Posted: 31.03.09 16:18. Post subject: Вчера все-таки с 5 д..
Вчера все-таки с 5 до 7 утра посмотрела этот матч. Странный он был какой-то. З-хсетовый, много брейков, и все-таки он был скорее не захватывающим, а просто показался очень долгим. Были, конечно, красивые розыгрыши, но в основном ребята играли как-то зажато, много ошибались. В общем, не самый лучший матч для обоих. Надеюсь, Нандо улучшит свою игру.
Posted: 01.04.09 08:27. Post subject: Verdasco crushes Ste..
Verdasco crushes Stepanek at Sony Ericsson Open
Ricky Dimon
Fernando Verdasco eases past Radek Stepanek on Tuesday afternoon to reach the quarterfinals of the Masters Series Miami. Next up for Verdasco is Andy Murray.
Fernando Verdasco had a surprisingly easy time of it against Radek Stepanek on Tuesday at the Sony Ericsson Open in a matchup between two of the hottest players in tennis. Verdasco rolled over Stepanek 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes to set up a quarterfinal showdown with world No. 4 Andy Murray.
Verdasco set the tone for the match by breaking right away in the opening game. Stepanek never recovered, at that lone break would have been enough for Verdasco to take the set, as the Spaniard saved the only two break points he faced. For good measure, however, Verdasco added another break and sprinted through the first set 6-2. Heserved at 75 percent to help his efforts and crush any hope Stepanek had of getting back into the set.
More of the same continued throughout the second frame of play. Verdasco again seized a quick break of serve and he all but put the match away with another break at 3-1. The world No. 9 served huge and played aggressively in order to dictate play and prevent his opponent from consistently getting all over the net. When Stepanek did get into the forecourt, Verdasco's power and passing shots were often too much. A routine hold at 5-1 finished off the proceedings for Verdasco, who served at an impressive 74 percent clip for the match and did not face a break point in set two.
Verdasco and Murray have squared off on six previous occasions, with Murray dominating the head-to-head series 5-1. However, in their most recent encounter in the fourth round of this year's Australian Open, Verdasco stunned a previously on-fire Murray in five sets.
Posted: 01.04.09 16:34. Post subject: Fernando Verdasco he..
Fernando Verdasco heeds idol’s advice, makes quarterfinals
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — Retired tennis legend Andre Agassi, the king of Key Biscayne with a record six titles, may not be here physically, but his influence is being felt in the improved play of late-blooming Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Verdasco, who advanced into the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday with a straight-set victory over Radek Stepanek, was tired of being on the outside looking in at the top 10 players while toiling in the immense shadow of younger countryman Rafael Nadal, the world’s No. 1.
So he headed to Las Vegas for a three-week session with his childhood idol and Agassi’s fitness guru/spiritual mentor Gil Reyes as part of the Adidas Development Program.
Although Vegas is not generally considered the ideal city for soul searching, a two-hour discussion with Agassi has helped catapult the stylish left-hander from 16th to No. 9 after a five-set marathon semifinal loss to Nadal at the Australian Open.
"You have your idol telling you what to do," said Verdasco, 25, who has made the quarters or better in five tournaments in 2009, but is 0-7 against Nadal. "Telling you what he thinks is better for you, what is not better for you, helps you a lot."
As for Verdasco, Reyes recognized the same untapped potential he saw in Agassi when he was also 25 and more about flash than substance. Agassi, who peaked at 29, won five of his eight majors after 25.
"Fernando is at the same learning curve with the same hunger that Andre had at 25 when he turned the corner and showed signs of being a champion," Reyes said. "I told him, ’Why not you? Why not now?’ He has success in store for him and plenty of nice Sundays in the future."
Posted: 02.04.09 10:50. Post subject: Verdasco: Getting th..
Verdasco: Getting the winners in the game
By Steve Tignor
I knew I was making a mistake, but I went ahead anyway.
