Nadal, Federer, Murray, and Safin all won today in another day of upsets. Tipsaveric who had a promising win against Roddick and Tursunov to reach the quarters lost to the 32 years old Schuettler. Cilic also lost, to Clement.

Murray was oh so close to losing it against Richard Gasquet before Gasquet blew his chance to serve out the match. The crowd got behind Murray and shots he was missing for almost 3 sets started going in. So we do get the Nadal vs. Murray that we have been waiting for with the winner surely with a foot in the final.

Federer put Hewitt’s year to rest by beating the veteran in straight sets. I doubt Hewitt will play again this year as his heart is set on a surgery. Hewitt is a shadow of what he used to be, but this Wimbledon was utterly impressive by him. Had he won the first tie-break set against Roger, who knows what would have happened.

Finally, Safin made sure that we will not see the battle of the Swiss in the semi-finals by putting out a tentative Wawrinka in 4 sets. Safin has finally turned the page in his enigmatic career, and he should surely go on to beat Lopez to face Federer in the semis.

Predictions:

Federer def Ancic 6–4, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3

Safin def Lopez 3–6, 7–6, 7–5, 6–7, 6–4

Nadal def Murray 7–5, 6–7, 7–5, 6–4

Clement def Schuettler 7–6, 6–3, 6–4

This is the very first time that I believe I will go better than 1 out of 4 in my predictions. What are yours?

I just heard the story about Justin Gimbelstob’s episode on a radio show where he went off on Anna Kournikova and made some very deragatory remarks.

In essence, Mr. Gimelsob took it upon himself to let the world know that Anna is a “bitch,” and he almost despises her as if anyone in the world cared about what Justin thinks. What I don’t understand is how stupid one can be to go on a radio show and make these comments about a fellow tennis player. Not only that, Justin made some inappropriate remarks about ladies that he covers on the Tennis Channel programs. I am not sure what the logic is behind all this.

Here is what I know. Don Imus made similar deragatory remarks about African Americans on his radio show and he was fired and demonized because of it. The issue of gender is as big as the issue of race in this nation of ours. How come someone such as Justin Gimelstob get away with putting down the young women who spent their life training to put on a show for tennis fans. Isn’t what he is doing worse than what Don Imus did? Not only he using sexist remarks against female athletes, he also made some very inappropriate comments which would and should get him fired from his TV job.

Kudos to Serena and Billie Jean King for standing up and speaking up for our female atheletes. That still doesn’t take away from what Justin did. Call me biased, but unlike Don Imus, Mr. Gimbelstob has constant access to TV (on Tennis Channel), and that makes what he did even worse. How can you let someone who has made such comments continue on TV? Now that’s the $1,000,000.00 question.

Andy Roddick had a very good draw. He was under-seeded based on all the analysts were claiming, but he got Davydenko in his half. Davydenko lost in the first round and left Roddick with a clear shot at Nadal in the semis. What did Roddick do? He lost to the first legitimate challenger (Tipsarevic) in 4 sets.

The way Roddick lost the match makes me wonder if those analysts were wrong about Roddick being under-seeded. If you take into account his serve, surely Roddick is a top 3 player. But as an overall package, Roddick is not really a top 5 on Grass anymore. He has lost to Gasquet, Federer, Murray, Tipsarevic, and Nadal on grass. He was also very close to losing to Mahut last year. This all tells me that there are more than a couple of people who can beat Roddick on grass these days.

Roddick’s chances have not been helped by grass getting slower these days. Having said that, his backhand was an absolute shocker yesterday against Tipsarevic, and he did “choke” on break points. You can’t expect to be a top 5 player and go 0 out of 8 or so on break point opportunities.

Roddick’s season is currently a D+ at best. He had defeated Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic on hardcourts, but that was a fast Dubai court, and he didn’t exactly do it in a best of 5 sets match. I doubt he could’ve pulled it off at a Grand Slam.

So where does Roddick go from here? Nowhere really. He says he wants to win a slam, but he needs to understand that he can’t be a Nadal or Hewitt and run down all balls. He needs to be aggressive and go Gonzo on people with his forehand. Unfortunately, his backhand is a huge liability for Roddick and I doubt he will win another slam with his current shots.

Can you believe it? First Djokovic. Now Tipsarevic in four sets against Roddick. Roddick won the first set 7-6 but lost the other three 5-7, 4-6, and 6-7. Roddick was not playing badly but Tipsarevic was stunning and produced a performance similar to the one he had against Federer at AO to win it. Today’s result means that Nadal has really no one standing in way getting to the final after he put away Gulbis today in 4 sets.

Tennis coverage on TV has gotten absolutely ridiculous these days. ESPN is the network for Wimbledon Tennis in the U.S. but the way they have covered men’s tennis leaves a lot (and I mean a whole lot) to be desired. Here is why:

• We barely get to see any of men’s matches: ESPN has decided that women’s tennis provides better rating than mens’ tennis. So a juicy match like Nadal vs. Gulbis is not shown anywhere because Venus Williams is playing a nobody. I can say for sure that it has been impossible to watch a whole match on ESPN without getting interrupted by first round easy matches by women. Even Djokovic vs. Safin was not shown because Anna Ivanovic couldn’t handle the win and had to play for 4 hours. That’s truly a shame.
• Commentary is absolutely awful: It’s a sad day when Dick Enberg is the best commentator on TV these days. I love the guy, but he is too old. Having said that, other guys are just absolutely terrible. So even when a good match is on, you want to just turn the TV off due to poor commentary.
• More Talk, Less Action: I like having players interviewed on TV. But when you don’t show any matches to interview with let’s say Davenport or Dechy, then why even cover tennis.

