TENNIS TUESDAY: Laver Cup Goes To Europe Again; Osaka Impresses In Japan; Thiem Wins On 3rd Surface; Nadal Out Until London

LAVER CUP PART DEUX: EUROPE BEATS THE WORLD AGAIN
The second edition of the Laver Cup took place in Chicago last weekend and the result was the same as the first year in Prague. Led by Roger Federer (who has an ownership stake in the event), Team Europe defeated Team World. This time Team Europe featured two of the BIg 4: Federer and Novak Djokovic, who played doubles together (but lost) to the inspired team of Jack Sock and John Isner. Sock showed why he is considered the best doubles player in the world by winning all 3 doubles matches he played for Team World.

OSAKA IMPRESSES BY CONTINUING WIN STREAK  AFTER MAJOR WIN
2018 US Open champion Naomi Osaka continued her win streak to 10 matches, getting to the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open before losing to Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-4.

DOMINIC THIEM WINS INDOOR HARDCOURT TITLE
World #8 Dominic Thiem of Austria won his first indoor hardcourt title in St. Petersburg over the weekend, by defeating Martin Klizan 6-3 6-1. It was Thiem's third title of 2018, in a year in which he reached his first major final in Paris (losing to Rafael Nadal).

NADAL PULLS THE CORD ON THE ASIAN SWING
World #1 Nadal put his top ranking in jeopardy by announcing he would miss the fall indoor swing through Asia, presumably nursing his body to try and make a run at the World Tour Finals in London

2017 WIMBLEDON: Federer Wins Record 8th Wimbledon (19th Major!)

As I predicted, Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic in the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles championship match. Federer  at age 35 won the match  6-3 6-1 6-4 to claim his 19th grand slam title and record-setting 8th Wimbledon title. Even more incredibly, Federer became the oldest Wimbledon champion in the modern era and the second man (after Bjorn Borg did it  1976) to win the title without dropping a set.

Federer has now won 2 majors in 2017 (2017 Australian Open and 2017 Wimbledon) and has an astonishing record of 31-2 for the year and added 5 ATP tour titles (Melbourne, Indian Wells, Miami, Halle, London)  to bring his career haul to 93 titles.
He is 9-0 against fellow Top 10 players and will rise to #3 in the ATP rankings on Monday. He is #2 in the year-long race to the year-end tour championships in London, a mere 500 points behind Rafael Nadal and has zero points to defend for the rest of the year, which means if he really wants it, he could very likely end the year at World #1. If he does so, he would become the oldest player to reach #1, eclipsing Andre Agassi who was 33 when he was #1, and he would tie Pete Sampras' record of six year-end #1's.

TENNIS THURSDAY: Halep,Nole Win Madrid; Murray-Mauresmo Split; Williams Sisters Play Doubles In Rome

HALEP AND DJOKOVIC WIN MADRID MUTUA OPEN
Simona Halep and Novak Djokovic won the latest  warm-up tournament for Roland Garros, the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain. World #2 Halep defeated Dominika Cibulkova and World #1 beat World #2 (and defending champion) Andy Murray in three sets 6-2 3-6 6-3. Murray was coming off an impressive win over Rafael Nadal, becoming the first person to beat the King of Clay in the same clay tournament in consecutive years. Djokovic now has 29 ATP Masters Shields and is tied for 6th on the all-time list with Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg with 64 career ATP titles.

ANDY AND AMELIE ANNOUNCE END OF COACHING RELATIONSHIP
Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo announced a mutual agreement to end their coaching relationship after 2 years together. They are both relatively new parents (Mauresmo gave birth to a son in August, and Andy's wife gave birth to a daughter in February) and apparently the travel demands became too great for her. It was noted by several observers that Jamie Delgado was in Andy's coaching box in Madrid and this announcement was not too much of a surprise. Murray rose to #2 in the world under Mauresmo and was 7-5 in tour finals but was unable to win another major while being coached by the 2-time major champion. It will be interesting to see who Murray selects next. He was hailed for being the rare elite male athlete who had a female coach, and he should get a lot of kudos for that.

