TENNIS TUESDAY: Nole,Rafa Suffer Shock Clay Defeats; Fognini Wins Monte Carlo Masters; Fed Cup Final Is FRA v AUS;

FOGNINI WINS FIRST MASTERS SERIES SHIELD IN MONTE CARLO
Amazingly, the flamboyant and talented Fabio Fognini, 31,  won his first ATP Masters series event in Monte Carlo by following up his stunning defeat of Rafael Nadal with a relatively tight 6-3 6-4 win over Dusan Lajovic who beat the person who took out Djokovic the round before. Lajovic became the lowest seeded player in Monte Carlo in 18 years while Fognini became the first Italian player to win the Monte Carlo tournament in 50 years, and only the fourth player to win the tournament in the last 15 years since Nadal has won it 11 times, Djokovic twice, and Stan Wawrinka once (2014). It was  aoyhood dream for Fognini, who was born a short 40-minute drive away in San Remo, just over the border in Italy and often visited the famous tennis club as a youngster.

DJOKOVIC AND NADAL SUFFER SHOCK CLAY COURT LOSSES
In Monte Carlo, the two best players in the world, #1 Novak Djokovic and #2 Rafael Nadal both suffered shock upsets to start  their clay court season. Djokovic lost to Daniil Medvedev in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals in a tough 3-set match, while Nadal lost what he called "his worst clay court match in 14 years" to Fabio Fognini in the semifinals 6-4 6-2. Nadal was down 5-0 in the second set with Fognini serving for a bagel set before staging a mini-comeback that was ultimately unsuccessful.

FED CUP SEMIFINALS: FRA DEFEATS ROU 3-2, AUS DEFEATS BLR 3-2
Two exciting Fed Cup semifinals were played this weekend, with France utlasting Romania despite some heroics from Simona Halep to win 3-2 and Ash Barty continuing to drag her squad over the finish line, this time, against Belarus. In November France will face Australia down under!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Rafa Breaks More Records; Fed Cup Final Set; Babies Everywhere

NADAL WINS RECORD 11TH MONTE CARLO MASTERS ; 31ST MASTERS OVERALL
The King of Clay, Rafael Nadal won his 11th Monte Carlo Masters title (in 14 years) by defeating Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2. Nadal won the title without dropping  a set and basially terrorized the rest of the men's field with his 6-0 6-2 drubbing of the "Prince of Clay" Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals.
Nadal was able to retain his hold on the World #1 ranking by defending his title as World #2 Roger Federer is again sipping the clay court season to improve his chances at winning another Wimbledon title. Nadal nw has 31 ATP Masters shields, 1 ahead of the 30 Novak jokovic has and well ahead of Federer's 27, with two more clay court Masters tournaments to be played this year: Madrid and Rome.

FED CUP FINAL SET: UNITED STATES WILL FACE CZECHIA
The Fed Cup semifinals were last weekend and the United States defeated France 3-2 behind solid wins by Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys while the Czech Republic dominated Germany 4-1 with Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova each eating Angie Kerber and Julia Goerges. The Czech Republic has been in the Fed Cup final.

BABIES, BABIES, BABIES! SPRING IS HERE AND EVERYBODY'S PREGNANT
John Isner announced that his wife Madison McKinley is expecting their first child. Also, Sania Mirza announced on instagram that she was pregnant, and noted tennis umpire Eve Asderaki answered Dasha Kasatkina's question "boy or girl?" while umpiring a Fed Cup match this weekend with "boy."

TENNIS TUESDAY: Nadal Wins 10th Monte Carlo; Serena Back At #1; Sharapova Returns To Tour; Tiafoe Up to #72

RAFAEL NADAL WINS 10th ATM MONTE CARLO TITLE; 50th CAREER CLAY TITLE
The King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, won his record 10th title at the ATP Monte Carlo Masters by defeating fellow lefty Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Nadal became the first man in the Open era to win the same tournament 10 times. Later this season he has the chance to win the French Open and the Barcelona Open 10 times. With his win, Nadal takes the overall lead of 50 clay court titles in his career, the most ever. His total number of ATP tour titles  won to date is 70. He has now moved up to World #5 on the ATP rankings.

