Year of the Bull Trivia Quiz

Answer: Andy Murray

The draw in Australia was an exciting revelation, because Andy Murray's place at fourth in the rankings was overtaken by the Argentine US Open Champion, Juan Martin del Potro. That meant that Murray would draw one of the top four seeds in the quarterfinals, and as luck would have it, the Scot was scheduled against Rafael Nadal.

The eagerly-anticipated match was actually unremarkable, because Nadal was still hampered by a knee injury and retired down two sets and a break. The other quarterfinal matchups were up-and-coming Croat Marin Cilic defeating Andy Roddick, Federer's victory over Nikolay Davydenko, and a surprising defeat for a sick Djokovic at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer beat Tsonga and Murray beat Cilic to reach the final, a repeat of the 2008 US Open.

The result was the same. Murray's nerves were instantly apparent, and Federer won a handy 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. On the women's side, Serena Williams took an exciting final against Justine Henin, on the Belgian's return appearance at a Grand Slam after a long hiatus.

Answer: Spain

Davis Cup has sadly been neglected in recent years by many of the top players, who often use the weeks off to rest for upcoming events. 2010 was no different. The first-round matchups were scintillating. Spain under Nadal was set against Federer's Switzerland, the United States was drawn against a Djokovic-led Serbia, and Argentina's deep squad faced off against Sweden. Unfortunately, Nadal and Federer were both hurt, making the match a struggle between Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and Spain's David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro. Roddick decided not to play Davis Cup in 2010, a major factor in the American's defeat to Serbia 3-2. With del Potro hurt, Argentina's victory over Sweden was owed to the momentous return of David Nalbandian. Croatia swept Ecuador, Israel faltered to Chile, the Czech Republic beat Belgium, France beat Germany, and Russia squeaked out a win over India.

The quarterfinals were later in the year and also were surprising. Defending champions Spain were without Nadal, but their loss 5-0 to France was shocking. Argentina beat Russia, with Nalbandian's heroics. Serbia won a culturally-controversial match over Croatia, and the Czech Republic eliminated Chile.

Answer: Indian Wells

Indian Wells in California is often considered just below the caliber of Grand Slams when it comes to talent and diversity; unlike the European Masters 1000 events, it draws a huge number of players to the beautiful desert setting. The 2010 tournament was surprising because the top seeds faltered. Federer lost a heartbreaking match to Marcos Baghdatis after failing to capitalize on a match point. Murray was defeated by Soderling in the quarters, Nadal lost 7-6 in the third set to Ljubicic, and Djokovic lost to Ljubicic in the fourth round. Del Potro was out with a wrist injury that would hamper him for the first half of the year.

The giant-killing Croat defeated Andy Roddick 7-6, 7-6 in the final for his first Masters 1000 title.

Answer: Andy Roddick

Roddick had the best hardcourt season of the Top 10, reaching the final in Indian Wells before triumphing in Miami. Again, the other top seeds failed to make an impression. Federer lost after holding a match point again, this time to eventual finalist Tomas Berdych. Nadal made the semi-finals until his run ended at the hands of Roddick. Djokovic and Murray were eliminated in their first matches, by Olivier Rochus and Mardy Fish.

The fourth semi-finalist, along with Nadal, Berdych, and Roddick, was the Swede Robin Soderling, but he was destroyed 6-2, 6-2 by Berdych.

Injuries plagued the tournament. Davydenko and del Potro were hurt for Miami and would be sidelined for the clay court season as well. Other withdrawals were Lleyton Hewitt, Radek Stepanek, Gael Monfils, Tommy Haas, and, on the woman's side, Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, and Maria Sharapova.

Answer: It was the first tournament he had won in nearly a year

After his shocking loss at the French and the simultaneous injuries to his knees and abdominal muscles, Nadal's second half of 2009 was fairly unsuccessful. His losses in 2010 up to Monaco had been to strong players, but Nadal hadn't shown his usual indomitable counterpunching and physical strength that had been so successful. Finally, though, the tour made it to the European red clay, on which Rafa had simply been the most dominant player in the history of the game.

