Friday, February 17, 2012

Pablo Cuevas : The Next Fillipini or Diego Perez

It’s been a while since one of these articles has been done on the blog. The subject of this entry is Pablo Cuevas from the land of beef, football and depending on who you believe Carlos Gardel.


Pablo Cuevas

Uruguay has been looking for a successor to Marcelo Fillippini on the ATP tour who definitely made the most of his talent winning 5 titles. Then as a 31 year old he made the quarter finals of 1999 Roland Garros as qualifier without dropping a set before losing to Agassi. His Davis Cup team mate Diego Perez who shares the record of most Davis Cup wins for Uruguay with Fillippini and also won an ATP title.

Cuevas played his first Futures event in 2002 and turned pro in 2004. He lost to players like Monaco, Junqueira, Zeballos. In 2005 he made his Davis Cup debut vs. Cuba and won his first of two Futures titles beating Machi Gonzalez in the process. It wasn’t until 2007 that Cuevas made his Grand Slam debut losing to Andy Murray after qualifying at the US Open, he lost in the last round of qualies to Dusan Vemic at Roland Garros.

After consolidating his 2007 season with strong Challenger results 2008 was the year that got Cuevas noticed to a wider audience outside of Latin America for varying degrees. His singles breakthrough was at Viña del Mar where he had 2 match points against hometown hero Fernando Gonzalez but ended up losing 6-7 7-6 6-2, though in the 2nd set tiebreaker he hit one of the most famous winners, the clip says enough. The crowd and Gonzalez were really intimidating Cuevas, had Cuevas won the semi final, it would have been his first ATP title as Juan Monaco injured his ankle in a doubles match when he collided with the linesman’s chair and withdrew from the final.


Famous shot vs. Gonzalez at Viña del Mar

Instead of building on that fine performance Cuevas managed to lose a 15 year old Ryan Harrison at the Houston Grand Slam in straight sets, yes this was a poor performance and showed a mental frailty that has been with Cuevas throughout his career. It’s not like Cuevas was playing a prodigy like Wilander, Borg, Krickstein, Arias or Chang on a surface that he was unfamiliar with.

However this low point was pushed into the background with his greatest triumph winning the 2008 Roland Garros doubles title with Luis Horna. These were two talented singles players entering for some cash and having fun, yet they won the title which was refreshing and surprising. The great ride started when they played the French duo of Clement and Llodra in the first round, an excellent combo and competent at singles as well, so they definitely aren’t doubles specialists. They were handled with ease, then took out Nieminen and Lindstedt in the next round and after this they took out Dlouhy/Paes in the 3rd round. They made the quarter finals taking out 2 seeded combinations.


In the quarter finals the shenanigans with the Bryans began. The Bryans were huge favourites, but luckily the conditions were very heavy with the constant rain, making the court heavier which was better for the South Americans. The 3rd set tiebreaker was hilarious when Ceuvas jumped the net and it was clearly nowhere near the Bryans, but after the match when Lucho and Cuevas won, the Bryan bitches refused to shake Ceuvas’s hand. “He was really disrespectful,” Mike said. “He jumped the net right in our face. It’s classless.” But Cuevas’s response was class. “Maybe I celebrated a little too much. But it’s worth it,” he said. “It’s not every day you beat the No. 1 team.”



Horna/Cuevas vs. Bryans with the net jump

The semi final against another unseeded team Soares/Vemic was their most difficult match, as they got closer to the final, they blew match points, but managed to make it through to the final. Lucky the conditions were quite heavy and it suited Lucho and Cuevas for sure. They came out on fire slapping returns that the doubles specialists weren’t used to handling at all. Lucho ripping on the forehand side and Ceuvas with the single hander, these devastating shots were too much for Nestor/Ziki who looked all at sea out there under the onslaught. The first set was over quickly and the second was slightly more competitive, but the same pattern continued the South Americans won 6-2 6-3. One could see they couldn’t believe that they won and Cuevas said afterwards “we weren’t expecting to get that far”.


Horna and Cuevas RG Doubles

After the Roland Garros doubles triumph, in 2009 Cuevas finished the singles year at 141, had to play Challengers winning Montevideo. Qualifying for Viña del Mar where he made the semis, the event he peaks for, also qualifying for Hamburg. He managed to finish the year inside the top 50.


Cuevas having fun with Roddick

2010 was a consolidation season winning the Sczecin Challenger then in 2011 Cuevas had arguably his biggest win in Miami where he took out Andy Roddick in straight sets showing plenty of variety. Best of all about this win was the Miami crowd cheering for Cuevas though Miami is a Latino city. Sadly for Cuevas at Roland Garros is where the injury problems began he had to retire in the first round against Antonio Veic with knee problems and hasn’t played since.


