Well we are in the lovely south west of Germany this week and also in Amersfoort for the summer clay circus, just wish that they didn't move the event from Amsterdam to Amersfoort and such is life.
Best of all there will be some correspondents there, so that means that there will be some reports from matches that most of us won't be able to see and that is always appreciated. As is the Bye making his return to the Tour and watch the large amount of women that will want to talk to the Bye, this is a given.
Too bad Luczak and Koubek didn't qualify, but Hartfield and del Potro did so there are enough Argentines in the field.
Stuttgart has had stronger fields, but even then there are still enough interest in this field. I have to say I love how they managed to put most of my favourites in the one section. For example Gaudio could play his friend Zabaleta, but Zab has been struggling of late and is no sure thing to defeat Waske. Lucho has a bye and then hopefully Saretta is put off with the rubbish Portas game, though one can never tell how focused Saretta is at times.
Seppi and Acasuso is a possible 2nd round match, though I hope Chucho and Ferrer do end up meeting as I can see Chucho smoking Ferrer out of the match and he has the firepower that can hit through Froggy and he has done that on numerous occasions.
Other guys that I hope to do well are Pavel and he can stay in the top 100 as he has no points to defend for the rest of season. Dlouhy and Wawrinka has some good comedy potential and if Stani doesn't want to run and "dropshot" Dlouhy is on his game, then it could be a bad loss, but Stani is inconsistent to say the least and could play a blinder here. If you get a chance to see Marach, it should be taken as he is quite the fiery guy, but not in the Dani Köllerer league, but he does have some very colourful language.
While it's mainly about Stuttgart, there is another event in the Netherlands and they have had some great finals there in the past, but now the weasel is the number 1 seed and for some reason I see that the Coria slump isn't going to continue for too long and he got a local wild card and a 2nd round potential match with Marin Cilic would be intruiging.
Calleri made the final here last year and would like to go one better and as it's a very open tournament anything can happen. Massu the vampire is lurking and scowling. Moya is playing here as well and loves the small clay events these days and Edgardo Massa is back on tour, it would have been fun if he drew with Massu. Hope Vinciguerra can qualify and the young junior from the Netherlands de Bakker.
Look forward to the Stuttgart reports.
19 comments:
Well, first report from sunny Stuttgart. All the good guys are here. Saw some practise sessions today. Gaudio vs Ferrer. Gaston seemed focused on his game but as always, he kept on swearing in Spanish.
Zabaleta trained hard today and it was a pleasure to watch him back on a tennis court. And not only because he was shirtless!! The fitness is here but I think he's still struggling to have his game back. His gestures and swearing on courts showed he wasn't totally satisfied with what he just did. But the smile was so bright when I told him it was nice to see him back and that he'd been missed...
Chucho, the Big Man, trained very hard under the sun. Orsanic is a bully and it's a good thing. The game is good. He should do some damage. He thinks he should be scheduled on Wednesday.
Also met Mr Luczak, right after his defeat. And I have to say that I had never talked to him before. But he's been so friendly whereas he had just lost his match that I can't but praise such sportsmanship. I wished him good luck for the rest.
This is all for today folks. More to come tomorrow.
Thank you for the reports and that is not a surprise that Gaudio was like that I wish it was.
Look forward to the rest of the reports and nice to see Christophe Rochus lose.
So what more can your second correspondant add? I have spent two days in Stuttgart now - and all spent either chatting to Choupi and other friends, drinking or watching endless practice sessions!!! What a poor correspondant I am. I will not talk about the joys of Chucho and Orsanic shirtless as Choupi can talk on that subject much better than me.................but I have watched some good sessions from the lovely David Ferrer who is training REALLY hard and wants to do well in this tournament. His parents are here to support him this week - that means a lot to him. This evening he trained with Lucho Horna - Lucho took everything so seriously and was shouting and throwing his racquet -as though it was a Grand Slam Final! Not so sure he appreciated our toy stuffed cow and Javi (Ferrer´s coach) in fits of laughter with it.
