WTF Final Thoughts, Almost

What did I learn from the 2010 WTF? You can't manufacture drama. Matches between the two best players in the world always have a certain dramatic flair, particularly when the two best players have one of the most famous tennis rivalries of all time, but the media hype around this match was astounding, not to mention the fog, blaring music, and light effects provided by the O2. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the match, it was great tennis, but there was no possibility of it rivaling the tension of Wimbledon 2008 or Australia 2009. I just don't think a best of 3 sets match could top a best of 5. In my book, more tennis is better, particularly when it comes to these two.

What I hated most about all the media attention was the general consensus that this was do or die for Roger Federer. I read numberous stories telling me a loss would make Roger totally irrelevant in the Fedal rivalry, and most likely in future Grand Slams, like this WTF match was his last chance to beat Nadal. That's absurd. On any given day one tennis player can beat another, and when that player is Roger Federer, the odds are never bad. He may not always be the favorite, but he is always a favorite.

Federer was in control of this match and yet nothing seemed to silence the critics. He went for too much, or he didn't go for enough, or Nadal gave up the match because he was fatigued from his 3 hour semifinal. Do you know how ridiculous that is? Nadal is easily the fittest guy on tour. He's played 5+ hour matches and come back to win a match the next day. Nadal didn't make any excuses for his loss, so I don't see why fans or journalists should. Roger played better and he deserved to win. I'm sure Rafa will repay the favor sometime in the future.

Now let's look ahead a little. Does this give Roger momentum heading into the Australian? Absolutely. Does that mean he will win? Not necessarily. Will Rafa ever win the WTF? Yes. He's only 24 and has plenty more chances. Plus, he made a lot of headway this year just by making it to the final.

I have one more WTF post up my sleeve, which should go up tomorrow. It's a fun one.

Image by AP.

Hilarity Ensues

So, I saw that someone posted this gem on twitter earlier this week and couldn't help but share.

What have we learned? Before we go any further, I should note that the most advanced photo editing software I own is Paint. You've been warned, so proceed with caution.

In a movie about his life, Novak Djokovic would like to be portrayed by Robert De Niro. For this to work, Robert De Niro will have to stay the same age for another like 40 years and the movie will have to be about old man Novak. Funfact: De Niro sat in Nole's box during the 2007 US Open Final, giving us a possible rationale for this joke.

Soderling would prefer Russel Crow. Yeah, I honestly can't figure out where that came from, but here's what it would look like.

ARod would of course be portrayed by Seann William Scott because they are basically identical. Ignoring the crude crop job, tell me this isn't just a regular photo of Andy Roddick.

Later, the interviewer moved on to fears. I really didn't know that many people were afraid of snakes, at least not as the first fear they could think of. Roddick, Ferrer, and Djokovic all mentioned snakes as their fear. Rafa's afraid of the dark and Andy Murray, being the upbeat guy that he is, is afraid of death. Way to be a downer Andy.

First kiss? David sounds a little nostalgic for Catalina. Rafa doesn't even have to answer questions with the goofy smile and nervous laughter. And what does comedic genius Andy Murray have to say? John.

Well, you don't really need my commentary, just watch the video. Plus, the Andy Roddick photo's starting to creep me out. So, this wraps up my coverage of the 2010 World Tour Finals, if only a few days late.

Watch out for Davis Cup this weekend.

WTF Finals

So I've managed to borrow a computer to write this and have planted myself firmly in front of the TV for today. At the moment I'm watching a repeat of yesterday's semifinals, which means some pretty great tennis. As I expected, Nadal and Federer emerged as victors and will play each other in today's final. In my last post, I mistakenly said this would be the first meeting for the two in 2010. Today's match will actually be the second meeting between Roger and Rafa this year as they played in the Madrid final. Before I get too wrapped up in the match we're about to see, I want to talk about the semifinals, or at the very least, the Murray/Nadal match. This was great tennis. For some reason Murray and Nadal always play entertaining matches against each other. I think Rafa sometimes raises Andy's game. I didn't give Murray much of a chance going into this match because of the way he played against Federer in the round robin stage. However, even after losing the first set in a tiebreak, Murray came back and broke Rafa twice to take the second set. After being broken early in the third, Murray managed to break back when Rafa was serving for the match at 5-4 to even things out, eventually forcing a tiebreak. However, we all now how it ended, as it often does, Rafa found a way to win and will face Roger Federer in the today's final. Roger Federer had a much easier road to the final yesterday, beating Novak Djokovic 6-1 6-4.

So, there are already hundreds of previews out there for this match, and every other Fedal match that has occurred. We all know the stats. Nadal leads their head to head 14-7. But, if you exclude clay and grass, they are 3-3 on hard courts. I think this is meaningless. It's not so lopsided that either player can feel completely confident that they will steamroll the other. They've played each other 21 times so I'm sure this match has become routine for them, but for us as fans, this is what we have waited for. This is a completely fitting way to end a year of great tennis.

Rafael Nadal has had a spectacular year, winning three of the four major tournaments, including his first US Open to round out a career Grand Slam. 2010 has been a different story for Roger Federer. He has had a year that any other player would be proud of, winning one Slam, making the semifinals of another, and two quarterfinals. But for Roger Federer, critics consider this the end. He loss in the quartfinals at the French Open meant an end to his amazing streak of semifinal appearances and his loss in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon was nothing less then gut wrenching. This isn't the end though. Federer is not washed up and he looks hungry. Both men would gain from a victory today. This is the lone title that eludes Rafael Nadal now that he has the career Grand Slam as well as the Olypmic gold medal, but he has never advanced past the semifinal stage at the World Tour Finals. On the other side, Federer is quite familiar with the WTF final. He will be competing for his fifth title at the WTF, which would tie the record of five WTF wins.

