Review of 'Serious' by John McEnroe

John McEnroe was a great tennis player of both singles and doubles. He won 77 career singles titles, including 7 Grand Slams. He also won 77 doubles titles. He joined the tour in 1978 and it took him only three years to attain the No.1 ranking. In this autobiography he talks about his career, his marriage and what's next.

Billie Jean King certainly conveys her love for the game in this book, calling herself a tennis junkie. She is honest and follows the advice of Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon. He recommends what is called psycho-cybernetics. It is about living in the moment and having positive thoughts. Billie Jean talks of how tennis can help people mature and how tennis, being one of the only one on one sports where you can be in such a spotlight, the best and worst can come out of you on court. She gives advise as to how to deal with that.

Billie Jean King talks of herself and other players, and many players are quoted in their praise of her. Chris Evert said," I admire Billie Jean for the battles she fought for women's tennis. She helped to pave the way for me and other women tennis players. I also admire her personally for her guts and determination on the tennis court. She has an incomparable passion for the game".

I admired Billie Jean for her contributions to the women's movement in general. I wasn't such a tennis tragic as I am now when she was playing, so I didn't see her play. But everyone knew about her match with Bobby Riggs. She felt she had to take up his challenge or the cause of women's tennis would be set back 50 years.

This "Battle of the Sexes" captured the imagination of the world, not just tennis enthusiasts. It was played on Sept. 20, 1973 in Houston. Billie Jean King, then 29, ran Bobby Riggs ragged, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a match the London Sunday Times called "the drop shot and volley heard around the world."

She also writes about practice, fitness, exercise, health and diet. She often had to watch her weight. She writes also about the problems and solutions involved with wearing glasses.

This is a great book with many great tips for the tennis player.

Billie Jean King won six Wimbledon singles championships and four U.S. Open titles. She was ranked No. 1 in the world five years. She defeated such magnificent players as Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Margaret Court.

Other books by McEnroe or about him

Bad News for McEnroe : Blood, Sweat, and Backhands with John, Jimmy, Ilie, Ivan, Bjorn, and Vitas
On Being John McEnroe
You Cannot Be Serious
McEnroe: Taming the Talent
John McEnroe (Sports star)
Mac Enroe, est-il génial?: Réflexions techniques, jouer simple pour jouer juste
Please Play On: a Biography of John McEnroe
McEnroe: A Rage for Perfection

Carlos Moya

I'm just watching Carlos Moya, real name Carlos Moya Llompart, from Spain play at Sydney 2006. It reminds me how much of a fan I was of him in his prime. He is now 31 but has won 1 grand slam event: Roland Garros in 1988 and was a finalist at the Australian Open in 1997. He also had a singles ranking of 1 in March 15, 1999, becoming the first Spaniard to rank No. 1 in the history of the ATP rankings (since 1973). He has been voted one of the 50 most beautiful people by People magazine. At the moment 10 Jan 2006, he is playing with jet lag in high humidity, having just lost in the final at Chennai. He is currently ranked 35.

He was born in 1976 at Palma de Mallorca, Spain. He turned pro in 1995. He consistently plays outstanding tennis and is still one of the best players in the world and has maintained a top position. He lives in Switzerland now. Carlos has won at least one title almost every year of his career earning him $11,627,379 in prize money. In the years he didn't win a title he was usually injured. He spent a week of mandatory military reserves duty in July 1997. He has a 20-7 career Davis Cup singles record in 15 ties.

Singles career titles: 18

1995: Buenos Aires;

1996: Umag;

1997: Long Island;

1998: Monte Carlo, Roland Garros;

2000: Estoril; 2001--Umag;

2002: Acapulco, Bastad, Cincinnati TMS, Umag;

2003: Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Umag;

2004: Acapulco, Chennai, Rome AMS;

2005: Chennai

Finalist in

1996: Bucharest, Munich;

1997: Amsterdam, Australian Open, Bournemouth, Indianapolis, Sydney Outdoor;

1998: Mallorca, Singles Championship;

1999: Indian Wells;

2000: Toulouse;

2001: Barcelona;

2002: Hong Kong, Monte Carlo TMS;

2003: Miami TMS, Vienna;

2004: Buenos Aires, Sydney;

2005: Umag;

