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30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Day 9 | Who would be in your dream men’s match (anyone from past and present)?

-

Day 10 | The Grand Slam you would most like to go to

Wimbledon

Day 11 | Who is your favourite umpire?

Kader Nouni

Day 13 | What is your favourite tennis surface?

Clay

Day 16 | Who is the most boring player?

Andy Roddick

Day 18 | Which player do you have the most respect for?

Rafael Nadal

Day 21 | Who’s your favourite French player?

French players are probably my favourite out of all nationalities. I’m not sure if it’s just a coincedence but they are just the most interesting and play with heaps of ‘flair’ (style, originality).

Let’s look at some of the interesting French players in the tour at the moment that I’m talking about. Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquet, Llodra, Bartoli, Simon. And in the very recent past Mauresmo and Santoro. Omfg Fabrice Santoro…

They’re all very interesting in their own way (probably not so much Simon he’s a bit normal). My favourite would be Tsonga (won me over in his 2008 Australian Open final run which was his breakthrough tournament) and Bartoli for womens (double handed on both wings!), she has such a funny and awkward game to watch, such an unusual non textbook player in every way possible.. I find her service action hilarious and also how she prepares to return serve..so intense.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Day 9 | Who would be in your dream men’s match (anyone from past and present)?

-

Day 10 | The Grand Slam you would most like to go to

Wimbledon

Day 11 | Who is your favourite umpire?

Kader Nouni

Day 13 | What is your favourite tennis surface?

Clay

Day 16 | Who is the most boring player?

Argh I wrote heaps but it got lost somehow lol :/.. so just gonna summarise

Andy Roddick for this one. Use to be interesting with his serve but nowadays it’s not special as most players can serve 200km/h+ easily. Take his serve out and the other parts of his game are boringgg.. predictable/stubborn tennis player too with no real strategy I feel. No ‘flair’ in his normal game.

Notable mentions to Chela/Fish/Robredo.

Day 18 | Which player do you have the most respect for?

Rafael Nadal. You’ll never see him whinge on or off the court. Very humble and honest (will play himself down always). Just seems like a very polite player overall.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Day 9 | Who would be in your dream men’s match (anyone from past and present)?

-

Day 10 | The Grand Slam you would most like to go to

Wimbledon

Day 11 | Who is your favourite umpire?

Kader Nouni

Day 13 | What is your favourite tennis surface?

K I skipped the prev day question coz I don’t care much for doubles.

Umm I don’t really think this is an important question for me.. because I enjoy the diversity of the different surfaces and watching players adapt to these different conditions. I also enjoy watching a professional tennis player thrive/suffer when they play on different surfaces. May sound cruel but I love seeing a clay court specialist suffer on the grass and a lanky serve volleyer suffer on the clay. I like seeing players both in and out of their comfort zone.. very interesting.. tennis would be a lot more boring to watch if there was just one surface.

It would have to be clay or grass for me. Hard courts are the ‘neutral’ surface where any type of player can do well whatever their style is.. as opposed to clay where only (prepare for generalisations) European/South American players do well or grass where Americans/Australians have dominated more throughout history (but not so much in recent times as Wimbledon courts are slow now). So these two surfaces are more interesting for me and are polar opposites. As a tennis fan, this is one of the reasons why the quick (Wimbledon is just a few weeks after RG) transition from the French Open to Wimbledon is exciting. It’s also given us one of the most intriguing tennis rivalries with Roger and Rafa.. both experts on the grass and clay respectively.. and both desperate to win both rather than one.

I think I’m going to choose clay. Not a lot of Australian fans (or professional players for that matter) enjoy the dirt.. I suspect it’s because the Australian public in general don’t like negative, defence orientatedness in sport.. clay tennis could be seen as quite boring with players just scrambling from the back.. it’s often just a battle of physicality or the one that makes the least unforced errors. But I’m an exception.. I also have played most of my tennis on the clay and really admire clay court tennis. Watching Rafael Nadal on clay has helped too ha, he gets everything back into play on clay.

Nadal on clay (case in point).. click to watch.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Day 9 | Who would be in your dream men’s match (anyone from past and present)?

-

Day 10 | The Grand Slam you would most like to go to

Wimbledon

Day 11 | Who is your favourite umpire?

Kader Nouni

This guy is sick.. coolest dood and his French accent owns. Amazing how calm he is lol.

He even has his own facebook appreciation page.

