Roger is hiring

WANTED

Tennis Coach to work with down and out Pro at lowest ebb. keen to rediscover the glory days and get a few grandslam titles before retirement. Can you improve on perfection?If so contact Mirka!

Federer and Tony Roche

Well, well, well, this weeks announcement about Roger recruiting Sampras’ former coach Paul Annacone will have been received very well by the great man’s fans. Its what most of us have been screaming at Roger for years and an extra pair of ears and eyes, give him food for thought, a second opinion and provide tactical refreshment to the Suisse.  It is fantastic that Roger has acknowledeged that he isnt perfect and if he does want to prolong his stay at the top of the game he will need to adapt and change. Surely this must come as a warning to his competitors that Roger isnt going to go away , he may be down to a 7 year career low in the rankings but Roger is on a mission to win at grandslam level again. It was only 7 months ago that Roger was in supreme form to win the Australian Open, so many fickle people have already written him off following his poor showings ( by his own standards) at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

First on Annacones list must be to firm up Roger’s once impenetrable defences, now big hitters can cause the Fed express damage like Berdych and Del Po. The second serve must also be a target for Annacone which did provide Roger with a fantastic weapon. Federer must toughen up and play opponents on his own terms rather than adpating to their own games. If there is anything Annacone will do it will be reinstill the self belief in Federer, and remind him who he is and what he has accomplished, he is the Greatest Player of All Time

Andy and Miles SPLIT!

Andy Murray has split with his coach and fellow Scot Miles MacLagan. The move wont be much of  a shock

Glum Miles

to Murray fans as the hot headed Scot can be as firey on court as he is off the court. The split marks 3 years since the two first teamed up, a partnership which saw Murray reach a career high number 2 in the world rankings. Both parties describe the split was amicable however there have been underlying problems and differences of opinion that have prevented Murray from winning a grandslam title, the prize he most clearly craves. Murray has said no decision will be made on Maclagan’s successor until after the US Open in September. Early favourite must be Australian Darren Cahill who is involved with Murray’s principle sponsor Adidas, but John Mc Enroe has indicated in the past that he would be the man who could help Andy win his first slam.

There must have been a class of tennis personalities within Team Murray. Initially Alex Corretja was hired to help Andy on the clay court circuit, however Corretja has been spending much more time in Team Murray and has strong influence within the camp. Clearly Murray is a world class player, he wears down his opponents and gets every single ball back, a tactic which works well for 85% off his opponents. Maclagan looking from the outside must have been encouraging Andy to grab the bull by the horns a little more and make it to the net, wereas Murray is reluctant to leave a tactic which has brought him this far in his tennis career. In the end, if Andy did not believe in Miles’ ( and every other casual observer’s) philosophy and reached the decision to part company in the past few days. It remains to be seen whether or not this is the correct one or not!

Tournament Blues

The stage was set, I knew who I had in the draw and had a few weeks to prepare for it. I even scaled back by practice that week and pulled out of a softball game with the guys just so I could be as fresh as a daisy. My preparation couldnt have been any better, I had picked up my freshly strung racquets from the local store and put two new tournagrips on them, I must say they looked absolutely lovely. I had even picked out what I was gonna be wearing on court that day, matching trainers, shorts and tee. Could I have been any more relaxed before my big game. That morning, I had a great breakfast and a shower and made it nice an early down to the courts. At midday there was already a buzz around the courts, with players and spectators milling around the clubhouse moving from court to court to see players.

I took myself away from the hullabaloo of the tennis centre and began my warmup, in the sun I got up a sweat pretty quickly. Before I knew it I was on court warming up as strangely relaxed for such a big game. I lost the toss and my opponent opted to serve. I was just getting myself set and the ball fizzed past my racquet before I knew it we were changing ends and I was in the hotseat fluffy dunlops in hand. I began my service game well, holding to 15. I was making absolutley no inroads on my opponents serve whatsoever, I was simply happy to get the thing back in the court, my serve on the other hand was a little less impenetrable but still doing the trick. At 3-4 on serve, my opponent like a veloceraptor going in for the kill mellon balled my first two serves, 0-30 3-4 down, yikes. Before I knew it I was 15-40 down facing two effective set points. I crumbled after my first serve hit the tape ( yet again) and gave in tamely but dumping the 2nd serve long of its target!

