Dani Koellerer is entertainment, Seppi dumping an easy backhand and Hajek back in Down Under 1st Round Reports

Kavcic vs. Odesnik

Kavcic started the match well in these trying conditions which were windy at times in amongst the showers, which were on and off. It would drizzle, then shower down for about 10 minutes and the court would need time to dry and once they started they had to go off again. Kavcic took the first set as he was able to keep Odesnik on the back foot and got him to make errors on the backhand side.

Odesnik did the usual toilet break thing after the 1st set and with the delays stuffed up Kavcic's rhythm. Odesnik used his experience in handling the conditions better and was able to turn the match around using his forehand to dominate and Kavcic was just running and pushing the ball back and lost the mental battle. Especially after the 3rd set where on Odesnik's set point at 40-30, big Wayne hit one wide and long and it was missed.

Russell vs. del Potro

Brutal draw for Mike, but he didn't let that phase him. He started well and broke early, but he wasn't able to hold the initiative and was broken back immediately. He made a few more errors than usual because of the pressure of the Tandil tower's shots keeping the ball play just wasn't going towork.

The second set was similar as he pressed more on his serve than usual, because if he didn't hit a good second serve, then he was going to be fodder for del Potro and this happened more often than not. This lead to more double faults than usual.

Russell hit some excellent returns, there was a screaming backhand down the line winner as del Potro smacks an off forehand and Russell just redirects down the line for the winner. Mikey served out the 3rd set and deserved to win a set and he had a high first serve percentage and good serving as well.

Del Potro will be better for the workout in this one and as they say luck of the draw as Russell would have beaten a lot of players on this showing. The key is for guys like this to try and keep playing well when the draws become a bit easier.

Isner vs. Seppi

Slow start Seppi was at it again, he hates the morning matches and playing against the tree Isner isn't going to help get rhythm to wake up. The first two sets Seppi just gave up his early service game and Isner was dropping the bombs and able to hit the big forehand when the returns came back.

Isner's serve starts to go off a bit as Seppi is able to get more returns into play and once he does this, he is naturally the much better player. Seppi broke for the set, which given his record of serving out sets was beneficial.

The fourth set continues in much the same pattern with Isner serving huge, but Seppi is getting a better read on the ball and able to engage in rallies and breaking down Isner's weaker backhand side. Seppi steps it up and breaks to take the fourth set where he is serving first.

At this time it was the turning point of the match. Seppi misses a few first serves, but dumps 4 forehands halfway up the net with not much pressure on and after that lapse of concentration gets broken. He has a massive chance to get back on serve at 30-40. Isner rips a serve and Seppi returns it as Isner comes into the net bluffing and frames a shot which ends up being a mid court mishit and Seppi has an easy backhand pass but fucks it up. After that boom,boom, the match is over.

Got to say even after losing a match like this Seppi was very good with the fans he posed for about 5 or 6 photos after he lost, which not so many of them do.

Koellerer vs. Veic

Crazy Dani called for the trainer after one game and he has had some injury problems. Initially it was a stomach problem and then it was the lower back, but these things tend to get worse when one is losing.

Veic and Koellerer played only once in a Futures event and there was almost a fight. Veic is a small guy with a bit of stubble and the Björn Borg headband, he runs a lot and fights hard but doesn't have great weapons. These two had long rallies with Koellerer trying to vary the tactics and Veic defending well.

This match was put on Court 4 which is standing on one side and 3 rows on the other side, needless to say the rows were filled as were the aisles on that side and on the other side it was 10 deep and people from Court 6 at the Gulbis/Monaco match wanting to have a look,in addition to them clapping points in the Dani match and that interfered in the Monaco match.

Dani got a warning for audible obscenity and then said why didn't Veic get the same and a code for smashing the racquet. He bitched about the linecalls, when Veic said something it was along the lines of from Koellerer "shut up it's 8-1 to you in the line calls". He kicked a ball and then after Veic broke in the 5th set, he bitched about all the luck Veic was having.

Good win for Veic, but Koellerer and Monfils would have been all about the antics. Lots of players were watching this Darcis, Chris and Oli Rochus, Melzer, Nyström, Lapentti among them.

Giraldo vs. Robredo

Excellent stuff from the Colombian who was hitting very cleanly and flat, so this took time away from Robredo and he struggled to deal with it. It was similar to when Youzhny chopped Boredo at the US Open. Giraldo obviously isn't in that class, but he does have some ability and if he could get some consistency should be able to make the top 100 on that showing.

Koubek vs. Ram
Rajeev Rampras isn't a bad first round draw and Koubek improved from his qualifying performances against an opponent that plays differently from the ones he faced earlier.

Ram started well and was getting into the groove on serve and took the first set. He was serving and volleying well, but Koubek was playing a bit closer to the baseline than in previous matches and hitting the ball better so he was able to take the 2nd set.

Stef played a poor game and Ram was able to capitalise on it to take the set 7-5. Koubek got a bit of frustration out, but was able to read Ram's serve quite well and able to keep him away from the net and expose the lack of mobility on the baseline. The last 2 sets were comfortable for Koubek and he wasn't too passive and a big chance for the third round here.

Hajek vs. Ginepri

Good to see Hajek back in Australia after his bad experiences here last time. He had a great year last year almost cracking the top 100.

I thought he was a good chance to take this match against the robotic Ginepri. Hajek was having a problem with foot faults and getting called regularly, but he was outhitting Ginepri from the baseline off both sides. His forehand worked the angles and he used the backhand down the line to give it to Ginepri from all sides.

The first two sets were close in scoreline but Hajek had a bit more in the tank and tank is what Ginepri did in the last set, well that and Hajek raised his game.

One funny incident at the start of the 3rd set, the umpire says "Hajek to serve in the 3rd and final set" and Ginepri is bemused and says "hmm, the final set". The umpire had the vision for sure in this and Hajek was too good.

Hernandez vs. Montañes

The match of the best friends which is never easy at the best of times, especially since the King has a lower back problem something to do with the disc. He was getting a lot of treatment for it, but the first set they played was quite good tennis with Montañes being the more aggressive and using the sneaky serve to stretch the King out of court. It went to a TB and there was a forehand that the King had a chance to nail, but he pulled off the stroke and missed it. From there Montañes stepped it up and did the business.

At 2-1 in the second set the King took an injury timeout for the back problem, completed the next game won it and then retired. Naturally he was disappointed and Montañes showed his concern for his friend, but Oscar is still a man of the people and appreciated the support. Yes, he is aware of the Facebook group that honours him.


Istomin vs. Chardy

There must be something wrong with Chardy, as in off the court. I am not a fan of his and think he is just a ballbasher, but as much as I don't mind Istomin this was a very poor and useless showing from Chardy.

Youzhny vs. Gasquet

Richie was involved in another long epic match that he ended up losing from 2 sets up. The forehand doesn't seem as technically deficient as it was before and the backhand was working well and took the first two sets.

Youzhny was a bit slow to start, but not absolutely hideous, he starts to improve his game by being aggressive, there is a difference between ballbashing and being aggressive. Basically the difference was that Youzhny stepped it up when he needed to by being aggressive and didn't get down on himself too much when he went down a break in the 5th. He must have a thing for Frenchies coming back from 2 sets down. He should win against Hajek, just hope Jan is competitive in this one.


Yes, it's a bit late as there were so many matches on Tuesday, but should be on track soon.

Aus Open Day 3 Qualies

Millman vs. Marchenko

Not much to say here except Marchenko has clearly improved and thumped Millman. Johnny didn't get enough depth on his shots and Marchenko owned the baseline and pushed him around and punished the short balls from Millman. This match showed where he is at currently, needs to step into the ball more and give it some more power it will help him make the next level as he has the fighting spirit.

Koubek vs Sweeting

Stefan started well here and was down an early break, but got it back and was playing the better tennis to take the first set. Sweeting has improved his level, but Koubek still has the advantage with the backhand working well. He manages to get 4 match points but plays them poorly either missed returns or passive shots that get dealt with from Sweeting. After all the match points Koubek ends up losing the second set in a tiebreaker.

The last set was full of drama, some good shots and some big misses as well. Koubek breaks and then loses the break straight away, he was not hitting the forehand at all, it was just rolling the ball in and Sweeting took the initiative. Same thing happened again to make it 7-7, then Koubek fires up and breaks and was able to serve the match out. Afterwards it was more relief than overt happiness that he got the cash.

Kavcic vs. Devvarman

This one was full of long rallies with Somdev playing not to miss and Kavcic being patient but unlike Devvarman decided to go for his shots when the opportunities arose.

With this play Kavcic was able to take the first set. The forehand was doing most of the damage. He then had an early break, had chances for the double break but was unable to so. Then Kavcic lost concentration and Somdev continued not to miss and found himself up 5-3, then got broken easily and Kavcic held for 5-5.

Then the fun and games started as Kavcic called for the trainer, wasn't sure what for at the time, but I found out later it was something to do with him seizing up literally with the pins and needles. It took ages for the trainer to come out and assess it. He gets that done and Somdev is pissed off big time.

It's get to the TB and Kavcic going for his shots got him into the main draw. Somdev refused to shake his hand and said when they went off "Looks like he is dying out there now".

Kavcic had a class celebration as well when he won and has a big chance against Odesnik.

Louk "no neck" Sorensen was struggling but always had too much for King-Turner. It was great that Zelmja beat his demons and made it through to the main draw of qualies after the choke last year against Sela.

AO Qualies Part 2

Przysiezny vs. Okun

Przysiezny wasn't playing well at all at the start. In the 2nd set He was started to move the ball around well and coming to the net to finish the point off. It was obvious that he was better than Okun in the rallies, but he was making some mistakes and let Okun hang around. The last set was better and Okun was crushed mentally and Przysiezny finished well.

Zemlja vs. Devilder

Devilder is just coming back on tour and is very much at his best on clay. Zemlja had the greater weight of shot and was comfortable in this match for the whole time and was never in danger of losing this one.

