Monte Carlo Masters is upon us. One of the best settings on tour, no lack of money in the principality. Yes, the place is tacky but the courts are beautiful. Jimmy's Bar isn't too bad a place to visit.
Murray taking a wildcard when he and Berdych should have committed, yes I mean committed to the tournament, not committed to a mental asylum.
Will Gimeno-Traver win a match this season, he plays Giraldo for the third time. Nieminen plays Benneteau, who struggled to take out Tomic in qualies, which leads me to Rui Machado. I don't mind MacHado but losing to Tomic on clay is unforgivable at the best of times.
Enjoy the tournament for the settings, and the matches Nadal isn't involved in and I will be getting fan reports which are always good from Merton.
Allez Monaco
Monday, April 11, 2011
Pablo Andujar wins first title in Casablanca and his football team win 5-0
Andujar wins Casablanca
Pablo Andujar with Casablanca title
The spring clay season kicked off with a couple of surprising title winners in Casablanca and Houston. While Andujar had the capabilities of winning a small clay title, the fact that the Bahamian Ryan Sweeting won Houston is bemusing at best, besides his immediate family and friends no one thought he’d win. It shows Houston has some special characteristics. In addition that if Sweeting can win an ATP title, it should be inspiration to other players.
Casachallenger was quite entertaining this year. Had some good weather which made the courts play fairly quickly. There is only so much clay one can lay down, water, sweeping in either direction before Mother Nature takes its course. Since the readers of this blog are educated, there was very little point to this paragraph.
Before moving to Andujar. There was a brilliant choke in the 2nd round in the match between Blaž Kavčič and Fabio “the Fog” Fognini. This probably should have had a separate entry and it may do so in the future. It’s hard to write about this as Kavčič is someone who I happen to like and “the Fog” is just the “the Fog”. He’d be top 10 in the world if it was down to strutting ability.
Kavčič takes the 1st set 6-1 and the only game Fog got was because he broke the Kavčič serve. Second set is going along the same path, a few breaks and Kavčič is up *5-2 has a chance to serve the match out, fails to do it at the first time of asking. Then in the Fog’s next service game he had 4 match points couldn’t convert any. After this Blaž loses the next 4 games and set 7-5.
Third set was a breakathon and Blaž had another chance to serve it out at *5-4, loses his serve and then drops the 12th game to love and the Fog sneaks out another win. It’s annoying yet hilarious at the same time on a personal level. This should have been livestreamed just for the entertainment value alone, at the same time as a Blaž fan watching this on a computer could have done bad things to my health and sanity. It doesn’t help I had a small wager on him before the match at good odds. Choking to the Fog isn’t nice and it’s the second time this player cost me financially.
All players have choked matches away at some point, but it’s how they recover from it. Voinea has done great work with Blaž so far and it’s been a problem for Blaž too many times he gets defensive and tight, where he is just pushing the ball instead of hitting it. Naturally when the arm is tighter the racquet head isn’t going to accelerate as quickly through the ball, hence the fodder and short stuff that can be exploited.
Señor Andujar started the week by taking out Florent “que sera” Serra he dropped a set, which is more due to a lack of concentration, once he got that back it was 6-2 in the 3rd. After that he played the captain of the French baseball team Jeremy Chardy who makes PHM look like Einstein, believes in the close your eyes and hit as hard you can theory. Too solid for Chardy and “Arriba” Pere Riba in the quarter finals.
Andujar lifted his game for the semi against Montañes. He was placing the serve well, using excellent angles on the forehand especially pushing Montañes further back and finish many points at the net with good volleys. It shows that volleying can be effective on any court surface.
The best was yet to come for Andujar in the final, it was his second final after Bucharest last year where he was so tired and offered token resistence to Chela. This time around he was fresher and his opponent Starace who was favourite for the final had a brutal match with Hanescu in the semi. Starace had chances to serve out the match in 2 sets, then ends up in a 3rd set buster.
Andujar had a confident opening and broke Starace early, while the Italian was serving at a high percentage it wasn’t doing much damage. Andujar on the ad side was taking away Starace’s favourite serve the kicker wide. He was stepping into the court and hitting backhands down the line, to keep him off balance. Andujar playing good all round clay court tennis and yes this includes volleys wins 6-1.
Starace who seemed a bit heavy legged and tired lifts his game to a higher level. Many of the service games are hard fought this time around, but Andujar had the answers. The forehand doing the damage, the backhand solid and came into the net on good stuff.
Once Andujar broke for the final time he was able to serve out the match and well deserved winner of his first title.
As for Sweeting, less said the better.
The spring clay season kicked off with a couple of surprising title winners in Casablanca and Houston. While Andujar had the capabilities of winning a small clay title, the fact that the Bahamian Ryan Sweeting won Houston is bemusing at best, besides his immediate family and friends no one thought he’d win. It shows Houston has some special characteristics. In addition that if Sweeting can win an ATP title, it should be inspiration to other players.
Casachallenger was quite entertaining this year. Had some good weather which made the courts play fairly quickly. There is only so much clay one can lay down, water, sweeping in either direction before Mother Nature takes its course. Since the readers of this blog are educated, there was very little point to this paragraph.
Before moving to Andujar. There was a brilliant choke in the 2nd round in the match between Blaž Kavčič and Fabio “the Fog” Fognini. This probably should have had a separate entry and it may do so in the future. It’s hard to write about this as Kavčič is someone who I happen to like and “the Fog” is just the “the Fog”. He’d be top 10 in the world if it was down to strutting ability.
Kavčič takes the 1st set 6-1 and the only game Fog got was because he broke the Kavčič serve. Second set is going along the same path, a few breaks and Kavčič is up *5-2 has a chance to serve the match out, fails to do it at the first time of asking. Then in the Fog’s next service game he had 4 match points couldn’t convert any. After this Blaž loses the next 4 games and set 7-5.
Third set was a breakathon and Blaž had another chance to serve it out at *5-4, loses his serve and then drops the 12th game to love and the Fog sneaks out another win. It’s annoying yet hilarious at the same time on a personal level. This should have been livestreamed just for the entertainment value alone, at the same time as a Blaž fan watching this on a computer could have done bad things to my health and sanity. It doesn’t help I had a small wager on him before the match at good odds. Choking to the Fog isn’t nice and it’s the second time this player cost me financially.
All players have choked matches away at some point, but it’s how they recover from it. Voinea has done great work with Blaž so far and it’s been a problem for Blaž too many times he gets defensive and tight, where he is just pushing the ball instead of hitting it. Naturally when the arm is tighter the racquet head isn’t going to accelerate as quickly through the ball, hence the fodder and short stuff that can be exploited.
Señor Andujar started the week by taking out Florent “que sera” Serra he dropped a set, which is more due to a lack of concentration, once he got that back it was 6-2 in the 3rd. After that he played the captain of the French baseball team Jeremy Chardy who makes PHM look like Einstein, believes in the close your eyes and hit as hard you can theory. Too solid for Chardy and “Arriba” Pere Riba in the quarter finals.
Andujar lifted his game for the semi against Montañes. He was placing the serve well, using excellent angles on the forehand especially pushing Montañes further back and finish many points at the net with good volleys. It shows that volleying can be effective on any court surface.
The best was yet to come for Andujar in the final, it was his second final after Bucharest last year where he was so tired and offered token resistence to Chela. This time around he was fresher and his opponent Starace who was favourite for the final had a brutal match with Hanescu in the semi. Starace had chances to serve out the match in 2 sets, then ends up in a 3rd set buster.
Andujar had a confident opening and broke Starace early, while the Italian was serving at a high percentage it wasn’t doing much damage. Andujar on the ad side was taking away Starace’s favourite serve the kicker wide. He was stepping into the court and hitting backhands down the line, to keep him off balance. Andujar playing good all round clay court tennis and yes this includes volleys wins 6-1.
Starace who seemed a bit heavy legged and tired lifts his game to a higher level. Many of the service games are hard fought this time around, but Andujar had the answers. The forehand doing the damage, the backhand solid and came into the net on good stuff.
Once Andujar broke for the final time he was able to serve out the match and well deserved winner of his first title.
As for Sweeting, less said the better.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
2011 Clay season, same old shit with different dates
The clay season has started, well on the main ATP tour anyway. This could be one of the shorter previews that I will do and this is not a bad thing. In fact I could just end it with Rafael Nadal as long as he is semi fit and yes this means even at half capacity, he should win everything on clay as he usually does. Yes, it's boring and has been boring since 2005, but that's not his fault that his level of competition are incapable of presenting anything resembling token resistence. You know it's bad when his toughest Roland Garros win was against Mariano "I failed a drug test twice" Puerta in 2005.
Houston and Casachallenger are on this week. Already there have been some hilarious things happen, the worst of all was the Sweeting and Querrey match. Only bad thing was that I missed it and it sounded it was so bad, it was good. Mikey Russell lost to Andreev in straight sets, sure Andreev hasn't been at his best for a long time but a tough draw for Russell after all there were a lot of wood ducks in this draw and he got one of the better players. Charly Berlocq did the good Samiritan thing and let James "I'm went to Harvard, but play elementary tennis" Blake off the hook in their match, this result was popular among the locals. If he made main draw at Roland Garros, people will be praying to draw him.
Casachallenger hopefully there'll be a new title winner at this prestigious event. Pere Riba and Andujar are in the quarter finals playing each other, definitely not the most talented guys around but Andujar is alright by me. He hangs out with Gimeno-Traver and even plays doubles with him, so Daniel can get a winners purse this season, plus he took out the ballbashing buffoon Chardy which is never a bad thing. DGT needs to play Chardy, so he could get a win this season. He is getting closer at least he has taken sets in his last 2 losses but his break point conversion against Lurch Hanescu was awful.
Match of the day involves Fabio "I lack self confdence" Fognini against the feisty Slovenian Blaž Kavčič. The organisers have made an error putting this on a non-tv court. The gestures here could be quite funny with the Fog strutting around like he owns the tour and not giving a shit. Kavčič getting pissed off about something usually happens within the match. He has good chances today if he can play to his level, not making mistakes and providing his ankle is fine. The Fog can play but he is very moody even for a diva.
Not exactly inspiring, unless you are a Nadal fanboy or fangirl. Watching him beat up the opposition on clay, only difference is the dates of these executions. Greater interest in who will win the tournaments he isn't playing or who can make the latter stages of the events he is in.
