Båstad the best IS event and Gaudio chasing the fondue in Gstaad

The summer clay season is back after 4 weeks of that nauseating Wimbledon, though to be fair it has not been as painful as usual, the slowing down of the courts have had something to do with this.

Enough of the grass crap and back onto the clay and the Båstad event. The organisers have done an excellent job with this event, it clearly used to be poor relation compared to Gstaad when it came to attracting the top claycourt players in the 90s after the golden Swedish generation ceased except for Gusten and Magnus Norman. It was the dark days when Cheech Marin won the title in 1999.

It’s a small town on the beach that is very popular in summer and tennis is a big thing there. Yes, with that, there are a lot of rich snobby wankers from Stockholm and other places with their huge summer houses and other stars that go there to be seen and not care about the tennis. There was a funny incident last year when Zabaleta had enough of these idiots and told them to shut up, then again he was losing to the Berdman at the time.

It’s a very good field and has won the best International Series Event 4x in a row and the fact that they don’t pay appearance money makes it a good thing. Nadal has pulled out, but that is only because of his finalist appearance at Wimbledon and it’s understandable that he has withdrawn.

PMK is the top seed and he plays Beto Martin and that won’t be an easy match and actually it’s quite possible for Beto to take this match and there are some very good 1st round matches.

Massu/Zabaleta: There aren’t many secrets between these 2 guys. Massu is a time wasting Vampire, but a tough guy to play and Zabaleta hasn’t been in great form since his comeback, it’s going to take time and it only takes a couple of good wins to change things for him. Zabaleta is huge in Båstad and 2 of his titles have come at the venue and he loves the place and small things like that can help a player.

Acasuso/Coria: Chucho and the weasel have both taken a break and it will be interesting to see how they both come back from the layoff. Just hope Chucho can smoke the Weasel, previous matches well the last one was 3 years ago and the fact that both are a lot different from then. Coria wasn’t missing and dissecting opponents and Chucho wasn’t as good then as he is now, they do know each other quite well, so this could impact on the quality of the match.

Berdych/Almagro : This is a quality 1st round match and both have been winners of the MTF Bandwagon player of the month award and that is a very prestigious award. They have played only once and what a surprise it was at Båstad last year and the Berdman won 6-4 in the 3rd and wouldn’t be a surprise to see if it was that close again. Berdman did have some problems with his shoulder at Wimbledon, but with some rest he should be OK and he has finalist points to defend from here. It will depend on how Almagro returns the Berdman serve as to how this match will pan out.

Chela/Nieminen: Chela loves the clay and the Shark is quite adept on at as well, this time Nieminen comes in as the higher ranked player and having less time to adjust back to the surface after his Wimbledon exploits. Chela has won the only 2 matches they have played on clay, but Jarkko does quite well here and he is the highest ranked player in Norden (Scandinavia to those people who don’t get the term Norden) , maybe the Shark can win this one.

As for the other matches. Lucho is playing Thomas Johansson, in theory Lucho should win this cause of his greater expertise on the clay, but he could just as easily lose this match. Calleri has a qualifier and I am just happy he is back playing again.

Marach and Prpic are playing each other and the best thing about this match is that one of them will get to the next round, both are pretty good guys and Marach is very funny on court especially when he gets shitty.

Vinciguerra is back at Båstad and I’d love for him one day to win this title, but that will be unlikely, if he can stay injury free then that’s a good thing. He is great to watch, interesting he is played the Nadal game before Nadal, but now that has changed. The thing I don’t like is that his backhand doesn’t seem to have improved.

Hope big Peter Luczak can qualify for the main draw it would be good for him to do, he has had some problems this year after such a good start.

While there are quite a few snobs in Båstad, it’s worse in Gstaad. The good thing is that there is plenty of quality Swiss cheese and chocolate there. So the choice is either hang on the beach or play at altitude, though at least in Gstaad they offer $$$$$$$$$$ in fees and we know that is what makes the world go around.

It’s a weaker draw in Gstaad, and no real standout matches in the 1st round. This is the start of the defense of all his points he has in this 3 week winning in Gstaad and Kitzi with a finalist appearance in Stuttgart, if he does not defend those points, then a decline in the rankings is going to happen and how he bounces back will be a key about his mental state.

Hopefully Gaston, Pavel and Seppi can do well. Moya is back for the first time in a long time in Gstaad, big Saretta is there as well. I am surprised he is there, then again the draw is easier, but parties are better in Båstad.

Good to see the tennis back on the clay again.