SERENA REGAINS #1 RANKING DESPITE NOT PLAYING FOR THE REST OF 2017
Despite announcing her pregnancy last week and the fact that she has not hit a tennis ball since winning the Australian Open with no possibility that she will play for the rest of 2017, Serena Williams returned to the #1 slot this week as the points for winning in Stuttgart last week fall off of Angelique Kerber's record so she falls down to #2.

MARIA SHARAPOVA RETURNS TO TOUR THIS WEEK; CONTROVERSY ROILS AROUND WHETHER SHE WILL GET WILD CARDS AT MAJOR TOURNAMENTS
5-time major champion Maria Sharapova is returning to the WTA Tour this week, receiving a wild card directly into the main draw of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Tournament in Stuttgart. Many players feel like wild cards should be reserved for players who are returning to the tour after injury or some other reason, and not an 18-month drug ban. The real question will be what will happen when the two summer majors come around? Right now it looks like Sharapova will be given a wild card into the qualifying draw, which I think is a reasonable compromise.

FRANCES TIAFOE, 19, WINS THIRD CHALLENGER TITLE
Frances Tiafoe has long been touted as the future of American men's tennis. The 19-year-old African-American is now firmly in the Top 100, up to #72 in the rankings, and this week he won a third title on the Challengers tour, winning the Sarasota Open.

2016 MONTE CARLO: Nadal Outlasts Monfils To Win Record 9th Title Here

Rafael Nadal's drought maybe over. Taking advantage of the shocking departure of World #1 (and defending champion) Novak Djokovic earlier in the week, the King of Clay was able to win his 28th Masters series event and 9th Monte Carlo crown by outlasting a surprisingly solid Gael Monfils 7-5 5-7 6-0. Nadal had last won here in 2012.

The final came about when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dispatched Roger Federer 6-4 in the 3rd set but then lost in straight sets to his countryman Monfils in the semifinals. Nadal, on the other hand, took out the reigning French Open champion Stan Wawrinka and World #2 Andy Murray (both in straight sets), in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. It's been well over a year (maybe 2) since Nadal has put together a series of such strong performances in a row against Top 5 competition. Monfils was even more impressive, as he was the only player to not lose a set all week during his path to the final.

Monfils was playing in his 25th ATP tour final (Nadal's 100th) and trying to win his first ATP Masters Shield (and 6th career title). Instead, Nadal won his 68th career title and became the first player to win two different tournaments an incredible NINE different times (he has also won the clay-court grand slam Roland Garros 9 times). Both players are twenty-nine years old.

The two tour veterans put on one of the most entertaining finals of the year to date, sharing 34 breakpoints between them, in a contest which lasted 2 hours, 46 minutes. In the end, though, Monfils simply ran out of gas and Nadal was able to punish his erstwhile rival's lack of energy in the deciding set without conceding a game.

2016 MONTE CARLO: SHOCK! Djokovic Loses To Vesely In 3 Sets

For the first in 2016, World #1 Novak Djokovic finished a completed match not as the victor. It happened in his first match on clay in Monte Carlo (which is basically his home court--he lists his residence there), losing to lefty Czech Jiri Vesely 6-4 2-6 6-4 in just over 2 hours. This is the first time in over 84 matches that Djokovic, 28, has lost to a player younger than he is (Vesely is 22). Vesely is currently ranked #55 and it is the first time Djokovic has lost to someone outside the Top 50 in over 5 years (Xavier Malisse at Queens Club in 2010).

Djokovic was forced by an eye infection to retire in the Dubai quarterfinals, but has won every other tournament he has played in since the 2015 Cincinnati Masters. The Monte Carlo Masters defending champion is now 28-2 for the year. (At this point last year Djokovic was 17-0). This loss on clay must put a damper on his chances of finally clinching the French Open this year, although it probably increases the likelihood that he will play in Madrid. It also gives hope to fans of Roger Federer that maybe this is the year Federer can win in Monte Carlo!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Youth Breaks Through; Raja Skips US Hardcourt Season

22-Year-Old Dominic Thiem Soaring To World #14 on 13-1 Record in February
Dominic Thiem of Austria has big ears but an even bigger game. He is currently the hottest player on the ATP Tour and has won two of his five career titles in 2016. He has done so by compiling an impressive 13-1 record in the month of February, winning titles in Acapulco and Buenos Aires. He even beat Rafael Nadal on clay on the way to winning in Buenos Aires despite being match point down!

