Ah, the tennis season is officially underway, now. We've had the first match with a really big and unexpected upset. Robin Soderling, the top seed in Chennai, was in such good form at the end of last season and at the exhibition at the beginning of this year, that I don't think I even mentioned his first-round match against world number 100 Robbie Ginepri. It's clear that was an oversight on my part, because Ginepri has proven in the past that he can occasionally produce the form that allows him to play with the best in the world, and it was on display when he ousted Soderling in straight sets. It's too early to call it a comeback, but it would be nice to see Ginepri put together a couple of good matches this week.
The other interesting result from Chennai was from the rematch of last year's semifinal-that-never-was. Rainer Schuettler withdrew with injury, giving Somdev Devvarman a place in the final. This year, Devvarman again received a wildcard, and again made good use of it by beating the German in straight sets. Can he make it back to the final again, this year?
Another wildcard who is doing very well for himself is Younes el Aynaoui in Doha. Now 38 years old, Aynaoui beat American Ryler DeHeart in two tiebreak sets. This made him the oldest player to win a match on tour since Jimmy Connors in 1995. That's quite a record to have. Aynaoui has a bit of luck, since his second-round opponent is another qualifier, since Steve Darcis beat eighth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. If he makes it to the third round, he may face Nadal.
Speaking of the top three seeds in Doha, Nadal, Federer, and Davydenko all cruised through their matches. This was expected, of course, but it was good to see each of them playing in such fine form. Granted, their opponents may not have been the best set of opponents to demonstrate how they're feeling at the start of this season, but these wins are no doubt encouraging. Each should have a sterner test in their next round, so we can see if they're on the collision course they appear to be on.
In Brisbane, there were some excellent matches yesterday. Sam Querrey and James Blake played in what could have been a changing of the guard, but Blake refused to play along with that storyline. After getting broken in the first set, he started smacking his forehand to places where Querrey could never reach it. Granted, Sam played a little passive, possibly assuming that James would start hitting errors eventually, but Blake stuck to his guns, and ended up winning in three. But Querrey played well, and he did not seem to be too affected by his injury. Also worthy of note is that the Querrey-Blake match was 5-6, 6-4, 6-4 and took only an hour and twenty-eight minutes. This may have been the quickest 31 game match of all-time.
For reference, Mardy Fish lost a tight match to Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 7-5, and those 24 games took an hour and forty-one minutes. Taylor Dent lost a crackerjack to Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 6-2. Hopefully, both Fish and Dent will be inspired by how close these losses were, rather than frustrated. Those were just unlucky first-round opponents, and both players should do better this season.
Australian Qualifier Matthew Ebden (who I'll admit I know nothing about) upset sixth-seeded Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, which gives him a match-up against Richard Gasquet. The winner of that match will play the winner of Andy Roddick and Carsten Ball. Now Carsten has never had a win comparable to a player like Roddick, but Andy's knee has apparently been bothering him. I'm hoping for a Roddick-Gasquet faceoff in the third round, and I imagine the tournament organizers are, too. Despite the fact that it calls for two Australians to lose.
There were a few notable upsets in the doubles, as Jeremy Chardy made up for his disappointing loss in the first round to Alejandro Falla by teaming with Marc Gicquel to beat third seeds Knowle and Lindstedt. While that is an impressive result, it's nothing compared to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Albert Montanes topping top-seeded Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in straight sets! As the second-ranked team after the Bryans, this is not the way the pair was hoping to start their 2010 campaign.
Some good tennis to be played yet, too! It's just started in Brisbane, and as the sun moves across the sky, I'll be able to follow the tennis to India and then to Qatar. If schedules hold up and I can stay awake, I may be able to watch tennis for the next sixteen hours straight. Can't beat that, huh?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Week 1 - Justine Henin's Comeback Underway
The first truly significant event of the 2010 season has occurred, and it went just as most people expected. Justine Henin, after more than 15 months away from professional tennis, didn't look rusty at all in her first match back on tour, against number 2 seed Nadia Petrova. The only part of her game that wasn't quite on was her serve. In the first set, she was serving at only 40%, and she started off worse than that. She ended up at 47% for the match, so she was getting back into her groove. Even though she was missing a lot of first serves, it was very effective when she got it in. She hit six aces and lost only three points off that shot during the entire match.
