Has Rafa got his mojo back? Maybe. With his wins at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Rafael Nadal has to be feeling good on his best surface. Still, Djokovic came into the finals with two solid wins, over Tsonga and Federer. His loss to Rafa in Monte Carlo could be blamed on Djokovic's personal loss when
The women's final preceded the men's. The men's had been scheduled for around 4 PM in Rome. The women started a little less than two hours earlier. For a while, it appeared that the women's match would finish routinely. Li Na had won a close first set, 6-4. She was comfortably up 4-0 with a
If you were to place a bet on who had a better chance to beat Rafa on clay, Djokovic or Federer, who would you pick? Federer has only beaten Rafa on clay sparingly. In Hamburg some number of years ago, and in Madrid, during its inaugural start. He may have another win here or there,
Ever since the US Open, Roger Federer has been playing some solid tennis. Indeed, even if you include the US Open, Roger Federer came within a hair of beating Djokovic. Only a go-for-broke return by Djokovic followed by a dig-out return and a Federer slap shot that clipped the net causing the ball to fall
Rome is the last big tournament where many of the names expecting to contend for honors at Roland Garros will play. Let's just say that 2012 is significantly different from 2011. 2011 was the year of Novak, and the question then was "Can Novak win on clay?", and the answer was yes, but. He beat
Apparently, the late Vitas Gerulaitis once said "No one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row" when he claimed a victory over Jimmy Connors. In those days, it was hard to find head-to-head stats, so Vitas may have been guessing how many times Connors had beaten him. In any case, good friend, Bjorn Borg
Four times David Ferrer has made the Barcelona finals and four times he's met Rafael Nadal. Nadal is to Ferrer as Federer is to Roddick except occasionally you get glimpses that maybe Ferrer could break through. In all respects except possibly heart, Ferrer comes up second best against Nadal. His serve is comparable, but with
If Monte Carlo is Nadal's most successful tournament, then Barcelona has to be number 2. Nadal recently won his 8th consecutive title at Monte Carlo. He might be going for the same feat now had he not, in 2010, skipped the event, presumably to save his fragile knees. But, for whatever reason, Nadal changed his
It was close for a few games, then not so much. In their past matches, Djokovic has often stayed toe to toe with Nadal off the ground. Today, not so much. Nadal had chances in nearly every one of Djokovic's serve to break. Djokovic didn't seem able to keep up in long rallies. He went
Rafael Nadal is the acknowledged king of clay. If tennis was clay. Nadal would be the greatest of all time. He puts more spin on the ball than any other player. He's quick, tenacious, and patient: three skills that are invaluable on clay. He's lost on clay fewer than 20 times, and most of it,
