A Captivating Year of Tennis
Marat Safin's deciding rubber victory over Argentina's Jose Acasuso ensured Russia regained the Davis Cup and brought the curtain down on another captivating year of tennis.
It was again Roger Federer's year with the Swiss magician furthering his legendary status by helping himself to three grand-slams, 92 match-wins and over eight million dollars in prizemoney. However, it was year in which a number of other players took their games to new levels and emerged as possible challengers to Federer's dominance.
Spain's Rafael Nadal was again seen flexing his muscular guns as he added five titles to take his career tally to 17. Nadal finished the year with a superior four-two head-to-head record against Federer to easily secure the world-number-two ranking.
The shaven-headed James Blake also wrapped up five titles during a break-through year in which he climbed from outside the top-20 to finish as one of the top-four players in the world. The American claimed many key scalps during the year and his runners-up showing in the season-ending Masters Cup, with victories over Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko ensured he will enter 2007 on a high.
Germany's Tommy Haas this year overcame a career-threatening shoulder injury and the horrifying motorbike crash of his parents to capture three titles. Haas finished the year at world-number-11 and proved his powerful game can stand up to anyone. This was evidenced in his nail-biting five-set loss to Federer at this year's Australian Open.
Davydenko, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick looked rejuvenated in 2006 and all recorded memorable years finishing inside the top-10. Looking forward to next year it will be interesting to see if Federer can continue his dominance or if others will rise to the occasion and challenge for the grand-slams and world-number-one. There isn't long to wait for the tennis enthusiasts as season-2007 gets under-way in less than month.
It was again Roger Federer's year with the Swiss magician furthering his legendary status by helping himself to three grand-slams, 92 match-wins and over eight million dollars in prizemoney. However, it was year in which a number of other players took their games to new levels and emerged as possible challengers to Federer's dominance.
Spain's Rafael Nadal was again seen flexing his muscular guns as he added five titles to take his career tally to 17. Nadal finished the year with a superior four-two head-to-head record against Federer to easily secure the world-number-two ranking.
The shaven-headed James Blake also wrapped up five titles during a break-through year in which he climbed from outside the top-20 to finish as one of the top-four players in the world. The American claimed many key scalps during the year and his runners-up showing in the season-ending Masters Cup, with victories over Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko ensured he will enter 2007 on a high.
Germany's Tommy Haas this year overcame a career-threatening shoulder injury and the horrifying motorbike crash of his parents to capture three titles. Haas finished the year at world-number-11 and proved his powerful game can stand up to anyone. This was evidenced in his nail-biting five-set loss to Federer at this year's Australian Open.
Davydenko, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick looked rejuvenated in 2006 and all recorded memorable years finishing inside the top-10. Looking forward to next year it will be interesting to see if Federer can continue his dominance or if others will rise to the occasion and challenge for the grand-slams and world-number-one. There isn't long to wait for the tennis enthusiasts as season-2007 gets under-way in less than month.
posted by Chris Walker at 11:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home