Ciao Palermo Clay, Exotic Spices in Mumbai and One Night in Bangkok

The last main level ATP event of the year lovely Palermo is upon us and this means in the meantime I will have to follow clay challengers and then wait for Viña del Mar, while the indoor idiots rule the way. Sicily at this time of year is pleasant as it's not as hot as it is in the summer, but still warm and pleasant enough and there have been some good winners of this event.

The last 2 defending champions Andreev and Berdych aren't here this time around. Igor is still injured and in the loving arms of Tursunov after the successful Russian win on the weekend and the Berdman has gone to Mumbai this time around. Volandri the guy who was beaten in the last 2 finals is the number 2 seed here and has been playing well recently a final in Bucharest and played very well in a losing effort against Spain in DC.

That is the problem with these events after the Davis Cup, it's very hard to predict as to who will do well, either cause they might be still drunk from the celebrations or only having just arrived at the venue after a long flight, but with this tournament it doesn't seem to be the case with long flights. It's an open event and nearly anyone can win this.

Jan Hajek the man who has been on a tear at Challenger level is playing against Ulihrach who has come back from nowhere and winning matches. Seppi a man who is in poor form at the moment is playing Simon and he was a semi finalist last year, hopefully the Sicilians get behind him as he needs a big performance soon to salvage his year which has not been good.

Zabaleta is playing Olivier "Have a Little" Patience and Mariano is struggling badly at the moment losing to Zib is an indication of that, but as long as he can remain fit and fight hard, then the results will come for him. Nico Lapentti the winner of the big challenger in Poland plays Mathieu, who had some ankle problems in Bucharest, but has had about 10 days off and should be ready to go now.

Blogger fave Oli Marach fresh from winning his first 2 DC matches is up against the Spanish 'Superstar' Almagro who has had some injury problems and hasn't played too much. Almagro should win this easily, but with him one can never tell. Then Lucho plays Montañes and vamos Lucho save your season with a good performance in this event.

The tournament from Ho Chi Minh has been moved to Mumbai this year and neither finalist is there this year. Björkman is still in Brazil with Davis Cup and Stepanek is still out with back problems. It seems Martina has been working Thunder Lips too hard in the bedroom and his back has suffered cause of it. It's good that they have bought some big players to India and Moya is back there and he loves it there, it must be the food.

Tursunov will have fun adjusting from clay to outdoor hardcourt, but he should win his first match at least and apart from that anything is a bonus. This event has to be good Berdych, Koubek and Monaco are there and besides this the big Greek Economidis is there and he is literally a big guy. At the start of the year he had to play qualies of the Burnie Challenger 25K event and won it and now he is making it directly into this field. Too bad del Potro didn't get the easiest first round match available.

One night in Bangkok with the huge appearance money kicks off the indoor season and this event has some of the big names Ljubo, Safin, Baghdatis, Blake are there. There has been a coup in Thailand, but it doesn't seem to have to have had too much impact. I mean they played the South African Open when it was the apartheid regime, so they will do what they can.

Got to say it's funny seeing Vicente and Massa in an indoor event as direct entries and they are there for the holiday in reality as they play Ljubo and Nieminen respectively and Marcos has to play Chicken Man for the thrid time this year and he is 0-2 and will want to get a win over him as soon as possible.

Davis Cup Dance

Well it's the Davis Cup semis and promotion ties for the World Group as well this weekend. I will try and cover as much as I can, though there are lot of other things going on at the moment.

The Hewitt sideshow is almost at an end, and the whole "will he or won't he" saga about playing in Argentina, seems to have been answered. Sure Hewitt is disliked in some sections of Argentina, but is the same in Australia and the fact that he is playing this time is a good thing and it creates some interest in a tie that in reality should not be close. Argentina with their strength in depth could easily use Guzman and Roitman and probably still win this tie.

From reports it seems Chucho will be playing the first day against Hewitt and this is a good test for him and though Hewitt might be the higher ranked player and he will use all the negative energy to fire him up. Hopefully Chucho doesn't shit himself, though he is lucky he has Mancini on the sideline. Basic facts that this match will decide whether it goes to the 3rd day, if Chucho wins the singles, then it's match over. I wonder how the crowd will react to little Lleyton. Chucho said allegedly "they must insult Hewitt, but moderately" hehehe.

Russia and the US, it seems the Yanks have been talking up their chances in this one. It would be to Argentina's advantage if they won the tie, but for some reason this is not likely to happen.
Safin plays Roddick first and Marat must be licking his chops to be able to play Roddick on his worst surface and should be able to get the right result. The Russian captain has also decided on using Youzhny against Blake and that is a commonsense decision under the circumstances that the PMK doesn't play well against these guys and they can rotate their players.

The playoffs well the Czechs have a new captain Tomas Berdych's coach Jaro Navratil who has a mullet and while they are away, they are playing on carpet and that will suit Berdych and they should make it back to the main group.

Austria and Mexico: Koubek asked to be left out of this tie to improve on his ranking at the moment and it will be good that Oli Marach, a blogger favourite to make his debut and Melzer who comes off his first ever title win on Bucharest will have a chance to improve on his very poor Davis Cup record, it's something he has struggled with for some reason.

Spain and Italy : Brazil were the last team to beat Spain at home and they had Guga playing for them and as much as I like Seppi, he is definitely no Guga and he got the job of playing Nadal, though it pains me to say this that it would be good if Volandri beat Boredo on Day 1, just to make it go to the 3rd day, but Spain will be back in the World Group.

Brazil and Sweden : I love Brazil, the parties, the beaches, the women and the like, but I will cheer for the Swedes in this one. It's great to see Vinciguerra back after all the injuries and he is the clearly the best Swedish player on clay when fit and it seems Brazil are having internal problems. Marcos Daniel hasn't been named and got the shits, Guga has come out of nowhere to play doubles and Saretta is in poor form.

Switzerland and Serbia : Federer decides to make a comeback that and Wawrinka is good enough to win a singles match, will mean that the Swiss will be back in the World Group again and it would be good to see Federer play in the 1st round for next years competition, though I wonder if he would go to Argentina say for example.

Go the Russians and the Argentines.

Guillermo Cañas back on the tennis circus

The Return of Guillermo Cañas

The tough Argentine Cañas is making his return to the ATP tour on Monday after getting his suspension for taking a masking agent reduced by the Court of Arbritration by 9 months. For those who have not read the verdict, there is a full PDF file on the case, but this is the short version on the ITF site about the case. At the same time the people who still think he is guilty, this proves below why the CAS chose to uphold his appeal. It's not in their interests to favour athletes for the sake of it. There were faults within some part of the process and if there wasn't, then the case would have been dismissed.

http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping...le.asp?id=16515


Cañas has been training very hard and obviously with the time out and having to deal with some negativity and it will obviously take him time to come back into the swing of things and he will have to be more vigilant when it comes to supplements and if he is feeling crap at any point, then declare on the forms that he is taking something and then he can cover his own arse. At the same time as much I am happy to see him back, he can't be stupid again when it comes to this sort of thing and there will be definitely an air of suspicion around the locker room, while he has received the support of many players especially fellow Argentines and others, but there will be dissenting voices as well.


Willy has a new coach the former doubles specialist Gaston Etlis, it is not surprising that he and Hernan Gumy split afterwards, it wouldn't surprise if it had something to do with the case, at the same time the coaching world is like a transit lounge, so many changes in a short time, though there are some exceptions to this. I wonder if Cañas has improved his backhand drive, cause that was something I noticed he wasn't hitting that as well, he has an outstanding backhand passing shot, but with the wrist problem it seems he doesn't hit it with enough penetration or spin and it ends up landing short and he can be punished on that side.


This experience will make Cañas even more determined than he was previously and I have many good memories of watching this matches and he has been in so many battles, some he has lost and others he has won. He and Hewitt had a couple of bruising matches at Roland Garros in 2001 and 2002 and they split them. In the first one Willy was leading 2 sets to 0 and had the match suspended at 2 sets all and then Hewitt came through and this was around the time he was ranked in the 80sand started making some big progress.


The 2002 match was very hard fought match these matches Hewitt was #1 in the world and the first 2 sets of this match were brutal, both were hitting the ball well and scrambling everything back and leaving nothing there on court. Hewitt won the first set TB easily 7-1 and then the big turning point was the 2nd set TB and whoever won that, was going to win the match and both players knew that and they were fighting like 2 rabid dogs with only one bone left and both were hitting to the corners of the court and jerking the other side to side. Cañas had the superior movement on the surface and Hewitt was at his strongest mentally then and neither was going to give in and saving set point after set point and then Willy took it 15-13 and then won the last 2 sets and that sums his up.

He can play on all surfaces and if he returns to form he will be a valuable asset for the Argentine Davis Cup team, as in my view he is the 2nd best all surface player in Argentina behind David Nalbandian, though if Coria returns to form that could be debated. Cañas loves the Davis Cup and would love to play again, but before that can happen, he has to battle through the Challenger events and it is fortunate that the Latin American section of the Challenger tour is active and that he can get some wildcards and be able to establish himself not far from home and away from the major epicentres of the tennis world.

