ATP Tour Finals 2010: Federer Defeats Nadal 6-3 3-6 6-1

As predicted, Roger Federer of Switzerland won his 5th ATP Tour Final championships on Sunday in London  by defeating World #1 Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3 3-6 6-1 in 97 minutes. Federer joined Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras as the third man to win the tour-ending championship for the 5th time, which he had previously won in 2003 (d. Andre Agassi), 2004 (d. Lleyton Hewitt), 2006 (d. James Blake), and 2007 (d. David Ferrer). Interestingly, it was also the 4th time he won the Australian Open (the first tournament of the year) and the season-ending championship in the same year (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010). (Novak Djokovic was able to achieve the same feat in 2008.)

Federer improved to a career record of 8 wins, 14 losses against his arch nemesis (with the clay court record of 2 wins and 10 losses), who is now regularly being called the greatest clay court player of all time. Federer won his 66th ATP tour title, placing him firmly in fourth position on the all-time list, a mere 11 titles behind John McEnroe at 77, Lendl at 94 and Jimmy Connors at 107.

Nadal is firmly ensconced at #1 and basically has no ranking points to defend until the clay court season. The earliest Federer could challenge for the #1 ranking again is probably Wimbledon 2011. It should be an exciting year!

Sam Querrey Repeats As Champion in LA

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

American Sam Querrey became the first person since Andre Agassi in 2001 to defend his title in Los Angeles by defeating the top seed, World #4 Andy Murray 5-7 7-6(2) 6-3 on Sunday.

MadProfessah had been invited to visit the tournament earlier in the week for a USTA Diversity event and saw Querey and James Blake lose a desultory doubles match to the excessively handsome (and eventual semifinalist) Feliciano Lopez and Jarko Tipsarevic.

Paris Masters: Nadal Saves 5 Match Points To Beat Almagro; Federer Upset

At the Paris Masters, World #2 Rafael Nadal of Spain saved 5 match points in the twelth game of the second set at 3-6, 5-6 to win the match 3-6, 7-6(2) 7-5 against compatriot Nicolas Almagro.

World #1 Roger Federer lost to local fave Julien Benneteau 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. World #3 Andy Murray had 21 aces to defeat American James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4).

US OPEN 2009: Blake, Roddick, Safina, Sharapova GONE!

Maria Sharapova. Andy Roddick. Dinara Safina. James Blake. All these seeded players lost on Saturday at the US Open. Former champions Sharapova (2006) and Roddick (2003) both lost to up and coming Americans who hail from Georgia. Sharapova lost to 17-year-old Melanie Oudin from Marietta, who had beaten MadProfessah-pick Elena Dementieva in the round before (and first came to attention earlier this summer for beating former World #1 Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon). The 6'3" Sharapova served up a bucketful of double faults and lost 3-6 6-4 7-5 to the 5'6 Oudin.

Roddick lost to 6'9" John Isner from Athens, Georgia despite only losing his serve once in a tough 5-set match 7-6 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5). Roddick played well (only 20 unforced errors to 51 winners, compared to 90 winners to 52 errors for Isner, including 38 aces for the taller American).

Safina lost (finally) to Petra Kvitova while James Blake lost to Tommy Robredo.

Meanwhile Serena Williams is already in the quarterfinals and her sister Venus plays Kim Clijsters for a quarterfinal berth later today.

Murray Wins 1st Grass Court Title

Andy Murray beat James Blake 7-5 6-4 in the finals of the Queen's Club tournament (now sponsored by Aegon). He became the first British player to win the title since 1938 and increased speculation that the World #3 could become the first British player to win Wimbledon, which starts on Monday June 22.

Blake vs Murray in Queen's Club Final; Roddick Hurt

Andy Roddick retired from his semifinal match at the Queen's Club grass court warm-up against fellow American James Blake, who will face British citizen Andy Murray in the final. Roddick injured his ankle after he had successfully retrieved a lob from Blake and was walking in the back of the court when the freak accident occurred. The former #1 says that he does not think the injury is too serious and should not negatively impact his chances at Wimbledon, which starts June 22nd.

Murray defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2 6-4 and could become the first British man to win the Queen's Club tournament in 71 years if he beats James Blake, who reminded the British press that they should be rooting for him as well--Blake's mother is a British citizen.

One-Fifth of The ATP Top 15 Are Black!

Gael Monfils

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

James Blake

Gael Monfils is now at #10 of the ATP rankings with fellow Black Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga right behind him at #11 and African-American James Blake at #13. Both Blake and Tsonga have been in the Top 10 previously.

