Sisyphus, Paganini and One Heckuva Livestock Auction

Australian Open Buzz: Day 12

MURRAY AS SYSYPHUS: SI.com’s Jon Wertheim said that Andy Murray remains “the tennis Sisyphus. He’s long past the point of moral victories and consolation prizes, but he ought to leave Melbourne with immense confidence in his fitness level, his improved aggression, his choice of coach, his willingness to fight.”

The Best Surfer In Iowa

Australian Open Buzz: Day 10

GOODBYE, NO. 1: Caroline Wozniacki may have surrendered her No. 1 ranking, but the 5-foot-10 Dane says she has little doubt that she’ll win it back.  “I finished No. 1 two years in a row.  In the end of the year we will see who played the best.  We are just in January.  In the [...]

The Buzz: 2011 In Review

Occupy ATP (and Other Tales of the Good, the Strange, the Weird and the Bizarre)

WORST ANALYSIS OF THE YEAR: Mary Rhodes said that Victoria Azarenka (the loudest screecher in the game) was “quietly working her way through [the draw].” INTRO TO PARENTING 101: Of his son, Pete Sampras complained, “I don’t know what’s going on in this kid’s head. Anything I say, he does the opposite.”…After the arrival of [...]

Australian Open Draw Analysis: The Men

Return of Roger In 2012?

TOP HALF 1st QUARTER: The question on everybody’s mind is whether or not Novak Djokovic can sustain the kind of awe-inspiring momentum he displayed in 2011, when the Serb went 70-6 in capturing 10 titles, including three Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open), five Masters 1000 crowns and the No. 1 ranking.  While it’s hard [...]

U.S. Open: Rainy Day, Dream Away

Day of Frustration Becomes Day of Controversy as Weather Worsens

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — With rain wreaking havoc on the U.S. Open schedule, emotions began to wear thin on Wednesday before Rafa Nadal and Gilles Muller even took the court for their fourth round matchup.  Nadal took some heat when he appeared to make his opponent wait nearly 10 minutes to walk out on the [...]

Sharapova Shocked; Murray, Young Survive

U.S. Open Buzz Day 6

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — The luck of the draw.  Heading into a Grand Slam, all a player can do is cross their fingers and hope things roll out well when it’s all said and done.  But these days, with the looming presence of The Big Four — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy [...]

A Cooked Stork Staggering Under the Broiling Sun

U.S. Open Buzz Day 4

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — Lenox Rawlings described John Isner as “a cooked stork staggering under the broiling sun.”  Said Isner, “I feel I expend more energy than anyone else. Even Shaquille O’Neal in his heyday wasn’t running up and down the floor with point guards. When it’s really hot, I do kind of struggle with [...]

Andy Murray and the British Art of Losing

LONDON— For 73 years a cloud has hung over this island. But this most celebrated island, a civil isle at the heart of civilization, the home of Shakespeare and Churchill, that once created a vast empire, could not even rule its own lawns. The brave people who in war rebuffed an evil European foe, fell in [...]

Marx, Hemingway and the German Renaissance

Inside Tennis Notebook

GERMAN RENAISSANCE?: Not since Steffi Graf put down her racket has Germany enjoyed a run quite like this.  In April, Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges, Anna-Lena Groenfeld and Sibine Lisicki led Germany to a 5-0 rout of the U.S. in the Fed Cup Playoffs, relegating the Americans to the World Group II.  Plus, Goerges recently upset [...]

Sexy Serena and the Hamlet of Tennis

Sony Ericsson Open Notebook

FED VS. MARTINA: After Martina Navratilova said Roger Federer “is on the other side of the float. I don’t think he’ll ever play as well as he did three or four years ago. That’s not to say he can’t still win a Slam, but it’s difficult to see him climbing back to No. 1,” the [...]