Sure, Roger Federer won his 20th Masters 1000 title with his 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Tomas Berdych at the Madrid Open. And, yes, it was his 45th win in his last 48 matches, gave him seven titles in his last 10 events, made him the first player to ever win at least 10 championships on each major surface and earned him that bizarre Ion Tiriac trophy. This doesn’t even mention that he moved past Rafael Nadal to regain the No. 2 spot in the ATP rankings, made a huge dent in Novak Djokovic’s lead for the No. 1 ranking and came out on top in a week that was defined by childish whining and threats from the former top two. But all of that pales in comparison to receiving a framed “Men in Black” suit from Will Smith.

Smith is in Europe doing press for his new film, “Men in Black 3,” and watched Sunday’s final with his wife, Jada. After the match, Smith spoke to the crowd in surprisingly-good Spanish, then brought out a framed costume from the movie as a gift to Federer.

Serena Williams dominated the women’s final earlier Sunday, defeating world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-3. The American hasn’t lost on clay all year, but that will bring little consolation since Will Smith didn’t bring her anything from “Bad Boys 2.”

Streaking across the blue clay in pursuit of a Tomas Berdych blast, Roger Federer could see the white Mercedes parked on its perch above the corner of the court as he stabbed back a stretch forehand for a fourth championship point.  The dynamic shotmaker's ability to downshift from defense to offense on pivotal points helped him find the finish line with a final flourish.

Navigating a thrill ride of a final set that featured three bumpy breaks in the last five games, Federer fended off Berdych, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, to capture his third career Madrid championship and become the first three-time winner in the event's 11-year history. It is Federer's seventh title in his last 10 tournaments and his 74th career championship. The Swiss stylist collected his 20th Masters crown to equal arch rival Rafael Nadal's all-time record and will replace Rafa as world No. 2 when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday.

It began as a blues cruise for Berdych, who exploited a Federer brain cramp when the third seed tried faked a drop shot on a sitter, but his slice forehand found the middle of the net.  Berdych blasted a backhand return winner and broke for 2-0.  The sixth-seeded Czech won 12 of the next 14 points on his serve to stretch the lead to 5-2 and sealed the 36-minute set on his third set point, whipping a biting serve into the body to conclude a confident opener in which Berdych crunched 14 winners against two errors.

Federer found a remedy to blunt a sharp Berdych by playing with a bit more topspin and sharper angles on his forehand. A Federer forehand return skimmed the top of the tape, he hit an off-pace, inside-out forehand winner to break for 2-0.  Federer erased a break point with an ace in holding for 4-1, but Berdych denied a break point with an ace of his own holding for 2-4. The 6-foot-5 Czech showed fine defensive skills, digging a lunging forehand out of the dirt then zapping a forehand winner down the line to break back for 4-5. A Federer forehand return skidded off the sideline scooting beneath Berdych's racquet as Federer earned two set points, levelling when a visibly tight Berdych dumped a double fault into net.

Bidding for his first Masters crown in six-and-half years, Berdych's strength is his ability to strike a series of flat shots in repetition. Federer's brilliance is he seldom plays the same spin or speeds on successive shots. Berdych outplayed Federer in the early stages of the third set, earning two break points in the first game — his dropped to a squat and squeezed his eyes in angst after narrowling missing a backhand down the line on the second break point — and another break point in the third game. The big-hitting Czech led 0-30 in each of Federer's first three service games of the decider, but Federer held firm. 

The drama ratcheted up as Berdych banged three straight aces to dig out of a 0-40 hole only to gag in dumping two double faults to hand his opponent the break and a 5-3 lead. One of the game's best closers could not bring the curtain down yet as two rousing returns from Berdych helped him break back for 4-5. Serving to force the tie breaker, the big man could not control a slithering short slice from Federer and missed a backhand up the line to fall into a 0-40 hole. Berdych gamely fought off three championship points before Federer finally found closure coaxing an error with another short slice and thrusting his arms in the air, a Madrid master again.

—Richard Pagliaro

It may not be remembered as the greatest win of Serena Williams’ career; after all, it wasn't even recorded at a Grand Slam event. But if you had to pick a "legacy" match with which to honor Williams, today's 6-1, 6-3 blowout of Victoria Azarenka in the Madrid final might do the trick. Because:

—Williams was ranked No. 9 going into Madrid. Azaranka wasn't only the world No. 1, it wasn't all that many weeks ago that pundits and fans were—with some justification—wondering whether or not she was going to go all Djokovic on the WTA (that is, duplicate the extraordinary run Novak had through the first half of 2011). After all, Azarenka was 29-2 on the year at the outset of Madrid. But Williams herself was 17-2—a detail easily forgotten in the (justified) hype surrounding Azarenka's spectacular start. The win also improved Williams’ career record over Azarenka to 7-1.