Petrova did not play poorly, either. She served at 70% with only one double fault, and there were some excellent rallies, but in the end Henin's touch and movement made her just too strong. She'll next face the qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, whose name you'll be forgiven for not recognizing. Henin shouldn't have any trouble until she reaches the quarters, where she has a chance of facing Ana Ivanovic, who had a good win against Jelena Dokic in the first round. Ivanovic is trying to get back to her top form after a poor 2009, and a deep run in this tournament would get that underway nicely. Both are on the opposite side of the draw from Kim Clijsters, who breezed through her opening round, so that could be a blockbuster final.
The other notable results on the women's side are the wins by two wildcards in Auckland. Thirty-nine year old Kimiko Date Krumm defeated Chakvetadze while giving up only three games. Additionally, Yanina Wickmeyer defeated Julia Goerges in two, having had no apparent ill effects from the doping (well, testing) scandal at the end of last season. Her countryman Xavier Malisse did not fare quite as well, losing in the final round of qualifying in Brisbane.
There were some interesting results from the qualifying rounds, though. American minor-leaguer Ryler DeHeart, who faced Nadal in the U.S. Open in 2008, beat second qualifying seed Karol Beck. He's rewarded with a match against 38-year old Younes el Aynaoui, which is a winnable match. Yuki Bhambri, a spectacular junior champion from 2009, lost in the final round of the quallies in Chennai to the same Irish player who beat Donald Young, Louk Sorenson.
Also in Chennai, Thiemo de Bakker beat Rajeev Ram in a rout, the 21-year old Dutch player winning 6-1, 6-1 against the eighth seed. Winning so easily is impressive, since de Bakker has mostly played on the challenger tour, and has an ATP record of only 9-13. Maybe this will be his breakout year. He'll likely Janko Tipsarevic in the third round, as the Serbian beat former world number one Carlos Moya in the first. Defending champ Marin Cilic also won, and he's in that half of the draw.
In Doha, Ernests Gulbis won his first-round match, and if this year is going to be anything like last year, that means he'll lose in round two. Ivo Karlovic also won his first round against Fabio Fognini, but here's an interesting stat - Dr. Ivo only had seven aces in 10 service games, while Andy Roddick had 15 during his win over Peter Luczak in Brisbane. This may be the only time during the course of the year when the American leads in the ace race.
One last thing to note - the Hopman cup has not gone well for the Americans, with Oudin and Isner losing both their singles matches and their doubles match to the Spaniards. Isner's match with Robredo was a tough one, with two out of the three sets going to tiebreaks, but the big-serving American couldn't quite pull it out, in the end.
Petrova did not play poorly, either. She served at 70% with only one double fault, and there were some excellent rallies, but in the end Henin's touch and movement made her just too strong. She'll next face the qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, whose name you'll be forgiven for not recognizing. Henin shouldn't have any trouble until she reaches the quarters, where she has a chance of facing Ana Ivanovic, who had a good win against Jelena Dokic in the first round. Ivanovic is trying to get back to her top form after a poor 2009, and a deep run in this tournament would get that underway nicely. Both are on the opposite side of the draw from Kim Clijsters, who breezed through her opening round, so that could be a blockbuster final.
The other notable results on the women's side are the wins by two wildcards in Auckland. Thirty-nine year old Kimiko Date Krumm defeated Chakvetadze while giving up only three games. Additionally, Yanina Wickmeyer defeated Julia Goerges in two, having had no apparent ill effects from the doping (well, testing) scandal at the end of last season. Her countryman Xavier Malisse did not fare quite as well, losing in the final round of qualifying in Brisbane.
There were some interesting results from the qualifying rounds, though. American minor-leaguer Ryler DeHeart, who faced Nadal in the U.S. Open in 2008, beat second qualifying seed Karol Beck. He's rewarded with a match against 38-year old Younes el Aynaoui, which is a winnable match. Yuki Bhambri, a spectacular junior champion from 2009, lost in the final round of the quallies in Chennai to the same Irish player who beat Donald Young, Louk Sorenson.
