“Everyone can improve in every surface, no? No one is perfect. Sure, I can improve,” Nadal said. “I always work to improve because when you feel you can’t improve, is difficult to wake up and go on court and practice.”

Nadal was not too happy with the way he served at Monte Carlo and plans to make some improvements in that area before heading off to Roland Garros, which is next month.

“This tournament I didn’t serve very well. Especially the second serve was sometimes 120 kph (74 mph). So that’s (a) disaster,” Nadal said. “Yeah, I have to play more. Have to serve better.”

Djokovic definitely gave Nadal a run for his money. He trailed 3-1 in the first set and in the third set struggled with is serve. He managed to come back with a little bit of luck and a lot of amazing tennis talent.

“A little bit lucky because he has two break points and important drop shot. I came back. That point was really important,” Nadal said. “After that I think I played really well. In the important moments, I was focused all the time.”

How did Djokovic feel about the match. Just because he lost, doesn’t mean he didn’t play one heck of a match. Possibly one of the best of his career according to Djokovic.

“I played a very good match, actually one of the best I have played against him on this surface,” Djokovic said. “It’s really unfortunate that in certain moments I didn’t play the way I was supposed to play, with a little bit more patience.”

Rafael Nadal is also favored to win his fifth straight title at the French Open, but the competition is looking fierce. It should be a fantastic tournament to watch. Here are a couple more photos of Nadal. The one with him laying on the clay court after he won is my favorite.

Source: Tennis.com

Image Credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Rafael Nadal Makes History in Monte Carlo

Nadal defeated Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-0 and Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3. This takes him to 25 winning matches in Monte Carlo.

“I don’t remember ever winning two singles matches in one day, only doubles,” Nadal said. “I didn’t have a very long match (in the morning), so I was totally 100 percent to play the second. That’s important.”

Nadal’s next match is against Andy Murray, who defeated Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (1), 6-4.

“Every time I play against Nikolay he makes me run a lot, so I was prepared for that going into the match,” Murray said. “I was down 4-1 and managed to fight back. I’m quite looking forward to getting into my bed now.”

I am definitely looking forward to a Nadal/Murray match.

Source: Tennis.com

Image Credit: Bauer Griffin

Post from: EveryJoe

Nadal Moves One Step Closer to Fifth Straight Title

Although Nadal had beaten Chela on clay every time, he’s still aware that Chela is a good player on the clay court.

“Chela is a good clay-court player. I have to play good tennis if I want to have good chances to win,” Nadal said. “(I need to) try to play aggressive without a lot of mistakes.”

I am really looking forward to this match. My prediction goes to Nadal.

Source: Tennis.com

Image Credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Juan Ignacio Chela Faces Rafael Nadal at Monte Carlo Masters

The Monte Carlo Masters is on a clay court and Nadal is one of the top clay court contenders. Can anyone beat this man on clay? Other tournaments Nadal will be participating at are the French Open, where he will defend his title on clay. He will also return to defend his title at the Queen’s Club tournament for his first grass court match since his win to Roger Federer at Wimbledon. Last year he defeated Novak Djokovic 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the final.

You can catch the Queen’s Club tournament June 8-14.

Image Credit: Bauer Griffin

Post from: EveryJoe

Federer Accepts Monte Carlo Masters Wild Card

Rafa was facing a dismal 4-0 hole in the second set but clawed his way out of it for the big W. It was the fourth consecutive title win at Monte Carlo for Rafael which tied the record by Anthony Wilding in 1911-1914. 1914…!!! That’s some serious years for that record to not be matched; it also makes what Rafa did even more important.

As if that wasn’t enough, Rafa decided to extend his winnings further with a doubles title. Tommy Robredo played with Nadal and the duo beat Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Oh and another bit of [sort-of] boring history…Nadal is only the second player in the duration of the ATP Masters Series to win both the singles and doubles title at the same event. Cool? Definitely.

I also think this speaks well enough for Federer’s return to the court. Should he have closed out that set against Rafa? Oh yeah. Of course. I didn’t get to see it, but we all know how Rafa can play, especially on clay. But Roger made it to the final. On clay. And he lost to Rafa. Just like the last few years, isn’t it?

Post from: EveryJoe

Monte Carlo: Rafa Doubles Up on Wins

And he did. Sam Querrey was ousted by Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters 6-4, 6-0 in the quarters, but boy, did Querrey give the American tennis fans something to bank their hope with.

I was following the live scoring on the internet through the first set and Querrey did a remarkable job in fighting back to save his service games. He won his first service game pretty handily but his next two, he was in identical 15-40 holes but managed to win four consecutive points in each game to hold serve. That’s ballsy against someone like Djokovic.

I think I’ll graciously ignore the second set for Querrey’s sake.

Roger Federer overcame David Nalbandian after dropping his first set 7-5 to his “arch rival.” According to the Monte Carlo website, that’s what Nalbandian is to Federer.

I’m not sure that’s the case, but I am sure that the photo of Fed on the front page of the tournament site is awesome! Go check it out at Monte Carlo Masters Series. That’s pure emotion on Roger’s face, and it makes me happy.

Post from: EveryJoe

Monte Carlo: All Top Four Seeds Advance

Querrey got soundly beat in the first set 6-2 by Gasquet. Querrey showed his tenacity and mental strength by winning the final two sets 6-4, 6-3. In fact, Querrey broke Gasquet to go up 5-3 in the third and then closed out the match with a strong service game. Actually the last two games of the third set were all Sam Querrey: he won both at 40-15.

Image details: Sony Ericsson Open Day 3 served by picapp.com

This 20-year-old has officially impressed me. Now how will he do in the quarters against Novak Djokovic?

Post from: EveryJoe

Monte Carlo: Querrey Overcomes Gasquet

Instead, I want to talk about Sam Querrey. I mentioned him earlier this week, and Tennis.com did an interview with Querrey. Actually “interview” is a bit of an understatement. It’s basically everything-Sam-on-a-webpage.

I didn’t know much about Querrey before I found his life for me to read on Tennis.com. Like he was planning to go to USC before he decided to turn pro a year and a half ago. All his friends are athletes (I know, I’m absolutely shocked.), he’s sponsored by Adidas (if I had ever had the opportunity to watch him play, I probably could have figured that one out on my own) and he wants to get more fired up during his matches instead of being so laidback.

Now I feel like if I met Querrey on the street, we could talk about that one time, way back in the day, when he used to play T-ball in the back yard.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sam Querrey: In-depth

Andy Murray and Mario Ancic persevered in the first round as well, but the Cinderella story (if you can have one of those in the first round) was Sam Querrey of the United States.

Querrey upset Carlos Moya 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to move on. Woo, the lone American hope!

But whoever is writing for the Associated Press needs some help. One of the points made about Querrey’s upset of Moya was that Moya had won Monte Carlo and the French Open before…in 1998.

I’m not discounting Moya’s accomplishments but this is 2008, a decade later. Just saying, ya know?

Post from: EveryJoe

Querrey Upsets Moya at Monte Carlo Masters