Houston and Casachallenger are on this week. Already there have been some hilarious things happen, the worst of all was the Sweeting and Querrey match. Only bad thing was that I missed it and it sounded it was so bad, it was good. Mikey Russell lost to Andreev in straight sets, sure Andreev hasn't been at his best for a long time but a tough draw for Russell after all there were a lot of wood ducks in this draw and he got one of the better players. Charly Berlocq did the good Samiritan thing and let James "I'm went to Harvard, but play elementary tennis" Blake off the hook in their match, this result was popular among the locals. If he made main draw at Roland Garros, people will be praying to draw him.
Casachallenger hopefully there'll be a new title winner at this prestigious event. Pere Riba and Andujar are in the quarter finals playing each other, definitely not the most talented guys around but Andujar is alright by me. He hangs out with Gimeno-Traver and even plays doubles with him, so Daniel can get a winners purse this season, plus he took out the ballbashing buffoon Chardy which is never a bad thing. DGT needs to play Chardy, so he could get a win this season. He is getting closer at least he has taken sets in his last 2 losses but his break point conversion against Lurch Hanescu was awful.
Match of the day involves Fabio "I lack self confdence" Fognini against the feisty Slovenian Blaž Kavčič. The organisers have made an error putting this on a non-tv court. The gestures here could be quite funny with the Fog strutting around like he owns the tour and not giving a shit. Kavčič getting pissed off about something usually happens within the match. He has good chances today if he can play to his level, not making mistakes and providing his ankle is fine. The Fog can play but he is very moody even for a diva.
Not exactly inspiring, unless you are a Nadal fanboy or fangirl. Watching him beat up the opposition on clay, only difference is the dates of these executions. Greater interest in who will win the tournaments he isn't playing or who can make the latter stages of the events he is in.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Amer Delić returns to the winners circle and Indian Wells/Miami goes for too long
Distractions in the real world had put me off writing last week, but enough of this. Davis Cup is still a great event despite what these top player prima donnas think about it. Yes, Chardy was labelled as a brainless ball basher who makes PHM look like Einstein, while this is true he managed to get France get over the line and Golubev managed the same feat for Kazakhstan. Jakke Nieminen tried his best and always plays Davis Cup for Finland, but he couldn't overcome Blaz and the boys in Ljubljana.
Yes, there is some TMS event called Indian Wells at the moment and can't be bothered writing too much about it. It's a wank of an event having a 96 player draw going over 10 days, yes Miami is in the same boat but they have the Latino crowd which can give it some good atmosphere. Ideally they'd be reduced to a 64 player draw and cut it down to a week for each event, yes it's a coast to coast flight but they can handle it. Seems to be Ok for the Americans to whine about being Europe for too long during the clay season, but if it goes the other way then they are crybabies. South Americans and Aussies don't get it so easy when it comes to travel on the global tennis circus.
We all love a story that has a good ending, well sometimes we do. This one one of these cases the comeback kid Amer Delić won the Sarajevo Challenger, the first player representing Bosnia to win a title, yes Cilic, Dodig and Ljubicic are from Bosnia but play their trade for Croatia. Delić is back now playing for Bosnia after several years playing for the USA. He explains it himself as to why he decided to switch allegiance, the lure of playing Davis Cup and the Olympics didn't hurt Amer Delic on playing for Bosnia
After being out of tennis for 14 months due to knee surgery, so many different thoughts would be going through Delić's mind, there are the hours upon hours of rehabilitation, the doubts about whether they can make it back on the tour, revaluation of goals. Another thing is well that happens in tough times in any field, you find out who your true friends are and the people that want to know, it's very easy to hang around, congratulate and be good to people when things are going well, as soon as it goes to shit be it through whatever circumstances many of these same people fade from the scene.
The Aus Open missed Delić this year, he loves Court 13 with the big battles he had out there. In 2008 where he qualified without losing a set, taking out Kendrick and then losing a 5 set thriller against Juan Monaco coming back from 2 sets to 0 down. The local Bosnians got behind him big time and for the most part were fine, sadly there were a few arse clowns who didn't realise that it wasn't football. Next year he came back as a LL in qualies, took out Dent in 5 sets and then he got the comeback this time against Paul Henri "Einstein" Mathieu and the atmosphere was rollicking this day.
Challengers after Davis Cup week are always interesting as surprising results are the norm, due to the travel factor and also celebrating the wins with their team mates takes a toll. Sarajevo is unusually for a tennis tournament these days played on a fast surface indoors, so it makes Delić's win the more rewarding. He came from Morocco playing on the clay and some flight issues, naturally he used the wildcard here instead of using protected ranking.
The fast, low bouncing surface suiting his game had a tough 1st rounder against improving Estonian Jurgen Zopp took him down in straight sets. Huge 2nd round match with Andi Beck where every set went to the buster and pulling through gave him the confidence taking out Martin Fischer only needed one tiebreaker in this one. The semi final against another attacking player and big server Nicolas Mahut, thought this one was going to go to 3 tie break sets only the last one went to the buster. Delic delighting the home crowd winning 7-6 (8), it would have been odds at about 1.05 that Mahut's hair would be still stylish with gel after this tough loss.
Next was Karol Beck who withdrew in the warm up with a back problem, it's not the best way to win a title on a walkover.
At the same time Delić deserves a bit of luck after batting through quite a tough draw, being out of the game for over a year with injury and adjusting from the clay to a fast low bouncing indoor surface. The crowd weren't too disappointed with the result and the hopefully Delic can use the momentum of this tournament victory to maximise his potential.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
2011 Davis Cup World Group Preview. Bring back Rios and Zivojinovic
Davis Cup 2011
This time of the tennis calendar is contentious, no matter what seems to happen with Davis Cup, there is some form of whining albeit in different forms.
Lets start with the usual excuses, the top players don’t want to play, so lets make some changes because many of them are over pampered and putting their careers first, which is naturally their choice. These have included stuff like giving the players ranking points was a joke initially and still is a joke, just a way of getting them to play. The schedule is another excuse that prevents them playing, but the schedule has been shit for years and not going to change at any point soon.
2011 will be different in having a higher participation rate than usual, so they are eligible to play at the 2012 Olympics. As for other incentives been spoken about are moronic things like playing at one venue, which will further dilute the unique Davis Cup qualities but not surprising in the least in the world of homogenisation within the tennis sphere. So, how will the federations the smaller ones especially gain any revenue if they aren’t able to host Davis Cup ties in their own countries. Yes, there are definite problems about how the money filters through down to the tennis development level, if it doesn’t end up being pocketed by federation people who should be facilitating tennis development and not their bank balances.
The other one that gets trotted out a lot is to play it every 2 years, who does this benefit? It’s not like it’s going to make it any more prestigious winning the Davis Cup. The timing of the 1st round has changed, it used to be first week after the Australian Open and could see how this was problematic for the superstars, so they changed it and still it hasn’t changed the participation rate of these guys. Even better when it’s Roger “I care and love the history of the game” Federer, who routinely turns his back on committing properly to Switzerland in Davis Cup, considering Davis Cup is one of the most historical events in tennis, then this is misleading at best or hypocritical at worst.
One thing that could be done for the World Group is reduce it to 14 teams instead of 16. This would give the finalists a bye to the quarter finals and then they would play the 6 winners of the 1st round ties. Yes, it’s a reward for making the finals but the quarter finalists and first round losers in World Group would have to playoff for their spots in the World Group against the zonal winners as happens now.
Onto the ties, some of these won’t be very long to discuss.
Serbia vs. India
This should have been played this on clay, just to compound the beating that will take place. Then again if it was on clay, then Slobodan Zivojinovic could have come out of retirement in his 110kg frame and still win a match.
Paes/Bhupati will be the best chance for a victory to the Indians, who have done well to gain a place in the World Group. Djokovic loves playing for his country and the people of Novi Sad will be breaking out the rakija on Day 2.
Sweden vs. Russia
The Russians aren’t the force they were in recent times with the Colonel retiring from Davis Cup play and Davydenko in poor form. They have a team of Andreev who has been playing on the clay all season, not having great results, the tsunami Gabashvili where anything can and will happen with him. Kunitsyn who peaks for the Kremlin Cup and Tursunov, who has been improving after long term injury problems. It’s far from their strongest team but still a competitive unit.
As the great man Robert “Brad Pitt” Lindstedt said after his calf problem, things are desperate they need me to play Davis Cup. While he was joking, the facts are the Swedes need him, especially in absence of a reliable number 2 to Robin Söderling since Vinciguerra has virtually retired and Pim-PIm Johansson who is playing here, just don’t know how long he lasts before he breaks down.
This will be a very fast indoor court which the Russians won’t mind, but the Toad Söderling should win both his singles and the Swedes are better in the doubles, at least this tie has potential to be tight.
Czech Republic vs. Kazakhstan
The two man Czech team that was very common in the last 2 seasons of Berdych and sexy Stepanek won’t be on show here, as Thunder Lips Stepanek won’t be playing. So Jaro Navratil will have some juggling to do here with the second singles players. Normally it would be the :Prostejov King” Jan Hajek, who hasn’t been performing at all this season, well he has been performing tricks but that's another story, and Vesely is in the squad.
Russia 2 aka Kazakhstan Golubev, Korolev, Kukushkin and Schukin are all Russian. Apart from Schukin the other 3 don’t mind the ballbashing and this can work well indoors, but the Czechs should get home and finally Lukas “Dropshot” Dlouhy should be playing doubles with Berdych and this combo will get the cash for the Czechs and they will need the Sexy one back for the quarter finals.
Argentina vs. Romania
Not even close to the golden generation of Argentine tennis but this will be a comfortable win for them. Nalle and Monaco should play singles, maybe Chela and Schwank can play doubles or one of the reverse singles.
The Romanians will enjoy Buenos Aires it’s a great city, dulce de leche, great beef and fine women, because tennistically this won’t be too enjoyable. Andrei Pavel might as well play singles here.
Chile vs. USA
Too bad the big Chilean teddy bear as he was called once Fernando Gonzalez is out of the game for this one. With him perhaps he could have been inspired to win both singles and he could carry Massu in the doubles, where they always have the 2004 memories of winning doubles gold medals making a total of 0 volleys.
