The Final Report
This is the last Aussie Open report for this year. It has been a fun time for me, sadly I have not been as diligent as I should have been, story of my life wah, wah, before I get onto the final result. Just some random notes.
The doubles is always of interest to me, have to admit though there are a few guys I like that are doubles specialists aka Marc “the real talent” Lopez and Rogier “the Professor” Wassen. It’s always funny when the singles players play doubles, mainly it’s for the extra cash at a Slam and a bit of training as well. It’s better when they win a couple of rounds, the most hilarious result of the AO was David Marrero and Ramirez-Hidalgo making the 3rd round taking out the team of Dlouhy/Hanley who hadn’t lost in their 2 previous tournaments.
Naturally the best example of the above is when Lucho Horna and Pablo Cuevas won Roland Garros, they still don’t know how they did it. The random pairings as well are a good laugh this year. Janne Hajek and Dolgopolov Jr playing the Fog and Lacko, that was some funny stuff there. The Fog is still lacking in self confidence, if it came to strutting he’d be a multi Slam champion.
Novak Djokovic takes his 2nd Slam title and clearly deserved the crown. He definitely divides people which is a good thing, as it shows he makes an impact. Hopefully he has got rid of the faking of injuries out of his system, he could almost get a role in the WWE with that form. During the tournament the last 3 matches taking out Berdych, Federer and Murray without losing a set, just showed how good Ivan Dodig was for getting that set against Nole.
The first 8 games in the 1st were tight, though Djokovic had chances to break in Murray’s serve early on. The huge 39 stroke rally where Djokovic was defending so well and ended up winning the point with a backhand down the line winner, from there he was able to get the 1st set.
From there he was able to impose his game on Murray for the rest of the match, who once again was too passive in a Slam final. The funny phase of all the breaks of serve towards the end of the 2nd set and through the 3rd set, it wasn’t enough for Muray to gain any momentum to get Djokovic out of the comfort zone. Naturally, it’s not Murray’s game to brainless ball bash his way through a match, but he wasn’t able to seize the moment in the final.
It will be interesting to see how they react a few months down the line, as now Djokovic can now get on the sauce and party hard for a while. It’s great for Marian Vajda who has done so well with Djokovic, took him when he was ranked in the 80s to where he is now. A good guy and a smart coach who doesn’t need the profile to be as big or higher than his player.
Murray, well he has Indian Wells/Miami, then a training block called the clay season. He is not as bad as Roddick during this season, so I won’t call him the tourist. In reality he can use the surface for fitness work, so he can be prepared for more pression when it comes to the British press, who are desperate for a Slam winner. He can definitely win a Slam, just a question of mentality on the big day, has to find the right balance and not be passive the whole time.
Yes, I apologise for not being the best when it comes to updating this site. I had an excellent time at the Aus Open and while there weren’t so many classic matches this year, at least it was not a Fedal final thankfully their matches are tedious to the extreme for the most part. Some youngsters like Dolgopolov Jr with the very quirky game, Raonic, even Bernando Tomic showed some good signs. Berdman played well until he was steamrolled by Djokovic. The outside courts are where the action is, great to see Blaz Kavcic fight so hard, qualify and push a top 10 player to 5 sets.
Not sure how many people will read this part, but I am going to thank them anyway. They all helped to me having a good time and this is in no order. Of course, I forgot some people, but I still love them, no this does not mean Clement, Roddick or Robredo.
- Joel : Great to meet you and hanging with you for 2 weeks was great, too bad you Americans don’t actually get proper leave.
- Sammy : The results weren’t too bad for us this time around, still remember the day we met too funny.
- Peta : Lovely lady, great heart and loves her pintxos. Too bad about her ridiculous love of Zlatan, that Ian Thorpe lookalike.
- Jo : The legendary Dutchman, smart, down to earth and always a pleasure to hang with.
- James : Doing a great job mate, never long enough to hang out and no Danish will never be sexy.
- Rosie : No, it’s not the English one. It’s a Queenslander who was quite bubbly and probably practices the Petkovic dance in secret. No, I don’t know what time Berankis is training.
- Kristen : Glad you made it down, didn’t see too much of you, which sucked but something is better than nothing.
- Jimbo : Just for being himself.
Blaz and Voinea, they are a great combo. Voinea with the smoke and the shoes incident and Kavcic with his fighting spirit trying to make the most of his talent, which I appreciate. Hope they stick together for a while, there is something about having a long term coach.
The transport people were hilarious and great quality, and also to the people whose house I stayed at this year. They were great people and also helped meeting a fellow football fanatic made things easier hehe.
Next destination less exotic and nothing wrong with the Challenger world in Burnie, except the shitty bus ride hehe.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Tommy Robredo winning friends and Roddick bundled out with such ease from the other Swiss
Yay, there is going to be an extra Aus Open entry, which fills me with glee and somehow this thing comes together. It will be random thoughts on the latter round matches that I watched, though not in the greatest detail, though the necessary points will be made.
Almagro vs. Ljubicic
There are always matches that can split fans in two, sometimes because you both love them and other times cause you dislike them both, that neither progresses through to the next round.
The Ljubo/Almagro match is a case of the former for the woman known as Peta or Petea in Romanian. The match was close enough, in the 1st set there were few chances, but Ljubo plays a sloppy 10th game and gets broken for the set.
It’s good watching these guys at close level, especially for their backhands and serves. Ljubo is definitely not moving well these days, not that he was Usain Bolt beforehand. It’s just easier to see it now and needs his serve even more to cover this weakness. Big Head is moving a lot better, but shot selection will never his strength.
This match was decided in the 2nd set in the tiebreaker. Which Ljubo had the advantage, but the old problem on the forehand where he gets too close to the ball and smothers it when he is coming over the shot, proved to be the weakness again. Almagro was able to take the tiebreaker and run out the match comfortably.
Berdych vs. Gasquet
Poor Gasquet, yes he was poor in this match. At least the ridiculous overhype seems to have stopped about him now, more like the fact that he is wasted talent and other labels.
It’s not his fault, that these expectations were so high. The French media still looking for that hero that can win a Grand Slam title, then the backhand which gets drooled over and yes it’s better than Federer’s. The other problems are too big, the forehand and most of all the mentality.
Berdych after a tight couple of games in the 1st set was able to dominate this match with clean hitting and in reality Gasquet was the gimp while Berdych was the dominator. The Berdman has such sweet timing on the ball, yes he lacks variety at times and this can be exposed by the best players, though this was a solid performance.
Robredo vs. Stakhovsky
Stakhi took the 1st set, but sadly was making too many errors against Boredo who kept doing what he does. Running, getting the ball back, a bit more running and his usual bullshit antics, more on that on the next paragraph. Stakhovsky had chances and was pressing, but the winner to unforced error rate was too poor to trouble Robredo in this match.
Onto the Boredo antics, which make him such a loved figure, though not as much as say Spadea, Pashanski or Koellerer. At the change of ends, Boredo decides to call Stakhovsky “puto da madre”, thinking the Ukrainian wouldn’t understand it. Stakh understands and says “say that again and I’ll break your neck”. Too bad he didn’t say it again, sure Stakhovsky would have got a suspension, but he wouldn’t have to buy a drink for the rest of his life.
Isner vs. Cilic
Classic match here, well depends on how you define classic of course. Isner, I still remember when he played Santoro a few years ago at the AO, fuck that was ugly. He was playing baseball hitting the back fence, if not then it was bouncing three times before it reached the net.
Cilic does look like “Sam the Eagle” and Isner has improved since that funny day. It was a close match for sure, but it was good that Cilic got over the line in this one, he is the superior player whereas Isner is the serious server.
Big John will always be remembered no matter what he does in the tennis world after the 70-68 at Wimbledon and he was the crowd favourite.
Raonic vs. Youzhny
Big Raonic with “El Caballo” Galo Blanco in his corner continued his great run with an excellent win over the Colonel. The 1st set was tight, but the Colonel did the cardinal sin when playing a massive server, when they are on. Not concentrating fully, getting broken once and losing the set.
The next 3 sets were a mix of big serving from Raonic, some good groundies as well. The most annoying thing about this match was that the Colonel broke regularly in the last 3 sets, he just dropped serve pretty much straight away on all occasions, so it was a bit like a WTA match in that way.
Huge future for Raonic, as long as he works hard, doesn’t have too many injury problems and have the same mentality he does now. His talent is easily comparable to Isner and Querrey, just need to be patient with the development.
Ferrer vs. Berankis
Berankis got a lesson in this match, this is what he needs to learn and improve upon to make it to the top 10 in the future.
Ferrer was returning Berankis serve easily and once they were able to get into the rallies. Ferrer wasn’t missing at all, and forcing Berankis into error. After the 1st set, Berankis didn’t believe he had a chance and it showed in his play and Ferrer made sure there were no opportunities for him.
Round 4
Roddick vs. Wawrinka
Best match of the tournament for me, not because of the quality of play more the murderation of Roddick the fraud in this match was too funny.
Peter Lundgren has worked well with Stani so far, he still needs the long hair to come back. The old metal look was much better for Peter. Wawrinka played him perfectly, he managed to block returns which is something that he is not known for, but it was the commonsense approach.
Once Wawrinka was able to use the pace of the Roddick serve and get into a neutral position to start the rallies, then he was able to use his superior groundstrokes, especially on the backhand side.
Also Wawrinka outaced Roddick and it wasn’t close, this in addition to killing Rawdick from the baseline lead to the murderation in straight sets. Roddick didn’t even have time to stick around for the poker tournament at Crown, as he had a 9am drop off at the airport, hehe.
Never a bad day when Rawdick loses.
Berdych vs. Verdasco
The Berdych Army were out in force as usual, which is always a good thing as they provide colour to the crowd with good chants, plus also Tomas appreciates the support.
He continued on his good form in this match and really sodomised Verdasco in this match. Usually when there is sodomy around and Verdasco is involved then LaLo isn’t too far away
Berdych was on his game again, clean hitting from both sides and he was serving well. He was able to impose his game on Verdasco and this match didn’t last long. Good old Verdasco he has maximised his abilities on court, though not off court.
Almagro vs. Ljubicic
There are always matches that can split fans in two, sometimes because you both love them and other times cause you dislike them both, that neither progresses through to the next round.
The Ljubo/Almagro match is a case of the former for the woman known as Peta or Petea in Romanian. The match was close enough, in the 1st set there were few chances, but Ljubo plays a sloppy 10th game and gets broken for the set.
It’s good watching these guys at close level, especially for their backhands and serves. Ljubo is definitely not moving well these days, not that he was Usain Bolt beforehand. It’s just easier to see it now and needs his serve even more to cover this weakness. Big Head is moving a lot better, but shot selection will never his strength.
This match was decided in the 2nd set in the tiebreaker. Which Ljubo had the advantage, but the old problem on the forehand where he gets too close to the ball and smothers it when he is coming over the shot, proved to be the weakness again. Almagro was able to take the tiebreaker and run out the match comfortably.
