Roger Federer bowed out of the Rome Masters at the first hurdle the other night, loosing to erratic young Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Having cruised the first set 6-2, he was then flattened in the 2nd set loosing 6-1 and eventually was broken at 5-5 in the 3rd to the give Gulbis the sweetest victory of his career! Rumours had been circulating around since on the forums and chatrooms that Federer would loose his number 1 ranking to Djokovic and hence not break the record for most weeks spent at number one, one of the last remaining modern day records he has yet to beat(285 weeks-Sampras). This is most definitley not the case. What is more pressing however is the lack of match practice for the Swiss, heading into May, he has lost his last two games, hasnt played competitively on clay for 12 months and with Rafa coming back better than before, his chances of retaining the Musketeers Cup are seemly hanging by a thread! Maybe skipping Monte Carlo wasnt the best idea as time and matches are running out. Roger isnt scheduled to play again until Madrid Masters beginning in early May, surely he will have to play some doubles or even exhibition matches to get the match fitness up. But Federer fans need not fret, if they can take any consolation its that, when Roger has lost this year, the matches have all gone the distance to 3 sets, what that tells me is that Roger not playing to the best of his ability. We all know Roger is the master of the Grandslam, 5 sets are more his thing, I for one, live in hope! In this form though, Rafa will be hard to beat!
Monthly Archive for April, 2010
LOVEtennis Blogs favourite teenager has been quietly moving up the rankings lately. When the rankings where announced on Monday, young
Laura is now sponsored by Tango!
Laura had reached a career high 269 after making the semis of and ITF event in Alabama last week. Robson has focused on lesser ITF/ WTA events and avoided the blue riband main tour events to gain some experience and confidence. Surely this steady learning curve must be best for her longer term development and longevity in the game. We dont want another Sabatini, Hingis or Capriati. Britains other darling Heather Watson has also made it into the top 350 for the first time, surely a sign that the things are looking up. Leading Britain Elena Baltacha currently occupies 59th spot whilst nearest rival for the top spot Keothavong is at 110. Both ladies were in action today at the Moroccan WTA event….in Morocco!
The debate surrounding the length of the tennis season is one that never seems to go away and crops up now and again. Its commonplace on tour that top players pull out of the little events or non ranking events such as Davis Cup and Fed Cup. Like a dormant Icelandic volcano, it only takes one eruption before everybody is talking about it once again.
Last Sunday we were treated to an exhibition of clay court wizardry from the master himself Rafael Nadal when he destroyed form player
Fernando Verdasco in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. This was Nadal back to his absolute best, Roland Garros 2010 would be a cake walk if he could continue this form, on average he won every match 6-1 6-2 . No sooner had Rafael lifted the trophy that he announced he had to pull out of his home club event in the City of Barcelona, a lower level ATP event but nonetheless still close to Rafas heart. Rafa cited that his body and more especially his knees needed a break, comeback on hold for now. No doubt he will be back in Rome this week and continue on where he left off in Monte Carlo.
A few days later, we heard that Andy Roddick was to pull out of the mandatory Rome Masters which begins this week ( w/c 26th April) citing personal reasons but expected to be back for the 5th Grandslam in Magic Box in Madrid! In the Fed Cup, Venus Williams followed her sister Serena by declaring she would prefer to rehabilitate her knee than risk further injury heading into the European Clay season. And little Justine isnt immune either as she broke her little pinky during Fed Cup practice and joins Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and Carolina Wozniacki on the sidelines. These are just the top players, goodness knows how many lesser players are carrying injuries into matches, attempting to maintain their world ranking.
Delpo has been out with a wrist injury since Feb
There is clearly a huge tug of war between the players and the ATP/ WTA. The governing bodies are constantly trying to promote the sport, create bigger events that attract all the top players and increase the profile of our sport. The players on the other hand have been saying for years that the season is too long, there is no legitimate off season and their physical wellbeing is being affected, causing more injuries and pullouts. The ATP insist that top players play all the Masters events, allowing each player one exemption per year but surely a sport that runs 11 months of the year could do with a break, an annual cooling off period where players can recuperate and rehabilitate. The arguements for starting the Aussie Open later on in the year have been around for years now. Players would avoid the searing heat of the Melbourne summer sun and would provide players with a 5-8 week Christmas break, giving injuries time to heal and preventing burnout from one season to the next.
