Tennis World

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SATA news The 2010 SA Open Federer special part 2 Interviews, opinions, rankings & more...

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FROM THE EDITOR… The year 2009 was a special year for South African tennis, a year in which SATA has done many good things and only the future will tell whether this movement will once again return to the greatness it boasted for so many years.

Tennis has, especially in terms of organisation, left more important traces than any other sector in 2009. This achievement can be attributed to the return of the great traditional Johannesburg tournament and the important sponsorship of South African Airways, which placed this tournament at the top of the international circuit.

The Federation, coaches and academies are working hard to nurture champions.

South Africa had a big chance in the Davis Cup against India to return to the World Group. I hope that Kevin Anderson could in the future honour this important and unique event.

Never before have I seen such a profound difference between those who play tennis for fun and those who really want to reach the highest tennis goals.

On the one hand we have many tennis players who compete regularly and train hard but unfortunately their results do not reflect their efforts accurately and on the other hand those who have achieved their tennis goals.

Why does hard training not do the trick for most? Why can young boys and girls who train morning, noon and night not get meaningful results?

Ray Kroc (founder of Mc Donald’s) wrote: “Nothing in the world can replace tenacity. Neither talent nor genius does the trick, but only tenacity and determination are invincible.”

The big shots of tennis are not much different from those who are attempting or have attempted to reach their tennis goals, but the big shots never let go.

They know what they wantand they work hard to achieve that goal.

One must have the vision these big shot tennis players have.

Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Henin, Serena Williams, Venus Williams . . . are very special in their own right.

Yet on paper, many tennis players have the same credentials which will enable them to reach their goals, but those with a stronger conviction will be able to tip the scale their way.

In life there is only one kind of success: making your life what you want it to be!

I take this opportunity to thank the readers who read the first issue of TennisWorld SA and those who have committed to a year’s sucscription.

TennisWorld Ltd is constantly changing! We are always looking for new services to be included in this magazine in order to meet your needs! This is our mission.

If you have ideas, requests or the desire to have your say in this magazine, please write to federico.coppini@matchballtennis.com!

Do not forget to visit the magazine’s website – www.tennisworldsa.com – where you will be able to participate in numerous forums and discuss this wonderful sport.

TENNIS WORLDS SOUTH AFRICA Published by Matchball Tennis EDITOR & DIRECTOR Federico Coppini federico.coppini@matchballtennis.com CONTRIBUTORS Nannie de Villiers, Pietie Norval, Danie Morkel, Matt Traverso COLLABORATION Tennis World SA is published in collaboration with Matchpoint Tennis Magazine (Italy).

Special thanks to director Daniele Azzolini and his editing team.

Matchpoint Tennis Magazine, Via Santa Giovanna Elisabetta 36/F 00189 Roma Tel: + 00 39 063 638 2189 segreteria@mpmtennis.com David Yutar – Copy Editor Francois Smith – Subscriptions and Logistics Nelize Ernst – Advertising Sales BUSINESS DETAILS MatchballTennis (Pty) Ltd 85 Jonkershoek Road Stellenbosch, South Africa info@matchballtennis.com ADVERTISING advertising@matchballtennis.com SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@matchballtennis.com MARKETING & PR Nicolette Booyens 082 856 0209 marketing1@matchballtennis.com DESIGN & LAYOUT Greymatter & Finch info@greymatterfinch.com INTERNET www.tennisworldsa.com

Yours in tennis,

FC Federico Coppini federico.coppini@matchballtennis.com

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GENERAL 4 Emotional fitness 6 Ankle ligament injuries 7 Nannie de Villiers 8 Interview with Pietie Norval 10 Jet set 12 Agassi 76 Growing up 80 Geography of tennis DAVIS CUP 14 Overview 18 Second indoor clay final SHANGAI 20 Kolya stamps his timecard 21 Shangai scorecard 22 Shangai results DOHA MASTER 24 From our envoy in Doha 27 Behind the scenes 28 Doha results 29 Dinara’s disappointment INTERNATIONAL NEWS 30 Tough at the top 32 Henin is back!

34 The colour of tennis FEDERER SPECIAL 44 Wimbledon 2006 48 US Open 2006 52 Australia 2007 56 Wimbledon 2007 60 US Open 2007 64 US Open 2008 78 Parigi 2009 72 Wimbledon 2009 RANKINGS AND RESULTS 84 ATP ranking 86 WTA ranking 88 ITF junior rankings 89 Wheelchair Tennis RSA 90 SA doubles results 92 SA singles results 94 WTA results TENNIS CLINIC 95 Playing in a trance 96 Psychological test 99 How much do points weigh?

100 Coaches as in football REVIEWS 104 Babolat Pure Drive Lite 105 Head You Tek Radical Pro SATA 106 SATA tournament calendar 106 A message from CEO, Ian Smith 106 Jessica Motaung appointed 107 African 14 & under masters 107 Two titles for SA 108 Junior tennis 111 Open tennis 112 Wheelchair tennis South Africa 113 Tournament rule changes 114 The SA Open 115 Gauteng Central challenges parents 115 Bedfordview Country Club

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HEALTH TALK

M AT T T R AV E R S O

EMOTIONAL FITNESS:

That’s What It’s All About!

EMOTIONAL FITNESS IS THE FOUNDATIONAL KEY TO ACHIEVING HIGH PERFORMANCE IN SPORTS, IN BUSINESS AND IN JUST ABOUT ANY AREA OF YOUR LIFE; IT’S WHAT MAKES THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE IN THE LEVEL OF YOUR RESULTS.

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verything we do or fail to do is directly linked to our feelings. Think about it. Is there anything you do that is not ultimately related to the way you feel? What, is there anything? The bottom line is everything you do is to create a shift in your emotions and therefore experience a new set of sensations. Emotions are the vital energy source inside each of us that we can all harness and direct in a positive way to promote peak performance, optimal health, mental clarity, creativity and more satisfying relationships.

Now, what’s exciting is that you are the creator of all your emotions – yes you are. See, emotions don’t just happen – you DO them. Read that paragraph again and really listen to what I am saying. Don’t read any further until the impact of that statement hits you not just intellectually, but emotionally. I need you to make a shift if you are to experience the life you really want. That’s not going to happen if you’re just skimming through, going “I know that already” and then moving on without committing to act on what you know.

MAKE A COMMITMENT

All knowledge must end in action. Make a stand, decide right now to change; to do whatever it takes to learn to take control of your thoughts and muster your emotions. If you focus on your wishes to the absolute exclusion of all doubt, then you really experience the power of your mind. When you alter your thoughts, you create a shift in your beliefs and your actions.

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So often people get stuck doing things the same way, hoping for different results. But as you know, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is madness! We get caught on the hamster wheel, running faster and faster, hoping it will work if we just try a little harder. We often fear the idea of changing our course of action, because a new path would be foreign to us... it’s unknown. This sense of uncertainty is what keeps people in a place where they feel stuck. It’s like boiling a frog.

THE BENEFITS YOU GET FROM RECONDITIONING YOUR MIND AND YOUR EMOTIONS ARE WELL WORTH THE EFFORT. They say if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, he’ll leap right out. But if you place him gently into warm water, he likes it, and then you slowly bring the water to a boil and he doesn’t even notice that he’s getting cooked. That’s exactly what’s happening to most people… they’re getting cooked, slowly, just by getting used to the heat and the pressure of life and not doing anything about it.

In order to truly achieve our vision and live the life we want, we must jump off the hamster wheel of our life to stop and re-evaluate. We must ask ourselves, “Where is it that I want to be, what am I doing to get there, and what is holding me back from being there now?” The biggest mistake I see people making is that they get stuck; they keep doing the

same things, so they keep getting the same results.

PROGRAM YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS

Every day you are subtly being programmed by your surroundings – television, the media, movies and the people you associate with. The downside is, most of this is negative “lack” programming which undermines your self-confidence and creates doubt.

Consequently, if you are not conditioning yourself for success, your environment is conditioning you for failure!

ACT IN SPITE OF FEAR

I understand that making these changes might be a little difficult (at least in the beginning) because changing habits means pioneering a new way of life. But the benefits you get from reconditioning your mind and your emotions are well worth the effort. Yes it does take courage to make a shift. But contrary to what many people think, courage is not something you have, but rather it’s something you do. It is to act in the face of fear, and seems to develop almost like a muscle – the more you use it and the “heavier” the fear, the faster and stronger it grows. Anyone who’s ever achieved any great success – whether it be a guy like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jordan, or Andre Agassi – had to grow emotionally through difficulties and struggles to become the kind of person capable of doing what they’ve done.

It takes courage and an unstoppable commitment to your dreams to reach

your goals and achieve your destiny, even when it rains on your parade and you don’t get the support you need – you still must stay committed to your decision.

Ultimately, it is your psychology – the way you interpret the world and how you evaluate what’s going on around you – that shapes how you feel, what you do and ultimately who you become.

Take for example Nelson Mandela; here’s a guy who didn’t want to live where people couldn’t do things together.

He became a lifelong warrior to help free South Africa. His career was cut short when he was sentenced to life imprisonment; and even when he was in prison, he still struggled to help free South Africa. After 27 years in prison, he was freed, and then he won the Noble Peace Prize and was elected to become President of South Africa.

STEP OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Most of us, most of the time, avoid risk, and too often, we really don’t want to discover the limits of our ability. From early Arctic explorers to Sir Edmund Hillary and modern astronauts, the decision to risk it all by pushing the limits of our strength, endurance, courage and ability inspires us. Few ever make the decision or take the risks.

Most people are more at ease doing things they are familiar with. We know the things within our comfort zone.

But comfort can be a curse – it limits your decisions and therefore your actions. Success lies beyond the comfort zone.

It lies in risking the unknown; that’s the only place you will find success.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

The vast majority of people spend their lives waiting for their “ship to come in” or for “opportunity to knock”, or for “tomorrow”. They are waiting for the right conditions, or for a better day.

They are waiting for more money, or better health, for a more understanding boss, or for the economy to grow stronger. Too often, they end up spending their entire lives waiting. Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait. Instead know that today is the only day that counts. Goethe reminds us that “Nothing is more valuable than this day.”

Today is the time to live with passion, with faith, with determination, and with courage. Great athletes know that success is always under construction and they practice every day, so that when the opportunities arrive, they are prepared. Don’t wait another day to start this process – start today, start right now.

An international leading authority on peak performance and success coaching, Matt Traverso has helped thousands of people achieve breakthrough results and he is regularly featured in the press, on radio shows and on TV. Matt has been training individuals, organisations, and teams for over 10 years across Europe and around the world. His mission in life is empowering people to create fulfilling lives – helping people make personal breakthroughs that unleash their true potential, personal effectiveness, and leadership.

Through a unique approach of personal action and emotional resourcefulness that combines the latest advancements in neuroscience, peak performance, and accelerated learning technologies, Matt delivers personalised solutions to both individuals and organisations.

As a trainer Matt has empowered and taken the work forces of multinational corporations to new heights. Companies like, American Express, the United Nations, HSBC, RAS, Monte Dei Paschi, Starwood, L’Oréal, GTS Group are just a few of the companies that have used Matt’s insightful and engaging style to train their most valuable asset, their people.

He’s worked with speakers like Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Richard Bandler, Paul McKenna, Robert Dilts, John Grinder, Norman Schwartzkoff, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, and is one of the very few Anthony Robbins Senior Mentors in the world.

A sought after speaker for meetings, conventions, and conferences, he’s also a supervisor to a number of training companies for quality control purposes and leads the annual International Coaching Conference in Nice, France.

As a professional keynote speaker, Matt delivers compelling speeches on a variety of life-changing subjects such as personal achievement, peak performance, and extreme health.

He’s also written four books – Realise Your Ture Potential; The Abundance Zone; The Official NLP Practitioner Manual; and The Bible of Quantum Coaching.

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HEALTH TALK

Ankle ligament injuries D A N I E M O R K E L

Coach, international tennis commentator and junior winner of Wimbledon doubles 1994, Nannie de Villiers needs no introduction. Her professional career includes winning 27 international women’s single and doubles titles and playing 32 grand slam tournaments. We asked her to tell us what is on her mind…

NANNIE DE VILLIERS

Where have all the

Ankle ligament injuries are common in tennis players of all levels of play. It is an injury that if not treated well, will lead to complications.

McENROES gone?

“I have weak ankles” is a comment that I often hear in my practice and amongst tennis friends. In almost all of those cases the very first injury was not treated sufficiently. There are certainly players with a general ligament laxity and in those cases it is difficult to offer them much help and quite often they will also have symptoms from other joint due to increased laxity, for instance shoulders.

HOW TO PREVENT ANKLE LIGAMENT INJURIES The most important factor in prevention of ankle ligament injuries is the shoes. Not only must the shoes have a good heelcup to prevent heel tilting, but it must also have good mid foot support. The grip of the sole on the court (torque) is also very important. In South Africa where most of the tennis is played on hardcourts and where traction is quite similar, we can get away with one pair of tennis shoes, but one must be careful for worn-out shoes on slippery courts. It is when one goes from indoor carpet or wood to European clay that one realises the difference in torque and the need for the right shoes. The sole must also offer good shock-absorption (especially for unforgiving hardcourts) but the foot must not be too elevated by too thick a sole.

Some players use a basketball boot for the stability the lace-up boot provides, but in my experience those shoes often don’t last well and offers less shock-absorption (They also come in extra large sizes). It goes without saying that playing on a slippery surface when it is wet will lead to injuries.

Well-conditioned muscles will protect the ligaments when they are under strain.

Proprioception, sense of position, is another neurological function that is an important factor that plays a role in stability of the ankle.

It is therefore important that a gradual training program is followed, especially when a player returns to competitive tennis after injury.

HOW DOES ONE INJURE ANKLE LIGAMENTS? “Going over the outside of the ankle” causes the most common injury to the ankle ligaments (inversion injury) and injuring the

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outside (lateral) ligaments. The lateral ligament complex consists of three separate ligaments.

Ankle ligament injuries are also divided in three degrees like all ligament injuries. The grading from one to three roughly divides ankle ligament injuries from 50% of fibres ruptured in grade one, 75% of fibres ruptured in grade two to total rupture in grade three.

In ankle ligaments the three lateral collateral ligaments can be ruptured separately, but most often at least two of the three. Injuries to the ligament in between the long bones of the lower leg (tibia and fibula) can occur, although rare and also to the ligament on the inside of the ankle (medial collateral). We must always keep in mind that with the same mechanism of injury, that bone can break or tendons rupture and damage to the joint cartilage can occur.

HOW TO TREAT ANKLE LIGAMENT INJURIES In the acute injury, the initial treatment, like for all soft tissue injuries stay the same, namely: Rest, ice, compression and elevation.

To this we can add anti-inflammatory drugs.

It is essential that the right diagnosis is made and most often X-rays are needed and some times a day or two to allow for the swelling to subside. In that period the ankle must be immobilised sufficiently. Once fractures (bone breaks) or tendon injuries are excluded the injury graded and must be decided on the method and time period of immobilisation.

Methods of immobilisation can vary from a plaster or fiberglass cast to brace to strapping.

Depending on the severity of the injury I prefer to immobilise the severe grade three injuries in a cast for three weeks and to back

that up with a lace-up ankle brace like the rocket-sock or speed brace.

Studies have shown that there is little place for surgical ankle ligament repair in the acute phase.

In the chronic instability where a full rehabilitation program has been followed, there is a place for reconstruction of the ligament complex.

After sufficient immobilisation, 4–6 weeks depending on the grade of injury, physiotherapy is started and it consists of soft tissue treatment, regaining loss of movement in the surrounding joints (due the immobilisation) and a strengthening program. The strengthening program focuses especially on the peroneal muscles but also on reconditioning the sense of position, which is compromised due to the ligament injury.

It is important that the ankle ligaments are protected in training for at least three months and therefore the lace-up braces functions well.

Some professional players will use a laced up ankle brace for extended periods of their careers or even permanently, like we see in other sports.

Return to tennis depends on the severity of the injury. If the ankle stays painful or swollen, there must be concomitant injuries.

The diagnosis could also be wrong.

I once again would like to stress that it is important that the right diagnosis must be made initially and therefore urges you to see a doctor with interest in sports injuries, sooner rather than later.

Overuse injuries in the older, wiser players need to be investigated properly.

“I WANTED TO SPEND [THE NIGHT] WITH MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND THE PEOPLE WHO HAD SUPPORTED ME, NOT A BUNCH OF STIFFS WHO WERE 70-80 YEARS OLD, TELLING YOU THAT YOU’RE ACTING LIKE A JERK,” SAYS JOHN MCENROE ON ESPN CLASSIC’S SPORTSCENTURY SERIES ABOUT WHY HE DIDN’T ATTEND THE TRADITIONAL WIMBLEDON WINNERS DINNER IN 1981.

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don’t think there is anyone in the world that doesn’t know who John MacEnroe is. He was a winner and a whiner on court, a super talent nicknamed “Superbrat”. A lefthander with all the right strokes, but no tact when it came to dealing with people.

There is only one of two reactions you could have when hearing his name… you either loved him or you hated him… but he sold tickets! Lots and lots of tickets!

