US Open Catch Up

I have some catching up to do.

Rafael Nadal completes his collection of grand slam trophies by taking his first ever US Open title, after he defeated Novak Djokovic, who remains a one-slam wonder. Kim Clijsters increases her US Open title count to 3 by beating Vera Zvonareva, who is suddenly a 2-time grand slam finalist after also reaching the finals earlier at Wimbledon.

I was predicting a Roger win, since he usually does so well at the US Open (5 straight wins followed by a finalist showing last year), but he didn't play up to his level in the semi against Novak. On the women's side, I predicted a Caroline Wozniacki-Victoria Azarenka final, with Vika taking the win, since they both played so well on the US hardcourt tournaments right before the US Open. But Vika fainted during her second round match (due to a mild concussion she sustained before the match), while Caro was upset by Vera in the semis after decimating the draw from the 1st round to the quarterfinal (with an impressive win over Maria Sharapova.) Oh well... Maybe the blonde BFFs can take the grand slam rivalry at next year's US Open.

Meanwhile, Rafa has a rare chance to hold all four grand slam titles if he wins at the Australian Open. The last player to do that was Serena Williams, last 2002-2003. With his new serve, Fed on the "bonus stage" of his career, and contemporaries Djokovic and Murray unable to consistently contend at grand slams, looks like he's got a good chance to do so.

Congrats, Kim and Rafa!

Other winners:

• The Bryan Brothers, Mike and Bob, won the men's doubles over India/Pakistan's Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
• Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova and American Vania King won the women's doubles, their second consecutive grand slam doubles title
• Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan won the mixed doubles
• On the juniors side, American Jack Sock won the boys title and Russian Daria Gavrilova won the girls title.
• Shingo Kuneida won the men's wheelchair event, while Esther Vergeer won the women's wheelchair title. Vergeer's records will put Roger's to shame. She has been unbeaten since 2003, and is currently on a 394-match winning streak.

June/July Tennis Catch Up

I got lazy blogging about the rest of the French Open and Wimbledon...

So Rafa won both tournaments on the men's side, upping his grand slam count to 8 and putting him safely on top of the rankings. Roger, on the other hand, lost in the quarterfinals of both tournaments, sending his ranking spiraling down to a tragic #3 (tragic for Roger's standards, anyway.) While I don't think this is the end of Roger winning grand slam tournaments, I do think that he'll have a very hard time getting the #1 ranking back, given that he's turning 29 next month (that's old in tennis years), and the rest of the top 5 are all 25 years old and younger.

Good thing Roger's already won the French Open as well 15 other grand slam titles before, so this doesn't feel like we're watching the decline of a career of a should've, would've, could've been has-been. It's like a glory lap for the all-time champ. Although Roger probably has more plans than turning the next few years into a glory lap, seeing that he's hired Paul Annacone, as his new part-time coach. Annacone coached Pete Sampras from 1995 to 2001, during which Pete won 8 grand slam titles. He also worked with Tim Henman, another serve and volleyer, after coaching Pete. So it looks like Roger is looking to beef up his serve and volley game by hiring Annacone the same way that he was looking to beef up his clay-court game by hiring Jose Higueras a couple of years ago.

As for Rafa, he's regained his French Open crown from Roger, and added another Wimbledon title after some convincing wins over Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych in the semifinal and final, respectively. The next milestone for him is the US Open, the only grand slam that he has yet to win. Rafa's never reached the final at the US Open because he usually gets overpowered on hardcourts, or his body is usually not in its best state after the grueling US spring/clay season where he plays a lot of matches. A factor that swings in his favor is that there hasn't been much reports about any injuries (especially on his knees.)

Anyway, we had a first-time grand slam champion in last year's US Open, so if Roger and Rafa can't sort their stuff out by August, we might get another one this year.

On the women's side, Serena won her 4th Wimbledon title, and her 13th grand slam title overall, over surprise finalist Vera Zvonareva. Actually, the semifinal line-up on the women's side was filled with surprises, after Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova upset Venus in the quarterfinals and up-and-coming Czech Petra Kvitova beat the just-as-young but higher-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.

