Friday, June 12, 2009

No Muss, No Fuss

Following in the footsteps of Jonas Bjorkman not so long ago, Thomas Johansson has just announced his retirement from tennis, with immediate effect. After fifteen years travelling round the world, he's now decided it's time to hang up his racquet.
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I kind of understand why he's decided to go so quickly, no muss, no fuss. His wife had a baby a few weeks ago (their second child) and understandably, when you're on the decline and you're dogged by injury anyway, you want to go and spend some time with your family. All the best to you, Thomas - even if I wished you'd saved it a few weeks and played one last Wimbledon.
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The other reason why it's sort of OK for him to go so quickly - I doubt it had anything to do with his decision, but it seems sort of symbolic to me - is that Swedish tennis is in good hands now. When Bjorkman retired, Johansson sort of became the new elder, I suppose - and with his Grand Slam title, he deserves that kind of status. Swedish tennis has been looking pretty barren for a long time now - there was that spurt of hope when Joachim Johansson was looking so dangerous, but then he went and got injured, and retired, and came back, and got injured and all kinds of craziness. But Swedish tennis has got a new guy playing with the big boys now. Thomas Johansson can retire knowing that Robin Soderling... he got it. He's grown up enough now to be the figurehead.
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Like I said, probably had little to do with his decision, but nice nonetheless.
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Speaking of people announcing their retirement, one guy rumoured to maybe be throwing in the towel at the end of the year is Juan Carlos Ferrero, but with the run of form he's on I don't know if he'd want to. Semis at Queen's for the unseeded Spaniard, after a victory over Steve Darcis. I know Queen's is hardly... well, Wimbledon... but for a non-Rafa Spaniard on grass, that is a damn good result. Nice work, JC!
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Today's Results
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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)
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Novak Djokovic def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-1 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andreas Beck, 3-6 6-3 6-3
Olivier Rochus def. Benjamin Becker, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-3
Tommy Haas def. Mischa Zverev, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2*
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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)
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Andy Murray def. Mardy Fish, 7-5 6-3
Andy Roddick def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5)
James Blake def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Steve Darcis, 4-6 6-3 6-4
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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)
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Magdalena Rybarikova def. Urszula Radwanska, 6-3 6-3
Sania Mirza def. Melinda Czink, 6-1 7-6 (7-4)
Na Li def. Stefanie Voegele, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Maria Sharapova def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-1 2-6 6-3

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Big Fish

So Novak Djokovic is having to save five match points againt Florent Serra these days, eh? He better hope he played himself into form in that saving, because that would have been a bad loss - worse than to Kohlschreiber at Roland Garros, I think. At least Kohlschreiber is a genuine underachiever who coulda bin somebody. Serra is pretty much a journeyman. That would have been a big, big badness for Novak.
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Not that I would have minded that much, obviously, but it might impact on the competition for Wimbledon, and I love tennis. So yeah, you better hope, Novak. You better hope.
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The other member of the Fantastic Four in action today was Andy Murray, and it looks like he had a whale of a time beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Remember how he was pretty much a standard top ten player until he had that big win over Gasquet at Wimbledon last year and suddenly found himself in the upper echelons? It'll be interesting to see how he does at the Big W this year, mark my words.
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Someone it will not be interesting to watch is Gilles Simon. Seriously, how is he still in the top ten? He has done big fat nothing this year, and that big fat nothing is continuing. It was a fluke, yeah? him having that great run last year? I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but he just seems out of his depth with the fish he's swimming with at the moment...
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...but on a gladder note, glasses should be raised to Andreas Beck - great work Andreas, coming through the Halle draw very nicely right now - and Juan Carlos Ferrero. JC seems to be having his best year in ages so far, what with winning that title and now doing pretty well at Queen's - nice one!
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Today's Results
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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)
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Novak Djokovic def. Florent Serra, 5-7 7-5 6-1
Jurgen Melzer def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-1 retired
Andreas Beck def. Lukas Lacko, 7-5 7-6 (7-5)
Olivier Rochus def. Philipp Petzschner, 5-7 7-5 6-2
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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)
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Andy Murray def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-4 6-4
Andy Roddick def. Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4)
Mikhail Youzhny def. Gilles Simon, 6-1 2-6 6-2
James Blake def. Sam Querrey, 6-4 4-6 6-3
Mardy Fish def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-1 6-4
Ivo Karlovic def. Nicolas Mahut, 6-3 6-4
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Xavier Malisse, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)
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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)
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Maria Sharapova def. Alexa Glatch, 6-3 6-4
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Elena Baltacha, 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Francesca Schiavone def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-1 6-1
Yanina Wickmayer def. Michaella Krajicek, 6-2 6-4
Li Na def. Jarmila Groth, 6-4 2-6 6-1
Roberta Vinci def. Lilia Osterloh, 6-4 6-2
Zheng Jie def. Melanie South, 6-3 6-1
Melinda Czink def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-2 6-3
Ursula Radwanska def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-3 7-5
Julia Goerges def. Sara Errani, 6-4 5-7 7-5
Magdalena Rybarikova def. Chanelle Scheepers, 6-7 (8-10) 6-1 6-3
Aravane Rezai def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 7-6 (14-12) 3-6 6-2
Stefanie Voegele def. Naomi Cavaday, 6-4 6-2
Yanina Wickmayer def. Roberta Vinci, 6-1 6-4
Maria Sharapova def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-1 6-3
Sania Mirza def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2
Urszula Radwanska def. Julia Goerges, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
Melinda Czink def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 7-5
Li Na def. Aravane Rezai, 7-5 6-4
Magdalena Rybarikova def. Zheng Jie, 7-6 (12-10) 6-4

