The circus this week goes to Rome and what a perfect place for a circus it is. The place is chaotic, mad drivers, hot and dusty, plenty of historic ruins and nutters just the fitting setting for 2nd of the clay TMS events.
This event has some strange results I mean this is where the clay-phobic Americans have their best chance to do well before the business gets serious in Paris.
Why is this so? Well one factor is the weather well since it’s warmer in Rome than it is the other places and with less rain and warm conditions the court plays quicker than the other clay courts on the circuit, except for the stops at altitude, fortunately Rome isn’t at altitude. The fact that they have less on clay on the surface as well is another factor that speeds up the surface in addition to the lighter balls and the way it’s swept after the set. Well Sampras, Agassi have won here, Haas and Rafter made finals here and Roddick’s best ever clay result in a real event as Houston is just a real Mickey Mouse event.
The qualifiers should be interesting and our Rome correspondent has run into the famous Federico Luzzi. He played Juan Monaco in the first round of qualies and good to see Monaco won easily as to be honest Luzzi is a real arse clown. I remember him getting involved in a few arguments and he is the man who famously punched Herr Dani Köllerer after a challenger match in Italy, where both of them got a holiday. They had a heated argument that continued and continued and then Luzzi punched him.
As for who qualifies I’d like to see the Superstar play and it would be fun if he played Silver Fox Sanguinetti with his antics and he is an Italian speaker, so he’d know if they were abusing him and could lead to a heated contest. Hopefully Saretta, Vicente, Monaco, Djokovic and Beto Martin can make the main draw.
Onto the main draw I wonder how Gaudio and Safin will play here as they aren’t exactly fans of Rome, but that happens some people play well at certain events and the whole Nadal streak thing and lets see if he can match the Muster run in 96 by defending Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome, but will he fall at RG.
Now the first rounders there are some good potential matches and potential humour as well and that is just as important. ATP and now new bandwagon favourite of MTF Mitya Tursunov is doing down again on clay and the Italians will give him more crap than the Portuguese did and he plays the Potato who should do enough to get the job done.
- LaLo vs Stepanek : Time for Thunder Lips to continue beating up on his pigeon LaLo who is a joke of a player and I hope it’s in straight sets.
- Ferrer vs Chucho : Not the best 1st round for Chucho, but ever since losing his first match against Ferrer, he was won the next 3 in straight sets and I would love to see this kind of result again. Ferrer is a battler and Chucho lost a very tough match against Gaudio in Monte Carlo and decided to take two weeks off and hope this keeps him fresh and ready to go and if he serves well I can see him imposing his game on Ferrer and that’s the key for it and remain patient as he will get chances.
- Ferrero vs Mathieu: Well this one could go either way, will the talented PHM show up or the meek choking mouse. Ferrero has lost a little bit of edge, but at the same time this clay season he hasn’t been losing to duds. I’d like to see PHM win, but it won’t be likely.
- Gaudio vs Malisse : Two talented guys without the greatest mental toughness, but I think Gaudio’s superior clay ability should get him over the line in this one, but one can never tell and a likely meeting with the Berdman in the second round and if he loses to the Srich on clay, then there are major problems.
In this section are Seppi, Youzhny, Wawrinka and Gonzalez and who makes the 3rd round out of these 3 will be out of Seppi, Stani and Gonzalez as Youzhny is in shit form at the moment and Seppi normally plays well in Italy and the Stani vs Gonzo match will be explosive though I am not likely to see it among the sea of Italians that will be 1st rounders on TV.
Now onto some of the other matches in this 1st round. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the Americans are gone by Round 1, though Mirnyi has been in horrible form of late, at the same time Ginepri is perfect for someone to recover their form. Serra should have too much clay nous for Blake and for Hanescu just hope he is over his injury problems and I would like Lurch to be able to take out Duckboy.
Baghdatis is back after his layoff and Oli Rochus could be tired from Münich and that is a chance for him and Marcos’s clay results haven’t been that great from the little he has played on the surface. Lucho Horna is up against Ancic and Lucho needs a good result at one of these TMS events, so he can get himself a seeding at RG. Hope the Shark is over his illness by the time he plays Grosjean, if you are losing 1 and 2 to Vliegen on clay, then there has to be an illness problem.
