AbeTennis

2008 – The Women’s Game

2008-01-02T18:16:00.000+01:00

With Justine Henin putting up a Roger Federeresque year in 2007, the resurgence of the Williams sisters and the arrival of two instant crowd favorites from Serbia, the WTA is coming off a pretty good year. This season proves to be even better though, as we welcome back the still-going-strong Lindsay Davenport, and can expect a group of exciting young players making great strides towards the elite ranks of the game.

The season got off to the right start, with Serena Williams claiming (again) that she wants the No. 1 ranking back. As long as Serena doesn’t put in the extra hours on the practice courts and starts working on her physique so she doesn’t get injured every other week, that’s never going to happen again.

Henin supreme again?

Will Justine Henin be as dominant in ’08 as she was last season? Not likely. Yes, she’ll finish the year as No.1 again, but putting up a whopping 63-4 record and winning 2 out of 3 Slams she competed in will be nearly impossible to match. The outstanding year-end championships final against an injury-troubled Maria Sharapova showed that the Russian will be a tough nut to crack for the Belgian on faster surfaces, if Masha has left her shoulder troubles behind her and can play a full schedule again. Sharapova doesn’t fold under pressure and has the belief she can take on anyone. She’s still only 20 years old and although there’s little variety in her game, the WTA’s biggest asset keeps developing as a player and should have a Slam in her this year.

Serbian honours

There wasn’t much between Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic in 2007, but the latter has more potential for greatness and could establish herself as the undisputed Serbian No. 1 in 2008. Jankovic moves better than her countrywoman, but she lacks firepower. What J.J. mostly needs to work on is turning her serve from a weakness into a strength or she’ll continue to be put under constant pressure on her own delivery. Let’s not forget about doing some rescheduling either.

Ivanovic needs to learn not to get too excited after hitting one or two great shots early on in a match. She’s often too energized for her own good and it hurts her consistency. When she calms down after some emotional outbursts, she often drops a level and starts missing easy shots. When Ivanovic becomes a better match player, she’ll be a legitimate Slam contender.

Sister act

I already wrote a little about Serena, but let’s take a closer look at the Williamses. It promises to be a very interesting year for the sisters, as both Venus and Serena are now back in the Top 10 and again forces to be reckoned with. They both won a Slam last year and that’s a scenario we could see again in 2008. Serena will be the defending champion in Australia in two weeks, but Venus has been the better of the two for the second half of last year. What’s been interesting to see during those successful months for Venus, is how she has made serious work of improving her game and adding variety. She has especially become a much more skilled player around the net, although she’ll never have the natural feel of a Henin. Venus’ willingness to add to her game is a big difference with Serena, who is still the same old wham-bam cannonball machine she’s always been. That’ll probably never change, considering Serena doesn’t have the agility of her sister, and still struggles with staying healthy for a full season.

Who’s next?

Anna Chakvetadze had a stellar 2007 and for a moment cracked the Top 5. Tatiana Golovin is starting to fulfil some of her potential and finished a career high No. 13. Nicole Vaidisova has recovered from injuries and mono and has all the makings of becoming a top player. Then there was the unexpected breakthrough from Marion Bartoli, while young Hungarian Agnes Szavay rocketed from No. 189 at the start of the year to a No. 20 finish. What’s in store for these young guns?

Chakvetadze might grind to a halt in ’08 after an outstanding 2007, unless she finds a way to start beating the top players and controlling her emotions on court. Bartoli is a fine player, but she won’t do much better than her current No. 10 ranking. Golovin, Vaidisova and Szavay should all improve, and especially the first two should become solid Top-10ers this year.

Don’t expect too much from…

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Kuznetsova was a steady performer in 2007, but she won’t hold on to her No. 2 ranking for long. Kuzy is a contender at Roland Garros, but at the other majors she doesn’t rank among the top favorites. The Russian will have a tough time finishing the year in the Top 5.

Daniela Hantuchova

Hantuchova is 24 years old, but it feels like the Slovak has been around forever. She sneaked into the year-end championships by winning Linz in the last week of the season, but Dani’s long-term Top 10 potential is limited.

Nadia Petrova

Once dubbed the greatest player of her generation never to have won a Grand Slam, Nadia Petrova is on the decline. The 25-year-old Russian is having a hard time fighting injuries and when she is fit, can’t keep up with the best players in the game.

Amelie Mauresmo

The Frenchwoman had a horrendous 2007 after her career year in ’06, but now that she’s fit and recharged her batteries, Mauresmo should bounce back and put up some solid results again. One more year in the Top 10 is not unlikely, although competition is getting harder for Momo. Don’t count on more Grand Slam titles for the 28-year-old.

Elena Dementieva

She was supposed to become the first Russian woman to win a Grand Slam. But when Dementieva lost the Roland Garros final in 2004 to countrywoman Anastasia Myskina, she had blown her biggest opportunity. Lena D. was troubled by injuries for most part of 2007, but her time seems to have past nonetheless. She remains one of the best movers on tour with a rock-solid game, but new generation power-hitters such as Ivanovic have past her by. Dementieva will have to settle for the Top 15.

2008: What’s in store?

2007-12-31T19:19:00.000+01:00

Before we’ve even headed into the new year, the ATP and WTA Tour have already begun the 2008 tennis season. The men are spread out over 3 events (Doha, Chennai, Adelaide) and the women feature in two small tourneys down under (Auckland, Gold Coast). Five tournaments have gone underway before we’ve officially hit 2008. Where else than in tennis?

I got an automated e-mail from Eurosport this morning alerting me about their first tennis broadcast of the new season. December 31, 12:30 CET: ATP Doha (Day 1). I feel a slight rush. A brand new tennis year is about to start. I turned on my TV during lunch and there it was: live tennis. The first match of the season? Igor Andreev vs Thomas Johansson. Hardly an encounter to get excited about, but after a one-month drought of watching tennis, the mere sight of seeing that little yellow ball fly over the net again becomes a treat. We all know that tennis has too short an off-season, but for me, a month is all it takes to get my batteries reloaded. I am refreshed. Now we’ll see if the players can say the same thing.

Roger Federer is still enjoying some time off, but Rafael Nadal is already back in action, playing in Chennai. In 2007, he lost in the semifinal to Xavier Malisse, who went on to win the tournament before running into a long-term injury. The X-man returns to India trying to get back to the Top 30 in 2008. Novak Djokovic is not defending his title in Adelaide, the Serb is playing the Hopman Cup alongside Jelena Jankovic. Serena Williams is also playing the team event. The other elite women are laying low for opening week.

So with the new season now officially on its way, what can we expect from the Olympic year? Here’s a look at the men’s game. I’ll have a post on the ladies tomorrow.

The top dogs
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic

All eyes will be on Roger Federer again in 2008, as he aims to complete his career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, win a record sixth-straight Wimbledon and claim his first Olympic Gold medal. Oh, and there’s that record Pete owns. Federer needs two Slams in ’08 to tie Sampras’ 14 majors, and will surpass him if he equals the performance of his last two years, in which he won 3 big ones each. I think at the end of the year, we’ll have a tie between Fed and the Pistol.

Then there’s Rafael Nadal. Does he, or does he not have a chronic foot injury? He does have at least a couple other chronic problems: failing to win a major outside of clay and flunking the second half of the season. 2008 will be make or break time for Rafa, as he needs to find a way to beat Federer at a Slam outside of Paris and meanwhile has to fend off the challenges of players coming up behind him.

That brings us to Novak Djokovic. The Djoker was seriously burned out at the end of ’07 after a career year and now starts a season where people will expect big results at every event from the No. 3 player. Can Djokovic cope with the pressure of having to defend his performances from last season, and become a true contender for the top spot? Nole has a great desire to be the best and always believes he can win, no matter who he plays. This is a champion’s attitude, and it’ll win him big trophies in the future. It just might start in 2008.

Young ones to watch
Murray, Monfils, Del Potro, Gulbis

Andy Murray finished 2007 ranked No. 11 without winning a single match on clay and missing Wimbledon. Whether or not his split with Brad Gilbert was a good move remains to be seen, but if he stays injury-free, Murray should be a lock for a Top 5 position. The Scot has a similar belief in his game as Djokovic has, but he has to learn how to control his anger and not let matches slip away too easily. Sometimes he doesn’t focus enough. When he does, he’ll be a threat to the Top 3.

Gael Monfils will be 22 years old in September. He reached a career high ranking of 23 last year, but has the potential to become a Top 5 player. I’ve always considered Monfils to be more talented than his countryman Richard Gasquet, but injuries and a lack of smartness on court have held the crowd-pleaser back.

Juan Martin Del Potro ended 2006 as No. 92 and moved up almost 50 spots to No. 44. The 19-year-old Argentine needs to learn how to play the big points and get more out of his monster serve and he’ll be a lock for the Top 20.

Best remembered for his 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 trouncing of Tommy Robredo at the US Open, Ernests Gulbis moved up nearly 100 positions in 2007 to No. 46 before falling back to his current No. 61. The Latvian has the ability to completely outhit an opponent, which he did against Robredo, but he hasn’t won too many matches at the big events yet. Will have to follow up his US Open run in 2008 and reach a consistent level.

The veterans
Roddick, Davydenko, Gonzalez, Haas, Ljubicic, …

Believe it or not, Andy Roddick has become a veteran at the age of 25. He has now won a Grand Slam, reached two Wimbledon finals and brought the Davis Cup back to the States. He actually finished as year-end No.1 once. That’s a very respectable record, though we all know he will never become an all-time American great. Or it would have to be because of his Davis Cup performances if he wins it a few more times.

Roddick has gotten the most out of his career so far. He just doesn’t come close to matching Federer for talent and that is why he gets slapped in the face every time he faces the Swiss. Credit the Rod for trying though, he always fires himself up before facing Federer and says he believes he can win.

Roddick will probably never win another Slam. I don’t see him returning to the Top 3, either. Comparing Roddick to these other veterans, it’s actually quite unfair to list Andy among the Davydenkos, Gonzalezes and Ljubicices of this world. Neither of them owns a single major. However, Roddick is not much more of a threat at the Slams these days than Davydenko, Gonzalez or Blake. Sure he might be a dark horse at Wimbledon, but to win the event? Roddick has been surpassed by Djokovic and Andy Murray will probably be next. Neither of the veterans will be Grand Slam favorites in 2008. Most of them will decline.

The wild cards
Nalbandian, Hewitt, Ferrer

Everybody loves David Nalbandian. Everybody hates him too. His jawdropping backhands, his inexplicable losses. The Argentine is like a South-American version of Marat Safin, but where the Russian is no longer a potential Top-5 player, Nalbandian could still rank among the best. After his whopping end to 2007, all eyes will be on Nalby to see if he can finally win his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne. It just might be that for Nalbandian his best years are still ahead of him.

The latter can definitely not be said for Lleyton Hewitt. Rusty will never be the No. 1 player in the world again, and his chances of winning another major are almost non-existent, too. However, I do believe that if Hewitt doesn’t run into more injury problems, he’ll return to the Top 10 this year.

To round off this post, let’s not forget about David Ferrer. Were it not for his excellent year-end performances, the Spaniard would hover in the veterans group. However, with his semifinal showing at the US Open and of course his first big final at the Masters Cup, Ferrer has become a player to watch for 2008. How far can this grinding warrior go? I find it hard to believe that Ferrer will end the year as high as his current No. 5 ranking. But he has suddenly proven to himself that he can beat the top players and his confidence level is now higher than ever. Who knows, we may be in for two dazzling David’s this coming year.

Happy new year everyone. And here’s to a great tennis season.

Dominating Federer restores order in Shanghai

2007-11-18T17:07:00.000+01:00

He was vulnerable in the Wimbledon final against Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic was on his heels in the US Open final and in recent weeks, he lost in consecutive events to David Nalbandian. When he started off the Tennis Masters Cup with a loss to Fernando Gonzalez, Roger Federer had to bounce back from two straight defeats for the first time in over four years time. Djokovic and Nadal were starting to become real challengers for the No. 1 position.

But Federer proved that despite his endless winning streaks, he doesn’t get shaken up by one or two losses, and he surely isn’t scared about the tougher competition he’s been getting over the past months. It’s true that Nadal hasn’t reached his best form after Wimbledon, but Federer steamrolled past the Spaniard in the semis, and he was never troubled by David Ferrer in Sunday’s final either. By defending his Tennis Masters Cup title in style to end the season, Federer sends a message to his rivals that he is still king of the courts, even though he wasn’t even close to playing to his best in more than a couple of events over the past year. In the end, all that matters are his three Grand Slam crowns, and another year-end championship title, which marks another outstanding season for the Swiss.

Against Ferrer, Federer was playing extremely dominant tennis in the first set. He was ripping his forehands and never offered his opponent the opportunity to get in a rhythm, by constantly mixing up his play and keeping the rallies short. Ferrer never got close to the form he had displayed throughout the event.

I was a little surprised however, that after Federer won the opening set, the No. 1 started to hold back some more on his forehand. This is why Ferrer got in to the match. Where Federer used his favorite wing to end rallies with one or two shots in the opening set, he was now taking some pace off, which for Ferrer meant he stayed in more rallies and got an extra split second to hit passing shots when Federer was moving forward. However, three horrendous misses at 3-4 cost him the break and consequently the second set. The Spaniard was up 30-15 on his own serve before he netted an easy backhand, missed a sitting backhand volley, and completely shanked a forehand to hand Federer the break. Federer served it out and ended the set winning the full 100% of points on his first serve.

With Federer up 6-2 6-3, the match was all but over. Federer broke serve at 2-1 in the third set with an outstanding running forehand passing shot, after Ferrer failed to put away a forehand volley. Federer ended the match with another break at 5-2, again passing Ferrer at net on his first match point.

I would say Federer played one of his best tournaments of the year in Shanghai, despite the unexpected loss to Gonzalez. Most of his matches were just plain solid, won without the utter brilliance that earned him so many fans during 2004 and 2005. But those days seem to be gone forever. The Roger Federer of 2007 has developed into a more conservative player, going for the smart play, instead of the out-of-this-world winners we remember so well from his early glory days. His footwork has deteriorated a little bit, which is why I don’t think he will ever triumph at Roland Garros. It’s also the reason why we’re seeing more ugly unforced errors from Federer nowadays.

Nevertheless, Federer will surely continue to be a dominate force on Tour over the next years. He will have to deal with increasing challenges from Nadal, Djokovic and probably Andy Murray for the No. 1 position, but for now though, the order has been restored.

Federer, Ferrer way above rest of the field

2007-11-17T19:16:00.000+01:00

Even though Roger Federer lost his opening encounter against Fernando Gonzalez in Shanghai, he wasn’t playing a poor match. Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick didn’t come close to winning a set over the No. 1, and the Swiss capped his renowned form this week with a thumping win over Rafael Nadal in the semis.

Federer got off to a little bit of a tough start against Nadal, facing deficits and one break point in three of his service games in the opening set. However, just like in the Wimbledon final, his serve kept him safe from facing real trouble. Serving at 2-2, 0-30, Federer produced four straight aces, three of which went to Nadal’s forehand side. I like this play from Federer, as Nadal is better at returning powerful serves to his backhand, instead of with his long-swinging forehand.

Nadal was playing his best tennis of the week in this opening set. For the first time he managed to get some good depth on his groundstrokes, and he was getting a lot of free points off his serve as well. However, it always seemed to me as if Federer was in control, even though he was the one struggling most on his service games. Federer took the initiative in most of the rallies, because although Nadal was playing very solid – near the end of the first set the Spaniard had only hit one unforced error – he was never truly aggressive.

Serving at 4-5, Nadal showed that he is lacking the confidence that made him so imposing during the first half of the season. His balls were falling short again, he netted a backhand at 0-15, and put an easy forehand wide at 0-30. On his second set point, Federer struck a forehand winner down the line to claim the set.

With the lead under his belt, Federer rolled at the start of the second set. He claimed the first 13(!) points playing excellent attacking tennis, stepping into the court whenever possible and moving up to the net. A tactic he insisted on executing from the get-go, and which worked to perfection from this point on. I can’t recall another match these two played when Federer played aggressive tennis right from the very first point, all the way through to the end. He usually needed some time to feel his way into the match, or never even got to the point where he became the dominant player. During some of their clay court battles, Federer attacked Nadal early on, but couldn’t keep it up. Today, he was dominant from start to finish, and that’ll do him good.

When Nadal double faulted facing another break point at 0-3, the match was in the bag for Federer.

Nadal’s season has been almost an exact copy of how he performed in 2006. He started the year off playing aggressively, but from the moment he stepped on the American hard courts, Rafa seemed to have lost faith in his game because all the attacking spirits have vanished from his head. Although Nadal has narrowed the gap with Federer in ranking points in 2007, their match today showed that the younger player hasn’t picked up his game compared to last year. It was Federer who employed better tactics than before in battling his main rival, which earned him the convincing 6-4, 6-1 win in less than an hour.

If Nadal fails to develop into more than a formidable defensive player on hard courts, or better said, doesn’t play with the intention of forcing the issue on his opponents himself, like he did so well at Indian Wells and in Miami, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will be the prime candidates to threaten Federer’s top spot over the next couple of years.

Ferrer comes out of nowhere

Just when you think you’ve seen enough miracle runs from one David, another one pops up. David Ferrer’s performance in Shanghai this week can be called exactly that: miraculous. There’s no way that anyone who is serious about tennis could have said after Wimbledon: “Hey, you know what, I believe David Ferrer will start playing some serious ball from now on, and end the year in the Top 5”. Be that as it may, the never-say-die Spaniard even has a chance to finish the year as No. 4, if he beats Federer on Sunday.

Ferrer was the only player in this year’s Masters Cup to come out of the round robins undefeated. He routed Andy Roddick in the semis - which will see him overtake the Rod as the No. 5 player in the rankings - in another display of rock-solid tennis. Roddick was outplayed in every sense of the word. He couldn’t use his serve as a weapon, he was unable to apply any pressure from the backcourt, his approach shots were too weak and wrongly timed, and when he did make it to the net, Ferrer came up with the passing shot time and time again.

After Wimbledon, Ferrer has put up a 5-2 record against Top 5 players. He beat Nadal at the US Open and this week in Shanghai, went 1-1 against Djokovic, defeated Roddick twice, and lost to Davydenko in Cincinnati. Against Federer, Ferrer is a career 0-7. However, the only set he won off the Swiss, came in their last meeting in Hamburg.

Ferrer has never played a major final and he is debuting at this year’s Masters Cup. Federer is playing some of his best tennis of the season, and therefore, the Swiss will be heavily favored in the championship match. However, if Ferrer plays like he has done all week, it’ll surely be a great encounter to watch. There’s no doubt that the two best players of the event have made it through to the final. Federer to win in four.

Shanghai Preview

2007-11-10T19:53:00.000+01:00

When David Nalbandian moved up to the ninth position in the ATP rankings after winning the Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris, he became the first alternate for the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. However, after he learned from Andy Roddick and Nikolay Davydenko that they were not thinking about pulling out of the event, the Argentine decided to stay home and leave the $50,000 appearance fee for Tommy Robredo, who has taken his place. But, there are two alternate players for the Masters Cup, so 11th-ranked Andy Murray was also offered the $50k all-inclusive package trip to China. He declined. So did Tommy Haas. And James Blake. And Tomas Berdych. And the five players ranked below the Czech. So the second alternate player for the TMC is… Juan Ignacio Chela! And if you think that is crazy, if the Argentine would have passed on the offer, Ivo Karlovic would have likely taken the slot. Scary.

Red Group

Now let’s focus on those in action. One of the Bryan brothers, I believe it was Mike, recently said Andy Roddick’s chances of playing in Shanghai were only about 50%. Well, it seems Roddick can put Davis Cup out of his mind for the next week because he arrived on schedule in China on Thursday. Roddick finds himself in the red group, along with Fernando Gonzalez, Nikolay Davydenko, and Roger Federer, whom he held three match points against in their round robin match last year. After Roddick failed to win a set against Federer at the US Open, in what was possibly the best performance I have ever seen from the Texan, his chances to upset the Swiss this time around are looking slimmer than ever.

Davydenko is the longshot in this group with the form he is in, so the key match will probably be between Roddick and Gonzalez for second place. Gonzalez has been playing some better tennis again recently after a mediocre post-Aussie Open season, and given the lack of matches Roddick has played after the US Open, this could go either way. I’ll take the Rod to edge through.

Semifinalists: Roger Federer, Andy Roddick

Yellow Group

While the second group seems to be pretty much equally strong as the first, there are certainly more scenarios available with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet put together. Nadal has gained some confidence after reaching the final of the Paris Masters Series event, but I’m still not impressed by the way Rafa is playing. Djokovic was clearly conserving energy in Paris by the way he went down to Fabrice Santoro, and he’ll surely want to end his season on a high note. Djokovic has beaten Nadal in straight sets on hard court in their last two matches, and I’m favoring the Serb to come through in Shanghai as well.

I don’t think Gasquet will be able to take down Rafa, but Ferrer has recently done so at the US Open. Ferrer will certainly be a threat to Nadal, but coming off a solid week in Paris, I’ll stick with the No. 2 to advance.

Semifinalists: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal

Federer – Nadal and Roddick – Djokovic. Would these be two semifinals to watch or what? Either match could go either way, and that hasn’t always been the case during the closing stages of major ATP events over the past years.

Nadal and Federer haven’t faced each other after their legendary match at Wimbledon, where the Spaniard came within touching distance of winning his first non-clay court Slam and unofficially claiming the No. 1 ranking.

Federer has again shown signs that he is no longer invincible by going down in two consecutive tournaments to Nalbandian, but Nadal has been far from dominant after Wimbledon, so a similar scenario to last year, when Federer also beat Nadal in the semis in Shanghai, is seemingly likely.

Djokovic and Roddick only faced each other once, in Montreal earlier this year. Back then it was the Serb who straight-setted Roddick en route to his memorable title run that included wins over Nadal and Federer in the final. Djokovic is more all-round than Roddick and he is fully committed to the event. The Rod will undoubtedly give it his best, but in the back of his head he is just warming up for the Davis Cup final in Portland.

Finalists: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic

In the US Open final, Djokovic lost in three sets to Federer, but the whole match was decided on just a handful of points. What became clear in New York, and what Djokovic had already shown in Montreal, is that he can keep up with Federer during the rallies, and actually appears to be the more dominant player from the backcourt most of the time. The Djoker will be a legitimate contender at the Slams next year, but after a long breakthrough season, winning a best-of-five final over the Fed might be too much to ask.

Winner: Roger Federer

Grand finale in Madrid – Sharapova, Ivanovic, Chakvetadze, Henin

2007-11-09T17:11:00.000+01:00

In a surprise run of events this week in Madrid, Maria Sharapova is playing perhaps her best tennis of the season, Serena Williams pulled out with injury, Anna Chakvetadze is through to the semis and Justine Henin double bagelled Marion Bartoli. Yes, there’s plenty of action going on at the Sony Ericsson Championships, and for the first time since the US Open, the WTA stars finally make for some entertaining, high-quality matches again.

So what has been the most newsworthy item of the week? Even though not a single soul would have picked the slumping Anna Chakvetadze (6-1 6-0 loss to Patty Schnyder coming in to Madrid, ouch) to advance in a group with Serena, Henin and Jelena Jankovic, and Henin seemed to be on another planet on Thursday when she took the ultimate revenge over Marion Bartoli for her Wimbledon loss to the Frenchwoman, I have been most impressed by Sharapova’s performance so far.

The Russian started off with a great win over Daniela Hantuchova on Tuesday, and her serve was solid throughout the match. She was on top of her game from start to finish. However, Sharapova’s 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 comeback achievement over Svetlana Kuznetsova was nothing short of remarkable for a woman troubled by a bum shoulder, and who only played her second match after a disappointing US Open earlier in the week.

Kuznetsova, who managed to keep up with Sharapova’s high pace in the opening set, got pushed back further as the match progressed and couldn’t score as many free points on her serve as she did in the early stages of the encounter. Sharapova became increasingly successful in attacking her countrymate’s second serve, which ultimately won her the match and earned her a spot in the semifinals.

This may sound ridiculous after Henin’s masterclass on Thursday, but if Sharapova upholds her current level and her shoulder doesn’t break down, she might very well trouble the Belgian, should the two meet somewhere along the way.

Anna C. defies the odds

I wonder if Anna Chakvetadze herself believed she’d reach the semifinals after she got drawn in the same group with Henin, Serena and Jankovic. The Russian came into Madrid in her worst form in over a year. She lost three consecutive matches in Luxemburg, Stuttgart and Moscow, before being humbled by Schnyder in Linz. The last time Chakvetadze fell in three consecutive matches was all the way back in May 2006. In other words, she has been one of the most consistent players on Tour ever since.

Not a single press conference or interview seems to go by, without Chakvetadze dropping the word ‘confidence’. She is very insecure on court, but never gives up. This is what got her through her match against the severely burned-out Jankovic on Thursday, when she completely went away after winning the first set, losing seven straight games. But, and this surprised me, Chakvetadze stayed very calm throughout and came back from a break down in the final set to claim her sixth career win over J.J. Of course she got a little lucky when Serena retired in her first match, but she did what had to be done and therefore fully deserves her semifinal position.

In the semis, she could face Sharapova for a fourth time this year, if her compatriot beats Ivanovic. Chakvetadze has yet to win a set off Maria in ’07.

Ivanovic meanwhile has been impressive this week as well. However, she needs to learn how to deal with a lead. In her first match against Kuznetsova, the Serb was playing lights out tennis until she let Kuzy back in the match at 6-1 3-0. The same thing happened in the final set, when the Russian again rallied from a 3-0 deficit, before going down 7-5. Against Hantuchova, Ivanovic was in firm control with a set and a break but almost had to endure another third set when the Slovakian held a couple of set points in the second set tiebreak. Credit goes out to Ivanovic for closing out these matches nonetheless, but she needs to calm down more and play smart when she finds herself in a commanding position.

WTA Championships Preview

2007-11-05T17:37:00.000+01:00

In 2006, Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova were all considered favorites to win the year-end Sony Ericsson WTA Championships. Kim Clijsters was in the mix too. This year however, the tour’s grand finale has all the makings of a one-woman show. Henin has gone undefeated after her shocking Wimbledon loss to Marion Bartoli and is now riding a 20-match winning streak.

Henin’s foremost challenger for the title in Madrid, Serena Williams, has gone down to the Belgian in their last three encounters and failed to impress during the European indoor fall circuit. In fact, if there was one player in this field worth mentioning other than Henin it would have to be Daniela Hantuchova, who clinched her Championships berth on the last minute by winning Linz. All the other players, Kuznetsova (up and down), Jankovic (drained), Sharapova (Shoulderpova?), Ivanovic (erratic), Chakvetadze (severe slump) and the before-mentioned Serena Williams are far from playing their best.

Henin finds herself in the yellow group, not surprisingly accompanied by Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic. The poor little Anna Chakvetadze completes the group, and gets the priviledge of opening the tournament against Henin on Tuesday. I’m sure the Russian is very much looking forward to that match.

That leaves Kuznetsova, Ivanovic, Sharapova and Hantuchova for the red group. Kuzy and Ivanovic will be favored to advance here, as Sharapova only played one match after the US Open, and might easily drop out after her first match. Hantuchova will be riding the momentum of her Linz performance, and should have a decent shot at upending Sharapova, but I am sticking with the top two seeds in the group to pull through.

Semifinalists: Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova

In the Justine group, I am taking Serena over J.J. to come through as No. 2. By the way, Chakvetadze holds a 5-2 record over Jankovic, but since the Russian seems to have lost all confidence in her abilities, I am liking the fatigued Jankovic to narrow their head-to-head record.

