38 Special

Sporting dominance, though acknowledged as it happens, is usually only truly appreciated through the lens of history. Once fans are freed from the throes of week-in, week-out competition; once the hysterical tweets have long faded from the timeline; once the cries of “Not him again!” have long since drifted on the wind.

For the last decade, since February 2005 to be exact, every single final played at a major tennis tournament featured either Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal. Let me put this in perspective, for 38 consecutive majors 128 men were in the draw, the best tennis players on the planet right now. Every single time, either Federer, Djokovic or Nadal's name was on the scoreboard during the final. There are third graders who have never in their lives witnessed a major where one of these men didn't at least play in the final. Moreover, of the 38 consecutive times the sport's ruling triumvirate took a place in the final, 34 times flashbulbs popped as one of the those three men kissed (or bit) the champion's trophy. Often there wasn't even an alternative, on a solid number of those occasions, 16 to be exact, two of them faced each other for the most coveted prizes on offer.

That unprecedented run ends Monday.

Dr. 30 Love (Or How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Wimbledon Queue)

 

 

First and foremost, I am a tennis fan and nothing if not an extremely lucky one, having been fortunate enough to complete the Career Spectator Slam. Yes, I've swigged a brew in the raucous (by tennis standards) stands in Melbourne, I've quietly munched a baguette alongside the almost Martian red clay of Paris and for years I took week-long staycations, trekking out the 7 Line to the US Open, my hometown major, but it was only a year ago that I could finally cross Wimbledon off my tennis bucket list. What follows is a little bit on why it took so long, how I finally got it done and why you should embrace the queue.

A little clarity, the Big W, if we're parsing technicalities, was actually the very first major I visited. As a college student, I was in London in March and dragged a few buddies to SW19 on an appropriately rainy day to take a tour of the Wimbledon Museum and eat strawberries and cream. It was the only time I'd see Centre Court pre-Roof and the day as a whole remains a cherished memory. That said, attending the actual Wimbledon tournament thoroughly intimidated me, despite being a tennis fanatic and seasoned traveler, before I finally took the plunge last summer.

Blacklabel Tennis 2013 Guide To The US Open

When we launched BLT, one of our first posts was a Fan's Guide to the US Open.  We decided there were some updates in order to help you maximize your 2013 Open.  Without further ado, here's the Blacklabel Tennis Guide to the 2013 US Open.

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

Who needs the big, overblown, traditional holidays?  You can keep your thanksgiving turkeys, your 4th of July fireworks, your Santa Claus.  For this guy, the most wonderful time of the year is the start of another US Open tennis tournament.  Oh, it's not absolutely perfect; the weather always seems to veer from sweltering when the first ball is struck, to sweatshirt weather by the end; the food prices always make me wonder why the USTA didn't hire Kanye West's jeweler to build a platinum and diamond encrusted roof over Arthur Ashe stadium and frankly, there's always a point where I get tennis fatigue and have to leave a bit early for the day, but there's no time of the year I look forward to more than the US Open.

So, why am I writing this unofficial guide to the US Open when there are so many official sources out there?  Well, to be frank, because I'm me.  Living in New York, the US Open is my hometown major, one of the biggest events of the year and the tournament I know the best.  Unlike the professional beat writers who generally spend the tourney shuttling off to the press conferences and have cordoned off seats at the show courts, I've only ever experienced the Open like you, as a fan.  I boil in the summer heat like every other fan, I get no closer to the players than anybody else with an oversized tennis ball, I pay $4.75 for my Evian just like the rest of the hoi polloi.  In other words, for the last decade, I've experienced the Open in the exact same way you will and have learned a few tips and tricks that I think will help you (whoever you are) maximize your trip to the US Open.

Court-Hopping

One of the best things about the US Open is court-hopping.  Today there were sixteen courts with matches being played at the tournament, from the awe-inspiring "big house," star-studded Arthur Ashe Stadium to the field courts where you can feel as if you're watching the best public park match in the history of the game, the US Open is a veritable smorgasboard of choice...and we like to gorge.  When you're on site, you're not beholden to who a broadcast network thinks you'll want to see, or the TV courts streaming matches, you get to see as much or as little of the event as you want in as leisurely or manic a fashion as you want.  It's truly a "choose-your-own-adventure" event.  In case you can't make it out to Flushing Meadows, here's our take on some late afternoon court-hopping.

Blacklabel Tennis Fan Guide To The 2012 US Open

Last year when we launched BLT, one of our first posts was a Fan's Guide to the US Open.  We decided there were some updates in order to help you maximize your 2012 Open.  Without further ado, here's the Blacklabel Tennis Guide to the 2012 US Open.

