For Federer fans such as myself this is a pretty controversial or at least disappointing headline. What can the young Spaniard teach the Swiss maestro? Well maybe “teach” is the wrong word and maybe there isn’t a lesson to be learned about “wanting to win” but if there was, I could think of no better player to teach it than Rafael Nadal. Because one of the problems in yesterday’s 6-3 …
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Tennis is all about confidence. Everything can change with millimeters. A ball lands in, a ball lands out. Game point or break point. Feeling good or smashing your racket. One guy who seems to be in no lack of confidence right now is Novak Djokovic. He is on a tear, having won 24 straight matches since November. If he keeps this up he will bag the difficult triple of Australian …
There is a lot written these days about Nadal being able to catch Federer’s grand slam record (currently at 16) or not. Nadal currently has 8 Grand Slams to his name and he needs to double that amount just to catch up if Federer doesn’t win any more slams (which, considering Fed has already won one in 2010 and still is one of the favorites for the upcoming US Open, …
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 …
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 …
After a rain-filled yesterday, the matches today have been of extremely high class. Some highlights and thoughts: I am happy short Italian Fognini beat Monfils after that darkness debacle. They should have stopped at 4-4. You can’t play if you can’t see the ball. But Monfils got the crowd all wired up and they started booing at Fognini for every point he won. It was a weird match that ended …
I recently ordered three tennis-related items. The DVDs for the Wimbledon finals 2008 and  2009 and L Jon Wertheim critically acclaimed book about the 2008 final called Strokes of Genius, Federer v Nadal, Rivals in Greatness. I started out by watching the Roddick vs Federer final from 2009 and is struck, because I was too nervous watching it when it happened to analyze, the old school shortness of the rallies. …
Rafael Nadal plays with a big loopy swing that creates an enormous top spin. He uses the Babolat AeroPro Drive GT and has recently changed his strings from the yellow Hurricane Tour to something like a Duralast that is supposed to give even more top spin and make it possible for him to hit flatter and play more aggressively. You can see this during the clay season as Nadal looks …
Nadal again. Of course. No one would have thought anything different. But he lost a set. He had to fight off Ferrer, and he didn’t look quite as impossible to beat as last week. 7-5 6-2 in the final. It was a rainy, patchy affair, extremely well played at times. Here is the best point by far: http://www.tennistv.com/tennistv/20100502/atp-rome-hot-shot-final_2252185_2041550 But there are others things to say about Rome Masters than just …