Semifinalists: Justine Henin, Serena Williams

I believe Ivanovic will do well in Madrid, and win her group to face Serena in the semis. Henin will take on Kuznetsova again, and just as in the US Open final, the Belgian should cruise.

Over the past few weeks, Serena lost to Kuznetsova in Stuttgart and fell in the Moscow final to Elena Dementieva. Therefore, Ivanovic should have a decent shot at upending Williams this week. However, this is a prestigious tournament and normally Serena finds an extra gear at those big events. How hard it may be to predict how Serena will perform in any tournament, that perception is an important factor to consider. Therefore, my money will be on Serena for this one.

Finalists: Justine Henin, Serena Williams

We all know what kind of runs Serena can come up with, so in a way I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes on to win the event, but there’s no way one can bet against Henin these days.

Champion: Justine Henin

Feeling Davydenko’s pain

2007-11-01T19:11:00.000+01:00

Is Nikolay Davydenko slowly breaking down? The Russian has never been in the centre of attention because of his tennis, but after his notorious match against Vassallo Arguello in Sopot, Davydenko is being watched his every move. Last week in St. Petersburg, the Russian was fined $2000 for supposedly tanking his match against Croatian up-and-comer Marin Cilic. I can’t judge what went on during that encounter, as I haven’t been able to watch any of it, but sitting through the second set of Davydenko’s 6-2, 6-2 loss to Marcos Baghdatis has been one of the most painful experiences of 2007.

There is no doubt that Davydenko was giving it his best against the Cypriot. He was genuinely upset with every miss and was working hard to somehow find his rhythm. It’s just that nothing worked for the world No. 4. The most upsetting thing to see, was the way Davydenko was serving. If Elena Dementieva was watching the match, she would be shocked.

I tuned in when Baghdatis had just taken the first game of the second set, breaking Davydenko. After some uncharacteristic Davydenko misses, the Bag Man increased his lead to 2-0. But then it happened. Davydenko started serving in the third game, and he was just mistiming on every serve he hit. The Russian was merely trying to put his delivery in court, hitting about 70 – 80 mph first serves, but still double faulted three times, spraying his serves all over the place, or low into the net.

Baghdatis broke and during the changeover, chair umpire Cedric Mourier asked Davydenko if everything was alright. The Frenchman actually went so far, as to say, “if you serve like me, you’ll put it in the box.” Mourier really crossed the line though, when during the next change of ends he told Davydenko about his service: “Just hit it, you’re still the same player.” Is this the ATP’s equivalent to the WTA’s on-court coaching experiment, have the officials coach the players?

Baghdatis cruised to victory and emphatically asked Davydenko after shaking hands at the net if there was something wrong with him. The Russian said he was feeling fine, but it seems as if he is under a lot of pressure dealing with all the recent accusations on him. And who wouldn’t be.

Personally, let’s just say that I have my doubts about this whole Sopot scandal. I find it hard to believe that a world class player who makes over $1.5 million a season would risk selling a match and get caught. And I think the St. Petersburg fine doesn’t make much sense either. Why would a player, who just happens to be under strong surveillance, be fined for apparently ‘not giving his best’, but not the crowd favorite Novak Djokovic? It was blatantly obvious that Nole was tanking in Cincinnati against Moya, not to mention his ‘performance’ against Santoro this week in Paric-Bercy. Sounds an awful lot like measuring with two standards to me.

Remaining Shanghai spots still up for grabs

Meanwhile in Paris, the race to Shanghai is really going down to the wire. Current No. 7 Fernando Gonzalez lost in a highly-entertaining opening round match to Mikhail Youzhny, but is still in solid shape to clinch his Top 8 spot. Andy Murray has come out of nowhere the past few weeks and could very well go to Shanghai after all, despite missing the entire clay court season plus Wimbledon. I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing the Scot in China.

Tommy Robredo is through to the quarters, but even though the Spaniard is currently in eighth position (prior to the Haas – Youzhny match), he needs a win over Marcos Baghdatis on Friday to stay in contention. Either Gasquet or Murray, who face each other in the quarters, would overtake Robredo if he goes down to the Cypriot.

Unstoppable: Henin wins ninth title of the year over Golovin

2007-10-21T20:04:00.000+01:00

Belgian upholds unbeaten run, dating back to Wimbledon

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN - She may not have played the Australian Open in January, and her Wimbledon loss to Marion Bartoli will probably go down as the biggest upset of the season, but after winning her ninth title of the year on Sunday - one more than her previous record of eight trophies in 2003 - Justine Henin said she feels 2007 has been the best season of her career.

Just like in Stuttgart, Henin beat the red-hot Tatiana Golovin in the final in Zurich. She faced a 1-4 deficit in the first set, but won six straight games, before prevailing 6-4, 6-4.

Golovin, who was playing her first Tier I final of her career, said that she would be going out hitting bombs, but instead it was Henin who was constantly firing up on her opponent. “I did hit the ball pretty hard,” the No.1 said. “If you give her time, she can play really well. She likes to control the rallies. I just tried to keep the control and be aggressive.”

The turning point in the match came when Henin, as Golovin said, ‘got a little lucky’ on two shots, before breaking back at 4-2. At 15-all, Golovin moved around her backhand to power a forehand down the line, which looked like a clean winner. In an ultimate get, Henin pushed the ball back cross court, passing Golovin at the net. At 15-30, the Belgian hit the tape on a return of serve, but the ball dropped over the net for a winner. On her first break point, Henin stood by as Golovin hit a backhand down the line, which fell just millimetres wide.

In the previous game, Golovin had already missed a sitting forehand with Henin serving at 30-all, where she should have gone up breakpoint for a chance to take a 5-1 lead. Now, a few unlucky points later, Henin was back in the set, but more importantly, had sent out a big mental blow to her opponent.

Golovin never seemed to recover from losing her advantage. She lost serve again at 4-all, mainly because she hit a couple of ugly unforced errors. Henin claimed the opening set, after Golovin framed yet another backhand.

“I should have been able to finish off the set,” Golovin said. “But I was unable to do that and that kind of changed the momentum of the match.”

In the second set, Golovin managed to undo an early break of serve, but after Henin broke a second time at 1-all, the match was over for Tati. She overcame a 0-40 deficit serving at 1-3, but Henin didn’t face a single break point for the rest of the set, and served out the match with an ace down the tee at 5-4.

As both players said, the quality of the final was not as high as it was in Stuttgart. Henin was trying to be very aggressive, taking balls early and coming to the net, but her forehand was shaky again, like it was in her semifinal against Vaidisova. Golovin’s level dropped significantly after losing her edge in the first set, as she started to shank her backhand more often, and she failed to get a rhythm going on her forehand.

Despite the loss, Golovin will move up five positions to a career high ranking of No. 13. She will play in Linz next week, where she will have a shot at breaking the Top 10, as she has no points to defend at the Tier II event. Henin, who has now won 20 matches in a row, will take a two week break before the year-end championships in Madrid.

Golovin's solid play moves her up WTA ladder

2007-10-20T20:26:00.000+01:00

Semi win puts Tati in Top 15 for first time

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN - When Tatiana Golovin stormed through the rankings in her breakthrough year in 2004, moving up from No. 354 at the start of the season, all the way to No. 27, the fun-loving 16-year-old was rapidly becoming the new it-girl of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Now, three years later, she is on the verge of breaking the Top 15 for the first time in her career, a feat long overdue.

Golovin reached the finals of a Tier I event for the first time in her career. She beat Maria Kirilenko, Ivanovic and saw Marion Bartoli retire with a knee injury on Friday, before she convincingly routed Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals on Saturday. “It feels great [to reach my first Tier I final], but I don’t think I’m realising it quite yet. The past weeks have been going so fast and I’ve been playing so many matches. I’m trying to stay focused and not really think about it. When the season is over I’ll probably realise that I’m going to have a lot of points to defend next year.”

Golovin has developed into one of the best movers on tour, and her groundstrokes are solid. She likes to run around her backhand, to unleash her biggest weapon, the forehand. Her serve might not match the Williams sisters for pace, but it shouldn’t be underestimated, as she gets a lot of free points off it, especially going down the tee. The main obstacle holding her back has been her head, as she hasn’t been able to produce her best tennis yet in the big events, which is also why Tati had difficulties following up on her excellent breakthrough year.

“The first year you’re a rookie, you just go out there, nobody knows you and you think everything is great,” Golovin said. “But the next year you have to come back and defend everything, and the players start to know you and how they have to play against you, so it’s definitely tougher.”

It wasn’t until the beginning of this season, that Golovin won her first title. In Amelia Island, she consecutively beat Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova, to win the Tier II event. But to Golovin, winning her first tournament after having been expected to do so much earlier, did not make her achievement feel like a relief. “I think it was more of a relief to play three top players and beat them all in one week. Before, it was kind of that consistency that I was lacking. Being able to do that gave me more confidence, so I’m not sure it was a relief [to win my first tournament], but it definitely was a boost of confidence.”

Shortly after her maiden title, Golovin injured her right ankle and sat out the entire clay court season. She returned at Wimbledon, but couldn’t impress on the lawns, as she fell in the second round to Austrian up-and-comer Tamira Paszek. Her results over the American summer were disappointing as well, apart from a semi-final showing in Toronto, where she was beaten by Jelena Jankovic. At the US Open, the Frenchwoman was upset by Ahsha Rolle in the first round.

It was during the American hard court season that Golovin started working with Mats Wilander, a temporary agreement, which ended after the US Open in New York. “I think it was good,” Golovin says about the partnership, “but we didn’t really have enough time to work together. So I don’t think I can say too much about our time spent together because it was too short. It was supposed to be a month, but then I got injured and it got cut back to three weeks, and then I lost in the first round of the US Open, so it pretty much got cut down to two weeks.”

She hasn’t really spoken to Wilander anymore after the US Open, but believes they can team up again in the near future. “I know he cares about my tennis, I know he believes in me. When the time is right, I’m sure we’ll be able to get things together and maybe he’ll be able to come to some tournaments and we can practice together.”

Golovin entered a small Tier IV tournament in Slovenia the week after the season’s final Grand Slam event, where she captured the title and refound her confidence. She went on to reach the quarterfinals indoors in Luxembourg, and progressed to the final in Stuttgart, where she beat Anna Chakvetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova, before falling to Justine Henin in three sets.

“I’m really happy [with my season],” Golovin said. “Especially with the way it’s ending, because I started off really well and then I got injured and it was really hard mentally, and physically too, to get back up there and play the top players. I’m lucky I was able to get back to my level, because I also could have had just a really bad season after my injuries. I’ve worked really hard to get back and it’s paying off right now.”

STUTTGART ALL OVER AGAIN

Golovin’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be a familiar face, as she will take on Henin, just like in Stuttgart two weeks ago. The Belgian came from a set down in her semifinal against Nicole Vaidisova, and had to fight hard to advance 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. She looked a little shaky at times, especially on her forehand side. The No. 1 failed to capitulate on one of two match points, leading 5-3 in the third, and dropped her own serve in the next game. She broke again at 5-all, hitting a forehand winner after successfully attacking Vaidisova’s second serve, and successfully closed out the match trying to serve it out a second time.

Golovin believes the experience of playing Henin in Stuttgart two weeks ago, will help her in Sunday’s final. “I think it’s going to be pretty important, because I know how I played to beat her in the first set, and I know what I did to lose the next two sets.”

But when you’re playing the best player in the world, knowing what you have to do is hardly a guarantee for success. “I think everybody knows how to play her,” Golovin said, “but you still end up losing, because she’s so tough. It’s like she never feels bad. Doesn’t she have like these mornings when she just wakes up and feels awful? I mean, what’s wrong with her you, you know (laughs)? No matter how well you play against her, she still ends up winning.

Golovin believes one of the keys to beat Henin is staying composed. “I think [in Stuttgart] I showed my emotions just a little bit too much. She saw I was getting frustrated in the second set, and that just really pumped her up, and then I kind of got down on myself. I need to stay very positive. In the first set I was controlling the points and I’ll have to do that again tomorrow. You can’t give her anything, because then she’ll just take control and stay on top of you.”

Whether or not Golovin will win the tournament in Zurich, she will crack the Top 15 for the first time in her career when the new rankings come out on Monday. If she wins the event, she will be in an excellent spot to clinch a Top 10 position in Linz next week, as she has no points to defend. Does Tati believe she’s ready to become one of the elite women? “I think so. I think I’ve still got to put in a lot of work, and be consistent, because top players play well in every tournament. They don’t lose to players that are lower ranked than them in early rounds, so that’s just what I need to work on. To be a hundred percent every week and be able to beat the players that are behind me. Even during days when you’re not playing well you’ve still got to work, and not just say, ‘well, I’ll be better tomorrow’”.

Big guns keep falling in Switzerland

2007-10-18T23:43:00.000+01:00

Henin, Kuznetsova, Bartoli only seeds left in Zurich draw

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN - Who says the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has no depth? After the second round at the season’s last Tier I event in Zurich, only three seeds are left standing: the world’s top two ranked players, Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova, plus Marion Bartoli, who only earned her seeding after Maria Sharapova’s late withdrawal.

On Thursday, Daniela Hantuchova, who struggled with a cold, became the latest casualty of the seeds’ exodus. The Slovakian, who started this week as the No.9 player in the race rankings, fell to the fast-rising Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland, 6-3 6-3. Hantuchova has signed up at the last minute for Linz next week, in a desperate attempt to qualify for the year-end championships in Madrid.

Radwanska, who upset Maria Sharapova in the third round of the US Open, will next face Henin. The Belgian needed some time to find her game against Vera Zvonareva, but after winning the first set 6-3, there was no stopping the No.1. Henin played a class above the rest of the field this week in her second set against Zvonareva, as she breezed through, 6-3 6-1. With most of the seeds gone, she is looking like a lock for the title.

In the night match, Kuznetsova had to dig out of a hole to secure her spot among the last eight. The Russian quickly fell behind 4-0 and lost the opening set to Sybille Bammer, 6-2. In the second set, both players exchanged breaks twice, before Bammer moved ahead to a 4-2 lead. Not having held serve the entire set, and going down 0-30, Kuznetsova was eyeing an early exit. She faced two break points that game, but on both occasions, Bammer produced an error. Kuzy held serve and won the next three games, to take the set, 6-4. In the final set, a single break at 6-5 was enough for the win.

With so many marquee players out of the tournament, all eyes from the Swiss fans were on Patty Schnyder, but she couldn’t live up to the expectations, as she was upset by Francesca Schiavone in three sets.

WHO WILL BE THE NO.1 RISING FRENCHWOMAN?

The standout quarterfinal on Friday will be the battle of the Frenchies between Marion Bartoli and Tatiana Golovin. Bartoli has been impressive this week after a false start against Shuai Peng, dropping just six games in the last four sets she’s played. This includes a 6-4, 6-1 win over Michaella Krajicek in the second round. Bartoli still has an outside shot at reaching the championships, if she goes deep this week, and in Linz.

Golovin has won six out of her last seven matches, only losing to Henin in the Stuttgart final. She convincingly beat Ana Ivanovic in the second round, and her forehand is firing on all cylinders. The only time Bartoli and Golovin faced each other was in Tokyo last year, when Tati got crushed by her countrywoman 6-3, 6-0.

Soaring No. 2 Kuznetsova worships the Fed

2007-10-17T22:22:00.000+01:00

Sveta: “Roger is like a god to me.”

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN – In a year where all the talk has been about the resurgence of the Williams sisters, the increasing supremacy of Justine Henin, the rise of the Serbs and Maria Sharapova’s right shoulder, one woman has made quiet progress through the rankings and finds herself sitting at No.2 after a very stellar season. Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the US Open final and led Russia to a third Fed Cup win in four years. She was also the only player in 2007 to get a win over Henin on clay.

Despite her rise to the second position in the rankings, not many experts have been singing Kuznetsova’s praises. The Russian doesn’t mind that all the talk is about other players. “It’s okay,” she said. “I only want to be myself and enjoy myself.”

Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals or better in 16 out of the 19 tournaments she has played this year. She retired in the first round in Sydney and lost in the round of 16 at the Australian Open and Miami. This consistency has been the key for her current career high ranking. But the reason Kuzy has been flying under the radar, is because in the big matches she came up short. Her only title of the season came at New Haven, where she triumphed after seeing three consecutive opponents retire. She lost in the finals of Doha (to Henin), Indian Wells (to Daniela Hantuchova), Berlin (to Ana Ivanovic) and Rome (to Jelena Jankovic). In the US Open final, she was no match for Henin.

For a No.2 player, those results are hardly impressive, and the Russian knows it. “I played pretty good this year, but I am not happy with some of the important matches I lost. I was consistent and reached my career high ranking of No.2, but I hope to do better next year. I feel like I was not at my best this season.” What it is she is aiming for in 2008? “It would be perfect to win all the Grand Slams and the Olympic Games, but I wouldn’t have any goals left anymore. I would quit tennis straight away (laughs).”

Kuznetsova has a solid game, but even if she has no real weakness, she doesn’t have a true weapon either. Her heavy top spin shots make her a legitimate contender on clay, but on the faster surfaces, even if she has won a US Open title in 2003 and reached the final in New York this season, she’ll have to improve her attacking game to be considered among the top favorites at the Slams outside of Paris.

Kuznetsova sounded confident when she said she believes she can be the No.1 player someday, but a few minutes later stated that she finds it hard to always be fully motivated for a match. That doesn’t sound like something Justine would say.

It was during the US Open that Martina Navratilova called Henin the Roger Federer of the women’s game. The Belgian has not lost a match since her shocking semifinal exit to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon, and only dropped three matches the entire season. Kuznetsova admits Henin is currently the best player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but she can’t look at her the way she sees Federer. “Roger is like a god to me,” she said. “I respect him so much. I respect Henin too, she has had better results than me, but I can’t see her like a god, because she is my rival, and otherwise I would have no chance to beat her anymore.”

Contrary to her Belgian rival, Kuznetsova is a big fan of the Olympics. She’d prefer a Gold Medal over a Slam win, next year in Beijing. “The Olympics are more important for me because they are held only once in every four years, and Grand Slams are every year and there are four. The Olympics are very special, because you are also representing your country.” Unfortunately for Sveta, there will be no clay in Beijing.

SERBS CRASH OUT IN OPENERS

Is there any energy left in Jelena Jankovic? She certainly looked uninspired going down to Nicole Vaidisova, 6-4, 6-4. J.J. is in need of a two week rest before the championships, but instead, she is scheduled to play in Quebec the week before Madrid.

The other Serbian wonderwoman, Ana Ivanovic, put up a horrific performance against Tatiana Golovin, going down 6-3, 6-1. She was spraying balls all over the court, and her serve was totally off.

Elena Dementieva retired with a left adductor strain against Francesca Schiavone, and Amelie Mauresmo needs more time to get back in form after her long lay-off, falling in three sets to Ukranian Alona Bondarenko.

Keeping up appearances

2007-10-15T23:46:00.000+01:00

Serena plays three consecutive tournaments for first time since 2004.

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN - Maria Sharapova spoke to the press at the Hallenstadion in Zurich on Sunday, announcing her withdrawal from the event due to her lingering shoulder injury. When Serena Williams went down to Elena Dementieva in the Moscow final, winning only two games in the last two sets, and with her left leg heavily strapped, more bad news seemed to be on its way. But despite the minor injury and the fact that she has played seven matches in two weeks in Stuttgart and Moscow, Serena arrived in Zurich as planned for the season’s final Tier I tournament. The last time she played three consecutive events was in early 2004, when she featured in Miami, Charleston and Amelia Island.

Knowing that the European fall circuit isn’t exactly her favorite part of the year, and considering she hasn’t played too many events in the indoor arenas in the past, Serena’s current stretch of events shows that she is really making an effort in returning to the top of the rankings again. She is all but certain for the Championships in Madrid, no matter how she performs in Zurich this week.

Serena will open against homeplaying Patty Schnyder, who after Martina Hingis called it a season and Timea Bacsinszky’s loss to Alona Bondarenko on Monday is now the lone Swiss player in the draw. Serena went down to Schnyder in their last meeting earlier this season, but that was on clay in Rome, in her one and only lead-up event to Roland Garros.

Even though Schnyder will have the crowd behind her, a Serena Williams with seven matches under her belt has to be favored, especially on a fast indoor court.

The draw hasn’t been kind to Williams, as she is in the same half as Luxembourg winner Ana Ivanovic, red-hot Tatiana Golovin, who got a set off Henin in the Stuttgart final, Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom she lost to in Stuttgart but bested in Moscow, and, Dementieva. If Lena D beats Francesca Schiavone in her opener, she’ll likely face Serena again in the second round.

The top half of draw features the seeds Henin, Jankovic, Hantuchova and Mauresmo, with Vaidisova a potential threat to make the semis. The 18-year-old Czech routed Katarina Srebotnik, 6-4, 6-2 in her first round match and will now face a struggling Jankovic, who is still playing an inexplicable week-in, week-out schedule, even though she keeps citing she feels exhausted. The Serbian iron woman retired in Bangkok last week after playing in Stuttgart the week before, and is on the entreelist of Quebec, a small Tier III event, the week before the Championships in Madrid. She played in Bali and Beijing after the US Open, too. J.J. must really like those frequent flier miles.

Mauresmo opens against Eleni Daniilidou, in what is an excellent draw for the returning Frenchwoman. Even though she lost early in her first tournaments after her three month break in Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow, she was playing excellent tennis at times. Slowly but surely the former No.1 is working her way back into form and when she gets a win under her belt this week, she might as well advance to the semis, and face Henin. The Belgian is getting more dominant by the week, and is the overwhelming favorite to win her ninth title of the season here in Zurich. Henin has already secured the year-end No.1 ranking after winning in Stuttgart.

Notable results on Monday: Golovin bested Maria Kirilenko, 6-3, 6-4 and Michaella Krajicek was too solid for Sania Mirza, 6-1, 6-4. Krajicek could next face Marion Bartoli, who defeated the Dutchwoman in the Wimbledon quarters, coming from a set down. Bartoli takes on Shuai Peng in her first round match.

Davis Cup Semifinals: Looking the other way

2007-09-20T19:53:00.000+01:00

Here we are. Ahead of a weekend’s action of Davis Cup, where four nations will try to make their way to the event’s final in November, but despite that, the most interesting match-ups feature those countries battling to stay in the World Group.

Sure enough, Russia and Germany could get involved in a close encounter in Moscow, but who cares about teams headlined by Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas, when you have Novak Djokovic and Lleyton Hewitt grind it out on a moon-landscaped clay court, in front of nearly 20,000 out-of-their-mind Serbs, which just happens to be the biggest Davis Cup crowd ever, outside of a final. The fact that Serbia is on the verge of making their World Group debut, and Australia on the edge of dropping out of the big leagues for only the second time in Cup history (dating back to 1905!), adds all the drama. Now this is something I’d like to see.

But there’s more. Guess where the No.1 player in the world is playing. It’s not the semis.

The mere fact that Roger Federer is playing Davis Cup, is worth mentioning itself. After all, the Swiss great only shows up for the event once a year, when it’s time to save the country from relegation. This year’s opponent for Switzerland in the play-offs will be the rock-solid Czech Republic, led by No.10 Tomas Berdych, who surprisingly enough finds Radek Stepanek on his side. Stepanek, No.8 a year ago and currently climbing the ranks again after suffering a severe back injury, refused to play for his country for the past three years due to disputes with team captain Cyril Suk. In December last year, Stepanek even said he would never play Davis Cup again. After speaking with current captain Jaroslav Navratil, Stepanek decided to make himself available again, and now he returns to face Federer in his first Davis Cup match after his lay-off.

Assuming Federer wins both his singles matches, and Berdych, Stepanek beat Wawrinka, Federer’s Davis Cup hopes will come down to the doubles match on Saturday, the one area of the game where the 12-time Grand Slam champion is far from invincible. I wouldn’t mind turning on the TV for this one, either.

But no matter how much drama these two encounters may provide, there’s always the British, to take it one step further.

Heading out to Wimbledon’s Court No.1, the Brits will take on Croatia, led by the struggling Ivan Ljubicic. Not having to face Mario Ancic or Ivo Karlovic, who are both staying home due to injury, John Lloyd’s team is looking in good shape to give Tim Henman the perfect goodbye at the only setting right for the Tiger’s farewell, even if it’s ‘just’ a Davis Cup play-off.

Croatia is heading to London with Marin Cilic as their No.2 player. Albeit a great prospect for the future, and yet another big server from Ivanisevic-land, the 18-year-old Cilic is unfamiliar with the heated Davis Cup atmosphere, let alone playing an away tie at Wimbledon in front of a crowd who are about to say farewell to one of their best players in the history of the game. I believe the Brits will pull this one out.

So what have we got left? Oh yes, the US is playing in Sweden and we talked about Germany facing Russia for a second. Right, look for the Americans to roll over the Scandinavians, while in Moscow, the home team edges the Germans.
Gotta love Davis Cup.

Speeding through the Open; Fed shines, Henin dominates, Djokopova

2007-09-10T22:18:00.000+01:00

Trying to keep up with all the important matches and everything that's being said and done during a Grand Slam event is a full time job for two weeks in itself. It gets harder when following the US Open from back home in Europe. It's possible to catch some of the day games, but eventually the hard-disk recorder has to come in place. The next day it's playing catch-up before the players awake in New York and start their new day of tennis.

Although it is an annoying way of keeping up with an event, this isn't so much of a problem if you can sit in front of your TV for two weeks straight. However, when you have a ton of other things to take care of and relatives whom you only see once per year come over for the entire second week of the event, life can be tough for a freelance tennis writer.

I managed to watch everything that mattered over the course of the Open, but nothing is as draining for the mind as trying to take in a handful of tennis matches in fast forward mode, day after day.

So, to end the event in style, here are some quick notes on the precedings of the past fortnight.

King Fed rules again

Despite reaching the Montreal final and winning Cincinnati, Federer was far from playing his best tennis during the US Open Series. Especially in Cincinnati, judging from Federer's standards, his form was shocking. Not only was his forehand erratic, the Swiss was slow off his feet and escaped in his matches against Baghdatis and Hewitt, but still managed to win the title.

From his first match in New York, it was clear that Federer had refound his form. But even though the three-time defending champion at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was back in his routine of hitting forehand winners from every position on the court and producing the most incredible passing shots, John Isner and Feliciano Lopez managed to claw a set from the No.1 in the early rounds.

In the quarters, Federer did not create a single break point in his first two sets against Andy Roddick, who I've never seen play better, but he bested the Rod for the 14th consecutive time, not losing a set in the process.

Next up was Nikolay Davydenko, who continued his routine of going up an early break in a set against Federer, only to lose it 5-7 or 6-7. In the third set, Davydenko broke Federer's serve three consecutive times, but still managed to drop it. Federer - Davydenko: 10-0.

Sunday's final was of course a rematch of the recent Montreal encounter between Federer and Djokovic, where the Serb notched his career first win over Fed. Oh, and the Swiss lost the first set in that match after failing to close out a 6-5, 40-0 lead on his own serve.

So, what happened on Sunday? Both players cruised in their servicegames up until 5-all, when a couple of bad misses from Federer handed Djokovic the break. The Djoker took a 40-0 lead, Federer hit a forehand cross court winner on the line, and the Serb was done. Djokovic squandered a total of five set points that game, double faulting and erring his way to a tiebreak. Federer obviously sensed the tightness from his opponent, and coolly kept the ball in play, waiting for Djokovic to make the mistake. It was enough to win the opening set.

When Djokovic challenged a call on his second set point in the second set and saw his forehand was just a fraction long, you just knew where the night was heading. Federer took a two set lead by clinching another tiebreaker, and finished his opponent off in the third set, to become the first player to win the US Open four consecutive times.

