CELEBRITY FRIDAY: 2-Time Major Champ Stan Wawrinka Poses Nude For ESPN Magazine

Stan Wawrinka is following in the foots of previous professional tennis players and posing nude for ESPN Magazine's "Body" issue. Wawrinka has a much higher profile right mow since he won his 2nd major title by defeating World #1 Novak Djokovic in the final of Roland Garros less than a month ago.

Othe rplayers who have posed nude for ESPN magazine include Serena Williams (June 2009 cover) and  John Isner (March 2013). Tennis players Tommy Robredo, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fabio Fognini have also posed nude for various magazines over the years.

Which tennis players would you like to see pose nude? My money would be on Gael Monfils, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco or Roger Federer. (In that order!)

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena, Federer, Murray Win Titles; Ivanovic To Rise To World #5

Long May She Reign
Serena Williams ended her 2014 like she did the last three years: she won the last major of the year (the US Open) and also won the season-ending championships. This year she beat Simona Halep 6-3 6-0 to confirm her status as the #1 player in the world for 2014, surprisingly, she has only achieved the year-end #1 ranking three times before: 2002, 2009 and 2013. It's pretty incredible that at age 33 Serena is playing some of her best tennis and 2015 look like it could be a great year. (I expect her to win at least two majors).

Ivanovic Ends Year Ranked World #5; Most Wins On Tour With 58
While Serena is not exactly dominating the WTA Tour one thing that makes the women's tennis interesting to watch is the changing cast of characters who keep trying to challenge for the top of the game: Victoria Azarenka (injured), Li Na (retired), Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Genie Bouchard, Simona Halep and now Ana Ivanovic. Ivanovic had a fantastic 2014, winning more matches on tour than anyone else (58), six more than Serena. She will be rewarded by ending the year at #5 in the World, her first time in the true elite of women's tennis since 2009. If she has solved her issues with mental toughness then Ivanovic has the game to challenge for majors in 2015.

Federer Wins Basel For 6th Time And Has World #1 In Sight
Federer played in his 11th final in his home town of Basel Switzerland this weekend and won his 6th title there, easily beating David Goffin 6-2 6-2. It was only Goffin's 3rd loss in his last 46 matches played (generally at smaller events on tour). The title was Federer's 82nd tour title, placing him 3rd on the all time list, behind Ivan Lendl's 94 (which I think Federer has a pretty good chance of reaching if he retires in 2016) and Jimmy Connors' incredible 109. He has an overall record of 82-41 in tour finals. More importantly, Djokovic is defending 2500 points in the next two tournaments. Federer has to earn 500 more points than Djokovic to become #1, that would probably entail beating him in atleast one of those finals, or Djokovic failing to reach one of the finals.

Murray Wins Match After Saving 5 Match Points Against Robredo. Again!
Andy Murray basically secured his place at the ATP World Tour Finals in London by winning his second title in as many weeks by defeating a Spanish dirtballer. The Scot won his 31st career titles (out of 45 finals) by coming back from 5 match points down to beat Tommy Robredo in one of the best matches of the year 3-6 7-6(7) 7-6(8). With Nadal's season over and Murray currently at #5 on the list he is almost certain to qualify for London as long as he wins a match at the Paris Masters this week. This was Robredo's reaction at the net when the match was over:

TENNIS TUESDAY: Murray, Kvitova Win Titles; Rafa Returns; Dimitrov Poaches Fed Staff

Li Na was honored in a retirement ceremony at the China Open in Beijing

Federer's Physio Poached By "Baby Fed"
Wimbledon semifinalist and future World #1 Grigor Dimitrov has long been compared to his idol Roger Federer. Now, he has hired away Federer's longtime physical trainer Stephane Vivier. Vivier had worked with the 17-time major champion since 2009 but will be working with getting the 23-year-old Bulgarian into even better shape as he tries to improve his Top 10 ranking into a Top 5 ranking in the next year.

