Making The Best

Australia doesn't have the world's best Davis Cup team. No arguments there. There's a reason we're not in the World Group at the moment - we just aren't competing at the right level yet. But my God, I think we make the best of what we've got.

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Team Captain John 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald has just named the lineup for our tie against Thailand - Lleyton Hewitt is going to open up the singles, with Brydan Klein to follow, then Chris Guccione and Carsten Ball are going to play in the doubles. I'm not an expert, but this seems like the best possible decision he could have made, if you ask me - the best possible deployment of resources.

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Guccione is the higher ranked singles player, sure, but he is a long-term underachiever, so I think Fitzy has definitely made the right choice putting Klein in. Not only is Klein pretty hot right now - he's won two Challengers and got to a semi - I think this will be pretty big for his confidence in the future. He opens up against Danai Udomchoke, the current Thai #1, and I think Klein will have his number. There is something to be said about playing and winning for one's country - look at Nando Verdasco! If Klein performs well here, I think it could be a great springboard into the rest of his career.

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Normally Lleyton Hewitt would have to double up and play doubles (Fitzy hailed him as the greatest Davis Cup servant of his generation, and though we all know that I don't really bat for the Lleyton team, I'm hardpressed to prove him wrong), but Guccione and Ball have had a lot of success as a pairing, including that memorable five-set win over the Chileans. Added to which, they'll be fresh. So often, only two or three players on a Davis Cup team actually play. I'm liking the four way deployment of the Aussie boys here. Nice one, Fitzy!

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Today's Results

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Monterrey Open (Monterrey)

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Zheng Jie def. Melinda Czink, 6-3 6-4

Gisela Dulko def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-2 6-4

Lucie Safarova def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-4 4-1 retired

Li Na def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-3 6-4

A Fine Bromance

I was having a discussion about tennis with someone yesterday, and they told me that the last time we had talked tennis, I had used the word ‘bromance’ in respect to Roger and Rafa and that they couldn’t get it out of their head.
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While the first thought into my mind was clearly, ‘wow, I am an linguistic genius!’ that got me thinking a bit about Roger and Rafa, the King and the Boss, the two dudes we have at the top of our game today. How rare is it – how incredibly rare!? – that the two men that are dominating our sport actually like each other?
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I’m not saying respect – even though it is clear that there are oceans of respect between these two. I’m saying genuine friendship. Sure, they may not hang out every night and they may not have braided each other friendship bracelets or anything like, and I’m sure there is, to a degree, a language barrier – but I get the feeling that there is a bond between these two that doesn’t exist, say, between Nadal and Djokovic, or Federer and Murray. Who can forget the vision at the end of the Australian Open final, when Federer was in tears and Nadal comforted him? Sure, there are vast amounts of competition and both will fight tooth and nail for that #1 ranking – but off the court, they are gentlemen. They like each other.
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We are so lucky to have these two. It would be so easy for them to seriously dislike each other, for the game to get in the way. But with Roger and Rafa we have – forgive the pun – a fine bromance.
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Today’s Results
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Monterrey Open (Monterrey)
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Marion Bartoli def. Michaella Krajicek, 6-2 6-4

Flavia Pennetta def. Jill Craybas, 6-1 6-0

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

Iveta Benesova def. Shahar Peer, 6-4 6-2

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7-4)

Roberta Vinci def. Arantxa Rus, 6-4 2-6 6-2

Petra Cetkovska def. Jarmila Groth, 6-3 6-2

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

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

Not Pictured

I saw something on Sunrise (Australian breakfast TV, for those of you not in the know) this morning that really demonstrated how much Australia cares about tennis. On the newsbar down the bottom, the following story flashed up: 'Lleyton Hewitt, Chris Guccione, Carsten Ball and Bryan Klein arrive in Bangkok for Davis Cup.'

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I'm sorry, but I've never heard of an Australian tennis player called 'Bryan' Klein.

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You see, this is indicative of how little awareness the average Aussie has of tennis. I bet hardly anyone even noticed. If they'd spelled a cricket player's name wrong, even a relatively minor one - Phil Jaques, for example - you can bet EVERYONE would notice, and I'm sure there'd be admonishing emails to the channel. But how many people do you think have noticed that Brydan Klein has been misnamed? The show's been on for about two hours now and no one seems to have picked it up...

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Sigh. I guess it is a little bit of a dream, hoping that tennis suddenly becomes huge in Australia. Playing it is big, but because we have no top players right now, there is very little knowledge of what's going on on a larger scale, except when the Aussie Open is on. I have a dream wherein the French Open is on free-to-air television. Unfortunately, this isn't looking likely.

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Today's Results

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Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

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Mardy Fish def. Evgeny Korolev, 7-5 6-3

The Prince of Clay

Yeah, so we have winners in Acapulco -Venus (surprise surprise) taking out Flavia Pennetta and then Nicolas Almagro beginning his annual surge with a good win over Gael Monfils. Actually, let's talk about Almagro for a sec, though I hadn't intended to. He is so impressive at this time of the year. As soon as the tour hits the clay, he becomes a contender. That said, put him on hard court and grass and he becomes basically a non-entity. However, when he hits the red stuff...

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I think we can safely say he is the Prince of Clay. Rafa is the king, and ain't no one gonna challenge that one - remember the Roland Garros quarters last year, when Rafa beat him one, one and one? However, I think that beatdown was due to the fact that Rafa took him extra seriously. So it's good to see that Almagro hasn't gone away during the non-clay part of the season and is back, ready to take on the world on the red stuff again.

