Drawing: Alexander Zverev

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

alexander-zverev

After a stellar junior career, 19 year-old German tennis prodigy Alexander Zverev’s rise up the senior rankings is attracting attention. While growing up he was a huge Roger Federer fan and many are predicting he will emulate his idol. Rafael Nadal said, “He is a clear possible future No.1. He has all the shots.” Tennis is in his blood. His father Alexander Snr was a professional player, representing Russia in the Davis Cup before emigrating to Hamburg, where Alex Jnr, known on the tour as ‘Sascha’ was born. Both his father and mother are now tennis coaches and his brother Mischa is also a professional player.

Alexander won the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award and is the youngest player inside the top 50 with a current ranking of 28. On the ATP website his bio describes his playing style as “punchy ground strokes, a booming serve and sauntering athleticism” The 6′ 6″ Sascha can follow up a 130 mph first serve with a 120mph second. At the pre-Wimbledon Boodles Tennis event in June this year he beat world No.1 Novak Djokovic in straight sets and signed my sketch.

Drawing: Carlos Moyà

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

carlos-moya

The tall bandana-wearing Spanish tennis ace Carlos Moya won the French open in 1998 and was a semi-finalist at the US Open in 1998. In March the following year he climbed to No.1 in the world rankings. He also reached the Australian open final in 1997, losing to Pete Sampras. In 2004 he was part of the Spanish Davis Cup-winning team, securing victory with a win over Andy Roddick for a 3-2 scoreline.

In a fifteen year career Carlos won 20 titles and just to include a miscellaneous fact for the ardent statisticians, served 4,416 aces. A nagging foot injury ended his career in 2010 and he now runs the SD Tennis Academy in Madrid and plays on the ATP Champions Tour. He is also coaches Milos Raonic, who reached the final of Wimbledon this year, where I caught up with him after a practice session While Carlos played tennis with a potent right hand he writes left-handed and demonstrated that with his graph on my drawing.

Drawing: Tracy Austin

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Tracy Austin

At the age of seventeen, Tracy Austin become the youngest female tennis player to win a Grand Slam, beating Chris Evert in the 1979 US Open final. She went on to add two more Slams to her impressive 30 career titles, winning the US Open again in 1981 with a victory over Martina Navratilova and the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles with her brother John a year earlier. In that year she also won the WTA World Tour Finals, becoming World No.1 and the youngest ever inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992. Tracy was known as a solid baseliner with a strong forehand and a reliable double-fisted backhand using substantial pace and pinpoint accuracy.

Since retiring in 1994, Tracy has been a tennis commentator with a number of TV networks, including the BBC at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, where I met her outside the media centre and she signed this drawing for me.

Drawing: In Gee Chun

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

In Gee Chun

Champion golfer In Gee Chun, who is also known as Chun In-gee is South Korean, as are most of the planet’s champion women’s golfers. The 22 year-old, who turned professional in 2012, won the US Open at the Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania in 2015, coming from behind to post four birdies on the last seven holes to win by one stroke over fellow Korean Amy Yang. She was also tied for 2nd place at this year’s ANA Inspiration major tournament in Rancho Mirage, California. For a nice bit of symmetry, she is currently ranked number 8 in the world, with an eight place finish, scoring eight under par at the British Open in Milton Keynes a couple of weeks ago, where she signed this sketch.

Sketch: Lydia Ko

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Lydia Ko

Last time I posted a sketch of Korean-born New Zealand golf sensation Lydia Ko was in July 2014, which she signed for me during the Women’s British Open at Royal Birkdale. At that time, it was her first year as a professional and she was already ranked number two, without winning a major title. She also wore her distinctive glasses.

Now Lydia is number one, a position she reached last February at the age of 17, becoming the youngest golfer, male or female to attain that distinction in the professional game. She has also won two majors, The Evian Championship in France with a record closing round of 63, which is the the lowest score in final round to win a major and this year’s ANA Inspiration at the Mission Hills Country Club in California. She nearly made it three in a row, being piped in a play-off by Brooke Henderson at the Women’s PGA in April.

Not surprisingly she is also the youngest player to win both a major and two majors.
Last week Lydia returned to the UK for the British Open at the Woburn Golf Club prior to representing NZ at the Rio Olympics and signed this updated drawing – minus her distinctive specs – for me.

Drawing: Brooke Henderson

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Brooke Henderson

Current world number three, eighteen year-old Brooke Henderson became the youngest player to win the Women’s PGA golf championship in June this year when she beat fellow teenage sensation and top-ranked Lydia Ko in a sudden death play-off at Washington’s Sahalee Country Club. The ‘Canadian phenom’ as her local newspaper describes her, was 18 years, 9 months and 2 days, which makes her the second-youngest ever to win one of the LPGA’s five major tournaments, behind Lydia, who won the Evian Championship last year aged 18 years, 4 months and 20 days.