I'm not going to make a final prediction because I really have no idea what's going to happen. Both guys come into this match with a perfect record at this year's WTF, although Rafa has dropped two sets along the way. What I do know is that whoever wins, both guys will fight and one will win gracefully and the other will lose gracefully, because that's what they do. There is no classier rivalry in tennis. I just wish their fans treated each other with the respect that the players do.

WTF Day 6 & 7

I'm visiting home for Thanksgiving and for some reason, my computer and my parents' wifi don't get along. All week, I've had a couple of brief windows to use the internet, which has hampered both my ability to write about tennis and find spectacular shopping deals. Anyway, I wasn't able to write a preview for Day 6 at the WTF, so I'll have to do a recap instead. I don't think anyone was surprised by Friday's results. Rafael Nadal made a pretty strong case for winning this year's WTF by beating Tomas Berdych 7-6(3) 6-1 and going 3-0 in his round robin matches. However, Roger Federer topped group B, also going 3-0 in the round robin stage. In the second match of the day, Novak Djokovic sailed into the semifinals after beating Andy Roddick 6-2 6-3. Roddick worked so hard at the end of the season just to make it back to the World Tour Finals, so it's kind of a shame to see him go out without winning a single match. The same could be said for David Ferrer.

In case you are unfamiliar with the WTF format, the top two men from each group advance to the semifinals where the winner of Group A will meet the runner up of Group B and visa versa. Both undefeated thus far, Rafael Nadal won Group A and Roger Federer emerged as the winner of Group B. Nadal will face Andy Murray and Federer will play Novak Djokovic in tomorrow's semifinal matches. These are the right matches. While Andy Murray may no longer be number four, these are undeniably the best four tennis players in the world right now. Nadal and Federer are the two best players, and each won their group quite convincingly.

Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray - Not Before 2pm GMT

The top guys play each other a lot, over the last three years, Nadal and Murray have met 12 times. Rafa leads the head to head 8-4, but any time you hear him talk about Murray, you would think Andy had the winning record. Rafa has great respect for the danger in Andy's game, possibly too much. Murray's four wins came at the '08 US Open (we all know Rafa wasn't at his best in Sept. '08,) Rotterdam in '09, the 2010 Australian Open (Nadal retired,) and the 2010 Toronto Masters. Clearly Andy poses a threat, but Nadal's track record makes him a strong favorite going into tomorrow's match, even if he doesn't think so. Andy played great tennis against Ferrer and Soderling in the round robin matches, but had no answers when playing Roger Federer. If he had trouble with Roger, I'm going to venture a guess he'll have trouble with Rafa. Nadal in two.

Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic - Not Before 8pm GMT

Roger Federer has yet to drop a set in this year's World Tour Finals. He is in a quest to tie the record for the most World Tour Finals won (5) and so far his case looks just as convincing if not more than Rafael Nadal. Federer and Djokovic have played each other eighteen times over the last four years, and like Rafa/Murray, Fed has won twice the number of matches Nole has (12-6.) Most recently they played in the Basel final, which is also an indoor hard court event, where Roger Federer came out on top in three sets. Fed also won their semifinal in Shanghai this year, another indoor hard court tournament. However, who could forget their US Open battle in this year's semifinals, where Djokovic dethroned the six time finalist? I honestly think that the crowds are going to get what they want this time. Everyone was hoping for a Federer/Nadal final at the US Open and Djokovic deprived us of that, but I don't think it'll happen this time. We haven't seen a Fedal meeting all year and it's only fitting that we get one in the last tournament of the year. Federer in three.

Pic by Getty.

WTF Day 5

It's nearly 3am and I'm pretty exhausted so I'm planning on keeping tonight's entry short. Today or Yesterday, I'm not really sure anymore, Day 4, one thing I expected happened and one thing I definitely didn't expect happened. First, Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic, winning both of his round robin matches so far. I honestly thought the match would be closer, but after getting off to a rough start in his first match against Andy Roddick, Rafa has clearly found his form and is a definite contender for the London title. Now the thing I didn't expect, Andy Roddick lost...to Tomas Berdych. Don't get me wrong, Tomas Berdych is amazing, but he hasn't really been amazing since the summer, so I wasn't expecting much. This was a great win for Berdych as it keeps him in the mix for a semi final spot, and rather devastating for Roddick who has yet to win a match at this year's WTF. Day 5 brings us two more interesting match ups.

Roger Federer vs. Robin Soderling - Not Before 2pm GMT

So we've seen this match before, 15 times to be exact. Only one of those times has Robin managed to beat Roger Federer. That's a pretty comfortable head to head. Plus, Roger has won both of his round robin matches so far without dropping a set, while Robin has won one match and lost the other. Even though Soderling has recently reached a career high and won his first Masters 1000 event, I have to go with Federer in this one. He seems at home in London, on a quest for a fifth World Tour Finals title. Better yet, I think he'll make it to the semis without dropping a set. Federer in two.

Andy Murray vs. David Ferrer - Not Before 8pm GMT

The hometown boy has been given the night match. He had a tough loss against Roger Federer on Tuesday and just looked all around flat, so hopefully a big crowd will help pump him up a bit tonight. Another point in Andy's favor is that his opponent is not Roger Federer, it's David Ferrer, who hasn't won a match yet at this year's tournament. Interestingly, David leads their head to head 3-1. However, David's three wins all came on clay, while Andy's lone victory was on a hard court. Even given Tuesday's performance, I think Andy has the edge in this match. Murray in two.

In other news, Serena Williams has officially pulled out of the 2011 Australian Open and I watched a very funny WTF video today. I will report back on both of these things tomorrow, once I've gotten some sleep.

