MARCH | 2010
INTERNATIONAL
UK £3.00 | € 4.50 | USA $ 5.50
MAGAZINE
INTERNATIONAL TENNIS MAGAZINE isportgroup.com/InternationalTennisMagazine
CONTENTS
CONTENTS AUSTRALIAN OPEN 04 DOMINIC BLISS REVIEWS THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN, THE FIRST GRAND SLAM OF 2010
RAFAEL NADAL: BACK ON THE RED STUFF Front Cover Roger Federer, Winner of the Men’s Australian Open 2010
INTERNATIONAL TENNIS MAGAZINE is published by internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited No.4 The Spinney, Chester Road, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1HB England www.isportgroup.com Editor: Paul Walters Editorial: Rachel Pullan Telephone: +44 (0) 7973 544719 e-mail: rachel.pullan@isportgroup.com internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited No.4 The Spinney, Chester Road, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1HB England www.isportgroup.com Senior Tennis Correspondents: Dominic Bliss Richard Eaton Coaching Correspondent: Clive Carrigan UK Directory, Professional Tennis Registry Professional Tennis Registry UK PO Box 21758 London E16 2EP England e-mail: ptruk@btconnect.com Advertising: Dean Finegold Telephone: +44 (0)7967 362589 e-mail: dean.finegold@isportgroup.com internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited No.4 The Spinney, Chester Road, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1HB England www.isportgroup.com Photography: Press Association Images Pavilion House, 16 Castle Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 1FL England www.pressassociationimages.com Proofreading: Heather Ormsby internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited makes every effort to ensure that editorial is factually correct at the time of going to press, but cannot accept responsibility for any subsequent errors. internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited is not responsible for unsolicited material. Copyright internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. Views expressed and products appearing in International Tennis Magazine are not necessarily endorsed by internationalSPORTgroup™ Limited. For more information regarding internationalSPORTgroup & International Tennis Magazine visit: www.isportgroup.com
09 AFTER A DISAPPOINTING 2009, RAFAEL NADAL IS DESPERATE TO REASSERT HIS AUTHORITY, ESPECIALLY ON THE CLAY COURTS OF EUROPE. BUT SHOULD HE GO FULL OUT AND RISK INJURY AGAIN?
MARIA SHARAPOVA 13 IT HAS TAKEN SO LONG FOR MARIA SHARAPOVA TO RETURN TO ANYTHING LIKE THE FORCEFUL PLAYER SHE WAS. RICHARD EATON REVIEWS THE CONTINUED INJURY STRUGGLES OF THE HIGHEST PAID FEMALE ATHLETE IN THE HISTORY OF ANY SPORT AND REMEMBERS A DISTURBING INCIDENT WHICH MAY EXPLAIN WHY HER CAREER CAME SO CLOSE TO DISASTER
MARAT SAFIN: TENNIS’S FLAWED GENIUS 18 SOMETIMES HE WAS TRULY GREAT, OTHER TIMES TRULY AWFUL, BUT MARAT SAFIN, WHO RETIRED AT THE END OF 2009, WAS NEVER A DULL PLAYER TO WATCH. DOMINIC BLISS LOOKS BACK ON THE RUSSIAN’S COLOURFUL CAREER
COACHING & INSTRUCTION 22 CLIVE CARRIGAN EXPLAINS WHY THE ‘SLAM DUNK’ SMASH IS WITHOUT DOUBT ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING, ATHLETIC AND STYLISH SHOTS YOU WILL EVER SEE IN THE PROFESSIONAL GAME
BUSINESS MATTERS: KARAKAL 25 FOUNDED IN 1978, KARAKAL HAS QUICKLY ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED MANUFACTURERS OF PERFORMANCE RACKET SPORT EQUIPMENT, WITH PRODUCTS SOLD IN OVER 65 COUNTRIES
GSTAAD PALACE 27 OVER THE YEARS THE GSTAAD PALACE HAS EARNED AN UNRIVALLED REPUTATION FOR DISCREET, REFINED HOSPITALITY AND HAS ALWAYS WELCOMED THE MOST DISCERNING INTERNATIONAL CLIENTELE
WORLD RANKINGS 29 MEN’S & WOMEN’S WORLD SINGLES RANKINGS AT A GLANCE
FROZEN IN TIME 30 DOMINIC BLISS LOOKS BACK AT THE 1992 AUSTRALIAN OPEN AND A JIM COURIER TRIUMPH WHICH RESULTED IN A SWIM IN MELBOURNE’S YARRA RIVER
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AUSTRALIAN OPEN
AUSTRALIANOPEN Roger Federer’s win at the Australian Open, his 16th Grand Slam, extended his lead at the top of the Grand Slam winners’ list. Serena Williams was in impressive form, too, winning her 12th Grand Slam singles title.
