TENNIS TUESDAY: Barty Gets WTA #1; Feliciano Wins Singles (and Doubles!) in Queens; Andy Returns With Doubles Crown

FELICIANO LOPEZ WINS RARE SINGLES-DOUBLES DOUBLE AT QUEENS
37-year-old Feliciano Lopez, ranked 113 in the world at the beginning of the week won all 8 matches he contested in the singles and doubles this week to become the first person since Mark Phillipoussis in 1997 to win the singles and doubles title. He defeated Gilles Simon 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(2) to win the singles title for the 2nd time in three years. It was his 3rd final at Queens, and all three had gone to a deciding championship tiebreaker. Teamed up with 32-year-old Andy Murray, the two beat the #1 seeds in their first match and won the championship match despite having to finish the quarterfinal and semifinal on Saturday night (after Lopez won his semifinal singles match against 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime in 3 sets). Following this historic performance, Lopez rose 60(!) spots to #53 in the world in singles.

ASH BARTY GRABS #1 RANKING THREE WEEKS AFTER WINNING FIRST MAJOR
Just a few weeks after winning her very first major in Paris on her least-favorite surface, Ash Barty became only the second female Australian tennis player to reach World #1 on the WTA tour (after Evonne Goolagong Cawley) spent two weeks at the top spot in the 1970s. Amazingly, Barty had a zero ranking a mere 3 years ago, after her sabbatical from tennis to play cricket in her native Queensland. Barty deposed Naomi Osaka, whose 21 weeks at #1 already have her tied with Maria Sharapova and Tracy Austin and ahead of multi-slam winners like Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Kim Clijsters. Barty defeated her double partner Julia Goerges in straight sets to win the Birmingham tournament and get enough points to reach #1. Barty is on a 12-match winning streak and will be seeded #1 at Wimbledon.

LOPEZ AND ANDY MURRAY WIN QUEENS DOUBLES TITLE
Just 5 months after undergoing hip surgery following a tearful press conference which most observers thought was his retirement from professional tennis, Andy Murray teamed up with Feliciano Lopez to win his 3rd double title of his career. He also announced that he would be playing doubles at Wimbledon with Pierre-Hughes Herbert (who made the semifinals of Halle last week) and was actively looking for a female partner to enter the Wimbledon mixed doubles, having been turned down by Ash Barty and Kiki Mladenovic. I hope Venus takes his call!

GRASS COURT SEASON: LOPEZ, GOFFIN, SIMON, FEDERER, AUGER-ALIASSIME, BERRETINI SPARKLE
Federer won his 19th career grass court  title, extending his lead in this category, by claiming his 10th trophy in Halle, Germany. Other veterans like Gilles Simon and David Goffin both reached grass-court finals (l. Lopez and l. Federer, respectively) and each gained 10 ranking positions which will ensure that they are seeded at Wimbledon. And of course Lopez showed that he loves the grass courts at Queens Club with his incredible performance to win both singles and doubles. youngsters Felix Auger-Aliassime and Matteo Berretini clearly have bright futures on the surface as well.

Weekend Tennis: Grass Finals Set: Federer-Goffin, Lopez-Simon, Barty-Georges, Kenin-Bencic (Birmingham)

The grass court season (which is basically a month long) is in full swing. Wimbledon starts July 1 but nutil then there's a fair number of warm-up tournaments going on, generally in Europe. This weekend there are finals in London (Queen's Club), Birmingham, Halle and Mallorca.

HALLE: FEDERER FACES DAVID GOFFIN IN RECORD THIRTEENTH FINAL
Roger Federer is into his thirteenth final in Halle, Germany, where he has a 9-3 record, after defeating Pierre-Hughes Herbert in the semifinals. The person who will try to prevent the 20-time major champion from winning his 10th Halle crown is Belgian David Goffin, who stopped the amazing win streak of Matteo Berretini (who won Stuttgart last week) in his semifinal. Federer is 7-1 against Goffin and is the favorite in this match. My Pick: Federer.

LONDON: LOPEZ FACES SIMON IN SINGLES FINAL, IN DOUBLES FINAL WITH MURRAY
There are some great stories at the 2019 edition of the Queen's Club tournament, Andy Murray, with a brand-new metal hip is into the doubles final with partner Feliciano Lopez in his very first tournament after a 5 month layoff following hip replacement surgery. Murray has announced he will play Wimbledon doubles with Pierre-Hughes Herbert and that he is actively looking for a mixed doubles partner (Ash Barty turned him down). 37-year-old Lopez is an amazing story himself, having reached the final of Queen's Club for the 3rd time by defeating someone less than half his age, the 18-year-old Canadian phenom Felix Auger-Aliassime (who defeated Dimitrov, Kyrgios and Tsitsipas in 24 hours) in 3 sets 6-7(3) 6-3 6-3. There Lopez will face Gilles Simon, who has been wearing down his opponents with his metronomic style of play. Every match Simon played this week have gone the distance and some have been well over 3 hours. Lopez holds a 5-2 advantage and has won every meeting the two have had on grass. My Pick: Lopez.