—Williams also defeated, with comparable ease (6-1, 6-3), the other dominant WTA player of the year thus far, fomer No. 1 Maria Sharapova. Presently No. 2, Sharapova had a 22-4 record going into Madrid and had battled Azarenka in two of the last three major WTA events (Indian Wells and Stuttgart).

—The back-to- back wins (if not knockouts) over the present and former No. 1s (and both Grand Slam champions) were on clay, not on grass or hard courts, where Williams’ game is most deadly. And it was on the innovative—and controversial—blue clay that almost caused such manly men as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (both of whom lost in the men’s event) to throw hissy fits.

Granted, Madrid's blue clay was harder and more slippery than traditional European red clay, and thus more favorable to a shotmaker and aggressive server like Serena. But like everyone else, Serena had to navigate the potential physical and mental challenges of the never-before-tried surface.

At the start of the tournament, Serena described the blue clay as “ridiculous.” But she came up with a novel strategy that seemed to have escaped the illustrious male warriors: She accepted and embraced the mission. Call hers the “just deal with it” approach.

This latter aspect of Serena’s win tempts us to once again talk about her in terms of “character,” but never forget that nobody wins on guts and aggression alone. And the final only confirmed what the statistics for the tournament had already suggested: From match-to-match, Serena was just plain more effective and dangerous than Azarenka.

Going into the final, the only category in which Azarenka led Serena was first-serve conversion percentage. That was ironic, because you can tell the story of this match simply through serve and return proficiency—statistics that are intertwined because each of them is dependent on the quality of the serve.

Going into the final, Azarenka was serving close to 65 percent, but Serena was just a few percentage points behind. When you take into account that Williams' serve is simply better—much better (among other things, she had twice as many aces in previous matches as Azarenka)—that slight in conversion percentage is meaningless.

There was one great statistical warning sign for Azarenka going into the final: In both first- and second-serve return proficiency, Williams led Vika by a hefty margin. At 42 percent, Serena enjoyed a great 12 percent superiority against first serves; her 67 percent success rate against second serves was seven points better than Azarenka's. In tennis, those are huge numbers. Given this clear advantage in returning ability, and the difference in the two finalist’s serves, it was clear that control of the match was entirely in Serena’s hands.

In the end, Azarenka served a respectable 60 percent, and Serena a mediocre but still deadly 49 percent. I say “deadly” because Serena won a whopping 91 percent of her first-serve points, while Azarenka won just 63 percent of her own. And Williams won 63 percent of the second-serve points she faced. Therein lay the story of the match.

Once again, the lesson is that the only thing that may be better than superior firepower at the service notch is returning expertise. And when you’re better at both, as seems to be the case with Serena, there’s not much that anyone, including the No. 1-ranked player in the world, can do.

—Pete Bodo

A set of eye-popping play from Roger Federer sometimes left Janko Tipsarevic's head spinning like a weather vane whirling in the wind, but for a moment the seventh seed seemed to have Federer right where he wanted him — lunging for the ball while displaced in the doubles alley. 

On the full stretch, Federer flicked a forehand reflex return crosscourt that rattled Tipsarevic's racquet and ricocheted into the crowd for the lone break of the second set. That shot typified today's semifinal: even when Federer was out of position, he was still in command.

A sometime swirling wind heightened the degree of difficulty, but the third-seeded Swiss played with unwavering calm to storm into his fourth final in his last five tournaments with a 6-2, 6-3 semifinal sweep of Tipsarevic today. The two-time Madrid champion advanced to his 104th ATP final and will be playing for more than the stack of mini gold racquets decorated with diamonds that serve as the Ion Tiriac title trophy  — should Federer beat Tomas Berdych in Sunday's final he will surpass archrival Rafael Nadal and regain the world No. 2 ranking for the first time since March, 2011.

The tattooed Tipsarevic made his mark on Madrid yesterday, fending off seven break points to surprise world No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the second time in six months. With his arm ink and tinted Oakley sunglasses, Tipsarevic could pass for surfer, but couldn't combat the serving tsunami Federer unleashed in the opening set. The 16-time Grand Slam champion isn't the fastest serve in the sport, but he's one of the most accurate. Federer won 16 of 18 points played on his serve in the first set, suffocating the Serbian in winning three of his four service games at love.  Tipsarevic weathered an early break-point storm against Djokovic yesterday and saved two break points today before a series of sharp slices from Federer, made more devious by the windy conditions, coaxed a forehand into net to break for 3-1 after a near nine-minute game.