Marcelo Rios really should have been picked despite the back problem. As it stands Capdeville, Massu and Aguilar don’t have the goods to upset the Americans. In spite of Roddick moving like a constipated elephant on the clay, the best chance for the Chileans would be if one of the Bryans had to play singles. This scenario isn’t likely.
Belgium vs. Spain
Spain will win this fairly comfortably, the surface isn’t quick enough and the Belgians will have to maybe poison the Spaniards to win here. If Nadal has to play a live match on Day 3, then this is a success.
Croatia vs. Germany
Along with the Sweden/Russia tie, this has the best potential for a close result. Interesting they chose Zagreb where the crowd isn’t as volatile as they are in Split, and the conditions don’t favour any one team more than the other.
Cilic will start for Croatia and will be interesting to see how Dodig handles his Davis Cup debut. Two years ago, if someone said Dodig would be playing a live DC rubber then they’d ask you who their drug dealer was. I’m very happy for him for working so hard with limited ability. He won’t forget 2011 winning his first title in Zagreb and also playing a live Davis Cup tie. Karlovic should be playing the doubles.
Interesting or maybe not so interesting fact the whole German team are Bavarians and yes all of then Bayern Münich fans. Kohli, Florian “German Gigolo 2” Mayer, Picasso Petzschner and Kas. Picasso and Kas will more than likely play doubles, they have played quite a few times, leaving the other 2 to play singles.
Lots of possible interesting scenarios here, but Croatia should get it done, not that this is said with great confidence.
Austria vs. France
Two questions need to be raised here. Are there that many things going on in Vienna, that they have to play in the airport hangar. Yes, I was there and remember when they played a match in September at Prater Park. The hangar doesn’t quite have the same ring as the bullring in Nimes which the French once used, though better than the carpark that was used once by Spain.
Other question is whether Jürger Melzer will be Melzer or Melzclown which is something that has been too apparent in recent times when it comes to Davis Cup. He had his best year in 2010 and needs to build on that, especially since “El Fashionista” Koubek is on his last legs and Martin Fischer isn’t quite up to it.
As for France, they aren’t in the greatest shape got Simon who is allegedly injured he is almost as injured as Nadal. Llodra not at his best on clay, Benneteau who is still coming back from a long injury break and Jeremy Chardy who should be the captain of the French baseball or cricket team. Lucky this tie is indoors as Chardy would be hitting the aeroplanes trying to take off or land.
Melzer is the key to this tie, and he is comfortable in the doubles with Knowle. If he plays to his ability then Austria has great chances, if he shows his previous DC form then the French will be picking up ladies in the Viennese clubs and playing the reverse singles drunk.
Will add pictures later and there will be another Davis Cup entry tomorrow.
This time of the tennis calendar is contentious, no matter what seems to happen with Davis Cup, there is some form of whining albeit in different forms.
Lets start with the usual excuses, the top players don’t want to play, so lets make some changes because many of them are over pampered and putting their careers first, which is naturally their choice. These have included stuff like giving the players ranking points was a joke initially and still is a joke, just a way of getting them to play. The schedule is another excuse that prevents them playing, but the schedule has been shit for years and not going to change at any point soon.
2011 will be different in having a higher participation rate than usual, so they are eligible to play at the 2012 Olympics. As for other incentives been spoken about are moronic things like playing at one venue, which will further dilute the unique Davis Cup qualities but not surprising in the least in the world of homogenisation within the tennis sphere. So, how will the federations the smaller ones especially gain any revenue if they aren’t able to host Davis Cup ties in their own countries. Yes, there are definite problems about how the money filters through down to the tennis development level, if it doesn’t end up being pocketed by federation people who should be facilitating tennis development and not their bank balances.
The other one that gets trotted out a lot is to play it every 2 years, who does this benefit? It’s not like it’s going to make it any more prestigious winning the Davis Cup. The timing of the 1st round has changed, it used to be first week after the Australian Open and could see how this was problematic for the superstars, so they changed it and still it hasn’t changed the participation rate of these guys. Even better when it’s Roger “I care and love the history of the game” Federer, who routinely turns his back on committing properly to Switzerland in Davis Cup, considering Davis Cup is one of the most historical events in tennis, then this is misleading at best or hypocritical at worst.
One thing that could be done for the World Group is reduce it to 14 teams instead of 16. This would give the finalists a bye to the quarter finals and then they would play the 6 winners of the 1st round ties. Yes, it’s a reward for making the finals but the quarter finalists and first round losers in World Group would have to playoff for their spots in the World Group against the zonal winners as happens now.
Onto the ties, some of these won’t be very long to discuss.
Serbia vs. India
This should have been played this on clay, just to compound the beating that will take place. Then again if it was on clay, then Slobodan Zivojinovic could have come out of retirement in his 110kg frame and still win a match.
Paes/Bhupati will be the best chance for a victory to the Indians, who have done well to gain a place in the World Group. Djokovic loves playing for his country and the people of Novi Sad will be breaking out the rakija on Day 2.
Sweden vs. Russia
The Russians aren’t the force they were in recent times with the Colonel retiring from Davis Cup play and Davydenko in poor form. They have a team of Andreev who has been playing on the clay all season, not having great results, the tsunami Gabashvili where anything can and will happen with him. Kunitsyn who peaks for the Kremlin Cup and Tursunov, who has been improving after long term injury problems. It’s far from their strongest team but still a competitive unit.
As the great man Robert “Brad Pitt” Lindstedt said after his calf problem, things are desperate they need me to play Davis Cup. While he was joking, the facts are the Swedes need him, especially in absence of a reliable number 2 to Robin Söderling since Vinciguerra has virtually retired and Pim-PIm Johansson who is playing here, just don’t know how long he lasts before he breaks down.
This will be a very fast indoor court which the Russians won’t mind, but the Toad Söderling should win both his singles and the Swedes are better in the doubles, at least this tie has potential to be tight.
Czech Republic vs. Kazakhstan
The two man Czech team that was very common in the last 2 seasons of Berdych and sexy Stepanek won’t be on show here, as Thunder Lips Stepanek won’t be playing. So Jaro Navratil will have some juggling to do here with the second singles players. Normally it would be the :Prostejov King” Jan Hajek, who hasn’t been performing at all this season, well he has been performing tricks but that's another story, and Vesely is in the squad.
Russia 2 aka Kazakhstan Golubev, Korolev, Kukushkin and Schukin are all Russian. Apart from Schukin the other 3 don’t mind the ballbashing and this can work well indoors, but the Czechs should get home and finally Lukas “Dropshot” Dlouhy should be playing doubles with Berdych and this combo will get the cash for the Czechs and they will need the Sexy one back for the quarter finals.
Argentina vs. Romania
Not even close to the golden generation of Argentine tennis but this will be a comfortable win for them. Nalle and Monaco should play singles, maybe Chela and Schwank can play doubles or one of the reverse singles.
The Romanians will enjoy Buenos Aires it’s a great city, dulce de leche, great beef and fine women, because tennistically this won’t be too enjoyable. Andrei Pavel might as well play singles here.
Chile vs. USA
Too bad the big Chilean teddy bear as he was called once Fernando Gonzalez is out of the game for this one. With him perhaps he could have been inspired to win both singles and he could carry Massu in the doubles, where they always have the 2004 memories of winning doubles gold medals making a total of 0 volleys.
Marcelo Rios really should have been picked despite the back problem. As it stands Capdeville, Massu and Aguilar don’t have the goods to upset the Americans. In spite of Roddick moving like a constipated elephant on the clay, the best chance for the Chileans would be if one of the Bryans had to play singles. This scenario isn’t likely.
Belgium vs. Spain
Spain will win this fairly comfortably, the surface isn’t quick enough and the Belgians will have to maybe poison the Spaniards to win here. If Nadal has to play a live match on Day 3, then this is a success.
Croatia vs. Germany
Along with the Sweden/Russia tie, this has the best potential for a close result. Interesting they chose Zagreb where the crowd isn’t as volatile as they are in Split, and the conditions don’t favour any one team more than the other.
Cilic will start for Croatia and will be interesting to see how Dodig handles his Davis Cup debut. Two years ago, if someone said Dodig would be playing a live DC rubber then they’d ask you who their drug dealer was. I’m very happy for him for working so hard with limited ability. He won’t forget 2011 winning his first title in Zagreb and also playing a live Davis Cup tie. Karlovic should be playing the doubles.
Interesting or maybe not so interesting fact the whole German team are Bavarians and yes all of then Bayern Münich fans. Kohli, Florian “German Gigolo 2” Mayer, Picasso Petzschner and Kas. Picasso and Kas will more than likely play doubles, they have played quite a few times, leaving the other 2 to play singles.
Lots of possible interesting scenarios here, but Croatia should get it done, not that this is said with great confidence.
Austria vs. France
Two questions need to be raised here. Are there that many things going on in Vienna, that they have to play in the airport hangar. Yes, I was there and remember when they played a match in September at Prater Park. The hangar doesn’t quite have the same ring as the bullring in Nimes which the French once used, though better than the carpark that was used once by Spain.
Other question is whether Jürger Melzer will be Melzer or Melzclown which is something that has been too apparent in recent times when it comes to Davis Cup. He had his best year in 2010 and needs to build on that, especially since “El Fashionista” Koubek is on his last legs and Martin Fischer isn’t quite up to it.
As for France, they aren’t in the greatest shape got Simon who is allegedly injured he is almost as injured as Nadal. Llodra not at his best on clay, Benneteau who is still coming back from a long injury break and Jeremy Chardy who should be the captain of the French baseball or cricket team. Lucky this tie is indoors as Chardy would be hitting the aeroplanes trying to take off or land.
Melzer is the key to this tie, and he is comfortable in the doubles with Knowle. If he plays to his ability then Austria has great chances, if he shows his previous DC form then the French will be picking up ladies in the Viennese clubs and playing the reverse singles drunk.
Will add pictures later and there will be another Davis Cup entry tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Drinks always taste better in the jacuzzi
This week will be focused mostly on the Challenger circuit again, for the very simple reason that fortunately I was able to attend the Caloundra event last week.
In Costa da Sauipe, El Cabezon Almagro took out this event again, he loves the IS (for those ignorants who started following tennis 2 years ago, not that this anyone who reads this blog) clay events. It's the 8th title he has won on the clay and the second one in Brazil. They really should move this event from the wasteland resort that is Costa da Sauipe. When the event was moved here, it was because the owners of the event were sponsors of Guga and played this in a rich mans resort where nobody visits. It's good for the players, the beach is there and it's quiet, but not like Båstad or Umag.
