The organizers then failed significantly in coaxing the stars out into wind and rain to do a photo shoot in front of the Houses of Parliament. I would have declined as well; the fraudulent atmosphere might be contagious, quite apart from becoming wet and cold. The final straw was the collection of the most intelligent beings on earth, sports journalists at the press conference.  As we know from Wimbledon, they are a rather dim lot, but asking Roger Federer about Thierry Henry? Admittedly he played football with the juniors of FC Basel, but one would expect that there were other experts to ask.

It is unusual for the top seeds to be clumped together, and they are all lodged in a hotel on the Thames. The plan is that they will be conveyed by water taxi to the venue at the O2 arena. After the chaotic start, you might expect that this will be a failure, especially if you add other typically British accomplishments. What better time to stage a strike for the taxi drivers? And it is always possible that the Mayor of Little Brain, Boris Johnson, might close down the Thames because of water or imagined snow.

What can the contestants expect, except to show their best tennis in every match? Roger Federer’s plan is obviously to crown an incredible year with the win of this final tournament. His chances are there, as he comes to the tournament with full batteries. On the mathematical side, he must win at least three matches to retain the number one placement should Rafael Nadal win the tournament with seven wins. But Rafael’s fitness is still in doubt, and he might even struggle to retain his second placement should Novak Djokovic win here.

Novak Djokovic seems to have found the button to press to play top tennis on a consistent basis. He has been trailing he two top seeds for so long one tends to forget that he is only 22 and really just launching his career. With his two wins in the last two tournaments, he also comes loaded with self confidence. He is likely to defend his title from last year in Shanghai. The rest of the gang have equal chances to win or to lose.

Andy Murray must find a way out of his defensive game. This is not the tournament to wait for your opponent to make a fault. Juan Martin Del Potro has to become more consistent in his display of high class tennis, which goes for the other seeds as well. But each of them has the tennis to win over any of the three top seeds.

That Andy Roddick is not here is a real shame, with no disrespect intended towards Robin Soderling. Andy Roddick has the quality and the consistency to win this tournament, but he must look after his body’s needs better in future to last the season. Let’s hope he will make it next year to show what he is really made of.

Streaker at Wimbledon

Source (Krajicek and Washington enjoying the show)

During the 1996 Wimbledon Mens Final between Mal Washington and Richard Krajicek, 23 year old Tournament worker Melissa Johnson streaked through centre court. She wore an apron which she promptly lifted giving those in attendance a nice view of her breasts and vagina.

Shooting in the Stands

(Forest Hills tennis club today)

During the 1977 US Open in Forest Hills, John McEnroe (playing in his first US Open) was playing against Eddie Dibbs in a 3rd round match. A commotion in the stands forced the Umpire to call over the two players. “Someone has been shot in the stands”, the Umpire told them. Dibbs response was to say, “I’m out of here.” The Umpire called him back and said it was a mistake, someone was in shock not shot. McEnroe won the match and then the Umpire fessed up and told the two players a spectator in the stands had indeed been shot from a stray bullet from the streets of Queens. 1977 was the Son of Sam Summer in New York City and the last year the US Open was played in Forest Hills.

Crowd Overrules Umpire

Source (Ile Nastase, Tennis’ first real bad boy)

During the US Open in Flushing Meadow in 1979, Romanian wild man Ile Nastase was facing the equally wild John McEnroe. In the 4th set McEnroe served and Nastase said he was not ready. The Umpire awarded the point to McEnroe. Nastase complained and the crowd of 10,000 screamed he was right. The Umpire then docked Nastase again and awarded the game to McEnroe. The crowd went crazy and threw trash onto the court and police were called in. Seventeen minutes later, the referee ordered Nastase to serve for the next game. Nastase said “No!” The Umpire waited the required 1 minute for Nastase to serve and when he didn’t, the umpire disqualified him and awarded McEnroe the match. The crowd went ballistic and the tournament director fearing a full scale riot, overrode the decision and replaced the Umpire and then the match continued. McEnroe won the match but the crowd overrode the Umpire.

