A look back at just some of what has made this Swiss player so revered to so many.
Federer’s finest work came at Wimbledon—not just in his eight title runs, but during his breakout victory in 2001 over idol Pete Sampras.
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One doesn’t have to be Roger Federer to appreciate some of the world’s best tennis courts. With exquisite design and picturesque surroundings, you can perfect your strokes on some of the world’s most unique courts, located in places ranging from the Miami skyline to high over New York City.
Designing tennis courts—or any sport facility, for that matter—has both a structured simplicity and an artistic challenge. In many ways, courts are all the same: They measure 78 feet long and 36 feet wide, they’re ideally oriented from the north to the south, and all are marked with the same baselines, service boxes, and cut by the same three-foot net. But with so many predetermined elements, designing something unique presents a difficult but satisfying opportunity when carried out correctly.
With the U.S. Open gearing up to take center court, AD looks at some of the most breathtaking spots to go game-set-match around the world.
The Center Court at La Quinta Resort in California offers unique views of towering palms and rugged rock formations. With excellent weather and breathtaking surroundings, it’s no surprise that professionals like Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic have practiced here.
ATLANTA — The phrase “future of American men’s tennis” mostly inspires groans these days, as 74 Grand Slams have come and gone since Andy Roddick lifted the U.S. Open trophy in 2003.
Invariably, the burden of that drought falls on the American youngsters who quickly rise up the rankings, start making an impact on the ATP Tour and then run into the Grand Slam wall that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have erected over the last two decades.
So let’s not saddle Ben Shelton, just 19, with that kind of albatross. But we can say this: The rising University of Florida junior, who won the NCAA singles title in May, is very, very good. And he’s on the precipice of a career-defining summer that may well put him on a very different trajectory from the one that seemed laid out for him just a few weeks ago.
Shelton, whose father Bryan is a former top-100 player and now is the head coach at Florida, played his first ATP-level match Tuesday, at the Atlanta Open. He won it in pretty straightforward fashion, beating veteran pro Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 7-5 and letting out a big scream as he put away an overhead on match point.
“It’s really special,” said Shelton, who was just a few blocks from the courts of his childhood at Georgia Tech, where his father coached until 2012.
But with each tournament he’s played, the bigger story is that Shelton himself might be special, and his performance could very well force some decisions about his future much faster than anticipated.
As of now, Shelton is slated to return to Florida in the fall. But after performing well in several Challenger-level events and impressively winning his first round here, he’s on a fast track to the top 200 in the world rankings. Brad Gilbert, the longtime pro player, coach and ESPN analyst, wrote on Twitter that Shelton will be “top 50 for sure.” And the U.S. Open already has granted him a wildcard into the main draw, which would be a guaranteed $75,000 in first-round prize money — if he turns pro.
“That’ll definitely be a talk later in the summer with my parents and my team and we’ll make a decision based on where my development is and what’s going to be best for me not just on the court but off the court as well,” Shelton said. “There’s no real results or rankings that are going to sway my decision in a big way.”
There’s plenty, of course, that could bring Shelton back to college. It’s a comfortable place for him, he wants to complete his finance degree and it’s certainly a big deal to play for his father on one of the most successful teams in the country.
But as he goes through the process this summer, it certainly seems possible Shelton and those around him will conclude that he’s just too good to go back to school.
“I’m just a college guy out here having fun,” he said. “I don’t put too much stress on my matches. I’m focused and want to do the best I can, but it’s not do-or-die for me out here.”
Shelton will get a better sense of where he stands on Thursday when he faces No. 25-ranked John Isner, who has won the Atlanta event six times. After going 11-4 against pros ranked mostly in the 150-300 range, this will be Shelton’s first opportunity to see how he stacks up against a top-100 player.
But regardless of how it goes against Isner — and certainly it’s a major step up in class for someone who hasn’t turned pro yet — it’s Shelton’s explosive game at 6-foot-3 that is drawing as much attention as the results.