Juan Martin del Potro looking good - though a little too young and thin to take his shirt off in public yet! Today he was training with Eduardo Infantino (Nalbandian´s former coach) - who was bullying him even more than Orsanic does with Chucho!!
Gastón as usual getting emotional
about stuff that other players wouldn´t swear at a practice session over - but then that´s Gastón. Stuttgart us a lovely venue - so small and friendly and intimate - though I could personally do without the 30 C + temperatures.
SO that´s all for now and more as and when I can tear myself away from the Bar in this lovely Official Hotel I am staying in.
Well all I can add for today is that I saw Wawrinka vs Dlouhy. And that hasn't been an easy match. It's been great to see Stan fight till the end, on every point, especially in the last set, with a break against him. He did it the right way. Dlouhy just stopped using dropshots cause Stan got used to them.
I also saw the 1st set of Chela/Horna vs Schüttler/Youzhny. Nothing too great to say. Some great points but no real thrill to be honest. Hnece why I left for practice courts.
To be continued...
Rosie and Choupi, thanks for the reports from warm Stuttgart!!!!
Wish I was there to be a bar fixture with you, Rosie :P And you are so busted, I told JM you said he needs to put the shirt back on! He's on fire though, can't wait to hear about todays match....
Cheer on the Argies for us all, best regards and thanks for letting us vicariously experience it all with you. Looking forward to your subsequent reports!!!!
LOL Michelle - you are a bad, BAD girl - telling my secrets to that young boy!!! So today I watched him play - and it was a great match against Andrei Pavel - played in searing heat of 33 C. Most of the crowd were for Pavel (he lives in Germany and is married to a German girl!). JMDP started poorly, lost serve straight away, and lost the first set. But have to say he is a fighter - and he played superbly well in sets 2 and 3, - cheered on by Yours Truly and Choupi. Pavel was hot and tired, and once JMDP had learnt about his drop shot - he was a deserved winner and was thrilled to be so.
Choupi then went to watch Mariano Z. but I am not so great a Mariano fan so I preferred the relative shelter of the practice courts - after all David Ferrer was practicing - and all men without shirts!!!!!! Watched a little of Almagro v Hartfield, but it was way to hot for me - and I am now the colour of a boiled lobster. Michelle - I wish you were here too - I miss you.
Oh - and big thank you to lovely Franco for the ice-cream ...............it was MUCH apprciated! LOL!
Michelle, I have never met you but I think we could get on well together....
Ok, my day has all been Aregntine today. As Rosie reported, first match I saw was JMDP. Also called BabyBoy. All I will add is that he should learn how to have a winner attitude on the court. Rosie will know what I'm referring to. He needs to lift his head up high, instead of staring at his shoes all the time!!
Then, I saw Zabaleta vs Waske. I have a disclaimer about that report I' about to make about that particular match. Please, do not post it anywhere else without asking first. I wouldn't like to read it somewhere else. Thanks.
I was kinda worried about Mariano. Not the fitness, as I had seen him train several times, but about his game. And I have to say he just wiped my fears away. Mariano the fighter is definitely back. Waske and all his cheering and chanting fans have made the cruel experience. He won the 1st set pretty easily 6/3. The 2nd set has been far tighter and actually, Mariano just dropped his game level for some time, giving points to Waske, who started to think he was Hewitt and yelled "Come on" all the time. Well, you can't ask to a player coming back from some months injury to play 100% all the time. You can expect that from some top 10, but not Mariano. So he just lost the 2nd set 3/6.
The match started from anew from that point on. Mariano started swearing, just his usual way of encouraging himself, but was an example of sportsmanship and fairplay, giving points on many of Waske's challenging calls. He even said to one linesjudge, showing him the mark, that the ball was out but that he shouldn't worry about it!!!
