Nishikori Stuns Djokovic In Basel Semis

Wow! For only the fourth time this year World #1 Novak Djokovic did not win an ATP Tour match after stepping on to the court. He lost to Asia's best male player, Kei Nishikori of Japan 3-6 7-6(4) 6-0. Djokovic was two points from the win receiving 4-5, 0-30 in the second set but his the speedy Japanese playerwas able to track it down and go on to win the tiebreaker; the Serbian only won 10 points in the final set, losing his only bagel set of the year.

Djokovic was clearly not at his best, playing in his first tournament in 6 weeks, and received treatment for a right shoulder injury after winning the first set, the same injury that caused him to retire during his match with Andy Murray at the Cincinnati Open this summer.

In fact, of the four matches Djokovic has lost in 2011, half of them have been to retirements (the loss to Murray in Cincinnati and lost to Juan Martin del Potro in the Davis Cup semifinal). The loss to Nishikori was only the second full match Djokovic has lost all year, out of 72 matches played the Serbian has won 68 (plus a 69th win due to a controversial walk-over in the French Open quarterfinals over the pulchritudinous Fabio Fognini). Roger Federer was the only person to beat Djokovic at a grand slam best-of-5-sets match all year long, doing so in the semifinals in four sets.

Djokovic is likely to pull out of the Paris Masters event starting in Bercy on Monday, but should be okay for the World ATP Tour Finals in London starting November 20th.

Congratulations to Nishikori, who will be playing for his second tour title against either Federer or Stanislas Wawrinka.

US OPEN 2011: DAY 6 Recap (What I Saw)

Italian tennis player Fabio Fognini, practicing shirtless on
the outer courts (photo credit: Ron Buckmire)

So, yes I was at the US Open yesterday. I had a grounds pass, so I was just walking around when I saw this incredibly hot guy, hitting balls, shirtless. Who did it turn out to be? None other than Italian stallion Fabio Fognini, who we last saw withdrawing from a quarterfinal match with Novak Djokovic at this year's french Open (and some say giving the Serbian 5 days off so that he then lost his first match of the year to Roger Federer).

Anyway, it was way out on Court 10 with some unknown female junior practicing with her coach on Court 9 next door. Fabio was hitting balls with his coach and playing some points with his doubles partner, Simone Bolelli (who is also gorgeous, but sadly was not shirtless). I was literally less than 10 feet from the players. The above picture was taken seconds before Fognini threw his racket into his bag and complained to his coach about his playing. There was quite a crowd around but almost nobody knew who the players were, except that they were speaking Italian. I recognized Fognini immediately and later figured out it was Bolelli he was hitting with. Leaving the court dazed, I literally walked into 80-year-old(?) Nick Bolleteri (watch where ya going, kid!) as he dashed off to another press interview I guess.

Oh, yeah what about the tennis?

I don't have more money than sense, so I didn't see the Serena Williams - Victoria Azarenka match in Ashe stadium, but you could literally hear it all over the grounds. Ashe is so big so that unless you are willing to spend 3 figures, you are better off watching the match on television. Bizarrely, the big screens around the grounds were mostly showing Mardy Fish's blase' dismissal of South African beanstalk Kevin Anderson in 3 sets. There was a huge line to get into Grand Stand to see the 3rd round match between Juan Monaco and Tommy Haas. Why, you ask? Because next on that court was Fernando Verdasco playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and there are no assigned seats. First come, first served! About 5 thousand people sat patiently through Haas hitting some 71 unforced errors to lose to Roger Federer's next victim in order to experience the magic of Tsonga-Verdasco. Sadly, we didn't get to witness repeat magic of last year's incredible Verdasco-Ferrer match (with one of the greatest match points of all time). This time, Tsonga was just too good for 'Nando on the day. The Frenchman was routinely hitting serves into the 130s at will and showing incredible defensive skills. Still even with a scoreline of 6-3 7-5 6-4 it was two hours that were well worth the price of admission. I was in the 2nd courtside row, close enough to Tsonga I could see what color underwear he was wearing (brightly colored boxers). It was quite a treat to see two once and future Top 10 player in such a small stadium. I know there's a lot of hype about Mardy, but I suspect there's going to be another Federer-Tsonga grand slam quarterfinal. Surely he can't beat the Swiss great three times in a row?