22-Year-Old Sloane Stephens Outlasts 2014 Aussie Open Finalist To Win Acapulco
Sloane Stephens has now won her 3rd consecutive final after outlasting Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Acapulco hard court tournament. The score was 6-4 4-6 7-6(5) and the match lasted over 3 hours.

Federer Withdraws From Indian Wells, Adds Monte Carlo Masters To Schedule
Roger Federer had previously announced that he was going to skip the Miami Masters as well as almost the entire clay court season. However, after losing in the semifinals of the 2016 Australian open Federer injured his knee and had arthroscopic surgery which has caused him to withdraw from the Indian Wells Masters. So, he has now decided to add the Monte Carlo Masters to his 2016 schedule.

Djokovic's 2016 Unbeaten Streak Ends After Eye Infection Leads To
Novak Djokovic withdrew from his Dubai Duty Free semifinal against Feliciano Lopez down 3-6 with a bizarre injury: an eye infection caused him to forfeit the match. The World #1 is now 14-1 and will have to wait a few more weeks to take his place at the top of the list of all-time best win-loss percentages on the ATP tour.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer Releases 2016 Schedule, Murray Keeps Mauresmo, Kvitova Engaged!

FEDERER'S 2016 SCHEDULE LIMITS CLAY AND BOOSTS GRASS, SKIPS 4 MASTERS
Roger Federer has released his tentative 2016 ATP tour schedule and the 34-year-old has decided to only play one clay court tournament (Roland Garros) and will increase the amount of grass tournaments he plays, adding Stuttgart to his schedule the week before his traditional Wimbledon warm-up in Halle. (This is especially exciting news for me, because I am planning to visit Germany this summer and if I could also see Federer play on grass that would be an incredible experience!) Because of the length of his career and age Federer is deciding to skip a surprising FOUR of the 9 Master's Series tournaments: Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Canada (Toronto/Montreal).

COACHING MUSICAL CHAIRS CONTINUE: MURRAY, KEYS, HALEP, FEDERER
The musical chairs among coaches of the major tennis players continues. This week's announcement was that Andy Murray is going back to having Amelie Mauresmo as his main coach, ending his professional relationship with Jonas Bkorkman. A few weeks ago Federer announced Stefan Edberg would not coach him in 2016, instead that role would be taken by Ivan Ljubicic. Previously it was announced that Jesse Levine would be coaching Madison Keys (instead of Lindsay Davenport) and that Darren Cahill had been named Simona Halep's official coach.

PETRA KVITOVA ANNOUNCES ENGAGEMENT TO RADEK (NOT WHO YOU THINK)
2-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova surprised many tennis players by announcing via Twitter that the 25-year-old was now engaged to be married to 27-year-old Czech hockey player Radek Meidel.

DJOKOVIC AND SERENA WIN 2015 ITF CHAMPION TITLES
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that Novak Djokovic has won the title for the 5th time and Serena Williams has won the title for the 6th time. They both won 3 major titles in 2015. Serena won the first three, while Djokovic lost in the finals of the French Open. The ITF is the official governing body of international tennis and is the group that sanctions the Grand Slam tournaments and manages international team competitions like Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup. The ITF champion almost always is the person who wins the most singles majors that year.

SURPRISE AT 2015 IPTL WHERE DEFENDING CHAMPS INDIAN ACES LOSE FINAL SINGAPORE SLAMMERS
The Indian Aces were the most dominant team in the off-season exhibition competition called the International Premiere Tennis League (IPTL) for the second year but this time they lost the championship match against the Singapore Slammers. The Aces had stars like Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna while the Slammers had Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka. Major champions like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Marin Cilic all competed this year.

