Tennis in 2012: Grand Slams & hot tub fights

It’s been a good year for tennis. Scratch that; 2012 was an awesome year for the sport (I might be a little biased … okay, maybe more than a little).

At the 2010 Rogers Cup in Toronto, Roger Federer said that he “spoiled” both himself and his fans for years with his outstanding play. It’s true. And come to think of it, he’s not the only one who has spoiled the tennis world as of late.

In 2012, we saw all the top players succeed: the Big Four (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray) each won a Grand Slam; on the women’s side, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova returned to Grand Slam glory; a year after Milos Raonic and Rebecca Marino put Canadian singles play on the map, 18-year-olds Filip Peliwo and Genie Bouchard tore it up on the junior circuit, both winning the Wimbledon junior titles.

But in 2012, we also had to say goodbye to some legends (cue Sarah McLachlan’s I Will Remember You on your iPod). At the age of 30 and 29 respectively, Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters retired at the U.S. Open, reminding us that at 31-years-old, Roger Federer must be superhuman.

A lot happened over the last calendar year. Here’s a look at some of the highlights:

Newsmaker of the year: Serena Williams

Don’t mess with Serena Williams.

Some people — like a now-infamous U.S. Open lineswoman — learned that in a matter of seconds. Others were forced back and forth across the baseline for hours, battling a pounding reminder that the woman across the net was almost unbeatable.

In 2012, we were reminded that Serena Williams is the greatest female tennis player in the world. It was a necessary reminder.

Just a year earlier, Serena lay in a hospital bed after a blood clot was found in her lungs. In March 2011, Williams didn’t know if she’d ever play tennis again, let alone win another Grand Slam.

Why did she, and the rest of the tennis world, ever doubt her resilience?

It was Serena’s year in 2012. In the same year she celebrated her 30th birthday — which is ancient in tennis years — she won Wimbledon, Olympic Gold and the U.S. Open.

I’ve heard that 40 is the new 30, so perhaps 30 is the new 20 in tennis.

Honourable Mention: Roger Federer

In keeping with the “30 is the new 20” theme, Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam since January 2010 and topped the great Pete Sampras at 300 weeks as the world No. 1.

Disappointment of the year

As I was leaving work to go home for dinner, I remember checking the score of Rafael Nadal’s Wimbledon second-round match against Lukas Rosol. I shrugged as I saw that Nadal and Rosol had split the first two sets. ‘No problem,’ I thought, ‘Nadal’s got it from here.’

Boy was I wrong.

I sat in disbelief as I turned on the TV to see the two-time Wimbledon champ fall in the fifth set to a relative unknown making his Wimbledon debut.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

Rosol called the win a “miracle.” Nadal hadn’t lost before the third round of a Grand Slam since 2005.

So what went wrong? Leading up to Wimbledon, Nadal was having an outstanding year, having won his record-breaking seventh French Open title and eighth straight Monte Carlo title.

Unfortunately, Nadal’s body couldn’t keep up. It has been six months since the year’s biggest upset, and we’re still waiting for Nadal to make his return to the court from a lingering knee injury.

Honourable mention: Raonic revenge on Murray

Remember when Andy Murray embarrassed Milos Raonic on his way to winning the U.S. Open? Yeah, that was a clinic. Well, Raonic got his revenge just a few weeks later as he ousted the top seed in the Japan Open semifinals 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.

Tweet of the year: Patrick McEnroe

Sometimes, a single-word analysis can carry a lot of weight.

When 20-year-old Bernard Tomic lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-0, in his U.S. Open match against Andy Roddick, he was accused of ‘not trying’ in the final set by John McEnroe. McEnroe’s brother Patrick agreed:

Australian Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter described Tomic’s effort as “disgraceful.”

But none of this is new; Tomic is tennis’ latest bad boy.

Tomic was recently dropped from Australia’s Davis Cup team, mostly due to his bad attitude. He’s an extremely talented tennis player, but he rarely puts in a full effort.

Tomic has had a string of driving offences and just last month he was caught wrestling a naked man at 5:30am. You can’t make this stuff up:

Video: Bernard Tomic in hot water

Sam Stosur told a Melbourne radio station that Tomic “seems to be making a lot of poor decisions at the moment.” No kidding.

Honourable mention: Janko Tipsarevic

If you’re not following Janko Tipsarevic on Twitter, your life is incomplete. Here’s one of his many gems:

Buzz Word of the year: Murray Mound

In 2012, ‘Henman Hill’ became “Murray Mound’.

Andy Murray became the first Brit (even though he’s Scottish) to reach the Wimbledon final since 1938. That’s a long wait.

All Murray had to do to become Britain’s hero was beat old man Roger Federer in the final. But despite being the nicest guy on tour, Federer broke all the Brits’ hearts as he beat Murray and won his record-tying seventh Wimbledon title.

But just a month later, Murray and Federer met again on centre court at the All England Club for the Olympic final. This time, Murray was victorious.

He cried, Britain cried, and fans all cried watching it at home. Murray won Gold at home. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Honourable mention: GOAT

Greatest of all time. Who is it? Federer, duh.

Shot of the Year: Grigor Dimitrov

A behind-the-back, half-volley, drop-shot, winner! Whew! That’s a long name for a shot, but what a shot it was.

When Grigor Dimitrov hit this insanely-awesome shot at the Basel Indoor tournament, the announcers called it “the greatest shot of the year.” Well, thank you commentators, because that made my job of picking this category a lot easier.

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have made the tweener (backwards, between the leg shot) famous. But with this behind the back shot, Dimitrov put them to shame. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a mixture of shots rolled into one.

Honourable mention: Ball boy

I know the Toronto Blue Jays are already stacked, but they might want to sign this ball kid to a deal:

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