Going Green

Grass, for lack of a better term, is a totally different animal than hard or clay courts, and with so few tournaments on the surface -- and this year, a two year gap since we saw any action on it at all -- it can take a lot of people by surprise.

But for some players the lawn can be a real opportunity. Whether it's Johanna Konta, who picked up a title in Nottingham last week, her fist since 2017, or one-time Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic, who rode momentum from a trophy in Stuttgart to the quarters in Halle, we've already seen a couple turn around what had been fairly lackluster years. And this week, not only did we continue to see some comebacks, but we also got a few big breakthroughs.

🥳 🏆 FIRST WTA TITLE. 🥳 🏆@Ons_Jabeur gets the job done in straight sets over Kasatkina, 7-5, 6-4 in Birmingham.#VikingClassic pic.twitter.com/l6SoDqjbFt

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 20, 2021

Viking Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain

Ons Jabeur has been quietly building on her successes of last season, climbing to a career high of #24 in the world after the French Open. But while she's had some deep runs at events here and there, she's never been able to bring home that trophy for all her efforts. And with only one match win at Wimbledon in her last three attempts, I didn't give her much of a shot at changing things this week.

But she really surprised us all in Birmingham. After early wins over some of the sport's up-and-coming stars, she ultimately faced off against former top-ten player Daria Kasatkina in the final. The Russian may have been seeded lower, but with a quarterfinal run at the All England Club in 2018 and two titles already this year -- not to mention wins in her both of her previous meetings with Jabeur -- she might have nevertheless been the favorite.

But Jabeur persevered in the tight two-setter, staying ever so slightly stronger on serve and ultimately pulling off the win. It was meaningful for a lot of reasons -- not only her first career title, but also the first won by a woman from the Middle East. She's now tied with Ashleigh Barty for most wins this season, not bad company to share. And as she gets ready for the third Major of the year, she's well made a case that she's one to watch.

Bett1Open, Berlin, Germany

The draw in Berlin wasn't quite as favorable for the favorites, with the top four seeds all losing their opening round matches. And that opened the door for a struggling Belinda Bencic to really up her game. Since making the final in Adelaide at the start of the year, she's been pretty quiet, losing three first round matches and to Kasatkina in the second round of the French. But she got her game together in Germany, with wins over a resurgent Petra Martic and a very talented Ekaterina Alexandrova. Plus she ended the run of another comeback story -- Alizé Cornet, who'd stunned both Bianca Andreescu and former Wimbledon champ Garbiñe Muguruza on her way to the semis.

But Bencic's own momentum was no match for qualifier Liudmila Samsonova, who's so far had most of her success on the ITF circuit. Still ranked in triple digits, the Russian opened with a win over 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova and followed that up by taking out Charleston champ Veronika Kudermetova and one-time U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys, who was fresh off her own big upset of top seed Aryna Sabalenka. But her big win came in the semis, where she shocked former world #1 Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.

The final was a seesaw of a match, with both ladies taking 6-1 sets off each other. But Samsonova got the early break in the decider and, though Bencic kept it close, she never looked back. The win, another first, was also the second time this year a WTA qualifier went home with a trophy. Will it be enough to earn her entry into the Wimbledon main draw, the only Major she has yet to make the cut for? I suppose we'll find out tomorrow, but she certainly put up a nice argument for herself this week.

Cinch Championships, Halle, Germany

Elsewhere in Germany the seeds were similarly sanguine. With Daniil Medvedev, who clearly only enjoys playing on hardcourts, losing his first round in Halle, and ten-time champion Roger Federer getting stunned by protégé Felix Auger-Aliassime, there were plenty of openings for others to sneak through. And the one to do it was a highly-underrated Ugo Humbert -- after a breakthrough 2020 season, the 22-year-old Frenchman has been a little quiet this year, scoring just one win the entire clay court season and amassing a losing record going into this week.

