Beauty will save the world

“Who's intelligent is meant to remain a nobody, only stupid people become someone. Men in 19th century must, is morally forced to be a creature without character”. This is an excerpt from the most intense molologue by Fedor Dostojevski, part of “Notes from the Underground”, the most intense novel by the Russian. This is the favourite novel of Janko Tipsarevic, the manifold Serbian player who reached at the Kremlin Cup the first semifinal in two years defeating Robbie Ginepri with a double 6-3. Tipso clinched the victory with an amazing 93 percent of his first-serve points and winning all 14 of his first-serve points during his last five service games.

The really interesting part of his history isn't in his career, in his results. But in what lays behind the court, in the relation between a curious and cultivated player with an as much cultivated coach, Alberto Castellani.

“The greatness of Notes From The Underground is that Dostojevski spoke about the unconscious and subconscious many years before Freud” once said to his coach. Castellani so described Tipso. He wants to know everything and dreams to explain you everything he knows. Other players calls him “the Small Professor”.

He loves Dostojevski. Last year, during the Kremlin Cup, Tipso defeated Mathieu and was meant to play against Marat Safin. But that night he went to the museum dedicated to him. A devotion he brings tattoed on his skin: “Beauty will save the world”, from The Idiot.

I remember him in Rome, in 2008, when he played against Fernando Gonzalez with sunglasses and a racquet with red strings. He's extremely talented, but has the rare value of being man before than athlete, of putting Janko ahead of Tipsarevic, life ahead of career.

Castellani started working with the Serb at the end 2005: Janko has fallen down to n.138 in the World Ranking and hasn't won since Wimbledon. He projected, and projects yet, a personalized practice from the technical, physical and mental point of view. Tipso works hard on his serve, works to play a metre or two more in front, to hit balls rising. His ranking improves, but the man remains ahead of the athlete, his absent-mindedness hasn't ceased to affect him and his results. Janko is an all surfaces player, but is above all a man with an umprecedented “literary hunger” so peculiar on a tennis court.

Castellani reveals endless conversations about the fundamentals of philosophy, about the roots of being a man: Does God exists? (Janko doesn't believe in it), Is truth possible?, Who created the universe?

They talks about Saint Augustine, Heidegger, the Italian Emanuele Severino, Nietzche (the philosopher preferred by Tipso). He knew Nietzche, the ideal of necessity of nichilism, but he thought it was not enough. So he read “Beyond Good and Evil”, “On the genealogy of Morality”, “Human, too human”, “The Gay science”. His mother was extremely satisfied of his son's progress.

The two often go to Belgrade: the pool where Janko and other Serbs practiced themselves during the war and the bombings from the anti-Milosevic force stays there yet. In Belgrade bombs couldn't target places guarded by crowds of civilians who massively reunited to save the pool and the city bridges. When evening empires vanished into sands, Janko remained the tambourine of a “melting pot” music, made of forehands and kalashnikov.

His meditations involves logic and the theory of the “everything flows” by Heraclitus, the deepness of “Achilles and the tortue” and the basis of the Western culture. Janko is fascinated by the extreme consequences of the “everything flows”: because if becoming means transforming itself in something different, this imply the destruction of the architraves of Parmenides: “It is necessary to speak and to think what is; for being is, but nothing is not”. Travelling through tournaments, in his bags there were racquets, shirts and everything necessary for the athlete, but also not less than six books about philosophy: Kant, Nietzche, ancient Greeks, but even Avicenna and Averroes.

The most striking aspect of his personality is his strong, radicated hate for mediocrity and “the right medium”. Horatian motto “est modus in rebus” doesn't fit to Janko, who wants everyone go beyond the limits. Castellani is half coach half teacher: latin, phisics, Einstein, black holes, art, Caravaggio. Even if Janko continues asking his coach to be stricter, he defeated Lleyton Hewitt in Australia. “I'm Serbian, we grow with rigid rules”. “Ok”, answered Castellani who doesn't believe in authoritarian methods. “If you need more strictness, you can give yourself a stricter discipline”. It's like to say, put your good and your evil ahead of you like a law and be so courageous to live respecting your law: a perfect nietzchean suggestion.

Castellani wasn't at Wimbledon; Janko went to the Championships with his trainer and manager and played the best tournament of his life. As Tim Roth wrote closing his American Pastoral, “could something be more perfect?”.

Personally, I don't think.

Something is rotten in Denmark

Once upon a time, tennis was a sport for gentlemen. Then John McEnroe, Jeff Tarango arrived and a certain level of bad behaviour started to diffuse and be tolerated. Now that more and more people tend to associate "personality", "character" with sudden eruption of fury, the mood of Ilja Bozoljac or the Austrian Daniel Koellerer, whose motto is "If you respect your opponent, you have already lost", are becoming common.

And proliferate where the luxury and artificiosity of top-class events leave his place to the not-glamorous tournaments belonging to the second or third tier circuit, like Challengers or Futures. The last episode is only another confirmation of this stigmatizable evolution. If we should give a title to this story, the only suitable would be: "Something is rotten in Denmark".

We are in Kolding, for the final of the local Challenger event. Ivan Dodig, n.195 in the world ranking, 24-years-old from Bosnia, is facing the British n.2, no more that Alex Bogdanovic, ranked just ten places above his opponent. Dodig was already lucky to escape a disqualification in the first round match: not yet satisfied to have staged a replica of the wordly famous monologue by Serena Williams during the Us Open semifinal, Dodig tried to do better and reserved the same "attentions" to one of Hamlet's compatriots on the stands. The supervisor "forgave" him, and Dodig, as every big actor does, preserved the greatest performance for the principal occasion.

Dodig won the first set in the final, while the second has to be decided in a tiebreaker. At 6-6, on Bogdanovic's serve, a first ball is seemingly out but the lineswoman doesn't call and the chair umpire confirmed: 7-6 Bogdanovic who, predictably, clinched the set at the very next point.

The furious Dodig shouted for a toilet break and, heading towards the locker room, bawled out against the lineswoman with clearly readable, but not referrable, words. The news arrived to the chair umpire who informed the supervisor. Clearly Dodig was disqualified and, to complete his performance, coming back to the court he threw the trophy reserved to the losing finalist against a wall and completely destroyed it.

In the end, he lost not only the match, great part of his reputation, but also the 75 points he would have gained as the tournament finalist.

This is his version, from his official website.