Pablo Cuevas down and not out

Long term injury layoffs impact on players in different ways, some never come back to their previous level whereas others have improved with the time away from the game. As for Cuevas this will be a good thing as he has not rushed his comeback to tennis. He probably could have played doubles in the Davis Cup last week but chose not to risk it. Since the game has become more physical players are reaching their peak levels at a later age, which is only logical since tennis is a speed endurance sport.


Lucho Horna came out and said “if he recovers from injury, then Cuevas has the potential to be a top 20 player”. The statement isn’t outrageous as the potential is there. The main questions are has the break away from the game helped Cuevas focus mentally on what he wants out of the sport. This is what was holding him back previously and something like this can be used as a positive to focus on the goals at hand.

Cuevas has an outstanding kick serve especially for a smaller guy, gets very good angles with it to open up the court and the single hand backhand especially down the line is a class shot. The forehand is pretty good, but definitely could improve taking it on the rise. His transition game is solid, just needs to be selective when he comes into the net.

Alberto “Luli” Mancini has taken over the coaching from Daniel Orsanic after the contract ran out. Cuevas has moved to Argentina to train, it’s not like Argentina is unfamiliar his mother is Argentine. There are better practice facilities and hitting partners, though it’s arguable whether the beef is better there.


Coach Mancini


Mancini when he won Monte Carlo

Mancini was top 10 in singles, brilliant backhand, one of the guys that did better against the top players, these things he could definitely bring to help Cuevas. Guillermo Coria another small player, slight of stature albeit with a different game had his best years under Mancini. It’s a shrewd appointment in theory, lets see how it pans out.

As to whether Cuevas will be a Fillppini or Diego Perez depends on a few factors. Besides the 5 titles, Fillippini managed to reach 30th in the world, so this is the challenge for Cuevas. Providing he improves mentally which has been the big weakness, at the elite level it isn’t so much the technique, it’s more mentally and there needs to be more work done on that side of things. Cuevas is coming into a good age for his career, improve the mental side then the confidence will come and improved results in the bigger clay events would be needed to reach the level of Fillippini.

In the long term the top 20 is a challenge but in the short term it’s important for Cuevas to get some match fitness playing Challengers, competing hard then maybe using his Protected Ranking for the bigger events. As long as he works hard on his game and mentally, then he can make a successful comeback to tour.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Davis Cup Review

Since my good mate Shank Tennis decided to do a Davis Cup preview and there were some interesting results and a bit of controversy, which isn't always a bad thing. Davis Cup is not just about the World Group, the level below didn't have any major surprises but set up some potentially good ties in the next round.

Spain vs. Kazakhstan

Currently Spain in Davis Cup play are like what the Swedes were in the 80s, at the moment they have great depth especially for the clay ties. Nadal, Ferrer, LaLo aren't playing this year and won't be needed initially.

Oviedo hosted the tie, good to see tennis being played in Asturias. The city is the home of the man Galo Blanco, Santi Cazorla, Mata and their football club Real Oviedo struggling, so this was guaranteed to cheer the locals up and the siderias would have done a fine trade over the weekend.

Kazakhstan are the team with no Kazakhs, they're all Russians. The president is a tennis fanatic so offered some good oil and gas money to get Kukushkin, Korolev, Golubev and Schukin to switch, even with the problems with Russian men's tennis only Kuku would be likely to get a run.

Spain playing with Ferrero, Almagro, Granollers and Marc Lopez got this tie done comfortably. Kuku was up 4-0 in the 3rd set, yet managed to lose the set in a tiebreaker. This was their best chance to win a match, now they're back to the playoffs.

Almagro finally getting a go at this Davis Cup caper, but he knows it came about through default through other players not playing singles. Corretja if given time could be the calming influence on El Cabezon who in spite of his failings is one of the better players on clay.


Spanish Team

Granollers/Lopez were excellent in doubles and it was good to see them getting ago, perhaps it can give them more confidence and they'll play as a regular unit.

Now they have another home tie vs. Austria

Austria vs. Russia

Finally after all these years Austria win a World Group, the last time that happened was when Thomas Muster was playing near his peak. It has been too long for them, a combination of tough draws, not taking their chances contributed.


Jürgen Melzer

Jürgen Melzer finally stepped up as a team leader after being a player who never showed his best level in Davis Cup. The format can make players lift above their normal levels, then it can inhibit others like Melzer. Previously Melzer had to play all 3 days and if the recently retired Stefan Koubek wasn't winning his matches, that put more pressure on him.