By Dominic Bliss
Marin Cilic
Andy Murray
Still hoping and still waiting. Handed his strongest chance of finally breaking the 74-year British Grand Slam drought, Andy Murray fell at the final hurdle, losing 3-6 4-6 6-7 to Roger Federer in the final of the Australian Open. “I can cry like Roger. It’s a shame I can’t play like him,” said the British No.1, close to tears at the end of the two hour and 41 minute encounter. Murray’s usually consistent serve let him down at critical periods of the match, but he succeeded in thoroughly testing his opponent in some long and tough baseline rallies. In the end, however, the Swiss player’s imperious shot-making dominated the match. Having further cemented his status as the greatest male player of all time, Federer was obviously elated. “I think this has been one of my finest performances in a long time,” he said. “Maybe forever.” Murray said he believed their match was
much closer than the 2008 US Open final, which also resulted in a straightsets win for Federer. “I’m getting closer. I would have liked to have done it for everyone back home… for myself and for the people I work with as well. But it wasn’t to be. But I’m sure, one day, it will be. I’m not going to be too disappointed. I’ve got a pretty good life. I’ve got a long career ahead of me, and I’m going to have more opportunities to win [Grand Slams]. I'm hungry to win one.” Both players’ performances en route to the final were emphatic. The Swiss champion lost just two sets the whole fortnight, one during his first round match against Igor Andreev and one to the in-form Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals. The Scot fared even better, losing just the one set to Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the semi-finals. It was a pity he wasn’t tested more in his quarter-final clash against
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Rafael Nadal, who was eventually forced to retire with another knee injury at two sets and three-games-to-love down, with the Spaniard conceding that he was likely to be unable to compete for at least four weeks after the end of the year’s opening Grand Slam. There was also a disappointing performance from Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who, up against Federer in the semi-final, totally disintegrated. In direct contrast was Cilic, the Croatian proving what a worthy and bold competitor he is thanks to the three five-set matches he battled through on his way to the championship’s penultimate round. Against Bernard Tomic, Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Roddick, he was pushed right to the limit. Expect future greatness from this tall 21-year-old. In the women’s championship, it was Serena Williams who again demonstrated that she is the strongest player in the
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Roger Federer
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AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Andy Murray
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Williams Sisters
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
world. Thanks to her hard-fought win over Justine Henin, she now has twelve Grand Slam titles to her name, thanks mainly to her heavyweight serve which proved key during her 6-4 3-6 6-2 triumph over her Belgian opponent. Henin, just like her compatriot Kim Clijsters, who won the US Open last year after an extended break from the game, was aiming for glory in her comeback Grand Slam. But her 28-year-old American opponent was having none of it. There were periods in the match when Belgian fans dared to think their woman might win, especially after, in the second set, she broke away from Williams with ten points in a row to level the match at one set all. But ultimately it was Williams’ power game that won the day.
Justine Henin
Serena Williams
very impressive against Serena Williams, taking her to two tie breaks, but Zheng on the other hand wilted under pressure from an in-form Justine Henin, annihilated 6-1 6-0 in just 51 minutes. During the entire match she won only 24 points, mostly due to Henin’s errors.
There were other disappointing performances: from the 2008 Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova, who was beaten by the other Russian Maria, Maria Kirilenko, in the first round; and from the current US Champion Kim Clijsters, who crashed out embarrassingly to Nadia Petrova, 6-0 6-1. Thanks to a cringe worthy 26 unforced errors, it was the Belgian’s worst Australian Open result since she debuted at Melbourne Park back in 2000. “I made all the mistakes and she didn't really have to do much,” Nevertheless, the American was highly said the 26-year-old, who must be finding complimentary of her opponent’s game: motherhood more of a distraction than “She can go really far,” Williams said. she initially thought. “I wasn't feeling the “She took me to the umpteenth level. She ball well. It sucks. This is something you clearly hasn't lost a step at all since she's want to forget as soon as possible.” been gone. I feel like I played a girl who's Serena Williams also dominated the been on the tour for the past five years Women’s Doubles. Allied, as ever, with her without a break.” older sister, she beat the No.1 seeds Liezel Elsewhere in the women’s draw, the rise Huber, a fellow American, and Cara Black and rise of Chinese female tennis was from Zimbabwe 6-4 6-3. Black apparent with both Li Na and Zheng Jie compensated for her loss by taking the winning through to the semi-finals, and Mixed Doubles title along with Indian taking some impressive scalps en route. partner Leander Paes. Together they Li dispatched Hantuchova, Wozniacki and beat the unseeded Czech-Russian pairing Venus Williams, while Zheng took care of of Jaroslav Levinsky and Ekaterina Bartoli and Kirilenko. But once in the Makarova 7-5 6-3. semi-finals, the two players’ reactions The Men’s Doubles saw the mighty Bryan under the floodlights of the big stage couldn’t have been more different. Li was brothers beating the Serbo-Canadian duo of Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor
6-3 6-7 6-3. The Californian twins now have a total of eight Grand Slam doubles titles, four of those at the Australian Open, and after their latest victory they explained how they were gunning for the all-time record of eleven Grand Slams still held by the Australian team, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. “I imagine if we stay healthy, we might touch that mark,” said Bob, the younger of the twins by two minutes. “It's a few Sundays away before we get to that point. The Woodies are our idols. To be considered in the same league with those guys is an honour itself.”
Australian Open 2010 Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia Men’s Singles Final: (1) Roger Federer (SUI) bt (5)Andy Murray (GBR) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 Women’s Singles Final: (1) Serena Williams (USA) bt Justine Henin (BEL) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 Men’s Doubles Final: (1) Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (USA) bt (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN) & Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 Women’s Doubles Final: Venus Williams & Serena Williams (USA) bt (1) Cara Black (ZIM) & Liezel Huber (USA) 6-4, 6-3 Mixed Doubles Final: (1) Cara Black (ZIM) & Leander Paes (IND) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) & Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE) 7-5, 6-3
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CLAY COURT PREVIEW: RAFAEL NADAL
RAFAELNADAL BACKONTHEREDSTUFF By Dominic Bliss
After a disappointing 2009, Rafael Nadal is desperate to reassert his authority, especially on the clay courts of Europe. But should he go full out and risk injury again?
