Winning nationals–that’s challenging to do for anyone. At 25 years old, practicing and competing in fewer tournaments than in one’s junior tennis prime, let alone on tennis’ naturally quirky surface it is that much more of a daunting task. Recently, I was able to accomplish that feat and am very proud of it. Although I…
If you think the main job of a sports memoir is to tell the athlete’s story in his own voice, and that’s a reasonable thesis, then you have to credit Jimmy Connors’ book, The Outsider with accomplishing that. In the 416 pages of the book, the tennis fan is taken on a ride through the…
The USTA has announced a number of new milestones for the just-concluded 2013 U.S. Open. Overall attendance surpassed 700,000 for the sixth time, with the final tally of 713,026 ranking fourth-highest U.S. Open attendance in history. The all-time combined session attendance of 62,794 was set on Sunday, Sept. 1. In a rematch of last year’s women’s…
A year ago, Rafael Nadal was resting at home with a knee injury and didn’t compete in the U.S. Open. One year later, he is the 2013 U.S. Open champion. In front of packed house of over 25,000 fans, the second-ranked Nadal defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 Monday night to…
Do you love your serve? I certainly hope so because it is the most important shot in the game of tennis. It would make sense that anyone who loves the serve should love the overhead as well, but that’s not necessarily true. One thing that is certain … if you don’t love your serve, you…
One of the more fascinating aspects of Billie Jean King’s career and life is that not only did she fight for equality on the court, but also off. While listing King’s accomplishments here would be redundant, “American Masters,” the long-running documentary series on PBS, does an excellent job of balancing both athletic accomplishment, as well…
Leander Paes & Radek Stepanek took home the 2013 U.S. Open Men’s Doubles title, defeating Alexander Peya & Bruno Soares in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. Paes & Stepanek rode the momentum they gained by defeating the world number one and top-seeded Bryan Brothers in the semifinals and made the finals victory look easy. They were…
Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic won the U.S. Open women’s doubles title with a 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4 win over Australia’s Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua. Hlavackova and Hradecka, who upset the team of Serena & Venus Williams in the semifinals on Friday, used the momentum to defeat Barty & Dellacqua to take home the title….
In three tough sets, top-seeded Serena Williams defeated second-seeded Victoria Azarenka for the second straight year in the finals of the U.S. Open, 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-1. The championship gives Serena her 17th Grand Slam title and her fifth U.S. Open Singles Title. This was Serena’s second major singles title of the year, as she also…
Unseeded 15-year-old wild card Tornado Alicia Black of Boca Raton, Fla. became the third straight American to reach the U.S. Open girls singles final and the fourth in the past six years, following her 7-5, 6-3, victory over the seventh-seeded Antonia Lottner of Germany in Saturday’s semifinals. The previous three–Samantha Crawford (2012), Grace Min (2011)…