When the match was suspended last night due to darkness, the big question was: how would Murray start? His ankle was a little gimpy at the start. Or maybe it was the tight wrapping on his right ankle. Very quickly, Murray was down 5-0, but managed to reel off 4 games in a row before
By all rights, Andy Murray should not be playing a fourth round match. Michael Berrer had been struggling against Murray who was threatening to break throughout the early parts of the second set. Berrer hit a drop shot which caused Murray to twist his right ankle just as he hit a hard shot down the
It's just about halfway through the French Open. The men have completed the third round matches. The fourth round begins on Sunday. Let's see how all the seeds are doing. Rafael Nadal Rafa started off the tournament in a new situation: a five setter at Paris. He played nervous in the two tiebreaks he lost,
Early in the second set, after a dominant first set, and with chances to break Berrer, Murray was chasing a drop shot down. As he approached, he twisted his right ankle and managed to hit a good down-the-line shot as he came up hopping on his left leg. Berrer seemed to notice something from the
As the hour headed to about 7 PM, there was a battle brewing on Court Philippe Chatrier. The ESPN announcers astutely observed that if Tsonga didn't win the match in straight sets, he would lose in 5 sets. The reason? Stamina. Tsonga, like his countryman Monfils, is susceptible to injury. When you're injured, it can
Nadal is the kind of player that generally doesn't play two bad matches in a row. It happened at Wimbledon last year when he was taken to five sets by unheralded Robin Haase and Philipp Petzschner. But it rarely happens on clay. Indeed, Nadal had never been taken to five sets at the French Open
It's hard to believe, but over the 6 years that Nadal has played the French Open, he's never played a 5-setter. They don't call Nadal the king of clay for nothing. He has played two French Opens without dropping a set. It's perhaps not surprising that John Isner might be the kind of guy that
On paper, Murray didn't have a chance. OK, he had a small chance. After all, he is a top 4 player who has beaten Djokovic. But clay is Murray's weakest surface. Even so, give Murray enough time and he comes up with ideas. He wasn't ready to beat the new Djokovic in Melbourne, but it's
If the Foro Italico was set in the peak of ancient Rome, perhaps Nadal would be the star gladiator. Alas, its history is a bit more recent, having been constructed under the eye of Mussolini. Even so, Nadal has shown his capacity to win this title over and over. This will be Nadal's sixth final.Â
It's hard to say how well Robin Soderling is playing. He started the year really well with his new coach Claudio Pistolesi. He won Brisbane, then Rotterdam, then Marseille. Since then, he hasn't fared nearly as well, though two losses come at the hands of Juan Martin del Potro who is still trying to regain
