FanHouse RogerFederer

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro retired from the Shanghai Masters with a wrist injury Wednesday, adding to the mounting injury toll at the event.

The third-seeded Argentine was trailing Austria's Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 2-1 in his second-round match when he retired with an injury to his right wrist.

Del Potro said that he suffered from similar wrist tendinitis earlier this year.

GENOA, Italy (AP) -- Roger Federer gave Switzerland a spot in next year's Davis Cup world group by beating Potito Starace for an insurmountable 3-1 lead Sunday against Italy.

The top-ranked Federer kept his focus through a two-hour rain delay before completing a 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 win to clinch the best-of-five playoff series.

Federer defeated Simone Bolelli in his opening singles Friday and posted two points for Switzerland less than a week after his five-set loss to Juan Martin del Potro in the U.S. Open final.

GENOA, Italy (AP) -- Coming off a five-set loss in the U.S. Open final, Roger Federer will play every day when Switzerland faces Italy in the Davis Cup playoffs.

The top-ranked Federer, who reached all four Grand Slam finals this year, believes his form can hold up after losing to Juan Martin del Potro in New York on Monday.

"I've had to do this before once after the Australian Open. I went to play Romania on clay and I was able to win all three points," Federer said, recalling his performance in Switzerland's 3-2 win in the first round of the 2004 World Group. "I'm hoping I can do it again."

MASON, Ohio -- The news in tennis is Rafael Nadal's knees. That's the drama. But as Nadal plods through the court grinding gears in those knees, Roger Federer keeps flowing freely. Floating.

What is lost in Nadal's physical and mental struggles, forgotten entirely, is the more amazing story that Federer doesn't have them.

Players burn out, flake out, blow out knees and elbows. We see Kim Clijsters returning after a break of more than two years to get away from the rigors of life on the tennis tour.

Federer beat David Ferrer 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Masters level event in Cincinnati. On Friday, he'll beat Lleyton Hewitt.

MASON, Ohio (AP) - The temperature had already topped 80 degrees as Rafael Nadal pushed himself through his morning workout Monday, swatting balls around the court for a sweaty hour and 45 minutes.

He wished for more.

The 23-year-old Spaniard feels his limitations every day during his comeback from two months off the tour to let his aching knees rest and heal. Normally, he would have practiced another 45 minutes to get ready for his opening match this week at the $3 million Cincinnati Masters.

Can't do it.

GENEVA (AP) - Roger Federer reportedly wants to play in Switzerland's Davis Cup playoff against Italy in September.

Severin Luethi, part of Federer's coaching team, said the top-ranked player told him in May and again at Wimbledon that he intended to play in Italy.

"Nothing is definite yet, but there's a good chance that our best players will be there," said Luethi in Wednesday's edition of Lausanne-based daily Le Matin. "I have to talk with him at the end of the week."

In March, Federer sat out Switzerland's 4-1 loss to the United States in the first round of the World Group because of a back injury.

The Swiss face Italy in a playoff at Genoa on Sept. 18-20 to stay in the elite 16-team group that has a chance to win the 2010 title.

In winning French Open and Wimbledon, Roger Federer has taken the 14th and 15th Grand Slam titles of his career and become the No. 1 men's player of all time in Grand Slam singles titles. But if there's one thing missing from the great 2009 Federer is having, it's that he's won those two Grand Slams without facing his chief rival, Rafael Nadal. And Federer says he hopes that changes at the US Open.

Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick Sunday in an epic five-set Wimbledon men's singles final, a 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14 classic that gave Federer an unprecedented 15th Grand Slam singles title.

"I just want to say congratulations to Roger," Roddick said afterward. "He's a true champion and he deserves everything he gets. ... It was a pleasure playing him today."

He may not be willing to lace up his sneakers for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but Spanish point guard prodigy Ricky Rubio won't hesistate to become an American pitchman. Via Canis Hoopus, the young Mr. Rubio appears in what would appear to be his first stateside ad campaign, joining the likes of Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer in a spot for Gillette.

Just how hurt is Rafael Nadal, anyway? He's not defending his Wimbledon title because his knees weren't at 100 percent. Now Nadal has been left off of Spain's Davis Cup team for next month's matches.

Spanish coach Albert Costa says Nadal "is not well." This was obvious to anyone who watched his exhibition match with Stanislas Wawrinka, a match which Nadal lost. There is no real shame in losing to Warwrinka, who just gave Andy Murray all he could handle in one of Wimbledon's best matches this year. Nadal, however, is (as of now) the world's No. 1 ranked player and thus isn't supposed to lose to anybody.

Nadal is suffering from tendinitis of the knees. As anyone with tendinitis knows, it's slow to get better, and that's assuming it ever does, said the writer, three seconds before he shook out his aching hand. Will Nadal ever get better? And what if he doesn't?