Bet on...Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko outclashed Rafa Nadal 7-6 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters final and clinch his 18th title, in a manner of style even more impressing than the score would suggest. The Russian, renewed after the bet enquiry, the scandal and the suspects followed the sadly famous Sopot first round match against Vassallo Arguello in 2007, is now the most testing opponent to verify a player’s fitness. And Nadal, playing his first final for five months, showed to have some way to go to find his best form: he managed only nine winners to the 28-years-old Rusian’s 35. Davydenko is certain to finish the year outside the top-5 for the first time since 2004. And is now the player with the best result not to have played a Grand Slam final yet.

Now the Russian is seventh in the Year-to-Date and improves his odds to go to London for the World Tour Finals. All players can add points from the Atp 500 in either Basel or Valencia in the week of 2 Novembrer and again at the Paris Masters. But Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko, Marin Cilic, Tommy Robredo and Radek Stepanek have all won two Atp 250 titles. And this could give some more chances for Robin Soderling, now n.9 in the YTD, now in Stockholm; because he won Bastad but has only 90 points from his second best performance in the ATP 250. So winning in Sweden, he could add 160 points to his ranking.

Now see more in detail the Year-to-Date situation this week limited to players yet uncertain of their qualification for the Finals.

Andy Roddick 4,330
Nikolay Davydenko 3,450
Fernando Verdasco 3,030
Robin Soderling 2,820
Fernando Gonzalez 2,780
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,640
Marin Cilic 2,205
Gilles Simon 2,105
Radek Stepanek 2,095
Tommy Robredo 2,040
Gael Monfils 1,975

Andy Roddick: The American, who has qualified six consecutive years for the Finals, is the highest-ranked player yet to clinch his 2009 berth. After the knee injury sustained at the Shanghai Masters, he is not scheduled to play until the Valencia Open 500 from 2 November.

Nikolay Davydenko: Like Tsonga, the Russian cannot count any more points earned at the 250s because he already counts titles in Kuala Lumpur and Umag. In Atp 500s he has now earned 815 points: he will add something improving the Beijing quarters (90 points)
Fernando Verdasco: Attempting to qualify for the first time, super-fit Spanish left-hander will come back oncourt during the week of 2 November in Valencia. He has 180 points from ATP 500s and can add 100 points in 250s but he should won a tournament to discard the Kuala Lumpur final.

Robin Soderling: Players immediately behind him have all won two ATP World Tour 250 tournaments, so cannot add to their totals outside the 500s and 1000s. But Soderling can add points at the 250 in Stockholm.

Fernando Gonzalez: Hard-hitting is next playing Basel, where he will attempt to add 500 points to his total. He played three 500s (with 405 points) but he has an available slot yet, having not played Monte Carlo.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: The powerful Frenchman added 500 points last week by winning in Tokyo. But he cannot add to his points tally at his next event in Lyon as he is already counting the maximum two 250-pointers from title wins in Marseille and Johannesburg. So his performances at the 500 in Valencia and Paris will be crucial.

Marin Cilic: Having maxed out his 250s with tournament victories in Chennai and Zagreb, he has low chances to go to London. He shouldn’t play until Paris, almost surely too late to maintain some hope, but he may obtain a wild card into Valencia or Basel
Gilles Simon: As a winner of just one 250 title this year in Bangkok, the French counter-puncher can ad at the 250 event in Lyon next week.

Radek Stepanek: The Czech, who last year appeared at the Finals as an alternate, cannot add points in Vienna due to his titles in San Jose and Brisbane. So he will look to Basel and Paris to make his move.

Tommy Robredo: Unable to count further points earned at the 250s due to his titles in Buenos Aires and Costa do Sauipe, Robredo is not scheduled to play again until the ATP World Tour 500 in Valencia.

Gael Monfils: A winner of just one 250 title in Metz, Monfils can make ground at the 250 tournament in Vienna. He will also play in Valencia and Paris.

Hard night’s day for Mr.Ace

Lleyton Hewitt reduced John “Mr.Ace” Isner to a Volandri whatsoever in the first Shanghai Masters 1000 big match: Rusty won 6-2 6-4.



Long John had immediately the epiphany of his fate when Hewitt grabbed an early break to 2-1 with a perfect backhand lob (yes, you’ve read well) surprising the 6’9” giant fighting with the range of his groundstrokes. A second break and an easy hold gave Rusty the first set. Things seemed easier and easier for the Australian, while Isner’s serve improved for three service game before failing again; three break points in the same game were too much for the American who saved two but surrendered to the inside-out forehand from Hewitt who wasted two match points on Isner’s serve at 5-3 but closing easily in the next game.

While Davydenko defeated Kunytsin (in the less intriguing match of the day, the one I could never watch, despite the great respect due to a champion like Davydenko) securing a third round clash against Mano de Pedra Gonzalez and Tommy Haas overpowered Benjamin Becker, the lights of the stage were devoted to “Psycho”, a tennis drama in two distinct acts. In the first Marin Cilic decided to completely waste the few hopes to be in the eight elected for the World Tour Finals and gave space to Mr Instability, Thomas Berdych, as I resumed in the previous post. Not satisfied, the Czech now awaits for the wild-card Marat Safin. Would bookmakers accepts bets on the total amount of broken racquets in the match?

“French gift” could be the title of the second act of the drama. Principal characters Gael Monfils and PHM, alias Paul Henry Mathieu. The 23-years-old confirmed once more that without injuries he could firmly stand in the top-10. But he has three zero in his ranking points (he withdrew from Wimbledon and the Masters 1000 in Rome and Madrid) and has to be pleased with his berth fourteenth best player in the world. Today Mathieu, in the “2002 Davis Cup final” version tried, and succedeed in making everything elementary for La Monf, who broke twice and clinched the first set with a comfortable 6-2 after an unreturnable serve. Same scheme in the second. Tame double fault by PHM to hand Monfils the break to 2-1. Mathieu is returned the player uncapable to beat even the center keeper’s son and surrendered 6-2 6-2 when Monfils displayed a decent sliced backhand drop shot over the net: Mathieu could have done something more anyway.