The best moments of Wimbledon for me though would have to be 1) Federer's 1st round match against Colombian Alejandro Falla, where Roger had to claw his way back after losing the first two sets and then going down a break in the 3rd set to win in 5 sets (6-0 in the fifth) to avoid the biggest upset in Wimbledon history, and 2) the epic, historic, record-breaking 11-hour first round match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. The quality of play really wasn't as high as any of the matches in the later stages of the tournament, they were basically just trading aces and service winners... But they were doing it for 11 HOURS! That's a 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(9–7), 7–6(7–3), 70–68 scoreline! That's like 3 marathons! The sheer determination and will to win (not to mention the stamina and athleticism) displayed by both players just to survive the 11 hour match was just amazing to watch.

On to the US Open!

Justine/Rafa 2010

The French Open will be starting later today and this one's gonna be all about comebacks, I think.

Rafael Nadal will be looking to reclaim his title after shockingly losing (for the very first time) at Roland Garros last year to Robin Soderling. Rafa hasn't lost a match on clay this year, and it looks like he'll be keeping that trend up in the next two weeks. And just like the past 4 years, I'm expecting to see Roger Federer on the other side of the net versus Rafa in the finals, but he won't be winning back-to-back French Open titles over the best player clay court player of all time, who also happens to currently be in top form after suffering from injuries last year.

The other great comeback that I can't wait to see is from Justine Henin, who came out of retirement at the start of this year and then displayed a more aggressive game all the way to the Australian Open final, before losing to #1 Serena Williams in a tight match. Justine was the queen of Roland Garros, she was a 3-time defending champion from 2005-2007 (she also won it in 2003) before deciding to abruptly retire from tennis two weeks before the 2008 French Open while ranked #1 in the world.

Justine's draw this year is actually really, really tough. She's seeded #22, and could potentially face #12 Maria Sharapova (who just won in Strasbourg a few hours ago) in the 3rd round, and #7 Samantha Stosur (who won at Charleston and then reached the final in Stuttgart last April) in the 4th round, and then #1 Serena Williams (who, you know, is Serena) in the quarterfinals. That's a really difficult set of players to get through just to reach the semifinals of a tournament.

Anyway, it should be interesting to see how Justine does. I predict that whoever wins the Justine-Serena quarterfinals will go on to win the whole tournament. And that match should be fun!

US Open Men's Draw, Update #1

While the women's field has been decimated, there are no such upsets on the Men's side. No teen-aged sensation to talk about either (I think that spot may be reserved for Grigor Dimitrov next year...) All the top 16 male players made it to the 3rd round, the first time in Open-era history, and in the Round of 16, the 14 of the top 16 made it.

The only two casualties? #9 Frenchman Gilles Simon, who had to retire in his 3rd round match vs former #1 (and former King of Clay before a guy named Rafael Nadal came around) Juan Carlos Ferrero. JCF was a finalist here a few years ago, so it's not like he's a pushover on the hard courts. Too bad for Gilles, who was in a bit of a slump during the clay season... he was starting to get good results again, the knee injury came at a really bad time for him.

The other casualty is #5 Andy Roddick, who got served out of the court by the unseeded 6'9'' giant John Isner in another heart-breaking (for Roddick) scoreline of 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5)

The only match I saw Roger play so far was the first one, against 18yo American Devin Britton. He played well enough there, but according to some reports I read, he didn't seem to be as precise in his match against Hewitt. Same thing with Rafa, I only saw his first round match. He easily dumped the just-returning-from-my-coccaine-ban Richard "Reeshard" Gasquet and I was really impressed with his shots and his movement. It didn't seem like he came from injury at all. It will be interesting to see if Roger can hang on to his good pre-US Open form, and if Rafa can keep his body injury-free even while playing 5-set hardcourt matches.

Dark horses? Last year's US Open runner-up Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro. Murray didn't play well Wimbledon, where the hometown pressure may have been a factor. This time he doesn't have as much pressure to win, so he might be able to pull this off. On the other hand, JMPD doesn't have to deal with much pressure. In fact, not much attention has been given to him since most of the contender spotlight still falls among the top 4. That may be good for him (I predicted that he'll go all the way to the finals... so he better not screw this up, at least for my sake.)


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Before it starts...

I realized that I never got to blog about Soderling's super-sized upset over Rafa last week... So before the French Open men's final starts, let me just summarize my initial reactions (via facebook, twitter, tennis forums, and YM) right after Nadal lost that 4th round match:

Fuck! Nadal LOST???

