No Muss, No Fuss

Following in the footsteps of Jonas Bjorkman not so long ago, Thomas Johansson has just announced his retirement from tennis, with immediate effect. After fifteen years travelling round the world, he's now decided it's time to hang up his racquet.

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I kind of understand why he's decided to go so quickly, no muss, no fuss. His wife had a baby a few weeks ago (their second child) and understandably, when you're on the decline and you're dogged by injury anyway, you want to go and spend some time with your family. All the best to you, Thomas - even if I wished you'd saved it a few weeks and played one last Wimbledon.

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The other reason why it's sort of OK for him to go so quickly - I doubt it had anything to do with his decision, but it seems sort of symbolic to me - is that Swedish tennis is in good hands now. When Bjorkman retired, Johansson sort of became the new elder, I suppose - and with his Grand Slam title, he deserves that kind of status. Swedish tennis has been looking pretty barren for a long time now - there was that spurt of hope when Joachim Johansson was looking so dangerous, but then he went and got injured, and retired, and came back, and got injured and all kinds of craziness. But Swedish tennis has got a new guy playing with the big boys now. Thomas Johansson can retire knowing that Robin Soderling... he got it. He's grown up enough now to be the figurehead.

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Like I said, probably had little to do with his decision, but nice nonetheless.

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Speaking of people announcing their retirement, one guy rumoured to maybe be throwing in the towel at the end of the year is Juan Carlos Ferrero, but with the run of form he's on I don't know if he'd want to. Semis at Queen's for the unseeded Spaniard, after a victory over Steve Darcis. I know Queen's is hardly... well, Wimbledon... but for a non-Rafa Spaniard on grass, that is a damn good result. Nice work, JC!

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Today's Results

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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)

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Novak Djokovic def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-1 6-4

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andreas Beck, 3-6 6-3 6-3

Olivier Rochus def. Benjamin Becker, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-3

Tommy Haas def. Mischa Zverev, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2*

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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)

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Andy Murray def. Mardy Fish, 7-5 6-3

Andy Roddick def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5)

James Blake def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Steve Darcis, 4-6 6-3 6-4

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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)

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Magdalena Rybarikova def. Urszula Radwanska, 6-3 6-3

Sania Mirza def. Melinda Czink, 6-1 7-6 (7-4)

Na Li def. Stefanie Voegele, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

Maria Sharapova def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-1 2-6 6-3

Lucky Star

And so the last, LAST event of the year has finished, with the Pro circuit event in Sorrento wrapping up. I can't say I am too familiar with the people that won - Marinko Matosevic in the men's and Olivia Rogowska in the women's. I don't have too much more to say about that, except that this Matosevic character has apparently won four Pro circuit titles this year... maybe he'll graduate to Futures or even Challengers at some stage. He is exactly four years younger than Roger Federer... I suppose you could say he was thus born under a tennis lucky star.

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And how about Cedric Pioline? Knocking out Pete Sampras - God, I bet that felt sweet, though I'm sure he would have preferred to have done it a little earlier in his career! - then going on to beat Greg Rusedski for his first seniors tour title. I confess I don't follow the seniors tour very much, which I suppose is a shame, because it looks kind of interesting... actually, Jonas Bjorkman said when he retired that he'd played on the regular tour for so long he could go straight on the seniors tour. Ah, Jonas...

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So what is the point of the seniors tour, exactly? Is it just a chance to set up epic grudgematches, like the Sampras/Pioline rematch? How serious is it? Is it just a group of old guys kicking around having fun or do they really get down and dirty?

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I would like to note that I exempt John McEnroe from this question. He would get down and dirty with anyone, anywhere, anytime...

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.

Good Behaviour

Wasn't that match between Roger Federer and Dominik Hrbaty just the loveliest thing you ever saw? I don't know if I've ever seen a tennis match that was... well, nicer. And not because Federer won and won so easily - though that was, of course, very nice! What was the loveliest was the way that Federer and Hrbaty clearly respected and liked each other. At the risk of sounding stereotypically Australian, it was a match between mates, and it was wonderful to watch.

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I've never seen a match where the players sat next to each other on the changeover like that. I mean, sure, in Davis Cup you've got the bench, but that's different, because you sit with your teammates. These were opponents, in Wimbledon - the holy grail of tennis. And yet they could still remain friends, even though they were competing for such a prize.

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Just another one of the things I like about Federer (and now Hrbaty!) Sportsmanship. The world of sport would be a better place if more people would take his example. Which is why it's so good that Federer has been elected to the new Player's Council (along with Nadal and Djokovic.) I hope his influence can become even more pervasive.

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On the actual match - how good was Hrbaty's hot dog shot?! And Federer's insane backhand smash volley?! Grass is so so good for producing a highlights reel, I tell you!

