In one hand we have the current World No. 1 in Federer. In the other hand we have Nadal who will take over No. 1 position from August 18th. But guess who got the toughest draw in the past couple of years in any tournaments? That’s right. Rafa. He has to potentially face Hewitt, Stepanek, Murray, and Djokovic enroute to the final. Federer on the other hand has Tursunov, Karlovic, and possibly Blake (or Simon).

But why does it look more likely for Nadal to reach the final than Roger? Is it because we haven’t seen Roger play well in over a month? Or is it because Karlovic and Simon are in Roger’s draw and will be confident of beating him? I think it’s more due to the fact that Rafa has been very impressive this year. Unfortunately for him, if all goes according to the plan, he will be defeated by Djokovic in the semis. But if Djokovic is upset, look out. Without Djokovic, Nadal would simply be the best bet by a wide margin to win the Olympics. With him, Nadal is a bronze hopeful at best, and I am sure Murray will want to prove that he can beat Nadal finally.

It’s going to be exciting but I only see Djokovic and Federer at the end with Djokovic winnig it all. But Nadal, Murray can certainly cause troubles for Novak. On the top half, I don’t see anyone really who can beat the person who emerges from the bottom half. Not Dayvdenko, not Blake, not Karlovic, and not Federer.

Please share your thoughts on this very interesting draw.

Nadal had a great week this week by reaching the semis and clinching the world No. 1. None of that impressed a Djokovic who beat Nadal 6-1, 7-5 to reach the final of Cincinnati Masters Series to get a revenge shot at Andy Murray. In the meantime, he made sure Nadal’s streak of wins would stop, and Nadal now has to wait till August 18th to assume his No. 1 status. This win puts a huge amount of pressure on Federer as he now has to make sure he does better than Djokovic for the rest of the year to protect his No. 2 position.

Nadal continued his impressive form this year by beating Jesse Levine in straight sets to reach the third round of Toronto Masters. Federer? He lost in three set to Giles Simon by dropping 3 straight service games in the final set, losing it 6-4 in the third after being up a break a couple of times in the third. The defeat all but secured No. 1 ranking for Nadal.

A few of you dropped me notes about how your comments do not show up under the posts. Just to clarify, we usually accept all incoming comments except the inappropriate ones and any comment that has the word “first” in it (just kidding).

So keep those comments coming. We certainly don’t discard them unless you want us to.

Federer and Nadal both won today, but Nadal’s victory was more significant against a more potent foe. Nadal dominated Djokovic to win in straight sets on a surface that should suit Djokovic’s game more so than that of Nadal. Federer also won today in straight sets against Kohlshreiber, but with the way Nadal has played this year, don’t be surprised if he beat Federer in straight sets at the finals of Wimbledon.

There is no question that Nadal will still be more vulnerable than Federer at Wimbledon, but I am not sure who can beat him before the finals. Djokovic certainly doesn’t show that he has what it takes to take out Nadal in a best of 5 sets match. Federer has been battered and bruised by Nadal this year, and with Rafa’s serve much better than last year, I am not sure how Federer can beat Nadal in less than 5 sets. Federer will be the slight favorite because he is the 5 time defending champion. But in reality, it is Nadal who should be the favorite going to Wimbledon having won 16 straight matches (22 if he reaches the final of Wimbledon).

Wimbledon predictions:

Unless Nadal gets Roddick, Djokovic, Ancic, and Karlovic in his draw, he should make it to the final. Federer should also be there to defend his title (though a certain Novak and Murray could have a say about that). In the end, it should be Nadal’s breakthrough tournament. I pick him to win it in maximum of 4 sets against whoever in the final (Federer or not)

Nadal vs. Federer. French Open Final. A close match, you would expect, right? Wrong. Nadal dropped only 4 games to Federer, winning it in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-0!! First time in many years I have seen Roger losing a set to love. A shame that Federer didn’t believe today and got broken so many times that it reminded of C-league matches.

Federer was broken eight times in this match, including the first game of the very first set. That set the tone for the entire match as Federer did not manage to put a string of good shots together to challenge Rafa. He did break Rafa once, but after he lost that 2nd set, he was dusted and done. Very humbling result for Federer which could spell the beginning of the end. Many may disagree with me but I don’t see how Federer wins Wimbledon this year. Not with this kind of inconsistency anyway.

Nadal was the firm favorite, but I am not sure where Federer goes from here with this humiliation.

It was a strange day at the French Open today as we had two huge comebacks by Gonzo and Ljubicic but Federer went through with no problems.

Gonzo was down and out after losing the first 2 sets against Wawrinka. He was also losing 3-0 in the third set but he collapsed to lose the next 3 sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to end the hopes of swish No. 2. Davydenko also had the same type of collapse against Ivan Ljubicic. After dominating the first 2 sets, bad Nicolai returned to drop the next 3 sets against the veteran Croat. Now that got to hurt as Davydenko had a lot of points to defend at the French.

Hewitt vs. Ferrer match was the match of the day though. Both guys went at it for 5 sets and Hewitt should’ve won the match if he was a bit luckier. But it wasn’t to be and Ferrer prevailed 6-4 in the 5th set. But these guys gave it their all. I still believe Stepanek will push Ferrer hard and he should be the favorite to get a rematch against Federer but we shall see in the next 2 days.

Blake finally made a winning start for the Americans at the French Open, and he got some good news when Janko Tipsarevic lost at the first hurdle. But the most notable match of the day was between Djokovic and Denis Gremelmayr which went to 4 sets. But for a while it seemed as though Djokovic was going to have to get it done in 5 sets. After the first day, nothing has really changed expect that Nadal is even a bigger favorite.

Tomorrow will see Federer and Nadal in action. Federer should have not much trouble with Big Sam but you never know, considering that it’s a first rounder and Sam has nothing to lose. You can catch all the action on the Tennis Channel. If you don’t have the tennis channel, use TVU Player or SopCast to catch the matches.

So here we are yet again, a Roger-Rafa final on clay. Rafa did beat Roger at Monte Carlo a couple weeks back in straight sets. He did lose to Federer last year in Hamburg, but the way he played against Djokovic, there is no question who the favorite is tomorrow. Federer says that he is a touch better than last year, but it is certainly not obvious from his performances this year. Roger will put up a good fight and probably have some leads like Monte Carlo but I can’t see this being anything but a straight set victory for Nadal.

So Djokovic will finally have a real shot at the world No. 2. Win tomorrow, and we have a new No. 2. Worse yet. If Djokovic wins tomorrow, and Federer gets a rough draw at the French, Nadal and Federer could meet in the semis instead of the final, which would be a disaster for Federer as he has shown that he probably doesn’t stand much of a chance of beating Nadal on clay this year. But that wouldn’t really be important as Djokovic would become virtually unstoppable if he manages to clear his last roadblock on clay.

Federer has done his work for this week however. He has defended most of his points but he needs to win to keep his distance with Nadal and Djokovic. There is no question that if Djokovic continues with his current pace, he will surpass Federer by the end of this year, the latest. However, Federer will make it hard for him as he is the defending champion at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

So where does Seppi stand? He shouldn’t really be able to upset Federer tomorrow. He just doesn’t have the game, but I thought Fish wouldn’t be able to do that and he did. So expect anything and everything tomorrow.