Miami: On Anarchy and Perspective

Murray routed in straights. He’s 0-9 sets since the final of Oz. 



 
This is no longer a slump. He’s practically comatose.

“He needs to snap out of it.”

“He needs a coach.”

”He needs to be slapped about the chops with a wet (Omega-3 rich) halibut.”

We get it.

Expect a slew of smug, utterly irritating, self-satisfied, vindictive screeds, some not even bothering to masquerade as “commentary”, on how he might never win a Slam. On how he’s toast. On how this would never happen to <insert fanboy fave>.

I’m not denying that it’s all oppressively bleak right now. It just seems to me we’ve seen worse, from bigger and better players than Murray.

For all we know he might even look back upon this one day as a necessary dip. I’ve seen it happen before.

A little perspective wouldn’t go amiss.

 

”Call me ‘Bogie’ one more time…”

Meanwhile GGL and Dasco’s departure  (in addition to Kolya and TooMuch yesterday) has effectively killed the top section of Nole’s draw and rendered his entire quarter positively plebeian.

Did I mention Stan went down to Granola in three?

Or that Boy Wonders, Harrison and Milos bit the dust (as did Grigor AND Berankis AND Sock)? Boy bands must suck in Miami.

And the crazies don’t end there.

Maka slew Kleybanova – actually that’s not crazy. [In fact I gotta ask: how many of these “upsets” will Maka have to pull for us to concede they might not be, ya know, upsets?]

Even both of Robin and Marion had to go three sets to secure their openers.

So when Dinara snagged a set from Bepa it somehow didn’t seem so anarchical amidst what was otherwise absolute anarchy.

Whatever. See if I care. 



JAMES BLAKE KNOCKED OUT THE 27TH SEED, PEOPLE.

James Blake: Who can barely put two matches together for as far back as I can now remember.

A little perspective, if you please.




I doubt it amounts to much seeing as he’s playing Nole next.

But God help you, if you can’t find it within yourself to celebrate (or at least look fondly upon) this.

Your soul’s depravity clearly knows no bounds.

And the angels will WEEP for you.

(Pics: Getty) Read More...

Oz: On ‘Minions’ and ‘Gossips’

 

 

 

 

So Stan got a whole lotta bad press overnight.

 

"Stan has been an absolute embarrassment today," Eurosport commentator and tennis sage Simon Reed noted after the man in question had hurled his racquet to the ground in anger…

…

'But Federer played really well,' many will inevitably retort on Stan's behalf, but the world number two barely had a bead of sweat to show for walking all over a man who crushed Andy Roddick like a clove of garlic in the previous round.

-- Tramlines (Eurosport)

 

When has Fed ever broken a bead of sweat playing a match on his terms?

 

Why did people ever think this match would ever be played on anything other than his terms?

 

Why should crushing Roddick “like a clove of garlic” leave people thinking he had even a scrap of a chance against Fed in this form?

 

Stan was doomed from the very start. And I don’t even mean in the match.

 

Ever since his family affairs became tabloid-fodder, he’s been considered fair game for a wider baying audience as commenter after commenter wheel out overly-worn domestic innuendos over what is and should remain essentially private.

 

Leaving one’s wife and 11 month old child “to focus more on tennis” does sound like he didn’t think the whole marriage thing through very well and, whatever else the case, I really can’t see Stan emerging from all this smelling of roses.

 

I must have missed the part where this makes it any of our business.

 

 

It’s one thing for once-avid fans to cool off a little (this will blow over as it should) and entirely another to bandy about irresponsible character judgements which speak rather more to the petty characters of those that relish peddling such gossip.

 

There were always going to be the “Swiss minion” jokes. In the same way as there will be Spanish ones when Daveed Ferrer goes down in straights to Rafa tomorrow (and he will go down in straights).

 

Idle banter like that is practically part and and parcel of being a tennis fan. (Though I do sometimes wonder why Swiss reserve comes in for more of a hammering. Hint: Being more of an “earthy” extrovert doesn’t always automatically equate with a more humble persona just as being unable to open up doesn’t always equate with a distant, more regal one)

 

But last nights debacle, having been conflated with all of Stans domestic troubles, turned into something altogether more hateful.

 

A bad day for tennis.

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Oz: So Stan will square off against his old doubles partner. Dunno what the fuss is all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you all thought ARod doesn’t do ‘balletic’. Shame on you: Andy’s big red shoes judge you.

 

Wawrinka d. Roddick 63 64 64.

 

For those of you living under a stone for the last month Stan’s been the epitome of steely focus since hooking up with Lundgren…we already knew he could play tennis.

 

And for those incapable of discussing the man in a sentence free of domestic innuendo, yes he left his wife and 11 month old baby about three weeks ago.

 

CLEARLY THAT’S WHY HE’S PLAYING GREAT TENNIS.

 

In the on court interview, Jim Courier remarked on his ability to return ARod’s

serve, “you returned his serve well...did u watch Roger, did he talk to you at all?"