2006: Chennai

Personal biography

Carlos began playing tennis at the age of six. He likes video games and travels with his Play Station and Minidisc and also enjoys music of U2, Bon Jovi and Queen. He is a big fan of the RCD Mallorca soccer team and friends with Spanish music group 'Cafe’ Quijano', who often watch his matches live. He went on stage with them in Barcelona and sang his favorite song ôLa Lola. He respects NBA star Karl Malone. He is involved in local charity efforts in his hometown of Mallorca and he donated all of his $52,000,000 prize money at Chennai 2006 to the Tsunami disaster. During his back rehabilitation in latter part of 1999, he took French, guitar and scuba diving lessons and got a tattoo of a dolphin on his right bicep. He is friends with pro golfer Sergio Garcia and pro basketball player Pau Gasol of Memphis Grizzlies. He is coached by a Spanish pair : Jofre Porta and Joan Bosch.

Court vs King

These two rivals were very different from each other. They played each other through the 60s and 70s, but despite respecting each others games they never became friends. They were politically and psychologically very different.

They were great players and led in terms of prize money for their times.

Margaret Court

Margaret Court was born in Albury, NSW, Australia in 1942. She was always deeply religious and shy. She married at 25 and had 4 children. Her husband’s brother and father were Premiers of Western Australia on the Conservative side. Margaret thought Billie Jean was lacking in class and was a loud mouth. She criticized Martina Navratilova saying that because she was gay (Martina that is) she was not a good role model for tennis. Court was socially very conservative. She and King only met at the net to shake hands. Martina said that Court only ever said 3 words to her.

What Court did to revolutionize tennis though was to be very fit and she had a power game which overcame most other players for many years. She trained on court but also off it with weights, skipping ropes, and running. Her arms too were 3 inches longer than is usual for people so her wing spam at the net was huge. In mixed doubles men did not shield her at all.

She also won a Grand Slam in 1970. Only 2 other women have ever done this. Steffi Graf was one of them. So what ever we might think of Court as a person one has to admire her tennis ability. She also went back to tennis after having babies which very few female tennis players do.

She won 62 Grand Slam titles (with 24 of them being in singles). Both of these statistics remain records.

Margaret began by winning the Australian national title at 17 in 1960. This was to become the Australian Open. She was the youngest winner and progressed to be a world class tennis player. She won this same event 11 more times. It was still amateur tennis at this stage. Court didn’t travel overseas for events until the following year.

Billie Jean King

Billie could not have been more different from Court and though she had a great game she probably couldn’t be compared with Court. She grew up in swinging California having been born in Long Beach in 1943. She was a leader, loved competing and was opinionated.

She married young, but the marriage became one of convenience as Billie decided she was a lesbian and was known to have had an abortion. She fought for women’s rights. She certainly wasn’t socially conservative.

Billie Jean had a serve volley game and as she was short, couldn’t win from the baseline in long rallies. She had a good serve and used a lot of spin.

In 1971 she became the first women to win $100,000 in prize money for a year. She deserved it though as she had fought for better prize money for women and held many positions in tennis organizations. She was recognized for this work by the WTA naming the end of year championships trophy after her.

Both Billie Jean and Margaret Court played Bobby Riggs who was known as a chauvinist pig. He had been a tennis player and kept baiting the women to play. Court lost to him, but Billie Jean King beat him. The games were played in completely different spirits though. King had a point to make and there was much fanfare around the world about the match. The result showed the temperaments in the two women, rather than their lesser or otherwise talent compared with Riggs. It was said that Court lost her nerve while King was always known to be rock solid.

Wimbledon 1970

The match they have been remembered for was the Wimbledon Singles finals in 1970. King was in her prime having won Wimbledon in 1967 and 68 and would win it again in 72, 73 and 75. Court was playing the third rung in her eventual Grand Slam in that year. Court won 14-12, 11-9. There were no tie-breakers then. It remains the longest women’s singles final ever played at Wimbledon. The first set, going to deuce many times, was the longest set played by either men of women in a Wimbledon final.

Their records

Margaret Court won 92 singles and 48 doubles titles. She won 24 singles Grand Slams.
Billie Jean won 67 singles titles and 101 doubles. She won 13 singles Grand Slams.

Head to heads in Grand Slams

Australian Open: Court won 1 and Billie Jean won 1.
Wimbledon: Court won 3 out of 5 between them
US Open they won one apiece.
In Federation Cup Court beat King twice.
Both have been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame: Court in 1979 and King in 1987.

