If you were to take a bet as to who would make it deeper, Roger Federer or Stanislas Wawrinka, surely you would have said Roger Federer. Of course, Roger Federer had to play Tsonga, a former top tenner, where Wawrinka played Kevin Anderson who is hoping to be in the top ten. Roger Federer was
The Federer generation's first success didn't start with Federer. It started with Marat Safin. The Federer generation includes Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Nalbandian, Andy Roddick, and Roger Federer. Excluding Roger Federer, this group has won 6 Slams (Safin and Hewitt with 2 each, Ferrero and Roddick with 1 each). The key
It's probably been a few years since Andy Roddick had a serious shot at winning a Slam. Roddick's always done well when he starts with a new coach, and then the relationship stales. It happened with Gilbert, Connors, even briefly with Patrick McEnroe, and Larry Stefanki. A few months after working with Stefanki, Roddick made
The last time Andy Murray and Andy Roddick met was two years ago at the Wimbledon semifinals when Roddick had the last big hurrah of his career: making the finals of Wimbledon and nearly beating Roger Federer. Murray had his best chance to get to the finals, but two tiebreaks that went Roddick's way lead
Although Andy Murray says his ankle is the best it's felt in a while, he must surely like the fact that Cilic had to withdraw due to his own injuries. This puts Murray in the semifinals where his opponent is likely to be Andy Roddick. Roddick skipped the French due to injury, but has used
The gap between the end of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon is a slender two weeks. John McEnroe said surely Rafa would not choose to play Queen's two days later where he had committed to play doubles with his sometimes doubles partner, Marc Lopez. But, indeed, Rafa did go. Novak Djokovic, however,
Perhaps one player Roger Federer didn't want to see in the first round was Feliciano Lopez. Lopez pushed Federer to 3 tiebreaks in Madrid to win. Federer did have a break opportunity to take it in straight sets. Despite this, I figured Federer would feel more confident playing Lopez and not be as vulnerable to
It's hard to say how well Robin Soderling is playing. He started the year really well with his new coach Claudio Pistolesi. He won Brisbane, then Rotterdam, then Marseille. Since then, he hasn't fared nearly as well, though two losses come at the hands of Juan Martin del Potro who is still trying to regain
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
Lopez seems like a poor man's Verdasco. He's a lefty, but hits his a one-hander to Verdasco's two-hander. He has a big forehand, but probably not bigger than Verdasco. He relies on the slice. He might have a bigger serve than Verdasco, but not by much. In any case, he had never beaten Roger Federer,