Sorensen vs. Yani

Big "no neck" Louk Sorensen the Irish player who lives in Germany and speaks excellent German against the flat hitter Yani. From the parts of the match I saw there were some long rallies with Yani trying for the flat shots with very little margin for error and Sorensen defending well and using his forehand to move Yani wide. It was a hard fought match as it should be at this stage of the game, but "The Neck" Sorensen's consistency was the key factor here.

Brown vs. Rufin

Rufin had an excellent serving day and didn't do much that was memorable from the baseline, he was just getting back. The 1st set didn't have many chances and Brown started off awfully in the tiebreak and lost it easily.

He didn't give up but wasn't playing his usual variations of spins and dinks, both were holding comfortably. He stepped it up in the tiebreaker and hit a wonderful forehand slapshot down the line to get him to set point and took it.

The 3rd set was more of the same from both, but Dreddy got the break at 4-3, but as we know the most important time to hold serve is after they have broken. Brown has a big serve and he missed every first serve that game and Rufin was able to break back. Brown was down match points and saved one with a diving volley and his head almost hit the cement. He lot due to some poor play at the wrong moments, but he wins at life.

Millman vs. Oswald

Millman started well and was able to break Oswald early and move him around the court, as he is a big guy able to expose his lack of mobility. The second set Oswald was serving better and able to get short returns and bossed the points around and was making Millman do a lot of road work and took out the second set.

The third set was similar with Oswald serving big and hitting good shorts and Millman fighting hard, but getting pushed behind the baseline very easily and losing ground. Millman lost his serve easily and Oswald is up 5-3 and then he calls for the trainer for cramp. The umpire says wait for the next change of end and Millman breaks Oswald as he serves for the match. The change of ends the trainer comes out and Oswald says he doesn't want the trainer. This changed the momentum and Millman breaks again and takes the match, this was won on fighting spirit.

Bogomolov Jr vs. Machado

Machado started slowly and lost serve early and that cost him the first set as both guys were holding fairly comfortably after that. Machado was trying to use the big forehand and Bogo used his backhand down the line to catch Machado out when hitting off forehands.

The 2nd set was close, but Bogmolov was taking his chances when he created them. He had a chance to serve for the match and Machado played a good game and broke, then he lost his serve with some errors and then Bogo held on to win. Machado was not impressed with the umpire known as the "French Peacock" Pascal Maria and had about a 3 minute dialouge with him after the match.

Kavcic vs. Tosic

Kavcic was much better after that nonsense first match. He was hitting the ball cleaner and moving well, whereas Tosic after his big win against Bozoljac looked flat and couldn't move his feet at all and was just fodder in this one.

Koubek vs. Im

Koubek always had this in control, but was dozing off at times. Once again he had the advantage and didn't drive it home, being passive and rolling the ball instead of hitting the thing, but it was clearly good enough against this opponent.

Australian Open Day 1 Qualies

AO Qualies Day 1

Yes, here it is the reports for the Aussie Open have started again. How much sense this will make is dependant on the persons individual tastes, state of alertness and whatever other random condition.

Got to get the important stuff out of the way first. The AO fashion gurus have decided to deck the umpires out in lime green, well allegedly it's lime green but in fact it blends with the tennis balls, so it's tennis ball green and Malisse would have another reason to get annoyed on court. The ballkids are wearing hot pink well they will stand out for sure, though any potential homophobes wearing this does have a certain humour value.

There was a firecracker that went off from these random Aussies who were cheering on Santos against Kindlmann, they didn't last long after that.

Koubek vs. DeHeart

Koubek isn't as fashionable as before, but he has hall of fame status with the yellow shorts. He started out making too many mistakes initially, but was able to keep holding his serve easily enough. Then at 4-4 15 all deHeart says "hey these balls are flat", then tosses them to Koubek who has that usual half asleep expression and then agrees. After that Koubek is defending well and pressing deHeart into going for more shots and in the process making more errors. Koubek hits a forehand down the line on his set point to take it 7-5.

The second set continues on the same path as the end of the first, extended rallies with deHeart hitting some average slice backhands and Koubek some cannon fodder dropshots, he manages to get the break early in the 2nd.

As he pressed for the double break he started the very loud grunts, the grunting sounded like a Mercedes but had the power of a Lada, then deHeart gets into the act as well with the over grunting he is trying to be a Harley and ends up being a Vespa. Koubek had the chance for the double break but was too passive, at the same time deHeart was generous after an elongated rally he has Koubek on the back fence and misses a volley that even Andreev would have put away. He eventually breaks back, but Koubek stepped it up and played some excellent passing shots along with good defence broke at 5-4, then served it out easily.

Dimitrov vs. Kendrick

Tough match for the Bulgarian and didn't get to see much, just from 2-3 in the 3rd set. It was basically Dimitrov hitting a winner, then an error with Lundgren having a bemused look but still encouraging him. Kendrick wasn't being too mouthy this time and when he had the chance, he came forward to the net to finish the points off. His extra experience was the main thing that got him over the line in this one.

Phau vs. del Bonis

Phau the guy who lost to cockchimp Klein in the 1st round last year and one of the fastest guys on tour against the Argentine. Del bonis wasn't playing too badly, hitting some heavy shots but had a concentration lapse in the 2nd set to go down 4-0, and ended up losing that one 7-5. Phau the little running machine just got too many shots back into court.

Millman vs. Vagnozzi

One of the few Aussies players I genuinely like and he is a very good man. The conditions had been very changeable with the gusts of wind coming up at various times and forcing the players to adjust mid stroke. Millman always had this match in control and Vagnozzi today played like Cipolla, except he had a topspin forehand and also his touch volleys were successful. Millman didn't serve to well, but was solid from the baseline in so much the conditions allowed at times he was a bit too passive waiting for the ball to come to him when it was short, but he defended well when Vagnozi could use his forehand.

It was one of those matches where it was clear who was going to win, but at this time of the day it was very difficult with the wind and the sun making an appearance as it started out cloudy.

MaChado vs. Klein

Both were holding serves fairly well and Machado had one break point at 4-4, but Klein saved it. From there Machado stepped it up and was using his forehand to dominate the rallies and was able to break then serve out the set at 7-5.

Klein glares over in our direction a few times after Machado has won a point. Once the 2nd set started Klein dropped his bundle and with that the forehand breaking down, which Machado was exploiting with his greater weight of shots. Klein starts whining about "stopping missing sitter forehands", which he does the next point afterward.

Peta Pan who was there as well, was cheering Machado on, she clapped a bit louder than usual and cockchimp Klein was seething. Some of the other Aussie qualie players were standing near us watching the match and were quite satisfied that Machado gave Klein a good beatdown in the last set. The "kaffir" comments definitely have not endeared him to his peers, which is surprising I guess.

Kavcic vs. Soeda

This match had the Silver Fox Sanguinetti coach of Soeda and the first match of the year for the animated Slovene. This was a very hard fought match with extended rallies. Kavcic didn't play a very smart match, he was always hitting to the open court and Soeda runs everything down always leaning to that side, yet Kavcic only went back behind him once in the whole match and won the point while doing so. Kavcic was using his forehand to set the play up and move Soeda around and he was trying to make the play for the majority of the match. Soeda kept getting everything back and frustrating the hell out of Kavcic who was commentating on every point. He had the break in the 1st set and was unable to hold onto it, a mix of passive play when in the lead and his dogged opponent. Soeda plays a better tiebreak and wins it, while Kavcic is getting pissed off. Soeda calls for the trainer and gets a massage on his legs, allegedly it was an injury but it was cramps.

Kavcic tries to make him run, but struggling to get the balance right between the dropshots, lobs and the drives as Soeda keeps making shots. Kavcic keeps his cool long enough to get the 2nd set. The 3rd set is more of the same plenty of grinding with both guys trying to dominate off the forehand. Kavcic creating the chances to break, but can't hold the break losing it straight away. Kavcic through some quality defensive skills and errors from the tiring Soeda breaks for 5-3, but plays a clown game to get broken. The self commentary gets louder and louder, but Kavcic manages to hit a winning shot to take the match, which he came close to blowing badly.

There were only about 5 Kavcic fans and most of the crowd were Japanese and Kavcic's coach wrote at least 25 pages of notes on this match.

Dustin Brown vs. Klec

Dreddy had enough money to afford the plane ticket as it has not been easily financially for him on the tour. The hair was immaculate and the game was very varied, there were some chip shots, a few dinks, then some big forehands and lobs, then some of the biggest and easiest misses. Dustin was getting a bit fired up there and he was doing his swearing in German. It was one of the matches, just happy to get it over with. At times he served well, then at others the big serve went missing as he and Klec traded breaks, but Dustin was able to focus long enough to get the win.

He was doing well off the court as well, but that's no surprise.

Malisse made the 2nd set harder for himself against Kuznetsov, he really should qualify comfortably here and it's a relief to him that he is back out there playing on the proper court and not the law court.

Nadal was around watching Marc Lopez play, it was the time I left that match, but there is evidence he was there as Peta took pics. Big Sam Querrey was watching DY and personally I love the fact he just lopes around the place and doesn't get pegged for a tennis player. Matosevic as well smiling the whole time I saw him, but maybe I should have mentioned Seppi's serve that irritated the hell out of him.

Last of all the regal one "The King" Oscar Hernandez was there in all his splendour and showing his caring nature watching as many of his countrymen as possible.

Hasta luego Lucho Horna

This is another tribute post to Luis Horna. Personally I thought this would be the best way to end the blogging year, it's not as if I churn out the articles regularly, but something is better than nothing.

After a difficult 2009 for Lucho Horna he decided to retire from the tour at his home event in Lima. Lucho had been training hard over the previous off season and his injury problems that plagued him throughout the season lead to this decision. He had a foot problem that put him out to the March, played a few events and then decided to play qualies at Roland Garros. He lost in the second round to Flavio Cipolla who loves the slices and chopping shots along with the worst serve on the tour, Horna was unable to get a break point against the worst serve on tour. If this is not a sign to retire then nothing is. He wasn't in form at all, but went back as he and Cuevas were defending doubles champions and they lost early in their defence of the crown.

