The GOAT discussion reached its most ludicrous point yesterday when John McEnroe’s endless search for an answer to the unanswerable and interminable question landed at Rafael Nadal’s feet after he beat Roger Federer for the 17th time, the sixth time in a Grand Slam final.  (Federer has beaten Nadal only eight times, and only twice [...]

Much has been written and said lately about Novak Djokovic’s gluten-free diet as one reason for his monumental winning streak, so I thought I’d look into it.  I could afford to drop a few pounds and wouldn’t mind improving my game. All it requires giving up? According to the Mayo Clinic, just these few items: [...]

Mac Styslinger, a native of Mountain Brook, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham, reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open juniors, and saw his ranking skyrocket into the ITF’s top 100.   The following profile of  Styslinger written by Will Hightower, a  junior at Mountain Brook High School, ran in the March issue Village Living, a [...]

Since you were probably sleeping at 5:30 a.m. this morning and missed it, Bob and Mike Bryan added their tenth Grand Slam trophy to their display cases Saturday, solidifying their claim as the greatest doubles team of all time.  (I recorded it and watched it when I woke up; they dominated, serving 83 percent on [...]

Shame on me for echoing the pack of headlines worldwide following the Roddick loss that said all of the American players had been ousted from the Australian Open.  Supertwins Bob and Mike Bryan are seeded first and in the men’s doubles quarterfinals, and are set for the second match on the Margaret Court Arena starting [...]

Watching matches the past two nights from Melbourne, I’m struck by how many awesome unseeded players there are in the men’s game.   With 32 seeds, it would seem the talent would drop down after the seeds end, but it’s far from the case. Just ask Roger Federer about Gilles Simon, ranked 34th now, but who [...]

What a treat last night to flip on the TV about 11:30 to see Australian tennis fans in summer clothes watching a live rematch of the John Isner-Nicholas Mahut marathon classic from Wimbledon (Isner won this time 3 & 6 in a quick 90 minutes).   Also a treat to listen to the Australian announcers for [...]

It has been a good year for Topspin Blog, with more than 10,000 readers in 2010 despite my lack of regular postings at times.  Thanks for reading, and keep coming back.  Next year looks promising for American tennis, especially the Davis Cup team, so see you in 2011!

Tuesday night my buddy Anthony and I had planned one last match outdoors before the days get too short and the weather too cold and play moves under the inflatable bubble that covers four of the nine courts at Green Valley Tennis Club in Haddon Township, N.J. My mother-in-law was in town to babysit, and [...]

If there was a much coverage of the actual Davis Cup matches as there is complaining about the format, the event would be as popular as the Grand Slams are now.  Instead, we get John McEnroe or whoever else has the microphone or the column space endlessly lamenting the ridiculous schedule and the format.  But [...]