Before we get to Federer, let's hit some of the upsets of the day. The biggest upset of the day was David Ferrer losing to Kevin Anderson, 36 64 63. Ferrer had chances to break in the second set, but didn't while Anderson did break. The match was a combination of Anderson being aggressive off
There are three tournaments being played now. Two are ATP 500 events and one is an ATP 250. The ATP 500 events are Dubai and Acapulco. Four of the top 5 players in the world are playing in those tournaments. Djokovic and Federer played in Dubai. Nadal and Ferrer are playing in Acapulco. This leaves
The semifinals had to be all the tournament organizers could hope for. Federer, Djokovic, Berdych, and del Potro all made the semis as if they had a plane to catch. They won efficiently. That left the semis. On one half, there was 3-time champ, Novak Djokovic facing Juan Martin del Potro. On the other, there
Fans love the best of the best. They want to see Federer. They want to see Nadal. They want to see Djokovic. They want to see them face each other. But the tour is more than the top few players, and sometimes, in the smallest of matches, there are stories behind the match. John Isner
At the end of Day 1, the US looked to be in great shape to sweep the Brazilians. Sam Querrey beat Bellucci more easily than expected backed up by great serving. John Isner also had a solid win over Thiago Alves, ranked about 140. Most felt that the Bryan brothers would seal the deal with
Novak Djokovic opened up his second round (he had a first round) ready for Halloween. He dressed up in a Darth Vader mask, perhaps aware that Disney had spent billions acquiring the Star Wars franchise, or maybe it was just coincidence. He stepped on court knowing that he would end the year at number 1
One motivation for Federer to play Shanghai, regardless of whether he ends up at number 1 at the end of the year, was to extend his streak of weeks at number 1. Currently, Federer leads Djokovic by 835 points. If Djokovic wins Shanghai, an event he skipped last year, he would pick up 1000 points.
No one had expected the US to make it this far. In the opening round, the US was pitted against Switzerland, on clay, with Roger Federer playing, but Isner pulled a big upset, and the US got past them. Then, the US plays against France, at France, on clay, even though the French might actually
Isner is getting used to marathon matches, but these days, he's as apt to lose them. Indeed, since winning the marathon match in 2010, Isner has lost 5 five-setters, and won only one. Certainly, this match, which didn't get started until 11, will have been his latest, ending at 2:30 AM, tied for the latest
If you hadn't watched Murray's first round match, a 62 64 61 straight set match over Alex Bogomolov, you would have thought he had a comfortable win, without too much stress, but it was anything but. Bogomolov was able to break Murray 4 times, quite impressive, given the lop-sided score in the Russian's favor, but