I have been watching the way tennis has been going in the last few years and it worries me that the sport is becoming a little boring. We have these wonderful talented players with super cool exteriors who run around the court for 5 sets looking like human machines that can keep going for hours and hours. If they dare show a little emotion they get reprimanded right away and a warning gets issued and the monetary fines starts rolling in. A point penalty could even cost you a game or even worse, in Serena Williams’s case, the match!

The perpetrator then has to sit in front of a bunch of media people and try and justify why they reacted that way.

I watched some of the press footage that was put on the Internet after Serena’s match and it was amazing to see the silly questions the media asked about the incident. Of course none of the question were actually about the tennis in the match!

We need “MacEnroe” back!

Tennis in South Africa and internationally is really finding it hard to keep up with other world sport. Even women’s polevaulting has been getting more media than tennis. Most people don’t even know that the tour runs all year round and does not only consist of the Grand Slams.

How can we keep attention on the sport when there is no drama to entertain people? Does anyone in South Africa even know who Kevin Anderson and Chani Scheepers are? Well, unlike when Wayne Ferreira was number one in South Africa, only true tennis fans would know that they are our current numbers ones in the country.

Its not that they are not good enough … its just that they are both two very well brought up South African kids that are representing there country in the best way they now how… by trying their best and behaving well on court. But who didn’t know Wayne Ferreira? Everybody always spoke about how he needed to be calmer and concentrate better and that maybe then he would be number one in the world. He had South Africa right there on the map with all the other big tennis countries … even if he couldn’t keep himself from breaking his racquets!

We are a nation that loves sport. Yet tennis is not getting nearly enough support form the public. The rules and regulations of tennis internationally are becoming so strict that people don’t find it interesting to watch.

In America Billy Jean King has been running with a “tournament” called World Team Tennis, which runs for 3 weeks after Wimbledon every year.

The teams consist of professional players that are drafted from a list. Two men and two women play singles, doubles and mixed…and every game counts. If the singles player is doing badly then the doubles or mixed team need to make up the points! This makes for a very exciting action packed format with loud music blaring, people cheering and even a DJ making nasty remarks to the visiting teams players.

Maybe we don’t need to go that far but I can tell you that it is fun to watch and everybody gets to support their team.

Cricket is doing it with the IPL and it works like a charm. I will watch IPL but not regular cricket because it’s too boring!

How are we going to get tennis back on the map? Loosen the rules a bit and tell players to live out their emotions? Or do we need a whole new format for tennis?

I would love to see tennis players back on the front page of the newspapers, whether it is for winning a tournament or because their love lives reminds one of soap opera! Either way…this is what makes people watch the Wimbledon final on TV. Maybe we could call MacEnroe and ask him to go give some lessons on the tour!

They say that there is no such thing as bad publicity!

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INTERVIEW

country. Davis Cup should be a priority in most players’ schedules.

FEDERICO COPPINI

How could you improve tennis as a sport in South Africa?

Transition from player to coach

I would like to see the sport of tennis get more recognition at corporate level. This is always easier said than done, seeing that recognition comes from good results, which SA tennis lacks. The return of the SA Open in February is a step in the right direction, but if this does not result in more Futures (smaller pro tournaments) coming to South Africa, the opportunity will be lost to give our young players exposure.

INTERVIEW WITH PIETIE NORVAL parents of juniors choose fitness trainers for their kids, instead of the coach doing it.

When a professional player retires and starts thinking about what to do next, one of the last things that come to mind is becoming a coach. The interesting thing that happens next, is that most ex-pros stay in the game one way or the other. Most of my fellow ex-pros all over the world are still involved in the game of tennis, either through coaching on the tour, an academy, resort coaching, college team coaching in the USA, commentating or sport management.

The love of the game is what always brings us back to what we do best.

For an ex-pro the transition from player to coach is very easy concerning all the knowledge that was gained on tour and passing it on to your students. The challenging part is to fit into a routine and start earning your living the hard way.

Technical knowledge of the game as a coach can only be gained through experience and the ex-pro needs to be open to learn from more experienced people in this area. Tactical coaching, high intensity training, touring and the mental side of the game are the areas where the ex-pro have a huge advantage over coaches that never played the game at the highest level.

How useful are studies on tennis such as biomechanics, psychology and physiology?

I believe that the research that is done on tennis is very valuable and assists coaches hugely on where the game of tennis is headed and staying on top of changes at international level. In all the areas of working with a good player, there are new ways to fix problems that are frequently publicised and used at the top level of the game and it is the responsibility of coaches to be on top of the changes.

In South Africa we unfortunately have many coaches that have limited knowledge of the game that are working with good players.

The challenge for these coaches is to travel abroad as much as possible if they want to work with players that are aspiring to play at international level.

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Do you believe in having a mental trainer in the Academy? Is mental training important?

How to manage quality vs quantity in training?

I always believe that you practice the way the pros practice. Not many coaches understand this principle, unless they were pros or have traveled on the tour as coaches.

This means that the quality of a training session is everything. When the intensity of the session starts going down, the player is training in “bad habits”. So it really depends on how long the player can practice at his or her highest level. It is always good to have your sessions split into 20-minute sections to improve quality. Once the sessions become too long without a break, you run the risk of players losing their intensity.

Do you choose the fitness coach?

It is always good for a coach to build a relationship with a fitness trainer that knows how to work with tennis players. Frequently in South Africa tennis players are using fitness trainers that know nothing about tennis and this can be dangerous for the development of the player. At the Kainos Tennis Academy, we have used the same fitness trainer (Jaco Burger) for the past four years and he has daily contact with all the performance players as well as pros that practice at the Academy. This is ideal, seeing that tennis specific strength and conditioning are being implemented daily in partnership with the player’s coach. Problems arise when

Having a mental trainer or sport psychologist at an Academy is very important, seeing that the mental side of the game is the most important part of performance tennis.

Mental trainers have a way of making young players understand where they are headed with their game and how to handle the pressure that comes with improving. Young players are under severe pressure these days and they have huge expectations, which normally they create themselves. Mental trainers can help the players put everything they do into perspective and also help them deal with the challenges that come with trying to balance tennis with academics, relationship with family and friends and their social life.

Is it important for the coach to choose the player’s physical preparation and attend to it closely?

The coach of a performance player should be involved in the process of planning the player’s physical preparation for tournaments, but not leading it. This is the job of the strength and conditioning trainer. Communication between coach and fitness trainer is very important on a daily basis, seeing that there would be times when harder work is done on court and less work would then be needed off-court, and vice versa.

How should you manage your Davis Cup schedule with your tournament schedule?

I played Davis Cup for South Africa seven times and always gave priority to playing for my country above my ATP Tour schedule.

This is obviously much more difficult to do for the top 20 players in the world, seeing that they need time for their bodies to recover in-between tournaments. I believe that if you are not ranked in the top 100 players in the world, you should always make yourself available to play for your

We need to find a way to save club tennis and come up with ideas to improve the league system. Tennis exposure at social level needs attention. We can also have more local senior tournaments to help bridge the gap between junior and veteran tennis.

Compare coaching guys with girls and what is the differences (programming, mental and technical) In my experience, there is a huge difference between coaching boys and girls and also men and women at pro level. What makes the sport of tennis more difficult for women, is that women tend to be more emotional than men and tennis has no place for emotion. The challenge in coaching girls is to get them to understand that once you step inside the court, there is no place for anything other than focusing on the game.

The girls tend to share their thoughts more than the boys do, which makes it easier to help them. Sometimes it can be tough to get the boys to open up.

Girls on the other hand tend to work harder than boys in general between the ages of 14 and 17. I have found that even though girls are physically weaker than boys, their bodies can take the same amount of training.

The boys will generally have more strength in their arms, which means technically it is easier for them to mature than girls.

On the pro tour, the women tend to spend more time by themselves or with their coach, compared with men that will socialise more amongst each other.

Is tennis well promoted in South Africa? Can it be improved?

The South African Tennis Association is doing everything they can to promote the sport with the limited finances that they have available. Junior tennis in this country

is very healthy and with some corporate backing, we can maybe bridge the gap between top juniors and pro tennis. I believe corporate sponsorship will come with the continued growth of the game at ground level and hopefully someone breaking through into the top 30 in the world at some stage. The sport is well promoted at junior tournaments and school events, but ultimately sponsorship will come if the SA Open remains to be a success and involvement of corporate companies through the event will be critical.

Advice to young SA coaches that want to make a career of coaching In the last eight years I have spent a lot of time with young coaches at the Kainos Tennis Academy and other institutions across the country. It is difficult to be a very good coach unless you have passion for the game of tennis. I have found that I would rather employ a young coach with passion and less knowledge, than a coach with more knowledge and less passion. I can always teach a young coach everything I know about the game, but I can’t teach them passion.

Pressures on young tennis players with the ability to make it, how does a coach manage these pressures which include family, money, manager, federation and media?

When a player comes out of the final junior year at the age of 18 and they have been internationally competitive, they often have to deal with big decisions regarding their future in tennis. Should they go to college in the USA first for a few years to let their game mature before they turn pro or should they go straight on the tour? The coach should have the knowledge to know whether the player is good enough at 18 to handle the first level of pro tennis, which is Futures.

They call Futures the “warzone” of the Tour.

If you make it through there to the next level, Challengers, you have a chance to get to the ATP or WTA Tours. The problem is, there are probably 10 000 others trying to do the same thing.

From a coaching point of view, it will help if the coach has been through all these struggles to make it as a pro, in order to make the right decisions for his or her player.

If the coach lacks the experience, but is willing to take the player further, they would need the help of someone that has done it. Things that are important to remember when deciding to take a player international without experience are:

Complications during traveling, scheduling, knowledge of international venues, ITF, WTA and ATP rules, finances on tour, correct handling of your player during matches, managing the players relationship with his/her sponsors, federation and local media, managing family involvement and relationship with financial backer/ management company.

The player will be under pressure to perform and it is the coach’s duty to manage how much outside influence the player can handle.

State of junior tennis in South Africa?

Junior tennis in South Africa has been very strong for many years. Our younger age groups often compare with the best in the world. We have some juniors that are internationally competitive when they hit the junior ITF circuit. This year Nikala Scholtz and Chanelle Simonds competed in the main draw of all the junior grand slams and both have the ability to make it as professionals.

We had eight ITF junior tournaments in and around South Africa this year and any player that did well in these tournaments will have a junior world ranking that could see them getting some opportunities overseas.

The problem is that if you have some late developers that mature after the age of 18, nobody would have seen them and they would get lost. South Africans are known as late developers, seeing that we are far away from the rest of the world, which makes traveling for long periods of time difficult.

The question is: will parents be patient enough to allow the player to mature without putting too much pressure on them? In most cases the answer is no.

The South African Tennis Association has the responsibility to do a few things to create opportunities for young players, otherwise we will have problems: 1) Many more Future events for exposure for the top juniors.

2) The Super Squad system brought back which produced all the pros from the 1990s. This will entail recognising the top four boys and girls at age 17 and financially backing them with a coach to go pro. A second group of four boys and girls coming up behind them.

3) Financially supporting the top tennis academies in the country to help them recruit talent in their area and feed the Super Squad.

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JET SET

JETSETJETSETJETSETJETSE TENNIS AND FASHION HAVE OFTEN GONE HAND IN HAND, THE ONE FASCINATING IN ITS GESTURES, THE OTHER READY TO EMBODY THE NATURAL ELEGANCE OF A SPORT THAT HAS NO PARALLEL.

WHEN TENNIS MAKES FASHION

Tennis and fashion have often gone hand in hand, the one fascinating in its gestures, the other ready to embody the natural elegance of a sport that has no parallel. A playground for great designers – yesterday Ted Tinling, today Stella McCartney – and often also a creative test ground for tennis clothing items that have become as common as the Lacoste and Fred Perry golfers and as the sweaters and pullovers in white wool with patterns in relief. But rarely in the past had the match between our sports and fashion proposed so many unions.

Starting with Hermès, who has dedicated an entire collection to tennis, thus creating a conscious opening for a lively exchange of opportunities.

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HERMÈS, THE ELEGANCE OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

a stunning Eva Herzigova in a short pleated skirt and headband.

There was once elegant tennis, the one of women strictly in white pleats and the V-neck pullovers faintly profiled in red and blue: the Maison Hermès, that already in the 1920s had a tennis range, also suited to elite sports in general, has recently turned the catwalk of its Paris fashion shows (and also the guest stands) into a green grass field, with obvious reference to Wimbledon and its Championships.

Extreme luxury – the revised Kelly bags in a racquet-carrier version.

The atmosphere, very 1930s, as requested by designer Jean Paul Gautier, recalled very closely that of everlasting tennis novel Il giardino dei Finzi Contini

by Giorgio Bassani. With the sounds of forehands and backhands in the background, the show opened with

The collection was thus entirely consistent with the image and the elegance of vintage tennis: flowing trousers, a few pleated skirts, some long and some in short black leather with seethrough tulle detail.

Golfers turned into shirt-dresses, clothes offering an impeccable white, with blue trench coats and leather belts creating contrasts of shapes and colours. Even the bermudas and the shorts, the V-neck pullovers and a range of long tobacco chiffon dresses have offered a re-reading of the evening elegance for the meetings at the sports club.

SERENA POSES TOO. BUT WITHOUT VEILS!

ROGER WITH ANNE WINTOUR

Even Roger Federer was spotted at the Milan fashion shows. At his side, Anne Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue America.

He was invited by Armani, with whom he had met during the Davis in Genoa, a long-time friend of Wintour, who is among the few to be invited to the champion’s box during his matches. This box has now become a kind of holy of holies of tennis to which many would

love to be invited, but so far only few have managed – besides the Queen of American fashion, only Gwen Stefani, Valentino Rossi and Tiger Woods.

Flavia Pennetta, instead, allowed herself a small fashion adventure by participating in the Pin Up Stars swimwear show – a role played with skill, even though, according to her, “walking in such high heels was really a challenge”.

Back to the number one of the WTA circuit, Serena Williams, has fun posing.

Nude too.

The American tennis player has agreed to be immortalised without veils for the ESPN magazine, where she features on the cover in all the splendour of her 70 kg of muscle. The October issue of the sports magazine is however being distributed with different covers, depending on the discipline of the athletes chosen for the photo shoot on the inside. Serena said she was “very satisfied” with her images.

“A great challenge, which I think I won,” she called it.

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AGASSI

winning shots, when he plummeted to number 141 in the rankings. Yes he did climb back, as everyone knows.

He again reached number one and was once again triumphant in the Slam.

AGASSI

Andre Agassi was not himself and not even his clone; he was an adulterated copy, a misleading imitation.

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But what would have happened if the ATP had disqualified him instead of pretending that nothing had happened, and believing his apologies?

“I said I had taken methamphetamine accidentally and without knowing it; they believed me, they stopped me from sinking. But I have never been so ashamed.” Can methamphetamine help tennis? Perhaps it increases the ability to remain vigilant and therefore concentrated. A little further on, Agassi tells that he used to take those tablets even before walking onto the court.

It was his father who forced him.

He wanted his son to win − always and at any cost.

A deeply-hated father. A former Iranian boxer, an Olympic presence who ended up in the States, in Las Vegas, working as a bouncer.

A

forgery of a public act. And not even a quality one, if one is to make sense of the lines of his autobiography Open, released on 9 November in the United States at the price of US$12. Unless one can discover some merit in the mossy vestibule of his feelings and his falling hair follicles...

A well-organised forgery though, and one not devoid of a certain consistency. “My hair was falling out in locks,” he writes, “but so was my wig.” And then: “I hated my father because he had imposed tennis on me, and I hated tennis too...”

We now know everything.

Or do we?

Andre Agassi was not himself, and not even his clone; he was an adulterated copy, a misleading imitation.

False was his love for tennis, false his flowing hair with a punk crest in three colours (blond, green, lilac) that would bounce about during the exchanges, false his battle alongside the Anti-doping Agency, to which he was introduced at the beginning of 2000 by a too smart or too foolish ATP, or vague to the point that the right hand did not know what on earth the left hand was doing, and therefore untruthful.

This is how Andre hands himself over to posterity: doped, drugged, sour and deceitful.

He lied to ATP, who had caught him with drugs in his mouth. Crystal methamphetamine. It was his black period, of havoc in his family and in tennis too, of a crisis of feelings and

It is the story, a fairly classic one, of a man troubled by a furious desire for deliverance, prepared to subordinate every family affection to the pursuit of his dream. First and foremost a story of the heir, little Andre, the first male in the Agassian home. Indeed, because in the history of Agassi, not even the surname is entirely accurate. “Agassi” had an extra “an”... But it was the Immigration Department who accidentally changed the family’s biographical details by badly transcribing the surname.

has already emerged, including the story of the toupee held in place by twenty pins hastily applied by his brother before the final of the 1994 Roland Garros, the one lost to Andrés Goméz. The hair had already gone some time before, it seems, and he, in future the bald man, played that final with the conviction that sooner or later the wig would be gone too, maybe even there on the court, in front of 15 000 spectators and millions of television fans. It was his wife, Madame Brooke Shields, who suggested the shaved look. “I looked in the mirror, all shaved, and I felt like laughing and crying.”

