Monday, July 11, 2011

Båstad and Stuttgart Tournament with fan reports from Choupi

The summer clay season is upon us starting this week from Båstad and Stuttgart. Luckily enough there will be fan reports from my special reporter Choupi in Stuttgart, as it's always better to get fan reports and I will cover Båstad. The reports will be in the comments of this post.

It's still disappointing that both of these are competing against each other, it was better when they were separate. Båstad only has 28 player draw, but that makes sense so they can spend more time at the beach and at Pepes Bodega in the evening. Lets say this is not the place to take your girlfriend.

Båstad


Onto Båstad itself, there are the usual suspects here Söderling who played shit all event last year, but ended up losing to Almagro in the final. These two characters are quite combative and their matches have some spice about them, needless to say both are a big chance of winning the title. Almagro loves an IS clay event and wouldn't be surprised if he has trained to peak for this event.

Nicolas Almagro 2010 Swedish Open Champ


Not that it always goes to seeding but Ferrer who looms in Almagro's section will be the big danger. He's on his way from Texas and with the bye shouldn't be required until Thursday enough time to adjust. Boredo two time champ coming back from injury will be moonballing, hooking and using all forms of gamesmanship.

Young Brazilian Swede Lindell plays arriba Riba, he has a very aggressive game, would like to see how he has developed since the last time I saw him vs. Nieminen in Båstad. Kavčič has a good chance to get back on track after a poor DC performance against Starace. The court isn't too fast, but can still get some good bounce on serve and shots.

Vinciguerra too bad he never could win this event. He has been injured for so long, hasn't retired as of yet but would be good if he won a match here.

As for who wins the event, doesn't matter too much as long as it's not Robredo.

Stuttgart (Choupi Reports)


Stuttgart the home of Mercedes and whoever wins the event gets a free Mercedes, though most of the players here could afford to buy one. The players who have played Davis Cup not exactly sure how their motivation is for the event. Monfils is the top seed and now he is coachless after splitting with Roger Rasheed.

Gimeno-Traver who has had an awful year so far but hasn't paid the price will do so now unless he can defend his semi final points from last season. Lacking confidence it's hard to get out of it, got to play through, losing becomes a habit as well. It will be tough for him against Kubot, but possible to win this match.

Seppi back on the clay, he has been playing some Bundesliga matches, he should have too much for Elvis Granollers, there are some good opportunities. Giraldo vs Melzer and Lurch vs. Monfils aren't bad first rounders at all.

Not sure who I think will win this, but they'll enjoy the car.

Great to see King Oscar Hernandez back playing again.

Looking forward to the fan reports

Davis Cup Quater Finals, Play off Review, Canada comes back from 0-2

Davis Cup QF and Playoffs

There weren't any magical Davis Cup results this weekend either in the World Group or playoffs. This was the time where the top players who don't give a shit about Davis Cup (Djokovic can be excused this time) turn up so they can get their Olympic qualifications for next year.

Sweden vs. Serbia

Ever since Robin Söderling withdrew from the tie any chance the Swedes had of winning the tie went out the window. Djokovic was included just to cover any moves by the Swedes, though Thomas Enqvist isn't that smart to pull something like this enough. Lindell isn't up to Davis Cup level yet, especially on indoor surfaces and Vinciguerra was on the way out.

Aspelin/Lindstedt won the doubles which was the best they could've hoped for not to lose 5-0. Very comfortable weekend for the Serbians, though Ryderstedt did as well as he could in singles. The Serbs had fun partying in Halmstad and Båstad, now they will play at home for the semis vs. Argentina.

Argentina vs. Kazakhstan

Russia A couldn't win in Argentina, let alone Russia B. Cool and heavy conditions on clay against a team where Golubev has been on a run of 14 straight losses in fact his last win was over Berdych in the 1st round of Davis Cup.

Hope Russia B enjoyed the fine women and steaks of Buenos Aires. Argentine fans are happy, cause at least this is one team that could win unlike their footballers at the moment.

USA vs. Spain

Spain showed their superior player depth in addition to the fact the surface wasn't as quick as they'd have liked and the bounce was too high. LaLo who is having an excellent year his work with Berasategui has produced some solid form, yes he is still a burro but got give him pops for the improvement. He was able to carry his Wimbledon form and fried the Fish in the 1st tie. Ferrer the warrior too solid for Roddick.

