The ATPWorldTour website has been getting  better in terms of providing career statistics of players. I have thought about putting it to some use, making some analysis out of it and see if they lead to some interesting insights!

I start off with this one involving one of the most loved about stat in the sport – aces! The site provided a list of the top 500 men to have sent the maximum number of aces in their career. Looking at that number alone may not make sense, for the reason that someone like Raonic would feature low because of the lesser number of years he has been a pro than, say, Ivan Ljubicic. So, I have taken another parameter ‘Aces/Match’ and have combined the ‘Aces’ vs ‘Aces per match’ into an X-Y chart to see where the 500 players turn up.

Here is a look at the chart. You can hover over each circle to get details of the players. I have purposely annotated some players’ names to draw some highlights out of the exercise. Additionally, the chart will also allow you to play with and compare players by giving the option of filtering specific players. Feel free to play with it. Believe me, this filter option is good fodder for some insightful time-pass for any tennis lover.

Some of the highlights that can be inferred from the chart above:

1. The chart is so crowded towards the bottom left indicating how difficult it is to serve ace bombs day after day, set after set! A lot of the players are in the ’2-6 Aces/Match & <1000 aces in career’ category.

2. The ones towards the extreme right form a scarce community and the names there are all the ones we get reminded when we think of aces! Goran Ivanisevic, unsurprisingly, leads by ace count but Ivo Karlovic is way ahead of all others with a staggering 18.72 aces/match! Unbelievable number that.

3. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer are not compared and pitted against each other for just their single-hand backhand and grand slam count. They are as close as they are in terms of their ace pattern as they are in the specified areas. Pete, though, has a pretty solid 10 aces/match to Federer’s 8!

4. Aces alone don’t win one matches. If Goran and Ivo are examples for that theory, the corollary is well defended by the locations of Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic in this chart. The numbers of Rafa are a shocking surprise: He averages 3 aces/match! It is significant to mention that Rafa & Ferrer stay close in their ace patterns.

5. Mildy surprising is the fact that Andy Murray out-numbers Nole in this matrix. He can send rockets, we all knew, but would we have thought he would be serving 1.5 aces more than Djokovic on an average?

6. The Ivanisevic effect is quite evident in the current generation of players when you take a look at those who fly high on the Y-Axis! There is Ivo and then there are two up and coming North Americans in John Isner and Milos Raonic (I don’t know if Isner qualifies for that sort of an adjective given the horrid phase he is going through!). The two average more than 15 aces/match!

Compare that with the 2.7 of someone like Kei Nishikori and that will make you appreciate the beauty of this sport! Two players could be contrasting in one very important stat but still could stay close in Rankings, thanks to the dynamics of so many other parameters that come into play. More on those other parameters in  subsequent articles!

Till then, enjoy and play with this silo-ed piece of the puzzle. Comments and suggestions welcome.

In the first set of the final yesterday in Monte Carlo, Novak Djokovic came within inches of handing out a Bagel to Rafa in a place which could well be considered Rafa’s backyard. He couldn’t do it, though. Rafa held and broke once to avoid even a bread-stick, but at the end of the first set, the scoreline read 6-2, which is all that would have mattered as far as Djokovic was concerned.

Set 2 was, in a lot of ways, way different from how set 1 went. However, the end result was the same – Djokovic taking it away from Rafa, only this time it was in a tie-breaker, 6-2 7-6 (1). That is how Djokovic dethroned Rafa off the title defence in the Principality after 8 years, thereby ending a mind-numbing 46 match winning streak for Rafa in MonteCarlo!

Here are some of my observations on why Djokovic is such a threat for Rafa and how he alone has consistently been able to trouble Rafa, time and again, on clay. It is of significance to remind ourselves of the fact that he handed out straight set defeats to Rafa in Rome and Madrid in 2011 (Two other clay Masters where Rafa is highly dominant).

1. I am not sure if the rain interruption had anything to do with the following stat or if the ability of Djokovic to take balls on the rise is what constitutes it. The stat in question is something that was shown towards the end of set 1.

The average height at which the ball was hit by all opponents Rafa had played this week before the final: 1.28M
The average height at which the ball was hit by Djokovic in the final: 1.06M

That should have definitely played a part in taking Rafa out of his comfort zone and would have given him more reasons on how to counter the onslaught. The stat can be attributed to two things:

a) Rafa tried to hit a lot more balls deep in the court because of the fact that the Djokovic backhand is such a lethal weapon that can negate the top-spinning forehand that Nadal uses against a lot of other players;

b) Djokovic picked a lot more semi-deep balls on the rise than waiting for them to reach him. That is a ploy that worked wonders for the Russian Nikolay ‘Kolya’ Davydenko in his match-ups against Rafa. For this reason, it always surprises me why a lot of players on the tour never adopt that ploy against Rafa. Yes, taking the ball on the rise offers very little margin for errors but anyway, with any other ploy, one is most likely to lose against Rafa on clay – So, why not try that as an option? Djokovic did yesterday and got rich dividends.

2. The Djokovic backhand down-the-line (DTL) is one of the most menacing shots on tour at the moment. And in more ways than one, it came to haunt Rafa yesterday. Now to the ‘How’ of it:

A majority of players do not have a potent DTL backhand in their armoury (Does that statement remind you of the likes of del Potro, Tsonga etc?). Some of them who have it do not have the belief in the accuracy with which they can make it and end up hitting it slower than the speed at which it would be effective. Against Rafa, this won’t work because Rafa is comfortable staying in wait for a cross court backhand (which is where the ball would come most of the times) and even the rare DTL would be slow enough to assure that Rafa’s wheels can take him there from the far side of the court and give him enough time to rip one right back at the opponent.

Not so with Djokovic. His backhand DTL is a ripper of a shot. At times, it goes as fast as a forehand DTL! And this, in two ways, troubled Rafa yesterday. Rafa was unable to reach given the speed of such scorchers from Djoker’s racquet and Rafa was undecided on where to stay after sending one to Djokovic’s backhand. He was all at sea! The DTL also gives Djokovic the option of disguising his shot till the very end and occasionally change directions and send one cross court when Rafa expects the DTL version! Enough subtleties to confuse the opponent, even if the opponent is the King of Clay!

3. Djokovic is definitely in Rafa’s head like how Rafa is in Federer’s! It was pretty evident when he was able to come back from being a break down twice in the second set! In Rafa’s own words, he was playing some of his best tennis in the week in the second set and still Djokovic was able to draw him to mistakes and take him on when Rafa was serving for the set and mercilessly destroy him in a tie-breaker (Going by track record in tie-breakers, Djokovic is usually worse than Rafa).

For these reasons and the fact that Rafa and team can work them out and make adjustments to his plans in Madrid & Rome, the coming weeks building up to Roland Garros is going to be quite interesting. That Rafa is most likely to stay No.5 when the draw for RG is made also makes for an unexpected scenario of Roger, Rafa and Nole all falling in the same half of the draw! Can’t wait for the rest of the clay season. Let’s play, big fellows!

Now, one among Simon/Ferrer/Haas/Melzer will be in the final! The last time Federer, Rafa & Djokovic were not in the locker room at this stage in a Masters event, Ferrer capitalised & scored his first triumph at this level in Bercy last year. Can he repeat the feat or will Murray be more than a mountain to climb? Those are questions for later rounds. For now, let us see  the quarter-final line up.

David Ferrer vs. Jurgen Melzer
H2H: Ferrer 6 – 2 Melzer (1-1 on Hard Courts)

David Ferrer

After suffering from a hot meltdown in a R4 Indian Wells defeat at the hands of the South African giant Kevin Anderson, Ferrer has come back to what he is known for – unperturbedly grinding his way against opponents and reaching the business ends of tournaments! After receiving a walkover against Tursunov, Ferrer has been clinical in brushing aside Fognini & Nishikori and is well-set for handling the Austrian lefty! For Melzer, it has been a nice comeback of sorts. His form over the week has been commendable, with hard fought wins over Berankis, del Potro slayer Kamke and Spain’s Ramos and an easier win over the seeded Marcel Granollers. The third Spanish player he is about to take on is in a different league though, and it would be a definite upset if Melzer can go past Ferrer.

Tommy Haas vs. Gilles Simon
H2H: Haas 4 – 1 Simon (2-1 on Hard Courts)

Let’s face it. After expected wins over Sijsling & Dolgopolov and an unexpected taming of Djokovic, Haas is going to be the overwhelming favourite in this match up. But Simon has had quite a year so far to let us rub this match off even before the toss. In pulling off an easy win over Hewitt in his first match, and in coming back from one-set down against a higher ranked, yet struggling, opponent in Tipsarevic, he has made quite a statement. This late-nighter could be a fine treat for fans, and don’t be surprised if the duo stretches this to 3 sets.

Richard Gasquet vs. Tomas Berdych
H2H: Gasquet 4 – 3 Berdych (3-2 on Hard Courts)

The H2H is definitely surprising, given the fact that Berdych is more powerful and has been more consistent in the recent years than the Frenchman. If their recent meeting at Indian Wells is anything to go by, Berdych should not have many problems in reaching yet another semi-final in a superb 2013 where he has churned off a W/L of 21-5 thus far. Going by recent form though, Berdych hasn’t had easy outings. He won in 3 against the Spanish Gimeno-Traver, before saving 2 match points in a thrilling win over Alejandro Falla, but in his 6-1, 6-1 ousting of the last American standing, Sam Querrey, he was ruthless! Gasquet, on the other hand, had easy outings initially against Rochus and Youzhny but his win over Almagro yesterday was tight and would surely have given him the confidence he would need to cause an upset against Berdych. Expect a humdinger if Gasquet is up for it!

Andy Murray vs. Marin Cilic
H2H: Murray 7 – 1 Cilic (4-1 on Hard Courts)

Andy Murray

Andy Murray is the highest ranked player left in the draw, and he has been without a ‘big’ title since his remarkable triumph at the US Open last year. For this reason and for the fact that a title here would mean a No.2 rank, Murray would be determined to see off Cilic’s challenge as quickly and as efficiently as he possibly can. In defeating the pretending prodigies in Tomic and Dimitrov, Murray showed his game is in good shape and the comfortable win over Seppi yesterday further proves his point. Cilic, after a win over Giraldo, got past two formidable forces in John Isner and Jo Tsonga. If he can muster enough positives from his solid showing against Tsonga, turning the clock back to his USO win over Murray in 2009 is not beyond possibility. The Croat definitely has the potential; but for that to happen, Murray must have a horrible day and from what he has shown this week, it is quite unlikely.

