Thursday, November 21, 2013

Time for a Change or More of the Same

Yes, it has been a while since there has been an article. Had some other pressing issues and my own laziness get the better of me.

First of all congratulations to the Czech Republic for defending their Davis Cup title, naturally the focus was on Tomáš Berdych and Radek Štěpánek, especially since Štěpánek was outstanding during the tie. Too bad the captain Jaroslav Navrátil wasn’t there to experience the victory, hope he has a full recovery from the pulmonary embolism which kept him at home. Interim captain Vladimir Safarik did an excellent job and dedicated the victory to Navratil.


2013 Davis Cup Champions


Sexy Štěpánek

Sure the Czechs had a bit of luck, with Tipsarevic and Troicki being unavailable, but that is needed to win a Davis Cup. Lukáš Rosol and Jan Hájek are forgotten members of the team, though without them they wouldn’t have made the final. Rosol with Berdych winning a 7 hour & 2 minutes doubles match against the Swiss in the 1st round. Rosol with Hájek played the quarter finals against Kazakhstan, that helped get them to the title. It’s clear the Czechs are a united group, it wasn’t long ago they were struggling to make World Group, now they’re rolling in the success.

We Have a New ATP President

In ATP news, the top brass have finally named a replacement for Brad Drewett as ATP chairman. The late Drewett was well regarded and the ATP were progressing under his leadership, he brought a different dynamic as a former player and excellent communicator.

Chris Kermode has been given job of sorting out the malaise of vested interests involved in the ATP, so it can achieve its full potential as an organising body and not little fiefdoms undermining the game. He was a former player mostly on the Futures tour, but made the switch to the other side as a successful tournament director of the Queens grasscourt event and the end of season World Championships.


Chris Kermode new ATP President

Federer and Andy Murray are delighted with the appointment. The question is whether this down to his previous work or that he is more likely to cater to the needs of the top players. There weren’t many quality candidates, but it’s good that they have elected a former player to the role.

It’s important for the future of the sport that the balance between the tournament directors (TD) and player representatives is readdressed to something resembling functionality. One can hope with Kermode’s background that he takes steps to fix this relationship, though with ATP this would require some long term planning which is something they don’t have the aptitude for. Their form is continual short term focus and only promoting the top four players, not realising there are interesting characters throughout the ranks.

On March 10, 1999 former world No. 1 Thomas Muster told the German newspaper Die Welt: “I look at the ATP not so much as a representative of players but as a firm that in marketing even works against the players. I don’t like the way tennis is dominated by Americans. The problem is that tennis is governed by the Americans and financed by the Europeans. Changes must come quickly, and the future of our sport is at stake”. Muster highlighted the problems of the ATP as it stood then and little has changed. The Americans and Europeans part of the Muster quote has changed, but the meat of the Muster quote is still true.

Steep Decline of the Challengers

To the readers of this infrequently updated blog know that I have strong views on the management or mismanagement of the Challenger Tour. It’s an important finishing school for players who don’t have the backing of large agencies or federations where they can get numerous wildcards. Federer, Nadal, del Potro, Ferrer played Challengers before making the leap to the main tour.

With little fanfare the ATP have increased the prizemoney of the lowest level Challengers from $35K+H (hospitality) to $40K+H. It’s good they have done this, but at best it’s tokenism. When over time the prizemoney on the Challenger tour has decreased significantly while expenses and costs have risen.

Below is a table comparing the differences between the Challenger & ATP Tour in 1995 and 2013. It was done by year, total number of events and combined prizemoney of the events. As the euro wasn’t functioning in 1995, the events in euro were converted to USD for the sake of consistency.

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Challenger & ATP Tour Comparison

What the figures show, the reality of life on the Challenger tour. While there are more events in 2013 than in 95, the total money has decreased by 30.27% over the years, which is a total failure by the ATP to look after most of its members. It’s a case of “all animals are equal some are just more equal than others”.

For those who want to know these results were obtained To work it out inflate the 1995 $s to 2013 & divide by 85. Divide the 2013 $s by 147. find the difference between the two & and calculate the decrease %. So, 4.75mil of 1995 is $7,297,951.12 inflation adjusted according to bls.gov/data/inflation…

Now with this out of way, it shows while there are less tournaments on the main ATP Tour, there has been an increase of 21.44% in prizemoney which clearly highlights who the ATP believe in prioritising. Yes, it’s a winners’ tour which is what most players and fans expect, but there needs to be an improved distribution of prizemoney at Challenger level.

With surface homogenisation changing the dynamics of tennis to a more physical, speed endurance based game, this means the vast majority of players are having their breakthroughs at latter ages. This is natural as it takes more time to build speed endurance so the younger players are spending more time playing Challenger level.

Jiri Vesely, Dominic Thiem & Pablo Carreno-Busta were the youngsters who had big seasons in 2013 in the Challengers. The big challenge for them in 2014 after playing so many matches this season are they have to back up physically and mentally it’s even a bigger challenge as they will have to raise their level when they play more ATP events. Chronicles of life on the Challenger tour are explained here in greater detail Challenger Tour Struggles


Luxury on the Challenger Tour

While the ATP are the focus of this particular blog entry, the ITF have been recalcitrant with Futures prizemoney which needs to be increased as well. Playing the Futures and Challengers provide a tough and an important part of the tennis education for the vast majority of players.

This is the next difficult challenge for the Player reps to improve the prizemoney for the lower ranked players. As a group they have done well this year negotiating prizemoney increases at the Grand Slams with the greater proportional increases for the early rounds. It's natural that the prizemoney at the top of the tree has increased, though these players have a greater capacity to earn more money through sponsorship and endorsements.

It's well deserved since they're the pinnacle of the sport, but not the point where the 100th ranked player is struggling financially, even if they win matches let alone players who are embarking on their professional career. No, this doesn't mean players ranked 300 down to 1000 should be driving around in yellow Lamborghinis or flying private jets to tournaments.

It just needs a better redistribution of financial resources to stop talented players leaving the game, because they can't financially survive and a 30% decline in Challenger prizemoney. While the Tennis Integrity Unit has reduced the amount of match fixing in tennis, with the lack of money at the lower level there are greater temptations to fix matches since the payments exceed the amount of prizemoney earned. It stands to reason raise the income at the lower level then the temptation is reduced.

It'll be interesting to see whether Kermode makes an effort to improve the situation or continues the status quo. Ideally it would be former, on past evidence of the ATP as an organisation it will be the latter.

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

David Nalbandian - He Did It His Way

In news that wasn’t a surprise to most in the tennis world David Nalbandian announced his retirement from the tennis circus today.

David Nalbandian

This entry is a double tribute, one to a player whose tennis I thoroughly enjoyed when he was on the circuit and two since the sad passing away of RIP Stevethis year. Nalbandian was his favourite tennis player. Sadly, we will never read his thoughts on how he would sum up his career.

Beginnings

Nalle (yes it’s a Norwegian dimunitive0 first came to my notice in the juniors as he was ranked in the top 10. Look at the ranking list below, there are only 2 players still playing in Roger Federer and Lovro Zovko who parties like a world champion.

1998 ITF Top 10 Juniors



Yes, he had potential back then, though there are many players who do well in the juniors but can’t make the step up to the senior levels. 2001 was the year when Nalbandian started to come to grips with the professional tour starting the year at 242 and finished at 48.

He made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open making the 3rd round defeating Escude before losing to Kafelnikov. He was coming into form making the semis of both Umag and Sopot. After the US Open was the first time I got to see him was later that year in Palermo where he made his first final defeating Carlos Moya, Fernando Vicente, Albert Costa, Tommy Robredo before losing to an old favourite of mine Felix Mantilla. This is where I took notice of the huge talent that Nalbandian possessed.

Thankfully my first opportunity to see Nalbandian in the flesh came at the Australian Open 2002. Yes, it’s good to watch the players on TV or computer, but it’s something to see them training or in match play. Especially in Nalbandian’s case when you watch him courtside and how he constructed the points. It was like a chess master where he was planning four moves ahead and could see him construct the openings with brains, angle and court craft. He played well in losing to Wayne Ferreira, but the talent was obvious to see.

