French Edition: La Terre Battue

::: Moment of Silence for the UVa tennis team's 3rd straight NCAA defeat from USC :::
I cannot imagine a more dramatic comeback and heartbreak as #3 Singh was broken to finish off my Cavaliers 6-4 in the 3rd set of the final match...   USC = NCAA Champions!
Maybe UVa can bounce back and win the Lacrosse championship this weekend...

Professionals:


The first round is complete in Paris.  Plenty of good round one action, including Nadal losing two tie-breaks to Big John Isner.  Djokovic rolled past De Bakker easily (18-6 in games), and still looks unbeatable.  Fed is primed to challenge if Novak stumbles; his forehand destroyed a challenging opponent for rd-1 (F. Lopez).  There have been some relevant upsets (Berdych, a semi-finalist in 2010, and Almagro, who just won a clay tournament last week in Nice).


It is an open question as to who will have the toughest path...
  Djoker: Del Potro then Gasquet then Youzhny then Federer/Ferrer
  Nadal:  Davydenko then Verdasco then Soderling then Murray
Easiest path to Semis must be for Murray.


3rd round match I'm excited for...
  Djokovic / Del Potro  (also interested in Fish / Simon)
4th round...  
  Ferrer / Monfils  and  Federer / Tsonga 




When Nadal was down 2 sets to 1 to Isner, he finally got his break, 2-1 in the 4th.  He said that was the turning point because there is no tie-breaker in the deciding 5th set...  That's how difficult it can be to get ahead on Isner's serve.  (Btw. I don't buy the side story about the new faster flying Babolat tennis balls.)


The TV coverage has been great so far.  We have Brad Gilbert on ESPN2 and Johnny Mac on Tennis Channel.  Just getting warmed up...


Obama is trying hard to win my vote next time around.  The Ping Pong Prez...

the Best Defense is a Good Defense

The Djoker dethroned the King (again).  This is two consecutive Slams that Nole has taken out Roger.


Sadly for the sport, we learned that the best defense is too good for the best offense.  Roger brought the big shots, he played beautifully.  He made all the shots, but he just couldn't put the ball past Djokovic.  I say Federer would have won the match in day conditions.  In the relentless rallies, Fed's backhand had too many cracks.  I still like Fed as the favorite for Wimbledon.  Where offense still reigns?    


Djokovic won 8 more points than Fed over 3 straight sets (119 - 111).  They served the same number of games, but Novak served 20 more points.  Here is a statistical fun fact: "winning % on second serve" includes double faults in the denominator.  {Does that make sense?}

The Noble Myna

The King, Roger Federer, is in trouble down under.  His problems are anything but minor, down two sets...


The birds are also making a fuss and are part of the story.  We have these same indian mynas here in Hawaii.  They are my favorite birds.  Smart little starlings.

Myna problems.

Nadal Slammed

Early on Nadal was hurting.  It turned out to be a left thigh injury.  But, let's get one thing straight, Nadal is no Jay Cutler...


"The tennis career, you have higher moments and lower moments. I had almost all the time very, very happy moments and very nice moments in my career. That's part of the sport. Last year I was very lucky. I was healthy most of the year. I was playing unbelievable during all the year. This year I did I think all the right things to start the season playing really well. And, seriously, I was playing like this in the first exhibition in Abu Dhabi. After that starts the problem. Was a difficult month for me, no? That's part of the sport. Accept; keep working; try my best in the next tournament. That's what I can do."


"I hate the retirements, so this wasn't the day. I did last year. I hate that moment. I didn't want to repeat that."


It was tough to watch because we could see that Nadal wasn't 100% but you never knew when he could make a great shot or pull out a few points.  David Ferrer played very well given the circumstances.  


The problem for Nadal is that his game is to be physical and punishing.  That is his edge to a large extent.  He cannot handle these injuries the way a Pete Sampras could when he was #1.  Pete still had his serve and his moments of power, he played through back pain and illnesses.


In the semi I do not think Ferrer will trouble Murray very much.  Unfortunately he doesn't match up very well with Murray in my opinion.  He won't be able to hurt Murray.  Versus Nadal he had a plan to come to net and it worked quite well in the match.  I doubt he will pursue that against Murray, but I don't know that it would matter.  Up or back, I don't see where he would find the advantage.

LI NA LI

You've gotta love Li Na.  Half the players call her "Na Li", it is very confusing with the Chinese surname going first, and both names being so short.


She, "the Girl w/ the Rose Tattoo", came back from a match-point-down to Wozniacki to win in 3 sets.


