Federer's Outfit For Madrid And Rome 2013

Here is Federer's outfit for Madrid and Rome 2013 Masters 1000 events.  Tennis fans were waiting impatienltly the come back of tennis great Roger Federer.  Now he is playing at Madrid next week.  Let's take a look at his outfit.

Djokovic Broke Nadal's Winning Streak At Monte Carlo

At last Djokovic has done it.  He has done that work which no one could do for last 8 years.  He beat eight time defending champion Rafael Nadal for the first time at Monte Carlo Country Club in last 9 years.  He beat his old rival in straight sets.  And with this victory he improved his record to 19-15 against Nadal all time and 12-3 on dust.  He has also become the only man who beat Nadal in final of clay event three times.  Previously he was tied with Roger Federer, who also beat Nadal in two clay court finals.
 

His path to this incredible victory was not so easy.  He also reached in the finals of Monte Carlo in 2009 and 2012 where he was defeated by Nadal.  He won against Nadal in third attempt and second in a row.  Djokovic's participation in this event was uncertain in the start due to some injury, but he participated and showed a slow start.  In his first two matches Djokovic was far away from his best.  But as time passed he continued to get better and better.  In quarter finals and semi finals he showed a good tennis and gave message to the tennis world that he will the man to beat on dust also.  He beat Fognini in semi finals by losing  just 3 games and without facing the break point in the whole match.  That was a clear massage to king of clay that Nole of 2011 has come back.  And he proved that at Monte Carlo 2013.
He beat Nadal by 62 76(1).  The whole match has seen many twists and turns.  In the start Djokovic served first and hold the serve pretty easily and after that he started to strengthen his grip on the match.  He broke Nadal and immediately got 3-0 lead.  But that was not a finish line, he broke Nadal again and he flies to get 5-0 lead.  At this time everyone was thinking that it would be a love set.  But Nadal hold the serve in very next game to get respectability and get himself on scoreboard at 6-1.  After that he broke Djokovic's serve and get scoreboard to 6-2 which tennis fans thought could be come back moment for Nadal  but that moment was short lived.  Because Djokovic broke Nadal again in very next game to take the opening set by 6-2.
In the second set, tennis fans were waiting impatiently for Nadal's comeback.  Djokovic again served first and hold the serve to get 1-0 lead.  In the second game Nadal also hold the serve to level 1-1.  In the third game Djokovic again hold his seve to get 2-1 lead.  Nadal again level the set by 2-2.  In next game Djokovic faced huge test because Nadal raised the level of his game and broke Nole to get 3-2 lead and immediately consolidated the break to get handsome 4-2 lead.  Nole did not lose heart and hold his serve to love to get scoreboard to 3-4.  In the very next game Djokovic broke back to level the match at 4-4.  And hold the serve to get 5-4 lead again.  Nadal again displayed an epic tennis and hold his serve to get himself at 5-5 and then he broke to get 6-5 lead.  That was considered as turning point of the match because if he was able to to get the match in the deciding set, the match would be in his pocket.  He was seving for the second set, but Djokovic had other things in his mind, he was a deternmined man.  He broke Nadal to take the set into the tie break.
After this Nadal looked exhausted because Djokovic took that tie break by 7-1 and sealed the victory in a very special way.

Djokovic And Nadal Collide At Monte Carlo For Second Straight Year

The top seed at Monte Carlo Novak Djokovic and no 3 seed Rafael Nadal will clash on sunday 21 April, 2013 at for Monte carlo title for second straight year.  Both of these guys reached into the final by beating their opponents comrehensively in straight sets.

Djokovic beat Fobio Fognini by 62 61.  Djokovic was a little bit struggling due to transition from hard to dust.  Therefore he had to come from a set down in his first two matches.  But he managed to play at higher level at clay also and his performance started to improve as rounds passed.  In the semi final he gave no chance to Fobio Fognini who reached here by beating Tomas Berdych.  In this match Djokovic fired 3 aces with no double fault.  His first serve %age was 70%.  And he won 82% of these points.  His second serve was also impressive he won 9 out of 12 points on his second serve.  He produced 6 break points and made full use of opportunities and converted 4 of them.  During all this match of just 53 minutes Djokovic did not face a single break point.
 

In another semi final Nadal beat Tsonga by 63 76(3).  Nadal took about 1 and 37 minutes to beat the French man.  Nadal's first serve %age was 80%.  He won 71% of points on his first serve.  He also won 62% of points on his second serve.  He saved 5 of 7 break points that he faced.  The key to victory was conversion of break point opportunities.  He converted 4 of ten break points that he produced.  Nadal is bidding for his 9th straight title at Monte Carlo country club.  And he has to face Djokovic again to achieve that fate.  For Djokovic it is huge opportunity to make history by breaking such a long winning streak of Nadal.  Although Nadal leads head to head by 12-2 on clay but Djokovic is more determined to win that match than ever.

He said about his match against Nadal.  "I am not going to play this match at my best, but i am going into this match to win this".  This match would be an epic as tennis world is expecting.  But time is the ultimate Judge, lets see what happens.

Federer Is Also GOAT In Tie Break History

Roger Federer is no doubt a GOAT(greatest of all times).  He broken so many records and at the same time he made stack of records which are looking unbreakable.  In case of Tie breaks Federer is leading all other men in the tennis history. A Tie Break is considered as solution of a set.  It consists of most important points which can decide the set or even a match.  The man who has mental toughness and maturity would be favourite to win the tie break.  But if someone loses his concencentration a little bit he can pay the price in case of losing the set or even the match.  So tie breaks in my point of view are turning points of the match.  They can give victory as well as loss.

According to the statistics released by Atp only two men are in top ten who are not playing in this golden era of tennis.  It means they are old players of 80s.  Let's take a look at the position of players in terms of tie break won in history by percentage wins.

Player Name                                   Win %age

1)  Roger Federer                             65.9%

2)  John Isner                                   63.9%

3)  Pete Sampras                              63.7%       

                                                4)  Novak Djokovic                           63.3%

5)  Rafael Nadal                                62.6%

6)  Andy Roddick                              62.2%      

7)  Andy Murray                                60.8%

8)  Micheal Stich                                60.1%

9)  David Nalbandain                         60.1%

10) Edberg                                        60.1%

Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 2013 “ The Draw”

The first major event of clay court season in 2013 season has arrived.  Its draw has been revealed.  Roger Federer is not playing this event due to limited tournaments schedule.  Also David Ferrer is skipping this event due to some injury this year.  However other top players are participating.  Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and Berdych are top four seeds in the first masters 1000 on clay.  Following is detailed analysis of this tournament’s draw. 

Novak Djokovic’s Quarter:

Novak Djokovic is seeded 1^st at this tournament this year.  He has first round bye as all top eight seeds enjoy this previlledge.  Djokovic was runner up to Rafael Nadal here last year.  He is bidding for his first title here.  He is also looking for his first ever clay court title since 2011 BNL d-Italia Rome title.  Mikhail Youzhny is the man who could be his possible opponent in the 2^nd round.  In third round he can face tricky opponents either John Isner or Juan Monaco.  Juan Monaco is clay court specialist and Isner is a huge server.  In the quarter finals he can face Juan Martin Del Potro, who knows how to beat Djokovic.  He did that at Indian wells this year when he was a set down.  Therefore this match would be an epic. 

Tomas Berdych’s Quarter:

World no 5 Tomas Berdych is seeded no 4 due absence of Federe and Ferrer.  His 2^nd round opponent could be either Spanish young man Granollers or Czech Radek Stepanek.  In the 3^rd round he can face Italian veteran Andreas Seppi, who knows how to beat tough opponents on clay.  So this match would be an interesting one.  In the Quarter Finals he can face French man Richard Gasquet or Croatian Marin Cilic.  Both of these will battle in third round to qualify for quarters.  Both of these matches will be interesting to watch in early rounds. 

Rafael Nadal’s Quarter:

Here is man to beat at Monte Carlo for last eight years.  No one could catch him at slow clay of Monte Carlo.  He is again looking like a man to beat here.  He has already won two clay court titles this year.  He has given a kind draw until his quarter finals.  But he have to face a very tricky opponent in the 2^nd round, Fernando Verdasco.  He was the only man who beat Nadal on clay last year.  Verdasco has always created troubles for Nadal.  So this match will be most interesting match to watch in 2^nd round.  In the third 3^rd round He could face German Philip Kohlshreiber in the third round who beat Nadal in Gerry Weber last year.  In the Quarterfinals he can face either Janko Tipserevic or Gilles Simon.  Nadal can handle all these obstacles very well on clay. 

Andy Murray’s Quarters:

Andy Murray is no 2 player in the world.  Clay has been his worst surface.  He did not win a clay title for years.  He could never beat Nadal on clay.  His draw is tough one.  He can face either Robin Haas or Gael Monfils in the 2^nd round.  In the 3^rd round he can face Stanilas Wawrinka, who is undoubtedly the trickiest player in the draw.  He has beaten Murray on grand slam stages also.  Therefore he knows how to compete with Murray.  So this match will also be astonishing.  In the quarterfinals Murray’s opponent can be Tsonga or Almagro who fight to qualify for quarterfinals in the third round. 

Semi Finals:

1) Djokovic vs Berdych

Prediction:  Djokovic bt Berdych

2) Nadal vs Murray

Prediction: Nadal bt Murray

Final:  Nadal bt Djokovic

Best Returners In 2013 So Far

The best returner in the game of tennis is the athlete who returns those balls in the court and make the point playable, which is looking impossible to return.  The athlete who is best returner should possess the quality of breaking anyone's serve especially when it matters.  In 2013 season, here are given top returners in the tennis game.  In my previour articles i discussed best servers in 2013.  Let us now assess best returners in ascending order.

8) Jo Wilfried Tsonga:

The French veteran Tsonga is last in the top eight because he could not give good performance on return as he performed with his serve.  In 2013 Tsonga won 28% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 46% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 110 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 45% of break points.  He played 241 return games in total so far.  And won 20% of them.  He won 35% of the points which he played on return game in total.

7) Juan Martin Del Potro:

Juan Martin displayed a good tennis with his serve.  But his defeciency in return game is still there as compared to other elite players.  Anyhow, he won 30% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 53% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 151 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 40% of break points.  He played 251 return games in total so far.  And won 24% of them.  He won 39% of the points which he played on return game in total.

6) Roger Federer:

Roger Federer is considered as best servers in history of the game.  His return game clicks in a match very well, when it really matters.  This season his return game was not so impressive.  Anyhow he fulfills this defeciency with precise and good serve.  He won 31% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 51% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 152 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 37% of break points.  He played 222 return games in total so far.  And won 25% of them.  He won 39% of the points which he played on return game in total.

5) Rafael Nadal:

Rafael Nadal is probably one the best returners in the game of tennis.  He boost up his career with high level return game.  This season, he was at top of server in my last article.  He won 33% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 55% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 151 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 42% of break points.  He played 190 return games in total so far.  And won 33% of them.  He won 42% of the points which he played on return game in total.

4) Tomas Berdych:

Tomas Berdych is no 4 in the list because he is playing best tennis than ever.  And stats show this.  He won 32% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 57% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 181 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 45% of break points.  He played 292 return games in total so far.  And won 28% of them.  He won 41% of the points which he played on return game in total.

3) Novak Djokovic:

Novak Djokovic is top player in the world and there is a reason behind it.  He has mental toughness, huge serve and excellent return game.  All these things make an athlete a true champion.  Novak Djokovic won 34% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 57% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 179 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 47% of break points.  He played 245 return games in total so far.  And won 34% of them.  He won 43% of the points which he played on return game in total.

2) Andy Murray:

Andy Murray was last in top eight servers in 2013, but he made up that defeciency with his return game and won two titles and was runner in OZ open 2013.  He  won 35% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 57% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 200 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 49% of break points.  He played 268 return games in total so far.  And won 36% of them.  He won 44% of the points which he played on return game in total.

1) David Ferrer:

Here comes no 1 returner of 2013.  He is non other than David Ferrer.  He won two titles so far.  He was runner up Miami despite of getting championship point( unfortunate).  But he is displaying great skills on his return game.  He  won 37% of the points that he returned on the first serve.  He won 57% of the points on 2nd serve return.  He had 282 break point opportunities out of which he was able to convert 48% of break points.  He played 329 return games in total so far.  And won 41% of them.  He won 46% of the points which he played on return game in total.

Best Servers Of 2013 So Far

The best server athlete is one who not only fires aces, but also wins most important points especially when it matters.  The following are top eight servers in 2013.  These positions are given purely on the basis of statistics.  Here are these big servers. 

8) Andy Murray:

Andy Murray has a pretty good season so far.  He has won at Brisbane and Miami.  He was also runner up in Australian open 2013.  In 2013 he fired 161 aces, committed 53 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 62%, out of which he won 75% points.  He won only 48% of points on his second serve.  Due to which he faced 129 break points so far, out of which he saved 65% of break points.  He played total of 266 service games, out of which he won 83% of service games.  He won 69% of total service points he played in 2013 so far.  Murray’s weak portion of serve was his weak second serve and many double faults, as compared to other top players. 

7) David Ferrer:

David Ferrer is displaying a good tennis with increasing age interestingly.  He has given no 7 position because of his grinding hard work on his service points.  He fights for each and every point.  Although Ferrer is not a big server yet he has 82 aces in 2013 so far.  His double faults are little behind Murray 51.  His first serve percentage is 64%, out of which he won 70% of points.  He also did hard work on his second serve point and won 52% of second serve points.  He faced 179 break points and saved 59% of them.  He played most of 350 service games and he won 79% of these service games.  Also he won 63% of total points on his serve.  He has won two titles and was runner up at Miami in 2013 so far. 

6) Juan Martin Del Potro:

Juan Martin Del Potro has huge serve due to his great height.  He is also improving day by day.  He won Rotterdam and was runner up at Indian Wells masters in 2013.  In 2013 he fired 156 aces, committed 39 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 65%, out of which he won 75% points.  He also won 55% of his second serve points.  He faced 103 break points in 2013 so far, out of which he saved 72% of break points.  He played total of 249 service games, and won 88% of them.  He won total of 68% service points that he played. 

5) Jo Wilfried Tsonga:

Tsonga the French veteran could not perform well this year.  But he tried to maintain his good serve in 2013.  He fired 174 aces, committed 37 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 63%, out of which he won 76% points.  He also won 53% of his second serve points.  He faced 102 break points in 2013 so far, out of which he saved 74% of break points.  He played total of 240 service games, and won 89% of them.  He won total of 68% service points that he played.

4) Roger Federer:

Federer is facing problems this season so far.  He could not qualify for a final in even a single tournament so far.  However he displayed good serve as compared to other player in era.  .  He fired 109 aces, committed 36 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 63%, out of which he won 78% points.  He also won 53% of his second serve points.  He faced only 77 break points in 2013 so far, out of which he saved 66% of break points.  He played total of 226 service games, and won 88% of them.  He won total of 69% service points that he played.

3) Tomas Berdych:

Tomas Berdych is also improving this year.  He defeated Federer in Dubai by saving two match points.  He was runner up in Dubai and also performed well in Indian wells and Miami.  The big serving Czech fired 186 aces, committed 52 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 59%, out of which he won 78% points.  He also won 54% of his second serve points.  He faced only 136 break points in 2013 so far, out of which he saved 71% of break points.  He played total of 299 service games, and won 87% of them.  He won total of 68% service points that he played.

2) Novak Djokovic:

Novak Djokovic is currently ranked no 1 and he finished 2012 as top player in the world.  Now he is in good position to maintain no ranking for coming few months at least.  He won Australian open 4^th time in his career this year.  The Serbian ace fired 117 aces, committed 32 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 64%, out of which he won 77% points.  He also won 60% of his second serve points.  He faced only 81 break points in 2013 so far, out of which he saved 68% of break points.  He played total of 252 service games, and won 90% of them.  He won total of 71% service points that he played.

