Hopman Cup Let's start with an exo, only because I caught the tail-end of this. This is like a mini-Davis Cup. One man. One woman. Two singles. One mixed doubles. The finalists, this year, were Spain and Serbia. Of course, with Novak Djokovic, Serbia won the men's singles. Anabel Medina Garrigues then won a touch
Often the opening tournaments of the new year tell you more about the players ranked outside the top 5 than they do the top 5. After all, it's not only the best of the best that use the off-season (which lasts maybe two months for lower-ranked players) to ramp up their game. So here are
2012 was not a good year for Bernard Tomic. It didn't start that way, of course. At the start of 2012, Tomic looked, for all the world, that he and Milos Raonic would fight for best newcomer of the year. He reached the semis of Brisbane losing to Andy Murray. He won an exhibition where
With the start of the new year, the tennis cycle starts afresh. It was only about 6 weeks ago that the last official ATP event was played, namely, the Davis Cup finals. Since then, some players have used the extra time for exhibitions. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were
Before there was Juan Martin del Potro, there was Guillermo Coria. He had won the French Open as a junior in 1999. For three brief years, between 2003-2005, he was the king of clay. 2003 was a particularly good year for the Argentine. He won Hamburg, Kitzbuhel, and Stuttgart. One could say that he was
Rafael Nadal has announced his withdrawal from the Australian Open due to a stomach virus), and this has to make his competition delirious with delight at the chance to make it deep in the draw. Nadal's absence has lead to some wild speculations including those who think his knee isn't healing that well (despite Nadal's
In the first big news for the 2013 season, Nadal has just announced that he is withdrawing from the Australian Open. Nadal was scheduled to play Abu Dhabi, an exhibition in the United Arab Emirates, which is ongoing. However, due to a stomach virus, he withdrew from that. He has chosen, on doctor's advice, not
It's getting to be the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, so it's a good time to look back. At the end of 2011, Djokovic had had the best year of his life, but he never quite recovered after a grueling US Open where he beat Rafael Nadal in four long sets, but
Basketball may have been the first sport to have a shot clock, that is, a time period which an attempt must be made to make a basket. The penalty is to give the other team possession of the ball. Prior to then, a team could, in theory, hold the ball and pass it around for
2008 was Andy Murray's breakout year. He reached the quarters of Wimbledon. He fizzled at the Olympics, but arguably, Nadal was fatigued from playing the Olympics, so Murray had a shot at beating him in the US Open. In 2008, a huge storm was moving its way up the East Coast of the US, and
