Tennis Nicknames: When the Sheriff met the Pistol

Wonderful World of Tennis / Sean Calvert / 29 September 2010 / 1

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Andre Agassi jokes around in an exhibition match but playing "The Punisher" was no laughing matter

"Another American who enjoyed success on the lawns of SW19 was ‘Pistol’
Pete Sampras, so-called because of his awesome serve, while Sampras’s
sometime nemesis Andre Agassi was dubbed ‘The Las Vegas Kid’ after
his hometown and ‘The Punisher’ for his tendency to grind players
down."

We all know about the Fed-Express, the A-Rod and the Swiss Miss but what other nicknames are there out there in the world of tennis? Sean Calvert talks us through some of the best....

Like any sport, tennis has it's fair share of nicknames for its protagonists. Some kind, some deserved or befitting, some bland and obvious. And some given by disappointed punters that unfortunately will have to remain unpublished.

We take a look this week at a selection of some of tennis's finest monikers and some created by fans with an imagination bypass.

A couple that I like that spring to mind immediately were the two given to Switzerland's former world number one Martina Hingis. The first given when she burst onto the scene and won the Australian Open aged just 16.

She was dubbed 'The Can't Miss Swiss' and went on to win five Grand Slam titles until injury and loss of form led to the new and rather cruel new nickname 'The Swiss Miss Can't.'

Hingis also had the dubious distinction when she teamed up with Anna Kournikova of the pair being dubbed "The Spice Girls". Well, they both involved rackets I suppose.

The over-marketed and under-talented Russian Kournikova was nicknamed 'Murzik', a popular pet name in her homeland, but was called several other things worldwide I should imagine.

Talking of over-marketed and underachieving players, our own Tim Henman had his fair share of nicknames, all of which were very All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

'Tiger Tim' and 'Timbo' were but two of the names for the former British number one who of course had his own hill named after him at SW19.

Other crap tennis nicknames include Jimbo (Jimmy Connors), Fed-Ex (Roger Federer), Gilou (Gilles Simon), Bennet (Julien Benneteau) and the unforgettable A-Rod (Andy Roddick).

On my first visit to the States as an unworldly tennis fan I pitched up in Boston and was greeted by hundreds of placard waving individuals bearing phrases such as 'A-Rod is an A-hole' and after initially contesting what Andy had done wrong, it was pointed out to me that they were in fact targeting baseball's Alex Rodriguez, who had deserted for the Yankees.

All of which just shows the lack of imagination that many American's utilise when labelling their sportsman with nicknames.

Those young enough not to remember the pre-open era might not know that the legendary 'Pancho' Gonzalez, who was the dominant force in the men's game in the late 1950's and early 1960's was in fact called Richard.

Apparently he hated the nickname Pancho and was called Richard by close friends and family, but Pancho by just about everybody else.

The American who took Pancho's record as the youngest ever US Open men's champion also had a nickname that he was less than satisfied with when the British press dubbed John McEnroe 'Superbrat' after a string of outbursts at Wimbledon.

Another American who enjoyed success on the lawns of SW19 was 'Pistol' Pete Sampras, so-called because of his awesome serve, while Sampras's sometime nemesis Andre Agassi was dubbed 'The Las Vegas Kid' after his hometown and 'The Punisher' for his tendency to grind players down.

Before the days of 'Rafa' Nadal aka 'The King of Clay' or 'The Pearl de Manacor' and 'Uncle' Toni, the clay was ruled by 'The Mosquito' or Juan Carlos Ferrero, to friends of the insect-like Spaniard.

Another slight of build character who also won the French Open was Ken 'Muscles' Rosewall, who was so-called in ironic fashion by his peers.

Back to the present day and we have French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has variously been dubbed 'Ali', 'Smokin Jo Willy' and oddly 'Tsunami'.

Not convinced about that one, but fellow countryman Fabrice 'The Magician' Santoro earned his tag with a career built on improbable shots and an unusual double handed forehand and backhand grip.

Some that probably mean something in their own countries are Pim-Pim (Joachim Johansson), Mrnja (Marin Cilic), Juju (Justine Henin), Enano, Polito or just plain Delpo (Juan Martin Del Potro).

Meaner ones include Jurgen Meltdown and Novak Chokeovic, Maria Shriekapova and for legal reasons I can't give you Nikolay Davydenko's tag amongst punters.

Your bigger servers tended to get similar types of monikers, including Boris 'Boom Boom' Becker, Mark 'Scud' Philippousis, and Max 'The Beast' Mirnyi.

Another big server, Roscoe Tanner, was dubbed 'The Rocket', although Rod Laver might have prior claims on that one and given Tanner's numerous brushes with the law, he probably wouldn't have the necessary funds to fight any legal claims to the title at the moment.

Tanner incidentally was last heard of on the run from the authorities in the US for non-payment of $750,000 in total. He'd better hope he doesn't run into 'The Sheriff' (also Andre Agassi) on his travels.

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Captain | 09 October 2010

Hilarious

add the William brothers, Andy Mauresmo