Back on Top

It's been a long few months for all of us, and a long several years for many, and it's been a while since we've all felt on top of our games. But this weekend's results on clay helped a couple stars get their footing back under them -- and in a few cases, it was a long time coming.

The moment @RafaelNadal won his 12th Barcelona title! 🏆

The Spaniard ends Tsitsipas' winning streak 6-4 6-7(6) 7-5.#BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/DKUyI1h7le

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 25, 2021

Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany

I'll start in Germany, where a slew of top-tier talent took the courts for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. The draw was so stacked, in fact, that even players like Maria Sakkari, who ended Naomi Osaka's year-plus win streak in Miami, and Australian Open finalist Jen Brady weren't seeded. And the favorites, for the most part, really lived up to the challenge -- while Sofia Kenin dropped her opening match to Anett Kontaveit, even those upsets came at the hands of highly-ranked opponents.

Ultimately, though, it was 2019 French Open champ Ashleigh Barty and recently red-hot Aryna Sabalenka playing for the title. Sabalenka had dealt a pretty one-sided blow to perennial clay court star Simona Halep in the semis, while Barty, who'd proven me wrong emphatically by defending her title in Miami, followed up with a somewhat surprising loss to Paula Badosa in Charleston.

In Sunday's championship, a rematch of their quarterfinal in Miami, Sabalenka got off to the stronger start, taking the first set to build an early lead. But Barty came roaring back, blanking her opponent in the second and taking advantage of both her break opportunities in the decider. For good measure, she also teamed up with Brady to take the doubles crown. As the world #1, the win(s) doesn't technically put her back on top -- she's held the top spot since September 2019 uninterrupted -- but now with three trophies already this season, it certainly shows she's shaken off any cobwebs after that nearly year-long absense.

Serbia Open, Belgrade, Serbia

Things didn't go quite as smoothly for the favorite in Belgrade, though. Novak Djokovic, fresh off a shocking loss in the Monte Carlo third round, came to his homeland event -- playing on a court named for him -- looking to make up some ground. And while he got off to a better start than he did last week -- he beat his first two opponents in straightforward fashion -- he did run into a hiccup against 2021 breakout star Aslan Karatsev.

The workhorse Russian, who followed up his Cinderella run in Melbourne -- where he lost to Nole in the semis -- with his first career title at the age of 27 in Dubai, claimed the #3 seed in Serbia, but played well above that level in Saturday's rematch. The win, his third over a top-ten player this year, earned him the chance to play for a second title, not bad for someone who'd spent most of his time on the Challengers and ITF circuits before this year.

But his run would eventually stopped by second seeded Matteo Berrettini, who'd been struggling a bit since his own breakthrough season two years ago. The 25-year-old Italian had a fairly unimpressive follow-up, winning only one match in 2020 before the lockdown and getting upset by players like Tennys Sandgren, Marcos Giron and Daniel Altmaier. He seemed to be pulling things together this year, beating Dominic Thiem and Roberto Bautista Agut at ATP Cup, before injury sidelined him again.

He was back in form this week, though, scoring an early win against one-time French semifinalist Marco Cecchinato in his opener and then surviving a test from lucky loser Taro Daniel on Saturday. Against Karatsev in the title match, he held strong too, firing off nine aces and winning more than 80 percent of his first serves. In just under two and a half hours, he was the one left holding the trophy, his third on clay and his first in nearly two years.

TEB BNP Paribas Tennis Championship, Istanbul, Turkey

It'd been a much longer drought for Sorana Cirstea, the one-time French Open breakout star who'd won her first and only tour title back in 2008 when she was just 18. Since then she's struggled with form and injury -- shoulder troubles in 2014 helped push her out of the top 200 for some time -- and while she did briefly claw herself back into the top forty, she's been in low double digits for most of the last few years.

She seemed to be getting her bearings back recently though -- she upset Johanna Konta in the second round of the U.S. Open last year, and beat both Belinda Bencic and Petra Kvitova during this year's Melbourne swing. Still ranked outside the top sixty, Cirstea caught a little bit of luck in Istanbul -- the first two seeds she was slated to meet, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Petra Martic, both lost in their first rounds, and the other seeds in her section lost early too. So it wasn't until the final against top seed Elise Mertens that she would be truly tested.

It should have been a straightforward win for the world #17, who's been one of the most consistent players on tour since the lockdown eneded -- Mertens has made the quarters or better at eight events during that period, picking up one trophy and notching wins over the likes of Sofia Kenin, Elina Svitolina, Jessica Pegula and others. But Cirstea was able to get the upper hand over the heavy favorite Sunday, running away with the first set easily and holding tough in the second to win the tiebreak.

The win not only earned her that long-awaited second title, but gave her a third win over a top-twenty player this year. If she can keep it up, she might just be able to make her own way back there as well.

Barcelona Open, Barcelona Spain

And then, of course, there's the win we all knew was coming, but often feared might not.

After his own shocking loss last week in Monte Carlo, Rafael Nadal knew he had to get back to the drawing board if he was going to continue his dominance on the clay this season. Sure, he'd won the title in Barcelona eleven times before, but we know how tenuous even history like that can be, and when he came within one set of notching back-to-back losses on the surface for the first time since 2002, we knew there was a real danger.

He was tested a bunch early, after all, needing three sets to take out two-time champ Kei Nishikori as well, but seemed to be back on track in later rounds. Meanwhile, in the bottom half of the draw, Monte Carlo champ Stefanos Tsitsipas was keeping his streak going strong, dispatching three seeds in a row without losing a set and reaching his second final in as many weeks.

He appeared primed to assert himself as a real contender for the French Open too when he came out with an early break and had multiple chances to increase his lead in the first. But Nadal roared back to claim the first set and had a couple of match points in the second, before Tsitsipas managed to force a decider. The two stayed close in that one too, with the Greek managing his own match point before Rafa scored the decisive break. And after more than three and a half hours of hard hitting tennis, he was finally able to seal the deal and earn his first title this season.

What it means as we head into the last few weeks before Roland Garros has yet to be seen -- after all, Tsitsipas's performance certainly proved he could be a contender in Paris. But for Nadal to reassert himself on the clay shows he is far from ceding control to the next generation.