VENUS AND SERENA PLAYING DOUBLES IN ROME, PREPARING FOR RIO?
World #1 Serena Williams finally returned to the WTA tour in Rome, winning her first match over Anna-Lena Friedsam. Venus Williams won her first match in Rome as well, defeating Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets but the when the two sisters played doubles (for the first time in nearly two years!) they lost pretty easily, 1-6 5-7 against the team of Katarin Srebotnik and Andreja Klepac. The two do intend to play doubles at the Rio Olympics, where the tennis program runs from August 6-14. The Williams Sisters are the winningest tennis team in Olympics history, with each winning a singles Gold medal (Serena in London in 2012 and Venus in Sydney in 2000) and together they have three golds (Sydney, Beijing and London).

Novak Djokovic Will Soon Have The Highest Win-Loss Percentage Of All Time In Tennis

Novak Djokovic is poised to reach another milestone, just days after he notched his 700th ATP win. He is currently tied with Bjorn Borg with the highest win-loss percentage of all time (82.74%). Borg finished his career with 609 wins and 127 losses (due to retiring early) but Djokovic is currently at 700W-146L, his coach Boris Becker coyly pointed out on Instagram today. (Becker himself is #10 on the all0-time list with a 713W-127L record which is 76.91%).

Novak is currently tied with Borg in another important metric (11 career major titles won) but since the current World #1 is 12-0 for 2016 he is almost certainly going to exceed Borg in both win-loss percentage and total majors won very soon.

If Djokovic does make significant progress toward's Federer's total of 17 majors then the discussion of Greatest of al time will most definitely have to include the Serbian.

2016 AUS OPEN: Djokovic Beats Murray To Win 11th Major (6th Aussie Open Title)

As I predicted, World #1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated World #2 Andy Murray of Great Britain 6-1 7-5 7-6(3) in the men's singles final of the 2016 Australian Open to win his 11th major title, and a record 6th Aussie Open title. Murray lost a record 5th Australian Open title (four to Djokovic and one to Federer.)

Djokovic's win means he now has 11 major titles, tying Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg's tally at #5 on the list of greatest men's single champions. He is behind Roger Federer (17), Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12). He is now 6-0 in finals at the Australian Open and ties Emerson for the most titles in Melbourne.

Djokovic is playing some of the best tennis of his career, and is dominating men's tennis in a way that has been seldom seen in the modern era. Since January 2015, he has a 92-5 record, which matches Roger Federer's 2006 season. In the last 12 months he has reached 17 consecutive tournament finals and has failed to win 3 of them (2015 French Open, 2015 Cincinnati Masters, 2015 Canada Masters). He has won 3 of the last 5 and 5 of the last 7 major tournaments. If he wins the 2016 French Open, he will complete the Nole Slam, and become the first male player to hold all major titles simultaneously in decades and if he's playing that well he just might go on to achieve the calendar grand slam as well.

2015 WIMBLEDON: Djokovic Defeats Federer For 9th Major; 3rd Wimbledon

For the second year in a row, I incorrectly predicted the result of the Wimbledon men's final. Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 7-6(1) 6-7(10) 6-4 6-3 to win his 9th major title and 3rd Wimbledon title. He is now 9-8 in major finals and has pulled even 20-20 in his head-to-head with the Swiss Great by winning Federer-Djokovic XL. He now leads the greatest Grass court player of all time 2-1 on grass!

The match was a nailbiter with Federer playing slightly better in the first set but failing to hold on to na early break and Djokovic saving breakpoints with well-placed serves and then playing a near flawless first tiebreak to steal the first set. The second set was even better with excellent tennis from both players. Djokovic had an amazing seven set points (6 in the tiebreak) but Federer served and volleyed on important point (including his second set point) and grabbed the second. By this pointit was clear that Federer was not going to have an equally transcendent day on serve that he had had against Murray, especially when he got broken despite being up 40-15 in the third game of the third set. Djokovic had sniffs at a second break but was denied. Regardless, he was able to nurse his lead to a 6-4 win of the third set. In the fourth set Djokovic was again able to break early and consolidate the break before a rain delay. After the rain delay it was Djokovic, not Federer who seemed to be playing with more energy and the excitement of the match cooled substantially as the likelihood of a repeat of last year's dramatic run by Federer to force a 5th set seemed unlikely. Djokovic confirmed this by starting to return even better and forced breakpoints that were championship points, winning the second one.

