Tennis365’s A to Z of tennis for July: Featuring boring Tim Henman, a zinger and more

A to Z of Tennis
Tim Henman shot

We give you an A to Z snapshot of some of the important things that happened in the world of tennis during July that you may have missed.

A is for Andre Agassi: Andre Agassi knows what makes Novak Djokovic tick, and the American legend revealed during an interview with Tennis365 that the Serb’s Wimbledon victory could start a major revival.

B is for boring Tim Henman: The BBC asked their readers “who is more boring between Andy Murray and Tim Henman?” and it was Henman who walked away with the award.

C is for commentator: Andy Murray gave us a glimpse of post-playing career and we have to say we like what we heard. His debut stint as a BBC commentator went down pretty well.

D is for ‘Djoker’ being back to his best: Novak Djokovic won his fourth Wimbledon title and, more worryingly for his rivals, he looks like the “old Novak” again. You know, the one that swept all before him a few years ago.

Novak Djokovic kisses his Wimbledon trophy
Novak Djokovic kisses his Wimbledon trophy

E is for epic meltdown: Benoit Paire left it until the last day of the month to give us the meltdown of all meltdowns at the Citi Open in Washington.

F is for five titles in Atlanta: John Isner remains the king of the Atlanta Open as he claimed his fifth title in the American city with a three-set victory Ryan Harrison.

G is for Goran Ivanisevic: Unfortunately we have to mention the World Cup as Goran Ivanisevic’s comments about England fans ahead of the semi-final against England was our top story for July.

H is for history: Nikoloz Basilashvili became the first Georgian to win an ATP Tour title when he lifted the German Tennis Championships trophys.

I is for icons: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are certainly icons and Kevin Palmer recalled their landmark match at Wimbledon 20 years ago.

J is for Jay Clarke: The 20-year-old Brit defeated Jordan Thompson in Binghamton, New York, to win his first ATP Challenger Tour title. Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie are other Brits to have won the tournament.

K is for keep an eye on the clock: The 25-second serve clock is being introduced at the Washington Open and the likes of Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev have welcomed it.

L is for life after Andy Murray: With the two-time Wimbledon winner unable to compete at SW19 this year, we had a taste of life after Andy Murray and it was not a good sight as there was not a British player left in the singles draw during the second week.

M is for Matteo Berrettini: Italian Matteo Berrettini was on the double in Gstaad as he won his first ATP Tour singles title with victory over Roberto Bautista Agut and then followed it up with his first ATP Tour doubles trophy a few hours later as he partnered Daniele Bracciali.

N is for Next Gen players: After Fabio Fognini called the “Next Generation thing bulls***” in June, Rafael Nadal has also admitted that “the emerging players have not been special enough” to challenge for top honours.

O is for Olympics: Venus Williams says she wants to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo despite the fact that she will be 40-years-old. “I’ll be 40 but I won’t look 40.”

Venus Williams celebrates
Venus Williams celebrates

P is for prize money: The US Open prize money has been increased to a record £40.6 million ($53 million) and the men’s and women’s winner will each receive a cheque of £2.9m ($3.8m). So how do the four Grand Slams stack up?

Q is for quiz: Of course we had a quiz about Wimbledon semi-finalist Kevin Anderson.

R is for retirement: Anabel Medina Garrigues, Gilles Muller and Mikhail Youzhny announced in July that they will retire during the 2018 season.

S is for six hours and 36 minutes: That’s how long it took to separate Kevin Anderson and John Isner during their Wimbledon semi-final with the South African winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 26-24.

T is for tie-breaker: Following the Anderson-Isner marathon, many felt that it may lead to a rule change for tie-breakers.

However, our Michael Graham argued that knee-jerk reactions can only hurt the spectacle.

U is for Uniqlo: It was hardly a secret that Roger Federer had ditched Nike, but it was still strange to see him step out on Wimbledon’s Centre Court in Uniqlo apparel.

Roger Federer celebrates
Roger Federer celebrates

V is for video: Just a video of Andy Murray and former England footballer Wayne Rooney playing football on a tennis court.

W is for Wimbledon: Wimbledon 2019 is only 334 days away.

X is eXclusive interview: Wimbledon wheelchair doubles winner Gordon Reid chatted exclusively to Tennis365 about his latest success.

Y is for youth: Olga Danilovic from Serbia became the first player born in the 2000s to win a WTA title when she beat fellow 17-year-old Anastasia Potapova in the Moscow River Cup final. Doesn’t that make you feel old?

Z is for zinger: Another late entry as Johanna Konta produced a zinger of a match as she handed Serena Williams the worst defeat of her career as she claimed a 6-1, 6-0 win over the 23-time Grand Slam winner.

Johanna Konta Rafael Nadal

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