Russians had an injured Mikhail Youzhny who couldn't play the singles, so they started off with Igor Kunitsyn and Alex Bogomolov. Melzer scrapped through over Kunitsyn in the first match, which he'd have lost previously, in the process this relaxed Andreas Haider-Maurer who lifted to get the upset over Bogomolov giving the Austrians a rare lead on Day 1.

Shamil Tarpishev was criticised for fielding Kunitsyn and Bogomolov, normally it would be Davydenko and Youzhny. Davydenko is very much out of form, so who knows whether it would be a better option, but they managed to win the doubles. Youzhny was serving half pace but was still hitting some very sweet shots and the beard is damn awesome.

Melzer was brilliant in his match against Bogomolov. Dominating from the baseline with clean strokes and moving to the net at the right moments. After the big switch from USA to Russia where Bogomolov had to pay back the USTA money, which was a joke since the USTA never compensated other nations that switched to play for them. It's safe to say that Bogomolov's Davis Cup debut wasn't so successful.

Alex Bogomolov learning about Davis Cup

Happy for Austria making the quarter finals though it will end next round.

Canada vs. France

It was a pleasure to see tennis played on a fast surface these days, which is rare in the current era of homogenised surfaced. In the singles there was plenty of aggressive play from the back and more volleys in 5 games than there was in the Djokovic vs. Nadal Aus Open final.

Sure it wasn’t like the old days in Calgary which is 1048 m. That was an ice rink played at altitude so the points weren’t exactly fast. After being level on Day 1, this where Martin Laurendeau the Canadian captain decided to take a gamble and play Milos Raonic in doubles, he isn’t a great doubles player and doubles guru Daniel Nestor wanted to play with Vasek Pospisil or Frank Dancevic.


Milos Raonic out injured

This gamble bit him in the arse as they lost the doubles and Raonic had to withdraw from the singles with knee trouble. He is raw, still needs to develop physically and managing his body is going to be a challenge, as he has already had problems with his hip. His match with Tsonga was going to be difficult enough at best, but it was a disappointing end to a promising tie as Tsonga made poutine of Dancevic to clinch the tie.

France will be at home to the US and they will put down a better clay court than the Swiss did and won’t lose.

Switzerland vs. USA

See here
Federer Fribourg Fiasco

Czech Republic vs. Italy

After an absence of many years Italy returned to the World Cup, though they got a tough draw with the Czechs in Ostrava. The Czechs when they have Berdych and Stepanek they’re a good unit, the problem lies when one of them can’t play singles as their third option isn’t always the strongest. Though Lukas Rosol played a good match and won his dead rubber match.

Andreas Seppi returned to the Davis Cup team this was mainly due to the Fog being injured and also since Seppi is in a position to play at the Olympics so he needs to get his Davis Cup quota. Ideally it would have been good if he won his singles matches, but the Czechs won the tie.


Radek Stepanek

His match with the crafty and sexy Stepanek was enjoyable to watch, but it showed why Steps is a bad match up for him. Seppi started well taking the ball early and was working over Stepanek’s forehand which is the side that can break down.

Stepanek got into the match more, was able to get his variations happening, moving to the net to knock the volleys off and keep Seppi off balance. Stepanek created more break chances, whereas Seppi didn’t have many chances but had a high conversion rate, it was just one poor service game in the 5th from Seppi that Stepanek was able to take advantage and win.

Once Stepanek set the tone, then Berdych was able to finish the job setting up a fun tie with Serbia.


Berdych and Stepanek

Serbia vs. Sweden

The Swedes did a brilliant job in the circumstances winning the doubles in a tough 5 setter and Filip Prpic who is very much part time at best managed to get 10 games.


Filip Prpic

Without Robin Söderling in singles they are poor at best, but they did themselves proud in tough circumstances.

Croatia vs. Japan

Ivo Karlovic take a bow he was the hero of the tie continuing on his excellent start to the season. After Dodig lost a 2 sets to 0 lead to Go Soeda, to put the visitors under pressure.

Karlovic took out the much vaunted and hyped Nishikori. Karlovic was serving from the tree, getting some brilliant angles in the process gaining confidence at the back dominating with the forehand and hitting the slice backhand short enough to get easy volleys. Karlovic holds the record on tour for the most service games won on percentage (91%), for someone who is on his worst days all serve, he broke Nishikori in all sets and beat him handily.

Croatia won the doubles, then Nishikori defeated a disappointing Dodig who is suffering from second season syndrome. It’s always difficult to back up after a big season, but he is a fighter and will recover his form. After that Karlovic took care of Soeda comfortably in straight sets, won the first set in a buster, after that he was able to continue from where he left off on Day 1.