There’s another French ump I like too who’s been around for ages and frequently umpires the big games (like grand slam finals).. but idk his name.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Day 9 | Who would be in your dream men’s match (anyone from past and present)?

-

Day 10 | The Grand Slam you would most like to go to

Wimbledon

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Day 9 | Who would be in your dream men’s match (anyone from past and present)?

Not sure really… These questions are a bit bleh because thinking about two players from different eras playing each other is a bit pointless with all the changes in the game (equipment mainly) over time (as I mentioned earlier for ‘dream women’s match’).

Nevertheless, any matchup between Laver/McEnroe/Borg/Lendl/Sampras/Agassi/Federer/Nadal at their best would be pretty cool. How would Nadal go against some of those champion serve volleyers on a quick grass surface? (since Wimbledon is slowwww now)… How would they go against Nadal’s crazy top spin.. because it’s hard to volley against Nadal’s heavy top spin..

The funny thing is, top spin didn’t exist back then I think.. everyone just played ‘flat pancake’ shots (I think that’s the expression lol)…which adds to my point earlier….racquets and strings have obvs changed the game heaps over time.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

Australian Open

Day 8 | Who would be in your dream women’s match  (anyone from past and present)?

Graf v S.Williams

Two of the modern greats, this would be a very interesting matchup. I think with the development of the women’s game (which has to be a lot more than the men’s game) throughout the years.. (biggest difference would be the fitness/power in the women’s game innit).. a matchup between different players in different eras would be an easy win for the modern era (I guess it’s the same for mens too.. but more so for womens).. but yeah, with the different racquets and stuff.. it’s pointless to match up players from totally different eras. But Graf and Serena are just marginally different eras.. eg. there’s been some greats that have played both of them at their best’ish (Hingis, Davenport etc.).

Unfortunately I didn’t watch a lot of Graf as she retired at just around the time I started to have an interest in tennis, but from the highlights I’ve seen.. shit she’s good. Everything is just so natural when you watch her play.. amazing.. like Federer… just glides around the court effortlessly. As for Serena, well she is by far the mentally toughest player in the game I’ve seen… and add to that her weapons (serve, backhand, forehand, athletism)…no real weaknesses. I don’t know who would win… Graf on clay I’d say but for grass and hardcourt idk…prolly leaning towards Graf. From what I’ve seen though, Serena at her best is untouchable.. when she is in the zone there is little you can do because she’s making the play… the game is on her racquet. The one player she has trouble against is Henin who quite often plays a gamestyle that makes it hard for Serena to get into this zone. I it would be interesting viewing to see how Graf would handle/’tame’ a Serena at her best (like during the time period when she achieved the ‘Serena Slam’).

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

2000 Australian Open Semifinal: Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

2005 Australian Open Semifinal: Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

2008 Wimbledon Final: Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Day 7 | Which is your favourite Grand Slam tournament ?

I’ll rank the 4 slams in terms of favouritism.

1. Australian Open - Quite fortunate to have a GS in my city so this is naturally my first choice. It’s a baller tournament regardless and always has the highest attendance of the 4 slams.

2. Wimbledon - This always occurs during primary school/high school breaks, plus it’s always shown on channel 9 so I have fond memories of staying up to till 3am to watch Wimbledon. And yeah, most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.. love the whole feel of it. The players seem to try harder and with more passion when they play at Wimbledon.

3. Roland Garros - Love watching clay court tennis (as much as I do grass). It is the most physically grueling tournament in world tennis due to the slow surface which promotes defensive tennis and the fact it is best of 5 sets (with last set tiebreak play on) adds to that.

4. US Open - Just unfortunately last for me only because of the time zone. Play starts at like 3am or something ridic gg. I do admire the US Open for having (imo) the fastest courts in grand slam tennis. AO and Wimbledon have slowed their courts down throughout the years. Something it sucks at compared to the other GS’s is that it has a tiebreak in the last set.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Sabine Lisicki

Day 6 | What is your most memorable match?

Hmm this is hard. I can’t just say one so I’ll list the few that are memorable to me.

2000 Australian Open Semifinal:

Agassi def Sampras 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-1

I still remember where I was while watching this match o.O.. since the living room was occupied I had to watch on a small tv near the kitchen. This was during a period when I wasn’t a hc tennis fan yet (only 8yo..) but this match was probz the turning point. Isn’t it a shame we don’t see this sort of match dynamic anymore? Ie. Serve-volley vs baseliner.

