Category Archives: Grand Slams
Those Little Flags
Wimbledon, First Round Tomic d. (29) Davydenko, 7/5 6/3 7/5 Hewitt d. Nishikori, 6/1 7/6 6/7 6/3 Last week, my boss participated in the CEO Sleepout, a fund raising event at which scores of managing directors and politicians and sundry … Continue reading
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Luck of the Draw: Wimbledon 2011
If tennis draws are rigged – that cherished belief of the zealots and crackpots – then you’d imagine whoever rigged the Wimbledon draw today should have done a better job at masking their handiwork. It just looks so obvious. That … Continue reading
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Visions Fugitives
The Tour has released Paris to its Gallic follies, and rolled inexorably onward to verdant pastures, Anglo and Teutonic respectively. Queens and Halle are already a few days old, the grass is deep and slick, and del Potro has suffered … Continue reading
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Dominance Blooming
French Open, Final (1) Nadal d. (3) Federer, 7/5 7/6 5/7 6/1 It was not until 5/1 in the fourth set, with the return of the sun and a second break in hand, that the dour knot marring Rafael Nadal’s … Continue reading
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He Is The Man, No?
French Open, Semifinal (3) Federer d. (2) Djokovic, 7/6 6/3 3/6 7/6 In the end – for the players, the crowd, and at least one person on the far side of the world – it was all about light. As … Continue reading
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Yet Again . . .
The semifinalists for Roland Garros 2011 have been decided, and for a wonder the Big Four constitute the final four. The lazy inclination is to add a knowing ‘yet again’, but in fact it only seems that way. It occurs … Continue reading
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Vexing Questions
I ended the week vexed by two questions, the first newly-minted and the second near-eternal: What is wrong with Rafael Nadal? Is Liszt’s E-flat Piano Concerto worse than a root canal? Pleasantly, or unpleasantly, the latter question has at last … Continue reading
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The Fog Lifts
Roland Garros, Day Eight Fognini d. Montanes, 4/6 6/4 3/6 6/3 11/9 The opinion has been aired that the finale to today’s astonishing fourth round encounter between Albert Montanes and Fabio Fognini could not be scripted if you tried. This … Continue reading
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Epic
French Open, Day Six (13) Gasquet d. (23) Bellucci, 6/2 6/3 3/6 6/3 The stylistic cliches that define tennis coverage are legion, and cover the entire spectrum of suck, from bowel-wrenching cringeworthiness to the extravagantly pointless. Examples of the former … Continue reading
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Thud
French Open, Day Five Six qualifiers have progressed to the third round of Roland Garros: Antonio Veic, Leonardo Mayer, Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, Alejandro Falla and Lukasz Kubot. I’d like to say this is the first time, but honestly I … Continue reading
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