Looking back to Montreal, it was Djokovic who kept his cool in the two tiebreakers that match had to offer, but the Serb experienced that staying calm at a Masters Series event is still a whole lot easier than finishing off in a Grand Slam final.

Rafa needs to watch his back

For the past two years the only way was up for Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard was locked in safely at No.2 and was becoming more and more of a challenger for Federer. Even though the No.1 spot has never been within immediate reach, Nadal was starting to look like a sureshot to become the game's next best player. After another mediocre run on the summer hard courts, partly due to physical problems, and losing to Djokovic in Montreal, Nadal has to start worrying for his No.2 position. Rafa is 2300 points behind Federer in the rankings, whilst Djokovic is only 1100 short of the Spaniard.

Nole getting friendly with Maria

Was it a token of friendship, or was Sharapova's support in Djokovic's player's box on Sunday more than just a thank you for the hilariously matching impersonation from the Djoker? I guess we can get forget about Roddapova now.

Djokovic certainly couldn't complain about his entourage. There was some guy called Robert de Niro in his box, too.

Justine confirms No.1 position with outstanding run

She was already the world's highest ranked player before the US Open, but after consecutively beating Serena and Venus Williams in straight sets en route to the title, and not dropping a single set in the entire event, the Belgian showed she is a class above the rest of the field. In the final, Henin outplayed '04 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who scraped four games together in the entire match. It was the second US Open title for Henin, after winning the event for the first time in 2003.

Henin became just the second player, after Martina Hingis, to beat both Williamses in one event. For Henin, it was the first time she beat Serena on a hard court, whilst she notched only her second career win over Venus in the semis, having taken seven losses out of the eight times they played before. Even though the previous encounter against Venus dates back to the 2003 Australian Open, it's still a remarkable achievement for Henin to overcome both sisters back-to-back on their home turf.

Kuzzie rises to No.2

Kuznetsova moves up to the No.2 position with her run to the final for the first time in her career. With all the talk about Henin, the Williamses and Serbian sensations Ivanovic and Jankovic throughout the course of the season, that is a pretty remarkable news fact. Saying Sveta will have a hard time holding on to her position would be the understatement of the year.

US Open: Week 1 Summary

2007-09-03T15:11:00.000+01:00

One week into the year's final Grand Slam event, let's do a quick round up of what we have seen so far.

The Home Team

Serena Williams and sister Venus both won a Grand Slam this year, but other than that, it hasn't been an exceptionally great year for American tennis. Now that the tours are back on American soil, the US men and women start putting up better results again. We've seen plenty of Sam Querrey and John Isner during the US Open Series, not to mention the revival of James Blake and the decent performances of Andy Roddick. In New York, credit goes out to Donald Young, John Isner again, but also Ahsha Rolle, for upsetting Tatiana Golovin is a commendable achievement for the 22-year-old from Miami.

The heavyweights, Roddick, Blake and the Williamses, are all still around and in good shape to do some further damage.

The Upset

Maria Sharapova is out of a Grand Slam event before the fourth round for the first time since 2004, when she lost in three sets to Mary Pierce, also in the third round of the US Open.

The defending champion in New York fell 6-2 in the third set to Agnieszka Radwanska, the 18-year-old world No.32 from Poland. Sharapova led 2-0 in the final set, before she dropped the next six games. That's another shocking loss in 2007 at a Slam for Maria, after being crushed by both Williamses this year in Australia and London, and going down hard to Ana Ivanovic at Roland Garros.

The Young Ones

Agnes Szavay, Victoria Azarenka and the before-mentioned Radwanska. These young Eastern Europeans have totally opened up the bottom half of the draw, taking down Michaella Krajicek and Nadia Petrova (Szavay), Martina Hingis (Azarenka), and of course Maria Sharapova (Radwanska).

Oh, and 16-year-old Tamira Paszek from Austria upset good old Patty Schnyder in that bottom half as well. The days of predictable women's events have long gone.

The Injury

Rafael Nadal will never fall in love with hard courts. Not as long as they keep getting him injured or he sees himself playing five feet behind the baseline all the time. Rafa is having knee problems, but so far he is still enjoying a pretty comfortable draw. On the other end, Federer is looking in great shape.

The Classic

There's only one word to describe the Djokovic - Stepanek second round match: Wow. The tennis wasn't always that great, but these guys both show a lot of character and certainly know how to get a crowd involved in a match. Their contrasting styles made for a highly entertaining encounter to watch. It was too bad the tiebreak was a little bit of an anticlimax the way it played out.

The Breakthrough

Even though I don't rate the Blake - Santoro encounter as high as the Djoker's win over Stepanek, this was pretty darn good to watch as well. Is there anyone on this planet who would debate Santoro's nickname, The Magician?

For Blake, his win over the veteran Frenchman was a career milestone. Entering the match on a 0-9 five set record, the American finally managed to dig out a win in a fifth set.

The Downfall

What is going on with Fernando Gonzalez? The Chilean has been awful for the past months and has never lived up to the form he displayed at the Australian Open in January. Gonzo dropped out in the first round in a five-set loss to Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili. With a lot of points to defend for the rest of the year, Gonzalez will have a tough job maintaining his Top 10 position.

The Letdown

Not in Roger Federer's half of the draw for a change, Lleyton Hewitt looked a serious threat to make a run deep into the second week at the Open. His two biggest rivals in the bottom half, Djokovic and Nadal, were either getting drained or suffering from an injury. Just when his chances were increasing to do well, Hewitt fell to Agustin Calleri from Argentina in the second round. Such losses are not going to get you back into the Top 5, Lleyton.

The Farewell

Unable to rid himself from a lingering back injury, 32-year-old Tim Henman felt there was nothing he could do but retire from the sport. In his last Grand Slam event, Henman pulled off one of his best wins of the year, taking out 27th-seeded Dmitry Tursunov in four sets, the Russian who had beaten him in five of their six previous meetings. Hard-hitting Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ended Henman's Grand Slam career in the second round. Henman will play his last match at Wimbledon next month, when Great Britain takes on Croatia in a promotion/relegation Davis Cup tie.

The Malfunction

Was someone not paying attention, or did the system screw up itself? Either way, when Nicole Vaidisova challenged a service call in her first round match against Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, Hawk-eye projected the ball hitting the line, followed by the text OUT. After the umpire made an emergency call and the players waited for the decision, the projection was shown again and the text changed to IN.

The Warning

More decision-making drama. Serena Williams was reprimanded by chair umpire Damian Steiner in her third round match against Russian Vera Zvonareva on Friday for reading notes on the changeover. It was a bad call by Steiner, who should have known that players are allowed to read notes on court as long as they brought them with them before the match started. Steiner eventually relented.

US Open Previews: It’s Showtime

2007-08-27T13:29:00.000+01:00

Whenever the US Open rolls around, my mind starts to reflect on the season that has been, and I think to myself, ‘wow, is it September already?’ Of course there are still three months of tennis to be played after the Open, but in a way, the season comes to a close after the champions have been crowned in New York.

Let’s not start commemorating just yet, when there’s still looking ahead to do.

MEN’S PREVIEW

First Quarter

Here’s a nice way to get us going. When was the last time Federer started a Slam not seeded first? And how did the Swiss fare? I wonder if Roger remembers this himself.
Federer will headline the field going for his fourth consecutive US Open title and faces two qualifiers to start his campaign. He might get a shot at America’s new hope, John Isner in the third round. Federer should cruise through to the quarters, where we should be in for a rematch of last year’s final, when Fed takes on Roddick. You know what will happen there.

Semifinal pick: Roger Federer

Second Quarter

Moving down the draw, the second quarter offers us the pick’em section of the tournament. Our contestants for a semifinal spot are Davydenko, Canas, Haas, Baghdatis and Blake. Is it just me or does Davydenko always seem to be involved in these regions? Andy Murray also features in this section, but we can’t expect anything from the Briton just yet. Blake clearly thrives on the American hard courts, but there’s another guy here who loves the show and the big occassion and I’m liking this certain Cypriot to come through here.

Semifinal pick: Marcos Baghdatis

Third Quarter

Exactly one year ago, Lleyton Hewitt destroyed an up-and-coming Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open. The Serb has his eyes set on a rematch though, as the Djoker and Hewitt are scheduled to meet in the fourth round of this year’s event. To get there, Djokovic has some tough hurdles to clear first. Mario Ancic is not a first round opponent he’d be happy with, nor is Radek Stepanek in round two.

Djokovic has established himself as the No.3 player and already showed at Wimbledon he is capable of defeating Hewitt. Hard courts suit the Djoker better than grass, so he should come through here. Hewitt has always performed well in New York though, and if Djokovic is a little drained from his openers, he could easily go down. And then there is the possibility of facing Mikhail Youzhny in the quarters, the Russian who has beaten him twice this year already. Still, Djokovic has developed into a very good match player and that should see him get through to the semis.

Semifinal pick: Novak Djokovic

Fourth Quarter

Not only is this the familiar Rafa corner, special attention goes out to Tim Henman in this bottom quarter, who starts his career ending Grand Slam against one of the players he’d least liked to have faced. Dmitry Tursunov, who leads the Tiger 5-1 head-to-head, will likely go down as the man who ended Henman’s Grand Slam career.

Even though Nadal has yet to come alive during the American hard court summer, Rafa faces no real threats until the fourth round, and I don’t see David Ferrer or David Nalbandian upend the No.2 either. Fernando Gonzalez is hardly a lock for the quarters, leaving the way wide open for Nadal to advance to the semis.

Semifinal pick: Rafael Nadal

Closing Stages

In Cincinnati, Baghdatis couldn’t beat a Federer who was playing some of his worst tennis of the past three, four years. A semifinal run at a Grand Slam event is a great performance for the Bag Man. It ends here.

In the other semifinal, it’s looking like Djokovic will be out of gas again by the time he gets to face Nadal, who, on his turn, is just starting to warm up. Unless Djokovic finds a way to avoid grinding it out in the earlier rounds, this one is for the running man.

I wouldn’t pick anyone else over Federer in this tournament, not with a best-of-five format, but when Nadal faces the Swiss in the final, I’m going with the Spaniard to win his first US Open title.

Champion: Rafael Nadal

THE LADIES

Is this deja vu, or what’s going on here? Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams again feature in the top half of the draw, whilst Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Sharapova are scheduled to meet in a Slam quarterfinal for the third time this season.

First Quarter

Just like Federer, Henin will start her quest for the title in New York against a qualifier, and she too might face an American favorite in the quarters. Andy Roddick is a safer bet to advance to that stage than Serena Williams though, as Serena hasn’t played a match since falling to Henin at Wimbledon. If anyone is capable of pulling off miracle runs at big events it’s Serena, but she might as well fall in the early rounds.

Semifinal pick: Justine Henin

Second Quarter

In the Serbian quarter with Jankovic and Ivanovic, we also find Venus Williams. Jankovic has a nice draw into the last eight, where she will face the winner of her younger compatriot versus Venus. Ivanovic could be a future Slam winner, but Ana still has some maturing to do to beat the more experienced players on the big stage. I’m picking Venus in this one, though I believe Jankovic will make the semis.

Semifinal pick: Jelena Jankovic

Third Quarter

Svetlana Kuznetsova is coming off a tournament win in New Haven, but the third-seeded Russian was far from playing at her best throughout the week. The draw in NY has been kind to Kuzzie and she remains the favorite to reach the last four. Nadia Petrova looks like her biggest challenger in the quarterfinals, although Michaella Krajicek is a dark horse in Petrova’s section.

Semifinal pick: Svetlana Kuznetsova

Fourth Quarter

Here we have Chakvetadze and Maria’s part of the draw. Both Chaky and Pova are the overwhelming favorites to come through their sections, though Patty Schnyder might give Anna C. a run for her money in the fourth round. Even though Sharapova has beaten her compatriot on all three occasions the two squared off in 2007, I believe Chakvetadze should be able to seriously push Maria in this one. Experience will be a factor in the end, so the defending champion should come through.

Semifinal pick: Maria Sharapova

Closing Stages

Although she has never beaten Henin, Jankovic is due for a win over her rival. Last year at the US Open she squandered a set and a 4-2 lead against the Belgian after blowing up over a line call, but the Serb knows that she has become a contender at the majors and believes she can win them. Sharapova is the routine pick against Kuznetsova, but against a Jankovic who has just beaten her nemesis, Maria will lose her crown.

Champion: Jelena Jankovic

Park the bus and drop off the keys. The road trip has reached its final destination. It’s showtime.

Cincy, Toronto recap: Federer & Henin win, but fail to impress

2007-08-21T16:51:00.000+01:00

Doesn't it all look so familiar. A big Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati where all the top players compete, but where half of them suffer from playing the week before, and a top tier WTA event without most of the tour's stars. Federer wins the men's event, while Henin prevails as the top lady. Is there a better sport for traditionalists than tennis?

Winning a tournament is always a respectable achievement, but when you're the number one men's or women's player, fans tend to expect a certain greatness in the way you play. Neither Federer nor Henin was able to fulfill those expectations last week.

Not only did Federer fail to play his best, he was vulnerable throughout the week, and could well have been taken out by either Marcos Baghdatis in the third round, or Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals. Nicolas Almagro took a set from the Swiss as well, but with the inexperienced and up-and-down Spaniard you never truly felt he could pull the upset.

That was not the case with Baghdatis, who had the first set for the taking, but choked trying to close out on his own serve. The Cypriot was the dominant player throughout the encounter, but Federer escaped when more inexplicable mistakes from Baghdatis near the end of the second set cost him the match. Federer's forehand was shockingly erratic and he was slow on his feet. It carried over to his match against Hewitt in the semifinals, but Federer again came back from behind to win. This time in a third set tiebreak. Hewitt had led 3-2 and with a break of serve in the final set, but the Aussie faltered when it mattered most, just like Baghdatis did.

In the final, Federer pulled off a better performance, but was helped when James Blake, who had played brilliantly against Juan Carlos Ferrero earlier in the tournament, was shanking shots all over the place, never troubling the No.1 in a 6-1 6-4 loss.

Last week was a perfect example of the fact that no matter how well or poor Federer plays, the intimidating factor of being one of the greatest athletes the sport has ever seen is enough for the Swiss to get him through the majority of his matches. As Baghdatis said after losing to the No.1: 'He won because of his name'.

That intimidating factor certainly plays a role in a match featuring Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic. When Jankovic speaks about her rival, whom she is now 0 for 7 against, you get the sense that she doesn't truly believe she has what it takes to beat her. How many times have we seen the following now? Jankovic takes an early lead in a set, but starts to become more defensive each game she gets closer to winning. Henin finds a way to turn previous unforced errors into winners at the right time and comes back to edge out the set.

Such was the story on Sunday, where at times, Henin would hit three or four forehands halfway into the net, or terribly wide, but kept going for the shot and made it count every time it mattered. Jankovic has to learn to stay aggressive throughout the course of a match against Henin, or she will never get a W over the Belgian. Also, that serve is nowhere near Top 10 standards.

Still, Jankovic will be one of the biggest contenders at the US Open, now that Sharapova has reinjured herself, Serena Williams hasn't played a match since Wimbledon and Mauresmo sits one out. Having finally taken some good time off to recharge the batteries after Wimby, Jankovic might get her first Slam singles trophy in New York. Someone will likely have to take out Henin for her though.

Full US Open previews coming this weekend.

Nadal retires, Djokovic flat, but players support back-to-back Masters Series

2007-08-16T18:17:00.000+01:00

The ATP Masters Series inducted a new rule in 2007, where the Top 8 seeds received byes for their first round matches. This to make sure that they can get enough rest in between events, to compete in back-to-back Masters Series tournaments. It was a good move by the ATP, but Cincinnati is still suffering big time from players’ activity in Canada.

Rafael Nadal retired in his match against Juan Monaco, trailing 6-7(5) 0-2, with arm cramps and dizziness. Radek Stepanek, another semifinalist in Montreal, sustained back problems in his match against Mardy Fish, and was beaten in straights by David Ferrer in the second round.

And then there was the case of Novak Djokovic. The Montreal victor dropped the first set of his match against Carlos Moya, lost his opening service game in the second set, and didn’t make a real effort to get back into the match. Moya played excellent throughout the encounter, but it was clear that Djokovic wasn’t going to go all out on the day from the beginning. The Serb complained about feeling tired, but that’s what happens when you just played a full week against the best players in the world, and decide to play a doubles match the day after you arrive in Cincinnati.

Roger Federer was not affected by fatigue. The Swiss played a solid match against French qualifier Julien Benneteau and looked eager to perform after his surprise loss to Djokovic on Sunday. In his press conference, Federer said that he prefers to have back-to-back Masters Series events, over having an extra week off in between. “I’d rather have it back-to-back,” he stated. “Absolutely.”

In fact, the majority of the players like the consecutive tournaments. And so does Djokovic. “I support back-to-back, and 95% of the players which I talked to support back-to-back tournaments,” the Djoker said. Now all he’s got to do is learn to pull from doubles after just winning a MS title the week before.

Nadal and Djokovic may have been the highest seeded casualties, they were certainly not the only ones. Richard Gasquet retired with a hand injury against Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray expectedly went down to Marcos Baghdatis, Ivan Ljubicic fell to Spain’s Nicolas Almagro in straights (what’s going on Ivan?), Robredo was crushed by Jarkko Nieminen and Fernando Gonzalez succumbed to Juan Carlos Ferrero, although I’m not sure we can call Gonzo’s loss much of a surprise anymore.

The list goes on. 15th-seeded Guillermo Canas is losing form, as he was ousted by countryman Juan Martin Del Potro. Mario Ancic posted a great comeback win over Tommy Haas, and Sam Querrey pulled off quite an upset in taking out No.10 Mikhail Youzhny. The big-serving American teen has a great shot at making his first Masters Series quarterfinal, as he meets Argentine Juan Monaco in the third round.

The other two Americans face tougher draws, as Andy Roddick takes on David Ferrer and James Blake meets Juan Carlos Ferrero. Blake did well to beat Nicolas Kiefer on Wednesday, but he is still far from playing the kind of tennis that got him to No.4 in the world last year. Blake hasn’t won one of three meetings against Ferrero, most recently falling to the Musquito at Wimbledon. His other two losses both came here in Cincinnati. I’m picking the Spaniard again in this one. As for Roddick, he should be able to down Ferrer.

Roger Federer probably faces his toughest test en route to the final in his third round match against Marcos Baghdatis. If the Cypriot plays his best, this should be fun.

Djokovic makes three out of two; Federer and Nadal face new rival

2007-08-13T18:04:00.000+01:00

His win over Roddick was solid. His coup over Nadal was excellent. His triumph over Federer was unheard of. There’s a new champ in town and he has taken the place by storm.

Novak Djokovic has done the unthinkable in beating Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in consecutive matches and has now officially become an elite member of the game. Sorry Andy, your Top 3 days are numbered.

When Djokovic announced at the start of the season he wanted to break the Top 10 this year and ultimately own the number one position, many jumped on the Serb and called him arrogant. To become a great sportsman though, one has to belief in their abilities, and there’s no doubt that the young man from Belgrade trusts in his tennis.

Djokovic ran out to a 3-0 lead in the first set against Federer, mostly because the Swiss king was shanking every forehand he hit. Within minutes, order was restored and the match was tied at 3-all. Did the young challenger fold after quickly losing his lead? No. Djokovic remained calm and focused until he blew a 40-0 lead at 5-all to fall down a break. Losing such a crucial game would certainly justify breaking a racket. But Djokovic, not known for keeping a poker face throughout a match, stayed relaxed and kept concentrating on the job at hand.

Perhaps this change of attitude made Federer a little nervous himself. Out of the blue, Federer shockingly lost a 40-0 lead serving to close out the set. Djokovic had been playing a little below par and not moving as well as he could, nor was he playing with enough aggressiveness to take down his opponent, but when the Djoker sniffed his chance after Federer overhit a forehand and dumped a backhand in the net on his first two set points, the Serb seemed to come alive. After a hard-fought game with numerous set and break points, it was Djokovic who screamed a forehand winner down the line to get back his opponent’s serve and send the set into a tiebreak.

Djokovic did not falter on the big occassion as it was Federer who failed to step up and convincingly went down 7-2 in the breaker.

In the second set, Djokovic could not keep up his high level of play from the end of the first set. Serving at 1-2, he faced 0-40, but thanks to three unforced errors from Federer, the Djoker managed to hold for 2-all.

It would be the last game Djokovic would win that set, as his unforced error count was going up, especially on the forehand side.

After losing four consecutive games to drop the set 6-2, Djokovic took a toilet break to refocus on what was coming. The Serb did a good job resetting himself, as he immediately broke serve in the first game ofthe third set. Federer overhit a backhand down the line, going for the winner at 15-40.

Djokovic had no problems consoling the break, impressively following up with three consecutive love service games. With his biggest career win in sight, there was a little tightness at 4-3. Federer had gotten to 15-30 on Djoko’s serve after hitting a forehand winner that clipped the net cord (and could have gone wide had it not touched it) and a well-placed backhand that forced Djokovic into an error. At this crucial point, Djokovic hit a powerful serve out wide which Federer could only block back half-high into mid court. Djokovic unleashed his forehand which should have been a winner, but ended up in the net instead. Federer pounced on his first break opportunity with an aggressive forehand return off a second serve that proved too much for Djokovic. The game was square at 4-all.

Both men easily held serve for a deciding tiebreak. Interestingly, Djokovic dropped only one point on serve the whole set, outside the game he was broken. He continued this streak into the tiebreak, where Federer again failed to score a point off the Djoker’s serve.

Forehand errors ultimately cost the No.1 the match. Federer hit two forehands long and shanked one off his frame. Djokovic kept the ball in play in the tiebreak without seizing to be aggressive when he could. He was consistent enough in the rallies not to miss a single shot. This reflected most of the match, but try coming up with the goods when you’re a 20-year-old facing one of the best players who ever played the game in the final of a major tournament.

Like I wrote in my earlier piece on the Djoker this week, I can’t believe how this guy has gone from being mentally unstable on the big points to becoming as cool as he has over just a few months time. This kid is truely amazing, and so is the state of men’s tennis right now. Bring on Cincinnati.

Djokovic ousts Roddick, Three-way battle for No.1 in 2008?

2007-08-11T18:17:00.000+01:00

One year ago, Novak Djokovic had just cracked the Top 30 after picking up his first title on the Dutch clay of Amersfoort and reaching the final in Umag the next week. On Monday, the Serb will be the No.3 player in the world again after advancing to the semifinals of the Masters Series event in Montreal with a 7-6(4) 6-4 win over Andy Roddick.

Djokovic has made incredible strides over the past year. His real breakthrough came during the American spring season, when the Djoker advanced to the semifinals in Indian Wells and won the Masters Series event in Miami. A few weeks before, I witnessed Djokovic take on a red hot Mikhail Youzhny in Rotterdam. While it was clear that the gifted 19-year-old was becoming a world class player, his net game was mediocre and he had the tendency to break down or go for questionable plays on the important points.

Djokovic was up a set and held match points in the second set tiebreak, but missed some easy shots to let Youzhny back in the match. In the final set, the Serb lost a 5-3 advantage and went down 7-5.

The name of Richard Gasquet popped into my head. After his unnecessary loss to Youzhny, and having the Djoker seen struggling on important points in matches before, I couldn’t help but thinking this guy could well have gone down Baby Fed’s route in becoming another gifted underachiever. I was quickly proven wrong.

Six months later, Djokovic has become another player. Working with Mark Woodforde has increased his feeling around the net immensely and winning a lot of matches has obviously been a big mental boost. Djokovic no longer falters on big points, as he showed again Friday afternoon in his solid win over Andy Roddick. The American actually holds the best tiebreak record on tour in 2007, but Djokovic was the coolest player came crunch time. Talking about tiebreaks, anyone remember his Wimbledon performance?

I’d really like to see Djokovic take another shot at Roger Federer. The last time they met was back in February in Dubai, when Djokovic was still imploding on the big points. Nole has shown he can hang with Nadal on a hard court, and with his improved composure, he could really challenge Federer, too.

After beating Roddick, Djokovic is now already firmly establishing himself as the No.3 player. That’s a pretty amazing feat, considering it has only been 5 months since the 20-year-old cracked the Top 10. The question now is, how will the Djoker deal with the week-in-week-out pressure of being an elite player? Quite frankly, Djokovic has been zoning for the past six months, if not his whole career on the ATP Tour. The only way Djokovic has known so far is up, but there will come a time when things don’t go as smoothly. Whether it be an injury, or a form crisis, dealing with such setbacks eventually determines how big of a player one will be.

If Djokovic builds on his current roll, we’ll be looking at a genuine contender at the Slams in 2008, and a threat to the No.1 position.

Nole vs Rafa, part VII

In Saturday’s evening match, Djokovic will take on Rafael Nadal for the sixth time this season. Nadal has won the last three encounters, but Djokovic hasn’t been fully fit in either one of those losses. The last time these two played on hard courts, was when the Djoker beat Nadal in Miami.

Rafa is still not playing his best tennis, though he performed pretty well in the third set of his win over Frank Dancevic. Amazingly, Nadal put in all his first serves in that final set, and he was not just kicking it in either. Credit goes out to Dancevic though, who really played an incredible match in front of an electric Canadian crowd. Canada isn’t known for its tennis greats, so the 11.000 fans at the Rogers Cup were surely going to stand behind their man in a big way. And boy did Franky deliver.

Admittedly, I haven’t seen a ton of Dancevic’ matches. But I don’t believe the 22-year-old has ever played a better match in his life, or he would have been a Top 50 player at least. Dancevic was as aggressive as he could be, attacking Nadal’s serves and moving in to the net whenever he had the opportunity. The Canadian showed some good hands on his volleys, although in the end he was just a little too erratic all-around to score the upset.

Judging on their current form, Djokovic doesn’t have to go down to Nadal. Slowly but surely though, the Spaniard is getting better. This could be the match of the tournament.

In the opening semifinal, Federer will take on the resurgent Radek Stepanek. The Czech has been on a good run lately, winning Los Angeles and taking out Gonzalez, Haas and Davydenko here in Montreal. Meanwhile, he has been clowning around on court, getting the fans behind him. I haven’t been particularly impressed by the way Stepanek has been playing though, and he will a perfect serve & volleying day if he wants to trouble Federer. Mr. Hingis will surely find a way to enjoy himself on court, but Federer should hit through his practical jokes.

Mathieu lets Nadal off the hook, Federer vs. Hewitt

2007-08-10T17:17:00.000+01:00

Paul-Henri Mathieu is enjoying his career best ranking of 23, so it was clear that Rafael Nadal was in for a real test when he faced the Frenchman in the third round of the Rogers Masters in Montreal. That the recent Gstaad winner would have the match for the taking early in the second set was less expected.

Mathieu had won the opening set 6-3, after dominating Nadal in the majority of the points. The Spaniard was spraying unforced errors off both sides and went back to basics by just keeping the ball in play. Mathieu eagerly grabbed the initiative and earned the opening set on a single break. At 1-1 in the second set with Nadal serving, the 26-year-old Mathieu showed why he has never broken the Top 20 yet. The Geneva resident went up 15-40 but failed twice to put a forehand return in play off a second serve.

Mathieu was handed another break point when Nadal shanked an easy forehand well wide, but unlike PHM, Rafa knows how to step up on the important points. He got an exact same forehand after the one he easily missed on deuce, but this time smoked it for a winner. There was a fourth break point for Mathieu in that game. Nadal aced it.

