Yes, that's the Aussie Open adventure for another year and so this means the match reports are going to be over and this is the whole reflective and sentimental stuff, well maybe not.
Like anything there were highlights and lowlights, but overall I enjoyed the experience, but as we age, things tend to be seen differently. It's definitely more about the money making now than the moniker "The Friendly Slam", so I will get the shit out of my system now with the lowlights.
Lowlights: The main one has been the increase of crowd trouble in the last few years. Sadly it seems to be the Serb fans who are involved in the shit, a few years ago they had issue with the Croats. This year they were at it again going around trying to stir shit with Croats and Bosnians. These clowns haven't been in Serbia, especially during the war, they are searching for an identity. The Aus Open never had a problem before with people from all over the world having fun and cheering their favourites, but this lot aren't interested in tennis and the Serbian players have expressed their disappointment with these idiots.
The other main problem is the venue congestion at the moment. There are way too many people for the size of the venue at the moment, which was state of the art in 1988, but now looks very tired. They have some big plans for redevelopment and it's meant to be ready by 2016, but lets see what happens. In addition to this, the ticketing policy by charging extra for Hisense/Vodafone arena tickets, they really have dropped the ball there. The policy they used to have was the bottom tier was reserved seating, which is fine, but the top tier at sides of the court, was general admission for Ground Pass holders, now they don't do that and there is a distinct lack of atmosphere and the courts aren't close to full, plus it creates congestion elsewhere.
Enough of the shit and onto the good stuff. Yes, it was a good experience for me, going to the qualies is great, because you see true tennis fans, it's free and also the slow build up to the main event starting on Monday. There were quite a few players that I like, that weren't there, but there are always enough matches to watch to keep entertained.
It was great to catch up with up friends, watch some tennis, check out the women and writing these reports have been fun and I have to thank all these people who helped me during my time in Melbourne.
Peta and Kristen : No wonder Tom Tebbut likes the long lost sisters, always a pleasure to meet and hang with you for any length of time.
Sammy : Long term friend and one day Karlovic might win a 5 setter.
Imran : The Americans didn't want to show up this year, just hope Mikey Russell makes it back in 2010.
Glen : Hope you enjoy Acapulco, never know you might get a winner that you like this time around and being there seeing the King win his first match on hardcourt not to be forgotten.
Felix Mantilla : It was great to see him again and hope he succeeds in his job with the AIS teaching the Aussies how to play on clay.
Jimbo : For all the comedic moments, especially when Nalle and Kohli decide to gift Roddick a dream run to the quarters.
Big Brad: Thank you very much for letting me stay at your place and will make an appearance next year or during the year even.
Safaro and Jimmy Smith: Didn't get to see enough of you Safaro, hope your player makes the MD next season and Smith get your act together and work the 2010 event.
Then the others like tournament director Craig Tiley, when I asked him where I can send my feedback about the event, he gave me his card and it will give me something to write about next week, though I have enough subject matter for now.
Hope the readers have enjoyed what I have written, it's not for everyone and that's a good thing. It's always better being at the event yourself and yes that even includes ducking chairs and overpriced beer, but one can't have everything.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Berdych is from the Czech Republic and not the choke republic
The 4th round singles, though in my next and last post, I will be mentioning doubles and other random stuff associated with the event, some will be good and others won't be so good, but life is like this.
Del Potro vs. Cilic : This match up is one that has been happening for many years throughout the juniors and now the seniors. Both of these guys are giants, del Potro has filled out and got stronger, which is something Cilic needs to do. I spoke to one of the Croats that knows him, he says Cilic does the work everywhere, but doesn't like gym, sounds like to me that he thinks squats are what you do when you are on the toilet.
The first set was fairly close in the heat, Cilic did well to take the 1st set while only serving at 33 percent of first serves, whereas del Potro was in the high 60s, but at 30 all, the tall Tandil tree mishit a forehand and then threw in a double fault to take the set.
del Potro remained fairly calm and was able to control the rallies and he handled the heat better than Cilic with his extra strength and once he got the second set, he was able to control the tempo of the match and both men were even on unforced errors count in the middle of the third set. Then "the Tandil tree" tightened his game up and Cilic who was getting tired from the heat and the ground he covered, started making more errors, it was his forehand that broke down, towards the end, Cilic was gone and a solid win for del Potro.
Only a matter of time before Cilic makes the top 10 and he needs to get stronger.
Federer vs Berdych : As the old English commentator John Barrett loves to say, most tennis match are lost rather than won, well this statement isn't cryptic, well not to people who read this rather off centre blog, it's not.
This statement basically sums up the match in total, though the term choke gets thrown around loosely. In this case, it had all the hallmarks of a choke, except the part where Berdych was leading a double break in the third set, but he had that in the first set, fortunately he was able to close it out.
The Berdman started very well with groundstrokes from both sides penetrating through Federer’s defences and he even managed to double break in the first set, but no surprise that he fucked one of them up, at least it didn’t harm in the end.
Fortunately these two old ladies had enough for the day and they were generous enough to give me their ticket, though it was in the sun, but beggars can’t be choosers. Berdych continues where he left off with the outstanding shots, showing his ability as a pure ballstriker which is different from being a tennis player, he managed to get through the seconf set.
This match had the potential to make Berdych as a player, there are certain matches in a career that players are known by, whether they win or lose, sometimes this is fair and other times not the case. Both were having fun breaking each others serves, then the big turning point of the match.
Berdman needed to show some balls and mental strength, and this is where it’s even more important to play it point by point, sadly this didn’t happen. The said game was 3-3, where the Berdman missed three easy volleys, at best these were wooden volleys at worst, they were as clumsy as a horny teenage boy trying to get off a bra off his lady friend for the first time.
After this Federer was able to take the 3rd set, change the momentum in his favour, Berdych got the trainer out for his hamstring, but the trainer can’t cure mental fragility at big points in matches. If the player outplays you on big points, then that is just too good, but when it comes down to making schoolboy errors, then it’s a disappointing way to go.
Federer didn’t let the initiative go and that was to be expected and raced to a 4-0 lead over a mentally disintegrated Berdych, who showed some excellent signs in the match, but Tomas Krupa has some work to do with the big Prostejov man.
As for Federer this match was good for him, and he still is the man to beat here in Melbourne.
Del Potro vs. Cilic : This match up is one that has been happening for many years throughout the juniors and now the seniors. Both of these guys are giants, del Potro has filled out and got stronger, which is something Cilic needs to do. I spoke to one of the Croats that knows him, he says Cilic does the work everywhere, but doesn't like gym, sounds like to me that he thinks squats are what you do when you are on the toilet.
The first set was fairly close in the heat, Cilic did well to take the 1st set while only serving at 33 percent of first serves, whereas del Potro was in the high 60s, but at 30 all, the tall Tandil tree mishit a forehand and then threw in a double fault to take the set.
del Potro remained fairly calm and was able to control the rallies and he handled the heat better than Cilic with his extra strength and once he got the second set, he was able to control the tempo of the match and both men were even on unforced errors count in the middle of the third set. Then "the Tandil tree" tightened his game up and Cilic who was getting tired from the heat and the ground he covered, started making more errors, it was his forehand that broke down, towards the end, Cilic was gone and a solid win for del Potro.
Only a matter of time before Cilic makes the top 10 and he needs to get stronger.
Federer vs Berdych : As the old English commentator John Barrett loves to say, most tennis match are lost rather than won, well this statement isn't cryptic, well not to people who read this rather off centre blog, it's not.
This statement basically sums up the match in total, though the term choke gets thrown around loosely. In this case, it had all the hallmarks of a choke, except the part where Berdych was leading a double break in the third set, but he had that in the first set, fortunately he was able to close it out.
The Berdman started very well with groundstrokes from both sides penetrating through Federer’s defences and he even managed to double break in the first set, but no surprise that he fucked one of them up, at least it didn’t harm in the end.
Fortunately these two old ladies had enough for the day and they were generous enough to give me their ticket, though it was in the sun, but beggars can’t be choosers. Berdych continues where he left off with the outstanding shots, showing his ability as a pure ballstriker which is different from being a tennis player, he managed to get through the seconf set.
This match had the potential to make Berdych as a player, there are certain matches in a career that players are known by, whether they win or lose, sometimes this is fair and other times not the case. Both were having fun breaking each others serves, then the big turning point of the match.
Berdman needed to show some balls and mental strength, and this is where it’s even more important to play it point by point, sadly this didn’t happen. The said game was 3-3, where the Berdman missed three easy volleys, at best these were wooden volleys at worst, they were as clumsy as a horny teenage boy trying to get off a bra off his lady friend for the first time.
After this Federer was able to take the 3rd set, change the momentum in his favour, Berdych got the trainer out for his hamstring, but the trainer can’t cure mental fragility at big points in matches. If the player outplays you on big points, then that is just too good, but when it comes down to making schoolboy errors, then it’s a disappointing way to go.
Federer didn’t let the initiative go and that was to be expected and raced to a 4-0 lead over a mentally disintegrated Berdych, who showed some excellent signs in the match, but Tomas Krupa has some work to do with the big Prostejov man.
As for Federer this match was good for him, and he still is the man to beat here in Melbourne.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Gonzo and Gasquet steal the show and Norm Chryst wants to be a star
Cilic vs Ferrer : This one had the potential to be a long match, but just because something has potential doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
Ferrer was able to get an early break in the first two sets, but wasn’t able to consolidate, with Cilic breaking back easily in both of the sets. Cilic for a tall man moves very well laterally and can defend when he has to, in addition to being aggressive.
During the match Cilic was able to manoeuvre Ferrer around the court and with more firepower he broke down Ferrer’s forehand and just too solid all around, the baseline game and the serve worked well and the 3rd set was comfortable in the end.
Del Potro vs. Muller : Good match, with Muller living it up on the big stage, got the first set with some good serving and volleying, but once delPo took the second set, he was able to overpower Muller, it ended up being an unspectacular win, but a win is a win.
Berdych vs Wawrinka : Stani came out firing and showing that classic backhand off, hitting with good length and was able to break early and run through the set 6-4.
Berdych then lifted his game and was hitting some heavy balls and able to move Stani around the court, even using the slice backhand with purpose and not as an afterthought, hope Tomas Krupa can work on that side of things, because he does need the odd bit of variation. Berdman was on fire in the second set, very clean hitting from him, it's even more noticeable when you are in the first level watching hearing the sound of the ball and seeing the movement.
Stani called for the trainer, but it didn't seem too serious and Stani fought very hard as usual, the Berdman was able to handle the "real Swiss #1"'s game and make it through to another 4th round.
The Berdych Army rule, they are a great support group, actually come up with chants that were witty, fun and a bit different, plus they support them through the shit and the good stuff as well. After the match, they were celebrating and gave a few of the Swiss fans the "Na, Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" serenade.
Stepanek vs. Verdasco ; Radek started off well with a break of serve, doing what he normally does to Verdasco changing it up and breaking the rhythm up, but Verdasco broke back straight away, then this happened when Steps was up 4-3 and to serve for 5-3, then the huge change came over the match. Verdasco wasn't making mistakes and Stepanek had lead in his hands, with dropshots landing on the service line and Verdasco was dealing with the rubbish as it should be dealt with.
The last two sets, well Steps seemed a bit deflated and lacking energy, but you can have all of the energy in the world, but it doesn't matter when the ball is getting drilled past you from both sides with a combo of pace and angles. This was an outstanding performance from Verdasco, he has been showing signs of consistency for some time and winning the Davis Cup match under trying circumstances and not playing well, yet still coming through at the end. Hope he can give Murray a few proiblems in their next match.
