Watching the ATP Basel final yesterday I couldn’t help but feel the desperation in Roger Federer. He was more animated than I’ve seen him in a long time, talked with himself, contested the umpire, shot a ball into the roof of the stadium and seemed agitated with every shot that didn’t go his way. This wasn’t the pre-2013 often magnanimous Federer, this wasn’t a maestro, this was a player fighting to play his best. Although he lost the final in the end, 6-7 6-2 4-6, he can take many positives out of his hometown tournament and the main thing was …
Del Potro
We are soon at the quarter-final stage of Roland Garros and right now I can only see one winner, Rafael Nadal. Djokovic looked awfully off his game last night against Seppi and was grumbling like back in the old days of being “only” #3 in the world. The conditions were tough and Seppi was really playing great tennis; not going for the lines but just being solid and consistent and remarkably clear-headed for a guy not in the top 20 (he will be after this though). Seppi impressed me a lot and I think he could even be a top …
It has begun! For all us tennis fans the wait from the ATP World Tour Finals to the first slam of the year is excruciating, but at last we don’t need to wait no more. Here’s my brief summary of an exciting first day of Australian Open 2012. Australian youngster Bernard Tomic managed to come back from two sets down to beat Verdasco in five! Seems like Tomic is destined for great things and that is time to start is now. Verdasco, on the other hand, is far from the form he had a year or two ago. Federer had …
Here are the amazing matches to look forward to today: Murray vs Gasquet – I think Murray is too good and Gasquet will surely get a flashback from being 2-0 sets up and serving for the match a few years ago. Gasquet has improved, but Murray looks determined to go far this Wimbledon. Nadal vs Del Potro – Match-up of the day. Can Del Potro’s ball-busting strokes knock Nadal off balance or his the defending champion too strong? If this was hard court I would place a bet on Delpo, but considering his Bambi-like movement on grass, I don’t see …
I’m not going into a detailed analysis of each section of the draw and I’m not going to predict every match, but I’m going to touch on what I see could be key points in the Wimbledon Draw this year. The Wimbledon draw threw us an interesting surprise in giving us a re-run of Mahut vs Isner. I think the hype about this match is about much, especially since I don’t see how it can resemble the affair of last year. This time we might have three straights to Isner for example. But if both players serve as well and …
Yes, Nadal showed his dedication to the sport and to his career by coming to Queens despite and exhausting French Open. It’s more important for Nadal to get a lot of practice and matches under his belt, than it is for Federer. Federer tries to keep the body fit, chooses his tournaments carefully and that’s probably one of the reasons he hasn’t missed from a Grand Slam in many, many years (ever?). This approach show how different the two legends are and that of course makes their rivalry and their quest for the GOAT title even more interesting. Today he …
This is the line-up for today’s matches in Halle and Queens. You can watch these matches at Livescorehunter.com I will comment on the most exciting ones and there are a few mouthwatering match-ups. Dustin Brown is a colorful and exciting player and not only because his Rastafarian hair, but also due to his eccentric playing style. He meets another unorthodox player in Florian Mayer. A tough one for Brown and I predict Mayer in three. Del Potro is in action again and this time against Istomin who can play good tennis but haven’t this year. Should be a quite straightforward affair …
Yes, today at Roland Garros it was pretty much business as usual. At least for five time champion and world number one Rafael Nadal who won his match against Antonio Veic, losing only four games. Djokovic vs Del Potro was resumed and Djokovic resumed business being the invincible man and won today’s two sets 6-3 6-2 against a seemingly frustrated Del Potro. It’s hard to see how anyone except for Nadal can stop Djokovic in this tournament. Soderling and Simon both won their matches in straights and looked pretty impressive, but although they are both in good form it’s hard …
Most people probably thought it would be easy for Nadal to beat his compatriot Andujar, but tricky windy conditions together with great resistance and aggressive play from Andujar made the three setter a whole lot tougher than predicted. Andujar was attacking Nadal and although the world number one managed to win the first two sets, he was down 5-1 in the third. Then Nadal launched his famous fighting skills and together with Andujar’s nervousness he managed to win the third set in a tie-break. Nadal has now had to fight quite hard in both his opening matches which should have …
It was a bit like the slow start on Sunday and not a very eventful day at Roland Garros, but at least we got to see three of the top names in action. Federer made it look easy against French qualifier Texeira and after an inspired start from the Frenchman made it clear that he’s still one of the most elegant and forceful players. Scoreline: 6-3 6-0 6-2. Djokovic cruised through Hanescu who had to retire early in the third set. The Djoker will now play Del Potro who also won in three straight sets today. This match will be …