Genuine, humble and respectful are the words coach Craig Tyzzer used to describe the new World Number 1 Ash Barty. They are exactly what you’d like to hear about any sporting champion. Last night in defeating Germany’s Julia Georges in the Birmingham final Barty became the first Australian women to ascend to the top ranking since Evonne Goolagong Cawley did it in 1976. Continue reading The rise of Ash Barty
It’s winter in Australia, as evidenced by a balmy 17 degrees today in Sydney. You can imagine the nights are getting a tad chilly, down to a low of 7, this essentially means if you’re staying up during the night watching the tennis on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon these next two weeks you’d better be doing it either by the fireplace in the lounge room or under cozy electric blankets in bed. Continue reading Wimbledon Preview 2018
The other morning I was keen to check out the blockbuster first round matchup at the US Open of number two seed Simona Halep up against five time major winner Maria Sharapova. I was ready, I’d pottered around in the kitchen, cooked up a mushroom omelette, brewed some coffee and plonked down in the lounge chair, turned the TV on and was bombarded with a wall of grunting noise. Continue reading A mushroom omelette, coffee and grunting
Margaret Court sure knows how to put her foot in it, not just once but multiple times. Opinions are like ‘you know what’, everyone has got one. In this age of Political discourse gone bezerk having an opinion on just about anything can be a dangerous game. On social media you’ll be vilified one way or another, and being on the ‘correct’ side of any issue is in the eye of the keyboard warrior. Continue reading Margaret Court Arena should stay as Margaret Court Arena
The knives are out and cement shoes have been set, the public and the media are giddy with glee in crucifying Nick Kyrgios. Even the super brat himself John McEnroe showed his displeasure with the Kyrgios performance calling it a “black eye for the sport”. Continue reading Where to next for Nick Kyrgios?
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?
This year’s last Grand Slam is now upon us. On Monday the US Open starts in New York with a ton of storylines looking to unfold. How will the new $150 Million Centre Court roof fare on Arthur Ashe Stadium? Will Djokovic recover from his less than stellar summer? Can Angelique Kerber continue the hot streak? Will the absence of Roger Federer hurt the tournament? Continue reading US Open Preview
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
Nick Kyrgios. If I randomly selected ten people on the street and said that name I’d get a mix of reactions, admittedly some of them not very complimentary. Kyrgios has become polarizing and I’ve heard every opinion under the sun about him, “He’s only 20, what do you expect”, “I think he is a breath of fresh air”, “He needs to be banned”, and “He goes too far”.
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