WTF Day 4

I can't believe it's already Day 4. Time flies. Anyway, it's Day 2 for Group A and hopefully we have two awesome matches coming our way. But before we check out Wednesdays action, let's do a quick recap of what went down today. Fed beat Andy M, convincingly (6-4 6-2.) What happened to the Andy that played Ferrer on Sunday? That guy was on fire, and this guy, well, wasn't. No worries if you're a Murray fan, he still has a chance to advance to the semifinals with a win over Ferrer on Thursday. In the evening match, Robin Soderling beat David Ferrer 7-5 7-5. I still feel bad for Ferrer. He fights so hard and comes so close to winning, but never really does. However, this was a much needed win for Sod. Although, something stands in his way of making the semifinals, and that something is Roger Federer. Soderling is 1-14 against Roger Federer. I'll be back with an in depth preview of these two matches tomorrow. On to Wednesday's action...

Tomas Berdych vs. Andy Roddick - Not Before 2pm GMT

I'm still a little torn up over Andy's almost win over Nadal on Monday, but Tomas Berdych is no Rafael Nadal. We saw that at this year's Wimbledon. Even better for Andy, he's playing way better than he was this June and Tomas is playing way worse. Honestly, the way Berdych as been playing the last few months, I'd be surprised if he wins any of his three round robin matches, which is sad because he put in a lot of hard work to get here. I'd love to see Roddick advance to the semis and a win here would keep him in contention. Better yet, Andy's 6 and 2 against Berdych. Roddick in two.

Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic - Not Before 8pm GMT

As expected, this match will be played in front of a packed house tomorrow night. When players of this caliber meet, the match can go either way. Rafa may lead the head to head 15-7, but that still means that Nole has won 7 of there meetings, why can't this be number 8? Both guys won their opening matches on Monday, which puts them out in front in the race for the semis, but a win tomorrow will make one of them almost a lock. While Rafa struggled in his match against Andy Roddick and Djokovic breezed past Berdych, Rafa had the tougher opponent on Monday. I think his match against Roddick may have been a wake up call. Rafa in three.

WTF Day 3

Unfortunately I spent most of my day at the airport (thank you AirTran,) which meant I did not get the opportunity to watch any of the WTF matches, but I did follow my twitter very closely. I honestly thought I would be reporting some very surprising news tonight, as Andy Roddick was up a set and a break against Rafael Nadal, but like a good #1, Nadal fought his way back into the match and took the third set 6-4. While I would have preferred a win for Andy in his first round robin match, the fact that he almost won at least means he's playing well. He certainly has a chance against Berdych on Wednesday and a win could boost his confidence going into the Djokovic match. I almost forgot to mention the other match today, another blowout. Djokovic made short work of Tomas Berdych, winning 6-3 6-3. Anyway, let's check out the matches that are set for Tuesday.

Roger Federer vs. Andy Murray - Not before 2pm GMT

Both of these guys are playing great tennis. Somehow Murray actually leads their head to head, including their last two encounters. Although, Andy never seems to win the ones that count, i.e. Grand Slams. These two played in the round robin stage of last year's WTF and Fed won in three sets. While Murray's display against Soderling was impressive, I'm going with Federer this time. He creamed David and somehow he's favored to win this whole thing, even though Nadal's won basically everything this year, go figure. But, I've revised my predictions a bit and I believe Andy and Fed will both be moving on to the semis. Fed in three.

Robin Soderling vs. David Ferrer - Not before 8pm GMT

This should be an interesting match up. All in, Robin leads their head to head 8-4, but they've played five times this year alone and the head to head falls to 3-2. If you narrow things down even more and look at their head to head on hard courts in 2010, David actually leads Robin 2-1 and all three of those matches were post-US Open. Both guys came out looking kind of flat in their first matches. I think that expectations may be starting to weigh on Soderling. He's the new world #4 and people expect him to play that way. BTW, this has huge implications for the Australian Open if Murray doesn't win back the #4 spot this week. I digress. David's a fighter and I think he might actually be able to pull this off. Plus, he's all tiny and wears grey suits. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but it's adorable. David in three.

I would add a photo to this, but only my netbook is working and I'm tired, so I'll have to edit tomorrow. Night guys.

WTF Day 2

So I'm 1/2 on predictions, but I'll take it. Andy Murray easily took down Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4. It looks like the home town advantage and the extra rest did Andy some good. Federer also scored a routine win over David Ferrer 6-1 6-4. That makes for David 0-11 against Roger and most likely was not the way he wanted to start his quest for the title. I may just have to change my Group B predictions with Andy Murray playing this way. Anyway, it's already day 2, so let's take a look at what's going on today.

Photo by Getty.

Novak Djokovic vs. Tomas Berdych - Stars 12:15pm GMT

In July, I totally would've taken Berdych. He played amazing tennis throughout the summer and then the US Open came. After losing in Round 1 to Michael Llodra, Berdych has barely even won a match. Djokovic, on the other hand, made it all the way to the US Open final and even took a set off Rafael Nadal. However, Nole has admitted that the Davis Cup is weighing heavy on his mind. In a little over a week, Serbia will take on France looking to win its very first Davis Cup title and Djokovic will be the team's headline player. Even though he's a bit preoccupied, I think Djokovic has the upper hand in this match.

Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Roddick - Starts 6:15pm GMT

I'm pretty sure that Rafa's the favorite regardless of who he's playing. He's clearly the safe choice here. Andy Roddick rallied at the end of the season to win the last spot at the WTF. This is the eighth time he's competed in the World Tour Finals and his results here have never been great. The only good news for Andy is that he's not in Roger's group. But, I really don't see him beating Nadal right now. However, lucky for him, two guys come out of Group A, but he'll have to beat Djokovic and Berdych to capture that spot.