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Obviously these wins will have different impacts on all these players, but whether they came to those who've been trying to get their footing back or to those who wanted to remind us of how how big a force they are, they all made some big statements to the rest of the fields.

And here's hoping we see a lot more of all these guys winning in the months to come.

A Fresh Start

After a long and grueling clay court season -- successful for some, of course, but devastating for others -- we've finally made the transition to grass, and a couple players who've been struggling over the last few months may be happy for the switch. They may not all traditionally fare best on this surface, but with a couple of brand new events to herald in the change, this might be just the opportunity they need to turn things around.

The Aegon Open in Nottingham got a nice upgrade this year, climbing from the ITF circuit to the WTA Tour, and with the higher profile attracted some higher-level players. Former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska takes the top seed, but after a first round exit in Paris and a tumble to #13 in the world, she'll be under pressure to raise her game. She's looked good so far, taking out a qualifier in her opener and then ousting former top-thirty player Christina McHale today in just over an hour. Set next to meet Lauren Davis, who's coming off two straight three-setters, she should be well poised to reverse her recent string of disappointing results. So too could one-time U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, now dangerously close to exiting the top hundred for the first time since 2008. She started her Nottingham campaign with a win over fourth seed Karin Knapp and dropped just four games to Bojana Jovanovski earlier today. She's only made it as far as the fourth round at Wimbledon once before, but if she can get a little traction now she might be able to turn things around even past the grass court season.

Stuttgart isn't technically a new stop on Tour, but the men's tournament made the switch from clay to grass for the 2015 season, and that certainly helps some players more than others. Sam Groth really launched his late-career breakthrough on this surface last year, making the final of a Challenger event before qualifying for Wimbledon and then reaching the semis in Newport. He lost in the first round at Roland Garros, but rode a smaller title in Nottingham to his highest career ranking, #66 in the world. So far at the Mercedes Cup he's come back from losing opening sets to both one-time giant-killer Sergiy Stakhovsky and lawn-specialist Feliciano Lopez. And with a fairly open bottom half of the draw, there's no reason his road should get too much harder from here. Of course, the real story in Stuttgart is that of Rafael Nadal, who's second ever loss at the French Open knocked him down to his first double-digit ranking in ten years. He's not generally strong on grass, to be sure, but with two Wimbledon titles to his name, you know he can find a way to thrive -- and after his clay season, maybe the new surface will be a nice change. He was pushed in his first round, needing three sets and two tiebreaks to get past Marcos Baghdatis. But hopefully now that he's shaken the cobwebs off he'll be even stronger and more ready for his next challenge.

With a couple weeks left before the next Grand Slam, it's important that all these guys pull themselves together and rebound from recent results. They might not be able to ultimately walk away with the titles -- this week or, even less likely, at the All England Club -- but with a few more solid results, they might just be able to finish their year off on a high note.

Back from the Brink

Okay, I realize I'm late in posting again, but that shouldn't suggest that the results from this weekend are any less important than others. And for the couple winners who'd seemed to have been long missing from the podiums, in fact, their performances may herald something even more notable.

The favorites seemed totally in charge during the early rounds in Bucharest, with only one seed falling before the quarterfinals. But things got pretty interesting pretty quickly after that -- three-time champion Gilles Simon was stunned by a surging Daniel Gimeno Traver, while big-serving Ivo Karlovic was taken out by young Jiri Vesely in the semis. And red-hot Gael Monfils, fresh off a huge win over Roger Federer in Monte Carlo, fell in a squeaker that same round to veteran Guillermo Garcia Lopez. The thirty-one year old Spaniard, who's scored wins over the likes of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka in the past, had fallen a bit off his game the past few years, only ending a four-year trophy-less streak last April in Casablanca. But even with a trophy this year in Zagreb he was flying well under the radar in Romania, and against Vesely in the final he was pushed to the limit. The pair went two very long sets, each going to a long tiebreak, before the elder Garcia-Lopez was able to finish off the match. It was only his fifth career title, but coming so late in his career, it might just suggest there are a few more to come.

Angelique Kerber hadn't fallen quite so far down the rankings, but the two-time Major semifinalist seemed to have a few cobwebs on her at the start of the year -- with four first round losses in the first three months of the year, she'd dropped well out of the top ten by the start of the month. She's turned it around since then, though, picking up a title in Charleston and drubbing former world #13 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during the Fed Cup semis. This past week in Stuttgart -- where favorites like Petra Kvitova, Ana Ivanovic, and Aga Radwanska all lost early -- the still unseeded German started off with an impressive win over top seeded Maria Sharapova and followed up with another upset of eighth-ranked Ekaterina Makarova. In the final against U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki she started off a little slow, dropping the first set, but rebounded quickly to force a decider and closing out her third top-ten win of the week. It was Kerber's second title of the year, but arguably the most significant of her career. And with a win streak now eleven matches long, you have to think she's making a pretty good case for herself to be a real force at the year's next Major.

This weekend's champions may have been clawing their way back into the spotlight for some time, but their titles on Sunday may have finally cemented their returns. And as the clay court season really gets into full swing over the next couple weeks, there may never have been a better time for them to make such strong statements.

Take a Step Back

It's that weird time in the tennis season again, where -- after a month of playing on grass and several weeks still before the final hardcourt Major of the year -- we're forced to turn the clocks back a few weeks and revisit the clay court action of the spring. And the change of scenery may have suited some more than others.

To be fair, Phillipp Kohlscreiber's bad luck in Stuttgart wasn't entirely his fault -- the hometown favorite was the victim of a schedule marred by nearly two days of rain and had to play back to back matches today to start his Mercedes Cup campaign. After completing his opener against Jan-Lennard Struff, he fell in two tight sets to giant-killer Lukas Rosol. Some lower seeds have made a better transition back to dirt, though. Barcelona runner-up Santiago Giraldo, who beat both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Murray in Rome, fell quickly to Roger Federer at Wimbledon. He seems to have gotten back on track this week -- after an easy win over qualifier Mate Delic in his opener he stayed tough after dropping a second set tiebreak today to ultimately set up a quarterfinal against top seed Fabio Fognini. And Federico Delbonis, who hadn't won a match since his Cinderella run to the Nice final, turned his luck around too. After ousting veteran Juan Monaco in his first round, he came back from a set down against Benjamin Becker, and will now face a struggling Mikhail Youzhny for a spot in the semis. And with some big wins in both their pockets already this year, either could make a real run for this title.