A STORY OF PAIN AND OF OBLIGATION. BEING A CHAMPION AT ALL COSTS, BECAUSE OF PATERNAL AMBITION. BEING A CELEBRITY AT ALL TIMES, TO PLEASE THE SPONSORS. BEING UNHAPPY. There still remain to be read, and interpreted, the lines of his resurgence, which are certainly not missing in the Agassian autobiography, but have not been advertised.

A story of pain and of obligation. Being a champion at all costs, because of paternal ambition. Being a celebrity at all times, to please the sponsors. Being unhappy.

The growth of the young Agassi, actually, was almost public. From street kid, ready to cheat (who had some doubts about his appearances in the European tournaments, which he participated in, only to lose in the first round and perhaps rake in some lavish tip?), to reasonable man, almost never trivial, capable of such appropriate and often perceptive remarks during the press conferences; those same remarks that used to present him almost exclusively as a consumer of Big Mac.

A story that makes sensation. But who knows if it is all real? The doubt, given the premises, is legitimate. Certainly very well directed, supported by a wellorchestrated marketing ploy. The worst

Anyone who has followed tennis during these years has seen Agassi change, seen him set aside the excesses. The comeback after his fall was blazing, the conquest of the primacy in the rankings exciting, his

It is a bad story, that of Agassi.

marriage to Steffi Graf surprising (and long-lasting, something no one would have believed), his farewell on the Central at Flushing Meadows even moving. Eight Slams won, one at least for each surface...

From rebel hero (by chance) to favourite child of every American mother.

Perhaps the autobiography is only the last act of this long play of self-pursuit.

Perhaps Agassi has felt the need for a last effort towards his new completely recovered identity.

He has shaken a burden off his shoulders, he has chosen to show himself to his own fans (and he still has many) completely naked, but finally clean and at peace.

Perhaps he even wanted to clarify, to his children, to his own family, that life is a journey of continuous improvement.

Perhaps... if it was in fact so, then Agassi has also been courageous; and we can then forgive him, taking into account all that he has given to the sport, including the need to come clean, that he felt (alas, belatedly...) was essential.

But some doubt remains about the actual substance of his character. To the point that one wonders if the Agassi of today, the final Agassi, is the real one.

Considering what we now know, it may not be him; he might be hiding another persona behind his familiar one…

Who knows?

He might not even be called Agassi, nor Agassian… perhaps his surname is Sampras?

Perhaps a careful reading of his autobiography will clarify things as they stand. Perhaps it will tell us if little Agassi has gone mad or if there is a lunatic going around pretending to be Agassi.

And whether Agassi took drugs only back in 1997, as he wrote, or if he has made use of them until the day before writing his book.

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DAVIS CUP

DAVIS CUP O

n the eve of the Davis Cup final, Spain and the Czech Republic face each other at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, the relaunch of the event is back as a topical theme, as has been the case periodically for the past few years.

Perhaps younger readers will wonder why the same has not happened with the equivalent competition for women, the Federation Cup, which does not attract as much interest, nor enjoy as much prestige. The answer is simple: the Fed Cup, born in 1963, has never had more importance than it has today; the Davis Cup, which is much more ancient, was once upon a time much more important. To understand this, we need to retrace its long history through its crucial stages.

1900–1924 DAVIS MAKES TENNIS AN INTERNATIONAL SPORT

The Davis Cup was born in 1900 as a challenge between the two most advanced tennis countries of the time, the United Kingdom and the United States – countries in which there were already and still are disputes about the most important tournaments on the calendar: Wimbledon and the American Championships, whose first editions date respectively to 1877 and 1881.

Yet it is the Cup, rather than the two tournaments, which must take credit for having made tennis a truly international

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belonging to foreign clubs was disputed: the framework of the Grand Slam tournaments (a term that would be coined only much later in 1933) was now complete. Having grown in Britons Reggie and Laurie Doherty crossed importance, even if not all to the same the Atlantic in 1902 and 1903 to contend degree, the four for the Davis Cup now formed with its American THE DAVIS CUP WAS BORN Slams the cornerstones holders. While IN 1900 AS A CHALLENGE of the tennis year. there, they even BETWEEN THE TWO Together with the took part in the USA MOST ADVANCED TENNIS Cup. The Davis Championships, in Cup maintained which Laurie, the COUNTRIES OF THE TIME. a prominent role, younger of the two as demonstrated by, among other things, brothers, signed his name against the first the assessments of commentators of the foreign victory in 1903. The Davis Cup time. In 1931, for example, Wallis Myers, was also instrumental in bringing about author of the most accredited world the first Wimbledon success for a player rankings for the period between the two from outside the British Isles. Having World Wars, assigns the first place to travelled to London to try and win the Henri Cochet, whose only result in the Cup in 1905 and in 1907, Australian Slam is an elimination in the first round Norman Brookes − The Wizard − also in Wimbledon, but who takes credit for entered the Championships, where he having decided the outcome of the Cup triumphed at his second attempt. Even final by winning its two singles and the years later, in 1920, a 27-year-old by the doubles in partnership with Brugnon. name of Bill Tilden played for the first time − and won – at Wimbledon, while The Slams, in short, placed themselves visiting England for the Davis Cup. alongside the Davis Cup, but didn’t replace it. It is not by chance that 1925–1939 THE SLAMS AND between 1925 and 1939, the Davis Cup THE CUP ON AN EQUAL FOOTING winner countries were the same four as those where Grand Slam tests were This first phase could be said to end played. Not by chance either that, of in 1925, when the internationalisation the 60 odd singles matches played in process of tennis was concluded. the Davis Cup finals in the same period, In that year the first edition of the as many as 52 (87%) saw successes French Championship open to players for players who also succeeded in the sport. The Davis Cup for the first time brought the strongest players from outside their national borders to compete against the champions of other countries.

Slam tournaments. And the remaining eight were won by an athlete who had disputed two finals at Wimbledon and one at Roland Garros: Bunny Austin, the first to play in short trousers.

The parallel between team and individual competitions also emerged clearly from a comparison of results obtained in either format by the stronger tennis players of the time. Taking into account only those who have won at least five Majors, there are six undisputed champions − Tilden, Lacoste, Cochet, Crawford, Perry and Budge – who have won altogether 44 Slams and 45 singles in the Cup finals.

1946–1973 THE LONG DUEL BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND THE USA

The years following World War II can be divided into two stages: first the period up to 1973 and then from 1974 to today.

This division is based primarily on the fact that from 1946 to 1973, the Davis Cup was dominated by two superpowers alone − Australia and the United States − while in the following period as many as eleven countries took turns at winning.

In 1974 a sharp and relatively sudden generational change took place, made evident by the fact that all Slams are the prerogative of the two main forerunners of the new recruits, Connor and Borg.

In the years of the exclusive Australia– USA joint rule, the Cup retains its prestige almost intact. Perhaps not as prestigious as the Slams, it is still an

essential event of the tennis season.

The best players dispute with absolute regularity the matches in which their countries are represented. The names of the top players of the era − who, by the way, are all American or Australian − feature repeatedly in the winning teams.

Unlike what happened later, all matches were always played, even if the outcome can be predicted beforehand, and always to the best of five sets.

Statistical data confirm these assessments.

In the Davis Cup finals, 100 out of 112 singles matches (89%) go to Slam winners: an even higher share than in the 1925–39 period, which climbs to as many as 82 out of 88 (93%), if one takes into account only the years prior to the Open era (1946–67).

The champions capable of winning at least five large tournaments (Sedgman, Trabert, Rosewall, Emerson, Laver and Newcombe) won an overall total of 36 singles matches in the Cup finals versus 48 successes in the Slams: a substantial percentage (75%), although lower than that of the previous period.

1974–2008 PROFESSIONALISM AND CRISIS IN THE CUP

The last of the phases into which the history of the Davis Cup can be divided opened with three consecutive victories for countries which are newcomers to the event: South Africa, Sweden and Italy, later to be joined by five

more new winners (Czechoslovakia, Germany, Spain, Russia and Croatia). The fragmentation of successes is facilitated by the abolition of the challenge rounds in 1972; but primarily it is linked to a change in the geography of tennis.

Having become international in the first quarter of the century, tennis expanded its borders and spread on a global scale.

Although this phenomenon makes it more difficult for the stronger players to achieve repeated victories in the finals, it does not adversely affect the importance of the Cup. The Cup is influenced, rather, by a growing professionalism, which clearly penalises teams that are unable to compete in individual tests, for economic reasons.

An incident, which more than any other provides a measure of how times were changing is one which happened in 1973. The International Federation disqualified Yugoslav, Nikki Pilic, from participating in Wimbledon for rejecting the summons for a Davis Cup match.

In retaliation, the ATP, which has been in existence for about a year, declared a boycott of the English tournament: in fact it decided to engage in an incredible arm-wrestle with the Federation to affirm the right of its subscribers to stay out of the Davis Cup. As a result, the old Cup gradually lost ground. Unlike in the past, top players no longer regard it as an absolute “mustachieve” for their career. The decrease

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DAVIS CUP

in interest by top players at times makes room for the recognition of teams composed of second leads and usually not capable of achieving prominent results in major tournaments.

As always, the figures coldly reflect the new reality. In the finals, the number of singles matches won by champions able to make their mark in the Slams as well, drops to 50,4% (65 of 129). Of these, the top players of the period − Borg, Connor, McEnroe, Wilander, Lendl, Becker, Edberg, Sampras, Agassi, Federer and Nadal – account for 36, which represents just 37,5% of the successes achieved by the same players in Slam tests.

2009 THE CUP TODAY: SIGNS OF RECOVERY AND PROSPECTS

Having identified the causes of the decline of the Davis Cup, is it possible to find remedies? Certainly. In the future, the Cup cannot enjoy the same status it did in the era of amateurism. It could − and should − however, once again be one of the essential events of the tennis season, after the Slam tournaments.

I do not believe that changes to the formula − which have always provided for four singles and a double − would serve this purpose.

Although authoritatively suggested, the increase in the

number of events would lower its status, thus contributing to the Cup’s demise.

It has also been proposed that the final stages of the competition be concentrated in one place and within a limited time span, as is the case with the Soccer World Cup. Irrespective of questions of feasibility from an organisational and economic point of view, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals would have to take place within the space of two weeks. This would force players in the finals team − if committed to singles and doubles − to play as many as nine matches to the best of five sets in the space of 14 days. Far too many.

As for penalties for those who refuse to be summoned, be they disciplinary or monetary, as early as Pili´c, experience has shown their absolute futility. Equally ineffective are emotional appeals to defend the national colours in the name of patriotism.

With respect to professional players, one should create conditions that not only make participation in the Davis Cup compatible with individual activity, but rather make it useful and convenient. Start with the calendar: avoid at any cost scheduling the Cup rounds so close to the conclusion of the Slam, from which the athletes − especially the strongest − emerge more worn out than

from the other tournaments. Accordingly, from this year on, the first round has been placed far apart from the Australian Open. The same should be done with the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and for the semifinals of the US Open.

Another necessary measure − finally adopted this year − consists in the allocation of ATP points for victories in the Cup matches. This innovation would be even more effective if 1 000 points (and not 500, as is currently the case) were allocated for success in all the singles matches in the four rounds of the World Group.

The fact that the Davis Cup counts towards the ranking should also imply, as a logical consequence, that the Cup final should take place before the final act of the circuit, i.e. before the Masters.

And finally, from an economic point of view, it might be useful to compel the national federations to give a share of the prize money to the players to encourage their participation and commitment, at least for those victories obtained in matches of the main draw.

All in all: compatible dates, more ATP points, cash prizes. In addition to all this, however, it is necessary for the big champions, those players who have the ambition to leave a mark in the history of the sport, to understand what the Davis Cup represents in this history. They have to understand that the Davis Cup needs them as much as they need it.

IT HAS ALSO BEEN PROPOSED THAT THE FINAL STAGES OF THE COMPETITION BE CONCENTRATED IN ONE PLACE AND WITHIN A LIMITED TIME SPAN, AS IS THE CASE WITH THE SOCCER WORLD CUP.

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SECOND INDOOR

There were five previous encounters between Spain and the Czech Republic; in three of them the Iberians were victorious while in the other two the Czechs were the winners. The first dates back to 1931, when the Czech Republic made its mark in a first round match in Prague. This was followed by a victory for Spain, also in Prague, in the semifinal in 1965. In 1971 it was again the Czech Republic’s turn to win, again in Prague, in the A group final. Spain’s revenge came the following year, in Barcelona, in the B group final. Most recently, in 2004, Spain won the first round on an indoor ground in Brno.

In order to reach the final, the Iberians defeated Serbia at home by 4−1 in the first round, then Germany, again at home, whom they beat 3−2 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals the “Red Furies” overtook Israel (for the fourth time in four meetings) in Murcia with a score of 4−1.

By contrast, the Czech Republic beat France at home 3−2 in the first round, and then in the quarterfinals, again at home, it beat Argentina (last year’s finalist), 3−2. In the semifinals they beat Croatia 4−1 on its home ground in Porec.

Spain has reached its seventh final and will try to win the salad bowl for the

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CLAY FINAL second consecutive year. The last to notch up two consecutive victories was Sweden in 1998. The reigning Champions have won the last 17 Davis challenges at home and the last 19 on clay. The Iberians boast three Davis Cup victories − in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

Third final for the Czechs who, after a defeat by Sweden in 1975, conquered the Davis Cup in 1980, as Czechoslovakia, when the great Ivan Lendl led his team to triumph at Italy’s expense. It remains the only Davis Cup victory in the history of the Czech Republic.

Spain will feature its number one Rafael Nadal who, although not in very good form in recent months, has promised not to miss the appointment. Alongside him, Captain Albert Costa should have available: Fernando Verdasco (ATP number nine), Tommy Robredo (number 16), David Ferrer (number 18), Juan Carlos Ferrero (number 22) and Feliciano López (number 45). The Czech Captain, Jaroslav Navratil, should be able to count on Radek Stepanek (number 14), Tomas Berdych (number 19), Jan Hernych (61), Lukas Dlouhy (47) (one in singles, but six in doubles) and Jan Hajek (number 113). He will have to do without Ivo Minar (number 90) who, having tested

positive during the quarterfinals between Argentina and Czech Republic, will be away from the courts until March 2010.

The Spaniards no doubt enjoy the favour of the predictions. Rafael Nadal has a record of four victories to zero (one in Davis in 2004 and two on clay) against Radek Stepanek and five to three against Tomas Berdych (the Iberian won the two matches on clay). Also Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer boast positive precedents with the first two players of the Czech Republic: five victories against Stepanek and four to two with Berdych the first; 3−3 with Stepanek and 4−2 with Berdych the second. Unfavourable to the Spaniards are instead the numbers in past encounters between the two players of the Czech Republic and Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano López and Juan Carlos Ferrero: the first is one match down with both the Czechs (2−3 with Stepanek and 3−4 with Berdych); the second one has an appalling record of seven defeats and only one victory with Stepanek (only two played on clay, both won by the Czech) and three successes (one in Davis in 2004) against two with Berdych. Ferrero has lost three matches winning only one with Stepanek and has never won against Berdych (0−2).

RH5920 REDHERRING 011 234 0951

T

he Davis Cup final is scheduled from 4 to 6 December.

Competing for the title will be Spain, the reigning champion, and the Czech Republic. The challenge will be held in the Palau San Jordi of Barcelona, on clay. The Catalan city, in competition with Valencia, was awarded the event by 13 votes to one. The Palau San Jordi – which was built for the Olympic Games in 1992 and has a capacity of 17 000 spectators − has already hosted the final in 2000, when Spain beat Australia in its first Davis Cup victory.

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SHANGHAI

KOLYA FA B R I Z I O F I D E C A R O

STAMPS HIS TIMECARD

THIS WAS THE 23RD ATP CAREER FINAL FOR DAVYDENKO AND IT BROUGHT HIS 18TH ATP TITLE.

B

oring to watch, a grey clerk of the racquet, an intruder among the top players, to some, even the anti-tennis. So Nikolay Davydenko has been labelled for years, but it is high time that these false notions based on a narrow view of the sport, were permanently discarded. He may not have the “physique du role” that enchants the crowds, but in Shanghai the socalled white collar worker of the circuit stamped his timecard, conquering the third career 1 000 Masters (after Paris Bercy 2006 and Miami 2008) and he did so in a manner that leaves no room for doubt.

First he beat two players as tough as Fernando Gonzalez and Radek Stepanek and then, one after the other, the best players on the draw, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Above all, he triumphed by taking some risks, always trying to command the game, leveraging his own innate sense of anticipation, even before the most esteemed opponents.

In the semifinal he caught up with Djokovic – who was emerging from the success of Beijing and seemed the natural favourite in the tournament – and ended up dominating the decisive tiebreaker.

The following day, despite having a three-hour battle against the Serbian behind him, he showed that he had much more to spend than the tiger from Manacor (Nadal) and tamed the beast with an authority that goes well beyond the final score (7−6 6−3). A single statistic is sufficient to give a sense of the aggressiveness and effectiveness of his performance against the former number

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one: 35 wins against nine, almost four times as many.