Stanislas "the Manislas" Wawrinka needed three hours and ten minutes to subdue Lukas Kubot, but seven games sufficed him to go though to the third round. Andy Roddick was forced to retire when he was leading 4-3. The Swiss started masking his tiredness with fierce groundstrokes targeting the American backhand. Andy served well, wasted two breakpoints in the seventh game, but pulled up after the forehand winner from the Swiss. He asked for the injury time, but even after the treatment he limped badly and shaked hands with Wawrinka, who now will face Radek Stepanek (75 64 to Andreas Beck)

In modern tennis serve doesn't almost count - Part 3: game strategies

Recap of previous parts: in modern tennis the impact of serve is increasing, but has not yet become dominant in determining of results, as data for Grand Slam tournaments from 1980 to 2008 testified. Tennis is not a technology-driven sport, as swimming or Formula 1. Racquet evolution, in fact, has made easier hitting flat balls with great speed and power. But has at the same time changed the game strategies, as this third part demonstrates.

An extreme swing became possible thanks to new racquets producing rallies characterized by more-than-150kph groundstrokes. Inevitably, this development stressed stringings and strings, now realized in nylon or polyester synthetic for its superior durability and consistency compared to natural gut. The design of the new longer models, besides, has requested some adjustments in the biomechanical execution of serve and strokes. Hitting the ball nearer to the neck than in the face barycentre let the player develop greater power. This phenomenon is explained because with a fixed handle, the rim can bow on itself and the energy introduced through the rim deformation isn’t given to the ball. Hitting near the neck, the more it is the effective rigidness and the less the energy lost in the racquet deformation. Consequently, longer and oversize racquet has made available an unprecedented power surplus modifying, and consequently conforming, game strategies.

Foster Wallace again underlines that “composites’ lighter, wider heads and more generous centers let players swing faster and put way more topspin on the ball...and, in turn, the more topspin you put on the ball, the harder you can hit it, because there’s more margin for error. Topspin causes the ball to pass high over the net, describe a sharp arc, and come down fast into the opponent’s court (instead of maybe soaring out)”.

In modern tennis lifted strokes are almost disappeared or used as a desperate and extreme resources in defensive situations while backsping attacking approaches are considered as counter-productive. More elastic composites let the ball remain more time on the face letting the player experiment a greater control in the direction of the subsequent passing shot.

Besides, the improved physical preparation has favoured a standardized “Nick Bollettieri’s style” tennis, dominated by the serve-and-forehand scheme. The enlarged muscular mass allows superior arm rotations, until the extreme 6m rpm topsins by Rafa Nadal. Passing is becoming easier, because a player could hit with great advance, when the ball is yet raising after the rebound. More, the global diffusion of two handed backhands let players find acute angles unreacheable with a traditional backhand.

Theese opposite influences could explain why the opening game stroke isn’t rised to principal pointer in a tennis match. Because, on one side, muscular mass combined with the innovations in the racquet projects produced a widespread ease in displaying 200 (or more) kmh first serves. But, on the other hand, the same innovations increased the facility in returning to this bombing serves and turn the return from a defensive situation into an attacking opportunity.

A last annotation is referred to surfaces. The lawn is the most favourable to “bombers” for the low rebound angle, in spite of the constant slackening in its intrinsic speed, as the 2002 Wimbledon final brightly testifies: then Lleyton Hewitt defeated David Nalbandian and there wasn’t any serve-and-volley in the entire match. On the lawn, at Wimbledon, percentages of serve impact are in the last lustre slighty higher than the taxes registered at the Championships in the Borg and McEnroe era.

Red clay stubbornly remains the less preferred surface for big hitters because there the serve pays less than everywhere else. The rebound angle, in fact, is more similar to an equilateral triangle, so the ball follows a direction with a 60 degrees inclination as to the clay, as Karlovic knows at his best, having lost twice matches in few months establishing new record aces: 55 against Lleyton Hewitt at the Roland Garros first round, the astonishing amount of 78 against Radek Stepanek in the first rubber of the Davis Cup semifinal. But in 12 occasions out of the last 13, when a player has equalled or increased the ace record, he has lost the match.

So, the form is evolving, but the substance of the “Game of the Kings” is always the same.

In modern tennis serve doesn't almost count - Part 2: evolution of racquets

The marginal relevance of the racquet “modernity level” could be superficially demonstrated simply regarding what amazing heights has achieved Roger Federer with a dated model. More specifically, we could start our analysis considering that the 80% of the serve efficiency is determined not by the tool details but by the rotation speed impressed by the player arm. It’s the so called “angular momentum”, obtained in the service movement with the trunk rotation (reaching its maximum in the point of greatest elbow bending) and the shoulder rotation. Passages from wooden frames to aluminium or fiber variations, the evolution of strings from natural bowel to synthetic matherials, the new oversized racquets hasn’t seemingly modified the potential serve speed. In a 1997 experiment conducted for Tennis.com, Mark Philippoussis produced two highly comparable serves with a wooden racquet and with the model he was using then.
The differences in racquet design introduced anyway a series of innovation to the game, changes that could coherently explain the data before presented. Wooden racquets, or the first aluminium models, like the one used by the pioneer Jimmy Connors, had a weight of more or less 450 gr while the modern tools weighs about 300 gr. As confirmed by studies focusing on baseball, conceptually extensible to tennis, is not an alleviation in se. A lighter racquet can be moved with increasing speed and rotation, but a quicker speed means a subtler margin of error and affects the ball behaviour in terms of intrinsic speed and rotation on itself. Daniel A. Russell, from Kettering University, Flint, Usa, highlighted a result disagreeing with the common sense. The highest ball speed isn’t registered when you have a quick swing and a light bat, neither when the bat is extremely heavy, because the rotation speed would drastically decrease, but there’s a window where increasing the weight cause a light decrease in swing speed bumping up, as a consequence, the ball speed exiting from the face.
This elements influenced the style of players, forced to adapt to new possibilities and situations. But this will be the argument of the next part of our dossier.

In modern tennis serve doesn't almost count - Introduction

“Unless you're one of those rare mutant virtuosos of raw force, you'll find that competitive tennis, like money pool, requires geometric thinking, the ability to calculate not merely your own angles but the angles of response to your angles. Because the expansion of response-possibilities is quadratic, you are required to think n shots ahead, where n is a hyperbolic function limited by the sinh of opponent's talent and the cosh of the number of shots in the rally so far (roughly)”.

