This week we touched on Serena and Rafa cruising, Djokovic and Federer’s disappointment, Stan’s glory and what makes Madrid a strange, sometimes unlikeable tournament.

Remember to subscribe to us on iTunes (it comes right to your telephone! Technology!) If you like it, give us a rating and even a review and we will love you forever. Also, check out the always great The Changeover and all of its lovely members: @linzsports, @juanjo_sports and @AmyFetherolf .

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Stan toughed out the second set against Grigor Dimitrov. From 1-1 in the third set, Stan cranked out five straight games and won almost every close point to win the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

It was one of the most impressive, dominant sets of tennis I’ve seen anyone play all season. Dimitrov lost a bit of energy and his spin on the ball was setting up the ball wonderfully for Stan who was absolutely crushing it. Most importantly, he was aware of when he was in a defensive position and was able to hit the ball into an appropriate space (or even just slice it) as well as recognize when he had hit a good shot and could safely wrong foot Dimitrov via a powerful ground stroke. Masterful stuff. Enjoy the highlights.

NEWSFLASH: Tomas Berdych will not be making the final of Roland Garros.

Likewise, Federer will not be winning over 50% of his points within the first three shots of the rally in Paris.

And there lies the problem.

We as the tennis faithful have grown accustomed to certain norms. Particularly, each major tournament will be preceded by several tournaments played on the same surface. Nearly every major player will play at least one of these, particularly before Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and we, Tennis Nation (capitals mine), will have a rough idea of where each player stands heading into the Big One.

At first, the idea of blue clay warmed my heart. Tradition is important in tennis. Tradition is important in nearly every sport except Arena Football and that weird, probably no longer existing basketball league played on trampolines. However, tennis has always had one thing other sports don’t have. We have different surfaces. Sure, baseball and football (the one where you use your feet) have different sized stadiums, but it isn’t the same. If you don’t include carpet and indoor/outdoor differences, there have always been three. Why not add a bit more colour, a bit of a different feel, and change things up?

In reality, I’m still not against blue clay. But I’m against the timing. Over the last few years, we have had optional Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome to get a proper look at our sports’ stars. Sure, Madrid has always been a bit quick, but it is still clay. Sadly, Madrid is now more than just quick. It didn’t take long to see that this wasn’t your grandma’s clay. High altitude means thin air, and faster balls, as normal. But the blue clay was quick as well, and the bounce was low. It was a bit like a strange grass/clay hybrid.
Therefore, players typically successful on faster and/or lower bouncing surfaces had a field day. Likewise, they are players that do not place footwork at a premium. Tipsarevic upset Djokovic, Verdasco upset Nadal, and Federer chuckled to himself as he took another Masters title at the hands of a crumbling Berdych. Del Potro also found immediate success.

Things have returned to the norm in Rome, as arguably the top 4 clay players are in the semifinals (Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Ferrer). Unfortunately, this will be our only look at Federer on real clay. Nadal’s defeat of Djokovic in the Monte Carlo final is telling, but not definite.

For players, Rome could prove to be a much bigger preparation week than it has the past several years. Yes, it is placed after Madrid instead of before, but this could be their main chance to get warmed up on the red stuff. For us fans, we must take the Madrid results with so many grains of salt that it is practically irrelevant in the prediction of Roland Garros. With several players threatening to boycott the tournament, we will have to see what steps the tournament takes over the course of the year to alter or entirely change the surface. Your move, Magic Box.

For the third year straight, Rafa and Fed will tee off in Madrid. The difference this year is that it will be in the semis, not the final.

It’s been a long, tough path for Fed who barely survived Feli and had his hands much more full with Sod than the scoreline would suggest. To be honest, I’m having a tricky time figuring out if Fed’s level of play is down, or more that it’s clay, and he’s running into good opponents. I think it’s definitely true that Fed isn’t trying to be super creative out there and is sticking too his strengths (particularly the forehand and even the serve) and I think that’s the right move.

Rafa is obviously the favourite tomorrow, but I’d hesitate to count Fed out so quickly. The courts are playing incredibly quickly, and Fed has found ways to end points quickly as well as stick in longer rallies. I’m also not entirely convinced by Rafa just yet. He had the odd bump in Monte Carlo and has had a rather straight forward draw this week.

The real question, however, will be whether or not Rafa or Fed can challenge Nole in the final, assuming Novak wins. I’ll preview the final tomorrow night, which should be fantastic. Happy semis watching!

Weather, resilient opponents, court changes, continent changes, the kitchen sink… it really doesn’t matter what you throw at Novak Djokovic right now. He extended his winning streak to 8 gazillion and is looking as confident as ever. (OK, 29 straight wins this season, equaling Lendl’s record for consecutive wins to start a year.)

A lot of love must be sent Daveed’s way, who despite going down a set and a break, fought back to reclaim the break and then broke at the end of the set to force a third. He looked as aggressive as I’ve seen him in a while. Not content to play defensively, he was clearly looking to get in as many forehands as possible and go down the line when available. He was getting balls deep and was changing directions effectively. Unfortunately for him, Nole turned up the heat in the third, stretched Ferru wide and the errors started to creep into his defense.

It was impressive to see Nole fighting off his inner demons in the third after some close calls and tough games. You could almost feel the glue melting and the pieces separating, but Nole kept his snarl and shook them off (literally). Before you knew it, the match was over and the streak was very much alive.