Lucho was an excellent junior who was ranked 4th in his final year of juniors and it took him some time to get adjusted to the main tour. His idol was Thomas Muster and it was quite easy to see in his aggressive style of game trying to use his forehand to dominate the points and a backhand which was single handed and average, though when he was playing well even this side worked well.

He was a guy who had an excellent record against top 10 players in his career he defeated 9 of them, which is impressive for a man who had not made the top 30 in his career. His most famous win was the one over Roger Federer at Roland Garros in the first round where Federer was one of the favourites for the event. He played an intelligent game that day and let Federer make the errors, but was not passive when he had the chance to attack.


As has been the common case after a big upset, Horna couldn't follow it up in the next round but this case was a bit special. He was up a match point in the 2nd round against a certain Dutch guy called Martin Verkerk who steamrolled his way to the final before getting smashed by Ferrero. Lucho had another excellent win at RG against Henman, it was the classic match between the serve/volleyer and baseliner. Horna was running hard and ripping huge forehands at Henman's feet and he was volleying as well as he could against these hard shots and Lucho was cramping at the end, but got through at the end. He lost to Hanescu in the next round who then took out Nalbandian in the 4th round.

His full list of top 10 scalps were
1. Nalbandian - Buenos Aires 2007 (10)
2. Ljubicic - Portschach 2007 (7)
3..Robredo - Båstad 2007 (8)
4. Gaudio - Acapulco 2006 (8)
5. Henman - Roland Garros 2005 (8)
6. Coria - Toronto 2004 (3)
7. Federer - Roland Garros 2003 (5)
8. Ferrero - Sopot 2003 (2)
9. Gasquet - Rome (10)

Among the wins there were some hilariously bad losses the Cipolla one was up there. One of the funnier ones was when Gustavo Marccachio who is the English language reporter for Tenispro defeated Lucho in Viña del Mar and the Chilean press stated that Horna lost to a TV reporter. There were days where he couldn't return a phone call which was his really big weakness, if he was off his big returns then he didn't have the nous to change it up. His GS record was not great and he was capable of making a 4th round at least once. He killed Monfils and Phau at the AO, then he played Mathieu in the 3rd round and managed the special skill of leading 5-2 double break twice in the first 2 sets and managing to choke to Mathieu.

In addition there were some funny antics in his matches. The heckler incident at the AO with Mirnyi. Lucho failed to capitalise on his chances and in the 9th game of the 5th set, there was this pissed Yank who kept heckling Lucho. He finally got the shits after being put off as he was about to serve. It worked as he went over to the umpire and said. "Are you going to get this guy out of the court or not? If not there is going to be a mess." He played another point and lost it and the heckler was it again. "He is still here and you do nothing about it, and if you don't get him out, it will be a big mess, a big mess". Lucho loses focus and serve, then when the match is over, the heckler ran off. Another one in Sopot where he played Cañas, where he got a point penalty and was going crazy.

Lucho won 2 titles, the first one was the best one in Acapulco where he defeated Chela in the final, he played very well that event and it was a pleasure to see such joy in winning the crown against a good friend of his. The other one was the RR shit in Viña del Mar where he got over the evil Massu, who always defeated Horna except in the match that counted which was this one. Massu could never win the Viña del Mar title no matter how hard he tried and for once Lucho didn't make silly errors and took the title.

Most famous of all was the Roland Garros doubles title with Pablo Cuevas in 2008. This was such a surprise and so much better for it. Two singles guys enter the doubles for a bit of fun and some extra cash. They take out Llodra/Clement in the 1st round, Dlouhy/Paes in the 3rd round, best of all the Bryan Clowns in the quarter finals which had a refusal to shake hands with Cuevas at the end. It was funny coming from these guys, they had a big fight in the semis and then crushed Zimonjic/Nestor in the final. They were bemused when they won it, but Lucho off the forehand side was hitting heavy and Cuevas off the backhand it was great to see such joy and the first time in a long time a Peruvian and Uruguayan have won a major title.


The above and through Lucho's warrior efforts for Peru, he lead them through to the World Group in Davis Cup. After all that battling through the various phases, it was very disappointing that he couldn't take part in the singles against Spain, even though he was likely to lose his singles match. It just seems a bit bittersweet not being able to contribute at the end, when he was the driving force for getting them through.

He was the second best Peruvian player after Jaime Yzaga. A true DC warrior, entertaining in his own quirky way and a tough fighter. One of the best sequences was when he and Calleri played four times in 5 weeks. They played in Melbourne, Viña del Mar, Buenos Aires and Acapulco. They split the matches 2-2 and also won a doubles title together.

Gaston Gaudio had some very kind words about Horna.

How do you feel about Horna´s retirement?

- “As a tennis player I regret that Lucho is retiring because we´ve shared almost the whole of our careers, we´ve played against each other, we´ve had our battles, and it will be a great loss for the sport. But as a friend I´m pleased for him if he´s happy, and if he wants to be able to enjoy other things, being with his family, or being in Lima, it´s understandable”.

Do you recall any important duel with him?

- “We have more shared memories as friends than as tennis players. We haven´t played each other more than a couple of times. But we would dine out, for instance. He lived in Buenos Aires a long time because he trained there, and we have shared experiences as friends”.

On that note, Lucho will still play some DC ties for Peru, but he is gone from the tour. He proved entertainment, good to watch when playing well and respect for his dedication to the Peruvian DC team. Hope he is enjoying time with the family.

Departing the Stage : Agustin Calleri

It seems like I forgot to write about this retirement of the big man known as "El Gordo" Agustin Calleri. Since it's quite late here and too fucking warm, it's my blog and I can swear if I want and not sure how this will read.

Calleri decided to call it a day in 2009 from the tour, though according to the original articles that stated his retirement that he is going to play Buenos Aires and Acapulco in 2010 which makes sense as one is his home tournament and the other where he won the first of his 2 ATP singles titles, which was scant return for a player of his abilities.

His career path took a slightly different path than many players. Calleri before he could go on tour needed money to travel as he had the talent, but struggled for sponsors at the time. He was part of the generation along with Cañas, Gaudio, Chela, Zabaleta and Puerta you didn't get any support from the AAT and he still has strong views about development of tennis in Argentina especially for rural guys like himself. He ended up working at his parents shop to pay for his initial expenses on the tour and that got him in there, once he was able to start showing some promise in the Futures and then the Challengers he was able to get a gig playing in the German Bundesliga which is the highest paying league. The advantage of playing in the Bundesliga where numerous, excellent conditions, good wages for players, excellent crowds. Can use the country as a base for travelling around Europe while playing in tournaments, if they fall early then they could play league tennis.

The year was 2000 was when Calleri made an impact just getting into the main draw of Roland Garros, this was the year where he reached his best result there. With the heavy power off both wings, especially the backhand down the line he took out Felix Mantilla in the first round, then Hrbaty who was the semi finalist in the previous year and seeded 14th, before losing to Medvedev in 4 sets. He also took out Safin in straight sets in Kitzi that year. He repeated the dose in Madrid indoors and Safin said he was lucky, hard to get lucky twice. He also made the 3rd round of the US Open giving Sampras a tough time of it, but this was typical of the man, some brilliant matches and showings along with the most poor exhibitions of tennis.

It's better to start with the huge chokes and there were a few. He was leading in the final of Buenos Aires against Massu making empanadas out of him leading 6-2 5-1 and the crowd were expecting the title for Calleri, but he got tight and Massu kept fighting hard and took the second set in a tiebreaker, from there it was only one winner and not Calleri. He was in New Haven against Blake had 3 match points leading a set and 5-4 40-0, but managed to shit himself again and lose in 3 sets.

Buenos Aires was the worst one because it was a final and he was the home player, but the funniest one was the loss to Koubek in Sopot. He lost 0-6 7-6(3) 7-5, Calleri lead 6-0 4-0, served for the 2nd set twice and then loses in a tiebreaker. He lead 5-3 in the 3rd and failed to serve it out and he went bananas at losing this, though to be fair this is as good as reason as any to go bonkers.

The other side of the coin when he was truly on his game, then it was amazing to watch as he could cause havoc with the brute power off both wings, especially the backhand down the line. Enjoy the clip below where it is raining winners and little Hewitt had no clue what was going on. His best win was against Ferrero in the Davis Cup 2003 Malaga, when JCF was the number 1 in the world and the best on clay. Calleri was on fire this day and thumped him in straight sets with the last set being 6-1. He was given a standing ovation from the Spanish home fans after his performance, this is when you know you have done well.

His performance against Agassi in Miami 2004 he blasted 20 winners in the first set with 4 errors and serving at 36% first serve. Agassi looked like the kid who had sand kicked in his face at the beach. In the US Open after Hewitt took the 1st set. Calleri was very aggressive and everything was going in and this is a show of his capabilities.


It was his unpredictability that made him fun to watch, but it was very disappointing that he could not make the 4th round of a Slam during his career. He played well in Hamburg 2003 before losing to Weasel Coria in the final, but he played an excellent semi final against Nalbandian.

His two career titles came in Acapulco 2003, where he defeated Gaudio, Rios, Mantilla and his friend Zabaleta in the final. Then he followed that up with Kitzbühel 2006, funnily enough just as in Acapulco in the last 4 matches he defeated 2 Argentines, a Spaniard and a Chilean. In this case it was Massu, Gaudio, Verdasco and Chela all for the loss of just one set. When he won the titles they came out of nowhere really, as he wasn't showing much form leading into these events.

In essence Calleri should have achieved more with his career, he had a lot of injuries and some of it had to do with his physique. He used to carry a bit in the middle, but was very strong. Tactically he let himself down by just slapping the ball all of the time instead of taking off some pace as his rally ball was quite penetrating and then he could take advantage of the short ball. The one year where was relatively injury free he finished in the top 20, this and the poor results in Grand Slams reflected on the lack of overall success.