Best of all were a group of about 8 guys that were chanting and singing about Carlos Ramos the umpire. He was embarrassed about ir, but deep down I think he appreciated it, all the tunes and support for the man himself.
Monfils vs. Almagro : Mucho didn't play that badly and hopefully he can use this as a springboard for better results on hardcourts. The Monfils was his usual part showman, part moonballer, showing his blistering pace around the court that can only be matched by Karlovic and Roddick at top speed, also selectively using the power to put away the short balls.
Just a case of Monfils being better on this surface. One hilarious incident and of course it involved the dickhead umpire Norm Chryst. The guy is such an arsehole and he wants to be involved in the show, but he is there to apply the rules with commonsense, something he lacks. There was a call and Mucho looked up at his camp and wanted it challenged, then Norm wouldn't allow it and "el cabezon" is far from happy with this and of course this is just Norm being part of the show. Monfils is bored with this and has fun during this session, but this was never in doubt.
Blake vs Andreev: Like all of their matches Blake loves the pace of the Andreev shots and is able to hit it back and with lower trajectory and rush Igor, in the process getting shorter balls which he can tee off on.
Now the best till last, when it comes to the matches.
Gonzalez vs Gasquet : Great move that this was put on the MCA (Margaret Court Arena) this is a great court to watch matches, very close to the action and not a multipurpose venue like Hisense which is shit for the most parts. The court was very packed, plenty of Chileans of course who made it like a Davis Cup match, also there were a few Frenchies in the crowd, plus the ones who love tennis there and it was the best match outside.
There was this usher in my aisle, lets call him the giraffe, mainly because he had a neck that was 1m long and was very distinctive. He was very good and took pride in his work, trying to get as many people into the court and finding seats quickly, good to see him take pride in his work.
Onto the match Gasquet started very well and was tactically smart, moving the ball around and eventually getting it to the weaker Gonzo backhand and able to exploit the weaker side and either winning the point on an error, the quality backhand or at the net. This was the best he played in a while, the backhand was firing and his forehand which can go off when stretched was holding up. Gonzo didn't start off poorly, he was just being outplayed and Gasquet deservedly took the first 2 sets.
The Chilean fans were doing their best to get Gonzo fired up and it worked, he was able to use that multi dimensional forehand. He can do whatever with that forehand, want some angle, there will be some quality angles, need some heavy spin, yes got that covered and when we wants to lay the smackdown and hit through it, then that is there as well. He started to make more winners and serve better, he was up a break twice and gave it back straight away.
Gonzo was able to take the 3rd set eventually after having a host of chances. Gasquet was having issues with blisters and he is a bit soft at the best of times, but Gonzo rode the momentum and ran through the 4t, while Gasquet was getting over the initial blister problem.
The 5th set was quality, extended rallies, plenty of fighting from Gonzo, who was struggling on serve, whereas Gasquet was strong in the majority of service games, plenty of winners from both players with their signature shots and their weaker sides were holding up fairly well. Gonzo kept holding on and then in the 11th service game of Gasquet, for once he was able to get the first point and he didn't relinquish the advantage and instead of the forehand, it was the backhand down the line that won the match.
The Chileans were going crazy after the match and a flare was released, so there was some smoke around the venue, glad it didn't get on anyone's clothing as that stuff can burn and kill people. They were very loud and the applause for both players was deserved and a long applause it was.
At the end of the match, there were some glum faces of the Gasquet fans, but many of the Chileans went up to them and shook their hands, both sets of fans enjoyed the match as a spectacle and a 88 mn final set isn't a bad thing, depending on the result.
Later today I will do the 4th round matches and these will be my last reports.
Ferrer was able to get an early break in the first two sets, but wasn’t able to consolidate, with Cilic breaking back easily in both of the sets. Cilic for a tall man moves very well laterally and can defend when he has to, in addition to being aggressive.
During the match Cilic was able to manoeuvre Ferrer around the court and with more firepower he broke down Ferrer’s forehand and just too solid all around, the baseline game and the serve worked well and the 3rd set was comfortable in the end.
Del Potro vs. Muller : Good match, with Muller living it up on the big stage, got the first set with some good serving and volleying, but once delPo took the second set, he was able to overpower Muller, it ended up being an unspectacular win, but a win is a win.
Berdych vs Wawrinka : Stani came out firing and showing that classic backhand off, hitting with good length and was able to break early and run through the set 6-4.
Berdych then lifted his game and was hitting some heavy balls and able to move Stani around the court, even using the slice backhand with purpose and not as an afterthought, hope Tomas Krupa can work on that side of things, because he does need the odd bit of variation. Berdman was on fire in the second set, very clean hitting from him, it's even more noticeable when you are in the first level watching hearing the sound of the ball and seeing the movement.
Stani called for the trainer, but it didn't seem too serious and Stani fought very hard as usual, the Berdman was able to handle the "real Swiss #1"'s game and make it through to another 4th round.
The Berdych Army rule, they are a great support group, actually come up with chants that were witty, fun and a bit different, plus they support them through the shit and the good stuff as well. After the match, they were celebrating and gave a few of the Swiss fans the "Na, Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" serenade.
Stepanek vs. Verdasco ; Radek started off well with a break of serve, doing what he normally does to Verdasco changing it up and breaking the rhythm up, but Verdasco broke back straight away, then this happened when Steps was up 4-3 and to serve for 5-3, then the huge change came over the match. Verdasco wasn't making mistakes and Stepanek had lead in his hands, with dropshots landing on the service line and Verdasco was dealing with the rubbish as it should be dealt with.
The last two sets, well Steps seemed a bit deflated and lacking energy, but you can have all of the energy in the world, but it doesn't matter when the ball is getting drilled past you from both sides with a combo of pace and angles. This was an outstanding performance from Verdasco, he has been showing signs of consistency for some time and winning the Davis Cup match under trying circumstances and not playing well, yet still coming through at the end. Hope he can give Murray a few proiblems in their next match.
Best of all were a group of about 8 guys that were chanting and singing about Carlos Ramos the umpire. He was embarrassed about ir, but deep down I think he appreciated it, all the tunes and support for the man himself.
Monfils vs. Almagro : Mucho didn't play that badly and hopefully he can use this as a springboard for better results on hardcourts. The Monfils was his usual part showman, part moonballer, showing his blistering pace around the court that can only be matched by Karlovic and Roddick at top speed, also selectively using the power to put away the short balls.
Just a case of Monfils being better on this surface. One hilarious incident and of course it involved the dickhead umpire Norm Chryst. The guy is such an arsehole and he wants to be involved in the show, but he is there to apply the rules with commonsense, something he lacks. There was a call and Mucho looked up at his camp and wanted it challenged, then Norm wouldn't allow it and "el cabezon" is far from happy with this and of course this is just Norm being part of the show. Monfils is bored with this and has fun during this session, but this was never in doubt.
Blake vs Andreev: Like all of their matches Blake loves the pace of the Andreev shots and is able to hit it back and with lower trajectory and rush Igor, in the process getting shorter balls which he can tee off on.
Now the best till last, when it comes to the matches.
Gonzalez vs Gasquet : Great move that this was put on the MCA (Margaret Court Arena) this is a great court to watch matches, very close to the action and not a multipurpose venue like Hisense which is shit for the most parts. The court was very packed, plenty of Chileans of course who made it like a Davis Cup match, also there were a few Frenchies in the crowd, plus the ones who love tennis there and it was the best match outside.
There was this usher in my aisle, lets call him the giraffe, mainly because he had a neck that was 1m long and was very distinctive. He was very good and took pride in his work, trying to get as many people into the court and finding seats quickly, good to see him take pride in his work.
Onto the match Gasquet started very well and was tactically smart, moving the ball around and eventually getting it to the weaker Gonzo backhand and able to exploit the weaker side and either winning the point on an error, the quality backhand or at the net. This was the best he played in a while, the backhand was firing and his forehand which can go off when stretched was holding up. Gonzo didn't start off poorly, he was just being outplayed and Gasquet deservedly took the first 2 sets.
The Chilean fans were doing their best to get Gonzo fired up and it worked, he was able to use that multi dimensional forehand. He can do whatever with that forehand, want some angle, there will be some quality angles, need some heavy spin, yes got that covered and when we wants to lay the smackdown and hit through it, then that is there as well. He started to make more winners and serve better, he was up a break twice and gave it back straight away.
Gonzo was able to take the 3rd set eventually after having a host of chances. Gasquet was having issues with blisters and he is a bit soft at the best of times, but Gonzo rode the momentum and ran through the 4t, while Gasquet was getting over the initial blister problem.
The 5th set was quality, extended rallies, plenty of fighting from Gonzo, who was struggling on serve, whereas Gasquet was strong in the majority of service games, plenty of winners from both players with their signature shots and their weaker sides were holding up fairly well. Gonzo kept holding on and then in the 11th service game of Gasquet, for once he was able to get the first point and he didn't relinquish the advantage and instead of the forehand, it was the backhand down the line that won the match.
The Chileans were going crazy after the match and a flare was released, so there was some smoke around the venue, glad it didn't get on anyone's clothing as that stuff can burn and kill people. They were very loud and the applause for both players was deserved and a long applause it was.
At the end of the match, there were some glum faces of the Gasquet fans, but many of the Chileans went up to them and shook their hands, both sets of fans enjoyed the match as a spectacle and a 88 mn final set isn't a bad thing, depending on the result.
Later today I will do the 4th round matches and these will be my last reports.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Igor Andreev hit 3 slice backhands in a row
Went out last night, so I didn't get a chance to write this report, thought I am doing my best and that's all that counts.
Didn't watch as many matches as I would have liked, then again I am not as rich as I would like either.
Gonzalez vs Canas: Canas improved on his performance against Kindlmann, but he was always a step behind Gonzo, who rarely looked threatened. Gonzo had some great mishits going into the crowd, but also some huge forehands. Willy is still very fit, but he has lot a bit of speed around the court, this plus his backhand when rallying is falling very short. He saved a few set points in the 1st set, but this was a good match for Gonzo to get some rhythm before he plays Gasquet, now Canas will stay away from the clay until Europe.
Almagro vs. Fognini : Much better from "el cabezon" today, even though the conditions were very shitty with heavy winds and hazy skies. This impacted on the timing of their strokes, but in a way it helped Fognini as it kept some of his wild shanks into the court. After the 2nd set which was fairly close, the Fog checked out mentally and was thinking about the clay in South American and finally Almagro wins 2 matches in Australia.
Monfils vs. Koubek: Not sure what to make of this match. Monfils was his usual self from the baseline, content to play balls with nothing on them, do a lot of running and then all of a sudden rip a huge backhand or forehand down the line. The first set was tight, with Koubek not making many mistakes, but he got punished for the lapse from 15-15, when he made 3 unforced errors in a row to lose serve.
The rallies were quite long, but Koubek wasn't using enough angles to open the court and hit behind Monfils, but the Panther had too many guns for a semi passive Koubek, should be interesting to see whether Almagro can expose the Monfils backhand.
Andreev vs. Gulbis: Plenty of big hitting in this match was to be expected and this was the case. Andreev started the better, using his serve and big forehand to dominate play and Gulbis was hitting some big shots from both sides, but also some big errors and the love of the dropshot is still apparent.
Igor took the first two sets 4 and 4, then not long into the 3rd set, he called the trainer to rub some magic potion on his stomach and after that he was serving significanly slower and Gulbis was able to take advantage and lifted his play to take the next 2 sets.
Looked like he had the momentum and took the break in the 5th, but Andreev was brave and fought hard, this in addition to some poor shot selection from Gulbis helped his cause. One rare Andreev backhand down the line winner was a crucial shot in getting the final break, it was a rare feat to see Andreev hit so many backhands, even the 3 slices in a row. Slice to Andreev is what he does to his bread, not the low spinning shot on a tennis court.
