Yes, even a tennis crazy blogger needs to have a break from time to time. I will be back on Friday so please be patient! Maybe I’ll throw in a tweet or three @tennisnerdnet so make sure you follow me on Twitter. By the way, Nadal was beaten today by Tsonga in Queens and maybe it was a relief for the Spaniard. He sure needs some rest before Wimbledon. Also, Big Congrats to James Ward getting ready for his first ATP semifinal against Tsonga! See you soon tennis lovers! Wimbledon is near!
Wimbledon
This is the line-up for today’s matches in Halle and Queens. You can watch these matches at Livescorehunter.com I will comment on the most exciting ones and there are a few mouthwatering match-ups. Dustin Brown is a colorful and exciting player and not only because his Rastafarian hair, but also due to his eccentric playing style. He meets another unorthodox player in Florian Mayer. A tough one for Brown and I predict Mayer in three. Del Potro is in action again and this time against Istomin who can play good tennis but haven’t this year. Should be a quite straightforward affair …
Today is the first official day of the 2011 grass court season and it’s not a bad one. The two main warm up events for Wimbledon are as usual Queens and Halle. The big question is of course which stars will come to play after a long and testing French Open, Federer (Halle), Nadal (Queens) especially. But even if they don’t participate we should be in for quite a treat. The first day action offers: Nieminen vs Lu – Â Lu had an amazing Wimbledon last year, but we haven’t seen much good from either player of late. I would say …
It was excruciating at times for Federer fans such as myself, but in the end you just had to give it to Nadal who was too good on the most important points and at times played his very best clay court tennis in his 7-5 7-6 5-7 6-1 victory. But it was Federer who took the lead early, first at 3-0, then with set points at 5-2, serving for the set at 5-3, before Nadal won seven straight games to lead 7-5 2-0. Nadal was tentative in the beginning and made a few rare unforced errors while on the other …
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 Rome yesterday. Little Italian man Fabio Fognini tired pretty much EVERYTHING to beat Wavrinka, but it didn’t work out for him. At least he got a set. Italian players seems …
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 …
When Federer won his 15th slam in the 2009 Wimbledon final I thought I would be more thrilled. But it was bittersweet. Andy Roddick is not the most versatile player, he is not always an entertaining player to watch, but man this guy got heart! And some hearts he won as well after losing an epic five-setter against the greatest player ever by 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14. Now I want to enjoy the final again so I bought it on DVD.