Top 50 American Roadside Attractions.

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Obscure facts: Wawrinka. Really?

John McEnroe believes Wawrinka has one of the most powerful backhands he has ever seen and describes him as having “the best one-handed backhand in the game today”.

Best Slam result: 4th round.

Career high rank: 9.

Wawrinka, one of four tennis-playing siblings, turned pro in 2002 at the age of 17.

The surname Wawrinka is of Polish origin.

His father Wolfram is German, and his mother Isabelle is Swiss. Both work on a biodynamic farm helping handicapped people.

He has one older brother Jonathan, who teaches tennis, and two younger sisters Djanaée and Naëlla, who are students and tennis players.

Wawrinka currently lives in Saint-Barthélemy (10 minutes from Lausanne) with his wife, Ilham Vuilloud, a Swiss television presenter and former fashion model.

Vuilloud gave birth to the couple’s first child, a girl named Alexia.

He is good friends with British number 1 Andy Murray (both are fanatical go-karters) and Roger Federer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With coach firing / hiring in full swing, which coach(es) enjoys the most job security?

If you eliminate the ‘related’ clowns, Djokovic’s Marian Vajda should head that list, don’t you think? Unless he continues to put on weight at current rate and becomes immovable soon, he is not going anywhere it seems – irrespective of what Djokovic does on the tour. Shouldn’t it have already happened by now if it was at all possible?

Of the ‘related’ ones, the ones that makes most sense to let go has to be Bartoli’s dad. If those weird and super thought out tactics are still missing the most obvious impediment to success – the freaking weight – shouldn’t his doctor’s license be revoked BEFORE being fired as a coach?

Stefanki should have begun to squirm a little after this recent meltdown from Roddick but with the massive possibility of no even attempting to touch Roddick now for obvious reasons, Stefanki may find himself secure out of default.

Shouldn’t Delpo’s team need a total overhaul too for letting him play with an injured wrist even after the US Open title?

Wonder if any fresh blood will even dare to enter the tennis coach periphery after all these hire-fire spitfire – not to mention the total disrespect even some of the seasoned coaches are subjected to routinely – publicly.

I think they should scrap the whole system and replace it with a panel who can be consulted on a need to basis only – for a fee. You can hire the whole panel for a given tournament, a certain match or for the entire season for a percentage of your earnings. This way the disrespect component can be eliminated allowing some of the former greats to take the plunge while shielding their status and ego.

Granted former players haven’t transformed into great coaches but we are not talking about the whole gamut of qualities (which most greats lack) a regular coach embodies. In this case, you just share your expertise within the panel and the finished product (after discussion within the panel) is finally pushed out to the needy player hiring them. Should be a win win for everyone, don’t you think?

You are, of course, allowed to hire your own full-time coach just to vent your frustration and beat the crap out of him, if nothing else.

Photos.

Too many freaking reasons why you shouldn’t have been wearing the cap backfreakingwards. Old age, baldness, gap too big…………..

What is this?

Federer Struggles With His Altered World. From Anon. Thanks.

ANON

Interesting article from NYT 2009!

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ATP Tour Uncovered – Juan Manaco, known as Pico. From Jenny. Thanks.

JENNY

ATP Tour Uncovered – Juan Manaco, known as Pico.

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