Yay, there is going to be an extra Aus Open entry, which fills me with glee and somehow this thing comes together. It will be random thoughts on the latter round matches that I watched, though not in the greatest detail, though the necessary points will be made.
Almagro vs. Ljubicic
There are always matches that can split fans in two, sometimes because you both love them and other times cause you dislike them both, that neither progresses through to the next round.
The Ljubo/Almagro match is a case of the former for the woman known as Peta or Petea in Romanian. The match was close enough, in the 1st set there were few chances, but Ljubo plays a sloppy 10th game and gets broken for the set.
It’s good watching these guys at close level, especially for their backhands and serves. Ljubo is definitely not moving well these days, not that he was Usain Bolt beforehand. It’s just easier to see it now and needs his serve even more to cover this weakness. Big Head is moving a lot better, but shot selection will never his strength.
This match was decided in the 2nd set in the tiebreaker. Which Ljubo had the advantage, but the old problem on the forehand where he gets too close to the ball and smothers it when he is coming over the shot, proved to be the weakness again. Almagro was able to take the tiebreaker and run out the match comfortably.
Berdych vs. Gasquet
Poor Gasquet, yes he was poor in this match. At least the ridiculous overhype seems to have stopped about him now, more like the fact that he is wasted talent and other labels.
It’s not his fault, that these expectations were so high. The French media still looking for that hero that can win a Grand Slam title, then the backhand which gets drooled over and yes it’s better than Federer’s. The other problems are too big, the forehand and most of all the mentality.
Berdych after a tight couple of games in the 1st set was able to dominate this match with clean hitting and in reality Gasquet was the gimp while Berdych was the dominator. The Berdman has such sweet timing on the ball, yes he lacks variety at times and this can be exposed by the best players, though this was a solid performance.
Robredo vs. Stakhovsky
Stakhi took the 1st set, but sadly was making too many errors against Boredo who kept doing what he does. Running, getting the ball back, a bit more running and his usual bullshit antics, more on that on the next paragraph. Stakhovsky had chances and was pressing, but the winner to unforced error rate was too poor to trouble Robredo in this match.
Onto the Boredo antics, which make him such a loved figure, though not as much as say Spadea, Pashanski or Koellerer. At the change of ends, Boredo decides to call Stakhovsky “puto da madre”, thinking the Ukrainian wouldn’t understand it. Stakh understands and says “say that again and I’ll break your neck”. Too bad he didn’t say it again, sure Stakhovsky would have got a suspension, but he wouldn’t have to buy a drink for the rest of his life.
Isner vs. Cilic
Classic match here, well depends on how you define classic of course. Isner, I still remember when he played Santoro a few years ago at the AO, fuck that was ugly. He was playing baseball hitting the back fence, if not then it was bouncing three times before it reached the net.
Cilic does look like “Sam the Eagle” and Isner has improved since that funny day. It was a close match for sure, but it was good that Cilic got over the line in this one, he is the superior player whereas Isner is the serious server.
Big John will always be remembered no matter what he does in the tennis world after the 70-68 at Wimbledon and he was the crowd favourite.
Raonic vs. Youzhny
Big Raonic with “El Caballo” Galo Blanco in his corner continued his great run with an excellent win over the Colonel. The 1st set was tight, but the Colonel did the cardinal sin when playing a massive server, when they are on. Not concentrating fully, getting broken once and losing the set.
The next 3 sets were a mix of big serving from Raonic, some good groundies as well. The most annoying thing about this match was that the Colonel broke regularly in the last 3 sets, he just dropped serve pretty much straight away on all occasions, so it was a bit like a WTA match in that way.
Huge future for Raonic, as long as he works hard, doesn’t have too many injury problems and have the same mentality he does now. His talent is easily comparable to Isner and Querrey, just need to be patient with the development.
Ferrer vs. Berankis
Berankis got a lesson in this match, this is what he needs to learn and improve upon to make it to the top 10 in the future.
Ferrer was returning Berankis serve easily and once they were able to get into the rallies. Ferrer wasn’t missing at all, and forcing Berankis into error. After the 1st set, Berankis didn’t believe he had a chance and it showed in his play and Ferrer made sure there were no opportunities for him.
Round 4
Roddick vs. Wawrinka
Best match of the tournament for me, not because of the quality of play more the murderation of Roddick the fraud in this match was too funny.
Peter Lundgren has worked well with Stani so far, he still needs the long hair to come back. The old metal look was much better for Peter. Wawrinka played him perfectly, he managed to block returns which is something that he is not known for, but it was the commonsense approach.
Once Wawrinka was able to use the pace of the Roddick serve and get into a neutral position to start the rallies, then he was able to use his superior groundstrokes, especially on the backhand side.
Also Wawrinka outaced Roddick and it wasn’t close, this in addition to killing Rawdick from the baseline lead to the murderation in straight sets. Roddick didn’t even have time to stick around for the poker tournament at Crown, as he had a 9am drop off at the airport, hehe.
Never a bad day when Rawdick loses.
Berdych vs. Verdasco
The Berdych Army were out in force as usual, which is always a good thing as they provide colour to the crowd with good chants, plus also Tomas appreciates the support.
He continued on his good form in this match and really sodomised Verdasco in this match. Usually when there is sodomy around and Verdasco is involved then LaLo isn’t too far away
Berdych was on his game again, clean hitting from both sides and he was serving well. He was able to impose his game on Verdasco and this match didn’t last long. Good old Verdasco he has maximised his abilities on court, though not off court.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Yes, the tournament is almost over, but there are still reports that need typing
Not sure how to write this report, well starting with something called words would be a good start. Think it will be done in two parts. The overdue match reports, so they will be done in chronological order and the final overview with the people that helped me, who I met and appreciate who make the Aus Open an excellent experience for me. In other words the second part will be so saccharine sweet, that your teeth will fall out.
Round 2
Monaco vs. Haase
This was going to be an interesting match between two players of contrasting styles. Monaco with the strong work ethic and not many major weapons, whereas Haase has a big game when it’s on.
The match panned out as expected with Haase attempting to be aggressive with the serve and groundies, whereas Monaco was defending and using his forehand when he could to gain the upper hand.
Haase broke to take the first set and the pattern was similar in the second with Haase being more offensive and taking his chances whereas Monaco wasn’t able to create many opportunities. When he did he wasn’t able to take them.
Monaco made more balls in the court in the 3rd set and Haase has a concentration lapse, which Monaco takes advantage of to take the set. Any thoughts of a 2 sets down to 0 comeback which Monaco made against Llodra, was closed very quickly as Haase raced off to a 4-0 lead and held the momentum through the day.
Better attacking player got through in this match and coach Mariano Zabaleta is still awesome, though smoking in the front row is a bit naughty.
Malisse vs. Montañes
The betting markets had Malisse quite short in this match, bit too short in my eyes. Then again this is why they are bookies and I am not. Montañes might have had some injury problems, but he isn’t the hardcourt hack like he used to be a few years ago.
Match was out on Court 7 which was reasonably full and not just full of Belgians. Fat Albert should have a strong female fan base, then again who can tell these days, there are people that believe Justin Bieber is talented.
The match started off with a few breaks of serve, which is not surprising at all, since they aren’t known for their serves. Montañes running as usual, trying to use his off forehand and Malisse moving the ball around with effortless timing.
After the 1st set, then it was just ugly, unless you love Malisse and hate Montañes. Not sure what to say in this one then and still not sure now. Malisse played very well and was in a good mood, but not that good that he could chop Fat Albert after the loss of only 1 game. It was a mix of excellent play from Malisse and rubbish from Montañes, who looks underdone at the moment. Albert will come back better in the South American clay season, though it’s good to see Malisse in the 3rd round of a Slam, should get another year of singles on tour at least.
Almagro vs. Andreev
Big Igor and Big Head have had some very tough matches in the past and this was no different. Definitely not one for the people that like finesse, tactics or other fancy stuff in their tennis.
Didn’t get to see all of this, but managed to see the last 3 sets. Andreev was serving well and able to keep Almagro off balance and expose the poor footwork he has at times. Have to say for old Big Head he has shed some extra kilos, seems Perlas has got through to him, but the head is still massive.
Andreev was not hitting as many forehands as usual down to 97% instead of the usual 99%, he was able to get them high to Almagro’s backhand. When they were short Big Head was able to put them away, though both of them defended quite well.
The 4th set tiebreaker where Andreev had 2 match points, it’s difficult for him at the moment as he was not in any decent form last year for a long time. Like anything losing becomes a habit, he was lucky he drew Volandri in the 1st round as that is a bye to the next round on a hardcourt. Staying in the moment and playing the ball on its merits, instead of thinking about the potential consequences is one of the games greatest challenges and something the great players do easily.
When it came down to it Andreev couldn’t hit the backhand when he needed to on those points, it’s a common theme that the weaknesses are the ones that get tested in crunch times. Mucho was able to take into a 5th set, which looked over for him once Andreev got the break in the 5th. However the oldest rule in tennis was failed in this case, it’s not a break of serve unless it’s held straight away, this was not the case here.
As the match went on, Almagro had the confidence and was playing better than Andreev not making as many errors and had the belief where he could win, whereas Andreev looked like he hoped he could win. Very tough loss for Andreev in these circumstances, but Big Head has improved his hardcourt form over the years, especially since losing to the character known as Bobby Reynolds in Melbourne a few years ago.
Kavcic vs. Youzhny
After the excellent win in the 1st round for Blaz he was up against the 10th seed Colonel Mikhail Youzhny. Not the easiest second round match to have. Feliciano Lopez would have been, though the thought of having sit through a match with LaLo winning against someone I like would be too much at this given time.
Youzhny hasn’t had the best preparation for this event. The injuries towards the end of the last year, plus he goes through periods where he is just off form, though at the start of the match this was not the case.
It’s interesting watching these top guys on outside courts and Youzhny with his timing initially was great to watch. He was using his backhand well, in the backhand to backhand to exchanges. The Colonel with military precision would change the direction when the time was right, then throw in some excellent dropshots which would catch Kavcic out a lot of the time.
The extra class was showing in this match with Colonel taking the 1st set, while Kavcic improved in the 2nd, the pattern remained that Youzhny served well enough to keep Kavcic off balance and then dominate the rallies. One of the shots of the tournament was on Youzhny’s set point in the 2nd set. There was an extended rally with Kavcic able to take advantage, he comes to the net, then Youzhny hits a between the legs lob winner, which Kavcic had a play on and decides to let go and it fell in.
Youzhny has been known to have his lapses in matches, amongst the circle we call him the “4 set specialist”. He’ll usually drop a set somewhere along the line where he shouldn’t but still get out of the match, it was a surprise it didn’t happen against Ilhan. Kavcic as usual was fighting hard and the Colonel wasn’t making as many serves as before. Kavcic is able to make the most of the chances that came his way and take the 3rd set.
Still had the feeling that the Colonel was going to run this out in 4 sets. He starts get pissed off, no chance of seeing the blood from the head though. Old Boris Sobkin, who has been with Youzhny for so long, starts copping the abuse from Misha. It helps having Russian speakers nearby. “I can’t make a fucking ball cross court”. This is the case, he is missing shots and Kavcic who has the problem that he plays aggressively when he is behind in the match and too passive when he has break points. But at the moment so far he is winning that battle and took the 4th set.
The air of upset is a possibility, but the turning point in this match was at 2-1* Kavcic serving. He was struggling very hard, mostly because Kavcic couldn’t make enough first serves and relying on his very weak 2nd delivery. The game went for over 10+ minutes, but sorry the photographic memory broke down and can’t remember the exact time of the game.
At Kavcic’s game point, there was a slow ball hit and Kavcic doesn’t play it because it’s out. I didn’t see it at the time, but saw it later and he was right. There was no overrule from Pascal Maria and Kavcic was going crazy at the lack of overrule. This impacted on him and the Colonel was able to break serve and the extra experience and class carried him to victory in this match.
Voinea has done an excellent job so far with Kavcic and hope they stay together for some time, as there are possibilities if he can improve the serve, get some leg drive into it and not throw it so far out into the court. He can stay in the top 100 for a while. Sure he got a bad call, but got to stay in the moment and just play the ball and not dwell on the past. This happened in this match, but he fought well during the qualies and into the main draw.
Pascal "the Peacock" Maria came up to me after the match and asked me if I knew where Voinea was. I said I didn't know at all, he wasn't happy at all with the spray Kavcic gave him at the end of the match and during the bad call.
Seppi vs. Tsonga
Didn’t get to see any of this match, though since Seppi lost maybe it was a good thing. My friend was there and said Seppi had a chance in the TB, where he was up a mini break, though nothing is ever easy with Seppi. He would have to play very well, take his chances and Tsonga wasn’t too off on this match. The fact that Seppi doesn’t have many weapons and this was the case here against Baby Ali.
Russell vs. Ferrer
This one had the potential to be quite a long match, though the reality was different. In the words of the man himself Mikey, he made a rookie mistake. As he was next match on after the Cilic/Giraldo match, which had been to a long 2nd set tiebreaker. Russell decided to carbo load naturally believing that his match with Ferrer was going to involve a lot of running and energy reserves were needed.
Like all plans, there are hitches and the fact that Cilic thumped Giraldo 6-0 in the last set, and he was on quicker than he planned. This meant that he was even more behind the eight ball before than he was at the start of the match. Ferrer was playing his usual solid game, whereas as Russell spent the first 2 sets digesting the food, making errors and worked over.
In the 3rd set which was definitely more competitive, though this was not hard and was more of what was expected in this match. Lots of running, grinding, but the main difference is that Ferrer is a younger, fitter version of Russell, who didn’t have the guns to take out Ferrer. At the moment Ferrer isn’t far off his top 5 form, definitely these two have made the most of their ability.
Nalbandian vs. Berankis
Nalle looked even more disinterested than usual. Berankis was playing quite well and as long as he works hard, doesn’t get too cocky then he has a good future in the game. The fact for a midget, he has a very solid serve which can win him free points which is a major advantage he has over players of a similar height, while he moves as well as the other shorter players.
Berankis takes the first easily and Nalle can hardly move at all. Then not long into the 2nd set, he decides to pull the pin which was disappointing but expected, disappointing after he did the tennis world a favour and took out Hewitt.
It’s the classic Nalbandian in reality, he has a lot of soft issue injuries and no I am not referring to his mid section as soft.
Round 2
Monaco vs. Haase
This was going to be an interesting match between two players of contrasting styles. Monaco with the strong work ethic and not many major weapons, whereas Haase has a big game when it’s on.
