Federer wins ATP awards for player of the year, sportsmanship and fan favorite Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Roger Federer was a winner in more ways than one last year.
The world's No. 1 player was honored Tuesday as the ATP Tour's player of the year for 2007. He also won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the fourth consecutive year and the Fans' Favorite Award for the fifth consecutive time.
"The sportmanship award is voted by my fellow players and it is a great recognition for me," Federer said in a statement. "It is equally important to be voted by the fans as their favorite player. 2007 was a fantastic year for me."
Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States won the Doubles Team of the Year and Fans' Favorite awards, each for the third straight year. The brothers won 11 titles in 2007.
"It was a very special year," Mike Bryan said. "Being voted fan favorite is also very important to us. Wherever we go the fans support us and make us feel really great."
Novak Djokovic, who'll defend his title at the Sony Ericsson Open which starts Wednesday in South Florida, won the most improved player award for the second straight year.
Other top award winners included: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, newcomer of the year; Igor Andreev, comeback player of the year; and Ivan Ljubicic, Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:10 AM,
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Federer hopes to shake slow start to year
The best player in tennis has been awfully average this year.
Roger Federer is off to his worst start since 2000, when he was 18 and still three years from his first Grand Slam title. In three tournaments he has yet to reach a final, and he has lost three of his past six matches.
Not that anyone will be eager to face Federer at the Sony Ericsson Open, which begins Wednesday. He's a two-time champion and top-seeded, and he's sure to be highly motivated to jump-start his season.
But for the moment, the debate about whether Federer is the best player ever has given way to another question: Is his game in decline?
Health has been a factor. A stomach virus curtailed his preparation for the Australian Open, and he lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Last month Federer was diagnosed with mononucleosis, and when he returned three weeks ago, he lost to Andy Murray in the opening round at Dubai.
But even after Federer pronounced himself fit at Indian Wells, his backhand lacked its usual snap, and his lethal forehand was too often wayward. He lost in the semifinals to No. 98-ranked Mardy Fish.
Is this a slump? A slip? A bump? A blip?
Fish says top players don't see Federer as more vulnerable than before.
"In the locker room, we just kind of laugh at it," Fish says. "We just kind of think it's kind of a joke - you know: 'Oh, my gosh, Roger hasn't won a tournament yet this year.' ... I think he's going to continue to be No. 1 for a long time."
Federer's domination has been such that he'll remain atop the rankings even if he loses his opening match at Key Biscayne. He has a first-round bye, then will play Saturday against the winner of the match between Gael Monfils and American John Isner.
Before losing to Fish, Federer had won 41 consecutive matches against Americans since 2003. Fish was the lowest-ranked player to beat Federer in nearly three years.
But Federer said the upset was merely a case of confronting a hot player who hardly missed a shot.
"I'm surprised myself it hasn't happened more in the last five years," Federer said. "That's why I'm maybe not that disappointed."
Still, this is the deepest Federer has gone into a year without winning a title since 2000. Since seizing the No. 1 ranking four years ago, this is the first time he has failed to reach a final in three consecutive tournaments.
Federer, who parted with coach Tony Roche nearly a year ago, said his game doesn't need major changes. After all, he's only two Grand Slam titles shy of tying Pete Sampras' record of 14. Last year Federer won three of the four major events, including the U.S. Open in September.
At 26, still in his prime, Federer figures all his game needs are a few tweaks.
"I think I have really a lot of potential toward playing more aggressive," he said. "The rest is sort of trying to maintain good fitness and good defensive skill. My offensive skills will always be very good. I just having to continue improving little things.
"I think it's about details at this stage of my career. I'm not going to become a different player. I don't want to."
Among the top men and women, only Maria Sharapova will be absent at Key Biscayne. Justine Henin is seeded No. 1 on the women's side and is in the same half of the draw as Serena and Venus Williams. Serena beat Henin in last year's final.
Three-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal is seeded No. 2 in the men's draw, and defending champion Djokovic is third.
Djokovic, who won his first major title this year, is one reason the gap between Federer and other top players seems to be shrinking.
"There is more variety of players at the top, which is an encouraging thing for this sport," Djokovic said. "Obviously a lot of people got a little bit bored, Federer and Nadal winning and being so dominant. It's always good to see some new faces winning major events. I think the people like it."
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:08 AM,
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Djokovic, Ivanovic win Indian Wells titles Monday, March 24, 2008
Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic have given their home country reason to be proud.
The 20-year-old Serbs who practiced together as children won his and her titles in the Pacific Life Open on Sunday. Djokovic ended American Mardy Fish's string of upsets with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory, and Ivanovic downed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3.
There has been civil strife in Kosovo since it declared its independence from Serbia last month, but both Djokovic and Ivanovic said they do not want to discuss politics.
Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic was suspended from the European swimming championships Friday for wearing a T-shirt proclaiming "Kosovo is Serbia" at a medal ceremony.
"I'm really sad to hear about this," Ivanovic said. "But on the other hand, I don't know much about politics and I don't get involved in that area. When I'm out here playing, I just want to represent my country in the best possible way.