He has a lovely wife and child, hope he is enjoying time with them and watching his beloved Boca Juniors.

Bye bye Marat Safin and 2009 in review

It's time for the 2009 season review. The season has been over for a few weeks, but it's still too long and there will be a lot of lipservice paid to the slogans "we're going to shorten the season, blah, blah, blah", then again the ATP aren't capable to releasing and penalising top players when they fail drug tests.

Overall the season had some pleasant surprises with some predictable overreaction to these surprises. Where to start this off, yes I suppose it should be done chronologically, but not in this case. Roger Federer after being written off by many pundits and fans, especially after losing to Nadal in the final of the Aus Open. He was finished, not going to break Sampras's record of the most Grand Slam wins and his time at the top was over. So what ended up happening, he won a rare Roland Garros and Wimbledon double in the process passing Sampras's record and shutting up many people along the way. Yes, there are people who complained that Federer didn't defeat Nadal to win the Roland Garros crown, but the title for him was not an easy ride at all. Jose Acasuso had a chance to go 2 sets to 1 up on his serve, but dropped his bundle and Federer was able to take advantage, then Haas and del Potro pushed him very hard. The final wasn't the hardest match for him, it helped that he played an opponent who was in his first final and also the conditions were heavier which suited his game even more.

The French crowd weren't used to a winning speech on the mens final day delivered in French and he is very much a crowd favourite there. Then he was able to win at Wimbledon playing against his punching bag Roddick, who decided to punch back and had his chances to take a 2 sets to love lead, it was no surprise that Roddick choked on that backhand volley, as the most common way to see how well a technical weakness holds up is under pressure. The match had drama, but not of the highest quality, the longer it went the more likely Federer was to win it. He got the job done, it doesn't matter how he played, because it only goes down in the record books as a win. In the process creating history and this record should stand for some time, though the same was said about Sampras, but nothing at the moment is coming through unless Nadal wins 12 Roland Garros titles.

Nadal, well as usual he had an excellent start to the season with this great win in Melbourne after battling 5 hours with Verdasco in the semis, there were excuses already being made that he was going to be too tired for the final, but he showed this was not the case in taking out his first Aus Open. It was about the time that there was a 5 set final at the Aus Open, there hadn't been one since 1988 and that's too long. Yes, there was drama and the mentally stronger individual came through on the day, but the presentation ceremony where Federer turned on the waterworks did take away the focus from Nadal's great moment of winning the Slam. He handled the situation well considering the circumstances, and it should never have been about Federer's tears, but of course the media are going to focus on this.

Nadal was pushed by Djokovic on the clay, but as per usual he managed to win as he usually does on the clay. The big surprise of the year was that he lost at RG, not that he was going to remain undefeated on the surface, more the fact of who he lost to was what was the surprise factor. As usual the bitching about him being injured was thrown around as the reason he lost the match, though he made paella and sodomised Hewitt in the previous round. The fact Robin Söderling took him out in Paris, whereas a few weeks earlier Nadal thrashed the Toad badly in Rome and there is not a lot of love between them, which is good to see. Söderling played some excellent tennis in this match and the fact Magnus Norman is working with him now and a man who knew how to play on clay, they came up with a plan which suited his strengths and was able to execute it. This was the foundation for the excellent 6 months for Söderling which culminated at a semi final showing at the TMC.

del Potro and Davydenko were the guys in the second half of the season. Just as it was great for RG that Söderling defeated Nadal, because the only people enjoying the public executions that passed off as Roland Garros in recent years are Nadal fans. The same can be said for del Potro when he won the US Open in 5 sets against Federer. He has come a long way from the meek surrender at the Aus Open to the same opponent, then taking him to 5 sets at RG and then the Slam. del Potro has been hyped as the player to do well and win Slams, but he did it earlier than he and many others expected. His game isn't exactly scientific but very effective and his temperament has improved. It helps he has an outstanding coach in Franco Davin who has guided both weasel Coria and Gaudio, plus he likes to keep in the background and not interesting in pimping his own work unlike Brad Gilbert.

Davydenko had an excellent second half of the season, since he is such a rhythm player when he gets on a roll he can be very hard to stop with his aggressive ball striking that takes time away from the opponent. Can he win a Slam? I wouldn't mind to see it happening, but there are still some doubts that he can get it done at GS level, though it would be good to be proven wrong in this case. He dances to his own tune and his interviews are free of cliches which is something these days.

Onto the other stuff. The ATP changed the ranking points system for some reason and the rebranding of the tournaments, not much changed in that regard. Players still have to win matches and defend points, just because you put lipstick and a dress on a pig, does not mean it's not a pig. They have this thing with ISG events yay, there is TV coverage from the semi finals but nothing from the early days anywhere that makes perfect sense.

One last rant, the ATP allowing so many tournaments with byes in 2010. Do they seriously think that having all these byes is going to get the top players to play these IS events? The IS events players will play are either the ones in their home countries like Djokovic or places where they have long standing positive memories. It's a joke that a pro player can win a tournament just winning 4 matches. Why not just have 16 player only instead at the IS and ISG events make things easier.

Marat Safin has departed the scene and is now looking to join the Russian Olympic Committee. Safin was a well loved figure among the journalists, the fans especially the ladies and many guys thought he was cool. I mean if your girlfriend ran off with Safin, it would be like "yeah, that's ok", unlike say it was Hewitt for example. The man who shagged more women than he broke racquets, liked to have fun and was admired by most of his peers and that is the important thing. As a player winning 2 Slams some will say this isn't enough of a return for a guy of his abilities, but many talented players have not won a Slam. It was the right time for him to retire, in fact probably should have retired at the end of 2008, he was a step slower and that meant he was late on the ball and impacted on his game and mental state. Best of all Safin was not a clone and his press conferences were almost as good as bedroom antics. Hope he can succeed in his life away from tennis.

Last of all Lucho Horna and Calleri decided to retire from the game and I have not forgotten about the Lucho retirement entry and I have decided that this will be the last entry for 2009.

Andre Agassi : Image is Everything

Andre Agassi : The circle is complete

After being out of the limelight, the past week the mullet formerly known as Andre Agassian has hit the headlines with a bullet, with some interesting revelations in his book that is coming out. Like anything with a big impact, there are just as many questions and theories as to why this information has come to light and the timing that it was released, more on that later on.

Lets have a look at the stages of the Agassi career. He came onto tour as a very promising 16 year old with spiky hair, which was acquainted with Dr. Bleach at this stage. He was not the first protege to come out of the Nick Bollettieri Academy aka the Forehand Factory. Jimmy Arias and Aaron Krickstein were the first ones, but Agassi had more flamboyance and a sense of difference in addition to his talent and look, that made the media and tennis public take notice.

1988 was Agassi's first big year on tour, hitting massive forehands and using the court well, but he lacked fitness, this was highlighted in the semis of Roland Garros when he played Wilander in the semis. Agassi got it to a 5th set and the French crowd were loving his sense of style, but the Swede outsmarted and outlasted him 6-0. He won some tournaments this year and they hyped him up big time at the US Open, then he ran into Lendl, who knocked the stuffing out him. Then delivered the great line about Agassi, "He is just a haircut and a forehand", how wrong Lendl was to be proved later on.

Agassi was making a lot of noise for the wrong reasons as well, he pissed off Mark Woodforde in a match, he was losing , but managed to win the match and Woodforde asked what happened "he started acting like an 18 year old kid". The worst was his absolute lack of class in a Davis Cup match against in Argentina in Argentina. He was thrashing Martin Jaite 6-2 6-2 5-0 and Jaite was up 40-0 on serve, then Agassi catches the serve taking the piss out of him big time, the Argentine crowd understandably were fired up by the disrespect and booed for 5 minutes. This stuff was par for the course, along with the faking of injuries to a level Djokovic and Inzaghi would be proud of, tanking when getting beaten and bullshit excuses when he lost. Then he managed to turn the perception of himself around in such a way, he could feed the press a turd wrapped up in Kobe beef, and the press would eat it up and not see it was a turd.

The turnaround from brat to multi grand slam champion, coming back from the problems he had with the game and starting over in the Challengers to rebuild his ranking got him respect with the public and the press alike. It got to the point where initially he was criticised for nearly everything to the point where he could do nothing wrong at all. For those of cynical persuasion or questioning minds, there were rumblings how much Agassi really changed or was it, that he was able to express himself in a clear and precise manner knowing when to say the right things at the right time, without really saying anything at all.

Lets have a look at the way he treated the ballkids, he was very anal retentive about this, yes Nadal is anal retentive about some things, but not to the point where he won't play unless the ballkids weren't in the exact spot and they couldn't stand together, this was classic Agassi. Towards the end of his career he was very similar to Carl Lewis, that he was once a great, but suffering more defeats as the ageing process took place. They still managed to steal the limelight even when they lost, he isn't the only one guilty of this, though it leads into the things he is guilty of. His last US Open was a classic case of banality and sentimental crap that was cringeworthy at best.

Revelations that he took crystal meth for a year during the 90s, in his down period. As for whether they should test for recreational drugs or not is another subject, but the fact that the ATP did test for them at the time and that he failed these tests. Yet, the ATP did not release his name and decided to get rid of the forensic evidence, just reconfirmed what sceptics have said about the ATP. The higher up the food chain, the more likely that they will get protected from any suspension this is not just related to drugs performance enhancing or recreational, match fixing and we have seen the lack of fairness when it comes to applying penalties for these offences. The ATP just look even more incompetent than usual, which takes a lot of effort.

Mike Agassi gave Andre speed allegedly, but nothing will come of this, even though he revealed this in his book. Why would it come out now, if he was truly honest, then he would have accepted the penalties at the time, irrespective of whether the rule stinks or not and there would be no sweeping under the carpet. There have been suggestions that Agassi has taken performance enhancing substances during his career, not that he would ever be caught at all, especially the way the ATP handled his previous positive results.

