Author Archives: Jesse Pentecost

The Blue Shift

Stockholm, Second Round The news came in last night (over the wire) that Australia has secured a non-permanent place on the United Nations Security Council. For months we have been warned by a succession of government ministers that this was … Continue reading

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Champion Of Everything

Novak Djokovic will almost certainly finish 2012 as the No.1 ranked player in the world, or in the diffident parlance of the ATP’s marketing department, the ATP World Tour Champion. With only three weeks of the regular season left to … Continue reading

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Weaponised Insincerity

Shanghai Masters, Final (2) Djokovic d. (3) Murray, 5/7 7/6 6/3 ‘Let’s use our cameras to capture this moment!’ The manic and skittishly bilingual trophy presentation is always a highlight of the Shanghai Masters 1000, propelled at break-neck pace by … Continue reading

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Beneath Stylised Blades

Shanghai Masters, Third Round Viewed from the outside, the main court at the Qi Zhong Tennis Centre in Shanghai bears an uncanny resemblance to a sports stadium mimicking a lotus flower. Viewed from within, the floral implications are less overt, … Continue reading

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An Adoring Roar

Tokyo, Final (8) Nishikori d. (6) Raonic, 7/6 3/6 6/0 Kei Nishikori defeated Milos Raonic in the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, thereby becoming the first Japanese man to do so in the tournament’s four decade history. … Continue reading

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The Red And The Blue

Beijing and Tokyo, Quarterfinals Perhaps it’s just me, but I find it helpful that the Japanese and Chinese Opens are colour-coded. This enables those of us with multiple streams open to tell at a glance which city the action is … Continue reading

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A Certain Gallic Aplomb

The tale of the first week of the 2012 Asian Swing – ‘swing’ is still a term I employ only grudgingly – has been that one Frenchman won his seventh ATP title, while another still hasn’t won any from seven … Continue reading

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False Start

This, I will hazard, will be a short post about a week of firsts, and a bad day for Italian men’s tennis. It is rare for me to write anything all the way through from start to finish, but I’m … Continue reading

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The Careful American

The location is Rod Laver Arena. The situation is the semifinal of the Australian Open. The year is 2005. The month is January. It was a simpler time, and we all spoke in much shorter sentences. The protagonists are Andy … Continue reading

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A Question Of Depth

World Group Semifinals Czech Republic d. Argentina, 3-2 Spain d. USA, 3-1 Spain will face the Czech Republic in the 2012 Davis Cup final, which I fervently hope is more engaging than either of this weekend’s two semifinals turned out … Continue reading

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