Despite losing that tough game, Mathieu would not give in just yet. He cruised through his next service game and created another break point at 2-2. Nadal put up a sitter half court, but Mathieu smacked his backhand in the net. On the next point, the Frenchman powered that same shot from a tougher position in court into the forehand corner of Nadal, but Rafa scrambled the ball back and eventually passed Mathieu at the net before finishing off an easy putaway. It was the point of the match, and not only in the beauty department. Nadal let out a big vamos and left his mediocre play behind him. He immediately broke serve in the next game and claimed the set, 6-3.

As the Spaniard became more solid, Mathieu was going for increasingly desperate shots. The Frenchman undid an early break of serve in the third set, but after falling behind once more and seeing a forehand winner overturned with Nadal serving at 3-2 30-30, it was game over.

Nadal was playing decent tennis in the last set and a half, but the No.2 will need to further improve to really be succesful over the hard court season. Rafa has lost a bit of his aggressiveness, which could have cost him already in his opener against Safin. Nadal started out playing close to the baseline and going for his shots, but after losing the break of serve in the first set, it seemed Rafa quickly lost the confidence in his shotmaking ability, reverting to the way he played during last year’s summer hard court swing. If Safin would have consistently been able to smack groundies inside the court, like Berdych and Youzhny did so well in 2006, Nadal woud once again have been overpowered. Against Mathieu, it was the same story. No more post-season clay tournaments next year Rafa.

Federer cruises, Hewitt survives

After beating serving machine Ivo Karlovic in two easy tiebreaks to kick off his US Open Series campaign, Roger Federer only dropped one game per set to Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini, who had taken out Andy Murray 2-and-2 in the second round. Murray may skip Cincinnati next week because he is not feeling fully confident about the state of his wrist yet. The Scotsman is feeling reluctant hitting full power forehands.

In the quarterfinals Federer will face an old rival in Lleyton Hewitt. The 26-year-old Aussie was on court for 3 hours and 12 minutes on Thursday and survived two match points in his win over Slovak veteran Dominik Hrbaty.

It will be the 19th time Federer and Hewitt will square off. Hewitt dominated the rivalry in their younger years, while Federer has won the last nine meetings. The balance currently sits at 11-7 Federer.

The last time these two greats met was back in 2005, when Federer needed four sets to defeat Hewitt in the US Open semis. Nearly two years later, it goes unsaid that Federer will once again be favored to win, but Hewitt could pose a real threat. Despite having lost the last nine encounters to his Swiss opponent, it’s been quite some time since their last meeting and Hewitt has a real desire to get back to the pinnacle of the game again. He’ll want this win more than anything. Furthermore, Hewitt is a player who will always believe in his chances and therefore Federer needs to be at his best to avoid getting into trouble.

Roddick vs. Djokovic

Another great match in prospect. Roddick easily routed Marcos Baghdatis in the third round on Thursday, but in all fairness, there was not much Andy had to do to take the Cypriot out. Baghdatis was nowhere near his best, producing one easy miss after the other. Roddick was serving well and he was effective with his slice backhand, which stayed low and had quite some stick on it. Against Djokovic he will have to do more than just keep the ball in play though, because the Serb has the edge when it comes to exchanging groundies. Roddick needs a great serving day and keep the points short to eliminate the red hot Djoker.

US Open Series heating up: Welcome back Roger and Rafa

2007-08-06T21:04:00.000+01:00

The US Open Series is entering its fourth week, but for many tennis fans, they haven’t truly started up until this point. Is there anything organisers could have done to prevent this mindset? Not really, because the casual tennis fan only cares about events Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are playing in, and they only appear at the two big warm-ups in Canada and Cincinnati before heading to Flushing Meadows. Of course when you’re Rafael Nadal, you add a post-Wimbledon clay court event in Europe to your schedule. Much better than going on a road trip, no?

Meanwhile the ladies have had their first major event of the summer over in San Diego last week, where Maria Sharapova played her best tennis of the season to storm through the field. Sharapova was solid from the back court and she looks to have refound the confidence in her serve now that her shoulder isn’t bothering her anymore. There were some slight lapses in her game against Chakvetadze in the semis and in her final against Schnyder, but she should become more consistent by playing more matches. Sharapova will feature in LA this week and then head to Toronto straight after, but don’t count on the Russian to make the trip to Canada if she goes deep this week. She still needs to take it easy on her body.

Unlike 99% of the WTA Tier I events, most of the ATP Masters Series actually feature ALL top players. As is the case in Montreal, where the entire Top 20 is entered in the event.

With the return of the game’s two biggest assets in Federer and Nadal, there are a bunch of questions that have been a hot topic ever since Wimbledon. Will Nadal form a serious threat to Federer over the US summer circuit? How will Federer fare on the hard courts now, after his disappointing spring season at Indian Wells and Miami? Can Novak Djokovic become a real threat for Rafa and Roger? And how succesful will Andy Murray’s return be?

Looking at the draw, we have a potential blockbuster second round coming up in Safin vs. Nadal. Interestingly enough, the two have never met before. Either way, Nadal will get a tough start to the hard court season. If Safin loses his opener, Rafa will face his good friend from Wimbledon, hard-hitting Swede Robin Soderling.

Talking about first time encounters, how’s this for a highly anticipated match-up: Andy Roddick is scheduled to meet Novak Djokovic in the quarters. The Djoker could really position himself as the No.3 player he feels he is with a win here.

Roger Federer will start his campaign against the winner of the serving contest between Max Mirnyi and Ivo Karlovic. I’ll pick Dr.Ivo in two tiebreaks. Should Roger survive the Croatian bombing in the second round, Andy Murray looks to be a lock as his third round opponent, if the Scotsman is indeed fully fit. Federer will be keen on getting back at Murray after his straight set loss to the Briton in Cincinnati last year.

Lleyton Hewitt has already beaten Juan Carlos Ferrero in an entertaining match, and I’m liking his chances to beat Blake next and advance to meet Federer in the quarters.

The second quarter is pretty open with Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Gonzalez, Mikhail Youzhny and Tommy Haas. Not to forget Los Angeles champ Radek Stepanek, who is getting back in form after a lingering back injury.

Still, no matter which player would be in what section of the draw, there will always be two major favorites for the title. In fact, it’s hard to see any other player hold up the trophy on Sunday, other than Federer or Nadal. It’s nice to see them try though.

Federer wins in five, but Nadal brings No.1 race alive

2007-07-09T21:56:00.000+01:00

The Federer — Nadal rivalry has been hyped for the past year-and-a-half or so, but unfortunately their recent matches never lived up to the high standards. Nadal owned Federer in Monte Carlo, Federer overpowered an exhausted Rafa in Hamburg, and at Roland Garros last month, Nadal defeated his rival in four, not so high-quality sets.

In Sunday’s Wimbledon final, both tennis greats brought their A-game, which resulted in possibly the best match Federer and Nadal have ever played against each other. The Rome final in 2006 was excellent, but due to the big occasion, and the fact that Nadal was so close to beating the Swiss No.1 on his favorite court, this ranks just a little higher to me.

Federer had not played a single five set match on grass after his legendary win over Pete Sampras in the 2001 Championships. He has definitely not been on the verge of losing at Wimbledon after his exit to Mario Ancic in 2002.

Rafael Nadal might have missed the opportunity of a lifetime to grab a Wimbledon trophy, when he failed to convert one of four break points in the fifth set against Federer. Still, judging from the Spaniard’s performance, he’ll definitely get another look at the title in the future.

Nadal’s grass court game almost doesn’t compare to the way he reached the final at SW19 in 2006. He has changed his service motion a little and added a tad more spice to it, but what has been instrumental in his progress, is how Rafa has improved his service returns. Nadal now stands on the baseline to receive, but more importantly, he moves forward when hitting the return. He cuts of the angles and doesn’t take a huge backswing when facing a 130 mph bomb. Throughout the tournament, it impressed me how well the Spaniard made this huge transition, especially coming off the clay courts, where Rafa averages on standing three to four metres behind the baseline for the return.

The reason Federer won on Sunday was not because he was playing better than Nadal, it was merely because of the effectiveness of his serve. When Nadal got himself into a point, he was the dominant player. Rafa did a great job in not giving Federer the opportunity to take the initiative in the rally, by hitting every ball aggressively and deep into the back court. I actually felt Nadal was more dominant in the rallies in Sunday’s final, than at Roland Garros, when he would give Federer lots of soft, short balls, on which the Swiss No.1 failed to pounce.

The outcome of the match in Paris depended a lot on how Federer dealt with the initiative he was given. He controlled the match up until the fourth set, and could have overpowered his rival to a similar fashion as in Hamburg. Still, it was Rafa who led 2-1 in sets, but it wasn’t until this point that the Spaniard began to take control and dominate play. He had definitely not been the dominant player before, but merely benefited from his opponent’s missed opportunities.

Nadal would not get away with hitting short on grass and he knew it. To execute the way he did though, was an astonishing accomplishment. If his forehand down the line at 1-1, 30-40 in the final set would have stayed inside, Federer’s reign at Wimbledon could very well have come to an end. From the Swiss’ point of view, it was an excellent performance to overcome four breakpoints early in that final set and strike one blow to Nadal to ensure his fifth consecutive title. There was an amazing amount of pressure on Federer not to lose that decisive set, not just due to the fact there was a fifth Wimbledon title to be won, but even more so because his supremacy in the men’s game was at stake.

With three Masters Series titles, a French Open crown and a title at Wimbledon, Nadal surely had to be considered the new No.1 player. The Spaniard still leads the 2007 Race after his loss, but with his wins at Wimbledon and in Melbourne, Federer remains tennis’ top dog.

Once again, we are entering the US Open series full of excitement in anticipation of how Federer and Nadal will fare in their quest for the No.1 ranking. Where the Spaniard was perhaps not genuinely considered to be a threat to Federer’s position in 2006, it is unquestionable that Rafa is now closer than ever to his main rival. Federer still has a comfortable lead in the rankings, but with Nadal having not many points to defend over the summer, there is no doubt that the raging bull has his eyes set on becoming the game’s best player. The race is on.

Venus too much for Bartoli, Federer v. Nadal again

2007-07-07T20:10:00.000+01:00

Marion Bartoli had James Bond to turn to in her semifinal against Henin on Saturday, but she was on her own in Sunday’s final against Venus Williams, and consequently succumbed to the three time former champion in straight sets, 6-4 6-1.

Bartoli did not play a bad match by any means, but she was simply outplayed by her more athletic opponent on the other side of the net, who happened to bring not just a little bit of extra experience to the table.

Bartoli was hitting the ball cleanly and with authority, as she did in her matches against Jelena Jankovic and Justine Henin, but Williams moved better around the court and punished the Frenchwoman’s weaker serve.

Idolising Monica Seles, Bartoli hits with two hands from both sides, but the double-handed shots have their effect on the reach she has when on the run. Venus dictated play and managed to create some good angles on her shots to wear the 18th seed out. The crowd was taking to Bartoli, who was seemingly enjoying the experience of playing a Wimbledon final on Centre Court. The 22-year-old fought bravely until the last ball was hit, but playing her best tennis in a long, long time, there was no stopping Venus Williams on her favored grass courts.

Before the women’s final was played, the two men’s semifinals took to the two stadium courts simultanuously, with Federer – Gasquet being scheduled on Centre Court, and Rafael Nadal – Novak Djokovic taking place on Court No.1.

Unfortunately, neither of the two matches brought any of the drama from the day before, when Novak Djokovic bested Marcos Baghdatis after five hours of play, and Richard Gasquet came back from a two set deficit and a break of serve down in the third, to upset Andy Roddick 8-6 in the fifth.

Clearly, the tough matches Djokovic and Gasquet had played on Friday took their toll in their semifinal encounters. The Serb had to retire after two and a half sets to Nadal due to a nasty blister on his foot, and Gasquet felt the pain of an ankle injury in his straight set loss to the four-time defending champion. Still, the two youngsters can look back on an excellent performance at SW19, both debuting in a semifinal at the Championships. Djokovic will move up to a new high ranking of No.3 on Monday, while Gasquet cracks the Top 10 for the first time in his career.

Leaves us with the two finalists. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have already met three times this year, but the rivalry just keeps getting better. Interestingly enough, whether Nadal wins or loses on Sunday, he’ll stay No.1 in the Race, the year-ranking for 2007.

There’s no doubt that Federer will head into Sunday’s final as the big favorite. The Swiss has the chance to tie Bjorn Borg’s record five consecutive wins at Wimbledon, but there is more pressure on Federer’s shoulders. The ten-time Grand Slam champion knows that the No.1 position will be on the line tomorrow, because even though Federer might still own that top ranking statistically if he loses to Nadal, there’s no doubt that Rafa will be considered the true top dog should he win Wimbledon, after the dominant year the Spaniard has been having thusfar.

Federer and Nadal have both won one Grand Slam title in 2007, but whereas Federer has claimed just a single Masters Series crown, Nadal already owns three.

Both players have played some excellent tennis to get to the final, but what could be worrying for Federer, is how much Nadal has improved on the grass compared to last year. Not only is the Spaniard serving better, he is taking the ball early on the return and plays a lot more aggressive than before.

Of course Federer still remains the best player on the surface. Throughout the tournament, he has been serving at a very high level, and his forehand is lethal. However, if the No.1 fails to perform at his best, Nadal has become a genuine threat to do the unthinkable: beating Roger Federer at Wimbledon and taking over as the No.1 player.

I believe Nadal will take at least one set from the Swiss, who has always looked a little off-balance when facing his main rival, but as anyone else did, I picked Federer for the title, and I’m sticking with it. We could be in for a classic though.

Bartoli pulls upset of the year on miraculous day at Wimbledon

2007-07-06T22:20:00.000+01:00

Has this been the most exciting day of tennis in 2007, or what?

After Nadal had easily routed Tomas Berdych in the opening match on Centre Court, I was starting to think, ‘this guy just might seriously challenge for the title this year’.While I was debating this issue to myself, I quickly started to be absorbed by the dogfight going on at Court No.1, where Novak Djokovic and Marcos Baghdatis were throwing everything they had at each other.

Djokovic continued where he’d left off in his match against Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round, and that was winning tiebreaks. The fourth-seeded Serb had won the first set against the Cypriot in a breaker and took the second in similar fashion, pouncing on his first set point at 10-9, after Baghdatis had wasted no less than six setpoints in the tiebreak himself.

Djokovic consequently went up an early break in the third set, and the match looked to be in the bag for the No.5. Little did he know, but Marcos Baghdatis fought back from the huge deficit and tied the score at two sets all after shortly over four hours of play. Djokovic was looking very tired out there and it appeared as if the deciding set would just be a formality for Baghdatis, who appeared to have quite some gas left in the tank.

At this point, Djokovic proved how good of a match player he is. The Roland Garros semifinalist played his heart out, until at 5-all he created the first break point of the set. It was all he needed to clinch the crucial break of serve, and finish the match 7-5 in the fifth after exactly five hours of play.

Despite his great win, Djokovic won’t be too happy looking ahead to tomorrow. He’ll face Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, after having played over nine hours in the last two days. Frankly I don’t think the Serb has any chance at all at upending Rafa, without the proper time to recover. Nadal has convincingly beaten Mikhail Youzhny after a false start, stating he played his best grass match of his career, and also hard-hitting Tomas Berdych posed no problems on the lawns for the second seed.

Djokovic told the BBC after his win that “the crowd have seen one of the best matches at Wimbledon this year for sure”. He was right, but the 20-year-old from Belgrade had no idea that there would be a lot more in store for the rest of the day.

Andy Roddick was the odds on favorite to beat the talented Richard Gasquet en route to another clash with Roger Federer at Wimbledon in the semifinals. After having comfortably won the first two sets 6-4, 6-4, and leading with a break in the third, nobody in the stands would have given his young opponent the least bit of a chance to turn the match around. But, at this crazy day at Wimbledon, where not even a single drop of rain fell from the clouds, nothing was impossible.

Gasquet finally showed why he had been considered the next big thing in tennis ever since he was just nine years old. Hitting one formidable backhand after the other, the Frenchman clawed back into the match. The No.12-seed won two tiebreaks to send the match into a final set and stayed strong mentally to edge out Roddick 8-6 in the fifth.

I have never seen Gasquet pump his fist as often as in his match against Roddick, nor have I witnessed the Frenchman step it up on the big points the way he did on Friday. Undoubtedly, this has been Richard Gasquet’s break-out match. Currently ranked No.14, the Frenchman will make his Top 10 debut on Monday and could pose serious trouble to Roger Federer in the semifinals if he plays like he did against Roddick.

Federer dropped a set against Juan Carlos Ferrero in his quarterfinal match, which could really only have happened on this particular day.

Before I caught the end of the Gasquet – Roddick match, there had been a certain women’s semifinals match over on Centre Court. Originally scheduled for Court No.1, Justine Henin’s encounter against Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli had been moved to the big one due to the extroardinary long match between Djokovic and Baghdatis before.

Venus Williams had already qualified for the final following a commanding win over Ana Ivanovic, and I was starting to think about how she would match up against Henin in the final on Saturday. The Belgian was dominating her opponent and took the first set 6-1. Surprise, surprise. After immediately breaking serve in the second set, Bartoli looked ready to be demolished by the No.1.

However, all of a sudden, Henin started to make a lot of unforced errors with her forehand. My thoughts went back to her win over Serena Williams in the quarters, when she went through a similar lapse in the second set.

Bartoli started to regain confidence, and battled bravely to stay in the match. The 18th seed upped her level and managed to increasingly take control of points. Henin remained erratic on her forehand wing and dropped the second set. She looked up to her coach, Carlos Rodrigues, clearly worrying about what had just happened.

Still, if Henin managed to get back to the level she displayed in the first set, there would be no reason for concern, one would expect.

Not exactly. At the beginning of the third set, Henin was simply being overpowered by Bartoli. The ’06 finalist at SW19 played some good defensive tennis, but her opponent would hit one screamer after another, dominating the No.1 in almost every rally. Two weeks ago, Henin had easily beaten Bartoli in the semifinals of Eastbourne, 6-1 6-3, but after letting her opponent back into it in the second set, the Belgian had lost control and saw the match slip away from her. Bartoli was hitting everything and raced out to an incredible 5-0 lead, before she eventually closed it out 6-1, pulling off the biggest upset in women’s tennis since, I don’t know when.

Bartoli will face Venus Williams in the final on Saturday. Surely her dream must come to an end against the three-time Wimbledon titlist. If not, we’ll be looking at one of the most unexpected Grand Slam champions of all time.

Henin dominates Serena, but watch out for Venus

2007-07-05T11:55:00.000+01:00

Despite the close scoreline, there could be only one winner in the Justine Henin – Serena Williams blockbuster quarterfinal. Henin dominated Serena for the entire match, even though a couple of loose games from the Belgian in the second set gave her opponent a glimmer of hope.

Henin forced the early break in the final set however, and ran away to a 5-1 lead. Naturally, Serena wouldn’t give up until the last ball was hit, and it saw the Australian Open champion come back to 5-3, putting real pressure on Henin to serve for the match for a second time. The No.1 seed was looking shaky, but Serena couldn’t pounce once more, and after a brilliant drop shot from Henin and a couple of unforced errors from her opponent, she closed out the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

It was interesting to see how both players held up mentally. Halfway through the second set, it seemed Henin started to realise this was her golden opportunity to beat Serena on her least favorite court, and all of a sudden, her forehand started to break down, like it had done so frequently in the past. Still, over the past year or so, Henin really improved her weaker wing and we have hardly seen her falter on the shot any longer.

What struck me most though, was that Serena never really appeared to notice the fact that her opponent was starting to lack confidence on her forehand. Throughout the match, Williams hit the majority of her shots to Justine’s favored backhand, getting into backhand rallies, even though Serena was having problems on that wing herself. Has anyone ever seen so many slices come off her racket?

Serena said in her press conference she was having problems with her left thumb, when trying to hit a two-hander. She had fallen on her hand in the third set of her match against Hantuchova, and in the past two days the thumb had really swollen. Whatever it was, it was obvious Serena could not execute her backhand the way she would have wanted. And not being able to hit freely surely ain’t going to cut it against the hottest player on tour of the moment.

So, yes, I was wrong in my predictions, even though I still believe that had Serena been fully fit (read: no calf strain and thumb injury), she would have taken out Justine. Henin is now the absolute favorite for the title at SW19, although an unexpected surge from Venus Williams could mean trouble if the two meet in the final.

Venus dominated Maria Sharapova in their fourth round match on Centre Court, before Henin clinched her semifinal spot. The No.23 seed was playing several levels better than she had done so far in the tournament, and it’s been a while since she had shown such good form. Sharapova’s thoughts must have gone back to earlier this year, when that other Williams completely dominated her in Melbourne.

Venus might have taken her inspiration from two years ago, when she edged Sharapova in the semifinals here at Wimbledon en route to a surprise run to the title. Seeded 14th at the time, she become the lowest seed ever to win at SW19.

The 27-year-old owns a stunning 7-1 record over Henin, having lost their first meeting, but the pair haven’t met in the past four years.

Still, Venus has a long way to go to get to the final, whilst Marion Bartoli is the last hurdle for Henin to take. The Frenchwoman has played some good tennis getting to the semis, but there is no way she will upset the No.1.

Can Serena lose the title now?

2007-07-02T22:22:00.000+01:00

I have taken some heat for predicting another Serena Williams championship run here at Wimbledon, after having previously picked her to win Roland Garros.

Like I wrote in my previews for both the French Open, as for Wimbledon, I believe the tournament winner will come out of the quarterfinal the two of them will play against each other. Making the previews for the Grand Slam in Paris, I was aware of the fact that Justine was the better clay court player, but I believed Serena’s mentality would get her past the Belgian. However, as the younger Wiliams described herself after their match, the real Serena never showed up. Still, all the credit goes to Henin, because the queen of clay was in a league of her own throughout the tournament.

Now, let’s get back to where we’re at right now and what happened on Centre Court in the early evening of the second Monday of Wimbledon. Serena Williams overcame a calf strain in her left leg en route to an epic three set win over Daniela Hantuchova, the 10th seed from Slovakia. Had rain not set in just shortly after Serena cramped up, there was hardly a chance the ’02 and ’03 Wimbledon champion was going to win this match. Now, even though Serena lost the tiebreaker coming out of the locker room two hours later, and was nowhere near being a hundred percent fit, the injury had improved enough, so that the seventh-seeded American could will her way to victory in the final set. Not for the first time in her career, Serena’s intensity brought out the best in her, but more importantly, it intimidated Hantuchova into producing more and more unforced errors.

I think it’s fair to say the real Serena Williams showed up today, and I don’t think she will be leaving anytime soon. Serena will now get another shot at Henin in their quarterfinal match on Wednesday, and assuming she will be fully fit by then, her chances to beat the Belgian have only increased. If the Roland Garros beatdown from Henin was not enough of a motivation for Serena, then the extra adrenaline and confidence she will take with her out of the Hantuchova win will surely add fuel to the Serena flame. Henin might be playing the best tennis of her career, I am sticking with the Williams determination.

Enough about Serena and Justine, Wimbledon 2007 has a lot more going on. That is, in between the 347 rain delays we’ve had so far. We have Nikolay Davydenko on the verge of making his first ever fourth round at Wimbledon, even though the Russian had only won one match on grass in his career before 2007. Then there’s the comeback of former No.4 Nicolas Kiefer from Germany, who is giving Novak Djokovic a run for his money in the third round, and 18-year-old Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek took out last week’s Ordina Open champion Anna Chakvetadze and is through to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Oh, and let’s not forget our newest Serbian star, Janko Tipsarevic, who made it into the fourth round following a win over Fernando Gonzalez.

Still, what has impressed me most so far has been the performance from the 16-year-old Tamira Paszek. The young girl from Austria outplayed Elena Dementieva from the baseline in a cracking match and has a very good shot at making her first ever major quarterfinal. Paszek will take on Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, but the Russian’s game doesn’t suit the grass courts very well and she has been up and down throughout the tournament so far. Watch for Paszek’s backhand. It’s brutal.

Wimbledon – Last Minute Previews

2007-06-26T14:25:00.000+01:00

I know I’m a little bit late with my previews, and it’s been a while since I posted here, but I’ve been reporting for TennisReporters.net and TennisInfo.be last week from the Ordina Open in Rosmalen, where numerous rain delays almost pushed back the finals to Sunday. For an exclusive interview with Jelena Jankovic, head over to TennisReporters.net.

Now then, time to take a look at the draws for what most people call the biggest tournament in tennis.

THE GENTLEMEN

First Quarter

For the first time in his career, Roger Federer enters Wimbledon not having played a warmup event on grass. Former greats such as John McEnroe and Pete Sampras have regretted their decision to the do same, when they were consequently bounced out of SW19 before finals day. Still, it would be insane to bet against the Swiss not making the semis.

Semifinal pick: Roger Federer

Second Quarter

Forget about the clay, Andy Roddick is back on his favorite surface and ready to do some damage. The No.3 is coming off a win in Queens and has been drawn in the lightest section of the tournament.

Semifinal pick: Andy Roddick

Third Quarter

This is where things get interesting. Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian, Marcos Baghdatis, Lleyton Hewitt and Novak Djokovic are the seeds to watch, but don’t look past dangerous floaters such as Gael Monfils, Max Mirnyi and Ivo Karlovic. Who to pick from this section? Forget about Davydenko, the Russian hasn’t even won a handful of matches on grass in his career. I’m liking Hewitt’s chances, if he can get past Novak Djokovic in the fourth round. The 2002 champion will face either Baghdatis, Nalbandian or Monfils in the quarters and his experience should get him past that hurdle.

Semifinal pick: Lleyton Hewitt

Fourth Quarter

Rafael Nadal will have a much tougher road to travel should he make it to another Wimbledon final, compared to last year’s draw. The Spaniard opens against Mardy Fish and is scheduled to meet his nemesis Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round. I like the Russian’s chances, if he is no longer bothered by his lower back injury, and he should be able to best Tomas Berdych or possibly Jonas Bjorkman in the quarters to advance to his second major semifinal, after reaching the last four at the US Open last year.

Semifinal pick: Mikhail Youzhny

It’s turning out to be a fairly good draw for Hewitt, who won’t meet Federer before the final this time. Hewitt should win against Youzhny, and the Aussie might take a set off Federer in the championship match, but the grass courts belong to the Swiss No.1, who will emulate Bjorn Borg’s five consecutive titles won at Wimbledon.

Champion: Roger Federer

THE LADIES

First Quarter

If you liked the Roland Garros women’s draw, you’re going to love this one. Justine Henin and Serena Williams highlight the top quarter of the draw, just as in Paris. Serena was flat in her match against Henin at the French, but I’m liking the American’s chances at the lawns of the All England Club. The winner of the tournament will likely come again out of this match, but I think Serena’s power game will have more impact on the fast surface, and so Henin will have to wait another year for her career Grand Slam.

Semifinal pick: Serena Williams

Second Quarter

Jelena Jankovic and Anna Chakvetadze are the highest seeds in the second quarter, and although the Russian has a tricky third round opponent in Michaella Krajicek, I don’t think the Dutchwoman will be able to take last week’s Ordina Open champion out. Jankovic and Chakvetadze should both reach the quarterfinals, in what would be a replay of their final in The Netherlands last Saturday. Since Jankovic will be playing for the tenth straight week, I’m liking Chakvetadze to pull the upset.

Semifinal pick: Anna Chakvetadze

Third Quarter

Can we say Amelie Mauresmo is back to her old self? The 2006 Wimbledon champion played an excellent event in Eastbourne last week, where she narrowly lost in the final to Justine Henin. Mauresmo feels comfortable on grass and has a great draw to the semis. I don’t think Ana Ivanovic is skilled enough on the lawns yet to take her out in the quarters.

