Subscribe:
RSS feed
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
James Blake has established the Thomas Blake Sr. Memorial Research Fund in memory of his father. The Blake Research Fund invests seed money in leading-edge science in order to speed up the most promising work and shorten the time it takes to turn laboratory discoveries into better treatments for patients. The Blake Fund has raised […]
July 17, 2008
That video of Pete Sampras on the Charlie Rose show is not available yet, so let’s look back in the time capsule to December 19, 1996. The number 1 ranked player is Pete Sampras. He is 25 and has eight majors. You can tell it’s the 1990s because he’s wearing a flannel shirt. His coach […]
July 13, 2008
Reaction to The Match continues to pour in. Tennis Week has a spirited discussion with Fred Stolle, Alex Olmedo, Tony Trabert and Jim Courier, with all agreeing this was the greatest match. Trabert points out that Nadal-Federer have played more grand slam finals against each other, 6, than any of the other major rivalries in […]
July 13, 2008
Jim Courier appeared on the Charlie Rose show to break down the match, calling it a “revolutionary match” for the sport, especially in the US. Judging by the fact that people are still talking about it a week later, he’s right. Charlie is a true tennis lover. Sampras was on Friday. We will post the […]
July 13, 2008
I think I just found a new way to get my drugs through customs.
July 13, 2008
Above: The Reebok pump shoe. Chang’s Reebok ad slams Nike and “those rock and roll” tennis guys. Hmm wonder who that referred to? Chang was inducted into the Hall of Fame today. It made at least one blogger scratch his head and wonder why. Sean Randall wants to know why Thomas Muster and Sergi Brugera […]
July 10, 2008
Bodo wrote a book with Pete Sampras that was published last month. Today he published a short interview with Pete on his blog for Tennis magazine about Pete’s reaction to Nadal-Federer. Two all-time greats, at their prime, playing great on the best court on earth. if you wrote a script it couldn’t have been any […]
July 10, 2008
You know men’s tennis achieved something truly epic when the match transcends the court and spills over onto… The Gossip Pages. That’s right, Nadal hit both TMZ and gossip guru Ted Casablanca on E! (who judged Rafa as a hottie on the do-me meter). So Rafa apparently has a “secret” girlfriend (yeah, we all wondered […]
July 8, 2008
To those of you who think we just pick on Serena unfairly, consider this: (H)er relatives willingly take much of the blame for her inability to deal with defeat as an outgrowth of them always spoiling her as the baby of the family. Her sister, Lyndrea, who flew in from Los Angeles yesterday, said Serena […]
July 8, 2008
I’ve always liked William C. Rhoden. He’s a thoughtful writer who defies the sound-bite loudmouth culture of American sportswriting. He has never been afraid to take a tough stand on whatever hot button issue comes along to activate the American sportsfan’s hypocrisy, racism or whatever boneheaded obsession the country has got on about. I even […]
July 7, 2008
And the Great London Circus. There was a moment today, right before the rains came (the first time), when I had to take a deep breath to realize what we were witnessing. Rafa, who was favored by many to win Wimbledon, was taking out Roger like so much trash. And Roger – normally so brilliant […]
July 6, 2008
This poster and other Demotivators and Despairwear can be found at despiar.com. Hang one in your office today.There was a lot of hot air in the atmosphere after the Williams sisters played a very good final. The Dodo was at it, calling it the best match he’s ever witnessed. What? Is he fucking nuts? Was […]
July 6, 2008
Venus beat Serena Williams Sunday to win her fifth Wimbledon title, breaking a tie with Billie Jean King and bringing her within two of Steffi Graf’s seven championships. Serena came out like gangbusters, winning ten of the first eleven points. Everyone was thinking ‘here we go again’ because it certainly looked like Serena would beat […]
July 6, 2008
Well well well. Sister Andrea Jaeger admitted to throwing the 1983 final against Martina Navratilova. I know what you’re thinking…1) “Sister” and 2) gambling? Answers: 1) Yes; 2) No – family fight. Former pro Andrea Jaeger retired after a brief and notable career. She was the youngest player to be seeded at Wimbledon at 15. […]
July 5, 2008
“Of all the presidents I ever met, Mugabe was the least impressive.” John McEnroe, explaining that Kevin Ulyett is a South African who plays on the Zimbabwe Davis Cup team. Robert Mugabe has been in the news recently for rigging the election by murdering and imprisoning his opposition. Mac said he knew Mugabe was bad […]
July 5, 2008
[Venus and Serena during their win in the Ladies Doubles Semifinal] So now that we’ve established that Venus and Serena didn’t cure cancer, it’s time to examine the match they are about to play. It’s time to give credit where it is due. The first time I saw Venus play I couldn’t wait to see […]
July 5, 2008
HBSC Bank hired artists Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey to make grass art for this year’s Wimbledon: “When grass gets plenty of sunlight, it produces chlorophyll and therefore turns green – but the less light it receives, the more yellow the colour is,” explains JWT art director Mark Norcutt of the process used to make […]
July 5, 2008
Ever notice how many “sportswriters” are busy clogging up the airwaves at ESPN? Of course you did, to watch that channel is to see sportswriters trying to make themselves famous by yelling like blowhards about things they know nothing about. At least when it comes to other sports, they may have a passing idea of […]
June 25, 2008
The used tennis ball as art. Dutch designer Tejo Remy designed tennis benches using steel and tennis balls. Visitors to the Rotterdam Museum Boijmans Van Beuninge can now sit on the benches and enjoy the rest of the art. If only all old tennis balls could be refashioned as something other than dog toys.
