tennis gut

Wow! what an exciting weekend for the home crowd here in Vancouver!   Vasek Pospisil opened the proceedings by jumping to a two-set lead in the opening rubber against Andreas Seppi and the crowd began to buzz.  But Seppi was just finding his range on the medium-fast indoor surface and scored breaks in the final 3 sets  57 46 64 63 63 .  It was definitely deflating for both Pospisil and the crowd - like the air was being slowly sucked out of the arena by Seppi's superior play - this is why he's #18 in the world. I thought Milos Raonic would have his hands full against the quick-handed artistry of Fabio Fognini, but the serving machine was firing on all cylinders in a 64 76(4) 75 scoreline that looks closer than it felt.  Kudos to Fognini however for some great and entertaining shots and hanging tight to the end. The doubles was simply master theater.  Pospisil and Daniel Nestor jumped out to a two-set lead 63 64 and seemed to be cruising to vic...

The Case for Pancho Gonzales  -  9 Apr 2013 Some tennis fans think Ricardo Alonso “Pancho” Gonzales was the greatest of all time (GOAT).  A lot more fans say, “Who?”  Lots of people have heard of Rod Laver, winner of two grand slams.  They may even have heard of Don Budge, winner of the first grand slam.  But Pancho Gonzales?? Looking down the slam tournament records, we see that Gonzales won the US Championships in 1948 and 1949.  Nice, but not very impressive – and he never won Wimbledon.  So how could he be the greatest ever? It’s important to understand that the best players in the world were not playing the slam events between the 1930’s and 1968.  Instead, they had turned ‘pro’ and played the barn-storming tours of their era – travelling from city to city to stage exhibitions.  And they also played the few pro tournaments (mostly low-paying) that were in existence.  Once players had made a name for themselves on ...