The match panned out as expected with Haase attempting to be aggressive with the serve and groundies, whereas Monaco was defending and using his forehand when he could to gain the upper hand.
Haase broke to take the first set and the pattern was similar in the second with Haase being more offensive and taking his chances whereas Monaco wasn’t able to create many opportunities. When he did he wasn’t able to take them.
Monaco made more balls in the court in the 3rd set and Haase has a concentration lapse, which Monaco takes advantage of to take the set. Any thoughts of a 2 sets down to 0 comeback which Monaco made against Llodra, was closed very quickly as Haase raced off to a 4-0 lead and held the momentum through the day.
Better attacking player got through in this match and coach Mariano Zabaleta is still awesome, though smoking in the front row is a bit naughty.
Malisse vs. Montañes
The betting markets had Malisse quite short in this match, bit too short in my eyes. Then again this is why they are bookies and I am not. Montañes might have had some injury problems, but he isn’t the hardcourt hack like he used to be a few years ago.
Match was out on Court 7 which was reasonably full and not just full of Belgians. Fat Albert should have a strong female fan base, then again who can tell these days, there are people that believe Justin Bieber is talented.
The match started off with a few breaks of serve, which is not surprising at all, since they aren’t known for their serves. Montañes running as usual, trying to use his off forehand and Malisse moving the ball around with effortless timing.
After the 1st set, then it was just ugly, unless you love Malisse and hate Montañes. Not sure what to say in this one then and still not sure now. Malisse played very well and was in a good mood, but not that good that he could chop Fat Albert after the loss of only 1 game. It was a mix of excellent play from Malisse and rubbish from Montañes, who looks underdone at the moment. Albert will come back better in the South American clay season, though it’s good to see Malisse in the 3rd round of a Slam, should get another year of singles on tour at least.
Almagro vs. Andreev
Big Igor and Big Head have had some very tough matches in the past and this was no different. Definitely not one for the people that like finesse, tactics or other fancy stuff in their tennis.
Didn’t get to see all of this, but managed to see the last 3 sets. Andreev was serving well and able to keep Almagro off balance and expose the poor footwork he has at times. Have to say for old Big Head he has shed some extra kilos, seems Perlas has got through to him, but the head is still massive.
Andreev was not hitting as many forehands as usual down to 97% instead of the usual 99%, he was able to get them high to Almagro’s backhand. When they were short Big Head was able to put them away, though both of them defended quite well.
The 4th set tiebreaker where Andreev had 2 match points, it’s difficult for him at the moment as he was not in any decent form last year for a long time. Like anything losing becomes a habit, he was lucky he drew Volandri in the 1st round as that is a bye to the next round on a hardcourt. Staying in the moment and playing the ball on its merits, instead of thinking about the potential consequences is one of the games greatest challenges and something the great players do easily.
When it came down to it Andreev couldn’t hit the backhand when he needed to on those points, it’s a common theme that the weaknesses are the ones that get tested in crunch times. Mucho was able to take into a 5th set, which looked over for him once Andreev got the break in the 5th. However the oldest rule in tennis was failed in this case, it’s not a break of serve unless it’s held straight away, this was not the case here.
As the match went on, Almagro had the confidence and was playing better than Andreev not making as many errors and had the belief where he could win, whereas Andreev looked like he hoped he could win. Very tough loss for Andreev in these circumstances, but Big Head has improved his hardcourt form over the years, especially since losing to the character known as Bobby Reynolds in Melbourne a few years ago.
Kavcic vs. Youzhny
After the excellent win in the 1st round for Blaz he was up against the 10th seed Colonel Mikhail Youzhny. Not the easiest second round match to have. Feliciano Lopez would have been, though the thought of having sit through a match with LaLo winning against someone I like would be too much at this given time.
Youzhny hasn’t had the best preparation for this event. The injuries towards the end of the last year, plus he goes through periods where he is just off form, though at the start of the match this was not the case.
It’s interesting watching these top guys on outside courts and Youzhny with his timing initially was great to watch. He was using his backhand well, in the backhand to backhand to exchanges. The Colonel with military precision would change the direction when the time was right, then throw in some excellent dropshots which would catch Kavcic out a lot of the time.
The extra class was showing in this match with Colonel taking the 1st set, while Kavcic improved in the 2nd, the pattern remained that Youzhny served well enough to keep Kavcic off balance and then dominate the rallies. One of the shots of the tournament was on Youzhny’s set point in the 2nd set. There was an extended rally with Kavcic able to take advantage, he comes to the net, then Youzhny hits a between the legs lob winner, which Kavcic had a play on and decides to let go and it fell in.
Youzhny has been known to have his lapses in matches, amongst the circle we call him the “4 set specialist”. He’ll usually drop a set somewhere along the line where he shouldn’t but still get out of the match, it was a surprise it didn’t happen against Ilhan. Kavcic as usual was fighting hard and the Colonel wasn’t making as many serves as before. Kavcic is able to make the most of the chances that came his way and take the 3rd set.
Still had the feeling that the Colonel was going to run this out in 4 sets. He starts get pissed off, no chance of seeing the blood from the head though. Old Boris Sobkin, who has been with Youzhny for so long, starts copping the abuse from Misha. It helps having Russian speakers nearby. “I can’t make a fucking ball cross court”. This is the case, he is missing shots and Kavcic who has the problem that he plays aggressively when he is behind in the match and too passive when he has break points. But at the moment so far he is winning that battle and took the 4th set.
The air of upset is a possibility, but the turning point in this match was at 2-1* Kavcic serving. He was struggling very hard, mostly because Kavcic couldn’t make enough first serves and relying on his very weak 2nd delivery. The game went for over 10+ minutes, but sorry the photographic memory broke down and can’t remember the exact time of the game.
At Kavcic’s game point, there was a slow ball hit and Kavcic doesn’t play it because it’s out. I didn’t see it at the time, but saw it later and he was right. There was no overrule from Pascal Maria and Kavcic was going crazy at the lack of overrule. This impacted on him and the Colonel was able to break serve and the extra experience and class carried him to victory in this match.
Voinea has done an excellent job so far with Kavcic and hope they stay together for some time, as there are possibilities if he can improve the serve, get some leg drive into it and not throw it so far out into the court. He can stay in the top 100 for a while. Sure he got a bad call, but got to stay in the moment and just play the ball and not dwell on the past. This happened in this match, but he fought well during the qualies and into the main draw.
Pascal "the Peacock" Maria came up to me after the match and asked me if I knew where Voinea was. I said I didn't know at all, he wasn't happy at all with the spray Kavcic gave him at the end of the match and during the bad call.
Seppi vs. Tsonga
Didn’t get to see any of this match, though since Seppi lost maybe it was a good thing. My friend was there and said Seppi had a chance in the TB, where he was up a mini break, though nothing is ever easy with Seppi. He would have to play very well, take his chances and Tsonga wasn’t too off on this match. The fact that Seppi doesn’t have many weapons and this was the case here against Baby Ali.
Russell vs. Ferrer
This one had the potential to be quite a long match, though the reality was different. In the words of the man himself Mikey, he made a rookie mistake. As he was next match on after the Cilic/Giraldo match, which had been to a long 2nd set tiebreaker. Russell decided to carbo load naturally believing that his match with Ferrer was going to involve a lot of running and energy reserves were needed.
Like all plans, there are hitches and the fact that Cilic thumped Giraldo 6-0 in the last set, and he was on quicker than he planned. This meant that he was even more behind the eight ball before than he was at the start of the match. Ferrer was playing his usual solid game, whereas as Russell spent the first 2 sets digesting the food, making errors and worked over.
In the 3rd set which was definitely more competitive, though this was not hard and was more of what was expected in this match. Lots of running, grinding, but the main difference is that Ferrer is a younger, fitter version of Russell, who didn’t have the guns to take out Ferrer. At the moment Ferrer isn’t far off his top 5 form, definitely these two have made the most of their ability.
Nalbandian vs. Berankis
Nalle looked even more disinterested than usual. Berankis was playing quite well and as long as he works hard, doesn’t get too cocky then he has a good future in the game. The fact for a midget, he has a very solid serve which can win him free points which is a major advantage he has over players of a similar height, while he moves as well as the other shorter players.
Berankis takes the first easily and Nalle can hardly move at all. Then not long into the 2nd set, he decides to pull the pin which was disappointing but expected, disappointing after he did the tennis world a favour and took out Hewitt.
It’s the classic Nalbandian in reality, he has a lot of soft issue injuries and no I am not referring to his mid section as soft.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Better late than never 1st round reports
My apologies for these reports being a bit late, so they will be done by rounds instead of days. Not the ideal but better than a kick in the head. I will seperate the headings with Day 1 and Day 2, might make it long to read so those with a short attention span should go do something else.
Once I saw Benneteau walking around in casual clothes half an hour before the match I knew something was up and he was withdrawing from his match against Monaco, so he ended up playing Greul instead.
Day 1
Gil vs. Cuevas
This was the first match that I decided to start the 2011 Aus Open viewing with. Once the schedule came out it wasn't a real surprise that I'd be at this match. I thought that Cuevas with his better weight of shot off both sides and serve would be advantageous over the man who retired at 6-0 6-0 3-0 down to avoid a triple bagel against Ferrer.
Cuevas starts off this match fairly passively, not really attacking the ball at all with this backhand and playing from about 3m behind the baseline. Gil looked like he wanted to be there this time and was just scrapping and retrieving like hell and this was getting to Cuevas, who wasn't bothering to do any different. He plays a poor service game and gets broken, so Gil takes the 1st set.
The next 2 sets Cuevas is playing a bit better than he was in the first set which wouldn't be too hard. He was using his backhand down the line a bit more and Gil was just running and running. There was still the feeling that Cuevas wouldn't lose this match, the extra class would tell.
In the fourth they were going at it, and Cuevas was getting shitty with the line calls wasting energy and Gil fighting hard manages to break to take it to 5.
Cuevas's head drops down and he ran out of legs, starting to cramp and gas up. Well this is what happens when you want it to be a battle of running and not using your groundies effectively. Gil scrambling hard, loving the moment, getting everything back even the mishits are going in landing on the lines. This is pissing Cuevas even more in addition to the cramping of the leg and wrist.
Gil outfought him, outran him, had a better break point conversion. He was going crazy when he won as he was not expected to win a main draw match here.
Montanes vs Brown
Got here halfway through the 1st set as I was at Gil- Cuevas match. Dreddy was erratic, and Montanes was being his usual steady self, but having a go when he the chances were on the offer. He took the 2nd set easily.
Someone asked me why didn't I sit down, thought well not exactly sure how long the match was going to go for. Dreddy was getting into extended rallies with Montanes, not exactly the smartest tactics and Albert was picking on his backhand, which was just getting the ball back.
Brown starts to take some more chances and they are coming off, in addition to the fact he starts serving better. The low ball toss makes it hard to read, then out of nowhere Brown breaks with a combo of huge slapped forehands, excellent volleying and dropshots.
At the start of the 4th, the crowd is building up. It was only a third full when I arrived, there were some players there like Ramirez Hidalgo, Junaid, also Patrik Kuhnen was watching it. Brown is getting fired up big time, continuing with the momentum he got from taking the 3rd and forcing Fat Albert into errors, hitting slice forehand winners with pace.
Funniest part of this match and the one not on MTF. There were these lasses sitting across from me, once Brown won the 4th set, they started showing some more cleavage. Looked like they want to be down with the Brown. Yes, he noticed this as well.
My friend never seen him play before and thought I was only talking up because of his hair, but he was turning on the style. Crowd started to build up, there were quite a few ladies there some for Albert no doubt, though one was getting a bit excited when Brown won the 4th set.
Court is almost full the stands were and the walkway very hard to get through. Montanes is steady and serving well, Dreddy going for a lot, neither of them are troubled on serve. Then the 11th game, where Dreddy trying to stay in the match at 30-30 all, he takes a chance and fucks it.
Good serve from Brown which Montanes returns well. Brown tries to sneak into the net, but doesn't hit a great shot and Fat Albert rips a forehand down the line winner to take the match on his only match point.
Great effort from Brown to come back, he was there for ages signing autographs and taking pics as was Montanes. Very entertaining match played in good spirit.
Andreev vs. Volandri
This was on the court next to us. Just had to have a quick look at this match, cause I have to admit I enjoy watching hardcourt hacks in action.
Andreev was never losing this, though it counted for shit when he was down a break in the 2nd as he was going to get some presents along the way with that Volandri serve.
Malisse vs Andujar
Saw Malisse not long before the match and said to him "man you have the dream 1st round draw, this guy is a gimp on hardcourts". He tried not to laugh, but said "you still got to get it done". This was a mismatch and some good training for Malisse, though Andujar wasn't too bad in the last set not as poor as he was last time against Simon.
Luczak vs. Ljubicic
Had to see some of these old guys, yes they are younger than me. Good chance they won't be around for too much longer.
The weather helped Ljubo for sure, as Luczak would have loved it very warm as big Ivan isn't a great player in the heat at all.
It wasn't the greatest match, but Ljubo was just too good all round being able to hold serve easily for the most part. Whereas Luczak was fighting hard on serve to hold. The forehand wasn't hit as well he could have and it's great to sit right behind the play and see how excellent Legenda's backhand preparation is. The forehand can be smothered regularly, when he has to move wide especially.
Brave fight from Luczak, but there is a reason Ljubo is the Legenda.
Day 2
Kavcic vs. Anderson
Mass surprise here, that I started with this match on Tuesday. However with Russell starting at the same time, that match will be done by someone differently. A combo of Mike and a few others as to how the match went.
Not the worst match to get for Blaz, but it wasn't a gimp like Dabul, so make the best of it.
At the start of the match Big Kev was serving from the tree in the 1st set. Just boom, boom, boom, game. Then when Kavcic could get a rally, he was hitting too short with no intent and Anderson was ripping the backhand crosscourt most of the time and then putting the short shit away. First set gone very quickly.
Then he starts missing a few 1st serves. His second serve isn't too bad, but Kavcic is able to get into the match a bit more extending the rallies and hitting more to the Anderson forehand. Kavcic is able to convert on the only chance he had in the second set and took it thankfully.
The 3rd set is vital in this match especially given the way the last one went, there weren't too many serving foibles from Kavcic, no doubles hitting the tramlines behind the court. In this set, Kavcic ripped his shoes and didn't have any extra, so he looks at Voinea and says "give me the shoes". Voinea gives them to him and watches the rest of match in his socks.
Anderson broke and then a huge turning point in the game to confirm the break at 30-30, there was a ball from Anderson that tanned the line and it was called out. Kavcic was able to break back and take into the tiebreaker. Where he decides to play a bit more aggressively and reading Anderson's big serves quite well and placing them in good positions. Takes the 3rd and there is a bit of belief around the upset is on, which it wasn't before the match.
Kavcic loses concentration, bitching a bit about the calls and he finds himself a double break down in the 4th set. Anderson seems to have it under control and then Kavcic relaxes and starts fighting like hell, breaks back and holds to get it to 4-5*. Now Blaz is handling Anderson's serve quite easily and hardly being aced and manages to break again, going to a tiebreaker.
This was definitely not the classic tiebreaker at all, it was like they were hitting a medicine ball. Mishits, a bit of pushing, both had some big errors off the backhand. Kavcic had 5-2 and 2 serves and couldn't handle it. At 5-5 after an extended rally, Kavcic hits a great dropshot which Anderson just gets to and he gets passed.
Took his first match point and the upset. He was loving it and as promised when he won I did the Ayatollah dance, watch from 56 seconds
Russell vs. Ebden
Not a bad draw for Iron Mike. He started well, no doubt that Ebden was nervous as hell, but at the start Russell was able to take advantage using his experience and superior game. This and Ebden making a lot of errors lead to Mikey taking the first 2 sets comfortably.
Russell was still tight and wound up, knowing this is a match that he really should win and a lot of time they are the hardest ones to win. Ebden starts playing a whole lot better than before, the crowd is helping him along as a good local crowd should do. Takes the 3rd set and Russ can't settle letting the crowd to get him up.
Goes up a break in the 4th and then plays a donkey game to lose it, lots of scrapping and they are into a huge 4th set tiebreaker. Mikey was able to pull through, the extra experience helped for sure and as they say in the classics. Well my own version, it isn't ski jumping no points for winning in style.
Next match against Ferrer, they will probably cover 260km in this one.
Giraldo vs. Machado
Didn't get to see all of this, though saw quite a bit. The bookies were having fun with Giraldo starting at 1.12 here, hell I like Santi but 1.12 is hilarious especially with that second serve.
It was quite entertaining this match, plenty of Colombians there supporting Giraldo and a few Portuguese supporting the "Scottish number 2". There were plenty of extended rallies in this, with Giraldo hitting the ball fairly cleanly and MacHado grunting up a storm trying to dominate with his forehand.
The result was not in doubt, but Machado was definitely good enough to take a set and deserved to do it. He punished some of those cannon fodder second serves from Giraldo. As you may have noticed the second serve hasn't improved too much, but the groundies are in excellent shape at the moment.
He is just outside top 50 at the moment, if he could get some more meat on that second serve then it will be an extended stay there.
Sweeting vs. Gimeno-Traver
There always has to be one thing that ruins a perfect day and this match was definitely it.
Not the worst draw for DGT, as Sweeting doesn't have that much to his game. The serve for his height should be better and the forehand is jerky as hell, even then it was good enough to do here.
DGT copied his game on Moya, yes even down to the backhand which was the one thing you shouldn't have copied. He wasn't serving too badly, and had plenty of break chances in the 1st set which he did nothing with. Either it was a shit return or an error, so naturally Sweeting was smart enough to keep the ball in play and deep enough to let DGT make the errors.
Sweeting took the 1st set with his only break chance. The pattern continued in the second set with lots of break chances created by DGT but with no finish. Then the one time he decides to break, he loses it fairly soon after with some poor play, especially the backhand which was div 5 village level.
Frustration levels are going overboard as he loses the 2nd set in the same way he loses the first. DGT takes off his shirt and there are these 2 chicks behind him drooling, fuck haven't we had enough floods in Australia at the moment. I caught them perving, gave them the thumbs up hahaha.
The comeback wasn't on at all in the 3rd, as DGT was too pissed off with the nonsense that was happening in this match. He wacks a ball out of the court and gets a warning for ball abuse. My mate Sammy said he should get a warning for "backhand abuse". Truer words were never spoken.
Just hell frustrating to sit through when you know the guy is capable of better.
Seppi vs. Clement
After the rubbish that passed as a DGT match, then walked around the grounds, saw some people training. It was off to see the Seppi/Clement match.
Seppi has a good record against Clement and I was just hoping that he wasn't going to lose to the munchkin.
Seppi was being a clown early in the match on the break points especially, hardly taking any of them, whereas Clement did . I was there shaking my head at a set and 5-0 down thinking how the fuck do you get bagelled by Clement, but he managed to break and avoid the bagel.
Once he did that, he was able to use the momentum to turn around his fortunes. Seppi eventually broke, lost it and then broke again. He stepped up the play and for the most part actually decided to have a go with his forehand which was paying off for him. It was nice to see Seppi not being passive, man Clement might be past it but he can still run around well and has great hands. Now onto the usual Clement stuff.
Clement was being usual cockhead self.
Lets see the usual having a go at ballkids for not having the towel the right way, only taking balls from one side and not the other. Then bitching about the trains, that it should stop just for him so he can serve. Come on, if they did that Metro trains would even better later than they are. They are as efficient as Italian bureaucracy. Having a go at us, giving the glare as there were supporting Seppi. Don't think he appreciated the ole ole chants.
Seppi is starting to play well and has chances in almost all the games to break the Clement serve. He got a bit tight there at the end, but the better player came through and the crowd were pro-Seppi. Maybe a few Italians, randoms and gamblers there hehe.
At the end of the match, these guys who sat next to us, had Seppi in a multi bet in the last leg. So after the match when the munchkin lost and pissed off back to the lockers, this gambler showed Seppi the betting slip that he won and "the South Tyrolean sex machine" just burst out laughing.
This and the fact Nalle took out Hewitt made the perfect day 1 and 2.
Once I saw Benneteau walking around in casual clothes half an hour before the match I knew something was up and he was withdrawing from his match against Monaco, so he ended up playing Greul instead.
Day 1
Gil vs. Cuevas
This was the first match that I decided to start the 2011 Aus Open viewing with. Once the schedule came out it wasn't a real surprise that I'd be at this match. I thought that Cuevas with his better weight of shot off both sides and serve would be advantageous over the man who retired at 6-0 6-0 3-0 down to avoid a triple bagel against Ferrer.
Cuevas starts off this match fairly passively, not really attacking the ball at all with this backhand and playing from about 3m behind the baseline. Gil looked like he wanted to be there this time and was just scrapping and retrieving like hell and this was getting to Cuevas, who wasn't bothering to do any different. He plays a poor service game and gets broken, so Gil takes the 1st set.
The next 2 sets Cuevas is playing a bit better than he was in the first set which wouldn't be too hard. He was using his backhand down the line a bit more and Gil was just running and running. There was still the feeling that Cuevas wouldn't lose this match, the extra class would tell.
In the fourth they were going at it, and Cuevas was getting shitty with the line calls wasting energy and Gil fighting hard manages to break to take it to 5.
Cuevas's head drops down and he ran out of legs, starting to cramp and gas up. Well this is what happens when you want it to be a battle of running and not using your groundies effectively. Gil scrambling hard, loving the moment, getting everything back even the mishits are going in landing on the lines. This is pissing Cuevas even more in addition to the cramping of the leg and wrist.
Gil outfought him, outran him, had a better break point conversion. He was going crazy when he won as he was not expected to win a main draw match here.
Montanes vs Brown
Got here halfway through the 1st set as I was at Gil- Cuevas match. Dreddy was erratic, and Montanes was being his usual steady self, but having a go when he the chances were on the offer. He took the 2nd set easily.
Someone asked me why didn't I sit down, thought well not exactly sure how long the match was going to go for. Dreddy was getting into extended rallies with Montanes, not exactly the smartest tactics and Albert was picking on his backhand, which was just getting the ball back.
Brown starts to take some more chances and they are coming off, in addition to the fact he starts serving better. The low ball toss makes it hard to read, then out of nowhere Brown breaks with a combo of huge slapped forehands, excellent volleying and dropshots.
At the start of the 4th, the crowd is building up. It was only a third full when I arrived, there were some players there like Ramirez Hidalgo, Junaid, also Patrik Kuhnen was watching it. Brown is getting fired up big time, continuing with the momentum he got from taking the 3rd and forcing Fat Albert into errors, hitting slice forehand winners with pace.
Funniest part of this match and the one not on MTF. There were these lasses sitting across from me, once Brown won the 4th set, they started showing some more cleavage. Looked like they want to be down with the Brown. Yes, he noticed this as well.
My friend never seen him play before and thought I was only talking up because of his hair, but he was turning on the style. Crowd started to build up, there were quite a few ladies there some for Albert no doubt, though one was getting a bit excited when Brown won the 4th set.
Court is almost full the stands were and the walkway very hard to get through. Montanes is steady and serving well, Dreddy going for a lot, neither of them are troubled on serve. Then the 11th game, where Dreddy trying to stay in the match at 30-30 all, he takes a chance and fucks it.
Good serve from Brown which Montanes returns well. Brown tries to sneak into the net, but doesn't hit a great shot and Fat Albert rips a forehand down the line winner to take the match on his only match point.
Great effort from Brown to come back, he was there for ages signing autographs and taking pics as was Montanes. Very entertaining match played in good spirit.
Andreev vs. Volandri
This was on the court next to us. Just had to have a quick look at this match, cause I have to admit I enjoy watching hardcourt hacks in action.
Andreev was never losing this, though it counted for shit when he was down a break in the 2nd as he was going to get some presents along the way with that Volandri serve.
Malisse vs Andujar
Saw Malisse not long before the match and said to him "man you have the dream 1st round draw, this guy is a gimp on hardcourts". He tried not to laugh, but said "you still got to get it done". This was a mismatch and some good training for Malisse, though Andujar wasn't too bad in the last set not as poor as he was last time against Simon.
Luczak vs. Ljubicic
Had to see some of these old guys, yes they are younger than me. Good chance they won't be around for too much longer.
The weather helped Ljubo for sure, as Luczak would have loved it very warm as big Ivan isn't a great player in the heat at all.
It wasn't the greatest match, but Ljubo was just too good all round being able to hold serve easily for the most part. Whereas Luczak was fighting hard on serve to hold. The forehand wasn't hit as well he could have and it's great to sit right behind the play and see how excellent Legenda's backhand preparation is. The forehand can be smothered regularly, when he has to move wide especially.
Brave fight from Luczak, but there is a reason Ljubo is the Legenda.
Day 2
Kavcic vs. Anderson
Mass surprise here, that I started with this match on Tuesday. However with Russell starting at the same time, that match will be done by someone differently. A combo of Mike and a few others as to how the match went.
Not the worst match to get for Blaz, but it wasn't a gimp like Dabul, so make the best of it.
At the start of the match Big Kev was serving from the tree in the 1st set. Just boom, boom, boom, game. Then when Kavcic could get a rally, he was hitting too short with no intent and Anderson was ripping the backhand crosscourt most of the time and then putting the short shit away. First set gone very quickly.
Then he starts missing a few 1st serves. His second serve isn't too bad, but Kavcic is able to get into the match a bit more extending the rallies and hitting more to the Anderson forehand. Kavcic is able to convert on the only chance he had in the second set and took it thankfully.
The 3rd set is vital in this match especially given the way the last one went, there weren't too many serving foibles from Kavcic, no doubles hitting the tramlines behind the court. In this set, Kavcic ripped his shoes and didn't have any extra, so he looks at Voinea and says "give me the shoes". Voinea gives them to him and watches the rest of match in his socks.
Anderson broke and then a huge turning point in the game to confirm the break at 30-30, there was a ball from Anderson that tanned the line and it was called out. Kavcic was able to break back and take into the tiebreaker. Where he decides to play a bit more aggressively and reading Anderson's big serves quite well and placing them in good positions. Takes the 3rd and there is a bit of belief around the upset is on, which it wasn't before the match.
Kavcic loses concentration, bitching a bit about the calls and he finds himself a double break down in the 4th set. Anderson seems to have it under control and then Kavcic relaxes and starts fighting like hell, breaks back and holds to get it to 4-5*. Now Blaz is handling Anderson's serve quite easily and hardly being aced and manages to break again, going to a tiebreaker.
This was definitely not the classic tiebreaker at all, it was like they were hitting a medicine ball. Mishits, a bit of pushing, both had some big errors off the backhand. Kavcic had 5-2 and 2 serves and couldn't handle it. At 5-5 after an extended rally, Kavcic hits a great dropshot which Anderson just gets to and he gets passed.
Took his first match point and the upset. He was loving it and as promised when he won I did the Ayatollah dance, watch from 56 seconds
Russell vs. Ebden
Not a bad draw for Iron Mike. He started well, no doubt that Ebden was nervous as hell, but at the start Russell was able to take advantage using his experience and superior game. This and Ebden making a lot of errors lead to Mikey taking the first 2 sets comfortably.
Russell was still tight and wound up, knowing this is a match that he really should win and a lot of time they are the hardest ones to win. Ebden starts playing a whole lot better than before, the crowd is helping him along as a good local crowd should do. Takes the 3rd set and Russ can't settle letting the crowd to get him up.
Goes up a break in the 4th and then plays a donkey game to lose it, lots of scrapping and they are into a huge 4th set tiebreaker. Mikey was able to pull through, the extra experience helped for sure and as they say in the classics. Well my own version, it isn't ski jumping no points for winning in style.
Next match against Ferrer, they will probably cover 260km in this one.
Giraldo vs. Machado
Didn't get to see all of this, though saw quite a bit. The bookies were having fun with Giraldo starting at 1.12 here, hell I like Santi but 1.12 is hilarious especially with that second serve.
It was quite entertaining this match, plenty of Colombians there supporting Giraldo and a few Portuguese supporting the "Scottish number 2". There were plenty of extended rallies in this, with Giraldo hitting the ball fairly cleanly and MacHado grunting up a storm trying to dominate with his forehand.
The result was not in doubt, but Machado was definitely good enough to take a set and deserved to do it. He punished some of those cannon fodder second serves from Giraldo. As you may have noticed the second serve hasn't improved too much, but the groundies are in excellent shape at the moment.
He is just outside top 50 at the moment, if he could get some more meat on that second serve then it will be an extended stay there.
Sweeting vs. Gimeno-Traver
There always has to be one thing that ruins a perfect day and this match was definitely it.
Not the worst draw for DGT, as Sweeting doesn't have that much to his game. The serve for his height should be better and the forehand is jerky as hell, even then it was good enough to do here.
