Federer to face Nadal in Monte Carlo finals

ATP's top-ranked player Roger Federer had a comfortable win (6-3 6-4) over former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semifinals of the Monte Carlo ATP Masters Series. Federer will attempt to grab the title from defending champion Rafael Nadal who managed to overcome Tomas Berdych 6-0 7-5 in the other semifinals. Just as in earlier rounds in the tournament, Federer had some sort of a slow start and had to come from a break down to take the first set. From then on, it was pretty much a routine win for the number one seed.

Nothing surprising I suppose about a Federer vs. Nadal final at Monte Carlo this year since both are, after all, the top two seeds in the tournament. Besides this was something everybody had been looking forward to ever since a Federer vs. Nadal final failed to materialize in the Australian Open and in both the Indian Wells and Miami AMS tournaments.

Naturally, as a Federer fan, I will be rooting for Federer to win. However, since he is supposed to be the king of clay, Nadal should be able to defend his title for a second time and I would consider it an upset if Federer won instead. Nadal seems to be playing with a lot of confidence these days now that he's back playing on his favorite surface. By comparison, Federer appears to be struggling a bit more with his game, always having to recover from a slow start each time. Federer will also need to keep his unforced errors (26 in this match) in check in order to have a real chance at beating Nadal who seems to have kept his unforced errors at a minimum so far in the tournament.

Federer vs. Ferrer highlights and interview

Sigh. I must have been too tired from yesterday to wake up for today's 4am delayed telecast of Federer/Ferrer quarterfinal match at Monte Carlo. Good thing somebody's posted about four minutes worth of highlights of the match on YouTube. Still, there's nothing like watching the entire match. And besides, it's hard to spot the ball in the tiny video and especially against the red clay; it's difficult even when viewing the video full screen since the video quality just isn't good enough.

Anyway, there's also the post-match interview Federer gave where he recalls his very first ATP career match win and corresponding earnings (geesh, what a memory). He seems at least satisfied with this 500th win--which also brings his career earnings above US$30 million--although he didn't look exactly that ecstatic at matchpoint on the video.

A resurgent Juan Carlos Ferrero, who came back from behind to defeat Richard Gasquet 5-7 7-5 6-2, will be the next player to attempt to prevent Federer from reaching the Monte Carlo finals for the second straight time. The other semifinals match pits defending champion Rafael Nadal against nemesis Tomas Berdych. Since Nadal has lost to Berdych in all three meetings they have had so far--all on hard court though--this is certainly an interesting and exciting match-up.

Federer flattens Ferrer for 500th victory

Okay, just as I predicted Roger Federer won his quarterfinal match against David Ferrer at the Monte Carlo AMS pretty handily. It took less than an hour, in fact, and had a fantastic final score of 6-4 6-0. (Federer's Bagel and Breadstick Bakery is in business again! Hooray!) Since ESPN Star Sports here didn't have live coverage of the match, I had to resort to the next best thing: live scores online. (Nope, I can't afford to pay to watch the match on ATP Masters Series tv.) So right now I can only speculate on how well Roger played based on how the scores progressed and the live comments posted on the Eurosport website. Anyway, I hope to get up early tomorrow morning to watch the delayed telecast of the match which starts at 4am.

Federer into quarterfinals at Monte Carlo

The Federer Express quickly dispatched Korean Hyung-Taik Lee in a 104-minute 6-4 6-3 victory in the third round at the Monte Carlo ATP Masters Series.

As is usual for Federer in the early rounds of a tournament, he struggled a bit in the beginning, losing his serve once to Lee. (I was terribly nervous watching those first few opening games!) But Federer managed to break Lee's serve for a second time in the 10th game to clinch the first set. From then on, he seemed to have found his rhythm and gained more confidence in his shots as his first serve percentage improved and he conceded a total of only eight points on his serve.

Federer might face more of a challenge in his next opponent, the twelfth seed Spaniard David Ferrer, who upset Miami AMS title holder and sixth seed Novak Djokovic. The two actually also clashed in the quarterfinals last year in Monte Carlo; Federer won that match 6-1 6-3. Hence, this time around I'm quite confident he'll give Ferrer--and the other players--good reason to fear the King of Grass on clay as well.

Federer on Men's Vogue

Whoa! Roger Federer's on the cover of the May/June 2007 issue of Men's Vogue magazine.