“You Cannot Be Serious” 1981 US Open

Source

In 1981 during a 2nd round match vs Tom Gullickson at Wimbledon, John McEnroe absolutely threw a tantrum. After hitting a bad shot McEnroe questioned umpire Ted James about an earlier shot. When James told him the shot was called correctly McEnroe responded by saying, “You guys are the pits of the world, you know that.”  James paused for a bit and then informed McEnroe he was going to award a point against him. The crowd went crazy and cheered this decision. Of course McEnroe went ballistic and told James he was “incompetent” and demanded the referee be brought out. Fred Hoyles, the referee, came out and McEnroe continued to make a fuss and he was docked another point. McEnroe screamed, “You cannot be serious!” He ended up being fined $1,500 after he won the match. He could easily have been disqualified for the rant. He went on to win Wimbledon that year but skipped the traditional dinner thrown in honor of the winner.

Henman is First to be Thrown Out at Wimbledon

Source (Henman gives flowers to Hall day after smashing her with ball)

At Wimbledon in 1995, Tim Henman accomplished what no other player had ever done at Wimbledon. During a doubles match with partner Jeremy Bates, Henman lost a crucial point in the 4th set tie breaker. Angry with himself, Henman picked up the ball and without thinking smashed it down the court. The streaking ball connected squarely with the ear of 16 year old ball girl Caroline Hall, who was running across the court at the very same instant. Hall went down like she was shot and the umpire immediately disqualified Henman and Bates from the match. Henman is the only player in Wimbledon’s long history to be disqualified from the tournament.

Tarango Booted and Wife Slaps Umpire

Source

Just a few days after Henman was disqualified, during a 3rd round match at Wimbledon, England in 1995, hot tempered American Jeff Tarango had the umpire, Bruno Rebeuh, rule against him numerous times. When Rebeuh ruled against him again and called one of his serves out, Tarango lost it and shouted: “That’s it, I’m not playing”. He then turned to Rebeuh and yelled: “You are one of the most corrupt officials in the game and you cannot get away with this.” Tarango then asked the officiating supervisor to remove Rebeuh but he was refused. The crowd was really getting on Tarango at this point and he yelled, “Shut up!” at them. Rebeuh issued a code violation for verbal abuse and Tarango packed his bags and stormed off the court forfeiting the match. And then it got really bad as Tarango’s wife Benedicte walked up to Rebeuh and slapped him twice in the face. Tarango was fined heavily and banned from the next two Grand Slam tournaments.

Seles Stabbed During Match

Source

On April 30, 1993, Monica Seles was the number one female tennis player in the world and playing in the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany against Maggie Maleeva and was up 6-4, 4-3 when she sat down on her courtside seat during the changeover. An 39 year old unemployed German lathe operator named Gunter Parche then leaned over the 3 foot high barrier and stabbed Seles in the back with a 10 inch long knife. Seles let out a scream, clutched her back and stumbled on to the court. The attack took place in front of 6,000 fans in the arena. “He held the knife with both hands as he stabbed her in the back,” said one eyewitness. Seles was rushed to the hospital and treated for a one half inch knife wound in her upper back. Luckily the knife did not affect her lungs or shoulder blades. Parche was immediately subdued and apprehended. He turned out to be a mentally disturbed fan of Steffi Graf and stabbed Seles to help Graf regain the number one ranking in the world. It took Seles two years to get back to tennis and she was never really the same player again and never regained her number one ranking. Parche was given just a two year suspended sentence.

Linesman Dies After Being Struck by Stefan Edberg Shot

Source

Richard Wertheim was working as a linesman during the 1983 US Open Boys Tournament when a shot by Stefan Edberg hit him in the groin and knocked him backwards and he fractured his skull on the hard surface and died shortly thereafter in the hospital. Edberg went on to win 6 Grand Slam Singles Titles and 3 Grand Slam Doubles Titles and even though he did nothing wrong he will always be remembered for this incident.

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Ask any tennis buff on their pick on who are today’s tennis glamour girls and possibly you’ll get 100 names or mores. I too have a list and would like to share it with you. Chris Evert Lloyd, Steffi Graf, Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis some of the name that I could have included but since they’re all now retired, guess I could include them in  another list. But in the present crop of Ladies tennis players  the list goes like this:

10. Gisela Dulko – is a 24 year old rising tennis player from Argentina. A 5 ft. 7 in. blonde beauty. Gisela Dulko had won 3 WTA Tour Singles title and 7 doubles title. She is currently rank No. 37 by the World Tennis Association (WTA).