Semifinal pick: Amelie Mauresmo

Fourth Quarter

We have two potential semifinalists in this quarter. Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova will do battle on what is considered to be both players’ favorite surface, in the fourth round of The Championships. I’m thinking Sharapova will avenge her 2005 loss at Wimbledon to Venus and advance to the last four. The second-seeded Russian has had some good match practice in Birmingham, where she was edged by Jelena Jankovic in the final. Venus on the other hand hasn’t shown much all year, and even though she has the ability to surprise everyone and make a run to the final, I’m favoring Maria.

Semifinal pick: Maria Sharapova

Anna Chakvetadze is a gifted player, but Serena Williams should comfortably take her out in the semis. I believe Mauresmo will beat Sharapova in a 2006 Wimbledon semifinal rematch, because the Russian could start feeling her shoulder again after the busy weeks she’s had. In the final, I’m going with Serena to win it all.

Champion: Serena Williams

Jankovic fatigued, but confident ahead of Wimbledon

2007-06-25T23:35:00.000+01:00

Jelena: 'I feel like I’m the No. 2 player'

FROM THE ORDINA OPEN IN ROSMALEN – She used to be a bit of a mental roller coaster, but Jelena Jankovic says experience has helped her improve her focus and not to worry about having lost a point anymore. In her semifinal match against Dinara Safina at the Ordina Open, the Serb dropped the second set to the No. 12 after having won the first, only to retake control of the match in the third. She then went from 5-3 up to 5-6 down, but coolly held serve for a tiebreak. Jankovic took a 6-2 lead and wasted all four match points, but she won the next two to close it out 8-6 nonetheless.

You may point to the 22-year-old No.3 saying she lacked the killer’s instinct to finish Safina off, but when it comes to Jankovic and her history of mental lapses, one can only applaud the fact she notched the win after dropping dramatic leads twice.

“I think the experience definitely helped me,” Jankovic told TennisReporters.net, “I’ve played so many matches this year. I’ve been in the situation many times. I lose the point; I forget about it. I don’t think about it; just play the next point.”

Jankovic has by far the most wins of any player on tour this season. Her 51 matches won are followed by Anna Chakvetadze’s 34 victories. “It’s unbelievable to have 51 wins in half-a-year,” she says. “It gives me more confidence and it shows that I belong in the top of the game.“

Even though the Serb has moved up from No. 34 last year to her current No. 3 position, her self-assurance came popping out. “I feel like I’m the No. 2 player. I am number one in the race and I have beaten all the top players except Justine. But she is the better player and has more experience.”

Despite her excellent season so far, Jankovic has been criticised for how many tournaments she has played. It already started in January, when she entered two consecutive warm-up events for the Australian Open, reaching the final in both tournaments. She beat Vera Zvonareva for the title in Auckland, before she lost a three-set thriller the next week to Kim Clijsters in Sydney.

Jankovic admits the long two weeks before the first Grand Slam of the year drained her for the event in Melbourne.“I didn’t expect to do so well the first tournaments of the year. I prepared so well for the Australian Open, but when I played Serena in the fourth round I was just flat.” Jankovic lost the match against the future champion 6-3, 6-2.

JANKOVIC KEEPS PLAYING AND PLAYING

So how would one prepare for Roland Garros when you’ve overplayed yourself earlier in the year? When it comes to Jankovic, play more!

The Serb competed in four consecutive clay-court events leading straight into the Grand Slam event in Paris. She lost in the semifinals of Warsaw to Henin, fell to the Belgian again the next week in the quarterfinals of Berlin, and won the tournament in Rome the week after. Jankovic then retired in the semifinals of the small Tier III event in Strasbourg, just two days before the start of the French Open.

“I started to win everything,” she says. “I played sometimes thinking I want to lose so I can take some rest, but I just can’t lose because I want to go [rest]. If I lose, it has to be because the other player plays better than me. She has to earn the win.”

Jankovic says she normally would have skipped the tournament in Strasbourg, had she not committed to the event at the beginning of the year. “I wanted to take the week off but I had to play because I had the Gold Exempt.” Jankovic has had to sign up for three minor events at the start of the year and Strasbourg was one of them. Her early commitments also sent her to the Ordina Open in Rosmalen, even though she won the title in Birmingham over Maria Sharapova the week before. If she reaches the second week of Wimbledon, the Roland Garros semifinalist will have played for 10 straight weeks.

Jankovic knows she has been playing too many tournaments and says she will definitely not enter as many events next year. “This has been the busiest half a season of my life. It feels great to win so many matches but I also feel very tired.”

Jankovic was beaten in the final of the Ordina Open by No. 8 Chakvetadze in three sets, but the Serb was not too disappointed with the loss. “I only let her win to give her some confidence for Wimbledon,” she said with a smile.

She says the favorites for the third Grand Slam event of the year are Henin, “and probably the Williams sisters. They always do well on grass.”

Asked if she considers herself to be among the candidates for the title, she jokingly said, “All I have to do is beat Justine.” Jankovic has been drawn in the same half as Henin, and just like at Roland Garros, both players are scheduled to meet in the semifinals. She continues, “No, I don’t want to say I’m a favorite. It’s a long two weeks and I just want to take it one match at a time and see how it goes.”

She may not see herself as a favorite just yet, but one day Jankovic hopes she’ll be able to hold the winner’s trophy at SW19. “As a young girl I always dreamed about winning Wimbledon. It’s my favorite Grand Slam for sure. I like playing on grass, although it can be tough because you get a lot of bad bounces.”

She feels that if she is to defeat her big rival, Justine Henin, whom she hasn’t beaten once in six career meetings, her best chance to do so would be on grass. “For sure the best chances to beat her are on the faster surfaces.”

Jankovic will open her Wimbledon campaign against British wildcard Anne Keothavong. She is scheduled to meet Chakvetadze again in the quarterfinals, before a possible rematch with Henin in the semis.

The Serb may not want to look too far ahead in the draw, she can already see past the event in London. “I will have rest after Wimbledon. I think I deserve a vacation,” she smiles.

Chakvetadze claims Ordina Open over Jankovic

2007-06-24T22:01:00.000+01:00

Ljubicic edges Wessels in men’s final to stop Dutchman’s miracle run

FROM THE ORDINA OPEN IN ROSMALEN – Anna Chakvetadze and Ivan Ljubicic will be heading to Wimbledon high on confidence, after both Eastern European players claimed career first grass titles in The Netherlands on Saturday. Anna C. bested Jelena Jankovic 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3, while Ljubicic outlasted No.488 Peter Wessels 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6(4).

Chakvetadze had a false start in her first round match against Belarussian up-and-comer Victoria Azarenka, when the 20-year-old Russian dropped the opening set, but she has been playing solid tennis for the rest of the week. She convincingly dispatched Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets for a final berth, after the 13th ranked Slovakian had thrashed Roland Garros finalist Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

In the final, she faced red-hot Serb Jelena Jankovic, who had won the tournament of Birmingham last week, beating Maria Sharapova in three sets in the final. Jankovic had a pass to the quarterfinals in Rosmalen, with a bye and a walkover win over American Meilen Tu.

Amidst two rain delays early on in the match, Chakvetadze raced out to a 5-0 lead, but faltered when she had the set for the taking. Jankovic almost closed the gap, when more rain stopped play with the No.3 serving at 4-5, Ad-40.

The covers went on and off for the next three hours, and the players were called up twice during some of the dry spells, but not a single point was played over the entire second half of the afternoon. The clock had struck six when the skies finally cleared and play could be resumed.

Jankovic held for 5-5, but she had another cold start coming out of the rain delay, spraying too many unforced errors, which helped Chakvetadze take the opening set in a tiebreak.

In the second set, Jankovic stepped it up a notch and she dominated most of the points. Chakvetadze was playing well herself, but Jankovic displayed the ability to up the pace and take control of the rally with a single shot. The Serb served out the set at 5-3, after having missed four set points in the previous game.

Jankovic was looking for the early break in the third set, but Chakvetadze hit some excellent serves from 1-1 15-30 down to go up 2-1 and she pumped her fist in celebration.

With Jankovic serving at 2-3, deuce, Chakvetadze hit two cracking backhands to force the break, but she lost her next service game by sending a backhand wide on break point.

Where her emotions have let her down in big matches in the past, most recently against Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, Chakvetadze displayed the fighting spirit of a champion on Saturday, when the Russian rebounded directly after dropping the break. She aggressively pounced on Jankovic’ next service game to again take the advantage.

Serving for the match at 5-3, Chakvetadze faced three break opportunities, but she dominated each point with her backhand to hang in the game. With a forehand winner the Russian got her first match point, and she immediately claimed the win with a strong first serve.

“I was nervous in the last game,” Chakvetadze said, “because in the first set I was 5-0 up, and if I didn’t take my serve at 5-3, I know Jelena would fight for every point.”

Despite the nerves near the end of the match, Chakvetadze confirmed that she felt strong out there. “I didn’t have pressure. I like the tournament here, it’s nice and quiet and it almost feels like I’m playing exhibition.”

She said she feels no added pressure for Wimbledon, having beaten one of the hottest players on Tour on Saturday. “It doesn’t put extra pressure on me, it just gives me more confidence.”

Chakvetadze also thinks having gone through the tough weather conditions on Saturday will help her in London.“It was the first time I stepped on court six times [for one match], “so now I have experience,” she said with a smile.

It was the fourth career title for Chakvetadze, and her second in 2007. In January, she won the Tier IV tournament in Hobart. Her biggest win came in Moscow last year, where she won the Tier I Kremlin Cup. She is now 4-0 in finals.

LUBY WINS CAREER FIRST GRASS EVENT

For the third year in succession, the Croatian flag was waving high in Rosmalen. After two tournament wins by Mario Ancic in 2005 and 2006, Ivan Ljubicic claimed the honours in his countryman’s absence, besting Dutch journeyman Peter Wessels in the final 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4).

“I have never played quarterfinals on grass, so to win here is unbelievable,” the big-serving Croat said.

He may have come up short in his match against Ljubicic, but Wessels played some excellent tennis to reach the final in Rosmalen. His biggest win of the week came in the quarterfinals, when the Dutchman thumped the top-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3. Wessels played serve and volley throughout the match, and charged the net whenever possible on Robredo’s serve. The No.7 had no answer to his opponent’s aggressiveness and suffered a firm beating.

Wessels had a career best ranking of 72, but injuries and motivational problems have seen him drop to a current No. 488. The 29-year-old decided on the last minute to enter the qualifiying event for the Ordina Open, out of which he succesfully advanced to the main draw. The Dutchman did not lose a set in the main event en route to the final, and he was not broken once in his match against Ljubicic.

“Before the tournament I would have been very happy with my final here,” Wessels said, “but I never lost my serve today and even though I managed to break him I couldn’t win. About that I am disappointed.”

Wessels qualified for the final earlier in the morning, when he beat veteran Frenchman Antony Dupuis in two tiebreaks. Their match was suspended due to darkness the night before, after rain had set back the programme.

Wessels was playing in his first ATP tournament of the season and only his second event in two years time. Had he won the final, he would have become the second lowest ranked player to win an ATP tournament, behind Lleyton Hewitt, who won in Adelaide in 1998, as a 16-year-old.

The Dutchman says he has set no goals anymore for the remainder of his career, “because with me that never works out.” He will be returning to the challenger circuit, as he is not accepted in the Wimbledon draw.

Nikolay Davydenko, Leader of the ‘Almost Elite’

2007-06-09T13:36:00.000+01:00

When I wrote my French Open previews two weeks ago and predicted a semifinal run for Nikolay Davydenko, I didn’t think too long about his possible match against Roger Federer. I mean, what was there to think about? There was no way the Russian, trailing 8-0 head-to-head against the Swiss No.1, would be a real threat to Federer, was there?

Before their encounter took to the court yesterday, I started thinking about the match. ‘Wait a second, hasn’t Davydenko been playing the best tennis of his career these past few weeks, almost upsetting Rafael Nadal in Rome?’

The world No.4 had only dropped one set in the tournament before facing Federer, convincingly routing Guillermo Canas in straights along the way. All of a sudden I started to feel a slight rush. ‘This French Open might actually provide an exciting match!’

I figured if Davydenko was ever to beat Roger Federer, it would have to be on this Friday. Combining the facts that the Russian was in great shape and the match was to be played on clay - not Federer’s favorite surface, so I have been told - I actually believed an upset was possible. If Davydenko played his best, Federer would surely need to bring his A-game to withstand the challenge.

The first set got underway, and before Federer knew what was going on, Davydenko had powered himself to a 4-2, 0-40 lead. It turned out to be the turning point in the match. Federer blasted three excellent first serves to get back to deuce. Davydenko failed to go up a double break, and subsequently, dropped his next service game on love by hitting four backhand unforced errors. Serving at 5-6, he again wasted four backhands to lose the set.

In the second set, Davydenko broke serve at 4-all, but then failed to close it out. At 5-4 30-30, he hit a forehand long, followed by an easy backhand miss wide. In the tiebreaker, a couple more unforced errors helped Federer to win the set.

Davydenko deserves credit for his persistence, but even in the third set, with apparent less pressure than in the first two, the Russian again faltered, at 5-3, when he had the opportunity to narrow the two set margin.

The match was heading for a second tiebreak, which Federer won by hitting a clever drop shot return at 8-7, putting Davydenko off balance and forcing another error from the fourth seed to win the match.

And so it turned out to be just another straight sets win for Roger Federer. But this time, his opponent really has only himself to blame for the loss. Like Federer admitted in his presser, he could have lost each of the three sets they played. I don’t think Davydenko will ever get a better shot at beating Roger Federer in a Grand Slam tournament. There’s a good chance he’ll never get closer to reaching a final of a major.

Nikolay Davydenko has reached eight Grand Slam quarterfinals in his career. On half of those occassions, he advanced to the last four. More often than not, Davydenko is the routine pick for a Slam quarterfinal, but from that point on, he becomes the routine loser.

Analysing the game of the Ukrainian born Russian, there are not many weaknesses in his repertoire. Sure, Davydenko isn’t a great volleyer, but who is nowadays? His service doesn’t rank among the best, but neither does Nadal’s. Fact of the matter is, Davydenko is about as solid as it gets from the baseline and he can hit with extreme pace, but the man lacks the one aspect required to become a Slam contender, the killer’s instinct.

Therefore, I’d like to call Davydenko the leader of the ‘almost elite’. A group of players who have all the shots in the book to win major trophies, but just can’t get their head set to winning them. They have a nose for the big points, but when they sniff them, they miss them.

Tommy Haas is a respected member of the group as well. Marat Safin wants in, but he has already won two Slams, so he doesn’t qualify. Sorry, Marat. Richard Gasquet is on the fast train to joining, but the gifted Frenchman still has a few years to develop.

For Nikolay Davydenko, that ship has sailed.

Roland Garros Preview – Les Femmes

2007-05-25T22:26:00.000+01:00

The draws are out, the players are in Paris. It’s time for the previews.

Top Quarter

Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal are sharing the same mission at this year’s French Open. Both of them want to win the biggest clay court prize for a third consecutive year. Henin is looking for a fourth career title in Paris.

The Belgian will have her work cut out for her, as Juju will have to go through her two biggest challengers just to reach the final. First of all, Henin is scheduled to meet Australian Open champion Serena Williams in the quarters, whom she lost to in the final of Miami earlier this year. If she takes out Serena, Jelena Jankovic will be waiting in the semi’s.

I have seen Henin play on clay several times this year and I don’t feel she is as dominant as she was last year. She could have lost to Jankovic in the semi-finals of Warsaw, a tournament Henin won, and she should have lost to that same Jankovic in Berlin, when the Serbian was leading 4-0 in the third set but failed to close out the match. Henin fell to Kuznetsova in the semi-finals of the Tier I event.

Because of this, I am going for Serena Williams to take her out in the quarterfinals. There is no better fighter out there than Serena and I believe she has genuinely set her mind to performing well in Paris. Not to forget that Serena has already beaten Henin earlier this year, albeit on a hard court.

Semi-final pick: Serena Williams

Second Quarter

Moving on to the second section of the draw. Here we have the in-form Jelena Jankovic, who just can’t seem to stop playing these days. Exactly one year ago, before the tournament in Rome, she was on the verge of retiring from the sport, when she couldn’t get past a first round in nine straight events. A year later, she won the Tier I event and moved up to number four in the world.

However, Jankovic has apparantly not learned from what happened to her in Australia earlier this year. During the Australian circuit, Jankovic was performing so well, that she reached the final of back-to-back events in Auckland and Sydney. She had played 10 matches in two weeks time, right before the Australian Open. Jankovic would have been a real contender, had she been a hundred percent fit during the first major of the year. The amount of matches played before heading to Melbourne got to her, and she was an easy prey for Serena Williams in the fourth round.

Now, Jankovic had reached the semi-finals in Warsaw and the quarterfinals in Berlin – played over two days due to rain delays – before she won the tournament in Rome. All in back-to-back-to-back weeks. What would any person do the next week, just seven days before the start of a Grand Slam event? Exactly, pull out of the next event and rest up.

Jelena Jankovic though, is not any person. She decides to play the tiny warm-up event of Strasbourg, makes the semi-finals and then pulls out.

If Jankovic were to make the semi-final or final of Roland Garros, she would have played for six straight weeks. Don’t tell me this isn’t going to affect your physical condition.

Still, despite a tough draw with Venus Williams in the third round, Elena Dementieva in the fourth and Nadia Petrova or Nicole Vaidisova in the quarters, I’m going with J.J. in this section.

Semi-final pick: Jelena Jankovic

Third Quarter

Ana Ivanovic captured the Tier I title in Berlin earlier this month and should have a fairly comfortable road to the quarterfinals here in Paris. So should Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom Ivanovic beat in the Berlin final. The Russian’s only threat comes in Shahar Peer, a likely opponent in the round of 16.

Kuznetsova, a finalist to Henin in last year’s edition, could meet Anastasia Myskina in the second round, should the 2004 Roland Garros champion win her first encounter after a long injury lay-off. Myskina hasn’t played a match since January, when she lost a first rounder against Gisela Dulko in Auckland. The Russian faces a tough opener against Meghann Shaughnessy.

Kuznetsova should have no problems with Myskina should the two Russians meet, but I don’t think the No.3 seed will advance past the quarterfinals. Ivanovic beat Kuznetsova in a third set tiebreaker in Berlin and I think the Serbian will once again prevail.

Semi-final pick: Ana Ivanovic

Fourth Quarter

Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo are the two highest seeds of the bottom quarter. Still, I don’t see either of them making the quarterfinals. Mauresmo will likely face Lucie Safarova in the third round. The Frenchwoman lost to the 25th seed at the Australian Open and I don’t think things will turn out any different in Paris. Mauresmo is in the Strasbourg final this week, but even if she wins the title of the small Tier III event on Saturday, the current No.5 still hasn’t had much of a preparation on clay.

But the player to watch for in this fourth quarter is not Safarova, but a woman from Switzerland. With Martina Hingis sidelined due to injury, Patty Schnyder will be the Swiss hope on the women’s side. Just once has the 28-year-old veteran from Basel made the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, which was in 2004, when Schnyder reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and lost to Kim Clijsters. At Roland Garros, a quarterfinal appearance dating back to 1998 is her best result.

This year though, I think good old Patty could go one step further. She reached the quarterfinals at the Tier I in Berlin, and bested Serena Williams in Rome en route to the semi-finals, where she lost to tournament winner Jelena Jankovic. Schnyder has a tough third round opponent in Alona Bondarenko, a finalist in Warsaw a few weeks ago, but if she gets past that hurdle, I don’t see a Maria Sharapova without match practice stopping her on clay in the round of 16.

Semi-final pick: Patty Schnyder

Serena Williams – Jankovic

I would have honestly picked Jankovic to win this match and the title, because I think she can hit with Serena but moves better on the clay, giving her the edge. However, considering her tough draw in Paris, I fear she will be drained again just like in Australia once she gets to face Serena, falling short of a career first Grand Slam final.

Pick: Serena Williams

Ivanovic - Schnyder

Another Berlin duel going on a replay. Both women have never progressed to a final of a Grand Slam, but Patty Schnyder is the more experienced of the two. Still, I believe this will be a breakthrough event for Ivanovic, beating her compatriot Jelena Jankovic in becoming the first woman from Serbia to do battle for a Grand Slam title.

Pick: Ivanovic

Serena Williams - Ivanovic

Serena Williams in a Grand Slam final against an inexperienced opponent. Would you honestly bet against her on this one? Neither would I.

Champion: Serena Williams

Roland Garros Preview – Les Hommes

2007-05-25T15:57:00.001+01:00

The draws are out, the players are in Paris. It’s time for the previews.

Top Quarter

Roger Federer reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2005, when the mighty Swiss fell to Rafael Nadal. In 2006, he was beaten by the Spaniard in the final. Can Federer do one step better again this year and claim the ‘Coupe des Musquetaires’? After his win in Hamburg, it is not Nadal but Federer who heads into Paris with a winning streak on dirt.

The top seed will start off his campaign against American Michael Russell, who in 2001 led Gustavo Kuerten in their fourth round encounter 2-0 in sets and a break in the third, before he fell in a dramatic five setter. This inspired Guga to draw his famous heart in the red clay.

Federer should breeze through to the quarters where he’s scheduled to meet Tommy Robredo, whom he leads 7-0 in career meetings, two of which have come on clay. Oddly enough, Federer’s two biggest wins against the Spaniard were the ones on dirt. First in Rome ’03, 6-1 6-1, and second in Hamburg ’05, 6-2 6-3. Federer straight-setted Robredo in this year’s Australian Open quarterfinal and, judging by their record, should advance fairly easily in Paris as well.

Semi-final pick: Roger Federer

Second Quarter

The second quarter of the draw is where the action is at. Nikolay Davydenko (4), Fernando Gonzalez (5), Richard Gasquet (11), David Nalbandian (15), Juan Ignacio Chela (18), Guillermo Canas (19), Jurgen Melzer (27) and Nicolas Almagro (32) are the seeds in this section, with Melzer being the odd man out. The others are all capable of beating each other and advancing to the semi-finals. But, there are also some dangerous floaters around, who could mess things up a little. First of all, there’s local hero Gael Monfils, who seems to be playing himself back in form this week in Poertschach, taking out Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt en route to the final, where he’ll face Juan Monaco on Saturday. The Argentine can also be found in this quarter, as well as his compatriot Jose Acasuso.

If you had asked me before the start of the clay court season who to pick from this section of the draw, I would have put my money on Canas. However, since his run to the final in Miami, Canas has broken down a little, perhaps overplaying himself. He made the final of Barcelona, losing to Nadal, but has been bothered with minor injuries since. A week ago in Hamburg, Canas was beaten by in-form compatriot Chela in the first round. I wouldn’t be surprised if Canas was the one to come out of this quarter, in which case, he has a real chance against Roger Federer to make the final, but I’m not favoring him anymore.

I don’t think Fernando Gonzalez will reach the semi-finals either. The Chilean made the last eight at Roland Garros in 2003 but hasn’t advanced past the third round in five other attempts.

Nicolas Almagro could be a future Roland Garros semi-finalist, but I find the 20-year-old Spaniard to still be a little reckless at times.

I am favoring Nikolay Davydenko to come through here, judging from his performance in Rome. The Russian played some great tennis in his matches against Robredo, Starace and especially Nadal and looks a solid pick for the semi’s if he brings his A-game.

Semi-final pick: Nikolay Davydenko

Third Quarter

On paper, this is third-seeded Andy Roddick’s quarter, but we all know better. The draw wasn’t easy on the No.1 American, who will take on Igor Andreev in the first round. The Russian has found his form over the past weeks, coming back from a long injury lay-off in 2006. Roddick on the other hand is a mere 2-2 on clay this year. I’m picking Mr. Kirilenko in this one.

Novak Djokovic is undoubtedly the player to watch for in this section. The sixth-seeded Serb reached the quarterfinals in 2006 when he retired trailing 2-0 in sets to Rafael Nadal, but Nole has a golden opportunity to advance to his first ever Grand Slam semi-final here in Paris. Igor Andreev, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Marcos Baghdatis are shaping up as likeliest quarterfinal opponents. Djokovic couldn’t have wished for a better draw.

Semi-final pick: Novak Djokovic

Fourth Quarter

Rafael Nadal headlines the fourth and final quarter of the draw. It looks very likely Rafa will meet Lleyton Hewitt again in the fourth round, just like he did last year. The Aussie may have gotten close in their semi-final meeting in Hamburg last week, but Nadal will not be fatigued anymore by now and should not drop more than a set against the 14th seed.

In the other section of this quarter, there is some hope for the American fans, as James Blake’s draw is looking quite promising. Blake will start against Croatian bomber Ivo Karlovic and has either Jonas Bjorkman or Peter Luczak in round two. Can we say third round lock? Probably not, but Blake will be very dissappointed if he doesn’t get through these matches. From there on, it’ll be either Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany or Oscar Hernandez. If Blake doesn’t get to face the Spaniard, he has a very good chance of making the fourth round, in which case he’ll square off against Tomas Berdych. The Czech has been playing well lately and has beaten Blake on clay in Davis Cup, but he would not be a bad match-up for the 8th seed.

Anyhow, there’s only one pick for this quarter.

Semi-final pick: Rafael Nadal

Federer – Davydenko

This is turning out to become a dream draw for the Swiss. First he gets to beat Robredo for the eighth time in as many career meetings, now he faces a man whom he is leading 8-0 head to head.

Pick: Federer

Nadal - Djokovic

Novak Djokovic was beaten soundly by Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of Rome, but he looked fatigued from winning in Estoril the week before. I think Djokovic has the ability to play Nadal tough on any surface, but I can’t see Rafa losing to his younger opponent at Roland Garros... yet.

Pick: Nadal

Federer - Nadal

Yes, I’m going with the Federer – Nadal final and I believe Rafa will win his third straight title in Paris. He has never been beaten at Roland Garros and is a whopping 27-0 in best of five set matches on clay. Like I said in my analysis of the Hamburg final earlier this week, his loss to Federer in Germany was mainly because he was drained from winning in Rome the week before and having played so much over the past weeks. Now that he’s recharged the batteries, I don’t see anyone taking three sets from Nadal on clay.

Champion: Nadal

Resurgent Hewitt on Track for Top 5 Comeback

2007-05-23T19:51:00.000+01:00

With all that happened in the Hamburg final on Sunday, one man’s performance has been stuck under the radar a little.

Lleyton Hewitt put up a respectable and surprising run to the semi-finals of the German Masters Series event, straight-setting clay court specialists Juan Ignacio Chela, Agustin Calleri and Nicolas Almagro. The former No.1 also outlasted Nikolay Davydenko in the third round, before eventually falling in a three set thriller to Rafael Nadal.

Hewitt hadn’t reached a Masters Series semi-final since Cincinnati 2005. It has been even longer since he made the last four at a clay court event, which was also at Hamburg, three years ago.

I was surprised with how well Hewitt was playing, especially on clay, his weakest surface. He was solid from the back, but played aggressively with his forehand when he got the chance. What impressed me most though, was the way the current No.16 was serving throughout the tournament. If only his delivery didn’t let him down after winning the opening set against Nadal in the semi-final, the Spaniard’s winning streak could have easily ended a day sooner.

Hewitt showed that when he is on, he can still be a major force in the sport. However, the keyword for Lleyton is fitness. Over the past two to three years, Hewitt has hardly managed to stay fit for a longer period of time. I believe this is partly because of everything that happened in his personal life. Splitting from Kim Clijsters, marrying Bec Cartwright and becoming a father have surely taken away from his tennis. The several niggling injuries he’s had could have come forward out of the fact that Hewitt wasn’t a hundred percent focused on his performance on court anymore. How many times didn’t we hear he had lost the fire in his eyes?

