One motivation for Federer to play Shanghai, regardless of whether he ends up at number 1 at the end of the year, was to extend his streak of weeks at number 1. Currently, Federer leads Djokovic by 835 points. If Djokovic wins Shanghai, an event he skipped last year, he would pick up 1000 points.
No one had expected the US to make it this far. In the opening round, the US was pitted against Switzerland, on clay, with Roger Federer playing, but Isner pulled a big upset, and the US got past them. Then, the US plays against France, at France, on clay, even though the French might actually
Murray's camp probably didn't expect this. After the quarterfinal matches, many felt that Berdych was peaking, hitting hard shots, having upset Roger Federer in four sets. Berdych had given Murray problems in the past. He had a 4-2 head-to-head. Berdych's power is something most players struggle against, but he plays so up-and-down that lesser players
A month ago, you wouldn't have expected this result. In Halle, Berdych lost to Haas in the quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, Berdych lost to Gulbis in the first round. In the Olympics, he lost to Darcis in the first round. At Toronto, he lost to Gasquet in the third round. At Cincy, he lost to Raonic
Let's look at the top 8 seeds and see how they're doing Roger Federer Federer had easy opponents the first two rounds. Donald Young has been struggling to beat anyone this year, so he wasn't ready to beat Federer. Bjorn Phau is quick, but doesn't have enough weapons to bother Federer. Verdasco was his first
One of the biggest questions about Tomas Berdych is, well, the prounuciation of his last name (though his first name is also a challenge for non-Czechs). It's mostly pronounced Burr-Ditch. Some umpires have said Burr-Dish. There's also, Burr-Dick. Recently, Martina said the correct way to pronounce it was the third way. After checking out a
Many top players have a last hurrah. Kim Clijsters said at the start of the year that she planned to retire at the US Open, so people knew, ahead of time, that this was it for her. No one expected she would lose in the second round to Laura Robson, but so it goes. The
What a difference a few months make. For some reason, Europe seems to get John Isner in a funk. He's played well in Europe before, but the last two years, not so much. The solution, it seems, was return to home soil. Last year, Isner decided to play Newport. Newport is played the week after
Belgians seem to produce these short stocky players. The Rochus brothers, Oliver and Christopher, are about 5'6". Such heights were more common 40 or 50 years ago, but as taller players have become more athletic, being short has become a liability. Steve Darcis, had he been playing in the 1970s, would have been at a
With Roger Federer's recent ascendancy to number 1, there was one thing, for sure. Djokovic and Federer wouldn't be in the same half of the draw. That only leaves where Andy Murray falls in the draw. Neither option is good, and it looks like, unlike Wimbledon, Murray has to go through both Federer and Djokovic