There's a nice lengthy revealing article inside as a result of the author's interview with Federer in Dubai where Federer has established a second home and base. Among many other things, Federer talks about meeting tennis legend Bjorn Borg, his friendship with Tiger Woods (the same issue also contains an article devoted to him), his rivalry with ATP's number two player Rafael Nadal, and how longtime girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec has helped make him the person and player that he is today (such a lucky guy, such a lucky girl!).

This is complemented by a slideshow of awesome photos of a dashing and impeccably-dressed Federer taken at different locations around Dubai. (Move over Maria! Roger is one hot model!)

Federer leads protests against proposed ATP reforms

ATP's top-ranked player, Roger Federer was among several other top players (and other critics) who have deplored the ATP's plans to implement a new calendar starting 2009. In particular, they were unhappy that the decisions--like the downgrade of the current AMS event at Monaco--were reached with little consultation with the players:

I mean, issues like here in Monaco, with the 2009 calendar, and then obviously also things with the ITF, the weeks of Davis Cup. They don't seem to understand that we have a say, so we would like to address this issue through the media for a change.

Apparently the players have made efforts to communicate their concerns to the ATP but felt they were ignored:

The ATP is moving really fast at the moment. (The players), we've had a letter signed several times about the ATP and the ITF about certain issues. ... The players' meeting in Miami was a big disappointment for all of us. ... We had many issues on the table and we couldn't really discuss them at all, and decisions are being taken very soon for 2009, and we would just like to have a little say as well.

Other players like Rafael Nadal and ATP Player Board chair, Ivan Ljubicic, hope that the situation will not come to a point where the players will hold a strike. [Heaven forbid! I don't think I'll survive a season without seeing my favorite players play tennis.] Ljubicic has been quoted as saying:

We don't want it to come to a situation where we say we don't want to play. ... We don't have time to lose. People who will be putting on tournaments in 2009 still don't know what kind of a tournament they will have. It could soon be too late (for player input).

There have long been calls to reschedule tournaments and shorten the ATP calendar to give the players more rest between tournaments and seasons. Also in the wake of the fuss made over Nadal's withdrawal from the just-concluded Davis Cup quarterfinals allegedly due to injury, both current and past players as well as ATP officials have suggested that the scheduling of Davis Cup be coordinated with the ATP calendar to encourage more top players to participate. While this latest proposal by the ATP is a move toward these goals, many agree that the men's tennis sanctioning body is rushing things a bit too much especially especially in light of the recent round-robin fiasco.

Rusty Federer wins first match on clay

Roger Federer has just edged Andreas Seppi via two tie-breaks to reach the third round at the Monte Carlo ATP Masters Series in Monaco. This is Federer's first match on clay this season so it's understandable that he's struggling at the moment to find his rhythm. Besides, Seppi has had more match time in the tournament having gone through the qualifying round while Federer, the number one seed here (what else?) had a bye in the first round.

Federer to give rivals a good licking

Ever since his early exit from the Miami ATP Masters Series, Federer has apparently been deep in preparation for the European clay season which begins with the Monte Carlo AMS. His part-time coach, Tony Roche, will be joining him there and will in fact be staying on to mentor him until the French Open, the one Grand Slam that Federer has not won. But that will mean that Roche won't be around to coach him through this year's Wimbledon. Nevertheless, Federer is happy with his preparations and has even sent out a warning to his rivals.

It seems Federer is really bent on grabbing a few clay titles from his closest rival, Raphael Nadal, to whom he lost the Monte Carlo and Rome AMS finals. Besides, there's the Hamburg AMS title to get back too. Personally, I don't blame him considering that he has yet to win a Masters Series shield this year; he must be hungry for one. The long break he got due to his early round loss at Miami can work both ways though. While it did give him lots more time to prepare I'm just a little apprehensive about his lack of match time which was the case when he lost the 2005 Masters Cup to David Nalbandian. But I suppose he really didn't get to practice much at that time in the first place because he was injured.

And many also have been implying that not having Roche around during Wimbledon will be a disadvantage. But I don't think that's true. I suppose Federer--and Roche for that matter--is very confident about his chances of winning a fifth straight Wimbledon crown. The tournament is after all played on his favorite surface, grass.

So here's hoping for a great clay season for Federer, the next king of clay and the reigning king of grass!

