Double Damage

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... we're back beyond the baseline! Jodi is back behind her computer, Indian Wells is a-going on and there is lots to see and do. Let us get started. No further ado. Except to say a quick congrats to Amer Delic for winning the Sarajevo Challenger. Even if he did beat my beloved Nicolas Mahut, he is a feelgood winner and no mistake.

Indian Wells has it all going on in singles, but it really has it going on in doubles. If I'm a regular doubles player - a Nestor or a Bryan or a Zimonjic or someone like that - I'm not liking Indian Wells too much at all, because all these singles dudes have turned up (nine of the top ten, in fact) and they're winning. Lots of people talk about how doubles shouldn't be considered singles' wussy little sibling, but when singles players can do this kind of damage...

...okay, not opening that can of worms. We still have Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray active in doubles, not to mention Melzer and Petzschner (awesome singles players and Wimbledon champs), Benneteau and Gasquet (talented Frenchies), Dolgopolov and Malisse (who knows what could happen?) and, oh yeah, the Bryans. This doubles draw is literally anyone's game - unless you happen to be a seeded doubles team, like Nestor and Mirnyi or Fyrstenberg and Matkowski. Then you are pretty much shit out of luck.

If a duo like the Bryans or Paes and Bhupathi (or even the Indo-Pak Express) can come through and win this one, I will be a) very surprised, but mostly b) really, really impressed, because this has got to be one of the best damn doubles draws of all time. It's literally unpickable. The one pick I'm going to make is that no one will do double duty and win both singles and doubles. The draws here are too deep and tough for that. (Watch me be proven wrong. Hopefully by Federer, but probably by Djokovic. Unappetising idea.)

Of course, if Andy Murray doesn't do well in doubles, then we could have a worse collapse than last year on our hands. We might already - losing to Donald Young in singles? Andy, dude. I don't like you, but Donald Young? Doubles could be a great morale booster, and having his doubles-experienced (and Slam-winning) brother by his side should be an asset - but in a doubles draw like this, who knows what could happen?

With the exception of Murray - and Ferrer, if we're going that deep - we're still on track for a highly-seeded set of later rounds in the singles. I have Nadal winning in my bracket, and I'm really interested to see if he can make it happen - of course, I would love to be wrong and see R-Fed pull out the victory, but I have a Rafa-type feeling on this one. If he's fully fit, then I like Rafa to beat just about anyone. This is obviously a very contentious claim, on account of how he is #1 in the world. But we shall see, we shall see.

Let's just put it this way - I would be very, very surprised if we saw someone like Ivan Ljubicic win this year. It just doesn't feel like that kind of year. Indian Wells this year feels oddly... significant. I don't know, maybe I'm just making that up. But it feels weighty, it feels meaningful, and the results from here and Miami could really (unlike last year) set the tone for the next few months.

The Hidden Circuit

One of the lead stories on the Tennis Australia website today is that Monique Adamczak and Nick Lindahl (both young Australian players, for those of you who don't know the names) have won events on the '2008-09 Pro Circuit.' Now, I'm mystified. What on earth is this so-called Pro Circuit?

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Adamczak and Lindahl are not very highly ranked players - Adamczak is somewhere in the late #100s and Lindahl in the #200s, so presumably this Pro Circuit is not especially prestigious. The tournament that they won the men's and women's singles in was in Rockhampton, so it's hardly a travel-around-the-world international affair. Oh, wait - I've found a page on Tennis Australia about it. It says:

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'The tennis Pro Circuit is a series of international entry level events onto the professional tour. These events provide an opportunity for players to earn their first world ranking points, which is a players' livelihood as a professional player. The tennis Pro Circuit is a vital step for all tennis players as they embark on professional careers. Positioned as a bridge between junior events and the elite WTA and ATP tournaments the circuit, it is the breeding ground for future champions.'

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That makes sense, I suppose - but surely Monique Adamczak is a bit past that stage? She's played in Slams - surely she should be playing ITF events... her ranking is high enough to get into most of those, yeah? She's professional, not jumping the gap between the two - though looking at her profile, she hasn't been playing much tennis, either at WTA or ITF level. She's made it to some semi-finals, but that's about it. She was born in 1983 and turned pro in 1998, by the looks of it... she's had some career success on the ITF circuit with four title but not that much recently - and now she's back playing on the Pro Circuit. She was the top seed in Rockhampton.

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That's really a bit demoralising, but well done Monique Adamczak, nonetheless.

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Nick Lindahl is a bit of a different story... I remember him playing in juniors a couple of years back, and he was no Tomic, but he was pretty good. I haven't really seen him since - the ATP has no record of him turning pro, though presumably he did, because he played quarter finals in a Challenger event... do you have to be a professional to play Challengers? Maybe you don't. He was the second seed in the event at Rockhampton.

