Tennisnowornever

How many times, tennis fans, have you heard commentators, journalists and now retired legends of the game squawk enthusiastically about the quality of play we have been spoiled with in the era of the big 4? Tournament after tournament they chant:  ‘The physicality is remarkable!!’  ‘These guys are just superhuman!!!’  ‘Will we ever see such greatness on court again?!!?!?’ ……Sound familiar? But before we accuse the hypothetical record of needing to be changed we should realise the band responsible for releasing it have recently launched a new album. That’s right, the smash hit of the moment: it’s the #nextgen!! All of a sudden EVERYTHING is about Zverev, Kyrgios, Thiem and the gang. What a boyband that would be. And don’t get me wrong, this is completely justifiable. No one would be talking about them if they didn’t have results and talents to back it up. Meanwhile that ‘classic album’ is still selling really well. You know, that one that brought the band to...

Lesson #2 The changing of the guard is coming…..But it’s not here yet!! If you read my last blog post ‘5 things we learned from the French Open: Lesson 1’, then you will know that the French Open 2017 taught us that the next gen are on their way as they gain confidence and slowly chalk up wins against the big 4. In particular, Dominic Thiem looks like a strong charge who could have a fruitful clay career awaiting him. However, it’s easy to fall into a trap of overpraise for younger players when they do succeed when, in reality, they lack the consistency necessary to rule the game. Let us stick with Thiem for a moment: in 2016 at the ATP World Tour finals Dominic was able to take the first set from Novak Djokovic in their round robin match but went on to be relatively easily dispatched in the two sets that followed. Sure Djokovic raised his level, but anyone watching would probably have agreed that Dominic’s reaction to taking the first set resembled one of panic at finding him...

So dear tennis fans, you semi-postponed your life for a whole 2 weeks to immerse yourselves fully in what we know is one of the four most important events of the year. Personal hygiene and social life may have suffered but was it was worth it? Well, perhaps your answer depends partially on which players you were supporting but I assure you that whether you were happy with the results or not this tournament was an eye opener on many levels. With Wimbledon just around the corner, over the next few days I am going to roundup the 5 main knowledge nuggets we can extract from the French Open 2017 and, more importantly, what they mean heading into the grass courts: Lesson #1 The changing of the guard is coming… Tennis is a sport always looking to the future, even if sometimes prematurely. My first recollection of hearing about the impending ‘changing of the guard’ was probably in 2012 into 13. It was a year in which BBC commentators seemed to talk about nothing but the inevitable fall...