Lopez seems like a poor man's Verdasco. He's a lefty, but hits his a one-hander to Verdasco's two-hander. He has a big forehand, but probably not bigger than Verdasco. He relies on the slice. He might have a bigger serve than Verdasco, but not by much. In any case, he had never beaten Roger Federer,
This year, the ATP organizers shuffled up the clay court schedule. Historically, it was Monte Carlo, then an ATP 250 event (or events), then Rome, then more ATP 250 events, then Hamburg, then ATP 250 events, then the French Open. Hamburg was demoted and Madrid converted from an indoor tournament to a clay event. Players
Let's start in Estoril, Portugal's only ATP level event. Last year, it was Albert Montanes, who upset Roger Federer, defending his title over local, Frederico Gil, who was trying to be the first Portuguese player to win an ATP singles event. This year, Federer didn't show up. Instead, we have Juan Martin del Potro trying
Didn't expect this. Robin Soderling didn't have a particularly good Indian Wells. He lost to Phillipp Kohlschreiber in the 3rd round. This was one indication that Soderling wasn't on top of his game and that del Potro would have a good shot of beating Soderling. Before del Potro was injured, he used to play Soderling
del Potro's return back to tour has been nothing short of incredible. But, despite a title win at Delray Beach, del Potro had not beaten a top ten player. He has played two in 2011. He lost to Andy Roddick in Memphis in the semis, and lost to Fernando Verdasco in San Jose. Few expected
If you have to pick one day to visit Indian Wells to watch the men's matches, today is the day. All of the men play today with the culmination of Rafael Nadal playing upstart Somdev Devvarman and Roger Federer playing upstart Ryan Harrison. For those of you who say Ivo Karlovic is all serve, understand
For a few years, Devvarman was at the top of the game. The college game, that is. The star player at the University of Virginia, Devvarman reached the finals of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Championship, and won it two years in a row including a win over John Isner. Since then, Devvarman has been
It's not clear where Andy Murray's head is. Murray lost in the first round at Rotterdam to Marcos Baghdatis. Now he's lost to a guy that was once number 1 in the world--as a junior. Donald Young once thought he would be knocking on the door of the top ten. The US gave him wildcard
That didn't take long, did it? Many had expected del Potro to take at least 3 months, perhaps closer to 6 months to come back, and within two months or so, he's already won a title. del Potro went from winning a match in a tournament, to winning two matches, to getting to the semifinals
Who knows if these meetings will become a regular event? Is Djokovic making a push to be in the top 2? As the defending champ, Djokovic actually has to win in Dubai to keep his points while Federer skipped Dubai last year due to an illness and only stands to gain points. Nonetheless, it says
