Kazakhstani Wonderkids

Kazakhstan really knows what they're about with the players they're purchasing. I think it's a little weird that they actually have to buy their tennis players, but whoever's picking them out has a damn good eye.

Yaroslava Shvedova. She's pretty awesome. Just made Slam quarters. Win #1 to the Kazakhstani tennis buyers. Andrey Golubev. Just won his first title. Win #2. Evgeny Korolev. Definitely, I would argue, on his way up. A bit early to call, but I'm going to say win #3.

And now some other Kazakhstani tennis player, of whom I have never heard, has gone and beat Mikhail Youzhny in Gstaad. Yuri Schukin knocked out the top seed in three sets. Now that is a bit all right.

I know nothing about Schukin and so I can't actually say anything about the match or anything, you know, of substance. But I'm beginning to think that whoever is picking out players for Kazakhstan has a SERIOUSLY good eye - and while it's inevitable they'll get some duds, just look at their current stable. And maybe Yuri Schukin is the next Kazakhstani wonderkid.

Oh, and the top three seeds got knocked out in Umag. On the same day. Davydenko got beaten two and one. Now there's someone who needs to lift his game.

Bobbing To The Surface

A name that is popping up with increasing regularity, I am finding, is Kevin Anderson. Has anyone else noticed this? This boy from South Africa is still under the radar, but he's a little less under, if that makes any sense.

The first time I encountered Anderson - encounters, she says, like she's actually met the guy - was in Miami a couple of years ago, where he put out Djokovic in a real stunner. He then proceeded to do pretty much fat nothing for a couple of years, but if someone is going to put a top guy, even if nothing ends up coming of it, you know there is some serious talent going on there.

He's playing Querrey as we speak, and they've split sets. Now, we must remember that Querrey won the US Open series last year, so this is no mean feat. I couldn't tell you exactly where, but I know I've seen his name popping up a lot this year. Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I just having flashbacks? Or is it because he's South African and there was that whole World Cup thing?

Anyways.

A name that is definitely NOT popping up is Simone Bolelli. Well, I suppose it is popping up, but not in a good way. It's in the losing-in-the-first-round way. And if that keeps happening, well... soon it will be in the qualifying way.

King Kolya of AlternaTour

And now to our final weekend winner, though the weekend is long gone - the King of AlternaTour where they play on clay out of season, Nikolay Davydenko.

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Kolya typically wins a lot around this time of the year - mainly because no one really sane plays on AlternaTour so he can tear up the court. But for some reason I'm finding him especially ominous this year. Maybe it's the time off he took with injury. Maybe it's just some sort of renewed sense of motivation. But there seems to be a bit of a sharper edge to Kolya right now.

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I don't think he can really be considered as a candidate for this year's Juan because hello, Kolya has well and truly arrived. He's been as high as #3 if memory serves and I don't think he's going to get that high again, not with the Hispano-Suisse domination machine still steamrolling around and Muzza on the page... though Djokovic seems to be hanging on by his fingernails. But I just have a feeling about Kolya...

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It depends on the side of the draw he ends up in. He has a record against the great one RF that could best be described as 'crap'. However, against Rafa, he's notched a win or two up. And he really is a very, very good player - not a champion, but very consistent and very talented, capable of unseating just about anyone...

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How does Nikolay Davydenko, US Open finalist, sound to everyone else?

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I'm not calling it - yet. But I'm sure not putting it outside the realms of possibility...

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Today's Results

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Mason Legg Tennis Classic (Washington)

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Mikhail Youzhny def. Robert Kendrick, 7-5 3-6 6-1

Philipp Petzschner def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 4-6 6-3 6-4

Somdev Devvarman def. Yuichi Sugita, 6-0 7-6 (8-6)

Yen-hsun Lu def. Michael Russell, 4-6 6-1 7-5

Frank Dancevic def. Santiago Giraldo, 6-4 6-3

Alejandro Falla def. Jesse Witten, 6-1 6-4

Lleyton Hewitt def. Donald Young, 7-5 6-2

Marc Gicquel def. Jerzy Janowicz, 7-5 2-6 6-4

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LA Women's Tennis Championships (Los Angeles)

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Elena Vesnina def. Agnes Szavay, 6-1 6-0

