Tennis news, analysis, tournament coverage, and rumors
After reaching the semifinals at Indian Wells, Jannik Sinner is now just two games away from winning the biggest title of his career so far. The trouble is that to win those two games he will almost certainly have to beat the two most in-form male tennis players in the world right now, Carlos Alcaraz […] READ MORE
The term “The Big Three” was always a big misnomer. “The Huge Three”, “The Gigantic Three” or even “Three Gods” (in homage to George Kimball’s seminal boxing book, “Four Kings”, about the great middleweights of the 1980s) would have been more accurate. There will almost certainly never be another trio of players of roughly the […] READ MORE
If a Pyrrhic victory is one in which the cost of victory is so great that it almost constitutes a defeat, then we need a new term for those defeats that are so heroic they are almost greater than any victory. Perhaps they could be called “Hannibalic defeats”, in honour of the great Carthaginian general […] READ MORE
As it approaches its 2023 final this weekend, the ATP Rotterdam Open is also celebrating its fiftieth edition. It should actually be celebrating its 51st edition, because the tournament was first held in 1972. However, the following year it was not staged at all because of a scheduling clash, as tennis, which had only been […] READ MORE
The door has finally been opened. Can Novak Djokovic stride through it to tennis immortality? The decision this week by the US Government to end all emergency Covid restrictions, including the ban on non-vaccinated people entering the country, by the end of May has removed arguably the biggest obstacle to Djokovic attempting, let alone winning, a […] READ MORE
It’s a match that might change the rules, or at least the scheduling, of tennis, with renewed calls after it for earlier starts to prevent other players from having to compete until 4 am. But where does the five-set classic that Andy Murray won at Thanasi Kokkinakis’ expense at the Australian Open yesterday, which at […] READ MORE
On BBC Radio Five Live’s Australian Open preview show, it was revealed that Jack Draper’s preference for another profession if he had not become a tennis player was to be a detective. Apart from making a refreshing change from being a professional in another sport (the usual choice of most athletes), it also testifies to […] READ MORE
Tennis remains the only major professional sport without a proper off-season, so the start of the 2023 tennis season is just weeks away. Here are ten things to look forward to in tennis in 2023. Ten Things To Look Forward To In Tennis 1.The Great Three-Generational Battle In Men’s Tennis After the era of the […] READ MORE
2022 was a truly historic year in tennis. In the men’s game, both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic broke their previous three-way tie with Roger Federer on 20 Majors to move to 22 and 21 Major victories respectively. Perhaps even more importantly, a new Major-winner – indeed, a new world #1 – emerged in Carlos […] READ MORE
There were so many good things in tennis in 2022 that it can be easy to forget all the bad things that happened, too. However, from the “No-Vax” furore at the start of the year to the dreadful scheduling of both the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup at the end of the […] READ MORE
I am a scriptwriter (of plays and screenplays, including a biopic of Shakespeare, www.theshakespeareplays.com), journalist (writing on cinema for The Script Lab and on sport for LastWordOnTennis.com and LastWordOnFootball.com) and poet (having written a collection of short poems, entitled Shards, extracts from which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3). I am married with three children and live in London.