Wimbledon 2015

Helluva nice guy, though

 

Sure is. He fired about a dozen serves at our columnist last year for one of those "This is what it's like to face John Isner's serve" stories. The columnist, a good 4.5 player, got a racket on a couple but was able to put zero in play.

 

Ha! Sounds like a good column.

That shows you how far a 4.5 player is from Top 20 in the world ... contrary to what most 4.5 players think

 

When Serena decides to turn it on, she simply can't be stopped.

 

Wow, Federer was absolutely clinical in polishing off Murray in straight sets. His serve was impenetrable -- 20 aces. 76 percent of first serves in, 84 percent of first serve points won. A magnificent match to get to his 10th Wimbledon final.

Can he take out Djoker? If he plays like this, I think he can. I'd love to see it.

 

I did a version of this when John was a freshman at Georgia and I wrote for the Athens paper. I've played all my life and am well above average, but I knew this was going to be unlike anything I'd ever experienced. He was stunned when I actually got his first bomb up the stripe in the deuce court back in play. I did OK on the serves up the middle, but his serves out wide, I never got within a foot of them.

For the story I also borrowed a pitching gun from the UGA baseball team and clocked him on some serves, which were in the upper 120s, though I could tell he wasn't giving it the full gas because it was right before the NCAAs. I've never had more fun doing a story.

John has always been incredibly nice and gracious. We're not exactly friends, but we always stop and talk for a while whenever we see each other. Nobody ever enjoyed playing college tennis more, and one of the reasons I think he's always been so friendly and grounded as a pro is that he never expected to be doing what he's doing. He thought he'd have a nice college career and move on to something else, not reach the top 10, spend a really long time in the top 20 and win a bunch of tournaments.

 

I reckon Murray's a Scot again. The British only embrace him when he wins.

 

And who the hell dug up Martina Hingis? She's been out of the picture at least a decade.

 

She's looking like the best doubles player in the world right now. In two finals.

Actually, she's been back in the doubles picture for a couple of years now. She and Paes won mixed doubles at this year's Australian Open and she was a women's doubles finalist at last year's U.S. Open and made it to the quarters at this year's French.

 

That's what I'm saying. Best comeback since Capriati in tennis?

 

She's been playing doubles on tour for the past two years and is ranked No. 2. Won the Australian Open mixed title last January. Has always been a great doubles player. Magic hands. And, of course, it helps that only a handful of great singles players regularly play doubles.

Funny thing is, Hingis' doubles partner, Sania Mirza, is ranked No. 1. And when I saw them play in person a couple of months ago Hingis absolutely carried Mirza.

Even Kournikova could win a title when partnered with Hingis.

 

Yeah, but Mirza is smoking hot: