For some reason, Robin Soderling's power groundstrokes seem more intimidating on clay than on hardcourts. The last time Soderling played Roddick was this year, in Indian Wells, a match Roddick won in three sets. Roddick went on to the finals where he lost to Ljubicic before winning Miami the following tournament. This match was one
Today, the top four players in the world were out on court and doing what they do best, which is win. Novak Djokovic beat fellow Serb, Victor Troicki, 6-3, 7-5. Nadal played Taylor Dent and won by a similar score of 6-2, 7-5. Andy Murray had the toughest match of the top 4. He beat
When the draw for the French Open came out, this was seen as easily the most difficult of the first round matches. Although Gasquet was ranked in the high 60s when the draw was made, a ranking that dropped into the low 40s by Monday when his win in Nice counted to his results, he
It's been a long road back. On May 9, 2009, it was reported that Richard Gasquet had used cocaine and was provisionally suspended. The amounts were considered rather small. Gasquet claimed this was due to kissing a dancer in Miami. Gasquet was eventually cleared to play just before the US Open and has spent the
Is it worth playing a tennis tournament the week before a Slam? One player that has a habit of playing up to a Slam is Fernando Verdasco. Last year, Verdasco played the Pilot Pen Classic the week before the US Open and beat Sam Querrey to win the title. He reached the quarterfinals of the
Most of the top pros like to spend the week before a Slam putting in last minute prep work. For example, Federer, Nadal, Murray, and Djokovic are not playing this week. However, there's almost always a tournament that is played the week before a Slam because some pros want match practice all the way up
Today was a mix of first and second round action. In first round action, Victor Hanescu must be tired of seeing Stanislas Wawrinka. The two met in Casablanca last week with Wawrinka winning the title. Then, they meet in the first round of Monte Carlo. Wawrinka wins 6-2, 6-4 again. Horacio Zeballos was also deep
Everyone knew that Igor Andreev was a tough opponent. Two years ago, the wily Russian with the big forehand and the big serve gave players like Rafael Nadal trouble. In his 2008 US Open run, Roger Federer needed five sets to beat Andreev. Since then, Andreev's rank has dropped some, though he remains in the