It was an excellent win for Andreev, who needed to improve his 5 set record and hopefully he takes out Blake in the next round.
Didn't watch as many matches as I would have liked, then again I am not as rich as I would like either.
Gonzalez vs Canas: Canas improved on his performance against Kindlmann, but he was always a step behind Gonzo, who rarely looked threatened. Gonzo had some great mishits going into the crowd, but also some huge forehands. Willy is still very fit, but he has lot a bit of speed around the court, this plus his backhand when rallying is falling very short. He saved a few set points in the 1st set, but this was a good match for Gonzo to get some rhythm before he plays Gasquet, now Canas will stay away from the clay until Europe.
Almagro vs. Fognini : Much better from "el cabezon" today, even though the conditions were very shitty with heavy winds and hazy skies. This impacted on the timing of their strokes, but in a way it helped Fognini as it kept some of his wild shanks into the court. After the 2nd set which was fairly close, the Fog checked out mentally and was thinking about the clay in South American and finally Almagro wins 2 matches in Australia.
Monfils vs. Koubek: Not sure what to make of this match. Monfils was his usual self from the baseline, content to play balls with nothing on them, do a lot of running and then all of a sudden rip a huge backhand or forehand down the line. The first set was tight, with Koubek not making many mistakes, but he got punished for the lapse from 15-15, when he made 3 unforced errors in a row to lose serve.
The rallies were quite long, but Koubek wasn't using enough angles to open the court and hit behind Monfils, but the Panther had too many guns for a semi passive Koubek, should be interesting to see whether Almagro can expose the Monfils backhand.
Andreev vs. Gulbis: Plenty of big hitting in this match was to be expected and this was the case. Andreev started the better, using his serve and big forehand to dominate play and Gulbis was hitting some big shots from both sides, but also some big errors and the love of the dropshot is still apparent.
Igor took the first two sets 4 and 4, then not long into the 3rd set, he called the trainer to rub some magic potion on his stomach and after that he was serving significanly slower and Gulbis was able to take advantage and lifted his play to take the next 2 sets.
Looked like he had the momentum and took the break in the 5th, but Andreev was brave and fought hard, this in addition to some poor shot selection from Gulbis helped his cause. One rare Andreev backhand down the line winner was a crucial shot in getting the final break, it was a rare feat to see Andreev hit so many backhands, even the 3 slices in a row. Slice to Andreev is what he does to his bread, not the low spinning shot on a tennis court.
It was an excellent win for Andreev, who needed to improve his 5 set record and hopefully he takes out Blake in the next round.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
When it falls, it all falls down the foibles of Wednesday
Better get the rants out of the way first of all. Good to see the organising people have no fucking brains. They used to allow Ground Pass holders into the Vodafone arena, but they decided to charge a bit more for specific Vodafone or whatever they call the crappy thing now. Problem is that there is a big court with no atmosphere, then the other courts suffer from overcrowding to the max. These idiots either need to limit the amount of tickets being sold, not happening or expand the seating capacities of the other courts to fit in with the demand and that is something that they can easily do and sshould.
Ferrer vs. Hrbaty : Ferrer was impressive, first time in a while I could say that, hit very good length and played very solid from the baseline. I expected this one to be a grindfest, but Hrbaty's forehand broke down big time, in Perth he was coming over it again, but here he couldn't do that and Ferrer exposed that side especially and Hrbaty was done in around 80 minutes.
Berdych vs. Dabul : The Berdman was just toying around with Dabul, and doing what he should be doing to lower ranked players that you are clearly better than, then again Nalbandian hasn't learned this lesson.
Mathieu vs. Delic : This Mathieu what a guy, he can only come back against Koubek, Seppi and Hernandez, but when you want to him to win, he does the opposite.
Seriously, he is up 2 sets to love and 4-1 in the 4th against Delic and he can't close it out. Delic loves playing here, because he gets great support from the Bosnian community, who are pretty good unlike the idiot Serb fanbase that is here, at least they don't scream out in the middle of the rally when the ball hasn't bounced. Mathieu got tight and was just popping up mid court balls with nothing on them and Delic took advantage of them as he should have and deserved his victory.
Safin vs GGL : Yes, I sat through some of this and good performance from Safin, he realises it's his last time here, so he decided to put on a show and it was a good show at that, Friday night blockbuster waits for him.
Santoro vs Kohli : This was a high quality match with Santoro doing his usual slice and dice stuff and Kohli being aggressive, it was hard to get a seat, but eventually we got in. Plenty of French fans there, who weren't there for the Mathieu match.
Fab was fighting hard and Kohli had this match in his hands, when he served for it at 5-4, but wasn't able to forclose the deal and Fab managed to get the fourth set and he rode the crowd momentum home. Plenty of quality rallies, moves to the net and Kohli hit 90+ winners and around 60 unforced errors. Santoro loves his big matches in Melbourne, only problem is now with Roddick winning, Kohli has a better chance of taking him out.
Norm Chryst was umpiring this match, and we were giving him stick, when he was overruling a call he shouldn't have and failed to overrule the one he should. Yes, the old "get the hair out of your eyes" comment was made.
Roddick vs. Malisse: Malisse blew this one, seriously some dumb unforced errors on rally balls. He had a break in the 3rd set, really Roddick shouldn't be outhitting Malisse from the baseline, and he wasn't coming up with big shots at all. Malisse was hitting the off forehand to late and if he wasn't, then he was rolling the ball into the net.
He manages to get to the 3rd set tiebreak, has a mini break and then decides to hit 6 unforced errors, then gets pissed off and Roddick runs it through from there. The fact that both Kohli and Nalle lost, means Roddick walks into the quarter finals.
Other notes, during the day Bolelli was his usual quality returning self, the guy couldn't return a phone call. Nalbandian was clownish in Nalbandian ways. Del Potro is loving it at the moment.
The Toad is a classic Grand Slam midget and up a set and 2 breaks, losing in 4 sets never in doubt.
Ferrer vs. Hrbaty : Ferrer was impressive, first time in a while I could say that, hit very good length and played very solid from the baseline. I expected this one to be a grindfest, but Hrbaty's forehand broke down big time, in Perth he was coming over it again, but here he couldn't do that and Ferrer exposed that side especially and Hrbaty was done in around 80 minutes.
Berdych vs. Dabul : The Berdman was just toying around with Dabul, and doing what he should be doing to lower ranked players that you are clearly better than, then again Nalbandian hasn't learned this lesson.
Mathieu vs. Delic : This Mathieu what a guy, he can only come back against Koubek, Seppi and Hernandez, but when you want to him to win, he does the opposite.
Seriously, he is up 2 sets to love and 4-1 in the 4th against Delic and he can't close it out. Delic loves playing here, because he gets great support from the Bosnian community, who are pretty good unlike the idiot Serb fanbase that is here, at least they don't scream out in the middle of the rally when the ball hasn't bounced. Mathieu got tight and was just popping up mid court balls with nothing on them and Delic took advantage of them as he should have and deserved his victory.
Safin vs GGL : Yes, I sat through some of this and good performance from Safin, he realises it's his last time here, so he decided to put on a show and it was a good show at that, Friday night blockbuster waits for him.
Santoro vs Kohli : This was a high quality match with Santoro doing his usual slice and dice stuff and Kohli being aggressive, it was hard to get a seat, but eventually we got in. Plenty of French fans there, who weren't there for the Mathieu match.
Fab was fighting hard and Kohli had this match in his hands, when he served for it at 5-4, but wasn't able to forclose the deal and Fab managed to get the fourth set and he rode the crowd momentum home. Plenty of quality rallies, moves to the net and Kohli hit 90+ winners and around 60 unforced errors. Santoro loves his big matches in Melbourne, only problem is now with Roddick winning, Kohli has a better chance of taking him out.
Norm Chryst was umpiring this match, and we were giving him stick, when he was overruling a call he shouldn't have and failed to overrule the one he should. Yes, the old "get the hair out of your eyes" comment was made.
Roddick vs. Malisse: Malisse blew this one, seriously some dumb unforced errors on rally balls. He had a break in the 3rd set, really Roddick shouldn't be outhitting Malisse from the baseline, and he wasn't coming up with big shots at all. Malisse was hitting the off forehand to late and if he wasn't, then he was rolling the ball into the net.
He manages to get to the 3rd set tiebreak, has a mini break and then decides to hit 6 unforced errors, then gets pissed off and Roddick runs it through from there. The fact that both Kohli and Nalle lost, means Roddick walks into the quarter finals.
Other notes, during the day Bolelli was his usual quality returning self, the guy couldn't return a phone call. Nalbandian was clownish in Nalbandian ways. Del Potro is loving it at the moment.
The Toad is a classic Grand Slam midget and up a set and 2 breaks, losing in 4 sets never in doubt.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Five Set Feast on Day 2 at the Aus Open
Another long day at the tennis, but this is never a bad thing, unless the results don’t go the way that you would like and we know that this is subjective of course.
Almagro vs Massu : This was the first of the 5 set feast that happened today and it was a high quality match, with plenty of fighting and extended rallies. Almagro had the better of it and was handling the match comfortably, using his big serve effectively to open up the court and then have Massu on a string. The backhand was working very well, but Massu is gritty fighter and Almagro had a lapse of concentration and Massu was able to hit some big forehands and then broke serve and won the 3rd set.
The match had plenty of atmosphere with the Chileans of course and there was a small Spanish contingent, which made plenty of noise, but knew when to shut up as well. Both were hitting the ball well, Massu was hitting the off forehand well and even his backhand was quite acceptable, as Almagro’s lazy footwork on the forehand side was exposed again. Massu continued with the momentum to take the 4th set and it went down to 5 sets, which this deserved.
The 5th set started with both players hitting good length, Almagro with the heavy forehand, waiting for the short ball from Massu, so he could pin him with the down the line backhand and Massu trying to mix the off forehands with cross court ones to expose Mucho. Almagro got the early break and was able to hold his serve all the way through, though in the final game, he was very nervous, pulling off the ball and not accelerating through the ball, which happens when they are tired and nervous. A fun match to watch and Massu grunting on slice backhands, haha.
Granollers vs. Gabashvili : The apprentice started very well and got an early break. I thought this match could have gone 5 sets, but Marcel handled the heat much better than Gabash. There were some long rallies with Gaba trying to be aggressive, mainly because he didn't want to be out there for that long, but Marcel was defending very well and when he had the chance to move forward to the net, he took it and showed excellent feel at the net, by finishing off the points.
The second set was the key here Gabash was up 2-0 40-0 on serve, but he lost serve and then Granollers held and got it to the TB, which he won. Gabash was getting annoyed, though he went for it more and it went in for him and took the 3rd set, but Granollers hung in there and ground down the Georgian and ran away with it in the 4th set.
Karlovic vs. Gimeno-Traver: This was my comedy match of the day, not because I dislike Gimeno, in fact he is a good guy. It was more for the fact that with his very Western grip on the forehand in addition to the fact that the court was taking bounce very well factoring in Karlovic's serve. He was 3m behind the baseline and jumping in the air on the forehand side to return serve and it wasn't getting in, but Dani was a good sport about it.
Koubek vs. Youzhny : This was the best performance of the day for me. Koubek started very well and was in the mode where nothing was going to get past him and also he wasn't being passive, which can happen at times, when he gets in the lead. Had a positive feeling about this match beforehand, not exactly sure why, but glad this one worked out.
Youzhny didn't look himself, but confidence is a funny thing, great when you have it and when you don't, the opposite is just as true. It was still warm when they played and a bit of a swirling breeze, which Koubek used to keep Youzhny off balance and also changed the spins which helped him. Koubek the times he lost serve, he broke back straight away, he had to be careful not to throw away the 3rd set, and have the momentum shift against him. Excellent all round performance from the El Fashionista, his match with Monfils should be entertaining, if he brings this form.
