http://www.topspinblog.com Tennis Blog Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:46:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en     The ultimate year-end showdown of the best eight male tennis players in the world starts Sunday with the Masters Cup in Shanghai—make that the best players ranked two through nine.  World No. 1 Rafael Nadal pulled out due to injury and the need to rest before Spain travels to ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/11/the-season-that-never-ends-perpetual-tennis-leading-to-players-early-demise/ Rafael Nadal withdrew Monday from upcoming the Masters Cup in Shanghai, making Gilles Simon as the next choice to fill out the eight-man draw.  Simon's advantage?  He had 356 ATP Race points to James Blake's 355.   Blake's web site seems hopeful that another player might withdraw so he could get the ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/11/james-blake-misses-masters-eight-by-a-single-atp-point/ Andy Roddick skipped out on the trip to Beijing for the Olympics this summer, but he'll be in Shanghai for the Masters Cup after his 6-3, 7-5 win over Gilles Simon in the PNB Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday.  James Blake, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/10/roddick-qualifies-for-shanghai-blake-still-alive-faces-federer-next/ Andy Roddick and James Blake are playing the PNB Paribas Masters in Paris this week, fighting to win two of the three spots remaining in the draw of the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai starting Nov. 9.  Five players have already qualified.  It's a wide open race, with Roddick holding the most points of players ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/10/roddick-and-blake-battling-for-points-in-paris-to-reach-shanghai-masters-cup/      Spain triumphed over the U.S. Davis Cup team last month in a historic Madrid bullring packed with more than 20,000 flag-waving fans -- a Hemingwayesque scene that made for a fierce home-court advantage.      The United States Tennis Association (USTA) needs to break out of its predictable Davis Cup hosting rut and also do something dramatic March 6-8 when Switzerland, and most likely Roger Federer, ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/10/american-tennis-needs-a-spectacle-make-it-davis-cup-2009/ The American defense of their 2007 Davis Cup championship ended in a bull ring in Madrid on Sunday.  World No. 1 Rafael Nadal trounced Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 to put Spain place in the 2008 Davis Cup final against Argentina in Buenos Aires. Had Roddick been able to pull out ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/09/nadal-knocks/ Match report from the Davis Cup website: Americans Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish kept the defending champions’ hopes alive, defeating Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 4-6 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-4, spoiling Lopez’s 27th birthday celebration and Spain’s dream of a 3-0 sweep in the Davis Cup. Bryan, playing Davis ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/09/us-wins-davis-cup-dubs-in-five-roddick-vs-nadal-to-start-sunday/ The Americans put up a tremendous effort Friday, with Sam Querrey pushing No. 1 Rafael Nadal to four sets and Roddick losing in a heartbreaking five-setter to David Ferrer, dropping the final set 8-6.  The Roddick-Ferrer match was a brilliantly played contest, with both players hitting 80 winners each and ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/09/heartbreaker-on-the-court-of-matadors-spain-up-2-0/ Ferrer won the first, Roddick the second and third, and Ferrer came back to take the fourth.  Now they go to a fifth set, and you have to believe the U.S. chances of surviving hang in the balance.  A 2-0 lead would seem unsurmountable with Rafael Nadal waiting to play ... http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/09/roddick-and-ferrer-into-a-fifth-set/ See daviscup.com for live scores. http://www.topspinblog.com/2008/09/roddick-roars-back-wins-second-6-2/