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Speaking of great tennis statesmen, I'd just like to devote a few sentences to the oldest player in the field, who has just announced that he will retire this season. Jonas Bjorkman, I salute you. He has played and played well for his whole career. His singles and doubles careers are both very distinguished. But more than that, Bjorkman has always been a gentleman tennis player. He has always been a great sport, he has won with humility and lost with grace, and there is little in sport more important than a good attitude. So, vale Jonas. You will be missed.

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There were some other great matches yesterday. The one I saw the most of (inevitably, being in Australia) was the Hewitt-Haase match, and wasn't it a barnburner?! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like the way Haase plays. He's only young, so he has lots of time to improve. If he can stop panicking on his forehand he will be something else. He has beautiful hands at the net, which is unusual for a player as tall as he is. He gets down to the ball really well - and he is not afraid to come in, which is great to see. Pat Rafter was on the tennis last night bemoaning the lack of true serve-and-volley players, and I agree with him. There will always be some room in tennis, especially in grass court tennis, for serve-and-volley. And net play in grass is just so lovely to watch, from an aesthetic perspective... yeah, this was a great match.

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Hewitt played pretty well too. He's not the Hewitt that once he was, but he played pretty respectably. His hip seemed to be holding up okay, and he has much better run now that he's got passed this Haase test. (But give Haase a few years... yeah, you've heard it before.) I don't think he'll have too many problems with Montanes, Montanes being pretty much a claycourter. That'd give him either Bolelli or Gonzalez in the next round... Gonzalez could be a stumbling block. I've never seen Gonzalez play on grass, though, so it could be a tight match.

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One of the commentators said something intelligent last night (shock horror!) They pointed out that Hewitt's game is based around counterpunching, and now that people don't come to the net so much, it's much harder for him to enforce his game. I thought that was a really interesting point. The game has evolved, and to an extent, Lleyton Hewitt has been left behind.

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Only two major upsets yesterday - much as I wish it had been three, Djokovic got through, though he looked a bit scratchy. Ivo Karlovic went out - is this an object lesson in not playing a tournament the week before Wimbledon? Who can tell? (Ferru won, so this thesis is obviously flawed... though his opponent did retire. Hmmm...) More shockingly, David Nalbandian (Headbandian) went out. That's two early exits now - second round to Chardy at Roland Garros, and now first round to Frank Dancevic. Now, Dancevic isn't a bad player, but he's no Headbandian. It looks like LameDave has been back in action. Not being a Headbandian fan, I find it difficult to be sad, but it is disappointing. That opens this little section of the draw right up, though, because Karlovic was in it too... the next highest seed is Baghdatis. Hmmm. That could be veeeeeery interesting. I'd like to see Baghdatis get through to a semi against Federer. Obviously Djokovic stands in the way... but I have a tiny, baby feeling that his next opponent might give him a run for his money. Who is it, you asked?

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Marat Safin.

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If Marat plays his true Maratski tennis, he is going to blow Djokovic away. Unfortunately, Marat hates grass. So this could be... um... interesting. That's a safe assessment.

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I was glad to see Mario Ancic get through as well, though his match against Llodra did not quite go the six hours I predicted, as Llodra retired. Oh well. Some of the other matches I said would be interesting totally were! Hewitt/Haase, for one, Berdych/Korolev, for another. And the Bellucci/Kunitsyn clash was definitely intriguing - I was very glad to see Bellucci win. I'm keeping my eye on him. I really like his game. He's up against Simon Stadler next, who upset Karlovic, and I think Thomaz stands a good chance.

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It struck me after writing that monstrous preview yesterday that I did that thing I do wherein I totally forget the existence of women's tennis. Oops. Let's have a quick look at it now. There were a couple of upsets yesterday, the biggest one being Patty Schnyder, who got beaten by that wonderful little Aussie giant-killer Casey Dellacqua. I'm not, as you know if you've read me blog before, very patriotic when it comes to tennis, but I think Casey is the bee's knees. She has really risen to the occasion in Slams this year. Actually, she beat Schnyder before, didn't she? Australian Open, second round, if memory serves. So well done, Casey.

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My French favourite, Alize Cornet, also went out - though the player she went out to, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, is pretty intriguing. They were juniors together, and they were both up there at the top. Cornet has actualised it better in the WTA draw than Pavlyuchenkova has so far - but is that about to change?

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Virginie Razzano, Maria Kirilenko and Dominika Cibulkova also went out. Interestingly, not long after Cibulkova lost, her boyfriend Gael Monfils held a press conference withdrawing from the tournament. Draw your own conclusions from that. Meanwhile, has anyone else noticed how Gael Monfils looks sort of possessed all the time? It's very bizarre.