This was the 23rd ATP career final for Davydenko and it brought his 18th ATP title. This is a formidable record that proves that, unlike what many think, the 28-year-old Russian rarely loses a match when it really counts.

Meanwhile, this year again he got very close to qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals (formerly Masters Cup) − and it would be the fifth year in a row.

On four previous occasions (2005–08) he has always finished in the top five.

This time he will not make it because of an injury to his left foot that made him miss the first part of the season and prevented him, among other things, from defending the title in Miami. In 2009, however, and despite the logical

initial difficulties, he has brought home four trophies, just like Federer, and one fewer than the leaders in the special ranking, Nadal (dry since May) and Murray. In 2006 Davydenko had scored five too, and who knows if he might have any spare ammunition left to match his own record.

Davydenko has ennobled an event that, in the first days, had distinguished itself primarily for the ailments of its announced protagonists. On the eve of the event Nadal and Roddick had complained about the physical strain resulting from too many commitments in the Tour. In fact Federer and Murray had already withdrawn earlier on, while Del Potro and the Roddick had not displayed their optimal form, and retired during their first commitment. On the other hand, Nadal appeared to be improving and proved once more to be one who never fights alone. He was, however, assisted by a very favourable draw (the highest ranking player that he met before the crucial match was countryman Robredo, number 15, in the fourth round) and the retirements of Ljubicic, who had snatched the first set from him, and Lopez.

On the Italian side, Fognini gave a more than adequate performance before surrendering to Djokovic after having passed the qualifications and one round in the main draw at the expense of Latvian Gulbis, against whom the 22-year-old from Liguria took a tasty revenge for the defeat suffered last year in Davis.

SHANGHAI scorecard Y

ou wait for Del Potro and realise that he stayed in New York. Then you look for Tsonga, who was terrific this year where he didn’t expect to be, but France’s Ali has his problems too. And how he rages and despairs because he fails to resolve them as he would like to!

RODDICK 5

Djokovic? He wins in Beijing, but in Shanghai he dims, and that’s where he should have given his best. There is no Murray, nor Federer.

TSONGA 5

Nadal is there, but he is not in Nadal’s shape – the Nadal he got us used to, who would have left small change for his opponents, albeit on a surface that is harder for him. A question arises for Nadal, however, and the very fact that we are compelled to ask it, is almost a pity. Will we ever see him again in the overflowing form of his Parisian victories? That’s what we all hope for.

So, in the end, there remains Davydenko, among all those that nobody would have expected. Besides, is there anyone in the world who would expect from the Russian something more than what we have seen him do for almost a decade?

Yet, there he is now, playing like a great receiver; here he is in dazzling form; here he is again in the year-end Masters.

He beats Djokovic, then Nadal, and there isn’t a single blemish on his successes.

Legitimate. Certified. A rediscovery, but the disappointments seem too many for us to believe that the penultimate Masters 1000 could play (today and in the future) the role of provider of certainties.

It is end-of-the-year tennis, to be seen as just that. In short, not the best.

Physical problems expose him to the turbulence of the opponents. The usual pride alone is not enough in modern tennis and the long season forces him to an early return to lick his wounds and accelerate the recovery.

The furious reaction to an imminent defeat (shattered racquet) is a symptom of a black day. After a jittery beginning and a slight recovery he was floored by Soderling, a dangerous competitor in the race to London. Probably the anxiety and the fear led him off the road.

DEL POTRO 4

The New York hangover is hard to shake off, but what prevented the young Argentinian from displaying even some of his skills was a problem with his wrist.

“Better not risk,” he said to himself, “the season is still long and the limb has no spare parts.”

BERDYCH 6

Competitively rather dim, tactically foolish, he always appears to be far from seizing the opportunity. The physical problems to the left knee were only a godsend for someone who, like him, is often in search of the perfect alibi.

NADAL 7

He reaches the final thanks to an effortless draw, but his groundstrokes − always sharpened but never sufficiently deep − detract from his confidence.

The high number of unforced errors

is the symptom of a form that is far from being up to his usual standard.

DAVYDENKO 10

At least for once he sheds the label of eternal qualifier by beating two of the three top players in the world. He does so through accurate geometries, stifling pressing and courageous play that allow him to tear off a ticket to London, besides lifting the trophy.

LOPEZ 8+

Welcome back Feliciano, a player with a languid gaze and, on a good day, dazzling tennis. He dances at the net and makes ballistic miracles with his dated but terribly effective backhand. When he wants to, he can be stunning, and not only in his features.

DJOKOVIC 7–

Considering the absences, the injuries and the form of his most accredited opponents, he seemed to be the logical favourite. But something in the Serbian’s mechanisms didn’t go the right way. Nothing resounding, but some hesitation in the critical moments of the match, highlighted his scarce determination and the strange absence of “instant killers”.

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SHANGHAI results

SHANGHAI

Circuit Venue Date Prize money Surface

ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai, China 12–18 October US$3 240 000 Indoor hard court

singles FIRST ROUND (1) R Nadal (ESP) J Blake (USA) b. I Karlovic (CRO) (q) F Mayer (GER) b. P Petzschner (GER) (14) T Robredo (ESP) b. (q) M Llodra (FRA) (11) G Monfils (FRA) b. PH Mathieu (FRA) L Hewitt (AUS) b. J Isner (USA) I Ljubicic (CRO) b. J Benneteau (FRA) (7) F Verdasco (ESP) (3) JM del Potro (ARG) J Melzer (AUT) b. J Chardy (FRA) F Lopez (ESP) b. G Garcia Lopez (ESP) (16) D Ferrer (ESP) b. R Gasquet (FRA) (9) R Soderling (SWE) b. V Hanescu (ROU) N Almagro (ESP) b. P Kohlschreiber (GER) (WC) SX Zeng (CHN) b. D Sela (ISR) (5) JW Tsonga (FRA) (6) N Davydenko (RUS) I Kunitsyn (RUS) b. I Andreev (RUS) (q) T Bellucci (BRA) b. (q) M Chiudinelli (10) F Gonzalez (CHI) b. M Zverev (GER) (13) R Stepanek (CZE) b. JC Ferrero (ESP) A Beck (GER) b. J Acasuso (ARG) S Wawrinka (SUI) b. (q) L Kubot (POL) (4) A Roddick (USA) (8) G Simon (FRA) V Troicki (SRB) b. J Monaco (ARG) (WC) M Safin (RUS) b. (WC)MX Gong (CHN) T Berdych (CZE) b. (12) M Cilic (CRO) (15) T Haas (GER) b. Be Becker (GER) (q) R Schuettler (GER) b. M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) (q) F Fognini (ITA) b. (WC) E Gulbis (LAT) (2) N Djokovic (SRB)

bye 3−6 7−6 6−3 6−3 6−2 6−1 6−4 6−2 6−2 62 64 6−3 3−6 6−1 bye bye 6−4 6−4 6−3 6−4 6−4 6−3 6−3 6−4 6−7 6−1 7−6 2−6 6−1 6−4 bye bye 6−7 6−4 6−2 (SUI) 7−6 6−4 7−5 6−7 2−2 retired 6−3 6−0 7−6 1−0 retired 2−6 7−6 7−6 bye bye 6−1 6−2 6−4 6−4 7−6 3−6 6−4 7−6 6−4 6−4 3−6 7−6 7−6 6−3 bye

(6) N Davydenko (RUS) b. I Kunitsyn (RUS) (10) F Gonzalez (CHI) b. (q) T Bellucci (BRA) (13) R Stepanek (CZE) b. A Beck (GER) S Wawrinka (SUI) b. (4) A Roddick (USA (8) G Simon (FRA) b. V Troicki (SRB) T Berdych (CZE) b. (WC) M Safin (RUS) (q) R Schuettler (GER) b. (15) T Haas (GER) (2)N Djokovic (SRB) b. (q) F Fognini (ITA) THIRD ROUND (1) R Nadal (ESP) b. (14) T Robredo (ESP) I Ljubicic (CRO) b. (11) G Monfils (FRA) F Lopez (ESP) b. J Melzer (AUT) (9) R Soderling (SWE) b. (5) JW Tsonga (FRA) (6) N Davydenko (RUS) b. (10) F Gonzalez (CHI) (13) R Stepanek (CZE) b. S Wawrinka (SUI) (8) G Simon (FRA) b. T Berdych (CZE) (2) N Djokovic (SRB) b. (q) R Schuettler (GER)

TENNISWORLD TENNISWORL R D SA

6−1 6−4 6−2 3−0 retired 5−7 7−6 6−1 6−3 6−3 6−3 7−5 3−6 7−6 4−2 retired 6−3 6−4 6−4 6−2

QUARTERFINALS (1) R Nadal (ESP) vs I Ljubicic (CRO) F Lopez (ESP) b. (9) R Soderling (SWE) (6) N Davydenko (RUS) b. (13) R Stepanek (CZE) (2) N Djokovic (SRB) b. (8)G Simon (FRA)

3−6 6−3 retired 7−6 6−3 6−1 4−6 6−1 6−3 2−6 6−2

SEMIFINALS (1) R Nadal (ESP) b. F Lopez (ESP) (6) N Davydenko (RUS) b. (2) N Djokovic (SRB)

6−1 3−0 retired 4−6 6−4 7−6

FINAL (6) N Davydenko (RUS) b. (1) R Nadal (ESP)

7−6 6−3

SECOND ROUND (1) R Nadal (ESP) b. J Blake (USA) (14) T Robredo (ESP) b. (q) F Mayer (GER) (11) G Monfils (FRA) b. L Hewitt (AUS) I Ljubicic (CRO) b. (7) F Verdasco (ESP) J Melzer (AUT) b. (3) JM del Potro (ARG) retired F Lopez (ESP) b. (16) D Ferrer (ESP) (9) R Soderling (SWE) b. N Almagro (ESP) (5) JW Tsonga (FRA) b(WC) SX Zeng (CHN)

6−2 6−7 6−4 4−6 7−6 6−4 4−6 6−4 6−2 6−4 7−6 7−5 2−1 4−6 7−5 6−1 6−4 7−5 6−3 6−3

doubles SEMIFINALS J Benneteau/JW Tsonga (FRA) b. (3) M Bhupathi/M Knowles (IND/BAH) M Fyrstenberg/M Matkowski (POL) b. J Knowle/J Melzer (AUT)

7−6 6−2 (6) 6−1 6−4

FINAL J Benneteau/JW Tsonga (FRA) b. (6) M Fyrstenberg/M Matkowski (POL)

22

6−4 6−2 6−3 6−4 7−5 6−4 3−4 retired 6−3 6−4 3−6 6−4 6−4 6−4 retired 6−3 6−1

6−2 6−4

TENNISWORLD TENNISWORL RLD SA

23

DOHA MASTER

AN G ELIC A FR ATIN I

I

t was the tournament of injuries, of withdrawals, of victories narrowly missed, of the easy and almost tedious triumph of Serena. But the image to keep in mind from the 2009 WTA Championships is not that of the sister winning her first WTA tournament of 2009 and returning to number one. It is not the US$1 550 000 cheque with which she becomes the first woman to have earned more than six million dollars in just one year. No, the picture that remains in one’s mind is that of the tears. The distraught tears of Dinara Safina because of a back injury which forced her to withdraw from the tournament just a few minutes into the match. The tears of Carolina Wozniacki lying on the ground with cramps; tears that turn into smiles for being able to win – how, she herself does not even know. The tears of despair of Azarenka for the thigh injury that forces her to withdraw in a match that she had in hand and which instead she sees vanish − and with it, the semifinals.

UNBALANCED GROUPS

The eight best women players of the year had arrived in Doha with the ambition to win. The two reserves (Zvonareva and Radwanska) with the aim of having a holiday. At the time of the draw of the groups, a curious situation emerges: a large imbalance. Brown Group: Serena and Venus Williams, Dementieva and Kuznetsova. That is more than 20 Slam titles, three WTA Championship victories and two gold medals at the Olympic Games.

SERENA BECOMES A STEAMROLLER: SHE BEATS HER SISTER IN THREE SETS, THEN LEAVES THE CRUMBS TO DEMENTIEVA. SHE ARRIVES AT THE SEMIFINALS IN TOTAL EASE. 24

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On the other side the White Group: Safina, novices Wozniacki and Azarenka, and finally Jankovic. That is, five Slam finals and many unfulfilled dreams. There is also a strong Italian presence in the tournament. Not in terms of players (even

if Pennetta came very close to an invitation as a reserve), but through FILA, who signed a new agreement as official partner for tennis clothing and footwear for the 2009 edition of the WTA Championships, developing a bespoke collection for the event inspired by the institutional colours of the tournament, purple and green.

The games begin... Dementieva unexpectedly beats Venus for the second time in five years. Kuznetsova (also in FILA) loses to Serena in one of the most beautiful matches, wasting set points in the tiebreak and giving the match away with two consecutive double faults on Williams’ 5−4. A match typically “Svetlana style”.

STEAMROLLER

Once over her fear, Serena becomes a steamroller: she beats her sister in three sets, then leaves the crumbs to Dementieva. She arrives at the semifinals in total ease. Kuznetsova plays well but loses to Venus and her Masters ends there, regardless of the outcome of her last match with Dementieva. Elena must win or she is out. Instead of playing with a knife between her teeth, she is caught in one of her serve crises that appeared to have been overcome. And so Kuznetsova “offers” the semifinals to a Venus not in great condition.

VIKA’S ANGER

In the White Group, the one of the rampant girls, instead, physical and mental problems arise. Safina is forced to withdraw against Jankovic on the 1−1 with a back injury. Vika Azarenka plays against her friend Wozniacki: she dominates for one and a half sets, then loses a match she had already won. She serves on the 5−3 in the third set. Then

she does not exploit a match point in the next game. She completely loses her cool; two warnings in the space of a few minutes: first she hurls the ball outside the court in anger, then, after taking the next point, she smashes her racquet. She is penalised a point. What a pity it was the break point. So it is that Carolina calmly serves on the 6−5, wins and expresses thanks.

Zvonareva, a finalist here last year, takes the place of Safina. Against Wozniacki she produces a dramatic match, as only women’s matches can be. Up to 6−0 and 5−2 in favour of Wozniacki; the Russian does not put a ball inside, and then she recovers, saves two match points, wins the second set at the tiebreak. But the third sees a lightning start for Wozniacki, 3−1.

And here the drama begins. Caroline’s left leg is hurting her more and more, she reacts by stretching after each point but she is clearly in difficulty. The Russian recovers and moves to 4−3. In addition to the pain in her leg, Wozniacki is also seized by cramps. She can barely move.

Vera had had a nose bleed in the first set; now she has a resurgence of pain in the ankle which she had injured in March.

More than a tennis court, it looks like a casualty ward.

The Dane serves on the 5−4. But she falls to the ground paralysed by cramps and cries in pain. Nobody can help her get up. She looks like a KO boxer. Instead she plucks up the courage that only the strength of desperation can produce; she again stands up and wins the two fifteens that were needed to close the match. She drags herself to the net to shake hands with a Zvonareva who is astounded, to say the least, forced to ask herself how she could have lost a match, and then she withdraws from the Masters due to the

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DOHA MASTER

pain in her ankle. She will be replaced

by Radwanska (in other words a reserve replacing a reserve... and a little thought at this point should go to Flavia Pennetta and that near-qualification).

So, Jankovic continues to play against injured opponents: after Safina, it is the turn of Wozniacki, still suffering from the match of the previous day. With little effort and much luck, the Serbian is in the semifinals.

The last semifinalist is determined by the result of the match between Azarenka and Radwanska. And there is yet more drama. Azarenka must win or else it will be Wozniacki − who has become the celebrity of the tournament – playing against Serena, but the Belarussian is once

more able to lose a match already won.

From 6−4, 5−2, she loses five games in a row and Radwanska closes 7−5. It is the beginning of the last set; Azarenka’s leg is hurting, after a long exchange she collapses against the billboard at the edge of the court and cries. She remains there for a very long time. Her hopes of victory disappear. She resumes play but no longer shouts. That is the sign – more so than the request from her physiotherapist − that the tournament is over for Azarenka. Still in tears on the 4−1, after two hours and 32 minutes, she withdraws.

THE USUAL FAMILY DERBY

The emotions of these Championships end here.

Of the two semifinal matches, JankovicVenus and Wozniacki-Serena, virtually only the first is played. The increasingly injured and ever more bandaged Dane abandons play after an hour. Jankovic plays well but wastes too many occasions. And Venus’ experience once again gets the upper hand in three sets.

The final is another Williams derby. But while Serena has been convincing for the entire tournament and has played little less than seven hours, Venus has laboured in each match, playing for 10 and a half hours. And the result can only be a final won by Serena in two sets in a match that won’t remain in the memory of the spectators.

MISS KUZNETSTORE AND MADAME AZARONKA

PROMOTER DEMENTIEVA

Doha is really a place where tennis is imported, as is the English grass.

Elena Dementieva was handed the Diamond Aces Award on the day she made 15 double faults. Fortunately for the Russian, the prize has nothing to do with her serve skills, but it rewards the player who has undertaken the most extra-mural tournament promotion activities during the year. This single “Ace” earned Dementieva a bonus of more than $100 000.

