Roger Federer is a bit unusual when it comes to coaching. Technically, Federer has done without a coach for a while. He had had Jose Higueras on his team trying to find ways to beat Rafael Nadal, but parted ways when it didn't seem to help his clay game that much. He then looked to
Long time fans have long lamented the disappearance of true serve and volleyers. The last two good serve and volleyers were probably Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter. Both their careers were essentially over in the early 2000s. Names like Tim Henman, Jonas Bjorkman, or if you go back far enough to Edberg, Becker, McEnroe, and
Until recently, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had mostly been number 1 and 2 in the world. Nadal has slipped in and out of number 2, dropping as low as 4, but now a resounding number 1. Because these two players have been at the top for so long, it's meant that the only way
When Wimbledon started, there were a handful of questions that tennis experts were hoping would get answered from the tournament. Roger Federer had just lost, for the first time, to Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals. Up until then, he had been to 23 straight semifinals, a record that lasted nearly 6 years. Just as impressive,
Robin Soderling went into the French Open finals, ready to do what he did the previous year--beat Rafael Nadal. He started blasting the ball in an attempt to overwhelm Rafa with power. Nadal weathered the storm. He looped shots up giving himself time to recover, and took one blow after another. When Nadal won the
220 points. That's all that separates Roger Federer from Rafael Nadal. It seems slender. But the gap is much bigger than that. The reason is two-fold: Roger Federer is defending champion, and Rafael Nadal skipped Wimbledon last year. That means, just to keep the gap the same, Roger Federer would have to win Wimbledon again,
For all of Federer's troubles since 2008, he showed an amazing consistency in Slams. By the end of this year's Australian Open, he had reached his 23rd straight Slam semifinal. He had reached his eighth straight Slam final. He had reached 18 of his last 19 Slam finals. This is an imperious record, showing a
John Isner's visibility to the sports world at large shot up on June 23, when an otherwise insignificant match was being played on an outer court, away from the hubbub of the show courts. 7 hours later, he and Nicolas Mahut had gone into history, playing the longest match ever, and even then, it wasn't
Just for fun, I'm going to rate the 8 fourth-round matches from "pretty sure it's a sure thing" to "toss-up". Almost a sure thing Roddick vs. Lu Lu's a fine player, but he's has the kind of game that doesn't lend itself well to upsets. A guy like Petzschner can come to net, and takes
Before the start of a tournament, especially the start of a Slam, there are questions being asked and the tournament, like students taking an exam, hope to provide answers to. For Roger Federer, the question was: can he win Wimbledon again? Is the great Roger Federer in decline? In the last two years, Roger Federer
