And the winner is…

Nadal! Two-time finalist Nadal beat two-time finalist and 4 times AC champ Roddick
and Djokovic! who completely anihilated poor big Nalby
Now the question is who is the best on grass so far this year?

Djokovic started the tournament poorly, but has mentioned the “transition from clay” as the main reason he gets better every day. Rafa was incredible yesterday and looked more than ready for Wimbledon. What struck me in the Nadal-Roddick match, was how incredible he served all the way through! Always high 1st serve % and kept Roddick guessing for either extreme right or left, with the lefty spin. I actually thougth he was able to use his serve better than what Roddick did. I was really impressed with Rafa, but Roddick seemed a little bored. I didn’t hear any reactions when winning, neither when losing and seemed like the Connors-effect has faded a little bit. I hope he’s more fired up for Wimbledon, or he’ll never get his hands on the golden trophy. Maybe the shoulder is still in the back of his head. I think all players prefer to be 100% for Wimbledon, than 99% in Queens against Rafa.

Then there was Federer who still, IMO, has a more impressive record on grass than Nadal on clay. Less titles, less matches, less factors like injuries and so on, but he hasn’t lost since frickin’ Ancic in 2002!!! And will Kohlschreiber do the damage in the final?! Might give him most headache of the week, but still a straight sets victory for Federer. My question is… is Rafa and Djoko better prepared for Wimbledon, having played some REAL grass threats, while Federer sailes past #340 something, Kiefer, Baggy and so on? We’ll see. But I think both finals are worth watching, if they don’t go at the same time, and show us who is in real grasssy form!

Oh, yeah… Davydenko-Robredo in the Warsaw final…. what a waste of ATP calendar space. Why not make grass season a week longer instead!?

Now THAT is Tennis!!!

This is the man of the day. Herr Kohlschreiber hit a stunning 104 winners to take out the first top contender. Or is he a conteder? Well, based on the fact that Kohlschreiber is NOT known for having a powerful and strong serve, he served better than Roddick for at least 3,5 sets. He got 30 something aces exactly when he needed and gave Roddick a hopeless deal. Must mention his strength, which is the inch perfect backhand. You want it down the line? Let’s hit it on the frickin’ line! You want it cross court? Done!

I usually love to critisize when a good player plays bad. I still want to give Roddick a kick for losing the first set, but after that everything goes to Kohl….  (too long name)

Anyway you want to see it, it was a quality match. Much more so than the big one last night where Safin and Baggy went to bed around 3 a.m. Roddick had 79 winners and 20 something errors which also is unusally good for him. Except for calling the umpire an idiot, I was sort of whishing he would get it, because I was positive the Kohl… play could not go like that for ever. And by Kohl..’s play I mean his serve. But I was wrong, and I bet a lot of people after they saw 2-2 on the scoreboard, were all wrong. And the Kohl… bragging won’t stop here. His returns where ALMOST on Federer level. At 9-9 in the third set tie-break Kohlschreiber threw his racket at a over 200km/h serve and took the 2-1 deserved lead. That was just the one extreme example, but with the exception of 5th set, where both players served to an A+, Kohlschreiber had good contact with the Roddick service games all along.

In-frickin’-credible!

But FINALLY a real match! I was worried we would go two weeks with only average quality and entertainment. I want to see who can beat this match in terms of Winners to unforced ration and aces. Watch out for Kohlschreiber in 2008!! Will he ride the momentum and see himself inside the top 10 before 2009?!

Vienna, Stockholm, and Moscow

All big tournaments. Also at an important stage in the season. A lot of players are feeling the 9 months of tennis now, but the points, the ranking, the race, everything really remains the same. These tournaments are just as important as any other.

We are in the QFs and Djokovic is the only top player in Vienna. He will meet Chela in the QF.
He will probably beat Chela and meet Ljubicic in the semi. Ljubicic is defending champ, so that’s a tough one. On the other half Ferreo-Gonzalez and Lopez-Wawrinka. I think maybe Ferrero will meet Wawrinka in the semi.

In Sweden Blake is still going strong and getting ready to lift the trophy for the third time. He will have to beat Nieminen, last year finalist. T. Johansson/Ancic will be opposition in the Semi.
On the other half, there is Clement-Karlovic, Monaco-Haas. Karlovic against Haas in the semi?

In Moscow, the Russians are hot. Well not, really. Davydenko will meet Andreev in the QF, which will leave only one Russian in the semi. But at least they will have ONE there.
One of these two, will meet either Tipsarevic or Stepanek. Further down, Kohlschreiber against Berrer, and Serra against Mathieu.

My prediction:
Vienna: Ljubicic d. Ferrero
Stockholm: Blake d. Haas
Moscow: Stepanek d. Kohlschreiber!! Davydenko will lose!