Mariano got broken pretty early in the last set but kept on fighting and struggling. Which actually paid after some very tight games on which he got so many breakpoints. He finally got 1 and that has been enough. He took the match in a great manner. Congratulations to him. Just sad that he has to play Gaston now.
Talking about Gaston, I watched his doubles today, associated to Mirnyi. They won over Pavel-Novak. Which has been some kind of a good surprise for me.
Today is my last day in sunny Stuttgart. You will have to wait a bit for the reports as I will have to travel back home tomorrow night. But I promise to report.
See you!!
Thanks for the reports, it seems the Argies are having fun at this tournament. Hartfield and Junquiera winning as well, when they were not expected to.
Waske is a bit of a wanker and does get very fired up on court, though he is meant to be OK away from it.
Zabaleta it's good that he won as he has been finding it very difficult this year and playing his best friend will be very difficult for both of them.
There definitely seems to be some high estrogen levels in here, but this can only be a good thing for something different.
Look forward to more reports.
che to the argie flacas supporting the boys....
thanks for once again (im very green with envy) great reports....
Choupi, I KNOW we would get along just swell, I am so sad that we have yet to meet at a tournament (although I know it will come someday soon!)
Thanks all for the great JM reports (cause you all know that they are gonna get straight back to him lol) and I have reminded him yet again to stand tall (HAHA) and have faith in his game. I hope he can hold it with Chela tomorrow and know that he will fight hard, hes really feeling quite positive this tournament.
Just be careful what Franco gets for you, the last time I let him order for me, that margarita made my head spin around for what seemed days on end, lol. Anyway, please give those boys the biggest of kisses from one (who wishes in a major major way that she was there with you all!!!!!!!) of their biggest fans. Ill be waking up early (well maybe, im contemplating more shiraz at this point) ok well waking up to check the scores (dont tell JM I wasnt watching livescore) and will message you all with some lovely v-sex.
Ooooops. Ok make that v-tennis chat.
Besitos, flacas......y chaucito!
Thanks for the reports Choupi and Rose. It is great to see Zabaleta back, i hope he stays healthy and gets some matches under his belt this summer. Almagro lost to Hartfield, clearing the way for Berdych in the bottom part, but anything can happen. Del Potro won against Pavel and he plays a very interesting match against Chela next round.
In Amersfoort Coria won but he had 14 double faults, this is the equivalent of donating 3 games to his opponent.
Yet more greetings from sunny Stuttgart - where the 36 C today has turned me into a sad boiled lobster. OK - I admit it - I can honestly say I was impressed with JMDP today - whether you tell him or not Michelle is up to you. Playing a countryman is always hard - especially when that countryman is so much more experienced and older than you. But our BabyBoy was a star! He won the first set against Chubby Chela very easily (6-2), and was 3-0 with a point for 4-0 in the second. Too easy said me and Choupi - and seems we were right - as he had a "funny 5 minutes" and lost the second set easily. As Choupi says - his head goes down and his shoulders droop - he looks like he needs a hug (maybe don´t tell him that!). One thing that was so sweet - he swore and then said "sorry" and apologised to the crowd - so sweet!!!
But - so much credit to him - after an interminable 1st service game in the 3rd set (lost count of how many deuces) - he won his serve and broke Chubby Chela twice, and came out a worthy winner of the match! Boy did he look relieved. It was a gerat match and we were all proud of him.
One thing- why is Chela so grumpy these days? He was griping and whingeing and questionning every point - like a Latin Andy Murray - not pleasant!!!
After the match Choupi then went to watch Gastón/Zabaleta, but I was hot and tired (suffering from no food and too little sleep), so I needed a drink - not alcoholic though - it would have killed me! So my next match was David Ferrer v Jiri Novak.And no - I will not call him Froggy Ferrer because I think he´s cute!!! To be honest the match was too easy for him - Novak is a shadow of his former self and that is sad. He was very slow around the court, and looked hot and unfit - he needs to lose a few kilos I think if he wishes to remain on the main Tour.
