Roman Letdown

Another Masters tournament and another early loss for the two Australian Open finalists this year. In Rome, Roger Federer started off his 2010 clay court campaign with a bewildering lost to 40ish ranked Ernest Gulbis while Andy Murray's slump continues with a not-too-shocking lost to David Ferrer. Murray's quarterfinal finish in Indian Wells was the best result of either player.

The losses this week are worrying for both. Murray must be disheartened to see others pass him by especially with guys his age like Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro winning slams while he loses in straight sets. It's especially jarring for him since he was so close to the top hitting a career high ranking of #2 last summer. He's still young and he has huge potential for improvement, but his trend is going down, not up.

For Federer, the losses might hurt just a bit less especially considering what he has already achieved. But he has A TON of ranking points to defend starting next week. Will he be able to defend the four tournaments he won (Madrid, French Open, Wimbledon, Cincinnati) and his final showing at the US Open? Good news for him is that he IS a different player now in Grand Slam play, but he needs to improve his results in the regular tour. At the very least so people still thinks he cares. Good on him for sticking with doubles though. He's in the quarterfinals in Rome.

Their vanquishers, Ferrer and Gulbis, are both through to the quarterfinals as are last year's finalists, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, as well as Stanislas Wawrinka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, and Feliciano Lopez.