tennis 2012

i haven’t written anything about tennis since may of this year when angelique kerber entered the top 10. blame it on a long spell of stress throughout the year and the premature end to rafa’s season when he got injured during wimbledon. i’m a huge rafanatic, so when it was announced that he would be on indefinite break to let his knees recover, my interest and excitement for the rest of the season waned a little bit. just a little… of course the tennis enthusiast in me would still kick in everyday whenever i check on results and tournament news. the rafa fan in me just know that if rafa was in the mix throughout the season, results would be a lot different.

anyway, 2012 was still a memorable year. rafa won his 11^th slam, his 7^th roland garros title and was the runner-up to novak djokovic in the australian open. while he wasn’t able to defend his olympic gold medal and was upset in the second round of wimbledon, he won his 8^th consecutive crown in the monte carlo masters and 6^th title in rome masters, putting his total number of titles to 50.

  

aside from rafa’s stunted 2012 exploit, there were several highlights of the 2012 season:

1. andy murray wins the london olympic gold medal in men’s singles and finally breaks through in the slam category by winning this year’s US open over djokovic. for me, murray’s achievements this year is by far the biggest story of 2012.

2. serena williams won wimbledon and the US open, putting her grand slam title to 15. she also won the singles and women’s doubles gold medal in the london olympics and the season-ending championships, proving once again that she’s the best player in the women’s game.

   

3. maria sharapova achieved the career slam by winning this year’s roland garros crown over sara errani of italy.

4. victoria azarenka won her first slam, at this year’s aussie open and finished the year as WTA’s number 1 player.

5. roger federer wins wimbledon, his first slam (would you believe?!) since winning the 2010 australian open.

6. the czech republic won both fed cup (defeating serbia) and davis cup (beating spain).

7. agnieszka radwanska gave poland its first ever grand slam finalist when she reached the wimbledon final, losing to serena.

8. proving that the women’s game is more dynamic than ever, the year-end top 10 came from 10 different nations.

9. the bryan brothers won their 12^th grand slam titles and the london olympic gold medal.

10. kim clijsters said goodbye to tennis once again after losing in the second round of the US open. andy roddick also retired in 2012.

i’m looking forward to 2013 season, which starts december 30^th with a host of tournaments in australia and exhibition matches in asia.