"They (Serbs) really love tennis right now. It's a cool thing to wake up (in the middle of the night) and watch us play," she said, alluding to the time difference. "They're proud to be Serbians, like I think everyone is in their own country."
Djokovic, whose father and other relatives are natives of Kosovo, recently taped a video saying he believes Kosovo will always be a part of Serbia.
"It kind of touched me in that moment that this was my quest to give support to my country," he said.
Otherwise, he said, he simply considers himself an athlete representing his country.
"I think professional athletes all over the world ... are one of the biggest ambassadors of their country; considering the fact that our country is in a very difficult position, they're struggling in economics and politics, as well," he said.
"But this is something I don't want to get involved in."
Djokovic and Ivanovic figure to represent their country well in tennis, since they both already have accomplished a great deal and seem to be getting even better. He's No. 3 behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who both lost at Indian Wells. Only Justine Henin, who skipped the tournament, is ranked above No. 2 Ivanovic.
The Serbian stars just missed a sweep in the Australian Open. Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the men's title, and Ivanovic lost to Maria Sharapova in their final.
Both Djokovic and Ivanovic won their championship matches at Indian Wells mostly by powering shots down the lines, although Djokovic obviously had a tougher time with No. 98 Fish.
Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in the final last year, knocked off Nadal in the semifinals this time.
Despite the loss, Fish had a remarkable run at Indian Wells. He had never beaten two top-10 players in a tournament before, but he upset No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 7 David Nalbandian before stunning Federer in the semifinals.
The 26-year-old Fish, who rose to No. 17 four years ago but has been hampered by injuries, will move up to the top 50 in the next rankings.
He built an enthusiastic following along the way at Indian Wells, with fans chanting "Mardy! Mardy!" during the final, and one waving a sign reading, "Go Fish."
He said his success in the tournament took a while to sink in.
"I just didn't realize what had happened," he said. "To get a few wins against players like that and to play a match like today, to be in there. A lot of great players to go through, and I was one set away."
Asked if he thought Djokovic could become No. 1, Fish said yes. But as for the top player now, he said, "I think it's Roger Federer, hands down. He's had a few results these past few weeks that are uncharacteristic for him. I think he's going to continue to be No. 1 for a long time."
Djokovic seemed on his way to an easy victory after winning the first set and going up 4-2 in the second. But Fish came back to win five of the next six games and force a third set. Djokovic seemed to slip out of his rhythm during Fish's comeback, twice slamming his racket to the court after missing shots.
But he broke Fish's serve in the second game of the final set, then each held serve the rest of the way. After wrapping it up with a service winner, Djokovic raised his eyes and arms skyward, then shook hands with Fish and hugged him.
In the women's match, Ivanovic used well-placed groundstrokes to keep Kuznetsova scrambling from side to side. She capped her victory with a shot that seemed to typify her play in the final: she whipped a forehand down the line on a service return.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:07 AM,
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Sharapova pulls out of Sony Ericsson Open Sunday, March 23, 2008
Maria Sharapova pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday, citing a shoulder injury.
The No. 5-ranked Sharapova is a two-time finalist at the hard-court tournament.
Her withdrawal came a day after her 18-match winning streak ended with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova at Indian Wells, Calif.
"We certainly wish Maria a speedy recovery and hope she is able to return to the court quickly," Sony Ericsson Open tournament director Adam Barrett said.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 12:22 PM,
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Fish routs Federer; Djokovic stomps Nadal in semis
Roger Federer lost again, this time in one of the biggest tennis upsets in memory.
Mardy Fish, an American ranked 98th, shocked No. 1 Federer in straight sets Saturday, with the lopsided score - 6-3, 6-2 - making it even more of a stunner.
Fish, who pulled off by far the biggest of his upsets he's strung together this week in the Pacific Life Open, moved into Sunday's final against No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who ousted defending champion Rafael Nadal by the same score.
Federer, the Swiss star who has seemed almost invincible most of the past five years, has looked vulnerable so far this season.
He hasn't reached a final and has lost three times, including defeats by eventual champion Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals, and by Andy Murray this month in the first round at Dubai.
The 26-year-old Federer, who was slowed by mononucleosis early in the season, doesn't seem overly concerned.
He breezed through his first three matches at Indian Wells without losing a set, then had a walkover in the quarterfinals when Tommy Haas withdrew because of a sinus infection.
"Today it's hard to judge, because Mardy took everything on the rise; not many rallies out there," said Federer, a three-time champion in the desert tournament. "But all in all, I'm happy with the way the week (went) for me. Obviously, the walkover is sort of an awkward situation, but you have to take them when they come around.
"So semifinals to start off with at the first Masters Series is a good thing, and I hope I can go from here and win in Miami, and on to clay."
Federer said the unexpected day off when Haas pulled out Friday may have thrown him a bit off his rhythm, but said Fish simply played "incredibly."
"When he wanted to attack, everything worked," Federer said. "He would never miss, really, when I needed a miss once in a while."
