Laurie's Tennis articles

We have taken a look at the best male players never to win the French Open and now it is time to look at the ladies to never win the tournament.   Like the men, some of the best female players have failed to win the title, showing once again what a unique surface European clay has proven to be for the very best players in the Open era. Venus Williams Venus Williams has played in all four major finals in her career, including the French Open final in 2002. Unfortunately for Venus, she lost to her sister in all four major venues between 2002 and 2003 which must be tough to take, even though Venus handled the losses with great dignity. Venus has a very good record on clay if not a stellar record at the French Open.   Venus has won 9 clay titles so far in her career and played in 6 other finals.   Venus has won the Italian Open in 1999 and Hamburg twice, plus titles in Warsaw, Acapulco and on the green clay in Charleston.   However, when it comes...

With the clay season underway and Roland Garros coming up, it will be interesting to look at the best players never to win the title there. The French Open has proven to be the most challenging for some of the greatest players of the Open era.  In previous decades, the conditions on the clay were far removed from the rest of the tour.  This is reflected by the fact that it was virtually impossible for an attacking player to win the tournament. Not only attacking players were shut out, some of the best baseliners failed to win there, as playing on clay is a different challenge to playing from the baseline on hardcourts. Stefan Edberg Stefan Edberg is considered by many to be the finest attacking player of the last 25 years.  Edberg had fantastic volley skills and razor sharp reflexes, smooth movement and a top class kick serve.  From the backcourt, Edberg had one of the best one hand backhands of the Open era, which he used to hit with topspin or slice, or ...

Jo Wilfried Tsonga is one of the more talented players on the ATP tour.  He plays a game people love to watch, full of energy, enthusiasm and displays a big smile when he pulls off a great shot or dive.  However, the feeling is that Tsonga is headed in the same direction as so many other French players of the past 30 years – underachievement. I first saw Tsonga play in the 3rd rd of Wimbledon in 2007 when he comprehensively beat Feliciano Lopez of Spain in three sets.  At the end of the match, the Spanish fans nodded approvingly, they knew their man had been well beaten.  I thought I saw a player who could be a future slam champion.  Six months later in January 2008, Tsonga would have an incredible run to the final of the Australian Open, taking the first set before going down in 4 sets to Novak Djokovic.  2008 proved to be a good year for Tsonga; he finished top 8 in the world and played in the World Tour Finals in Shanghai.  T...

The past few years has seen a real intensification of the debate as to who is the greatest tennis player of all time. The most recent activity has seen a countdown of the 100 greatest players of all time, men and women from 100 to 1, taking into account pre and post Open era players. It is an interesting concept but I can’t help but think it is a rather fruitless exercise perpetuated in the media in it’s quest to claim the one player the greatest of all time or “GOAT” as it has become known on internet speak the last 5 years. In the latest countdown, Roger Federer was acclaimed as the greatest player of all time. Steffi Graf came in at number 2; the top 5 was rounded off with Rod Laver, Martina Navratilova and Pete Sampras. Rather interestingly, Rafael Nadal came in at number 6. Mixing male and female players is always a dangerous thing to do, simply because if this countdown is based on achievements, then Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova should be number 1. For i...

The winter indoor season has just ended in Europe and the United States. However, the prestige of the indoor season seems to have diminished over the last 5 to 10 years. Indoor tennis used to have a characteristic all of its own, and in many ways it still does, but there are not as many tournaments as before and the surface used indoors is no longer distinct from the rest of tour. That is because for many years, indoor tennis was played primarily on a carpet surface (not carpet as we know it obviously!). Tennis was played on either Supreme or Taraflex. Some of the most prestigious tournaments took place on carpet; the Masters Championships in New York was played on Supreme throughout the 1980s. The ATP World Championships in Germany was played on Taraflex from 1990 to 1996. The WTA Masters was held in New York on Supreme up to the year 2000. However, carpet as an official surface has been phased out completely since 2008 and there are now no carpet events on the ATP or WTA t...