Posted: 22.03.09 20:01. Post subject: Moya Suffers Hip Inj..
quote:
Moya Suffers Hip Injury Lay Off March 13, 2009 atptennis.com
Former World No. 1 Carlos Moya will be sidelined for an indefinite period of time due to a hip-bone injury. The Spaniard has an injury to a tendon and ischium on his hip-bone and has suffered pain in his right leg for the past 11 months. After losing in the second round at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Acapulco two weeks ago, the Mallorcan went to Miami with his coach, Luis Lobo and physiotherapist, Pedro Salas for some tests. After returning to Spain the 32 year old is undergoing more tests in Madrid in an attempt to determine the extent of the injury and how long recuperation will take.
“It's a real hammer blow. I wasn't expecting this and it has put a halt to all my plans,” said Moya. “I have had pains over the last few months but we were hoping that it wasn't serious and that I could resume tennis little by little.”
For now, Moya will miss the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he was runner-up in 1999 (l. to Philippoussis), and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami – where he reached the final in 2003 (l. to Agassi).
“It's still too early to know when I'll be able to return to competition,” he said. “It's certain that I want to return but only when I'm firing at 100 per cent physically and mentally.”
The right-hander reached the pinacle of the South African Airways ATP Rankings on March 15, 1999, and is currently ranked No. 45. He won his lone Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros in 1998 (d. Corretja) and was runner-up at the Australian Open in 1997 (l. to Sampras). In total, he has amassed 20 tour-level titles.
Posted: 24.03.09 04:53. Post subject: Ostrava To Host Czec..
Ostrava To Host Czech Republic-Argentina Davis Cup Tie By Alberto Amalfi Monday, March 23, 2009 Tennisweek.com
Former feuding Davis Cup teammates David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro settled their differences and shared the doubles court at Indian Wells, reaching the quarterfinals before bowing to Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in the BNP Paribas Open.
Del Potro and Nalbandian are expected to reprise their relationship as teammates when Argentina travels to Ostrava to face the Czech Republic in the July 10-12 Davis Cup quarterfinals.
This will be the third successive home tie that the Czechs have staged at the CEZ Arena in Ostrava. They defeated Belgium in last year’s first round and surprised a loaded French team featuring four top-25 players in Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet and in this year’s opener.
The Czech Republic is looking to reach its first Davis Cup semifinal since 1996 against last year’s runner-up Argentina, who defeated Netherlands in this year’s first round in Buenos Aires. Neither Nalbandian nor del Potro played in that tie, but first-year captain Tito Vaszquez said both del Potro and Nalbandian, who was initially on the squad for the opening-round tie but was forced to pull out with a virus, promised to play if Argentina reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
"Del Potro and Nalbandian said that they would be present if we qualified for the quarterfinals and obviously they are confirmed because they are the two most important players we have," Vazquez said. "In the next few weeks, we will decide who will complete the team."
Argentina will likely need both men on board to beat a Czech team led by Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych. Nalbandian and del Potro rain into each other at the airport en route to Indian Wells and seemed to settle their differences that erupted during the 2008 Davis Cup final. The pair played doubles together at Indian Wells and Nalbandian said he is not averse to playing doubles in Davis Cup though he prefers to focus his solely on singles.
The del Potro-Nalbandian rift was rooted in Spain's upset of host Argentina in the November, 2008 final in Mar del Plata. Moments after Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco roared back from a 1-5 hole in the third-set tiebreak to stun Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri and shock the Argentine faithful into silent submission, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-3, in giving Spain a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five match Davis Cup final, Argentina's top two stars reportedly went at it in the locker room.
Behind closed doors in the locker room afterward, Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro got into an argument with Calleri stepping between the two men before tensions escalated. The core of the contentious clash was Nalbandian's belief that del Potro put himself ahead of the team by playing the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai two weeks before the Davis Cup final, risking re-injury to his already cracked toe nail, rather than returning to Argentina to rest, recovery and train to ensure he was at full strength for the nation's first home Davis Cup final in history. Nalbandian staked Argentina to a 1-0 lead in the final before del Potro lost to Feliciano Lopez in the second match. Nalbandian also apparently had harsh words for del Potro's father. Del Potro fired back that Nalbandian still had the opportunity to give the team a 2-1 lead, but failed to produce the much-needed win partnering Calleri in the doubles match.
Chela did not play the final, but admitted after Argentina's first-round win, the team must repair the relationship between del Potro and Nalbandian to move forward.
"I wasn't in the team last year but obviously something broke down and it has to be fixed," Chela said.
The Czech Republic will almost certainly choose a fast court to host Argentina. Berdych beat del Potro, 6-1, 6-4, in the Tokyo final last year. Stepanek was a 7-6(7), 6-4 victor over del Potro in last month's Memphis quarterfinals. Nalbandian has won two of three matches with Stepanek, all three were played on hard court, and owns a 4-1 career edge over Berdych.
Posted: 29.03.09 18:07. Post subject: Flamenco Night In Mi..
Flamenco Night In Miami By Tennis Week Sunday, March 29, 2009
Fast feet dancing across the court at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday night even before Gisela Dulko upset third-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
A flamenco dance hosted by Andalucia, preceded Rafael Nadal's night match, and served as a popular promotion for the Andalucía Tennis Experience Tournament, to be held from April 4th to 12th in Marbella (Málaga). World No. 1 Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Amèlie Mauresmo and Carla Suárez are among the players scheduled to play.
"Today we have witnessed a historical session in the world of tennis thanks to the promotion which is being carried out by the Andalusian Regional Government in the Sony Ericsson Open of Miami," WTA Tour Executive director Larry Scott said.
Posted: 14.04.09 23:06. Post subject: Biofile: The Juan Ca..
Biofile: The Juan Carlos Ferrero Interview By Scoop Malinowski Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Tennisweek.com
He was named for a Spanish king and moments after Juan Carlos Ferrero ruled Roland Garros with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Martin Verkerk in the 2003 French Open final, his thoughts immediately turned to family.
In the aftermath of his most important match, the soft-spoken Ferrero dedicated his victory to his mother, Rosario, who passed away when he was 16 years old.
"My mother (died) when I was 16," Ferrero said. "I want to send a kiss to her. To win this tournament, I am so unbelievably happy."
Ferrero would go on to attain the World No. 1 ranking after beating Andre Agassi in the 2003 US Open semifinals and bowing to Andy Roddick in the final.
The man nicknamed "the mosquito" delivered a stinging forehand in his rise to the top of tennis, but after capturing four titles in seven finals in 2003, Ferrero went fallow in enduring a five-year title drought.
He helped lead Spain to the 2003 Davis Cup final in Australia where the host Aussies posted a 3-1 victory. Ferrero flew home to Spain, then flew back to Australia less than a month later and advanced to the Australian Open semifinals where he fell to Roger Federer. Had Ferrero beat Federer he would have taken over the World No. 1 ranking, but instead he was felled by a case of the chicken pox, missed the entire month of March and would finish the season ranked out of the top 30 for the first time in five years.
The heavy workload of his career-best 2003 season seemed to sap Ferrer's strength and send his ranking into a free fall. Though he reached finals in Cincinatti (2006), Costa do Sauipe (2007) and Auckland (2008) breaking through to win a title proved to be elusive.
On Easter Sunday, Ferrero returned to the championship form. The 29-year-old Spaniard, whose ranking had plummetted to No. 115, snapped a five-year title drought and became the lowest-ranked man to win an ATP title this season by dispatching fifth-seeded Frenchman Florent Serra, 6-4, 7-5, to capture the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca.
It was Ferrero’s first title since October of 2003 when he beat Nicolas Massu to win Madrid. He is now four wins removed from his 400th career victory.
"This is a special tournament for me. Ten years ago I played my first ATP World Tour tournament here and now I’m back winning the title," Ferrero said. "I’m very happy; it was a great week for me."
Ferrero, who handed Rafael Nadal his lone loss on clay last season in Rome in a match that saw Nadal bothered by blisters on his feet, had played 110 tournaments since his last title. It was his first clay-court championship since beating Martin Verkerk to win the 2003 Roland Garros title and propelled him to No. 75 in the rankings.
The winner of 12 career ATP singles titles, Ferrero has registered career wins over Agassi, Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Patrick Rafter, Marat Safin, Federer, Marcelo Rios, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya, Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian and Tommy Robredo.
Scoop Malinowski caught up with Ferrero for this Biofile interview.
Height/Weight: 6-foot, 160 pounds.
Born On: February 12, 1980 in Onteniente, Spain.
Tennis Inspirations: "My mother (Rosario). Pete Sampras. Andre Agassi. Jim Courier. I liked the matches of Sampras with Agassi. (Were they friendly to you?) No, not so much [laughs]."
Hobbies/Leisure Activities: "I like to listen to music, to drive my car, motorbikes, stay with my friends or my family, watch the television."
Favorite Movies: "It's tough to say. I have a lot. But maybe John Q I like a lot. Notebook of Noah. I have so much."
Musical Tastes: "Pop rock, all of it, doesn't matter."
Early Tennis Memory: "Maybe when I played with my father (Eduardo) in the fog with a wood racquet [smiles]."
Favorite Meal: "Meat with french fries."
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Vanilla."
Current Car: "Renault Spyder."
Pre-Match Feeling: "I say, I'm gonna play now. I have to play normally. Have to play good to win. I need to stay positive for the match. I feel good always before the match. I'm playing good now and I feel so good."
Greatest Sports Moment: "When, the greatest, I was number one. And when we won Davis Cup in 2000 (def. Rafter and Hewitt in final to lead Spain over Australia 3-1)."
Most Painful Moment: "Maybe when my mom is dead ('97). I think it's my worst moment. Because, what can I do with my life when my mom is dead?"
Worst Tennis Moment: "When I went until 115 (April 6, 2009) in the ranking maybe."
Embarrassing Tennis Memory: "Maybe these years when I was working too hard and I didn't go up as quickly as I want."
Favorite Tournaments: "Roland Garros. Australian. Some small tournaments also, like Bstaad, Umag, of course Valencia is my hometown."
Closest Tennis Friends: "All the Spanish guys. I'm friends with everybody but most closer of course to Spanish."
Funniest Players Encountered: "It's difficult to say...(Alex) Corretja, (Fernando) Vicente."
Toughest Competitors: "A lot [smiles]."
Favorite Athletes To Watch: "Football, Real Madrid. Auto racing I like so much. Golf, Sergio Garcia. I like to see boxing. Mike Tyson — the most spectacular. I like to see him. It's crazy in the boxing." What was the best you ever felt on court? The best you ever played?: "2003 semifinal (U.S. Open) against Agassi. I play one of the best matches that I play because that match was very important to me. If I win the match I get number one in the world. And the stadium was full, 23,000 people and also against Agassi, I think was probably the best memory that I have on the court. It was the first time I beat him on hard court."