He said it's impossible to not lose such matches occasionally, adding: "I'm surprised myself that it hasn't happened more in the last five years. You always think one guy can outright dominate you on any given day.
"People weren't able to do it against me, so that speaks for itself. But today, Mardy was really impossible to beat, it almost looked like."
Fish, also 26, ended Federer's 41-match win streak against Americans dating to a 2003 loss to Andy Roddick, and beat him for the first time in their six meetings.
"This obviously wasn't Roger's best day, but hopefully I had a little something to do with that. I put the pressure, extremely, on him from the word go," said Fish, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and remained in control the rest of the way.
Asked if he could recall another upset in tennis to equal it, Fish smiled and said, "I don't think I'm that bad."
In a career interrupted by various injuries, he reached his highest ranking, No. 17, four years ago.
Federer looked like just another player Saturday, with his backhand especially mediocre. He managed just one winner and had 13 unforced errors with his backhand. Fish kept constant pressure on him, serving seven aces to Federer's two, and peppering the lines with hard groundstrokes.
He hit 26 winners to Federer's 14 in defeating him for the first time in six career meetings.
Fish, who had never beaten as many as two top 10 players in one tournament, defeated three at Indian Wells. He downed No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 7 David Nalbandian, as well as No. 24 Lleyton Hewitt, before beating Federer.
Australian Open champion Djokovic, ranked No. 3 to Nadal's No. 2, avenged last year's loss to the Spaniard in the Indian Wells final.
The 20-year-old Serb served eight aces to two by Nadal, and hit 20 winners to the Spaniard's 11.
The match included several long, spectacular rallies when each dashed around the court making difficult returns. More often than not, Djokovic would end those rallies by driving a winner down the lines, or Nadal would finally miss a shot.
"I had more mistakes than usual," Nadal said. "I feel a little bit tired from the last two matches. If you play against a player like Novak, you have to play 100 percent if you want to win.
"He's a very complete player - very good serve, very good backhand, very good forehand. He moves fast and well. He has very good position on the court."
Djokovic said he's trying to take his fast start to the season in stride.
"I need to stay calm and just go step by step and try to get to my lifetime goal, which is to be No. 1," he said. "It's getting closer, but still, I don't want to go too fast and skip some things. I really need to be consistent with my results in the most important events, major events.
"I started the year in the best possible way, but it's not over yet."
In Sunday's women's final, Ana Ivanovic will face Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 12:20 PM,
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Nadal finally breaks free against Blake Friday, March 21, 2008
Somewhere around 9:23 p.m. Thursday, in a tennis stadium nearly filled with perhaps 14,000, Rafael Nadal shook a giant weight off his shoulders.
He got rid of an ongoing toothache, blew away a cloud that had been hanging around for some time now.
Nadal, the man who makes Roger Federer's heart beat slightly faster - probably the only one - finally won a match against James Blake, a noted Nadal-killer.
His 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory, in a quarterfinal of the Pacific Life Open, ended with a 120 mph ace. That was followed immediately by a collapse to his knees and a ball smash into the second deck. If this was just another win, Nadal had a funny way of showing it.
Blake is No. 9 in the world, Nadal No. 2, but in this head-to-head series, the record was 3-0 in favor of the guy you wouldn't expect.
Blake has beaten Nadal at the U.S. Open in 2005, at Indian Wells in a semifinal in '06 and at the Tennis Masters Cup at the end of '06. Three big stages, three big defeats for the Spaniard who has won the last three French Opens.
By the time they reached the third set, this match was clearly a matter of who would blink first. There was never any question what kind of match it would be. It was one of those that has become a staple on the men's tour: hit it hard versus hit it harder. Which was which changed with every point.
"Other than the result," Blake said afterward, "this was a lot of fun."
Then he added, "There were lots of back and forth. I was not playing a guy who is one dimensional. Just so much back and forth. I said before that it would come down to just a few points, and that's what it did at the end."
There was no choking going on in this one. The key moment seemed to take place with Blake serving at 3-4 in the third and 30-all. On a 92-mph second serve, Nadal stepped around and went for the home run, which he got with a rocket into Blake's deep forehand corner.
Blake saved that break point, but faced a second one moments later, and Nadal finally finished it with a huge forehand return of serve that Blake hit out. From 30-all in that game, Nadal's only strategy was to hit it as hard as he could, to the deepest corner he could find, and let the chips fall.
After that, serving out the match looked easy.
"It is very nice [to beat Blake]," Nadal said. "He is a very aggressive player. Very happy to beat a big player like that. There are some moments in a match when you have to do what you have to do. I said if I win this match, I win with my forehand. And I did."
The victory kept alive Nadal's hopes of repeating as champion here. He beat Serbia's Novak Djokovic in last year's final and gets him again this year, in the semifinals.
Djokovic, this year's Australian Open champion and one spot below Nadal in the rankings, struggled through a first set against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, then got control and won, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Asked about facing Nadal, against whom he was 2-5 last year and is 2-6 overall, Djokovic said, "He's a big fighter. He will never give you a free point."
