The Roddick Gateway

We very nearly could have had exactly the same winners on the ATP tour this week as last week, if Andy Roddick had not carelessly (or probably carefully, actually) got in the way. I don't know how often this happens, but I'm going to venture 'not often'. And this week it was not to be.

Nicolas Almagro and Robin Soderling completed the first two points of the triangle - I am very glad that Soderling won in Marseille, by the way. If my beloved Nico M is going to get beaten, I would rather it was by some dude who's genuinely excellent than anyone else. And the Prince of Clay, Nicolas Almagro... well, he's making good on the nickname, and that is for sure.

Anyway. So we had Almagro (check) and Soderling (check) but Raonic, who would have made it a three-from-three, went and lost to Roddick. Three sets it took - though it easily could have been two either way, as the first two were pretty intense breakers - but Roddick it was who came out on top. Yoda I am talking like today. I am, oh yes.

I feel a bit bad about it, as I probably should be rooting for the underdog, but I'm glad Roddick came out on top today. Even though it is, as I said yesterday, like a spaceship with jet thrusters rather than a bandwagon, I'm just not on board with Milos Raonic yet. Probably the spaceship is going too fast for me to catch up on. If Raonic was to add a top ten scalp to his already growing bag of scalps - a scalp that is not the questionably mohawked scalp of Fernando Verdasco, that is - then I don't know if I could deal.

Roddick represents order in the tennis world. He's a top ten fixture. He exists in my world to place regular beatdowns on the guys ranked below him and to get shellacked by Roger Federer. He's the intermediary between the two worlds - the gateway, if you like. If you beat Roddick, then something serious is going down. It's not like beating Verdasco or one of the other top ten ne'er do wells - I'd place players like Berdych, who is (I think) ranked higher than Roddick in this category. Roddick is consistent. Roddick has been in the top ten for about a hundred years and stayed there. If you beat Roddick - especially if you start beating him regularly - well then, you could be launching an assault on the top guys. Or at least getting some wins against them.

Milos Raonic isn't there yet. The Roddick door is closed to him. And for me, maybe this is good. If he's going to get on board, I need his bandwagon to go a little slower.

O Canada

I am back! If you were really hanging out for a dose of highly uneducated, highly biased opinions de la moi about tennis (along with some bad Franglais) then you have come to the right place.

And today we're talking about Canada. Firstly, I'd like to point out that I'm going to a conference there in May and I'm a bit excited about it. But that has nothing to do with tennis. And they appear to have a lot of that in Canada, all of a sudden.

Remember when Canadian tennis was all Daniel Nestor with a soupcon of Frank Rhythm-is-Dancevic, because I do. It was, like, six weeks ago. But since then, some kid named Milos Raonic has made the fourth round of the Australian Open, then two consecutive finals, won his first title, might win his second against Roddick, and has jumped over 140 places to be ranked #37 in the world. Oh, and he has something like 330 points to defend... for the rest of the year. Um, hello top 20. Like, next week.

Please, someone. Someone who watched Milos Raonic last year. What has he done? What has changed? What is the magic ingredient that's turned Raonic from a #150-odd-ranked journeyman into the next big thing? Between him and Sascha Dolgopolov, we seem to have the second coming of tennis right here.

I was determined not to jump on the Raonic bandwagon. Even now, his game - heavy on the aces - is not particularly appealing to me. But with the rocket ride he's taken up the rankings, it's pretty hard not to be on the wagon now. It's not even a wagon. It's some kind of eight-horse-powered alien invasion spaceship with jet thrusters that's trying to take over the world.

And Raonic isn't even the only Canadian who has taken a one way ride to awesometown. He's been the most meteoric, but following along quietly (but not that quietly) behind him is Rebecca Marino. I'd never heard of her before this year, but then went and pushed Francesca Schiavone all the way at the Australian Open and now she's in the Memphis final. And that is - well, that's just totally awesome. And she is a quality tweeter. Top ten. Easy.

I don't know how much credit Canada itself can claim for its sudden success, unless they put something in the water over off-season. But they have reason to be very proud of their young 'uns. Canada has suddenly - and quite unexpectedly - become a force to be reckoned with... at the Hopman Cup, if nowhere else!

Andy Roddick's Bridesmaids

You know who I haven't been that impressed with lately? Sam Querrey. You know who I have been impressed with? John Isner. So you can imagine my surprise when the Memphis final turned out the way it is.

Since James Blake slid down the rankings like melting butter, the search has been on for the next American wunderkind. Mardy Fish was a little old for the job, and Sam Querrey seemed to be the prime candidate. He had a few seriously quality months last year where he scored some awesome wins. And then he sat on that glass coffee table and things started not going so well.