The flip side is that we allow greater time between the big events. The French Open and Wimbledon are too close together, of that there is no question. Perhaps if we did allow an extra week between these events we would get more of the clay courters playing and competing well at Wimbledon. In August we have a glut of big events, beginning with Cinncinn, then Montreal followed by Flushing; players need preparation for the slams but 2 masters events back to back? surely not. All the top players have their schedules planned well in advance, many of the Top 10 dont trouble themselves with the smaller 250 point events and soley focus on the Slams and the Masters. ATP and WTA try to ensure at least one big name enters each event, which can guarantee extra sponsorship and television money.
In the end it comes down to money, television controls all the slams and masters events and provides a large slice of the prize money. Who can say for sure that players are getting more injuries that in the past, and in saying that who can attribute it to the hectic schedule that we have, surely it would be wrong to blame just one factor when we have all these hard courts, tougher strings, harder balls and better conditioned athletes. Similar to Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, this one could rumble on for ages.
Ah, Italy. The land of pasta and pizza, fine leather and fabulous ice cream. Not to mention the tall, dark handsome Italian men. No wonder they call it La Dolce Vita – sweet life indeed.
So far I’ve been to Milan, Sienna and Florence and the food was simply amazing in all three cities. It also helped to have an Italian speaking cousin provide a super translation and tour guide service, cheers Rachael!
The Colosseum, definately worth driving the Vespa up to in Rome
Rome is definitely on top of my list of cities to visit and especially at this time of year when over the next few days it hosts both the ATP and WTA tours in consecutive weeks during the Internazionali BNL D’Italia.
The guys will arrive to play at the famous Foro Italico Sunday 25th April whilst the girls are due to start their matches on 2nd May. 2010 will be a special year for the tournament as they mark their 75th Anniversary. Buon Compleanno!!
Over the course of the commonly known Italian Open’s history and in the Open era, there has been a distinct link with its winners and Roland Garros a few weeks later in Paris.
Rafa holds on to the Italian Open Trophy
A few recognisable guys such as Bjorn Borg, Ivan Llendl, Thomas Muster, Jim Courier and Rafael Nadal have all held aloft both trophies in the same year, along with the lesser known Adriano Panatta (well, have you ever heard of him?).
Rafa and Bjorn are the only two men to have won both titles in the same year in separate years; the Spanish King of Clay winning both in 2005, 2006, 2007 and the Swedish King of Cool collecting both in 1974 and 1978.
On the ladies side, even more familiar names like Steffi Graf, Monica Seles (woo hoo) and Serena Williams have done the double whammy with Chris Evert winning both titles in 1974, 1975 and 1980 – impressive stuff.
With amazing sights to see like the Colosseum and the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps and St Peter’s Bascilica catching a few matches on the famous red dirt during the same trip would just be bellissimo!
Imagine all that tennis mixed with fantastic food; a culinary delight of forehands and Focaccia, lobs and lasagne, washed down with a glass of Prosecco, serve-d with gelato, finished off with an espresso coffee. That’s amore!
You should see his backhand!
Thinking of all that Carbonara and Parma ham and Spaghetti Bolognese, it reminded me of the scene from the classic film ‘The Apartment’.
Jack Lemmon is making dinner for his co-star Shirley McLaine and uses his wooden tennis racket (well it was filmed in 1960) to drain the spaghetti.
So now you know what to do the next time you can’t find the strainer in your kitchen!
Well I’m off to order a pizza or perhaps a book a flight to Rome if there’s a special offer on…Ciao!