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Second Year Blues

So I was messing round on the ATP website, minding my own business, when I came across this piece of alarming ranking information under the 'big movers this week' section. Ernests Gulbis - down 29 places.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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I thought about it and it made sense - Gulbis reached the quarters of Roland Garros last year and did not much of anything this year - and then I thought about it some more and I got mad. Ernests, what gives, dude? What's going on?
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His year started with a bang - beating Djokovic in his first outing of the year in Brisbane - but since then he hasn't been able to string two wins together. It's been an embarrassing string of first and second round defeats for the guy who's supposed to be one of the future big guns of our game. I mean, sure, I understand about second year blues - last year was the year that Ernests announced, 'here I am, I have talent, fear me, fear me!' and sometimes it's hard to follow it up, but this is just ridiculous. He lost to Alberto Martin yesterday. On grass.
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That's right. Alberto Martin. On grass.
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Ernests. Pull yourself together. Spank your inner moppet, whatever. Just win two matches in a row. That's all I'm asking. Two in a row. If you want to go on and make it three or four or whatever, that's fine, but let's walk before we can run, eh?
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Today's Results
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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)
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Mischa Zverev def. Tomas Berdych, 3-6 6-2 7-6 (10-8)
Benjamin Becker def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-4 2-6 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4 7-6 (8-6)
Tommy Haas def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Lukas Lacko def. Harel Levy, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2
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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)
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Andy Murray def. Andreas Seppi, 6-1 6-4
Gilles Simon def. Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-5)
Nicolas Mahut def. Marin Cilic, 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-4)
Ivo Karlovic def. Julien Benneteau, 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Gilles Muller, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
Mikhail Youzhny def. Marcos Baghdatis, 64 76(3)
Lleyton Hewitt def. Frederico Gil, 3-6 6-2 6-2
Steve Darcis def. Alberto Martin, 6-2 6-4
Xavier Malisse def. Rik De Voest, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-5)
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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)
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Aleksandra Wozniak def. Olga Govortsova, 6-4 6-4
Sania Mirza def. Anne Keothavong, 6-1 7-6 (7-5)
Stefanie Voegele def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3 3-6 6-2
Naomi Cavaday def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-4

