Tuesday's Rainout Will Make Repeating Tougher For Nadal

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I've chosen the obligatory Jimmy Connors washout video to accompany the bad news that is coming from the US Open on Tuesday. With the rain nixing Rafael Nadal's 4th-round match with Gilles Muller (along with three other men's 4th-round tilts), I immediately wondered the following: Can we really expect Nadal to defend his title by winning four best-of-five set matches in five days? The same goes for Andy Murray, and the other six players who were scheduled to battle for spots in the quarterfinals today.

I just don't know how they are going to get through this. There's rain in the forecast for six of the next seven days and there's no roof.

Then I started thinking: Is there any way that we can get Larry Ellison in so that he could fly all players and ticket holders from New York to Indian Wells?

Excuse me if I sound like an anti-USTA ranter at the moment, but really, it's kind of hard to be anything but at this point. There is no roof at the National Tennis Center, nor is one likely for at least 10 years, and to make matters more complicated, the US Open remains as the only Grand Slam that plays the semifinals and finals on back-to-back days.

That double-whammy has made for more headaches than great tennis in recent years. Super Saturday at the US Open supposedly began for the sake of the fans (let's be honest: it's really more about the advertisers), but does anybody really benefit from having a Grand Slam final played less than 24 hours after the semifinals? It makes no sense, especially when you consider the way tennis is played these days. The points are longer, the matches are longer and the physical rigor of the game is exponentially greater.

With Tuesday's play cancelled, it appears as if the players won't even be fresh when Super Saturday begins, and the advantage has swung decidedly in favor of the four players who are already through to the quarters: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Janko Tipsarevic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. If rain causes no further cancellations, each will still have to play three matches in five days, but that seems a lot more manageable than the herculean task that the other eight players slated to play fourth-rounders tomorrow face.

Of course, I'm operating under the assumption that matches will be played on Wednesday through Saturday, but we all know mother nature might have other designs. So, here we are, at the mercy of factors beyond anybody's control, in a tournament that has already proved that they care more about TV ratings than ensuring that their finalists are rested and ready to go for the final (I'm all for commercialization, but prefer to draw the line a little closer to the player's wishes).

You do the math, if you can stomach the conclusion: advantage, mother nature.

All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope and pray that an equable solution drops out of the sky with all those raindrops.

Archie's Picks: Djokovic-Tsonga

Archie loves underdogs, but not enough to jeopardize his perfect record as a Wimbledon seer. He's going with Djokovic over Tsonga.

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Okay, so my dog is 6 for 6 and he's got four more matches to pick. It's crunch time, so it's out the window with sentimental BS and all that. Archie's here for one purpose: to see the future. If you guys want to make some money off him, then so be it. For him it's just an expression of clairvoyance. He's a philosophical dog, and he's comforted by the metaphysical. Seeing the future is just another way for Archie to tell non-believers that everything is going to be alright.

Okay, without any further ado, here is Archie's Tsonga-Djokovic pick.

See Archie's French Open picks here.

See Archie's Djokovic-Tomic pick here.

See Archie's Federer-Tsonga pick here.

See Archie's Nadal-Fish pick here.

See Archie's Kvitova-Azarenka pick here.

See Archie's Sharapova-Lisicki pick here.

See Archie's Murray-Nadal pick here.

Archies Pick: Djokovic

Why: He likes the fact that a chest-thumper like Nole has a soft side that let's him get in touch with squirrels.

My Pick: Djokovic

Why: I absolutely love Jo-Wilfried and his insanely athletic game, but it's really difficult to pick against Djokovic these days. Djokovic has lost the least games of any man left in the draw (57) and he's reached his 5th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal (something that only 5 other players have done in the open era). He's also 1 match away from the No. 1 ranking, with only Jo-Wilfried in his way. All signs point to Djokovic's first Wimbledon final, and even though Tsonga owns a 5-2 career edge against Djokovic, everything that happened before 2011 feels like it happened in another lifetime.

If Tsonga serves like we all know he can, he'll push Djokovic, and if he prowls the baseline in the inspired fashion that he did against Federer, he might take him out. Then again, even if Tsonga does all that, he still might go down. Djokovic has that many weapons, and more importantly, he's got that much belief.

Djokovic's Modest Streak Now at 1

Novak Djokovic may be under the radar at Wimbledon. If he keeps playing like he did today, he won't be for long.

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Novak Djokovic is through to the 2nd round at Wimbledon. Surprised?