That makes three Black male players in the Top 15 simultaneously. Has that happened before?

Federer, Nadal Withdraw; Tsonga, Nalbandian in Paris Masters Final

David Nalbandian

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

At the Paris ATP Masters tournament top seeds Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer withdrew with injuries before their quarterfinal matchups with James Blake and Nikolay Davydenko, who both lost their semifinal matches to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Nalbandian. Federer's injury was a bad back, and Nadal was "sharp pain" in his knee. Nalbandian is the defending champion, and Tsonga, this year's Australian Open finalist, is in his first ATP Masters Series final, which happens to be in his hometown of Bercy, France. Tsonga took three hours to defeat Andy Roddick in his quarterfinal match 5-7 6-4 7-6(5) on Thursday. By defeating Blake, Tsonga dashed the American's chances of qualifying for the year-end tour championships in Shanghai in two weeks. Whoever wins the final on Saturday will clinch the eighth slot. The other qualifiers are:

1. Rafael Nadal
2. Roger Federer
3. Novak Djokovic
4. Andy Murray
5. Nikolay Davydenko
6. Andy Roddick
7. Juan Martin del Potro

Go Tsonga!

US OPEN 2008: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the last major's men's quarterfinals of the year.

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) vs. Mardy Fish USA. Mardy Fish is replacing fellow American James Blake who went out to his "good friend" with nary a whimper in the third round 6-3 6-3 7-6(4). Fish has had some surprising results, beating former World #1 Roger Federer earlier this year at the Indian Wells semifinals in straight sets, but no result would be more surpising than beating the current World #1 (who happens to have lost one match since early May!). However, it is definitely possible, since Fish has the game to beat anyone when he is "in the zone" and Nadal has never made it past the quarterfinals in New York, where he has lost in this very round in the last two years. However, I think the third time will be the charm for the Spaniard, despite the New York crowd. PREDICTION: Nadal in 4 sets.

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (17) vs. Andy Murray GBR (6). What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? The 19-year old Del Potro has been the second hottest player all summer, having won the last four (relatively small) tournaments he entered while most of the world's elite players were at the Olympics. Murray is at his career high, having won his first ATP Masters shield over Djokovic in Cincinatti and will be ranked #4 in the world (thanks to Davydenko's upset) on Monday for the first time. The two have only played once, with Murray winning on clay in Rome earlier this year. I actually would be interested to see Del Potro win because I want to see what would happen when the two hottest players meet in the semis, but I really think this is Murray's time, and he is itching for revenge for his loss to Nadal at Wimbledon. PREDICTION: Murray in 4 sets.

Andy Roddick USA (8) vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3).This will probably be the best match of the four men's quarterfinals. The two have only played twice before, both times on hard courts in the last year or so and they have exchanged wins. Djokovic has been having a difficult time in the last few rounds, barely winning 4-6 6-2 6-3 5-7 6-3 against the pulchritudinous Tommy Robredo in the fourth round as well as a very tough 4-setter against the young, hard-hitting, very tall Maran Cilic 6-7(7) 7-5 6-4 7-6(0) in the third round. Roddick on the other hand swept past the very talented Fernando Gonzalez 6-4 6-2 6-1 to get to this quarterfinal and really only had a difficult match against the young, hard-hitting, very tall Ernest Gulbis 6-3 5-7 6-2 7-5. I had initially predicted that Djokovic would win this quarter but I have seen a lot of Roddick matches and I believe if he is the fresher, with a New York crowd behind him late at night, he may just come through. However, Djokovic loves playing against a hostile crowd and he will have nearly two days to recover from his near death experience against Robredo. PREDICTION: Roddick in 5 sets.

Nikolay Davydenko RUS (5) Gilles Muller LUX vs. Roger Federer SUI (2). This might have been the journeyman quarterfinal if Igor Andreev had kept on playing the way he did for the first two sets the entire match. Even so, Federer was pushed to the brink, only winning 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-3 3-6 6-3. Andreev had 54 winners to 42 errors compared to Federer's 66 winners to 60 errors(!). In the round before, Federer had 9 unforced errors in 3 sets of flawless tennis against the decidedly un-pulchritudinous Radek Stepanek. Muller is a hard-hitting lefty who gave Davydenko fits in the fourth round, pulling out a 4-set win 6-4 4-6 6-3 7-6(10), saving a handful of set points in the 4th. Federer would probably have preferred to play Davydenko who he has beaten 12 times in a row (and never lost to) since Muller is someone he has only beaten twice (and never lost to). However, he hasn't faced the player from Luxembourg since 2005 and probably has no idea how Muller plays. Still, Federer is on an incredible record-setting streak of 17 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals and I doubt the 130-ranked player in the world will prevent the World #2 from extending that streak to 18. PREDICTION: Federer in 3 sets.

US OPEN 2008: Men's Top 10 Preview

Yesterday I posted my predictions for the Top 10 Women players at the 2008 US Open. Today is my prediction for the Top 10 Men.

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain. The new #1 player in the world comes into the final Grand Slam of the year having one of the all-time best years on tour, having won three ATP Masters Series titles, the French Open, Wimbledon and an Olympic Gold medal (singles). Nadal has a pretty good draw (except for a possible 4th Round match-up with Ivo Karlovic) and is clearly playing with confidence since he has only lost one match in a Grand Slam tournament all year long (to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open semifinals). Nadal has historically underperformed in New York, having lost in the quarterfinals the last two years. This year as long as he can get past Karlovic, James Blake and Andy Murray he should make his first US Open final. PREDICTION: Finalist.
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland. The once and future #1 player in the world has been having an incredibly disappointing year (for him) despite having been in two Grand Slam finals and winning an Olympic Gold medal (doubles). For the first time, since 2003 he has arrived in New York not as the #1 seed and this time he has Novak Djokovic in his half of the draw. Despite having won this tournament for the past four year in a row, he can not be considered the favorite, considering his performance this year and his difficult draw. (Radek Stepanek could be problematic in the early rounds.) I believe the tournament will be decided in the semifinal clash between Federer and Djokovic on Saturday September 6th and until we see how the Serbian and Swiss are playing in New York it's difficult to predict the winner of that showdown. PREDICTION: Semifinalist or Champion.
3. Novak Djokovic, Serbia. The third member of the triumvirate at the head of men's tennis is the only other player besides Nadal and Federer to have won a major title since May 2005. Although he lost (in a 3-set match) to Nadal in Beijing, I believe that if Djokovic or Federer gets to the final, they will be able to figure out a way to win. Really, Djokovic should have won the title last year, it was only through a series of unlucky breaks that he was down two sets instead of up two sets in his final against Federer, which ended soon afterwards. This year Djokovic has played some excellent matches against Nadal, losing a very close final at Queens and having his revenge in the Cincinnati semis. It is true Djokovic beat Federer at the Australian Open but we know now that was not Federer at his best although with his confidence shaken I think the Federer-Djokovic semifinal is currently too close to call, but I am confident that person will be the 2008 US Open Champion. PREDICTION: Semifinalist or Champion.
4. David Ferrer, Spain. Got to the semis last year by defeating a hobbled Nadal. Doubtful the incredibly fit Spaniard will be able to repeat that feat this year if he faces a much improved Andy Murray in the quarters. PREDICTION: Quarterfinalist.
5. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia. The Russian is in a weak part of the draw but it doesn't take much to defeat him on hardcourts. It's doubtful he will be around long enough for a quarterfinal match-up with Federer--unfortunately for Federer. Possible replacements are Dmitry Tursunov, Jarko Tipsarevic and Richard Gasquet (or Tommy Haas). PREDICTION: 3rd Round.
6. Andy Murray, Great Britain. I think this US Open is a great opportunity for Murray to show that his first ATP Masters Series title (in Cincinatti over Djokovic) was no fluke and that he is coming into his own a bit later after his contemporaries Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils have made large noises at major tournaments. Murray wants to do more than make a large noise, he wants to win and some people think he can. I would be surprised to NOT see him deep into the second week. PREDICTION: Semifinalist.
7. David Nalbandian, Argentina. Oh, what can you say about an hombre like David? He's in Nadal's quarter but I'd be shocked if he gets through the gauntlet of Monfils, Paul-Henri Mathieu and James Blake. He is still one of the great ball-strikers in the game with impeccable timing, however his fitness (both mental and physical) are always annotated with a question mark. PREDICTION: 3rd or 4th Round.
8. Andy Roddick, U.S. Roddick is in Djokovic's quarter and Federer's semi. If (and its a big if!) he gets through some tricky first round matches (Fabrice Santoro, Ernest Gulbis and Andreas Seppi) he might make it to a quarterfinal blowout by Djokovic. But I doubt it. And so does he, and that's the problem. PREDICTION: Quarterfinalist.
9. James Blake, U.S. Blake finally got another monkey off his back by defeating Federer in Beijing on a(nother) bad day for Federer. Has the skills and weapons to beat anyone else in the Top 10 on the right day, hopefully (for him) that could happen in a quarterfinal against Nadal but he'll have to go through another American player in Mardy Fish as well another Black player in Gael Monfils. PREDICTION: Quarterfinalist.
10. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland. The other Top 10 player from Switzerland (and lympic Gold Medalist in doubles) is in the Ferrer/Murray quarter and will probably not prevent that match-up from occurring. If Murray loses early Wawrinka could be a shock semifinalist by beating Ferrer in the quarters. Yeah, right. PREDICTION: 4th Round.