 

.Coz clearly a world class tennis player’s not capable of doing that himself.

 

Roger’s, perhaps, returned ARods serve better than anyone else over the years.

 

What irks me is why not ONE reference was made to how far Stan himself has come.

 

 

Or, you know, this dude. I think, I just *think* that maybe, he might have had just a little something to do with it. I dunno.

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Sod ups the ante, Delpo’s return to Oz.

 

 

» Soderling wins Brisbane; up to world #4

 

Having not seen a single ball of live Aussie tennis, I’m going largely on 2nd hand reports when I say that Sod is in scintillating, intimidating form.

 

 

 

This time last year, nursing an elbow injury, he went out in the first rounds of both Chennai and, more worryingly, Oz itself: were we to include the two exhos he took part in prior to that, that would still make a profoundly dispiriting 2 out of 7 matches won (though one of them was a win over Federer :P).

 

It’s not Bercy, but ravaging your way through a 32-man draw with wins over Radek and ARod, all without dropping a single set, should, in theory, mean “good things” ahead of Melbourne.

 

Especially when you consider that it bumps him up ahead of Murray at #4 in the rankings. Amongst other things this means he’ll be seeded #4 in Melbourne and (as he only has a paltry 10 pts to defend there) have a very real shot at the #3 spot (Djoko reached the quarters and defends 360 pts).

 

He also won’t have to face either one of Rafa or Fed prior to the semis – a pleasure now handed down to Muzz at #5. Handy that.

 

Other weekend winners include Fed (avenging last years loss to Davy) in Doha, Stan in Chennai (any chance we can get through a single week free of domestic innuendo?), Kvitova over Petko (no dance) and Greta Arn in Auckland (you have no soul if you’re unhappy about this).

 

» Delpo + Nalbie will underwhelm rather than “upset” at AO

 

Look. I hate to be the spoilsport.

 

And it’s great to have Delpo back – lord knows he’s served his time.

 

 

 

It’s always an especially cruel form of pleasure to watch an under-ranked former Slam-winner/world-number-one working their way back to the big-time, blitzing through the early rounds taking down whatever big names are unfortunate enough to be drawn up against them (see Henin, Justine).

 

For all of that, I don’t think Delpo will be “upsetting” anyone just now. At least not in Oz.

 

[dodges rotten tomato]

 

Boo all you want. I’m happy to play the pantomime arch-villain.

 

Just know that I believe rather than desire this. I want him back as much as anyone out there, but  it normally takes longer than just the one event he’s playing in Sydney to get even a fraction of form back.

 

I know Justine reached the final of her first event back, but a) she wasn’t injured and was presumably playing more than Delpo’s been able to prior to her return, and b) she has a more compact, less injury-prone frame – comebacks for lumbering giants are always to be approached more gingerly and one step at a time (see Sharapova, Maria).

 

Ditto Nalbie, who always tends to blossom post Wimbledon. At the beginning of the year he normally invents new ways of disappointing us.

 

You’re right, I’m coming across as an arrant prick right now. But someone needs to say these things.

 

Needless to say I’m happy to be proved wrong about either, or both of the above.

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USO: The Power is in the Hair.

 

 

 

Wawrinka d. Murray 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-3

 

I don’t think anyone knows what lay behind the the fog of irritation, desperation and temperamental fug that descended on Murray at the beginning of the third set, least of all Murray himself.

 

All that remains clear is that:

 

a) It seemed to have been triggered by physical complaints – Muzz spoke of fatigue, issues with his quad and feeling “pins and needles” in his elbows.

 

b) The subsequent lapse cost him the set and almost certainly the match.

 

Asked about where this performance ranks with those of other Slams he drew attention to having lost those others to “the best of all time, the 2nd best of all time” and Berd…

 

Make of that what you will.

 

 

Protocol precludes me from kicking a man when he’s down, but, really, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that this is, in some ways, worse than either of those losses. Or that Muzz’s own body language, demeanour and attitude, so often the go-to point of attack for the tabloids, really does, in this case, shoulder a large degree of responsibility.

 

For one thing it’s his earliest Slam loss since RG 2008 (his worst surface).

 

But that would be nothing if it weren’t for the very plausible suggestion that everything was indeed, this time, falling in place.

 

He appeared to have largely overcome accusations of passivity that constantly plague him – in so far as the natural grain of his game allows – though still lacking what Bollettieri romantically calls a “bread & butter” (putaway) shot.

 

And whatever torrent was disturbing the normally passive, harmonious waters of Team Murray appeared to have subsided with the seemingly amicable departure of Miles Maclagan.

 

What matters not is that your body, your luck or your opponents normally dependable ability to combust in a Catherine Wheel of self-doubt failed you, but how you react to to these circumstances - however unexpectedly they were foisted upon you.

 

What marks out those other two greats he quotes is precisely this ability to avoid the pitfalls of self-doubt, confusion and, dare I say it, anger, and to then find a way of winning matches when they aren’t playing their best tennis.

