Modest Achievements (and Immodest Failings)

In the grand old tradition (which I started yesterday) of talking about TWO WHOLE PLAYERS in one post, today I'm... going to talk about two players. Wow, really ruined that surprise. Oops.

The two lucky dudes on whom the glorious honour of my educated opinion are being bestowed today are Richard Gasquet and Nikolay Davydenko. I don't think their careers are directly comparable in the long run - Gasquet, as we both know, is quite a bit younger than Kolya and if talent was the only ingredient in the sundae that is a tennis player, then he would blow Kolya off the court - but they both have been around for a while, both have been in the top ten, and both are dudes on whom I have a little something something to say today. So there.

I don't think it's a secret to say that Richard Gasquet is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in tennis today. He is a typical French player - talented to the point of absurdity, capable of incredible - almost alien - tennis, and yet so inconsistent it can make you want to scratch your eyes out. I always think about Gasquet in the same box as Berdych - or at least Berdych prior to 2010. Gasquet made a run to the Wimbledon semis once, I think, but that's about it. I think that Berdych's one final is the one final he'll ever make at Slam level. Sketchy and inconsistent and... yeah, all those things.

But I actually want to say nice things about Richou today. I think he has actually played really well this year. He hasn't had a single first round exit - which for someone as skittish as him, is really something. He hasn't beaten anyone EPIC AND MAJOR OMG, but he's put together some nice streaks of matches - his run to the semis in Dubai, for example, where he beat Gilles Simon, or his run to the quarters in Indian Wells, where he came up against the blisteringly hot Novak Djokovic.

I'm not saying that he's going to go on and win Wimbledon or anything like that. But this is nice stuff to see from someone as traditionally inconsistent as Richou. Modest accomplishments, but solid ones. They're the ones that will earn you points. He just won over Denis Istomin in Monte Carlo, making another tournament where he hasn't lost in the first round. Well done, Richou.

And then we come to Kolya.

He's the opposite of Gasquet - a player who has made the most of talents that are a little bit limited. We know that he's challenged the great ones. We know he's done amazing things. But right now, he is having the most godawful year, poor thing. He just lost to Robin Haase in Monte Carlo, and his ranking is falling and falling. He's lost more times than he's won this year. He probably won't be seeded in Roland Garros, and I'd call him a dangerous floater, but who knows how dangerous he'll really be?

Haase is only the last of the players this year who've beaten Kolya who shouldn't have. After getting all the way to the final in Doha, Kolya has had a shocker of a year. What's he going to do to turn things round? I don't know. People are shouting 'retire', but I think there's more tennis in Kolya yet. We just need to find a way to winkle it out somehow.

A Bizarre Image Which Will Haunt Your Nightmares

Sometimes cupcakes have teeth.

(How is that for a weird mental image?)

We had what has to be one of the best night session lineups in the history of ever in Indian Wells tonight - Rafa playing first, Roger playing second. It does not get any better than that, end of story. And their opponents? Cupcake #1 and Cupcake #2. But these cupcakes... they were the kind with teeth. They weren't quite haggis vindaloo, but they were the kind of cupcakes you'd choke and splutter on. These cupcakes played well above their rankings. And good on them both.

Rafa's cupcake was Somdev Devvarman, he who had a pretty sweet Davis Cup win over Janko Tipsarevic a little while ago and who is in pretty good form. Still, if you're opponent's Rafa, you're essentially a cupcake by default. But Somdev really, REALLY did not play like one. I don't know if there's any gooey, moist cupcake in the world anywhere in the world who can serve at 75%. Them's some good numbers, yo.

Devvarman was ranked #100 the last time I checked... which, to be fair, was round about the same time as the Commonwealth Games, so it's a while. I assume it's changed a bit. But no matter where he's ranked, I feel pretty confident in saying that he is going to move up soon. He's playing with real confidence right now - with teeth, in fact. He's sinking them into matches and, like a tiger shark, not letting go. Rafa got him in straights today, but they were tight ones. A little experience was all Somdev was needing - Rafa won both sets on a crucial break right at the end. If he plays a few more tournaments the way he played this one, Somdev won't give up those breaks any more.

Roger had the one cupcake left in his haggis vindaloo draw... though you wouldn't have been able to tell. Harrison plays differently from Devvarman - his style is less 'sink your teeth in' and more 'I HAVE NO FEAR'. Aside from a few opening nerves, he appeared almost wholly undaunted by the situation. Federer, who is capable of winning cupcake-y factors on daunt factor alone, was a little taken by surprise with this, I think. Harrison is only eighteen years old (I think... he's a teenager anyway), but he demonstrated both today and yesterday against Milos Raonic that he's capable of playing at a much higher level than his age. He has the emotional maturity, I think, that a lot of juniors are lacking. Or that's what it looked like to me, anyway.

These two cupcakes, even though they both lost in straights, both put up excellent performances. The same can not be said for Vile Troicki, who is supposed to be a good player and who got sent to the bakery by Djokovic. Djokovic is playing amazingly at the moment - ain't no one gonna deny that - but for serious, Viktor? That's just silly.

Also silly was the fact that I was right - Gasquet really is a bit of a contender in this tournament, capable of stringing wins together against anyone if he doesn't think too hard and no one's looking. Despite what I said yesterday, I fully expected him to lose today. I think Andy Roddick did too, so the result came as a bit of a rude shock...

Karlovic, Robredo and del Potro all came through in the cupcake half of Rafa, while Stan Wawrinka will join Gasquet and Djokovic in Roger's haggis vindaloo side. I was super pleased with Stan's results today. I'm not going to be surprised if he enters the top ten again this year. I will also not be surprised if Berdych leaves it. Will anyone?

