Blogs
Making up the number$
Leigh Walsh
Just below the ATP World Tour is the dog-eat-dog world of Futures and Challengers where players battle their hearts out for prize money and points...
$117.50. Barely enough to buy you a decent ticket on a Grand Slam show court, but for Dustin Brown the prize for a first-round defeat at an ITF Futures event was significant. The German-born Jamaican was, at the time, travelling around the less-glamorous lower tiers of professional tennis in a camper van, competing for every penny to fund his tennis dream.
It was 2004 when Brown’s parents bought the camper for their son in a last-ditch effort to prevent his tennis career from ending before it had really begun. The dreadlocked Montego Bay resident had been on the tour for two years and with finances dwindling it was decided that wheels were the most cost-efficient method of travelling around the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures Circuit, the levels below the flagship ATP World Tour. Brown would save money on hotel and restaurant bills by sleeping and eating in the motor home, basing himself in a different country every couple of months to keep petrol prices... Read More...
Australian swing the sole focus for Hewitt
Lleyton Hewitt says he is not looking beyond the Australian summer following an injury-ravaged 2011 season, despite the lure of Wimbledon and the Olympics on his favourite surface
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10 lessons learned at the World Tour Finals
As ever, it's tough to adjust to life in the aftermath of a major tennis tournament but we can thank the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for teaching us more valuable lessons...
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On tour with Anne: Reflecting on 2011
Anne looks back on a strong finish to 2011 - where she won 16 of her last 17 matches to win ITF titles in Barnstaple and Ismaning - and outlines her goals for 2012
When I look back at my results during the tail-end of 2011 it feels really, really good to see so many wins against my name.
I was a 'lucky loser' and then won a round at a WTA event in Linz, Austria, qualified and reached the semi-finals at another strong WTA event in Luxembourg the week after – where I beat Ana Ivanovic along the way – and ended the year with back-to-back singles and doubles titles at a couple of big ITF events. Those results meant a jump of around 30 places in the world rankings from just outside the top 100 to No.73 which puts me in a great position going into 2012.
In terms of my performances on court, once I got a few matches under my belt I began to feel more confident. Playing on indoor hard courts works to my advantage in terms of my strengths and it’s where I’m at my most comfortable. They play quite fast, which I like, and growing up in London I guess I got used to playing indoors a lot because of the weather! In... Read More...
On tour with Anne: 'Incredible' Sam
British touring professional and six-time WTA semi-finalist Anne Keothavong delivers her view on Sam Stosur's memorable victory at the US Open in New York last month
To say it was a shock to watch Sam Stosur bring down Serena Williams in the final of the US Open is an understatement. The way Serena had won in Stanford and Toronto in the lead-up to the tournament, and the manner in which she’d reached the final at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, meant she was the strong favourite to come out on top and pick up her 14th Grand Slam title.
Whatever she goes on to achieve before she retires, Serena is already one of the greatest ever to play the game. But on that Sunday evening inside Arthur Ashe Stadium she showed she’s just as guilty as the rest of us of having a bad day. She showed she isn’t invincible and I thought that from the start of the match she looked strangely uptight and tense which I felt was affecting her movement.
Even so, it took an incredible performance from Sam to deliver her first Grand Slam singles title in extremely difficult surroundings – particularly after Serena’s... Read More...
