Roger Federer says Novak Djokovic is a quitter and a whuss — to paraphrase: “He’s not a guy who’s never given up before; it’s disappointing,” Federer said of Djokovic throwing in the towel in the fourth set against Andy Roddick. “I’ve only done it once in my career. Andy Roddick totally deserved to win that match…I’m almost in favor of saying, ‘You know what, if you’re not fit enough, just get out of here.’ If Novak were up two sets to love, I don’t think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth.” Ouch!…

“I had cramping and soreness in the whole body,” Djokovic told reporters. “I think the people could see that I was struggling with movement. I couldn’t serve the way I served in the first two sets. That third set I just started dropping 20, 30 kilometers per hour first serve. Obviously it was much easier for him to return. He saw that longer rallies are not comfortable for me at that point, so he was using it wisely. Really unfortunate way to end my Australian Open 2009. I really tried my best, but sometimes you can’t fight against your own body.”

Murray said the loss could not be attributed to any mounting pressure, but to the play of Verdasco, who not only showed his powerful repertoire of serving and crunching forehands, but a deft touch with dropshots, slices and lobs to keep the Brit on the move.

“She arrived out here broken and penniless and Johnny was the one who took the punt on Jelena,” family friend Glen Schirmer, who worked as Dokic’s dietitian at Giannarelli’s request, told the newspaper. “At his own expense he housed, fed and trained both her and her boyfriend for months. He said he knew that one day he’d get the money back from her. He liked her and he thought she deserved a second shot at it. He felt really sorry for her and they became very, very close. She was trying to get a start again but nobody wanted to touch her, so Johnny took her on.” — One of life’s lessons Jelena, never stiff the mob…

A man naked from the waist down danced across the court during the Williams’ sisters doubles match — presumably coming straight from the Beer Garden. Good effort at the “Happy Slam”…

If the Williams sisters were to retire with Davenport as of this writing, the U.S. would have no women in the Top 40, and three players in the Top 100 (including the 30+ Jill Craybas, and Ashley Harkleroad who is pregnant). In other words, by the time the Williams retire, U.S. women’s tennis will virtually retire with them.

Dinara Safina, the No. 7-ranked player in the world who can leap all the way to No. 1 with a US Open win, was the other quarterfinal winner Wednesday, topping Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-3. The 22-year-old Russian, who earlier in the week was literally crying to her coach on a practice court regarding her exhaustion following a long summer and the Beijing Olympics, has gathered herself in time for the semifinal and a date with Serena Williams.

We have a pretty nice line-up in store at the US Open on this Labor Day Monday in the U.S. Week two opens with Gael Monfils v. Mardy Fish followed by Rafael Nadal and Sam Querrey.

Third-round Play (1) Rafael Nadal d. Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 Kei Nishikori d. (4) David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 (6) Andy Murray d. Jurgen Melzer 6-7(5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, 6-3 (32) Gael Monfils d. (7) David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 Mardy Fish d. (9) James Blake 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4) (10) Stanislas […]

“I think it was a good match to start off with,” Federer said. “Never saw my opponent before. Never saw him play obviously because I never saw him. That was the tricky part. I thought the other guy played good for the pressure he was under.”

In sports, a measure of greatness is seeing just how a champion responds after getting hit. Well, Roger Federer got hit by Rafael Nadal in the French Open final, then five weeks later Nadal knocked him down in the Wimbledon final.