Rainy Day 1 in Rome

That pic basically sums up the first day of the Rome Master Series. Empty seats, rain, and umbrellas. Albeit the rather heavy rainstorm the tournament did get five matches out of the way. Four of those matches were first round single matches while the fifth was a very interesting doubles match featuring the currently "tennis revitalizing" rivalry of Nadal and Federer. Players that got through their first round matches include non other than tenniscast heroe Juan Carlos Ferrero and fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro as well as tennis blogger Tursunov and that tall Argentenian Jose Acasuso. Nadal teamed up with Carlos Moya and took on Federer and Wawrinka in their first doubles encounter. Here are the results from the Rome Master Series Day 1.

Singles First Round
Almagro (ESP) d. Henman (GBR) 75 61
(16) Ferrero (ESP) d. Hrbaty (SVK) 36 61 64
Tursunov (RUS) d. Bjorkman (SWE) 76 (10) 36 61
Acasuso (ARG) d. Verkerk (NED) 63 75

Doubles First Round
Moya/Nadal (ESP) d. Federer/Wawrinka (SUI) 64 76 (5)

Come back later when M gives the lowdown on the results with match analysis. For now head over to ATP Master Series TV where you can find a replay of last year's final while play is suspended due to the rain, if not make sure to catch all the great highlights from day one and some interesting interviews with players commenting about Nadal and his success.

Back from hiatus with Monte Carlo Results and Analysis

M here back from our month long hiatus. Sorry about the break guys but things came up, but...we're back and better than ever. The site has been reworked from top to bottom. We got the acin and double faultin lists back up. We got the links to the best tennis sites back up as well. New additions include some pretty cool things. The first one you'll notice is the new TennisCast logo! Yes we finally got the logo done and for now we'll be sticking to that one until a better one comes along. If you guys out there have some Photoshopping skills then please don't hesitate to send us your ideas to tenniscast@gmail.com. We read all the mails we get sent so go and get cracking. We'll have fun with the logo and we'll be making adjustments as the different tennis seasons pass us by this year, and so we start with clay. The second major boost we made to the site is our video section. You can catch it right below the logo. Each week we'll be updating the video section with great clips from the world of tennis. This week we're posting some recap clips of the Monte Carlo final. Check back each week and watch different clips. We got a lot to post so make sure to check them out. We have Federer clips, Ferrero clips, funny tennis clips and even some classics. Now that we're back from our hiatus we'll have constant updates and next week we'll have extensive coverage of the Rome Master Series. This week's videos go along with our results analysis so lets get to it.

So as I write this Nadal's clay court winning streak is at 69. He played today and moved on to the quarterfinals of the Open SEAT Godo tournament in Barcelona by defeating the former Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-4. He is one away from getting to 70 and his next match against Starace seems pretty easy. The big news though...Nadal won Monte Carlo. Not only did he win Monte Carlo, but he did not lose a set in the entire tournament. This is including the final where he manhandled Federer and won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. The game was a little tighter than the score implies but it was no doubt a beating handed to Federer. Nadal played with aggression and his energy was present every point while Federer seemed to be dragging his feet after every point. It seemed like Nadal sucked out all of the energy out of Federer and used it to his advantage. I think this was the key to his victory. Although Federer making twice as many unforced errors as Nadal also helped, I think the intensity with witch Nadal played made all the difference and will make the difference in the upcoming Master Series events in Rome and Hamburg and more importantly at Roland Garros.

Federer keeps coming up with excuses after every lost match against Nadal. For the last five loses he says the same thing “I feel like I'm in good shape for the rest of clay court season, and it's going to come down to the French Open to see who wins.” He always says he learns and takes notes on every match. Lets hope thats true for Federer's sake. I think his tennis legacy is on the line. He might go down the same path as Sampras...the best player ever to play the game and never to win Roland Garros. He needs to stop taking notes. If Federer can steal one of the next master series...he will plant his seed in Nadal. He will strike at Nadal's confidence. If he loses in Rome and at Hamburg I do not think he will able to pull through at the French. He needs to chip away at Nadal's shield as early as possible. If he can win once he'll have the energy and even...hope, that he can stop Nadal at the French. This would be great for the fans as well. If he can actually put up a fight against Nadal and take one of these next tournaments the talk, the thrill and the anticipation of the French will just excite all of the tennis fans around the world including yours truly. So as much as I would like to see Nadal get to 100 straight wins on clay I think I would rather see Federer complete the slam. This is tennis history here guys and we are smack in the middle of it. Lets enjoy it while it lasts. I think we'll be at the same spot come this summer for Wimbledon and the grass season. Nadal got to the final last year and actually put more of a fight on grass than Federer ever has on clay. This will turn out to be truly interesting. Maybe we'll find out everything we need to know when both of them play on a hybrid tennis court for an exhibition. Half grass, half clay...even play for both.

