Sometimes tennis fans forget there are over 1000, nearly 2000 tennis pros. For many, if there's 2 digits in your rank, then you're not worth paying attention to. Many players with 3 digits to their names are living the dream, playing the pro tour, knowing full well they can't be a Slam winner. They hope
What's a streaking man supposed to do? When you've played as much tennis as Djokovic, you want to win and win quick, especially against a player like Lukas Kubot, and Djokovic obliged with a 6-0 first set. With the French Open around the corner, an efficient Rome will leave Djokovic fresh. Who knows how Rafa
Right now, Nadal is number 1 with 12470 points. Djokovic is number 2 at 10665 points. 1805 points separate the two. There is a slim chance Djokovic could become number 1 at the end of Rome. A Masters 1000 event awards 1000 points to the winner. Normally, a player doesn't get the full 1000 points
While the top 3 were making the semifinals of Madrid last week, the conspicuous missing fourth is Andy Murray. To be sure, Murray's weakest surface is clay. Murray's flatter style often leads to more errors. His opponent's high kicking spin can give him trouble. Still, he reached the semis of Monte Carlo after a slumping
At the end of 2010, the pundits were proclaiming that we were back at the same old, same old. Federer had beaten Nadal in the finals. Everyone figure Roger was back. 2011 was going to be the Roger and Rafa show...again. This was a far cry from what the experts said after Wimbledon. Roger was
It's nearly the semifinals everyone had hoped for. The top three players were there. Federer, who nearly got booted playing Feliciano Lopez, escaped then had a good win over Xavier Malisse and Robin Soderling, was meeting Rafael Nadal who hasn't had too much difficulty on the clay since Monte Carlo when Andy Murray put a
No one seems to believe it, but Federer's having a pretty good year. Oh, he hasn't solved Nadal. Djokovic appears to have passed him by. But Federer has lost to only 3 people this year. They are, yes, Nadal and Djokovic, and an old childhood buddy, Jurgen Melzer. Say what you will, Federer hasn't had
Lopez seems like a poor man's Verdasco. He's a lefty, but hits his a one-hander to Verdasco's two-hander. He has a big forehand, but probably not bigger than Verdasco. He relies on the slice. He might have a bigger serve than Verdasco, but not by much. In any case, he had never beaten Roger Federer,
This year, the ATP organizers shuffled up the clay court schedule. Historically, it was Monte Carlo, then an ATP 250 event (or events), then Rome, then more ATP 250 events, then Hamburg, then ATP 250 events, then the French Open. Hamburg was demoted and Madrid converted from an indoor tournament to a clay event. Players
Let's start in Estoril, Portugal's only ATP level event. Last year, it was Albert Montanes, who upset Roger Federer, defending his title over local, Frederico Gil, who was trying to be the first Portuguese player to win an ATP singles event. This year, Federer didn't show up. Instead, we have Juan Martin del Potro trying
