Beta // Sports // Tips in Real-Time (-Ish)
tennis 175 tips
Djokovic Wins 3rd Straight Aussie Open on 27/1/13 | Tipped by Quickish |
#tennis +3
*Six majors....moving up the list. Thoroughly deserved. How do you beat a guy who does EVERYTHING well.... (SI's Jon Wertheim)

*How many majors does Djokovic collect? Six at age 25. Hitting 10 feels like a lock. How deep from there? Who becomes biggest nemesis? Andy? (WSJ's Jason Gay)

*Like the way Murray is handling this loss. Looks and sounds like he expects to get more chances. (WSJ's Tom Perrotta)

*Right now, Novak is the favorite to dominate the clay season and win RG. Can't say much about Rafa until he actually gets on court. (ESPN.com's Howard Bryant) (via Twitter)

MORE: 50 quick-hit reactions from SI's Jon Wertheim.
Name to Know: Sloane Stephens on 23/1/13 | Tipped by Quickish |
#tennis +7
"Forget it, might as well just go for it," Stephens said. She moved her opponent around the court and boldly (sadistically?) unfurled drop shots. She attacked the net early and often, winning 18 of her 20 ventures on the day. (Note to the rest of the field: that's more volleying than Williams will sometimes in an entire tournament.) Stephens transitioned from defense to offense and back again. She constructed points masterfully. Jon Wertheim(via SI.com) , on the breakthrough performance at the Australian Open, as the 20-year-old American knocked off Serena Williams.
Andy Murray: Last Word on 11/9/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#andy murray +5
it seems to me that the Grand Slam season of 2012 has ended with tennis in as uncertain a state as we've seen it in quite a long time... It's not as though parity is breaking out wherever you look, but after a years-long spell during which tennis has been comprehensively dominated by the same few all-time greats, it suddenly doesn't seem crazy to imagine other players breaking through. Brian Phillips(via Grantland) , adding: "Mostly, of course, that's because Murray just broke through, holding on in the fifth set against a relentless Djokovic in one of the most grueling matches the U.S. Open has ever seen. Whatever happens in the months ahead, he'll be a major part of it."

MORE: "Indeed, Murray's fortnight turned out just as many expected -- no, wished -- after his tear-stained loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final, his breakthrough win at the London Olympics. And it was, really, the perfect end to the perfect year. How else to think of it?" (SL Price, SI.com)
Andy Murray's Moment: "Finally" on 11/9/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#andy murray +5
It was never going to be simple for Andy Murray, who until Monday was the best tennis player in the world -- and maybe ever -- to never win a Grand Slam title. There would be groans. Moans. Hangdog looks, self-loathing, thigh slaps, "jelly" legs (his words) and much limping. His hair, everyone knew, would be an absolute mess. And of course, the swearing -- lots and lots of swearing. But at the U.S. Open on Monday, Murray finally hit through the agony and found a way to win his first Grand Slam title. Tom Perrotta(via Wall Street Journal) , adding: "After Murray's gold medal at the Olympics and a U.S. Open title, tennis has the best kind of parity a sport could possibly want: four players who are good enough to be considered No. 1."
U.S. Open Champ: Andy Murray on 10/9/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#andy murray +6
Andy Murray becomes first British man to win a Grand Slam since 1936. Serious contender for player of the year now. (NYT's Greg Bishop)

And guess what, sports fans: there's no reason to believe this will be the only one. (ESPN.com's Howard Bryant)

Big four? Big four. (USA TODAY Sports' Chris Chase) (via Twitter)
Serena on 10/9/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#serena williams +7
By keeping calm, by not exploding at calls as she did in her appearances in 2009 and '11, by only glaring when nabbed for a foot-fault in the second set Sunday, Williams, 30, also completed the final delicate step of her two-year comeback to the top of women's tennis and, perhaps just as important, felt at home at last at the Grand Slam that has long fed her darkest impulses. SL Price(via SI.com) , adding: "Believe it or not, the champion best known for a lack of career focus, her combustible nature, is looking to provide tennis with a bit of stability."

MORE: "It might defy terminology because of its rarity, which stems from its immediacy. Williams simply can pluck her game from wreckage with startling haste. It is almost mystifying." (Chuck Culpepper, SportsOnEarth.com)
U.S. Open: "Serena The Conqueror" on 7/9/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#tennis +6
At some point, if you care about seeing things done well, you have to sit down and applaud the aristocracy of talent, which makes the aristocracy of tennis fans irrelevant. After all, that's what makes any change an athlete can bring about possible. ... I love that Serena is still out there kicking the 20th century's ass — just incidentally, not even meaning to do it, not making a point of it, just kicking its ass over and over again. Brian Phillips(via Grantland) , adding: "Katharine Hepburn said at Humphrey Bogart's funeral that he liked to drink, so he drank; Serena likes to win tennis matches, so she wins tennis matches. It isn't to make you like her, or prove you wrong, or sell you a sandwich. It isn't to overcome the global history of race. It isn't to expand our sense of the meaning of Americanness. It's to do a thing she wants to do. And miraculously, she is herself such a force that all that other stuff scatters like paper."
"All-Purpose Guide to the U.S. Open" on 27/8/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#tennis +5
Why Roger Federer will win his sixth title here…: He's 31 going on 27 and having a fantastic summer. Another reason: Rafael Nadal isn't playing. ( Why he won't: Because Andy Murray is due for a breakthrough.)

Why Serena Williams will win it: She's better at tennis than everyone else. ( Why she won't: Because of something weird and controversial.)

I'm going to Flushing for the early rounds. Is there an early gem of a match? Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 Open champion, plays David Nalbandian, a fellow Argentine, in the first round. Tom Perrotta(via Wall Street Journal) , with a handy viewer's guide to the U.S. Open, which starts today.
Sunday Read: "Venus and Serena Against the World" on 26/8/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#tennis +8
Heading into the U.S. Open, check out this in-depth profile of the Williams Sisters by the New York Times Magazine's John Jeremiah Sullivan. (via New York Times Magazine)
In Praise of Serena on 4/8/12 | Tipped by Quickish |
#olympics +6
There will be 302 gold medals handed out during these Olympics, to athletes from across the globe. Some will be so close that the silver will taste like ashes; some will be so dominant that all the second-place finisher can do is smile. And then there is another category all together, and it belongs to Serena Williams. Bruce Arthur(via National Post)

KEEP UP

FOLLOW US Facebook Twitter

SEND IN A TIP

Tweet: @quickish or #qksh

Email: tips@quickish.com