Next week, Los Angeles starts. Novak Djokovic, who hasn't played this event in recent memory, was scheduled to play. One advantage of Djokovic playing would be getting some separation between him and Federer so he could secure the second seed at the US Open. However, Djokovic has withdrawn from Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Andy Murray, who
Since we're only on the second day of Davis Cup (each round taking 3 days to complete), not every tie has been complete, but a few, like the Spain-France tie are complete. Russia is playing Argentina in Moscow. They are playing indoors at the Olympic Stadium. With Nikolay Davydenko barely back from his injury (he
Until recently, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had mostly been number 1 and 2 in the world. Nadal has slipped in and out of number 2, dropping as low as 4, but now a resounding number 1. Because these two players have been at the top for so long, it's meant that the only way
When Wimbledon started, there were a handful of questions that tennis experts were hoping would get answered from the tournament. Roger Federer had just lost, for the first time, to Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals. Up until then, he had been to 23 straight semifinals, a record that lasted nearly 6 years. Just as impressive,
Tomas Berdych wasn't getting enough love. He had just upset Roger Federer, but it was Novak Djokovic that was slightly favored. Two reasons: Djokovic had never lost to Berdych (they'd only played twice, to be fair) and Djokovic had beaten Hewitt, considered a dark horse to win Wimbledon, and then demolished Lu. It was felt
Everyone felt that the easiest of the quarterfinals was Novak Djokovic vs. Yen-Hsun Lu. Lu was reaching his first quarterfinals ever. He had upset Andy Roddick. Novak had just come off a solid win over Lleyton Hewitt. He had not reached a semifinals in quite some time. This was a perfect chance for Djokovic to
Well, what can you say? Berdych is always a dangerous player, and he proved it again. Federer looked like he was hitting his stride especially with easy wins over Clement and Melzer. To be fair, these two players are actually older than Federer, and neither hit with the pace of Berdych. Federer tried to keep
For a while, this looked like a straight set match for Djokovic. Djokovic broke to take the first set, 7-5, then again, to take the second, 6-4. Then, it seemed like Djokovic was going to suffer from health issues, a problem that knocked him out of the Australian Open, and partly explained why he lost
On this, the most match-laden day of any Slam, all fourth round matches are played. Federer was up early and won his match quickly over Jurgen Melzer. There were eight men's matches scheduled for today. Two more are completed not including Federer's win. Tsonga played countryman Benneteau and got off to a quick start winning
Roger prefers playing players he's played a long time. There was a time that a handful of players gave Roger trouble. Lleyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian, and, yes, even Arnaud Clement. Federer overcame many of his nemesis by 2004 when he started becoming the Roger Federer of today. You have to credit Arnaud Clement, at 32
