Report card: top five men in Rome
Here are the men with the best results last week in Rome. Rafa Nadal A+ The Spaniard can be so-so at times, and he knows that, and he says that, even if we don’t always believe him. On clay, when he is on top of his game, he is control 95 percent of the time. […]
Sloane Stephens finds her footing on clay but falls to Garcia
American Sloane Stephens said this week that she understands how to play better on clay now. She used to get frustrated at times, but now she is learning what she needs to succeed. However, she has to be more tolerant. On Wednesday in Rome, she knocked down Kaia Kanepi 6-0 5-7 6-4. But, she couldn’t […]
Bang it up: Pliskova vs Kvitova, and Isner vs A. Zverev
It’s all about the quarters in Madrid. Eight matches, women and men, so if you get to go and watch, leave early, very early, and stay late, because if you want to catch all of them. You will see at least two terrific matches. Or all of them. In Madrid on Friday, there are […]
Pliskova grabs big clay win in Stuttgart
Finally, Karolina Pliskova won a tournament, a big tournament, beating CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the final at Stuttgart. Over the past few years, the Czech has been pretty close to win a major, but she hasn’t, and now, she feels like that she is back. But with Pliskova, you never, ever know. She […]
Nadal played great at Monte Carlo, but will he stay healthy?
These days, you never know how Rafa Nadal will play on court because over the past nine months, he was hurt all the time. Even in the first three months, in 2018, he could barely play. However, in Monte Carlo, he looked pretty healthy. But at 100 percent? It was hard to tell until he […]
Report card: top five women in Rome
Here are the women with the best results last week in Rome. Elena Svitolina A+ In Rome, in 2017, Svitolina finally rose, winning the tournament. Two weeks later in Paris, she backed off, was nervous and she lost early. But she never stopped trying. In 2018, last week, she played brilliantly. She is so quick, so […]
Rome: Once again, Nadal vs. Djokovic, Sharapova vs. Halep
On Saturday, in Rome, on the dirt, the winners will be darn happy, and the losers will put their heads down and become disappointed. That always happens to intense players, that is. When they are great players, they have to think about what went wrong, and how they will fix it. The top players are […]
Zverev grabs Madrid; Nadal hopes to rebound in Rome
What an incredible week for Alexandra Zverev, who won Madrid, hands down. In the final, he out hit Dominic Thiem in straight sets. In the past two weeks, he has been not only more patient, but he had a good idea of where the balls are coming from and is setting up his replies better. […]
The Canadians: Raonic and Shapovalov liking clay, at least today
It was a very big day, in Madrid, with Milos Raonic knocking down Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 3-6 6-3. Then, the 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov survived Benoit Paire 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4. Both of them don’t love the dirt, but then again, when you win, you will think, “Hmmm, maybe I actually really love clay.” That is what happens, […]
In Stuttgart, Muguruza & Kerber retire
There have been good matches in Stuttgart, and there are some big pullouts. Over the past three-and-a-half months, there have been the vast majority top women who have played — and competed. The great Williams sisters have been able to play, as has Simona Halep, Caro Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenkp, Caroline Garcia, Sloane Stephens […]
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