McEnroe vs Borg

How strange that after all those years of rivalry it was just a week or so ago as of 31 Mar 2005 that Borg put his trophies and racquets up for sale and it was McEnroe who talked him out of selling them. Perhaps it isn’t that strange though, because despite their highly different personalities and styles of play, they really respected each other when it came to playing tennis. Both of them were great tennis players and their rivalry was such that not even McEnroe lost his temper when playing Borg because he knew he needed all his energy to beat him.
McEnroe

John McEnroe was born in in 1959 and was a brilliant junior tennis player like Borg had been, but McEnroe attended Standford for a short time before he went on tour full-time. He won the French Open mixed doubles at age 18 in 1977 and then went into the junior and senior US Open events of that year. He never played in the junior event because he reached the semi-finals of the senior event. That was when John McEnroe started to become hot news.



McEnroe went on to win 3 Wimbledons and 4 US opens. He never won the Australian or the French. He played many Davis Cups and a lot of doubles though. He played 2 of the longest Davis Cup games on record in 1982 and 1987. He won 77 singles titles and 77 doubles titles, but as of 2006 we hear that he will play senior doubles again, having seen Martina Hingis and Martina Navratilova come out of retirement to win a few events, I’m guessing.
Borg

Borg was born in in 1956. He won 62 singles titles. He won 6 French Opens and 5 Wimbledons. He didn’t venture down to much but I did see an exhibition match between Borg and McEnroe in 1981 at Kooyong and strangely enough it was during this match that he confided in both McEnroe and Gerulaitus that he was retiring. Borg retired at the ripe old age of 25, so he had accomplished much in that time.



The biggest match Borg and McEnroe played was the Wimbledon Singles final of 1980. Many commentators say that this was the greatest match ever played. So what makes it so special? I think a match up has to include not only brilliant tennis minds and players with high degrees of skill but also with very different styles. These days slug fests from the back of the court are not very interesting, in my view. Also 2 serve volleyers with great fast and accurate serves can make a match a bit dull. But this was the match up of serve volley (McEnroe) and baseline two-handed backhands (Borg). It was also the cool, very fit and athletic Swede against the hot-headed New Yorker who had the strangest but most effective serve and great eye-hand coordination to make him a great volleyer from the net. Borg was also every girls dream while McEnroe was a bit gauche then.



This match was also between a man attempting to extend 4 consecutive Wimbledon titles to 5 (Borg) and another who was attempting to win his first (McEnroe). In 1979-80 Borg had been number one and McEnroe had taken top spot for about 3 weeks. This match would decide the number one spot. They had played 7 times but never in a grand slam.



Borg won the match but it was very close, taking the spectators to highs and lows as all good sport should do. It went to 5 sets. The first Borg lost 1-6. He then won the second and third and should have won the 4th except for a thrilling tie-breaker which McEnroe won. This tie-breaker was outstanding. McEnroe held 5 set points and Borg held 5 championship points. Borg went on to win the 5th.



During their careers, they met 14 times and each won 7 each. That Wimbledon had been Borg’s finest win but McEnroe did go on being younger and playing for longer, to win many more grand slams. McEnroe always admired Borg. He said he was the finest athlete he had ever seen on a tennis court and Borg always found McEnroe’s left handed serve extremely hard to return.



McEnroe continued in the serve volley mode which made him such a great doubles player, but Borg revolutionized tennis in that the two-hander and the baseline play is now the norm. More’s the pity in my view as the “Australian” style is more to my liking, but ’s top player plays the Borg way. He’s not as good, but the kids of Borg’s time took on his style.



McEnroe is still around the tennis world being active in many of its institutions and in being a commentator. He really lights up the court when he goes on to interview players at the end of a match and I love his knowledge as a commentator. Borg however left the tennis scene at the age of 25 going on to 3 marriages, scandals and many business ventures. McEnroe also had marriage troubles and invited Borg to his second marriage. The difference now is that you get the feeling that McEnroe loved the whole tennis scene and history of the game much more than the self-contained Borg ever did.

Maria Sharapova

Maria was born in Russia in 1987. She began hitting tennis balls at the age of 4 and at 6 she participated in an exhibition match in Moscow which featured Martina Navratilova. Martina recommended to her the Nick Bollittieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. In 1995, Maria and her father, Yuri Sharapova, decided to move to Florida in the USA. This meant leaving her mother for 2 years in Russia because of visa problems and financial troubles.