Haggis Vindaloo

If the top half of the draw is cupcakes, then the bottom half is... what's something that's really difficult to eat? Something so full of chilli and spices that you can barely swallow without choking. Vindaloo. Or maybe haggis or tripe. We have eight dudes left in this section and there's only one who I don't think has a chance at the final.

That dude is Ryan Harrison, who prevailed over Milos Raonic. This is not to say that this was not a fantastic win for him, because, hello, it was. (Sidebar - I can't believe we're talking about beating Raonic as a major victory. Wasn't he nobody like five seconds ago?) But despite this, I don't think he's up to playing with the big boys quite yet. Soon, but not yet.

The biggest boys are, of course, Federer and Djokovic, who will play a tantalising semi final if it comes to it (and oh, oh, OH would it be sweet if Federer were to break that Djokovic streak! That would not be haggis AT ALL), but there are many obstacles in the way before then. With the exception of Harrison, every other dude in this half is a contender.

Let's have a look, shall we? (Sorry, no guest blogger today - dudes in this half do not have the cupcake-y luxury that Rafa is currently enjoying.) Aside from Federer and Djokovic, we have two other top ten players in Berdych and Roddick. I wouldn't be putting my money on other of these dudes, but they are more than capable of making it to the final if things go their way. I wouldn't say either of them is in their bestest form ever at the moment, but you make it to the final eight in this half, then you have a little something going on. You are probably not... a cupcake. You are meaty. You are weighty. You stick to the ribs. And you're not going down easy. You are like vindaloo. Vindaloo made with haggis.

Just outside the top ten we have Stan Wawrinka, and if you saw what he did to Andy Roddick at the Australian Open, you know just how much Stanley is capable of. Of course, he could just as easily be totally flat, but if Stan is on... well, he's made a Masters final before, that's all I'm saying.

And then you have Troicki. While I would rather eat eight family size portions of haggis vindaloo than see him make the final, it's not outside the realms of possibility.

And then, perhaps most interestingly, you have Gasquet. I thought about including him with Harrison, because I think it would be very unlikely for him to come through to the final here. Reeshie is not a dude who does well with haggis vindaloo - though, ironically, it might be better for him to be in this tough side than off eating cupcakes, because sometimes I think he's allergic to them. Playing a hot chilli dude lets Richou know that he has to come out and play well. If he's playing a cupcake, he can get all over confident, all 'oh yeah man, I love cupcakes!' and before you know it he's lost and you're cleaning up the puke.

So yes, I think Gasquet has a tiny chance of making the final. He's got Safin-esque levels of inconsistency, but as far as pure talent goes, he's in my top ten. And sometimes, that pure talent can get you places - like a fluke tournament run. And if Ivan Ljubicic can win this title, then anything can happen.

This is definitely the more intriguing half of the draw. There are no byes here. While the other side is possibly the most predictable since tennis began - Juan Martin del Potro is the only possible dud cupcake over there, the only one who could mess up Rafa's parade - this side is anyone's. Except Harrison's. He's not quite haggis vindaloo yet. Sometimes the draw gods work in very, very mysterious ways.

The Man in the Mask

So, tennis world, I feel like I've missed the memo. Is Gilles Simon awesome again? Did someone forget to tell me?

Seriously, you can't turn around these days without going, 'oh, Simon beat that vaguely competent guy? is he back or something?' Today, the vaguely competent guy is Michael Berrer, but there have been many much more competent dudes that Simon has got the W over lately.

I never had a lot of time for Gilles Simon when he was awesome. Part of this was me being a bitter Federfan - I cannot lie - but then there was that whole deal wherein, you know, he doesn't actually have any weapons. The best demonstration of this I ever saw was when Rafa hammered him at the AO in 2009. I feel like he's really good at pretending to be a good player but sometimes he gets exposed. And that's exactly what happened when he got de-awesomed.

But now he's all winning stuff, so the mask is back. But he did only beat Berrer in a third set breaker, so read into that what you will.

Oh, and Tursunov beat Gasquet. I'm a bit of a Tursunov fan, so yay, but seriously, Richou? Did that seriously just happen?

There Is No Mention Of The Word Blood In This Title

Okay, so I think I'm about done with the whole blood thing. That is sooooo first round.

First thing is first - Roger Federer is through, and in style. I could ask for nothing more (though if he wants to throw in a few more tweeners, then I'm not going to complain, you know?) I didn't see any of his match against Andreas Beck, but I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy most of it. Viva la Rog!

My fangushing is over now. Let us talk about everyone else.

Match of the day, I thought, had to go to Richard Gasquet and Nikolay Davydenko. Well, maybe not match of the day per se, but superlative performance of the day - Richou absolutely massacred Kolya. If I were more derivative, I would have titled this blog post something about Kolya's blood being spilled.

This is the kind of player Gasquet had the potential to be. If he played this awesome all the time, no one would be able to stop him. He'd be a second Federer - he'd be damn near unbeatable most of the time. But alas, he hasn't realised that potential. I doubt there is a Slam in Gasquet's future. He's going to be one of those woulda shoulda coulda kind of guys. But hot damn, this was some performance today. I'm going to be reeeeeeally interested to see how he fares in the next round, because if he shows up with this kind of form.... yeesh.

Soderling and Djokovic both had much easier times of it, which was nice for both of them. Djokovic seems to be trying to set a tradition of making an inappropriate joke in all of his post match press conferences. Um... whatever, Bert.

There was one major upset on the men's side today, and that was Kei Nishikori triumphing over Marin Cilic in an absolute epic. I love Nishikori's game, so I hope he can go far - this was quite some match for him!

Now. Ladies.

1) Caroline Wozniacki is looking more and more like she might win the title. This scares me.

2) Jelena Jankovic is definitely not going to win it. This is a bit saddening.

3) Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova are both big contenders and whoever wins that top quarter is going to win the tournament.

4) Andrea Petkovic and Bethanie Mattek-Sands played one of the most compelling women's matches I have seen a long, long time.

Any questions?

Richou, Muzz, This is Not Wimbledon 2008

Well, Day 2 put me in a good mood, with a very nice win for my boy Fed and a very entertaining match from Muzz and Richou. Outcome might have not been what I had hoped from that one, but good stuff.

The winners: Fed. I was a bit worried about him coming in and he was ever so slightly scratchy in that first set, but when he put his foot to the accelerator he scorched away. I felt a bit bad for Peter Luczak, but I cannot pretend to be anything less than thoroughly satisified with this match.

Everyone you expected to be a winner was a winner yesterday, pretty much. Not a single seed lost all day, so it seems unfair to single anyone out. I would, however, like to mention Caro Wozniacki. I expected her to be ripe for an upset special, but her performance against Kudryavtseva was nothing short of commanding. Maybe she's not as injured and out of it as I thought she was.

Also Kei Nishikori and Carsten Ball in fierce five set wins. And Sophie Ferguson in a big comeback. Yay.

The losers: I have to go with Richard Gasquet here. Seriously, dude, two sets up against Muzz again? This was that Wimbledon disaster all over again. I know he was tired, but all he had to do was close it out and get off court and it would have been much easier for him. Kudos to Muzz for pulling it out, but Richou, I thought you could have done a little better here.

And I also have to put Michael Yani in this category, not because he's a loser but because his loss was so heartbreaking. He's never won a tour level match and loss to Lukas Lacko 12-10 in the fifth. Nightmare written all over it.

The disappointments: Richou, once again, I am looking at you.

Also, Novak Djokovic. I'm not expecting a lot from him in this tournament, but he really shouldn't have lost that set to Korolev. I know Korolev is fierce when he has his day, but he wasn't really having his day. Should have done better than that, Nole.

The scraped-in-by-the-skin-of-teeth: Why, hello, Andy Murray. I know you roared back after being down again, but you really didn't deserve this much. This level of play is not going to serve you well... though if you want to go back and practice on the grass a little early, keep playing like that. You'll get your wish.

One to watch: Stefanie Voegele. I was really impressed with the way she played in her match against Serena - she seriously tested her. She managed to break the Williams serve - no mean feat - and was tight with her all through the first set. She's only young and she has great potential - they make 'em good in Switzerland.

Dirtying Up Stan

Let's talk Stan the Man. We all know Stan. We all like Stan. He's that other Swiss dude that plays tennis and has a baby, remember? He won that gold medal with his mate Rog that one time and they had that weird campfire ritual? You with me?

So, once upon a time Stan was in the top ten, but he hasn't been there for a little while now. This really isn't due to too much fault of his own - we're in a totally strong age. This said, Stan has not been playing totally great for a while. He's good, he's solid, but not great. He takes some weird losses. He takes some losses he really shouldn't. Sometimes Stan is not the Man. (Even though his backhand is a thing of pure joy. Can we please have a Gasquet/Wawrinka exo one day where they're only allowed to play with their backhands?)

What people often forget about Stan the Man is that he won junior Roland Garros in 2003. And also, his first title was in Umag, which is, I believe, on clay. The dude is, in essence, a dirtballer. I mean, look at the big result that catapulted him into the top ten - it was making the final in Rome a couple of years back, which is one of the biggest claycourt events there is. (I believe he beat one R Federer en route to that title, and that is no mean feat). Most of Stan's best results have come on dirt.

And this is how I explain the weird score of Stan's match today - he may be playing a little erratically, but he's a dirtballer in his soul. That's where 6-4 0-6 6-4 comes from. There's some good solid play in there, with a little WTFery in the middle.

I like Stan's game a lot - especially his backhand - and I think that if he has a real swell claycourt season, he can climb back into that top ten. So here is the question I ask today - what does Stan need to do to eliminate the WTFery and be Stan the Man all the time?

Dope

So, doping rules. What's up with them? Because sure as hell am not understanding them.

How is it than when Richard Gasquet was caught having cocaine in his blood - a drug that probably would not enhance his performance at all, however illegal it might be - he was tossed out of the sport until his name had been cleared... but when Wayne Odesnik gets caught with eight vials of human growth hormone, which is definitely a performance enhancing drug, he... plays Houston?

I'm guessing it has something to do with possession vs it actually being in your bloodstream, but come on. Look at the great debacle of Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse, who were out in the cold for ages. The way I see it, the offenses of Wickmayer, Malisse and Gasquet combined - and, you know what, throw Hingis in there for good measure - are nothing compared to what Odesnik is guilty of here. What Odesnik has done is a serious, serious offence in a clean sport.

So how is it that he's not suspended? If Wickmayer and co are guilty until proven innocent, what's up with the Odesnik ruling?

I have no doubt that if/when Odesnik gets convicted or sentenced or whatever they call it, he will be out on his arse. Andy Roddick said he should be thrown out of tennis and I agree wholeheartedly - and I think a whole lot of the tennis world does too. I don't understand why he is allowed to play at the moment, but the fact stands that he should not be playing. And that's something he should have realised himself. Just because you can play doesn't mean you should.

I bet things are real chilly in the locker room for Odesnik right now...

Jodi's Epic Tennis Adventure 2.2 - Sparky Marky

I've just returned from the men's final of the Medibank International - and one thing's for sure, I am looking forward to Melbourne, where my hotel is within walking distance of Rod Laver Arena. To get from Central Sydney to Ken Rosewall Arena, it's two trains and a hike. But whinging aside, yay tennis!

