Article Sphere Logo
"Tennis" Article
 Article Directory Home All Categories Recreation And Sports Tennis

2008 Tennis Highlights

By Expert Author: Amelia Stenson | Article Abstract
Word Count: 552 words | Views: 48 view(s)
The lion’s share of tennis highlights in 2008 come from the racquets of the ATP giants, with newbie, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, elevating tennis to Tinsel Town-type entertainment, and Nadal and Federer fighting one grand slam battle after another for the number one spot in world tennis.

The 2008 season began with a scintillating and searing display by a relatively unknown unseeded player for the opening grand slam in Melbourne. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gutted the legions of British tennis fans and cost the bookmaker’s a heap in cash when he flayed Andy Murray in the opening round.

But that was not the end of the Muhammad Ali lookalike’s climb to stardom, as the Frenchman set the scoreboards sizzling when he went on to destroy the hopes and dreams of some of the most accomplished tennis players on the planet, including Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny.

The stuff dreams are made of

Tsonga’s performance against the incumbent number two in world tennis, Rafael Nadal, was the stuff dreams are made of and the effervescent crowd pleaser effectively beat the King of Clay on all fronts – in skill, strength and speed (not to mention popularity) - as the concise statistics of the sports information system revealed.

His über-powerful serves, pinpoint volleys and aggressive yet precise backline play had the 3D ball tracking mechanism of the hawk eye working overtime, with Nadal questioning its accuracy with hope rather than conviction.

Tsonga views himself as the ultimate entertainer and, while the crowd feeds off his sublime skills, he too is motivated by the energy and hype of the supporters. In his final clash against Novak Djokovic, where his dreams of a grand slam victory were left in tatters, he often incited the crowd by playing to the video walls surrounding the courts...and to great effect.

Sadly, Tsonga was unable to continue his formidable dash to the top end of the ATP ranking as a knee injury kept him sidelined for the majority of the season.

The clash of the Titans

One match that will go down in the annals of tennis folklore is the clash of the Titans – the Roger Federer/ Rafael Nadal battle for grass-court supremacy.
Federer, who will no doubt be remembered as one of the most dominant tennis players of all time and the most graceful, had a unpleasant start to the 2008 season – he was badly affected by glandular fever, an illness that arguably cost him the number one spot.

He fared reasonably well at the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion, Novak Djokovic, but flippantly cast the loss aside and marched triumphantly on to the grass-courts of Wimbledon, a territory that had been annexed by the Swiss Master as his own private stamping ground.

The match was epic, and the event management system was put under one of its most telling tests with rain, gloom and precision ball placing all affecting the end result.

For five years, Federer had beaten all contenders for the kudos of the All England Club and he was on a confident strut to a 6th consecutive title. Sadly, it was not to be –after 4 nail-biting hours and 48 bone-crunching minutes of exhaustive yet sublime competitive tennis, his younger arch rival, Rafael Nadal, walked away with the crown; a defeat that no doubt must have sliced Federer’s heart in two.
Amelia Stenson

About the Author/Author Bio

www.edhsport.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/2008-Tennis-Highlights/177484

Article Tags: tennis highlights, 3d ball tracking, event management system, sports information systems, scoreboards, video walls

Article Submitted: 2009-02-13 | This Article has been viewed 48 times.

Rate Article

Related Videos

Play Video
How to Improve your Tennis Serve Step 1/8
Play Video
How to Perform a Tennis Serve Step 7/8
Play Video
How to Toss a tennis Ball for the Serve
Play Video
How to Perform a Tennis Serve Step 2/8
Play Video
How to Play Tennis - Introduction
 

More "Tennis" Related Articles

 
 

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Tennis" article category.

People interested in the above article "2008 Tennis Highlights" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

 
For those who are interested in a more individualized sport, tennis is one of the popular options. This particular game is built to show strength, durability, and grace all at the same time. If you are looking at the possibilities for participating in tennis, you can begin by understanding the basics of the game.
It was due to leg injury that forced Nadal to skip this great tour and gave some disappointment to tennis fans. They will really miss this fast pace action star in the field of ATP tournament. One of Nadal sports friend top-ranked Spaniard says about his injury that he will be soon back on the field to play for Spain in the next month for the Davis cup. This will be the match of first round where Nadal will be able to strike back to his current performance.
Roger Federer in his youth, took men's tennis by storm. Before he embarked on his remarkable journey of winning Grand Slams, his greatest achievement was beating Pete Sampras in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2001. I was fortunate enough to be in the stands that fateful day.
When Ana Ivanovic won the French Open to snap Henin's hold on the title after winning it for three consecutive times, tennis fans proclaimed the youthful Serbian player as the next player who shall dominate the sport, a picture of beauty and grace that has not been seen in the sport since Martina Hingis ruled the women's side. Ivanovic started to wilt under pressure. Maria Sharapova got sidelined for the rest of the year due to her shoulder injury while Jelena Jankovic has to win a major before she can claim the top ranking convincingly. That leaves the Williams sisters to battle each other out to stake claim as no.1 female tennis player.
Tournament favorite and second ranked Serena Williams earned a ticket to play in the Australian Open tennis finals when she defeated fourth ranked Russian Elena Dementieva in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the first semi-final match this morning. The win snapped Dementieva's unbeaten streak and also avenged Williams' loss to Dementieva in the semi-finals of the Beijing Olympics and Medibank International.
When interviewed about their troubled nation's past, each one can remember those frightening days and troublesome times. Knowing that they possess a special talent in sports, particularly tennis, it gave them something to dream for. They may not admit it directly but tennis has provided them an opportunity to flee the harsh conditions of a nation in strife. And it gave them a bright future, of something to look forward too.
The first week of the Australian Open has passed and play has gone into the fourth round. As what I have come to expect, the women's draw has come to be the more open side, with the top four seeds not as solid as the men side and are then prone to upsets.
 