 

It’s an imprecise art and whilst it’s true they both have an abundant reserve of confidence (born of winning big matches), it’s also, unfortunately,  an ability Muzz will have to aspire to in order to take that next vital step. A step that has now acquired a renewed sense of urgency about it.

 

There’s the desire (which he clearly has) and the battle to avoid being overwhelmed by the angst-ridden, consumptive flatulence that proceeds from that desire when things aren’t going your way.

 

It’s an internal battle Muzz will have to win if he’s ever to win even a single Slam.

 

Consider it the biggest mandate of whomsoever Muzz takes on as Coach this fall.

 

All of that on one side.

 

And Stan and the forces of UV-protected Chaos on the other.

 

 

You can fight against the physics of your opponents tennis, you can even fight the constraints your own body places on you (you don’t always win) but you can’t fight the dark, chaotic and turbulent forces of inspiration.

 

Coz that’s what Stan plainly was out there: inspired.

 

I was initially sceptical of the MTO, not because I didn’t believe he was hurting, but because I thought he should have let Muzz finish his service game. There’s also the rather biggish problem I have with considering muscle cramp as injury (I don’t)  and whether or not it should merit a MTO at all, which we'll leave for another day.

 

It should be of little surprise that Stan has an impeccable serve and ability to finish at the net.

 

It should be of even less of a surprise that Stan has the best single-handed backhand in the world.

 

When he chased back that lob, turned round and hit that magnificent backhand winner it was clear I was dealing, not with a mere tennis player in his element, but some heady fusion of rock-and-roll and the dark arts. And duly dispatched two leprechauns to cut off Peter Lundgrens hair which I'm convinced is the source of Wawas strength.

 

Let’s look at the evidence.

 

Fed? History tells us all we need to know.

 

Safin? If anyone could tame Marat enough to see him through to winning his second and sadly final Slam, it had to be Lundgren.

 

 

Should it surprise us that his association with Stan has resulted in a previously missing though no less magical edge?

 

Who cares if he can’t stay sober enough to put two words together for the LTA?

 

The power is in the hair people. You read it here first.

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Look Away……..NOW

getty

 

1. The shade of Rafa’s shirt can most closely be characterised as:

 

a) Salmon

 

b) Water Melon

 

c) Neon Pink

 

d) None of the above – you were actually viewing the match through a thermal imaging camera.

 

2. “Rafa and Fed’s respective shades of pink most closely resemble their personalities.”

 

This statement is:

 

a) Completely true – Fed embodies reserve, class, restraint, subtlety and dignity. Nadal? Apparently, none of these things. Heh.

 

b) Somewhat true, but mostly b*llocks.

 

c) Unqualified, unalloyed b*llocks – Rafa is the Salmon Wrap to Fed’s Neopolitan Surprise, personalities don’t come into it.

 

3. Stan lost 7-6 6-3. Were you even looking at the score? Should you have been looking at the score?

 

Justify your answer in less than 140 characters.

 

***

 

 

You have 40 mins.

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Roland Garros: “Ladies & Gentlemen - Light is Suspended due to Awesome Play”

Don’t ask me about the match.

I only saw the first half of it on a live stream, which switched over inexplicably, at the beginning of the third set, …to Football.

Not premier league football mind you, not even Bundesliga football – but by the looks of it, a Sunday league event that might follow a village fete held somewhere in the provincial outskirts of Hungary.

I’m told it was good tennis. Best of the week even.

Which, to be honest, the tournament needed it to be.

It’s a sorry, and somewhat sodden, state of affairs when the rains wash out nearly two days of play, and the closest you get to having your fire lit involves Muzzard outlasting Reeshie in a match ‘The Talanted One’ should have won, and a more literal take on Lights Out Tennis.

How is it possible for a match on Chatrier involving two top twenty players – one of whom is not simply a home favourite, but the hottest player on tour right now with recent wins over Henin and Venus – to not receive even a minutes worth of coverage?

Oh I’m miffed alright. And by the looks of it, I’m not the only one.

Nice to know that whatever differences may exist with those folks over the pond, our respective broadcasters remain equally clueless and out of touch with their fanbases on what exactly constitutes ‘Box Office’ Tennis.

I’ve no qualms with having to sit through Marin procrastinating over closing out another one of those five setters he’s so fond of.

I’ve long since made my peace with the tennis universe ceasing to exist for the four or five sets it seems to take Murray to close out his matches nowadays.

And you can’t fault them for electing to broadcast the defending champion’s last gasp (didn’t see it, didn’t regret not seeing it), a result that will land Kuzzie around #18 in the rankings in two weeks time. 2005, before you ask, was when she last “did time” there.

But it’s a little much, is it not, when you’re forced to sit through Dementcha taking the path of least conformance through to a blundering three set victory over Aleksandra Wozniak – knowing as you do, how you’re being actively denied the sumptuous treats on offer in Chatrier.

