The abiding memory is watching Luke Jensen stretch three fingers of his right hand to reach a handle of the Jacques-Brugnon Cup as his younger brother, Murphy Jensen, with two hands firmly on the base, hoisted the trophy high above his head. It was meant to be the high-point celebration of a family game for the box-office siblings with firepower, who always competed with great emotion and enthusiasm. Here were the Jensens, hailing from a Christmas tree farm in Ludington, Michigan, a town of 8,000 residents, as tennis champions watched by millions globally, trading insults for a couple of minutes. The Tournament Director was seen pleading for Murphy, nursing concussion and a broken jaw, to drop his bag and return...
“&*#!!” curses Toni Nadal. Interrupt Toni when he is in task mode and the oaths fly out of his mouth like hot sparks from a blacksmith’s anvil. It is important to understand that Toni does not curse casually, nor as a form of insult, rather of exasperation. In this particular case, it is the frustration of being delayed and quite possibly missing a flight from Palma de Mallorca to Madrid. We are at the entrance of the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in Manacor, and the airport is nearly an hour’s drive away. I am but one of a handful of obstacles keeping Toni from getting to the airport on time. Standing aside, I watch Toni multi-task. He answers phone calls,...
Rafael Nadal has logged 900 ATP World Tour victories throughout his career, a milestone so significant that only four other players have accomplished the feat in the Open Era (Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas). [ALSO LIKE] That's a lot of wins, even by Nadal's lofty standards. So many wins, in fact, he lost count. What should have been extra reason to celebrate following his fourth-round victory at Roland Garros on Monday nearly went unnoticed by the 16-time Grand Slam champion. "Today was my 900th win?" Nadal asked after defeating Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(4), one day after his 32nd birthday. "It's hard to choose just one of my favourites, honestly, but if I were to narrow it...
In this edition of the Challenger Vault, Lleyton Hewitt discusses the importance of the ATP Challenger Tour and reflects on winning his lone title at the age of 17.
On the very surface on which his sparkling legacy was founded, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal has today recorded the 900th singles match win of his career. The Spaniard, who turned professional in 2001 and continues his quest for a remarkable 11th Roland Garros title this week, is the fifth player in the past 50 years to attain the milestone. By recording his 83rd clay-court victory in an astonishing 85 matches at the Grand Slam championship, over Germany’s Maximilian Marterer in the fourth round, Nadal has followed in the footsteps of Jimmy Connors (1,056), Roger Federer (1,149), Ivan Lendl (1,068) and Guillermo Vilas (949). Federer also hit 900 match wins at Roland Garros, with a fourth-round win (d. Simon in...
