The Scot has been out for a year but Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic remain the players to beatThe tennis jungle Andy Murray is preparing to re-enter – possibly next week at Queen’s Club – will not be noticeably different to the one from which he hobbled away a year ago.Roger Federer will be easing back into shape at Halle, having again chosen to skip the clay to save his 36-year-old legs for the grass of the All England Club he finds so suited to his game. Novak Djokovic – despite an uncharacteristically short-tempered exit from Roland Garros, mumbling about uncertainty over his future – will be desperate to get his career back on track where he has...
Having clarified that they can offer the seven-time Wimbledon champion a seeding, the All England Club must do the right thing or risk being seen to punish a player for having a babyThere are a few good reasons Wimbledon should break with precedent and offer a player ranked 449 in the world a seeding at this year’s championships. The overriding one is the fact that the player has won the tournament seven times and is called Serena Williams.Given the state of flux in the women’s game, the finest women’s player of the modern era might well be the best player in the 2018 draw – certainly nobody in the top 32 would relish playing her in the first round if...
They go head-to-head every year, but who comes out on top in a battle between two of London’s staple summer sporting outings?The Spin was at the Saturday of the Lord’s Test and even paid for its ticket. A few days later, it was taken to Wimbledon by its Mum. Sitting watching some men’s doubles, it found itself comparing the two experiences. The MCC and the All England Club stage different ball-games but they are venerable London clubs that have become world-famous to the point where their premises are widely regarded as (dread word) iconic. If we make some allowances for apples and oranges, it seems reasonable to weigh them against each other. So here it is: Lord’s v Wimbledon –...
The numbers may be impressive but they do not reveal the full story behind the brilliant and balletic Swiss who demonstrates such poise under pressureRoger Federer is one of those rare champions for whom numbers cannot gild genius. He loves to win, and strives for it more convincingly in the autumn of his career than scores of young contenders, as he proved for the eighth time on Centre Court on Sunday. Yet it is as if victory follows art, not the other way round.For the record, these are the bare statistics that will go into the history books to embellish his achievement, after he had spent just an hour and 41 minutes beating a wounded Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. Related:...
When the Spaniard found her rhythm against Venus Williams she raced away to add her name to the champions’ board that has been inspiring herThroughout this Wimbledon Garbiñe Muguruza has paused at the Centre Court honours board, immersing herself in the legendary names of the past before willing herself to join them. On Saturday afternoon she got her chance – and, with a performance of stunning clarity and brutal unsentimentality, she took it. Now, following her 7-5, 6-0 victory over the five-times champion Venus Williams, her name, too, is etched in gold.The 23-year-old Spaniard’s talent has never been in question but she has always blown hotter and colder than most. This fortnight, however, those tennis winds must have come from...