Nicolas Almagro: Sometimes talent isn't enough

It has been some time since I have wrote one of these types of articles, but that is not something that has meant to be happen. Deivid thanks a lot in advance for helping me with this piece.

Now the subject of this post is the Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. He is known as Mucho more commonly, but I like to refer to him as "el cabezon", which is a reference to size of his cranium to the rest of his body and not to his ego, which is definitely quite healthy as it normally is for a professional sportsman. At a time he was "the Superstar", because of the antics, but didn't have the results to back up the swagger, this has been partially rectified, though there are still question marks which will be addressed later.

Almagro turned pro in 2003 and won several Futures titles and he beat some names that have made it to the main tour Igor Andreev, Stani Wawrinka, Juan Monaco, Garcia-Lopez among the list. Then as a qualifer in Palermo, he came through and took finalist Mathieu to 3 sets, who made the final and had a huge choke against Massu.

"El cabezon", while he was known to Spanish tennis audiences, came known to international audiences when in a short space of a few weeks, he qualified for 2004 Hamburg and pushed Guillermo Coria to the brink losing 7-5 in the 3rd and this was the Coria who was on quite a long clay winning streak, who ended up losing to Federer in the final. Then he qualified for Roland Garros played Guga Kuerten lost the first two sets, came back won the next 2 and lost the last one 7-5. Though he lost those matches he made an impact with shotmaking, exuberance and the lack of fear when against two of the best claycourt players one in their prime and the other slightly faded.

After that, he lost his way in 2005 and didn't realise that he had to work hard to improve, within 2 seasons he was just outside the top 100. He pumped Safin in Rome in striaght sets, but did little else after that in the season. He won his first Valencia title as a qualifier in 2006, that then that lead him on a rich vein of form, losing to Nadal in Barcelona, then qualified for Rome and made the semi finals pushing Federer to the brink.

This is when the press and fans start getting on the Almagro bandwagon, that he is going to do some damage at Roland Garros, he is a dark horse and all the usual hype that happens after one or two good results. The hype ended up crashing pretty quickly when he lost to James Blake and this match highlighted many of 'el cabezon's" weaknesses. Blake plays the same style of game irrespective of surface, he belts the shit out of the ball, when not going well, he tries to hit it harder. Mucho wins the 1st set in a TB, then Blake's shots starts going in, but instead of Almagro using his greater experience and nous on clay, by stretching Blake wide or hitting some heavy topspin balls down the middle. He wants to be mucho macho and try and match Blake in the ballbashing stakes, as if to prove "I am the bigger man and I can hit harder than you", it's not rocket science, you don't try and play the game that your opponent loves, unless you are Federer at his best or Borg on clay.

Almagro has an outstanding single hand backhand down the line especially and can get very good angles on it and when in full flight it's a wonderful shot. His forehand while it's his weaker side, it's a very heavy shot and hard to attack, unless you get him moving. His serve is excellent, very hard to read with a quick and low ball toss and even with that low ball toss, he gets a lot of kick of the court, which opens the court up and then he can dominate from there.

El cabezon has an attitude problem as well.Yes, he has had some on court problems with his antics, well when he won Valencia in 2006. Marat Safin refused the handshake, then the famous incident with Daniel Koellerer in the Acapulco qualies, where they were giving each other shit and then Koellerer calls him "hijo de puta}, well he probably should have said it in German. In a way it's good that he is a bit controversial and shows what he feels on court.

More importantly, he has lazy footwork, not that he is slow per se, he just doesn't move that well, and that impacts on his defensive skills. "El cabezon" is the type that enjoys dictating the play, and can hit the big shots when he is set, but he finds it hard to defend very well, when stretched because of his average movement. This leads into some questionable shot selection, doesn't always know when to pull the trigger to unleash the powerful shots, could give the ball a bit more and use the advantage that he has heavy shots to get more short balls, that he can punish with his outstanding groundstrokes from either side.

He has now seemed to have found some consistency at the IS level and he played an excellent match in Acapulco against Nalbandian to win the title there. Almagro is due for some consistent performances in the major clay events, the main doubts are whether he has the will or the aptitude to work on the weaknesses like the movement, shot selection and defensive skills which will help him do better on the clay, as well as the hardcourts. Then again he might be content with just existing on his talents and existing between 20-50, with the occasional good performance.

As for the big breakthrough, well he is definitely good enough to win one of the big 4 clay events, but these aren't won, just by having great groundstrokes and looking good on court. He could do with a change of coach, to take him to the next level, as the saying goes you can lead the burro to the water, but you can't make him drink.

Camp Nou, Gaudi, La Rambla, the home of Catalan Culture

This has traditionially been one of the best clay events on the calendar and nearly anyone who is anybody in respect to claycourt pedigree has won here for example Borg, Wilander, Lendl, Muster, Nadal, then there have been the surprise winners like Todd Martin and Richard Krajicek.

Some would say that it's a waste of time to do a review of a clay event that Nadal is playing in, and there is probably some merit in ths, but one can hope that there are possibilities of him being knocked off the perch this week. If not, which is likely, then it can give a chance to gauge the form of some of the other contenders.

The Americans decided to show up here with James Blake and Gineprick, it was meant to be three, but the best of the lot Vinny "Ice" Spadea withdrew for some reason, which is disappointing, because the rap gimmick and his sense of style and flair would have gone down well there. Ginepri is going there as a tourist and also he can work again with Jose Higueras who is going back to his homeland.

Kevin Anderson and Dmitry Tursunov has all the hallmarks of a claycourt clown classic, though this one will pale into insignifance compared to the classic between Kenneth Carlsen and Paradorn Srichaphan that was played in front of the Catalans. This is a city that has seen some of the most breathtaking football and claycourt tennis artistry, but nothing will top that much for all round buffoonery and tennis was the only winner.

The event is still played at a club and not some purpose built arena, which gives it something of a special atmosphere for all the Spanish players, many of them Catalan speakers as well. This is as close to a local event for Rafael Nadal since Mallorca moved to Valencia, since his first language Mallorcan is close to Catalan. He has been good enough to be able to win this event, this is something the genial and likable Alex Corretja was never able to do for some reason, plus this was where Felix Mantilla (a profile will be on him this week) made his comeback from skin cancer and got a great reception and pushed Moya to the brink last year.

Onto the matches there are some very good 1st rounders and tough sections, and usual a section that has some clay clowns, but that is bound to happen. The good natured Aussie Peter Luczak didn't get the best of draws, especially as he flew from Bermuda and will face the Potato Starchy (Starace). Starace hasn't been in as good form as last year since coming back from the betting ban, which was just gelato money. They have played once this year and Starace won in straight sets, and would be strongly favoured here. It will be interesting to see how he does against Nadal. Also in this section is Chucho Acasuso who is playing LaLo, who haven't played for almost 5 years and Chucho needs to get his season back on track after the Davis Cup failure.

The Blake section of the draw is very weak and whoever gets through there, it will be like a Bye for the semi finals. Blake, who has never real done the business on clay in Europe. Tursunov and Anderson are clay clowns. Navarro has some good possibilities, as his serve and volley game can be effective, the clay gives him more time to make the returns. Marcos Daniel is a challenger player who fights hard and has no forehand. The interesting part is Gremelmayr and Ramirez-Hidalgo, both of whom ran Federer quite close on the clay in Estoril and Monte Carlo respectively but lacked the necessary Wilanders (balls) to believe they could win this match.

Unlike the Blake section, the potential quarter finalist from this section could either be Mucho Almagro who plays well at home and in the lower level ATP events. Volandri who has to max out his points for the year, he plays the talented, but tactically inept Jürgen Melzer. Melzer beat him on clay to win his only title, yet he lost a set 6-0 to Volandri on indoor hard in Bercy, in which he was considered a bit of a joke for getting a bagel from Volandri on a non-clay surface. Ancic is continuing on his comeback and with Fidde Rosengren taking plenty of notes, anyone who knows anything about Fidde is that he works his players hard and wants them do well on the clay to help them on other surfaces. If he beats Zverev, then he will play Andy Murray who is still an unknown quantity on the clay, at least he has enlisted Alex Corretja one of the best tacticians of the game to help deal with the red stuff.

Marcel Granollers returns home after a great trip to North America where he got his first title, playing another local lad in Fat Albert Montañes. This will be Espanyol vs. FC Barcelona in this one. Polaco Brzezicki and Cuevas, this one could go either way, maybe Cuevas can get some inspiration from Marcel's win in Houston, though losing to a 15yr old is going to do much for his ego. The seeds in this section are big Ivo Karlovic and the Finn Jarrko Nieminen, who was finally able to end the run of poor defeats and is now going to work with Joakim Nyström for the clay season.

Stani Wawrinka and Nalbandian are paired in the same section of a draw once again, this does not mean that they will necessarily will meet in the 3rd round, as long as Stani gets through his qualifier, he won't have problems with Ginepri or Schukin unless he has a very bad paella. Calleri who played 2 very poor matches lately has a chance to get a win against ToJo Johansson and if that's the case, then there will be the Cordoba derby between he and Nalbandian. Boca vs. River Plate, Calleri won the last time they played, the thing with el Gordo is that it's very hard to pick when he is going to play well, because of the fluctuations of his game.

As this preview is almost like an essay time to finish it up. It's good to see that Cañas is back, the only problem is that he is facing King Oscar is in his backyard, at least tennis will win here. Coria back on the ATP level, so the Weasel playing the tsunami Gabashvili, there definitely could be some funny antics in that one and maybe a bit of chat as Gabashvili speaks Spanish, it will depend on how Coria serves. Ferrer is there lurking in the shadows, he seems to have lifted his game and this is good.

Nadal, well it would be great if he could stopped this week, then again it would be great if I had 6 to 10 hot women on call all the time, just like Nadal losing this week, it's not going to happen.

Drinking beer, eating weisswurst, BMWs and there is some tennis this week in Münich

Germany, which was once the powerhouse of tennis, especially in the 90s, now it's relegated to only having a few small IS events. At the same time there is the Hamburg suing the ATP and Stuttgart almost a Mickey Mouse event.