I go with predicting a semi-finals line-up that would read: Ferrer vs Haas and Murray vs Berdych. Having said that, I am expecting at least 3 of the 4 quarter-finals to go the distance! Bring it on!

The Good:
Djokovic’s three-peat

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 28: Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup in the changerooms after winning his men’s final match

Novak winning the Australian Open for the third consecutive time, a feat that has never been achieved in the modern era, makes this year’s edition fit itself into a nice chapter in the record books. All the other Slams have had four and five-peats with Rafa and Roger contributing. So, it had to be Nole who had to do it here, isn’t it? Not so far in terms of effort paying off rich rewards is Azarenka’s two-peat in a pretty solid two weeks show.

Li Na’s Resurgence & Sloane’s entry into the grand stage
The fact that Li Na steam-rolled over Maria Sharapova, thereby giving her a taste of the medicine Masha was serving opponents till Quarters, makes for a pleasing story. Under the tutelage of Carlos Rodriguez, her improvements are evident, and in playing a nice competitive final that could have gone either way if not for injuries and time-out niggles, she presents her case strongly for the reminder of the season. In other glad news, the 19 year old Sloane Stephens had a dream run and pulled off an improbable upset by taking out Serena Williams in her quarter final clash! Her progress over the season would be an interesting thing to watch out for.

Stun gun Stan
We are yet to get into even a month of action this season but we already have a strong match of the year contender – the R4 clash between Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka and the eventual champion Novak Djokovic. At 1-6, 2-5 what looked like a potential drubbing of an upset got turned over into an epic the way the two fought in the 3rd to 5th sets, giving us deja vu moments of the previous year’ s final. One comment from Vijay Amritraj sums up this first-Sunday match perfectly: ” You can’t play the Australian Open Final on the first Sunday”!

The Bad:
Roger’s ageing gracefully

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 25: Roger Federer of Switzerland leaves the court after losing his semifinal match against Andy Murray of Great Britain

Let’s face it. The signs are all evident. Firstly, why ageing? Even though he’s been with the top-4 trading matches, when it comes to Grand Slam matches on the hard court, the fitness of the younger legs of Novak and Andy are getting a little too much for Roger and the fact that his last hard-court Slam final came in 2010 tells quite a story! Why gracefully? The form Roger was in this week was definitely not a case for worry, as he danced his way through younger opponents and survived a tough five-setter against Tsonga. His clutch play in tie-breakers too was evident as he was 6/6 in the tournament including the two he won against Murray in the semi-final. His game is still up there and an odd hard court Slam-win in the future is not to be counted out!

Murray’s Second Serve
The final, even though it went for four sets, was the first Grand Slam final with less sparks since the Australian Open 2011, and a major reason for that is the sluggish second serve that resides in Andy Murray‘s armoury: The weaker ones in the 120Ks to 135Ks following his 210-215Kph 1st serve bombs! Roger pounced on it to take the semis to a fifth set, and Novak was a lot less subtle in using it to perfection in the last two sets in the final. If Andy has to become a multiple Grand Slam champ, that is the one thing he needs to improve on.

Perennial Pretenders
Nicolas Almagro had 3 opportunities to close out his quarter final match and record his first win over David Ferrer in 13 attempts; he let them all go and continued his role of being a pretender and just that! The bad thing is, he isn’t alone. In both the Men’s and the Women’s side of the draw, there are these people who make people place bets on their abilities to cause upsets: And like a lot of times in the past, these guns failed to do any harm at this year’s Australian Open too: Del Potro, Berdych, Tsonga, Raonic, Ivanovic, Radwanska, Kvitova and the likes.

The Ugly:
Pain to the eyes
The injury marred all-French R4 clash between Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon may well go down as the most risk-free & painstaking five setter to have ever been played at the Open! There were a lot of long and boring rallies which neither player wished to end, and one of them that went for 71 shots showed how ugly tennis can become if players resort to a zero-risk plan!

The Victorious Choke

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 24: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus receives medical attention in her Semifinal match against Sloane Stephens

The defending Women’s singles champion Azarenka was booed and lost the love of Aussie fans when she literally admitted the fact that she took a long medical time-out before serving out for the match in her semi-final against Sloane Stephens for the reason that she choked (which she later attributed to real choking related to breathlessness!). Her explanation was less than satisfactory and it took her a victory in the final and an ‘Australia Day’ wish to get some of the fans back! That apart, the Open saw a lot of people taking a lot of medical time-outs that seemed untimely, unsporting and more importantly, unnecessary. Hope the administration looks into it and cuts this ugly trend before it looms large!

Press Room shockers
The Press Room at the Australian Open this year was no different from any other Slams from the past in terms of its ability to bring out the worst and shocking quotes from players: Some of the best were Tsonga’s answers relating to women’s ‘hormones’ making them more unstable than men & Tomic’s assessment of Federer’s ability to reach R3! A consolation to such shockers came in the form of Andy Murray’s answer on what Roger Federer told him during the match at a heated moment! His answer had class – class of the sort a lot of nice matches exhibited over the fortnight Down Under!

Back in 1972, the renowned director Francis Ford Coppola said that while auditioning for The Godfather, his trouble was more of who to pick among Al Pacino, de Niro and James Caal than who to leave out for the role of Michael Corleone. If a loose parallel could be drawn between an audition for ‘The ATP Player of the year 2012‘, the role of Mike and the performances of some top players as the gauge to decide who gets it, I can safely say tennis lovers can empathise with the trouble Coppola had 50 years back! Such was the season!

Between 2004 and 2007, anyone could have arrived at an answer to the question in a blink of an eye, the answer being ‘Roger Federer‘. The case in 2008 would have been similar except for a change in the answer: ‘Rafael Nadal‘. In 2009 and 2010, the eyes may have probably needed one more blink but no new answers: Roger and Rafa respectively. Thanks to a whirlwind of sequences involving a certain man’s 43 match winning streak and 3 slam wins, 2011 needed much less than an eye’s blink for the answer ‘Novak Djokovic‘. What was the case in 2003? What in 2012? Why did a count of blinks of the eye not suffice to decide the player of the year. To put it simply, these years had four different champions winning the four different slams! For our question dealing with 2012, A simple logical ‘if else’ step would be to see who had won more matches in the year. What if that branch takes us to a fifth name, David Ferrer? (He had 76 wins in the season to Djokovic’s 75!) That was just the gist of how difficult a season it was to choose the Best Player. Not that tennis fans are complaining; this is a trouble they would love to take up every season! With no easy way out, we go for the tried and tested method - Selection by elimination.

Rafael Nadal put up a splendid fight in his loss to Djokovic in our match of the year, but came back strongly to reprise his earlier losses by winning 3 straight titles against his nemesis in Monte Carlo, Rome and Roland Garros. But his season more or less ended there as he followed his French Open triumph with just 4 more matches (2 wins, 2 losses) and someone who had played just half a season would never be our player of the year.

David Ferrer showed he was that Spaniard who had so far been lurking in the shadows of Rafael Nadal. When Rafa’s injury marred season was on its wane, Ferrer was slowly but surely establishing his presence, winning tournaments on all surfaces (Only Roger and Ferrer did that in 2012) and his efforts in reaching the semifinals in two slams were no less valiant than a gladiator’s in a fierce battle. But when it came to defeating the top crop of players, he always fell short and that makes us discount him as well, leaving us to choose our player of the year from an awesome threesome.

Andy Murray joined hands with Ivan Lendl and the signs were there to see in the season’s first slam when he valorously gave his all in a semi-final clash that he lost to Djokovic. A quiet mid-season on the European clay took him off the radar but when Wimbledon arrived, the ghost of Fred Perry got kicked up by the press and Andy Murray had to shoulder the burden like he is used to in the past 3-4 years. This year in his final against Roger, he came closer than ever when he pulled off his first set-win in a slam final against Roger but the silken touch and fiery determination of the Swiss conjurer tamed him as he was made to join Lendl’s company in a bittersweet record: ‘Men who have lost their first 4 slam finals’. The second half of the season gave Murray and Lendl reasons to smile (even though the latter never did!) as Murray romped home to a Gold Silver double in the Olympics, avenging his Wimbledon loss to Federer in the act. His will, shown when he decided not to part ways with Lendl either in his partnership or the record I had previously mentioned, won over that of the fiercest competitor the tennis world affectionately calls ‘Nole’ when Murray triumphantly closed out events at Flushing Meadows for the year with a five set win. He didn’t add much to the mid-season solidity towards the end, losing to Raonic, Janowicz et al and a semi-final loss at Federer’s hands weakens his case further.

After the epic final at Melbourne, if tennis fans had been polled on the most unrealistic goal for the top players this season and if Roger Federer breaking Sampras’s 286 weeks at No.1 record was an option, it would have won by a sound margin. But poll results don’t always depict the true result, do they? That too, if the goal is set by someone as talented and determined as Roger Federer! Coming into 2012, he consolidated a wonderful end-of-season streak in 2011 by winning titles at Dubai, Indian Wells, Madrid and when he had a look at his chance at achieving the goal in Wimbledon, he wavered against Julien Benneteau in a third round clash but only slightly before he recouped and delivered a master-class against Djokovic in the semis, following that up with a svelte show in the last 3 sets in the final against Murray which would have given the best of ballet dancers a bruised ego. He reclaimed his reign atop the rankings by winning a record-equalling 7th Wimbledon title and ending a two-and-a-half year slam drought in the process. At the Olympics, an emotionally draining encounter against delPotro in a medal match affected him as much as Murray’s strategy in the Gold Medal match which he lost without breaking a sweat! A win over Djokovic in Cincinnati powered his contention up for the award but a quarter-final loss at Berdych’s hands does him no good in our selection by elimination process. Nor does his Shanghai performance and Bercy no show. A final flourish at the World Tour Finals puts him over Murray in our list but the man who broke his will in the final of 2012 overpowers him in ‘The Best Player’ category as well.

