Ivo Karlovic is one of those unusual players. He grew up poor, so he didn't get all the lessons the top juniors got and practiced the one thing you can practice by yourself: his serve. Karlovic not only hits the biggest serve in tennis, he is pretty consistent too. Like Roddick, Karlovic hits about 70%
Looking every bit like a sandy brown Apollo Ohno, soul patch included, or perhaps that faithful stoner buddy of Scooby Doo, Lukas Lacko, the Slovak Shaggy, had Rafael Nadal on the the ropes. Lacko (pronounced Lack-so by the announcers) is not exactly a young player. At age 23, he's been on the tour for a
Once upon a time, there was a split between pro and amateur tennis. Amateur tennis was more of the Olympian ideal. No money except for basic expenses (food, travel, etc). Of course, the lack of money meant that most good amateurs had to become pros to make money, and the poorer you were, the sooner
When Pete Sampras captured his 14th and final Slam at the 2002 US Open, many figured it would be years, if not decades, before someone came along to break this record. After all, Roy Emerson won his 13th Slam in 1967, which was some 30 plus years earlier. It's even hard to compare Emerson to
When the world's best play one another, you hope, nay, you expect to see great matches. The ATP World Tour Finals gather the best 8 players in the world where the winner must play up to 5 different top 8 players to win. There were opportunities for greatness to happen. Roger Federer played Andy Murray
Last year, Rafael Nadal had a "beautiful disaster" losing all three of his round robin matches with nary a set. This year, he was able to turn it around. He came into today's match with a 2-0 lead and playing Tomas Berdych, the man who he beat to win this year's Wimbledon. Berdych's style seems
Let's start with the top seed and work our way down. Rafael Nadal Rafa's level generally never drops too low. Everyone points to how he never gives up, and while that's certainly one factor in his incredible ability to win, everyone says that about Lleyton Hewitt, and he's struggling to get in the top 20.
Generally speaking, when Nadal takes some time off, he's serious about winning a tournament. Until 2010, these were the list of big achievements (in single events), he had yet to achieve: win the US Open (he hadn't even made the finals) and win the year-end championship (he had never been to the finals there). Having
Today, Group A played. Djokovic came into finals playing good tennis. Meanwhile, Tomas Berdych playing the inconsistent tennis that marked his recent years of play. Much was hoped for when he reached the semis of the French and the finals of Wimbledon, but instead, Berdych backpedalled and went back to losing to whomever, showing the
Although the year is not yet over, I'm ready to pick my best match of the year. I always hate when tennis pundits pick their best match of the year. Invariably, they pick a Slam, because they figure if it's some obscure event in Doha, none of the tennis public will know what they are
