isport

Swiss Master Roger Federer will face off against John Isner in the second singles match for Switzerland in the Davis Cup tie against the United States of America over the weekend.

The former world number one will face Isner after world number eight Mardy Fish finishes his first match against Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer is the hands down favorite for the match against Isner and with the American trailing the record Grand Slam holder 2-0 in career match ups; it is almost a foregone conclusion that he will be swept aside on the clay court.

World number 4 Andy Murray is ready to give his all in the upcoming season and it seems that he has started off by giving Christmas a miss in order to prepare for the Australian Open that will kick off in a couple of weeks’ time.

Murray, however, did celebrate Christmas but that was three weeks before the actual day in an effort to keep his focus on the beginning of the season. Christmas for Murray meant that he ran a few miles in the beach near his Florida home, sweating it out with his trainer and coach.

Will they play? Won’t they play?

That’s the constant question when it comes to Serena and Venus Williams and Fed Cup. Whether they lend their name to the cause, back out of commitment or don’t sign up to play at all, the Fed Cup and the Williamses just don’t seem to mesh.

There are those fans who say stop picking on the sisters. There’s no denying they’re great players, not only the best in America, but often the best in the world. But let’s be honest: The last time the Williamses played Fed Cup was way back in 2007.

Maria Sharapova and her basketball star boyfriend Sasha Vujacic are headed for the altar!

Sharapova’s rep confirmed that Vujacic has already asked the three-time Grand Slam tennis champion’s hand in marriage. The proposal took place on October 19, at the L.A. Lakers star’s home in Manhattan Beach, California.

Richard Gasquet and Novak Djokovic will be in quarterfinal action on Friday in Basel.

France’s Richard Gasquet wasn’t in good form on Thursday. The Frenchman defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany in straight sets, but the match was a mess throughout. Gasquet’s quarterfinal opponent is Viktor Troicki. The Serb has been playing well this fall. He won the tournament in Moscow and made the semifinals in Tokyo.

Based on current form and the high level of hard-court tennis Troicki is playing right now, expect him to advance to the semifinals.

After being drawn in the same group in the AEGON Masters Tennis tournament at Royal Albert Hall in London, Tim Henman will face off against Goran Ivanisevic for the first time since their epic Wimbledon semifinal in 2001. Oh to have been in Wimbledon Tickets back then!

The duo is scheduled to play in the round robin stages of the event on December 1. “I’m really looking forward to playing Goran again,” said Henman.

Roger Federer cruised into the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors in Basle with a routine 6-3 6-4 win over Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic.

Federer broke Tipsarevic once in each set and was never in trouble on his own serve at a tournament where his three-year winning streak was halted by Novak Djokovic in last year’s final.

But in first-round action, Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych missed another chance to boost his prospects of qualifying for the season-ending ATP World Tour finals as he crashed out to German lucky loser Tobias Kamke.