Nadal and Moya, it would be hilarious if Moya stopped his protégé’s winning streak on clay, though if he does that then Rafa is more likely to win Roland Garros if he loses here.
On a sidenote I will have some rants in the future and also congratulations to Oliver Marach who has made the top 100 for the first time. He is a good guy and good to see one of them do something good at the same time if he or Vicente make the main draw of Rome, it is fine.
18 comments:
Greetings from the damnable Eternal City - sorry I am NOT a fan of Rome - hot, crowded, noisy, expensive, full of mad drivers and arseclowns like Federico Luzzi! Anyway - I digress..........
Foro Italico is a great venue - except for the mosquitos that have taken a liking to my pale, English skin and made a meal of my legs......ouch!!! Teach me not to wear a short skirt to tennis in future. Also - the fact they don't seem to think people watching quallies need food, - so none of the pizza places were open for the first day. And yes - I did spend a fun hour watching our man Luzzi, who showed the world his bare arms in a hideous yellow Nadal-type shirt (pity he hasn't got Nadal-type muscles to go with it), that had his name printed on the back of the shirt lest we (or he!) forgot who he was!!! He acted much as our main man has described earlier - whingeing, moaning, spitting on his racquet, and leaping around like a whirling dervish to very little effect against Monaco, who played extremely well to beat him in straight sets. Btw - someone should tell Luzzi to get rid of the pony tail and wear a looser pair of shorts next time if he wants to be a hit with the ladies - not a pretty sight!!!!
And talking of being a hit with the ladies - our Rapper Vince lost to Galimberti:-(( He staged a little fightback in the 2nd set (from 1-5 to 5-7) but he was much under the weather in his stripey red and blue rugby shirt - poor Vince - I think maybe he was a little unwell - very sluggish and not his usual fighter self. I kind of admire Vinny for doing the European circuit when many of his fellow Americans stay away.
Today (Sunday) was a day for watching practice - a good look at Feli Lopez (sorry Sigurd!), cutie David Ferrer (am I shallow or what!?), Max Mirnyi, Fernando Gonzalez, Fernando Verdasco, and many more! It was a fun morning taking photos from the warmth of the practice court with a stray ginger cat from a local cat colony who fell in love with me and sat on my knee for hours.......those who know me well will know I much prefer cats to men - and YES - my partner is well aware of that!!!
Monaco played a great match against Giorgio Galimberti - fighting the crowds in the stadium and also those at the adjoining football stadium where Roma were playing Treviso - they were so noisy - wonder how Roddick or Agassi would have fancied playing a live match under those conditions. Monaco kept great length and great concentration and won 6-3, 6-2.
Nico Almagro was in powerful form - winning his match very easily with a bagel in the first set. I pity whoeever draws him in the 1st round proper.
Novak Djokovic was woeful in his 3 set defeat by Fognini - another petulant Italian stallion poserif ever I saw one! Novak lost 6-7, 6-1, 4-6 and should be thoroughly ashamed of himself - he is too good a player to lose to Fognini.
And talking of Novak - saw Jiri Novak here this morning - no idea what he is doing here - but nice to see him around again - he is a good guy.
So - hope this report is not too long. Goodnight from the Eternal City.
Thanks for the report Rosie. Well, Superstar Almagro drew Massu on the first round and this match could provide some good comedy. The winner of that plays the winner of Ferrer-Chucho. I would be shocked if Tomas loses to Srichapan, barring injury, but it will be interesting to see a second round match against Gaston.
Thanks for the report Rose. Full of details, as always. You know I like that!!
Glad you made a new friend among the feline species. And with this one, there's no linguistic trouble...
Jiri Novak is there. Interesting. Is he with family? I mean, I saw them last year and his daughter is so cute!!
Keep on having fun and enjoying good tennis and nice views!!
Just finished reading your AO reports, enjoyed the read, still working my way up the list.
