The conditions were damp and overcast. Perhaps the kind of conditions Djokovic wishes his semifinals were played under. But perhaps nature favors the champion. Most proclaimed the semifinals between Nadal and Djokovic as the de-facto finals as neither Tsonga nor Ferrer were expected to pose the kind of challenge that Nadal and Djokovic would to
To me, one of the best matches played between Djokovic and Nadal was the finals of the 2012 Australian Open final. Some felt it dragged on and on, and certainly, played over 6 hours with numerous breaks between points, the match could have been played at a zippier pace. However, after the grueling 2011 US
When the draw came out, nearly two weeks ago, everyone wondered which half Rafa would fall in. As the number 3 seed, Rafa had the chance to be in Djokovic (the top seed) half or in the Federer (number 2 seed) half. When he was in the Djokovic half, many felt that this was a
There's a reason that Djokovic is number 1 in the world. There's also a reason that Rafael Nadal is the king of clay. For about a set and a half, everything seemed to be going Nadal's way. Did Djokovic tweak his ankle? Was this a forgone conclusion? Nadal took the first set 6-4 and had
Another day until the big French Open semis. Let's make some predictions. Nadal vs. Djokovic Because it is the French Open, and there is a viable French player still alive in the semis, Nadal will face Djokovic in the first semifinal of the day, even though most tennis fans realize this is the de facto
Keen observers noted that all four quarterfinals pitted a two-handed backhand player against a one-handed backhand player. In 3 of the 4 quarterfinals, the two-hander was the higher seed: the sole exception was Roger Federer. In yesterday's quarterfinals, Roger Federer lost in straight sets to the powerful Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, leading to a possibility that
Outside the other members of the big 4, if there are two players Federer would prefer not to see in a draw, it's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych. Both have big serves. Both hit hard off the ground. Both have given Federer troubles in Slams. Remember when Federer has that semifinal streak? Federer had reached
There's something about Nadal that makes Federer fans edgy. Anytime they see an issue, say, a 4-set win over Brands or a 4-set win over Klizan, they think Nadal is vulnerable. They're waiting for him to falter. Surely, he can't recover. They create scenarios in their head about someone making that upset. People forget that
When the draw for the French Open came out, the first big question was: where would Rafael Nadal end up? Nadal had a spectacular clay season which pushed his rank up to number 4, ahead of David Ferrer. This created a great deal of relief among the other top seeds because they didn't have to
In all the years that Rafael Nadal has played the French Open, he's only been pushed to 5 sets once. It happened in an opening r0und match against John Isner back in 2011. Roger Federer? He's been pushed to 5 sets numerous times. During the 2009 campaign, the only year Federer ever won the French