Federer to get a good licking

That is, as a one-franc postage stamp issued by the Swiss post, the first time a living person is depicted on a Swiss postage stamp. Hey, that's yet another first for our record-breaking champ! The stamp, bearing a photo of the Roger Federer holding up the Wimbledon winner's trophy when he won title for the fourth straight year--very appropriate, considering how the Swiss tennis superstar highly regards the prestigious Grand Slam event--was unveiled in Basel with Roger, accompanied by his proud parents and girlfriend, in attendance:

It's a great honour for me; I compare it to winning a Grand Slam such as Wimbledon. It's a big moment in my life.

Since Switzerland traditionally puts historical figures only on its stamps, the head of Swiss post, Ulrich Gygi, explained how they made an exception for Federer:

Up to now you had to do something big and then die before appearing on a stamp; we made an exception as Roger is truly exceptional. ... His personality, his charisma, his modesty and his influence are worth taking some liberties with customs going back to the 19th century. ... If you can come up with any Swiss personality who can equal Roger Federer's prestige, in any domain, I'm ready to follow you.

The brand new stamp can be purchased at all Swiss post offices, philatelic salepoints and online.

Now, this is one item--make that a dozen of these--that is definitely going onto my wish list along with the Feder-bear!

Fernando Gonzalez bitten by dog

This isn't exactly breaking news nor does it have anything to do with Federer but I couldn't resist putting this bit in since I'm a sucker for animals myself:

Fernando Gonzalez, Federer's opponent (okay, so there's the Federer connection after all) in this year's Australian Open finals, stopped to help a dog, which had apparently been struck down by a car, and paid the price: he got bitten in the little finger by the little mutt. Of course, he had to be given the "necessary shots" for the dog bite after bringing the injured dog to a vet clinic.

The fifth-ranked player does have a soft spot for animals; that Gisela Dulko is one lucky girl.

Laureus Sportsman of the Year hat-trick

Tennis' number one player, Roger Federer, has set yet another record: he has now become the first athlete to win three Laureus sports awards by winning the Sportsman of the Year award for the third straight year! This latest accolade is in recognition of another successful tennis season last year when he won another three grand slams, four Masters Series titles and the season-ending Masters Cup.

I'm so glad that the sports world has continued to acknowledge Roger's achievements on the court and his dominance in the world of tennis.

Federer though must have been busy with preparations for the clay season since he was not on hand to receive the award personally. Instead German tennis great Boris Becker--who said the prophetic words about Federer way back in July 2003, "We have seen the future--it arrived today,"--accepted the award on Federer's behalf and Roger's acceptance speech was projected on the giant screen during the awards ceremony.

Another round of congratulations to the great Roger Federer!

Federer's successor?

After his triumph at the Miami ATP Masters Series to become the tournament's youngest title holder, there was already talk that 19-year-old Novak Djokovic will be Roger Federer's successor.

It's only natural I suppose given the young Serb's all-around game--very reminiscent of a young Federer as they say--which was showcased in yesterday's final against Guillermo Cañas. I must admit that I was quite impressed by how he effectively varied his shots to outfox Cañas and remained mentally tough at crucial points. I gaped especially at that crosscourt forehand hit very softly in the midst of a crisis when he brought to many deuces while serving at 3-2 in the second set. Djokovic did say that he models his game after Federer's and it was quite obvious yesterday. (It was amusing too to hear him say a Federer-like "Well done" in congratulations to Cañas during his speech after receiving the trophy just.)

Now, that's a sign of the good Federer is doing for tennis and how he has inspired young players to not just rely on power in their games. We should be grateful to Federer for that and Federer himself should be pleased that Djokovic (and Murray) have followed suit. Of course as a Federer fan, I hope that Djokovic will ascend the throne only after Federer puts down his racket and retires from tennis.

By the way, I find quite interesting the near-identical poses of Federer (during last year's Rogers Cup in Toronto) and Djokovic (at this year's Sony Ericsson Open in Miami) in the following pair of photos:

Federer's consistency

The great Roger Federer has often been praised for his amazing repertoire of shots, his quickness and uncanny anticipation on court, his court sense and his superb balance. These are certainly key to his incredible performances on court in the past three years or so. But I think the one thing he possesses and which has been underrated but is mind boggling nevertheless is his consistency. How else can you explain just 17 losses since the 2004 season? Sure, a player can possess this great forehand or that exquisite backhand out there but to put it all together to produce winners and win matches and titles time and time again is something not everyone can do. As one-time Australian No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt said after being served two bagels by Federer in the US Open back in 2004, "It's an incredible effort what he's done the whole year with the depth in men's tennis these days. I don't think people realise how hard it is to win three major titles in a year." Even the modest Federer has admitted that he amazes himself how he can go through tournaments and keep backing up each title with still another one--usually accompanied by a new record to boot.

