Nadal-Federer

Magical game at the magic box. Today we were privileged to witness the Madrid semi-final game featuring Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, our all time favorite match. Although the last time they played, Federer was not showing his best, today he was pulling off his good old game, but it seemed, his time already passed. The reason may be some small injury after the long match with Lopez. We hope it is not something serious, and we will see him again next week in Rome. Nadal on the other side (literally) seemed very confident at his game.At the beginning of the match, he showed a little distraction, because of the terrible news about the death of the famous Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros. The first set went fine for Federer, 7:5, although it seemed that Nadal was gonna win that one. When that king of thing happens, by default, Federer loses the second set (6:1). Nadal took control over the game and won four break points. The third set, with many variations and unpredicted moments, and many opportunities for both players, ended with result 6:3 for Nadal. The match lasted 2 hours and 35 minutes. This story was meant to be written with more enthusiasm, because personally, I wanted Federer do be back in the final one more time. However, we are wishing Nadal all the best in the final with Djokovic or Belluci. Here is the statement that Nadal made after the match:
“It’s always a special feeling to play against Roger. It probably wasn’t one of our best matches because we both made mistakes. I’m really happy for the victory but it’s a terrible day for Spain, and for the world, because we lost one of the greats in sport.” And on the final? “I would prefer to play against Bellucci, that’s the truth”. Vamos Rafa!

One of the most interesting matches lately is Ljubicic wiping off Berdych. The old man kept his coolness again and took out the 5 seed Berdych in a convincing match 6:4 6:2. I really like his play, he delivered against Tsonga and he did it again, and remember he is 32 years old. Considering his age he is my personal hero. With his steady atittude and great form at the moment it seems like Ljubicic can beat anybody. Next match is against Nadal who is very motivated and getting warmed up with each match, but we’ll hope Ljubicic will once again outrun himself and we’ll see a good tennis match.

Federer vs Nadal vs Djokovic

Long time ago in a galaxy far far away an era of unprecedented rivalry has begun. It was back in 2004 when it first started, a rising star was on the climb conquering every ATP hard court masters and taking grand slams like collecting little stones on a beach. And it was here again on the Miami court when Federer realized that a formula for his invincible game was found. A 17 old raging boy attacked mercilessly and surprised the then rising star with a game no one has seen before.

After a series of battles we witnessed a great fight and some of the best tennis matches ever through the years. But now it seems like that era is over. Federer with his 29 looked like a tired old man last night against Nadal. It was back here where it all started, at the Miami ATP Masters, but this time Federer only showed a glimpse of what he used to be. All Nadal did to win this match is attack his weaker side, the backhand. The swiss still managed to pull off some big cross-court backhands, but he didn’t have the psychological strength to maintain consistency, and got demolished in somewhat more than an hour.

I always believed that Federer can come back with the spirit that he once possessed, fearless and vacant. But for the sake of the tennis fans, there is another great warrior getting pumped up. Djokovic plays this season like no other with 23 straight matches in a row. If the final is even close to the match at Indian Wells finals, no matter if he beats Nadal or not, this could be a sign of another great rivalry, the beginning of a new tennis era.

Today, the Americans gained one more reason to dislike France.Gilles Simon retired only after three games, or a total of 7 minutes.Simon declared he can not continue the match, because of a stiff neck, therefore, Federer became a semifinalist, and he doesn`t have a negative score with Simon anymore. Tonight, two amazing tennis players will “fight” to be Roger`s opponent at the semi finals, the first racket Rafael Nadal or Tomas Berdych. Good luck to them, with a hope that this next match we can at least boil an egg.

If any of you watched the match between Del Potro and Soderling yesterday at the SonyEricsson tour I bet you were left jaw dropped. Both are much above 6 feet tall, big, relentless with big serves, and flat and powerful forehands, now that is what I call a “mano a mano” match. We’ve seen some great rallies with massive powerful forehands and for my amazement even more powerful backhands. Both players clearly tried to force each others weaker side, but the Argentinean’s backhand prevailed in the end.

We also expected more from Soderling, his first serve percentage was low knowing his best, and made quite a lot of unforced errors, but I don’t think it’s simply because it wasn’t his day. Del Potro’s performance was evident of his once top 10 aspirations. He beat the #1 and #2 in a single grand slam in 2009, got injured didn’t play through 2010, but there is no doubt he is coming back now, and he is coming back better than ever.

After the 2011 BNP Paribas Open,that took place 2 weeks ago in Indian Wells, another ATP1000 tournament is happening at the moment, The Sony Ericsson Open.From March 21-April 3 at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Miami, we can enjoy the game of the top tennis players in the world. A little history about this tournament, it began in the 1960s,before the days of the Open tennis, when the top tennis players at the time such as Jack Kramer, Frank Sedgman,Pancho Gonzales,Pancho Segura and Butch Buchholz were traveling with a portable canvas court. After retiring from tennis with chronic tennis elbow, Buchholz approached the ATP and WTA, and wanted to make the Miami tournament the first major tournament of the year.He succeeded,and the first tournament was held in February 1985. The event lasts 12 days.
Back in this years events. Last night,at the Rafael Nadal-Kei Nishikori match, the NBA players “flipped the coin”.The two players performed an amazing game,but Nadal defeated Nishikori with a result of 6-4,6-4.
Interesting matches are also played today,so check out the schedule.