For a week when the top players (who happen to be in action) ought to have been tired from the Australian Open the week before, the top players are by and large dominating the three tournaments going on this week. All three feature the top seed and the third seed in the first semifinal, while the second seed is still in action in two tournaments. In Zagreb, Ljubicic dropped in the second round to Lukas Lacko.
The top seeds are all the favorites at this point, not only to make it to the final, but to win it all. I'm very impressed by Cilic's ability to last this long. He weathered a ton of aces from Ivo Karlovic in the last round so he can face Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, who should be less of a challenge, despite being a higher seed. He'll then face Michael Berrer, in all likelihood. Berrer is on a hot streak, winning last week's challenger event and then making it to the semis this week. Maybe he'll get lucky and find a tired Cilic.
Gonzalez continues to impress, furthering the cause of naming the tournament in Chile after him when he retires. His next round should be more of a challenge, but the crowd will be firmly behind him as he faces up-and-coming Brazilian Tomaz Bellucci. If he makes it through that match (as he likely will) he'll probably face Juan Monaco, who he has owned five times in the past, twice at this very tournament.
In Johannesburg, David Ferrer - the second seed - should breeze into the final. His opponent, Frenchman Stephane Robert, is ranked 86 places lower. He'll then meet the winner of Gael Monfils and Feliciano Lopez. It's their first meeting, so it could be interesting.
Also worth noting is the success of two young Australian players in challenger events this week. In Dallas, Carsten Ball is through to the final without dropping a set. In Burnie, Australia, Bernard Tomic has dropped two seeds on his way to the semis. With Lleyton Hewitt sidelined for a while with another surgery, things are looking brighter for the future of Australian tennis.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Week 5, Mid-week Summary
With the first week of post-Australian Open action about halfway done, there have been a few results of note. Nothing too shocking, but a few surprises. Before we get to the analysis, it's worth mentioning that the most important result of Nadal's inability to defend his title at the Australian Open was his ranking dropping from #2 to #4. He hasn't been ranked lower than #2 since July of 2005. He displaced Lleyton Hewitt in that spot.
I don't know if we've heard the last of Nadal's injury. He has a lot of points to defend in the near future. He won Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, and Rome last year, while he made the finals in Madrid. He also won Barcelona and made the Rotterdam final. That's 4,400 of Nadal's 7,600 points, coming up in the next three months before the French Open. Of course, if he can get his title back there, it will help his ranking considerably. But if he's not fighting fit, he could slide a long ways down the rankings in the months to come.
Djokovic moves up to number 2 for the first time in his career, but not because of any stellar performance on his part. He has to be happy to be at his all-time best ranking, but it would have been better if he'd gotten there by winning, rather than by Nadal's form dropping.
Anyway, on to this week's action. In Johannesburg, there are some quite matches coming up. Top-seed Gael Monfils will play his countryman Josselin Ouanna in the second round, and I picked Ouanna as a player on the rise this year. We'll see how well he can do against the number two French player. Ouanna is the #14 Frenchman, which is saying something since he's still ranked 121st in the world.
Dustin Brown, the greatest-ever Jamaican tennis player, finds himself in the quarterfinals with a winnable match against Frenchman Stephane Robert. Brown has a great attitude and a fun style of play. He does what everyone says all those tall players should do - he serves at volleys! He's surprisingly quick to net for a player who is 6'5". You can read more about him here.
The other notable upset at the SA Tennis Open is Indian number one Somdev Devvarman over Xavier Malisse, who has yet to do much with his overturned substance abuse policy ban. He hasn't won an ATP-level match since beating Rik De Voest at Queen's club, last year.
The pending match-ups at Santiago and Zagreb are not quite as interesting, from my perspective. But there's still potential! In Zagreb, Cilic and Koellerer are playing each other in the second round, and if there's anybody ranked outside the top twenty who I wouldn't want to see when I was exhausted after making my first grand slam final, it would probably be Daniel "Crazycakes" Koellerer. Berrer also beat Tipsarevic in the first round, but Tipsy is a very hot-and-cold player, while Berrer just came off a challenger win last week.