If your thoughts on court are less analytical of David Foster Wallace's ones, the difficulties in answering increase. And the serve, as a fundamentral of the game but principally seen as the stroke to start and determine your game, becomes more and more relevant. But how much? A possible answer, a first rough evaluation of the importance of service in determining the result of a tennis match, could arrive analysing the percentage of tiebreaks played our-of the total amount of sets run off. The data presented here consider this percentage only in Grand Slam tournament since 1980 to 2008, so considering also the not-so-world class last Australian Open editions at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. This index has the advantage of being simple to be read and immediate to understand, giving a cleare image without implying an excessive sacrifice to euristic deepness.

	AO	RG	Wim	UsO
1980-84	18,2	10,5	18,2	12,9
1985-89	15,6	11,3	18,5	13,2
1990-94	12,5	11,7	17,9	15,1
1995-99	14,8	12,9	18,6	14,5
2000-04	15,3	13,1	20	16,8
2005-08	15,2	13,4	20,2	17,3

Tiebreak percentage has been measured, for every year, out of the number of sets effectively played, excluding so the ones not played or only half completed because of withdraws or walkovers. To give uniformity to theese data, letting us so to create solid comparisons, the fifth sets at Wimbledon, Paris and Melbourne finished with scores exceeding the 6-6 (8-6, 9-7...), considering that in those three Slams there isn't tiebreak in the last set, were counted as tiebreaks, because they are a even better demonstration of how much the result is anchored to serves.


The empirical data confirms that, in the three major not experiencing a surface change in the considered period, serve has stepped up his relevance but has never become really decisive. The Australian Open exception, with a slightly sinusoidal trend, appears largely due to the passage from lawn to hardcourts, because in the first nine years (in 1988 Australian Open weren't played), with the tournament hosted at Kooyong on the lawn, the registered percentage there and at Wimbledon are highly comparable.

The first image emerging from this analysis shows an increasing relevance of serve, but the moderated trend shows how in tennis, contrarily to other disciplines like swimming or Formula 1, techical evolution is less determining.

In the next days I'll try to give some possible answers to this phenomenon.

The season of comebacks

In Kuala Lumpur organisers has given wc to Marcos Baghdatis and Joachim “Pim-Pim” Johansson

Night is his demeanour. Marcos Baghdatis is remembered as well for the the latest ever finish at a grand-slam event as for parting hard. In 2008 his quarterfinal match against Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open ended at 4.33 am, when the night has come (and probably almost gone away) and the evening empires were vanishing. The extroverted Cypriot tamburine arrived, then 20-years-old, to play the Australian Open final against Roger Federer.



But he’s better known for his genuine sympathy, for his globe-trotter’s style considering aesthetic more relevant than result. Coming from a divided country, half Greek half Turkish, he summed up the Eastern and Western cultures, and gain enthusiastic fans from Athens to Rome to Kuala Lumpur.

His Hectorian battle against an “Achillesque” Agassi, at the last Us Open of his career, remains one of the best glimpse of his deepest essence. Marcos exuded the pleasure for being there and living such an emotion and the simple, slightly childish, hope that his entertainment didn’t end. But every bright dream comes to an end, and Andre won that match. Marcos was victim of the American’s play as well as of his cramps, signalling his flawless as a competitor an his not resolved hidiosynchrasis for the professional part of a professional athlete’s life.

He should encourage his relation with fitness. He should introduce more variation in his point construction strategies, because sudden down-the-line winners are only a counterproductive choice when you’re down a bit. And he should sacrifice a little part of his naivete and manage better the press conferences. Saying, before a clash against Nadal in Paris two year ago, that he can’t stand the Mallorcan game and that he saw a victory against him unlikely surely takes off pressures from your shoulder but give some more strength to your adversaries.

In Kuala Lumpur, where he was seeing engaged in club-hopping, but avoiding dance floor fearing injuries, he benefitted from a wild-card with another “desaparecido”, Joachim “Pim-Pim” Johansson.



Fitness was always his biggest problem, but for completely different reasons. Sidelined for shoulder surgeries, he decided to withdraw from professional tennis in 2008 deciding to comeback next October at the Stockholm Open. Now he’s facing the second ATP event since then and mantain the same old racquet he used when served 51 aces losing to Andre Agassi, the RDX500.

Intriguingly the 27 former top-tenner is opposed to Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of the Malaysian Open. They met each-other only once, at the 2004 Us Open semifinal. Then Johansson dated Jaslyn, Hewitt’s sister: a story finished in 2005. The Swede passed a pair of Chritmases at the Hewitt family home in Adelaide, practising and playing golf with him and his coach.

Davis Cup 2010: what a draw!

Rafa Nadal against Roger Federer on the Spanish clay (the odds that Costa will choose the “red” to host Switzerland are great), Novak Djokovic on front of his Serbian supporters facing Andy Roddick. Two hot-spots for the next Davis Cup first round, programmed for the weekend before the Indian Wells Masters 1000.

It will be a key decision for the actual n.1, winner this year over the Mallorcan in Madrid. In the last five years, Federer has never played the Davis first round ties; this time surface and hosting city could suggest him to go on with the same attitude, but the value he says to assign to the team competition could convince him to act differently. This is one of the last chances he has to lift up the Dwight’s Pot. And sacrificing a bit of condition towards Indian Wells could become an acceptable and sufferable counter-indication.

The eventual winner will face France or Germany. The Bleus has the ground chance and greater odds to pass through, considered the ranking gaps, nonetheless the “debutant” Simon and Monfils encountered poor figures respectively against Berdych (in the WG first round loss to Czechs) and against the 2006 Wimbledon junior champion, the Dutch Thiemo De Bakker, in the playoff. Tsonga saved French honour and pride and will prepare the tie against Germany (reminding the thrilling 1982 World Cup semifinal) with a perfect record of 6-0 in Davis cup rubbers. In a match probably played on the clay, Kohlschreiber could become the strenght of Germans, while Haas, handing glimpses of his old style and standards at Wimbledon, could face difficulties in best-to-5 singles with long rallies. Besides, he hasn’t played in Davis since 2007 when he surrendered with a periodic 2-6 to Igor Andreev.

Russia and India appears like a generational clash. Without Safin, Russia based his hopes on the always reliable Davydenko and on Andreev, also if he became the icon of the Israelian fall with the sticker labelling “Russia” melancholically pending from the back of his shirt. Tursunov is the best doubles player, but this seems a point already assigned to India: Bhupathi and Paes played 25 Davis doubles and lost only twice, being unbeaten since 1996. Devvarman, the ex Ncaa Champion, and the child prodigy Yuki Bhambri, junior n.1, doesn’s anyway seems a real menace for Tarpishev’s men.