Also in Chennai, Thiemo de Bakker beat Rajeev Ram in a rout, the 21-year old Dutch player winning 6-1, 6-1 against the eighth seed. Winning so easily is impressive, since de Bakker has mostly played on the challenger tour, and has an ATP record of only 9-13. Maybe this will be his breakout year. He'll likely Janko Tipsarevic in the third round, as the Serbian beat former world number one Carlos Moya in the first. Defending champ Marin Cilic also won, and he's in that half of the draw.
In Doha, Ernests Gulbis won his first-round match, and if this year is going to be anything like last year, that means he'll lose in round two. Ivo Karlovic also won his first round against Fabio Fognini, but here's an interesting stat - Dr. Ivo only had seven aces in 10 service games, while Andy Roddick had 15 during his win over Peter Luczak in Brisbane. This may be the only time during the course of the year when the American leads in the ace race.
One last thing to note - the Hopman cup has not gone well for the Americans, with Oudin and Isner losing both their singles matches and their doubles match to the Spaniards. Isner's match with Robredo was a tough one, with two out of the three sets going to tiebreaks, but the big-serving American couldn't quite pull it out, in the end.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tennis 2010 Week 1 - Looking at the Draws
In my last post, I forgot to look at the two women's tournaments that kick the first week of the season off, as well. This was a mistake for a number of reasons, the most exciting of which is that the women's tournament in Brisbane features the return of former number one and seven-time grand slam winner Justine Henin. She opens her comeback with a tough match, facing second seed and twentieth-ranked Nadia Petrova in the first round. I'm sure the Belgian would have preferred somebody a little lower in the rankings, since she may well be rusty after nearly two years off.
However, if she can get past Petrova (Justine does lead their head-to-head 11-2), then she should find herself with relatively smoother sailing. If she makes it all the way to the final, she has a chance of facing Kim Clijsters, who is the top seed for the event! If they play in the final, I expect they'll play a few more times over the course of the year. The other first-round match to keep an eye on is Ana Ivanovic against Jelena Dokic. I'd expect the winner of that match to make the semis.
The other women's tournament of week 1, in Auckland, does not feature as much star power, but it still has some fascinating storylines to watch. My favorite is the continued resurgence of Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm, whose return from retirement is really much more impressive than Henin's. She opens against Chakvetadze. The other interesting storyline here features the top two Italian players, Schiavone and Pennetta (the number one seed), who are hoping they can build on their Fed Cup win last year by starting 2010 off strong.
Moving on to the men's tourneys, the field in Chennai is arguably the weakest. When world #79 Rajeev Ram is your eighth seed, you know that you don't have the toughest draw in the world. Top seed Soderling shouldn't have too much trouble marching through, despite the presence of some tough players. Former world number 1 Carlos Moya was given a wildcard to the event, and he faces Tipsarevic in the first round. Number eight seed Ram faces the Dutch young player Thiemo De Bakker, who is playing his tenth tour-level match. Last year's finalist and local hope Somdev Devvarman opens with the semifinal that he would have played last year, if Rainer Schuettler hadn't withdrawn with an injury. And defending champion Marin Cilic is the number two seed. All signs point to a Cilic-Soderling final, but of course, anything can happen.
By the way, Soderling ended up losing to Nadal in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition event, in two tough sets. That's impressive, since the Swede won their last match comfortably at the year-end championships. Nadal may have been able to use the time off (brief though it was) to get back to fighting fit form. Meanwhile, Federer had to play a consolation match for third place against Ferrer, which he easily won. Guess that invalidates my theory about Federer not giving it his all against Soderling so he could get ready for Doha, doesn't it?
The draw at Doha has three real contenders and a handful of dangerous, slightly crazy, but very entertaining mid-level players. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko are the one, two, and three seeds. Gulbis, Karlovic, and Koellerer are all scattered throughout the draw, along with 38-year old Younes El Aynaoui, who was given a wildcard. He was playing on the Champions tour last year! He opens against a qualifier, which is about as much as he could hope for. It seems unreasonable to bet against a Federer-Nadal final here, though. Particularly since defending champ Andy Murray opted not to return and instead played in the Hopman Cup.
In Brisbane, on the men's side, Roddick seems to be the number one seed mostlikely to lose before the final. The health of his knee is still a question mark, and there are a ton of lurkers in the draw. Big-serving Aussie lefty Carsten Ball could be Roddick's second round opponent, and he could be followed by Jarkko Nieminen or Richard Gasquet, who are playing one of the most enticing opening round matches.