Placing the envelope by my front door on the ‘to be posted’ pile, I went to bed. Maybe leaving my application for the Wimbledon 2010 ballot
until the day before the closing date wasn’t the smartest idea I’ve ever had but maybe they’d take pity on me and give me tickets for day one of Wimbledon, I wouldn’t mind strolling around the outside courts seeing one or two faces I recognised.
Summer 2008 saw me queuing for tickets during the first week-not an experience I wanted to repeat, I found that staying awake during Federer match’s on centre court is an important part of the Wimbledon experience. Winning tickets in a ballot may be a long shot but the matches would definitely be better enjoyed after a good nights sleep in an actual bed rather than a grass mattress and a hoody for a pillow.
So my application was on its way to SW19 whether it arrived on time would be left to fate. As the weeks and months passed, the excitement and hope of winning any sort of tickets faded into acceptance that Wimbledon 2010 would have to be watched from my living room-with the only atmosphere there being interruptions from my mother asking has that Andy Murray lost yet?!
Then came one day in April, after a long day at work I kicked off my shoes and picked up the post. Two letters addressed to me. I opened the first…a nice exciting bank statement reminding me that interest rates really are going nowhere. I open the second letter and there was one piece of headed paper shouting out at me “THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS & CROQUET CLUB”! I could hardly read the letter as I jumped up and down waving it at my sister who was looking more and more confused.
My application had been successful! I was going to Wimbledon…wait…I was going to Wimbledon on Sunday 4th July! Wait a minute; wouldn’t that be…Finals Day? FINALS DAY!!! I was going to see the Championship Final! I was speechless. I never win anything and here I was with finals tickets. Could my day get any better? I scanned over the information making sure I wasn’t mistaken. But there it was in black and white “A pair of tickets for Sunday 4th July …for No.1 Court. Hold it. Wait just a minute. Last time I checked they didn’t play the Men’s Singles Wimbledon Final on court number 1!! Devastated, I slowly read the small print – there will be a full programme of events on Finals Day at No.1 Court, that of Juniors and Veterans. Clearly I’d been sent the rejected tickets of others before me. My high hopes and dreams of seeing Federer were smashed into a thousand pieces by that one little number. Court number one.
Queue LOTR theme music, All hail Rafael Nadal, the king of the dirt has returned. King Rafa has been in exile for a long time having not won a tournament since Rome 11 months ago, but what a way to make your comeback. He dropped an unfathomable 14 games in 10 sets in the Monte Carlo Masters. That’s an average of 6-1 6-2 per match! I was disappointed to see Ferrero only take 6 games from Nadal, given how good a form he has been in also, but it turned out he won more games than anyone else. Not even the great quiet man could do anything to stem the Rafa Express.
And what about poor Fernando Verdasco? He did amazingly well to make his first masters final. I bet he wishes he didn’t though, for it must have been humilating for him. Watching the match you could see his frustration grow as he pondered, ‘What on earth am I supposed to do to win a point of this guy! To see that amazing shot again and view the final highlights see below…
All this will raise all kinds of discussion about the French Open. Will Roger Federer, choosing to miss Monte Carlo for the established Estoril? have to face an inspired, hell-bent on taking the French crown back, Rafa in order to retain is title? Can Federer produce the kind of tennis required to beat Nadal on this form on this surface? Will there be a surprise in Soderling, or can Djokovic/Del Potro mount a serious challenge? After this weeks evidence, it will be hard to bet against Rafa again on clay. It all really depends on whether those troublesome knees can hold up. I hope they do…welcome back rafa.
How big a tennis fan are you? How much do you like tennis? Take our light-hearted quiz to find out. Get a pen and paper and write down which option you would choose for each question, (don’t sneak down to the bottom). Enjoy!
| 1. | You were lucky enough to receive tickets in the Wimbledon Ballot, which tube station do you need to go to that’s most convenient to the All England Club?