Mixing his spins and speeds brilliantly, Federer won 16 of the final 20 points to seize the opening set in 32 minutes on the strength of 13 winners compared to 6 for his opponent. Tipsarevic serves bigger than his 5-foot-11 size suggests and the Belgrade baseliner is entertaining to watch because of his willingness to stand toe-to-toe with bigger hitters and drive daggers down the line off both wings. But Federer's ability to time the ball on the rise and step into the court repeatedly rushed Tipsarevic and the Swiss varied the height and spin of his shots to deny his opponent any rhythm. Federer's rousing forehand return, which evoked gasps of surprise from some in the crowd, gave him a 3-1 lead. He saved the only break point he faced when Tipsarevic's backhand down the line strayed wide as Federer eventually held for 5-2, sealing the 66-minute win with a stinging body serve.  Federer is 44-3 since falling to Djokovic in the 2011 U.S. Open semifinals.

 Federer has beaten Berdych in 10 of their 14 meetings, but the big-hitting Czech has prevailed in three of their last five meetings. Continuing his quest to regain the No. 1 ranking, Federer can surpass Nadal for No. 2 and tie the Spaniard's record of 20 Masters crowns with a win in the final.

—Richard Pagliaro

Tomas Berdych proved himself the better competitor on the day as he won a tight match over Juan Martin del Potro to move into the Madrid final, beating the Argentine 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6).

Berdych is one of the few players who hasn’t been unremittingly negative about the controversial court surface this week, looking right at home in crushing Kevin Anderson, Gael Monfils and Fernando Verdasco before stopping del Potro’s 10-match winning streak cold today. Del Potro made the better start to this entertaining display of power tennis, breaking Berdych to take a 2-1 lead, but he never quite recovered the full-out aggression that paid off so well in those opening games. With del Potro serving for the set at 5-4, it was Berdych who stepped up to the attack, breaking the Argentine to love as he increasingly struggled to find his footing at the back of the court. An error in the first point of the tie break gave Berdych the mini-break as del Potro lost his focus, disputing the correct mark in the clay with umpire Mohamed El Jennati. After a four-minute pause during which a spectator required medical attention, it was Berdych’s turn to lose focus, pegged back from 5-1 to 5-5 after del Potro pulled off a delicate chip at the feet of the Czech as he charged the net, but a tame backhand error left del Potro smacking a ball into the court in frustration and Berdych sealed the set with the one-two punch of big serve and forehand winner he excels at.

Berdych was again the more aggressive player as a still-frustrated del Potro served to open the second set, pouncing on the short ball to earn break point then taking it when he finally pulled off a backhand return down the line on del Potro’s second serve. Del Potro recovered enough to break back for 3-3 and started going for his shots again, playing some of his best tennis since the start, but once again it was Berdych who was the more steely competitor. When pressed hard on his serve at 5-6, he served three aces to force a tiebreak, taking a 3-2 lead as del Potro lost his footing again. Berdych’s fourth double fault of the match — the unfortunate trade-off of going after his second serves, which paid off well — levelled the score, but with del Potro looking for his first set point, the Argentine’s serve, which he thought was an ace, was over-ruled and called wide by El Jennati. A furious del Potro (who neglected to shake El Jennati’s hand) lost concentration and put a backhand into the net to give up match point and Berdych sealed it with his forty-first winner of the match.

With two players whose games are so similar, both playing at or near their best, it becomes less about tactics and more about who can execute better. In the end, Berdych’s sublime serving – he hit 15 aces — and his greater confidence and courage put him in a winning position, and he was nerveless enough to convert that advantage into a victory to be proud of. Now all he needs to do is repeat that in the final, where he is likely to face Roger Federer.

—Hannah Wilks

Victoria Azarenka continued her 2012 domination of Agnieszka Radwanska, beating the Pole for the sixth time this year and the fourth time in straight sets, 6-2 6-4.