Anyway Chucho beat Ferrer 7-5 6-0, not really suprised at the win, little bemused at the scoreline though. Hopefully Rosie watched that match and can fill in the blanks for us. I'm hoping he plays Nico Almagro, so he can squash that punk.
Keep up the good work with this blog - I might even be a special reporter for you at one of the Nth American tournaments this year, enjoyed my time thoroughly in Montreal last year so planning to head that way again this year, looking at maybe Cincy to makeup for my absence at AO this year.
Yeah, would be great to have another special reporter among us!! ;)
Ginepri winning a match on clay and being a set down, this does not look good for the Beast Mirnyi at all as a singles player.
Looks like the Rome curse is at it again, as soon as Boredo makes the top 10 and then he loses to Rusedski, looks like young Galvani has a chance for the 3rd round.
Hard to see Monfils struggling like this, but he fought very hard and maybe this could the result he needs.
As for Chucho well I'd like to know what went down in that match as well.
Roddick vs. Baghdatis should be a good match. There is people who like to write Baghdatis off on clay because he played very few matches on the surface. I hope he can take the duckboy out.
Gaudio showed his love of Rome again with another early loss here. He just made too many unforced errors and against Malisse who is a reasonable opponent on a claycourt, then he deserves to get punished. You know it's a problem when your best shot for the match was a dropshot that says it all really. It seems I might have to learn Spanish, so I can listen to the commentary from the Gaston matches by him.
Nalle and Vicente, had the potential to go 3 sets and it did. I can see Vicente has the game that could irritate Nalle, but David's extra class came through when it counted.
Roddick beating Hanescu 1 and 0, all I can say is next. Victor lost to LaLo this year on clay and that is bad enough to say what kind of form he is in. The silliest thing is some Roddick fans will think he is going to turn the corner, they are cracking jokes and that's the nicest thing I can say.
Moya and Nadal. Rafa was very quiet in this match with his celebrations as respect to his mentor Moya and Carlos played a very good match tactically, but just wasn't consistent enough to execute the plans.
Volandri was very solid against Murray and he could prove to be tough for Nadal, especially if he starts well and the crowd can get on his case and this whole reord thing will be at the back of Rafa's mind whether he likes it or not. It will probably be better for him, if he lost before RG.
OK - well I am home from Rome now -but wull try and answer your questions.
Chucho v Ferer....to be honest I only saw part of this match as they scheduled it at the same time as both the Gonzalez and Mónaco matches, but I can tell you about what I saw. In the beginning Chucho was very sloppy - made a lot of unforced errors and Ferrer went a break up very easly. However (take nothing away from Chucho's concentation and ability on the day) - but Ferrer was obviously still struggling with his injury problems after a few games. Credit to him - he kept on trying and didn't retire, but you could see he was in pain and uncomfortable, which goes a long way to explain the 2nd set bagel think.
Almagro v Massu......pretty much what you would imagine I think. Almagro hitting the ball VERY hard and shouting "vamos" all over the place like a louder and even more vociferous Nadal. He is certainly a talent - I think he will give Nadal some great battles in the months and years to come. Massu meanwhile got slower............and slower................and slower - bouncing the ball more and ore times vefore each serve, mumblig under his breath and driving Almagro (and me!) to distraction. There was always only going to be one winner of this match - despite sme good long rallies and winning shots from Massu - and Almagro came out the worthy winner.
Gomzalez v Wawrinka -from wat I saw of this match - it was nowhere near as good as it was thought it might be. Wawrinka did not play well - and did not live up to is potential at all. Apart from a few nervous moments in the 1st set when Fernando had a 2-break lead and lost it - his success in this match was ever really in doubt. He did what he had to do to win - and Stan was pretty disappointng to be honest.
Mónaco v Santoro - yet another example of young Juan losing concentration and focusa nd snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. He won the 1st set with some wonderful tenns - good serving and great passing shots. He then lost focus to lose the 2nd set (Fab was not playing well at all even then), but regained it to go a break up in the final set and looked like an easy winner. But somehow he lost focus again - and the more experienced Frenchman just bided his time, stayed calm and took his opportunities. This was truly a match that Mónaco could and should have won - he really needs to start winning games such as these if he is ever going to move onto another level in tennis. I am frankly very disappointed in this match, though credit to Santoro for keeping calm and doing what he had to do.