Gonzalez Clips Blake, Djokovic Chokes Against Nadal

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile defeated American James Blake 4-6 7-5 11-9 in a controversial match and Spaniard Rafael Nadal defeated Serbian Novak Djokovic 6-4 1-6 6-4. Blake missed three match points but was most upset about the first point in the game where Gonzalez was serving 8-9 in the third set and a ball flew past the Chilean at the net and (in the television slow-motion replay) appears to clip his racquet before flying outof bounds. Blake lost the point, even after appealing to the umpire. In his post match press conference, Blake ripped into Gonzalez:

“Playing in the Olympics, in what’s supposed to be considered a gentleman’s sport, that’s a time to call it on yourself,” Blake said. “Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn’t call it.”

Gonzalez said he was uncertain whether the ball hit his racket.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, it’s just one point. There is an umpire. If I’m 100 percent sure about it, I mean, I will give it. But I’m not sure.”

Blake described Gonzalez as a great player who does everything in his power to win, “usually” within the rules.

Wowsa. I sort of am with Gonzalez on this one. There's lots of times when you're playing that you honestly can not tell if the ball has bounced twice, or even if the ball is in or out, which is why one needs external arbiters to make those calls. The umpire made the wrong call, but that happens. Even with that being said, I do think it is quite unusual for a player not to realize that a ball hit their racquet, though.

The Djokovic-Nadal match was excellent quality, with Nadal retreating to his circa 2006-2007 mega-spin style of play, which Djokovic handled easily and demolished him in the 6-1 middle set. In the third set, Djokovic started making more unforced errors, it was really a case of him losing the match, not Nadal winning it. Regardless, Nadal now is assured of winning his first Olympic medal, and for the second Olympics in a row, Fernando Gonzalez will win a medal in tennis. (He an partner Nicolas Massu won the doubles gold medal in Athens in 2004).

Federer, Blake, Nadal and Djokovic Reach Olympic Quarterfinals

Roger Federer, James Blake, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all have reached the quarterfinals of the Olympic Tennis event in Men's Singles. Federer and Blake will meet in the quarterfinals, while Nadal and Djokovic could meet in the semifinals. Federer defeated Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-6(4), getting revenge for his 2004 loss to the Czech player, while the American defeated hot French player Gilles Simon 6-4 6-2. The other four players of the final eight quarterfinalists are Paul-Henri Mathieu and Fernando Gonzalez (in Blake and Federer's half) and Jurgen Melzer and Gael Monfils (in Nadal and Djokovic's half).

Smells like a Gold Medal showdown between Rafa and Raja on August 16th, to me.

WIMBLEDON 2008: Men's Top 10 Preview

The 2008 Wimbledon Championships begin on Sunday. The following preview was begun before the draw was released, but updated afterwards.

1. Roger FEDERER (SUI). The 5-time Wimbledon champion has had a horrible 2008 (for him), coming into The Championships for the first time since 2003 without having won either a major or ATP Masters Series title. In addition, the last Grand Slam match he played, at the Roland Garros final a scant few weeks ago, the World #1 suffered his worst defeat ever, losing 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to his arch-nemesis and World #2 Rafael Nadal. All of these factors multiply to increase the odds against Federer winning his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title. However, he has won 59 grass court matches in a row, and if there is any court in the world where he can still impose his will by sheer determination, it is Centre Court at Wimbledon--but this time he will have the person who took him out of the 2008 Australian Open in his half of the draw, Novak Djokovic. I think Roger will appreciate the opportunity for revenge. PREDICTION: Champion.




2. Rafael NADAL (ESP). The 4-time consecutive French Open champion has also managed to be in the Wimbledon final for the last two years and in 2007 was a point or two from an unassailable lead in the 5th set. Miraculously, Federer was able to escape to win the title. In the year since that unlucky defeat Nadal has improved his game by quantum levels: his two-handed backhand is now a dangerous weapon, his serve which was previously merely effective is now occasionally lethal and his confidence is at near stratospheric levels. He really believes that he can beat anyone on any surface at any time. At Queen's Club he proved that he could beat the #4 and #3 best grass court players in the world (Roddick and Djokovic). Whether this can be repeated at Wimbledon will be revealed in the next fortnight. PREDICTION: Finalist.