In Santiago, it doesn't look like anyone is planning to stand in the way of Gonzalez winning the tournament again. When he retires, they should just name this the "Fernando Gonzalez Open."
I don't know if we've heard the last of Nadal's injury. He has a lot of points to defend in the near future. He won Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, and Rome last year, while he made the finals in Madrid. He also won Barcelona and made the Rotterdam final. That's 4,400 of Nadal's 7,600 points, coming up in the next three months before the French Open. Of course, if he can get his title back there, it will help his ranking considerably. But if he's not fighting fit, he could slide a long ways down the rankings in the months to come.
Djokovic moves up to number 2 for the first time in his career, but not because of any stellar performance on his part. He has to be happy to be at his all-time best ranking, but it would have been better if he'd gotten there by winning, rather than by Nadal's form dropping.
Anyway, on to this week's action. In Johannesburg, there are some quite matches coming up. Top-seed Gael Monfils will play his countryman Josselin Ouanna in the second round, and I picked Ouanna as a player on the rise this year. We'll see how well he can do against the number two French player. Ouanna is the #14 Frenchman, which is saying something since he's still ranked 121st in the world.
Dustin Brown, the greatest-ever Jamaican tennis player, finds himself in the quarterfinals with a winnable match against Frenchman Stephane Robert. Brown has a great attitude and a fun style of play. He does what everyone says all those tall players should do - he serves at volleys! He's surprisingly quick to net for a player who is 6'5". You can read more about him here.
The other notable upset at the SA Tennis Open is Indian number one Somdev Devvarman over Xavier Malisse, who has yet to do much with his overturned substance abuse policy ban. He hasn't won an ATP-level match since beating Rik De Voest at Queen's club, last year.
The pending match-ups at Santiago and Zagreb are not quite as interesting, from my perspective. But there's still potential! In Zagreb, Cilic and Koellerer are playing each other in the second round, and if there's anybody ranked outside the top twenty who I wouldn't want to see when I was exhausted after making my first grand slam final, it would probably be Daniel "Crazycakes" Koellerer. Berrer also beat Tipsarevic in the first round, but Tipsy is a very hot-and-cold player, while Berrer just came off a challenger win last week.
In Santiago, it doesn't look like anyone is planning to stand in the way of Gonzalez winning the tournament again. When he retires, they should just name this the "Fernando Gonzalez Open."
Monday, February 1, 2010
A Look at Week 5
So even though one of the biggest tournaments of the year just finished up yesterday, the tennis season is starting right up again, with three ATP tournaments and Fed Cup action next week. In fact, tennis action continued in the minor leagues during week 2 of the Australian Open, with top seeds Michael Berrer, Michael Russel, and Eduardo Schwank winning challenger events. Mario Ancic played in Germany, and lost in the first round to Kazakh player Mikhail Kukushkin. And in Hawaii, Donald Young beat Grigor Dimitrov (I'm calling it right now - they'll be playing each other again in the 2015 U.S. Open final) before retiring against eventual champion Russel in the semis.
In other challenger news, two-time grand slam finalist Mark Philippousis is playing in the Dallas Challenger event this week. He opens against 159th-ranked American Michael Yani. He hasn't played a match since 2006! Another former great ws in action in the lower tiers of the game last week, when former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio played in the qualifying tournament for the first clay court event of the year, in Santiago, Chile. He lost in the second round to an Argentine named Juan-Martin Aranguren. Who?
The Santiago event is an interesting one. The first event of the year that takes place on clay, and the only event in Chile all year. As a result, Chilean number one Fernando Gonzalez has owned this event, winning it the last two years and four times overall. He's back this year, and hopefully the move from Vina Del Mar to Santiago will not affect his success.
They really could just call this the South American Open, because the top six seeds are all from the continent, as well 17 of the 32 players in the draw. That number should go up by a few once the qualifiers are placed. Gonzalez is the favorite by far (the second seed is ranked 20 places below him), and he'll probably get another South American dirtballer in the final. Will it be Monaco, Bellucci, Zeballos, or Acasuso?
