Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/366594
SUMMER 2014 Welcome 2 ITFWORLD SUMMER 2014 O ne of the pleasures of working in tennis is the opportunity to witness in person those magical moments when top-class athletes achieve greatness at the most important tournaments in our sport. To see Rafael Nadal win a record ninth Roland Garros title, overcoming Novak Djokovic in the final, was a privilege for all lucky enough to see it. Follow that up with Djokovic winning a dramatic five-setter over a resurgent Roger Federer at Wimbledon and you are reminded yet again why men's tennis has enjoyed such a glorious decade. On the women's side, there are signs of growing depth and a changing of the guard with two first- time Grand Slam finalists. Romania's Simona Halep fell to Maria Sharapova in Paris while Canada's Eugenie Bouchard was overwhelmed by Petra Kvitova who won her second Wimbledon title. Halep and Bouchard are only a few of the next generation of superstars showing why tennis is the most successful professional sport for women. It was great stuff, indeed, and an honour for me to observe the talent and determination of these champions. For an old-fashioned fan like myself, the Grand Slams also offer the chance to see outstanding doubles and mixed doubles, to follow the juniors and to enjoy the wheelchair events. Happily the outside courts, where most of these matches are played, attracted great crowds at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. In Paris, Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin won the men's doubles while their junior counterparts, Benjamin Bonzi and Quentin Halys, won the boys' doubles. The wheelchair men's doubles was also won by Frenchman Stephane Houdet and his Belgian partner, Joachim Gerard. There was quite a bit of Asian success too with Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Shuai Peng of China winning the women's doubles, world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan winning the wheelchair men's singles while his compatriot Yui Kamiji won the wheelchair women's singles and teamed with Great Britain's Jordanne Whiley to win the women's doubles. Russian juniors Andrey Rublev and Darya Kasatkina won the boys' and girls' singles respectively while Romania's Ioana Ducu, a member of the Grand Slam Development Fund team, and Ioana Loredana Rosca won the girls' doubles. Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld teamed with Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands to win the mixed doubles. At Wimbledon, the new pairing of Canada's Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock won the men's doubles over the Bryans, while the Italian team, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, added a Wimbledon title to their doubles portfolio, completing a non- calendar Grand Slam. Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic and Australia's Sam Stosur won the mixed title. Noah Rubin of the United States won the boys' title while Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia won the girls'. Brazil's Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann won the Francesco Ricci Bitti presenting the now retired Bahamas player Mark Knowles with the Davis Cup Commitment Award during Wimbledon A TREAT TO SEE CAREERS DEFINED