June 23, 2008
I’m many days late with my French Open wrap-up, so let’s skip it for now and maybe I’ll get back to it. What you need to know now is where to follow Wimbledon on tv, from the computer and on the radio. Let’s categorize them by good, better and best. GOOD: ESPN, Year 1 Monday […]
June 3, 2008
Nothing like a little Weezer to kick off the morning. So you’ve heard the news obviously. Tatum O’Neal was arrested with two bags of cocaine in her front pockets. John McEnroe’s ex-wife allegedly asked the police if they could just forget it happened and commented that she was just “researching” a role. Obviously this can’t […]
June 3, 2008
Today’s nominee is NBC. The Peacock network, the former gold standard for tennis coverage, which has been in freefall for a decade, has now entered a phase of steep decline. (Does it have anything to do with firing Bud Collins last summer?) Now the coverage is all but unwatchable. ESPN and The Tennis Network are […]
June 2, 2008
Programming note: For an enhanced blog experience, today’s posts are meant to be read while listening to the New York Philharmonic play George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. ________________________________To properly assess American failure and success in Paris, we need look no further than Robby Ginepri. The 80th ranked Ginepri made the fourth round! He is […]
June 2, 2008
Not to be outdone, some random ESPN-anchor bonehead wearing too much makeup over his fake tan came up with this gem yesterday: The French Open has never been kind to the Americans. Actually, that’s a flat-out lie and it only reinforces the whiny-baby attitude that our current US players adopt every time they’re forced to […]
June 2, 2008
Cyclops thinks you are stupid. We now interrupt the 2008 French Open for a Stupid Headline Alert. I missed much of the first week of the French due to work obligations. Copious amounts of rain means I didn’t miss much. But CNNSI didn’t see it that way. The American sports website ran two gigantic headlines […]
May 28, 2008
This year’s French is so far more about who isn’t here than who is. Justine Henin quit. Andy Roddick, who has been on a roll and actually had a good clay court showing, pulled out with a shoulder problem. Lindsay Davenport isn’t playing for personal reasons (probably, why schlep the baby to Europe for the […]
May 28, 2008
While I was watching and not writing, Justine Henin abruptly retired, just one week after waxing poetic about how much she was looking forward to the French Open. This one was a shocker, but somehow also not. Justine was always the type of player you couldn’t read, she was famously closed off from the world […]
April 10, 2008
I confess I had never heard of Daniela Klemenschits until today. But I think this deserves a mention. She hand her twin sister were BOTH diagnosed with abdominal cancer in January of last year? Are you kidding me? Life is too cruel. Former Austrian doubles player Daniela Klemenschits died Wednesday after battling cancer. She was 25.The […]
April 10, 2008
Apparently Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova visited with Oprah this week. Chris always did look good in red. These two are in their 50s? A good advertisement for the capacity of women’s athletics to keep the old body youthful. Fascinating, isn’t it, that two fierce rivals who played each other more than 150 times would […]
April 4, 2008
So far in 20008 fans of Roger Federer have been in “what-me-worry” mode while glancing quickly from side to side to see if anyone is noticing them sweat. Despite well-reasoned articles and posts (like mine) calmly explaining that Federer’s successes are slowing down but he will still beat Pete’s record, his fans (and Roger) reacted […]
April 4, 2008
Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny became yesterday’s youtube sensation after beating himself in the head with his racket, causing a beautiful red stream of blood to pour down his face. The video was watched over 500,000 times by Wednesday afternoon. I’ve always said this sport was great theater. I love the way his opponent, Nicolas Almagro, goes over […]
April 4, 2008
This is Brooklyn Decker, Roddick’s new fiance. I know, totally fake name right? For the record, I agree with celebrity gossipmonger Perez Hilton, who gives it two years to fail. Sorry Andy. Like Nick Lachey before him, Roddick will soon figure out he didn’t need to marry the model to um… you know. Then one […]
April 4, 2008
For just the second time in his career, Andy Roddick defeated Roger Federer tonight in Miami, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3. Roddick is now 2-15 against Roger. There have been times when Roddick was so close to beating Roger, most notably in that Wimbledon final. But not lately. His game matches up miserably with TMF and their […]
February 18, 2008
A week late with this, however, it’s worth mentioning that the first round of the Davis Cup is history. The defending champs, the USA, took on Austria in Vienna and won easily. All the guys who have played so faithfully for seven years showed up. Kudos to Blake, Roddick and the Bryans for making the […]
February 18, 2008
Well well well, an unheralded Japanese player, qualifier Kei Nishikori beat James Blake to win his first title. Interested in knowing how he did it? So am I. Too bad that this AP article doesn’t fill us in on the how and why behind the final score. Although it hints that James wasn’t “there emotionally” […]
February 8, 2008
Left: Andy Murray. Right: Jamie Murray Andy Murray, the McEnroe-in-Waiting, is skipping the British Davis Cup tie against Argentina. The thinking is that he’s just coming off an injury-plagued year and after a rocky start to 2008 he wants to avoid a flight halfway around the world to play on clay against some of the […]
February 8, 2008
Beautiful photo courtesy of Katie Meigs. Some rights reserved. Hat tip to Mike for alerting me to John McEnroe’s new association with All Bran. Here’s the Yahoo All-Bran Group (yes, really): I’m John McEnroe. I’m not only the spokesman for the All-Bran 10 Day Challenge™, I’ve done it myself. After 10 days, you too could be […]
February 4, 2008
Non-tennis related post again, but I’m pretty sure I just watched this ten times. This is the best thing Matt Damon has ever participated in.