Article Directory Home All Categories Recreation And Sports Tennis
 
 

Can't find what you're looking for? Try Google Search!
 
(We serve worldwide - Locations updated as at Friday, 08 January 2010 07:48 am , Singapore)
United States of America, USA . United Kingdom, UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) . Canada . Afghanistan . Albania . Algeria . American Samoa . Andorra . Angola . Anguilla . Antarctica . Antigua & Barbuda . Argentina . Armenia . Aruba . Australia . Austria . Azerbaijan . Bahamas . Bahrain . Bangladesh . Barbados . Belarus . Belgium . Belize . Benin . Bermuda . Bhutan . Bolivia . Bonaire . Bosnia-Herzegovina . Botswana . Brazil . British Virgin Islands . Brunei Darrusalam . Bulgaria . Burkina Faso . Burundi . Cambodia . Cameroon . Cape Verde . Cayman Islands . Central African Republic . Chad . Channel Islands . Chile . China . Christmas Island . Colombia . Comoros . Congo . Congo (Dem. Rep.) . Cook Islands . Costa Rica . Cote d'Ivoire . Croatia . Cuba . Curacao . Cyprus . Czech Republic . Denmark . Djibouti . Dominica . Dominican Republic . East Timor . Ecuador . Egypt . El Salvador . Equatorial Guinea . Eritrea . Estonia . Ethiopia . Falkland Islands and Dependencies . Faroe Islands . Fiji . Finland . France . French Guiana . French Polynesia . Gabon . Gambia . Gaza . Georgia . Germany . Ghana . Gibraltar . Greece . Greenland . Grenada . Guadeloupe . Guam . Guatemala . Guinea . Guinea-Bissau . Guyana . Haiti . Hawaiian Islands . Honduras . Hong Kong . Hungary . Iceland . India . Indonesia . Iran . Iraq . Isle Of Man . Israel . Italy . Ivory Coast . Jamaica . Japan . Johnston Atoll . Jordan . Kazakhstan . Kenya . Kiribati . Korea (North) . Korea (South) . Kuwait . Kyrgyzstan . Laos . Latvia . Lebanon . Leeward Islands . Lesotho . Liberia . Libya . Liechtenstein . Lithuania . Luxembourg . Macau . Macedonia . Madagascar . Malawi . Malaysia . Maldives . Mali . Malta . Marshall Islands . Martinique . Mauritania . Mauritius . Mexico . Micronesia (Federated States) . Midway Islands . Moldova . Monaco . Mongolia . Montserrat . Morocco . Mosquito Coast . Mozambique . Myanmar (Burma) . Namibia . Nauru . Navassa Island . Nepal . Netherlands . Netherlands Antilles . New Caledonia . New Zealand . Nicaragua . Niger . Nigeria . Niue . Norfolk Island . Northern Mariana Islands . Norway . Oman . Pakistan . Palau . Palestine . Panama . Papua New Guinea . Paracel Islands . Paraguay . Peru . Philippines . Pitcairn Islands . Poland . Portugal . Puerto Rico . Qatar . Reunion . Romania . Russia . Rwanda . Ryukyu Islands . Saint Helena . Saint Kitts and Nevis . Saint Lucia . Saint Pierre & Miquelon . Saint Vincent & The Grenadines . Samoa . San Marino . Sao Tome & Principe . Saudi Arabia . Senegal . Serbia . Seychelles . Sierra Leone . Singapore . Slovakia . Slovenia . Solomon Islands . Somalia . South Africa . Spain . Sri Lanka . Sudan . Suriname . Swaziland . Sweden . Switzerland . Syria . Taiwan . Tajikistan . Tanzania . Thailand . Togo . Tonga . Transkei . Trinidad & Tobago . Tunisia . Turkey . Turkmenistan . Turks and Caicos Islands . Tuvalu . US Virgin Islands . Uganda . Ukraine . United Arab Emirates . Upper Volta . Uruguay . Uzbekistan . Vanuatu . Vatican City (Holy See) . Venezuela . Vietnam . Wake Island . Windward Islands . Yemen . Yugoslavia . Zaire . Zambia . Zimbabwe
Copyright © 2005 - by Larry Lim, Singapore - Article Search Engine Directory at ArticleSphere.com™
All Rights Reserved Worldwide. All Trademarks and Servicemarks are the property of the respective owners.

Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish German English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italiano Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Dutch Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish