Although each deserves to be remembered as a separate entity, there is no ignoring the phenomenon that is the Williams sisters. Still both active players at the time of writing, the sisters have won an amazing twenty Grand Slam singles titles between them as well as a further twelve as a ladies’ doubles partnership and two each as mixed doubles players. Their dominance of the women’s game has been criticised and lauded in equal measure, but only the most stubborn could fail to see how impressive it […]

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Although not remembered with the same level of affection that is reserved for the likes of john McEnroe or Bjorn Borg, no-one can deny the quality of Pete Sampras’ achievements as a tennis player. Considered dour in personality and robotic in his playing style, it was perhaps Sampras’ misfortune to play during an era when tennis itself came under attack for being dull and serve-dominated. This tends to ignore the fact that he was possessed of a greater degree of touch than many of his opponents, and […]

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In any pantheon of the finest tennis players ever to pick up a racquet, there is no excuse for leaving out the name of Sweden’s Bjorn Borg. Noted by many for his rivalry with John McEnroe as well as his eleven Grand Slam titles, Borg was in many ways McEnroe’s polar opposite. Cool where McEnroe was calm, patient while McEnroe was aggressive, Borg was the kind of tennis player who simply had greater natural talent than virtually all of his opponents. No coach tried to change his […]

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Although tennis is commonly seen as a “gentleman’s sport”, one of its finest exponents in the men’s game is a man who few people would have referred to as a gentleman. John McEnroe’s career is remembered by casual observers of the sport as being notable as much for his tirades and confrontational approach to umpires and line judges as it was for the tennis he played and the tournaments he won. Now retired and in his early fifties, McEnroe himself admits that this reputation was well-earned, and […]

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