Some players show remarkable dedication to their racquets, especially old school players. Pete Sampras stuck with the same racquet, the Wilson Pro Staff 85, his entire career. Stefan Edberg played with this racquet as well. Boris Becker played with a single racquet his entire career. When the racquet was to be discontinued, he acquired all
If you really had to press Roger Federer and ask him whether it was more important, for his legacy, to win Slams or Davis Cup, you know what the answer would be. If Nadal has had master over Federer, he's also had a sidekick named David Ferrer, ranked 5th in the world, who makes Davis
Roger Federer doesn't play much Davis Cup. It's hard enough for him to stay healthy for Slams, so he frequently skips Davis Cup even though he has a reasonably solid number 2 in Stan Wawrinka behind him. Andy Murray, for example, skips a lot of Davis Cup too, but he has no one ranked in
It's easy, at the conclusion of a grueling Australian Open, to believe all of tennis is being played by the top four. The entirety of the top four took a week off. For some, like Rafa, it's rest and training. Rafa promised not to play until Indian Wells and has chosen not to play Davis
Boris Becker once said the fifth set wasn't about tennis, it was about heart. There seems no better example than the fifth set of this marathon match that nearly edged six hours. The fifth set seemed like one of those Rocky movies with Rocky faced against an inhuman opponent, and both players took punches and
It's the third Slam in a row that world number 1, Novak Djokovic, will face world number 2, Rafael Nadal. When the curtains closed on 2011, the big questions were "Is Novak healthy" and "Is Rafa mentally ready?". Murray knew the answers to these questions. He was asked what he thought of his competition prior
When your livelihood depends on traveling across the world, a little planning is important. Bob Bryan, who got married somewhat recently, was expecting his first child. The good news was that it wouldn't exactly happen during the Australian Open. The bad news is, the baby was expected to arrive the last day of the tournament.Â
Andy Murray has been called a counterpuncher, but he's not exactly a counterpuncher in the classic way. Back when Andy Murray was rising in the ranks, he relied more on change of spins and pace and finesse drop shots to win matches. Murray's big strength then as it is now is his tremendous speed and
Rafael Nadal must be so thrilled. He had come off a tough four set challenge from the Swiss maestro who, once again, could not figure out a way to beat the beast of Mallorca. They say, in football, a good defense wins championships, and Rafa showed, if you can chase enough would-be winners, your opponent
As usual, Federer looked sharp out of the gate, but Nadal again caught up before Federer could close out the set and feel good about it. Federer took a 3-0 lead and looked sharp, hardly missing any serves, but as soon as Nadal began holding serve, Federer's sharp play started showing edges. Shots that were
