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

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal celebrate

Shahida Jacobs
January 5, 2019

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