The other semifinal will be determined today, with Federer facing German Tommy Haas and Argentine David Nalbandian facing Mardy Fish, an unseeded quarterfinalist.
The women's semifinals were also set Thursday. Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic handled Russian Vera Zvonareva, 6-1, 6-4, and will play fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
Jankovic had a somewhat easy day, taking the first set from Lindsay Davenport, 6-2, and then getting the match when Davenport retired because of a back injury.
Davenport said she had injured her back about a week ago, but had trainers working on it all the time and felt fine - until she tried to get out of bed Thursday morning.
"After two games, it was pretty sore out there," she said.
In the other semifinal, determined Wednesday, Russian Maria Sharapova, Australian Open champion and winner here in 2006, will take on another Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, a finalist here last year.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:09 AM,
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Richard Williams comments on women's tour
WTA head Larry Scott said Thursday that he strongly disagrees with comments made by Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus, regarding racism on the women's tour.
Saying he was disappointed by Williams' recent remarks during an interview in India, Scott said in a statement: "The Tour has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism, and I have previously let Mr. Williams know that he should let me know if he ever had evidence of racist comments or acts in women's professional tennis."
While his daughters were playing earlier this month in Bangladore, India, where Venus reached the quarterfinals and Serena won the title, Williams told the Deccan Herald, "Well, I'm black and I'm prejudiced, very prejudiced. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be."
He said the media treated his daughters unfairly, that it was "the worst media job that they have done on any human being in the world," and that if he were Serena and Venus, he would have quit playing.
"But if you get some little white no-good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert, who cannot hit the ball, they (the media) will claim this is great," he said.
Scott said, "Champions like Chris Evert and Tracy Austin have done so much to help build women's tennis to where it is today, and it is regrettable that anyone would criticize them in this manner."
The Williams sisters haven't played at Indian Wells since 2001. They were booed after Venus pulled out of a semifinal match against her sister, citing knee tendinitis. Serena went on to win the title, but was booed during and after the championship match.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:05 AM,
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Nadal rallies vs. Tsonga at Pacific Life tourney Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Rafael Nadal came back to win the final five games and beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday in an intense, crowd-pleasing rematch of their Australian Open semifinal.
Nadal, the defending Indian Wells champion, avenged his lopsided loss in Melbourne with a scrappy 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) 7-5 victory Tuesday in the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open.
After Tsonga, a hard-hitting Frenchman, went up 5-2 in the third set, Nadal held serve the rest of the way and broke Tsonga's serve in the ninth and 11th games to take a 6-5 lead.
With the crowd beginning to cheer even as he set up for the shot, the Spaniard capped the match by slamming an overhead past Tsonga.
The 22-year-old Tsonga, who has vaulted from 212 in the rankings in 2006 to No. 17, upset No. 2 Nadal 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the Australian Open semis before losing to Novak Djokovic in the final.
Tsonga played brilliantly at times in the rematch against the 21-year-old Nadal, but mistakes cost him at other times.
After ending a long rally when both hit several outstanding shots, Tsonga ended it with a drop shot that Nadal somehow managed to hit back, then a bang-bang volley that left Nadal lying on the ground at the end of the point. That brought Tsonga back from a 15-40 deficit to deuce in the 11th game, but he quickly followed that with a double-fault, then hit a forehand long to lose the game.
Driving powerful forehands down the lines, Tsonga had 47 winners overall - but made 56 unforced errors. The far more consistent Nadal finished with 27 winners and 27 unforced errors. Tsonga, who had 18 aces when he stunned Nadal in Australia, had 11 against him at Indian Wells, but also double-faulted seven times.
The match lasted 3 hours, 3 minutes, and the crowd seemed rapt, reacting loudly to practically every point. Some fans yelled "Go, Ali!" a Tsonga nickname alluding to his resemblance to boxing great Muhammad Ali, and others screaming, "You can do it, Rafa!"
In other matches, Djokovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guillermo Canas; Tommy Haas edged Andy Murray 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; and David Nalbandian beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-2.
In a women's quarterfinal, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 9:10 PM,
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Tennis governing bodies unify replay rules, allowing 3 unsuccessful challenges per set
All professional tennis tournaments using an electronic replay system will offer players the same amount of challenges per match starting next week.
Each player will get a maximum of three unsuccessful challenges per set, plus one wrong challenge in a tiebreaker, the International Tennis Federation said Wednesday in a joint statement with the ATP, WTA Tour and Grand Slam committee.
Players can still make an unlimited number of correct challenges.
Previously, the men's and women's pro tours offered only two unsuccessful challenges per set plus one in the tiebreaker. The ITF's team competitions, including the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, offered unlimited challenges.
The unified system will start next week at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla.
For matches that don't use tiebreakers, players will get an addition three challenges for every 12 games played.
"The players will know where they stand," ITF spokesman Nick Imison said. "There hadn't been an agreement up until this point."
The U.S. Open previously allowed only two unsuccessful challenges per set, while Wimbledon and the Australian Open allowed three. The French Open, played on clay, doesn't need replay technology because balls leave a mark on the surface.
