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Deep into the record books
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Statistics aren't as big in the moment in tennis as they are in other sports.
Telling someone that a guy has hit 81% of first severs for winners doesn't really mean that much if he's also got 37 unforced errors, unlike in baseball where if a guy is 3-for-3 with 3 RBI you can assume he's having one heck of a ballgame.
But when it comes to historical significance, the numbers don't lie in tennis, and with his recent defense of the Australian Open crown, Novak Djokovic's place in tennis history is starting to loom mighty large.
By winning his third straight Grand Slam title, following last year's US Open and Wimbledon feats, Nadal became just the fifth man to win three in a row in the Open Era, joining Rod Laver (four in a row, 1969); Pete Sampras (1993 Wimbledon - 1994 Australian Open); Roger Federer (2005 Wimbledon - 2006 Australian Open and 2006 Wimbledon - 2007 Australian Open); and Rafael Nadal (2010 French Open - 2010 US Open).
More impresively, Djokovic joined only Sampras, Federer and Nadal as the only men to win four out of five consecutive Grand Slam titles.
Federer did it best, taking six out of seven between Wimbledon in 2005 and the 2007 Australian Open to cement himself as the greatest player in history. Sampras did it starting with Wimbledon in 1993 and finishing by winning the event again in 1994, and Nadal did it from 2010-2011, missing only Djokovic's 2011 Australian Open title in that sequence.
With five Grand Slam titles to his credit, Djokovic is now tied for 12th in the Open Era for major titles with Australia's Rod Laver and John Newcombe. Next in his sights, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker with six each tied for 10th.
Even repeating his crown at the Australian Open puts Djokovic in elite company in the Open Era, joining the likes of Ken Rosewall (1971-1972), Guillermo Villas (1978-1979), Mats Wilander (1983-1984), Ivan Lendl (1989-1990), JIm Courier (1992-1993), Andre Agassi (2000-2001) and Roger Federer (2006-2007).
Djokovis is also making history quickly - in the Open Era, his four-year span between winning his first Grand Slam title and his fifth is tied for third-fastest to reach the achievement.
It took Roger Federer only two years to win his first five Grand Slams and Rafael Nadal and Ivan Lendl needed three. After that, Djokovic is part of an elite corps that includes Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras - all of whom gobbled up five Grand Slams in a four-year period.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/1/2012 2:00:13 PM | with 1 comments
Today's statistical anomaly is brought to you by: the WTA tour.
For the first time in Open Era history, four consecutive Grand Slam titles have been won by women who have never won a major crown before.
Victoria Azarenka cemented the record with her victory at the Australian Open last Sunday, following 2011 US Open winner Samantha Stosur, 2011 Wimbleon champ Petra Kvitova and 2011 French Open victor Li Na into the record books.
Only twice before had three straight majors been won by three women who had never taken a Slam before. In 2004, Russia's Anastasia Myskina took the French Open - her only Slam ever - followed by fellow Russians Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon (first of three) and Svetlana Kuznetsova at the US Open (first of two).
In 1978, Australia's Chris O'Neil won her only career Slam by taking her native Australian Open and Romania's Virginia Ruzici won her only major at the French Open. The pair were followed into the winner's circle by a young Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon, who won her first of 18.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/1/2012 10:18:41 PM | with 3 comments
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Day One: Andres Gimeno and Manuel Orantes
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We all know Roger Federer has 16 Grand Slam titles, Pete Sampras has 14 and Steffi Graf racked up 22, but sometimes the lesser-known champions can have the most interesting of stories.
WIth that, we begin a series of looks at the one-hit wonders of the Open Era - those players who won just a single Grand Slam title, and never made it back to the top of the heap.
We'll exclude anyone who's won their first Grand Slam title in the last five years - because Juan Martin Del Potro, Ana Ivanovic, Francesca Schivaone, Li Na, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur and Victoria Azarenka are still quite active on their respective tours.
That leaves 21 men and 10 women who tasted the sweetest fruit but once, and perhaps it was that much sweeter for being so rare.
We'll progress in chronological order, two entries per day, beginning with Spaniards Andres Gimeno and Manuel Orantes.