Baghdatis and Gasquet was always going to be an intriguing match up - if we had to have two unseeded players in the final, these are probably the two I would have picked. Actually, the seeds in the men's draw weren't that great anyway, so all things considering, this was a good final. And it was certainly a more entertaining match than the women's match the night before, which, despite featuring two Big Name Players OMG, was not exactly a blockbuster.

So we have an intriguing match, a final in balmy Sydney, what could possibly go wrong?

Weather.

Of all the nights to rain and force the match to go late late late, it had to be the one where I'm catching an early flight the next morning. Typical. It started to fall at 30-0 Gasquet in the second set, Baghdatis having just won the first, and persisted for the better part of an hour. And it's pretty dull when you're there all by yourself and there's no tennis and there's rain... though you do get to eavesdrop on the people around you and wince at their tennis (and other) faux pas. (What is the plural of faux pas? I have no idea). My favourite one was 'Feliciano Verdascus', who apparently won Kooyong today... though there was a 'Twilight is extremely well written' one which made me wince. But my feelings on tweenage literature are not the subject of this post.

As you can tell, I am rambling, because I am tired and need to sleep before aforementioned early flight. I will be concise. Gasquet did not play badly at all - in fact, this is the best I have seen him for a long time. I don't know if we'll see him in the top ten again this year, but he should definitely better his ranking significantly if he stays out of trouble. He played some backhands tonight that... whoa. Yeah. They were pretty amazing. I think Gasquet should have a special exhibition against Wawrinka one day. That would be like... backhand porn.

So his backhand was great, his forehand was pretty solid - he didn't do a whole lot wrong. If one shot let him down, it was the serve - he served two doubles in a row in the tiebreak which probably didn't help him a great deal. Baghdatis, on the other hand, was cranking the serve - he got a lot of cheap points off it. This match was definitely won by Marcos and not lost by Richou, because both of them played pretty well. The difference was in the serving and hitting the lines - I haven't seen the error count, but I'd imagine Marcos would be pretty economical, considering the level of aggression he played with.

Gasquet started out with the wrong game plan, I think, which cost him his very first service game, which end up costing him the set. He was playing a lot of junk balls around the service line, and Baghdatis was just eating them up. I couldn't tell whether he was just sort of feeling out the court or whether he was trying to lure Baghdatis in - he did set up a couple of points beautifully where he lured Marcos in and then passed him. Baghdatis started off playing a lot deeper and it paid off.

This was a match with long rallies and it was very entertaining. I hope to see more of both these boys at the Open! And congratulations to Marcos - it's really something being in a crowd that's full of crazy Cypriot fans, and I really loved the atmosphere. Keep smiling, dude.

Lena Under The Radar

It's the day before Jodi's Epic Tennis Trip Mk 2 starts - I'm flying off to Sydney tomorrow night for the men's and women's finals of the Medibank International before heading down to Melbourne for the first week of the Aussie Open. And boy, am I excited!

I'm even more excited now that we should have a half decent women's final for me to watch. I was a bit worried for a moment there that we'd have Aravane Rezai vs an exhausted Victoria Azarenka. Dementieva, to her credit, never gave me a moment's worry - she disposed of Azarenka quickly. But Rezai really should have won that match against Serena - and Serena should not have had to pull a Houdini to get out of it.

To Serena's credit, she did pull the Houdini, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her win the final tomorrow (though I really do have my money on Dementieva - she's definitely been the steadiest player all week). These two girls were responsible for the Best Match Evah of 2009 on the women's side (though in my humble opinion, it didn't have anything on Clijsters vs Henin in Brisbane - I WAS THERE I WAS THERE). And here's hoping they can pull out another big one tonight.

I've seen a lot of Dementieva in the last couple of weeks - I saw her play live at the Hopman Cup, and I was sitting quite close to her. There's things you can tell in real life that you can't off a telecast, and let me tell you, Dementieva is looking good. I don't want to pull the big claims and say that oh yes, Lena D will win her first Slam in Australia? but you know what? she has a pretty good shot. I think it's in her favour that Clijsters/Henin, with a side of Serena, will take the spotlight. Lena does her best work when she's under the radar, in my opinion, and I'll be interested to see how she performs.

I'll also be very interested to see how Serena performs when she runs up against a Belgian, but that will be a whole other story.

The men's final is on Saturday, and will feature either Gasquet or Benneteau against either Baghdatis or Fish. (Fish has just beaten Peter Luczak in a tight one - Lleyton Hewitt totally crashed out to Marcos Baghdatis after being up a set and a break). Personally, I'm pulling for Gasquet/Baghdatis - that could be totally entertaining, and good for both of their respective comebacks as well.

Before I go, a shout out to my boys John Millman and Matt Ebden in Melbourne, who are both through to the final round of qualies. If we can get just one of these boys through to the main draw, that will be awesome... but you know what? I reckon we can get both.

French Flair, French Fail

So I had another thought about Davis Cup. I've already covered the wondrousness of the Spanish team in general, for being wonderful individual players and for being a great team with a second string almost as strong as the first. We've covered this. Spain = good, no?

But... France has nearly the same amount of men in the top hundred - Spain has a few more, but not many. They've got some really excellent singles players, even if they don't have anyone quite as spesh as Rafa Nadal. They've got a pretty dedicated tennis federation.

So why isn't France doing anywhere near as well?

Spain is better. End of story. They're just awesome. But France really, really should be making it to the semis and finals. I mean, look at them! They've got Tsonga, Simon, Monfils, Gasquet - and then they've got tough doubles dudes (as in Slam-winning) like Llodra and Clement to add to their singles string. This shouldn't be a weak team at all. And yet they keep freaking losing.