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It's funny, isn't it, to actually see the evidence of the work that players do to get to the top? You sort of assume they have to work their way up, but I've never really thought about how they did that. It'd be the rare junior that jumped straight onto the ATP or WTA circuit - I suppose, in recent memory, Alize Cornet has done it, and maybe Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but let's have a look at recent junior Slam winners for boys, and see where they are now. In 2007, Donald Young won the US Open for boys, and in 2006 Thiemo de Bakker won junior Wimbledon, but we have to go back to 2005 before we start getting any really familiar names - the champions that year were Young, Marin Cilic, Jeremy Chardy and Ryan Sweeting. That was 2005, and now we're in 2008, and if we take Cilic as our example case, it has taken him about three years to be a regular on the ATP circuit. He didn't even qualify for the US Open last year.

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So where was Marin in these few years? Playing Challengers and Futures, no doubt, but maybe he was hanging about on the Pro Circuit too. So maybe I should pay more attention to this hitherto unheard-of circuit... perhaps I can claim I saw the next Roger Federer play before he was famous!

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Today's Results

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TOE Life Ceramics Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou)

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Olga Govortsova def. Yan Zi, 6-3 6-2

Mariya Koryttseva def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-4 6-4

Karin Knapp def. Zhang Shuai, 7-6 (8-6) 1-6 6-1

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4 4-6 6-3

Ioana Raluca Olaru def. Aniko Kapros, 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1

Lu Jingjing def. Ekaterina Dzehalevich, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

That Young Guy

So it looks like Hamburg lost their lawsuit against the ATP. I don't know if I really have an opinion (or feel justified having one) on this issue, but you can't help feeling sorry for them. Hamburg has been such an important tournament for so long and to be relegated like that, and moved, and all kinds of other things... no wonder they tried. But they lost. And now they'll be later in the year, post-Roland Garros, so the star quality won't be nearly so high... though some of them will play on the stuff day in, day out if they can help it. But I'd be very surprised to see the Federers and Nadals of this world there.

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So vale, Hamburg of old. You were a fun tournament while you lasted.

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I wonder how this will effect the rankings? Probably not at all, now that I think of it... it's done by week, not by ranking, yesno? Which is how we know Rafa will become #1 (sob) though he isn't yet - because Roger has yet to drop the points from Montreal and Cincy last year. SO Hamburg will be swept into the corner, to become one of those clay tournaments I rail about. That's really sad, actually.

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What isn't sad is that Marat Safin beat John Isner in straights. I know I always overestimate Isner and that really, the Safins of this world should never lose to the Isners, but still - go Marat! He faces Odesnik next, and provided he keeps his head on straight, he should win easily. I hope he's learning something from his sister's new attitude. Dinara's insanely talented, but the reason she's winning at the moment is that she wants it, and she wants it bad - and she's not backing down. I would love to see non-backing-down Marat too. I would LOVE him to win this tournament. Love. LOVE.

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Even the ATP seems to have conceded that this tournament is pretty dull - their coverage seems lacklustre at best. Their big story is that Donald Young upset Tommy Haas. Hardly world-changing stuff... but then, there's only so much to work with.

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Actually, what is it with this Young kid? I've seen him lauded in some places as this crazy-good young guy who's going to be the future of American tennis, but this is the first time I can remember him winning a match. He hasn't even made a blip on my Stars of the Future radar - and I'm out there looking. I have my posse of young guys, and he never even made the shortlist. Hell, he never even made the longlist. I confess I haven't really paid much attention to him - but why should I? Can someone tell me why this kid is supposedly so good even though he seems to lose nearly all his matches? Because winning a few here and there is kind of key. That's why Gulbis and Cilic are looking so dangerous right now - they may not be winning tournaments yet, but they're getting a few wins nearly every time they step out there. They've made the first step.

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Look at me ragging on Young. I bet he goes on to win the tournament now. That would be just my luck.

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Today's Results

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Countrywide Classic (Los Angeles)

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Dusan Vemic def. Sam Warburg, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Donald Young def. Tommy Haas, 6-2 6-4

Marat Safin def. John Isner, 6-3 6-4

Carlos Moya def. Xavier Malisse, 6-2 1-6 7-6 (7-5)

Amer Delic def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 6-4

Vince Spadea def. Sebastien Grosjean, 6-3 3-6 6-3

Denis Gremelmayr def. Feliciano Lopez, 7-5 7-5

Florent Serra def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-2 7-6 (7-4)