1) Rafael Nadal:

Rafael Nadal has come back in action this year after eight months rest.  He is performing very well this season.  He won three titles in 2013.  He won at Indian Wells by beating Federer and Berdych.  He is not a big server, he don’t fire big aces as other players but he plays each and every point with great courage.  He has huge heart.  Therefore he lost least service games this year so far.  He fired 48 aces, committed 32 double faults.  His first serve percentage was 68%, out of which he won 75% points.  He also won 56% of his second serve points.  He faced only 61 break points in 2013 so far, out of which he saved 72% of break points.  He played total of 195 service games, and won 91% of them.  He won total of 69% service points that he played.

Federer's Clay Court Season 2013 Preview

Roger Federer is without any doubt greatest player in the history of tennis generally and sports particularly.  He has become the symblol of tennis since last decade.  Now with increasing age his capability of winning like a young Federer is decreasing(this thing happens to every great player).  But despite his increasing age he cruises in early rounds in any tournament, and he is always threat to his opponent.  No one can bet against him in any match without risk.  He is facing some worst season of his career in 2013.  He played four tournaments so far and did not move ahead of semi finals(Dubai, Australian Open).  In other two tournaments he lost in quarters(Indian Wells, Rotterdam).  Now these tournaments are the part of history.  This is the time to move to european dust i-e Clay.  This is the surface on which Federer has worst record as compared to grass and hard courts.  But he has a good record here.  He is probably second best player on clay courts after Nadal.

History shows that the only problem for Federer on clay was Rafael Nadal, who defeated Federer five times at French open and 13 times overall.  Most of these matches were finals.  If Nadal was not there.  Federer would be greatest on clay also.  But Federer is the only man including Djokovic who defeated Nadal in clay tournament final twice.  No other man could achieve that fate.  Even when Federer was in his prime, he could not catch Nadal at French open.  The only French open title that Federer won was in 2009.  In that French open Nadal suffered a 4th round exit by Soderling.  If Nadal advanced in that tournament, Federer would never win a French open.  However his overall performance at French open is very good as compared to other top players.  He has completed his 50 wins at this tournament last year.  I don't think French open is his best chance to win grand slam in 2013, but it is expected that he will go deep into the draw and he will always a threat to his opponents.

Now another question arises, can Federer win 2013 French open by any mean? The answer is Yes.  He can stole this year's French open if he avoids Nadal in the draw.  Also Nadal has to suffer an early exit. Which is not looking possible this year also.  Djokovic and Murray are more commited than ever to win Grandslam on clay.  So possibility is there, but very rare. If we assess Federer in other clay courts tournament, he defend his title at Madrid.  He has won this title two times in his career.  He will surely favourite there and he can win there if he avoids Nadal in early rounds and cruise in the early rounds. At Rome masters Federer never won, he lost to Djokovic in the semis last year.  This year the result could be not any different.  If he qualifies for the final here he will never miss a chance to add this remaining title to his history book.  And Federer knows how to do it.

So we can say that Federer's fans should not hope high for his hero at clay courts.  But thinking that he will take court after a loing two months rest.  This idea that Federer will disappoint his fans loses his weight, because well rested Federer is threat to anyone in the clay court field.  The tennis world knows his win against Djokovic in 2011 semi finals of French open when Djokovic was riding a 41 match winning streak  Now he has to play at that level at least.  Again the time will tell.

 

How Can Murray Catch Djokovic For no 1 Spot?

Andy Murray has become no 2 player in the world for the first time after 2009, when he remained at this spot for very short period of four weeks only.  He overtook Federer’s no 2 spot this week by winning second Miami master title last week.  Now when Federer is declining with age and Nadal is at no 5 spot it is a great possibility that he will remain at this spot for a long time.  For Murray the no 2 spot is not the finish line.  He is now looking to take over Djokovic to become no 1 player in the world for the first time in his career.  This is not an easy fate to achieve but he can achieve this goal if he show an epic display at clay court season especially in the presence of in form Nadal. 