Azarenka, who lost last year in the final to Petra Kvitova, had her difficulties earlier on in the week and it looked early in the match as if she might be vulnerable to Radwanska today, double-faulting twice to hand back her initial break. Meanwhile, Radwanska initially brought more aggression than we’re used to seeing from her, holding to love for 1-2 with a succession of clean winners. But any suggestion that the match might develop substantially differently was quickly nipped in the bud. Radwanska, serving at 50% in the first set, kept offering up short, soft, predictable second serves that were grist to the mill for Azarenka’s deep returning and was broken to love for 3-2. Her worst game of the match already behind her, Azarenka settled to the task at hand and forged ahead to dominate the first set 6-2, finishing with her 14th winner.

Azarenka’s level — and first serve percentage — dropped substantially in the second set, but by that point Radwanska already appeared resigned to a sixth straight loss. Even on the blue clay, with Azarenka markedly less willing to run for hours than usual, she struggled to make even would-be decisive advantages of position tell, exemplified by a point with Azarenka serving at 0-1 where she was on the service line for three shots without being able to put the ball away for a winner. Kicking at the clay and complaining aloud, she was unable to channel her frustration effectively even when Azarenka swiped at an out-of-play ball and accidentally almost hit her, broken after another poor second serve was punished with a deep return. Azarenka struggled to take the lead decisively, getting visibly upset and emotional as she was broken back twice, but Radwanska simply could not find the consistency in her serve or groundstrokes to push her wavering opponent. Serving at 4-4, break point down, another poor second serve sat up and begged and Azarenka struck a clean backhand return winner. With new consultant Mauresmo looking on, Azarenka settled herself enough to serve out the match, ending with a backhand drop-volley from right on top of the net.

Azarenka kept her streak of not losing to Radwanska, or in a semifinal, in 2012 alive, but she will need to play and in particular serve much better to keep things close in a probable final against Serena Williams. As for Radwanska, it’s clear that Azarenka’s recent victories have unsettled her deeply against the Belarusian; for such a cool-headed player, she was tactically a mess today, unable to take a set against an Azarenka who was not at her best. The pair are slated to meet again in the Rome semifinals next week; should they both get there, Radwanska will do well to try to forget their recent history and play with less emotion and more strategy.

—Hannah Wilks

What Rafael Nadal can do, Novak Djokovic can do better.

The world No. 1 followed in his rival’s footsteps on Friday by blasting the blue clay at the Madrid Open after an upset loss.

Djokovic was defeated in a quarterfinal match by countrymen Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (2), 6-3. He appeared disinterested through much of the second set.

The world No. 1 had spent the previous few days criticizing the playing surface and his anger about the slippery conditions was evident during play. That frustration came out in the post-match press conference:

Transcript via BBC Radio broadcast:

“I really don’t need to meet anybody. There is no discussion in my eyes, it’s very simple. No blue clay for me. That’s it. The test has failed. This is totally different in the middle of the red clay season. I’m coming here as a defending champion and I have a lot things which are important.

“If I cannot move and I put this pressure all the time on my muscles and the body and having it in my mind the worry of hopefully not getting injured and making some quick moves because the court is so unpredictable, then really, what’s the sense in playing here?

“This is what it is for 2012, 2013 if hey still blue and come up for fluorescent balls, whatever they come up with, they can have their own tournament, but I’m not coming for sure.”

Djokovic went on to criticize former ATP chief Adam Helfant, the man responsible for allowing the slippery surface to be installed in Madrid, insinuating that something nefarious happened behind close doors that resulted in the installation of the blue clay.

“It’s very simple, he was going away he knew that his contract is not renewed and he made this decision on his own,” Djokovic said, according to Tennis Grandstand. “I will not go into what was going on behind closed doors but something was going on definitely because he didn’t care about tennis and what the players think, only himself and his own interests.”

So harsh were Djokovic’s words that the BBC’s Jonathan Overend tweeted, “former ATP Chief won’t be calling the lawyers, but only just.”

If the ATP wasn’t so toothless, Djokovic would be expecting a fine. Then again, if the ATP wasn’t so toothless, maybe Madrid wouldn’t have installed a subpar court surface.

Djokovic was out  slipped on a number of points throughout the match, far more than any other play I’ve watched this week. Was his poor footing due to the court or due to his perception of the court? Nobody seems to like the slippery surface in Madrid but Roger Federer has played well, as have top female players like Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams. How much of this was in his head?

Judging by his reaction, a lot.

A hip-hop song featuring a rapping Serena Williams was leaked to TMZ on Thursday night, hours before Serena easily handled Maria Sharapova at the Madrid Open.

Last year, Serena was rumored to be in the studio with famed producer DJ Clue. Is this 60-second track a result of that pairing?

Serena sounds pretty good in her eight bars. Her inflection doesn’t sound forced and she appears to be enjoying herself, even when the lyrics get a little hokey.

