TennisToday

Sorry Tennis Channel but you got it wrong - Steffi Graf is the Greatest Player of All Time

How Steffi finished #3 is beyond me. Let's compare their stats shall we:

Steffi Graf  ***  Roger Federer

Weeks at #1

377  ***  285

Year-End #1 Ranking

8 years  ***  5 years

Grand Slam Titles

22  ***  16

Tour Titles

107  ***  73

Olympic Gold in Singles

Yes, in 1988  ***  No

Calendar Grand Slam

Yes, in 1988  ***  No

Years with at Least 3 Slams

5  ***  3

Steffi has at least 4 titles at every Slam  ***  Roger only 1

And Roger places higher than Steffi? I think not.

And this post was written by someone that NEVER supported Steffi.

Photos: Tennis Channel

Novak Djokovic Wins Historic Title at Montreal

Montreal Masters Series 1000 - Final

1 Novak Djokovic d 6 Mardy Fish - 62 36 64

This is just getting down-right scary. I mean look at these stats:

2011 W/L: 53-1. 9 titles. Only 17 sets lost. 16 wins over top 10 players.

His lone defeat was in the Sf's at Roland Garros to Roger Federer.

Novak also becomes the 1st man to win 5 Masters titles in a single season.

This is his 2nd title in Canada ('07) & his 10th Masters Series 1000 title.

He is the 1st #1 since Sampras to win a title in his 1st tourney at the top.

He seems on course to have the most incredible season in ATP history.

Novak: History making, of course it’s special.

Of course, it’s an honour and privilege to be part of the history...

Of the sport that I love and that I play.

ADJE.

Photo: Getty Images

Marat Safin Featured in Russia's InStyle Magazine

It took me a couple days to get to this - but I'd say it was worth the wait.

Marat retired in '09. Crushing the hearts of gals & gays worldwide.

As the French Open starts tomorrow - Marat's best run at RG: Sf's in '02.

Photos: Erez Sabag - Thanks for the heads up On the Go Tennis

And the reminder LA Surf Punk

An Historic Week for the WTA Rankings...

I realize I'm a few days late on this but like I mentioned yesterday - after the Australian Open ended I took a few days off. All those late nights really do a number on me as I've always been an 'early to bed' kind of guy.

Ok, back to history. For the first time in WTA history the top 10 is populated by ladies from 10 different countries. It's truly a remarkable landmark. And it goes a little deeper as #11 is held by Israeli Shahar Peer.

Well done ladies.

A couple things to note about the rankings in the coming weeks.

Kim Clijsters is playing in Paris this coming week. She is only 140 points behind Caro (who is inactive this week) so a decent run will move her back to #1 - a position she last held the week of March 19, 2006.

#6 Venus Williams is currently sidelined owing to the injury she sustained in Australia. She is the defending champion at 2 events this month (Dubai and Acapulco) and if she doesn't play she will surely join her sister in dropping out of the top 10. That means... no American woman in the top 10, wow. Off the top of my head I'm thinking this will be a first.

And there is no real hope on the American horizon - Bethanie Mattek-Sands is #48 and Melanie Oudin is way back at #61.

This diversity in the rankings may not last too long... there are 2 Russians knocking on the door as Maria Sharapova looks to make a move at #13 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (spell check came up empty on this name) is also on the rise at #14.

In the meantime, let's take a moment to savor this rare achievement in WTA history.

Roger Federer Plays 900th Career Match in Stockholm

AND WINS!!!

Stockholm ATP 250 - Men's Second Round

1 Roger Federer d Taylor Dent - 61 62

Winning in match #900 he improves his career W/L to 727-173.

WOW: And of those 900 matches... not a single retirement.

Those numbers also represent 63 titles, including 16 Slam.

Open Era standings in matches:

Roger is 27 matches behind Boris Becker who is #12 with 927 played.

He is #9 in matches won & #6 in winning percentage (in 400+ matches). 

***

Roger's 1st tour match was a loss at Gstaad to Lucas Arnold Ker in 1998.

His 1st match win came 2 months later in Toulouse over Guillaume Raoux.

Roger's 1st final was at Marseille in '00 & his 1st title at Milan in '01.

For 2010 his W/L is 49-12 with 2 titles: Australian Open & Cincinnati.

***

Here are some H2H stats:

He has a losing record to 21 guys - only 11 if they've played at least twice.

