Lleyton Hewitt was once asked who his tennis idol was. Rather than point to one of the numerous Aussies, many of whom had probably stopped playing by the time he was born, or even to players like Pat Cash, his role model was the Swede, Mats Wilander. Perhaps it made more sense, especially since Hewitt
For a while, the match was pretty much going the way everyone expected. Nadal won the first two sets 6-2, 6-3 as Melzer found out that Nadal hits harder than Djokovic, and the shots he was making against the Serb were suddenly missing. Nadal also got up a break in the third set, and it
This is why it's difficult to predict who will do well at a Slam. The semifinalists are: Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Rafael Nadal, and Jurgen Melzer. Raise your hand if you have more than 2 of 4 correct. Based on past history, you would surely have put Roger Federer instead of Robin Soderling. Berdych would
During his interviews, Djokovic would say that he played 3 good sets and not to worry about the silly set that he dropped. Throughout the tournament, Djokovic had a pretty easy draw. Expected to play Ferrer or possibly Roddick, Djokovic must have thought he had a free ride to the semifinals. Playing the Austrian veteran,
Fans have been anticipating a Federer-Nadal final ever since the French Open started. After all, Nadal had pulled off the "triple" by winning Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid, the first time any player had won three Masters 1000 events on clay. And Federer, who keeps reaching Slam finals. The last time Federer failed to reach
Going into the French Open, you'd give it a toss-up as to who was playing better after Rafael Nadal: David Ferrer or Fernando Verdasco. I mean, sure you could point to Roger Federer, but he only had one good tournament, and two "bad" ones (Estoril and Rome). You wouldn't have expected David Ferrer to struggle
With all the rain that affected play on Wednesday and Thursday, matches were backlogged. Matches that were supposed to be played Thursday were pushed into today. In an effort to catch up, matches that were originally planned for today, i.e. 3rd round matches, were played today. All top 5 seeds play Friday which include Federer,
If you watch enough tennis, you see beyond the names most people know, beyond Federer, Nadal, beyond Tsonga, Roddick, beyond Querrey, and start to see names like Andreas Seppi, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Thomaz Bellucci. You'll see names like Victor Hanescu and Janko Tipsarevic. These are the guys whose ranks typically float in the 30s or 40s,
I'll do one preview now and maybe a modified preview once the draw is out. This preview is primarily based on how players are playing now. Let's start with the top contenders for the French Open. Favorites Rafael Nadal You have to give Rafa the nod heading into the French. Although there were some issues
Now that the most important clay court tournaments are conclude (Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid) and Rafael Nadal has become the first player to win all three titles, we must ask: who can beat Nadal on clay? Before we try to answer that question, let's look at clay court tennis. You only have to go back