But, not surprisingly, he started getting his game back on grass. A fourth-rounder at Wimbledon in 2019, where he beat FAA and Gael Monfils, he made the quarters last week in Stuttgart and in Halle scored his first top-ten win of the season over Alexander Zverev. He backed that up by taking out breakthrough star Sebastian Korda and FAA again to make the final against a very prolific Andrey Rublev, the only seed to make it out of the second round.

And while the Russian was the heavy favorite, it was the unseeded Humbert who was able to seize the opportunity on Sunday. In the colossally close match, he was able to convert the only break of serve and took the second set in a tiebreak. The win gives him a perfect 3-0 record in tour finals and should give him a big confidence boost heading to the All England Club. And with much higher expectations on his head this time around, it will be interesting to see how he handles the challenge.

Noventi Open, London, Great Britain

Meanwhile, much closer to the upcoming action at Wimbledon, we saw one player really start to assert himself as a true all-court threat. Matteo Berrettini may have had his Major breakthrough on the hardcourts of New York, but he added to his trophy case on clay this season and actually has his best record on grass at 13-5. He improved on that at Queen's Club this week, beating five-time champ and sentimental favorite Andy Murray in the second round and then taking out Dan Evans and Alex de Minaur to boot.

On Sunday he faced off against Cameron Norrie, who's having his own strong season with a win over Dominic Thiem on his way to the Lyon final last month. The 25-year-old Brit had scored wins over Dubai titleist Aslan Karatsev and second seed Denis Shapovalov on the way to his third final of the year, and was hoping that this time he might be able to come away with his first tour-level crown.

But as I said, Berrettini was on a mission to demonstrate his breadth. He didn't allow even a break opportunity in the nearly two-hour match, firing off an astounding 19 aces and winning more than 90 percent of his first serves. That's the kind of service game that should work well for him at Wimbledon. Will it make him a contender for the crown? Who knows, but it sure will make some of the favorites sit up and take notice.

Time and Again

The last few weeks -- whether at warm up events like Den Bosch or on the big stage of Paris, we've seen some unlikely players break through the ranks and make a name for themselves on court. But this weekend a couple of repeat champions reminded us that not everyone is willing to cede control of a tournament to the upstarts -- and showed us why they're still at the top of their games.

Roger Federer was making his thirteenth appearance at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle and going for a record eighth title there. But as formidable as the world #2 always is, at this point in his career, he's more than capable of notching some surprising losses. He did drop a set to Philipp Kohlschreiber in his opener and got pushed to two tiebreaks by big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the semis, after all. And meanwhile, Andreas Seppi, the man who'd stunned Fed just a few months ago in their Australian Open third round, was way more rested coming into Sunday's final. The veteran Italian, down at #45 in the world now, had seen both Gael Monfils and Kei Nishikori retire in his last two rounds, so he hadn't played a full match since Thursday. Perhaps, then, he was a little rusty in this weekend's championship -- though he kept it tight in the first set, saving all three break opportunities he faced, he was dominated in the tiebreak. And Federer came out swinging in the second, firing off another seven aces, dropping just two points on his first serve, and closing out the match in two sets. Roger's trophy is just the latest in a long list of records he already holds, but as he heads to the place where he first started racking them up, he might just have the momentum to pick up one more.

As usual, there was plenty of talent on the field in London too, but not everyone fared too well. Defending champion Grigor Dimtrov, struggling a bit over the last few months, only managed one win before falling to Gilles Muller in his second round. And second seed Stan Wawrinka, fresh off a historic win at the French Open, fell to familiar foe Kevin Anderson in two tiebreaks. Anderson would ride that win all the way to the final, but would ultimately run into the force that is Andy Murray. His tenure at the Aegon Championships may not be quite as long as Federer's in Germany, but going for his fourth title at the Queen's Club, the Scot has nevertheless established himself as something of a force. And he didn't seem too troubled by his heartbreaking loss in the Roland Garros semis either; despite facing a double header on Sunday -- rain suspended his match versus Viktor Troicki after six games -- he withstood ten aces from his opponent and broke serve on both opportunities he was given. The win earned the twenty-eight year old his third title of the year, but could have set an even more important precedent -- if he's as relentless as he was in reclaiming this crown, imagine how he'll be when he goes back after the slightly more illustrious one he got at the All England Club a few years back.