Murray Wins First Title Since 2013 Wimbledon, Saving 5 Match Points Against Robredo 
Andy Murray has not been the same player since he completed his life's dream to become the first British player to win Wimbledon in over 75 years. However, maybe in a sign that things are turning around for the Scot he was (finally) able to win another ATP tour title (his 29th), in Shenzhen, China by defeating Tommy Robredo. Typically, Murray did it the hard way, facing (and saving 5 match points in the second set tiebreaker) and then coming back to blitz the Spanish veteran in the 3rd set for a 5-7 7-6(9) 6-1 win.

In Wimbledon Final Reprise In Wuhan, Kvitova Dispatches Bouchard In Straight Sets Again
Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic and Genie Bouchard of Canada met in the final of the Wuhan Open, a reprise of their more famous meeting in the 2014 Wimbledon final just 2 months ago, but the result was similar. Kvitova was not as sharp in Wuhan as she was in London, but she still won 6-3 6-4 and became the fourth player to qualify for the year-end championships in Singapore.

Rafael Nadal Returns To Tour After 13-Week Absence, Bagels Gasquet In Easy Win
14-time major champion Rafael Nadal has been off the tour for 13 weeks since his stunning 4th round loss to Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon, missing the entire North American hard court season which he dominated last year. Nadal returned to competitive play at the China Open in Beijing, where he dispatched the slumping Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-0.

Serena Wins In Beijing Despite Losing First 5 Games As A 33-Year Old; Venus Gets Revenge
World #1 Serena Williams withdrew from the Wuhan Open with a viral illness last week during a match against Alize Cornet and this week started where she left off by losing 5 consecutive games to Silvia Soler-Espinosa. However, she won 12 of the next 13 games to win the match and advanced again with an easy win over Tsevatana Pironkova. Her sister Venus Williams is also playing in Beijing and got revenge against French youngster Caroline Garcia for a 3rd set tiebreak loss in Wuhan the week before.

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. 

2013 US OPEN: Men's Quarterfinal's Preview

Last  year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year I also have made predictions for the women's quarterfinals. Below are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2013 US Open.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) [21]. The World #1 has been devastating so far through the first four rounds, serving up three bagel sets (including two in his 4th round demolition of Marcello Granollers) and losing on 22 games and no sets. Youzhny is coming off one of the greatest comebacks in US Open history, having beaten 2001 US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt despite being down 1-4 in the 4th set and 2-5 in the 5th set, eventually winning the match 6-3 3-6 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5 in four hours of play to reach his 3rd US Open quarterfinal. Even though he'll have two days to recover and has won his two previous quarterfinal appearance (against Rafael Nadal in 2006 and Stanislas Wawrinka in 2010). Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Andy Murray (GBR) [3] vs Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9] Tomas Berdych (CZE) [5]. For the second major tournament, Wawrinka has reached deeper into the tournament than his more celebrated countryman. Although the defending champion Andy Murray has an 8-5 head-to-head record against Wawrinka, he has lost to him before at the US Open, just three years ago. However that was before Murray had won his two major titles. The Swiss is now a legitimate Top 10 player with his 4-set upset of World #5 Tomas Berdych in the round before so he has already had a very good tournament. Wawrinka is playing in only his 4th major quarterfinal while Murray has reached the final of the last four major tournament he entered. Murray is also one of the top 2 or 3 hard court players in the world and sports a 6-2 lead on Wawrinka on this surface. Mad Professah's pick: Murray.

Richard Gasquet (FRA) [8] vs David Ferrer (ESP) [4]. This should be the popcorn match of the four quarterfinal round. Both Ferrer and Gasquet had to get through stern tests to reach this point. Gasquet survived the serving barrage (39 aces!) of Milos Raonic in the 4th round, escaping with a win despite hitting fewer winners (45 to Raonic's 102) by playing well on the important points: 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(11) 7-5. Ferrer ground down the talented Janko Tipsarevich  in four sets despite trying to choke away his win repeatedly. However the history between these two players indicates that Ferrer has Gasquet's number. The Spaniard has an 8-1 head-to-head record over the Frenchman and despite his prodigious talents Gasquet has only reached a major semifinal once in hs career and this is his second quarterfinal appearance despite reaching the 4th round 16 times before. Mad Professah's pick: Ferrer.