Post №: 337
Joined: 22.03.09
Location: Киев
Rank:
4
Posted: 18.04.09 20:56. Post subject: Карлосу будут делать..
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Карлосу будут делать операции и он пропустит весь 2009 год, но надеется вернуться в 2010-м
Только в след. году? На спортс.ру писали, что операция уже сделана и Карлос собирается вернуться после ЮСО...
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Карлос Мойя вернется на корт после US Open Экс-первая ракетка мира Карлос Мойя перенес операцию на тазовой кости, боли в которой беспокоили его на протяжении долгого времени. На корт теннисист вернется через четыре-пять месяцев. «Врачи сказали мне, что процесс восстановления займет от четырех до пяти месяцев. Думаю вернуться после US Open. Это лучшее время для того, чтобы спокойно оценить состояние своего здоровья и как следует подготовиться к следующему сезону», – цитирует Мойю «Спорт-Экспресс»
http://www.sports.ru/tennis/7647643.html
Эх... вернулся бы... Возраст такой, что может передумать... тьфу-тьфу-тьфу
Posted: 18.04.09 22:41. Post subject: хруня я тоже видела..
хруня я тоже видела новость, что Карлос планирует вернуться после USO:
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Spain's Moya eyeing return after U.S. Open Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:21pm BST
MADRID, April 16 (Reuters) - Former world number one Carlos Moya is planning to return to the tour in four or five months once he recovers from surgery on a troublesome pelvic bone, the Spaniard said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.
"They have told me that the recuperation period will be between four or five months," Moya, who topped the rankings for two weeks in March 1999 after winning the previous year's French Open, told Marca.
"I think that to come back after the U.S. Open (in September) it's best to accept the situation in a relaxed way and have more guarantees for next year," the 32-year-old added.
Post №: 623
Joined: 22.03.09
Location: Ялта
Rank:
2
Posted: 21.04.09 16:36. Post subject: http://jpe.ru/gif/s..
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21/04/2009 - Gaudio returns to winners circle in Barcelona, sets up rematch of 2004 final
Former champion Gaston Gaudio outlasted Argentinean compatriot Diego Junqueira to win his first ATP Tour main draw match in almost two years. The 2002 winner recovered from a break down in the final set to outlast his younger opponent 64 36 64, and improve his career record at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 to 19-6.
Having struggled with motivation in 2008, Gaudio saw his ranking drop its current No. 966. The 2004 Roland Garros champion has played a full schedule so far in 2009, and Received a wild card invitation to compete at this year’s Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell from organisers. The win represents his first success on the main ATP Tour since a first round victory in Paris in 2007. He advances to face sixth seed Tommy Robredo in a rematch of the 2004 final, won by the Spaniard in five sets.
Gaudio’s compatriot Guillermo Cañas is also on the comeback trail, but had less luck in his battle with France’s Arnaud Clement. Cañas, the 2007 finalist in Barcelona, got off to a strong start but allowed his opponent to took control of the match in the first set tiebreak, which he won without conceding a point before establishing a 5-1 lead in the second. Cañas was able to claw one of the breaks back, but eventually capitulated 76(0) 63.
A pair of Spaniards secured wins in the opening matches on the side courts, with Daniel Gimeno Traver blasting past fellow-qualifier Fabio Fognini of Italy 61 63, and Oscar Hernández scoring a minor upset over 64th-ranked Argentian’s Eduardo Schwank 62 64.
Wild card Alberto Martín was the sole home player to make an exit on the second morning of play, taking just four games from world No.22 Igor Andreev. Martín, playing the event in Barcelona for the fourteenth consecutive year, was unable to make an impact against the Russian, a semi finalist two weeks ago in Casablanca.
There were no upsets in the day’s early doubles matches, though all were close contests. Lukas Kubot/Oliver Marach ousted the Spanish partnership of Marcel Granollers/Tommy Robredo 36 63 (10-8), Julian Knowle/Jurgen Melzer came from behind to beat Nikolay Davydenko/Igor Kunitsyn 36 64 (10-6), and Simon Aspelin/Wesley Moodie came from match point down to beat Marc López/Fernando Vicente 76 26 (12-10).
Posted: 29.04.09 04:25. Post subject: Argentina's Cori..
Argentina's Coria retires from tennis
4/28/2009 8:16:00 PM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -Former French Open finalist Guillermo Coria retired from tennis at age 27 on Tuesday.
Coria, a finalist for Roland Garros in 2004 and formerly ranked third in the world, said he had been considering stepping down from the sport for months.
``I didn't feel like competing anymore,'' Coria said in statements published on the Argentine Tennis Association's Web site. ``I've made the decision I will not play again.''
Coria won nine titles during his career, reaching his peak in 2004, when he lost in the final of the Roland Garros to Gaston Gaudio, catapulting him to third in the world rankings.
Coria's decline began a year later after he won the Umag tournament - his last title.
``In 2005 I began to feel less and less like competing,'' he said. ``My passion just wasn't the same and it's impossible to do things well when it's like that. In this sport, you have to be at 100 percent,'' added Coria, who is currently ranked 672.
Coria turned pro in 2000 at age 18, and was suspended in 2001 for two years. But the ATP reduced the penalty to seven months after a lab test showed the multivitamin he ingested was tainted with steroids. In June 2007, after claiming he'd lost a potential $10 million in earnings, Coria settled a lawsuit with the New Jersey-based maker of the multivitamin.
In 2003 he won three tournaments in three weeks, and by the end he was South America's highest-ranked player. He also was the first Argentine in 21 years to reach the season-ending Masters Cup.
Coria's last tournament was in March at a challenger in Bangkok, his first event in eight months. He lost in the first round.
``I'm very happy with the decision I've taken,'' he said, ``since I have new projects and I will be able to spend more time with my family.''
Post №: 475
Joined: 22.03.09
Location: Киев
Rank:
4
Posted: 29.04.09 09:15. Post subject: Рано или поздно это ..
Рано или поздно это должно произойти. Последний выигрыш был год назад в первом круге Касабланки. Даже на челленджерах череда проигрышей. Куча двойных ошибок в каждом матче
Волшебство, увы, ушло...
Желаю Гильермо найти себя и найти жизненное волшебство за пределами кортов и турниров
Posted: 29.04.09 21:07. Post subject: INTERNAZIONALI BNL D..
INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA (MEN) ROME, ITALY April 28, 2009
Tommy Robredo
T. ROBREDO/M. Safin 2-6, 7-6, 6-2
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Obviously a slow start today. Took a while to get into the game. Just explain sort of the first set and a bit, because he was in control. TOMMY ROBREDO: Yeah, well, absolutely. He was leading 6-2, 4-1, 30-Love with serve, which it's nearly the end of the match. But suddenly I just won couple of point and then I could broke him that in that game. Then, well, he was serving 5-4 and I saw that the first point he did double fault. So I did my best all the time, and finally I could broke him and win the tiebreak, which it was as really close tiebreak. Then at the end of the third set, I new that if I was tough mentally I could beat him, because he would not be as tough as he was at the beginning. Yeah, I think it was a great comeback.
Q. Did you feel a swing in momentum or a point in the game where you thought, This is mine to win? TOMMY ROBREDO: Obviously when I won the second set I thought that it was my time right now, no, because I know Marat a lot of years. When things like that happen to him, maybe sometimes he gets pissed and then it's tough for him to keep playing the same level, no? In the first game, I had Love-15 and a couple of chances to win the points, and then I did stupid mistakes. But then the second time he was serving then I broke him, and then he was leading pretty easy. It was helpful for the end of the match. (Translated from Italian.)
Q. Would it be the concentration in the second set that changed the course of the match? TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, normally a player, when he sees that the situation is 4-1, 30-Love and the other one is serving against him, they would think that they've lost the match. But then Marat let me break, and so I went to 4-2, and then I went 4-3. At 5-4, my serve, he made some mistakes. That's when I was able to go 5-All. At 5-All we were still quite close. I didn't really know whether the match would go my way. It was really only on 6-5 that I realized that had match was going my way.
Q. What would you say about the conditions? TOMMY ROBREDO: They were terrible. At each point the shoes would pick up so much clay that it was like ice skating. There was no grip at all. He fell; I fell also. It's normally impossible to play, but we're players and we're used to this. Even though it's difficult, we have to play in these conditions.
Posted: 29.04.09 22:27. Post subject: Coria Calls It Quits..
Coria Calls It Quits
By Richard Pagliaro Wednesday, April 29, 2009 Tennisweek.com
Five years ago, back in the days before Rafael Nadal came to regard the red clay of Roland Garros as his own personal playpen, the man who appeared poised to claim the title of clay court king, Guillermo Coria, came within a point of winning the Roland Garros championship before bowing to Gaston Gaudio in an all-Argentine final.
That major near-miss will be the moment many remember when contemplating Coria's career, which symbolizes the plight of a supremely talented player who provided flashes of brilliance on some of the game's greatest stages but never completely fulfilled that promise by winning a major championship.
The man whose slick sleight-of-hand skills with a tennis ball made him resemble a magician in his prime, reached the 2004 French Open final and a career-high rank of No. 3. But he never recovered from the collapse of confidence he suffered after squandering a two-set lead and two match points in the Roland Garros final and the subsequent shoulder surgey that diminished his serve to a shell of what it was.
Conceding he has lost the passion for the game he learned from his teaching-pro father shortly after he learned to walk, the 27-year-old Coria has called it quits, concluding a career that saw him collect nine tournament titles, register a 218-114 record and reach two US Open quarterfinals.
"I didn't have any more desire to compete," Coria told Radio Continental. "I had been thinking about it for several months and in Thailand I realized that it was a struggle for me to travel."
Playing his first tournament in nearly 18 months after a lengthy layoff due to shoulder surgery, back problems and a confidence crisis, Coria returned to the site of his first career tournament title and lost to 11th-ranked Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, at the Vina del Mar tournament in January of 2008. Though he has played sporadically in Challenger events over the past years, Coria could not summon the resolve and results to return to the game full time. He played one match this season, falling to Israel's Harel Levy, 6-3, 6-2, in last month's Bangkok Challenger. The man who was a near constant top 10 presence in 2004 and 2005 had seen his ranking plummet to No. 672 when he pulled the plug on his career.
Coria, who owns a tennis academy and is an avid soccer player and rock guitarist, said he plans to spend more time with his family.
"I'm happy with the decision I've taken because I have some new projects and more time to dedicate to my family," Coria said. "I began to feel less and less like competing. My passion just wasn't the same and it's impossible to do things well when it's like that. I've made the decision I will not play again. In the last three years, things have not worked out the way I wanted and I haven't had so much passion for what I do. In this sport, you always have to be 100 percent."
His retirement closes the book on a career that was rooted in tennis from the moment he was born.
