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There are times when Patrick McEnroe seems to turn into a snarky, arrogant asshole. His arrogance has coincided with his ascendancy as the man who runs player development for the USTA. This was on full display Sunday during the Wimbledon first-week review show. Patrick haughtily laughed when asked to assess whether Marion Bartoli could beat […]
June 27, 2011
Andy Roddick’s explanation for his straight sets loss to Feliciano Lopez was pretty simple: “I got beat.” He did. He got his ass handed to him by a free-swinging Lopez, who hit 28 aces, more than 50 winners and only 7 errors. Seven errors! That’s one hell of a performance, and should provide plenty of […]
June 24, 2011
There is something about Big John Isner that has always reminded me of folk heroes like Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed. He burst onto the tennis scene with a shocking, aw-shucks, who-me, where-am-I debut against Roger Federer at the US Open, where he took a set off Roger at the height of the Fed’s mighty […]
June 24, 2011
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, and I do a lot of both, the Williams Sisters are back. The one thing I was certain of before the tournament began was that I was done with Venus and Serena. In years past I always anticipated their returns because I knew they would bring controversy, great drama and […]
June 22, 2011
What exactly is Venus Williams wearing at Wimbledon? Faced with yet another one of Venus’s “designs” I can only say they aren’t getting any better. The first thing you want in tennis clothing is for it to be functional. I can’t imagine playing in a high-wasted one-piece with a gold zipper going up to my […]
May 23, 2011
When I returned to Passing Shots, the first thing I noticed is that my thinking has evolved on some subjects. Take my unhinged ranting about Serena Williams, for example. I still find that 09 US Open meltdown deplorable. She should have been disciplined. In retrospect, though, there is something to the sexism charges brought by […]
May 23, 2011
The French Open is back and so am I. After a year of being burned out, this blogger has returned. My sporadic 2010 posts on a now-defunct domain were deleted by the ISP. A year of thinking about tennis totally wiped out. This leaves us with an incomplete archive here at WordPress. When I read […]
September 14, 2009
Serena apology, take 2: “I want to amend my press statement of yesterday and want to make it clear as possible – I want to sincerely apologise first to the lineswoman, Kim Clijsters, the US Tennis Association and mostly tennis fans everywhere for my inappropriate outburst,” Williams said. “I’m a woman of great pride, faith […]
September 14, 2009
The men’s final is just underway. A few notes on Delpo’s chances: Remember when Safin shocked the world by beating Pete Sampras in the US Open final? Veteran player playing on less than a day’s rest, youngster who had the power to blow him right off the court. Just putting it out there. His play […]
September 14, 2009
I told you non-tennis folks would weigh in on The Incident and make it more complicated than it was. I told you they would claim that Serena was treated worse than John McEnroe and that everyone would conveniently forget that McEnroe was defaulted for similar conduct after tennis decided that it would no longer tolerate […]
September 13, 2009
How’d She Get That First Code of Conduct Penalty? By attacking her racquet. Did You Know Part 1: Clijsters is the only player to beat both Williams sisters in the same tournament more than once. Others who beat them in the same tournament include Davenport, Hingis, Graf, Sanchez-Victario and Henin. Henin was the last player […]
September 13, 2009
Once upon a time I got to write a post called Serena and Andre: Joined by Bike Pants. Didn’t think I’d live to use a headline like that again, but after tonight, how could I not? Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports was the first journalist to report the substance of Serena’s obscenity, and it’s a […]
September 13, 2009
So. Women’s tennis is still entertaining for all the wrong reasons! Actually, there has been good tennis played in between the psycho-weirdness that breaks out inside every women’s match. Now that all hell has broken loose over the ending of the Clijsters/Serena match, let’s get correct information out there. Because we all know the non-tennis […]
September 10, 2009
This just in, alert the Four Letter: Roger Federer isn’t playing well. If ESPN can be said to have one style that dominates every broadcast of every sport it is this: decide the sporting event is about ONE story and beat the ONE story into the ground until the event is over. This may work […]
September 10, 2009
Melanie Oudin did not cry on court after her quarterfinal loss to Caroline Wozniacki. That is a positive sign. It shows strength, it shows resolve, it reminds one of the steeliness of Chris Evert. It will make her work harder. But that’s not the main reason I think not advancing to the semis and final […]
September 9, 2009
In a performance that Jon Wertheim called “weirdly timid”, Andy Murray fell to Marin Cilic in straight sets yesterday. Two days ago he looked like the class of the tournament. There is no shame in losing to Cilic, who will be a permanent fixture in the top ten in the imminent future, but it leads […]
September 9, 2009
Rafael Nadal broke Monfils’ glass jaw tonight, knocking him out shortly after Monfils won the first set in a tiebreak. Nadal won the next set 6-1 and had Monfils bent over in exhaustion and pain after extended rallies. Wait, I thought Nadal was the one coming off a two month layoff? See what I mean […]