If he is good enough to come through that and determined enough then he will able to make some noise on the main tour eventually, the question is now how well will he bounce back from this setback and he has been successful after having the wrist problems establishing himself, in theory the older he is, the harder it will be form to restablish himself in a sport that continues to evolve.

Bizarre Bucharest and no Nadal to defend the Chinese Clay championships

Bizarre Bucharest and no Nadal to defend the Chinese Clay championships

No, I have not gone mad with the subject title, well no worse than usual. Nadal won Beijing last year and some of the masses still can’t handle the fact that he has won events off clay and last year since Miami was meant to be the “new-clay” as in it’s almost as slow as clay and that is stupid in itself. So when he took the big appearance money and won a hardcourt event, it could not have been possible, it must have been a new surface called Chinese clay. As for charismatic when it comes to Nadal. I am not a huge fan of him and I don’t hate him, but somebody running up and down with the attack of the crabs in his pants doesn’t make someone to be charismatic.

Bizarre Bucharest, well this event is a bit of a Mickey Mouse event, and there are plenty of strange results that happen in here, it maybe the spectre of Vlad Tepes although he is in Transylvania that looms over this event. The example of some of the previous winners like Florent “Que sera” Serra last year coming out of nowhere and winning the title and beating players like Volandri, Mathieu, Pavel and then Igor Andreev in the final with no form to speak of and he doesn’t have much of a game either.

Among some of the fine winners of this event the great Tasmanian Richard Fromberg who was surprise surprise unseeded, but with the afro, he was always cool, even with a visor. The Catalan doubles man Joan Balcells who looks like the character “Monkey Magic” was another bolter to have won. In 2002 a certain young “Froggy” Ferrer won the event as well and yes, he was unseeded as well, then in 2004 the stoner smoking Jose Acasuso won this title thumping Andreev and there is a twist to this tale, in that he was unseeded. This is why the title of bizarre Bucharest, strange results, slightly mysterious place, Ion “Mafioso” Tiriac even though from Brasov, has his fingers involved in the pie and the ladies can be a big distraction as well.

As for the tournament there are some good names or ones that I like anyway. Big Chucho has more important duties ahead that he couldn’t afford a trip to Bucharest, but Yayo Massa is back and maybe he could be the winner of this tournament and I’d love that. He has been playing well in the Bundesliga and just hope he can get a good run. He is in a very good section of the draw, especially since Mathieu is sucking badly at the moment and Tursunov as a #1 seed for a clay event, then you know it’s open.

Zabaleta who has been struggling for form this time around plays against the wildly inconsistent Koubek and as for who I want to win. I can’t lose because at least one is in the 2nd round though with Mariano he is deep in the 300s and he needs the points more, though his fitness is more important. That section is interesting as well with Lucho and Moya playing and that is clearly the best 1st rounder of this event and a tough match for both. In this section the hometown boy Pavel is playing big Boris and should be too good for him and it would be great if he could win his hometown title.

The bottom half of the draw has Florent “Que sera” Serra and the Argentines Martin Vassallo “Che Guevara” Arguello and Roitman could easily make the quarters here, it’s a very open section with the “geeky German” Mayer, Potato Starace in there as well and no huge stand out and with Bucharest as has been shown from previous winners expect the unexpected. Too bad that Luczak decided to lose in the 1st round of qualies, then again the bizarre nature of the event can lead to these sorts of things happening.

Sidenote to finish, the Düsseldorf Challenger final between Korolev and Vinciguerra is something that I am more interested in than the US Open final, it would be great if Vinciguerra could win another challenger, but it will be tough against Korolev who is going places very quickly.

No More Slams for the Year and Federer sending the field into Tears, maybe, maybe not

It’s that time of the year, the last GS event called the US Open. Personally it is not a favourite of mine and there are a multitude of reasons, which I should get out of my system, since this is my blog, it’s the perfect opportunity to do so.

- Shitty organisation playing 1st rounders over 3 days and at a Slam that is very poor form.

- Super Saturday that idiotic marketing gimmick, do they seem to forget that the guys are playing the best of 5 set matches and it’s the epitome of fairness to make them play one of them the day before the final and surprise that gives the advantage to guys who finish first. I love TV marketing gimmicks.

- 5th set tiebreakers, which is not a way to decide a match in a GS, especially in the 5th set, but as they say the Yanks are different.


Enough of what I dislike and onto the subject at hand, the US Open and first of all I am going to start with the qualies and for some reason I can see this being more interesting than the Main Draw itself, the qualies are fun to go to for so many reasons. There are usually legit tennis fans there, it’s a lot cheaper and there are less people around which gives the fan more time to get used to the venue, so when it gets busy, then it’s easier to find things, this in addition that a lot of players are on site training and if you are lucky or some would say smart, then it’s the best time to get photos and the like.

As usual with a qualifying 128 draw, you’d think there was a possibility of fairly even spread of players you like around the draw, but as common as 3 buses go in the opposite direction than the one you want to go and you stand around like a fool, of course they concentrated the ones I like within the same section.

The main match I am talking about is between Michael Russell and Peter Luczak, they both deserve to be in the main draw, but only one of them can do that. The positive is that at least 1 of them will be in the main draw, though it’s a no-win situation and I have seen some of the buffoons that have a chance of qualifying e.g. Minar v Vanek. Alves vs. Lorenzi and Kindlman vs. Witten. This is what is meant to be luck of the draw and as much as I’d like to see this match, it should be hard fought either way.

Also in other qualies the young rising Russian Korolev is in the last round of qualies as well and I hope he gets in as well and Kendrick could be tricky, if he is not firing. Korolev says that hardcourt is his best surface and hope he can make it here next year as a direct entry and I have been impressed the little I have seen.

Speaking of youngsters del Potro is in the last round of qualies as well. His match should be quite funny, not cause Juan Martin is a stand up comedian, it’s because of his opponent Herr Dani Koellerer, who has been known to use some very over the top antics and he got suspended from the ATP for 6 months. They played last year and del Potro is a bit soft and started to cramp and Dani saw that and started taking the piss out of him and he won the mental battle and then took the match and I am sure del Potro hasn’t forgotten. Part of me wants Koellerer to qualify, cause he is such a clown that it needs to be seen to be believed.

As for other Austrians, well the hair Alex Peya is in the last round as well and if you can find a pic of his hair, then it makes it all worthwhile. He plays that fool Jeff Morrison and I’d love him to win, but for some reason Morrison probably will, and it’s not good as he is a true gimp.

Then there is the man “El Fashionista” Stefan Koubek who has been impressive this week and he plays a “Challenger man” Zib who lost 17 matches in a row on the main tour and would have to like his chances of progressing, though with Stef anything can happen, witness his great loss against Lisnard in Vienna last year and getting thumped by Tuksar at the RG qualies. It will be good to see the Koubek in the main draw and he should be able to reach the top 100 by the end of the season.

The Main Draw

Federer and Nadal, only thing I will say about these two, is that there is a chance that they could win or not win this tournament.

Gaudio vs. Seppi: At least someone I like will make the 2nd round that is a given. Seppi hasn’t been in great form lately, but at the same time his level is a bit higher than Gaston’s at the moment. Gaudio doesn’t like the US Open much and doesn’t seem to be really into tennis at the moment and I hope he takes the rest of the year off after this tournament. As for Seppi he started the year very well, but hasn’t been able to string 2 wins together for some time and he is in a good section.

Calleri vs. Moya: This match should be worth watching, though I know many ladies wouldn’t be focused on the tennis in this match. Calleri has been in excellent form since coming back at Wimbledon and if he can keep it up, he is a chance of finishing the year in the top 20, something which would be great considering his problems. One thing that Calleri needs to improve apart from his poor 5 set record is his performances in the Slams and I think these two factors are inter related. He has a 1-4 record against Moya, but he beat him the last time on hardcourt and I hope he can do that again. James “I hit the crap out of everything” Blake is the high seed in that quarter.

Stani vs Chela: Chela has been in solid hardcourt form and Stani needs to do well in a GS event and is capable of a good result there this one could be a long one and it will feature plenty of excellent lateral movement.

Nieminen vs. Malisse : This match is one I’d like to see and I don’t see a straight set walkover for anyone in this one and it depends on how the moody Malisse wakes up and hopefully Jakke can serve well as his 2nd serve is so attackable, and he has QF points to defend from last year. Go Nieminen.

Acasuso vs. Srichaphan: Tennis played like chess won’t be a factor in this match and the Srich has a 2-0 record over Chucho. At the same time Chucho has improved his game, though he can get the right result if he doesn’t try to belt everything, though not be so passive as to stand 10m behind the baseline. The Srich loves pace, so give him what he doesn’t like. It will be a tough one for Acasuso for sure.

