if i see a semifinal between them (top history tennis players) even if its only a quarter as good as that rome final from 2006.
i will be more than happy, no matter who win… would be a great match to watch.

April 25th, 2010 at 8:19 pm

Rafa the king of clay for the win. Roger can never beat a healthy Rafa on grass or hard so there’s no way he can beat a confident Rafa on clay. C’mon Rafa, show the so-called maestro how it’s done – give the poor cry baby a lesson in tennis and stretch that already ridiculous H2H even further into the history books!!

April 26th, 2010 at 1:53 am

First, ask rafa to learn how to stretch his diapers so that he does not keep picking his butt like a 100times every second.

Let me go see that Djokovic impersonation and the soderling one at wimbledon 2007. priceless!

April 26th, 2010 at 2:14 am

just grow up everyone please. dont spoil the great things that both players have said of each other. By writing crappy, childish posts, it just looks bad on the poster – and Lion – you obviously have such a lot of tennis knowledge. the poster above starts it off (I know), but it’s also a ridiculous name –

cheers Lion.

April 26th, 2010 at 7:50 am

Right, the only thing Djokovic can do recently is impersonating because he can not impress anybody with his game. Lion, people like you should not even read about tennis. I bet you have plenty of bad habits. You probably picking your nose like a “100times every second”?

April 26th, 2010 at 8:59 am

i love the contrast between them both even in these interviews…roger, all sleek and smooth, rafa looking like he just rolled out of bed and didn’t have time to comb his hair.

April 26th, 2010 at 2:08 pm

It’d be gr8 to see another Rafa-Roger match, although on clay it gets a little one sided, but nevertheless it’s the top matchup in tennis without a doubt. While there’s no doubt in my mind that Rafa will make it,I just hope Roger can get himself into the semis to make this happen. Gulbis looked in really good form against Baghdatis and is gonna be quite a handful for a 1st round matchup.. beware Roger !

April 26th, 2010 at 3:45 pm

Sorry 2nd round match.. but a 1st for Roger :)

April 26th, 2010 at 3:46 pm

I’m glad Roger got some practice by winning his double’s match. At least he got some ‘hitting’ in. Gulbis did look pretty good against Baghdatis so Roger will have to ‘bring it’ right off the bat to move through. I hope he does!

Good luck Roger!!!!!!

April 26th, 2010 at 3:50 pm

Yes Fot!

Roger am sure will be on his guard and ready to go for it. Playing doubles today and winning is a good sign in terms of his practice in, and confidence right up there winning!

Go Roger!!!!!

April 26th, 2010 at 4:29 pm

There are so many interesting matches I look forward to watching starting tomorrow and each day should be more interesting. For tomorrow, I will plan my day to enjoy Federer-Gulbis (pick: Federer), Djokovic-Chardy (pick: Djokovic), Murray-Seppi (pick: Murray…I hope). If my picks lose, I still have the next day to enjoy. Besides, I would not mind Gulbis going further. Or if Chardy wins, that should please some ladies here. I think I will feel bad for Murray if he loses. He needs some confidence and I am afraid the clay season will not help his cause.

April 26th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

ATP- Master Series Rome Preview by Hartmut Hesse

Today I want to take a look at the draw for the 2nd ATP 1000 clay-court tournament of the season.
The first Masters series event was won by Rafa Nadal, but 5 of the top 10 players were not in the draw because of different reasons. Federer felt that the tournament comes to early for him in his preparation for the French and some other big names were injured (Del Potro, Davydenko, Soderling) or did not feel like playing on clay at all (Roddick).
But now at least Federer is ready to make his start on clay for the 2010 season and if both win, he will meet Nadal in the semis’ already.
But besides this interesting semi-final match up, there are some other very exciting possibilities in the draw. First of all Federer might face Baghdatis (if Marcos beats Gulbis for a 5th time in a row…) in his opener and he can take revenge for his loss in Indian Wells. In the Quarters Roger might face Cilic, who was not as convincing on clay yet, as at the Australian Open in the beginning of the year. But it will be a good indication for Cilic’s potential to reach the top 5 some day, and a tough test for Federer. But Cilic will also have to beat a tough clay-court player like Almagro to get to the quarters.
Nadals section of the draw is also very interesting, since his opener will be against Kohlschreiber, then maybe Montanes and in the quarters either red hot Berdych, who like to play against Nadal, especially in his current form. Or a rematch of last years’ French Open disaster, with Robin Soderling, who just proved that his clay-court abilities were no fluke, when he reached the final in Barcelona. So, a tough draw section for Nadal, and he will be happy that he made a wise decision and did not play in Barcelona. He will be rested for these matches and he needs to, if he wants to be still fresh, when he plays Federer in the semi-final.
The bottom half of the draw might see a quarterfinal between Novak Djokovic, who is seeded No. 2 and Barcelona winner Fernando Verdasco. But Verdasco played the final in Monte Carlo already and I don’t think his legs are still fresh enough to make another splash in Rome, even though he has a pretty good draw, with only Youzhny in his way. But so does Novak and I see him winning against Verdasco this time.
In the other section there will be a rematch between De Bakker and Tsonga in the second round and De Bakker has to prove if his great performance in Barcelona was not just a one-hit-wonder. Tsonga will be eager to take revenge and it will be an exciting match for sure. Murray runs into Ferrer again and has to prove that he is one of the contenders for the French Open. I doubt it and see Ferrer winning against him in the round of 16. Even though he also played 2 events already, I still see him with enough left in the tank to reach the semi-final, where he will face Djokovic.

So, here is my prediction:

It’s Nadal over Federer and Ferrer over Djokovic. So, another Spanish winner in the 3 big clay-court event of the year. Nadal will take the title, because the other Spanish players just have too much respect for Nadal to beat him in a final.
This win will give Nadal even more confidence and make him the clear favorite for the French Open, even if Federer should win in Madrid again like last year.

Let’s see if I am right… ;)

Hardy Hesse
Hesse Tennis Training
Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

April 26th, 2010 at 5:21 pm

[...] finally opens his 2010 clay court season Tuesday at the Rome Tennis Masters. As he joked in an interview over the weekend, Federer comes into his match against Ernests Gulbis on the wind of an 11-match clay winning streak [...]

April 26th, 2010 at 10:00 pm

Actually Federer is on a 14 match winning streak dating back to Madrid, and he was serious about that streak as well.

Madrid 2009:

Federer def. Soderling
Federer def. Blake
Federer def. Roddick
Federer def. Delpotro
Federer def. Nadal

French Open 2009:

Federer def. Gonzales
Federer def. Acassuso
Federer def. Matthieu
Federer def. Hass
Federer def. Monfils
Federer def. Delpotro
Federer def. Soderling

Davis Cup 2009:

Federer def. Bolleli
Federer def. Starace

Trust me he is very serious about this streak.

April 27th, 2010 at 12:14 am

I think you want to call it a joke Tom, but everyone knows that a 14 match winning streak on your weakest surface is outstanding. When was the last time Nadal had a 14 match winning streak on hardcourts?

April 27th, 2010 at 12:16 am

People also need to realize that Federer’s goal was not to be better than Nadal on clay, but instead his goal was to better than Sampras, and that’s a done deal. GOAT!

April 27th, 2010 at 12:18 am