Bryan Bozos got the US on the board as per usual. Ferrer stepped up to the plate closed the deal against Fishy. Sure Mardy has a lot of weight, moves a whole better than he did, but the technical deficiencies of the forehand are still there when he plays the better players who can expose him on that side

Germany vs. France

This tie was set up from the first match where Flo Mayer was up 2 sets to 0, but had some issues with cramping or maybe a muscle strain which allowed Gasquet to come back taking the match. Once Gasquet took the lead, then the French continued their dominance over Germany in Davis Cup play, but they aren't getting it done vs. Spain.

Playoffs

Switzerland vs. Portugal


Federer should learn from Söderling if he doesn't want to do the Davis Cup thing. Söderling played the first tie and Sweden preserve their World Group status, but it's the same old stuff with him. He says he wants to win Davis Cup, but got to play the event before he can win it.

Rarely they played in the Swiss German part of the country, normally they play in Romandie. Bern is a pleasant place and indoors they were never losing this at all.

Portugal with Gil and Machado love Davis Cup, and Machado played above his level against Federer. Winning a set against Federer indoors for a guy who has played 3 indoor matches before the weekend was excellent, but Fed was just cruising through this.

Italy vs. Slovenia

Seppi was out for Italy, and there was a small chance for Slovenia to win this, but this was lost after day 1 when the chances were on offer that these weren't taken. It's not easy to win in Italy, but not mission impossible.

Žemlja took the first set against the Fog 6-1 with good aggressive play, which is how he has to play as his defensive skills are average at best, and this came back to haunt him. The Fog started to play better, but Žemlja started making too many mistakes and being defensive which is not the way he plays at his best, as his poor footwork get exposed which the Fog did.

This meant Kavčič had to step it up over Starace. Blaž started well, hitting good length and not letting Starace into the match. Then Kavčič dropped the level, got a bit passive and Starace took advantage serving better especially on the ad side. He was using the kicker to the backhand pushing Kavčič further back into the court, dominated the rallies and worked his excellent dropshot to full effect.

With Starace was playing well, the DC captain didn't offer any solutions at all. Kavčič needed to stand closer to the baseline on ad side, as Starace jumped to left on the kick serve, return the ball down the line taking advantage of the positioning. Forcing Starace to vary it up and taking away his drop shot.

Ecuador vs. Canada

canada were down 0-2 losing their best player Raonic to hip surgery before the tie didn't help them. It was good to see Vasek Pospisil and Phil Bester able to turn around their first day losses to seal the comeback win for Canada, would be good if they could make World Group, though that isn't happening with Raonic.

Too bad many of the top players believe they are bigger than the sport.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Tennis Nickname Reference List

Since there are many silly names that are used for some of the players. This post will highlight some of them, yes some are obvious and not very witty, but a few are a bit different. If anyone wants an explanation as to how they came about, then please ask in the comments section and these will be address how some of these came about.

We all know why Radek Stepanek is sexy and why Andy Roddick looks like Donald Duck when he whines like a baby.



Radek Stepanek



The bottom one goes across to see the extra names, enjoy or be confused by the listing.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Wimbledon Review :125 years of Wimbledon and the people making the schedule are the same age then the tournament

Some things change and other things don't this applies to Wimbledon. What didn't change was the moronic scheduling not the fact that Serena Williams was whining about being on court 2, suck it up princess. There is a baseline, a net and a set of lines you have to hit over and in between. The tournament finished on time, and the rain fucked up the doubles schedule. Yes, doubles is lower down the food chain, but there shouldn't be best of 5 doubles matches until the final. Phillip Petzschner summed it up perfectly "125 years of Wimbledon and the people making the schedule are the same age then the tournament! It’s a fucking joke". They hadn’t completed their first round match while others were in the third round.

There were the usual rumblings about how the grass played during the tournament, as has been stated many times they've changed the makeup of the grass using heavier balls which has changed the dynamics of Wimbledon. To the point where it's only Wimbledon in name, this has been reflected for years and only new people to the game or delusional would state otherwise.