Roger Federer (SUI) [7] Tommy Robredo (ESP) [19] vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2].  Robredo is coming off the greatest win of his long career, a straight sets upset of 17-time major champion Roger Federer, while Nadal is undefeated on hard courts this year. Let me say that again. Nadal has won 19 consecutive matches on his worst surface and is having one of the best seasons of his life. Robredo has never beaten Nadal in 6 meetings (he had never beaten Federer in 10 meetings) but Nadal is near his peak while it is becoming painfully clear Federer is playing nowhere near his best tennis. This match should be the least interesting of the four quarterfinals and Nadal has to be considered the favorite to reach his second US Open final and cement his position as the best player of 2013 by winning his second major title of the year. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

2013 FRENCH OPEN: Tsonga Beats Federer To Reach Semi!

As I predicted, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took out Roger Federer in straight sets of the 2013 French Open quarterfinals, 7-5 6-3 6-3. Federer was playing in his 36th consecutive major quarterfinal and was trying to reach his record 34th major semifinal. He went up an early break and was serving 4-3, 40-15 when everything went to pot. Tsonga broke and held his own serve easily. Federer went down 0-40 at 5-6 and saved 3 set points before succumbing on the fourth breakpoint with a shanked forehand to lose the set. The Swiss Great was broken early in the second set and never really looked comfortable on the court, making uncharacteristic errors (on overheads and volleys) and not moving as fluidly on the clay.

Even though I am a huge Federer fan I am very happy for Tsonga to reach his first semifinal in his home country's slam, equaling the achievement his countryman Gaël Monfils did in 2008. If Tsonga is able to reach the final, he will do something no French man has done since 1988, when Henri Leconte lost in the final to Mats Wilander. It has been even longer, 30 years, since a French man won the singles title here, which Yannick Noah did in 1983.

Tsonga will face David Ferrer who demolished his countryman Tommy Robredo 6-2 6-1 6-1 to reach his second consecutive French Open semifinal. Of course, the participants in this half of the draw are not expected to win the title against either World #1 Novak Djokovic or defending champion Rafael Nadal, should those two meet in the semifinal on Friday.

Ferrer has never reached a major final, while Tsonga has (2008 Australian Open). Tsonga has played in 5 major semifinals, while Ferrer has played in (and lost) in 6. The Spaniard's best surface is clay, however. The two have only played 3 times, with Ferrer leading 2-1, including their one clay court match. I will be rooting for Tsonga to reach his 2nd major final, but won't be too upset if Ferrer finally gets to his first.

2013 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

The men's quarterfinals are now set at the 2013 French Open. Last year, I predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. I have also previewed the 2013 French Open women's quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Tommy Haas (GER) [12].  The last time these two met the German played one of the best matches of his career to demolish the World #1 in straight sets, winning twice as many games as he lost, in a virtuoso performance that stunned Djokovic and the tennis world. The two have only played seven times, with the higher ranked player having won 4 of those meetings, including their sole encounter on clay (here at Roland Garros 7 years ago). Haas has had the more exciting run of the two here this year, having outlasted John Isner despite blowing 12 match points. However, in their previous round Djokovic had to come back from dropping his first set of the tournament against Phillip Kohlschreiber, a good clay court player who had beaten the Serb here at Roland Garros before. Haas on the other hand, had a dream 4th round match, dispatching Mikhail Youzhny in under 90 minutes, barely losing 5 games in the process. Haas should be confident, since he knows that he can beat Nole--he has done it this year, and he has done it in a 5-set match. However, will he beat Nole? Almost definitely not. Mad Professah's Pick: Djokovic in 4 sets.

 Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] vs Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9]. This should be the least interesting quarterfinal of the four. Wawrinka did well to come back from 2 sets down against Frenchman Richard Gasquet to reach his first career quarterfinal at Roland Garros. However, Wawrinka has never even won a set from Nadal, despite losing the nine matches the two have played. In fact, Wawrinka lost to Nadal in the final of the Madrid Masters just a few weeks ago. Wawrinka winning a set would be considered an upset at this point, setting up the long-awaited mouth-watering semifinal between Nadal and Djokovic on Friday. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal in 3 sets.