Laying the Groundwork

There's not a lot of time between the French Open and Wimbledon, so top players need to get right back to work if they want to establish themselves as real contenders for the year's most prestigious Grand Slam. And this weekend's champions did exactly that, taking big steps to remind us just how powerful they can be in the couple weeks ahead.

Ana Ivanovic's run in Birmingham was quite a breakthrough for her -- the former French Open champ had captured titles on hardcourt and clay already this year, but had never made a final on grass throughout her career. And even though she was the on-paper favorite at the Aegon Classic, with seeds like Sam Stosur and Daniela Hantuchova getting ousted early, her status was far from safe. But the Serb dismissed her early opponents easily, losing an average of four games a match on her way to the final. And Sunday against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova -- a Cinderella, to be sure, she'd single-handedly taken out three seeds on the way to her first Premier level championship match -- she showed no mercy, completing her straight-set win in just under eighty minutes. Ivanovic's first lawn tennis trophy comes at a perfect time -- the 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist hasn't made it out of the fourth round since, but she's arguably playing the best tennis of her life these days, and this trophy goes one step further in cementing her as a real threat at the All England Club.

Grigor Dimitrov has tasted victory on this surface before -- albeit on a slightly smaller scale -- but the 2008 Wimbledon Junior champion hasn't made it past the second round of the big boys' event yet. His performance in London last week might signal that's about to change, though -- with defending champion Andy Murray going out in the third round and players like Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also defeated early, the Bulgarian was ready to pounce. He was pushed hard by Feliciano Lopez in Sunday's final, needing three tiebreaks and two and a half hours to defeat the grass court specialist, but ultimately picked up his third title of the year at Queen's Club, rounding out his own all-surface triple crown for the season. And if he can keep that momentum going next week, he might finally deliver on the high expectations set for him on the Grand Slam stage.

He is, after all, said to have the same game as Roger Federer, a man who still holds the record with seventeen Major titles. The long-time world #1 has been a little more quiet lately, but turned up the volume this past week in Halle. With only two seeded players winning their opening round matches in Germany, the field was a little more sparse than expected, but Federer successfully handled Kei Nishikori in the semis, ending the streak of a man who'd beaten him their last two meetings. And against Alejandro Falla in Sunday's final there was no repeat of the 2010 Wimbledon match in which the Colombian took a 2-0 set lead on the defending champion. While Federer, too, needed tiebreaks to close out the match, he finished off his opponent in straight sets, adding trophy #79 to his mantle, just in time for what could be a very successful return to the All England Club.

With just a few days left before the start of Wimbledon, this weekend's champs certainly did a lot to raise their profiles among a very talented field. It's only the first step, of course, and the bigger challenges lie down the road, but something tells me we're going to see them all stick around deep into the draws in London.

And if any of them goes home with the trophy, they'll know they put the pieces in place with their wins this week.

Time to Pounce

For years the warm-up season for Wimbledon has been woefully short, so it's no surprise that players, even those who made it deep into the draws of the French Open, get right back to work at the grass court tournaments. But it sure looks like the sudden switch to lawn tennis has caught a couple stars off guard this week -- and those left standing should take full advantage of the opportunity presented to them.

Many of the top seeds have survived so far in Birmingham -- Ana Ivanovic, after a break early in her opener, has lost a total of just three games in her last three sets and made the quarters without much drama. And Sloane Stephens, who had been struggling early this year, may be back on the rise after she survived a big challenge from grass court specialist Allison Riske earlier today. But it wasn't easy for all the favorites. Third seed Lucie Safarova lost her opener to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while defending champion Daniela Hantuchova fell to uber veteran Kimiko Date Krumm on Thursday morning.

