Thursday, May 31, 2007

An American Disaster in Paris

0-9. Yes, there were 9 Americans entered in the Men’s main draw at the French this year, and every single one of them lost in the first round. Results for Americans have been pretty pathetic this decade, but now we can say they have definitely hit rock bottom – unless next year 10 or more Americans are entered and they all lose in round 1. The way things are going for Americans on the red clay, it just might happen.

On to the rest of the early French action…there were a few upsets in the early rounds, as is the norm on the red clay of Roland Garros. The biggest was probably Fernando Gonzalez, the # 5 seed, losing to Radek Stepanek. Stepanek was a top 10 player just a year ago, but has had very poor results in 2007, and came into the French with no momentum. But nonetheless, the awkward-looking Czech with the awkward-looking game thumped Gonzo in the 1st round, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. Stepanek followed that win with a loss to a French journeyman ranked 144 in the world. Number 10 seed Tomas Berdych was also a 1st round upset victim, falling to Spanish clay-court specialist Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. French hopeful Richard Gasquet was dismissed in the 2nd round, losing to the talented Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. Gasquet has largely been a disappointment in majors thus far in his young career. The match of the tournament so far, and only half the 2nd round is complete as I write this, was Kohlschreiber/Dlouhy in the 1st round. The # 28 seed Kohlschreiber took out Dlouhy, a qualifier, 17-15 in the 5th set.

Looking ahead, there could be an interesting quarterfinal between Davydenko and Canas to see who plays Federer in the semis, assuming that Canas gets by the very formidable Juan Monaco in an anticipated 4th round matchup. In the lower half of the draw, it looks like Djokovic and Nadal should meet in the semis, unless Ferrer or Baghdatis can derail the 20 year old Serbian.

Friday, May 25, 2007

2007 French Open Preview

For the 2nd straight year, the top two seeds, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, are overwhelming favorites to meet in the finals. But unlike last year, Federer now has a victory over Nadal – last week in the Hamburg finals. These two will be such heavy favorites in all their matches leading up to the finals, and so much has already been written about them, that it is far more interesting to speculate on who else might make the quarters and semis, and what unseeded darkhorses could surprise some seeds in week 1.

Candidates for the Semis – seeding in parenthesis
1) Nadal (2) – Already a two-time French champ and clay court legend, doesn’t turn 21 until early June.
2) Federer (1) – 10 majors, but no French titles…is this the year?
3) Novak Djokovic (6) – Just turned 20, now 6th in the world, won Estoril a month ago, very capable of beating anyone not named Federer or Nadal on clay.
4) Nikolay Davydenko (4) – The human backboard, lost a tight 3 hour thriller to Nadal in the semis at Rome earlier this month, a semifinalist here in 2005.
5) David Ferrer (12) – Yet another Spanish clay court specialist, a quarterfinalist here in 2005, beat Djokovic at Monte Carlo this Spring, lost to Federer at the other two clay Masters Series events (Rome, Hamburg) this year.
6) Fernando Gonzalez (5) – Made the finals in Rome this year, a quarterfinalist here in 2003, made the finals at the Australian Open this year. Big forehand makes up for average speed.

Candidates for the Quarterfinals

1) Tommy Robredo (9) – A two time quarterfinalist here (2003, 05), he’s been relatively quiet in 2007 so far. His speed and experience make him formidable here.
2) Richard Gasquet (11) – The former French Open juniors champ was a finalist at Estoril and quarterfinalist at Monte Carlo this Spring. As a Frenchman, he’ll have the crowd on his side.
3) Lleyton Hewitt (14) – Injured much of the year, the quick Aussie made the semis of Hamburg in 2007. He was a quarterfinalist in 2001 and 2004, lost to Nadal in the 4th round last year.
4) Guillermo Canas (19) – A quarterfinalist in 2002 and 2005, the Argentine has been on fire in 2007, boosting his ranking from # 142 to # 22. Made the finals in Barcelona (Nadal) and Miami (Djokovic) this Spring.
5) Tomas Berdych (10) – The tall (6’ 4”) Czech lost in the 4th round last year to Federer. Only 21, he’s playing in his 4th French Open after making the semis of Monte Carlo and quarterfinals in Rome this year.

Round of 16 Candidates….and Maybe Beyond?

Nicolas Almagro (32), Juan Carlos Ferrero (17), David Nalbandian (15), Carlos Moya (23), Mikhail Youzhny (13), Gilles Simon, Philipp Kohlschreiber (28), Paul-Henri Mathieu, Filipo Volandri(29), Juan Ignacio Chela (18), Marat Safin (22), Marcos Baghdatis (16), Julien Benneteau (30), Jurgen Melzer (27)

Unseeded Darhorses…Could Upset Some Seeds

Juan Monaco, Marc Gicquel, Potito Starace, Igor Andreev, Gael Monfils, Fernando Verdasco

Interesting 1st Round Matchups:

Sebastien Grosjean vs. Marcos Baghdatis
Arnaud Clement vs. Ivan Ljubicic
Fabrice Santoro vs. Juan Ignacio Chela
Olivier Rochus vs. Gael Monfils
Jurgen Melzer vs. Jose Acasuso
Radek Stepanek vs. Fernando Gonzalez
Florian Mayer vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu
Luis Horna vs. Nicolas Massu
Igor Andreev vs. Andy Roddick
Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Rafael Nadal

So there you have it, a quick guide to what we might see at the French Open in the next two weeks. Enjoy the tennis, and look for frequent updates on the tourney from Todd’s Tennis Takes.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A Week of Revivals

So a red hot Rafael Nadal, albeit playing his 10th match in less than two weeks, meets up in the Hamburg Masters final with legend-in-the-making Roger Federer, whose canonization into tennis sainthood has been slightly derailed of late by 2nd round losses, no titles, and a coaching change. However, hard times measure a man and a true champion is defined by his response to adversity. After dropping the first set 2-6, Federer found himself at a minor inflection point in his career. Would he go down as Nadal’s 82nd straight clay victim, happy to have made the finals, or would he summon the greatness that has put his name alongside legends like Laver, Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Sampras, & Agassi? It would be the latter, as he stormed through the next two sets 6-2, 6-0 to claim the title and his first victory over Nadal on clay. With the victory, Federer now goes into the French Open with some much needed momentum and greater confidence as he attempts to win the only Slam that has thus far eluded him.