Kicking off the 2010 ATP World Tour, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played out the first shots of the year on a magic carpet in the Qatari city of Doha. Tottering on a mini-tennis court, laid out on a traditional Arab carpet suspended in the air by wires, they dinked balls to each other and posed happily for the cameras. But behind all their smiles is a rivalry that
has now become one of the most fiercely competitive in the history of the sport. This year, especially as the clay court season gets into full swing, that rivalry could make for some unmissable tennis. Having spent much of last year languishing on the sidelines with tendonitis in his knees, Nadal has yet to prove that he is back to his top form, not
having won a tournament since early May 2009 and was forced to pull out of the Australian Open with another knee injury. Whatever is going on inside the Spanish player’s body and mind, he is certainly putting on a brave face. “I am very competitive against all the players in the world, and I am happy,” he said at the start of the year. Surely, with the
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CLAY COURT PREVIEW: RAFAEL NADAL
through to the semi-finals at Roland Garros, where Federer required five gritty sets to dispatch him. When it comes to Nadal the big question is whether his body can withstand the battering he gives it when contesting the long and often hard-fought rallies on clay. So physical are his groundstrokes, and so fast is his court coverage, that his 6ft 1in frame is necessarily placed under a great deal more stress than the frames of his peers. Some experts have suggested the 23-year-old might not have many more miles left in the tank, and could be forced to retire from the sport before long. After all, he turned professional in 2001 at the age of 15, three years before most male players leave the junior ranks. “I can’t say yes or no,” he said when asked whether if he realistically sees himself playing until his late 20s or beyond. “You never know. I’m going to play as long as I can and, right now, I feel motivated.” tendonitis now just a fading memory, he can attack the clay court season with all guns blazing. The red stuff is, after all, the surface on which his fast-moving, brutal game is still most effective. What many tennis fans forget when assessing the Mallorcan’s break from the game last summer, however, is that he was suffering psychologically as well as physically. The painful tendonitis occurred at around the same time that his parents, Sebastian and Ana Maria, got divorced. “I had a few personal problems,” he admitted in a recent interview. “Everything coming together made it hard. My parents’ divorce made an important change in my life. It affected me. After that, when I can’t play Wimbledon, it was tough. For one month I was outside the world.” He stressed how difficult he found it to accept his parents’ separation when he was “outside home and didn’t know what’s happening”. “At least the injury gave me time to be with my friends and family,” he added. “But I was down because of the divorce. I wasn’t ready, mentally or physically.” All of this gave Federer an even greater chance to leapfrog Nadal back to the World No.1 spot. However, it may not be the Swiss 16-time Grand Slammer who actually ends up posing Nadal most
problems on clay this year. Now that Federer has achieved his long-term goal of winning more Grand Slams than any other male player, the fire in his belly that had been sustaining him for so many years may well have started to dim. He is also a new father of twins, and parenthood inevitably causes competitors to reassess their priorities and take their eye off the ball. There are other hungrier players who will give Nadal a run for his money on clay this season. Russian No.1 Nikolay Davydenko, for example, is long overdue his first Grand Slam, and Roland Garros probably offers his best chance. Buoyed by his superb win at the ATP World Tour Finals last year and his more recent win in Qatar when he defeated both Nadal and Federer on consecutive days, and with a mantelpiece already groaning under the weight of nine previous clay tournament trophies, he will need to overcome the mental block that seems to have prevented him from yet reaching a Grand Slam final. One competitor who is no stranger to Grand Slam finals is Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the World No.2. Last year on the clay he reached the final in Monte Carlo and Rome, succumbing both times to Nadal, and won in Belgrade. But his third round exit at Roland Garros was disappointing. World No.5 Juan Martin del Potro, on the other hand, won
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There’s no doubt last year’s forced lay-off has given Nadal time to rest up his aching body. But is it feasible for him to take further breaks in the future when his body demands them, while still maintaining the momentum of his career? This happens a lot more in the women’s game; think of the Williams sisters, but in the more intensive men’s game the competition is so much fiercer that, once you take your foot off the gas, it’s extremely difficult to get back into the race. The other option for Nadal is to push himself to the physical limit over the next five years until he runs out of steam altogether. At the end of last year he explained how he needed to play more aggressively if he was to reach his top level again. “I have to be more aggressive on the first shot [of the rally], for example. After the serve, I have to play more aggressive with the forehand and [hit] forehand winners. And improve my intensity and my rhythm on the forehand. I have to attack more than I did in these last months. Sure, when you are with less confidence, it’s more difficult to do it. But the confidence is going to come back.” Given the way he relishes brutalising his opponents, an aggressive, short-lived career is more likely than a regulated but long-term one. It will also provide us with far more exciting tennis.
CLAY COURT PREVIEW: RAFAEL NADAL
“
When it comes to Nadal the big question is whether his body can withstand the battering he gives it when contesting the long and often hardfought rallies on clay
”
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MARIA SHARAPOVA
MARIASHARAPOVA SHOULDERSTHEBURDENOFHERCAREER-DEFININGYEAR It has taken so long for Maria Sharapova to return to anything like the forceful player she was, that you are reminded of a disturbing incident about eighteen months ago which may explain why her career came so close to disaster.
By Richard Eaton
A doctor who looked at the tests on her troublesome shoulder told Sharapova she had been playing with a torn rotator cuff tendon for fully five months. Amazingly, she had played at least twelve matches with it. “He actually couldn’t believe that I’d been playing this long with the injury,” Sharapova said. “You can imagine that I was not very thrilled to hear that my medical team did not see this tear in my shoulder back in April (2008).” Sharapova’s response, typically, was to prevent the unnecessary damage to her physique from spreading to her psyche. That meant blocking out recollections of an agonising three-hour match in Montreal against Marta Domachowska in which seventeen double faults collapsed from her racket and in which she should never have played. She did not do so again for ten months. “The good news was that since April it didn’t get much worse anyway,” Sharapova claimed. “But the healing could have started then instead of now.” That was as negative as she would allow herself to become – possibly at cost to the truth. It seems likely that the misdiagnosis and the long labouring summer which followed is at least partly why Sharapova’s subsequent recovery has been so slow. But the nearest she came to admitting this was in volunteering that “unfortunately, I’ll still be doing shoulder rehab exercises for the rest of my career”. Others appeared more aghast than her at what had happened, publicly at least. Sharapova had been the sport’s biggest superstar and tennis would lose a colossal amount if she were never fully recovered.
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MARIA SHARAPOVA
“I came to a point where I was like, I don’t really care when I come back, I just want to come back, whenever that is. The fact that I realised that actually helped me. Eventually I probably worked harder than I ever have in my career, just to get back to playing - and that wasn’t even on the court.” By the time she did return to the Women’s World Tour, last May in Warsaw, she had a completely different service action. There was no downswing, her racket head coming straight up, a little like Andy Roddick’s, before striking the ball.