Alvin: i'm still in shock
Alvin: biggest shock since justine lost to bartoli
Alvin: but this was insane haha
Alvin: soderling isn't even a clay courter

That was a huge upset! I'm a bit speechless.

HOLY SHIT! NADAL IS OUT???!?!!?? CRAZY. (And I really am screaming at my laptop right now)

insane, right?

OMFG

Wooooaah! Is Rafa really out?!?? Shit shit SHIT... don't fuck this up Roger!!!

And let me just add my facebook status right now: Be the Legend, Federer!


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Action on the Red Clay

I've been meaning to post about Roger's win last week but never found the time, so let me just sneak in a hearty WOOOOHOOOOO!

Federer won his first title of the year last week by beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets, on clay, in Madrid. I literally woohoo'ed at my laptop screen right after Roger served an ace on match point, because I didn't expect him to actually win over Rafa that day (Roger played a "tired" Rafa at the Aussie Open and still lost, and I still remember that Italian Open final a few years ago when Roger had several match points and lost all of them while Rafa converted on his very first match point to win 7-6 in the fifth set), so suffice it to say, I was holding off my cheers until Roger actually won the final point.

Having said that, I still think Rafa is going to win the French Open. He's never lost a match at the red clay courts of Roland Garros, so despite that loss in Madrid (a high-altitude city which played to Fed's advantage), it's crazy to bet against the greatest claycourt player of all time.

Rafa's main challenge will come from Roger (obviously) and #4 Novak Djokovic. Fotunately for Rafa, those two could face/eliminate each other in the semis. Despite Andy Murray's recent climb to the #3 ranking over Novak, clay isn't his thing. He can beat Rafa on hardcourts, but on clay, he's got a long way to go. As for the French Brigade, clay isn't JWT's best surface, Gilles Simon is on a slump, and I want to say this is Reeshard Gasquet's year, but he went the Hingis route and is currently unable to play after returning a positive drug test for cocaine... so maybe in 2 years?

Anyway, this is once again Rafa's title to lose.

The women's side is much more open. Defending Champ Ana Ivanovic hasn't played well since winning the title last year and ascending to the #1 ranking. She has since fallen to #8 and has been nursing a knee injury just a few weeks before the French Open. Fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic also has lost the form that took her to the #1 ranking. New #1 Dinara Safina is probably the best bet, she won the 2 big clay tournaments before the French Open, and it doesn't look like her status as the new #1 isn't daunting her the way it scared Ana.

On the other hand, getting daunted or scared has never been a factor for Serena Williams. It's her health that's been her downfall. She's been injured since losing the final in Miami to 19 year-old Victoria Azarenka, and has lost 4 consecutive matches coming into the French Open (all on clay.) Serena's older sis Venus is a wild card, since her clay court results have been pretty inconsistent. Besides Dinara, Russia has two more strong contenders for the title: Svetlana Kuznetsova and (my facebook friend) Elena Dementieva, who have both finished as runner-up at the French Open a few years ago. They've both got great baseline games which serves them well on this surface, but the problem lies more on their (lack of) belief that they can actually win it all. Seeing that there really isn't a Henin-like dominant player this year, this could be their big chance (Go Elena!)

As for the youngsters, French Alize Cornet, Pole Agnieszka Radwanska and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova all had good years last year, but they haven't had that much great results this year. Meanwhile, Azarenka and fellow teen Caroline Wozniacki have broken through with some big results, and both are now in the top 10. I'm personally rooting for Caroline to get to the quarterfinals, at least.

So as I said, the women's draw is a lot more open than Rafa's draw... But I think at the end of the tournament, Dinara will walk away with her first Grand Slam title along with her #1 ranking. And I'll finally stop calling her Lil Sis and start calling Marat Big Bro.

Roland Garros 2009 started today and ends June 7.

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Gods and Forehands

Wow. Just wow.

That was a highly entertaining final match, but the trophy presentation? With Federer crying? And Rafa saying sorry and telling Roger that he'll get Sampras' record eventually? If I was Barney Stinson, I would've come up with a hundred ways to say legendary already. The match didn't reach the tension and drama of their Wimbledon '08 final, but those two speeches from two of the greatest players of all time made up for it.