This isn't the most coherent ramble, so I'm sorry if this next bit doesn't make any sense, but I have a notion that this might have been fostered at the talent development stage. What do we know about French players? They're full of flair, they're spectacular to watch when they're on but almost painful when they're off, due to the fact that they're largely enormous headcases and tend to implode.

Surely this isn't some kind of national trait...? You can't be born this way, surely? Somewhere along the line, the French guys are trained to be this way.

Don't get me wrong - I love French tennis. But the headcase aspect of it (and the habit they have of being easily injured) is spectacularly trainwreck-y.

So that's my thesis, I guess. France should be good at Davis Cup and isn't. Make them so.

Hey, Leonardo

Not much to report today, other than a) I still don't understand what the hell this Bali tournament is supposed to be and b) everything is continuing apace nicely in Valencia and Basel. The big guys are winning, no one's getting scared, and all things are quiet and peaceful.

Well, I suppose that's not strictly true. Leonardo Mayer gave Andy Murray a bit of a run for his money, extending Mr Newly-beAdidased to three sets. Mayer is another one of this players who seemed to pop out from nowhere and then suddenly you'd see them in every tournament. I can't quite put my finger on when it happened - about six months ago, maybe - but I swear I'd never heard of him before and then he was playing every week. Just like Horacio Zeballos, as discussed yesterday.

They are both Argentinian. Perhaps the Argentines have some super secret tennis program wherein they can just suddenly launch people into the bigtime with no prior warning? If Mayer and Zeballos worked their way up from satellite tournaments, their transition between tours was certainly not gradual. Just bam! ATP! every week. Bizarre. Probably explicable, but then what would I have to talk about?

The other Big Dude who was out on the court today was Djokovic, and he didn't get anything like the scare Murray had... ain't nothing scary about a double bagel drumming (unless, of course, you are the one being bagelled). I don't know whether Jan Hernych, the bagelee, was injured or just played sucktastically, but that's a two-hoof beatdown if ever I saw one... which was certainly not the trend in Basel today, where a couple of guys saved match points before progressing to the next round. Mighty Marin Cilic very nearly succumbed to the Serbian wiles of Viktor Troicki, while Richard Gasquet just managed to edge out John Isner. I think the Swiss public have got their money's worth on this tournament - must be an exciting tournament to watch! And they've still got Stan Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, and, oh yeah, that Roger bloke left in the tournament, so hopp Suisse!

Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-4 3-6 6-3
Nikolay Davydenko def. Juan Monaco, 6-3 7-5
Fernando Verdasco def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3 6-3
Tommy Robredo def. Feliciano Lopez, 4-6 6-3 6-4
Albert Montanes def. David Ferrer, walkover
Mikhail Youzhny def. Pablo Cuevas, 6-2 2-6 6-1


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Novak Djokovic def. Jan Hernych, 6-0 6-0
Marin Cilic def. Viktor Troicki, 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (8-6)
Stanislas Wawrinka def. Jarkko Nieminen, 7-5 2-6 601
Richard Gasquet def. John Isner, 4-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-2
Evgeny Korolev def. Jeremy Chardy, 6-4 7-6 (7-1)
Marco Chiudinelli def. Michael Lammer, 2-6 6-3 6-3


Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (Bali)

Shahar Peer def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1 7-6 (7-4)
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Agnes Szavay, 4-6 6-4 6-0
Kimiko Date Krumm def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-4 6-3
Aravane Rezai def. Melinda Czink, 6-3 7-5

Juan of the Juans

So with Roger being out of Tokyo and Shanghai and with Rafa being out for the next god-knows-how-long (I bet Xisca's really pissed about missing that sweet holiday it looks like he had planned!) we could be in for a boring month or so of tennis. Which... you know, is boring.

But I guess we'll just have to make the best of what we have, which at the moment is Metz and Bucharest. And yeah, Bucharest is clay. What's up with that? I've done the out-of-season clay court rant about eleventy million times, so I won't subject you all to that again, but yeah... it's stupid.

Though Juan Monaco is making a real go of it. In the absence of anything else to discuss, we're going to talk Juan - well, one of the many Juans, because you have to think that Juan Martin del Potro rather has the honour of being 'the' Juan as the moment. But Monaco is indeed a fine Juan, and provides me with many punnilicious opportunities, for which I would like to pre-emptively apologise.

He's kind of flown under the radar a bit - who wouldn't, what with Federer's clay court triumph? but he has had a fine, fine clay court record this season. He's right up there in terms of wins - and I can't remember if he's actually won a tournament, but if he hasn't, he should have. In fact, maybe he can do it this week, in this misplaced clay tournament in Bucharest. He overcame eighth seed Pablo Cuevas in his semi final, and Cuevas ain't no slouch on the red stuff.

But then, neither is Monaco, and if he can't overcome the remaining players in the tournament - Greul, Montanes and Ventura - I might have to retract all those nice things I just said about him. This tournament is pretty much his to win now - a nice little curlicue on the end of the victory from that other Argentinian Juan a couple of weeks ago.

And a shout over to Metz - Richou, subject of yesterday's ramble, is in the semis, after overcoming fourth seed Philipp Petzschner. I wanted him to have a good win, and that is one. If he wins the title he will have to go through the top three seeds, Monfils, Kohlschreiber and Mathieu - but nothing's impossible, I have found!