Berdych vs Tursunov: I read that esteemed tennis writer Jon Worthless called this a clash of styles and I hope he was just being humorous because that is so funny and I’d love this third round match to happen, then again there could be some great finesse in this match. Just hope it can happen

Almagro vs Ferrer: Nico has the potential to play well on the hardcourts, but he hasn’t had the wins yet and he had 6 match points the last time they played him, but managed to blow the match. With Almagro anything can happen, I just wish Koellerer was the qualify and he had to play Almagro, the fun to be had there.

Ginepri vs Benneteau: Please Julien, just think you are playing Baghdatis instead of Gineprick.

Pavel vs Agassi: Please Pavel finish Agassihole off and get him off the tour, though if he doesn’t, just hope Baghdatis will do it.

Novak Djokovic gets to lay the smackdown on Donald Young this time around, it must be good to have an easy 1st round match. He might even try his serve and volley skills out.

It will be interesting to see how these clowns will handle any rain delays with their first 2 rounds played over a week normal scheduling. Last Slam of the year time to get it over with.

Nutty New Haven Mayhem

First of all before the preview is written about New Haven. I'd like to congratulate the American Michael Russell for winning the Bronx Challenger and I hope he can get through the rest of the year without injury, he has definitely had a bad run with injuries and then he can hopefully qualify for the US Open.

The last event before a Slam usually throws some interesting results before the main event itself, most of the top players don't bother with playing the week before unless they get a good guarantee, though with the Aus Open cause of its lack of lead up play, the fields of Auckland and Sydney tend to be good. At the same time the qualifying rounds of these events are of interest, cause many who would be there are either waiting for the Slam qualies or have WC's into the event.

This is the only time where starting on Sunday is a good thing. As for the results themselves so far, it wasn't a bad day at all. Blogger favourite Andreas Seppi gave Björn Phau a total bitchslapping 6-1 6-1, though it makes me wonder how he can perform like this, yet he can't get past Vinnay Ice and Seppi does need some good performances soon, but he has been lacking consistency and now he plays Chubby Chela in the next round and that could be quite funny. Two tall lanky guys who don't serve that hard playing each other, at least hair colour can tell them apart.

Big Stani Wawrinka had a good week last week in Cincy and he defeated "Superstar" Almagro for the 3rd time in a close match and now plays the Srich who seems to excel at this event for some reason. As for the other matches well Chucho plays Mahut and there are a lot of players I like at this event Nieminen, Calleri, Baghdatis and Lucho who is playing the big Benneteau at the moment and it has gone to the 3rd set and hope Lucho can do it.

Jan Hajek is playing Gicquel and Janne has been the big star of the Challenger circuit, started the year ranked at 354 and is now ranked 84 and that is impressive in anyone's language. He was trying to qualify for Challengers and then he started winning them, hence he is where he is. It's good that he will playing some more main events now and he should be able to do OK, well better than Boris Pashanski or Charly Berlocq.

The results of the events the week before Slams are not usually very indicative of what happens in that event and sure the players don't complain about winning a tournament, but there is always one eye on the larger prize of a Grand Slam and maximising their points there. James Blake is the hometown boy and might win it or he could be out with his friends having a good time and his cooler brother Thomas Blake is playing doubles, he is the one with the cool hair, but since true tennis fans read this or I'd like to think so anyway.

I will get around to profiling one of my all-time favourite players Felix Mantilla soon enough, that was a cheap plug I know.

Mad Michelle in Cincy and that means Fan Reports for Us All

Onto the second of the TMS events in Cincinnati and of course the ATP have dropped the ball and have back to back TMS events, but since when have these clowns had a clue as an organisation.

The common complaint people always seem to have is that the Draw is so hard and all this and all I can say to that is boo fucking hoo. It's a TMS event and there are going to be tough matches and of course there are going to be matches we don't like, and I have already found a few already that aren't the best for me, but this is life and usually they will always pair players who you either like or ones that bitchslap your player in that particular section.

As for what will happen in this event, well who knows but maybe something like Federer or Nadal winning the event could be deemed to be something as a major boilover in the tennis world.

All is good in the tennis world now as the girl known as Jess to me or as savestheday91 on MTF has finally caught up with her dream object Gospodin Novak Djokovic and while Jess has a chest to remember, in all seriousness it's good that she finally had a chance to speak with him.

I have seen Djokovic around quite a lot and he is usually quite friendly with people and that's a good thing, though he doesn't mind the strategic break when it's needed. He plays the Finn Nieminen in the 1st round and I'd like to see that match, however knowing the organisers they won't be on a TV court unless Jess gets them out, but hopefully they will be.

Chucho and big Stani Wawrinka, that is another 1st rounder that is of interest, whether Chucho can perform well 2 weeks in a row on hardcourt will be a challenge and the winner will play Nalle or qualifier and I don't see Nalle playing like he did last week again. Nalle and Stani is a good match up for Nalle as he knows how to work him around the court and highlight Stani's weakness. As for Chucho and Nalle, the DC doubles team of Nalbasuso, they have played only once and Nalle won that. I guarantee that Chucho and Stani will be not on TV.

Massu and Gonzo: At least a Chilean will get through to the next round and that is something and which the way the Chilean fans will swing in this match is of passing interest. Gonzo is a man of the people and has a smile on his face a lot of the time, whereas Massu is not happy unless he is scowling and taking 30 mins in between points.

There are some other good 1st round matches.

Boredo and Gasquet : Well I hope the umpire is not Norm Chryst, cause if it is then I will go for the linespeople. The whole Gasquet bandwagon thing is ridiculous, sure he is a shotmaker and a good one at that and has a cool coach Eric "The Pink Panther" Deblicker. What makes the "Pink Panther" so cool, he doesn't have to try hard and he comes across in a good way and knows his stuff and he is a backgammon genius. The Gasquet hooplah is over the top. How many players go from superstar, chump, forgotten about, potential, has been and the greatest thing ever to hit tennis in a short period of time?

Monfils and Safin: A guy who hasn't played against one whose form is so up and down and there are rumours of a coaching split with him, but with Safin, it's never his own fault for bad and inconsistent results.

Then there is Mr Consistency Paulo Mathieu, who the more he loses, the more I get to appreciate him and as for appreciation he would be doing the tennis world a big favour by knocking out that piece of rubbish and gimp Gineprick in the 1st round, then again with Paulo, he would find a way to make Tulasne lose hair.

As for the qualies big Seppi has a good chance to make it and needs a good tournament and it would be funny if Dropshot Dlouhy got through over Gimelclown, reversing the defeat he had against Justin on clay, by beating him on a hardcourt.

Well the WD's as for Agassi, just retire and be done with it.

Hope The Crazy Canadian Open Tradition Continues

Since I can't be bothered with a long entry here, well I am going to say why I love the Canadian Open.

It's Canada and Canada is cool and not just literally. This event has had so many surprise winners and I love it, though nothing will beat Andrei Chesnokov, Andrei Pavel, Micke Pernfors and Guillermo Cañas. It's the first of the big hardcourt events and maybe that is a reason, but we need more surprise winners, yes that includes Wayne Ferreira in there. There needs to be more diversity among the big titles, then again we are in a clown era, then again we always are, just the amount varies.

Speaking of clowns. Nalle played like a clown who took too many drugs losing to the Silver Fox Sanguinetti 2 and 1, but he was ill. Perhaps Seppi had the same illness losing serve three times to Wayne Arthurs in a set in qualies.

Gaudio was at his best 9 winners and 42 errors and it was not like he was going for too much or even tanking. Moya didn't have to play well, but he kept the ball in and that was enough, sure it was windy, but it's the same for both players.

Hope there can be some upsets that I like and not the Chicken Man beating Baghdatis. I'd love to Kool Kevin Kim take out Gineprick, the humour value would be immense and tennis needs some more humour.

Andreas Vinciguerra : The Long Road Back

Ever since the retirement of Magnus Norman and to a lesser extent Magnus Gustafsson, who did well in the lower level clay events, but couldn’t convert that to success in the big clay events retired, there has been a distinct lack of ability to play on clay by the Swedish players.

From the days of the golden generation of the 80s where even Stefan Edberg who was not at his best on the clay, yet won TMS events and made an RG final to prove that he was very effective on the surface, that many of the Swedes were proficient on the surface, but changed with the retirement of Norman.

The current crop of Swedish players range from indoor idiots thanks Aphex for that term which include mostly Joachim Johansson with his huge canon of serve and to a lesser extent Robin “the Toad” Söderling who has been able to secure some good wins on clay, he lacks consistency to the other guys like Björkman and Thomas Johansson who have never been good on the surface doesn’t help things.

“Vinci” for those who don’t know is a Swedish-Italian, his Italian dad runs a pizzeria in Malmö in the deep south of Sweden where they speak a special dialect which is like eating mouth full of food with a throat problem speaking Swedish and sounding like a Dane and “Vinci” does have the special accent and his mother is Swedish. “Vinci” is good friends with the Ian Thorpe lookalike Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both are from the same city and share an immigrant background, as well having their particular issues with the police at different time.

Vinci was a top 10 junior and he started the year of 1999 ranked at 633 and he finished it ranked 98 and that was a massive leap showing his potential and made his first tour final in Båstad as a WC losing to Cheech Marin and then winning a challenger over the same guy later in the year.