Coria's father, Oscar, named him after Argentine Hall of Famer Guillermo Vilas and while he was named for that nation's greatest champion in many ways he was an outsider from his junior days. Unlike many Argentine players who were born or trained in bustling Buenos Aires, Coria came from Venado Tuerto, a small town three hours outside Buenos Aires — and the fact he was not a city kid seemed to fuel his inner drive to prove he could compete — and beat — the world's best players.
Though he was an undersized junior sometimes mistaken for a ball kid, Coria's flair for finesse, his ability to create acute angles and take the ball early — attributes he said he developed watching two of his tennis heroes, Andre Agassi and Marcelo Rios — and his supreme court sense made him one of the world's best juniors. Coria partnered David Nalbandian to win the 1997 Wimbledon junior doubles title and defeated Nalbandian to capture the 1999 Roland Garros junior singles crown, finishing that season as World No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings.
At the age of 19, Coria conquered Gaudio to claim his first career ATP title at the 2001 Vina del Mar. Three months later, his career struck a roadblock.
During a routine drug test in April of 2001 in Barcelona, Coria tested positive for metabolites of nandrolone. The five-foot-nine, 145-pound Coria claimed the Nandrolone entered his system when he ingested a contaminated supplement containing the banned substance.
The Argentine appealed the charges against and and subsequently proved to the deciding tribunal that (1) the source of Nandrolone was a commercially available nutritional supplement contaminated at the point of manufacture, one not labeled to contain a banned substance among its ingredients nor marketed as such; (2) he was completely unaware that the supplement was contaminated with a banned substance; and (3) he acted reasonably to fully abide by the Tennis Anti-Doping Program rules. As a result, the ruling against him was labeled a doping offense but with exceptional circumstances and Coria was suspended from the ATP Tour for seven months, was forced to forfeit ranking points and was fined a total of $98,565 in prize money.
When the ruling was released in December of 2001, Coria said: "I am devastated by this penalty, which I consider too harsh in light of the fact that I proved to the tribunal that I did everything possible to abide by our anti-doping rules. I have not and would never take banned substances to enhance performance."
The suspension — and his belief that neither the ATP nor many prominent players supported him in his appeal — disappointed and frustrated Coria, who always maintained he was victimized by an an injustice. When Greg Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone metabolites in 2004 — Rusedski later sucessfully won an appeal arguing he ingested the nandrolone through a supplement given to him at an ATP tournament — Coria quickly and publicly supported the former US Open finalist.
"This (support) didn't happen for me," Coria said. "A lot of players didn't believe I was innocent. But I hope Greg Rusedski comes out of it because I know what he's going through and yes I would sign a petition for him."
The treatment Coria received from the Tour and his peers remained a sore spot for him deepening his distrust of some in the sport.
"When I was suspended many players didn't think my ban was long enough," Coria said. "I had contaminated vitamins and they didn't believe it. It affected me very badly indeed and it was hard to get over it. It's difficult for me now because players are rallying around him and they didn't rally around me."
Coria later sued the supplement manufacturer, Universal Nutrition, before reaching a settlement. Though financial terms were not disclosed, it was rumored Coria collected a seven-figure settlement.
Returning to tournament tennis with the flashes of the fire of a man who had a personal score to settle, Coria produced some of his best tennis. In 2003, he won five titles in seven finals to become the first Argentine since Vilas (seven titles) and Jose-Luis Clerc (five titles) in 1982 to win five championships in a season. He swept Gaudio and Agustin Calleri in succession to claim his first Masters Series crown in Hamburg, fell to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the Monte Carlo final and upset his childhood hero, Agassi, to advance to his first career Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros. A heavy favorite against big-serving Martin Verkerk, Coria, in a momentary fit of frustration, turned and fired his racquet toward the back wall, inadvertently grazing a ball kid. He could have been disqualified on the spot, but Coria, clearly horrified by his action, apologized immediately. The match continued, but Coria did not recover, bowing to Verkerk, 7-6(4), 6-4, 7-6(0).
The following year Coria returned to Roland Garros poised to win the Parisian prize he had collected as a junior. He swept former French Open champion Carlos Moya and Nalbandian in straight sets to set up what would become one of the most breathtaking and bizarre battles in French Open final history against Gaudio.
Coria won 11 of the first 12 games before tightening up and watching Gaudio rally to fight off two match points and complete a grueling 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6, triumph. Gaudio became the first Argentine man since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to rule Roland Garros, while a distraught Coria, who suffered one of the most heart-wrenching Grand Slam finals in years, was left to pick up the pieces of his shattered competitive psyche.
In many ways, that final served as a clear divide in clay-court tennis. Coria, whose game was predicated on quickness, court sense and feel, would battle the young Nadal brilliantly before bowing in the 2005 Monte Carlo final. The pair faced off again in Rome with Nadal earning an epic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6) triumph. Though he fought valiantly, Coria came up short against the sheer physicality and desire the muscular Mallorcan brought to the court.
Shoulder surgery followed in 2006, forcing Coria to miss Roland Garros for the first time since 1999 and essentially marking the beginning of his decline.
The 5-foot-9 Coria was never a big server, but his first serve lost some of its sting in the aftermath of shoulder surgery. During the 2005 U.S. Open, Coria complained of a hand injury that hampered his serve. He survived 20 double faults faults to defeat 2004 Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu in the fourth round of the Open that year, but was stricken with a disease of double faults at crucial times in his quarterfinal loss to Robby Ginepri. Coria committed five of his 14 double faults in the fifth set and ended the match on a double fault in falling to Ginepri. Since that loss, Coria has posted a 17-22 record.
He never really recovered from the collapse of confidence in his serve. During the 2006 Tennis Masters Series-Monte Carlo match Coria committed 20 double faults, a full five games worth of double faults, yet still fought back from a a 1-6, 1-5 deficit to defeat France's Paul-Henri Mathieu, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4.
The strain of fighting his own service woes and his waning confidence and commitment gradually became too much for Coria to overcome. In a sense, Coria and Gaudio — two former rivals forever linked in history by what transpired that day in Paris five years ago — have been driven from the game by physical issues that have become mental. They are two of the slightest Grand Slam finalists in recent years — neither man stands taller than 5-foot-9 or weighs more than 155 pounds — and have both been chewed up by the clay courts they once commanded. While Gaudio's one-handed backhand was once a premier weapon on clay and Coria has fine feel and an innate understanding for the geometry of the court, both have had to work so hard to hold their serves and face a significant size and strength disparity in giving up 25 pounds to players like Nadal and Roger Federer.
There are no quick fixes in clay-court tennis and so the two players who once faced off in the French Open final found themselves facing an arduous road back and now Coria has come to the end of the road though he still inspired those who remembered the magic he once brought to court.
Posted: 30.04.09 06:18. Post subject: Magician and Cat Pos..
Magician and Cat
Posted 04/29/2009 @ 5 :14 PM By Pete Bodo TENNIS.com
By now, most of you probably have heard the news: Guillermo Coria has officially retired - although I would never take any retirement announcement by a professional athlete as a binding decision. Kim "Champagne Kimmy" Clijsters is plotting a comeback, Martina Navratilova appears to have been given more competitive lives than a cat, and y'all remember how Brett Favre ended up in New York Jets green-and-white in the fall of 2008. Even that clay-court icon Bjorn Borg thought twice about his decision to quit, and made a aborted comeback effort in 1982.And wasn't that Kimiko Date Krumm who just won Monzon?
One of the least appealing aspects of being a is professional athlete is that you leave the game - or get shoved out of it - at an age when you're in your prime by almost any other standard. In fact, you're probably fitter and stronger than at any previous point in your life. Calling it quits may be an even tougher decision to make when, as in Coria's case, there's no real physiological reason for throwing in the towel. "I didn't feel like competing any more," he said in his official retirement statement, "I've made the decision that I will not play again."
So ends the twisted tale of 27-year old Guillermo Coria, aka El Mago (the Magician), the former French Open finalist (2004) and world no. 3, who just can't find the most useful and fundamental weapon in a tennis player's arsenal, desire. It's an interesting quality to contemplate, now that Rafael Nadal, 22, is ripping through yet another clay-court season with an astonishing degree of attentiveness and focus. You know, you can debate two-handed vs. one-handed backhand, or the role of the winner-to-error ratio in tennis, until the cows come home. The bottom line is that tennis is like a cheesy romance novel - it's all about the passion, hot blood, and overarching desire - the only thing tennis lacks is those dudes in frilly white shirts.
This point is being driven home on a daily basis in Europe, where the question "Why should Rafa even care?" is answered: Because he wants more of whatever it is he gets out of all this, and he'll stop at nothing to get it. At the end of the early hard court season, one of the big questions in my mind was the degree to which Nadal's success at the Australian Open and on the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami would influence his results on the spring clay-court circuit that he has dominated for four years now. Nadal's answer has basically been, Not at all, because it isn't about checking things off a to-do list (de-throne Roger Federer; win Olympic gold, take the title in Melbourne. . .), it's about loving your job, which for me means going out every day to prove that I'm the baddest hombre on the planet.
Coria once had that desire, too. It earned him a lot of money and made him famous; it carried him to a no. 3 ranking. Now, still in his physical prime, he's like the proverbial person who's lost his religion. This was something unexpected.
The first time I saw Coria play was at the Orange Bowl of 1998, where he was seeded no. 6. He slashed and scampered all the way to the final before losing to some kid named Federer. At the time, Coria was still just 16. He looked like a bandy-legged version of the rock guitarist Eddie van Halen; he had the same stringy hair and beady eyes. But Coria was built on a small platform, standing 5-9 and barely breaking 150-pounds.
Coria's agent at the time, Proserv's Patricio Apey Jr., was very high on Coria (it's part of his job description), although we were already in an era dominated by big, rangy players (think Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg et al). One thing that Coria clearly did have was heart - and that can easily make up for what a player may lack in inches or pounds. And Coria moved beautifully, with the light, nimble steps of a cat.
That mobility enabled him to win the battle for court position, and that was the great key to his success. He acquired his nickname, El Mago, because of his great touch and unpredictability, and because he had a Houdini-esque ability to escape from seemingly precarious positions to win a point. The less esoteric way to put this is that he was one of the first among an emerging group of players who had a knack for making the transition from defensive retrieving to offensive dictating in the blink of an eye.
Out of curiosity, I checked out Coria's fan website, and found myself moved by the heroic effort to make the Guillermo Coria saga seem the ordinary story of a successful tennis pro. Here's one passage:
Then there was a large hiccup in the road on the path to glory beginning in 2006, a transitional time of elusive and often mysterious happenings, which saw King Coria fall from #8 in the world out of the top 100. And then off the tour for an entire year with injuries and uncertainty. The main recipe to his magic potion had always been his passion for his craft, and it was this that finally brought his retirement at age 27.
Hiccup?????
The man's career went over the cliff. At one point on his way down, Coria made over 20 double faults in a series of matches. He became one of that mysterious group of athletes who utterly and completely loses it. Here in the U.S., we have a name for that kind of thing: Steve Blass disease. Blass was the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball pitcher who, like Coria, woke up one day to find that his "stuff" had vanished. He couldn't throw the ball over the plate and soon left baseball.
