Left field

Best Australian Open semis and final – Rusedski

By Greg Rusedski

Again, in the men’s draw it turned out to be all about the top four in the world. In the semi-finals it was Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic versus Andy Murray. Could Federer finally beat Nadal in a major again? The last time he beat Nadal at a major was 2007 in the Wimbledon final. Nadal leads Federer in their Grand Slam matches 7 wins to 2 losses.

Federer started like a house on fire to win the first set, but Nadal wasn’t worried. He knew he could not lose to Federer in a major because he knew that physically he would wear him down. When that happens Federer loses his concentration ever so fractionally and that is when Rafa pounces and turns the match in his favor. The strategy against Federer is simple for Nadal. Nadal’s left handed high heavy topspin forehand moves Federer all over the court and breaks down Federer’s backhand side. Physically, Federer cannot keep up with Nadal in a three out of five set match anymore. Federer has to beat Nadal in three sets, which is nearly impossible. Also on his serve Rafa can start the point on his terms because Federer cannot really attack his serve with the one-handed backhand.

Rafa won in 4 tight sets and this really hurt Roger because he felt that he was playing well enough to win and that Rafa had to have been a bit tired after his epic four hour win against Berdych in the previous round.

At the moment I do not think Roger will win another major because Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray are all five years younger and stronger which makes a huge difference physically in major play. I hope I am wrong because he is such a great champion.

Rusedski looks to Cincinnati for US Open form

The Cincinnati Masters became a very important event before the US Open because a lot of the big names lost early in Montreal and needed to get match play before the Open started.

How would Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray perform? Could Novak Djokovic continue his amazing run of only one match lost all season, having just won Montreal a week earlier?

From an American point of view, Mardy Fish was having the best results of his career having won in Atlanta and made the finals of LA and Montreal. It is always important for tennis and the tennis industry, to have an American doing well in his own country. Andy Roddick, the stalwart of U.S. tennis for the last decade had been struggling so it was important Fish played well.

Nadal and Federer both got to the quarter-finals were they both lost. Nadal lost to Mardy Fish who he had never lost to before. Nadal is struggling with his game. At the moment he needs to start serving better like he did last year when he won the US Open. He also needs better depth on his ground shots and to get back that confidence which he has lost slightly, if he is going to defend his title.

“Bring on Wimbledon!” – Rusedski

The grass court season is finally underway. I love this time of year. We finally get to see some attacking tennis, but still not as much as during my era because the courts and balls are a lot slower.

The Queen’s Club Championships started with one of its best fields in the tournaments history with 15 of the top 20 in the world entered. The only big withdrawal was that of Novak Djokovic, sighting a knee problem, but I am sure he will be fine for Wimbledon. Nadal, the six time French open champion, arrived Monday evening after all his sponsor commitments at Disneyland Paris. He is such a professional; he had a 1 hour 45min intense practice session and entered the doubles event as well to get match practice before his first round match in singles on Wednesday.

Just to be at the event after his exertion at the French Open is a credit to Nadal. Federer on the other hand was so shattered he pulled out of the event in Halle to rest before Wimbledon. There needs to be a week off in between the French Open and the grass court season. Common sense needs to prevail one day.

The second seed for the event was Andy Murray who was full of confidence because of his run at the French Open. He played really well this past week and looked like the favorite for the tournament from day one. He was serving well, being more aggressive, and was more consistent with his body language. You can really see the influence of Darren Cahill in all these areas. Even the press are getting a better vibe and energy from Andy. The only two areas I would like to see improve on court are: hitting through the forehand up the line more because at times it is too predictable and crosscourt too often. Also, using the serve out wide on the deuce side more.

Murray got through to the semi-finals where he faced Andy Roddick. Most people thought this was going to be a tough match. I did not, because Roddick was playing unusual tennis hitting a lot of slice backhands and not hitting his two handed backhand on the rise up the line at all. This tactic played straight into Murray’s hands and let him restart the point whenever he was in trouble. In addition, his serve was still not back to its best after being out for a month with shoulder problems. Murray, on the other hand, played like a dream and won 6-3 6-1. The best performance from Murray on grass that I have ever seen.

“This year’s French Open the best in years” – Rusedski

This year’s French Open was the best in years. Part of the reason was the new, quicker tennis balls which allowed players to play more aggressively. The women’s event was wide open. There were about 8 possible winners on the women’s side, while on the men’s side it was all about Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Everybody thought they would be in the finals, but don’t write off Roger Federer just yet.

From a British perspective it was all about Andy Murray and he had a dream draw to the semi-finals. He didn’t make it easy by hurting his ankle in the 3rd round but came through to the semi-finals against Nadal.

From the beginning Nadal struggled with his first match going to 5 sets against the big serving American John Isner. It was his first ever 5 set match at the French Open. Despite struggling the first week he was winning, which is the sign of a great champion. He talked openly about not playing well enough to win the title with his form from the first week, but said by the quarter finals onward he could be back to his best (which he was).

Federer on the other hand was in sublime form from round one and was on a crash course to meet Djokovic in the semi-finals. Djokovic was continuing his unreal winning streak and was playing great to set up that match. Unfortunately he got a walkover to the semi-finals which meant he had 5 days off before playing Federer. Also he could not tie John McEnroe’s record of 42 wins to start a season because of the walkover he was still on 41 wins. I believe the walkover hurt his momentum and gave Federer a real chance to end his superhuman run. In the end Federer ended the streak and continued to look like the dominant force he once was. Also Djokovic missed out on being the new world number 1, because if he made the finals he would have reached his dream.

Murray handed awkward French Open draw

French Open third seed Andy Murray has been given a really tough first round opponent in Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela.

Just a couple of years ago Chela would have been the favourite to win on Roland Garros’s clay.

Women’s top seed Dinara Safina has drawn Britain’s Anne Keothavong, who became the first British woman in 26 years to reach the semi-finals of a clay-court tournament in Warsaw this week.

The French Open starts on Sunday. Here’s a link to the full draw.

Murray climbs rankings despite media pressure

Andy Murray will go where no British man has ever gone before — next Monday he will become the first Briton to climb to third in the ATP rankings.

But instead of rejoicing in Murray’s achievements, sections of the British press appear hell bent on heaping more and more pressure on their number one player.

Even before Murray had ensured that he would leapfrog Novak Djokovic in the standings, the media were more interested in forecasting that the Briton “could get ahead of (world number two Roger) Federer by Wimbledon”.

Just a day after that prediction was made, Murray perished in his opening match at the Rome Masters.

It seems as if the British press have failed to learn from their previous mistakes — and never appear to be on the same wavelength as Murray.

When he first started to make a name for himself in 2005, the pundits were quick to attack everything from his attitude, his physique and even his entourage.