Unlike Barcelona, this event is quite open, but this is to be expected when Nadal is not playing in a clay event. This tournament has the defending champion and Bavarian Philipp Kohlschreiber who also won the doubles as well, he has a fairly good draw, it wouldn't surprise if he defended the crown.

Mathieu and the Chilean Gonzalez are the top 2 seeds here, seems a bit strange that Gonzo would pull out of Monte Carlo to play there, then again small event and bigger appearance fee would help this and also he can use this to prepare for Rome, Hamburg and maybe Dusseldorf. He plays Sela who took him out in the Davis Cup playoffs last year, on this surface it should be a comfortable win for the Chilean.

Korolev and Cilic, could be potentially an interesting match between 2 youngsters, who go about the game very differently. Korolev with his power and not always the best shot selection and Cilic who works very hard and is quite steady.

Andy Seppi likes playing in German-speaking environments and will be looking to erase that poor performance against Querrey, where everything was just not working very well, he has quite a good section of the draw, got to take advantage of it.

Best match of this round is Monfils and Andreev who had quite good weeks in Monte Carlo last week, but anything could happen in this match. Andreev has been a bit inconsistent this season and Altur isn't with him as he has been over the last years and Thierry Champion is back with Monfils, though he will still play in Austria when standing to return serve. It's a hard match to gauge, but either player is good enough to take the title.

Del Potro has to get his season in order after some back problems, this is a good as place as any, to start building his ranking back up and now he has Franco Davin as his trainer, the ex-Gaudio coach, so he is used to some difficult characters.

Marat Safin is there probably looking to get a new BMW on a discount, he plays Charly Berlocq aka the panther, for his speed across the court. Berlocq flew in from Bermuda not long ago, so Marat could take advantage. At the moment it seems he can't string anything consistent, one day plays well, the next day awful. He has lost that bit of speed, which will make it harder for him.

Auf gehts Seppi, take your first title here, but like I said at the start, at least this event is open and that is something that has been lacking over the recent clay season.

The Millionares' Playground, Jimmy's Bar, Fifis, Casinos Beautiful people, well not beautiful, but rich people in Rainierstan aka Monte Carlo Preivew

Monte Carlo

We have now arrived to the first clay TMS of the season, which is one of the most prestigious, even though that clown Mr. Disney was trying to degrade its status, but the groundswell of support shows that there is still a lot of love there. This event has traditionally been the best indicator of Roland Garros success. Well here comes the problem will we see Rafael Nadal sleepwalk, while playing at 30% capacity and still winning the event easily. Or the unlikely scenario is that he might be challenged or pushed, let alone beaten. This season has been different to say the least, but Nadal losing on clay would liven it up for sure.

Federer after winning his 1st challenger title in years, well not really sure what level of form he is at. He has a kind draw until the QFs. The next section is of interest Boredo made the semis last week, but he still isn't in the form he was over the last 2 seasons. The possibility of too much tennis over the last 2 years has taken the edge off, he has a difficult 1st round with Stani Wawrinka. He leads 3-1, but Stani won the last one easily, this is the best surface for both of them. I think Stani will get the job done this time around, he has to be careful of making basic errors as Robredo will just get the ball back. Thunder Lips and Toad will be agood clash of styles, too bad they decided to put the match in Italy. Nalbandian is in this quarter, not sure how we will play. Personally I don't expect too much from him in this event, he had some muscle soreness in Davis Cup and he will be playing better in Barcelona and Rome, it would be good to be proven otherwise.

Guga is playing for the last time in Monte Carlo an event which he has won, just hope he can perform as well as he can, though I don't see him beating Ljubicic. This section has a potential Djokovic and Murray match in the 3rd round, it would be a surprise not to see Djokovic there, but Murray is still unknown on the clay. Take a bow Sam Querrey the only American player with the balls to come over and play with the big boys in Monte Carlo. It won't be easy for him as he plays the 10th seed Moya, he needs to serve big and hit some big forehands, then he might have a show. The Calleri and Seppi match is a difficult one as they are both favourites, their form has been up and down and it will be difficult to call the winner on this, though both of them do have a chance against Moya in the 2nd round. Rounding this section off will be Vliegen and Gasquet, the young Frenchie definitely has a lot to prove after the fiasco with Davis Cup. Allegedly he had blisters, a knee injury, dandruff. whatever the ailment, he has something to prove.

Andreev has the chance to take on Youzhny in the 2nd round, because he really shouldn't lose to Tursunov on clay, at the time I said that about Berdych losing to Roddick on clay. Possible 2nd round rematch from Valencia with Mucho Almagro and Juan Monaco, this will be a lot closer than the last one, conditions will be different, the court is faster in Monte Carlo and Monaco has got the jet lag out of the system, it wouldn't surprise if either Monaco or Almagro is the quarter finalist in this section. Chucho Acasuso plays Kohlschreiber, both of them had poor matches last time out in Davis Cup, especially Chucho getting thrashed by Soderling at home, but this is a good time to bounce back. Chucho's heavy game should be too strong for Kohli, then he'd take on Kiefer. Chela who is sucking at the moment needs to beat Bolelli and he would play Davydenko, who he enjoys a good record against.

Safin and Malisse, two headcases, should be the odd broken racquet and swear word in this match, if they are both switched on, then there is a chance to see some good tennis. Solid Starace will get a lot of Italian support, he'd fancy his chances of a 3rd round appearance. Ferrer is the man in their section, his level was not great at Valencia, but he got through that bad patch, not sure which Ferrer will show up this week.

As for the bottom part. Nadal is there and the all rest are just props, though I'd love Nieminen or Ancic to give the vamos, arse picking Mallorquin a challenge.

Ferrer show in Valencia, Federer wins a Challenger and Marcel Granollers shows Blake how to win on clay

The clay season has finally kicked off and it was an interesting week for a variety of reasons in the respective events Valencia, Estoril and Houston. A mixture of the expected and unexpected happened, which is typical for the week after Davis Cup and also for early in the clay season for many players. I will do the summary in 3 different parts for the respective events.

Valencia

This is meant to be last edition of the Valencia clay event, before it becomes one of these 100 000000 point ATP events that Mr. Disney wants to rename for the purpose of making it look like he is doing something for the game, the surface will be changing to indoor hard, if all the 2009 calendar thing goes through.

It was clearly the strongest event of the week, this was due to the calendar being fucked up for the year. Before we get through to the good stuff, well that depends on the definition of good. Lucho Horna continued his poor streak of form by losing 1st round to Zverev, who is not a claycourter, but has a good serve and is tricky, plus Lucho isn't known for the quality of his return game. Disappointing that he pulled out of the Bermuda Chllenger, he is too good to be where he is ranked at the moment, but fitness issues can do this.

Igor Andreev lost another 3rd set tiebreaker to countryman Evgeny Korolev, seems the only man he can beat in them is Albert Montañes, his 2007 losing streak in final set tiebreakers includes Nadal, Djokovic, Seppi, Mahut and LaLo (5th set TB) this is not the one trend that a player wants to repeat. After the big comeback year of 2007, it's no surprise that Andreev has struggled a bit in 2008, taking all that effort to come back, rebuild the ranking, that he is mentally a bit down at the moment. Though he does have a very attractive girlfriend, which can be a good or a bad thing. He is still a dangerous opponent, though a danger to himself he can be as well, with those bricklayer hands at the net. It was a great week for Korolev who has gone into the background recently and this can be a good thing for his development, that the other youngsters have had more headlines. He fought very hard and went one better with the semi final before losing to Nico "Mr. Valencia" Almagro, who had the been the best player all week.

Marat Safin defeating Ferrero, two former number ones playing in a 1st round of an IS event, well time and the game don't stand still for anybody. Best thing for Marat is that he is working with Geneva's finest Marc Rosset for the clay season. With this win and also his Davis Cup 5 set win over Berdych, of course there were plenty of fools who believed that he was back. It will take some consistent wins and not consistent 1st round losses before Safin is back to a decent level, if he can play one of the big guys early in the upcoming TMS events, he usually plays well, but he has more problems with the lower ranked ones these days.

Onto the winner of the event the local lad David Ferrer. What a courageous fighter he is, the biggest fighter on tour now Felix Mantilla has retired. He is definitely not the most spectacular player, but even when not playing at his best, he will always fight hard and has won matches from seemingly impossible positions, this tournament was a perfect example of this. In the quarter final he was outplayed for the most part by Fernando Verdasco who has done well against Ferrer in their recent matches, but Verdasco had match point and served for the match. He showed once again he has the million dollar game and body, but the tennis brain and the on court mentality of a 1 cent piece and this goes onto the numerous list of matches, that somehow Verdasco has managed to blow from winning positions. The semi final was more of the same against Boredo, who was up a set and dominating the match, but Ferrer just hung around, cut down on his mistakes, ran everything down, got a bit more aggressive and was able to turn the tide.

The final against Almagro. El cabezon Almagro has won this event twice and had 17 consecutive wins at the venue and unlike Ferrer, he was hardly challenged this week in his wins. He made Juan Monaco and Korolev look ordinary and started off in the same way in the final against a nervy Ferrer. Almagro was serving well, using the angles and the spin to set up the points, then hit a quicker one to change it up. He was 0-3 in matches against Ferrer, while he has the weapons to beat Ferrer, he doesn't always have the mental aptitude on court. He took the 1st set easily, but Ferrer was able to start returning better in the 2nd set and el cabezon was missing his big groundies, even then as Ferrer won the 2nd set, it seemed Almagro was in control. The 3rd set began like the 1st and Almagro was having his way with Ferrer, up a double break at 5-2, it looked like he was going to win three times in a row. Ferrer kept hanging on and Mucho got tight, Ferrer sensed this and took the initiative and was able to level at 5-5. Once he got in the tiebreaker, Ferrer was just too solid, not making errors and riding on the back of the crowd support, whereas Mucho was bemused at what was going on out there.

