Break Points: June 14, 2013

Break Points is a daily roundup of tennis news, videos, links, and tweets. If you have something you think I should include, email me at amy@changeovertennis.com.

Today’s notable results:

  • Halle: Roger Federer d. Mischa Zverev, 6-0, 6-0
  • Halle: Tommy Haas d. Gael Monfils, 6-7(4) 6-3, 6-3
  • Queen’s Club: Lleyton Hewitt d. Juan Martin del Potro, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
  • Queen’s Club: Marin Cilic d. Tomas Berdych, 7-5, 7-6(4)
  • Birmingham: Donna Vekic d. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-1
  • Nuremberg: Andrea Petkovic d. Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, 6-3

News and Links:

Steve Tignor’s dispatch from the Queen’s Club is worth a read:

A woman to my left, watching del Potro chase down a Hewitt lob, told her husband with a giggle that he “looked like a blind giraffe.” In these quarters, this is what’s known as getting rowdy.

Matt Cronin reports that Wimbledon turned down Alisa Kleybanova’s request for a wild card into the tournament.

Venus Williams posted a picture of her Wimbledon dress on her Instagram account. And here’s what Ana Ivanovic will be wearing.

Pete Bodo wrote an interesting piece about the rise of the inside-out forehand:

I dwell on the details because it wasn’t that long ago that this tactic was nearly unheard of. Players once chose to “run around the backhand” mainly to protect that weaker wing, and that tactic is as old as the hills. Interestingly, at one time it was much more common in the rec game, simply because you could only do so much to hide the backhand at the pro level. But today, players step around the backhand as a strategy—as a means of employing the signature shot of this era, the power forehand. And they build entire games around it.

Courtney Nguyen dissected Pippa Middleton’s Vanity Fair Wimbledon preview so we don’t have to read it. At least, I’m assuming that’s why:

So how does Britain’s most famous little sister fare in her first dispatch as a contributing editor for the American magazine? Let’s just say the unforced error count outnumbers the winners. But, hey, Maria Sharapova won most of her matches at the French Open that way, so it’s not an entirely failed strategy.

Tennis on Twitter:

Tomas Berdych offered his take on politics:

This is cute:

Elena Vesnina weighed in on Kleybanova:

Roger Federer looks like Bono in this old picture:


Amy can be spotted on a tennis court in the Philadelphia area, shanking backhand volleys.

3 Responses

  1. Jason
    Jason June 14, 2013 at 5:48 pm |

    What cracks me up is that the quotes I’ve seen from Federer sound almost *apologetic* about the double bagel thing.

    Great reminders today that Hewitt and Haas are a Wimbledon champ and semifinalist respectively.

  2. RZ
    RZ June 15, 2013 at 9:26 am |

    Why didn’t Alisa Kleybanova try to use her protected ranking? That would have gotten her into Wimbledon for certain, while a wild card request was a gamble.

  3. Aube
    Aube June 15, 2013 at 1:41 pm |

    Not giving to Kleby a wild card was not cool at all, but I must say I have no clues what the criteria to getting one is…

    Hopefully Kleby will be back on tour the old fashion way: winning her way into it!

    Go Alisa!

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