Caesars stabbed in Rome

The tennis Caesars fell, bled, slipped and bowed away in Rome, clashing on the red clay that is coming in their course too fast as decided by the ATP. The fears that many of the top players had hinted on earlier in the clay season manifested itself in the most unignorable fashion when the major matches in the Rome Masters series ended prematurely with players conceding to injuries. The unthinkable defeat of clay champion Nadal and failure of most of the top 10 players before semis was something not very often seen. The main losers include the likes of Federer, Davydenko, Nalbandian in addition to Nadal and his slayer Ferrero himself. As for Federer, he did not have injury issue and he certainly cant complain since he did not participate in Barcelona either. So, what is the problem with the Swiss? I hope someone can answer it for him. He seems to have forgotten his rhythm and the time is running out. Davydenko had been riding unexpected highs of success recently, so he might not be too ruffled with recent failures but this should have given him an inkling of the level of game he would need to have any hopes of making it farther into remaining of clay tournaments. Nadal is the last one to be blamed for his defeat. He won Monte Carlo and Barcelona back to back and you cant expect a guy to maintain fitness and the standard of game in such a mad schedule. He was straight into his third week of clay action and foot injury was evident as he painfully finished his match with Ferrero. Nalbandian is yet to prove his might this year on red dirt. Ferrero did the unthinkable and right away gave it off too. The guy always had it but he needs to be consistent. Novak must be happy with his latest ATP title but will need to defeat bigger names to make a worthier impact. The same scenario emerges in women's arena where no one is yet fully dominating.

Whether its the busy schedule of ATP this year or the questionable fitness of the players is one question that will be answered in upcoming tournaments but the viewers would obviously not like to see their favorites suffering injuries as they make their bid to the elusive French Open later in the month.