Anna Chakvetadze def. Virginie Razzano, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Meghann Shaughnessy, 3-6 6-3 6-3

Shahar Peer def. Anastasia Rodionova, 7-5 4-1 retired

Flavia Pennetta def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-2 5-7 6-0

Jill Craybas def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-6 (9-7) 6-2

Yanina Wickmayer def. Nicola Vaidisova, 6-1 6-1

Shuai Peng def. Michaella Krajicek, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3

Throwing Mud

The ATP headlines from Umag are about Guillermo Canas's 'marathon' win over Boris Pashanski. I don't know if you can call a three set match of any description a marathon, but that's a different matter. I'm going to talk about Canas today. Because I can.

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I'm under the impression that Canas is not a very popular player, and I have to say that I am not really a fan. I think that whenever a drugs scandal clouds someone's career, they're going to lose a lot of fans, fast, even if they turn out to be innocent. Canas did his time and came back - and kudos to him for having the guts to come back - but when you throw mud, it sticks, and Canas is never going to get rid of that. Ever.

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I'm not going to weigh in on the issue of whether or not he did the drugs, because I don't know and I don't follow him closely enough to care. But the thing is, it is his defining characteristic. I couldn't tell you a single thing about him and his career other than he served out a drug suspension, and came back to beat Federer twice in two weeks at Indian Wells and Miami last year. So what makes Willy tick? I have absolutely no idea.

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In retrospect, that fact considered, it didn't make a lot of sense to try to write a blog post about him. I'm kind of out of things to say.

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Sadly, Ivan Ljubicic - about whom I am quite capable of writing a post! - had to retire before his match began, handing Roko Karanusic a free pass into the next round. He said he felt sharp pains in his back at dinner, and although he tried to get himself ready to play, it was just about impossible. You've got to wonder what kind of injury that is - a back injury that shows himself at dinner. How bizarre. But poor Ivan.

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Kitzbuhel got basically rained out again. That will learn them for having a clay tournament this week. Because clay and rain are clearly connected.

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I'd really love to write more about Indianapolis, but as I write this, the matches of the day are still continuing there. Which is sort of a pain. The one tournament I give my blessing to, and they have to carry on at such unsuitable hours.

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You may be able to tell that I don't have very much to say today. I'll stop now and end the misery!

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Today's Results

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Austrian Open (Kitzbuhel)

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Jurgen Melzer def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-4 6-2

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Dutch Open Tennis (Amersfoort)

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Jose Acasuso def. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6-3 6-4

Marcel Granollers def. Ivan Navarro, 6-4 6-4

Albert Montanes def. Pablo Cuevas, 6-4 6-4

Oscar Hernandez def. Jesse Huta Galung, 6-3 6-2

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Studena Croatia Open (Umag)

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Roko Karanusic def. Ivan Ljubicic, walkover

Guillermo Canas def. Boris Pashanski, 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5

Maximo Gonzalez def. I Karlovic, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Igor Andreev def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

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Indianapolis Tennis Championships (Indianapolis)

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Bobby Reynolds def. Alejandro Falla, 6-1 6-1

Yen-Hsun Lu def. Rajeev Ram, 6-1 7-6 (7-1)

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Bank of the West Classic (Stanford)

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Aleksandra Wozniak def. Sybille Bammer, 6-4 7-5

Patty Schnyder def. Alisa Kleybanova, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4

Serena Williams def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, 4-6 6-3 6-2

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Gastein Ladies (Bad Gastein)

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Patricia Mayr def. Rossana de los Ríos, 6-3 6-3

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And today in Stars of the Past, Stars of the Future: Fabrice Santoro.

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Marat Safin, at the height of his dominance, said that being told he had to play Santoro was like being told he had to die. He was not the only player who felt like that. The little Frenchman was never going to hit anyone off the court, but the wizard of the men's game was capable of some shots that were nothing short of amazing. A recent article for DEUCE magazine called him the Harry Potter of men's tennis. He plays with cunning and cleverness, not with power.

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Santoro is one of the oldest men on the tour, but he is still going strong. This is because his game is not as hard on his body as that of the power players. He is almost Federesque in the way he glides round the court - and while he has never attained the heights that the current #1 has, he is by no means the poor man's Federer. Santoro has his own brand of magic. His racquet is his wand, and with it he creates spins and angles to bamboozle the best in the world.