Today's Results

BCR Open Romania (Bucharest)

Juan Monaco def. Pablo Cuevas, 6-3 2-6 6-1
Albert Montanes def. Fabio Fognini, 6-1 6-1
Santiago Ventura def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-2 6-3
Simon Greul def. Maximo Gonzalez, 6-2 6-2


Open de Moselle (Metz)

Gael Monfils def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-1 4-2 retired
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-1 6-3
Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Andreas Beck, 6-2 3-6 6-3
Richard Gasquet def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-3


Hansol Korea Open (Seoul)

Kimiko Date Krumm def. Daniela Hantuchova, 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-4
Maria Kirilenko def. Vera Dushevina, 7-5 7-6 (7-5)
Anna-Lena Groenefeld def. Yung-Jan Chan, 6-0 2-6 7-5
Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-3 6-3


Tashkent Open (Tashkent)

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Monica Niculescu, 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-2
Akgul Amanmuradova def. Stefanie Voegele, 6-1 6-4
Olga Govortsova def. Darya Kustova, 6-3 2-6 6-2
Shahar Peer def. Alexandra Panova, 6-4 6-4

The Return of Richou

In all this flurry of me doubting the Henin return, Henin returning and then the Davis Cup draw for next year happening, I quite forgot that there was some actual, you know, tennis going on. And one very interesting thing that happened was Richard Gasquet scoring his first win back after his suspension.

To be precise, it's two wins now, after he beat Christophe Rochus in his second round match in Metz, which puts him into the quarter finals. Fancy that. This is a good result for Richou - very good indeed.

But the fact of the matter is that the two players he's beaten are players he should beat, considering how amazingly talented he is. He's toughed out both matches - which, from his perspective, is a very good thing, considering what a nightmarish headcase he is. The first match he won was in a third set breaker, so that took some steel.

And that's what I want to see from Richou now. I want some steel. He's won another chance to come back to tennis - I don't want to see him fritter it away on choking and temper tantrums. He's got too much talent for that. He has the ability to be up at the top of the game, and I want to see that again. He once reached #7 in the world - maybe even #6, I can't actually remember. I don't expect him to do that again, not with the depth of talent in the ATP - but he should be able to win matches. Lots of matches. Have some good wins over tough players. He's got the talent to do it - I want him to deliver.

That was a bit of a long-winded ramble, but it's all true. I refuse to be impressed by Richou winning these two matches - even if he did tough them out - until he can play his hand well in a big match where the chips are down. That'll be a true test of character.

Oh, and welcome back to another Frenchman - who unfortunately lost today, but did manage to score a win earlier this week. Nice to see you back, Sebastien Grosjean. May you stay back.


Today's Results

BCR Open Romania (Bucharest)

Maximo Gonzalez def. Oscar Hernandez, 7-5 3-6 6-1
Simon Greul def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-1 6-4
Juan Monaco def. Pere Riba, 6-4 6-2
Pablo Cuevas def. Peter Luczak, 7-5 6-4


Open de Moselle (Metz)

Janko Tipsarevic def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)
Gael Monfils def. Sebastien Grosjean, 6-1 6-1
Philipp Petzschner def. Michael Llodra, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
Richard Gasquet def. Christophe Rochus, 7-5 4-6 6-2


Hansol Korea Open (Seoul)

Daniela Hantuchova def. Chanelle Scheeper, 6-1 6-1
Maria Kirilenko def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-1 1-2 retired
Vera Dushevina def. Anastasija Sevastova, 7-5 6-1


Tashkent Open (Tashkent)

Akgul Amanmuradova def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4)
Olga Govortsova def. Vesna Manasieva, 6-2 6-3
Shahar Peer def. Kathrin Woerle, 6-2 604
Alexandra Panova def. Patricia Mayr, 7-5 6-1

The Dope Undoped

Well, the verdict is in, the hammer has fallen, and Richard Gasquet has effectively got off his doping charge.

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Kind of, I guess - I don't know if you can call missing Roland Garros and Wimbledon getting off scot-free - there's an inevitable hit in the rankings points that will happen. But the ITF ruled that because Gasquet pulled out of the match for which he provided the sample in Miami, the sample was taken to be 'out of competition' and thus the full twelve month ban did not apply. Instead, he was given a ban of two months and fifteen days, starting on 1 May and continuing to July 15 - so he's already served it.

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The plea that Gasquet entered was 'negligence' and I think that's very apt. He was, in short, a dope. You have to be so careful when you're a sportsperson - doping rules are so tough. I remember a case several years back in Australia where one of our swimmers was ruled out for ages because her coach gave her a cold and flu drug. It's not an arena you can let your guard down in for a second.

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The last I read, Gasquet was blaming his positive result on a woman called Pamela he'd kissed in Miami. Let that be a lesson to you, Richard... parties + sport do not mix. Not that I would wish all the joy to be taken out of the lives of tennis players, but this is proof of just how careful they have to be. Richard was negligent, but I don't think he was criminal. Tentatively, I'm welcoming you back, Monsieur.

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Now I want you to deserve your place. No more headcase. No more stupid. No more negligence. I want to see you glad to be back. You've had to fight for your place on the tour now, you know that it is a privilege, not a right. Now earn it.

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Today's Results

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Catella Swedish Open (Bastad)

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Tommy Robredo def. Peter Luczak, 6-2 6-3

Nicolas Almagro def. Marat Safin, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Robin Soderling def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-2 6-3

Daniel Gimeno-Traver def. Frederico Gil, 6-1 6-4

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Bjorn Phau, 6-3 6-2

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Mercedes Cup (Stuttgart)

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Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4)

Alexandre Sidorenko def. Oscar Hernandez, 2-6 6-4 6-3

Victor Hanescu def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-2 6-1

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Andrey Golubev, 3-6 6-3 6-0

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ECM Prague Open (Prague)

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Francesca Schiavone def. Polona Hercog, 6-2 6-2

Sybille Bammer def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 6-1

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-1 6-4

Lucie Hradecka def. Karolina Sprem, 6-2 4-6 6-4

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Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo (Palermo)

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Flavia Pennetta def. Roberta Vinci, 7-5 6-1

Olga Govortsova def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-2 6-2

Aravane Rezai def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 6-2

Tathiana Garbin def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 6-2 6-3

Patty Schnyder def. Anastasia Pivovarova, 6-4 6-0

Speaking French

You know who we really haven't seen much of since Australia? Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

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Things aren't going to change, either - he just went out to Ivan Ljubicic in the second round in Madrid. But it's - well, a little strange, really. He was seeded #5 in Australia, which is, as we all know, the best of the rest position, and I thought he wore it well. He has so much promise and talent - and the way he moves at net is exquisite for such a big guy - that I was thinking that he might put up a challenge to the Fantastic Four at some point and try to turn them into the Famous Five.