September 9, 2009
After the Nadal-Monfils match, Rafa was packing up his equipment when a man ran onto the court and took Rafa’s picture. Rafa brushed it off. This is on the heels of a guy running onto the court straight up to Federer during the French final. And at the Australian, I praised their security for handling […]
September 8, 2009
Associated Press UPDATE BELOW Everyone except for the humorless Roger Federer enjoyed Joker’s player impersonations, that’s why I thought it was a shame when he stopped doing them. Stopped until Monday night, that is. After his surprisingly easy win over Radek Stepanek, a mischievous Nolle tried to lure coach and NY fan favorite Todd Martin onto […]
September 8, 2009
This was before the US Open in a promotional event at Bryant Park. The other players are John McEnroe and Murphy Jensen; thankfully we don’t see much of them dancing. I was expecting Venus to start breakdancing any second. Serena, come on, some of those moves are almost as bad as mine. Was that inspired by Riverdance […]
September 8, 2009
I haven’t spent much time reading tennis media this tournament, so I figured it was high time I did a little policing to see how things are going. First, the Good. I don’t know who Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports is, but I’m following him now. Here’s Chase on Zvonareva’s classic meltdown: After blowing six […]
September 7, 2009
Now that we’ve arrived at week two of the US Open, there are four men’s players I want to call out: Gael Monfils, Jo-Willie Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic: Dear Boys 2 Men: Well done, boys. I mean men. God knows, you’re all in your early 20s now and by some measures […]
September 7, 2009
1. Roger’s hypothetical faux-slam. Seriously people, he hasn’t won three in a row yet, but you’re already hyping him up for Australia and four in a row, which is being called the completion of a Grand Slam? Some nerve. Martina Navratilova completed the faux-slam but didn’t get credit for it… because it isn’t a grand […]
September 7, 2009
And Sports Illustrated’s Jon L. Wertheim said it, by Tweets, no less! Jonstennistweets: clijsters woodshedding venus….comeback to comeabout 7 hours ago from webJonstennistweets: we;ll say it again: what wta lacks in clean tennis, it makes up for in drama. this clijsters-venus match is nuts… about 7 hours ago from web Perfect example…a classic match? No. Entertaining. […]
September 6, 2009
Sure seems like it. The minute I saw the draw I said “oh no.” Because drawing Big John Isner, no matter where he’s ranked, is a big task for the 3rd round at a grand slam tournament. Despite the summer success of Lleyton Hewitt, ask any player if they’d rather play Lleyton or Isner in […]
September 6, 2009
Melanie Oudin has a legitimate chance to make the top ten. Notice I didn’t say she would win grand slam titles or become #1. It is far, far to soon for anyone to make those predictions. So media people, just calm down! For now focus on one key component of this story: at 17, Oudin’s […]
September 5, 2009
Well, the porcupine haircuts of Taylor Dent and Ivan Navarro aren’t what we love. Really guys, the 2001 called, it wants the spikey hair back. Honestly though… that match, won by Dent 7-6 in the fifth set, is why we love tennis. It’s especially why we love the US Open: *A day match that stretched […]
September 3, 2009
Is there anyone in the women’s tournament who can beat Serena Williams when she plays like she did tonight? No. We’ve grown accustomed to watching Serena meander through the early rounds, even when she’s having an “on” year. She rarely plays her best when she isn’t pushed. Not tonight though. This was Serena at her […]
September 1, 2009
Want to know why ESPN got an A- instead of an A? ESPN’s minus comes from its commentators’ early proclamation that Venus would never, ever fake an injury or take an injury timeout in order to freeze her opponent. I was willing to let that slide, since Venus and Serena are different in their use […]
September 1, 2009
The Four-Letter has come a long way over the last three years. So far, in fact, that I was quite pleased to see the network take the US Open away from USA Network, which had grown complacent. The multiplicity of voices on ESPN works for me. The jury is still out on host Hannah Storm, […]
August 31, 2009
Brad Gilbert has always been a good commentator, but as he proved once again today, he is much better when he sticks to Xs & Os and forgets the hype. At the end of James Blake‘s uninspired win against Rueben Ramirez-Hidalgo, Gilbert stunned this watcher (and Cliff Drysdale) by proclaiming that Blake has to like […]
August 31, 2009
Can something be half-baked and overblown? Yes. Tonight’s matches featuring Andy Roddick and Serena Williams will be preceded by a gala honoring David Robinson, Mia Hamm and Andre Agassi for their philanthropy. Music will be provided by the O’Jays and Rob Thomas (Why? Insert rolling eyes here) One definition of half-baked is “íll-conceived.” That nicely […]
August 31, 2009
Rumor has it that Justine Henin will return to competitive tennis in January. Do I feel the need to qualify my headline with a hedge? Uhm.. Hell no! I told you in January this day would come. I felt it even more when Serena started dominating the slams. And when Kim Clijsters returned three weeks […]
July 5, 2009