Consider how much. The year after Sharapova won the 2004 Wimbledon her list of accolades included a place on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, the first tennis player for two years, and her spiralling endorsement deals involved Prince, Nike, Colgate Palmolive (endorsing Lady Speed Stick), Tag Heuer, Canon, Motorola, I-Play, Speedminton, Honda, and Pepsi. Head-spinning appearances took her to the CBS Early Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, ESPN’s Cold Pizza, the Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, Total Request Live, Access Hollywood, NBC’s Today Show, and NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She became the top search on KaZaZZ!, a personalised search engine on which she was more popular than Britney Spears, Pamela Anderson or Tiger Woods. Among her many gifts was a Porsche Cayenne S worth more than $60,000, which she donated to victims of the Beslan school massacre in Chechnya, and after that she was granted an audience with the Pope.
A year later the 22-year-old Russian with the longest legs and the deepest pockets in tennis became a United Nations goodwill ambassador, concerned specifically with helping Chernobyl recover from the nuclear disaster of 1986. By 2008 she was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo and she became the world’s highest-paid female athlete, earning about US$26 million. It may have been more. All that was at risk of evaporating during her long, repetitive, adrenaline-drained struggle to get back. “It was a lot longer than I thought, yeah,” Sharapova agreed. “But I learned that’s the doctor’s way. “They keep you optimistic. Then after a few months you find out the reality: that it’s pretty much in your own hands and in time’s hands. “In the beginning I found myself figuring out when I was going to play or looking at the schedule and saying, I’m going to be ready by this tournament. So many of those goals were shredded to pieces.
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Because the racket now arrived at the ready-to-launch, back-scratcher position from the front rather than from the back, it altered the shoulder rotation, and placed stress in slightly different areas. However it also altered the rhythm of the most important shot in her armoury, making power and consistency harder to attain. Unsurprisingly her comeback began with a third-round loss to Alona Bondarenko. Four encouraging three-set matches at the French Open were followed by a very disappointing Wimbledon, with a second round defeat to Gisela Dulko. Although Sharapova’s US Open build-up showed some improvement, with wins over Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva, she suffered an upsetting third round loss in New York to the promising Melanie Oudin and finished 2009 outside the top ten for the first time in six years. True, by winning Tokyo, her first title in twenty-one months, her climb from the nadir of World No.126 reached No.14 in just six months. But the spectre still loomed - would she ever be the same again? Nor did her words dispel this fear.
PRINCE EX03 BLACK
“
Unfortunately, I’ll still be doing shoulder rehab exercises for the rest of my career
”
Asked about 2009, she said: “It’s been a success in the sense that I’m back out there hitting a tennis ball for a living. It’s a blessing to still be able to do it.” Recently she took refuge from her doubts by dating the NBA basketball player Sasha Vujacic, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. But her remarks implied she might now be competing for much more modest targets. Thankfully she also presented some reasons why she might do better in 2010. “I was playing catch-up the whole of 2009,” she pointed out. “For the first part of it I was just trying to get back on court. Now I’ve had time to work on things without worrying about the consequences for my shoulder. That’s why I’m excited.” She will need to be. For she will have to be more motivated than ever before, with the semi-permanent rehabilitation now required, to climb back to the pinnacle. But she also had more specific reasons why she might improve. Unable to serve for so long, she had worked on her return. She was also getting stronger and quicker.
BLACK One of tennis’s most popular rackets has been updated with EXO3 technology for 2010 and 3-time Grand Slam Champion Maria Sharapova is just one of the ATP and WTA players to switch to the Prince EXO3 Black at the Australian Open. Prince, the global tennis leader that catapulted racket design and performance to new heights by introducing the world to O-technology, announced the next generation of one of tennis’s most popular rackets prior to this year’s opening Grand Slam. “The introduction of this new model is significant given the vast, global popularity of the preceding version and the fact that its weight and balance appeal to the largest population of the playing market – meaning more players can now take advantage of, and own, an EXO3 racket,” said Tyler Herring, Global Product Manager for Performance Rackets at Prince. The EXO3 Black features EnergyChannelTM, a sculpted groove and inlayed insert incorporated around the frame which provides a crisper feel with more feedback for players who are most interested in control. “I picked up the EXO3 Black and immediately loved the sound the ball made coming off the string bed – something very important to me,” said Maria Sharapova during her recent preparation for the Australian Open. “I also felt as though I could generate the power and comfort I need on balls I have to reach for or are out of my traditional hitting zone, but was receiving additional control in the process. The engineering team at Prince did an incredible job taking an already great playing racket and enhancing it with the EXO3 technology. This racket is going to be a winner for a wide range of players.” Head Size:
100in2
By working on smaller details, especially the drop, her power game is now a little less one-dimensional. “I feel like I can add a little percentage here, a little percentage there,” she said. “And in today’s game that’s pretty huge.”
Frame Weight:
305gms unstrung
Frame Balance:
32cm
Length:
68.58cm
Cross Section:
20mm
Swing Weight:
295g
Such chutzpah reminded you that Sharapova once told Vogue writer Dodie Kazanjian that she might retire in her mid-twenties and try fashion design instead. “Nothing scares me,” she said, “because I’m not worried about failure. You never know until you try. So if you don’t try, you’ve failed.”
String Pattern:
16x19
String:
EXO3 Hybrid Power
Grip:
EXO3 Pro
Grip Size:
2-5
That is also how Sharapova has to regard 2010. At the age of twenty-two, she knows that this is the year which may well determine how much longer tennis is an option.