At the age of seven Maria and her father Yuri, who could speak barely any English , boarded a plane to the USA with only $700. When they arrived at Miami airport the next morning, her father took her on the handlebars of a bicycle to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy without any notice whatsoever. They arrived at the academy and one of the coaches checked her out. The story goes that Maria knocked his hat off with the tennis ball, thereby making a favourable impression. This led to her obtaining a scholarship. At the age of 9, she was signed up by a number of sponsors including Prince (racquets), Oakley and Nike.

She did train at the Bollittieri Academy and at 14 Maria turned professional. In 2002 she reached the final of the Junior Australian Open, after which she joined the senior tour with a ranking of 186. In 2003 she made her first appearance as a senior in the Australian Open. This is when I noticed her. She seemed to have such determination and self-composure at this young age. She also had a few fierce ground strokes. Later that year she made the French Open and won her first titles on the WTA tour at Tokyo and Quebec. She ended 2003 ranked 32.


Maria really came to everyone's notice in 2004. She was tall, athletic and attractive. She reached the third round of the Australian Open, and then she won Wimbledon. In doing so she became the second youngest Wimbledon women's champion in the Open Era (after Martina Hingis ) by defeating defending two-time champion Serena Williams in straight sets (6-1,6-4). In the process she also became the first Russian ever to win that tournament. She also won Birmingham, Seoul, Tokyo and the WTA Championships in that year. She was beginning to see some serious money. She topped the 2004 prize money list with $2,506,263, one of a record five women to earn more than $2 million in 2004. That's just prize money though. She has many big sponsorship deals.

In 2005 she won Tokyo, Birmingham and Doha. She reached the quarterfinals or better at all 15 events she contested, including reaching the semifinals at three of the four Grand Slams, and falling to the eventual champion at all four. She also became the first-ever Russian to become No.1 in the world, doing so between late August and October, holding the top spot for a total of seven nonconsecutive weeks before surrendering it to Davenport. She ended the year ranked No 4.

Maria is the richest female athlete in the world, according to Forbes Magazine (July 2005). She is coached by her father, Yuri Sharapov and Robert Lansdorp. She studies via the internet and loves reading. She is definitely one to watch in the future, because, unlike many of the other big talents at an early age, I think she is well looked after, without the problems other female tennis players have had with their fathers as coach. She also seems unaffected by her enormous fame.

There has recently been some gossip about Maria. On November 24, 2005 it was reported that a Florida production company has sued her over the right to market a documentary about female Russian tennis players. The law suit claims that Sharapova objected to the use of her name and image in the documentary. "Anna's Army: Behind the Rise of Russian Women's Tennis." The DVD has already been shown, but in September IMG, the agency which represents Sharapova, sent a letter accusing the production company of misappropriating her name. The counter sue is basically that in America, 'we have the right to make documentaries about current events, subjects of interests' according to the attorney L. Martin Reeder, Jr., who represents the production company.

Martina Hingis

She's back after having retired from tennis in 2002 at the peak of her form with debilitating foot and ankle injuries. She has already been accepted as a wild card for the Australian Open 2006 and has another wild card for one of the lead up events to then at the Gold Coast event in the Australia beginning January , 2006. I'd love to be able to see her play in Melbourne at the Australian Open. I'll see her on TV but I hope my pre booked tickets cover her matches.( I didn't see her)

She has such a marvelous sense of her position on the tennis court and has great tactical play. She doesn't have the power of the Williams sisters, but she may be able to avoid them as they have lost ranking points these days.

The Paktribune reports that she said, "I have always felt at home on the Australian courts. I know I’ll get some tough matches, and it will allow me to get used to the Australian summer coming from the European winter, both of which will be helpful with my preparation for the Australian Open."

I heard Martina say on a radio broadcast that she would love to play Maria Sharapova but it appears that Maria has pulled out of the Gold Coast event with a right shoulder injury. She is also an unsure starter for the Australian Open which will be very disappointing if she doesn't play.


Martina was born in Kosice, Slovakia on September 30, 1980 but at the age of 8 moved to Switzerland. She now has residences in Switzerland and at Saddlebrook, Florida, USA.