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9. Caroline Wozniacki – is a 19 year old Danish player who turned pro in 2005. Known for her two-handed back hand Caroline who stands 5’ 10” have won 3 WTA Tour Singles and 2 WTA Tour doubles titles. She is currently rank No. 12  by the WTA.

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8. Sorana Cirstea – was born on April 7, 1990 in Bucharest, Romania and is currently rank No. 37 by the World Tennis Association (WTA). Another player who plays two-handed backhand, Cirstea’s career record include:5 Singles titles (1 WTA and 4 ITF)  and 11 Doubles titles (2 WTA  and 9 ITF). 

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7. Sania Mirza – is currently the top lady tennis player in India. A 5 ft 8 in. beauty from Hyderabad India, Mirza has gone a long way in her tennis career since becoming the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam Championship at the 2005 U.S. Open. Her career victories include: 13 Singles titles (1 WTA, 12ITF), 11 Doubles Titles (7 WTA, 4 ITF)  and 1Mixed Doubles title ( Australian open 229). She is currently ranke No. 88 by the World Tennis Association.

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6.Nicole Vaidisova- standing tall at 6ft. Nicole Vaidisova from the Czech  Republic turned pro on 2003. On August 9 2006, at the age of 17 years, three months, and two weeks, she became the 12th-youngest player in WTA Tour history to be ranked in the top 10. She achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 7 on May 14 2007. She won 6 WTA and 2 ITF Singles titles. In the latest WTA ranking, she occupies the 80th spot.

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5. Daniela Hantuchova - this 25 year old Slovak player is a seasoned WTA Tour campaigner since turning pro in 1999. Her career record incled: Singles titles (3 WTA, 3 ITF), Doubles titles (8 WTA, 1 ITF). A semi-finalist at the 2008 Australian Open, she is currently rank at No. 35 by the WTA.

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4. Anna Chakvetadze – was born on March 5, 1987 in Moscow and turned pro in 2003. A two-handed backhand specialist, Anna is currently ranked World’s No. 34. She had won 7 WTA and 1 ITF singles title and her best Grand slam result, a semi-finalist at the 2007 U.S. Open.

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3. Maria Kirilenko - is another beautiful tennis player from Russia. Born on January 25, 1987 in Moscow, Mariki as she is affectionately called turned pro in 2001 and is currently rank by WTA  at No. 38. Her tennis achievements include winning 2 WTA and 3ITF Singles titles as well as winning 5 WTA Doubles titles.

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2. Ana Ivanovic – is a former World No. 1 Serbian player. Born on November 6, 1987 in Belgrade, Serbia, formerly Yugoslavia, Anna uses her 6 ft. 1 in. frame and speed to win two Grand Slam event. She is the reigning French Open champion and the 2008 Australian Open. Her other Singles titles include: 8 TWA and 5 ITF Circuit titles. She is currently rank as World’s No. 7.

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1. Maria Sharapova - a former World No.1, Maria is a 22 year old tennis player from Russia who rose to fame by winning the Wimbledon Singles title in 2004 at the age of 17. Since then Sharapova added to her Grand Slam titles the 2006 US Open beating Justine Henin in the final and the 2008 Australian Open at expense of Anna Ivanovic. She is also a semi-finalist at the 2007 French Open and has collected 19 WTA Singles titles. Bothered by injuries she misses most of last years major tournaments and her WTA ranking plummeted and she is currently rank at No. 23.

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Pace, direction, placement, and spin are all variables that give the server the advantage when beginning a point. The receiver is left wondering about all these variables when you step up to service line and begin to set up to hit your serve.

When serving, it is always a good tactic to keep your opponent guessing.

Mix it up a little. Change the speed of your serve from time to time, as well as the placement and spin. In general, try to serve to your opponent’s weaknesses.

There are actually two steps in this lesson. The first step of the lesson is the act of tossing the ball in the air consistently in the contact zone – the ball toss. You might ask yourself, “What’s so hard about tossing a ball in the air, and then hitting hit?” Nothing really. You just have to serve the ball in a way that not going to leave you vulnerable. There’s nothing worse than hitting a cream puff serve, and watching your opponent wind up to annihilate it. This is just one of the reasons why I recommend that you develop a consistent ball toss before you move to the second part of this lesson.