The Calm Before the Final Storm

Hi guys. So, I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth, but close to it. Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and apparently that means tons of exams for this college senior. Luckily, this ridiculous workload coincides with some downtime in the tennis world. Anyway, things are heating up again next week and I'll be home for break, which means plenty of time to catch up on my tennis. It also seems that the fates are against me here, as I've written this article twice and it's accidentally been deleted.

I'll come up with something a little more in depth, but my initial thoughts on the WTF are as follows...

Group A: Rafa and Nole are clear favorites here. I hate to count him out, but Tomas Berdych has had some pretty lackluster results post-Wimbledon, and that's putting it lightly. I don't see him beating Rafa in the round robin or and Nole's going to be a tall order. I'm on the fence about Andy Roddick. On one hand, he hasn't had the best year and barely made it to London. On the other hand, Roddick fought hard for that last spot in London and has been doing quite well. Plus, the guy's been in eight consecutive world tour finals, although he's never made it past the semifinals. I've got to go with the crowd and pick Rafa and Nole to come out of Group A.

Group B: Poor David Ferrer is super underrated. He manages to push the best players right to the brink, but always seems to falter at the end. No one's really giving him a chance next week. When you're talking about the Top 8 players in the world, everyone has a chance, but it's true, Roger Federer's chances are a little better than David Ferrer's. Robin Soderling had a great run last week, winning his first Masters 1000 title in Paris. Hopefully, a week is enough recovery time and he'll arrive at the O2 refreshed and well rested. With his Paris win, Soderling supplanted Murray as the world number four, so Murray may be hungry to gain some extra points on his homecourt. Last up, Roger Federer. Enough said. Clearly he has a chance at the title. I have no real rationale for this, but I'm going to say that Federer and Soderling come out of Group B. Don't hold me to it.

In other news, I will be covering the semifinals and finals of the Champaign Challenger in Illinois this Friday and Saturday. Check back for updates.

Finally, remember to keep looking for my articles over at TennisGrandstand. It's a great source of tennis news from different view points since there are several writers.

Alright, Not So Super Saturday

So today started out quite predictably. Mikhail Youzhny was just overmatched in his encounter with Rafael Nadal. I didn’t envy the player who stood between Rafa and his first US Open semifinal. Nadal has played his best tennis this week in New York. Whatever he did to his serve is working wonders and he’s yet to drop a set in the tournament. Nadal was on fire this morning, storming past Misha in three sets. This was still a great run for the Russian, who will jump back into the top 10 on Monday. This was also a great step forward for Nadal, who will compete for his first US Open title tomorrow afternoon, seeking the career Grand Slam.

While the first semifinal of the day took just over two hours, the second was set to be a little more competitive. The number two and three seeds were set to do battle for the last spot in Sunday’s final. Roger Federer has won five US Open titles, appeared in the last six US Open finals, and has sixteen Grand Slam titles to his name. This kind of makes him the perennial favorite. The media had already written off 3rd seed Novak Djokovic, in some cases quite literally. I saw several Fedal previews before the match even ended. In some ways I understood this. Roger Federer is the greatest player of all time so it’s odd for him to lose, but Novak Djokovic is no slouch. Djokovic took out Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2008, ending Federer’s longtime finals streak, and later earning his first Grand Slam title. Honestly, I expected Roger to take this in four. He’s been playing great all week and kind of owns the US Open. However, Djokovic was once again ready to take the wind out of Fed’s sails. Federer won the first set and the match seemed like a forgone conclusion. But then I’m not really sure what happened. Roger gave up two breaks and dropped the second set in a rare fashion, 6-1. The rest of the match was just as crazy as the beginning. Roger broke to win the third set and I was positive he would cruise to the finish line. No go. He lost serve in the first game of the fourth and Djokovic leveled the match at two sets all after winning the fourth 6-2. The fifth set was about as dramatic as we could’ve hoped for. The commentators and fans alike were still sure Roger would pull it out. He even held three match points on Nole’s serve. Djokovic did an amazing job of holding it together and finally got the break so he could serve for the match. Try as he might, Roger Federer could not stave off Novak Djokovic and succumbed 7-5 in the fifth set. As bad as I feel for Federer, Djokovic definitely deserved this. Bad news, we’ll be seeing more of those horrible shirts that Nole’s parents wear.

After this dramatic affair, what would the women give us? Vera Zvonareva looked nothing less than inspired against Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. ‘Bepa’ was all set to compete in her second consecutive Grand Slam final. Not bad for a girl who cried in the middle of her match last year. She’s come a long way mentally and has proven she has the game to beat top players. Bepa was set to face defending champion Kim Clijsters. Kim came into the final on a 20 match winning streak at Flushing Meadows. All the facts indicated that this should be an interesting match. Kim lead the head to head 5-2, but Vera came out on top in their last two meetings, both this summer.

If any of you actually watched this, you know where this story’s headed. Bepa lost. Alright, she didn’t just lose, she lost spectacularly. The match lasted a whopping 59 minutes, the shortest since 1980. Vera stuck with it, but Kim outplayed her, seemingly unable to miss a ball. Clijsters’ ability to return almost anything is just astounding. Kim finally put Bepa out of her misery and ended things at 6-1, 6-2. Vera did good. She held it together for the whole award ceremony. This was an unfortunate display for women’s tennis, which is generally less popular than men’s tennis. The fans seemed almost confused. Do you cheer against someone simply because they’re winning too quickly? Even Kim seemed embarrassed to celebrate such a crushing victory. All in all, this clearly wasn’t the best match of the tournament by any means, but congratulations to Kim Clijsters all the same.

On a totally unrelated note, I've included a pic of Sergey from Bepa's practice last Saturday, because really, who doesn't want a gratuitous picture of Sergey?