Enter Isner. He'd been around for a while, but then he started, you know, being all good. I think his real big break probably came in the US Open last year when he beat Andy Roddick in the third round, but Big John had been coming hard for a while. Both he and Querrey play Karlovician tennis - however, I would argue, that John is more Ivo than Ivo. Ivo may be taller, but John at the net...

I think the reason I am so surprised at this result coming out of Memphis is that Querrey and Isner have similar games - the Dr Ivo style of tennis, based around a monstrous serve. However, Querrey seemed to me to be declining and Isner to be rising, and not just because Querrey fell through that coffee table. It seems to me - and, despite this result, it still does - that Isner and Querrey play the same style, only Isner is better at it.

It happens, I suppose. And Isner did have the match on his racquet in that second set tiebreak. There was some real mental toughness involved in this match - as there always is, I suppose, when you have a match that is centred around tiebreakers. I was still surprised, however... and I'll be interested to see how this rivalry plays out in the future. Because it seems to me that Isner, not Querrey, is going to be Andy Roddick's bridesmaid in the long term.

A Definite Shimmer

There is a tunnel. There is light at the end of it. And I can see that light.

Oh yes. Ernests Gulbis won another match. He's in the semis of Memphis. He beat another seeded player.

What's that I see? Why, would that be another few passengers on this otherwise deserted Gulbis train which just might be heading towards the light?

Okay, so that is overstating it a bit. But this is far and away the best result that Gulbis has had in at least eighteen months - probably since RG '08, to tell the truth. I think there was only one or two occasions last year where he won two consecutive matches, let alone three. And he's beaten some really high-quality players in this tournament - first Stepanek, now Berdych. That would be men's tennis of the Czech republic (aka last year's Davis Cup runner up) taken out by Gulbis.

I know I'm getting pretty excited over something which really isn't that huge... but damn it, I've been clinging to this bandwagon for, like, ever. I need to celebrate when I have the chance.

Gulbis only barely scraped through against Berdych today - it was a third set breaker. However, considering he was down a set, I think this shows some nerve, which is something he has definitely been lacking. He won the second and steeled his way to the breaker. I didn't look closely at the stats, but he had a pretty reasonable first serve percentage as well - that's something else that has been killing him. I only saw a set of his first round in Australia, and he served, like, 37012830182 double faults. I think he served 5 against Berdych today, which is still a lot, but it's definitely getting better.

We're still a long way off reaching that light at the end of the tunnel. But I'm beginning to feel a glimmer, a shimmer of hope that the Ernests Gulbis train is heading in the right direction.

Glimmer?

So, I'm a little late, but whatever. Ernests Gulbis totally won two matches in a row! And he beat a seeded player!

Let's all take a moment to process that.

It was very popular to tout Gulbis as the Next Big Thing a few years ago - 2008 was a good year for him. He reached the quarter finals of Roland Garros and generally was awesome. Then he opened 2009 with a win over Djokovic... and did pretty much nothing from then on out. And then 2010 didn't exactly open with a bang, considering he lost to Juan Monaco in the first round of Australia, spraying some number of errors so huge I can't even remember what it was.

Suffice to say, the once-packed Gulbis bandwagon is now rattling along pretty emptily. But I'm still on it.

I couldn't really tell you why. It's not like the last year or so has given me any glimmers of hope. But there's something about Gulbis's game that I really dig, and even though he's spraying a ton more than he did in '08, I think the bare bones are still there. He probably qualifies as a late bloomer now (provided he, you know, blooms) but I still believe that Gulbis can be awesome. This victory over Stepanek doesn't suddenly herald a huge resurrection or anything, but I'm really hoping that this is the glimmer of hope I've been waiting for.

What does Gulbis need to do? Well, stop making so many errors, for a start. As far as I know, he's still working with Niki Pilic - it might be time to break the bonds and fly free. What I would really like to see is Gulbis working with wondercoach Larry Stefanki, but I don't know if Roddick will give him up so easily. But a change in coach and the ensuant breath of fresh air would be good for Ernie, I think. It's time to change something up, because what he's doing now clearly isn't working so well.

I used to say that Ernie would be top ten for sure. I still think he can get there, but 'sure' is a strong word. However, what I really want to see is a tournament win. Don't care which tournament. Any will do. Just give me something, Ernie. It's lonely up here on your bandwagon all on my lonesome.

Lleyton Lifts

As I write this, Tommy Robredo has four match points against Juan Monaco in the final of Buenos Aires... of which he has now lost three, but even if he loses the match, then my point still stands. He's one of the guys to beat at this point in the season. Watch this space.

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Another one who's been good to watch this week has been - surprise, surprise - Lleyton Hewitt. I know I'm jumping on this bandwagon a little late, but he's seriously been playing some inspired stuff. He won more points than Roddick did in that match, and if he hadn't played such a dodgy breaker in the second...