2015 MONTE CARLO: Djokovic Wins 3rd Masters Title of 2015; Now 17-0!

World #1 Novak Djokovic continued his unbeaten streak in 2015 to 17 matches with a surprisingly tough 3-set match over Tomas Berdych 7-5 4-6 6-3 in the finals of the 2015 Monte Carlo Masters 1000 tournament. It was Djokovic's 3rd Masters series title of 2015 the first time anyone has won the first three prestigious titles to start the year, and comes just weeks after Djokovic became the first man to pull off the Indian Wells-Miami double for the 3rd time.

With his win, Djokovic  now has 23 ATP Masters 1000 titles, tying him for #2 on the all-time list, just 4 titles behind Rafael Nadal, who has 6 more Grand Slam titles than he does. Djokovic now has a record lead of 5,460 points over the #2 player, 17-time major champion Roger Federer. 

In 2011, Djokovic amassed a 41-match winning streak and won 5 Masters series titles and 3 Grand Slam tournaments. Could we be seeing a reprise of this performance in 2015?

Djokovic-Nadal XLIII: Nole Wins Easily To Reach Monte Carlo Final Against Berdych

As I predicted yesterday, Novak Djokovic dispatched the King of Clay Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 tournament 6-3 6-3. Unfortunately, Gael Monfils great run in Monte Carlo ended listlessly in a straights-sets loss to Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic has an 18-2  head-to-head record and will almost certainly win his 3rd consecutive masters series title of the year and his 23rd career title, matching Roger Federer total.

MadProfessah's Prediction: Djokovic.

2015 MONTE CARLO: Semifinals feature Djokovic-Nadal XLIII, Monfils-Berdych

The 2015 ATP Monte Carlo Masters semifinals are set and they feature the usual suspects: World #1 Novak Djokovic, going for his 3rd consecutive Masters series title this year, and World #4 Rafael Nadal. The two will be meeting for a record 43rd time, with Nadal sporting a (tenuous?) 23-19 lead in the head-to-head. Djokovic stopped Nadal's streak of yearly title wins at Monte Carlo at 8 in 2013. The two last met when Nadal beat Djokovic in 4 sets in the final of the 2014 French Open. Last year Stan Wawrinka beat Roger Federer in 3 sets to win his only Masters Series title, this year both Swiss stars fell in the 3rd round.

The other semifinalists are Gael Monfils who dispatched both Federer (for the second consecutive time on clay!) and Grigor Dimitrov this week and Tomas Berdych, who advanced when Milos Raonic retired with a foot injury.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic-Monfils final!

2014 SHANGHAI: Federer Wins 23rd Masters Shield, 81st ATP Title

One day after outplaying World #1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2014 Shanghai Masters 6-4 6-4, Roger Federer defeated Gilles Simon to win his 81st career title and 23rd ATP Masters Shield. It was the first time Federer has won the tournament in Shanghai, which is generally rated by the players as their favorite tournament on the tour. Djokovic was nursing a 28-match winning streak on Chinese soil but this was ended by his loss to Federer, who maintains his edge in their overall head-to-head 19-17 now.

It was Federer's 4th title of 2014 and demonstrates the difference between this year and next for the Greatest Player Of All Time. In 2013 he only won one title (at Halle on grass) only reached three finals and ended the year ranked #6. With this win, Federer will return to #2 in the rankings and he has been in 9 finals this year, including the Wimbledon Final (l. Djokovic) and he has won two masters shields (Cincinnati and Shanghai), Halle (for the 7th time in 9 finals) and Dubai. He lost in the finals of three Masters tournaments: Indian Wells (l. Djokovic), Toronto (l. Tsonga) and Monte Carlo (l. Wawrinka).

2014 MONTE CARLO: Wawrinka Beats Federer in 3 Sets To Win 1st Masters Title

World #3 Stanislas Wawrinka confirmed his ascendancy into the elite of men's tennis by defeating Roger Federer 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2 in the finals of the 2014 ATP Monte Carlo Masters, becoming the first player on the ATP Tour to win 3 titles this year (Chennai and Melbourne). It was Wawrinka's 1st Masters 1000 title in 3 finals, and more importantly, his 2nd win in 15 meetings against Federer, both of which have occurred in Monte Carlo. To put this win in perspective, Wawrinka has only won 7 ATP tour titles (and is 7-9 in finals overall). Federer has won 78 (and is now 78-39 in tour finals).