And while either of these dark horses could ride their momentum farther, perhaps the greatest beneficiary will be barely seeded Casey Dellacqua. After a fourth round in Australia and a quarterfinal in Indian Wells, the veteran Australian has climbed close to a career high ranking of #43 in the world. At the Aegon Classic this week she needed less than two hours total to dismiss her first two opponents, and today against compatriot Sam Stosur she fought back after losing the first set to keep her record against the former Grand Slam champion a perfect 3-0. She'll meet Kimiko for a spot in the semis, and while the feisty Japanese can't be overlooked, Dellacqua is still the favorite, and she might just be ready to make an even bigger statement as the week draws to a close.

As surprising as the results on the ladies' side have been, we've actually seen the bigger upsets at the men's tournaments this week. Defending Queen's Club and -- lest we forget -- Wimbledon champion Andy Murray was fresh off a semifinal showing in Paris, fell in two quick sets today to Radek Stepanek. And Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a semifinalist at the All England Club two years ago, didn't last much longer against world #60 Marinko Matosevic. But the Australian is still the only unseeded player to reach the quarters, so his road forward will only get tougher from here.

Instead watch for grass court specialist Feliciano Lopez to take advantage of the holes left in the draw. The thirty-two year old has had some strong results this year -- he reached the fourth round in the California desert and the quarters in Madrid, but with a 63% win record on this surface this is where he's been most successful. Feli won the title in Eastbourne last year, and he boasts his best Major performances -- two quarterfinals -- at Wimbledon. So even though he'll next face second seeded Tomas Berdych -- a finalist in London four years ago -- the Spaniard has more than a decent shot at scoring the win. The pair have actually traded wins in their eight previous meetings, and it seems to be Lopez's turn.

But perhaps the biggest opportunities lie on the lawns of Halle where just two seeds made the quarterfinals -- six-time champion Roger Federer and his recent foil Kei Nishikori. Jerzy Janowicz, Mikhail Youzhny and Richard Gasquet all lost in the first round while Milos Raonic went out in his opener yesterday. Of course the real shock occurred this evening when Roland Garros conquerer Rafael Nadal, jumped right back into action -- and lost to German wildcard Dustin Brown.

The total dearth of seeded players that exit left in the top half of the draw opens the door for many -- world #27 Phillipp Kohlschreiber is clearly the favorite, and Alejandro Falla, who nearly beat Federer at Wimbledon back in 2010, is capable of big things himself. But watch out too for Germany's own Peter Gojowczyk -- the twenty-four year old broke into the top hundred this year after a run to the semis in Doha, beating Kohli and Brown in the process, and shocked Jo-Wilfried in his Davis Cup quarterfinal rubber. He'd been pretty quiet since then, but his win over Raonic Wednesday shows he might have more fight left in him. And with the path so nicely cleared before him, there's no reason that won't result in some more big wins this week.

Sure, French fatigue could have played a big factor in some of the losses we've already seen this week, but it's nice to see some of the underdogs step up to the plate when they get the chance. With just over a week left before the start of the next Grand Slam, this might be the perfect time to show the field what they've got. And if they keep momentum on their side, they could effect some big changes to the tennis landscape for a long time to come.

Back in Season

It's been a weird couple months for some of the sport's top stars. With the clay court season dominated by a couple key players, others were forced into the shadows during most of the spring. But as the season shifted to grass in preparation for Wimbledon the tides shifted too, and a few champions used the change to remind us just how relevant they still are.

Andy Murray hasn't had a bad year by any means -- titles in Brisbane and Miami and runs to the finals in the last three Majors he's played helped him climb back to the #2 spot in the world. He did skip the French Open, though, after a back injury forced him to retire in Rome, and so his fitness for the lawn-court part of the season was still under question.

But he quieted doubters with his performance in London this week. The top seed at Queen's Club didn't roll over opponents quite as easily as you might expect -- he needed tiebreaks to dismiss both marathon man Nicolas Mahut, who beat him here last year, and Benjamin Becker, and dropped his first set in the semis to recently red-hot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga -- but eventually made his way to a third career final here. Murray struggled a bit too in the title match today -- defending champ and world #11 Marin Cilic, who's taken more than a few sets off the Scot in the past, started out the stronger player this time too. But Murray rebounded after dropping the first again, finally sealing in the win, and his third London crown, in about two and a half hours.