It was precisely 2:15 p.m. in Indian Wells, the minute when Fernando Verdasco had asked me to come interview him. He’d just finished beating Philipp Kohlschreiber and doing his press conference—total attendees: three, including myself—and he needed to eat some lunch. But he'd only given himself half an hour to do it before I got there. I was skeptical that he’d be ready, but if a player gives you a time to talk, that’s the time when you show up. This would be my best chance all year to track down the most improved ATP player of 2009.
I spotted Verdasco in a far corner of the cafeteria garden, eating with friends and colleagues, including a new member of his training team, Darren Cahill. Normally I would never venture anywhere near this scene with a notebook in one hand and a tape recorder in the other. But like I said, you can’t take any chances with the pros—for all I knew, Verdasco was going to give me until exactly 2:16 before jumping up and running back to the hotel.
When I got closer, however, my initial suspicions were confirmed. Verdasco hadn’t touched his heaping plate of pasta.
“Should I come back?”
He looked down at this full plate, back up at me, nodded his head, and started to laugh. His friends turned toward me. I gingerly retreated—I may have even walked backwards—to another table and sat down with a guy who works for the ATP tour.
“It’s in the blood,” he said. “He’s Spanish, he’s slow. I know, we’re the same way where I come from. You guys are always on time. You and the Russians.”
We whiled away another 20 minutes in the sun—not an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon, it must be said—before Verdasco, his pasta long gone, made his way over to us. As he does in his press conferences, he hunched forward and spoke in a low monotone. It’s odd: Verdasco seems at first to be the strong, silent type; he doesn’t act or even sound like he should be a talkative guy. But the words just keep coming. Here's his answer to the first question he was asked at the press conference following his loss to Roger Federer in Indian Wells.
Q. It didn't seem like you both played your best game at the same time.
VERDASCO: For me, you know, for my opinion, the match, it was a little bit irregular in either both, like you are saying, for both players. I think either, we didn't play our best tennis in any moment of the match. I was, of course, few moments feeling better than in other ones. But in general, I didn't feel so good tonight, no? I don't think that he also played his best tennis. I think he served well. The serve today was a big key for him. But also, in the beginning, he start making good shots with the forehand. But then also, in the second set, he didn't hit that much more than in the first set. So I think that also me, in the first set, not so much and in the second set I started to hit a little more winners with the forehand and feel a little bit better. But I think either both, we didn't feel our best tonight.
Where his compatriot Rafael Nadal chooses his words with care and speaks only when he’s figured out what he wants to say, Verdasco finds out what he thinks as he’s speaking. If he goes on long enough, he’ll get to the truth eventually. No wonder he and Ana Ivanovic broke up—neither of them must have been able to get a word in edgewise.
Verdasco was polite but guarded when he talked to me. His words kept rumbling out low and fast. After a while, I began to see them less as a means of communication for the Spaniard, and more as way for him to drown out anything revealing or personal. Verdasco is good at saying a whole lot of not too much, without ever sounding like he’s avoiding a question.
To boil it down, he said that his current surge started, in his mind, with his two wins against Argentina in Davis Cup last December, when he felt like “something changed.” He was especially satisfied there because “so many people were questioning me, saying, ‘Verdasco is scared, Verdasco is scared.’”
He said that “getting physically stronger, I know I can play longer and be more patient in rallies,” and that he had been waiting for this moment for “many years.” His loss to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open semifinals was the “best match for me, and the ultimate experience on a court.” Verdasco was clearly moved by the fan reaction in Oz—instead of taunting him, they been chanting his name, which was an “unbelievable feeling, I didn’t think that could ever happen.” He said his relationship to fans everywhere had been transformed by that one match.
To get to that semi in Melbourne, Verdasco had upset the favorite of most tennis observers, Andy Murray. Just when the Scot seemed poised for a breakthrough, the Spaniard passed him at the wire. On Thursday he’ll face Murray again in Key Biscayne. More than Federer vs. Nadal, their potential rivalry represents one of tennis’ eternal struggles, the slugger vs. the craftsman.
