The semifinals had to be all the tournament organizers could hope for. Federer, Djokovic, Berdych, and del Potro all made the semis as if they had a plane to catch. They won efficiently. That left the semis. On one half, there was 3-time champ, Novak Djokovic facing Juan Martin del Potro. On the other, there
Fans love the best of the best. They want to see Federer. They want to see Nadal. They want to see Djokovic. They want to see them face each other. But the tour is more than the top few players, and sometimes, in the smallest of matches, there are stories behind the match. John Isner
The semifinals on Saturday were mostly meh. Berdych crushed Tursunov in one semi. Anytime he went for a big shot, Tursunov made an error or couldn't reach the shot. Gilles Simon didn't fare much better against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga making more errors than usual. Neither loser won more than 4 games. The final, by contrast, was
Bernard Tomic almost didn't get out of the first round, facing one of last year's new upstart, Martin Klizan, but he managed a third set win. He had a comfortable win against Somdev Devvarman in the second round. But his big challenge was the top-ranked Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Last year, Tomic showed a great deal
At the end of Day 1, the US looked to be in great shape to sweep the Brazilians. Sam Querrey beat Bellucci more easily than expected backed up by great serving. John Isner also had a solid win over Thiago Alves, ranked about 140. Most felt that the Bryan brothers would seal the deal with
Tennis pundits, who make their living writing about tennis, then probably watch more football than tennis, often fret that the best players don't play Davis Cup. They claim the reason is the scheduling which usually starts a week after a Slam (the Australian Open, Wimbledon, the US Open, and the year-end championship). Most players that
When you see Almagro in person, you wonder why he hasn't won more. He has a huge serve, that is often competing with Isner and Querrey and Raonic for most aces in a year. He has a big forehand. His backhand, these days, may be the hardest struck one-handed backhand on tour, better than Wawrinka,
This is the kind of match that the Australian Open epic. Wawrinka has been around 20s his entire career peaking briefly in the top 10. With all players coming back from training, it's time for players in that next tier to make that push. When the draw came out, everyone looked at Murray on Federer's
And this is why tennis pundits, especially American tennis pundits, should consider writing for some other sport, like curling. For years, American tennis commentators--a rather obscure lot--had been more than happy to bully the Davis Cup. Let's make it more like the World Cup, they said. We can't see top pros like Federer and Nadal
The Spanish team has been dominant taking the Davis Cup 3 of the last four years. The one time they didn't take it was 2010 when they were upset by France without Rafael Nadal. This year, with the Olympics, Nadal decided to beg out and not play Davis Cup. For that matter, David Ferrer, the