Let’s exegesis this historic track:

I ball hard, no tennis racquet/I can see these haters through my Gucci glasses

Not since Snoop rapped about jail, Long Beach, Dr. Dre and going solo in the opening of “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)” has a rapper announced a presence so forcefully. Who is Serena? She uses a tennis racquet but not when she’s balling hard. She has haters and hates on them like Silky Johnson. And she’s rich. Gucci rich.

I make hits like battin’ practice/Baby, like, ‘Serena, is you really rappin’?’

Weird baseball reference there. You wedge in “batting practice” only to rhyme it with “rappin’”?

That’s me, thanks for listenin’/schooling all these rappers, they should pay tuition

Which rappers is she schooling? She’s definitely talking about Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, right?

I make a lot of money but that ain’t yo business/you can tell the people I said this

A few lines after boasting of her Gucci glasses and in the same sentence she brags about how much money she makes, Serena tells us her wealth is none of our business. She’s got that rap delusion thing down.

I win, I really mean it/Swag out this world, you should call me Venus

In this line, Serena says her “swag” (or style) is “out of this world.” How out of this world? Literally! Her swag isn’t on Earth, but on an adjacent planet!

That’s my sister, my name is Serena/on the court I serve ‘em up, no subpoena

Oh, I see what they did there. “Venus” not only represented the planet Venus but Venus Williams, Serena’s sister. Smooth, ghostwriter. Smooth. The “subpoena” line is nice. Any rap song from a ballerina, a baby eating Farina, someone wearing a pashmina, a native of Argentina or women named Selina, Alina or Fatina are obligated to rhyme those words. It’s a union thing.

I cook the track up like a frozen pizza/beats so crazy it might blow your speakers

Serena cooks her frozen pizza with Auto-Tune?

I ain’t never been a loser and I’m always on top: roofer

Only upside of this line: The possibility that Serena tries to bring back the “raise the roof” celebration.

Final thoughts: Serena’s not bad. Sure, we could use some darker imagery in the songs but maybe that’s for the second single. How about a line like, “When you see me in the hallway, it’s best to hide/Shove these balls down your throat to ugly up yo inside.” Eva Asderaki and Shino Tsurubuchi could make cameos in the video.

As long as Serena keeps rapping a hobby for now, we’re fully behind this endeavor. But she can’t leave tennis alone, the game needs her.

In a span of 24 hours, Rafael Nadal lost and threatened to boycott next year’s tournament, Novak Djokovic issued the same declaration and Ion Tiriac, the billionaire responsible for Madrid’s controversial blue courts, apologized for the slippery surface. Given these developments, it’s not unreasonable to assume the world’s top players won their passive-aggressive battle against the colored clay surface.

But not so fast, says Tiriac.

“It’s a pity,” he said of Nadal and Djokovic’s threats. “I would be very sad if they did not play.”

The tennis promoter was referring to Nadal’s comments made after a three-set loss to Fernando Verdasco.

“The ATP and the tournament can do what they want,” an irritated Nadal told the press. “The only thing that I know is that if things continue like this I am very sad but next year will be one less tournament in my calendar.”

(Reading Nadal’s quotes over the past two weeks, it’s easy to see why he’s let Novak Djokovic take up permanent residence in his head. Rafa can’t let things go.)

His Uncle Toni echoed the same sentiments. “I told Rafa not to play [Madrid] this year and I hope he doesn’t play the next time,” he told El Pais.

Novak Djokovic, who won his third-round match on Thursday, hinted that he’d skip Madrid too if the courts remain.

“They are saying it’s exactly the same as the red clay which is not true because there is a big difference,” the world No. 1 said. ”You are tripping and slipping and sliding all the time and winner will be the one who doesn’t get hurt until the end of the week because a lot of players fell down. Generally it’s a new experience and the way it looks this year hopefully the last experience.”

Rafa’s comments may come across as sour grapes while Novak’s seem to be setting the table for sour grapes, if that meal should become available. It may be uncouth and childish to threaten to take your racquet and go home, but can you blame them? Players don’t have a loud voice in many tennis matters. They have an opportunity to affect change and are taking advantage of it.

Update: Djokovic lost his Friday quarterfinal match to countryman Janko Tipsarevic, then ripped the courts and former ATP chief Adam Helfant in his press conference. The world No. 1 insinuated Helfant’s approval of the slippery blue courts involved some shady back-room deals. Roger Federer, meanwhile, advanced to the semifinals without incident.

