Another epic at the Miami Masters

Dominic Thiem beats Adrian Mannarino in one of the best matches you will ever see! A true epic! Just about every shot played, every angle explored, every inch on the court covered, with both players playing some unbelievable tennis, showing amazing athleticism, fitness and skill. These tennis players sure do earn their stripes (and unlike some sports people they definitely and justifiably earn the money they make throughout what is a much more gruelling season than some non tennis people may think!

Camila Giorgi, the new star of women's tennis or just another flash in the pan?

With wins in the past over the likes of Maria Sharapova and a steady rise up the WTA rankings over the past couple of years, are we seeing a young player who can at some point genuinely challenge the top players in the four majors and Masters 1000 events? or someone who will fall by the way side like others have sadly done?

With her huge, confident ground strokes, heavy, courageous serves (sometimes perhaps too courageous judging by the amount of double faults) and speed round the court, she already has a lot of weapons. What she seems to lack is control at certain times, a backhand slice and as with far too many of the female players, volleying ability and knowing when to come to the net. These things are not yet a major problem and being so young, there is ample time to iron out these faults and learn the things required to take her to a whole new level. In the meantime, her fearless, all out attack game makes her an exciting player and one to keep an eye on to see how far she goes.

Published by Simon Cardy.

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It has recently come to light about the 15 year ban of Wayne Odesnik for what is his second doping offence. Rightly slammed by the likes of Andy Murray, although it doesn't exactly bring the game into disrepute, it does leave a cloud hanging over it that leads me to the question:

Is it happening more than we think? We already know about Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki, who have already served their time (Cilic had his ban reduced which split opinion) but what can be done to make sure the game's reputation isn't tarnished further?

That leads me to match fixing. Players have been found guilty but is it happening more than we think? And if one of today's top stars was found guilty, would they be protected slightly or would they receive the full, fair punishment? No one is above the game, and that includes the likes of Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. This is hypothetical of course but what if? ....
Also, how about players pulling out of matches and tournaments when they're perfectly fine just days later to play a crucial Davis Cup tie or another big event? Is there a way of making sure things are done according to the real, proper reasons?

Another word on match fixing. How easy or difficult would it actually be to fix a match? How could we know? Betting patterns and strange behaviour and calamitous 'chokes' by certain players during matches often give a clue as to what must occasionally at least be irregular behaviour. Of course tennis being the gripping and exciting sport it is, crazy things do happen. Players come back, plenty of players upset the odds, I could go on. I'm merely stating that surely things aren't always as simple as this.

Smash Gazette is here

Hello I would like to welcome you to Smash Gazette, a new blog run by tennis fans and for tennis fans. We will bring you news, thoughts, rants, previews and recalling moments in tennis history.

we hope you enjoy this blog

Charles Ball Co founder of Smash Gazette.

A new blog is born! For all things tennis and a little more than you bargained for!

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