Djokovic is now 8th on the all-time majors won list, pulling ahead of Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors (who have 8 each) but yet still behind greats like Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver (who have 11) and Rafael Nadal and Pete  Sampras (14 each), and of course Federer at 17.

2012 FRENCH OPEN: Rafa Wins Major #11; 7th FO

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Getty

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AP

As predicted, Rafael Nadal won his 7th French Open title and 11th career major title by defeating 5-time major champion Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 2-6 7-5 by coming back  to finish the job 18 hours after play was suspended after the 3rd game of the 4th set with Djokovic up a break.

As in the 1st and 2nd sets, Nadal broke in the first game of play on Monday, although he was extremely lucky when his ball clipped the net and dribbled over to the other side of the net forcing Djokovic to hit the ball with no pace and setting up an easy crosscourt backhand passing shot to even the match. The court was much drier and Nadal's ball was bouncing up high on the court while the Spaniard was slamming the ball within centimeters of the lines. However, then it started raining and Djokovic was able to hang with Nadal through long rallies, but (ominously) he was unable to have an impact on Nadal's service games. Eventually, after 49 minutes of play Nadal earned a breakpoint in the 12th game at 30-40 on Djokovic's serve and the World #1 crumbled and the match ended with a double fault.

With his win, Nadal became the first man to win 7 singles titles at Roland Garros, surpassing the great Bjorn Borg. By winning this 33rd match against Djokovic, he improved to a 19-14 edge, and has now won 3 championship matches in a row (all on clay) after losing 7 consecutive finals (including 3 major titles). Nadal is now 11-5 in major final and is only 5 behind the all-time leader,Roger Federer, while at 26 he is nearly 5 years younger. There's almost no question that Nadal will win more French Open titles, the question is how many more can he win on the other surfaces? Only time will tell whose name will end up being more prominent in the history books.

2012 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Final Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's final at Roland Garros for 2012. This year, I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 1 of 2 women's semifinals. I also correctly predicted 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals this year. This year I also correctly predicted that Maria Sharapova would win the final, and last year I correctly predicted that Rafael Nadal would win the 2011 men's final.

 Novak Djokovic SRB (1) v. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). Here we go again! For the 33rd time in their career and the 10th ATP tour final in a row, Nadal and Djokovic are meeting. Nadal leads the overall head-to-head 18-14 but lost 7 consecutive finals to Djokovic before winning the last two finals the two played (on clay) in Monte Carlo and Rome. The two are meeting in their 4th consecutive major final, with Djokovic having won the first three (2011 Wimbledon, 2011 US Open and 2012 Australian Open) in the sequence, including the last incredible final which lasted nearly six(!) hours. Nadal has beaten Djokovic in a major final (2010 US Open), in  one of most important matches of his career, to win the career slam. Now, Djokovic needs to get through Nadal to reach his career slam.

In fact, Djokovic-Nadal XXXIII is the most important match the two have ever played, and may be the most important the two will ever play in their careers. If Djokovic wins, he not only becomes the 8th man to win the career slam but he will also have the "Nole Slam," having won 4 majors in a row. No man has been able to win 28 Grand Slam matches in a row for 43 years. Before Djokovic did it on Friday by beating him, Roger Federer was the last person to win 27 Grand Slam matches in a row, and he has done it twice in his career. Nadal has won 25 Grand Slam matches in a row, but on Sunday he is playing for a different place in history; to become the winningest player in French Open history with 7 major titles, more than even the great Bjorn Borg.