Andres Gimeno, Spain, 1972 French Open
 Spain's Andres Gimeno was 34 years old in the spring of 1972 and was into his 12th year of professional tennis. He had had a grand career to that point in time, with four titles, an appearance in the 1980 Wimbledon semifinals and a trip to the 1969 Australian Open finals in which he was thoroughly smoked by Rod Laver in straight sets.
He was seeded sixth in the 1972 French Open, but the field widened considerably when second-seeded Ilie Nastase and fifth-seeded Bob Hewitt both suffered first-round upset losses.
Gimeno didn't lose a set in the first two rounds, then rallied past 11th-seeded American Clark Graebner 3-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round.
He faced off against American powerhosue Stan Smith in the quarterfinals, with Smith seeded third, a returning finalist.
It was one of six times that Gimeno and Smith would square off in 1972, and the only time Gimeno would emerge victorious, in one of the most bizarrely scored major matches, he took a 6-1, 7-9, 6-0, 7-6 victory.
The road never got any easier for Gimeno. He needed five sets to edge the Soviet Union's Alex Metreveli in the semifinals, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, setting up a final against the ninth seed, France's own Patrick Proisy, who had upset Manuel Orantes in the semifinals.
At 22 years old, Proisy was younger and faster than Gimeno, but was playing under considerable pressure, trying to be the first Frenchman to take Roland Garros since Marcel Bernard.
Proisy looked on his way to being elevated to sainthood by taking a first-set victory, but Gimeno responded with three straight easy victories to take the 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 title.
Gimeno remains the oldest man to win the French Open.
Manuel Orantes, 1975 US Open
 Spain's Manuel Orantes could empathize with the Andy Murrays, Tomas Berdychs and Robin Soderlings of today's game.
He was an extremely good player in an era that had several all-time greats active.
Between 1969-1982, Orantes won 33 singles titles, but largely struggled at the majors, other than a pair of semifinal appearances in 1972 and a finals trip at the French Open in 1974. Playing in the era of Laver, Bjorn Borg and Arthur Ashe was wont to do that to a guy.
Orantes was ranked in the Top 10 as the Open Era dawned, but had slipped back into the teens by 1975. He started the season red-hot, with four titles before flubbing in the first round at Roland Garros.
He bounced back to win Bastad and Indianapolis without dropping a set, and added a title at the Rogers Cup to enter the US Open on one of the best rolls of his life as the third seed.
He dismissed of his first two opponents in straight sets, but needed three sets each (back in the pre-best-of-five days) to reach the quarterfinals.
There he faced eighth-seeded Illie Nastase and took a 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory to enter a final four that included defending champion Jimmy Connors, legend Borg and Argentina's Guillermo Villas, who would end his days with four Grand Slams.
While Connors again denied Borg the US Open title in one semifinal, Orantes performed a remarkable comeback in the other, rallying to a 4-6, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory.
Connors was the heavy favorite, both via the odds and the fans, but Orantes took control of the match early and cruised to a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/3/2012 6:16:48 PM | with 0 comments
Part two of our series on players who won just one Grand Slam title during the Open Era.
Adriano Panatta, French, 1976
 Twenty-six years old in 1976, Rome's Adriano Panatta had one big claim to fame on the clay courts of Roland Garros in his early days. He was the only player alive to have defeated Bjorn Borg at the French Open, having done so in 1973.
He entered the 1976 French Open after winning Rome on clay with a come-from-behind victory over Guillermo Vilas.
His great story almost ended before it began at Roland Garros, as he was pushed to the limit by Czechoslovakia's Pavel Hutka before escaping with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, 0-6, 12-10 win.
He swept his next two opponents and needed four sets to get to the quarterfinals, where Borg awaited again, fresh off back-to-back titles and his own big scare, surviving in five sets against 16th-seeded Francois Jauffret in the fourth round, including a 10-8 fifth set.
In the quarterfinals, Panatta worked his magic again, shocking Borg 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. Borg would never lose at Roland Garros again, and for his career at the French Open, he was 1-2 against Panatta, 48-0 against everyone else.
At the other end of the quarterfinals, American Harold Solomon was pulling a similar shock job on second-seeded Guillermo Villas. Panatta swept American Eddie Dibbs, the sixth seed, in the quarterfinals, and cruised to a four-set win over Solomon, 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, for his only career crown.
