How strange was the first day of Wimbledon? Donna Vekic won her first round match while her much more celebrated and much higher ranked boyfriend (man friend) lost. So much for the Paul Annacone experiment on grass for Wawa, he went down very surprisingly in four sets to Danili Medvedev. And Russians aren’t usually known […]

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Nick Kyrgios is 22 now and ranked 20 in the world. The tennis world has been waiting for the ultra-talented Aussie to explode like Safin at a major tournament but it has yet to happen outside of the big win at Wimbledon a few years ago vs Nadal.

Since then we have seen countless flashes of the Kyrgios genius. As recently as Miami we saw Kyrgios extend Roger Federer all the way to a 67 76 67 epic semifinal battle. The following week Nick knocked out the USA from Davis Cup by crunching Isner and Querrey in six straight sets in Australia.

Nick Kyrgios · Wimbledon

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Sound tennis instruction picked up from a former ATP top ten pro:

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Honestly, this is not the first time I heard this….

“You don’t need a slice backhand as you may get to depend on it too much and you won’t hit your bigger backhand”…

Slice backhand

Status: WTA ranking is 126. 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion.

DOB: May 19, 1992  In: Guernsey, Great Britain

First Tennis Memory:  “I think I remember watching Serena against Sharapova, that final at Wimbledon. I think that was probably my first memory because I never watched tennis as a child or anything like that.”

Tennis Inspirations:  “What? People? (Or whatever inspires you.) I think just being successful. And I’m a competitive person so I love winning. I guess that inspires me enough.”

Heather Watson · Wimbledon

John McEnroe is back with a new book, “But Seriously, which just came out on Tuesday, 15 years after his iconic and No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, “You Cannot Be Serious.” And here is my question to you, do you think Johnny Mac still wakes up in a cold sweat sometimes because he lost that 1984 French Open finals against Ivan Lendl, even though he was up two sets to love, had three break points at love-40 to break Lendl at 3-all in the third set and had a forehand volley to go up 5-3 in the fourth set?

John McEnroe

Feliciano Lopez played his first major at the French Open in 2001 – has not missed a major since other than not qualifying. That’s 61 in a row. Wimbledon next week will be 62 in a row.  (Federer has the longest active streak at 65 which ended last year when Federer did not play the […]

Feliciano Lopez · Iron Man

British tennis player Dan Evans tested positive for cocaine use earlier this year and has subsequently been abandoned by his clothing sponsor Ellesse for the transgression.

Ellesse on Dan Evans: “We cannot condone the lifestyle choices he has made and are therefore withdrawing his sponsorship.”

Cocaine is of course regarded as a recreational drug but also as a performance enhancer. Dr Brian Hainline co-authored “Drugs And The Athlete” in 1989 and revealed insights: “If you took the right stimulant you’d be more alert and experience less fatigue. With a carefully calibrated dose of cocaine, you’d play better. Everything is a matter of dosage.”

cocaine

By Scoop Malinowski

Status: Tennis player won ten career ATP singles titles and a 2004 Olympic bronze medal in doubles. Posted career wins over Safin, Gaudio, Kuerten, Moya, Federer, Agassi, El Aynaoui, Kafelnikov, Henman, Schuettler, and Coria. (This interview was done in 2003 at US Open)

Ht: 6-4 Wt: 182

Born On: March 19, 1979 In: Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Childhood Heroes: “Stefan Edberg was and Michael Jordan – the biggest sportsman ever, I think. I liked Edberg’s style of play. He was always chasing the net and I liked it when I was a kid. And I also tried to play that way. But when you go on as a professional, you can not play the game you like [smiles]. You have to play that you do better. So I liked his person a little too – very quiet. I like him.”

Federer · Ljubicic

Feliciano Lopez is getting a lot of credit now for his superb grass results but one achievement of his career which is overlooked and forgotten is that the Spaniard was the first player to expose a crack in the mighty Djokovic armor last year.

Flashback to the Australian Open final last year. Djokovic was at the height of his power, having crushed Andy Murray in the Australian final 61 75 76 for his third consecutive major title. Djokovic had never looked better and was in top form.

Djokovic · Lopez

Roger Federer annihilated Alexander Zverev in the Hall final yesterday 61 63 and played a quality of tennis which arguably could be his very best level.

The soon-to-be 36 year old blitzed Zverev with everything, including baseline superiority, pinpoint serving, serve and volley, lethal shot placements and particularly the drop shot. Federer stung the rising #NEXTGEN star repeatedly with damaging drop shots including one backhand finesse drop – off a deep Zverev drive – from behind the baseline. Zverev didn’t even make a move for the ball.

ATP · Federer · Roger