Roger Federer, if you can believe it, has actually had an even slower start to the year. Having gone the first five and a half months of 2013 without a title -- the first time that's happened since the turn of the century -- he's almost been better known for his recent "failings". He lost in the Rome final to Rafael Nadal and got down two-sets-to-one against Gilles Simon in Paris before being drubbed in the quarters by France's Tsonga. He's only lost to two players out of the top ten this year, though, and at #3 in the world, he's not exactly slipping. Still, at thirty-one years of age he's finally proven himself to be slightly more vulnerable that we thought he would ever be.

But this week in Halle Federer showed he still has more than a little life left in him. He delivered a sub-forty minute double bagel to Mischa Zverev in the quarters and avenged a surprise loss in last year's final here, rebounding after dropping a set to Tommy Haas in the semis. Like Murray, he too struggled in Sunday's final, trading games with unseeded Mikhail Youzhny and eventually dropping the first set tiebreak. But he turned things around eventually, taking the last two sets decidedly and ultimately capturing his fourteenth grass court trophy.

Both of last year's Wimbledon finalists certainly did their part to prove all they needed was a little change of scenery to get back into their winning ways. And after the victories they've each recorded this week, it certainly looks like they're ripe for even more success.

The Weirdest Day in Tennis

It's just after noon in New York, and I'm already overwhelmed by the stuff that's gone on today. Rain-delayed battles, amazing triumphs, stellar upsets, and one particularly strange display that brings up more questions than it does answers.

You'd be forgiven if you don't remember Alize Cornet. The twenty-two year old peaked during the 2008 clay court season, making the semis in Charleston and Amelia Island, the finals in Acapulco and Rome, and finally earning a title in Budapest. She's been a little quiet since, watching her ranking drop from nearly top-ten territory to triple-digits just a few months ago. She hasn't even won an ITF title in over four years. But she may be turning things around now -- the Frenchwoman beat four higher-ranked players to make the final in Strasbourg, and this week picked right back up post-Roland Garros to play for the trophy in Bad Gastein. In a surprisingly tight match against second-seeded Yanina Wickmayer, Cornet was able to capitalize on her break opportunities and out-lasted the favorite after more than two hours of play. For a woman who's been a bit of a non-entity in the sport the last several years, it was quite an accomplishment -- she might not be quite ready to take the grass court season by storm yet, but if she keeps up her confidence, it might not be long before she does.

Meanwhile in Birmingham, the rain played tricks with the players all week long. With play almost completely washed out on Friday, players were forced to endure one double-header after another over the weekend, with some athletes losing leads and others hanging tougher to get the win. Perhaps the greatest victories, though, came from world #208 Melanie Oudin, whose once-bright star has become a little tarnished since 2009. She looked good in her opening rounds in England, but it wasn't until her later matches that she really brought up her game. After her quarterfinal against compatriot Irina Falconi was delayed on Saturday, she got back on court to finish it up. She then went another three sets against eighth seeded Ekaterina Makarova, a more-than-solid player herself, to reach her first-ever Tour final. For the title she'll face Jelena Jankovic who, you might remember, she beat during that first breakout Wimbledon a few years ago. If she can pull it off again -- let's face it, JJ is not the player she was back then -- it could put Melanie way back on the radar over the next few months.

