RODDICK PLAYS MIXED DOUBLES

The 25-year-old American star is engaged to Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, 20.

The official announcement was made on his website.

"We are thrilled to announce that Andy and Brooklyn Decker are engaged to be married. Andy proposed in early March. The couple wanted to tell their family and close friends first but good news travels fast. By the time Andy arrived in Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open, the tournament was bustling with the news.

"The couple met in New York City last year and have been dating since. With their hectic travel schedules, Andy and Brooklyn plan to enjoy their engagement and will wait to set a wedding date."

PROFILES

   

Mardy Fish

Both champs from the Pacific Life Open, as well as finalist Mardy Fish (pictured), don't survive the first weekend in Key Biscayne.

Kevin Anderson

Hard-serving South African scores one of the biggest upsets in recent memory, outlasting Novak Djokovic in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Lindsay Davenport

Mama Mia!  Former No. 1 beats second-seeded Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-2. Wow!!!!

Gustavo Kuerten

Nice that the Miami fans could send him off for the last time. But the guy is simply no longer playing ATP-level tennis.

 

Norm Chryst

Veteran umpire had the guts and good sense to warn Djokovic for his chronic time violations. This isn't a question of aesthetics; it's one of rules.

Bring on the   courtside shot-clock.

Novak Djokovic

Indian Wells winner bounced by South African Kevin Anderson in his first match in Key Biscayne.

Marat Safin

Latest loss is a 7-6-in-the-third-job against Bobby Reynolds.

TSN SCHEDULE

TODAY'S RESULTS

KICK AND SLICE

These two pictures show the difference of impact points that the receiver faces on 2 of Roger's second serves. The orange ribbon is the flight of his serve.

The white spot is the point at which Roger hits the ball, the pink where the ball hits the service court, and the yellow the point at which Bjorkman hits the ball.

The upper pix is a kick serve which bounces high and to the left of Bjorkman before he hits it.

The lower is a slice serve which curls into your right side after the bounce. Bjorkman didn't pick up the difference early enough and dumped this return in the net.

How does a returner distinguish the two:

[1] the flight of the ball after Roger's hit it, arc a little more on the kick serve before the bounce

[2] Roger's impact point on the kick is slightly lower [6-8 inches] than the slice. If you stare at the virtual court upto virtual blindness, you can see the difference.

NO DJOKING

Novak Djokovic often bounces the ball more than a dozen times before serving, and the tedious ritual may have cost him a match Friday.

The defending champion at the Sony Ericsson Open went into a funk after being warned for taking too much time between points, then blew a third-set lead to lose his opening match.

Qualifier Kevin Anderson, a 6-foot-7 former NCAA doubles champion at Illinois, beat the third-ranked Djokovic 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4.

Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title at this year's Australian Open and was coming off a title at Indian Wells last week. But he struggled from the start against Anderson and was rattled by the warning from the chair umpire.

Serving at 2-0 in the third set, Djokovic won the next point after the warning to reach deuce, then lost 13 points in a row. Jeers from the crowd further agitated him, and by the time Djokovic collected himself, Anderson was up a break at 3-2.

This early loss in Miami will damage Djokokvic's chances of  overtaking Nadal this summer. Last year , he won Miami. The points he earned at Miami last year [winner] will be replaced by this year's points [second round].

Another qualifier, Benjamin Becker, had no luck against second-seeded Rafael Nadal, who won 7-5, 6-2. No. 7 David Nalbandian lost to Xavier Malisse 6-1, 6-4.

BOBBY REYNOLDS?????????

Bobby Reynolds figures he never will reach the top level of tennis, the place where players such as Marat Safin win Grand Slam titles.

It didn't matter on Thursday, when Reynolds, the late-blooming American who got into the Sony Ericsson Open as a qualifier, outlasted the fading former world No. 1.

Reynolds' 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Safin didn't change his belief that elite-level tennis isn't in his future. After all, a tennis career wasn't really part of his plan until he developed into the No. 1 NCAA singles player at Vanderbilt University and turned pro after his junior season.

