Stan the Man

So, on the whole, not so much tennis happened yesterday. While the rain was great yesterday, today it bit the big one as it delayed the start to an hour unsensible for Aussies. How dare it rain in France when I don’t want it to?

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As a result, the Nadal/Belluci match I was looking forward to never eventuated. Alas. You’d think that with three days for a first round instead of two it might all get done, but no. I’m beginning to have flashbacks of Wimbledon where, due to rain and a walkover, Federer basically didn’t have to play for a week. Great for my nerves but not so much for the tournament, I suspect!

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In lieu of the promised Nadal match, I followed Wawrinka/Kohlschreiber instead. Who knew Stan the man was good enough to break the top ten? I sure didn’t, till wham! There he was, the week after Rome. I was lucky enough to see him play when I was in Australia – I saw the first set of his first round match on Show Court 3, though I can’t for the life of me remember who he played! I knew then that Roger’s #2 was a good player, but I never would have guessed this top 10 thing. But ain’t no one can say he doesn’t deserve it!

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I suppose it shows just how close the guys in the middle of the pack are. You have Federer, Nadal and (unfortunately) Djokovic at the top, then you have your Davydenko, Ferrer, Roddick and Nalbandian, and then a clump of guys who are really, really close. Wawrinka jumped fourteen places by reaching the final in Rome – from #24 to #10, no less. That’s pretty remarkable. And those guys in the middle aren’t slouches. That’s where your Berdyches and Baghdatises and Youzhnys hang out.

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So, to sum up: Go Stan! You the man!

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Philipp Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, is always someone I’m underwhelmed by. I think I might be under the impression that he’s a better player than he actually is. He certainly has great potential and a wonderful backhand – anyone remember him knocking out Roddick in the third round of the Australian Open this year? Kohlschreiber is a good player, and I’m always surprised that he’s unseeded. The 32^nd seed at this tournament is Janko Tipsarevic and the 31^st is Andreas Seppi (both of whom lost in the first round, incidentally.) If you asked me to take a gamble in a Seppi/Kohlschreiber match or a  Tipsarevic/Kohlschreiber match, I’d take Kohlschreiber in either instance. But he is the lower ranked one.

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So, with my misguided impressions of Kohlschreiber, I was expecting a tight one yesterday. I expected Stan to come out on top, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it go to five. Instead, it had a very similar scoreline to the Federer/Querrey match. I was cheering for Stan, so I was glad he won, but I must say I felt a bit cheated.

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Like yesterday, there was another upset of an Argentinian seed – Soderling (who played extraordinarily well in World Team Tennis in Dusseldorf last week) took out Juan Monaco. Like Stan, Monaco is another one who has snuck up the rankings with me noticing. He was seeded #13 here. I thought the days when the Argentines were all up in the top 20 was gone with the demise of Coria and Gaudio and the fall of Nalbandian from #3 to #7ish. But no… although they aren’t exactly having the greatest Roland Garros this year.

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And, on a side note, I tuned into Radio Roland Garros for a bit before the start of play to find them interviewing Roger Rasheed… the genius (ahem) who believes that ‘tennis is about getting into the other guy’s kitchen.’ I’m unsure why he felt the need to elaborate ad nauseam about how he nearly punched out Florent Serra’s coach at Roland Garros ’06, but although I like tennis gossip, I could have lived quite happily without the Rasheed monologue there.

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Though speaking of gossip… Monfils and Cibulkova! Who knew?

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And can I just say… you know how everyone was all like, ‘oh my God, they’ve put Federer on Suzanne Lenglen instead of Philippe Chatrier! Mon dieu! Le slap in face!’ the other day? Well, it’s tournament policy that no one can play all seven matches on the same court… so you can bet Rafa will be out there for one of his matches (unless he loses against Belluci, but really, as if!) But where have they put Djokovic for tomorrow, hmmm? Court #1. Not even Lenglen. And to that I say… ahahahahaha!

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Roland Garros Results – Day #3

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Men’s Draw

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Nikolay Davydenko def. Thomasa Johansson, 6-3 6-3 6-3

Robin Soderling def. Juan Monaco, 6-2 6-3 6-1

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3 6-4 6-3

Paul Capdeville def. Mischa Zverev, 6-1 6-4 6-2

Mario Ancic def. Andreas Seppi, 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 6-2

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Women’s Draw

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Amelie Mauresmo def. Olga Savchuk, 7-5 4-6 6-1

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-2 6-3

Dinara Safina def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-1 6-3

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-4 6-3

Ai Sugiyama def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 2-6 6-3

Sabine Lisicki def. Elena Vesnina, 3-6 6-4 6-0

Olivia Sanchez def. Jarmila Gajdosova, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8)

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-4 5-7 6-2

Tennis in the Kitchen

Well, well, how about Michael Llodra at the Adelaide International? And here I (and everyone else) was thinking that Nieminen was a safe bet. He played fantastically today. I think what really won it for him was that he played very clean tennis - I think it was something like 25 winners to 13 unforced errors. That said, Nieminen played clean as well, but he didn't have the winners to match. Nieminen seemed a little inhibited today, playing cautiously, well within what he can do. Perhaps it's because he hasn't been training so much, what with being on military service for Finland...? Llodra, on the other hand, didn't miss much. He saw the ball, lined it up and wham! second career ATP title.