This was a good start for Vinci and I remember when saw him in Båstad that year when he defeated my countryman Christian Ruud in the semis and he played a game quite similar to Muster in the way that he would try and dominate with his heavy left hand forehand with heavy topspin and his fighting hard and running down a lot of shots and he quickly became a favourite with the fans and myself, but even then his backhand was a liability, but it was hard to get to that side.

So I made the annual trip to Melbourne to watch him play and there were plenty of Swedish fans there to support him and saw his first match with Hernan Gumy who didn’t win any prizes for aesthetics when it came to his tennis, but Vinci blew him and Leander Paes away, before losing to Escude.

The funniest thing about that year was that he won his only title the Copenhagen indoor which is the closest he will get to a hometown event and even funnier it was in the middle of a 4-0 head to head victories over Marat Safin who is an indoor monster and Vinci beat him Marseille in straight sets 2 weeks earlier and then beat him at the Copenhagen semis before winning over Magnus Larsson who is now his coach. Then he defeated Safin again in the US before losing to Sampras. After that he struggled on clay and got a bath from Guga at RG where he lost the first 15 games in a row, but then held out to only lose 6-3 in the 3rd.

One of the best Vinci memories was the singing and chanting during his great AO run where he made the 4th round. He defeated Medvedev easily and the Swedish fans were just singing all the way through, well at the change of ends and before the warm up and Vinci really appreciates that and after the matches he has won he speaks with the Swedish fans and jumps in the crowd and he feeds off their support a total contrast to say Thomas Enqvist.

On Show Court 3 it was a late match against big Wayne Ferreira and once the women finished the Swedes started with the songs, one of them is a silly Midsummer song which is fun to sing, but can’t translate among others and it started and while there was plenty of beer to be had, it was a carnival atmosphere, so much so, that during the warm up you couldn’t hear the names being mentioned by the umpire, so it was on for 10 minutes and then Vinci came out smoked Ferreira. When they wanted him to give a wave, he would give them a wave and when the Swedes asked him to dance then he’d dance. After that he’d lost to Kafelnikov as he had done later in the year at Bercy where he defeated Safin and also made the semis in Rome, where the Italian press wanted to adopt him cause of his Italian parentage.

2002 is where all the injury problems began and the motivational ones came in as well, as he has not played a full season since 2001, he injured a bone in his finger and had lower back problems as well. He made the 3rd round at the AO which is his favourite Slam and helped Sweden win against Brazil in Davis Cup and he loves this environment and plays for the team and not just himself, then he later he injured his knee in 2003 and had 2 months off and has been chasing time ever since.

Vinci was out from Feb 04 to July 05 where he made his comeback in Båstad. He got into some trouble and involved in a brawl with some Danes in one of the Malmö pubs, but at least he doesn’t mind going out at night which is something. He had a lot of injury problems with his ankle, feet and knee and including problems with motivation and wasn’t sure whether he wanted to come back even though he is not old as tennis players go. There were minimal steps last year and he had another operation on his foot.

Now the question is can Vinci come back and make the top 100 again. Potentially yes he is capable of doing that and how much he wants to do it as well is the key, well Boris Pashanski is an example the guy won all these challengers last year and made it in the top 70 and he is not a better player than the Vinci. Having watched him recently I am disappointed that he still hasn’t improved his backhand or maybe he has, but it is not significant. He had the time off to do and didn’t manage to do it.

He has only played 2 main draws this year in Båstad and wasn’t impressive against Dlouhy and lost to Massu in Amersfoort. Mainly this year, one thing Aphex ( the great Swede) pointed out that Vinci seems a bit slower these days on his feet and if that is so, then that will hinder him, especially since his speed around the court was one of his main assets, he might have bulked too much, then again this is not likely with Magnus Larsson as one of his coaches and big Magne wasn’t known for his strict physical regiment.

Vinci has had some good wins on the Challenger circuit and is moving up the rankings as he started at 407 for the year and is now in the 230s and he is in the quarter finals this week of another Challenger, just hope he can a few of these performances into finals or victories. He should stick to the challengers for the year and try and stay healthy as that is the key. If he keeps up with some solid performances he can finish the year within the top 200 and considering where he was a year ago where he didn’t have a ranking, he isn’t doing too badly at the moment.

2007 will be a key year to see whether he can make it back to a respectable level or not and one of the ironical things is that he was the prototype playing the Rafa Nadal game before Nadal was around, except Vinci doesn’t use all the antics in between points and or is that particular, plus Rafa just plays it better than him.

It would be great to see Vinci back in the top 100 with that huge forehand, fighting spirit and a Swede that can play on consistently, the thing he has on his side is that he is not old and even if he doesn’t come back to somewhere near his former level, then I can appreciate watching him on the small courts in a football like atmosphere which was always quiet once play started, but very loud when he broke a serve or was doing well. It’s not everyday some player gets 10 mins of cheering before the match and during the warm up, but Mr Charisma Sampras never got that.

Feel free to comment.

Servus Kitzbühel it was nice knowing you and sunburn in Umag

The last ever Kitzbühel event is happening and hope it is a good one, though they have some funny things there about the site. First of all on the tournament web page it has a picture of LaLo on it and he is not even playing the event.

It seems Mafioso Tiriac isn’t happy with the event and also the fact that they didn’t pay their bills on time in the last couple of years, plus the town wouldn’t let him build a big mansion there and Ion the svengali wants to move the event, it’s just a question of where it will go now.

The tournament sees the comeback of the PMK and Boredo and it’s a surprise the PMK took a week off, that is a rare thing for him and Boredo now has a new coach in Jordi Vilaro who used to work with Beto Martin and Felix Mantilla, well 2 out of 3 isn’t bad is it.

It’s good that they play in the mountains with a bit of altitude around, though not as high as the Mexico City or Bogota in the old days, it’s definitely cleaner air wise and the ball does fly further and the players need to adjust their length and be even fitter to play well at altitude.

The field isn’t as strong as it was, especially with the growth of Umag and the fact that Umag has matches starting at 6pm , so people can hang on the beach during the day and then enjoy the parties in the evening. There is no secret that Mr Carlos Moya is the Umag king and he loves the place, a beach and a party. So the question is whether you are a beach or mountains person.

Onto the events itself in Kitzi well the Bye makes an appearance the Bye is always welcomed. The best thing is the big Serbian Maltese living Boris Pashanski has a Bye and with that it’s the first 2nd round he has made in his last 11 tournaments. This was the man who made the top 100 last season, without winning an ATP match, he started out OK this year, but he has gone 0-11 in his last events.

Both finalists Gaudio and Verdasco are in the same section and they would need to improve on their recent form to reach there again. Gaudio has now won more doubles titles this season than singles and he loves playing in Kitzi, but maybe this could give him some impetus to improve his singles results and disappointingly he and Max are not playing doubles in Kitz, so the odd couple are no more. Verdasco is the epitome of talented, but tactically inept player on the tour, so trying to guess his results are like trying to find neo-nazi skinheads in Saudi Arabia.

- As for the rest Seppi has the Bye and could play Yayo Massa.

- Lucho is back and hopefully his shoulder/elbow are ready to go.

- Big Marach after his QF showing in Stuttgart, is now at his best ever ranking and wants to do well at home, he has a potential meeting with Gordo Calleri.

- Nieminen comes back after Davis Cup and that disappointing loss to Boredo in Båstad and this event could be good for him.

- Pavel well he got a Bye and he has done well enough to stay in the top 100 and that’s a good thing as I don’t want him to retire just yet. I mean look at the thighs Jonas Björkman has come out of nowhere and played a couple of good singles events and now can keep going, so there is hope for Pavel.

- Luczak qualified and made the second round over challenger maestro Minar and could make the 3rd round as he plays German ballbasher Kohlschreiber.

Umag sees the new Stuttgart champ David “Froggy” Ferrer as the top seed and whether he has been partying too much or not it should be still enough to defeat Carlos “I thrashed DY 6-0 6-0 on hardcourt” Berlocq. He is in the same section as “Mr Umag” Carlos Moya who will probably do well here and quite possibly win it.

Among the other matches, there is a match between promising youngsters Marin Cilic and Evgeny Korolev. Cilic, like most Cro players is tall with a big serve, but he says clay is his favourite surface and both are familiar to each other, if all goes well then these two will make some noise on the ATP and they have already done well this year.

Vicente plays form horse Ramirez Hidalgo, who has been doing something Vicente hasn’t of late, that is winning matches. Then “Dropshot” Dlouhy against the “Chicken Man” anything could happen there.

French Gnome Choupi and Radical Rosie Reporting From Spätzliland Stuttgart and Amersfoort on the side

Well we are in the lovely south west of Germany this week and also in Amersfoort for the summer clay circus, just wish that they didn't move the event from Amsterdam to Amersfoort and such is life.

Best of all there will be some correspondents there, so that means that there will be some reports from matches that most of us won't be able to see and that is always appreciated. As is the Bye making his return to the Tour and watch the large amount of women that will want to talk to the Bye, this is a given.