Tommy Haas has been on the radar before, but it's been a long time since. The thirty-four year old was the #2 player in the world a full decade ago, but shoulder surgery, hip surgery, illness and, well, age, pushed him out of the top fifty, hundred, three hundred and five hundred by this time last year. He didn't have the most successful return in 2011, winning just a handful of matches in his first five months back, but finally put together a few back-to-back wins to make the quarters in Vienna. He did even better this season, upsetting Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the way to the Munich semis and even got in a couple main draw wins at Roland Garros as a qualifier. But his true comeback was sealed this week when, as a wildcard in Halle, the 2009 champion stunned third-seed Tomas Berdych, overpowered eventual Munich champ Philipp Kohlschreiber, and earlier today pulled off an epic straight-set victory over Roger Federer, a man he hadn't beaten since the Sydney Olympics -- that was back in 2000, for those who forgot. Ten losses and twelve years later, Haas was again victor over King Fed, winning his first title in three years and pulling off probably the most surprising win of the day.

Things didn't stop there, however. In what might have been the strangest -- and most disappointing -- end to a tournament, David Nalbandian, seeded tenth at Queen's Club, was leading Croatia's Marin Cilic by a tiebreak, but had just lost serve when this happened:



The linesman was left with a bloody calf, and though the Argentine apologized for his outburst, tournament officials chose to disqualify him from the tournament, handing Cilic the win. It's a tough way to claim a title, certainly not the way true athletes want a competition to end. But with his first trophy on grass, Cilic may have at least proven to himself he can triumph on the surface. As for Nalbandian, it'll be interesting to see how the veteran pulls himself together after this latest outburst. Sadly, it wasn't the first -- and won't be the last -- instance of tennis players losing their cool, and hopefully the sport won't lose anything from it.

With all the unpredictable things that happened on the tennis courts today, it's a bit of a shame we'll probably most remember what went down in London. But there's so much more that's worth celebrating this weekend, and with just a week left until Wimbledon, those players should take all that good with them over the next few weeks. And they're recent successes -- and even their failures -- could prove invaluable as they look to put together even bigger triumphs in the matches ahead.

On Familiar Ground

The clay court season is officially over for 2011, and this week players -- against their will or not -- have been pushed onto the much slicker, much faster courts of grass. And while some may be a bit apprehensive making the switch, a couple others who've been less than prominent recently, should find the change of pace refreshing.

Last year's surprise finalist at Wimbledon Tomas Berdych will try to make up for a dismal showing at Roland Garros. He'd finally begun gaining some traction late in the spring, making the quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome and the semis in Nice. But squandering a two-set lead to Stephane Robert in his Paris opener could have stopped him cold.

So far he's made good on his #2 seeding in Halle. After dropping his first set to Ruben Bemelmans, he stayed tough against Jan Henrych on Wednesday to reach the final eight. Of course there's no rest from here -- world #12 Viktor Troicki, at his highest career ranking, will be next on his plate, and he's clearly no pushover. The two have split their previous two meetings, both on hardcourts, so Berdych will need to pounce early if he's going to make a statement.

Defending Halle champion Lleyton Hewitt doesn't get the luxury of a seed in Germany this year and has been absent from Tour since Indian Wells. But the 2002 Wimbledon titleist should take comfort in his eighty-plus percent win recordhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif on this surface -- easily his best.

He had his way cleared for him somewhat this week -- originally slated to open against Roger Federer in a rematch of last year's final, he instead barreled through lucky loser Leonardo Mayer when the French Open runner-up pulled out of the event. The Australian has a second round date with world #51 Andreas Seppi, actually ranked higher than him. It won't be easy, but Hewitt's experience should help him make it through the day.

Over at Queen's Club, three time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick is playing his first match since Rome, where he sustained a shoulder injury before the doubles championship. The last American man to have a legitimate shot at a Grand Slam title, he should feel more at home on the courts where he's already won four trophies.

To kick off his week in London, Roddick faced a feisty Feliciano Lopez to start. After two sets with no breaks, he finally took control in the third, winning more than eighty percent of his first serves and holding his opponent to just a quarter of his return points. He was similarly impressive against big-serving Kevin Anderson earlier today, withstanding thirteen aces from his opponent and winning the match in straight sets.

Roddick might have had a much tougher road forward, as he probably should have met '02 Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian in the third round. The ninth seed at Queen's had been working his way back into the elite, but after enduring leg surgery in March he might not have been quite up to snuff yet.

