Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
What Laver thinks about record-breaking Federer
Rod Laver is one of the few players from down the years who might still be considered an equal of Roger Federer and the twice-calendar-slam winner, now 70, is in no mood to concede the title of Greatest of All Time to the Swiss.
The Australian Laver won 11 majors and that number might have been significantly higher had he not turned professional and ruled himself out of the grand slams for several years.
Click on the video to see what Laver had to say about Federer before Sunday’s final. This was my favourite quote from the presser:
“I think the public should just watch his feet, just watch Roger and not the ball, and you’d see how great a player he is to pull off some of the shots. When he’s half-volleying winners off the baseline you just marvel at his ability to do that.”
Federer settles argument about Greatest of All Time
Roger Federer’s epic five-set victory over Andy Roddick, heartbreaking for the American, has surely now settled the question of who is the Greatest of All Time.
That, at least, is the view of Pete Sampras, who was on hand to watch as Federer overtook him in the majors stakes with a 15-th grand slam title.
Roddick gatecrashes Murray’s Wimbledon party
The build-up to Friday’s second Wimbledon semi-final was all about Briton Andy Murray but the man of the hour was the fearless American Andy Roddick.
Sat on a packed and sunny Centre Court, the prospect of Murray’s party being gate-crashed did not take long to dawn on a crowd who did not seem sure who they should be cheering for.
Murraymania keeps on building … but Andy’s unimpressed
Andy Murray’s brutal straight sets victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero took him through to the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in his career on Wednesday but while the centre court fans and the Henman Hill mob did their Mexican waves one man was singularly unimpressed by the Murraymania.
Murray himself is doing his best to let the media frenzy pass him by. He may have received notes of encouragement from the Queen, Sean Connery and Cliff Richard, and he knows he will be all over the front and back pages of the newspapers again on Thursday, but to say the Scot is staying cool would be a massive understatement. Here’s what he said after the 7-5 6-3 6-2 win over Ferrero:
Roger Federer, and other crimes against fashion
Fashion models, with varying degrees of taste, have been strutting their stuff at Wimbledon this week — oh, and they play a spot of tennis too.
The courts seem to have become catwalks — Maria Sharapova was showing off a military-style jacket and Serena Williams wore a new mac (an odd choice since it was dry and even if it rained, Centre Court now has a roof).
Can Wimbledon cope without Nadal?
When Roger Federer shows up at Wimbledon next week without Rafael Nadal looking down at him from the top of the draw, it will almost feel like Laurel turned up without Hardy or Starsky without Hutch.
In an era when the Federer-Nadal showdowns are starting to become tales of Hollywood blockbusters, the Swiss will have to go it alone for the first time since the 2006 Australian Open — which the Spaniard missed with a foot injury.
Nadal loses battle of wounded knee
Rafael Nadal will not be able to defend his Wimbledon title after losing his battle to recover from a knee injury.
“Unfortunately this year I won’t be able to play at Wimbledon,” he told a news conference.
What the future holds for Wimbledon
OK, we still don’t know whether Nadal will defend his Wimbledon title but we do know what the All England Club have in store following the redevelopment of centre court.
We were lucky enough to get an interview with the club’s chief exec Ian Ritchie this morning at Wimbledon. Here’s a brief taster of the interview…
Federer absence hits Halle hard
Text updated at 1720 GMT, June 10. Please see note below.
Imagine a tennis tournament — fans, organisers, sponsors and even the small town itself — depending on a big name to show up to make it a success.
This is the case for Halle, a lush sleepy town in eastern Westphalia, which has been banking on the appearance of world number 2 Roger Federer for years to lift the ATP 250 tournament out of relative obscurity.
Is Federer now the G.O.A.T?
We’ve heard what some of the great and good of tennis have said about Roger Federer’s achievements but can we now rank him as the best player ever to have picked up a racket? Here, Ossian Shine considers the arguments, while in the post below Miles Evans urges a spot of caution.
At first it looked as though the world’s tennis pundits were bickering about whether or not Roger Federer was a herbivorous bovid.
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