Has Rafa got his mojo back? Maybe. With his wins at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Rafael Nadal has to be feeling good on his best surface. Still, Djokovic came into the finals with two solid wins, over Tsonga and Federer. His loss to Rafa in Monte Carlo could be blamed on Djokovic's personal loss when
The women's final preceded the men's. The men's had been scheduled for around 4 PM in Rome. The women started a little less than two hours earlier. For a while, it appeared that the women's match would finish routinely. Li Na had won a close first set, 6-4. She was comfortably up 4-0 with a
Ever since the US Open, Roger Federer has been playing some solid tennis. Indeed, even if you include the US Open, Roger Federer came within a hair of beating Djokovic. Only a go-for-broke return by Djokovic followed by a dig-out return and a Federer slap shot that clipped the net causing the ball to fall
It wasn't a pretty match, by any means. There seemed to be a lack of rhythm and flow, and thus, it was one player striking the ball well, and the other not as well, and vice versa. Berdych started off the match strong with an early break and rode that break to a 7=5 first
With the favorites, Nadal and Djokovic, out of the tournament (Murray opted to skip due to injury), it was up to Federer to rescue the tournament. Federer had an easy win over Tipsarevic, relying once again on some aggressive net-charging, a strategy he seemed to abandon when serve-and-volley fell out of style. While he wasn't
Tournament organizers must have crossed their fingers for a Djokovic-Nadal final. When Nadal fell to countryman, FernandoVerdasco, organizers must have hoped that the Federer-Djokovic semi would have to do. Only Djokovic didn't accommodate. Like Nadal, Djokovic had complained about the surface. And like Nadal, who lost to a countryman, Djokovic also lost to a countryman
Apparently, the late Vitas Gerulaitis once said "No one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row" when he claimed a victory over Jimmy Connors. In those days, it was hard to find head-to-head stats, so Vitas may have been guessing how many times Connors had beaten him. In any case, good friend, Bjorn Borg
It was close for a few games, then not so much. In their past matches, Djokovic has often stayed toe to toe with Nadal off the ground. Today, not so much. Nadal had chances in nearly every one of Djokovic's serve to break. Djokovic didn't seem able to keep up in long rallies. He went
Rafael Nadal is the acknowledged king of clay. If tennis was clay. Nadal would be the greatest of all time. He puts more spin on the ball than any other player. He's quick, tenacious, and patient: three skills that are invaluable on clay. He's lost on clay fewer than 20 times, and most of it,
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Peak Performance", Data is asked to compete against against Sirma Kolrami, an expert at the game of Strategema. When he loses, Data questions if he is flawed and this bothers him for the entire episode. Eventually, he schedules a re-match. In it, he "beats" Kolrami by playing