BIRMINGHAM: BARTY FACES DOUBLES PARTNER GOERGES FOR TITLE AND WORLD #1 RANKING
2019 French Open champion Ash Barty is a handful of points behind World #1 Naomi Osaka in the rankings but if she wins her next match the Australian will be the new World #1 on Monday. To do that she has to continue playing well on her best surface, by beating her doubles partner Julia Georges (who is now slouch on grass herself, having reached the 2018 Wimbledon semifinals). The two have an even head-to-head but Goerges beat Barty at this very tournament last year. The two were scheduled to play their doubles final together but Barty pulled out with an "injury" presumably demonstrating hos important she's taking this match. My Pick: Barty.

MALLORCA: KENIN FACES BENCIC IN SURPRISE FINAL
This Bencic-Kenin final is not a final showdown anyone expected. Anastasija Sevastova had made the final in Mallorca 3 consecutive years (winning in 2017) but American Sonia Kenin ended that streak in the semifinals. Reigning Wimbledon champ Angelique Kerber has looked sharp on grass all week (starting with an imperious dismissal of Maria Sharapova) but lost to the always-dangerous Belinda Bencic. The two have never met before so I would give the edge to the 22-year-old Swiss over the 20-year-old American. My Pick: Bencic.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer, Lopez, Kvitova, Win On Grass; Djokovic-Agassi Duo Set For Wimby; McEnroe Puts Foot In Mouth (Again)

GRASS COURT SEASON CONTINUES WITH FEDERER, KVITOVA, LOPEZ WINNING TITLES
The 2017 grass court season (all 3 weeks of it!) continued into its 2nd week and ended with some people with strong grass court credentials doing quite well. 7-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer reached his 11th final at Halle and won his 9th title, defeating Sacha Zverev in two humiliating sets 6-1 6-3. A 2-time Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, playing in only her second tournament after suffering a violent home invasion which led to her left hand being stabbed with a knife and a 6-month hiatus from tennis. Kvitova defeated Ash Barty in the finals of Birmingham 4-6 6-3, 6-2. However, the performance of the week was provided by 35-year-old Spanish hunk Feliciano Lopez, who saved match points in not one but two different contests on the way to  winning the Queen's Club tournament. The best was saved for last, with Lopez beating 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(8) in dramatic fashion. 3 year ago, Lopez had lost the final to Grigor Dimitrov after holding a match point.

AGASSI TO RETURN TO COACH DJOKOVIC AGAIN, THIS TIME AT WIMBLEDON
And they said it wouldn't last. 8-time major champion Andre Agassi will return to the coaching box for the second consecutive major tournament to provide advice and support to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, it was announced this week. And this time Agassi will be able to be in attendance for all 7 matches, if the 3-time Wimbledon champion gets that far. (Djokovic lost in the 3rd round against Sam Querrey last year, signalling a sharp change of fortune for someone who at the time was the reigning champion of all 4 major tournaments.)

MCENROE ATTEMPTS TO SELL BOOKS BY DENIGRATING SERENA WILLIAMS
John Mcenroe has a new edition of his memoir coming out and is doing a media tour. Unfortunately, he was asked about Serena Williams by NPR and while he acknowledged that she is "no question" the "best female player ever" he also raised hackles by saying this: "Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world." Lots of Serena fans thought this was disrespectful, although Serena herself has said that men's tennis and women's tennis are completely different sports, she hit back at McEnrroe by saying "Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based." I think htat's the equivalent of saying "Bless your heart" in the South!

2016 WIMBLEDON: Djokovic Upset By American Sam Querrey In 3rd Round!

The calendar Grand Slam will not happen in 2016! American Sam Querrey defeated 12-time major champion and World #1 Novak Djokovic  7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 7-6(5). Despite achieving the Nole Slam by winning the last four major tournaments (2015 Wimbledon. 2015 US Open, 2016 Australian, 2016 French Open) his streak of wins at the Grand Slam tournaments has stopped at 30 and his earliest loss at a major since the 2009 French Open. His streak of 28 quarterfinals in a row is now over, as well as his streak of 6 major finals in a row and 9 semifinals in a row.

Although Djokovic lost the match, a lot of credit must be given to Sam Querrey for going out and winning it, primarily by saving 14 of 17 breakpoints during the last two sets, mostly by serving big on the pressure points. Despite starting the 4th set tiebreak (hitting two nervous errors to go down 1-3, he fought back to even it at 3-all, getting the best of the World #1 in two twenty-plus rallies. Querrey eventually got to 6-5 on his serve (after Djokovic saved his first match point with a service ace) and when Djokovic hit a forehand error, the 28-year-old American had the biggest win of his career and the biggest upset of 2016. The World #1 had only lost one other completed match this year (against Jiri Vesely on clay in Monte Carlo). Djokovic had retired with an eye infection against Feliciano Lopez in the Dubai semifinals earlier this year for his only other official loss of the year.