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But no such luck, really. Jo-W has faded badly since his quarter-final appearance at the Aussie Open, and I can't remember seeing him do anything much of anything since. Maybe he has and I blinked and missed it, but I am hoping this is not going to be the story of his career... though I'm beginning to think it is. So much talent, so much promise... a few titles, some Masters shields, a Grand Slam final... but no consistency, nothing to back it up, nothing really to show for it.

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That's the story of French tennis, when it comes down to it. Look at some of their other players - Gael Monfils, who is basically talent stretched out over a lanky six-foot-something form. What has he done? Well, there was that Grand Slam semi last year... but that's not going to put your name in the record books. Same for Gasquet, who's now probably going to be remember for this whole drugs scandal than for his game and the semi he made at Wimbledon. There is a lot of talent in French tennis, but somehow one of the least talented players among them - Gilles Simon - is the one that's been playing successfully in the bigtime and keeping the results up there (not so much of late, but he managed it for a while there - and he is certainly not the equal of Tsonga, Gasquet or Monfils).

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So what is it? Does France somehow manage to create these magnificent talents and then spectacularly mismanage them? Or has it just coincidentally managed to create three of the most sketchy players in the game?

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Today's Results

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Robin Soderling, 6-1 7-5

Andy Murray def. Simone Bolelli, 7-6 (11-9) 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3 6-2

Ivan Ljubicic def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-4 7-5

Tommy Robredo def. Mardy Fish, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Nikolay Davydenko def. Viktor Troicki, 6-2 6-2

Marin Cilic def. Marcel Granollers, 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 6-1

James Blake def. Victor Hanescu, 6-2 6-4

Andreas Seppi def. Eduardo Schwank, 7-5 6-4

Fabio Fognini def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 3-0 retired

Jeremy Chardy def. Jose Acasuso, 6-3 6-2

Tomas Berdych def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-0 7-6 (7-5)

Jurgen Melzer def. Albert Montanes, 4-6 7-5 6-3

Ivo Karlovic def. Julien Benneteau, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Daniela Hantuchova, 7-5 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3 6-1

Amélie Mauresmo def. Zheng Jie, 6-2 7-5

Agnes Szavay def. Aravane Rezai, 2-6 7-5 6-2

Francesca Schiavone def. Petra Kvitova, 6-4 6-2

Lucie Safarova def. Anne Keothavong, 6-1 7-5

Vera Dushevina def. Roberta Vinci, 4-6 6-1 6-4

The Mantle Falls

The big story of the weekend is, obviously, Richard Gasquet testing positive for cocaine. This is a bit of a shock, and rightly so - drug scandals in the tennis world are ridiculously rare (Guillermo Canas and Mariano Puerta are the only two I can recall) and... why Richard?

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That's a silly question to ask, I suppose. 'Why Richard'? Because Richard chose to. I've seen a lot of people saying that he 'allegedly' tested positive, but I find it hard to believe that a drug testing system as rigorous as the one put in place by the ITF is going to be wrong. This one is squarely on Richard... and sad as it is, if he gets a suspension, he's going to be a victim of his own actions.

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I read somewhere else that enforced time off might not be the worst thing in the world for Gasquet, and I think I agree - to an extent. The full two year ban I think would be career-ending for him - it must be hideously difficult to come back from that. But a year... well, I suppose it would give him time to get his head together - something which is clearly isn't at the moment, if he's doing cocaine.

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But the whole thing is just such a shame. What a waste. Richard was the front of a French tennis magazine at the age of nine with the headline 'The Future of French Tennis'. Somehow, I think that that mantle has fallen from his shoulders and slithered to the ground. It is terribly, terribly sad - but Gasquet has no one to blame but himself.

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(Oh, and Alize Cornet and Agnieszka Radwanska both lost their first round matches in Madrid. Go figure.)

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Today's Results

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Estoril Open (Estoril)

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Albert Montanes def. James Blake, 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-0

James Blake def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

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BMW Open (Munich)

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Tomas Berdych def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-5)

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Serbia Open (Belgrade)

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Novak Djokovic def. Lukasz Kubot, 6-3 7-6 (7-0)

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Sam Querrey def. Radek Stepanek, 7-6 (7-2) 5-2 retired

Tommy Robredo def. Nicolas Kiefer, 3-6 6-2 6-2

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-3 4-6 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-2 6-1

Samantha Stosur def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (7-4) 6-1

Agnes Szavay def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-2

Elena Vesnina def. Alizé Cornet, 7-5 6-1

Vera Dushevina def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-3 6-4

Lucie Safarova def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-2 2-3 retired

Patty Schnyder def. Sara Errani, 6-2 6-3

Li Na def. Carla Suárez Navarro, 5-7 6-1 7-5

Alona Bondarenko def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-2

Petra Kvitova def. Sybille Bammer, 4-1 retired

Anne Keothavong def. Mariana Duque Marino, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Anna-Lena Groenefeld def. Monica Niculescu, 6-1 6-0

Aravane Rezai def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3 6-4

Lourdes Domínguez Lino def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Deserve It!

