Julien Benneteau had a bit of trouble getting out of the gate during his quarterfinal match with Ivan Ljubicic. He’d been content to keep the ball in the court and it wasn’t working. After losing the first set 6-2, he decided to try something different. First he hit approach shots but they went long, then he got his approach shots in but hit his volleys short, then, facing set point at 5-2 in the second set, he served and volleyed, cut off a nice Ljubicic cross court passing shot and …shanked the overhead.

Djokovic is either very good or very dumb

In his first service game in the third set Benneteau got an overhead into the court but lost the point two strokes later. In his second service game, Benneteau had an overhead to put the game away and sent it right back to Ljubicic. In his last service game, Benneteau hits two overheads in a row and finally won the point with the second one. He won all three of those games but that was it, Ljubicic was on to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win. The poor guy was probably just exhausted but someone might want to tell Benneteau not to treat the quarterfinals like a practice session. Better to have your approach shot, volley, and overhead in order before the match starts.

It’s been a long road from war torn Bosnia to the number four ranked tennis player for Ivan Ljubicic. I didn’t really notice him till the beginning of 2005 when his name kept popping up in finals. He didn’t win any of those but I happened to sit behind him as he dismantled Andy Roddick in the first round of the Davis Cup match between Croatia and the US – Ljubicic now plays for Croatia. Ljubicic mixed up his approach and strategy from game to game in a masterful display of tennis. Croatia went on to win the Davis Cup and Ljubicic got two singles titles and qualified for the year-end championship in Shanghai.

However, he had yet to win a Masters Cup title or move past the quarterfinals in a slam. Until today. It’s only one step further and he’d expected it given that Benneteau is ranked number ninety-five, but it was more than enough reason to sit down after the match, put a towel over his head and sob. Good on ya, mate. I don’t expect you to get to the final but I have immense respect for your long and winding road and I’m thrilled to see you keep moving up.

If Novak Djokovic travels with a posse it should include a masseuse, a chiropractor and an anesthesiologist. He took five time outs in a match against Gael Monfils at the US Open last year for cramps in his back, leg and shoulder and breathing problems. Today he retired after the second set against Rafael Nadal due to a back injury. After the match he laid down some smack. First there was this:

I think I was in control because I think everything was depending on me. You know, how I was playing, result was like that. Because even with the sore back, I think I played equal match with him.

Then there was this:

And especially in this match when he didn’t know how to play against me, because he never played against me, so it was difficult position for him as well, you know. He was not feeling too comfortable in control of the match, that’s for sure.

Djokovic is either very good or very dumb. Novak, son, you don’t call out the best closer in the game. Better than Roger Federer, evidently, since Federer couldn’t close out Nadal with two match points in Rome. Nadal is also the best fighter out there and nothing will make his hair stand on end quicker than being called out by a cocky opponent who couldn’t even finish the match. He’s lucky Nadal is a nice guy and this is tennis, not boxing.

The Russians and the Belgians would have looked like a bunch of rotating regents holding the crown till Hingis returned to the throne.

Sorry to rag on Martina Hingis, again, it’s not nice I know, but what would women’s tennis look like if Clijsters hadn’t taken her out in the quarterfinals? The Russians and the Belgians would have looked like a bunch of rotating regents holding the crown till Hingis returned to the throne. Clijsters broke Hingis twice in the second set, as she should given the glacial speed of Hingis’ serve, and won the match 7-6(5), 6-1.

Prince Charles was the first, and only, regent in Belgian history. He took the throne for six years while his brother Leopoldo III was in exile due to charges of treason during World War II. Prince Charles left the throne after Leopoldo’s son Baudouin took over but a lot of important decisions were made during his regency and Charles was quoted as saying: “It was I who saved the lumber.”

Clijsters saved the lumber today but she meets the other Belgian, Justine Henin-Hardenne, in the semifinals and I’m picking Henin-Hardenne. And I disagree with my co-writer, Pat Davis, I say Henin-Hardenne will win it again.

I just want you to know that I have picked 64% of the matches correctly up to this point. Not bad. It would probably be dumb to pick against Federer and Nadal in the final so I won’t. But I will pick Federer to win.

I’d like to tell you that it was Federer’s forehand drop shot on the first point of his match with Nicolas Massu. Federer had famously dissed drop shots as inelegant tennis and now, it seemed, his conversion was complete. He’d do whatever was necessary to win at Roland Garros, even a forehand drop shot.

But it’s a lie. I’m picking him because I want Federer and Nadal to be a rivalry and it’s not. Nadal is up 5-1, that is not a rivalry. So, in desperation, I’m choosing Federer.