"With an additional challenge per set, we look forward to the Chase Review being used more frequently at this year's U.S. Open," tournament director Jim Curley said in a statement.
Each individual tournament will still be able to decide whether it wants to use the technology, and most will only have one or two courts wired for the replays. But it will ensure that all major matches are using the same rules.
"This is another example of the effort of all governing constituencies in the sport to find a balanced, unified approach to issues of common interest," the ITF said.
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 12:26 PM,
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Davenport beats Bartoli to advance at Indian Wells
Southern California's own Lindsay Davenport continues to get more and more ready for tennis' prime time.
She took one more step on her road back to major tournament semifinals and finals with a late night 6-2, 7-5 victory Tuesday in the women's Pacific Life Open.
Davenport, 31, of Laguna Beach, who took time off to have a baby last year and said at the time that she didn't plan to come back, has won four tournaments since that comeback late last fall and is now setting her sights on enhancing that comeback with a successful showing at this women's tier I event.
In her fourth round match, one that began just before 11 p.m. on center court, she took out sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France. But it wasn't really an upset, even though Davenport is seeded 24th here.
Bartoli's success story is her appearance in last year's Wimbledon final. Davenport's includes titles in three of the four majors, the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Open, not to mention 89 careeer titles, including singles and doubles. She missed most of 2007 but continues to gather ratings points now.
Against Bartoli, who hits two-handed from both sides, Davenport ran through the first set and then stumbled as bit as Bartoli went to a 5-3 lead. The French woman, serving at that point, lost a challenge when the electronic Hawkeye machine rule Davenport's shot good on the baseline. That got her to break point, she converted and then held serve easily for 5-5.
Now, like somebody in a rush to catch a bus, she broke Bartoli at love, then served three aces at 6-5 and got the match point with a 109 mile-an-hour first serve and a forehand winner off Bartoli's return.
Davenport's next match will be a real test. She will face No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.
In the other evening match on the women's side, No. 1 Ana Ivanovic out lasted France's Francesca Schiavone, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
"In the first set," Ivanovic said, "I had a lot of mis-hits, but I think I fought pretty well. In the third set, I basically played point by point and didn't think about the score too much."
Ivanovic next plays Russia's Vera Zvonareva.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 6:13 AM,
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Federer advances; Sharapova improves to 17-0
Roger Federer needed only 53 minutes to get through the third round, and Maria Sharapova extended her perfect start to the year by winning her 17th consecutive match on Tuesday in the Pacific Life Open.
Three-time Indian Wells champion Federer, continuing to show strong signs that he's completely recovered from the mononucleosis that hindered him earlier in the season, breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Nicolas Mahut in their third-round match.
Sharapova, whose streak includes triumphs in the Australian Open and at Doha, outlasted Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to move into the women's quarterfinals. The 2006 tournament champion, Sharapova seemed to put added zip on her serves and groundstrokes after Bondarenko went up 4-3 in the third set.
Sharapova won the final three games, losing just one point in each of the last two.
Mardy Fish upset Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2 to join James Blake as the lone U.S. players to make the fourth round. Fish, ranked 98th, dictated the pace of the match with accurate groundstrokes on his way to beating his Russian opponent, who is No. 4.
Federer, No. 1 for the fifth consecutive year, seemed to be losing his aura of invincibility earlier this season, losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals, then to Andy Murray in the opening round at Dubai.
It's the first time in eight years that the 26-year-old Swiss star has gone as long as two months into the season without winning an ATP title.
He opened at Indian Wells with an efficient 6-3, 6-2 victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, then seemed to shift his game into high gear as he overwhelmed Mahut. Federer had nine aces and won 96% of his first serves, Mahut had no aces and won 47% of his first serves; Federer hit 26 winners to the Frenchman's seven.
"It was a perfect match, really, for me," Federer said. "Just overall excited being back, happy to be playing well.
"I'm more sure I'm over the sickness."
Sharapova said inconsistency made her match against Bondarenko difficult.
"I was like a little kid doing a beaded bracelet. I would put four beads together and they would all fall down and then I'd start all over again," Sharapova said.
"I was just tough in the end, and it gets me through a lot of matches."
She said she can't always play "great, fantastic tennis," adding, "But I've got to keep my concentration out there and keep my focus for longer periods of time."
Other winners in the men's third round included two-time Indian Wells champion Lleyton Hewitt, 7-5, 6-1 over Mikhail Youzhny; Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 6-4 over Tommy Robredo; and David Nalbandian, 7-6 (1), 0-6, 7-6 (6) over Radek Stepanek.
Defending women's champion Daniela Hantuchova, who also won the event in 2002, defeated Sania Mirza 6-1, 7-6 (4), and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 6:08 AM,
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Davenport advances at Indian Wells Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The number on Lindsay Davenport's mind was 101 degrees.
And it had nothing to do with temperature readings in the desert. Her 9-month-old son Jagger fell sick for the first time in his young life and Davenport took him to the tournament doctor at the Pacific Life Open on Sunday.