Berdych vs. Gasquet
Poor Gasquet, yes he was poor in this match. At least the ridiculous overhype seems to have stopped about him now, more like the fact that he is wasted talent and other labels.
It’s not his fault, that these expectations were so high. The French media still looking for that hero that can win a Grand Slam title, then the backhand which gets drooled over and yes it’s better than Federer’s. The other problems are too big, the forehand and most of all the mentality.
Berdych after a tight couple of games in the 1st set was able to dominate this match with clean hitting and in reality Gasquet was the gimp while Berdych was the dominator. The Berdman has such sweet timing on the ball, yes he lacks variety at times and this can be exposed by the best players, though this was a solid performance.
Robredo vs. Stakhovsky
Stakhi took the 1st set, but sadly was making too many errors against Boredo who kept doing what he does. Running, getting the ball back, a bit more running and his usual bullshit antics, more on that on the next paragraph. Stakhovsky had chances and was pressing, but the winner to unforced error rate was too poor to trouble Robredo in this match.
Onto the Boredo antics, which make him such a loved figure, though not as much as say Spadea, Pashanski or Koellerer. At the change of ends, Boredo decides to call Stakhovsky “puto da madre”, thinking the Ukrainian wouldn’t understand it. Stakh understands and says “say that again and I’ll break your neck”. Too bad he didn’t say it again, sure Stakhovsky would have got a suspension, but he wouldn’t have to buy a drink for the rest of his life.
Isner vs. Cilic
Classic match here, well depends on how you define classic of course. Isner, I still remember when he played Santoro a few years ago at the AO, fuck that was ugly. He was playing baseball hitting the back fence, if not then it was bouncing three times before it reached the net.
Cilic does look like “Sam the Eagle” and Isner has improved since that funny day. It was a close match for sure, but it was good that Cilic got over the line in this one, he is the superior player whereas Isner is the serious server.
Big John will always be remembered no matter what he does in the tennis world after the 70-68 at Wimbledon and he was the crowd favourite.
Raonic vs. Youzhny
Big Raonic with “El Caballo” Galo Blanco in his corner continued his great run with an excellent win over the Colonel. The 1st set was tight, but the Colonel did the cardinal sin when playing a massive server, when they are on. Not concentrating fully, getting broken once and losing the set.
The next 3 sets were a mix of big serving from Raonic, some good groundies as well. The most annoying thing about this match was that the Colonel broke regularly in the last 3 sets, he just dropped serve pretty much straight away on all occasions, so it was a bit like a WTA match in that way.
Huge future for Raonic, as long as he works hard, doesn’t have too many injury problems and have the same mentality he does now. His talent is easily comparable to Isner and Querrey, just need to be patient with the development.
Ferrer vs. Berankis
Berankis got a lesson in this match, this is what he needs to learn and improve upon to make it to the top 10 in the future.
Ferrer was returning Berankis serve easily and once they were able to get into the rallies. Ferrer wasn’t missing at all, and forcing Berankis into error. After the 1st set, Berankis didn’t believe he had a chance and it showed in his play and Ferrer made sure there were no opportunities for him.
Round 4
Roddick vs. Wawrinka
Best match of the tournament for me, not because of the quality of play more the murderation of Roddick the fraud in this match was too funny.
Peter Lundgren has worked well with Stani so far, he still needs the long hair to come back. The old metal look was much better for Peter. Wawrinka played him perfectly, he managed to block returns which is something that he is not known for, but it was the commonsense approach.
Once Wawrinka was able to use the pace of the Roddick serve and get into a neutral position to start the rallies, then he was able to use his superior groundstrokes, especially on the backhand side.
Also Wawrinka outaced Roddick and it wasn’t close, this in addition to killing Rawdick from the baseline lead to the murderation in straight sets. Roddick didn’t even have time to stick around for the poker tournament at Crown, as he had a 9am drop off at the airport, hehe.
Never a bad day when Rawdick loses.
Berdych vs. Verdasco
The Berdych Army were out in force as usual, which is always a good thing as they provide colour to the crowd with good chants, plus also Tomas appreciates the support.
He continued on his good form in this match and really sodomised Verdasco in this match. Usually when there is sodomy around and Verdasco is involved then LaLo isn’t too far away
Berdych was on his game again, clean hitting from both sides and he was serving well. He was able to impose his game on Verdasco and this match didn’t last long. Good old Verdasco he has maximised his abilities on court, though not off court.
Yes, the tournament is almost over, but there are still reports that need typing
Not sure how to write this report, well starting with something called words would be a good start. Think it will be done in two parts. The overdue match reports, so they will be done in chronological order and the final overview with the people that helped me, who I met and appreciate who make the Aus Open an excellent experience for me. In other words the second part will be so saccharine sweet, that your teeth will fall out.
Round 2
Monaco vs. Haase
This was going to be an interesting match between two players of contrasting styles. Monaco with the strong work ethic and not many major weapons, whereas Haase has a big game when it’s on.
The match panned out as expected with Haase attempting to be aggressive with the serve and groundies, whereas Monaco was defending and using his forehand when he could to gain the upper hand.
Haase broke to take the first set and the pattern was similar in the second with Haase being more offensive and taking his chances whereas Monaco wasn’t able to create many opportunities. When he did he wasn’t able to take them.
Monaco made more balls in the court in the 3rd set and Haase has a concentration lapse, which Monaco takes advantage of to take the set. Any thoughts of a 2 sets down to 0 comeback which Monaco made against Llodra, was closed very quickly as Haase raced off to a 4-0 lead and held the momentum through the day.
Better attacking player got through in this match and coach Mariano Zabaleta is still awesome, though smoking in the front row is a bit naughty.
Malisse vs. Montañes
The betting markets had Malisse quite short in this match, bit too short in my eyes. Then again this is why they are bookies and I am not. Montañes might have had some injury problems, but he isn’t the hardcourt hack like he used to be a few years ago.
Match was out on Court 7 which was reasonably full and not just full of Belgians. Fat Albert should have a strong female fan base, then again who can tell these days, there are people that believe Justin Bieber is talented.
The match started off with a few breaks of serve, which is not surprising at all, since they aren’t known for their serves. Montañes running as usual, trying to use his off forehand and Malisse moving the ball around with effortless timing.
After the 1st set, then it was just ugly, unless you love Malisse and hate Montañes. Not sure what to say in this one then and still not sure now. Malisse played very well and was in a good mood, but not that good that he could chop Fat Albert after the loss of only 1 game. It was a mix of excellent play from Malisse and rubbish from Montañes, who looks underdone at the moment. Albert will come back better in the South American clay season, though it’s good to see Malisse in the 3rd round of a Slam, should get another year of singles on tour at least.
Almagro vs. Andreev
Big Igor and Big Head have had some very tough matches in the past and this was no different. Definitely not one for the people that like finesse, tactics or other fancy stuff in their tennis.
Didn’t get to see all of this, but managed to see the last 3 sets. Andreev was serving well and able to keep Almagro off balance and expose the poor footwork he has at times. Have to say for old Big Head he has shed some extra kilos, seems Perlas has got through to him, but the head is still massive.
Andreev was not hitting as many forehands as usual down to 97% instead of the usual 99%, he was able to get them high to Almagro’s backhand. When they were short Big Head was able to put them away, though both of them defended quite well.
The 4th set tiebreaker where Andreev had 2 match points, it’s difficult for him at the moment as he was not in any decent form last year for a long time. Like anything losing becomes a habit, he was lucky he drew Volandri in the 1st round as that is a bye to the next round on a hardcourt. Staying in the moment and playing the ball on its merits, instead of thinking about the potential consequences is one of the games greatest challenges and something the great players do easily.
When it came down to it Andreev couldn’t hit the backhand when he needed to on those points, it’s a common theme that the weaknesses are the ones that get tested in crunch times. Mucho was able to take into a 5th set, which looked over for him once Andreev got the break in the 5th. However the oldest rule in tennis was failed in this case, it’s not a break of serve unless it’s held straight away, this was not the case here.
As the match went on, Almagro had the confidence and was playing better than Andreev not making as many errors and had the belief where he could win, whereas Andreev looked like he hoped he could win. Very tough loss for Andreev in these circumstances, but Big Head has improved his hardcourt form over the years, especially since losing to the character known as Bobby Reynolds in Melbourne a few years ago.
Kavcic vs. Youzhny
After the excellent win in the 1st round for Blaz he was up against the 10th seed Colonel Mikhail Youzhny. Not the easiest second round match to have. Feliciano Lopez would have been, though the thought of having sit through a match with LaLo winning against someone I like would be too much at this given time.
Youzhny hasn’t had the best preparation for this event. The injuries towards the end of the last year, plus he goes through periods where he is just off form, though at the start of the match this was not the case.
It’s interesting watching these top guys on outside courts and Youzhny with his timing initially was great to watch. He was using his backhand well, in the backhand to backhand to exchanges. The Colonel with military precision would change the direction when the time was right, then throw in some excellent dropshots which would catch Kavcic out a lot of the time.
The extra class was showing in this match with Colonel taking the 1st set, while Kavcic improved in the 2nd, the pattern remained that Youzhny served well enough to keep Kavcic off balance and then dominate the rallies. One of the shots of the tournament was on Youzhny’s set point in the 2nd set. There was an extended rally with Kavcic able to take advantage, he comes to the net, then Youzhny hits a between the legs lob winner, which Kavcic had a play on and decides to let go and it fell in.
Youzhny has been known to have his lapses in matches, amongst the circle we call him the “4 set specialist”. He’ll usually drop a set somewhere along the line where he shouldn’t but still get out of the match, it was a surprise it didn’t happen against Ilhan. Kavcic as usual was fighting hard and the Colonel wasn’t making as many serves as before. Kavcic is able to make the most of the chances that came his way and take the 3rd set.
Still had the feeling that the Colonel was going to run this out in 4 sets. He starts get pissed off, no chance of seeing the blood from the head though. Old Boris Sobkin, who has been with Youzhny for so long, starts copping the abuse from Misha. It helps having Russian speakers nearby. “I can’t make a fucking ball cross court”. This is the case, he is missing shots and Kavcic who has the problem that he plays aggressively when he is behind in the match and too passive when he has break points. But at the moment so far he is winning that battle and took the 4th set.
The air of upset is a possibility, but the turning point in this match was at 2-1* Kavcic serving. He was struggling very hard, mostly because Kavcic couldn’t make enough first serves and relying on his very weak 2nd delivery. The game went for over 10+ minutes, but sorry the photographic memory broke down and can’t remember the exact time of the game.
At Kavcic’s game point, there was a slow ball hit and Kavcic doesn’t play it because it’s out. I didn’t see it at the time, but saw it later and he was right. There was no overrule from Pascal Maria and Kavcic was going crazy at the lack of overrule. This impacted on him and the Colonel was able to break serve and the extra experience and class carried him to victory in this match.
Voinea has done an excellent job so far with Kavcic and hope they stay together for some time, as there are possibilities if he can improve the serve, get some leg drive into it and not throw it so far out into the court. He can stay in the top 100 for a while. Sure he got a bad call, but got to stay in the moment and just play the ball and not dwell on the past. This happened in this match, but he fought well during the qualies and into the main draw.