On the training timetable sheet of the women players they managed to write these names: Stosus, Stuber, Azaronka, Sorina, Sankovic, Dominative and Kuznetstore.

DOWN THE STAIRS, LIKE IN A FASHION SHOW

The first difficulties encountered by the eight “masters” came from the group draws in the Museum of Islamic Art. The girls, all in their beautiful evening clothes and stiletto heels of at least 10 cm were made to walk down a staircase as if they were in a fashion show. Needless to say, some of them risked serious injury. The most wobbly appeared to be Jankovic and Venus. The smartest Dementieva, who climbed down with elegant steps supporting herself on the handrails.

BEWARE, THERE’S A CAT ON THE COURT

The cat that occasionally roamed around the pressroom decided take a walk onto Central court. At the crucial moment of the match between the Williams sisters, tiebreak in the third set on the 5−3 for Serena, Venus serving, the pussycat had a quick run across the court.

FEW SPECTATORS...

WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE TO PAY The low number of spectators during the entire week of the Masters was surprising. Last year, in an effort to increase attendance, access to some sections of the stadium had been made free of charge during the first days.

Result: scarce attendance. This year one had to pay for a ticket. Result: same number of spectators as last year. That is, the number of enthusiasts in Qatar is always the same.

VENUS AND ELENA, 13 FOOT FAULTS: A RECORD

The match between Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva was the match of foot faults. Two for the Russian and as many as eleven for Williams.

VERA, A WORKOUT WORTH PHOTOGRAPHING...

Vera Zvonareva, in Doha as a reserve, is practising on the 11 court, one of the side ones. So much commitment and so much anger, and consequently many racquets beaten and split. Her practice sessions always attract a large public. All men. All with camera in hand. Because Vera trains in shorts and sports bra.

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DOHA DO OHA H M MASTER A TE AS TER

Dinara’s disappointment

singles WHITE GROUP (6) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) b. (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) b. (6) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) b. (1) Dinara Safina (RUS) (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) b. Vera Zvonareva (RUS) (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) b. (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) (10) Agnieszka Radwa ska (POL) b. (6) Victoria Azarenka (BLR)

6−2 6−3 1−6 6−4 7−5 11 ret.

6−0 6−7(3) 6−4 6−2 6−2 4−6 7−5 4−1 ret.

DOHA results

“WHITE” CLASSIFICATION

28

TENNISWORLD TENNISWORL R D SA

1 Jelena Jankovic (2−1: 4−2) 2 Caroline Wozniacki (2−1: 4−4) 3 Victoria Azarenka (1−1: 3−2) 4 Agnieszka Radwa´nska (1−0: 2−1) WITHDRAWN: Vera Zvonareva (replaced Dinara Safina and was in turn replaced by Agnieszka Radwa´nska) and Dinara Safina BROWN GROUP (5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) b. Venus Williams (USA) (2) Serena Williams (USA) b. (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) (2) Serena Williams (USA) b. (7) Venus Williams (USA) (2) Serena Williams (USA) b. (5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) (7) Venus Williams (USA) b. (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) b. (5) Elena Dementieva (RUS)

3−6 (7) 7−6 (6) 6–2 7−6 (6) 7−5 5−7 6−4 7−6 (4) 6−2 6−4 6−2 6−7 (3) 6−4 6−3 6−2

BROWN CLASSIFICATION 1 Serena Williams 2 Venus Williams 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 4 Elena Dementieva

(3−0: 6−1) (1−2: 4−5) (1−2: 3−4) (1−2: 2−5)

SEMIFINALS (7) Venus Williams (USA) b. (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) (2) Serena Williams (USA) b. (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

5−7 6−3 6−4 6−4 0−1 ret.

FINAL (2) S. Williams b. (7) V.Williams

6−2 7−6

doubles SEMIFINALS (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/Liezel Huber (USA) b. Samantha Stosur/Rennae Stubbs (AUS) Nuria Llagostera Vives/María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) b. (2) Serena Williams/Venus Williams (USA)

3−6 7−6(3) 10−8 2−6 6−4 10−8

FINAL Nuria Llagostera Vives/María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) b. (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/Liezel Huber (USA)

7−6(0) 5−7 10−7

THIS IS NOT THE WAY DINARA SAFINA HAD DREAMED OF CLOSING THIS YEAR.

S

afina who withdraws against Jankovic after two games.

A Safina with her face in the towel, crying. A Safina in tears, who shakes her head, while speaking to her physiotherapist. Because she already knows the reason for the strong back pain that prevents her from playing.

The physiotherapist doesn’t know yet.

We who are watching don’t know it yet. But she knows. She has known for three and a half months. Since the Portoroz tournament which she won in the final against Sara Errani after three challenging sets. She knows well the main reason for playing badly during the whole American season. Whereas we, we who were watching her matches lost against opponents considerably weaker than her, criticised her defeats and we had no doubts: she could not withstand the pressure of being number one. She already knew that she had an inflammation between the fourth and the fifth lumbar vertebrae caused by a sort of stress micro-fracture. Safina has played for three months with painkillers.

We who were watching did not know anything, but we thought we knew all about Safina’s fragile psyche. And instead it was not her psyche that was fragile. It was her back. Safina says nothing about her physical problem and leaves the world outside to believe what they want.

Now, after her first match of the WTA Championships and her last match of the year, everyone knows. A minimum of six weeks of absolute rest before she can resume rehabilitation. The risk of missing the Australian Open. The pain has been gradually getting worse since the beginning of August and has

accompanied her to New York. After the US Open, doctors advised her to stop.

And Safina told herself that yes, perhaps it was better to stop, but there was the number one position to defend.

The question of what to do is in her head; yes perhaps it is better to stop.

However, before the Tokyo and Beijing tournaments, the pain seems to have subsided. And Safina says to herself “Two more tournaments. Perhaps I can manage to play. I can still make it and close the year at the top of the ranking.” Perhaps.

And Safina tries.

There is the last duel of the year against Serena Williams. Whoever gets further in the WTA Championships will end the season at the top of the leaderboard.

Safina arrives in Doha a week before the start of the tournament. To acclimatise herself to the heat, the humidity, the surface, the balls. But six minutes into the match against Jankovic, on an approach to the net, the pain is too much. Not even the cortisone injection of the previous day is enough. “It hurts, no matter what I do. If I bend down, if I walk, if I sit.

I am always tense; I can’t relax my back because I feel pain.”

“OK, WE ALL KNOW THAT HEALTH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING; PERHAPS I SHOULD NOT HAVE PLAYED SOME TOURNAMENTS, BUT I HAD MY BEST YEAR. I CAN BE PROUD OF MYSELF.”

No, this is not how the Russian wanted to finish her best season. “I have no regrets. I have played many tournaments, but it’s better to play a lot than lose everywhere in the first rounds and be well physically. OK, we all know that health is the most important thing; perhaps I should not have played some tournaments, but I had my best year.

I can be proud of myself.”

“It would have been better to stop,” she says now. In Tokyo she loses against Chang, number 132 in the ranking. In Beijing an even more scorching defeat against number 226, the Chinese wild card, Zhang. With that match, she loses the primacy in the rankings and achieves the not so prestigious record of being the first number one to be defeated by a player with such a low ranking. We who were watching these matches continued to have no doubt. She did not deserve to be the number one . And then she has not even won a Slam. Safina instead does not want to surrender and fights against her body.

Now there are no more doubts in her mind. “I am disappointed, of course. But in these moments you also understand that health is more important.

Until I have recovered 100 per cent, until I have no more pain, until I stop being afraid of feeling pain, I won’t play any tournaments.”

After many doubts in the mind of Safina there is only one belief. “I have to accept this situation. Many women players have passed through a similar situation and have come back even stronger than before.

It will be a new experience for me.”

Bye Safina, see you again in 2010, without doubt.

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EN ZO C H ER IC I

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

It’s lonely being number one

LENDL, RIOS, CLIJSTERS, JANKOVIC AND SAFINA: TWO MEN AND THREE WOMEN WITH VERY DIFFERENT STORIES AMONG THEM, BUT WITH A SINGLE COMMON DENOMINATOR . . .

T

he first was none other that Lendl. The Czech champion was emerging from an extraordinary year. In 1982, he had won 15 of the 23 tournaments he played, with 106 victories and only nine defeats. He also achieved a winning streak of 44 consecutive victories.

Frightening statistics. So, on 28 March 1983, for the first time in his career he found himself at the top of the ranking.

But those who expected only fame for Ivan the Terrible, were soon to be left disappointed since there were more than a few critics who raised an eyebrow once they learnt such news. And do you know why?

The young man hadn’t won a Slam title yet!

The story of the early Lendl has become topical again these days, with Serena Williams overtaking Dinara Safina at the top of the WTA world ranking. Let’s be honest, rarely has a world number one – whether man or woman – been treated as badly by critics and fans with the same severity as was the case with poor Safina. After a very good 2008 (four titles and a Slam final in Paris) the Russian player had also confirmed herself in the first half of 2009 and on 1 April she reached the top of the ranking.

She would keep it for 25 consecutive weeks, until 11 October, when she was overtaken by the younger of the big sisters.

What’s Safina got to do with Lendl then?

A lot. Partly because, just like Lendl, Safina became number one without winning a Slam title. Another reason is because in the large events the Russian player has shown the same mental fragility as was displayed by the young Czech champion. The one who − let’s not forget − won his first major only at the

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fifth attempt, after four heavy defeats. And his first triumph took place in 1984 in Paris, in that incredible final in which he had been literally dominated by McEnroe for two and a half sets (3−6 2–3 1–3), before climbing out of the ditch and winning the last three set 4−6 7−5 7−5.

That match marked the turning point in Lendl’s career, who went on to win seven Slam titles during the course of his extraordinary career and remained at the top of the ranking for a total of 270 weeks. Safina has not yet met her McEnroe. Perhaps she never will. But, on the other hand, perhaps she will. So why criticise her so harshly, a champion, number one in the world, only because at that particular time she had not yet won a Slam title? Lendl’s career proves that a temporary lack of titles in one of the four most important tournaments does not always equal an undeserved number one title.

The sums will be made, if anything, at the end of their careers.

But Safina could find herself an example in the WTA world as well. It is Kim Clijsters, who also reached the top of the ranks on 11 August 2003, when her showcase still showed zero Slam titles. Is Clijsters also mediocre? Quite the opposite. And in fact she also had to endure as many as four defeats before triumphing at the US Open in 2005 – two years after her first week at number one.

Two similar cases may be those of Marcelo Rios and Jelena Jankovic. In 1998 the talented Chilean tennis player won the Indian Wells, Key Biscayne and Rome tournaments, thus reaching the top of the ATP ranking on 30 March of that year. At the beginning

of the year he also reached the final of the Australian Open, but he was defeated by the brilliant and controversial Czech player, Peter Korda. Once again we have a number one without Slams but, unlike Lendl, this was partly due to injuries, partly to objective character deficiencies. Rios never managed to give continuity to his extraordinary talent and even later he did not get the titles he lacked when he soared to number one.

The history of Jelena Jankovic is in some ways similar. Certainly not in her talent – that is considerably less than that of Rios – but rather in the analysis of the results. A great 2008 for the Serbian player (four titles and one Slam final lost at Flushing Meadows) allowed her to reach the first place in the ranking on 11 August and even stay there until the end of the year. In 2009 she enters a crisis and loses positions in the world rankings, where she currently features in ninth place. But while Safina – in spite of the momentary blur − seems to have the tennis it takes to win important trophies. Jankovic − who has always based her results on the continuity of her performance − no longer seems to have the motivation to return and compete for the important trophies.

One thing is for sure − all those that have reached number one − with Slam titles or not − have deserved it. If for no other reason than because in the previous 52 weeks “that” particular player was the best and the most consistent. One can then debate whether the current method of drawing up the ranking is right or wrong, but for as long as these rules apply, no number one can be considered abusive. There is also a risk of embarrassing oneself. Just as happened a few years ago with Lendl.

D<JJ N@K? 8EP 98J<C@E< >I@E;<I EfmXb ;afbfm`ZËj Xcc$e\n Jg\\[ X[Xgkj kf Xepk_`e^ Xe[ Xdgc`]`\j \m\ipk_`e^% Gfn\i]lc j_fkj Y\Zfd\ dfi\ \ogcfj`m\ Xe[ kflZ_ j_fkj \m\e dfi\ XZZliXk\% Jf ef dXkk\i n_Xk b`e[ f] gcXp\i pfl Z_Xcc\e^\# pfl ZXe kXb\ fe XepYf[p Æ Xepk`d\% Dfi\ Xk _\X[%Zfd

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TENNISWORLD SA

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Henin

is

alone. She has become an ambassador for UNICEF, flying to the Congo and to Cambodia, and was just about to make her debut in a theatre piece when she felt the old instinct resurface.

BACK!

In short, to borrow a sentence from Pablo Neruda, Justine too can say “I confess that I have lived” even if she did not actually start a family as she had intended. On the other hand, she has opened her tennis academy in Belgium − with a subsidiary in the United States − and above all she has undergone an eye operation to correct a defect to her sight that was deteriorating, and which forced her to wear lenses, and an operation on her permanently sore right knee.

DURING HER 16 MONTHS AS A FORMER PLAYER, HENIN HAS DONE A LOT. SHE HAS RECORDED A MUSIC VIDEO, BEEN A STAR ON FLEMISH TELEVISION PROGRAMMES, STRUTTED ON THE CATWALK AND COOKED A FULL MEAL ALONE.

J

ustine Henin is back because she had grown tired of making appearances on TV shows. No, she is back because she is missing tennis.

Actually no, she is back because she wants to win Wimbledon! No, sorry, she is back because she has realised that she can win even more, seeing the (depressing) level of women’s tennis.

Better still: she is back because she does not want to leave too much to win for her loathed friend Kim Clijsters.

In short, whichever way you put it, Henin will return to play as early as in January, in Brisbane and then in the Australian Open where she has been granted two more-than-deserved wild cards.

It will be like leaping back three years.

After sweet Flemish mother Kim Clijsters, here comes the sad Madonna of Liège, the pride of Wallonia, and imagine what might happen if one of the two Belgians coming out of a self-imposed exile had to win the very Slam − the first in the

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year and the first with its ranks once again full − from which the current world number one Serena Williams had to be excluded for bad conduct following the New York scene.

Henin, Clijsters, Venus the recovered, Sharapova in the court, and the big panther is locked in a cage roaring with anger (while the magazine goes to press, ITF is discussing whether to exclude Serena for one or even two majors, but the likely appeals are expected to draw the matter out).

Women and drama. Henin had slammed the door suddenly in May 2008, as reigning number one at only 26 years but with an Olympic gold, 41 tournaments and seven Slams, including four Roland Garros Slams already on board.

“I have given everything, I have won everything,” she had announced, contrite.

Everything except Wimbledon, her doomed tournament.

Wearing a blouse and blue trousers, a touch of make-up, her little eyes unusually calm on the day of the announcement of her return last September, she explained on live TV in front of the whole of Belgium that her decision to return had surprised her first: “On 14 May of last year I had really put an end to my career. There followed a long personal journey. Eventually one day, while talking to a friend, I felt that a flame had been re-lit, which I thought had been put out forever.”

Could it be true?

During her16 months as a former player, Henin has done a lot. She has recorded a music video, been a star on Flemish television programmes “Laatste Show” − accompanied even by former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt – and “De Twaalf werken van Justine Henin” or “The twelve deeds of Justine Henin”, in which she trained with the Anderlecht soccer team, strutted on the catwalk and cooked a full meal

Some claim that those very chronic ailments were the reason for her retirement, and that the break was due only to doubts about the success of the dual operation. Having solved the problem, wonderful Henin − the once sad little girl who had lost her mother at 13, who took years to reconcile with her violent father and the family, and months to overcome the trauma of her divorce from handsome and treacherous Mr Hardenne – had resumed training.

In fact, suggest the conspiracy theorists, hers might have been a timed retirement from the outset, a precaution in case the laser and the surgeons’ knives were not able to give her the certainty to be able to continue playing at the top of her form, because Henin prefers to retreat rather than lose, as proved by the Australian final against Mauresmo.

Tennis has missed Henin very much in these almost two years, but she must have missed tennis too. As her brother Thomas said after the announcement of her retirement, “Maybe, I don’t know.

In six months to a year, if she hasn’t found happiness in real life, it is possible that she decides to return.”

A spot-on prophecy.

“Henin’s objective is to return even stronger than before,” said her coach Carlos Rodriguez, “and finally win that only Slam that she is missing.”

Not an impossible mission, given the state of her competition.

Now it remains to be seen where her tennis is, if the magic of recent years is still there, intact. If her foil hits can still stand on a board ever more crowded with viragoes without too much imagination, used to handling the sabre, indeed the axe and the cudgel. Indeed, at the last US Open we discovered Oudin, the Henin “stars and stripes”, but the rest is almost all muscle, including new Flemish star Yanina Wickmayer, who, like Henin, lost her mother as a young girl and has used tennis to drive out the pain, but who, unlike her, hits her forehand like a blacksmith and serves at 200 km per hour.