Reaction to the Roddick/Federer match is all over twitter. Trending topics include Wimbledon, Roger Federer, Grand Slam, Pete Sampras and sadly, “Poor Roddick.” Since Andy is a twitter star we hope he sees the messages later this evening. Bob & Mike Bryan, who lost the doubles final yesterday to Zimonjic and Nestor, tweeted: BryanbrosUnbelievable match. […]
July 5, 2009
Those are words I thought I’d never type. But his post-match speech was revealing. Pretty pathetic praise for Andy. I heard no words about how great Andy played, nor did I hear much respect for Pete Sampras. Just a few words about wishing Pete would show up at Wimbledon more? Shame on you Roger. Shame, […]
July 3, 2009
It’s a sad day when NBC, which used to be the gold standard in tennis broadcasting, now chops up the greatest event in tennis so that it is unrecognizable and unenjoyable to tennis fans and causal fans alike. This network pioneered Breakfast at Wimbledon, but as I’ve discussed before in this space, Dick Ebersol hates […]
July 1, 2009
Say one thing for Andy Roddick, he sure has been in some of the most incredible matches of the decade. Today’s five set victory over Lleyton Hewitt was emblematic of those other occasions, because usually they are five setters Roddick shoudl’ve wrapped up. Today was no exception. I can’t say enough about Hewitt’s resurgence in […]
June 30, 2009
Too Ugly? “Looks Are A Factor” Sexism never quite goes out of style at SW19 does it? They’re still dragging their feet on equal prize money and now they’ve admitted to scheduling hot chicks for center court, regardless of whether they are any good. The Daily Mail reports: And last night, the All England Club […]
June 30, 2009
I’ve dumped on women’s tennis enough for poor play, bad sportsmanship and on court sound effects that I thought it was high time I singled out some male pros for deviant/annoying behaviors, especially since today featured a match between two of the most hateds and a lovely piece of sexism courtesy of the AELTC. With one […]
June 30, 2009
The roof was closed during the match between Amelie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina Monday afternoon. I adore the sound effects the fans made while the roof closed. Same one we inexplicably make every time instant replay is used. For some reason it is so much fun: Another tradition goes splat… nah, I don’t view the […]
June 26, 2009
Much to the happiness of the black half of Cyclops, we now have strawberries, just in time for breakfast at Wimbledon. “Mama growed food!” *CHOMP* The gray half of Cyclops was unimpressed (“Cats do not eat fruit. Wanna impress me? Go catch some trout.”)
June 26, 2009
Roddick & Wife Argue Via Twitter Andy Roddick’s wife, swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, launched a sneak-attack on her husband after he criticized what he described as her “crappy” taste in music. The venue? Twitter, where she revealed to the world that Roddick is a Rick Astley fan. “I busted my wife on some of her […]
June 23, 2009
It depresses me to say it because I like James and always want him to succeed, but he has had a dismal year. His game should really pop on grass, yet he does just horrible at Wimbledon. This year he suddenly had his best grass performance ever, making the finals at Queens Club (after Roddick […]
June 23, 2009
The best thing about the Tennis Channel is hearing Martina Navratilova’s understated but totally forthright commentary about the game. It’s a very British approach to tennis analysis, where things are stated matter-of-factly and no one rushes to fill the dead air with blather about personal lives and random facts. (A cardinal rule for witnesses is […]
June 23, 2009
Wimbledon started today. Or as they seemed to have renamed it: The Roger Federer Greatest of All Time London Open. The dominant theme here in America is that Roger is a mortal lock to win and that he righted his Ship of State on his own and will rightfully surpass Pete Sampras and retake the […]
June 9, 2009
“A top athlete’s beauty is next to impossible to describe directly. Or to evoke. Federer’s forehand is a great liquid whip, his backhand a one-hander that he can drive flat, load with topspin, or slice — the slice with such snap that the ball turns shapes in the air and skids on the grass to maybe […]
June 7, 2009
By special request, I’m going to address the reasons for Robin Soderling’s pesky image problem. Nearly every article about Soderling has described him as “unpopular” or “not well liked.” What is it about this guy that gets under people’s skin? The oft-cited dustup with Rafael Nadal in 2007 is a good place to start. The two were […]
June 7, 2009
Consistent with my batting average for this tournament, I picked Dinara Safina to win her first grand slam title today. But she lost, to the talented and mentally fragile Sveta Kuznetsova. I know what you’re thinking – “The Talented and Mentally Fragile” could be the title of a soap opera about the WTA. Kind […]
June 7, 2009
We are about to close the books on a fascinating 09 French Open and I am reminded, yet again, of why I must never bet on tennis. My predictions have been horrid. Judging by the prognostications of tennis writers and bloggers, I was not alone, and I’m not even referring to Nadal. None […]
June 2, 2009
I didn’t see it (work’s a bitch) but Roger Federer fought back from two sets down to defeat the perpetual tease, Tommy Haas in five sets. Yet another “Warrior Moment” for the the guy that Old Peter (B)dodo used to rag on for not being macho enough. (Hey, I’ve left Pete alone for months now, […]
Passing Shots 
June 27, 2011
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