TENNIS in DEPTH.

Nick Bollettieri, the legendary tennis coach, received the 2008 Tennis News Person of the Year Award, known as the Bellamy, Sunday on Stadium Court of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The Bellamy was presented to him by Steve Bellamy, the first winner of the Award in 2005 and later named after him, recognizing him for creating The Tennis Channel.

Bellamy credited Bollettieri for creating an industry, the boarding tennis academy. There are likely hundreds, possibly thousands of academies around the world, thanks to Bollettieri

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If anyone had any lingering doubt in their mind that Rafael Nadal was not quite deserving of his title as the best player in the world, let there be no doubt after his performance at Indian Wells. He played with the touch of a great maestro in difficult windy conditions, to put on display to the record crowd an awesome controlled ground stroke game that destroyed Andy Murray and sent him packing with his cocky tail between his legs. By any standards a 6-1, 6-2 result is a thrashing, and has once and for all shown those critics of Nadal and those pundits of the game who consistently applaud Murray as the next great champion, that Murray has a long way to go to equal or surpass the current #1.

I listened to the Fox TV commentator( Justin) prior to the start of the match praising Murray as if he was the new Messiah come to show the world how tennis should be played, how Andy was so smart around the court, how he was the best player on tour on any surface, and I cringed. Yes he defeated, Rafa in Rotterdam, where Nadal injured his leg and only continued to play to avoid disappointing the fans, and yes he defeated him in Doha, his first match back after a 3 month lay-off, and yes he defeated him at the US Open last summer. But a healthy Nadal is head and shoulders a better player than Murray.

With the winner’s points Rafa moves further ahead of the field, and with the clay court season just around the corner where he is virtually unbeatable, he will add so many points to his total to put him so high up, that all other players will need to stand on a box just to be able to see him. I can recall when Federer was at his peak as #1, the balance of the players found themselves vying for the #2 position, and now history is repeating itself. Murray might make his way to be #3 or even #2, but he has to show much more aggression if he expects to make it to the top. He has been beaten twice this year by two aggressive left-handed Spaniards, and it is neither their Nationality nor the hand they play with that decided the matches, it’s their aggression.

Unfortunately for Murray, who is within a few months in age of Nadal, he is destined to have to settle for being #2 in the same way Nadal did for a while behind Federer. Somewhere on the horizon there is a 17 year old who will be the next #1 player in 3-4 years time, could his initials be GD?

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Men's Singles Champion. Women's Singles Champion.

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Americans Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick clinched the doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open after saving three match points in a 3-6, 6-1, 14-12 win over defending champion Andy Ram and partner Max Mirnyi on Saturday in Indian Wells.

Fish and Roddick sent the doubles final into a match tie-break after winning the final five games of the second set, and saved match points at 8-9, 9-10 and 11-12 in the decider to the approval of the home crowd.

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Regardless of whether Murray wins or loses against Rafael Nadal in today’s final at the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells, he will move a considerable step closer to the #3 spot occupied by Novak Djokovic.

At the beginning of the year it was Djokovic who was threatening to overtake Federer and claim the world No 2 as his own. Now, after having the Australian Open and Indian Wells titles plucked from his portfolio by Andy Roddick, he is feeling Murray breathing down his neck.

The perfect illustration to the anxiety Djokovic is feeling came as he produced what he termed

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Rafael Nadal will have to raise his game a notch if he expects to beat Andy Murray in Sunday’s final at Indian Wells. He defeated Andy Roddick 6-4, 7-6 to reach the final, but was not impressive and committed far too many errors. As he did against Del Potro in the quarter final, he lost his concentration and allowed his opponent back into the match, something we do not normally see in Nadal’s game.

Andy Murray defeated Federer again in an unusual match. After losing the first set 6-3, Federer appeared to have regrouped and went on to win the second set. He played the first 3 games of the third set with some of his old flair and seemed to be in control of the match even though the players were on serve. Murray took a nasty tumble trying to get to a Federer crosscourt forehand, but brushed himself off and continued to play. Federer was at the net looking on and inquired after Murray’s condition. Federer lost 12 of the next 14 points, went down 2 breaks and lost the set and the match.

Murray demonstrated that he has Federer’s number, but does he have the game to defeat a healthy Nadal?

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Andy Roddick upset defending champion Novak Djokovic by handing him a 6-3 6-2 thrashing in the Indian Wells Masters 1000 quarter-finals.

A solid, consistent display proved enough to see off the Serbian whose game was riddled with unforced errors.

“I thought I played pretty well and solid but I don’t think Novak had his best day,” said seventh seed Roddick. (the understatement of the year).

Roddick will face Rafael Nadal in the last four after the world number one saw off Juan Martin del Potro 6-2 6-4.

Nadal showed few after-effects of his lengthy battle with David Nalbandian as he came through to win in one hour and 49 minutes against a player he has never dropped a set to.

A break of serve in the third game was enough for Nadal to edge ahead, and another early break in the second ended Del Potro’s realistic hopes of victory.

Nadal said he was wary of Roddick in the next round, with the American finding a rich vein of form this year.

“He started the season very well. It’s going to be a really tough match,” said Nadal.

“I must serve well if I want to win and be focused all the time, play aggressive on the return and play right.

“He can surprise you. You go on court and you know he’s serving big power and he’s going have big forehands. He goes aggressively to the net.”

Roddick certainly looked like a man in form as he took apart Djokovic in just one hour and eight minutes.

He broke the third seed twice to breeze through the opening set in just over half an hour.

The second set went with serve until an out-of-sorts Djokovic netted a backhand to be broken in the sixth game and trail 2-4.

Roddick then held serve before again breaking in the eighth to book his place in the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a third time.

Djokovic was a shadow of his usual self against Roddick

Djokovic admitted he had been woefully short of his usual excellence.

“It’s just one of those days when you really don’t feel comfortable on the court,” he said.

“I just didn’t have any momentum – no feel for the ball, no movement. Just no solutions. It was all me making an incredible amount of unforced errors.

“This was one of the worst matches, certainly, I played.”

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