Over in Sweden it's some less-surprising names that most benefit from the switch of surfaces. Last year's French Open finalist David Ferrer suffered an inglorious defeat at the hands of then-#118 Andrey Kuznetsov in his Wimbledon second round and needed to rebound on the clay of Bastad, and he's off to a good start. He needed just over an hour to dispatch Victor Hanescu earlier today and though Carlos Berlocq will certainly present a bigger challenge in next, the Argentine has lost opening sets in his last two matches and should be easily handled. And countryman Fernando Verdasco, almost a semifinalist last year at the All England Club, fell quite a bit earlier this time around. But the Spaniard has won four of his six titles on clay, and after taking out Albert Ramos-Viñolas Thursday, he shouldn't face any real challenge until the final. Meanwhile last year's Wimbledon standout Jerzy Janowicz has had a little more trouble -- he played three five-set matches this year at the All England Club and only won two of them. Now out of the top fifty, he didn't make a strong case to move back up the rankings this week and lost his opener to one of this season's up-and-comers Dusan Lajovic. He'll need to pull his game together a bit better once he hits the hardcourts if he wants to show he belongs among the elite.

Slightly more consistent this year, Simona Halep didn't exactly have a disappointing Wimbledon, but with a 5-1 record against the other semifinalists she arguably blew her best recent chance at claiming that first Grand Slam crown -- and it's a bit of a let-down since her stellar run in Paris. She seems to have her groove back in Bucharest -- she's needed about two and a half hours to dismiss her first two opponents and with many of the other seeds falling early, she's the heavy favorite in the field. Petra Cetkovska has a little more heavy lifting to do -- the one time fourth-rounder at the All England Club has almost tripled her all-time high ranking of #25 in the world, but she's had some well-fought wins this week in Romania. And as one of the few seeds left in the draw, she has a real shot at making it to the final. I originally thought Silvia Soler-Espinosa did too -- the twenty-three year old Spaniard reached the final in Strasbourg as a qualifier and defeated Yanina Wickmayer to make the third round in Paris. Against still-struggling Roberta Vinci today, I figured her as the favorite, but after taking the opening set she eventually succumbed to the second seed -- maybe not an on-paper upset, but certainly a squandered opportunity.

Perhaps, though, the most surprising loss by a clay court specialist this week was that of my Roland Garros dark horse Carla Suarez Navarro. Having finally won her maiden title on the dirt at the start of May, she seemed to have broken the seal and, though she experienced an understandable loss early at Wimbledon, I expected her to do a bit better in Bad Gastein. But after being pushed to three sets by qualifier Laura Siegemund, she lost quickly today to world #147 Shelby Rogers. Other seeds have been performing a little better in Austria. Camila Giorgi, who's taking out big names like Maria Sharapova in Indian Wells and Victoria Azarenka in Eastbourne, is the most immediate beneficiary of CSN's early exit and might finally be able to put a loner string of wins together. And Sara Errani, who's cut her teeth on this surface with seven titles on clay, may be able to end his year-long trophy-less streak -- she hasn't dropped a set yet in her first two matches here, and with so much of the draw cleared out for her, she's by far the favorite left in the field. And if she can capitalize on that status she might just be able to make a move back into the top ten.

Of course, we should expect that the players who've seen their best results on clay to be most successful this week too -- but clearly it takes a little something extra to shift as seamlessly as these guys and gals have done. Whether they can ride their momentum to titles this weekend remains to be seen -- but more importantly, hopefully it bodes well for what we'll see from them in the weeks and months to come.

Topsy Turvy

Things sure got a little crazy in the back half of last week, didn't they? While there was plenty of star power on the courts of Stuttgart and Barcelona, they didn't always deliver the way they were expected to, and the ones who stuck around for championship weekend, may have surprised even themselves with their performances. In the end, though, the dust did settle, and the players who walked away with the titles proved they have what it takes to withstand the tumult.

Agnieszka Radwanska and red-hot ingenue Simona Halep took the top seeds at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, but neither could make good on their status -- Halep, who made the semis in Indian Wells, lost her opener in Germany to veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova, while Aga at least made the quarters before bowing out to Maria Sharapova. Ultimately MaSha contested the final against a plucky Ana Ivanovic, who battled through a slew of tough opponents to get to her third final of the year -- Kuznetsova, Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, 2011 champion Julia Goerges, and former world #1 Jelena Jankovic. The Serb even took the first set off the Grand Slammer, a woman she hadn't beaten in almost seven years, but eventually the tide turned. In a set with twelve breaks of serve, Sharapova forced a decider and rolled through the third to retain the title for a third straight year, successfully snapping a year-long trophy-less streak. And after the string of relatively disappointing results she's had so far this year -- at #9 now, she's at her lowest ranking in over three years -- it might just give her the push she needs to deliver even bigger returns the rest of the season.

Things got even more interesting on the clay courts of Barcelona, which have been ruled by one Rafael Nadal since 2005. But the eight-time champion, riding a forty-two match win streak here, was foiled in a rematch of last year's final against Nicolas Almagro, this time losing in the quarters. Nico, however, couldn't sustain his momentum and was ousted a round later by Colombian Santiago Giraldo, ranked just #65 in the world. On the bottom half of the draw, fourth seeded Kei Nishikori -- who beat David Ferrer and Roger Federer in Miami -- fought off challenges from recent upstart Roberto Bautista Agut and previously on-fire Marin Cilic to reach his second final in 2014. The man from Japan had experience on his side Sunday too -- against a man who'd lost the only other final he'd played before, he won three-quarters of his first-serve points and three-quarters of his second-serve returns. After just over an hour, Nishikori had claimed the title, the biggest of his career, and secured his spot as #12 in the world, just ahead of long-time, top-ten staple Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and veterans Tommy Haas and Mikhail Youzhny.

Whether this weekend's champions can parlay recent success to bigger trophies in the weeks to come, of course, remains to be seen. But that they were able to keep they're cool when so much around them was getting turned upside down sure bodes well for their prospects. And with some real favorites proving there are some holes in their armors, these winners could really take the opportunity and pounce

Failure to Launch?