Post match interview:
   **She blamed her coach/husband's snoring for her poor sleep the night before.
   **She cited "prize money" as to what pulled her through in the final set.
   **She explained why her mother doesn't come to any of her matches ("I have my own life.")
   **She almost forgot her own wedding anniversary, but actually it is the 29th (or is it?)


She is the first Asian singles player to advance to a major championship.  This in "the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific".  I can just picture every Chinese tennis prodigy going in for her tattoo tomorrow...


I think it will be a pretty good final between Li and Kimmy.  Both are very strong hardcourt players with no emotional/psychological problems (which I can't say for so many of the top female pros these days).  


Li beat Clijsters a couple weeks ago in Sydney.

G'day Australia Day (Speed Kills)

In Murray / Dolgopolov we learned a little wrinkle to tennis strategy.  I had always been coached to approach the net on a strong (deep) shot to my opponent's backhand.  This gives the best chance of a put away on the next shot.  However, last night we saw that Murray moves so well and has a solid enough backhand that Dologopolov was losing when he approached to the backhand side.  The reason was that, when he approached to the backhand, it would naturally lead to an open court play to Murray's forehand side.  Where Murray would promptly make a pass on the run!  Speed kills, especially when it leads to a forehand passing opportunity.


Speed also killed in Djokovic vs Berdych.  Djoker was just too much.  His abbreviated directional backhand was too good and his loopy forehand dipped in time and time again.  The tale of the tape (Brad Gilberts checkmark method) was very tight, but "speed kills" was the determinant.  The trump card.
   I will be very interested to see how Federer attacks Djokovic tonight.  Will he try to step in and take time away from Novak?  I think Djoker wins the longer rallies.  He is moving so well right now.  I think Fed will look rally up the middle of the court until he gets a one time shot to pull Novak way wide on a shorter, angled, spinning shot.  Don't be surprised to also see serve-and-volley plays.
  If Djokovic can serve a high 1st serve %, I really like his chances.  I believe Fed will find himself forced to hit the extra shots, and from what I have seen so far, I'm not sure he is up to it...

Fed Level

Roger had a field day against his countryman and Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka.  The trick shot-making was off the charts.  He actually avoided a between-the-legs shot because he didn't want to do two in one point!  He was hitting shots around the net post and droppers that spun backwards.
  An example of how he thinks.  As he went for his first 'tweener, he recalled that, in a previous match against Stan, his opponent had crowded the net when Fed went back for a lob.  So he knew that he must go for his own through-the-legs lob return.  And he pulled it off with ease!  Sort of insane.


Federer is showing once again that he can raise his game as the tournament goes deeper.  He attributes it to receiving a better ball from his better opponents.  I had noticed that in his early matches he was always in control of the points but he wasn't sharp.  Meaning that he would be setting himself up for winners but just missing.  With that cleaned up a bit, his opponents are in trouble.


Nadal destroyed Cilic.  Cilic came in with a game plan which got eviscerated by Rafa.  The best part is that Nadal looked fit and his game looked big.  I even saw him hitting some nice slice backhands...


Last three A.O. winners...  Nole, Rafa, Fed.  I would put Murray right there as well for his strong results.  This should be good.

Counting down to Nadal v Cilic...

Nadal v Cilic is the premier match of the round and the last one in for a rocking Quarterfinals.  I can't wait for this one.  Nadal's heavy top spin jumps right up into the Cilic's hitting zone.  Nadal had been punished by Del Potro's power before.  I think Cilic, though less powerful, can cause similar problems.  He is 1-0 over Nadal in one previous meeting.  Also going against Nadal is that apparently he caught a virus from his physio (doctor) last week.  He has been sweating profusely and feels more tired.


Recap of how we got here:


Roddick (tweet ya later) has bowed out to the über-solid Wawrinka.  It will now be Swiss-on-Swiss when he plays Fed.  Watch this match for a priceless one-hand backhand lesson.  Imagine this, Federer just won a set without losing a point on serve.  20-0 for his service points against Robredo.  Robredo did bounce back and take the second set though.


Berdych v Djokovic is the premier QF match.  Both cruised easily in the round of 16.  Berdych put up one set 14 winners to 0 errors at one point.  He wiped Verdasco off the court.   Novak has played well and been fortunate, he is very well-rested.  Should be an awesome eastern european matchup.  All of the final 8 are european.  This whole tournament has been notable for european dominance.  Only a couple of Chinese women have been the exception (more below).

Murray's scores are ridiculous. His closest set of the tournament has been 6-3. He is averaging 17.5 to 5.5 in total games per match. And now he comes up against unseeded Dolgopolov (who?). Actually this Ukranian has knocked off Tsonga and Söderling in back-to-back 5 setters. I think we have to assume that "the Ukraine is weak" at this point!

