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By Christopher Lancette

Fish crushes forehand against Tipsarevic.

MONTREAL – Energized by his tournament win in Atlanta and a week of rest, World No. 8 Mardy Fish dispatched Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4 at the Rogers Cup on Saturday to earn his spot in Sunday’s championship match. He will face No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who advanced after semifinal opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired with an arm injury while trailing 4-6, 0-3.

Djokovic will attempt to become the first player in history to win five Master’s 1000 events in one season. While his previous opponent Gael Monfils described his bruising match against the Serb as “push, push, push, boom!” in referring to Djokovic’s power from the baseline, Mardy Fish anticipates a match with more of a bang, bang, bang pace to it because both players will be at the net. Djokovic responded to that WTM comparison by agreeing that the match will more likely resemble Fish’s notion.

Djocovic seeks to make history on Sunday.

“Good way to put it, I still haven’t heard that,” he said with a laugh, before engaging in a serious analysis of what’s ahead on Sunday. “I don’t think my game will significantly change, you know, tomorrow. I will play the game that I always play: aggressive from the baseline, trying to take every chance to go for the shots.

“But there is different tactics with every player, that’s for sure. Mardy is one of the rare players that plays serve and volley nowadays. I think these conditions, which are a bit faster, are quite suitable to his style of game. He’s been winning his matches quite comfortably. He’s been serving extremely well. But I think if I return well, as well as I did in the last two matches, I have a good chance.”

For his part, Tsonga said the pain in his arm forced him to withdraw.

Tsonga exits court after retiring.

“I’ve had this since three days,” he said. “At the end, at 1‑0, after that, it was really difficult for me to hit the ball well and enough hard. That’s why I took this decision.”

Tsonga gave Djokovic a bit of competition in the first set. The difference came down to about 60 seconds of play. Seeking to even the set score at 5-5 on his serve, Tsonga hit a backhand that just missed the left baseline, putting him down 30-40 in the game. Djokovic drilled a backhand into the feet of a charging Tsonga on the next point to take the set 6-4.

Earlier in the day, Fish jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first set and never looked back, attacking the net so frequently that it surprised even Tipsarevic.

Fish has served well this week.

“One of my goals is to go out there against someone like him and break up his rhythm and sort of play not a style that everybody else plays,” the 29-year-old Fish said of his fourth straight win over Tipsarevic. “I feel like I’m capable of doing that, capable of playing a couple different ways.  I mean, he’s the kind of guy where if we just play a baseline game, bounce‑and‑hit, he’s probably going to beat me. He’s got great ground strokes and he’s very comfortable from the baseline.”

Fish’s win improves his record to 33-15 on the year after Rogers Cup victories over Feliciano Lopez, Ernests Gulbis and Stanislas Wawrinka. His performance, his best to date at this tournament, also makes him the first American finalist since Andre Agassi in 2005.

Tipsarevic appeared tighter than he has all week but began to relax and strike the ball more fluidly in the second set. Down 1-2 with Fish serving, the Serb went up 30-love after scrambling to cover a few well-placed shots and ultimately forcing Fish to hit a lob long. Tipsarevic broke Fish’s serve on the following point when Fish raced through a backhand that he hit into the net.

Tipsarevic fell flat after great week in Montreal.

The comeback effort proved short-lived, however. After trading holds, Fish broke Tipsarevic to take a commanding 4-3 lead – leaving Tispsarevic to slam his racquet into the ground out of frustration. They traded holds on the next two games before Fish closed out the match with flair – scoring in the final game with an ace, leaping overhead smash, service winner and pick-up volley.

“He’s mixing up the game, as I said yesterday, and changing up the pace and the rhythm,” Tipsarevic said. “But you need to stay focused playing against him from start to finish because he’s not playing, let’s say, like Tomas Berdych, in the same rhythm the whole match. He can go to the net, stay back, be aggressive, be defensive. Combining that with a great serve, and I have to say a very good first‑serve return, which he improved so much, he’s definitely a top‑10 quality player.”

The good news for Tipsarevic is that he will be a Top 20 player for the first time when the new rankings come out on Monday thanks to his Rogers Cup performance. He said the wins over No. 15 seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych this week give him a boost of confidence for the rest of the hard court season.