Grand Slams

It was disappointing that Nalbandian never won a Grand Slam title during his career. Yes, he definitely had the ability to win one but is he the best ever not to win a Slam. My own personal view he is up there with Marcelo Rios, Miloslav Mecir, Alex Corretja and Tommy Haas, just depends on individual viewpoint.

With this GS career, it’s ironic that Wimbledon was the Slam where he made his final and in 2002 he wasn’t ready to win at this time. That was one of the strangest tournaments he made the final at the first time of asking and he didn’t play any matches on centre court until the final. His friend Lleyton Hewitt thumped him and these two had a mutual understanding during their career, there weren’t exactly warm feelings.

Two other major chances where he should have made Slam finals. 2003 US Open he was playing brilliant tennis, then a victim of scheduling which favoured hometown boy Andy Roddick and during the 3rd set tiebreaker some arse clown in the crowd calls “Out”. Nalbandian was pissed off with the call and lost it mentally and his chance to make a final against a tired Juan Carlos Ferrero.
At the 2006 Australian Open Nalle was once again up 2 sets to 0 in a Slam semi against Marcos Baghdatis. He was playing very well, then slightly dropped his level against an inspired Baghdatis. At the start of the 5th Nalbandian broke early, but wasn’t able to finish the job which was a constant failing in Nalbandian’s tennis career.

Timing is everything, got to take the opportunities when offer, a classic example of this is Gaston Gaudio. As much as I love Gaudio, but he knows, I know and most of the tennis fans know Nalbandian was a better overall player than him but Gaudio won the Slam.

Davis Cup

As much as it hurt Nalbandian not winning a Grand Slam, the fact he was unable to win Davis Cup for Argentina stings even more. He and Hewitt may have very little in common but both are big supporters of Davis Cup and lifted their games when they played for their country.


Nalbandian defeating Hewitt on grass in Sydney

Argentina and Davis Cup failures will be written about in greater detail in my next entry. In the years from 2002-07 while there was an outstanding generation of players who are all retired now Gaston Gaudio, Guillermo Coria, Guillermo Cañas, Juan Ignacio Chela, Jose Acasuso, Mariano Zabaleta, Agustin Calleri with a squad like this. They couldn’t find a regular number 2 for Nalbandian on faster surfaces which was needed at the time.

Finally they had their chance to have a home final in 2008 but there was a toxic atmosphere in the team before their biggest moment which cost the team dearly. Nalbandian was pissed off that his home city wasn’t awarded the final when it had a bigger venue than Mar del Plata and he would have benefited financially as well. A divided team isn’t one that will be successful in the long run. Once that final was lost, the promenade of broken dreams became a highway.

Danced to his own tune

One thing that Steve and myself agreed on about Nalbandian which is the one thing we admired is that he danced to his own tune. He wasn’t particularly friendly to the tennis press, but with the standard of tennis press it’s very to understand this attitude.

He was a strong character, didn’t just spit out clichés and platitudes. If he was feeling good, then it’s obvious in the demeanour and his tennis, but when he was off then he was truly off. It’s the flaws in the human character that make us and in Nalbandian’s case what you see is what you get. Personally, it’s more authentic whether people like it or not and another character has left the scene.


Nalbandian singing

Tennis was not the most important thing in Nalbandian’s life. There were the rally cars, the asados (Argentine barbecues), In the words of Nalbandian "There is often criticism towards you because of your approach to tennis: always professional but perhaps a bit too relaxed". "I live life. I think that helps but anyway, there are people who don't think so.."

One memory I have was the time he asked to play first at Wimbledon in 2006 against Verdasco. When he lost the first set, then he decided he wanted to end the match as quickly as possible since Argentina were playing in the World Cup on that day, well tennis wasn’t everything for him.

People loved Nalbandian’s thoughtful, artistic and clever tennis but he has had his issues with the press, some infamous incidents on the court with Kader Naouni refusing him a challenge at a vital moment in the John Isner match at the Aus Open. Of course there was linesmangate when he got defaulted.


Kader Naouni rips Nalbandian off


Linesman at Queens


Nalbandian toying with Nadal Madrid 2007


Nalbandian vs. Federer 2005 Shanghai TMC

Ivan Ljubicic “One of greatest talents,arguably one of the best ever that never won a Slam. Fantastic player, annoying opponent. Respect”. Sure Nalbandian could have done more fitness work, there were times when he was fit, others when it looked like he had too many empanadas, but the ability was always there. The fact Nalbandian had a lot of soft tissue injuries and generally not major injuries until he was right at the end of his career, he wasn’t doing the right base training.

When Nalbandian was on fire, the timing was sweet and especially on the backhand side he made the ball talk. As he and Federer came on tour at the same time when the court surfaces weren’t homogenised and they had to learn and adjust to different conditions. In the same old homogenised tennis surfaces these days, it’s something it should be lauded and remembered.

Now, Nalle can enjoy life in Unquillo with the family, watching River Plate play football, the rally races, asados, and other numerous interests he has in life. Sure, he didn’t win a Grand Slam when his talent deserved one. He danced to his own tune, did things the way he wanted and it’s only down to Nalbandian to reflect on whether he did himself justice as a tennis player.

This entry is dedicated to an outstanding player but also dedicated to an even more outstanding individual ShankTennis. I do hope this entry did justice to his favourite player.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Only The Good Die Young Remembering Shank Tennis


Young ShankTennis

This entry won't be an easy one to write but it's very necessary. As the title suggests the man known to the Twitter sphere as Shank Tennis (Steve), died last night due to cystic fibrosis. It was a testament to his character that he kept the condition secret from most people.

Steve was only on this planet for a short time but he was the epitome of quality over quantity. He contributed so much to the various online communities he participated in and in the real world.

My experiences with Steve were always pleasant, the only thing is they didn't last long enough and I never had the opportunity to tell him how much I enjoyed our interactions and he helped me in many ways. As an individual he was very intelligent on many subjects, not just sports related, humourous and possessed a sharp wit.

Both of us are from small countries where tennis is very much a minority sport. This contributed to the way he wrote and formulated his various viewpoints always looking at the wider picture of the game he loved and not just the narrow coverage of the top players,and not just the narrow coverage of the top players which dominates the tennis narrative.

The facts are people like Steve should have been setting the standard for mainstream tennis writing. If this was the case, then the overall standard would have been very high, forcing people to improve their quality of work which unfortunately is not the case now.


Enrico Beccuzzi one of Steve's favourites

Why he was outstanding as a writer and communicator. Yes, he had his favourite players but he would criticise them when deserved, it was done in a way not like the usual fanatics. Steve did his research from many sources which is a vastly underrated skill, produced well thought articles in an engaging, well written manner which is something I'd love to be able to do, but can't. Steve also had a lot of patience with different views even the most ludicrous, being an Arsenal fan patience is a virtue.

It was down to Steve, he told me when Louk Sorensen, Conor Niland, James Mcgee who tweeted the news of his death that they were playing the Aussie Open qualies. I went to their matches, tried to give as much info as I could so he could report back to the Irish tennis fans. Yes, I wish he warned me about the lack of a neck on Louk Sorensen, this was his way of hinting that's always good to discover things without it being spoonfed.

One subject we were both passionate was the poor level of prizemoney for players on the Challenger and Futures. It's not a sexy issue, but very important to the fabric of the sport. As Steve knew the financial struggles of the Irish players on tour, it was something that he'd love to see improved and as per usual argued eloquently pursuing the case. These are my tennis memories of Steve.

Besides tennis, Steve had a great interest and taste in music, he also covered Gaelic sports, global political issues which were all discussed in his usual style. I will never forget him decrying how awful the music taste is among the vast majority of ATP players. Then when he found out Sergio "Escopeta" Roitman liked the heavy metal being a Motorhead fan. When Roitman was 17 at a show of Hermetica an Argentine metal band where the crowd went a bit crazy, where he got a rubber bullet in the stomach. That gave him instant credibility in Steve's eyes.

