tennis gut

Roland Garros – Men’s Preview 2014 21 May 2014 To my mind there are five men who are real contenders for this year’s French title.  Given that 4-time defending champ Rafael Nadal has won 8 times in the last 9 years, this might seem a surprise.  The obvious rival is Novak Djokovic – who just beat him last week on clay in the Italian final.  The other contenders are Nishikori, who had Nadal on the ropes in Madrid before getting injured while just two service holds from the match; and Wawrinka, who won the 1000 in Monte Carlo.  The fifth contender is the insanely talented Federer, who beat Djokovic in the semis but lost the Monte Carlo final to Wawrinka.  I also wouldn’t frown too deeply at anyone nominating Ferrer to join this august list, especially since he beat Nadal in Monte Carlo.  But on balance I don’t count him as likely to win the title. There are of course a host of other players that could pull some upsets or even win the title if the draw went apocalyptic, but t

Roland Garros – Women’s Preview 2014 21 May 2014 Where are the young?  Petra Kvitova is still the youngest Major winner – and she’s 24.  Slam-wise, we are just about half way through the decade... this French Open is the 18 th GS of the 10’s (45% of the way through), and only one woman born in the 90’s has claimed a slam title.  Is this normal? Looking at players born in the 80’s, both Hingis and Serena won Majors before the 00’s even began (1997 and 1999).  Then Venus won in 2000 and Henin in 2003.  During 2004 we had Myskina, Sharapova, and Kuznetsova, all 80’s babies.  In short there was a full complement of top players born in the 80’s visible at this time last decade.  Now?  We have Kvitova.  For 70’s babies, there were Sabatini, Seles, and Sanchez-Vicario, all slam champions by 1990.  The 60’s crowd had Mandlikova and Austin, both winners by 1980.  The 50’s boomers were more like today.  There was Goolagong in 1971, and then the towering accomplishments of Ev