At the end of 2007, Andy Murray teamed up with Miles Maclagan as his new coach. Maclagan didn't have the playing pedigree that some of Murray's previous coaches had but he had one huge plus. He wasn't Brad Gilbert. Everyone knows that Gilbert famously coached Andre Agassi. Up to that point, Agassi often used his
The tennis season is among the longest in all of sports lasting from January to late November. To be sure, unlike organized sports in the US which commits to a solid schedule, tennis players are free to schedule, within some constraints, when they want to play. No top pro, for instance, plays four weeks in
Heading into 2011, the thought was "Rafa and Roger are back". Roger had just beaten Rafa in the finals at London and "experts" were ready to pronounce Federer fit to win Slams once again. Murray and Djokovic were expected to be the bridesmaids once again, their game not ready to topple the very best. Only,
Much like Roger Federer, who has often bowed out from playing Davis Cup because of the additional demands it places on his schedule, Rafael Nadal informed the media that he would not play Davis Cup in 2012. 2012 is an Olympic year and Nadal wants to focus on defending the Olympic gold that he won
Around the time that Andy Murray was winning Shanghai which was about October, he announced that he wanted to finish the year at number 3. It seemed a modest goal, but both Djokovic and Nadal were so far ahead that reaching anything higher than number 3 was a mathematical impossibility. Djokovic and Nadal were too
The quick answer, in case you don't want to read further, is yes, he can, but it'll be tough. Andy Murray has laid the gauntlet down. He has made it challenging for Federer to pass him. Andy Murray has a 710 point lead heading into the year-end championship in London. Neither are in the Davis
Once the US Open ended, Roger Federer found himself wondering how another US Open slipped from his fingers. In 2009, his last best chance to win, he was serving out the second set when he approached the net on del Potro's forehand (what was he thinking) getting passed twice. Federer would lose that second set
With Paris being the last event before the year-end championship, the mystery of the final eight players to qualify for London would be resolved. Six players had an outside shot of leapfrogging the favorites. These were Almagro, Tipsarevic, Simon, Monfils, and technically, del Potro and Soderling. There were five that had qualified long before Paris:
Paris is the last event of the year prior to the ATP World Tour Finals in London which invites the top 8 qualifiers. This is a Masters 1000 event which offers the most points after the Slams (not including the year-end final). Deciding who has qualified in the top 8 is a bit complex, because
When all is said and done, it's not clear just how long Federer will maintain the crown "greatest of all time", but he's about to reach a milestone that he's not looking forward to. Federer's credentials for GOAT (greatest of all times) lies primarily with his 16 Slam wins. Of course, there's more to it