For comparison, just take a look at the players who have at one time been tagged as Federer's rivals.

First there was Andy Roddick who held the number two spot behind Roger in 2004 until mid 2005. There was a lot of talk then about their "rivalry" but as Roddick rightly said so in Wimbledon 2004, he had yet to win some of their matches to truly make it a rivalry. Then his game began to falter in 2005 and he has been struggling since. He may have found his footing once again after hiring Jimmy Connors to be his coach but that embarrassment of a match against Federer in the Australian Open semifinals immediately squashed all hopes of ever improving on his dismal record against The Mighty Federer.

And then there was the very talented Marat Safin who upset Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2005. After that victory, Marat was immediately identified to be the one who would challenge Federer for the rest of the season. But, surprise, surprise, that never materialised. Many have said that fiery Russian was just as gifted as--or perhaps even more gifted than--Federer but just lacked, well, consistency.

The player who eventually emerged to challenge Federer in 2005 was the teenage Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Only 18 years old at that time, he nearly upset the great Swiss in the Miami finals but beat him to the French Open crown later that year. That rivalry continued on to 2006 when Nadal wrestled the Dubai Open from Federer and beat him in three other occasions that year--all in clay court finals, including the one at the French Open which foiled Federer's hopes of a so-called Federer slam. Then to the great surprise of many, Nadal even reached the finals at Wimbledon in 2006. But a tenacious Federer stopped him there as well as in an exciting crucial match in the semifinals of the Masters Cup later that year. In fact, Nadal never won a title after his loss to Federer in the Wimbledon finals while Federer went on to grab the US Open title to end another year with three grand slam titles, four Masters Series shields and five other titles. Nadal's troubles didn't end there as he continued to struggle in this year's Australian Open and in Dubai. Although he took the Pacific Life Open title this year, he failed to follow it up with a title at Miami when he fell to young Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals there (his first time to lose to a younger player?).

It was a resurgent Fernando Gonzalez, who upset Nadal (and many other seeded players) on his way to the Australian Open finals. With his new coach, newly-found confidence and refurbished game, Gonzales actually met Federer in the finals in three previous occasions late in 2006. He, like everyone else who makes a surprising performance like that, was therefore expected to climb the rankings and be a threat at least to many players in the top 10. Surprisingly--or perhaps, not surprisingly, given that Federer won his 10th grand slam title at his expense--nobody seemed to dare predict that he would be a threat to Federer. Considering disappointing losses in Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami, he, like many other before him, did not live up to those expectations either.

And now we have Guillermo Cañas, just back from serving a 15-month-long suspension for failing a drug test in 2005, who upset Federer twice and in two successive tournaments no less. If he goes on to win the Miami ATP Masters Series title at Key Biscayne, shall we expect him to continue his amazing run? Already he has been tagged as Federer's new nemesis. (It would be interesting to see him and Nadal battle it out for that title.) Of course, his recent victories over unseeded players portend that Cañas may continue his run, but as in the case of so many others before him, I don't think it will last.

Maybe I should talk about Hewitt as well. But I'd attribute his recent poor form to his having new priorities in his life.

Allow me now to pause now and take stock here: I've accounted for five different rivals over just a three-year period. That's a different rival every over 30 weeks on the average! And all that time, King Roger the Great has been enthroned on the number one spot for 165 consecutive weeks. That reign includes three grand slams in 2004, just four losses and a record four Masters Series shields in 2005, and another three grand slams, four Masters Series shields and an amazing 92 match wins in 2006--and a host of records besides. And all that despite foot/ankle injuries in both 2004 and 2005.

Therefore I believe that those two losses to Cañas will just whet Federer's appetite. When has failing to win titles in successive tournaments ever prevented him from winning more titltes ever since he became No. 1 anyway? We can reasonably expect that he will henceforth be back with a vengeance for the rest of the year and in the years to follow. As we have seen in the past, many different players will continue to rise to threaten him but they will fall to the wayside in the long run. And Federer will always be there to win and set records, as he has always done.