Novak ‘Nole’ Djokovic. If the timid culmination to his surreal 2011 was any precursor of things to happen in 2012, it was probably the most erroneous of precursors, for Nole literally started off the year the way he did in 2011 with wins at Melbourne and Miami. He was unable to do an encore on clay as Rafa claimed back his territory but had rain not interrupted play when Novak was a break-up in the 4th set in the Roland Garros final, who knows? A pic of Djokovic with all 4 slam titles would have been the most downloaded sports pic of the year! But that was not to be. At Wimbledon, it was the turn of Roger to seek revenge for his loss at Djokovic’s hands at the French Open and delPotro furthered the dent when he made Novak to go medal-less at the Olympics. A win at Toronto was a nice little solace but before he could resurge fully, he was bageled by Federer in the Cincy final and was beleaguered by Murray in the US Open finals. That set up party time for the sports sceptics who have a special liking to the statement ‘That’s it; He’s a spent force; All good things must come to an end’. But they forgot they were dealing with Djokovic – the man who has saved about as many match points in the last 2 years as Meryl Streep has won academy award nominations! He came back like a possessed man in the Asian Swing to win in Beijing and to save 5 match points in the Shanghai final against Murray, sending out tweeners and passes in the process and Gangnam-styled his way to glory in Asia! A rare blip in the form of a loss to Sam Querrey in round 2 at Paris was followed by a sublime performance at the World Tour Finals where he defeated Berdych, Murray, Tsonga, delPotro and Federer to win the title! Enough reasons for his selection, aren’t they?! If one needs more, let us go by numbers. He has won more masters titles than others this year, more prize money than others this year and going by H2Hs in matches played among the top 4, he presents the strongest case with an 8-8 win/loss pipping the numbers of Federer (6-6) and Murray (5-7); Rafa’s (4-2) is insignificant as he had played far less matches than the other 3 this year.

Was the race to this award a close one? A picturesque answer would be this: It was as close as the last point of the World Tour Finals. Federer (who eliminated Murray) approached stealthily to strengthen his case for the award and from a position of no return, Djokovic passed Federer and well, in a blink of an eye, the award became his! Take a bow, Nole! You deserved it! And that rounds up Tennis 2012 at Sportskeeda. Happy New Year!

Catch the rest of the awards here: 2012 Tennis Awards

The last time Rafael Nadal played an official match was in June when the then-World No.100 Lukas Rosol tamed him in the fifth set in a second round clash at Wimbledon. A partially torn patella tendon in his left knee was cited as the reason for his withdrawal from the subsequent tournaments in London (the Olympics where he unfortunately had to relinquish his prestigious flag bearing duty), Canada and Cincinnati. A return at Flushing Meadows was on the cards when he gave another press conference indicating that he was going for a rest-based recovery instead of tending to it surgically, and that he had to opt out of the Open and the Asian swing because of it. Later, he withdrew from the Masters event at Bercy, Paris, and when he refrained from joining the elite at the O2, London for the World Tour Finals, it made sense as it would not have been sane to use his rested and lately untested legs and hands against those of the top competitors of the sport who were in great touch, having played week in and week out. With an injury, even someone like Rafa would have been looked at as a liability in a crucial Davis Cup final, and so his withdrawal from the 100th Davis Cup final also didn’t raise eyebrows. No questions on the proceedings till that point.

Nadal then announced that he would be back in full swing for the 2013 season and would kickstart his comeback at the invitational Mubadala Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, following that up with Doha as a prelude for the first Grand Slam of the year – the mercurial Australian Open at Melbourne! It looked like a very well laid-out plan. But not all well-laid plans get executed; the case of Rafa became an example instead of being an exception to that statement.

A stomach virus took over the villainy from the torn tendons just days before Rafa had to pack his kit for a trip to Abu Dhabi, denting his Doha and Melbourne plans. Now, it appears from information gathered from his team, that with not much practice, entering into a 5-set tournament would not be the best thing for Rafa. True! But there have been many statements of comebacks that subsequently turned into ‘not-to-bes’!

There are always the ‘buts’ in stories such as these when everything is not revealed, which offer scope for speculation. Some questions on the Rafa story of the past few months for which answers aren’t easily conceivable are:

1) How big is the knee issue? Has Rafa really seen the light-end of the tunnel? Preferring rest over surgery could address the issue but what if it ‘relapses’ (the way it has done for some pros who have gone this way before)?

2) Rafa started practicing in November. Can lack of practice due to a few days of stomach infection create such a dent that he would have to quit from a tournament that he has to defend 1200 points in? This takes us to the question – ‘is it really the virus or is the knee still in trouble?’

3) Does Rafa not want to make his comeback on the hardcourts which could strain his knees more than they can handle? Is that why he is now setting his eyes for a return at clay in Acapulco this February? Remember, he had already complained during his period of rest about the toll that the hard court-loaded calendar gives to athletes’ fitness levels. If that is indeed the case, why does he repeatedly announce participation in tournaments followed by the inevitable withdrawal pressers?

More than the other implications, the one pertaining to the fact that he could probably go out of the top 4 in the weeks to come owing to his withdrawal from the Australian Open is the most prominent. He may have to face the likes of Nole, Andy, Roger in the quarterfinal stages of tournaments now. Does he prefer having such quarterfinal match-ups on clay rather than having them on hardcourts? Could that be another reason why he is delaying the comeback?

The only hope for all tennis lovers right now is that this is the last press conference where he is sorry about not being able to join the circuit. The inevitable – the comeback – should soon happen and the monstrous forehands, the perplexing retrievals, the grunt-filled gets should all occupy our TV screens sooner than later, not to mention the ‘Vamos Rafa‘ chants! When that happens, these and more such questions may not mean a thing; but until then, there is scope for speculation and these are just my two cents on that.

A close look at the three-setters at three different periods in the season tells a nice little story. The season’s first week saw a tight final in Chennai between Janko Tipsarevic and Milos Raonic in which neither player broke the other, with the match getting decided in three tie breaker sets. The year’s last final at the World Tour Finals in London was probably the most competitive, high quality, straight-sets affair of the year with Djokovic winning 96 points to Federer’s 95. And around the middle of the year was the longest three-setter in the history of the game when del Potro and Federer squared off to try and guarantee their nations a medal at the Olympics (Federer won 19-17 in the third).

As far as the five-setters were concerned, the finals of all 4 Grand Slams offered high quality drama with the 4 different trophies going to 4 different players; something that had not happened between 2004 and 2011. Fans couldn’t have asked for more.

There had to be one cherry at the top of this cake of a season, though. Which one was it?

When one records the stats of all top matches in a table and sorts them by any particular statistic, there would be one match which would appear as the first record in almost all such tables. The 5 hour 53 min epic that Nole and Rafa dished out in the final of Australian Open, sending fans into moments of ultimate thrills and delirium, is our ATP Match of the Year!

A lot was at stake for both the players coming into the final. Djokovic had made Rafa his bunny in 2011, winning all 6 matches (all were finals) they contested in the season. But as cliched as it may sound, Rafa knew 2012 was a new season coming with new hopes of reversal of fortunes. The stage was set for him to right the wrongs of the past season against a growing nemesis. For Djokovic, the fight was against himself – against his impeccable 2011; against his own will to conquer his inner demons; against his senses which could any day host an uninvited guest – complacency. He had done the ‘close-to-unthinkable’ of coming back from being a break down in the decider in the last two Grand Slam semifinals he had played (2011 US Open against Federer; 2012 Australian Open against Murray). And just like this time in Melbourne, Rafa was the man waiting for him in the final on the first occasion as well.

The final match held the promise of having all the answers. The answers had to come.The match had to start. It did.

The first set gave its quota of drama as Rafa took the first break to go up 3-2 when an impatient Djokovic sent a backhand long. The defending champion broke back later to level things at 4-4, but Rafa proved that his slight dominance was enough to win the first battle in the war. First set to Rafa – 7-5! Among the fans of Rafa who had come in huge numbers, whoever thought their man had one hand on the trophy already had probably not seen the duo’s contests in Indian Wells and Miami the year before.

Novak, unsurprisingly, came to the party to take the second set 6-4 and he continued his dominance from the baseline in a blemish-free third set, taking it with a thumping 6-2 scoreline.

When Rafa is around, it’s not very smart to think he would fizzle out when he is down. The strongest evidence for this statement came when Rafa was serving at 3-4 in the 4th set and was down 0-40, thanks to three sublime winners from the racket of Nole (an ethereal backhand down-the-line, followed by a wrong-footing cross-court shot and a blistering forehand). Any other player would have hung up his boots but Rafa ran, aced and fist-pumped his way to level things at 4-4. The shift in momentum was evident as Rafa quickly took the set to a tiebreaker, which he won 7 points to 5. The fact that the usually humble and respectful Rafa celebrated his opponent’s unforced errors showed how important this outing was for the Spaniard.

Set five started off nonchalantly as both players held serve twice to take it to 2-2 when the match went into its 6th hour. The moment of truth seemed to have arrived (or at least it appeared so) when the composed and ever-emotional Uncle Toni leapt out of his seat, going ‘Vamos’ as Rafa broke for a 4-2 lead. The litmus test was here for Nole. He had done it against Roger and Murray. Could he do it against Rafa? The answer to this question came when Rafa served at 4-2, 30-15.

Aided by a strong serve, Rafa dominated the point before he made Djokovic rush to the net. The Djokovic volley gave enough time for Rafa to reach and time his shot and placement while Nole was left stranded in the middle of the court. Even if Rafa had been woken from his sleep and given an attempt at that shot, he would have sent it past a helpless Djokovic. But not on this day, not at this defining moment. The mental burden of the force on the other side of the court showed up, making Rafa go for the line unnecessarily. What Rafa had done to Federer’s game, disintegrating it at the same place in the same set three years ago, had come back to haunt him.