The match-up on clay is not a good one for Djokovic but he is probably the only active player who even if Nadal plays his best tennis could still beat the King of Clay if he plays his best also. In the major finals played in 2011, because they occurred while Djokovic was repeatedly beating Nadal on every surface, Nadal had a distinct mental disadvantage. Now, having basically had the title on his racquet in Melbourne  and having beaten Djokovic in two consecutive clay court finals in Monte Carlo and Rome and the manner in which he has demolished the rest of the field in Paris (not even facing a set point!) Nadal has erased that mental disadvantage and must relish the chance to turn the tables around where he is the strongest and Djokovic the weakest. After all, Nadal must take comfort that he has been able to beat the Greatest of all Time five times on Court Phillipe Chartrier, including in 4 finals (2011, 2008, 2007, 2006).

In reality, Djokovic also has more pressure on him because the match is more important to his career, but it is balanced by the consensus of expectations, which is that nobody can beat Nadal at Roland Garros right now. Nadal must know that if he doesn't win on Sunday, he will have at least 2-4 chances to win his 7th French Open in the future. But Djokovic has to realize that is very unlikely he will ever have another opportunity to hold all 4 major titles simultaneously.

That being said, Djokovic has a better serve, and is atleast as mentally tough as Nadal, but does he really have the fortitude (both mental and physical) to beat Nadal on his own turf? I'll believe it when I see it.

MadProfessah's pick: Nadal.

2012 FRENCH OPEN Day 13: Date With Destiny

On Day 13 of the 2012 Roland Garros tournament Sara Errani of Italy continued her improbable run by winning the doubles final with her partner and countrywoman Roberta Vinci over the Russian pair of Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko 4-6 6-4 6-2 in about 2 hours. Errani will play in the women's final against Russian Maria Sharapova on Saturday. The two have never met on the WTA tour before.

On the men's side, Day 13 was men's semifinals day and featured matches between players who had met very often. First up was World #6 David Ferrer playing his 20th career match against World #2 Rafael Nadal. The two Spaniards know each other very well, with Ferrer having only won 4 times before and once in 13 meetings on clay. However, even Ferrer must have been surprised by the shellacking he received, eventually only able to win 5 games in 3-sets of tennis, and after Nadal survived two break chances in the 5th game of the first set and raised his game, the winner of the match was never in doubt. The final score was 6-2 6-2 6-1 and is not really indicative of the fact that the 6th best player in the world and probably the world's 4th best clay court player was never really in contention.

The other match of the day was the mouht-watering 26th showdown between 16-time major champion Roger Federer and World #1 Novak Djokovic. Federer lead their head-to-head 14-11 and had beaten Djokovic at this stage last year when both players were playing better tennis than this year. Unfortunately, Federer was not able to repeat last year's magic and this year's semifinal was more like the 2011 Austraian Open semifinal than the 2011 French Open semifinal: a straight sets loss where Federer had opportunities to win sets but Djokovic was able to hold him at bay and finish him off 6-4 7-5 6-3 without expending too much energy.

Both matches ended as I predicted, setting up a history-making final on Sunday. Either Djokovic will win his 28th grand slam match in a row, becoming the first man in over 43 years to accomplish such a task, or Nadal will win his 7th major title at Roland Garros, the most anyone has ever won here, and improve his all-time record to a nonpareil 52-1. Bjorn Borg's record at Roland Garros was 49-2, and the 26-year-old Nadal has already surpassed the record of the man who previous generations thought was the best to ever play on red clay.

Federer Named Greatest Of All Time By TennisChannel

The Tennis Channel has been heavily promoting their countdown of the 100 Greatest (Tennis Players) Of All Time. The list of the 100 best players (men and women combined) as voted on by a panel of experts, former and current players was run through all this week and my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, was named #1, or the G.O.A.T.

The Top 10 are:

1. Roger Federer
2. Rod Laver
3. Steffi Graf
4. Martina Navratilova
5. Pete Sampras
6. Rafael Nadal
7. Bjorn Borg
8. Margaret Court
9. Chris Evert
10. Billie Jean King

Serena Williams ended up at #14 and Andre Agassi, the husband of the Greatest Female Player of all Time (Steffi Graf) was placed at #12. Between them was John McEnroe and Serena's sister Venus Williams was at #22, 4 places ahead of Justine Henin at 26.