Alex Dolgopolov made his first final and still making postive steps forward to establishing himself on tour. He will do well on the clay, he has the movement and the game, though with him it will depend on what mood he is in and this is not a bad thing. Too bad this event is a 28 player draw, these events just suck and winning a title after winning 4 matches is piss weak, but hey the big stars love it and they rule the game.
The indoor nonsense was held at Rotterdam and San Jose. In the land of tulips, great footballers and high mountains Robin "the Toad" Söderling took out Rotterdam. The Toad wasn't necessarily playing great tennis only got to do enough on the day and he managed it throughout the week. Söderling is far from a technical masterpiece in terms of stroke production, but he is effective especially indoors where he doesn't have to worry about the wind getting his high ball toss and the sun on serve, in addition to the sledgehammer like forehands.
Milos Raonic the young Montenegrin born Canadian took out the San Jose crown. Could say this year has been a meteoric rise for him. Qualified for the Aussie Open made the 4th round and now wins an ATP title very early in his career. Galo Blanco has done excellent work with Raonic already, and he is very raw so as long as he doesn't break down too often, always a factor with big guys how they are managed physically.
Challengers
Blogger favourite "King of Kaltern" Andreas Seppi won his second Bergamo title and yes he is the best player in Kaltern now after the unfortunate problems that Karin Knapp has had. Even then Seppi was the best, just like the last time he won the event. In the final it was classic slow start Seppi against the luscious Luxembourger Gilles Müller who was serving very well and playing a lot of serve/volley taking the 1st set and up an early break in the 2nd.
Seppi then starting making more shots and was able to break Müller soon after he lost serve in the second. Once he levelled at 1 set all, the crowd were into it and Müller playing the attacking tennis against the precise groundies of Seppi made the last set enjoyable, then at 4-4 Müller loses serve a combination of poor play and some excellent shots from Seppi, who serves it out to 15.
The crowd were happy with the result, Seppi's girlfriend a down to earth and very natural looking lass was shown on the stream enjoying the result, the only bad thing was seeing Romano 'I'm blinder than Stevie Wonder" Grilloti in the crowd and on court in the presentations.
Caloundra
Decided on a whim to attend this event, should have done it earlier to get some better accomodation, however that ended up being one of the better things about the tournament.
Better to get all the shit out of the system now. This was the highest paying Challenger of the week, but there was no hospitality offered to the players, no internet acess, majority of the players had to walk to the site especially if they had early matches as there was no transport unlike the set up in Burnie. The main court didn't have good enough lights so they could have night matches, this would be a better investment for the club than building extra courts so they can get a combined event. It was very warm, humid and windy at times, if they had the option for night matches, then they could start a bit later and in the evenings it's warm but not so hot to play or watch tennis. You know a place is old, when I am one of the youngest people here.
The positives were the food was much better than in Burnie and there weren't any WTA players around. Ran into Robert Smeets the Dutch born Aussie who has retired and married one of John Millman's sisters, he has 4 of them. He is doing some coaching and also studying IT at uni. Pat Rafter was around, as he lives in Noosa, there was Woodbridge and Woodforde as well.
Cervanak was playing Udomchoke in the 1st round. Cervanak has the talent but struggles mentally, he doesn't mind going crazy on the court. He was playing very well hitting big shots and then moving to the net to put away the easy balls. He leads a 7-5 5-2 and then loses the match. Udomchoke then gets confidence and makes his way through to the semis. Unlike the big arenas, at the challengers you can see how pissed off Cervanak is long after the match is done.
Johnny Millman and Tomic played the best last set of the week easily. Millman started well and Tomic got some treatment on the foot, but more a strategy to change momentum loses 1st set easily. Then Millman can't find a serve and Tomic takes him to school wins the 2nd easily. The last set is very competitive, hard fought tennis. Tomic up an early break and Millman broke back. One hilariously bad call that was out by 15cm at least off a Tomic lob and it wasn't called out. At the same time Millman got a couple of letcords. Went down to the last set tiebreaker, which had a dodgy overrule at 3-3 on Tomic's 2nd serve and it was an ace. Excellent last set to make up for the up and down first 2 sets.
Millman will be going to play on the clay, he used his forehand more than he has in recent times and it was good to see, as he is going to need to improve it to push higher up the rankings. It's a safe shot, but got to be able to do more with the groundies than safe.
At least the tournament ended up with a good winner in the Slovenian number 2 Grega Zemlja taking out Tomic in the final. While he only lost 1 set all week, he wasn't playing outstanding tennis for a lot of the event. In the first 2 rounds he was comfortable against Duckworth, had a tough battle against Phil Bester winning in 2 tiebreakers. Bester was serving well this day and was not amused by some of the calling, though he is not Lukas Rosol who questions everything.
The quarter final against Ball was his best performance of the week, though this is relative as Ball has been in woeful form for a while. When you lose to Riba on a hardcourt in your home Slam with a massive serve as your weapon, then the signs aren't good. Zemlja wasn't missing much and playing aggressively this with Ball making a lot of errors.
Zemlja and Udomchoke match was very similar to the Millman/Tomic match. This was a rematch of last round qualies at the Aus Open which Zemlja took in 3 sets. Grega started very well dominating from the baseline and ripping Udomchoke's 2nd serve taking it easily 6-1, then his concentration lapses and starts playing like Kavcic from 5m behind the baseline but without the mobility. Udomchoke is ripping backhand down the line winners for fun and takes it 6-0.
The last set was a bit better quality, mostly fighting tennis as Zemlja is mixing in passive play with some errors and excellent shots. Udomchoke hit 4 lets in a row, where I'm from he buys the beers and dinner for that effort. Gets to the 3rd set buster and Zemlja fights his way through to the final. It was a similar story for Tomic who made the final, he wasn't playing his best tennis either apart from the 3rd set against Millman, he struggled with Polansky and Klec for 2 sets. The semi was easier against Ebden though.
Tomic was the crowd favourite, but Zemlja was aggressive and played a quality tie breaker to take the first set. Once he was able to do that, then the match became easier and shut the crowd out of it with a comfortable win in the final. Not a bad week for Tomic, he is off to the USA now for a few tournaments, after the US Open where he hardly played tournaments before Brisbane. He has become quite strong and that forehand which used to be a weakness, especially the high balls on that side are now dealt with contempt.
Marinko Matosevic isn't looking in great mental shape at the moment and it shows in his game. Ebden has improved a lot and it's clear to see, though how much improvement does he have is the question. One thing is that he does work hard and believe in himself. Fro him making the Davis Cup squad has furthered his development.
In the Klec/Tomic match in the 3rd set. Klec was 3m behind the baseline and didn't have much room to move, he was pissed off the linesperson didn't move so he could hit the ball. He almost ended up in the crowd and this woman said "come on" and Klec fired up and asked "who said come on". The woman said it was her and then Klec said "why you say come on, when she didn't get out of the way" . She mouthed him back and then Klec gives it back, some funny stuff.
Highlight of the week was the "Cockatoo" or the "Grothawk" the unit known as Sam Groth. He played Millman in the 1st round in a very tight match, where both guys haven't had great starts to the year. Deep in the 3rd set, they have a huge rally and Millman hits a big forehand pass and Groth fires up big time. At the end of the match which Millman wins 7-5 in the 3rd. Big Groth gets the shits throws his racquet over the fence, the wind picks it up and it ended up being at least a 60m throw onto the adjacent field. No, it didn't break.
David Lenar coach of Zemlja, my xbox victim from Burnie, former coach of Blaz Kavcic, the hititng partner of Patty Schnyder and hopefully Davis Cup captain one day summed it up perfectly. Zemlja has the strokes, the talent, but is a bit lazy with training and mentally not so strong and Kavcic is limited talent wise, but works very hard and fights for everything. Yet, both their personalities are the opposite to the style of game they play.
Paolo Lorenzi, Flavio Cipolla, Zemlja and Lenar shared an apartment in Caloundra. They drew cards as to see who would get each room in the place, one of them had a jacuzzi in the room and yes Zemlja was the man who drew the ace and got the jacuzzi. The drinks don't taste too bad in the jacuzzi. Now he is back in Slovenia skiing in a race against some other tennis friends.
Alex Dolgopolov made his first final and still making postive steps forward to establishing himself on tour. He will do well on the clay, he has the movement and the game, though with him it will depend on what mood he is in and this is not a bad thing. Too bad this event is a 28 player draw, these events just suck and winning a title after winning 4 matches is piss weak, but hey the big stars love it and they rule the game.
The indoor nonsense was held at Rotterdam and San Jose. In the land of tulips, great footballers and high mountains Robin "the Toad" Söderling took out Rotterdam. The Toad wasn't necessarily playing great tennis only got to do enough on the day and he managed it throughout the week. Söderling is far from a technical masterpiece in terms of stroke production, but he is effective especially indoors where he doesn't have to worry about the wind getting his high ball toss and the sun on serve, in addition to the sledgehammer like forehands.
Milos Raonic the young Montenegrin born Canadian took out the San Jose crown. Could say this year has been a meteoric rise for him. Qualified for the Aussie Open made the 4th round and now wins an ATP title very early in his career. Galo Blanco has done excellent work with Raonic already, and he is very raw so as long as he doesn't break down too often, always a factor with big guys how they are managed physically.
Challengers
Blogger favourite "King of Kaltern" Andreas Seppi won his second Bergamo title and yes he is the best player in Kaltern now after the unfortunate problems that Karin Knapp has had. Even then Seppi was the best, just like the last time he won the event. In the final it was classic slow start Seppi against the luscious Luxembourger Gilles Müller who was serving very well and playing a lot of serve/volley taking the 1st set and up an early break in the 2nd.
Seppi then starting making more shots and was able to break Müller soon after he lost serve in the second. Once he levelled at 1 set all, the crowd were into it and Müller playing the attacking tennis against the precise groundies of Seppi made the last set enjoyable, then at 4-4 Müller loses serve a combination of poor play and some excellent shots from Seppi, who serves it out to 15.
The crowd were happy with the result, Seppi's girlfriend a down to earth and very natural looking lass was shown on the stream enjoying the result, the only bad thing was seeing Romano 'I'm blinder than Stevie Wonder" Grilloti in the crowd and on court in the presentations.