No matter how much I told myself, win the first service game of the 2nd set I seemed to do exactly the opposite. I crumbled like a Mc Vities rich tea biscuit in  a warm cup of tea, 2-0 down before I had chance to register that I had lost the set let along being broken again. I managed to hold on to my next service game, through my own endeavour or my opponent letting me back in the game. But from there it was one way traffic expecting the inevitable. The defeat was bad but the manner was much much worse. Leaden footed, error prone and without ideas. Game, set and match. I plunked myself down on a chair beside a few guys from my club, I was speechless, dumbfounded. They didnt need to say anything either.

I eventually made my way back to the car and back home to my wife.  As I plodded up the driveway, raquets in hand she could tell that I had lost . That evening I sat down  having had a few hours to digest what had went on that afternoon previous at the club. I reached the following conclusion. In tennis it is so easy to get carried away and loose what is important;  with new sneekers, fresh new strings and the latest Nike kit that our favourite player may be donning for the next slam event. All these take our minds off what we should be doing and that is practicing and gettting some game time on court. Nothing else matters, what matters is whether or not you have done the work. It is so blatantly obvious to observers, the truth hurts. And while I had been spending time picking out new tee’s for my racquet bag I had been negecting what the game of tennis is all about, getting the ball into the court. Now I am afraid, its me and the practice court for the next 6 weeks!

All Strung out

The art if we may call it that of restringing a tennis racquet has always been the final frontier for many tennis players. Most of us know all there is to know about balls, grips racquets and shoes but why are so few prepared to dip their toe in the preverbial stringing mire? Perhaps it is the fear of making a mess of the string or worse still snapping any tennis players most prized possession, their racquet. I recently took the plunge and learnt how to string.

Broken

When I finally got the huge brown box up the stairs and out of its packaging I plonked the huge lump of metal on the snooker table. This would be more difficult that I had thought, all these things, knobs buttons and a screen, where would you begin? I had hoped in my head at least that I would have been able to get a racquet done within a few hours, it was my first time naturally it would take a little longer than my eventual stringing time. I got as far as the 2nd page of the instruction book and gave up. It seemed so complicated, what had I got myself in for?

When I eventually plucked up the courage the following day having watched a few dudes on youtube, I felt ready as I could be to string my own stick. I did it, the main strings took around an hour ( stringers dont ask me what I was doing) and the crosses another 90mins but that wasnt it! Id say it took me an extra 30mins to tie a knot! For a first try I was rivalling the Isner Mahut match. Over the weeks I began to string a little bit faster and yes there were casualties on the way with a few broken frames that left me feeling like Marat Safin!

I have now got my average time under 45mins which for me, an idiot with big hands is pretty good! I will put a vid of me stringing soon! watch this space!

Celebrity lookalikes

Lying up watching Walk the Line last night, I couldn’t put my finger on who Joaquin Phoenix reminded me of.

Was it someone I knew from home, or through work, or just another celeb from the small screen? Was it someone I had seen that day or during the week? 

Whilst he was acting out Johnny Cash’s fall from grace, I realised who it was he looked like – Roger Federer! Does anyone else out there think the same or is it just me? 

Joaquin Phoenix starring in "Walk the Line"

The dark hair, high forehead and smouldering looks Joaquin performed in the movie reminded me a little of Roger minus the leaving the wife and kids and taking prescription drugs (definitely don’t think that is Roger’s style, I certainly hope not). 

If you simply replace the guitar with a tennis racket, I reckon Joaquin would be a fitting cast type for a Roger Federer GOAT movie. Not that I’m saying Roger has had his day in tennis. No no, no. 

Mr Federer??

Mr Phoenix??

Despite all the media hype and Greg Rusedski predicting an imminent Roger Retirement party, I think the Fed Express has a fair few miles left on the clock. Sure look at the Aus Open 2009 final, when Roger acted his own version of Cash’s ‘Cry cry cry’ in front of the Rod Laver Arena after his loss to Nadal, what did he do? 

He came straight back and won the French for the first time and followed up with yet another Wimbledon win. Perhaps Roger needs to ‘Get rhythm’ like he used to getting through to all Slam semi’s and finals but def don’t count this court legend out. 

Incidentally, if such a movie was ever to be pulled off, someone would have to remind Mr Phoenix that most tennis players don’t like to ‘Walk the line’ for superstitious reasons. Oh and at Wimbledon, no men in black allowed on court – Wimbledon whites all the way!

