Tennis

If you were told that a player ranked lower than 104 in the world had just won one of their sport’s major tournaments, you’d scratch your head and assume it was the upset of the century. And in some cases that might be true….but in others, said player could be a former Grand Slam champion […]

Hollywood scriptwriters use a storytelling arc called the ‘Hero’s Journey’ as a way of hitting the key emotional plot-points in a Box Office smash. It’s a vehicle that has lent itself perfectly to sports movies over the years, with everything from the Rocky franchise to Field of Dreams using the Hero’s Journey as the core […]

You don’t need to be a writer blessed with Shakespearean prose to write headlines about British tennis players at the Grand Slam events: disappointment, crashed out and early exit are just some of the descriptors that can be wheeled out on an annual basis. An early exit from the 2024 Australian Open left Andy Murray […]

By the time he finally hangs up his racket, Novak Djokovic could have an entire chapter dedicated to him in the Guinness Book of Records. But that time doesn’t look to be coming up any time soon, with the 36-year-old still the most dominant force in men’s tennis by a country mile. Djokovic proved as […]

Every journey starts with a first step, and for Carolina Wozniacki that was August’s Canadian Open. The former tennis world number one, who retired from the sport in 2020, announced her plans to return to the competitive circuit in 2023. Time spent away from tennis – and raising two children – seem to have focused […]

Pimms and strawberries. Cliff Richard. White clothing. In an ever-changing world, some things remain the same – Wimbledon has managed to retain many of its traditions that date back decades. But it would be wrong to suggest that the tournament officials are stuck in their ways – they have updated the dress code to allow […]

Were they the worst of friends or the best of enemies? Given that they shared a near two-decades long battle for supremacy, you would think that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal might avoid each other off-the-court, as has been the case with some of the tennis’ other most contemptuous rivalries. But no, it turns out […]

One of the sad truths of life is that no matter how much we love a sportsperson, we know that they simply can’t go on forever. Many of us have grown up watching Roger Federer develop from hirsute teen tearaway to one of tennis’ all-time greats, but as the years have racked up so too […]

You can forgive Serena Williams for playing on past her fortieth birthday. After all, she has been marooned on 23 Grand Slam titles since 2017 – in the meantime, she has given birth to her first child and gone on to lose in four more finals. Serena has hinted that she will retire from tennis after the […]

Should sport and politics ever mix? It’s a bit of a hot potato of a question, with both sides of the fence equally well represented. Many sporting governing bodies have taken the opportunity to ban Russian athletes as part of a wider sanctioning campaign against Vladimir Putin, following his orders to invade Ukraine. In tennis, […]

There’s that old adage in sport that you’re a long time retired. Of course, some – often, but not exclusively, boxers – go on too long, not knowing when to call time on their career. In tennis, and specifically the women’s side of the game, the opposite side of the coin tends to be true […]

While British men have enjoyed their fair share of success in tennis Grand Slam events in recent years – Andy Murray is a serial champion, and even Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski knocked on the door at majors, their female counterparts have proven to be less fruitful on the big stage. But that changed in […]

Most sports stars are happy plying their trade at the top end of their chosen profession, occasionally flirting with greatness. For others, being considered the best in the business is the driving force that propels them out of bed in the morning and onto the practice pitch, the gym or whatever potential-maximising path they might […]

Plans for a major expansion of the All England Club, home of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, have been revealed. Club officials revealed the purchase of the neighbouring Wimbledon Park golf club in 2018, and have since been working on how the expanded tennis facilities will look. As well as a third arena, which will have […]

The problem with losing your temper is that, when the red mist descends, anything can happen. Even more of a concern is if your patience is tested in the last 16 of a tennis major, with the eyes of the world watching. Novak Djokovic was the odds-on favourite to win the 2020 US Open, but […]

You would think that tennis, by its very nature, would be one of the sports quickest to recover from the pandemic that swept across the world in the spring and early summer. And that was the thought process behind Novak Djokovic’s innovation the Adria Tour. He wanted to take elite-level tennis to crowds across the […]

At the end of his first round defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut at the Australian Open, there was a look of resignation on the face of Andy Murray. He had battled back from two sets down to take the tie into a decider, but a lack of competitive action leads to reduced match fitness, and […]

It has been thought for years that tennis, specifically the lower-level tours, has a problem with match fixing and questionable betting practises. This is not mere speculation either: in 2016 the Italian player, Marco Cecchinato, was fined £33,000 and banned for 18 months after being found guilty of ‘altering’ the outcome of his ATP Challenger […]