Pascal "the Peacock" Maria came up to me after the match and asked me if I knew where Voinea was. I said I didn't know at all, he wasn't happy at all with the spray Kavcic gave him at the end of the match and during the bad call.
Seppi vs. Tsonga
Didn’t get to see any of this match, though since Seppi lost maybe it was a good thing. My friend was there and said Seppi had a chance in the TB, where he was up a mini break, though nothing is ever easy with Seppi. He would have to play very well, take his chances and Tsonga wasn’t too off on this match. The fact that Seppi doesn’t have many weapons and this was the case here against Baby Ali.
Russell vs. Ferrer
This one had the potential to be quite a long match, though the reality was different. In the words of the man himself Mikey, he made a rookie mistake. As he was next match on after the Cilic/Giraldo match, which had been to a long 2nd set tiebreaker. Russell decided to carbo load naturally believing that his match with Ferrer was going to involve a lot of running and energy reserves were needed.
Like all plans, there are hitches and the fact that Cilic thumped Giraldo 6-0 in the last set, and he was on quicker than he planned. This meant that he was even more behind the eight ball before than he was at the start of the match. Ferrer was playing his usual solid game, whereas as Russell spent the first 2 sets digesting the food, making errors and worked over.
In the 3rd set which was definitely more competitive, though this was not hard and was more of what was expected in this match. Lots of running, grinding, but the main difference is that Ferrer is a younger, fitter version of Russell, who didn’t have the guns to take out Ferrer. At the moment Ferrer isn’t far off his top 5 form, definitely these two have made the most of their ability.
Nalbandian vs. Berankis
Nalle looked even more disinterested than usual. Berankis was playing quite well and as long as he works hard, doesn’t get too cocky then he has a good future in the game. The fact for a midget, he has a very solid serve which can win him free points which is a major advantage he has over players of a similar height, while he moves as well as the other shorter players.
Berankis takes the first easily and Nalle can hardly move at all. Then not long into the 2nd set, he decides to pull the pin which was disappointing but expected, disappointing after he did the tennis world a favour and took out Hewitt.
It’s the classic Nalbandian in reality, he has a lot of soft issue injuries and no I am not referring to his mid section as soft.
Round 2
Monaco vs. Haase
This was going to be an interesting match between two players of contrasting styles. Monaco with the strong work ethic and not many major weapons, whereas Haase has a big game when it’s on.
The match panned out as expected with Haase attempting to be aggressive with the serve and groundies, whereas Monaco was defending and using his forehand when he could to gain the upper hand.
Haase broke to take the first set and the pattern was similar in the second with Haase being more offensive and taking his chances whereas Monaco wasn’t able to create many opportunities. When he did he wasn’t able to take them.
Monaco made more balls in the court in the 3rd set and Haase has a concentration lapse, which Monaco takes advantage of to take the set. Any thoughts of a 2 sets down to 0 comeback which Monaco made against Llodra, was closed very quickly as Haase raced off to a 4-0 lead and held the momentum through the day.
Better attacking player got through in this match and coach Mariano Zabaleta is still awesome, though smoking in the front row is a bit naughty.
Malisse vs. Montañes
The betting markets had Malisse quite short in this match, bit too short in my eyes. Then again this is why they are bookies and I am not. Montañes might have had some injury problems, but he isn’t the hardcourt hack like he used to be a few years ago.
Match was out on Court 7 which was reasonably full and not just full of Belgians. Fat Albert should have a strong female fan base, then again who can tell these days, there are people that believe Justin Bieber is talented.
The match started off with a few breaks of serve, which is not surprising at all, since they aren’t known for their serves. Montañes running as usual, trying to use his off forehand and Malisse moving the ball around with effortless timing.
After the 1st set, then it was just ugly, unless you love Malisse and hate Montañes. Not sure what to say in this one then and still not sure now. Malisse played very well and was in a good mood, but not that good that he could chop Fat Albert after the loss of only 1 game. It was a mix of excellent play from Malisse and rubbish from Montañes, who looks underdone at the moment. Albert will come back better in the South American clay season, though it’s good to see Malisse in the 3rd round of a Slam, should get another year of singles on tour at least.
Almagro vs. Andreev
Big Igor and Big Head have had some very tough matches in the past and this was no different. Definitely not one for the people that like finesse, tactics or other fancy stuff in their tennis.
Didn’t get to see all of this, but managed to see the last 3 sets. Andreev was serving well and able to keep Almagro off balance and expose the poor footwork he has at times. Have to say for old Big Head he has shed some extra kilos, seems Perlas has got through to him, but the head is still massive.
Andreev was not hitting as many forehands as usual down to 97% instead of the usual 99%, he was able to get them high to Almagro’s backhand. When they were short Big Head was able to put them away, though both of them defended quite well.
The 4th set tiebreaker where Andreev had 2 match points, it’s difficult for him at the moment as he was not in any decent form last year for a long time. Like anything losing becomes a habit, he was lucky he drew Volandri in the 1st round as that is a bye to the next round on a hardcourt. Staying in the moment and playing the ball on its merits, instead of thinking about the potential consequences is one of the games greatest challenges and something the great players do easily.
When it came down to it Andreev couldn’t hit the backhand when he needed to on those points, it’s a common theme that the weaknesses are the ones that get tested in crunch times. Mucho was able to take into a 5th set, which looked over for him once Andreev got the break in the 5th. However the oldest rule in tennis was failed in this case, it’s not a break of serve unless it’s held straight away, this was not the case here.
As the match went on, Almagro had the confidence and was playing better than Andreev not making as many errors and had the belief where he could win, whereas Andreev looked like he hoped he could win. Very tough loss for Andreev in these circumstances, but Big Head has improved his hardcourt form over the years, especially since losing to the character known as Bobby Reynolds in Melbourne a few years ago.
Kavcic vs. Youzhny
After the excellent win in the 1st round for Blaz he was up against the 10th seed Colonel Mikhail Youzhny. Not the easiest second round match to have. Feliciano Lopez would have been, though the thought of having sit through a match with LaLo winning against someone I like would be too much at this given time.
Youzhny hasn’t had the best preparation for this event. The injuries towards the end of the last year, plus he goes through periods where he is just off form, though at the start of the match this was not the case.
It’s interesting watching these top guys on outside courts and Youzhny with his timing initially was great to watch. He was using his backhand well, in the backhand to backhand to exchanges. The Colonel with military precision would change the direction when the time was right, then throw in some excellent dropshots which would catch Kavcic out a lot of the time.
The extra class was showing in this match with Colonel taking the 1st set, while Kavcic improved in the 2nd, the pattern remained that Youzhny served well enough to keep Kavcic off balance and then dominate the rallies. One of the shots of the tournament was on Youzhny’s set point in the 2nd set. There was an extended rally with Kavcic able to take advantage, he comes to the net, then Youzhny hits a between the legs lob winner, which Kavcic had a play on and decides to let go and it fell in.
Youzhny has been known to have his lapses in matches, amongst the circle we call him the “4 set specialist”. He’ll usually drop a set somewhere along the line where he shouldn’t but still get out of the match, it was a surprise it didn’t happen against Ilhan. Kavcic as usual was fighting hard and the Colonel wasn’t making as many serves as before. Kavcic is able to make the most of the chances that came his way and take the 3rd set.
Still had the feeling that the Colonel was going to run this out in 4 sets. He starts get pissed off, no chance of seeing the blood from the head though. Old Boris Sobkin, who has been with Youzhny for so long, starts copping the abuse from Misha. It helps having Russian speakers nearby. “I can’t make a fucking ball cross court”. This is the case, he is missing shots and Kavcic who has the problem that he plays aggressively when he is behind in the match and too passive when he has break points. But at the moment so far he is winning that battle and took the 4th set.
The air of upset is a possibility, but the turning point in this match was at 2-1* Kavcic serving. He was struggling very hard, mostly because Kavcic couldn’t make enough first serves and relying on his very weak 2nd delivery. The game went for over 10+ minutes, but sorry the photographic memory broke down and can’t remember the exact time of the game.
At Kavcic’s game point, there was a slow ball hit and Kavcic doesn’t play it because it’s out. I didn’t see it at the time, but saw it later and he was right. There was no overrule from Pascal Maria and Kavcic was going crazy at the lack of overrule. This impacted on him and the Colonel was able to break serve and the extra experience and class carried him to victory in this match.
Voinea has done an excellent job so far with Kavcic and hope they stay together for some time, as there are possibilities if he can improve the serve, get some leg drive into it and not throw it so far out into the court. He can stay in the top 100 for a while. Sure he got a bad call, but got to stay in the moment and just play the ball and not dwell on the past. This happened in this match, but he fought well during the qualies and into the main draw.
Pascal "the Peacock" Maria came up to me after the match and asked me if I knew where Voinea was. I said I didn't know at all, he wasn't happy at all with the spray Kavcic gave him at the end of the match and during the bad call.
Seppi vs. Tsonga
Didn’t get to see any of this match, though since Seppi lost maybe it was a good thing. My friend was there and said Seppi had a chance in the TB, where he was up a mini break, though nothing is ever easy with Seppi. He would have to play very well, take his chances and Tsonga wasn’t too off on this match. The fact that Seppi doesn’t have many weapons and this was the case here against Baby Ali.
Russell vs. Ferrer
This one had the potential to be quite a long match, though the reality was different. In the words of the man himself Mikey, he made a rookie mistake. As he was next match on after the Cilic/Giraldo match, which had been to a long 2nd set tiebreaker. Russell decided to carbo load naturally believing that his match with Ferrer was going to involve a lot of running and energy reserves were needed.
Like all plans, there are hitches and the fact that Cilic thumped Giraldo 6-0 in the last set, and he was on quicker than he planned. This meant that he was even more behind the eight ball before than he was at the start of the match. Ferrer was playing his usual solid game, whereas as Russell spent the first 2 sets digesting the food, making errors and worked over.
In the 3rd set which was definitely more competitive, though this was not hard and was more of what was expected in this match. Lots of running, grinding, but the main difference is that Ferrer is a younger, fitter version of Russell, who didn’t have the guns to take out Ferrer. At the moment Ferrer isn’t far off his top 5 form, definitely these two have made the most of their ability.
Nalbandian vs. Berankis
Nalle looked even more disinterested than usual. Berankis was playing quite well and as long as he works hard, doesn’t get too cocky then he has a good future in the game. The fact for a midget, he has a very solid serve which can win him free points which is a major advantage he has over players of a similar height, while he moves as well as the other shorter players.
Berankis takes the first easily and Nalle can hardly move at all. Then not long into the 2nd set, he decides to pull the pin which was disappointing but expected, disappointing after he did the tennis world a favour and took out Hewitt.
