 2 maybe 3 players that looked like they were doing pretty well, at least, enough to contend for the year-end title. You'd pick Djokovic, because he won Basel and Paris. You'd look at Murray, since he won Valencia. And you'd look at
If you were to ask a tennis aficionado who would be in the semifinals, few would tell you: Federer, Davydenko, Soderling, del Potro. Perhaps you might guess Federer and del Potro, but to think the very hot Novak Djokovic and the nearly hot Andy Murray would not be contending would be a surprise. Indeed, both