For the third time in four years the draw has coupled Argentina and Sweden, i.e Robin Soderling, firt man to beat Nadal at the Roland Garros, and Juan Martin Del Potro, recent Us Open champion over an unusually nervous Roger Federer. In the previous four meetings, host team has always won. This time, above all if Nalbandian won’t be present, as it seem possible, the rule appears meant to be confirmed. The match will be played in Sweden, probably on the most ice-like surface among the regular ones.

In the low part of the draw Novak Djokovic could search his revenge over Andy Roddick, who defeated the Serb three times this season. The pot gave the Serbian the home advantage, but they have to choose the surface, and that’s not such an easy decision to make. They should actually opt for the clay: in this case, Patrick McEnroe could decide to give Sam Querrey, one of the rare Americans with some decent result on this surface, his Davis debut.

So we could see a thrilling derby, with not so negligible geopolitical meanings and implications, betweens Serbs and Croats. Karlovic and Cilic should overpower Ecuador (seeing the ranking, the feeblest team in the World Group). South Americans, led by the Lapentti brothers, would have had some chance playing at home. Against Brazil, Nico defeated Bellucci in his 37th Davis tie; in Croatia he won’t repeat the miracle.

Chile awaits eagerly the possible revenge in Israel to forget an embarassing defeat haunting them even nowadays. In the Yom Kippur, Dudi Sela stunned Fernando Gonzalez and Israel gained an historical passage to the World Group. And this year semifinal was only the last chapter of a marvellous tale. Now the match will be played on South American clay with the significant uncertainty about the presence of Mano de Pedra. The best Chilean player announced in March his intention to break the contract with the Federation after the president made public the amount granted to players. He lost the last three matches, but the captain Gildemeister promised to try everything possible to convince him come back.

In the last tie of the draw, the finalists of Czech Republic will travel to Belgium hoping in a great day of the proverbially fickle Stepanek and Berdyck. Belgium, instead, is praying to recover their n.1, Krzystof Vliegen (famous for a dramatic comeback against Safin from 0-6 1-3 in 2007 Montecarlo Masters), missing the playoff against Ukraine.

Off topic: Andy Murray is more and more resolute to abandon Great Britain to his destiny in the Euro/African group II. In the playoff against Poland the Scotster won his two singles but saw his wrist problem worsening, and it wasn’t enough. Great Britain is pathologically uncapable to put beside him another decent player: they unuccessfully tried Goodall, Eaton, Bogdanovic and so on. But a single, eloquent data, remains: when the contributions of Messrs Henman, Rusedski and Murray are taken out of the country's Davis Cup results for the last 20 years, Britain have failed to win a single match.

Giant achievement

This simple headline testifies the greatness of Juan Martin Del Potro, capable to dethronize the five times reigning champion and by many indicated as the Goat (even if this label appears at least controversial, not to say stupid).

I saw this 6'6 shy Argentine two years ago, in Rome. He lost in the qualification rounds: he withdrew cause of a back injury, one of a long series of physical inconvenients. My first impression, seeing this young and tall guy with timid green eyes and long straight blond hairs was probably the same I had admiring Tsonga: will he be able to continue his development? He was capable to thwart his teenager adversaries in the juniors event, but his fragile skeleton would be able to support his ambitions, his dream of greatness? Monday I had the answer, the most astonishing answer I could expect to receive.

His stunning forehands should be labelled as non conventional weapons, he could impress an extremely heavy rotation causing a lethal acceleration, above all when he hit inside-out from the center of the baseline to the right angle. The appearent lazy mood hided an iron-made self confidence, not nocked by the tough openings, when Federer started the nth repeat performance meant to satisfy his narcissistical ego. Exceptional variations, chopped cross-court backhand passing shots, volleys and demi-volleys: although he continued to serve with percentages you could register in a provincial championship first round, that showing off seemed enough. But it was not. Del Potro believed in himself till the last point, his game was not the most agreeable to aesthetically educated eyes, but got is job done.

Roger lost his match at 5-4 30 all in the second set on the first of two carbon-copy down the line forehand passes. He started quarreling with the chair umpire and the Hawk Eye and simply lost his mind. His show, so perfect, so straight, transformed itself in an improvised and scheming performance. The King felt the earth sliding down his shoes, saw his narcissistical ego shattered with the mirror of his apparently asettical beauty. Palito multiplied his forehand winners, as many stabs to the ex-King wounded pride. So rattled was the Swiss to launch an unusual before than angry complaint towards Jake Gerner, the umpire, after he allowed the Argentine a call late (he took a lot longer than what is allowed) in the third set: "No, it’s too late,” an angry Federer said. “I wasn’t even able to challenge after two seconds and he takes ten seconds every time. Do you have any rules in there?”

And reprimanded a gesticulating Gerner in this way: "“Don’t do that with your hand. Don’t tell me to be quiet. I don’t give a s*** what he said. Don’t f***ing tell me the rules.”

The match, surely not the most enchanting of this edition (for real spectacle see Navarro-Dent, the best show of the 2009 Us Open), was by no doubt the greatest upset in the last ten years. Roger, benefitting from the Roddick indecent backhand volley, found a real contender for his next Grand Slam campaigns. Anyone who beats Nadal and Federer on consecutive days is a force to be reckoned with.

His renewed consciousness made him the most possible danger for the Big Four in the big events, cause they would face him in quarters. He can now win other slams, probably not on the clay, because his fisiological lack of horizontal mobility, and his scarce confidence in his backhand that brings him hit forehands from the left side and cover more free court. But on hardcourts and on the grass he's a menace for everyone, above all for the half-dull Djokovic or the Higueras-like Murray of this period.

Classy Cilic outpowered Murray

The Croat won 75 62 62 and went through to the Us Open quarters



When Murray hit the last forehand long ending his misery, Marin Cilic realized probably to have completed his personal puzzle finding his missing piece and starting filling his standards. The Croat, indicated by many as a future and bright star, had failed in big appointments (also if recently he defeated Blake in a dramatic Davis Cup five-setter). But today he was simply perfect, enjoyable, powerful and precise. This was the best performance of his career, he gained the first Grand Slam quarterfinal and the crowd could rub their hands thinking to the clash between the two big-bombers of this decade: Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro.