The full list is available online.

2011 FRENCH OPEN: Rafa Wins 6th FO, 10th Major

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AFP

AFP 

AFP

Rafael Nadal won his 6th French Open title on Sunday, defeating Roger Federer 7-5 7-6(3) 5-7 6-1 in the championship match. Nadal, 25, now owns 10 major singles titles (6 French, 2 Wimbledon, 1 Australian, 1 U.S. Open) which is 6 less than Federer, 29, but he has reached the double-digit landmark at an age 6-months younger than Federer was. Nadal improved to a 17-8 lifetime career head-to-head against his rival, including a 6-2 edge in major finals and 12-2 in clay court matches.

The match was a high quality affair, as I predicted yesterday, and for the first 40 minutes Federer played nearly flawless tennis, similar to the high level of play he exhibited in dismissing then-unbeaten Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. He eventually earned a set point at 5-2, 40-30 but during a medium-long rally, Federer attempted a backhand drop shot which fell (presumably) a bit wide. I say presumably because for some inexplicable reason Roland Garros continues to be the only tournament without electronic line calling review. That was the last chance Federer had to win that set as Nadal stopped making errors for a string of seven games and Federer's service percentage plummeted from the stratospheric heights of 80% to a mere mortal's 50% and by the time the run ended Nadal was up 7-5 2-0. Amazingly, Federer was able to start crawling back from 2-4 down and after a brief rain delay at 7-5 5-4 deuce with Nadal serving he was able to break back and force a 2nd set tiebreaker.

In the second set tie-breaker Federer's serve abandoned him and he quickly fell behind 0-4 and was lucky to only lose it 7-3. In the third set Nadal got an early break and led 4-2 when surprisingly Federer was able to make another run and win the set 7-5. He started the 4th set with 0-40 on Nadal's serve who made an adjustment and started going for much more on his serve and was able to hold his serve. Federer held as well at 0-1 and that was the last game he won as his forehand started to misfire (his backhand was surprisingly solid throughout the entire match).

Federer played well, but he had 42 winners (plus 11 aces) to 56 errors (only 1 double fault) compared to Nadal's 35 winners (plus 4 aces) and 27 errors. There were long stretches of play where Nadal did not commit a single unforced error. His defense was jaw-dropping, repeatedly throwing up desperate lobs that seemed to go into orbit which Federer had to let drop and allowed the King of Clay to restart the point. That defense and Nadal's decision to increase his service percentage but decrease the service speed was one of the key differences to Nadal winning the match.

2011 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Final Preview

FFT

Roger Federer SUI (3) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (1). For the 25th time, the Spanish lefty and the Swiss righty who have dominated men's tennis for the last 7 years will meet in an ATP tour match, with Nadal maintaining a 2:1 winning ratio, 16-8. The two have met in 7 major finals (3 in Paris, 3 in London and 1 in Melbourne) so far, with Nadal leading 5-2 (only losing the 2006 Wimbledon and 2007 Wimbledon finals). The vast majority of their meetings have occurred in championship matches, often when the two were ranked #1 and #2 in the world. In these 18 finals, Nadal leads 12-6, and 9-2 in the clay court finals.


Federer won one of his best clay court matches ever on Friday when he ended Novak Djokovic's undefeated year with a 7-6(5) 6-3 3-6 7-6(5) victory. He served astonishingly well, with 65% first serves in and 18 aces (including one on match point) compared to a mere 2 double faults. Federer defended well, gliding around the court as if he was not a father of nearly 2-year-old twin girls and strongly hitting his topspin backhand down the line and knifing the backhand slice.