But there's a big difference in these two cases, because I presume there was nothing wrong with Coria's strokes, or even his serve - at least not until he set foot on the court to play a match. As he said in his retirement statement, Coria no longer wanted to compete. And if you look at the differences between Nadal and Coria's records, you'll see just how important it is for a tennis player to want to compete and win. It's the unseen, extra hand on the grip of the racket; it puts bite into the serve and snap into the passing shot.
There's no greater gift than the gift of appetite. And when great players begin to struggle, the way Roger Federer is struggling, the root cause is almost always appetite. For once the appetite goes, the player begins to ask, Why? Why do I need to win Monte Carlo again? Why do I need to beat the no. 24 player in the world? Why does there have to be a winner and a loser, every time?
Coria has apparently decided that he can't really answer such questions with conviction. Part of this must be because he's fallen so far, so fast. The list of names between his own and that of the no. 3 ranked players is so long and so filled with talent, that it has to be disheartening. It's like Coria is waking from a pleasant dream in which he reached the no. 3 ranking, but he's now subject to a new reality - one that started to take shape in the 2004 Roland Garros final.
You may remember the Coria was the favorite to win the title that year. He beat former Roland Garros champ Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals, and Tim Henman (that's no typo!) in the semifinals.But, in an all-Argentinian final against unseeded Gaston Gaudio, Coria buckled. He served for the match twice in the fifth set, at 5-4 and 6-5, and had two match points - each of them swept away by his own hand, as he went for winners and missed the line by inches. Gaudio came back to win, 8-6 in the fifth.
Some pundits believe that losing the French Open final just kept eating away at Coria, corrupting his game like an insidious virus. There were also rumors of marital discord. Others attribute his loss of form to back troubles. But there's never really been a satisfactory answer for his dramatic and sustained loss of form, or at least none better than the one he offered: He just didn't feel any joy in competing any more. The kid, named after Guillermo Vilas and the son of a tennis coach, was simply burned out.
The curious thing about the story is that Gaudio, nicknamed El Gato (the Cat) has also struggled mightily since he won that title at Roland Garros. He's currenly ranked no. 762, while Coria quit with a ranking of 672. Unless Gaudio makes a move, Coria can at least claim to have surpassed Gaudio in the rankings. That French Open final was one of the most riveting in many years, and the men who contested have each paid a price for their moment of glory.
Posted: 01.05.09 13:43. Post subject: ну ооооооочень мален..
ну ооооооочень маленькая ПК Монако после победы над Марри: ROME, ITALY
J. MONACO/A. Murray 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You looked after the first set. How did you turn things around? JUAN MONACO: At the beginning I think I start very nervous. Then on the second set I start thinking to be a bit calm, start playing slow. I was trying to hit very hard the ball on the first set, and that wasn't tactic to play against Andy. Then I play calm like six, seven balls every game, every point, try to make him a little bit tired. Then at the final set, I trust a little bit on my game. I was playing very well the second set. That's it. I was playing well. I have the chance, and I think I played very well the last three or games.
Post №: 843
Joined: 24.03.09
Location: Россия, Ногинск
Rank:
5
Posted: 11.05.09 20:09. Post subject: Давид Феррер: «Чувст..
Давид Феррер: «Чувствую уверенность перед следующей встречей»
Двенадцатый сеяный испанец Давид Феррер, обыгравший в первом круге турнира в Мадриде аргентинца Гильермо Каньяса со счетом 6:2, 6:2, остался доволен своей игрой.
«Я доволен своей игрой, хотя и удалось потренироваться здесь, в условиях высоты, всего один день, чувствую себя хорошо. Матч прошел относительно комфортно для меня, и я чувствую уверенность перед следующей встречей», – цитирует Феррера официальный сайт АТР.
Posted: 25.05.09 08:08. Post subject: Beaten Gaudio deligh..
Beaten Gaudio delighted to be back Sun May 24, 2009 10:05pm BST By Pritha Sarkar
PARIS, May 24 (Reuters) - Gaston Gaudio turned up at Roland Garros hoping to recapture the summer of 2004 and relive the best days of his life.
Instead, the former champion was booking an early flight out of Paris after losing in the first round to Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-4 6-1.
"I spent the best time of my life here in this tournament, so it was great to be back. It's a pity that I lost, but it happens. It's been really hard for me to come back," said the 2004 winner, who needed a wildcard to play at the claycourt major as his ranking has nosedived to 359th.
"It's a pain in the neck to have lost today for this tournament that I love."
The Argentine had taken time out from the sport for almost a year before returning in January but has found it tough going. He had won only one tour level match before arriving in Paris and Stepanek was quick to expose his frailties.
Gaudio said he was determined to persevere with his comeback.
"I have to go on because I was missing tennis," said Gaudio, who defeated fellow Argentine Guillermo Coria 8-6 in the fifth set to win his sole major.
"I spent like the first five or six months enjoying life, doing all the stuff I would like to do when I was playing but I couldn't.
"Then I realised that all the things I've been doing for the last 15 years... all the things that I was complaining about, the routine, travelling, airports, everything, all that wasn't too bad."
Posted: 26.05.09 18:41. Post subject: Life on tour with Ga..
Life on tour with Gaston Gaudio
Monday, May 25, 2009 By Eric Frosio
Joining the ATP or WTA circuit is something akin to embarking on an endless world tour. Rolandgarros.com asked some of tennis’s major stars for an insight into their life as a perennial sporting backpacker. Today we talk to Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio, who lost to Radek Stepanek on Sunday.
Which is the most relaxing city on tour? Indian Wells. It’s the perfect place to relax, play tennis or have a game of golf. I really like golf and started to get quite good at it, but haven’t played much recently.
Which is the most stressful city? New York. Everything’s at 200mph there. It’s hard to keep up with the pace! There are always loads of traffic jams too. I do like New York, but for no longer than a week.
Which city has the best nightlife? Miami! With so many beaches, bars and restaurants, it’s a really fun place to be. In which city would you most like to buy a house? Paris. I dream of buying an apartment on the Île Saint-Louis, but it’s too expensive for me. Honestly!
Where are the best beaches? In the Caribbean. Where is your favourite restaurant? The Tour d’Argent in Paris.
Which country has the prettiest girls? Argentina, without a doubt!
Which is the friendliest country to visit? Tunisia. I played a tournament in Tunis recently and the people were really friendly.
What is the worst thing about travelling? The airports. I also hate packing and unpacking.
Who are your travelling companions? My coach and my fitness trainer. What item do you always have in your suitcase? My mobile phone and my iPod.
Which is the hottest stadium? Buenos Aires.
Where are the best spectators? At Roland-Garros. The spectators are really knowledgeable.
Who is your best friend on the circuit? Mariano Zabaleta.
Who is your ideal mixed-doubles partner? Olivia Sanchez.
Posted: 27.05.09 15:24. Post subject: J.FERRERO/I. Ljubici..
J.FERRERO/I. Ljubicic
2‑6, 6‑4,6‑4, 3‑6, 6‑3
An interview with:
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO
THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish.
Q. Are you going to be able to recuperate after this tough match?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, the first thing ‑‑ the first important thing is to win first. Of course, five sets can make you feel really tired, but I didn't run that much. The rallies were quite short. We didn't play long rallies. Of course, we are tired.
I did feel okay. Personally, I feel good, and this makes me confident for the next match. We'll see what happens.
Q. Last year, you lost first round. In 2007, also, if I'm not mistaken. So how do you feel now that you won that first round?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: That's true. Last year I had a very bad start. This match is really important, because I'm now in the second round, which is going to be difficult, also.
But in big tournaments like this,the first round is always tough.
Q. Is it really difficult to face this situation? You had a very good week, and then you had letdowns, like in Barcelona. You had many ups and downs, in fact. How can you adjust to that?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, it's not easy, because after CasaBlanca, I was expecting better results. What happened in Barcelona helped me a lot. I thought I would have good results on clay after my win in Casa Blanca, and that was not the case.
I didn't win many points in this season on clay, but I'm sure I'm going to win those points on hardcourts. What I need is to keep cool and practice alot. In Madrid, against Verdasco, I was playing well, and suddenly it's not easy to have good results.
Posted: 01.06.09 21:16. Post subject: T. ROBREDO/P. Kohlsc..
T. ROBREDO/P. Kohlschreiber
6-4, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2
An interview with:
TOMMY ROBREDO
THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.
Q. I think now you're the only Spanish player left in the men's drawbecause Nadal is out and Verdasco also is out. Do you think that puts more pressure on you?
TOMMY ROBREDO: There is also Marc Lopez who is playingdoubles with me. No, I don't see it aspressure. I see it as, in my part, I'mdoing what I'm doing perfect, and I'm winning quarterfinals.
And then the others,yesterday they didn't have their best day and they lost. So that's things that can happen, no? But I'm not putting all the 40 millionSpaniards behind me thinking that if I lose they are going to lose, no?
No, it's like I'm gonna to try to do my bestand that's it. I don't want that type ofpressure.
Q. Whatwas your reaction when you saw that Nadal lost to Soderling? Did you expect it? And also, what has been the reaction in yourown country?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I saw it. Yeah, I saw a couple of games here, and then I moved the hotel and I saw nearly all the fourth set in the hotel. My reaction was surprise obviously, like you or everyone here, because normally Rafa is the winner here, so nobody expected him to lose that quick.
But anyway, it shows that in sport anything can happen. Even Rafa, that it seems that he can never lose, when he's not 100% in a match and the other player is 200%, then things can happen.
Anyway, I think that it was really close. If Rafa would have won the fourth set, maybe he will win the match. But Soderling was hitting great, and Rafa, he wasn't the Rafa that we are used toseeing.
So these are things that happen insport.
Q. Oneexplanation maybe for Rafa's defeat is that he had a long season and he wasmaybe tired. I think you also played alot on clay. You won two titles. You have the most victories on clay. How do you feel so far at this stage of theseason fitness‑wise?
TOMMY ROBREDO: I don't want to talk about Rafa, no? He already talk yesterday. I'm here to talk about myself, and I'm readyand I'm playing good and I'm in quarterfinals. I play a lot of tournaments, as well, and I'm fit.
I hope to keep going,and hopefully I can arrive to the semifinals here.
Q. It's going to be your fourth time in the quarterfinals at the FrenchOpen. How do you see your nextmatch? Do you think it's going to bemore difficult for you than the previous times to reach the semifinals andmaybe go beyond?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Nobody knows. First of all, I have to relax. Ihave to go to the hotel, and tomorrow I have doubles match. Then next day we will see what happen, no?
In a tennis court,everything that happen. If you startwell, then can you win the first set and it can goes to your side. If you lose, it can goes to the other.
I will try to play like today, and then Iwill see if I can reach the semifinals, which it will be great for me.