Wimbledon is over, people!

It's been over a month since we crowned this year's French Open king and queen!

This is the time in the season when players should be making the switch to hard courts as they prep for the last Major of the year. But for a reason I've never understood, none of the events this week help athletes transition, keeping some still on the grass and sending many more all the way back to the clay. Sure, the surfaces may play to some stars' strengths better than the American concrete, but can they keep it up once they're in full U.S. Open tune-up mode?

The top seeds have struggled so far in Budapest with Lucie Safarova winning just one game in her opener against world #190 Valeria Solovyeva and 2008 champion Alize Cornet faring little better. Of course, they could turn things around once they hit the pavement -- Safarova, after all, made a nice run to the Montreal semis last year -- but others might be poised to make a bigger statement. Simona Halep went on a ten-match winning streak just before Wimbledon, winning two titles on two surfaces. She didn't fare so well at the all England Club, but this time she could resume her momentum and get in some rest before heading to New York. She's won her first two matches in Hungary with little drama and, as the top seed remaining, could give herself a nice bolt of confidence before switching to hard courts the next few weeks.

Meanwhile in Palermo one clay court specialist is looking to erase her own memory of a bad Wimbledon. Two-time champion Sara Errani has been a little quieter on the dirt this year than last, but she did well at the premier events early in the season and made her way back to the Roland Garros semis. In 2012 she parlayed a win in her homeland into a semi showing in New York and, though certainly not a sure thing, her performance her would make up for a first round exit from the All England Club. But also watch out for Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier -- though she's spent most of the year on the ITF circuit, a run to the French Open third round put her on the radar. She's already upset eighth seeded Karolina Pliskova and veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues in Italy, but has yet to make many strides off the surface. If she can take the lessons she's learned the last few weeks with her, it could bode well for her summer season.

It's not just the women who've used this week to go back in time. Nicolas Almagro, last year's runner-up in Bastad, came back from an ugly first set to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez earlier today while recent top-ten player Juan Monaco, a disappointing 16-14 on the year so far, earned himself a quarterfinal match against Grigor Dimitrov. But the best story in this draw might be Fernando Verdasco, whose quarterfinal run at the All England Club put him squarely back on the tennis map. And on clay, arguably his best surface, he might be able to accomplish even more -- he hasn't really been tested in his first two matches but could give Almagro a challenge next. More good results in Sweden might be what he needs to show recent success was no fluke and to ride his wave to bigger wins in the U.S.

A couple men in Stuttgart, on the other hand, are looking to get momentum back on their side. Gael Monfils seemed to be well on the comeback trail with a title in Bordeaux and a runner-up finish in Nice, but pulled out of Wimbledon a few days before the tournament began. He'd climbed back well in the first half of the year, cutting his ranking from triple digits in February to #60 in the world now, but is still out of seeding territory in Germany. He did pull off wins over always tricky Paul-Henri Mathieu and sixth seeded Florian Mayer, though, and might have laid the groundwork for success the next part of the season. But he'll have to get past Philipp Kohlschreiber first -- the second-ranked German took a bit of a tumble when his first round exit at the All England Club fell far short of his quarterfinal run last year, but he could turn things around now. He'll need to, too, since he's got a bunch of hard court points to defend too -- including a fourth-round at the Open -- so his third round against Monfils might carry more importance than usual.

While all these guys and gals took this week to revert to spring-time play, the men in Newport chose to stick to the grass, and not all got the desired results -- top seeded Sam Querrey, a finalist here in 2009, notched his second straight opening round loss, this time to world #120 Tim Smyczek. But defending champion John Isner might be able to take advantage of the hole his compatriot left in the draw -- the big-serving American retired from his second round at Wimbledon, but has been on point so far at the Hall of Fame. This is often his best time of year -- he's won titles at Newport and Winston-Salem the last two years running -- but once did it mean a solid run in New York. After fits and starts in 2013, he'll want to make sure this time counts. And his arch-nemesis and very good friend Nicolas Mahut is lurking in the top half of the draw, fresh(-ish) off his first career title in Den Bosch. He's never had much luck off the grass, but if he does meet and beat Isner in this final, he might be turning his entire career around.

This week's tournaments, admittedly, didn't give players much choice but to put off their hard court seasons just a little bit, but hopefully their experiences this week will serve as a good launching pad for the summer events. With the U.S. Open just over a month away, the competition is only going to heat up from here, and they'll need to keep the momentum they've garnered this week without wearing themselves out.

After all, at this stage in the year, the last thing they want is to find themselves stuck at an age they won't be able to grow out of.

Comfort in the Familiar

We know this is the time of year when, really, anything can happen -- upsets on the clay are almost so commonplace now that we barely bat an eye. That's why it's almost reassuring that, after this weekend's action on the dirt, we're left with two long-time champions showing us all who's boss.

Defending Stuttgart champion Maria Sharapova has been having quite the year -- already a winner in Indian Wells, she's solidly back in the #2 spot and has been upping her game against the sport's best. She was rewarded with no easy road this week in Germany, where just one seed was ranked outside the top ten -- she lost a set to Lucie Safarova to start and was forced to a third by Ana Ivanovic a round later. She was further tested by a recently-rebounding Angelique Kerber in the semis, who seems to have found her game again after a weak start to the year.

Meanwhile 2011 French Open champ Na Li was making her own statement on the bottom half of the draw. An ankle injury had kept her largely out of play since reaching the final of the Australian Open, but clearly comfortable on the clay, she was able to step right back into action, albeit against some lower-profile players. She routed qualifier Mirjana Lucic and ended an impressive streak by American veteran Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Her only real test early was against fifth seed Petra Kvitova, but she scored that win and reached the final without losing a set.

But Li was no match for Sharapova in Sunday's final. Though the two have a pretty close history -- the Chinese star last denied Maria a chance for a rematch of last year's Melbourne final -- the Russian was able to get the upper hand this time. She got three-quarters of her first serves in, and only dropped eight of those points. She only allowed Li two break chances, and converted four of nine herself. On a surface which the six-foot-two, lithe champion has famously said makes her feel like a cow on ice, Sharapova needed just over ninety minutes to take the title, reminding us just how much her game has evolved.