Cracking the top 100 of the world rankings has been a struggle for Reynolds since then. So beating Safin is significant even if the Russian hasn't been in the top 20 since early 2006.

"I already had a lot of confidence, but obviously that gives me a lot more," said Reynolds, 25. "In this game, it's all about confidence."

Safin seems to have lost some. The 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Australian Open champion has won just one match in five events this year after a lackluster 2007 by his standards.

The questions for Safin, 28, were about his desire to continue playing. He said he still enjoys playing and hopes " the good days will come" again at some point.

"I have plenty of cash to do what I want to do, so what I want to do is play tennis," said Safin, who's earned more than $13 million in career prize money.

Reynolds admitted to being nervous early while playing Safin on stadium court. Still, he pulled out the first-set tiebreaker and rallied from down 3-1 in the other.

More results like this, and Reynolds, an outgoing personality who is popular with other players, might stick around on tour for longer than he suspected when he left college.

"I feel like I've done better than I thought I would do," Reynolds said. "Do I think I have the potential to [be] top 10? No. But do I think I can stay anywhere from 40 to 100? Yes!"

Also eliminated was Mardy Fish, who beat Roger Federer en route to a runner-up finish last week at the Pacific Life Open. Arnaud Clement caught Fish on the rebound and won 6-3, 6-3.

"It's obviously a little disappointing to go out so early here," Fish said. "But I'm going to take a lot of memories from last week."

ROGER'S OUTLOOK

World number one Roger Federer said on Thursday he had fully recovered from his semi-final loss to Mardy Fish at last week's Pacific Life Open.

"You move on, you analyse it, then you look forward. "

The 26-year-old Swiss, who has won 12 grand slam titles, has made a slow start to his 2008 campaign due to a bout of glandular fever.

He has played in only three tournaments and is still looking for his first title of the year in Miami.

Federer reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic and lost in the first round in Dubai to Andy Murray.

Federer said he believed that once he got back into the swing of playing matches on a regular basis again his game would flourish as it had in the past.

Most of Federer's closest competitors agree with his positive outlook as his health improves.

Second-ranked Rafael Nadal said: "You know how difficult it is to play four years losing three, four, matches, five? So he didn't have a bad start of the year. He played semi-finals in Australia. He played semi-finals in Indian Wells.

"So I think any one day you have to lose some matches, no? You have to be always very strong mentally."

While Federer is hoping to pick up his third career Sony Ericsson Open a week on Sunday, he is already looking ahead to Roland Garros, where he hopes to win the French Open for the first time, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open.

"I picked this schedule to be in my best possible shape for what's coming up, and that's in the next few weeks and months ahead of me," Federer said. "Especially through the French Open until the U.S. Open where I'll have four massive tournaments in a short span.

"This is really when I want to be at my peak."

MIAMI ON TSN

MIAMI BEGINS

Russian Dmitry Tursunov was among Wednesday's first-round winners at the $3.77 million Sony Ericsson Open, the second of nine ATP Masters Series events this year.

Tursunov came from behind to beat fellow Russian Evgeny Korolev 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Day 1 at Crandon Park.

American qualifier Sam Warburg defeated Italian Potito Starace 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, while Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro erased American wild card Jesse Levine 7-5, 6-1.

Additional opening-round wins came for Spaniard Albert Montanes, Italian Andreas Seppi, Croat Marin Cilic, Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and German qualifier Benjamin Becker.

Serbian star Novak Djokovic defeated gritty Argentine Guillermo Canas in last year's Miami finale. The high-flying Djokovic is also the reigning Australian Open champion and captured last week's Masters Series title at Indian Wells.

The top seeds at this 12-day, 96-player hardcourt tournament are two-time champion Roger Federer, French Open titlist Rafael Nadal and Djokovic.

The 2008 winner here will claim $590,000.