It's obvious that he was well respected within the online tennis community. The message board where we first met and the inspiration for this blog, which he helped me create there has been many tributes RIP Steve

Mentor

Steve was a mentor to many people from around the world. It didn't matter what religion, racial, social, ethnic or sexuality you were, he was always there to help, listen and provide advice to individuals in spite of his illness. He cared more for other individuals, entertaining and informing them at the same time.

Definitely don't believe this entry will do justice to Shank Tennis and wherever he is at the moment. He'd be laughing or telling me not to be so sentimental. The world has lost a great guy, one who contributed so much with his intelligence, strong commitment to critical thinking in all areas, sharp wit and great personality. Gone in body but not in spirit.

RIP ShankTennis

Gone but never fogotten

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Wacky Wimbledon - The Week So Far

It has been a while and there was a lack of inspiration during the clay season where the same movie has been seen so many times that the script is known by heart ad nauseaum even to people who are blind and deaf.

Wimbledon is a strange beast, in many ways the place is outdated in concern to facilities, no play on the middle Sunday thinking it's still Sabbath thou shall not work on a Sunday. The all white clothing rule, even the grasscourt tennis which has died on the ATP tour due to the surface costs and we know the ATP doesn't always represent the best interests of the players and the game.

In addition the above Wimbledon is the one tennis event everyone knows for all it's anachronistic ways. This leads to the influx of casual fans who think tennis only lasts 2 weeks of the year forgetting there are other Grand Slams and events during the year. Another thing as well it provides great amusement when there are players who are absolute grass court gimps trying to play on the surface. As poor as the grass gimps are, usually the worst performed people at Wimbledon are the journalists who really give the profession a bad name, yes even worse than usual. Will highlight some of the gems throughout this entry.

Darcis the Shark puts the bite on Nadal

Rafa Nadal two time Wimbledon champion has always been vulnerable in the early rounds of Wimbledon, it's once he gets through the first week where he becomes much harder to defeat as the grass becomes harder and the bounce becomes higher. There was a whole lot of rubbish about how low he was seeded at number 5. Head cheerleader John McEnroe, who has come up with some classics as "Nadal because of his achievements in the game deserves to take more time in between points than the rule allows" and that he has the best volleys in the game. The outrage he was on Court 1 and just the incessant whining.


Steve Darcis

It counted for nothing in the end as Nadal who had a poor preparation was exposed by the little man Darcis who was hitting backhand down the line winners for fun, serving well to keep Nadal off balance and had the belief he could win the match, which is the main thing when a lower ranked player who plays to their best, has the chance to close the deal they tend to not have the testicular fortitude to close it out. Thankfully Darcis whose nickname is the Shark, nothing to do with his teeth.



His defeat of Nadal set the tone for the first week at Wimbledon. The delicious irony whereas according to a significant section of Nadal fans he has never lost a legitimate match because he was injured was Darcis had to withdraw with a should injury. It was disappointing he couldn't play the Polish Feliciano Lopez the can-can dancer Lukasz Kubot in the next round. Nadal offered no excuses and neither did Toni, the way it should be. The positives for Nadal is that he should be able to defend his points next season.

Are you down with the Brown

Nadal losing in the first round set the tone of the first week. For those who follow me on Twitter or read this infrequently updated blog know that there is an admiration for Dustin "Dreddy" Brown. He had a different way of getting on the tour and he is true to himself. Grass and fast carpet are his best surfaces but there aren't enough of these events on tour for him. He qualified and played Lleyton Hewitt who took out Wawrinka in the 1st round.

Brown loves a big stage where he can entertain with the flashy strokes, drop shots, angle volleys, huge serve and the unpredictability along with the brilliant hair is part of the charm watching his matches. It was fun and painful watching this match with Australian commentary which for this match was Woodbridge and John Newcombe in his full cheerleading outfit. Of course they want Aussies to win, that's fair enough as well but when commentating at least make an effort to call the action. The fun part was listening to them in awe of the performance.


Dustin Brown Interview

Hewitt is tougher than $2 steak battling all the injuries he has had, he can still play well but just not as often. He has always been vulnerable to big hitters when they are playing well and with the quick low ball toss Hewitt couldn't read the serve. This plus Dreddy had nothing to lose which makes things easier of course when not expected to win. It wasn't all brawn with Brown which made it better and his reaction at the end very respectful considering it was his biggest win. Yes, he lost to Mannarino in the next round but great tournament for him.

Kyiv Dynamo

As unexpected as Hewitt losing to Brown was and the huge upset of Nadal by Darcis what was to come was even bigger in that context. Defending champion and the man who is always the crowd favourite Roger Federer losing in the 2nd round to Sergiy Stakhovsky. Only delusional people think Federer is anywhere near his peak form, it's just his peak was so high and it says a lot about his ability that even when in decline he is still one of the best players around.


Stakhovsky Highlights

Federer these days has lost a step, normally his ability and aura get him through that. His first round he was toying with Hanescu but Stakhovsky who has been in poor form this year is another one like Brown who has suffered from surface homogenisation.

Stakhovsky played a blinder of match and summed it up perfectly playing Federer that it's not just about the tennis player, it's the legend as well. Serving so well and volleying like Sampras and most importantly he believed he could win the match. Stakhovsky who is very active on Twitter & he doesn't bullshit which is something to be admired. He said there were issues with the ATP and he put his name forward for the Player Council and he has been vocal in getting a better percentage of prizemoney for the early rounds where the lower ranked guys mostly lose therefore representing the interests of his section strongly, but this tends to be overlooked since it's not a good story.


Stakhovsky Interview

Naturally there are clowns in the press & rabid fangirls & fanboys who thought Stakhovksy disrespected Fed when it was clearly not the case. These people who are gloryhunters or player fans instead of enjoying the sport for what it brings as well as liking their favourite players is one of the worst things when it comes to tennis.

This leads onto the majority of tennis media and commentators reading from the same hymn sheet and not doing any research. There are lower ranked players with weapons who play to their best level and the better player is slightly off they can be beaten. They refuse to give them credit or if they do it's begrudging. It's like these guys have come from another galaxy or maybe the Starship Enterprise. Ivo Karlovic sums it up well Ivo Karlovic

Dustin Brown after his loss to Mannarino adds Q. Yeah, I meant the tennis you're playing against Lleyton Hewitt and the tennis you see around you, guys in the top 100, top 50. Do you see a big difference between their game or your game?

DUSTIN BROWN: Like I just answered, I don't think there is a difference. The only difference is that most of the people don't get to see people play at challengers. The last year when Rosol beat Rafa, everybody was like, Oh, my God, the guy was hitting the ball. We know that. The guy does that every week. He's on the big stage, he does the same thing he does week in, week out at the challengers. Suddenly everybody is like, Oh, my God, look at this guy.

But that's why I said, there's no difference. He plays the same way when he plays a challenger in Uzbekistan, and at this point last year, it was on Centre Court at Wimbledon and he played against Rafa. So now the whole world saw. Everybody was going crazy.

But like I said, it's the same way he plays all the time. It's the same way I play. It's the same way Adrian plays. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the guys, as you can see, there were so many qualifiers that got through. Struff got to the third round and he lost today also. These are guys that week in, week out we're playing against at challengers.

Killer Grass

Grass isn't a dangerous surface, yes when it's green and fresh it's slippery but that's to be expected. That's part of the challenges when changing from clay to grass is the very different movements. There were a few retirements and walkovers most of them legit, then we have Michael Llodra. This guy has had more retirements than Ric Flair. He lost the first set to the "South Tyrolean Sex Machine" Andreas Seppi 7-5, then decides to give up. He could't complete the singles, yet he was fit enough for doubles later in the day. It's pretty simple the ITF and ATP need to bring in a rule if a player retires from singles then they can't play doubles on the same day.

Grega Žemlja created history as the first Slovenian man to reach the 3rd round of Wimbledon, this is the second occasion where he has reached the 3rd round of a Slam. Blaž Kavčič achieved it at the Australian Open, he would need two retirements on grass to reach the 3rd round of Wimbledon. Surprisingly it has happened at Roland Garros on the clay where Kavčič and Bedene excel.

