Madrid Masters’ Magic Box May Disappoint, but the Tennis Is Warming Up Nicely

There’s something decidedly out of kilter with the final clay Masters of the year. Yes, it’s a harder and slightly faster court than almost anywhere else on the red stuff. And yes, the surface seems grittier and more slippery than the fine surface of a Monte Carlo or a Rome. The altitude, too, adds its own problems, with balls flying a little more, and the air just a fraction thinner... 

A Stunning, Left-Handed Rome Champion: No, It’s Not Rafa, but Maria José

María José Martinez Sanchez, that is, the new women’s champion of Rome. And yes, she also happens to be Spanish. It’s another of those heart-warming stories that has pervaded the tennis tour in 2010. It’s up there with Ivan Ljubicic winning his first Masters event at 31. Or Andy Roddick reaching back-to-back Masters finals on home soil, and winning one of them, Miami,... 

Loss Of Djokovic, Davydenko, and Del Potro Opens Up Madrid and The Tour

Ten of the top 25 men in tennis are out of the Madrid Masters, the last tournament before the French Open, and many of them are in doubt for that culminating Slam of the clay season. Has a Masters tournament ever been quite as torn open by injury? Has the top of the men’s tour leaked its seeds quite so early in the season, and on the most benign of surfaces? At No. 13, Fernando Gonzalez has... 

The Rome Masters Part Three: The Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Factor

In the laid-back, take-it-in-your-stride tournament that is the Rome Masters, there is no such thing as a site plan, nor signposting to courts, nor programmes with orders of play to guide the inexperienced. The trick is to arrive early and head for the two practice courts. Surely everything will become clear. As if preordained, Roger Federer chose this moment to sashay onto the closer of the two courts,... 

The Rome Masters Part Two: The “Ciao” Factor

It’s a finely balanced thing, the mix of revelry and restraint, and the Roman tennis fans have mastered it to perfection. It’s the “ciao factor.” Everyone is out to have fun, take in the sun, greet friends, take their children, and wear their hearts on their sleeves. Yet the minute the ball is in play, a hush descends, and a rapt attention elicits a communal “shhhhh”... 

The Rome Masters Part One: Traveling in Hope

It is better to travel in hope than to arrive disenchanted. (Japanese proverb) This was an eventful expedition before it had barely begun. The pilgrimage to the Rome Masters was booked many, many weeks back, and almost immediately, there was something to worry about. The first scare arrived in the form of volcanic clouds, swept by uncharacteristic northerly winds from Iceland. The U.K. came to... 

Roger Federer: Closing in on Greatness Once More

Record, records—all made to be broken. As the days tick by towards the summer of 2010, so we edge closer to two particularly significant mileposts in tennis. And both are within touching distance of the king of the record books, Roger Federer. The first record is up for grabs at the very next tournament, Rome, and it could go to one of two men: Federer or Rafael Nadal. It is the record for the... 

Men’s Tennis Power Rankings: Rafael Nadal Is King Of the Spanish Armada

It’s April, and it’s the red clay of the European swing. So it has to be Rafael Nadal. Though some players fitted in tournaments on the red stuff in Latin America in February, this is where the clay season takes centre stage, and what a stage! The first of the terracotta Masters is held at the Monte Carlo Country Club, with the Mediterranean as its backdrop. It is hosted by royalty: Prince... 

Top Dog Roger Federer and Queen Bee Serena Williams Make Roman Return

Roger Federer and Serena Williams bestride their respective tennis worlds rather as Everest and K2 dominate the Himalayas. They may be just two amongst many world-beating champions, yet they remain the standard against which those others are measured. They can be conquered by the fittest, most ambitious, most determined of individuals, just as those two mighty mountains can, but they remain head and... 

Tennis Turns Terracotta: The Sunny, Skidding Swing of the Clay Season

Check out antiMatter’s complementary view of the clay season—what the “terracotta stuff” means for the style of play—here. There’s something about the burnished, shimmering heat rising from the deep rust of a clay court that warms the spirit. Sure, the tennis Tour started more than three months ago in the heat and humidity of the Asian Pacific swing. January hurtled... 

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