Because he won (somewhat surprisingly, but Wawrinka has been surprising everyone all year) Wawrinka will retain the World #3 ranking and is actually at #1 in the ATP Emirates race to London at this moment. In other words, if he maintains this level of play all year long, he could become #1 at the end of the year. He is 6-0 against fellow Top 10 opponents this year, and 17-3 in matches played for the year.

Federer has now lost in the final of Monte Carlo four times (2006-2008 to Rafael Nadal) and has yet to win this title. He will remain at World #4 and leads the tour in number of match wins in 2004 (24-5 record).

Federer started well breaking serve in the 5th game and managing to nurse the break to a 6-4 first set win. In the second set he was broken in his first service game but broke back and held serve until a tiebreak. He fell behind 1-4 in the tiebreak and 3-6 but saved two set points before losing the tiebreaker 7-5. The third set was a disaster for Federer as his level dropped and Wawrinka's went up, going up 4-0 and 5-1 before closing out the third set 6-2. The stats tell the story.

The next big clay court Master's title is in Madrid, starting next weekend.

2014 MONTE CARLO: Federer Beats Injured Djokovic, Joins Wawrinka In Final

Roger Federer won his 34th meeting with Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-2 in the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters tournament, to reach the final of this tournament for the 4th time in his career. Djokovic was clearly hampered by his wrist injury and has said he will not be playing tennis for awhile:“How long, I don’t know. It’s really not in my hands anymore. I’m going to rest and see when it can heal 100 percent, then I will be back on the court."

Federer ended Djokovic's 15-match winning streak by defeating the defending Monte Carlo champion. Djokovic had two consecutive set points at 4-5 in the first set but after losing those chances the Serb never had another chance in the match again. Federer has never won this ATP Masters shield because Nadal defeated him in three consecutive finals from 2006-2008. However, Nadal suffered a shock defeat at the hands of David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. Stanislas Wawrinka destroyed Ferrer in the semifinal 6-1 7-6(3) and looks sharp.

Wawrinka is actually higher ranked than Federer right now, but he is 1-13 lifetime against his Swiss compatriot, with his sole winning result coming in Monte Carlo in 2009. Whomever wins their 15th match on Sunday will become the new World #3 and Swiss #1.

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer (in 3 sets)

2014 MONTE CARLO: Ferrer Hands Nadal A Rare Clay Defeat!

David Ferrer scored a stunning upset at the ATP Monte Carlo Masters today when he beat 8-time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets 7-6(1) 6-4 in the quarterfinals. This was  a surprise because Nadal rarely loses on clay, and defeated Ferrer in the men's final of Roland Garros last year. Nadal had lead their head-to-head 21-5 and had not lost on clay to Ferrer since 2004.

Nadal had won the ATP Monte Carlo Masters an unprecedented 8 consecutive years (2005-2012) but lost in the final to Novak Djokovic last year.

The semifinals will be Roger Federer versus Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka versus David Ferrer. Federer leads Djokovic 17-16 in their overall head-to-head but the two are tied 3-all in their clay court matches. My prediction would be a Djokovic-Ferrer final, but I would not be surprised to see a Djokovic-Wawrinka final instead, since I imagine his win over Nadal was very emotional for Ferrer. An All-Swiss final would be my druthers!

