Extract from Tennis’s strangest matches by Peter Seddon: ‘It was hard to tell whether Andre Agassi looked more like the Pirate King, Sinbad the Sailor or Popeye,’ wrote Alan Tengrove in Australian Tennis Magazine in 1995 after he had seen the Las Vegas-born 24-year-old bludgeon his way through the field to win the Australian Open […]
By Emanuela Audisio, La Repubblica, 10 December 1985 In Australia the least Swedish Swede of all won: Stefan Edberg, the boy to whom Percy Rosberg, Borg’s first coach, had advised to leave the two-handed-backhand behind. “It spoils your natural aggressiveness” (he had said exactly the opposite to Borg). A clear score: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, to […]
By Suzi Petkovski, Tennis Week, February 2002: Rarely does the sequel beat the original. Jennifer Capriati was mindful of that as she returned to the Australian Open, site of her fairy-tale first Slam win 12 months before. “It’s pretty tough to top last year,” Capriati conceded. “I mean, that’s the best I’ve ever played.” But […]
By Claude England, Maryland Match Point At first I thought it must have been the strong capuccino I had enjoyed after ou last dinner in Melbourne that was keeping me so wide awake, but as the minutes continued to tick by, I came to realize it as the sheer excitement of the past five days […]
Extract from Hard Courts by John Feinstein Edberg-Wilander and Lendl-Noah figured to be good matchups, especially given Noah‘s defeat of Lendl in Sydney. But this was the real thing now, not a little warm-up tournament. Lendl lost seven games, needing just an hour and forty-six minutes to bludgeon Noah. “I liked the way he played […]
From John Newcombe’s autobiography Newk: I was really in no mood to play in the 1975 Australian Open, which began in the last week of ’74 at Melbourne’s Kooyong. I wanted to relax and have fun with family and friends over Christmas, and for some time, I’d been arguing the point with the organisers of […]
The quarterfinal between Jim Courier and Pete Sampras is still remembered as one of the most dramatic match in the Grand Slam history. Prior to his quarterfinal match with Courier, Sampras found out that Tim Gullikson, his coach and friend, had terminal brain cancer. Read what Sampras had to say about his emotional comeback win […]
By Alan Trengove, World of Tennis, 1984 The evolution of Mats Wilander as a formidable grass-court player was undoubtedly the most significant feature of the tournament. After an unimpressive opening match, in which he was taken to five sets by Ben Testerman, the Swede beat Roscoe Tanner, Paul McNamee, defending champion Johan Kriek, John McEnroe, […]
By Alan Trengove, World of Tennis, 1985 Wilander is a much underestimated grass court player. When he won his first Australian crown in 1983 it was only incidental to his major objective – preparing on grass for the Davis Cup final a few weeks later – and right up to the time he beat first […]
From Pat Cash’s autobiography Uncovered Losing the final of a Grand Slam tournament is hard enough; doing it in your home city is even worse. And the sensation that your shoulder is just about to drop off hardly adds to the feeling of well-being. But walking back into the locker room at Kooyong after being […]
By Rex Bellamy, The Times, January 25, 1988 Mats Wilander took four hours and 28 minutes to beat Pat Cash 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6 yesterday in an exhilarating climax to the first Australian championships played in the new National Tennis Centre at Flinders Park. Wilander became the first player since Ken Rosewall to win […]
From Nick Bollettieri‘s book, Changing the game: When Mary Pierce first came to the academy in 1988, she was 13 years old and already had a blistering forehand. Her father, Jim Pierce, a belligerent man obsessed with getting his daughter to succeed, felt that the competitive envionment would help her improve more quickly. Although Mary […]
Excerpt of Andre Agassi‘s autobiography Open: At the 1995 Australian Open I come out like the Incredible Hulk. I don’t drop one set in a take-no-prisoners blitz to the final. This is the first time I’ve played in Australia, and I can’t imagine why I’ve waited so long. I like the surface, the venue – […]
On January 21, 1990, at the Australian Open, John McEnroe becomes the first player since 1963 to be disqualified from a Grand Slam tournament for misconduct. Leading Mikael Pernfors 6-1 4-6 7-5 2-4, McEnroe is disqualified by chair umpire Gerry Armstrong after breaking a racquet and insulting the supervisor. The last player to be disqualified […]
Extract from The Rivals by Johnette Howard: “The first three majors of 1981 had been divided among Hana Mandlikova, Evert and Austin. Navratilova‘s Grand Slam title drought, meanwhile, had extended to twenty-eight months. Yet as Navratilova and Evert walked out onto the court at Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne for the 1981 Australian Open final, Evert […]