Novak did his bit to take things from there to level back, and after one exchange of holds, he broke Rafa at 5-5. At 6-5, 40-40, the fighter in Rafa was still breathing. It took a Djokovic plea to the heavens to take him to match point but when the moment came, he seized it handsomely, serving to the T and hitting a winner off a poor Rafa return to seal the deal. Game, set and match, Djokovic,  5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7(5) 7-5. The scream, the tearing of the shirt and the masochistic celebration with his coach Vajda, trainer and others in the camp showed where this win was in Djokovic’s mind. Right at the top, where you would find the cherry on a cake!

Come to think of it, this was one match which gave sleepless nights to tennis fans across the world. In North and South America, people had to burn the midnight oil thanks to time zone differences; in Australia and parts of Asia, the match went late into the night, which Rafa humorously pointed out by starting his runners-up speech with “Good Morning, everybody!” with his trademark boyish innocence. In Europe, sleep would have eluded fans of both the players, ecstasy being the reason in Serbia and agony being the reason in Spain. However, from the break of dawn the next day, apart from an amazing display of athleticism, court coverage and usage of angles, the match stands as a testament of a few inspiring lessons for life (my take of which can be read here.)

Here’s to the best match of 2012 and to two champions who made it what it was! Below are the official highlights of the match:

Catch the rest of the awards here: 2012 Tennis Awards

When the words ‘Paris’ and ‘Tennis’ are heard together, connecting that with Roland Garros is inevitable for any tennis fan. However, quietly, in the shadows of Rolland Garros, the BNP Paribas Paris Masters (Bercy) has been churning out champions for the last 40 years. A lot of big names in the past have won at Bercy, but till last year, this was probably the biggest tournament on whose silverware neither ‘Roger Federer‘ nor ‘Rafael Nadal‘ had ever been etched. Thankfully for the tournament, Federer took off that oddity by winning it in 2011, for if he had not, the streak would have continued this year as well, as both Federer and Nadal have opted out of the event.

What’s at stake?

Leading the line-up of stars is Novak Djokovic, the World No.2 this week and No.1 next week – irrespective of what happens here. Apart from proving his authority and getting back atop the rankings chart, the 2009 champion has nothing much to prove. For Andy Murray, vital points collected here can help him set his sights on the No.2 spot, which he would happily accept if he can get there by the end of the year or in time for the Australian Open 2013. For other top stars like Berdych, Tsonga, last week’s victors Ferrer and del Potro, wins against one another in the latter stages of the tournament could give a much-needed confidence ahead of their clashes-to-be at the O2 arena in London next week. The last berth for the World Tour Finals is up for grabs and the likely contenders Tipsarevic and Gasquet would be itching to take a deep plunge into the draw. However, outsiders like Raonic & Almagro can never be ruled out, with these players still mathematically in the running to make it to the World Tour Finals. For the rest of the field, a good performance at the last event of the year would give them some confidence for the season ahead.

What’s the draw like?

Top Half:

Victor Hanescu is the lucky loser who replaces Federer after the latter’s last minute withdrawal. He is a lucky, lucky loser, as he also gets a bye directly into Round 2. Murray and Berdych are the top seeds in the top half. Murray has a tough draw on paper. He has to contend with Paul Henri Mathieu, the man who had a good last week at Basel, in Round 2, and has to go past Cilic in Round 3 if he wants to help himself and Gasquet’s chances in a potential quarter-final match against Tipsarevic.

For Berdych, a Round 3 clash with Gasquet is in the offing, for which Gasquet needs to overcome either the Brazilian left-hander Bellucci, who has an uncanny knack of playing well against top players, or the South African giant Kevin Anderson! Going by the draw, if you were to choose between Tipsarevic and Gasquet over who’d end up buying tickets to London, the Serbian would be a safer bet.

A good first round match to look for in this half would be the one between the new father in the circuit, Marcos Baghdatis, and home boy Gilles Simon. Whoever wins that game will fancy their chances of reaching the last 16/last 8 thanks to Federer’s withdrawal.

Bottom Half:

There are a number of potential mouth-watering clashes in this half as well. With Novak Djokovic expected to face Raonic in Round 3 and del Potro in the quarters, he has his hands full! For del Potro, who has a staggering 17-1 record at the indoors this season and is looking for a third title in three straight weeks, Isner might offer some resistance if they meet in Round 3. In other possible match-ups, it would be nice to see if Wawrinka can realise his potential if and when he takes on the in-form Ferrer in a Round 3 clash. For the 2008 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the quarter appears easy to reach, as he has to contend with men like Troicki/Almagro, against who he has the power and skill to dominate. If Benneteau can get inspired like he did when he upset Roger Federer at this event in 2009, it would help the French crowd see an all-French clash in Tsonga vs Benneteau.

A good first round match from this half would be the one between Llodra and Stepanek. For people fed up with the baseline slugfests, this could be one match to look forward to, as the two are known for their approach to the net.

All in all, with a lot of promising match-ups and a vociferous Paris crowd, we can expect quite a few fireworks in the last regular event of the year. If that is not enough, here’s a trivia. Since 2003, the event has seen different men win each edition, and this year, one man has the skill and form to end that streak. Novak Djokovic, of Serbia. However, there is a Scot practising somewhere in Bercy who would want to ensure that the streak continues! Let us see how it pans out!

While the ATP players are fighting it out at Basel and Valencia to secure the much-coveted final few berths left to play the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the creme de la creme of the WTA circuit are already busy determining the who’s who at the year end championships at Istanbul, Turkey. After two days of action in the ongoing round robin phase, there have not been any upsets: top seeds Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams have progressed unscathed; with a win and a loss against her name, Agnieszka Radwanska is close on the heels of the top 3 after following her win with a hard-fought loss at the hands of Sharapova. Even after a valiant attempt against Vika (in one of the matches of the year), Championships debutante Angelique Kerber is staring down the barrel after two defeats. Sara Errani, Li Na and defending champion Petra Kvitova (who has been replaced by Samantha Stosur due to a viral illness) are yet to open their ‘win account’ in their groups. The action today and tomorrow will heat things up; we’ll have to wait and see if one or more of the second-4 can dash the hopes of at least one member of the top-4!

Vika saved 2 M.P.s, Nole style!, in her win against Kerber at Istanbul

Now, to the match of the tournament so far and later, a digression towards focusing on the Lady match point-saver Victoria Azarenka!

In her first match of the championships this year, World No.1 Victoria Azarenka, fresh from titles at Linz and Beijing, played a marathon 3-setter against Kerber. After losing the first set tiebreaker at a 11-13, facing 4-5 15-40 in the second, she faced two match points! Taking a cue from her ‘match-point-save-in-vain’ in the Istanbul final last year against Kvitova and a leaf out of Nole’s book (titled perhaps ‘How to save match points’?), she saved both match points she faced, won the second set breaker by a convincing 7-2 scoreline and furthered her authority on the year end No. 1 ranking position by clinching the 3rd set 6-4. She now needs one more win at Istanbul to guarantee herself the stay at the rankings pent-house, irrespective of how World No. 2 Sharapova fares in the reminder of her matches.

Back to back titles, dancing and enjoying at the trophy ceremony, year end No.1-to-be, saver of match points: do all these points not take your minds to another tennis player of another gender from another country, playing perhaps like he’s from another planet? The guy named Novak Djokovic? A closer look at not just the recent past but at a 1-2 year time frame shows a lot more striking similarities Vika and Nole’s careers have had.

Here are some:

• Both Nole and Vika had their first Grand Slam triumph at the Rod Laver Arena, Australian Open.
• Both have saved match points against past champions at Flushing Meadows, sending the crowd into frenzy at the US Open (Nole in ’10 and ’11 against Federer; Vika in ’12 against Stosur)
• Both have had some good streaks in the past 2 years (Nole with his 43-match streak in ’11; Vika with her 26-match streak in ’12)
• Both are crowd-pleasers and have had their share of famous post-victory celebrations
• Both reside in the princely and picturesque tax haven, Monte Carlo
• Both are popular twitterbugs on the social networking site and regularly post their hotel and airport pics; they like to give a slice of their private lives to their fans
• Both have had Olympic Singles medals (Nole with a silver in ’08; Vika with a Bronze in ’12)
• Both have a dubious record in terms of withdrawals or retirements from matches citing injuries (Nole was; Vika still is!)
• More than all these, the trollers on social network have tried proving how similar the facial features of the two are!

Looks like the two are made for each other! I’m sorry – ‘made like each other’, not for. Note the correction, Jelena Ristic and Sergei Bubka Jr.!

Here’s hoping that Azarenka breaks the shackles in her lop-sided H2H against Serena and comes up trumps in their coming encounters and lightens up the WTA circuit to make it shine even brighter, just like Nole did by reversing his trend against Rafa in 2011!

It’s a known fact that since Safin’s ceremonious Australian Open victory in 2005, the quartet of Roger, Rafa, Nole and Andy have won 30 of the 31 grand slams contested since 2005 (Though Djokovic comes into the picture only in 2008 and Murray only in 2012!). They are considered by many former players, legends like McEnroe included, to be the best top-4 in any era of Men’s tennis. One reason for such domination is the way they have been able to handle pressure in situations that were demanding.

The ethereal beauty of the sport that tennis is, has been the fact that in tough contests, the player who wins the important points, more often than not, wins a match. More of this in the last paragraph of this article! A lot of such important points pop-up in what is known as the business end of sets. This piece takes a look at how these 4 players, when playing among themselves, have handled situations after set scores have read 5-5! Against other lower ranked opponents, all 4 have been mightily successful in finishing sets off when push comes to shove at a 5-5 or a 6-6. Here, we’ll see who has been the most dominant of the top-4 in the 7-5, 7-6 cliffhangers played among themselves!

Here’s a matrix showing the number of tie-break sets the 4 have played against one another.

Federer and Nadal have played 38 TB sets (a staggering 20 TB sets between themselves!), almost twice the number of TB sets Murray has played against the other three! Big guys like some thrill, eh? No wonder most of the Federer Nadal sagas turn out to be epics.

When it comes to the 7-5 sets, here’s the matrix showing the number of such sets these players have played among themselves.

