Of which junior players make it to the pros and which ones do not, Mary Pierce said it best, in her quote in my Facing Serena/Facing Steffi Graf book, “Some (junior) players look amazing and never make it. And some don’t and they do.”

“The crowd can destroy a man too, if they fall in love with the opponent.” – Rod Laver

Tennis quotes

Osaka revealed her mindset in this Roland Garros tournament and the rest of the women better take note because the Japanese tennis queen means business.

Naomi Osaka · Nike · Nissin · Roland Garros

Stage fright can happen in tennis too. No matter how talented and confident a pro player may be, some do not like to perform under the spotlight and pressure of a full stadium watching their every move.

Kiki Bertens · Roland Garros

You learn something every day and I learned yesterday the longest point in tennis history was 29 minutes long! Yes, you read that right, a professional tennis rally lasted 29 MINUTES long.

How did I learn such a rare nugget of tennis trivia? I will tell you. I messaged Jean Hepner a few weeks ago asking about her four and a half hour match with Barbie Bramlett at US Open which included nearly 20 match points.

Jean Hepner · Vicky Nelson

In this world of short attention spans and multi-tasking and the focus on cell phones, it’s difficult sometimes to notice beautiful art, to really notice it.

This painting of John McEnroe arrested my attention at the Sarasota Open. The artist is even more intriguing than her work. Karin Billings is a woman of many talents.

John McEnroe · Karin Billings

Andre Agassi produced mediocre results with Novak Djokovic, shortly before Djokovic re-hired his old coaching team which resulted in Djokovic returning to his best level and winning Wimbledon and US Open and regaining the ATP world no. 1 ranking. Djokovic’s success begged the question…why couldn’t Agassi inspire Djokovic to return to glory?

Andre Agassi · Grigor Dimitrov · Super Coach

Back in 2008, Rafael Nadal was dubbed the “King of Clay” – he wasn’t by any means the first player to be awarded this title, but there’s little doubt that he’s the most successful and the undisputed “King of Clay,” with eleven French Open titles to his name.

One such player, aiming to emulate and strip Rafa of his French Open title later this month is Austrian, Dominic Thiem. At 25-years-old, the ATP world number 4 is seven years younger than his rival and has upset him before, as we will go on to mention.

Bet Tennis · Dominic Thiem · Rafa Nadal · Roland Garros

By Scoop Malinowski

First set Nadal comes out with full ferocity and a sense of desperation. He has not win a clay tournament all year and urgently needs to win the final in Rome to restore and re-establish his King of Clay dominant aura as Roland Garros looms around the corner.

Nadal dominates Djokovic 6-0 but as Nadal has that facial expression of fierce ruthless intensity, Djokovic looks tired and not all there mentally.

Djokovic · Rafa Nadal · Rome

When a coach has total control of a player and shields this player from any outside coaching influence, no matter how valuable,  to protect his own ego, there is one way to overcome this. Offer information and advice here because the player has revealed curiosity to read this site.

ITF Junior · pro