Tennisthis.com

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!

As we are less than a week away from the first ball of the main draw being struck at the 2013 French Open, the world finds that the men’s side of the draw is going to be missing a few players.

Top ranked players are out of the 2013 French Open

World #2 Andy Murray announced that he will be withdrawing from Roland Garros citing a back injury. It’s not very surprising that he’s pulling out of the second major, clay is not his best surface so why push his body to do something that could potentially be worse for him. I imagine he is going to use this opportunity to rest and get ready for what I figure to be his reason for playing, grass court season! He’s probably hanging out at home now, having his back looked at, and getting all preparations in line for Wimbledon this year. Judging by his performance in 2012, he has the best chance to reach the finals again and perhaps actually take the title home with him.

Another top ranked player to pull out is world #7 Juan Martin Del Potro. This one comes as a bit more of a shocker since he’s been relatively healthy all year. He’s also made quite a remarkable run to regain his place in the top 10 after a long layoff from a wrist injury. Reports say that Del Potro is suffering from a virus and has flown back to Argentina to see his doctors. I was hoping he would do well on the red clay of the 2013 French Open, but it won’t be this year. Read the rest of this entry

After watching the beating that Nadal gave Federer at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, it got me thinking about what does Federer need to do to beat Nadal on clay?

Historically, we all know that Rafael Nadal is king when it comes to red clay (he seems to be afraid of the blue clay from 2012), and Roger hasn’t found a way to break down the buggy whipping Spaniard.

The two have met 15 times on clay with Roger Federer only being able to find victory twice (2009 Madrid and 2007 Hamburg). Most of the wins from Nadal came with ease by hitting exclusively to the Federer backhand – high looping with lots and lots of topspin. Yet, it seems that Roger has not learned anything in all those meetings as he continues to get his Swiss Francs handed to him time and time again.

Should Federer change his game plan against Nadal?

Over the years of watching two great players meet in the later rounds of tournaments, I have picked up on a Federer pattern against Nadal. For some reason, probably only known to him and Paul Annacone, Roger tends to hit to Nadal instead of making him run side to side, to create errors. There are times when Federer does actually move Nadal side to side and the outcome is generally in the favor of the Swiss.

Another part of the Federer game that could use a little bit of change against Nadal is including some dropshots in the mix. If you watch Nadal on service return, you’ll notice he camps out way behind the baseline, especially when returning serve. I believe it would be an effective tactic against the Spaniard, he would have to scramble from about 10 miles from behind the baseline and get to the net. You see where I’m going with this? Federer could get some easy free points this way…even if it is kind of a cheesy way to earn points, but it’s not like Roger is winning many points engaging in baseline rallies right now. Read the rest of this entry

David Ferrer must win the Portugal Open title this weekend if he is to stand any chance of success in Madrid and Roland Garros as the Spaniard gears up for a grueling few weeks of clay-court season.

Ferrer is currently in the quarter-finals of Oeiras after eventually beating off Edouard Roger-Vasselin over three sets on Wednesday and now faces a relatively easy route to the final, needing to be Victor Hanescu in the next round.

The first seed joined the tournament as a late wildcard, for he is using the match practice to build his strength for Madrid and the French Open following a hampering leg injury. He suffered from a leg injury during his marathon final defeat to Andy Murray in Miami and it affected him enough to sit out of Monte Carlo. In Barcelona last week, his first clay tournament of 2013, he crashed out in his first round and looked a shadow of what tennis betting fans saw in America.

Hopefully the Spaniard has fully recovered from that leg pain and betting fans should seriously consider backing him to win the Portugal title this weekend. The competing field is very weak – with world number 16 Stanislas Wawrinka seeded second – and this can only help Ferrer build up match practice without much strain on his body.

Indeed, while most of the ATP sit out of action this week ahead of Madrid, Ferrer is doing the right thing participating in this event and should benefit from it when in the Spanish capital.

Granted, the world number four is unlikely to win the Madrid title – for both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are on fire right now – but Ferrer will make the semis if his leg holds out and betting fans could win a lot of money on a man who is long odds for success.

The 2013 French Open is right around that tennis corner! How excited are you people to see some of the worlds greatest tennis players compete on the red clay? Let’s not forget that this will be another year that Rafael Nadal wins Roland Garros…YAY!!!

Like all other majors, I like to give away free tennis stuff and the 2013 French Open is no different. During the 2013 Australian Open, one lucky winner received a brand new Babolat AeroPro Drive GT, Tennis-Warehouse sweatshirt, t-shirt, hat, and water bottle. Now, this French Open giveaway doesn’t include as much stuff but hey, it’s still something.

One lucky winner, man or woman, will win a pair of Nike Courtballistec 4.3′s (Turquoise) or a pair of Nike Zoom Vapor 9 Tour (Violet)!

This is how it’s going to go down, like all my other contests, your entry is made by leaving a comment below. I am going to change it up a little bit this year, typically I ask that you leave a comment of your favorite moment of the major tournament of the giveaway; I noticed last year 95% of French Open entries were about Rafael Nadal. Now, don’t get me wrong about this, I am going to not accept any entries about Rafael Nadal. So basically, to enter this contest, you need to leave a comment with your favorite NON-Rafa Nadal moment from the French Open! Read that carefully.

The selection process is the same as always, only one winner will be selected (man or woman) immediately following the 2013 French Open men’s final match. The winner that is selected will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond claiming your winnings…please, use an email address that is valid and that you check regularly! I have selected winners in the past that never responded so I was forced to selected a different winner.

Oh and if an international winner is selected, the winner agrees to pay for shipping charges and any possible international taxes due.

Good luck to those who enter and don’t forget to use those fancy buttons at the top and bottom to share to this 2013 French Open contest on your favorite social media outlets!

Well, it’s been nearly three years since top Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal has won an ATP level tournament on hard courts. Kind of a shocker right? We all know Rafa as the outright “King of Clay,” winning the majority of his titles on that surface (38 clay court titles).

Just today, Rafa won his first hard court tournament since his return from a 7 month “injury” layoff. He beat a very inspired Juan Martin Del Potro who has also been making his comeback after wrist surgery. It certainly was an impressive feat for the Spaniard who has been outspoken about the hard court surface as being “too aggressive on the body.“, to come back from the dead and beat a very strong field; having to beat Earnest Gulbis, Roger Federer, and Tomas Berdych; finishing with Del Potro. Seems almost too good to be true, yes, no?

Just how injured was Rafa Nadal really???

There has been plenty of speculation of just how severe Rafa’s knee injury was or still is. I mean, it was apparently injured to the point of taking him out of the game for just over seven months. Then to come back and reach the final of your first tournament back (granted, it was on clay), follow that up with a title the following week (also on clay), and finally win your third tournament back on the very surface you despise and say is the cause of your injuries? Read the rest of this entry