DGT copied his game on Moya, yes even down to the backhand which was the one thing you shouldn't have copied. He wasn't serving too badly, and had plenty of break chances in the 1st set which he did nothing with. Either it was a shit return or an error, so naturally Sweeting was smart enough to keep the ball in play and deep enough to let DGT make the errors.
Sweeting took the 1st set with his only break chance. The pattern continued in the second set with lots of break chances created by DGT but with no finish. Then the one time he decides to break, he loses it fairly soon after with some poor play, especially the backhand which was div 5 village level.
Frustration levels are going overboard as he loses the 2nd set in the same way he loses the first. DGT takes off his shirt and there are these 2 chicks behind him drooling, fuck haven't we had enough floods in Australia at the moment. I caught them perving, gave them the thumbs up hahaha.
The comeback wasn't on at all in the 3rd, as DGT was too pissed off with the nonsense that was happening in this match. He wacks a ball out of the court and gets a warning for ball abuse. My mate Sammy said he should get a warning for "backhand abuse". Truer words were never spoken.
Just hell frustrating to sit through when you know the guy is capable of better.
Seppi vs. Clement
After the rubbish that passed as a DGT match, then walked around the grounds, saw some people training. It was off to see the Seppi/Clement match.
Seppi has a good record against Clement and I was just hoping that he wasn't going to lose to the munchkin.
Seppi was being a clown early in the match on the break points especially, hardly taking any of them, whereas Clement did . I was there shaking my head at a set and 5-0 down thinking how the fuck do you get bagelled by Clement, but he managed to break and avoid the bagel.
Once he did that, he was able to use the momentum to turn around his fortunes. Seppi eventually broke, lost it and then broke again. He stepped up the play and for the most part actually decided to have a go with his forehand which was paying off for him. It was nice to see Seppi not being passive, man Clement might be past it but he can still run around well and has great hands. Now onto the usual Clement stuff.
Clement was being usual cockhead self.
Lets see the usual having a go at ballkids for not having the towel the right way, only taking balls from one side and not the other. Then bitching about the trains, that it should stop just for him so he can serve. Come on, if they did that Metro trains would even better later than they are. They are as efficient as Italian bureaucracy. Having a go at us, giving the glare as there were supporting Seppi. Don't think he appreciated the ole ole chants.
Seppi is starting to play well and has chances in almost all the games to break the Clement serve. He got a bit tight there at the end, but the better player came through and the crowd were pro-Seppi. Maybe a few Italians, randoms and gamblers there hehe.
At the end of the match, these guys who sat next to us, had Seppi in a multi bet in the last leg. So after the match when the munchkin lost and pissed off back to the lockers, this gambler showed Seppi the betting slip that he won and "the South Tyrolean sex machine" just burst out laughing.
This and the fact Nalle took out Hewitt made the perfect day 1 and 2.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Qualifying Day 2 and 3
This is going to be a mix of 2nd and 3rd round action due to the weather delays, but at least they will get the action done before the start of the main draw, which does suck for the most part. At the same time it's not like I expect the guys I like to make the second week anyway. Onto the matches.
Zemlja vs. Smyczek
Zemlja got off to a good start in this one and Smyczek was whining a bit, mainly due to his own poor performance. Zemlja took the first set comfortably from a combination of excellent groundstrokes and errors. Smyczek started to play better in the second and Zemlja dropped his level a bit, but there wasn't a sense that the Slovenian was losing this match. While the second set was closer, Zemlja was a level above and showed at the end.
Funny part in this match was both players getting shitty with the officiating. Linesperson missed a bad call on Zemlja and he is out with both arms stretched and rubbing his eyes saying he couldn't believe that he missed that call.
Farah vs. Stadler
The Colombian must have got on the wrong side of bed this night, because this was a rubbish performance from Farah in a match he was the favourite. Stadler doesn't have much of a game, but he didn't need much of a game to win this match. He kept the ball in play well and waited for Farah to make an error and he was doing this like Santa Claus on LSD at Christmas time. The backhand for the most part was good, but the forehand was rubbish trying to hit a heavy ball, but it was like Nadal forehand length in 03, 04 without the revolutions on the ball.
These shots were just fodder for any player of average ability, when it wasn't an error from Farah, then Stadler was able to put away these balls. The strike point on the Farah forehand is all wrong, he is off balance and tries to come up the back of the ball too much, and when the timing is off, then it ends up as fodder. He served ok in this match, but also missed a few volleys. The MD player that gets Stadler will be happy.
Millman vs. Millot
Johnny was brave and fought as always, but the chunky Millot was just too consistent and solid for Millman in this one. The confidence from winning New Caledonia showed in this match, he was playing on or near the baseline and able to control the rallies off both sides with good timing. Millman played one poor service game in the 1st set at 4-4, then Millot served it out without too many problems.
Second set was more of a continuation of the first, Millman grinding and fighting hard and Millot comfortable off both sides in the rallies. Millman was dropping short with the forehand and getting punished. The backhand is a class shot, but the forehand he doesn't always hit it the way it should, and in this case Millot was able to hit winners off these balls.
No excuses just outplayed from a better player on the day.
Kavcic vs. DeVoest
Got here early in the 1st set when Kavcic was down a break. DeVoest was playing like Davydenko hitting winners early and Kavcic complaining about not hitting his backhand at all. His serve wasn't working too well, but more on those foibles later. Neither of these guys have massive serves, so there were always chances for breaks. Kavcic was able to break back and then get it to the tiebreaker. He steps it up and was able to hit better length on his shots in the rallies, takes advantage of this to win the TB comfortably.
Now the fun and games started with the Kavcic serving, he started losing confidence especially at the end where there was problems with the sun. He then procedes to hit 2 of the best double faults you will ever see. At the court there is a gap at the other end, where it's not fully covered. Both times he threw the ball too far forward and trying to come over the ball frames it. The ball takes flight and ends up out of the court on the road behind. The second one was better, it even went further long and ended up on the tram lines behind the court. He went down a double break and went onto tank the last 2 games. Ballbashing forehands, dropshot returns and 200km/h second serves out wide. Goes onto loose that set 6-0.
The 3rd set begins with a shit line call, a very late call on the line right in front of us and the Kavcic camp. Blaz goes crazy with the umpire for not overruling, but karma comes back as he saves break point with a dead let cord. After that 1st game, Kavcic holds and settles down, he starts to play some good tennis now, even the balltoss is normal on serve, stepping into the court hitting good length, defending when he has to use and using the angles. deVoest has nothing to hurt him with and it shows. Kavcic even comes into the net with some good volleys.
Fair result in the end among the shenanigans, the whining and the clown serving, the last set was some good tennis.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Other Stuff
Dimitrov vs. El Amrani : Saw parts of this match, it was like a training run for Dimitrov. He was hardly under any pression in this one and he does have quite the fanbase. My favourite Bulgarian and Argentine couple were there. Grigor wasn't used to speaking Bulgarian in Melbourne hehehe, yes I took some photos for them.
Koubek vs. Schoorel : The lanky Dutchie was too good here and Koubek being the backboard wasn't enough, wasn't able to get out of the hitting zone of Schoorel enough.
Crugnola winning over Bolelli and he has a problem with his leg, he plays old Massu next. I would like to see Crugnola make the main draw for whatever ability he lacks as a player, he is a good guy especially for a Juventus fan hehe
Seppi has bought a nice lady from South Tyrol down, good man and hope he beats that fucking pest Clement. Zabaleta is in town, this made my day. It's a never a bad day when the King of Tandil makes an appearance.
Berankis maybe a midget, but got to love the way he drills that serve. Ran into some people I hadn't seen for years and they will help me with these reports, as I can't do it on my own. The accreditation people are hilarious for a lot of reasons.
Tomorrow going to watch Kavcic make the main draw plus some other people training, yes I have seen Federer and Nadal around the place and no I haven't taken any pics. LaLo seriously wants to be Mike the Situation from Jersey Shore.
Funny moment of the day, some lass with massive boobies goes up to Dimitrov and says "you're hot". McNamara not amused says "what about the coach"? Then as lass is going away Dimitrov says "thank you, that made my day". Almost choked on my drink, sadly for some on MTF I survived.
Zemlja vs. Smyczek
Zemlja got off to a good start in this one and Smyczek was whining a bit, mainly due to his own poor performance. Zemlja took the first set comfortably from a combination of excellent groundstrokes and errors. Smyczek started to play better in the second and Zemlja dropped his level a bit, but there wasn't a sense that the Slovenian was losing this match. While the second set was closer, Zemlja was a level above and showed at the end.
Funny part in this match was both players getting shitty with the officiating. Linesperson missed a bad call on Zemlja and he is out with both arms stretched and rubbing his eyes saying he couldn't believe that he missed that call.
Farah vs. Stadler
The Colombian must have got on the wrong side of bed this night, because this was a rubbish performance from Farah in a match he was the favourite. Stadler doesn't have much of a game, but he didn't need much of a game to win this match. He kept the ball in play well and waited for Farah to make an error and he was doing this like Santa Claus on LSD at Christmas time. The backhand for the most part was good, but the forehand was rubbish trying to hit a heavy ball, but it was like Nadal forehand length in 03, 04 without the revolutions on the ball.
These shots were just fodder for any player of average ability, when it wasn't an error from Farah, then Stadler was able to put away these balls. The strike point on the Farah forehand is all wrong, he is off balance and tries to come up the back of the ball too much, and when the timing is off, then it ends up as fodder. He served ok in this match, but also missed a few volleys. The MD player that gets Stadler will be happy.
Millman vs. Millot
Johnny was brave and fought as always, but the chunky Millot was just too consistent and solid for Millman in this one. The confidence from winning New Caledonia showed in this match, he was playing on or near the baseline and able to control the rallies off both sides with good timing. Millman played one poor service game in the 1st set at 4-4, then Millot served it out without too many problems.
Second set was more of a continuation of the first, Millman grinding and fighting hard and Millot comfortable off both sides in the rallies. Millman was dropping short with the forehand and getting punished. The backhand is a class shot, but the forehand he doesn't always hit it the way it should, and in this case Millot was able to hit winners off these balls.
No excuses just outplayed from a better player on the day.
Kavcic vs. DeVoest
Got here early in the 1st set when Kavcic was down a break. DeVoest was playing like Davydenko hitting winners early and Kavcic complaining about not hitting his backhand at all. His serve wasn't working too well, but more on those foibles later. Neither of these guys have massive serves, so there were always chances for breaks. Kavcic was able to break back and then get it to the tiebreaker. He steps it up and was able to hit better length on his shots in the rallies, takes advantage of this to win the TB comfortably.
Now the fun and games started with the Kavcic serving, he started losing confidence especially at the end where there was problems with the sun. He then procedes to hit 2 of the best double faults you will ever see. At the court there is a gap at the other end, where it's not fully covered. Both times he threw the ball too far forward and trying to come over the ball frames it. The ball takes flight and ends up out of the court on the road behind. The second one was better, it even went further long and ended up on the tram lines behind the court. He went down a double break and went onto tank the last 2 games. Ballbashing forehands, dropshot returns and 200km/h second serves out wide. Goes onto loose that set 6-0.
The 3rd set begins with a shit line call, a very late call on the line right in front of us and the Kavcic camp. Blaz goes crazy with the umpire for not overruling, but karma comes back as he saves break point with a dead let cord. After that 1st game, Kavcic holds and settles down, he starts to play some good tennis now, even the balltoss is normal on serve, stepping into the court hitting good length, defending when he has to use and using the angles. deVoest has nothing to hurt him with and it shows. Kavcic even comes into the net with some good volleys.
Fair result in the end among the shenanigans, the whining and the clown serving, the last set was some good tennis.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Other Stuff
Dimitrov vs. El Amrani : Saw parts of this match, it was like a training run for Dimitrov. He was hardly under any pression in this one and he does have quite the fanbase. My favourite Bulgarian and Argentine couple were there. Grigor wasn't used to speaking Bulgarian in Melbourne hehehe, yes I took some photos for them.
Koubek vs. Schoorel : The lanky Dutchie was too good here and Koubek being the backboard wasn't enough, wasn't able to get out of the hitting zone of Schoorel enough.
Crugnola winning over Bolelli and he has a problem with his leg, he plays old Massu next. I would like to see Crugnola make the main draw for whatever ability he lacks as a player, he is a good guy especially for a Juventus fan hehe
Seppi has bought a nice lady from South Tyrol down, good man and hope he beats that fucking pest Clement. Zabaleta is in town, this made my day. It's a never a bad day when the King of Tandil makes an appearance.
Berankis maybe a midget, but got to love the way he drills that serve. Ran into some people I hadn't seen for years and they will help me with these reports, as I can't do it on my own. The accreditation people are hilarious for a lot of reasons.
Tomorrow going to watch Kavcic make the main draw plus some other people training, yes I have seen Federer and Nadal around the place and no I haven't taken any pics. LaLo seriously wants to be Mike the Situation from Jersey Shore.
Funny moment of the day, some lass with massive boobies goes up to Dimitrov and says "you're hot". McNamara not amused says "what about the coach"? Then as lass is going away Dimitrov says "thank you, that made my day". Almost choked on my drink, sadly for some on MTF I survived.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Australian Open Qualies Day 1
The first day of Slam qualies are special, usually the only ones there are players, coaches, friends of players, workers, some bored officials, gamblers and the ones who can't afford to go to Kooyong.
Went to the venue a bit late wasn't sure how much play they would get in, but there were able to do quite well for the most part which was a good thing, though not sure about the next 2 days.
Farah vs. Soeda
Was looking forward to seeing Farah place in the flesh, it's a lot different from dodgy livestreams. He hadn't been much form at all in the first 2 matches of the season, but thankfully he was better against the 8 seed.
Soeda, the typical Asian hardcourt player very good footspeed, flat shots, only time hits topspin is when it's a mishit and doesn't make too many errors but without weapons.
Farah had a huge 2010 coming off the US university circuit, then winning the 125K Bogota Challenger in singles and doubles finishing the season in the top 200. The match was quite tight especially in the opening set with Farah serving well and using his 2 hand backhand to dominate in rallies, whereas Soeda was playing his typical game.
Went to the tiebreak, where Farah created more chances and was finally able to clinch it with some good play. He settled down, started to relax and play a lot better. Soeda changed to the hot pink shirt maybe to blind Farah into error, but the tall Colombian wasn't falling for it and won the match comfortably in the end.