Verdasco and Murray have both worked their way upward in the past year through raw physical labor. The Scot’s was done with his team of personal trainers and buddies, the Spaniard’s at the Las Vegas gym of Andre Agassi’s old trainer, Gil Reyes. But speaking to Verdasco, you get the sense that his improvement has also been a matter of inspiration, of reassurance that he belongs at the top of the sport. Improving your game is a matter of making physical or technical changes, but winning is a skill that must be embedded in your personality. Verdasco always owned the killer forehand, but that didn’t mean he believed he should win tennis matches. As they said just last December, “Verdasco is scared.” It often looked like he was.
The first of Verdasco’s inspirations was the man who beat him in Australia, Nadal. “We’re not close friends,” he says of his relationship with Rafa, “but we know each other well. We’re both good friends with Feliciano Lopez. What’s most important for me is seeing what Rafa did last year, that he could win Wimbledon.” This was a tournament no Spanish player had won in 40 years. “When you see someone from your country do that, do something no one else did, it motivates everyone. It motivated me and made me think of what I could do.”
It hardly seems a coincidence that Verdasco’s own stunning breakthrough, when he silenced the doubters and clinched the Davis Cup for Spain, came in the same year that Nadal broke the country’s hex at Wimbledon. Anything was possible.
The great college football coach Bear Bryant of Alabama used to say there was really only one surefire strategy: Get the winners in the game. Verdasco took that to heart when he started working with Reyes and Agassi last year.
“At Christmas, I spoke for two hours with Andre [Agassi],” Verdasco said to me. “He told me things I should do more. When I got back from Australia, he hugged me and said he had been so happy watching me. Before Indian Wells, he was telling me little things I should do more or less, some tactical things. We were speaking about tennis all the time.”
If Verdasco was motivated by Nadal and trained by Reyes, he has been emboldened by Agassi. Tennis makes people jumpy, and a couple errors in a row can lead to a total and irrational loss of confidence. You can’t underestimate how much simple reassurance a player needs over the course of a match. This year, Verdasco has gotten it from the best: the tennis fans of Australia, a strong enough force to make Roger Federer cry, and Andre Agassi himself.
He’ll continue to fling in double faults at inopportune moments. He’ll lose his new, patient mind and go for too much at the wrong time. He may even hear people chant “Verdasco is scared” again. But now that he’s got a few of the winners on his side, you get the sense that he won’t believe them anymore.
Posted: 03.04.09 05:15. Post subject: Sony Ericsson Open, ..
Sony Ericsson Open, 1/4 [4] A Murray (GBR) d [8] F Verdasco (ESP) 61 62
Нандо проиграл... похоже, что травма - мышца в верхней части правого бедра, врач несколько раз выходил. под конец бедный Нандо просто хромал. но не снялся. не было бы хуже...ТТТТТТТ
Posted: 03.04.09 07:53. Post subject: Sony Ericsson Open A..
Sony Ericsson Open April 2, 2009 A. MURRAY/F. Verdasco 6-1, 6-2
An interview with: FERNANDO VERDASCO
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. It seemed that you were not 100% today. Is that right? You looked physically not very at ease. What happened? FERNANDO VERDASCO: You know, I had this problem in my gluteals in the second game of the match, and after that, it was tough, no, to keep in the match, to put pressure on him. He played good. He's a great player. He's one of the best players right now. If you're not 100%, you have no chances to win against him. I was feeling pretty good for the match, and I was unlucky that this happened in the second game of the match. So I was all the match a little bit, you know, with this problem. But, you know, I don't want to -- I don't like to also put excuses for the lose. He played better than me and he deserved the victory.
Q. What exactly happened? Bad move? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, it was one backhand cross that he made so short. He opened the court so much. I went out of the court to the take it, and just in one movement that I stretch so much I just feel it.
Q. What makes him so tough to play, do you think? FERNANDO VERDASCO: You know, he's so solid player. He don't make mistakes, stupid mistakes. He serve good. He put all the returns in. He don't make mistakes. He play deep. He defends so good. He's one of the best players right now. If you don't play 100% and you're not physically 100%, it's impossible beat him. For me it was tough to don't be -- to have this problem in the second game, you know, because it was very important match for me. I was, you know, with a lot motivation to play that match. But, you know, these things can happen. I was unlucky today. I just want to recover right now to be a 100% Monte-Carlo.
