In a way, Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka are similar. Both had some success when they were young. Berdych upset Roger Federer back in the 2004 Olympics when no one knew who Berdych was. Despite his talent, he struggled to make consistent results. 2010 was a huge year for him. There, he made a run
Yes, yes, Rafa made the semis, but technically, he's the number 5 player in the world. And what a match. Despite the best start of his career, Rafa would tell you that he's not playing his best tennis, and he started off poorly against David Ferrer who was only too happy to take advantage. Most
There's no particular reason why Murray or Simon can't be better on clay. Simon, at the very least, has won tournaments on clay, despite a style that is relatively flat. One reason Simon has won titles on the red dirt--he plays the smaller events. Murray's clay season is 4 titles long. Once Wimbledon is over,
Baby anything is a hard thing to live up to. Baby Jordan? Remember him? Harold Miner. Yeah, not much of a career. Certainly not even close to Baby Jordan. You could put 100 players between Harold Miner and Michael Jordan and that wouldn't scratch the surface of how far apart these two players were. Grigor
Perhaps it was the rain that delayed the match for an hour, dampening the court, making it bounce low, so even Nadal's typical high loopers weren't kicking as high. Perhaps it was because Nadal still isn't feeling at the top of his game despite having his best start to the year (at admittedly subpar tournaments
Things are different in 2013 from where they were in 2011 and 2012 at the same time. In 2011, Djokovic opted to skip Monte Carlo and played in Serbia first (the week after Monte Carlo). He was undefeated, but despite two victories over Rafa in Indian Wells and Miami, the pundits were taking a wait
When you play aggressive, like Tsonga or Federer, your success depends on how often you can get your aggressive shots in vs. how often you miss. Nadal gets to as many balls as anyone in the game, and it allows him not to be terribly aggressive if he doesn't want to and let the errors
When you're called "Baby Fed", that puts a lot of pressure on you as a player. Not everyone that's been given such a nickname does well. There was a guy named Harold Miner who was called "Baby Jordan", and nothing much came of him. There is a French player, Josselin Ouanna, who vaguely looks like
Andy Murray has always said clay is his weakest surface. He plays on the surface anywhere from 3-4 tournaments a year, and he didn't grow up on the surface. Prior to his work with Lendl, the clay didn't support his flatter, less aggressive style. Although Murray has been classified as a counterpuncher, he doesn't spin
Although the French Open title is more prestigious, and thus where Rafa Nadal has secured the moniker "king of clay", it's Monte Carlo where his dominance has reached epic proportions. Monte Carlo is a strange Masters 1000. Of the Masters 1000 titles, it's the only considered "optional". You aren't penalized for skipping the event with
