| 11 August 2010
It was a hot and humid day in Toronto on Wednesday with temperatures cracking the hundred degree mark on court. Those players who were unfortunate enough to draw daytime matches were forced to sweat it out in order to advance to the third round. All part of being a professional tennis player, right?
Somebody tell that to Novak Djokovic who once again was troubled with breathing issues and appeared ready to collapse between points during his match with Frenchman Julien Benneteau. I'm not sure whether the Serb has a real medical condition or is just super-sensitive to these types of conditions, but I can't see him making a real dent during the hard court swing if he can't find a way to get through it. How did this guy ever manage to win the Aussie Open during the summer down-under?
While he prevailed 7-5, 7-5, the match was a real back and forth affair that could easily have gone to a third set. If that had happened I feel that Djokovic would have likely either wilted away or chosen to retire. Instead, he smashed up a racquet in fine style and that seemed to help him to refocus and pull out the victory.
Tournament organizers must have felt sorry for him as they have scheduled his Thursday match against Victor Hanescu for no earlier than 5pm ET. Djokovic is undoubtedly going to have to play another daytime match at some point this week and with weather conditions expected to remain similar to today I can't see him emerging as Rogers Cup champion this year.
After the match Djokovic was asked several questions about his health issues.
"Well it's really hard to explain. Anybody who didn't play professional level will not understand quite what's going on. Today I was really on the edge, so health is the most important thing for me, and then tennis and success and whatever comes with it."
Djokovic spoke about what he feared the worst case scenario might have been, "..at a certain moment you might collapse or whatever. But after half an hour, hour, with the proper recovery, you will get back to the normal feeling and normal state of body. I guess that in the long term it can hurt you, and it happens to me quite often. And, I don't know, it's just something that you cannot fight against. Nobody can turn off the sun and just do me a favour, even though I would like it."
Andy Murray seemed to handle the weather just fine, but was troubled early on by Xavier Malisse. A former Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2002, Malisse has a lethal forehand and the experience to trouble anyone on tour. He was up a break for most of the first set but collapsed while serving at 5-4 and dropped three games in a row to hand the first set to Murray.
The Belgian faded even further in the second set and his forehand began missing the mark with regularity. Murray closed out the match 7-5, 6-2. He will advance to play Gael Monfils in the third match on Centre Court on Thursday in what should be an entertaining match.
In the evening match fans were expecting a routine victory from Rafael Nadal as he faced a strong but underwhelming Stan Wawrinka. Instead he ended up requiring a 93 minute first set that culminated with a tiebreak where he was forced to save multiple set points. He finally prevailed 14-12 which equals the longest tiebreak of his career.You can thank Greg Sharko from the ATP for that fun stat!
The second set turned out to be smoother sailing as the world No. 1 captured it along with the match 7-6(12), 6-3.
The Spaniard's path to the finals became easier today when American Sam Querrey lost to qualifier Kevin Anderson. Marin Cilic was also in his quarter but was bounced in the opening round.
In terms of upset potential for the third round look no further than the opening match of the schedule on Thursday between a resurgent David Nalbandian as he takes on 5th seed Robin Soderling on Centre Court. Nalbandian just won his tenth consecutive match since he came back in July and demolished Tommy Robredo today 6-3, 6-0.
That's all for today from Toronto. Stay tuned for more coverage from the Rogers Cup as the week progresses. You can also follow me on Twitter for regular updates.
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