WAWRINKA WINS FRENCH OPEN, DJOKOVIC MOVED TO TEARS
Locker Room
June 7, 2015
Mental strength. That’s what Stan Wawrinka summoned to beat Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in one of the great French Open finals. An astonishing will to win and a raw power so jaw-dropping that you sometimes wonder how it can be generated from Wawrinka’s modest frame. Having squandered a match point and been […]
Serena seals her 20th Slam!
Locker Room
June 6, 2015
Serena Williams dropped her racquet on the Roland Garros clay, stretched her arms skywards, and savoured the moment she sealed her 20th Grand Slam. Though we witnessed a superb second-set comeback from Lucie Safarova, and a break in the very first game of the third, you always felt Serena would find a way. FEROCIOUS […]
What Can Be Done About Murray’s Mindset?
Locker Room
First of all, you have to salute Novak Djokovic for beating Andy Murray yet again, and in doing so ending the Brit’s hopes of taking a Grand Slam he hasn’t won before. The 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 scoreline tells the basic story. The first two sets were ridiculously easy for Djokovic. So was the […]
Wimbledon wouldn’t be Wimbledon without Americans!
USA
June 5, 2015
Try to imagine Wimbledon over the years without Americans. It just wouldn’t have been the same, would WIMBLEDON WOULDN’T BE WIMBLEDON WITHOUT AMERICANS! Try to imagine Wimbledon over the years without Americans. It just wouldn’t have been the same, would it? Rebellious, record-breaking, glamorous or just utterly brilliant, the Americans always add something – and […]
Street-fighter Stan’s Sucker Punch
Locker Room
If you see poetry in a sucker-punch set up by a true street-fighter, this really was a match to admire. Stan Wawrinka saved sixteen break points to show his fighting spirit – but that wasn’t the most remarkable feature of his intriguing performance. ASSAULT No, the timing of his assault in the all-important third was […]
Surely Only Illness Can Deny Serena Now?
Locker Room
June 4, 2015
Once again, Serena Williams needed to come from behind. Once more she found the strength when the cause seemed beyond her. Timea Bacsinszky seemed to have such freedom of movement, to show such fearlessness in her stroke-play, that when she took the first set 6-4 and more than held her own in the early games […]
Rafael Nadal Loses At Roland Garros
Locker Room
June 3, 2015
For the first time in 40 matches and only the second time in ten years, Rafael Nadal lost a tennis match at Roland Garros. The superb Spaniard had won here for the last five years and yet he finally met his match in Novak Djokovic, the world number won who hasn’t lost now in 27 […]
Federer Falls To Whirlwind Wawrinka
Locker Room
June 2, 2015
The poetic power of Stan Wawrinka was too much for Roger Federer, whose best tennis seemed to be carried away on a forceful Parisian wind. ‘I’ve beaten a friend,’ said Wawrinka, a poignant remark given their relatively recent falling out. Federer, the world’s favourite player will now start looking forward to Wimbledon, his best chance […]
How Long Can Comeback Queen Serena Keep Doing This?
Locker Room
June 1, 2015
So she did it again. For the third successive match at Roland Garros, Serena Williams struck back from a set down to come through in three. IRREPRESSIBLE On this occasion, Sloane Stephens, her fellow African-American, was the victim of that irrepressible Williams will to win. Even though the younger woman had blitzed the first set […]
SHARAPOVA CRASHES OUT BUT RUTHLESS ROGER IS THROUGH
Locker Room
A moment of complacency can finish you at Roland Garros, just as surely as a bout of illness. So it was for Gael Monfils, who was 40-0 up in the first game when he resumed his match against Roger Federer at one set all. CASUAL Monfils decided to attempt a casual drop-shot to complete that […]