ROME 2013: Federer-Nadal XXX Goes To Nadal 61 63

Rafael Nadal continued his startling 2013 run of good form by defeating his arch-rival Roger Federer  6-1 6-3 in the final of the 2013 ATP Rome Masters in just over an hour. (Interestingly, this was the identical score that Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka to win the WTA title right before, although that match took 93 minutes. Nadal has won a tour-leading 6 titles (in 8 finals) in 2013 and has only lost twice while playing 38 matches so far (the vast majority on clay). The 2013 BNL Internazionali d'Italia title is Nadal's 41st clay court title (of 56 ATP tour title) and his record 24th ATP Masters shield. and 7th title in Rome. (Federer is #2 on the all-time list at 21.) In fact, Nadal has already won 3 ATP Masters shields this year Indian Wells (d. Juan Martin del Potro), Madrid (d. Stanislas Wawrinka) and Rome. He lost the ATP Monte Carlo Masters title to Novak Djokovic and lost his first final of the year against the unheralded Horacio Zeballos. World #1 Djokovic failed to reach the final in Madrid (losing to Grigot Dimitrov) and Rome (losing to Tomas Berdych) but I still think if he reaches the final against Nadal in Paris he will have the mental advantage and achieve his career grand slam. He was well on his way to beating Nadal last year when the weather interrupted their match in the fourth set with Djokovic up a break of serve. The question is, will Nole reach the final? The 2013 French Open draw will be released Friday this week and may well be the most important factor in who wins, including whether Andy Murray withdraws (due to a back injury sustained in Rome), thus opening up a spot in the Top 4 for Nadal.

Nadal is now 20-10 in his career head-to-head with Federer and even though the Swiss player is considered the greatest player of all time, it is clear that both the physical and mental matchup with the lefty spin of the Spaniard is something that Federer is unable to handle at this stage of his career. It must be mentioned though that fully half of their thirty meetings have been on clay, with Nadal sporting a 13-2 lead on that surface. On the non-clay surfaces Federer still has  a slight 8-7 lead.  Two-thirds of their meetings have been in finals with Nadal leading 14-6 (but again, they have met in 13 clay court finals, with Nadal leading 11-2 there). Today's final was their first meeting in a final since the 2011 Roland Garros which was won easily by Nadal. Clearly, Federer has been the 2nd best clay-court player for the last decade, but Nadal is the best clay court player of all time.

(Yes, I'm still on my Caribbean vacation but of course I'm still following tennis! Sadly I was unable to see either match this year, although last year at this time I was in Rome.)

MONTE CARLO 2013: Nole Wins Title, Ends Rafa's Streak At 8

Despite my prediction earlier, World #1 Novak Djokovic defeated World #5 Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-6(1) in the final of the ATP  Monte Carlo Master 1000 tournament, ending the Spaniard's historic 46-match, 8-title, winning streak. Djokovic ended Nadal's 81-match winning streak for matches played in the month of April, and evened their head-to-head record at 8-all in finals, though he still lags their overall rivalry 15-19. (This 4 match deficit is the closest any of the players on tour who has faced Nadal more than 10 times.)

It was Djokovic's 3rd appearance in the Monte Carlo Masters final, which is set in his adopted hometown of Monaco, having lost to Nadal in 2012 and 2009. It was the Serbian's 37th ATP Tour win (37-19 in ATP our finals) and 14th ATP Masters Series shields, 7 less than Nadal (and 6 less than Roger Federer).

Match Recap
Djokovic had a near perfect start, successfully deploying his game plan of replying to Nadal's penchant of hitting backhands cross-court with blistering down-the-line backhands. He won the first 5 games by breaking Nadal twice and had multiple chances to break him a 3rd time and win a 6-0 set. (If he had done so, Djokovic would have become the fourth player to bagel Nadal on clay. The others are Federer, Guillermo Coria and 2005 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio.) Nadal managed to hold and then broke Djokovic in the very next game. However, when he was serving (now only down one break) at 2-5, Djokovic was able to break and win the first set. It was only the eighth set that Nadal had dropped in the last 46 matches played in Monte Carlo. (He had lost his seventh earlier in the tournament against Grigor Dimitrov.)

In the second set, Djokovic was able to survive two consecutive break points in the 3rd game to keep his nose ahead 2-1 but Nadal was settling in and rattled off three consecutive games to take a 4-2 lead. However, Djokovic gutted out another hold and when facing Nadal (still down a break 3-4) he hit three amazing shots in a row and was able to even the set at 4-all. Things went on serve until 5-all when Nadal broke Djokovic for the third time in the match. However, when the Spaniard served for the match 6-5 to force the seemingly inevitable third and deciding set, he was unceremoniously broken at love to set up a tiebreak. Still shell shocked, Nadal played a loose tiebreak, hitting numerous errors and quickly succumbed, winning only one point.

