People were talking, writing, twittering and commenting on Rafa’s lack of confidence in his matches. Balls were landing short, he was making unforced errors, and he looked completely out of sorts. But not yesterday against Robin Soderling, yesterday we saw the real Rafa, hitting winners of his backfoot, doing bicep pirouettes and forehand winners down the line. He looked super-focused and for the first time this tournament really motivated to play his best. Maybe he got tired of the talk about his lack of form (party spurred on by his own comments), maybe he just dislikes Soderling and wanted to …
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French Open
The big talk of day 9 of the French Open was not how local hero Gael Monfils managed to beat marathon man David Ferrer. It was not about how Andy Murray fought back from 0-2 in sets to 2-2 before the match was postponed due to bad light against Victor Troicki. It was not how veteran Juan Ignacio Chela won a tough five setter against Colombian Alejandro Falla. It was all about how five time champion Rafael Nadal doesn’t look like himself this tournament, although he won in three sets against Ljubicic. Nadal doesn’t look as confident as he did …
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 …
It’s out and it’s cruel. At least for John Isner who faces Rafael Nadal in the first round. I’m talking about the French Open draw. If we break it down into quarters, the first quarter definitely has Nadal as the semi-finalist although you would put up a warning sign on Robin Soderling, because the Swede loves the French clay. Nadal will be pumped though to show the world that he can beat Novak Djokovic and that’s why he’s my favorite to win this year, despite Djokovic’s superpowers. A great first round match is Verdasco vs Monaco. Two talented chokers. The …
Bring on the clay! Spring is in the air when you can hear feet sliding on red dirt. I am really looking forward to this year’s season which has a lot of interesting questions to answer. Will Nadal be as unbeatable as always? How will Djokovic perform after a spellbinding start to the season? Can Federer be able to convince the fans that he’s still a force or will the rivalry between Djokovic and Nadal tighten? Is it time for clay court demon Nicholas Almagro to step up and win a Masters title? Americans have suffered lately on the dirt, …
It wasn’t slaughter, but it did show, clearly, who is the best clay courter of all time. Rafael Nadal couldn’t put a foot wrong against Robin Soderling in today’s French Open final. It was brutal at times, but the biggest problem for the Swede was that he couldn’t capitalize on any of his many break point opportunities. If you can’t win the big points, then you have simply no chance against a player of Nadal’s stature. The score looks routine, 6-4 6-2 6-4 ,but the win was nothing but. Rafa chased down point after point and Soderling got more frustrated …
Yesterday was a strange day at the French Open. It wasn’t easy to predict how the action was going to unfold, but at least there should be a few “given” matches. But it didn’t pan out that way. Firstly, Roddick played a horrible match, losing against Gabashvili in three straight sets. He just couldn’t get enough lead on the ball. They were all sitting up for Gabashvili, who played aggressively and hit 60 winners. Maybe it wasn’t so strange that he couldn’t get the needed weight on his shots, that was always a reason that Roddick didn’t do well on …
The biggest clay tournament of the year is on and if day 1 wasn’t that exciting to be honest, day nr 2 is something completely different. Firstly we saw Roger Federer win quite easily against Peter Luczak. Federer wasn’t fedtastic, but he definitely was on cruise control and didn’t lose his serve once and only faced one break point. A good omen for things to come. Federer will definitely be in the semis, that is my gut feeling right now. Djokovic lost a set against Korolev and looked uninspired, but still managed to grind out the win in 4. Murray …
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