A One Woman Tour

Serena Williams was the only higher seed to win in the women's quarterfinals, beating Na Li handily 7-5, 6-3. Kim Clijsters couldn't pull off a tough 3 set match with former top 5 player Vera Zvonareva and Venus Williams just got utterly schlacked by the 82nd player in the world, Tsevetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

So I have to say, thank the tennis gods for Serena Williams. Without her consistently dominant play, the women's tour would be in complete shambles. Women's tennis would have taken a huge blow if the Wimbledon semis consisted of Na Li, Vera Zvonareva, Tsevetana Pironkova and Petra Kvitova. You know who would have cared about those matches... absolutely nobody. 

Thank you Serena Williams for being the only top player who consistently shows up for the grand slams. Seeds 2-20, who didn't make the semis (most of which did not make the quarters), should be sending you flowers as you are single-handedly keeping women's tennis exciting and relevant.

Americans Falter

The last two Americans fell today and did so in crappy fashion.

Roddick only lost serve once but was defeated in a grueling 5 set match. For 4 1/2 hours, he looked uncomfortable as though he had the flu. He seemed to be sweating uncontrollably and never quite got into the match. Sure, you can give credit to his opponent Yen-Hsun Lu for grinding this one out, but I'm not going to. Roddick simply lost this match. Besides his serve, nothing worked. Maybe his lack of play the past few months caught up to him, or perhaps he was actually sick/injured. Whatever it was, it was uncomfortable to watch. 

More disappointing was Sam Querrey's loss to Andy Murray in straight sets. Yes, Murray is 4th in the world and yes, he was supposed to win, but did I expect Sam Querrey to beat him... yes. Murray has been in a downward spiral since the Australian Open and Wimbledon imposes an enormous amount of pressure on the Scotsman. If there was ever a time for Querrey to break out and beat a star, this was it. And that's just what he needs to do, he needs to beat a superstar when it counts. So far, he hasn't even come close. After winning at Queen's, I consider this to be a big disappointment. Querrey blew a big opportunity to prove he can/wants to win. 

Besides John Isner's incredible match, it's safe to say that the Americans will be forgotten when talking about Wimbledon 2010.

Americans in London

The clay court season is over, bring on the grass! And the Americans rejoice.

This year the USA has a slew of talented, strong and tall players that have a legitimate shot of making it to and through the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

Roddick: Last year's runner up, typically plays well on grass. Hasn't played well (or much at all) recently but look for his huge serve and forehand to help him cruise into the second week.

Sam Querrey: Just won Queen's, which is usually an indication of good things to come at Wimbledon. Like Roddick, has big serve and forehand and now... he has a little confidence.

John Isner: He's 6-10 and hits a huge serve. This alone will get him into the 4th round. Pretty good at net and has a solid ground game. He could be the sleeper in this tournament.

Mardy Fish: Fish beat Andy Murray at Queen's and got to the finals. He's another American with big strokes and the ability to serve up a lot of aces. If he's playing well, he will be an incredibly tough early round opponent for one of the top seeds.

So, it's time to unleash the Americans on London. The French Open is very much over and the USA is ready to impose a good ol fashioned tennis beatdown on the rest of the tour.

Querrey, Hewitt Surprise on Grass

Earlier today, Sam Querrey finished off a solid week of tennis by beating fellow American Mardy Fish in straights at the Aegeon Championship in London. In Germany, Fed fell to Lleyton Hewitt at the Halle Open. As the champions of the two Wimbledon tune ups, could we be looking at a Sam Querrey - Lleyton Hewitt Wimbledon final?

The answer is no. It was a good week of tennis for both Hewitt and Querrey, there's no denying that. Sam seems to have found his form on grass and shaken the incredibly negative vibes he had at the French Open and Lleyton playing well means another tough early round opponent for someone at Wimbledon. But, they will not duplicate these efforts.

Hewitt is getting older and a two week tournament, best of 5 sets will not be kind to him. He has always been a fighter, but a younger, quicker player with a huge serve will eventually be too much for him. As for Sam Querrey, it's important to note that he beat nobody of importance in this tournament. Let's run down his opponents: Robby Ginepri, Marcel Grannolers, Xavier Malisse, Rainer Schuettler and Mardy Fish. Not exactly Murray, Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.

Here's the good news. While neither of them will win, they could do some serious damage at Wimbledon. No top player is stepping up and the doors are wide open for anyone to make it to the semi-finals. With their wins, their confidence levels will be as high as anyone else and could definitely help them beat a struggling Murray or Djokovic.

So here's a convoluted congratulations to Sam and Lleyton. These victories could help you beat some good players at Wimbledon, but as for winning... not this year.

Nadal is back

Two weeks goes by so quickly. The French Open is over and we'll have to wait another year until we see the intense red courts at Roland Garros. For Nadal, this stinks. For others, it's the best time of the year. Here are 5 things I learned from this year's French Open:

1) Rafael Nadal is the best clay court player ever - He didn't drop a set in two weeks... for the second time in his career. Soderling never had a chance and neither did anyone else. Nadal doesn't make mistakes on clay and does an amazing job of making the other player feel the pressure and crumble.

2) Soderling is the third best player in the world -  Soderling is gaining confidence and realizing he can beat anyone when he's on. He reached his 2nd French open final and I'd actually say his game is better suited for the grass and hard court season. He has a huge serve and hits a heavy, deep ball. He's the guy nobody wants to play right now.

3) No American champ for a long time - The Americans just don't get the clay nor do they really care. Sam Querrey and John Isner were talked up to do some damage but one couldn't get past his first match and the other got blown off the court in the third round. There's no reason to think that they will go from getting crushed to winning this tournament ever. Kudos to Random Robby Ginepri, but it's not a good sign when your country's 5th best player makes it the farthest.

4) No French champ for a long time - Gasquet is a mess, Tsonga can't get fit and Monfils can't win the big matches. All these players are inconsistent. France deserves a better effort.

5) The French Open leads to disappointment - Out of any tournament, the French Open leads to the most disappointing and random results. Ernests Gulbis was playing so well and he gets hammered in the first round. Murray needs to make a dent and he gets his clock cleaned by Berdych. Jurgen Melzer makes it to the semi finals. The French Open is a great test of mental toughness and very often players fail... and fail badly. Besides Federer and Nadal, the top players continue to under perform at the French Open.

With all that being said, it was a great two weeks. The French Open world is right again and Nadal is King. BUT... look for Fed to make a statement at Wimbledon and potentially win back his #1 ranking.