Polansky vs. Andreev : Roman (Polansky) went in there with nothing to lose and it showed for the first 2 sets as Andreev was struggling with his game and the tactics Roman used effectively. Instead of backing off when Igor was hitting his monster forehands, he was stepping into them taking it on the rise and going to the forehand, then finishing the points off at the net. This worked for the first 2 sets.
Andreev served for the set at 5-3 after getting the break, but Roman broke back straight away, then Igor broke to take the set 6-4, from there Andreev was able to impose his game, this and a lack of experience on this stage from Polansky contributed to Andreev getting the cash here, but Polansky has a good base to work from, needs to get a bit stronger, but hope he can do well on the main tour.
Hanescu vs. Herynch : Lurch was down 2 sets and Hernych served for the match in the 3rd set and on one of his match points, he double faulted it away. Hanescu started serving better and using his backhand with more impact and was able to take the next 2 in tiebreakers.
Herynch was struggling in the conditions and Hanescu looked fresher, big Vic was broken, when Hernych took chances and it came off and Hernych had another chance to serve it out at 6-5, but was broken easily. Hanescu then won the next 3 games, not making errors and taking advantage of Hernych's tiredness.
Canas vs Kindlmann : Got here a bit late for this one, but it was the classic Canas getting through on courage, and not on the way he played. Kindlmann was hitting flat and Canas is making more errors than he used to, he looks like he has lot a bit of speed around the court. I mean he is still fit as, even fitter physically, but doesn't quite have the same spark.
The 5th set there were a few breaks and Canas served for the match at 5-4, but he played a weak game and got too far behind the baseline in the rallies and Kindlmann broke back. Even then it didn't feel like Canas was going to lose, but going 5 sets with Kindlmann isn't a good sign for Gonzalez. He broke him and then able to serve it out.
Serra vs Karanusic: Great win for Roko, this was a funny match, there were a few Aussies cheering for Roko, they had money on him for sure. Serra was getting pissed off with the fans, and after the match he wanted to have some words with these guys.
Serra got a couple of dead netcords and didn't acknowledge. Roko pulled off a couple of screamers, he was on the backhand side, then Serra placed it in the forehand corner and he hits a squash shot forehand angle that landed on the line for a winner. He was struggling with cramps, he broke for 5-3 and Serra was up 40-0 and then when Roko served for the match, he was down 0-40 and got out of it.
Stepanek vs. Lapentti : Excellent match here that didn't involve ballbashing, a lot of slices and Thunder Lips was quite restrained in this one, mainly because I think he had this one under control, but Lapentti played a solid match, definitely no lack of slice in this one.
In the 3rd set there was a hilarious service game from Lapentti that went 20 minutes at least, but which Lapentti ended up winning saving around 8 break points, but Radek was able to eventually break Lapentti's serve, he was excellent around the net and Lapentti's passing shots weren't up to the level they used to be, with this being said, he would have defeated a lot of players in this draw, but that goes into the what if scenarios.
Speaking of what if, it's time to submit this entry and go and watch some matches for the day.
Almagro vs Massu : This was the first of the 5 set feast that happened today and it was a high quality match, with plenty of fighting and extended rallies. Almagro had the better of it and was handling the match comfortably, using his big serve effectively to open up the court and then have Massu on a string. The backhand was working very well, but Massu is gritty fighter and Almagro had a lapse of concentration and Massu was able to hit some big forehands and then broke serve and won the 3rd set.
The match had plenty of atmosphere with the Chileans of course and there was a small Spanish contingent, which made plenty of noise, but knew when to shut up as well. Both were hitting the ball well, Massu was hitting the off forehand well and even his backhand was quite acceptable, as Almagro’s lazy footwork on the forehand side was exposed again. Massu continued with the momentum to take the 4th set and it went down to 5 sets, which this deserved.
The 5th set started with both players hitting good length, Almagro with the heavy forehand, waiting for the short ball from Massu, so he could pin him with the down the line backhand and Massu trying to mix the off forehands with cross court ones to expose Mucho. Almagro got the early break and was able to hold his serve all the way through, though in the final game, he was very nervous, pulling off the ball and not accelerating through the ball, which happens when they are tired and nervous. A fun match to watch and Massu grunting on slice backhands, haha.
Granollers vs. Gabashvili : The apprentice started very well and got an early break. I thought this match could have gone 5 sets, but Marcel handled the heat much better than Gabash. There were some long rallies with Gaba trying to be aggressive, mainly because he didn't want to be out there for that long, but Marcel was defending very well and when he had the chance to move forward to the net, he took it and showed excellent feel at the net, by finishing off the points.
The second set was the key here Gabash was up 2-0 40-0 on serve, but he lost serve and then Granollers held and got it to the TB, which he won. Gabash was getting annoyed, though he went for it more and it went in for him and took the 3rd set, but Granollers hung in there and ground down the Georgian and ran away with it in the 4th set.
Karlovic vs. Gimeno-Traver: This was my comedy match of the day, not because I dislike Gimeno, in fact he is a good guy. It was more for the fact that with his very Western grip on the forehand in addition to the fact that the court was taking bounce very well factoring in Karlovic's serve. He was 3m behind the baseline and jumping in the air on the forehand side to return serve and it wasn't getting in, but Dani was a good sport about it.
Koubek vs. Youzhny : This was the best performance of the day for me. Koubek started very well and was in the mode where nothing was going to get past him and also he wasn't being passive, which can happen at times, when he gets in the lead. Had a positive feeling about this match beforehand, not exactly sure why, but glad this one worked out.
Youzhny didn't look himself, but confidence is a funny thing, great when you have it and when you don't, the opposite is just as true. It was still warm when they played and a bit of a swirling breeze, which Koubek used to keep Youzhny off balance and also changed the spins which helped him. Koubek the times he lost serve, he broke back straight away, he had to be careful not to throw away the 3rd set, and have the momentum shift against him. Excellent all round performance from the El Fashionista, his match with Monfils should be entertaining, if he brings this form.
Polansky vs. Andreev : Roman (Polansky) went in there with nothing to lose and it showed for the first 2 sets as Andreev was struggling with his game and the tactics Roman used effectively. Instead of backing off when Igor was hitting his monster forehands, he was stepping into them taking it on the rise and going to the forehand, then finishing the points off at the net. This worked for the first 2 sets.
Andreev served for the set at 5-3 after getting the break, but Roman broke back straight away, then Igor broke to take the set 6-4, from there Andreev was able to impose his game, this and a lack of experience on this stage from Polansky contributed to Andreev getting the cash here, but Polansky has a good base to work from, needs to get a bit stronger, but hope he can do well on the main tour.
Hanescu vs. Herynch : Lurch was down 2 sets and Hernych served for the match in the 3rd set and on one of his match points, he double faulted it away. Hanescu started serving better and using his backhand with more impact and was able to take the next 2 in tiebreakers.
Herynch was struggling in the conditions and Hanescu looked fresher, big Vic was broken, when Hernych took chances and it came off and Hernych had another chance to serve it out at 6-5, but was broken easily. Hanescu then won the next 3 games, not making errors and taking advantage of Hernych's tiredness.
Canas vs Kindlmann : Got here a bit late for this one, but it was the classic Canas getting through on courage, and not on the way he played. Kindlmann was hitting flat and Canas is making more errors than he used to, he looks like he has lot a bit of speed around the court. I mean he is still fit as, even fitter physically, but doesn't quite have the same spark.
The 5th set there were a few breaks and Canas served for the match at 5-4, but he played a weak game and got too far behind the baseline in the rallies and Kindlmann broke back. Even then it didn't feel like Canas was going to lose, but going 5 sets with Kindlmann isn't a good sign for Gonzalez. He broke him and then able to serve it out.
Serra vs Karanusic: Great win for Roko, this was a funny match, there were a few Aussies cheering for Roko, they had money on him for sure. Serra was getting pissed off with the fans, and after the match he wanted to have some words with these guys.
Serra got a couple of dead netcords and didn't acknowledge. Roko pulled off a couple of screamers, he was on the backhand side, then Serra placed it in the forehand corner and he hits a squash shot forehand angle that landed on the line for a winner. He was struggling with cramps, he broke for 5-3 and Serra was up 40-0 and then when Roko served for the match, he was down 0-40 and got out of it.
Stepanek vs. Lapentti : Excellent match here that didn't involve ballbashing, a lot of slices and Thunder Lips was quite restrained in this one, mainly because I think he had this one under control, but Lapentti played a solid match, definitely no lack of slice in this one.
In the 3rd set there was a hilarious service game from Lapentti that went 20 minutes at least, but which Lapentti ended up winning saving around 8 break points, but Radek was able to eventually break Lapentti's serve, he was excellent around the net and Lapentti's passing shots weren't up to the level they used to be, with this being said, he would have defeated a lot of players in this draw, but that goes into the what if scenarios.
Speaking of what if, it's time to submit this entry and go and watch some matches for the day.
Aus Open Day 1 Main Draw Reports
Honestly I couldn't think of a more snazzy or funky title, so this is going to have to do under the circumstances.
Got to the grounds just before the start of play, might make it there earlier, if all works out or not. It was fucking hot, but at least it was dry heat, which is a lot better than humidity. Now onto the matches.
Berydch vs. Ginepri : One can never tell with the Berdman, what is going to happen, but he had this under control. Berdych broke in the middle of the 1st set and was able to take it to 6-4, then he turns on the style to lead 4-0. He then gets bored and decides to clown around a biut and Gineprick comes back to level at 4-4, then Berdych wakes up and breaks him and takes the set 6-4, then in cruise control for the rest of the match.
Malisse vs. Llodra : Since I can't be at all of the matches, there are a mix of people that help me, these are Glen, Jimbo and Sam when it comes to some details in matches. Malisse was looking sharp and after a hard fought set, he turned on the style and was played some of the high quality tennis that he is very capable of and then annihilated Llodra continuing from his good finish against Dancevic.
Muller vs LaLo: Not the match that I expected to spend the most amount of time at, but hey the thought of seeing LaLo lose is always good, plus unlike Adam I don't have a problem with Gilles Muller, in fact he has always been fine whenever I had any dealings with him.
He started well and was able to get the early break and hold on to take the 1st set, then got his chance in the tiebreaker, funny enough the 3rd and 4th sets won by LaLo, happened the same way Muller played some poor shots in his first service game and then it just went with serve to end the sets. There were very few baseline rallies and the ones that were, Muller was the better player, though he did lift off the forehand too often for my liking and LaLo was volleying well when he had to.
The 5th set was more of the same some big serving, Muller had a couple of half chances, but LaLo snuffed them out with some big bombs when it counted. It was dragging on in the heat, but there were some interested spectators like Pim Pim Johansson, who thinks maybe in two months he can play tennis again, Darcis, Rochus and some other players as well, alonng with Albert Costa. Big hold for Gilles at 15-14, then finally he was able to get a hold of the LaLo serve and hit two excellent returns and ripped a forehand past him to get to match point. LaLo saved one, but couldn't save the next one. ESPN ran onto the court to interview Muller and both of these guys are going to be tired as.
One hilarious moment, was the crowd were lacking some major brain power and both guys were waiting to play and this no talent arse clown just walks in at a non change of ends right in their eye line and LaLo said something and so did Muller, got to love these idiots without a clue, which lead to the majority of Serb fans during the Tipsarevic and Hernandez match later on.
