Author Archives: Steve

Some cool stuff that happened in 2012

Yen-Hsun Lu becomes the Challenger GOAT The man from Taiwan claimed another three Challenger titles to take his career total to 18, surpassing the semi-retired Takao Suzuki’s haul of 16. His cause was helped by his schedule, consistently opting to … Continue reading

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David Savic banned for life: Questions answered, questions unanswered

Few tennis fans had heard of David Savic before he was banned for life on corruption charges at a hearing in London last September. Given that he operated mainly on the Futures tour and had a career high of 393, … Continue reading

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Twitter loves Andrew Castle

This gallery contains 29 photos.

Or not as the case may be. The part-time tennis fans should be grateful they only have to put up with him for a couple of weeks a year.

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Self-parody with John McEnroe and the cramping rule clarified: Reflections on day five

Self-parody with John McEnroe  It seems I wasn’t alone when I was irritated by media descriptions of Lukas Rosol as an “unknown” and a “nobody”, amongst other disparaging terms. John McEnroe was also disgusted by his colleagues in the mainstream … Continue reading

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Cool head Luke, misguided Murray mania and the equal pay endgame: Reflections on round two

Cool head Luke Lukas Rosol’s five set victory against Rafael Nadal was one of those matches that leaves you frantically searching for superlatives. As far as upsets go, it’s arguably the biggest of the Open Era with only George Bastl’s … Continue reading

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Easy money, self-flagellation and timely reminders: Wimbledon day one

Easy money It was another productive grass season for Potito Starace. Two matches, two retirements, a total of 16 games played. His reward? A mere €3,870 for his first round defeat to Flavio Cipolla in Rosmalen and then £14,500 for … Continue reading

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No wildcard, no problem and other thoughts from the final round of qualifying

No wildcard, no problem Brian Baker was denied a main draw wildcard but breezed through qualifying to secure his first Wimbledon appearance in seven years with a 5-7 6-2 6-1 6-2 win against Maxime Teixeira. The AELTC decision now looks … Continue reading

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The return of Miracle Matteo and other reflections on qualifying round two

The return of Miracle Matteo I first wrote about Matteo Viola at the Australian Open. You can read the details of his ridiculous comebacks here but the short version is he won his first two qualifying matches from a total … Continue reading

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Au revoir Arnaud and other thoughts from round one of Wimbledon qualifying

Au revoir Arnaud Arnaud Clement’s singles career came to an end in rather low-key circumstances with a narrow defeat to big-serving compatriot Kenny de Schepper today in Roehampton.

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USTA Roland Garros Wildcard race: Current standings

Rather than holding a separate tournament, this year the USTA will award its Roland Garros wildcard to the player who accumulates the most points at the Sarasota and Savannah Challenger events. With his victory in Sarasota, Sam Querrey technically leads … Continue reading

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