With a big lefty serve that averaged 126 mph against Ramanathan and the ability to get a massive kick on his first and second serve, Shelton already has a legitimate weapon that can win him matches. But he also appears to be very solid off both of his groundstrokes and is very comfortable coming into the net to finish points behind both his power and slice. Shelton won 15 of 22 points when he came in for a volley or overhead.
“I love to get to net, be able to use some of my hand skills, athletic skills and going up to get the ball (to put away overheads) is one of my favorite things to do,” Shelton said. “I could have done a better job today incorporating my serve and volley and getting to net quicker in points but I think that’s a big part of my game and a big part of my development.”
Only the hardest of hardcore tennis fans would have been watching Shelton on a Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta, but it was easy to see why he’s been a dominant college player, going 37-5 in singles last season. It was also a huge advertisement for other tournaments this summer and fall to offer him a wildcard entry, as Atlanta did. Every tournament wants to boast that it helped launch a great career.
It’s far too early to project that Tuesday’s match was the debut of the next great American champion, but at the very least Shelton appears poised for an interesting and successful pro career. Shelton may have some things pulling him back to college for another year, but if he keeps playing like he has the last several weeks, it will be difficult to turn down the opportunities he’s creating for himself right now.
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“The Hall of Fame seemed like something that was so far away from me ever being part of,” Hewitt said during the induction ceremony. “It was never something I ever thought about as a player, and it was always, I thought, for the people that were my idols growing up and the absolute legends of the sport.”
In a stirring induction speech, the 41-year-old took fans from around the world through his journey to the podium in Rhode Island. When Hewitt was a boy, his favourite sport was AFL football, which was played by members of his family, including his father, Glynn Hewitt.
But following a period of research, Hewitt’s parents found a tennis coach for their son in Peter Smith, who had a weekly slot available at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. “Rusty” never looked back.
One of the most important meetings of his life came as a teen, when he was introduced to Australian legend John Newcombe at his camp in Texas. Hewitt asked to interview Newcombe for a school project.
“The biggest thing he told me was about the famous Kipling poem ‘If’, and especially about the famous two lines that are written above the walkway out on Centre Court at Wimbledon,” Hewitt said. “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.”
No matter the hurdle Hewitt faced or the high he celebrated, the Australian gave his all. Regardless of the challenge, he tried his best to meet and exceed it.
Hewitt became the youngest No. 1 in Pepperstone ATP Rankings history at age 20 in 2001. The gritty right-hander captured two major singles titles, two year-end No. 1 finishes, two Nitto ATP Finals trophies and led Australia to two Davis Cup titles.
Before Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic ascended to the top of the sport, Hewitt held top spot for 80 weeks, good for 10th-most in history. Even when those stars made their mark, “Rusty” scratched and clawed, proving he would never back down.
“I feel fortunate that I was able to play across different generations,” Hewitt said. “I was able to be on the same court as my heroes that I looked up to, like Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, and then go on and compete against three of the greatest tennis players our sport has ever seen in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadaland Novak Djokovic.”
Hewitt was introduced by Australian legends Newcombe and Tony Roche, the latter of whom flew across the world to join his mentee for a special weekend.
“The first meeting I had with Lleyton was at a charity event in Adelaide,” Roche said. “He must have been 12 or 13. I was even impressed with his game at that early age. I was more impressed with his mullet haircut really. All the Adelaide kids seemed to have these great mullet haircuts. But Lleyton, you could tell, was going to be something special.”
The Mixed Tournament last Saturday was a great success with everyone enjoying the tennis and camaraderie. A big thanks to Sarah for organising the day. Also a thank you to Gavin and Hugo for cutting the strawberries. Thanks to Milton for the Pimms drinks and for organising the meat.
If anyone has any ideas for other tournaments please let us know.
Round 9 commences this Saturday with the Mens 1 Team looking for a win to get back into the top 4 . They play at home at 2.50pm.
We have 5 teams in the top 4 at this stage and looking good for the semis.
SOCIAL TENNIS IS ON 2 COURTS ONLY FROM 11.30AM TO 2.30PM.
Best wishes,
Virginia
Novak Djokovic produced a returning masterclass to surge to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory against Nick Kyrgios in Sunday’s final at Wimbledon, where the top seed claimed his fourth consecutive crown at the grass-court major.
