The Spaniards may have fell by the wayside during Wimbledon (except, of course, Rafa), but they have come out in force at the US Open, and no more so fully than today. Let's start with Rafa Nadal. He played Gilles Simon. Simon has beaten Nadal before, but it was back in 2008 when Simon was
Ryan Harrison is only 18 years old and may become one of the top Americans. It's tough for American tennis at the very top. Querrey and Isner are in the top 20, but the question is whether either player can play top 10 tennis. Querrey probably has the better upside because he moves better, but
Much like the World Cup that just concluded (Rafael Nadal made an appearance in South Africa to support Spain in its first win), the Davis Cup is actually tiered. Most of the media focuses on the top tier, the World Group, which starts with 16 teams, and goes four rounds over four different times of
Not nearly the huge upset that knocked Nadal out of the French last year, this was still an amazing performance by Robin Soderling to prevent Roger from getting to his 24th consecutive semifinal at a Slam. It didn't end the way it started. Roger was comfortably holding serve, then managed a break, and won the
This is one of those matches that shows Roddick isn't exactly a clay courter. Gabashvili is one of those dangerous players who hits hard but whose errors typically do him in. But not today. Gabashvili kept hitting balls hard and Roddick, in an effort to keep up, made a few too many errors. Roddick came
One wonders where this Roger Federer was a few weeks ago with backhand flying out and losing early. It seems Roger's priorities are to win Slams and that early losses are not bothersome to Roger, or for the conspiracy-minded, Roger selectively loses so as not to tempt injury or to keep some of what he
With two days of play complete, let's look at how the top seeds are faring. Roger Federer Roger Federer had a bit of a tight first set, but then relaxed, and had a very easy first round match. He's playing like he did in Madrid, and that was just too much for Luczak. I think
Robin Soderling played a French wildcard and, as expected, didn't have too many issues. He beat Laurent Recouderc 6-0, 6-2, 6-3. Although his results in the clay season have not been exceptional (he reached the finals of Barcelona, but has lost early in other tournaments), Soderling feels he has trained well. Marin Cilic had a
Ernests Gulbis. Loves. Drop shots. I mean, the man really loves them. In the 1980s, when clay court tennis meant interminably long rallies, the drop shot seemed a rarity. Few people could hit it well and some chose to almost never hit it. For every horribly awkward Lendl drop shot, there was a Mats Wilander