The perplexing problem is that the match up between Nadal's game on clay and Federer's game greatly favors the Spaniard. Nadal's topspin forehand jumps up high to Federer's backhand side, making it difficult for Federer to defend that side. Although Federer's forehand cross-court outmatches Nadal's backhand cross-court it is often very difficult for the Swiss player to win points that way due to Nadal's ferocious defensive skills. The two wins on clay that Federer has in his career over "The King of Clay" arguably came when Nadal was not at his best physically (2009 Madrid) or a court on which Federer was incredibly confident (2007 Hamburg). The last time they played the final in 2008, Nadal mercilessly pummeled the Swiss player, relegating him to a mere 4 games in a 3-set match, 6-1 6-3 6-0.


I do think that the match tomorrow will be their closest Roland Garros contest, maybe even a 4-set or 5-set affair, but in the end Nadal's 43-1 dominance on the court will prevail, allowing the World #1 to tie Borg's record of 6 clay court majors.


PREDICTION: Nadal.

2011 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Fabio Fognini won his marathon 4th round match to a chorus of boos and cheers and
then withdrew from the tournament prior to playing the biggest match of his career.

(Photo credit:  Benoit Tessier, REUTERS)

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2011 French Open. Last year, I correctly predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly.

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) vs. Robin Soderling SWE (5). The dream quarterfinal. Rafael Nadal has only ever lost one match at Roland Garros, and it was to his quarterfinal opponent, the World #5 tall, muscular Swede Robin Soderling. He defeated the 4-time defending champion in 2009, in one of the greatest upsets in sports of the last decade; Soderling followed up that upset by repeating it the following year by beating the defending champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals to end Federer's incredible streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals. Nadal does not appear to be playing his best tennis this year but still must be considered the favorite considering his overall clay court record. However, Nadal's confidence must  be shaken by his two recent losses to Djokovic in two clay court Masters finals this season. Soderling does not lack confidence, and if he plays his best tennis against Nadal's not-best tennis, he will repeat his 2009 result. If Nadal plays at his 2010 level, then the defending champion should get through and possibly win a 6th Roland Garros title, tying Bjorn Borg's record. PREDICTION: Soderling in 4 sets.  

Andy Murray GBR (4) vs. Juan Ignacio Chela ARG. Andy Murray's dream draw turned into a nightmare during his 3rd round victory over a lefty qualifier Michael Berrer when he badly twisted his ankle in a 3-set win. He started his next round gingerly, losing the first 5 games of his 4th round match with Serbian Viktor Troicki. The World #4 came within one point of drawing even in the first set but ultimately ended up losing the first two sets 6-4 6-4. However, his movement and attitude visibly improved  and he was able to force a fifth and deciding set before darkness fell. I presume he will be able to win the deciding fifth set when play resumes on Tuesday and should have no problem dismissing the 31-year-old Argentine clay court specialist playing in his 3rd career major quarterfinal on Thursday. PREDICTION: Murray in 3 sets. 

Gael Monfils FRA (9) vs. Roger Federer SUI (3). Federer continues to write his name in the tennis record books by reaching his 28th consecutive major quarterfinal with an efficient dispatch of countryman Stanislas Wawrinka in the 4th round. While Djokovic is winning universal acclaim and attention by continuing his flawless 2011 season, Federer continues to demonstrate why he has been at the upper echelon of men's tennis for the last seven consecutive years. There are few players in the Top 10 who have even played 28 consecutive major tournaments, and Federer has been in the last 8 or better in 28 consecutive major tournaments. His opponent is the Pride of France, "La Monf" who is in his 3rd quarterfinal at Roland Garros in 4 years. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he has never won a match on clay against Federer. In fact, last fall in front of a Paris crowd, Monfils won his first match ever (in 6 tries) against the Swiss Great when he saved an incredible 5 match points and went on to win one of the best matches of the year in three tiebreak sets. However, getting through a tough 5-set against the always hard-to-beat David Ferrer in the 4th round was another indicator that the excessively talented, prodigiously athletic Monfils' results may start matching his potential. Federer is yet to lose a set in his 2011 appearance at Roland Garros, and while I expect that streak to end, I also expect he will again find a way to yet another major semifinal and a historic showdown with Novak Djokovic. PREDICTION:  Federer in 4 sets.

