Tennis News - Barry Noel Evans Meet the future of Tennis - Grigor Dimitrov - Eugenie Bouchard - Camila Giorgi It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since the Williams sisters first emerged as the superstars of Tennis on the women’s tour, playing each other in the the 2nd round of the Australian open in 1999. Although Venus beat her sister Serena in that match and emerged ahead of her as the formidable force of Tennis she was never far behind.Once Serena overcame the inconsistencies which was her only weakness there was no stopping her. . The light that was Venus Williams shone brightly for some years but it was Serena who in the end went on to enjoy much greater success. Nevertheless, both the Williams sisters dominated the women’s tour both in singles and doubles for some years, however, Venus is not the force that she was and although Serena Williams is still ranked number 1 in the world, the inconsistencies have returned to her game. Serena has always been a little emotionally fragile when things are not going her way in a match and even more so these days. She will often become frustrated and burst into tears during a match when her game is not on but there was a time when in spite of her frustrations she always found a way to win. These days opponents are able to exploit her emotional meltdowns and Serena often fails to recover and loses the match. What cannot be denied though is that Serena Williams at her worst is often better than most players at their best.. The success story of the Williams sisters can in part be attributed to their skill and mental agility but It was in fact their physical power that most opponents were troubled by. It was this that quite literally changed the shape of womens Tennis. Players knew that if they were to stand any chance of beating the Williams sisters they had to bulk up and at least try to match their physical strength. As the history books will show, whilst many Tennis players on the women’s tour have been more than equal to the Williams sisters in terms of skill, few have been able to match their power. Even so ,in their attempt to achieve this, it simply stripped away the finesse, the grace and the variety in the women’s game. In my view, this is the legacy of the Williams sisters and so too is the aggressive grunting we see in women players today. Since the WTA relies on sponsorship they would never admit it but word has it that whilst they are grateful for the high profile the Williams sisters have achieved for Tennis, they do have has some misgiving. The truth is that in spite of their achievements and legendary status in Tennis, they know that in some ways, the Williams sisters have not particularly been good for the sport. Their intimidating tactics were unseemly and for a while influenced other players to engage in them. Winning points by simply hitting the ball so hard that opponents could not get the ball in play as was customary with the Williams sisters took the skill out of the game and made it difficult to watch. Having said that although the Williams sisters were the pioneers of power tennis in the womens game, it had already been established in the mens game. Pete Sampras become known as pistol pete and in the main won matches by simply firing aces down to his opponent. During the Samprass era The concern that Tennis matches could be won without getting the ball in play became such a concern that this prompted some tournaments to make some changes. At Wimbledon for example they changed the weight of the ball and the grass in such a way that it made it more difficult to win points on the serve. Big servers like the Williams sisters, Pete Sampras and Andy Rodrick were forced to bring something new to the game.the skill and finesse returned to Tennis. As Roger Federer and Serena Williams approach the autumn of their her Tennis years, this has given sway to some exiting new players and some which stand out form the crowd. Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie Bouchard, a former junior Grand Slam champion, is an aggressive baseliner and one of the most highly-touted players to emerge from Canada. On May 24, 2014, Bouchard captured her first career WTA title, defeating Karolina Pliskova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the Nurnberg final. Bouchard beat former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the Australian Open quarterfinals to reach her first major semifinal where she fell to eventual-champion Li Na in January, 2014. In October, 2013, Bouchard reached her first WTA final, falling to Samantha Stosur in three sets in Osaka. She was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2013. Bouchard became the first Canadian to win a junior Grand Slam title when she won the Wimbledon girls championship in July, 2012. Bouchard has three siblings, including a twin sister. Camila Giorgi The 23 year old Italian. Camila Giorgi is ranked 42 in the world but demonstrated some exceptional skill at the Aegon championships in Eastbourne. She beat top 10 player Victoria Azarenka and took a set from Caroline wozniaci of Denmark in the quarter-finals. Although she lost her composure and lost the match, her killer backhand is a weapon that will threaten any player and many Tennis pundits have agreed that this will in time help her to secure a place as a grand slam winner. grigor dimitrov In mens Tennis, 23 year old grigor dimitrov won the hearts of many British tennis fans by dong the unthinkable at the aegon championships at queens club in 2011. During the break at the change of end when playing a match he was picked up by the cameras having a chat with the girl ball who was was shading him from the sun. Early this year he won hearts again, this time while competing in the Sony open in Miami. During a match he noticed that one of the ball girls was unwell and stopped the match, rushing her to a chair so that paramedics could attend to her. After treatment for heat stroke, the girl was fine but with his devilish good looks, Didimitov has become a bit of a rock star among his young female fans. In 2013 one of the off duty ball girls was caught on camera breaking down in tears when Grigor Dimitrov lost his match and was knocked out of the Aegon championships in 2013. Things have changed since then and Dimitrov has proven that he is not just a nice guy and a pretty face. He is now a top 20 player and is a major threat to any player on the tour. whilst his coach has insisted that he is not yet, quite the finished article, he pickled up the tittle at Aegon this year and nobody will want to see him in their side of the draw at Wimbledon. Like Camila Giorgi, he is quite simply a grand slam champion in waiting and could break through at any time. With the emergence of some exiting new contenders closing in on the the top players in both men’s and women’s tennis, my hope is that it will finally put an end to the potential of the one sided final. Like all Tennis fans I will be hoping for a return of the kind of competitive Tennis that gave us the classic rivalries that involved Boris Becker, john McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors Grigor Dimitrov - Camila Giorgi
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 00:18:57 +0000
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