Five years and counting. That's how long Roger Federer has been making Grand Slam semifinals. That's five years of staying healthy, never retiring, and winning. Roger Federer used to fear powerful baseliners, players like Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian. He even got intimidated by other serve-and-volleyers like Tim Henman. But Roger Federer worked hard to
It's tough to gauge Rafa's game. In the last round, Rafael Nadal played Nicolas Almagro, and the two traded plenty of breaks. If a guy like Almagro can break Nadal so handily, how would Nadal fare against a more talented Gael Monfils? But each match is different. Just ask Andy Murray who played a brilliant
The men's draw has gone pretty much to form. The women's draw, on the other hand, has been devastated. Anyone who has followed the women's game knows how good the Russian women are. They all hit hard. But they all seem to have some mental demons to work out. There are perhaps 20 Russian women
When you're as good a player as Roger Federer, there are going to be plenty of players that have an 0-fer record against you. For Tommy Robredo, he was o for 8 against the Swiss number 1. Robredo faced Roger Federer in the fourth round today, and he felt he'd have to play his best.
Due to an amazing match between Italy's Flavia Pennetta and Russia's Vera Zvonareva, the Murray-Dent match got a late start. Pennetta saved 6 match points, almost everyone on aggressive winners showing the kind of mental toughness that often seems in short supply in the women's tour. Zvonareva, meanwhile was going through an emotional roller coaster.
Perhaps the only guy that can relate to Tommy Haas is Taylor Dent. A back injury lead to surgery and nearly two years off the tour. Dent wondered at times whether it was worth the effort to come back. But come back he did. After being off the tour from 2006 to early 2008, Dent
At 32 years old, Nicolas Kiefer has been on the tour for 14 years. Watch enough tennis and pay enough attention to the players playing Slams and you'll notice the players you don't know are not 19 year old wunderkinds but 29 year old veterans, who have grinded on the tour for years. On the
While most watchers of tennis generally care about the very top of the sport, there is some intrigue in watching the little guy beat a somewhat bigger guy. Jesse Witten is ranked 276 in the world. He's 26 years old. There are gobs of American players that have had better results from him. Roddick, Blake,
Ever since Andy Murray moved up to number 2 in the world in Montreal, the possibility lingered that Nadal and Federer could now appear in the same half of the US Open draw. Tournament organizers had to be hoping fervently that that wouldn't happen. Although Americans are Anglophiles, Andy Murray still lacks the name recognition