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Though I have to say it. I can't not. Michael Llodra, why do you have that hideous moustache?

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Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not a moustache fan. Don't like them. But this one of Llodra's is particularly hideous. It takes over his entire face, like some kind of ruthless barbarian invader. It's enormous. It's foul. Why, Michael, why? And surely it gets annoying in a sweaty game like tennis? I'm sure he never had it before (though I could be wrong - I don't really follow Llodra.) Why did he decide that the moustachio was the way to go?

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Oh well. Some things we may never know. And, fashion errors aside, for a guy that only made it into the main draw after Richard Gasquet pulled out, Michael Llodra has done pretty well for himself.

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Though there was one other thing I thought was particularly crap about today's final. Nothing to do with the tennis or the players - but the commentators! I know Roger Rasheed is a tennis guy (he used to coach Princess Lleyton, I think) but Bruce McAvaney has irritated me year in, year out. Although, ironically, it was Rasheed who came off as the bigger idiot today, in my opinion. There was one point - I think Nieminen was either trying to get back into it, or maybe he was down and out and Llodra was pressing his advantage, I can't remember - when Brainiac Rasheed comments, (from memory) 'well, that's what tennis is about. It's about getting in the other guy's kitchen, and...'

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Now, I think I understand what Rasheed was getting at - how you have to press your advantage mentally as well as physically, getting in the other guy's head, so to speak - but kitchen? KITCHEN? Where did that one come from? Since when was someone's mind their kitchen? I suppose we can just count ourselves lucky that he didn't press the metaphor. 'It's about getting in the other guy's kitchen, eating all his food, using all his pots and pans and smashing all his dishes after cooking yourself a nice curry, so when he gets home from his long day at tennis practice, his kitchen is a mess and he can't cook anything, although he is tormented by the lingering aroma of delicious curry. THAT's what tennis is all about.'

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Honestly.

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The Medibank International started in Sydney today (I'm going to the men's final, and I'm very excited!) although it doesn't really properly start till tomorrow - mainly qualifiers today, although there was a couple of interesting main draw women's matches. A tight match between Lucie Safarova and Alicia Molik that I wish I could have watched (beckoned away by gainful employment... such are my woes) and a bad loss from Nadia Petrova to Sybille Bammer. I've liked Nadia Petrova a lot since the fun of last year's Hopman Cup, so it's been sad to see her ranking slide. Here's hoping she gets it together at the Australian Open. She was the fifth seed there last year, but I don't think she'll be anything like that this year.

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I was sad to see Carlos Moya lose in a nailbiter to Rafael Nadal in the semis at Chennai (I like Rafa, but I like Carlos more!) and even sadder to see Stan Wawrinka lose in the final of Doha to Andy Murray - though I suppose Murray was always going to be the favourite for that one. Unfortunately, he also comes across as abrasive and obnoxious, and Stan seems like a lovely guy. Oh well. Personality is a big part of tennis, but I guess no one said you have to have a NICE personality.

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Though Federer does, and in the end, he's the real figurehead for men's tennis. So I guess he's all that matters in the end!

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(Unfortunately, the figurehead for women's tennis is probably Maria Sharapova, and the less said there...)

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Today's Results

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Next Generation Adelaide International (Adelaide)

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Michael Llodra def. Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3 6-4

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Qatar Exxonmobil Open (Doha)

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Andy Murray def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4 4-6 6-2

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Chennai Open (Chennai)

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Rafael Nadal def. Carlos Moya, 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-1)

Mikhail Youzhny def. Marin Cilic, 6-2 6-2

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Medibank International (Sydney)

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Women's Draw

Sybille Bammer def. Nadia Petrova, 7-5 6-3

Lucie Safarova def. Alicia Molik, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (12-10)

Virginie Razzano def. Nicole Pratt, 6-2 6-1

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Moorilla Hobart International (Hobart)

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Casey Dellacqua def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 5-4 retired

Eleni Daniilidou def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-3 6-4

Elena Vesnina def. Akiko Morigami, 6-4 7-5