The Argentine got through his early matches easily, dropping serve only once through the first two matches, but ran into an unusually strong Fernando Verdasco on Thursday. Though the Spaniard had won their previous two meetings and is the higher ranked player, I would have given the edge to Nalbandian, the more successful lawn tennis athlete. Instead, the struggling Verdasco got the better of the veteran, earning the right to meet Roddick in the next round.

So far the change in surface seems to suit the players who're so used to winning on grass. And with the next Grand Slam less than two weeks away, it's encouraging to see them having success so early.

And if they keep it up, I wouldn't be surprised to see any of them make a deep run at the All England Club.

Switzerland 1, Australia 2

If we were talking World Cup that score might make sense -- though now that the Germans are leading Australia 4-0, maybe not. But while the rest of the globe is focused on a different kind of grass field, the two countries' best were also taking a shot at each other on the tennis courts, and the result was not what you'd expect.

Roger Federer has been a staple in Halle for most of the past decade, having won the trophy five times, and even signed a lifetime agreement to play every year until he retires. As the top seed, he progressed without challenge all week, surviving a few tiebreaks but never dropping a set on the surface on which he's won eleven titles.

In the finals he faced Lleyton Hewitt, another former #1 who is pretty comfortable on the lawn himself. The 2002 Wimbledon champ was playing in his first Gerry Weber Open after years of participating -- and winning -- at Queen's Club. As the eighth seed in Germany he also had a fairly easy run, as his opponents often took care of the other top contenders for him. In fact Roger and Lleyton were the only seeds to make the third round, so neither faced a big hitter until that championship round.

As two men who've been around for more than a decade each, Federer and Hewitt have played each other a lot, and often when the stakes were high. Before today, they'd played in three finals and eight semis. Twice they'd played in Davis Cup, three times at the year-end championships, and eight times each at Masters events and Grand Slams. And of those twenty-four total match-ups, Roger has won seventeen times -- in fact, the last fifteen straight. It looked like the streak would continue, but Hewitt was primed to turn the tables.

Federer got himself off to a quick start, breaking the Australian in the middle of the first set and running off to a 0-40 lead in the ninth game of the second. But Hewitt held strong and rallied to take the game and force a tiebreak, which he won. He broke Roger to kick off the decider and picked up his second serve percentage while his opponent began committing more errors. Federer had a chance to break again and draw even, but a strong forehand from Hewitt kept him ahead. Finally, after a little less than two-and-a-half hours, Lleyton had won his twenty-eighth title, his seventh on grass, and his first since Houston last year.

With only a week left before the start of the Championships, Hewitt certainly scored the win at an opportune time. Having spent the balance of the last two years recovering from hip surgery and various other injuries, he hasn't really been a force at the Slams in some time and only reached the quarterfinals once in the past four years. If he brings his momentum -- and the knowledge that he can still beat top players -- he might stand a chance at Wimbledon this year. This is, after all, one of his best surfaces, and today's victory will surely give his opponents in London a bit to worry about.

Sure, it's probably too soon to claim Hewitt is a favorite to win the big trophy in a few weeks, but the odds are certainly more in his favor now. After all, if you can beat Federer, who can't you beat...?

Mowing Down the Grass

Is it just me or does this year's grass court season seem shorter than normal?

Given the apparently compressed schedule, it's no wonder so many players are on the courts during the two weeks between the French Open and Wimbledon -- and this week's tournaments across Europe truly attracted the top talent.

Of course Rafael Nadal had pulled out of the warm-up at Queen's Club while Roger Federer withdrew from Halle -- but there was certainly no shortage of star power. Andy Murray and Andy Roddick led the way in London while Novak Djokovic and Fernando Verdasco took top billing in Germany.

Murray took the top seed at the AEGON Championships and he definitely came to his adopted country with a mission. Despite an impressive 24-8 record on grass, the twenty-two year old has never won a title on the surface he should feel at home on. But this year was different, and he made it to the finals without dropping a set, beating sixth-seeded Mardy Fish and former #1 Juan Carlos Fererro.