Other opening rounds to watch are Sam Querrey-James Blake, Marcos Baghdatis-Mardy Fish, and Gael Monfils-Taylor Dent. As if that weren't enough, the draw also features defending champ Radek Stepanek, the other great Aussie hope Bernard Tomic, Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil and Jeremy Chardy from France. This tournament could unfold any number of ways, and it's much harder to get a sense of who will come out on top than at the other two tournaments this week.
However, if she can get past Petrova (Justine does lead their head-to-head 11-2), then she should find herself with relatively smoother sailing. If she makes it all the way to the final, she has a chance of facing Kim Clijsters, who is the top seed for the event! If they play in the final, I expect they'll play a few more times over the course of the year. The other first-round match to keep an eye on is Ana Ivanovic against Jelena Dokic. I'd expect the winner of that match to make the semis.
The other women's tournament of week 1, in Auckland, does not feature as much star power, but it still has some fascinating storylines to watch. My favorite is the continued resurgence of Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm, whose return from retirement is really much more impressive than Henin's. She opens against Chakvetadze. The other interesting storyline here features the top two Italian players, Schiavone and Pennetta (the number one seed), who are hoping they can build on their Fed Cup win last year by starting 2010 off strong.
Moving on to the men's tourneys, the field in Chennai is arguably the weakest. When world #79 Rajeev Ram is your eighth seed, you know that you don't have the toughest draw in the world. Top seed Soderling shouldn't have too much trouble marching through, despite the presence of some tough players. Former world number 1 Carlos Moya was given a wildcard to the event, and he faces Tipsarevic in the first round. Number eight seed Ram faces the Dutch young player Thiemo De Bakker, who is playing his tenth tour-level match. Last year's finalist and local hope Somdev Devvarman opens with the semifinal that he would have played last year, if Rainer Schuettler hadn't withdrawn with an injury. And defending champion Marin Cilic is the number two seed. All signs point to a Cilic-Soderling final, but of course, anything can happen.
By the way, Soderling ended up losing to Nadal in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition event, in two tough sets. That's impressive, since the Swede won their last match comfortably at the year-end championships. Nadal may have been able to use the time off (brief though it was) to get back to fighting fit form. Meanwhile, Federer had to play a consolation match for third place against Ferrer, which he easily won. Guess that invalidates my theory about Federer not giving it his all against Soderling so he could get ready for Doha, doesn't it?
The draw at Doha has three real contenders and a handful of dangerous, slightly crazy, but very entertaining mid-level players. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko are the one, two, and three seeds. Gulbis, Karlovic, and Koellerer are all scattered throughout the draw, along with 38-year old Younes El Aynaoui, who was given a wildcard. He was playing on the Champions tour last year! He opens against a qualifier, which is about as much as he could hope for. It seems unreasonable to bet against a Federer-Nadal final here, though. Particularly since defending champ Andy Murray opted not to return and instead played in the Hopman Cup.
In Brisbane, on the men's side, Roddick seems to be the number one seed mostlikely to lose before the final. The health of his knee is still a question mark, and there are a ton of lurkers in the draw. Big-serving Aussie lefty Carsten Ball could be Roddick's second round opponent, and he could be followed by Jarkko Nieminen or Richard Gasquet, who are playing one of the most enticing opening round matches.
Other opening rounds to watch are Sam Querrey-James Blake, Marcos Baghdatis-Mardy Fish, and Gael Monfils-Taylor Dent. As if that weren't enough, the draw also features defending champ Radek Stepanek, the other great Aussie hope Bernard Tomic, Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil and Jeremy Chardy from France. This tournament could unfold any number of ways, and it's much harder to get a sense of who will come out on top than at the other two tournaments this week.
2010 Tennis Season Underway!
After a long and lonely off-season, the 2010 tennis season officially begins this week. There are three official tournaments during week one: Brisbane, Chennai, and Doha. Meanwhile, there's the Hopman Cup mixed-doubles event in Perth as well. Not to mention last week, the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition took place in Abu Dhabi. The season really starts with a bang, doesn't it? Beginning next week, the entire tour becomes focused in Australia as things build up towards the first major of the year, but for one week, the players remain scattered across the globe.
