image: TSN

Federer made the first two sets look easy but then Soderling came roaring back and challenged the Swiss tennis star in the following four sets.  Federer ended up walking away with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6) victory and now boasts a U.S. Open winning streak of 39 straight matches.  Unbelievable.

“It feels great. It was so close towards the end,” said Federer. “It’s a great relief to come through because Robin played better and better as the match went on.  The beginning was a bit too easy. Then all of a sudden he found his way into the match. He showed what a great player he really is.”

As was the case in 2007 and 2008, Federer will face Novak Djok ovic in the semis.

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Federer in U.S. Open Semifinals

Djokovic moves on to the event’s finals where he will attempt to secure his third title of 2009 with a win over German wildcard, Tommy Haas, who was the No. 2 player back in 2002 but has failed to win a tournament since 2007 in Memphis.  The pair have battled twice before with Djokovic winning both times. 

The winner of Sunday’s match will collect $160,000.  If Djokovic wins, this will be his first grass-court victory this year.

image: TSN

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Djokovic Moves On To Gerry Weber Final

Djokovic took the Rome Masters title last year and had a chance to take it again after he defeated Roger Federer on Saturday (May 2) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. This now makes Federer’s title drought extended to seven months. That’s got to hurt.

Since Djokovic did not hold on to the title at the Rome Masters, he has to give up his No. 3 ranking to Andy Murray on May 11th. He’s been number 3 since August of 2007.

Starting May 25th, Rafael Nadal will try for his fifth consecutive title at the French Open. Do you think he can do it?

Source: NY Times

Image Credit: Newscom

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Nadal Wins Fourth Rome Title

Djokovic’s focus was interrupted when someone in the stands whistled just as he was about to serve a crucial point. I hope they found out who it was and booted that jerk out of there!!

Rafael Nadal will play against Chilean 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez later today. If Nadal defeats him, the winner of the Federer/Djokovic match will play Nadal on Sunday in the Rome Masters finals. I am predicting that Federer wins, goes on to play Nadal and Nadal takes yet another title for the year. What are your thoughts?

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Image Credit: Newscom

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Federer, Djokovic Match Rain Delay

Djokovic and Federer both like the fast clay court, so it should be a great match.

“I think both of us like it, so it’s going to be interesting,” Djokovic said. “I feel quite confident playing here. Each match I play, I feel more comfortable moving on the court and just playing my style of the game.”

Federer’s thoughts are still on how he played in Miami. He needs to erase those thoughts and focus on today’s match!

“I hope I can play better than in Miami,” Federer said.

Federer is seeking his first title of the year, so to say that his match against Djokovic is important is an understatement.

Source

Image Credit: Newscom

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Djokovic, Nadal and Federer in Rome Semifinals

In the match against Nadal, Soderling took the first set, but Nadal came back to win the match in 1 hr and 24 minutes.

“I think the match was really tough, if not the result," insisted Nadal. "In the beginning I was winning 4-1 but at the same time I could have been losing 4-1.

"I think I played really well. It was one of my best matches on clay this year or maybe even in my career."

Nadal will face Fernando Verdasco next. Federer will face Mischa Zverev of Germany and Djokovic will face Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. The quarter-finals are this Friday, May 1st.

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Image Credit: Bauer Griffin

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Nadal, Federer and Djokovic March into Rome Quarter-finals

“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

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Rafael Nadal Makes History in Monte Carlo

Djokovic seemed to be a little confused in the second set and it was Murray’s to win.

The best example of that was the penultimate game of the second set today, in which Murray broke Djokovic in a way that was both unexpected and mortifying. Djokovic, playing spectator at his own execution, lost four straight points, at least two of them because his mind didn’t seem to be on the task at hand, and another because he got caught in the mid-court area, uncertain about whether to hang back or swarm the net.

Djokovic, like any great tennis player, knew what cost him the match.

“I was really impatient,” Djokovic said. “I made huge number of unforced errors and he was playing solid and waiting for his chances.”

Andy definitely started to struggle a bit in the second match, but was able to bag the win after getting his rhythm back.

“Novak started rushing me, he started to shorten the points and I struggled a little bit. He was coming in (to net) 60, 70 percent of the time in that second set. I lost my rhythm a little in that second set but I got it back.”

Check out some video highlights from the match below.

Source: Tennis.com
Image Credit: Newscom

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Andy Murray Wins in Miami

So the Australian Open finished off with the results I had predicted in this post. Masha, aka, Maria Sharapova sailed through to the trophy. As I said, nobody in the tournament weiled the kind of power she did, and on the men’s side, Djoker, aka, Novak Djokovic, got the better of suprise finalist Tsonga. We had been pretty much hooked to the tournament, so much so that we missed out on a lot of cricket. With the Commenwealth Bank Series on, we’re back to bats and balls.

Anyway, lots of things happened during the Border-Gavaskar Series, and some of it wasn’t pleasant. And it lead me to compare a few aspects of our favorite game to tennis. There are quite a few things ICC, the various local cricket authorities, and the players can learn from racquets and balls.

* Off-season: We’re a big fan of this one. There was next to no tennis in November and December. This time of the year is off-season for the game. After the US Open, the number of tournaments declines sharply and by the time it’s November, the tennis world is alreading on vocation. The tennis season, after this temporary halt, unofficially kicks off in January with the tournaments building up to the Australian Open. The players and viewers get back to the game with revived enthusiasm. Cricket is played all the year round with no break in between. There are obvious downsides to this, but they deserve a post of their own.

*Mutual Respect: Respect for opponents is something that has been missing in the game recently. Everyone saw what happened between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, how Ricky Ponting and other players on the Australian side took to swords. That was the on-field story, but the trend of psychological war of words off the field is worth a mention, too. There is nothing seriously wrong with trying to bring down the morale of the opponent, but look at the tennis players. At pre-match conferences, they’re not telling us why their opponents suck or why they have an edge over them, but why that opponent will be difficult to win over. There’s a sense of respect for the opponents, both on and off the court.

* Women are powerful: Tennis’s popularity today is largely due to the women’s tennis. What if women’s cricket was given equal importance as the men’s cricket? First off, it would encourage women to take it up as a career, and second, it would help the game get female readership. You can’t match the glamour of miniskirts and spaghetti tops with trousers and half-sleeved tee-shirts, but women’s cricket is worth giving a try. The most popular and rich sports have all progressive women’s circuits as well– golf and football being two examples.

* Integrative training: Cricket is both physically and mentally exhausting. Shaun Tait proves that. Besides the usual training, there should be some yoga, pilates, etc. Ingtegrative training is big in tennis. Maria Sharapova spends two hours after every match with her trainer who does acupressure and allied stuff.

Obviously, there are lots of things tennis can learn from cricket, but that’s outside the scope of this talk.

Fan Question: What other sports do you think cricket can learn from?

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What Cricket Can Learn From Tennis?