It is hard to tell if 31-year old Ivan Ljubicic is celebrating his birthday on Friday or celebrating a well-deserved day off as he prepares for his semifinal match with Spanish sharp shooter Rafa Nadal on Saturday. Nadal, fresh off a three set win over John Isner, withstood a late charge by the 19th seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-6 (4) to win his 20th of 21 matches at Indian Wells. The defending champion looks healthy and fleet afoot.

Before the Madrid Masters Tournament began, Rafa was quoted as saying that he wanted to win this one for his loyal Spanish fans. On paper he had an easy draw through to the final, no top 10 players to meet on the way. It should have been a piece of cake for him, but he lost [...]

Only a select few tennis teenage phenomenons have achieved a similar result to that of Juan del Potro by winning 4 tournaments in their first full year on the tour. Those four are Rafael Nadal, Leyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Not bad company for this 6’6” Argentinian who climbed from 81 to 13 [...]