So much for predictions (I predicted Djokovic, Ferrer, Lopez, and Nadal--only 2 of 4 correct). Verdasco continued his mastery over Djokovic although Djokovic did make a match of it. Verdasco wins: 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4. David Ferrer shows that his defeat of Andy Murray was not simply a slumping Murray (Murray's main problems were first serve
It was only two weeks ago when Verdasco decimated Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semifinals, 6-2, 6-2. Djokovic promised that he would acquit himself better this time around. And so, Djokovic did, but the second hottest player on the clay circuit, Fernando Verdasco, still won, in a 3 hour plus match. Verdasco has taken a
On paper, Andy Murray's loss to David Ferrer looks like an upset. In practice, perhaps not so much. Ferrer is ranked 17th in the world, but has been ranked as high as number 4 in the world, as recently as 2 years ago. Ferrer is, what's known in the tennis parlance, as a clay court
It's been a while since Italians had a top male player. Back in the golden age of pro tennis, in the mid 1970s, the Foro Italico, site of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, once called the Italian Open, was a raucous arena filled with rowdy Italians. Whistles could sometimes lead to throwing of coins. Such was
What a difference a surface makes. Nadal had been coming off a series of losses in the US where his opponents would serve well enough to hold serve and then go for big enough shots that Nadal would struggle to hold his own serve. In Indian Wells, Ljubicic lost rather handily in a first set,
Italian tennis has seen better days, at least, on the men's side. The women seem to be doing fine. Once, players like Adriano Pannatta would give Bjorn Borg all he could handle on clay. Today, Andreas Seppi is the highest ranked Italian player at 47. Seppi is a solid clay courter. Steady enough to hit
Everyone knew this would be a tough opener for Federer, regardless of who he faced. On the one hand, he could face Marcos Baghdatis, the guy who beat him in Indian Wells. On the other, Ernests Gulbis, who everyone said could be the next great player as long as 3-4 years ago. Hard to believe
Perhaps the most anticipated of the first round match, if you can call a first round "anticipated", was a first round match between Ernests Gulbis and Marcos Baghdatis. For most players, even players that play in the main draw of a Masters 1000 event, winning a title, possibly 2 in a year, is considered a
Once called the Italian Open, Rome now has a rather ponderous name: Internationalzi BNL d'Italia, which makes sense except BNL. Once, it was a challenge to get top players to play the clay circuit. Players like Connors and McEnroe often skipped right to the French, unwilling to take their lumps playing grueling points that weren't
It used to be a spring ritual. When the tour headed to Europe on a 7 week clay excursion, most players were playing for second place. Rafael Nadal would typically play four clay events heading into the French: Monte Carlo (an optional Masters 1000), Barcelona, Rome, and Madrid (this used to be Hamburg, until Hamburg