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MARAT SAFIN
MARATSAFIN TENNIS’SFLAWEDGENIUS By Dominic Bliss
Sometimes he was truly great, other times truly awful. But Marat Safin, who retired at the end of 2009, was never a dull player to watch. Dominic Bliss looks back on the Russian’s career. Marat Safin was the ultimate flawed genius. One month he would play tennis of such staggering skill that no one could stop him rampaging to victory in a Grand Slam. The next month he would drop like a sack of potatoes in the early rounds. If it was frustrating for his fans, it must have been maddening for the Russian himself. Just look at his ATP rankings history since the turn of the millennium: World No.1 in 2000, down to No.86 in 2004, back to No.3 in 2005, outside the top 100 in 2006, up to No.22 in 2007, down to No.90 in 2008 and back up to No.20 in 2009 before he retired. There are amusement park roller-coasters with fewer ups and downs than Safin’s tennis career. But the brief periods of success were so glittering that we almost forgive him the ignominy of his pitiful defeats. The Russian reached four Grand Slam singles finals in all, being victorious in two of them. He first became something of a household name in tennis in 2000 when he whipped Pete Sampras in straight sets in the US Open final. In 2005, on his third attempt at the Australian Open final, he eventually took the trophy by beating home favourite Lleyton Hewitt. And twice, in 2002 and 2006, he helped his nation triumph in the Davis Cup final. But it seemed his destiny was to intersperse these periods of glory with inexplicable failure. Although long injury lay-offs didn’t help, even when he was fighting fit, time and time again he would roll over to massively inferior opponents. No one, least of all Safin himself, could ever truly explain this total lack of consistency. Some said he was a traitor to his own talent. Even he
reluctantly described himself as “the yo-yo from Moscow”. His former coach, seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander, had an interesting theory as to why his former protégé would so often blow hot and cold. He believed that during Safin’s 2000 US Open victory over Pete Sampras, the Russian played such unbelievably sublime tennis that forever after he was hampered by the knowledge that he could never possibly repeat it. “It turned out to be the worst thing,” Wilander once said. “Every time he stepped on a court he expected to play that way.” Safin himself was more stoical about his unpredictability. “People should understand that I’m human,” he said. “There are bad days, bad months. Just because you have this great moment doesn’t mean you’re going to be playing great tennis for the rest of your life. You play very bad, a little bit bad and then you can come back. You know, the stock market, I think it’s this way too.” Like the stock market, speculators were keen to invest in Safin, despite his obvious volatility. Racket manufacturers Head particularly had their patience tested: at one point, Safin used to destroy as many as 90 rackets a season by smashing them onto the court surface. “But they knew since the beginning of my contract that I am this way,” he once said, seemingly proud of his trademark habit. “So what can I do? I cannot fight against myself. I think the people at Head watch tennis, so they know how I treat rackets.” Throughout his 13-year career Safin got through nearly as many coaches as he
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did rackets. It all started with his mother Rausa Islanova, a professional coach at his father Misha’s Moscow tennis club. She used to station the infant Marat in his pram at the side of the court while giving lessons. Then when he reached the age of six she became his coach and guided him through to the start of his teenage years. When he was fourteen, his parents were lucky to secure their son a sponsor who paid for him to relocate and train in the Spanish city of Valencia under Rafael Mensua. Over the next few years he went through several more tutors, including Alexander Volkov, Mats Wilander, Marc Rosset, Denis Golavonov, Peter Lundgren and Hernan Gumy. The number of coaches is surpassed only by the number of famous girlfriends – including fashion designer Dasha Zhukova and pop star Nastya Osipova. (Oh, and by the number of times he has experimented with strange beards or dodgy haircuts.) Safin has always remained defiant about his reputation as something of a lothario. “I’m not gay!” he once said. “Find me one normal guy who doesn’t like women’s company. I think it’s good. It’s natural. You cannot fight against nature, right?” One woman who has remained a constant in his life, however, is younger sister Dinara Safina. As she slowly climbed her way up the WTA World Rankings, older brother was always there to offer advice. Some of it must have worked because eventually, in April last year, just like her brother nine years before her, Dinara reached World No.1. It was the first time in the history of the sport that a brother and sister had both held the rankings top spot.
MARAT SAFIN
“
People should understand that I’m human. There are bad days, bad months. Just because you have this great moment doesn’t mean you’re going to be playing great tennis for the rest of your life Marat Safin
”
INTERNATIONALTENNISMAGAZINE March 2010 | 19 www.isportgroup.com/InternationalTennisMagazine
THE NEW WIMBLEDON 2010 CHAMPIONSHIP TOWELS Christy, the UK’s leading brand of bath towels, and Wimbledon have joined forces once again to bring you the 2010 Official Championship Towels. People may ask if the Championship towels are the same ones as used on court – yes they are! For just £25 you can get the Official Wimbledon Men’s or Ladies Championship Towel from the only Official Wimbledon Shop. Features include: Wimbledon Towels are woven i.e. not knitted so towels cannot run. Any pulls can be snipped off. Championship Towels come in a barrel bag with co-ordinating handles – purple for the Men’s and rouge for the Ladies’. Wimbledon Championship Towels are jacquard woven Towels. The products are packed in special bags to make them great gifts. Size: 70 x 133cm – Weight: 500gms. Order the 2010 Official Championship Towels from The Official Wimbledon Shop at
www.wimbledon.org/shop or Telephone +44 (0) 871 334 4040
MARAT SAFIN
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MARAT SAFIN On money: “When I look at a dollar note, I only see a picture of George Washington on a piece of paper. Money is only money. It makes life easier, but I don’t feel sexy or mighty because of that.” On stardom: “I am not a singer or a rock star. Tennis is tennis. If you want to see a clown, go to a circus.” On women: “There is nothing so sexy as a woman who is angry. Perhaps she is even throwing things.”
So what now for Marat? Although he remains tight-lipped about his precise post-tennis plans, he has discounted the idea of becoming either coach or commentator. “Sportsmen are great when they are sportsmen,” he said at a small ceremony to mark his retirement. “Afterwards, it’s a little bit tough for them. The transition from being a tennis player to do something else is difficult. And if time passes too much, you’re just an extennis player.” He obviously relishes the prospect of not having to train and compete any more. “You are completely stressed 24-7. This is what I hate about [tennis]. It’s just too much. There is no rest for the brain at all. It’s a very tough living.” Safin has seen many of his colleagues embrace a second career after tennis,
and he knows he must keep equally busy. "Agassi is different,” he says. “He likes to take care of the kids. He has some kind of a school. Courier, he has a band. McEnroe, he’s commentating, and also he has a band. So everybody has a different approach. Some people get depressed and they try to come back. Some people can’t because they are overweight. Everybody has a different story. I will see. I think it’s very interesting, life afterwards.” You can see that this flawed genius is looking forward to the next stage in his life. “Today I will put all my memories, all my wins and losses in a small box,” he said after his final match, at the BNP Paribas Masters in November. “Today a door is closed. Hopefully another one will open.”