The Scotster in the first set held break points during the sixth game, but he wasted them with a backhand return dropping well wide and long and a crosscourt forehand wide after a remarkabler defense from the Croat. An ace and a backhand into the net at 5-4 15-40 (with Cilic serving) was practically an anticipated swan song. Cilic held, broke to 5-6, thanks also to an untimely double fault, and sealed the first set after another error from the Scot.

From that point, till the end of the match, Cilic didn't look back, despite the not extraordinary 31% of first serves in the second set, dropping only four games between second and third set.

The key of the match, apart from the paltry thirteen winners registrered by the Scot, was his oltranzist defensivism, his flat attitude, his low energy. Cilic showed an enviable bio-mechanic of strokes while Murray remained passively behind the baseline almost waiting for the unavoidable. The Croat turned the knife in the wound exacerbating the lack of a kliller-stroke in the Scotster game. On this kind of surface to emerge you have to be Nadal or you have to attack, and to do that profitably you have to devolve upon an ultimate stroke. Murray doesn't belong to any of theese two catehory.

And now, if Nadal, despite his being abdominally strained, succeed in beating Gael Monfils, the Mallorcan could come back nr.2 in the world ranking.

Us Open first week – Ups and downs

Roger Federer – Not extraordinary, not so bad anyway. He managed his energies remaining on court enough to find his form. Devin broke him twice, he lost a set to Hewitt then but Roger defeated the Aussie for the 14th time in a row. He’s the main candidate to win the title. Vote: 6.5

Rafa Nadal – Not so bad. He’s in the third round despite an abdominal injury against Almagro, who has to learn the difference between playing a series of beautiful strokes and playing a match. Rafa was broken five times, really too many, but the Spanih derby was exactly what the new, leaner Nadal needed: a straightforward three-setter that tested him enough... but not too much. Vote: 6.5

Andy Murray – The Scotster fall asleep for a set against the Chilean Capdeville, but found the usual variety and effectiveness of his game against Taylor Dent, apart for the under 50% of first serve in the first set. Now he’ll face Marin Cilic: the Brit has won all three of their previous meetings and will be confident of making the quarter-finals. Vote: 7

Andy Roddick – For the second time he lost without evident guilts against big bombers. Andy demonstrated again to suffer this kind of player capable of maintaining high standards on his serve, to erase any shadow of rythm from the match. Like against Querrey in Cincinnati (Andy lost 76 76), against John Isner (vote: 8), defeated some weeks ago in a dramatic three setter in Indianapolis, Roddick fought hard but there was nothing to do – vote 6

Taylor Dent – The serve-and-volleying panda was extraordinary. He came back to win a match in a major after four years after three back surgeries and 11 months passed immobilised in a bed for 23 hours a day. He tried to reach a real estate license, studied politics and religion, played to World of Warcraft videogame. But finally came back to tennis. Against Feliciano Lopez (vote: 5.5), a great talent wasted, he won a great match but completed his masterpiece against another atypical Spaniard, Ivan Navarro (ex Navarro-Pastor, who decided to cancel his second surname), who plays with two racquets (one to serve, another to return, forcing the ballboy to change it every two points in the tiebreaks) 255 net points in 252 minutes of incredibly enjoyable tennis, with the game suspended for 7 minutes because a 138 mph service by Dent unseated the net. A match who saw Dent celebrating shouting “You guys are unbelievable!” to the crowd and and emotional high-five to all the viewers in the first row. The successive defeat against Murray didn’t ruin his unforgettable joy. Vote:9

Italian tennis – The worst performance ever in Flushing Meadows for Italian guys. Five men in the main draw, as many defeats with only one set won (by the player with the most unfavourable odds, Flavio Cipolla against Benneteau). More than the results, Italian fans are concerned about the way these defeats arrived, without signs of reaction, without fighting, like Starace who lost 76 76 60 by the Swiss journeyman Chiudinelli (losing 7 points in a row in the second set tiebreak). Not the best way to head towards the Davis Cup playoff against Federer and Wawrinka. Vote: 4

Us Open day 1 - Highlights

Youzhny d. Mathieu 26 75 62 60
The 2006 Us Open semifinal Michael Youzhny defeated for the 5th time in 6 h2hs Paul-Henri Mathieu in the Psycho Match of the Day. At 2-5, with 10 errors and 3 winners, the Russian launched his racquet against the bench before a solid PHM (4 aces and 6 points to the net in 7 attempts in the first set) closed 62. But the Russian broke immediately in the second and caused some decisive regrets in the French saving two break points and go leading 42. The 10th game could become the key moment of the match. Youzhny, leading 54, committed three double faults handing the game to PHM, who, in the next one, gave back the courtesy. Youzhny with an astonishing winning backhand went 65 and sealed the set 75. Since then the match had no history. Youzhny won 26 75 62 60 with 49 winners and showing an increaing consintency from the back and to the net (20 points). Too many errors, 41, instead affected the French transforming only 53% of points with his first serve. Definitely not enough.

Federer d. Britton 61 63 75
Understandably moved, last year's junior Us Open runner-up devin Britton lost the first set 61 in just 18 minutes. But the rest of the match wasn't a stroll in the park for the number 1 anyway. Devin, n.1370 (so twice lower than Chris Eaton when he shocked the world not only for his Vauxhall with duck-taped rearview mirror but for his victory over Boris Pashanski at Wimbledon), notwithstanding an often uncontrollable forehand, showed glimpses of aggressive returns and smooth net-play leaving good impressions about his future. Even more, he broke twice King Roger. Firstly to go up 3-1 in the second: he played the best game, probably, of his life. breaking to love with two surpsising forehand cross-court winner.

But emotion wasn't a good company and he lost immediately his serve, and the set, because of a streak of 12 points to love for Roger, profiting from an inopportune double fault from Devin in the ninth game and clinching the set in 29 minutes with twi stinging returns.

Britton wanted to make his dream last more than is possible and mixing courage and inconscience, started serving well, mixing them up to good effect, and sometimes seemed unbeatable at the net; but he suffered when he had to stoop. His dream culminated in the break to 4-3 when he forced Federer on the back foot and into a series of mistakes, as the netted backhand giving Britton the game. But he wasted his chance: in the next game he saw a forehand volley fly long and mishit a forehand to 4-4. Federer never looked back, and sealed the success with a crosscourt forehand.