First of all, looking back at last week's pre-season exhibition in Abu Dhabi, there is one very interesting result. Robin Soderling managed to find a way to beat Roger Federer in the semifinals, after losing twelve consecutive times to the Swiss maestro. While this is undoubtedly a thrilling result for Robin, Roger may have already pocketed his appearance fee and decided to head off to his next tourney. The sad truth is that these exhibition wins often don't make that much difference. Roddick beat Fed at Kooyong in 2007, but then won only six games when they played just a few weeks later at the Aussie Open.
Speaking of Roddick, he's the top seed at the tournament in Brisbane, which features the majority of the American and Australian players, save for Aussie number one Hewitt, who's at the Hopman Cup. The first week of the season is always fascinating, because you get to see how players who were injured at the end of last season have recovered, or whether those who finished the year on a tear can maintain their momentum. Roddick is hoping to have fully recovered from the knee injury which cut his season short. Brisbane also features Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, and Taylor Dent, all recently injured Americans who hope to start 2009 off well. There are quite a few dangerous floaters in the draw, as well. Look for a more in-depth draw analysis tomorrow.
Moving westward to India, the Chennai tournament will struggle to be as exciting this year as it was in 2009. That was the year that local wildcard Somdev Devvarman made it through the first three rounds, beating Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic in the process, only to get a walkover from Rainer Schuettler in the semis. He lost to Marin Cilic in the final, but what a dream run. Devvarman will be hoping to defend as many points as he can, and Cilic will be hoping to have his first successful title defense of his career.
Further west, in the Middle East, where the money still seems to be flowing despite the world's economic downturn, you will find most of the big dogs. Only three of the world's top six players will be in official action this week, but they will all be in Doha. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko will all be there, and only Davydenko enters with a winning streak. Can the Russian continue his stupendous form from the end of last year? He was injured early last year, so he has no points to defend. If he plays like he did in the closing months of 2009, he could jump up to the top 3 or 4 in the world. Two of the other most interesting storylines of 2010 will get started here, too: will Nadal's body be able to hold up, what with all of his injuries, and will Federer be able to stay as motivated as he has been in the past, considering how he has accomplished everything he could have set out to do?
The other member of the top six who is playing this week is Britain's Andy Murray, who is playing the Hopman Cup with British teenage phenom Laura Robson. She could meet American sensation Melanie Oudin, if the U.S. And Britain make it to the final. Of course, to do that, they'll each have to win their groups. Or maybe they could meet in the semis. I'm the first to admit that I'm not 100% clear on the way that Hopman Cup works. Regardless, there should be some firecracker matches. Watch for Dementieva to start her season in style.
First of all, looking back at last week's pre-season exhibition in Abu Dhabi, there is one very interesting result. Robin Soderling managed to find a way to beat Roger Federer in the semifinals, after losing twelve consecutive times to the Swiss maestro. While this is undoubtedly a thrilling result for Robin, Roger may have already pocketed his appearance fee and decided to head off to his next tourney. The sad truth is that these exhibition wins often don't make that much difference. Roddick beat Fed at Kooyong in 2007, but then won only six games when they played just a few weeks later at the Aussie Open.
Speaking of Roddick, he's the top seed at the tournament in Brisbane, which features the majority of the American and Australian players, save for Aussie number one Hewitt, who's at the Hopman Cup. The first week of the season is always fascinating, because you get to see how players who were injured at the end of last season have recovered, or whether those who finished the year on a tear can maintain their momentum. Roddick is hoping to have fully recovered from the knee injury which cut his season short. Brisbane also features Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, and Taylor Dent, all recently injured Americans who hope to start 2009 off well. There are quite a few dangerous floaters in the draw, as well. Look for a more in-depth draw analysis tomorrow.
Moving westward to India, the Chennai tournament will struggle to be as exciting this year as it was in 2009. That was the year that local wildcard Somdev Devvarman made it through the first three rounds, beating Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic in the process, only to get a walkover from Rainer Schuettler in the semis. He lost to Marin Cilic in the final, but what a dream run. Devvarman will be hoping to defend as many points as he can, and Cilic will be hoping to have his first successful title defense of his career.