I can tell you one thing, the fire was burning brightly over in Germany the past week. Hewitt was very eager to perform and his antics appeared to be just that little bit stronger than they were in recent years. Now that he has settled down with his wife and daughter, it seems that the Aussie fighter has his mind set to making a return to the upper echelon of the game.

If Hewitt really has left his niggling injuries behind him - the latest being a back injury he endured at Indian Wells which kept him out until Rome - I believe he has the ability to get back to the Top 5. In 2006, with hardly any decent preparation for neither Roland Garros nor the US Open, Hewitt reached the fourth round in Paris and even made the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows.

Sure, Federer and Nadal will be out of reach, but if he stays in shape, Hewitt is at least on the same level as Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez, currently ranked 4 and 5, and I like his chances against No.3 Andy Roddick, whom he leads 6-3 head-to-head.

Other than his fourth round at Roland Garros, Hewitt has a lot of points to defend over the grass season with a win in Queens and a quarterfinal at Wimbledon, so it will be hard for him to move up the rankings over the next weeks. However, discounting his quarterfinal showing at the US Open, there’s a lot to gain for the rest of the season. Hewitt did not compete in three out of the four Masters Series events after Wimbledon last year, while he retired in the second round in Toronto.

Lleyton Hewitt won his first ATP title in 1998 when he was just 16 years old. It’s hard to see the ’01 US Open and ’02 Wimbledon champ win another Grand Slam, but the man is still only 26 years of age and should have at least 3 good years left on tour. I wonder how Tony Roche feels about him.

Roger Rocks Uninspired Rafa

2007-05-21T12:01:00.001+01:00

He’s done it. After five previous losses on clay against Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer ended the Spaniard’s winning streak on dirt on Sunday by thumping his rival 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the Hamburg Masters Series final.

Speculation had begun whether or not Federer was past his prime. Two losses against Guillermo Canas in the American spring circuit were dismissed by the No.1 as ‘incidents’. Being straight-setted by Rafael Nadal in the Monte Carlo final was ‘expected’. However, there were no excuses for the great Swiss’ loss against inspired Italian Filippo Volandri in the third round of the Rome Masters Series one week ago. Just when you started to believe Federer was slipping, the man from Obervil shows you why he is one of the all-time greats of the sport.

His win over Nadal on clay is a milestone in Federer’s career, but there was no doubt that if Rafa was ever going to lose on his favorite surface against his rival, it would be on this day in Hamburg. I am not throwing in the ‘playing conditions’ argument here. There was no wet clay – it had been sunny and dry the past couple of days in Hamburg -, the balls bounced up high like on any other clay court, so, if anything, the conditions favored Nadal and not his opponent. However, you could tell by looking at the King of Clay that he wasn’t feeling a hundred percent out there.

Both players hadn’t played their best tennis over the week. Federer could have easily gone down in his first appearance against dirtballer Juan Monaco, but the Argentine failed to pounce on a horrendous performance by his opponent, wasting five break points in the third set to go up a break. Then there was David Ferrer, who took the Swiss to a decisive set, before Carlos Moya did the same in the semi’s. In between, Federer played one good match against Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round.

Nadal on the other hand, wasn’t playing up to par either. Lleyton Hewitt was very close to beating him in the semi-finals, blowing a one set lead and two break points at 5-6 in the final set to take the match to a deciding tiebreak. Rafa survived, but when you’re coming off a Masters Series win in Rome, the last thing you want is spend two and a half hours on court with Lleyton Hewitt before heading into a final.

In the first set of the championship match, both Federer and Nadal were erratic. It was probably the worst set the two of them have ever played against each other, but still Nadal was looking good to keep his winning streak intact after going up 6-2. The big turnaround came in the third game of the second set. Nadal went up 15-40 on the Federer serve, but when he failed to convert one of the break points and lost the game, Federer pumped himself up – when was the last time we’ve seen him do that against Nadal? – and started to dominate play.

Nadal was hitting way too short, but it was from this point on that Federer really started attacking these halfcourt balls and putting constant pressure on the physically drained Nadal. Whereas the Spaniard normally has no problem hitting his heavy top spin shots deep near the baseline, he couldn’t get it done this Sunday.

What was more shocking to see, was the fact that Nadal actually showed less emotion than Federer. Sporadicly, Rafa would hit a great winner, but there never was an outburst of joy we normally get to see. There was simply no energy left.

Federer started to look more and more inspired, even pumping his fist now and then. He was taming the bull, but ended up humiliating it, when the scoreboard showed 6-0 in the final set.

So what have we learned from this match. First of all, Nadal’s physique has its limits and the man can be beaten on clay. But a tougher question to ask is, did Nadal lose the final, or did Federer win it? Yes, Federer played well, but only after he realised in the second set that Nadal was playing way below his normal level and this was his golden opportunity to score a win over his rival on his beloved surface. In the first set, the Mallorcan wasn’t playing great tennis at all, but it still seemed as if Federer didn’t believe he could win.

It’s not an easy pick, but I’ll say Federer won it, by stepping up in the second set when he faced double break point at 1-1, never looking back after that crucial hold. However, do I believe that he will go on to win Roland Garros? Not really. Although it is hard to judge how this win will effect both Federer and Nadal mentally heading into the French. Still, when Nadal is playing his best on dirt, there is only one King of Clay.

Key Biscayne Previews

2007-03-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

From one combined event to another, the ATP and WTA’s best settle down in hot and humid Florida. This time, it’s not just the men who are out in full force. Key Biscayne welcomes 18 from the world’s twenty best women. Five more than in Indian Wells, where Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams were mostly missed.

On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal is looking to go for the Federer double by following up his Indian Wells win with a crown in Key Biscayne. Federer won both events in 2006 and 2005 but has had an unexpected extra week off coming into the second Masters Series event of the season, after a shocking second round loss to Argentine Guillermo Canas in the California desert.
The Swiss No. 1 will open his campaign against up and coming American Sam Querrey on Saturday. He will likely meet Richard Gasquet in the fourth round, before facing German veteran Tommy Haas in the quarters.

It will be interesting to see how Federer deals with his surprising loss in Indian Wells, but it’s unlikely the cool Swiss will be out of his comfort zone for too long. His encounter with the ninth-seeded Haas in the quarters could mean fireworks and looks like his toughest test en route to the final.

Awaiting Federer in the semi-final will probably be either Nikolay Davydenko or Ivan Ljubicic, both of whom he has never lost against. The two Eastern Europeans played a marathon match in Rotterdam in February, with the big-serving Croat edging out a third set tiebreak win. Seeing as Ljubicic reached the final here last year, he has a slight edge over the Russian.

In the bottom half of the draw we have a possible third round blockbuster in James Blake vs Marat Safin, but whoever gets through that one will come up against Novak Djokovic and I think the Serb has the edge over both players. Both Blake and Safin fell early in Indian Wells, while Djokovic is riding high on confidence after his first Masters Series final and his Top 10 breakthrough.

That means we’ll have an Indian Wells rematch of Nole vs Rafa in the quarters, if the 20-year-old Spaniard plays his way past nemesis Mikhail Youzhny, whom he has lost to at the US Open last year and in Dubai last month. However, if Nadal brings his Indian Wells form to Southern Florida, the hard-hitting Russian will be in for a rough ride. The ’07 Rotterdam champion first needs to beat Marcos Baghdatis in the third round, as well.

Andy Murray could have faced Lleyton Hewitt in his third round, but the Australian pulled out on Saturday before his second round match against Dutchman Raemon Sluiter with a lower back injury he took with him from his loss against Janko Tipsarevic in Indian Wells.

Murray still has a tough draw with Fernando Gonzalez in the fourth round and Andy Roddick in the quarters, but I believe we will see a strong run from the Scotsman in Key Biscayne, taking him to the semi-finals and into the Top 10.

Trusting on Nadal’s form, nothing stands in the way of part ten of the Federer – Nadal rivalry in next week’s final. Where two years ago Federer came back from a 2 set deficit in the final to beat Rafa in five sets, this year's championship match will be played over three sets. I'm going with Nadal in three.

SHARAPOVA GETS BRUTAL DRAW

Draws don’t come much harder than this when you’re a No. 1 seed. Maria Sharapova is scheduled to face Venus Williams in the third round, while sister Serena awaits in the round of 16. Sharapova, the ’06 finalist in Key Biscayne, leads Venus 2-1 in career meetings but lost their last encounter at the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2005, when the elder Williams went on to win the trophy. Sharapova trails Serena 3-2 head-to-head, with the 6-1, 6-2 thumping in this year’s Australian Open final still fresh on everyone’s memory.

I don’t see the 19-year-old Russian outhitting both sisters. I believe Serena will make it to the quarters where she will take on Czech teen star Nicole Vaidisova, whom she defeated in the semifinals of her Australian Open run. It’s hard to say how Serena will perform because she hasn’t played a match since her memorable win Down Under. However, judging from her performance in Melbourne, you just have to give the edge to the American because she simply is the toughest competitor of the women’s game, while Vaidisova seemingly lacks a killer’s instinct.

In the semi-finals I believe we could see another Australian Open clash revisited, if Shahar Peer manages to outgrind defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round and Martina Hingis or Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals. Peer has a very complete game and this could well be a breakthrough event for the Israeli No. 16. Still, if she faces Serena in the semi’s, I’m going with the experience, no matter how close she was in Melbourne.

In the bottom half we find the two Belgian powerhouses, the new No. 1 Justine Henin, although still seeded second in Key Biscayne, and fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters, possibly playing her last major in the US.

Henin is scheduled to meet Indian Wells surprise winner Daniela Hantuchova in the fourth round but I don’t see Dani scalping the 24-year-old Belgian.

So, will we see an all-Belgian semi-final? I don’t think so. Henin should go through Nadia Petrova in the quarters, but my guess is that fast-rising Anna Chakvetadze gets to face the No. 1 for a final berth.

The 19-year-old Russian is 27-5 in her last 32 matches and briefly cracked the Top 10 in February by reaching the semi-finals at the Tier II in Antwerp. She dropped to No. 12 after skipping Doha and Dubai and lost in the fourth round of Indian Wells to Shahar Peer.

Chakvetadze should be able to beat Golovin in the third round, even though she lost to the Frenchwoman at the US Open last year, and she leads Jelena Jankovic, her likely fourth round opponent, 4-1 in career meetings. The ’06 Moscow titlist would have a hard time against an in-form Clijsters in the quarterfinals, but it remains to be seen if the Belgian can perform consistently when she’s not playing that much in her farewell year, and apparantly, doesn’t take her game as seriously as she used to.

I’m thinking we’ll be in for a Serena – Justine final, with the Belgian prevailing in three sets.

Youzhny puts crown on perfect week

2007-02-26T06:57:00.000+01:00

Russian No. 22 thumps Ljubicic for third career title

FROM THE ABN AMRO IN ROTTERDAM – Mikhail Youzhny bested Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday in his first win over the big-serving Croat after losing all of their six previous meetings.

The '06 US Open semifinalist immediately broke serve and put in another break at 4-2 to close out the first set. In the second set, Youzhny pounced on Ljubicic’ service game at 2-all, breaking on love with an excellent backhand passing shot. While the Croat managed to up his game and start hitting winners with his powerful backhand, he was unable to put real pressure on his opponent. Youzhny's serving was a key to victory, as the 24-year-old Russian banged 14 aces and didn't face a single break point.

After beating No. 12 Tomas Berdych, Dutch wild card Robin Haase, No. 15 David Ferrer and No. 14 Novak Djokovic, the Russian capped a perfect week with a dominant win over No. 8 Ljubicic. “It looked maybe easy, but it’s never easy,” he said after ending the match in just over an hour. “Ivan was not in great shape and not as sharp as usual.”

Ljubicic was not serving well, and looked a little dead-beat from his three-hour epic match against Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday night. “Yesterday’s match just killed me,” said the 27-year-old, who was also a runner-up in Rotterdam in 2005, falling to Roger Federer in a third-set tiebreak. “Three hours with Nikolay is like six hours with someone else. There really wasn’t enough time for me to recover. My energy level was really low, and my arm was sour. But all the credit to him. He had a tough draw and deserves the win. I think this year he is going to do really well,” Ljubicic said.

Youzhny will return to the Top 20 on Monday, closing in on his career best No.15, which he held in January 2005. “I don’t want to think about my ranking,” he said. “I think about my game. I need to improve my serve because I need to serve like today in every match. If I play good, the results will come.”

The Russian, who became a Davis Cup hero in his country in 2002 by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu in the deciding rubber in the final against France, was set back by several injuries throughout his career, but says he is now in great shape. “After the injuries it was tough coming back to the same level. Now, I feel good. In practice I beat very good players, but I couldn’t show it in the match. At the US Open [last year], for the first time I could show it in a match. I hope after this title, more titles will come.”

LUBY ALMOST LIVED UP TO 'DRINKS ON THE HOUSE'

Should Ljubicic have won, he promised all of the 8,000 fans in Ahoy stadium a drink, just like he did before losing to Federer in the '05 final. “I will have to come back next year, because I really want to pay this drink,” the Croat said with a smile on his face.

The former No. 3 also reacted to the ATP’s new plans to start suspending players who withdraw from mandatory events as of 2009. “Increasing the penalties and just trying to force the players to play is not going to make it better,” he said. “I think the schedule should be a little lighter.” Richard Krajicek, tournament director in Rotterdam, added later: “The problem is that when you start to suspend players, you harm other tournaments scheduled in the next weeks. They lose their top players which doesn’t seem right.”

Krajicek says he expects his event to become a 500-point tournament in the new 2009 structure, where current Masters Series events will become 1,000-point tournaments, and Grand Slams will be worth 2,000 points. “We are aiming at the 500-point category,” the ’96 Wimbledon champion stated. “I think we’ll get that status, because Etienne [de Villiers] told me this is the best indoor tournament he has ever visited, and he’s been telling everyone how much he enjoyed his day on site.” The future calendar will include eight to 12 of these 500-point tournaments, compared to eight 1000-point events, one short of the current nine Masters Series.

Djokovic aims for the top

2007-02-24T08:01:00.000+01:00

Youzhny to meet Ljubicic in final

FROM THE ABN AMRO IN ROTTERDAM – Novak Djokovic earned his third career Top-10 win on Friday, when the 19-year old Serb beat Tommy Robredo in a nail-biter, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 for a spot in the semi-finals. On Saturday, he fought hard but couldn't convert three match points and fell to Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-5.

Djokovic won his first career ATP title at the '06 Amersfoort, and is one of the game's brightest prospects, alongside Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils.

The current No. 14 says he knows people are expecting a lot from the new generation players. "There's always pressure. If you don't have pressure, something is wrong. There are a lot of expectations on me and Murray, Gasquet, Monfils. People expect us to be the new Top-10 players. I try not to think about it or you will have too much pressure."

Whereas Andy Murray is more of a counter-puncher, Berdych a power hitter and Gasquet the technician, Djokovic seems to have a little bit of everything. The Serb knows how to hit a flat-out screamer, but likes to mix things up with some topspin shots and short balls. He is also a great defender, retrieving a lot of balls by moving well on court. In order to settle in amongst the world's best players, Djokovic must improve his serve, and his volleying needs to get stronger. Also, he needs to learn how to step up on the important moments and go for the percentages. "Nole" can still be a little reckless at times.

What's in his favor is his iron will to win, no matter who he's facing or how big the tournament he's playing is. "Every tournament I go to I want to win. I've been thinking like this all my life," he said.

Djokovic says he wants to break the Top 10 in 2007, and become the No. 1 player at some point in his career. "Top 10 is my goal for this year. Everybody expects I reach the Top 10 very soon, but I am thinking step by step, match by match. My lifetime goal is to achieve the No. 1 ranking. People are saying the new generation players are a danger for [Roger] Federer, but he is maybe the best ever. I'm not trying to be No. 1 in one or two years. It doesn't matter if I'm 35 if I get it. But even if I don't get it I'm happy. I enjoy my life as a tennis player."

Djokovic refers to his first title on the clay of Amersfoort as the highlight of his career. "Amersfoort will always have a special place in my heart. You always remember the first title you won," he said. However, Djokovic could not say if he'll defend his title in The Netherlands. "I don't know yet. My coach and I will look at the calendar."

Despite his success on clay – Djokovic also reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros last year in his career best Grand Slam result – the Serb does not favor the dirt. "I am an all-round player," said Djokovic, who reached the fourth round of the Aussie Open before going down to Federer. "I can play good tennis on all surfaces, but I prefer a bit like this, not too fast." The indoor surface in Rotterdam is a slow hard court.

Youzhny's victory over Djokovic was his second in two weeks, as the 24-year-old Russian also beat him last week in Marseille in a third set tiebreak. He'll meet Ivan Ljubicic, who overcame Nikolay Davydenko in another classic confrontation 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

Hewitt pulls from Rotterdam as de Villiers vows crackdown

2007-02-22T09:46:00.000+01:00

Verkerk returns out of shape after long layoff

FROM THE ABN AMRO IN ROTTERDAM – Richard Krajicek, tournament director of The Netherlands' biggest ATP event, experienced perhaps the biggest pull-out fest in 2006, when 12 players withdrew out of a 32-draw sheet. One year later, history is repeating itself.

The 2006 edition featured a star-studded field, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic, Marcos Baghdatis and Marat Safin all in the mix. Except, none of them showed up. Sjeng Schalken, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Martin Verkerk, Peter Wessels, Dominik Hrbaty and Sebastién Grosjean also failed to appear, while Taylor Dent retired in his first-round match.

The bizarre week came to an end when Radek Stepanek defeated Christophe Rochus in the shortest final in the 33-year history of the event: 6-0, 6-3 in 46 minutes.

In 2007, Krajicek had to deal with withdrawals from Mario Ancic, Marcos Baghdatis, Sebastién Grosjean, Tim Henman, Joachim Johansson, Richard Gasquet and crowd favorite Raemon Sluiter, but stated it's normal such an amount of players cancel from a tournament these days. However, when Lleyton Hewitt pulled out on Tuesday, the '96 Wimbledon champion was very disappointed.

"Lleyton is our biggest star, so it's very unfortunate he can't play. He called me this morning and I knew it could only mean one thing. You know he's not calling to tell you he enjoyed his holidays," Krajicek said.

Hewitt withdrew from the event with a strained hamstring, an injury he took with him from Marseille, when the 25-year-old Aussie retired in his second-round match against Frenchman Gilles Simon, who went on to win the tournament.

"It's obviously extremely disappointing for me," Hewitt said. "I had a great week here when I won the tournament in 2004. [The injury] is improving but it's improving slowly. I came here, because you just never know [how fast it will heal]. I will be coming back next year. Richard and I have a very good bond and I'm as disappointed as anyone I couldn't play."

Hewitt played three matches in Australia's Davis Cup tie in and against Belgium a week ago on clay, where both of his singles matches went to a fifth set. Hewitt lost to Kristof Vliegen on Friday, but beat Olivier Rochus in the fourth rubber, before Vliegen beat Chris Guccione in the deciding match.

"Lleyton was out on court for 11 hours in three days," Krajicek says. "In his first-round match in Marseille he also played a three-set match. You know that something can happen [to his body]."

VERKERK PLAYS FIRST MATCH SINCE 2004

Martin Verkerk returned to action on Wednesday night, playing his first ATP level match since 2004 when he beat Fernando Gonzalez in the final of Amersfoort. The '03 Roland Garros finalist was sidelined for two-and-a-half years, mainly due to a severe shoulder injury. Verkerk played two Challenger events in 2006, but ran into several niggling injuries and had to postpone his ATP level return until this week.

The former No. 14 entered the tournament on a last-minute wild card after Marcos Baghdatis withdrew with a wrist injury. The Dutchman was very rusty in his match against South African lucky loser Rik de Voest, and went down in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(0). He wasn't in great shape either, but says he knows he has to lose a few pounds.

"Six weeks ago, I couldn't run for five metres, and now I'm here," Verkerk said. "I really enjoyed it today. I'm just not used to playing important points anymore. But by playing a lot of matches that will come back." Verkerk was moving slowly and was very poor in returning serve. But, the 28-year-old still possesses a monster serve and a killer one-handed backhand. If he gets fully fit and plays more matches, he could have a few more good years in him.

Two of the tournament's top seeds, Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Robredo, won on Thursday.

De Villiers: Suspensions in future
A day after Hewitt withdrew, ATP CEO Etienne de Villiers spoke about the ATP's plans for 2009 and how last-minute withdrawals should be dealt with in the future. "They will be not just fined; they will be suspended," said the South African of players who cancel events at the last moment. "What we want to stop is [unfit] players entering tournaments just to see how they get on."

One of De Villiers' biggest concerns with tennis is that the sport has not evolved like some other sports. He wants to create a new tournament system, where fans can recognize the nature of the event by points allocation. "Most fans don't understand how the system works," he said. "The four Slams are great, but we need to make it better. We need to have something else. When I came to this job, I didn't know what a Masters Series event stood for, and I was a big tennis fan."

De Villiers says he wants to change the current calendar into three tournament categories s to improve the structure of the tour. Grand Slams will be worth 2,000 points, Masters Series will become 1,000 point events, while de Villiers wants to create a third category of 500-point tournaments, consisting of eight to 12 events. "People will understand the swing to Roland Garros, to the US Open, and ultimately, to the year-end championships," he said.

There are currently nine Masters Series events, of which the top players need to play seven. There will be a cutback to eight of these tournaments, and de Villiers says players will need to take part in all of them.

De Villiers' plans received a less than cordial reception from some top players during at the Australian Open. One source told TennisReporters.net that both Federer and Andy Roddick were livid about the plan to mandate player participate in all the Masters Series events. Last week in San Jose, Marat Safin came out firmly against mandatory tournaments, saying that players should only have to commit to four to five Masters Series tournaments.

The Masters Cup at the end of the year will move back to Europe in two year, likely to London. "Because of all the indoor events at the end of the season in Europe, the autumn swing has to end there," the ATP head said.

De Villiers also spoke about how the game should not be about four or five characters, but that other players need to be put in the spotlight. "We have to make Ivan [Ljubicic] and Nikolay [Davydenko] more interesting to the average fan. They are great tennis players and very interesting people," he said.

After thrashing the 32-man round robin format after Adelaide, de Villiers said that the experiment is working fine. "I'm completely open-minded. Ask the fans and they all seem very positive. The first two, the 32-hybrid, were hard to communicate. If one would fail, I thought it would be those."

Mauresmo wins $1,000,000 diamond racket in three-peat

2007-02-18T23:21:00.000+01:00

Top seed beats Clijsters in Belgian farewell

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – Amelie Mauresmo won her first title of the season on Sunday, when she beat Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6(4) in the Antwerp final in front of a 15,000 capacity crowd. It was the Frenchwoman’s third consecutive tournament win at the Tier II event and, as a reward, the No. 3 player gets to take home the elusive diamond racket, worth over a million dollars.

“It feels great [to win the racket].” Mauresmo said. “I’m happy I have been able to live up to the expectations this week. I played my best match of the week today and it was probably my best performance of the season. I’m very proud I played the best points on the important moments.”

The match ended in an anti-climax manner, when a dubious linecall at 5-4 in the tiebreak left the Belgian fans booing for minutes. Mauresmo hit a service out wide, which was called out by the linesman. However, the official corrected himself, making it an ace for the Frenchwoman.

“I don’t know if they [the crowd] understood what happened. It was tough it happened at this point of the match, when I had to play match point.” Mauresmo reflected. She ended the match on her first championship point.

Mauresmo started the match strong with an immediate break of serve. The Frenchwoman played one bad game in the first set, at 2-1, when Clijsters tied for 2-all. A hard-fought game followed, in which Mauresmo pounced on after hitting a forehand winner on her fourth break point.

Last week’s Paris semifinalist went to 4-2 on love and served for the set at 5-4. She coolly rounded off the first set with a service winner out wide on 40-15.

Clijsters had a better start to the second set, holding serve on love and breaking Mauresmo after she hit one of her three double faults in the game. The Belgian failed to confirm the break and go up 3-0, when she produced two double faults herself and completely overhit a forehand drive volley on breakpoint. Both players held serve for the remainder of the set.

After Clijsters made two backhand errors serving at 1-2 in the tiebreak, Mauresmo looked a sure winner. But, the Frenchwoman dropped her own two service points and Clijsters got back to 4-4. A crucial forehand miss put Mauresmo up a mini-break once more when she hit her controversial serve at 5-4. Clijsters hit a forehand long on 6-4, in what would be her last point on Belgian soil.

“I was quite certain the ball [at 5-4] was out, but it doesn’t matter anymore now.” Clijster, the '05 US Open champion, said. “The whole day has been very emotional, but on court I just felt the same nerves as usual.” She said.

Clijsters wants to do well on Wimbledon this year, and is therefore planning to pass on most of the clay court season to practice on grass. Asked if she will appear on Roland Garros, she said: “Probably not, no. The clay court season is very tough physically for me, but I will play some tournaments on clay because otherwise the break would be very long [after Miami].”

Clijsters stepped up to hold a farewell speech after the match, but not before she received a 2-minute standing ovation from her fans, making her break into tears. Struggling with her emotions, the 23-year-old spoke to the Sportpaleis crowd for one last time.

“I have so many people to thank,” she said. “I have experienced the best moments of my career here in Antwerp. The moment I stepped on court today is something I will not forget for the rest of my life.”

“Your support really means a lot to me,” she continued. “To me it’s worth so much more than any trophy I’ve won. Thanks so much for all the great moments.”

After Clijsters had thanked her family and fiancée Bryan Lynch, one of her favorite band’s, Clouseau, performed a song especially written for her, while all the ball kids handed flowers to the 23-year-old.

At the press conference, Clijsters looked back on a wonderful day. “It’s been a great farewell, my greatest experience ever in Belgium.”

Antwerp gets its dream final

2007-02-18T01:09:00.000+01:00

Mauresmo, Clijsters advance to championship match for second straight year

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – Amelie Mauresmo beat Kim Clijsters in last year’s Antwerp final, but the Belgian can get her revenge on Sunday in her last appearance in front of a home crowd, after the top seeds advanced through their semifinal matches on Saturday.

“I don’t look at it as getting my revenge, I just want to win the match.” Clijsters said.

The Australian Open semi-finalist beat Tatiana Golovin 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday night, but showed weakness after dominating wins over Olga Poutchkova and Ana Ivanovic in the earlier rounds.

“I wasn’t as consistent as in my previous matches. I wasn’t serving well, but I tried to keep fighting and play aggressive whenever I could. I’m just really happy I made it to the last day,” said the Belgian

Clijsters hit nine double faults against Golovin and had to come back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set. “Once I start hitting double faults, I have the tendency to not finish my service motion. This has been a problem for me for years, but I’m not really worried about my serve in general,” Clijsters explained.

Clijsters did not want to talk about a possible tournament win at her last appearance in Belgium. She leads Mauresmo 8-6 in career meetings, but lost the last four.

“My first goal is to play well tomorrow. I’ll have to be ready to play tough points because the last matches with her have been really close. The last time we played was at the Masters in Madrid and it could have gone either way. I expect it will be close again tomorrow," Clijsters said.

Mauresmo beat the 23-year-old 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in an epic duel in the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships semifinals, but would go on to lose the final in the Spanish capital against Justine Henin.

Clijsters says it will be an emotional day for her on Sunday, saying goodbye to her Belgian fans, but forgets about her feelings once she steps out on court. “During the match, I don’t think about these things. But I’m sure afterwards it is going to be tough.”

For Mauresmo, stakes are high in Sunday’s final because if the Frenchwoman wins the title after claiming the Tier II event in 2006 and 2005, she will take home the diamond racket trophy, worth over a million dollars.

