Match of the year
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Roger Federer. Comebacks from two sets down against Roger Federer are not supposed to happen. At Wimbledon Tsonga was the 179th man to find himself in such a position, but the first to do something about it.His cannonball groundshots were frighteningly irresistible as he powered to victory in five sets. (As it happened, Federer went on to squander another two-set lead against Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-final — and that was a cracker too.)
Player of the year
Novak Djokovic. Not much argument here. Djokovic finished with a win-loss record of 70-6, which puts him slightly behind the very best in history. (John McEnroe, for instance, went 84-3 in 1984.) But over the business part of the season, running up to the end of the US Open, he returned an even more extraordinary 62-2.
How does his performance rank in the context of past giants of the game? “When you look at the way the game is played today, the physicality and the depth, I thought it was the greatest,” mused McEnroe himself in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live.
2011 hero
Sam Stosur. The Australian came up against Serena Williams in full Medusa mode in the final of the US Open. Halfway through the match, Williams halted proceedings while she subjected chair umpire Eva Asderaki to a disgraceful tirade. Thankfully, the popular Stosur kept her cool and closed out the win.
2011 villain
Serena Williams, for that selfsame rant at Asderaki. “You’re a hater and you’re unattractive inside” was the most vivid and frankly bizarre insult of the year. It was also one of those comments that revealed more about its author than its target. Who was the real hater here?
Row of the year
It hasn’t quite come to the boil yet, but there is genuine discontent bubbling away under the surface of the men’s game. Spain’s Davis Cup winners — Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer – finished the year in Seville on Dec 4, and will have to begin a grand slam tournament in Australia on Jan 16.
This is no way to treat some of the world’s most finely conditioned athletes, and new ATP executive chairman Brad Drewett, who succeeds Adam Helfant on Jan 1, can expect to be buttonholed by the militants (led, probably, by Nadal and his shop steward Andy Murray). Yes, next year’s schedule is two weeks shorter, but with the Olympics added into the calendar, it’s going to be brutal out there.-http://www.telegraph.co.uk
How does his performance rank in the context of past giants of the game? “When you look at the way the game is played today, the physicality and the depth, I thought it was the greatest,” mused McEnroe himself in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live.
2011 hero
Sam Stosur. The Australian came up against Serena Williams in full Medusa mode in the final of the US Open. Halfway through the match, Williams halted proceedings while she subjected chair umpire Eva Asderaki to a disgraceful tirade. Thankfully, the popular Stosur kept her cool and closed out the win.
2011 villain
Serena Williams, for that selfsame rant at Asderaki. “You’re a hater and you’re unattractive inside” was the most vivid and frankly bizarre insult of the year. It was also one of those comments that revealed more about its author than its target. Who was the real hater here?
Row of the year
It hasn’t quite come to the boil yet, but there is genuine discontent bubbling away under the surface of the men’s game. Spain’s Davis Cup winners — Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer – finished the year in Seville on Dec 4, and will have to begin a grand slam tournament in Australia on Jan 16.
This is no way to treat some of the world’s most finely conditioned athletes, and new ATP executive chairman Brad Drewett, who succeeds Adam Helfant on Jan 1, can expect to be buttonholed by the militants (led, probably, by Nadal and his shop steward Andy Murray). Yes, next year’s schedule is two weeks shorter, but with the Olympics added into the calendar, it’s going to be brutal out there.-http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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