 Underground Overground, Wombling free... |
| A | Wimbledon Park |
| B | Southfields |
| C | You think its too common to take the tube, so you hire a helicopter to land in the Wimbledon Common and get a limo taxi to the grounds |
| 2. | How often do you buy tennis gear? |
| A | Any time it’s on sale or special offer in your local sports shop. You’re not too fussed about the design or colours or brand, as long as it fits and it’s under a tenner, it’s in the bag |
| B | You treat yourself to a new outfit once a season – a new tracksuit in the winter and an annual summer outfit |
| C | You are a clone to your favourite pro player. You wear the same t-shirt and shorts and socks and trainers and sweatbands and you change your outfits with every tournament – you just have to keep up with the Federers |
| 3. | What is your wallpaper on your mobile/laptop/iPhone? |
| A | A beautiful photo you took on the beach last summer when the sun was out |
| B | A photo from your last visit to Wimbledon, taken on Henman Hill |
| C | A close up of Rafa Nadal/ Maria Sharapova as you stalked and chased them from their flat in the Wimbledon village, before getting cautioned by the police |
| 4. | What is your most prized possession in your tennis kit bag? |
| A | A hand mirror – its important to look good whilst playing a few games |
| B | Your racket – it does all of the work for you and you have it strung to perfection, it is your pride and joy |
| C | A piece of paper with coaching notes a la Serena Williams, you’ve just got to keep reminding yourself how good your forehand is and that you are a much better opponent than the person across the net |
| 5. | It’s the week prior to Championships and you’re out doing your grocery shopping. Which of the below items do you buy in bulk?
 Wimbledon wouldn't be Wimbledon without them... |
| A | Pimms |
| B | Strawberries and cream |
| C | Robinson’s Fruit Barley, Evian water and bananas |
| 6. | It’s the second Monday of the Championships, the busiest day of the tournament, do you go in to work? |
| A | Yes, you go into work as normal, read the tennis reports in the paper, sneak on the radio and listen to Five Live at lunch time |
| B | Yes, you go into the office early and work through your lunch in order to leave earlier than normal and crash in front of the TV |
| C | No, you phone in sick with a bug picked up mysteriously over the weekend and lie up watching endless hours of men’s and ladies fourth round action, and don’t feel a pinch of guilt in the process |
| 7. | Nick Bollettieri has called you up asking if you would like a scholarship from him. How do you react? |
| A | Say thanks but I’ve already graduated from uni and don’t need anymore help in the education stakes but you’ll take any spare cash if its going |
| B | Politely accept with modest gratitude and prepare to go to the Unites States to fulfil your tennis dreams |
| C | Jump up and down ecstatically calling everyone you know saying you are going to be as famous as Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova put together |
| 8. | You’re up a set and a break in a tight match against the top player in your own club. Unfortunately, with one missed backhand, your form deteriorates fast and before you know it you’ve done a ‘Jana Novotna’ and lost the match. How do you react?
 So close, yet so far! |
| A | Shake your opponents hand and pat them on the back, they did a good job and you just realised you had some laundry to do at home and needed to get a move on it |
| B | You’re bitterly disappointed and struggle to the net, holding back tears to congratulate your opponent and run to the changing rooms |
| C | You scream ‘No’ at the top of your lungs and burst into hysterical tears at your baseline, smashing your racket into pieces and beating the court with your fists |
| 9. | Your family have been busy organising a big birthday party for your Granny who will be 90 on the first Sunday in July. It’s a big deal as even your cousins in Australia and Canada are over for the occasion. The party will be at your Granny’s house and a professional photographer is coming along to take a family portrait. Only problem is, Andy Murray has made the Wimbledon Final and is up against Roger Federer and your Granny doesn’t own a TV. How do you attempt to watch the match saying the party starts at 2 pm?