Rallying from dropping the first set for the third straight match, Djokovic claimed a seventh title to draw level with Pete Sampras‘ mark at the All England Club. The 35-year-old Djokovic is now just one behind Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon triumphs, and one Grand Slam title behind Rafael Nadal’s record of 22 major crowns.
“I have lost words for what this tournament, this trophy means to me, my team, my family,” said Djokovic at the trophy presentation. “I’ve said this many times. It always has been and always will be the most special tournament in my heart, the one that motivated me, inspired me to start playing tennis in a small mountain resort in Serbia where my parents used to run a restaurant.
“I was four or five years old and I saw Pete Sampras win his first Wimbledon in 1993. I asked my Dad and Mum to buy me a racquet, and my first image of tennis was grass and Wimbledon. I always dreamed of coming here, just playing in this court, and then realising the childhood dream of winning this trophy. Every single time it gets more meaningful and more special, so I’m very blessed and very thankful to be standing here with the trophy.”
Most Grand Slam Titles
| Player | Grand Slam Titles |
| Rafael Nadal | 22 |
| Novak Djokovic | 21 |
| Roger Federer | 20 |
| Pete Sampras | 14 |
After some scintillating Kyrgios shotmaking took him to the opening set on Centre Court, Djokovic found his rhythm on return to take the upper hand in an intriguing clash of game styles. Despite his opponent firing 30 aces in a three-hour, one-minute encounter, the top seed was clinical in taking his chances, most notably when he crucially broke Kyrgios’ serve after the Australian had led 40/0 at 4-4 in the third set. A nerveless showing from Djokovic in the fourth-set tie-break, his first of the tournament, sealed the victory and extended his winning streak at SW19 to 28 matches.
Although his ability to counter Kyrgios’ huge serving was key to Djokovic’s win, the Serbian was just as efficient with his own delivery. The top seed fired 15 aces and won 83 per cent (62/75) of points behind his first serve, compared to Kyrgios’ 70 per cent (64/91).
It marks another hard-fought triumph for Djokovic this week in London, where he overhauled a two-sets-to-love deficit to defeat Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals and rallied from dropping the first set to Cameron Norrie in the semi-finals. The Serbian also defeated Soonwoo Kwon, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Miomir Kecmanovic and Tim van Rijthoven this fortnight in London.
Wimbledon still has a couple of days to go, which is helpful because 48 hours gives us time to have another 48 opinions on Nick Kyrgios, to add to the thousands we’ve had on Kyrgios over the past eight years. This is Australia in 2022: Girt By Nick.
Kyrgios is now a human hottake generator, in that the endless hot takes on him now generate their own hot takes about the earlier hot takes, and on and on until we die. You’re reading one right now, so please watch for any sudden change in your vital signs.
To sum up our rollercoaster journey with the tennis terror from Canberra, let’s go to the social media-speak Nick himself loves so much: It’s Complicated. WTAF. FFS. And so on.
Because let’s be honest: it’s as easy to write the column ‘‘ Ten Reasons To Love Nick Kyrgios’ ’ as it is to write the column ‘‘ Ten Reasons To Hate Nick Kyrgios’’ .
You can sensibly and sarcastically wonder out loud what it is the Kyrgios fans love about him. Is it the verbal abuse? The violent treatment of racquets and balls? The spitting? The tanking? The narcissism? Equally, you can ask the Kyrgios haters what it is they hate. Is it the breathtaking talent? The shotmaking audacity? The charming impudence of his approach to the game’s stuffed shirts? His refreshing honesty that winning isn’t everything? What’s not to love? And what’s not to hate?
Kyrgios contains multitudes, and it is entirely possible that by Monday he will also contain a Wimbledon title, a triumph that will challenge us to reconsider him once again. Rarely have Australian sports fans been presented with a dilemma quite like the one we face this weekend.