It’s too late for me to do an in depth finals preview for Nole/Rafa, so I’m going to get straight to the point here. Rafa’s playing incredible tennis. Nole played a five set match against the best player of all time less than 24 hours before he has to best the current best player in the world. The odds are kind of stacked in Nadal’s favor here. I think Djokovic will put up at least some resistance. Don’t worry, we’re not going to see another Kim/Vera. However, I think Rafa will keep on rolling and win his first US Open title without dropping a set. I’ll check back in tomorrow for my post match summary. Good night all!

Super Saturday

It’s Super Saturday at the US Open and that means two men’s semifinals and the women’s final. I’ve put together a few quick predictions. I was super tempted to do a write up like Nick Bollettieri, who said both women’s semifinals could go either way, but I mustered up some courage and decided to be decisive. I may be wrong, but I figured that’s half the fun.

First up, Rafael Nadal and Mikhail Youzhny will fight for a spot in their first US Open final. It’s pretty shocking that Rafael Nadal hasn’t been able to make the final at Flushing Meadows before. He has 8 Grand Slam titles, including one on hard courts at the Australian Open. I don’t agree with the chatter that he could be the GOAT. I’m going to need him to win another 8 Slams before I consider that, but he definitely has what it takes to win the US Open. Youzhny has equaled his best Grand Slam performance by making this semifinal, which will put him back in the top 10. Going into the competition, I believed Nadal would be troubled by Andy Murray and lose in the semifinals. Not only did Andy Murray lose in the 3^rd round, but Nadal has showcased a new service motion that makes him appear unbeatable. Youzhny scraped through his quarterfinal against Wawrinka on Thursday in five sets and played a four setter against Tommy Robredo in the 4^th round. Nadal, on the other hand, has only dropped serve once during the whole tournament and has yet to lose a set. I think you can all see where this is going. This has been a great showing for Mikhail Youzhny, but Nadal will book a spot in his first US Open final by defeating Youzhny in straight sets.

Next up, five time champion Roger Federer will take on Novak Djokovic. It’s tough to bet against a guy who’s won five of the last six US Opens and came in runner up last year. In my original preview, I thought Mardy Fish might be able to give Novak a run for his money in the 4^th round, but no such luck for Mardy. After a five set scare by countryman Viktor Troicki in the first round, Djokovic has cruised into the semifinals without losing another set. I attended his 3^rd round match against James Blake and Nole looked to be in great form. It’s windy and by windy I mean Arthur Ashe seems to be acting like the home to a mini tornado. I would argue that no player has dealt better with the wind the past two weeks than Roger Federer. In his quarterfinal against Robin Soderling, Federer seemed to be playing in completely normal conditions while Soderling looked like he was fighting a wind tunnel. I’m a big Federer fan, but frankly there’s something magic about this guy. Plus, he’s given us tennis’ new trend, the tweener, which he first showcased in last year’s semifinal against Novak. Djokovic may be playing very well, but I think Federer will edge his way into a seventh consecutive US Open final. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Novak will take a set off Federer, but even that’s hopeful. I think we’re in store for the very first Fedal final in Flushing Meadows.

I’ll do a more in depth final preview once we’re sure it’s going to be those two.

Finally, Vera Zvonareva and defending champion Kim Clijsters will take the court to compete for the women’s singles title. Initially, I chose Maria Sharapova as 2010 champion, but the wind proved too much for her in her battle against Caroline Wozniacki. I’m not taking anything away from Caroline. I had paid little attention to Wozniacki before, but was truly amazed by her court coverage and her returning ability in the last week and a half. As soon as Masha went down, I changed my mind and was absolutely certain that Caro would be the eventual champion. I’m clearly not very good at this bracket making thing. The number one seed lost yesterday’s semifinal to Vera Zvonareva, Wimbledon finalist. Zvonareva has had an incredible year, making two Grand Slam finals, something she had never done prior to Wimbledon. She’s well known in New York for her 4^th round meltdown in 2009. She held six match points but ended up losing the match after being bageled in the third set against Flavia Pennetta. Vera’s come a long way from USO 2009. She’s calm and collected. Well at least as calm as Bepa can be. I like emotional players. I think it makes them seem more human. She’s endearing and I would love to see her win her first Grand Slam title. Her opponent will be Kim Clijsters, who has now won 20 consecutive matches at the US Open. She was the 2005 champion and returned from retirement in 2009 to win the entire tournament. Kim bypassed Venus Williams yesterday to make it to her third consecutive final at Flushing Meadows. She certainly goes in as the favorite. Both of these players are known for losing it a little on court. Bepa tends to cry while Kim just tends to disappear for a few games at a time. The final outcome will depend on who can hold it together mentally. Both players have showed they have the skills to win, but with the windy conditions and the added pressure of a Grand Slam title at stake, one of them will fold. I think Kim’s experience will help pull her through to her third US Open title in three sets.

I’m sure at least one of these predictions will go awry, so I’ll check back tomorrow with a women’s wrap up and a men’s finals preview. For now, I'm going to call it a night.

Friday Night Lights

Alright, so I’ve been horrible about updating you guys on my trip to the US Open. I tried my best to update my twitter regularly all weekend, so if you want some of my most candid thoughts, please check out @achangeofends. Since the procrastinator in me took so long to post this, I’m think you’ve already read the results and post match commentary from this weekend so I think I’ll stay away from hardcore analysis and give you some of my observations from the weekend.

My trip was last minute as I have zero impulse control, but I chose to only purchase tickets for the Saturday day session and the Saturday night session. I was due to arrive in New York early Friday afternoon, but due to the media hype around Hurricane Earl, I was concerned that my flight might get delayed or play might be stopped. As luck would have it, I was seated behind a tour group on their way to the US Open on the plane. As it turned out, they had some no shows and five extra tickets for Friday night. The hurricane seemed to have come up lame, so I jumped at the chance and purchased a ticket for $25 (a good deal considering the face was $58.)