 Happy 90th Birthday Granny! |
| A | You don’t even try to get out of it, it’s an important day for your Granny and she is worth spending quality time with, you will watch the match on the iPlayer later on |
| B | You brief all of your friends NOT to text you updates on the match as you have it taped on Sky Plus and as soon as your Granny has blown out all 90 candles, you will be right in front of your TV at home |
| C | You fake an appointment at the other end of town to get a Happy 90th Birthday helium balloon, book into a hotel to secretly watch the match then turn up after it finishes and lie that your car ran out of fuel and you had a puncture and blame the bad traffic for your delay |
| 10. | You are in New York for Christmas and you are getting into your hotel lift after a big days shopping at Bloomingdales. The doors are about to shut when suddenly John McEnroe hops into the lift. What do you do? |
| A | Smile politely and think to yourself ‘I’ve seen that guy before’ but you just can’t put your finger on where and when |
| B | Gasp in amazement and say ‘You cannot be serious!’, ask him for his autograph and take your picture with him for your Facebook page |
| C | You faint with the shock and before you realise it, the former Wimbledon Champ is giving you CPR to keep you alive, you soon come round and still can not talk, you are in total awe of your chance meeting with the Super Brat |
How did you answer? Click here to find out
Commeth the hour, commeth the man! He isnt a star of bygone era, he isnt a big name coach on a massive salary or a former grandslam champ,
hes a modest chap who has been given the task of reviving Britains Davis Cup fortunes. Introducing Leon Smith, the new GB Davis Cup captain. The man entrusted to make the changes to the GB Davis Cup Team retake their place in the elite division of the mens game. Can he do it? Well in short, No.
What the LTA need to be doing is gettting the coaching structure right. With all due respect to Leon Smith, he cant make Jamie Baker, Dan Evans, Fleming and Skupski into top ten players like Andy. What we need is more players playing tennis, being taught from a young age by coaching professionals, sure there will be drop outs but with the budget the LTA reputed to be 25million annually, we are not making our money work hard enough, too much is being spent on journeymen and women, on big name coaches ( we all know who they are).
The Ladies seem to be have a good pool of players, we now have Baltacha, O Brien and Keothavong, plus Broady and the hugely promising juniors Heather Watson and our Laura.But how many actually came through the system? Even Andy Murray had to go to Sanchez Casal in Barcelona during his teenage years to further his game. We must take the lead of our neighbours France and Spain, they turn out player after player, year on year, some make it to the very top Pierce, Mauresmo, Bartoli to name a few all grandslam winners. The coaching system is much more player led, money is wasted on players that do not make it to the very top but in the long run these countries have a steady stream of juniors every year ready to make that step up to fulltime professional tennis. I would imagine that the numbers of players being groomed to compete for Britain and Ireland is substantially less.
Smithy & Murray, the dream team!
So what is the problem? It is not just tennis that we have huge problems with, the Rugby Football Union have more players than any other in the world, yet Martin Johnson’s men are far from the force in world rugby. Some would say the climate, others would say our sportspeople are pampered primadonnas who have grown up watching players played vast sums of money in the Premiership, have no hunger or desire. Poor Leon Smith is being pumped up to fail. Sure if he can convince his old mate Andy to play Davis Cup he can get Team GB back to winning ways but that would surely mask the huge hole we have in his backup. Success is something that is always demanded quickly in sport, and maybe the LTA could forgive an initial loss to Lithuania in July. However realistically who can really bail out this sinking ship? Its almost gone beyond the point of saving.
Quite simply we havent got the players to be successful. The LTA has had the best coaches in the world in Annacone, Lundgren and Gilbert yet could not turn around tennis. I think Leon Smith will be the latest in a long line of fall guys, sure he has coached some of GB’s top juniors but this is unlike any challenge he has faced before.
[11] D Ferrer (ESP) vs P Kohlschreiber (GER)
Philipp Kohlshreiber is not somebody I expected to be at the quarter-final stage. I had him to lose at every hurdle; first to Bellucci, then Melzer, then most surprising of all Murray. He has most certainly earned his stripes to get thus far in a tricky draw for a clay tournament. He was particular impressive in the fashion which he dispatched of Murray. David Ferrer on the other hand has just been strolling along unnoticed. Making his mark on several tournaments, in particular the latin clay season. Perhaps it is foolish of me to write off Philipp once again, but I’m going to go with par on this one and say Ferrer for the win.