Ferrer was a deserved winner, mainly because he did not give up, played the big points well and showed how much he has developed over the years, finding a way to win when not playing near your best and this event illustrated that perfectly. Almagro, well he now needs to perform at the bigger clay events at a consistent level to justify the hype around him, the ability isn't what he lacks.

Estoril Challenger

This event used to open the clay season and had quality events, but this year suffered due to the shift in dates. Apart from Roger Federer and Davydenko this was just a challenger field in reality. Yes, both of these guys made the final, though there were a few hurdles. Davydenko was playing poorly and trying to lose, so he could go to Monte Carlo, but if he loses early in these IS events, then there is the spectre of an investigation of him not putting in his best effort. Federer managed to lose a set to Gremelmayr who somehow made the semi finals. Fed also hit some backhands into Spain or the Azores depending on wind conditions. So we had a final with a guy who tried to tank, but the players he played weren't good enough to take advantage of it and the world number 1 who isn't exactly in prime form. Federer won, but the fact that Davydenko retired in the 2nd set with a break, is just ironic. Some of the more paranoid will think it was a fix, though not sure winning the Estoril Challenger is worth as much as doing well in Monte Carlo. It's definitely not the way Federer would like to win a title, but it's apt for how his season has played out so far.

Houston

Congratulations to Marcel Granollers-Pujol on winning his ATP title. It was a surprising win, though at the same time it was a very open field, with North American Mickey Mouse title specialists James Blake and Tommy Haas in the field. Marcel took out Gulbis, Luczak, Daniel, Odesnik saving 2 match points in the process and then taking out Blake 7-5 in the 3rd after being down 0-3 in the 3rd set and serving for the match at 5-4. Marcel just had too much claycourt acumen for Blake, who was frustrated with the heavy conditions and not being able to hit through his opponent, who defended well, when he needed to and changed it up with some excellent dropshots.

Other notes on this event. The venue is a plush country club, but I think it suits the event perfectly. The court is slow in general, but unlike in Europe, they use the Wilson ball which is a lot lighter than the one used in Europe and South America. Well somehow Fish wins clay matches in Houston, but can't do it anywhere else. Fish's loss to King Oscar was great and funny as well. Fish complaining about the hamburger smell nearby, but the King didn't mind and got hungry from it.

This event cause of the open nature was a series of lost opportunities. Sergio "Escopeta" Roitman who has won big events in Challengers, but seems to have problems progressing past the quarter finals of ATP events. He had the perfect opportunity to do this against Wayne Odesnik, a courageous leftie from South Africa but lives in the US now. Roitman won the 1st set easily, then served for the match twice in the 2nd set and had a match point in the process. He has a history of some classic chokes and failing to close out matches, this is one match he will be kicking himself badly that he lost.

King Oscar made his first semi final after 0-7 in QF appearances on tour, while this is a good result making the semis. There were chances for him to make the final, initially Oscar was a bit nervous which makes sense considering it was his first semi and lost the 1st set. The 2nd set at 3-1 up and 30-0, this was where he needed to establish himself on the match to able to take it to the 3rd set, as he has the game on clay to frustrate Blake. The weather worked in Blake's favour as it was warmer and that made the court quicker and helped impose his game. Not sure if the King will get another chance to make a tour final, but it does not matter he will always be King Oscar.

Nalbandian back in Buenos Aires and Raemon Sluiter finishes his career in Rotterdam

Before writing the previews for this week, will round up some of the recent results. Finally Seppi won an event in the Bergamo Challenger, he usually doesn't play challengers, now has to take that on board and be able to do well in major events.

Andy " I am scared of the Last Tango in Buenos Aires" Murray came through to win in Marseille and his decision to skip the Davis Cup tie in Buenos Aires, hence the name for him seemed justified, though the way he went about it was poor, sure he won the event, but this event was more newsworthy in that Mario "Karate Kid" Ancic came back to the tour and made the final in his first event back after suffering glandular fever and other injuries. This tournament also had the comeback of Robin 'the Toad" Söderling from a wrist problem and was defeated by Ancic and the Toad loves a roof, so he is now the hope of Swedish tennis.

Congrats to the young Japanese Kei Nishikori for winning MM Delray Beach, which was like a challenger field and taking out James Blake in the final who loves an American Mickey Mouse event for sure, doing it as a qualifier even better, and this is one Asian guy who doesn't mind a clay court.

Mucho Almagro won the title in Brasil and it's his 3rd title and he defeated Moya who had been playing 3 setters all week, where he should have lost in the 1st round to Santi "the clay detective" Ventura who created a lot of chances, but played the big points poorly and the King Oscar Hernandez up 4-1 in the 3rd set and couldn't close the deal. Almagro is an interesting case and will do a write up on him soon, he needs to fire in the big events. Acasuso and Andreev even by their standards had comical losses this week, well Acasuso might have been drunk after the Davis Cup losing to Decoud, but still should have won. Andreev got thumped by Schwank aka baby Gordo and he didn't get a break point at all in the match, big Andreev is going through a rut at the moment.

Onto this weeks events well since San Jose is a Mickey Mouse event, the only comments about this event are that I hope Joel he knows who he is, has a good time there and that Mike Russell turns around that loss to Ginepri that he had in Delray Beach.

Buenos Aires, well it's a strong field this time around and no Round Robin bullshit either, which is the way tournaments are meant to be played. Coria and Gaudio both were meant to play here, but couldn't take their place as Gaudio still has the ankle problem and Coria didn't take the wildcard that was on offer for him. Nalbandian is back here and has never got past the quarters at this event and the fact that Jaite his coach doubles as the tournament director is a good reason for him to play here, he has a fairly good draw, but anything is possible here. Too bad the clay loving Aussie Peter Luczak didn't get a better draw, but at this event, there aren't that many easy matches, especially if their level isn't up to standard.

King Oscar and Zabala are playing each other in the 1st round and that will be on centre court. Oscar had a good run in Brazil and defeated Zabaleta last time they played in Florianopolis and Zabala needs to get back on track. It's the old thing, to get match tough, players need to win matches, but not winning matches, then it gets harder to get that way. The winner of that will play Almagro or Che Vassallo, and Mucho will be a bit tired from his win in Brasil, so there is a chance there for either Oscar or Zabala.

Igor "I am in very poor but I will still beat Gaudio form" Andreev needs to get on back track at this event and has drawn Montanes someone he has a 3-0 record ever and hope he can turn it around starting at this event. Andreev doesn't defend very well and it seems he has got worse in that department or maybe the fact he fought back so well in 2007 from the injury problems in 2006, that he is a bit flat at the moment and that can happen, well it happened to Muster after his knee problem, but would like to see him play either Acasuso or "Mr Buenos Aires" Moya in the quarters. Acasuso has a big shot here at Moya, he does play well at home and Moya hasn't been able to prepare as much as he'd like for the Buenos Aires Slam.

Los Mastellis, they are Horna and Monaco both coached by old fox Mastelli make a return to tour, though not sure how their bodies will handle it. Horna has an elbow problem, that could be a chronic thing, if not taken care of and he really needs the points to build back his ranking to where it should be. Monaco is back after spraining his ankle and missing Davis Cup, hope he can play, but there are doubts whether he will and he has a tough 1st rounder against Calleri in his title defence, just hope he can play with no pain.

Rotterdam

Krajicek has got a strong field here at Rotterdam. Nadal got an interesting draw and him losing would be worth it, though not sure if Tursunov will be on or off. Would like a rematch with the Toad and Nadal. Seppi playing Hewitt, this is a good time for Seppi to take advantage of Hewitt's lack of match play.

Berdych and Ljubo is a quality 1st round match and either one of them could make the final on the weaker side of the draw. Karlovic is playing Oli Rochus, he should just concentrate on hitting kick serves that bounce over head. Colonel Youzhny and Tipsarevic, well the Colonel should win this match and he is the defending his title and should make the semis here, but what should and does happen are two different things.

This will be the last event for Raemon Sluiter and perfect place to retire in your hometown and hope he can win a match here and have a good life after tennis.

Davis Cup World Group 1st Round Summary

Well this really won't take too long as there really weren't that many interesting ties and also some of the teams weren't at full strength for varying reasons like Andy Murray who was too scared to face the chorus music in Buenos Aires. Nadal couldn't be bothered in Peru and Master Federer doesn't believe in Davis Cup unless he can be the saviour.

Russia vs. Serbia 3-2 : No surprise that the Russians won especially with Djokovic and Tipsarevic not playing on Day 1 due to illness and injury respectively. Djokovic made an appearance in the doubles with Zimonjic and then played the 4th match and once Davydenko started to get some momentum and he retired from the match due to his illness. No need to play Marseille for him, but he will anyway. Zimonjic and Troicki did an excellent job in tough circumstances, now they play at the Czechs at home on clay.

Czech Republic vs. Belgium 3-2 : Good that the Czechs have finally made a QF of the World Group again and they have a very good unit with Berdman, Stepanek, Dlouhy and Vizner and I think next time against the Russians on clay that Dlouhy/Vizner should play instead of asking Berdych and Stepanek for the doubles, as they will be needed on Day 3. This one was done and dusted by the doubles and the Czechs had fun at the bar on Saturday night.

Argentina vs. UK 4-1 : Baker the Scotsman defeating Calleri in the 5th match was the highlight for this tie and the Argies might be shattered that there was no 5-0 in this tie.

Sweden vs Isreal 3-2: Lack of a number 2 singles player cost the Israelis here and good to see that the old fox Bjorkman was able to preserve World Group status for the Swedes, who go back to Argentina for a drubbing on clay in the quarter finals.

Germany vs. Korea 3-2 : Never in doubt for the Germans and Kohli had too much class on the clay for the Koreans.

Spain vs. Peru 5-0: Too much depth for the Spanish team and also the fact that the Peruvian warrior Lucho Horna injured his arm on the warm up and couldn't play on Day 1 hampered any chance of the Peruvians making it to Day 3 as a live rubber, will be interesting to see what the surface the Germans use this time around.

France vs. Romania 5-0: Tsonga had a very successful debut for the French team and they will be hopeful he can keep that up in future DC ties and too classy for the Romanians.

USA vs. Austria 4-1: Clownish performance by the Austrians at home. They had enough chances to be leading 2-0 after Day 1 and somehow they managed to be 0-2 down after Melzer up a break in the 5th set against Roddick and making too many errors wasn't stable enough to overcome his nemesis.

Koubek leading 7-5 5-2, then loses the 3rd and 4th sets 6-2 6-2 with an effort that looked like he didn't compete at all and was too passive. There are questions that need to be asked of Gilbert Schaller's leadership when Koubek was struggling, this was where Muster would have been able to get the best out of him, but this wasn't the case.

The Bryans slapped around Knowle and Melzer like they were gimps at a bondage party, the dead rubber well Eschauer didn't do himself any favours losing to Bob Bryan.

The Quarters should be more interesting.

Australian Open final call

The Australian Open final call

My Aus Open ended at the Nieminen/Nadal and Tsonga/Youzhny matches, sometimes I go to one of the semi finals, but it was not the case this year and in a way it was disappointing to miss out seeing Federer and Nadal both losing in straight sets live to Dokovic and Tsonga respectively, well we can’t have everything in life.

Does this mean a changing of the guard in relation to tennis hegemony? Not at the moment, it’s too early to say that, but with Novak Djokovic talking it up saying he was ready to challenge and delivering by taking out the event and Federer in straight sets, maybe it sets the seeds for the other players to come through in the majors. Federer is still a massive favourite for Wimbledon and the US Open and Nadal still is clearly the favourite at Roland Garros.

The final itself was close and was glad that it wasn’t the usual turgid Federer vs. Nadal final matches which are the majority except at 2007 Wimbledon and 2006 Rome. The extra big match experience of Djokovic was just too much for Tsonga, who was the crowd favourite all the way through with his great movement, soft hands, flashing smile, Cassius Clay lookalike and relaxed manner. One thing about the final was interesting, the respective support groups the Djokovic clan were very fired up, especially the father to be point of being obnoxious and Tsonga’s dad was just very calm, though when his son won the 1st set he was doing the shadow boxing and stylish as well.

Enough of the final and the overall experience this year when inside the tennis complex was positive for the most part. There was a good perve which is important and saw Xristos the Greek stud who is funny in his own way.

It was good to see Koubek playing well, the King Hernandez winning on hardcourt, Calleri and Brzezicki playing doubles for a laugh, Seppi winning a match that didn’t go to 3.49am. Pavel might be in Australia for the last time and copped a rough draw. Adrian Voinea for putting up with Sammy and my questions and handling it well. Peter Luczak for being the humble, hard working player that he is, though a bit disappointed not to see baby Seb, but that can wait for another day. Jarkko Nieminen making the most of his game and having another successful Slam.
Good crowds, met some interesting people from all walks of life. The five French guys from Paris, but support Olympique Marseille in football were quality and followed on all the French players especially Tsonga and Mathieu and they listened to my advice about how to get into centre court for free and it worked. They did so well they were there for the final annoying Papa Djokovic.

The little sisters Kristen and Peta it was great catching up with them for different reasons. Kristen gets called Justine Henin, but she is much prettier than her and these crazy Austrians seem to appreciate her and not just talking about Marach. Peta with her obsession with Pavel and Enric Molina, if I didn’t know her, then it’d be freaky, but I do and it isn’t.

Sammy and Joe the Geelong Croat connection thanks for all your help and it’s always fun catching up with you and the marathon tennis DVD oldies sessions were worth it and next year I might have to try and qualify for the Aus Open, maybe I could play the journalists event.

Andreas the legend Austrian journalist from ORF and fellow Kent Carlsson fan always a pleasure, too bad we couldn’t play tennis this time, we’d draw more people than the average WTA match. Ariel and Leo the Argentines an honour as always and Victor thanks for everything and coming through when needed. Nick it was fun as always and just hope Malisse doesn’t piss you about anymore.

James and Saffaro, well always good to hear from you and see you, well James next year it has to be done, but you knew me from the start, so that won't be forgotten.

Grekan, I know you don’t read this, but will eventually. Thanks to yourself who showed me the way around the Aus Open complex, when I had less clue than Thomas Muster on grass and introduced me to some good people and no matter what happens to me, you won’t be forgotten.

Hopefully I will be back there next year and also at more tennis events in 2009 and try and entertain the people who read this blog sometimes.

The Shark fails to put the bite into Nadal. Tsongaaaaa Bombaya

The original intention was not to go to the tennis on this day, but somehow I managed to get tickets for both quarter finals a day and a night session, so these had to be taken of course.

Nadal vs. Nieminen :

It was a great feat for Nieminen to make the quarter finals, but the result of this match was never in doubt for a few reasons. Jakke Nieminen does not beat the higher ranked players, this is partly due to a lack of belief in doing it and also he doesn't have enough weapons generally.

The 1st set was quite good tennis with Nieminen coming out relaxed and nothing to lose (there is a story to this in the next entry) and was handling the heavy game of Nadal well with the backhand especially and wasn't passive all the time.

Both of them were holding serve comfortably until the turning point of the match in the 1st set, when Nieminen had 2 set points on Nadal's serve. Nadal hit a good 2nd serve that jammed Nieminen as he tried to run around and hit a forehand. Once Nadal held that service game, the inevitable break of serve came along and then Nadal served it out after that.

Jarkko had a mental let down after the lost opportunity and Nadal being Nadal turned the screws in and was able to keep comfortably ahead and took the second set very easily and Jakke even managed to hit a 2nd serve at 102 km/h, something that is memorable. The third set was closer, but even then there was no feeling that Nadal was in trouble and it went as expected.

It was a great event for Nieminen, too bad he couldn't take the 1st set and stir up the Mallorcan bull.

Tsonga vs. Youzhny:

The 1st set of this match was excellent tennis as both guys were serving very well. Tsonga with the massive serve and was serving at 80 percent in the set, always going to be tough to break and that got him in the mood.

Youzhny wasn't using the slice backhand as much and when he did big Jo was able to handle it and one thing about Tsonga, yes he is massive, but he is very fast for his size and had the crowd eating out of his hands and had the majority support. 30 all at 6-5 on Youzhny's serve was the big turning point here as Tsonga was defending like Nadal and Youzhny had an easy smash and netted it, to go down set point. Then Tsonga hits a huge backhand winner to take the set 7-5.

Tsonga took the momentum and rode with it after such a tough 1st set and crushed Youzhny 6-0 in the 2nd as he maintained his outstanding level of play. Youzhny had some taping on his ankles taken off, but he was moving quite well.

Thye 3rd was a very tight affair as well as Youzhny lifted his game and Tsonga was playing at a very high level, hitting some big winners, defending very well and serving huge that Youzhny who returns well didn't have a break point in the whole match. Youzhny had a couple of points to take it to a 4th, but it was not to be and Tsonga took the match in straight sets.

The young Muhammad Ali lookalike has taken the crowd by storm and he recovered from the back injury that he suffered for 2 years and other ones, lets hope that he can remain injury free and show more of the quality tennis he can play.

Finnish legend Jarkko Nieminen makes second ever Slam QF

Andrei Pavel and Johansson lost their doubles today and this maybe the end of the line for Pavel as a player in Australia, but I hope it's not this season as his last, as we all know it has to end one day.


Nieminen vs Kohlschreiber : These 2 guys definitely know each other and have played a lot in recent times, this plus the very cloudy conditions and a Slam quarter final place on the line, made this is a very tight and tense match, though the quality wasn't the best.


Kohli was the favourite here after beating Roddick in the last round and also he won the last 2 matches against the likable Finn. The German got an early break and was hitting some good backhands and using his forehand to set up the play and Nieminen was a bit heavy legged early in the match and not moving as well. It was good enough for Kohli to take the 1st set.

Nieminen starts playing better in the second set and they are hitting fairly well at this point, with the crowd getting into it. Koubek is there in a hood and hat and looks like he had a big night on the piss last night and he is talking with Riisto, he is a big legend Finn fan who wears a red coat no matter what weather and he was in the Finnish army.

Kohli gets to the first of the 6 set points for a 2 set to love lead, but Nieminen lifted his game and decided not to be passive and hit through the ball and with some good backhands and Kohli got a bit tight and wasn't able to convert any of them and lost his break, and then went to the tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker continued on the same path as the previous set, with Kohli being slightly better, but not coming through on the big points and Nieminen got stronger when he was down in the game. The Sharks's shots when he was down set points were outstanding and somehow the Finn steals the 2nd set, when Kohli had 6 set points to take a 2 sets to 0 lead.

The Finn is having problems with his 1st serve and when you have a second serve like Jakke's, then it's a real problem especially as it will get eaten up by better players. Kohli is playing some up and down tennis, some really good shots mixed in with some poor choices and this is keeping Nieminen in the match.

It goes to another tiebreaker and after Jakke won a point and did a fist pump, it seems Kohli wasn't too thrilled with it, but in reality there was nothing much in it at all. Kohli had another 4 set points that he couldn't convert and the Shark hung in there and was able to take the set.

The 4th set was very tough to watch, both guys just breaking serve, there were 5 breaks in a row, both were as nervous as fuck and couldn't hit the ball at all, especially when they were serving. Nieminen then held for 5-2 and that was a very tough thing to do in the context of the match. Kohli held and then the Shark served it out, though having 40-0 and being taken to deuce and ad a few times isn't the best way to do it.

This was like the Koubek match, where the guy who should have won the match didn't, but you got to take your chances when they are around and this time it was different mainly because I was happy that Nieminen won, but pro sport isn't always kind or fair. If it was then Medvedev would have won Roland Garros 99.

Day 5 and 6 Kohli is the man

Not sure how this is going to read, it might be a bit over the place, funny how that can happen, at the same time Day 5 was one of conflicting emotions, gone from low to very high over a period of time. Funny usually with results it's like yeah it's pro sport these things happen, but we aren't robots. Enough of the monologue.


Koubek vs. Mathieu : Koubek came into this match as a big underdog and this was mainly because of the ranking and not reflective of how he has been playing recently and his 2 matches this week against Moya and Calleri were excellent.


Mathieu was average against Capdeville, he won in 4 tight sets and hit less winners than Capdeville and this included a 6-0 set. Not sure whether he is just being conservative or not.


This match was such a frustrating experience for these particular reasons and not in any order. The match went for 4 hours, the guy I wanted to win Koubek lost the match, which makes it worse, but the circumstances were.


1. He served more aces and Paulo has the bigger serve.

2. He hit more clean winners.

3. The unforced errors were very similar.

4. He had a break in every set and couldn't close the match.

5. He won more points overall.



The problem with the 5 things that were mentioned, it showed that Koubek didn't win the most important points of the match and he got passive when he had the lead and that is what got him to the front initially.

There was some good hitting in this match from both players. Koubek defending well and was very aggressive in using the angles and keeping Paulo on the run, taking him to places on a tennis court that don't get traffic. Used his serve well, but couldn't forclose the deal. It was a combination of Paulo fighting very hard and being 0-3 down in the 4th started swinging and it went in for him and that weight was freed from him.


Stef seemed to want Paulo to miss and not be aggressive on the bigger points, when that is what got him in the lead. 4th round of a Slam is a good achievement and some big points there, just hope he doesn't dwell on it for too long and perform at that level in Davis Cup.

Gasquet vs. Andreev : Andreev was very poor in the first 2 sets and he played like a drunken goose and at least his level was a lot higher than LaLo showed against Gasquet in the previous round.

Gasquet played the match the right way, he was able to park himself comfortably behind the baseline when he needed to and was able to be consistent and keep the ball in play for long enough and then Andreev would miss a forehand or play a woeful dropshot that would bounce before the net.

The 3rd set was better from Andreev, he was able to serve better and not make so many errors and Gasquet's level dropped a bit and Igor was able to take advantage.

Andreev couldn't build on the momentum and was in trouble on every service game he had in the set and Gasquet hitting some very good forehands and served well, was able to eventually break him. Andreev is clueless in the forecourt. He can't hit dropshots and his feel is like a slaughterman.

Berdych vs. Monaco : Once this was moved indoors this became a bigger advantage for the Berdman than it was already.

The overall standard wasn't bad, but it was a flat atmosphere as they were meant to play at 11am and they started at 8pm in a half empty arena. Thanks to the Berdych Army for creating some atmosphere it was appreciated.

Monaco has improved a lot on the surface and was hitting some very good length and made it hard for Berdych to attack him and he took advantage of a lazy game from Berdych to take the 1st set. Even then there was no feeling about that Berdych was going to lose this, then again he has lost to Roddick and Srichaphan on clay, so that takes skill.

Berdman starts to play a bit better and reduces his unforced error count and was able to dominate the rallies and then able to hit through Pico at times, but he was always in control and once he won the 3rd set tiebreaker, it was easy the 4th set and now he plays the great white Bengal Tiger Roger Federer.

Kohlschreiber taking out Roddick was a great result for the event. Roddick's serve is what is keeping him in the top 10 and Kohli's backhand was a work of art and hitting 103 winners in the match and he was playing tennis, while Roddick was just serving.

Roddick's antics in this match were pretty full on, mocking the umpire's accent, telling the German fans to shut up, then saying have a bit of a class, it's classy to do that, but at least Roddick isn't a Patron Saint like Agassi is meant to be. He is the guy who bullies the lower ranked players, but bends over for the top ones except Davydenko. Great to see him out of the event.

The 2nd round. Koubek shows his stuff, the King plays doubles and Almagro still has a massive head

Decided to combine the 2 days reports into one, mainly because I am lazy and also because I was drunk from last night or lacking sleep, choose whichever version you prefer to believe.

Koubek vs. Calleri : Calleri was already pissed off in the 1st game with umpire Molina, who Peta actually watches instead of matches, not totally true. Koubek started well like he did in the Moya match and was hitting good length on his groundies and Calleri was still pissed off from before and was spraying it everywhere and Koubek ran off to a 5-0 lead. Then Calleri settled down and was able to break Koubek once and hold, then had chances to break Koubek to get it back to 5-4, but failed.

The second set was very close and both players were playing quite well. Koubek was more defensive in this match, but this is to be expected considering Calleri has more firepower off both wings than Moya, but also less patience as well as he always wants to rip that big shot and early as well. It went pretty much point for point and it came to the tiebreaker and in the context of the match, this was huge. Koubek winning it would sour Calleri's mood even more and if Gordo wins it, then he will have more confidence and be able to extend the match.

Calleri was playing the better in the early part of the breaker and had 3 set points, there were so many netcords in this breaker, Calleri was hitting flat and Koubek gave it a little bit of air and was varying the position of where he was hitting the ball. Calleri went for a backhand down the line on set point and just missed, but he believed it was in and dwelled on it and Koubek eventually took the breaker 8-6.

The third set was similar to the second in that the points were close and the rallies hard fought, with Calleri trying to push the pace and Koubek using the angles to open the court. It was a good standard of play and once again they came to the tiebreaker and Koubek played it better and was also able to use the wide serve to Calleri's backhand effectively and that won him a lot of cheap points, which were key and Koubek won in 3, though Calleri's play was worth a set at least, but got to take it when it counts.

Youzhny vs. Seppi : Tough draw for Seppi here, as the Colonel has been in good form and gave Nadal an absolute slapping in Chennai, so he is hitting the ball well. At the same time Seppi had chances to compete well, but for the upset to happen he had to take them and it has not been his strongest point.

The overall standard of the match wasn't great, both guys can and will play much better than this. The rallies were competitive and Seppi wasn't getting outhit at all and was holding his own well, but wasn't converting the chances when he had them and was passive on too many of the big points and not getting over his forehand when he needed to.

Youzhny lifted the game when he had to and when both players aren't playing near their best, then usually the more credentialed one is going to win most of the time and this was the case here. It wasn't a case of an opportunity lost, but more like not performing well on the big points and missing too many 1st serves as well. For Youzhny, he did what he needed to do to get the result.

Andreev vs. Vliegen : Igor hasn't started the year very well, but he managed to get through Pavel and was the strong favourite to get through Vliegen here. This match was close for the first 2 sets, but the feeling was Andreev was never going to lose this match, and if he did he would have to play poorly.

For the first 2 sets Igor just did enough and was able to break Vliegen in the 11th game of the 1st and 2nd sets easily and then hold. The 3rd set he showed some more quality with some huge forehands and serving quite well, but he will get better during the clay season.

Berdych vs. Oscar Hernandez : With the huge expectations of the King after his crushing defeat of Minar. The Berdman was put on notice and he realised that he had to lift his game when playing the great Oscar.

This was a very good match from Berdman overall in relation to his winners/unforced error ratio, which was quite good. It helped for sure that Hernandez was outclassed on the surface, no matter how hard he battled. He looked good as usual and he didn't play that badly, it's just the surface wasn't for him and the Berdman was able to hit it deep and through the defences and the King made unforced errors more than usual.

One funny incident the King and Berdman were 1 all on the dropshots and Berdman has Oscar about 7m behind the baseline. He sets him up for the dropshot and he is inside the service line and it bounces twice before it hits the net. Good to hear the Berdych army in full force.

Monaco vs. Delic : This was a match that went longer than it needed to for sure, but on this occasion result wise it worked out, it doesn't always happen like that. Monaco had this match in control and the court was packed with fans from Bosnia supporting Delic and while they were loud, they were fair and a few random Argies cheering on Monaco.

Monaco was too solid and consistent from the baseline and moving Delic around and exposing his movement and lack of a backhand. He served for the match at 5-3 and forgot how to play and lost 4 games in a row and then lose the initiative which Delic then took. Big Amer started serving better and doing well in the rallies as Pico Monaco was hitting short balls and not using the angles as he was earlier and Amer got confident was able to take the 4th set and had a break in the 5th.

Delic served for it, but Monaco is a fighter and needed all of that to come through, and was able to run out the winner 8-6 in the end. The court was very packed, it was funny seeing Argie players standing on the side of the court where you could only get a limited view, but a fun atmosphere for sure.

Nalbandian vs. Luczak: Looch started very well and was able to hang with Nalbandian in the baseline rallies and used his serve well to get the 1st set.

After the initial shock, Nalbandian was able to lift his game to another level, it wasn't the sublime tennis he can play, but there were less errors than before and Luczak was having to work harder to hold serve.

Nalle was able to use the angles and proved to have too much variation for the very gritty Luczak, who if he can perform like this on the tour, should be able to have some good results during the year and maintain a top 100 ranking barring injuries.

Gremelmayr vs Spadea: Sammy was at this one, as we were for the Gremlin and Roitman match which was an exercise in frustration.

Spadea was the heavy favourite, but the Gremlin had chances to upset him, just depended on which Gremelmayr showed up. Spadea doesn't have many weapons apart from a good return and he fights very hard and this has got him success to where he can make main draws of most events.

Gremelmayr blew this one in the 5th set and after the match his coach screamed out in German and then Vinnay Ice was high 5ing the crowd, like it was Davis Cup and showing his street cred. He will be just another victim of the Ferrer machine.

Querrey vs. Tursunov : Big Sam and Tursunov this match should have been about plenty of massive hitting, but the reality was very different.

The officiating was shocking here and the umpire the legend of Khader Naouni he of the great voice and even cooler afro had a lot of work to do and it seemed Tursunov was getting the majority of the shit calls. Yes, he got the shit calls, but that doesn' t matter when he can't hit the ball into play consistently and he made so many mistakes.

Big Sam decided to play a smart match and just hit the ball up the middle of the court and get it back with not much on it and let Tursunov make the mistakes. Dima went into his shell and still missed a lot of shots, this is one performance he won't be too happy with.

Blake vs. Russell: Russell started off well with a 2-0 lead, then it all changed from there sadly for Russell fans.

Blake was on fire for the whole match and everything he did was coming off, he was swinging hard and it went it and didn't open his eyes to after the match. The court was packed and Blake is very popular with the ladies here and had 99 percent crowd support.