ESPN and Tennis Channel are currently the only stations that cover tennis. But unlike their European counterparts, women’s tennis is shown 85% of the time. I love the women’s tennis, but you can’t tell me that Djokovic vs. Safin doesn’t have a place on TV.

Very frustrating and no real hope in sight. It’s not just the American Men’s tennis that is in state of trouble. The TV coverage is in worse shape. Well. There is some hope.

This is supposed to be Djokovic’s year. All the so-called analysts (including the legend turned prophet Bjorn Borg) predicted that Roger Federer was third behind Nadal and Djokovic in pursuit of the Wimbledon Championships this year. Djokovic had the easiest draw among the three and the only hurdle on his way was Marat Safin.

We all know how Marat can be. He can be brilliant for one set (against Nadal 1st set) and then could go on to lose the other set 6–0 (again against Nadal). His game can go from day to night in a match, so Djokovic was a giant favorite today. But he lost to the Safin and he lost comprehensively. So here are the 5 things we can take away from Djokovic’s Wimbledon campaign in 2008:

1. Even the best can have bad days in office: Djokovic was tentative today. There is no question in my mind that he did not play as aggressively as he could and maybe he was already looking ahead to a semi-final matchup against Federer. I also think that Djokovic had the wrong tactics today. He banked on Safin missing balls today and when Safin didn’t, Djokovic did not change his tactic. He stayed passive hoping for Safin to self-destruct, and that did not happen.

2. Complacency can get you so far: Djokovic had said a lot of things about Federer being vulnerable this year. So going out early should be very embarrasing for him. Moreover, his challenge for No. 1 is essentially over this year unless Federer and Nadal both collapse in the next couple of rounds. Djokovic maybe thought that he could roll over Safin today, and that was certainly not the case when all the cards were played.

3. Pressure can sometimes cripple the best of us: Djokovic did feel the pressure today. Safin has been in this position before and he knew the kind of pressure that Novak would be feeling. Credit to him for taking advantage of it, but Novak certainly didn’t handle the pressure well here. It just shows what Federer and Nadal have done in the past 2, 3 years by staying at the top and fending off challengers. It’s not easy!

4. Excuses can hinder the learning process: Making excuses is the fastest way to stop learning in tennis. There was a chess legend (I think Blackburn) who said that he had not beaten a healthy 100% man in his life. If you keep looking for excuses, you will pay less attention to what you have done wrong. Novak was outplayed. He was not tired (as Mr. McEnroe keeps saying these days when someone loses). This was his big chance to get closer to top 2 and maybe upset the 5 times defending champ. He was not tired, John! He choked!

5. Champions are like Snakes: one makes a champion different from a very good player is his/her ability to turn it on and bit you when you expect it the least. Champions all have that killer instinct and they are certainly capable of upsetting the young guns when given the chance. Safin was given his chance today and he played his cards perfectly. Novak on the other hand looked like a young arrogant high flying fellow who underestimated Safin and thought he could beat him with his B+ game. His B+ game might be good enough to beat the likes of Stepank or Ferrer, but against a former world No. 1, you can never relax.

Now will Nadal be next tomorrow when he faces Gulbis? Let’s see how the bull handles pressure.

Novak Djokovic is out folks. He lost in straight sets to a Safin that played so consistent through three sets that one might consider him back after this performance. Djokovic is going to lose a whole chunk of points from last year’s semi final performance. But he was simply outplayed today by Safin, and now Federer – Nadal match is back on. That is if Federer wins today and reaches the Final and Nadal does the same.

If you haven’t heard already, Wimbledon is underway and Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have all qualified for the 2nd round. But the 2nd round will be trickier for both Djokovic and Federer.

Federer will be facing Robin Soderling, who is more than capable of pushing Federer on a fast court such as Wimbledon. Djokovic will also be playing a Marat Safin who still wants to prove that he is not done playing these days.

But the most challenging match should be Roddick vs. Tipsarevic. The way Tipsarevic can play should be troubling to Roddick. Of course, he has had his ups and downs but he is my favorite to cause an upset against a rusty Roddick.

If you haven’t heard already, Wimbledon is underway and Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have all qualified for the 2nd round. But the 2nd round will be trickier for both Djokovic and Federer.

Federer will be facing Robin Soderling, who is more than capable of pushing Federer on a fast court such as Wimbledon. Djokovic will also be playing a Marat Safin who still wants to prove that he is not done playing these days.

But the most challenging match should be Roddick vs. Tipsarevic. The way Tipsarevic can play should be troubling to Roddick. Of course, he has had his ups and downs but he is my favorite to cause an upset against a rusty Roddick.

The Wimbledon 2008 draw is finally out folks, and we have some exciting news. Rafa should win his first title this year. Not because he has got a terribly easy draw. But rather due to the fact that Federer has gotten an awfully tough draw and also has Djokovic in his half. Nadal has got Roddick in his half of the draw plus some big servers, but the way Rafa handled Karlovic, I just can’t see anyone knocking Nadal down for 3 sets. Federer on the other hand needs to beat both Djokovic and Nadal to win Wimbledon this year (and others such as Hewitt, Gonzo, and Monfils). I still give Federer a 1% edge over his rivals for the title, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Nadal or Djokovic picked up their first titles here. More analysis to come as the draw is released.