The forehand of Farah is a liability and unless this can be remodelled at best or fixing it up some of the problems at the worst, it will prevent him from reaching his full potential. In the 2nd set he wasn't making as many errors, but much of the time he wasn't balanced at all when hitting the shot, hitting the ball too late. Out of 10 forehands, 4 would be short with not much on it, 4 would be be bottom of net and 2 would be decent.
But he works hard physically and hope he can overcome this technical problem.
Zemlja vs. Gutierrez-Ferrol
Zemlja is now coached by Kavcic's old coach. He has problems breathing with the high humidity which was around today. Guti was getting hell pissed off at errors he was making, whereas Zemlja was a bit flat, struggling with the humidity. But he had too much class for Guti, not solely ballbashing with a bit of pushing thrown in for good measure.
Mektic vs. DeHeartThought this match would be closer, but DeHeart looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, yes even more so than usual. Mektic played very well, didn't miss many shots was able to use his forehand to pin DeHeart the baseline and push him round the place, forcing DeHeart into error or passing him when he came into the net off shit approach shots.
Millman vs. Rieschick
Seb Rieschick is playing the wrong sport, he should be a bouncer in a nightclub or playing for the German rugby team. Millman started off very slowly and was not able to move the big German around to expose his lack of movement. Rieschick was burying the short balls with his forehand and smashed a big FH winner down the line to take the 1st set.
Millman starts a bit better in the second set, but the same pattern is emerging. Millman grinding, but hitting too many short balls and always cross court and the bouncer taking the initiative gets to *5-3 15-15 and the rain delay happens.
Rieschick gets to match point and Millman saves it, breaks and then wins the next 3 games to take it 7-5. The bouncer is getting tired as Millman elongates the rallies, now the big shots are missing but Millman keeps giving back the break of serve. The bouncer is footfaulting big time, but not getting called, also among the big shots, he is getting deseparate and hitting more dropshots than Dustin Brown. Millman breaks again and is able to serve it out to win 6-4.
Definitely not a pretty match, but this is what happens when players hang in and keep fighting to the end, the rewards come along. Johnny will have to improve against Millot.
Kavcic vs. Mitchell
The Slovenian serving machine is the top seed here and the 1st set of the match while close isn't really of a good standard. Kavcic is a bit passive and Mitchell a bit nervous, both trade breaks to get it to a TB, which Kavcic played an outstanding breaker to take it.
Mitchell lifts his level of tennis, starts going for the shots and serving better. Kavcic is grumbling at himself in a mix of Slovene and English, especially at the times he couldn't convert the 0-40 leads twice into break points. It was mostly due to Mitchell serving well and hitting some big shots, which continues through to the 2nd set tiebreaker taking it in style.
Adrian Voinea had enough and decides to roll a cigarette and smoke it at the top of the stand in the corner to at the start of the 3rd set. Kavcic finally breaks halfway through the 3rd set with some aggressive play, then the great serve produced a double fault to give the break back. Crazy Kavcic was screaming, but Mitchell was playing some excellent tennis, especially the serve and the groundies were hitting the cornerns. Played well above his current world ranking of 600 at the moment.
They stopped for a small break due to the lines being slippery at 4-4, after trading breaks again. Kavcic is getting anxious and pissed off, especially when Mitchell saves a break point with a dead letcord. Voinea is calming him down, then Kavcic actually decides to step into the ball instead of being passive and breaks serve again.
Then the comedy capers when it comes to Kavcic serving out matches, he missed a few 1st serves and Mitchell starting missing the shots that he wasn't missing before. He was able to serve it out and was very happy to get the W, even though he had a shocking break point conversion rate which in most cases wasn't down to Kavcic's ineptitude. Mitchell played above himself but it was entertaining.
Random Notes
Trevisan vs. Skugor
Skugor woke up after losing the 1st set and ballbashed his way to a win.
Korolev vs, Fernandes
Little Fernandes was getting smoked by Kazakhstani Korolev didn't help he had a shoulder problem.
Haider-Maurer vs. Mertens
Mertens is almost as upright as Schalken, just not as talented. Haider-Maurer won but smashed 2 racquets in the process, he is a bit special.
Marcos Daniel was around the place, just wish I had my Gremio shirt at that time to see his face.
Antonio Veic was doing well when play was suspended, nice guy he spoke to a friend of mine about the match with Koellerer last year in Melbourne. How much he loved the atmosphere and the win of course.
Guccione is still a sexy beast.
Went to the venue a bit late wasn't sure how much play they would get in, but there were able to do quite well for the most part which was a good thing, though not sure about the next 2 days.
Farah vs. Soeda
Was looking forward to seeing Farah place in the flesh, it's a lot different from dodgy livestreams. He hadn't been much form at all in the first 2 matches of the season, but thankfully he was better against the 8 seed.
Soeda, the typical Asian hardcourt player very good footspeed, flat shots, only time hits topspin is when it's a mishit and doesn't make too many errors but without weapons.
Farah had a huge 2010 coming off the US university circuit, then winning the 125K Bogota Challenger in singles and doubles finishing the season in the top 200. The match was quite tight especially in the opening set with Farah serving well and using his 2 hand backhand to dominate in rallies, whereas Soeda was playing his typical game.
Went to the tiebreak, where Farah created more chances and was finally able to clinch it with some good play. He settled down, started to relax and play a lot better. Soeda changed to the hot pink shirt maybe to blind Farah into error, but the tall Colombian wasn't falling for it and won the match comfortably in the end.
The forehand of Farah is a liability and unless this can be remodelled at best or fixing it up some of the problems at the worst, it will prevent him from reaching his full potential. In the 2nd set he wasn't making as many errors, but much of the time he wasn't balanced at all when hitting the shot, hitting the ball too late. Out of 10 forehands, 4 would be short with not much on it, 4 would be be bottom of net and 2 would be decent.
But he works hard physically and hope he can overcome this technical problem.
Zemlja vs. Gutierrez-Ferrol
Zemlja is now coached by Kavcic's old coach. He has problems breathing with the high humidity which was around today. Guti was getting hell pissed off at errors he was making, whereas Zemlja was a bit flat, struggling with the humidity. But he had too much class for Guti, not solely ballbashing with a bit of pushing thrown in for good measure.
Mektic vs. DeHeartThought this match would be closer, but DeHeart looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, yes even more so than usual. Mektic played very well, didn't miss many shots was able to use his forehand to pin DeHeart the baseline and push him round the place, forcing DeHeart into error or passing him when he came into the net off shit approach shots.
Millman vs. Rieschick
Seb Rieschick is playing the wrong sport, he should be a bouncer in a nightclub or playing for the German rugby team. Millman started off very slowly and was not able to move the big German around to expose his lack of movement. Rieschick was burying the short balls with his forehand and smashed a big FH winner down the line to take the 1st set.
Millman starts a bit better in the second set, but the same pattern is emerging. Millman grinding, but hitting too many short balls and always cross court and the bouncer taking the initiative gets to *5-3 15-15 and the rain delay happens.
Rieschick gets to match point and Millman saves it, breaks and then wins the next 3 games to take it 7-5. The bouncer is getting tired as Millman elongates the rallies, now the big shots are missing but Millman keeps giving back the break of serve. The bouncer is footfaulting big time, but not getting called, also among the big shots, he is getting deseparate and hitting more dropshots than Dustin Brown. Millman breaks again and is able to serve it out to win 6-4.
Definitely not a pretty match, but this is what happens when players hang in and keep fighting to the end, the rewards come along. Johnny will have to improve against Millot.
Kavcic vs. Mitchell
The Slovenian serving machine is the top seed here and the 1st set of the match while close isn't really of a good standard. Kavcic is a bit passive and Mitchell a bit nervous, both trade breaks to get it to a TB, which Kavcic played an outstanding breaker to take it.
Mitchell lifts his level of tennis, starts going for the shots and serving better. Kavcic is grumbling at himself in a mix of Slovene and English, especially at the times he couldn't convert the 0-40 leads twice into break points. It was mostly due to Mitchell serving well and hitting some big shots, which continues through to the 2nd set tiebreaker taking it in style.
Adrian Voinea had enough and decides to roll a cigarette and smoke it at the top of the stand in the corner to at the start of the 3rd set. Kavcic finally breaks halfway through the 3rd set with some aggressive play, then the great serve produced a double fault to give the break back. Crazy Kavcic was screaming, but Mitchell was playing some excellent tennis, especially the serve and the groundies were hitting the cornerns. Played well above his current world ranking of 600 at the moment.
They stopped for a small break due to the lines being slippery at 4-4, after trading breaks again. Kavcic is getting anxious and pissed off, especially when Mitchell saves a break point with a dead letcord. Voinea is calming him down, then Kavcic actually decides to step into the ball instead of being passive and breaks serve again.
Then the comedy capers when it comes to Kavcic serving out matches, he missed a few 1st serves and Mitchell starting missing the shots that he wasn't missing before. He was able to serve it out and was very happy to get the W, even though he had a shocking break point conversion rate which in most cases wasn't down to Kavcic's ineptitude. Mitchell played above himself but it was entertaining.
Random Notes
Trevisan vs. Skugor
Skugor woke up after losing the 1st set and ballbashed his way to a win.
Korolev vs, Fernandes
Little Fernandes was getting smoked by Kazakhstani Korolev didn't help he had a shoulder problem.
Haider-Maurer vs. Mertens
Mertens is almost as upright as Schalken, just not as talented. Haider-Maurer won but smashed 2 racquets in the process, he is a bit special.
Marcos Daniel was around the place, just wish I had my Gremio shirt at that time to see his face.
Antonio Veic was doing well when play was suspended, nice guy he spoke to a friend of mine about the match with Koellerer last year in Melbourne. How much he loved the atmosphere and the win of course.
Guccione is still a sexy beast.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
The circus kicks off in 2011
Time to kick the 2011 season with an entry on the first tennis week of the year. Yes, there is a Chennai final to be played, but that can be left for the comments and it's a bit of a Mickey Mouse event. At the same time the ATP are a Mickey Mouse organisation for a lot of the time.
Starting off in the throbbing metropolis known as Doha the capital of the oil, cash rich and banking the FIFA payroll of Qatar. Roger Federer won the tournament again as he has done numerous times. It was not too difficult for him as he continues the form from the end of last season. Sure at the end of 2010 was good for Federer, but it will count for nowt if he can't defend his Australian Open title in a couple of weeks. As for his chances of defending, only a blind delusional fool would write him off.
It was an excellent week for the PMK as well. Davydenko had an indifferent run since coming back from injury, but for him the match up against Federer is very difficult. For all of the great timing on the PMK's groundies when he is on his game, Federer has the tools to make it uncomfortable for him, especially with the slice backhand. He is able to expose Davydenko by getting him off the baseline with the wide angle slice and then dominate the rallies from there, this in addition to the fact that Davydenko doesn't hit a very heavy ball unlike Nadal where he can break down Federer's backhand or lacks the variation that Murray has.
In spite of the above it was pleasant to see Davydenko take out Nadal again. He has the upper hand in their match up, which is not a surprise as with his game, as he is able to take time away from Nadal and while overall Nadal has become more aggressive, he is still vulnerable to players who hit a flat and powerful ball. Of course as usual whenever Nadal loses a match, there are always some excuses flying around. He was ill earlier in the week, it's not like he had dengue fever or malaria. Just a case of the sniffles, but it was not so bad that he couldn't withdraw from the tournament and was well enough to win the doubles with Marc Lopez.
Good on Marc Lopez reinventing himself as a doubles specialist after struggling with injuries during the singles career, along with a lack of weapons besides massive legs. He fights hard like most Spaniards ( no this doesn't mean you LaLo), but carrying a very ill and on his deathbed Nadal to a dobules title, hope he can do well at the Aus Open though if he is playing with Boredo, it might be better for him as the sparring partner for Nadal.
Onto Brisbane, an excellent week for the Robin "the Toad" Söderling who won the title without losing a set. He and his new coach "Pisto" aka Claudio Pistolesi have a 100% record at the moment, will be interesting to see how they work together. Magnus Norman was a great influence on the Toad, not just on the court but off the court. Not exactly sure why they split, sure part of it is the academy but there is more to it than the official reason.
Söderling was just too good for Andy Roddick, it definitely helped that the weather was so shit in Brisbane this week and the roof was closed for much of the event. The Toad loves playing under a roof, as with his 10m balltoss on the serve which is not going to be impacted by wind or sun position, so he can just wait and hammer it down which he was doing all week.
He didn't face a break point at all on serve, not that Roddick is like Federer, Murray or Ferrer on the return of serve. Nevertheless it's still an excellent performance especially since the Toad doesn't have a great finals record. The rallies were a mismatch a lot of the time with Roddick just defending and not hitting the groundies with any intent, whereas Söderling was able to rally comfortably as he wasn't been moved around at all. Then was able to take advantage of the inevitable fodder that Roddick produced and pummeled clean winners or unreturnable shots.
Rawdick didn't use the slice backhand enough, not that it's a shot of beauty but if something isn't working, then time to try something else. Using the slice to be able to get Toad off the baseline is a good tactic, as he is as comfortable going forward as a turkey at Christmas time when it's not on his own terms. Söderling had a lot of break points, while he wouldn't be happy with the overall break point conversion, he was in a position where it felt like he couldn't lose the match.
Of course Rawdick was up to his umpire berating antics when things weren't going well for him. A contradictory character Roddick is, maybe he suffers from white line fever, then it could be he is just an arsehole but one with redeeming features if you look hard enough. The Brisbane venue which has a roof of sorts, well they spent so much money on the venue and charge more than the Aus Open for tickets, you think it would be possible for them to have a roof that didn't allow water to come into venue. Duck Boy was complaining about the court, but Fergus "the midget" Murphy had the situation under control. Just an excuse to let off steam, but good to see Söderling put him out of his misery.
Chennai well 2 players with shit finals records are in the final. The talented but temperamental Belgian Xaiver Malisse who has won this title before is the massive underdog against Stani Wawrinka, who has had some interesting off court distractions with the break up of his marriage. These things aren't easy in the regular world, let alone for a pro sportsperson. Sad thing is that there is a little child involved, most important thing is that she gets love from both parents in spite of their break up.
To end this rather rambling entry, the sexy Slovenian Blaz Kavcic made the quarter finals of Chennai, this is a big surprise but he is a cool guy, who despite the poor serve is making the most of his abilities.
Next report will be from the Aus Open qualies
Starting off in the throbbing metropolis known as Doha the capital of the oil, cash rich and banking the FIFA payroll of Qatar. Roger Federer won the tournament again as he has done numerous times. It was not too difficult for him as he continues the form from the end of last season. Sure at the end of 2010 was good for Federer, but it will count for nowt if he can't defend his Australian Open title in a couple of weeks. As for his chances of defending, only a blind delusional fool would write him off.