Too bad Luczak and Koubek didn't qualify, but Hartfield and del Potro did so there are enough Argentines in the field.

Stuttgart has had stronger fields, but even then there are still enough interest in this field. I have to say I love how they managed to put most of my favourites in the one section. For example Gaudio could play his friend Zabaleta, but Zab has been struggling of late and is no sure thing to defeat Waske. Lucho has a bye and then hopefully Saretta is put off with the rubbish Portas game, though one can never tell how focused Saretta is at times.

Seppi and Acasuso is a possible 2nd round match, though I hope Chucho and Ferrer do end up meeting as I can see Chucho smoking Ferrer out of the match and he has the firepower that can hit through Froggy and he has done that on numerous occasions.

Other guys that I hope to do well are Pavel and he can stay in the top 100 as he has no points to defend for the rest of season. Dlouhy and Wawrinka has some good comedy potential and if Stani doesn't want to run and "dropshot" Dlouhy is on his game, then it could be a bad loss, but Stani is inconsistent to say the least and could play a blinder here. If you get a chance to see Marach, it should be taken as he is quite the fiery guy, but not in the Dani Köllerer league, but he does have some very colourful language.

While it's mainly about Stuttgart, there is another event in the Netherlands and they have had some great finals there in the past, but now the weasel is the number 1 seed and for some reason I see that the Coria slump isn't going to continue for too long and he got a local wild card and a 2nd round potential match with Marin Cilic would be intruiging.
Calleri made the final here last year and would like to go one better and as it's a very open tournament anything can happen. Massu the vampire is lurking and scowling. Moya is playing here as well and loves the small clay events these days and Edgardo Massa is back on tour, it would have been fun if he drew with Massu. Hope Vinciguerra can qualify and the young junior from the Netherlands de Bakker.

Look forward to the Stuttgart reports.

Båstad the best IS event and Gaudio chasing the fondue in Gstaad

The summer clay season is back after 4 weeks of that nauseating Wimbledon, though to be fair it has not been as painful as usual, the slowing down of the courts have had something to do with this.

Enough of the grass crap and back onto the clay and the Båstad event. The organisers have done an excellent job with this event, it clearly used to be poor relation compared to Gstaad when it came to attracting the top claycourt players in the 90s after the golden Swedish generation ceased except for Gusten and Magnus Norman. It was the dark days when Cheech Marin won the title in 1999.

It’s a small town on the beach that is very popular in summer and tennis is a big thing there. Yes, with that, there are a lot of rich snobby wankers from Stockholm and other places with their huge summer houses and other stars that go there to be seen and not care about the tennis. There was a funny incident last year when Zabaleta had enough of these idiots and told them to shut up, then again he was losing to the Berdman at the time.

It’s a very good field and has won the best International Series Event 4x in a row and the fact that they don’t pay appearance money makes it a good thing. Nadal has pulled out, but that is only because of his finalist appearance at Wimbledon and it’s understandable that he has withdrawn.

PMK is the top seed and he plays Beto Martin and that won’t be an easy match and actually it’s quite possible for Beto to take this match and there are some very good 1st round matches.

Massu/Zabaleta: There aren’t many secrets between these 2 guys. Massu is a time wasting Vampire, but a tough guy to play and Zabaleta hasn’t been in great form since his comeback, it’s going to take time and it only takes a couple of good wins to change things for him. Zabaleta is huge in Båstad and 2 of his titles have come at the venue and he loves the place and small things like that can help a player.

Acasuso/Coria: Chucho and the weasel have both taken a break and it will be interesting to see how they both come back from the layoff. Just hope Chucho can smoke the Weasel, previous matches well the last one was 3 years ago and the fact that both are a lot different from then. Coria wasn’t missing and dissecting opponents and Chucho wasn’t as good then as he is now, they do know each other quite well, so this could impact on the quality of the match.

Berdych/Almagro : This is a quality 1st round match and both have been winners of the MTF Bandwagon player of the month award and that is a very prestigious award. They have played only once and what a surprise it was at Båstad last year and the Berdman won 6-4 in the 3rd and wouldn’t be a surprise to see if it was that close again. Berdman did have some problems with his shoulder at Wimbledon, but with some rest he should be OK and he has finalist points to defend from here. It will depend on how Almagro returns the Berdman serve as to how this match will pan out.

Chela/Nieminen: Chela loves the clay and the Shark is quite adept on at as well, this time Nieminen comes in as the higher ranked player and having less time to adjust back to the surface after his Wimbledon exploits. Chela has won the only 2 matches they have played on clay, but Jarkko does quite well here and he is the highest ranked player in Norden (Scandinavia to those people who don’t get the term Norden) , maybe the Shark can win this one.

As for the other matches. Lucho is playing Thomas Johansson, in theory Lucho should win this cause of his greater expertise on the clay, but he could just as easily lose this match. Calleri has a qualifier and I am just happy he is back playing again.

Marach and Prpic are playing each other and the best thing about this match is that one of them will get to the next round, both are pretty good guys and Marach is very funny on court especially when he gets shitty.

Vinciguerra is back at Båstad and I’d love for him one day to win this title, but that will be unlikely, if he can stay injury free then that’s a good thing. He is great to watch, interesting he is played the Nadal game before Nadal, but now that has changed. The thing I don’t like is that his backhand doesn’t seem to have improved.

Hope big Peter Luczak can qualify for the main draw it would be good for him to do, he has had some problems this year after such a good start.

While there are quite a few snobs in Båstad, it’s worse in Gstaad. The good thing is that there is plenty of quality Swiss cheese and chocolate there. So the choice is either hang on the beach or play at altitude, though at least in Gstaad they offer $$$$$$$$$$ in fees and we know that is what makes the world go around.

It’s a weaker draw in Gstaad, and no real standout matches in the 1st round. This is the start of the defense of all his points he has in this 3 week winning in Gstaad and Kitzi with a finalist appearance in Stuttgart, if he does not defend those points, then a decline in the rankings is going to happen and how he bounces back will be a key about his mental state.

Hopefully Gaston, Pavel and Seppi can do well. Moya is back for the first time in a long time in Gstaad, big Saretta is there as well. I am surprised he is there, then again the draw is easier, but parties are better in Båstad.

Good to see the tennis back on the clay again.

Gaston Gaudio Wins a Match on Grass and You Only Need to See the Scores on Grass not the Matches

There were rumours that there wouldn't be a tournament preview for Wimbledon, but those have been proven to be false and sadly I can't take credit for the title. It was a comment from Mats Wilander and it makes sense, though more so during the days of Pete "Charisma Serving Machine" Sampras with the grass so short and huge serving bombs which passed for attacking tennis.

As for Wimbledon itself, it does bring out certain emotions in people and not always positive. Like the 2 week a year tennis fans who know Wimbledon and think it is the only tournament around on the circuit, this myth is propogated by the English-language media and then many act with outrage that there are players and fans on this planet who don't regard it as the be all, end all of tennis and these people aren't lesser beings because of it.

Now the grass has been slowed down and there have been some more watchable matches in the view of the blogger. The Ferrero and Koubek match of 2004 was a very exciting match and the only reason we saw it as Ferrero still had a reasonable ranking at the time and the TV stations decided to show it. Usually they show large amounts of crap and tedious matches even by grasscourt standards, though fortunately I won't have to listen to the Australian commentators too much wank on about Hewitt and show hilarious bias when it comes to the tournament, as there is an international feed available.

The thought of the 2002 Wimbledon is still fresh and it would be funny again if something like that carnage happened as long as Roddick doesn't win that is. He has gone backwards as a player and he is unsure of how he wants to play the game, but cause of the lack of quality grasscourters around he should be able to make the semi finals.

So hope some of the people labelled as claycourters, can win a few matches here and irritate the masses. Though the thought of Gaudio, Ferrer and PMK playing on grass has its own humorous value and there is a lot of seriousness around in tennis.

One funny memory as a the moody and chubby Austrian Horst Skoff had won the title in Athens on the Sunday before Wimbledon on clay and enjoyed it. Then he played John McEnroe in the first round and he clowned around as he normally did, though maybe a bit worse than usual. Horsti didn't care at all about the tournament, and McEnroe was getting shitty with Skoff.

I am sorry John McEnroe complaining about on-court behaviour is ludicrous and is like an alcoholic complaining being stuck in a brewery or distillery with an open key.

As for Federer winning, if he did win Wimbledon again, there would be only one natural reaction. If Federer wins Wimbledon then there will be collective SHOCK that he was able to win Wimbledon and that would send the tennis world into a huge tailspin.

Yay for Wimbledon.

David Nalbandian : Where Does He Go from Here

The blog is back and don't worry it won't be on hold during the World Cup, even though that is where my interest will be during the grasscourt season, so those who are fans of what I do, there is no need to despair. This is where the violins come out.

Why write about David Nalbandian? Well how many more times do people need to hear about the Federer/Nadal rivalry, sure it's going on and there are more than enough people to talk about it and since they are the only 2 players that seem to be playing the sport. Yes, there will be an after match review of the final of Roland Garros, but that should be enough.