Calleri vs Garcia-Lopez: I didn't get to see the start, so thanks to Roberto for filling me in with the stuff I missed. Gordo started off very well winning the first set 6-3 and leading 4-1, then he starts going a bit silly because of some shit line calls and then loses the 2nd set in a tiebreaker. After this GGL got some momentum, he placed the ball deep and then Calleri just self destructed hitting a clownish amount of unforced errors to only win 2 games in the last 2 sets, which was poor to say the least. Glad for him that he signed for some fans after he lost, but poor result.
Tipsarevic vs Hernandez : Oscar started very well, using his serve effectively and opening up the court from there he was using the forehand to run Gattuso (Tipsarevic) around the court and was playing not too far behind the baseline and took the first set 6-4. Gattuso started to concentrate a bit better, plus he got some classy dead netcords at 30 all points twice in the second set and was able to break in these games, while making less errors.
Gattuso was bothered by some blisters and the heat and was pulling some classic timewasting tactics, but the umpire wasn't pulling up on anything, there were some bad line calls that went both ways. Oscar had a few words with Gattuso letting him know he wasn't impressed with the antics. Oscar and the umpire had a running dialogue. Oscar says to him "What is have you against me"? The umpire doesn't say anything and Oscar says that's the problem "you don't say or see anything", when it comes to linecalls.
Gattuso gets the early break and holds on in the 3rd set, then the hilarious sight, when both guys are getting treated by the trainer at the same time. Oscar with a back problem and not sure about Gattuso. The King starts playing like he did in the 4th set and was able to defend resolutely under the attacks of Gattuso.
The King loses his first service game with a shank that lands on the line from Gattuso and another netcord. Then he has a huge chance to break back, but the shoulder rotation on the backhand wasn't quick enough to get through the ball and it went metres wide or shanked. Gattuso gave him enough second serves and the King ended up a conversion rate of something like 4/20 break points which is not going to get it a done. This was a combo of his passive play and a good shots by Tipsarevic.
This matrch had a lot of things, some humour mostly from Oscar, a bit of niggle, clownish officiating, worst of all a bunch of absolute nationalistic moronic deadheads who only supported Tipsarevic because of his nationality. They know totally nothing about the game, just go there to be seen, just walk around in between points, pissing off both players.
Kudos for placing on this on a very small court so hardly any people could see it, this was more genius wotk from Craig Tiley.
Phau should consider retirement losing to Brydan Klein in any form and as for Starace, well hang his head he had more than enough chances to take this match, but Tomic has more go than Klein. As long as Muller is fresh enough, he should be able to take Tomic and expose his poor movement.
Of course thanks to glen, Jimbo, Sammy, Imran who helped with this as well.
Got to the grounds just before the start of play, might make it there earlier, if all works out or not. It was fucking hot, but at least it was dry heat, which is a lot better than humidity. Now onto the matches.
Berydch vs. Ginepri : One can never tell with the Berdman, what is going to happen, but he had this under control. Berdych broke in the middle of the 1st set and was able to take it to 6-4, then he turns on the style to lead 4-0. He then gets bored and decides to clown around a biut and Gineprick comes back to level at 4-4, then Berdych wakes up and breaks him and takes the set 6-4, then in cruise control for the rest of the match.
Malisse vs. Llodra : Since I can't be at all of the matches, there are a mix of people that help me, these are Glen, Jimbo and Sam when it comes to some details in matches. Malisse was looking sharp and after a hard fought set, he turned on the style and was played some of the high quality tennis that he is very capable of and then annihilated Llodra continuing from his good finish against Dancevic.
Muller vs LaLo: Not the match that I expected to spend the most amount of time at, but hey the thought of seeing LaLo lose is always good, plus unlike Adam I don't have a problem with Gilles Muller, in fact he has always been fine whenever I had any dealings with him.
He started well and was able to get the early break and hold on to take the 1st set, then got his chance in the tiebreaker, funny enough the 3rd and 4th sets won by LaLo, happened the same way Muller played some poor shots in his first service game and then it just went with serve to end the sets. There were very few baseline rallies and the ones that were, Muller was the better player, though he did lift off the forehand too often for my liking and LaLo was volleying well when he had to.
The 5th set was more of the same some big serving, Muller had a couple of half chances, but LaLo snuffed them out with some big bombs when it counted. It was dragging on in the heat, but there were some interested spectators like Pim Pim Johansson, who thinks maybe in two months he can play tennis again, Darcis, Rochus and some other players as well, alonng with Albert Costa. Big hold for Gilles at 15-14, then finally he was able to get a hold of the LaLo serve and hit two excellent returns and ripped a forehand past him to get to match point. LaLo saved one, but couldn't save the next one. ESPN ran onto the court to interview Muller and both of these guys are going to be tired as.
One hilarious moment, was the crowd were lacking some major brain power and both guys were waiting to play and this no talent arse clown just walks in at a non change of ends right in their eye line and LaLo said something and so did Muller, got to love these idiots without a clue, which lead to the majority of Serb fans during the Tipsarevic and Hernandez match later on.
Calleri vs Garcia-Lopez: I didn't get to see the start, so thanks to Roberto for filling me in with the stuff I missed. Gordo started off very well winning the first set 6-3 and leading 4-1, then he starts going a bit silly because of some shit line calls and then loses the 2nd set in a tiebreaker. After this GGL got some momentum, he placed the ball deep and then Calleri just self destructed hitting a clownish amount of unforced errors to only win 2 games in the last 2 sets, which was poor to say the least. Glad for him that he signed for some fans after he lost, but poor result.
Tipsarevic vs Hernandez : Oscar started very well, using his serve effectively and opening up the court from there he was using the forehand to run Gattuso (Tipsarevic) around the court and was playing not too far behind the baseline and took the first set 6-4. Gattuso started to concentrate a bit better, plus he got some classy dead netcords at 30 all points twice in the second set and was able to break in these games, while making less errors.
Gattuso was bothered by some blisters and the heat and was pulling some classic timewasting tactics, but the umpire wasn't pulling up on anything, there were some bad line calls that went both ways. Oscar had a few words with Gattuso letting him know he wasn't impressed with the antics. Oscar and the umpire had a running dialogue. Oscar says to him "What is have you against me"? The umpire doesn't say anything and Oscar says that's the problem "you don't say or see anything", when it comes to linecalls.
Gattuso gets the early break and holds on in the 3rd set, then the hilarious sight, when both guys are getting treated by the trainer at the same time. Oscar with a back problem and not sure about Gattuso. The King starts playing like he did in the 4th set and was able to defend resolutely under the attacks of Gattuso.
The King loses his first service game with a shank that lands on the line from Gattuso and another netcord. Then he has a huge chance to break back, but the shoulder rotation on the backhand wasn't quick enough to get through the ball and it went metres wide or shanked. Gattuso gave him enough second serves and the King ended up a conversion rate of something like 4/20 break points which is not going to get it a done. This was a combo of his passive play and a good shots by Tipsarevic.
This matrch had a lot of things, some humour mostly from Oscar, a bit of niggle, clownish officiating, worst of all a bunch of absolute nationalistic moronic deadheads who only supported Tipsarevic because of his nationality. They know totally nothing about the game, just go there to be seen, just walk around in between points, pissing off both players.
Kudos for placing on this on a very small court so hardly any people could see it, this was more genius wotk from Craig Tiley.
Phau should consider retirement losing to Brydan Klein in any form and as for Starace, well hang his head he had more than enough chances to take this match, but Tomic has more go than Klein. As long as Muller is fresh enough, he should be able to take Tomic and expose his poor movement.
Of course thanks to glen, Jimbo, Sammy, Imran who helped with this as well.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Random Stuff
The King is truly a nan of the people, he helped out the needy and hope he beats Gattuso Tipsarevic.
My Bulgarian mate, put me up to this and yes I watched Sesil Karantancheva, it also confirmed why I don't like womens tennis. At the same time it was good to see Sesil actually talk with the fans for a good 10 minutes after she won her matches. One of the funniest was her second round opponent Brengle. She is this American with a big rack and skinny legs. She was whining about the 10 Bulgarian fans, and complaining she was going to have a migrane after the match and wanted to use a gun, all class.
Clown fan moment was when one of the Bulgarian fans who was very excited after Sesil qualified. He stands on this pot plant and wants to do a back sommersault, he over rotated and instead of landing on his feet, he landed on his lead. Yes, all his friends laughed at him, then after a few minutes, they told to get it checked out, but he refused.
Mats Wilander and Babsi Schett were doing their Eurosport preview and then Sveta is training on the court behind them and starts pulling these faces, great work Sveta, Sharapova wouldn't do this.
Good to see Luczak isn't above pushing the pram around with Sebby, who is getting bigger and also his wife is going to have a daughter in March.
Felix Mantilla is around and it has been great to see him. It's easy to spot him with the foreign legion hat, he has a tough job helping the Aussies on clay. He is with his girlfriend and she seems pleasant.
Now onto some serious business. The Players Meeting on Saturday was very heated and had some vigorous discussion about the impact of the new ranking system. There was defintiely plenty of dissent there naturally, when the system didn't need to be changed, and tries to protect certain players and disadvantaging others who have no chance of defending their points.
Ljubo isn't in a great position and there is talk that he might resign his position, though this is more of a watch this space kind of thing, but the new ranking system is a load of bullshit, how can something that was said to be easier to understand for fans, yet come across so ham fisted in its explanation.
Off to do some tennis things now.
My Bulgarian mate, put me up to this and yes I watched Sesil Karantancheva, it also confirmed why I don't like womens tennis. At the same time it was good to see Sesil actually talk with the fans for a good 10 minutes after she won her matches. One of the funniest was her second round opponent Brengle. She is this American with a big rack and skinny legs. She was whining about the 10 Bulgarian fans, and complaining she was going to have a migrane after the match and wanted to use a gun, all class.
Clown fan moment was when one of the Bulgarian fans who was very excited after Sesil qualified. He stands on this pot plant and wants to do a back sommersault, he over rotated and instead of landing on his feet, he landed on his lead. Yes, all his friends laughed at him, then after a few minutes, they told to get it checked out, but he refused.
Mats Wilander and Babsi Schett were doing their Eurosport preview and then Sveta is training on the court behind them and starts pulling these faces, great work Sveta, Sharapova wouldn't do this.
Good to see Luczak isn't above pushing the pram around with Sebby, who is getting bigger and also his wife is going to have a daughter in March.
Felix Mantilla is around and it has been great to see him. It's easy to spot him with the foreign legion hat, he has a tough job helping the Aussies on clay. He is with his girlfriend and she seems pleasant.
Now onto some serious business. The Players Meeting on Saturday was very heated and had some vigorous discussion about the impact of the new ranking system. There was defintiely plenty of dissent there naturally, when the system didn't need to be changed, and tries to protect certain players and disadvantaging others who have no chance of defending their points.
Ljubo isn't in a great position and there is talk that he might resign his position, though this is more of a watch this space kind of thing, but the new ranking system is a load of bullshit, how can something that was said to be easier to understand for fans, yet come across so ham fisted in its explanation.
Off to do some tennis things now.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The End of Qualies Round 2 and Final Round
Due to a few factors and none of them at all were alcohol related, these reports have been delayed, so in other words you are going to get to two helpings in the one post, so that might be good for some people, it might not be, but we'll see how it goes.
Malisse vs. Lammer : Xavi was quiet and not bitching about everything, funny how this is when he is playing at a good level. Lammer made too many errors and made it a difficult match for him, even harder, the extra class gap between the two was clear.
Lopez vs Desein : Marc followed up his good performance from the other day against Lee in this match. He hardly made errors and frustrated the hell out of Desein who has some big shots, but he lacked the patience and execution, for which Lopez took advantage of.