It was in Australia that Henin played her last Slam, in 2008, badly humiliated (6−4 6−0) by Sharapova at the quarterfinals. She won her last tournament in February of the same year in Antwerp. Her last defeat was to Safina, one of her inadequate heirs, in Berlin.

Not an exit worthy of a queen.

The school she has opened with Carlos Rodriguez in Belgium is called “6th sense academy”, and if Henin is back it means that her little antennae have warned her of a drop in tension in the women’s field.

A few years ago, when power-tennis gave the first shoves even among the girls, Henin had turned to the arts of Pat Etcheberry, the (discussed) American guru of physical preparation that had followed Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Seles, Capriati, Hingis and golfers of undisputed reputation such as Nick Faldo and Ernie Els. Having returned from Florida more toned up, she had had to deal with the poison scattered by the father of her rival and fellow Belgian Cljisters, Leo, who had accused her − not too covertly − of having used pharmacological “aids” to bridge the physical gap.

An allegation that infuriated Henin and her clan but did not prevent her from continuing to win, humiliating (with her creativity) Serena’s colossal biceps and calves in a terrible (for the American) final in Paris.

When it comes to mental toughness and ferocity, only Sharapova can equal her, and this, in a landscape of slightly shaky psychologies, can be a great advantage for Second Edition Henin.

The Williamses are beginning to misfire, Sharapova has a problem shoulder, and the other Russians have never been a big problem. There remains Clijsters who, before motherhood, has almost always bowed to her technical mastery, and the unknown of the new recruits.

All in all, Henin must have thought it can be done. The final handed to Mauresmo in 2006 and the semifinal lost to Bartoli (Bartoli!) in 2007, both in Wimbledon, most certainly still burn.

Having seen Federer triumph in Paris and take off towards immortality, must have rekindled her hope to conquer the only great laurel she still requires, to accomplish a career Slam and try to become a true Federer in a skirt – not only for class and elegance, but also for quality and quantity of titles.

Justine Henin, gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, had retired from tennis courts on 14 May 2008, at just 26 years of age, after 12 seasons in the circuit, nine of them as a professional. Of 133 tournaments played she has won 41, of which seven were Grand Slams. In 2003, 2006 and 2007 she was number one, spending a total of 117 weeks at the world number one ranking.

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The dis-United States

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The quotes

Federer after the final “If I had lost it would have been a hard blow to me. It was important to win a final against him and Wimbledon was the place where I could do so in the easiest way.”

Nadal after the final “I can beat Roger; it is important for me to believe that I can do so on this surface.

He did not beat me easily after all.”

The dis-united States . . .

For the first time since 1911, US tennis was excluded from the quarterfinals of the Championships and within a few weeks it could find itself with only Blake in the top 10 ATP and WTA rankings. Seven hundred thousand members and 170 000 Juniors but only 19 coaches employed by USTA, while in France there are 50.

Surprise result

The scorecard

Roger Federer – 10 There are moments when history is unmanageable – it goes forth alone. The only real advantage is knowing how to smell the air through which it travels. The Wimbledon final is one of those moments. Federer won because he is technically stronger; in London, unlike Paris, the talent of the muscle counts most; also, he can find solutions that may seem arbitrary but are not. He won because he is one of a kind. At the moment he deserves the maximum marks. But in order to keep them he will have to deal with reality,

and that reality is once again called Rafael Nadal. Because Nadal has come very close to the Swiss phenomenon on grass, after having overtaken him, and perhaps overwhelmed him on red clay. From here on, nothing can be taken for granted, not even a Roger victory in the tournament that everyone thinks he owns by virtue of his talent. The future will tell us how it will all end between the duellists.

The case

The comment

At this rate Federer will go mad.

Granted, he won Wimbledon – the fourth consecutive time – and quite frankly, he played wonderfully, in fact perfectly up until the final. But we, the experts, the enthusiasts, all find ourselves talking about Nadal, who has been able to steal the show this time again. Moreover, the Spaniard took just three editions to reach the final, Roger five. Rafa must get some merit too, isn’t that so? The two remain universal talents nonetheless; they can win on all surfaces. Now it remains to be seen if it will be Federer who better adapts to the clay-Nadal combination or Rafa to the grass-Federer.

Andy Murray beats Andy Roddick 7−6 6−4 6−4

The final

FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1911, US TENNIS WAS EXCLUDED FROM THE QUARTERFINALS OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS AND WITHIN A FEW WEEKS IT COULD FIND ITSELF WITH ONLY BLAKE IN THE TOP 10 ATP AND WTA RANKINGS.

Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal 6−0 7−6 6−7 6−3

PERHAPS, PUT SIMPLY, THE SPANIARD IS SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST AN OPPONENT, OR AN ENEMY; HE IS THE NEMESIS OF FEDERER, INDEED NEMESIS HERSELF, DAUGHTER OF NIGHT AND EREBUS, GODDESS OF COMPENSATORY JUSTICE.

The English really believed it, this time. Not that Murray could really win the tournament, but that the boy from Dunblane is really the one on which they should count in future. They believed it and perhaps they still do so, in spite of Murray’s stumble against Baghdatis, just as young but more experienced. The victory against Roddick (mind you, a Roddick on grass . . .) is one of those that count – so much more if seized in three sets. Murray displayed a variety of play and schemes, and this is what allowed him to beat the American.

On the grass of today, more compact, more approachable to all, Murray’s arms may become more important. But let’s give him time to grow . . .

It is the long-awaited victory, yearned for more than any other, pursued like no-one predestined would dream of doing. But it did not come the way Roger Federer had imagined it. Perhaps, with Nadal, certain wishes are impossible. Perhaps, put simply, the Spaniard is something more than just an opponent, or an enemy; he is the nemesis of Roger, indeed Nemesis herself, daughter of Night and Erebus,

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goddess of compensatory justice. So is Federer, so is Nadal, but in the opposite sense − his natural opposite. In this final too, even on the surface that is most friendly to Roger, Nadal has found a way of shattering his expectations, his dreams, and nearly his match. So, in that strange succession of sets that consigned the 2006 Championships

to the archives, the first one especially ended up seeming strange and accidental, where Federer had continued to dominate as he did with his previous opponents; not so, the other three were instead played on the balance of a few points, in an uncertainty that seemed to suggest an unthinkable upset.

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

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(1) R Federer (SUI) b. R Gasquet (FRA) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. T Henman (GBR) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. N Mahut (FRA) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (13) T Berdych (CZE) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (7) M Ancic (CRO) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. J Björkman (SWE) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (2) R Nadal (ESP)

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6−3 6−2 6−2 6−4 6−0 6−2 6−3 7−6 (2) 6−4 6−3 6−3 6−4 6−4 6−4 6−4 6−2 6−0 6−2 6−0 7−6 (5) 6−7 (2) 6−3

IT IS THE LONG-AWAITED VICTORY, YEARNED FOR MORE THAN ANY OTHER, PURSUED LIKE NO-ONE PREDESTINED WOULD DREAM OF DOING.

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The fire inside

We have discovered Federer’s difficulties in time, realised that they are character difficulties, above all, certainly not technical. He has the fire inside; perhaps he has learned to keep it at bay, but in the chaos that a Nadal or perhaps a Roddick, with his public, can generate, he has often found himself in trouble.

And how about this time?

In the entire tournament he has only thrown away two sets − the third with Blake, the second with Roddick − but only because of excessive confidence.

For the rest, he handled the final well, before a frenzied public, leaving only 19 occasions to encourage the American.

Nineteen unforced errors versus 69 winners.

Having said that, a note of merit must also go to Roddick. After a long crisis that

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had also taken him out of the top ten, A-Rod came back to play a Slam final.

He lost it fighting like a lion, following the advice and the inspiration of the mythical Connor, the new extra luxury coach. Even if the anger at the defeat is great, the Great American Hope has realised that he can be competitive again.

Roger Federer: no mark By now he is suspended in a boundary area. A miraculous limbo. He can no longer escape becoming the strongest ever. Any lesser result would, paradoxically, be a failure.

Roddick on Federer “The problem is that Federer too continues to improve and this is a little scary. But I’ve played with my heart and I gave it all: I gave myself a chance, and I want to continue to do so. I so wanted to become a strong player and now I feel that at last I am getting there.

Even if I lose eight Slam finals to Roger it’s fine all the same; if one hits against a wall so much, at the end something must come out.”

Agassi’s farewell

Federer gives us that usual unreal feeling. With this US Open he seems to have taken off for higher spheres. He dominated the tournament, suffering only slightly at the hands of Blake.

At the moment he seems to have no more opponents and fights only against the numbers and his ghosts.

The quotes Scorecard

The comment

PERHAPS HE HAS LEARNED TO KEEP IT AT BAY, BUT IN THE CHAOS THAT A NADAL OR PERHAPS A RODDICK, WITH HIS PUBLIC, CAN GENERATE, HE HAS OFTEN FOUND HIMSELF IN TROUBLE.

Throughout 21 years of an extraordinary career he has thrilled, moved and brought together generations of enthusiasts. A unique talent that changed the way we play tennis, has invented a style and perfected it.

“The scoreboard says that I have lost the match, but it does not say what I found . . .”

Thus a moved Andre Agassi addressed the public of the Arthur Ashe at the end of his last Open. And he explained: “Over the past 21years I have found loyalty: every one of you rooted for me both on the court and in everyday life. I have found inspiration: all of you pushed me to improvement and success, even at the hardest of times. And I have found generosity: you offered me your shoulders to approach my dreams.

Dreams that I would never have achieved without you. In the last 21 years I found you, and I will take you with me for the rest of my life. Thank you!”

A MIRACULOUS LIMBO. HE CAN NO LONGER ESCAPE BECOMING THE STRONGEST EVER. TENNISWORLD SA

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US OPEN 2006

Mikhail Youzhny beats Rafael Nadal 6–3 5–7 7–6 6–1

A Russian expert in game variations and a Spanish champion that too often arrives at the last major tournaments of the season short of energy. It is not only a question of surface. The season on red clay sucks all the energy out of Nadal, and Youzhny has shown on other occasions that when he is at his best he has the shots (and especially the alternation thereof) that can put the number two of Manacor on the spot.

Prince Has Discovered A New Source Of Energy.

The score says that the central part of the match was fought the hardest, almost hanging in the balance. But it is a misleading impression. There, at that juncture, Federer was only guilty of being too calm and he conceded himself some riskier shots. But the final outcome was never in doubt. Emerging from the third set in the twelfth game, Federer regained humility and mastery of the game, the same he had shown in the first set, and darkness fell on Roddick.

The final

Surprise result

SPECIAL REPORT / FEDERER /

Plug Into It. And Turn On Your Game.

Gael Monfils plays the Rebel.

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

(1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (TPE) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Tim Henman (GBR) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Vince Spadea (USA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Marc Gicquel (FRA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (5) James Blake (USA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (7) Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (9) Andy Roddick (USA)

6−4 6−1 6−0 6−3 6−4 7−5 6−3 6−3 6−0 6−3 7−6 (2) 6−3 7−6 (7) 6−0 6−7 (9) 6−4 6−1 7−5 6−4 6−2 4−6 7−5 6−1

“THE PROBLEM IS THAT FEDERER TOO CONTINUES TO IMPROVE AND THIS IS A LITTLE SCARY.”

Introducing Puts More Energy Where You Want It — Into Your Shot.

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AUSTRALIA 2007

“I have been fortunate to play against opponents such as Laver and Rosewall.

“Just like them, Federer has very pure qualities and I would not hesitate to give him the highest marks on all the shots in his repertoire, as well as his backhand which he has improved fundamentally. But the praise certainly goes to his forehand, the key to his game. He has a greater ability to vary the tactical themes and he knows how to search for different ways to work around problems. And it is these qualities that make him unbeatable.

I am convinced that he will become the greatest, although it would be better never to give in to the temptation of producing charts spanning past and

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present. I am also convinced that with a touch more patience and meanness, he will sooner or later achieve a victory at Roland Garros.”

The fact remains that Federer no longer worries about just winning, but winning well, by paying attention to detail. On Australian TV he said he was happy to have closed with a beautiful backhanded passing shot, ‘a shot appropriate to the circumstances’, a comment endorsed by Jim Courier who won there twice and may have an equally dazzling career ahead of him as a TV commentator. There is one frightening statistic among Federer’s many: He has won ten Slams in fewer than four years – from July 2003 to January 2007. He is 25 years old; if he carries on at this rate, he may have won 20 Slams before turning 29. These statistics might have been true for Rod Laver as well had professional decree not deprived him of five years of Slam appearances.

The scorecard

“I have never seen anyone play as well as Federer,” says Adriano Panatta, champion of Roland Garros 1976 and good friend of the Swiss, with whom he enjoys enchanting evenings during the Rome Internationals, the largest Italian tournament.

Roger Federer, 10 Giving marks to Federer has been boring for some time already.

But a tournament like this one, without a blur, without a set lost − we had never seen him play.

Will he be able to do better still?

Looking at the horizon we cannot see who could prevent it. But only on fast surfaces . . .

The quotes

The comment

Federer no longer worries about just winning winning,, but winning well . . .

Federer after the final “They call me a genius perhaps because I play a little differently and I am able to win when I am not at my best.”

Hard work or talent? A bit of both, surely.

Federer after the final “I don’t think that I will retire at 26 years as Borg did. I hope to play at least until the Olympic Games in 2012, which will take place at Wimbledon. That is my big goal.”

HARD WORK OR TALENT? A BIT OF BOTH, SURELY . . .

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Fernando Gonzalez beats Rafael Nadal 6−2 6−3 6−4

Bombers don’t need tactics or too many strategies. Bombs − perhaps; fuel − certainly; what else? Coach Stefanki’s thoughts couldn’t have been too far from such platitudes when he took charge of Fernando Gonzalez last May, to turn him into something other than what he had always been. But what would you say? What else can you turn a bomber into? Easy. Into a bomber with a good aim . . . The three sets against Nadal,

the first Slam semifinal of his career, were built around an incredibly barbaric conductive wire, where there was no room for any response by the Spaniard, forced as he was to endure unruly gusts of cruel and winning shots. Nadal had only one break point in the whole match on which Gonzales increased the fire further, if that was even possible.

Not much can be said . . . Federer was unattainable and Gonzalez was destined to be the sparring partner. The first set came to a conclusion at the tiebreak, dominated by the Swiss, and this as a result of the Chilean’s best efforts.

There, while Gonzalez was losing the set, one could guess that the remainder of the match would not get any better for him. In fact, Federer then proceeded at cruising speed, which was too high for the Chilean, and the match had little more to say, except for Federer landing his tenth Slam.

The final

Surprise result

SPECIAL REPORT / FEDERER /

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

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(1) R Federer (SUI) b. B Phau (GER) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. J Björkman (SWE) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (25) M Youzhny (RUS) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (14) N Djokovic (SRB) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (7) T Robredo (ESP) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (6) A Roddick (USA) (1) R Federer (SUI) b. (10) F Gonzalez (CHI)

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7−5 6−0 6−4 6−2 6−3 6−2 6−3 6−3 7−6 (5) 6−2 7−5 6−3 6−3 7−6 (2) 7−5 6−4 6−0 6−2 7−6 (2) 6−4 6−4

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The Wimbledon final has added the charm of beautiful tennis to the challenge

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Federer after the final “I had huge pressure on me.

There were Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Boris Becker... Oh, and Jack Kramer too?

The most special moment was at the end when I lifted the trophy.

It will be a memory that will stay with me for my whole life.”

Federer after the final “Before the final I asked Goran Ivanisevic if he wanted to train with me. He said “Yes, here I am”. I was very happy that he could do it, it is useful to spend at least half an hour against a left-handed; here I had met only right-handed.

The entire points are played differently.”

Borg’s comment “Perhaps what Federer and Nadal would need is a third man capable of really taking them to their limit. I like to watch Federer and Nadal clash in the field, but perhaps we have not yet seen the best of their rivalry and everything they are capable of.”

We are looking for Federer’s talisman, the man kissed by the herbivore gods. Strong indications fall on Bjorn Borg, in jacket and tie and with his hair now silvery, who attended the final with indulgent eyes, as if it was almost inevitable that sooner or later he would have to share with Federer his record of five consecutive titles in the Championships. And, stronger still, clues fall on Ivanisevic, who trained Federer for one hour before the match.

The final

The scorecard

Roger Federer – 10 He can extract ballistic gems from grass and often gets himself out of trouble with disarming skills. His adaptability to the surface enables him to expand the range of his shots with new schemes and avoiding, as far as possible, the numbness of the arm. In the final he has difficulty getting rid of the impact of Nadal’s forehand, but just when he seems to be on the brink of the abyss, he dazzlingly finds his ancient splendour as if by magic.

The quotes

The comment

An exciting match, never trivial, always hanging in the balance.

Nadal was great in transferring his tennis from red onto grass without dissolving its substance.

Federer was even greater in playing the most sumptuous of shots at close contact, faced with the grimmest of difficulties. If it were possible, we should wish for a thousand of these challenges. Now one question becomes crucial: Is Federer any nearer to winning Paris or Nadal to tripping him up at Wimbledon?

