As for something borrowed and pink, at the end of the match Llodra was left with a loss, but also with a souvenir.  Llodra asked Federer for his pink shirt to give to his kids, as a memento of someone “in the legends.” Federer confessed this was the third time in his career that he was asked for his shirt, and that, having known Llodra for 16 years and being a year younger, Federer had no chance but to give the French veteran the shirt off his back.

Thursday’s Style Notes
Fashion lover Federer seemed very eager to discuss his on-court outfit today. When we asked him about the choice of pink, Federer replied, “I don’t know where my head was when I chose pink, but I like it, you know.”  He contends that he has been getting a lot of praise for the choice. He also shared that he gets to work closely with Nike on picking colors and general styles (T-Shirt vs. polo shirt, for example) of his clothing, but that the choices are made far in advance, over a year in this instance.  Federer will only be clad in this style in Toronto and Cincinnati, “unfortunately or luckily,” as he is due to debut a new outfit at the US Open.

Thursday’s It Is But I
Gael Monfils is often accused of making a show out of his matches, sometimes at the expense of winning. When asked to comment on how he finds a balance between “managing the show” and staying focused in the match, the Frenchman had this to say:  “Well, the fact is, you know, I'm just... I'm just me on the court, you know.  I'm just happy to be on the court.  So I don't know.  Sometime, yes, people say I'm doing the show, but it's pretty natural, you know.  I'm just me.”

Thursday’s Wait till Andy Murray’s Next Grand Slam Final
In his match against Murray today, Monfils was his usual self, diving for the ball several times and, at one point landing on his shoulder, which he told the media after the match had already been sore.  Murray suggested that there might be a link between Monfils’ style of play and the multiple injuries the Frenchman has encountered over the last few years. As for him, Murray won’t be diving on a hard court anytime soon, “not unless it’s sort of a Grand Slam final.”

Gael Monfil during a press interview

Thursday’s Obnoxious Fan
A spectator pestered the on-court security for nearly 10 minutes before and during Kevin Anderson’s and Rafael Nadal’s pre-match warm-up, requesting he move the container holding the drinks for one of the players because the glare off its lid affected her view. The sun was setting and there were other seats available, yet the woman only relented right before play started.

Thursday’s The Couple That Plays Together, Flies Together
When asked how the unsuccessful doubles partners Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal might handle meeting each other in the Singles Final this week, Djokovic said that he and Nadal had discussed this. One of the things in the contingency plan is that the winner will have to pay for a private jet to the Cincinnati tournament next week.  Incidentally, this might have been the first time the phrase “private jet” was used in the same context as “Mason, Ohio.”

Thursday’s Serbian Solidarity
Djokovic expressed ignorance of the situation in Montreal when asked to comment on the tension between Ana Ivanovic and the Rogers Cup (see The Rundown: Wednesday for details), but did say he believes Ivanovic deserves a wildcard invitation because of her former No. 1 status and the number of fans his countrywoman draws.  Ivanovic is “one of the couple of players in women’s tennis that actually gets the fans to the court,” he said.

Thursday’s “Duh” Moment
It is not easy to get an answer out of Rafael Nadal. Sure, he will reply to your questions in interviews, and he might even talk at length. But if you look for an answer or relevant new information in his responses, you might not find it.

Nadal could not get a return in on Anderson’s service games in their match today until Anderson was up 40-0 serving at 2-2.  At this point, the World No. 1 seemed to discover a magic key to the South African’s serve, and proceeded to break Anderson in two straight service games.  When asked about adjustments he made to adapt to his opponent’s serve, Nadal replied, with no note of humor, “Well, I started to return the second serve inside the court.”  The Spaniard then proceeded to discuss the strength of Andersen’s serve and the ebbs and flows of the match.  Thanks for the in-depth analysis, Rafa; we hope all the amateur players at home take note of this innovative tactic.*

A shirtless Feliciano Lopez takes a break during practice

Thursday’s Is This about a Doubles Partnership or a Failed Hollywood Marriage?
“Last year when we played for the first time, it was a little bit weird out there, but, you know, I'm sure it's... everyone knows it's in the past now, and we've moved on and we have both done well with our different partners. And, you know, as I said, it's time to move on and do the best we can.” – Daniel Nestor on facing former long-term doubles partner Mark Knowles. Nestor and partner Nenad Zimonjic beat Knowles and Radek Stepanek, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6TB.

Thursday’s Sabotage
Zimonjic, who was scheduled to meet with the media minutes after Novak Djokovic’s post-match interview, arrived early.  When he saw his countryman in the middle of a video interview with a Serbian journalist, Zimonjic proceeded to make faces at Djokovic in a successful effort to throw Novak off. The interview got interrupted and we will have to wait and see what Djokovic’s strategy against his opponent in the Quarterfinals, Nikolay Davydenko’s conqueror Jeremy Chardy, will be.


More photos from Thursday's action at the 2010 Rogers Cup

Photos by Mariya Konovalova

*It was brought to our attention by a reader below (thanks, Ana), that we most likely misunderstood Nadal's response. If so, we apologize for suggesting his answer was evasive. Here is Rafa's complete answer, judge for yourselves:
"Well, I started to return the second serve inside the court. In the beginning, I was returning three meters behind the baseline. After, I returned the second serve on the line. So, yes, this was important point, but after that first set, wasn't easy to return the second serve inside, too, you know, because he change it a lot, the directions and the... yeah, he serve it with slice, he serve it with topspin, so wasn't easy, no?"