Further west, in the Middle East, where the money still seems to be flowing despite the world's economic downturn, you will find most of the big dogs. Only three of the world's top six players will be in official action this week, but they will all be in Doha. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko will all be there, and only Davydenko enters with a winning streak. Can the Russian continue his stupendous form from the end of last year? He was injured early last year, so he has no points to defend. If he plays like he did in the closing months of 2009, he could jump up to the top 3 or 4 in the world. Two of the other most interesting storylines of 2010 will get started here, too: will Nadal's body be able to hold up, what with all of his injuries, and will Federer be able to stay as motivated as he has been in the past, considering how he has accomplished everything he could have set out to do?
The other member of the top six who is playing this week is Britain's Andy Murray, who is playing the Hopman Cup with British teenage phenom Laura Robson. She could meet American sensation Melanie Oudin, if the U.S. And Britain make it to the final. Of course, to do that, they'll each have to win their groups. Or maybe they could meet in the semis. I'm the first to admit that I'm not 100% clear on the way that Hopman Cup works. Regardless, there should be some firecracker matches. Watch for Dementieva to start her season in style.
2010 Statement of Purpose
In 2009, my posting was infrequent. I will maintain a more rigorous schedule in 2010. I will post no fewer than three times each week. I recognize that my content is not sufficiently enthralling for a reader to return if they visit the site expecting new content and finding none on more than one or two occasions.
This blog will not simply state tournament results. Those can be found easily on any number of websites, including www.atpworldtour.com and sports.yahoo.com/ten. While I have done it in the past because it is easy for me to do, there is no point in my retyping the scores from other websites.
This blog will attempt to offer analysis, commentary, and predictions. One of my strengths is in tennis trivia, and I will present interesting and relevant tidbits whenever possible. My other is in numbers, and I will delve into match and player statistics when I think it will prove worthwhile.
This blog will not hate on anyone involved in the sport or treat them unfairly. While I do have my opinions about players, announcers, and commentators, I will strive to maintain an unbiased perspective whenever possible. I will not revel in a player's loss. I consider this akin to cheering unforced errors when at a live match. It is not a classy thing to do.
This blog will focus on bringing attention to the things that are good about the sport. Tennis is the most fascinating individual sport in the world. It has enormous depth and so many angles from which it can be appreciated. It is simply a beautiful game, full of wonderful physicality, strategy, and artistry. I've created this blog because I am enthralled by watching, thinking about, and talking about the game. I just want to share my obsession.
This blog will not simply state tournament results. Those can be found easily on any number of websites, including www.atpworldtour.com and sports.yahoo.com/ten. While I have done it in the past because it is easy for me to do, there is no point in my retyping the scores from other websites.
This blog will attempt to offer analysis, commentary, and predictions. One of my strengths is in tennis trivia, and I will present interesting and relevant tidbits whenever possible. My other is in numbers, and I will delve into match and player statistics when I think it will prove worthwhile.
This blog will not hate on anyone involved in the sport or treat them unfairly. While I do have my opinions about players, announcers, and commentators, I will strive to maintain an unbiased perspective whenever possible. I will not revel in a player's loss. I consider this akin to cheering unforced errors when at a live match. It is not a classy thing to do.
This blog will focus on bringing attention to the things that are good about the sport. Tennis is the most fascinating individual sport in the world. It has enormous depth and so many angles from which it can be appreciated. It is simply a beautiful game, full of wonderful physicality, strategy, and artistry. I've created this blog because I am enthralled by watching, thinking about, and talking about the game. I just want to share my obsession.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Paris Semifinals
Today were the BNP Paribas Masters quarterfinals, which featured two high-quality matches, one of uneven quality, and one washout.
Rafael Nadal and J.W. Tsonga played excellent tennis for two sets, with Nadal proving himself to be the better player by a very small margin, winning 7-5, 7-5. After two very shaky matches against Almagro and Robredo, in which he saved numerous match points and broke his opponents while they were serving for the match (I believe) three times, Nadal has returned to his something resembling his imperious form. This may have been his best match since his injury over the summer, when he missed Wimbledon. It's a shame for Tsonga, who was trying to defend his title and once again reach the last eight in London in a few weeks, but he simply ran into a better play today. Tsonga's only win over Nadal remains in the semifinals of the 2008 Australian Open, where JW mopped the floor with Nadal. Unfortunately for Tsonga, he's never quite been able to recapture that level of play.