Hamburg was also the stage for a revival of sorts for two former world # 1’s and Grand Slam champions, Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya. Hewitt, who won the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon, has been very quiet since his drubbing at the hands of Federer in the 2005 US Open final. At Hamburg though, Hewitt managed victories over clay court stalwarts Nikolay Davydenko and Nicolas Almagro, and also took the first set off Nadal before finally bowing out in the semis. Moya, the 1998 French Open champ, is playing some nice tennis lately, bumping his ranking up to #26 now after starting the year at #43. He took out James Blake and Novak Djokovic before succumbing to Federer in the semis (though, like Hewitt vs. Nadal, he also won the first set). Both veterans head into the French on a nice little roll, if you’ll pardon the pun. And speaking of the French, look for a thorough preview from Todd’s Tennis Takes this Friday. Bon soir.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Nadal’s Domination, Federer’s Struggles Continue

At the Rome Masters Series event, Rafael Nadal continued his clay court domination while Roger Federer continued his recent struggles. Federer beat top clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro in his first match, downing the young Spaniard 6-3, 6-4, but then made a world of unforced errors in his next match against Italian wild card entry Fillipo Volandri, losing 6-2, 6-4. Federer is now just 7-4 since winning at Dubai in February, has parted ways with his coach Tony Roche, and looks to be a long shot to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the upcoming French Open.

Nadal on the other hand, is absolutely on fire. In winning at Rome, he extended his two year clay court winning streak to 77 matches while also beating two of the top five clay-courters in the world. He beat Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-3 in the quarters and Nicolay Davydenko 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in the semis. Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who had struggled to find his top form since making the finals of the Australian Open early this year, took advantage of a good draw before losing to Nadal in the finals, 6-2, 6-2.

On the challenger circuit, 18 year old Marin Cilic won his 2nd challenger title of the year to boost his ranking up to #115. The tall (6’ 5”) lanky Croatian, very reminiscent of Goran Ivanisevic, has now seen his ranking rocket from #587 on Jan 1, 2006 and from #170 at the start of 2007. Watch for him to make a strong impact on the ATP Tour in 2008, if not sooner.

This week is another Masters Series event in Hamburg, with all the big names participating – minus Andy Roddick, who when it comes to clay, is really not a big name at all. This is the last big tournament before the French Open starts May 27th.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Young Players Emerging

With both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal taking the week off, the other ATP pros had far better chances to win tournaments in Estoril and Munich this last week. In Estoril though, those pros still had to deal with Novak Djokovic, holder of 3 titles and a 31–6 record in 2007, as well as the #5 ranking in the world, up from #16 at the start of the year. Oh yeah, he turns just 20 this month, so get used to hearing a lot about him for the next few years. Djokovic took down clay court studs Tommy Robredo and Richard Gasquet in the semis and finals respectively to win his 3rd tourney of the year.

In Munich, Philipp Kohlschreiber, who we mentioned two weeks ago in Todd’s Tennis Takes, took out former top 10 talents Sebastien Grosjean and Marcos Baghdatis in the quarters and semis before defeating #3 seed and current world #16 Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the finals. With his first ATP tournament victory in his homeland of Germany, Kohlschreiber improved his ranking to #33 and further establishes himself as a formidable opponent and rising talent on the ATP Tour.

Speaking of rising talents, Italian youngster Simone Bolelli, reached his 3rd challenger final of 2007 and finally won after losing the first two. The challenger circuit is basically the ‘Triple A’ of tennis’ minor leagues and is where you’ll find many emerging talents on the tour. Bolelli is a 21 year old who has seen his ranking jump 51 spots to #76 in 2007 after rising 123 spots in 2006. In addition to his success on the challenger circuit, Bolelli has also recorded quality wins at ATP events this year over Marat Safin, Gael Monfils, and Dimitry Tursunov. He is one to watch in 2007 and beyond.

This week is another big-time French Open tune-up, the Masters Series at Rome, with all the big names involved.

Friday, May 04, 2007

The Beat Goes On…

Two major trends continued this past week in men’s tennis – Rafael Nadal’s clay court winning streak, now at 71, and Guillermo Canas’ torrid 2007 season, which has now seen him improve his ranking from #142 on Jan 1 to #22 now. In winning at Barcelona, Nadal extended not only his winning streak on clay, but also his set streak. He last lost a set on clay in the 2006 French Open final vs. Federer…11 months ago. It was Canas who took Nadal’s furious topspin storm in the final, losing 6-3, 6-4. Canas, who has 7 career titles to his name, has now lost twice to Nadal in finals this year. It’s nice to see the 29 year old Argentine enjoying a resurgence after being acquitted of a doping ban late last year.

At Casablanca, Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu won his first tournament since 2002, defeating Spanish journeyman Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Mathieu, now ranked 42nd after starting the year at #55, is largely regarded as having top 20 talent but questionable mental fortitude. Maybe now at the age of 25 he can put it all together. As for Montanes, who’s never won an ATP event or been ranked inside the top 50, just taking home a runner-up check is a victory in itself.

This week, the pros are playing in Munich, Germany and Estoril, Portugal before next week’s big Rome Masters Series event.