About a month ago, entering into Roland Garros, all eyes were on Novak Djokovic. The streak was on. To tie John McEnroe, Djokovic had to reach the finals. He had two players retire on him (Hanescu, part of the way through and Fognini), but perhaps the lack of play left him vulnerable to the play
Murray is perhaps the best player to employ a "Nadal strategy" that is significantly different from the way he normally plays. Nadal is one of the most difficult players to get off his rhythm. Bernard Tomic was able to rattle Djokovic some by hitting slices, off-pace shots, and combining that with hard-struck shots. It's arguable
The new number one will play the new number two in the finals of Wimbledon, but until Monday, it will be the old number one playing the old number two. For a while, British hopes were up for the improbably. Murray was hitting hard, holding his own serve, hitting corners, and keeping even with Nadal.
For a while, it seemed Tsonga might pull off the upset again. He started the match where he left off, hitting aggressive forehands, and getting an early break. But there's a difference between Djokovic and Federer. Djokovic can return. Even with a late break to even up the match, the first set tiebreak could have
Ah, who would have thought? Roger Federer was good enough to get to the finals of the French Open, and he was scheduled to play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has only beaten him once, and that was due to a meltdown on Federer's part with a 5-1 lead in the third. And he had a two
Perhaps it was the fact that Lopez had never beaten Murray. Maybe it was that 5-setter against Lukasz Kubot that wore Lopez down. Maybe Murray had more tools or was more up to play a player the caliber of Lopez, but he's had the easiest semi of any of the "big 4". Murray won over
Sometimes Brad Gilbert is wrong. Perhaps more often than he expects. He thought that Roger Federer would steamroll over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He had only lost to Tsonga once, in a meltdown with a 5-1 lead in the fifth set. Federer took an early break and rode that to a first set. Then, he took the
At 6-5, Nadal had just hit a winner down-the-line when he looked like he was in pain. He received medical attention and was able to complete the match with a victory. After an MRI, Nadal has said the foot is not broken as he had initially feared. He planned to practice today and be ready
Now that we're through "Manic Monday", the day where all fourth round matches are played, we're getting to the business end of this Slam. Let's look at the matchups. Nadal vs. Fish Tomas Berdych was the expected seed, but despite not having dropped a set, Berdych's place has gone down since Wimbledon. Berdych clings to
del Potro must know what Andy Roddick felt like when he faced Roger Federer in the finals of Wimbledon in 2009. Roddick had not been broken all day long, but at 14-15, he finally cracked and lost serve and with it, his best opportunity at winning a second Slam. del Potro has lost to Nadal
