Dominic Thiem had early success on clay and was dubbed the “Prince of Clay”, injury rules him out of Monte-Carlo but when he returns will it begin to click into place for the Austrian?

When Dominic Thiem broke onto the scene in 2014 at the Mutua Madrid Open he was tipped to become the “Prince of Clay” to Nadal’s crown of the King of Clay. He defeated Stan Wawrinka with a beautiful performance at the Caja Magica and went onto win his first four titles on the dirt across...

ATP & WTA tournament’s left scrambling to re-arrange events following Roland Garros date change

After last years fiasco where Roland Garros selfishly move their event without consulting the other Grand Slams, ITF, ATP or WTA you would have thought they have learnt from their lessons, apparently not. Just a couple of days ago it was rumoured the event would be moved back, France is currently seeing a surge in...

Attention turns to clay for Serena following a missed trip to Miami

By the time Roland Garros is due to come around it would have been almost 5 months since we have seen Serena Williams on a tennis court. The former world number one was due to travel down from her home in Palm Springs to the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida for the Miami Open but...

Five exceptionally constructed points, the unanticipated but merited triumph and the strength to bounce back

To be the player of the year in a year of mass disruption and remain consistent despite forced breaks is mightily impressive. Consistency on the tour moving tournament to tournament and country to country is difficult to come by but when you don't when your next tournament is an the usual structure pulled apart to...

Times change and Tennis moves on but Rafael Nadal’s legacy on clay and particularly at Roland Garros will forever be an unmatched phenomenon.

Tennis moves on quicker than any other individual sport, there isn't much time with the demand of the tour to celebrate success and take your foot off the accelerator. Winning titles is a major part of the sport but as is keeping with the sport as it moves on and no one has done that...

Número Trece

Not many players have beaten Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, only one active player had done that in Novak Djokovic, the other was Robin Soderling in 2009. A Grand Slam win at Roland Garros this year was always going to be a tougher ask with all that is going on in the world. A new...

Elina Svitolina continues to make the latter stages of majors but performances at these stages continue to fall short

There was a moment at Roland Garros where Elina Svitolina had the label of favourite. Following exits of Halep and Pliskova amongst other contenders the third seed was the highest seed left standing in the final eight. After dismantling Caroline Garica in the fourth round next up was Nadia Podoroska, the Argentine qualifier ranked at...

“smile on my face and my head held high”

Over the last couple of years Petra Kvitova has been on a quest to find her best tennis after a horrid attack in her home. In December 2016 the two time Wimbledon champion was robbed at knife point in her home suffering multiple lacerations to the tendons and nerves in her left hand and fingers....

Stefanos Tsitsipas can hold his own in extended rallies and excelled in Paris but he has a gap to close in the shorter exchanges…

One of the stories of Roland Garros was the form of Stefanos Tsitsipas. I love watching this guy play, being one of the minority in Madrid last year watching him take apart Nadal was magnificent! He has the pieces, just putting them all together is where he is at. It is easy to forget he...

504 minutes of relentless dismantling from Iga Swiatek in Paris

There aren't many runs to a major title which are flawless throughout. Not many players win a major without dropping a set en-route to being crowned champion but a teenager who had never been passed the fourth round of a Grand Slam has done that. Winning a Grand Slam is about having the confidence, temperament,...