And let’s reserve that pose for when you’re able to elevate your play to the level it was at during Wimby last year, shall we?

I didn’t sit around, as it happened, electing to use the “down time” to stock up on bog roll and beverages.

I returned to discover that I’d missed out on the event’s greatest shindig of the week. Both women had seen three match points come and go before, at 7-7, light was suspended due to awesome play.

***

-- “Viewer, I bagelled him”

And if you can’t place that reference I’ll find you unwell-read (or well-unread).

Nice to know that whatever else might be happening, the Naderer age of blemish-free straight-sets wins in the early rounds of Slams is upon us once more.

Leister tried to make things happen, but seemed as much a part of the furniture as Roddick was in Oz 2007, and before he knew it had been bagelled and was watching Federer double fault at match point. Not quite blemish free then.

-- Wawa bundled out AbFab in straights in a match I’m guessing no one knew was happening and no one cared about enough to see even if they did.

AbFab seems to me to resemble the the type of provincial Italian Charlotte Bartlett might have been keen to protect Lucy Honeychurch from in ‘A Room with a View’ , or for that matter, the strawberry sucking Adonis type that did seduce Winona Ryder in ‘How to Make an American Quilt’.

In other words, exactly the kind of shallow journeyman you don’t expect to make many waves on tour.

I wanted to sock him one when he made such a song and dance of wanting to stop play that night (and it was night) against La Monf – but I seem to have come away with a new found respect for the way in which he then held serve.

Poetic justice served then on La Monf and the-powers-that-be? I think so.

Wawa to play Federer next – ideally it’ll take a little longer than it did in Madrid.

-- Albert Montanes played 9 clay court events coming into the FO.

I’ve got this image in my head of Ed Rooney (of Ferris Bueller Fame) complaining to Albert Montanes’ management team about “how he’s been seen skipping the tour in favour of lower-tier clay court events no less than nine times this season......nine times."

Someone mind doing the research and telling me which ones?

(Photos: Getty)

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Hamburgers and French Fries...

Alright enough.

Even I know when to call a halt.

So enough on the 'American Beauty' of single handed backhands.

Enough with the fanciful and giddy kung-fu tennis fusions.

And Enough with the Andy Murray film scripts that sound like they've been written by an intern. During their lunch break.

We're returning to tennis we are.

But biding time is fun. Know that I intend to do a lot more of it. Especially when the most interesting thing to report on tour is that Gilles Simon continues to have only a slightly worse time of it than the German Open itself. That's the new no-frills deMASTERised ATP 500 name for Hamburg btw.

A tournament that's had it's new director Michael Stich mucking in at doubles this week in an effort at staving off declining interest. A tournament Simon (the #1 seed) was unceremoniously ejected from by a qualifier, a wildcard no-name somebody called Daniel Brands. So sorry Danny. Congratulations, until yesterday I hadn't heard of you. Now you're a label in my tag cloud. A label that's currently too feint to be detected. But Go Germany, nevertheless.

And that wasn't the end of it. Wawrinka, of Wimbledon single-handed shootouts under-the-roof fame: comprehensively duffed-up, I think is the phrase. Tommy Robredo, clay-court extraordinaire, supposedly out of a funk: Now he's out of the event too. And Melzer out to Uruguayan qualifier Cuevas. Remember folks, it's the depth in men's tennis is what it is.

There's still a watchable enough cast with Davydenko, Sod, Ferrer and Kohlschreiber holding fort, I suppose. But it won't stop me feeling that the event's effectively been crippled, an event that was already having trouble these last few years, with it's placement immediately prior to Roland Garros. A situation that meant the marquee names either didn't show up at all, or came hobbling in after taking part in some of those other historic battles of Rome.

Well it's been pinioned alright, and moving it to mid July, that no-mans-land of the tennis calendar seems too much like adding insult to injury.

It also goes without saying, but I'm going to anyway (even at the risk of sounding smug), that I was largely unimpressed with Simon's rise to the top. And now, as they say, those factory-fed chickens are coming home to roost. They're set to arrive over the next few months as the points he accrued over that marvelous run of last year drop off.

But Gilles is an easy target. His top ten position is after all reflective of a 52-week rankings system. It seems to be swipe-Simon season, but I'm not much more impressed with Tsonga either. Great start to the year with those titles in Jo'burg and Marseille and that quarter final appearance in Oz, but now beginning to settle into what looks like a Nalbandian-like hangover, recovery from which is only possible late into the indoor season. If that.

I haven't much time for French tennis these days. It's easy on the eye, but not on the nerves. Monfils' short-lived stay in the top ten has rightfully come to an end. One wonders if Gasquet can rebound from Dopesville. Not by the sounds of it. Not if 'Pamela' has anything to do with it.

