Tennis Year-In-Review

It's a new year, which means it's a new tennis season. I'm sorry to say that if you had blinked, you might had missed the off-season. Tournaments are already underway and in fact Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer appropriately opened up the new year by getting to the finals at Abu Dhabi beating Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling respectively. The Spaniard won the exhibition match in two very tight sets. But before 2011 gets ahead of us, let's take a moment to take a look back at what happened in the tennis world in 2010...

Nadal's Historic Year

When he retired during his semifinals match at the Australian Open to start the year, everyone wondered if the 6-time grand slam champion's best days were over. It wasn't... by a long shot. He went on an historic run on red clay going undefeated sweeping all three Masters titles and reclaiming his French Open crown. He followed it up by taking his second Wimbledon title and then just for good measure becomes the youngest player to achieve a career Grand Slam by winning the US Open. He'll attempt to get the "Rafa Slam" at Melbourne in a few weeks.

And The Best Woman Player Is?

Take your pick, because no one has a clue. We have the #1 ranked woman Caroline Wozniacki who won the most matches on tour, but not a single major title to her name. There's of course Serena Williams who won TWO major titles, but played a severely limited schedule even by her standards mostly due to an injury sustained post-Wimbledon. Then there's Francesca Schiavone who won her first Grand Slam title at the French and helped Italy with the Fed Cup, but her results elsewhere are nothing to get excited about. Two other women had breakthrough years as both Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur were first-time slam finalists and ended the year with their highest ever ranking. Their lack of a major title though leaves us just one possible contender...

Clijsters Keeps Re-writing Legacy

If I had to pick, it'd go to Kim Clijsters who has really taken advantage of her second chance in tennis after coming back on tour at the latter end of 2009. She successfully defended her US Open title, adding to the two she already had. Other than Wozniacki, she was probably the most consistent woman on tour winning titles from both halves of tennis season including two Masters titles. She also won the year-end championships for the third time and has gone 6-0 in finals since her comeback. Plus she has also dominated her fellow countrywomen Justine Henin during her comeback winning every match they've played this year.

The Longest Tennis Match of All Time

Lasting over 11 hours over three days of play, the first round match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon was far and away the longest tennis player played... ever. With the scoreline as ridiculous as the match time of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68, the two men showed incredible grit throughout the whole ordeal. There's nothing left to say, but wow. And also? I'm confident we'll never be seeing this ever again.

Federer's Book-End Successes & Charity Work

Federer failed to defend his French Open and Wimbledon titles and in fact he was unable to even reach the semifinals at either tournament ending his insane major semifinals streak at 23. And yet, he began and ended the year with style and class. Early last year, he won his 16th major title at the Australian Open as well as spearheaded an impromptu charity event dubbed Hit For Haiti to benefit those affected by the deadly earthquake. Then when many thought he was down and out, he went on a 35-4 run post-Wimbledon (21-2 post-US Open) capturing four titles including the year-end champion beating Nadal in the finals. He would end the year with Nadal yet again, playing two exhibition matches in both of their home countries to benefit their respective charities.

Best of the Rest Men on Tour

While Nadal and Federer took the lion-share of major titles during the year (what else is new?), let's give props to a few men who almost reached those summits. Andy Murray may have lost to Federer at his first Australian Open final, but he avenged it by defeating the Swiss twice this year. Robin Soderling yet again made a splash at Roland Garros defeating the world no. 1 and defending champion and reaching the finals before losing to the best player of the year two years in a row. Tomas Berdych hit lightning becoming the first player not named Nadal to take Federer out of Wimbledon in forever and as a reward, reached his first ever slam final. Finally, Novak Djokovic was THIS close to the top two all year beating both in some thrilling matches, but ultimately fell just short. He ends the year on top though, leading Serbia to its first ever Davis Cup victory.

Other Tidbits

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi need to remember that those rivalry days are long over and they should just simmer down in their retirement. Issues regarding on-court coaching, doping, and illegal gambling were still around and will probably show up yet again in the upcoming year. Huge props to 40-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm for showing the world that age is just a number. And finally, we say our fond goodbyes to Elena Dementieva, Carlos Moya, Nicolas Kiefer, Virginia Ruano Pascual, Younes El Aynaoui, Sébastien Grosjean, Paradorn Srichaphan, and Taylor Dent.

