Jodi's Epic Tennis Adventure 2.7 - Fedgasm

It struck me, as I was walking back to my hotel from Melbourne Park tonight, how very sad the week I spend each year at the Australian Open makes me. It makes me sad that every week of my life is not this great. Is there any felicity in the world superior to being at the heart, feeling the pulse, of one of the things one loves most?

No, I didn't think so.

I think I've become so introspective because I got to witness a Federer match tonight, a match where he was in full flight and it was so incredibly beautiful it was almost painful. Yes, I know I am waxing poetic about a second round match where the opponent wasn't that great, but there is something incredibly special about being there, seeing that ball come off his racquet and knowing that he knows he's going to win.

He was absolutely sublime tonight - fifty two winners to seventeen unforced errors. He made the point himself that his opponent's style - this was Victor Hanescu, for those of you who are unaware - allowed him to play this way, but it didn't make it any less beautiful. After the nerviness of the Andreev match, this was a total breath of fresh air.

And it is always an honour to watch this man play. Even Prince William thought so. (Kudos to the prince, by the way - he was great with the crowd tonight. Though I suppose he's had some practice with crowds).

His post match interview with Jim Courier was also good fun - and Mirka was a very good sport about it as well. And it was just SUCH A FESGASMIC MATCH.

Okay. Federer drooling over now.

There was actually another match in the night session... it just wasn't very interesting. Seriously, the sesh started out with the sublime and ended up with the so-boring-it-was-ridiculous. Seriously, whose fool idea was it to put Dellacqua/Sprem on Rod Laver Arena. That match belongs on Court 11. Or something. Margaret Court Arena, max. But Laver? When there are Williamses and all other kinds of interesting women?

I did stay for the whole match, I confess, but it was more nostalgia than anything else, as it was my last night on Rod Laver Arena. I'll be wandering the grounds again tomorrow, but the night sesh will be viewed from the comfort of my hotel room. If only Kuznetsova were on tonight instead of them! Seriously, Dellacqua/Sprem was the most boring match I have ever witnessed. It was dull in the first half and then WTA-typical (read: no one could hold serve) in the second. Dellacqua won in two tiebreakers. I think. I might have fallen asleep.

I did catch some good tennis around the grounds during the day, however... though I was very, very disappointed in my WTA fave Sabine Lisicki, who I saw crash out in the second round to Alberta Brianti. Seriously, Sabine? I expected so much more of you. I want to take you and Ernests Gulbis and put you on a tennis court with Larry Stefanki and not let you both out again until you stop doing stupid things, like making 3028402834 errors per match.

So that was disappointing - as was Yaroslava Shvedova's loss to Tathiana Garbin. I caught the first set of this, which Shvedova won, but evidently there was a bit of a crashing and burning incident when I left. Iveta Benesova was also disappointing - I expected her to lose to Vera Zvonareva, but I caught some of this match, and Benesova added a lot of losing to Vera's winning.

Oh. Ana Ivanovic. It's impossible for her to disappoint me any more, because I have no expectations. But she did even worse than last year. Yeesh.

In the 'not disappointing' camp, I saw the first two sets of Nikolay Davydenko versus Illya Marchenko, and JMDP was not lying when he said that Kolya plays like Playstation. Seriously, he got so many balls back it was just not funny. And he's developed a really excellent sliding serve which I haven't seen from him before - Marchenko got no play on it at all. I think there's a possible Verdasco/Davydenko fourth round clash, and I would be really interested to see how this turns out. Nando is in pretty decent nick himself, but this is a different Kolya to the one we've seen before...

But match of the day on the outside grounds for me definitely went to Almagro/Becker on Court 8, which Almagro took in five. This was a real battle of different styles (and fans!) and I was sad to see Becker-no-relation lose it, to tell the truth. Almagro on hard courts doesn't really do it for me, and he was no good at all last year. But it was an extraordinarily entertaining match - and that is what tennis is all about!

Oh, and addendum - only interesting thing to come out of the Dellacqua match. Marcos Baghdatis was in Karolina Sprem's box. THEY ARE SO DATING.

The Trials and Tribulations of B Becker (no relation)

It's not very often you see the top players split across two tournaments like we're witnessing this week with Valencia and Basel - Davydenko and Murray are playing in Valencia, while Federer and Djokovic take on Basel. Highly unusual. Though, I have to say, I think Valencia would be the major port of call were not Basel Federer's home tournament and thus assigned more symbolic value...