As a lifelong tennis nut, my own journey with Kyrgios has been long and complicated. I remember the time he first made me sit up with a start in the middle of the night, saving nine match points on his way to the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2014. Everything seemed possible then. I loved the guy, and I’ve spent a lot of money supporting him, flying to Darwin to watch him in the Davis Cup, and finding myself sitting next to Ken Rosewall at Rod Laver Arena the night Kyrgios played Nadal at the Australian Open in 2020.
Rosewall (who seemed bemused by Kyrgios more than anything else) never won Wimbledon, but he was a living reminder of a time when Australians always did. From 1922 to 1972, Australian players hoisted the men’s trophy 18 times. In the 50 years since, we’ve managed it just twice, Pat Cash in 1987 and Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
We desperately want another man to win the greatest title, but Kyrgios – with as much raw talent as any Australian player has ever had – complicates the hope. And some of that is actually quite simple for some of the reactions: it’s racism. But racism does not explain all or even most of the contentious relationship.
I fell off the Kyrgios bandwagon last year, and after eight years of ferocious loyalty I’m finding it very hard to get back on it – even with a Wimbledon title in sight. The eternal promise had given way to eternal complaining. The bad behaviour too often crosses the line. The self-aggrandisement – the boasting about his crowd sizes and his self-proclaimed stature as the saviour of modern tennis – almost echoes Trump in its narcissism.
And so here we are, wondering what comes next.
Perhaps we can look to the past to summon some optimism. Hark back to John McEnroe, who was literally persona non grata at Wimbledon (they refused him the honorary club membership given to all champions) until his genius and his grit turned him into a beloved elder of the sport.
Ditto with Andre Agassi. He even boycotted Wimbledon for years because of the all-white dress code. Then he turned up, wearing white tracksuit pants like a spirit returned from the 1920s, and won the whole show. Agassi 2.0 was born right there on the hallowed London lawns, past demons cast aside.
Could history repeat? Will we come to love Kyrgios like we did those tennis toddlers of the past? We’re about to find out if Nick can wake up to the fact that the grass really is greener on the other side.
Neil McMahon is a freelance writer.
When Rafael Nadal first burst onto the scene by winning the French Open in 2005, the consensus was he was another in the long line of great claycourt players, men who could dominate on the red surface of Roland Garros but were often vulnerable on faster surfaces.
Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander, truly great clay (and hardcourt) players, never won Wimbledon. On the flip side, Hall of Fame players like Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg could never quite figure out the red clay.
Bjorn Borg, who won in Paris six times, also won Wimbledon five times – but never the US or Australian Open. Rod Laver won on grass and clay and no doubt would have on hard courts had majors been played on them during his career. Laver could have won playing on an iceskating rink – or any other surface. Sampras won 14 major titles but never got to the final in Paris. Before Sampras came along, Roy Emerson held the record for men’s Grand Slam singles titles at 12.
On Sunday, Nadal won one for the 14th time in Paris. His record in French Open finals is now 14-0 after his crushing 6-3 , 6-3 , 6-0 victory over Casper Ruud. Ruud, who is 23, actually led 3-1 in the second set before Nadal simply took his game to another level, winning the final 11 games of the match. The Norwegian didn’t play poorly the first two sets, but he had no chance.
Nadal winning in Paris on the tournament’s final Sunday is as absolute as summer rain in London. It is inevitable. This time around, Nadal’s toughest match came in the quarterfinals , where he won a four-hourplus classic over fellow all-time great Novak Djokovic. That match clearly should have been played in the final , but that’s not alway how it turns out. And so Nadal, who has missed time with injuries this year, was the No.5 seed, because God forbid anyone should fail to follow the rankings.
Seeding Nadal fifth is roughly the same as telling Tiger Woods to go play the AAA Korn Ferry Tour after he won his first Masters by 12 shots. Nadal, in any case, long ago proved he was far more than a claycourt specialist. His victory was his 22nd Grand Slam title, putting him two in front of Djokovic and Roger Federer.
If you held a final vote for greatest player of all time today, Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, would have to be No. 1. Statistics are overused, but a handful of Nadal’s numbers go beyond breathtaking. He is 112-3 at Roland Garros (what?) , but he has won eight majors off the red clay: two Australian Opens; two Wimbledons and four US Opens.