Sue Barker, 1976 French Open
 Sue Barker wasn't just a one-hit wonder, she caught lightning in a bottle like few players in a big tournament ever have.
Twenty years old in 1976, the British national limped into Paris that may with a 5-8 overall record, having played the event just once.
She left it with $204,000.
Barker seemed on the verge of destruction in every round from the second on, which she won 7-5, 7-6. From then on, it was all three-set matches for the young phenom, none more dangerous than her 4-6, 6-2, 8-6 victory over Czechoslovakia's Regina Marsikova in the quarterfinals.
In every round, she not only lost a set, but lost it badly - falling 6-1 to Virginia Ruzici in the second set of the semifinals and 0-6 to Renata Tomanaova in the second set of the final.
But through it all, she kept bouncing back in those third sets, and the future sports presenter of the BBC, who tallied 11 singles and 12 doubles titles in a career that saw her reach No. 3 in the world, came through in the final.
She would never do better than the second round at Roland Garros for the rest of her career, although she reached the semifinals at the Australian Open twice and Wimbledon once.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/4/2012 5:41:57 PM | with 0 comments
Part three of our series on players who won just one Grand Slam title during the Open Era.
Roscoe Tanner, 1977 Australian Open
 Roscoe Tanner was a renegade.
Left-handed with a tremendous high-speed serve, he didn't turn pro until he was 21 and didn't reach his highest ranking until age 28.
He had never made it to a Grand Slam final before 1977, and had never played in the Australian Open period.
He was less than crisp in taking his section down under that January, needing four sets to eliminate Brian Teacher in the first round despite being the No. 2 seed.
In the quarterfinals, he bombed fellow American Phil Dent, then crushed national favorite Ken Rosewall in the semifinals, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to set up a showdown with No. 1 seed Guillermo Vilas.
Vilas had dominated Tanner on clay in their careers prior to that meeting, but playing on grass made all the difference and Tanner crushed the Argentine 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to win his only Slam.
He bombed out in first round of the next Australian Open and wouldn't get beyond the fourt round of a Slam for the next two years. His 153 mile per hour serve was the fastest on record until Andy Roddick broke it in 2004.
Tanner became more well known to another generation of tennis fans for his legal problems, getting arrested four times in an 11-year span in the 1990s and 2000s
Kerry Melville Reid, 1977 Australian
 Kerry Reid had no problem winning titles in her career - winning 26 of them and finishing second 40 other times. However, she also played in the era of Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert, which made winning Grand Slam titles a bit of a problem.
She turned pro in 1963 and reached five Grand Slam semifinals in the first five years of her career. She added finals appearances at Australia in 1980 and the US Open in 1972, and five more semifinal trips but could never get over the top of a Grand Slam tournament.
By a scheduling quirk in the movement of the Australian Open from December to January, it was held twice in the calendar year of 1977.
Reid was the second seed behind fellow Aussie Dianne Fromholtz, with defending champion Goolagong sitting out the tournament.
Reid barely broke a sweat until the semifinals, where she crashed into fellow Australian Helen Gourley, who was also seeking her first Grand Slam title, having fallen in the French Open final in 1971.
Reid was pushed to the limit by Gourley, taking a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory to reach the final against the top-seeded Fromholtz. Reid took a pivotal 7-5 first set that made the difference, and she took the second set 6-4 for her only Grand Slam title.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/6/2012 8:16:15 PM | with 0 comments
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Twice as nice for Vitas at the Australian Open
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Vitas Gerulaitis, 1977 Australian Open (late)
 It took the uniqueness of two Australian Opens in the same calendar year to get Vitas Gerulaitis his only career Grand Slam.
He had no problem with this.
The Lithuanian-American had an impressive 1977, reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon and the fourth round of the US Open leading up to the Australian Open in December.
He was the top seed in the tournament, with fellow American Roscoe Tanner seeded second, followed by a bevy of Aussies.
Tanner and third-seeded Tony Roche fell flat in the first round, opening up the easy route for Gerulaitis, who lost only one set in the first four rounds.
He needed four sets to knock off unseeded Australian Ray Ruffels, but only three to whip sixth-seeded John Alexander to reach the finals against unseeded and unheralded Brit John Lloyd.
