In an exclusive interview with USTA.com's Craig Gabriel from the 2011 Australian Open in Melbourne, Liezel Huber speaks on teaming with Nadia Petrova in women's doubles, keeping focus in a Grand Slam, having more "bad days than good days" and how she is approaching the end of her professional career, having to pull out of mixed doubles, her love for Fed Cup competition and much more. For daily recaps, video, and photos from Melbourne, head to http://www.usta.com
Tennis Update
Dead Spot on Hisense Arena – Australian Open
Dead Spot on Hisense Arena -Australian Open 2011- before Sharapova/Goerges match starts If you dont get it 00:05 to 00:08 pay attention to what happens when she bounces the ball. It is not fake by the way. According to Yahoo sports: What happened is that the stifling temperatures in Melbourne caused a heat bubble filled with air to form under the surface of the court,workers came out and drilled two small holes in the court, which let out the air. Order, and gravity, was restored...
Art and Craft
Dancing around the court. Playing tennis in the air. That’s what it can look like when Alexandr Dolgopolov has it all going, as he did for most of his upset win over No. 4 seed Robin Soderling today. We like to say that certain players have “all the shots,” but Dolgopolov has them all and a few of his own invention. There’s the head high crosscourt backhand that he seems to take directly in front of his body. There’s the whip forehand he hits while hopping high in the air. There’s the slice backhand that’s spiced with a little extra sidespin. Plus, there's the usual array of threaded passing shots, sharp returns to the corners, and easy forehand winners. If
Roger Federer vs Tommy Robredo — 2011 Australian Open 4th Rd
World No. 2 and defending champion Roger Federer faces Tommy Robredo in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open. As many of you know by now, Federer has been playing aggressive, first-strike tennis ever since teaming with coach Paul Annacone. To counter this strategy, Robredo will have to play aggressively as well. He'll need to change direction frequently and keep Federer on the move. Extended, back-and-forth rallies play right into Federer's hands. ...
New School
There was a writer—I won’t name him lest it set off your pretense detector—who said that there are only so many facial types in the world. You run across the same genres everywhere you go. Something similar might be said for tennis players. Everyone swings a little differently, but there are only so many ways to win a point and only so many places to put a shot. Originality goes just so far. Styles repeat themselves.We’ve already talked about Bernard Tomic being in the Miloslav Mecir family of players (distant relatives: Karol Kucera, Andy Murray), and how the bearded Cat’s touchy game reappears with regularity. It’s an approach that has more success gathering the world’s drooling tennis nerds in its
Caroline’s Blog
Greetings from Melbourne, Everyone. Now that the first week is over, thought I would give you a little recap on what I’ve been up to. I’m pretty happy that I matched my result from last year, but I really hope I’ll get through my 4th round match as well. I’m yet to drop a set, and I feel good out there. My next opponent is Anastasia Sevastova. She is a young player and I’ve never played her before. It’s always hard to play players that are relatively new on Tour because I don’t know much about her. I obviosuly cannot take her lightly, she is a good player and it will be a challenging match. I feel that I;m playing
2011 Australian Open – Jim Courier
In an exclusive interview with USTA.com's Craig Gabriel from the 2011 Australian Open in Melbourne, two-time Aussie Open champion Jim Courier talks about his memories playing down under, how he prepared for the tournament, scouting American players, how to beat Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal, how it feels to be the new Davis Cup captain and much more. For daily recaps, video, and photos from Melbourne, head to http://www.usta.com