But it's like that across the board. If anything I see Simon as a lower case Dinara, castigated for the failings of a necessarily imperfect system, that rewards every win you've had in the last year. Wins, the totality of which is against only a slice of the field anyway. Not that reflective of very much at the best of times.

The unglamorous reality is that apart from a handful of guys and girls at the very top, most every player has an inconsistent shoddy looking performance sheet. Full of potholes and pockmarks. And bunkers, to bring in those recent golfing metaphors I lovingly introduced. It's the point at which I think the rankings system really comes into its own. Seemingly custom built to mediate between a field of wildly fluctuating neurotics.

Nice to know it's good at something.

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You Overwhelm Me...

I'm taking my love affair with the single handed backhand a little far I know, but you can blame 2Hander for this one. And for leaving me on the verge of tears.



This should be prescribed as therapy.

I think it's the music -- not actually that great -- but has a haunting nostalgic quality about it that hearkened back to those D&D/RPG 16-bit games of the early 90s, I wasted countless hours on when I should have been studying.

It seems to be have been compiled by someone intent on showing Roddick up, though Gasquet's pass off of Nadal's smash right at the very end is my personal fave. Truly scrummy.

I could fall asleep to this in the way some do to those noises of the sea crashing into rocks.

In fact I might just do that now...

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Round of 16, Round Up...

Fed v Sod

Straight sets as I expected, but from what little I caught this was a lot more competitive than any of their previous sets. Next up Dr Ivo.

A-Rod v Berdych

Didn't catch any of this. But I was glad to see him get through in straights. Will give him some confidence ahead of his next match against Lleyton.

Hewitt v Stepanek

This one went the distance with injury timeouts all over the place. Lleyton will be spent. Irrespective of when he's scheduled to play, you have to go with Roddick now.

Simon v Ferrero

It just gets better and better. The Juan-Carlos Ferr-airy tale is not at an end just yet. He'll be playing the winner of the latest match ever to finish on Centre Court. Andy and Stan are slugging it out as we 'speak'.

Haas v Andreev

Straight sets. Unreal. This fairy tale lives on too. Haas versus Djoko next. Yes Haas beat him on grass two weeks back. No I'm not about to read anything into it.

Djoko v Sela

Toldyaso.

Nando v Karlovic

I was backing Nando but I'm actually kind of pleased to see Ivo come through to his first ever Wimbledon quarter. His game is rather boring, but anyone with a freak of a serve like that deserves more success on grass.

Safina v Mauresmo

When Safina went down 0-3 in the final set, I thought it was all over. Somehow Dinara clawed her way through in a way I still don't completely understand. Really, Amelie should have closed it out.

Wozniacki v Lisicki

I was really quite surprised and disappointed with what I saw from Caroline. I don't think she's the type of player that plays very well with her back up against the wall. Lisicki's confidence and positivity was only surpassed by her pace. But we know all about that and I expected nothing less. Caroline on the other hand was showing what can only be described borderline petulance.

Venus v Ivanovic

Didn't think Ana would have got a set from Venus anyway, but I can't help feeling for her after the way she went out. Having a freak injury like that end her Wimby campaign, one in which she appeared to be finally gaining some momentum, is cruel and I don't understand why things like it happen. But they do.

Radwanska v Oudin

A-Rad through in straights. Likey, likey, likey.

Dementieva v Vesnina

Dementieva through in straights. Likey, likey, likey.

Azarenka v Petrova

Well I had my first great test of trying to defend Victoria's indefensible behaviour today. "WHY YOU GUYS HAVE SO MUCH POWER TO RUIN MATCHES!?", she screamed at the umpire after an overrule that went against her. Erm, because it's their job maybe?

Less easy to laugh off though, is her mock attack of a linesperson, in whose direction she pretended to launch a ball after losing a game that involved a disputed call, thankfully deciding against it at the last second. Borderline assault, and I'm surprised she didn't get a code violation.

Nadia got some treatment early on after having some problems coping with the heat. And to her credit she won the next set. But I can see why more and more people are picking Victoria as the best of the rest, outside of the Williamses.

Serena v Hantuchova

An absurd, one-sided, butchery of a contest. Which is what I thought it'd be.

Murray v Wawrinka

And so we come to our match of the day. And probably of the tournament.

(Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Within minutes of the opening game, it became clear we were going to see something special.

-- New found respect for Stan, who came out and played such a blinder of an opening set it left Murray and the entire crowd stone cold. Especially sobering, after the pageantry we had with the closing of the roof, that began during the previous match between Safina and Mauresmo. Probably the best set of tennis he's ever played.

-- Any doubts I might have had about Murray's fitness are well and truly vanquished. Well, maybe I'll continue to entertain little doubts about his ability in searing heat. But this has to be his his best five set victory yet.

-- Stan Wawrinka has the best single handed backhand in the world. There, I said it. Gasquet may have the more stylish action but Stan's does a lot more damage.

-- Latest ever finish at Wimbledon. The match lasted three hours 56 minutes, with the end coming at 2238 BST.

(Photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)

-- Loved the fact that for once Murray brewed up just the right blend of rope a dope tennis and more aggressive play. I'd say in a 30-70 percent ratio.

-- Murray could barely walk in the last set and performed an elaborate balancing act of trying to conserve his energy and going all out attack.

-- Murray said at the end he'd derive confidence from this five set win. Yeah. But don't you think the on court interview right after the match was a bit much? The guy could barely walk - I'm surprised he strung a sentence together.

-- That 9 shot rally Murray played with a broken string. A series of forehand slices, willing Stan to crack first. Best point I've seen at this event and the weirdest I've seen in recent years.

-- British crowd weren't as loud as I expected them to be. In fact it was all very well behaved and in surprisingly good taste. A+. Five gold stars. But at one point I was willing them to show more vociferous support for Andy. In fact I believe Andy tried to rouse them up at one point in
the third set.

-- Stan belongs back in the top ten. Get back in there fast. I miss your backhand already.

-- Murray will get a day's rest followed by a (hopefully) less challenging match against Juan Carlos. Or so I think.

Thoughts too muddled to compose anything more coherent right now.
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The Full Monte Pt 3...

I sometimes resist the urge to post too soon after a match as it usually means you haven't had sufficient downtime to form a considered opinion.

Not today. Today it was dead simple. Rafa and his side of the court was as impregnable as you might expect. But if Murray had started off playing with the aggression he displayed from 2-5 down in the second set, we may have had a three setter. That Rafa would still have won.

Instead he broke the second law of playing Rafael Nadal on clay (the one that comes right after "Don't play Rafael Nadal on clay"): "Never try to take on Rafa from the back of the court". I say 'take on', but I think we all know that's very quickly reduced to 'struggling to stay in the rally' as you're forcibly manhandled on to the 'Rafael Nadal Treadmill'. Federer knows a thing or two about that.

But what got me was that it almost looked a conscious decision on the part of Corretja and the rest of Team Murray to open proceedings in this laid back way. A kind of reverse psychology ploy maybe: Goodness knows, no one else DARES to play that way against Nadal, so what better way to keep him confused and 2nd guessing what you're really up to?

It's got to be hasn't it? Murray's surely smart enough to know that that kind of passive play is not sustainable for even a couple of games.

Whatever crafty games they may have been up to, Murray overplayed his hand. To be fair, he did look to be trying to crank things up earlier on, but his efforts were thwarted by not being able to put enough first serves in and perhaps more shockingly his trademark cross court double hander deserting him.

And then it happened. In a puff of smoke the terrier emerged and started serving bombs, running down balls and finding the lines in rallies he had no right to even be part of. It was all rather reminiscent of that US Open semi last year.

Of course it's completely ridiculous to suggest that anyone play that way for 2 or 3 sets. For one thing Nadal probably won't let you. And if you do manage to find some rhythm, he raises his game in that frustratingly effective way. Like he did in that 2nd set tie break.

***

Had Wawrinka made the final, there's no question he'd be part of this week's winners list. He'd built up some great momentum this week, even if you chose to ignore that win over Mirka's husband; and he almost had me convinced.

But then it happened. Losing his way completely in the 2nd set and then handing back a break in the final set. Novak may still be finding his way back to that unfathomable curiosity we call 'his best', but he's playing too well to let a double-choke-on-the-rocks like this slip by.

Singles - Semi-finals
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [4] A Murray (GBR) 62 76(4)
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [13] S Wawrinka (SUI) 46 61 63 Read More...

Juan's Rite of Passage...

A couple of days back I was pretty sure that outside of a Fedalistic final or a Murray-Nando epic (which is surely the non-event of the event), the Wawrinka-Nadal match was likely to prove to be the match of the week. Sure Nadal was edgier, off balance and more cautious in almost everything he was doing and he had mentioned how poorly he'd been playing after coming through against Gil a round earlier. But it would be incredibly unfair not to credit Wawrinka for sticking to his gameplan - and what a gameplan for someone who you wouldn't normally think of as a tactician.

He mixed things up well, but the key for me were those groundstrokes of his, the heaviness of which I've talked about in the past, and which he put to good effect in keeping Nadal behind the baseline. Do we need further evidence that it is -- contrary to popular opinion -- possible for a right handed single-hander to put together and execute an effective gameplan against Rafa? We all know of the kind of damage Rafa can inflict on them, but he remains uniquely vulnerable to flat heavy strikers of the ball. Insight for Roger: Go hang out with Stanislas more than you already do...

Cue Juan, a guy whom I've previously dismissed as "taking too long to construct rallies on his terms" and having 'lurching side to side movement", though he does hit the ball very hard.

And though he took the first set, I was quietly confident that Rafa's mental strength would help see him through much in the same way as it did against Wawrinka, despite quite clearly playing far below average.