So, in summary, Serena Williams wins her 10th Grand Slam over Dinara Safina (easily) and regains the #1 ranking, the Williams sisters beat Daniela and Ai for the women's doubles title, the Bryan brothers win the men's doubles, Indians Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi win the mixed doubles, a Filipino wins a Grand Slam title for the very first time, Rafael Nadal wins his first hardcourt Grand Slam title, and GodFed cries.

And I still haven't recovered from it.



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And Here Comes The Tail End, Part 2

The Australian Open men's finals almost became a match between 13-time Grand Slam champ Roger Federer and 14th seed Fernando Verdasco. Almost, as Verdasco gave his countryman Rafael Nadal the most difficult match he's had in Melbourne. Rafa eventually pulled out the win, but only after battling Verdasco for 5 hours and 14 minutes and earned the right to stand as the obstacle to Federer's quest of eqauling Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles.

The last time Roger and Rafa played each other on a Grand Slam tournament was in last year's Wimbledon final, which lasted for 4 hour and 48 mins, and was virtually universally tagged as TGMEP (The Greatest Match Ever Played) in the history of tennis.

This coming final should be a treat.

But before that, (and before I write about Serena's win over Dinara in the women's final), let me just congratulate 16-year old Pinoy tennis player Francis Casey Alcantara, who has done something no other Filipino has ever done before: win a Grand Slam title. Sure, it's a juniors' doubles title, but it's still a Grand Slam. Here's to hoping he goes on to bigger things after this!







In Picture: Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines (right) and Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei, Australian Open 2009 Boys' Doubles Champions
Photo by: Getty Images





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Wimbledon Update

It's been a great Wimbledon so far, with lots of surprises and tight matches.

Especially on the ladies' side if the tournament, where the top 4 players in the world have all lost. This is the first time in the Open Era (in ~40 years) that all top 4 seeds in the women's side failed to reach the Quarterfinals stage. Maria Sharapova was the first one to lose (I talked about it on this post), then world number 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia followed shortly, losing in the 3rd round to Jie Zheng of China, who is currently ranked #133. But then again, maybe Ana should just be thankful that she actually made the 3rd round. She barely survived in her previous match, beating Natalie Dechy 6-7, 7-6, 10-8, saving two match points against her along the way. As for Zheng, she won her next two matches and is now in the singles quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career (she has won two Grand Slams before though, in doubles.)

And then earlier today, the #2 and #4 seeds, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova both lost in the 4th round, to Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn and Pole Agnieszka Radwanska. But even though the top 4 players are gone, it's not like Wimbledon has ran out of WTA stars. The Williams sisters, who have 6 Wimbledon titles between them, are both in the quarters and could easily meet in the finals. I wonder what Justine Henin is thinking about this lineup.

The QF line-up:
Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Nicole Vaidisova (CZE)
(Nicole was a quarterfinalist last year too, she's been having a bad year so far (there was a point where she lost 6 straight matches), but it looks like Wimbledon has revived her)
Agnieszka Rawanska (POL) vs Serena Williams (USA)
(Aga Rad has been having a great year so far, her ranking is now up to #11, but Serena has 8 Grand Slam titles)
Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS)
(What would a Grand Slam be without the pre-requisite All-Russian quarterfinal match? Elena isn't exactly a grass-court expert, and Petrova has fallen from the #3 to #18 in the rankings... But they both outlasted all the other Russians.)
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) vs Venus Williams (USA)
(This is the Thai 32 year-old's first grand slam quarterfinal. Venus is a 4-time Wimbledon Champ. Mismatch? Or huge chance for an upset?)


On the Men's side, only three of the top 10 players are left, led by the two best players in the world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The other top ten player is the uber-talented Richard (Reeshard!) Gasquet of France. And right now, Reeshard is still playing his 4th round match, which he could very well lose to local boy Andy Murray, the #1 Brit and #11 in the world. Which is a pity because Reeshard is one of my favorite players. His backhand is poetry in motion to watch.

It's looking to be a Fed-Nadal final for the 3rd straight year, although I wouldn't count out the winner of the Gasquet-Murray match to snatch Nadal's spot up there.