Rafael Nadal has more than proven himself on this surface, of course, but the seven-time champion in Barcelona was coming off a week which could have been a sea change in this sport. But after a one-sided loss at the tournament which he has reigned for the better part of a decade, the Spaniard hit the ground running in his homeland -- he progressed easily through early rounds and even dismissed his biggest potential test, big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, in straight sets in the semis. The win earned Rafa entrée into his sixth final of his injury-shortened year -- with three titles already, he's yet to lose before the championship round in 2013.

Fellow clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro -- a disappointing 0-10 against his compatriot -- hoped to capitalize on what's seemed to be the slightly tarnished armor of Nadal, though. He'd been solid during his Spain campaign, besting a resurgent Juan Monaco in the quarters and benefiting from the hole left by top-seeded David Ferrer's ouster in the top half of the draw. It was, somewhat surprisingly, Nico's first trip to the Barcelona final -- in nine previous attempts, he'd only made the semis twice -- but possibly his best chance to score that elusive first win against his long-time rival.

But eventually experience won out -- Nadal may not have had the strongest service performance of his career -- he was broken twice -- but he pounced on his country's third best player the way he had on current Spanish #1 David Ferrer just a few weeks back. Winning seventy percent of his first serve points and more than half of Almagro's second attempts, he closed out the match in a much different hour-plus of action than what he'd endured a week before. With his eighth crown at Banc Sabadell Open, Rafa might have erased some pain from the Monte Carlo loss, but more importantly, he might have put himself back on course to close out the season.

We can't ignore the fact that both this week's repeat champions also went on to win at Roland Garros last year. That's not to say, of course, they've locked in victory just yet, but their performances last week could have set the stage for bigger wins to come.

And as they restore some semblance of normalcy during this often tumultuous time, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the play's only getting better from here.

Putting Up a Fight

The calendar sure seems pretty full for the week after a Grand Slam -- six Tour level events were scheduled from Croatia to Rhode Island, Sweden to California, with some top-notch players contesting the titles. It makes some sense -- athletes, especially those who were ousted early at the All England Club, are eager to prep for the upcoming Olympics. But these tournaments might hold even more opportunity for the players who haven't quite reached Summer Game status yet, and so far they're more than holding their own against the big guns.

The top two seeds in Umag will represent their countries later this month in London, as will players like rising Argentine star Carlos Berlocq and unseeded Fabio Fognini. But the one to watch here might be American Wayne Odesnik. The twenty-six year old hadn't won a Tour-level match since pleading guilty to bringing steroids to Australia in 2010, but despite having earned the rancor of fans, players and pundits alike, he's turned that around this week. He pulled off an impressive win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin in his first round and yesterday earned a quarterfinal berth against world #15 Marin Cilic. He hasn't beaten a player ranked that high ever in his career, but if he wants to put the ugly stories of his past behind him, this would be a good way to do it.

Two Spanish heavy-hitters -- one fresh off a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon -- lead the field in Bastad before they make their way back to the All England Club, but it's one of their countrymen making a statement on the red clay of Sweden. Ten-time titleist Tommy Robredo hasn't won a lot on Tour since a leg injury forced him to retire last year in Monte Carlo. But after winning two challenger events in June it looks like his comeback is well on track. A wildcard this week, he opened by ousting eighth seeded Adrian Ungur and fired off seven aces against Brazil's Joao Souza on Wednesday. He'll have his work cut out for him against David Ferrer next, but he has beaten him on this surface before. And since it's become clear that 30 is the new 20 these days, there's no reason to believe he's too big an underdog this time around.

There are Olympians all over the draw in Stuttgart Germany, and while some have advanced easily -- Janko Tipsarevic, Juan Monaco -- others have stumbled. Bernard Tomic, who dropped seventeen ranking spots after failing to defend Wimbledon points, lost again today to unseeded Thomaz Bellucci. Meanwhile Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the twelfth-ranked Spanish player at #87 in the world, seems to be in decent shape in Germany. He survived a tight second round against compatriot and doubles partner Pablo Andujar Wednesday, and with a quarterfinal set against wildcard Dustin Brown next, he might be in a good position to make an even deeper run

On the other side of the pond in Newport -- ironically the only grass court event between Wimbledon and the Summer Games -- a couple first-time Olympic athletes are testing the waters. John Isner and Ryan Harrison have both lived up to their rankings so far, though Milos Raonic's two-set loss earlier today didn't bode too well for our neighbors to the north. But 2009 champion Rajeev Ram, ranked out of the top hundred and well out of eligibility range, has been playing solid ball again. Having not dropped a set yet, he might be able to put up a fight this afternoon against Kei Nishikori who, despite a top-twenty ranking, has still not put together a winning record on grass.

The ladies are just as busy this week. In Palermo hometown favorites Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci are getting in a few extra hits on clay before going back to the lawns of London, and Julia Goerges, representing her country for the first time at the Games have all done well in early matches. But it might also be worth watching Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, kept off the Czech team thanks to a slate full of singles and doubles champs. She's struggled in her matches so far in Italy, eking out a win after nearly three hours against Silvia Soler-Espinosa and today coming back from a set down against world #140 Julia Cohen. She's only won one title by herself -- last year in Quebec -- but if she can rally from here, it might bode well for her the rest of the week.

The stakes are even higher on the hardcourts of Stanford where perennial powerhouses Serena Williams and 2009 champ Marion Bartoli headline a pretty stacked field. But in a bracket rife with American qualifiers and wildcards, it might finally be young Coco Vandeweghe's time to shine. The 2008 girls' champion at the U.S. Open hasn't lived up to expectations on the main Tour yet, but after defeating former #1 Jelena Jankovic that looks to be changing. She'll meet the winner of this afternoon's Marina Erakovic/Urzsula Radwanska match for a spot in the semis, and if she plays to potential she could finally see her star set on a steady rise.

There's no telling whether this week's early standouts will keep their luck up through the weekend and it'll be tough for any, much less all, of them to ultimately hoist the trophies at the end of the day. But it's a great opportunity to put up some big performances against the big names in the sport. And if they win as some already have, it could put the rest of their years on a wholly different track.