Žemlja's win over "Baby Fed", "The Poor Mans Federer" Grigor Dimitrov was an outstanding effort. Dimitrov who is the centre of the spat between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, what can one say he likes chocolate and vanilla. Dimitrov served very well in the match and had numerous break chances which Žemlja saved with a combination of big serving, oustanding defence and aggressive play.


Grega Žemlja sends Dimitrov and Sharapova home

Dimitrov had the fangirls and fanboys on his side. At the moment he is more sizzle than steak, this could easily be turned around. Yes, he has talent, but that only gets you so far and sometimes players have to scrap and fight to get through which improves them as players. It was bad luck that it was suspended at 9-8, it was surprising in a way that Žemlja won it since he isn't known for his fast starts. He had a big second half of 2013, but unless he doesn't win another match this year he should have another solid year after a bad start with illness.

Seppi surprise

There are some things that are a given in the tennis world. John Isner will serve aces, Rafa Nadal will waste time in between point and Andreas Seppi will play a 5 set match at a Slam and thankfully Wimbledon didn't disappoint in this regard.

After an excellent start to the year for Seppi with his first 4th round showing in Melbourne, he has been below par and during the clay season where he normally plays quite well. In spite of this at Roland Garros he played 2 5 setters which he won. He isn't known as "Slow Start Seppi" for nothing and his win in the last against Kei Nishikori was well deserved.

Nishikori is considered some super talent and gets a lot of hype considering he hasn't achieved anything appropriate to the hype he receives. He is a fast court David Ferrer with better hands at the net, besides his speed around the court and outstanding forehand Nishikori is known for his medical timeouts. He took advantage of sleepy Seppi in the 1st set, then once Seppi started to wake up and move the ball around better with less errors he got into the match.


Too Smooth Andreas Seppi

Seppi plays a poor 3rd set buster making errors when he isn't playing well he has a tendency to smother the forehand as he doesn't get the racquet head speed on the ball. Nishikori starts getting tired and Seppi being his usual solid self. Then at the start of the 5th set Nishikori with his acting skills gets a medical timeout to get a back rub to waste time and break Seppi's momentum. Unsurprisingly Nishikori was moving well enough in the 5th set but Seppi was able to break once and served it out easily, thankfully his concentration wasn't broken with the dodgy timeouts.

Quality Journalism

Here are the promised stupid journalism from Wimbledon.

Q. A bit more broadly on sport in Australia at the moment. Today here, Woodward said about Australian sport that it seems not to know which direction it's going, the various storms over the last few weeks. Now you're out of Wimbledon. Do you think Australian sport is losing its way?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm out of Wimbledon. That's all I've got to say.

Q. But more broadly?

LLEYTON HEWITT: That's all I've got to say.

Q. That was not the most satisfactory way to win in terms of him having to quit. Give us your impression of how it was going to that point. Do you feel you were getting back in the game anyway?

ERNESTS GULBIS: Did you see the match?

Q. Have you ever thought about winning Grand Slam?

ERNESTS GULBIS: Come on.

Q. This year.

ERNESTS GULBIS: I thought about it, yes. (Laughter.)

Q. You have chance?

ERNESTS GULBIS: Who knows?

Q. Anything else you want to say? Anything else you have on your mind? You want to thank somebody?

ERNESTS GULBIS: I want to thank you for couple great questions.

"Q. Would you rather play well and win 4 and 4, or play poorly and win 2 and 2?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Next question, please."

Summary

So far Wimbledon has been refreshing in that in the last 16 there are a variety of playing styles, it would be great if Murray or Djokovic didn't make the final but that's a dream. There are all court players like Haas, Youzhny, massive servers Janowicz, de Schepper and Berdych, solid baseliners with power del Potro and Djokovic. Tomic whose funky forehand and junk is perfect for grass and it's harder to expose his movement. Kubot and Melzer represent the serve/volleyers, Ferrer, Verdasco, Dodig, Mannarino and Seppi round out the list.

Excellent for the tournament to see some different names, so some people might realise that there is a world outside the top 4.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Lukáš Rosol - In the Name of the Father

This week the clay circus took us to Barcelona and Bucharest. There won’t be many references to Barcelona in this post mainly due to the fact that Rafael Nadal won it for the eighth time. Nadal winning a claycourt event is like wiping your backside after excreting. It’s just something you do and the excretion has more of a surprise factor.

Rosol vs. Nadal

In spite of this the above the man who won Bucharest Lukáš Rosol will always interlinked with Rafa Nadal whether he, his fans or people who can’t stand like it or not. For those who don’t follow the sport or lived in North Korea during Wimbledon last year Rosol defeated Nadal in 5 sets at Wimbledon. It was great to see a lower ranked player embrace the moment and show while Nadal is a great player. Rosol showed that Nadal just like him had 2 arms, 2 legs, a head and an arsehole. Yes, he wasn’t able to back up that win in the next round, even then it showed that there was potential there.

It’s interesting with all the increased technology today as it’s much easier than say the 90s to follow tennis where one needed a subscription to cable TV or go to the tournaments to find out what was happening. The dismissal;, lack of respect and basic research skills about tennis players is astonishing mostly within the mainstream tennis media. It was like Roisol just fell out of the sky, he didn’t exist before Wimbledon 2012 in any form.

As fans, there are different levels, yes there are some who don’t give a shit about the sport and its problems because they’re player fans. Then there are others who want to follow the up and coming players and different levels of the game who can get a bit defensive when the player they liked as an up and coming player gathers more bandwagon fans as he becomes more successful. Now, it’s easy to follow Challengers the next level down and regular ATP events, so for those who want to find out they can. The ATP are at fault as well for not promoting players outside the top 4 when there are interesting stories to tell and Rosol is one of these.


The pump

Since we live in the age of instant gratification where the majority of people don’t have patience and want the new sensation yesterday. This leads to such extreme reactions, a couple of good performances and the tendency to overhype runs wild. The flip side to this is when there are a few losses then they’re donkeys with no future. The classic no win situation in reality.

Development

Prague maybe the capital of the Czech Republic, but Moravia is the true tennis region of the Czech Republic and Prostějov a small city near Olomouc which is the tennis capital. For such a small place players like Tomáš Berdych, Karel Nováček, Jiří Novák were trained there and reached the top 10.

Rosol is from Brno and has always had confidence in his own ability. In broscience terms his game is ballbashing, to others it’s very aggressive big hitting from both sides especially the forehand using the big serve to set up the points where he dominates from the baseline.

Humans develop at different speeds and this is no different within tennis. As I have noted many times that the ATP really need to fix the ridiculous lack of prizemoney at Challenger level which hasn’t increased since the 80s. Rosol while having the weapons spent most of his time in the Challengers as he hadn’t found the best way to use his big strokes and the Challenger world is very difficult to navigate from as it should be. In Rosol’s case he is fortunate that he has some big weapons which in theory makes the transition from Challenger level to ATP level smoother once the mental side is sorted.

Turning Points

All careers have particular turning points and the key is how they are managed after those points. Yes, while the Nadal win was massive for Rosol. There are a couple of other ones that are notable for different reasons. One was his divorce from former wife and Czech 400m hurdler Denisa Rosolová. The other was his loss at the Australian Open 2012 to Philipp Petzschner 6-0 6-*0 6-2, he was down 4-0 in the 3rd set as well. Obviously, I don’t know what was said at the time, but having a loss like that against a player of similar standard then there needs to be serious questions asked.

\Rosol joined the Davis Cup squad last year while he only played dead rubbers last season. The fact being around a winning squad and under captain Jaro Navratil they are a real unit. He also discovered how excellent the meat is in Argentina when he was there last year for the semi final.


