Gilles Simon is a peculiar player for a high-level tennis player. Male tennis players have a certain machismo when they play tennis. Perhaps no one embodies this more than players like Fernando Verdasco or Fernando Gonzalez. These two would rather hit you off the court with big shots than to win playing finesse. Some players,
The main ATP site keeps track of two races. The rankings, as they stand now, which include one year of ranking points, and the rankings starting from January 1. Despite Roger Federer being number 1, Novak Djokovic has a healthy lead in the 2012 rankings. Novak Djokovic (9910) Roger Federer (8905) Rafael Nadal (6840) Andy
1936. Before World War 2. 76 years. That was the last time a British male won a singles Slam is so long ago that the world was a different place then. No cell phones, no computers. Plane travel was a rarity. Players would take boat trips to play Slams at other venues. People worried about
Let's start quickly. My prediction is for Novak Djokovic to win. Many people who make predictions base it on who they like or often who they dislike. I'm basing the selection primarily on form. Let's take a look at the matches that Djokovic has played so far: d. Lorenzi, 61 60 61 d. Dutra da
Murray's camp probably didn't expect this. After the quarterfinal matches, many felt that Berdych was peaking, hitting hard shots, having upset Roger Federer in four sets. Berdych had given Murray problems in the past. He had a 4-2 head-to-head. Berdych's power is something most players struggle against, but he plays so up-and-down that lesser players
Everyone figured that del Potro might be the end of the road for Roddick. At this point in their careers, del Potro just has too many ways to beat a player like Roddick. It's a fascinating loss for two reasons. First, del Potro was the player that beat Safin before he retired. Second, del Potro's
Let's look at the top 8 seeds and see how they're doing Roger Federer Federer had easy opponents the first two rounds. Donald Young has been struggling to beat anyone this year, so he wasn't ready to beat Federer. Bjorn Phau is quick, but doesn't have enough weapons to bother Federer. Verdasco was his first
In his third round match, Murray struggled a great deal in the heat and humidity. This allowed Feliciano Lopez to take big swipes at the ball and hit a larger share of winners. Murray had to resort to hitting shots up the middle of the court and to Lopez's backhand so he could stay in
This was a strange match, and Murray explained some of the reason he looked so lethargic in his win over Feliciano Lopez. Great Britain isn't known for its sunny, hot weather, so players like Murray generally heads to some place warmer--for Murray, it's Miami, so he can acclimate his body to the heat and humidity.
When commentators talk about Bernard Tomic, Florian Mayer, Alexandr Dolgopolov, they talk about their quirky playing styles that makes it difficult for opponents to handle. In this lineage, however, Andy Murray predates them all (though Fabrice Santoro predates Murray). When I first began watching Murray, I'd wonder "How did this guy win?". He seemed to