Show 'Em Who's Boss

It's been a tricky road for the some of the sport's biggest stars so far this year. While headlines were grabbed by new #1s, comeback stories, and some rising powerhouses, a few other champions have been laying low, at least until recently. But this week, despite some big challenges, they really found a way to shine.

Clay court king Rafael Nadal had been relatively quiet over the last eleven months or so. After ceding the top ranking to Novak Djokovic in July, he'd made a handful of finals but couldn't seem to break through. He returned to the spotlight last Sunday, though, with a record-setting win in Monte Carlo and got right back to work in Barcelona, another event he hasn't lost at since 2003.

It wasn't a walk in the park however. Despite sailing through early rounds without dropping a set, he found himself down an early break in the final against compatriot David Ferrer on Sunday. Though he was able to even the score, he struggled on serve in the opener and faced several set points late in the first. But the six-time champion at the Open Banc Sabadell wouldn't lie down -- he fought off every one of them and eventually dominated the tiebreak. It wasn't over, though -- he gave up a break lead in the second set and even allowed his opponent a chance to serve for a third. But Nadal rattled off three straight games to close out the match, winning his seventh title in Barcelona and keeping himself unbeaten in April for eight years.

Maria Sharapova was going through a similar drought. Though she'd climbed back to her highest ranking since 2008, she wasn't putting up her best performances when a trophy was on the line -- she'd played in three finals already this year and hadn't won a set. But she was out to turn the tables this week in Stuttgart.

She looked solid from the start, coming back from a set down in her quarterfinal and saving match point against Sam Stosur, the woman who'd ended a nine-match losing streak to the Russian last year in Istanbul. She then re-avenged her Wimbledon loss to Petra Kvitova in the semis, earning the right to face world #1 Victoria Azarenka in their third final of 2012. Like at the Australian Open Sharapova came out firing, earning the early break, but unlike the Australian Open, she never gave it up. Vika was only allowed one break chance during the match, and though she was able to keep things close in the first half of the second set, some glorious serving and precise net play gave the three-time Major winner her first title of the year.

It seems experience was the ultimate champion on Sunday -- despite some rough-ish starts to the year, both of this week's champions were able to harness the power and strengths that brought them glory in the first place. Whether they can keep it up the rest of the season remains to be seen, but a few more wins like this and the course of the year could be very different from what it seems right now.

An End to the Dry Spell

We're just about ready to make the full shift to the summer hardcourt season, and as the dust from the soon-to-be abandoned clay settles, a couple players brushed the cobwebs off themselves as they made the return to the winner's circle this weekend.

Two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling has been a little quiet on Tour since the early part of the year, when he captured three titles in four events. And though he was the top seed in Bastad, he had a tough road with players like Potito Starace and Tomas Berdych in his path. Still he was able to advance to the final without dropping a set and made surprisingly quick work of David Ferrer in Sunday's championship. Only dropping three points on his first serve and limiting his opponent to less than thirty percent on the return, he was able to lift the trophy in his homeland for the second time and claim his first title since February -- not exactly a drought, but a bit of a relief given how absent he was from the winner's podium during his best part of the year.

Anabel Medina Garrigues had been mired in a slightly longer dry spell, losing a slew of first round matches over the last eighteen months, but she finally won her first title in almost two years this past April in Estoril. She's climbed her way back into the top forty since then and earned the fifth seed in Palermo, where she avenged a semifinal loss to Irina-Camelia Begu in the third round. With many of the higher-ranked players eliminated for her, she marched to the final without much drama and summarily ended Bastad champion Polona Hercog's nine-match win streak in about eighty minutes. The victory -- her fifth in Palermo -- made Anabel the winning-est clay court player still active on Tour, surpassing Venus Williams with her tenth title on the dirt. Not a bad way to remind us all she's still a force to be reckoned with.

The same can be said for the action in Stuttgart last week, where uber-veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero was trying to make his latest career comeback. Since knee and wrist surgery late last year, he's only played a handful of matches in 2011, making a nice run in Barcelona, but skipping the Majors, and has seen his ranking fall back out of the top eighty. JCF is not a man to be ignored, however, and though he was unseeded in Germany, he handled his biggest challenge in world #17 Mikhail Youzhny and never looked back. Against quickly rising Pablo Andujar in the final, Ferrero took advantage of weak serving and seven double faults, blanking his countryman in the second set. It was his first crown since last July and, at thirty-one years of age, the latest announcement that the Spaniard is still relevant.

A little further east in Bad Gastein, the draw had been opened early, but it was really some seasoned talent that made its way through the week. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who reached a career high rank of #19 in the world after a title in Rome last year, had struggled to rebound from a knee injury and didn't progress past a second round this year until Wimbledon. In Austria she battled through a close first round against qualifier Paula Ormaechea, but saw largely smooth sailing after that. In Sunday's final against Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, she fired off nine aces and, though she missed a bunch of first serves herself, she broke her opponent six times in nine return games, securing her first championship in over a year.

As these ladies and gentlemen next move to U.S. Open prep, it's encouraging to see them each show they can still make an impact. Whether that translates into more titles this year is yet to be seen. But a return to the spotlight for each at least ensures that no one will take them lightly.

Time Warp

I've never understood the rationale, these few weeks after the end of Wimbledon, of taking players directly from the super-short grass court season, just weeks away from the hard court U.S. Open, and sticking them back on the red clay, a surface on which they won't be chasing any big titles again for another eight months.

It's a jarring shift for the athletes, I'd wager, but one which suits some significantly more than others -- and it's not necessarily the ones who'd been favored to win.

There were very few surprises in Palermo, Italy, where a struggling Flavia Pennetta took the top seed here. She'd only won a handful of matches since Dubai and fell in four straight openers during the spring. But she seems to have regained her footing in her hometown, reaching the quarters along with six other seeds. She'll next face Tsvetana Pironkova, another semi-elite player trying to rebuild her year -- and though the Bulgarian has more recent success, I feel Pennetta's prowess on the surface should help her through.

The only big surprise of the tournament so far has been the loss of red-hot (okay, maybe just pink-hot) Roberta Vinci. A three-time titleist already this year, the twenty-eight year old was sitting on a career-best ranking of #23 in the world. But in a rematch of last Sunday's final in Budapest -- which she won -- Vinci didn't have many answers to rising star Irina-Camelia Begu this time, getting less than half her first serves in and only making a slight dent in her return games. Begu's recently beaten her next opponent, too, but Anabel Medina Garrigues could easily avenge that loss and further make the case for the veterans in Italy.