David Ferrer (ESP) [4] vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [11] Tommy Robredo (ESP) [32]. This all Spanish-quarterfinal ensures that there will be at least one Spaniard in the semifinal, and most people expect 7-time defending champion Rafael Nadal to reach the semifinal on the other side of the draw, so that means an all-Spanish final is still possible. Robredo used to be the best looking man in tennis (a title he has since ceded to fellow compatriot Feliciano Lopez) but the now 35-year old is making history at this year's Roland Garros by becoming the first man in nearly 80 years to come back from 2-0 sets down in not one, not two, but three consecutive matches. Robredo outlasted Igor Sijsling 6-7(4) 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-1, Gael Monfils 2-6 6-7(5) 6-2 7-6(3) 6-2 and then Nicolas Almagro 6-7(5) 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-4. Can he really outlast the most fit man in tennis, David Ferrer whom he has 2-6 record against? Doubtful, but he had a 0-5 record against Almago and somehow he won that match. Ferrer has a great draw to get to this first final, and I believe he will (at least) repeat his semifinal run here from last year. Mad Professah's pick: Ferrer in 3 sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [6] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [2]. For the second consecutive major these two are meeting in the same round, with Federer prevailing in their tough 5-set enccounter in Melbourne this past January. The Greatest of all Time has a convincing 9-3 head-to-head against the popular Frenchman but has lost to him after holding large leads, most notably the 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinals despite leading 2 sets to none and the 2009 Montreal Masters quarterfinal despite having a 5-1 lead in the final set! Tsonga is a big match player and if the Parisian crowd gets behind him, look out Federer fans! On paper, Federer should win this match, but the two have only met once on clay with the Swiss player winning. Federer has been the second best player on clay for the last 10 years, and that pedigree should get him through this match, but he played some of his worst tennis against another Frenchman Gilles Simon in the round before, needing the full 5-sets to extend his jaw-dropping streak of 36 consecutive quarterfinal appearances in majors. That was also Federer's 900th career tour win, putting him at #4 on the all-time list. Tsonga on the other hand has looked razor-sharp all tournament long and has yet to have a dip in play or lose a set. I suspect this will be a titanic struggle, won be Federer. However, if the Simon match is an indicator Federer's form is going off, Tsonga could make quick work of him to reach his first semifinal (and potentially his first final) at his home Slam. Apart from Gael Monfils reaching the semifinals in 2008, no French man has been a serious contender to win the Roland Garros title in Paris since Yannick Noah did it  exactly 30 years ago. Mad Professah's pick: Federer in 4 or 5 sets (or Tsonga in 3).

Paris Masters Semifinals: Nadal v Djokovic, Monfils v Stepanek

Gael Monfils will face Radek Stepanek in one semifinal while Novak Djokovic will face Rafael Nadal in the other to see who makes the final of the Paris Indoor Masters tournament.

I think I'll take Monfils over Stepanek, and Nadal over Djokovic, since the World #2 is playing on borrowed time after not one but two narrow escapes earlier in the week against Nicolas Almagro (saving 5 match points) and Tommy Robredo, although he had a good win over defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the previous round. Djokovic keeps on mentioning how tired he is, carrying the record of the most wins on tour for the year of any competitor, and starting off tired against a determined Nadal is not bode well for a good result.

US OPEN 2009: Blake, Roddick, Safina, Sharapova GONE!

Maria Sharapova. Andy Roddick. Dinara Safina. James Blake. All these seeded players lost on Saturday at the US Open. Former champions Sharapova (2006) and Roddick (2003) both lost to up and coming Americans who hail from Georgia. Sharapova lost to 17-year-old Melanie Oudin from Marietta, who had beaten MadProfessah-pick Elena Dementieva in the round before (and first came to attention earlier this summer for beating former World #1 Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon). The 6'3" Sharapova served up a bucketful of double faults and lost 3-6 6-4 7-5 to the 5'6 Oudin.

