tennis gut

US Open 2015 Preview – Men Novak Djokovic is the runaway #1 this year.   But Andy Murray just beat him in the Montreal final and Roger Federer triumphed over Novak in Cincinnati.  So who is the favourite for the US Open?  And what about last year’s finalists Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori?  Or Djokovic’s conqueror in Paris, Stan Wawrinka?  And what of Rafael Nadal? Djokovic has won two of three slams and four Masters 1000 titles this year.  He has 50% more ranking points in the yearly Race than #2 Andy Murray.  Hard courts are traditionally his favourite surface.  So why isn’t he the obvious favourite for the US Open?  Well, for starters he’s just lost twice on North American hard courts, to Murray and Federer.  And then there is his dismal record in US Open finals:  1 W – 4 L.  Considering his sterling Australian Open resume contains 5 titles, his failure at the USO is especially puzzling.  Steve Tignor at TENNIS magazine thinks it may be the wind that swirls around Ash

US Open 2015 Preview – Women There are a lot of records on the line here and they all have to do with Serena.  Can anyone stop her? Serena Williams has won the last 4 slam events – the Serena Slam.  She needs one more to win the calendar Grand Slam – a feat accomplished 3 times by women:  1953 Maureen Connolly, 1970 Margaret Court, 1988 Steffi Graf.  A US Open victory would give Serena four consecutive US Open titles, matching Chris Evert’s open era record (1975-1978), as well as the all-time record:  Molla Mallory (1915-1918), Helen Jacobs (1932-1935).  It would be Serena’s 7 th USO crown, one more than Evert’s open era record of 6, but one behind the all-time tally of Mallory.  It would also be Serena’s 22 nd slam title, matching the open era record of Steffi Graf (1987-1999), but still two behind the all-time count of Margaret Court (1960-1973). Serena has lost only twice all year:  in Madrid to Petra Kvitova and in Canada to Belinda Bencic.  Kvitova is a two-time W