February 3, 2008
So. There’s no way for me to justify writing about this NFL “spygate” insanity on a tennis blog. Except to say that perhaps next year Senator Clinton will demand hearings into that horrible line call Serena Williams got at the 2006 US Open, because that is indeed where we are headed, after the weekend’s ridiculous […]
February 3, 2008
Um… What the hell was that? Fox opened its eighth hour of super bowl coverage with a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence by the likes of Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, Steve Larget (boo, hiss, Mr. Conservative Senator prick), Don Shula, Roger Staubach and others. Why? I demand to know the meaning of this. […]
January 31, 2008
Oz has come and gone but I didn’t want to forget about Joker’s victory over Tsonga to win the title. Tsonga has all the tools. Now comes the hard part: dealing with sudden fame, learning about consistency, figuring out how to use all those tools to win matches, and staying healthy. To be fair we […]
January 31, 2008
Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko won the 2008 Australian Open Women’s Doubles Title. The Bondarenko Sisters–sound like they ought to be 40s era showgirls, entertaining the troops or something. Kateryna is more well known, having hovered inside the top fifty singles rankings for the last few years. Although she and older sister Alona have been around […]
January 31, 2008
Sun and Nenad defeated Indians Mahesh Bupathi and Sania Mirza to win the mixed doubles title. This is a little bit of an upset since Mahesh has been ranked number 1 in doubles and has several grand slam titles under his belt, while Mirza is a top 20 singles player. Sun is one of a […]
January 31, 2008
FOX Sport Science found a stupid guy to be a Crotch Test Dummy for a tennis ball shot out of a ball machine… into his gonads, at over 50 mph. No, seriously.
January 29, 2008
The 2008 Australian Open is over and Dodo was unusually quiet, for two reasons. First, no one paid for him to fly his sorry ass to Oz. Second, he is writing a book with Pete Sampras. Yes, I’ve known about it for a while now. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. […]
January 26, 2008
Sharapova beat Ivanovic in a 705, 6-3 final that featured more uninspired play. Women’s tennis is rotten right now. They haven’t had a compelling major final in two years. The error-riddled matches occasionally take dramatic turns, but those are brought about by the psychological weaknesses of stars who can’t close out matches, along with the […]
January 25, 2008
I can’t vouch for much of the tennis since I gave up on Ivanovic after she was down a set and a break. I had to sleep sometime! Apparently, while I was counting sheep Ivanovic clawed her way back into a match that Legs was completely in control of. In fact, Legs won that first […]
January 25, 2008
This brief video shows Tsonga’s Samprasian tendencies. His instinct is to follow huge groundstrokes into the net. This aggression is important against Nadal. In fact, last year Sampras said he didn’t understand why Roger stayed at the baseline during his clashes with Nadal, since the way to neutralize him was to blast him off the […]
January 24, 2008
Speaking of bloody awful things, that first semi between Sharapova and Jankovic was horrendous. I feel for Jankovic with her “injury” (she’s injured every match but so far has made up for it with her giggly on-court charm). Sharapova didn’t dominate this match because of her play, it was all Jankovic playing bad. This was […]
January 24, 2008
Good to see that famous old sense of humor again. So far tonight, Shriver said the tournament director was going to keep the roof closed “to keep my hair from frizzing out.” She blamed him for retaliating against her for something she said 15 years ago when he was an umpire. Earlier she interviewed the […]
Passing Shots 
July 18, 2008
0