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

Who needs the big, overblown, traditional holidays?  You can keep your thanksgiving turkeys, your 4th of July fireworks, your Santa Claus.  For this guy, the most wonderful time of the year is the start of another US Open tennis tournament.  Oh, it's not absolutely perfect; the weather always seems to veer from sweltering when the first ball is struck to sweatshirt weather by the end; the food prices always make me wonder why the USTA can't hire Kanye West's jeweler to build a platinum and diamond encrusted roof over Arthur Ashe stadium and frankly, there's always a point where I get tennis fatigue and have to leave a bit early for the day, but there's no time of the year I look forward to more than the US Open.

So, why am I writing this unofficial guide to the US Open when there are so many official sources out there?  Well, to be frank, because I'm me.  Living in New York, the US Open is my hometown major, one of the biggest events of the year and the tournament I know the best.  Unlike the professional beat writers who generally spend the tourney shuttling off to the press conferences and have cordoned off seats at the show courts, I've only ever experienced the Open like you, as a fan.  I boil in the summer heat like every other fan, I get no closer to the players than anybody else with an oversized tennis ball, I pay $4.75 for my Evian just like the rest of the hoi polloi.  In other words, for most of the last decade, I've experienced the Open in the exact same way you will and have learned a few tips and tricks that I think will help you (whoever you are) maximize your trip to the US Open.

Federer, Greatest, Case Closed (For Now At Least)

All seemed to be said and done, didn't it?  Sixteen majors, year-end ATP No. 1 five times, the Career Grand Slam and an Olympic gold (albeit in doubles).  That's not just a fine resume, it's arguably (but maybe only just), the best resume in tennis history.  That Roger Federer, in lieu of lying on his significant laurels, kept pushing for an ever greater seat on tennis' Mount Olympus is remarkable in and of itself.  That's he's succeeded in further distancing himself from the other greatest men of all-time is all but otherworldly, but them's the facts.  Now, with the Swiss having amassed his 17th major and his 287th week as World No. 1 as of today, can we once and for all, can we cut the crap and officially start calling Federer the Greatest of All Time (Male Division)?

Wimbledon 2012 Day One (3 Thoughts)

Last Dance: Did You Realize Kim Clijsters is still playing professional tennis?  Well, Clijsters is quasi-semi-demi still playing professional tennis.  The Belgian former World No. 1 is on a lengthy farewell tour set to conclude after this year's US Open.  Clijsters' long goodbye could rival Cher farewell tour in everything except maybe the sequin count...there's still time, Fila.

Holy Sunday!

Alert: The Perrier supply at Roland Garros needs to be tested.  There was obviously something in the water today at Roland Garros and whatever it was, it was toxic to the top seeds.  For a heady couple of hours, the tennis galaxy of the Twittersphere was abuzz that perhaps the biggest day of upsets in the history of Grand Slam tennis could be upon us.  The seed-pocalypse that began with the fall of World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka threatened to fell Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer simultaneously on Phillipe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen, respectively.  Had those seismic events happened, they would have left a hole big enough in the top half of the draw for Juan Martin del Potro to walk through...or Tomas Berdych, same difference.  All three superstars (Azarenka, Djokovic and Federer) walked onto the court today heavy favorites.  All three walked off the court having faced far stiffer challenges than any of them (or us) could have imagined.  In the end, despite a trio of underdogs bringing the drama, it was only the highest seeded of them, 15th seeded Dominika Cibulkova, who finished the job.  She helped Azarenka book a ticket back to Minsk, with a surprising victory.  Here are my three thoughts from a wild and wooly day at Roland Garros.

WTA Noise Pollution - The Wozniacki Edition

For years, tennis' twittering classes have been imploring former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to be more like 13-time major champion Serena Williams.  Well, the almost great Dane seems to finally have taken that advice...but in the worst possible way.  No, she hasn't (allegedly) screamed obscenities at a line judge, but weren't not talking about adding power to her game either.  No, Caroline's following in Serena's footsteps by making her off-court interests more public; but she's not becoming a nail technician; nor is she going to guest star in a mediocre sitcom episode...that we know of.  No, Wozniacki's adding to the WTA's noise pollution epidemic with an autotuned, synthesized comedy routine masquerading as a pop song.

You can hear Caroline Wozniacki's first (and presumably last) pop single "Oxygen" after the jump.  

What Makes The GOAT?

Tennis Channel may have a tough time getting into as many homes as it wants, but it has had zero trouble stirring debate of late.  The American tennis-devoted network bridged (and brilliantly, I might add) the divide between the Indian Wells and Miami Masters with their five night countdown of the 100 "Greatest" Players of All Time.  While it may have been a blip on the radar of the greater sports universe, embroiled in the NFL's Peyton/Tebow/Sanchez saga and watching Ohio bust their March Madness brackets, the special certainly set tennis' chattering classes a-twitter, especially on Twitter, with a number of the rankings.  While we've stated previously in this space that it's impossible to answer the question of the greatest of all time definitively, we thought it would be worth sharing what we consider inviolable criteria for setting about the task.

