A Happy Tennis Thanksgiving — Great Tennis Players and Moments We’re Thankful For
In America, the Thanksgiving holiday is all about getting together with family and friends, consuming vast amounts of turkey and pumpkin pie and other yummy food, and usually watching football (the American kind). But it’s also supposed to be about giving thanks, for all the cherished things in our lives and whatever good fortune we’ve had that year.
In that spirit, we here at TennisInsideOut.com give our thanks for some of the things we love best about tennis, particularly in the past year. Feel free to share the things you’re personally grateful for. We can make it a party…but BYOB.
We are thankful for:
You all know we love Roger’s backhand, which is perhaps one of the most recognized shots in tennis. You can get more looks at it here…and here.
You can see more of Genie’s full-throttle style here.
Anyone who’s followed @TennisInsideOut on Twitter knows that Val is gurgling over Stan’s backhand pretty much constantly during every one of his matches…and then quite often when he’s not even playing. You can soak up some more of the Stan backhand love here and here.
Are you sensing a theme here? Yes, we do tend to love the single-handed backhand. (You can check out more of Tommy’s awesomeness here and here.)
Which leads to mentioning one of our favorite matches of 2013, the incredible one-hander duel between Stan Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet. Richie hit 57 winners in the match, and Stan hit *92*. The French player hit his one-handed BH with power and flair, and the Swiss with explosiveness and yet pinpoint accuracy. It was a jaw-dropper of a contest that went the full five, with Stan coming back from two sets down: 6-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 8-6.
And of course many of us are thankful for Stan’s big announcement that he was on the prowl for a Top 10 spot–his epic battle with Novak Djokovic at this year’s Australian Open.
Along with Neil Harman, apparently, we had a feeling that Stan’s match against Nole would be different than everyone expected…especially with his stellar play in the previous round.
We are also grateful for the funnier side of tennis, like:
And we have to be thankful for designer Stella McCartney–for good or bad, or awesome or horrendous…she always gets people talking…
We are grateful for the awesome bromances on tour, like:
In 2013, we were also thankful that…
And we are also thankful for the hotness on the tennis tours…
The smooshiness is good too…
Before this post gets three million miles long, we will just say that we are also grateful for all of you wonderful readers, who support the website and squee with us on Twitter and at Cincy.
And Val also just has to add that she’s thankful for Stan’s kisses…even if they are only virtual ones… 😉
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! And don’t forget to share all the tennis stuff you are thankful for!
~All Cincinnati Open photos: cValerie David for TennisInsideOut.com. Other match screencaps, fair use.
