Roddick retires due to injury.

Andy Roddick, World’s No. 3, had to withdraw due to hip injury, against World’s No. 12, Andy Murray in their quarter final match, at Sony Ericsson Open. Murray was leading 5-3, when Roddick called it quits.

Murray moves to the semi-final, and waits for the winner of Djokovic and Nadal match tonight.

Roddick took an injury time out and left the court briefly, to get attended to, after the 7th game. The discomfort seemed to have happened during the match, since Roddick was cleared to go, by his trainer, before the match.

Although Roddick has made impressive strides in his game, since having Connors on board, he is still not among title contenders at major events. Once he gets deep in the tournament and has to play the top 10 players, he falters miserably in straight sets. It is downright humiliating. Look at his three loses this year:

-Roger Federer – 4-6, 0-6, 2-6 – semi-final.
-Andy Murray – 6-7(10), 4-6 – semi-final.
-Tommy Haas – 3-6, 2-6 – final.

With Federer not in the picture, in past years, Roddick would have been the obvious contender. Not so any longer, despite his all-round game. The dynamics have changed dramatically with fresher, younger faces forcing the veterans out.

Roddick might win couple of titles here and there, but whenever the top 10 are entered for the tournament, his chances are bleak to none. That ‘next Grand Slam title’ window, has closed forever.

He was able to reverse the ranking slide last year, after falling out of the top 10. This next slide, coming later this year, is inevitable and  irreversible.

Serena wo-’man’ handles Sharapova.

Serena Williams showed no mercy and blasted top seed Sharapova of Russia 6-1, 6-1 in the fourth round of Sony Ericsson Open. In January this year, she humiliated Sharapova at the Australian Open finals 6-1, 6-2.

Sharapova did not help matters by hitting 8 double faults. Serena feasted on the slower second serves, hitting outright winners with authority. Sharapova, consequently was on the defensive, both on her own and Serena’s serves.

Being a fierce competitor that she is, for Sharapova it must be very humiliating to be eliminated this way. It seems her body language is much more timid against Serena compared to other players. Probably she realizes the competitive fire of Serena and mentally may be is not fully capable of dealing with it.

Remember also, that Serena is an experienced veteran, having won 8 majors. That has to be intimidating and stifling, specially if you are not on your game. If she does not solve the problems with her first serves and the resulting double faults, quickly,  she will be easy picking for the rest of the field. Her hamstring injury, apparently has affected her serves. She needs to recuperate completely, to get the confidence back or else she is not going anywhere, in a hurry.

Evaluating the second loss in two weeks from Federer.

What’s going on? Tennis world has been rocked twice in just two weeks.

After the first loss at Pacific Open, Federer was asked “if there is anything different you have noticed, when you enter the locker room, after this loss”. He said, “the players try to look away when I enter”.

What is the response in the locker room now? How does one explain these loses?

Lets look at the players, who have defeated him, from January 2006 to-date. They are Nadal, Murray and Canas. Nadal did it 4 times – 3 times on clay and once on hard surface, Murray once on hard surface and Canas twice on hard surface.

‘Nadal’ wins can be explained to few things that have bothered Federer, namely his heavy top spin to Federer’s backhand, his retrieving ability and his expertise on clay surfaces. Nadal had established himself as a force, by this time, having won 11 titles in 2005 and had a winning record against the World’s No. 1. So it wasn’t a huge surprise, it was considered a budding rivalry. Something most thought, Federer will be able to solve in the near future, and turn back the winning record, like he had done with Leyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian. It was just a matter of time.

Murray, at the time, seemed just lucky to get a win, catching Federer on back to back events, without any breaks, with some matches played on consecutive days. So, understandably he was tired. Most thought, Federer should have taken himself out of the Cincinnati tournament (Toronto event concluded on 14th August and the Cincinnati tournament started the same day). Murray then, was just about finding his rhythm, and was himself surprised, and was wondering, if this was all because Federer was tired, or was there anything he did, that may be partially contributed to the victory.

And now we have Canas. This was a 69th ranked player in the world, was coming off a 15-month doping suspension, still trying to find his rhythm on the tour. To top it all, he is 29 years old, a virtual senior citizen in today’s tennis world.  It is difficult to find an obvious expanation. This is obviously the most startling loss for Federer, since he ascended the throne, about 31/2 years ago.