On the other side of the draw my dear James Blake let his opponents clear the road for him. Mikhail Youzhny took out third seed Gilles Simon while Roddick dispatched Lleyton Hewitt in a match where no one was able to break the other's serve. Andy unfortunately suffered an ankle injury in their semifinal match, though, and allowed James to reach his second final of the year.

For both personal and patriotic reasons I of course would have liked the American to win. But Murray eventually claimed his fourth title of the year, out-acing Blake 7-1 and converting all three of his break opportunities.



But on the bright side I was impressed by the performance of my countrymen in London, with all three entrants making at least the quarters. If they remain -- or get -- healthy, it could bode well for their performance at Wimbledon.

The men who played in Halle, however, might have something to say about that.

Though Verdasco lost early on to German Phllipp Petzschner, Nole made it to the finals despite facing five match points against Florent Serra in the second round. There he faced an unseeded Tommy Haas, who had already eliminated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Haas has been launching a comeback this year after more than a twenty-four month title drought followed by being allegedly poisoned at the 2007 Davis Cup. Although Novak was clearly the favorite, Tommy didn't seem to be too bothered, taking the first set 6-3 while winning 92% of his first serves. Djokovic took the second in a tiebreak, but Haas wasn't deterred. He made quick work of the top-five player in the final set, winning 6-1 and earning his very first grass court title.



On the women's side Maria Sharapova continued her quest to get in some match play before Wimbledon begins. She looked good in her third straight tournament since returning to the Tour in Warsaw and made it to the semifinals in Birmingham -- unfortunately she lost to eventual runner-up Na Li.

Ultimately Slovakian twenty-year-old Magdelena Rybarikova claimed her first career trophy, defeating Li easily, 6-0, 7-6. The win doesn't quite earn the fifty-eighth ranked beauty a seed at next week's Ordina Open in the Netherlands, where she faces Alona Bondarenko in the first round. But it certainly marks a breakthough in her career -- in this tournament alone she notched big wins over top seed Jie Zheng and Sania Mirza, who she'd lost to in Pattaya City. She could be one to watch at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.



The countdown to Wimbledon has definitely begun!

Little Rest for the Weary

The French Open has barely been put to bed and already players are back in action as they gear up for the next leg of the tennis season.

With Wimbledon less than two weeks away, there's not a lot of time to warm up for the grass-court stretch, so it's no surprise that the tournaments this week boast some of the top talent -- Andy Murray is the #1 seed at Queen's Club in London and Novak Djokovic leads the pack in Halle, Germany.



But there are some notable absences this week -- and one that might be a little alarming.

Roger Federer, physically and emotionally drained after his historic victory in Paris, won't be seeking a sixth trophy in Halle. He announced on his website yesterday that he needs a little extra time to rest and recuperate after his run at Roland Garros.

More disturbing was the fact that reigning Wimbledon champ Rafael Nadal wouldn't be defending his title at Queen's Club due to a mysterious knee injury. He's been having trouble for some time, retiring from his quaterfinal match at the ATP Masters Series in Paris last year and subsequently pulling out of the year-end championships in Shanghai.

Nadal says he still plans to compete at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club and will fly to London next week. After his disappointment at the French Open I imagine that sheer pride will force him to show up, though he concedes he may have to withdraw if he doesn't feel he can give his best. On his homepage this week, he said:

"I am going to give my 200% to be ready for the most important tournament in the world. The tournament that I always dream about. I will not go out and play, especially on the Wimbledon Centre Court, if I am not 100% ready to play. I have two difficult weeks ahead of me, especially because I won't be doing what I like doing most, which is to play tennis."

Of course I wish him a speedy recovery, but -- a little bit selfishly -- I hope he's able to return in top form to defend his Wimbledon title. You have to admit there was something missing from last weekend's final, and I think it can only be cured with another Rafa-Roger showdown.



As we know, when they're playing their best, there's no greater show in sports. And this tournament won't be the same without them!