Nadal (23) separates himself from Federer (32) here; If Nadal gets to 5-5, it is almost certain that the set is to go to a Tie Breaker. He doesn’t like them 7-5 sets!  Djokovic, meanwhile, has a special liking for 7-5 sets, it seems. He tops this list with 35 sets! Federer-Djokovic matches are bound to have a lot of 7-5 sets; The duo account for 15 of the 54 7-5 sets held within the 4! The Murray-Nadal duels, (they are less in number compared to the Federer-Djokovic encounters) account for only 2 of the 54 7-5 sets in question!

Now to a list of how the 7-6 and 7-5 sets have influenced the outcome of matches!

Unsurprisingly, the numbers are skewed in favour of the winners. Still, there are some interesting insights one could gather from this list. Look at the Federer vs Nadal row! Among the 20 TB sets they have played, 12 have been won by the winner and the loser comes close winning 8 of them! Mentally, the two are rock solid and do not get as bogged down as say, Djokovic, when they face off! The Federer-Djokovic row tells a nice little story that men who bet for a living would be interested in. 23 off 28 such sets have gone to the winner!

Now, a little more deep-diving. Let us see how each of them have performed against one another in terms of a ratio of sets won to sets played.

Tiebreakers first!

The men who have held tennis duopoly for about 7 years have never gone below 50% in any of their tie-break match-ups with the other 3 (Their numbers are all green – over 50% success rate). Djokovic’s record (all in Red) is dubious; That too for someone who is considered to be currently,the best returner in the sport! He doesn’t have even a 50% success in tie-breakers when he plays the others in the 3. So, for the other 3, one goal when they face off Djokovic would be to somehow hold serve and get the set to a tie-break from where they could seek history’s help! On the other hand, for all the criticism the Nadal serve has taken (supposedly the weakest part of his game), he has the best record of them all in Tiebreakers: a game which supposedly favours the big servers! ‘Nerves first, Serves next!’ seems to be the unsaid truth regarding tie-breakers from what we see in the table here.

7-5 sets now!

Here, Federer loses the stranglehold he otherwise held in the other stats so far. He has a below par record against Murray and Nadal and only slightly, edges past Djokovic, who again, is the worst of the lot! In all matches Murray has played against the other 3, never has the match loser won a set 7-5! Again, a stat for the betters and superstitious to watch out for. Rafa dominates the other 3 here as well, with winning %s of 7-5 sets won!

Now for the result!

If one needed to choose just one hero for the cliffhanger tale, just the one who handles pressure best in match-ups of top-4, all stats point to one name – Rafael Nadal! No wonder he has a winning record against the other 3! Another myth that this busts is that Djokovic, with a super serve and a super return and a will to save match points and win contests, is not at his best when it comes to tight sets against his beloved top-runners!

If you still feel the 7-5 7-6 sets are not any more important than other sets in deciding match outcomes, here’s something. Federer had won more points than Nadal in both the Rome final of 2006 and the Australian Open final of 2009. But Rafa pulled off 4 of the 5 ’7-5 7-6′ sets contested in these matches and won both the encounters!

No. 4 – Martina Navratilova

Imagine the time when Andre Agassi was at the tender age of 5; that is when this player turned pro. Now imagine Andre Agassi retiring at the U.S. Open 2006 after a glittering career that is considered to have been one of the longest in history; that is when this player won the last of her 59 Major titles! This player is one of only three players in the history of the game to have completed the boxed set (the feat of winning all 4 majors in singles, doubles and mixed doubles). This player, who has had such a bewilderingly long and successful career, is not an unfamiliar face to anybody who knows how a tennis court looks like. This player is the Czech-turned-American Martina Navratilova; the player whose accomplishments in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, if put together, would not only make the other players in this series feel inferior but also put any other accomplishment in any sport to shame!

A close look at Navratilova’s career will show how odds-defying her journey has been. Ever since the day she turned pro, she had to fight her way through a lot of things on and off the court. She was different from the rest of the crowd in a lot of ways – a southpaw serve-and-volley exponent when stars around her were predominantly right-handed baseliners; a defector from the erstwhile Czechoslovakia, an immigrant to the U.S.A.; a self-confessed bisexual in a tennis world of straight individuals. Despite all these odds and more, she was able to conjure magic by making fans out of an initially indifferent audience, making singles and doubles titles out of tournaments, and setting records that would have previously seemed unimaginable!

One quality of Martina that deserves to be noted and appreciated perhaps more than any other is her determination. With runner-up finishes in her first two Slams as a pro, her career took off like a rocket, but it was a rocket that failed to reach escape velocity. Her initial close finishes were heartbreaking, but she kept fighting. It wasn’t until 1978 that she fulfilled her dream of becoming a Grand Slam champion. The dream moment came, naturally, on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon, which would later go on to become her favourite hunting ground. She won 9 of her 18 Grand Slam singles titles at SW19 and reached a record 9 consecutive finals on the sacred lawns between 1982 and ’90. That was  not surprising, given the grace with which she could slice her way through to the net and volley with consummate ease.

Martina’s rivalry with Chris Evert was as epic as it was heart-warming. The two remained close friends despite the incredibly high number of times they had to face off on the tennis court. Initially, the rivalry was lop-sided in Evert’s favour. After 25 meetings, their head-to-head read: 21 Evert, 4 Martina. By the time Evert threw in the towel, though, Navratilova had turned it around to make it read 37 Evert – 43 Martina.

When Navratilova made her move to the U.S.A., her fitness took a beating. From being tagged ‘The Great Hope’, she went on to being tagged ‘The Great Wide Hope’. But she took that as a challenge, and resolutely went about putting together one of the most disciplined training regimens ever seen in the game. She took fitness to new levels, and by winning tons of titles and getting to the No.1 position in the rankings, she almost single-handedly underscored the importance of physicality in tennis. With her determination and dedication, she eventually managed to strike ‘wide’ and ‘hope’ off the tag that was given to her, becoming, simply, ‘The Great’.

When men’s tennis was witnessing a terrific trivalry involving Connors, Borg and McEnroe, Navratilova was quitely making her way to the top of women’s tennis, and in 1982 she entered one of the most dominating periods ever seen in tennis history. Her yearly W/L records read 90-3 (1982), 86-1 (1983) and 78-2 (1984) in a 3-year span; she won 8 of the possible 12 Slam titles during this period! But as every great story has a nice little twist, the Navratilova story too had one. The sidekick villain in this case was her eyesight. It was only in 1985 that she realized she needed a pair of spectacles. Once she added the spectacles to her armory, she managed to soldier on quite successfully, before ‘aging’ – the typical tennis villain  - and a German named Steffi Graf entered the tennis scene. Still, Navratilova put on a great fight in the twilight of her singles career even when Graf was at her best. That, again, speaks volumes of Navratilova’s character. The Graf-Navratilova head-to-head reads 9-9 with Martina having a 5-4 edge in Grand Slam matches.

Navratilova’s exploits in mixed doubles continued after her retirement, as she added 4 more Majors to her kitty. The last one was with Bob Bryan, who won his latest Slam just last week! That just goes to show how close Navratilova is to the present day players.

As if the powers that be wanted to test her mettle even post-retirement, Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. But she  fought off this latest adversary too with her characteristic grit. That same year, she shrugged off her ailment and made an attempt to scale Mt.Kilimanjaro. Why scale a mountain? Probably because, with a record 167 singles titles, a record 177 doubles titles and 15 mixed doubles titles, she had scaled all that anyone could in the tennis world!

And now for the video clip. Steffi Graf and the Williams sisters may have won their share of Wimbledon trophies, but there is only one Queen of Wimbledon. Catch the most special moments of Navratilova’s decade-long domination at the All-England Club here:

These are the other players who have made it to the list so far:

No. 20 – Venus Williams; No. 19 – Justine Henin; No. 18 – Ken Rosewall; No. 17 – Andre Agassi; No. 16 – Pancho Gonzales; No. 15 – Monica Seles; No. 14 – John McEnroe; No. 13 – Ivan Lendl; No. 12 – Jimmy Connors; No. 11 – Margaret Court; No. 10 – Billie Jean King; No. 9 – Rafael Nadal; No. 8 – Serena Williams; No. 7 – Chris Evert; No. 6 – Bjorn Borg; No. 5 – Pete Sampras

Read the detailed write-ups on all the players in this list here:

The greatest tennis players of all time

In the modern era of athletic power tennis, the two main components to become a successful pro should be strong, willful legs and an agility to move freely on court.

The Clijsters forehand: devastating power!

Born to a footballer father and a gymnast mother, Kim never had to worry about these two as the X and Y chromosomes fed into her at birth would have had these. She used that to perfection in her ascendancy to the pinnacle of the sport in a quick time. The first signs of a Grand Slam champion residing inside the Belgian came on the French clay at the Roland Garros final in 2001 when she fought a lost battle in an epic clash against Jennifer Capriati, losing 10-12 in the decider! It took some time before she could get her hands on Grand Slam silverware, but the determination of Clijsters saw her achieve the World No.1 ranking in 2003 even before she could win a Slam. Kim and her compatriot Justine Henin were contenders for the top spot time and again over this period and they were responsible for breaking the duopoly of the Williams sisters. During this period, she ran her much popular love affair with the flamboyant Aussie Lleyton Hewitt: no wonder Kim was celebrated like a local girl at the Grand Slam of the Asia/Pacific.

Personally and professionally, with a break-up with Lleyton and injuries to deal with, the toughest period for Kim, arguably, were the years 2004-05. After coming back, the story was entirely different though. She waltzed her way through the American hard-court swing, tasting Grand Slam success at that year’s U.S. Open. Eventually, she got back the World No.1 rank after the Australian Open the following year. In the process, she set an unbelievable rankings jump of 133 ranks within a 10-month period: even Andre Agassi would have envied that! But as fate would have it, again the vicious cycle of injuries, lay-offs and drop in form led her to a shocking premature retirement in 2007.

Mom and Kid: An inspiring sight to behold!

The decision to have a roof over the Wimbledon Centre Court was the prologue to the sequel to ‘The Kim Story’, which premiered in 2009. While practicing for the exhibition she was scheduled to play during the inauguration of the roof, she rediscovered the hunger to return to the court and pelt forehands at her opponents! People brushed her off with the “Hmm..we have heard of many unsuccessful comeback attempts before”. Proving them wrong was not in her priority-list. Celebrating an ethereal success at Flushing Meadows with her kid was! In winning her second Slam in just the third tournament of her comeback, she set records: becoming the first wild card, unranked female player to win a Slam; becoming the third mother to win a Slam, since 1980 were among such humongous records. The sight of her little kid clapping for her in the hands of her husband, a professional basketball player, and later enjoying the crowd’s attention on the big screen was so delightful that even the loser Wozniacki appeared all smiles!

