Berdych served as spoiler at Wimbledon when he beat Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. He was hoping to do it again against Nadal. Initially, it didn't seem like it would go that direction with Nadal dominating the first set with a 6-2 win. Nadal's focus dropped some as Berdych also played more aggressive tennis and
Still the early rounds going on. Nadal, who rarely loses to fellow Spaniards (although he did lose to Lopez at Queen's last year and to Garcia-Lopez in Bangkok--something about that Lopez name, I guess) faced fellow lefty, Feliciano Lopez. This was a routine 6-3, 6-3 win. Federer had a tougher match, requiring a 6-4, 7-6
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
Sometimes those big victories resonate in the mind more. Tomas Berdych beat Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Wimbledon to reach his first final. People forget that Berdych and Djokovic met twice more that year with Djokovic winning both encounters (Davis Cup and the round robin at the ATP World Tour Finals). Much like Wawrinka
As we head into the second week of play, the top seeds continue to win. There's a decent chance that the top 8 seeds may reach the quarterfinals. The first player to finish his match at the bottom half of the draw was Novak Djokovic. He continues to have one of his easier runs to
The circumstances were quite different last year. Davydenko was coming off a win at the ATP World Tour Finals. Nadal had not won a title in about half a year, but was playing good aggressive tennis to start the year. Federer was playing, well, he has lost the US Open to del Potro and lost
Ivo Karlovic is one of those unusual players. He grew up poor, so he didn't get all the lessons the top juniors got and practiced the one thing you can practice by yourself: his serve. Karlovic not only hits the biggest serve in tennis, he is pretty consistent too. Like Roddick, Karlovic hits about 70%
Once upon a time, there was a split between pro and amateur tennis. Amateur tennis was more of the Olympian ideal. No money except for basic expenses (food, travel, etc). Of course, the lack of money meant that most good amateurs had to become pros to make money, and the poorer you were, the sooner
Last year, Rafael Nadal had a "beautiful disaster" losing all three of his round robin matches with nary a set. This year, he was able to turn it around. He came into today's match with a 2-0 lead and playing Tomas Berdych, the man who he beat to win this year's Wimbledon. Berdych's style seems
Let's start with the top seed and work our way down. Rafael Nadal Rafa's level generally never drops too low. Everyone points to how he never gives up, and while that's certainly one factor in his incredible ability to win, everyone says that about Lleyton Hewitt, and he's struggling to get in the top 20.