3. Novak DJOKOVIC (SRB). For most of this year, Djokovic has been considered the hottest player on tour having won the 2008 Australian Open title and two ATP Masters Series titles (Indian Wells and Rome). There was much discussion that the ever decreasing gap between the World #3 and the World #2--until the clay court season. Nadal has now defeated Djokovic relatively easily in three consecutive matches and the two have played an astonishing 11 times in the last year with Nadal winning 8 of their showdowns including every Grand Slam match The only way the two will meet at Wimbledon is in the Men's Final which would be a repeat of the Queen's final which was won by Nadal. PREDICTION: Semi-finalist.



4. Nikolay DAVYDENKO (RUS). The hapless Russian finally broke through at "the fifth Slam" this year to capture his second ATP Masters series title in Miami. However he has never been able to get past the semifinal round of any major--it's highly unlikely that will change at Wimbledon. PREDICTION: Early round loss.



5. David FERRER (ESP). Although there are now two Spaniards in the Top 5 players in the world, only one of them really has a chance to win the tournament. David Ferrer is not that Spaniard. PREDICTION: At best Quarter-finalist.
   


6. Andy RODDICK (USA). The 2-time Wimbledon finalist has the game to win the title this year, but does he have the belief? The resurgent Nadal took out the American at Queen's, where Roddick had previously won the title 4 times before. And Djokovic has the weapons and tennis acumen to take out the American's more rounded game. If Roger Federer did not exist Roddick would probably have 5 Grand Slam titles (3 Wimbledons and 2 US Opens) instead of the sole 2003 US Open title. Unfortunately for Roddick, Federer does exist but fortunately they are in opposite sections of the draw thus year. PREDICTION: At least Semi-finalist.



7. David NALBANDIAN (ARG). A surprising Wimbledon finalist (losing to Lleyton Hewitt in 2002) at age 20 a year ahead of his arch-rival Roger Federer, the hard hitting Argentine with impeccable timing and questionable stamina has long been a thorn in the side of the winner of every Wimbledon Men's singles title since 2003. Last year Nalbandian evened out their head-to-head rivalry by winning two consecutive matches on hard courts on his way to winning consecutive ATP Masters Series tournamenys in Madrid and Paris. Unfortunately, Nalbandian has not been able to find his late 2007 form this year and it is unlikely that he will make a mark on the 2008 Championships. PREDICTION: 4th Round Loss.
   
   
8. Richard GASQUET (FRA). Last year's surprising Wimbledon semi-finalist (by defeating Roddick in a garish display of over 90 winners) has not been making much of a splash on the ATP Tour or in the major tournaments since then. Although perhaps it was the Frenchman's breakthrough that spurred his countrymen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils to great success in the first two major tournaments of 2008. However, since his pitiful performance in Davis Cup against the U.S. this spring "Richie Red Shoes" has been worse than pitiful, he has been absent. PREDICTION: Early Round Loss.



9. James BLAKE (USA). The second best American player has long been in the shadow of his lightning-serving compatriot but has managed to follow up his breakthrough year in 2006 to maintain his berth in the Top 10 for nearly two years. Unfortunately he has not been able to bring his best tennis to the majors so far (except at his hometown Grand Slam in New York City). He definitely has the game and the physical athleticism to do well on grass. Tough break being in Roddick's quarter of the draw. PREDICTION: 4th Round Loss.



10. Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP). Being a finalist at the 2006 Australian Open has been a career highlight so far for the flashy Cypriot who has repeatedly been involved in some of the best matches in Grand Slam tournaments (v. Hewitt in Australia this year, v. Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2007 and v. Agassi at U.S. Open in 2006) but rarely actually winning these thrillers. Hopefully he will bring his brilliant game and desire-to-win to Wimbledon and perhaps this time he'll win a repeat thriller against Djokovic in the quarterfinal, although a possible 4th round match against Nalbandian could have even more fireworks. PREDICTION: Quarter-finalist.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2008: Men's Semifinals

MadProfessah previewed the 2008 Australian Open Men's quarterfinals a few days ago.