She was coached by her mother, Melanie Molitor, who named her after Martina Navratilova. Martina began skiing and playing tennis at the age of 2, entering tournaments at 4. She is also a skilled horsewoman.

Her career highlights

Martina is the winner of 40 singles titles and 36 doubles titles on the WTA Tour; 14-time Grand Slam champion (five in singles and nine in women’s doubles)
• Youngest ever to rank at No. 1 on March 30, 1997 (16 years, six months, bettering Seles’ record by nine months). She spent 209 of next 247 weeks at the top between 1997 and 2001, and the only Swiss player to reach that height with only Graf, Navratilova and Evert amassing more weeks in total at the top
• Became 24th woman at the time to pass 400 singles win milestone and third youngest behind Evert and Graf
• Her $18,344,660 is third all-time on the career prize money list behind Graf and Navratilova and she moved up into third place on that elite list during 2001 Rome; passed $10-million mark at 1999 Canadian Open
• Won at least one singles title between 1996-2002, one doubles title every year between 1995-2002 and at least one million dollars per season for seven straight years (1996-2002), including four consecutive $3-million seasons between 1997 and 2000
• Competed in 30 Grand Slams (29 of them consecutively until left ankle surgery on May 20, 2002 forced her out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon); won five singles titles (1997-99 Australian Open, 1997 Wimbledon and 1997 US Open), reached seven finals and between 1996 US Open and 2002 Australian Open.
• Ankle injuries in Filderstadt hampered her records; in 1998, sprained left ankle while running in woods to end her initial 80-week run at No. 1 while a right ankle injury during a fall vs. Davenport in 2001 SF ended her season prematurely and never returned to No. 1

The Australian Open tennis 2008

I live in Melbourne and have been going to the tennis much of my life. These days however, it is so crowded and difficult to get good tickets out of the sun that I just watch on the TV. It can get very hot in Melbourne, like 42C.

I have just seen an Australian girl called Casey win in a third round match against Amelie Mauresmo in 3 sets. I have never seen her play before and she has certainly never played on centre court, but she played really well and wasn't overawed by the occasion. This is the first time in many years that a female tennis player from Australia has got so far (although I'd have to check on Alicia Molik's results before she was out for a year with an ear infection).

There's been some politics and sports media. Melbourne is the second biggest Greek city in the world, but the Greeks never used to come to the tennis before Marcos Baghdatis came on the scene. The other day the Hellas Fan Club was barracking for another Greek player and the police moved in with capsicum spray and removed 3 members of that club from the ground. The game was stopped and the coverage went round the world.

Then today, someone had released a video of Baghdatis from a bbq he was at last year where he is seen with this Hellas fan club yelling out "Turks out of Cyprus". I happen to agree with the sentiment here because Turkey has occupied Cyprus. However the Turks were calling for his removal from the tournament for racism. I don't agree that it is racism. I mean if an Iraqi calls for the removal of the USA from Irag, that's not racism, that's freedom fighting.

Steffi Graf

Although Steffi became a tennis professional in 1982, her pinnacle year was 1988.
In 1988 Steffi Graf, aged 19, was the best female tennis player in the world. She had won the Grand Slam that year (winning all four grand slams) and an Olympic Gold medal at Seoul. No tennis player had ever done this before. It is hard enough to win a grand slam. Only Maureen Connelly and Margaret Court had done that before (in the women's game). But to win the Gold on top was a master stroke. However, tennis had not been an Olympic sport between 1924 and 1988. Grand slams were also not recorded before the late 20s either.

I think those achievements alone made her one of the greatest female tennis players ever. Martina Navratalova of the same vintage had won many tournaments and Gram Slams but never in the one calendar year had she won them all.


I loved watching the grace of Steffi's game. I saw her play at the Australian Open in a game of doubles. I was 6 foot away from her and very excited. She was taller than expected. She was the best athlete and most well-rounded player. She had a great serve. Her trademark powerful forehand revolutionized the game, and her slice backhand, while not as powerful, complimented her game perfectly, especially because it was virtually the same swing as her backhand drop shot. She was always the fastest player with the most endurance, the best conditioning, and the most will to win and she always raised the level of play on the big points.

