Hardcourt tournaments are so prevalent that there are three distinct hardcourt "seasons". The first starts at the beginning of the year and lasts until just before the start of the clay season. It culminates in Indian Wells and Miami. The second starts two weeks after Wimbledon and is the US Open series. The third pretty
It was bound to happen at some point. Sam Querrey finally met John Isner, his doubles partner, in a tournament. Querrey won a tournament in 2008, but it was early in 2009 when he reached the finals of Auckland, losing to Juan Martin del Potro, that Querrey began to make his move up. He decided
Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro aren't the only two players taking time off to recover. Roger Federer, who was last seen winning the Australian Open, has withdrawn from Dubai next week, leaving Novak Djokovic, world number 2, as the top seed. Andy Murray had been in the same half of the draw as
Robin Soderling had requested a wildcard from tournament director and former player, Richard Krajicek. Krajicek said he was having a difficult time deciding which low-ranked Dutch player should get one of the wildcards left for Rotterdam, so he was relieved when Soderling called him up. It was a no-brainer to give Soderling a wildcard, especially
With Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, last year's finalists, not playing, there were hopes that the top two seeds might meet each other once again, namely, Nikolay Davydenko and Novak Djokovic. So tournament organizers probably cringed a bit when neither made the final. If there's a player that Davydenko doesn't like playing, it must be
So it came down to Paris. Marat Safin had finally made peace with his career, and he ended it at the tournament that he has the most success, the Paris Indoors. Fans hoping for one last hurrah got a glimmer of hope that the big Russian could take down the bigger Argentine, Juan Martin del
Roger Federer was coming into the finals having won three straight titles at Basel and hoping to win a fourth. Compared to other years, Federer lacked the match practice he would normally have. Federer hadn't played a match since the Davis Cup tie a week after the US Open, resting and practicing and presumably handling
Perhaps the match that most fans remember between Andy Murray and Fernando Verdasco was the epic quarterfinal meeting at the Australian Open. This match had a weird final score: 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Murray had not been feeling well during the Australian Open, reporting that he was mostly bed-ridden. Even so, he gave Verdasco
When the weather turns cold, American fans turn to cold weather sports. Even ardent fans of tennis forget there are matches played after the US Open. It's time for college football or pro football. It's time for baseball season to go into postseason. It's time for hockey season to get started. Indeed, these sports remind
Andy Murray hadn't played since the US Open. Roger Federer hadn't played since a Davis Cup qualifying tie against Italy where he played two singles matches. Murray cited a left wrist injury which impacted his plat at the US Open. Federer cited injury and fatigue, and presumably, fatherhood. While the remaining players on tour continued
