DEL POTRO MISSES OUT

David Nalbandian’s countryman, Juan Martin Del Potro, has been defeated by the Swiss superstar Roger Federer in a Group B match of the ongoing ATP World Tour Finals. Federer won the match in three sets by 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.

With this win, Federer has reached the semi final round where he will face his arch rival Rafael Nadal.

Federer had lost his last 3 matches against Del Potro and he seemed to be on his way of losing another one against his Argentinean rival as he lost the first set, but, he re-gathered his focus after that and came on top in the next two sets to win the contest.

Overall, it was the 20^th match between these two players and Federer defeated Del Potro for the 15^th time.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Federer said, “I wasn’t fluent, but, I tried to hang in there and I am delighted that I ended up winning. Probably, luck also favoured me on a few occasions.”

“I don’t have enough time to rest. There is another game for me tomorrow. Hopefully, I continue in the same way and make things tough for Rafa.”

Federer’s start against Del Potro was horrible. He lost his serve in the very first game of the opening set. The next 3 games went with the serve and then, in the 5^th game, Federer’s serve was broken again. Now, to recover from there was not easy at all for the Swiss maestro. He did get a breakthrough in the 8^th game and managed to reduce Del Potro’s lead to 5-3, but, that was not enough. He needed one more breakthrough which he didn’t get and Del Potro held his serve in the 10^th game to finish off the set.

Federer began poorly in the second set as well. He dropped his serve in the 3^rd game and got down by 1-2, but, he broke back in the 6^th game to level the scores. There were no breakthroughs in the next 6 games and the set went into the tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Federer was the dominant player. He had no problems whatsoever in pulling that off.

Federer seemed to be losing his focus in the decider as he lost the first 3 games in a row. But, he managed to equalize the proceedings with a breakthrough in the 5^th game and a serve hold in the 6^th game.

Both the players held their serve in the next 4 games and then, in the 11^th game, the Swiss maestro got another breakthrough which took him ahead by 6-5. He served out the next game and with that, he secured his entry into the next round.

David Nalbandian disqualified from Queens after kicking line judge

Nalbandian Online video Rating: 4 / 5

Nalbandian disqualified during mens final at Queens Tennis.mp4

Nalbandian Video clip Ranking: 3 / five

MONACO VS MAYER

David Nalbandian’s countryman, Juan Monaco, will take on the experienced German player Florian Mayer in the first round of the US Open.

It will be the 8^th time that these two players will face each other. Out of the previous 7 matches, Mayer has won 5.

Monaco is not one of those guys who like to play aggressive tennis. He doesn’t go for fancy shots too often. All he tries to do is to make his opponent commit errors and that’s why, he has had such a fantastic record on slow surfaces.

But, when it comes to playing on hard courts, he is not so lethal. He didn’t have good outing in a couple of hard court tournaments played recently i.e. Cincinnati Masters and Winston-Salem Open. He got knocked out from the second round in both the tournaments.

The positive thing about Monaco is that he is a real fighter. He doesn’t commit too many errors. If you have to grab points against him, you will have to do it yourself as he is not going to giving you too many opportunities.

On the other hand, there is Mayer who is a wily customer. He has been around since a long time and he doesn’t mind playing on hard courts. His playing style is not conventional, but, it’s pretty effective.

Mayer’s recent form hasn’t been that good either. In his last couple of hard court tournaments, he lost at early stages and he would be a bit concerned about his form.

However, his record against Monaco is brilliant and that might give him a bit of confidence.

Both the players are quite hard to beat on their day, but, because of his experience and his past record against Monaco, Mayer can be considered as favourite.

David Nalbandian Backhands Slow Motion

Nalbandian Video clip Ranking: four / five

NERVOUS TIMES

David Nalbandian’s compatriot, Juan Martin Del Potro, has admitted that he couldn’t keep his nerves during the crucial times in the semi final match of the Wimbledon Championships.

Del Potro got knocked out of the Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday after suffering a close defeat against the no. 1 player in the world Novak Djokovic.

Although, Del Potro lost the match but, he made Djokovic toil extremely hard for each and every point. He matched the Serbian superstar shot for shot and took the match into the fifth set.

Unfortunately, in the decider, the 8^th seed Argentinean panicked a little bit and ended up getting knocked out.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Del Potro said, “I think I played at my very best in this tournament. I defeated some fine players on my way to final 4. Unfortunately, today, things didn’t go my way, but, I am happy with my outing in this tournament.”

“Novak is a world class player and it’s not easy to compete against him at any surface. He played the return shots incredibly well today.”

This was the first time that Del Potro had reached the semi final round of the Wimbledon Championships. He was not the favourite against Djokovic, but, he was expected to give the world no. 1 a tough fight and he did exactly that.

A large part of the crowd was behind Del Potro. They were chanting his name and cheering him up.

When asked about that, Del Potro said, “It was overwhelming to get that kind of support from the crowd. They motivated me and helped me to come back from tough situations. I want to thank all the spectators from the bottom of my heart.”

In the final match, Djokovic will take on the local boy Andy Murray.