2010 was a good year for Jurgen Melzer. A contemporary of Roger Federer, Melzer had stuck in the top 40 for many years, but when it came to Slams, Melzer just didn't do well. Melzer played his first Slam in 2000, but until 2010, Melzer had never even made it to the fourth round of
One reason Nicolas Almagro has been in the top ten is the number of titles he's won. The ATP clay circuit can be broken into three parts. There is the South/Central American swing that is played starting a week or so after the conclusion of the Australian Open and runs until Indian Wells. Then, there
There was a question whether Tomic could play Federer the way he played Dolgopolov or even Querrey and Verdasco. That is, hit off-pace shots and hope to befuddle Federer. The thought was perhaps he couldn't and would have to up the pace. Tomic felt confident he could take the match to Federer, but he still
Sam Querrey spent a lot of 2011 not playing that much tennis. He had had a similar experience when he had a freak accident in Bangkok where he sat on a glass table that broke under his weight (when asked why he sat on the table, he said that he had just taken a shower
These days, second round matches can be pretty interesting. Let's take a look at a few of today's more intriguing matches. Haas vs. Nadal OK, Haas shouldn't really pose any problems to Nadal. He's a veteran, but injuries have put him on the sideline for many years, so he's played rather infrequently. Although Nadal was
Paris is the last event of the year prior to the ATP World Tour Finals in London which invites the top 8 qualifiers. This is a Masters 1000 event which offers the most points after the Slams (not including the year-end final). Deciding who has qualified in the top 8 is a bit complex, because
Most of the top four are taking the week off. Indeed, Roger Federer said he wouldn't return until Basel, which is after Shanghai. Djokovic had said he would skip next week's event, but hasn't mentioned whether he'll play Shanghai or not. Rafael Nadal is still slated to play Tokyo where he is the defending champ.
Verdasco must get a lot of heartache playing Nadal. He's never beaten him in 11 attempts, and for a while, he was struggling to win sets. But if Verdasco had a chance to upset Nadal, today was it. Nadal had burned his fingers at a dinner handling a hot plate. He had lost to Dodig
This is what you get with a Masters 1000 event. You can have a tough first match right off the bat, and even more if you are a top seed. Juan Martin del Potro has been on the comeback trail. He's ranked 19th in the world, but would be 11th if the rankings were only
Djokovic had played somewhat shaky tennis in his first two rounds, beating Davydenko when Davydenko had 2 breaks, then a third before giving up the first set then disappearing in the second. Against Cilic, Djokovic again struggled a bit with trying to take control of the match, but did good enough to win. But it
