Author Archives: Jesse Pentecost

So Many Proven Yangs

Marseilles, Final (3) Gulbis d. (2) Tsonga, 7/6 6/4 It is a strange quirk that Ernests Gulbis, that least reliable of professional tennis players, somehow boasts a perfect record in tour finals, a record he kept intact today in Marseille. … Continue reading

10 Comments

Filed under ATP Tour

Speechless Saying That

Australian Open, Final (8) Wawrinka d. (1) Nadal, 6/3 6/2 3/6 6/3 Stanislas Wawrinka has won the 2014 Australian Open, thereby proving wrong those who’d maintained he couldn’t, a group in which he himself was often prominent. At a single … Continue reading

38 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

An Emotional Feeling

Australian Open, Semifinal (1) Nadal d. (6) Federer, 7/6 6/3 6/3 The Australian Open provides those of us who otherwise avoid commercial television with plenty of excellent reasons not to alter our viewing habits for the rest of the year. … Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

A Lesson in Parental Fallibility

Australian Open, Quarterfinals (8) Wawrinka d. (2) Djokovic, 2/6 6/4 6/2 3/6 9/7 It presumably surprised no one that Channel 7’s hype-department went into overdrive at the prospect of another blockbuster match between Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka. As with … Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

Forsaken Geometry

Australian Open, Fourth Round The first week of the 2014 Australian Open was feverishly warm, generating liquid quick conditions that caused results to flow in all directions, and ensuring that reporters who’d spent too little of their off-season toiling on … Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

Ongoing Commitments

As intimated earlier in the week, one of the more fascinating battles going on this week has been waged not between players, but between the media and the English language. This has entailed an exhaustive quest for original ways to … Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

Un-Australian Heat

Australian Open, Days 1 -3 The persistent theme through the first three days of the 2014 Australian Open was heat, evident in the desperate struggles of all players to complete their assigned matches, and the even mightier struggle of the … Continue reading

11 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

Magical Moments

Kooyong, Day One Australian Open Qualifying, Day One ‘Thompson is once again on the precipice of a magical moment in Australian tennis.’ Jordan Thompson twice came within a point of defeating Richard Gasquet at Kooyong’s AAMI Classic today, a magical … Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Grand Slams

Yuletide Bling

Brisbane, Quarterfinals The professional tennis season seems to commence earlier every year, which is to say, less late in the previous year. Eight elite men endorsed by the International Management Group were already darting through Abu Dhabi’s liquid air while … Continue reading

9 Comments

Filed under ATP Tour

Small Height Situation

‘We’ve talked about Darcis and his small height situation . . .’ There were many issues facing Steve Darcis in the first round of this year’s Wimbledon Championship, though his small height situation was among the least of them. A … Continue reading

16 Comments

Filed under ATP Tour