The other two tournaments going on this week are both hard court events, one in Johannesburg and one in Zagreb. The SA Tennis Open in South Africa is just in its second year, and the tournament still hasn't quite figured out how to draw the top talent in the week after the Aussie Open. It's a tough ask, but when your eighth seed is 104th-ranked Stephane Robert from France, your tournament is not in the best shape.
There are still some excellent players in the draw, with top seed Gael Monfils hoping to follow up his countryman Tsonga's victory last year. Tsonga opted not to try to defend his title, but another victory by a black tennis player would be just as poignant in South Africa this year as it was last year. He'll have to compete with David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, as well as some mid-level players who have shown potential for better things, like Marco Chiudinelli and Rajeev Ram. There are also a few dangerous floaters in the draw, like Jarkko Nieminen, Josselin Ouanna, and Dominik Hrbaty, who opens against the top seed.
I admit that I also like Dustin Brown, the top (and only) ranked Jamaican tennis player, who looks exactly like you might expect a Jamaican tennis player to look. But he'll have a tough opening round against Swiss number three Marco Chiudinelli.
The strongest field of the week is in Zagreb, where Marin Cilic is trying to defend his title from last year. It's going to be tough for him to keep up his momentum, since he has to be jaded after his run at the Australian Open. Ivan Ljubicic won the tournament the year before, and he's the second seed. They're both Croations, so they should enjoy playing in their backyards. Ivo Karlovic, the third-ranked Croation is also in the draw. The number two and three Serbian players are also here, Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic. The floaters here are probably the Rochus Brothers and "Crazy" Daniel Koellerer. But with these tournaments the week after slams, the top players can sometimes be overtired and the lower-ranked guys have a chance to show their stuff. And just like every week, anything can happen.
On the women's side, this week is all about the first round of Fed Cup. Since Fed Cup only has three rounds over the course of the year (compared to Davis Cup's four) there are only eight teams in action at the beginning. As is often the case, two of the potential winners, Serbia and Russia, are meeting in the first round. The U.S. will be Williams sister-less as they face France. The other two ties feature Italy against Ukraine and the Czech Republic against Germany. A few words on player selections.
The top two Serbs are in action for their team, Jankovic and Ivanovic, while the top seven (!!) Russian women are skipping out on this event. World number 31 Alisa Kleybanova is their top-ranked player for this tie. Not bringing any of your top seven players is going to make this tough for Russia.
It's not like the U.S., where the Williams sisters aren't playing but the #3 American, Melanie Oudin, is. America is also bringing one of the top-ranked doubles players in the world, so they'll have a shot. Fortunately, France isn't bringing their top talent, either. Their top player at the tie is world #65 and French #4 Alize Cornet.
I'll admit I don't have a lot to say about the Czech Republic and Germany, because those are eight players whose names I know, but whose achievements I can't list off the top of my head. I'm just not as well-versed in the mid-to-lower tiers of the WTA tour.
But I can say that the Ukraine-Italy tie may turn out to be the most interesting, amazingly enough. Ukraine is making due exclusively with the success of the "Flying" Bondarenko sisters (as Brad Gilbert calls them) and defending champs Italy have Pennetta and Schiavone. Can Italy be Fed Cup's answer to Spain in the Davis Cup?
In other challenger news, two-time grand slam finalist Mark Philippousis is playing in the Dallas Challenger event this week. He opens against 159th-ranked American Michael Yani. He hasn't played a match since 2006! Another former great ws in action in the lower tiers of the game last week, when former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio played in the qualifying tournament for the first clay court event of the year, in Santiago, Chile. He lost in the second round to an Argentine named Juan-Martin Aranguren. Who?
The Santiago event is an interesting one. The first event of the year that takes place on clay, and the only event in Chile all year. As a result, Chilean number one Fernando Gonzalez has owned this event, winning it the last two years and four times overall. He's back this year, and hopefully the move from Vina Del Mar to Santiago will not affect his success.
