While the top 3 were making the semifinals of Madrid last week, the conspicuous missing fourth is Andy Murray. To be sure, Murray's weakest surface is clay. Murray's flatter style often leads to more errors. His opponent's high kicking spin can give him trouble. Still, he reached the semis of Monte Carlo after a slumping
For all the talk of Novak Djokovic's amazing 2011 run, still undefeated with 3 wins over Federer and 2 wins over Nadal, the missing man has been Andy Murray. When Andy Murray put in a less than stellar effort in the finals of Melbourne, it was thought that he choked another final. While that may
If you have to pick one day to visit Indian Wells to watch the men's matches, today is the day. All of the men play today with the culmination of Rafael Nadal playing upstart Somdev Devvarman and Roger Federer playing upstart Ryan Harrison. For those of you who say Ivo Karlovic is all serve, understand
Roger Federer struggled with his contemporaries before he became the dominant player that broke Sampras's record. Nalbandian, Hewitt, and Safin. Since then, Safin retired while Nalbandian and Hewitt struggle to stay relevant. Federer rarely has trouble playing players his age or older. And there are players in that age range that are pretty good, whether
It must be the 2012 Olympics. Singles players from countries that don't have strong tennis are often asked to play doubles. Federer credits his Olympic doubles win with Stan Wawrinka in 2008 to helping him win the US Open that year. Indian Wells has its strongest field, at least, with singles players. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic
In the 2 hours I was out of my place, Djokovic made short work of Mardy Fish. Many had hoped, with his weight loss, that he would be able to give Djokovic a challenge. Fish had been having a career half year. However, Djokovic is often underrated as a talent. If he had been in
Once you get to Labor Day, you move from the obligatory early round matches to the business end of a Slam. Those that want to seriously make a run need to get to Labor Day, when the fourth round begins. Let's begin with a quick recap of what happened so far. Among those coming in
As the first week of the Open begins to wind up, we're getting to the serious part of the tournament. Roger Federer has still not dropped a set. He beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. He faced only 4 break points, and didn't get broken. Federer was also efficient breaking winning 4 of 6 break
What's happened to Marin Cilic? Last year, he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open and took a set off Juan Martin del Potro. Some felt, if he hadn't given into nerves, he might have toppled the Argentine giant (though, the Croat, is just as tall as del Potro). He took one more step forward,
It's the last Slam of the year. Let's quickly go over today's matches. Let's start with the seeds. Davydenko (6) beat Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. This is a solid win. Davydenko seems like he's regaining form. At least, he's beating players he should beat. Robin Soderling (5) beat unheralded Haider-Mauer, but it took 5