Croatian Team

Argentina vs. Germany

The Germans were limited as to where they could hold this tie and they chose clay. It was done to suit Kohlschreiber, plus they thought del Potro was going to play, though the Tandil tower will play the next matches afterwards.

Petzschner played instead of Kohlschreiber who was a late withdrawal, he had these white compression socks, that almost made him look like a horse but it would never compare to the original Alberto Juantorena for horse like movement and grace. Pico Monaco was just too solid, classic workmanlike performance.


Jaite and Nalbandian

Florian Mayer made his comeback from hip problems, there were some glimpses there but Nalbandian was too tough and winning the Davis Cup is pretty much driving Nalbandian these days. Edu Schwank probably didn’t plan to become a doubles specialist but at the moment this is the path that seems to be working for him. His singles career hasn’t developed as well as he would have liked, but he is an asset to the team with his doubles play, coming back from 0-2 sets down to clinch the tie will give him more confidence, which perhaps can lead to improved singles results.

This year Argentina will have plenty of home ties, it’s about time they won the Davis Cup and excellent start from the new leadership group of Martin Jaite and Mariano Zabaleta, both very good men.


Jaite and Zabaleta

Group 1

Slovenia thumped Denmark 5-0 at home, which saw Kristian Pless who hasn’t played for around 4 years come out of retirement as Freddy Nielsen had no support at. Now the Slovenians will play South Africa, which will be at Johannesburg on the fastest court against Anderson and van der Merwe. In other words tall guys serving bombs, fun for Kavcic, Zemlja and Bedene.

Australians won very easily, they should make Playoffs again, the highlight was Geelong getting to see the Gooch.


Guccione

Colombia without Falla took down Ecuador who have no one especially since Gio Lapentti is injured, heck even if Nico Lapentti came out of retirement he’d still be their best player.


Santi Giraldo


Farah and Cabal

The situation is the same as Peru who fought valiantly against Uruguay, but the Uruguayans were too good, they didn’t need Pablo Cuevas who was named, though it was good for him to meet up with Lucho Horna the Peruvian captain, who would still be the best player in Peru.

Back in April more Davis Cup action.

Roger Federer Fribourg Fiasco

This entry will be done in two parts, as what went down in Fribourg deserves a separate entry.

USA def. Switzerland 5-0

If anyone believed that the US would win 5-0 away from home on clay against the Swiss, they'd have been sectioned and fitted up for a straitjacket.


We are not losing 5-0 to these guys

First of all the Americans played very well, Isner probably his best overall match and Davis Cup matches are different it's not just about yourself some players thrive on it and others don't. Jim Courier sitting their in a suit looking like a tool and pulled a dickhead move after they won the tie. At the end of the interview conducted by Swiss TV, the interview asked nicely "Would you answer a question in French". No, with a smarmy look even by his standards "I'll save it for Paris". There was no need for it.

Now onto Roger Federer who decided to make a rare appearance on the first round of a Davis Cup tie. Federer has a curious attitude to Davis Cup, for someone who says they love and respect the history of the sport, then it's know that this is the most traditional of tennis events. Sure, his attitude isn't as bad as say Andy Murray, though not to the extent of Jimmy Connors and Michael Chang, for all their poor attitudes at least they didn't pontificate about the history of the game.

Where the farce begins, some would say it was Stani Wawrinka losing to Mardy Fish in the first rubber. It definitely wasn't a good match from either guy, the court didn't have enough clay on it, didn't have enough time to settle say unlike the indoor clay court used in Bamberg for the Germany tie. Wawrinka has been in poor form for quite some time, yet he was still good enough to defeat Hewitt on grass to get Switzerland into the World Cup.


Wawrinka, how did I lose this

What really cemented the Fribourg farce was Roger Federer, the usual script here is if Wawrinka loses a match on Day 1, then Federer wins and it's 1-1 with the doubles being up in the air. First set was going along to planned, but Isner who was getting some massive bounce off the court, he almost did the Bryan Sheldon kicking the serve into the stand. Normally Federer handles the big servers well by blocking the returns and outmanouvering them around the baseline. Isner serving well was getting enough short balls and he can hit his forehand big when he has enough time, he was gaining confidence and was able to give Federer his first singles defeat in 9 years.

Federer and Wawrinka didn't play well in the doubles and were taken down by the scratch pair of Mike Bryan/Fish. Once the defeat was complete then the scapegoating began as per usual Stani Wawrinka copped most of the criticism. He's known in Switzerland as the "guy who always loses", and after this weekend this gives more fodder to that. Of course it wasn't just down to Wawrinka and Federer deserves some of the blame as well.