We will have a new Wimbledon champion in 2016. How will #2 Andy Murray handle being the favorite for the first time at a major, especially Wimbledon? Time will tell. Murray is into the Round of 16, where he will face the winner of Nick Kyrgios or Feliciano Lopez, who split the first two sets in their 3rd round match, which will be completed on Sunday, where play will occur for the first time since 2004.

2015 US OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [19] Marin Cilic (CRO) [9]. Proving that last year's title run here was no fluke, Marin Cilic outlasted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinal by winning the fifth set 6-4 despite blowing a 2-0 set lead. It's somewhat unfortunate that the draw has produced Djokovic-Cilic and Federer-Wawrinka instead of Djokovic-Wawrinka and Federer-Cilic. This alternate draw would be more suspenseful because those in those matchups the higher ranked player has lost to the lower ranked player in important meetings (Wawrinka beat Djokovic in the finals of the 2015 French Open and Cilic beat Federer in the semifinals of the 2014 U.S. Open. However, what we have instead is a pair of matches where the higher ranked player has a clear head-to-head advantage. Djokovic leads Cilic 13-0 and Federer leads Wawrinka 16-3. The last meeting between  Cilic and Djokovic was at Wimbledon and was a pretty routine win by the World #1. A win here will let Djokovic reach his 4th major final of 2015, and his 8th final in the last 10 majors (where he has been 3-4). For such a great hard court player he deserves another opportunity to demonstrate his prowess in New York. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [5].  This should be the more compelling and emotionally resonant of the two major semifinals played. Things are always complicated when two players from the same country compete on the world stage and the dynamics between Federer and Wawrinka are in a transitional state. For almost a decade, Wawrinka has been looking up to Federer, not really believing he was his equal and but in the last 8 majors played Wawrinka has won twice and Federer has won none. Combined with the fact that in their last meeting Wawrinka essentially blasted Federer off the court at Roland Garros this year on his way to winning his 2nd major. It's hard to believe that Wawrinka can duplicate such a performance, especially on the hard courts of New York where Federer has won 5 times (although he has not been in a final here since losing to Juan Martin del Potro in 2009). That being said, if Donald Young could win a 6-1 set against Wawrinkain the 4th round then I am fairly confident that Federer will be able to beat even the new and improved Wawrinka, Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

2015 US OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the US Open for 2015. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year I have also predicted the women's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP) [19] Rafael Nadal (ESP) [8]. It was expected that the World #1 would have to face a Spanish lefty in this quarterfinal, but Feliciano Lopez was not the Spanish lefty that the draw would have indicated would have made it this far. Thanks to a career-best performance by Fabio Fognini on Friday night, the 14-time major champion Rafael Nadal was bounced from the last major tournament of the year. However, as is often the case, Fognini could not recover from such a huge win in time to build on it, and instead went down in straight sets (blowing a 4-1 lead in the 2nd set) two days later to Lopez. Although Lopez was the initial beneficiary of Fognini's upset of Nadal, ultimately it will almost certainly accrue to Djokovic's benefit, because he is playing someone whom he has never lost to in 5 meetings (although they have not faced each other since 2012 but even so, Djokovic leads the set count 11-1). Lopez gets some great pop on his serve and is a good volleyer, but his backhand side is simply not a Top 20 shot and Djokovic is talented enough to direct many, many shots to that wing to make this match up a mismatch. This is Djokovic's 26th consecutive major quarterfinal, a positively Federian statistic. A win here will let Djokovic reach his 8th consecutive U.S. Open semifinal, which, somewhat bizarrely, he has only won once (in 2011, when he also won the Australian and Wimbledon) Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [19] Kei Nishikori (JPN) [4] vs Marin Cilic (CRO) [9].  This quarterfinal was predicted to be a reprise of last year's major final, with the defending champion attempting to get revenge for the defeat he had against Nishikori at the Citi open in Washington. However, despite winning the U.S. open final, Cilic is 3-6 career against Nishikori lifetime so he actually caught a big break when Nishikori was bounced out of the tournament by his Frenchman Benoit Paire, who  is the person Tsonga eliminated in straight sets to reach this quarterfinal. Tsonga has been playing excellent, efficient tennis through four rounds: he has not had his service broken in the 12 sets he has played and won so far. Cilic on the other hand has lost three sets in his last two rounds, although he has been winning the decisive set each time by a dominating margin. Somewhat surprisingly, Cilic has a distinct advantage in their career head-to-head and is currently sporting a 4-1 lead.  However, Tsonga dominated their first two earlier meetings on the challenger tour and their hard court matches have always been close. This should be a cracker of a match. I definitely believe Tsonga has the weapons to beat anyone on the day that all his weapons are working at maximum effect. If he does so, he will reach his seventh career semifinal (his first at the U.S. Open--Cilic only has one career semifinal, but then he went on to win the tournament). Mad Professah's pick: Tsonga.

Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [5] vs Andy Murray (GBR) [3] Kevin Anderson (RSA) [15]. The tall South African player has been getting closer and closer to his first major quarterfinal, despite having lost seven previous 4th round matches at majors, including at Wimbledon this year where he led the defending champion Noval Djokovic 2-sets-to-0 up and was at 5-all in the 5th set before succumbing to the eventual tournament winner. It must have seemed like deja-vu when Anderson won the first two sets against Andy Murray on Monday evening but despite Murray winning a 3rd set tiebreak, he could not win a 4th set tiebreaker, and thus his string of 18 major quarterfinal appearances ended in a dramatic 7-6(5) 6-3 6-7(2) 7-6(0) that lasted well more than four hours. and delighted and entertained the capacity-plus crowd on Louis Armstrong stadium (including  yours truly!) Thus Anderson will play 2-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, who dismissed American lefty Donald Young in four sets. Could Anderson's breakthrough against Murray duplicate Marin Cilic's breakthrough last year? Cilic had never beaten Gilles Simon in 5 meetings and won a tough 5-setter against the French player and used that confidence to win his first major title, beating two Top 5 players along the way. Anderson actually has a 4-3 head-to-head edge against Wawrinka, and has won the last 4 matches he played against him, including at Queen's Club, just a few months ago. However, the two have never played in a major (best-of-five set match) before. You have to believe that Anderson must believe that he can beat just about anyone at this point, considering his recent results, and this is a winnable match for him. I think that pressure may get to him, and I suspect Wawrinka will use his experience in these situations to pull through. Mad Professah's pick: Wawrinka.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs Tomas Berdych (CZE) [6] Richard Gasquet (FRA) [12].  Amazingly, in both men's matches I managed to be in the audience for on Labor Day there were surprising upsets (where the  lower seed one). Gasquet has been playing excellent tennis all summer, as his Wimbledon semifinal indicates, but I doubt very many people thought that the Frenchman would get past the tall Ccech player despite their even head-to-head at 6-all. Because, the Murray match was so long and it's conclusion coincided with the beginning of the Federer match, Louis Armstrong was deserted b the crowd and barely a few hundred hard-core fans (like yours truly!) stuck around to watch this important match. Happily, this meant I was able to view the match from courtside! Gasquet's backhand and movement is very impressive but what won him this match was his impeccable serving. After blowing the first set, Gasquet dominated the next 3, winning 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-1. This is great news for Federer, because he is 14-6 against Berdych but 14-2 against Gasquet. Gasquet has only been in two major semifinals in his career, while Federer has been in a record 37 (6 more than Jimmy Connors previous record) and he is clearly not finished breaking records, especially here in New York. Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

2015 FRENCH OPEN Round 1: Dimitrov(10), Lopez(11), Bouchard(6), Aga(14), Venus(15) All Lost

The first round of the 2015 French Open is now complete and there have been only a limited number of upsets.

On the men's side #10 seed Grigor Dimitrov was upset by American Jack Sock and #11 seed Feliciano Lopez was upset by Teimaruz Gabashvilli.

On the women's side the horrible 2015 season for Agnieska Radwanska and Eugenie Bouchard continues with embarrassing first round losses at Roland Garros. Bouchard is the #6 seed and in 2014 reached the semifinals of the first 3 majors of the year. Unfortunately for her, her 2015 results have been very different and she somewhat predictably lost her first round match to Kiki Mladenovic.

However the marquee match-up of the first round was probably between 7-time major champion Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens. Venus is the #15 seed in the tournament and Stephens is a dangerous floater in the draw who avoided being seeded but has had consistently good results in Paris the last two years. Clay is Venus' is worst surface and she was the oldest player in the men's or women's draw (34 years old). The two played high quality tennis for most of the first set until they got to a tie break where Venus inexplicably hit 4 unforced errors after getting a lead and lost it 7-6(4). Venus then continued to spray the ball and lost the second set 6-1.

The favorites Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep all got through their first round matches relatively easily with only Kvitova dropping a set.

TENNIS TUESDAY: #Deliciano Closes In On Top 10; Masha Beats Vika; Serena-Sloane Clash In the Desert

Feliciano Lopez Reaches Career High #12 Ranking
Feliciano Lopez, at age 33, is playing some of the best tennis of his career. He is currently ranked #12 on the ATP Tour, the highest ranking of his career. He has won 4 career titles so far, with two of them coming at the Wimbledon warmup in Eastbourne the last two years.