The man who WAS the best

I have had this one brewing in my tennis head for the past fortnight. It angered me at first and still has been ragging away waiting to get out!

 It was a discussion on Men’s semi final day at Wimbledon and Michael Stitch and Big Greg were chatting and our favourite Canadian Greg Rusedski came out with the line, ‘oh yeh Roger Federer the man who was the best player in the world but now he is well down the pecking order!’ Stich quite rightly replied sure hes only lost one match and you are writing him off already but Greg kept insisting that Roger was on a downward spiral and would not win a Grandslam again.

Roger is a fantastic player, he is without doubt the best ever, we are also a generation blessed with one other great player in Rafael Nadal. Roger dominated for so many years, and now as expected is losing his grip somewhat on the number one crown and his semi final records. But so far this year Roger has won in Australia and was beaten quarter finalist in Paris and London, by every other top player that is a fantastic record and achievement. Roger is ofcourse a victim of his own success and is being judged by the meteoric standards he has set in his career. If he doesnt win 2 slams a year and make the semis in the other it is a failure.

Federer fans must now set more realistic targets and expectations for Roger. Sure Roger is motivated to win but does he now have the hunger and desire he would have had when he was new to the tour, after all he has two kids to keep him busy amongst his other charitable commitments and things that come with being one of the greatest living sportsmen ever. Nadal is also in awesome form, truly fantastic and could dominate until the rest of the tour find out how to beat him. We now have more players than ever in a position to win grandslams, Berdych is coming through, Soderling has been close a few times, Murray, Delpo, Nole and Davydenko could all be considered real contenders. But is Roger dead? Get a grip!

Greg has maybe been spending too much time reading the Daily Sport in that high powered job he has in the  LTA and is far too quick to call to an end the career of the greatest player ever to grace a tennis court. Roger will continue and will win again that is for sure. It is unlikely that the dominance that we have seen will be replicated but Federer always has a new trick up his sleeve

Broken records

Tennis keeps making history this summer.

First in June there was the infamous Isner-Mahut match that went on for a staggering 11 hours and 5 minutes at Wimbledon defying all previous historic matches. Shame now they have the roof on Centre Court, BBC will never get to replay the Isner-Mahut match like they did the 1969 Gonzales-Pasarell  encounter, coming in a mere 5 hours 12 minutes.

Then this month in July there has been the attempt at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels to break the record for the largest audience at a tennis match.

The previous record held by Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs was a monumental exhibition in more ways than one.

It was referred to as the Battle of the Sexes in 1973 when King took on the challenge from male chauvinist Riggs who believed that the women’s game was inferior to the men’s. A 1939 Wimbledon Champion, Riggs claimed he could beat the current top player’s in the women’s game even though he was retired by some decades.

Pomp & Ceremony - Billie Jean King arrives like a Queen in Houston 1973

The exhibition was played at the Houston Astrodome in Texas, USA in front of then record 30, 492 spectators and a massive worldwide TV audience estimated at 50 million people across 37 countries. (FYI: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 16,820; Court Philippe Chatrier, Paris 15,166; Centre Court, Wimbledon 15,000; Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York 22,547).

King entered the Astrodome Cleopatra style, carried aloft in a chair held by four bare-chested muscle men dressed in the garb of ancient slaves. Riggs followed in a rickshaw drawn by a bevy of gorgeous scantily-clad models.

The final score? King beat Riggs 6-4 6-3 6-3. This was a huge leap for women’s tennis helping it to gain worldwide recognition and respect thanks to Billie Jean’s persistent and determination to win the match for all womankind.

The 2010 Battle of the Belgians hasn’t had the same global following as perhaps hoped for. Belgian’s tennis stars Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin were to play off on home soil and given their previous head to heads, it was likely to be a battle indeed.

The event turned out a bit of a disaster (title billing wise) when Henin had to pull out due to injury sustained at Wimbledon (ironically during her fourth round encounter with Clijsters).

Step in Wimbledon Champion Miss Serena Williams which considering her dramatic and controversial US Open Semi final clash last summer with Kim Clijsters, this 8th July exhibition could have been billed as a grudge match on Kim’s back yard.

Serena Williams, smiles as she poses with Belgium's Kim Clijsters, Italy's Francesca Schiavone and Martina Navratilova in Brussels, Thursday July 8, 2010

However the energy and mental toughness that it takes to win a Slam bore on Serena and she was not able to give her best performance and a lack-lustre 6-3 6-2 score saw Kim victorious once again over Serena.

