Bunny

Is it too early in the year that Novak Djokovic has become Andy Roddick's bunny?

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Seriously, Djokovic is supposed to be the #3 player in the world. Previous to the Aussie Open, he had a 2-1 lead over Roddick in the head-to-head and although Roddick is a good player, he really shouldn't be in Djokovic's class, considering that the guy has regularly gone toe to toe with the Hispano-Suisse domination machine. But no. Since the Australian Open, I think it is fair to say that Djokovic is A-Rod's bitch.

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Seriously, A-Rod just totally whaled on him. Djokovic only won 39% of the points in that match. For someone that's supposed to be one of the fantastic four, that's just not good enough. Sure, it is has not been Djokovic's bestest year ever, but I think this has been particularly evident in his matches against Roddick. First there was the whole retirement incident in Australia, where Djokovic got heat exhaustion or food poisoning or had a desire to sneeze or something, where Roddick really showed his class and training by not letting the conditions affect him at all. And now this. I don't know if Roddick has somehow got into Djokovic's head or whatever, but Djokovic's performance in this match was pretty rubbish, to put none too fine a point on it. It will be interesting to monitor this head-to-head over the next few months. If Djokovic starts losing to Roddick on clay, then we know that something is seriously up. Bunny. That's all I'm saying about that.

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Speaking of non-bunnies, the Federer-Verdasco match was very entertaining. Although i was obviously cheering for the R-Fed and I was glad he won with relatively little trouble, apart from that blip in the second set, Nando Verdasco continues to impress. I'd really like to see him take a biggish title this year - a Masters Series or 1000 or whatever they're called. I think he deserves to be a little higher up the rankings than he currently is - I think he's about #10 at the moment, but there are a few in there I think he's better than.

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Djokovic, for a start.

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Today's Results

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BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells)

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-3 7-6 (7-5)

Andy Murray def. Ivan Ljubicic, 7-5 7-6 (8-6)

Andy Roddick def. Novak Djokovic, 6-3 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Vera Zvonareva def. Victoria Azarenka, 6-3 6-3