Caloundra
Decided on a whim to attend this event, should have done it earlier to get some better accomodation, however that ended up being one of the better things about the tournament.
Better to get all the shit out of the system now. This was the highest paying Challenger of the week, but there was no hospitality offered to the players, no internet acess, majority of the players had to walk to the site especially if they had early matches as there was no transport unlike the set up in Burnie. The main court didn't have good enough lights so they could have night matches, this would be a better investment for the club than building extra courts so they can get a combined event. It was very warm, humid and windy at times, if they had the option for night matches, then they could start a bit later and in the evenings it's warm but not so hot to play or watch tennis. You know a place is old, when I am one of the youngest people here.
The positives were the food was much better than in Burnie and there weren't any WTA players around. Ran into Robert Smeets the Dutch born Aussie who has retired and married one of John Millman's sisters, he has 4 of them. He is doing some coaching and also studying IT at uni. Pat Rafter was around, as he lives in Noosa, there was Woodbridge and Woodforde as well.
Cervanak was playing Udomchoke in the 1st round. Cervanak has the talent but struggles mentally, he doesn't mind going crazy on the court. He was playing very well hitting big shots and then moving to the net to put away the easy balls. He leads a 7-5 5-2 and then loses the match. Udomchoke then gets confidence and makes his way through to the semis. Unlike the big arenas, at the challengers you can see how pissed off Cervanak is long after the match is done.
Johnny Millman and Tomic played the best last set of the week easily. Millman started well and Tomic got some treatment on the foot, but more a strategy to change momentum loses 1st set easily. Then Millman can't find a serve and Tomic takes him to school wins the 2nd easily. The last set is very competitive, hard fought tennis. Tomic up an early break and Millman broke back. One hilariously bad call that was out by 15cm at least off a Tomic lob and it wasn't called out. At the same time Millman got a couple of letcords. Went down to the last set tiebreaker, which had a dodgy overrule at 3-3 on Tomic's 2nd serve and it was an ace. Excellent last set to make up for the up and down first 2 sets.
Millman will be going to play on the clay, he used his forehand more than he has in recent times and it was good to see, as he is going to need to improve it to push higher up the rankings. It's a safe shot, but got to be able to do more with the groundies than safe.
At least the tournament ended up with a good winner in the Slovenian number 2 Grega Zemlja taking out Tomic in the final. While he only lost 1 set all week, he wasn't playing outstanding tennis for a lot of the event. In the first 2 rounds he was comfortable against Duckworth, had a tough battle against Phil Bester winning in 2 tiebreakers. Bester was serving well this day and was not amused by some of the calling, though he is not Lukas Rosol who questions everything.
The quarter final against Ball was his best performance of the week, though this is relative as Ball has been in woeful form for a while. When you lose to Riba on a hardcourt in your home Slam with a massive serve as your weapon, then the signs aren't good. Zemlja wasn't missing much and playing aggressively this with Ball making a lot of errors.
Zemlja and Udomchoke match was very similar to the Millman/Tomic match. This was a rematch of last round qualies at the Aus Open which Zemlja took in 3 sets. Grega started very well dominating from the baseline and ripping Udomchoke's 2nd serve taking it easily 6-1, then his concentration lapses and starts playing like Kavcic from 5m behind the baseline but without the mobility. Udomchoke is ripping backhand down the line winners for fun and takes it 6-0.
The last set was a bit better quality, mostly fighting tennis as Zemlja is mixing in passive play with some errors and excellent shots. Udomchoke hit 4 lets in a row, where I'm from he buys the beers and dinner for that effort. Gets to the 3rd set buster and Zemlja fights his way through to the final. It was a similar story for Tomic who made the final, he wasn't playing his best tennis either apart from the 3rd set against Millman, he struggled with Polansky and Klec for 2 sets. The semi was easier against Ebden though.
Tomic was the crowd favourite, but Zemlja was aggressive and played a quality tie breaker to take the first set. Once he was able to do that, then the match became easier and shut the crowd out of it with a comfortable win in the final. Not a bad week for Tomic, he is off to the USA now for a few tournaments, after the US Open where he hardly played tournaments before Brisbane. He has become quite strong and that forehand which used to be a weakness, especially the high balls on that side are now dealt with contempt.
Marinko Matosevic isn't looking in great mental shape at the moment and it shows in his game. Ebden has improved a lot and it's clear to see, though how much improvement does he have is the question. One thing is that he does work hard and believe in himself. Fro him making the Davis Cup squad has furthered his development.
In the Klec/Tomic match in the 3rd set. Klec was 3m behind the baseline and didn't have much room to move, he was pissed off the linesperson didn't move so he could hit the ball. He almost ended up in the crowd and this woman said "come on" and Klec fired up and asked "who said come on". The woman said it was her and then Klec said "why you say come on, when she didn't get out of the way" . She mouthed him back and then Klec gives it back, some funny stuff.
Highlight of the week was the "Cockatoo" or the "Grothawk" the unit known as Sam Groth. He played Millman in the 1st round in a very tight match, where both guys haven't had great starts to the year. Deep in the 3rd set, they have a huge rally and Millman hits a big forehand pass and Groth fires up big time. At the end of the match which Millman wins 7-5 in the 3rd. Big Groth gets the shits throws his racquet over the fence, the wind picks it up and it ended up being at least a 60m throw onto the adjacent field. No, it didn't break.
David Lenar coach of Zemlja, my xbox victim from Burnie, former coach of Blaz Kavcic, the hititng partner of Patty Schnyder and hopefully Davis Cup captain one day summed it up perfectly. Zemlja has the strokes, the talent, but is a bit lazy with training and mentally not so strong and Kavcic is limited talent wise, but works very hard and fights for everything. Yet, both their personalities are the opposite to the style of game they play.
Paolo Lorenzi, Flavio Cipolla, Zemlja and Lenar shared an apartment in Caloundra. They drew cards as to see who would get each room in the place, one of them had a jacuzzi in the room and yes Zemlja was the man who drew the ace and got the jacuzzi. The drinks don't taste too bad in the jacuzzi. Now he is back in Slovenia skiing in a race against some other tennis friends.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Tommy Robredo the king of sportsmanship. Andre Ghem back on the tour and all fun in Challenger town
Here is an attempt to try and get this blog more active during the season, not exactly sure whether the balance will be right between quality and quantity.
This is a summary of the recent events after the Aussie Open and will be a mix of ATP and Challengers, as that would make the most sense plus I have been two recent challengers, one not bad the other one has a lot to improve upon.
Last week had 2 first time winners on the tour. Big Kevin Anderson won Jochallengersburg which was good for a local to win the event, also that he was the best player left in the draw, it would have been a crime against tennis if van der Merwe won an ATP IS event, but there was a tennis crime committed last week at another venue. Sadly, Jochallengersburg won't be on the calendar. It wasn't a bad idea per se to have an event in South Africa but why was it put there initially. Was it the fact that former CEO and all round incompetent Mr. Disney Etienne de Villiers is South African or that South African Airways a sponsor of the ATP.
The timing of Jo'burg was wrong coming after the Aus Open and it's quite a long trip. The altitude would be a factor, but personally more events at altitude wouldn't be too bad, not pissy altitude like Madrid, which they go on about being like Mt.Everest and K2 combined. If they were to have an event in South Africa, the first week of the year would be better and preferably at sea level. Congratulations to Anderson, he has improved quite a lot and Devvarman pushes more than an Amsterdam street dealer.
In Zagreb, it was a true bolter Ivan Dodig won the event over defending finalist the German he-man with the very soft voice Michael Berrer. Dodig is an example of hard working triumphing over natural talent. He has worked relentlessly on the serve and the forehand and while being far from the most talented player around, has managed to win a title very quickly in his career. He has lofty ambitions about where he'd like to be ranked, while he is limited anything can happen in this game. The funny part at the end where he threw his racquet in the crowd after he thought he won and needed it passed back to him, as he hadn't done the job.
Sadly for the game of tennis took a monumental beating when the talented yet fragile Santiago Giraldo served for the title against Tommy "I don't believe in sportsmanship" Robredo, but he shat himself when it came to the crunch and Boredo played a solid game to get the break back. Once it went to the tiebreaker, then the chance was gone for Giraldo to make it the first time that 3 people won their first title within a week.
Boredo fights hard and maximised his talents, that's the best thing I can say about him. Though I had to chuckle at his fight with Fabio "the Fog" Fognini. If they were playing Slams on strutting ability then the Fog would be a multi Slam winners. Plenty of needle in their match and Boredo doesn't shake his hand at the end of the match, he showed his true class. The Fog calling him "hombre de mierda" was priceless, this and the Stakhovsky incident this year has been good to Boredo.
Challengers
Burnie was quite fun and enjoyable this year, well not result wise as most of the players that I was cheering for lost early in the week. This doesn't mean there wasn't some fun to be had watching matches.
There was a lot of shit weather around, so there were some days where doubling up of matches happened. Cipolla carried on his excellent start to the year by winning the title, though he didn't play the final against the "Gooch" Chris Guccione who had to withdraw with an achilles problem.
It was great to see the sexy Guccione back on track, after the injury problems and the Green Card issues which meant he had to miss the Aus Open playoff. Best of all he took out Bernard 'the Golden Child " Tomic in a 3rd set buster. Interesting fact that the Gooch doesn't like night matches, as he can't pick the ball up very well. Of course he did in style, didn't even come close to losing serve and then serves for it at *5-4 in the 3rd and plays a lax game, but justice was done in the end.
There is good access to Challengers which is something I like and while Burnie is not the best place on the planet and very quiet, there were enough humourous moments during the week to make it worthwhile.
McDonalds in town the only place open after 9pm, this was the epicentre of the event. The ridiculous waiting times on the food sent Matosevic even crazier than usual. Ivo Klec in fine form with the ladies. The locals with some good mullet action looking bemused at these tennis people in there.
Rain delays were a feature in Burnie, but thankfully there was an Xbox there which got plenty of use. The highlight was big Sam "the Cockatoo" Groth, yes he is called the cockatoo after his hairstyle teaching me how to play Smackdown vs. Raw. After a few attempts, then playing David Lenar the former coach of the man Kavcic and now coaching the talented but lazy Grega Zemlja. It was a very tough battle that went for ages but the Undertaker (myself) managed to get over Shawn Michaels, which was almost as good as their Wrestlemania matches.