I’ve never been to a night match on Arthur Ashe and I was pretty damn excited for my first nighttime tennis experience. I arrived on site at around 7:30 on Friday night. I was running a wee bit late, but Venus/Minella was up first on Ashe and you all know I’m not nearly as big a fan of women’s tennis as I am men’s. Plus, it was clearly going to be a blowout. Poor Mandy Minella never had a chance. So, I decided to take a few minutes and acclimate myself with the site. Hey, there could be valuable day session matches still going on. I stopped by one of the outer courts and caught a few games of a great five setter between Gilles Simon and Phillip Kohlschreiber, which Gilles surprisingly won. Finally, I decided it was time to check out my seat on the main stage. So I started my trek up Ashe Stadium (and up and up and up.) The view from my seat was most likely the same as from the international space station, but I still got a good deal ($25) and got to see Rafael Nadal for the first time.

As I predicted, Mandy Minella was no match for Venus Williams. However, I believe Venus was using unfair tactics against poor Mandy. Did you see this dress? I could even see it from where I was sitting. If I were Mandy, I would’ve been pretty distracted by the sparkling going on across the net. The crowd was strongly behind Venus, but they were very receptive of the young Canadian. Mandy was very gracious in defeat and stayed on court for quite a while after her loss to sign autographs for fans. She was still all smiles.

Next up was Rafael Nadal vs. Denis Istomin. I didn’t have high hopes for poor Denis. There aren’t very many players who can threaten Nadal, even on hard courts. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how well Istomin played. At some point during this match, I discovered the nifty voice notes feature on my blackberry and recorded a few key observations. However, I didn’t contextualize very well so when I listened to them later, they didn’t make as much sense as I would’ve hope. Plus, my blackberry died at some point early in the third set.

Some things that I do remember from the match? Istomin squandered his small window of hope when he was up 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker. To go up 5-1, Denis made some incredible shots, including one that ended in a split, leaving skid marks on the court. There was some real celebration after that one, even from the crowd. However, the euphoria didn’t last long, when Rafa hammered out six straight points to win the breaker. After that, Istomin called out the trainer and had some heavy wrappings placed on his thigh. I was pretty sure the squandered tiebreak and whatever thigh injury was ailing Denis would cause a complete meltdown in the third set, but he hung in there. Eventually Istomin fell 6-2, 7-6, 7-5. I’m not going to lie, I ducked out towards the end of the third set to make sure I caught the LIRR back to the city (they only come once an hour.) I also made a pit stop at the Nike store to pick up a “Roger That” shirt and hit the Lacoste store for a nice tee. Because of the late hour, there were no lines and I was sure everything would be mobbed by the time I got back in the morning. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of my weekend purchases.

In case you plan on visiting, there’s a special deal. If you spend $150 at the site on your AMEX, you get a $50 Ralph Lauren gift card, up to 3 per day. I definitely fell for their ploy and ended up coming home with two t-shirts, a hat, a mug, a rubber duck, a Masha tennis skirt, and a headband. Also to be noted, if you have an American Express card, you are entitled to a free radio so you can listen to commentary during matches. They’re great for keeping up with the matches on Ashe if you’re sitting on an outer court.

Overall, I agree, there is something compelling about Ashe night matches. The New York crowd is louder and rowdier than any other crowd of tennis fans I’ve ever seen. It’s also a pretty big society event in New York, so during popular night matches you’ll find a lot of non-tennis fans there as well. Just above the first tier of seats, there are two tiers of luxury suites. They include a few rows of seats as well as an interior section where the owners can set up food and drinks. These suites are mostly purchased by companies looking to entertain clients and generally the seats go unused for most of the match. There are also a heavy celebrity presence on Ashe at night with stars from other sports, music and television making frequent appearances. I would certainly recommend trying out the night session once, but you get the most bang for your buck by buying grounds admission for the day session.

US Open Preview: The Men

On to the men. Let’s jump right in.

First Quarter:

Seeded Players: Rafael Nadal (1), Philipp Kohlschreiber (29), Feliciano Lopez (23), Ivan Ljubicic (15), David Ferrer (10), Ernests Gulbis (24), David Nalbandian (31), Fernando Verdasco (8)

The biggest question going into the US Open is whether Rafael Nadal can complete his career slam at just 24 years old. Nadal’s definitely capable. He’s won the French and Wimbledon this year and won his first hard court slam in Australia in 2009. He’s proved he can do it, but I don’t think this is the year. Nadal generally burns out by the end of the season which means an early (for him) exit in New York. Nadal’s managed his schedule a little better this year, but based on his hard court season, I just don’t see him winning the USO this year. While I don’t think Rafa will win the USO, he will make the semi finals. He’s still 3,000 points ahead of Roger in the rankings and a semi final finish will maintain his points from last year which means he will end the year as number 1. The majority of the Armada is in Nadal’s quarter so he should know his opponents well. He could see countryman Feli Lopez in the 4^th round and possibly Verdasco in the quarters. Ferrer is also floating in there somewhere. One of the best stories coming in to the Open is the resurgence of David Nalbandian. He sneaks in as the last seeded player, but has had a smoking hot summer after returning from injury. My guess is he will make it past Verdasco and Gulbis and into the quarters before losing to Rafa.

