Just Tennis: A Personal Tennis Photography Archive
One of my favourite sports is Tennis, and photography fits into that naturally. Having a camera in hand while watching tennis gives me something extra to focus on—catching movement, timing a shot just right, or freezing a moment that would normally be gone in a second. Mixing tennis with photography feels effortless, like two interests that just work really well together.
Fair warning: as my photography slowly improves over time, the better photos tend to appear further down the page.
Roland Garros 2008
Roland-Garros 2008 stays with me for a reason. I wasn’t there for the famous final, when Rafael Nadal cruised past Roger Federer. That match became history somewhere else. What I remember instead is being there in person — watching a young Gaël Monfils, against David Ferrer was amazing, and later we watched Elena Dementieva play Agnieszka Radwańska. Those matches didn’t define the tournament, but they defined it for me.
The day started watching John McEnroe partnering Anders Jarryd vs. Andrés,Gómez and Peter McNamara. John and Ander won 6-4, 6-1.
Then, we watched Dinara Safina defeat Elena Dementieva 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0, rallying from a set and 2-5 down. It was a very entertaining match. Safina went all the way to the final but lost to Ana Ivanovic.
Then, it was local hero Gael Monfils against David Ferrer in the quarter final match. Monfils won in four sets with a score of 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–1. Monfils lost to Roger Federer on the next round., and Rafa Nadal won the tournament that year.
Indian Wells 2019
Fast forward 11 years, and I was able to attend “Tennis Paradise”, at Indian Wells. I was really excited about this one because attending the first few days, there was a chance to see the top players. We stayed in Palm Springs, rented a car and drove to Indian Wells every day.
Right away, the day started with a bang, watching Federer and Nadal practice side by side…
It was great to see them side to side, with their contrasting styles. It has been said again and again, Federer is the most elegant, effortless. Whereas Nadal, even in practice played with such intensity, it was amazing to watch them.
The cherry on the cake was to come back to practice to a packed practice court to watch Federer again, with the (very) entertaining Gael Monfils… They started with a warm up and easy hitting, but then they ramped up and play a set (can't remember if it was a full set), but the intensity was there, and being able to be so close to the action was a feast for the eyes.,
Simona Halep Practising
If you have the chance to attend any of these tournaments it is a great idea to arrive early and roam around the practice courts. You get so close to the action.
Next day, it was practice sessions in the morning, we watch Osaka, Kirgios and others…and we had tickets for the evening session. The first match we watched was Feliciano Lopez vs Tomas Berdych, in Stadium 1. It was a close match, Feliciano Lopez won 7-6, 7-6, but lost to K. Khachanov on the next round.
The next day, was back to practice courts in the practice courts early in the morning, then it was the “Day Session”, double header starting with Stan Wawrinka defeating Daniel Evans, 6-7, 6-3,6-3, but then losing in the next round to Márton Fucsovics.
It was in this match where I captured two of my favourite images from the entire tournament, and both were of Wawrinka’s staple shot, the one-handed backhand.
And the second photo was from the other side of the stadium. After the first or second set, I decided to take a break and walk around the stadium, and since it was not full, you were allowed to go on and watch the game. I really like the colours, the perspective, the shadows, etc. I like everything on the image.
After that match, it was the second round of the women’s singles. We watched Simona Halep vs Borbora Strycová, Halep won 6-2, 6-4, and went all the way to the final but lost to Marketa Vondroušová 6-2, 3-6.
Australian Open 2025
Early 2025 we planned a trip to Oz to visit some friends, and that coincided with the Australian Open, at Melbourne Park. Everything went smoothly, from buying tickets in advance, from Canada to the logistics and all. My only note of caution is that they have a strict policy of a max focal length of 200mm, and they do enforce it, so keep that in mind if you’ll be taking photos.
The tournament is extremely well organized, as expected from a Grand Slam I guess, getting to the grounds, getting in and out was extremely easy. There’s plenty of viewing areas to hang around in the grounds, you don’t need to be inside a court all the time..
We dedicated a day with a Ground Pass ticket, which was great. It gave you access to all the practice courts and a couple of the smallest stadiums. We watched practice, Paolini, Alcaraz (with the biggest crowds by far, Rybakina, etc.)
The next day was some more practice courts and Margaret Court tickets, where we watched Paula Badosa defeat Olga Danilovic 6-1, 7-6, during the 4th round match.
Still at Margaret Court, Tommy Paul defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
On our last day, we had tickets for Rod Laver Arena, and we watch Jannik Sinner beating Holger Rune, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2 for the Men's singles 4th Round match.
And that was a wrap for the AO2025. A ver intense 3-days of tennis. Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys were the Champions this year.
This blog post is about tennis, not food, but since this was Melbourne, the food deserves a quick mention. Honestly, you can’t go wrong eating in this city. We enjoyed every place we tried, but my personal favourite was Yakimono. If you’re ever in Melbourne, give it a try.
2025 Italian Open
Contrary to the entries above, for this tournament, I only had one day to visit the Italian Open, getting tickets from their website, was straight forward, and got tickets for the “day session” at the main court, the Stadio Centrale. I was lucky for an almost all-italian line-up, except Sinner, because he was playing until the evening. The “Foro Italico” is a beautiful sports complex, tennis courts, pools, etc.
The day started with at the practice court next to the Stadio Centrale, watching Francis Tiafoe. Then, right away it was time to get ready at the Stadio Centrale to watch local hometown hero, Matteo Berrretini, against Jacob Fearnley. Berrettini won in straights sets, 7-6, 6-4.
I took a break from the sun, and came back to the Stadio Centrale, to watch the end of Collins vs Swiatek. Collins 6-1, 7-5. Then the final match of my day session, another local hero Jasmine Paolini taking on Ons Jabeur.
In this year’s finals, Jasmine Paolini defeated Coco Gauff, 6–4, 6–2 and Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner, 7–6(7–5), 6–1.
For high quality prints, canvas and other items visiting my Just Tennis collection. If you’re interested in an image that is not listed in the store, please contact me for availability.
Thank you for reading.