The Whole Delivery

Here's the venerable Bud Collins talking to David Lloyd yesterday on ESPN What Collins says here is exactly right about Roger Federer not being the greatest player yet because of his record against Rafael Nadal. In order to truly have that claim, Fed and everyone else with at least decent tennis knowledge knows that he will help his G.O.A.T credentials if he somehow gets his duels with Nadal back to even levels. But in an interview later in the day on ESPNews, Collins then says that Pete Sampras had a tougher era than Federer. Despite my admiration for Collins, he couldn't be more wrong. Yes, the top 5 in Sampras prime included the likes of Agassi, Courier, Chang, and a few others while Pete was truly in his prime. And they have of course won more Grand Slams than say, the Andy Roddicks, Marat Safins and David Nalbandians of the world. But the game has been immensely harder as the years progressed, and the depth in the men's game, especially around the year 2000 when the Ma...

From tennis.com Fitting. That's the one word that is needed to describe what transpired today in Roland Garros on Court Philippe Chartier, a court whose name today felt like it didn't have its usual name. Because it was an unusual day during an unusual fortnight on the Parisian red clay. Sometimes, the unusual presents despair, confusion, and even an encumbrance because it alters the normal rhythm of usual events. But there was nothing unwanted about Roger Federer's unusual moment today. Because it was fitting. Fitting that Andre Agassi was there to present him with the trophy. Fitting that a rainy day, not seen before in the previous three years he played on Finals Sunday on Chartier, was the forecast that the weather validated. Fitting that Bill Gates was in the crowd (and throw Tony Parker and Eva Longeria in there as well). Fitting that Bjorn Borg witnessed it, and fitting that, well, the unusual Robin Soderling was the unusual opponent for this at the time, 13 time gra...

Photo from AFP/Getty Images Amazing, just amazing. But Roger Federer's run to the Finals of the French Open, as well as the fact that both NBC and ESPN continue to royally screw the tennis fans in America with the most disgraceful coverage arguably in all of sports history. No one in the United States, unless they had an online streaming of the match, was able to see in real time how Federer was able to comeback from two sets to one down and defeat a confident Juan Martin del Potro just a few minutes ago, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. It was terrific display of heart and desire from the man looking for that elusive French Open title (he'll take on Robin Soderling who had a terrific five set win himself), and an abominable display, yet again though, from the two networks covering this tournament in the United States. To say in the very least, NBC and ESPN once again betrayed the tennis fans of this nation. And if the Dinara Safina-Svetlana Kuznetsova match goes past the alloted ...