Q. Throughoutthis tournament, do you keep in touch with your family? Do they call you every day to have somefeedback about your match?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, my dad is here, so it's easy to talk tohim. My mom is in Spain, which obviously I'm talkingto her.
So, yeah. I like to be here with my dad, because he'salways coming here. And now that I don'thave a coach, he's supporting me and giving me some tips to try to win.
Also, today Alberto Costa was helping me somuch. So yeah, I was with good companyhere.
Q. Dothey have high expectations for you?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Them?
Q. Yeah.
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I don't know. I have to ask him. But obviously today they were so happy. If I win the next day they are going to bemore happy.
I don't know. Expectations? Everyone has expectations, even myself. But then we will see what happen.
THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish.
Q. So it's the fourth time you've reached quarterfinals here. That must be important to you.
TOMMY ROBREDO: Yes, it's great to play here in Paris. I've always been lucky. Last year was probably my worst year. I won two matches last year, but this yearI'm in quarterfinal. I'm very happyabout it.
I want to try my bestto reach the semifinals. I neverachieved that. It would be great, just great,to make it in semifinals and have that in my records.
Q. Well, imagine you play quarterfinals against Del Potro, although he hasnot won yet. What would you think aboutthis match? You played him two yearsago.
TOMMY ROBREDO: I don't want to think about my quarterfinalmatch. I want to relax. I want to play my doubles tomorrow, and thenI have time to think about the quarterfinal match.
Whoever wins, it'sgoing to be a tough match, because these are two very good players. I have to play 100% like today.
Q. Del Potro is playing very well at the moment. What do you think about his game?
TOMMY ROBREDO: No, I really don't care whether I play one orthe other. I don't care. Let the best win, and then once we play,we'll see. I don't want to say one orthe other has to win. I have a job todo. Today I did it well, and this is whyI'm very happy.
Q. The key in this match was that you were focused?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, the key of the match was my serve. I served very well. I managed to win many games, thanks to myserve.
And from a tacticalstandpoint, I think I managed the match well. I think if you play a very fast match against Kohlschreiber, he can playvery well. He can serve well.
I know that he played very well against JuanCarlos, and that he was a very tough player. Then I had played Kohlschreiber already in the past, so I think Imanaged the match pretty well.
I tried to play faster when I could,and I tried to be aggressive when I could, and it worked out well. Luckily, I won.
Q. Youwrote something on the camera. Can youtell us what you wrote? It was prettylong and it was written with a doctor's writing, so we couldn't read what yousaid. We never know what you writebecause it's written upside down.
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I started writing a poem instead ofsigning, just to write something and to do something different. But nothing. Nothing special really. I wrotesomething like, One day I was a kid, or something like that. And at the end, I wrote, Ahahaha. I just wanted to write something different.
You know, most of thetime we just sign, and it's upside down or the other way around. People never see what you write. So I just wanted to write somethingdifferent, and I started writing this poem.
Q. Yesterday people, the crowd, was obviously in favor of Soderling andagainst Rafa. What about you? How have you been supported by the crowd in Paris?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I watched the match on TV, and I neverrealized that the crowd was more in favor of one or the other. But the crowd is so used to seeing Rafawinning, and yesterday they saw that maybe Soderling could win and they wantedto see a change. The people here havealways been very supportive to Rafa, so what happened yesterday? I don't know.
As for me, I've alwaysbeen treated very well here. There aremany Spaniards coming around with their flags. I don't have much to say when a French guy plays. Obviously the crowd is against you. But for the rest, I don't know what else I couldsay.
I wasn't there yesterday, so I don't knowexactly what happened.
Q. Idon't know if I'm mistaken, but I think that during the US Open you said that what youlacked for being part of the top 10 was winning against people at a higherlevel than you are. It's yourquarterfinal here. You've already playedquarterfinals in the Australian Open, but you've never been further in atournament. So what do you miss inyour game to reach the semifinals?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, it's true that in the quarterfinals Iplayed here. There was Albert Costa thatwas very good, and then Ancic with Davydenko.
These were very toughmatches which I lost, but I don't know. I'll try and do my best and be there 100% and see if I can make it.
You know, what's important here would be forme to win. It would be wonderful,wouldn't it? I'm pretty fit, and, well,one has to win. One has to lose. So I'll try to be the one winning.
Q. InEnglish you said that Costa helped you quite a lot.
TOMMY ROBREDO: Yes, Costa was here. He was here when I warmed up and when Ipracticed, and he gave me a couple of tips. Even when I'm in Madridand I'm not playing, he helps me, because he knows that I do not have acoach. We have a very good relationship.
He was watching thematch with my father, so he was there. He looked at the match, and then we can talk about it. He's here to help me. He was watching the match to support me onthe court. That's important.
Q. You have no coach, but you seem very comfortable playing without acoach. Aren't you planning to take acoach? I think in Hamburg you had no coach, either.
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, no. I mean, I'm not doing that on purpose. It just happens. It's not mydecision not to have a coach because I think I can manage better without acoach. I just happen to be without acoach.
I'm one of the guys,you know, when I stop doing something, I don't want to again immediatelyafterward. Like with a girlfriend, whenyou split up, you don't want to have a relationship with another girlimmediately afterwards. You want todisconnect, and you want to take enough time.
So my father knows me. I'm here with him, and I have no coach. I focus more on myself. I have to assess myself, and this is what I'mdoing at the moment.
Of course, I'll look for anothercoach in the future. I can't go on myown in the U.S. I'll be playing in Washington,Toronto, Cincinnati,New Haven, andI think after a certain number of weeks I'll have to be back, you know.
I think it's important to havesomeone next to you who sees things that you don't see for yourself. Because there are things that you can seefrom the court, but there are things that you can only see from outside thecourt. So I'll try and see if I can findsomebody who could help me.
Posted: 26.02.13 10:47. Post subject: CARLOS MOYA TWITTER ..
CARLOS MOYA TWITTER CHAT Delray Beach
by Catherine Whitaker
Carlos Moya took over the @ChampionsTennis Twitter account to take questions from tennis fans on Friday in Delray Beach, and it led to some fascinating answers. He also signed a t-shirt for the best question. Read the Q & A below, and then see which question Carlos chose as the best at the end!
Question: What is your favourite spot to eat, anywhere in the world? Carlos Moya: Miami. Joe Stone Crab in Miami is the best."
Question: The next young tennis star? Carlos Moya: I don't know. Maybe Tomic or Dimitrov but they're not that young anymore. I don't see any teenagers coming thru at the moment.
Question: If you’re hosting a party, what three tennis players do you invite? Carlos Moya: Goran Ivanisevic, John McEnroe and Mark Philippoussis.
Question: Carlos how often did you used to practice per week at the age of 13? Carlos Moya: Five days a week. Three hours every day. And then one hour fitness on top of that.
Question: Who was your tennis idol growing up? Carlos Moya: Stefan Edberg
Question: Probably the most moving moment I've seen on a press room: when he broke in tears after winning Estoril in 2000! What happened? Carlos Moya: It was only my third tournament after a bad injury. I thought I might never play again and then I won. It was amazing.
Question: Carlos - what did you personally think of the blue clay in Madrid? Carlos Moya: I think the idea was not bad, but it didn't work at all. Not due to the colour, just the surface was no good.
Question: Describe John McEnroe in 3 words. Carlos Moya: Most charismatic ever
Question: Which was the mostly amazing match did you play? Kisses from Brazil/Argentina Carlos Moya: Probably when I beat Rios in RG in 98 in the quarters. It was 6-4 in the 4t. That match convinced me I would win the title.
Question: How is life now on the seniors tour? Carlos Moya: Life is great. It's a different atmosphere and there is much less stress than on the ATP level.
Question: Who is your tip for the french this year? Carlos Moya: It's still very early to say. I have to see how Rafa is recovering. If he is fit, he is my pick.
Question: What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on tour? Carlos Moya: One match I took the wrong racquet bag on to court. I have no idea whose it was but it didn't have my racquets in it!
Question: What was the best moment of your career? Roland Garros, Number 1 or Davis Cup? Carlos Moya: Number 1 I think, but also winning the Davis Cup at home in front of 27,000 crowd of supporters was amazing
Question: What was your favourite memory on the ATP tour? Carlos Moya: My favourite memory is becoming Number One in the World in Indian Wells 1999.
Question: What's your favorite thing about Delray Beach? Carlos Moya: I love being here at the same time as the ATP event. Great atmopshere here.
Posted: 27.02.13 22:16. Post subject: а какой вопрос Карло..
а какой вопрос Карлос назвал лучшим? я могу назвать лучший ответ - ИМХО - первый. присоединяюсь - место супер, я даже, кажется, уже писала о нем в связи с фотками Карлоса - на них он выходит из этого ресторана. вот вернемся на основной форум, ТТТ, и проверим...
Posted: 03.03.13 23:47. Post subject: Tennis' BNP Pari..
Tennis' BNP Paribas Showdown 2013 to Air Live from Madison Square Garden, 3/4 Tuesday, Feb, 26, 2013; 12:46 PM; - by TV News Desk
ESPN3 and ESPN2 will present live the BNP PARIBAS SHOWDOWN 2013 from Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday, March 4, with two star-studded matches: a US Open rematch between the world's top two ranked players, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka followed by Rafael Nadal - who recently returned to action after being sidelined since Wimbledon last summer - facing former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.
ESPN holds exclusive live rights to the matches, and ESPN3 will begin at 7 p.m. ET with ESPN2 joining at 9 p.m. Chris Fowler will call the matches with Cliff Drysdale, Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe. The Nadal-Del Potro match will also be available on broadband in the U.S. in Spanish on ESPN Deportes +.
"The BNP PARIBAS SHOWDOWN - with top stars in compelling matchups from a venue rich in tennis history - launches a great month of tennis from ESPN, crisscrossing the country from Indian Wells to Miami and in early April the Family Circle Cup from Charleston," said Jason Bernstein, senior director, programming and acquisitions in ESPN's programming department. "We enjoyed a successful start to the year with the Australian Open, and ESPN is there with a year-round narrative, showcasing the deepest tennis schedule on television, broadband and via WatchESPN for fans on the go."
Williams, holder of 15 major titles, regained the world's top ranking after last week's WTA event in Qatar, despite losing to Azarenka in the final 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3. Azarenka, winner of the last two Australian Open championships, is now ranked No. 2. The two return to New York, where Williams defeaTed Azarenka in last September's thrilling three-set US Open final.
Nadal, who counts seven French Open titles among his 11 major victories, recently returned to action after a seven-month hiatus because of injury. He recently reached the final of both singles and doubles in his first comeback event and is ranked No. 5 in the world. He has not competed in the U.S. since playing in Miami last March. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champ, is currently ranked No. 7.