Definitely, even if he was given a bit of scare, above all in the third, Britton seemed too inconsistent to sustain a threat, but he showed to be more than a sparring partners and to have encouraging skills for his future career.

Isner d. Hanescu 61 76 76
Hanescu was bewildered for a set and a half. Lost the first 6-1, he was broken to 1-2 in the second after a sloppy and unfortunate game: Isner missed a sitter on the first point after getting a fortunate net cord, then Hanescu serves a double, and missed a volley on the break point, conquered by the American with a forehand approach shot. But a shocking smash by Isner who went long gave Hanescu a key break at 3-3 and the set was decided by a dramatic tiebreak. Hanescu dashed 4-1 and went 5-2 after an easy shot netted by the American. But a double fault and a series of not converted set points restored the score at 6-6. The Romanian failed another set point on his serve and a net cord gave the American one at 9-8. Nothing. Another chance for Hanescu (at 10-9) but this time he hit long. He went 11-10 up, but Isner saved the setpoint with an overpowering forehand bouncing on the line and finally sealed the tiebreak 16-14. In the third they went with serve until a second tiebreaker.

And Hanescu conquered, as he did last time, the first point against serve, but Isner took it straight back with a nice pass. Isner flight 6-3 up, but hanescu with a net approach and a good serve reduced the arrears to 5-6. But Isner closed at the first attempt. In the second round he could face Andy Roddick for a revenge of the recent highly contested Washington semifinal.

Blake d. Hidalgo 61 64 75
Easy success for James Blake, playing just after the ceremony in honour of Andre Agassi. A bit more of a practice session for the American, afflicted by a series of light injuries during the season. After an easy first set, they went on with serve until 4-4, then Blake broke at his sixth opportunity after forcing the Spaniard to deuce with a thunderous forehand down the line which the Spaniard can only slice into the net; another error by the long-blond haired Spaniard handed Blake the second set.

Hidalgo tried to play at higher standards than usual, but cracked down to 3-4. A bit of performance anxiety, probably, affected Blake who squandered a forehand long to lose the advantage to 5-5. It was the swan song for Hidalgo, though, blown away by Blake's power and conviction. A rasping forehand winner followed by a precise shot into the corner gave Blake the possibility to serve for the match. And he easily hold to come through to a second round against Olivier Rochus.

In the night session easy and largely predictable wins in straights sets for Andy Roddick (61 64 62 to the Bjorn Phau) and "Rusty" Hewitt, 60 63 63 to Alves.

Mario Ancic to leave tennis?

Last July, Mario Ancic hired in the law office of Mary Turudic, sister of the famous Croatian judge Ivana Turudica, in Zagreb and recently he's seen in the building of Commercial Court. Ancic is working as an intern, and his working hours turns on increasing doubts about his return to professional tennis.

The gangly 6-5 passed a brief but extremely intense lustre in top tier tournaments, revealing himself in 2002 when, as a wildcard, he upset Roger Federer, then with a reputation of rising star after his success on Pete Sampras the year before. Ancic remained the last to defeat the Swiss at the Championships until the dramatic 2008 final.



Ancic grew to be known as "Baby Goran", a quite odd nickname because he definitely also grew an inch taller than Goran Ivanisevic, the national hero, the first to establish Split as the natural habitat for tall and nationalistic serve-and-volleyers. Mario and Goran are no strangers. Mario was one ballboy in a Davis Cup tie to his predecessor and he practised with Goran from the age of 10. He's right-handed, contrarily from his hero, but picked several movements and gestures from his mentor.

The semifinal at the All England Club in 2004 and the decisive contribute to Croatian title in 2005 Davis Cup in hostile surroundings (in Slovakia Ancic clinched the maiden victory winning the decisive rubber against Michal Mertinak in straight sets) now seem like a distant memory.

When everything was going great, when he was in great shape, in fact, destiny put him down with mononucleosis and a shoulder injury that nearly ended his career in 2007. For the Croat with thunderous serve and outstanding wingspan, it became necessary a change of perspective.

""When I was diagnosed, I knew it was going to take long to recover the first time, and I knew there would be a lot of these side effects because tennis is the No. 1 individual sport in terms of being physically demanding," Ancic said. "I can't hide. I just have to move on and every time it happens, try to come back stronger mentally and physically, to fight against this like I do on the tennis court. But I hope this is the last time".

Supported by a series of letter of people affected with mono, Ancic found an unusual, for a sportsman, way to channel his energy during the forced stop. He graduated in law from the University of Split with a thesis about tennis and the ATP organization. "I'm very proud of that; it took a lot of work. I show tennis from a little bit of a different perspective. In my research, I understood more things that were going on behind the scenes. [The ATP] was great for me. They gave me documents. They were not afraid that anything goes public. I talked about the players' medical care, the pension fund that kicks off after the career, the structure, the membership, how it works. Being out of tennis, it was a huge help to be focused on something else" he said in an interview to ESPN in March, when he addressed a sports law class at the Harvard Law School.

Ancic, down to n.136, tried to come back to top level. He reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2008 and was about to head towards the Beijing Olympics. But a relapse came at the wrong time. Having lost in an opening-round at the Canada Masters and having skipped Cincinnati Masters, as the fatigue intensified and the weight loss mounted, to about 15 pounds in total, Mario withdrew from Beijing and later from the Us Open.

His agent, IMG's Olivier van Lindonk, said he is a consummate professional who, not surprisingly given his academic interests, "is always closely involved with finalizing and approving his deals. He is a client that is aware of all the details in his contracts and likes to 'keep me sharp". And hasn't had any problem in finding an answer to the question every athlete ask himself after the last day of his career: what will I do next?

Good luck, Mario.

The triumph of patchwork tennis

With a creative fusion of different styles Andy Murray has interrupted the duopoly Federer-Nadal becoming the first player different from them, when both present, to occupy one of the first two spots in a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon 2005.


Multiplicity in unity. Andy Murray is the paradigm of a new tennistic poliphony, of a gestaltic synthesis of different influences and characters, styles and spurs generating an ensemble divergent and probably better in quality and quantity from the mechanical sum of the parts. He's a natural born showman, he speaks to his public with grimaces and snarls, with sulks and outbursts. He's genuine and spontaneous, on- and out-courts, and as a youngsters faced the inconveniences of journalistic misunderstandings.