Mike made a lot of errors, partly he didn't move as well, but also because of the pressure from Blake. When he is like this, he is very hard to beat. Cut down his angles as he loves running, hit balls up the centre of court and change the pace of the rallies can throw him off his rhythm, hence why he does well against Andreev and Davydenko and poorly against Fed. All three hit the ball very well, the first 2 don't have much variation, but Federer does and can execute.

Blake was volleying like Stefan Edberg in this match and even Russell knew it wasn't happening for him that day. Of course we stay to the end, because just cause a player you like is getting thrashed, doesn't mean you turn on them, like I have seen in other sports. It's always easy to support winners on the field, but it's better to be a winner away from the court and that is something Russell truly is.

Doubles moments : Doubles can be funny, but only when there are singles players playing it and their reactions are definitely interesting after they lose.

The King and Montanes were playing doubles together and it was hilarious, they were laughing the whole time while on court. Thinking about what they are going to do for dinner or which bar they will go to.

Oscar was winning some points in fact 96 percent of his team's points as big Al was missing return after return. I said to Hernandez. "Thanks for the laughs in doubles, but man you were carrying Montanes out there". He didn't want to agree, but he knew what was going on and it was true, but it was good training for singles.

Chucho and Roitman lost to the sexy team of Eschauer and Flo Mayer, maybe it was their sexiness that put them off and they couldn't win.

Brzezicki and Calleri defeated the Twin Towers of Karlovic and Isner and the sad thing is that Brzezicki let himself get broken by these guys, but at least the tennis players beat the servers and too bad I didn't see any topspin lobs over their head.

Massu/Almagro and Berlocq/Seppi: Berlocq what a guy, he was definitely the weak link here and Almagro looked bored and always looking in the crowd and still has a big head, but Peta loves him. Massu you can hear grunt from 2 kms away, but his shots don't have the same force they used to.

Seppi was trying to carry Berlocq, but it's like taking a one legged man in an arse kicking contest and the result was the same. Seppi loves doubles won 2 matches all year and one with the King.

Day 2 the Day of King Oscar Hernandez as the man makes history

Day 2 of the Aus Open was a special one indeed, for a few reasons, there was Michael Russell's first win in a Slam for ages and even more significant was that Oscar Hernandez after going 0-17 on hardcourts, was able to win his 1st match on the surface and it was a historical day to mark down in the calendar.

These will be done in random order and some of these matches were watched by known associates Jimbo, Sammy and others and they will get credit for their work.

Santoro vs. Isner : I didn't see much of this match, but what I did see was hilarious. Isner was poor and was moving slower than a Jamaican ambulance with a driver stoned on 20kg of pot. The rallies were so slow and Isner's volleys were junior standard and Santoro was breaking at will, he got bored and lost a service game in the 3rd set, then broke again to make it count and put Isner out of his misery. Sammy and Jimbo loved this result and a good triumph for artistry over serving.

Monaco vs. Berlocq: This was a comfortable match for Pico Monaco and his lovely other half is here as well. Berlocq surprised me, he actually played well for parts of the match and hitting some good backhand down the line winners and in the second set he served for it at 5-4, but it was always on the cards that Monaco would break back and therefore he did so and then stepped it up to run away with the 3rd set. Will need to improve his serving in the next match against Delic.

Nalbandian vs. Smeets : Smeets had said the player he didn't want to draw was Nalbandian and sadly his wish didn't come true.

Not really much to say about this match, except that Nalle was in total control moving the ball around easily and breaking serve at will leading 6-1 6-1. The 3rd set well it was just an extended training run and he won the breaker easily enough, it will help his back and he doesn't need to have too many hard matches early in the event.

Luczak vs. Zabaleta : This was one of those matches that I couldn't really lose as I happen to like both players. It was good that it went to a 4th set, but Luczak winning was expected. He is at home, he is fit and has match practice something that Zabala is lacking a lot of at the moment.

Luczak started strongly in the 1st set, then Mariano fought back with some strong serving and good forehands and took the breaker. Then Luczak was making his mark with the drop shots especially on the backhand side and was grinding well took the 3rd easily and lead 5-1 in the 4th, but Zabala showed his fighting spirit to make it 6-4, but it wasn't enough and now Luczak has to play Nalbandian in the next round.

Gremelmayr vs. Roitman : This match was an exercise in frustration and the end result was a clear expression of this.

Gremelmayr hasn't played well for years, well since the last time at the AO when he made the 3rd round. He just started swinging with his eyes closed and wins the 1st set 6-1 and then when he opens them the 2nd set was 0-6.

The match settles down in the 3rd and there was some quality hitting from both players, the Escopeta (shotgun) forehand of Roitman was firing well at times, though he did go for some silly shots as he can do now and then. Gremelmayr was running hard and making lots of huge winners from tough positions was able to take the 3rd set after a loose service game from Roitman.

The 4th continued on the same path with Roitman getting more and more pissed off with one his mistakes at crucial points and two Gremelmayr saving 15-30 or bps with unreturnable serves or clean winners. They swapped breaks until 5-5. After a big extended rally with Roitman running "the Gremlin" side to side, then he attacks the net and Gremelmayr at full stretch on the fence hits a slice backhand that floats in over Roitman's backhand and he breaks.

At 15-15 Roitman is trying to hit a forehand, but the linesperson gets in the way and it becomes 30-15 and Sergio gets pissed off even more. Gremelmayr serves it out and then Roitman absolutely smashes the racquet after the match.

Russell vs. Fognini: This match started out comfortably enough with Russell getting a 5-0 lead and Fognini looking like he wanted to be somewhere else even more than usual.

After an easy 1st set, the 2nd set was a much closer affair with Fognini cutting down the errors and showing his outstanding court speed, which can match Russell's though the way they move is very different. Fognini starts going for more shots and they go in and was able to break once to level the match at 1 set all.

Russ seizes the initiative again and is able to hit the ball well to the corners and Fognini's manner is still the same "I don't give a shit look", at the same time he is just randomly slapping winners now and then from difficult positions. After Mike takes the 3rd set easily, then Fognini is making less errors from the ground and running lots of shots down and Russell is a bit sluggish, which he takes advantage of and levels the match at 2 sets a piece.

The dreaded 5th set, the feeling of watching a 5 set match with a player you like at the end it's either great joy or emptiness depending on the perspective and result.

Fognini takes a 3-1 lead and Russell is feeling sluggish, but he has the superior heart and fitness to Fognini, so he was always a chance as long as he believed in himself. With a solid support group Mike cut down on the errors and was moving better and was able to get it back to 3-3, then Fognini's flashy play wasn't working under pressure, the opportunity at 5-3 to serve it out for Russell was there. In the final game he led 40-0 couldn't buy a first serve and missed an easy smash at 40-15, but was able to come through and win his 1st match at a Slam for a very long time and what a relief it was.

Oscar Hernandez vs. Minar : This was the match and the result of the day without a doubt. The man who is 0-17 on hardcourts finally wins a hardcourt match and plays very good tennis to do so as well.

Oscar couldn't hit a thing in at all in the 1st set and it went very quickly, looked like the same pattern as always on this surface. He did say it wasn't so quick and I thought that would have had to have helped his confidence that he could play his game and maybe do Ok here.

The second set was the key here and Minar had chances to take it, but Oscar served well and placed it well and he was fighting with himself as always and is a great source of Catalan expressions. Once they got it to the tiebreaker, he dug his heels in and was not going to miss from the back and force Minar to hit through him which he was unable to and then the King took the 2nd set.

This was the turning point of the match and Oscar got very confident and was playing from quite close to the baseline and not 5km behind it. He was able to dictate the rallies on his serve using the angles to open the court up and hitting heavy forehands and Minar looked like he was in the pub after 3 games in the 3rd set, getting run ragged. The King ran to a 4-0 lead and was able to win the set 6-2 and the confidence was growing.

The 4th set started the same way as the 3rd set with Oscar getting everything back and the length was very hard to attack off for Minar, who in the heat didn't have the style or the patience to last with Hernandez in the baseline rallies and the King showed some good volleying skills as well to run to a 5-0 lead. The majority of the crowd wanted a bagel, but Oscar was generous and allowed Minar a game before serving it out with no problems.

After the match, there were many youngsters who became fans of the King and he signed for all of them and he was elated that on the small court there was a good turnout to watch the talent and also see the piece of history that was created on this day. Does it matter that he will more than likely lose to Berdych, no not really.

This day was all about King Oscar Hernandez.

Chucho, Koubek, Lucho, Seppi show at Day 1 of the Aus Open

Finally after all the pre qualifying and the business has begun and overall apart from one result today with Chucho losing in 5 sets, but more of that later and at least it wasn’t carnage like there was for me last season and that is a bonus.

I saw the start of the Nieminen and Dancevic match and Jarkko was handling business very well and won the 1st set very easily, so I decided to wander around the grounds as you do to get some atmosphere of the place as you do and it was fucking packed initially, but such is life.

So on my wanders I saw a bit of Paul-Henri Mathieu playing against Lurch Hanescu. Luckily the few bits I saw of the match were close, but Mathieu was just too powerful and showed his greater degree of skill on the surface.

On the adjacent court was big Boris Pashanski and Mardy Fish, not two of the most likable guys on tour, but from what I saw it wasn't a great match as Boris definitely doesn't like the hardcourts, though his game shouldn't be too bad for it, it's not like he hits massive moonballs like Vassallo Arguello who was very poor against Levine. Boris lost in 4 sets and in the 2nd set he had a break, then loses serve twice, best thing about Pashanski is Voinea.

As I was on my way back to the other side I passed Lucho Horna and Mastelli, the old man Mastelli who happens to coach Monaco, looks like the guy who is in the corner of the cafe having a cigarette and playing cards and has forgotten more than most people know about tennis.

Then I saw Safin and Nalbandian training together and I paused for a little while, which pretty much confirmed what I knew. These courts were packed and Safin has a ridiculous amount of fangirls, most of them would spell forehand like 4hand and that is being kind. Nalbandian was quite popular as well, but the majority of people who appreciate tennis weren't there to watch Nalbandian.