“But the most important thing is that even though I played a lot of matches in Washington and here, including doubles, I feel healthy, fresh and fit,” he said. “I’m ready to play more and win even more matches.”

Fish’s week continues thanks in part to employing an improved return game, especially on the forehand side.

“I take returns every single day before matches and in practice just to the forehand,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t even take the backhand, but just to the forehand, to try to get the groove on that side.”

Bryan Brothers confer between points.

Doubles: Bob and Mike Bryan cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tomas Berdych and Florian Mayer. The 702^nd win of their careers under their belts, the Bryans face Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in the championship match on Sunday. They advanced to the finals by beating Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 6-3, 6-4. [Check out WTM’s new “The Changeover” interview with the Bryan Brothers.]

The duo knows there will be no margin for error on Sunday, especially if the match heads to the newer style tiebreak format for a third set.

“I think it’s just there’s a sense of urgency, a sense that you can’t really let up or give any free points,” Mike Bryan said. “So you’re kind of a little bit more on edge.  You’re playing with more energy, more focus. You know that you have to get out of the gates a lot quicker. You go down a set, and you’re playing a tiebreaker for the third, which is kind of a coin flip.”

Follow us on Twitter @worldtennismag.

Photo credit © Won-ok Kim

By Christopher Lancette

Federer easily dispatched Pospisil on Wednesday.

MONTREAL – Roger Federer strolled on to center court at Stade Uniprix for his opening Rogers Cup match earlier this week looking every bit like the player I had only seen on TV and the one I was most looking forward to covering here. Could this guy possibly be as suave and debonair in person as he appears on the tube?

Oui!

Federer’s wavy brown hair sat perfectly over his bandana – the style he single-handedly turned into a re-born retail craze. He unzipped his jacket, revealing his Superman-blue shirt that picked up the splash of color in the personal logo emblazoned on his sneaks.

His strokes looked just as smooth, too, even if he started a bit slowly against Vasek Pospisil, a young man who grew up idolizing the Swiss champion. The pop on Federer’s one-handed backhand was there. So was his net game. Watching Federer attack the net reminded me of playing the old Pac-Man arcade game: He dashed forward gobbling up volleys and half volleys and spitting out winners.

The Canadian held his ground – for a while at least. At 5-5 in the first set and down 30-40, Pospisil tried to end a rally prematurely by carving out a drop shot that he cut too deeply. The ball died in the net, as did Pospisil’s chances. The next ten minutes featured a string of nightmares for the 155^th-ranked player whose bio is almost completely blank on the ATP Web site. The question of who would win became a fait accompli early in the second set when he somehow managed to hit an overhead straight into the ground while standing at the net.

I wondered if Federer expected his would-be protégé to self-destruct with a silly shot that unleashed an avalanche of errors. I nearly fell out of my chair in the press room when I actually got the chance to ask. Seems that all the rest of the reporters wanted to parlez-vous some frances so English speakers got to go first – all two of us.

“Not really,” he said in response to my question. “I mean, because sure it could happen, but at the same time, I don’t think today you have any players who donate point after point, game after game.”

The always fashion-forward Federer delved into my question more deeply, looking me squarely in the eyes while sporting a navy blue sweat jacket with yellow piping and white accents that gave him the appearance of being adorned with epaulettes.

“I struggled early on with my own returning, which maybe allowed him to get into the match a bit better,” the tennis admiral continued. “He had good variation on his serve. He went through a few games where he couldn’t make very many first serves, then he went through some where he wouldn’t miss one. It’s tricky to know his patterns because I’ve never played him in a match, but maybe just more difficult.”

I wanted to hop in with a follow-up question but knew the newest face in the press room wouldn’t get the chance. Federer was so considerate, however, that he read my mind — offering a response to the question I would have asked about the overhead Pospisil shanked in those ten awful minutes of play.

“Now, should he have been broken in the second set?” Federer asked himself for me. “No. He had the overhead which he could hit in his sleep. For some reason he missed it. I ended up getting lucky and getting the break. It was I think a tough ten minutes. I think this is where I was better than him today. I wasn’t better otherwise. So it was a good match for me to win without playing my very best.”

