Andy Murray wasn’t expected to win the Rome Masters this week at the Foro Italico tennis complex. In the same breath, the Scotsman also didn’t figure to bow out in his first match at this venerable claycourt event. One bad day at the office is a fact of professional sports, but Murray’s great misfortune is [...]

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 [...]

Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal a week prior to the event seemed to open the door for Roger Federer and Andy Murray to take the title. Instead, the 2008 Masters Cup turned out to be the most unpredictable one in years. The draw produced an incredibly tough red group with Federer, Murray, Andy Roddick, and Nadal’s replacement [...]

Say what you will about the integrity of it, but Novak Djokovic’s performance—or lack thereof—against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in round-robin player is the reason why he is in the Masters Cup title match. Already 2-0 and assured of a semifinal berth by the time he faced Tsonga, Djokovic did not need a win in order to [...]

Roger Federer’s loss is Gilles Simon’s gain. Federer fell to Andy Murray 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 on Friday in the final stage of round-robin play at the Masters Cup in Shanghai. The setback eliminated Federer from semifinal contention and gave Simon a spot in the last four. Heading into Friday, the semifinal scenarios for the red [...]