The BNP PARIBAS SHOWDOWN from MSG will air live internationally on ESPN's networks in more than 130 countries and over 47 million households throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, UK, Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Rim, including on ESPN Latin America in Del Potro's home country of Argentina. In addition, ESPN's broadband players in Latin America & the Caribbean (ESPN Play) and Australia & New Zealand (ESPN3) will also stream live simulcast coverage of this event.
Posted: 05.03.13 12:46. Post subject: MSG Exhibition: Del ..
MSG Exhibition: Del Potro d. Nadal Monday, March 04, 2013 /by Ed McGrogan
NEW YORK—Rafael Nadal looked nothing if not comfortable at the start of his first hard-court match in neary a year. On a relatively slow surface, and in an environement where less-than-100-percent effort is encouraged, Nadal was provided the time to show off his entire arsenal. His backhand, up close, was potent, not simply a rally shot. His forehand looked fantastic at times, particularly in the first game, when Rafa terminated a cross-court exchange with a down-the-line swipe. After breaking serve, Nadal traded lobs with his opponent, Juan Martin del Potro, as one is obliged to do in tennis exhibitions. Whether he was playing or "playing," Nadal looked quite comfortable out there.
So with that in mind, what should we make of Nadal's 7-6 (4), 6-4 loss to del Potro in front of a massive Madison Square Garden crowd? Instead of "not much," how about this: A lot less than if Nadal loses to del Potro by the same score sometime next week at Indian Wells.
Coming off a title run in Acapulco capped by a 6-0, 6-2 dusting of David Ferrer, Nadal could be forgiven for looking slightly weary during this late-evening contest. Rafa has kept busy since returning from a seven-month absence in South America, and today's events paraded the Spaniard around New York City.
Nadal could also be forgiven for appearing slightly cautious at times tonight, returning to the surface which has become his most threatening. Rafa scampered aplenty, but rarely took full sprints, and he pulled the trigger on his groundstrokes earlier as the match wore on. It might explain why Nadal came to net so often, much like del Potro did. Both men volleyed well, and each struck a no-look backhand smash, a shot more difficult than much of the hot-doggery on display.
The key to the outcome was the tiebreaker, which Nadal led 4-2. But del Potro took the final five points, three on Nadal backhand errors. It was a sharp turn of events, and signaled what was to come. The Argentine retained his momentum in the second set, racing to a 4-2 lead before both men held their final two service games. For Nadal, I have to think this was a satisfying effort and good practice before he (likely) plays Indian Wells. Nothing more—but definitely nothing less.
Two other things bear mentioning from this match: First, the highlight of the evening, an impromptu doubles match, with Nadal and actor Ben Stiller taking on del Potro a young girl who looked no older than 10. She was the star of the show, and not just because she was held high by del Potro and greeted warmly by Rafa at net—she earned their praise and a standing ovation with some fine volleys. She'll never forget that experience; kudos to both men for making it happen.
Second, a word about del Potro. His forehand gets top billing, and when he fires it like he did in New York City three-and-a-half years ago, it's obvious why. But watch his backhand, too. In the 2011 Davis Cup final in Seville, del Potro completely nullfied Nadal's bread-and-butter shot, his lefty cross-court forehand, with his powerful two-hander that largely determined the rallies. Del Potro won the first set, and really should have taken that match the full five. It would be Rafa's day in the end, but del Potro, as he often does, showed flashes of his Slam-winning self. I'm interested to see how Nadal fares on hard courts this month, but I can say the same for del Potro as well.
Posted: 05.03.13 13:15. Post subject: Карлос Мойя продолжа..
Карлос Мойя продолжает заниматься журналистикой - спасибо ему за интересные статьи позавчера он опубликовался в El Pais, заголовок не требует перевода:
Posted: 05.03.13 14:10. Post subject: Nine-year-old from H..
Nine-year-old from Huntington plays with Nadal, Del Potro at Garden Published: March 4, 2013 11:50 PM By JOHN JEANSONNE john.jeansonne@newsday.com
Monday night's exhibition tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro at Madison Square Garden took an entertaining twist when Ben Stiller came out of the stands, picked up a racket and went on Nadal's side of the net.
Not to be outdone, or shorthanded, Del Potro called a young girl out of the stands to even up the sides. The girl, 9-year-old Rebecca Suarez of Huntington, showed that she has game. What was left of the crowd originally estimated at about 15,000 went crazy as Suarez knocked about three or four shots over the net.
Posted: 11.03.13 21:40. Post subject: Indian Wells, USA 09..
Indian Wells, USA 09.03.2013
K. ANDERSON/D. Ferrer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
An interview with: DAVID FERRER
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Seemed like you were getting very upset with the chair umpire early in the second set. Talk about what happened there. DAVID FERRER: Well, I had my chance in the 4 All, two break points up, but he played good in important moments. He played more aggressive, more consistent than me, and in the third set I was a little bit tired and he was better than me. I don't have excuse, no?
Q. Why do you think you were tired? DAVID FERRER: Well, because no, is tennis. Is normal. Because he was better than me. He serve better. Some days the player is playing good, and sometimes he's playing not so good. Today I am not play bad, but not my best match, best match of my career.
Q. How good is his serve comparatively speaking on the tour? Where does it rank for you to play? Is he up there with the Isners and Karlovics? His serve. DAVID FERRER: Yes, yes, it's very good. He's a tall guy. Similar game.
Q. How difficult is it to play in Indian Wells, the courts, the ball? Does the ball fly for you? DAVID FERRER: No, it's okay. It's okay. I think the conditions is the same for all the players.
Q. You were talking to the chair umpire. Was it the same chair umpire you had in doubles yesterday? DAVID FERRER: Yeah, it was not important point. I was angry in that moment, but it's not fun for it was a mistake for him, but all the people has mistakes, no? Also me.
Q. Did you feel like you were playing well coming into this tournament? Were you happy with your game? DAVID FERRER: I don't know. (Smiling.) Now I lost. Tomorrow I will try to do my best for to practice good for to play very good in Miami. But I don't know.
Q. What is your level of disappointment? Because we don't see you lose early in tournaments very often. DAVID FERRER: Well, of course I am disappoint, no, because I lost in first round. But this is tennis, and it's impossible to win always. Kevin Anderson was better than me. What can I do?
Q. Is it easy for you to bounce back? DAVID FERRER: Yeah, of course. This is only sport. Of course is my job. It was a bad day, and not I am disappointed with me, but tomorrow I going to be good, sure.
Q. How important is it for you to stay in the top 4 where you're ranked now? Do you think can you get any higher? DAVID FERRER: I don't know. I don't know for me. I start very good this season, and of course it's important to finish the season top 10. But is difficult. I don't know. Now I want to practice a lot and to hard work for to will be top 10.
Q. You say top 10, but you're top 5 now. Are you setting low expectations for yourself? DAVID FERRER: No. I am thinking always in the present and in this moment. The most important thing is when finish the season. Now is not important. We start the season. We are in the second part of the season.
Q. Rafa played a high level against you when you played recently on clay. Do you expect him to be able to keep that kind of level on a hard court, especially his first tournament? DAVID FERRER: Yeah, I think so. I think Rafael is coming back up. I play with him in a clay court. And it was different court, but he's playing good. He's not playing with his with pain in his knee, and that is a very good point.
Posted: 12.03.13 23:25. Post subject: Can Juan Martin del ..
Can Juan Martin del Potro ever make it back to the mountaintop? By Douglas Perry, The Oregonian on March 07, 2013 at 8:00 AM, updated March 07, 2013 at 11:37 AM
Manuel Orantes could really play. The bashful Spaniard had guile and perseverance and, when needed, a touch of magic. And everybody liked the guy. When he won the U.S. Open in 1975 with a straight-set thumping of defending champion Jimmy Connors, he rushed to the sidelines to kiss his wife ... and was mobbed by news photographers offering congratulations.
But unless you’re Spanish and a tennis fan of a certain age, the name Manuel Orantes probably means nothing to you. That upset of Jimbo was the one big moment in his career. He’d never make it past the quarterfinals of another major.
Is this the fate awaiting Juan Martin del Potro? Thirty-five years from now, will he be largely forgotten outside his native Argentina?
We never expected to be asking this question. Three years ago, del Potro shocked the sports world when he plowed under both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to win the U.S. Open. With his size and mammoth groundstrokes, he seemed to have the answer to Fedal dominance: a suffocating power game immune to both Rafa’s spin and Roger’s variety.
That proved not to be the case, of course. A serious wrist injury put Delpo on ice for nearly a year right after that U.S. Open win, but the wrist can’t really be used as an excuse anymore. The 6’6” Argentine has been healthy and back on tour full-time for more than two years, and his best result in a major during that time has been, yes, the quarterfinals. The 24-year-old still hasn’t won a Masters-level tournament in his career. As a result, pundits don’t really consider him a major-title contender anymore. Maybe they’ll put him in the dark horse category -- until they remember some of his recent bad losses. (Example: his third-round collapse against journeyman Jeremy Chardy at the Australian Open in January.) Even del Potro doesn’t seem to view himself as a champion. He reacted to winning the bronze medal at the Olympics last year with a Borg-like call-out to the heavens, as if he had just summited Mount Everest. The bronze medal, let’s remember, is for third place.
Part of del Potro’s problem seems to be motivation. He obviously wants to win, but would he be willing to push his opponent in front of a bus to be first to the finish line? The greatest champions have a singular focus that emits no outside light, allowing no acknowledgement of other people and their ambitions. Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic have learned to say all the right things at press conferences, but don’t let their charm fool you. They are utterly ruthless in their professional lives. The sensitive, humble Del Potro, on the other hand, has shown no sign of this kind of coldbloodedness.
Perhaps more telling is his game itself. What looked like the Next Wave three years ago -- a tall, strong player who could take heavy spin in his hitting zone and whose flat-ish groundstroke blasts disrupted rhythm and took away opponents’ legs -- now seems distinctly retro, a baseline Boris Becker. Djokovic evolved into Plastic Man to overcome Federer and Nadal, and the younger generation is following suit. The next great champion probably is going to be a big guy like del Potro but he’ll be swifter and more athletically versatile, with a cleaner, spinnier stroke.
Does that mean del Potro ends up a one-Slam wonder like Manuel Orantes? There are worse fates, of course. Which just might be what Delpo is thinking...
Posted: 15.03.13 00:46. Post subject: Tatiana пишет: но д..
Tatiana пишет:
quote:
но диагноз ставить рано.
да ну их, эти диагнозы и прогнозы, в спорте все, что хочешь, может случиться. Лишь бы здоровым был. Тем более, что и где это "younger generation", которое нынче в продолжателях дела Джокера? Наверное, я сейчас слишком мало тенниса смотрю, да все не тех людей.
Posted: 16.03.13 00:22. Post subject: Mela ну тогда я тож..
Mela ну тогда я тоже не тех смотрю. я даже не знаю, кто это такие - продолжатели дела Джокера. да и вообще, где все молодое-раннее? слава богу, Рафа ТТТ смотрится прилично. потянуло на свое, на девичье
Posted: 16.03.13 21:38. Post subject: Murray and Berlocq g..