Federer exited early but still regaled press corps.

French reporters took over the show from there. He dazzled them, too. Roger Federer is so cool that you laugh at the jokes he makes in French – even though you don’t speak French.

Federer fielded a barrage of questions in that language and then moved on to more – in German. When the formal interviews were complete, he continued sitting comfortably – hands folded below the large Rolex watch on his left wrist. He waived them only to accentuate specific points while he maintained simultaneous conversations with two different people, one in French and one in German.

New world No. 1 Novak Djokovic entered the press room later, after a light workout in a 7-5, 6-1 win over Russian Nikolay Davydenko. The press room again packed and Djokovic not likely to start speaking French, I thought I’d have no shot and getting in a question about which he anticipates to be more difficult psychologically – making it to No. 1 or staying there.

Au contraire, mon frère.

I got my shot and tossed my question to him. Djokovic didn’t just answer it: He probed it.

“Well, that’s something that I will see,” he said. “It still has been only four weeks since I’ve become No. 1. This is my first official tournament. I will repeat again: My approach hasn’t changed. I’m really trying to do everything that I have done, even before I become No. 1. Of course, the world is looking at me a bit differently, which I think is obvious to expect.

“But, as I said, you carry a lot of responsibility when you are playing and when you are off the court. You represent not just yourself but the game of tennis in general. You need to handle yourself well. It carries a little bit more weight on your shoulders.

“But, look, you know, it’s a challenge, it’s something I’ve always dreamed of. I don’t want to think about negatives and worry about things that might happen because I have become No. 1:  Will I keep it long enough? Will it come to my head?  Will I struggle with emotions?

“Look, I’ve become No. 1 of the world. I achieved my dreams. This is all that is going on in my head, all I’m thinking of, just enjoying the moment.”

Djokovic having fun with teleconference interview from Toronto.

Djokovic clearly meant what he said about his joie de vivre. At what he thought was the end of the interview, he realized that reporters were watching him from Toronto via a teleconference. They had questions, too.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked aloud, marveling at the connection he was making in that moment because of the modern technology. “This is so cool.” He asked how the folks in Toronto were doing and if it was raining there. He broke the news bulletin that play had been suspended in Montreal. Djokovic happily extended the dual-city interview and waved goodbye to the television when it ended.

The next man up on center court was Rafael Nadal. Yes, the best three players in the game all played on this day and I got face time with all of them. How often does a guy – even a former journalist like myself who now freelances on the side – get to go from the cheap seats to the inner sanctum of the sport he loves?

Nadal suffered shocking loss to Dodig.

The first thing I noticed about Nadal was the distinctive sound made when his racquet strikes the ball. As the sun dropped below top of Stade Uniprix, the whacks he made sounded like a giant lumberjack chopping down a tree. The Paul Bunyan of tennis, he is.

The No. 41-ranked Ivan Dodig didn’t give Nadal quite the first set the previous Croatian on court would have. Overmatched early, he lost 6-1.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to approach the press conference with Nadal. I wanted to learn a little something about him off the court. I was particularly interested in the foundation he set up — Fundacion Rafa Nadal — to help disadvantaged children –– and why it’s so important to him.

I speak Spanish well after having lived in Spain when I was about the age Nadal is now. I  worked for a bilingual newspaper in Atlanta afterward and even interviewed Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz. Still, it has been a while since I spoke Spanish every day and I wasn’t eager to risk a blunder in Rafa’s language in a crowded press room. Would I get the chance to ask a question? Would I be able to do it in Spanish without choking?

Dodig gave me more time to agonize over the issue by coming from behind to swipe the second set. He took the set even after Nadal made one of his famous running forehands in which he curls the ball back into the court from outside the sideline. Who is this guy? There’s not much in Dodig’s bio except that he enjoys music, movies, table tennis and video games.

Better add “defeating Rafael Nadal.”

Unlike Pospisil, who recovered from amnesia and collapsed against Federer, Dodig showed no recall that the man on the other side of the net was once No. 1 in the world. His upset blew the question about the foundation. Nadal’s heart wouldn’t be in it after suffering such an unexpected defeat.

