Jerry Seinfeld, the American comedian, said fans of a sport, say American football, were for a uniform. He pointed out that if a player was playing for your team, you supported the player. If he was playing for some other team, you did not support him. Team sports engender an unusual kind of loyalty. In
For a set and a half, Rafa was having a Lukas Rosol moment. Rosol, for those that don't pay attention, was the lowly ranked player that upset Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon last year, a loss that sent Rafa to 7 months away from the tour. Rosol achieved this by belting the ball.
When the draw came out a few days ago, Roger Federer looked like he had a tough draw, relatively speaking. Murray landed on his half of the draw. His first round opponent is the talented Benoit Paire of France. Nikolay Davydenko, who gave Roget a scare in 2010, at the Australian Open and who recently
The Asian swing of ATP tour starts up with two exotic locales: Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Let's start with Bangkok. Last year, Andy Murray decided to play Bangkok. None of the other top 4 players elected to play. He won the tournament. However, with the Olympic schedule, Murray has chosen not to defend
Apparently, the late Vitas Gerulaitis once said "No one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row" when he claimed a victory over Jimmy Connors. In those days, it was hard to find head-to-head stats, so Vitas may have been guessing how many times Connors had beaten him. In any case, good friend, Bjorn Borg
With a bug going around at Indian Wells, players are trying to stay healthy. Federer apparently has some combination of a cold and flu, but it didn't affect the results against rising talent, Denis Kudla, who he beat 64 61. Kudla is a contemporary of Jack Sock (the two played as juniors). This was his
It's easy, at the conclusion of a grueling Australian Open, to believe all of tennis is being played by the top four. The entirety of the top four took a week off. For some, like Rafa, it's rest and training. Rafa promised not to play until Indian Wells and has chosen not to play Davis
And that's why no one plays serve and volley anymore. Michael Llodra is perhaps the last of a dying breed. The serve-and-volleyer. It isn't a coincidence that Llodra is just north of 30 years old. I know, I know, veterans will tell you that everyone's forgotten how to volley. You have to be around 30
Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt go way back. Hewitt was contending for Slams nearly a decade ago winning a US Open in 2001. Roddick followed suit two years later. The two were considered rivals for the number 1 spot. All this was, of course, prior to Federer breaking out and leaving both of them in
Of the top four seeds, Andy Murray clearly had the toughest first round. Djokovic played a guy ranked just outside the top 100. Federer and Nadal played qualifiers. Murray played one of the "new four", that is, one of Harrison, Raonic, Dimitrov, and Tomic. In particular, Andy Murray was to play Ryan Harrison. Harrison joined