Roddick lost to 6'9" John Isner from Athens, Georgia despite only losing his serve once in a tough 5-set match 7-6 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5). Roddick played well (only 20 unforced errors to 51 winners, compared to 90 winners to 52 errors for Isner, including 38 aces for the taller American).

Safina lost (finally) to Petra Kvitova while James Blake lost to Tommy Robredo.

Meanwhile Serena Williams is already in the quarterfinals and her sister Venus plays Kim Clijsters for a quarterfinal berth later today.

US OPEN 2008: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the last major's men's quarterfinals of the year.

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) vs. Mardy Fish USA. Mardy Fish is replacing fellow American James Blake who went out to his "good friend" with nary a whimper in the third round 6-3 6-3 7-6(4). Fish has had some surprising results, beating former World #1 Roger Federer earlier this year at the Indian Wells semifinals in straight sets, but no result would be more surpising than beating the current World #1 (who happens to have lost one match since early May!). However, it is definitely possible, since Fish has the game to beat anyone when he is "in the zone" and Nadal has never made it past the quarterfinals in New York, where he has lost in this very round in the last two years. However, I think the third time will be the charm for the Spaniard, despite the New York crowd. PREDICTION: Nadal in 4 sets.

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (17) vs. Andy Murray GBR (6). What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? The 19-year old Del Potro has been the second hottest player all summer, having won the last four (relatively small) tournaments he entered while most of the world's elite players were at the Olympics. Murray is at his career high, having won his first ATP Masters shield over Djokovic in Cincinatti and will be ranked #4 in the world (thanks to Davydenko's upset) on Monday for the first time. The two have only played once, with Murray winning on clay in Rome earlier this year. I actually would be interested to see Del Potro win because I want to see what would happen when the two hottest players meet in the semis, but I really think this is Murray's time, and he is itching for revenge for his loss to Nadal at Wimbledon. PREDICTION: Murray in 4 sets.

Andy Roddick USA (8) vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3).This will probably be the best match of the four men's quarterfinals. The two have only played twice before, both times on hard courts in the last year or so and they have exchanged wins. Djokovic has been having a difficult time in the last few rounds, barely winning 4-6 6-2 6-3 5-7 6-3 against the pulchritudinous Tommy Robredo in the fourth round as well as a very tough 4-setter against the young, hard-hitting, very tall Maran Cilic 6-7(7) 7-5 6-4 7-6(0) in the third round. Roddick on the other hand swept past the very talented Fernando Gonzalez 6-4 6-2 6-1 to get to this quarterfinal and really only had a difficult match against the young, hard-hitting, very tall Ernest Gulbis 6-3 5-7 6-2 7-5. I had initially predicted that Djokovic would win this quarter but I have seen a lot of Roddick matches and I believe if he is the fresher, with a New York crowd behind him late at night, he may just come through. However, Djokovic loves playing against a hostile crowd and he will have nearly two days to recover from his near death experience against Robredo. PREDICTION: Roddick in 5 sets.

Nikolay Davydenko RUS (5) Gilles Muller LUX vs. Roger Federer SUI (2). This might have been the journeyman quarterfinal if Igor Andreev had kept on playing the way he did for the first two sets the entire match. Even so, Federer was pushed to the brink, only winning 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-3 3-6 6-3. Andreev had 54 winners to 42 errors compared to Federer's 66 winners to 60 errors(!). In the round before, Federer had 9 unforced errors in 3 sets of flawless tennis against the decidedly un-pulchritudinous Radek Stepanek. Muller is a hard-hitting lefty who gave Davydenko fits in the fourth round, pulling out a 4-set win 6-4 4-6 6-3 7-6(10), saving a handful of set points in the 4th. Federer would probably have preferred to play Davydenko who he has beaten 12 times in a row (and never lost to) since Muller is someone he has only beaten twice (and never lost to). However, he hasn't faced the player from Luxembourg since 2005 and probably has no idea how Muller plays. Still, Federer is on an incredible record-setting streak of 17 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals and I doubt the 130-ranked player in the world will prevent the World #2 from extending that streak to 18. PREDICTION: Federer in 3 sets.