A legitimate question, but one which risks obscuring other considerations: first, the fact that the challenge between Federer and Nadal is one of the most beautiful that could ever happen.

One never tires of following them, of watching the way they contrast. Inside those two is the whole of tennis. Because there is also the other side of the coin: can such a beautiful challenge become overpowering? Perhaps... That’s why we regret that Djokovic had to retire, exhausted after an absurd tour de force, precisely in the semifinal against Nadal that was expected to be so mythical.

Blame it on planning that is questionable to say the least. This year, because of the rain and poor choices, we have witnessed in Wimbledon a very irregular tournament.

“Are you looking for a left-handed player to exchange a few shots? Well, has anybody ever told you that I am left-handed?”

Lucky man, Federer. And luck in tennis is often measured in fractions, in millimetres. Up to halfway through the fifth set, Nadal had done more, and perhaps better than Federer. He had had his chances in the first and the third set, which Federer had grabbed at the

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tiebreak. He had won the second and the fourth and in the fifth he had been just a step away from the break four times before losing his serve on the 3−2, with four impressive and heartless shots,

perhaps undermined by a sudden lack of confidence.

“On those four break points I was really getting scared,” says Federer, knowing he had looked his own defeat in the eye.

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

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(1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (26) Marat Safin (RUS) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (13) Tommy Haas (GER) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (20) Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (12) Richard Gasquet (FRA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (2) Rafael Nadal 76 (ESP) (7)

6−3 6−2 6−4 6−2 7−5 6−1 6−1 6−4 7−6 (4) w/o 7−6 (2) 3−6 6−1 6−3 7−5 6−3 6−4 4−6 7−6 (3) 2−6 6−2

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The scorecard

Roddick on his match with Federer “I have given all of myself out there tonight. This usually helps, but not this time.”

David Ferrer beats Rafael Nadal 6−7 6−4 7−6 6−2

Djokovic and impersonations “The only one I can’t impersonate is Roger the untouchable. Too perfect for my style.”

Muscle against muscle, for more than three hours. Impossible recoveries, a crescendo of exchanges, groans worthy of hardcore movies. From the top of the stands of the largest tennis stadium, David Ferrer and Rafael

Nadal seem to be characters in a video game gone crazy. Everything has become a sort of vortex, overwhelming. Nadal chooses well the day of his defeat at the hands of one of his subordinates; it has taken years for the event to materialise.

David Ferrer’s victory starts off from a second set played over the top, and it is not just a case of words. The challenger aims for the corners that define the boundaries of the court, and he does so while accelerating, as if possessed by a tennis demon. He says about himself that he feels like “the number one of the normal” 25-year-old David, but there is no normality in the recoveries that he makes, and less so in the violence with which he raves. Nadal snatches the first from him in the decisive game, but already in the third, again at tiebreak, Ferrer has assembled too many opportunities to let him escape. And in those conditions, the fourth becomes a catwalk.

They both won, one would be tempted to say, if such sports heresy were acceptable. Federer who crossed the line first, and Djokovic who came so close to him to force the experts to verify their judgement with the lenses of the Hawk-Eye, which voided − by one millimetre, perhaps less − the shots that could have changed the match. Advancing

The final

Federer this time took big risks in the first set against Djokovic, but wisely kept his nerve and persisted to return Djokovic’s backhand. He played more with intelligence than with pure talent, if indeed the two can be separated.

And for the whole tournament I saw him remain calm when in difficulty. In short, a Federer who almost never lost his revs.

All in all, Federer was confident, Djokovic talented and multifaceted, but Nadal’s courage deserves acknowledgement.

Others might have stopped, while the Spaniard proved that he really has a temperament of steel. It is not by chance that he is one for red clay . . . it is the characteristic which will make the road difficult for Federer in years to come, much more now that the competition seems destined to widen. The Swiss will have to cling ever more to fast surfaces in order to continue to dominate as he does now.

Roger Federer: 12 Not allowed? Only allowed up to 10? But then one shouldn’t be allowed to win so much, so quickly. Federer in black − who trembled more in the last two matches which were won in three sets than in those where he had to concede the first − seems to have climbed up a further step. He doesn’t lose his cool even when he’s in difficulty, and he wins the battle of nerves with Djokovic. How many more to become unbeatable in Paris too?

The quotes

They had a date in Montreal (where Djoko had won), and they arrived in New York on time.

A shoulder-to-shoulder final, and very beautiful too. At the time, Djokovic’s arrival in the “Strongest Club” seemed to hurt Nadal especially. Federer’s opponent on fast surfaces was now the Serbian.

Surprise result

The comment

A beautiful, nail-biting finish

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shoulder to shoulder is something that had not been seen before in tennis, but that’s how the US Open final went, with its anomalous construction, blazing with unwavering shots, and very risky in the geometries of those few exchanges, always performed at high speeds. A tennis of a thousand twists, but not the product of chance. Only the talent of the contestants reigned on the Ashe Central. The cold art of a Federer capable of saving five set points at the end of

the first set (6−5, 40−0 for Nole the Serbian) and two others in the next, and immediately turning them into the gold of two tiebreaks snatched with voracious dexterity (7−6 7−6 6−4); and the bold inventiveness of a Djokovic who showed identical talents, except that he discovered that he’s still a baby when faced with the greatest feat. Two winners, because Federer adds new pages to a book of records, which is becoming monographic: his fourth consecutive

victory in the US Open, which takes us back to the splendour of the pioneers of tennis, and his twelfth in the Slam, which takes him two lengths away from Sampras. Yet the winner is also Djokovic who has everything he needs to change the state of things – the shots, the boldness, and that innate sympathy that is typical of all-round characters. Those first two sets could have been his, but Federer in difficulty played even better. And this is the talent of the champions.

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinal Final

(1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (q) Scoville Jenkins (USA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (q) Paul Capdeville (CHI) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (WC) John Isner (USA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Feliciano Lopez (ESP) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (5) Andy Roddick (USA) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (4)Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) (1) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (3) Novak Djokovic (SRB)

6−3 6−2 6−4 6−1 6−4 6−4 67(4) 6−2 6−4 6−2 3−6 6−4 6−1 6−4 7−6(5) 7−6(4) 6−2 7−5 6−1 7−5 7−6(4) 7−6(2) 6−4

A warm & friendly Italian welcome!

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US OPEN 2008

Back on track

Sampras’s record will fall, sooner or later. If Roger has really regained confidence in his shots, there is no reason why he should be denied two more victories, perhaps at Wimbledon, which is his favourite garden. He says he wants to play until 2012, at least. Four seasons, sixteen Slams. For one who has played 17 finals and won 13, it shouldn’t be an impossible task.

It was the Slam of convalescence – for the whole of tennis, after the Olympic fever; for women’s tennis, after months of hysteria at the top. And especially for Roger Federer after months of problems, both real and imaginary, of Slam finals lost (Roland Garros, even Wimbledon).

Wonderful convalescence, but not yet full recovery. Of course: Roger has won his 13th Slam, rejected two of the lion cubs that are trying and will continue trying to gnaw at his number two in the coming months; he has regained confidence and happiness. The Federer we saw in New York is not the recovered Federer some expected. In the first rounds he won easily but unconvincingly.

In the fourth round, the match of the turning point against Andreev, he risked

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Roger Federer: 9.5 A mark to peace of mind – Roger’s above all. He chased it for long, and finally reached it, but not without difficulty, apprehension and doubts. It is likely that Federer felt lost this season, scarred by the defeats in Paris and in his Wimbledon. Yet he was there, not far behind, just around the corner. Always in the final. But this is the nature of sport, and tennis even more so, if that’s possible. A challenge that lasted a year, multiplied by no fewer than 250 tennis players, spread across all regions of the world, which forces one to deal with centimetres, with opportunities missed by a breadth, with a breath of wind that stretches the trajectory of a ball, a single one . . . Roger has had the merit of not

HE CHASED IT FOR LONG, AND FINALLY REACHED IT, BUT NOT WITHOUT DIFFICULTY, APPREHENSION AND DOUBTS.

disappearing when he found himself in crisis. And his endurance has allowed him to return victorious.

The quotes

It now seems inevitable.

the worst and, after defeating the Russian at the fifth set, he was as happy as a little doll. In the quarters too he struggled against Muller, and only in the semifinals against Djokovic did we see the Federer of old times emerge for longer periods.

But in the final it was only him. Murray was too tender; he who talks tough when the situation allows him, but appeared very shy in this first Slam final of his.

Now, Federer is back on track. We shall see if tennis will change again, from today onwards.

Federer after the final “It’s wonderful to compare five Wimbledons with five US Opens. No doubt not many have succeeded. Actually, nobody did.”

Murray after the final “The draw did not help me. But even if I had been on top form, it would have made no difference with a Federer like this.”

Federer after the semifinal with Djokovic “At times I thought: I would like to play like this all the time.”

Surprise result

Federer’s 13th Slam will bring with it also the 14th and the 15th.

Scorecard

The comment

AFTER MONTHS OF PROBLEMS, BOTH REAL AND IMAGINARY, OF SLAM FINALS LOST (ROLAND GARROS, EVEN WIMBLEDON). WONDERFUL CONVALESCENCE, BUT NOT YET FULL RECOVERY.

Andy Murray beats Rafael Nadal 6−2 7−6 4−6 6−4

A match of two halves.

At Wimbledon it often happens; at the US Open, hardly ever.

But on a grim day, with Hurricane Hannah threatening to do its worst above New York, the organisers miscalculated the times and shipped Murray and Nadal onto the court at the old Central (the Armstrong Stadium), one hour after the other semifinal between Federer and

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Djokovic had started (on time) on the Arthur Ashe. Sixty minutes wasted, which did not give Murray the opportunity to close the match after a set (first) and a tiebreak (on the second) that he largely dominated. But which made Nadal happy, as he could rest after he managed to wring the third set shortly before the arrival of the downpour. So, everything postponed until the following day, day one of the final between the ladies. But with Murray still on top of his game, a demonstration of progress was made.

Beating Nadal in the year in which the Spanish had won everything (Paris, Wimbledon, an Olympic medal) speaks volumes about the Scotsman’s potential.

In the final, Federer found Murray opposite him, or rather it would be better to say “he did not find” Murray. Roger dominated, playing a splendid first set; yet he came close to allowing the Scotsman back in the race in the second set by letting him go up a break, and

The final

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also when it came to closing the third, he hesitated, losing his serve again.

Roger has rediscovered his forehand in part, but he continues to throw away cartloads of backhand returns on the opponent’s second ball; he is often at the net, but he makes trivial mistakes. He has rediscovered the taste for invention at crucial times − see the smash lob with which he froze Djokovic in the semifinal; however, he continues to lose the thread.

Are we too demanding? With geniuses it’s inevitable . . .

1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

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(2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (q) Thiago Alves (BRA) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (28) Radek Stepanek (CZE) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (23) Igor Andreev (RUS) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (q) Gilles Muller (LUX) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (3) Novak Djokovic (SRB) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (6) Andy Murray (GBR)

6−3 6−0 6−3 6−3 7−5 6−4 6−3 6−3 6−2 6−7 (5) 7−6 (5) 6−3 3−6 6−3 7−6 (5) 6−4 7−6 (5) 6−3 5−7 7−5 6−2 6−2 7−5 6−2

Rafael Nadal (Esp) Aeropro Drive racquet, Pro Hurricane string - Dinara Safina (Rus) Aero Storm racquet, Pro Hurricane string #1 ATP & WTA as of April 20th 2009 - Photos G. Livin - R. Angle

Federer’s journey

T A L O B Dinara

BwitAh Rafa and

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PARIGI 2009

Taboo breaker FEDERER BROKE THE TABOOS, HE TOOK THE TOURNAMENT THAT NEITHER EDBERG NOR BECKER NOR SAMPRAS NOR MCENROE HAD BEEN ABLE TO TAKE.

“I have always known that I could have won in Paris had I not met Nadal in the final. I was hoping for this and it happened exactly so. Funny, isn’t it?”

But Federer is not even a red clay expert, he is not a baseline player, he is not a heavy clay pusher, even if perhaps in this Roland where he played worse than many others that he lost, suffering, often going under; he found the winning technical key by brushing up the chief tool in the arsenal of the good clay tennis player: the drop-shot. Federer is simply the greatest tennis player of the modern era.

A tennis player now beyond adjectives.

Having finally reached his personal Mecca − now he lacks only a pilgrimage in Davis − has moved him up one cloud.

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Roger Federer: 10 He was in danger of being crushed by the enormous pressure of the predictions. But he was saved by the pride and the innate class of a champion.

He has destroyed the dreams of some with his backhand, buried the expectations of others with his serve and with his forehand he annihilated the most recalcitrant of ambitions.

Federer after the victory “Am I the greatest? If you say so!”

Nadal on Federer’s victory “Roger Federer is the man who deserves more than anyone else to have won at Roland Garros. I have always said that I consider him the greatest of all time.”

Sampras after Federer’s victory “Roger is the strongest tennis player of all times.”

Soderling on stage after the final with Federer “Before the final I was saying to my coach: how could someone beat me 10 times? Next time I play against Federer

I will have to ask myself: how could someone beat me 11 times?”

Surprise result

He now floats just below Laver, even if at those heights it would be difficult to use a measuring tape to determine who has a purer, more sublime share of immortality.

The scorecard

The comment

Federer broke the taboos, he took the tournament that neither Edberg nor Becker nor Sampras nor McEnroe had been able to take. Alright, alright... Federer is not a serve and volley player, he is not a pure attacker. And he succeeded in the following: winning his fourteenth Slam thus equalling Sampras in the number of Slams won; achieving a career Grand Slam − he admitted it himself, with a candid, disarming honesty that does him honour – in the year in which Nadal stumbled on a bad day, on the wrong opponent, during a period of poor form.

Robin Soderling beats Rafael Nadal 7−6 6−4 6−7 6−2 It happened, and we were not prepared.

For a moment Roland Garros was left astonished, in disbelief.

Nobody had ever seen him lose, not at Roland Garros. Thirty-two matches in a row had built an aura of invincibility : an armour that seemed impossible to scratch. Rafael Nadal will not be the champion of Roland Garros; he won’t be able to do better than Borg.

Four consecutive victories, but the fifth will not be. Tennis turns the page.

Soderling played the match that Federer has always dreamt of playing against Nadal. It was perfect, even in defying the Spaniard’s forehand. No hesitation, never.

Soderling could have won in three, if he hadn’t been distracted at the tiebreak of the second set; that he almost dominated and if he lost many points along the way it was only because he was looking for an immediate conclusion. But he kept his serve over 220 km/h. And with that he breached Nadal’s defence.

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THE # 1 SELLING GRIP IN THE USA IS BACK IN SA!

PARIGI 2009

IN THE THIRD SET, WHEN HE WENT TO SERVE FOR THE MATCH, THE STORM THAT WAS BREWING INSIDE HIM MADE ITSELF FELT. Strings, grips, accessories and court equipment

The final

Robin Soderling has never beaten Roger Federer and it is likely that he will never be able to do it.

But of all of them, this eleventh repetition of the challenge was the most difficult. Federer in fact was not only playing against the Swede, but also against himself and against Nadal’s ghost. Well done to Federer for concealing his state of mind. Very well done, especially in the second set, where he scored a direct hit with an impeccable tiebreak. Yet, in the third set, when he went to serve for the match, the storm that was brewing inside him made itself felt. There Federer threw away the first opportunity; there we feared that the ghosts could take the cruellest of forms.

Instead Federer held on. And at the second attempt he succeeded.

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

(2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (q) Thiago Alves (BRA) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (28) Radek Stepanek (CZE) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (23) Igor Andreev (RUS) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (q) Gilles Muller (LUX) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (3) Novak Djokovic (SRB) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (6) Andy Murray (GBR)

6−3 6−0 6−3 6−3 7−5 6−4 6−3 6−3 6−2 6−7 (5) 7−6 (5) 6−3 3−6 6−3 7−6 (5) 6−4 7−6 (5) 6−3 5−7 7−5 6−2 6−2 7−5 6−2

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WIMBLEDON 2009

Federer’s jump

And then Roddick’s face buried in his towel, his half-volley stroked with no roughness. Some of Federer’s forehands and serves, as fluid and devastating as anomalous waves; some of Roddick’s backhand passing shots, that backhand which has become almost pleasing to the eye, in spite of all the patches and the darning from months of training. And that backhand high volley, badly resting on a ball lost to the wind, which could have changed the course of a career – or maybe two.

In the stands, next to Russell Crowe and Sir Alex Ferguson, there was Woody Allen too. Those who saw Federer’s match point will know that a ball stopping on one

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Scorecard

Roger Federer: 10 + Nobody can deny the evidence.

He still has that minimum margin of safety that leads him to victory even in compromised situations.

The god of tennis has not abandoned him and the genius can continue to work.

4 − The Slam finals lost by Roddick against Federer. Three at Wimbledon, one in the US Open

129 − The serves held by Karlovic consecutively (between the Queen’s and Wimbledon) before suffering the break by Federer in the quarterfinals of the Championships

Andy Roddick should have only been the sacrificial lamb on the altar of Roger Federer’s new record – 15 Slams and his overtaking of Pete Sampras.

