Andy Murray was probably happy for the heat wave in the US. Last year, it was a bit cool, so Murray decided to take a wildcard to Los Angeles, reached the finals, but lost to Sam Querrey. Nonetheless, Murray went to defend his title at Toronto. He lost to Fish (for a third time) in
It's probably been a few years since Andy Roddick had a serious shot at winning a Slam. Roddick's always done well when he starts with a new coach, and then the relationship stales. It happened with Gilbert, Connors, even briefly with Patrick McEnroe, and Larry Stefanki. A few months after working with Stefanki, Roddick made
The top seeds continue to roll. Nadal has played Ryan Sweeting twice this year, once at the Australian Open and once at Indian Wells, winning both handily. He lost 4 games in both. Surely, he had to feel pretty confident playing Sweeting. Although Sweeting did win a few more games, he still lost handily in
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
Before we talk about "the streak", let's talk about a smaller match. Fabio Fognini vs. Albert Montanes. Both made some news last year in the clay season. Fognini was in a prolonged evening match with Monfils well past ten when neither player could see well, but Monfils was hoping for a pro-Monfils support to help
Before I talk about today's early results, I want to talk about yesterday's results. Tennis really needs a better way to report its scores. Scores are fine, but they really don't tell you the story. I'll give you three examples from yesterday, two from women's matches. Maria Sharapova is down 6-3, 4-1 down, double-break. It
Perhaps one player Roger Federer didn't want to see in the first round was Feliciano Lopez. Lopez pushed Federer to 3 tiebreaks in Madrid to win. Federer did have a break opportunity to take it in straight sets. Despite this, I figured Federer would feel more confident playing Lopez and not be as vulnerable to
If the Foro Italico was set in the peak of ancient Rome, perhaps Nadal would be the star gladiator. Alas, its history is a bit more recent, having been constructed under the eye of Mussolini. Even so, Nadal has shown his capacity to win this title over and over. This will be Nadal's sixth final.
It's hard to say how well Robin Soderling is playing. He started the year really well with his new coach Claudio Pistolesi. He won Brisbane, then Rotterdam, then Marseille. Since then, he hasn't fared nearly as well, though two losses come at the hands of Juan Martin del Potro who is still trying to regain
Perhaps no one knows what Gasquet's life is like as much as, oh, maybe Venus Williams. Touted as the new superstar of the projects, Venus was expected to do well even at the ripe young age of 12. France, similarly, thought Richard Gasquet would be the new French superstar. Until, that is, the fateful day