No major seeded upsets in either of the tournaments today, with the exception of eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who went out to resurgent Swiss mister and Federer bestie Marco Chiudinelli. (Roger and Marco also played doubles together... yeah, they lost. Whatevs.) This can probably partly be ascribed to hometown advantage and crowd support, but Chiudinelli has put in some very consistently good performances lately, going reasonably deep (considering his ranking) in some tournaments. Here's hoping we can see a little more of him, because any friend of Roger is a friend of mine. Hopp Marco!

But one player I really do want to talk about is someone who lost in Basel today, and someone I'm coming dangerously close to admitting to the Club of Lost Souls, over which James Blake and Alize Cornet currently preside. That player is Benjamin Becker.

Okay, sure, this B Becker (aka Becker-no-relation) is never going to be a tennis legend in the manner of the other B Becker. Becker-no-relation doesn't have that sort of talent. But I've seen him play a bit and he's quite talented. He'll probably go down in history for being the player that defeated Andre Agassi in his last professional tennis match and not for anything much of his own merit, but still - I've seen him win matches. I've seen his win big matches. (I mean, Andre Agassi? End of his career? New York crowd? Tall order!)

...but this year? Becker-no-relation has been nowhere to be found.

Basel has been no exception, with Becker-no-relation going out in the first round to Viktor Troicki. Now, I've seen Troicki play before as well (in person) and he's also got some game, but I'd be picking Ben over him anytime. So where has Becker-no-relation gone this year? He was one of those players who was never going to be top ten himself, but always gave them a run for their money, occasionally pulling an upset... you know the type. He was a danger man. This year... more of a mouse. Sigh. Here's hoping it's an end-of-year thing, and that Ben-not-Boris is back bigger and better and upsettier next year.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3 6-1
Gilles Simon def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-3 6-2
Gael Monfils def. Marcel Granollers, 6-4 6-2
David Ferrer def. Nicolas Almagro, 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-2
Pablo Cuevas def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3
Juan Monaco def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-3 6-2
Leonardo Mayer def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-3


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Novak Djokovic def. Andreas Beck, 6-3 7-5
Marco Chiudinelli def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-5
Viktor Troicki def. Benjamin Becker, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)
Jan Hernych def. Peter Luczak, 6-3 6-4
Evgeny Korolev def. Simone Bolelli, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Seed Massacre

Okay, what is with this seed massacre going on in s'Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne this week? It's crazy! It's covering both the men's and women's tournaments, and it seems that no one is immune. Is it grass? Or is it just that we're having a ker-razy week?

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The only draw which seems even a little immune is the men's draw at Eastbourne, we have the #2, #4 and #8 seeds in the semis - but still, they're hardly the four seeds you'd expect! That's Tursunov, Santoro and Garcia-Lopez... and a qualifier, Frank Dancevic. What's the bet that Dancevic goes on to win the title? From memory, he's already knocked out the top seed (which was Andreev, I think). It looks like we're having a bit of a misrule hangover from Roland Garros.

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In the women at Eastbourne, the only seed left standing is #6, which is Caroline Wozniacki. (Odd, isn't it, that the women's draw seems to have attracted a lot more high-end players than the men - Dementieva as a top seed has a lot more pulling power as a name than Andreev). I really would like see Caro go on to win the tournament, and considering the rest of her opposition consists of Razzano, Bartoli and Wozniak, she should be able to do it... though Bartoli is a former Wimbledon finalist, I suppose, and has game on grass. Still, if Caroline can't pull this one off you practically have to write the tournament off as a moment of WTA insanity.

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...which is mirrored over in s'Hertogenbosch, where only top seed Dinara Safina remains standing - and only after a real battle against Daniela Hantuchova. It would be great for her to win this title to get her confidence back up after the Chernobyl incident in the Roland Garros final, and like Wozniacki, she should be able to do it: her opposition is Tanasugarn, Wickmayer and Schiavone, all players she should theoretically be able to beat with one hand tied behind her back. So here's hoping she does.

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And our last bastion of normalcy in the men's s'Hertogenbosch draw is fourth seed Rainer Schuettler - and even though he's the seed, I don't think there's any way in hell I'd pick him to win. Even if he did make the Wimbledon semis last year. Up against him is Becker, Navarro (who put an absolute pounding on defending champ Ferrer) and Sluiter. I think this one might be Becker's. It'd be nice to see him come up through qualies like that - and he really does have a great game.