The seeds have had similar luck in Sweden where two-time French Open runner-up Robin Soderling looks to reverse some of his recent luck. After kicking off the year winning three trophies in four tournaments, he lost in the quarters at Roland Garros and was summarily upset in the third round of Wimbledon. He only lost one game in his opener in Bastad, and didn't allow Potito Starace a break chance in the quarters. From here it'll be difficult for someone else to wrest the crown in his homeland from the world #5.

But that's not to say it can't be done. David Ferrer is coming off a solid Davis Cup showing last week, and had one of his best clay court seasons this year. And Nicolas Almagro, a winner of three titles on dirt himself in 2011, should have a fairly easy road until at least the semis. And with so much talent left in the field, we should see at the very least some high-quality matches the next few days.

Things have been a little more surprising elsewhere this week. In Bad Gastein only one seed made it out of the first round -- defending champion Julia Goerges and top-thirty player Jarmila Gajdosova, among others all lost their openers, leaving world #61 Ksenia Pervak as the on-paper favorite. The twenty-year-old has won a couple ITF titles and has wins over Goerges and Andrea Petkovic already this year. But though her future road is less bumpy thanks to her colleagues' losses, some with more experience may win out in the end.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez has been climbing her way back from injury after a stellar start to 2010. Last year's champion in Rome, MJM hasn't won more than two matches at one event all year, but as a former top-twenty player, she's probably the most accomplished of the field. And Carla Suarez Navarro, who lost most of last season with an ankle injury, has been marking time this year at ITF events. She still hasn't won a Tour title, but with wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams on her record, she certainly has the ability to make her mark.

It was just as hard a road for the favorites in Stuttgart. Mikhail Youzhny and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez both won their first round matches, but that was as far as either made it. In their place qualifier Federico Del Bonis and wildcard Cedrik-Marcel Stebe have emerged as the big spoilers. But here, again, it might be the journeymen who are standing at the end of the day.

Juan Carlos Ferrero, making his umpteenth career comeback, took out Youzhny on Thursday and has fought back from breaks down against Marcel Granollers to get the win in his quarterfinal. And twenty-nine year old Lukasz Kubot, who caused upsets this year at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, seems to be putting out his best career performances these days. With a battle against Santiago Giraldo for a spot in the semis, he has a more-than-likely shot at getting the win.

The return to clay has proven something of a comfort for these players as they get back to their winning ways. Hopefully it won't be too tough a transition when they begin their U.S. Open prep in earnest, but with the wins they've accumulated, they should at least bring the confidence they need when they come back to the present.

The Breakout and the Breakthrough

The ladies were out to impress as they took to the red clay courts of the tournaments held this week. A slew of top ten players and former #1s were in action as play really started heating up ahead of the second Grand Slam of the year, just four weeks away.

In Morocco the upsets started early and only one of the top four seeds made it safely out of the second round. One-time French Open runner-up Dinara Safina staged a valiant effort to make the semis -- her first since Cincinnati in 2009 -- but an unfortunate bout of food poisoning ended her run early, allowing world #94 into the finals -- her first since Guangzhou that same year. There she met rising star, nineteen-year-old Simona Halep, herself a finalist here last year. The two had met only once before, with the youngster trouncing the thirty-one year old veteran while qualifying for Montreal about nine months ago.

But it was a different story this time around. The unseeded Brianti, who hasn't been able to break into the top fifty in her eleven-plus years on the circuit, took control of the match early, running off to a 5-2 start before rain delayed play. She withstood a comeback by the seventh-seeded Halep and broke her opponent again to take the first set. Though they traded breaks in the second set, the Italian was able to remain ever so slightly stronger and eventually finished off the match in just an hour of play. It was her first career Tour title, and after nine ITF trophies, it couldn't have come at a better time. It might be too late to really put herself on the map at Roland Garros, but more than a few stars may find themselves on the wrong side of a Brianti upset in the coming weeks.

The elite in Stuttgart were served notice as well. With seven of the top eight women in the world coming out for the Premier event in Germany, there was plenty of talent on the court. But again the seeds fell early -- defending French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic and Melbourne finalist Na Li all lost their second matches. World #1 Caroline Wozniacki was able to advance, but in the championship match she faced unseeded Julia Goerges, who'd beaten a tough Sam Stosur in the semis.

The twenty-one year old German has been causing players fits all year, taking a set from Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open and beating Shahar Peer en route to the Charleston quarters. She then pounded Melanie Oudin last weekend at the Fed Cup playoffs, confirming just how strong a force she is. But she was even more impressive this week in her home country -- though she was down a set to Victoria Azarenka in the second round before her opponent retired, she regrouped on her way to the final. Against the top seed on Sunday she held her ground, didn't drop serve once during the match and found angles on the court that frustrated the usually calm and collected Caroline. Goerges won the first set in a tiebreak and worked to a 3-0 lead in the second, then never looked back. At the end of the day she was holding the trophy, easily the biggest of her career -- so far.

It's always encouraging to get that first big trophy -- whether it comes at the end of a career or sets the stage for many more to come. Both of these ladies have certainly put themselves on everyone's radar, and something tells me we haven't seen the last of either.

Back From the Dead

If you were thinking of giving up on the couple of players who've struggled to gain their footing post-injury, you might have to put your short bets on hold, at least a little while longer. Some have been back weeks or months, while others are setting foot on court for the first time in ages. But all are pulling off victories on clay that should get fans to take notice again.

Former world #1 Dinara Safina has been staging her comeback in fits and starts for a while now, and though she made a nice run to the fourth round in Indian Wells, it's been a long time since we've seen signs of the woman who made three Grand Slam finals in 2008 and '09. She's unseeded this week in Fes, but the Russian has managed to climb back into the top hundred over the course of the year. And given her drubbing of veteran Jill Craybas in the first round Tuesday -- she only dropped nine points on her own serve -- she might be climbing even further in the weeks to come. Next up she'll face Alize Cornet, another player who's fallen from elite status and one Safina has beaten in both their previous meetings. She should have plenty of confidence going into the match, and a win may set the stage for a much more successful clay court season.

