What is it like to witness a dominant champion operating at the top of his game? From 2004 through 2007, Roger Federer dominated on grass and hardcourts at a level rarely seen in the history of tennis. Today, Rafael Nadal’s conquests of clay represent the most awesome displays of excellence in a sport that’s anything [...]

Gambling is one of the many pleasures to be found in the destination city of Monte Carlo. Saturday afternoon at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, a king and a joker found a winning hand, and a ticket to Sunday’s championship match.
The king, of course, is Rafael Nadal. The current master of men’s tennis and the [...]

As the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters heads toward a pair of Saturday semifinals, it’s just as the oddsmakers predicted heading into the tournament: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray join a Swiss tennis player in the final four.
Oh, wait: Stanislas Wawrinka, not Roger Federer, is the man representing Switzerland as the year’s first clay [...]

No champion tennis player ever wants to lose a match, but if a man of Roger Federer’s stature could ever accept defeat between the painted lines, he would want to bow out of a non-Grand Slam tournament against a close friend and countryman.
On Thursday, that very scenario unfolded at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, as [...]

As the claycourt season begins on the ATP Tour, Rafael Nadal can be relied on to deliver the goods. Outside of the King of Clay, however, the world of men’s tennis faces numerous uncertainties on the red dirt of Europe, and the early rounds of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 event showed why.
Two talented Frenchmen, [...]