Fabio Fognini ITA vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (2). The quarterfinal that wasn't. The puckishly handsome Italian showed he was more than just a pretty face by outlasting clay court specialist Albert Montanes 11-9 in the fifth set despite being unable to move due to suffering a muscle tear (or cramps?) in his leg at 5-6, 15-30. Fognini basically started blasting winners into all the corners on the court to erase 5 match points and controversially emerged with the win. However, he knew that he would have no chance against the red-hot Serbian who has yet to lose  a match in 2011 and thus withdrew (on advice of his doctors, who confirmed a 1cm muscle tear via MRI). This is both good news and bad news for Djokovic. It means that he is at least one round further in the tournament than he was last year, which is good news for his campaign to become World #1. He just needs to win one more match to reach his first French Open final and he will attain this goal of being acknowledged (by the computer) as the #1 player in the world. All Djokovic has to do is either beat 16-time major champion Roger Federer or hometown favorite Gael Monfils coming off the biggest win of his career in the semifinals on Friday. Getting to this point via walkover is bad news for Djokovic because he doesn't get credit for the win, so his streak remains at 41-0 for 2011 and that means he can only break John McEnroe's 1984 streak of 42-0 by winning the entire tournament. Plus it means he has a bizarre 4-day break in the middle of a major tournament after playing 3 consecutive days. It will be interesting to see what, if any, these factors have on Djokovic's play in the semifinal. I suspect nothing will deny Djokovic's date with destiny.

Federer Defends Cincy Title Over Fish

Roger Federer won his first non-major final of the year after losing 3 finals in a row (on 3 different surfaces: Madrid to Rafael Nadal, Halle to Lleyton Hewitt and Toronto to Andy Murray) in Cincinnati on Sunday over American Mardy Fish. The title was his 53rd overall, tying Bjorn Borg on the all-time list at 5th. It was Federer's 17th ATP Masters series title, tying Andre Agassi but still one behind Nadal's 18.

Federer has now won the Cincinnati title in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010. Next year it will become a combined male-female 8-day event (immediately following simultaneous men's and women's tournaments in Toronto and Montreal).

The match with Fish was a close, high-quality 3-set affair featuring 2 tiebreaks, one break of serve and only 6 breakpoints between the two players. The final score was 6-7(5) 7-6(1) 6-4. In the first set, Federer had 4 breakpoints and failed to convert any of them due to brilliant serving by Fish. Federer faced one breakpoint in the second set but was able to get through to a tiebreak. In the first set tiebreaker Federer held a 5-4 lead, but Fish played a brilliant point to even the breaker at 5-all and Federer played a loose point to be down 6-5. Fish won the first set on a service winner. In the second set tiebreaker Federer was much sharper, jumping to a quick 4-1 lead and never looked in danger of losing that breaker. The only break in the match came in the 9th game of the third set where, for once, after facing a break point Fish was unable to make a first serve and eventually lost the breakpoint and the game, and eventually the match when Federer served it out pretty easily on his second match point.

FRENCH OPEN 2010: Nadal Wins 5th FO; Retakes #1

Rafael Nadal won his 7th career major title and 5th French Open crown by defeating Robin Soderling 6-4 6-2 6-4. By doing so, he will reclaim the World #1 ranking, denying his arch-rival Roger Federer his record-tying 286th week at #1.

Nadal did not lose an entire set in the tournament, not even facing a set point with the only tiebreak set was against unheralded Jurgen Melzer in the semifinals. In the championship match he had a mere 16 errors and 28 winners, including 7 aces. Soderling played very well in patches but Nadal's defense was impeccable and jaw-dropping, saving all 8 breakpoints he faced.

Soderling had finally beaten Federer in the quarterfinals and survived a 5-set thriller against Tomas Berdych to reach his second consecutive Roland Garros final.

WIMBLEDON 2009: Federer Wins Record 15th Major

Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick 5-7 7-6(6) 7-6(5) 3-6 16-14 to win his 6th Wimbledon title and 15th major title overall.