Nadal and Moya defeat Federer and Wawrinka in Rome

Yesterday Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya to beat Roger Federer and his Davis Cup teammate Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Rome Masters.

Ahem.

Wow. But back to tennis.

They seem a might too close together, n'est-ce pas? Taking nothing away from these guys, they don't play enough doubles and think enough doubles to really get good at it. So, sometimes when I watch professional doubles, I groan at the the mental mistakes I see being made.

Anything not valued enough isn't practiced enough and studied enough. So, much that was once common knowledge about doubles has fallen into the realm of the secrets of the game.

The ATP tour has been trying to get its top players to play doubles for years. Last season, no-ad scoring was introduced and 10-point tiebreakers were instituted instead of third sets for doubles.

"For me, it's better. It makes the game shorter," Nadal said of the new rules.

Moya also embraced the changes.

"Just look at the court. It was full of people, so that's a good thing. This is a big tournament," Moya said. "It's not easy playing singles and doubles but it's important for the top guys to play doubles."

Amen.

Technorati Tags: tennis tennis doubles roger federer rafael nadal