It was an excellent week for the PMK as well. Davydenko had an indifferent run since coming back from injury, but for him the match up against Federer is very difficult. For all of the great timing on the PMK's groundies when he is on his game, Federer has the tools to make it uncomfortable for him, especially with the slice backhand. He is able to expose Davydenko by getting him off the baseline with the wide angle slice and then dominate the rallies from there, this in addition to the fact that Davydenko doesn't hit a very heavy ball unlike Nadal where he can break down Federer's backhand or lacks the variation that Murray has.
In spite of the above it was pleasant to see Davydenko take out Nadal again. He has the upper hand in their match up, which is not a surprise as with his game, as he is able to take time away from Nadal and while overall Nadal has become more aggressive, he is still vulnerable to players who hit a flat and powerful ball. Of course as usual whenever Nadal loses a match, there are always some excuses flying around. He was ill earlier in the week, it's not like he had dengue fever or malaria. Just a case of the sniffles, but it was not so bad that he couldn't withdraw from the tournament and was well enough to win the doubles with Marc Lopez.
Good on Marc Lopez reinventing himself as a doubles specialist after struggling with injuries during the singles career, along with a lack of weapons besides massive legs. He fights hard like most Spaniards ( no this doesn't mean you LaLo), but carrying a very ill and on his deathbed Nadal to a dobules title, hope he can do well at the Aus Open though if he is playing with Boredo, it might be better for him as the sparring partner for Nadal.
Onto Brisbane, an excellent week for the Robin "the Toad" Söderling who won the title without losing a set. He and his new coach "Pisto" aka Claudio Pistolesi have a 100% record at the moment, will be interesting to see how they work together. Magnus Norman was a great influence on the Toad, not just on the court but off the court. Not exactly sure why they split, sure part of it is the academy but there is more to it than the official reason.
Söderling was just too good for Andy Roddick, it definitely helped that the weather was so shit in Brisbane this week and the roof was closed for much of the event. The Toad loves playing under a roof, as with his 10m balltoss on the serve which is not going to be impacted by wind or sun position, so he can just wait and hammer it down which he was doing all week.
He didn't face a break point at all on serve, not that Roddick is like Federer, Murray or Ferrer on the return of serve. Nevertheless it's still an excellent performance especially since the Toad doesn't have a great finals record. The rallies were a mismatch a lot of the time with Roddick just defending and not hitting the groundies with any intent, whereas Söderling was able to rally comfortably as he wasn't been moved around at all. Then was able to take advantage of the inevitable fodder that Roddick produced and pummeled clean winners or unreturnable shots.
Rawdick didn't use the slice backhand enough, not that it's a shot of beauty but if something isn't working, then time to try something else. Using the slice to be able to get Toad off the baseline is a good tactic, as he is as comfortable going forward as a turkey at Christmas time when it's not on his own terms. Söderling had a lot of break points, while he wouldn't be happy with the overall break point conversion, he was in a position where it felt like he couldn't lose the match.
Of course Rawdick was up to his umpire berating antics when things weren't going well for him. A contradictory character Roddick is, maybe he suffers from white line fever, then it could be he is just an arsehole but one with redeeming features if you look hard enough. The Brisbane venue which has a roof of sorts, well they spent so much money on the venue and charge more than the Aus Open for tickets, you think it would be possible for them to have a roof that didn't allow water to come into venue. Duck Boy was complaining about the court, but Fergus "the midget" Murphy had the situation under control. Just an excuse to let off steam, but good to see Söderling put him out of his misery.
Chennai well 2 players with shit finals records are in the final. The talented but temperamental Belgian Xaiver Malisse who has won this title before is the massive underdog against Stani Wawrinka, who has had some interesting off court distractions with the break up of his marriage. These things aren't easy in the regular world, let alone for a pro sportsperson. Sad thing is that there is a little child involved, most important thing is that she gets love from both parents in spite of their break up.
To end this rather rambling entry, the sexy Slovenian Blaz Kavcic made the quarter finals of Chennai, this is a big surprise but he is a cool guy, who despite the poor serve is making the most of his abilities.
Next report will be from the Aus Open qualies
Friday, October 08, 2010
Jarkko Nieminen : The Masku Marvel
It's time for one of these entries again. This is about one of the most popular and likable individuals on the tour. Jarkko Nieminen known as 'the Shark", not because of his pool playing skills or his ruthlessness on court, which I will come to later. It's more of a term of endearment and play on the name.
Finland haven't had a great tennis tradition, they have been an excellent sporting nation especially when it comes to rally racing, cross country skiing, javelin throwing and distance racing. Apart from ice hockey, this is due to the amount of talent they have in their country, that it would be almost impossible for them to not have an excellent team. They excel in individual sports and it's not such a surprise given the history of the country, plus silence and solitude is not something that is frowned upon or looked on badly.
Before Jarkko, there was a Finnish player named Veli Paloheimo, who made the most of his talents as a player, had the famous Finnish fighting spirit known as sisu. The perfect example of this, some would say stupid, he reached the 4th round of the 1990 Australian Open his best ever GS result in defeating the #14 Carl Uwe Steeb in the 1st round, then taking out Guy Forget who the Aussies love saying his name phonetically. In the 4th round he played Mats Wilander, fought very hard as usual lost first 2 sets 7-5 6-4 in an impressive performance. Then he went over and injured his ankle on the sticky surface, got it strapped and could hardly walk but refused to retire and played out the set losing 6-0.
Nieminen has surpassed what Veli has done in Finnish tennis, but it's important not to forget the past. It would be interesting to get Jarkko's thoughts and whether Paloheimo had any role in helping him make the transition to the tour. Jarkko was an excellent junior defeating Kristian Pless in the 1999 US Open final. The big hitting Dane was hyped to do well on the tour, but he was surpassed by the unassuming Finn. He had already started playing Davis Cup in 1999, something he has been willing to do for his career, not turning his back on it unlike Federer and others have because they have lacked the necessary back up, though with young Henri Kontinen there is some potential coming through and Jarkko would be great in a mentoring role for young Finnish players trying to make it on the ATP cricus.
In his second ATP tournament he like Jose Acasuso made the final of the Stockholm indoor without losing a set defeating Pless, El Ayanoui, Thomas Johansson and Enqvist before losing to Schalken in 5 sets. This is where he first came to be known on a wider scale, sadly for Nieminen his finals record is one of the worst on tour at 1-9. In many of the finals he has been the big underdog in many of the finals he has played Federer and Nalbandian twice, Gaudio on clay, Schalken was his second tournament on tour and Blake in Stockholm again when he was outclassed by the ballbasher who was on fire. The toughest losses were against Llodra in Adelaide and the recent one to Garcia-Lopez in Bangkok, where he had numerous break chances in the 1st set but Garcia-Lopez took his only chance, this is something that has been a common factor in Nieminen's career.
Jarkko has an excellent all court game, consisting of good changes of pace and not too much differential in level between his forehand and his backhand. He can do more with the forehand but will go down the line with the backhand when the opportunity arises. For his game to work at its best, he needs to be aggressive at the right moments, being aggressive isn't just closing your eyes and swinging as hard as you can without any thought. It's about not being passive and reactive which Nieminen can be at times when he is just pushing the ball with no real intent. It's not easy to get the balance right, because defensive skills are very important in tennis and Nieminen does well in this aspect of the game, but when he isn't taking the ball on rise and using the variations of angle and direction to keep the opponent off balance, then he becomes less effective and it impacts on other parts of his game.
The biggest weaknesses for Nieminen are the second serve, the lack of self belief against the top players, plus being passive and inhibited on big points instead of being aggressive. These are all linked together through different phases. Nieminen's first serve is reasonable, not very fast but well placed and can move it around the box, which he needs to do at his height and build. The problem is the second serve is weak, there isn't much pace on it, hardly any leg drive or back arch to get heavy spin. If the pace isn't there on the second ball, then there should be a high degree of topspin or slice to compensate for this. The off season will be good for that, some work in the gym doing some squats and other strengthening of the core will help in addition to just repeating the drill. As it stands when it gets tight and the Shark's first serve goes missing, then his second delivery isn't up to the standard of the rest of the game and can be cannon fodder as it's short, nothing on it and he will put too far on the defensive even if he can get the ball back off the return. If he can improve his second serve to a point, where it's not so attackable most of the time, then even further improvement is possible. In reality, especially in tennis it's when under pression that the weaknesses really get highlighted.
Lack of belief, Nieminen doesn't have a great record against the top players. He is the guy when playing to his optimum level will defeat the players better than him, but will not beat the ones above him. This is due to a lack of a massive shot, he doesn't have the huge forehand or the massive serve to get him out of trouble. An example of this was in Barcelona where he was playing Nadal leading a set and a break, playing intelligent and aggressive tennis, in spite of this the feeling was around that Nadal would turn it around. Nieminen always fights hard to the end, but the lack of belief in these big moments, also at the Aus Open he had a set point against Nadal in the 1st, but was too passive and that opportunity was past. After the completion of the set, the inevitable happened with Nadal winning in 3 sets. The fact that Nieminen becomes passive and tentative on big points, forgetting what took him to the lead and not playing the ball on its merits at these times has hindered them in many matches and prevented the breakthrough he deserves.
Personally I wish Nieminen all the best in the later part of his career, he is very down to earth especially for a pro sportsman. He is very good and respectful to the fans, got a good sense of humour and well respected by his peers for the most part. He went and did his military service without any hooplah or found an excuse to get out of it, like he could have done with his high profile. Sure it was not the frontline, but good that he completed the service.
Not even the cantankerous Robin Söderling has a problem with him. All anyone can ask of a pro player or person in general that they took the right steps to maximise their respective talents in their general field, and Nieminen has done that.
If Slams were rewarded on good character then Nieminen would be a multi Slam champion, but the good bloke factor doesn't play a role in the results orientated world of professional sport. Nieminen represents himself and his nation very well and that won't change irrespective of how many titles he wins or how many finals he loses.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Rafael Nadal takes Career Grand Slam
Haven't done an update in a while, more due to a lack of motivation, interest and other things going on in the outside world. Usually I try not to write about Federer or Nadal, there are enough people in the world can fawn over Fedal and their domination of the sport, but this occasion is different.
Rafel Nadal winning the US Open has completed the career slam and only becomes the 8th person to do so. It's an outstanding and well deserved achievement, sure most of his fanbase are gelationus parasitic tapeworms who just followed tennis since 2005, therefore think he invented topspin and nothing existed before then and it will end when he retires. These people will go on and on, but will forget like all players that Nadal will decline eventually.
Enough of this nonsense. Nadal was clearly the best player for the whole 2 weeks and whether people like it or not, players don't fluke Slams and there always is a certain amount of luck to win a Slam. Federer won RG without playing Nadal in the final, and vice versa here it doesn't mean any less for this instance. Sure, the guys that give Nadal the most trouble on hardcourts like del Potro are injured, Murray not good enough to pass Wawrinka, Söderling and Davydenko, one out of form and the other not up to it against Federer and Federer not beating Djokovic. In other words can only beat what is front of you and have to be good enough to take advantage of this.
In the final Nadal had an awful break point conversion rate which is an area where he is so strong, but his serving throughout the event was of a very high standard. Not just spinning it in to move the opponent around, was able to hit some big serves when needed. This and being more willing to hit the forehand down the line helped him prosper in this event, sure he wasn't under a huge amount of pressure. Even when Djokovic won the 2nd set of the final, there was still a feeling of inevitability that this was Nadal's day and event.
Since I don't believe in the whole GOAT nonsense, because it's really just an excuse for people to rant about something when it's not impossible to compare very different eras. Yes, Nadal has benefitted from surface homogenisation and racquet/string technology, but got to have the ability and aptitude to use it your advantage and he has done that, so kudos to him and he can only exist in his particular time. Can't use a time machine to transport him back to the days of the wooden racquets or the 90s where there were glorified ice rinks posing as tennis courts and vice versa.
History alone will decide where Nadal's place is in the game. He will always be remembered whatever else happens to his career. This triumph more aggression from the baseline, better serving, taking advantage of the opportunity when it was there to win a Slam when the big dangers weren't in his path. Nadal went out there and got the job done to win the career Slam and no one can or will take that away from him, whether they like it or not.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Choupi reports from the land of spätzle Stuttgart and the Båstad party event
The joys of the summer clay season are upon us, which means lots of parties, warm weather, fixes and some funny results not including these fixes.
Best of all we will have the annual Stuttgart reports from Choupi. She will find it hard to take her eyes off Dustin Brown, but players there include the King playing qualies and struggling at the moment, Davydenko just coming back from injury, Gimeno-Traver who should be playing Båstad, but less travel time to Stuttgart from his Italian challenger.
As always we will look forward and appreciate the fan reports.
To Båstad, Vinciguerra gets another wildcard, but he didn't get any favours with the draw at all, getting in the same section as Söderling. Seppi first time in Båstad, hope he does better off the court, than he has been on the court.
Luczak is playing in his second home of Sweden, he got a good match up against Riba, he should be able to win the match though not in good form. Tennis is a funny game as we know.
Best of all we will have the annual Stuttgart reports from Choupi. She will find it hard to take her eyes off Dustin Brown, but players there include the King playing qualies and struggling at the moment, Davydenko just coming back from injury, Gimeno-Traver who should be playing Båstad, but less travel time to Stuttgart from his Italian challenger.
As always we will look forward and appreciate the fan reports.
To Båstad, Vinciguerra gets another wildcard, but he didn't get any favours with the draw at all, getting in the same section as Söderling. Seppi first time in Båstad, hope he does better off the court, than he has been on the court.
Luczak is playing in his second home of Sweden, he got a good match up against Riba, he should be able to win the match though not in good form. Tennis is a funny game as we know.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Surprise Surprise Nadal wins Roland Garros
Roland Garros over for another year and unless you are a delusional Nadal fanboy or fangirl, then it was a tedious event that was won by a man who hardly got out of neutral and had more stress doing part of his speech in French. In other words clearly outplayed the field and as predictable as night following day.
As for the rest Robin Söderling backed up his good form from last season and took out Federer, but came up short in the final again. Tomas Berdych finally made a semi final and it was probably good that he didn't make the final as he would have performed worse than what Söderling did. Still have to do an article on Berdych later in the year.