On home life: “I have an empty refrigerator and nobody takes care of things around the house. I have nobody to cook for me so I go to restaurants. Me cooking? No idea! Me washing clothes? No idea! I can’t do anything domestic.” On technique: “Sometimes you hit the ball with your eyes closed. Sometimes it works.” On doping: “I had won the US Open and didn’t even take my vitamins. Since six months they were lying in my suitcase. I drank tap water on the court. That was my doping.” On distractions: “You think about dinner, your car, playing golf. Sometimes I think about sex. But these thoughts mustn’t get out of control, otherwise the point, the set, the match is lost very fast.” On breaking rackets: “You can destroy one racket. You can destroy a chair. But you can’t destroy a racket and a chair in the same match. There has to be a limit. Otherwise this is the tennis of a sick person.”
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COACHING & INSTRUCTION THE SLAM DUNK SMASH
THESLAMDUNKSMASH By Clive Carrigan UK Director, Professional Tennis Registry
Without doubt one of the most exciting, athletic and stylish shots you will ever see in the professional game today is the ‘slam dunk’ smash. Its dynamic nature, point ending qualities and raw power never fail to bring gasps of appreciation from the crowd.
This shot has been played down the years in the game, but was famously popularised by Pete Sampras throughout his career. Many pictures exist showing him hanging high in the air, knees up, racket face down, having hit another winner. Today though, the shot has become very popular at the top end of the professional doubles circuit. During my visits to the 02 Arena for the ATP World Tour Finals I saw the slam dunk smash regularly put to good use by the best doubles players in the world. So why do they use it? Many factors play a part; certainly the athleticism of the players these days means they retrieve many more shots from defensive situations than they ever did. They move much quicker back into a good defensive formation after retrieving attacking approaches and volleys, and sometimes a standard smash which would comfortably go for a winner in singles is easily returned by the defensive pair. So in looking for an unplayable space to win the point from, one answer is out of their reach, and to put the ball too high for an opposing team works perfectly. No angles are required with this shot, just the ability to get the ball above the reach of opponents, into the crowd, or the stop netting, off the bounce. Extreme power is used to make the ball bounce as high as possible out of the opponents’ reach. This shot is exclusively played when one or both players are near the net in an attacking, dominant position. The defensive player will have had to resort to a lob to try to stay in the point and this shot will be a played after good approach work by the attacking team, usually heavy approaches, or deep, offensive volleys that make the opponents play off the back foot. Even if the opponent is in a good defensive position or formation, this shot gives the opportunity to finish the point with a winner. So just how is it played? The shot is hit much shorter on this smash than the traditional one which is played ‘through’ the court. Most players aim somewhere around the service line rather than deeper, allowing the ball space to climb out of the opponents’ reach. The ball is powered downwards with a different trajectory and the contact with the ball is made closer to the top than a conventional smash. The ball is actually struck nearer to the body than normal smashes but at the highest possible point to be able to crunch the ball into the court and make it explode upwards out of reach of the opponents. With the roots of this shot firmly in basketball, hence its name, the player leaps high into the air, almost hanging there, before despatching this stunning shot for a winner. 22 | March 2010 INTERNATIONALTENNISMAGAZINE www.isportgroup.com/InternationalTennisMagazine
If you are going to learn to use this stroke yourself I recommend starting by playing it from a static base and concentrating on the power and accuracy of the stroke. I would only add the jump part once you have the timing under control, and of course, if you are fit enough and explosive enough at jumping! Good luck and happy landings!
Pete Sampras
COACHING & INSTRUCTION THE SLAM DUNK SMASH
“
No angles are required with this shot, just the ability to get the ball above the reach of opponents, into the crowd, or the stop netting, off the bounce
”
“
Extreme power is used to make the ball bounce as high as possible out of the opponents’ reach
”
INTERNATIONALTENNISMAGAZINE March 2010 | 23 www.isportgroup.com/InternationalTennisMagazine
BUISNESS MATTERS
BUSINESSMATTERS Keith Sawyer, Senior Partner of Karakal, talks to International Tennis Magazine. What is the history behind Karakal? Founded in 1978 Karakal is one of the largest manufacturers who design and distribute racket sport equipment to over 65 countries. With its global headquarters in Bristol, England the company employs a dedicated staff that keeps the independent racket company running like clockwork. The UK section of the company was started when the founders could not find squash rackets to their liking. They did what everybody else would love to be able to do, they had one made to their specification and found they had a talent for product development. They imported these rackets, found they were not the only players who liked them and have continued to add products and expand the brand ever since. Tennis products were introduced in 1984 and the rest, as they say, is history. How many products are there in the Karakal range? As well as rackets and accessories the Karakal range is enhanced with clothing and footwear for men and women and products which cross over to gym, so consequently the brand has an extremely large range. Currently the Karakal range has over two hundred products, which includes over fifty tennis products. Can you tell us about your range and the technology behind it? All designs are done in-house with particular attention paid to the technical and functional needs of sportsmen and women. Karakal pioneered the use of graphite in tennis, squash, badminton and racketball rackets and was the first company to have graphite rackets on sale in the UK. The use of Gel and Nano technology, combined with Graphite, Titanium and Boron, is our unique selling point and has helped us to produce some of the lightest
rackets on the market, including the lightest squash and badminton frames in the world. Clothing has gone from strength to strength and Karakal is now an important player in the clothing market mainly due to the introduction of technical materials and the ‘Body Mapping’ ethos. Body Mapping creates optimal micro climates by mapping the body’s sweat zones and with Karakal’s superior moisture wicking technology called “Cooltec” our garments have strategically placed ventilation zones where the body generates heat while wicking away moisture to keep you cool, dry and comfortable. Our shoe collection with superlight technology continues the tradition of top quality products at affordable prices and the new collaboration with Ace Feet in Motion ensures we have shoes that compete at the highest level. What is your current best selling product and why? Our biggest product development, which affected racket players throughout the world, was the introduction of the PU racket grip. This became ‘The World’s No.1 PU Grip’ and this product is arguably the best improvement any player can make to their racket. Karakal’s PU Super grip has been and still is used by most if not all the top players at some point in their careers and is still our top selling product. What are the timescales for a new product to go from concept to retail? For a performance racket, the process from concept to retail generally takes about seven months. The design and prototype development process takes two months, testing and final samples two months and manufacture and shipping another three months. Footwear and technical clothing have similar lead times but we can usually bring accessories to market within three
months as testing and sampling is an easier process. How much input do your consumers and professional athletes have in the R&D for new technologies and product design? We have focus groups for retailers, coaches and sponsored players as well as end users and many of our best ideas and innovations have come from these meetings. Racket designs, shoes and clothing have certainly been influenced a lot by our sponsored players. Are there any exciting new products for 2010? We have been very busy developing new frames for all racket sports. By working closely with our sponsored coaches we have redesigned our tennis collection and developed some exciting new frames using Quattro power in which four Nano Gel nodes stiffen and strengthen the frame, increasing power and control. Top of the range is the Karakal Q4-690 which provides all-round performance for the player with a well balanced technique and a long swing stroke. An oversized head and parallel frame delivers stability, playability, power and forgiveness. The racket is available in subdued black/silver or the famous Tattoo design and compares favourably with other leading racket brands on both price and performance. All Karakal performance tennis rackets are all fitted with the ‘World’s No.1 PU Super Grip’. How does a potential buyer go about purchasing Karakal products? Through our network of UK retailers, or if you are outside of the UK details of our distributors covering 65 countries can be found on the Karakal website www.karakal.com
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GSTAAD PALACE
GSTAADPALACE Over the years the Gstaad Palace has earned an unrivalled reputation for discreet, refined hospitality and has always welcomed the most discerning international clientele.