Can without Berdych and Radek

With Tomáš Berdych, and Radek Štěpánek both injured missing the Davis Cup quarter final against Kazakhstan away from home. This was the moment where Rosol had his chance to play a live singles rubber to help the Czech Republic into the Davis Cup semis. He had an epic Davis Cup moment already playing doubles with Berdych winning a doubles match that lasted over 7 hours.
While leading the Czech Republic to the Davis Cup semi finals with his victories over Golubev and Korolev, this was to prove to be a bittersweet moment. Emil Rosol Lukas’s dad was watching back home suffered a stroke which proved to be fatal. His father was his main sponsor early in his career which is very important in an expensive sport as tennis. Sadly, they had a falling out a few years ago and they were never able to sort it out before his death.

Bucharest

Bizarre Bucharest well when Ion Tiriac and Ile Nastase are behind an event then it’s safe to call it bizarre. At the same time Bucharest was one of the reasons why the ATP pays the players themselves and not the tournaments. Not sure if it was forgetfulness but a few winners in the old days never received their money.

This was Rosol’s first tournament after his fathers death and funeral. First victim of the week was Gilles Muller who at best can be a considered a claycouirt clown so that was a good way to start the event.

His toughest match of the week was against the handsome South Tyrolean Andreas Seppi and arguably the best performance of the week. The first set Rosol was firing on all cylinders and took blew “Slow Start” Seppi out of the way 6-1. Seppi is very solid and hard to beat, he started making some more balls into the court and Rosol made a few errors losing the 2nd set. Rosol then stormed to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd set, Seppi wins the next 3 games to level. Rosol doesn’t panic and continues his aggressive play and wins the last 3 games to take the match 6-3.

Viktor Troicki was no match at all in the quarter finals. This was a match where Rosol played well when he needed to and ran out a very comfortable winner. Reaching his first semi final on the ATP where he played “Mr. Bucharest” Gilles Simon who has won this event a few times. In theory this could have been a difficult match as Simon plays well in Romania and he loves using the pace of the big hitters which Rosol definitely is. Simon started poorly he was serving rubbish and Rosol treated those serves with total disdain. Once he established dominance from the rallies taking advantage of short balls from Simon. There were some nervous moments while serving it out, but got through.


Rosol with the Bucharest trophy

Guillermo Garcia Lopez was the opponent in the final. He was in the final of the Rome Challenger last week and now in Bucharest. He played 10 matches in 2 weeks, so it was a big chance for Rosol which he was able to take. After losing his opening serve to love, he broke back straight away. Unlike during the week it was a bit windy yesterday and it took a bit of time to adjust. Rosol broke at 5-3 in the first and was able to serve it out.

Once he won the first set, Rosol was able to play aggressively and well deservedly won his first ever ATP title at the young age of 27. It was a fantastic week for him and in a continuing trend of the game becoming more physical. It will take players longer to have their breakthrough as the sport continues to become more speed endurance based.

Rosol in tears

There was one man who couldn’t see this triumph Emil Rosol who had so much to do with Lukáš’s career. His winners’ speech was very emotional and under the circumstances handled it very well. “There was one person I wanted to congratulate who was very close to me and bought me into tennis, he was family”. Then he broke down in tears a poignant moment where the biggest tennis influence wasn’t able to see this moment.


Final Highlights & Rosol speech 12.47

No player forgets their first ever ATP title Federer doesn’t forget the Milan Indoor, Nadal in Sopot, Djokovic in Amersfoort but very few will be as emotional as Rosol’s and wherever Emil was watching he’d be very proud of his son.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Welcome Back Pablo Cuevas

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. 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.

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.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Abject Poverty of Tennis Journalism

This entry about the wading pool depth of mainstream tennis journalism has been on the mind for some time. The overall low standards of media in its various guises, isn't just restricted to tennis it cuts across all spheres. We now live in the instant gratification, 24 hour news cycle where we need to hear tomorrow’s news and latest trends yesterday.

A positive aspect with the technological advancements, now we have some high quality tennis blogs dedicated to tennis on various subjects that aren’t covered at all by the mainstream press or at best superficially. It’s a brilliant they exist because without these mediums it would almost be impossible to believe there were any players on the ATP that weren’t in the top 4.

Discourse

Mass media dictates that they have to get the most amount of information to the largest audience within the shortest time. To achieve this everything is condensed into soundbites and clichés without going into further detail or leaving it open for further exploration. This leads only to superficial knowledge of the respective issues, not a strong basis to build and form opinions on any subject.

Mainstream tennis journalism is a faithful disciple of the above if it was possible it would follow it 150%. There are numerous examples of this style of reporting. Easiest example to use is the common line “This is the Greatest Era ever of men’s tennis”. This is peddled as fact without acknowledging how this consensus came about. It’s like tennis began in 2005 when Rafael Nadal became a serious challenger to Roger Federer, nothing came before it and nothing will come after it. Whether people want to believe the greatest ever tag is their prerogative, at least report or acknowledge at least how we came to the current status quo.

To anyone who followed tennis before 2005 it’s clear that surface homogenisation has had a major impact on what we see now on the ATP. To someone who started following tennis after 2005 how would they know about this, since their main reference point is after 2005? Surface homogenisation was done by the ATP to reduce the differences between the respective surfaces, while this has been a successful business decision from the ATP. Look we can market these top 4 guys as they’re nearly always there at the later stages of the main events. As a result they can get more money when they negotiate the TV rights, sponsorships bringing more money for the ATP and not necessarily using it in the right manner. The surface homogenisation, has taken away other aspects of the sport which were required from the bigger differences between the surfaces. Movement is the biggest challenge these days and something Roger Federer said himself in relation to the achievements he and Nadal have had. "Anyway, every surface is very similar today, otherwise we couldn't have achieved all these things on all these different surfaces so quickly, like him and myself". Yet, none of the major journalists really delved into this topic.

Lack of Critical Thinking

Tennis while being a niche sport has many vested interests and the lack of critical thinking or investigation of the issues in tennis by the prominent journalists is apparent to any individual with a functioning brain cell. Drugs in professional sport are a problem and tennis is no different, yet it has only got some recent coverage with a well overdue biological passport being introduced. No, it’s not about sending reporters undercover deep on the tennis tour to find out who is taking those special supplements, nor is it like TENNIS HAS A STEROID PROBLEM, who thinks anyone with big biceps is juicing. Whatever his style of reporting, he is bringing to attention an issue the mainstream tennis press haven’t or won’t covered in relation to the lax testing procedures from the authorities. As they don’t have a vested interest it’s easier him to write about this.



Lack of critical thinking

Journalism is at its best when there is critical thinking, well researched and written articles irrespective of whether reader agrees or disagrees with the diagnosis. It helps form opinions gaining from different sources and its best it will encourage further reading or research which can only be beneficial. It’s the same useless narrative about the top 4 players with a slightly different take depending on the surface.

In an ideal world it would be great if the articles were unbiased, though in an ideal world in the words of the Maderian philosopher Cristiano Ronaldo I wish “I was rich, good looking and successful”. As humans we all have our biases,, but the key is to not them dominate what is written, something Bodo (Bozo), Wertheim (Worthless), Cronin, Tignor, Harman” are brilliant at in their articles.

Duplicity

Another personal gripe is the old line “where are the personalities in the game” from the mass media. This one is as obvious as wearing a skullcap at Mecca in its duplicity. The players don’t say anything interesting because they’re media trained to give dull, bland answers and don’t give them anything.



Mainstream tennis journalists

Majority of journalists ask boring questions without thought behind them and the experience is as pleasant as have root canal with Justin Bieber blaring from the speakers. To counter that when a player gives an honest answer, the media take it out of context to suit their agenda, get more hits on their website without giving the correct context. Fortunately the internet wasn’t around when Yevgeny Kafelnikov made the comment about “tennis players being underpaid” this went around and was hammered for it. Naturally the full context wasn’t given when he made the comment was made in comparison with golfers that tennis players are underpaid. Nikolai Davydenko is another example of this, the classic syndrome of the media wanting it both ways.

With a lack of critical thinking, well researched and poorly written articles as the standard for mainstream tennis reporting. The question arises why do the majority of tennis fans put up with fodder served up as analysis? Maybe, the masses of tennis fans are happy to be spoon fed drivel about the top 4, health of the game without further inspection of why this is the dominant ideology.

