It was improbable. del Potro had just beaten Murray and Djokovic, but it took 3 sets each to do it, on back to back days. And Sunday was hot. When Nadal rushed to a 3-0 lead off high loopers and sharp angles, del Potro looked like he had nothing to repel the Spaniard's attack. Then,
Many fans must be curious how Nadal could come back so quickly. Nadal, of course, would not come back half-hearted. He's taken breaks before, and he knows what he needs to do to beat good players. In a way, he got lucky that Federer was not at his best, but in a way, Federer got
2008 was a breakout year for many players. It started with the Australian Open. Novak Djokovic won his first Slam over surprise finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Djokovic's breakout year was the year before, in 2007, where he reached the semis of the French Open and Wimbledon and the finals of the US Open. Tsonga came out
It just goes to show you how dominant the top 8 players are in the world. Basically, it's Djokovic and Nadal at the top (despite rankings) and Federer and Murray behind them (despite Murray's breakthrough). Tsonga, Berdych, and del Potro show they are tough to beat by anyone not ranked in the top 5. The
Novak Djokovic isn't the only one on a streak. A player that once trained at the same academy as the number 1 player is also on a streak, namely, Ernests Gulbis. Gulbis is certainly a mercurial player. Think Safin, Ivanisevic, or perhaps McEnroe from days of old. His career looks like the recovery parts of
Maybe no one's paying attention, but Novak's doing it again. In 2011, he started off on a streak that started to take off once Djokovic won Indian Wells having won the Australian Open and Dubai prior to that. Indeed, Djokovic's win streak extends to last year's year-end championship in London where he won all three
The semifinals on Saturday were mostly meh. Berdych crushed Tursunov in one semi. Anytime he went for a big shot, Tursunov made an error or couldn't reach the shot. Gilles Simon didn't fare much better against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga making more errors than usual. Neither loser won more than 4 games. The final, by contrast, was
Bernard Tomic almost didn't get out of the first round, facing one of last year's new upstart, Martin Klizan, but he managed a third set win. He had a comfortable win against Somdev Devvarman in the second round. But his big challenge was the top-ranked Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Last year, Tomic showed a great deal
While all attention was paid to Vina del Mar, and Nadal's shock upset, there were two other tournament finals being played, mostly without much fanfare. In Zagreb, Marin Cilic returned to his winning ways defeating Jurgen Melzer 63 61. Both men had tougher semifinals than finals. In Lyon, Richard Gasquet beat Benoit Paire in an
Janko Tipsarevic was thrilled to be back in London. Sure, he needed Rafa to not appear at London, which Rafa guaranteed would not happen a few weeks ago. But this time, he is eligible to play all his matches. Alas, his first match was against Roger Federer, who is the top seed in Group B.