The QF line-up:
The Master Federer (SUI) vs Super Mario Ancic (CRO)
(Ancic was the last player to beat Fed at Wimbledon, in 2002 when Ancic was 18 year old. It might be difficult for Mario to repeat that win though, since his 4th round match lasted for 3 hours and 49 minutes, going 13-11 in the fifth set.)
Marat Safin (RUS) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
(Safin followed up his win against #3 Djokovic with two more wins to book a quarterfinal spot. This is his first appearance at a Grand Slam quarterfinal since winning the Australian Open in 2005)
Rainer Schuettler (GER) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA)
(These two surprise quarter finalists are the oldest men left (Rainer is 32, Arnaud is 30.) The other thing they have in common is that their best Grand Slam performance was reaching the final of the Australian Open (Clement in 2001, Schuettler in 2003). The other, other thing they have in common is that they both lost to Andre Agassi easily on those Aussie Open finals.)
Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs the winner of the Gasquet/Murray match
(Nadal is trying to be the first man since Bjorn Borg in the 80's to win back to back French and Wimbledon titles. Gasquet and Murray are now in the 5th set of their match, Gasquet won the first 2 sets but Murray came back to win the next 2 sets)



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Two Forehands

Ana's and Rafa's, that is.

Our French Open 2008 Champions everyone.



Ana Ivanovic used her forehand to full effect the past two weeks to win her first Grand Slam in Roland Garros. She's got a great serve, her movement has improved greatly, and her backhand is powerful when she hits it on cleanly of her racket's sweet spot. But her whole game is anchored around her huge forehand.









Rafael Nadal's forehand is even more menacing. It's the absolute weapon on clay, and it's what he used to DECIMATE Roger Federer* earlier today to win his fourth consecutive French Open.





Paris, France
Men's Singles Final
Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Nadal wins his fourth consecutive French Open title. He is two championships away from tying Bjorn Borg's record of 6 French Opens.

Women's Singles Final
Ana Ivanovic (2) (Serbia)
Ana wins her first Grand Slam title, and will take over the #1 ranking from Maria Sharapova starting this week.

Women's Doubles Final
Anabel Medina Garrigues/Virginia Ruano Pascual (10) (Spain/Spain)
This is VRP's 9th grand slam doubles title and AMG's first

Men's Doubles Final
Pablo Cuevas/Luis Horna (Uruguay/Peru)
Cuevas and Horna are the first all-South American duo to become Grand Slam champions in the 40-year Open era

Mixed Doubles Final
Victoria Azarenka/Bob Bryan (3) (Belarus/USA)
This was the first tournament that Bryan and Azarenka played as partners

Boys' Juniors Singles Final
Tsung-Hua Yang (Taiwan)
Nice to see an Asian in the mix of champs

Girls' Juniors Singles Final
Simona Halep (9) (Romania)
Halep beat fellow Romanian teenager Elena Bogdan to win the title. So will Romania be the next Serbia that once was the next Russia that once was the next Belgium?

*As for Federer, he suffered his worst loss at a Grand Slam earlier today. The French Open is the only Grand Slam that he hasn't won, having already won 5 Wimbledons, 4 US Opens and 3 Australian Opens. As Morrissey sang it, there is a light and it never goes out.

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Numero Uno

Ok. This is an all-tennis post/Roland Garros update:

The men's and women's French Open Championship matches are now set! Tomorrow, World #2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia will square off with Marat's Lil Sis Dinara Safina of Russia for the French Open title. Whoever wins here will get their first ever grand slam title. This will be Ana's third grand slam final, after she lost to Justine Henin in last year's French Open, and to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open last January. On the other hand, Dinara will be making her grand slam final debut.

The 22 year-old Dinara, ranked 14 in the world, has been having the best clay court season of her career. She won the German Open a few weeks ago by defeating three top 10 players (then-#1 Justine Henin, #5 Serena Williams, and #7 Elena Dementieva.) At the French Open, she did a repeat by beating current #1 Maria Sharapova (6-7, 7-6, 6-2, after being match point down in the second set), Elena D again (quarterfinals, after being down a match point again 4-6, 7-6, 6-0), and #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova (semifinals, 6-3, 6-2).