Over in Stuttgart another player is trying to re-establish herself on Tour. Sabine Lisicki, who had risen into the top twenty-five less than two years ago, missed a big chunk of 2010 after an ankle injury she sustained at the BNP Paribas Open. She returned to the circuit in Cincinnati with minimal success, but finally started putting together back-to-back wins earlier this season, qualifying for Auckland and making the third round in Miami. This week in Germany, fresh off an impressive Fed Cup win over Christina McHale in the World Group Playoffs, she opened with a stunning win over feisty Dominika Cibulkova and followed it up with a straight set defeat of Australian Open finalist Na Li. It will get more difficult, of course, as a quarterfinal date with countrywoman Julia Goerges looms large on Thursday, but Lisicki is playing impressively again, and could make a legitimate run for this title.

On the men's side we've seen top-three player Nikolay Davydenko suffer all sorts of pain since a wrist injury reversed all the success he had in 2009. He made the finals in Doha this year, but still wasn't quite playing at his best and hasn't advanced past the second round of any tournament. He seems to have gotten back on track in Barcelona though -- after upsetting rising star Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round, he survived a second set surge by Edouard Roger-Vasselin earlier today and has now made the quarterfinals, only his second of the year. He'll have a tough task against Nicolas Almagro, a man who could break the top ten with a win on Thursday, but the two familiar faces haven't played each other in almost four years, so Davydenko could take him by surprise.

Possibly even more impressive this week has been the run of uber-veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero, a one-time Roland Garros champion and former #1 who's launched so many comebacks that I've lost track. The Spaniard had been beyond lethal in the first half of last year, winning three clay court titles and clawing his way back into the top twenty before problems with his wrist and knee took him out of contention in August. Playing his first match since the U.S. Open in Barcelona this week, he quickly dismissed Xavier Malisse and then took care of Mischa Zverev on Wednesday. With a third round meeting against qualifier Simone Vagnozzi, you have to like JCF's chances to go further, and that may reiterate just how much he can still threaten through the spring.

Of course we can't expect all comebacks to proceed without a hitch, but the efforts all these guys and gals are putting forth sure gives me hope that they've caught their second -- and sometimes third -- wind. With a couple more victories under their belts they could not only put up a fight at their respective tournaments this week, but they might be able to change the course of the clay court season in their favor.

After all if we've learned anything it's that nothing is impossible this time of year.

A Weekend of Surprises

Four finals were contested today in Europe, and all four yielded some unlikely champion. It started in Prague, where both top seeds withdrew early due to injury -- Lucie Safarova with a hamstring pain and Alexandra Dulgheru with a knee problems. Two more early drop-outs by Klara Zakopalova and Gisela Dulko further thinned the draws out -- all those walkovers certainly opened the field for some lesser-known players to advance. But ultimately, Budapest champ Agnes Szavay fought her way to her second straight final against eight-time ITF titleist Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. It wasn't quite as cut-and-dry as you might expect. The Czech didn't seem to have stage-fright in her first Tour final and rebounded nicely to take the second set from Szavay, 6-1. Neither were particularly aggressive on serve -- there were no aces and no double faults, and each won just about half of their first attempts. Finally, after about two hours of play, the more-experienced Agnes was able to pull out the win, her second title in a row, and extend her win streak to ten straight matches. The results in Palermo might have been a little more shocking. Top seed and defending champ Flavia Pennetta had been playing solid ball all week and hadn't dropped a set in her first four matches. Kaia Kanepi, who'd made the quarters at Wimbledon as a qualifier just a few weeks back, had been similarly impressive, taking out Sara Errani easily in the third round and the woman who'd ended Aravane Rezai's run after that. The one-time top twenty player had clawed herself out of triple digits and had a decent 2-3 record against the tough Italian, but Flavia had the crowd and momentum on her side. The match began as you might expect with Pennetta getting off to quick lead by breaking her opponent on her first service game, but Kanepi was able to square up and even the score. She took advantage of a weak serve, winning more than sixty percent of Flavia's first attempts, and stayed aggressive herself. Though both traded breaks throughout the match, Kanepi never again found herself at a deficit and after a strong week sealed off her first Tour championship with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the heavy favorite -- not a bad way to enter the hard court season. The surprises didn't stop on the men's side. A still-questionable Nikolay Davydenko headlined the men's draw in Stuttgart, but lost early after putting up a fight against Daniel Gimeno-Traver. And Roland Garros semifinalist Jurgen Melzer was just overpowered in the third round by eventual finalist Albert Montanes. I have to admit I was a bit surprised that the Spaniard met Gael Monfils for the title -- the Frenchman has been ranked within the top ten, but even in spite of his valiant performance at Davis Cup last weekend, I don't give him a lot of credit. I was impressed, though, when he fought his way though consecutive three-setters to make the championship match. But ultimately, my doubts about his fitness proved correct as the third seed folded to Montanes after losing the first set -- an ankle injury forced Monfils to retire after less than an hour of play. It was certainly a nice way to avenge Spain's drubbing in Paris at the hands of the French last week. The Spanish victory parade continued a little further north in Sweden where Nicolas Almagro took on world #5 Robin Soderling in Bastad. The man with home field advantage had been battling from behind all week and had played a couple three-setters himself. Almagro, though ranked a few spots below the two-time French Open finalist has been solid all spring, making the semis in Madrid and the semis in Paris. He had a bit of a brain-freeze against qualifier Franco Skugor in the third round, losing the first set, but was otherwise clean on his way to his eighth career final. Even though Almagro had won two of the pair's previous meetings on clay, I thought the more consistent Soderling was easily the favorite for this match. And though the Spaniard ran off with a lead by breaking his opponent late in the first set, when Robin tied up the score in the second -- winning all of his first serves -- I assume he'd take that momentum with him to the crown. But Nicolas wasn't intimidated by the defending champ. After staying on serve early in the third, Almagro won four straight games to take the match and his sixth career title. With this weekend's wins, two champions were upended and one brand new champion was crowned. And it certainly looks like momentum is shifting a bit -- I look forward to seeing more of not only the winners in the coming weeks, but also some of the new faces that are just beginning to make an impact on the Tour. And, as we've seen this year, even heavy favorites can be beaten once in a while!