The other excellent semifinal was a first meeting between two young players, Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic. Cilic was the steadier player at the beginning of the match, but after the Frenchman made a handful of absolute highlight-reel shots, the crowd got into it and Cilic lost his focus. He began missing forehands and giving Monfils way too many chances. Despite nearly injuring himself going for an impossible shot on his first match point, Monfils won in three and produced some scintillating tennis in the process. He still won despite winning one fewer point than his opponent. I guess some of his must have just counted for more. Seriously, two or three of the shots he made in this match would make it into a top 25 shots of the year compilation.
Soderling-Djokovic was less stellar, with neither player reaching a very high level of tennis for very long. Soderling was 3 for 14 on break points, which is just not an acceptable stat against a player as good as Djokovic. They each won 78 points, but Djokovic came out on top, and he'll look to continue his strong form at the end of this season.
The last match was a pretty big let-down, as the abdominal injury that's been hampering JMDP all week finally caught up with him, and he retired down 0-4 against Radek Stepanek. Here's hoping DelPo can recover in time for the year-end championships.
So for tomorrow, we have a potentially blockbuster matchup between the 2 and 3 players in the world, as well as another match between two of the biggest characters on tour. It seems unlikely that the Nadal-Djokovic match will meet the standard of play that they reached earlier in the year in Madrid. Prior to today's matches, you would have Djokovic as the prohibitive favorite, since he's on a winning streak and just beat Federer on his home turf, while Nadal seemed to have not yet recovered his game completely. But today, Nadal was sharp and Djokovic looked off. So who knows how the match-up will go tomorrow?
As for Stepanek-Monfils, all I can say is that there will be some shot-making guaranteed, a lot of playing to the crowd, and probably some faking injury from one or the other player. It's also a tough match to call, but I'm going to say that Monfils should recreate the Parisian magic that Tsonga enjoyed last year and make it to the final on his home soil.
Rafael Nadal and J.W. Tsonga played excellent tennis for two sets, with Nadal proving himself to be the better player by a very small margin, winning 7-5, 7-5. After two very shaky matches against Almagro and Robredo, in which he saved numerous match points and broke his opponents while they were serving for the match (I believe) three times, Nadal has returned to his something resembling his imperious form. This may have been his best match since his injury over the summer, when he missed Wimbledon. It's a shame for Tsonga, who was trying to defend his title and once again reach the last eight in London in a few weeks, but he simply ran into a better play today. Tsonga's only win over Nadal remains in the semifinals of the 2008 Australian Open, where JW mopped the floor with Nadal. Unfortunately for Tsonga, he's never quite been able to recapture that level of play.
The other excellent semifinal was a first meeting between two young players, Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic. Cilic was the steadier player at the beginning of the match, but after the Frenchman made a handful of absolute highlight-reel shots, the crowd got into it and Cilic lost his focus. He began missing forehands and giving Monfils way too many chances. Despite nearly injuring himself going for an impossible shot on his first match point, Monfils won in three and produced some scintillating tennis in the process. He still won despite winning one fewer point than his opponent. I guess some of his must have just counted for more. Seriously, two or three of the shots he made in this match would make it into a top 25 shots of the year compilation.
Soderling-Djokovic was less stellar, with neither player reaching a very high level of tennis for very long. Soderling was 3 for 14 on break points, which is just not an acceptable stat against a player as good as Djokovic. They each won 78 points, but Djokovic came out on top, and he'll look to continue his strong form at the end of this season.
The last match was a pretty big let-down, as the abdominal injury that's been hampering JMDP all week finally caught up with him, and he retired down 0-4 against Radek Stepanek. Here's hoping DelPo can recover in time for the year-end championships.
So for tomorrow, we have a potentially blockbuster matchup between the 2 and 3 players in the world, as well as another match between two of the biggest characters on tour. It seems unlikely that the Nadal-Djokovic match will meet the standard of play that they reached earlier in the year in Madrid. Prior to today's matches, you would have Djokovic as the prohibitive favorite, since he's on a winning streak and just beat Federer on his home turf, while Nadal seemed to have not yet recovered his game completely. But today, Nadal was sharp and Djokovic looked off. So who knows how the match-up will go tomorrow?
