It's been more than two years since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been in the finals of a Slam. This used to be more routine because Federer kept making it to final after final. That streak was stopped last year at the French Open when Federer lost to Soderling in the quarterfinals. Federer also
So the last person to beat Novak Djokovic just became the last person to beat Novak Djokovic. In a surprising turn of events, Federer took the first set, 7-6 and the second set, 6-3. He had numerous break opportunities numbering over 20, but only converted a handful. Djokovic then cleaned up his game and took
Most people figured this was the end of the road for Andy Murray. With a very solid performance against Robin Soderling, Nadal appeared to have cleaned up his game. In any case, Murray was still playing with an injury. This match opened up much like the Troicki match. Although Murray won his first serve game
It's probably been since 2006 French Open that the top four seeds in a men's Slam have met in the semifinals. Back then, it was Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, David Nalbandian, and Ivan Ljubicic. You might point to this year's Australian Open, but Andy Murray's rank had slipped enough and Robin Soderling had performed well
Everyone's asking whether Roger Federer has lost it. But, to me, he's like Chris Evert when Steffi Graf rose to the top spot. Martina was number 1 or 2 and Graf was behind her. However, Evert had been champ for years and years. The women's game still resembled Evert more than it resembled Graf and
When the match was suspended last night due to darkness, the big question was: how would Murray start? His ankle was a little gimpy at the start. Or maybe it was the tight wrapping on his right ankle. Very quickly, Murray was down 5-0, but managed to reel off 4 games in a row before
By all rights, Andy Murray should not be playing a fourth round match. Michael Berrer had been struggling against Murray who was threatening to break throughout the early parts of the second set. Berrer hit a drop shot which caused Murray to twist his right ankle just as he hit a hard shot down the
Fognini must have channeled the spirit of Andy Murray. Perhaps it was a cramp, but it seems like it was a muscle pull. Whatever it was, late in the third set, Fognini was struck with something that impaired his movement. He went to the only strategy that's available if you want to keep playing. Go
It's hard to believe, but over the 6 years that Nadal has played the French Open, he's never played a 5-setter. They don't call Nadal the king of clay for nothing. He has played two French Opens without dropping a set. It's perhaps not surprising that John Isner might be the kind of guy that
Here's the problem with predicting French Open favorites. It's hard to make accurate predictions, at least based on recent performance. Let's look at last year. Last year, three players had a pretty good clay court season. Rafa won Monte Carlo, skipped Barcelona, won Rome, and won Madrid. He was the clear favorite to win the