Luczak vs. Ascione: Much better from Luczak, who lost concentration at the end of the 1st set to lose serve, this plus Ascione was going for broke and making the winners. In the last 2 sets, it was a combo of Luczak serving better, being more aggressive and running the big Frenchie around, who after 6 shots just wants to belt winners, he was huffing and puffing halfway through the 2nd set. He definitely had too much cassoulet during Xmas.
Sela vs. Zemlja : On paper this should have been a comfortable win for Sela, but this was anything but the case, in fact this is what is known as an old fashioned choke. Zemlja had four match points and on two of them the likable Slovene really duffed them. The first one was a smash that was taken inside the service line, the smash was well hit, but it lacked direction. The court was packed now and there was a small but vocal section of Israelis supporting Dudi, and the other side were mostly Zemlja fans on the second match point that he choked away, there was a big rally with Zemlja bossing the point and was able to hit a big forehand and Sela hit a weak return and Zemlja came in for the put away volley, but had lumberjack hands and instead of hitting a short angle to win the point, he hit it long and his chance was lost. Sela then was able to come back and then break and eventually serve out the match. Zemlja must have been so down after this match, especially the way he lost it.
Lopez vs. Rehnquist: This smelled of 3 set dogfight and this was what happened. It wasn't always the greatest tennis, but there were many gruelling rallies with plenty of net clearance, there were even a few that would not have been out of place at Roland Garros in the mid 80s. Rehnquist got off to a flyer, as Lopez was nervous and raced through the 1st set. Once Lopez settled down and hit more balls into the court and Rehnquist became more reactive than usual, Lopez was able to control the rallies and keep Rehnquist on the run, able to get the ball high to his backhand and then Lopez used his slice backhand as a change up and it worked, as he was able to take the 2nd in a breaker.
The third set was far from pretty in fact it was a breakathon, 3 out of the first 4 service games were breaks of serve. In the 5th game Lopez was serving at 3-1 40-15 and he got a hideous call, which was clearly out, but it was not called, that gives him 4-1, but he lost his marbles and got shitty and managed to lose 4 games on the trot and Rehnquist served for the match 5-4. Needless to say Rehnquist choked and played an average game and Lopez got back into the match, but he was starting to cramp and tried to come over the backhand and not having great success with it and he lost serve at 6-7. Rehnquist was able to serve it out, though Lopez at 30-30 didn't manage to make an easy ball into the court, very hard fought match, which was last round qualies should be.
Luczak vs. Odesnik : Total baseline battle here with Luczak getting off to a flier. He was serving very well getting some excellent kick and movement off the serve and Odesnik was hitting short shit, which was getting punished by Luczak as he ran through the first set 6-1. Odesnik took a toilet break, maybe to have a piss, but also to contemplate his thoughts and the break did him the world of good. He was able to move the ball around and started using his serve a bit better than before, this and the fact that Luczak lost a bit of concentration and wasn't able to keep up the intensity, helped Odesnik take the second set 6-2. The third set was hard fought, long rallies, some good winners from Odesnik, woeful dropshots by Luczak, some landing on the service line and another bounced twice before the net. Odesnik got the vital break at 4-2 and the when serving for the match he was down 30-40, short second serve which Luczak dumped a backhand halfway up the net, then after that Odesnik served two aces and through to the MD.
Ventura vs deChaunac: Jesse Ventura is the better player out of these two, but basically this match came down to Jesse getting hooked on a shocking line call at 4-4, the ball was clearly out. Granollers and Almagro were watching as well and they shook their heads and laughed. Ventura freaks out has the shits and basically cats the rest of the match.
Malisse vs. Dancevic : This should have been a first round main draw match, especially with some of the dudathons that have been dished up like Chardy/Daniel for example. Malisse started well got the early break, then Dancevic took 6 out of the next 7 games to take the set. Frankie's serve wasn't as effective and Malisse is putting more balls into court and breaks at the end of the second set to take it 7-5, then after that Frankie loses confidence and Xavi gains it and is able to run through the last set easily, lucky for Frank, he got in as a Lucky Loser.
Michael Berrer, the guy who should be a weightlifter got through to the main draw, he had been playing average, but he peaked when it counted and crushed Dorsch. Looking forward to seeing the smashes from the 100kg weightlifter.
Malisse vs. Lammer : Xavi was quiet and not bitching about everything, funny how this is when he is playing at a good level. Lammer made too many errors and made it a difficult match for him, even harder, the extra class gap between the two was clear.
Lopez vs Desein : Marc followed up his good performance from the other day against Lee in this match. He hardly made errors and frustrated the hell out of Desein who has some big shots, but he lacked the patience and execution, for which Lopez took advantage of.
Luczak vs. Ascione: Much better from Luczak, who lost concentration at the end of the 1st set to lose serve, this plus Ascione was going for broke and making the winners. In the last 2 sets, it was a combo of Luczak serving better, being more aggressive and running the big Frenchie around, who after 6 shots just wants to belt winners, he was huffing and puffing halfway through the 2nd set. He definitely had too much cassoulet during Xmas.
Sela vs. Zemlja : On paper this should have been a comfortable win for Sela, but this was anything but the case, in fact this is what is known as an old fashioned choke. Zemlja had four match points and on two of them the likable Slovene really duffed them. The first one was a smash that was taken inside the service line, the smash was well hit, but it lacked direction. The court was packed now and there was a small but vocal section of Israelis supporting Dudi, and the other side were mostly Zemlja fans on the second match point that he choked away, there was a big rally with Zemlja bossing the point and was able to hit a big forehand and Sela hit a weak return and Zemlja came in for the put away volley, but had lumberjack hands and instead of hitting a short angle to win the point, he hit it long and his chance was lost. Sela then was able to come back and then break and eventually serve out the match. Zemlja must have been so down after this match, especially the way he lost it.
Lopez vs. Rehnquist: This smelled of 3 set dogfight and this was what happened. It wasn't always the greatest tennis, but there were many gruelling rallies with plenty of net clearance, there were even a few that would not have been out of place at Roland Garros in the mid 80s. Rehnquist got off to a flyer, as Lopez was nervous and raced through the 1st set. Once Lopez settled down and hit more balls into the court and Rehnquist became more reactive than usual, Lopez was able to control the rallies and keep Rehnquist on the run, able to get the ball high to his backhand and then Lopez used his slice backhand as a change up and it worked, as he was able to take the 2nd in a breaker.
The third set was far from pretty in fact it was a breakathon, 3 out of the first 4 service games were breaks of serve. In the 5th game Lopez was serving at 3-1 40-15 and he got a hideous call, which was clearly out, but it was not called, that gives him 4-1, but he lost his marbles and got shitty and managed to lose 4 games on the trot and Rehnquist served for the match 5-4. Needless to say Rehnquist choked and played an average game and Lopez got back into the match, but he was starting to cramp and tried to come over the backhand and not having great success with it and he lost serve at 6-7. Rehnquist was able to serve it out, though Lopez at 30-30 didn't manage to make an easy ball into the court, very hard fought match, which was last round qualies should be.
Luczak vs. Odesnik : Total baseline battle here with Luczak getting off to a flier. He was serving very well getting some excellent kick and movement off the serve and Odesnik was hitting short shit, which was getting punished by Luczak as he ran through the first set 6-1. Odesnik took a toilet break, maybe to have a piss, but also to contemplate his thoughts and the break did him the world of good. He was able to move the ball around and started using his serve a bit better than before, this and the fact that Luczak lost a bit of concentration and wasn't able to keep up the intensity, helped Odesnik take the second set 6-2. The third set was hard fought, long rallies, some good winners from Odesnik, woeful dropshots by Luczak, some landing on the service line and another bounced twice before the net. Odesnik got the vital break at 4-2 and the when serving for the match he was down 30-40, short second serve which Luczak dumped a backhand halfway up the net, then after that Odesnik served two aces and through to the MD.
Ventura vs deChaunac: Jesse Ventura is the better player out of these two, but basically this match came down to Jesse getting hooked on a shocking line call at 4-4, the ball was clearly out. Granollers and Almagro were watching as well and they shook their heads and laughed. Ventura freaks out has the shits and basically cats the rest of the match.
Malisse vs. Dancevic : This should have been a first round main draw match, especially with some of the dudathons that have been dished up like Chardy/Daniel for example. Malisse started well got the early break, then Dancevic took 6 out of the next 7 games to take the set. Frankie's serve wasn't as effective and Malisse is putting more balls into court and breaks at the end of the second set to take it 7-5, then after that Frankie loses confidence and Xavi gains it and is able to run through the last set easily, lucky for Frank, he got in as a Lucky Loser.
Michael Berrer, the guy who should be a weightlifter got through to the main draw, he had been playing average, but he peaked when it counted and crushed Dorsch. Looking forward to seeing the smashes from the 100kg weightlifter.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Aus Open reports Day 1 Qualies
Aus Open report qualies Day 1
Yes, it's that time of the year again, where I front up to the Aus Open qualies, of course it took me a while to discover the benefits of going to qualies, besides it being free. Once the trick is learned that you need to stock up on the food as there are very limited options then it's a good thing.
One thing that is noticeable at qualies is that the players are pretty much next to the court waiting to go on after the next matches. It's not like they have many people around at the best of times. Ran into Peta and Kristen, which is never a bad thing. Peta or Petea as her beloved Andrei Pavel calls her, was a very happy little vegemite when she saw Andrei there and he is now Romanian DC captain and playing for fun, hope he can draw some gimp like Volandri or Junquiera, then he will win a round for sure, and yes there has been some Carlos Ramos appreciation from her. Kristen was very happy to see Oli Marach who disappointingly has decided to give the singles up and just going to play doubles with the Kubot.
It's always a more relaxed atmosphere during this time and yes there are certain players not down this year, that I would have like to have seen, but there are enough to keep me entertained and amused, so that's always a good thing. Then the funny moments from qualies always come back. Baghdatis qualifying and only 10 people watching his matches, then Simple Simon making it as well and then beating Massu in 5 sets in the first round and had to be carried off court, seeing Djokovic making it through as well. Koellerer's antics among other things.
The man, the legend, and one of the bloggers all time favourites Felix Mantilla was there and what a pleasure to see the man. I haven't told him that I wrote his Wikipedia page yet, hehe. He is there in his role of coach for the AIS when it comes to Aussies on clay. He had the special hat for him, to guard against skin cancer, but it was good to speak to him, though mostly it was about how well Barcelona are playing.
Now onto the tennis part.
Ventura vs Huta Galung : Jesse Ventura was just good for Huta Galung, he played a solid match, without being spectacular, but that's reallly it all takes sometimes, hope he makes the MD.
Sirianni vs. Soeda: Saw a bit at the start of the match and then came over when Sirianni was down 0-5 in the 3rd set and he stepped up his game, was more patient and varied the pace of shot as Soeda was just pushing the ball back, doing nothing, except running and being very passive. Then Sirianni started to get some momentum and that backhand down the line which is his signature shot was firing big time and most importantly he was playing it at the right moment, instead of waiting for the ball, he stepped into it and bang down the line winners were flying everywhere. Once he got it back to 5-6 on serve, he had to save a few match points, he played some good tennis and Soeda helped by not making a second serve return on one of the match points. The crowd were getting behind the local boy and he managed to pull it through, this should free him up and hopefully make the MD.
I spoke to Joe after the match and asked him about what was going on with the 0-5, he was just pissed off with things around him. He wasn't happy about missing out on the WC to the main draw, though not just for himself, also for his friend Peter Luczak, who really should have got a wild card after what happened to him this season and they give it to a no hoper cockchimp like Klein.