Well, it's official - I've missed covering it for a couple of days, but it's time now: Dinara Safina is the women's world number #1.
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Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a big Dinara fan, so I thought I would be happier about this. Truth is, Dinara may be #1 in the numbers, but the best player in the world out there in the moment is Serena Williams and that's just the way it is. I know everyone knows this, so I'm not going to harp on about it.

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What I want to know is this: what kind of effect will becoming #1 have on Dinara herself, whether it's just a fluke of numbers or not? We've seen a couple of players react in different ways to assuming the top spot - one only has to think back to the incredible slide of Ana Ivanovic last year after she won the French Open, became #1 and fell into an incredible funk afterwards. That title - the notion of being the best in the world - has a tangible effect on a player. When Roger Federer was #1, he was largely invincible for a lot of that time. So what will Dinara do?

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Dinara is already is a bit of a funk. I don't think anyone would deny that. What I would really like to see is for this to pull her out of it. We're off the hardcourts and onto the clay, where her big run came last year. So Dinara, you may not be deemed worthy of the #1 spot now, so here's your challenge. Become worthy. Because you've got the game and you've got the skills and you have everything you need to deserve this spot. Do it. Deserve it.

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Someone who does deserve his #1 ranking at the moment is Rafael Nadal, who cruised through in Barcelona. Actually, nearly all the seeds in Barcelona came through - Gasquet and Soderling were the only casualties. But I think we're set up for a good tournament in Barcelona - I don't doubt that Rafa will win it, but I'm really gunning for Nando Verdasco to come through his half of the draw and continue his excellent run. Rematch of the AO semi!

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Today's Results

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Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (Barcelona)
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Rafael Nadal def. Frederico Gil, 6-2 6-2

Fernando Verdasco def. Nicolas Lapentti, 7-5 6-3
Nikolay Davydenko def. Arnaud Clement, 7-6 (7-2) 6-2

Fernando Gonzalez def. Jose Acasuso, 6-4 6-4

Tommy Robredo def. Gaston Gaudio, 7-6 (8-6) 6-1

David Nalbandian def. Igor Kunitsyn, 7-5 6-4

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-5 6-1

Radek Stepanek def. Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6 (7-2) 6-0

Nicolas Almagro def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Christophe Rochus def. Richard Gasquet, 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-3

Potito Starace def. Robin Soderling, 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-2

Tomas Berdych def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-2 4-6 6-3

Feliciano Lopez def. Santiago Ventura, 2-6 6-4 6-3

Juan Monaco def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 7-5 6-4

Czeched at the Door

Another casualty of the Davis Cup week, I have realised, was the much-lauded French side. I wrote last week about how I thought they could potentially win the whole thing, but no - they went down in a bit of a meek effort to the Czech Republic.

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You've got to hand it to the Czech Republic. It's a team with two men, and two men early - everything the Czech Republic did on the weekend can be laid at the door of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek. They're certainly not an easy team to beat - but you think that the French team, who have two players in the top ten, could have taken them out, right?

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Wrong. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did his bit for his country, but Gasquet and Llodra failed in the doubles (and where was Gael Monfils? I thought he was supposed to be on this squad!) And the real letdown of the weekend was Gilles Simon. He lost both his singles matches and thus effectively lost his nation the tie.

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I hate pinning blame on just one individual, but the reality is that Simon should beat both Berdych and Stepanek, if rankings hold true. Not that Berdych or Stepanek are easy players to overcome, but he should be able to beat at least one of them, yeah? Especially on this stage, where one is playing for one's country... though that is a two-way street, I suppose, and Berdych and Stepanek have their whole Czech pride behind them as well.

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I was disappointed in France. I was disappointed in Monfils for not showing up, for Simon in not playing well, and in the captain for choosing to play Simon in the crucial fourth rubber when Gasquet might have been a better choice. Jo-W pulled his weight, but the others let him down. Good on you, Czech boys, but go home and have a long hard think about yourself, Frenchies. You need it.

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Today's Results

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Monterrey Open (Monterrey)

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Marion Bartoli def. Li Na, 6-4 6-3

Allez...?

I'm going to start my giving a huge shout out to the tennis stars who have donated to the Victorian bushfire appeal. These are not only Australian stars, but international as well - Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams are among those who have given generously. The Black Saturday fires have been one of the biggest tragedies in recent history here, and it is lovely to see the tennis world contributing so heavily to the rebuilding. Tennis Australia have got an excellent program for the rebuilding of the game in the affected areas, and it is so wonderful to see the tennis community pulling together.
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Now, onto some actual tennis... or the potential thereof, later in the week. I've been thinking about Davis Cup, and you know what? I think there is one team in there which is SO dangerous and yet no one is talking about - and I can't figure out why.

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That's France. With Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils, who are all in the top twenty, you cannot forget about any of these players. They have to be such a shot at the title this year. I mean, I don't want to take anything away from Spain who have to be a huge chance to defend - with Rafa, Ferru, Fidgiano and obviously Nando making up an absolutely massive side - but I really like the chances of the French team.

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I think they can beat just about anyone - if they play to their abilities. They are all, to a man, their own worst enemies. Jo-W is, I think, pretty solid... and Gilles Simon (the little bird) is not too much of a headcase - but if scatty scatty La Monf turns up and Richou runs and hides under the bed... yeah, don't want to think about that.

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It'll be interesting to see who they play in which rubbers - you've got to give Tsonga a guernsey in the singles surely, and rankings would dictate that Simon would be the other one... but I wouldn't be surprised to see La Monf out there on Day One. Just sayin'.

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Today's Results

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Monterrey Open (Monterrey)

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Agnes Szavay def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-2 6-2

Edina Gallovits def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Melinda Czink def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 7-5 6-1

Mariya Koryttseva def. Lenka Wienerova, 6-4 6-1

Vania King def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-1 6-4