Tennis365’s A to Z of tennis for September: From a deer in headlights to a foul-mouthed Roger Federer

Shahida Jacobs
October 3, 2018

You may have missed some of important things that happened in the world of tennis during September, so here is your A to Z of tennis snapshot.

A is for antics: Nick Kyrgios was up to his old “antics” at the US Open, but Michael Graham couldn’t help but voice his frustration.

B is for bagel: Rafael Nadal was handed a bagel during the US Open with Dominic Thiem achieving the rare feat, but can you name the other players who have bagelled the Spaniard?

C is for coaching and code violations: It started with a code violation for coaching and then things escalated. Yep the 2018 US Open women’s final was a dramatic one.
Serena Williams pointing

D is for deer in headlights: That’s how John Millman felt after he stunned his “hero” Roger Federer in the fourth round of the US Open.

E is for eight different champions: The last eight Grand Slams have produced eight different female winners.

F is for flipping the bird and foul-mouthed Roger Federer: On the back of Serena Williams’ run-in with Carlos Ramos, we dug into the archives to come up with a Top 10 of players arguing with chair umpires and it features one player flipping the bird and Roger Federer “not giving a s***”.

G is for GOAT: Novak Djokovic is firmly in the mix for the title of tennis’ GOAT, but Michael Graham believes he shouldn’t just be considered comparable to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the debate, but be ahead of them.

Kevin Palmer, though, warns that he may never get the respect he is due.

H is for hellish run: It has been a hellish time of late for world No 1 Simona Halep. Since winning the Canadian Open and appearing in the final in Cincinnati, the Romanian lost in the first round of the US Open, Wuhan Open and China Open. Her exit from Beijing came after she picked up a back injury and was forced to retire.

I is for Ivanisevic: Former Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic celebrated his birthday and we paid tribute with 10 facts about the Croatian. It surprisingly has a mention of a boiler mascot.

J is for Japan: Japan has its first Grand Slam winner after Naomi Osaka’s stunning win over Serena Williams in the US Open final. It was a glorious tournament for the Asian country with Kei Nishikori also reaching the semi-finals.

K is for Kyle Edmund: See where Kyle Edmund features on our Top 10 list of 2018’s most significant breakout climbers in the tennis rankings.

L is for Laver Cup: That was fun, wasn’t it? From Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic’s dream doubles partnership, to the Serb hitting the Swiss in the back, the Laver Cup certainly entertained us.

Isaac Seecholan has changed his tune about the team competition after another fun-filled tournament in Chicago.

M is for Madrid: The Spanish capital will host the first two editions of the revamped Davis Cup with the inaugural one taking place at La Caja Mágica.

N is for Naomi Osaka: No surprises Naomi Osaka is living her best life as she followed up her US Open win by signing a sponsorship deal with Nissan while she also agreed a record endorsement deal with Adidas.
Naomi Osaka with US Open trophy

And then there was her appearance on The Ellen Show and selfies with LeBron James and Channing Tatum.

O is for Olympics: Roger Federer’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic dream has been given a boost by the ITF with its president David Haggerty saying he could be allowed to play even if he skips the Davis Cup.

P is for Pliskova: Former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova ended Naomi Osaka’s unbeaten run when she beat the US Open champion in the final of the Pan Pacific Open.

Q is for quiz: Kill some time with our quiz on the WTA Premier tournament logos.

R is for the ‘r’ word featuring Roger Federer: Roger Federer doesn’t like to use the word retirement, but after his US Open exit, Kevin Palmer felt time finally seems to be catching up with tennis’ special one.

S is for singing Serena Williams: Serena Williams went topless and showed off her singing talents as part of a Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.

Photographer Paola Kudacki: Serena Williams-Berlei Breast Cancer Awareness campaign

T is for Teddy Tennis: If you are looking for a route to get your children to play tennis at an impressionable age, then Teddy Tennis is a good place to start.

U is for unbelievable shot: Roger Federer produced the shot of the US Open that left his opponent Nick Kyrgios stunned. “It was unbelievable. I’m probably going to place it on Instagram!” the Australian said.

V is for video: We do enjoy Naomi Osaka’s post-match interviews and here is her ‘I love you Serena’ video.

W is for women’s version of the Laver Cup: The second edition of the Laver Cup was a huge success and it is perhaps time for someone from the WTA to look at a women’s version. Anyone up for the Steffi Graf Cup?

X is for seXism: Serena Williams cried sexism on the back of her US Open final defeat and the reactions were mixed with Greg Rusedski saying her accusations were “just not justified”.

However, the WTA and NBA star Steph Curry have backed the 23-time Grand Slam winner.

Y is for Yoshihito Nishioka: Yoshihito Nishioka and Bernard Tomic both won tournaments after coming through qualifiers with the Japanese player winning his maiden ATP title at the Shenzhen Open and Tomic taking the honours at the Chengdu Open.

Z is for zany ATP Tour players: Who is the funniest player on the ATP Tour? Andy Murray’s zany humour is definitely a hit.

Roger Federer Serena Williams