The French only had a puncher's chance. They hoped that puncher was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But with Nadal's withering pressure, Tsonga had no answers. Much like Gasquet, Tsonga was forced to hit winners off both sides, and missed frequently. The third set was only marginally better because his serve was helping him hold serve. Tsonga would
Rafael Nadal had just come off his sixth straight loss to Novak Djokovic, a grueling four-setter that was among the longest matches at the US Open. Rallies often exceeded 20 shots. By the time the fourth set rolled along, Nadal was spent. So, it was amazing, given all that, that Nadal would decide to play
There was a thought that maybe Nadal would discover something to beat Djokovic. With Uncle Toni being the brain trust, he and Rafa would find a way. Initially, the strategy seemed to be several fold. Be more aggressive. Change up the height and pace of the ball. Use the slice backhand and hope that Djokovic
While September 11, 2001 is something indelibly inked in the minds and hearts of Americans, it also happened shortly after the conclusion of the 2001 US Open. On September 9, 2001, Pete Sampras was still looking for his elusive 14th Slam. He had had chances the year before. On his way to the 2000 finals,
Sometimes the finals is best looked through the lens of those who don't make it. On paper, Federer and Murray can commiserate together, though both in their own way. On the one hand, Roger Federer has won 16 Slams and still feels he's so close to getting back to where he's used to being. This
Now that we're getting to the final 4, let's see how everyone is doing so far. Roger Federer Federer beat Giraldo and Sela in the first two rounds. These are matches Fed rarely loses especially to someone like Sela who lacks the firepower that Federer has. Fed bullied Sela like an 18 yr old would
With Federer's dismissal of Juan Monaco in the fourth round, Federer found himself in yet another Slam quarterfinal, his 30th in a row. The iron man of tennis had saved his best tennis for Monaco in a thorough beatdown using his power to leave Monaco hapless. However, Federer really hoped that his tennis was going
Let's start with the first fourth-round match of the day. Janko Tipsarevic played Juan Carlos Ferrero. The two have met twice but not in four years. Ferrero won both encounters but both times they met, the match was close. It was expected that this would be a long match too. And boy was it! The
Roger Federer hadn't looked all that solid in the two Masters 1000 events leading to the US Open. Even so, I felt that he had time to fix things up for the US Open. He's always targeted the Slams and played cleaner tennis in the Slams. His opponent in the third round was Marin Cilic.
Berlocq has an unusual bit of trivia associated with him. In 2006 at Miami, Berlocq faced Donald Young, who was also playing his first official ATP event (that is, ATP 250 or above). He beat Young love and love. In the second round, he lost to James Blake, love and love. Love had a lot
