Caroline Wozniacki switches tennis racquets again

Former #1 and majorless Dame, Caroline Wozniacki looks to be heading into the 2013 Wimbledon Championships with a new weapon of choice. As you can see in the picture, Wozniacki has a blacked out frame that is a different shape than the normal Yonex “Isometric” contour (click here for the full line of Yonex tennis racquets).

A couple of years ago, right at the pinnacle of her career, Caroline went from Babolat tennis racquets – specifically the AeroPro Drive – to a Yonex VCORE Xi 100, you can read more about that switch over here. By the looks of the picture there, it seems as though she has returned to her trusty AeroPro frame – It’s definitely NOT a new Yonex, the throat totally resembles the Babolat frame. Funny how she still is using a Yonex vibration dampener.

Caroline Wozniacki switches tennis racquets a good idea?

It’s never a good idea to change equipment like a tennis racquet right before a major tournament. It looks bad on you, it looks desperate really. I would like to think that at any level, a tennis player would need quite some time to get accustom to a new frame, even if you’ve played with it before. There is still an adjustment period. Read the rest of this entry

Roger Federer remains confident that he can achieve big things at Wimbledon 2013 regardless of his quarter-final exit at Roland Garros.

When Roger Federer reflects on his 2013 French Open campaign he’ll surely feel a sense of regret that he was unable to make the most of his opportunity to reach another final. The Swiss legend managed to avoid Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s half of the draw, yet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga arrived to put an end to his hopes in the last eight.

Federer’s performance against Tsonga was a far cry from his best form at Roland Garros and inevitably there are several critics who now think that Fedex’s days of winning slam titles are finally behind him. Heading into Wimbledon, where Federer appears to have his best shot at clinching a major, there are many who don’t even have him down as one of the top three favourites for the title.

That said, Roger appears to be confident about achieving another incredible triumph at the All-England Club. “I have no choice but to move on,” said the world No. 3 after his French Open exit. “But now I look forward to other things. I love the grass court season. I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but I like it a lot.” He added, “Especially it’s been 10 years since my first Wimbledon victory. So I’m looking forward to coming back to Halle and Wimbledon where I did the double ten years ago, so I’m sure it’s going to be a nice swing. Always with some pressure because I expect a lot from myself, but nobody can really prepare well on the grass because the season is so short.” Read the rest of this entry

David Ferrer vs. Rafal Nadal

So the French Open final is set; two Spaniards, David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal. Both are friends and both are going after the same title. One of the has already one the Roland Garros title 7 times, while the other has reached his first major final in his career.

David Ferrer has been one of the most hard working pros on the ATP tour, always grinding, and always keeping his head in the game. He just hasn’t found the right mix of point structure to win often against the top 3, especially Nadal.

Ferrer’s history against Nadal

Ferrer, unfortunately, doesn’t have much of a winning record against his countryman. The head to head is heavily in the favor of Rafa, leading 19 to 4. Three of the four wins that Ferru has on Nadal came on hard court tournaments and a single solitary clay court win, nine years ago in Stuttgart (the first time the faced off). Even then it was a close match.

Recently though, Ferrer has had some success in keeping close matches with his friend, taking a set at this years’ ATP Masters Series 1000 in Madrid. But, Rafalito made sure to close the door on the match slipping away, finishing off the “other” Spaniard 6-2. Read the rest of this entry

What do you do when you have two powerhouses meeting in the French Open semifinals and not in the finals? Grab some popcorn and a comfortable seat, because this is going to be one heck of a tennis match! As soon as the draws were out, we all saw the the clash that would later come to fruition…Nadal, the undisputed “King of Clay” facing off the against one of the few who have beaten the kind the red clay (and who lived to tell the tale), Novak Djokovic. This is about as tasty of a tennis match as they come.

These two players met last year at the French Open, but met in the finals where Novak failed to capitalize after wining the third set in 2012; allowing Nadal to capture his seventh title at Roland Garros. This all came the year after Novak 2.0 showed up to the tour, where he did manage to have a winning record on clay against the Spaniard (beating Rafa in straights in Madrid and Rome). But this is 2013, what happened in the past doesn’t really matter right now, all that matters is the French Open semifinal on Friday.

Nadal nervous about his French Open semifinal against Djokovic

Nadal French Open semifinal nerves

“I’m going to be nervous,” Nadal said to French Press. “If not, go home and do another thing. Because if you are not nervous to play the semifinals against the best player of the world, it’s because you are not enjoying or you don’t feel passion for this game. I would prefer an easier opponent,” Nadal said. “But it’s Novak, and I have to accept that it’s going to be a very tough match.” Read the rest of this entry

Roger Federer slowing down

Roger Federer has always been under the tennis microscope this year; every match, point, unforced error, winner, and double fault are all examined closely by the tennis world. His match in the 2013 French Open quarterfinals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is going to be the match that will be the base of the speculation of a “Federer career decline.” Roger pretty much got worked over in his quarterfinal match against Frenchie Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.

Let me say this now, Tsonga played an amazing match against Roger. Tsonga was seeing the tennis ball as if it were the size of a basketball, very few errors off the Tsonga racquet. On the other side of the court was the sluggish, tired, disinterested Swiss Maestro; it seemed as though Roger was already back at the hotel. I don’t blame the guy, his previous match against Simon was exhausting (to watch at least).

Federer did say after his match, “I thought he [Tsonga] played great today, he was, in all areas, better than me today. That’s why the result was pretty clean. I was impressed by the way he played today. I think I struggled a little bit everywhere. To be honest, personally, I’m pretty sad about the match and the way I played.”

Federer’s professional tennis career over now?

Just because Roger Federer suffered a bad loss to a much more energetic player on this day doesn’t automatically make it his time to retire. This is just another bump in the road for an already stellar tennis career. Read the rest of this entry

It’s the moment we have all been waiting for, Roger Federer has officially joined the celebrity “must have” and has opened a Twitter account. At the moment of writing this, Roger Federer has 19,826 followers (I’ll post the final tally when I finish this quick post).

Roger Federer’s Twitter account a reality

He’s been asked about having a Twitter account nuemerous times in the past, though he’s always seemed a little reluctant to commit to the 140 character machine. He hasn’t really done much with it, only having one solitary tweet, of course he included a picture as if he is confirming the legitimacy of his account:

A little (blue) bird told me that the place to be is @twitter, so here I am! twitter.com/rogerfederer/s…

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) May 23, 2013

I’m not sure if he’s going to be as active as say Andy Roddick, Andrea Petkovic, or even Serena Williams; though it’s a nice gesture to let the millions of fans he has to peek into his private life, which I’m sure is as classy as his tennis.

You can follow Roger Federer on Twitter @RogerFederer - As of the end of this post, Roger Federer now has 23,451 followers and that’s just in a matter of a few short minutes. Wowza!