Category Archives: ATP Tour
Tender Maulings
PTT Thailand Open, First Round (1) Murray d. Bye Following a few brief weeks in which Andy Murray played little and complained a lot – endeavouring to draw from that vast well of public sympathy replenished whenever multi-millionaire athletes cry … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour
A Long Time Coming
Bucharest, Final (2) Mayer d. (4) Andujar, 6/3 6/1 I first heard about Florian Mayer from my father earlier in the decade before this one. Some time late in the year – perhaps 2004 – the evening well-advanced, Dad was … Continue reading
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Low Ebb
And so we have arrived at that point in the season when even hardcore tennis fans – historically a penalty for larcenists and false witnesses – find it hard to get motivated to follow the sport, unless they find themselves … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour, By the Numbers
The Undemonstrative Frenchman
Winston-Salem, Final (4) Isner d. (Q) Benneteau, 4/6 6/3 6/4 Julien Benneteau is a player I would say I have a lot of time for, and I even believe it as I say it, but the truth is that I’ve … Continue reading
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Old News
Winston-Salem, First Round Kavcic d. Hewitt, 6/4 7/6 The news is now a long day old that Lleyton Hewitt has withdrawn from the US Open, a tournament he won a decade ago. What meagre shock the announcement might have engendered … Continue reading
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Victory Without Triumph
Cincinnati Masters, Final (4) Murray d. (1) Djokovic, 6/4 3/0 Ret. For the second week in a row, Novak Djokovic arrived at a Masters final courtesy of a default. Today he departed due to one, meaning that his second streak … Continue reading
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The Heart of Rage
Cincinnati Masters, Quarterfinals (1) Djokovic d. (6) Monfils, 3/6 6/4 6/3 The Roman philosopher Seneca once remarked, perceptively, that rage is self-punishment for others mistakes. As a statement it packs rather a lot into very few words, and was doubtless … Continue reading
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Bad Scene
Cincinnati Masters, Third Round (2) Nadal d. Verdasco, 7/6 6/7 7/6 (10) Simon d. (5) Ferrer, 6/4 6/7 6/4 The pressing issue in Cincinnati today was crap tennis, which is a bad issue for a Masters 1000 event to have. … Continue reading
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Raging Impotence
Cincinnati Masters, First and Second Rounds The centrepiece of the week so far has been Andy Roddick’s lamentable capitulation to Philipp Kohlschreiber – belatedly lamented – a mental collapse that was almost out of character, punctuated by an utterly characteristic … Continue reading
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Resistance Is Futile
Montreal Masters, Final (1) Djokovic d. (6) Fish, 6/2 3/6 6/4 Novak Djokovic’s excellent gambol through 2011 continues untrammelled, although for all that it has ranked among the most impressive runs in men’s tennis history, it is only now that … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour