Federer certainly wasn't favored reaching the final. He played better in Rome than he did in Madrid, but struggled a bit against Paire in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Nadal had upped the level of aggression in his own game. While Nadal would never admit that he looks past Federer, he knows the kind of game to
Even though many have said Djokovic-Nadal or even Djokovic-Murray has replaced the rivalry of Federer-Nadal, people still get excited about the prospect of the two meeting. Admittedly, clay is Rafa's best surface, having lost fewer matches on the surface than anyone who has played as long as Rafa has played. The rivalry has lost its
Stan Wawirnka had come into the finals playing some of the best tennis in his life. But there were signs that maybe he wasn't ready to take on the king of clay. Wawrinka won Portugal last week, so he's been playing almost two consecutive weeks of tennis. Once upon a time, a player like Guillermo
In a way, Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka are similar. Both had some success when they were young. Berdych upset Roger Federer back in the 2004 Olympics when no one knew who Berdych was. Despite his talent, he struggled to make consistent results. 2010 was a huge year for him. There, he made a run
Yes, yes, Rafa made the semis, but technically, he's the number 5 player in the world. And what a match. Despite the best start of his career, Rafa would tell you that he's not playing his best tennis, and he started off poorly against David Ferrer who was only too happy to take advantage. Most
There's no particular reason why Murray or Simon can't be better on clay. Simon, at the very least, has won tournaments on clay, despite a style that is relatively flat. One reason Simon has won titles on the red dirt--he plays the smaller events. Murray's clay season is 4 titles long. Once Wimbledon is over,
Baby anything is a hard thing to live up to. Baby Jordan? Remember him? Harold Miner. Yeah, not much of a career. Certainly not even close to Baby Jordan. You could put 100 players between Harold Miner and Michael Jordan and that wouldn't scratch the surface of how far apart these two players were. Grigor
Poor Stan Wawrinka. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Stan Wawrinka played two epic matches this year and came up second. In what most experts considered the best match of the Australian Open, Stan Wawrinka pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets. He came out of the gates fast, but then had to hold on for
On Monday, Jason Collins came out as an active NBA player who is gay. Now, this proclamation is somewhat borderline. It's not like Collins is a star player, and while he is technically on a team, he's a free agent and will need to be signed. And, unlike, say Jackie Robinson, who played with actively
You know it's the 2010's. Back in 2001, Federer beat Sampras at Wimbledon, their only meeting. Federer was a teenager, and such upsets were often caused by teenagers on the rise. Today, there are no bright teens waiting to upset the top players. In 2012, Lukas Rosol upset Rafael Nadal in the second round of
