Category: Tennis

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Federer shows his class as he quits. Williams is quite the opposite

In recent times, two international tennis players — Roger Federer and Serena Williams — have said, one in direct terms and the other somewhat less clearly, that they would be retiring from the game.

Federer was the more recent to make an announcement saying in unambiguous language that he would retire after the Laver Cup. He has 20 Grand Slam titles to his name and has never been a man who is obsessed by collecting titles. Continue reading “Federer shows his class as he quits. Williams is quite the opposite”

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Serena Williams has become an object of pity

In August, no doubt, Serena Williams will turn up at the US Open, the last tennis Grand Slam event for 2021, in the hope that she will be able to, at last, equal Australian Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles.

The odds are stacked against Williams, given that she has been unable to win a Grand Slam event since January 2017. That year, she won the Australian Open.

After that, she has played in 18 Grand Slam events and been unable to win any of them. In some, she has even managed to make it to the final, but then stumbled at the last hurdle.

Continue reading “Serena Williams has become an object of pity”

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Serena Williams, please go before people start complaining

The US Open 2020 represented the best chance for an aging Serena Williams to win that elusive 24th Grand Slam title and equal the record of Australian Margaret Court. Seeds Bianca Andreescu (6), Ashleigh Barty (1), Simona Halep (2), Kiki Bertens (7) and Elina Svitolina (5) are all not taking part.

But Williams, now 39, could not get past Victoria Azarenka in the semi-finals, losing 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Prior to this, Williams had lost four Grand Slam finals in pursuit of Court’s record: Andreescu defeated her at the US Open in 2019, Angelique Kerber beat her at Wimbledon in 2018, Naomi Osaka took care of her in the 2018 US Open and Halep accounted for Williams at Wimbledon in 2019. In all those finals, Williams was unable to win more than four games in any set.
Continue reading “Serena Williams, please go before people start complaining”

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Serena Williams loses another Grand Slam final

Serena Williams has fallen flat on her face again in her bid to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles. This time Williams’ loss was to Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu and what makes it better is that she lost in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

Andreescu, 19, is a raw hand at the game; she has never played in the main draw of the US Open before. Last year, ranked 208, she was beaten in the first round by Olga Danilovic.
Continue reading “Serena Williams loses another Grand Slam final”

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Time to rejoice: Serena Williams loses another Grand Slam final

Sunday morning brought glorious news. Serena Williams had been soundly beaten in the final of the US Open women’s final by an unknown Japanese player, Naomi Osaka.

What’s more Williams blew a fuse — as she has often done in the past — when she was penalised for code violations. This is the third time she has behaved in this ugly manner, but it is unlikely to be the last because she has been fined a pathetic sum yet again.

For an outburst in 2009, she was fined a pathetic $US10,500. In 2011, she was asked to pay $US2000. And this time, she was again fined a small amount by her earnings – US$24,000. To her, that is chump change.
Continue reading “Time to rejoice: Serena Williams loses another Grand Slam final”

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Serena Williams has lost and we should all rejoice

When Serena Williams loses, we should all rejoice. And more so when the loss comes as she is heading for a major achievement.

Serena is so wrapped up in herself that she was describing the calendar Grand Slam which she was trying to achieve as a “Serena Slam”. Can anyone be more egotistical?

Thankfully for all humanity, an Italian player by the name of Flavia Pennetta got in the way of Serena’s ambitions and dumped her from the US Open.
Continue reading “Serena Williams has lost and we should all rejoice”

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Here’s hoping Djokovic and Sharapova win the Australian Open singles titles

ONCE a year, Australia has a world-class sporting event, one where it is guaranteed that all the best players will turn up. That is the Australian Open, one of four grand slam tennis events around the world.

This year, the tournament has not had as many close matches as usual, with most men’s matches ending in three sets and most women’s games ending in two. The finals pit Novak Djokovic against Andy Murray and Serena Williams against Maria Sharapova. Here’s hoping that Djokovic and Sharapova prevail.

Reasons?
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As Australian Open winds down, where are the Americans?

THE Australian Open tennis tournament, the first of the four grand slams, is slowly coming to an end. The women’s finalists have been decided – Li Na of China will face Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia for the title.

Li went through with a victory over Canadian Eugenie Bouchard; Cibulkova thrashed Agnieska Radwanksa of Poland.

And on the men’s side, it will be Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) or Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) against Roger Federer (Switzerland) or Rafael Nadal (Spain).
Continue reading “As Australian Open winds down, where are the Americans?”