Wimbledon: The Finale

While the fortnight was filled with historic matches, shocking upsets, surprise semifinalists, and a visit from the Queen, order was restored as both world no. 1 and former Wimbledon champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams won their 8th and 13th Grand Slam respectively solidifying their dominance in the tennis world.


For Nadal, it never came easily having to survive three 5-set matches before have to get through hometown favorite Andy Murray in the semifinals and an inspired first-time finalist Tomas Berdych in the finals. The moment seemed too much for Berdych, however, as he was beaten in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 by Nadal, who wasn't playing his best. To many, the match might have seemed lightweight compared to the more recent 5-set historic and epic finals played in Centre Court the past few years, but for Nadal it doesn't matter. With this win, he moves to a tie with legends such as Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Ken Rosewall, and Fred Perry in the all-time list. Nadal also pretty much ensures ending the year at #1 and will have great momentum to complete the career Grand Slam at the US Open.


It was just as routine for Serena who blitzed first-time finalist Vera Zvonareva in 67 minutes winning 6-3, 6-2. Serena was dominant in her service games, just as she was the entire tournament, not even facing a single break point in the finals. For the tournament, she doled out an astonishing record of 89 aces. This is only Serena's second title of the year, the first coming at the Australian Open. With this win, she moves ahead of Billie Jean King in the all-time list, but don't be surprised if we don't hear from her until the next Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, unseeded teams ruled the doubles. Jurgen Melzer/Philipp Petzschner won against 16th seeds Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau while Vania King/Yaroslaca Shvedova beat Elena Vesnina/Vera Zvonareva for the crown.

Hit for Haiti, Part 2

A couple of hours ago, the tennis stars came out in Indian Wells, California, where the BNP Paribas Open is being currently held, to hold a charity exhibition to raise money for Haiti relief. This is the second time the tennis world has come together this year for Haiti. The first time was during the Australian Open in January as Roger Federer organized a Hit For Haiti exhibition with his fellow players including fellow Grand Slam champions Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, and Novak Djokovic.

Federer and Nadal took part in tonight's festivities as well this time being joined by fellow tennis legends Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport, and Justine Henin. They all share 94 single Grand Slam championships among themselves. Insane.

Both the men and the women played doubles with the first team to reach 8 in one set winning. The night started off with Henin/Navratilova v. Davenport/Graf with the former team leading for most of the match and finally winning it 8-6. Navratilova was the MVP here as she did most of the talking and played brilliantly. Clearly, she's still a world-class doubles player even now.

The women's match towards the end turned a bit quiet (i.e. boring) and so it was up to the men to bring back the fun and excitement with Federer/Sampras v. Nadal/Agassi. All four men held their serve during the first four games and for the most part it was Agassi and Federer doing most of the talking and ribbing. It was towards the middle when things got just a tiny bit interesting and uncomfortable with Agassi and Sampras exchanging some choice words between one another.

It sort of sucked the fun out of the event even though Nadal and Federer did the best they could to add some levity. In the end, things seemed to have settled down as Sampras/Federer won it 8-6. Sampras and Agassi followed the younger players' example as they hugged at the net showing no hard feelings between them.

$1 million was donated to the charity and many more will be collected from both the fans who showed up live and the fans who watched the exhibition online. Click here to donate now.

Both Federer and Nadal have yet to play their first matches at the BNP Paribas Open. Federer is looking to improve his semifinal results last year as he tries to get his first title since winning the Australian Open back in January while Rafael Nadal is hoping to defend his title after being title-less since May.

Tennis Year-In-Review

Federer's Fantastic Year

The results speak by themselves. He reached all four Grand Slam finals (again) winning the French Open to get a career Grand Slam and winning Wimbledon to overtake Pete Sampras' slam record tally. He also regained his #1 ranking and ended the year on top for the fifth time. All of these are well and good, but his personal life was also picture perfect as as he got married to longtime girlfriend Mirka Varinec who then delivered twin baby girls in the middle of the year.