To me, an even bigger accomplishment was her defense of the title in 2010 (defeating the Williams sisters on her way), which was followed by her winning the Australian Open in 2011, thus finally satisfying her second-home fans. The thirst that she had to fight through the toll that her mind and body must have taken to raise a kid and to be as successful as she was in the 18-month period puts her among the most inspiring sports stories ever seen. I was not alone. The Time Magazine thought so as well, putting Kim at No.16 in the ‘Top 100 Influential persons, 2011′  list!

Clijsters may have had success only at the hardcourt Slams, but she was an all-court player, winning 41 titles in her glittering career. More proof on why she is an even better player than what her Slam record would suggest would be the fact that she has a winning head-to-head against competitors such as Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams. Among the biggies, she failed to solve only the Serena power puzzle. Without the injuries she had to face, who knows, she might have!

When all is said and done, Kim’s career is not yet completely over. It can extend for 10 more days. She reminds us after her final singles match: “I’m out of singles, but I’m still entered in doubles and mixed!”. You never know what this determined super mom can do; You cannot be blamed if you expect this former No.1 in doubles to sign off stylishly with some doubles success! In this modern era where the glass ceiling for women is fast becoming a myth, Kim Clijster’s momma story finds a prominent place and will be remembered for a long time.

No. 7 – Chris Evert

When Gilles Simon sparked off a controversy by showing his disapproval of equal pay-cheques for men and women at Wimbledon this year, there was a lot of hue and cry on the subject. Leaving prize money aside, if another inequality-based question on recognition of accomplishments is posed, it is indeed a sad fact that records in women’s tennis are a lot less appreciated than those in men’s tennis. And if there is one woman who I have to choose to prove this point, it is none other than Christine Marie Evert!

A couple of examples are in order here. The record of 23 consecutive ‘semi-finals or better’ appearances made by Roger Federer is considered to be one record which is forever going to stand the test of time; Chris Evert did the same thing for 34 straight Slams. Rafael Nadal‘s longest claycourt winning streak ended at 81 matches; Evert’s lasted for 125! By just drawing a comparison with two mind-boggling records held by Roger and Rafa, it is evident that Evert easily eclipses them both. Statistics like these can drive home how special Evert really was to youngsters who don’t look beyond the ‘Fedal’ days!

Chris Evert was a phenomenon not just for the records she was able to set. Her entry into the tennis scene was nothing short of theatrical, because her progress was just so rapid! From being a kid who was making giant strides in the junior circuit, she was suddenly on the Grand Slam stage at the tender age of 16 when she had not even become a ‘pro’. She made heads turn by reaching the semi-final in her Grand Slam debut at the U.S. Open of 1971, before losing to Billie Jean King, who was the most dominant force around at that time. There started the rise and rise of Evert, and in a glittering career spanning over 17 years, she had more than her share of wins at the biggest of stages: she won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, and ended runner-up in 16. If there is a statistic that better describes the consistency and longevity of her career than the record she holds for having played in the most number Grand Slam singles finals (34), it is this: she reached the ‘last-four’ stage in 52 of the 56 Slams she contested! No, that wasn’t a typo. I didn’t type a wrong digit. Her hunger for glory was just that amazing!

The strong baseline game that Evert put on display was a result of a devastating combination of the fiery double-handed backhand she possessed and an intelligent mind which was evident even to a television viewer, thanks to her clever display of court sense. Her ability to pass brilliantly off both the forehand and backhand wings made her indomitable on the claycourts, and her seven French Open titles speak volumes of the command she held from the baseline over her opponents. Evert carried the proverbial baton passed to her by the great Billie Jean King in the 70s before another pair of hands wished to grab it from her. Those pair of hands came along with a pair of bespectacled eyes and an iron-willed heart – Martina Navratilova was seemingly born to give Evert trouble. Theirs was the women’s equivalent of the Borg-McEnroe rivalry (which ran simultaneously), and the calm and collected Evert was obviously the Borg of this one. As if to let her know that she was beatable, that her game was vulnerable to a spotless serve and volley attack, the tennis gods had sent Martina Navratilova. In arguably the best rivalry in women’s tennis and for that matter, the sport itself, Navratilova tipped Evert by a narrow margin – she had 43 wins against Evert’s 37 in an 80-match rivalry. At the Slams, Evert often came up short, winning just 4 of the 10 Slam finals the duo clashed in. A familiar story this for the ‘Fedal’ people, eh?

Chris Evert was the force women’s tennis needed in those times for more reasons than her display of flawless tennis. In a period when Hollywood had a Meryl Streep, there just had to be a woman in sports to keep the paparazzi on their toes. The beautiful Evert, with her unmistakable grace and an eye for fashionable sports gear, was undoubtedly the media darling of her generation. Her on-and-off relationship with the angry-young Jimmy Connors never missed catching the headlines, and their coincidental triumphs in 1974 at Wimbledon even gave rise to the term ‘love match’. The boss of Calvin Klein, the brand she endorsed early in her career, named a race horse after her, and that pony became so successful that at one point it appeared in the ‘Did You Mean?’ box when one typed ‘Chris Evert’ on search engines. ‘Chris Evert’ is one lucky name, that’s for sure!

Today, if Chris Evert is not remembered as much as she deserves to for the staggering records she set in one of the most durable careers ever seen, it is because of the tremendous achievements of two other women who played in a period that had more tennis viewership and a higher penchant for statistics. As for who those two women are – we will see them later in this series. For now, let’s raise our glasses to Chris Evert for making it to the 7th spot in the list of greatest tennis players of all time – she certainly deserves it in the fullest.

And now, the customary video clip. Evert was often on the receiving end in her clashes with Navratilova on the lawns of Wimbledon, but in the 1980 semifinals, she turned things around to register one of her most hard-fought, and memorably dramatic, victories. Here are the highlights of that match:

These are the other players who have made it to the list so far:

No. 20 – Venus Williams; No. 19 – Justine Henin; No. 18 – Ken Rosewall; No. 17 – Andre Agassi; No. 16 – Pancho Gonzales; No. 15 – Monica Seles; No. 14 – John McEnroe; No. 13 – Ivan Lendl; No. 12 – Jimmy Connors; No. 11 – Margaret Court; No. 10 – Billie Jean King; No. 9 – Rafael Nadal; No. 8 – Serena Williams

Read the detailed write-ups on all the players in this list here:

The greatest tennis players of all time

I thought I could share some of the work I did with the data here and see if people can have a look at it and get back with comments and suggestions for other analyses.

Let us start with the eye-ball catchers. The ones that even pedestrian football followers can relate to – The Strikers! We know that Robin van Persie scored the maximum no. of goals in the season. But was he the most successful converter of shots to goals? No! The scatter shown below pits players against each other in terms of their shots to goals conversion.

It is significant to note that Papiss Demba Cissé has the best conversion rate scoring 13 goals off 35 shots at a staggering 37%.

To their credit, RVP and Rooney have decent conversion rates of 21% and 22.5% respectively considering they scored a lot more goals. It is also interesting to note that Torres and Suarez were not trolled for no reason. Their conversion rates are a meagre 12% and 10% respectively.

The non-open play goals come next. Though goals are often scored by most teams when on open play, some of the crucial game changers come via corners, penalties and the likes. Here’s a visual to show how the top 5 teams scored such goals.

Points worth noting are that Manchester City are the strongest from corners. Manchester United scored more than twice the number of goals via penalties than their nearest competitors. No wonder supporters of other clubs consider referees to be United-friendly! Chelsea have been pretty good by scoring through set plays.

Do fouls matter when it comes to topping the table? A close look doesn’t show so. Here’s a stack of top teams and Swansea (who’ ve been the neatest in terms of fouls).

All the top teams have conceded more fouls than Swansea (check the blue baseline in the graph) and have won a lot less fouls than Swansea! (The rankings of teams in net fouls won is shown in the bracket by the side of teams’ names). The topping clubs from Manchester: City and United, ranked 13th and 9th are among the most deviant from Swansea – showing neat play is not all that significant. The yellow line indicates the number of penalties each of these teams have won in the season by fouls committed by opposition. This clearly shows what I said above. The yellow line shoots up more than twice its height at the United Skyscraper!

What’s football without the Goal-keepers? Here is a chart depicting the number of saves the top goalies have made during the 2011-12 EPL season.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Wanderers’ Hennessey has top honours of saving the most shots. Being the goalkeeper of a weak team is a huge responsibility, ain’t it?! Goalkeepers of top teams are somewhere in the middle among those towers. The red line running across the towers indicates the % of saves each of those goalkeepers has made from inside the box. The squares for top teams are highlighted. One look at it shows, among keepers of top teams, Arsenal‘s Szczesny had to bear the brunt of saving a much higher % of goals from inside the box than his counterparts at Tottenham, Chelsea and the Manchester Clubs.

That leaves us with the midfielders. How well have teams tackled their way through in the league last year? Here’s a look of a scatter of tackles made to tackles won by defenders/midfielders with more than 40 tackles in the season.

The likes of Lescott, Bosingwa, Formica and Fellaini come up trumps in tackle percentage whereas a relentless tackler like Cabaye hasn’t been all that successful with his tackles. Stoke City’s Whelan has been the inefficient of prime tacklers and at 66% success rate, Arsenal’s Ramsey has not done all that well. One major highlight for City this season was the combination of Lescott, Kompany & Toure all of who had tackling success of more than 80%: 91%, 80% and 82% respectively.

Some of the more interesting patterns emerged as I tried pitting style of play of teams against different teams and looked at Home & Away patterns. More of that will follow as I progress further. In the meanwhile, comments and suggestions for angles to look at are welcome! To get access to the full data-set for yourself , follow the instructions on Manchester City’s Analytics webpage here.