Other than that - watched loads of practice sessions - Coria (who actally serves well in practice but can't seem to transfer this ability to the match court), Mirnyi who is so fit and athletic but can't get a singles' win lately, Marat who had his usual group of adoring females around the court which made it hard to see properly, Verdasco, Gastón and Moya.
Also - a word on Yevgeny Korolev - I am really impressed by this young guy - both as a player and as a person. He is a really sweet guy, confident yet not brash and a serious talent for the future when he has calmed down some of his more impetuous shots and steadied his temperament a bit. Definately one to watch.
Hope you have enjoyed reading my reports - hopefully there will be more to come at other times in the European clay court season.
Ooops - just realised how many typos in my last report - blame tiredness after the "excitement" of Rome and travelling back last night - I do! Many apologies anyway!!!!!
Marcos Baghdatis and Roddick on 3rd set now. Roddick just broke for a 4-2 lead. Go, Baggy!!!
Hi, Rosie, wow, Rome, huh? i reckon you would be in RG again end of this month? ;)
Mrs. B
First of all, thanks a lot for all your reports Rose. Looking forward to reading the upcoming ones!!
Well, not a very good day today. Marcos losing to the Duck, Chucho blowing his chance against Almagro. At least, Monfils and Santoro are through. Too sad they have to play each other. Some will say that I shouldn't complain because I'm certain to have 1 of my faves in the QFs. Which is true. I just hate it when it goes like this...
Thanks Rosie.
Some interesting 3rd round match-ups here. Gonzo vs. Berdman can be a nice match but things can also get pretty ugly there. The one who pulls the win could challenge Nadal in the following round IMO. Almagro vs. Davydenko should be another exciting match.
Thanks for all of the reports Rosie, they were an excellent read.
Marcos and Roddick man that was some garbage tennis of the highest degree. The old guy fainting in the crowd, luckily it wasn't when he saw Roddick hit a dropshot winner. Basic problem for Marcos on clay isn't movement at all, it's the high ball to his forehand, those errors were ludicrous and it was a criminal loss from the position he was in.
The idiot Roddick fans are doing cartwheels then again I would be too, after defeating a top 30 player for the first time this year apart from Gonzo on grass in Davis Cup.
Acasuso and Almagro such a quality match outside in the boondocks.
It's almost tragic jokers like Roddick and Rusedski are in the 3rd round of a TMS on clay and polluting the TV screen. Then probably 2 of the top 10 players on clay have to play each other in the second round.
This is very frustrating and Chucho only winning 3 from 16 break points and there peoples was the only difference in this match and as bad gambler said if I saw this on the TV, then objects could have easily been thrown.
Berdman is the guy to end Nadal's streak, the question is whether Tomas will get there or not.
Well, onto the QFs now. I still have 1 of my faves on course. And I really really really hope he sends his opponent to the lockerrooms, with a bitter taste in his mouth!! I'm mean, I know. But those who know me will know who I'm referring to and why.
Almagro pushed Federer and while he did not have match points, he definitely had more break points but unlike his match against Chucho, he couldn't break as often.
Nalle was good enough and I think will be relishing a clash with Federer in the semi finals.
Nadal is on his way again and now plays Monfils who has done well this week and I am happy he got rid of that fraud Roddick, though his tournament ends here
Go Nalbandian time to stop Federer again and since he is not going to Hamburg, then he can take this seriously. I wonder if the Italians will embrace him since he speaks the language.
Almagro gave Federer plenty to worry about but had a shit break point conversion.
Funny seeing Gonzalez playing conservatively at times and he got some jeers cause he used the odd junkball. As for Nadal he keeps going on and on.
That was an excellent final and Nadal has balls of steel and such self belief these days and was able to turn it around in the match.
Tacitcally Federer played it very well, but lacked execution at the vital moments and simply Rafa played the big points better.
These events should have an advantage 5th set for the finals, but I am not surprised that this is not the case.
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