Rome Semifinals

Down to four in Rome, and we could have had a Spanish rout. The first two matches of the day features upsets from Spanish players. Ferrer was just too solid for JW Tsonga, who will probably admit that clay is not his favorite surface. Ferrer, on the other hand, thrives on the stuff. So it wasn't a big surprise when Ferrer won a tight first set and then ran away with the second, delivering the first 6-1 set of the day.

Earlier, Verdasco and Djokovic had battled on for three sets, in the oddly-placed first match of the day. I'm not sure why they were first out, a position that nobody really relishes, because that was the highest-octane match-up. And it proved to be the tightest match of the day as well. Verdasco came out on top, as Djokovic just made too many errors, in the end. The top players (except for Nadal) are continuing to struggle, while Verdasco is now the hottest guy on tour.

Speaking of Nadal, his opponent came out playing the best I have ever seen him play. Wawrinka was an absolute revelation for the first nine games of the match. Up until 5-4 in the first set, Wawrinka had won two more points than Nadal despite having served only four games to Nadal's five. He had won 12 points on Nadal's serve and only given up one on his own. His whip-like backhand was cracking, and he looked like he really could challenge the king of clay. But when the pressure got to him, when he was serving to stay in the set at 4-5, Nadal upped his game and Wawrinka's dropped just enough. He broke, and the set was over. From there, the Swiss #2's spirit was broken. How can you play at your absolute highest level for that long and come away losing a set 6-4? He was never in the rest of the match, losing the second set 6-1, just like Tsonga.

The night match was an odd choice, but I think I may understand why. Ernests Gulbis and Feliciano Lopez had the least star power of any of the quarterfinals, but I think people are speculating that Gulbis might be the real deal. That this guy is bound for the top ten, and possibly Grand Slam glory. He may just do it, if he can play the way he's played this week - maybe if he leaves behind his strategy of choking on big points, though. He beat Lopez in a tight first set, then breezed through the second, in a pattern that was pretty familiar at this point. He won the third 6-1, as well.

I've always liked Gulbis for his game, but I am starting to really like his personality. He is honest in his interviews in a way that very few tennis players can manage to be, and he has a magnificent sense of humor. He reminds me a bit of Andy Roddick in that regard. After beating Federer, he was asked how he felt during his multiple match points. A normal tennis player might have said that he was nervous, that he felt tight, or that he was feeling the pressure, but Gulbis said he was "shitting his pants." Today, he had a set point in the first set that he duffed on an easy overhand. Asked about that after the match, he said, "If I miss that overhead and lose the set, I'm quitting tennis, because I just can't handle it." (I may be paraphrasing, but I think I got the gist of it)

But my favorite quote of his this week comes from a question he got about his sophomore slump. In his second year on tour after his quarterfinal at the French Open and semifinal run in Cincinatti in 2008, Gulbis accomplished approximately nothing on court. He flew around the world, partied a lot, and play some mediocre-to-horrible tennis. But when he was asked if he thought he wasted that time, he had this to say: "Sorry, I don’t agree. I have had a good life. I’m a young guy and I didn’t waste it. Maybe tennis-wise but tennis isn’t everything in life. It’s not all my life…… I was living more experiences, even bad experiences in the end are good. I know what I don’t need to do – to not succeed! I know how to do that perfectly! If you need some tips on how to not succeed…! Now I’m a little bit smarter and I think I’m doing better.”

I think this guy's stock is going straight up. If he really is focused on the game now, there's no telling how good he could get. And if he can settle down in the pressure situations and stop shitting his pants, I see no reason for him to be at the level of a Murray, Djokovic, or Del Potro. But he's a better interview than all of this guys, and good personalities are good for the sport.

That said, he is going to get absolutely murdered by Nadal tomorrow. Nadal isn't so far removed from being the wunderkind to forget what that's like, but he is far enough away to want to make sure everyone knows he's still the one that people should be worried about. If Gulbis even wins more than 5 games in tomorrow's match, I think that will really be an indication of his potential, but there's no way he's pulling off an upset.

The other semifinal between David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco depends primarily on one factor: whether or not Verdasco is starting to get tired. He's played so many matches in the last couple of weeks that - at some point - he's bound to get jaded. But he beat Ferrer just about two weeks ago, in a very tight match. This one could go either way, but I expect that the final result will rest on whether or not Verdasco is at 100%. In either case, I don't expect either of them to trouble Nadal. Maybe they'll get more than a game, though. Nadal hasn't been quite at the level he was during the Monte Carlo final this week. That said, he's been plenty strong to blow through his competition.