There were a couple of surprising results today in Rome.  It was only the second time this year that Murray has lost before the semifinals of an event and Dicky Gasquet, who hasn’t been playing much of late, won a twin bill against Tsonga and Gulbis. 

Fed desperately needed a win to today and needs to at least reach the semifinals to restore his confidence. At least one American — Mardy Fish — had a big win over Andreev and pushed Verdasco to three sets.  Who knows with the altitude in Madrid Mardy might not fair to poorly there.

 Rafa has kept up his economical playing and has not lost a set since Monte Carlo. Nadal is in such a groove that in truth everyone here is playing for second.

Massive props to Mary Joe for getting the US Fed Cup team to the final for the first time since 2003.  If she gets the Williams sisters to play in November that would be epic.

It’s good to see that most of the top twenty women are playing Stuttgart.  It’s is Safina’s first event with the number one ranking.  It would be nice to have her win the tournament to solidify her new position in the top spot.

 I’m down at Nick’s this week and there are some awesome 10-year-old girls down here.  I hit with bunch of them today and could believe how good they are.