It’s the classic Nalbandian in reality, he has a lot of soft issue injuries and no I am not referring to his mid section as soft.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Better late than never 1st round reports
My apologies for these reports being a bit late, so they will be done by rounds instead of days. Not the ideal but better than a kick in the head. I will seperate the headings with Day 1 and Day 2, might make it long to read so those with a short attention span should go do something else.
Once I saw Benneteau walking around in casual clothes half an hour before the match I knew something was up and he was withdrawing from his match against Monaco, so he ended up playing Greul instead.
Day 1
Gil vs. Cuevas
This was the first match that I decided to start the 2011 Aus Open viewing with. Once the schedule came out it wasn't a real surprise that I'd be at this match. I thought that Cuevas with his better weight of shot off both sides and serve would be advantageous over the man who retired at 6-0 6-0 3-0 down to avoid a triple bagel against Ferrer.
Cuevas starts off this match fairly passively, not really attacking the ball at all with this backhand and playing from about 3m behind the baseline. Gil looked like he wanted to be there this time and was just scrapping and retrieving like hell and this was getting to Cuevas, who wasn't bothering to do any different. He plays a poor service game and gets broken, so Gil takes the 1st set.
The next 2 sets Cuevas is playing a bit better than he was in the first set which wouldn't be too hard. He was using his backhand down the line a bit more and Gil was just running and running. There was still the feeling that Cuevas wouldn't lose this match, the extra class would tell.
In the fourth they were going at it, and Cuevas was getting shitty with the line calls wasting energy and Gil fighting hard manages to break to take it to 5.
Cuevas's head drops down and he ran out of legs, starting to cramp and gas up. Well this is what happens when you want it to be a battle of running and not using your groundies effectively. Gil scrambling hard, loving the moment, getting everything back even the mishits are going in landing on the lines. This is pissing Cuevas even more in addition to the cramping of the leg and wrist.
Gil outfought him, outran him, had a better break point conversion. He was going crazy when he won as he was not expected to win a main draw match here.
Montanes vs Brown
Got here halfway through the 1st set as I was at Gil- Cuevas match. Dreddy was erratic, and Montanes was being his usual steady self, but having a go when he the chances were on the offer. He took the 2nd set easily.
Someone asked me why didn't I sit down, thought well not exactly sure how long the match was going to go for. Dreddy was getting into extended rallies with Montanes, not exactly the smartest tactics and Albert was picking on his backhand, which was just getting the ball back.
Brown starts to take some more chances and they are coming off, in addition to the fact he starts serving better. The low ball toss makes it hard to read, then out of nowhere Brown breaks with a combo of huge slapped forehands, excellent volleying and dropshots.
At the start of the 4th, the crowd is building up. It was only a third full when I arrived, there were some players there like Ramirez Hidalgo, Junaid, also Patrik Kuhnen was watching it. Brown is getting fired up big time, continuing with the momentum he got from taking the 3rd and forcing Fat Albert into errors, hitting slice forehand winners with pace.
Funniest part of this match and the one not on MTF. There were these lasses sitting across from me, once Brown won the 4th set, they started showing some more cleavage. Looked like they want to be down with the Brown. Yes, he noticed this as well.
My friend never seen him play before and thought I was only talking up because of his hair, but he was turning on the style. Crowd started to build up, there were quite a few ladies there some for Albert no doubt, though one was getting a bit excited when Brown won the 4th set.
Court is almost full the stands were and the walkway very hard to get through. Montanes is steady and serving well, Dreddy going for a lot, neither of them are troubled on serve. Then the 11th game, where Dreddy trying to stay in the match at 30-30 all, he takes a chance and fucks it.
Good serve from Brown which Montanes returns well. Brown tries to sneak into the net, but doesn't hit a great shot and Fat Albert rips a forehand down the line winner to take the match on his only match point.
Great effort from Brown to come back, he was there for ages signing autographs and taking pics as was Montanes. Very entertaining match played in good spirit.
Andreev vs. Volandri
This was on the court next to us. Just had to have a quick look at this match, cause I have to admit I enjoy watching hardcourt hacks in action.
Andreev was never losing this, though it counted for shit when he was down a break in the 2nd as he was going to get some presents along the way with that Volandri serve.
Malisse vs Andujar
Saw Malisse not long before the match and said to him "man you have the dream 1st round draw, this guy is a gimp on hardcourts". He tried not to laugh, but said "you still got to get it done". This was a mismatch and some good training for Malisse, though Andujar wasn't too bad in the last set not as poor as he was last time against Simon.
Luczak vs. Ljubicic
Had to see some of these old guys, yes they are younger than me. Good chance they won't be around for too much longer.
The weather helped Ljubo for sure, as Luczak would have loved it very warm as big Ivan isn't a great player in the heat at all.
It wasn't the greatest match, but Ljubo was just too good all round being able to hold serve easily for the most part. Whereas Luczak was fighting hard on serve to hold. The forehand wasn't hit as well he could have and it's great to sit right behind the play and see how excellent Legenda's backhand preparation is. The forehand can be smothered regularly, when he has to move wide especially.
Brave fight from Luczak, but there is a reason Ljubo is the Legenda.
Day 2
Kavcic vs. Anderson
Mass surprise here, that I started with this match on Tuesday. However with Russell starting at the same time, that match will be done by someone differently. A combo of Mike and a few others as to how the match went.
Not the worst match to get for Blaz, but it wasn't a gimp like Dabul, so make the best of it.
At the start of the match Big Kev was serving from the tree in the 1st set. Just boom, boom, boom, game. Then when Kavcic could get a rally, he was hitting too short with no intent and Anderson was ripping the backhand crosscourt most of the time and then putting the short shit away. First set gone very quickly.
Then he starts missing a few 1st serves. His second serve isn't too bad, but Kavcic is able to get into the match a bit more extending the rallies and hitting more to the Anderson forehand. Kavcic is able to convert on the only chance he had in the second set and took it thankfully.
The 3rd set is vital in this match especially given the way the last one went, there weren't too many serving foibles from Kavcic, no doubles hitting the tramlines behind the court. In this set, Kavcic ripped his shoes and didn't have any extra, so he looks at Voinea and says "give me the shoes". Voinea gives them to him and watches the rest of match in his socks.
Anderson broke and then a huge turning point in the game to confirm the break at 30-30, there was a ball from Anderson that tanned the line and it was called out. Kavcic was able to break back and take into the tiebreaker. Where he decides to play a bit more aggressively and reading Anderson's big serves quite well and placing them in good positions. Takes the 3rd and there is a bit of belief around the upset is on, which it wasn't before the match.
Kavcic loses concentration, bitching a bit about the calls and he finds himself a double break down in the 4th set. Anderson seems to have it under control and then Kavcic relaxes and starts fighting like hell, breaks back and holds to get it to 4-5*. Now Blaz is handling Anderson's serve quite easily and hardly being aced and manages to break again, going to a tiebreaker.
This was definitely not the classic tiebreaker at all, it was like they were hitting a medicine ball. Mishits, a bit of pushing, both had some big errors off the backhand. Kavcic had 5-2 and 2 serves and couldn't handle it. At 5-5 after an extended rally, Kavcic hits a great dropshot which Anderson just gets to and he gets passed.
Took his first match point and the upset. He was loving it and as promised when he won I did the Ayatollah dance, watch from 56 seconds
Russell vs. Ebden
Not a bad draw for Iron Mike. He started well, no doubt that Ebden was nervous as hell, but at the start Russell was able to take advantage using his experience and superior game. This and Ebden making a lot of errors lead to Mikey taking the first 2 sets comfortably.
Russell was still tight and wound up, knowing this is a match that he really should win and a lot of time they are the hardest ones to win. Ebden starts playing a whole lot better than before, the crowd is helping him along as a good local crowd should do. Takes the 3rd set and Russ can't settle letting the crowd to get him up.
Goes up a break in the 4th and then plays a donkey game to lose it, lots of scrapping and they are into a huge 4th set tiebreaker. Mikey was able to pull through, the extra experience helped for sure and as they say in the classics. Well my own version, it isn't ski jumping no points for winning in style.
Next match against Ferrer, they will probably cover 260km in this one.
Giraldo vs. Machado
Didn't get to see all of this, though saw quite a bit. The bookies were having fun with Giraldo starting at 1.12 here, hell I like Santi but 1.12 is hilarious especially with that second serve.
It was quite entertaining this match, plenty of Colombians there supporting Giraldo and a few Portuguese supporting the "Scottish number 2". There were plenty of extended rallies in this, with Giraldo hitting the ball fairly cleanly and MacHado grunting up a storm trying to dominate with his forehand.
The result was not in doubt, but Machado was definitely good enough to take a set and deserved to do it. He punished some of those cannon fodder second serves from Giraldo. As you may have noticed the second serve hasn't improved too much, but the groundies are in excellent shape at the moment.
He is just outside top 50 at the moment, if he could get some more meat on that second serve then it will be an extended stay there.
Sweeting vs. Gimeno-Traver
There always has to be one thing that ruins a perfect day and this match was definitely it.
Not the worst draw for DGT, as Sweeting doesn't have that much to his game. The serve for his height should be better and the forehand is jerky as hell, even then it was good enough to do here.
DGT copied his game on Moya, yes even down to the backhand which was the one thing you shouldn't have copied. He wasn't serving too badly, and had plenty of break chances in the 1st set which he did nothing with. Either it was a shit return or an error, so naturally Sweeting was smart enough to keep the ball in play and deep enough to let DGT make the errors.
Sweeting took the 1st set with his only break chance. The pattern continued in the second set with lots of break chances created by DGT but with no finish. Then the one time he decides to break, he loses it fairly soon after with some poor play, especially the backhand which was div 5 village level.
Frustration levels are going overboard as he loses the 2nd set in the same way he loses the first. DGT takes off his shirt and there are these 2 chicks behind him drooling, fuck haven't we had enough floods in Australia at the moment. I caught them perving, gave them the thumbs up hahaha.
The comeback wasn't on at all in the 3rd, as DGT was too pissed off with the nonsense that was happening in this match. He wacks a ball out of the court and gets a warning for ball abuse. My mate Sammy said he should get a warning for "backhand abuse". Truer words were never spoken.
Just hell frustrating to sit through when you know the guy is capable of better.
Seppi vs. Clement
After the rubbish that passed as a DGT match, then walked around the grounds, saw some people training. It was off to see the Seppi/Clement match.
Seppi has a good record against Clement and I was just hoping that he wasn't going to lose to the munchkin.
Seppi was being a clown early in the match on the break points especially, hardly taking any of them, whereas Clement did . I was there shaking my head at a set and 5-0 down thinking how the fuck do you get bagelled by Clement, but he managed to break and avoid the bagel.
Once he did that, he was able to use the momentum to turn around his fortunes. Seppi eventually broke, lost it and then broke again. He stepped up the play and for the most part actually decided to have a go with his forehand which was paying off for him. It was nice to see Seppi not being passive, man Clement might be past it but he can still run around well and has great hands. Now onto the usual Clement stuff.
Clement was being usual cockhead self.