Implications
I am one of the people that thought that if the match had not been sopped last year, Djokovic would have won the 2012 French Open title over Nadal. Ever since then I have been saying that Djokovic has an excellent shot at doing so in 2013. The fact that he was able to defeat Nadal on the court where he is the most successful and comfortable) is absolutely devastating mentally. Although Nadal has only ever lost one match at Roland Garros, he knows it could happen. Also, due to his extended absence from the game following Wimbledon last year, he could be ranked as low as #5 at Roland Garros this year, meaning he could potentially face Djokovic or Federer in a quarterfinal or semifinal, depending on the draw. He could potentially have to play 3 people more highly ranked than him in order to claim his 8th French Open title. I do think Nadal will win 8 French Open titles, but somehow I doubt it will happen this year.

MONTE CARLO 2013 Final: Djokovic-Nadal XXXIV

In a repeat of last year's final, 8-time defending champion Rafael Nadal will face World #1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday at the 2013 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 1000 tournament in Monaco. As I predicted last night, Nadal was able to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets, although the Frenchman did put a bit of a scare into the Spaniard by coming back from 1-5 down in the 2nd set (saving four match points!) to force a tiebreak which he lost 7-3, along with the match 6-3 7-6(3). In the other semifinal Djokovic played the irrepressible Fabio Fognini, who was playing in his first Masters Series-level semifinal after dispatching Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych in consecutive rounds. Djokovic looked very sharp and dismissed the hunky Italian in under an hour 6-1 6-2.

Sunday will be the 34th meeting in the burgeoning rivalry between Djokovic and Nadal. Their last 10 meetings have been in final with Nadal winning the last 3 and Djokovic winning the first 7. Overall, Nadal lead 19-14 and 8-7 in tour finals. But, amazingly, Djokovic has beaten Nadal in two clay court finals (2011 Madrid Masters and 2011 Rome Masters) but has lost to him in four clay court finals, including the 2009 Monte Carlo final and the 2012 Monte Carlo final. Nadal leads 11-2 in clay court matches while Djokovic leads 11-5 on hard courts. Last year the Serbian was reeling from a personal crisis and lost relatively easily 6-3 6-1 to the King of Clay. This year Djokovic's difficulties will be more physical than mental. He injured his ankle ina Davis Cup match versus Sam Querrey two weeks ago and until hours before he played his first match on Wednesday, it was unclear whether the World #1 would even play the tournament. He won a scratchy match against Mikhail Youzhny 4-6 6-1 6-4 but has looked sharp during the business end of the tournament. Nadal surprisingly lost a set against fast-improving Grigor Dimitrov in his quarterfinal on his way to his 9th consecutive final here.

However, he is playing the King of Clay, who has reached 5 consecutive finals this year (winning three of them so far) and who has won this tournament 8 times in a row, something no one has ever done at any tournament. In fact, Nadal has won 44 matches in a row in Monte Carlo including the now classic 5-set tussle with Roger Federer in 2008, which some might argue is almost as good as their 2008 match in the Wimbledon final a few months later. Nadal wants to win in order to increase his total of the number of career ATP Masters 1000 shields from the current record total of 22, win his 9th title here and also not lose ranking points.

Djokovic, on the other hand, probably feels pretty good just to get the final and can probably go home and rest his ankle after this tournament until the Madrid-Rome double starts in two weeks. It is on that terrain that he will need to bolster his claim that he can prevent Nadal from winning his 8th French Open title.

MadProfessah's prediction: Nadal.