Serena Makes Herself Heard

When Dinara Safina took the top spot back in April, people kept asking "Who Was the Real #1?" especially with Serena Williams winning the first Grand Slam of the year. It reached fever pitch when Serena went on to win at Wimbledon followed by Safina's breakdown at the French Open final a couple of weeks prior. Serena, however, took over the top ranking and clinched year-end no. 1 by dominating the last tournament of the year. This was a couple weeks removed from "Serenagate" at the US Open where she threatened a line judge and ended up losing the match to eventual champion Kim Clijsters.

Agassi Out in the Open

Andre Agassi released his autobiography later in the year and what followed was a maelstorm of opinions and judgment especially from those shocked that this 8-time Grand Slam champion used crystal meth back in the day and lied to ATP officials about his drug use.

King of Clay Dethroned

Rafael Nadal was poised to have a great year especially after he drove Federer to tears beating his rival at the Australian Open final. In late spring, he moved through the clay tournaments knocking off win after win like he usually did. He then went on to lose to Federer at Madrid and then to Robin Soderling in the 4th Round of the French Open where he was the 4-time defending champion. After that, Nadal's year never recovered. Citing knee tendinitis, he withdrew from Wimbledon and went title-less for the rest of the year. Barely showing up at the year-end tournament, he capped his year off by helping Spain win Davis Cup.

Breakthrough Slam Winners

Surprisingly, there were others not named Serena, Federer, or Nadal who won slams this year and none of them were really on anyone's radar to win a major this year. Svetlana Kuznetsova got her second slam title at the French Open after edging out Serena in the semis and dismantling Safina in the finals. The US Open was only Kim Clijster's third tournament after she came back from retirement. She beat five Top 18 players en route to only her second slam title. Finally, Juan Martin Del Potro shocked all by taking out four-time defending champion Federer in 5-sets to claim his maiden major title at the US Open.

Slamless Still

There were a few players who either got close or were overhyped to win a Grand Slam title. In the women's side Safina couldn't live up to her ranking and take a big title while Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva also couldn't back up their efforts to grab their maiden slam. First-time slam finalist Caroline Wozniacki reached the US Open finals losing out to Clijsters. In the men's side, Andy Murray didn't even get a whiff of a slam final this year while Soderling made his first slam final at the French Open losing out to Federer.

Other Tidbits

Andy Roddick came tantalizingly close to his second slam title losing to Federer 14-16 in the fifth set of this year's Wimbledon. Richard Gasquet beat his drug suspension as the ATP bought his "kissing" excuse. So long and farewell to Marat Safin, Amelie Mauresmo, Fabrice Santoro, Ai Sugiyama, and Thomas Johansson as they all retired this year.

Tennis Roundup

- Serena Williams dominated the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships winning all five of her matches including beating her sister in the finals. She also clinched the year-end number one ranking when Dinara Safina had to retire in her first match. It's clears up for the moment the question of who is the best player in the world right now, but let's all wish Serena Williams takes her commitment and drive that she has for the big events and show up in the normal WTA tour next year.

- Both sisters opted out of the Fed Cup finals against Italy. Not shockingly Italy, led by Flavia Pennetta, handedly beat the US winning the four rubbers played. The men's equivalent, Davis Cup, will be contested in a month between the Czech Republic defending champion Spain.

- Andre Agassi admitted to using crystal meth during the 1997 season and then lying to ATP officials who then threw out the case. Of course this was all in time for the release of Agassi's new biography. Reactions are varied, but most saw the revelation as a tainting the man's legacy and the sport as a whole. At least Agassi was able to overcome and come back to the game in top form. But for me it's hard to see one of your idols be knocked off the pedestal and it just makes me sad to think about Martina Hingis' situation.

- Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray win titles at Basel and Valencia respectively strengtening their positions heading into Paris and then to London for the ATP World Tour Finals. Djokovic was able to defeat hometown favorite Roger Federer while Murray took apart Russian Mikhail Youzhny. Djokovic leads the ATP with the most wins and Murray leads the tour with the most titles. Both, however, were Slam-less this year.

- After Basel and Valencia, there are now seven men fighting for the last two spots of the ATP World Tour Finals. Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco more or less only need to show up in Paris to qualify with the other five men needing to reach the finals or win to have a chance.