Top 5 hot shots from Rome Masters

3. NO-stopping-VAK!

   

   Novak Djokovic with his spoils at the Rome Masters 2015

Novak turned 28 today, May 22nd! Happy Birthday, Nole!

As the stats suggest that no man has dominated the game after the age of 28. Roger Federer won his first French Open in his 11th appearance at Roland Garros. This year is Novak’s 11th appearance at Roland Garros. It will be interesting to see if he will be able to rise to the occasion and achieve a Career Grand Slam.

Nole has been unstoppable since the start of this season. After deciding to skip Madrid in order to recoup and keep his body intact for the much awaited French Open , Nole seemed all set to defend his title at Rome.

His road to the final was not easy as he was tested by Almagro, Belluci and Nishikori, each of whom managed to take a set away from him. Nole found his A game in his Semi Final against David Ferrer. Djokovic displayed some ruthless hitting to win the match in straight sets 6-4;6-4.

As a Ferrer fan you can only feel sorry for him as no amount of hustling could help him win points like these.

2. Sizzling Stanislas

Stan Wawrinka unleashes his forehand in the quarterfinals against Rafael Nadal

While 2014 was a great season for Swiss No.2 Stan Wawrinka, 2015 has been almost a damp squib. Hogging the limelight for reasons personal rather than professional Wawrinka made a great run at Rome.

With a head to head of 1-12 against Rafa Nadal, Wawrinka was not the clear favorite given the surface. After a tough first set in which both players traded breaks, Nadal ran away in the tie break with an unassailable 6-2 lead. With four set points in his pocket, Nadal was all set to make the obvious happen. However, Stan had other plans. Like a knight in shining armor, he fought valiantly to stave off the four set points and win the tie break 9-7.

In the second set, Wawrinka rubbed in more salt to the wound by hitting shots like these that not only drove the crowd crazy but also got the King of Clay smile in disbelief!

1. Roger Da Vinci

Roger Federer with his runner-up trophy at the Rome Masters 2015

33 and still on top of his game!

After an early exit from Madrid, where he lost a hard fought match to rising star Nick Kyrgios, Roger Federer stamped his authority at Rome from the first round. After marching past Pablo Cuevas in straight sets, Federer wasted no time in dispatching Kevin Anderson, Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka.

Having spent relatively less time on court when compared to Novak Djokovic , Federer seemed fresher of the two. Federer could keep up with Djokovic till 4-4 in the first s

et. Djokovic stepped up his game at this point by taking the ball early, not allowing Roger to dictate and played with such intensity for the rest of the match that Roger lauded his effort by saying,” Novak was just too strong today. Keep it up!”

Despite his loss to the World No.1 in straight sets, Federer enthralled the crowd with shots like these that are simply beyond any adjectives.

Bonus hot shots!

Hot shot 1# Watch Roger play this insane cross court back hand pass against Pablo Cuevas. Just a flick of the wrist and then magic happens!

Hot Shot 2# It was set point. Roger ran from one end of the court to another to hit this glorious forehand to extract an error from Pablo and win the set!