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So, in conclusion, there's general madness, and I think the only thing you can really attribute it to is the miniscule amount of play that happens on this surface. And why is that? Wimbledon is probably the most important event of the year! Why does Roland Garros get two or three months of lead up clay tournaments when Wimbledon only gets two weeks?

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Today's Results

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Ordina Open (s'Hertogenbosch)

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Men's Draw

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Benjamin Becker def. Michael Llodra, 7-6 (8-6) 7-5

Rainer Schuettler def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-6 (13-11)

Ivan Navarro def. David Ferrer, 6-4 6-2

Raemon Sluiter def. Dudi Sela, 4-6 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Daniela Hantuchova, 1-6 6-4 6-3

Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Flavia Pennetta, 2-6 6-3 6-3

Yanina Wickmayer def. Kristina Barroi, 6-1 6-1

Francesca Schiavone def. Olga Govortsova, 6-1 6-3

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AEGON International (Eastbourne)

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Men's Draw

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Frank Dancevic def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5

Fabrice Santoro def. Ivan Ljubicic, 3-6 4-2 retired

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Dmitry Tursunov def. Denis Istomin, 7-6 (8-) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Virginie Razzano def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5

Marion Bartoli def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3 6-2

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Vera Dushevina, 6-1 6-0

Yes You Can, Stan!

And the year had been going so well for Stan Wawrinka. He shot up the rankings into the top ten after making the final of Rome, and has stuck around, floating round that #8 to #10 slot. Then there was the gold medal in Beijing, partnering Roger Federer to doubles glory, and then...

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...not so much.

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He was the top seed in Vienna, and he lost to Philipp Petzschner, who was a qualifer. Sure, Petzschner went on to make the final, but I don't think that's really an excuse. And then today, in Basel, he had two match points and wasted them in a loss to Benjamin Becker, also a qualifier. Becker-no-relation is pretty promising - he knocked out Davydenko at one of the Slams this year, though I can't remember which one - but really, he shouldn't be beating Stan Wawrinka, especially when said Stan is playing at his home tournament in Basel.

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I sincerely hope that Stan has not suddenly contracted a case of Ana Ivanovic's disease - getting a taste of the big time and not being able to hack the pressure. Because Stan really is a great player. I love his game. I know he has suffered from nerves in the past - he really got dragged by Federer through those first few matches in Beijing - but he can do it. I know he can. I want to send out a Bob The Builder message to Stan today: Can he fix it? Yes he can!

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Meanwhile, what was the deal with the Tursunov match in St Petersburg? I know that Dominik Hrbaty is one of the three players on tour that has a winning record over Federer, but that doesn't mean he should be going round beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-1 6-1. There's something seriously whack with that.

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Today's Results

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Davidoff Swiss Indoors (Basel)

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Benjamin Becker def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5)

Igor Andreev def. Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5

Mardy Fish def. Agustin Calleri, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Feliciano Lopez def. Marco Chiudinelli, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (9-7)

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St Petersburg Open (St Petersburg)

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Dominik Hrbaty def. Dmitry Tursunov, 6-1 6-1

Victor Hanescu def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-1 6-2

Rainer Schuettler def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-2 6-3

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Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon (Lyon)

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Tommy Robredo def. Michael Llodra, 6-4 6-3

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Sam Querrey, 6-3 7-5

Julien Benneteau def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-2

Steve Darcis def. Radek Stepanek, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Josselin Ouanna def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

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Generali Ladies Linz (Linz)

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Alizé Cornet def. Zheng Jie, 6-3 6-2

Katarina Srebotnik def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-1 7-5

Kaia Kanepi def. Melanie Klaffner, 6-4 6-0

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FORTIS Championships Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

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Anna Chakvetadze def. Mathilde Johansson, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Daniela Hantuchova def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-2 7-5