Andy Murray once again came up short at Wimbledon which was unsurprising. Murray has an interesting relationship with the British press, they build him up for 2 weeks of Wimbledon where everyone becomes an instant expert on the sport. He has a very dry wit, but due to bad experiences with the press, apart from the usual he wins he's British, he loses he's Scottish. Not a surprise he made the semis and Nadal took him out. If he's going to win a Slam, then it will be either Aus Open or US Open.



Bernie Tomic

Bernard Tomic a young man who has divided quite a lot of people mainly cause of his attitude. Personally never had a problem with Tomic though can see why he would be annoying to others. This was his breakthrough event, the grass is perfect for his game. He can move on the surface, which is where he struggles badly on the clay. The funky forehand while not as funky as Florian Mayer's is more effective on this surface. Tomic has plenty of variety, mixes up it with some junk like Murray and Dolgopolov, this stuff works to bring the ballbashers out of rhythm, while Tomic will never be Usain Bolt and the serve needs to improve, he has a great understanding of how to play tennis, the stuff you can't teach. He was never beating Djokovic, but excellent showing against him.

Novak Djokovic became world number 1 when he defeated Tsonga in the semi finals. Whether people like him or not, yes he's cocky, can't perform fake humility well but he's been the man since the Masters at the end of 2010 to now and thoroughly deserves to be top of the tree. What has led to such improvement within this timeframe, there are a few factors. First of all, he has managed to almost get back his old service motion which was tinkered with by Todd Martin and contributed to stagnation at best and regression at worst. He changed his diet where gluten was eliminated, this has given him more energy, surprise surprise the time outs haven’t been a factor whereas before if he had dandruff he’d call for the trainer. Another important factor is the improved forehand, previously the forehand would break down or used as a rallying shot. He has improved the stroke to a level where he can hit it with more pace and penetration, while having a good safety margin.

For those who don’t understand yes the Grand Slams has 2000 points, but the Masters events which there are nine of them winning those events, players get 1000 for winning. Djokovic won the Aus Open and four of the Masters events plus the Masters Cup, therefore it’s logical he reached the top of the tree with the rolling 52 week rankings for when a player starts their career.

Rafael Nadal made the final which was a fine effort, considering he took faking to levels Sergio Busquets would have been proud of in the match against del Potro. Before the 1st set tiebreaker acting as if he tore ligaments in his foot, then after 9 minutes comes back on court, moves like there isn’t anything wrong with him. The timeout rules are a joke, have been since Shuzo Matsuoka went over with cramps at the US Open acting like he had been shot. The rules need to be changed, want to get treatment before a change of end then forfeit the game, naturally players will take advantage of loopholes. At the same time this was from the winner of the ATP Sportsmanship Award which has much credibility as a North Korean election, let’s see regularly going over time in between serves, constant delay of the game, faking injury timeouts (Petzschner at Wimbledon, Fed at Madrid). Yes, that’s the epitome of great sportsmanship.

Novak Djokovic

Djokovic was too good for Nadal as he has been 4 times this year. With Djokovic’s improved fitness and forehand plus having the confidence of defeating him in all of their matches this season. The second set from Djokovic was brilliant, defending very well when he had to and attacking the short balls that Nadal was feeding. He had a lapse in the 3rd set, but was able to retain enough focus despite some nerves to break for *5-3 and served it out for a deserved title. The match wasn’t brilliant at all, but Djokovic was at a much higher level and deserved to win the crown.

First time since 2002 there was a non Fedal winner of Wimbledon. Any doubts that were lingering about Djokovic reaching the number 1 spot in the world were crushed today. As for how long he’ll stay there, who knows and it’s not really relevant it doesn’t matter whether it’s 3 hours or 3 years reaching number 1 in the world is a fine achievement.

Previously I’ve called Djokovic the poor man’s Ivan Lendl and still hold this particular viewpoint. Both aren’t pretty to watch, ruthlessly efficient, very good at what they do and making the most of their abilities. Lendl would have loved these grass courts, but players can only exist in their era, no amount of tennis nerdishness is going to change this.

The tournament itself wasn’t interesting, the distinctive nature of Wimbledon has pretty gone in the way the game is played on grass. It’s at a point now where the game has been saved from all serving machines brutalising the sport, now they can quicken the surface up and use lighter balls.