The subject of carpet, Agassian is a hirsute character and had a carpet chest, yet the funniest revelation and best one of all is that he wore a wig in the final of RG against Andres Gomez. Wearing a wig before a GS final that is a combination of massive insecurity in his own appearance and arrogance in the way that he could beat Gomez wearing a wig. For the good of the game it was great to see Gomez win that final. But Agassi wearing the "Wig of Righteousness" is some funny shit. Worrying about your hair falling out or trying to win a Slam for the first time, the choice is difficult.

Agassi said he hated tennis. In this case, it's not so surprising that he was pushed into the game as a kid by his father, hitting balls when he was 2 years old and the combination of being pushed very hard as a kid, then to a point where it became a job, instead of doing something he loved. Yes, most of us hate our jobs at some point, this is natural, but we aren't as fortunate as the top pro athletes, who can make a great living out of the sport in the limited time they have and if they are financially astute won't have to work again once their career is over.

If Agassi wanted to get this all of his chest and really be honest about it, then he would have gone to a priest or a psychologist and then worked through it. But, no he chose to write this book, he did get a large advance in writing the book, so that is more money for the foundation. At the same time as Eric Bischoff (a figure in the wrestling business) said "controversy creates cash", these controversial moments have created a buzz and reaction, so the theory should be that individuals will want to buy the book in large numbers generating more revenue. At the same time Agassi fell out with his former agent Perry Rogers who knew a lot about Agassi and could reveal these negative things about him, so it looks like getting retaliation in first. By doing this now then Agassi can attempt manipulate and control the reactions as much as possible, just like when he was a player in the second phase of the career where he was treated like a demigod.

Personally, I won't buy the book, but when it comes to the library, then I will borrow it and read it at that time some of the hype will have died down by then. All these revelations by the man have not changed my opinion on the man at all. In fact it reconfirmed my previous view of Agassi. Insecure, need to be loved and in the limelight, while pretending to be modest and humble, when not the case. People like Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Yevgeny Kafelnikov for example are truer to themselves, while being blunt, not always likeable and throwing platitudes around for the sake of it, at least it's not swimming in saccharine and people can take it or leave it, which is preferable to an individual being fake.

Wondering if Fernando Vicente is still happy with the shirt he stole from Agassi when he was a junior.

Gaudio and Lucho back on tour, Luczak reaches career high

This entry might come together in some form, and then again it might not, there are a few things that need to be commented on, but can't bothered writing a few different entries for them.

Gaston Gaudio has had a good couple of weeks since coming back to the tour after wasting his time playing in New York at the US Open qualies, when he was not in any form to play on clay, let alone hardcourts. The Babasonicos were in town, but he didn't go to see them, so it must have been for the holiday.

He took the time off to get over niggling injuries and made the final in his hometown of Buenos Aires defeating some very solid players, before losing to Horacio Zeballos the challenger king of 2009 and regular hitting partner. He followed that up with a semi final in Montevideo showing against Pablito Cuevas, who modelled his single hand backhand on Gaudio, and not a bad guy to learn from. There were of course some shenanigans as there usually are with Gaudio. He got a point penalty and then match point walked on the other side to check a mark that Cuevas said was out, the ump warned him about crossing the side to check the call, so Gaston does it, gets a point penalty and match over.

His semi final against Chela in Bs As was comedy central in the first set of 6-4, no one held serve for the first 6 games, then both held and Gaudio broke again. Of course the footfaultis was there, that is as natural to Gaudio as breathing.

This sums it up perfectly. Fred Stolle asking the questions.

Q. The foot faults, we’ve got to ask you a bit about the foot faults. There were a few of them. They were annoying weren’t they?

(Gaudio) It is, but it’s fun for the crowd...............

(Gaudio) Maybe I should move the line a little bit forward.

Q. Or maybe you should move your foot a little bit back?

(Gaudio) I’m going to try with that one. I never thought about that one before.

He is now ranked 201 and will finish inside the top 200 for the year and that is a great achievement from where he was at the start of the season. He can have a big off season and get the fitness side of things correct and then work from there, the serve is still his biggest liability, not just the footfaults. He doesn't have a big serve, so needs a high percentage and move it around, but the second serve will get pounded harder than a woman in a double anal porn scene by the better players. He still has a few events to play, maybe an early loss in Asuncion would be ok, then he can have a great time in Floripa (Florianopolis), which is Guga's town, fine beaches, good looking ladies, good courts, hehe.

As we are coming up to the end of the season, this part of the year is important and not just because of the races to the WTF aka (What The Fuck Did We Call it this for Championships) in London. Also at the lower end of the scale as to who will make the direct entry into the Aus Open and this is important for my tennis friends and I, it's not like it's a short trip to Australia, so they won't play unless in directly.
Dani Gimeno-Traver, the Valencia fan and man with no backhand, but cool guy won the Challenger in Tarragona to storm back in the top 100, he has modelled his game on Moya and yes that includes Moya's backhand. His serve is heavy kick and good forehand, but he has blown a lot of matches through an inability to close out matches. The Troicki farce at Wimbledon, where they needed miners helmets to see the ball, being one of the more memorable choke jobs. Thanks to Nathii for providing me the result of this final, while I was out and about.

Lucho Horna made the QFs in Montevideo losing to Gaudio, it has been a horrible year for him. He trained well over the off season, then hurt his foot and has been on the back foot ever since. He couldn't play singles for Peru in Davis Cup, after doing so much to get them into the World Group. Had a stop start season play a few tournaments then time off. One of the many low points of the year was the qualies at Roland Garros where he played the leather shorts wearing midget but pleasant individual Flavio Cipolla. Cipolla has the worst serve on tour, yes he can beat people with his unusual game, but the fact that Horna could not get a break point at all against the worst serve on tour, even allowing his poor returning skills. Yes, he couldn't return a phone call on his worst days, but this was bad. The lowest point was getting thrashed by Felder at home in Davis Cup and Peru got relegated so quickly after being in the World Group. Lucho said himself that was the worst match of his life playing for Peru, when something like this happens, it's not just about yourself, it's others who have been let down, hence the team aspect. He can try and play some matches this season, then train hard and make it back, he is good enough to do so, barring injury free, but he hasn't had a season like that in many years.

On a positive note, Peter Luczak who has been struggling of late, he is tired from a big season this year, good he is having some time off this week, will only have a few events now, then he can go home to Australia and play with the kids and train in the sand hills. He has reached a career high ranking of 64 this week, that is a great achievement to do it at this age and he has also proved some people in the Aussie establishment wrong after cutting him off this season.

Juan Martin del Potro stepping out of the shadows of the big 4

The end of the Grand Slam season at the US Open was a pleasant surprise in that the winner was not Roger Federer as it had been the previous 5 years, or Rafael Nadal and the perennial favourite Andy Murray who can't peak for the big events at this moment in time. Various media outlets and tennis commentators were proclaiming Andy Murray as the next Grand Slam winner, that the tower from Tandil was overlooked, though this will not be the case from now on.

Franco Davin has gone a great job with del Potro and this has not been praised enough, but he is a low key guy, which is perfect for del Potro who doesn't go for the histrionics and just plays the game. del Potro was stagnating under previous coach Infantino, but Davin was able to get his respect and started building the pieces of the del Potro game and it came to its wonderful conclusion during these two weeks.

The four tournament wins in a row in 2008 was the start of the success, then he qualified for the TMS Shanghai, which he should not have played after having a toe problem, which jeopardised the Argentine teams chances in the Davis Cup final and created a bad atmosphere in the team helping the loss, as he had to sit out the second day due to the injury.

After this negative experience, he has shown great aptitude in learning from defeats and the putting them into practice. He hadn't beaten Nadal before 2009, but has been able to do this three times in a row now, being able to impose his game on him and use his particular strengths to expose Nadal's weaknesses. The most important lessons were his Federer matches this year, he got donkey punched at the Aus Open and the last two sets were very poor form from him and got criticised for such a poor showing in the quarter finals. At Roland Garros he was able to outplay Federer for large parts of the match, which is something he had not been able to do previously, but he ran out of conditioning and Federer was able to expose him with the drop shots and physcially got the better of him.

During the North American season he played reasonably well, but went under the radar. The US Open triumph was well deserved, after the 3rd round match with Crazy Koellerer, which was very entertaining, he just progressed along efficiently and quietly. Then come the semis he gave Nadal a good beating, which is never a bad thing and the final with Federer. He was written off by most media pundits, commentators, thought he was just there to make up the numbers and did not have a serious chance of winning.

There are a few similarities with the last Argentine to win a Slam Gaston Gaudio. Both guys were coached by Davin, both had never won a TMS before their Slam titles, were big underdogs in their respective finals and also won a Slam in their first final. Though barring injuries or a severe loss of form then del Potro will make more Slam finals.

It will be interesting to see how he follows up this win. He has a lot to work on still, the volleying needs to improve, but he is working on this, the movement is something that can always improve, the endurance and strength. He has a very solid and unspectacular game, mechanically very good strokes, the type of game which he finds difficult to play against, a mixture of slow slices and changing the pace to get him of his rhythm is something he will have to adjust to, at the same time he is fortunate that many players don't play this type of game. Apart from the grass he has shown that he is capable on the other two surfaces.

Congratulations to Juan Martin del Potro on his first Grand Slam title defeating Nadal and Federer consecutively is impressive, but now it's time to celebrate for a few days and then face up to the next challenges.

The US Open the hoe of 5th set tiebreakers and Stupid Saturday

Well it's that time of the year. The US Open, the last Slam of the year, where things are done differently in New York. The innovators of the 3 day 1st round, where it can be a pain to follow who is playing when, yes there is a schedule button on their homepage, but it's easier top half plays one day and the other half play on the alternate day. In this case there is mix and matching between the sections, this along with Stupid Saturday and the 5th set tiebreaks combine to make this Slam unique, though in this case it doesn't make it better.

