4 questions about the 2015 tennis season
The 2015 tennis season is underway. Here are four questions on the mind of one tennis observer:
Is there another Slam in Federer?
Here's what we learned in 2014: Roger Federer isn't done yet. He'll let us know when he is. Maybe.
Federer was superb last year, finishing with a 73-12 record and five titles after going 45-17 with one title in 2013. He proved he could still play at an extremely high level at 33.
A Grand Slam eluded him, though. He lost in the semis at the Australian and U.S. Opens, and lost a five-set marathon final to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, coming oh so close to No. 18. He cried.
It's been two-and-a-half years - practically forever ago - since Federer won Wimbledon in 2012, his 17th and last Slam. He'll be 34 in August. There's no doubt he can still play, but to question whether there's another Slam left in the Swiss is fair.
Related: theScore's 2015 tennis preview
Can Maria catch Serena?
Serena Williams has dominated women's tennis so thoroughly over the past two years that it's difficult to think she couldn't be No. 1. It's Serena and everyone else.
But Maria Sharapova, who finished 2014 at No. 2, and who hasn't been No. 1 since July 2012 (she's held the ranking for only 21 weeks total), is there. She's close. The season just began and she's already won a tournament. She's put herself in position to leave the Aussie Open with the No. 1 ranking. And she knows it.
"Right now I am No. 2; the next spot is one," she said.
Is Serena vulnerable? I'm skeptical, especially considering she's 16-2 against Sharapova all time, and has won the last 15.
Can the Canadians break through?
theScore is lavishly headquartered in Toronto, and I readily admit I keep an eye on the kids, Canadians Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic.
Thanks to Bouchard, 20, and Raonic, 24, Canadian tennis is at its pinnacle in popularity. There are as many Canadians as Americans in the WTA's top 10 - Bouchard's sixth while Serena's No. 1. Raonic ranks eighth on the ATP, 13 spots ahead of the closest American, No. 21 John Isner.
Both Bouchard and Raonic enjoyed successful 2014s, Genie especially. She reached the Australian Open and French Open semis, and lost in the final at Wimbledon. Raonic made his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in Paris, and was one of four left standing at Wimbledon. (He lost to Federer; there's no shame in that.)
Is 2015 the year one or both break through to win a historic title?
An old 28?
Time, it seems, has caught up to Rafael Nadal. He's aging, fast. Breaking down. He looked an old 28 in 2014, even after winning another Grand Slam, his 14th, tying Pete Sampras. But it was the French Open, which he can probably win right-handed.
A wrist injury and appendicitis ended his year early, after he lost 11 of 59 matches. He lost 13 of 113 in 2012 and '13 combined. And he opened the 2015 season with first-round loss in Qatar.
Injuries and time are a lethal combo. I once thought it was a given Rafa'd get to Federer's 17 Grand Slam titles, and thought he could get to 20. I'm no longer so sure.