I caught Ana's semifinal match against 3rd ranked and fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic yesterday. It was a great match that ended 6-4 in the third set after 2 hours and 15 minutes. Lots of tension too, because whoever won that match would not only get the chance to play in the finals, but would also automatically overtake Sharapova and claim the #1 ranking (Masha lost in the 4th round.) So Ana won, and she'll now be ranked #1 next Monday, no matter what happens in the final match against Dinara.

Congratulations, Ana. Not just because you'll be the new #1, and because I think you'll win the ladies' final tomorrow, but because you also managed to land on the cover of FHM UK next August. You're not just taking Maria's titles. You're also getting her magazine cover opportunities.

You've truly made it.

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Ok, I spent so much time talking about the ladies' part of the draw. So moving on to the men's side. #2 Rafa beats #3 Djokovic (also from Serbia) in the semis to keep his perfectly undefeated record at the French Open. #1 Fed defeated surprise finalist and #59 Gael Monfils of France. Rafa beats Fed in the men's final on Sunday. That's all there really is to it.

ETA: Ok, since I was unloading a bunch of info on the women, I might as well go all the way on my tennis dork mode and talk more about the men's semifinalists too. Rafael Nadal holds a 26-0 w/l record at the French Open, By reaching the semis here, Roger Federer extends his record of reaching 16 straight semifinals at Grand Slam events. Novak Djokovic also has his own albeit smaller streak by reaching his 5th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. He is only the fourth player in the Open Era to reach 5 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals (the others are Fed, Becker and Lendl.) As for Gael, well, this really is the French dude's first big result in the ATP Tour... He's been hyped up a lot as a future champion when he was a newbie, and it took him about 4 years to finally come up with a nice result for all that hype.

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Roland Garros 2008

This year's French Open started last Sunday, and it completely sucks that there's no live coverage on my TV (although I think Studio 23 will be showing the men's and women's finals live.)

Then again (and I've told monsterboy about this), Nadal will win the men's title anyway, and Daniela isn't playing on the women's side because she has a foot injury... So I figure I really won't be missing too much this year. BUT THERE BETTER BE WIMBLEDON ON MY CABLE NEXT MONTH! (here that Las Pinas Cable?)

So as I said, I'm guessing Rafa wins his 4th straight French Open, and since 3-time defending champ Justine retired about two weeks ago, the women's draw is completely wide open. I'm guessing Jelena Jankovic will beat out Ana Ivanovic to be the first Serbian woman to win a grand slam title. We'll know who actually wins in two weeks.



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Federer beats Nadal

Federer finally beat Nadal on clay!


This is the first time Roger has beaten Rafa after five meetings on the slow clay surface! And his win (6-0 in the third set too) came totally unexpected, as Roger has been on a mini-slump lately.

For any other player, winning a Grand Slam and a smaller tournament, and making the finals of a big one would have already been enough to make a great year... But it's a whole different story when it comes to Fed. He won the Australian Open convincingly last January, and then went on to win his next tournament in Dubai. But then, on his next tournament at the Indian Wells Masters Series, he shockingly lost his first match to a player outside the top 50 to snap a 41-match winning streak. On his next tournament, he lost to the same player again, in the fourth round of the Miami Masters Series.

Then, Fed went on to play at the Monte Carlo Masters Series and reached the final, but lost to Nadal easily. After a few weeks, at the Rome Masters Series, Federer again lost in straight sets to another player ranked outside the top 50. Needless to say, Roger hasn't been playing up to his usual greatness. Even on this week's Hamburg Masters, his matches have gone to three sets, and when he faced his clay nemesis in Nadal, a lot of people pegged his chances of winning to very slim.

And that's why Federer's a great champion.

It was a great win for Roger, he won his first clay tournament in almost two years, and in the process, stops Nadal's 81-match win streak on the clay surface.

Now, time for Federer to figure out how to beat Nadal at the French Open over five sets. The French Open suddenly turned very interesting.

The Girl That Does Yoga

Hey, its Fed vs Rafa in the Monte Carlo final!

Have I mentioned that I'm buying a puppy soon? (umm, not me exactly... my dad's paying for the puppy (I think), but I was the one who convinced him to buy one. Heh.) So anyway, one of this pups will be named after whoever wins The Federer-Nadal final later today. (Federer or Rafael) :-)

Of course there is a chance that we might get a female puppy, and if that's the case, then the Fed/Rafa thing won't really fly.

I'll probably name her Dustin or Kandice :-))