Ranking and points released by Atp on 1 April 2013 are as follows:

            Name & Nationality              Ranking Points

1)      Novak Djokovic(Srb)               12370

2)      Andy Murray(Gbr)                   8750

3)      Roger Federer (Sui)                 8670

4)      David Ferrer     (Esp)                7050

5)      Rafael Nadal    (Esp)                6385

6)      Tomas Berdych(Cze)                5145

7)      Juan Martin Del Potro               4750

According to these stats Murray is ahead of Federer by just minor lead of just 80 points.  Also he is far behind than that of Djokovic by huge 3620.  David Ferrer is at the best position in his career especially with increasing age but his win-loss record against top three is not so much impressive.  Nadal’s ranking can fall down more and more because he has to defend a huge amount of ranking points at this clay court season.  He has to defend Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and French open.  If he suffers an early exit in one or more these tournaments his will lose his ranking points because he nothing to gain at clay court season except at Madrid Masters, where he lost to Verdesco last year in 3^rd round. 

As far as Federer’s ranking is concerned I don’t think he will slip from no 3 ranking until Wimbledon because David Ferrer never defeat Federer in his career and also he has worst record against Nadal but a little bit good record against Murray.  He David Ferrer want to achieve no 3 ranking he has to win bigger tournaments.  And to do this he has to defeat two or three top players, which he could never do.  However Federer can lose most of ranking points due to early exits in coming tournaments.  If his performance remains as it was at the start of the year, he will surely lose his no 3 ranking also.  Because he is defending champion at Madrid and he was semi finalist at Rome and French open last year(lost to Djokovic in both).

Now coming back to Murray’s possibility to gain no 1 spot, there is a possibility that he can achieve this splendid goal in 2013.  For this he has to show his best performance of his career in clay court season.  Clay had been the worst surface for Andy Murray he did not won title on clay for many years.  All of his titles are either on grass or hard courts.  In 2012 he did not perform well in clay court season, therefore he have to defend only fraction of points as compared to Djokovic.  He lost in quarters of Monte Carlo by Berdych, in quarters of Barcelona by Raonic, 3^rd round of Rome by Gasquet and quarter finals of French open by David Ferrer.  Also he did not participated in Madrid masters last year.  So he has to defend just 720 points.  Therefore, he has very minor points to lose but he can gain a stack of points in coming tournaments.  If he plays at Barcelona(which is doubtful), then he will play for 5500 points out of which he can add 4280 more points to his ranking.  

On the other hand Djokovic has to defend 2580 points to defend out of 5000 points for which he will fight.  If Murray shows best performance of his life here and wins one or more tournaments here and finishes at least runner up in clay tournaments.  Then there is a great possibility that he can catch Djokovic.  But for this there should be early exits of Djokovic in two or more tournaments.  It depends upon the luck of Murray that will decide that either Murray goes deep into the draw or not.  Because king of clay will be there.  And he will be 5^th seed there and he can face big four in quarters.  So Murray have to avoid Nadal to go deep in these tournaments.  If he wins French open 2013 that will surely climb him up to no 1 spot, but at first he has to play grinding tennis in pre French open tournaments.         

Why Rafael Nadal Is “King Of Clay”

Rafael Nadal is back in action on tour after shocking 2^nd round exit against Lukas Rosol.  He remained away from the court for plenty of months.  He came back and participated in three clay court events.  He won two clay title one 250 and other 500 level by beating David Ferrer.  His come back has given tennis a new life, because tennis courts were looking very dull without him.  Now he made a strong comeback and won Indian Wells master by beating Federer and Del Potro.  His successful comeback is a huge good news for tennis world especially Nadal’s fans.  Everyone who is attached to tennis by any mean knows that Nadal is king of clay and he is man to beat on clay.  This is not only the phrase but the stats on Nadal on clay speak themselves.  He is unbeatable there, he won 38 titles on clay.  His has 255-9 record on clay, amazing record that is.  It means that he played 264 matches on clay and lost only 9 matches, after his debut on tour in 2002.  Lets take a brief look at his amazing stats on clay. 

Frech Open:

Since Nadal participated in Frech open 2005, he lost only one time there in 2009 to Robin Soderling.  He has 52-1 record at French open.  It means that French open belongs to Rafael Nadal.  He will be again man to beat there in 2013.  He won record 7 French open titles breaking Borg record of 6 French open title.  In 2012 he became only man in tennis history who won French open 7 times.  Amazing record that is.  He is only 26 and hungry for more titles.  So won most of matches in French open in straight sets.  The only man who could take him to five sets after Soderling was John Isner in 2011. I think he will collect at least 10 French open title if he continue to perform like this.  Moreover he never lost a best of five sets match on clay outside French open.  And most of his wins are in straight sets. 