Roger Federer SUI (1) versus Novak Djokovic SRB (3). This mouthwatering match is a reprise of the 2007 U.S. Open final which somehow Federer won in straight sets despite being outplayed by the Serbian youngster for the first two. I predicted that David Ferrer would continue his scintillating play from the end of last year and stop Djokovic, whose personality and demeanor I'm not a fan of, but whose games never fails to impress. Instead, Djokovic stuffed a pastele in the mouth of Ferrer and dispatched him in straight sets 6-0, 6-3, 7-5. Much has been made of Federer's near-death experience with a far less heralded Serbian player Janko Tipsarevic who, on a Federer off-night, took Federer to 5 sets and nearly sent him packing from the tournament in the 3rd round. However, Federer is well aware that Djokovic is his heir apparent and looks forward to the task of demonstrating that "he's not dead, yet." After a comfortable evening workout of excellent tennis against his personal manservant James Blake where the Swiss World #1 improved his career lifetime record over the American to 8-0 and insured he would reach his record 15th conscutive Grand Slam semifinal and 209th consecutive week at #1. It's true that the only time Federer has lost in Melbourne in the last 5 years was in the 2005 semifinals to Marat Safin--and he was up match point and lost in 5 sets. I suspect Federer will want to send a distinct message to Novak and the rest of the young guns and raise his intensity a notch. Djokovic has not lost a set in his path to the semifinals and if he can find another gear he may be able to show Federer that youth is always served, in the end. PREDICTION: Federer, in four sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). Tsonga is the great story of the 2008 Australian Open. He is an unseeded player who has made it as far as the final 4 players and is within one match of a historic Grand Slam final. Just by being in the semi-final, Tsonga makes history as the first Black male player to be in the semi-final of a major since American MaliVai Washington did it at Wimbledon in 1996.

Tsonga dispatched the very hot (in multiple senses of the word) Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets in the quarterfinals while Nadal took out fellow leftie Jarkki Nieminen pretty easily. The two have played each other only once (fairly recently) in the 3rd round of the 2007 US Open, and Nadal won fairly easily 7-6(3) 6-2 6-1. Since Tsonga was not overwhelmed by making his first Grand Slam quarterfinal somehow I don't think he'll be overwhelmed by his first major semi and so the match may be decided by what happens on court instead of what's happening inside smoeone's head. This is a good thing. Does Tsonga have the game to defeat Nadal? Definitely. Will he? It's doubtful. All the intangibles go the Spaniard's way. Nadal usually has a problem with people who hit very flat, very hard, limited spin strokes on both wings, like a Blake, a Youzhny or last year's finalist Fernando Gonzalez. PREDICTION: Nadal, in five sets.

U.S. Wins Davis Cup

From left to right, Davis Cup team captainPatrick McEnroe, Bob (Mike?) Bryan, Mike (Bob?) Bryan, James Blake and Andy Roddick, the 2007 Davis Cup champions. Tennis blogger Craig Hickman went to Portland, Oregon to view the festivities and has tons of pictures and videos and first hand accounts of hanging out with the team members in the wee hours of the morning after their win on Saturday night.

US OPEN 2007: Men's Top 10 REVIEW

1 Federer, Roger (SUI). Prediction: Champion. Result: Champion. The soon-to-be-named Greatest Tenns Player Of All Time only lost a set twice in seven matches. In the second round he lost a tie-break set to a huge serving, 6-foot-9-inch American ex-collegiate player named John Isner in the third round and the very next round was outplayed for well over an hour by an athletic, left handed player from Spain with a huge serve named Feliciano Lopez. This led to the best match of the tournament, the quarterfinal matchup between last year's US Open finalist Andy Roddick and the 3-time defending champion. Despite playing his best tennis for well over two hours, the American found himself down two sets and a break and lost soon afterwards. That win basically decided that Federer would indeed win his 12th major title in four years. The Final was a mere formality, although Novak did make it interesting. Grade: A.

2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP). Prediction: Semifinalist or earlier. Result: Quarterfinalist, lost to David Ferrer. Finally, Nadal ran into someone who could run down even more balls than he could and his body simply failed him. The World #2 failed to live up to his seeding again on the hard courts of New York as his unheralded countryman seized the opportunity to dazzle on tennis' brightest stage. Grade: B-.

3 Djokovic, Novak (SRB). Prediction: Finalist. Result: Finalist, lost to Roger Federer. The Serbian phenom made his major final debut in this tournament, cementing his status as the second best hard-court tennis player in the world, despite what his Mom thinks. Thanks to David Ferrer, Djokovic was spared having to face the current World #2 player in his third consecutive grand slam semifinal of the year, having lost to Nadal at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and thus got his first opportunity at tennis greatness in New York. Unfortunately, he blew it. He had five set points in the first set and two in the second set and still managed to lose both of those sets, in an eerie reprise of the compelling quarterfinal match between Federer and Roddick just a few days before. In addition, despite John McEnroe's sycophantic commentary which refused to acknowledge any flaws or deficiencies in Djokovic's game, many tennis fans were appalled by the Next Big Thing's on-court behavior (such as half-emptying a water ball on the court and throwing his racquet) which in almost any other case would have led to at least a warning from the umpire. Grade: A-.

