The picture will be explained (somewhat) below. I used to ask myself that question when Federer had his golden years between 2004-2007. Was it even fun to watch unless Nadal was on the other side of the net? I think many people thought no, too many matches were a given for the Swiss, but personally I thought his graceful style of play compensated that. We were watching a maestro, someone …
djokovic
I haven’t been posting of late due to other writing commitments, work, family, you name it. I’ve even started playing more myself again and the game is coming along decently – with the only worry being the body holding up. But I’m going to try to get back to the blog and Twitter and follow it until the end of 2013. At least a chunkier post every week. And as …
The battle that was on display between Nadal and Djokovic yesterday and which ended in the fifth hour with: 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-7 9-7 in the favor of Nadal – is hard to put into words. The match had everything. Fantastic points, high drama, nerves, comebacks, and brute physicality. It was another classic in their rivalry. In the end, Nadal had the edge of being (almost) unbeatable at Roland Garros …
It was close, kind of, but Federer got back in his usual stride and managed to beat Simon from 2-1 in sets with the final scoreline: 6-1 4-6 2-6 6-2 6-3. Next up is Tsonga. Federer winning the match helps him maintain his amazing streak of 36 straight Grand Slam Quarterfinals (or further of course) – a record that will be close to impossible to break. Tsonga will be a …
Being spoiled with the era of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray – I’m worried that the coming generation won’t be up to the same standard. I know it’s almost impossible to reach the drama of the last 8-9 years, but I want to keep watching tennis and I want to enjoy it to the max. Federer drew me back to the game after a stint of disenchantment and I would …
Thanks to Tennis Express I found this really funny video of Josh Berry imitating the top four players in the world, in order of appearance: Nadal, Federer, Murray and Djokovic. (Please note that the featured pic is something different. Very different.) Well done, Josh! Made me laugh. On another completely unrelated note, Matt Cronin of Tennis Reporters shared this photo of Djokovic, Sharapova and De Niro in a New York bar. …
It was never in doubt was it? (Okay, maybe at 15-30 against Ferrer). Rafa was going to take his fifth title of the year in seven tries (two finals) since his injury time-out. The king of clay was simply too good against a slightly nervous or tired Stan “the Man” Wavrinka today in the Madrid Open final and rolled over the Swiss by 6-2 6-4. Going into Rome and then …
David Ferrer played a great match against Rafael Nadal yesterday in the quarterfinals of Madrid Open. He hit the ball aggressively, used his backhand up the line to great effect and managed to get a lead of 6-4 4-2. Then something happened. Nerves, doubts, you name it. Nadal broke back to love and managed to level the match at 4-4. Nadal then broke Ferrer and was serving for set at …
I don’t want to be a grouch, but the above is not really the most exciting line-up for the Madrid Open Quarterfinals. The absence of Djokovic and Federer stand out as glaring holes and personally I would have liked Haas and Dimitrov to beautify the draw with their all-court games and one-handed backhands. But enough whining. We still have some great matches to look forward to. My pick for the …
What a line-up we have at Madrid Open (formerly Madrid Masters) today. We have lots of top players in action, Nadal, Federer, Murray Ferrer, Berdych, Tsonga, to name a few. The most interesting match-ups in my mind is another battle of the double-handed backhanders (yesterday we had Tommy Robredo vs Tommy Haas in a well-played match) with young hot-shot Grigor Dimitrov taking on Stanislas Wavrinka, in-form Tommy Haas playing clay-demon …