Nadal Comes Back To Beat Federer

Rafael Nadal won his 4th consecutive Monte Carlo Masters Series title (and 24th career win) with a come-from-behind 7-5 7-5 win against Roger Federer on Sunday. Nadal is now 112-3 on clay since 2005 and has won 98 of his last 99 clay-court matches (his last loss was to Federer in the 2007 Hamburg final).

Oh, and then afterwards he teamed up with hottie Tommy Robredo and won the doubles title, too.

US OPEN 2007: Men's Top 10 REVIEW

1 Federer, Roger (SUI). Prediction: Champion. Result: Champion. The soon-to-be-named Greatest Tenns Player Of All Time only lost a set twice in seven matches. In the second round he lost a tie-break set to a huge serving, 6-foot-9-inch American ex-collegiate player named John Isner in the third round and the very next round was outplayed for well over an hour by an athletic, left handed player from Spain with a huge serve named Feliciano Lopez. This led to the best match of the tournament, the quarterfinal matchup between last year's US Open finalist Andy Roddick and the 3-time defending champion. Despite playing his best tennis for well over two hours, the American found himself down two sets and a break and lost soon afterwards. That win basically decided that Federer would indeed win his 12th major title in four years. The Final was a mere formality, although Novak did make it interesting. Grade: A.

2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP). Prediction: Semifinalist or earlier. Result: Quarterfinalist, lost to David Ferrer. Finally, Nadal ran into someone who could run down even more balls than he could and his body simply failed him. The World #2 failed to live up to his seeding again on the hard courts of New York as his unheralded countryman seized the opportunity to dazzle on tennis' brightest stage. Grade: B-.

3 Djokovic, Novak (SRB). Prediction: Finalist. Result: Finalist, lost to Roger Federer. The Serbian phenom made his major final debut in this tournament, cementing his status as the second best hard-court tennis player in the world, despite what his Mom thinks. Thanks to David Ferrer, Djokovic was spared having to face the current World #2 player in his third consecutive grand slam semifinal of the year, having lost to Nadal at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and thus got his first opportunity at tennis greatness in New York. Unfortunately, he blew it. He had five set points in the first set and two in the second set and still managed to lose both of those sets, in an eerie reprise of the compelling quarterfinal match between Federer and Roddick just a few days before. In addition, despite John McEnroe's sycophantic commentary which refused to acknowledge any flaws or deficiencies in Djokovic's game, many tennis fans were appalled by the Next Big Thing's on-court behavior (such as half-emptying a water ball on the court and throwing his racquet) which in almost any other case would have led to at least a warning from the umpire. Grade: A-.

4 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS). Prediction: Quarterfinalist or earlier. Result: Semifinalist, lost to Roger Federer. Despite having never beaten Federer in 10 tries, Davydenko still showed up to the semifinal showdown with his nemesis playing hard and actually served for the first set and despite losing that set, did not fade away like lesser players but even when down two sets to none was still fighting hard deep in the third set where he again earned set points. True, he lost the match but the consisten Russian beat every player ranked beneath him and forced the #1 seeded player to work harder than he expected to. Grade: A-/B+.

5 Roddick, Andy (USA). Prediction: Quarterfinalist or earlier. Result: Quarterfinalist, lost to Roger Federer. Roddick played his best tennis against Federer for two solid sets while Federer was playing good, but not great tennis. Somehow, the Swiss player's serve was more effective than the American's despite being significantly slower (hey, maybe speed size doesn't matter, after all). Federer ended the match with 15 aces to Roddick's 14. Over 3sets of tennis Roddick had 42 winners to just 24 errors (a very healthy +18) but Federer had 6 fewer errors and 6 more winners for a stunning +30 performance. So where does Roddick go from here? He has nothing to be ashamed about. He would have beaten anyone else in the tournament playing that kind of tennis (including this year's finalist). Grade: A-.