Tennis package rate per person for 6 nights: CHF3,780/US$3,203*
Set on a hill overlooking Gstaad, the resort is privileged to offer a breathtaking view of the majestic Swiss Alps. The 104 tastefully decorated rooms include 29 junior suites, four suites, two Tower Suites and the most luxurious and sophisticated three-bedroom Penthouse Suite ever built in an Alpine resort. This elegant hotel offers guests a truly memorable stay in distinguished surroundings and a relaxing ambiance – over 250 employees dedicated to fulfilling your every wish. Restaurants & Bars: Enjoy traditional Swiss dishes, savoury grill specialities, an exceptional Italian menu and exquisite gourmet cuisine at the hotel’s five superb restaurants. Unwind in the relaxed lobby bar, the stylish Bar du Grill or the famous GreenGo nightclub. Palace Spa: The Gstaad Palace also features a spa covering 1800sqm including eight treatment rooms, a private spa suite, saunas and steam bath, relaxation areas with incredible views, indoor pool and outdoor pool with Jacuzzi, a state-ofthe-art gym, a Pilates studio and a unique hammam experience with seven rooms. A wide variety of activities including golf, heli-skiing and hot-air-ballooning etc. is also available near the hotel. The Tennis Programme: Enjoy a stay at the prestigious Gstaad Palace with one of the most successful tennis players in history – Roy Emerson. He holds the overall men’s record of 28 Grand Slam titles, including
12 Grand Slam singles crowns. Tennis enthusiasts from 16 up to 100 can receive a weeks intensive personal coaching from the legend, assisted by his son Antony and other professional instructors from around the world. The tennis week has already been voted “No.1 Tennis Camp in the World” in 2008 and 2009. For further details take a look at www.royemersontennisweeks.com
Week 1: June 19 – 25, 2010 (Sat – Fri) Week 2: June 27 – July 3, 2010 (Sun – Sat) Week 3: July 11 – 17, 2010 (Sun – Sat) Week 4: July 17 – 23, 2010 (Sat – Fri) Week 5: Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2010 (Sun – Sat) Treat yourself to one of the following upgrade options:
Tennis Packages: Accommodation in a Single or DoubleClassic Room according to availability Swiss breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner; including dinner at a traditional Swiss restaurant and an elegant picnic in the mountains 25 hours of tennis lessons with a ratio of maximum 3 or 4 participants per court and instructor (weather permitting) Day 1 (Arrival): no clinic Days 2, 3, 5 & 6: 5 hours of clinic Day 4 (Picnic): 2.5 hours of clinic Day 7 (Departure): 2.5 hours of clinic – Welcome cocktail party, welcome gift upon arrival – Flowers and fresh fruit in the room – One sport massage of 25 minutes at our Palace Spa for participants in the clinic only – Unlimited access to the indoor and heated outdoor pool, the sauna, steam bath, and the gym – Access to the nightclub “GreenGo”
Accompanying person in the same room, without tennis lessons: CHF2,980/US$ 2,525*
Double Superior Room CHF300/US$255* Double Deluxe Room CH600/US$510* Junior Suite CHF750/US$635* Junior Suite Deluxe CHF900/US$760* Deluxe Suite CHF1,500/US$1270* Double Classic Room for single use CHF600/US$505* Single Superior Room CHF300/US$255* Single Deluxe Room CHF600/US$510* The above prices are quoted per person per week (7 days/6 nights). *All US$ rates are based on an exchange rate of CHF1.18 = US$1 and are for estimation purposes only; upon settlement of the bill the daily exchange rate will apply. For further details contact our reservation department directly on: info@palace.ch and take a look at the hotel website www.palace.ch or call +41 33 748 5000.
