It’s kind of fitting, I think, to give who many used to call “Baby Federer” a Take That-inspired headline. I and hopefully and most probably a big chunk of the tennis world wants Richard Gasquet to stay in the top and keep playing well. If only for that beautiful one-handed backhand of his. His two recent wins against Federer and Berdych in the Rome Masters, both coming after losing the …
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federer
Yesterday we were again reminded that Roger Federer has entered a new era in his career, the one where he is human. He showed that in many ways losing against Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-7 6-7 in a pretty gripping encounter. The big difference between Federer now and the magical Federer of old is that he doesn’t seem able to bring out the best when the matches get tight. Maybe because …
It was close. It was awfully close. But in the end #1 (still!) Rafael Nadal managed to beat Italian #148 Paolo Lorenzi 6-7 6-4 6-0. Kudos to Lorenzi and the Italian crowd for making this match truly exciting. Lorenzi fought like a madman and played extremely well at times. Normally this wouldn’t have been enough but on a day like this Nadal looked tired. Andy Murray’s mother Judy even said …
A lot of people are retiring during matches at the moment and it seems like we’re in some kind of injury period on the ATP Tour. Although clay can be more body-friendly to move on, the long rallies and matches (less reliance on the serve for example) really takes a toll for a lot of the players. But let’s not dwell on injuries and instead look at what happened in …
It seems like a lot of people are interested in what the pro’s play. They think, if the racquet is good for the top players in the world, it should be good for them, right? Wrong. It’s only in rare occurrences that an amateur player would benefit from using a pro racquet, since they are heavier and usually more difficult to play than most other models. The models you see in the …
Novak Djokovic just wrote the a new chapter in tennis history when he beat Nadal in straight sets in the Madrid Masters 7-5 6-4. On clay! This is truly now the rivalry to watch, although Federer might still want something to say about that. For now, before Rome, we need to congratulate the Serb on an amazing performance – extending his winning streak to 32-0. He seems almost impossible to …
Yes, he didn’t win. I don’t think anybody thought he would. But he won a set. He threw a tantrum*. He fought hard. And he forced Nadal to play his best tennis to win. This was the real Federer, the one who can play better tennis than anybody else on the planet when he’s on his game. It’s pretty clear that Federer can be brilliant in streaks, the question is …
Does size matter? Sports Illustrated tennis writer Jon L. Wertheim wrote the excellent book Strokes of Genius about the titanic battle of the Wimbledon final 2008 and since then I’ve followed his writing on twitter and on SI.com and enjoyed and agreed on much of it. His latest “mailbag” post discusses the interesting question of what would happen to Federer’s game if he changed from his Wilson BLX Tour with …
I don’t think there was a single soul in the “stadium” in Monte Carlo who was surprised when Nadal threw his Schwartznegger-like arms in the air and celebrated his seventh Monte Carlo Masters title. He is Rafael Nadal and on clay, there is nobody in the history of mankind that can outfox him. The recent results of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal has made me think a bit about the GOAT …
It happened again. The Fed Express hit a wall. I am getting so used to it now, it doesn’t even sting anymore. Which is a strange thing to say for a Fedophile. I wrote an article about Federer’s failure in Dubai some weeks ago that I’ve pasted below. Then I wrote another one where “Nadal taught Federer a lesson” – I am too lazy to link it, but it’s up …