Australian Open - Back From The Beer Garden

As many of you know, I'm not a full-time blogger.  Sometimes the day job demands my attention and the couple of hours a day I would love to spend writing here have to be put aside for...you know, the matters that allow me to have the disposable income to watch tennis.  In any event, that doesn't mean I haven't been catching some Aussie Open tennis over the last few days and I certainly have some thoughts to share on what I've seen.  Let's backtrack a bit, shall we?

2011 Predictions & Reality

Until this morning when they posted the winner, I'd completely forgotten that last year I participated in Tennis-X's 2011 Year End Top 10 poll.  Looking back at my picks (posted as VE), they all seemed so well thought out then.  I even went as far as explaining the logic.  I'm sure at the time, I thought I was dead on about my picks.  But hell, that's why the play the matches, isn't it?


I wound up being right about six of the players who finished in the top ten, but for every big hit; there was a big miss as well.  So, as we begin to look ahead to 2012, I thought it would be fun to share with you what I said then, how I was right an how I was wrong...oh, so wrong.

Little Legends

Our friends over at tennis.com, just posted this funny, dare I say, cute video of tennis legends as kids produced by the group behind the Stockholm Open. Funny, they got Nole's ball bouncing dead on, but they decided to avoid Rafa's wedgie pull, too bad.

Citizen Player?

The top 100 or so players on the WTA and ATP tours all have pretty impressive collections of passport stamps.  Both tours field events in more than 30 countries annually bringing this global game to fans from Canada to Australia and everywhere in between.  The game's stars are, not surprisingly, a similarly international lot.  World No. 2 Rafael Nadal is a hometown kinda guy, born and bred in Manacor, Mallorca.  On the other hand, his longtime rival Roger Federer might draw a lot of fans waving Swiss flags to the stands, but he's equally at home in his other base in Dubai.  WTA world No. 4 Maria Sharapova lives down the road from my buddy in Manhattan Beach, CA (he goes to her Starbucks), although she plays under the Russian flag.  To be fair, it's not just the superstars, lesser known WTA player Varvara Lepchenko was born in Uzbekistan and now, a naturalized citizen, plays for the US and is based in Allentown, PA, maybe a thirty minute drive from where I grew up.

The borderless nature of tennis raises an intriguing question.  In this sport, what exactly is the value of national identity?

Leave It To Soccer Fans... (Rated R for Language)

Soccer fans are known for the chants they use to get under the skin of the opposing players and sometimes the opposing crowd.  Every now and again, they'll even take on...Roger Federer?!?

This moderately vulgar, if not particularly creative, chant was videotaped during Montenegro's 2-0 loss to Switzerland during a Euro 2012 qualifier.  At least we haven't heard this one broken out in the Upper Promenade of Arthur Ashe Stadium...yet.

(via Tennis-X)

Blacklabel Tennis Guide To The US Open

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

Who needs the big, overblown, traditional holidays?  You can keep your thanksgiving turkeys, your 4th of July fireworks, your Santa Claus.  For this guy, the most wonderful time of the year is the start of another US Open tennis tournament.  Oh, it's not absolutely perfect; the weather always seems to veer from sweltering when the first ball is struck to sweatshirt weather by the end; the food prices always make me wonder why the USTA can't hire Kanye West's jeweler to build a platinum and diamond encrusted roof over Arthur Ashe stadium and frankly, there's always a point where I get tennis fatigue and have to leave a bit early for the day, but there's no time of the year I look forward to more than the US Open.

So, why am I writing this unofficial guide to the US Open when there are so many official sources out there?  Well, to be frank, because I'm me.  Living in New York, the US Open is my hometown major, one of the biggest events of the year and the tournament I know the best.  Unlike the professional beat writers who generally spend the tourney shuttling off to the press conferences and have cordoned off seats at the show courts, I've only ever experienced the Open like you, as a fan.  I boil in the summer heat like every other fan, I get no closer to the players than anybody else with an oversized tennis ball, I pay $4.75 for my Evian just like the rest of the hoi polloi.  In other words, for most of the last decade, I've experienced the Open in the exact same way you will and have learned a few tips and tricks that I think will help you (whoever you are) maximize your trip to the US Open.

Bad Times Are Right Around The Corner

As a former resident of Boston, last night my Twitter feed and Facebook page erupted with messages congratulating the Bruins for their Stanley Cup victory.  I have to echo that it was well-deserved and the culmination of a hard-fought series that, dare I say, put hockey squarely back on the US sports radar.  Amidst all the "Go Bruins!" and accounts of Canadian rioting (which seems like an oxymoron) was a post from my buddy Aaron that got me thinking, he wrote:

     The Patriots officially have the longest championship drought of any major Boston sports team.  How the hell did that happen!?