Rafael Nadal made history when he defeated Stan Wawrinka to lift his 10th French Open title in Paris.
The 31-year old Spaniard won the game in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 to win his 15th major title. The Swiss opponent stood no chance against Nadal who was widely expected to win the game.
Nadal is now the first person, in the Open Era – from when pro stars can compete with amateurs – to have lifted a Grand Slam tournament title ten times. He moves ahead of Pete Sampras on the list of all-time Grand Slam winners but he is behind Roger Federer. Federer defeated him to win his 18th title in Australia early this year and he remains in top shape to possibly add another. This means Nadal would need to make quite a chase to topple the Swiss.
In the history of the game, only Australian Margaret Court has more title in a single Grand Slam tournament. Court holds a record 11 wins at the Australian Open, which she won between 1960 and 1973. Well, Nadal can equal that record if he stays fit next year and can possible break it before he retires.
Read more »
Andy Murray, who currently holds the world No. 1 title, believes that it would be a fatal mistake for anyone to write off Roger Federer in this year’s French Open.
Murray maintains this position inspite of the Swiss having missed much of the clay court season.
For Federer, the 2017 season so far has been a remarkable one which has seen him win the Australian Open as well as the Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells and Miami. This came on the heels of his stay for six months out on the sidelines in 2016 as he recovered from an injury.
Fresh from winning the Miami title in early April, Federer who holds an 18-time Grand Slam winner record made it known that he was not going to be participating in any of the upcoming European clay court tournaments as he had already set his sights on the French Open at Roland Garros. Read more »
The new tennis rankings showed predictable results but there were some upset as well. After winning the Memphis Open, Ryan Harrison climbed to the top 50 for the first time in five years.
He is the biggest mover in the new rankings and he is seriously attracting a buzz for his comeback.
Harrison was declared early in his career to be the new American tennis star after Andy Roddick. The player was under a lot of pressure to impress but he never quite lived up to the expectations. The 24-year old star – despite the number of years in the spotlight – shocked the tennis world when he won his first ATP title. He did it in style, as he did not drop a single set throughout.
Roddick quickly took to his Twitter profile to congratulate the player for his victory. Harrison is the first American to win the Memphis Open since Roddick back in 2011. Read more »
Just recently via the social networking site, Instagram, Milos Raonic, Canadian Tennis player was on hand to announce the slight change in his relationship with his Coach, Carlos Raonic.
The start of the 2016 season had seen the two join forces in what has so far seemed to be a very fruitful relationship, which had seen Raonic advance to the Semifinals of the 2016 Australian Open.
He was also able to play at a high-enough level, thus going on to make the final event from Melbourne. Late match- fitness problems in the semifinals however saw the Canadian crash out in a five setter.
His message on Instagram posted on November 30th had read thus,
“Thank you to Carlos Moya for helping me tremendously this year, alongside my team, to get the best out of me.
“Under Carlos’ direction and tutelage, I have played my best yet to date. We will no longer be continuing our coaching relationship but remain close friends. I wish him all the best.”
After Melbourne Park, Raonic had enjoyed some other strong results, such as his run to the Wimbledon final which saw him lose once again to Andy Murray. Read more »
Robin Soderling says if he manages to get totally healthy, he might still have a decent bit of Tennis left in him.
The Sweden native has been absent from the tour for the last 5 years and has even hinted on occasions in the past that he believes he might never return.
But, in his latest interview given to a sports website, his tone was different and he looked hopeful again.
He was quoted as saying, “For past some time, I am starting to feel really good. I am still not in a position to say I am totally fine, but, I believe I am not that far off. If I keep on improving the way I’ve been, maybe at some stage next year, I would be able to begin full-fledged training.”
“It was always my desire to continue being active on the tour for a long period of time, even in my late thirties, but, my career came to a halt much before that for unfortunate reasons. However, even at this point of time, I don’t think the time has run out for me. I see a lot of veterans going around currently and going well which makes me hope that I can do that as well provided I am in the best condition of my health.” Read more »
A while back, it seemed as if Robin Soderling had got himself completely involved in business and tennis administration and was not even thinking about giving himself a go as a player again.
But, recently, he has hinted that he has not hung his rackets yet and he is looking to make a comeback on the tour in a few months’ time.
According to Soderling, his fitness is getting better eventually and the time is not that far away when he would be able to declare himself fully fit.
Soderling’s story is very, very unfortunate. He would have reached great heights of success by now if not for that glandular fever which hit him 4 years back in 2011 when he was playing brilliant tennis.
Recently in an interview, when asked how difficult it was for him to deal with the situation, Soderling said, “At the start, it was difficult. But, then, I took it in my stride and focussed on the other aspects of my life.”
“When you are active on the tour and play tournaments after tournaments, you start believing that your whole life is about the game and nothing else. But, only when you spend a bit of time away, you realize that there is a beautiful world beyond tennis as well.” Read more »
Robin Soderling | index | 
October 1, 2017 9:36 am | 
Comments Off on NADAL DEFEATS WAWRINKA TO LIFT TENTH FRENCH OPEN