Sure enough (though after a quite horrendous start) he surged ahead in the second set, but at 5-3 up something quite extraordinary happened. Juan hit a drop shot so exquisite that I remember thinking to myself "that's perhaps the best shot I've ever seen Juan play". Nadal went on to take the set but the tone for the match was set.

Yes Nadal was far from his best, but the real reason Juan came out on top for me was in his willingness to take risks and go against the natural grain of his game - which is to bludgeon balls back until you're in a comfortable position dictating play before pulling the trigger.

I think we all knew what a great ball striker Juan was when he shot up to #6 in the rankings with that great series of wins coming into the US Open last year, but had since acquired the look of a frightened schoolboy that has inadvertently stumbled into the Senior Prefects' Common Room; understandable really, as he then underwent a series of top ten losses so ruthless in their nature that he really must have thought he was undergoing a perverse and painful (but hopefully short lived) Top-Tenner's initiation rite as Nikolay (6-3,6-2 at the Tennis Masters Cup last year), Roger (6-3,6-0, 6-0 at Melbourne this year) and Rafa (6-2,6-4 last week at Indian Wells) all lined up to knock seven shades of you-know-what out of him.
Well it was either that or to be made to stand in an empty court with your arms tied behind your back while the other guys place bets on what part of your body A-Rod can serve into next.

I sort of get the feeling that it'll not be long before he reverts to his more passive style of point construction and I still strongly believe the A-Rod is more worthy of the #5 spot, but I'll tell you what - if he even manages to produce that more plucky form once every three months it'll be enough to keep the top four honest and prolong his stay in the top ten.

***

[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [10] J Tsonga (FRA) 63 64

And the winner of the 'Dorando Pietri' Award for Human Endurance is......Novak Djokovic.
It wasn't his best performance tennis wise - although enough to squeeze past a particularly out of sorts Jo-Willy. The urge to quit in that 2nd set must have been tremendous.

Marathon runner's often speak of 'hitting a wall' - a point at which the fatigue is so great that your mind and body virtually shutdown: I'm pretty sure Novak hit his about five times over and remain concerned that Novak is more prone to these types of physical breakdowns than a world number three (or a top tenner for that matter) should be. I'm also certain that there would have been no third, had Jo-Willy somehow managed to squeeze that 2nd set.

Instead here's my more romantic interpretation of what might have been.



Take a close look at what happens one minute into the video when Dorando collapses and has to be picked up and escorted over the finish line by a bunch of London Coppers, before being taken away on a stretcher.

***

One last thing. Neither of the Williams Sisters have been that convincing over the course of this event. Serena in particular got into one too many three setters for my liking early on. Venus seemed more comfortable, like she was going through the motions en route to their semi final clash - particularly against her quarter final opponent Benesova - who has just become my resident villain of the tour.

I've got no problem with a healthy desire to win, heck I've been lamenting the lack of spine these past several months. I don't even expect you to smile when you shake your opponents' hand after a loss. God knows, your body's hurting, your mind's hurting and you just want to get off court. But does it really hurt so much to look your opponent in the eye? Never mind the fact that your opponent is a seven time Grand Slammer, a living legend in the game. The fact that you've only just cracked the top 50 last year might serve as a reminder that a little humility wouldn't be amiss.

But back to Serena, who, that semi final not withstanding, has been less than awe-inspiring here this year. I fully expect her to come through against Azarenka in tomorrow's final but it won't be easy. Victoria's young, fit, hungry, spirited, consistent and hits the ball like a bomb. Serena might be on to something if she starts the match bellowing louder than her opponent.

Don't forget your ear muffs.

Read More...

Desert Heat Pt 2

[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [14] D Nalbandian (ARG) 36 76(5) 60

Match of the tournament? For two sets anyway. Daveed's fecklessness may have given us more reasons to fume and seethe. But I've learnt to treat this as a kind of annual ritual: Daveed comes. Daveed rouses us up with tennis that suggests he should be in possession of around three Slams. Daveed goes.

Just enjoy the tennis, I say. It's truly breathtaking.

From the way he ghosts around the court belying his somewhat pork-bellied image as someone who should presumably have trouble reaching the odd ball or two, to his inch-perfect timing which is surely a contributing factor in his now 2-1 H2H against Rafa.

Daveed was getting over the top of Rafa's high bouncing returns and hitting down flat. He's built with heavy shoulders that no doubt help him drive through the ball effecting a return that was practically skidding past Rafa. For the first one and a half set he made Rafa look pretty ordinary and quite lost out there and despite the defeat, I'm still in favour of thinking of him as Rafa's nemesis.

And as far his carrying around a few more pounds than is necessary, I'm almost in favour of saying that if it doesn't bother him then what have we got to gripe about? OK plenty. But it's all mainly along the lines of 'unfulfilled potential'. Nothing to do movement. The guy doesn't move around, he "materialises next to the ball" (love that quote from Tennis Magazine); and there's other player's whose seeming pork-belliedness doesn't get in the way of their movement or their tennis too. Marcos Baghdatis for instance. Or Svetlana for that matter. She's an exceptional mover, though not an exceptional thinker.