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For example, in his quarter final match against David Nalbandian at the 2006 Australian Open, Santoro hit a drop shot of such exquisite precision and with such incredible spin, that by the time Nalbandian had reached it, it had bounced back onto Santoro's side of the net. Santoro did not win that match - the second two sets were 6-0 6-0 in Nalbandian's favour - but it is points like that that people remember. That is what Fabrice Santoro brings to tennis - his Gallic charm, his big grin and a little bit of magic.

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.

Roger Federer World

Somewhere out in the sky in that vast belt of rocks between Mars and Jupiter, is the newly christened Rafael Nadal asteroid. Until a few days ago, it was known as the 128036 asteroid. Its new name is a little cooler, methinks.

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Apparently it was named as a tribute to 'one of the greatest tennis players of all time.' I assume that means they're waiting till they find a suitably lovely planet before giving it the name of THE greatest tennis player of all time. I'll be one of the first in the line when the rocket flies with the first human emigrants to Roger Federer World, let me tell you. Now wouldn't that be a fine place to live?!

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Actually, that would be a great place to live. Imagine a world where everyone lived like a Federer. It would have a charter based on fairness and niceness and politeness. It would be a planet based on fair play and good sportsmanship - and, of course, genius and beauty. Though of course, if everyone was like Roger, maybe he wouldn't be so special. But Roger Federer World would be a wonderful place. No Djokovics there.

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Four tournaments for men going on this week - and again, three of them (Kitzbuhel, Amersfoort and Umag) are on clay. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Why, ye players, why do you play on the clay? I would be heading straight to Indianapolis, where they are sensible and play on hard courts - and also are located in North America, where the tour pretty much lives for the next little while (Olympics aside.) But the top seeds in Indy are James Blake, Gilles Simon, Dmitry Tursunov and Sam Querrey. The cutoff for direct admission is 169. Hardly the most distinguished field ever.

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Let's check out the stats on the three clay tournaments. In Kitzbuhel (which got rained out today), the top four seeds are Andreas Seppi, Rainer Schuettler, Agustin Calleri and Potito Starace. Last direct acceptance at 156. In Amersfoort, we have Marc Gicquel, Jose Acasuso, Steve Darcis and Marcel Granollers (all of whom receive first round byes... badness) with a last direct acceptance at 157. And in Umag, the top four dudes are Fernando Verdasco, Ivo Karlovic, Carlos Moya and Igor Andreev, and the last direct acceptance is 137.

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Now, none of the top TOP guys are playing this week (though interestingly, Ivan Ljubicic is the #5 seed in Umag, and he did used to be a top TOP guy not so long ago) but still, the fact remains that Indy has the lowest direct acceptance of all the tournaments. Why would you not make a run for it? Is the schism between claycourters and the others really so pronounced? Are claycourters so good on clay and so rubbish on everything else that they'll endanger the rest of their season just to rack up points on the red stuff?

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I just do not understand. Surely, if you are a claycourter, you want to practice on hardcourts so you can do well at the US Open, yesno? But I suppose you would also want to stick to what you're good at so as to maintain your points... but it just seems so bizarre to me. I know there is a big difference between clay and hard courts, but is it really that pronounced? Why, WHY is there such a demand for clay tournaments?

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And why clay? Why not grass? Is it just a matter of what people have grown up on? But look at Federer. He grew up on clay, and while he is obviously the second best player on it in the world, it's still his least favourite surface. And there are SO MANY claycourters. I can only think of one specific grasscourt player off the top of my head, and even then, he rarely makes that much of an impact - it's Nicolas Mahut, by the way. And Roland Garros is great and all, but it's Wimbledon that is really the holy grail of tennis - always has been, always will be.

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Back in the day, when Rod Laver won his Slam, three of the four Slams were on grass, with Roland Garros the exception. What happened between then and now? When did people go off grass?