Onto better news "Mr. Prostejov" Jan Hajek won the title again for the third time and it saw the comeback to the tour for Radek Stepanek who has lost nothing in the sexiness department. Disappointingly Stepanek was ill and had to retire at the end of the first set of the final, hope it's not another setback after his problems with glandular fever.
As for the rest Robin Söderling backed up his good form from last season and took out Federer, but came up short in the final again. Tomas Berdych finally made a semi final and it was probably good that he didn't make the final as he would have performed worse than what Söderling did. Still have to do an article on Berdych later in the year.
Onto better news "Mr. Prostejov" Jan Hajek won the title again for the third time and it saw the comeback to the tour for Radek Stepanek who has lost nothing in the sexiness department. Disappointingly Stepanek was ill and had to retire at the end of the first set of the final, hope it's not another setback after his problems with glandular fever.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Roland Garros : Dreams are Free
In reality this should not be a very long entry. So here we go the arse picking, muscular Spaniard Rafael Nadal will get back his Roland Garros title overcoming the huge odds and defeating all in front of him easily in addition to battling career threatening injury which is always around the corner, what a warrior.
As for the rest of the field, well Luczak got fucked hard with the draw getting Federer in the 1st round. King Oscar is playing Hanescu, the regal figure hasn't been the same in 2010. Gulbis and Verdasco let some mini hype begin, but they will just be fodder eventually.
Yuri Schukin got the great draw of Rajeev Rampras too bad this one won't have TV coverage. Tursunov is making a comeback and DGT got the draw, would hope Daniel is good enough to take advantage of this situation.
Will there be a story like Söderling this year, well Inter Milan won the Champions League, so anything is possible though in this case not likely.
As for the rest of the field, well Luczak got fucked hard with the draw getting Federer in the 1st round. King Oscar is playing Hanescu, the regal figure hasn't been the same in 2010. Gulbis and Verdasco let some mini hype begin, but they will just be fodder eventually.
Yuri Schukin got the great draw of Rajeev Rampras too bad this one won't have TV coverage. Tursunov is making a comeback and DGT got the draw, would hope Daniel is good enough to take advantage of this situation.
Will there be a story like Söderling this year, well Inter Milan won the Champions League, so anything is possible though in this case not likely.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Interview with Filip Dewulf The man who won more matches at 1997 Roland Garros than the eventual champion
This entry is an extensive interview with former Belgian tennis player Filip Dewulf who is now a tennis writer who has his own blog at and yes it's in Dutch but it's worth getting a friend to translate.
For those who have a short attention span, tough luck this interview will be all in one post, so deal with it, hehe. Before I start with the interview. I would sincerely like to thank Filip for taking time out to answer these questions. Also to Martine and happy Hilde who have provided me translations of Dewulf's blog since my Dutch language skills are absolute crap. Last of all my media manager Michelle who helped out in so many ways.
Where are you based at the moment and do you have a family. If so how old are the children?
I’m living near my hometown Leopoldsburg, a small town called Heppen. Happily married with a five year old boy, Finn.
How did fatherhood impact on you?
I’m much more emotional. For instance: I can’t seem to watch a movie on a plane without getting gripped emotionally. I don’t know if it’s the altitude or something else
Where were you raised, and what were your childhood memories before joining the ATP tour?
Very happy childhood. Did a lot of stuff with my two cousins (tennis as well). Played a lot of soccer, a lot…
How and when did you start playing tennis?
When I was six or seven I went with my two cousins and my uncle to the local tennis club. Got picked up by local coaches and pretty fast by regional coaches.
What were your memories of starting out the playing Futures and Challenger events?
It was hard, lonely and fun. A lot of freedom. A lot of improvisation. We played satellites what meant that we were every time for three of four weeks on the road. Stayed in a lot of cheap hotels. Luckily most of the time with my cousin – who tried briefly as a professional – or with my friend Tom Vanhoudt, who would become a good doubles player.
When did you realise that you were able to make a career on the ATP tour and did you have any doubts that this would be the case. If so how did you overcome then?
My whole career was one big doubt I only realized that I could be somebody on the tour when I won Vienna in 1995. Before I didn’t know if I was good enough.
What were your favourite tournaments?
Vienna, Kiztbühel – not only because I won the title there but also because I liked it – Miami, Florence, Australian Open.
On the other side what were the worst places you played and worst hotel experience?
Tashkent in Uzbekistan was though although I got to the final over there. Just a crazy experience, too much to tell.
Can you explain the feeling of winning your first tournament at Vienna in 1995 as a qualifier defeating world number 3 Thomas Muster in the final only losing one set in the main draw?
I only qualified just, was lucky, but once in the MD I played on a cloud. No pressure, a good draw and some luck in the final gave me my first victory. Like I said before: that’s where I realized, I can actually make this work. It was more a feeling of surprise than of joy I would say. Bu still it’s still my most memorable tournament, more than RG.
What were the best and worst ever matches you have played?
Best: Thomas Enqvist in 3R RG 1998. Worst: Adrian Voinea in Romania Davis Cup 1996.
After dropping out of the top 100 at the start of 1997 it ended up as your best year on tour. One of the few players to have won more matches at Roland Garros than the eventual champion in 1997 by making the semi finals losing to Guga but beating Meligeni, Portas, Corretja and Norman. What do you remember about these 2 weeks and did you get much support from Belgian fans or press?
From the second week on it was a mad house. A lot of support (too much!) from the home front. A lot of press what resulted in a lot of pressure for the semi final. Still, people remember me because of these two weeks. I started a little bit the invasion of Belgian fans into Roland Garros and I’m still in the history books as the qualifier who got the most far at Roland Garros. Nice!
In the same year you won Kitzbühel without losing a set. What was it that you enjoyed about playing in Austria and did you spend much time in "The Londoner" pub?
Just sheer luck I guess that I won my two titles in Austria. In Kitzbuhel I had the most memorable title celebration ever. In the Londoner with some grounds men from the tournament and the Australian doubles winners (Wayne Arthurs). It was wild, it was great and it was the only time I went there that week
Who were your best friends on the tour?
I was and still am good friends with the Belgians from that time. Vanhoudt, Johan Van Herck, Libor Pimek, Christophe Van Garsse.
The biggest jerk?
Let’s say that the character of Andrea Gaudenzi didn’t match mine
What major injuries do you have and how did you pass the time away from tennis. Did this time help you gain a different perspective?
I didn’t need the injuries to gain perspective. I had too much already I had a bad back, surgery on ankle and knee.
When did you retire from tennis and how were the initial months after retirement?
I retired in April 2001 and I was particularly relieved because the last period of my tennis career was pretty bad. I was not healthy but continued anyway. That resulted in bad results and a bad ranking, what made my motivation go down. Once I stopped, I was relieved that that torment was over. I could focus on something else and start a new part of my life.
Were you satisfied with your career in that you gave yourself the best opportunity to get the most out of your game or not?
I probably didn’t get everything out of it but with my character – not really a tennis freak or very passionate about it – I would say that I didn’t do too bad. Before starting it I would never think I would get that far and really make an impact for Belgian tennis.
How did you handle the loneliness on tour and were there times you wished you were somewhere else?
Yes. But then I would go to my friends who were studying and they would tell me to stop whining
Since you are a big fan of football. When you were on tour did you wish you could be there with your friends instead of watching in the hotel having to focus on your tennis?
A lot! I remember I was with my coach in my hotel room in Braunschweig when Belgium lost to Turkey in their last group match at the EC 2000 in Belgium. I was screaming like hell and throwing with pillows while my coach was laughing…
When did you become a member of the "I believe in the Great Soccer God" church?
When I was born I always played soccer. When I stopped my tennis career I immediately started playing soccer and stopped playing tennis
What football team do you support?
The best team in Belgium: Standard Liège.
Do you still play for FC Bos. What position do you play and what are the main differences for you between playing tennis and football?
I still do! I'm a midfield player (because I still can outrun my team mates, says a lot about them :-)). Every Saturday but due to the good results from the Belgians lately (Henin and Clijsters) I don’t have enough time what makes me really sad.
Remembering the great Belgian football generation from 1980-1986. Do you think the players today suffer from being compared to the Gerets, Scifo, Lei Clijsters, Pfaff, Ceulemans generation?
They suffer from a too big ego. With every missed championship the expectations are growing, which results in a lot of pressure…
Who would be a good person to take the vacant national team job from Advocaat?
I learned today that Georges Leekens is the new coach and that’s an okay decision. I would have preferred a foreigner because the media in this torn country always pulls for the coach of its linguistic part.
How would you rate the current depth and future potential of mens tennis in Belgium? Why have they suffered in comparison to the women who have produced Henin, Clijsters and Wickmayer?
First of all: you can’t compare men and woman. Secondly: they were doing not too bad – we had like 4 or 5 players in the top 100 – but suffered from injuries. Malisse, Olivier Rochus, Darcis, Vliegen…And on the other side: we are/were very lucky with Henin and Clijsters. A once in a century occasion. For the future: looks much brighter on the men’s side than on the women’s side.
In respect to tennis development in Belgium. How much does the Flemish/Walloon conflict impact on tennis relations?
We have two different leagues, that’s all. They live next to each other in pretty good understanding. They more or less have the same system of development, and that’s good. There doing a pretty good job. We don’t have a national tennis centre though, that could make a difference, I think.
What do you think about the overall career of Xavier Malisse and what can he achieve in his last years on the circuit?
I still think he can make a good result. He makes me think of me quite a lot actually. Quite a (bad) character on court, quite relax and even shy off it. Not the most regular guy on tour, but tons of talent and he can make a result anytime. I hope for him that he can pull one out, like another title or a second week in a grand slam. But it’s hard because the concurrence is a lot bigger than when he started.
Did you enjoy playing Davis Cup.? There seems to be some problems with it at the moment, what do you think can be done with the scheduling?
I enjoyed it quite a lot actually but then again we had a nice team and we only played twice a year. Nowadays the schedule is so tight that the top players have to choose sometimes. And when the top players don’t play, it reflects on the image of the Davis Cup.
Do you think it’s fundamentally wrong to give ranking points for Davis Cup?
Completely agree with you. What about Marcos Baghdatis for instance?
Have you ever considered applying for the Davis Cup captain job?
Not really. Would be difficult to combine with my job (I’m a tennis writer ) and I think that the captain was to travel during the year to be close to his teammates. In Belgium there’s no money for that.
What do you think about the length of season? They have been talking for years about reducing the season, but nothing has changed in this regard. If you were in charge, what steps can they take to fix the calendar and reduce the amount of tournaments?
Sooner or later they will have to take a decision. Some tournaments have to go. The WTA tour went already ahead and I think that it's gonna work. It’s not normal that the men have to play a month monger than the women. But then again, it’s all about money and I’m happy that I’m not in charge to cut the cords.
For those who don't know, could you please explain how the ATP is structured? It's meant to be a joint union between players and tournament directors but it appears that the ATP is looking out more for the tournament directors than the players. What is your view on the ATP as an organisation and has it changed from when you were a player to the present day?
I don’t think the ATP has changed that much. The real problem lies within the fact that the head of the organisation is dealing with two different parties who they can never satisfy both. The tournaments want a lot of top players all the time and the players want less tournaments (but still earn a lot of money). They should maybe split it up and create a real players union. But you know what: the one thing that a player is really concerned about is the money (for his own sake). It’s difficult to create a union with that in mind.
What's your opinion on the ATP reducing the differences in the surface speeds, the fact that there are no carpet events on tour. There are many 28 player draw in IS/250 events instead of 32 player draws? Is this the balance of power between top players and the ATP directors?
One part of me thinks it’s bad to protect the top players with the draw but the other part knows that they attract the people and the money (sponsors) so…
In my time I was sometimes complaining about the surfaces who were too fast ( I wasn’t a big server) but know I think they went a little bit too far with sometimes matches that last for hours and get annoying. There should be some difference. Due to the material all players are being developed as baseliners. With the court speed reduced, this will only get worse.
Muster and Medvedev when they were playing were vocal critics of the ATP. Cañas said “The ATP practices discrimination from an economic standpoint, like any multinational corporation. It’s just another of millions that there are in the world. Point being that I accept it, but I'm not buying into it that it is a group of players that decide (players union) because it isn't like that”. Do you believe that Willy is correct on this issue and have you experienced this form or any other form of discrimination?
In my time we had the feeling that it was an American organization and that they were favouring a little bit the tournaments in that part of the world. America was at the time pretty big with Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Courier etc.
But I think it’s a bit silly to critic the hand that feeds you. Canas and others may have been appalled by the cheer economic point of view by the tour but must have been happy when he saw his bank account at the end of the month. Again: it’s an individual sport with an individual point of view: I want to make the most (money) of it. It’s hard to get everybody on the same viewpoint then.
How widespread do you believe doping is on the tour and how does it compare to your playing days to the current times. Are you surprised that nothing happened to Agassi when he admitted to taking drugs and his positive result was not made public?
I was surprised when I found out that AA took drugs in his playing days. There were rumours floating around but there was never evidence. I think in my time you had some cheaters, like you do now. But I don’t think it’s widespread just because tennis as a sport is to complex. You have to have speed, endurance, technique, vista, etc…
What's your opinion on the WADA law that missing three doping tests classifies as a failure and the cases of Malisse and Wickmayer where it was the Flemish doping authority and not WADA that applied the initial ban?
I’ve seen this case evolve and I must say that the players are guilty for negligence but not for doping. They made administrative errors that had nothing to do with tennis. I find it a bit harsh that they would be suspended for some stupid mistakes. There has to be some sort of alarm procedure that gets into place when somebody misses two appointments. And is typical that the Flemish authorities where first to signal it. We don’t have a sport culture, we’re pretty negative towards people who stand out and we like to be holier than the Pope.
Do you believe match fixing is rampant and have you been offered to throw a match. How common was it in your playing days?
Never seen anything in my career but then again I’m so old that the internet was hardly working in my days. I believe that there are players who throw matches but not on the highest level.
There have been players suspended for betting on matches albeit small amounts and they have been lower ranked players. Are the authorities doing a good job in trying to stop match fixing or is it just to make the appearance of them doing something?
One word: scapegoats.
What are your short term goals?
Be healthy, be happy and make my friends and family happy.
We are almost done now and the last part is the game called Word Association. I give you name or a subject and you have to name the first thing that comes into your mind.
Frites with mayonnaise: Belgian – and not French! – specialty
Heineken: bad tasting water
Pat Etcheberry: too much muscles
Roland Garros: Belgian territory
Flemish independence: Not in my lifetime I hope
Jan Ceulemans: could have been a superstar but too modest
Trappist Beer: Best in the world
Tom Boonen: Almost a neighbour (10 kilometres)
Guga Kuerten: Very nice guy!