MONTE CARLO 2013 Semis: Fognini-Djokovic, Nadal-Tsonga

Fabio Fognini is in his first ATP Masters semifinal of his career at the 2013 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 1000 tournament. The handsome Italian is currently ranked #32 in the world, but the 25-year-old has beaten two of the world's Top 10 players in the world in consecutive matches: Richard Gasquet 7-6(0) 6-2 and Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-2. His opponent in the semifinal will be World #1 Novak Djokovic who has beaten him all four times they have played. Fognini is one of the highest ranked players on the tour who is yet to win a tour event (only Julien Benneteau and Jerzy Janowicz are higher ranked and still like ATP titles).

Rafael Nadal has won an astonishing 8 titles in Monte Carlo and most people expect him to win his 9th this year. Grigor Dimitrov (reportedly Maria Sharapova's boyfriend) had other ideas and  
showed why he is widely believed to be an important player in the (near) future by winning a set from the King of Clay in a 6-2 2-6 6-4 loss. Nadal will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who dismissed Stanislas Wawrinka 2-6 6-3 6-4. Murray's early round loss to Wawrinka means that his more well-known compatriot Roger Federer will regain the World #2 spot on Monday.

Tsonga and Nadal will face off on clay for only the 2nd time despite having faced each other ten times before, with the Spaniard leading 7-3. I believe Tsonga will be able to win a set, but it's very doubtful that he can win the match. Even though Djokovic is playing with an ankle that was recently badly twisted, he will still probably have no problem defeating Fognini again and setting up a reprise of last year's final.

MadProfessah's prediction: Nadal-Djokovic final.

Isner Wins 1st Career Clay Title In Houston (Over Almagro)

AP Photo/Eric Gay

John Isner of the United States won his first title of 2013 and the 6th of his career by defeating Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3 7-5 at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas on Sunday. It was the American's first career win on clay, and he had to beat 2012 U.S. Clay Court champion Juan Monaco in the semifinal and one of the Top 5 clay court players in the world to do it. Tennis reporter Matt Cronin ranks the Top 5 clay court players in the world as (Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, David Ferrer and then Almagro. Note the glaring absence of World #2 Andy Murray from this list!) So this was quite a significant achievement for the 27-year-old American who turns 28 on Thursday. His 6 titles include 3 on outdoor hard-court, 2 on grass and 1 on clay. His record in ATP tour finals is now 6 wins and 7 losses (including last year in the final of the same tournament to Monaco). Almagro is also 27 but has won 12 ATP titles (all on clay) and now has a 12-7 record in finals.

Both Almagro and Isner have huge serves, and are currently #1 and #2 on the ATP World Tour MatchFacts for number of aces served in 2013 (266 and 258, respectively). This counts the record 60 aces that Isner served this week in Houston on his way to the title, including 7 in the final, with speeds up to 144 miles per hour. Pete Sampras had previously held the record in Houston with 52.

Isner can't rest on his laurels however; hours after winning he was on a plane to Europe because his first match at the Monaco Masters is probably on Tuesday. That's where 8-time defending champion Rafael Nadal is very likely to win his 9th title since both Federer and Ferrer are not in the draw and Djokovic is likely to withdraw due to the ankle injury he suffered last weekend dispatching Sam Querrey and the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. World #2 Murray is hoping to at least put up his resistance and reduce the size of Djokovic's sizable lead for the top spot by doing well in his half of the draw. Nadal needs to do well in the clay court season if he is to have a chance to remain in the Top 5 before Roland Garros, although it is very possible the King of Clay could win his 8th French Open title without being seeded #1, but a low seed could have him run into fellow members of Cronin's Top 5 clay court list in the quarterfinals or semifinals, which could complicate Rafa's goal to cement his status as the best clay court player of all time.

Last year, Rafa won every tournament he played in on clay except Madrid, where he lost to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco (for the first time in 14 meetings!) on blue clay. (The Madrid Masters will be played on red clay this year.) It's very possible that he could sweep all three clay court ATP Masters tournaments (in Monaco, Madrid and Rome) this year, something he has only done once before, in 2010. In 2010, Nadal was also coming back from an injury lay-off and had his best year on tour winning 3 majors (2010 French Open over Robin Soderling, 2010 Wimbledon over Tomas Berdych and 2010 US Open over Djokovic). Will 2013 be a reprise of 2010? Time will tell.