Have you seen what happens when elephants go for a swim? They turn into creatures of spellbinding grace and elegance. And so it is when Daveed steps on court. Makes you think he was born playing this way - that kind of stuff can't be taught.

One more thing, I loved the way Nadal saved some of those match points when he was serving 3-5 down in the second set. He hasn't got the biggest or best serve in the game but no one can now surely think of it as a weakness.

[2] R Federer (SUI) d [17] F Gonzalez (CHI) 63 57 62

It's not often that these two don't put on a good show, but I really didn't find this one particularly interesting. All right maybe I wasn't paying full attention. But it was all too familiar. Gonzo banging away at things with his forehand in a way which only he can. Roger looking like he was thinking "I really should have won this by now", not serving particularly well and then deciding enough's-enough in the last set. Highlight of the match for me was Gonzo's butchery of his racquet, and the subsequent crowd-baiting. Not the most sportsmanlike episode of behaviour we've seen this week. But it certainly got my attention.

[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [16] S Wawrinka (SUI) 76(7) 76(6)

I've heard several commentator's make the point that Stan might possibly have the best SHB down the line on tour. I'm not completely sure about that, but I will say that given time and space he imparts the kind of heaviness we normally associate with double-handers.

What stood out for me was Stan's defence, and in particular the way he was able to soak up Novak's 'onslaught', which for me is still too workhorse-like, with not nearly enough deep-balling we saw so much of last season.

Novak got through this one but only just (the fact that it was straight sets is largely irrelevant) - Stan lost his nerve on one too many key moments demonstrating once again that despite the major backhand he's still not a major league kind of a guy.

[6] J Del Potro (ARG) d [WC] J Isner (USA) 76(4) 76(3)

Didn't get to see this one. Juan's either read Roger's book on slaying Wandering Monsters or they find his surliness more scary than anything they can bring on court.

[10] F Verdasco (ESP) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 64 36 61

Caught bits of this one. Absolutely love everything about Phillip's game (not just the single-hander you'll be pleased to hear), except the service action which has an obscene amount of hip-swiveling going on. Another guy who 'Coulda Been a Contender'.

Nando wasn't nearly as comfortable in this as he was against Reeshard. But he found a way through demonstrating amply well that his new found fortitude is no flash in the pan.

Another thing. I guess you've all seen his 'Talk to the Hand' victory pose. But what does he say? It sounds like "YEET (hunched fist pump)....AAW...HAW (Talk to the Hand Pose)!" Three guys in his Players' Box look and sound like they're doing exactly the same.

Kind of reminds me of a Mortal Kombat character who'd do something similar after pulling out your spinal chord (yes I played some pretty violent computer games in my teens).

I Ljubicic (CRO) d [22] I Andreev (RUS) 46 76(5) 76(4)

I'm confused. I love the fact that Ivan 'The Gentle Giant' is making something of a comeback, but aside from his serve, wouldn't have thought that he'd possess the firepower (or the temperament) to get it done against Igor 'The Forehand'.

Even as I watch him now, a set down against Murray - I'm seeing what might be construed as flashes of brilliance (which do demonstrate why he got as high as #3 in the world), but nothing that would suggest Igor should have had any problems. I guess that's what makes Tennis interesting.

One other thing about Ivan. The guy is a one man clinic on taking on high bouncing single handed backhands. I don't particularly like the motion - too much arm rolling going on - but I don't think I've seen anybody take that shot on so comfortably.

[8] V Azarenka (BLR) d [1] D Safina (RUS) 67(4) 61 63

Great first set. Enthralling rallies with groundstrokes of the highest level early on from both women.

I know I said Dinara's departure would render the event into a sideshow of sorts, but I'm somehow glad she didn't get the #1 ranking with this form (she'd have made the top spot by simply getting to final). You can imagine the torrent of articles branding her a 'Slamless-Wonder' that would be sure to follow.

I was giving her the benefit of the doubt after her first round exit at Dubai, and Dinara may have got to the final of Melbourne but her slippage is now quite evident.

Azarenka on the other hand was unflinching, patient, resolute, and hitting groundstrokes both wings with such penetration and authority that I'm almost willing to overlook their lack of imagination (definitely not the stuff that would've inspired Michaelangelo).

At at 4-3 in the final set, she summoned Zeljko to the court who gave her a real (verbal) kick up the backside. Safina lost the next game to love.

Azarenka was in tears at the end suggesting she's not a total robot. But I have to say I think her coach looks too nice - Victoria strikes me as a bit of a handful and I find it difficult to see him giving her a dressing down the way Zeljko did to Safina.

[4] V Zvonareva (RUS) d [9] C Wozniacki (DEN) 64 62

I was hoping Wozniacki would come through after we lost four of the top seeds earlier this week. But she was beaten by other pick for this tournament. So that's Ok then. Go Vera! Read More...