"I was stressed out of my mind, yelling at my husband because my son has a fever and he's not sleeping," Davenport said. "... I think it was mostly because he's teething they think. But he has a rash all over his body and he's really cranky. It's the first time it happened. It was a nightmare yesterday."
Davenport did have reporters in the interview room laughing when she told a story about Jagger's size.
"He's huge. He's great," she said. "We take it as a compliment. Someone the other day was like, 'Oh, your son's so big, and I'm like, 'Yeah, thank you.' She goes to me, 'I had a friend who had a really obese baby.' "
Perhaps failing to realize that the words obese and baby should never meet in the same sentence, the woman kept on talking.
" 'Don't worry, when he grew tall, he grew out of it,' " Davenport said. "I'm like, 'Oh my God.' . . . That was pretty funny."
In any event, stress is all relative. In the old days, it probably meant a lousy practice or going three sets against an untested teenager, not trying to calm a crying infant.
This doesn't mean the old stresses aren't capable of creating moments of anxiety. A day after Jagger's woes, his mother was locked in a third set against an 18-year-old from China, summing it up: "Just kind of drawing everything out. It was like a slow death."
But Davenport won the last four games, beating Yung-Jan Chan, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, in the third round Monday, and will next play Marion Bartoli.
Of the eight women's matches, Davenport's was the only three-setter.
In men's third-round play, second-seeded and defending champion Rafael Nadal took the first four games and breezed against teenager Donald Young, 6-1, 6-3; No. 9 James Blake beat Carlos Moya, 6-3, 6-4; and in an all-French showdown, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Tsonga's victory set the stage for an appealing fourth-round match against Nadal, a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal, which Tsonga won in straight sets.
"Well, going to be important to serve well, because he's strong in his serve, and from baseline, try to play a little bit more aggressive than in Australia, no?" Nadal said. "I think he have -- he has the control of the point all the time there, so try to not repeat the same."
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:35 AM,
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Nadal, Blake, Jankovic advance at Indian Wells
Defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Donald Young in their first meeting, and James Blake evened his record against familiar foe Carlos Moya in third-round matches Monday at the Pacific Life Open.
Nadal beat his 18-year-old American opponent 6-1, 6-3. Blake took a methodical 6-3, 6-4 victory over Moya.
Two-time women's title winner Lindsay Davenport bounced back from a second-set loss to defeat Chan Yung-Jan 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Ana Ivanovic, ranked No. 2 and the top seed since Justine Henin is skipping the tournament, advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Tathiana Garbin.
The 21-year-old Nadal, second in the rankings to Roger Federer, benefited from Young's inconsistency.
Although he was able to match Nadal stroke-for-stroke in some rallies and also hit several hard winners that brought roars from the crowd, Young's inexperience was evident at other times.
After hitting a routine forehand out to end a long rally in the second set, Young slammed his racket to the ground in frustration. Soon after, he banged an overhead volley into the net, shaking his head at missing the easy shot.
Young won just seven of 17 points when he went to the net and Nadal was 6-of-7. Young made 38 unforced errors, 13 more than his Spanish opponent.
Although just some three years older than Young, three-time French Open champion Nadal obviously has a huge edge in experience.
"Well, I think he's young," Nadal said, describing how the match went. "I think he started very nervous. So I tried to score in the beginning, and he had some mistakes."
Young agreed.
"Obviously I was really nervous," he said. "It's not the first time I played in front of a lot of people, but it's the first time I played No. 2 in the world."
Asked if his nerves had calmed down by the second set, Young said, "Yeah, losing 6-1, I think they go away. But overall, it was pretty decent."
Young had scored the biggest victory of his career two days earlier at Indian Wells, beating No. 32 Feliciano Lopez in three sets.
The 28-year-old Blake, at No. 9 the highest-ranking U.S. player remaining in the tournament since No. 6 Andy Roddick was eliminated a day earlier, won for the sixth time in 12 career meetings against Moya, the former No. 1 now ranked 19th.
"We know each other's games really well," Blake said. "I've had a lot of tough matches with him. So I was really happy with getting through it in two sets, and either way, just getting the win was something I was proud of."
Moya, a 31-year-old from Spain, had been the oldest player left in the men's side of the tournament.
Davenport often seemed her own worst enemy in the match against Chan. The 31-year-old Davenport, a former No. 1, had to overcome 48 unforced errors, 20 more than her 18-year-old opponent from Taipei.
Jelena Jankovic, the women's No. 3 seed, romped to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Ai Sugiyama.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 7:29 AM,
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Haas upsets Roddick in Indian Wells Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sixth-seeded Andy Roddick was ousted from the Pacific Life Open on Sunday, losing 6-4, 6-4 to unseeded Tommy Haas.
Roddick's famously fast serve failed him in the match, as he hit just 54% on his first serves and was broken twice.
Seventh seed David Nalbandian needed three sets but reached the third round by beating Ernestes Gulbis 6-4, 4-7, 7-6 (4).