4 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS). Prediction: Quarterfinalist or earlier. Result: Semifinalist, lost to Roger Federer. Despite having never beaten Federer in 10 tries, Davydenko still showed up to the semifinal showdown with his nemesis playing hard and actually served for the first set and despite losing that set, did not fade away like lesser players but even when down two sets to none was still fighting hard deep in the third set where he again earned set points. True, he lost the match but the consisten Russian beat every player ranked beneath him and forced the #1 seeded player to work harder than he expected to. Grade: A-/B+.

5 Roddick, Andy (USA). Prediction: Quarterfinalist or earlier. Result: Quarterfinalist, lost to Roger Federer. Roddick played his best tennis against Federer for two solid sets while Federer was playing good, but not great tennis. Somehow, the Swiss player's serve was more effective than the American's despite being significantly slower (hey, maybe speed size doesn't matter, after all). Federer ended the match with 15 aces to Roddick's 14. Over 3sets of tennis Roddick had 42 winners to just 24 errors (a very healthy +18) but Federer had 6 fewer errors and 6 more winners for a stunning +30 performance. So where does Roddick go from here? He has nothing to be ashamed about. He would have beaten anyone else in the tournament playing that kind of tennis (including this year's finalist). Grade: A-.

6 Blake, James (USA). Prediction: Semifinalist or early round loss. Result: Fourth Round, lost to Tommy Haas. Despite placing second in the US Open Series, a favorable draw and again winning his hometown tournament the week before the US Open James Blake was unable to make his long-awaited breakthrough at a major tournament. However, Blake was able to make an important personal breakthrough by winning his first 5-set match ever against the veteran French magician Fabrice Santoro but could not repeat the feat against the more talented Tommy Haas. Grade: B.

7 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI). Prediction: Quarterfinalist or earlier. Result: 1st Round, Lost to Teimuraz Gabashvili. The less said about 2007 after January for the Australian Open finalist, the better. Grade: D.

8 Robredo, Tommy (ESP). Prediction: Early Round Loss. Result: 3rd Round, lost to Ernests Gulbis. Despite (or perhaps because?) he's the best looking player in the Top 10, Robredo doesn't get very much respect from the rest of the players, particularly when he's not playing on a clay court. However losing to a baby-faced, 19-year-old Latvian player named Ernests Gulbis is not conducive to changing player's impression that The Pretty One (El Guapo) is pretty wimpy. Grade: C-.

9 Berdych, Tomas (CZE). Prediction: Fourth Round. Result: Fourth Round, lost to Andy Roddick. Berdych put on a reasonable performance against Roddick for approximately one set of tennis, but after losing that set, the crumpled like a house of cards and actually retired a few games later. Grade: C+.

10 Haas, Tommy (GER). Prediction: At least Fourth Round. Result: Quarterfinalist, lost to Nikolay Davydenko. The confident, talent German player did well to eliminate James Blake in one of the best matches of the two weeks in the 4th Round but was unable to beat the Russian backboard. Grade: B+.

Maybe Mad Professah should predict the results of the men's draw more often! At the 2007 US Open, I made 10 predictions and 4 were spot on, and 4 more could be interpreted as being correct. Only Davydenko and Haas performed differently than I expected. This is very different from Mad Professah's predictions of the Top10 women's players performances where only 1 out of 9 performed exactly as I predicted. Part of the secret is to make flexible predictions, e.g. "semifinalist or earlier" but I think those kinds of predictions are possible in the men's game because the number of players who can potentially get far in any tournament is greater than on the men's side.

Anyway, the Grand Slam season for 2007 is over, here's looking forward to Australia in 2008!

