Sorry, everyone. My full time gig is interfering with the tennis. Damn my need for affordable health insurance! I’m finally getting caught up on Rogers Cup action from Toronto. And I’m catching the red (or should I say pink?) eye to Canada tomorrow evening – after a full Pasadena to-do with harp, flute and fifty [...]

The 2010 Davis Cup quarterfinals are here, less than a week after the Wimbledon finals. Who is ready to fight on? SPAIN VS. FRANCE: Wimby champ Rafael Nadal has pulled from the anticipated Spain vs. France quarterfinal in Clermont-Ferrand, France, to rest his knees. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also out with a knee injury. As the [...]

I just got off an ESPN2 conference call this afternoon with commentators Mary Carillo and Brad Gilbert, who were both asked the inevitable “Federer or Nadal?” question in advance of next week’s Wimbledon. “The last couple years we’ve had two guys in both Federer and Nadal both pull off the hardest feat in tennis, going [...]

Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer in a frustratingly rain-delayed final in Rome on Sunday: 7-5, 6-2. He now is tied with Andre Agassi for the most Masters-level titles ever. Andre won his seventeenth title in Cincinnati when he was 34 – Rafa’s only 23. Nadal’s on his way to setting a seemingly unbeatable record, no? [...]

I hear Gulbis is entertaining a la Safin in his press conferences this week. Take this snippet after beating Volandri on Thursday (via tournament website): Gulbis cannot win a match at the moment without being asked about his misspent youth – that lost 2009 season when he spent more time off court than on. This [...]

David Ferrer, Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and Novak Djokovic advanced to the semifinals on Friday at the Monte-Carlo Masters. I was a little disappointed by the Nole vs. Nalbandian match – I thought that was going to be an all out brawl. Still holding out for a Nole vs. Nadal barn burner, though. I think [...]

It’s semifinal time! 2010 MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS ORDER OF PLAY FOR SATURDAY, 17 APRIL 2010 COURT CENTRAL start 11:30 am [7] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) vs [5] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) Not Before 1:30 PM [11] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [2] R Nadal (ESP) [1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [...]

Think the Spaniards like red clay? After Thursday’s action, five of the Spanish Armada are through to the quarterfinals. He may be king of clay, but Rafa isn’t clairvoyant. A reporter asked him on Wednesday about his upcoming Round of 16 match vs. Michael Berrer: Q.  You beat him recently, Berrer. RAFAEL NADAL: Well, last [...]

Instead of Men in Tracksuits, Miami’s Sony Ericsson Open gives us Men in Wetsuits. Works for me: Via SonyEricssonOpen.com: Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Fernando Gonzalez, Thomaz Bellucci, Eduardo Schwank, Dick Norman and Marcelo Melo donned wetsuits upon arriving at the Seaquarium, and were given an educational class to learn about the 13 dolphins living in [...]

We can’t get enough of the practice courts (and practice field) at Indian Wells. Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Robin Soderling, Gilles Simon, the Spanish Armada, Justine Henin and Caroline Wozniacki worked on their strokes and their foot work on Thursday. Anna Chakvetadze looked on while Marcos Baghdatis, Juan Monaco, Gaston Gaudio et. al played a [...]

The trend this weekend in tennis: Firsts and seconds! Self-described “best friends” David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero met in a final for the second time in two weeks, with Ferrer avenging last weekend’s loss in Argentina with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win in Acapulco. With this victory, Ferrer scored his first title since 2008 [...]

REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci via Daylife If the tennis season revolved around February’s South American clay court circuit, 30-year-old Juan Carlos Ferrero would be its Roger Federer. He beat Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer in three sets in Sunday’s Copa Telmex final in Buenos Aires, making it his ninth straight match victory and second title in as [...]