Lloyd was the first British player in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final, and was trying to become the first Englishman to win a Slam in 41 years.
The future husband of Chris Evert pushed Gerulaitis to the limit, but fell 6-3, 7-7, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2.
Mima Jausovec, 1977 French
The native of Yugoslavia, Mima Jausovec had good early success at the Slams, reaching at least the third round of at least one major in each of her first three seasons, including the semifinals of the 1976 US Open.
After not participating in the Australian Open the following January, she went into the French Open as the No. 1 seed despite having never made it past the second round at Roland Garros.
She didn't lose a set until the semifinals, where she went to war against Czechoslovakia's Regina Marsikova, taking a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
That put her into the finals against unseeded Florenta Mihai of Romania. Mihai won a second-set tie-breaker to send the match to a third set, but Juasovec regained her form and dominated the third set 6-1 to take the title.
Jausovec lost in the final of the French Open the following year and again in 1983, but never made it past any other semifinal.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/8/2012 10:59:41 PM | with 0 comments
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Australian's last woman winner
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Chris O'Neil 1978 Australian
 Chris O'Neil made the most of her one Grand Slam appearance, and is still the last Australian woman to win the home continent tournament, despite her title taking place 34 years ago.
O'Neil was unseeded and unranked to star the tournament, but turned heads quickly when she upset third-seeded American Beth Norton in straight sets in the second round.
She continued to dominate, particularly against Diane Evers in the semifinals, a 6-0, 6-3 steamroller. Her finals appearance was against seventh-seeded American Betsy Nagelsen, who had upset second-seeded Renata Tomanova in the quarterfinals.
O'Neil easily took the title 6-3, 7-6 to secure her only Grand Slam crown.
Virginia Ruzici 1978 French
 Sometimes, it takes a one-timer to beat another one-timer.
Such was the case in the 1978 French Open, as Romania's Virginia Ruzici won her only career Slam by taking out defending champion Mima Jausovec.
Ruzici was 23 years old at the time and would wind up winning 11 career titles in 12 seasons on tour. She had reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 1976 but sat out the 1977 tournament.
Ruzici was the second seed in 1978 and was nearly upset in the quarterfinals by 13th-seeded Fiorella Bonicelli in a marathon 7-6, 4-6, 8-6 victory.
Compared to that battle, the semifinals and final were a cake walk for Ruzici, who won the first match 6-3, 6-0 and the second 6-2, 6-2 to claim her crown.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/9/2012 10:37:53 PM | with 0 comments
Barbara Jordan 1979 Australian
 Yes, she had the same name as one of the greatest civil rights leaders in American history, but this Jordan also made history, winning the 1979 Australian Open in her only career Grand Slam final.
Jordan didn't just make her life about tennis, however. She earned a degree in economics in just three years at Stanford, where she was a three-time All-American, and also earned a doctorate from UCLA.
Brian Teacher, 1980 Australian Open
Brian Teacher might have be more memorable as a coach - guiding Andre Agassi among others - than as a player, but he was plenty impressive as a player as well - 6 feet, 3 inches and ranked as high as No. 5 in the world.
 He was the eighth seed of a deep, talented field in 1980, and needed four sets to get out of the first round.
He disappointed the home fans by taking out local Pat McNamee in the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 victory, then did the same to Peter McNamara, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals.
Teacher made it three Aussies down in three rounds in the final, defeating Kim Warwick, 7-5, 7-6, 6-2.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/10/2012 10:52:00 PM | with 0 comments
Yannick Noah, 1983 French Open
Half Milli Vanilli, half Gary Busey, Frenchman Yannick Noah was a personality on and off the court throughout his lengthy career.
He was 23 in 1983 when he took center stage at the French Open, becoming the first native to win the crown in 37 years, and playing about as well as any player ever has.
Noah was the sixth seed in a field loaded with al-time legends Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander.
Noah needed two tie-break wins to escape the third round and entered the quarterfinals along with the five seeds in front of him.
He stunned Ivan Lendl, the third seed, in the semifinals, 7-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0, his only set loss of the entire tournament.
He faced off against countryman Christophe Roger-Vasselin in the semifinals, the latter coming off an absolutely shocking victory over No. 1 seeded Jimmy Connors in the quarterfinals.
