My discussion about Nadal will be mercilessly short, much like Nadal's match was over Tommy Robredo. Fans love trends--almost too much so. When Robredo beat Roger Federer (or more properly, when Federer beat himself), some fans felt Nadal was ripe for the picking, ready for defeat. After all, if Federer could go down, why can't
Federer's draw has been pretty smooth, about as good as it was at Wimbledon 2012, the year he won the title. So far, he's played Grega Zemlja, Carlos Berlocq, and on Saturday evening, Adrian Mannarino. When interviewed prior to coming on court, he knew he had to do a better job returning serve. His coach
Was away at the US Open, so have barely had a chance to report about it. Let's quickly get to the top pros. Rafael Nadal Rafa played on the last match in the day session on Arthur Ashe. His opponent was Ryan Harrison. Harrison's a hard worker with a huge serve, but he has liabilities
Of the two, John Isner generally has the more straight-forward strategy. He knows his liabilities: he doesn't return particularly well, and he doesn't run particularly fast. These two constraints dictate his style of play. Hit big serves, hope for weak returns, and go for big shots on the forehand. On the return of serve, take
When Djokovic was on his epic win streak in 2011, the tennis media was in a frenzy by the time the French Open rolled around. Djokovic had finally beaten Nadal on clay. He had not lost a match up to that point. Djokovic would eventually lose to Federer in the semis of the French, but
For the first time in a long while, I watched the finals of a match while simultaneously in a chat room filled with fans of tennis. Fans of tennis really want close matches. Perhaps this explains the popularity of basketball. In basketball, it's difficult, by and large, to dominate another team. The scores are usually
Let's summarize Montreal so far. First news, Federer chose to skip this event. He had added Hamburg and Gstaad to his schedule partly to compensate for losing early at Wimbledon, and partly to give himself time to get accustomed to his new, larger racquet. Andy Murray lost early. In a way, no surprise. In 2009
Seems like Steve Darcis is the new Lukas Rosol. While Rosol was tumbling out of the first round of Wimbledon, Nadal was finding himself in a heap of trouble against a little heralded Belgian player, 29 years of age, ranked 110 in the world trying to take Nadal out of Wimbledon early for the second
Even though it's about a week before Wimbledon, folks like to speculate who will win. Let's look at each of the "big four" (Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Nadal). Technically, Ferrer is number 4, and where Nadal lands will greatly impact the chances the rest have. Rafael Nadal Rafa has had the hottest season in his career,
The conditions were damp and overcast. Perhaps the kind of conditions Djokovic wishes his semifinals were played under. But perhaps nature favors the champion. Most proclaimed the semifinals between Nadal and Djokovic as the de-facto finals as neither Tsonga nor Ferrer were expected to pose the kind of challenge that Nadal and Djokovic would to