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Now, onto what I really want to talk about. Bernard Tomic won his first ever Challenger title in East Bentleigh. It's only his third ever Challenger tournament, so I have to say that that is very very good - very very good indeed! He's ranked 536 - this win will catapult him into the #400s. It's still too soon to admit him into my Stars of the Future fold, but hot damn, that boy is going to be good!

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That said, Marinko Matosevic pushed him all the way. It was 5-7 6-4 6-3, so that's clearly one that could have gone either way. I still can't say I know much about it, but he's doing well round this satellite circuit, so the boy clearly has some mojo going on.

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Today's Result

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Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

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Men's Draw

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Nicolas Almagro def. Gael Monfils, 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Venus Williams def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-1 6-2

Sending A Message

Well, I'm sure Djokovic/Ferrer was not exactly the final that the Dubai tournament organisers were hoping for - it is definitely a poor bastard cousin of Federer/Nadal, which they seemed all set for until a few weeks ago - but it could have been a lot worse for them. And, though I might have pulling for Ferrer, at least their big guy pulled it out and won the tournament for them. But it's going to be very interesting to see what happens with Dubai next year, after the whole Shahar Peer debacle... we saw one political pull-out here this year in the form of Roddick (massive kudos) - but will we see more next year, when players have more time to consider their schedule?

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Guess those appearance fees will have to be jacked up even higher...

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But my real interest at the moment isn't in Dubai - or even Acapulco or Delray Beach. No, it's all about the Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh, where a very interesting final has been set up, after Marinko Matosevic blew right past Colin Ebelthite and Bernard Tomic ground it out in straights over Brydan Klein.

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The latter result is probably the most interesting, considering that Davis Cup is coming up. Both Klein and Tomic were on the squad (though did not make the actual team) in Chile last year. Both made it to the second round at the Australian Open this year. But Klein got the call up ahead of Tomic. This is probably purely because he's a bit older, and also he's had some really good results in Challengers lately (remember how he just won two in a row?) but I bet Bernard is a little irritated. I would not be surprised at all if he wanted to prove something with this match, to send a message - a message something along the lines of, 'hey, yeah, remember me? Don't forget me next time, bitches.'

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So it's going to be a good final tomorrow. You've got to pick Tomic on talent - and also because I know virtually nothing about Matosevic except that he has the same birthday as Roger Federer - but you never know what's going to happen in tennis, and that's the beauty of it.

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Today's Results

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Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

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Novak Djokovic def. David Ferrer, 7-5 6-3

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Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

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Nicolas Almagro def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-4 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Jose Acasuso, 6-3 6-4

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Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

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Mardy Fish def. Florent Serra, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4)

Evgeny Korolev def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-2 6-2

Boys Light Up

There's tennis going on all over the world right now - in Dubai, in Acapulco, in Delray Beach - but there's another tournament going on that no one's really going to write about, and it's in my own country, so I think that makes it my duty.

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That, of course, would be the Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh. It may only be a Challenger, but I think it offers some signs of hope for the future - how often do you see four Aussie blokes in the semis of a tournament, even one of the satellites? Sure, it is on home soil, but I'm not sure how much I believe in the home court advantage in tennis... it's not like cricket or football or anything like that, where you can legitimately know the way a stadium plays better than your opposition. So, good on you, Aussie boys - it's going to be an Aussie holding up the trophy for sure!

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The four we have to choose from are Colin Ebelthite (winner of the December Showdown), Marinko Matosevic (who shares a birthday with Roger Federer), Brydan Klein (newest member of the Davis Cup team) and Bernard Tomic (boy wonder). Ebelthite and Matosevic are one semi, then the blockbuster, one would imagine, would be Klein and Tomic in the other, Australian Open junior champs from '07 and '08 going head to head. That should be an absolute corker.

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Who do I want to win? Well, to tell the truth, I don't much mind. It'd be good to see Klein go well so he has a big lead-in to Davis Cup next week... Ebelthite's been round for a while and could use some love... I don't know a whole lot about Matosevic but he's definitely on the up and up... and I always pull for Tomic, as you all know. But it's just so great to see Aussie boys doing so well, even if it is 'just' a Challenger. Tennis drought my foot. We've got some good boys - and even if they aren't #1, they doesn't mean we can't still be very proud of them.

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Today's Results

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Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

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Novak Djokovic def. Gilles Simon, 3-6 7-5 7-5

David Ferrer def. Richard Gasquet, 6-2 6-2

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Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

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Men's Draw

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Gael Monfils def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 4-1 retired

Jose Acasuso def. Tommy Robredo, 7-5 6-2

Nicolas Almagro def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-6 (7-2)

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

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Women's Draw

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Flavia Pennetta def. Iveta Benesova, 6-3 6-3

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Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

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Jeremy Chardy def. Marcos Baghdatis, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3)

Christophe Rochus def. Stefan Koubek, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

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PS. Another gratuitous spruik for my other blog, The Black Valentine's Day Manifesto - http://blackvalentinemanifesto.wordpress.com. It has nothing to do with tennis - it's more about ... well, being 23 and living in Canberra, I suppose. So if you've ever wondered what I do when I'm not writing Tennis From The Backseat or crying over Roger Federer matches (a question which I'm sure has kept you awake at night) please check it out!