The other players have to step up to the plate and improve and they can see what the standard is they have to attempt to attain.

Nalbandian or Nalle as I will call him, is one very talented player. Is he best ever never to win a Grand Slam title? The obvious answer is no as he is nowhere near the class of Miloslav Mecir and Marcelo Rios, but he would come to close to Alex Corretja as the best not to win as of yet. He has made the semis of all the Slams at least once and his game translates well to all surfaces, though Rebound Ace is probably his best surface.

His double handed backhand is a great shot and his forehand is good and knows how to use the court very well and he is tactically aware when he is focused, which the same can't be said for many of todays who are one dimensional to the extreme. If they could spell dimensional then that would be considered a success, let alone change things up when not playing well. Players have to adapt to different situations, it's amazing how such talented players can ball strike as well as anyone, yet look like a chump when it's not going well.

Then where are the main problems with Nalle? The fitness is the main one and the lack of application towards it. Here he is in a Slam semi final giving Federer all sorts of problems and then he strains a muscle in his abdominals. Tennis is quite physical these days and this can happen, but at the same time he is not in the greatest shape he could be in.

It's not a bodybuilding contest where cuts are going to help him look better and get him over the line, but having a strong fitness base does help against injuries and helps recovery and he is lazy when it comes to this. At the same time this could be a reason that holds him back in making the next level and take a Slam title his game deserves.

Nalle has an interesting reputation and he has managed to alienate some members of the media. This is not such a bad thing, even though they will write shit about him, cause he doesn't play want to play ball. This of course does not impact on how he plays the game and he gives stupid questions the best treatment with a stupid answer

Nalle needs to make some choices with his tennis. It seems to be an ends to a means and that can be seen by his attitude to training and yes he has had some excellent coaches Markus, Infantino and Mastelli. What has he learnt from these people and has he used any of it in practice. If he is happy with going along like he is at the moment, then that is fine. It's a testament to his talent he has done as well as he has without being really dedicated to it.

Anyone who is familiar with Nalle knows his love for the Rally racing and I can understand that.
Since he is the owner of the "Tango Rally Team" , he could be playing tennis as a means to help with ongoing costs for the team.

Speaking of the team environment Davis Cup is something he loves and definitely puts 100 per cent towards and would love nothing more to win the Davis Cup for Argentina, as much as an individual he is. His committment to Davis Cup can't be faulted and there are some who would say it's higher than his drive for the normal circuit.

It would be good if he could win a Slam, but he has to want to do the work to get into better shape and not have these niggling injuries that keep stopping his progress. Unlike Davydenko he does not play 53 weeks of the year and that is a good thing.

I mean the key is that Nalle shouldn't have regrets once he finishes his tennis career. If he gave it his best and wasn't able to win a Slam, then that wouldn't be so bad, though this does not seem likely

As for his fitness, well this is one aspect that a player has greater control over than many others. Diego Rodriguez is a good guy, but not hard enough on Nalle to do the necessary work needed to improve his base.

Roland Garros is Here Bring it On and Quality Fan Reports Of Course

It’s time for the biggest clay championships apart from Houston and this year the organising committee have decided in all their infinite wisdom to start the tournament on a Sunday which is not a good thing and the main gripe I have with it, has already borne fruit.

Bimes and the stooges will say we are starting on Sunday cause we want the fans to see more tennis and other wonderfully hollow slogans, but in reality all it is whoring themselves for the money. If they gave a fuck about the fans, then the ticket prices would be lower than they are, but that won’t be happening. At the same time they have done some work on Roland Garros and they will need to get some of the money back and this is one of the ways they have decided.

The reality is that there are only a few matches and the players that win it will have to pull their dicks until Wednesday to play their second round matches at earliest. Here is another problem for example Diego Hartfield who qualified for his 1st Grand Slam event yesterday and has to back up today to play his main draw match, which he didn’t have to do in the qualies and yes there should be a day of rest in between the end of qualies and the start of the main draw. Yes, qualifiers are people too. Enough of the rants and at least it’s not as ludicrous as Super Saturday at the US Open.

Onto business at hand, the draw well I did say Nadal would need to suffer from bird flu not to make the final here, but strange things happen in pro sport, this is true. Though if Roddick wins RG I will dance nude on webcam.

Federer will have enough time to ease into the tournament. He will play Hartfield who is a lucky guy he got Federer in the first round and also that he has to back up from playing yesterday. I hope he can enjoy the moment and put up a good show and not get slaughtered in less than 90 minutes.

As for Federer I don’t think he will win it this year, though I would like to see Federer win RG once. His fitness levels if he can get tested are a question mark and also how will he play tactically when he is under pressure. His match against Nadal in Rome is the right way for him to play on clay as his volleys are better than most on tour and he can match most from the baseline, as they say under the most pressure is when the weaknesses must hold up.

Berdych, the man who is predictable for his unpredictability. Hopefully Jaro can get the talented and lazy enigma going and he had some good wins last week in Düsseldorf, though he does play well for the Czech Republic. He has LaLo in the first round and he should be made to walk home to Prostejov if he loses this match, though just hope LaLo doesn’t have one of those good serving days and just hope the Berdman decides to get his feet moving and if he can do that, then he has quite a good section as he has it over Volandri and Kiefer. At the same time trying to pick what’s happening with the inconsistent one is never easy.

Then there is the section with Acasuso and Boredo and I think that the quarter finalist will be one of those 2 players. Boredo is in good form and play his usual Boredo way and he won’t be losing to the likes of Zib or Pashanski. Usually Boredo is fairly good in taking out players he should be beating and then losing to the ones above him, though after his win in Hamburg, he is a top 10 player now and that brings extra challenges.

Chucho has an interesting match against Santoro. In theory Chucho should win this match easily as he is in good form and Fab hasn’t been and is not at his best on clay, but Santoro can easily pull out a big performance here and Chucho needs to guard against that. He has to be really patient as well and not let the little wizard throw him off with his little dinks and dropshots and slices and he will need to those big feet to be moving very well and have to impose himself on Santoro.

They have only played once and that was on hardcourt which Chucho won and it was close, just hope Chucho gets through this match and then the potential match with Boredo could be interesting, as they have never played on clay. Boredo hates playing big servers and has admitted this and Chucho beat him last time and has the weapons to put away the Boredo, just hope the match happens.

Next Argentine is Nalle who has a potentially difficult opponent Wawrinka. They met this year at the Aus Open and Stani got a set off him there and Stani is on his favourite surface and it’s not for Nalbandian. The thing Nalle has is that he has the game to exploit Stani’s movement which can be very poor as he has excellent groundstrokes, but gets sloppy with the footwork and this is the main reason in my view as to why he is not higher in the rankings than he is at the moment.

If Nalle gets through this match with Wawrinka he is in quite a good section in the draw with Tursunov, Grosjean and Nieminen as the seeds. Yes, I know Gasquet is in this section he won’t lose to Wang, but he isn’t going to go further as he is likely to lose to Nalle or Wawrinka. In this section there are some classic claycourt clowns Tursunov, Moodie and Carlsen for example. Could easily see a Nalbandian vs Nieminen 4th round match and these two don’t have easy matches at all.

Next we have the moody, unhappy, surly, depressed I am taking on the whole worlds problems and I can’t solve them Gaston Gaudio. Yes, he is going through something that is not good and has to take some steps to fix these problems. This is meant to be his event to be peaking at and showing the world his undoubted talents on clay, but the question is which Gaudio we will see and how long for.

It’s clearly bad when he even looks more dispirited than usual on the court and he is playing against Karanusic and that should be a good match for him to try and find some form, but Gaston is a strange one and there is the potential for anything as has been witnessed over the time.

In a way if he loses in the 2nd round I wouldn’t be so pissed off if Seppi was able to beat him, though the plays Evgeny Korolev who is a huge talent and along with del Potro among the best of the qualifiers. Seppi has been in poor form lately and Korolev could kill him, though Seppi will fight hard and thanks deivid for making this point, that if the match goes for some time then there are question marks about his endurance, but there aren’t about his abilities. Also the youngster del Potro is playing Ferrero and I wonder how much he has learnt from that defeat in Buenos Aires earlier this year, where he pushed JCF very hard.

Roddick and Ljubo quarter is a joke and Ferrer is the favourite to come through this section of the draw and make the semis. Baghdatis could easily lose to that piece of crap Portas if he is not on his game at all. Thunder Lips doesn’t have a great GS record and will more than likely lose in the 3rd round. The question is whether Roddick will play and if he does, he has a marshmallow soft section until the 3rd round at least. The Verdasco/Chela match is the pick of the 1st round matches in this section and maybe Juan Monaco can do something though I wouldn’t fancy him over either Chela or Verdasco. The future Wimbledon champ Oscar Hernandez is there as well and that is the true highlight of this part of the draw.

The bottom quarter and there are some players I am interested in how they go in this section. Superstar Almagro has plenty of possibilities to make the 4th round here as he can easily take out Arthurs, Blake or the Srich here.

