Here is the draw for the Davis Cup World Group Playoff games. The teams will be competing to return to the elite World Group.
Australia vs Chile ( Choice of ground - Chile)
Belgium vs Switzerland ( Choice of ground- Switzerland)
For close to an hour, I thought Fernando Gonzalez had a chance…the first set was crucial to his chances…If he won the first set, it would be the first time that Federer would have dropped a set in the entire tournament.
The first set was an absolute treat to watch. Both Gonzalez and Federer struggled with their first serves, and there were many errors. You could blame the wind for that :D, but for a while, Fedex did look ”human”. His shots wen’t out instead of coming in, and Gonzalez made him work extremely hard. When he broke Federer on the 9th game and served for the set, the Chilean faithful thought that he had done enough to win the set. But King Roger fought back, and Gonzalez was again fighting to take it into the tie break. 7 deuces, a racket change , a 209 km ace later, the set was at 6-6. Federer’s first shot in the tiebreaker went out according to the authorities. He challenged for it, and the judgement went in his favour and the point was replayed. Thereafter King Fed sped through 7-2 and won an important psychological battle against the 1998 French Open junior champion.
The next two sets weren’t as competitive, but Gonzalez ’s exhaustion started to show, and Federer simply waited for his opponent to break down. The last two sets showed exactly the same scoreline 6-4, 6-4. Roger became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a major without dropping a set.
Andy Roddick vs Roger Federer.
The person who wins this one is the favourite for the title. And the stakes are against A-Rod, IMO.
Fernando Gonzalez vs Tommy Haas
Nadal and Davydenko were dumped by them. Both have surprised themselves by reaching this stage and have nothing to lose. They will play their heart out.
After my post on Maria Sharapova attracted some attention :D, here are the 4 semifinalists
Maria Sharapova beat Anna Chakvedatze 7-6, 7-5
Sharapova beats her fellow compatriot in straight sets at the Margaret Court arena to book her spot in the last four. Not an easy game by any standards, even though it was a straight sets win.
Kim Clijsters beat Martina Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
This was easily the most awaited round of 8 encounter. The two ladies met at the same stage last year too, and like last time it was the fourth seeded Belgian who booked her spot in the last four.
Semifinal : Maria Sharapova vs Kim Clijsters
Serena Williams beat Shahar Peer 3-6, 6-2, 8-6.
It is the first time that no American woman has been seeded at Melbourne since the beginning of the Open era. Unseeded Williams used all her power and experience to battle past her 16th seeded opponent. Williams lost the first set with the scoreline being the same as in the first set of the Clijsters Hingis game. But like that one, the winner was not the person who won the first set.
Nicole Vadisova beat Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-4
This was a battle between two lovely women from the Czech Republic- both having surnames with similar endings. 19 year old Safarova had beaten Mauresmo in the earlier rounds, but she couldn’t do the same against her younger, 10th seeded opponent.
Semifinal : Serena Williams vs Nicole Vadisova
Did you ever find men’s tennis boring to watch?? Did you ever get bored watching the same few blokes doing battle in an outfit which never seemed to change, in different tournaments. Did you sometimes ever feel that you could do a better job if you were styling them???
Maria Sharapova feels the same about men’s tennis player. The boring white and white hasn’t gone down too well with the Russian star, and she has asked the men to improvise.
Pretty sure that some of our macho dudes wouldn’t mind changing their outfits 
Rafael Nadal, the current world no.2 has reportedly said that he wouldn’t mind partnering Roger Federer in doubles. Nadal is currently at the Chennai open in India, also featuring players like Moya, Karlovic, Malisse and Schuettler.
Fedex and Rafa in doubles…interesting proposition 
Would be interesting to see if it does work out. The chances are low, given that both the players play at the same tournaments and focus more on their singles ranking..
Anyway, keep ya guys updated on this..
Swiss Miss and World no 9 Martina Hingis eased past Russian Olga Poutchkova 6-0, 6-4 to claim the Sunfeast open in Calcutta, India. Hingis who defeated India’s Sania Mirza in the semis was rarely put under any pressure by the Russian, and barring some resistance in the second set, Poutchkova didn’t really have any answer to Hingis’ array of strokes.
Meanwhile Sania Mirza made up for her semis loss in the singles to Hingis as she partnered Liezel Huber of South Africa to beat the Ukranian team of Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak 6-4, 6-0 in the final.
She is hot, she is beautiful and she now has a second Grand Slam Title.
Yes folks, Maria Sharapova has clinched her second Grand Slam Title after beating Justin Henin Hardenne of Belgium 6-4 6-4 in the final at Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova ,who became the first woman to reach the finals of all 4 major Grand Slams in a single year since Martina Hingis after beating Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals, produced an impressive array of shots to beat the Belgian.This is the Russian’s second after her win in Wimbledon 2004.
Mean while Andy Roddick will face Roger Federer in the men’s final. If Roddick does get the better of Federer, which will be no easy task, Rodapova is how people may describe this year’s US Open.
After
60 ATP tour titles
8 Grand Slams, the first of which started with winning Wimbledon in 1992.
17 Masters Trophies
1 Gold Medal ( Atlanta 1996)
An era came to an end as Andre Agassi lost to Benjamin Becker of Germany 5-7 7-6 4-6 5-7 in the third round of the US Open. After beating Andrei Pavel in R-1 and Marcos Baghdatis in R-2, Agassi could not repeat it again.
With Pistol Pete already retired, this puts an end to one of the finest generations of mens tennis.
And FYI, Agassi is the only player to have won all 4 majors on all three surfaces.
Renowned American tennis coach Brad Gilbert has agreed to a deal with the Lawn Tennis Association which will see him coach Andy Murray.
Murray has often been hailed as the next British saviour after Tim Henman and the Scot has put in some very impressive performances on the Tour. Gilbert has previously coached both Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick and his experience will go a long way in improving Murray’s game.Recently A- Rod announced that the legendary Jimmy Connors would be coaching him.
Apart from coaching Murray,Gilbert will also have a wider coaching role in the LTA.