US OPEN 2007: Men's Top 10 Preview

1 Federer, Roger (SUI). The World #1 has won two out of the three major championships played this year and been in nine consecutive Grand Slam finals (every major final since Wimbledon 2005!), winning seven of them. Who would bet against him? According to sportbet.com, odds on Federer winning his 4th consecutive US Open title are so great, that if you bet $250, they will only pay you $100! Although some commenters are more than a little suspicious of Federer's draw which protects him from having to play anyone ranked in the Top 100 until the third round at best, most pundits, including Mad Professah believe that will continue his inexorable march to Greatest Of All Time status by winning the 2007 US Open. He has a rendezvous with 2006 finalist Andy Roddick in this year's quarterfinals according to the draw and has had some surprising losses earlier this year (Canas, twice) as well as some unsurprising losses (Nadal at the French, Djokovic in Montreal) but always brings his best stuff to the biggest stages. And there's none bigger than the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center. Champion.

2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP). The Spanish wunderkind plays so much tennis during the early clay court section of the tennis season that towards the end of the year even the young, supple body of the longtime #2 best player in the World starts to break down. He has shown that he can play well on hardcourts by winning the Pacific Life Open earlier in the year, however he has been humbled by players on this surface recently (Djokovic, Youzhny, Berdych). Semifinalist or earlier.

3 Djokovic, Novak (SRB). The New Kid On The Block anounced himself earlier in the year by making two consecitive Masters Series on hard courts and has won two of them this year (Miami and Montreal) beating higher ranked players both times, no mean feat when you are currently #3 in the World. When Djokovic beat #3 Roddick, #2 Nadal and #1 Federer two weeks ago in Montreal the world took notice. And he looks pretty good with his shirt off. The Kid has made two consecutive major championship semi-finals, I predict he'll go even further in New York. Finalist.

4 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS). The perennial Top 5 player never makes much of a splash at the Slams and now has a controversy over betting on his matches over his head. The draw predicts a quarterfinal match with James Blake, who I predict will go further in this tournament than the Russian. Quarter-finalist or earlier.

5 Roddick, Andy (USA). Ahh, the hard court season when American tennis comes alive. Roddick had a decent US Open Series season this year, placing third behind Federer and Blake and just ahead of Djokovic by winning Washington's Legg Mason classic. However, since the rest of his season has not gone as well he finds his ranking down to 5 and in the unenviable position of having to play a quarterfinal against Federer, who he has not defeated in over 10 tries. Although his loss to Richard Gasquet in the Wimbledon quarterfinals was one of the best matches of that tournament (and probably the year) I'm sure it was a mentally devastating loss for Roddick, who was looking forward to his 4th meeting at Wimbledon against Federer. His take-away from that loss should be to play his potential quarterfinal match against Federer as if it were a final, and maybe, just maybe this time he'll come out victorious. Yeah, I don't believe it either. Quarter-finalist or earlier.

6 Blake, James (USA). Interestingly, the other Great American Hope for U.S. Tennis has had an even better US Open Series season, winning Pilot Pen again and getting to the finals of both the Los Angeles' Countrywide Classic and Cincinnati ATP Masters Series final. If it weren't for just a few breakpoints saved by Radek Stepanek, Blake would be in the running for the $1 million bonus in New York as the US Open Series winner. Blake actually has a pretty challenging draw (fellow American journeyman Michael Russell followed by the always wily Fabrice Santoro with dangerous Sam Querrey and Tommy Haas lurking) on his way to meet Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals whom he is 6-0 against head-to-head. So, this really is a moment where Blake has to live up to his book sales and decide whether he will make a breakthrough or a whimper in New York. I'm suspecting it will be the former. Semifinalist or early round loss.

7 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI). Oh, where oh where has Mr. 2007 Australian Open finalist been all year long? He's in Nadal's quarter of the draw and it's doubtful he'll even make it that far. Quarter-finalist or earlier.

8 Robredo, Tommy (ESP). The best-looking member of the Top 10 is in Djokovic's section of tyhe draw and it's doubtful he'll make it that far. Early Round Loss.

9 Berdych, Tomas (CZE). When Berdych is on, he can defeat anyone in the Top 10, but his curiously flat performance against Nadal in the Wimbledon quarterfinals this year have led me to question whether the Czech player will really ever live up to his potential, despite his hard-hitting ground strokes and go-for-broke style he shares with his girlfriend Lucie Safarova. He does have the possibility of complicating Andy Roddick's move through the draw to meet Federer in the quarters but somehow neither I nor Tomas really believe that will happen. Fourth Round.

10 Haas, Tommy (GER). Ahh, one of the few players in the draw who really believes he is a better tennis player than Roger Federer. Unfortunately for him, he has a possible 4th Round showdown with the new and improved James Blake. If the German player gets through that match (which is unlikely) then he could complicate life for Federer in the semi-finals. At least 4th Round.

James Blake's Book Is Out

On sale now wherever books are sold. And on my wishlist.