Robin Soderling ends Rafael Nadal's undefeated streak at the French Open

I couldn't believe this, when I read it on the ATP website earlier this morning, later this afternoon NBC re-ran the match so I was able to watch it and to be honest I still couldn't believe it. Nadal losing to Soderling, at the French Open. it's not possible, is it? Well, I guess it is because that's exactly what Robin did. He over-powered and out-played him completely. Soderling's ground strokes, particularly on his forehand side were devastating, Rafa struggled with the pace just as much as the placement. Realistically this could have been a straight sets win for Soderling if he hadn't choked in the second set tie-break. With Nadal and Djokovic both out of the French Open that opens up the door for Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and every other player still left in the tournament. I think this may be Federer's last 'real' chance at this major. He's never had a better opportunity than now, to win the French. It's up to him, if he can bring back his dominating level of play, like he did at the Australian Open earlier this year, he should win the title. Nothing is certain with Federer, but he's got the best chance of everyone left. Murray, is probably the next most likely so I'll go with him as a back-up in case Fed loses. This title is very much up for grabs and it would mean the world to some of these guys. Davydenko and Robredo are approaching the end of their careers, every grand slam opportunity is important to them at this point. For Del Potro and Soderling it would be their first huge break through in the tennis world. Murray would be solidify his hold on the #3 position if he wins the title and Federer would complete his grand slam collection.

Despite Nadal's departure I expect we'll see some amazing tennis over the next week. One thing I know is that these guys want this title. It could change their careers.

Top seeds struggle, Roddick into the third round. Del Potro and Djokovic look strong

Despite a shakey first round match against Marcos Daniels, Nadal, is now into the fourth round after dismantling Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in just under two hours. Federer, now hopes to join him in the round of 16 but first he's going to have to get past Paul-Henri Mathieu. Mathieu, is the first seed that Federer will have to face, so far in the tournament. He's good on clay and took Nadal to 4 sets a few years ago at the French. If Roger isn't on his game or he starts to beat himself then Mathieu may upset the Swiss player.

As surprising as this may sound, I like Roddick's chances of getting into the quarter-finals. Only Marc Gicquel and Gael Monfils stand in his way. Roddick should be able to beat Gicquel without any problems but Monfils could be another story. Last year Monfils reach the semi-finals and his game is perfectly suited to clay. However, he's also injury prone. This will be a tough match for Roddick but if he can do it, he'll be in his first ever French Open quarter-final where he will face...Roger Federer. Losing to Federer is something that Roddick is familiar with, so one more loss shouldn't bother him too much. Making the quarter-finals would be great for Roddick anyway as he's only made the third round at the French Open once in his career.

Davydenko, Wawrinka and Soderling are other threats lurking in Nadal's half of the draw. It would be interesting to see Nadal re-new his bitter rivalry with Soderling. Neither player likes the other one, just check out this video and you'll see what I mean:



Anyway, I hope to see some more great tennis at Roland Garros, next week. I'll be back soon with my opinion on where things stand at the French.:D

What got you to tennis?

Today, I thought I would talk about what drew me into professional men's tennis. I've talked about the players and my opinions on them but I realized that I've never said much about why I enjoy tennis as a sport. I started watching bits and pieces of matches in 2001 but it wasn't until several years later that sat through an entire match. The first one that I followed closely was the Thomas Johansson vs Andy Roddick 2005 Wimbledon semi-finals. At the time I was pulling for Roddick simply because he was from my country. During the match I heard the commentators talking about Roger Federer, beating Roddick at several tournaments in the last few months. I had never seen Federer at this point, so I was really curious to see how good he was. I didn't have to wait long, the next day I tuned into watch the Wimbledon finals. The first two sets were already over but the third was just starting. Roddick's, serve was amazingly fast and he won his first service game easily, because of it. Yet, despite Roddick's great serving Roger, never looked flustered. He blocked back Roddick's serve like it was nothing special to him and he frustrated Roddick even more by hitting winners from the most difficult position on the court. Roger's, performance that day was too good to be true and he dominated Roddick on the important points. By the end of the match Roger Federer, had become my new favorite player. How could you not like the guy? He was polite, he came up with amazing shots, and he was cool, nobody else on the tour was like him. I think Roger Federer's dominating performance and jaw-dropping winners is what kept me interested in pro tennis over the next few years. When Nadal came along and challenged Federer, I became more interested in the pro game. Here was Federer, blowing away all of the competition, except for this one guy who had somehow gotten into his head and basically owned him in every match for over two years. Everyone has a different opinion of what the best rivalry in tennis has been but I strongly feel that their's is the best one. In nearly all of their matches it has brought out top level performances from both players. They've played 20 times, far more than the Borg/McEnroe rivalry and they've played in a grand slam final on all 3 different surfaces. More diverse than, the Agassi/Sampras rivalry. For me it's the ability of the players, that keeps me interested in the pro game. It's hard to imagine tennis without Federer and Nadal but at some point they will both retire. I hope that the guys who replace them will be equally skilled and form rivalries that are at least as good if not better. As long as there are great players, with exciting new styles I will continue to watch pro men's tennis. For me it's just too much fun to stop any time soon.

Federer snaps losing streak against Nadal and ends his title drought

It doesn't seem possible for Nadal to lose a match in straight sets on clay but that didn't discourage Roger Federer, who beat his greatest rival in two sets 6-4, 6-4 at the Madrid finals. I'm glad that I was able to see this match, although I was disappointed that Nadal seemed to be tired and didn't have the energy he needed to win. On the other hand Roger looked great, his backhand was consistent enough that it didn't hinder him and his forehand had finally become his weapon again. Most importantly Federer, switched up his tactics when he was playing Nadal and brought back his aggressive game and even served and volleyed on some points. He didn't get into defensive rallies with Nadal and kept down his number of unforced errors.

Now, you may remember that I gave my early predictions for the French Open a few weeks ago. Has it changed, because of this victory? Not really. I still think Nadal is going to win the French, in his typical dominating fashion. I don't expect him to lose more than two sets this time. Nadal is undefeated at the French Open (28-0) and I doubt that will change this year. However, if I am wrong and Nadal is upset, then it will be either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer, who beats him. No one else is up for that task.

The most important thing that I saw from this match is that Roger still has the belief in himself.
If he can still play like this he will be a threat to Nadal and any other player, tired or not. This match proves that Roger's recent decline has been mostly because of his mental lapses. If his focus and belief stays with his game. Then I could easily see another epic showdown between Federer and Nadal at Wimbledon this year.:)

Murray is the new #3. Fed doesn't seem to be impressed.

I recently read this article. It's Fed's perspective on Murray's recent assent to #3 in the ATP rankings. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20090507/Federer_unimpressed_with_Murray%27s_rise_to_No._3

Federer, brought up the fact that Murray has yet to win a slam but did include Murray as one of the best players during the hard court season. I don't know about some of Fed's comments, Murray has pretty much owned him recently, in fact Fed's only win since 2005 against Murray, came at the US Open finals. Murray has proven himself to be a very consistent player on hard courts, in fact I would even say that he's had better results than Federer, in the past 7 months. No doubt, Fed, is also aware that Murray is closing the gap between them. In 6 months he's only reached 1 final, while Djokovic and Murray have routinely beaten him in the semis. Unless, he's able to figure out a way past them, it will only be a matter of time until both Murray and Djokovic pass him in the ATP ranking.