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Other than that, it was pretty standard. Ivanovic was impressive. Agnes Szavay was also - I think her time might be coming to make a big run at a Slam. Kuznetsova was scratchy, much as she was in Eastbourne last week. She'd better pick up her game if she wants to go deep. Sam Stosur also had a great win, and I think she stands a good chance of taking out Vaidisova in the next round - which might give her a third round clash with Dellacqua, which would be intriguing.

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So, if I had to pick my semifinalists from the women, I would say Ivanovic (dead cert), Serena Williams (with Agnieszka Radwanska also a possibility,) Sharapova (or Safina) and either Venus Williams or Jankovic, depending on how well Venus plays. There are, of course, some dark horses lurking about - Agnes Szavay for one, and even Dellacqua could make a good run, but those are the four... or seven, I guess! that I'd be looking for.

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Wimbledon Results - Day #1

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Dominik Hrbaty, 6-3 6-2 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Michael Berrer, 7-5 2-6 6-3 6-0

Lleyton Hewitt def. Robin Haase, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-2

Frank Dancevic def. David Nalbandian, 6-4 6-2 6-4

David Ferrer def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 1-3 retired

Marcos Baghdatis def. Steve Darcis, 6-3 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Fernando Gonzalez def. Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 7-5

Mario Ancic def. Michael Llodra, 6-4 7-6 (9-7) 2-0 retired

Igor Andreev def. Jiri Vanek, 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-2

Thomaz Bellucci def. Igor Kunitsyn, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-2

Olivier Rochus def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 7-5 6-4

Marc Gicquel def. Kei Nishikori, 4-6 7-5 retired

Thomas Johansson def. Vince Spadea, 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-3

Florent Serra def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-4 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3

Feliciano Lopez def. Brian Dabul, 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-3 6-4

Albert Montanes def. Carlos Berlocq, 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4

Victor Hanescu def. Alejandro Falla, 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-0 6-4

Philipp Petzschner def. Hyung-taik Lee, 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-4 retired

Roko Karanusic def. Luis Horna, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1

Simone Bolelli def. Alex Bogdanovic, 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Marat Safin def. Fabio Fognini, 6-1 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

Tomas Berdych def. Evgeny Korolev, 4-6 6-1 6-4 3-6 7-5

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Marcos Daniel, 6-3 6-2 7-5

Bobby Reynolds def. Filippo Volandri, 6-2 6-2 retired

Andreas Seppi def. Tobias Kamke, 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Pavel Snobel, 6-4 6-2 6-3

Robin Soderling def. Kevin Kim, 7-5 0-6 6-3 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4 6-3 6-2

Ilia Bozoljac def. Chris Guccione, 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Sam Querrey, 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-4

Mischa Zverev def. Alexander Peya, 6-3 6-4 6-4

Simon Stadler def. Ivo Karlovic, 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-5

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Rossana de los Rios, 6-1 6-2

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Iveta Benesova, 6-3 6-0

Marion Bartoli def. Sabine Lisicki, 6-2 6-4

Serena Williams def. Kaia Kanepi, 7-5 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Mathilde Johansson, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3

Amelie Mauresmo def. Ashley Harkleroad, 6-4 6-3

Samantha Stosur def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-2 6-2

Anna Chakvetadze def. Stephanie Dubois, 2-6 6-1 8-6

Elena Vesnina def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4

Pauline Parmentier def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 7-5 6-4

Evgeniya Rodina def. Virginie Razzano, 0-6 6-2 6-4

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Yan Zi, 6-3 6-0

Casey Dellacqua def. Patty Schnyder, 6-4 3-6 6-1

Virginia Ruano Pascual def. Milagros Seguera, 6-1 6-4

Tatiana Perebiynis def. Petra Kvitova, 6-4 0-6 6-4

Urszula Radwanska def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-1 6-4

Edina Gallovits def. Yvonne Meusburger, 6-1 6-2

Li Na def. Anastasia Rodionova, 3-6 6-0 6-1

Elena Baltacha def. Angelique Kerber, 6-3 2-6 7-5

Nathalie Dechy def. Yuan Meng, 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 6-0

Jie Zheng def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4 6-3

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Alize Cornet, 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4)

Marta Domachowska def. Jill Craybas, 6-1 3-6 6-4

Bethanie Mattek def. Severine Bremond, 5-7 6-0 6-1

Agnes Szavay def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-1 6-3

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Rika Fujiwara, 1-6 6-4 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Melanie South, 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

Vera Dushevina def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-3 6-3

Nicole Vaidisova def. Zuzana Ondraskova, 6-2 6-2

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Camille Pin, 7-5 4-6 7-5