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The only post-Wimbledon grass court tournament (to my knowledge, anyway) is Newport, which Fabrice Santoro won last week. But there's clay tournaments pretty much the whole year round - you have the South American swing right after the Australian Open, where you have Vina del Mar and a whole host of other tournaments. This is in the leadup to Indian Wells and Miami - so why play clay? Then you have Estoril and the European clay swing, which is the swing that makes sense, as it leads up to Roland Garros. But then there's Warsaw - which Davydenko played and won this year, and then went on to promptly lose in the first round of Wimbledon. And still now, clay everywhere! You can hardly get away from the stuff!

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If it was one clay tournament and three hard court ones, then maybe it would make more sense. But you cannot tell me that three quarters of the players on the tour are specialist claycourters. I refuse to believe that.

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I know I have flogged this dead horse about nine hundred times, but it just does not make any sense to me at all. Quite apart from anything, the Olympics are coming up, and they are not on clay. Oh no, they are not.

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Any answers welcomed. Because surely, if three quarters of the players on the tour are clay courters, three quarters of the tour would be played on clay. The important tournaments, anyway. But no. We have one claycourt Grand Slam and three Masters Series events, all crammed into one quarter of the season. That would be one quarter, not three. Whereas the hard courts get two separate seasons and two Slams. I know the Australian and the US are different surfaces, but they're both hard, when it comes down to it.

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So what the hell is going on, Kitzbuhel, Umag, Amersfoort? Jodi demands to know. Why the clay? WHY?

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Today's Results

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Dutch Open Tennis (Amersfoort)

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Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Alberto Brizzi, 6-4 6-3

Alberto Martin def. Yuri Schukin, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Thierry Ascione 6-2 7-6 (7-1)

Christophe Rochus def. David Marrero, 7-5 6-2

Thiemo de Bakker def. Adrian Cruciat, 7-5 6-4

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ATP Studena Croatia Open (Umag)

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Fabio Fognini def. Ricardas Berankis, 6-3 6-2

Boris Pashanski def. Gianluca Naso, 6-3 2-6 7-6 (11-9)

Roko Karanusic def. Francesco Piccari, 6-2 6-2

Mathieu Montcourt def. Antonio Veic, 6-4 6-2

Filippo Volandri def. Flavio Cipolla, 6-1 6-4

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Indianapolis Tennis Championships (Indianapolis)

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Gilles Simon def. Nicolas Mahut, 6-2 3-6 6-3

Dmitry Tursunov def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-3 7-5

Benjamin Becker def. Kristian Pless, 6-3 6-4

Joseph Sirianni def. Mikhail Ledovskikh, 6-3 1-2 retired

Yen-hsun Lu def. Justin O'Neal, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (14-12)

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Bank of the West Classic (Stanford)

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Sybille Bammer def. Olga Govortsova, 7-5 6-2

Alisa Kleybanova def. Elena Vesnina, 4-6 6-2 6-3

Ai Sugiyama def. Alexa Glatch, 6-2 3-6 7-5

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Gastein Ladies (Bad Gastein)

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Zhang Shuai def. Joanna Sakowicz, 7-5 6-2

Tereza Hladikova def. Yevgenia Savranska, 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-4)

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And today in Stars of the Past, Stars of the Future: Marin Cilic.

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Marin Cilic must seem like the boogeyman for Paul-Henri Mathieu. They have met in four consecutive tournaments now, and while the first match went the way of the Frenchman, since then, it has been all Cilic. This nineteen year old Croat took out Mathieu in the third round of Wimbledon, and now, on clay, has taken him out in Bastad. Mathieu was the defending champion, and this loss to Cilic will probably see him fall out of the top twenty. Cilic is that kind of player.

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Cilic has been rising quietly through the rankings. He made no spectacular leap like Jeremy Chardy, no one big Slam finish that sent him soaring up. Just solid consistency - which, one would think, is a pretty good asset for a player of his age. Like Chardy, he was in the fourth round of Slam this year - beating his bunny Mathieu ensured that - but it wasn't really a surprise. Cilic is rising so steadily and solidly that no one has really seen him coming.

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How long will this continue? Are we going to look up in two years time and find a twenty one year old Marin Cilic in the top ten, challenging at all the Slams? Where did he come from? we will wonder. But he will have been there all along - a steam train heading up the rankings, a tortoise to Chardy's hare. But one expects that it is Cilic, rather than Chardy, that will have the longer career.