Giant John Isner has given America a handy 2-0 lead after beating former world number one Roger Federer 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 in what he called “the biggest win of my life.”
Under the guidance of Jim Courier, Isner was able to play some of his best tennis against the Swiss maestro without the pressure of having to play catch up after Mardy Fish scrambled to get the first rubber of the Davis Cup meet. Read more
Posted in Davis Cup, John Isner, Mardy Fish, Roger Federer
As Nadal fans everywhere mourn the loss of the Australian Open final and struggle to manage their disbelief at a seventh consecutive loss to Djokovic with extreme fatigue on a Monday morning there are two important points to take away:
1) He almost won
2) The crippling depth of the Djokovic return can only be combated by more effective serving from Nadal Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, Australian Open, Injury, Physio Perspective, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, US Open, Wimbledon
Andy Murray was hoping to try and change the statistic that 26 of the last 27 Grand Slams have been won by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, but it was not to be. The strange almost five hour match was won, eventually, by Novak 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5. Defending champion Novak will now face Rafa for the title.
In his quarterfinal Novak had been clutching at his hamstring and struggling to breathe but initially looked to be OK, but not at his best, in his match against Murray. Despite an early break Murray stayed unusually positive even after Djokovic took the first set despite increasingly struggling to breathe. Read more
The rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer was renewed at the Australian Open the minute Rafa opened his mouth to the media about player issues and Federer’s lack of interest in them.Tonight Federer and Nadal fought for a finals position and a chance to claim another Grand Slam and it is Rafael Nadal who will play either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray in his bid for his 11th Grand Slam.
Rafa was forced to fight for his fourth consecutive Grand Slam final but after three hours and minutes Nadal won 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4
Roger came out firing looking like he planned to slaughter Nadal with his aggressive accuracy from the first point. He quickly found himself at 1-4 before Rafa finally found his range and got back on serve at 3-4, his forehand finding its mark. Read more
Bernard Tomic, the cocky teenager who was treated like a national hero until Roger Federer taught him a lesson at the Australian Open, has again been pulled over by police on the Gold Coast.
Tomic drives a distinctive orange BMW sports car and has been given a special license while he remains on his P-Plates that allows the teenager to drive the powerful car only between home and his practice courts. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Bernard Tomic, Damir Dokic, Media, Roger Federer
Tagged John Tomic
In a strange, yet high quality, match that saw Rafael Nadal robbed of vital points by poor line calls repeatedly, Rafa has battled the huge serves and powerful, flat ground strokes of Tomas Berdych to book a place in the Australian Open semi finals. It took Nadal four hours and 16 minutes but he eventually walked away with the 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win that finished right at midnight.
Both players had early break point opportunities but were unable to convert, Nadal fighting against the booming serve of Berdych and incredibly flat ground strokes.
The 12th game of the first set went for over 8 minutes with Berdych having triple set point. His incredible defensive skills saved the second break point as he somehow stayed alive in a point he should have lost multiple times. Despite a fourth point for Berdych, Rafa dug deep and forced a tiebreak. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Match Report, Media, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych
Andy Roddick was forced to retire from his match against Lleyton Hewitt as he trailed 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 after injuring what appeared to be his hip or his groin early in the match. It was another tough blow for Roddick who has battled his health and various unlucky injuries over the past two seasons.
During the early stages of the match Jim Courier revealed he has implored Roddick to return to his younger days when he ripped his forehand violently around the court, ending points quickly and aggressively. Strangely it was Lleyton who seemed to have more bite on his ground strokes. Read more
Mardy Fish had a great 2011. He made a lot of progress and showed he is deserving of a top ten ranking with a consistently high level of play. So far 2012 has not been Mardy’s year.
Today Fish was handily beaten by Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-7, 3-6, 6-7 and freely expressed his irritation that Falla was treated for cramps at the change of ends.
Falla is the same intermittently brilliant player who looked set to throw Roger Federer out of Wimbledon in the first round in 2010 before he realised he was about to beat The Great One in straight sets and choked. Read more
Posted in Alejandro Falla, Australian Open, Mardy Fish, Roger Federer, Wimbledon
Much has been made of the comments Nadal made recently saying that Federer should be making more of a push to improve the scheduling on the ATP circuit because the only one who was going to have a decent body at the end of their career was Federer.
Russian Nikolay Davydenko also entered the argument saying,
“I don’t know why Roger is not supporting the players. Because he don’t want … any problems. He’s nice guy. He’s winning Grand Slams. He’s from Switzerland. He’s perfect. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Media, Nikolay Davydenko, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer
Much is being made of Rafael Nadal’s recent comments towards Roger Federer’s attitude toward changing and improving the tour to preserve the bodies of the players. Nadal sees the changes as necessary to ensure that when they retire the players bodies are still healthy enough to allow them to enjoy all the things they avoided to stop them from voiding their professional insurance policies.
It reignites the argument of the thoroughbred vs the work horse – Federer being the thoroughbred and everyone else being the work horses. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, Australian Open, Hard courts, Injury, Media, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, US Open
