Sports Then and Now

Federer, with his coach the late Peter Carter, was just beginning his rise to the top in 1999.

We are going to start a series of articles that outline the stand-out matches of Roger Federer’s career.  The impetus of this series was a discussion of the Greatest Matches of the Decade – in which Roger was not mentioned very often.  We thought that perhaps it was time to review some of the stand-outs.  This article is the first of a series.

For this article I had to purchase the old match from 1999, and I must say, first I have to get a simple fan reaction out of the way.  After all, these are three of the best looking men to ever step on a tennis court!

OMG!  There’s Pat Rafter!  In his heyday!  There’s Lleyton Hewitt!  Always one of my favorites.  And there’s Roger Federer!  He’s just a lad!  It’s Rafter with the ponytail and Lleyton with a backwards baseball cap on. He was with the ponytail too. And Roger just has short hair (the Rafteresque ponytail would come later – see match with Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.)

Roger’s neck is pencil thin.  His face isn’t filled out.  How cute he looks!

But the signs are there nonetheless.  There is it right in the middle of the second set: a breathtaking backhand.  The single-fisted backhand. Roger swings it for a lob that lands exactly in the corner. Perfect placement!   How often would we see that again later!

Rafter, at 27  years of age, is in his prime.  Rafter/Bjorkman are favored to win the match, and the commentators discuss how strange for the experienced pair to let youthful Hewitt and Federer get a set and a break on them, and take the first set to a tie-break.

Shortly after this Wimbledon appearance, Pat Rafter would be ranked #1 in the world (though he lost the singles’ semi-finals to Agassi).  And that year, the pair of Rafter and Bjorkman had won the doubles titles at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, and Roger’s Cup. Read the rest of this entry →

2009 was a record setting year for Roger Federer.

Memorable. Historic. Record-breaking. Personal best.

That is how you describe Roger Federer’s 2009 season. Roger was married to his long-time partner Mirka Vavrinec, and together they had twin daughters Myla Rose and Charlene Riva—oh, yes, and he played some tennis on his way to the top of the record books…

Leg No. 1—2009 Australian Open

Unlike 2008, when the world expected Federer to complete his life’s work, 2009 began with reservations about Federer’s abilities, his resolve, and his competitive fire.

Their suspicions were quickly confirmed as Andy Murray sustained his seeming domination of Federer first at Abu Dhabi, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7, followed quickly at Doha at the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open, 7-6, 2-6, 2-6. The Swiss fell to the unshakable Scot both times in semifinal contests.

Since losing to Federer in the finals at the 2008 U.S. Open, Murray had scored three consecutive victories against the former world No. 1.

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In 1968 Arthur Ashe won the U.S. Open and became the first African American to hold the number one ranking in men's tennis.

(On the 41st anniversary of him becoming the first African American to hold the number one ranking in men’s tennis, we remember and recognize the legacy of Arthur Ashe)

It is really a shame that so many people remember Arthur Ashe as “the black tennis player that died from AIDS.”

To say that the man was so much more would simply be an understatement.

Early Life

Most biographies of famous players always seem to start out with where the person was born, who their parents were, etc. That is in large part due to the significance of those facts in shaping a person’s life.

This article is no different.

Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was born to Arthur Sr. and Mattie Ashe in 1943. The family lived in Richmond, Va., and Ashe’s father’s job as “Superintendent” provided him with a Caretaker’s Cottage in Brook Park, a “blacks only” area that coincidentally included tennis courts. Read the rest of this entry →

Margaret Smith Court stills holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles (24) and most overall Grand Slam titles (62).

Let’s start at the top. There is, for Margaret Court more than any other player—man or woman—no other place to begin. For Court stands at the very top of tennis’ list of achievements.

Try this. She won a total of 62 Grand Slam titles: next in line is Martina Navratilova with 59, and both outstrip the next, Billie Jean King, at a mere 39. (The top man? Roy Emerson with 28.)

What about this? Twenty-four singles Slams: next in line is Steffi Graf at 22. (Roger Federer is way out of contention with his 15.)

Look at another. Court is the only person to win all 12 Slams at least twice. In fact, take out Wimbledon’s results (where she won only three singles and two women’s doubles), and she won the other 10 Slams at least four times.

And one more for good measure. Court is one of only three players to achieve a career “boxed set”—all three titles at all four Slams.

Not enough? Well, Court is one of only three women to win a calendar Slam (in 1970), and on four further occasions, she won three singles Slams in the same year.

Make no mistake, this woman dominates the record books now just as much as she dominated the opposition during her 17-year career.

While you absorb those statistics, consider this, too.

Between 1970 and 1975, the Australian Open did not hold a mixed doubles competition, and in 1965 and 1969, the mixed finals were abandoned due to bad weather (and Court was lined up to play in both). So it’s entirely possible that this remarkable woman could have won another half dozen Slams. Imagine it: 67 titles.

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Like a hardened tree, Pancho Gonzalez exhibited the posture of resistance.

Not far from my place, there stands an old windswept pine, so hardened by the elements that even on a calm day it exhibits the posture of resistance. It seems unrelenting in its refusal to bow.

More than once, the old tree has symbolized for me the human traits of stubbornness, perseverance, endurance and toughness. Its sinewy skin and tightly-clenched roots tell of a life filled with challenge and pain. Yet it still stands there in defiant victory.

That sun-bleached, aged pine has not merely survived…it has actually thrived. The perplexity of that thought has often brought to mind a particular person. As I set about to research this story, it became clear that my subject was one such person.

Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez, the son of Mexican immigrants, faced the winds of adversity from the onset of his tennis career.

As a young minority teen-ager in 1940s Los Angeles, he was shunned by the upper levels of society. Gonzales often spent time watching tennis enthusiasts unwind at neighborhood parks and public courts.

He was intrigued by the combination of power and finesse that tennis required and would emulate the moves he so diligently observed through the fence. Thus was laid the self-taught foundation of Pancho Gonzales’ fabulous career.

Tennis became his obsession and predictably, his studies and social skills suffered. Truancy and trouble with the law soon followed. Then, a year of juvenile detention.

Though his talent was by now undeniable, his rowdy reputation and cultural roots ensured his exclusion from LA’s upper-crust tennis clubs.

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Maria Bueno won seven Grand Slam singles titles.

You are ice and fire with a touch that burns my hands like snow—Amy Lowell

Maria Esther Andion Bueno rose to the top of women’s tennis in the ’50s and ’60s, employing her natural ability to carve a unique mark on the women’s game.

Bueno grew up during an era prior to the movement known as women’s liberation.  Back then she was a novelty—a woman born with natural athletic gifts who lived to find and fulfill her destiny.  Such a feat was rare in those days because even superlative women often remained wedged in their seats at the back of the bus.

Remarkably, Bueno won seven grand slam singles championships, three Wimbledons, and four U.S. Open titles, 11 doubles championships with six different partners, and one mixed doubles title with partner Bob Howe at the French Championships in 1960—for a total of 19 grand slam crowns.

She was ranked in the top 10 in the world from 1958 through 1960 and then again from 1962 through 1968.  She held the No. 1 ranking in 1959, 1960, and in 1964.

Bueno, born on Oct. 11, 1939, resided in Sau Paulo, Brazil.  Her father and mother both loved and played tennis socially.  The family lived modestly in comfortable middle class society in a home directly across the street from a tennis club facility.

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