Tuesday, December 13, 2016

TENNIS TUESDAY: Djokovic-Becker Split; Pliskova, Kvitova Swap Coaches; Murray Gets Greatest-Ever Kudos


DJOKOVIC AND BECKER "MUTUALLY" END COACHING PARTNERSHIP
It is the off season for tennis and that usually means the eventual announcement of lots of coaching changes. The biggest one so far occurred last week when 12-time major champion Novak Djokovic announced he would no longer be working with 10-time major champion Boris Becker, almost exactly 3 years after he had announced the two great champions would begin working together. When they started, Djokovic was a 6-time major champion, so the coaching pairing has been incredibly successful (6 major titles and 14 Masters series titles).

MURRAY NAMED GREATEST BRITISH SPORTSPERSON OF ALL TIME
In a poll of Telegraph Sport, current World #1 and 2-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has come out on top as Great Britain's greatest sports hero.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA AND PETRA KVITOVA SWAP COACHES
Speaking of end-of-season coaching changes, a curious one happened in the Czech Republic. Both Petra Kvitova (World #11) and Karolina Pliskova (World #6) announced coaching changes. Effectively, they swapped coaches: Jiri Vanek who coached Pliskova for a very long time, will now coach Kvitova in 2017, and Kvitova's longterm coach (who coached her to Wimbledon titles in 2011 and 2014) David Kotyza will coach Pliskova in 2017. This is probably good news for both players, and Czech tennis.

SERENA WILLIAMS AND ROGER FEDERER SKIP IPTL AFTER MONEY WOES SURFACE
In the off season the last two years a series of team exhibition matches have been organized throughout Asia featuring huge stars like Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Angie Kerber, Martina Hingis, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal etc. It is called the IPTL, the International Premier Tennis League, and is the brainchild of former doubles icon Mahesh Bhupathi.
However this year the star power has been significantly diminished when Federer and Serena pulled out, citing "uncertainties" surrounding the finances of the event.

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