Steffi's career highlights
Highest Rank: 1
Grand Slam Titles: 22
Tournaments Won: 107
Australian Open Titles: 4
French Open Titles: 6
Wimbledon Titles: 7
US Open Titles: 5
Grand Slam Finals: 31
Consecutive Grand Slams: 5
Years Ranked No1: 8
Career Prize Money: $21 million
Career Record: 902-114
Career Weeks Ranked No 1: 377



Steffi's biography
Steffi was born in Mannheim, West Germany and later moved to Bruhl. She still lived with her family in Bruhl in 1988. Steffi's parents both played tennis and her father was a competent player. She picked up a sawn off racquet at the age of 2 and played inside the house with her father using the sofa as a net. Soon she was hitting so hard this was no longer feasible and she moved on to a court at the age of 5.

She was dedicated player and sacrificed much to become the great player she was. She had to practice a lot and went to bed at 9pm. But she always loved the game and was never forced to practice.

As she got older it became clear that she had a powerful serve and a beautiful forehand. She was also extremely fit and could run 800 metres in 2' 5 secs. In those days the women didn't use weights or run to get fit. They just played tennis. But Steffi practiced running with weights on her ankles to become stronger.

Steffi retired from the sport at the age of 30, married Andre Agassi and has 2 children with him. I love it when Agassi plays becauseSteffi Graf and kids I love seeing the TV move in on her after they have found where she is sitting. She never sits in the players' box except maybe for a final Agassi is in. She is still shy of the spotlight. You see her these days with her children all watching Agassi play.
What sort of players will those kids be I wonder?

Steffi's records

Only person to win all four Grand Slams at least four times each
Only person to win Golden Grand Slam
Only person to win Grand Slam on four different surfaces
Only person to win and successfully defend all four Grand Slams
Only person to win all four Grand Slams twice in 2 different decades
Only person to win all four Grand Slams in the 1990's
Had a .500 or better record against every major opponent
Ranked No1 for a record 377 weeks
Ranked No1 for a record 186 consecutive weeks
Ranked No1 at end of year for a record 8 years
Ranked at least No 2 every week for a record 10 consecutive years
Named WTA Player of the Year a record 8 times
Won 3+ Grand Slams in a year a record 5 times
Had a record 13 consecutive Grand Slam Finals
Had a record 57 set win streak
Had a record 45 Grand Slam match win streak
Reached all four Grand Slam Finals in a year a record 3 times
Won a record 8 out of 9 Grand Slams in 1988-'90
1st in career prize money, $21 million
Achieved highest ranking point average ever of 441.1746
Achieved highest ranking point total ever of 6951.6185
Only person to win a calendar and a non-calendar year Grand Slam on separate occasions
One of only 5 people (3 women) to win all four Grand Slams in a year
One of only 2 people to win a non-calendar year Grand Slam
2nd in career Grand Slam wins, 22
3rd in career tournaments won, 107
3rd in most consecutive Grand Slams won, 5
2nd in consecutive years with 1+ Grand Slam, 10
4th in career Australian Open titles, 4
2nd in career French Open titles, 6
3rd in career Wimbledon titles, 7
4th in career US Open titles, 5
6th in career Australian Open finals, 5
1st in career French Open finals, 9
2nd in career Wimbledon finals, 9
4th in career US Open finals, 8
2nd in career WTA Championships titles, 5
3rd on my list of the top 100 Athletes of the Century

Roger Federer

Image via Wikipedia

My favourite male player is Roger Federer who I first saw when he used to come to play in the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia as a run up event before the Australian Open. He is from Switzerland. Federer is expected by many (including Rod Laver, John McEnroe and Boris Becker) to go on and become one of the game's greatest male players ever. He has only lost 3 matches this year (September 2005). He has won 9 titles in all and has just won a back to back US Open title. He also won the Australian Open 2006. (See below for further years).

He has a brilliant and graceful game, able to send offhand backhands and running forehands down the line, almost at will. He can also create angles extremely well. His serve is deceptive. His ball toss doesn't allow the receiver to see where he is going to hit the ball and his second serve is very deep. He plays one-handed on both sides and is coached by one the best Australian players of the past : Tony Roche. What Tony Roche has taught him is to concentrate better, come forward to the net more and volley better. There is not much that Federer cannot do.

Federer was born in 1981 and grew up near Basel, Switzerland. He speaks three languages (German, French and English) fluently and conducts press conferences in all of them.

