Some early round results in Tokyo. Nadal d Soeda 63 62 Raonic d Sugita 67 63 76 Giraldo d Haase 63 76 Gulbis d Kubot 63 36 75 Ito d Sela 64 36 63 Tomic d Troicki 76 76 Ferrer d Nishikori 64 63 Bogomolov d Nieminen 64 64 A little surprise with Ito, a
Singles tennis is a solitary sport. You play by yourself. Even if you are the product of a team. Many players that get to the very top are stubborn. People have suggested that Roger Federer play with a bigger racquet. Or that he play more patient tennis. Instead, he mostly plays like he has always
Now that the US Open is over and each of the top 4 has played in Davis Cup, let's see how the top 4 are looking for the rest of the year. Novak Djokovic Djokovic has said that his pain was bad enough to prevent him from completing his match against del Potro, but not
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
Maybe the Ferrer match wore Roddick out too much. When you look at the stats, 20+ winners by Nadal to none for Roddick (off the ground that is) and 8 aces by Roddick to 6 for Nadal. Roddick would need more than 20 aces and get half the points free for every game. Roddick lacks
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