Could they not have even played best of 5 sets to make things interesting and a bit longer for the fans? Despite the scoreline, with 5,189 extra spectators than the Battle of the Sexes, a new world record was written in Brussels. 

The world’s media, albeit still in World Cup fever, did not ignite this story to the level the Battle of the Sexes created 37 years ago. In one sense, it is a shame that historic match now loses its world record status to a match that wasn’t even what it was supposed to be billed as.

BJK remains a strong stalwart of women’s tennis saluting the magnificence of Serena’s talent during a BBC interview at Wimbledon but one wonders what she really thought of this match up in Belgium. My research for this post showed that BJK was supposed to be the chair umpire but reports and pics from the match revealed that Martina Navratilova kept score.

With the rules in women’s tennis only allowing best of 3 sets, its highly unlikely mathematically that we’ll ever see a women’s match make or even break Isner-Mahut’s record. At least Women’s tennis can hold their own in the world record books for audience figures.

Who said women’s tennis wasn’t popular? 35, 681 in Brussels were true fans. Go girl Power!!

Adidas Barricade 6 Review

Murray and Gonzo' US Open choices!

I have been a lover of the Adidas Barricade for sometime now. My first pair of barricades were the Jo Wilf Tsonga black and green pair from the 2008 Aussie Open, since then I have absolutley loved everything about them! I am not a big spender by any stretch of the imagination tho I do think that there are two things worth spending your money on, a good comfy bed and a good pair of shoes….. cuz when you are not in one you are in the other. After all we only have one pair of ankles/knees and legs!

So I have had 5 pairs of Barricade 5 by now and they are my favourite shoe, the durability is top notch especially for a hard court slogger like myself. The 5s are comfortable, my foot doesnt move when I move across court from my inside out forehand to my forehand ( tennis players note the pun) and they look good! I had hoped to have seen the Barricade 6 before now and had Adidas not brought out those crappy Andy Murray colours I may have been tempted, but it certainly has been worth the wait.

kiss my ACE

I initially slated the 6’s when they came out, they had lost everything that the Barricade had become known for especially the legendary styling. But the new US Open colours certainly take my fancy and will certainly appeal to more than just under 10s and Andy Murray fanatics. So like a crazed fan I bought a pair, eager to see if Adidas had managed to perfect perfection. In fact they have. The only criticism I may have had on the 5s was that they were slightly heavy, at over 500g per shoe, the 6s are certainly a lot lighter which is great.

The fit is quite snug, your heel and ankle is locked tightly into the shoe and protects the joint from over pronation. They also feel quite airy and breathable, tho I have yet to experience them in a real North Irish downpour, so I will come back to you on that one! Comfort is also excellent with great arch support and even when sprinting the shoe stays locked around your foot. Adidas have also increased the padding around the ankle which did give me a little irritation before, this is now totally gone! Sole wise, I get great traction on the hard courts and the toe is once again enforced for us big servers.

The Adidas Barricade 6 is definitely worth a look.

how deep is your LOVE?!

What makes a winner?

Having just finished reading Agassi’s book, I’ve started to view tennis in a completely different light. If Agassi’s words are to be believed then it’s fair to say that he was never really outplayed by an opponent, with the exception perhaps being Sampras.

Instead he defeated himself either mentally or physically– he was injured, he was afraid his hair piece was going to fall off, his trainer’s kid was sick, his mum was sick, he tanked on purpose, he hated the sport, etc. About halfway through the book it started to remind me of things I’d heard my whole life.

Everyone knows a player that never loses. The sort of guy that gets soundly outplayed by a vastly better player and then walks of court and says his toe was sore.

Even better than this is the player that prepares his excuse in advance – the old pre-match injury trick. As a junior I remember a certain player who “struggled” for at least two summers with a knee injury. When he was winning the knee was fine and when he was losing the pain was excrutiating. It was entertaining to see him transform from an energetic 12 year old, into a hobbling old man and back again, all within the space of a few points. His wins were made all the more miraculous by this terrible injury and his loses were easily brushed away with the “I was injured” excuse.

Tennis players are supposed to be relatively fit and healthy yet you’d be hard pushed to find a bigger group of cripples than at my tennis club.

Some of the senior players look as though they are literally being held together by tape and straps. Of course it’s generally the worst players that are the most wrapped up.

