My favorite players (except for Rafael Nadal) continue to fall at the Sony Ericsson tennis tournament in Miami. Roger Federer was knocked out yesterday and today, American Andy Roddick was forced to retire during the first set of his match with British star Andy Murray.
Roddick, who is now being coached by Jimmy Connors, won the U.S. Open four years ago and reached the final again last September. He met with reporters (below) after the abbrviated match.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am miserable! The Sony Ericsson Open was playing in our sports department so I walked over to check the score in the Roger Federer-Guillermo Canas match. They were in a third-set tie-breaker with Federer up 4-3. Then, before I even get a chance to settle in, Canas has won the damned match 7-6, 2-6, 7-6, takling the tie-breaker 7-5.
What is going on here? It seems that Canas is a little bit in Federer's head now after beating him a few weeks ago at the Pacfic Life Open, snapping Fed's 41-match winning streak. And next week, the tennis tour enters the claycourt season which has been Federer's weakest surface (if you could call it that since he did reach the French Open final last year). I'm hoping these losses motivate him to finally win in Paris.
Anyway, Federer may not be holding up the men's championship trophy over his head on Sunday but he did win plenty of awards while in Miami.
On Monday, he took home a record four year-end awards from the Association of Tennis Professionals. Federer received the Player of the Year award, the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award, the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award and the ATPTENNIS.COM Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year award, closing the book on Federer’s remarkable run in 2006.
But all of that is little solace to a great champion like Federer. I'm now looking for Andy Roddick (nice hairdo!) and Rafael Nadal (love the new outfit!) to carry on. On the women's side, Serena Williams showed she is back on top by rolling by top-seeded Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1! Wow.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

She's long been an artist on the tennis court but tennis legend Martina Navratilova now has a new canvas on which to express herself.
Martina has an exhibition of artwork produced by her hitting tennis balls dipped in paint and it opened in Paris this weekend in Paris. She has been working on the project in secret for four years with Slovak artist Juraj Kralik. Between 2001 and 2005, the pair created the works on the courts of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments in New York, Melbourne, Paris and Wimbledon. The tennis balls were covered in paint and hit onto a canvas that was hung on a wall or laid out on the ground at each of the four Grand Slam venues. Navratilova mostly used her forehand when hitting the painted balls.
"What I like is that you hit the ball but you don't exactly know what you're doing," Martina told the AFP news agency.
More than 60 canvases have been created for the Art Grand Slam show at Roland-Garros, home of the French Open which Martina won in 1982 and 1984. She won 18 grand slam singles titles in all, including nine at Wimbledon.
Her favorite canvas is titled "Way of My Life," featuring two loops that spiral upwards to the edge of the painting.
"It represents my career, with a small loop and a big loop and at the end it shows I'm finished," she said.
The exhibition, which also includes a documentary about Navratilova, is in Paris until August 20.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rafael Nadal captured his first career championship at the Pacific Life Open and his first title since the French Open last June by defeating Serbian teen Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 Sunday afternoon.
"I was very satisfied with my game, for sure with the title," said Nadal, who claimed the title without dropping a set. "It was a very great week for me. A very, very important week. And it was very important. I have eight months without any title, but I come back with big one."
This was supposed to be the tournament when top-ranked Roger Federer made history by achieving the longest consecutive match win streak in the history of the game. It did not happen and his early loss could have been disastrous for the Indian Wells tournament.
But Nadal, with every bit as much star power as Federer, came through.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'll be missing the action at the Pacific Life Open today because, well, my vacation is over! But the tournament on the men's side managed to survive the early loss of Roger Federer because the charismatic and popular Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal both won their matches in straight sets yesterday and will meet in the men's semifinals on Saturday!
That is a dream match up and one that would be anyone's idea of a perfect final. Tonight, Tommy Haas will play Andy Murray and it's tough to call that one but I'm gonna say Haas wins because he has been on FIRE this week. The other semi is the very non-marquee match between David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic. Sorry I will be missing that. (I know, that didn't sound very sincere...because it wasn't!). And then there are today's women's semis: Na Li vs. Daniela Hantuchova and Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Sybille Bammer. Gee, it pains me to miss those. (lack of sincerity once again...)
But, you take what you get. I'd love to go to the night session to see Haas and Murray but will catch it on ESPN and Saturday should make for a terrific day of tennis just like yesterday was. Nadal and Roddick were both so purposeful and passionate in their wins against very talented and determined opponents and both want to take advantage of Federer's absence and win this great event which ranks only behind the four grand slams: Wimbledon, Australian Open, French Open and U.S. Open as well as the tournament next week in Miami which I think is still called the Erricson Open. It used to be the Lipton and that's what I still call it.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My vacation is over. I'm leaving this terrific resort and the Pacific Life Open behind in a few hours to head back to LA. But it's been a wonderful time and even though the top female players lost early, there was a tennis legend on the grounds yesterday who more than made up for it: Billie Jean King!
Billie Jean was honored in the afternoon with the third annual Alan King Tennis Passion Award by King's widow Jeanette King and tournament founder Charlie Pasarell. No one, I mean no one, has had more passion for tennis than Billie Jean. Her passion has not just been about winning and being number one. It's been about fighting for equal rights, for open tennis, for making tennis more accessible and appealing to the masses. I could go on and on because Billie Jean's accomplishments are as big as her heart. She is an inspiration to anyone who ever wanted to make a difference in the world and make the most of their passion.
Billie Jean's great rival on the court and great friend off the court is Chris Evert, the player who BJK herself says "was the best thing that ever happened to women's tennis." Chrissie was the sports first glamour girl but she also had game: she has the highest winning percentage of any player in history and during a two-decade career, won Wimbledon three times as well as six U.S. Open and a historic seven French Opens.