[9] J Ferrero (ESP) vs [2] R Nadal (ESP)
To quote the ATP World Tour website, Rafa has been in ‘Scary’ form. He has destroyed both his opponents dropping a dru, total of 2 games in four sets. That’s the kind of imperious form we are used to seeing from Nadal on clay, and now I find myself wondering why we ever doubted that. Still he will be in for much tougher opposition in the form Juan Carlos Ferrero. I have made no secret of my admiration for this return to top class tennis, particularly on clay. Juan Carlos is one of only 3 men to beat Rafa on clay in the last 5 years, and given the form he is in, and Rafa’s questionable confidence (albeit having much evidence to the contraty of late!), there could be an upset on the cards. Don’t worry though I still have my sensibilites and am shooting for the reigning champion [Nadal] to make it to the semi’s.
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs D Nalbandian (ARG)
If there were ever a player that on given day could destroy any of the top 5, and I mean ANY, it would be David Nalbandian. It’s been making steady progress in the last few comeback tournaments, with his crowning win being against the in-form Mikhail Youzhny. Novak Djokovic has been playing solid tennis of late, and I just don’t think that Dave is ready for that kind of devastating form just yet. Although I’m happy to be proven wrong, and Djokovic was a little shaky when closing out aginst Wawrinka but I am going with Novak to progress.
A Montanes (ESP) vs [6] F Verdasco (ESP)
Hat must come off to Albert Montanes for a brilliant win against Marin Cilic. He is quite a tricky clay court player and he will be no walk over for Fernando Verdasco. Nando is pretty handy on clay himself though, and given his convincing 3-0 head to head against Montanes, I can not see him [Verdasco] having any trouble seeing this one out.
Adidas even allow you to design your own
This blog may look more like a childrens story book than a blog( with loads of pictures and no content) but here goes. With American Sportswear Giant Nike boasting not only Roger and Rafa but US Open Winner Juan Martin del Potro endorsing their gear,it was really only a matter of time before their European competitors Adidas, offered fellow top playerAndy Murray some kind on endorsement deal to wear their gear. Andy’s monster 15million contract to wear the Adidas range deal was signed sealed and delivered in November. Murray is now the face of Adidas replacing Marat Safin, who represented the brand for the past decade.
As a big Adidas and Murray fan I was hopeful of some cool new gear, original and distinct with cool colours, simple designs. I found the Australian Open collection a bit bright and leary, but what really irked me was the shoes, the Barricade 5, what had they done to my favourite tennis shoe of all time?? The Adidas Barricade is the flagship tennis shoe in the Adidas range and has been for years. Barricade is as much a part of the tennis circuit as Wilson Balls and Head racquets. Adidas Barricade have even a cool online facility wereby players can design their own Barricades, pick their colours and any personalised logos and make their Barricades all their own. Melanie Oudin wore hers ( the pink and yellow version) during her US Open Campaign last year and Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Sam Querrey have played in their Barricade customs.In the Barricade 5 latest ‘Aus Open’ incarnation, the German sporting giant had used the same colours as their Andy Murray clothing to the shoes. So if bright blue, green and white is your thing, these Barricades are for you.I was left a little disapointed to say the least.
The Aus Open Collection
The next generation of the Barricade,the Barricade 6.0 was designed with Andy’s help. The barricade has always had timeless looks,is instantly recognisable and the sole is incredibly durable.The only negative is Barricades have tended to be a little heavy.Barricade 6.0 itself is released in the UK within the next week and they have changed it beyond recognition it is a complete overhaul in the design department and reduced the weight. just what were they thinking? Not only have Adidas changed their signature model and got rid of the styling they became infamous for,they have made it exactly like every other tennis shoe.
I am a disgruntled tennis fan this week, I may even jump ship to Nike. I wonder what ‘the Coach’ makes of all the commotion over a shoe……
The new Barricade 6.0