Of course you aren't, but here's a better question: Will you be surprised if Nole wins Wimbledon?

Some of the most thought-provoking questions regarding the eventual men's singles champion coming into Wimbledon were about Nole. He had been the focal point of the 2011 season, but after he got banished from the French Open (to an arch rival no less) before he could break the record for tennis's longest winning streak, Djokovic suddenly became an afterthought.

We wondered: Was the streak a fluke? How would Djokovic react to losing a match, especially one as important as the one he lost? And finally, how he would Nole react to playing a grass court major with no recent matches on the surface?

One minute Nole was the best thing since sliced tennis balls, the next he was the guy who tried to rule the world, but fell just short when he had the chance to take the crown.

Two weeks later we are here at the 125th Wimbledon Championships, trying to make sense of it all. The hallowed lawns of Wimbledon have not been as kind to Djokovic as other surfaces, to be sure. But isn't a first Wimbledon crown, just like Djokovic's recent world domination tour that left him just a match away from the world's No. 1 ranking, only a matter of time now?

Last year Nole was derailed by Berdych in straight sets in the semis at Wimbledon, but we all know that the Nole of 2011 is unlike any Nole that we've ever seen. The Serb is a one man wrecking machine these days, and one loss -- albeit a HUGE one -- shouldn't change the fact that a) He's better than ever and b) If he can beat Nadal on clay, then he can beat anybody on any surface, period.

We don't need to look back further than 3 weeks to be reminded of how special a player Djokovic can be. Djokovic was in the process of declaring himself the best player in the game then, and unless his loss to Federer has shaken his belief tremendously, there's really no reason to believe he doesn't have a lot more dominant tennis in him.

Life is not about what happens to you -- it's about how you react to what happens to you. Novak Djokovic lost a huge match to Roger Federer in Paris. Now it's time for him to react to that loss. Tournaments like these are what define careers. Novak is at the precipice of something amazing for his career, but he's also at a precipice that could see him fall back down into the abyss, doomed to eternity as an afterthought.

All year he's been a force, and in spite of the fact that he came in on his biggest losing streak of the season, today was no exception.

Djokovic attacked with clinical precision against Jeremy Chardy of France in a straight-sets victory that was a complete blowout once the Serb secured a break in the 9th game of the 1st set.

Watching him dominate, it was pretty easy to remember why Djokovic has been unbeatable of late. He's got so many ways to hurt his opponents, and he's stopped hurting himself too.

It makes you wonder: can he be that guy again? The guy who simply can't lose?

Agony and Ecstasy

Novak Djokovic was tremendous on Sunday night. But Andy Murray was awful, and so was the highly anticipated men's final.

After a masterful performance in Melbourne -- one that featured straight-set wins over Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray -- we can now officially say that not only is Novak Djokovic (finally!) back to being the player he was at the end of the 2007 and in the beginning of 2008, when he won his maiden Grand Slam title, we can also so that he is most definitely and assertively better than he was before.

Djokovic has been riding the roller coaster for three full years now, and only now is he again displaying a level of consistency and maturity to match his unyielding athleticism. Over these last three years it has been painful at times to watch Djokovic, knowing full well that he had the game to beat the best, yet also knowing full well that he seemed destined to find a way to fall short, to sabotage his best intentions with a heat-related malady, or an uninspired performance when he needed precisely the opposite.

But a major growth spurt has occurred over the last six months, not just in the game of the wildly talented acrobatic Serbian, but probably more so in the spirit.

Perhaps it was the way he was received in New York, when he vanquished Federer in the semis of the 2010 U.S. Open and once again was the only player in the draw who could truly push Nadal in a way that forced him to bring out an extra gear.

Perhaps it was the camaraderie and the infectious joy of his merry band of Serbian brothers as they captured the Davis Cup from France in Belgrade, manifesting itself in his play.

In reality, it was probably all of the above, and a bit more. The 23-year-old has come a long way since his irreverent late teens and early 20's, when it was him and his family against the world. He had a serious chip on his shoulder in those days, and many of us feared that he'd never reach the same level of all-court dominance without that chip.

But Sunday, against a befuddled Andy Murray, he did all that and more.

Djokovic, who has long possessed one of the most sublime court presences in the sport, was passionate from the first ball Sunday evening until long after he threw his shirt and shoes into the crowd for souvenirs. And when he needed to prove his superiority, he answered the bell by unleashing his heat-seeking forehand or a screaming corner-bound first serve.

