I wrote the "Roger Wilting" piece about ten minutes after the match, while at work. That post, then, was a quick reaction to the Raonic v Federer match: the image of Roger wilting was as vivid as Raonic rising. This image has almost obscured other images of Federer in our tennis imagination. Of course, even …
Category: Ivan Lendl
At the Wimbledon QF
Down goes Djokovic. Consequently, here we are at the great eight of the 2016 Wimbledon men's draw. From my point of view, everything is still intact, as Djokovic's drop in form was predicted and reiterated several times on this blog. This has less to do with insight than it does common sense. Watching his tennis …
Draw Analysis
Obviously play is underway. My last post about the draw had such disinterest or indifference I probably shouldn't have even published; but in the end I like that I'm evidencing the problem I have with the ATP at this point: boring as shit. I am going to say a few more specific things about the draw …
HRFRT: Roger Created a Monster (or Two)
The long and short of it concerns how Roger's massive championship success early and often through-out the tennis calendar year-after-year created a new and improved champion image and celebrity that became the new character, the new tennis "nature" that may have ruined tennis. In other words, the standards of excellence went through the proverbial roof and now …
Wimby Preview Part 2: Reality Check
This is a perfect opportunity to look at the field that most likely defines the draw at "The Championships" in a couple of weeks. First a rhetorical question: will 2015 go down as the year that Federer played the greatest tennis of his career, or as a kind of tipping-point signaling a critically low-point for the ATP, in …
Wimbledon Preview Part 1
We're taking a short break from the HRFRT series. For the record, my impression is that not a lot of people want to hear it. Obviously, there's more in there than just how Federer affected the sport. There are other points being made. Tennis, mirroring its broader culture, has gotten soft and more and more about …