She played the British Open last week at the Woburn Golf Club, just outside London, where she signed this drawing for me.

Drawing: Chris Evert

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Chris Evert

One of the greatest tennis players of all time, American Chris Evert dominated the women’s game in the 1970’s and early 80’s. She was the first World Number 1 when the official WTA computer ranking system was instituted in 1975 and held that position year-end until 1981, winning 137 singles and 32 doubles titles in a professional career that spanned 17 years until her retirement in 1989. Her total of 260 weeks is third behind Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. She was successful on all surfaces, especially clay, winning the French Open on seven occasions. Her 18 Grand Slam singles titles also include two Australian, three Wimbledon and six US Open victories. Chris’ winning percentage of 89.96 is the highest in the history of the Open era, men’s and women’s and on clay her 94.55% is a WTA record. She also won four World Tour Finals.

I meet Chris at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, where she has been an analyst for ESPN since 2011 and signed my sketch.

Drawing: Alastair ‘Captain’ Cook

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Alistair Cook

The England Cricket Captain and opening batsman, Alastair Cook has made a habit of scoring runs and in particular centuries. His latest came last Friday, on the opening day of the second test against Pakistan which is still in progress at Old Trafford. His 105 was his 29th Test century, equalling the great Sir Don Bradman. In May 2015 the prolific left-hander became England’s leading run-scorer in Test matches, surpassing Graham Gooch in the second test against New Zealand at Headingly and exactly a year to the day later he became the youngest batsman to score 10,000 test runs against Sri Lanka in the second test at Chester-le-street.

This penchant for passing the magic 100 milestone began right from the start. At the age of 21, while touring the West Indies with the ECB Academy side in 2006, he was called-up to join England’s tour of India side as a late replacement, scoring 104 on debut. This was to become a familiar pattern, also scoring centuries in his first Test matches against Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangaldesh.

Alastair became England’s ‘Captain Cook’ when fellow opener Andrew Strauss retired in 2012. In 130 Tests he has amassed 10,265 runs at an average of 46.87 and 3,204 runs in his 92 ODI’s. His Test total includes three double centuries, with a top score of 294 against India.

When not scoring runs on the cricket field, Alastair runs a farm near Leighton Buzzard and plays the saxophone. I have meet him on a few occasions, mainly at Lords and he has always been great with the fans, taking time to sign graphs and pose for photos. I didn’t get a chance to catch-up at the first test against Pakistan at Lords last week, so sent my drawing to Old Trafford and it came back signed within two days.

Drawing: Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Lewis Hamilton

Current World Formula One motor racing champion Lewis Hamilton won his home Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend to move within one point of his teammate and nearest rival Nico Rosberg on the F1 Driver Standings. It was Lewis’ fourth victory this year and moves him a step closer to retaining the World title. He is now third on the all time list of Grand Prix wins with 47.

Always a good ‘grapher in person, Lewis had previously signed a rapid scribble I did of his car at last year’s British Fashion Awards. In motor racing terms I would call it a ‘practice session’ for this slightly more detailed sketch, including the man himself, which I decided to send to him via his Mercedes AMG Petronas team at Silverstone, not expecting much joy. To my surprise and delight, it came back signed and dedicated. Chequered flag for me!

Drawing: Marion Bartoli

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Marion Bartoli

I have met French tennis star Marion Bartoli twice. The first time was many years ago at the Australian Open when her star was rising, walking to her match on an outer court without a lot of security and attention. I politely asked her for an autograph and she very politely said she would be happy to… but after the match. Fair enough. The second time was last week at Wimbledon where she is now part of the commentary team.

She was on her way to Centre Court to cover the women’s semi finals. It’s an arena she is familiar with. After being runner-up in 2007 Marion went on beat Sabine Lisicki in the 2011 final to win the Ladies Singles title and become only the sixth player to win the Championships without dropping a single set. A month later she retired citing the pain from all the injuries she had sustained throughout her career. Marion was known for her unorthodox and intense playing style, dominated by a two-handed forehand and backhand developed by her father and longtime coach Walter.

Marion was to have played in the Women’s Invitational Doubles at this year’s Championships, but had to withdraw on medical advice. It was revealed that she had contacted a serious virus that resulted in a dramatic weight loss. Immediately after the Tournament she underwent a blood transfusion and tweeted that she was ‘now on the up’. Great news for her large fan base. Anyway on our second meeting she was happy to sign this sketch I drew of her.