Has the tennis world been complaining about the wrong thing this week in Madrid? While fans and press and (mostly male) players have been staring angrily at the blue clay, we’ve haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the women playing alongside them. That’s not entirely, or even mostly, our fault. In the U.S., there has been no TV coverage of the WTA as of yet, even on something known as the Tennis Channel, and Internet streams were largely dry early in the week.

Worse, the fans onsite at the Caja Magica appeared to shun stars like Serena, Maria, and Vika as well. It was a surreal sight this morning to wake up and watch Williams and Sharapova, celebrities of the first magnitude, walk into center court in front of pretty much no one. It’s not as if spectators have been encouraged to visit the women, though. Night matches have gone almost exclusively to the ATP, and the press has spent almost all of its time talking to Rafa and Novak and company—Serena wasn’t even requested for a press conference before her match with Caroline Wozniacki .

I would blame this on a lingering European disinterest in women’s tennis—it’s still tangible at the French Open—except that last week Stuttgart was well attended. I would blame it on the drive toward dual-gender events, which can leave the women looking like second-class citizens when it comes to scheduling. But next week’s combined tournament in Rome does its best to feature the ladies. It must be Madrid, the site of one of the most bitter weeks of tennis that I can remember. I’ll finish it with a few quick notes on Friday’s matches.

*****

Welcome Varvara Lepchenko. The left-handed Uzbek-turned-American qualifier finally lost today to Aga Radwanska, but it was a heck of a run. She even passed Venus Williams in the rankings and possibly on the list to make the U.S. Olympic team. I confess that I had never seen Lepchencko play until today, even though she’s 25 and resides in my home state of Pennsylvania, of all places. I liked what I saw, both in her heavy-hitting game and her relaxed demeanor. She doesn’t shriek, she doesn’t keep her fist in a permanent clench, and she seems to take things as they come out there. Her ambling gait reminded me of someone’s—maybe a young Martina Navratilova’s.

Lepchencko pushed Radwanska around with her heavy strokes and controlled a lot of the rallies, eventually losing two competitive 6-4 sets. Still, she was a cut below the world No. 3, and Radwanska showed why. She kept making her shots, while Lepchenko missed a few more here and there at the end of each set. That was the difference. Such is the difference between No. 3 and No. 77.

This fact was duly noted by the TennisTV commentator, in a fairly painful-sounding way. When Radwanska went up 5-2 in the second set, he said, "She has surely broken the spine of her opponent now." Ouch.

*****

When I saw Fernando Verdasco trudge on to center court this morning, I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. He has to go out there, now, to face the bullet-hitting Tomas Berdych, a few hours after the biggest win of his career? It reminded me of watching Julien Benneteau walk off in tears after beating Roger Federer for the first and only time, at the 2009 Paris Masters, and then seeing him go out of the event one round later. The same thing happened to Verdasco today. He was done before he knew what hit him, 6-1, 6-2.

At his press conference yesterday Verdasco had told himself, “I have to calm down,” so he could get ready for his next match. Now he can calm down. And he can savor a memorable moment, even if it was frustratingly fleeting. The Grand Slams are grand, the Masters events are cruel.

*****

To the surprise of probably not all that many, Novak Djokovic followed his partner in disgruntlement, Rafael Nadal, out of Madrid and on to Rome today. Nole, like Rafa, was beaten by a fellow countryman, Janko Tipsarevic, whom he normally owns. Djokovic was flat from the start, but he appeared ready to give it a go until the end of the first set. Of all the players I watched this week, Djokovic had the most trouble with his footing on the surface. No one slipped, skidded, or spun out as often as he did. Novak does a lot of sliding—even on hard courts—and scrambling and defending along the baseline, so I guess this made sense. Or maybe he was just wearing the wrong shoes. After a few more skids and twirls near the end of the first, and a few bad shots in the tiebreaker, it looked like he decided to cut his losses and get out of town. His heart wasn’t in it after that.

Do I wish Djokovic had gone down swinging—and sliding—with all he had? Yes. It was a dispiriting end to a bitter tournament for the top two seeds. But I don’t blame him. Roland Garros is everything to him, and he obviously feared an injury here. Afterward he ripped former ATP chief Adam Helfant for letting the surface change in, and said he couldn’t wait to get to Rome.

Before the tournament, I paraphrased Rafael Nadal in my assessment of whether blue clay was a good idea: “We gonna see," I wrote.

Novak and Rafa have now seen. From their perspective, I think we can safely say, it blue.

*****

Have a good weekend.