TENNIS in DEPTH.

Ivan Ljubicic was forced to retire after the second set with his match against Rafeal Nadal, adding his name to endless list of injured players. A confused Nadal, looking far from a former #1 player and the highest seed in the tournamnet, had no answer to the attack of Ljubicic. If only the classy Croatian could play at this level for a few months or even one tournament. He possesses the best one-handed backhand stroke of any player past or present, and a service that comes from out of nowhere with such pace that Nadal found himself standing 12 feet behind the baseline just to get his racquet on the ball. The score will go down as a 3-6, 6-3 win for Nadal, but the score does not tell the full story.

Novak Djokovic was forced to draw on his big-match experience to withstand the spirited challenge of Gilles Simon, defeating the Frenchman 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 Friday to secure his place in the semi-finals of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 Presented by Rolex, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

Djokovic had met with an equally resilient Simon in the semi-finals of Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai last year and next will face the man he defeated in the final of the 2008 season finale, Nikolay Davydenko.

“I hope I will repeat the same success I had at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai last year against him,” said Djokovic, looking ahead to the clash with Davydenko. “It’s kind of a deja vu, playing with Simon [in the] semis and him in the finals. [He's had] so many years on the tour, Nikolay, and [is a] very aggressive player and takes the ball very early. So I will have to have good tactics tomorrow and just be ready for aggression from the other side of the net and hope I will have patience and I’ll be wise enough to win.”

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