Step 1 – The Toss

Start out by stepping up to the service line and stand predominately perpendicular to the net, then place the ball in the fingertips of your non-dominant hand, and practice tossing the ball in the air. Get your arm moving and extend your arm upward to release the ball. Create some momentum with your movement. Without letting the ball roll off the end of your fingers, just extend your arm upward and open you’re your hand, releasing the ball.

The toss should be out over the court and a little to the right. Toss the ball high enough to get full extension at impact. Practice this before attempting a full serve.

Step 2 – The Serve

Ready – For a consistent serve, the first thing you should do when you step up to service line is to get comfortable. Take a deep breath and think about what your doing. Begin by getting your feet aligned properly. Standing with your feet about shoulder width apart, place your lead foot at a 45degree angle to the baseline, and your rear foot should be parallel to the baseline. You should be sideways to the net with both arms out in front of you.

Open- With your body weight resting on your rear foot. Begin by opening your arms and shifting your weight forward. Bring the racquet down and by your legs as you begin to move your ball arm upward for the toss.

Back-Scratch- As the ball leaves your hand, continue shifting your weight forward as you bring the racquet to a “back-scratching position”.

Extend to release the ball and keep your head up.

Contact – Use your legs to push off, and try to get fully extended at impact. Snap your wrist a little and rotate your shoulders to get more power on your serve. The contact zone should be out over the court as high as you can reach.

Follow-Through - During the follow-through, allow the racquet to come across your body down by your legs to insure a complete stroke. Keep your head up throughout the entire stroke.

Recover - To recover, continue your follow-through all the way across your body to facilitate the recovery process. You should end up in a ready stance.

EASTERN GRIP – The more conventional of the grips is the Eastern grip. To get to the Eastern grip, sometimes called the “shake-hands” grip, start with the palm of your hand and slide down the throat and handle of the racquet, then grip and shake hands with the racquet Another way to get to the grip is to place the “V” created between the index finger and thumb of your racquet hand on the upper right beveled edge (for right-handed players, opposite for lefties) of the racquet handle to hit a forehand. This would be between one and two o’clock on the handle of the racquet. To get to the Eastern backhand grip, simply rotate your hand about a quarter of a turn to the opposite beveled edge of the handle. This would be between ten and eleven o’clock on the grip for right-handed players and between one and two o’clock for lefties. You must switch your grips to utilize the Eastern grips appropriately. If you use the forehand grip to hit a backhand, the head of your racquet will be tilted too much to meet the ball squarely at impact. One of the benefits of using the Eastern grips for your ground strokes are that you can use a variety of spins on your shots.

WESTERN GRIP – The more extreme of the grips is the Western grip. It is generally used by more advanced players who want to hit high looping shots with excessive topspin. With this grip, the racquet hand is even further behind the handle than it is with the Eastern grip. Place the “V” created between the index finger and thumb on the right or left beveled edge of the racquet handle. This would be about three o’clock for a right-hander’s forehand and about nine o’clock for a lefties’ forehand. To hit backhands, it would be the opposite. I don’t recommend the Western grip to beginner or intermediate players due to the fact that it is difficult to meet the ball squarely at impact. The swing pattern is too extreme. To execute consistent ground strokes using this grip, a player must possess a strong wrist and excellent timing.

CONTINENTAL GRIP – The Continental grip can be used in the execution of any basic shot in tennis, including the serve, volleys, overhead smash, and all ground strokes. Although this grip is obviously very versatile, it is lacking in the ability to produce increased power and topspin on ground strokes. The Continental grip can effectively be used to impart under-spin on ground strokes, and to hit volleys without having to change your grip. This is an excellent grip for some beginners to use for the simple reason that you don’t have to change your grip during the playing of a point. As your skills improve, you can try other grips, which will allow you to hit more spins with more power, accuracy, and control.

TWO-HANDED GRIP – The Two-handed grip is generally used for the backhand side only. Although you can use two hands off both sides if you choose to, I don’t recommend it because it’s difficult to switch grips from forehand to backhand. The Two-handed grip is accomplished by placing the dominant hand on the bottom of the handle and the non-dominate hand above it. The non-dominate hand should be in an Eastern forehand position, while the dominant hand can be in any position that is comfortable to you. I recommend a Continental position for the dominant hand.