With a chance to complete a day of posing a question to the top three players in the world, I jockeyed for an opportunity. The moderator pointed to me and I dove in, albeit in a different direction. I asked Nadal what his process is for recovering from a loss like this. I posed the question in English so as not to risk slowing him down on a night he was eager to see conclude.

Sting of losing was in Nadal’s voice after Dodig upset.

“You know, the worst part on a loss like this is all the work that you did, that I did the last week,” he said, the pain of losing clearly audible in his voice.

Nadal elaborated by explaining that he arrived several days early to prepare for the Rogers Cup and that it’s like he has to start the hard work all over after such a loss.

“I will have one day off tomorrow,” he added. “Friday I will be in Cincinnati practicing. I’m gonna try my best. I’m gonna try thinking positive. I’m gonna think what worked well, what didn’t work well, and work on that.  I’ll work and be ready to play well in Cincinnati.”

He ambled out of the press room, making way for the night’s final occupant: Ivan Dodig. I asked him how he managed not to repeat Pospisil’s mental collapse against a great player.

“I was working a lot with my coach, especially on the mental part,” Dodig said of his training this year. “I was losing a lot of matches probably thinking a lot. Today we said, for example, if I get some chance, some small chance, I have to be aggressive, I have to try to make point myself, otherwise I cannot beat a guy like Rafa waiting to him to make mistake.”

Though not quite the thrill of interviewing the top three players in the world, it was still an honor to query a man who has just had the best day of his life.

His words, after all, concluded one of the best of mine, too.

Merci beaucoup, Rogers Cup.

 

Christopher Lancette is a Washington D.C.-area freelance writer. Read his DC Reflections blog and follow him on Twitter @chrislancette.

Photo credit © Won-ok Kim

By Christopher Lancette

MONTREAL – What if Hollywood sold tickets to the public for a week-long gala with the absolute biggest stars in the business – and 75 percent of them left before the weekend even arrived?

That’s what the Rogers Cup is facing now that No. 3 Roger Federer has fallen from the Quebec sky. Nemesis Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France followed up his Wimbledon triumph over Federer with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory that advances him to the quarterfinal round. Federer’s exit follows those of No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Andy Murray.

No. 16 Tsonga used a steady, aggressive game to sack Federer and control this match more than he has any of his three victories against him.

Tsonga leaps for joy after win over Federer.

“That is the match I played best,” he said of the three wins. “I really played good tonight. I was opportunistic. I didn’t miss any opportunities I had.  I was able to break before he did.  I’m very happy the way I won this match.”

Tsonga broke Federer in the second game of the third set to go up 2-0 and then held serve. Up 3-0 but behind 15-30 in the next game, Tsonga showed off some wheels: He raced down a Federer shot and hit a backhand winner. Tsonga went up 4-0 a moment later when Federer drilled a backhand into the net. Federer’s body language showed he was done but he did manage to hold one service game in the final set.

Was Federer surprised to lose to Tsonga in consecutive contests?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, he beat me at Wimbledon. So I don’t know how much of a surprise it is. He’s playing well. I thought if he was going to play well again, me not at my best, he could do it again. It’s not like he’s beating me the first time.”

Few in attendance would have guessed that Tsonga would emerge victorious after a thrilling second set that appeared to give Federer the momentum.

Up 4-3, Federer opened the eighth game by tapping into his inner Gael Monfils on the most spectacular point of the evening. Federer raced from the baseline toward the net at the left sideline to cover a Tsonga drop shot. Tsonga pushed a would-be volley winner back to the spot Federer just came from – sending Federer scrambling back at a diagonal angle toward the corner of the court. Federer hit a trademark between-the-legs shot that drew a Tsonga drop volley, which Federer tracked down and lobbed. Tsonga leaped up for an overhead but buried it in the net.

Federer and Tsonga traded the next several points and Tsonga took the advantage … until Tsonga fired a bullet to Federer’s shoe strings that the Swiss dug out with a backhand scoop volley winner. Federer finished the game and took a 5-3 lead with a one-two punch of a forehand winner up the line and a service winner. Tsonga held his next serve and Federer won the set on his.