After that I saw arse picking Nadal hitting with Calleri and was more interested in seeing how Calleri was hitting the ball than Nadal. It's funny Gordo walks through the crowd hardly being hassled and then there is bicep boy who has to push his way through.


Went back to the other side of the complex to see the Nieminen vs. Dancevic match and I thought what the fuck this has gone to the 5th set. I found a place to stand next to these Finnish fans and then all of a sudden Nieminen starts playing well again and is making Frankie look ordinary. From reports Frankie started to lift his game and Jarkko had one of his lapses, but as soon as I turned up again for the 5th set, he was in good form from both sides, he only hit one of his 10km/h second serves. Good result there and never in doubt.


Decided to go and watch the Pavel vs. Andreev match, this one could have gone either way, because with Pavel while not at the peak of his powers can pull off a good performance now and then, plus Andreev has had a shocking start to 2008.


This match went to the expected pattern with Andreev hitting massive off forehands and Pavel trying to get to the net and using his backhand. They split the first 2 sets and it's good watching these players in isolation, it's like Andreev just throws the ball straight up when he serves and sacrifices power for spin. The 3rd set was the key here, while Andreev was dominating the rallies, he still wasn't playing that well and Pavel was still in the match and the tiebreaker was the key and once that was sorted then you knew who would be the winner of the match and it proved to be Andreev.


One funny moment this silly Russian girl who was the whole time saying "davai Igor", even if he farted, she'd have said that. There is cheering and then it goes over the top and Voinea watching Pavel came out and told her to "shut up". She was holding up play and Pavel just stopped. He said something like "hey I am blinded, I can't play , I am in love" looking at the fangirl and she handled it well enough. He had a foot problem before match point and called the trainer and Igor thought what the fuck was going on here, but they were waiting and waiting for the trainer, so after 5 minutes they decided to play and then Andreev closed it out. It might be last time I see Pavel in Australia as a singles player for the last time.


Acasuso vs. Mahut : This match had tough one written all over it and it was that for sure and a very frustrating result under the circumstances. There was the contrast in styles, with big Acasuso hitting hard from both sides and Mahut just scrapping in the rallies, but moving to the net as often as he could behind the big serve.


The first 2 sets were split and Mahut played a very good tiebreaker, serving big when he needed to and Chucho who was mistiming a lot of shots throughout the match, did it quite a lot in the tiebreaker, but was able to not to dwell on the lost tiebreaker and finally take a break point chance and win the second 7-5.


Instead of maintaining his level, Acasuso went off to Chucho land with the fairies and was down a double break and that set was a write off. Chucho is there trying to play tennis and all Mahut is doing is just serving and getting the big one when it counted, Chucho stopped misfiring and took the 4th set.


Mahut started serving in the 5th set and Chucho had break points in the 1st game, but failed to capitalise and after that Mahut was never troubled at all on serve and Chucho was just hanging on. Then at 6-5 I had to duck off and do some business, then I thought to myself he will lose this 7-5 and when I get back I hear the dreaded Game set Match Mahut. In a way it was good to miss the end of the match, as it was frustrating to watch Acasuso lose, but if you can't get a bunch of 1st serves when serving to stay in the match and not take your chances then this will happen sadly.


Seppi vs Levy : Seppi starts like an arse clown or someone who only won 3 points in a set against Hugo Armando and was down 4-0. Then I decide to go courtside and tell Seppi to lift his game and then he started to do so and won the next 6 games in a row to take it 6-4. He actually seems to be hitting the ball harder than usual, sure it's not Tursunov hard, but for Andy an improvement.

After the 1st set, then Seppi just cruised the last 2 sets and it started towards the end of the 2nd set of the Acasuso match and it finished before the end of the Acasuso match, though this result was better.

Horna vs. Calleri : While I was watching the Chucho match, the Horna match was on the next court, where I could see the score and from reports the 1st set was a very tight affair, with Calleri hitting his big backhands and Horna being his usual aggressive self and Lucho played one bad game and got broken.

Got there at the start of the second set and this kind of match is difficult in one way and good in another. Difficult in the context that it's hard to cheer for anyone as I like them both and good in the context that at least one of them will make the next round.

Horna had a multitude of break points and was hitting his forehand well, but wasn't able to take advantage of this, whereas Calleri wasn't making too many errors, but wasn't able to impose his game in the 2nd set. It went to a tiebreaker where Lucho had 4 set points, but took it on the 5th and I was content that it was going to be a 4 setter minimum.

The rest of match was a fairly good standard with some big hitting from both guys, as usual Calleri with his big backhands down the line and Horna with his crazy sliding on hardcourts and launching into forehands. The main difference was that Horna played 2 poor service games, one in each set and hardly was able to get a first serve in and Calleri punished that and was able to break and run out a comfortable winner in the end.

One hilarious moment in the match was they were rallying and Calleri hit a short ball and Lucho ran in and drilled it right at Calleri and Gordo stuck his racquet in the way to protect himself and it went over Lucho's head at the net. Lucho was just shaking his head and Calleri couldn't believe it himself, it was one of those very funny moments, especially as they get along quite well. The good start to the year for Calleri continues and Lucho needs some good results soon.

Koubek vs. Moya : This was a very winnable match for Koubek and he believed it as well, as he has said that he enjoys playing Moya and his game suits his very well.

Moya served for the 1st set, but Koubek broke and took into the tiebreaker and was able to take it. I started watching from the start of the 2nd set and Stef was hitting the ball very well and his defensive skills were very strong when they needed to be, getting the ball back into the corners and then not being passive and stepping into the court to crack winners of both sides.

The 2nd set was a strange one as Koubek lead 4-3 with a break lost it, then broke again for 5-4 and couldn't serve it out and lost the tiebreaker easily. Moya probably should have won the 1st set and Koubek the 2nd, but they are 1 set all.

The third set the pattern continues with Moya running around his forehand and trying to dominate and Stefan defending very well and then hitting clean winners, when he got the chance, this was not a get the ball back and hope he misses like Mahut did against Acasuso. When Koubek had the chance to step in, he took it, especially in the last 2 sets with the backhand down the line Rios style with the leg in the air, he nailed about 4 of those in a very short time.

He took the 3rd set and had quite a bit of crowd support and was able to use that to keep his intensity level up. Koubek when he is concentrated on his game, is fun to watch and yes, he has the explosive side, but we are wired all differently.

Koubek continues on from the 3rd set in the same vein and in Moya's face it was clear to see that he knew it was done for him and Koubek was the better player and this was a very high quality match, with some good hitting, defensive skills and now he plays Calleri in the rematch from Sopot.

Sorry for the delays, but the King's report will be done later.

Final Round Qualies: Dani Koellerer falls short again and random moments

Final Round Qualies: Dani Koellerer falls short again

Dropshot Dlouhy stopped deciding to continue his mucking around and thrashes Chen, which makes for all the foibles in the previous 2 rounds and now plays Roddick who once again peaked for Kooyong.

Sam “Donny” Warburg made the MD defeating Dolgpolov Jr 14-12 in a thriller and he was down a break in the 3rd and almost went down a double break, he seems like a good guy and I am happy he qualified.

Rajeev Ram made it for the 1st time in Melbourne as well, fighting hard and was on fire initially steaming to a 4-0 lead and everything was working for him, then Udomchoke took it in a breaker and was up 4-1 and ended up losing the set 7-5 to Ram. Rajeev was on fire in the 3rd set taking a 4-0 lead and didn’t let it slip this time. The elation when a player makes it through the qualies is always good to see, especially if you like the player.

Dani Koellerer once again fell short in the final round of qualifying for a place in the main draw of a Slam, this time he fell to Scotsman Jamie Baker who was playing very well throughout the event and handled the shenanigans from Koellerer very well to win 6-4 6-4.

Lets see, there was the underarm serve, a bit of timewasting, calling for the trainer and then not bothering when he got there, the usual screams, but it wasn’t enough and after the match it seems Egli the man who looks like an over attentive parking inspectior was having some words with him.

The King’s protégé Marcel Granollers-Pujol got the money against Kunitsyn 8-6 in the 3rd and it was a surprise for sure, as Mr. Kremlin Cup Kunitsyn seemed to be that much better overall, but Marcel was fighting hard and after going down a set, he levelled at 1 set all with some good play.

Marci was under hammer from Kuntisyn basically from the 1st game of the 3rd set and put plenty of pressure on his serve, but even the unconventional backhand was holding up quite well and the forehand was deep, which kept him in the point. After saving all the break points and at 7-6, then with some good play, he gets a 2nd match point. I called the serve to Marci backhand and it was there, except the net got in the way, then on the 2nd that Marcel should belt the forehand and he did and got him the win.

Odesnik and Big Kon moved safely through to the MD, not the best qualies ever, but I had a lot of fun at the courts.

Random stuff

Well this is the fun stuff, that isn’t part of the tennis per se. My friends and I have decided to find which court Oscar is playing on and dump clay on there.

Hartfield seems like a pleasant guy and it’s disappointing that he has to play Federer twice at GS level in the 1st round and yes he does look like Gaudio. Speaking of Argies, Charly Berlocq doesn’t have the mullet anymore, but has managed to get himself a decent looking woman.

Seeing Sam Querrey being dwarfed by John Isner and Sam is 196cm is hilarious for all the wrong reasons, though at least Sam is quicker than Isner, it might be close.

Oscar Hernandez is a very humble king and is prepared to talk with the masses and show his talents to the world and you know when he says a surface isn’t quick, then there is a good chance it isn’t.

Berdych wasn’t happy, as he was given the wrong info about a practice court. Well they had the chicks on there and they should have been sent to the carpark to train. Berdych’s coach Jaro Navratil is a very funny guy with a dry wit and wearing these loud yellow and red shirts, best of all he still has the great mullet. He was very relieved that Tomas was finally able to beat Simple Simon.

Mike Russell bought his wife down and she understands that he can’t go shopping with her when he has to train. He has a good draw against Fognini and was not happy about playing in Auckland when it rained against Kohli, not that he would have won the match.