In this part Yayo Massa has qualified after having so many injury problems it is good to see him back at RG and he has an excellent opportunity against big Dick Norman, then it’s a rematch of the rapper Monfils and Murray and maybe the French crowd can play their tricks and get under Murray’s skin and help Monfils get the revenge.

Vicente has a big chance of making the 3rd round as he should be able to wipe out Waske the dickhead and he has enough nous to defeat Schüttler or Haas in the next round. But the opponents in this section are either Gonzalez, Safin, Horna and Djokovic.

Gonzalez and Safin is the highlight match of the 1st round and Marat likes to play against the bigger players, so he won’t lack motivation for once and there could be a chance of some heavy hitting in this match.

Lucho and Djokovic is a match that personally I’d like to see and hopefully Horna’s back isn’t too bad, but I don’t think it will be and this could easily go the distance. Lucho and Nole aren’t in the greatest form, though Lucho made a semi and has won a title this year, but there have some downs in this one for sure.

Nadal well he won’t be pushed for some time in this tournament. The time for action is now.

The Düsseldorf, Pörtschach, Roland Garros and the Trials of Gaston Gaudio

Since we have 3 events at the same time, time to throw them in together and see what happens.

The fun of the World Team Cup (WTC) is on us again in lovely Düsseldorf, which is not my favourite place in Germany and for those who want to know where that is. It's called Freiburg and yes that is the German football team this blogger supports.

Chile the WTC specialists have started well winning 3-0 and these guys do it take seriously, even though in reality it's an exhibition before RG, though it does produce some good matches and some very silly results. Gonzo and Massu had hard fought victories over Ferrer and Verdasco in 3 sets and Gonzo and Ferrer must be still pissed off that Robredo won in Hamburg. The problem with WTC success is that Gonzo hasn't always performed his best at Roland Garros and neither has Massu.

Onto Argentina well Nalbandian has been at home recently with some personal issues that did not involve anything to do with rally racing and lost a tough match to the talented, but famously erratic Berdych which gave the Czechs a 2-0 lead.

Well well Gaudio this was an impressive one to say the least losing to Vik, who albeit is quite talented but lazy and for the most part successful on the Challenger circuit losing in straight sets 7-6 6-3. Yes, it's an exho and for the most part it doesn't matter too much, but these are not good signs at all for Gaudio at all. He usually plays quite well here, but it seems like he had the worst effects of PMS ( no offence to all the beautiful ladies) that read this blog.

Get your head out of your arse Gaston, seriously. He is the one of the most gifted players on the tour, he has a backhand to die for, a loving family and an understanding coach, yet he is still miserable when he misses a ball by 1/100000000000000000000000000000000000th of a mm off the centre of the racquet. I mean he must be one of the rarest guys on the tour, an Argentine that lacks self belief. He has time to come around before RG, but not much.

Good to see the Croatian serving machines defeated the Yanks, only bad thing was Gineprick defeating big Ivo, but Ljubo and Ivo showed that buffoons the Bryan brothers about tennis on clay.

Pörtschach is a very nice resort in Carinthia and much better than St Pölten and it seems the tournament has the potential to do well, too bad das arschloch Ronnie Leitgeb is running the show, but can't help bad luck.

Hewitt decides to turn up and he lost to the god loving Brazilian Marcos Daniel in 3 sets, good to see Lleyton thought about his claycourt preparation in great detail. Hahaha, Richard Gasquet the overrated player with a fine backhand losing in qualies, then comes into the main draw as a Lucky Loser and beats Hrbaty the 3 seed. As usual the last week before a Slam, something funny happens and please Horna and Seppi win a match here.

Today is the beginning of the RG qualies and of course they start on Tuesday. Since they have decided to cut it back to best of 3 sets, then why don't they start it on Thursday, then again the arseholes at RG charge for qualies, so there is your answer there.

Good luck to the guys I support in qualies and at least one of Luczak, Koubek, Zabaleta, Russell among others make the main draw, but we will find out soon enough.

The Joys of Radek "Thunder Lips" Stepanek

Radek Doing the Worm


Ok, people who read this blog and I would love to say it's a whole lot of them, but I take what I get.

I have decided amongst the tournament reports and views, that I will do some write ups on particular players and some rants about particular issues among them and it would be appreciated in a big way if I was able to get some feedback in a positive or negative manner. There is only so much one can take of talking to themselves.

Onto the subject at hand Mr "Thunder Lips" Stepanek. He is an interesting player and a guy and he knows how to rub people up the wrong way through various antics. He is to be congratulauted for making the top 10 in singles, though there will be some more said about this in later issues.

Radek has made the most out of his abilities as a player and with that Continental grip forehand. In 2002 he was struggling and mostly playing doubles. Then he worked with Petr Korda and after qualifying for a shitload of events, then his progress was going higher and higher and Radek was able to move through the rankings.

His serve isn't that much in terms of speed, but it is very effective and he has a lot of variety in his game unlike many of the players on the tour, and while his forehand isn't the best, his backhand is very solid, his volleys are good and he loves the use of the dropshot, to say to the point he has dropshotitis, especially when his normal isn't working as well as it should be.

As for the antics, well it does manage to piss off a lot of players, fans and commentators alike at times. At the same is the what "Thunder Lips" does any more irritating than a Hewitt fist up, an Almagro dance or Marat throwing his racquet? This is debatable and all down to personal interpretations.

Personally the breakdancing worm is underrated and the "Thunder Lips" tango otherwise known as the skip after he wins a big point and the facial expressions are just part of what he is. I can see how he would be irritating to some people, but I give him credit for playing a little differently to the majority and doing something a bit different.

Well there are numerous cracks about his looks, but he is there to play tennis and he does that very well and not a male model. If the ladies want that, then go and watch Feliciano "LaLo" Lopez play. At the same time the name "Thunder Lips" is a lot better than being called Brad Pitt especially from that wonderful oil painting otherwise known as Jon Wertheim, someone who is allegedly a tennis journalist, though I'd rather that comment from him than Peter "the Bozo" Bodo.

It hasn't done Radek any harm with the ladies and his previous girlfriend was absolutely stunning and she went for him when he wasn't well known or wealthy. Which is mysterious as to why he is with Martina Hingis at the moment? She has had more traffic than Heathrow Airport, then it must be the money, then again usually any ATP player that has gone out with Hingis hasn't always done well afterwards except Magnus Norman.

For one who has made it in the top 10 Stepanek has a terrifically awful Grand Slam record. He has never managed to get past the 3rd round of any of the Slams and that is not good enough for a player of his talent and the same could be said for big Ivan Ljubicic, though he has at least made a quarter final of a Slam. Also he has a shocking record in finals and lost his first 6 of them and ones when he was favourite and on;y got his 1st title this year in Rotterdam.

Thunder Lips has had some good matches at the Slams. He as an unknown defeated Guga Kuerten in 5 sets and yes his game gave Guga the shits, with sneaking into the net and hitting drop volleys with Guga shaking hands with the people in the front row.

Then again at the Aus Open he played a classic with Sanguinetti and there were plenty of gestutres in that match and this year with Marcos and the Cyprot fans giving him the treatment for sure.

Overall I don't mind the game of "Thunder Lips" as he brings something different to tennis and as for his gamesmanship, well it's clear and he is far from the only player to use these tactics.

To close out, the worm lives on forever as does the tucked in shirt. Some people appreciate it and others don't, but that is a microcosm of life.

Hamming it Up in Hamburg

The end of the clay TMS events is upon us and the circus goes to Hamburg. It's not one of my favourite places on the planet, but this event has a 100 years of tradition on it and also the fact that the claycourts here are very heavy and slow and that gives it something different.

With these factors it's interesting that Federer is so at home here. Yes, he likes to play in German-speaking countries and the like, but the surface is very slow and he does not have the footing problems as he has had at Roland Garros for example and at the time the heaviness of the court due to the weather and the extra clay on the court help him and give him more time to execute his shots, even though his have a greater chance of being chased down, he has won it 3 times and the question is will he play here again.

Enough of Federer for now. This is the last big event for the guys before RG and also the players that are bordering on whether they are seeded or not will be looking for some big performances. For once Acasuso has a reasonable draw and he is in the top 30 and hope he can take advantage of this and he has Ljubicic as a possible second round contender and if he can't beat him on this surface, then it's doubtful that he will beat him anywhere.

The big Russian Safin will need a good performance here just for his confidence and he has made the finals of Hamburg before. The only thing that is predictable about him is his unpredictability and for once the solidly built Saretta has qualified for a main draw and instead of getting Coria, he gets Safin.

- Gasquet makes a comeback to tennis and plays against the Flea.

- Berdych plays the annoying Serra and annoying only in reference to his game style and I can see Serra winning this one quite easily.

- PMK and Massu: There should be a lot of ballbashing in this one and I would love to see a few serve/volley points in this one for humourous reasons. Massu does need to win this match, if he serves well then he has a chance.