6 Blake, James (USA). Prediction: Semifinalist or early round loss. Result: Fourth Round, lost to Tommy Haas. Despite placing second in the US Open Series, a favorable draw and again winning his hometown tournament the week before the US Open James Blake was unable to make his long-awaited breakthrough at a major tournament. However, Blake was able to make an important personal breakthrough by winning his first 5-set match ever against the veteran French magician Fabrice Santoro but could not repeat the feat against the more talented Tommy Haas. Grade: B.

7 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI). Prediction: Quarterfinalist or earlier. Result: 1st Round, Lost to Teimuraz Gabashvili. The less said about 2007 after January for the Australian Open finalist, the better. Grade: D.

8 Robredo, Tommy (ESP). Prediction: Early Round Loss. Result: 3rd Round, lost to Ernests Gulbis. Despite (or perhaps because?) he's the best looking player in the Top 10, Robredo doesn't get very much respect from the rest of the players, particularly when he's not playing on a clay court. However losing to a baby-faced, 19-year-old Latvian player named Ernests Gulbis is not conducive to changing player's impression that The Pretty One (El Guapo) is pretty wimpy. Grade: C-.

9 Berdych, Tomas (CZE). Prediction: Fourth Round. Result: Fourth Round, lost to Andy Roddick. Berdych put on a reasonable performance against Roddick for approximately one set of tennis, but after losing that set, the crumpled like a house of cards and actually retired a few games later. Grade: C+.

10 Haas, Tommy (GER). Prediction: At least Fourth Round. Result: Quarterfinalist, lost to Nikolay Davydenko. The confident, talent German player did well to eliminate James Blake in one of the best matches of the two weeks in the 4th Round but was unable to beat the Russian backboard. Grade: B+.

Maybe Mad Professah should predict the results of the men's draw more often! At the 2007 US Open, I made 10 predictions and 4 were spot on, and 4 more could be interpreted as being correct. Only Davydenko and Haas performed differently than I expected. This is very different from Mad Professah's predictions of the Top10 women's players performances where only 1 out of 9 performed exactly as I predicted. Part of the secret is to make flexible predictions, e.g. "semifinalist or earlier" but I think those kinds of predictions are possible in the men's game because the number of players who can potentially get far in any tournament is greater than on the men's side.

Anyway, the Grand Slam season for 2007 is over, here's looking forward to Australia in 2008!

US OPEN 2007: Men's Top 10 Preview

1 Federer, Roger (SUI). The World #1 has won two out of the three major championships played this year and been in nine consecutive Grand Slam finals (every major final since Wimbledon 2005!), winning seven of them. Who would bet against him? According to sportbet.com, odds on Federer winning his 4th consecutive US Open title are so great, that if you bet $250, they will only pay you $100! Although some commenters are more than a little suspicious of Federer's draw which protects him from having to play anyone ranked in the Top 100 until the third round at best, most pundits, including Mad Professah believe that will continue his inexorable march to Greatest Of All Time status by winning the 2007 US Open. He has a rendezvous with 2006 finalist Andy Roddick in this year's quarterfinals according to the draw and has had some surprising losses earlier this year (Canas, twice) as well as some unsurprising losses (Nadal at the French, Djokovic in Montreal) but always brings his best stuff to the biggest stages. And there's none bigger than the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center. Champion.

2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP). The Spanish wunderkind plays so much tennis during the early clay court section of the tennis season that towards the end of the year even the young, supple body of the longtime #2 best player in the World starts to break down. He has shown that he can play well on hardcourts by winning the Pacific Life Open earlier in the year, however he has been humbled by players on this surface recently (Djokovic, Youzhny, Berdych). Semifinalist or earlier.

3 Djokovic, Novak (SRB). The New Kid On The Block anounced himself earlier in the year by making two consecitive Masters Series on hard courts and has won two of them this year (Miami and Montreal) beating higher ranked players both times, no mean feat when you are currently #3 in the World. When Djokovic beat #3 Roddick, #2 Nadal and #1 Federer two weeks ago in Montreal the world took notice. And he looks pretty good with his shirt off. The Kid has made two consecutive major championship semi-finals, I predict he'll go even further in New York. Finalist.