He currently lives in Oberwil, Switzerland. His wife is the former Swiss WTA player Miroslava Vavrinec (Mirka). She retired from the game in 2002 after a foot injury. They met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Tony Roche was not Federer's first professional coach. That honour goes to another Australian : Peter Carter. Roger says Peter was the person who made a lasting impression on him and had a huge impact on his tennis and life. Peter died in a car crash in 2002 after which Federer played badly at the US Open. Roger also says of Peter, "I think he's had the most influence on my game as a coach........We had great times together. And he actually, I think, taught me the beautiful technique I play" (from a 60 Minutes interview)


Peter coached Federer from an early age to aged 18 or 19 in Switzerland. Federer used to throw racquets and get in bad moods on court. Peter helped him with his temperament. When Peter met Roger at the age of 12 Peter said, " I've got someone here that's special but he's a pretty wild boy". Roger was already hitting the ball hard and with great technique at this age.


Roger Federer's career
Roger joined the ATP tour early in July 1998

In 1999, he played for the Swiss Davis Cup team. He finished the year inside the ATP's top 100 ranked players, the youngest ever to do so.

Federer won his first ATP tournament in Milan in February, 2001.

In 2002, in February, he won both his Davis Cup singles against former world number ones, Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. In May, he won the Masters Series tournament in Hamburg, defeating Marat Safin.

In July, 2003, he became the first Swiss man to win the Wimbledon championship, defeating Australia's Mark Philippoussis in the final. He also won four Davis Cup matches during the year to lead Switzerland to the semi-finals. He finished 2003 by winning the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston and he then was No 2 in the rankings.

In 2004, Federer had a great year winning three of the four Grand Slam titles. He won the Australian Open for the first time, defeating Marat Safin. In May, he won the Hamburg Masters on clay by beating Guillermo Coria. He then defended his Wimbledon crown, beating Andy Roddick. In September, he defeated Lleyton Hewitt at the US Open final for the year's third Grand Slam. He finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston for the second time in a row.

In 2005 Federer won the Wimbledon Championship for the third successive year by defeating Andy Roddick of the United States. At that Wimbledon final, Federer struck 49 winners and only 12 unforced errors. He won the US Open 2005, making him the first man in the Open era to win back to back US Open AND Wimbledon grand slams in consecutive years. He has also been the first man to win the US Open back to back since Patrick Rafter in 1998.

Becomes the first man in the professional era to win three consecutive majors twice in his career - Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open. Becomes the first man to retain the Australian Open title since Andre Agassi in 2001 and the first man since Bjorn Borg to win a grand slam without losing a set.

Roger Federer's stats November 2010
Year Turned Pro: 1998
Current 2 year rank for singles: 1
Current ATP Champions Race Position: 1
Current Doubles Rank: 129
High Rank for singles: 1
High Rank date for singles: 2 February 2004
High ATP Champions Race Position: 1
High ATP Champions Race Position: 1 (end 2009)
Grand slam wins : 16
High rank for doubles: 24
High rank date for doubles: 9 June 2003
Career titles for singles: 60 +
Career titles for doubles: 7
Career matches won: 387
Career matches lost: 119
Career prize money: $31,237,103 USD plus prize money for Wimbledon 2007


Federer loses to Nalbandian in the final of the Masters Cup 2005. He thus fails to continue his winning streak which stands at equal to the best by Muster. His consecutive 24 finals wins (in the finals he has been in) also ceases. But he was spent after 4 sets. He came in to the tourrnament with an ankle injury meaning he was not fit enough to match Nalbandian. But Nalbandian also played extremely well, perhaps the match of his career.

Federer wins Australian Open 2006 and Wimbledon 2006. Federer wins the US Open 2006 and the Australian Open 2007. Wins Wimbledon 2007 and the US Open 2007. Wins French Open 2009 and Wimbledon back to back. Becomes no 1 again (never been done before) and breaks record for grand slam wins

Related articles by Zemanta

• Australian Open 2010: Andy Murray v Roger Federer live (telegraph.co.uk)

Evonne Goolagong

Early years

Evonne Goolagong Cawley was born on July 31, 1951, in Griffith, NSW, Australia. She was a member of the Wiradjuri people, and the first indigenous Australian to win a Wimbledon Tennis Championship in 1971. In fact, she is the first and only aboriginal Australian to become an international tennis player. Though she was aboriginal, racism was rampant against aborigines in her early years. She did not really identify as aboriginal until later in life. Aborigines were not even counted in the Australian population census. She was brought up as a white, despite having aboriginal blood in her. She became an international tennis star and champion, paving the way for other indigenous athletes (apart from boxers). Cathy Freeman, the indigenous Australian champion athlete would have had her as a mentor.