Noah paid little attention to the Cinderella story with a dominating 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 victory to reach the final against Wilander, who had taken out McEnroe in the quarterfinals.
Despite his best efforts, Wilander couldn't stop the Frenchman's roll and Noah crowned himself with a 6-2, 7-5, 7-6(3) victory.
Pat Cash, 1987 Wimbledon
The eye of a nation, perhaps even the world was firmly fixed on Pat Cash at an early age - he was the No. 1 junior player in the world at age 16 and won the junior crowns at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1982 at age 17.
He won his first ATP-level title that same year and continued to burn brightly - becoming the youngest player to play in a Davis Cup final in 1983 and reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1984.
In short, greatness seemed like a lock for the native of Melbourne, Australia, who added a finals appearance at his homeland's major to start the 1987 season.
Cash entered the season's Wimbledon tournament as the 11th seed, a distant blip on the radar behind two-time defending champion Boris Becker and current No. 1 Ivan Lendl, who already five Grand Slam titles to his name, including that year's French Open crown.
Cash lost only one set in the first three rounds, and became his section's top seed when sixth-seeded Yannick Noah was stunned by fellow Frenchman Guy Forget in the second round.
Forget was forgotten by Cash in a three-set sweep that sent the Aussie to the quarterfinals against third-seeded Mats Wilander, himself a four-time Grand Slam winner.
Cash looked like the seasoned veteran, ripping Wilander 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals against American Jimmy Connors, who was crushed in similar fashion, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.
The victory put Cash into the final against the mighty Lendl, who had defeated Cash in their first four meetings before Cash broke through in the Australian Open semifinals earlier that year.
Again, experience seemed to have little to do with the match on the court. Cash took a pivotal tie-break first-set win and battled past the legend, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-5 for the title.
Cash celebrated the victory by climbing into the stands to the player's box to greet his parents, coach and girlfriend, starting a long-standing Wimbledon tradition.
He would go on to reach the Australian Open final the following year, but never made it past another Grand Slam quarterfinal, particularly once injuries began to plague his career in the early 1990s.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/13/2012 10:22:28 PM | with 0 comments
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The Legend of Michael Chang
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Michael Chang, 1989 French Open
Michael Chang is the reason that long shots always have a chance, that no one is too young to succeed and that heart, raw, pure heart, can still a champion make.
The New Jersey-born Asian-American, Chang turned pro at age 16 in 1988 and reached the fourth round of the US Open, much to the delight of the partisan hometown crowd.
He reached two quarterfinals and two semifinals to start the 1989 season, and was the No. 15 seed entering Roland Garros that May.
He needed four sets to escape the first round, then butchered some guy named Pete Sampras, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, in round two.
In the fourth round, he met the legendary Ivan Lendl and lost the first two sets, then put together one of the most remarkable comebacks in Roland Garros history, winning three straight sets and unhinging the normally unflappable Lendl with a series of quick, underhanded serves and up-close net play as he tried to end points quickly to deal with massive leg cramps.
Chang took out unseeded players in the quarters and semifinals, then knocked off Mats Wilander in a five-set final after Wilander had taken out Boris Becker.
Andres Gomez, 1990, French Open
At 30 years old in 1990, Ecuador's Andres Gomez was seemingly in the twilight of an impressive career highlighted by his success in doubles - winning 33 titles including a pair of Grand Slams , the US Open in 1986 and the French in 1988, eventually being ranked No. 1 in the world.
He was the No. 4 seed entering Roland Garros' singles draw in 1990, and after a rough third-round match against the Soviet Union's Alexander Volkov, found himself in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1987.
Clay was clearly Gomez's best surface - he had reached the French Open quarterfinals three times in four years, and had won 14 singles titles on clay courts previous to Roland Garros that year.
The field was wide open for the final eight - top seeds Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker had both lost in the first round. Gomez wiped out France's Thierry Champion in the quarters while defending champion Michael Chang went down to fellow American teenager Andre Agassi.
Gomez knocked out seventh-seeded Thomas Muster in the semifinals to face off against the 19-year-old Agassi, the third seed and a heavy favorite.
But the more experienced Gomez took control early and made Agassi wait a bit longer for the first of his nine Grand Slams with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 2/14/2012 9:03:43 PM | with 0 comments
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