Li Na def. Mandy Minella, 6-2 6-1

Peng Shuai def. Vera Dushevina, 6-1 6-2

Sara Errani def. Marina Erakovic, 4-6 6-2 7-5

Sabine Lisicki def. Sofia Arvidsson, 2-6 6-3 6-4

Kolya Learns His Lesson

Well, well, well. First David Headbandian, and now Nikolay Davydenko. Two of the top eight gone in the first two rounds.
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I don't know what Headbandian's excuse is (apart from letting LameDave show up) but I can make a fair guess at what Kolya's is. Feeling sorry you played Warsaw now, aren't you?
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Honestly, it's insane. Really, wouldn't it almost be better to play no warm up tournament at all than to play one on clay - even if, like Kolya, you add another trophy to your cabinet? Well, I hope that Warsaw trophy is nice and shiny for you now, Kolya, 'cause you ain't getting nowhere on grass till next year.
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That said, it wasn't all Kolya playing badly - or simply the curse of Court 2, graveyard of champions. His opponent, Benjamin Becker (most famous for ending Andre Agassi's career at the US Open and for being no relation to Boris) played very well. Becker-no-relation is actually a pretty promising player, though he might have limited time left in which to actualise his potential... he's been around for at least a few years, I think, though I could be wrong. But it was a very good win for him. Kolya is notorious for his consistency, and to overcome him in straights is a pretty good effort!
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That also opens that side of the draw up considerably. The Davydenko quarter is traditionally the quarter where you get the random semi-finalist (tm) - your Tsonga or your Monfils. I had, I admit, picked Kolya to reach the semis... on the recommendation of Rafa Nadal, who said in a presser he thought Davydenko was one of the favourites for Wimbledon. Thanks, Rafa. So now I'm revising my prediction for this quarter to Andy Roddick, on the proviso that his shoulder doesn't, I don't know, explode or something. Conventional, I know, but I don't think you can ever underestimate A-Rod on grass. Failing him, in the event of shoulder explosion or similar, I'm going to pick... hmmm... Mathieu. Tursunov is a possibility. The unseeded player that could make a splash is Cilic. But really, Roddick aside, this is not the strongest quarter of a draw I have ever seen.
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Speaking of that Kolya-overestimater Rafa - which I did do early in that last paragraph, before I got distracted - he had a win over Andreas Beck. Not his best win ever, but that's pretty normal for Rafa in the early stages of Wimbledon, as in the infamous Kendrick Incident. He got the job done, which is pretty much all that matters. Beck played well - I thought he was going to fall off in the second and then in the third set, but he didn't, to his credit. And what an occasion for a first ever Grand Slam match! Centre Court at Wimbleon... not bad, eh?
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I watched the match on TV here in Australia, and there appeared to me to be this thing wherein the commentators were on crack. I mean, I like Rafa and all, but since when is he the favourite for Wimbledon? Since when? I know he's playing well on grass and all, but hey! so is Federer. And, oh look! sixty straight grasscourt wins! Would that be... Federer? And... who was it that won the last five Wimbledons? Um... some guy called Roger Federer.
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I understand that Federer lost to Nadal badly at the French. Trust me, I appreciate. But he's over it. You can tell. So why isn't everyone else? He said himself that it is much easier to forget a loss like that than the loss at Rome in 2006 where he had match points. And we're in a totally different ball park now. Roland Garros and Wimbledon are, in many ways, incomparable. Did people think Rafa was going to lose the French last year when Roger beat him in Hamburg? Not quite the same situation, I grant you, but it had little to no effect on the final outcome. The final of Roland Garros this year is not the great psychological thing that everyone seems to think it is. If anything, it'll give Federer motivation to make the media eat their words... though he said he's been staying away from the press, which seems smart to me.
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Back to those dope-smoking commentators, who apparently also believe Rafa's forehand is better than Roger's. Um, yes, I agree that Rafa's forehand is very very good - it's wicked, with that hooking lefty spin, but is anyone forgetting that the Federer forehand IS THE MOST FEARED SHOT IN THE GAME? I was enraged. When the Federer forehand is firing, it's unstoppable.
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That's enough of a rant for now. I might say something nice about Rafa, since I do like him a lot, even if he is not Roger. He wasn't really timing his groundstrokes that well today - which will, I think, come with a bit more practice on these courts - but when he get that wicked kick serve? The one that hits the corner and skids away almost horizontally? Because that is a SWEET shot.
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It was nice to see a few of those French boys do well, too - in particular, Spaz Grosjean and Richard Gasquet. It was a much better performance from Richou today - really collected. And I always like to see Spaz do well, as he is the special favourite of my friend Erin. I had hoped for a bit more from the Murray/Santoro match, but, hey, these things happen. I'm not a Murray fan, but I suppose it's nice for the British to see one of their own doing well.
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And, finally, go Ernests Gulbis! A great win over John 'I-am-the-same-height-as-the-Empire-State-Building' Isner. He's up against Rafa in the next round, and if Rafa doesn't mind his p's and q's, this one could have quite a few sets in it.
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Wimbledon Results - Day #2

