As the hour headed to about 7 PM, there was a battle brewing on Court Philippe Chatrier. The ESPN announcers astutely observed that if Tsonga didn't win the match in straight sets, he would lose in 5 sets. The reason? Stamina. Tsonga, like his countryman Monfils, is susceptible to injury. When you're injured, it can
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
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
This year, the top singles players came out in force to play doubles. Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez were the defending champs and came back to defend. Roger Federer was teamed up with Stan Wawrinka for the first time in a tournament setting since they won the Olympics in 2008. Novak Djokovic paired up with
Ah, sometimes you want to play tennis so bad, that you hope a mini-excursion out will still leave you enough tennis to watch. Except, alas, a 4 hour excursion left me missing both the Federer win over Wawrinka, then the rest of what must have been only an hour, followed by a doubles match that
It's the dream matchup everyone wanted. Well, almost. Nadal plays doubles irregularly, but typically a bit more often than Roger Federer. With the Olympics a year away, it seems many a top pro is using Indian Wells to practice their doubles skills. Amazingly, Rafael Nadal and partner Marc Lopez are defending champs defeating then number
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
Now there's a name we haven't heard in a while. James Blake was once a top ten player, someone who came back from scoliosis (affecting his spine) where had to wear a back brace for most of a day, then from shingles and the death of his father. His ranking has since dropped, and he
Stan Wawrinka had made some big changes. He had hired Peter Lundren, an early Federer coach. This had lead to a title at Chennai. He had thumped Andy Roddick. Although the thinking was Wawrinka could beat Federer, the ESPN announcers knew that Roger wasn't Andy. Even Andy knew he wasn't Roger. For one, Roger is
