The best times to catch Rafa napping in his game is early on. Roger Federer knew this when he nearly won the first set off of Rafa in the finals of the French Open. The problem? It usually takes Rafa only half a set or so before his strokes are back in groove. This happened
What do the four semifinalists at Queen's Club, now dubbed The Aegon Championships (and they have 2-3 other similarly named tournaments have in common). The red, white, and blue! Oh, so you thought Americans were the only country to have red, white, and blue in their flag? Obviously not. The British also have the same
The gap between the end of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon is a slender two weeks. John McEnroe said surely Rafa would not choose to play Queen's two days later where he had committed to play doubles with his sometimes doubles partner, Marc Lopez. But, indeed, Rafa did go. Novak Djokovic, however,
Before we reflect on what kind of accomplishment Rafael Nadal made with his record equaling sixth win, we should take time to think about the era of Borg. Borg played in the cusp of two eras, the transition that lead to twenty years of revolution in tennis. Perhaps the biggest revolution was the one in
It's been more than two years since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been in the finals of a Slam. This used to be more routine because Federer kept making it to final after final. That streak was stopped last year at the French Open when Federer lost to Soderling in the quarterfinals. Federer also
Most people figured this was the end of the road for Andy Murray. With a very solid performance against Robin Soderling, Nadal appeared to have cleaned up his game. In any case, Murray was still playing with an injury. This match opened up much like the Troicki match. Although Murray won his first serve game
It's probably been since 2006 French Open that the top four seeds in a men's Slam have met in the semifinals. Back then, it was Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, David Nalbandian, and Ivan Ljubicic. You might point to this year's Australian Open, but Andy Murray's rank had slipped enough and Robin Soderling had performed well
It was thought that the powerful Soderling would have a chance against Nadal. Nadal had yet to play anyone that hit as hard as Soderling. Nadal would have to up his game to face the one man that had beaten him on clay. But Nadal had done it twice before in Slams, once last year
Everyone's asking whether Roger Federer has lost it. But, to me, he's like Chris Evert when Steffi Graf rose to the top spot. Martina was number 1 or 2 and Graf was behind her. However, Evert had been champ for years and years. The women's game still resembled Evert more than it resembled Graf and
Fognini must have channeled the spirit of Andy Murray. Perhaps it was a cramp, but it seems like it was a muscle pull. Whatever it was, late in the third set, Fognini was struck with something that impaired his movement. He went to the only strategy that's available if you want to keep playing. Go