It's easy to be a humble winner, people learn more about themselves and others in defeat. From a personal view it's better for honest answers instead of PR bullshit that is rampant these days. With that openness and honesty, some comments are going to come out and cause controversy and Federer's comments blaming Wawrinka for the poor performance has done that. The original comments from the article with translation below.


Friends forever

Federer: «Déçu? Non pas tant que ça»

«Stanislas Wawrinka n’a pas fait son meilleur match en simple. C’est dommage, à cause de cette défaite, on n’a pas pu mettre les Etats-Unis sous pression.»

"Stanislas Wawrinka did not play his best in the singles. It's a shame because this loss meant we were not able to put the USA under pressure."

The above comments from Federer, differ from the win as a team, lose as a team mantra, while not taking responsibility for his performances. Federer toadies who will use this loss and comments to justify that he didn't take Davis Cup seriously during his peak years.


Chau Federer

Naturally the usual arguments come out, he had to do it on his own. He didn't have a good enough number 2 player in Wawrinka, it didn't wash then and it doesn't wash now. Ivan Ljubicic in 2005 carried Croatia to a Davis Cup, he won 11 of 12 matches, the only loss Ljubo had was to Dominik Hrbaty another Davis Cup warrior in the final. The only singles match his deputy Ancic won was the last match in the final against Slovakia, after he lost all his singles matches beforehand.


Björn Borg owning the Davis Cup


1975 World Group Final

SWE d. TCH 3-2 in SWE 19 Dec - 21 Dec 1975

Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm, Sweden Carpet (I)
R1 W HREBEC, Jiri 6-1 6-3 6-0
R3 W KODES, Jan/ ZEDNIK, Vladimir, Partnering BENGTSON, Ove 6-4 6-4 6-4
R4 W KODES, Jan 6-4 6-2 6-2

1975 Inter-Zonal Semifinal

SWE d. CHI 4-1 in SWE 19 Sep - 21 Sep 1975

Bastad Tennis Stadium, Bastad, Sweden Clay (O)
R1 W CORNEJO, Patricio 3-6 6-4 7-5 6-3
R3 W CORNEJO, Patricio/ FILLOL, Jaime, Partnering BENGTSON, Ove 7-5 6-2 3-6 6-3
R5 W FILLOL, Jaime 6-1 6-2 6-1

1975 Europe Final

SWE d. ESP 3-2 in ESP 25 Jul - 27 Jul 1975

Real Club de Tenis de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Clay (O)
R2 W HIGUERAS, Jose 6-3 6-1 6-1
R3 L GISBERT, Juan/ ORANTES, Manuel, Partnering BENGTSON, Ove 4-6 3-6 1-6
R4 W ORANTES, Manuel 6-4 6-2 6-2


1975 Europe Semifinal

SWE d. URS 3-2 in URS 18 Jul - 20 Jul 1975

Lieupe Tennis Club, Yurmala, USSR Clay (O)
R2 W METREVELI, Aleksandr 7-5 6-3 6-3
R3 L KAKULIA, Teimuraz/ METREVELI, Aleksandr, Partnering BENGTSON, Ove 1-6 4-6 6-8
R5 W VOLKOV, Anatoli 8-6 6-1 6-0


1975 Europe Quarterfinal

SWE d. FRG 3-2 in FRG 16 May - 18 May 1975

Rot-Weiss Stadion, West Berlin, West Germany Clay (O)
R2 W MEILER, Karl 6-1 14-12 8-6
R4 W POHMANN, Hans-Jurgen 3-6 6-0 6-0 6-3


1975 Europe Quarterfinal

SWE d. POL 4-1 in POL 02 May - 04 May 1975

Legia Stadium, Warsaw, Poland Clay (O)
R2 W DRZYMALSKI, Henrik 6-0 6-0 6-2
R3 W FIBAK, Wojtek/ NIEDZWIEDZKI, Jacek, Partnering BENGTSON, Ove 6-4 6-2 6-4
R4 W FIBAK, Wojtek 6-4 6-1 8-6


Björn Borg did it in 1975 with a partner worse than Wawrinka. He went 15-2 with only losing in doubles. So the excuse is hollow during his peak years which would have been the best chance to win a Davis Cup, he just chose to focus on his own career. That in itself is fine, but the comments saying that he cares about Davis Cup and not accepting his own share of the blame show otherwise.


Mike Bryan and Fish don't know how the US won 5-0

The US are still stunned that they won 5-0 away from home on clay against a team with one of the greatest players of all time, as they say it's not always about individuals.