It should be noted that Chris Evert, America's sweetheart, set the tone back in the early 80s when Billie Jean was outed and Martina Navratilova came out. Chrissie was publicly supportive of both and remains so to this day. She was the top player then and she did what Billie Jean told me has to happen in men's sports: the top guys have to let the public know that they are cool with it and send that message of "deal with it" to the guys in the locker room.
Anyway, Chrissie will be signing autographs tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. on the grounds. I'm sure this means she will be presenting the women's trophy after the championship match. My friend Henry and I worship Evert who will always be known as "Our Chrissie." When she retired in 1989, we moved on to "Our Steffi."
Now we don't really have anyone like that because players like Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Billie Jean just are not around anymore. Serena Williams is as good as they are but her commitment to the game and the tour are nowhere near what theirs was and continues to be. I loved it when the top players showed up week after week and battled each other for supremacy.
Those were the days...

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hi everyone...I'm still here in the desert watching tennis. All I have to say is, 'Thank God for Rafael Nadal.' If not for him, the Pacific Life Open would be without any stars! Roger Federer lost Sunday followed by former number ones Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin as well as the popular American James Blake. On the women's side, the two biggest names, Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis, both lost yesterday! I watched Maria go down yesterday and it was pathetic! She was up 6-4, 5-4 and lost six straight games. I could never imagine Steffi Graf or Monica Seles losing like that. They had too much heart. Sharapova needs some more heart.

I will say this for Roger Federer, he is a great sport. After losing in singles on Sunday night, he went out and played doubles...and won! Then he went out again yesterday and played again...and I was there to watch! Organizers, in a bad miscalculation, put Federer on court 2 which holds only 5,000 people instead of the 16,000-seat main stadium. Court 2 was jammed to the rafters with people also standing, all jammed together, at all the entrances. Federer and his partner lost in a heartbreaker but the respect and love the crowd gave to him was something I will never forget. Players who are as dominant as Federer often get a backlash and fans want to see them lose. But I sense that is not the case with Federer. He is respected and beloved.
So, the best thing about this tournament are the practice courts. There's no stopping to start points etc., just players hitting their best shots over and over again. It's glorious. I watched Nadal for an hour yesterday and another hour today, along with hundreds of other people, and it was more fun that most matches. Also watched the very talented Tommy Haas (pictured, right) practice yesterday as well as Martina Hingis who looked sluggish. I was not surprised when she lost last night

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)