The qualifying rounds as usual were competitive and the final day had these possibilities of making the main draw. Kavcic, Koubek, Machado and Luczak getting through. All of them lost on the last day, but Pete got in as a LL, living up to the nickname Lucky. Kavcic and Koubek were beaten comfortably so that isn't so bad. Luczak lost to Yani and no not the Greek musician, but an American with a very flat game that is built for hardcourts. Machado had the clown perfomance of the day, he is on the flight to Como after such a shit showing. He lead a set and 5-3, but lost 4 games in a row to lose the 2nd set. Had a break in 3rd and lost 6-4.

Now onto the main draw, there are some good first round matches, though good is subjective depending on the view point.

The King will be playing Chubby Chela, good chance for the King though he might want to tank and party, whereas Chela is past his best and still trying to find form on the challenger circuit. The King winning and playing Hewitt would be fun stuff, though Chela will get the cash.

Blake has a great chance to make the 4th round, didn't exactly get a minefield playing first the "Sleeve Man" Ramirez-Hidalgo who is in New York for a holiday. Kunitsyn got Blake in Canada, but not sure "Mr Kremlin Cup" can win more than two matches outside of Russia. Polansky qualified for another main draw and has a good chance against GGL, the other seed is Boredo wooo.

Djokovic and Ljubicic one of the better first round matches, they get along well and are former training partners. Ljubo will be competitive, but he will get exposed on the forehand side and Djokovic shouldn't have too many problems in this section. Polaco Brzezicki making the MD on hardcourt good for him, though he plays a fellow qualifier Carsten Ball who with his big serve should get the cash.

The South Tyrolean beast Seppi plays Kohlschreiber, the Bavarian goes hot and cold, if he is on, then the winners are flowing, if not then there isn't too much variation in his game, just hope it doesn't go to a 5th set tiebreaker then Seppi has no chance.

His mate Bolelli plays Thunder Lips Stepanek, definitely one for the ladies, got a guy who can't return against one of the more tactically astute players who still hits a continental forehand.

Nieminen is back on tour and his second match on tour, though personally I think he should have taken some more time in coming back. He plays the Fog in the 1st round and hope somehow he can win that, not that the Fog is a better player, just not sure of the confidence that he has in the wrist.

Lucky Pete got the LL and he is up against Troicki, not sure how this will one go. The question will be whether Luczak can return enough of Troicki's serves. Viktor has an unusual looking game, but he has done well off the court, there are worse seeds that Luczak to have got.

Good to see the US Open doesn't care enough about Horacio Zeballos not to give him the right nationality or first name.



He has been the form player on the Challenger circuit and qualified easily, he has a good chance of defeating Michael"Best Smash in the game" Berrer, wonder if they will adjust his name.

Chilean derby with Massu and Gonzo, at least the Chilean fans will win in this one. Another local derby "the Tandil showdown" between del Potro and Monaco, these two have hit a lot together, and will know each others games inside out, but the firepower of del Potro will be enough here.

The Gooch and Cuevas another classic encounter with sexiness abound, too bad the Gooch didn't get Nadal instead.

Dani Koellerer will be up against fisker med Mardy Fish. Two combative cats, this needs to be a late night match with some drunk New Yorkers in the crowd will try and heckle Koellerer, he will love this shit, then the shenanigans will start.

Nadal and Gasquet, as for Nadal, well if he is not fit, then he shouldn't play at all. So once he takes the court, then all the bullshit excuses stop. He hasn't played that many matches by his standards, but he is able to play, therefore the wah wah he is injured is tired and old. He has a marshmallow soft section of the draw, good he has Gasquet in the 1st round, though Richie will be inspired to go for the lines and stand up closer to the baseline. Gasquet will hit a few flashy winners and we'll get the spiel about his undoubted talent, at the end of the day Nadal wins this.

As for papa Federer number 16 GS is on the way.

Partying in Båstad and there is a French gnome in Stuttgart, the land of spätzle and Mercedes

We have the fun summer clay events, as much as I like Båstad, there aren't going to be any fan reports from this event, unlike Stuttgart, so I will get the Båstad info out of the way first.

Situated in the southwest of Sweden Båstad is the tenniscentre of Sweden. Lots of rich Stockholmers with summer houses, plenty of parties and a good amount of tourists enjoy the place and the town is at its liveliest when this event is on.

The players get looked after, plenty of good looking women and not quite like the Dnepr Challenger in Ukraine which is famous and not for the natural scenery of the building kind.

Vinciguerra makes it back to the main tour. The qualie draw is seriously weak there, but good that the adopted Swede Luczak, Gimeno-Traver, Cañas and Starace made the main draw.

Onto Stuttgart, this is where we get fan reports and that is the best part, no propaganda here. They took their time in releasing the main draw, but when Koubek is the special wildcard, then this is understandable, as we all know Koubek is the man and not just for the yellow shorts either. Also in Stuttgart, there is Tomas Berdych coming back from a successful Davis Cup adventure in Ostrava. Then our reporter gets to drool over Santoro and it will be one of the last times to see the wily old fox play.

Acasuso will be happy to be on the clay, though the memories in Stuttgart are still there 2 sets to 1 and leading 5-1 in the final before losing it are still there, has a tough one against another ballbasher in Chardy. Lurch Hanescu won his his first rounder, he is an atypical Romanian, very introverted and a gentle giant, but he did the world a favour in taking Simon out of RG.

Best of all and most importantly his majesty Oscar Hernandez is there in Stuttgart, so all the lovers of spätzle, one of the best ever foods can appreciate the genius and flair of Hernandez, even if he doesn't win here, he wins at life.

Turkey Time

Wimbledon, well the only Slam that has the middle Sunday free, this might be a good or a bad thing, depending on whether you live near the courts or not, though in the alleged modern world, it's not like a major religious holiday, but at least it gives time to reflect on some things.

Better get the shit out of the way now. The Wimbledon organising committee are a bunch of clowns for the most part, seriously start matches on the outside courts at 11am, use some commonsense, especially when they are no lights on outside courts and start Centre court at noon. It's not like dew is going to be a problem at 11, then again this is asking too much. The matches suspended because of darkness would have better chances of completion Haas/Cilic starting an hour earlier, the South Tyrolean sex machines matches against Gicquel and Andreev. Gimeno-Traver's match against Dent, as for the WTA matches they should be moved to the Isle of Man.

Next point is the grass itself, it's a different kind of problem now to what they had in the horror days of the mid 90s, where the average rally point was 1,6 shots and it wasn't serve/volley tennis, it was just serving. It got to the point where they might as well started at the tiebreakers. The composition of the grass has been changed to be more durable and less slick than before, also the fact the balls are a lot slower are contributing to the amount of rallies seen now and it's not traditional grasscourt tennis. Has it gone too much the other way? It has, but that there has to be a compromise, a bit quicker wouldn't hurt the game, there is already too much homogenisation surface as it is.

The highlights so far Daniel Gimeno-Traver winning a match, he has the Moya gamestyle with a worse serve, too bad he has the Moya backhand, but he is a good guy. Very surprising he beat Dent on this surface, though Dent had a shocker, even then it should be good enough to win. Though DGT was in a lowlight as well, blowing a huge chance against Troicki up 4-2 40-15 on serve in the 5th set and blowing the match 7-5. He missed an easy volley and then a netcord went out for deuce, and Troicki took chances and they came off. It got too dark, Troicki was creating some antics "I cannot see, I cannot see", but hey he saw well enough to break serve.

Montañes making the 3rd round funny stuff. Leo Mayer has improved quite a bit from when I saw him personally and it's good to see, because del Potro is going to need some help in the future with Davis Cup, especially as Schwank is having a lot of problems at the moment.

Koubek once again fucks up a match, tactically played it the right way, but refused to knock off some easy volleys, though it was good that the battling Sela ended the Robredo nonsense.

Now to the last 16. Berdych has been playing well so far, but he has a fear of GS quarter finals. It won't be easy against Roddick, but they have never met on grass. Roddick loves the grass, it depends on how Berdych returns, has to be really on his game, if he does that, then he should be able to dominate the rallies, though with Berdych it's on instinct and mood. Hope he wins to prove me wrong.

Ferrero and Simon, big chance for JCF to make the quarters, he hasn't been able to back up big performances regularly. He did well to get out of the match with Fernando Gonzalez with a win, it was a hard fought match, but Gonzo had plenty of chances to take it and Ferrero took his.

Andreev in the 4th round of a grass Slam, haha that is some funny shit right there and he has nothing to lose against Haas who is the favourite here. Haas unlike Seppi has an effective slice backhand and should be able to use it to keep Andreev on the defensive and also make him hit the running forehand which is not the one that Andreev enjoys hitting. Would like this match to go to Andreev, but he has to get the serve working like he has so far in this event.

Hewitt will be too solid for sexy Stepanek, plenty of antics and facial expressions in this one. Murray and Stani, one plays a slightly disjointed but successful game and the other one hits tennis balls, the former isn't losing. Karlovic and Verdasco, someone has to win.

Federer will make Söderling a turkey tonight.

Andreas Seppi does tennis a favour

The grass isn't a favourite time of the year, but with the game on the surface changing, while not always for the better, though personally for myself it makes grass tennis better to watch.

Federer is looking for his 15th Slam title and hopefully he can it done here, so the whole Sampras record thing is buried and yes I will do a write up on the Basel boy, once he passes the record, then the Roland Garros thing can be mentioned in greater context.

So far at the big W, excellent win for the legend of South Tyrol Andreas Seppi over big James Blake. Seppi played an intelligent and thoughtful match, he was able to absorb the pace of the ballbashing from Blake, got him into backhand to backhand rallies, where he was going to be dominant in those. The key thing was that he served well throughout the match, and wasn't able to be exposed on the second serve, which is a liability. The calm nature helped in the 3rd set tiebreaker where Blake was up 5-0, but Seppi kept fighting, and was aggressive and got rewarded. Has an interesting match against Gicquel, has to take advantage of this draw.

