I’ve read a few articles saying that tennis needs a change – first we had the Guardian asking whether it was time to abolish the second serve and in the end recommending it for a faster game and in Tennis Magazine we had regular columnist Peter Bodo saying that the world could do with a 5th slam and that slam could be Indian Wells. Bodo is not the only one in the fifth slam discussion as a simple search in Google will tell you. My rational mind understand where this is coming from, but my tennis heart still thinks it’s …
Indian Wells
It wasn’t an impossible bet by any means that Djokovic could win both Indian Wells and Miami. He did so beating Roger Federer in a nail-biting Indian Wells final and Rafael Nadal in a not so nail-biting Miami final. Yes, yesterdays final left me wanting something more, but Nadal looked sluggish and Djokovic played brilliantly and so it was rather quickly over 6-3 6-3, This must have been an anti-climax for tennis supporters who had looked forward to the final like a kid looks forward to Christmas eve. Especially after the semi-finals ended in two walk-overs (Nishikori with groin injury, …
ATP World Tour writes today that Nadal’s road to the title in Indian Wells look complicated. They’re right. He needs to get through Murray, Federer and Djokovic to win the title and with his absence from the hard courts since his injury in the Australian Open final, there should rightly be doubts about his ability to get through such a field on his least preferred surface. I doubt that even the competitive monster of Rafael Nadal can do it. Miami with its slower surface is better suited for Nadal and I think both Federer and Djokovic with their recent good …
That is what’s on everybody’s mind after the young American (born 1989) beat world number five Andy Murray in straight sets on Saturday (7-6 6-3). There’s been a lot of talk about Young and his talent ever since he had the chance (as a ball boy) to play a bit with John McEnroe and McEnroe afterwards said that “Young has hands like another lefty I know very well”. Young looked close to a breakthrough in 2008 when he got to the third round in Indian Wells and took James Blake to five sets in the US Open, but in 2009 …