As a consequence the abject poverty of tennis journalism is allowed to continue with the passivity of the readers. There is no incentive to improve standards, as those in the tennis media are operating on the AC/DC principle give them the same stuff all the time. Essential difference is AC/DC bring energy to their work, these guys are as energetic and engaging as a bear in hibernation.

Thankfully the DIY aspect in tennis writing community is active with the blogosphere. Sure, there is some absolute garbage out there, though they aren’t alleged respected tennis writers who get paid for writing shit. This medium has had the best researched and written articles for example about the conflicts of interest within agency groups & the ATP, the schedule, financial struggles for players on the ATP outside the chosen few, Davis Cup, gambling and doping issues, why players are making later breakthroughs.

While there are outlets and some hope for improvements. An Irish freelancer Stephen Kelly nailed it accurately “If there is a bad NFL journalist, all his colleagues know enough about the NFL to know he sucks. This is not the case in tennis. Most media outlets only have 1 or 2 people covering the sport. It’s not enough if you want more coverage than the big 4. It’s a minority sport so fewer complain about bad commentary and journalism”.

This post has been a long time coming, not sure it will get any better any time soon but would like to thank Stephen, Joey, Jay, FootSoldier, Jimmy, Jesse, Michelle, Denys, Nathii and others that I have forgotten who helped with this post and fighting the good fight against sloppy, tepid and tedious narrative that passes for mainstream journalism.

Monday, March 04, 2013

Nick Kyrgios wins first Challenger Title

In the battle of the elements the tournament was able to be completed on time in between the various showers and rain delays. Personally I thought Stephane Robert would win the event after coming through the tough section which had Millman and Barton, but fell to the youngster Nick Kyrgios who had a very busy day playing 7 and a bit sets on one day winning the singles and finalist in the doubles.



Nick Kyrgios

Australia has done well in the past in relation to junior success, though in recent times they have not made the breakthrough to the top tier of the seniors. Kyrgios pronounced “Kyr-ios”, yes the g is silent is the number 1 junior in the world. He could be a GS champion or he could end up as Julien Jeanpierre, Daniel Elsner though Elsner was top tier when it came to partying.

As impressive as Kyrgios’s first Challenger title is considering he is still a junior did have some fortune with the weather. Naturally these things can’t be controlled as reported in my last post. Greg Jones playing a very tough 3 setter, even tanking doubles at the end of the day, yet he was on first with less recovery time. This was Kyrgios’s toughest match of the week.

Robert didn’t play for 2 days before his semi final, since there are no indoor facilities at the complex. All he could do was wait around, play on the ipad, joking around with the stringers while his match couldn’t be played on Saturday. Kyrgios started well and Robert was flatter than the Dead Sea. He was just making so many basic mistakes mid court rally balls halfway up the net. Kyrgios was serving well, taking advantage of the fodder that Robert was serving up moving to the net to finish off points when the chances were on offer.

Only time Robert fired up was when Kyrgios served for the match at 30-15, big Nick hit a forehand very close to the line. Couldn’t say for sure whether it was in or out, but Robert was convinced he got ripped off on the call. 30 all is a lot better than 40-15, at the same time Robert was fighting with his own poor form and good play from Kyrgios.

Groth vs. Reid

Luckily, I could stand in between both courts to see these matches and who says men can’t multitask. Interesting thing about this match was coach Ben Mathias works with both of them. Asked him about it beforehand and he gave them both tactics to beat each other. He sat under the tree away from the match and didn’t clap.


Samuel Groth in the Grothawk days

Big Groth had an excellent win against Duckworth in the quarters. Groth hit one of the best double faults during the 2nd set tiebreaker. At *5-4 Groth went for the big kicker wide, he miss hits the serve and it hit the side fence on the full. Normally this is when Groth continues with the running commentary. Next serve hits a big ace down the tee and then wins the match on a backhand pass. Duckworth was really shattered he had his family there watching, still pissed off an hour later.
Reid was just a bit better in the semi as he was able to return enough of Groth’s serve to get him moving on the baseline working him over with his forehand to expose the average backhand.

In the final Groth service game where he was broken at 30 all Groth hits a forehand and the umpire overrules. Groth is far from happy and has an animated conversation with the umpire. Reid served out the match and Groth then goes straight to the tournament car directly to the airport.

Final

Kyrgios was excellent in the final he has beaten Reid a few times previously, so that helped his mental state for the final. Reid lost his first service game and was quite passive which doesn’t work for him.



Matt Reid
Kyrgios took advantage of Reid’s passive start dominating from the baseline. He was so comfortable that he didn’t need to serve that well, as Reid was unable to take advantage of the second serves. It was an excellent week for Reid, but he didn’t think he could win and Kyrgios was very calm and assured in taking the title.

Towards the end of the match John Blom called a let serve, both players were shocked since this stupid rule is in vogue and not very likely to last past the trial. None of the players like this rule, it’s probably as popular as equal prizemoney at Slams on the ATP.

He could have won the doubles final as well, they had match point but Alex “Usain” Bolt missed an easy volley at the net, then Klein and Dane Propoggia who was rocking the almost red flattop were able to take the title. There was no sparring between Klein and Kyrgios this time.

Chris Guccione has Achilles tendonitis so he is only playing doubles at the moment. Barton is trying to steal the Gooch’s thunder for being the most handsome redheaded tennis player, Sure Barton supports the Canterbury Bulldogs which is all and good, but the Gooch has a 1-0 head to head record over Nadal.

Challenger events need to be better supported you know it’s a bad thing when places like Italy and Spain get crowds to their Challengers, yet there are less events every year and without the increase in prizemoney since the 80s. Let’s be honest anyone with a miniscule level of critical thinking can see the temptations for the poorly paid players would think about throwing a match, no this isn’t excusing it. There is a correlation players not earning enough in a tough sport, so the temptation is there.

Kyrgios’s parents drove up from Canberra 3 times during the week and it’s 2.5 hour trip one way. Now Kyrgios will have some time at home and prepare for the next events. Barton, Duckworth, Reid and Propoggia had other players staying at their houses. Which went back to my previous post that hospitality should be mandatory at these events, whether it’s staying with local families as they do for some events or official hotels. Then again this is the ATP who once thought round robin was a good idea, so can’t expect too many sensible solutions from them.

Friday, March 01, 2013

Challenging Times on the Challenger Tour

Yes, it has been a while since I’ve written something. More due to a bit of laziness but also not having regular computer access and typing a report from a phone that is worse than Pippo Volandri’s serve isn’t ideal. Normally I’d have gone to the Burnie Challenger in the north of my former home Tasmania, but since I’ve moved away which has caused the inactivity.

It was a surprise announcement that Sydney had a Challenger, came out of nowhere in reality to replace the Singapore event, so they only had 3 weeks to prepare. Considering the lack of preparation they have done an excellent job. It’s been held at the Olympic tennis complex where the ATP Sydney is located. Since it wasn’t a +H event which should be compulsory at Challenger level and with the Soundwave music festival on it was difficult finding accommodation, but there was no need for sleeping bags in the park.

Challengers are a very important of the tennis circus. It’s the breeding ground for players to win in the varied and tough conditions to prepare them for the main tour especially for players who either don’t have a powerful federation, have a huge agency backing them like IMG, Octagon or Ion Tiriac Mafia Enterprises to get wildcards into these events.


Paolo Lorenzi Challenger Tour veteran

As the game becomes more physical, which means there is a greater emphasis on speed endurance which comes with time. The breakthroughs for players are coming at more advanced ages an example the lion hearted Paolo Lorenzi finally makes the top 50 at 31, he has been battling on the Challenger tour for years to make it now. The next problem is what is the ATP solution to keep cutting Challenger events, normally I don’t approve of subsidies but in this case the ATP should doing a lot more to ensure that they don’t lose players who have the potential to do well, but can’t afford it as they are worried about losing money. It’s very hard to focus on your tennis, if it comes down to worrying about finances instead of focusing and improving your game.

So far the event has been impacted by the weather. Sydney has had a lot of rain this month and when it hasn’t rained this week apart from one day it has been very humid which provides specific challenges in relation to the speed and bounce. Naturally when it’s humid the ball isn’t going to bounce very high or go through the air quickly due to the heavy air.