Always a good day when Koubek wins, he won in 5 sets, doing it the hard way can be fun at times, but he needs to take out Robredo in the next round, he is not a grass lover, but Stefan will need to be aggressive and use his forehand angles to get Robredo out of court and then take control from there..

Gordo Calleri retires from tennis, but that will get a separate entry at another time.

King Oscar was in generous mood losing 15 games in a row against Leo "Aligator" Mayer, who isn't bad on grass, has the big serve and forehand, converted 6/6 break points in the first 2 sets hence the 6-0 6-0, but the King decided to play a little bit. though the grass is more useful for other things than playing tennis on.

Lucho's double partner Cuevas won a match at GS level and great comeback in defeating Chris Rochus 11-9 in the 5th set, of course as usual in the early round matches, there are never streams for the matches that are truly interesting. Good for Pablo and Dani Orsanic, who is a good coach and Pablo is good enough to be in the top 100, have to play well outside of Viña del Mar, has a big show against Jesse Levine in the next round.

Daniel Gimeno Traver had Taylor Dent in all sorts of problems, he won the first 2 sets, but was up a break in the 3rd and managed to lose 2 service games in a row to lose the 3rd set and play is suspended. It's a very difficult thing going to sleep, especially when you are in the lead and had chances to finish it in a day, then come back the next day to finish the match. That's part of the mental battle, it's now like another match starting from 0-0, and remembering what he did well in the match so far and implement that.

Robin Söderling saves Roland Garros

Good old Robin Söderling has saved Roland Garros, this might sound like hyperbole, but in reality it is justified due to the ridiculous level of dominance by Nadal on the Parisian clay. He had won 4 titles in a row going for a Borg record, but the man we like to call "the Toad" stopped it. The fact that is was from such a surprising individual made the win even better and it made worldwide headlines as one of the first stories in the global news. The result has created such a buzz around the event which hasn't been seen for years, this coming upon Novak Djokovic's defeat against Phillip Kohlschreiber in the previous round.


What makes it even better is that Söderling and Nadal aren't exactly friendly with each other, a bit of spice is never a bad thing. Söderling is very direct and calls it how he sees it, he isn't there to make friends. Nadal's comments after the match were definitely not in the image of a gracious loser, that is usually the way with him.

Here is the classic imitation of Nadal's timewasting rituals in between points





Onto Nadal's complaints about hitting the ball short. Well there were some good reasons for this, a guy called Söderling playing aggressive and attacking tennis, using his serve well to open the court up. Once he was able to do that, then he pounded his forehand and attacked Nadal's forehand, while it's a great weapon, a player has to go there to get short replies, but it has to be done with power and precision. The Toad was able to do this and as he was able to put pression on Nadal and rushing him, therefore leading Nadal to hit shorter replies and Söderling was able to punish these short balls with the contempt they deserved.

Söderling established the pattern, but the real question was whether he was able to implement the plan for the whole match. He had a few lapses in concentration, but was in control of his own destiny, through his aggressive play. The thing with Söderling is the talent has never been in question, but the mental application has as he has had meltdowns in the past and major ones, but working with Norman has changed that. It was a great result for tennis that Söderling won this match and apart from Nadal fans or people without perspective, will see the atmosphere and anticipation that it has created around the event.

Interview





Now onto to the other 7 players left in the quarter finals.

Davydenko : He has been under the radar even more than usual. An underrated player when he is playing very well, lightning fast footwork and very crisp timing on the groundies which rush the opponent into error, as he cuts down their time. He does have the odd problem on serve and if he is off, he can be quite off. He has been impressive in his last two matches against Wawrinka and especially against Verdasco, where he showed his limitations off. Interesting match with the Toad next, he has struggled against him in the past, but he has won a GS quarter final, whereas Söderling hasn't.

Murray : Highest seed in the section, but probably the weakest claycourter out of the four. Has had a good event and the last start against Cilic was a very solid showing, he has improved all round and listening to Corretja has helped his game. Yes, he some glaring weaknesses on the clay, but they are harder to expose, as he has improved his overall game. Cilic made some dumb errors in the first 2 sets at vital moments, but the best players step up when needed and this is the group Murray belongs to. Had an escape against Starace, but that isn't a bad thing. Gonzalez will love his chances on this surface against Murray, but if he is badly off, then Dunblane will chop him.

Gonzalez : Easy so far for him, dispatched the players easily as he should have. The forehand is awesome and even the backhand is stepping up to the plate, but with Murray that side is going to come under a lot of pressure. Gonzo has the weapons to exploit Murray on clay. The serve while not quick, he gets quality angles on it and if he gets a high percentage in, then he can open the court up and run Murray around with the forehand that is overloaded with spin and pace.

The bottom half matches, well Federer was so tight against Haas, it was horrible to watch, but he was able to get through in 5 sets from 2 sets down, while not playing well at all. The pressure is really on him, as this is his great chance to win the only GS he hasn't. Interestingly there has been a press ban by the Federer camp, so only interviews he will give are the usual press conferences and the on court interview,

Monfils and Roddick : This was a highly entertaining match that started very late, due to the chicks going late. First decent player Roddick has played and Monfils isn't losing to Roddick on clay, unless severely injured. Monfils looked comfortable in this match, defending well as he usually does, hitting the odd aggressive shot, he was able to convert his break point chances whereas Roddick didn't have a great rate. As the weather got darker, so did Roddick's mood and he was playing to try and get the match suspended due to darkness. Roddick was bitching to the umpire Enric Molina saying "what was it like when the match started and what is it like now"? Tournament referee McEwan was there as well keeping an eye on things, as the changeover came to an end. Monfils walked past with a big smirk on his face laughing at Roddick. Then when he turned around, Roddick mouthed off and said "you're not that good to be that cocky". I think that is what is known as the pot calling the kettle black. Monfils dropped his bundle for a short time, he got it back together and was able to run the match out in straight sets before the darkness set in.

Tandil man del Potro too steady for Tsonga, still lacks variation big time, but his one dimension is good. His opponent is Boredo, so for the good of the game del Potro needs to win this one.

Great that Söderling, the most unlikely of people to beat Nadal has breathed life into this event again.

Gaston Gaudio returns to the winner circle in Tunis

This is an interesting entry, because personally I didn't think that I would be writing something like this after a short period of time. Gaston Gaudio returned to the winners circle for the first time in 4 years, by winning the Tunis Challenger, which is one of the larger Challenger events in terms of ranking points. He defeated Frederico "Gilberto" Gil in the final, who is top 100 now and has been in good form all season. The toughest match of the week was the second rounder against "How Now" Björn Phau where he was down 3-1 and 4-2 in the 3rd set, but luckily was able to break at will and then served it out.

Once he got through that, the weight on the shoulders seemed to be lifted, as he made cassoulet out of Sidorenko for the loss of 2 games in the quarter finals. He played a very solid match, good serving, not much short stuff when it came to length and controlled everything. The semi with Nieminen he continued with the good form, though it was very disappointing that Nieminen had a major problem with the wrist. The readers and myself wish him a speedy recovery, as he is one of the nicest guys on the circuit, a fair sportsman and generally a decent individual.

The final, well like many matches, there were a few key moments and the main two involved Gaudio service games. The first service game of the match, went to a few deuces, and Gaudio had to save break points, once he did that, he was able to settle down into his rhythm and then break Gil straight away and played quality clay tennis with good length, using the angles to get Gil moving and then hitting winners with the backhand. The second set Gil stepped it up and Gaudio had a lapse of concentration and was punished for it, and Gil took the set easy, while Gaudio was preparing for the 3rd set.

Both guys played clownish service games at the start, both served 2 double faults in their games for 1-1, then Gaudio held a big game to take a 2-1 lead saving 4 break points, one with an ace and another dropshot. Gaudio fixed the serving problems to an extent, was able to place it better and then take a more offensive position on the baseline to limit Gil's aggression, but Gil was fighting hard and trying to be more aggressive. The vital break came at 4-3, it was combination of some poor play from Gil and quality groundies from Gaudio lead to the break. Gaston doesn't have a great record in serving out matches, but after going down 0-30 and was able to do it after the 2nd match point, to surprisingly win this event.

What to make of this result. Well, Gaudio has played a few events already with the benefit of wildcards. Interestingly enough this was his first challenger event and he won it, this is the path that he should have taken originally, apart from the Buenos Aires event. Got to play matches to get the match practice and it's easier to achieve this at Challenger level than on the main tour, at the same time playing on the main tour, he had some good performances considering where he came from and this was able to give an indication of where he was at. Winning this challenger, should give him greater confidence and hopefully the organisers will give the man a wildcard to Roland Garros and he can keep doing well in the events leading into Paris, where he can hopefully win a match.

Interesting twist that his great rival Guillermo Coria retired from tennis in the last week, he hasn't been the same since 2005 and Gaudio won an event, I wonder if this helped him, that is unless the individual believes in conspiracy theories.

Lionel Messi, Gaudi Barcelona Preview and hopefully fan reports from the venue

This week we move to one of my favourite events on the calendar the Godo Barcelona Open. Sure Tiriac the mafia don managed to get a TMS for Madrid, more on that later, but this event is held in the spiritual home of Spanish tennis in Barcelona, so many players learned their craft at this club and many great winners of the event. It’s a tennis club and not a multi purpose venue and for people calling for Nadal to remove this from his schedule, are pissing in the wind, the conditions are favourable, he feels at home there and it also helps his preparation for RG domination.

Now onto to the event itself, the Bye continues his strong work ethic and is enjoying life on La Rambla. The qualifying field was quite strong this time. The warrior Lapentti coming through qualifying for Monte Carlo losing on Friday, then playing qualies here, knocked out Cuevas in 3 sets of course, running away with the last one 6-0. Pere Riba takes out Massu 4 and 4, he must have had a good serving day. Daniel Gimeno-Traver been taken to 3 sets by Bohli, not so good, but the result counts. Kuku the Kazak is back again and hope he makes the MD.