Nole takes on Bellucci in the semis, who deserves a serious shoutout. The kid has real talent on clay, and if he can keep his confidence up and head straight, he’s likely going to be a serious force on clay for years to come, especially as many of the Spaniards age.

Delpo is back. And he’s serious about it. So am I.

It was a gutsy win for Delpo, who experienced some hip/leg problems against Youz and dropped the second set. But in the third, the pain seemed to subside and the forehand flipped into eleventh gear. Yes, he turned it up to 11.

Truly, it showed the side of BumblElf that when on, is nearly impossible to topple. Madrid is a fantastic tournament for him, because the thin air makes the ball move quick, but the clay also helps the ball sit up nicely for him to hammer through. This is not unlike his near defeat of Fed in Roland Garros on a sunny day in 2009 (his last clay match before Estoril this year).

Interestingly, if Delpo and Rafa win their matches, which is likely, they will face each other in the next round. For me, this week has all been about a seemingly inevitable Rafa/Nole showdown… but does Delpo have a shot? Rafa has played well, but not his amazing usual self, and has faced little serious opposition, especially in terms of consistent, big hitters. If Delpo is healthy and confident, there’s a serious chance he could put the pressure on Rafa. I’m not sure he would win, but that’s definitely a match to keep an eye on.

It wasn’t the epic we hoped for. It wasn’t even as high quality as we thought it would be. But it was like two long lost lovers who thought they were angry at each other, get the first fight out of the way, make up… and then find out two weeks later that they actually do really hate each other. Aww, how romantic.

To be totally honest, from the first couple of games, I thought Fed had a very, very solid chance at taking this one. He was taking the ball really early (much like he often does on hard courts) playing aggressively and trying to end points early. And it was working. I remember seeing a tweet that said late in the second set that Fed had won 8 more points in rallies that were 3 strokes or less.

But remember that press conference earlier in the week? Fed saying how he had to let rallies go longer, not be too aggressive, and use geometry? Well, naturally, Rafa will take that. And he took it just fine. Slowly Rafa started creeping further behind the baseline, exploting angles, and that was the match. That’s what Rafa does, dude.

Rafa’s play wasn’t 100% fantastic, but he WAS the one with the highlight reel shots, and overall it seemed like the shots he was missing were either sailing wide, or not getting the spin or feel that he was used to. Altitude maybe?

Regardless, I think if these two meet at RG (which I really think they will) they will put on a show. It was near brilliant, at points, but you got the sense that the guys were still kind of figuring out the feel, and how to apply it to the other player, who they’re more than familiar with.

Oh, and like I can try to say more amazing things about Rafa on clay, but… most Masters championships ever, at 18 (stolen from Agassi, who was 72 years old, when he completed 17, I believe) and the first player to win 3 consecutive Masters tournaments in a row. Which is damn impressive. The fact that Rafa’s never done this before just shows how damn hard it is, really.

Gooooooooold!

Just a damn impressive week from Aravane, who if you remember, started her week by beating Justine, and also knocked JJ, Lucie and Venus in the final on route to the biggest tennis week of her life.

Not much to say. Aravane was taking the ball early, pushing Venus around appropriately, and Venus’ weak movement on clay was pretty obviously exposed. She was just a half step behind, the majority of the time, and her power couldn’t really make up for the movement because she was rarely dictating play.

So big props to Aravane, who is looking like she’ll be top 16 and the highest rank Frenchie going into the French. Which is Sunday. Wut?

While the Friday matches for the ATP look promising, girls just wanna have fun, and there’s a bitchfest galore tomorrow in Aravane/JJ. Aravane “Gooooold!” Rezai made comments earlier in the year about JJ’s sports(wo)manship, and well, JJ don’t forget, y’all. She’s also gotten her act together, as she only lost 2 games against AMG. Aravane beat Petkovic in straights.

In other entirely predictable, straight sets news, Superhero Sam kept rolling against Patty, Nails was nails against A-Bond, and Shahar beat Parra Santonja.

I gotta be honest with you guys. I wasn’t exactly popping out of my seat when I saw the OOP for today, and the results offered up little in the way of entertainment.

First off, Fed knocked out Stan pretty easily. I thought Stan might give him some trouble, but Fed is looking like he’s tired of dicking around and wants some match play in before RG, and he’s gonna get it.

Tree put up a solid fight against Rafa in the first set, serve and volleying and playing appropriately aggressively… but was broken in his last service game, and that was the match. Rafa in full on ass kicking mode and is two wins away from a crucial second ranking.

Possibly the biggest news of the day was Fer hurting his ankle against Melzer and losing in straights, a match he easily should have won. He was positive afterwards though and seems to think he’ll be 100% for the French Open, which is good to hear.

Otherwise, pretty well everything went according to plan. Monf beat Garlo in the battle of the free-passers, Ernie ousted Feli, Muzz beat Hanescu, Nico knocked a hurting Pico, and Ferru dusted an error-prone Marin… and EVERY ATP match today was straight sets, all of which I would have called, minus the Fer match. Snore.

The good news is things get exponentially more juicy in the quarterfinals. Monf/Rafa? Yes please. And of course the biggest match-up… Ernie/Fed rematch! Bust out the rally caps. And maybe a diaper or two.