His record 81 straight clay court wins is the most for a player on any surface, and his win at Monte Carlo marked the first time that a player had won a tournament six times in a row.

In five matches, Nadal lost just 14 games, an average of 1.4 games per set played.

Answer: Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi's long career began as a teenager and ended in 2006 with a loss at the US Open. He won eight Grand Slam titles, although critics believed that he might have been more successful if he had focused more on his tennis and not skipped Wimbledon several years in the late 80s.

He won four Australian Opens, one French (on his third final, in 1999), two US Opens, and one Wimbledon. He also won the gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, becoming the only male tennis player to win all four Grand Slams and the Olympics in his career.

Interestingly, Agassi's wife Steffi Graf won the five tournaments in a single year, in 1988.

Answer: It was the first time that they had played in a year.

The famous rivalry between Federer and Nadal was put on stand-still after Federer won his second clay-court match over the Spaniard, 6-4, 6-4 in Madrid 2009. For the first time in three years, they didn't meet in the French Open final after a shock upset to Robin Soderling in the fourth round sent Nadal spiralling out of the tournament for the first time.

Then, a knee and abdominal injury plagued Nadal for the rest of the year, forcing him to withdraw from Wimbledon, miss part of the hard court season, and lose key matches at the US Open and the ATP World Tour Championships. Neither player had played up to their usual form in 2010, except for Federer's triumph in Australia and Nadal's rejuventation on clay. Nadal won the final 6-4, 7-6, setting the stage for a triumph at the French in June.

Answer: Nadal set the record for most clay-court matches ever won by a player in his career

Poor Federer: after a surprising loss to the hands of the man whom he had defeated in the finals of Roland Garros in 2009, Robin Soderling, he dropped to second in the world once Nadal destroyed Soderling in the 2010 final. With 285 weeks overall at No. 1, Federer was just one shy of the all-time record of 286, held by Pete Sampras.

After Wimbledon, Federer had moved down to third, behind Novak Djokovic, and his chances of recovering the ranking slimmed. Nadal had never won the Clay Slam before, even though he'd won Rome, Monte Carlo, and Roland Garros several times. Federer had twice stopped him in the clay court tournament immediately before Paris, held in Hamburg before it was moved to Madrid in 2009.

The victory for Nadal was also the first time that a player had won the French five out of six years.

Answer: John Isner and Nicolas Mahut

Isner and Mahut were scheduled for a late match on June 22, so when they split the first four sets, nothing was really surprising. Both had strong serves (especially Isner) that made it difficult to win break points. What became amazing was that when the match was put on in the early afternoon on June 23, it kept going. Fifth sets at Wimbledon (and the other Grand Slams except the US Open) play out until a player can win by two games. This one played out. The match was suspended again that night, as light faded with the score tied at 59-59 in the fifth. The next day, the players took the court to an amazing crowd of press and fans, wanting to watch the greatest match in tennis history. Isner's backhand passing shot down-the-line on a fifth match point to win the 70-68.

The match was laughable in terms of records. Both players destroyed the previous record for aces (Ivo Karlovic had set it at 78 in a Davis Cup match). Isner hit 113, Mahut 103. The fifth set alone lasted an hour-and-a-half longer than the previous longest match in history, a French Open battle between Arnaud Clement and Fabrice Santoro. More games were played in this eleven-hour epic than any other. Just as a note, the scoreboard broke at 47-47. At that point, the fifth set was barely two-thirds over. Isner was destroyed in the next round, by Thielmo de Bakker, whose fifth set had only gone to 16-14.

Answer: Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych had an exceptional first half of 2010, beating Federer first in Miami, then on the Centre Court with which Federer had had so much success. He also dismantled Djokovic in the semifinals to meet Nadal in the finals. The Spaniard had come through testing encounters in the second and third round, in which he was accused of receiving coaching from his uncle Toni and came back from a set down to win.

However, Berdych was nervous, and the crowd was supporting Nadal, who had beaten Murray in the round before.

A break in each set cemented Nadal's win and began press speculation that he, and not Federer, could be a candidate for the "best player of all time".