At the 1973 US Open, John Newcombe and Margaret Court each won US$25,000 for winning the tournament. It was the first time equal prize money was awarded at a Slam, a cause championed and driven by Billie Jean King. This year is the 50th anniversary of that cause and both the Men’s and Women’s Champions will receive US$3 million, a much bigger slice of the bounty. Continue reading US Open Preview 2023
The conversation is over, the debate is done, Novak Djokovic is the greatest men’s tennis player of all time after winning his 23rd major in Paris on Sunday. We can quibble about the overall greatest as Margaret Court is on 24 Slams and Serena 23 but at least on the men’s side he has no peer. Continue reading Novak is the GOAT
Ash Barty is retired, Novak is back and the Russians are still banned at Wimbledon. Storylines at the Slams are forever changing; making Melbourne seem light years ago, yet the French Open is days away. Continue reading French Open Preview 2022
In this era of greatness Novak Djokovic is one match away from accomplishing a feat that his greatest rivals, Federer and Nadal could never do. That’s win all four slams in the same season. In over a hundred years of Grand Slam tennis only two men have done it, the American with the sublime backhand Don Budge in 1938 and remarkably Rod Laver did it twice, in 1962 and 1969. Continue reading US Open mens final preview 2021
With a day’s play already in the books and a number one seed ousted out of the event, Roland Garros waits for no man as the tennis gods look to cook up a bouillabaisse full of surprises in the next 14 days. So lets grab a lovely slice of French bread and dig in. Continue reading French Open Preview 2017
Coaches and players are splitting up all the time. They’re worse than a Mexican soap opera. They’ve even got a name for it on the ATP Tour and WTA, they call it the ‘coaching carousel’, and people are getting on and off all the time. It makes you wonder, at the highest level of competition how much influence does the coach actually have on a players’ results? Continue reading Boris and Novak have split, now what?
Eight years ago Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open as a 20 year old; he had arrived to the big show. The question was could he build on it and continually challenge the Grand Slam monopoly that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had created? The answer was no. In the following 3 years he made only one more Grand Slam final, at the 2010 US Open, losing in 4 sets to Rafael Nadal. Continue reading Novak Djokovic is Dominating
Its that time of year again, when the exhibition grab for cash circus had rolled out of town and the season that matters begins. With lead-up events happening around the world the Australian Open is literally days away. We’ve just had a year when two players absolutely dominated their respective tours, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic. The two icons coming within a match or two of winning the Calendar year Grand Slam. Continue reading Australian Open Preview