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Remembering Rafa

So nothing's certain yet, but Rafa Nadal still hopes to be fit for Wimbledon. 'Hoping' is a different thing from being 'hopeful', but you have to give the boy credit for trying.
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I feel really sorry for Rafa. It can't be an easy lot being #1 when you have a universal champion like Roger Federer playing in your era. Sure, Rafa has got his time in the sunlight after playing second fiddle for years, but look at how quickly the tide turned this week when he got knocked out of the French Open. All the focus was suddenly on Federer. It wasn't that Nadal was forgotten, it was more a sort of, 'wow, is this a real victory if Federer doesn't have to beat the monkey on his back who happens to be called Nadal?' sort of thing.
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Let's say Federer had been the one knocked out in the fourth round (heaven forbid) and Nadal had been the one to win the tournament. Do you think Federer would have been practically required to come out and make a statement? I don't think so. But with the positions switched, if Nadal didn't say something, it would have looked like sour grapes or bad grace or something. And with this knee condition that might still take him out of Wimbledon, I think people have been, to some degree, scoffing and thinking Rafa used it as a reason to excuse his match against Soderling. Rafa himself had a much more sane attitude - 'it's just a tennis match, nobody died', he said (I might have paraphrased that a bit, but the intent is there).
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Roger Federer can't help being Roger Federer, and nor would anyone want him to change - not one iota, not one jot. He's the greatest champion our sport has ever had, the greatest player of all time, and a wonderful man. But you have to feel for Rafa. Federer has set the bar so high it's nearly impossible to live up to. And with this supernova of a champion shining so bright in the midst of the tour, it's easy to forget that Nadal is himself a champion and a great sportsman. I don't think he's really managed to capture the public imagination like Federer has - his game is not as beautiful, he is not so classical a personality, nor is he a polyglot - but we forget that Rafa's achievements are not small either. Sometimes we almost forget about him except in context of his rivalry with Federer. And while Federer is indisputably the greatest tennis player of all time and the ultimate statesman - we all know how much I am on the Roger Federer bandwagon! - we do need to remember that Rafa has achieved a hell of a lot as well. Federer is unbelievably special - but that doesn't make Rafa's achievements any less.
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Get well soon, Rafa.
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Today's Results
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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)
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Novak Djokovic def. Simone Bolelli, 7-5 6-2
Philipp Petzschner def. Fernando Verdasco, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Fabrice Santoro, 7-5 6-2
Jurgen Melzer def. Arnaud Clement, 1-6 6-3 6-2
Mischa Zverev def. Joseph Sirianni, 6-2 6-4
Olivier Rochus def. Fernando Vicente, 6-0 6-0
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Bjorn Phau, 6-4 6-2
Nicolas Kiefer def. Viktor Troicki, 6-2 6-1
Andreas Beck def. Christophe Rochus, 6-3 6-1
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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)
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Andy Roddick def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-1 6-4
James Blake def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-2 7-6 (7-4)
Mardy Fish def. Michael Llodra, 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Gael Monfils def. Andrey Golubev, 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5)
Feliciano Lopez def. Denis Istomin, 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 7-6 (7-5)
Sam Querrey def. Kevin Anderson, 7-5 6-3
Ivo Karlovic def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-3 7-6 (13-11)
Alberto Martin def. Ernests Gulbis, 7-6 (11-9) 6-4
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Sebastien Grosjean, 6-2 2-1 retired
Steve Darcis def. Paul Capdeville, 3-6 6-3 6-4
Julien Benneteau def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-3 6-4
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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)
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Petra Cetkovska def. Stephanie Foretz, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Julia Goerges def. Anastasia Rodionova, 6-4 6-2
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Ayumi Morita, 7-5 3-6 6-3
Melinda Czink def. Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6-4 6-3
Anne Keothavong def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2 6-2
Sania Mirza def. Tatiana Poutchek, 6-1 6-2
Stefanie Voegele def. Carly Gullickson, 3-6 6-4 7-5
Mariya Koryttseva def. Yulia Fedossova, 4-6 6-4 6-2

