Of the two, John Isner generally has the more straight-forward strategy. He knows his liabilities: he doesn't return particularly well, and he doesn't run particularly fast. These two constraints dictate his style of play. Hit big serves, hope for weak returns, and go for big shots on the forehand. On the return of serve, take
When Djokovic was on his epic win streak in 2011, the tennis media was in a frenzy by the time the French Open rolled around. Djokovic had finally beaten Nadal on clay. He had not lost a match up to that point. Djokovic would eventually lose to Federer in the semis of the French, but
For the first time in a long while, I watched the finals of a match while simultaneously in a chat room filled with fans of tennis. Fans of tennis really want close matches. Perhaps this explains the popularity of basketball. In basketball, it's difficult, by and large, to dominate another team. The scores are usually
Let's summarize Montreal so far. First news, Federer chose to skip this event. He had added Hamburg and Gstaad to his schedule partly to compensate for losing early at Wimbledon, and partly to give himself time to get accustomed to his new, larger racquet. Andy Murray lost early. In a way, no surprise. In 2009
Let's take a quick look at each of the finalists before discussing the finals. Last time we saw Juan Martin del Potro, he was playing the best match of this year's Wimbledon in a losing effort to Novak Djokovic. In two previous matches, he had hyper-extended his knee, so no one knew much how he
This was a tale of three sets. Once upon a time, Murray was a talented player, but one that lacked the stamina to win 5-setters. He started to change this in late 2007, when he hired Miles Maclagan, but more importantly, Jez Green, Andy Ireland, and the rest of his team that would get his
The Cinderella story would have had aging Tommy Haas, frequently injured, getting some of his just due by beating world number 4, David Ferrer. Avid tennis fans will tell you that David Ferrer squeezes every bit of talent out of his diminutive body. Fans respect David Ferrer, but when push comes to shove, fans seem
With 2 of the "big 4" not playing Miami, and Djokovic upset by a player older than him, only Andy Murray headlines this tournament. Miami has chosen a peculiar form of night scheduling. At the US Open, they generally favor some Americans, and otherwise, top seeds. At Miami, they seem to put lower seeds, esp.
Maybe it was the comparatively cool weather. Maybe it was the low bounce of the night air. Maybe it was just one of those days. Novak Djokovic, as top champions often do, said he played poorly in his loss to the best old man in the game today, Tommy Haas, a sprightly 34 on the
In the feature match on Saturday, Andy Murray played Bernard Tomic in the second round. For Andy Murray, this event has given him trouble in the past. Indeed, following both his defeat in 2010 to Roger Federer, Murray went in a funk. While a quaterfinal loss to Robin Sodering in Indian Wells wasn't exactly horrible,