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He has said that he wants to get back into the top ten, and while I think that one's a little out of his grasp, if he continues to play like he did in Memphis this week, he certainly has a shot of finding himself well within the top fifty again. A Grand Slam seeding is a good goal for him, I think... and with his current level of play, it should be no trouble.

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And Tommy Robredo just won in Buenos Aires. That's two tournaments on the trot. Not bad, eh? And Victoria Azarenka just won her second career title in Memphis. Are we going to see her and her bad attitude take a run at the top ten?

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Today's Results

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Regions Morgan Keenan Championships (Memphis)

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Victoria Azarenka def. Caroline Wozniacki, 6-1 6-3

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Copa Telmex (Buenos Aires)

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Tommy Robredo def. Juan Monaco, 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-5)

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Open 13 (Marseille)

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Michael Llodra, 7-5 7-6 (7-3)

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Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas (Bogota)

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María José Martínez Sánchez def. Gisela Dulko, 6-3 6-2

The Curious Case of the Dangerous Worm

Whoa. The Worm seems to have it all going on at the moment. He may not have made such a good showing at the Aussie Open, getting crushed four, love and love by Nando Verdasco, but he's been doing well in the subsidiary tournaments. A title in Brisbane and now one in San Jose - defeating two hometown boys, Roddick in the semis and Fish in the final, along the way.

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What is it with the Worm? I've watched him play a number of times and I still can't quite figure out what makes him such a dangerous player. Because he is a dangerous player, as his results will attest - but watching him play, I cannot tell what facet of his game is the one that makes him dangerous. Does he leech off the spirits of his WTA-girlfriends, both of whom have become rubbish since they dated him? Or has he been defeating people with the power of his picnic-blanket shirt? Maybe I will never know.

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Some good results overnight for a) one of my favourite players, Dmitry Tursunov, who won his opener in Marseille (correct me if I'm wrong, but has he won this title before?) and b) an Aussie, Chris Guccione, who qualified for Memphis and then won his first round match, knocking off local Vince Spadea. I'm perpetually disappointed in Guccione so it's nice to have a bit of a change!

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Though speaking of Aussies I am not currently disappointed in, Brydan Klein has made it two from two on the satellite circuit this year - he won a Challenger event last week, and this year has walked away with a Futures title from Mildura. Useful rankings points - watch this space!

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And, because I was too busy writing about how wonderful Rafa is yesterday, I forgot to give a proper shout out to one of my Stars, who had a great week. Thomaz Bellucci lost a close match in the final of Costa do Sauipe to Tommy Robredo - a great showing. As a result, he's jumped twenty places in the rankings. Nice on, Thomaz!

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Now when is Ernests Gulbis going to reach a final, hmm? (No pressure, Ernests.)

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Oh, and nice work to Ana Ivanovic for conquering an Aussie Open demon and beating Alisa Kleybanova. Still a long way to go, but it's nice to see her taking it a step at a time.

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Today's Results

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SAP Open (San Jose)

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Radek Stepanek def. Mardy Fish, 3-6 6-4 6-2

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Regions Morgan Keenan Championships (Memphis)

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Men's Draw

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Chris Guccione def. Vince Spadea, 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5)

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Women's Draw

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Lucie Safarova def. Melanie South, 6-2 6-2

Sabine Lisicki def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-3 6-3

Michaella Krajicek def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 6-4

Pauline Parmentier def. Julie Coin, 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-1

Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro def. Alexa Glatch, 6-3 6-3

Vania King def. Alexandra Stevenson, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2 6-0

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Copa Telmex (Buenos Aires)

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Brian Dabul def. Nicolas Devilder, 5-7 7-5 6-4

Juan Ignacio Chela def. Alberto Martin, 6-3 6-2

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Open 13 (Marseille)

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Dmitry Tursunov def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 3-6 6-2 6-2

Jan Hernych def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-3 3-6 6-4

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Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

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Elena Vesnina def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4 3-6 6-0

Ana Ivanovic def. Alisa Kleybanova, 7-5 6-4

Urszula Radwanska def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4 6-3

Alizé Cornet def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-4 6-1

Marion Bartoli def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-0 4-6 7-6 (8-6)

Dominika Cibulkova def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-4 6-2

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Andreja Klepac, 6-3 6-1

Ayumi Morita def. Anna Chakvetadze, 7-5 6-2

Alona Bondarenko def. Olga Govortsova, 6-4 6-3

Francesca Schiavone def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-1 6-1

Daniela Hantuchova def. Stefanie Voegele, 7-5 6-2

Samantha Stosur def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-4 6-3

Monica Niculescu def. Peng Shuai, 3-6 7-5 6-2

Virginie Razzano def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 7-5 6-2

Camille Pin def. Agnes Szavay, 2-6 6-2 6-3

Sania Mirza def. Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5 6-2

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Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas (Bogota)

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Edina Gallovits def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-2 6-2

Petra Cetkovska def. Sandra Zahlavova, 7-5 6-2