Sports Then and Now

Roger Federer, ranked No. 3 and Andy Murray, ranked No. 4 are in the market for new coaches.

What is happening?

Andy Murray decided to split with Coach Miles Maclagan shortly after Roger Federer announced that he would be teaming up on a trial basis with former Pete Sampras coach Paul Annacone.

Something is definitely in the air.  Just what is the significance of these seemingly disparate actions by two of the tennis world’s top four?

If you are paying attention to the subtle signs, you get the feeling that the top players are girding up, preparing for an all-out assault on the hard courts where they figure to be playing for all the marbles in 2010.

Think about it.

This is the season when the current No. 1 player, Rafael Nadal is most vulnerable.  While no one can overtake the Majorcan in the next few months, the player who advances his standing by adding to his own ranking points may be laying the foundation for his tennis future.

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Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal will each be continuing their quest for tennis immortality when they meet in the Wimbledon semifinals.

There’s a famous scene in Chinatown where private detective Jake Gittes faces the evil tycoon Noah Cross, who has been stealing water away from the needy populace to lower the price of land that he can then buy. 

“Why are you doing it?” Gittes asks. “How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can’t already afford?”

“The future,” Cross responds. “The future!”

Rafael Nadal seems a far more pleasant human being than Noah Cross, but his motivations appear to be similar.

With seven majors and one of the all-time great clay court résumés already to his credit, Nadal is still looking to add on, even if it comes at the expense of contemporaries starved for Grand Slam success. 

Unlike Roger Federer, who could never pick up a racket again knowing he’s already established a compelling case for Greatest of the Open Era, Nadal still has plenty to prove.

Holder of seven Grand Slam titles, Nadal needs one more to move past Mats Wilander and John McEnroe, and two to get past the power-baseliner triumvirate of Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, and Andre Agassi. 

The chances of his being ranked higher than those names in the history books go up even higher should more of his major wins take place on a surface other than clay. 

Andy Murray has another type of history to chase. Though he proudly identifies as a Scot, the English public has proudly adopted him as the player most likely to end Britain’s drought at the majors, which stretches all the way back to Fred Perry in 1936. Read the rest of this entry →

The Queen arrives at a 33-year absence from Centre Court at Wimbledon.

As if Andy Murray did not have enough pressure on his young shoulders, now he must worry about his bow to the Queen of England before his match gets underway on Centre Court.  There Murray will meet Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the second round.

The Queen has come calling––her first visit in 33 years––to see young Mr. Murray and, some suspect, to pay her respects to this tournament that stands out as one of England’s finest events.  As a reluctant visitor, the Queen should serve as a good luck charm for the man from Scotland.

Along with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen will stroll the grounds and meet tennis’ top players including the No. 1 seeds Roger Federer and Serena Wllliams––they will be on hand to lunch with the Queen.  Serena has been busy beating up on opponents and practicing her curtsy anticipating her luncheon with the Queen.

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Tennis Super Heroes Ride Again...

At the end of this European clay court season, we stare headlong into the promise of another blockbuster slam––the French Open 2010.

The drama of the upcoming event played at historic Stade Roland Garros has long been anticipated in the hearts and minds of tennis aficionados across the globe.

Secretly for each rabid fan, the favorite of choice has already been crowned champion.

The hit and miss performances of many players who normally claim the starring roles in these renowned tennis epics, however, continued to cause doubt.

One after another broad-based tennis pundit pondered this apparent anomaly unfolding in 2010. Their questions peppered all media outlets.

First and foremost is the quandary of which superhero tennis star will ultimately claim the leading role in Paris?

The company has yet to post the cast of characters and who might be filling them. The question of who will emerge as the champion fills the vast arena of speculation…

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The Florida Keys at the height of spring simply burst with “weather” in all its drama.

Hot sunshine alternates with breezy outbursts. The coastal winds kick up the odd storm, then die away to leave air so heavy it presses like a saturated sponge on the forehead.

Residents and visitors alike can take to the sea, or sink beneath the waving palms, indulge in every sport known to man, or simply sit back and soak in the atmosphere.

The Miami Sony Ericsson Open, the second of the two giant Masters that bestride the early hard court season and the late spring of clay, is in full swing.

It is surely the brightest and breeziest tournament of the year: the sprightly allegro before the transition into the adagio of the second movement on clay.

Crandon Park, home of this popular tournament, is bright and breezy in the old fashioned sense, too. It wears its heart on its sleeve, burgeoning with primary colors, Mexican waves, and more diversions from the tennis than you can count.

Perhaps it is the humidity—touching 90% at its halfway point.

Perhaps it is the ebullience of the Latin American fan-base, here to support a wide field of south American players.

Perhaps it is the temperature, soaring from a night-time in the 50s to a daytime approaching the mid-80s.

Or maybe it’s the uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring: thunder and lightning or cloudless skies.

Whatever it is, Miami seems to live for the moment.

For some players, though, the moment was quickly gone. Read the rest of this entry →

It’s been a shameful few weeks for British tennis.

Since the Davis Cup defeat by Lithuania, barely a day has passed without one media outlet or another revealing a new twist in the story.

First, it was the ritual analysis of the work of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). 
Before long, John Lloyd resigned from the worst job in tennis, and began to cast his vitriol in assorted directions.

Eventually, attention turned to Roger Draper, the chief executive of the LTA since 2006, who has commissioned an internal review following the Lithuania tie.

Draper himself also had some explaining to do to a group of MPs and peers chaired by Baroness Billingham. He was been summoned to explain how the LTA spends the £27 million of public funding it receives from Sport England for grass-roots projects.

But never far away from the war of words that breaks out after each Davis Cup tie is the name of Andy Murray.

One moment he is pilloried for deserting the Davis Cup team in its hour of need, and the next he is being consulted on what needs to happen to turn things around.

Well it’s time to call a halt and face a few home truths. The mire in which British tennis finds itself is not of Murray’s making. Indeed, it might be argued that, without his presence, this furore would all have come to a head far sooner.

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