Tennis365’s A to Z of tennis for December: An ‘arrogant’ Lleyton Hewitt, a Fedal reunion and more

A to Z of Tennis
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal celebrate

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

A is for ‘arrogant’’ Lleyton Hewitt: The Justin Gimelstob saga continues to put tennis in a bad light with John Isner accusing Lleyton Hewitt of “being arrogant”.

B is for bigger and better things for Serena Williams: Don’t ask Serena Williams about the 2018 US Open as she has moved onto “bigger and better things”.

C is for a chanting Novak Djokovic: Red Star Belgrade fan Novak Djokovic delivered on his promise to watch his team in the Champions League.
Novak Djokovic celebrates

D is for deciding set tie-breakers: The Australian Open has become the latest Grand Slam to introduce tie-breakers for deciding sets.

E is for expansion: Yes, the Wimbledon expansion has received the go-ahead after a £65m deal was struck with the neighbouring golf course.

F is for Fedal reunion: It is happening, folks. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be teaming up at the 2019 Laver Cup after the latter confirmed his participation in the event.

G is for Grigor Dimitrov’s disastrous year: Our Michael Graham says Grigor Dimitrov’s disastrous year proves nothing is guaranteed for Alexander Zverev.

H is for heat stress scale: That’s the new heat policy that Australian Open officials have introduced.

H is also for Hula Hoop Wars featuring Andy Murray and his mother Judy: So who do you think came out on top in the battle of hula hoops?

I is for ITF world champions: And the awards for the 2018 International Tennis Federation world champions went to…

J is for Justin Gimelstob: Back to Justin Gimelstob and it is time for the ATP to take a hard line with the American “showman”.

K is for Kyle Edmund: Here is Kyle Edmund’s Report Card for his 2018 breakthrough season.

L is for Lip Sync Battle: Serena Williams and Andy Roddick will feature on the new season of Lip Sync Battle.

M is for Marcelo Rios: Former world No 1 Marcelo Rios has announced he plans to make a comeback at the age of 41.

N is for no live data and no live streaming for lower-tier events: That is the recommendation of the Independent Review Panel, who released its final report into corruption in tennis.

O is for Olympic dream: World No 1 Simona Halep has set her sights high for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Not only does she want to win a medal for Romania, but she also wants to be the flag-bearer.

P is for possible solutions to tactical toilet breaks and medical timeouts: Andy Murray has come up with a few suggestions on how to counter tactical toilet breaks and medical timeouts.

Q is for quizzes: We have you covered with quizzes about the players who retired in 2018, the legendary Bjorn Borg and the mercurial Marcelo Rios.

R is for rule changes: There will be increased rankings protection for returning mothers while female players can wear catsuits, should they wish to. Read more about the WTA rulebook update.

S is for sexism ‘sh*t’: Andy Murray once again took a stand against sexism in sport after winner Ada Hegerberg was asked if she twerked during the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.

S is also for streaming: Greg Rusedski says streaming is the future and believes the move to Amazon can be good for tennis in the UK.

T is for Top 10: Who are the all-time top 10 ATP prize money earners? Who are the all-time top 10 WTA prize money earners?

U is for unique metric: Who are the best servers of 2018 by unique metric – does Roger Federer feature?

V is for Venus Williams: Former world No 1 Venus Williams cut ties with her long-term coach David Witt. Meanwhile, Sloane Stephens also confirmed she is “on a break” from her coach Kamau Murray.

W is for western rock lobster: Now what does a western rock lobster have to do with tennis? Well, if Roger Federer is holding one then it is newsworthy and makes our A to Z of tennis.
Roger Federer with a western rock lobster

X is for eXclusives: We once again brought you some exclusives with Tommy Haas talking about life after tennis as well as Roger Federer’s future.

Y is for Yevgeny Kafelnikov: Our top story in December came from Yevgeny Kafelnikov after the Russian had a full go at Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova.

Z is for zest for life: Novak Djokovic remembered his zest for life after taking a snooze on the beach while on holiday with his family.

Andy Murray Roger Federer

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