M out, see ya soon with more updates from the Barcelona tournament and Nadal´s ongoing clay court streak. For now...enjoy the videos! Oh...Mario is finally coming down from Miami next week so the podcats will start rolling out on a weekly basis. Alright...that's it for now!

Second Round action brings in tide of upsets

Maurizio here with TennisCast results and analysis. Oh do we have a busy month ahead of us or what!? With two masters series tournaments back to back we're gonna have our heads full in results and analysis. Yesterday's matches were no exception whatsoever. We have a lot cover so lets dive straight into it.

Obviously the first thing we have to talk about is Federer's loss...who saw this coming? Honestly, did anyone out there predict this? I mean, I could have said that he was gonna lose somewhere down the tournament but I was thinking semis or even in the final but in the second round??? Well...I know what the problem was, at least in my case. I underestimated what veteran Canas can bring to the court. I think people, I include myself in there, focused more on Cana's past, his suspension, rather than his current results. The man already has a win this year (d. Ferrero) in Brazil and by beating Federer he marks his 11th win in 13 matches. The guy is playing top ten tennis and no one seemed to notice that. He's a heavy contender for this tournament now with a good draw on his side. He faces Moya next. The veteran Spaniard won his second round match against Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4. Moya and Canas have only played once before and that was back in 2002 Roland Garros so that won't help us disect anything (Canas won in 5 sets). One is safe to assume that after this win Canas will have insurmountable confidence...although Federer's loss will at the same time give hope to everyone else still playing. Canas should survive his round of 16 match against either Tipsarevic, who beat Hewitt in a lengthy three set match 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2, or #14 seed Ferrer who got past Peruvian #1 Luis Horna in a routine 6-3, 6-1 win. His next big upset could come against Blake, who moved through to the third round by downing F.Serra 6-3, 7-6(2), if the American can get past, presumably, Djokovic later on. Djokovic got past currently Double Faultin' player of the week Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-4, though we won't count this loss against him. Canas is now only the 11th player to beat the current #1 since he took over back in early 2004. Congratulations from TennisCast Guillermo.

I warned you guys we had a lot to go through. Federer's loss was not the only upset though, albeit the biggest. There were three other upsets yesterday that we're actually sad to report. Well maybe just two of them. Our favorite Russian player Marat Safin suffered his demise at the hands of Nicolas Mahut. With his dominating first serve Mahut allowed Safin only 5 points on his first serve and upset the former Australian open champ 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Another favorite Spaniard, and top ten seed, was also upset yesterday. Tommy Robredo lost to Gilles Simon. This is the second time the two have played and the French player evened up the score with his 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-0 win. The final upset was dealt against Marcos Baghdatis of Australian Open fame. He was taken out of the tournament early by Guillermo Garcia Lopez in a tight two setter with a score of 7-5, 7-5. Speaking of Australian Open fame, Gonzo (Fernando Gonzalez) continued his impressive year with an entry into the third round after downing Frank Dancevic of Canada 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5. His next opponent will be Robin Soderling. These two actually have a decent history with 5 matches, 3 in favor to Soderling. Interesting to note, though, that Gonzo has won the last two and is of course the higher seed in the tournament...although we know that doesn't mean a clear victory. If the Gonz can get past this small obstacle he could potentially set up a clash against ¨I'm injured I can't continue the match¨ quote favorite, Tommy Haas who flew into the third round by posting an easy 6-4, 6-1 win over Michael Llodra. Gonzo is up 2-0, with his last win against Tommy coming at the Australian Open Semifinals where he absolutely destroyed Haas in three easy sets. Haas will be looking for sweet revenge...and Gonzo, well...for further humiliation of the German.

A couple of Veterans went down yesterday sending the average tennis player age down about 6 years. Okay that was exagerating. If Fish is old (26 years old) then Bjorkman must be ancient. The two lost to formidable players. Juan Ignacio Chela handed Bjorkman a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 loss while Paul Henri Mathieu battled hard against Fish and barely survived with a 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5). Other winners included introverts Davydenko and Ljubicic and also Gilbert coached Andy Murray.

We'll see how the tournament shapes up with the absence of Federer. Someone will take advantage and everyone should have a moral boost added to their arsenal(if this were Wimbledon Roddick would be delighted). Come back soon for the results of Monday's action and later this week for a full analysis on the last 16 remaining, along with our guesses for the winners. TennisCast out.