Lets see the usual having a go at ballkids for not having the towel the right way, only taking balls from one side and not the other. Then bitching about the trains, that it should stop just for him so he can serve. Come on, if they did that Metro trains would even better later than they are. They are as efficient as Italian bureaucracy. Having a go at us, giving the glare as there were supporting Seppi. Don't think he appreciated the ole ole chants.
Seppi is starting to play well and has chances in almost all the games to break the Clement serve. He got a bit tight there at the end, but the better player came through and the crowd were pro-Seppi. Maybe a few Italians, randoms and gamblers there hehe.
At the end of the match, these guys who sat next to us, had Seppi in a multi bet in the last leg. So after the match when the munchkin lost and pissed off back to the lockers, this gambler showed Seppi the betting slip that he won and "the South Tyrolean sex machine" just burst out laughing.
This and the fact Nalle took out Hewitt made the perfect day 1 and 2.
Once I saw Benneteau walking around in casual clothes half an hour before the match I knew something was up and he was withdrawing from his match against Monaco, so he ended up playing Greul instead.
Day 1
Gil vs. Cuevas
This was the first match that I decided to start the 2011 Aus Open viewing with. Once the schedule came out it wasn't a real surprise that I'd be at this match. I thought that Cuevas with his better weight of shot off both sides and serve would be advantageous over the man who retired at 6-0 6-0 3-0 down to avoid a triple bagel against Ferrer.
Cuevas starts off this match fairly passively, not really attacking the ball at all with this backhand and playing from about 3m behind the baseline. Gil looked like he wanted to be there this time and was just scrapping and retrieving like hell and this was getting to Cuevas, who wasn't bothering to do any different. He plays a poor service game and gets broken, so Gil takes the 1st set.
The next 2 sets Cuevas is playing a bit better than he was in the first set which wouldn't be too hard. He was using his backhand down the line a bit more and Gil was just running and running. There was still the feeling that Cuevas wouldn't lose this match, the extra class would tell.
In the fourth they were going at it, and Cuevas was getting shitty with the line calls wasting energy and Gil fighting hard manages to break to take it to 5.
Cuevas's head drops down and he ran out of legs, starting to cramp and gas up. Well this is what happens when you want it to be a battle of running and not using your groundies effectively. Gil scrambling hard, loving the moment, getting everything back even the mishits are going in landing on the lines. This is pissing Cuevas even more in addition to the cramping of the leg and wrist.
Gil outfought him, outran him, had a better break point conversion. He was going crazy when he won as he was not expected to win a main draw match here.
Montanes vs Brown
Got here halfway through the 1st set as I was at Gil- Cuevas match. Dreddy was erratic, and Montanes was being his usual steady self, but having a go when he the chances were on the offer. He took the 2nd set easily.
Someone asked me why didn't I sit down, thought well not exactly sure how long the match was going to go for. Dreddy was getting into extended rallies with Montanes, not exactly the smartest tactics and Albert was picking on his backhand, which was just getting the ball back.
Brown starts to take some more chances and they are coming off, in addition to the fact he starts serving better. The low ball toss makes it hard to read, then out of nowhere Brown breaks with a combo of huge slapped forehands, excellent volleying and dropshots.
At the start of the 4th, the crowd is building up. It was only a third full when I arrived, there were some players there like Ramirez Hidalgo, Junaid, also Patrik Kuhnen was watching it. Brown is getting fired up big time, continuing with the momentum he got from taking the 3rd and forcing Fat Albert into errors, hitting slice forehand winners with pace.
Funniest part of this match and the one not on MTF. There were these lasses sitting across from me, once Brown won the 4th set, they started showing some more cleavage. Looked like they want to be down with the Brown. Yes, he noticed this as well.
My friend never seen him play before and thought I was only talking up because of his hair, but he was turning on the style. Crowd started to build up, there were quite a few ladies there some for Albert no doubt, though one was getting a bit excited when Brown won the 4th set.
Court is almost full the stands were and the walkway very hard to get through. Montanes is steady and serving well, Dreddy going for a lot, neither of them are troubled on serve. Then the 11th game, where Dreddy trying to stay in the match at 30-30 all, he takes a chance and fucks it.
Good serve from Brown which Montanes returns well. Brown tries to sneak into the net, but doesn't hit a great shot and Fat Albert rips a forehand down the line winner to take the match on his only match point.
Great effort from Brown to come back, he was there for ages signing autographs and taking pics as was Montanes. Very entertaining match played in good spirit.
Andreev vs. Volandri
This was on the court next to us. Just had to have a quick look at this match, cause I have to admit I enjoy watching hardcourt hacks in action.
Andreev was never losing this, though it counted for shit when he was down a break in the 2nd as he was going to get some presents along the way with that Volandri serve.
Malisse vs Andujar
Saw Malisse not long before the match and said to him "man you have the dream 1st round draw, this guy is a gimp on hardcourts". He tried not to laugh, but said "you still got to get it done". This was a mismatch and some good training for Malisse, though Andujar wasn't too bad in the last set not as poor as he was last time against Simon.
Luczak vs. Ljubicic
Had to see some of these old guys, yes they are younger than me. Good chance they won't be around for too much longer.
The weather helped Ljubo for sure, as Luczak would have loved it very warm as big Ivan isn't a great player in the heat at all.
It wasn't the greatest match, but Ljubo was just too good all round being able to hold serve easily for the most part. Whereas Luczak was fighting hard on serve to hold. The forehand wasn't hit as well he could have and it's great to sit right behind the play and see how excellent Legenda's backhand preparation is. The forehand can be smothered regularly, when he has to move wide especially.
Brave fight from Luczak, but there is a reason Ljubo is the Legenda.
Day 2
Kavcic vs. Anderson
Mass surprise here, that I started with this match on Tuesday. However with Russell starting at the same time, that match will be done by someone differently. A combo of Mike and a few others as to how the match went.
Not the worst match to get for Blaz, but it wasn't a gimp like Dabul, so make the best of it.
At the start of the match Big Kev was serving from the tree in the 1st set. Just boom, boom, boom, game. Then when Kavcic could get a rally, he was hitting too short with no intent and Anderson was ripping the backhand crosscourt most of the time and then putting the short shit away. First set gone very quickly.
Then he starts missing a few 1st serves. His second serve isn't too bad, but Kavcic is able to get into the match a bit more extending the rallies and hitting more to the Anderson forehand. Kavcic is able to convert on the only chance he had in the second set and took it thankfully.
The 3rd set is vital in this match especially given the way the last one went, there weren't too many serving foibles from Kavcic, no doubles hitting the tramlines behind the court. In this set, Kavcic ripped his shoes and didn't have any extra, so he looks at Voinea and says "give me the shoes". Voinea gives them to him and watches the rest of match in his socks.
Anderson broke and then a huge turning point in the game to confirm the break at 30-30, there was a ball from Anderson that tanned the line and it was called out. Kavcic was able to break back and take into the tiebreaker. Where he decides to play a bit more aggressively and reading Anderson's big serves quite well and placing them in good positions. Takes the 3rd and there is a bit of belief around the upset is on, which it wasn't before the match.
Kavcic loses concentration, bitching a bit about the calls and he finds himself a double break down in the 4th set. Anderson seems to have it under control and then Kavcic relaxes and starts fighting like hell, breaks back and holds to get it to 4-5*. Now Blaz is handling Anderson's serve quite easily and hardly being aced and manages to break again, going to a tiebreaker.
This was definitely not the classic tiebreaker at all, it was like they were hitting a medicine ball. Mishits, a bit of pushing, both had some big errors off the backhand. Kavcic had 5-2 and 2 serves and couldn't handle it. At 5-5 after an extended rally, Kavcic hits a great dropshot which Anderson just gets to and he gets passed.
Took his first match point and the upset. He was loving it and as promised when he won I did the Ayatollah dance, watch from 56 seconds
Russell vs. Ebden
Not a bad draw for Iron Mike. He started well, no doubt that Ebden was nervous as hell, but at the start Russell was able to take advantage using his experience and superior game. This and Ebden making a lot of errors lead to Mikey taking the first 2 sets comfortably.
Russell was still tight and wound up, knowing this is a match that he really should win and a lot of time they are the hardest ones to win. Ebden starts playing a whole lot better than before, the crowd is helping him along as a good local crowd should do. Takes the 3rd set and Russ can't settle letting the crowd to get him up.
Goes up a break in the 4th and then plays a donkey game to lose it, lots of scrapping and they are into a huge 4th set tiebreaker. Mikey was able to pull through, the extra experience helped for sure and as they say in the classics. Well my own version, it isn't ski jumping no points for winning in style.
Next match against Ferrer, they will probably cover 260km in this one.
Giraldo vs. Machado
Didn't get to see all of this, though saw quite a bit. The bookies were having fun with Giraldo starting at 1.12 here, hell I like Santi but 1.12 is hilarious especially with that second serve.
It was quite entertaining this match, plenty of Colombians there supporting Giraldo and a few Portuguese supporting the "Scottish number 2". There were plenty of extended rallies in this, with Giraldo hitting the ball fairly cleanly and MacHado grunting up a storm trying to dominate with his forehand.
The result was not in doubt, but Machado was definitely good enough to take a set and deserved to do it. He punished some of those cannon fodder second serves from Giraldo. As you may have noticed the second serve hasn't improved too much, but the groundies are in excellent shape at the moment.
He is just outside top 50 at the moment, if he could get some more meat on that second serve then it will be an extended stay there.
Sweeting vs. Gimeno-Traver
There always has to be one thing that ruins a perfect day and this match was definitely it.
Not the worst draw for DGT, as Sweeting doesn't have that much to his game. The serve for his height should be better and the forehand is jerky as hell, even then it was good enough to do here.
DGT copied his game on Moya, yes even down to the backhand which was the one thing you shouldn't have copied. He wasn't serving too badly, and had plenty of break chances in the 1st set which he did nothing with. Either it was a shit return or an error, so naturally Sweeting was smart enough to keep the ball in play and deep enough to let DGT make the errors.
Sweeting took the 1st set with his only break chance. The pattern continued in the second set with lots of break chances created by DGT but with no finish. Then the one time he decides to break, he loses it fairly soon after with some poor play, especially the backhand which was div 5 village level.
Frustration levels are going overboard as he loses the 2nd set in the same way he loses the first. DGT takes off his shirt and there are these 2 chicks behind him drooling, fuck haven't we had enough floods in Australia at the moment. I caught them perving, gave them the thumbs up hahaha.
The comeback wasn't on at all in the 3rd, as DGT was too pissed off with the nonsense that was happening in this match. He wacks a ball out of the court and gets a warning for ball abuse. My mate Sammy said he should get a warning for "backhand abuse". Truer words were never spoken.
Just hell frustrating to sit through when you know the guy is capable of better.
Seppi vs. Clement
After the rubbish that passed as a DGT match, then walked around the grounds, saw some people training. It was off to see the Seppi/Clement match.
Seppi has a good record against Clement and I was just hoping that he wasn't going to lose to the munchkin.
