Federer hires Higueras

World number one Roger Federer was seen practicing with Jose Higueras looking on before announcing during his pre-tournament press conference at Estoril, Portugal that he would be working with former ATP pro from Spain for at least the start of the clay season.

Higueras is well known for coaching Michael Chang and Jim Courier toward titles at Roland Garrosa and was hired at one time by 14-time grand slam champion Pete Sampras, among many others.

Given Higueras' impressive coaching resume, it looks like that the King of Tennis is serious about wrestling the Roland Garros crown and title of King of Clay this year from closest rival Rafael Nadal by hiring the well-respected clay-court specialist. Obviously, doing so would allow the Swiss to complete a career grand slam, something which Sampras failed to do.
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It's 2-15 for Roddick

Two-time Wimbledon runner-up and 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick finally finally finally finally finally stemmed a frustrating tide of 11 straight losses to improve his record against world number one Roger Federer to--drumroll please--2-15 with a hard fought three-set victory (7-6 3-6 6-3) at the ATP Masters Series tournament at Key Biscayne, Florida.

Most likely riding on the euphoria of his recent engagement to a swimsuit model from New York and spurred on by good friend Mardy Fish's recent upset of Federer in Indian Wells, the 6th ranked American managed to hold off the Swiss who came back after losing the first set in a tiebreak (4-7) to level at one set all with a break of serve in the ninth game of the second set.

There was no doubt however that Federer played much better in this match than in his mysterious loss to Fish. He hit 47 winners, including 8 aces, to Roddick's 36, half of which were actually aces. In other words, Federer played well while Roddick served well. After all, the American relies primarily on his serve to win matches.

This long awaited victory by Roddick puts him in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open against Russian Nikolay Davydenko and a possible confrontation with world number two Rafael Nadal in the finals.

Sadly, it also leaves Federer still without a title this year.
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Nadal pays it forward

It's always a pleasure to read about Roger Federer, this year's recipient of the ATP Stephan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, doing some good deed now and then. It was therefore no surprise that an act of kindness by Federer has inspired another to repeat the gesture to another fellow tennis player.

Preparing to leave Indian Wells for Miami for a pre-tournament photo-shoot, world tennis number two Rafael Nadal offered Ana Ivanovic, his female counterpart on the WTA rankings, and her entourage a ride on the private jet which organizers chartered for him. He had learned that Ivanovic had difficulty getting a plane ticket to Miami and had been relegated to the waiting list of a commercial flight. There were apparently still some spare seats on the chartered private jet so after making sure it was alright with the organizers the Spaniard invited Ivanovic. Recounting the story in his blog, Nadal wrote, "I remember Roger gave me a ride from Montreal to Cincy last summer and I know how it feels to be stuck in a place when you want/have to leave to play the next tournament."

This indeed nicely echoes what Federer did for Nadal late last year when the latter was in a similar situation: After competing at the ATP Masters Series Tournament in Montreal, the latter couldn't get a plane to arrive in time to prepare for the next ATP Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati. Federer then heard about Nadal's predicament and let Nadal hitch a ride on the private jet chartered for him.

One good turn really does deserve another although in this case the favor wasn't returned directly. But certainly Federer (as well as his fans) would recognize the compliment implied by Nadal's generosity toward Ivanovic.

Fish feat forms Federer-less final

Contrary to expectations that he will finally end his title drought of 2008 appropriately in an oasis in the desert, Roger Federer was defeated 6-3 6-2 in the semi-finals by Mardy Fish of the United States at the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells, California.

Fish is the first American that Federer has lost to since late in 2003. (Andy Roddick, who is 1-15 in his head-to-head with the Swiss, must be green with envy!)

The year's first Masters Series tournament started promisingly for the three-time champion with a straight-set victory in the second round over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, followed by an amazing 6-1 6-1 53-minute rout of Nicholas Mahut in the third round. By the time he mastered Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-4 in the fourth round, his winners punctuated with fist pumps and cries of "Com'n!", there was no doubt that the world number one was back to his best form. It was then that a clearly fired-up Federer got a surprise free ticket into the semifinals when Tommy Haas withdrew from their quarterfinal match due to a sinus infection. On hindsight, this might have cost Federer some much needed match practice.

After seeing the champion conjure magical shots in those previous matches, there was therefore something decidedly fishy about an out-of-sorts Federer in his third loss of the season. He was not as quick as usual and his game lacked its customary magic.

Could this be a sign that he is actually not yet fully recovered from mononucleosis? The disease is after all known to recur from time to time.

The unseeded Fish on the other hand displayed the kind of tennis that belied his number 89 ranking and, egged on by an eager home crowd, saw him previously swim past two-time champion Lleyton Hewitt and upset world numbers four and seven, Nicolay Davydenko and David Nalbancian, respectively.

Fish's opponent in the finals on Sunday is Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic who had upset world number two Rafael Nadal in the other semifinals. (Had Fish entered the tournament on a wildcard, that finals would have been an interesting wildcard vs. Djoker match-up. Haha.)

As for Federer, it remains to be seen if he will recover from this string of losses and finally triumph to raise a trophy this year.

In the meantime, we Federer fans will continue to thirst for such an event and have no choice but to wait patiently while our champion regroups for the rest of the season starting with upcoming Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida.
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Going for a fourth title at Indian Wells

Today Roger Federer begins another campaign for his first trophy of the year at the season's very first ATP Masters Series tournament at Indian Wells, California.

After battling mononucleosis and consequently failing to defend his titles at the Australian Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships, the current world number one hopes to extend his lead over world number two, Rafael Nadal, who is the defending champion at the Pacific Life Open.

The Spaniard is currently just 350 points behind the Swiss in the ATP rankings, thanks to making the finals at Chennai and a semifinal appearance in Melbourne. He also reached the quarterfinals in Dubai where Federer was upset in the first round by Andy Murray.

Last year at Indian Wells, Federer lost in the second round to a resurgent Guillermo Canas who had then just returned to the tour after serving a ban for testing positive for drugs.

With a bit of match practice under his belt (i.e., the recent exhibition match with Pete Sampras), Federer will certainly look forward to regain the title which previously he won for three straight years, from 2004 to 2006.

As a seeded player in the tournament, Federer has been given a bye in the first round and will play his first match in the second round against another Guillermo, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Although Garcia-Lopez is ranked 61 places below Federer, the windy conditions which posed a problem at Indian Wells yesterday may be more of a concern for Federer. Let's hope he'll be able to fight off both and go on to regain the title.
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