In the first set, Federer could not capitalize on several break point opportunities. Tsonga fought them off and then blasted a backhand winner to force a tie breaker. Federer made a couple of unforced errors in the tie-breaker, costing him the opener.

The third set wasn’t heavily contested.

“Well, he’s confident right now and he played an excellent third set,” Federer said. “The first two sets were tighter. I should maybe have won the first one. I had some opportunities. In the second I was able to hold my serve. I might have won, but he was able to finish off the match very well.”

Tsonga said there are lessons he’s drawing from the wins against Federer that he can apply to other top opponents.

“You know, just keep the way I play, just be aggressive all the time, take the control early in the point,” said. “That’s it.”

Tsonga faces No. 10 Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the quarterfinals on Friday evening.

“I’m happy now to be in the quarterfinals,” Tsonga said. “It was a tough draw to have Federer in the Round of 16. I’m going to rest and hope to play a good match tomorrow.”

The only top four player left in the tournament? Novak Djokovic. He advanced today with a 7-5, 6-2 over Marin Cilic.

Visit www.rogerscup.com to see the rest of the matchups for Friday.

Follow us on Twitter @worldtennismag.

Photo credit © Won-ok Kim

By Christopher Lancette

MONTREAL – When No. 41-ranked Ivan Dodig smacked a backhand cross-court winner to close out a stunning 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 upset of No. 2 Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup on Wednesday, it wasn’t clear who was in the most shock – the crowd, Nadal or Dodig himself.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said after the three-hour match. “This is the best moment of my life.”

What he did manage to pull off was something the previous person playing a former world No. 1 on the same court could not. Canadian Vasek Pospisil started well against Roger Federer, made a bad shot that opened the floodgates to many more, and self-destructed.

How did Dodig, whose biggest win prior to tonight came against then No. 23 Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Australian Open in 2010, not crumble under the pressure of playing Nadal?

“Yeah, I mean, the beginning was very good from his side,” Dodig said.  “I started a little bit, let’s say with some respect. Of course, I was playing with Nadal. But I keep fighting. I keep fighting [in the] second set even when I was down 3‑1. I think I relaxed more and my serve start to work.  Especially after I broke him first time, I was getting more points with my serve.  I was getting also like more relaxed during the rallies. I was going more for the shots … was working quite good today, especially in the important points.  I was going for the shots.  I would say I was also a little bit more lucky today.”

Humility aside, he outplayed Nadal in the second and third sets using a combination of sonic serves including 11 third-set aces, gutsy winners and, most remarkably, calm nerves on critical points. He saved 55 percent of Nadal’s break point chances, while winning three out of four break points opportunities of his own.

“I was working a lot with my coach, especially on the mental part,” Dodig said of his training this year. “I was losing a lot of matches probably thinking a lot. Today we said, for example, if I get some chance, some small chance, I have to be aggressive, I have to try to make point myself, otherwise I cannot beat a guy like Rafa waiting to him to make mistake.

“On match point, I think I did it. I make like a winner. I think that was the key of this match. I know it’s very tough when you play these guys to be aggressive. Sometimes they [don’t] allow you. But today I had some chances and I think I use it. I finish match by myself. I didn’t wait for his mistakes.”

Nadal concurred with the analysis.

“He played very well, very aggressive,” Nadal said, the look of disbelief still on his face in the press room after the match: He won 52 percent of the overall points in the match and still lost. “He didn’t feel the pressure in the important moments. And at the end of the match, probably I was a little bit unlucky today, no?

“I felt I played enough well to win that match. But that’s tennis. The only thing I can do is congratulate the opponent and keep working for Cincinnati.”

Nadal looked like he was in control even at the start of the second set. Dodig then broke Nadal and remained on the offensive through the night.

That was Dodig’s view of the turning point as well.

“I think [the] second set, he was 3‑1 up, actually 3‑2 when I broke him back. I think I start to play better,” he said. “Actually, I start to also serve much better. I get more loose and I hit some good shots which help me to relax.”

With nerves like he displayed tonight, he might be staying in a lot more matches this summer.

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Photo credit © Won-ok Kim