There was a question whether Tomic could play Federer the way he played Dolgopolov or even Querrey and Verdasco. That is, hit off-pace shots and hope to befuddle Federer. The thought was perhaps he couldn't and would have to up the pace. Tomic felt confident he could take the match to Federer, but he still
And that's why no one plays serve and volley anymore. Michael Llodra is perhaps the last of a dying breed. The serve-and-volleyer. It isn't a coincidence that Llodra is just north of 30 years old. I know, I know, veterans will tell you that everyone's forgotten how to volley. You have to be around 30
It's often been said that Bernard Tomic plays like no one else. If comparisons are made to active players, it's often to Andy Murray who often uses change of pace, but even he plays a bit differently to Tomic, or to Alexandr Dolgopolov. Well, wouldn't you know it, the draw happened to put Tomic and
Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt go way back. Hewitt was contending for Slams nearly a decade ago winning a US Open in 2001. Roddick followed suit two years later. The two were considered rivals for the number 1 spot. All this was, of course, prior to Federer breaking out and leaving both of them in
On the third day of the Australian Open, Americans were not faring well. Mardy Fish and Donald Young both lost, and John Isner nearly lost too. Let's start with the Isner match. John Isner's second round match was against David Nalbandian. John Isner's strengths and weaknesses are well-known. He serves big. He has a big
Sam Querrey spent a lot of 2011 not playing that much tennis. He had had a similar experience when he had a freak accident in Bangkok where he sat on a glass table that broke under his weight (when asked why he sat on the table, he said that he had just taken a shower
John Isner knows how to fight. There are clearly limitations to his game. He doesn't cover ground very well. He looks tired when matches run long. But he relies on his serve to bail him out of danger spots. Nalbandian took the first set 64, then there was a big exchange of breaks in the
These days, second round matches can be pretty interesting. Let's take a look at a few of today's more intriguing matches. Haas vs. Nadal OK, Haas shouldn't really pose any problems to Nadal. He's a veteran, but injuries have put him on the sideline for many years, so he's played rather infrequently. Although Nadal was
Of the top four seeds, Andy Murray clearly had the toughest first round. Djokovic played a guy ranked just outside the top 100. Federer and Nadal played qualifiers. Murray played one of the "new four", that is, one of Harrison, Raonic, Dimitrov, and Tomic. In particular, Andy Murray was to play Ryan Harrison. Harrison joined
Here's a little discussion concerning off-court talk. First, there was the remarkable comeback by Bernard Tomic over Verdasco. Aussie commentator Darren Cahill felt like Verdasco's fitness would be too much especially as he went up two sets to none. Cahill was very impressed by Tomic's ability to hang in which Tomic attributes to playing possum.