Semi Finalist: Rafael Nadal

Possible Sleeper: Alexandr Dolgopolov

Best First Round Match: Ernests Gulbis vs. Jeremy Chardy

Second Quarter:

Seeded Players: Andy Murray (4), Stanislas Wawrinka (25), Sam Querrey (20), Nicolas Almagro (14), Mikhail Youzhny (12), John Isner (18), Radek Stepanek (28), Tomas Berdych (7)

This is an interesting quarter. None of these guys have ever won a Slam, but several of them look well on their way to hoisting a trophy one day. Leading the charge is Andy Murray. Players, commentators, and journalists have all touted Murray as the best player not to win a Slam and often say with certainty that he will win whatever event they’re covering. Murray has previously made the final in New York and this year he made the final of the Australian Open. Both times his quest for the title was easily stripped by Roger Federer. Murray actually has a winning record against Roger Federer, a real oddity on the tour, but can’t seem to get it together in finals. However, he did win Rogers Cup in Toronto this August, defeating Roger Federer for the first time in a tournament final. I expect Andy to get to the semi finals, but he’s got some serious competition on the way. A month ago, I would’ve said that John Isner could have had a real break out at the US Open this year, but he injured his ankle in Cincinnati and it looks very likely that he’ll pull out of the USO draw before the event begins. Tomas Berdych is the biggest threat in the draw. He beat Andy Murray convincingly at the French Open this year en route to the semi finals and made it to the Wimbledon final for the first time. This has been an amazing year for Tomas Berdych and the confidence he’s gained from these Slam results has done wonders. He’ll meet Murray in the quarters and that will be quite a match to watch.

Semi Finalist: Andy Murray

Possible Sleeper: Andrey Golubev

Best First Round Match: Michael Llodra vs. Tomas Berdych

Semi Final: Andy Murray d. Rafael Nadal

Third Quarter:

Seeded Players: Nikolay Davydenko (6), Thomaz Bellucci (26), Gael Monfils (17), Andy Roddick (9), Marcos Baghdatis (16), Mardy Fish (19), Juan Monaco (30), Novak Djokovic (3)

The universe was smiling on Andy Roddick when this draw came out. He’s seeded ninth, which means he could’ve ended up with a much less favorable opponent in the 4^th round and the quarter finals. According to the seeding, his 4^th round opponent should be Nikolay Davydenko, who he has a fairly solid winning record against. In the quarters, he is slotted to play Novak Djokovic, but I’m suggesting our first bracket buster here and I’m going to say that Mardy Fish will take out Novak Djokovic in the 4^th round. Bold move, considering Fish has never played well with expectations, but I’m working off the assumption that he’s a new man and will be able to deal with the pressure. Djokovic is easily the weakest of the top 4 players right now. He’s dealing with some health issues concerning the heat, and the first week of the US Open is likely to be hot. I think Nole’s schedule (night matches vs day) will play a big role in how far he makes it in the tournament. Mardy Fish has had an awesome summer, winning two back to back titles, and making the finals in Cincinnati. I would love to see him do well in front of the US crowd. Baghdatis also deserves a mention in this quarter. He’s had a great summer and could do some damage, but he’s played a lot of tennis and might be a bit tired. All that said, I think Andy Roddick is do some love and will make the semi finals. Unfortunately, he’s set to meet Roger Federer there. If the tennis world was a movie and Andy Roddick was the hero, Federer would be his nemesis. Without Federer, Roddick would be a 5 time Grand Slam champion instead of just one. I hate to say it, but I think Federer will stymie Roddick’s quest once again.

Semi Finalist: Andy Roddick

Possible Sleeper: Thomaz Bellucci

Best First Round Match: Janko Tipsarevic vs. Olivier Rochus

Fourth Quarter:

Seeded Players: Robin Soderling (5), Fernando Gonzalez (27), Albert Montanes (21), Marin Cilic (11), Jurgen Melzer (13), Juan Carlos Ferrero (22), Lleyton Hewitt (32), Roger Federer (2)

The final quarter includes the GOAT, Roger Federer. I don’t care if he comes in as number 1 or number 2 or even number 3. Federer should never be underestimated in a Grand Slam tournament. He has won more of them than any other player and is the owner of 5 US Open trophies. He was a finalist last year and lost an extremely close match to Juan Martin del Potro. The articles saying that Fed’s all washed up are just ridiculous. He may be 29, but he’s definitely got Slam potential left. Roger’s even put a number on it. He would like to retire with 20 Grand Slam titles. This number may sound out of reach for a normal human, but not Roger Federer. He already has 16 titles. What’s 4 more? Plus, by my calculations, he’ll be on trophy closer to his goal in a little over 2 weeks. It’s a shame that Lleyton Hewitt will face Federer in just the 3^rd round. They always put on a great match and it really should’ve been further down the line. Lleyton may have taken their last meeting at Halle, but I think Roger will certainly take this one. The biggest threat to Roger is Robin Soderling in the quarter finals. Soderling beat Federer for the first time this year at the French Open, but Roger still has a steep lead in their head to head.

Semi Finalist: Roger Federer

Possible Sleeper: Dmitry Tursunov

Best First Round Match: Dmitry Tursunov vs. Jurgen Melzer

Semi Final: Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick

Final: Roger Federer d. Andy Murray

So Close, Yet So Very Very Far

Good evening everyone. I apologize for my lack of posting recently. I have finally arrived in St. Louis after 17 hours on the road. I spent a couple of hours yesterday desperately seeking a way to spend the night in Cincinnati and thus give myself the opportunity of visiting the Masters tournament that is currently underway. No dice. I wouldn't have arrived in Cincy until 11pm and would've had to hit the road around 11am.

So, I may not have been able to make it in person, but I've been keeping a pretty close eye on the Western Southern Financial Masters event this week. Let's talk Roger Federer. He's into the quarterfinals of Cincy after a finals showing last week in Toronto. I guess this is a little misleading. Roger has played a total of 7 games all week. He had a bye in the first round, Istomin retired, and Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out of their match before it even started. Pretty good week in my book, but not great practice. He'll be up against Davydenko next, who hasn't had the best results lately and Roger has a very heavy winning percentage against Kolya, but it could be tricky. I still think Fed will come through.