Sharapova-Azarenka Rivalry Now Even At 7-All
Former Indian Wells champions met in the third round of this year's tournaments and even though the score was 6-4 6-3, it took the Russian #2 six match points to put the 2-time Australian Open champion out of the tournament. The win levels the career head-to-head between Vika and Masha at 7-all.

Serena Returns To Indian Wells, Will Meet Sloane Stephens For QF Spot
The last time fellow Americans Sloane Stephens and Serena Williams met was the 2013 quarterfinals of the Australian Open and it was the announcement of Stephens arrival on the big stage of women's tennis. The last two years have not been good for the younger American, now ranked #42 but she has been playing well this week, dismissing Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova in her last two rounds. I'm sure Serena will be extra-motivated to make a statement in this match. She didn't end her 14-year boycott of this tournament to lose in the round of 16!

Kei Nishikori and Andy Murray Tussle For World #4
Kei Nishikori and Andy Murray have been battling back and forth for the #4 spot on the ATP Tour. Currently, Murray leads by a razor thin 10 points. (By comparison, World #1 Novak Djokovic is literally thousands of points ahead of World #2 Roger Federer). It will be interesting to see if Kei can permanently disrupt the Big Four hold on the top of Men's Tennis.

2015 AUS OPEN Day 2: Williams Sisters Sail Through 1st Rd; Kei,Milos,Woz,Kvitova,Aggie Also Thru

Day 2 of the 2015 Australian Open featured appearances by several Americans, led by Venus Williams and Serena Williams, who both won their first round matches in straight sets, losing only 4 matches each.

Other notable winners on Day 2 were Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, Feliciano Lopez (10-8 in the 5th against American Dennis Kudla), Gael Monfils on the men's side. On the women's side local favorites Samantha Stosur and Casey Dellacqua won their first round match, as did tournament favorites Aggie Radwanska and Petra Kvitova won while there were a few more surprising upsets with good hard-court players Jelena Jankovic(15), Andrea Petkovic(13) and  Flavia Pennetta(12) all succumbing to much lower-ranked opponents.

In the two popcorn matches of the day, Vika Azarenka dispatched Sloane Stephens in straight sets, while young American lefty Taylor Townsend acquitted herself well in her loss to Caroline Wozniacki.

2014 ROGERS CUP: Tsonga Beats 3rd Consecutive Top 10 Player, Can He Top Federer In Final?

As expected, World #3 Roger Federer continued his unbeaten record against Feliciano Lopez, as did Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Grigor Dimitrov. It was Federer's 11th consecutive win against the Spaniard and Tsongas 4th consecutive win against the Bulgarian. It was also the Frenchman's 3rd consecutive Top 10 win in as many matches this week. He has beaten World #1 Nivak Djokovic, World #9 Andy Murray and World #8 Grigor Dimitrov. I actually expected Dimitrov to  turn things around against Tsonga, but instead he lost in straight sets.

Federer has a 11-4 head-to-head advantage against Tsonga and will be playing in his 120th career ATP Tour final, trying for his 80th title. Tsonga is playing in his 20th final, trying for his 11th title

MadProfessah's pick: Federer!

2014 ROGERS CUP: Tsonga Beats Djokovic AND Murray, Faces Dimitrov In Semi, Federer-Lopez In Other

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his first two matches against Top 10 players this year at the Rogers Cup in Toronto this week, beating World #1 Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-2 and following that up with an epic comeback down 0-3 in the final set to beat Andy Murray 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4. His reward? A third top 10 player in Grigor Dimitrov who saved 2 match points in his 3rd set tiebreaker to sneak past Kevin Anderson 5-7 7-5 7-6(6). Tsonga is 3-0 against Dimitrov but has not played the Bulgarian phenom since 2011.

In the other semifinal. Roger Federer will face Feliciano Lopez. On his 33rd birthday yesterday, Federer defeated David Ferrer for the 15th time in a row, while Lopez outlasted Milos Raonic. Federer has a 10-0 lifetime head to head against the Spaniard.

MadProfessah's picks: Federer versus Dimitrov.

2014 WIMBLEDON: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2014. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals. This year I have so far correctly predicted 1 of 2 women's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Marin Cilic (CRO) [26]. The #1 seed has been playing excellent tennis against high-quality opponents like Radek Stepanek, Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Djokovic has never lost to Cilic in nine previous meetings, but in their tenth meeting (first on grass) he faces an improved and re-committed Marin Cilic, now coached by former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic. Cilic is brimming with confidence himself, since  he took out 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the 3rd round. I do believe that Cilic believes that he can win this match, and he will probably will one and possibly two sets, but I find it extremely unlikely he will be able to win three against the 5-time major champion. PREDICTION: Djokovic.