It was an uplifting display on all fronts for Djokovic, and with it I do believe he's officially announced himself as a very real threat to claim more Grand Slam crowns and to ascend to No. 1 in the ATP rankings.

For Murray, the prospects appear to be much dimmer. It's not that the Scot has failed in all three of his Grand Slam finals -- it's the way that he has failed. Take nothing away from Djokovic but Murray's performance was shrouded in a black cloud of self doubt, and colored with a morose anxiety-ridden paste.

With the body language of a zombie, Murray moped around between points with the look of a man who'd already been beaten for most of the match. It was so bad that it was hard to focus on just how divine Djokovic was playing, because you could tell that most of his brilliance was completely unnecessary. The Serb had brought all his weapons to a fight in which Murray had brought none.

I'd like to defend Murray here, I really would. Like all true tennis fans, I wanted this Murray-Djokovic final to be a showcase of the talents of both men. The limber and clinical Djokovic, and the cat-and-mouse counter puncher Murray. Sadly, Murray was weighed down by something inexplicably heavy and grey. While Djokovic was at full potential, Murray was somewhere less than half.

There's no way to sugarcoat it, and I do believe that the widely chastised British Press is well within its rights to lambaste Murray.

His was a truly embarrassing performance, given the occasion, given the amount of ability he possesses, and his doleful, borderline psychotic behavior cast a pall over what should have been a joyous match, and a massive coming-out party for Djokovic.

I have long been a Murray supporter, and I thought -- all the way up until the night of the final -- that he was a shoe-in to break the British curse. Moreover, I felt that he deserved to be the guy to do it, because I felt that he was a fighter, and because I liked his unique brand of tennis and the way he seemed to relish the antagonistic elements of tennis warfare.

But having seen his worst last night, I've come to the realization that I'd rather not see this type of performance again in a Grand Slam final.

If this is what we get to replace Federer and Nadal, tennis fans should be concerned.

To his credit, Djokovic was still able to shine. But Murray brought this final way way down. It was hard to watch.

I was thrilled for Djokovic, but I was glad it was over as well.

Feeling Free?

Todd Martin is gone - does that mean that the real Novak Djokovic is back?

Novak Djokovic, to his credit, has never been one to stubbornly resist change. After all, we are talking about the guy who abandoned his favorite Wilson K-Factor stick for a lucrative new deal with Head after winning his one and only Grand-Slam title.

We are talking about a guy who used to warm down after a match by ridiculing the on court idiosyncrasies of his competition. He now resists the temptation, even as the masses grovel for it.

So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that Djokovic hired Todd Martin last August to become the third wheel in a coaching arrangement that was designed to help the Serb develop strategical components of his game, along with his serve.

Martin, who has spent two and a half years working with Mardy Fish in the past, was anxious to help Djokovic tap a potential that he felt was virtually limitless. Immediately after he was hired he was seen courtside, diligently observing Djokovic play while jotting entries into his little black book. Martin believed that the Serb would benefit from a more aggressive posture that featured more net play and better volleys. As the relationship continued, Martin reportedly suggested that Djokovic tinker with his serving motion in order to reduce stress to a shoulder that had become fatigued in the past.

While it was a sign of willingness to improve - usually a good thing for a player who has reached a temporary plateau - many believed that the relationship was doomed from the start, as Marian Vajda stayed on board as Djokovic's head coach, effectively limiting Martin's influence in the camp.

Eventually, as many expected, the relationship did fail, and Martin was sent packing.

Now that the two have parted ways with nothing but kind words for one another, I can't help but wonder if the exceptionally talented Djokovic will benefit from the fact that the terminated relationship represents a statement of independence more than a failure to improve. And maybe that declaration of independence will help the Serb to become the problem solver (and server) on the court that he once was.

Kudos to Novak for having the courage to try new things. Many a brilliant tennis player has failed to reach his or her potential because of an unwillingness to adjust, and Djokovic, by reaching out to Martin, deserves credit for tirelessly looking to improve.

Even though his experiment did not come to a successful conclusion, Djokovic can now move forward with the knowledge that whatever he thought he needed to change was actually just fine in the first place. He's at a career high No. 2 in the world and he's a threat to win any event on any surface. He's 22 years old with 17 career titles and a Grand-Slam on his resume. There's really not a whole lot to feel bad about here.

By knocking at a lot of different doors, it could be that Djokovic has stumbled upon the key to his success. The capacity to be a champion has always been inside him, he just needed someone to try to change him for him to realize it was there.