Will tendinitis end Nadal's reign as #1?

Although I try not to interject favoritism into my blog I will admit that Rafael Nadal, is my favorite tennis player, with Roger Federer, Gilles Monfils, and Gilles Simon following closely behind. Nadal, has been my favorite player for the past two years, I've always been impressed with the way that he fights to win every point and rarely looks beaten even if he's losing a match. In fact Nadal, is probably the mentally toughest player that I've ever seen. This year at the US Open Nadal, had to play two tough matches against Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish. In both matches he was in deep trouble and could have lost had it not been for his mental fortitude, to pull him through. Being mentally strong is a gift that some players just don't have, look at Marat Safin or Paul-Henri Mathieu, even Federer has been struggling mentally this year but Nadal is now facing an opponent that's much tougher than Murray, Djokovic or even Federer. Nadal, is in a battle to preserve his knees for as long as he can. The tendinitis that has been plaguing Nadal's knees seems to be getting worse. Rafa, mentioned on his blog that he's using his time off to rest his knees and will be having some tests done in Barcelona, soon. Hopefully the tests will go well but until he's given a green light to resume his practice schedule, Nadal will be forced to remain physically inactive and this could have a serious affect on his game next year. Nadal, went to the finals in Chennai and made the semi-finals at the Australian Open as well as Indian Wells, so he will have some important points to defend at the start of next year. I don't know how Nadal's knees will hold up from this point forward but I'm guessing that being sidelined from tournaments is just the start of things to come.

Tsonga wins Paris title

There's a new person in the top 10 and more importantly the top 8. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup after winning the ATP Masters Series Paris. Tsonga, has made it known that he belongs in the top tier of players, after he overcame an extremely tough draw to win the championship, he had to face Stepanek, Djokovic, Roddick, Blake, and then Nalbandian in the finals. Wait, did I just say Nalbandian in the finals? It may seem surprising that he made it that far but Nalbandian played very well in Paris. Although, Nalbandian was the defending champion, he hasn't exactly been setting the pro circuit on fire. Juan Martin Del-Potro replaced him as the #1 player for Argentina and Nalbandian wasn't able to make it past the quarter-finals of any Masters series tournaments this year, leading up to Paris. Nalbandian, kind of reminds me of Marat Safin. If he's playing well he's an incredibly dangerous player but if he's off he can get upset by anyone. Luckily for him his game solid and he was able to beat Del Potro in the round of 16, Andy Murray in the quarter-finals, and Davydenko in the semi-finals.

I was also surprised that Federer and Nadal both pulled out of the tournament with injuries. How often does that happen?!. Unfortunately, Nadal's tendinitous has been getting worse and it's forced him to skip the Masters Cup. At this point the most he can hope for is a strong start at the beginning of the season next year.

Federer, had to retire because of a back injury but it must not be too serious because he's chosen to play the Masters Cup and has been moved up to the #1 seed thanks to Rafa retiring.

Is Berdych copying Federer?!

It looks like Federer has gained a new fan. This time it's a fellow player on the ATP. I may just be imagining things but it looks like Tomas Berdych is deliberately copying Federer. Tomas, now wears a polo shirt along with Fed's 9" Nike shorts. Not only that, he's even managed to copy Federer's return of serve racquet twirl. Here check out this video of Berdych at the Czech Open this year and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.protenis.cz/video/clip.php?vid=821

By the way protennis is an awesome website. It has tons of videos many of them are close-ups of the pros during small tournaments. I find it helpful for improving my game.

I'm a little surprised that Tomas has had to resort to such drastic measures to improve his own game but I guess that's what happens when you develop a losing streak against the former #1 (Berdych is now 1-7 against Fed.) Who knows. Maybe Roddick, Davydenko, and Youzhney will start wearing the Nike bandana in an effort to change their games. At least Roger, isn't a bad role model.