Andy Murray (GBR) [3] vs. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [11]. These two have played each other four times on tour and even though the defending Wimbledon champion leads their head-to-head  3-1, the last time these two met (on the hard courts of Acapulco) the younger player prevailed. Dimitrov survived a tough 5-set battle with Aleksandr Dologopolov but otherwise has been moving through the draw smoothly. He even established his grass court bonafides by winning a Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Birmingham this year. Dimitrov is playing in his first Wimbledon quarterfinal while Murray is playing in his seventh. Since achieving any British player's career dream by winning Wimbledon last year, Murray has not even reached a final anywhere on tour. However, now that he is back at the All-England Club he has yet to drop a set. I suspect that streak will be broken during this match, but that will not prevent Murray from reaching his 6th consecutive Wimbledon semifinal. PREDICTION: Murray.

Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [5]  vs. Roger Federer (SUI) [4]. These two countrymen (and good friends) have met 15 times before with Federer only losing twice. Although, like the Murray-Dimitrov match-up, it is significant to note that their most recent meeting (in the Monte Carlo Masters Final) was won by the underdog in their rivalry. The two have met three times in major tournaments and Federer has won all of these meetings but all of these matches were played before Stan won his maiden slam this year in Melbourne (over Federer's arch nemesis, coincidentally) and none on grass. Federer is playing some vintage grass-court tennis; he has yet to have his serve broken in the tournament and thus has not dropped a set. Wawrinka has not only dropped a set, he was actually pretty lucky to win two tiebreak sets against the excellent grass-court tennis of Feliciano Lopez in the 4th round. I would be surprised if there are any tiebreaks in this meeting, but I do think there will be breaks of service. Federer is playing for history: if he wins he will extend his own record of major semifinals to an astonishing 35, and thus give himself an opportunity to reach an even more astonishing 25 major finals and perhaps win his 18th major.  PREDICTION: Federer. 

 Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs. Milos Raonic (CAN) [8].  Kyrgios is the first teenager to beat a World #1 at a major tournament since Rafael Nadal (the man he just beat!) beat Roger Federer in the 2005 French Open semifinals on his way to winning his first major title. It must be somewhat annoying to Raonic, who has been touted as one of members of the vanguard of the next generation of ATP stars to see so much ink spilled over Kyrgios' flashy debut on the world tennis stage.  After all Raonic is now ranked World #9 and is playing in his second major career quarterfinal while Kyrgios is ranked outside the Top 100 and has only won 7 ATP tour-level matches all year long. The two played for the first time in the 2nd round of Roland Garros a few weeks ago where Raonic won in straight sets (although one of those sets did go to a tiebreak). Despite the youngster's amazing dismissal of the 14-time major champion the round before, I believe the 23-year-old Canadian will win, since it is even harder to play the match of your life two days in a row. PREDICTION: Raonic. 

TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer, Ivanovic, Dimitrov Win Grass Court Titles

Roger Federer won his 79th career ATP title (14th grass court title) by winning his 7th title in 9 finals in Halle Germany by defeating Colombian lefty Alejandro Falla 7-6(2) 7-6(3). Federer has also won the grass court major tournament, i.e. Wimbledon 7 times as well. It was Federer's 957 tour win, 3rd on the all-time list. He is only behind Ivan Lendl at #2 (1071) and Jimmy Connors at #1 (1253). Federer is 79 and 39 in tour finals. His nemesis Rafael Nadal was defeated by Dustin Brown in the round of 16 in Halle just days after winning his 9th French Open over Novak Djokovic.

Grigor Dimitrov won his 4th career title at the Aegon Championships in thrilling fashion over Feliciano Lopez 6-7(8), 7-6(1), 7-6(6), saving match point in the 12th game of the second set. Dimitrov is highly touted as a future #1, in the new crop of players born after 1990 that will win majors after the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic-Murray era is over. He is now 4-1 in tour finals, quite an impressive start for the 23-year-old and has won titles on clay (in Bucharest over Lukas Rosol), hard courts (in Acapulco over Kevin Anderson) and now grass this year.

Ana Ivanovic continues her excellent play this year by winning the Wimbledon tune-up tournament in Birmingham, without dropping a set. She is the only player to beat 2-time French Open champion Maria Sharapova on clay this year, doing it in straight sets on clay in the Rome qurterfinals. Ivanovic has won the most matches on tour this year but this was her first title of the year and 14th of her career.

Eye Candy (bonus): Grigor Dimitrov is Amazing...