Taxes, service and VAT
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WORLD RANKINGS
WORLDRANKINGS MEN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
WOMEN ROGER FEDERER
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
ANDY MURRAY
RAFAEL NADAL
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO
NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO
ANDY RODDICK
ROBIN SODERLING
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA
MARIN CILIC
Switzerland Born: 08.08.1981 Lives: Bottmingen, Switzerland Height: 6ft 1in Weight: 187 lbs
1
SERENA WILLIAMS
USA Born: 26.09.1981 Lives: Florida, USA Height: 5ft 9in Weight: 150 lbs
Career titles: 62 Career-high ranking: 1
Career titles: 36 Career-high ranking: 1
Serbia Born: 22.05.1987 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 6ft 2in Weight: 176 lbs
Russia Born: 27.04.1986 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 5ft 11in Weight: 154 lbs
2
DINARA SAFINA
Career titles: 16 Career-high ranking: 2
Career titles: 12 Career-high ranking: 1
Scotland Born: 15.05.1987 Lives: Dunblane, Scotland Height: 6ft 3in Weight: 185 lbs
Denmark Born: 11.07.1990 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 5ft 10in Weight: 128lbs
3
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
Career titles: 14 Career-high ranking: 2
Career titles: 6 Career-high ranking: 3
Spain Born: 03.06.1986 Lives: Manacor, Mallorca Height: 6ft 1in Weight: 188 lbs
Russia Born: 27.06.1985 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 5ft 8in Weight: 161 lbs
4
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA
Career titles: 36 Career-high ranking: 1
Career titles: 12 Career-high ranking: 2
Argentina Born: 23.09.1988 Lives: Tandil, Argentina Height: 6ft 6in Weight: 182 lbs
USA Born: 17.06.1980 Lives: Florida, USA Height: 6ft 1in Weight: 160 lbs
5
VENUS WILLIAMS
Career titles: 7 Career-high ranking: 4
Career titles: 41 Career-high ranking: 1
Russia Born: 02.06.1981 Lives: Volgograd, Russia Height: 5ft 10in Weight: 154 lbs
Belarus Born: 31.07.1989 Lives: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Height: 5ft 10in Weight: 132lbs
6
VICTORIA AZARENKA
Career titles: 20 Career-high ranking: 3
Career titles: 3 Career-high ranking: 6
USA Born: 30.08.1982 Lives: Austin, Texas, USA Height: 6ft 2in Weight: 195 lbs
Russia Born: 15.10.1981 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 5ft 11in Weight: 141 lbs
7
ELENA DEMENTIEVA
Career titles: 28 Career-high ranking: 1
Career titles: 15 Career-high ranking: 3
Sweden Born: 14.08.1984 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 6ft 4in Weight: 192 lbs
Serbia Born: 28.02.1985 Lives: Belgrade, Serbia Height: 5ft 9in Weight: 130 lbs
8
JELENA JANKOVIC
Career titles: 4 Career-high ranking: 8
Career titles: 11 Career-high ranking: 1
France Born: 17.04.1985 Lives: La Rippe, Switzerland Height: 6ft 2in Weight: 200 lbs
Poland Born: 15.03.1989 Lives: Verbier, Switzerland Height: 5ft 7in Weight: 120 lbs
9
AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA
Career titles: 5 Career-high ranking: 6
Career titles: 4 Career-high ranking: 9
Croatia Born: 28.09.1988 Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco Height: 6ft 6in Weight: 180 lbs
China Born: 26.02.1982 Lives: Wuhan, China Height: 5ft 8in Weight: 143 lbs
Career titles: 4 Career-high ranking: 10
10
NA LI
Career titles: 2 Career-high ranking: 10
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FROZEN IN TIME: 1992 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
FROZENINTIME 1992AUSTRALIANOPEN Shouting, weeping, jumping for joy, falling to their knees… players always celebrate Grand Slam wins in their own particular style. For Jim Courier, at the Australian Open in 1992, triumph meant a swim in Melbourne’s polluted river.
The Yarra River, in Melbourne, is hardly the most inviting spot for a swim. Teeming with litter, sewage, pollution and a lot more unsavoury items besides, it’s the sort of watercourse you admire from a safe distance, but never approach close enough to smell. Imagine the raised eyebrows, then, when Jim Courier celebrated his 1992 Australian Open win by diving straight into it. Onlookers must have thought he’d lost his mind. As with all the best stunts, it started with a bet. Prior to the tournament final, the American player had been jogging alongside the river with his coach Brad Stine. “He said ‘If you win this thing I’ll dive in there’,” Courier explained afterwards. “So I said ‘If you go in, I’m following you’.” Clearly neither had read the stories in Melbourne’s newspapers that morning reporting that the Yarra was 18 times more polluted than legally permitted. Courier’s swim was a messy conclusion to a very messy Grand Slam final. The then 21-year-old from Florida, or ‘The dude from Dade City’ as he was known, was renowned for his brutal, unsubtle power tennis. His opponent, Sweden’s Stefan Edberg, normally supplied ground strokes and volleys of sublime beauty, but on this January day in 1992 he looked out of rhythm and out of sorts. The combination of the two players’ styles therefore wasn’t pretty to watch. But it was Courier who eventually triumphed 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-2. “Without fuss or fanfares – but with grit and determination – Courier set about his task of stopping the game’s most elegant 30 | March 2010 INTERNATIONALTENNISMAGAZINE www.isportgroup.com/InternationalTennisMagazine
stylist,” wrote Alan Trengrove in the Australian magazine Tennis. “Deprived of service rhythm, Edberg struggled. Faced with Courier’s hefty forehands and solid double-handed backhands, he lacked consistency in his serving and doublefaulted at a few critical moments.” In the searing heat of the Australian mid-summer, both players were exhausted by the end of the match. But this didn’t stop Courier from honouring his bet. “Courier waited until the end of the presentations and then ran across Batman Avenue with his coach, and the two of them dived into the river,” it was later noted in the book Our Open: 100 Years of Australia’s Grand Slam. “Clearly the water quality – or lack of – didn’t bother Courier.” By then the American’s sweltering limbs were probably glad of the chance to cool off. Stripped down to just their tennis shorts, Stine and Courier fully submerged themselves to the delight of those watching. “It was really dirty,” said the newly crowned Australian Open Champion, confirming what every Melbournian already knew too well. Yet the very next year, after beating Edberg in the final for a second time, Courier went back for more. So delighted was he to defend his title successfully that again, after the trophy presentation, he dived straight into the Yarra. But this was to be his last ceremonial dunking. “I got some sort of stomach virus after swallowing some of the water,” he explained later, his face grimacing at the memory of it.