The first two Masters Series events of the season have been consigned to history as the tour moves on to the European clay-court season. So a look back at the past few weeks at both Indian Wells and Miami.

No Titles For Federer: Eh, really? Yes, it’s true, world No.1 Roger Federer came away from Indian Wells and Miami without defending either of his titles. Guillermo Cañas was the man to stop him in both tournaments, winning in straight sets at Indian Wells before coming back from behind in the third set in Miami and prevailing in the deciding set tie-breaker.

The results do not bode well for Federer going into the clay-court season as he looks to dethrone the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. Cañas’s defensive skills proved to be too much resistance for Federer to overcome and on that basis it’s hard to see him being able to get the better of Nadal (an even better defender than Cañas) on the naturally slower clay courts.

Last year in Rome, Federer came close to beating Nadal on clay, failing to convert on two match points. He’ll be hoping to engineer such a position again and finally breaking his Nadal hoodoo on clay. Federer also comes into the clay season burdened with the pressure and endless questions about whether he can complete the calendar year Grand Slam (winning all four Slams in the same season).

Confidence Boost For Nadal: Coming into these two Masters events, Nadal had been visibly low on confidence and momentum. Having not won a title since Roland Garros 2006 or been in any final since Wimbledon 2006, his triumph at Indian Wells came as a huge boost for his morale. Despite his barren run, Nadal’s career stats still read very impressively, at just 20 years of age, Indian Wells provided him with his seventh Masters title.

Having defeated Novak Djokovic in the final of Indian Wells, Nadal was unable to repeat the success in Miami. The Serb reversed the straight-sets defeat he suffered by triumphing in Miami, which included a dramatic last game where Nadal brought out the best in his defensive qualities, forcing Djokovic to play at his very best to see the match out. Nadal now returns to where he is most comfortable, the clay courts. The Spaniard hasn’t lost on clay since April 2005 (to Igor Andreev in Valencia), spanning 62 consecutive victories. It’s stating the obvious; Nadal is the man to beat on clay until further notice.

Young Gun Making Big Strides. Novak Djokovic added his name alongside Tomas Berdych as the ‘young guns’ to win a Masters Series title. The Serb has had a fantastic few weeks, first making the Masters Series final at Indian Wells before losing to Nadal, and then backing that up with the title in Miami. Djokovic was mightily impressive in both his semi-final with Nadal and final with Cañas, winning both matches without dropping a set and dictating large parts of both encounters. Now, with a career high ranking of No.7, Djokovic has set his sights on being in Shanghai for the season-end Masters Cup.

Justice Being Served. Guillermo Cañas isn’t just winning on the court, he’s winning off the court, too. The Argentinian, who returned to the tour at the back end of last season, has been re-establishing himself among the elite of the game ever since. Cañas produced two stunning wins over Federer to further rubber stamp his return to top-level tennis, but whereas at Indian Wells he was unable to back up the win versus Federer, there were no such mistake in Miami.

Cañas knocked off three top-ten players (Federer, Tommy Robredo and Ivan Ljubicic) on his way to the Miami final, but ultimately it proved to be one match too many (having played nine matches in total in Miami). Cañas is now ranked 29 and will be looking for a top 20 spot by the time Roland Garros starts. Off court, Cañas continues the battle to clear his name of the 15-month suspension he has previously received. The CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) examined his case initially and reduced the sentence handed down by the ATP tribunal, and now the CAS will further examine Cañas’s contention that part of his case against the ATP’s decision was not fully explored.

The Past Few Weeks Have Been Good For: Andy Murray, along with Djokovic, is another youngster fast moving up in the rankings and made the semi-finals of both Indian Wells and Miami (losing to Djokovic on each occasion). Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentine more suited to hard courts than clay, made the last eight of both tournaments, losing to Nadal (Indian Wells) and Ljubicic (Miami). Chela has taken time off from the successful tour show, TenisPro, led by compatriot and fellow professional, Mariano Zabaleta. In addition to making himself unavailable for Davis Cup duty in 2007 to concentrate fully on his singles career, Chela has picked up a title in Acapulco and with two good showings during these hard court Masters events, has upped his ranking to 23.

The Past Few Weeks Have Been Bad For: James Blake, the American was unable to make any impact in either tournament, losing early in both events to Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Florent Serra. Argentina's David Nalbandian has fallen out of the top 10, having failed to defend his semi-final points from Miami in 2006. With his season yet to get off the ground, he will be hoping that a return to Davis Cup action this week might ignite the rest of his season. Nalbandian has invariably saved much of his best tennis for Davis Cup, and he will need to improve greatly on his recent performances if that is to be the case again.

(Article courtesy of http://sportsmagician.blogspot.com/)

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