In all H2H's he has a double-digit lead over 13 players.

Of those players he has played Lleyton Hewitt the most: 23 (17-6).

Roger has the most victories over Andy Roddick: 19 - with just 2 losses.

Rafael Nadal is the only player to have double-digit wins over Roger: 7-14.

***

A major milestone was reached today in Stockhom. Well done Rog.

Photo: Reuters

Women's Tennis: 40th Anniversary of Independence

Nothing doing without the Original 9.

The iconic Ted Tinling photo above features the 9 brave women who signed $1 contracts to start a stand-alone women's tennis tour in Houston 40 years ago today. These pioneers are: Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Judy Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Julie Heldman, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Bartkowicz and Valerie Ziegenfuss. Honorable mention must be paid to Gladys Heldman who's help with these initial steps was invaluable.

Billie Jean King remembers, "I felt a sense of both fear and exhilaration. We knew we were making history and we had such a strong sense of purpose. I just kept thinking about the vision we had for the future of our sport. We wanted to ensure that any girl in the world that was good enough would have a place to go and make a living playing tennis."

King continues, "Today's players are living our vision. In 1970, and even a few years after we signed the $1 contract with Gladys, people never believed women's tennis would be a global sport and that players would be making the money they make today. But it is a reality and I know today's players will continue our dreams for future generations."

Andrea Petkovich made a nice tibute video - view it HERE.

King Quotes: from the wonderful WTA article on the Original 9 - Photo: Ted Tinling

Rafael Nadal in Bangkok having Clinched Year-End #1

Rafa is looking for his 1st Asian title since winning the Olympics in Beijing.

He will finish 2010 and the #1 ranked player.

Rafa currently leads the tour with 6 titles on the year & a W/L of 59-7.

By the way, he has yet to reach 100 losses in his ATP career: 460-98.

Rafa is the 3rd man to regain the year-end #1: Lendl in '89 & Federer in '09.

He is also the 9th man to finish the year at the top more than once:

Sampras, Federer, Connors, Lendl, McEnroe, Borg, Edberg, Hewitt.

In 13 tournaments played in '10 he has only failed to make the Sf's 3 times.

Here is a recap of his 2010:

Titles: Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open

Runner-up: Doha

Semifinalist: Indian Wells, Miami, Toronto

Quarterfinalist: Australian Open, Queens Club, Cincinnati

In January who would have guessed he'd have this kind of year.

Well done Rafa.

Photo: Reuters

Caroline Wozniacki at the US Open: From Runner-Up to Champion a Year Later?

Caroline Wozniacki will head to the US Open as the tournament's top seed. She was the runner-up to Kim Clijsters last year.

She is trying to become the 14th player in the Open Era to win a 1st Slam title at a particular venue a year following a runner-up finish. She would join quite a list of Hall of Famer's should it happen.

Here is a list of 16 times it's happened previously:

Stan Smith - Wimbledon: '71 (Newcombe) - '72 (Nastase)

Evonne Goolagong - Australian Open: '71-'73 (Court & Wade) - '74 (Evert)

Chris Evert - Roland Garros: '73 (Court) - '74 (Morozova)

Chris Evert - Wimbledon: '73 (King) - '74 (Morozova)

John McEnroe - Wimbledon: '80 (Borg) - '81 (Borg)

Chris Evert - Australian Open: '81 (Navratilova) - '82 (Navratilova)

Ivan Lendl - US Open: '82-'84 (Connors & McEnroe) '85 (McEnroe)

Steffi Graf - Wimbledon: '87 (Navratilova) - '88 (Navratilova)

Steffi Graf - US Open: '87 (Navratilova) - '88 (Sabatini)

Mats Wilander - US Open: '87 (Lendl) - '88 (Lendl)

Jana Novotna - Wimbledon: '97 (Graf) - '98 (Tauziat)

Juan Carlos Ferrero - Roland Garros: '02 (Costa) - '03 (Verkerk)

Marat Safin - Australian Open: '04 (Federer) - '05 (Hewitt)

Ana Ivanovic - Roland Garros: '07 (Henin) - '08 (Safina)

Rafael Nadal - Wimbledon: '06 & '07 (Federer) - '08 (Federer)

Roger Federer - Roland Garros: '06, '07 & '08 (Nadal) - '09 (Soderling)

***

Photo: Reuters

PS: I did this research myself. Took me an hour. So there.

Thanks Wikipedia.