There’s a man I remember from one of the singles teams who started the season wearing an ankle and elbow strap, but as the league progressed and his loses mounted, an alarming transformation began to take place.

First it was a matching strap for the other ankle (an unfortunate sprain during a 6/0 6/0 defeat), then the knees got the same treatment following a hard fought whitewash on some unforgiving hard courts, next tendonitis overcame his shins forcing him to tape them up Rafa style.

Through it all the brave warrior struggled on, even as injuries crept further up his body and tape threatened to engulf him. A lumber support took the strain of his back which had received a nasty twist in the midst of a 6/1 6/1 battle, and some tape helped shore up his right shoulder which had been forced to overcompensate for his mangled spine.

Long before tendinitus incredibly spread to his wrist and fingers, he had already become known as Tutankhamun, at least in my mind. In the final match of the season, with his body disintegrating and failing beyond belief, he withdrew after going a break up in the third set. I could hardly believe it.

It was the closest he’d ever come to a victory and he’d walked away from. Perhaps I was wrong, maybe I should have given him credit for holding out through the season as long as he did. I felt a trace of guilt which was quickly erased by what I witnessed the following week.

Entering my club I couldn’t help but notice a young boy who was playing on one of the far courts. When he wasn’t swinging and missing he was hitting wild shots that were landing anywhere within the area of the four enclosed courts.

Something about his complete lack of hand-eye coordination seemed oddly familiar and, sure enough, as I approached the fence, who did I see on the otherside of the court but Mr Tutankhamun himself – a nice father and son practice session – except this wasn’t the Tutankhamun I once new.

This was a newly reviltalised Tutankhamun playing with clothes instead of bandages and happily chasing after every ball like an overgrown puppy before freely belting back an equally uncoordinated return. Gone were the multiple sprains, the twisted back, the bad knees, the terminal tendonitis and the bad shoulder.

So if he had been faking all this time then why did he pull out a break up in third when he was on the brink of his first victory of the season and maybe even his life? I can only assume that the thought of victory scared him. After going a whole season contently losing and making excuses, here he was presented with a opportunity which, if taken, would potentially throw his injury claims into doubt. The only solution? Forfeit.

So how is this relevant to anything? Well the point is that a lot of players fake injury when faced with defeat or make excuses post defeat.

Obviously there are times when these excuses are genuine and times when they are not. As I neared the end of Agassi’s book I began to ask myself what if everything he said was true?

There’s no doubting his talent so maybe his explanations for unexpected loses to lesser players were genuine. No pro wants to tip off their opponent by admitting that they are injured before a match, likewise most pros keep their private life pretty quiet and so they’re unlikely to tell you if they’re having relationship problems or a family member is sick.

Agassi, by his own account, lost several important matches because of an injury or, more often than not, because his mind was somewhere else.

Tennis is such a mental game and reading Agassi’s book made me realise this more than ever. How many great players have underperformed because their mind has let them down?

Concentration and unwavering focus is paramount, which is why I have an incredible amount of respect for Isner and Mahut who recently completed the longest match in tennis history – an astonishing 183 games lasting 11 hours and 5 minutes.

What must have been running through their heads during the marathon fifth set? The temptation to give in must have been overpowering. Both would have known that after the exhausting encounter they would have little left for their next round match, likewise both would have been well aware that their chances of progressing far in the tournament, based on past performances, were already slim at best, nevertheless both refused to yield.

It is thoughts like these that can make or break a match. A mental lapse as your mind drifts to your potential next match can be all that your opponent needs to snatch a break, which is what makes the final set between these two players all the more remarkable.

From now on, I will be careful analysing the players in a way which I have not done before. I will be studying their walk to see if they’re carrying a slight injury; I’ll be watching their swing to see if it looks tight; I’ll be looking to see if they’re trying to finish points early because their stamina is waning; I’ll be taking note of their facial expressions to see if they look defeated after dropping a set or conceding a break point; and I’ll be listening carefully to uncharacteristic outbursts to see if they hint at some problem off the court which the player may secretly be dealing with.

Already I have some high-profile targets: Federer was a little shakey at Wimbledon, and that follows on from his shock defeat by Hewitt a few weeks back. Is he past his best physically or is there something more to it? Could it be that his motivation to keep giving 100% in matches and training day in day out is waning? Or could it be that he has undisclosed personal problems?

