Tennis News

Third seed Novak Djokovic faces Nicolas Almagro in the fourth round and circumstance would appear to have played him an ace. Djokovic was handed a straightforward passage into the fourth round on Friday when Serbian Davis Cup team-mate Viktor Troicki defaulted after one set. It seems that a stomach muscle strain was to blame for the early exit and the trainer was on court after 5 games had been played and Djokovic said afterwards: "It is the third round of a Grand Slam…

Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal are set to clash in the first Semi-Final at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday and unlike many sporting events this weekend, the weather is likely to have little impact. Slightly bizarrely, Andy Murray was keen to play down his chance of beating Nadal after overcoming David Ferrer on Thursday, telling the press; "I'll try to win but I'm not sure I've got a whole lot of chance if I play against him. He's obviously…

The final of the Swiss Indoors at Basle could not be better poised, with home favourite Roger Federer due to take on the Serbian Novak Djokovic. Neither player has conceded a set en-route to the final and it is clear that both players are very comfortable on court. A year ago, the same two players contested the final and Djokovic won in 3-sets. Indeed, the Serb has won 6 of the last 13 clashes with Federer and the match is likely to be close. With this short format, a good start …

What a thrilling semi-final last night between Roger Federer on Novak Djokovic and having tipped the latter pre-tournament each-way, I am delighted with the result. Another massive hurdle stands between Djokovic and the crown though by name of Rafael Nadal. The world number one had a much easier passage through to the final, comfortably beating the Russian Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets. That could be a significant factor and the Spaniard could be the fresher of the two for…

Novak Djokovic carried my pre-tournament vote to make the final and today we will find out if that is going to be the case. Djokovic is a consistent player but the last 3-years have seen a similar exit for the Slovakian, going down to the great Roger Federer each time. Is there cause to expect any different this year? There isn’t really I guess; both players breezed through their quarter finals with relative ease and neither has had an especially taxing tournament thus…

It is hard to believe that Venus Williams is now 30 but the world number 4 remains a formidable player at the highest level. In reaching the semi-final against Kim Clijsters, she made fairly hard work of despatching French Open champion and world number 4, Francesca Schiavone. Although the wind was blamed in part, Venus served 9 double faults and made 33 unforced errors in the QF, stats which on the face of it cannot be repeated if she is to beat Kim Clijsters this evening…

Victor Chandler have seemingly taken a real view on the chances of Robin Soderling in his match against Thiemo De Bakker as they are offering 2/7 when other firms are as low as 1/7. That looks too good to miss so whilst it lasts, it is worth taking. His opponent can be backed at 4/1 elswhere, giving an under-round book.

The 2010 US Open at Flushing Meadow promises to be up to the usual standard and the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and of course Andy Murray are strongly fancied to do well. Andy Murray has a predictably big fan base over in the UK but to be honest, his appeal as a betting medium is limited and he is generally poor value. With the draw having been made, that opinion has been hardened to my mind as the Scot will possibly have to defeat both Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal…

The sea has parted for ROGER FEDERER, with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all getting knocked out in the Quarter Finals leaving Andy Roddick as number one challenger. Unseeded Marcos Baghdatis pulled off the biggest shock in defeating a below-par Nadal 6-4 4-6 6-4. The Spaniard, whilst being a fantastic player, is always a little vulnerable to the serve and not only did his rival take advantage of Nadal’s relatively quiet serve, he also fired 18-aces past…

In hindsight, the misguided faith in England’s football team carried over to Andy Murray on Friday as despite having a huge serve advantage, he failed to even get competitive against a rampant RAFAEL NADAL. Is the Spaniard going to fall at the final hurdle against a talented player but one relatively unknown on the back pages, Tomas Berdych? I think probably not. Nadal has a 7-3 record against Berdych, and he’s won the last six times they’ve played.…