The tennis
Adam Feeney really shouldn’t have played at all. He was so lame if he was a horse, he would have gone to the glue factory, not to Findus lasagne or IKEA meatballs. This is thing while it’s only a 50K Challenger, it was practical decision to play. One, it’s his home city and two the cheque would pay for the physio which he’ll need as he should take some time off, Another side of the tour which isn’t spoken about very often.


Matthew Barton

Best performance of the week was easily Matthew Barton’s match against John Millman. This section was loaded with Millman who won Burnie, Barton who won Adelaide and Stephane Robert the Frenchman rebuilding his ranking was the finalist in Burnie, lost to Barton in Adelaide and won the Futures in Melbourne. This was the day when it was warm and not humid, which played into Barton’s hands. He was serving out of a tree, didn’t face a break point all match. As he was so comfortable on serve putting pressure on Millman, he was swinging freely and slapping forehand winners for fun getting a lot of purchase off the court. It was one of those days where everything went perfectly and Millman was just outplayed.

As per usual after a big performance Barton couldn’t back that up against Robert. It was very humid and Barton wasn’t serving out of a tree, as Robert got more chances off the second serve he was able to put pressure on Barton with the returns and expose his movement around the court to win this match comfortably. On that performance Robert should win this tournament, since he came through the form section of the draw.

Scheduling for these events is never easy and this time Greg Jones was the guy who copped the short straw. After Sitak defeated Mitchell, since Sitak was a qualifier and hadn’t had a day off he was given one. Jones played a tough 3 setter against Peter Polansky which he won, came back and tanked doubles which was last match. Yet, he was expected to play first match against Kyrgios and it was a very close match in fact Kyrgios only had 2 break points and was able to take it winning in 3 sets.

Random

Millman finally has a coach travelling with him called Ben Mathias. This was done since Millman was asking for some help with a coach when he was overseas and TA didn’t want to know. The funniest is Todd Woodbridge talking him up during Brisbane, but said nothing before about him in a positive way. Besides Millman, there is a group with Sam Groth, Matt Reid and JP Smith they’re working together with Mathias. It’s a good deal as they can push each other. Reid has a massive forehand, he still needs to mature as for big Grothy well he has that serve but can’t move that well. JP is having some hamstring problems at the moment, but lacks a weapon,


John Millman

Klein and Kyrgios matches are fun, since there is a lot of verbal stuff going on. Klein has form and Kyrgios doesn’t mind talking to his opponent either. Klein called him a “gorilla” and also after Kyrgios missed a shot then Klein says to him “that’s what you get for cheating on your girlfriend”. There were plenty of attempts to hit the player at the net, all good entertainment for those who like that stuff.

Millman after he lost to Barton. He was asked by Big Ed who is the coolest Challenger supervisor about the umpire’s performance. In classic Millman “she was a poor umpire when I was 18 and she hasn’t improved”. Barton is going to be off the tour doing some physical work for a month, well he needs to get faster, fitter and more durable this will take time.

Stephane Robert is an interesting character, never been a fan of his game but is a pleasant individual which is a good thing. His ranking dropped last year due to a fibia problem and was playing on clay for last year. In the off season he was hitting with Hanescu, Serena Williams, Chardy and Putinsteva in Mauritius on the hardcourts.

He played Noumea and Melbourne qualies his body was able to hold up, so he decided to stay in Australia. It was good for him he could get into the events, find some form and in his own words it’s cold and miserable in Europe why not stay here. Started the year at 280, now is around 180 and if he wins the event, then move further up the rankings, his spot in the Roland Garros qualies is assured.

Surprisingly he is a big AS Monaco fan he loved the days of when Georgie Weah was tearing it up and it’s always good to talk to tennis players about other sports they like, since they’re sick of tennis talk for the most part. His assessment of Deschamps he is good for the national team as manager as he isn’t around the players day in, day out as he’d drive them crazy with the work, work. Robert is French, so naturally Deschamps is as artistic as a block of wood.


Stephane Robert

It was lucky for him, he had good people around him since he needed money to attempt the comeback and he wasn’t doing well financially. This time in Australia he has stayed in backpacker hostels to save on money, too many people think that tennis players have it easy. The very few have a great concentration of the wealth, the majority don’t, but Robert isn’t bitter about it.

Knowing he only has a couple of years left playing he is thinking about the future. He and his coach are looking at a Club Med style academy where they cater to all levels. It’s a way of staying involved in the sport.

Tomorrow hope the showers pass over as Reid, Groth, Duckworth and Sitak, two of these guys will be doing double duty tomorrow. Will file a report on the last 2 days of this event, as bad as the money is in Challengers, it does make for a more relaxed atmosphere off the courts even though they’re playing for a lot more than points.

Times like this I wish I was back in Europe watching these events like I used to, but at the same time the same girls you like or pick up at 18 aren’t the same ones when you’re 40.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Simple Simon trolls Monfils. Seppi on the brink of history

Very mixed day this one. It was very frustrating at the beginning because I didn't see a point of the Tsonga vs. Kavcic match.

There are specific reasons this happened, but the nicest thing that will be said that there was an admin error. Stupid Saturday at the Aus Open is the worst day when the crowds are at their largest, nearly impossible to see matches on the outside courts especially if Tsonga is playing.

Could not see Kavcic in his biggest match at a Slam, it doesn't matter the result whether he won 1 game, 1 set. Just wanted to see this moment, but wasn't able to due to no fault of my own. It was a fantastic week for him, hope he can build on it.

Seppi vs. Cilic

Thought this was a tough but winnable match for Seppi and thankfully I was able to get into see the last 2 sets after all the crap beforehand.

While Cilic was leading 2 sets to 1, never really felt that Seppi was out of the match at all. It's about managing the momentum shifts and Seppi managed to keep hanging in there and was able to take the 4th set.

Cilic gets the early break in the 5th set for a 2-0 lead. The absolute turning point to this match was Seppi holding the service game for *1-2 when apart from the last point he basically served a game of second serves and the Seppi second serve is still a liability.

This was huge for Seppi who got confidence from serving so poorly yet holding on that game. He stepped up his game, became steadier and Cilic was leaking errors from both sides. Seppi's improved durability backing up from a long 5 setter against Istomin in the heat served him well and while Seppi did improve his level, what was disappointing was the Cilic performance in the last set leading 2-0 and then losing 6 games in a row.

Seppi now plays Chardy for a place in the quarter finals this is a massive opportunity for him. Seppi isn't the most naturally talented player, but has maximisied his potential, kept working very hard at his game to be the best player he can. The rewards came last year and started the year in an impressive manner, better he than a ballbashing buffoon like Chardy, who won't back up the big win in the next round.

Raonic vs. Kohlschreiber

Raonic is looking even more like Chief Wiggum than usual. This was a very comfortable win for Raonic especially after he won the first set buster. He was in good serving rhythm and hitting huge kickers to Kohli's backhand who couldn't return the serves at all.

With the first set down Raonic was able to use the serve and forehand combo to dominate from the baseline. Kohlschreiber looked like a little kid at the beach with sand kicked in his face by Raonic.

Simon vs. Monfils

Hahaha, what to say about this match. Not really sure words could do justice. It was so hilariously bizarre that it had to be watched until its completion for the sheer ridiculous nature of it.

These guys thought it was a hitting drill just paddling the ball back and forth without too much pace. Yes, they had a 71 shot rally, plus a few in the 40 stroke territory. Tactically Monfils isn't known for his mensa like abilities and this will be highlighted later on.

Simon likes pace, so Monfils wasn't trying to give him any well so the theory looked like. The first 4 sets there was more pushing than a woman giving birth to sextuplets. As bad as this was, it was still more watchable than a WTA match or when Simon played Robredo in Bercy.

Monfils with the ham acting early one, he loves the drama and the clowning as much as an alcoholic loves alcohol. He claimed he was injured and then Simon while leading 2 sets to 0 actually takes an injury timeout. You'd have to be a pretty big douchecanoe to take a timeout when leading 2 sets to love if you weren't injured.