Playing at the Net

Stand a few feet away from the net when your doubles partner serves. While you wait for the ball to come from your opponent’s side, you must use the “continental grip” – this means you must hold your tennis racket by the handle with your elbow bent to the side away from your body while your racket head is up. If the ball comes toward your head or higher, come straight down on the ball as hard as you can or dump the ball inside the inner line of the doubles alley. If the ball comes toward your waist, lower your racket head sideways to block the ball back over the net. To avoid losing a point, never touch the net during a play.

Charging the Net

You must leave the baseline and charge the net when you make your opponent run toward a corner. The reason why you should do this is your opponent will likely hit the ball softly and you need to be at the net to cut the ball off and put it away. Once you decide to charge the net, keep coming and do not go back.

Preparation and Footwork

Always stand with your knees bent and hold your racket up with both hands as you wait for the ball to come. As soon as the ball leaves your opponent’s racket, turn to the side with one foot out in front with both knees bent. If you are right-handed and the ball comes to your right side, or forehand side, turn toward the right with your left foot out in front. If you are right-handed and the ball comes to your left side, or backhand side, turn to the left with your right foot out in front.

Swinging

When I started playing tennis, I hit a lot of balls long or over the fence because I would hit them with my racket pointing to the sky. As I started to hit the ball with my racket head angled toward the top of the net, I could keep the ball on the court but had nothing on it because I was still not using the proper fundamentals and hardly anyone would hit with me. When you take a swing to hit the ball on your forehand side or backhand side, you must raise your racket over your head, then bring the racket head toward the ground and then bring your racket head toward your shoulder.

Making Contact

You must guess the speed of the ball and meet the ball at the right spot. You don’t want to meet the ball all the way in front of you and you don’t want to let the ball jam you or get past you. You need to meet the ball with a full arm extension at a northeast angle.

Lobbing

When your opponent rushes the net after hitting the ball to you, try to get the ball over her head. If you get your racket head under the ball and lift the ball with plenty of force to the point where your racket head arrives between the point of being flat and the point of being straight over your head, you can hit the ball over your opponent’s head while not hitting the ball past the baseline. Charge the net if your opponent chases the ball.

Overhead Shots

If the ball comes at a height over your head, raise your racket head over the ball and come down sideways. The best way to hit overhead shots is to slice through them.

Line Shots

To hit the ball down the line with power, roll your front hip forward and swing over the side of the ball with all your might while rolling your back hip forward. Use this approach on your backhand side too.

Slicing

It is useful to slice the ball when you want to give your opponent a shallow shot or throw his timing off. To slice the ball, raise your racket head over the ball, come down the side of the ball and yank your racket head under the ball. You can help develop the ability to use a backhand slice by improving your hand-eye coordination. You can do this by touching tiny marks with each finger.

Drop Shots

It is a good idea to drop the ball over the net especially when you are close and do not want to hit the ball out of bounds by hitting it too hard. To hit a drop shot, bring your racket head under the ball and come up the side lightly.

Building Speed

It is important to develop speed to reach more shots. Run sprints or take up speed walking. You can walk quickly by walking like a penguin in a way. Walk at a brisk pace and swing your arms while rolling your hips back and forth.

Hitting on the Run

If you must run to a corner to retrieve a shot, hit the ball into the air to give yourself enough time to get back to the middle of the baseline.

Cover Your Doubles Partner

If your partner is playing near the server’s line and runs to your side to hit a shot, move over to the other side. Be prepared to chase a ball hit over your partner.

Serving

To serve successfully, lean forward, toss the ball up high with your racket already held up and come down on the ball before it drops too low. To avoid making a foot fault, do not lift a foot over the baseline.

First Serve

On the first serve, you should hit the ball as hard as you can. A great way to put a lot of spin and movement on the serve is to toss up the ball and come straight down the side as hard as you can.

Second Serve

It is imperative to make sure you do not make a fault on your second serve; therefore, you must ease up when serving the second time. I like to toss the ball up while spinning my hand and hit the ball lightly while leaning forward on my second serve.

Strategy

Do what it takes to outsmart your opponent and create discomfort. Exploit his weaknesses. Hit the ball away from her. Change speeds. Hit the ball lightly or hit a lob after hitting the ball hard several times to upset your opponent’s timing. Hitting the ball down the middle of the court often works in doubles because both players on the other side wonder whether they should retrieve the incoming shot.

Follow these techniques to master tennis!