Few people, outside the US, realize just how long the clay season is. The clay season begins just after the Australian Open with a swing through South and Central America. There is a small break as the two US Master 1000 hard court events are played in Indian Wells and Miami in consecutive weeks. Then,
Apparently, the late Vitas Gerulaitis once said "No one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row" when he claimed a victory over Jimmy Connors. In those days, it was hard to find head-to-head stats, so Vitas may have been guessing how many times Connors had beaten him. In any case, good friend, Bjorn Borg
Three tournaments were played on clay this week in the lead up to Madrid, which will be played on blue clay. Madrid and Rome are two Masters 1000 events and are back-to-back events. The three events are Munich, Estoril, and Belgrade. Let's start with Belgrade. Normally, this is the Novak Djokovic tournament. He has won
Milos Raonic is doing the best of the "new 4" which is Raonic, Tomic, Dimitrov, and Harrison. Raonic has done the best of the four having won a tournament (San Jose) and been runner up at another (Memphis). Raonic's big weapon is his huge serve. This wins him a lot of free points. His weakness
Breaking News Rafael Nadal has opted to skip Paris next week for the second year in a row. He wishes to focus his training on the year-end championship and Davis Cup. Valencia Sam Querrey's biggest goal may be staying healthy. Two years ago, he had a freak accident in Bangkok where he sat on a
Roger Federer has come to an age where, in the rare circumstances he plays someone his age, he's generally overwhelmingly favored. After all, Roger Federer is 30 years old, the age that many tennis players begin to fade. And even if Federer hasn't faded much, his competition has. Indeed, many of Federer's rivals reads like
Andy Murray accepted a wild card late last week for what promised to be a powerhouse lineup in Basel, but Murray dealt the tournament a blow when he withdrew this morning citing a right gluteal muscle strain. Murray said we woke up early Tuesday morning and felt pain. Although he did have a light practice
With the finals of Vienna and St. Petersburg being played today, there's only two more weeks where players can qualify for the year-end championship, namely Basel/Valencia next week, and the last Masters 1000 event of the year in Paris. This week, two events are being played, one in Vienna and one in St. Petersburg. Last
For a guy who struggled to win his first tournament title (losing 4 finals before winning his first), Janko Tipsarevic is hitting his stride. With his win in Kuala Lumpur, Tipsarevic become Serb #2 ahead of Viktor Troicki. Novak Djokovic credits his success due to the Serbian maiden win in Davis Cup last year, but
The US Open series is often used by Americans to showcase their talents. It starts in Atlanta and ends in New York City at the US Open. Many non-Americans often skip the first month of the US Open series and start play in Canada. The downside of all this play is Americans generally play poorly