Monday, June 8, 2009

Roland Garros Roundup

And all of a sudden, the tennis courts are green again, they're playing fast, and the big event ahead of us is not Roland Garros, but Wimbledon. Even someone being crowned as the greatest player of all time does not stop the machinery of the tour, which ticks over day to day inexorably. Grass is here, and it's here to stay... for four weeks, until the extremely long season ends.
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Still, I think there's a few words yet to be said about Roland Garros. One cannot gloss over such history quite so quickly.
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Upset of the Tournament: No surprises here. Anyone who didn't write Soderling vs. Nadal in this field obviously hasn't been around tennis very long. I think the tennis world is still sort of reeling from Nadal being unseated in his garden. Honourable mentions go here to Djokovic vs. Kohlschreiber and Szavay vs. Venus, but really, it was all about Rafa.
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Almost-Upset of the Tournament: Federer vs. Haas. The great man was only five points away from defeat here, and he clawed it back. The achievements of both men here are admirable - Haas for getting to a winning position, and Federer to pulling a Houdini, and then going on to pull another rabbit out of the hat in an honourable mention match, Federer vs. Del Potro. Props also go to Safarova vs. Venus - that was a thriller.
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Best Match of the Tournament: As far as pure tennis value goes, I'd have to go with Kuznetsova vs. Serena. This was an awesome battle between two great champions, and it teetered on a seesaw right until the very end. It was impossible to tell who was going to win until the last ball was out of play. Kudos to Sveta for coming out of it, and kudos to Serena for the tennis she played (cold comfort though it may be). Honourable mentions go to both men's semi-finals, which were great matches.
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Surprise of the Tournament: Robin Soderling again - tied for me with Sam Stosur. Both had huge, unexpected runs, and both capitalised on the talent the world both knew they had. I'll be watching them both at Wimbledon to see how they do... I'm keen to see how that kick serve of Sam's goes on grass, and how Soderling goes with those flat groundies when he has less time to set up for them.
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Guy/Girl Who Served Notice of Arrival: Juan Martin del Potro. If he keeps improving at this rate, he'll win a Slam. No doubt about it. Props also to Dominika Cibulkova and Sorana Cirstea.
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Disappointment of the Tournament: Novak Djokovic losing in the third round. And also a large majority of the women's top ten, especially Jankovic, Ivanovic, Dementieva and Venus. And also Safina, for her spectacular choke in the final.
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Saddest Moment of the Tournament: Jelena Dokic having to retire when she had Dementieva dead in the water. Tragic.
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Most Popular Player: Roger Federer, crowd darling. Ain't no one can deny that.
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Most Popular Offcourt Personality: Mirka Federer. In her own way, nearly as big a star as her husband.
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Most Unpopular Player: Victoria Azarenka. I think she may have made an enemy of the Parisian crowd for the next 8,000 years.
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Most Unsportsmanlike Gesture: Fernando Gonzalez wiping out a mark... with his arse.
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Stupidest Spectator: The dickhead streaker in the final.
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Best New Word (Rafael Nadal Memorial Award, no?): 'Yoking' from Robin Soderling.
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Greatest Player of All Time: Roger Federer (but that one was a gimme).
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Looking Forward To: Wimbledon, and seeing the great man go for fifteen.
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Today's Results
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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)
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Tomas Berdych def. Jan Hernych, 6-4 7-5
Dmitry Tursunov def. Igor Kunitsyn, 7-5 6-4
Rainer Schuettler def. Marc Gicquel, 6-3 6-4
Benjamin Becker def. Victor Hanescu, 6-4 6-4
Florent Serra def. Dudi Sela, 1-6 6-4 6-2
Tommy Haas def. Stefan Koubek, 6-2 6-2
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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)
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Feliciano Lopez def. Robert Kendrick, 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3)
Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Andrei Pavel, 6-4 7-6 (8-6)
Sam Querrey def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-6 (12-10) 6-4
Mikhail Youzhny def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-4 6-2
Lleyton Hewitt def. Eduardo Schwan, 6-1 6-0
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-1 6-1
Gilles Muller def. Joshua Goodall, 6-3 7-6 (9-7)
Andreas Seppi def. Robby Ginepri, 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3
Kristof Vliegen def. Leonardo Mayer, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4
Michael Llodra def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-3 6-4
Denis Istomin def. Ivo Minar, 3-6 6-1 6-2
Ivan Ljubicic def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 4-6 6-4 6-4
Marcos Baghdatis def. James Ward, 6-2 6-3
Kevin Anderson def. Fabio Fognini, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Frederico Gil def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-1 6-3
Nicolas Mahut def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-0 6-4
Xavier Malisse def. Pablo Andujar, 5-0 retired
Grigor Dimitrov def. Ivan Navarro, 6-4 4-6 6-3
Andrey Golubev def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-3)
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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)
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Melanie South def. Katoe O'Brien, 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-5)
Magdalena Rybarikova def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-4 6-4
Urszula Radwanska def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-3 6-3
Olga Govortsova def. Yung-Jan Chan, 7-6 (9-7) 6-2
Elena Baltacha def. Georgie Stoop, 6-3 6-4
Naomi Cavaday def. Julie Ditty, 6-2 7-6 (7-2)
Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Julie Coin, 7-6 (7-1) 6-1
Jarmila Groth def. Vania King, 6-4 6-4
Maria Sharapova def. Stephanie Dubois, 6-4 6-2
Alexa Glatch def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3
Roberta Vinci def. Severine Bremond, 6-3 6-2
Yanina Wickmayer def. Anastasija Sevastova, 6-4 6-3