Seppi was being a clown early in the match on the break points especially, hardly taking any of them, whereas Clement did . I was there shaking my head at a set and 5-0 down thinking how the fuck do you get bagelled by Clement, but he managed to break and avoid the bagel.
Once he did that, he was able to use the momentum to turn around his fortunes. Seppi eventually broke, lost it and then broke again. He stepped up the play and for the most part actually decided to have a go with his forehand which was paying off for him. It was nice to see Seppi not being passive, man Clement might be past it but he can still run around well and has great hands. Now onto the usual Clement stuff.
Clement was being usual cockhead self.
Lets see the usual having a go at ballkids for not having the towel the right way, only taking balls from one side and not the other. Then bitching about the trains, that it should stop just for him so he can serve. Come on, if they did that Metro trains would even better later than they are. They are as efficient as Italian bureaucracy. Having a go at us, giving the glare as there were supporting Seppi. Don't think he appreciated the ole ole chants.
Seppi is starting to play well and has chances in almost all the games to break the Clement serve. He got a bit tight there at the end, but the better player came through and the crowd were pro-Seppi. Maybe a few Italians, randoms and gamblers there hehe.
At the end of the match, these guys who sat next to us, had Seppi in a multi bet in the last leg. So after the match when the munchkin lost and pissed off back to the lockers, this gambler showed Seppi the betting slip that he won and "the South Tyrolean sex machine" just burst out laughing.
This and the fact Nalle took out Hewitt made the perfect day 1 and 2.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Qualifying Day 2 and 3
This is going to be a mix of 2nd and 3rd round action due to the weather delays, but at least they will get the action done before the start of the main draw, which does suck for the most part. At the same time it's not like I expect the guys I like to make the second week anyway. Onto the matches.
Zemlja vs. Smyczek
Zemlja got off to a good start in this one and Smyczek was whining a bit, mainly due to his own poor performance. Zemlja took the first set comfortably from a combination of excellent groundstrokes and errors. Smyczek started to play better in the second and Zemlja dropped his level a bit, but there wasn't a sense that the Slovenian was losing this match. While the second set was closer, Zemlja was a level above and showed at the end.
Funny part in this match was both players getting shitty with the officiating. Linesperson missed a bad call on Zemlja and he is out with both arms stretched and rubbing his eyes saying he couldn't believe that he missed that call.
Farah vs. Stadler
The Colombian must have got on the wrong side of bed this night, because this was a rubbish performance from Farah in a match he was the favourite. Stadler doesn't have much of a game, but he didn't need much of a game to win this match. He kept the ball in play well and waited for Farah to make an error and he was doing this like Santa Claus on LSD at Christmas time. The backhand for the most part was good, but the forehand was rubbish trying to hit a heavy ball, but it was like Nadal forehand length in 03, 04 without the revolutions on the ball.
These shots were just fodder for any player of average ability, when it wasn't an error from Farah, then Stadler was able to put away these balls. The strike point on the Farah forehand is all wrong, he is off balance and tries to come up the back of the ball too much, and when the timing is off, then it ends up as fodder. He served ok in this match, but also missed a few volleys. The MD player that gets Stadler will be happy.
Millman vs. Millot
Johnny was brave and fought as always, but the chunky Millot was just too consistent and solid for Millman in this one. The confidence from winning New Caledonia showed in this match, he was playing on or near the baseline and able to control the rallies off both sides with good timing. Millman played one poor service game in the 1st set at 4-4, then Millot served it out without too many problems.
Second set was more of a continuation of the first, Millman grinding and fighting hard and Millot comfortable off both sides in the rallies. Millman was dropping short with the forehand and getting punished. The backhand is a class shot, but the forehand he doesn't always hit it the way it should, and in this case Millot was able to hit winners off these balls.
No excuses just outplayed from a better player on the day.
Kavcic vs. DeVoest
Got here early in the 1st set when Kavcic was down a break. DeVoest was playing like Davydenko hitting winners early and Kavcic complaining about not hitting his backhand at all. His serve wasn't working too well, but more on those foibles later. Neither of these guys have massive serves, so there were always chances for breaks. Kavcic was able to break back and then get it to the tiebreaker. He steps it up and was able to hit better length on his shots in the rallies, takes advantage of this to win the TB comfortably.
Now the fun and games started with the Kavcic serving, he started losing confidence especially at the end where there was problems with the sun. He then procedes to hit 2 of the best double faults you will ever see. At the court there is a gap at the other end, where it's not fully covered. Both times he threw the ball too far forward and trying to come over the ball frames it. The ball takes flight and ends up out of the court on the road behind. The second one was better, it even went further long and ended up on the tram lines behind the court. He went down a double break and went onto tank the last 2 games. Ballbashing forehands, dropshot returns and 200km/h second serves out wide. Goes onto loose that set 6-0.
The 3rd set begins with a shit line call, a very late call on the line right in front of us and the Kavcic camp. Blaz goes crazy with the umpire for not overruling, but karma comes back as he saves break point with a dead let cord. After that 1st game, Kavcic holds and settles down, he starts to play some good tennis now, even the balltoss is normal on serve, stepping into the court hitting good length, defending when he has to use and using the angles. deVoest has nothing to hurt him with and it shows. Kavcic even comes into the net with some good volleys.
Fair result in the end among the shenanigans, the whining and the clown serving, the last set was some good tennis.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Other Stuff
Dimitrov vs. El Amrani : Saw parts of this match, it was like a training run for Dimitrov. He was hardly under any pression in this one and he does have quite the fanbase. My favourite Bulgarian and Argentine couple were there. Grigor wasn't used to speaking Bulgarian in Melbourne hehehe, yes I took some photos for them.
Koubek vs. Schoorel : The lanky Dutchie was too good here and Koubek being the backboard wasn't enough, wasn't able to get out of the hitting zone of Schoorel enough.
Crugnola winning over Bolelli and he has a problem with his leg, he plays old Massu next. I would like to see Crugnola make the main draw for whatever ability he lacks as a player, he is a good guy especially for a Juventus fan hehe
Seppi has bought a nice lady from South Tyrol down, good man and hope he beats that fucking pest Clement. Zabaleta is in town, this made my day. It's a never a bad day when the King of Tandil makes an appearance.
Berankis maybe a midget, but got to love the way he drills that serve. Ran into some people I hadn't seen for years and they will help me with these reports, as I can't do it on my own. The accreditation people are hilarious for a lot of reasons.
Tomorrow going to watch Kavcic make the main draw plus some other people training, yes I have seen Federer and Nadal around the place and no I haven't taken any pics. LaLo seriously wants to be Mike the Situation from Jersey Shore.
Funny moment of the day, some lass with massive boobies goes up to Dimitrov and says "you're hot". McNamara not amused says "what about the coach"? Then as lass is going away Dimitrov says "thank you, that made my day". Almost choked on my drink, sadly for some on MTF I survived.
Zemlja vs. Smyczek
Zemlja got off to a good start in this one and Smyczek was whining a bit, mainly due to his own poor performance. Zemlja took the first set comfortably from a combination of excellent groundstrokes and errors. Smyczek started to play better in the second and Zemlja dropped his level a bit, but there wasn't a sense that the Slovenian was losing this match. While the second set was closer, Zemlja was a level above and showed at the end.
Funny part in this match was both players getting shitty with the officiating. Linesperson missed a bad call on Zemlja and he is out with both arms stretched and rubbing his eyes saying he couldn't believe that he missed that call.
Farah vs. Stadler
The Colombian must have got on the wrong side of bed this night, because this was a rubbish performance from Farah in a match he was the favourite. Stadler doesn't have much of a game, but he didn't need much of a game to win this match. He kept the ball in play well and waited for Farah to make an error and he was doing this like Santa Claus on LSD at Christmas time. The backhand for the most part was good, but the forehand was rubbish trying to hit a heavy ball, but it was like Nadal forehand length in 03, 04 without the revolutions on the ball.
These shots were just fodder for any player of average ability, when it wasn't an error from Farah, then Stadler was able to put away these balls. The strike point on the Farah forehand is all wrong, he is off balance and tries to come up the back of the ball too much, and when the timing is off, then it ends up as fodder. He served ok in this match, but also missed a few volleys. The MD player that gets Stadler will be happy.
Millman vs. Millot
Johnny was brave and fought as always, but the chunky Millot was just too consistent and solid for Millman in this one. The confidence from winning New Caledonia showed in this match, he was playing on or near the baseline and able to control the rallies off both sides with good timing. Millman played one poor service game in the 1st set at 4-4, then Millot served it out without too many problems.
Second set was more of a continuation of the first, Millman grinding and fighting hard and Millot comfortable off both sides in the rallies. Millman was dropping short with the forehand and getting punished. The backhand is a class shot, but the forehand he doesn't always hit it the way it should, and in this case Millot was able to hit winners off these balls.
No excuses just outplayed from a better player on the day.
Kavcic vs. DeVoest
Got here early in the 1st set when Kavcic was down a break. DeVoest was playing like Davydenko hitting winners early and Kavcic complaining about not hitting his backhand at all. His serve wasn't working too well, but more on those foibles later. Neither of these guys have massive serves, so there were always chances for breaks. Kavcic was able to break back and then get it to the tiebreaker. He steps it up and was able to hit better length on his shots in the rallies, takes advantage of this to win the TB comfortably.
Now the fun and games started with the Kavcic serving, he started losing confidence especially at the end where there was problems with the sun. He then procedes to hit 2 of the best double faults you will ever see. At the court there is a gap at the other end, where it's not fully covered. Both times he threw the ball too far forward and trying to come over the ball frames it. The ball takes flight and ends up out of the court on the road behind. The second one was better, it even went further long and ended up on the tram lines behind the court. He went down a double break and went onto tank the last 2 games. Ballbashing forehands, dropshot returns and 200km/h second serves out wide. Goes onto loose that set 6-0.
The 3rd set begins with a shit line call, a very late call on the line right in front of us and the Kavcic camp. Blaz goes crazy with the umpire for not overruling, but karma comes back as he saves break point with a dead let cord. After that 1st game, Kavcic holds and settles down, he starts to play some good tennis now, even the balltoss is normal on serve, stepping into the court hitting good length, defending when he has to use and using the angles. deVoest has nothing to hurt him with and it shows. Kavcic even comes into the net with some good volleys.
Fair result in the end among the shenanigans, the whining and the clown serving, the last set was some good tennis.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Zemlja vs. Udomchoke
Udomchoke has some very annoying Thai fans who are singing when they are winning at the start of the match. Zemlja started poorly and Udomchoke was running everything down using his speed, hitting flat groundies to take the 1st set and the Thais get more annoying, thought they aren't as annoying as Nadal fans.
Zemlja goes down an early break, and there are only few people supporting Grega, this one Slovenian/Serbian local kid, myself and Joel besides the coach. Then Zemlja breaks back and these cats who bet on him during the other rounds make an appearance again firing him up. Grega breaks back and starts to play more aggressively especially off the forehand and keeping the backhand deep forcing Udomchoke to hit shorter and shorter in the court. He grabs the momentum and takes the 2nd set, with a few serving foibles.