Marc Lopez vs HT Lee : Surprising result for Lopez beating Lee on this surface, though the courts are really reacting to the heat and Marc was able to get the ball to jump out of Lee's hitting zone especially on the backhand which helped him win this match, this an there was a huge service game at the start of the 3rd from which Lopez was able to hold, then from there got the confidence from his recent win in Doha and was able to pull the upset here.
Luczak vs Coelho: This was a hideous performance from Luczak, but he got the W and that's all that counts. He was never in trouble on serve at all, and then he played a dumb game to lose serve at 5-4 and give the set to Coelho, who was playing a bit better. Luczak was making errors off normal rally balls and bad ones as well, backhands hitting the bottom of the net. The turning point was at 3-3 when Luczak was serving he was down break points, through serving 4 double faults, but a second serve ace on break point down and also a forehand that was clearly on the line, but the lineswoman called it early and corrected herself after that. Once Peter held, he then relaxed a bit and hit a backhand winner finally and then was able to get through against a player he has struggled against.
Montcourt vs. Lopez Jaen: Got to love hard fought matches, they are good for the game and this one was. Montcourt was his prick self to the ballkids, he hit a ball back with the back flick and hit the kid in the face and said nothing. Lopez Jaen was giving him the huge fistpumps, but at 6-6, he called for the trainer as he was only able to hit backhands, the magic spray couldn't work for the blond Spaniard and Adam's fave Frenchman le Montcourt was able to make it through this one.
Dlouhy vs. Fleischman : Dropshot Dlouhy had an excellent conversion on break points, but had this match in control, even though he had a couple of poor service games, but he controlled the tempo, kept Fleishmann off the balance and then moved the net to execute the volley, good performance and will need to be at this level against Delic.
Sela vs. Posposil : Never in doubt this one, the biggest highlight was seeing sexy Snobel at this match.
Gio Lapentti vs Matosevic : Didn't see much of this and I am disappointed not to, because from what I saw, it was an intense and good match. Gio will always be known as Nicolas Lapentti's brother and he does play a similar style of game, except not as good and Matosevic was very expressive and fiery, but Lapentti's experience got him through, one thing about Gio he has Mr Tenis Pro Marcaccio as his coach.
Malisse vs Ram : Rajeev played quite well, but Malisse had the extra class to get through. Malisse was bitching about everything people walking around, the ballkids orange shirts, a speck of dust that came across the court, he'd have seen it and whined, but he got through it.
Capdeville vs Middelkoop : This was on late and that Capdeville was grunting very loudly, though not to Massu level and this Middelkoop was trying to salvage an average day for the Dutch players. I saw Van Gemerden around seems like he is coaching one of the players, but he was around for the Dutch matches, only saw bits of it and heard more through the sound effects of Capdeville and Middelkoop. A surprise that Capdeville lost.
Olejniczak vs Cipolla : Lucky this was a tennis match and not a boxing match. Olejniczak is in the wrong sport, he should either be a nightclub bouncer, playing for the Polish rugby team or chopping wood for something. This being said glad it was a tennis match, Cipolla basically took the piss with this lack of pace and short slices and moved the big Polish tank around the court, then drop shotted him. The bouncer did well to get a game, maybe he intimidated Cipolla at the change of ends and told him to give him a game, or he'd beat him up.
Kubot vs Roger-Vasselin : Only saw a bit of this as I was about to leave, Kubot had turned it around and was hitting very good length and was able to move Roger-Vasselin around and then knock off the volleys.
Amitraj vs. Devvarman : The battle of India, this was a good quality match, the clash of styles made it so. Big Dev was running and running everything down and Prakash was waiting for the right chance to come into net, he had some very good approach shots, but Somdev was able to either hit the passing shot and make some quality lobs. I remember one point towards the end of the 1st set, Prakash hits an excellet drop volley and Somdev is about 2m behind the baseline, he just makes it and is pissed off that he didn't get it over. Somdev has a great attitude and fighting spirit, which can't be taught, but he definitely needs to get stronger physically to progress further and get a bit more power on his groundies.
Sela vs. Posposil : Never in doubt this one, the biggest highlight was seeing sexy Snobel at this match.
Gio Lapentti vs Matosevic : Didn't see much of this and I am disappointed not to, because from what I saw, it was an intense and good match. Gio will always be known as Nicolas Lapentti's brother and he does play a similar style of game, except not as good and Matosevic was very expressive and fiery, but Lapentti's experience got him through, one thing about Gio he has Mr Tenis Pro Marcaccio as his coach.
Yes, it's that time of the year again, where I front up to the Aus Open qualies, of course it took me a while to discover the benefits of going to qualies, besides it being free. Once the trick is learned that you need to stock up on the food as there are very limited options then it's a good thing.
One thing that is noticeable at qualies is that the players are pretty much next to the court waiting to go on after the next matches. It's not like they have many people around at the best of times. Ran into Peta and Kristen, which is never a bad thing. Peta or Petea as her beloved Andrei Pavel calls her, was a very happy little vegemite when she saw Andrei there and he is now Romanian DC captain and playing for fun, hope he can draw some gimp like Volandri or Junquiera, then he will win a round for sure, and yes there has been some Carlos Ramos appreciation from her. Kristen was very happy to see Oli Marach who disappointingly has decided to give the singles up and just going to play doubles with the Kubot.
It's always a more relaxed atmosphere during this time and yes there are certain players not down this year, that I would have like to have seen, but there are enough to keep me entertained and amused, so that's always a good thing. Then the funny moments from qualies always come back. Baghdatis qualifying and only 10 people watching his matches, then Simple Simon making it as well and then beating Massu in 5 sets in the first round and had to be carried off court, seeing Djokovic making it through as well. Koellerer's antics among other things.
The man, the legend, and one of the bloggers all time favourites Felix Mantilla was there and what a pleasure to see the man. I haven't told him that I wrote his Wikipedia page yet, hehe. He is there in his role of coach for the AIS when it comes to Aussies on clay. He had the special hat for him, to guard against skin cancer, but it was good to speak to him, though mostly it was about how well Barcelona are playing.
Now onto the tennis part.
Ventura vs Huta Galung : Jesse Ventura was just good for Huta Galung, he played a solid match, without being spectacular, but that's reallly it all takes sometimes, hope he makes the MD.
Sirianni vs. Soeda: Saw a bit at the start of the match and then came over when Sirianni was down 0-5 in the 3rd set and he stepped up his game, was more patient and varied the pace of shot as Soeda was just pushing the ball back, doing nothing, except running and being very passive. Then Sirianni started to get some momentum and that backhand down the line which is his signature shot was firing big time and most importantly he was playing it at the right moment, instead of waiting for the ball, he stepped into it and bang down the line winners were flying everywhere. Once he got it back to 5-6 on serve, he had to save a few match points, he played some good tennis and Soeda helped by not making a second serve return on one of the match points. The crowd were getting behind the local boy and he managed to pull it through, this should free him up and hopefully make the MD.
I spoke to Joe after the match and asked him about what was going on with the 0-5, he was just pissed off with things around him. He wasn't happy about missing out on the WC to the main draw, though not just for himself, also for his friend Peter Luczak, who really should have got a wild card after what happened to him this season and they give it to a no hoper cockchimp like Klein.
Marc Lopez vs HT Lee : Surprising result for Lopez beating Lee on this surface, though the courts are really reacting to the heat and Marc was able to get the ball to jump out of Lee's hitting zone especially on the backhand which helped him win this match, this an there was a huge service game at the start of the 3rd from which Lopez was able to hold, then from there got the confidence from his recent win in Doha and was able to pull the upset here.
Luczak vs Coelho: This was a hideous performance from Luczak, but he got the W and that's all that counts. He was never in trouble on serve at all, and then he played a dumb game to lose serve at 5-4 and give the set to Coelho, who was playing a bit better. Luczak was making errors off normal rally balls and bad ones as well, backhands hitting the bottom of the net. The turning point was at 3-3 when Luczak was serving he was down break points, through serving 4 double faults, but a second serve ace on break point down and also a forehand that was clearly on the line, but the lineswoman called it early and corrected herself after that. Once Peter held, he then relaxed a bit and hit a backhand winner finally and then was able to get through against a player he has struggled against.
Montcourt vs. Lopez Jaen: Got to love hard fought matches, they are good for the game and this one was. Montcourt was his prick self to the ballkids, he hit a ball back with the back flick and hit the kid in the face and said nothing. Lopez Jaen was giving him the huge fistpumps, but at 6-6, he called for the trainer as he was only able to hit backhands, the magic spray couldn't work for the blond Spaniard and Adam's fave Frenchman le Montcourt was able to make it through this one.
Dlouhy vs. Fleischman : Dropshot Dlouhy had an excellent conversion on break points, but had this match in control, even though he had a couple of poor service games, but he controlled the tempo, kept Fleishmann off the balance and then moved the net to execute the volley, good performance and will need to be at this level against Delic.
Sela vs. Posposil : Never in doubt this one, the biggest highlight was seeing sexy Snobel at this match.
Gio Lapentti vs Matosevic : Didn't see much of this and I am disappointed not to, because from what I saw, it was an intense and good match. Gio will always be known as Nicolas Lapentti's brother and he does play a similar style of game, except not as good and Matosevic was very expressive and fiery, but Lapentti's experience got him through, one thing about Gio he has Mr Tenis Pro Marcaccio as his coach.
Malisse vs Ram : Rajeev played quite well, but Malisse had the extra class to get through. Malisse was bitching about everything people walking around, the ballkids orange shirts, a speck of dust that came across the court, he'd have seen it and whined, but he got through it.
Capdeville vs Middelkoop : This was on late and that Capdeville was grunting very loudly, though not to Massu level and this Middelkoop was trying to salvage an average day for the Dutch players. I saw Van Gemerden around seems like he is coaching one of the players, but he was around for the Dutch matches, only saw bits of it and heard more through the sound effects of Capdeville and Middelkoop. A surprise that Capdeville lost.
Olejniczak vs Cipolla : Lucky this was a tennis match and not a boxing match. Olejniczak is in the wrong sport, he should either be a nightclub bouncer, playing for the Polish rugby team or chopping wood for something. This being said glad it was a tennis match, Cipolla basically took the piss with this lack of pace and short slices and moved the big Polish tank around the court, then drop shotted him. The bouncer did well to get a game, maybe he intimidated Cipolla at the change of ends and told him to give him a game, or he'd beat him up.
Kubot vs Roger-Vasselin : Only saw a bit of this as I was about to leave, Kubot had turned it around and was hitting very good length and was able to move Roger-Vasselin around and then knock off the volleys.
Amitraj vs. Devvarman : The battle of India, this was a good quality match, the clash of styles made it so. Big Dev was running and running everything down and Prakash was waiting for the right chance to come into net, he had some very good approach shots, but Somdev was able to either hit the passing shot and make some quality lobs. I remember one point towards the end of the 1st set, Prakash hits an excellet drop volley and Somdev is about 2m behind the baseline, he just makes it and is pissed off that he didn't get it over. Somdev has a great attitude and fighting spirit, which can't be taught, but he definitely needs to get stronger physically to progress further and get a bit more power on his groundies.
Sela vs. Posposil : Never in doubt this one, the biggest highlight was seeing sexy Snobel at this match.
Gio Lapentti vs Matosevic : Didn't see much of this and I am disappointed not to, because from what I saw, it was an intense and good match. Gio will always be known as Nicolas Lapentti's brother and he does play a similar style of game, except not as good and Matosevic was very expressive and fiery, but Lapentti's experience got him through, one thing about Gio he has Mr Tenis Pro Marcaccio as his coach.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Radek Stepanek lights up Brisvegas, Marc Lopez carries Nadal in Doha and Cilic enjoys the vindaloo
Here is a review of the opening week of the season.