A timeline of WTA No.1 s is shown below. It has similarities and differences from the ATP No.1 timeline (View it here). Bullet point observations on it follow:

• In the initial years, it was Chris Evert versus Martina Navratilova all the way. See the ‘Green’ and ‘Red’ coded bars fighting against each other for space?
• A clear transition from Navratilova (Green) to Steffi Graf (‘Sky Blue’ bar) clearly shows the passing of the baton. Monica Seles presents Steffi with stiff competition before that unceremonious incident made her a less dominant force
• Martina Hingis becomes the next big thing followed by a ‘bits-and-pieces’ domination of Davenport
• After this period starts the now familiar ‘No.1 snatch’ pattern in Women’s tennis (encircled in the graph). Many bits of dashes spread across so many players show that the No.1 ranking has been on and off many hands over the past decade or so!
• Other interesting observations are the Green and Blue dashes shown against the names of Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters. Those lines are indicative of their return to No.1 after long gaps (Agassi style!)
• Look at the four thin bars against Maria Sharapova‘s name. It is indicative of the pattern of her slam wins – One slam-GAP-One slam-GAP-One slam-GAP-One slam! She sure knows how to plan it out :)

• The one relatively long bar at the top-right against Caroline Wozniacki indicates one of two things:

1. She was consistent enough to keep with her the No.1 for 69 weeks even without a slam (OR)
2. The women’s line up was feeble/inconsistent allowing  Wozniacki to enjoy the stay at the top despite her not winning a Slam.

Finally, something on Women’s tennis, after all the focus on Men’s tennis! But seeing the encircled region in the graphic, it is the inconsistency of the Women’s top players that should take the blame for the lack of interest shown by fans/media towards  WTA compared to the more-solid ATP. Would you not agree?

Congratulations are in order for Roger Federer for becoming the man at the top in being the man at the top. In other words, for being the World No.1 for the most no. of weeks (287 and counting) going past the record held by Pete Sampras(286 weeks) today.

The visualisations below track the ATP No.1 Ranking since its inception in 1973. Here you will get answers to simple questions like ‘Who all have held the coveted position at the top?’;’ How long have these men held it?’ In addition, they also reveal the intensity in terms of competition at the top, i.e., how has the no.1 rank gone from hand to hand at different periods (This is shown in the second visualization and the behaviour in the different periods is summarized).

The following visual  is a straightforward representation of the no. of weeks each of these 25 champions have held the No.1 ranking. An exponential pattern emerges putting Federer(287*), Sampras(286), Lendl(270), Connors(268) at the top. It flattens out where other popular names from McEnroe(170) to Djokovic(53) stay. There are quite a lot of No.1 ranked players at the tail who have held to the position for very few weeks, thanks to the men at the top who have had a few below par weeks before rightfully reclaiming it from these people.

Now to the more revealing insights.

I have represented the timeline from Aug 1973 to Jul 2012, indicating the duration for which each player has held on to the No.1 rank. This provides quite a few interesting insights.

What can we infer from this fancy little timeline? A lot in fact. These points are jotted below (Periods acting as ranges are approximately labelled):

Weeks 1 to 250: After a brief stint with Nastase and Newcombe, The No. 1 rank has seen Connors hold monopoly over it!

Weeks 251 to 675: A period of intense competition it seems to have been! The snatching of the rankings has been prominent (indicated by a lot of dashes right against the names of  Borg, McEnroe, Lendl & Connors).

Weeeks 676 to 900: Lendl has been at the dominating end owning the ranking himself over a majority of this period.

Weeks 901 to 1100: That’s when Becker, Edberg and Courier had a brief look at the top spot before Pistol Pete entered the scene!

Weeks 1101 to 1400: Sampras was constructing his 286 weeks atop in various stints (some small, some big as indicated by the bars distinctively highlighted in ‘RED’) with Agassi being the sole threat. Others ranging from Muster to Rafter owning it for very brief periods. This is the period where many people had a knock at the No.1 Ranking!

Weeks 1401 to 1650: Safin led the new era into the No.1 rankings club followed promptly by Guga Kuerten, Ferrero and Roddick who have all had small stints. Hewitt appears to hold the big bar there, enjoying a dominant phase. A careful look at the visualization will reveal Agassi getting back to the position after a long gap!

Weeks 1651 to 1850: The first ‘GREEN’ bar is all that there is in this period! The bar is  the longest in the entire visual with Federer staying atop for a record 237 weeks. The first Green bar is as big as 2 to 3 Red bars of Sampras put together, explaining how helpful that stint has been for Federer to reach the 286 week record that once appeared unreachable.

Weeks 1851 to Now: This is when Rafael Nadal dethroned Federer at the top before Federer regained control again, taking advantage of a bad 2009 season for Rafa before the Spaniard roared back in 2010(the two ‘BRICK’coloured bars interspersed by the second Green bar). The stallion from Serbia, Djokovic, finally toppled the ‘FeDal’ duopoly, bringing a sizeable bar of his own (the ‘DARK BLUE’ one just before the end) into the visual. The tiny green bar at the end has entered its second week, indicating the third stint for Roger Federer at the top.

P.S.: Look for the green, blue and brick bars to lengthen in the coming few years;. The data on those bars are as of date, but they are sure to change in the coming months!

Another interesting question is the no. of stints each player had at the top of the rankings. The following table provides details on that. Evidently, McEnroe and Sampras have had the zeal to constantly keep knocking back at the position at the top (14 and 11 times respectively) followed closely by Connors, Lendle(9 & 8). The current crop are at 3(Federer), 2(Nadal) and 1(Djokovic) indicating their mind-set of: ‘Once I reach the top, it isn’t easy for others to topple me’.

Hope you enjoyed going through this piece.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 09: Roger Federer of Switzerland talks to the media during a press interview session at Wimbledon on July 9, 2012 in London, England.

Is obsession about a sportsman/sports team fanaticism? If yes, is fanaticism wrong? If not, of what good does it do in building character? I was pondering over this for about fifteen minutes when I switched off the TV when Federer was 15-40 down at 2-2 in the second set at the Wimbledon final this Sunday. That would be too less to think about in a fifteen minute period, wouldn’t you feel? Yes. There was more and all that was about fanaticism.

Disclaimer: The fanaticism I refer to is neither the madness in belittling the achievement of one’s champion’s rival, nor the expectation or hope of something improbable from your hero. The level of obsession and indulgence you get yourself into when you watch him/ the team perform is what I am writing about. A ‘Hero’ might refer to a person in an individual sport or a team

(What happened in the 15 minute period follows)

I’ve rewound my years to see if I have evolved to fan from fanatic. The sport in question is Tennis.

1990: I knew what Tennis was and that was that. Still, I was supporting the blonde Becker irrespective of who he played against. Edberg, Courier were the likes whom I was against without reason. The seeds of fanaticism were sown!

1992:  I’d known of a funky guy named Agassi. It so happened that I watched the ’92 Wimbledon final live on TV. An instant fan of his I became. I was a fan, just like any other. Or so I thought. Later, when Sampras started defeating him in the bigger events, I learnt that I was no more a fan who enjoyed the contrasting styles the duo put together on court. I was an enraged fanatic who wouldn’t think twice before hurting his legs or knuckles by banging them on the wall or popping off a t-shirt button when Agassi lost those crucial points in such encounters.

The Sampras domination, to some extent, reduced my levels of fanaticism. How long could I keep hurting myself!

2001: For a brief period, I was even becoming as good a fan as a retired Brit, clapping for Rafter and Goran when they faced off in 2001. But the same year, I was happy that someone had dethroned my hero-killer on his home turf. I was happy to see Feroder (Well, that’s how poorly I recollected his name and told friends at school about the upset the day after Pete was slain) offer some consolation.

2004: Roddick & Federer were my heroes, and I never got emotional during the bigger ties, bringing me to the ‘Oh!Wow, No more fanaticism’ phase.

2005: In came Rafael Nadal and the fanatic in me slowly but surely started to return. I couldn’t tolerate Federer losing to him every single year at the French Open. I don’t remember the number of times I switched off and switched on the TV during matches like the French ’08 final, the Wimbledon ’08 final and the Australian Open ’12 Semi. It was during the brief TV Off-to-On periods that I usually ponder over how bad I have been behaving.

Back to the 8th of July 2012 (The fifteen minute period is still on). One brief period of that kind was when I thought about how wrong it was to be such a sore fanatic.

Reasons:

1. I didn’t expect Federer to come back and save the two break points. He did, and I didn’t deserve to celebrate his victory if I didn’t expect him to win those points on his serve.

2. I switched off the TV enraged, It wasn’t my TV and I had no right to go hard on a television set! I was out of my senses for a moment and the reason for that was the madness.

3. This one is a significant reason. For a fanatic, the victory of his hero matters. But a microscopic introspection would reveal this: what is more special for him is the fact that he can celebrate it online, and bash back the bashers of the past and it is, I presume, the fear of not getting that opportunity, or much worse, the expectation of getting ridiculed or being mocked at if your hero happens to lose that gets him/her emotional.

So, it finally zeroes down to ‘you’ and ‘your pride & stake’ and ‘your hero’ no longer remains in the bigger picture. That is as bad as it can get, I felt.

The fifteen minutes had now passed. I decided that I would, no matter what, stop being the obsessed fanatic. With serious doubts over whether the TV would function, I switched it on to see Murray serving at 5-6 in the second. The fanatic didn’t show up. But, from that point on in the match, it was the Federer show all the way. So, I am still not sure if I have beaten the fanatic in me to death or if he will surface back when US Open. One thing’s for sure – if he resurfaces, I will remind myself of the three points I have listed above to send him back to hibernation! Peace!

Rafa made ‘HIS7ORY’ with his 7th triumph at Roland Garros. It is quite likely that he will do ‘H17tory’ with his 17th slam by 2014. It is even likely that we will see a lot more Rafa – Nole heavyweight tussles in Grand Slam finals in the coming years.