This week, I'm at Caloundra. This challenger has a good club as in facilities, but lacking in a lot of areas. There is no internet for the players, the courtesy cars show up randomly, there are no ballkids until Friday, these three are annoying. Worst of all, the website is a joke, there is no ATP livescoring at all, even little Burnie could do that. The lights on centre court aren't good enough to host night matches, they need to be a certain wattage and don't make the grade. This apart from the fact that in the wonderland of Queensland there is no daylight saving, so there is a window only of 8 hours of play from 10am to 6pm due to the lack of light.
To end on a more positive note the man Andre Ghem qualified for Costa da Sauipe, the place where he defeated Guga Kuerten. He has had a lot of injury problems and making a comeback. Won a Futures 2 weeks ago, then taking out Junqueira (aka Danny Devito) and then Navarro to make the main draw. Hope he can be inspired to beat Craplocq, but the Carlos has the power of the mullet.
This is a summary of the recent events after the Aussie Open and will be a mix of ATP and Challengers, as that would make the most sense plus I have been two recent challengers, one not bad the other one has a lot to improve upon.
Last week had 2 first time winners on the tour. Big Kevin Anderson won Jochallengersburg which was good for a local to win the event, also that he was the best player left in the draw, it would have been a crime against tennis if van der Merwe won an ATP IS event, but there was a tennis crime committed last week at another venue. Sadly, Jochallengersburg won't be on the calendar. It wasn't a bad idea per se to have an event in South Africa but why was it put there initially. Was it the fact that former CEO and all round incompetent Mr. Disney Etienne de Villiers is South African or that South African Airways a sponsor of the ATP.
The timing of Jo'burg was wrong coming after the Aus Open and it's quite a long trip. The altitude would be a factor, but personally more events at altitude wouldn't be too bad, not pissy altitude like Madrid, which they go on about being like Mt.Everest and K2 combined. If they were to have an event in South Africa, the first week of the year would be better and preferably at sea level. Congratulations to Anderson, he has improved quite a lot and Devvarman pushes more than an Amsterdam street dealer.
In Zagreb, it was a true bolter Ivan Dodig won the event over defending finalist the German he-man with the very soft voice Michael Berrer. Dodig is an example of hard working triumphing over natural talent. He has worked relentlessly on the serve and the forehand and while being far from the most talented player around, has managed to win a title very quickly in his career. He has lofty ambitions about where he'd like to be ranked, while he is limited anything can happen in this game. The funny part at the end where he threw his racquet in the crowd after he thought he won and needed it passed back to him, as he hadn't done the job.
Sadly for the game of tennis took a monumental beating when the talented yet fragile Santiago Giraldo served for the title against Tommy "I don't believe in sportsmanship" Robredo, but he shat himself when it came to the crunch and Boredo played a solid game to get the break back. Once it went to the tiebreaker, then the chance was gone for Giraldo to make it the first time that 3 people won their first title within a week.
Boredo fights hard and maximised his talents, that's the best thing I can say about him. Though I had to chuckle at his fight with Fabio "the Fog" Fognini. If they were playing Slams on strutting ability then the Fog would be a multi Slam winners. Plenty of needle in their match and Boredo doesn't shake his hand at the end of the match, he showed his true class. The Fog calling him "hombre de mierda" was priceless, this and the Stakhovsky incident this year has been good to Boredo.
Challengers
Burnie was quite fun and enjoyable this year, well not result wise as most of the players that I was cheering for lost early in the week. This doesn't mean there wasn't some fun to be had watching matches.
There was a lot of shit weather around, so there were some days where doubling up of matches happened. Cipolla carried on his excellent start to the year by winning the title, though he didn't play the final against the "Gooch" Chris Guccione who had to withdraw with an achilles problem.
It was great to see the sexy Guccione back on track, after the injury problems and the Green Card issues which meant he had to miss the Aus Open playoff. Best of all he took out Bernard 'the Golden Child " Tomic in a 3rd set buster. Interesting fact that the Gooch doesn't like night matches, as he can't pick the ball up very well. Of course he did in style, didn't even come close to losing serve and then serves for it at *5-4 in the 3rd and plays a lax game, but justice was done in the end.
There is good access to Challengers which is something I like and while Burnie is not the best place on the planet and very quiet, there were enough humourous moments during the week to make it worthwhile.
McDonalds in town the only place open after 9pm, this was the epicentre of the event. The ridiculous waiting times on the food sent Matosevic even crazier than usual. Ivo Klec in fine form with the ladies. The locals with some good mullet action looking bemused at these tennis people in there.
Rain delays were a feature in Burnie, but thankfully there was an Xbox there which got plenty of use. The highlight was big Sam "the Cockatoo" Groth, yes he is called the cockatoo after his hairstyle teaching me how to play Smackdown vs. Raw. After a few attempts, then playing David Lenar the former coach of the man Kavcic and now coaching the talented but lazy Grega Zemlja. It was a very tough battle that went for ages but the Undertaker (myself) managed to get over Shawn Michaels, which was almost as good as their Wrestlemania matches.
This week, I'm at Caloundra. This challenger has a good club as in facilities, but lacking in a lot of areas. There is no internet for the players, the courtesy cars show up randomly, there are no ballkids until Friday, these three are annoying. Worst of all, the website is a joke, there is no ATP livescoring at all, even little Burnie could do that. The lights on centre court aren't good enough to host night matches, they need to be a certain wattage and don't make the grade. This apart from the fact that in the wonderland of Queensland there is no daylight saving, so there is a window only of 8 hours of play from 10am to 6pm due to the lack of light.
To end on a more positive note the man Andre Ghem qualified for Costa da Sauipe, the place where he defeated Guga Kuerten. He has had a lot of injury problems and making a comeback. Won a Futures 2 weeks ago, then taking out Junqueira (aka Danny Devito) and then Navarro to make the main draw. Hope he can be inspired to beat Craplocq, but the Carlos has the power of the mullet.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Burnie Challenger Round 1 : Everybody Wang Chung Tonight
It’s already February and it’s the last event that I’m travelling to for the year, hope this will change in the future, but enough of that.
This comes from the throbbing metropolis known as Burnie located on the northwest coast of Tasmania. Too bad they don’t play the Fed Cup tie on King Island and move the men’s challenger to Hobart that would be a lot better for the fans, though it’s a good thing that I am not in charge of the tour.
The event has had a mix of everything weather wise. At the moment it’s raining and there could be some double duty days. Day 1 there was only one singles match completed, Tuesday got the first round completed in singles. The doubles are behind schedule, but that always takes a lesser precedence than singles.
Round 1
Lindner vs. Minar
Only got to see the last set of this match, as I arrived from a horrible bus ride in the afternoon. Lindner who is the son of Bob Lindner, a former Queensland and Australian rugby league player. He qualified for main draw, in most fields qualifiers have an advantage as they are used to the conditions.
Minar was playing in this very sexy hot pink number. There were fences so I couldn’t take pictures of this funky shirt. He came from Singapore and not exactly sure when he arrived, but he looked like he was drunk and not caring too much.
Lindner who is a tall guy with a good lefty serve was able to use this well and not too make too many mistakes from the ground. Minar was making quite a few errors and couldn’t make much headway into the Lindner serve, who took the match and his biggest scalp on tour.
Tuesday had everything weather wise. It started off boiling hot, then it got cloudy, very windy that the fence on centre court almost fell down. So, play was suspended on centre court until they got some maintenance people to fix the fence. The wind in the afternoon was so hilarious, it was gale like and just hitting the ball in the centre of the court and hoping for the best.
Polansky vs. Lojda
Both guys haven’t been in great form for a while. So it was far from surprising that it was a close match. Polansky started the better, he was trying to play close to the baseline whereas Lojda who seems to have copied his strokes from Jürgen Melzer, is mostly defending.
Polansky was slightly the better player in the 1st set making more things happen, whereas Lojda seemed quite heavy legged and just reacting. The 2nd set is a bit different Lojda starts being more offensive and playing further in the court and is able to push Polansky around the court, hitting some big off forehands and then finishing off with angled cross court backhands. In the process Polansky is dropping short balls and getting punished.
Lojda, a former US Open junior champ hasn’t really kicked on in the seniors. He has an early break in the 3rd and looks like he is going to run away with the match, but Polansky keeps fighting and Lojda starts to make more mistakes. Polansky breaks back and then Lojda is playing from almost the back fence, just running and trying to be Franco Squillari with the big off forehands, but not having the required heat. Polansky takes advantage and breaks twice for the win.
Cipolla vs. Millman
Very tough match for Millman here, one because Cips is in solid form this year and has a unique and difficult game to play against, second Millman only arrived on the Monday night. He and Klein were stuck in Singapore for various reasons, unlike the rich guys on the tour, sometimes finances are a hard thing to manage.
Cipolla started very well, the slice backhand was hitting the targets and keeping very low. The outside courts play a lot quicker than centre court. Millman was struggling with timing and this was due a lot to Cipolla’s play as his rally ball naturally comes in a bit lower than usual, plus Millman feeling a bit shit. Cipolla is not the guy you want to play when you aren’t on your game.
The pattern continued Cipolla wasn’t making errors, hitting good length on his shots, the forehand was reliable and the slice almost as sexy as Guccione’s, but not much is that hot. Cipolla comfortably takes the 1st set 6-3.
Second set is very similar to the first, whereas Millman is extending the rallies and Cipolla is defending well. Unfortunately for Millman, he could hardly hit a winner, as Cipolla was running, running and making shots from everywhere, which lead to some great comments from Millman. After one very long rally, side to side, forwards and backwards. Millman comes to the net hits his only decent volley of the day and Cipolla rips a running forehand past him. He says “ how the hell did you lose to Benoit Paire in straight sets at the Aus Open”. Cipolla stands at net just smiles.
Some other comments there was a donkey overrule on the far side, not from a clear mistake either. Millman tells the umpire using a Adam Feeney line “You are a liar”. The umpire fires up and says to Johnny, you call me whatever, but don’t call me that. Then after an overrule on a call a blind person would see, he came out with “well done you have reached a personal best”.
Cipolla was just too solid all around in an excellent performance. Millman tried to move to the net, but was volleying poorly for the most part and couldn’t get into the court to force Cipolla to hit topspin backhands.
