Left field

Federer makes it 19

By Greg Rusedski

The Indian Wells masters series is always a difficult event for the players. They have to get used to playing in the desert air as the ball travels a little quicker and further than you expect. Thus they have to move quicker, tighten their racquet strings, or put more top spin on the ball to bring it into court. That is why the top players like to arrive as early as possible.

Roger Federer came into the event in great form having won Rotterdam and Dubai. Rafael Nadal on the other hand hadn’t played a match in 40 days and it would be interesting to see if he was rusty. Novak Djokovic had been playing well all year, even though he lost in the semi-finals in Dubai to Andy Murray. Djokovic looks very confident, he is not as concerned about winning every event as he was last year. He is comfortable being world number 1 and looks more focused on winning majors. This year expect him to balance out his schedule more and play a little less tennis.

Murray went out again for the third straight year in his first match. He lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the world number 23. Garcia-Lopez played great and Murray couldn’t do much about it. Murray thought he did not move as well as he would have liked but that is also in part adjusting to the conditions. I expect Murray to have a good run next week in Miami. Lendl is back in the camp to make sure Murray is going to be back on top form.

Nadal and Federer both looked sublime all week and set up a rematch of the Australian Open semi-finals, which Nadal won. Federer dominated Nadal 6-3 6-4. The conditions in Dubai and Indian Wells are perfect for Federer with the ball flying through the air that much quicker. I still believe that Rafa has the advantage against Federer in five set matches, even with Federer playing so well since that loss at the Australian Open.

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.

Spain, Nadal and the Davis Cup

By Greg Rusedski

The Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina was always going to be a great tie. The atmosphere was electric due to the huge Argentinian contingent in Seville who were present to support their team. Both the Spanish and Argentinian fans got into the tie and with 26,000 plus spectators the atmosphere was more like a football match.

The tie all depended on how well Juan Martin Del Potro played on the opening day. The feeling was that he had to win his opening match on day one for Argentina to have a chance to win the tie. No one was going to beat Rafa on clay, and the only player to have done so all year was Djokovic. The other problem for Del Potro was that Nadal and David Ferrer were 25 and 0 on clay in Davis Cup. Yes, Nadal and Ferrer were a little tired after the ATP World Tour Finals but playing on clay at home was a huge advantage. Nadal looked physically strong at the ATP World Tour Finals but was unlucky to have picked up a stomach bug and never recovered properly for the event. This was bad news for the Argentinians because he was going to take out his frustration on the clay courts of Seville.

Nadal won the opening match easily against Juan Monaco to get Spain off to the perfect start. This meant Juan Martin Del Potro was under immense pressure to win. It was Ferrer and Del Potro’s first meeting on clay. Their head to head was two a piece, Ferrer came through in five sets after being down 2 sets to 1. Ferrer is a terrier and never gives up, Del Potro physically fell away in the fifth set while Ferrer seemed to only get stronger – the lack of matches played by Del Potro really hurt him.

On the other hand Nadal and Ferrer have had lots of matches coming into the tie, proving that practice can never substitute match play for sharpness on the big points. In the doubles, Argentina’s Nalbandian and Schwank beat Spain’s Verdasco and Lopez to send the tie to a final day. In my opinion Spain’s captain, Albert Costa made a tactical error picking Verdasco to play instead of Granollers. At the moment Verdasco is not playing well. This would have been a big mistake had Del Potro won on the opening day. In the end though, when you have Rafael Nadal to play on the final day in the first singles you are going to get your decisive third point. Nadal found a way, as always, against an inspired Del Potro to clinch Spain’s fifth Davis Cup title.

The U.S. Open gets physical

The U.S. Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal was one of the most physical battles ever seen on a tennis court.

The sheer speed of their groundstrokes and length of the rallies were incredible. Djokovic dominated Nadal in the first two sets, to win them 6-2 6-4. He was on top of the baseline forcing Nadal to play well behind the baseline and not allowing him to play inside the court and dictate. Nadal though is tenacious and was down a break three times in the third set and broke Djokovic while serving for the match to end up winning the third set in a tiebreaker. Unfortunately, Nadal had nothing left in the fourth set.

With Djokovic taking an injury time out for his back at the end of the third set, Nadal’s momentum was gone and Djokovic cruised 6-1 in the fourth set to win his first U.S. Open title.

He became the sixth man in Open history to win three majors in a year. From my vantage point in the Sky Sports studio I could see the look on Nadal’s face at the end of the match – he still has no idea how to play or beat Djokovic. There is no clear weakness in Djokovic’s game and he does everything better than Nadal at the moment. Djokovic has raised men’s tennis to another level.

Rusedski makes his picks for the US Open

The men’s side of this year’s US Open is going to be very interesting.

Will Novak Djokovic’s shoulder hold up and can he win his third major of the year? Will Roger Federer win another major with one of the toughest sections of the draw? Can Rafael Nadal get his form back to defend the title? Will Andy Murray win his first major? And finally, who are the dark horses?