Murray and Berlocq get into spat during match Thursday, March 14, 2013 /by Matt Cronin TENNIS.com
Andy Murray and Carlos Berlocq get into a spat during their fourth-round match at Indian Wells, which Murray won. Berlocq complained to the chair umpire that Murray was taking too much time in between points, then Murray complained about the Argentine’s grunting.
“When you’re doing it that loud, but you aren’t doing that on every single shot, there is obviously a reason for why you’re grunting like that some consistency with a grunt,” Murray said. “If I’m going to be supposedly taking too long between points on one or two points, then grunting that loud for that long is like an extended grunt as well. It’s still making a noise when you’re hitting the ball. It’s annoying.”
Posted: 16.03.13 21:46. Post subject: Mela пишет: да ну и..
Mela пишет:
quote:
да ну их, эти диагнозы и прогнозы, в спорте все, что хочешь, может случиться.
вот и случилось. еще вчера никто не верил, что Дельпо выиграет у Марри. а сегодня это факт - выиграл. есть амбиции у парня. я чет рада так была - сама накануне о таком и не думала.
Posted: 16.03.13 23:26. Post subject: Indian Wells: Del Po..
Indian Wells: Del Potro d. Murray Friday, March 15, 2013 /by Peter Bodo TENNIS.com
Perhaps newly elected Pope Francis petitioned for a little divine intervention on behalf of his Argentinian countryman Juan Martin del Potro. Surely, the Lord knew del Potro needed when it came to his history with Andy Murray.
Del Potro, the gentle giant with the meat-and-potatoes game, has been consistently flummoxed by the devious Murray and his legerdemain-heavy game. Although both are former U.S. Open champions, Murray had outfoxed del Potro in their previous meetings, five matches to one.
But it’s not like del Potro has been conspicuously overmatched. Four of the five three-set meetings between the men before today’s exercise went the distance, and in their only Grand Slam clash—at the 2008 U.S. Open—Murray won in four sets.
Today, though, del Potro turned the tables. Not only did he get the better of Murray in numerous long rallies, he also snatched the role of versatile counter-puncher out of Murray’s hands. Del Potro won an error-strewn but entertaining quarterfinal, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1.
Murray looked stronger in the first set, despite showing a penchant for making errors that would last through the entire match. He finished with a whopping 49 unforced errors, while del Potro had just 27. Some of those led to two del Potro two break points in the very first game. But when he failed to convert either and Murray held, it looked as if the Scot’s ability to slip whatever noose del Potro tried to fit over his head would once again come to his rescue. Still, the fact that Murray couldn’t get any traction against del Potro’s serve prefigured how this match would go—a detail easily ignored after Murray squirmed out of the first-set tiebreaker.
You could be forgiven for jumping to conclusions given how badly del Potro mangled his chances in that first-set decider. He started it with a mini-break, but promptly turned over the next two points. Del Potro struck back for 2-2, but Murray won the next three points to go up 5-2, with two serves to come. But the No. 3 seed found a way to blow that big lead by losing those two points with unforced errors. Again, del Potro failed to capitalize. Murray outlasted him in a 43-shot rally to end the next point and go up 6-4. After del Potro held the next point, Murray teased a backhand error out of him to end it.
Instead of yielding to frustration, the 6’6” No. 7 seed stepped up and won the first game of the second set at love. He reeled off the next three points as well to leave Murray serving at 0-40. A double fault by Murray, one of an uncharacteristic eight for the match (including one at match point), gave del Potro the first break of the match by either man. He made the most of it, too, holding with relative ease the rest of the way to serve out the set.
By that time, del Potro had worked himself into a fine groove, while Murray was growing more and more careless. Suddenly, it seemed, del Potro was the one throwing in the unexpected drop shot, the one mixing up the pace with the occasional sliced backhand or looping, time-buying forehand. If there was a strong streak of Murray in del Potro’s game, Murray seemed inclined to want to hit his way out of trouble—something we’re more likely to expect out of del Potro, and something that didn’t work at all.
And there was always that del Potro serve, or more precisely that ability to hold. Murray didn’t see a break point in this match until second game of the third set, and del Potro crunched that one away with a smash winner. After surviving that minor scare to hold, del Potro stood by as Murray made three errors, starting with a double fault, to fall behind 0-40. He was eventually broken for 1-2 when he made a forehand error.
Del Potro’s biggest crisis occurred in the next game, which lasted nine minutes. Murray reached his second—and final—break point, but another forehand error helped del Potro out of the jam. Del Potro then held for 3-1 and continued to apply the pressure. Just as important, he cooly resisted what little pressure Murray was able to muster the rest of the way.
Del Potro took a crucial step toward shedding his reputation as the best player never to win a Masters 1000 event, but he may be in even greater need of a little help from above when he meets his next obstacle, Novak Djokovic.
Posted: 17.03.13 00:48. Post subject: Tatiana пишет: не з..
Tatiana пишет:
quote:
не знаю, кто это такие - продолжатели дела Джокера.
я даже не то, что по результатам, по стилю никого не могу припомнить: многие из этих новоявленных талантов - подаваны, Томич слайсит по делу и без; Гоффен быстр, и усё - отлетает всем подряд. Григор тоже не особо похож, хотя вообще мало его матчей последних видела, да и где. У него в этом году было пару удачных турниров, а в остальном ничего выдающегося, особенно на БШ. Янович - это подача и укорот, и все (ну не считая психов на корте). Мне Нишикори еще давно нравится, но у него карьера, конечно... Сверкнет на турнире - и опять в лазарет.
Tatiana пишет:
quote:
я чет рада так была - сама накануне о таком и не думала
Posted: 17.03.13 20:46. Post subject: Mela пишет: ...и с ..
Mela пишет:
quote:
...и с победой над Джоком, конечно
спасибо! вот уж этого ждать совсем не приходилось. не может быть! долго же пришлось "заводить" Дельпо . Джок устал - удивительно было это видеть. а наш парень - после победы ничего себе, мог бы и еще побегать, довольный такой. а эйс на матчпойнте - как-будто весь матч его экономил, берег для такого случая. о приближающемся финале даже не хочется пока думать - так порадовали оба, Рафа и Дельпо. победа нужна обоим, но она одна...
Posted: 17.03.13 22:48. Post subject: Divine Invention Sat..
Divine Invention Saturday, March 16, 2013 /by Steve Tignor TENNIS.com
quote:
INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—Saturday was a great day to watch tennis at the BNP Paribas Open, but a confounding one for anyone trying to create a coherent storyline about the state of the men's game.
In the first semifinal here, Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych to reach the final of the first hard-court event that he has played in nearly a year. As Rafa made his seemingly inevitable way back from 3-5 in the second set to close it out, the words “same as it ever was” began circling through my head. Even after all of that time away, Rafa, and by extension the Big 4, still reigned supreme, while Berdych, and by extension the second-tier, were doomed to eternal failure in the clutch.
The words were still lodged in my head a few hours later, as the second semifinal, between Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro, reached the halfway point of its final set. By that stage the world No. 1, after a few fits and starts, was doing what we expected him to do: Leading del Potro 3-0, and running the big man ragged in the process.
But just when all appeared right and normal in the ATP, when a doubled-over del Potro looked ready to depart with honor, and a confident Djokovic appeared ready to take his place in what many people here were calling a “dream final” against Rafa, something happened. Something very strange happened. Was it, perhaps, divine intervention? After all, from Rome to Indian Wells, Argentines are getting used to having their prayers answered this week.
Earlier in the tournament, Del Potro had expressed his approval of Pope Francis I, formerly of Buenos Aires.
“I think he’s gonna do his work perfect,” del Potro said. That was obviously good news for the player, who described himself as “very Catholic.”
By today, though, del Potro sounded a little skeptical about whether the new Pontiff had really taken the time to help him through his upset wins over Djokovic and Andy Murray here.
“I talk a lot about the Pope [already],” del Potro said when the subject came up again. “I would like to enjoy my moment.”
Divine intervention? Maybe not. But we could call del Potro’s run to the final a case of divine in-vention. After an early-round match, he said that he was protecting his surgically repaired right wrist by using his slice backhand more. He went to it often against Murray, and even more so today. In the past, del Potro has had trouble matching up against Djokovic— he couldn’t hit through him, and he couldn’t out-rally him. But the slice backhand enabled him to stay in points longer and maneuver himself into position to hit his knockout forehand, which was clicking today. What started as injury prevention could end up giving del Potro’s fairly straightforward power game a new wrinkle.
“I used it a lot,” del Potro said of his slice, “because that helps me to play more aggressive with my forehand and try to do different things. That helped me to beat Murray yesterday, today Nole.”
Still, Del Potro said he didn’t think he’d unveil it quite as often against Rafa tomorrow. For logical reasons: “He’s a lefty,” he said, “and he moves really, really fast on the baseline.”
Posted: 17.03.13 23:08. Post subject: Indian Wells: Del Po..
Indian Wells: Del Potro d. Djokovic Saturday, March 16, 2013 /by Hannah Wilks TENNIS.com
Sometimes stories twist in the most unexpected ways. Suffering from pain in his left wrist, Juan Martin del Potro has been forced in Indian Wells to resort largely to a slice backhand. One would predict consequently poor results — I once heard a commentator bafflingly yet aptly describe del Potro’s slice as ‘cheesy’ — yet he used it to outfox the great bamboozler, Andy Murray, in the quarters before it played a crucial role in handing Novak Djokovic his first defeat of 2013, coming back from a 0-3 deficit in the third set to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Meetings between these two have generally been decided by Djokovic’s effectiveness in the area in which del Potro is most conspicuously lacking, the backhand down the line. Not only was that shot largely missing in action today for Djokovic but he missed more than usual off that wing, appearing to struggle with generating accurate pace as del Potro floated back slice after slice. Backing off from attacking on that side meant that del Potro had more time to run round and set up his forehand, which was at its credulity-defying best in the latter stages of the match.
Both men struggled on serve in the early exchanges, but it was Djokovic who came up with the first hold to love then earned three break points with del Potro serving at 3-4. The Argentine saved them by the skin of his teeth, but Djokovic was working him around the court more often than not and at 4-5, he consistently pegged del Potro back into his forehand corner, then moved forward to attack the open court. Del Potro staved off two more break points before shanking a forehand well long to give up the set. Djokovic, however, opened the second with a careless service game that saw him broken and while del Potro failed to consolidate, he roared back strongly to break again with a startling off-backhand winner into the open court. A double break was as spectacularly taken — and quickly surrendered — but del Potro was consistently and successfully targeting Djokovic’s forehand and took the set with a full-throated roar.
