Although the year is not yet over, I'm ready to pick my best match of the year. I always hate when tennis pundits pick their best match of the year. Invariably, they pick a Slam, because they figure if it's some obscure event in Doha, none of the tennis public will know what they are
What a difference a few months make. Nikolay Davydenko, the defending champ at Shanghai, has been out of sorts ever since his return to tour. Last year, in 2009, Davydenko had injury issues. He returned just before the French Open, and lost to Robin Soderling. Davydenko hit his stride just after the US Open winning
When the temperature starts dipping from the infernal heat and humidity of summer, when American collegiates put on football helmets on and their professional counterparts do the same, the American tennis-watching public tunes off tennis and turn their attentions elsewhere. It's the post-season in baseball. College and pro (American) football is starting up. Basketball and
What's happened to Marin Cilic? Last year, he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open and took a set off Juan Martin del Potro. Some felt, if he hadn't given into nerves, he might have toppled the Argentine giant (though, the Croat, is just as tall as del Potro). He took one more step forward,
It's the last Slam of the year. Let's quickly go over today's matches. Let's start with the seeds. Davydenko (6) beat Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. This is a solid win. Davydenko seems like he's regaining form. At least, he's beating players he should beat. Robin Soderling (5) beat unheralded Haider-Mauer, but it took 5
Few players have beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same year. Andy Murray pulled the feat this year at Toronto. Nikolay Davydenko did it in Doha at the start of the year. Both these guys are in the top 10. But add Marcos Baghdatis to that list of names. Back in Indian Wells,
For some reason, Robin Soderling's power groundstrokes seem more intimidating on clay than on hardcourts. The last time Soderling played Roddick was this year, in Indian Wells, a match Roddick won in three sets. Roddick went on to the finals where he lost to Ljubicic before winning Miami the following tournament. This match was one
Today, the top four players in the world were out on court and doing what they do best, which is win. Novak Djokovic beat fellow Serb, Victor Troicki, 6-3, 7-5. Nadal played Taylor Dent and won by a similar score of 6-2, 7-5. Andy Murray had the toughest match of the top 4. He beat
Where was this guy? For a few years, Nalbandian had been somewhat irrelevant. Sure, he was like Hewitt or Safin, the guys that came on tour when Federer did and gave Fed his share of trouble. Unlike Hewitt or Safin, who each won a pair of Slams, Nalbandian's best efforts came in 2002 when he
Perhaps Nike is pushing the pink. Nadal came out with a bright magenta-pink outfit that tries to show off his chest. Nadal also came out rusty making all sorts of unforced errors against Stanislas Wawrinka. This kept Wawrinka fairly even in the match. Wawrinka even had chances to take the first set. However, Wawrinka was