- Seppi and Wawrinka : At least Stani has had one good tournament and Andy hasn't been setting the world on fire at the moment, but he made the quarters here last year as a qualifier and maybe that could inspire him to do well and for Seppi to win this match. He needs to get the big Stani moving as while Wawrinka has the shots especially that backhand, he can move like he is in wet cement at times.

- Monfils and Murray: The battle of the two youngsters one who has actually start to win some matches and has the crazy dancing and one who will cramp after 10 minutes of play. They played against each other in juniors and should be interesting result and allez Monfils.

- Moya and Blake: Carlos has a good draw and can take advantage of it and as much I think Blake is a good guy and good for the game, he is a claycourt clown and Moya should do the business here quite easily.

- Gonzalez v Tursunov: This could get very ugly and imagine these two on a bad day. The Danes would be in danger from tennis balls as these guys could easily reach Denmark with some bad shots and Mitya treats the clay season as a joke and he will just swing and hope for the best. A match between he and the Srich at RG would be sold out in 2 mins or less.

- Djokovic vs Coria: Djokovic would have to think Xmas has come early, but at the same time there will be a time when Coria stops giving away presents, though I hope it's not too soon, but I wouldn't be surprised if Coria won this match and Djokovic needs to get some more wins under his belt.

- Gaudio vs Martin: Gaston has won the last 3 against Martin and knows how to play him, but he really needs to be prepared to work very hard and stay out there as long as necessary to win. If he plays to his talents or near enough he should win and at the same time get to hit a lot of balls and that is what he needs at the moment.

Lucho better win against Mirnyi and the same for Grosjean against Gineprick and I am still doubtful that Nadal will play in Hamburg, but onward bound I say.

Roaming around in Rome and Fan Reports in the Eternal City of Chaos

The circus this week goes to Rome and what a perfect place for a circus it is. The place is chaotic, mad drivers, hot and dusty, plenty of historic ruins and nutters just the fitting setting for 2nd of the clay TMS events.

This event has some strange results I mean this is where the clay-phobic Americans have their best chance to do well before the business gets serious in Paris.

Why is this so? Well one factor is the weather well since it’s warmer in Rome than it is the other places and with less rain and warm conditions the court plays quicker than the other clay courts on the circuit, except for the stops at altitude, fortunately Rome isn’t at altitude. The fact that they have less on clay on the surface as well is another factor that speeds up the surface in addition to the lighter balls and the way it’s swept after the set. Well Sampras, Agassi have won here, Haas and Rafter made finals here and Roddick’s best ever clay result in a real event as Houston is just a real Mickey Mouse event.

The qualifiers should be interesting and our Rome correspondent has run into the famous Federico Luzzi. He played Juan Monaco in the first round of qualies and good to see Monaco won easily as to be honest Luzzi is a real arse clown. I remember him getting involved in a few arguments and he is the man who famously punched Herr Dani Köllerer after a challenger match in Italy, where both of them got a holiday. They had a heated argument that continued and continued and then Luzzi punched him.

As for who qualifies I’d like to see the Superstar play and it would be fun if he played Silver Fox Sanguinetti with his antics and he is an Italian speaker, so he’d know if they were abusing him and could lead to a heated contest. Hopefully Saretta, Vicente, Monaco, Djokovic and Beto Martin can make the main draw.

Onto the main draw I wonder how Gaudio and Safin will play here as they aren’t exactly fans of Rome, but that happens some people play well at certain events and the whole Nadal streak thing and lets see if he can match the Muster run in 96 by defending Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome, but will he fall at RG.

Now the first rounders there are some good potential matches and potential humour as well and that is just as important. ATP and now new bandwagon favourite of MTF Mitya Tursunov is doing down again on clay and the Italians will give him more crap than the Portuguese did and he plays the Potato who should do enough to get the job done.

- LaLo vs Stepanek : Time for Thunder Lips to continue beating up on his pigeon LaLo who is a joke of a player and I hope it’s in straight sets.

- Ferrer vs Chucho : Not the best 1st round for Chucho, but ever since losing his first match against Ferrer, he was won the next 3 in straight sets and I would love to see this kind of result again. Ferrer is a battler and Chucho lost a very tough match against Gaudio in Monte Carlo and decided to take two weeks off and hope this keeps him fresh and ready to go and if he serves well I can see him imposing his game on Ferrer and that’s the key for it and remain patient as he will get chances.

- Ferrero vs Mathieu: Well this one could go either way, will the talented PHM show up or the meek choking mouse. Ferrero has lost a little bit of edge, but at the same time this clay season he hasn’t been losing to duds. I’d like to see PHM win, but it won’t be likely.


- Gaudio vs Malisse : Two talented guys without the greatest mental toughness, but I think Gaudio’s superior clay ability should get him over the line in this one, but one can never tell and a likely meeting with the Berdman in the second round and if he loses to the Srich on clay, then there are major problems.

In this section are Seppi, Youzhny, Wawrinka and Gonzalez and who makes the 3rd round out of these 3 will be out of Seppi, Stani and Gonzalez as Youzhny is in shit form at the moment and Seppi normally plays well in Italy and the Stani vs Gonzo match will be explosive though I am not likely to see it among the sea of Italians that will be 1st rounders on TV.

Now onto some of the other matches in this 1st round. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the Americans are gone by Round 1, though Mirnyi has been in horrible form of late, at the same time Ginepri is perfect for someone to recover their form. Serra should have too much clay nous for Blake and for Hanescu just hope he is over his injury problems and I would like Lurch to be able to take out Duckboy.

Baghdatis is back after his layoff and Oli Rochus could be tired from Münich and that is a chance for him and Marcos’s clay results haven’t been that great from the little he has played on the surface. Lucho Horna is up against Ancic and Lucho needs a good result at one of these TMS events, so he can get himself a seeding at RG. Hope the Shark is over his illness by the time he plays Grosjean, if you are losing 1 and 2 to Vliegen on clay, then there has to be an illness problem.

Nadal and Moya, it would be hilarious if Moya stopped his protégé’s winning streak on clay, though if he does that then Rafa is more likely to win Roland Garros if he loses here.

On a sidenote I will have some rants in the future and also congratulations to Oliver Marach who has made the top 100 for the first time. He is a good guy and good to see one of them do something good at the same time if he or Vicente make the main draw of Rome, it is fine.

Justin Gimelstob Wins a Match on Clay in the Lucky Loser Paradise of Estoril and Reports from the Land of Lederhosen in Munich

Many of the players are taking a break this week and are either attempting to qualify for Rome or getting ready to play after a break of 2 weeks like Acasuso and Gaudio.

This will start off in Estoril and this tournament has had a spate of late withdrawals and has seen the tournament have 5 Lucky Losers in the main draw and that is more than the 4 qualifiers that are in the draw and for this year Estoril does have Mickey Mouse status, though I am not sure if it ranks with Casachallenger.

Already this tournament has started with a shock in that Justin Gimelstob won a match on clay and that is a huge surprise and Gimelstob is probably still in disbelief, but I will give him and Vincenzo Spadea credit for at least turning up and playing these events. Well for Lukas Dlouhy he deserves the red card for losing to Gimelclown on clay and having a match point, this deserves a suspension for losing this match, maybe he can be off the tour for 3 months for losing a match like this, but his confidence will have to be shot to pieces for losing this.

Good to see that Gilles Muller beat the annoying Belgian dwarf Christophe Rochus easily and the PMK is back in the winners circle after losing 3 consecutive 1st round matches and with all these withdrawals this tournament is wide open and it looks like Safin and the PMK will meet for the 3rd time this year and if that happens again I think the result will be the same as Davydenko I think is in awe of Safin and that doesn't help if you have to the beat the guy.

As for who will do well in this tournament, it's a question of who is standing at the end at least blogger favourite Dmitry Tursunov should win a match on clay and that is rare in itself. Though his ATP blog has been funny, but then again at this blog we all know about the humour and entertainment value of Gospodin Tursunov, but as usual MTF gets its a few months later.

Onto Münich and there we have a special reporter there for the tournament. This tournament hasn't suffered like Estoril has, then again not many have relative to the size of the tournament.

The "Weasel" Coria is the number 1 seed in Münich, but how he is going to go at the moment is a very big mystery and something I could discuss at length (I have an idea for a blog article yay) his problems at the moment. He is playing doubles with Juan Monaco at this event and it seems Juan will have to hold the service games and Coria win the return games.

Monaco got back in the winners circle against the Srich, but Juan should be beating the Srich on clay, so that is something to be really that proud of at all, as they say a win is a win and he needs some good performances and he is not doing himself justice at the moment, but confidence is a strange thing, winning like losing is a habit, it's just some are better than others.

Andrei Pavel, this could be his last year on tour and there are a few weak players in the draw, so of course this means he has to draw Nieminen who is one of the better players in the draw and will be one of the favourites for this title, not good for him, but can't have it all in life.

Hopefully the poor mans Acasuso Tomas Behrend can take advantage of his Lucky Loser spot and make the second round and have a good tournament, it would be funny, but I don't see it happening.

Karsten Braasch still the king of German tennis