21-year-old Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria is getting a lot of attention for the astonishing trick shot he hit against Victor Troicki in Basel, Switzerland last week which is reminiscent of the magician's touch his idol Roger Federer is known for. Some are calling Baby Fed's behind-the-back, half-volley dropshot winner the shot of the year. See for yourself:

In my mind, he should be getting even more attention for this shot: the picture of him goofing around with fellow tennis hottie, Dmitry Tursunov, lifting up his shirt to reveal a stunning set of abs. Who knew that's what he was hiding under that loose tennis gear? I guess all that off-court training is good for something after all. Makes you wonder about other guys on tour... Gael Monfils? Feliciano Lopez? Feel free to suggest more names of tennis players "you'd like to see more of" in the comments.

Consider this your Bonus Eye Candy for the day!

Nadal Withdraws From 2012 London Olympics!

Rafael Nadal won the gold medal in the men's singles
competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The tennis world is still in shock today after 2008 Beijing Olympic Men's Singles champion Rafael Nadal announced that he was withdrawing from the men's singles competition at the 2012 London Olympics to be held on grass at the famed All-England Lawn Tennis Club (the site of the Wimbledon Championships).

Sports Illustrated reports:

The third-ranked Nadal said Thursday he wasn't in condition to compete at the Olympic tennis tournament - which also will be held at Wimbledon. 

"This is one of the saddest moments of my career," Nadal said in a statement. "I have to think about my companions, I can't be selfish and I have to think of what's best for Spanish sport, especially tennis and Spanish players, and give fellow sportsmen with better preparation the chance to compete. 

"I tried to hurry my preparations and training to the very last minute, but it was not to be." 

The 26-year-old Spaniard has won two Wimbledon titles and claimed gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

"You can imagine how difficult it was to take this decision," he said. 

Nadal had been the last of the four singles finalists from 2008 in the London Olympics. Men's silver medal winner Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who Nadal beat in straight sets in Beijing, and women's finalists Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina of Russia, will also be missing from the London Games.

World #2 Novak Djokovic claimed Bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and World #1 Roger Federer won the Men's Doubles gold medal with Stanslas Wawrinka but has stated one of his main goals is to complete "the Career Golden Slam" by winning a gold medal in singles. Federer won his 7th Wimbledon title two weeks ago and must be considered the favorite to repeat that win his first Olympic Men's Singles gold medal since the tournament will be played on the same surface at the same venue starting on July 28th.

Nadal will be replaced by the pulchritudinous Feliciano Lopez, World #30, on the Spanish Olympic Men's tennis team.

Nadal Leads Spain To 2011 Davis Cup Victory

From left to right: Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer, Rafael Nadal,
Marcos Granollers and Spain's Davis Cup Captain Albert Costa. (AFP Photo/Cristina Quicler)

Yesterday World #2 Rafael Nadal powered his country of Spain to a 3-1 win in the Davis Cup final for the third time in his career, 5th time overall for Spain. Nadal whipped Juan Monaco on Argentina 6-1 6-1 6-2 and then came back from a set down to close out the tie by defeating Juan Martin del Potro 1-6 6-4 6-1 7-6(0) on clay in Seville, Spain. World #5 David Ferrer also contributed to his country's victory by outlasting del Potro in a gruelling 6-2, 6-7(2), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 five-set win.

Nadal had helped Spain win the 2004 Davis Cup over the United States in 2004 (as a teenager) and in 2008 over Argentina. Argentina becomes the first country to reach the final tie four times without a victory. The 6-time Roland Garros champion is not known as "The King of Clay" for nothing; despite suffering his most lopsided loss of a set on the surface in years, Nadal was able to devise a solution to the hard-hitting, 6'6" Argentinian and maintain his incredible record of only 7 clay court losses in professional play in his career. Beating Spain on clay, with Nadal, Ferrer, Verdasco, Lopez and the rest of "the Spanish Armada" is an almost impossible proposition for any country, as Spain proved once again on Sunday. Their only loss of a point in the match-up with Argentina was when David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank were able to defeat the doubles team of Lopez and Verdasco (hubba hubba!)

SPORN: Rafa Nadal Shows Off His Ass(ets)

Hmmmm, I guess Wednesday really is hump day. As part of his ongoing campaign with Armani Underwear, World #2, 10-time major tennis champion Rafaael Nadal of Spain joins his fellow Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez in showing off their sculpted physiques for profit and admiration.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad.

