Belgians seem to produce these short stocky players. The Rochus brothers, Oliver and Christopher, are about 5'6". Such heights were more common 40 or 50 years ago, but as taller players have become more athletic, being short has become a liability. Steve Darcis, had he been playing in the 1970s, would have been at a
With Roger Federer's recent ascendancy to number 1, there was one thing, for sure. Djokovic and Federer wouldn't be in the same half of the draw. That only leaves where Andy Murray falls in the draw. Neither option is good, and it looks like, unlike Wimbledon, Murray has to go through both Federer and Djokovic
Less than three weeks after the conclusion of Wimbledon, grass tennis will be played once again. London serves as host of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Wimbledon, the venue of the tennis tournament. The downtrodden grass has been replanted, and competition will start on Saturday. The men's event is a draw of 64. Round 1
Muller? Muller? Gilles Muller comes from the tiny country of Luxembourg and was once the top ranked junior in the world. That success never quite translated to the pro tour. Muller has had the occasional upset, most notably, a first round upset of Andy Roddick in the US Open in 2005. Muller has only been
There are players on tour that have been there for some number of years. Not everyone who plays pro tennis hoists trophies week after week. Some labor even when titles are scarce. After all, they are still among the top 100 or so players in the world. More than ten years ago, Gilles Muller, from
More European clay results. In Hamburg, top seeded Nicolas Almagro beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, 75 75. Juan Monaco over Jeremy Chardy, 63 75. Marin Cilic over Albert Ramos, 64 76. Wildcard Tommy Haas over Florian Mayer, 61 64. In Gstaad, Switzerland, top seeded Janko Tipsarevic beat Jan Henrych, 61 61. Paul-Henri Mathieu over Ernests Gulbis, 46
Thirty years ago, in the early 1980s, tennis in the US was still predominantly American. Indeed, in the 1970s and before, only a handful of counties were producing top players, including the US, Australia, and well, maybe France. In those days, Swedish tennis was riding the surge of Bjorn Borg with players like Mats Wilander
Shortly after Nadal lost to Lukas Rosol in his upset 2nd round bid, Nadal told the press that he would not play until the Olympics, and, oh yes, his knees were bothering him again. It appears that it's serious enough that he plans to skip the Olympics this year. Having won the gold back in
In 2008, Roger Federer failed to reach a Slam final at the Australian Open. He had had mono. Despite this, he reached the semis. At the French Open, he once again, lost to Rafael Nadal, the year Nadal didn't drop a set in the tournament. At Wimbledon, after several years of being runner up, Rafael
You have to give credit to Lleyton Hewitt. For some reason, Federer's generation produced players whose bodies have broken down, most notably, Tommy Haas, but yes, Lleyton Hewitt. Many of his generation's stars play infrequently now or are retired: Hewitt, Haas, Ferrero, Nalbandian. Some of his generation continue to plod along working in the top