Andy Murray wins Madrid title

Well, I was almost right on the semi-finals. Murray did play Federer and Nadal made it as well but who would have predicted Simon to be the fourth semi-finalist? I have to admit I've been impressed with Giles Simon this year, his game is far from overpowering and yet he's been able to beat the power hitters like Blake and big servers like Karlovic, not only that, he was able to win a match against Federer. It was during the summer hard court season when Federer was routinely bombing out in the first or second round but it's still an impressive victory. It's more than Davydenko or Youzhny can say, they are a combined 0-22 against the former #1.
Those guys must have nightmares the night before they have to play Federer.

Anyway, both of the semi-final matches were pretty close. Murray beat Federer 7-5 in the third set and Simon got a surprise victory over Nadal winning the third set tie break 8-6.

In the final, Murray, won the first set pretty easily 6-4. Simon, stretched him to a tie-break in the second set and almost won it but Murray played better during the important points. This is Murray's fourth title this year and most likely we will be seeing much more of him next year.

Andy, is becoming a very consistent semi-finalist or better and if his consistency remains the same then it's only a matter of time until he over takes Djokovic and moves up to 3 in the world.

Can Federer or Nadal win their second Madrid title?

Nadal and Federer have both survived their first two matches and are into the quarter-finals in Madrid. Nadal had a tough first round match against Ernest Gulbis but he was able to beat the Latvian in a very close three set match. Federer on the other hand has been cruising through his early round opponents. Fed, downed Stepanek without any problems and completely destroyed Tsonga 6-4, 6-1 in the second round. With Federer playing in top form it looks like he's on course for meeting Nadal in the finals again but Djokovic, Murray, and potentially Del Potro could prevent that from happening.

Del Potro, has been continuing his ascent towards the very top of the Men's game over the past few weeks. Del Potro, is ranked 8th right now and it's only a matter of time until he breaks into the top 5 and he took out the defending champion and his Davis cup buddy David Nalbandian on his way to the quarter-finals. Del Potro, will play Federer in the quarters along with Nadal vs Wawrinka, Djokovic vs Simon, and Murray vs Roddick/Monfils. So I'm going to infer that it will be a Murray vs Federer and Nadal vs Djokovic semi-finals.

We'll see if I'm right and please let me know what you think.

Tsonga wins Thailand Open

This is the time of the year when the ATP tennis season starts to calm down. With the US Open now over and the Davis Cup finals not for almost two months, there isn't very much to report on, after all, most of the important tournaments won't be held until next year but I was excited by how well Jo Wilfried Tsonga played at the Thailand Open, this past week. Tsonga crushed most of his opponents including Djokovic (in straight sets) on his way to the title.

Tsonga, has been plagued with injuries throughout most of his professional career which is unfortunate because he's a great player, I think that Tsonga, will probably break into the top ten before the year is over, he's 16 in the world right now and I'm really looking forward to watching him next year. Hopefully, without injuries.

Spain will play Argentina in the Davis Cup finals

Juan Martin Del Potro has had a tremendous season and although he is ranked lower than David Nalbandian, Del Potro, has become the anchor for the Argentine team. The head-to-head record between the Argentine and Spanish players slightly favors the Spaniards with Ferrer and Verdasco having won the majority of their matches against Nalbandian and Nadal and Ferrer with a winning record against Del Potro. Nalbandian, however has a 2-0 head-to-head record against Nadal. Both victories came last year and were on hard court.

Spain last won the Davis cup in 2004, after defeating the US 3-2 in the finals. Argentina, finished as the runners up in 2006 and will be looking to win their first ever Davis Cup against Spain. The Argentines, will have the advantage of playing the final at home and will also decide which surface the final will be played on.

Prediction: I think that Argentina, does have a good chance of winning their first Davis Cup title but it will require Nalbandian to play well. Nalbandian's record hasn't been very good this year in fact he lost the last match he played to Nikolay Davydenko, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Nadal or Ferrer roll over him. I expect Del Potro, will continue to play well and will probably keep hope alive for Argentina. I'm not sure that the effort of Del Potro alone will be enough to win, so I'll take Spain to win over Argentina 3-2.