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Andreas Beck, 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-0)

Andy Murray def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-5)

Andy Roddick def. Eduardo Schwank, 7-5 6-4 7-6 (7-0)

Richard Gasquet def. Mardy Fish, 6-3 6-4 6-2

James Blake def. Christophe Rochus, 3-6 6-3 6-1 6-4

Benjamin Becker def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Chris Eaton def. Boris Pashanski, 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

Tommy Haas def. Guillermo Canas, 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-4

Marin Cilic def. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Agustin Calleri def. Kevin Anderson, 4-6 7-5 7-5 6-1

Jesse Levine def. Donald Young, 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-2

Radek Stepanek def. Jan Hernych, 6-3 7-5 6-0

Nicolas Almagro def. Marcel Granollers-Pujol, 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-2

Jarkko Nieminen def. Wayne Odesnik, 6-3 retired

Gilles Simon def. Dawid Olejniczak, 6-3 6-4 6-2

Nicolas Kiefer def. Julien Benneteau, 6-1 7-5 6-3

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Izak van der Merwe, 7-5 6-2 6-2

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Ivo Minar, 6-4 2-6 2-6 6-2 6-2

Rainer Schuettler def. Santiago Ventura, 6-3 6-2 6-4

Jeremy Chardy def. Frederico Gil, 7-5 6-7 (1-7) 4-6 6-4 6-3

Arnaud Clement def. Jonas Bjorkman, 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Jurgen Melzer def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-4 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 2-6 6-3

Mikhail Youzhny def. Sergio Roitman, 6-1 6-4 6-0

Ernests Gulbis def. John Isner, 7-5 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (8-6)

Sebastien Grosjean def. Potito Starace, 6-2 7-5 6-1

Janko Tipsarevic def. Thierry Ascione, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Oscar Hernandez, 3-6 6-4 6-0 6-2

Dmitry Tursunov def. Nicolas Mahut, 604 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-5

Tommy Robredo def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-1 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-4

Xavier Malisse def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-3 6-4 6-2

Viktor Troicki def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3 4-0 retired

Stefano Galvani def. Jamie Baker, 6-4 6-2 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Venus Williams def. Naomi Cavaday, 7-6 (7-5) 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Stephanie Foretz, 6-1 6-4

Jelena Jankovic def. Olga Savchuk, 6-3 6-2

Lindsay Davenport def. Renata Voracova, 6-3 5-7 6-3

Anne Keothavong def. Vania King, 4-6 6-2 6-3

Francesca Schiavone def. Tamira Paszek, 6-3 5-7 10-8

Vera Zvonareva def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-1 6-7 (3-7) 6-1

Timea Bacsinszky def. Julie Ditty, 7-5 6-3

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-1 6-4

Emilie Loit def. Lucie Safarova, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Mariya Koryttseva, 7-5 6-4

Daniela Hantuchova def. Sara Errani, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Marina Erakovic def. Michaella Krajicek, 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (8-6)

Nadia Petrova def. Olga Govortsova, 6-4 6-4

Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-4 6-3

Sorana Cirstea def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-4 6-4

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-2 6-4

Monica Niculescu def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 1-6 6-3 6-4

Gisela Dulko def. Aravane Rezai, 1-6 6-0 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Martina Muller, 6-1 6-1

Dinara Safina def. Yung-Jan Chan, 7-6 (10-8) 6-2

Sania Mirza def. Catalina Castano, 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-4

Sybille Bammer def. Sofia Arvidsson, 4-6 4-1 retired

Ai Sugiyama def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-4 6-2

Flavia Pennetta def. Julia Vakulenko, 6-3 6-4

Alisa Kleybanova def. Tzipora Obziler, 6-4 6-0

Hsieh Su-wei def. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 6-3 6-2

Julia Goerges def. Katarina Srebotnik, 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 16-14

Shahar Peer def. Katie O'Brien, 6-3 7-5

Caroline Wozniacki def. Eva Hrdinova, 6-2 7-5

Victoria Azarenka def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-1 6-1

Mara Santangelo def. Maret Ani, 7-5 6-3

Shuai Peng def. Viktoriya Kutuzova, 6-3 6-4