They really could just call this the South American Open, because the top six seeds are all from the continent, as well 17 of the 32 players in the draw. That number should go up by a few once the qualifiers are placed. Gonzalez is the favorite by far (the second seed is ranked 20 places below him), and he'll probably get another South American dirtballer in the final. Will it be Monaco, Bellucci, Zeballos, or Acasuso?
The other two tournaments going on this week are both hard court events, one in Johannesburg and one in Zagreb. The SA Tennis Open in South Africa is just in its second year, and the tournament still hasn't quite figured out how to draw the top talent in the week after the Aussie Open. It's a tough ask, but when your eighth seed is 104th-ranked Stephane Robert from France, your tournament is not in the best shape.
There are still some excellent players in the draw, with top seed Gael Monfils hoping to follow up his countryman Tsonga's victory last year. Tsonga opted not to try to defend his title, but another victory by a black tennis player would be just as poignant in South Africa this year as it was last year. He'll have to compete with David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, as well as some mid-level players who have shown potential for better things, like Marco Chiudinelli and Rajeev Ram. There are also a few dangerous floaters in the draw, like Jarkko Nieminen, Josselin Ouanna, and Dominik Hrbaty, who opens against the top seed.
I admit that I also like Dustin Brown, the top (and only) ranked Jamaican tennis player, who looks exactly like you might expect a Jamaican tennis player to look. But he'll have a tough opening round against Swiss number three Marco Chiudinelli.
The strongest field of the week is in Zagreb, where Marin Cilic is trying to defend his title from last year. It's going to be tough for him to keep up his momentum, since he has to be jaded after his run at the Australian Open. Ivan Ljubicic won the tournament the year before, and he's the second seed. They're both Croations, so they should enjoy playing in their backyards. Ivo Karlovic, the third-ranked Croation is also in the draw. The number two and three Serbian players are also here, Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic. The floaters here are probably the Rochus Brothers and "Crazy" Daniel Koellerer. But with these tournaments the week after slams, the top players can sometimes be overtired and the lower-ranked guys have a chance to show their stuff. And just like every week, anything can happen.
On the women's side, this week is all about the first round of Fed Cup. Since Fed Cup only has three rounds over the course of the year (compared to Davis Cup's four) there are only eight teams in action at the beginning. As is often the case, two of the potential winners, Serbia and Russia, are meeting in the first round. The U.S. will be Williams sister-less as they face France. The other two ties feature Italy against Ukraine and the Czech Republic against Germany. A few words on player selections.
The top two Serbs are in action for their team, Jankovic and Ivanovic, while the top seven (!!) Russian women are skipping out on this event. World number 31 Alisa Kleybanova is their top-ranked player for this tie. Not bringing any of your top seven players is going to make this tough for Russia.
It's not like the U.S., where the Williams sisters aren't playing but the #3 American, Melanie Oudin, is. America is also bringing one of the top-ranked doubles players in the world, so they'll have a shot. Fortunately, France isn't bringing their top talent, either. Their top player at the tie is world #65 and French #4 Alize Cornet.
I'll admit I don't have a lot to say about the Czech Republic and Germany, because those are eight players whose names I know, but whose achievements I can't list off the top of my head. I'm just not as well-versed in the mid-to-lower tiers of the WTA tour.
But I can say that the Ukraine-Italy tie may turn out to be the most interesting, amazingly enough. Ukraine is making due exclusively with the success of the "Flying" Bondarenko sisters (as Brad Gilbert calls them) and defending champs Italy have Pennetta and Schiavone. Can Italy be Fed Cup's answer to Spain in the Davis Cup?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Austrian Open Wrap-up
That was a tough final for Andy Murray. He put up a better fight against Federer than he did at the U.S. Open, but only for one set out of three. Granted, that's better than none, but it's just not enough. Murray really should have won that third set on about four occasions. He served for it at 5-4, and in the tiebreak, he made two errors on set point. One, a down-the-line forehand that he sunk into the net, and another a backhand volley that sailed wide. Both were tough but makeable shots.