That’s as many majors as icons Connors, Andre Agassi and Lendl each won total, and one more than McEnroe. What’s most fascinating about all this is that last year the title of greatest player ever had been more or less ceded to Djokovic. He had beaten Nadal on his way to winning in Paris in June and had gone on to win at Wimbledon in July, putting him in a three-way tie with Nadal and Federer with 20 major victories.
Federer turned 40 in August and had lost in the Wimbledon quarters to Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets, including 6-0 in the third. He then announced he needed knee surgery, again, and hoped to play again in 2022. He still hasn’t played and, as McEnroe noted on Sunday, there’s a good chance we will never see him again in a major championship.
After his semi-final loss to Djokovic at Roland Garros, Nadal had pulled out of Wimbledon and the US Open with recurring foot issues . Many wondered if his career might also be over. Thus, Djokovic’s path to a 21st major victory and the record in major wins appeared clear. He was 34, healthy and going for a calendar Grand Slam in New York. His two great rivals were older and injured. But then Daniil Medvedev whipped him in the US Open final and his refusal to be vaccinated in the midst of the pandemic got him deported from Australia before the Australian Open. Nadal then came from two sets down in the Australian final against Medvedev and became the first man to get to 21 major wins.
Sunday, he got to 22 and, apparently , at 36, is still counting. He’s now halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished on the men’s side since Laver did it in 1969 at a time when three of the four majors were still played on grass.
Djokovic, who has won at Wimbledon six times, will no doubt be poised to take him down there. And, although Nadal won one of the two greatest matches of all time (along with McEnroe-Borg in 1980) in the 2008 final at the All England Club, grass is still his toughest surface because he can’t wear people down the way he does in Paris, and to a lesser extent in New York and Melbourne , over shorter rallies and shorter matches. That is a discussion for another day.
Sunday was a day to revel in Nadal’s extraordinary career, his ability to come back time and again, whether from injury or from a point in which his opponent appeared to be in control. That’s the greatness of Nadal: You can get him down, but it is almost impossible to get him out. Nadal has now heard his anthem played on a French Open Sunday 14 times. The emotion on his face made it clear that he still revels in every victory. As we all should.
The Washington Post
PARIS — On an obscure court at Roland Garros, in a women’s singles match that drew scant attention, 63rd-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu thrust herself into the global spotlight as the latest example of the ugly, potentially injurious on-court outbursts plaguing pro tennis in recent months.
Irked over losing her serve in a pivotal moment, Begu, 31, tossed her racket on the French Open’s red clay, and it ricocheted into the stands and toward a small child, who burst into tears. The chair umpire summoned the supervisor to adjudicate, but Begu was allowed to play on, later cited for unsportsmanlike conduct, despite the fact that her racket “brushed” the child, according to a statement from the tournament director.
Just two days earlier, Andrey Rublev, the French Open’s seventh seed, also got a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct after he smashed a ball in a rage that almost hit a groundsperson.
……
Most pros at the top of the sport, however, come to realize that controlling their anger is ultimately in their interest.
For Rafael Nadal, a five-time recipient of the ATP’s sportsmanship award, behaving on court is something he learned as a child.
“My uncle, my family, never allowed me to break a racket, never allowed me to say bad words or give up a match,” Nadal once explained. “
Probably when I was a kid, they didn’t care much about winning or losing. Of course, all the parents and family, my uncle [who was also his coach] wanted me to win every single match. But probably that was not the most important thing.
The most important thing was the education and the fact that I grow with the values, with the right values.”
For second-ranked Daniil Medvedev, who is still haunted by an epic meltdown he had as a 14-year-old junior, it has been a process.
“At one moment, I understood that it can negatively affect your tennis,” Medvedev said. “But I definitely didn’t understand it [at 14]. It was much later. …
I’m still learning because I have some tantrums, if it’s the right word, sometimes on the court. Usually I’m not happy about it.
The most important is either to know how to react or, better, how not to do them and just stay focused on the match.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/05/26/tennis-angry-outbursts-french-open/
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