Djokovic steals the show at Montreal 2009 Preview. That boy sure loves to take his clothes off.

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Stephanie Myles profiles Rafa’s doubles partner at the Rogers Cup. I’m still not amused. He would have been better off playing with Uncle Toni (Open Court)

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Rafael Nadal conducted a comin’-to-Jesus meeting with Francisco Roig before the third-set tiebreak with Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram.

(Image: Denise/tennisfiend)

Yesterday was round two of the adventures of Nadal and Co. I detailed yesterday what happened the first round. In the second round, they ran into an experienced doubles team of Max Miryni and Andy Ram, who also happened to be seated seventh. This time the experienced team picked on Roig and kept the ball away from Nadal.

Nadal, to his credit, kept the match close. Roig played better than yesterday, but it still was not enough to move him out of mess territory. Nadal and Roig were able to win the first set, and it looked like they were going to slide by again. Mirnyi and Ram cut down on unforced errors and won the second set. They then won the third-set tiebreak and the match at 4-6 6-3 10-8.

Nadal did not look happy at the end of the match. Hopefully, he learned a valuable lesson yesterday – that he cannot just play doubles with anyone and expect to do well.

(Images: Denise/tennisfiend)

In more doubles action in Montreal, Rafael Nadal and Francisco Roig met up with Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic yesterday. I don’t know where Nadal found his doubles partner, but he was a giant mess on the court. From Roig’s lack of returns and patty-cake volleys, it was clear that Nadal was going to have to go at it alone. Wasn’t Juan Carlos Ferrero available?

To the Serbs credit and detriment, they could have gone after Roig, but they instead brought the match to the Spanish champion. Nadal was able to cut his losses with his partner and take over the match. He ran everything down and hit winners from everywhere. It was pretty sick actually. Nadal kept his team within striking distance, and ultimately snatched the match from the Serbs.

The Spanish team got away with one and won the match 7-5 6-4. In future matches, other teams will only exploit the lack of balance in this pairing. They will play an experienced doubles team of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram today. We will see if Rafa & Company will get away with another one.

(Image: Denise/tennisfiend)