In terms of the rules of tennis, the serve is a shot which has one function – to start a point by putting the ball in play. It is simply intended to commence a rally, all things being equal, but in recent times it has become a whole lot more important than that. These days, a particularly good serve can win you matches almost on its own – although players who can serve and do little else are still unlikely to win many titles. Because of the […]

Although his list of career titles may be shorter than his contemporary and American compatriot Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi is still in many people’s eyes one of the most remarkable players ever to pick up a tennis racket. Believed by many with the knowledge to comment to have had the best return of service that has ever been seen in the game, Agassi is unique among male tennis players in having won a career Golden Slam – that is, all of the Grand Slam titles plus an […]

Although it would be hard in the extreme to make a case for anyone to surpass Martina Navratilova in terms of overall achievement she has been surpassed in terms of achievement in the women’s singles game – by Germany’s Steffi Graf, who won 22 singles Grand Slam titles over the course of a storied career in the game that spanned seventeen years from the age of 13 to 30. Graf is, in addition, the only professional player ever – male or female – to have won a […]

In common with the Williams sisters, Martina Navratilova has had to put up with a level of criticism that was out of all measure with her game and her personality. When one considers that in the course of her career Navratilova won titles as a singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles player, one would be justified in asking why she would be criticised. When one hears that she won a total of fifty-nine Grand Slam titles across these three forms of the game, the question could be […]