February has been a very interesting month. Rafa’s comeback was the big highlights, but we had also some other “good-bad-maybe” players
The Good 
1- Nadal
It was Rafa’s time and he didn’t miss it. The King of Clay made a great comeback to professional tennis by reaching the final in Vina Del Mar and winning in Brazil and Acapulco. The first week wasn’t as great as his loss to Zeballos raised many questions. Then Rafa won the next 2 tournaments in style The last one in Acapulco was incredible…. trashing David Ferrer 6-0 6-2 in a final on clay it’s something special.
The King is back.
2-Djokovic
We have been to Federer’s era, to Nadal-Federer era and now we are in Nole’s era. Even if we are talking about the big 4, it seems that currently there is a big 1 + the other 3 + the others.
In February Nole won Dubai without dropping a set and he widened significantly his gap with Federer in the ATP rankings.
Too much for everybody.
3- Del Potro
Come on Delpo, come on! The Argentine seems to grow stronger and stronger to win his 14th career title in Rotterdam and to make life very difficult for Nole in the Dubai semifinal. The Argentine consolidates his 7th position in the rankings to go for more. 2013 can be an interesting year for him.
4-Azarenka
Vika won a horrible Australian Open among so much controversy. She found the strenghts to get back and win in Doha beating Serena Williams in the final (after losing to her 9 consecutive times). It doesn’t matter she lost the world no.1 rank, she is kicking and alive and she want it back.
Refreshing.
5- Nishikori
Key wins his 3rd career title in Memphis. The Japenese seems to be a serious candidate to break into the top 10… as soon as possible.
Also in the good:
Zeballos wins his first APT in Vina del Mar beating the King of Clay… but then he disappears in the next 3 tournaments. Still a big achievement in Chile.
Cilic wins in Zagreb demolishing Melzer in the final.
Niculescu and Piskova win their 1st title in Brazil and Malaysia.
Kvitova wins in Dubai.
Sara Errani wins another Acapulco without dropping a single set.
The Bad 
1-Federer
Ahiahi, the Swiss Maestro can’t get it right. To be honest he is playing fantastic tennis, but he can’t win a tournament since last year in Cincinnati (7 months ago) . The Maestro coudn’t even reach the final in Rotterdam and Dubai where he was defending his title in both of them. It seems he is a bit suffocated by promotions, interviews and so on…
A little less conversation a little more action?
2-Wozniacki
She has this wierd relationship with his father/coach (Bartoli’s style) that is bringing her nowhere. She finally managed to reach a semifinal in Dubai, to then suffer an incredible upset by world no. 186 Qiang Wang in the first round of a tournament where there was just nobody. Ouch.
3-Tomic
OK, Bernard had a wonderful January to be posed to be the next big one. The problem is that after defeating Daniel Brands in 4 tough sets in the second round of the Australian Open (not an epic win… isn’t it?) he then lost 4 of the next 6 matches. He has only managed to defeat Klizan and Devvarman (now world No.250). Still a lot to do.
4-Petrova
Saying that Sara Errani is boring… well it’s not the best PR in the world and not nice for a colleague that is competing at her best giving it all. Sara won in Acapulco this month and she is still world no.1 in doubles. A bit of respect.
5-Janowicz
OK, he excited all of us by playing an incredible Bercy last year and talking about sleeping in the car during some tournaments, but from that moment on he didn’t prove anything. He grabs headlines only for throwing incredible tantrum and, worse of all, for insulting Djokovic and Federer during an interview. Time to grow up.
The Maybe
1-Gulbis
He won his 2nd Delray Beach title to climb 42 places in the rankings. This guy is strong, funny and a good entertainer, maybe if he finds a continuity in his game he can become quite a prominent character in tennis.
2-Tsonga
He loses in the first round in both Rotterdam (Sijsling) and Dubai (Llodra) to triumph in Marseille. Jo is strong and lots of fun…maybe it’s time to play good tennis week-in week-out… too erratic.
3-Ferrer
He destroys everybody in South America to melt down when he plays King Rafa in the Acapulco final. … Maybe he is right to say he is not the real no.4, but his attitude is definitely great!
4-Tennis USA
They can’t find any American superstar in the ATP since Pete Sampras retired, they are losing tournaments after tournaments (San Jose, Memphis… etc)…. Maybe it’s time to sit down and think what to do…. actually this should be under the “bad category”… shouldn’t be?
5- Venus Williams
She can’t win a tournament anymore. Now upset by (then) world no.109 Olga Puchova. We had so much fun with Venus, but maybe time to retire?