In 2006, after a match during the Auckland tournament, he said that with seven breaks out of 12 games in the first set he and his opponent were serving like women. He said that jokingly, but many British tabloids' back pages wrote he was sexist.

He's a showman converted to the idea that theatres, and not the prosaic tennis courts are the ideal place to host a show. Andy has developed and brought on the threshold of perfection an hybrid style sacrificing talent for success, sacrifing a bit of beauty in the name of profit without erasing aesthetics from the horizon of his game. He's the most precise symbol of what we could define "patchwork tennis".

His rounded strokes have a Spanish perfume (probable inheritance of his Barcelonian period of practice) even if they are as far from the pronounced lob of the first generation of Spanish players as from the heavy 5,000 rpm rotations by Rafa Nadal. Murray's tennis is varied but sure, he paints a seducing and confusing spiderweb forcing even the most navigated to lost themselves in it. Among half-volley passing-shots and his trademark dropshot, Murray entangles for his displayed capability to mould his temper to better pursue his destiny, his cause, his goal.

In the perennial fight between es and ego, between a stubborn and rebellion-prone nature on one side and and the desire-need to be a good boy, at least on court, to live up with the expectations of an entire nation who wants him to be the new Fred Perry (or at least the last, in order of time, of the new Fred Perrys), responsibility won. Murray is an anti-hero, like the Swede, protagonist of "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth; like him he transformed into a professional success a two-faced personality, sharpened during the years.

He feels tennis, more than simply play it, preserving from his youth a sharp tactical and strategical instinct. At 11 years old he and his twin Jamie went to the European Badminton championships at Kelvin Hall. He seemed not to pay attention to a match involving the then n.1 in Europe, and suddenly asked his mother if they could go away, with a set remaining. He had already realized how to beat the n.1: play high on his backhand corner, and close the point with a drop shot. A scheme that gave him many satisfactions in his career as a pro.

A career inspired and governed by the omnipresent mother Judy, who didn't begrudge harsh critics about his son's game but strictly direct a Barnum of coaches, trainers and psychologists hired to channel Murray's instinct and talent. And whereas Brad Gilbert, the most expensive coach in the world at £750,000 a year, failed, Miles MacLagan, an ex journeyman professionist and anonymous tennis players (his best ranking was n.172), triumphed. This Zambian-born Scottish man, known because he guided Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett to become the couple n.4 in the doubles ranking, is "the quiet man" who discovered the secret of success.

Sponsored by (what else?) Judy Murray, Miles Maclagan initially seemed destined to a relationvery similar to the Mats Wilander-Marat Safin connection. Instead, although the premises were the same (mercurial player and calm coach), the result is very different from the few-months long Russian-Sweden experience.

Since 2007, MacLagan shaped a true champion, meant to answer to the yet unsolved existential questions accomunating every tennis fan throughout the Uk: How long can a nation fail in his dreams for? How long can a nation bet on the wrong horse (see Tim Henman) being constantly disappointed because of lack of timing (i.e. start of Federer-era) or "performance anxiety" (i.e. 2003 Wimbledon quarterfinal lost to Sebastien Grosjean)?

Hoping to see Andy Murray lifting up the trophy in front of the Royal Box British fans forgive him even his anti-English speaking before the 2006 World Cup in Germany ("I could support everyone but England"). So the revelation of his Metternichian belief that Great Britain is no more than a geographical entity passed away without touching or mark his deep link with the community of fans; the same who never forgived Rusedski, who won less than Murray, his Canadian origins.

Last year comeback against Richard "Lionheart" Gasquet and this year sweated and unusually nocturnal exploit against Wawrinka made him surrounded by an epic light, also if last year he surrendered lifting the proverbial white flag against Nadal and some months ago he was defeated by an inswinging performance anxiety more than an extraordinary Andy Roddick who went a backhand volley-far from winning the Championships.

His consistent results on every surface, the recent triumph in Montreal has confirmed that the Scotster is on the right way, and indicates that numbers and hutilitarism have their own reasons that aesthetics doesn't know; and the first subdued the last. Because no-one take to the field to play violino.

Four lessons we learn in Cincinnati

1-God bless Father Roger
The Swiss champion didn’t seem too much diverted by his one-month old twin daughters not to win his 16th Masters series title (in 25 finals), only one less than Andre Agassi, leader of this particular ranking. The surgical demolition of a slightly absentminded Murray and of Novak Djokovic are important signs of health, even more meaninngful with six days remaining from the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, where he could face his nemesis Rafa Nadal, before the final after four years.

2-Can Andy repeat last year final in Flushing Meadows?
Probably, yes. He’s deservedly number 2, the first different from Rafa and Roger to occupy one of the firt two ranking position after Lleyton Hewitt, and on hard courts he’s on his preferred habitat. But the lack of killer instinct he showed in the second set against Federer, when the benefits of his throwback tennis were cancelled by a series of errors in the key points, culminated in the final double fault, left a shadow of doubt. In Cincinnati he revealed his talent to the world years ago when, far from the top-10, defeated the Swiss in straight sets. Now his winning streak of five matches against the number 1 abruptly stopped. In his preferred Slam, where he 12 months ago he conquered the first final in a major, he will have to handle to increasing expectations, as at Wimbledon. And everyone knows how it ended there.

3-Suspended judgement about Rafa
A Masters Series semifinal after months of forced inactivity would be a bright result for anyone else but not for Rafa Nadal. The Mallorcan left a disappointing impression in the first set against Novak Djokovic and only his proverbial pride and fighting istinct sustained him in the second avoiding a more outstanding exit. He’s not on his surface, that’s true, but the lack of dinamicity, the decreasing efficacity of his most dangerous weapon could oblige him to almost superhuman efforts to defend the points conquered with the semifinal reached last year.

4-Novak bites the dust...again
The limbic season of the Serb seem not to have an end. He’s quite good, plays quite well, but this isn’t enough for the player considered an year ago the most dangerous rival for Roger and Rafa. But the racquet change (definitely a mistake), and a crack in self-confidence, exacerbated after the dramatic semifinal in Montecarlo against the Mallorcan, made his game become excessively passive and defensive. His bright display of strokes against Nadal was a swan song before a one-sided final. An year ago, in Cincinnati, he surrendered to Murray. This time against Roger Federer. But his attitude was the same, and the absence of tactical and technical relevant progress are convincing many that his Australian triumph and the Us Open final reached 2 years ago will remain the brightest stars in a left undone career.