Anyway, - then Choupi had to go and catch her train and I went back with her - so more later.
Ciao from Stuttgart!
I am loving these reports and Stuttgart seems the place to be at the moment.
Interesting tournament for sure, Gaudio seems really burnt out mentally at the moment, like he does want to be on tour, yet he can't do anything else. Congratulations to Zabaleta, he really needs some good performances and this is will help him and Lucho won't be easy.
Seems blogger favourite Marach gave Gasquet a good beating, it will be good to see that bandwagon derailed for the moment.
Froggy Ferrer the name suits him and yes he does look like the villain from Shrek.
As for Gaston's side, there are only Chucho and Lucho as the seeds left in this section. Greul has played above himself and really should not be able to hurt Acasuso at all.
As Rosie already reported about the BabyBoy match, I will talk about the Gaudio vs Zabaleta.
Well, I came there when they were 2/1, no break. The 2 guys were obviously eager to take that match. Great groundstrokes battle, some sutle dropshots, great rallies, and a lot of breakpoints. But the very 1st one to convert 1 has been Mariano. All deserved. Then, gaston kept on struggling, to break back and Mariano really had to work hard to take the 1st set. I was just thinking that it would go 3 sets. I was wrong and the 2nd set just has been dreadfull to watch.
It was those days for Gaston, when nothing goes. He's been blamed with footfaults and argued that he wasn't doing them. I have to tell that from where I was seated, I saw everything, and EVERY call has been justified. Gaston just started getting frustrated, as we know he can get at times. So, shoutings, swearings, bad mood, and another agument with the umpire, pretty violent, about a warning for coaching. Gaston just yelled at the umpire and told him things he shouldn't have. So, even if the warning wasn't justified, which I can't say as I was too far from where it allegedly took place, the argumenbt and gaston's behaviour deserved that warning.
From that moment on, Gaston just stopped playing. He simply hit the ball. Didn't run anymore to return along the line shots. His mind had taken the lead and he was already out of the match. So no surprise as to the result. From what I saw in the 2nd set, he deserved to lose. So no regret.
As I'm finally back home, this was my last report from Stuttgart. Now, only Rosie can tell us what happens there.
Some fine reading there I have to say from the one who watched the matches and the other who provided the off court action, teamwork is essential in most fields and this is no different.
Confusing Seppi and Berdych, well Choupi it could mean the mane is getting in the way of your eyesight.
It's good to see Zabaleta winning some matches and hope he can carry on his form, and he has points to defend and just hope he can keep going and his match against Lucho will be tough.
The young del Potro doing well and it seems Mr Infantino has found a new project and the Tandil mafia, is in full force.
Thanks for the all reports Choupi and David Ferrer will always be Froggy.
Thanks for the greats reports Choupi and Rosie.
Good to see Zabaleta back on track, I knew it would only take a few matches for him to recover his form, hopefully he can keep it up. Also great work GWH on the Wikipedia page, a very good entry for El Negro.
Horna vs. Monaco should be an interesting match, though Monaco must be feeling sad now, since Estudiantes lost to Sao Paulo on a penalty shoot-out yesterday. :D
Good to be here and to finally read your reports, Rosie and choupinsky!
Vielen Dank! :)
The Weasel defeated Calleri in Amersfoort and has made the semis, though a choice of Weasel, Vampire, Ramirez Hidalgo and Djokoic, well come on Djokovic.
And I just had to come in and say it.....well done David (I refuse to call him Froggy) - I am so proud that he is the new Stuttgart Champion:-)) And all the best to poor Chucho who tried so hard.
Congrats to Djokovic for winning his first title.
Chucho what a wasted opportunity, it was a big final and he wasn't able to convert his chances serving for the match twice and blew it.
It's no compensation that the match went 5 hours if anything that is worse, magnifies what an opportunity lost.
Hopefully he can learn from this and it will make him stronger and Ferrer was courageous and kudos for handling his nerves better.
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