Q. Is this the kind of injury that will take time to recover? FERNANDO VERDASCO: I hope not too much. I didn't push so much after I feel it, so I hope that in few days I will be fine. Anyway, I just finish the match. I decide to come to the press straightaway to then have all the time I need to make the treatment. You know, then with the doctors and the physios, they will tell me what they think I should do. But I think that in a few days if I take rest I will be fine.
Q. Were you tempted at all to retire completely? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No. You know, when I feeling that I was just saying, like -- well, because normally these things never happen to me. Then I was a little bit with expectation how -- what is going to happen or how -- after few games I will feel better. But as the games was going on, I felt the same. And also, the beginning of the second set a little bit more, so I was thinking to retire with 3-Love in the second set down and two breaks. But, you know, these matches, I also try to play all the match, finish the match. You know, if I cannot walk, then of course I will retire. At least if I can play a little bit, I don't usually retire. I never did it. For me, it's pretty tough do it. Today I was feeling to do it a few times.
Q. If you are a 100% you will play the clay season? What will be the main goal for you, Madrid or the French? Both? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Both. Madrid for sure is my hometown. It's in all the Masters Series for me the most special one. And Roland Garros is huge. I love to play always in Paris. So it's gonna be the two most important tournaments for me all the clay season. But also Barcelona in Spain is important for me, and Monte-Carlo. Last year I lost in first round, so I don't have points to defend. I will try to play good. You know, in Madrid this year is the week of Hamburg last year, so I defend quarterfinals. Just I will try to keep playing good and be a little bit more lucky with the injuries, no? Because in Australia I had the ankle and now this. I hope to don't have more problems.
Q. Roland Garros, what is the best way, according to you, to get prepared for this? To play a lot of matches? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Of course. You know, the clay now is a change of surface. The most important thing is to get the rhythm in clay and win matches. You know, as much as you win, it's better to go to Roland Garros. You will get to Roland Garros with more rhythm, and you gonna be also easier to play there and win more matches in Roland Garros.
Q. Have you already visited the new site in Madrid? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, I never. I will go now.
Posted: 03.04.09 16:25. Post subject: Не знаю, мне кажется..
Не знаю, мне кажется, не в травме дело. Все дело в "stupid mistakes", которых вчера было way to many. По-моему, вчера в силу какой-нибудь лунной активности или просто неудачного дня к Феру вернулись его "внутренние монстры", с которыми он так удачно борется в последнее время. Врач, который приходил два раза, шептал ему на ушко советы от тренеров, первый раз Фер слушал, а на второй сказал "Whatever, I don't care" Ну что тут еще скажешь? В любом случае, он улучшил прошлогодний результат. Ждем грунтового сезона с большими надеждами. Очень понравились американские комментаторы. И как они расхваливали Фера, и говорили что он ВСЕГДА был outstanding player, просто только сейчас смог реализовать свой потенциал. Еще было забавно, когда Фер с укором смотрел на свою команду, комментаторы сказали, что он как будто говорит им "What's wrong with YOU guys??"
Posted: 03.04.09 16:50. Post subject: CrazyCat ну не знаю..
CrazyCat ну не знаю. я видела, как врач каждый раз массировал ногу, точнее повыше. Нандо и в ПК говорит, когда с ним это случилось. человек хромал, это было хорошо видно. не мог нормально пермещаться, особенно влево-вправо, соответственно не мог подходить к мячу, отсюда ошибки в приеме.
Posted: 04.04.09 00:09. Post subject: Tatiana ну если я с..
Tatiana ну если я сейчас скажу, что травма фигня - наверняка буду не права. просто мне кажется, что с головой у него вчера было гораздо хуже, чем с ногой. боль еще можно как-то побороть, а вот разъедающее деструктивное начало в нутри тебя - с этим ох как сложно. хотя, может, это у меня уже развилась паранойа за все году наблюдения его эмоциональных спадов на корте.
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