Monday’s It Doesn’t Hurt to Know
Federer claimed not to have noticed his fall in the rankings this summer, saying he only recently looked at the rankings to see himself no longer in the Top Two. The World No. 3 also said that to him, rankings don’t matter, as the difference, between “two, three, four…” is not significant. The Swiss did omit “one” from that sequence.

Roger Federer press interview

Monday’s “¿Cómo se dice ‘Sour Grapes?’”
Thiemo de Bakker beat Feliciano Lopez today, 7-6(2), 6-3. I arrived to see the conclusion of the match and the Spaniard was visibly upset, especially after he got an unfavorable net ball. “Bad luck,” yelled Lopez in Spanish and followed up with a Spanish curse that Fergus Murphy must have missed on his list of foreign swear words. Then, on match point, de Bakker hit a volley that the umpire called in but Lopez and the crowd saw as clearly out. Murphy announced, “Game, Set, Match,” and Lopez objected, “What ‘Game, Set, Match?’ That was so far out.” He continued to argue all the way to his bag, at one point suggesting Murphy should not be in his position by asking, “What are you doing at this tournament?” Needless to say, there was no Lopez-Murphy handshake.

Monday’s “Oh, Canada!”
British Columbia’s Peter Polansky, ranked No. 207 in the world, defeated 13th seed and French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer, 7-6(6), 6-4.

Monday’s Christening and Unfortunate Demise
Today was a historic day, as it marked the birth of “Rafole,” the name fans have dubbed the doubles partnership between the world’s best – No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic. With today’s rain delays, many feared the pair’s match with Canadian up-and-comers Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic would have to be postponed, but tennis gods did not want to wait to witness it. First, Djokovic and Nadal practiced together to one of the biggest crowds this reporter has seen on a practice court.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal

Then, with a postponement of planned fireworks, primarily for fears of weather changes (although an official admitted that Djokovic and Nadal did not want to play later than necessary), the match began. To the surprise of the crowd and possibly Djokovic and Nadal, it was much more competitive than expected, with the Canadian pair reaching a break advantage in each set. They took advantage of one of those breaks and won the second set, and then the dramatic super-tiebreak. The Canadians took the biggest victory of their lives, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8TB.

Although it did not end well for them, Djokovic and Nadal clearly were enjoying the match. Nadal was as relaxed as I have ever seen him on court, smiling a great deal. Really, this pairing is only natural. One of the intricacies of finding a doubles partnership is being able to play at your other half’s pace. And with two of the slowest servers on Tour teaming up, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Monday’s Next Big Couple: Fedal? Rogael?
Roger Federer said that Rafael Nadal had suggested they play doubles together several years ago, and that he refused. He admitted to feeling that their rivalry was too strong and fearing that a partnership would affect them mentally. Federer also suggested it would be awkward for the fans and media to see the two rivals on the same side of the net. Today, he sees both of them as “more laid back” about the rivalry and would consider joining forces.

More photos from Monday's action at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Photos: Mariya Konovalova