Evonne, like Cathy Freeman and many aborigines, grew up in poverty. Evonne was one of 8 children, born to a sheep shearer and his wife, Melinda. Barellin, a small country town, where Evonne spent most of her early years was wheat and sheep country near Sydney. Actually it was aboriginal country, but whites did not use such terms then.

Evonne's parents knew nothing of tennis, but a local called Bill Kurtzman noticed her watching tennis through the fence of the tennis courts. She went on to the court. Vic Edwards, from Sydney, was notified of her natural talent on the court by two of his assistants. He visited up country and saw her play. He noticed her potential. She had then, and retained a graceful style, which I have seen at Kooyong. She had speed, lightening reflexes and a good temperament.

Knowing that Evonne wouldn't be able to develop in the bush, Edwards convinced her parents to let her move to Sydney and move to Sydney to live with him. Evonne moved to his place in 1967 at the age of 13. Edwards coached her and raised her. She wasn't raised as an aboriginal and Evonne has spoken out about some difficulties she had with Edwards.

Edwards however had spotted the talent that would eventually result in two Wimbledon, one French, and four Australian championships and a 1988 posting to the Hall of Fame.

Her career

Evonne's rise was rapid. On her second world tour, in 1971, just before turning 20, Goolagong beat countrywoman Helen Gourlay to win the French. A month later, in her last act as a teenager, seeded third, she stunned defending champion and her girlhood idol, Margaret Court, in the Wimbledon final.

Called Sunshine Supergirl in London, she captivated crowds wherever she played with her graceful movement and gracious manner. She won Wimbledon again after 9 years, in 1980, her last tournament triumph beating Evert, the only Wimbledon singles championship to end in a tie-breaker.

By then she had married Englishman Roger Cawley and had the first of their two children. Thus she was the first mother to win since Dorothea Douglass Chambers 66 years before. At Wimbledon, Evonne was 49-9 in singles, 21-7 in doubles, 19-8 in mixed.

Evonne retires

Evonne retired after the 1983 season. She won the Virginia Slims championship in 1974 and 1976, both over Evert, and had career totals of 43 singles and nine doubles titles, and $1,399,431 in prize money.

She couldn't quite make it at the US Open, the only woman to lose the final four successive years, 1973 through 1976. Her most winning seasons were :1973 with nine titles, including wins over Evert in the Italian and Cincinnati finals and 1976, winning eight titles.

A seven-year mainstay of Australia's Federation Cup team, she led the way to Cups in 1971, 1973 and 1974 and finals in 1975 and 1976.

Later years

When she returned to Australia for her mother's funeral in 1991, she experienced an epiphany on seeing the rituals of her Aborigine people. "I realized that I had spent too much time away," says Goolagong, 46, who had left home at 13 to pursue her dream of a career in tennis. "I wanted to know who my parents were, who I was."

She returned to Australia to live in 1991 at Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and has travelled around Australia, coming to understand the importance of her Aboriginal heritage and introducing her American born children to their indigenous culture. She was a member of the Board of the Australian Sports Commission from 1995-1997. Since 1997, she has held the position of Sports Ambassador to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Communities.

Since 2000 Goolagong Cawley (she now uses both names) has made an increasing commitment to Australian women's tennis, which has fallen on hard times in terms of the glamour international events, and was appointed captain of the Australian Federation Cup team in 2002. In 2003 she was winner for the Oceania region of the International Olympic Committee's 2003 Women and Sports Trophy.

Grand slam record

Australian Open Singles 1974-77 (4)
Singles finalist 1971-73
Doubles 1971, 1974-76, 77


French Open Singles 1971 (1)
Singles finalist 1972
Mixed finalist 1972


Wimbledon Open Singles 1971, 1980 (2)
Singles finalist 1972, 75, 76
Doubles 1974
Doubles finalist 1971
Mixed finalist 1972


USA Singles finalist 1973-76


Italian Singles 1973
Doubles finalist 1979
Fed Cup 1971-76, 1982