We have completed the first week of the ATP circus, it's always the great unknown, because players are in theory meant to be starting from zero, but it doesn't always work like that. Since the season started a week later, some players were still back at home drinking too much, and others were in training and it showed, but this was the week that the ATP announced its new fearless leader, that's a topic for another post, because this one should be about the tennis.
In the Gulf state of Qatar, the home of Al-Jazzera, the attempt to buy Olympic gold medals by buying athletes, footballers and swimmers who are doing it for Qatari pride, enough of the tourist promotion. The King played here and lost to the Flea (Vliegen) in 3 sets and was leading 5-4 in the final set TB. The South Tyrolean sex machine finally won a match in Doha, before losing 3 and 3 to Federer, though he made it go for 89 minutes.
The Panther (Monfils) took out Nadal in straight sets, though he failed to back up the big win against Roddick, who seems to be a rare thing, a successful American in the Middle East, well the part not linked to Israel. Monfils has a lot of ability, but still doesn't know how he should play, he has Roger Rasheed in the corner which could be of benefit, if used the right way and he is a qualified fitness trainer, so Panther is going to have to work. The highlight of the week was Marc Lopez carrying Nadal to win the doubles title and on a sidenote Dunblane's finest defended his title.
Marc Lopez
Marin Cilic was successful in Chennai, though the event suffered a couple of withdrawals. The PMK withdrew against the Czech maestro Lukas Dlouhy with a heel problem and he had to pull out of the Aussie Open, hope he doesn't come back too soon. The other was Schuettler who has a wrist problem and withdrew against Somdev who made the final. It was great for the event that a local made the final. The man from the Assam province that borders Bhutan and not far from China, had an outstanding week, though his performance in the final wasn't great, he made too many mistakes and couldn't get enough length on the groundies. He is 23, but he went to university and played his way through the challengers and Futures and will make a good ranking jump into the 100s and hope he can qualify for the Aus Open.
Cilic didn't play a great match, but it was enough to get the job done and that's all it needs to happen to get the win. The young Croat is on the way to the top 10 barring injuries, but his forehand can be put under pressure in tight moments. The ceremony was well done and both of the guys were very respectful in victory and defeat.
Brisbane will only be a shortish write up, because there is an MTF poster krystelt who did an outstanding job of writing and I will link her blog. We had some good coverage and Marcos Baghdatis was back on tour, a dumb move by sacking Lundgren and he is always weak up from a long break, losing to the Shark (Nieminen). This will be a tough time for the Shark as he lost finalist points last year from Adelaide and also he has the QF points to defend from the Aussie Open. Nieminen started very well against Tsonga, leading a set and a break, but wasn't able to forclose the deal sadly.
But Brisvegas this was the week of Radek Stepanek (Thunder Lips), who gesticulated, wiggled the hips, screamed and used plenty of variation to take the title over Fernando Verdasco in the final, he also defeated the Toad (Söderling) and Gasquet (showpony) in the preceding rounds. He gave them all the first set, and then worked his way into the match, and was able to use his strengths, the solid and underrated serve, excellent volleys and the old Continental forehand wasn't breaking down. There were definitely some gamesmanship antics from Stepanek, he will do what is necessary to win and it's up to the opponent to deal with it. He has come a long way from 2002, when he was just a doubles player.
The ladies of Brisvegas, will be dripping in their underwear tonight, after they see Thunder Lips, though Vaidisova could learn from Radek about winning matches. As for the fashions, well good to see that a man is comfortable with himself to wear lavender, so in this week he showed why he is the "Lavender Lothario" or the "Purple Pimp".
All Hail Radek Stepanek
As for a preview for this weeks tournaments perhaps, but best of all I will be in Melbourne having fun at the AO qualies.
We have completed the first week of the ATP circus, it's always the great unknown, because players are in theory meant to be starting from zero, but it doesn't always work like that. Since the season started a week later, some players were still back at home drinking too much, and others were in training and it showed, but this was the week that the ATP announced its new fearless leader, that's a topic for another post, because this one should be about the tennis.
In the Gulf state of Qatar, the home of Al-Jazzera, the attempt to buy Olympic gold medals by buying athletes, footballers and swimmers who are doing it for Qatari pride, enough of the tourist promotion. The King played here and lost to the Flea (Vliegen) in 3 sets and was leading 5-4 in the final set TB. The South Tyrolean sex machine finally won a match in Doha, before losing 3 and 3 to Federer, though he made it go for 89 minutes.
The Panther (Monfils) took out Nadal in straight sets, though he failed to back up the big win against Roddick, who seems to be a rare thing, a successful American in the Middle East, well the part not linked to Israel. Monfils has a lot of ability, but still doesn't know how he should play, he has Roger Rasheed in the corner which could be of benefit, if used the right way and he is a qualified fitness trainer, so Panther is going to have to work. The highlight of the week was Marc Lopez carrying Nadal to win the doubles title and on a sidenote Dunblane's finest defended his title.
Marc Lopez
Marin Cilic was successful in Chennai, though the event suffered a couple of withdrawals. The PMK withdrew against the Czech maestro Lukas Dlouhy with a heel problem and he had to pull out of the Aussie Open, hope he doesn't come back too soon. The other was Schuettler who has a wrist problem and withdrew against Somdev who made the final. It was great for the event that a local made the final. The man from the Assam province that borders Bhutan and not far from China, had an outstanding week, though his performance in the final wasn't great, he made too many mistakes and couldn't get enough length on the groundies. He is 23, but he went to university and played his way through the challengers and Futures and will make a good ranking jump into the 100s and hope he can qualify for the Aus Open.
Cilic didn't play a great match, but it was enough to get the job done and that's all it needs to happen to get the win. The young Croat is on the way to the top 10 barring injuries, but his forehand can be put under pressure in tight moments. The ceremony was well done and both of the guys were very respectful in victory and defeat.
Brisbane will only be a shortish write up, because there is an MTF poster krystelt who did an outstanding job of writing and I will link her blog. We had some good coverage and Marcos Baghdatis was back on tour, a dumb move by sacking Lundgren and he is always weak up from a long break, losing to the Shark (Nieminen). This will be a tough time for the Shark as he lost finalist points last year from Adelaide and also he has the QF points to defend from the Aussie Open. Nieminen started very well against Tsonga, leading a set and a break, but wasn't able to forclose the deal sadly.
But Brisvegas this was the week of Radek Stepanek (Thunder Lips), who gesticulated, wiggled the hips, screamed and used plenty of variation to take the title over Fernando Verdasco in the final, he also defeated the Toad (Söderling) and Gasquet (showpony) in the preceding rounds. He gave them all the first set, and then worked his way into the match, and was able to use his strengths, the solid and underrated serve, excellent volleys and the old Continental forehand wasn't breaking down. There were definitely some gamesmanship antics from Stepanek, he will do what is necessary to win and it's up to the opponent to deal with it. He has come a long way from 2002, when he was just a doubles player.
The ladies of Brisvegas, will be dripping in their underwear tonight, after they see Thunder Lips, though Vaidisova could learn from Radek about winning matches. As for the fashions, well good to see that a man is comfortable with himself to wear lavender, so in this week he showed why he is the "Lavender Lothario" or the "Purple Pimp".
All Hail Radek Stepanek
As for a preview for this weeks tournaments perhaps, but best of all I will be in Melbourne having fun at the AO qualies.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
The Nickname Reference List
Nickname Reference List
Yes, this is a quality first post of 2009, since there are some strange names in usage in this blog. I figured it was about time, that I posted this, though there will be some of these nicknames that I will have missed and no this is not deliberate, maybe it's the old age catching up with me, if there are any others that I have missed then let me know.
For those who want explanations, I will post them in the comments section.
Name Nickname
Oscar Hernandez - The King
Marcel Granollers - The Apprentice
Andreas Seppi - South Tyrolean sex machine
Radek Stepanek - Thunder Lips, Lavender Lothario, Purple Pimp
Jose Acasuso - Smoking Joe, stoner
Stefan Koubek - El Fashionista, Special K
Michael Russell - Russ, Rusty or Rustenberger
Justin Gimelstob - Gimelknob, Gimelclown
Stanislas Wawrinka - The Real Swiss Number 1 (credit to adee-gee)
Tomas Berdych - Berdman
Boris Pashanski - Borracist
Nikolai Davydenko - PMK for Poor Mans Kafelnikov
Mikhail Youzhny - Colonel
Nicolas Almagro - El cabezon or the Head
David Nalbandian - Nalle
Robin Söderling - Toad ( an Aphex special)
Andy Roddick - Duckboy, woodduck
Feliciano Lopez - LaLo
Juan Ignacio Chela - Chubby Chela
Olivier Patience - Have a Little "patience" ( A Guns and Roses song)
Guillermo Coria - Weasel
Albert Montañes - Fat Albert
Mardy Fish - Fisker med Mardy Fish (Fishing with Mardy Fish)
Robby Ginepri - Gineprick or Captain Charisma
James Blake - Snake
Marcos Daniel - Markito
Sergio Roitman - Escopeta
Carlos Berlocq - The Panther
Rafael Nadal - Arse Picker
Tommy Robredo - Boredo
Martin Vassallo Arguello - Che
Gilles Simon - Simple Simon
Agustin Calleri - Gordo
Eduardo Schwank - Baby Gordo
Diego Hartfield - Baby Gaston
Florian Mayer - The New German Gigolo
Marin Cilic - Sam the Eagle (Muppets character)
Somdev Devvarman - Kapil Dev (after the great Indian cricketer)
Richard Gasquet - Showpony
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga - Ali
Yes, this is a quality first post of 2009, since there are some strange names in usage in this blog. I figured it was about time, that I posted this, though there will be some of these nicknames that I will have missed and no this is not deliberate, maybe it's the old age catching up with me, if there are any others that I have missed then let me know.
For those who want explanations, I will post them in the comments section.
Name Nickname
Oscar Hernandez - The King
Marcel Granollers - The Apprentice
Andreas Seppi - South Tyrolean sex machine
Radek Stepanek - Thunder Lips, Lavender Lothario, Purple Pimp
Jose Acasuso - Smoking Joe, stoner
Stefan Koubek - El Fashionista, Special K
Michael Russell - Russ, Rusty or Rustenberger
Justin Gimelstob - Gimelknob, Gimelclown
Stanislas Wawrinka - The Real Swiss Number 1 (credit to adee-gee)
Tomas Berdych - Berdman
Boris Pashanski - Borracist
Nikolai Davydenko - PMK for Poor Mans Kafelnikov
Mikhail Youzhny - Colonel
Nicolas Almagro - El cabezon or the Head
David Nalbandian - Nalle
Robin Söderling - Toad ( an Aphex special)
Andy Roddick - Duckboy, woodduck
Feliciano Lopez - LaLo
Juan Ignacio Chela - Chubby Chela
Olivier Patience - Have a Little "patience" ( A Guns and Roses song)
Guillermo Coria - Weasel
Albert Montañes - Fat Albert
Mardy Fish - Fisker med Mardy Fish (Fishing with Mardy Fish)
Robby Ginepri - Gineprick or Captain Charisma
James Blake - Snake
Marcos Daniel - Markito
Sergio Roitman - Escopeta
Carlos Berlocq - The Panther
Rafael Nadal - Arse Picker
Tommy Robredo - Boredo
Martin Vassallo Arguello - Che
Gilles Simon - Simple Simon
Agustin Calleri - Gordo
Eduardo Schwank - Baby Gordo
Diego Hartfield - Baby Gaston
Florian Mayer - The New German Gigolo
Marin Cilic - Sam the Eagle (Muppets character)
Somdev Devvarman - Kapil Dev (after the great Indian cricketer)
Richard Gasquet - Showpony
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga - Ali
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