Monday, October 6, 2008

Pim-Pim Returns

So what's this I hear about Joachim Johansson having a wildcard in Stockholm this week? Didn't he retire?
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...a little research shows that he's making a comeback. I don't really know that much about Pim-Pim, but hasn't he tried this comeback lark before? I seem to recall it didn't work so well. He has a chronic shoulder injury or something. I mean, I'm sure all this rest will have done him a world of good, but will it really work out, if the injury was bad enough to force him into retirement?
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I guess he and his doctors know better than me. I will watch his comeback with scepticism - though I have no objection to being wrong. It'd be nice to see a comeback go right, since they so rarely do.
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I had two of my Stars in action today, and both of them won, which was nice. One of them, Jeremy Chardy, is one of my forgotten Stars - he's kind of been relegated to hanger-on status with Eduardo Schwank, so it's nice to see him back in action and doin g well. He took out Potito Starace, who I am under the impression is no slouch, so nice work there, Jeremy: keep it up, and you can be back in with the big boys in the Stars club.
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One of the Stars who definitely is one of the big boys is wee Kei Nishikori, and he had a great victory today over Marcel Granollers, who was the eighth seed. Isn't this kid just something else? He may have suffered a tough loss in Tokyo, but it was a few rounds in, and he had some good victories first. That's what's so good about him - and also about Marin Cilic in particular. They may not win titles all the time, but you can rely on them to make it in a round or two. They very rarely suffer first round losses, unless they're playing someone really excellent, like Federer or Nadal or someone. This is a very good omen for the future, I think: consistency is one of the most important attributes a player can have, in my humble opinion.
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And how about Juan Carlos Ferrero upsetting Ivo Karlovic? He's a Star of the Past, for sure - his heyday was about 2003 - but I do like seeing him do well. He keeps hanging in there - he's tenacious, and I dig that. Good on you, JC!
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Today's Results
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Kremlin Cup (Moscow)
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Men's Draw
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Jeremy Chardy def. Potito Starace, 3-6 6-1 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Nicolas Devilder, 6-2 6-4
Fabrice Santoro def. Yuri Schukin, 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4
Igor Andreev def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-2 retired
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Women's Draw
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Dominika Cibulkova def. Marion Bartoli, 6-1 4-1 retired
Amélie Mauresmo def. Alizé Cornet, 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4
Vera Dushevina def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-1 3-6 6-3
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If Stockholm Open (Stockholm)
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Dominik Hrbaty def. Pablo Andujar, 6-2 6-1
Nicolas Lapentti def. Ivan Navarro, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5
Kei Nishikori def. Marcel Granollers, 2-6 6-4 6-2
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Bank Austria Tennis Trophy (Vienna)
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Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)
Fernando Verdasco def. Victor Crivoi, 6-4 6-4
Guillermo Canas def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3
Jan Hernych def. Roko Karanusic, 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5)
Feliciano Lopez def. Agustin Calleri, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4)
Carlos Moya def. Michael Berrer, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6)

2 comments:

Zafar said...

Pim-Pims back!? I certainly hope so - I used to love watching him play and was sorry to see him go; he's probably testing it at a relatively low profile event before coming on the tour proper - hope it goes well...

http://tennisisserved.blogspot.com

Naf said...

I didn't hear about this ... I thought Hewitt's sister knocked him out of commission, permananent like ... :)