“Every match I win, the racket gets more on my mind,” she said. “But obviously, the final is the toughest to win. The way I played today, I need to improve. I didn’t return well and had a lot of ups and downs.”

The 27-year-old No. 3 took on Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze, who made her Top-10 breakthrough yesterday when she defeated Nadia Petrova.

CHAKVETADZE FAULTERS IN THIRD SET
Chakvetadze and Mauresmo met at last week’s Paris quarterfinal, when Mauresmo advanced in straight sets. One week later, just 200 miles north from the French capital, “Momo” again claimed the win: 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Chakvetadze played well until she lost her rhythm and dropped serve at 3-4. The Russian hit two double faults and a couple of backhand unforced errors, providing Mauresmo with a 5-3 lead.

The top-seeded Frenchwoman benefited from more Chakvetadze errors to produce a love game and claim the first set.

Chakvetadze kept hitting unforced errrors from both sides at the start of the second set. Mauresmo held break points in the 19-year-old’s first two service games, but wasn’t clinical in her finishing. Chakvetadze survived and got back into the match after she broke serve in Mauresmo’s next service game. The seventh seed hit a screaming forehand down the line on break point for a 3-1 lead. She served for the set at 5-3 and convincingly put herself back on even terms.

Chakvetadze had the momentum heading into the third set but missed a crucial forehand on a weak Mauresmo second serve at 15-30 in the opening game. She couldn’t break and followed up with an erratic game, hitting two double faults and backhand unforced errors to put Mauresmo in the driving seat.

The former No.1 raced out to 4-0 when the Russian was broken again. At 4-2, she could have put the match back on serve, but hit three consecutive forehand errors from 15-30. Mauresmo ended the match with another break to secure her third straight final appearance in Antwerp.

Russia's newest wonder girl; Chakvetadze breaks Top 10

2007-02-17T00:05:00.000+01:00

To face Mauresmo; Clijsters v. Golovin

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – Anna Chakvetadze keeps on churning and after her 6-3, 6-4 win over Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, cracked the Top 10 for the first time.

Amazingly, the 19-year-old is 4-0 against her elder Russian, who has been a solid Top-10 player for two years.

"I don't know if her game suits me, I think she made a lot of unforced errors today," Chakvetadze told TennisReporters.net. "But she played a lot of matches lately so she could be tired. I didn't know I could reach the Top 10 today. It's nice, but I won't play in Dubai and Doha the next weeks so I will drop out again. I don't really care that much about my ranking anyway. I just want to improve my game, win matches and then my ranking will take care of itself."

Petrova came off a title run in Paris last week, where she beat red-hot Czech Lucie Safarova in the final. Chakvetadze lost in the French capital against Amelie Mauresmo in the quarters, but will have a chance to get her revenge on Saturday, when the two square off for a final berth.

Mauresmo convincingly brushed aside Dinara Safina, 6-3, 6-1.

The '07 Hobart champion looks forward to face Mauresmo in a neutral ambiance. "In Paris, the atmosphere was not nice," Chakvetadze said. "You know that the crowd will support Amelie, but they were not fair to both players. Here in Antwerp everyone is supporting Kim, but they show respect for the others as well."

Chakvetadze is not your average up-and-comer. Where most talented youngsters bring a flat-out power game to the court, Anna C. plays a little more with her head.
"First of all, I'm not as tall as [Nicole] Vaidisova or [Ana] Ivanovic," she says. "I can't hit as hard, so I need to find other ways to win. I try to look for weaknesses in my opponent's game and play accordingly."

The inventive and quick Russian, so reminiscent of Martina Hingis, had her breakthrough year in 2006, starting the season just inside the Top 40, but finishing strong with a career first title at the Tier III in Guangzhou and a Tier I win in Moscow. Her impressive year end run put the 19-year-old among the world's best 15 players.

"I never thought I would win a Tier I last year. When I won my first tournament in Guangzhou, that gave me a lot of confidence. This helped me to do well in Moscow."

In her early days on tour, Chakvetadze frequently lost control of her emotions on court, breaking into tears when a match didn't go her way. She starts laughing and says, "You haven't seen me play in the Under -14s."

On the Sony Ericsson Tour website, Chakvetadze has said she wants to break the Top 5 within three years. "No, no, that's not true," she said. "The WTA wanted to know my goals so I just said 'Top 5 would be nice,' but it's not something I'm really aiming for."

In order to settle in amongst the elite, Chakvetadze knows she still has work to do. She's 14-2 in 2007, and has won 24 out of her last 27 matches. "I need to further improve my confidence so I can play well on the important moments. And my serve and fitness need to get better, too."

At the Australian Open, Chakvetadze faced top-seeded compatriot Maria Sharapova in her first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal. She served for the first set at 5-4, but eventually went down in straight sets. She moved the ball around nicely, but couldn't hit her spots when it counted.

"People said I played well that match, but I didn't win the important points. Maria played better than I did that day, but it was good I made the quarters."

One might think that Chakvetadze would have Parisian dreams, but likes the bright big Apple better.

"I would love to win the US Open. It was the first Grand Slam I played in 2004 and I beat [the then No. 3 Anastasia] Myskina when I was just coming up. I just love the whole atmosphere in New York. I also have a lot of friends there."

In the night session, Clijsters breezed past the disappointing Ana Ivanovic, 6-2, 6-1. She will face Tatiana Golovin on Saturday, a 7-6(2) 7-5 winner over Elena Likhovtseva.

Mauresmo survives in erratic match over Razzano

2007-02-16T00:32:00.000+01:00

Dementieva retires with injury; Petrova, Ivanovic through

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – Amelie Mauresmo made her first appearance of the week on Thursday and it wasn't a pretty one as she struggled in a 7-6(6), 7-5 win over her compatriot Virginie Razzano to gain the quarters.

Mauresmo, who won the Tier II event in Belgium the past two years, has not shown the form that brought her two Slam titles in 2006, as she was upset by Lucie Safarova at the Aussie Open and fell to Nadia Petrova in Paris.

The defending champion started off well, breaking serve early on at 2-1 and controlling the match until she attempted to serve out the set at 5-3. Two unforced errors and a double fault put Razzano on triple break point. The qualifier and one-time Martina Hingis conqueror stood by and watched Mauresmo shank a backhand at 15-40, handing Razzano an opportunity to claw her way back into the set.

Razzano took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak, but Mauresmo won the next four points. She double faulted on her first set point, but luckily for "Momo," Razzano returned the favor on her second set point to end the tiebreak 8-6.

However, Mauresmo continued to press, as she was often late to the ball. She produced a lot of mishits, especially on her backhand side. Razzano took a 4-1 lead in the second set and held game point for 5-2. The No. 85 player missed a forehand putaway and Mauresmo went on to take back the break of serve with a backhand down-the-line winner. At 5-5, the two-time Grand Slam champion claimed the deciding break when Razzano hit a forehand long. Mauresmo clinched the win on her fifth match point for a quarterfinal berth.

"It was a typical first-round match," Mauresmo said. "There are a lot of things I can improve on, but it's a good thing I played well on the important points. I wasn't moving well and this especially affected my backhand."

In Friday's quarterfinal, Mauresmo will take on Dinara Safina and hopes her service won't let her down.

Thursday's day session featured two matches full of Muscovites. Nadia Petrova overcame old rival Vera Zvonareva 7-6(2), 6-4, while Elena Dementieva pulled out with a rib injury after losing the first set against 31-year-old veteran Elena Likhovtseva.

Petrova, who won the Paris title last week, was erratic with her forehand early on and her serve wasn't penetrating. Zvonareva served for the set at 5-4, but there was a dubious moment at 15-15. Zvonareva hit a backhand down the line, which was signaled out by the linesman, but he did not make a call. Petrova, standing with her back to the official, objected to the umpire the ball was out, but was surprised she actually got the point because there was no call or overrule.

Petrova created a double break point and pounced on the first one with a strong cross-court backhand, forcing the '07 Auckland runner-up into an error. Zvonareva went up to the umpire to ask about the score because she didn't know she had lost the point at 15-all.

When the umpire explained what happened, the 22-year-old lost her focus for the next game, but regrouped just in time to hold her own service game at 5-6. Petrova was solid in the tiebreak, took an early mini-break with a strong return and never looked back. She bagged the set with a forehand winner that looked wide, to the dismay of Zvonareva.

Petrova closed out the match when hit an ace and another well-placed service for match point, when Zvonareva dumped a backhand return in the net.

In the late night match, eighth seed Ana Ivanovic eliminated Nathalie Dechy of France 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2 to set up a meeting with Kim Clijsters on Friday.

Clijsters cruises in front of packed home crowd

2007-02-15T02:02:00.000+01:00

Chakvetadze escapes; Golovin survives four match points

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – The Belgian farewell tour started for Kim Clijsters in front of an emotional crowd of 14,000 with an opponent unprepared for the occasion.

Clijsters could not have wished for an easier foe than Russian Olga Poutchkova, who was clearly affected by the highly-charged atmosphere. The promising Russian could not put a ball in court and, after merely 45 minutes of play, Clijsters had booked her spot in the quarterfinals following an easy 6-0, 6-2 win.

Even though the second seed won the first eight points of the match, she said she was feeling nervous.

“I was more nervous than usual," Clijsters, who is retiring at the end of this year, said. "It’s really special to be playing in this atmosphere. You walk to the court, knowing all these people will be there. It was pretty overwhelming when I got out there.”

Before the match, the well-known Belgian band Clouseau performed on centre court. “I heard them perform and that was really emotional for me," she said. "I have been a fan of them since I was a kid. I tried not to really think about it because otherwise it would have been too much for me.”

Looking back on the match, Clijsters felt good about her performance. “I played well. I want to thank everyone for their support and am really happy I’ll be able to come out here again on Friday.”

Ana Ivanovic defeated lucky loser Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus 6-3, 6-2. The fifth-seed Serbian dropped serve early on to go 3-1 down, but was not genuinely challenged by No. 59 Yakimova.

Anna Chakvetadze survived a scare against red-hot Austrian Sybille Bammer, when she fought back from one set down to advance to the quarterfinals, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.

In the first game of the match Chakvetadze went up 15-40, but could not convert the early break points. Both women went on to hold comfortably until Bammer forced a set point on the Chakvetadze serve at 5-4.

The 19-year-old Russian was inconsistent and hit numerous unforced errors. Bammer, who just won the Pattaya City tournament last week, played a steady baseline game and just waited for Chakvetadze to make the mistake in the rally. This is exactly what happened on set point for the Austrian, and suddenly the No. 12 player was down a set.

In the opening game of the second set, Chakvetadze again took a 15-40 lead on the Bammer serve but this time pounced on the break point and cruised to 5-2. Surprisingly, the double break of serve was not enough for Anna to make it one set a piece. She started hitting unforced errors again which enabled Bammer to take the set to a tiebreak.

At this point, Chakvetadze stepped it up a notch and played a solid breaker to even up the match. In the final set she raced out to a 5-0 lead before closing out the match 6-2.

The last match of the day session could well turn out to become the best contest of the tournament. Tatiana Golovin upset fifth-seed Patty Schnyder after 2 hours and 37 minutes in a roller-coaster encounter. However, things could have ended a lot earlier.
Schnyder won the first set in the tiebreak and took a 3-0 lead in the second. Just when Golovin looked down and out, the Frenchwoman regrouped and won eight straight points to get back to 3-3.

With Golovin serving at 5-6, Schnyder created her first match points. Golovin would not give in, until she apparantly missed a backhand down the line on the fourth match point. Schnyder could not believe the ball was called good, but the point went to Golovin and she held serve for a tiebreak.

At 5-5, Golovin played a solid point on her own serve for a chance to send the match into a final set. Schnyder reached out a helping hand when she dumped an easy forehand into the net.

In the first games of the third set, the Swiss wasted five break points before seeing her opponent pouncing on her first break opportunity to go up 4-2.

It turned out to be the final blow for Schnyder, losing her last service game at 2-5 on love.
Wednesday’s schedule ended when Dinara Safina defeated Michaella Krajicek of The Netherlands 6-2, 7-6(4) for a possible meeting with top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo in the quarters.

Clijsters isn't a museum artifact …yet

2007-02-14T00:12:00.000+01:00

Belgian feels the love from home country

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – Belgium is ready for Kim Clijsters final week in Antwerp, but is Kim ready to play?

The second seed at the Proximus Diamond Games, Clijsters spent the weekend in bed with a cold, watching Belgium overcome Australia and her former fiancée, Lleyton Hewitt, in Davis Cup. “ I started feeling bad on Friday, but Sunday was the worst,” she said. “ I couldn’t train this weekend but after a 30-minute hit this morning I feel a lot better now. I always catch a cold when coming back from Australia. It’s tough coming back here with the low temperature.”

Clijsters isn’t the only elite player waylaid by a cold – Serena Williams, who was scheduled to play Bangalore, is also on her back at home in bed.

Expectations are high in Antwerp, where the Belgians would want nothing less but seeing Clijsters holding the prestigious diamond racket trophy on Sunday. Still, Clijsters did not want to speculate about a possible title run at the Tier II event.

“My first goal is to be as healthy as possible for tomorrow. I want to take it one match at a time.”

As a token of appreciation for everything Clijsters has done for Belgian tennis, organisers have put up a ‘Kimuseum’ at the event, where all the major trophies she’s won are exhibited.

“I really like the museum,” Clijsters said. “At home the trophies are just catching dust so I think it’s a good idea to have them out here.”

Clijsters will start her campaign against Olga Poutchkova on Wednesday, but could not really say much about her opponent.
“Poutchkova? I can’t remember all these names.”

The Russian won the first set in her match against Severine Bremond when the Frenchwoman retired with a back injury. Bremond held five set points on her own serve at 6-5, but Poutchkova edged out a tiebreak win.

Clijsters needs to be on her toes against the 19-year-old, who is a very powerful player.
If Poutchkova manages to work a little more on her shot selection, the world could be in for another Russian sensation in the near future.

In last year’s edition, Clijsters lost in the final against Amelie Mauresmo. The world No.3 also captured the title in 2005 and if she wins one more, she’ll take home the $1,000,000 diamond racket.

“I can’t deny I’m not thinking about it,” Mauresmo said. “But the tournament this year is also special because it’s the last time Kim is here.”

The Frenchwoman stated that she will not be calling it quits herself anytime soon.
“I’m not thinking about retirement myself. I’m experiencing the best years of my tennis life.”

GROENEFELD GRINDS TO A HALT
What’s wrong with Anna-Lena Groenefeld? The 21-year-old German ended her 2006 season with four consecutive first round losses and is now 1-4 in 2007 after falling in straight sets to French qualifier Virginie Razzano. Groenefeld is still ranked 19th but needs to pick up her game and lose some weight if she is to maintain her Top 20 status.

In the feature night match, Tatiana Golovin made light work of Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik. The Frenchwoman steamrolled to a 6-0 6-2 win and should be able to upset Patty Schnyder in the second round if she maintains her level of play.

Sybille Bammer of Austria might still be dealing with a jetlag from playing two days before in Thailand, the Pattaya City champion made no mistake against home playing wild card Caroline Maes, ranked 235. Bammer thrashed the Belgian 6-2 6-0.

In other results, Vera Zvonareva demolished American Lilia Osterloh 6-1 6-0, Elena Likhovtseva bested Vera Dushevina 6-4 6-1 and Nathalie Dechy cruised past Julia Schruff 6-1 6-1.

Monday Wrap - Hingis at home in Tokyo

2007-02-06T15:54:00.000+01:00

For the eighth time in her career, Martina Hingis featured in the Tier I Tokyo final on Sunday. The Swiss Miss beat Ana Ivanovic in the final, for a record fifth title in the Japanese capital.

Hingis was impressive throughout the week, not dropping a set the entire tournament in wins over Pratt, Stosur, Dementieva and Ivanovic in the final.

In last year’s edition, she was beaten 6-2 6-0 in the championship match by Dementieva, shortly after her comeback to the Tour.

Ivanovic reached the final when Sharapova retired in their semi-final clash. The Serb was leading 6-1 0-1 when the Australian Open finalist pulled out with a hamstring injury.

That’s what happens when you’ve got a Tier I the week after a Slam. Great scheduling.

In the quarterfinals Ivanovic won the prestigious battle of the Serbs against Jelena Jankovic. Ana moved up to the 14th place in the rankings but still sees Jankovic sitting in the Top 10.

What’s going on with Dementieva? Elena needs to pick up on her game or she’ll drop out of the Top 10 in no time. She hasn’t beaten many elite players over the last year. Vaidisova, Jankovic, Chakvetadze, Ivanovic and Serena Williams are eager to surpass the 25-year-old.

Don’t count on seeing Patty Schnyder in the Top 10 again. There’s too much power around for her these days.

So much for the women.

Xavier Malisse became the first man to win a tournament after losing a match in the new round robin system in Delray Beach.

After falling to Rainer Schuttler in three sets, the Belgian informed the press how much he likes the new format.

"It's just I knew I had to win one set [to advance], and I won the first set and there was no motivation anymore. It's a different mentality. You win a set and what are you playing for, there's nothing to it anymore."

Malisse defeated James Blake in a 2-day final, when the X-man turned things around on Monday trailing 5-7 3-3 after rain had interrupted the match on Sunday.

In Vina del Mar, Nicolas Massu was denied in the final of his home event for the second straight year, when Peruvian Luis Horna claimed the title in straight sets.

Meanwhile in Zagreb, Ivan Ljubicic also fell in front of a home crowd in his final against Marcos Baghdatis.

Monday Wrap - One more for Mr. Perfect

2007-01-29T13:43:00.000+01:00

As if it was ever in any doubt. Roger Federer has now gone into double digit Slam wins and is just four short of Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14.

At 25-years-old, we’re not questioning whether Roger will break Pete’s record, it’s merely a matter of when it’s going to happen and how many majors the Swiss maestro will end up with.

Barring injuries, it’s not hard to imagine Federer will double up on his current 10 trophies. He’s just that much better than the rest of the field. Sure, Murray, Djokovic and a bunch of other youngsters have a lot of potential, but Federer has at least five more great seasons ahead of him and winning 2 Slams a year on average is not quite setting the bar too high.

Fernando Gonzalez could be in for some great years as well. That is, if he continues to polish up his game. The Chilean recorded some outstanding wins over the past fortnight, but his backhand still needs a lot of work. The slice doesn’t quite bite yet and when he hits it, it’s still unstable. Credits to Larry Stefanki though for the improvements he’s already made to Gonzo’s game over the last six months. He’s made the South American think on court and not just play all out power tennis.

If Gonzalez will be able to tweak his game a little further, he should be a lock for a Top 5 position.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal has his work cut out for him. The Spaniard just doesn’t seem to pick up his hard court game and even though he made the quarters, Andy Murray should have taken him out in the fourth round. A collapse in the second set by the young Scotsman saved Rafa, when his fitness eventually helped him win in five.

Gonzalez managed to force Nadal into making loads of unforced errors in their quarter final encounter, the same way like he battled Lleyton Hewitt in the third round. Both Hewitt and Rafa like to be on the defensive side and can’t act on having to take the initiave in a rally.

Nadal pointed to some pain in his ‘famous ass’ for not playing his best tennis, but without the minor injury, it’s hard to have seen another outcome. The world No.2 got thrashed and will be short on confidence again when he faces another top player.

Who thought up that Serena Williams was going to win the Open after not having won a single title since she picked up the trophy in Melbourne two years ago?

Obviously, she wasn’t looking her best and after losing to Sybille Bammer at Hobart, I couldn’t see Serena getting past the third round, tops.

After Petrova’s collapse though, things only got better for the American, with the final being nothing less than a one-woman show.

Did anyone see Sharapova out there on Saturday? I doubt the Russian believed she would be moving up to the No.1 position coming off a 6-1 6-2 demolition.

As for Serena, she smells blood now and will be after nothing less but that top spot. Like she immediately said after she’d won to the camera on court, she has to play catch up on the other Grand Slams because she now has three Aussie Open crowns, out of a total of 8 Slam titles.

Was there any woman who could have beaten the Serena Williams that showed up in the final? Maybe not, although the way Sharapova was serving certainly didn’t make things tougher on the 25-year-old.

For the sake of tennis, let’s hope that Serena will be serious about her comeback, because when she’s playing her best, she arguably is the biggest asset to the WTA Tour along with Sharapova.

Monday Wrap - These young girls are good

2007-01-15T22:26:00.000+01:00

Anna Chakvetadze and Jelena Jankovic. Remember their names. You’ll be seeing them in the Top 10 soon.

If you haven’t seen the Sydney final, then you’ve missed some amazing tennis. Kim Clijsters, what a shame it is that the lovable Belgian will step away from the game. She is a real character and an asset to the WTA. Above all, she’s a great player. Look for a strong Australian Open run from Kim and don’t be surprised when you see her holding the trophy two weeks from now.

Jankovic and Chakvetadze are ready to take the next step in their careers though. Hobart may not be the biggest trophy to win, but don’t forget that Anna won the Tier I in Moscow last year, and she could do some major damage at the Aussie Open. Look for a quarter-final appearance for the 19-year-old Russian against big Maria.

Jankovic made a strong run at the US Open last year and could do the same in Melbourne, but the troubling thing is that the Serb has now played 10 matches in less than two weeks time by winning Auckland and reaching the final in Sydney. It’s questionable whether she’ll hold up physically the next fortnight. Still, another final versus Kim could well be in the cards, there’s no question to how well she’s playing. How often does Amelie Mauresmo have to eat a bagel? Ouch.
Then we have Ana Ivanovic and Nicole Vaidisova. Two other teens knocking on the elite’s door. In Sydney they faced each other, and we can only draw one conclusion out of their match. Vaidisova outclassed Ivanovic in every aspect, and is certainly looking in good shape to do well in Melbourne.

Let’s go through what happened on the men’s side. James Blake succesfully defended his Sydney title and David Ferrer claimed the Heineken Open in Auckland. Oh yeah, and there were a few retirements because people didn’t care about these small tournaments.

Nikolay Davydenko was fined for his comments, but you can’t say the man was telling a lie. The tournaments in Sydney and Auckland will always be events players enter to get match practice for the Australian Open. A $10,000 fine will not change this.

Mardy Fish deserves a little note. He beat Mario Ancic in straight sets and went on to reach the semi-finals. The American lost to Ferrer in three sets. Good to see the Fishman is back.

Now, let’s go Down Under.

Monday Wrap – Warming up

2007-01-08T17:41:00.000+01:00

Week one is behind us, and we have our first winners of the season. What’s there to say so far? Nadal didn’t make it to the final in Chennai, but we can hardly call this a surprise anymore.

Good for Malisse that he clinched the title after upsetting the Spaniard. The X-man is now 2 out of 10 in finals.

When was the last time Rafa bagged a title? That’s right, Roland Garros. Perhaps the Federer rivalry was a bit overhyped after all.

The Australian Open will be a key event for Rafa in 2007. Even though the 20-year-old has no points to defend, there’s a lot of confidence at stake. A strong performance will lift Nadal’s spirits and could signal the beginning to a true contention for the number one position, whereas an early loss will further diminish any faith Rafa has left in his game.

Ivan Ljubicic is making it a tradition to start the year strong. In 2004 and 2005, the Croat reached the Doha final, in 2006 he tried his luck in Chennai and took home the trophy, and now, back in Qatar, he claimed the biggest title of the opening week when he beat Andy Murray in straight sets. Ljubo gets to lead the Champions Race for a week or two as a bonus.

While teen star Murray started well, fellow youngster Novak Djokovic started better. The 19-year-old Serb cruised through all of his matches in Adelaide, until he faced surprise Aussie Chris Guccione in the final. Ranked 153, the home fans weren’t expecting anything of the big 21-year-old. Especially if you consider Lleyton Hewitt returned to action in the same event. On final’s day, people weren’t talking about Hewitt though. Guccione played his first ATP final, and he almost surprised one of the biggest upcomers in the game. I bet Lleyton really wants to get fit for Melbourne now.

Jelena Jankovic is becoming a real threat on the WTA Tour. Having won the title in Auckland makes her a very dangerous outsider for the Aus Open. Remember the first few months of 2006? Jelena almost quit playing because she was tired of losing. A year later, she’s knocking on the Top 10 door.

Martina Hingis said after her loss to Dinara Safina in the Gold Coast final, the Russian will go on to have a greater career than her brother Marat, who has won three Grand Slam titles, and topped the ATP rankings in 2000. Perhaps Hingis’ engagement to Radek Stepanek wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Then there was this exhibition event in Hong Kong. Even though it was no official tournament, when you have Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Patty Schnyder, Elena Dementieva and Nicole Vaidisova competing, things get interesting. It was Clijsters versus Sharapova in the final, with the Belgian claiming first place. Looks like Kim could be saying farewell to the Australian Open in style.

One week to go. Bring on the heat.

Monday Wrap - Tennis is back!

2007-01-01T13:53:00.000+01:00

A new day, a new year, a new season. Oh yes, can't you just feel the hot Australian summer running through your veins? Well, neither can I, but we'll certainly be SEEing a lot of it this month! After all the holiday celebrations, it's back to reality and back to the courts.

2007 promises to be a great year for tennis. First and foremost, what will happen to the Federer - Nadal rivalry? Will Nadal recover from his 2006 second half slump and become a genuine contender for the top spot or will he just flourish on the red clay? In his Shanghai clash with Federer, the Spaniard played reasonably well, but he has to watch for being too passive on faster courts. If he doesn’t change his attitude, flat hitters such as Blake and Berdych will keep their edge over Rafa when they’re not playing on dirt.

What about all these young guns ready to attack the current elite? Gasquet, Murray, Djokovic, Berdych? How many of them will make the Top 10 and how will they perform at the majors? Berdych has already moved himself into the Top 10 at the end of last season and he looks set to achieve greater things in 2007. However, Murray, Djokovic and Gasquet aren’t too far behind the Czech and it will be interesting to see which of these youngsters will do best in the upcoming season.

But there are a lot more questions to be asked. Will the new Round Robin experiment turn out to be a disaster, or will people actually start liking it? Could Marat Safin become a true contender at the majors again? Is the fire still burning in Lleyton Hewitt? How many sets will Federer lose at Wimbledon? Will David Nalbandian finally live up to the expectations? Could Roger do it at the French? How many weeks will it take before Tommy Robredo falls out of the Top 10? Can Roddick build on his Jimmy Connors resurgence? Will Marcos Baghdatis show some consistency?

On the WTA Tour, we, regretfully, will be seeing the last of Kim Clijsters in 2007. Unless she miraculously stays fit for the entire season, and perhaps decides to reconsider her decision to call it quits at the young age of 24. But there are also plenty of things to look forward to on the women’s side. Who of the big three will be crowned queen in 2007? Justine H-H, Sharapova or Mauresmo? Can Petrova finally win a Slam? What court will we see the Williams sisters most on? Who will be the best Serb, Jankovic or Ivanovic? Could Hingis win another major? When will Chakvetadze crack the Top 10? Will we hear from Myskina again? Could Dementieva fulfill her lifelong dream and win a major?

The off-season is over. It's time to get some answers. Ready? Play!

Monday Wrap - Federer masters Shanghai.. and Nadal

2006-11-20T16:19:00.000+01:00

Yes, it was Roger Federer who was on the receiving end of the congratulations on finals day. Was there ever any doubt? Federer ruled the year with a kind of dominance that no player has ever displayed in the history of the game. The 25-year-old recorded 92 wins to a mere 5 losses, falling to just 2 players over the entire season. Federer failed to reach the final in only one of the tournaments he entered in 2006, when he lost to Andy Murray in Cincinnati coming off a Masters Series title in Toronto. Rafael Nadal handed the Swiss his other 4 losses.