2005 Australian Open Semifinal:

Safin def Federer 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) 9-7

Amazing match. Safin at his best > most things. Federer was at his peak during this stage of his career and an inform player like Safin was probably the only player that could beat him in this tournament. The problem is that Safin is inconsistent as hell, but when he’s good, he’s got all the weapons to beat any player. But yeah jesus this match was extremely high quality from the start to the end.

2008 Wimbledon Final:

Nadal def Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7

Oh the drama. I actually got spine tingles as I was writing that scoreline down lol. So I think this match started at like 1 or 2am AEST and because of the rain interruptions (gotta love/hate Wimbledon before they made the roof…all those rain delays ironically made a lot of matches memorable and theatrical even (Tim Henman anyone?)), it ended at around 7am.

Needless to say, I wasn’t going to sleep and not watch these two in a Wimbledon final. It’s so interesting how during the time period of err 2005-08 or something like that.. Rafa and Fed had this really fascinating rivalry where Roger would try to win Roland Garros and Rafa would try to win Wimbledon.. and only both of them stood in the way (since Rafa had a strangle hold on the French Open and Roger was likewise, untouchable on grass). But in the last few years before this match, Roger was getting more and more owned on the clay against Rafa in French Open finals and Rafa was getting better on grass (the 2007 Wimbledon final saw Roger beating Rafa in a close 5 setter). It was a gradual changing of the guard that most tennis fans foresaw so the result made sense. But holy shiz Roger didn’t wanna lose his Wimbledon crown and it showed.

I remember after being two sets to love up, the commentators were pulling out the record books, mentioning the history that Roger has to overcome to come back and win (I think it was something ridic like 80 years ago or something where someone has come back from two sets to love down to win a Wimbledon final). I honestly thought he’d come back though, I remember thinking if he just won the third set, Rafa will probably be a bit nervy. So yeah Roger did come back, but Rafa’s game didn’t drop. The fourth set tiebreak was fkn incredible (watch here!!). Rafa actually had a match point (at 7:45 in the video I linked above..but watch all of it omg) and hit a forehand DEEP into Roger’s backhand, he rushed to the net and I thought the match was basically finished there, but he hit an incredible backhand down the line. It was the most exciting point I’ve ever watched, I remember being just stunned at what I just saw. I envy the peeps in Centre Court who watched the match live lol.

30 Day Tennis Challenge

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

Day 5 | Least Favourite Women’s Player

Hmm yeah don’t really care about this… probably Sabine Lisicki for her constant fist pumping and “comeons”. She’s a real good player though and good for the women’s game in general I think (her serve is arguably the best in the game).. but yeah she’s just annoying. Whenever I watch her play I seem to involuntarily want her opponent to crush her (lol). Overall though I’m not particularly fussed about the women’s players.. I even don’t mind Serena Williams.. she’s actually one of my favourites lol.

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

The Woodies

Day 4 | Least Favourite Men’s Player

Novak Djokovic

In short I just really dislike his attitude on the court. He whinges constantly, but the worse thing is what he whinges about. This can typically be the ‘bad luck’ he thinks he has (like the opposition hitting the lines or mishits always going in etc.) or not being the crowd favourite. He just comes across as a brat a lot of the time when things aren’t going his way. I hope 2012 sees Roger and/or Rafa take top position back and/or win most of the slams haha.

Day 1 | Favourite Men’s Tennis Player

Marcos Baghdatis

Day 2 | Favourite Women’s Tennis Player

Li Na

Day 3 | Favourite doubles team

I can’t really answer this one (for current doubles players) as I’m not a big fan of doubles. I don’t find it particularly fun to watch tbh, rallies are quick and the game play is rather limiting imo. I guess most people agree with me which is why singles obviously always gets the bigger crowds/prize money and stuff. This is gonna sound bad but it just seems easier to play doubles than singles..there are so many successful old tennis doubles players (how fucking long has Nestor and Knowles been playing for). Of course, there is a lot of skill involved to be successful in doubles, but yeah it just lacks both the physical and mental aspect of the game that we see in singles. Having said that, I suck at doubles and envy doubles players who have quick hands around the net and/or have a good transition game. (Being 5 foot 4 doesn’t help with my net play -.-)

I guess my favourite pairing of all time though would be The Woodies. From the little of what I watched, they were a pretty flawless duo. And their net play was incredible (explains the Wimbledon titles which I think they still have the record). I think they created the ‘eye formation’ as well which is interesting..

Woodbridge/Bjorkman was pretty siq too. Bjorkman roolz.