The third set Zemlja stepped it up and hardly making errors with Udomchoke looking tired. The Thai fans are being silenced which is nice, plus Zemlja had some more crowd support. He was defending well when he needed to and kept up with the positive play, running away with it at the end and making the main draw for the second year in a row.
Other Stuff
Dimitrov vs. El Amrani : Saw parts of this match, it was like a training run for Dimitrov. He was hardly under any pression in this one and he does have quite the fanbase. My favourite Bulgarian and Argentine couple were there. Grigor wasn't used to speaking Bulgarian in Melbourne hehehe, yes I took some photos for them.
Koubek vs. Schoorel : The lanky Dutchie was too good here and Koubek being the backboard wasn't enough, wasn't able to get out of the hitting zone of Schoorel enough.
Crugnola winning over Bolelli and he has a problem with his leg, he plays old Massu next. I would like to see Crugnola make the main draw for whatever ability he lacks as a player, he is a good guy especially for a Juventus fan hehe
Seppi has bought a nice lady from South Tyrol down, good man and hope he beats that fucking pest Clement. Zabaleta is in town, this made my day. It's a never a bad day when the King of Tandil makes an appearance.
Berankis maybe a midget, but got to love the way he drills that serve. Ran into some people I hadn't seen for years and they will help me with these reports, as I can't do it on my own. The accreditation people are hilarious for a lot of reasons.
Tomorrow going to watch Kavcic make the main draw plus some other people training, yes I have seen Federer and Nadal around the place and no I haven't taken any pics. LaLo seriously wants to be Mike the Situation from Jersey Shore.
Funny moment of the day, some lass with massive boobies goes up to Dimitrov and says "you're hot". McNamara not amused says "what about the coach"? Then as lass is going away Dimitrov says "thank you, that made my day". Almost choked on my drink, sadly for some on MTF I survived.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Australian Open Qualies Day 1
The first day of Slam qualies are special, usually the only ones there are players, coaches, friends of players, workers, some bored officials, gamblers and the ones who can't afford to go to Kooyong.
Went to the venue a bit late wasn't sure how much play they would get in, but there were able to do quite well for the most part which was a good thing, though not sure about the next 2 days.
Farah vs. Soeda
Was looking forward to seeing Farah place in the flesh, it's a lot different from dodgy livestreams. He hadn't been much form at all in the first 2 matches of the season, but thankfully he was better against the 8 seed.
Soeda, the typical Asian hardcourt player very good footspeed, flat shots, only time hits topspin is when it's a mishit and doesn't make too many errors but without weapons.
Farah had a huge 2010 coming off the US university circuit, then winning the 125K Bogota Challenger in singles and doubles finishing the season in the top 200. The match was quite tight especially in the opening set with Farah serving well and using his 2 hand backhand to dominate in rallies, whereas Soeda was playing his typical game.
Went to the tiebreak, where Farah created more chances and was finally able to clinch it with some good play. He settled down, started to relax and play a lot better. Soeda changed to the hot pink shirt maybe to blind Farah into error, but the tall Colombian wasn't falling for it and won the match comfortably in the end.
The forehand of Farah is a liability and unless this can be remodelled at best or fixing it up some of the problems at the worst, it will prevent him from reaching his full potential. In the 2nd set he wasn't making as many errors, but much of the time he wasn't balanced at all when hitting the shot, hitting the ball too late. Out of 10 forehands, 4 would be short with not much on it, 4 would be be bottom of net and 2 would be decent.
But he works hard physically and hope he can overcome this technical problem.
Zemlja vs. Gutierrez-Ferrol
Zemlja is now coached by Kavcic's old coach. He has problems breathing with the high humidity which was around today. Guti was getting hell pissed off at errors he was making, whereas Zemlja was a bit flat, struggling with the humidity. But he had too much class for Guti, not solely ballbashing with a bit of pushing thrown in for good measure.
Mektic vs. DeHeartThought this match would be closer, but DeHeart looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, yes even more so than usual. Mektic played very well, didn't miss many shots was able to use his forehand to pin DeHeart the baseline and push him round the place, forcing DeHeart into error or passing him when he came into the net off shit approach shots.
Millman vs. Rieschick
Seb Rieschick is playing the wrong sport, he should be a bouncer in a nightclub or playing for the German rugby team. Millman started off very slowly and was not able to move the big German around to expose his lack of movement. Rieschick was burying the short balls with his forehand and smashed a big FH winner down the line to take the 1st set.
Millman starts a bit better in the second set, but the same pattern is emerging. Millman grinding, but hitting too many short balls and always cross court and the bouncer taking the initiative gets to *5-3 15-15 and the rain delay happens.
Rieschick gets to match point and Millman saves it, breaks and then wins the next 3 games to take it 7-5. The bouncer is getting tired as Millman elongates the rallies, now the big shots are missing but Millman keeps giving back the break of serve. The bouncer is footfaulting big time, but not getting called, also among the big shots, he is getting deseparate and hitting more dropshots than Dustin Brown. Millman breaks again and is able to serve it out to win 6-4.
Definitely not a pretty match, but this is what happens when players hang in and keep fighting to the end, the rewards come along. Johnny will have to improve against Millot.
Kavcic vs. Mitchell
The Slovenian serving machine is the top seed here and the 1st set of the match while close isn't really of a good standard. Kavcic is a bit passive and Mitchell a bit nervous, both trade breaks to get it to a TB, which Kavcic played an outstanding breaker to take it.
Mitchell lifts his level of tennis, starts going for the shots and serving better. Kavcic is grumbling at himself in a mix of Slovene and English, especially at the times he couldn't convert the 0-40 leads twice into break points. It was mostly due to Mitchell serving well and hitting some big shots, which continues through to the 2nd set tiebreaker taking it in style.
Adrian Voinea had enough and decides to roll a cigarette and smoke it at the top of the stand in the corner to at the start of the 3rd set. Kavcic finally breaks halfway through the 3rd set with some aggressive play, then the great serve produced a double fault to give the break back. Crazy Kavcic was screaming, but Mitchell was playing some excellent tennis, especially the serve and the groundies were hitting the cornerns. Played well above his current world ranking of 600 at the moment.
They stopped for a small break due to the lines being slippery at 4-4, after trading breaks again. Kavcic is getting anxious and pissed off, especially when Mitchell saves a break point with a dead letcord. Voinea is calming him down, then Kavcic actually decides to step into the ball instead of being passive and breaks serve again.
Then the comedy capers when it comes to Kavcic serving out matches, he missed a few 1st serves and Mitchell starting missing the shots that he wasn't missing before. He was able to serve it out and was very happy to get the W, even though he had a shocking break point conversion rate which in most cases wasn't down to Kavcic's ineptitude. Mitchell played above himself but it was entertaining.
Random Notes
Trevisan vs. Skugor
Skugor woke up after losing the 1st set and ballbashed his way to a win.
Korolev vs, Fernandes
Little Fernandes was getting smoked by Kazakhstani Korolev didn't help he had a shoulder problem.
Haider-Maurer vs. Mertens
Mertens is almost as upright as Schalken, just not as talented. Haider-Maurer won but smashed 2 racquets in the process, he is a bit special.
Marcos Daniel was around the place, just wish I had my Gremio shirt at that time to see his face.
Antonio Veic was doing well when play was suspended, nice guy he spoke to a friend of mine about the match with Koellerer last year in Melbourne. How much he loved the atmosphere and the win of course.
Guccione is still a sexy beast.
Went to the venue a bit late wasn't sure how much play they would get in, but there were able to do quite well for the most part which was a good thing, though not sure about the next 2 days.
Farah vs. Soeda
Was looking forward to seeing Farah place in the flesh, it's a lot different from dodgy livestreams. He hadn't been much form at all in the first 2 matches of the season, but thankfully he was better against the 8 seed.
Soeda, the typical Asian hardcourt player very good footspeed, flat shots, only time hits topspin is when it's a mishit and doesn't make too many errors but without weapons.
Farah had a huge 2010 coming off the US university circuit, then winning the 125K Bogota Challenger in singles and doubles finishing the season in the top 200. The match was quite tight especially in the opening set with Farah serving well and using his 2 hand backhand to dominate in rallies, whereas Soeda was playing his typical game.
Went to the tiebreak, where Farah created more chances and was finally able to clinch it with some good play. He settled down, started to relax and play a lot better. Soeda changed to the hot pink shirt maybe to blind Farah into error, but the tall Colombian wasn't falling for it and won the match comfortably in the end.
The forehand of Farah is a liability and unless this can be remodelled at best or fixing it up some of the problems at the worst, it will prevent him from reaching his full potential. In the 2nd set he wasn't making as many errors, but much of the time he wasn't balanced at all when hitting the shot, hitting the ball too late. Out of 10 forehands, 4 would be short with not much on it, 4 would be be bottom of net and 2 would be decent.
But he works hard physically and hope he can overcome this technical problem.
Zemlja vs. Gutierrez-Ferrol
Zemlja is now coached by Kavcic's old coach. He has problems breathing with the high humidity which was around today. Guti was getting hell pissed off at errors he was making, whereas Zemlja was a bit flat, struggling with the humidity. But he had too much class for Guti, not solely ballbashing with a bit of pushing thrown in for good measure.
Mektic vs. DeHeartThought this match would be closer, but DeHeart looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, yes even more so than usual. Mektic played very well, didn't miss many shots was able to use his forehand to pin DeHeart the baseline and push him round the place, forcing DeHeart into error or passing him when he came into the net off shit approach shots.
Millman vs. Rieschick
Seb Rieschick is playing the wrong sport, he should be a bouncer in a nightclub or playing for the German rugby team. Millman started off very slowly and was not able to move the big German around to expose his lack of movement. Rieschick was burying the short balls with his forehand and smashed a big FH winner down the line to take the 1st set.
Millman starts a bit better in the second set, but the same pattern is emerging. Millman grinding, but hitting too many short balls and always cross court and the bouncer taking the initiative gets to *5-3 15-15 and the rain delay happens.
Rieschick gets to match point and Millman saves it, breaks and then wins the next 3 games to take it 7-5. The bouncer is getting tired as Millman elongates the rallies, now the big shots are missing but Millman keeps giving back the break of serve. The bouncer is footfaulting big time, but not getting called, also among the big shots, he is getting deseparate and hitting more dropshots than Dustin Brown. Millman breaks again and is able to serve it out to win 6-4.
Definitely not a pretty match, but this is what happens when players hang in and keep fighting to the end, the rewards come along. Johnny will have to improve against Millot.
Kavcic vs. Mitchell
The Slovenian serving machine is the top seed here and the 1st set of the match while close isn't really of a good standard. Kavcic is a bit passive and Mitchell a bit nervous, both trade breaks to get it to a TB, which Kavcic played an outstanding breaker to take it.
Mitchell lifts his level of tennis, starts going for the shots and serving better. Kavcic is grumbling at himself in a mix of Slovene and English, especially at the times he couldn't convert the 0-40 leads twice into break points. It was mostly due to Mitchell serving well and hitting some big shots, which continues through to the 2nd set tiebreaker taking it in style.