4 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS). The perennial Top 5 player never makes much of a splash at the Slams and now has a controversy over betting on his matches over his head. The draw predicts a quarterfinal match with James Blake, who I predict will go further in this tournament than the Russian. Quarter-finalist or earlier.

5 Roddick, Andy (USA). Ahh, the hard court season when American tennis comes alive. Roddick had a decent US Open Series season this year, placing third behind Federer and Blake and just ahead of Djokovic by winning Washington's Legg Mason classic. However, since the rest of his season has not gone as well he finds his ranking down to 5 and in the unenviable position of having to play a quarterfinal against Federer, who he has not defeated in over 10 tries. Although his loss to Richard Gasquet in the Wimbledon quarterfinals was one of the best matches of that tournament (and probably the year) I'm sure it was a mentally devastating loss for Roddick, who was looking forward to his 4th meeting at Wimbledon against Federer. His take-away from that loss should be to play his potential quarterfinal match against Federer as if it were a final, and maybe, just maybe this time he'll come out victorious. Yeah, I don't believe it either. Quarter-finalist or earlier.

6 Blake, James (USA). Interestingly, the other Great American Hope for U.S. Tennis has had an even better US Open Series season, winning Pilot Pen again and getting to the finals of both the Los Angeles' Countrywide Classic and Cincinnati ATP Masters Series final. If it weren't for just a few breakpoints saved by Radek Stepanek, Blake would be in the running for the $1 million bonus in New York as the US Open Series winner. Blake actually has a pretty challenging draw (fellow American journeyman Michael Russell followed by the always wily Fabrice Santoro with dangerous Sam Querrey and Tommy Haas lurking) on his way to meet Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals whom he is 6-0 against head-to-head. So, this really is a moment where Blake has to live up to his book sales and decide whether he will make a breakthrough or a whimper in New York. I'm suspecting it will be the former. Semifinalist or early round loss.

7 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI). Oh, where oh where has Mr. 2007 Australian Open finalist been all year long? He's in Nadal's quarter of the draw and it's doubtful he'll even make it that far. Quarter-finalist or earlier.

8 Robredo, Tommy (ESP). The best-looking member of the Top 10 is in Djokovic's section of tyhe draw and it's doubtful he'll make it that far. Early Round Loss.

9 Berdych, Tomas (CZE). When Berdych is on, he can defeat anyone in the Top 10, but his curiously flat performance against Nadal in the Wimbledon quarterfinals this year have led me to question whether the Czech player will really ever live up to his potential, despite his hard-hitting ground strokes and go-for-broke style he shares with his girlfriend Lucie Safarova. He does have the possibility of complicating Andy Roddick's move through the draw to meet Federer in the quarters but somehow neither I nor Tomas really believe that will happen. Fourth Round.

10 Haas, Tommy (GER). Ahh, one of the few players in the draw who really believes he is a better tennis player than Roger Federer. Unfortunately for him, he has a possible 4th Round showdown with the new and improved James Blake. If the German player gets through that match (which is unlikely) then he could complicate life for Federer in the semi-finals. At least 4th Round.

Mmmmmm, Tommy!

The Oh La La Paris blog has posted pictures of a nude Tommy Robredo posing for a camera which will be sold to provide funds to support a charity, the Everyman Male Cancer Program to raise awareness of testicular and prostate cancer.

There's more details From Tommy-Robredo.com:

Tommy says in the magazine: "When Cosmo first asked me to get naked, I thought 'No Way!' But when I heard it was for charity I was like 'Okay, it's for a good reason.' "

Tommy worked with a female photographer on the shoot, which was initially scheduled to be held in Spain. But when Tommy accepted a late wild card into Estoril, the Cosmo crew jetted to Portugal.

Hmmm, a bit significant that they had to mention it was a female photographer, eh?

Tommy Robredo blogging for ATP this week

The pulchritudinous Tommy Robredo is blogging for the ATP this week at the ATP Master Series event at Monte Carlo this week. Most of his posts clearly show that English is not Tommy's first language, but the pictures (like above with Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson, right) tell a story by themselves!