Masters 1000 Tournaments:

Rafael Nadal has an amazing record in masters 1000 titles played on clay courts.  He has appeared in 20 masters 1000 finals on clay tournaments.  Out of which he won 16 finals.  He lost only to Roger Federer twice at Hamburg and at Madrid in 2009.  He also lost twice to Djokovic in 2011 at Madrid and Rome finals.  No other man could catch Nadal on clay courts masters 1000 events.  He won Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 8 straight years and this streak is still alive.  He also won Rome in 2012.  He would surely won at Madrid if it were to play on red clay.  That event was played on controversial blue clay.  Where he was defeated by Fernando Verdesco.  He lost only this match on clay last season.  Now he will appear in Monte Carlo with 42 match winning streak.  No one was able to beat him on this slow surface since last 8 years.  Amazing! 

Other Clay Events:

Rafael Nadal never lost a Davis cup match played on clay.  And he is backbone of Spanish team in Davis cup.  Also Nadal has a 34 match winning streak at Barcelona and 32 match winning streak in straight sets.  He never lost in Barcelona for last 6 years.  Another amazing fact is that he never lost in April since 2005.  He has 77 match winning streak on tour in April.  Recently he lost in Brazil open final.  That was his only 5^th defeat in any clay court tournament final after Djokovic and Federer.  Also he is the only man who has won two titles 7 or more times(French and Monte Carlo).  He has also won at least two clay court titles since 2005.  I don’t think anyone can match Nadal’s records.  All these brief stats show that why Nadal in named as king of clay.  He will be man to beat on clay again.  Djokovic and Murray are the players who can stop him, but if he shows that level he had shown in previous years, no one will be able to touch him this year also.  I think he will again win at least three more clay court titles this year again( he has already two clay titles in his bag).  But this is just the beginning.

Andy Murray Wins Second Miami Masters

Andy Murray won Miami masters title for the second time in his career despite facing a match point against committed David Ferrer.  David Ferrer was pretty much disappointed because when he had match point there was a long rally, which David Ferrer stopped and challenged.  But that challenge proved as beginning of the end of David Ferrer.  Because the ball of Murray catches the baseline.  And Murray won the match in third set tie break.  Another good news for Murray is that he is now raised to no 2 in Emirates Atp ranking this Monday, overtaking the declining Federer.  He raised to no 2 spot for the first time since 2009, when he remained at no 2 for four weeks only.  Now he will try to catch Djokovic.    

There were a lot of twists and turns in this match.  This match was the second longest final in Masters 1000 three sets history.  This match continued about 2 hours and 46 minutes.  Before that the match between Djokovic and Nadal was about three and half hours.  Epic match that was.  Moreover this is the first match in Miami masters history that a player won the title by saving match point in the final.  Also Murray won semi final and final when he was a set down for the first time in his career.  This is his second title of the season, after winning at Brisbane.  And this is Murray’s first masters 1000 title after winning at Shanghai 2012 by beating the same man.  Murray beat David Ferrer  2-6 6-4 6-7(1). 

In the first set David Ferrer got an early break and lead by 2-0.  He continued his dominance in this set and took that set by 6-2.  In this set Murray committed 19 unforced errors and plenty of double faults.  In the second set Murray regroup as every champion do, and hold his serve pretty well and took the set by a break by 6-4.  In the third set the situation became more and more tense when both of players struggled to hold serves.  They exchanged the breaks of serves until they were at 3-3.  At last David Ferrer broke the ice and hold serve and lead 4-3 in the set.  Murray also raised the level of his game and took the next two games.  David Ferrer again came back and lead by 6-5 in the deciding set.  In this game David Ferrer had a match point but his challenge proved a huge bad luck for him, because by losing that challenge he lost the match.  Murray took the set in the tie break and took that tie break by 7-1.  With this victory Andy Murray is now 7-5 head to head against Ferrer.