WHAT’S THE BEST SPECTATOR EXPERIENCE IN TENNIS?
What’s the best spectator experience in tennis? Many say Indian Wells. And why not? It’s so relaxed, joyous and user-friendly. The place is part athletic palace and part theme park. It combines the...
View ArticleINSIDE ROGER FEDERER – An Interview
An In-Depth Interview With the Great Star, Who Talks About His Australian Triumph, the Beauty of Sports, His New Perspective and His Future Some claim that the run of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal to...
View ArticleRELENTLESS ROGERMANIA – FEDERER FRENZY AT HIS PRACTICE SESSION
Where’s the most frenzy on Middle Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open? At a tight match on Center Court? At the height of a feisty comeback on Stadium 1? Or maybe at the line to squeeze into Nobu...
View ArticleALL THINGS MUST PASS – AFTER 16 TUMULTUOUS YEARS VENUS WINS IN THE DESERT
In 2001 Venus Williams dismissed Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells 6-0, 6-3. No big deal – right? Wrong. The victory proved to be, until today, the last win...
View ArticleBillie Jean King: The Woman Who Changed Our Sport, Our Country and Our World
By Bill Simons When told that Oscar-winner Emma Stone would be playing Billie Jean King in an upcoming movie, Venus Williams gushed and said, “There should be a movie about Billie Jean every year.”...
View ArticleTHE CORE HAPPINESS OF ROGER FEDERER
ROGER ON HIS LIGHTNESS OF BEING, HIS HUNT FOR NORMALITY, RAFA AND THE FUNKY TENNIS BUBBLE Q. You looked amazing. How’s the knee? ROGER FEDERER: Good. Very happy. [The] knee is a thing of the past,...
View ArticleTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL SHOT IN TENNIS
CRACKLING WITH GOODNESS, FEDERER’S BACKHAND IS “BETTERER” By Bill Simons It’s sublime. It flows. It’s poetry. It’s athletic grace incarnate. Along with Steph Curry’s sweet-release three-point jumper...
View ArticleTHE CHOCOLATE WAR: Switzerland’s Federer and Wawrinka to Battle for Indian...
In Indian Wells there are palm trees, searing temperatures and a flat desert. In Switzerland there are majestic pines, freezing weather and soaring mountains. And never the twain shall meet – or so...
View ArticleROGER FEDERER – THE MAN WHO MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY
IS ROGER THE GREATEST ATHLETE EVER? Bill Simons The fans finally stopped screeching. The photographers twisted low to take their last shots. The giddy Swiss couple folded up their “Federer is Betterer”...
View ArticleIS ROGER THE GREATEST ATHLETE EVER?
The fans finally stopped screeching. Tired photographers bent low to snap their last shots. The giddy Swiss couple rolled up their “Federer is betterer” banner. outside the locker room, Roger’s darling...
View ArticleTHE BOY WITH A COKE – A LOVE STORY
Sweaty, sultry East Coast summer days drain the soul. They’re God’s sauna. But so what? My two oldest sisters, Joan and Barbara, were blasting away, hitting teenage forehands on our local public courts...
View ArticleFEDERER PLAYS A MATCH TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS
SEATTLE’S MATCH FOR AFRICA 4 When he was a kid, Roger Federer played Marco Chiudinelli for a big prize – tickets to the qualifying rounds for the big tournament in Roger’s hometown of Basel. Emotions...
View ArticleTHE ART OF FRENCH TENNIS
BILL SIMONS French tennis breathes beauty. French tennis needs beauty. French tennis exudes beauty. Creativity is its username – flow its password. With its grace and ease, French tennis paints a...
View ArticlePILGRIM’S PROGRESS: TWO SENSITIVE SEEKERS – DJOKOVIC & AGASSI – JOIN FORCES
Bill Simons An uncertainty hovers over tennis. After a golden age of grand but often predictable results, earthshaking change lurks. Serena, Venus, Sharapova, Angelique Kerber and Vika Azarenka all...
View ArticleFRANK DEFORD: An Elegant Giant Falls
Every tennis writer worth his keyboard has written about the singular Anna Kournikova. The late, great Frank Deford, who died last night, was a dignified observer with a hefty gravitas. But he didn’t...
View ArticleFRENCH OPEN BUZZ: The Middle Ground ‘Tween Sorcery and Drudgery
THE VAST MIDDLE GROUND BETWEEN SORCERY AND DRUDGERY: ESPN’s Bonnie Ford wrote, “If red-dirt magic were transferable, [coach] Andre Agassi’s task would be easy: he’d scuff some into Novak Djokovic’s...
View ArticleFEARING RUSSIA – A Tennis Player Speaks His Truth
Just as Russia apparently intruded into America’s election, it also intruded into the French Open when Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky lashed out in a wide-ranging interview with Inside...
View ArticleTHE GATHERING STORM – Will Margaret Court Arena Be Renamed?
Pictured above are Casey Dellacqua and Margaret Court Bill Simons After we contacted Mary Carillo, asking her for a comment on Margaret Court, she replied with this extraordinary note. “Bill, you ask...
View ArticleIN SEARCH OF ANDRE – THE SAGA OF MY POP-UP INTERVIEW WITH AGASSI
PARIS – Writers are supposed to be neutral. But I’ll admit it, I’m an Agassi man. It started when boy Andre was a phenom at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis factory. “Steve, [Bollettieri always called me...
View ArticleMEET CICI BELLIS – The Gold Rush Girl With The Golden Future
Bill Simons PARIS – It is the most intriguing court in the world that virtually no one knows about. Right between the renowned Stade Roland Garros and the much celebrated Bull Ring Court 1, the...
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