2010 World Cup Winner: España (Spain)
We are finally done now, and I would like to thank Filip once again for the interview.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Barcelona, the home of champions
Nadal slapped the field in Monte Carlo, huge surprise and he is likely to do the same here. That is not enjoyable at all, unless you are a Nadal fangirl but there are some potential good matches and maybe to get some reports from the field.
The likable Valencian Daniel Gimeno-Traver qualified for the main draw, unfortunately he drew Juan Monaco in the first round. The problem with DGT is in close matches, he gets too tight and can't take the opportunities when on offer. Mike Russell is back on tour after a freak problem with his ankle, he does like the clay though he hasn't been able to play many full seasons, he plays qualifier Ramos-Vinolas and hopefully then big Gonzalez in the next round.
Jan Hajek who was recently married and a different individual, who sometimes can play well and other times retire at the drop of the hat and not care, took out Starace in the first round and will play Tsonga so anything can happen there.
Seppi got wildcard Matt Dillon aka Beto Martin, and the winner will play Boredo. He has not been in great form this season and has not won two matches in a row this season, this could be time to start as any. Boredo at Barna is quite tough and he will use his fine attacking play to try and take down the "South Tyrolean sex machine".
Luczak plays that ball bashing Gulbis, who might cruise La Rambla for some ladies of the night and not be too interested in this event, if Gulbis is on then Luczak will get smoked. Peter will fight hard, but not in sparkling form at the moment. Montañes is the man in that section along with Gonzalez, Fat Albert has improved so much over time and should be an inspiration for players that an advanced age good things can happen in the tennis world.
Barcelona is the first event for Gonzo and Söderling on the Euro clay this time around, for most it takes a bit of time to get used to the section, both guys especially Söderling got a kind draw, Berdych, Ferrero and Almagro are probably the toughest ones but anything can happen in this event.
Nalle is getting better match fitness and this is good to see, he gets to play the pretty Melzer and should be able to turn around his recent loss and have a second round match with the King Oscar Hernandez who is in his home city.
Hope this can be an enjoyable tournament apart from Nadal matches and there will be some coverage on Wednesday thankfully.
The likable Valencian Daniel Gimeno-Traver qualified for the main draw, unfortunately he drew Juan Monaco in the first round. The problem with DGT is in close matches, he gets too tight and can't take the opportunities when on offer. Mike Russell is back on tour after a freak problem with his ankle, he does like the clay though he hasn't been able to play many full seasons, he plays qualifier Ramos-Vinolas and hopefully then big Gonzalez in the next round.
Jan Hajek who was recently married and a different individual, who sometimes can play well and other times retire at the drop of the hat and not care, took out Starace in the first round and will play Tsonga so anything can happen there.
Seppi got wildcard Matt Dillon aka Beto Martin, and the winner will play Boredo. He has not been in great form this season and has not won two matches in a row this season, this could be time to start as any. Boredo at Barna is quite tough and he will use his fine attacking play to try and take down the "South Tyrolean sex machine".
Luczak plays that ball bashing Gulbis, who might cruise La Rambla for some ladies of the night and not be too interested in this event, if Gulbis is on then Luczak will get smoked. Peter will fight hard, but not in sparkling form at the moment. Montañes is the man in that section along with Gonzalez, Fat Albert has improved so much over time and should be an inspiration for players that an advanced age good things can happen in the tennis world.
Barcelona is the first event for Gonzo and Söderling on the Euro clay this time around, for most it takes a bit of time to get used to the section, both guys especially Söderling got a kind draw, Berdych, Ferrero and Almagro are probably the toughest ones but anything can happen in this event.
Nalle is getting better match fitness and this is good to see, he gets to play the pretty Melzer and should be able to turn around his recent loss and have a second round match with the King Oscar Hernandez who is in his home city.
Hope this can be an enjoyable tournament apart from Nadal matches and there will be some coverage on Wednesday thankfully.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
King Oscar back in the winning circle and the 2010 Claycourt Season Preview
Yes, it’s that time of the year where tennis is played on a proper surface and in theory there should be less brainless bashing around, but hey communism was good in theory.
Before we get into the main subject which will say more than the usual Rafael Nadal is going to come back from his deathbed and career about to end due to knee problems to slay the field during the clay season and abuse them like poor dogs in the animal shelter.
Indian Wells and Miami glad these events are over as they take too long and attempt to pass off as some kind of Slam, but they are far from it. On the other hand great for big Ljubo to win one, just hope his back is fine and the fact Roddick won Miami, that’s ok as he is now in tourist season for him on the clay and won’t be a threat until Queens.
Onto the weeks events so far we have Houston and Casablanca aka Casachallenger. It’s always difficult to read what will happen in the early events, though for the ones that win a match at these events, then play qualies in Monte Carlo and make the main draw have a big advantage as it’s normally the first outing for the main players at Monte Carlo and they can take advantage of it.
The first day of Casachallenger had good results for the most part, where Koubek and Nieminen qualified for the main draw, where they drew Robert and Ziadi respectively presenting them a good opportunity to make the second round. Peter Luczak was disappointing in his loss to Starace, more so with his overall level of play not that he lost so much. The serve wasn’t so bad, but he made too many cheap errors from the baseline at the wrong moments mixed in with some bad stuff at the net. Starace took his chances and didn’t even have to play that well to take it.
Most importantly the King Oscar Hernandez broke his drought and won a match against Paul Henri Mathieu. It was good to see the King moving quite well especially after the problems he has had with his lower back this year. There were some sexy dropshots off the forehand side and ballet like movement from the Catalan hero. Too bad he couldn’t have done this when he was up against Mathieu at RG by 2 sets to 1 and 4-2 in the 4th set, it takes a special skill to lose the ballbasher when in the lead. Will have to stay at that level to get a win against Starace next round, he has 2nd round points to defend from Monte Carlo and is playing qualies again this year.
Onto the 5th Slam that is Houston things have started well there. Slovenia’s finest well finest in a tennis sense Blaz Kavcic continued his solid start to the year by defeating Istomin the Uzbek in 3 sets. Blaz has been playing a lot of events and not sure how wise that is, but he is trying to solidify his place in the top 100 and getting the balance is far from easy as to when to play and when not to. A Mike Russell/Kavcic final would be very good for the crowd, especially since Mikey is a Houston native.
As for the rest of the clay season, as long as Nadal gets the schedule right and this would include withdrawing from Madrid, then he is still the big gun to beat at Roland Garros. Cleaning up in Monte Carlo and Barcelona is pretty much a given, as for Fedclown he will be gearing just to peak for Roland Garros as he does these days. No need to burn out playing too much before the big one, something Djokovic might need to learn.
For others it would be fantastic for some other players to step up to the plate and change the way things have been operating during the clay season. It will happen eventually as these things tend to do, but it’s not looking likely at the moment.
All questions will be answered soon enough and lets hope that I am wrong about the upcoming clay season.
Before we get into the main subject which will say more than the usual Rafael Nadal is going to come back from his deathbed and career about to end due to knee problems to slay the field during the clay season and abuse them like poor dogs in the animal shelter.
Indian Wells and Miami glad these events are over as they take too long and attempt to pass off as some kind of Slam, but they are far from it. On the other hand great for big Ljubo to win one, just hope his back is fine and the fact Roddick won Miami, that’s ok as he is now in tourist season for him on the clay and won’t be a threat until Queens.
Onto the weeks events so far we have Houston and Casablanca aka Casachallenger. It’s always difficult to read what will happen in the early events, though for the ones that win a match at these events, then play qualies in Monte Carlo and make the main draw have a big advantage as it’s normally the first outing for the main players at Monte Carlo and they can take advantage of it.
The first day of Casachallenger had good results for the most part, where Koubek and Nieminen qualified for the main draw, where they drew Robert and Ziadi respectively presenting them a good opportunity to make the second round. Peter Luczak was disappointing in his loss to Starace, more so with his overall level of play not that he lost so much. The serve wasn’t so bad, but he made too many cheap errors from the baseline at the wrong moments mixed in with some bad stuff at the net. Starace took his chances and didn’t even have to play that well to take it.
Most importantly the King Oscar Hernandez broke his drought and won a match against Paul Henri Mathieu. It was good to see the King moving quite well especially after the problems he has had with his lower back this year. There were some sexy dropshots off the forehand side and ballet like movement from the Catalan hero. Too bad he couldn’t have done this when he was up against Mathieu at RG by 2 sets to 1 and 4-2 in the 4th set, it takes a special skill to lose the ballbasher when in the lead. Will have to stay at that level to get a win against Starace next round, he has 2nd round points to defend from Monte Carlo and is playing qualies again this year.
Onto the 5th Slam that is Houston things have started well there. Slovenia’s finest well finest in a tennis sense Blaz Kavcic continued his solid start to the year by defeating Istomin the Uzbek in 3 sets. Blaz has been playing a lot of events and not sure how wise that is, but he is trying to solidify his place in the top 100 and getting the balance is far from easy as to when to play and when not to. A Mike Russell/Kavcic final would be very good for the crowd, especially since Mikey is a Houston native.
As for the rest of the clay season, as long as Nadal gets the schedule right and this would include withdrawing from Madrid, then he is still the big gun to beat at Roland Garros. Cleaning up in Monte Carlo and Barcelona is pretty much a given, as for Fedclown he will be gearing just to peak for Roland Garros as he does these days. No need to burn out playing too much before the big one, something Djokovic might need to learn.
For others it would be fantastic for some other players to step up to the plate and change the way things have been operating during the clay season. It will happen eventually as these things tend to do, but it’s not looking likely at the moment.
All questions will be answered soon enough and lets hope that I am wrong about the upcoming clay season.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Homogenisation of the ATP
Homogenisation of the ATP
Butch Buchholz and sidekicks
This entry was bought on by the organisers of the Buenos Aires event having a hairbrained scheme of changing the surface from clay to hardcourt for the tournament.
Lets examine the differing factors. Martin Jaite former top 10 player and coach of Gaston Gaudio and David Nalbandian who is the tournament director for the event. As an individual he has done a lot for Argentine tennis and building up the Buenos Aires event into one of the best IS (International Series) events on tour, there will be no use of the 250, 500 or 1000 series nonsense in here.
Then there is Butch Buchholz who actually owns the licence to the event. Thanks to the man known as Felipe for providing the translations of this guy's words that were said to an Argentine paper which is pushing the agenda of Buchholz to attempt to get the surface to change to hardcourt. Don't forget he is the director and the owner of the TMS Miami and keeps saying bullshit that Argentina deserves a Masters series event, not that they don't deserve one, it's the agenda behind it.
He comes out and says that he is not against claycourt tennis, yet hardcourts are the way to go .
http://www.menstennisforums.com/showpost.php?p=9683015&postcount=110
The reason for this is simple, pure profiteering as the cost and maintenance of hardcourts is a lot cheaper than the clay. The fact he is a TD of Miami and is pushing for hardcourts to be played in Bs As, this does not suggest that he actually cares about tennis in Argentina, which he wouldn't as his first motive is to make profit and this is the best way for him to do so.
Jaite should have learned his lesson already after the Round Robin fiasco that he forced up on the Buenos Aires event which was one of the most farcical tournaments and this says quite a bit when concerning the ATP. He built the event up from very difficult times which including not paying appearance money, but they have been able to do that for a while now, once they got the tournament back on track. He more than anyone should know that there needs to be careful consideration before adopting the latest gimmick in addition to the rich tennis history in Argentina which was built up on the clay.
The tennis tradition in Argentina was built on Guillermo Vilas and this can't be overstated and Jaite was one of them as well that was inspired by Vilas. The majority of the courts in the country are on clay and the passionate fans like tennis, especially on clay. As Buchholz is an outsider who just owns the licence and has no understanding of Argentine tennis, this is where Jaite has to step up to the plate, but it seems he is more interested in his cut of the cake.
Thinking about a possible change to hardcourts, well they want to move the event to the Parque Roca, where they have held Davis Cup and as it's a bigger venue and the cost is less to install hardcourts. It seems like they are wanting to cater to Juan Martin del Potro, who won't play his home event as it's on clay, but is more likely to do so if played on hardcourt. No player is bigger than the game and that is anywhere in the world. Next of all, if the change goes ahead then it will just become another meaningless Mickey Mouse hardcourt event for the simple reason why would the European players who prefer the clay travel to another continent when they can play in Europe on the same surface or play a European challenger if they were on the border of direct entry of the Buenos Aires event, as it would save them on expenses.
The spin campaign is pretty impressive and the majority of local fans like the international players who are treated well for the most part, but the local crowds want to see their players battling it out on the surface that they play on themselves. What are they going to use to get these players who don't normally play in Argentina to get them there. Hey! we have fantastic beef and you can have free asado everyday and as many hot women in Buenos Aires as possible. So, if they plan to get del Potro he is not going to play for free, there isn't going to be much in the pie for the rest of the players that they are allegedly negotiating with depending on the surface change.
This leads onto the next point, the amount of IS events that are being reduced to 28 player draws. The week before a Slam it's understandable that there is a 28 player draw. Other than that, then it just becomes a Mickey Mouse event, not that much different from playing local league tennis. This is a problem with the structure of the ATP as it's made up of the players and tournament directors, each with their own particular interests and not prepared to work together. The tournaments that have 28 player draws are just protecting top players who will have had the huge guarantees to play at these events, so they only play 4 matches to win the event, while the others have to play 5 to win the event. Not even the WTA has as many 28 player draws as the ATP have these days. What are the representatives of the Player Council doing and are they an accurate representation of the players as a union or just the interests of the top players and what happens to the others is like 10 alcoholics fighting over the last beer.
Hopefully the Player Council shows some testicular fortitude and reject the surface change of Buenos Aires, though with the track record of the ATP it is not very likely that there will be a sensible and well thought out decision will be made. Tennis is a wonderful sport and yes it should adapt when necessary to further development, though it's hard to be positive about the ATP in its current formation. The diversity of skills required to do well on the different surfaces has been virtually lost, as carpet doesn't exist on the tour anymore, the grass season is minimal in length, the overall season is too long and hardcourts dominating the main tour to the point of tedium.
This is an organisation that refused to listen to the fans and masses about Round Robin, by deliberately misleading the public when they were surveying them as to whether they wanted to see the format, by asking leading questions to a certain answer. Always paying lip service about making adjustments to the calendar but in reality doing a lot of nothing.
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