Bester vs. Matosevic
The conditions changed in this one from burning hot to cloudy and fucking windy. No it wasn’t just breezy, it was very windy. Matosevic said as a joke, they should stop cause it’s too windy and then the referee came out and stopped it and Marinko wasn’t enjoying it at all.
Bester was playing quite well at the start, hitting some good length and Marinko was sluggish initially. In the 2nd set Matosevic picked it up, able to his backhand to better effect and was able to take it 6-4.
In theory Matosevic should have been able to take the last set, but the ball was moving around so much and he was getting pissed off with the wind that he couldn’t hit his shots and mentally he was too pissed off. Bester played the conditions as well as he could and didn’t whine about them too much, in the process knocking off the top seed and plays Cipolla for a place in the quarter finals.
Guccione vs. Klein
Gooch was in a huge serving mode and not missing many and Klein was jetlagged, so this was a battle between former champs. Klein even had some crowd support, plus he provided some comedy moments in the match.
Klein played one poor service game and lost the 1st set. Gooch the Stud with the wind at his back was kicking the ball over Klein’s head at ease, so he had try and get some action at the other end. Klein had a mid court forehand and swings to hit it, but hits his leg and the ball bounces twice before it goes in the net.
Another Klein classic, as he was getting humbled with the serve out wide. He decides to charge the serve, no chip just charge and ran past the thing, as he knew he had no chance of returning it.
It goes to the tiebreaker, which is quite hard fought. Klein manages to get to set point, he plays it well has a chance for a backhand pass which he rips down the line. It’s halfway between the ground and the net on the backhand side of the Gooch, who then gets a racquet on it and hits a drop volley with underspin to save set point.
On the match point Klein hits a decent serve and the Gooch doesn’t quite catch it, hits the top of the tape and dies, therefore winning the match on a dead netcord. Klein is just shaking his head and then after the match as I was watching it with Millman, who precedes do a Klein impression when he went down with cramps and it’s right on the money. The crowd that were still there weren’t quite sure what was going on.
Zemlja vs. Ebden
This had the potential to be an excellent match, but Zemlja unlike Kavcic isn’t going on with the good form from Australia. Here he looked heavy legged, didn’t give a shit about the match, this doesn’t help at all when playing Ebden, a guy who has been solid for some time, who likes windy conditions and does well in Australia.
The match worked out pretty much as expected with Zemlja just hitting the ball, not thinking about what to do with it, most noticeable was that he didn’t move his feet much at all. Whereas Ebden was playing the percentages hitting down the middle, letting the wind do the work a lot of the time.
Rain delay came at the right time for Zemlja, so he hoped it had, but while he was striking the ball better after the break. He played one lazy game, had game point but couldn’t convert, saved break points a few times, it was not meant to be his day and now Ebden plays the “Golden Child” Tomic next round.
In other notes Erik Chovka who qualified is a really cool guy and took out a very jetlagged Rosol. Chovka is a Czech-Canadian leftie who lives in Montreal, so speaks Czech, French and English. Had to ask him the important question, which is the secret of a good poutine? The cheese has to squeak, once it does then you have a fresh, high quality poutine.
Big Sammy Groth couldn’t take out “Golden Child”, he served 20 aces but still not enough, too many holes from the ground. He was fairly quiet with the commentary, usually you get some good stuff from Groth when it’s not working for him.
Paolo Lorenzi who took out the junior finalist from Aus Open Saville, he was just happy to get through, lets say the standard of pasta at the club isn’t quite like what he is used to in Italy. Matosevic loves giving to Cipolla and Lorenzi saying that it’s al dente and even better than you’d get in Italy.
This comes from the throbbing metropolis known as Burnie located on the northwest coast of Tasmania. Too bad they don’t play the Fed Cup tie on King Island and move the men’s challenger to Hobart that would be a lot better for the fans, though it’s a good thing that I am not in charge of the tour.
The event has had a mix of everything weather wise. At the moment it’s raining and there could be some double duty days. Day 1 there was only one singles match completed, Tuesday got the first round completed in singles. The doubles are behind schedule, but that always takes a lesser precedence than singles.
Round 1
Lindner vs. Minar
Only got to see the last set of this match, as I arrived from a horrible bus ride in the afternoon. Lindner who is the son of Bob Lindner, a former Queensland and Australian rugby league player. He qualified for main draw, in most fields qualifiers have an advantage as they are used to the conditions.
Minar was playing in this very sexy hot pink number. There were fences so I couldn’t take pictures of this funky shirt. He came from Singapore and not exactly sure when he arrived, but he looked like he was drunk and not caring too much.
Lindner who is a tall guy with a good lefty serve was able to use this well and not too make too many mistakes from the ground. Minar was making quite a few errors and couldn’t make much headway into the Lindner serve, who took the match and his biggest scalp on tour.
Tuesday had everything weather wise. It started off boiling hot, then it got cloudy, very windy that the fence on centre court almost fell down. So, play was suspended on centre court until they got some maintenance people to fix the fence. The wind in the afternoon was so hilarious, it was gale like and just hitting the ball in the centre of the court and hoping for the best.
Polansky vs. Lojda
Both guys haven’t been in great form for a while. So it was far from surprising that it was a close match. Polansky started the better, he was trying to play close to the baseline whereas Lojda who seems to have copied his strokes from Jürgen Melzer, is mostly defending.
Polansky was slightly the better player in the 1st set making more things happen, whereas Lojda seemed quite heavy legged and just reacting. The 2nd set is a bit different Lojda starts being more offensive and playing further in the court and is able to push Polansky around the court, hitting some big off forehands and then finishing off with angled cross court backhands. In the process Polansky is dropping short balls and getting punished.
Lojda, a former US Open junior champ hasn’t really kicked on in the seniors. He has an early break in the 3rd and looks like he is going to run away with the match, but Polansky keeps fighting and Lojda starts to make more mistakes. Polansky breaks back and then Lojda is playing from almost the back fence, just running and trying to be Franco Squillari with the big off forehands, but not having the required heat. Polansky takes advantage and breaks twice for the win.
Cipolla vs. Millman
Very tough match for Millman here, one because Cips is in solid form this year and has a unique and difficult game to play against, second Millman only arrived on the Monday night. He and Klein were stuck in Singapore for various reasons, unlike the rich guys on the tour, sometimes finances are a hard thing to manage.
Cipolla started very well, the slice backhand was hitting the targets and keeping very low. The outside courts play a lot quicker than centre court. Millman was struggling with timing and this was due a lot to Cipolla’s play as his rally ball naturally comes in a bit lower than usual, plus Millman feeling a bit shit. Cipolla is not the guy you want to play when you aren’t on your game.
The pattern continued Cipolla wasn’t making errors, hitting good length on his shots, the forehand was reliable and the slice almost as sexy as Guccione’s, but not much is that hot. Cipolla comfortably takes the 1st set 6-3.
Second set is very similar to the first, whereas Millman is extending the rallies and Cipolla is defending well. Unfortunately for Millman, he could hardly hit a winner, as Cipolla was running, running and making shots from everywhere, which lead to some great comments from Millman. After one very long rally, side to side, forwards and backwards. Millman comes to the net hits his only decent volley of the day and Cipolla rips a running forehand past him. He says “ how the hell did you lose to Benoit Paire in straight sets at the Aus Open”. Cipolla stands at net just smiles.
Some other comments there was a donkey overrule on the far side, not from a clear mistake either. Millman tells the umpire using a Adam Feeney line “You are a liar”. The umpire fires up and says to Johnny, you call me whatever, but don’t call me that. Then after an overrule on a call a blind person would see, he came out with “well done you have reached a personal best”.
Cipolla was just too solid all around in an excellent performance. Millman tried to move to the net, but was volleying poorly for the most part and couldn’t get into the court to force Cipolla to hit topspin backhands.
Bester vs. Matosevic
The conditions changed in this one from burning hot to cloudy and fucking windy. No it wasn’t just breezy, it was very windy. Matosevic said as a joke, they should stop cause it’s too windy and then the referee came out and stopped it and Marinko wasn’t enjoying it at all.
Bester was playing quite well at the start, hitting some good length and Marinko was sluggish initially. In the 2nd set Matosevic picked it up, able to his backhand to better effect and was able to take it 6-4.
In theory Matosevic should have been able to take the last set, but the ball was moving around so much and he was getting pissed off with the wind that he couldn’t hit his shots and mentally he was too pissed off. Bester played the conditions as well as he could and didn’t whine about them too much, in the process knocking off the top seed and plays Cipolla for a place in the quarter finals.
Guccione vs. Klein
Gooch was in a huge serving mode and not missing many and Klein was jetlagged, so this was a battle between former champs. Klein even had some crowd support, plus he provided some comedy moments in the match.
Klein played one poor service game and lost the 1st set. Gooch the Stud with the wind at his back was kicking the ball over Klein’s head at ease, so he had try and get some action at the other end. Klein had a mid court forehand and swings to hit it, but hits his leg and the ball bounces twice before it goes in the net.
Another Klein classic, as he was getting humbled with the serve out wide. He decides to charge the serve, no chip just charge and ran past the thing, as he knew he had no chance of returning it.
It goes to the tiebreaker, which is quite hard fought. Klein manages to get to set point, he plays it well has a chance for a backhand pass which he rips down the line. It’s halfway between the ground and the net on the backhand side of the Gooch, who then gets a racquet on it and hits a drop volley with underspin to save set point.
On the match point Klein hits a decent serve and the Gooch doesn’t quite catch it, hits the top of the tape and dies, therefore winning the match on a dead netcord. Klein is just shaking his head and then after the match as I was watching it with Millman, who precedes do a Klein impression when he went down with cramps and it’s right on the money. The crowd that were still there weren’t quite sure what was going on.
Zemlja vs. Ebden
This had the potential to be an excellent match, but Zemlja unlike Kavcic isn’t going on with the good form from Australia. Here he looked heavy legged, didn’t give a shit about the match, this doesn’t help at all when playing Ebden, a guy who has been solid for some time, who likes windy conditions and does well in Australia.
The match worked out pretty much as expected with Zemlja just hitting the ball, not thinking about what to do with it, most noticeable was that he didn’t move his feet much at all. Whereas Ebden was playing the percentages hitting down the middle, letting the wind do the work a lot of the time.
