Federer played his first singles match of the year in Brisbane today and beat Nieminen comfortably 6-4 6-2. What impressed me the most is how lethal his forehand was. It really looked like the increased racquet size (from 90 to 98) helped his pace on that shot. If that’s the case we have interesting things in store. Federer also looked hungry and ready to play and moved well. Nadal on …
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 …
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 …
Today is the day of the Wimbledon final, another one where history is about to be made. Either Federer wins his 17th grand slam and his 7th Wimbledon title or Andy Murray is the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the cherished home slam. If Federer wins he’s again back to #1 in the world, which would be a huge achievement for the 30-year-old, mostly because …
Sometimes we doubt Federer’s resolve and hunger to keep on winning tennis matches. He has been prone to leave the court mentally in critical stages the last few years and the way he deflated against Djokovic in the French Open semifinal doesn’t exactly fill a Federer fan with confidence. Against Julien Benneteau in the third round of Wimbledon yesterday there were plenty of moments to doubt Federer’s form and will …
After two grueling 4+ hour semi-finals we have reached a repeat third Grand Slam final between Djokovic and Nadal. It will be a tough one physically for both, especially after really exerting themselves in the semis, but as fit as these guys are both physically and mentally, they will show up pumped and ready to go. It’s a harder pill to swallow for Federer and Murray and especially the Scot …
I can’t say I’m very surprised with how Australian Open has turned out so far. All the top players are still in the draw and no really major upsets have taken place. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are all ready for the quarters and so let’s look at the opposition: Federer vs Del Potro – Del Potro looked back to grand slam winner form against Kohlschreiber and if he can …
