boys and girls, and sometimes their spouses and parents. The teams include nutritionists, perchance psychologists
Winners in accepting their trophies invariably thank their teams, as well as their opponents, the fans, the ball
sport. With the evolution of equipment and a year-long schedule, tennis has gone from individual to team sport.
that the importance of the majors is a relatively modern phenomenon, linked to the flattening of the
the tour. Joel Drucker, a learned and keen observer of the game for many years, reminds his readers
him for being un-COVID-vaccinated last year, locked him up in a quarantine hotel, and deported him
Beaten in three sets, he was visibly crushed. But he was patient. Australian border authorities detained
and in particular can still expect to make a Grand Slam — a goal he nearly reached in 2021, when Daniil Medvedev stopped him at Flushing Meadows.
closer in feel and bounce than at any other time, which would be one reason Djokovic can win everywhere
Drucker points out that the surfaces, which traditionally are quite different from place to place, are now