While all eyes were on Wimbledon last week, three legends of the sport made an impact of their own away from the grass courts of the All England Club.

On 4 July, Roger Federer joined fellow Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award winner Richard Krajicek and wheelchair tennis icon Esther Vergeer for a clinic at Krajicek Playground Reigersbos in Amsterdam, providing a special day for children supported by the Krajicek Foundation and the Esther Vergeer Foundation.

“It was a pleasure playing tennis with all the children. Tennis has connected Esther, Richard and myself throughout our whole career, so I think it’s nice for us to stand on a court together and motivate and inspire the new generation of players,” Federer said. “It’s great that the Roger Federer Foundation, The Krajicek Foundation and Esther Vergeer Foundation are all connected through the Postcode Lottery.  I enjoyed myself a lot here in the Netherlands. And I hope I will see a future champion from here.  

“I want to congratulate Richard and Esther on everything they do with their foundation and also on their incredible careers.”

^{Photo Credit: Gilian van Twist}
The Krajicek Foundation serves vulnerable children in the Netherlands by helping them play sports in a safe environment. The Foundation, which received an ATP ACES For Charity grant in 2020, builds Krajicek Playgrounds to help create leaders who can make an impact on other children in their community.

“With my foundation we do everything we can to give children living in deprived urban areas the opportunity to do sports and play outside in a socially safe environment, close to home,” Krajicek said. “The fact that the National Postcode Lottery then makes it possible for Roger Federer to come along to give a clinic to those children is of course fantastic.”

The Esther Vergeer Foundation, which was launched in 2004, introduces children with disabilities to sports. As part of the clinic, children in wheelchairs got to rally with Vergeer, Federer and Krajicek.

“The Esther Vergeer Foundation helps children with a physical disability to play sports at a regular club. As a result, they learn to deal with their disability, their self-confidence grows and they are stronger in society,” Vergeer said. “So cool that with this special tennis clinic with Roger Federer we were able to show a large audience what sports can do. It was an incredibly beautiful day for us, but especially unforgettable for the children. Great that this has been made possible by the Postcode Lottery.”

Former Canadian player Peter Burwash, one of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs and coaches, passed away last Thursday (7 July) aged 77.

Burwash earned a physical education degree at the University of Toronto, where he played both ice hockey and tennis. He won 19 singles and doubles titles as a touring tennis pro from 1968 to 1975, when he founded Peter Burwash International (PBI), a leading tennis management company.

Burwash, one of the Association of Tennis Professional founders in 1972, went on to introduce new standards to the teaching industry as an original USTPA Master Professional member. Burwash and his coaching team worked with the likes of Venus and Serena Williams, Leander Paes, Greg Rusedski and Sebastien Lareau.

Burwash also used his experience as a motivational speaker to influence the health, hospitality, business and travel industries. He worked as a colour television commentator for CBC and TSN, was a CBS radio host, contributed to Tennis magazine for 25 years and was the author of 13 books, ranging from tennis, aerobics and vegetarianism.

Burwash, who had been inducted into six Hall of Fames, passed away in his hometown of Carmel, California, and is survived by his wife, Lynn, and their daughters Kimberley and Skyler.

Peter Burwash, tennis player, coach and manager, born 10 February 1945, died 7 July 2022.

With the 2022 edition of Wimbledon in the books, let’s relive some highlights through memorable quotes from The Championships. 

Who called first-time Grand Slam finalist Nick Kyrgios a “tennis genius”? Which WTA star – Emma Raducanu, Iga Swiatek or Serena Williams – mentioned that she’s always “rooting for Rafa”? Which American enjoyed a breakthrough win on the 4th of July?

Let’s find out how closely you followed the action at Wimbledon. Take this quiz, share your results and challenge your tennis friends!

Pablo Carreno Busta could not have asked for a much tougher first-round draw at the Nordea Open in Bastad on Monday, but the Spaniard found an impressive level to overcome 16-time tour-level titlist Stan Wawrinka at the ATP 250 event.

The fifth-seeded Carreno Busta claimed a break in each set to prevail 7-5, 6-4 in a high-quality encounter against the former World No. 3, who showed flashes of his trademark thunderous groundstrokes in just his sixth tour-level tournament since missing 13 months with a foot injury.

“It was a very tough match for me in the first round,” said Carreno Busta in his on-court interview. “Against Stan it is always very difficult to start the tournament, so I’m happy because I thought my level was good. I played very solid from the baseline. It was a bit difficult with the wind, but I thought my serve was very good throughout the match. It was very important to my game.”

Carreno Busta has endured a tough run on the clay of late, going 1-4 on the surface since reaching the final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in April. Yet despite Wawrinka firing 10 aces and winning 90 per cent (27/30) of points behind his first serve to keep the Spaniard under pressure in Sweden, Carreno Busta was clinical in converting two of his six break point opportunities to triumph in one hour, 24 minutes.

It is Carreno Busta’s maiden ATP Head2Head victory against Wawrinka, whose three previous triumphs against the Spaniard included a semi-final victory at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Carreno Busta has reached the quarter-finals twice in four previous appearances in Bastad, and he will attempt to make that three from five in a second-round clash with countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas or Argentine qualifier Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Also on Monday, Laslo Djere produced an impressive all-around display to ease past #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti. The Serbian broke his opponent’s serve four times and dropped just six points behind his own first delivery on his way to a 6-3, 7-5 victory on tournament debut. Djere’s second-round opponent will be seventh seed Holger Rune or Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler.

There was also opening-round success for the only Swede in the draw, Elias Ymer, who edged Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 7-6(5) in the pair’s first tour-level meeting. The 26-year-old wild card has now won his opening match four times in nine appearances at home in Bastad, but he will be looking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in his next match against third seed Diego Schwartzman.