Likewise Nadal didnt exactly light up the courts with his tennis in the early rounds despite his comprehensive final win. Maybe he takes time making the adaption to clay after his French Open win or perhaps there’s something more going on behind the scenes.

There are so many factors involved in every match that, unless every top 100 player publishes an indepth biography at the end of their career, we are unlikely to ever know the whole story.

Agassi’s book reminded me of the hard work and dedication which goes into making it as a top player but above all it reminded me that this hard work is just a small part of what makes a winner. It is a combination of talent, training, luck and mental strength which creates a true champion. If any of these things are lacking then it’s unlikely that a player will be able to make it to the top or maintain a place there for any length of time.

With this in mind I have even more admiration for Federer’s grandslam record and Sampras’ record run as number one. These are players who managed to hold everything together but who knows how many other players could have been champions had it not been for injury or off-court problems.

Maybe I’m a cynic and I had Tutankhamun all wrong. Perhaps in another world he would have been a Federer or a Nadal – unfortunately in this world his collection of injuries let him down or at least that’s the excuse he likes to use!

Wimble-done & Dusted

If you awoke today with a sad feeling in the pit your stomach, that’s because it’s not just Monday morning, oh no folks, even worse, its Monday morning post-Wimbledon 2010.

Sue Barker will not be on your screens today, you will not see Rafa (The Champ once again!) pull his shorts again, you won’t catch a glimpse of Serena’s fancy Nike Shrug or be tempted by that tall jug of Pimms on the BBC highlight show because it’s all over, ladies and gentlemen. Tennis has left the building at SW19 for another 50 weeks…

To help you get through this tough time as a tennis fan, we at LTB have put together a list of the top 10 things to do this week:

  1. Play the game! You have been watching some of the best serves, forehands, backhands, lobs, volleys, smashes and you have seen them all in slow motion to appreciate them so just get out there and see if you can do the same. Practice makes perfect you know.
  2. Get on the Wii! So it’s hard to book courts at this time of year? Then get yourself the Grand Slam tennis game on Nintendo, move away any precious ornaments on your mantelpiece and get your wii racket out and play some balls man.
  3. Plan your next tennis trip. Ah there’s nothing quite like watching live tennis. The atmosphere, the opportunity for unique pics and autographs not to mention the Facebook gloating to friends that aren’t there. So get on the net, (big hint, if you’re reading this you are already half way there on this one) and book yourself some flights to New York City for the US Open in late August or any of the hard court warm ups in the US Open series.
  4. Book a trip to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. If flight prices to the States are too expensive, get yourself to London and check out the Wimbledon Museum. It has won awards for its clever features and has everything you ever needed to know about the game. Apparently John McEnroe appears like a ghost showing you inside the men’s locker room. Spooky indeed. Why not kill two birds with one stone and go late November when you can catch the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 in London.
  5. Go to the cinema. Those friends you have been ignoring for the past few weeks would like to see you again so make a date and go to the flicks. After the drama that has been Wimbledon 2010, relax in front of the big screen with kids favourite Shrek Forever After or the new Twilight: Eclipse. 
  6. Catch up on DVDs. As if you haven’t spent enough time in front of the telly this past fortnight, and if it is too much to leave the sofa, then wean yourself off the TV with some films. The Great Escape should take your mind off tennis for 172 minutes or so. Other epics include Casablanca and Titanic for the more romantic types.
  7. Re-watch the Isner-Mahut match. This 11 hour blockbuster will soon be available on DVD one thinks, well several DVDs I guess. In the meantime, buy the Wimbledon 2008 Final DVD featuring a couple of guys called Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. Coming in short at only five hours long, this double edition DVD has been dubbed by some as THE best Wimbledon tennis final in the history of the game.
  8. Order a new tennis book. Reading will get you through those long nights and give you an insight into the fabulous world of tennis. Venus Williams has just launched a new book ‘Come to Win’ which is aimed at business leaders, artists, doctors and I quote from the cover, ‘other visionaries’. There is also plenty to choose from in terms of player autobiographies and biographies. Just remember that most of the tennis history books are being re-written as we speak with reference to the Isner-Mahut marathon match.
  9. Watch the  FIFA World Cup. Sports fans are in their element this summer and with football’s greatest tournament coming to a climax this weekend, there is still plenty of action to watch from South Africa.
  10. Go back to work. This is the most sobering and perhaps depressing of all options but it will help you pay for some of the aforementioned ideas so just grin and bear it. Remember, we can’t all be tennis pros.