Is it the 15-month suspension that is to blame? Suspension seems to be the ultimate motivator these days. Remember Kobe Bryant, who went on a wild streak of 4 straight games of 50 or more points, breaking records, set by none other than, Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor. For those who have not heard of Bryant, he is arguably the best basketball player on the planet, right now. Kobe was coming off a suspension himself, and his coach Phil Jackson conceded that the suspension probably motivated him.

Is that what’s going on here, with Canas? If that’s the case, somebody, please suspend Roddick, so he can get that ‘one slam’ monkey off his back, or how about Nadal, so we can finally HAVE the rivalry!!! Or do we have to suspend Federer, to get him back to his old ways? It seems certainly to have some hand in the resurgence of Canas.

Here is Canas’s ATP ranking surge:
-Sept, 2006 – 514.
-Oct, 2006 – 214.
-Dec, 2006 – 143.
-Jan, 2007 – 106.
-Feb, 2007 – 60.
-Mar 19      – 55.

If you analyse these three players who have defeated Federer, is there a pattern? It looks like, the following trend seems to stand out:

-All three are great defensive players and have uncanny ability to retrieve balls from unbelievable angles and spots on the court. They personafy ‘the never give up attitude’, irrespective of what the scoreboard says. Apparently, that is what is frustrating for Federer. He tends to gets pressured and starts committing unforced errors, when trying even harder, to get even more acute angels, to get past these ball retrievers.

Is the old adage ‘defense is the best offense’ at work here? Dirty work does pay off – huge in Canas’s case!!! Is the rest of the field taking notice, or more importantly, do they have the ability and the willingness to do the dirty work, on a consistent basis, to make the quantum jump?

Canas Upsets Federer – AGAIN!!!

 

Qualifier from Argentina, Guillermo Canas, the 55th ranked player in the world, defeated World’s No. 1, Roger Federer 7-6(2), 2-6, 7-6(5). This is his second win against the top seed in two weeks. He trounced Federer earlier, at Indian Wells in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.

Some of the other players who have beaten Federer in back to back events are: Leyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian and Rafael Nadal. Hewitt and Nalbandian achieved it early in Federer’s career, whereas Nadal and Canas have the rare distinction of doing it, with Federer on top of his game. Federer is just coming off an amazing 41-match winning streak, cut short by Canas at Pacific Life Open.

From January last year to-date, only three players have beaten him: Nadal, Murray and Canas. If you try to look at the common strength of these players, to figure out what is it that they have, that bothers Federer, it is one ability that stands out – defense and the abililty to retrieve the ball from anywhere on the court.

Against Canas today, at times, Federer had to hit upto three winners to win a point. The ball kept coming back, from seemingly impossible spots on the court. On couple of occasions, Federer lost the point, because he was clearly not prepared and was’nt expecting the ball back.

In the first set, Canas broke Federer first, but Federer rallied and broke back and they went to the tie-break, which Canas won easily. Federer won just 2 points in the tie-break.

In the second set, the momentum seemed to shift in Federer’s favor, as he broke Canas twice to close the set. At this point, Canas clearly looked tired and fatigue, from all the running around he had to do, to get the ball into play.

Federer sensing the momentum shift, seemed ready to run away with the third set, having a 2-0 lead. In the third game, it went to deuce couple of times, with Federer even having a break point, for the ‘insurance’ break. Canas, however, stood his ground and was able to scrape by and escape.

Federer seemed clearly agitated for not having converted to go up 3-0, and perhaps that frustration spilled over and he was broken by Canas. The match was back on serve, to Federer’s disbelief. The momentum had shifted again, this time in Canas’s favor.

Canas who looked tired, suddenly seemed to have caught the second wind, and was playing with some spring in his step. The adrenalin probably kicked in, and he stepped up his game and took Federer to the final tie-break.

Federer for the first time, seemed rattled, and nerves got the better of him, as he started missing routine forehands.

At match point no. 2, Federer could not even touch the serve from Canas, that was easily within reach, and Canas had won the match.