Djokovic’s first two rounds look comfortable, then his route gets interesting with a possible match up against Nikolay Davydenko in the third, Richard Gasquet in the fourth and Tomas Berdych in the quarters before he most likely meets Federer in the semi-finals, if Federer gets there! Berdych could be the danger man in the section if his shoulder recovers from Cincinnati.

Federer’s opening match should be comfortable, but from the second round onwards it will get tough. He will most likely play the big serving Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, then the dangerous Marin Cilic in the third, Victor Troicki in the fourth, and in the quarterfinals either Mardy Fish or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the semi-finals against Djokovic. Tsonga or Fish are definitely capable of upsetting Federer at the quarters-final stage.

Murray’s section looks very good. His first test will be Feliciano Lopez in the third, but I believe he will come through in four sets. Then he will likely play Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round who knocked him out last year. He won’t falter this year because of the experience and help of Darren Cahill and Sven Groenveld. He is having his best results in majors with their help. In the quarter-finals he could play Gilles Simon or Juan Martin Del Potro. Expect Murray to be in the semi-finals, with a great chance to get to the finals this year.

Nadal’s first two rounds look pretty comfortable, but he needs to get his confidence back, maintain depth of ground shots and serve better. Nadal is one of the greatest players who has shown in the past that he’s able to get his form back during an all-important major. From the third round it gets interesting. He will most likely play Ivan Ljubicic, then Jurgen Melzer or Mikhail Youzny in the fourth round, with David Ferrer in the quarter-finals. I’d say that Nadal will get to the semi-finals just because of his sheer desire.

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.

“What a Wimbledon” – Rusedski

This year’s Wimbledon Championships had a lot of interesting stories. On the men’s side it was all about the top 4 players in the world. On the ladies it was about Sharapova, the Williams sisters, and whether or not any of the young pretenders could win the Championships.

All of the top 4 cruised into the men’s quarter-finals. Only Rafael Nadal was a bit of a worry hurting his foot against Juan Del Potro in the first set. After the match he said he would have to take painkillers for the rest of the tournament and possibly miss the next 6 weeks after Wimbledon finished. This brought hope that possibly Andy Murray could beat Nadal if they both reached the semi-finals which they both did easily. Expectations were reaching fever pitch now with a real belief Murray could make the finals.

In the other quarter-finals Djokovic was playing the 18-year-old qualifier Bernard Tomic. Tomic was the third youngest player in the history of Wimbledon to make the quarter-finals with only Becker and McEnroe being younger. Djokovic won in 4 tight sets, but Tomic proved he was world class and will be one to look out for in the future.

The match of the quarter-finals everyone was looking forward to was Roger Federer versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Queens Club finalist. Federer played a sublime first two sets and had never ever lost a grand slam match from two sets to love up, but on this occasion Tsonga lifted his game and won the next 3 sets to win in 5.

from Photographers Blog:

Wimbledon, William and a Mexican Wave

Rafael Nadal is hurt. A physio and a doctor have arrived on court to inspect his left foot. I scramble to position myself directly across the court from his chair to capture what could be a crucial moment in the match. It is towards the end of a tense first set. Temperatures have only cooled slightly from a sweltering 33 degrees C (91F).

In my haste to capture Nadal's injury I had left my original position with just a 300mm lens and Canon Mark 4 body, knowing I had to be agile as I joined a crush of photographers.

As I shot a few frames, I noticed out of the corner of my non-shooting eye his opponent Juan Martin Del Potro complaining that Nadal is wasting time. Engrossed in this unfolding tennis story, I try to ignore the crowd who are restless and trying to get a Mexican Wave going.

Then something clicks in my brain. A Mexican wave isn't normally a big deal -- but it is when British royal Prince William and his new wife Kate are in the audience.

Sure enough, as I swivel my camera to the royal box, the wave is sweeping towards them. I reach for the lenses that aren't there because I left them at my original position and mutter a very un-regal curse. Thankfully, I still manage to capture William and the Duchess of Cambridge joining the fun, in their own awkward and out-of-sync style.

“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.

U.S. Open: Day Two

By Helen Cook and Josh Hargreaves

It was a battle of the sweat on court during day two – even the fans gave up and went in search of shade.

There was a lot of tired screams and exhausted slumps in chairs as the 95 degree heat hit the courts hard. The baking got so intense at Flushing Meadows the tournament referee had to invoke the Extreme Weather Policy for the women’s matches. Even Jelena Jankovic resorted to an ice pack on top of her head during one break.

One tweeter – lizzieleaf - commented: “i’d have expected djokovic, who ranks third in the world, to be fit enough to deal with the heat *shrugs*”. But I know I wouldn’t survive 10 minutes at Arthur Ashe with a sweaty racket in hand, gasping for air. So well done to all who took to the court in this global warming heatwave hitting New York this week.

Ironically, there were a lot of five-setters on day two – you would have thought they would want to be off the melting court as quick as possible. But for those who had the best seats in the house – in the shade – they got to see some impressive tennis.