Andy Murray is fresh off a Masters 1000 win in Toronto, but faces tough competition in his QF. Murray has also played a lot of tennis lately and in some pretty exhausting conditions, the poor guy has drawn mostly day matches. Anyway, Mardy Fish is ridiculously in form and has a great shot here. Murray's likely to be tired and Fish is on a roll. I'm looking for the upset here. Also, Andy played a three set match today against Ernests Gulbis and is looking a little vulnerable.

If Andy Roddick is feeling better, and that's a big if, he should be able to power past Novak Djokovic. Nole seems to have been having some serious issues with the heat lately. I haven't seen the order of play yet but my money's on Andy in a day match.

Poor Julien Benneteau had all the chances in the world today against Rafael Nadal, including match point, but couldn't convert. Nadal eeked out the win, but he's going to have to do a lot better if he plans on winning the US Open for the first time this year.

On a side note, John Isner was forced to retire from his match against David Nalbandian yesterday, after rolling his ankle. All signs were good last night when John posted on his twitter that his ankle should be fine with some rest and ice. However, Patrick McEnroe tweeted this evening that Johnny is now in doubt for US Open. This would be a big loss for the Americans. I'm not sure he was on his way to winning the title this year, but I was expecting an impressive performance and a run into the second week. My warmest recovery wishes are going out to John this week. Clearly this should do the trick.

I'm very excited for this year's US Open. No one looks invincible and it could be anyone's title. I'm doing my best to make travel reservations for Labor Day weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to give you guys some live insight.

My apologies if you find mistakes in this mess. I think I'm still delirious from the drive ;)

It's Friday

You know what that means, it's quarter finals day in Toronto. I feel like I just left the lovely city and all the big names were still confined to the practice courts instead of the stadiums, but that was already a week ago. A number of favorites have passed us by and we're into the meaty part of the tournament. I would argue that quarter finals day at any tournament is the biggest bang for your buck. Today is particularly good as all of the top 4 are still in action.

The day will start with what I believe to be the most interesting match-up: Andy Murray vs. David Nalbandian. Nalbandian is fresh off a title in Washington DC after returning from injury. He has played on and off all year, but has not participated in a Grand Slam even since the 2009 Australian Open. People tend to underestimate Nalbandian's abilities, but he has been to the semi finals at all four majors, including a Wimbledon final. He was also ranked a career best of number 3 in the world. His current ranking stands at 45, but is likely to rise again on Monday. Murray is 4th in the world and took home the Rogers Cup trophy just last year, so he's got lots of points to defend. While players like Nadal and Djokovic have ended up with slightly less challenging opponents in the quarter finals, Murray is in for a test. Nalbandian is absolutely on fire at the moment. To reach the quarterfinals, he took out David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, and world number 5, Robin Soderling. Murray on the other hand, got a bye, Xavier Malisse, and Gael Monfils, who bageled him in the second set. Clearly he's not exactly in top form yet. Nalbandian already beat number 5, who's to say he can't take care of 4 too. I think Nalbandian will prevail in three.

Next up is Rafael Nadal vs. Philipp Kohschreiber. In the first round, Kohlschreiber played just four games before Janko Tipsarevic was forced to retire due to an ankle injury suffered during the match. Next, Kohlschreiber faced Viktor Troicki and Yen Hsun Lu, not exactly a draw full of superstars. So far Rafa's biggest test has been the first set tie-break against Stanislas Wawrinka, which he won 14-12. Since then it's been smooth sailing. He shouldn't have much trouble today either. My guess is Rafa in two.

The evening session will be headlined by the match we've all been waiting for, a re-match of the Wimbledon quarter final that shocked the world. Yes, we're talking Roger Federer vs. Tomas Berdych. Berdych's road to the quarters has been comprised of two bracket busters, Sergiy Stakhovsky, who took out Richard Gasquet in the first round, and Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat Philipp Petzschner and Mikhail Youzhny. Berdych hasn't really had an issue disposing of these guys, although Dolgopolov did take him to three sets, but he also doesn't look quite as good as he did on his dream run to the Wimbledon final. So far, Federer has faced Juan Ignacio Chela and Michael Llodra. Roger gave me quite a scare yesterday against Llodra. I wasn't real pleased to see him down 4-1 in the first set, but in typical Roger fashion, he managed to fight his way back and win the first in a tie break, going on to dominate the match. It looked like Llodra must've expended most of his magic in those first few games, because the second was a bit of a walk for Fed. Although, at one point int he second set, Llodra threw in an underhand serve. This is something he, like most pros, had never done before in a tour level match. Somehow, this actually stumped Federer, who's return went wide. Apparently they both laughed at that one. Finally all was said and one and they shook hands at the net. A few minutes later, Llodra returned to the net, shirt in hand (I'm starting to think he just doesn't like wearing one) and asked Roger for an exchange. Roger complied, tugging his baby pink polo over his head and handing it over. He quickly returned to his racket bag and donned a replica. Llodra later said that Roger is a legend and the shirt would be a great gift for his kids. See, ever the other players what mementos from Federer. The guy truly stands in a league of his own. Anyway, I digress, I can't say for sure, but I think Roger will come out on top of Tomas under the lights tonight. I'm not completely sure if this prediction comes from my utter admiration for Federer or a true belief that he will win, but I said it, and I'm sticking to it.

The final match of the night is Jeremy Chardy vs. Novak Djokovic. Chardy has managed to take out some hard hitters so far, but I don't think he'll be able to get it done tonight. I know Djokovic's health was a concern in his last match, but that was a day match, in the heat. Heat is really Djokovic's big problem and that shouldn't be an obstacle tonight since his match will likely start around 9pm. I'm going with Djokovic in straights.

So, there you go, all of my predictions for the day. I'll check back tonight or tomorrow with some thoughts on the day's action and our semi finals preview. I've DVR'd today's coverage, so I might actually have some comments on the tennis this time. Look forward to it.