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
There was something that was going to give. Either Federer's 9-0 record over Ferrer would end, or Federer would show he's still got some game left. There was some thought Ferrer might be able to topple Federer, partly because he's been the most "successful" clay court player this season, if you measure success purely by
Sam Querrey was wondering what was going on. He was down a break in the first, and almost down a double break to his good buddy and doubles partner, John Isner. He hadn't so much whiffed a break point on Isner's serve. Then, Querrey was a break down in the second set to his doubles
Novak Djokovic's allergies (really--allergies?) has been a bonus for a number of players, most notably, Filip Krajinovic, also a Serb, who reached his first ATP semi against Sam Querrey. Because of Djokovic's retirement in the quarterfinals, and because Isner upset Wawrinka, the stage was set for something rather unusual. An All-American final on clay. Krajinovic,
Apparently, Djokovic wasn't feeling so good and wasn't sure he wanted to play Belgrade, but given that it's his home tournament, he felt obligated. The least likely Serbian to win today was therefore, Filip Krajikovic, 18 years old, reaching the semifinals. Good news for Americans. John Isner beat Richard Gasquet in 3 sets earlier. His
The clay court season starts with Monte Carlo and culminates at Madrid. Technically, there's one more clay tournament (in Nice, France) prior to the French, but the likelihood is no top seeds will play that tournament. There are three Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid) with Monte Carlo considered an optional tournament (the other
It's been a while since Italians had a top male player. Back in the golden age of pro tennis, in the mid 1970s, the Foro Italico, site of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, once called the Italian Open, was a raucous arena filled with rowdy Italians. Whistles could sometimes lead to throwing of coins. Such was
Sam Querrey's quest to win a clay title came short as Juan Ignacio Chela, once ranked as high as 15 in the world (back in 2004), managed to turn back the clock and beat his younger opponent in three sets. Querrey took the first set 7-5, but Chela showed his clay court prowess and took
Sam Querrey is one match from his first claycourt title. His opponent was a bit of a surprise. Were it not for an incident that occurred a few weeks ago where Wayne Odesnik was found to have smuggled HGH into Australia and potentially faces a ban, no one might have cared that Odesnik was making
Miami marks the end of the first part of a 3 part hard court season. The second part occurs just after Wimbledon and is the US Open Series, and the third part is after the US Open which is a combination of hard courts and indoor tournaments (I wish it were all indoors, but apparently,