What are the most important shots in tennis? Serve and Return. Those were on display when Roanic (Canada!) boomed it at David Ferrer. Ferrer showed some amazing return game to keep up. He took sets 2,3,4 to await... Cilic? I wonder how much more we will see of the 20-year-old kid from Canada. He will crack the top 100 with his Aussie result.


Sheilas:

It is amazing to me that we don't see any tattoos on tennis players.  Do we?  I can't think of any.  And even more amazing that the first I have seen is on a Chinese woman (with the curtest name on tour), Li Na.  She has some sort of rose inked just below her left collar bone.  I would think we'd see more on tour by this point.  Are they banned from Wimbledon or something?

Shout out to Kuznetsova and Schiavone for playing a 3-hour final set to 16-14. All kinds of drama.  It might have been an hour shorter, but Schiavone lost a key point for running into the net!

Kimmy is still looking good as the favorite.  About to go on court.  And, No, she is not pregnant.

Gravity, you just hold me down so quietly.

A "must see" 6-second video...

Physics down under...

Love - 2

Week One has flown by...  there has been some amazing tennis as usual.  The theme for the first couple of rounds was coming back from two sets down.  Monfils, Seppi, Tsonga, Kohlschreiber, Fish all did it in round one.  Simon almost pulled it off against Federer (166-0 all-time from a 2-love lead) in round two.  Simon has the skinniest legs on tour.  He looks like me on the tennis court, circa 1991.

The first amazing moment of the tourney that I caught was Tipsarevic v Verdasco.  Tips has serious game when he is on.  He took out Roddick in last year's US Open.  He once stretched Fed to 10-8 in the 5th set at Melbourne Park.  Meanwhile Verdasco played the match of the tournament in 2009 against Nadal (the Spanish lefties).  In this 4th set, Tips was serving for match point up 6-5...  he came into the net and hit volley after volley.  That has to be the most nerve-raking play in tennis, up at the net with the match on the line but not getting put-aways.  Finally he takes a backhand overhead smash which the lefty chases down and hammers right through the box past Tipsarevic!  The game went on for a few more deuces, but eventually Verdasco was able to get it to the tie-break.  From there it was 7-0, final set: 6-love.  Tipsarevic could not recover at all.  And that is how a match can swing...   Fernando is now going strong in the round of 16 with Berdych up next.

The Baghdatis/Del Potro match we were anticipating got off 6-1 to Marcos.  But DelPo was able to win one set.  Hopefully he can get his mojo back this season.  Baghdatis is a tough out in Melbourne, partly due to the Greek-Cypriot crowds.  Well at least until the next round when he suffered a right pinkie injury!  He "felt electricity going through [his] hand" to the point where he could not continue.  "I'm very disappointed."

Isner v Cilic was also properly anticipated...  Marin (9 games) over Big John in the 5th after 4.55 hours on court. 

The best set of the tournament so far has to be Monfils v Wawrinka set #1.  75 minutes of excellent quality, plus 30 seconds of Monfils giving it away at the end.  Monfils is just incredible.  He can track every ball on the court down.  Through the legs? check.  Around the net post? check.  Drop shot? with ease. He has to be even more frustrating to play than Nadal.  At least Nadal will put you out of your misery eventually.  Monfils just keeps everything coming back.  The Frenchman slides on the hard court as if it were clay.  I don't even know how that is possible (special shoes?).  Just unbelievable get after get.  Wawrinka is so solid.  He is just a rock on that one-handed backhand.  And hits everything hard.  These two are friends and hitting partners which partly explains why the rallying was off the charts.  Average points were 7 shots.  In rallies over 8 shots the point wins were 12 to 11.  Very fun to watch.  (After Wawrinka took the set in the tie-breaker, he basically cruised through the next two.)

Monfils looks like the third sideshow brother.  Facially and hair-wise.  I believe they also speak french...

Amazingly the Men's top 8 have held up so far.  Quarters should be stacked with talent, ability, and experience.  That's why I've been saving my blogging for week two...

On the women's side Goerges from Germany made a lot of new fans in her match with Sharapova...

Get it on, gotta get it on!

Top 8 seeds as they appear in the Main Draw...
1 Rafa   \
7 Ferrer /      Ferrer \

4 Soderling \   Murray /

5 Murray    /

6 Berdych  \

3 Djokovic /   Djokovic \

8 Roddick \    Federer  /

2 Federer /

Second round match to look for...
  Del Potro v Baghdatis


Third round match possibilities...
       Isner v Cilic
        Fish v Querrey