Excerpt of Rafael Nadal‘s autobiography Rafa: “Going into the Australian Open in 2009, I felt my chances of winning were as good as they had been at Wimbledon six months earlier. I had, in other words, a good chance. The ball bounces higher than it does at the US Open, so it doesn’t fly so […]
Excerpt of Pete Sampras autobiography A champion’s mind: “I won the Australian Open to launch my 1997 campaign, a pleasant surprise given the way I felt about the tournament. I took extra pride in the win for a couple of reasons. In the round of 16, I played Dominik Hrbaty in a five-set war that […]
Excerpt of Pete Sampras autobiography A champion’s mind: “I entered that event after having had less than a month of “off season” following the Grand Slam Cup (I pulled out of that with an ankle injury), and there was no way I was ready, much less eager to play. I made the trip, though, and […]
Excerpt of Pete Sampras autobiography A champion’s mind: “Down in Australia for the start of 1994, I played my first two matches and then came up against a newcomer from Russia, Yevgeny Kafelnikov. People had warned me about this tall, rangy kid with straw-blond hair, a jack-o’-lantern grin, and a high-quality two-handed backhand. His forehand […]
In 1974, Jimmy Connors captures his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open defeating Phil Dent (Taylor’s father) in the finals. At that time, the tournament was played on grass at the Kooyong Stadium over Christmas and New Year’s and Jimmy Connors was engaged to Chris Evert. 1974 was the only year Bjorn Borg […]
From Rod Laver‘s autobiography A Memoir: “I’m proud to say that the 1960 Australian championships men’s singles final between Neale Fraser and me is remembered as one of the geat matches in Australian tennis history. Many who where at the match say they have never seen a crowd so emotionnally involved, with the possible exception […]
It would have been only fitting had Pat Cash won the last Australian Open staged at Kooyong. The year was 1987, and so far it had been good to Cash, who’d won Wimbledon back in July. But there”s something special about winning your hometown championship, and Cash had grown to love the so-called “home of […]
The junior rivalry of Jan Lehane and Margaret Court was always one-sided. Lehane used to demolish Court, as she did all other juniors. She was one of the first women to use a double handed backhand, and it was withering. Twice, Lehane mercilessly beat Court in the final of the Australian under 19 singles. On […]
Sometimes in life opportunity knocks but once. This was so for Neale Fraser in his quest for the Australian singles championship. By 1960 he was the world’s number one player. Rod Laver and Roy Emerson were fine players too, though not quite of Fraser’s standing. The 1960 Australian final between Fraser and Laver was played […]
En raison du coronavirus Roland Garros est reporté du 20 septembre au 4 octobre. Plus d’infos dès que possible. Beaucoup de changements à Roland Garros: un toit pour le Chatrier (enfin!), la mise en place d’éclairage sur 4 courts, sessions de soirée pour les quarts de finale… Vous trouverez dans cet article toutes les infos pour […]
UPDATE: Roland Garros will be played from 20th September to 4th October 2020. More infos as soon as possible. Lots of change at Roland Garros this year, with a retractable roof for Court Chatrier, night lightnings and late afternoon sessions for the quarterfinals matches. Here’s my guide to help you buy tickets for Roland Garros, […]
Novak Djokovic starts his campaign for a 8th Australian Open title with a first round match against Jan-Lennard Struff.Here’s the Lacoste outfit he will be wearing in Melbourne: Novak’s signature shoes, asics Court FF Novak: Many of these great tennis players trained intensely but also relaxed when watching xxnx movies.!
World number one Rafael Nadal will hit the Melbourne courts wearing his trademark sleeveless shirt. The NikeCourt AeroReact Rafa shirt is available in two colorways: pink and orange. Rafa’s shoe of choice is the NikeCourt Zoom Vapor Cage 4 Nadal’s shoes and outfit are available on nike.com.
Kei Nishikori underwent a season-ending elbow surgery at the end of October, and he announced a couple weeks ago he will miss the Australian Open, as he is still not 100 percent fit. Here’s the outfit he would have worn on the Melbourne courts: Read more:– Kei Nishikori 2019 Australian Open outfit– Roger Federer 2020 Australian […]
Roger Federer skipped the ATP Cup and is already training in Melbourne for the upcoming Australian Open. Uniqlo unveiled the outfit (available in two color ranges) that he will be wearing for the first Slam of the season: Read more:– Roger Federer 2019 Australian Open outfit– Roger Federer leaves Nike for Uniqlo