Rain delay came at the right time for Zemlja, so he hoped it had, but while he was striking the ball better after the break. He played one lazy game, had game point but couldn’t convert, saved break points a few times, it was not meant to be his day and now Ebden plays the “Golden Child” Tomic next round.
In other notes Erik Chovka who qualified is a really cool guy and took out a very jetlagged Rosol. Chovka is a Czech-Canadian leftie who lives in Montreal, so speaks Czech, French and English. Had to ask him the important question, which is the secret of a good poutine? The cheese has to squeak, once it does then you have a fresh, high quality poutine.
Big Sammy Groth couldn’t take out “Golden Child”, he served 20 aces but still not enough, too many holes from the ground. He was fairly quiet with the commentary, usually you get some good stuff from Groth when it’s not working for him.
Paolo Lorenzi who took out the junior finalist from Aus Open Saville, he was just happy to get through, lets say the standard of pasta at the club isn’t quite like what he is used to in Italy. Matosevic loves giving to Cipolla and Lorenzi saying that it’s al dente and even better than you’d get in Italy.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Novak Djokovic cleans up his second Australian Open and final AO thoughts
The Final Report
This is the last Aussie Open report for this year. It has been a fun time for me, sadly I have not been as diligent as I should have been, story of my life wah, wah, before I get onto the final result. Just some random notes.
The doubles is always of interest to me, have to admit though there are a few guys I like that are doubles specialists aka Marc “the real talent” Lopez and Rogier “the Professor” Wassen. It’s always funny when the singles players play doubles, mainly it’s for the extra cash at a Slam and a bit of training as well. It’s better when they win a couple of rounds, the most hilarious result of the AO was David Marrero and Ramirez-Hidalgo making the 3rd round taking out the team of Dlouhy/Hanley who hadn’t lost in their 2 previous tournaments.
Naturally the best example of the above is when Lucho Horna and Pablo Cuevas won Roland Garros, they still don’t know how they did it. The random pairings as well are a good laugh this year. Janne Hajek and Dolgopolov Jr playing the Fog and Lacko, that was some funny stuff there. The Fog is still lacking in self confidence, if it came to strutting he’d be a multi Slam champion.
Novak Djokovic takes his 2nd Slam title and clearly deserved the crown. He definitely divides people which is a good thing, as it shows he makes an impact. Hopefully he has got rid of the faking of injuries out of his system, he could almost get a role in the WWE with that form. During the tournament the last 3 matches taking out Berdych, Federer and Murray without losing a set, just showed how good Ivan Dodig was for getting that set against Nole.
The first 8 games in the 1st were tight, though Djokovic had chances to break in Murray’s serve early on. The huge 39 stroke rally where Djokovic was defending so well and ended up winning the point with a backhand down the line winner, from there he was able to get the 1st set.
From there he was able to impose his game on Murray for the rest of the match, who once again was too passive in a Slam final. The funny phase of all the breaks of serve towards the end of the 2nd set and through the 3rd set, it wasn’t enough for Muray to gain any momentum to get Djokovic out of the comfort zone. Naturally, it’s not Murray’s game to brainless ball bash his way through a match, but he wasn’t able to seize the moment in the final.
It will be interesting to see how they react a few months down the line, as now Djokovic can now get on the sauce and party hard for a while. It’s great for Marian Vajda who has done so well with Djokovic, took him when he was ranked in the 80s to where he is now. A good guy and a smart coach who doesn’t need the profile to be as big or higher than his player.
Murray, well he has Indian Wells/Miami, then a training block called the clay season. He is not as bad as Roddick during this season, so I won’t call him the tourist. In reality he can use the surface for fitness work, so he can be prepared for more pression when it comes to the British press, who are desperate for a Slam winner. He can definitely win a Slam, just a question of mentality on the big day, has to find the right balance and not be passive the whole time.
Yes, I apologise for not being the best when it comes to updating this site. I had an excellent time at the Aus Open and while there weren’t so many classic matches this year, at least it was not a Fedal final thankfully their matches are tedious to the extreme for the most part. Some youngsters like Dolgopolov Jr with the very quirky game, Raonic, even Bernando Tomic showed some good signs. Berdman played well until he was steamrolled by Djokovic. The outside courts are where the action is, great to see Blaz Kavcic fight so hard, qualify and push a top 10 player to 5 sets.
Not sure how many people will read this part, but I am going to thank them anyway. They all helped to me having a good time and this is in no order. Of course, I forgot some people, but I still love them, no this does not mean Clement, Roddick or Robredo.
- Joel : Great to meet you and hanging with you for 2 weeks was great, too bad you Americans don’t actually get proper leave.
- Sammy : The results weren’t too bad for us this time around, still remember the day we met too funny.
- Peta : Lovely lady, great heart and loves her pintxos. Too bad about her ridiculous love of Zlatan, that Ian Thorpe lookalike.
- Jo : The legendary Dutchman, smart, down to earth and always a pleasure to hang with.
- James : Doing a great job mate, never long enough to hang out and no Danish will never be sexy.
- Rosie : No, it’s not the English one. It’s a Queenslander who was quite bubbly and probably practices the Petkovic dance in secret. No, I don’t know what time Berankis is training.
- Kristen : Glad you made it down, didn’t see too much of you, which sucked but something is better than nothing.
- Jimbo : Just for being himself.
Blaz and Voinea, they are a great combo. Voinea with the smoke and the shoes incident and Kavcic with his fighting spirit trying to make the most of his talent, which I appreciate. Hope they stick together for a while, there is something about having a long term coach.
The transport people were hilarious and great quality, and also to the people whose house I stayed at this year. They were great people and also helped meeting a fellow football fanatic made things easier hehe.
Next destination less exotic and nothing wrong with the Challenger world in Burnie, except the shitty bus ride hehe.
This is the last Aussie Open report for this year. It has been a fun time for me, sadly I have not been as diligent as I should have been, story of my life wah, wah, before I get onto the final result. Just some random notes.
The doubles is always of interest to me, have to admit though there are a few guys I like that are doubles specialists aka Marc “the real talent” Lopez and Rogier “the Professor” Wassen. It’s always funny when the singles players play doubles, mainly it’s for the extra cash at a Slam and a bit of training as well. It’s better when they win a couple of rounds, the most hilarious result of the AO was David Marrero and Ramirez-Hidalgo making the 3rd round taking out the team of Dlouhy/Hanley who hadn’t lost in their 2 previous tournaments.
Naturally the best example of the above is when Lucho Horna and Pablo Cuevas won Roland Garros, they still don’t know how they did it. The random pairings as well are a good laugh this year. Janne Hajek and Dolgopolov Jr playing the Fog and Lacko, that was some funny stuff there. The Fog is still lacking in self confidence, if it came to strutting he’d be a multi Slam champion.
Novak Djokovic takes his 2nd Slam title and clearly deserved the crown. He definitely divides people which is a good thing, as it shows he makes an impact. Hopefully he has got rid of the faking of injuries out of his system, he could almost get a role in the WWE with that form. During the tournament the last 3 matches taking out Berdych, Federer and Murray without losing a set, just showed how good Ivan Dodig was for getting that set against Nole.
The first 8 games in the 1st were tight, though Djokovic had chances to break in Murray’s serve early on. The huge 39 stroke rally where Djokovic was defending so well and ended up winning the point with a backhand down the line winner, from there he was able to get the 1st set.
From there he was able to impose his game on Murray for the rest of the match, who once again was too passive in a Slam final. The funny phase of all the breaks of serve towards the end of the 2nd set and through the 3rd set, it wasn’t enough for Muray to gain any momentum to get Djokovic out of the comfort zone. Naturally, it’s not Murray’s game to brainless ball bash his way through a match, but he wasn’t able to seize the moment in the final.
It will be interesting to see how they react a few months down the line, as now Djokovic can now get on the sauce and party hard for a while. It’s great for Marian Vajda who has done so well with Djokovic, took him when he was ranked in the 80s to where he is now. A good guy and a smart coach who doesn’t need the profile to be as big or higher than his player.
Murray, well he has Indian Wells/Miami, then a training block called the clay season. He is not as bad as Roddick during this season, so I won’t call him the tourist. In reality he can use the surface for fitness work, so he can be prepared for more pression when it comes to the British press, who are desperate for a Slam winner. He can definitely win a Slam, just a question of mentality on the big day, has to find the right balance and not be passive the whole time.
Yes, I apologise for not being the best when it comes to updating this site. I had an excellent time at the Aus Open and while there weren’t so many classic matches this year, at least it was not a Fedal final thankfully their matches are tedious to the extreme for the most part. Some youngsters like Dolgopolov Jr with the very quirky game, Raonic, even Bernando Tomic showed some good signs. Berdman played well until he was steamrolled by Djokovic. The outside courts are where the action is, great to see Blaz Kavcic fight so hard, qualify and push a top 10 player to 5 sets.
Not sure how many people will read this part, but I am going to thank them anyway. They all helped to me having a good time and this is in no order. Of course, I forgot some people, but I still love them, no this does not mean Clement, Roddick or Robredo.
- Joel : Great to meet you and hanging with you for 2 weeks was great, too bad you Americans don’t actually get proper leave.
- Sammy : The results weren’t too bad for us this time around, still remember the day we met too funny.
- Peta : Lovely lady, great heart and loves her pintxos. Too bad about her ridiculous love of Zlatan, that Ian Thorpe lookalike.
- Jo : The legendary Dutchman, smart, down to earth and always a pleasure to hang with.
- James : Doing a great job mate, never long enough to hang out and no Danish will never be sexy.
- Rosie : No, it’s not the English one. It’s a Queenslander who was quite bubbly and probably practices the Petkovic dance in secret. No, I don’t know what time Berankis is training.
- Kristen : Glad you made it down, didn’t see too much of you, which sucked but something is better than nothing.
- Jimbo : Just for being himself.
Blaz and Voinea, they are a great combo. Voinea with the smoke and the shoes incident and Kavcic with his fighting spirit trying to make the most of his talent, which I appreciate. Hope they stick together for a while, there is something about having a long term coach.
The transport people were hilarious and great quality, and also to the people whose house I stayed at this year. They were great people and also helped meeting a fellow football fanatic made things easier hehe.
Next destination less exotic and nothing wrong with the Challenger world in Burnie, except the shitty bus ride hehe.
Tommy Robredo winning friends and Roddick bundled out with such ease from the other Swiss
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.
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.
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.
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