They should rename this the Novak Djokovic Open as his storyline at this tournament will perhaps be the biggest in tennis in decades, since Steffi Graf won her ‘Golden Slam’ in 1988 and Rod Laver won his second Calendar year Slam in 1969. Only Serena’s chase in 2015 could rival it, but here for the next two weeks, the Serb will get all the headlines, especially without Federer, Rafa or Serena who are all missing due to injuries. Continue reading US Open Preview 2021
Just think about this for a second, it was only two years ago before the 2019 Wimbledon Final between Roger and Novak that the Serbian was still five slams behind the great Swiss, now on Sunday he has a chance to equal him and Rafa Nadal on 20 Grand Slams. Continue reading Wimbledon Mens Final Preview 2021
Ash Barty is one match away from Wimbledon glory, the moment when Australia will rejoice. We haven’t had a Ladies Singles champion since Evonne Goolagong defeated Chris Evert in 1980. Barty has already drunk the Slam champagne by winning the French two years ago; she’ll have to beat Karolina Pliskova to do it again.
The Barty Party is still on
The invitations haven’t actually been sent out yet but the world number one is looking good heading into the second week. The hip has held up and the grass court tennis of slices, big forehands and crisp volleys is flowing nicely. Continue reading Wimbledon Thoughts Week 1 – 2021
How great will it be to see tennis at the All England Club again? The pandemic forced the cancellation of Wimbledon last year, the first time since World War 2, but now 12 months later organizers are hoping for a full 15,000 Centre Court on finals weekend, barring government intervention. Continue reading Wimbledon Preview 2021
This movie is a banger; it’s bigger, bolder and louder than the original. We get more Alien and the scares are up front, in your face. The history of sequels are littered with poor imitations or just downright disasters of their originals, but this comes damn close to outdoing ‘A Quiet Place’, which raked in almost $400 million at the box office. Continue reading A Quiet Place Part 2
Here we have a player who is in the GOAT conversation against a player looking for their first Grand Slam title. It’s Novak Djokovic v Stefanos Tsitsipas for all the glory at Roland Garros A Sunday final on the red dirt of Paris without Rafa Nadal is talk of heresy, but here we are after Novak played one of the best matches of his career in defeating the 13 time French Open Champion. Continue reading French Open Mens Final Preview 2021
The 33rd ranked Barbora Krejcikova has spent much of her Grand Slam tennis life stuck in qualifying, barely making the main draw. The 32nd ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has had a career of upset wins mixed in with early round losses. Now, they are in the French Open final and one will emerge a Grand Slam Champion. Continue reading French Open Womens Final Preview 2021
Tennis and drama are the marriage partners that keep on giving. Just when you think the status quo can become monotonous, drama says ‘just wait, let me drop this bombshell’, and that’s what Naomi Osaka did this week. In a social media post the Japanese superstar stated “I’m not going to do any press during Roland Garros”. Continue reading Naomi Osaka wants no part of the media
The second Grand Slam of the year begins next week, when qualifying matches will get underway at Roland Garros, with main draw starting May 30th. Summer in Paris is the pinnacle of the dirty, dusty clay court season. The French covid cases have dipped from 35,000 per day a month ago to 14,000, which will allow more fans into the stands. Continue reading French Open Preview 2021