No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez was not so fortunate, losing in three sets to Mario Ancic. No. 25 Nicolas Almagro was also upset by Nicolas Mahut.
Also on the men's side, 11th seed Andy Murray lost a set before rallying to beat Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. No. 15 Tommy Robredo, No. 20 Ivo Karlovic, and No. 29 Radek Stepanek also advanced.
On the women's side, fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova continued her tear in 2008, reaching the fourth round with a straight sets win over Eleni Daniilidou. She will face No. 15 Alona Bondarenko, who knocked out 17th seed Amelie Mauresmo.
No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova also reached the fourth round, as did No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska and unseeded Caroline Wozniacki.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 8:19 PM,
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Young rallies against Lopez at Indian Wells
Teen who lost first 11 matches on tour wins, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2, at windy Indian Wells.
Proof that tennis life, indeed, does exist after going 0-11 was out on Stadium Court 3 during a wind-swept Saturday afternoon, taking the form of 18-year-old Donald Young.
This was a rare lefty vs. lefty contest: Young vs. Feliciano Lopez of Spain, and the accompanying soundtrack was an almost constant beat of flags from various nations on top of the stands flapping loudly in the wind.
If conditions inside the main Stadium Court at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells were difficult - one winner, Novak Djokovic, called it the "ugliest match" he had played - life for the proletariat on the outside courts was considerably more complicated.
Young led by a set and 3-0 before losing the second in a tiebreaker. He used a bathroom break to compose himself and steadied enough to beat Lopez, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2, avenging his loss to the Spaniard at the U.S. Open last year in four sets.
"Yeah, it was tough," Young said. "I'm just happy to be the one with the 'W' at the end of the day. I don't really know how balls were going in. You couldn't really hit your shot with the serve."
Still, the top-seeded players, while needing to be resourceful with the tricky conditions, mostly emerged unscathed with the exception of No. 10 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who lost to Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
On the women's side, top-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia faltered in the second set before beating Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania, 6-1, 5-7, 6-0, and Lindsay Davenport had a short afternoon of work, playing just one set against Gisela Dulko of Argentina. Dulko retired because of a strained right quadriceps after Davenport won the first set, 6-2,
In other second-round matches, No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain, the defending champion, beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 3 Djokovic was pushed in the second set before beating Andreas Seppi of Italy, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Nadal will next play Young, and he admitted he did not know much about the American. In fact, the majority of questions were about his friendship with Lopez.
"If I play Feliciano, I'm going to start to win the match tomorrow on the golf course," Nadal joked.
It wasn't as though anyone was doubting Young's ability to win against Lopez, but Young admitted to succumbing to nerves when he had the chance to serve it out in the second set.
There was a time, not long ago, when Young's early struggles had him wondering when - or if - his breakthrough would come on the main ATP tour. He lost his first 11 matches, including a 6-0, 6-0 defeat against Carlos Berlocq at Miami in 2006.
Young, now ranked 86th, was candid about his thoughts during the losing streak.
"Just when am I going to win one? That was pretty much it," he said. "When was I going to win one? Come on. Please. Guys I was beating, they were winning ones and I wasn't. It was really disappointing, but I figured out how to win one."
The Berlocq loss was especially humiliating for the kid who was on the cover of many sports sections at age 14.
"Yeah, Miami hurt a lot. I've never lost 0-0 in my life, and then I lost 0-0 at one of the biggest tournaments I played," Young said. "That wasn't too confidence boosting at all. Actually shut it down pretty bad.
"And then on TV I got talked about bad, you know. And then he loses 0-0 to [James] Blake. It just looked really bad, so it hurt my feelings a lot."
Unwittingly, he became the poster boy for what is said to ail the wild-card system. But he made a concerted effort to curtail his social life to devote himself more fully to tennis. Finally, he had his first ATP victory just before the U.S. Open last year, beating Amer Delic at New Haven, and followed up by pushing Nikolay Davydenko to three sets in the next round.
Not that he recommended anyone go 0-11.
"It was definitely a learning experience," Young said. "I wouldn't say 11 was good for me, but, you know, I did it."
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 10:19 AM,
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Nadal, Ivanovic cruise at Pacific Life Open
Nadal, the No. 2 seed, beat qualifier Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-3.
The third-seeded Djokovic bested Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6 (3) on another day plagued by cold, gusty winds.
"You always want to pick up the best things in the match and keep the high level of performance," said Djokovic, who made his debut in the ATP Tour's top 10 after losing to Nadal in last year's Pacific Life final.
"But it was a very ugly match to watch, a lot of unforced errors," he said. "It was so windy, you couldn't get any rhythm."
On the women's side, No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic, No. 6 Marion Bartoli and two-time event winner Lindsay Davenport joined Ivanovic in the third round. Jankovic, of Serbia, beat Ahsha Rolle 6-0, 6-2; France's Bartoli beat Elena Vesnina of Russia, 6-0, 6-4; and Davenport had taken the first set from Gisela Dulko, 6-2, when the Argentine retired due to a strained right quadriceps.
Davenport was happy to end the match because of the conditions on the court.
