May 18th, 2013
Federer, Nadal Meet Again In The Rome Final, Who’s The Pick?
After two rather sluggish semifinals, the right guys have emerged to the Sunday Rome Masters final: It’s Roger Federer v Rafael Nadal, episode 30! More on the rivalry in a bit, but first a quick recap of today’s play.
Nadal did what he normally does to Tomas Berdych, and that is get the big fellow moving. It got tighter in the second but Nadal was really without duress in a 6-2, 6-4 victory. After two 3-setters against Ernests Gulbis and David …
Posted by Sean Randall @ 5:26 pm in Rome | 22 Comments »
May 18th, 2013
Big ATP Names Week Before French at ATP Nice, Dusseldorf
Only one week before the French Open, but some big names including Tomas Berdych, Tommy Haas, John Isner, Sam Querrey, Gael Monfils, and Lleyton Hewitt will try and get some last-minute Roland Garros preparation in this week at ATP stop in Nice, France, and the premier event in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Open de Nice Cote d’Azur
Nice, France; Surface: clay
Seeds: Tomas Berdych, Gilles Simon, Sam Querrey, John Isner, Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini, Marcel Granollers, Denis Istomin
Floaters: Paul-Henri Mathieu, (WC) Gael Monfils, (WC) …
Posted by Staff @ 2:59 pm in Tennis | 2 Comments »
May 18th, 2013
Federer, Nadal Two Sets From Rome Masters Final Clash
The two legends of our sport, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, are now just two sets from a clash in the Rome Masters Sunday final. Before then, both have semifinal opponents to get through on this rainy afternoon in Italy.
Nadal, a six time champion with a 39-2 career mark at Rome, comes off back-to-back three set matches to face Tomas Berdych. Rafa has beaten the Czech in their last 12 meetings and 13 times out of 16. But Berdych overturned …
Posted by Staff @ 9:05 am in Rome | 97 Comments »
May 17th, 2013
Tomas Berdych: Maybe If I Lose Once More To Nadal Tomorrow I Will Beat Him At The French Open!
Did you know Tomas Berdych has a sense of humor. The burly Czech was in a good mood of sorts after beating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic today 26, 75, 64 in the quarterfinals at the Italian Open Rome. The win snapped an 12-match losing streak Berdych had against the Serb.
Tomorrow, Berdych plays another player he’s had great difficulty beating, Rafael Nadal. In fact Berdych has also lost to the Spaniard 12 straight times, 13 of 16 overall. The similar …
Posted by Tom Gainey @ 10:56 pm in Rome | 11 Comments »
May 17th, 2013
Novak Djokovic: I Believe I Can Go All The Way And Win The French Open
A routine win turned into a nightmare today for Novak Djokovic. Playing Tomas Berdych, a player he owned 13-1 in their head-to-head, Djokovic led 62, 52 before losing five straight games and eventually the match 26, 75, 64. Djokovic now enters the most important event of the year with the bitter taste of this collapse and aside from Monte Carlo, very poor results since February.
Afterward, Djokovic, who blamed the choke on a lapse in concentration serving at 53, still says …
Posted by Tom Gainey @ 10:15 pm in French Open, Rome | 40 Comments »
May 16th, 2013
Nadal Survives Gulbis Gaunlet, Ferrer Next; Federer, Djokovic, Sharapova, Serena Roll On In Rome
Ernests Gulbis put up yet another tough fight against Rafael Nadal but once again came up just short. The explosive Latvian dominated Nadal for the first 40 minutes of the match before the King of Clay woke up just in time to prevail 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the third round at the Rome Masters today.
“If you hit as hard as you can and hit every ball at 216 or 220 [kph] and that means being the best player, then perhaps …
Posted by Staff @ 7:37 pm in Rome | 208 Comments »
May 15th, 2013
Viktor Troicki Made Even Gulbis Jealous With This Meltdown Today In Rome [Video]
Viktor Troicki may have lost the match to Ernests Gulbis but he outdid any on-court meltdown the explosive Latvian’s ever had with this epic tirade.
After dropping the first set to Gulbis, Troicki went into major dispute with chair umpire Cedric Maurier over a ball spot on the clay on the 30-40 point.
“Come on, you know your wrong,” wailed Troicki at Maurier’s overrule against him at 30-40. “There is no space, you don’t want to correct yourself… There is no chance …
Posted by Tom Gainey @ 10:39 pm in Videos | 6 Comments »
May 15th, 2013
Murray Retires In Rome; Federer v Simon, Nadal v Gulbis Thursday
It turned out to be a rather eventful day in Rome. A light news schedule blew up when birthday boy Andy Murray retired from his match with Marcel Granollers after the Scot won the second set in a breaker to even the affair.
Fearing further damage to an ailing lower back – a problem he says he’s had for a few years now – and possibly missing his big events at Queen’s and Wimbledon, Murray is now contemplating withdrawing from …
Posted by Sean Randall @ 9:39 pm in Rome | 200 Comments »
May 15th, 2013
Juan Martin Del Potro Meets The Pope!
Juan Martin Del Potro had a dream come true today in Rome where he met the new Pope at a Wednesday service in the Vatican City.
The new Pope, his Holiness Pope Francis, is from Argentina, the first Pope to come from South America.
“It was an incredible experience with Pope Francis, something that I’ll never forget,” said Del Potro. “It was a dream come true for a guy like me. It was an unforgettable moment. I was very nervous before meeting …
Posted by Tom Gainey @ 3:12 pm in Rome | 1 Comment »
May 15th, 2013
Must See Video: These Are Really Good Impressions Of The Fab Four
Novak Djokovic you have competition! Joshua Berry has become an overnight sensation after his impersonations of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Djokovic have gone viral on the internet.
On a few of them if you look away from the video it’s hard to tell it’s even an impression!
Here they are:
Which one do you like the best?
Posted by Tom Gainey @ 2:56 pm in Videos | 10 Comments »