En route to his third Masters Cup trophy, Federer dispatched his Spanish rival in the semi-finals, in what was a cracking performance from both players. In their head-to-head, Federer has now closed a 1-6 gap to 3-6, after having won their previous encounter at Wimbledon.

But it still remains to be seen if Roger can now consistently beat Nadal, similar to the way he turned the tide on negative head-to-heads against Nalbandian, Hewitt and Henman in the past. Nadal is still just 20 years of age, and with 2 Grand Slam titles under his belt, he has achieved more than Federer has at that age. However, the Spaniard has a lot of work to do to improve his game on faster surfaces. Nadal still lets shot-makers like James Blake overpower him, and he will have to find a way to deal with those kind of players if he is to really challenge Federer for the top spot in the rankings.

Overtaking Roger won’t happen any time soon. Sitting at No.1 for a straight 147 weeks at the moment, Federer will surpass Jimmy Connors’ record of 160 weeks on top of the leaderboard in February, even if he doesn’t play a single tournament up until that point.

Federer ended the year with 1674 points in the ATP Race, which is almost twice as much as number 2, Rafael Nadal, who has 894. Also, Federer became the first player to break $ 8.000.000 in prize money in a single season.

So after a really incredible year, can we now say that Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time? At the senior’s event in Houston the week before the Masters Cup, all the players agreed, Roger Federer is an amazing athlete and he will go down as a tennis legend. But, is he the best ever to hold a racket? None of them dared to say so. The general thought among them is that Federer might be a little lucky with the competition he has to deal with in comparison to previous era’s.

“When Tommy Robredo makes the Masters Cup, something’s wrong.” said Ivanisevic. Wayne Ferreira, who beat Federer twice in three meetings, added: “I won't mention any names, but when you see some of the guys at the top and you remember how they played, it's hard to believe they could have improved so much.”

It remains to be seen if Federer will be widely judged as the best player ever one day, but let’s not forget, the Swiss is still work in progress and could really make a case for himself in the “greatest of all time debate” by winning that clay tournament in Paris next year. For now though, it’s time to take a break.

Monday Wrap – Best of the Rest

2006-11-06T17:21:00.000+01:00

Alain Riou, Co-Director of the Masters Series event in Paris was not amused when he looked at the field of players for his tournament. Not for the first time in the history of the event was there the problem of last-minute dropouts from the game’s biggest players. This time, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian all decided to skip the last week of the season, leaving Nikolay Davydenko as the lone active player of the Top 6. The Russian made the most of his whopping 31st tournament of the season – almost twice as many as Nalbandian, who played 16 -, clinching his first major title in the French capital.

I wonder what Riou thought about the final match-up. Nikolay “The Marketeer’s Dream” Davydenko versus Dominik “I made the final of the Prostejov Challenger!” Hrbaty. Boy were those Parisians lucky seeing these two guys in a Masters Series final!

Despite not being one of the game’s biggest characters, Davydenko deserves credit for his performance. The 25-year-old played excellent tennis throughout the week and he could go one step further in Shanghai than his semi-final appearance last year if he keeps playing at this level. It’s all a matter of avoiding King Roger.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Fernando Gonzalez. The Chilean reached three consecutive finals before heading to Paris and he had become a strong contender for the eighth position in the Race. After going up a set in his first match against local hero Julien Benneteau, Gonzo ran out of gas, and his Shanghai dreams were shattered. We can now safely conclude playing 15 matches in 21 days in three different countries is a bit too much.

Tommy Haas put in a remarkable last ditch effort for a Shanghai berth by steamrolling Blake and knocking out three-time champion Marat Safin, but two wins away from a shocker, the experienced German had to retire in his semi-final against Dominik “The Dominator”. Haas needed to win the title for a TMC ticket.

Blake became the final lock for Shanghai after Haas’ loss against Hrbaty on Saturday. Mario Ancic was one win away from a trip to the Chinese capital the day before, but a determined Davydenko ended the Croat’s season after a straight sets win.

CLIJSTERS READY FOR MADRID

Kim Clijsters’ return to the WTA Tour saw the Belgian defend her 2005 Hasselt title in front of a homecrowd. Clijsters will head into the WTA Championships with confidence, but will the 2002 and 2003 champion be able to compete with the elite after an injury time-out dating back to August? Justine Henin and Amelie Mauresmo might not be at their best either so Maria Sharapova could well clinch the year-end No.1 ranking by winning the event.

Elena Dementieva is a tough competitor, but we all know how she’s done in major tournaments up to this point. Nadia Petrova hasn’t won a big title either, but 2006 was a breakthrough year for the big-hitting Russian, bringing home 5 trophies. She could be ready to take next step.
Martina Hingis had an impressive year, although playing against the top girls, she gets overpowered most of the time. Kuznetsova could do well, though if Clijsters plays her best, she can’t be seen as a favorite in a group also featuring an in-form Sharapova.

Monday Wrap – Last call for Shanghai!

2006-10-31T12:26:00.000+01:00

Roger Federer accomplished one of the goals he still had left on Sunday when he clinched the Basel title in front of a home crowd. Like the week before in Madrid, Fernando Gonzalez took the beating in the final.

The former ball boy of the event will take a rest before heading out to Shanghai for the Tennis Masters Cup starting November 13. Nice to have a Masters Series event to close out the season when everyone who clinched their TMC spots takes a week off. Kudos to Nikolay Davydenko for showing up.

Despite going 0-6 in sets versus the Fed man in the last 2 weeks and dropping to 0-9 in their head-to-head, Gonzalez will be more than pleased with his recent performance. Gonzo has now reached three consecutive finals which sees him sitting ninth in the ATP Race, a mere eight points behind slumping Tommy Robredo. A run deep into the Paris-Bercy draw this week will secure a TMC ticket for the Chilean.

In St. Petersburg, Mario Ancic earned his third career title, moving up to 10th position in the Race. Super Mario will likely face Gonzalez in the third round in Paris, in what could be seen as a Shanghai play-off match. The winner would probably still need to get past Davydenko though, who became the fifth lock for Shanghai last week.

A lot will depend on how Robredo performs. The Spaniard has a tough opener against Sebastien Grosjean or Xavier Malisse, followed by a third round clash against Novak Djokovic. In case of an early loss, Tommy’s season is over.

James Blake currently sits in seventh position but there’s still work to be done for the American. With 411 points, Robredo is only one point behind. What’s more troubling though, is the tonsillitis that kept him sidelined last week. Blake’s route to the semi’s will possibly have to take him through Arnaud Clement, Tommy Haas and Richard Gasquet. Not an easy road to travel, especially if your fitness level is doubtful. Haas still has an outside chance of reaching the Masters Cup by winning the title, and Gasquet is coming of a championship run in Lyon.

SHARAPOVA EXTENDS UNBEATEN RUN

In Linz, the cards were dealt for the women’s Year-End-Championship in Madrid. Patty Schnyder lost to Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals and thus failed to make the year’s best eight players. Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters round up the field for the WTA’s big sha-bang.

One has to like Sharapova’s chances heading into the event. Mauresmo and Henin are both dealing with injury problems while the young Russian is on an unbeaten run dating back to the US Open. Masha’s last loss came in Los Angeles, where she lost to compatriot Elena Dementieva in the semi’s.

Monday Wrap - Bring out the record books… again

2006-10-23T13:52:00.000+01:00

Federer, Federer, Federer! Men’s tennis evolves around one man and one man only. Props to Nadal for exceeding expectations at Wimbledon, but where has the Spanish sensation been the past couple of months? Don’t look at any semi-finals, you won’t find him there.

The Fed man is king of the ATP castle and he rules the field without mercy. His latest victim listens to the name Fernando Gonzalez. The Chilean stood up to the King in the first set of the Madrid final, but when things get heated, Federer brings the ice. Gonzalez lost serve for the first time in the match at 5-6 and Roger never looked back.

Federer operated with the same lethalness in his other matches, going 3-0 in tiebreaks and not dropping a single set en route to clinching his fourth Masters Series crown of the season. With his achievement, Federer became the first player to win four MS titles in back-to-back seasons. It was also the first time Federer won a trophy in Spain AND he has now become the first player to win at least 10 events in three consecutive seasons in the Open Era.

I think it’s about time the people over at Guinness come up with something new, ‘Guinness Book of Records: The Federer Edition’.

This week, Federer will be welcomed by his home fans in Basel, where he aims to win his first title. It will be the seventh time Federer plays the tournament in his birthplace, a final loss to Tim Henman in 2001 being his best result to date. He didn’t play in 2005 and 2004 due to injury.

Gonzalez will be looking for a last-minute ticket to the Masters Cup in Shanghai, having moved up to the ninth spot in the Race ranking.

In Zürich, the top story was Daniela Hantuchova finally showing signs of her old self again. It’s been a year since the former Top 5 player made a final run, but at the Tier I event in Switzerland, Hantuchova took out two Top 10 players in Martina Hingis and Patty Schnyder, on her way to the championship match. It was Maria Sharapova who stopped the 23-year-old Slovakian, winning 6-3 in the third set for her fourth title of the year.

Meanwhile, six players have clinched their spots for the Year-End Championship in Madrid. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova already qualified prior to last week. Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova joined the group when Patty Schnyder lost in her Zürich opener. Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis and Schnyder will fight for the last two positions.

Goran: Undefeated Rios could be No. 3

2006-10-18T17:49:00.000+01:00

FROM THE ALEX TENNISCLASSICS IN EINDHOVEN — The clock ticked to 1 p.m. It’s the final day of the Alex TennisClassics, the eighth stop on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions.

Aussie legends Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge step on court, followed by their opponents, home country favorites Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh. The teams dominated the doubles scene during the 1990s, when the “Woodies” and the “Dutchies” won a combined 17 Grand Slam titles, of which 11 went Down Under. They were great rivals back then, but out of that rivalry a friendship has grown. “When we played the Wimbledon final of 1998, we had an argument about a ball being in or out,” said Eltingh. “I had become so furious that I shouted: “The only Mark I see is an asshole.” But at least I didn’t head butt him. … Who would have thought back then we would be sending each other Christmas cards now.”

It was just an exhibition, but both teams played to win. The Aussies were looking to tie the 8-9 head-to-head record against the home team, while their opponents admitted they would hate to lose their edge. Final score: 6-4, 7-5 for the visitors.

“It’s no disgrace losing to the Woodies, but I’m really annoyed about it,” Haarhuis said. “But this doesn’t mean it’s 9-9 in our series. It will never be 9-9 anymore. It’s 0-1 now.” Haarhuis was referring to open competition versus senior matches.

Next up was the third/fourth place playoff, which saw a replay of the ‘05 final. Richard Krajicek faced Goran Ivanisevic, in a battle of former Wimbledon champions. Ivanisevic has been Krajicek’s nemesis throughout his career, enjoying a 9-3 head-to-head over the Dutchman. The Croat also came out best in last year’s final.

This year, Krajicek entered the Alex TennisClassics well prepared and on a mission: Take down the tour leader. “I got my ass kicked by Marcelo [Rios] in Paris last month and I wasn’t happy about that. I decided to contact my old coach Rohan Goetzke. I wanted him to train me again because Marcelo’s unbeaten and I want to be the first one to break his streak. I think that on an indoor court in Eindhoven, on a fast surface, with me having trained properly, I’m going to beat him.”

The 30-year-old Chilean had won all five tournaments he entered this year and, in his round-robin encounter versus Krajicek, he continued his winning streak. Rios stepped on court in a PSV Eindhoven soccer jersey in the hope of getting some support, but after Krajicek broke serve at 4-4 in the first set, he immediately put on his usual sleeveless shirt.

When he saw his opponent taking the opening set 6-4, Rios shouted: “Have you been practicing Richard?”

“Yes, I have!” responded Krajicek.

Rios stepped up a level and edged out a 10-6 Champions tiebreak win, earning his spot in his sixth consecutive final.

In the other group, South African and Northern California resident Wayne Ferreira beat Ivanisevic on Saturday to reach the final in his debut event.

Krajicek was clearly in better shape than Ivanisevic in their matchup for third place, blasting 12 aces past Ivanisevic in a 7-5, 6-4 win. But Goran was the entertainer of the day, consistently engaging with the crowd.

While Ferreira and Rios were warming up for the final, entertaining was the last thing on their mind. Rios was aiming to remain unbeaten, while Ferreira wanted to show he can still play and, more importantly, be the first to hand Rios a loss this season.

FERREIRA EMERGES FROM RETIREMENT

“Retirement has been tough,” Ferreira says. “It’s two years since I retired now and I’ve been a bit bored. Tennis is one of those things that gives you such great self fulfillment, you can’t get it anywhere else. Even in business, I don’t think people get it.”

Ferreira might not have been a great champion, but he was a standout athlete, competing in a record 56 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments.

When play got underway it was Ferreira who had the chance to go 2-0 up but Rios survived a double break point and took control of the match at 3-3. At that point, Ferreira felt a stabbing pain in his back as he lunged for a ball. With his opponent injured, Rios raced to a 6-3, 6-1 win.

The Chilean lightened up when he realised the match was in the bag, playing along with Ferreira’s entertaining efforts.

“I was doing well until 3-all in the first set and then my back went out on me,” Ferreira said. “Four matches were a little tough for me. I haven’t really played for two years. I need to get in better shape if I want to compete with guys like Rios. I hope I get some more chances.”

Asked about Rios’ level of play, Ferreira said, “He’s been too good all year.”

Ivanisevic believes the 30-year-old Rios can still compete with the best on ATP tour. Given his relatively young age (Andre Agassi just retired at the age of 36), he should be able to give it another go.

“If he practiced he could be Top 10 in the world,” Ivanisevic said. “He’s one of the most talented players ever. There’s [Roger] Federer and [Rafael] Nadal who would still be numbers 1 and 2, but if Rios practiced, he would be next.”

But there’s no way that Rios can make it to No. 3 if his chronically-injured back is too weak to deal with a full schedule. They don’t play singles super-tiebreaks on the ATP tour.

However, the level of play that Rios reached in his matches in Eindhoven was impressive. His clash with Krajicek could well have been an encounter between two Top-20 players. Rios said this summer he might play a single ATP event in his home country in February when the tour heads out to Viña del Mar. If he does decide to play, don’t be surprised if he makes an impact.

Monday Wrap - Yes, we have Russians

2006-10-16T20:50:00.000+01:00

The ATP and WTA Tours are nearing their year-end championships and that means that we’ll have a lot of top players in action the next couple of weeks needing to secure their spots in the top 8 of the year ranking.

Both the men and the women were in action in Moscow last week. The ATP had another two events in Vienna and Stockholm, and some of the lower ranked ladies made their way to Bangkok.

In Vienna, David Nalbandian again failed to impress and he will need to find a rhythm soon or he won’t be able to defend his 2005 Masters Cup crown. Fernando Gonzalez put up a good show by reaching the final, but with 307 points he is still only in 12th position and looks unlikely to qualify.

Ivan Ljubicic won’t be unhappy the indoor circuit has begun. The big hitting Croat didn’t drop a set all week and notched his third title of the season.

In Stockholm, the story of the week was Joachim Johansson’s stunning comeback. The 23-year-old Swede not only won his first ATP match of the season after long-term injuries, but knocked out Rafael Nadal while he was at it. In the semi’s, it was Jarkko Nieminen who put a stop to Pim-Pim’s remarkable run.

Vania King gave the Americans something to cheer about when she took home the Bangkok trophy. The 17-year-old beat Molik, Safarova, Kostanic, Shaughnessy and Tanasugarn on her title run. She also became doubles champion alongside Kostanic. Let’s see if she can back this week up in the next events. We remember Jamea Jackson being bombed the new American supertalent earlier this year, maybe you guys in the States should hold your horses for a while this time.

Then there was this event in Russia, the Kremlin Cup. On the men’s side, a 32-draw event, we had 8 Russian participants. That’s exactly 1/4th of the participants. Not bad. The women’s draw handed out bye’s to the top 4 seeds, so we had only 28 participants here. No less than 15 players originated from the host country. That’s more than half of the draw! Wonder what the Asian events will look like in 5 – 10 years…

Of course we had 2 all-Russian finals in Moscow at what we can next year just refer to as the Russian National Championships. Saves the Russian Tennis Federation the effort of organising these championships on a separate date.

Nicole Vaidisova got close to spoiling the Russian fun when she looked set to take out Nadia Petrova in the semi’s, but in the end there was no reason to hold back on the vodka. The winner did come as quite of a surprise, but Anna Chakvetadze is a name to remember. It’s quite likely we’ll see her in the Top 10 next year.

On the men’s side, it was the enjoyable blogger Safin who made it through to the final, but a solid Davydenko edged out a three-set win to close in on a ticket to Shanghai.

The entire ATP’s Top 10 will compete at the Masters Series event of Madrid this week. Come on Rafa, we all want to see that one match-up in the final.

Lleyton Hewitt, Past his Prime or Ready to Shine?

2006-10-13T11:03:00.000+01:00

"This year, things have been hard because I’ve had so many niggling injuries and that’s hard on anyone, especially in my style of game. I was number one or two only a year and a half ago, so I feel like I can still get back up there. ” –Lleyton Hewitt

What do we make of Lleyton’s words? He seems to have the confidence; Does he have the skills in his current game to rise back up in the rankings?

Hewitt doesn’t have the natural talent that most former No.1 players possessed at the height of their careers. When you look at his shots, you can only respect what the Aussie has accomplished. His forehand is decent, but nothing spectacular; the same goes for his serve. The only above-average shot in Hewitt’s arsenal is his backhand. So how did this guy make it to the number one spot, years ago?

Simply put, being a brat helped a great deal. Hewitt needs to be as pumped up as he can be in order to compete with more talented players across the net.

I admire Lleyton for coming this far almost solely on attitude and his unequalled fighting mentality (although Nadal comes close). By the sound of his words, the competitive fire is still burning. Something which has, rightfully so, been in question this past year.

Hewitt married in July of 2005 and became a father that November — two good reasons to spend a little less time on your tennis and a bit more on your personal life. Now that a year has passed, winning trophies might become important again for the two-time Slam champion. Or are these recent expressions merely a charade? When it comes to Hewitt, that’s hard to imagine.

"I was number one or two only a year and a half ago, so I feel like I can still get back up there.."

Still, things aren’t quite the same, currently, as they were at that time. Let’s take a look at the
rankings:

ATP Top-20 as of July 4, 2005

1. Roger Federer
2. Lleyton Hewitt
3. Rafael Nadal
4. Andy Roddick
5. Marat Safin
6. Andre Agassi
7. Nikolay Davydenko
8. Guillermo Canas
9. Thomas Johansson
10. David Nalbandian
11. Tim Henman
12. Mariano Puerta
13. Gaston Gaudio
14. Joachim Johansson
15. Guillermo Coria
16. Radek Stepanek
17. Richard Gasquet
18. Fernando Gonzalez
19. Ivan Ljubicic
20. Tommy Robredo

ATP Top-20 as of October 9, 2006

1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Ivan Ljubicic
4. David Nalbandian
5. Nikolay Davydenko
6. Andy Roddick
7. Tommy Robredo
8. James Blake
9. Marcos Baghdatis
10. Fernando Gonzalez
11. Thomas Berdych
12. Radek Stepanek
13. Mario Ancic
14. Tommy Haas
15. David Ferrer
16. Novak Djokovic
17. Juan Carlos Ferrero
18. Lleyton Hewitt
19. Jarkko Nieminen
20. Andy Murray

Hewitt is 25 years old and will turn 26 in February. Note the young fellows in bold. They will likely improve over the next year and Hewitt will have his hands full playing against these guys. Will he be able to keep up with them?

Trashing Djokovic at this year’s US Open sends out a message but you can bet the young Serb won’t be such a pushover the next time the two square off. And, oh yeah, that Swiss guy’s game hasn’t exactly been in decline.

Lleyton Hewitt will have a tough task ahead of him when he rejoins the circuit in 2007. However, one should never write off a fighter; being behind the eight ball tends to bring out their best.

Monday Wrap – Blogging Fed & Revived Petrova add to their tally

2006-10-09T12:15:00.000+01:00

Last week’s biggest events on both the men’s and women’s side saw multi-tournament winners in 2006 take home another trophy as Federer and Petrova clinched titles in Tokyo and Stuttgart.

For the Swiss master it was his ninth championship of the season in his first appearance in Japan, but the ATP blogger faced a scare out of an unexpected corner. No, I’m not talking about sake bombers or a revengeful Mirka here, I’m referring to Japanese superstar Takao Suzuki. Okay, maybe he’s not really a superstar, but when you take Roger Federer to a third set tiebreak that can be seen as a remarkable performance, whether you’re Rafael Nadal or in this case, the number 1071 of the world.

I can hear you thinking, ‘wow, this guy must be really talented, I’d better remember his name!’ Ehh.. not sure about the talented part, seeing Suzuki has just turned 30, but hey, who knows?!

Anyway, Federer didn’t drop a set in any of his other matches en route to yet another title, but what else is new?

Well, Nadia Petrova’s comeback for one. Prior to Roland Garros the big Russian woman was the last player to beat Justine Henin-Hardenne on clay in the final of the prestigious Tier I Berlin tournament and Petrova nestled her way into the WTA’s elite. A nasty hip injury prevented the world’s #4 contending for the French Open title and kept her sidelined until after the grass season.

For the first time after her injury, everything seemed to click again for Petrova in Stuttgart last week, where she claimed the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title after an impressive run beating consecutively Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Daniela Hantuchova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Tatiana Golovin.

Petrova will compete in Moscow this week, where the Tier I Kremlin Cup is being held. The Russian won’t be alone in defending her country’s pride on home soil. Out of 28 participants (top 4 have a bye) 12 are Russian, or should we say 11 ½ Maria?

Switching back to the ATP, the Masters Cup is coming up so we can look forward to some exciting weeks ahead. Only King Roger and Rafa have clinched their spots thusfar so keep your eyes on Vienna, Stockholm and Moscow this week as we have seven top 10 players on court across Europe. Get ready for some qualifying action!

US Open - The Previews!

2006-08-27T20:11:00.000+01:00

So the time has come. Andre Agassi is about to enter the final tournament of his career when the ATP & WTA’s best hit New York for the last Grand Slam event of the season. Will the 36-year-old be able to end his career on a high, or was retiring after last year’s edition perhaps the better move after all? Well, for the Las Vegas Kid the draw could have looked a lot better. With a first round opener against Andrei Pavel, the Romanian veteran, things could be over in a hurry. If Agassi manages to pull out a win, the second round will arguably be the end of an illustruous career, when he faces Marcos Baghdatis.

After his win against Andre, I expect the Bagman to go out to the Cincinnatti master, Andy Roddick. Under guidance of Jimbo Connors, Roddick regained his confidence over the past weeks and plays with the dominance he displayed during his prime. If he can build on his Cincy performance then look for a strong display by the 2004 champion. I even predict a run to the final if he manages to get through the first rounds. Meeting Fernando Verdasco in the second round could signal an early exit, or it could be a firm step in the direction of a succesful tournament.

What about King Roger? Will he recover from his loss against Gilbert’s new protégé? Well, let’s not be overly impressed by Murray’s win back in Cincinnatti. Federer does not like to play 2 consecutive tournaments and even admitted himself that he didn’t come to Cincinnatti from a winning performance in Toronto to pick up another title, just to survive a couple of rounds. In other words, Fed tanked. Count on a well-prepared number 1 seed, and another Grand Slam title while you’re at it.

Then there’s Rafa. Not having shown great form during the two Masters Series events but probably still good enough for a run to the semis, unless the Scud rises to the occassion in the first round.

So you’re probably interested in my expectations. Well, even if you’re not, here they are anyway.

Quarter Finals

Federer – Berdych
Haas – Gonzalez
Roddick – Djokovic
Robredo – Nadal

Semi Finals

Federer – Gonzalez
Roddick – Nadal

Final

Federer – Roddick

Winner

The Fed man

What?! No Nalbandian? Ljubicic? Blake?

Sorry, but no. David losing 6-1 6-2 to Sanguinetti and 6-4 6-2 to Wawrinka during the two MS tourneys doesn’t say enough for ya?

Ivan will take on Richard Gasquet in the third round and judging recent performances, the young Frenchman has the edge.

As for Blake, the pressure from being America’s No.1 player seems to have gotten to him. If he manages to reach the last 16, Berdych will take him out.

So there you have it. Roddick and Federer will meet for the 12th time, with the Swiss making it 11-1 head-to-head of which 3-0 in Slam finals.

LADIES

Moving over to the women’s side. Let’s get straight to it, Russian-American (or is it the other way around) Maria Sharapova is my favorite for the title beating Justine Henin, who will make it 4 out of 4 Grand Slam finals in 2006.

Ana Ivanovic has been playing some great tennis over the summer picking up the Tier I title in Montreal and I predict no less than a semi final for the fast-rising youngster. That’s right, I think Ana will have what it takes to eliminate Mauresmo in the 4th round.

Good old Lindsay Davenport posted a succesful comeback run in New Haven last week and the three-time Grand Slam champion could definitely advance to the last eight if she stays fit.

So let’s see the draw breakdown.

Quarter Finals

Ivanovic – Hingis
Sharapova – Myskina
Kuznetsova – Dementieva
Davenport – Henin

Semi Finals

Ivanovic – Sharapova
Dementieva – Henin

Final

Sharapova – Henin

Winner

Masha

And that’s that. Enjoy the show folks!

Andy is back

2006-08-21T14:20:00.000+01:00

Andy Roddick slipped out of the top 10 after Wimbledon, when he lost to the new hype in tennis Andy Murray. The 2003 year-end world number 1 had lost all of his confidence and wasn’t able to bring anything to the court other than defensive, no-risk tennis. Not playing his own game meant the once so dominant Roddick was nothing more than your average top 50 player. Of course, the American still fired the biggest serves on the planet to his opponents, but players knew that once they’d get into a rally, Roddick was vulnerable and definitely not impressive. Andy himself knew all too well that he wasn’t playing up to par and it was aching inside that he dropped on the leaderboards and had to see James Blake become the new American # 1.

Media were speculating that the slump could well be the end of Roddick as a top player but one man never stopped believing in his abilities. Jimmy Connors reported for the BBC at Wimbledon and said that if Roddick could regain his self-belief and start playing aggressively again, there would be no reason why the former No.1 couldn’t be a force in the rankings like he used to be. Now this remark wasn’t really an eye-opener for the average tennis fan, but Connors and Roddick teamed up and clicked from the get-go.

Roddick kicked off his US summer hard court campaign in Indianapolis, and immediately showed signs of improvement. A-Rod resorted back to his old ways and felt his confidence level rising. Making a run to his first final since Lyon in October last year, skies were looking a little less grey for the Roddick camp.

Aching to follow up on the good result in Indianapolis, a rib injury which kept Andy sidelined for a couple of weeks was a real downer as he had to forfeit his match against Dimitry Tursunov in the quarters of Los Angeles. Making his comeback last week in Cincinnati, the injury seemed to have killed all of the Indianapolis momentum as Andy’s first round match against Daniele Bracciali was way below fans’ expectations. Roddick was irritated on court by his level of play, but after a win in three tiebreak sets, no other player got close for the rest of the week. Roddick straight-setted Vliegen, Chela, Murray, Gonzalez and Ferrero en route to his first Masters Series crown since winning in Miami in 2004.

Roddick won’t win the Open starting next week, but don’t be surprised to see the 2003 champion making a run deep into the second week. As he said so himself on being questioned if he’s back to the level he once displayed, “I’m getting there. Getting real close.” Nice impact you have there Jimmy.