"I feel fine with one set," she said.
Jankovic, however, said the weather helped her.
"In the windy conditions, you have to be really focused and really try to move your feet," Jankovic said. "That's what I did today, so I'm really glad with my performance despite the conditions. I'm happy to get through."
There was one minor upset on the men's side, with Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beating No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 10:12 AM,
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Federer ready for 'tricky' time at Pacific Life Open Saturday, March 15, 2008
Federer is still No. 1, but he'd like to blot out questions at Indian Wells after failing to reach the Australian Open final and just finding out he had a bout with mononucleosis.
Being on a pedestal means others will be looking for ways to knock you off.
Some pedestal-sitters are oblivious to that. The smart ones, the Roger Federers, recognize their high ground and protect it warily.
Federer has been No. 1 in men's tennis since Jimmy Carter was president. OK, it just seems that long.
He actually took over the top spot Feb. 2, 2004. That was after he had won his second major, the Australian Open, and before he won 10 of the next 15 Grand Slam events.
He didn't just take over men's tennis. He was men's tennis.
If it weren't for tournaments played mostly in Europe, where two players stand yards behind the baseline, slap looping ground strokes at each other for hours - and that's just the first set - and finish looking like jockeys who have just raced in the mud, Federer might have shut the entire game down.
In its time of need, tennis was rescued by Rafael Nadal, who dominated at least the clay-court portion of the game, winning the last three titles in the French Open dirt at Roland Garros.
Without that, the sport might have become a series of notes from opponents, having just viewed the draw sheet and seen their name next to Federer's, to tournament directors: "Dear Sir. So Sorry. He's too good. Am going home early. Just mail the default check."
Almost since Federer won his first Wimbledon title, and his first major title, in 2003, the story line has been a stream of flowery adjectives and justifiable hyperbole. Another theme has been invincibility, also justifiable.
Most of that remains valid. But there have been hints that cracks may exist near the base of the statue.
Federer didn't win the Australian this year, didn't make it to the final for the first time in 11 Grand Slam events. In his only other tournament outing this year, he lost in the first round to Andy Murray in Dubai. His 2008 record is 5-2, his year's prize money $314,760. Chump change.
Which brings us to real time, as Internet folks call it.
Federer is back at Indian Wells and will start playing Sunday in the Pacific Life Open, which has, on the tennis tour, the status of a mini-major. Federer won the event in 2004, 2005 and 2006, but, inexplicably, bowed out early last year to an unseeded qualifier, Guillermo Canas, who had been off the tour on a 15-month drug suspension.
Then Canas beat him again in the next tournament, another mini-major in Miami.
That didn't exactly wipe out the season for Federer. He went on to win the U.S. Open - his 12th major that brought him to within two of Pete Sampras' record. Then he tacked on the season-ending win at the Tennis Masters Cup and finished the year, at No. 1, of course, giving him another $10,130,620 in prize money to help him with his Christmas shopping.
But the combination of this year's start, mostly attributable to a recently diagnosed bout with mononucleosis, and the memory of last year and Canas' double whammy, have given Federer a renewed resolved these days. Never a "what me, worry?" kind of guy, Federer said Friday that he considers the month of March, with two weeks of tournament play at Indian Wells followed directly by two weeks at Miami, as "tricky."
"I need to start well here, to get going, have a good event," he said. "You have just two tournaments in the month, and if you play a bad one, maybe go out early, people talk.
"It's different if it is three tournaments in four weeks and you have another tournament to get back on track.
"This time, right now, is a tricky period."
Last year, after losing to Canas in the second round, Federer stayed around the desert, practiced a lot, even played some golf.
"I think that's the last time I played," he said.
And while he agreed that the break was nice, the weather is always great and time away from pressure is always welcome, he admitted to getting itchy.
"You want to get back out there," he said. "I don't want 10 days of practice like last year."
What he does want is his energy back, something he thinks has now returned after his bout with mono.
"I was just happy to find out exactly what it was," he said. "They did a lot of checking for bacterial infections and food poisoning. I ended up in the emergency room three times. I don't think there was any misdiagnosis. They just had to eliminate other things."
He also seems to want the reinstatement, to the status of rivalry, his matches with Nadal, who won at Indian Wells last year and is seeded second. They can only meet in the final, and Federer seems almost eager for that.
When asked whether up-and-coming Novak Djokovic, Australian Open winner, who beat him in the semifinals there, had taken over as his rival, Federer responded quickly.
"Rafa is my rival. We have played much more, we are 2-2 in Grand Slam finals, we have played some epic five-setters, like at Miami and at Rome.
"I used to not like the rivalry thing. I didn't think that much about it, or care that much about it. But now, with Rafa, it is good.
"With Djokovic, we just haven't played that many times."
Federer's first match at Indian Wells will be against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
That other Guillermo, Canas, is seeded 16th this year and on the other side of the bracket. If Nadal isn't there at the end, Canas might be a nice consolation prize for Federer.
They would call that match a final. Federer might call it pedestal-crack repair.
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