If we look at tennis by decades, the decade when Bjorn Borg was accumulating Grand slam silverware, Newcombe & Connors shared much of the remaining spoils. Then came the enigmatic McEnroe only to get his glory cut short by Wilander and Lendl. They were then succeeded by Edberg & Becker. Then came the era of Sampras and Agassi who were perturbed only slightly by the likes of Courier and Rafter. When the baton was passed from Pistol Pete to a feisty Federer, it was Hewitt and Roddick who were hogging the limelight before Federer could bloom into the champion he went on to become. Federer was not even 24 years old when the ‘freak from Majorca’ (as Agassi once said) started competing for Grand Slam glory. When Rafa was around 25, Djokovic was handing out to Nadal what Nadal was handing out to Federer: trouble! A close observation on all these top-level transitions would reveal the emergence of the next big thing. With the current scenario however, it doesn’t appear that this pattern at the top is going to continue. The top-2 are set to rule the roost. Evidence below.

Rafa is 26, Djokovic is 25 and the most likely slam contenders are Murray (come on, give him a chance, at least on paper!) who’s 25, Del Potro who’s 23 (his doctors might not agree) and maybe the likes of Tsonga (his level of play in the quarters at RG gets him the space here) who is 26 again! Where are the 20-21 year olds? Are there any champions likely to emerge? Will 2012-13 be a breakthrough season? The answer to these questions, looking at performances, is pretty straight-forward – ‘not likely’. We see the ‘big four’ close to being unreachable at the top. A pattern that seems to be emerging is that the ‘next four’ are getting pretty consistent too. They appear unreachable too. This means the same Ferrer, Tsonga, Berdych, Del Potros of the world are the ones to bite the dust in the quarters against the big four. Much worse, those who appear to threaten them too are the Tipsarevics, the Almagros and the Isners of the world. And these players that have been mentioned are not getting any younger either.

That shows us why the first line of the article is not some impractical babbling. Do we see any young out-of-their-teen threats in the top 20? The first name that would cross one’s mind is probably Milos Raonic, who is actually just outside the top-20. (Unless you are an Australian who upon reading this piece is furious for not mentioning Bernard Tomic). Raonic is good, yes. His serves are almost impenetrable, yes. But can he handle the Rafa – Djoker slug-fests if he were to meet them on the second week in a Grand Slam? Common sense would say, ‘probably not’. And to the flag-bearers of Tomic – I’m sorry. He loses to relative unknowns in early rounds of the tournaments and he needs a much better arsenal than his fusion of 70s-2000s tennis to trouble the top players. To the Americans who place their bets on Ryan Harrison, the only words I can think of are ‘keep hoping’. For people who feel ‘The Dog’ has it in him to breakthrough, his performances over the past few months is all I will put on the platter.

The only contenders who can break the beastly duopoly of Djoko-Rafa are either 23 or 25 years old (no prizes for guessing the two); Am I forgetting someone.. Oh, Yeah. There is one more. If a certain gentleman from Switzerland can re-surge for one last hurrah, the first statement the writer has made becomes null and void. With due respect to Stanislas, no, I’m not talking about him here; not about Chiudinelli either.

Time to ‘moooo’ at the SW19 grass. Let us see if that ‘out-of-the-teens’ slam champion emerges at the sacred church of the sport to reclaim glory. There have been occasions when such things have happened. If not at Wimbledon, where else to expect?

So, what were the key highlights of the ATP Masters event at Roma? Let us ponder.

David Ferrer – Always getting hit by Rafa on his draw!

 1. At RG, Beware Of these clay-grinders

A quick look at the w/l record of players on clay this season, one name is sure to find his place at the top of the list – David Ferrer. The Spanish journeyman has had great American as well as European clay season and the fact that he came within inches of closing sets out against Nadal at different occasions this year means something.

The fact that he is yet to meet the likes of Djokovic and Federer on clay is bothersome news for these top seeds ahead of Roland Garros. Apart from Ferrer, the likes of Berdych, Gasquet, Monaco are to be looked at seriously as they might present more problems in the French draw than what they may be expected to present!

 2. The crowd can help you make wonders

If there was one awe-inspiring match this week, it has got to be the third round clash between home-boy Andreas Seppi and Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka. Seppi, after coming up with an incredible & inspiring performance against John Isner, managed to replicate it the very next day by winning after saving 6 match points that Stan held over two separate sets. In a match involving three tight tie-breakers, Seppi came from 2-5 down in the third set, pipping Stan finally in the third tie-breaker of the match by winning the last 4 points sending the crowd to a state of delirious frenzy.

The crowd’s support during the match’s course and elation after it is something Non-Davis cup Tennis might not see frequently!

3. World order restored

A win at Roma would have guaranteed Federer/Nadal the world no.2 ranking ahead of Roland Garros, irrespective of the round in which the other player bows out. Having looked at their performances over the year, the order appears to have been restored as any look at Nadal this week would have prompted one to feel that he appears to be coming close to his threatening best. Yes, those monstrous forehands are working big time, again – ominous signs ahead of the French Open! This puts Federer in a bigger spot of bother as he can no longer enjoy the 50% probability of facing Murray in the semi-final. Now, if he has to win, he must potentially be good enough to beat both Rafa and Nole at RG – Daunting task, it seems!

4. Murray/Delpo need some serious retrospection

Once again, Andy Murray disappointed, by bowing out early in the tournament, suffering a come-from-behind defeat at the hands of Richard Gasquet. He was no way close to his own 2011 version when he came tantalizingly close to defeating a red-hot Nole in the semi-finals here. Had Murray not dug deep in his second round clash against David Nalbandian on his birthday, he might have added one more tournament to his ‘first-round-disasters’ list!  Similar was the case with Juan Martin del Potro. After his impressive showing in the 2009 Roland Garros, he is never off the list of threats for the top seeds – surface type notwithstanding – but with impressive wins over non-top-10 and defeats at the hands of top-10 players (against Berdych and Tsonga in successive weeks), he is increasing the gap and his lack of confidence when it comes to big matches is showing. These lads are capable of creating dents in the tri-poly but need some serious retrospection ahead of Paris.

5. The King of Clay strikes!

The final was shifted from Sunday to Monday owing to heavy showers but the result was all familiar. Rafael Nadal handed Djokovic his second serving of the retribution for his 6 final losses against the Serb last year. He was in subliminal form the whole week, and unsurprisingly won a record 21^st Masters title without dropping a set! With the kind of confidence and the kind of footwork and ball-hitting he has been showing this past week, it is highly difficult to see anyone else other than the World No.1 giving him causes for concern at Roland Garros, which means, one half of the draw is already ready with one finalist! The other half has some serious work to do!

Next up, Roland Garros – Will Rafa win a record 7^th RG Title? or will Djokovic become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all grand slam titles? or Does Roger have it in him to spring a surprise?

Answers will be provided at Philipp Chatrier in three weeks’ time!

Time : Around 9 A.M. IST. The Los Angeles Lakers took the Denver Nuggets out in a closely fought round 1 action in the NBA play-offs. There was a point of time in the final quarter when the scores read Nuggets 86: 92 Lakers! Even though it wasn’t so worrisome for Lakers, as someone who had watched Coach Carter just a few days back, I couldn’t help but think otherwise. That match was just the start, a teaser of things to come later in the evening.

Pastor Maldonaldo – An unexpected winner!

Move to around 7 P.M. IST.A two year old rookie racer, Pastor Maldonaldo from Venezuela, who is just in his second Formula 1 season, took the chequered flag and won the grand prix at the Circuit de Catalunya pipping home favourite Fernando Alonso. This made it the first season since 1983 that has seen five different men take the top step of the podium in the first five races in a season. Frank Williams must have been a happy man to have finally seen a Williams car win a race for the first time since 2004, which would explain how unexpected this victory should have been! If that victory was unexpected, what’s more to come bowled us over.

The time is 7:30 P.M. IST. Over the happenings of the next two hours, I can safely place two bets.

1. Any football fan watching the matches involving the two Manchester clubs would not have switched channels between ESPN and Star Sports more than the no. of times he/she did today!

2. Many fans would have sent messages and called friends when the final whistle blew at Sunderland congratulating a Man Utd fan or commiserate with a Man City fan not predicting the volte face! So much for their predicting ability!

The most dramatic finish a season can offer!

What happened just in the one minute is something that can happen only in sports, and probably an earthquake. No, not even a tsunami or a tornado can be so unpredictable, as these days, one can predict them with precision! But not sports, not football and definitely not the Barclays Premier League 2012 title!

If Manchester United tried to prove the famous Rocky verse ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over’ in the context of the final day, Manchester City pushed it further by taking the context to an even more microscopic level – final minute! For any fan who wasn’t emotionally drained with the wins of City and United, there would not have been many better moments to appreciate what sports can mean!

The battle between Arsenal and Tottenham for the all important 3^rd spot wasn’t far behind. It had its own share of suspenses to offer and went down to the wire!

Post the Premier League drama, one would not have expected more twists in the day. How wrong could I be!

Move to around 11 P.M. IST: At Madrid, on the blue clay, Roger Federer was doing what he does best – Chasing history, this time for a record-equalling 20^th Masters event title! There were moments of intrigue in this tale too. The first one came when Federer couldn’t serve out set two serving at 5-3. Later, he prevailed and set two was taken 7-5. The true moment when fans of Federer might have done the job nail-cutters are supposed to do might have come when he couldn’t close out the match serving 5-3 in the third. Finally, he romped home with a last gasp near-perfect return game to seal his 74^th title and a hat-trick of them at Madrid. A roller-coaster of a match that was witnessed, aptly, by Hollywood action star Will Smith!

We are not yet done. Remember It ain’t over ‘til it’s over;

Move to 11:30 P.M. IST.

Kings XI Punjab had to win three on the trot to qualify for the IPL play-offs and their first match was today. At the above mentioned time, they needed around 58 runs off the last 4 overs! David Hussey’s hardwork and Piyush Chawla’s blitz took them to a point when they needed more than 35 off the last 3 overs. In came the final darkhorse of the day in the form of local lad Gurkeerat Singh. He played sensible, smart and cool cricket to score 29 off 12 to help Cricket get into the list of sports that provided unlimited drama.

Like Mr.V, the mask-man says in V for Vendetta said, “Remember, Remember the 5^th of November”; years later, a sports fan can lay back and say “Remember, Remember, the 13^th of May”. This one doesn’t rhyme, but who cares about a rhyme when there’s so much thrill that sportsmen can provide us fans with, absolutely free of cost!