We had two defending champions in action in finals this week - Steve Darcis in Amersfoort and Dmitry Tursunov in Indy. Neither of them won. I doubt this is indicative of any major change in tennis, but I thought it was kind of interesting.
*
I remember when Darcis won Amersfoort last year, actually. He was ranked something stupid like #297, came up through qualies and won the tournament. Obviously that sent him rocketing up the rankings, and he's been hanging about ever since. He won a tournament earlier in the year, I think, so he wasn't a one tournament wonder. Good for him. I don't actually know much about him except that he's Belgian and kind of weird looking (though not as weird as Radek Stepanek... no one is that weird looking). So I know more about him than Potito Starace (for example) but not that much, really... although now I know that he lost in the final of Amersfoort this year to Albert Montanes. There's not much you can learn about someone when you're not actually watching their matches. Maybe if Mr. Darcis (or Mr. Starace, for that matter) played Hopman Cup, I would be able to make proper judgments about them. Because that's what every tennis player needs, obviously... a Judgement from Judge Jodi.
*
I apologise for that awful pun.
*
Our other dethroned champion was my old friend Dmitry Tursunov. I can make no comment about the match... but judging by the stats, a story was told in Tursunov's points won on second serve percentage (34%) and the fact that he converted none of his break points. Alas, Dmitry. Even after his bad behaviour in Nottingham, he's still one of my favourites... even if he has been eclipsed a little by Marat Safin for me. But I like Dmitry's attitude. Well, mostly I like his blog. I don't know indicative of his actual attitude that is. But he is one of those people I would like to have a drink with one time, just because he sounds like he'd be fun.
*
But alas, Dmitry lost. The winner was Gilles Simon - actually, did you know that Simon is only the third Frenchman this year to win a title? Given the amount of Frenchmen in the top hundred, that absolutely mystifies me. Llodra has won two titles, and Santoro won Newport last week. But what about Gasquet? Tsonga? Monfils? Clement? Grosjean? Mathieu? There are so many - an insane amount, more than the Spaniards - and this is only their third player to take a title this year? That is vaguely unbelievable.
*
Apart from the staple Clement/Llodra, there is an interesting French doubles team in the Toronto draw next week - Gasquet is playing with Mahut. Why oh why didn't they play together on grass? Actually, maybe they did... I don't pay much attention to doubles normally - which is bad, because I should. Doubles rules and all. But Gasquet and Mahut would be an awesome grass court team. Just a theory.
*
The reason I am paying attention to the Toronto doubles is because some of the big guys are playing. I am really, really excited about the Federer/Wawrinka doubles team - I suppose they're playing together now to practice for the Olympics, but practice or not, I think this is going to be really good fun. Their first match is against Julien Benneteau and Frederic Niemeyer, which I'm pretty confident they can win... which would bring up against bye-beneficiaries Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes. Just below them in the draw are the also interesting pairings of Roddick/Fish and Clement/Llodra - just why aren't Clement and Llodra seeded? I am mystified.
*
That first round match promises to be a corker, but even more interesting is a little higher in the draw - Nadal and Robredo against Davydenko and Andreev. That one should be a big battle. (Andreev lost his final yesterday, by the way... in a third set tiebreak! Poor Igor.) With the Olympics coming up, a lot of people are pulling double duty, and it's led to one of the most interesting doubles draws I've seen in a long time. It'll be really interesting to see who wins... I will be cheering for Roger and Stan all the way! Hopp Suisse! And that goes for the Olympics as well - I'll be gunning for the Aussies in just about every other sport, but when it comes to tennis, I think that I might well be Swiss.
*
Just before I go - big kudos to Juan Martin del Potro, who won his second straight title in Kitzbuhel. This kid might just be here to stay!
*
*
Today's Results
*
Austrian Open (Kitzbuhel)
*
Juan Martin del Potro def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-2 6-1
*
*
Dutch Open Tennis (Amersfoort)
*
Albert Montanes def. Steve Darcis, 1-6 7-5 6-3
*
*
Studena Croatia Open (Umag)
*
Fernando Verdasco def. Igor Andreev, 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4)
*
*
Indianapolis Tennis Championships (Indianapolis)
*
Gilles Simon def. Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4 6-4
*
*
Bank of the West Classic (Stanford)
*
Aleksandra Wozniak def. Marion Bartoli, 7-5 6-3
*
*
Gastein Ladies (Bad Gastein)
*
Pauline Parmentier def. Lucie Hradecka, 6-4 6-4
Posts
2 comments:
Hey Jodi. I didn't even realize that about the French players having only won three tournaments all year: That's pretty wild, considering all those guys in the top 100.
There's big-time pairings playing in Canada, but let me ask you: Do you think it could end up being too much? I know they have to get used to each other, but the guys are looking at potentially a lot of court time in the weeks ahead.
Oh, I think they'll be all right. Let's face it - most of these teams aren't going to go too deep in the tournament anyway, big time or not, so really it'll only work out at an extra couple of matches, which is, when it comes down to it, basically practice, but in a match situation. Obviously, if one pairing won this tournament and then went on to win Cincinatti, then it might be a factor - especially if they were playing singles finals too - but I doubt that'll be too much of a factor.
Post a Comment