You'd like a semifinal to be about great tennis, each player summoning reserves they never knew they had, making incredible shots. But tennis is such a solitary sport, and with such isolation, you have to deal with confidence. A 5 set match gives you time to work out some of those issues, and so there
This is why it's difficult to predict who will do well at a Slam. The semifinalists are: Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Rafael Nadal, and Jurgen Melzer. Raise your hand if you have more than 2 of 4 correct. Based on past history, you would surely have put Roger Federer instead of Robin Soderling. Berdych would
During his interviews, Djokovic would say that he played 3 good sets and not to worry about the silly set that he dropped. Throughout the tournament, Djokovic had a pretty easy draw. Expected to play Ferrer or possibly Roddick, Djokovic must have thought he had a free ride to the semifinals. Playing the Austrian veteran,
Not nearly the huge upset that knocked Nadal out of the French last year, this was still an amazing performance by Robin Soderling to prevent Roger from getting to his 24th consecutive semifinal at a Slam. It didn't end the way it started. Roger was comfortably holding serve, then managed a break, and won the
Fans have been anticipating a Federer-Nadal final ever since the French Open started. After all, Nadal had pulled off the "triple" by winning Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid, the first time any player had won three Masters 1000 events on clay. And Federer, who keeps reaching Slam finals. The last time Federer failed to reach
Today I’m joined by Fitness Blog writer Steve Beck to talk about how to battle the heat during your summer tennis play. I also talk about changing your grip from one forehand or backhand to another, should you use the same grip on every topspin ground stroke or is switching a good idea? Is the
"Fear not the racket, but the player who wields it." -A martial arts weapons philosophy showcased in the movie Ninja Assassin, and modified for the game of tennis "Most of what I teach comes right out of the martial arts - the physics, the fundamentals, the self-discipline - and your mind is your greatest weapon."
I was at the Essential Tennis Clinic, Day 2, in Baltimore (it's really closer to Towson, but good enough), so most of what I'm going to cover is just reaction from hearing the scores. The only matches (or parts of) was the Sharapova-Henin third set. Since there weren't that many matches, let's go over each
Going into the French Open, you'd give it a toss-up as to who was playing better after Rafael Nadal: David Ferrer or Fernando Verdasco. I mean, sure you could point to Roger Federer, but he only had one good tournament, and two "bad" ones (Estoril and Rome). You wouldn't have expected David Ferrer to struggle
This is one of those matches that shows Roddick isn't exactly a clay courter. Gabashvili is one of those dangerous players who hits hard but whose errors typically do him in. But not today. Gabashvili kept hitting balls hard and Roddick, in an effort to keep up, made a few too many errors. Roddick came