As for Stepanek-Monfils, all I can say is that there will be some shot-making guaranteed, a lot of playing to the crowd, and probably some faking injury from one or the other player. It's also a tough match to call, but I'm going to say that Monfils should recreate the Parisian magic that Tsonga enjoyed last year and make it to the final on his home soil.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Paris Masters, 2nd Round
In the last tournament of the regular season for the ATP Tour, the third day of play was deceptively exciting. Considering that only two seeded players were upset and ten made it through, you wouldn't think that would make for one of the most exciting tennis days of the year, and one that compares with the first Saturday of the 2008 Australian Open, which is the most exciting single day of tennis that I can recall.
The two upsets were both thrilling matches, one was shocking and the other didn't come as much of a surprise. Tommy Haas had been struggling with illness - swine flu, in fact - and so there wasn't a lot of expectation for him to win over French stalwart and qualifier Arnaud Clement. But Haas won the first set and took it to a tiebreak in the third, losing a match point before Clement took the win. The shocking result was Roger Federer losing in three to Julien Benneteau, who had never before taken a set in their two previous meetings. Benneteau played out of his mind to win the second-set tiebreak and then break Federer in the third before he served it out.
In the other matches, Del Potro was pushed to a third set in his first match back after the U.S. Open by a retiring Marat Safin, who put on a pretty good show in his last professional match, but seemed to be happy to have it all done. I don't think he'll be back. That ceremony was pretty exciting, and it was followed by an out-of-sorts Rafael Nadal escaping by the skin of teeth against Nicolas Almagro. The older but less experienced Spaniard was dominating the match while Nadal was lagging, and Almagro led by a break in each set. He served for the match twice and was broken both times. Finally, he cramped in the third set and basically stood by and watched Nadal take the match. Almagro, when first serving for the match, had 40-0 on serve, and couldn't close it out. Tough loss for him - you know he'll be working on his conditioning in the offseason.
The other matches were also good, but less stunning than those above. Big servers and frequent spoilers Ivo Karlovic and John Isner could have ended the End of Year Championships hopes for Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez, but both of the giants lost in two sets. James Blake nearly managed to salvage a bit of his season by taking Andy Murray to two tiebreaks, but ended up losing his match in three.
Some very competitive tennis - not all of it scintillating, but all of it exciting. This kind of play this late in the year does not do much for the argument about shortening the season. As sympathetic as I am to the players, as a fan, I wish I could have this every day.
The two upsets were both thrilling matches, one was shocking and the other didn't come as much of a surprise. Tommy Haas had been struggling with illness - swine flu, in fact - and so there wasn't a lot of expectation for him to win over French stalwart and qualifier Arnaud Clement. But Haas won the first set and took it to a tiebreak in the third, losing a match point before Clement took the win. The shocking result was Roger Federer losing in three to Julien Benneteau, who had never before taken a set in their two previous meetings. Benneteau played out of his mind to win the second-set tiebreak and then break Federer in the third before he served it out.
In the other matches, Del Potro was pushed to a third set in his first match back after the U.S. Open by a retiring Marat Safin, who put on a pretty good show in his last professional match, but seemed to be happy to have it all done. I don't think he'll be back. That ceremony was pretty exciting, and it was followed by an out-of-sorts Rafael Nadal escaping by the skin of teeth against Nicolas Almagro. The older but less experienced Spaniard was dominating the match while Nadal was lagging, and Almagro led by a break in each set. He served for the match twice and was broken both times. Finally, he cramped in the third set and basically stood by and watched Nadal take the match. Almagro, when first serving for the match, had 40-0 on serve, and couldn't close it out. Tough loss for him - you know he'll be working on his conditioning in the offseason.
The other matches were also good, but less stunning than those above. Big servers and frequent spoilers Ivo Karlovic and John Isner could have ended the End of Year Championships hopes for Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez, but both of the giants lost in two sets. James Blake nearly managed to salvage a bit of his season by taking Andy Murray to two tiebreaks, but ended up losing his match in three.
Some very competitive tennis - not all of it scintillating, but all of it exciting. This kind of play this late in the year does not do much for the argument about shortening the season. As sympathetic as I am to the players, as a fan, I wish I could have this every day.
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