Adrian Voinea had enough and decides to roll a cigarette and smoke it at the top of the stand in the corner to at the start of the 3rd set. Kavcic finally breaks halfway through the 3rd set with some aggressive play, then the great serve produced a double fault to give the break back. Crazy Kavcic was screaming, but Mitchell was playing some excellent tennis, especially the serve and the groundies were hitting the cornerns. Played well above his current world ranking of 600 at the moment.
They stopped for a small break due to the lines being slippery at 4-4, after trading breaks again. Kavcic is getting anxious and pissed off, especially when Mitchell saves a break point with a dead letcord. Voinea is calming him down, then Kavcic actually decides to step into the ball instead of being passive and breaks serve again.
Then the comedy capers when it comes to Kavcic serving out matches, he missed a few 1st serves and Mitchell starting missing the shots that he wasn't missing before. He was able to serve it out and was very happy to get the W, even though he had a shocking break point conversion rate which in most cases wasn't down to Kavcic's ineptitude. Mitchell played above himself but it was entertaining.
Random Notes
Trevisan vs. Skugor
Skugor woke up after losing the 1st set and ballbashed his way to a win.
Korolev vs, Fernandes
Little Fernandes was getting smoked by Kazakhstani Korolev didn't help he had a shoulder problem.
Haider-Maurer vs. Mertens
Mertens is almost as upright as Schalken, just not as talented. Haider-Maurer won but smashed 2 racquets in the process, he is a bit special.
Marcos Daniel was around the place, just wish I had my Gremio shirt at that time to see his face.
Antonio Veic was doing well when play was suspended, nice guy he spoke to a friend of mine about the match with Koellerer last year in Melbourne. How much he loved the atmosphere and the win of course.
Guccione is still a sexy beast.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
The circus kicks off in 2011
Time to kick the 2011 season with an entry on the first tennis week of the year. Yes, there is a Chennai final to be played, but that can be left for the comments and it's a bit of a Mickey Mouse event. At the same time the ATP are a Mickey Mouse organisation for a lot of the time.
Starting off in the throbbing metropolis known as Doha the capital of the oil, cash rich and banking the FIFA payroll of Qatar. Roger Federer won the tournament again as he has done numerous times. It was not too difficult for him as he continues the form from the end of last season. Sure at the end of 2010 was good for Federer, but it will count for nowt if he can't defend his Australian Open title in a couple of weeks. As for his chances of defending, only a blind delusional fool would write him off.
It was an excellent week for the PMK as well. Davydenko had an indifferent run since coming back from injury, but for him the match up against Federer is very difficult. For all of the great timing on the PMK's groundies when he is on his game, Federer has the tools to make it uncomfortable for him, especially with the slice backhand. He is able to expose Davydenko by getting him off the baseline with the wide angle slice and then dominate the rallies from there, this in addition to the fact that Davydenko doesn't hit a very heavy ball unlike Nadal where he can break down Federer's backhand or lacks the variation that Murray has.
In spite of the above it was pleasant to see Davydenko take out Nadal again. He has the upper hand in their match up, which is not a surprise as with his game, as he is able to take time away from Nadal and while overall Nadal has become more aggressive, he is still vulnerable to players who hit a flat and powerful ball. Of course as usual whenever Nadal loses a match, there are always some excuses flying around. He was ill earlier in the week, it's not like he had dengue fever or malaria. Just a case of the sniffles, but it was not so bad that he couldn't withdraw from the tournament and was well enough to win the doubles with Marc Lopez.
Good on Marc Lopez reinventing himself as a doubles specialist after struggling with injuries during the singles career, along with a lack of weapons besides massive legs. He fights hard like most Spaniards ( no this doesn't mean you LaLo), but carrying a very ill and on his deathbed Nadal to a dobules title, hope he can do well at the Aus Open though if he is playing with Boredo, it might be better for him as the sparring partner for Nadal.
Onto Brisbane, an excellent week for the Robin "the Toad" Söderling who won the title without losing a set. He and his new coach "Pisto" aka Claudio Pistolesi have a 100% record at the moment, will be interesting to see how they work together. Magnus Norman was a great influence on the Toad, not just on the court but off the court. Not exactly sure why they split, sure part of it is the academy but there is more to it than the official reason.
Söderling was just too good for Andy Roddick, it definitely helped that the weather was so shit in Brisbane this week and the roof was closed for much of the event. The Toad loves playing under a roof, as with his 10m balltoss on the serve which is not going to be impacted by wind or sun position, so he can just wait and hammer it down which he was doing all week.
He didn't face a break point at all on serve, not that Roddick is like Federer, Murray or Ferrer on the return of serve. Nevertheless it's still an excellent performance especially since the Toad doesn't have a great finals record. The rallies were a mismatch a lot of the time with Roddick just defending and not hitting the groundies with any intent, whereas Söderling was able to rally comfortably as he wasn't been moved around at all. Then was able to take advantage of the inevitable fodder that Roddick produced and pummeled clean winners or unreturnable shots.
Rawdick didn't use the slice backhand enough, not that it's a shot of beauty but if something isn't working, then time to try something else. Using the slice to be able to get Toad off the baseline is a good tactic, as he is as comfortable going forward as a turkey at Christmas time when it's not on his own terms. Söderling had a lot of break points, while he wouldn't be happy with the overall break point conversion, he was in a position where it felt like he couldn't lose the match.
Of course Rawdick was up to his umpire berating antics when things weren't going well for him. A contradictory character Roddick is, maybe he suffers from white line fever, then it could be he is just an arsehole but one with redeeming features if you look hard enough. The Brisbane venue which has a roof of sorts, well they spent so much money on the venue and charge more than the Aus Open for tickets, you think it would be possible for them to have a roof that didn't allow water to come into venue. Duck Boy was complaining about the court, but Fergus "the midget" Murphy had the situation under control. Just an excuse to let off steam, but good to see Söderling put him out of his misery.
Chennai well 2 players with shit finals records are in the final. The talented but temperamental Belgian Xaiver Malisse who has won this title before is the massive underdog against Stani Wawrinka, who has had some interesting off court distractions with the break up of his marriage. These things aren't easy in the regular world, let alone for a pro sportsperson. Sad thing is that there is a little child involved, most important thing is that she gets love from both parents in spite of their break up.
To end this rather rambling entry, the sexy Slovenian Blaz Kavcic made the quarter finals of Chennai, this is a big surprise but he is a cool guy, who despite the poor serve is making the most of his abilities.
Next report will be from the Aus Open qualies
Starting off in the throbbing metropolis known as Doha the capital of the oil, cash rich and banking the FIFA payroll of Qatar. Roger Federer won the tournament again as he has done numerous times. It was not too difficult for him as he continues the form from the end of last season. Sure at the end of 2010 was good for Federer, but it will count for nowt if he can't defend his Australian Open title in a couple of weeks. As for his chances of defending, only a blind delusional fool would write him off.
It was an excellent week for the PMK as well. Davydenko had an indifferent run since coming back from injury, but for him the match up against Federer is very difficult. For all of the great timing on the PMK's groundies when he is on his game, Federer has the tools to make it uncomfortable for him, especially with the slice backhand. He is able to expose Davydenko by getting him off the baseline with the wide angle slice and then dominate the rallies from there, this in addition to the fact that Davydenko doesn't hit a very heavy ball unlike Nadal where he can break down Federer's backhand or lacks the variation that Murray has.
In spite of the above it was pleasant to see Davydenko take out Nadal again. He has the upper hand in their match up, which is not a surprise as with his game, as he is able to take time away from Nadal and while overall Nadal has become more aggressive, he is still vulnerable to players who hit a flat and powerful ball. Of course as usual whenever Nadal loses a match, there are always some excuses flying around. He was ill earlier in the week, it's not like he had dengue fever or malaria. Just a case of the sniffles, but it was not so bad that he couldn't withdraw from the tournament and was well enough to win the doubles with Marc Lopez.
Good on Marc Lopez reinventing himself as a doubles specialist after struggling with injuries during the singles career, along with a lack of weapons besides massive legs. He fights hard like most Spaniards ( no this doesn't mean you LaLo), but carrying a very ill and on his deathbed Nadal to a dobules title, hope he can do well at the Aus Open though if he is playing with Boredo, it might be better for him as the sparring partner for Nadal.
Onto Brisbane, an excellent week for the Robin "the Toad" Söderling who won the title without losing a set. He and his new coach "Pisto" aka Claudio Pistolesi have a 100% record at the moment, will be interesting to see how they work together. Magnus Norman was a great influence on the Toad, not just on the court but off the court. Not exactly sure why they split, sure part of it is the academy but there is more to it than the official reason.
Söderling was just too good for Andy Roddick, it definitely helped that the weather was so shit in Brisbane this week and the roof was closed for much of the event. The Toad loves playing under a roof, as with his 10m balltoss on the serve which is not going to be impacted by wind or sun position, so he can just wait and hammer it down which he was doing all week.
He didn't face a break point at all on serve, not that Roddick is like Federer, Murray or Ferrer on the return of serve. Nevertheless it's still an excellent performance especially since the Toad doesn't have a great finals record. The rallies were a mismatch a lot of the time with Roddick just defending and not hitting the groundies with any intent, whereas Söderling was able to rally comfortably as he wasn't been moved around at all. Then was able to take advantage of the inevitable fodder that Roddick produced and pummeled clean winners or unreturnable shots.
Rawdick didn't use the slice backhand enough, not that it's a shot of beauty but if something isn't working, then time to try something else. Using the slice to be able to get Toad off the baseline is a good tactic, as he is as comfortable going forward as a turkey at Christmas time when it's not on his own terms. Söderling had a lot of break points, while he wouldn't be happy with the overall break point conversion, he was in a position where it felt like he couldn't lose the match.
Of course Rawdick was up to his umpire berating antics when things weren't going well for him. A contradictory character Roddick is, maybe he suffers from white line fever, then it could be he is just an arsehole but one with redeeming features if you look hard enough. The Brisbane venue which has a roof of sorts, well they spent so much money on the venue and charge more than the Aus Open for tickets, you think it would be possible for them to have a roof that didn't allow water to come into venue. Duck Boy was complaining about the court, but Fergus "the midget" Murphy had the situation under control. Just an excuse to let off steam, but good to see Söderling put him out of his misery.
Chennai well 2 players with shit finals records are in the final. The talented but temperamental Belgian Xaiver Malisse who has won this title before is the massive underdog against Stani Wawrinka, who has had some interesting off court distractions with the break up of his marriage. These things aren't easy in the regular world, let alone for a pro sportsperson. Sad thing is that there is a little child involved, most important thing is that she gets love from both parents in spite of their break up.
To end this rather rambling entry, the sexy Slovenian Blaz Kavcic made the quarter finals of Chennai, this is a big surprise but he is a cool guy, who despite the poor serve is making the most of his abilities.
Next report will be from the Aus Open qualies
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)