It was del Potro’s turn to wobble and his opponent’s turn to regroup after Djokovic succeeded in drawing del Potro into consecutive cat-and-mouse exchanges at the net which his superior reflex volleys and transitional movement successfully negotiated for a break and a 3-0 lead. The Serb’s post-match press conference mentioned poor concentration and there was no stronger example than the following game, in which Djokovic played himself into a 0-30 lead with an unforced error and a double fault before allowing del Potro to send him scampering behind the baseline, giving up the break as a defensive lob drifted long.
It was the second of four straight games del Potro would win and while Djokovic momentarily stopped the rot, saving a break point at 3-3, the Argentine was flying around the court by this point without a hint of holding back on his groundstrokes. Turning surprisingly strong defense into attack in a most Djokovic-like fashion, del Potro broke to serve for the match and even a poor drop-shot attempt into the net and a time violation warning on match point could not do more than slow him down as he slammed down his fourth ace to move into just his second Masters’ series final.
Posted: 19.03.13 23:05. Post subject: Indian Wells: Nadal ..
Indian Wells: Nadal d. Del Potro Sunday, March 17, 2013 /by Hannah Wilks TENNIS.com
Whatever else has been gained or lost during Rafael Nadal’s long absence from the game, it’s clear that neither his ability to think his way through matches nor his fighting spirit have been in any way impaired. After falling behind a set and a break to Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal roared back to win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, claiming the Indian Wells title, his record twenty-second Masters crown and his first hard-court title since 2010.
Nadal took the long route to the victory, after taking advantage of a typically sleepy start from del Potro by breaking immediately. Del Potro was in serious danger of going down a double-break at 0-3 before his forehand turned up in the nick of time. He quickly moved up the gears, breaking back after Nadal double-faulted on game point at 3-1.
Nadal has struggled to find consistent accuracy on his forehand throughout the week, and as del Potro started to serve better and put together those belief-beggaring sequences of forehands with which he had overwhelmed Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, Rafa looked rocked, uncertain, and devoid of rhythm. Del Potro won six of the final seven games in the first set to jump ahead.
Broken immediately at the start of the second set, Nadal let loose with a brief snarl of frustration after del Potro erased a possible break-back point with another huge cross-court forehand. Being Nadal, however, he rebounded quickly, going back to his bread-and-butter, brutally effective play of opening up the court with a wide serve and ripping his forehand into space. It bought him two service holds and a palpable return of intensity after some tentative play.
Del Potro, meanwhile, having soared through a set-and-a-half, was poised to come down to earth eventually—he must have been desperate to close it out in straights after two grueling three-setters in the past two days. That manifested itself in an excruciatingly poor drop-shot to open the 3-1 game; he got away with it, but immediately followed with a double-fault and a forehand error before Nadal converted his second break point.
It was all the invitation Nadal needed. As del Potro started to back off on his backhand, Nadal played with ever more aggression, especially to that side, manufacturing opportunities point after point to step inside the court and attack. With that upswing in aggression, Nadal’s accuracy seemed to return as well, as he broke for a third time and served out the second set to love.
After it took del Potro 10 minutes and 21 seconds to hold serve to open the third set—before Nadal held in under ninety seconds—the writing was on the wall for the Argentine, and he was broken in the next game. He went down swinging, but Nadal’s shot selection was nearly impeccable by this point, and although del Potro fought off three match points at 3-5, it was both metaphorically and physically last-gasp stuff.
Nadal finished the match in superb style, looking as confident and fearsome at the end as he had uncertain in the beginning. Having withdrawn from Miami, he can focus clearly on the upcoming European clay tournaments. I’d warn the rest of the ATP to be healthily afraid, but if they’ve been paying attention, they are already.
Posted: 20.03.13 21:54. Post subject: Mr. Delpo Risin’ Wed..
Mr. Delpo Risin’ Wednesday, March 20, 2013 /by Peter Bodo TENNIS.com
It isn’t easy to overlook Juan Martin del Potro, the 6’6” “Tower of Tandil.” But he, or at any rate the work he did last week in Indian Wells, was easily lost in the shuffle of Rafael Nadal’s spectacular, surprisingly quick resurgence.
So let me remind you: Starting in the quarterfinals and in sequence, del Potro bamboozled Andy Murray, hog-tied Novak Djokovic, then led Nadal by a set and a break in the final. But at that point it was del Potro, and not Nadal, who went weak in the knees. Taking advantage of some poor del Potro decisions, and perhaps some choking, Nadal mounted a furious fightback.
So once again, one of the subplots at a big event was that del Potro continues to have trouble recapturing the form and confidence he had before he was laid low by a significant wrist injury. In some ways, del Potro is the anti-Nadal—the guy who just can’t find the groove he once had. It’s gotten to the point where we’ve had to ask, “Was it just a fluke that del Potro busted out and belted Roger Federer off the court to win the 2009 U.S. Open—all before his 21st birthday?”
Most pundits and camp followers would answer “no.” Del Potro remains the only man in the Top 10 outside the Big Four who has won a Grand Slam singles title, he has a game suited to the demands of this era, he’s diligent, and also is a mere youth at age 24.
On the other hand. . . we’ve had one-Slam wonders before, some of whom couldn’t hold a candle to del Potro when it comes to consistent success. After all, the Argentine has become very comfortably re-entrenched in the Top 10 (he’s presently No. 7). And while it’s undeniable that the Big Four have powerfully suppressed not just del Potro, but David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the reality is that Delpo is the only man among them who hasn’t won a Masters title.
That could change next week in Miami, where del Potro is seeded fifth and assured, like everyone else, that neither Federer nor Nadal will barge in to provide him with a reality check. The time seems right for del Potro in a number of ways, raising the question: Is Mr. Delpo Risin’?
Watching del Potro since his return and re-adjustment to the demands of the tour has been a baffling experience. At times, it’s looked like the game has passed him by—a preposterous notion, given his age and the fact that there was nothing whatsoever wrong with that game on that sultry night in New York, when he drove Federer back and off the court.
But at other times, it’s seemed that del Potro has lacked some critical essence of energy—or is it inspiration? Has there ever been a power-reliant, out-sized, physical player whose game has appeared at times so unimaginative, and sometimes lacking volatility?
The match that summed up del Potro’s struggles for me was his loss to Ferrer at Wimbledon last year. It was a depressingly routine affair, won by Ferrer, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. Ferrer leads their head-to-head, 6-2, and perhaps there are some lessons about del Potro to be mined from that statistic. After all, the only two wins on del Potro’s side of the ledger were both recorded during the run-up to his breakout 2009 season. Both were on hard courts, and del Potro won both matches without the loss of a set. One of those matches was a fourth-rounder in Miami that ended 6-3, 6-2. Where has that del Potro gone?
Given the way Ferrer handles all but the most dangerous of ball strikers, his recent mastery of del Potro suggests that the big man is simply less dangerous than before. I think that’s true, but it isn’t because there’s some fatal flaw or sudden shortcoming in del Potro’s basic game and/or strategy. To me, his greatest failings have been in the area of execution, and in a most basic way. He’s continued to hit the ball hard, especially on that forehand side. But he hasn’t, until lately, been hitting it deep enough, or close enough to the lines.
Well, that just underscores an easily forgotten point. The success or failure of any strategy and/or tactic is not only predicated but utterly dependent on an acceptable degree of execution. Execute well and then you can start to ask yourself: Down the line or cross-court? Slice or topspin? Kicker or slider? Execute poorly, or in the muted way that often seemed to characterize del Potro in recent times, and your tactics and strategy will be doomed.
Once upon a time, del Potro knew how to make the court on the other side of the net look hopelessly big—that was my main impression during his landmark win over Federer—impossible to adequately patrol and cover. But during his comeback, it’s looked more like del Potro compressed his game to make it fit the conventional dimensions of the court, much to his detriment. He didn’t exactly start playing small, he was just playing smaller. Enough so that a quality retriever like Ferrer can consistently outfox, outrun, and frustrate him.
There have been signs that this is changing. At last year’s Olympic Games at Wimbledon, del Potro forced Federer to go way into overtime—19-17 in the third and decisive set—before he capitulated in the semis. He then took the bronze medal from Djokovic. Later, he was beaten in the late stages of Cincinnati and at the U.S. Open by Djokovic—no shame in that. And still later, in Federer’s home town of Basel and on a fast indoor court that the Swiss icon loves, del Potro beat him for the title. He recorded another win over Federer in the round-robin portion of the World Tour Finals, but he lost in the semifinals to Djokovic.
Upset by the hot hand of Jeremy Chardy at the Australian Open, del Potro got off to a shaky start this year, but he’s made great progress. He won Rotterdam and made the semis in Dubai (where he lost to Djokovic) before finally getting a little payback against the world No. 1 at Indian Wells.
Granted, that semifinal was an odd match; del Potro isn’t likely to win many big finals leaning on the slice backhand as heavily as he did against Djokovic. But after a slow start, del Potro looked good against Nadal. He moved well, and his forehand looked more effective than it has for some time. His energy level looked high. He had the match in the palm of his hand, but he dropped it.
Del Potro will get another good look at a Masters title in the coming days. His legs may feel a little heavy after all the tennis he played last week, but there’s no reason he can’t finally win one of these elite tournaments. Interestingly, the major obstacle in del Potro’s quarter appears to be third-seeded Ferrer. Somehow, it seems a fitting challenge at this stage of del Potro’s development.
Posted: 21.03.13 23:38. Post subject: Tennis: Del Potro co..
Tennis: Del Potro commits to Queen's AFP March 19, 2013 14:01
Indian Wells finalist Juan Martin del Potro has become the latest leading player to announce he will take part in the traditional Wimbledon grasscourt warm-up event at London's Queen's Club in June.
The Argentine, who lost in three sets to a resurgent Rafael Nadal in the final in California last week, joined US Open champion Andy Murray and world number six Tomas Berdych in committing himself to play at Queen's in the June 10-16 event.
"I like to play on grass, and at the Aegon Championships you feel like you are at home," said del Potro, the world number seven.
Del Potro is looking forward to returning to London, where he won an Olympic bronze medal during the 2012 Games tennis tournament at Wimbledon.
"I have a fantastic memory from last year when I won the bronze medal at the Olympics," he said.
"It was a magnificent experience for me. I had never played at an Olympics before so it was a big moment for me and my country.
"To win on grass at Wimbledon as well made it an even bigger moment. I think that if I play my best tennis I have a chance to win a Grand Slam tournament on grass, but it will be very difficult."
On the hard courts of Indian Wells, del Potro performed impressively to beat British star Murray from a set down in the quarter-finals before defeating world number one Novak Djokovic in the semis.
"Juan Martin proved he is back to his very best by beating Murray and Djokovic back-to-back last week, which is similar to what he did in 2009 when he won the US Open title in such spectacular style," said Queen's tournament director Chris Kermode on Tuesday.
"The British crowds really took to him when he won bronze at the Olympics last year, and we are thrilled that he has decided to return to London for the Aegon Championships. We look forward to seeing him at the Queen's Club in June."
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