WIMBLEDON 2011: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Roger Federer                                                   © AELTC/S.Wake

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2011. Last year's I correctly predicted the results of 1 of 4 men's quarterfinals right before I got on a plane to London to attend the men's final. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) vs. Tomas Berdych CZE (6) Mardy Fish USA (10). Who would have thought that the last American player remaining in the draw at Wimbledon deep in the second week would be Mardy Fish? The American took out last year's Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych by exposing the 6'5" Czech mobility deficit with blistering groundstrokes into the corners and confident volleys following very big serves. Nadal was lucky to escape his meeting with Juan Martin del Potro in the 4th round but did not come away unscathed; apparently there is a foot or heel injury which is invisible to MRIs but which caused Nadal to take a 9-minute injury time-out at 6-all in the first set. The 2-time defending champion won that 1st set tie-break (despite being 0-3 down) and went on to win the match 7-6(6) 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4. Mardy has only one won set against Nadal in 5 career meetings, but all of their matches were played before Fish transformed himself by losing 30 pounds and dedicating himself to fitness. The results have been extraordinary: he is now the top rated American male and will likely be so for the foreseeable future. Unless Nadal's injury plays a factor, I still don't see Fish advancing from his first Wimbledon quarterfinal to his first Wimbledon semifinal. PREDICTION: Nadal.

Andy Murray GBR (4) vs. Feliciano Lopez ESP. The only drama in this match will be who will be the first to mention the "controversy" that one of the player's parents finds the other player attractive. Feliciano Lopez is definitely an excellent grass-court player and is unquestionably one of the most handsome players on the tour. He is in his third career Wimbledon quarterfinal, which is the furthest he has ever been in any major.  In 2011 he has already achieved a number of firsts, including having a match point against Roger Federer and defeating Andy Roddick for the first time. That being said, Murray has the hopes of a nation on his shoulders and after a surprisingly good result at this year's French Open appears to be comfortable with pressure he faces to play his best tennis in SW19. Murray has yet to lose on grass this year. He knows he could have played much better in his 2010 Wimbledon semifinal against Nadal last year and wants another chance. I think he'll get it. PREDICTION: Murray.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (12) vs. Roger Federer SUI (3). This match should be the best of the 2011 Men's Quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Tsonga is a very good grass-court player, playing (but losing) a very good final against Murrayat the Queen's Club. Tsonga actually has a win against Federer (on hard courts) and has only played the Swiss Maestro 5 times so the career head-to-head deficit is not overwhelming. However, the fact that he will be playing Living History, the man who is in his 29th(!) consecutive major quarterfinal  and is trying to win this tournament for a record-tying 7th time must be daunting. Interestingly, since Tsonga had to play Grigor "Baby Fed" Dimitrov earlier in the tournament he may feel well-prepared to handle the real Federer on the big stage this time. Federer was able to dismiss Mikhail Youzhny in four sets after inexplicably dropping the first set tie-break after holding a 4-2 lead at the change over but he really didn't look comfortable to me despite the 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3 6-3 scoreline. Youzhny is a crafty veteran but he does not possess the firepower to really give Federer difficulties at crucial moments. Tsonga does. That being said Federer is aiming for his 27th major semifinal and 22nd major final. I believe that he will reach both. PREDICTION: Federer. 

Bernard Tomic AUS  vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (2). For the first time in 25 years one of the men's quarterfinalists is an 18-year-old, Bernard Tomic. Australians, especially his father, have been talking up Tomic's talent for years so it is impressive the youngster has matched a feat last achieve by Boris Becker. But there the similarities end. Tomic's game is like Murray 2.0 when he was 18: lots of different spins, excellent movement, full of guile and almost zero aggression.  It is not an attractive picture. Djokovic, despite only losing one match (out of 46 played!) all year long, has progressed through the draw like a ninja, silently dispatching his opponents by gliding around the court, seeming to do very little only to see the vanquished drop to the ground, defeated. He had a slight hiccup against a game Marcos Baghdatis, but one never really believed that the World's #2 was in any danger of losing. I have a very similar feeling about this match. Most likely for the second major in a row, the Top 4 players will reach the semifinals.   PREDICTION: Djokovic. 

Federer Escapes 3-Hour 3-Tiebreak Set Nailbiter in Madrid

At the Madrid Open, Roger Federer won an amazing 7-6(13) 6-7(1) 7-6(7) three-hour clay court match  against local favorite Feliciano Lopez to survive to the 3rd round. World #2 Novak Djokovic won his 30th(!) consecutive match (28th match win of 2011) by defeating Kebin Anderson 6-3 6-4. World #1 Rafael Nadal demolished Marco Baghdatis 6-1 6-3. Djokovic will play Guillermo Garcai-Lopez next, Federe,r Xavier Malisse and Nadal, Juan Martin del Potro.

Djokovic STILL Unbeaten In 2011: 27 Wins, 5 Titles

Novak Djokovic won his 5th title in 2011, improving his sequence of 2011 wins to 27, by defeating Feliciano Lopez 7-6(4) 6-2 to win the Serbian Open. He has also won the Australian Open (d. Murray), the Dubai Duty Free Open (d. Federer), the BNP Paribas Open (d. Nadal) and the Sony Ericsson Open (d. Nadal) this year.

The last person to beat Djokovic was Roger Federer, whom he has beaten 3 times since his 6-1 6-4 loss in the ATP World Tour finals.