Massu is still a surly vampire and Almagro has a head the size of Saturn. Peta feels bad she took photos of Cilic, when she has to boo him when he plays Almagro.

Joakim Nyström is coaching Melzer now, and Melzer would love to have 1/30th of tennis brain , at the same time Melzer does very well off the court.

Greece vs. Chile match between Economidis and Gonzo should be fun and saw Larry Stefanki putting Feña through these backhand return drills and it was good to watch him show Gonzo where his feet were and why the ones he was missing were crap.

Malisse has some strapping on the middle finger of his hand and a knee problem, plus in another huge surprise he has a new coach. He and Melzer lost to Lucho and Monaco in Auckland. He laughed when I told him my stringer friend said he was their best customer and even Horna during training said “Hey man, who many strings do you break on average”.

Seppi chucked his racquet over the fence after a hitting session with Klein in which he was awful, but he will still get to R2. The daughters of the coach are growing very fast and Seppi was more interested in talking about how AC Milan are so poor in the Serie A.

Andreev was actually hitting backhands in one of the sessions and has been quite pissy and his coach Altur said, “This is what happens when you play shit for 3 months, except Davis Cup”. He plays the cheery Pavel and at least one player I like makes it through there.

Acasuso just rules, the languid manner and he now has fans in Kristen and Peta, good to see that even after a while that class can be appreciated. Hope he has a good year, but playing Lizard Lips won’t be easy. His coach Orsanic is a River Plate fan, but we can’t have everything.

Koubek had this faded orange shirt, lets get the real stylish shirt happening.

Jamie Murray has great hair, too bad he supports Man Utd.

Adrian Voinea is a very cool guy, so why the hell does he train Boris Pashanski?

Nieminen is still very professional and he is a genuine class act, when that term gets thrown too loosely.

Acasuso and the King training was such quality stuff and the shoulder turn is still there for all to see.

Roitman had a big ice pack on his elbow, but that was precautionary. I am going to have words with him to export these shirts, he also trained with the King as well.

Del Potro has a new team down with him or maybe Eduardo and Cristian aren’t here as of yet.

Mats Wilander is busy with Mathieu and also good to see the legends of Jaite, Gumy and Mancini.

Well got a big day tomorrow and have to enjoy it hopefully.

Yes, Volandri’s serve still sucks.

1st and 2nd Round Qualies the Fun begins

1st and 2rd Round of Qualies

This year the great Aus Open organisation decided to start the mens qualies early on Wednesday and it was good as it was only mens matches and didn't have to hide to get away from the rubbish womens matches, which was the thing to do in the last 2 days and how I do these reports, will be in order of how they went in the draw and not in how I saw them, so deal with it.

First of all the tennis wouldn't be the same without the usual characters and there would be some that I think I am part of the furniture, well they would have a case at the Aussie Open. So I will make reference to some of them now so people can get used to when I make reference to them later.

Two of my favourite ladies and yes they are ladies, though I tend to think of them as my kid sisters who amuse me no end, without trying and no this does not mean laughing at them with them. They are Kristen and Peta, who are both funny in different ways. Kristen got called Justine Henin again, yes she is small and petite, but much prettier, though JuJu isn't as bad as some people think. She loves anything Swedish or Austrian, unless that Austrian is Dani Koellerer ( more on him later). Peta on the other hand has problems handling her feelings to Koellerer as a piece of meat and something to perve on, she loves it, but doesn't always appreciate the nature of Crazy Dani. The old car crash syndrome, you know you shouldn't look, but you do anyway.

Kristen manages to embarrass herself in front of players and does it in such style and Peta besides liking Koellerer is a fangirl of Andrei Pavel, who infamously told her once when asked can I have a photo and said "NO", then a few seconds later smiled and called her Petea. I have been known to take the piss out of umpires and most of them do a good job, but Peta has a fascination with the fave umpire of "The Poo" Enric Molina. So if the match is boring then she will go and watch Molina and drool. More characters to come during the blog and now onto the tennis.

Round 1

Bogdanovic vs. Ginepri

Great result this was, even though it was Bogdanovic that did the job. The highlights of this were that the legendary Sundsvall man and super coach Peter Lundgren is back in the land Down Under and this should mean some quality partying to be done. He is getting paid well to do a difficult job working with British tennis besides Andy Murray, but it's far from an easy job.

Ginepri is just lacking confidence in addition to a lack of brains, so he was cannon fodder and at least he didn't retire when he was getting slapped around like the clown that he is. Ginepri is an academy/factory player. He has muscles, can run, but has the feel for the game of a luimberjack, he hits tennis balls, when he plays well it's effective, when it's off, he is worse than hakarl ( go to Wikipedia or do a Google search it's an Icelandic dish). Good to see the back of Ginepri and Bogdanovic looked like Korda against this piece of fodder.

Dlouhy vs. Niland

The Irishman was the 2nd alternate here after the big Belarussian beast Max Mirnyi withdrew from qualies at a very late stage and he put up a very good show against dropshot Dlouhy. It was the first time I have ever see Niland play and he seemed to play at quite a good game and his forehand was working quite well.

Match was cruising along on serve at 4 all and then dropshot Dlouhy played his usual moronic service game in a set and got broken easily and then Niland served it out for 6-4. Then Michael this crazy Austrian guy who has been coming for years rocks up and thinks Niland will win in 2 and I told him he was kidding and Dlouhy has this match in the bag. He is one of these guys who is fine for the first 5 minutes, but 5 minutes and 1 second is too long.

Dlouhy starts to refocus and then keeps the errors down and takes the 2nd set easily and we are into an expected 3rd set. Niland playing well from the baseline and Dlouhy mixing up the rallies with some junk, dropshots and good moves to the net and he had plenty of break points in the service games, but Niland took the first break and served for the match at 5-4, but the choke was as obvious as night follows day and Dlouhy levels and his greater experience was the difference in this match.

Groth vs. Moodie

Didn’t see too much of this match, but as expected there were huge amounts of rallies with 3m clearance over the net and for once I was being sarcastic. It was a good effort from Groth to come back and win 6-4 in the 3rd, coming back from a break down against big Wes, who has a big serve himself. Groth pretty much is all serve and looks different from the last time I saw him, with a haircut and less bleach in the hair.

Tomic vs. Wang

Bernard Tomic the huge massive hope of Aussie tennis took a WC and was trying to break Hewitt’s record of the youngest qualifier in the main draw. He got Jimmy Wang the Taiwanese who doesn’t have much power, but just hits a flat ball and would have expected him to have too much experience for Tomic.

Wang had 5 match points in the 2nd set breaker and lost it 15-13 and Tomic kept fighting hard, maybe he learnt something from the enforced holiday after tanking a junior event. He got the late break in the 3rd and held onto serve and win the match. Surprisingly the press didn’t go overboard with the win as they usually do when an Aussie wins.

Koellerer vs. Ungur

Ungur was utter garbage in the 1st set and anyone could have beaten him, but Dani played and behaved well throughout the match, that apart from taking the piss out of the ballboys in this match, it was just good play from the crazy one.

Odesnik vs. Prpic

Big Wayne was just too strong here, hitting heavy for the most part and then putting away the short ball when he needed to so and Prpic was outgunned. Prpic is a very likable guy and has a very hot girlfriend and it’s good to see when this happens, though I want to ask Stepanek for some lessons. Odesnik and Haase are the 2 best qualies here.

Evans vs. Beto Martin

This one was a very hard fought match and the umpire was getting the treatment from both players for some poor calling. Evans was playing the power game with the big serve and Beto was doing what he normally does, runs and fights hard and tries to win through consistency.

They split sets and then the 3rd went to 11-9 and this was after Beto had to save a lot of break points. He got pissed off with the umpire for not overruling a call in front of him. He says “what are you doing, you can see clear on the far line, but you miss them right in front of you, get some new sunglasseman”.
Evans was getting aggro as well, he was giving it to Beto by saying “keep swinging and all your mishits will hit the line and there was a massive double fault missed by the officials, and Evans went off. After not taking his chances and losing 11-9, then he went on a tirade to the umpire.

“Don’t talk to me, you have done this to me three times once in Kyoto, somewhere else I didn’t hear and now in Melbourne, you are unbelievable, you should pay me money”.

Round 2

Dlouhy vs. Greg Jones

Dlouhy had this match, but as usual had his lapse of concentration, but this was a safe bet and should make it through to the MD.

Koellerer vs. Oger

Dani to some people is Oger like and this is a very interesting French name must be from Alsace. Dani was much better than this guy and it showed in the 1st set which he took easily. Then after that it got interesting. It seems Oger had Jean Rene Lisnard in his corner and they were giving Koellerer crap, heckling him and Dani didn’t take it that well. After the match he screams “salut, ca va” and gives them the glare.

Andreas Egli, the former top umpire seems to be a supervisor these days and whenever there is a Koellerer match, he wasn’t far away at all. Vamos Carlos Ramos and Dani had an interesting debate, where he told Dani, that his attitude doesn’t exactly make it easy on umpires and people alike and they will react negatively in some cases.

Granollers-Pujol vs. Galvani

Galvani started the better, but Granollers was fighting hard and he has a very unconventional backhand, doesn’t seem to swing through it properly, but his forehand is the main shot and from his game it’s obvious that clay is his surface.

He takes the 2nd set and then with some excellent defence, mixed in with attacking at the right moment races to a 5-1 lead in the 3rd and looks safely in hand, but we know strange things can happen in this game. Galvani holds for 5-2 and then Granollers tries to serve it out, but fails to get the job done. He missed all his 1st serves and Galvani just tries to get the ball back into play and Granollers was getting nervous.

Marci Granollers is coached by Marcus Roy, who coaches the King Hernandez and Oscar was there supporting his colleague. One hilarious moment came when on the 3rd match point for Granollers, when after a long rally Galvani gets a dead netcord that lands on the line. Roy, The King, myself and this guy all chucked the head back at the same time, looked very silly, but after 6 match points he managed to get over the line.

The Big Greek Economidis was solid and untroubled, plus the Ram known as Rajeev and Warburg coming back after an ankle problem at the AO last year all through to the final round of qualies.