No need to comment too much more on Nadal as he will win the event. Onto the other matches, this will be done on order of the draw down. Gasquet is allegedly playing this event and he got a very kind section playing Hernych with his flat game and the only way Chris Rochus or Devilder would beat him, if Gasquet is injured or he withdraws. Richie getting another pummelling on clay from Rafa, not sure what it would to do the psyche of Mozart.

Next section is the one with el cabezon Almagro, Ferrero and Nalbandian, there are some potential good matches here. Almagro needs to lift his game and Hanescu isn't the best or worst match for him, then Chela or ballbashing Bellucci in the next round. Bellucci sometimes should take a bit of pace off the shots now and then, he will get short replies and then work from there. Ferrero playing Kunitsyn is good 1st rounder for him, then with Nalle anything can happen. He might turn up to play or not give a shit.

Davydenko doesn't have a great record here, but he showed some good signs in his comeback match and potentially a Cañas match would be good for him, as he will get to hit plenty of shots and gain his groove, as he loves playing events to get him into his rhythm. Willy has been average of late, but at least he won 2 matches in a row in Houston and Clement is far from the worst draw. Speaking of poor form the friendly Finn Nieminen needs to get back on track and playing LaLo on clay is always a good place to do it. Hope he gets heckled because he is a cat who deserves heckling all the time.

Gaudio got a WC to the main draw, they haven't forgotten that great display of tennis in 2002 where he was on fire and won the event, then the final in 2004, where he lost to Boredo in very dodgy circumstances. History might repeat itself, because Gaston got Junquiera in the 1st round, who is very beatable, but at the same time Gaston not playing matches and getting proper match conditioning won't help at all. It would be fun if he won, then I wonder if Robredo would feel the need to make a medical timeout for a massage when serving for a match. Tommy, one of the last people to criticise anyone for sportsmanship.

Seppi who is having a poor year playing big Andreev, who he doesn't have a great record against. Acasuso is having some back issues, but has played well here before, playing Sela on clay should be the right match for him, then playing Gonzo who is a bit cold on the clay, might give him some momentum, though he matches up poorly there.

Berdych (who will be the subject of a write up next week) is still his inconsistent self, he could easily thrash Vassallo Arguello or lose handily as Martin has improved in the last 2 seasons and had a good week in Monte Carlo, saving match points against Andreev, then serving for the match against Wawrinka. What ifs are just that, but Vassallo Arguello in a TMS semi would be interesting to say the least.

The King and Schwank will get the pulses ready for the ladies of Barcelona. Oscar needs to perform well in front of his friends and family and this is a good chance for him against Schwank whose form and confidence have gone quicker than free vodka shots. He has some points to defend as well, but that doesn't matter so much, if the mental side of things aren't right and they can be in many different guises, then it's going to impact on their play.

To finish up Pico Monaco playing former champ Safin in the first round on paper looks like the match of the round, things don't always work out like that and it would be good for Monaco to take out Mr.Wildcard.

Monte Carlo the beginning of the destruction by Nadal ( Possible fan reports)

Yes, it's that time of year again, which used to be so fun, but is not the case anymore for a multitude of reasons, which will be explained later or maybe explanation isn't the right word. I wasn't sure whether to do a preview of Monte Carlo or not, mainly because we already know the winner of the event, so this will mean that other possibilities have to be found before the ending which will be more predictable than a Hollywood movie.

The clay season only exists in name, because the utter and total domination by Nadal has rendered it almost useless. He is so far ahead of everyone else at the moment, it's not funny. Yes, it has helped that any potential competition for him Kuerten, Ferrero, Coria, Gaudio have all disappeared, when you have Ferrero who won his first tournament since 2003 in Casachallenger last week, it doesn't say much. Then you have guys Andreev who has the game, but not the execution, Almagro seems to have stagnated and worships Nadal, no chance there. Ferrer is brave, but not at his top level. Del Potro just a hardcourter who can play on clay, but when it gets tough, he will go missing. In fact Berdych just has much chance as the others and that isn't saying so much. Should they just not turn up to the event, well of course not, but it doesn't look good.

Decline will set in, but the question is when. Considering that art of claycourt tennis isn't really around anymore, due to the homogenisation of surface speeds, that players are able to play their hardcourt games on clay for the most part. To see that Federer has been the second best player for years on clay highlights how the game has changed on clay and not for the better either. Yes, without a doubt for an attacking player he is good on the surface this is clear enough, but his backhand just gets worked over and over by Nadal and it breaks like an egg when you make an omelette, the previous generation of guys hit heavy off both sides and Federer wouldn't be getting anything under shoulder high from guys like Bruguera, Corretja. The game has changed and has been taken advantage of, but numbers can only reveal so much.

Onto Federer, it was very poor form for him to take a WC here. He should just have committed to the event, then again he must have got some good money and also thinking about the possibility of ranking points as well, that he would lose. It's time for him to focus on winning Slams, if he gets the number 1 ranking back great, if not, then no less. play well and win then the ranking looks after itself. Lucky, I am not the Tournament Director, he'd have got a wildcard into the qualies only.

Now the event itself. The King will be first on court and the Monegasque ladies, might forget about walking their poodles and hanging out with the George Hamilton types with the huge suntan and the grey hair. Nico Lapentti qualified and always good to see the Ecuadorian still around the tour and he plays sexy Stepanek, there will be many slices, dropshots and court craft on show there. Seppi will need to be on his best game against Melzer, both aren't in great form, but the South Tyrolean legend needs some wins and if he does I get to see him play Federer on TV, though he must be sick of seeing him on the other side of the net, would love it if he won, but dreams are free.

As for the hopes of this event, at least some interesting early round matches, because last years clay season, especially with the events that Nadal played were more painful than root canal surgery without anaesthetic.

Andreas Vinciguerra making a comeback to the tour. The King hands down a royal beatdown

Time for another entry, it has been too long in coming, some of this news maybe already known and some of it not, so just read what you think is relevant. In other words, it could read as some random comments, but here goes.

Thanks to everyone who read the Peter Luczak interview, it was great to read the comments and it was very much appreciated. It was a great interview to do and hopefully I can get some more subjects during the year, though I don't expect them to all go like that. On the Luczak front, he and his wife Catarina welcomed their second child, so now Seb has a sister. He will now return t the tour in France next week and is 2nd alternate in Athens the week after. He was just getting some match practice as well before the break, but some things are more important than ranking points.

Lucho Horna another blogger favourite, finally won 2 matches in a row for the first time this year in Barletta. He has had a difficult time since coming back from his injury problems, it's the old classic chicken and the egg. A player needs to play and win matches to get confidence, but losing early, then can ebb away at the confidence, it only needs a good result somewhere and that can do wonders for the mental state. Horna is in a strange position, where last season he had great success in the doubles, while this is good, he considers himself a singles player and his results in singles were spasmodic at best. He did his usual beat a top 10 player routine, he has an excellent record when playing top 10 players, but hasn't been able to consolidate on it. He does have a lot of injury problems, not say like Massa or Russell for example, but more the annoying ones that keep him out for a month at a time, and don't allow any momentum to build up. When a guy like Bobby Reynolds is in the top 100, then Horna should be there.

Speaking of Americans. Michael Russell made a good move in playing the qualies of Indian Wells and Miami, even better that he made the main draw of both. He has played well in Indian Wells in the past, there is a bit of altitude, but it's far from quick. He won his 1st match and then lost to Tursunov in three which was a bit disappointing, nothing against Tursunov. It's that he would have played Nadal and it would have given me a reason to watch a Nadal match, not that the result matters. Russ took out Lurch Hanescu in Miami and now plays the "panther" Monfils, they had a tight one a few years ago at the US Open, anything can happen in a Monfils match. Russell has to concentrate on the ball and not the Monfils shenanigans. All small steps so

Miami had some interesting results last night, which is good for the game, considering the clay season coming up, which will be even more obvious that sun rises in the east, that as long as Nadal is breathing, he is going to be dominating the clay season, which renders it almost useless except for the events he isn't playing, but that's another entry.


Best result of Miami was "King Oscar" Hernandez defeating Ljubicic 6-4 6-4, the Latino community appreciate the King, he makes Tony Montana look like a block of wood when it comes to the charisma department. There have been no reports of Oscar saying to Ljubo "you are so bad", though there would be some nutty Croatians, who want to nail Ljubo's balls to a wall, of course they forget that he carried Croatia to a Davis Cup win, something Argentina hasn't been able to do as of yet.

Gaston Gaudio who has a place in Miami decided to play qualies and lost after having a match point against Korolev. He has been playing quite well since his comeback, though he hasn't been getting the results. He used to serve a few foot faults, but the problem does seem to be quite entrenched, sure he could move back from the line a few centimetres. It's not like he is going to get a great advantage with the serve, though Gaston dances to his own tune and this is not a bad thing at times. He has got a wildcard for Houston qualies, he should be grinding out in the challengers trying to get match practice that way, getting a WC and not winning matches results in 0 pointers, at the same time he can save his protected ranking. I would love to see him at Roland Garros, but there needs to be some significant improvement.

To finish, there is an update on Andreas Vinciguerra and it's good news. It was a big surprise that Wilander called him up for Davis Cup in Malmö after not playing for 2 years due to various knee problems. Sadly for him he lost both of his matches in 5 sets against Sela and Levy, the fact he got so close after so long out, says a lot about his ability, though the lack of matches cost him in this situation. A player can have all of the off court training, but that doesn't replicate playing matches. He is in good spirits and is going to play some Challengers shortly, just hope his body can hold up. He has a protected ranking and will use this for some of the events, of course he has a guaranteed wild card to Båstad, as long as he is fit enough to play, this is the key, the ability is still there.