The idea of the blockbuster final that was expected seemed to vanish pretty early in the match, as Murray came out more defensive than he had played the entire tournament. You could see from the way he was getting Roger involved in slow backhand rallies that he wasn't in the kind of offensive mindset that he'd been in against Nadal. He never quite got to that level, but he did get closer in the third set. A disappointing day for Murray, but Roger turned out to be right in talking smack before the match. He had all the pressure, and he couldn't quite handle it.
Overall, it was an interesting tournament. Despite how much was said about what a wide open field it was and how this was the beginning of a new era in men's tennis, the final results looked a lot like a grand slam from Federer's years of complete dominance. There's no telling how many more of these he's going to win, because he clearly still has the game for it. Twenty titles is by no means an unrealistic goal at this point. Who's going to stand in his way?
Nadal's knees are giving him even worse trouble, and he's going to slide in the rankings after this tournament. Roddick, while more focused than most players when he faces Fed, just doesn't have the game to win. Murray, Djokovic, and a lot of the other young guns tend to just get overawed when they play Federer on a big stage. Del Potro is the only one who has managed a big win over a Roger who isn't ailing, but his long-term health is a question as well.
There weren't that many surprises in this tournament, now that I'm looking back on it. Cilic's run was impressive, but he'd been pegged for this kind of performance for a few years, so it wasn't entirely unexpected, and the draw did open for him, facing injured and tired players in the fourth round and quarterfinals. Davydenko showed once again that he can't beat Federer at a slam. Djokovic had another health problem affecting his play, but to his credit, he didn't pull out of the match. And Nadal's knees are just getting worse.
On the women's side, Justine Henin was by far the best story, but Nadia Petrova showed that she also may be bound for the top ten again. The Serbs and other Russians continued to struggle. The semifinal showings by two Chinese players seemed to indicate that China might be the next Russia, in terms of becoming a new tennis powerhouse. And the Williams sisters continued to keep American tennis relevant on the big stages, with a little (largely unnoticed) help from the Bryan brothers.
So it seems that reports of the new tennis era may have been largely exaggerated.
The idea of the blockbuster final that was expected seemed to vanish pretty early in the match, as Murray came out more defensive than he had played the entire tournament. You could see from the way he was getting Roger involved in slow backhand rallies that he wasn't in the kind of offensive mindset that he'd been in against Nadal. He never quite got to that level, but he did get closer in the third set. A disappointing day for Murray, but Roger turned out to be right in talking smack before the match. He had all the pressure, and he couldn't quite handle it.
Overall, it was an interesting tournament. Despite how much was said about what a wide open field it was and how this was the beginning of a new era in men's tennis, the final results looked a lot like a grand slam from Federer's years of complete dominance. There's no telling how many more of these he's going to win, because he clearly still has the game for it. Twenty titles is by no means an unrealistic goal at this point. Who's going to stand in his way?
Nadal's knees are giving him even worse trouble, and he's going to slide in the rankings after this tournament. Roddick, while more focused than most players when he faces Fed, just doesn't have the game to win. Murray, Djokovic, and a lot of the other young guns tend to just get overawed when they play Federer on a big stage. Del Potro is the only one who has managed a big win over a Roger who isn't ailing, but his long-term health is a question as well.
There weren't that many surprises in this tournament, now that I'm looking back on it. Cilic's run was impressive, but he'd been pegged for this kind of performance for a few years, so it wasn't entirely unexpected, and the draw did open for him, facing injured and tired players in the fourth round and quarterfinals. Davydenko showed once again that he can't beat Federer at a slam. Djokovic had another health problem affecting his play, but to his credit, he didn't pull out of the match. And Nadal's knees are just getting worse.
On the women's side, Justine Henin was by far the best story, but Nadia Petrova showed that she also may be bound for the top ten again. The Serbs and other Russians continued to struggle. The semifinal showings by two Chinese players seemed to indicate that China might be the next Russia, in terms of becoming a new tennis powerhouse. And the Williams sisters continued to keep American tennis relevant on the big stages, with a little (largely unnoticed) help from the Bryan brothers.
So it seems that reports of the new tennis era may have been largely exaggerated.
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