Man Among Boys

Whatever happened to Ivan Ljubicic? A couple of years ago, he was #3 in the world, head of the pack - when you consider that Roger and Rafa are in a different class to the rest of them. And now? He's the fifth seed of a bit tournament in Umag that he probably never had to play before, and playing Challengers every so often. What happened to big Ivan?

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See, I really like Ivan Ljubicic. Some of the men on the tennis circuit are really boys - they're so young and have been travelling on the tour for so much of their lives that it's all they know. They have no life experience outside tennis, and consequently are usually not very interesting. Ivan Ljubicic is a man. He's one of those people I'd like to go out for a drink with, just to hear him talk. He's mature and interesting and has a great deal of sportsmanship and integrity. He's one of the wise statesmen of tennis.

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Not that you necessarily have to have had some awful wartorn childhood like he did to be interesting. You don't have to have been head of the Players' Council to have integrity either. But when it comes down to it, Ivan Ljubicic is one of a few men among a whole heap of boys. And it's sad not to see him doing as well as he did in the past. His buzzword used to be consistency. That was his thing. You'd rarely see him in the semis of a Slam, and certainly never a final, but he'd hit those quarters, year in, year out, and take out his fair share of the minor tournaments as well. This year, his highlights are a final in Zagreb and two semis (Doha and Poertschach.) He's now ranked #38 in the world.

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One of the casualties of being a man among boys is obviously age, and Ivan is a good deal older than a lot of the players on tour. He must be what? pushing thirty now. Let me check... yes, 29. Not that that is ancient, and it's certainly not dead in tennis terms - one only has to look at the Clement/Schuettler semi final to see that! - but Rafa is 22. Djokovic is 21. And they're both Slam winners.

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Not that I expect Ivan to win a Slam. Maybe in his heyday, if his heyday hadn't been in the Golden Age of Roger Federer (which is still continuing, incidentally) he might have had a shot. But it was nice to see a man of such maturity and integrity up at the top of the game. I mean, technically, #38 ain't half bad. That's #38 out of the three billion or so men in the world. But it's not #3.

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Look at me, coming down hard on Ivan just after he's won a match in spectacular fashion! He brutalised Mikhail Kukushkin in Umag today - 6-1 6-2, winning 100% of the points on his first serve. I mean, sure, Kukushkin is #135 - but that's still #135 of three billion. The difference between players becomes a lot smaller when you think of it in those terms. So well done, Ivan. He's the man I want to win in Umag this week. Because Ivan deserves a title this year. I don't intend to profile him on Stars of the Past, Stars of the Future any time soon, because he is still a Star of the PRESENT.

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That said, I did profile Safin, and he's well and truly proved that there's some game in the ol' Marat yet...

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Today's Results

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Austrian Open (Kitzbuhel)

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Rainer Schuettler def. Andreas Beck, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Agustin Calleri, 6-4 6-4

Potito Starace def. Santiago Giraldo, 6-1 6-2

Eduardo Schwank def. Michael Berrer, 6-4 6-1

Jurgen Melzer def. Luis Horna, 6-3 6-1

Juan Martin del Potro def. Josselin Ouanna, 6-3 6-3

Ivo Minar def. Olivier Rochus, 3-6 6-4 6-0

Brian Dabul def. Stephane Bohli, 6-1 6-1

Leonardo Mayer def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-1 7-6 (7-3)

Jan Hernych def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 7-5 7-5

Victor Hanescu def. Pablo Andujar, 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-2)

Nicolas Devilder def. Matthias Bachinger, 6-3 6-3

Sergio Roitman def. Martin Fischer, 6-4 6-2

Alexander Peya def. Guillermo Coria, 5-7 retired

Daniel Koellerer def. Philipp Oswald 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4)

Daniel Brands def. Eric Prodon, 6-3 6-4

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Dutch Open Tennis (Amersfoort)

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Albert Montanes def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-4 6-2

Philipp Petzschner def. Florent Serra 2-6 6-4 6-4

Jesse Huta Galung def. Santiago Ventura, 6-1 1-0 retired

Pablo Cuevas def. Werner Eschauer, 7-5 6-2

Oscar Hernandez def. Denis Matsukevitch, 6-1 6-3

Ivan Navarro def. Igor Sijsling, 6-3 6-1

Edouard Roger-Vasselin def. Martin Verkerk, 2-6 7-6 (11-9) 4-3 retired

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Studena Croatia Open (Umag)

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Ivan Ljubicic def. Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-1 6-2

Guillermo Canas def. Nicolas Massu, 7-5 6-2

Marcos Daniel def. Carlos Berlocq, 6-3 4-6 6-4

Mischa Zverev def. Luka Belic, 6-2 6-3

Daniel Gimeno-Traver def. Olivier Patience, 6-2 6-2

Maximo Gonzalez def. Filip Prpic, 7-5 6-3

Victor Troicki def. Jiri Vanek, 6-3 6-1

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Indianapolis Tennis Championships (Indianapolis)

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Paul Capdeville def. Robby Ginepri, 6-4 6-2

Tommy Haas def. Jesse Levine, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Rajeev Ram def. Fabrice Santoro, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

Alejandro Falla def. Thomaz Bellucci, 3-6 6-4 6-1

Wayne Odesnik def. Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi, 6-4 7-5

Bobby Reynolds def. Frank Dancevic, 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2

John Isner def. Robert Kendrick, 7-5 6-4

Woong-Sun Jun def. Chris Guccione, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

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Bank of the West Classic (Stanford)

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Dominika Cibulkova def. Nadia Petrova, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Samantha Stosur def. Anastasia Rodionova, 6-3 6-1

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Gastein Ladies (Bad Gastein)

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Pauline Parmentier def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

Iveta Benesova def. Kirsten Flipkens, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-4

Maret Ani def. Klara Zakopalova, 7-5 4-6 6-3

Galina Voskoboeva def. Sanda Mamic, 4-6 6-4 6-0

Melanie Klaffner def. Lucie Safarova, 6-3 6-4

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And today in Stars of the Past, Stars of the Future: Jonas Bjorkman.

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Jonas Bjorkman has got used to being the oldest man in the main draw of the singles in Grand Slams. He is thirty six years old, and despite being better known as a doubles player, has enjoyed significant singles success throughout his entire career. In 2006, he reached the semi finals of Wimbledon. For a man in his mid thirties, that isn't a bad effort at all. Most tennis players have long since retired by his age, tucked up in their rocking chairs with carpet slippers, but Bjorkman has continued to play both singles and doubles - an absolutely extraordinary effort.

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The star of Bjorkman has just about burned out - he has just announced that he will retire at the end of the season. His wife Petra has just given birth to their second child, so it is only to be expected. But his career has been a beacon for the tennis world. His reinvention of himself as a doubles player was inspired, and it has allowed him a career that is almost twice the length of that of some other players. And he has enjoyed significant doubles success as well. His partnership with Max Mirnyi was one of the best partnerships in the modern era, and they consistently pressed the Bryan brothers to the limit. Now, playing with fellow doubles specialist Kevin Ullyett, Bjorkman is still enjoying a lot of success. He may be retiring, but he is retiring on his terms, and he is going to play his heart out until that day arrives. His attitude is an excellent example to young tennis players everywhere - and perhaps it is this, rather than his undeniably excellent on court career, that will be his greatest legacy. Jonas Bjorkman is living proof that a tennis career does not end once a player hits the big 3-0.