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Greatest Of All Time

"The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are."
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That quote isn't strictly tennis related - yeah, okay, it's from Buffy - but my God, does it apply here one hundred percent, especially considering the theme of monster-slaying we've been considering as regards my man Roger Federer. The big moment came, and he fought to get there. I can't remember a tournament when he's fought harder - and of course it should be hard. This is a Grand Slam, and this is history. He made it to the moment. The moment came. And the world found out exactly who Roger Federer is.
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The greatest tennis player of all time.
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This cannot be disputed now. He has now won fourteen Grand Slams, putting him in equal first place with Pete Sampras - but unlike Sampras, he has won them on all four surfaces. He has made twenty consecutive semi finals. In addition to three runner up finishes at Roland Garros, one at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open, Roger Federer owns five Wimbledon titles, five US Opens, three Australian Opens and one Roland Garros title.
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It was the title they said he could never win. The gaping hole on his resume that was to put a question mark over his greatness. Three times he made the final, and three times he lost, including an absolute drubbing against Rafael Nadal last year. But not this year. Not this year.
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With one monster left between him and history, Roger Federer did not falter. We did not see him waiver, not for one instant. From the moment that he won the first point I think the world knew, in their hearts, that it was time. This moment has been coming - for too long, some thought, writing off this great man. But Roger was patient, and he fought, and he got there. And when the moment came, he stood tall. He looked history in the face and seized it with both hands.
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This is his time. This is his moment. And this, my friends, is history.
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It is often the case, I find, that people who are not otherwise into tennis at all have a special place in their hearts for Roger Federer. As great as other players like Nadal and even Sampras and Agassi are, no one has ever captured the heart of the masses like this man. He has walked with kings and kept the common touch. He has personified every 'if' Rudyard Kipling could possibly throw at him. He is the greatest champion our sport has ever had, but, perhaps, more importantly, he has been our sport's greatest sportsman. He has personified everything that sport should be - fair and honest and beautiful.
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He is the greatest of all time.
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I have waited so long to say these words. I believed them already, I think, long ago - his case for greatness has been convincing for some years now - but if people doubt him now, then they are completely deluded. The moment has come, the time has arrived when we can fete our hero as we ought to - for he is our hero. He is the hero of the masses, of the people, in a way that no one else has ever been. He has been the sentimental darling of our hearts for many years now, this gentle, beautiful, brilliant man - and now we have arrived at the moment where this man has made history, where he has transcended everyone, where he has achieved total tennis immortality.
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I saw him play once. I can tell my children, and their children, that I once saw the greatest tennis player of all time in the flesh - and the man who was the personification of everything that should be great in sport. He is a hero to so many, an inspiration, and I don't know if people have ever willed anyone to succeed more. But in the end, take away all the fans, everyone in the arena, everything but the tennis and the moment. Take away all that. There was Roger. There was Soderling, his opponent. And there was the moment when greatness was within his grasp.
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He was tried and he was tested, and he was not found wanting. And now history has been made.
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We live in the age of Roger Federer - the greatest tennis player of all time. And what an honour and a privilege it is.
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Today's Results
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French Open (Roland Garros)
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Men's Draw
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Roger Federer def. Robin Soderling, 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-4

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Meltdown

Oh, Dinara.
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I think it was sort of the story of the match the way that Dinara lost - on a double fault. For the third Slam final in a row, she just didn't turn up to play. I feel so sorry for her, but... oh, honestly, Dinara. Dinara, Dinara, Dinara.
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You know what she needs to do? Play a few of the lesser tournaments around where on-court coaching is around and about without using it. When she comes to the Slams, she has to play sans Zeljko, who helps her so much outside these tournaments. She needs to stop relying on him. She needs to let go. I'm not suggesting she fire him as her coach or anything, because they're an excellent partnership, but she needs to stop relying on him so much. She was looking up at him so much during the match. And there was nothing he could do. This one was all on Dinara. This meltdown belonged to her alone.
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Actually, I'll tell you what Zeljko can do - work on Dinara's goddamn serve. That ball toss is just cumbersome, and it's doing her no favours at all. But where was Dinara's determination? It wasn't there today. Poor girl. This must hurt.
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But the day belongs to the victor, and Svetlana Kuznetsova played a wonderful match. I was pulling for Dinara, but I cannot pretend to be sad Sveta won. She's a great player and a great champion and she deserved this to no end. You've sort of had the sense that another major was coming for Sveta ever since that maiden Slam in '04 at the US Open - she's too good to be a one Slam wonder. And she just played wonderfully today. She has an all court game which is lovely to watch, and she kept her head together marvellously today.
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Well done, Svetlana. You deserve this one.
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And Dinara? Wimbledon, sister. I know you can do it. Let's make it happen.
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Today's Results
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French Open (Roland Garros)
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Women's Draw
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Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Dinara Safina, 6-4 6-2