This is what you get with a Masters 1000 event. You can have a tough first match right off the bat, and even more if you are a top seed. Juan Martin del Potro has been on the comeback trail. He's ranked 19th in the world, but would be 11th if the rankings were only
Ivan Ljubicic must know how Mardy Fish feels. Three times Ljubicic reached a Masters finals, and three times he came up second. To be fair, Ljubicic played opponents like Federer and Nadal. Then, in 2010, Ljubicic had the tournament of his life in Indian Wells. He beat Nadal. He beat Djokovic. And in the finals,
This match was expected to be more competitive than the Djokovic-Monfils match. Of course, one could argue that it would have to be given Monfils only won 3 games. For a few games, it was pretty close. Tsonga was able to attack on his own serves, and the two stayed close to 4-all. Djokovic was
Mardy Fish used to lack enough speed and endurance to play much from the baseline. He would get to net. But the last few years, he's played more baseline. Weight loss has left Fish lean and mean and better able to play long points from the backcourt. But, against Tipsarevic, Fish came to net a
Djokovic had played somewhat shaky tennis in his first two rounds, beating Davydenko when Davydenko had 2 breaks, then a third before giving up the first set then disappearing in the second. Against Cilic, Djokovic again struggled a bit with trying to take control of the match, but did good enough to win. But it
If you were to take a bet as to who would make it deeper, Roger Federer or Stanislas Wawrinka, surely you would have said Roger Federer. Of course, Roger Federer had to play Tsonga, a former top tenner, where Wawrinka played Kevin Anderson who is hoping to be in the top ten. Roger Federer was
Sometimes you need a perfect storm to beat Rafael Nadal. Nadal had taken a few weeks off after Wimbledon, skipping the Davis Cup tie against the US to rest, recover, and figure out what he might do against the new number one, Novak Djokovic. Nadal often comes back a little rusty when he takes a
Let's face it. Niklolay Davydenko hasn't been playing at the top of his game for nearly a year. He's lost in numerous opening rounds. So, while his game has headed south, Djokovic, by contrast has gone swimmingly. Even so, there were a little concern. First, Davydenko has started to play better. He won one round
There are many countries that host effectively a national tournament, and often, that country laments the last time one of their own has won that tournament. When's the last time a Frenchman was won the French Open (that would be 1983 when Yannick Noah won)? When was the last time an Australian male won the
Andy Murray was probably happy for the heat wave in the US. Last year, it was a bit cool, so Murray decided to take a wildcard to Los Angeles, reached the finals, but lost to Sam Querrey. Nonetheless, Murray went to defend his title at Toronto. He lost to Fish (for a third time) in
