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Columnists: James Beck
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Newer stories | Older stories James Beck
Sports Columnists James Beck
On Tennis  Andrew Miller
Stingrays  Charles Bennett
SEC Basketball  Mike Mooneyham
Wrestling  Philip Bowman
High School Sports  David Quick
Running  Tommy Braswell
Golf and Outdoors  Gene Sapakoff
Sports  Ken Burger
Sports  Larry Williams
ACC Sports Latest Tennis HeadlinesLatest HeadlinesWill Roddick step up?Wednesday, June 11, 2008Where's Andy Roddick? Considering Roger Federer's return to the human race, is there a serious Wimbledon run left in Roddick? It's wide open for someone to replace Federer on the Wimbledon throne. Roddick has had some of his best success on the famed grass courts of Wimbledon, losin... Read story. Federer lacked pop against thoroughbred NadalMonday, June 9, 2008Comparing horses and tennis players? Come on. But there was at least one thoroughbred playing tennis Sunday. Pardon the expression, but Rafael Nadal was an animal. Read story. Ivanovic won't be one-win wonderSunday, June 8, 2008Smiling Ana. Beautiful Ana. Take your pick. They're both appropriate for Ana Ivanovic. Choosing between these terms is about as difficult as picking between dark-haired beauty Ivanovic and equally beautiful blonde Maria Sharapova. Read story. Luck of the draw for FedererWednesday, June 4, 2008It didn't seem like a big deal at the time when Rafael Nadal failed to slide through a small opening in the world rankings earlier this year to replace Roger Federer as the game's No. 1 player. That was in January. The fact Nadal is still No. 2 in the world becomes a very big deal on Frida... Read story. Where's the heart of the game?Sunday, June 1, 2008Mario Ancic has a beautiful, flowing tennis game. But where's the heart? It's not really fair to just pick on the 24-year-old Croatian. He suffers from the same malady as a great many of the other players on the men's and women's pro tours. Read story. Does Federer have same confidence?Wednesday, May 28, 2008Roger Federer's game looks about the same as usual. New coach Jose Higueras hasn't made wholesale changes. And with reason. Why fix something that obviously is far from broken? The only thing different is that Federer appears to be taking more gambles by going for more on his shots. Whether... Read story. 'Golden Age' inspired by the CupSunday, May 25, 2008The last seven years have been "The Golden Age of Tennis" for the Charleston area. It isn't a coincidence that these years coincide with the Family Circle Cup's time on Daniel Island. Read story. French is open with no HeninWednesday, May 21, 2008It's amazing how the absence of one player can create such a change in the look of one tournament. But Justine Henin wasn't just another player on clay. Because of her retirement, any of a dozen women appear to be capable of emerging from two weeks' play in Paris with their first Grand Sla... Read story. Time for tennis license plate in S.C.Sunday, May 18, 2008South Carolina has the premier women's-only tennis tournament in the nation. So why don't we have an official automobile license plate for tennis? Read story. Henin wasn't the 'Justine of old' latelyThursday, May 15, 2008Justine Henin's immediate retirement from tennis on Wednesday came as somewhat of a surprise. Yet, anyone who has followed her career has known for some time that everything wasn't just right. She had to put too much into the game to perform at her highest level. Eventually as her physica... Read story. Waccamaw continues dominanceSunday, May 11, 2008You may have missed it. John McEnroe defeated Pete Sampras. And, remember, Sampras scored a win over Roger Federer last fall. Read story. Zvonareva now building on strong Cup showingWednesday, May 7, 2008Is the puzzle of Vera Zvonareva solved? It certainly looked that way during the Family Circle Cup as the Russian ran off a string of impressive performances before going up against superwoman Serena Williams in the final. And Zvonareva did something this past week she hadn't accomplished i... Read story. Make or break for area teamsSunday, May 4, 2008This coming week is make or break in high school tennis. And the odds are that all but possibly Pinewood Prep will be broken. Read story. Serena's service return game's most dangerous weaponWednesday, April 30, 2008Serena Williams has a secret weapon on backhand service returns. She shoots straight from the hip. It's almost impossible to jam Serena with a serve into her backhand because of this shoot-from-the-hip technique. Watching several of Serena's Family Circle Cup matches from the baseli... Read story. American women's tennis downSunday, April 27, 2008You don't realize how dysfunctional American women's tennis has become at the top level until this country sends a team to Russia to compete in the Fed Cup semifinals that includes a singles alignment of Vania King and Ahsha Rolle, plus an imported Liezel Huber for doubles. Read story. Newer stories | Older stories |
James Beck began working for newspapers in Charleston in 1971. He has served as sports editor of The News and Courier, and executive sports editor and systems editor of The Post and Courier. He has written a tennis column for the newspaper since the 1970s. He won the national U.S. Tennis Association's Media Excellence Award for 2003, becoming the first winner from the nine-state Southern Section. A native of Bamberg, Beck holds an undergraduate degree from Limestone college and a master's degree in business administration from The Citadel. He and his wife, Carrol, have two daughters.
