Listening to the many basketball experts analyze young players before last night’s NBA draft is fascinating and instructive.
Not since 2004 when unseeded Gaston Gaudio shocked everyone—including himself—to win the French Open men’s title, has anyone other than Rafael Nadal been the favorite. That makes predicting the champion the most perilous and difficult challenge in 20 years.
Justine Henin, the seven-time major champion often called “the female Federer,” once said she watched men’s matches — rather than women’s matches — to improve her game. That didn’t surprise me because she abounded in talent and left no stone unturned.
In my view, tennis and basketball are the sports that have evolved the most in the past 60 years in terms of athleticism.
Like so many tennis players and fans, I was saddened when Florida Tennis magazine arrived, and on the front cover, I saw “In Loving Memory of Jim Martz." Jim, the founder and editor of this elite publication, died on December 30th at age 80.