Simon always looks like he is asleep or there is something wrong at the best of times. After the timeout Simon was just existing on court running now and then, whereas Monfils can't actually say he was playing better than before, not even he could stuff these 2 sets up against a guy who looked ill and was cramping.

The bizarre nature of the match where both looked like they were gasping for their last breath, the nonsense paddling rallies and general surreal nature of watching this deserved a 5th set. Simon got slightly more energised and Monfils not exactly sure what to do about this and ironically the tennis was more watchable in this set.

Monfils showed why he is a tactical genius. Yes, it's hard playing a friend or someone who is ailing, but the ball is still round and yellow, it needs to be hit. Instead of moving Simon around the court, a few times side to side, then go in behind that corner to test whether he can turn or not. Perhaps some drop shot and lob combos as well. No, the genius decides to hit up the middle of the court.

Simon fighting through all this crap and gets it done. He still doesn't know how he won this match and probably better off not knowing how either. Monfils well he can always join the circus. Yes, Simon will be fodder for Murray as per usual, but the fact he won such a bizarre and hilarious match will make this event memorable.

Should those two be charged for bringing the match into disrepute, well not sure about that. The fans who paid their tickets for this should be given free tickets.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Seppi and Kavčič beat the heat

Yesterday was a brutal day 3 5 set matches and the mercury reached 40.8, so there was no blog from last night. Dehydration, cold showers and electrolytes were my friend last night.

Before getting into the matches from the second round. There were a couple of quirky moments that I forgot to mention previously. In the Sela vs. Davydenko match in the 4th set when Sela had a break point on second serve. Someone possibly a member of the Davydenko camp threw one of the balls over the fence on the court, so Davydenko gets 2 serves which he held. This guy must have laid some cash on Davy holding the service game.

Quirky moment number two was in the Ram vs. Garcia Lopez match when Garcia-Lopez lost serve in the 4th set. He smashed a ball down the court and almost cleaned up Rampras on the side of the head. Ram naturally wasn't impressed and glared down the court and the umpire had to do some work in this one. You don't get these moments on the main courts for the most part.

Melzer vs. Bautista-Agut

This wasn't a bad match overall. Initially it was about all the idiots who kept walking in between points that was pissing both players off. Most of the cattle really have no clue about tennis etiquette.

Melzer was a little bit off, bitching about everything and Bautista was his solid self hence this was the reason it went to 5 sets. Bautista had an early chance in the 5th but once he missed that and Melzer took it, he ran away with the last set as Bautista was tiring.

It's clear Bautista-Agut has improved and should stay in the top 100 for a while barring injuries. He moves well and has a flat game for a Spanish player, his differences between clay and hard aren't say to the level of Andujar.

Stepanek vs. Lopez

This was such a clinic, the real handsome beast Stepanek showed LaLo how to play tennis. He was toying with him, just moved the serve around enough to get the burro out of position, then would come in on LaLo's backhand or hit the winners from the back while keeping him off balance.

Sure, Feli had his Justin Bieber like fangirls supporting him, but this was just too easy and fun in the process watching Thunder Lips just block back the returns of Lopez to the neutral position and then work him over and finish him off quickly.

Seppi vs. Istomin

These two had another tight 5 setter at a Slam. Since the Aus Open organisers like to troll me and put both Seppi and Kavcic on at the same time, this is where this match is a mixture of mine and Sammy's experiences.

Very few chances in the first set with the extended rallies that were dominant in this match, but Seppi was more aggressive in the breaker and the forehand held up well and he took it.

Second set was more of the same there was the feeling that Seppi was just in front. Then all of a sudden at 15-15 at *5-6, Seppi decides to be like Santa and serve two double faults in a row to give Istomin 2 sets points, which he took to level it.

Seppi started to be a bit passive but when it's almost 40 degrees it's not always to have clear decision making. The match hit a flat patch until the 4th set buster and in this period Istomin was the slightly better player but he wasn't dominant.

Once Seppi took the buster, then he stepped it up and was able to run through the 5th set with momentum on his side. This was the first time he has made the 3rd round at the Aus Open and has a tough but winnable match with Cilic.

Seppi has bought a big crew down to Melbourne. Max, the coach's brother is here as well huge AC Milan fan, cool guy. He summed up Inzaghi perfectly with the feet he was nothing, but he always where to find the goal.

Kavčič vs. Duckworth

Thankfully had some more time to digest this match. What a great fight from both guys this was not necessarily about the quality of tennis in brutally hot conditions. It was a big opportunity for both players to make the 3rd round of a Slam for the first time and that added some extra spice to the match.

Kavčič got the early break in the 1st set, then Ducky who has an outstanding serve for a player of his height consistently hitting 215km/h wide took the first one comfortably.

Kavčič started to make more returns and once he was able to do this, then he was dominating the baseline rallies though he wasn't as aggressive as he was against Bellucci. Then again the circumstances and conditions weren't comparable, that match he was the underdog and here he was the favourite.

As the momentum changed with Kavčič taking a more offensive position in the court and taking the 2nd and 3rd sets there were no major indications of the major drama to follow.

Duckworth called for the trainer first, but he must have been over at the Melbourne Storm training ground since it took him a good 15 minutes to get to the court. This was before the medical assessment, then the treatment took place, so it seemed like 25 mins.

It helped Duckworth who improved his serving again, starting to hit some good forehands. Kavčič was struggling physically and Ducky was getting energised from the crowd who helped him through a tough time to take the 4th set.

Kavčič gets the early break then at *2-0 at 30 all decides to serve 2 double faults to give the break back. There were about 6 Kavčič fans and the rest of the crowd was very pro Duckworth as expected. They had the "quack, quack, quack" chants, especially when there was a challenge which is much better than "Aussie, Aussie , oil oi oi".

Now this match was about who could take their chances, endure the brutal conditions and take this big opportunity. Kavčič had to take a medical timeout, both guys were feeling it and were only chasing down drop shots when they were so poor that they had to be dealt with.

Kavčič has improved the serve which was key in this set, apart from when he tried to serve the match out at *5-3, where he was so nervous and had no acceleration on his shots played it so carefully and Ducky broke easily. There is a reason when Kavčič serves out matches, that getting in the brace position is common.

Both guys giving it their all and struggling against the elements. Kavčič blows another 4 match points through a mix of passive play, clutch serving from Ducky. Finally something had to give and it was Duckworth who hit the ball long. If Kavčič had more energy then there would have been a greater celebration.

Good to see Channel 7 who broadcasted the match didn't show the Kavčič camp at the end of the match and John Newcombe is still as biased as ever. Ducky has a big upside to him as a player and the IV drip Kavčič was on after the match was worth it after this big win.

Nieminen vs. Dodig

Match of the tournament so far and easily so. It helped that the conditions while warm weren't oppressive which was different from the early matches.

Dodig is great to watch, this guy is so determined and came from nothing that he is an inspiration to other players. He fights for everything, but doesn't play a negative gamestyle which makes it all the better.

He was serving from the tree in this match, hitting the corners regularly with good pace on serve and Nieminen who is a good returner wasn't able to get as many balls back in play as per usual.

Neither player were taking a backward step from the baseline moving each other around with flat and deep groundies mixed in with some angles. Nieminen trying to pass when he could and Dodig for the most part coming to the net and making volleys.

Main difference in this match was Nieminen was slightly down from his level against Haas, while Dodig was playing a very high level of tennis. They split the 4 sets which wasn't a surprise, Nieminen who has an excellent 5 set record didn't make many first serves initially and was down to the weaker 2nd delivery in which Dodig attacked either hitting for winners or making volleying winners from weak Nieminen shots.

There was a game where Nieminen had break back points, but Dodig was serving like Karlovic saved them with ease and was able to run out a comfortable winner in the end.

This match was played in great spirit, both sets of fans were in a good mood, high quality tennis involving all aspects of the game, good serving, baseline rallies, volleying, desire from Dodig and excellent passes.

Seppi provided the stability, Kavčič provided the drama and Dodig/Niemien provided the quality.