According to the general predictions on the eve of the match, he should have made an appearance on Centre Court, scored a few aces, perhaps got closer to a tiebreak or even grabbed a set and then resigned himself to

the overflowing superiority of the “strongest of all time” or, for Roger’s open detractors, “the strongest of this time” (this excludes Nadal’s fans who refute both these). That was not the case, as you know.

The whole Wimbledon tournament, and not only the extraordinary final in which we admired the best Roddick of all times, has given us back, in the kid of Omaha-Nebraska, a protagonist that seemed to have gone missing, who no longer seemed to believe that he could be competitive in tournaments at Slam level.

Surprise result

Federer’s jump – so much better and different from his tearful kneeling down – when Roddick shanked his last forehand into the sky; a jump worthy of Michael Jordan, Air Federer soaring above Sampras and smashing into history.

or other side of the net can mockingly change a life.

Numbers

After all, at the end, once all the numbers are counted, all the records listed (that of 15 Slams won), all the rankings are drawn up and all the words forgotten, all that remains are certain images . . . certain moments – the kind of stuff that stays engraved in one’s mind’s eye, anchoring one’s heart forever to a small set of instants.

The character

The comment

SO MUCH BETTER AND DIFFERENT FROM HIS TEARFUL KNEELING DOWN – WHEN RODDICK SHANKED HIS LAST FOREHAND INTO THE SKY; A JUMP WORTHY OF MICHAEL JORDAN, AIR FEDERER SOARING ABOVE SAMPRAS AND SMASHING INTO HISTORY.

Andy Roddick beats Andy Murray 6−4 4−6 7−6 7−6

On the small hill of the fans, flags are being put away, people are clearing off with long faces, the last images on the maxi screen are for Andy, but it is the wrong one. The English dream has been shattered in the semifinal, as usual.

Three times with Taylor, four with Henman. Now Murray. The messiah is not him: someone, perhaps many, have a doubt . . . Andy, the right one, is Roddick. He squats on the grass, almost gathered in prayer. He did not expect to win, but he did everything that was required to reach the final once again.

The third at Wimbledon. But the surprise

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is huge, and when he raises his head towards the crowd looking for friendly faces − his wife Brooklyn Decker, his coach Larry Stefanki − his disbelief turns into emotion. So ends the most awaited semifinal, with the tears of an easygoing American, who usurps Federer’s prerogative and turns it into the most burning disappointment that British tennis could imagine.

It is 18:28 and play has been going on for four hours and sixteen minutes. Roddick is serving, but Federer is ahead, for once. The ball is the victory. It is the first, and it will be enough.

Federer’s return hits Roddick on the legs, forces him to hit a wild forehand, hit from bottom up, without balance. The ball soars, Federer does not even follow it with his gaze, knowing that it is out, knowing he has won. Knowing that tennis is again his . . .

The final

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“Tennis is mad,” says Roger, but it rarely gives itself to the wrong hero. It might have gone differently, perhaps.

“That tiebreak wasted in the second set,” enumerates Andy, “and that 15−40 on the eight all of the fifth.”

In the tiebreak Roddick led six to two.

He was one set ahead. Perhaps he lost the match there. But Federer had conceded the first set by missing a penalty with an empty goal, on the fourth break point of the five all, and in the fifth he played his serve like we had never seen him do.

Federer’s journey 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

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(2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (27) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (13) Robin Soderling (SWE) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (22) Ivo Karlovi (CRO) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (24) Tommy Haas (GER) (2) Roger Federer (SUI) b. (6) Andy Roddick (USA)

7−5 6−3 6−2 6−2 6−2 6−4 6−3 6−2 6−7 (5) 6−1 6−4 7−6 (5) 7−6 (5) 6−3 7−5 7−6 (3) 7−6 (3) 7−5 6−3 5−7 7−6 (6) 7−6 (5) 3−6 1−6 1−4

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GROWING UP

What is required in order to become first in class?

Should one start winning young in one’s age categories or competing in the major circuits right from the start?

Or is it possible to find a perfect mix in the very delicate passage from the ‘Under’ to the ‘Pro’ world? We try to answer these questions by retracing the competitive journeys of eight great protagonists of two consecutive generations: Becker, Edberg, Sampras, Agassi, Roddick, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.

GROWING UP T

he starting point for this research is to compare the journeys of today’s four most celebrated champions in their youth and the journeys of four greats who shaped the previous tennis generation. This is why we have tried to place Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Roddick on one pan of the scale and Edberg, Becker, Agassi and Sampras on the other.

The comparison focuses on the junior category, that is U18. We have tried to identify differences in direction and concepts in terms of planning. We have then looked at the results achieved by these eight players and split them between the Under and the Open space, and correlated them with a few tables.

The function of the tables is to trace and, as much as possible, measure degree of precocity and the goals achieved in the junior categories.

GENERATIONS COMPARED

Let’s see what the overall figures tell us.

The first U18 tournament was played at an average age of 14 years and 10 months by the “Federer quartet” and 15 years and four months by the “Agassi quartet”. For the first Open

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tournament, the average ages are just under 15 years and six months and just above 15 years and 10 months respectively. The conclusions? The four present day champions are a few months ahead of those born around 1970, both in their junior debut and in the Open. The same applies to the Davis Cup debut, which was set at 17 years and eight months for Federer & Co and 18 years and five months for Agassi. & Co. The age of the first Open ATP ranking bucks the trend: 16 years and three months for today’s big shots; 15 years and 11 months for those of the recent past. It is however just an apparent countertrend. In the past 15 to 20 years, competition in the Open space has grown substantially, especially in terms of the numbers of players. As a result, it has become harder to acquire the first ATP points by making one’s way in the Futures or Satellite Tournaments (which have now virtually disappeared). Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Roddick show an average rank at 157, whereas Agassi, Sampras, Edberg and Becker have a markedly better average at 57. This difference of 100 places indicates that Agassi and company were distinctly more competitive on the verge of mature age

than Federer and company. If we then consider the year-end rankings for their 18th year of age, the relative average values speak of an extraordinary 22,5 versus a significant but distant 87. This indicates that the last months of Open activity in their U18 years were strongly heralding significant results for Agassi and company – much more so than for today’s four champions.

VARYING DEGREES OF PRECOCITY

The junior curricula for the eight champions who are the object of this study foretell the results of the Opens by indicating each player’s degree of precocity. A higher degree of maturity has been the prerogative of Agassi and Sampras – perhaps in an absolute sense for the entire Open era.

Although he had already made his mark at the age of 12 in a few U14 tournaments in the US, Agassi practically abandoned junior competitions at 15 during the course of 1985, and in 1986 he competed on just one occasion in the U18. If we look for his most significant result, the answer is to be found in December 1983 when he reached the Orange Bowl U14 final at the age of

THE JUNIOR CURRICULA FOR THE EIGHT CHAMPIONS WHO ARE THE OBJECT OF THIS STUDY FORETELL THE RESULTS OF THE OPENS BY INDICATING EACH PLAYER’S DEGREE OF PRECOCITY.

13 years and eight months. He was defeated by a Mexican, Eduardo Veléz, whom he was never able to beat. I am tempted to think that in those days, not many wannabe bookmakers would have placed a bet on Agassi. But who would have imagined that this ordinary young boy could conceal one of the greatest talents that tennis has ever featured: a young man who would close his last junior year – 1988 – in the third seat of the world ATP ranking? Agassi himself has explained why at 16 he was already entirely devoted to Open competitions.

“I was so disgusted by junior tournaments to the point of being sick of tennis,” he said.

Sampras too switched entirely to Open tournaments at 17 and 18, which is not surprising for someone who had been so far ahead in all competitive activities – at 13 he already played primarily in U16 competitions.

A similar choice in the U18 years has been Nadal’s prerogative (he only competed in Wimbledon in 2003, where he reached the semifinals) and to a large extent that of Djokovic and Becker who competed in only three events in the Junior ITF at the age of 17.

Edberg and Federer instead won their U18 world title in their second-last junior year and therefore only their 18th year was entirely devoted to professional tennis.

At the opposite end of the spectrum we find Roddick, a champion who, more than any other, needed the chance to mature in U18 competitions. After Edberg and Federer, Andy is the third world junior champion in this story, but he only achieved this at the age of 18 and not at 17 or, as Cash did in 1981, when he was 16.

EDBERG BOASTS THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS CURRICULUM IN THE HISTORY OF JUNIOR TENNIS.

the Orange Bowl, Avvenire and European Championship, without suffering a single defeat. A year later, he was crowned world champion U18 and accomplished something which remains unmatched to this day: the Grand Slam U18.

Edberg boasts the most prestigious curriculum in the history of junior tennis.

It is interesting to note that in 1983 Edberg suffered only two defeats. A very peculiar event ‘blemishes’ Edberg’s name.

During the European U18 championship in Geneva he put up a weak defence against a particularly strong Mezzadri and went out in the fourth round, to a sharp 6– 2 6−2.

In 1982, at the age of 16, he won all the major U16 competitions, and particularly

At the optional consolation tournament held the following day, Edberg conceded

SUPER-YOUNG EDBERG

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latter competed in the main draw of two Satellite tournaments two months after turning 15.

GROWING UP

his astonished opponent a deliberate and dramatic 6−0 6−0 which truly enraged the Swedish managers. These events were the outcome of the choices that had been imposed on him up to that point. In essence, Edberg felt that he was competitive enough among the pros to be able to be very selective about the junior engagement; he opposed the choices made by the Swedish managers who typically enjoyed winning junior titles, even if this meant lining up young talent already successfully entering the Open world.

NADAL’S TWO GEMS

Nadal’s career also features two gems.

The first dates to 2000, his fourteenth year. In the U14 category he suffered just one loss (in San Miniato, in the Winter Cup, at the hands of Slovakian Kamil Kapkovic) and won the team world title, the Master on the courts of TC Prato (Italy) and in Tarbes (France) he won the indoor tournament of Les Petits As which can undisputedly be regarded as the most prestigious tournament reserved for 13- and 14-year-olds.

Two years later, in 2002, Spain lined him up for the World and European U16 team championships, i.e. the Junior Davis Cup, Borotra Cup and European Winter Cup indoor. Nadal not only made a significant contribution to the Iberian efforts in achieving all three titles, but he also did not concede a single set to

his eleven opponents. Already a year earlier he had focused his schedule on Open events to such an extent that he only played the Winter Cup with his same age group. It was, however, the overwhelming power displayed in 2002 in the U16 category that made everyone (except Spain) realise that a likely first in class was on his way. This was supported by his Open results, with six Futures tournaments won out of nine played.

DJOKOVIC

Djokovic was not a particularly precocious young man. At the age of 13 he went unnoticed in his U14 engagements, but in 2000 and 2001 his performance enjoyed a sudden strong surge which culminated in his conquest of the European title and his leadership in the continental U14 ranking.

At 15, in 2002, he went through a moderately intense programme, partly devoted to U16 tournaments, partly to U18. The outcome was a fifth place in the European U16 and two wins in the junior ITF tournament, albeit of low grade. He was therefore highly awaited in 2003, but in spite of the satisfaction from the success in the Borotra Cup (where he finished unbeaten the U16 European and World Team Championships) he was unable to deliver in the junior category.

Djokovic probably placed most of his focus on the seven Futures tournaments that he played between Belgrade and

HOW OLD WERE OUR HEROES WHEN THEY DEBUTED IN THE OPEN WORLD AND WHAT CATEGORY OF TOURNAMENT WAS THEIR FIRST PLAYING FIELD?

Monaco, especially after his win at the end of June when, having just turned 16, he seized the first Open title in his career.

THE MOMENT OF THE ‘PRO’ DEBUT

How old were our heroes when they debuted in the Open world and what category of tournament was their first playing field?

The most precocious was Nadal at 14 years and seven months, the slowest Edberg at 16 years and eight months.

The comparison is unreliable unless we consider that Nadal was competing at Cala Ratjada in Spain in the qualifying draw of a Satellite tournament, therefore at the bottom end of the Open jackpot, whereas a wild card placed Edberg in the main draw of the Geneva Grand Prix with US$75 000 in prize money.

What we said about Nadal also applies to a Federer at barely 15 years old and to Agassi and Becker, except that the

Djokovic and Roddick had their first Open trial in the main draw of a Futures tournament, but Novak was 15 years and seven months, whereas Andy was a year older. There remains Sampras who was launched as a wild card at 16 and a half – and not without controversy – from the junior world into the great Open tennis of the Philadelphia Indoor which in 1988 offered the considerable amount of US$410 000 as a prize. He passed three qualifying rounds beating three fellow countrymen and lost 6–4 6–3 in the main draw to Sam Giammalva who was then ranked 100th in ATP. Had a new star just been born? Some began to wonder but a positive answer came a few weeks later in Indian Wells, the stage of a halfa-million-dollar Grand Prix. Not only did Sampras pass the qualifiers again, but he electrified the public with his defeats of Ramesh Krishnan and Eliot Teltscher, then the world’s number six.

I must point out that the first one to spot the talent in a very young Sampras was a Palos Verdes paediatrician, Pete Fischer, who loved serve and volley tennis and bragged about his talent scout skills. He was Sampras’s true and only coach until 1989 (when he was fired because he had become too patronising) and it was he who convinced Marilyn Fenberger, the owner-organiser of the Philadelphia tournament, to grant Sampras the legendary wild card.

AGASSI AND BECKER PRECOCIOUS WINNERS

Only Becker and Agassi have been able to sign their names against a big tournament, i.e. one of the matches in the ATP Grand Prix (which began in 1990), before turning 18.

Boris won the Queen’s title in June 1985, Agassi the South America Open at the end of November 1987.

Between the ages of 18 and 19 we find, in order: Nadal, Edberg, Sampras and Roddick, winners at Sopot in 2004, Milan in 1984, Philadelphia in 1990 and Atlanta in 2001, respectively. The goal was achieved with a further delay of one year by Djokovic in Amersfoort and Federer in Milan.

WORLD RANKING AT 18 YEARS Here are the ATP ranking on the day of the player’s 18th birthday or immediately thereafter: Agassi: 15

Sampras: 94

Nadal: 47

Federer: 103

Edberg: 60

Djokovic: 153

Becker: 60

Roddick: 325

PERSONAL RECORDS AND AGE RODDICK: 1st ATP at 21 years, two months and five days SAMPRAS: 1st ATP at 21 years, eight months and zero days NADAL: 1st ATP at 22 years, two months and 15 days FEDERER: 1st ATP at 22 years, five months and 25 days EDBERG: 1st ATP at 24 years, six months and 25 days AGASSI: 1st ATP at 24 years, 11 months and 11 days BECKER: 2nd ATP at 23 years, two months and six days DJOKOVIC: 3rd ATP at 20 years, one month and 17 days

TENNISWORLD SA

DJOKOVIC: at 16 years, 10 months and 17 days (Serbia v Lettonia first round of the Euro-African zone 2nd group, won against Skroderis for 6−2 6−2) BECKER: at 17 years, three months and one day (Germany v Spain, first round of the World Group, won against Aguilera 6−3 6−-4 6−4)

AGE AT FIRST SUCCESS BECKER: at 17 years, six months and 24 days: in Queen’s, London (UK) US$231 000 AGASSI: at 17 years, seven months and zero days: in Sul America Open, Itaparica (Bra) US$516 000 NADAL: at 18 years, two months and 12 days: in Sopot (Pol) US$500 000 EDBERG: at 18 years, six months and six days: in Milan (Ita) US$375 000 SAMPRAS: at 18 years, six months and 13 days: in Philadelphia (USA) US$825 000 RODDICK: at 18 years, eight months and six days: in Atlanta (USA) US$400 000 DJOKOVIC: at 19 years, two months and one day: in Amersfoort (Ned) US$323 000 FEDERER: at 19 years, five months and 26 days: in Milan (Ita) US$400 000

78

DAVIS CUP DEBUT

FEDERER: at 17 years, seven months and 24 days (Switzerland v Italy, first round of the World Group, won against Sanguinetti for 6−4 6−7 6−3 6−4) NADAL: at 17 years, eight months and three days (Spain v Czech Republic, first round of the World Group, won against Stepanek for 7−6 6−3 7−6) AGASSI: at 17 years, 11 months and 21 days (USA v Peru, semi-finals of the American zone 1st group, won against Yzaga for 6−87−5 6−1 6−2) EDBERG: at 18 years, one month and 25 days (Sweden v Paraguay, first round of the World Group, defeated in double against F. Gonzales/Pecci for 6−2 8−6 4−6 6−1) RODDICK: at 18 years, five months and 12 days (USA v Switzerland, first round of the World Group, won against Bastl for 6−3 6−4 in a dead rubber) SAMPRAS: at 20 years, three months and 17 days (USA v France, World Group final, defeated in the two singles

by Leconte for 6−4 7−5 6−4 and Forget for 3−6 7−6 6−3 6−4)

TENNISWORLD SA

79

GEOGRAPHY OF TENNIS

The importance of the pull ENZO CHERICI

GEOGRAPHY OF

What do Nick Saviano and Blake Strode have in common?

Three things at least: both are tennis players, Americans and number 42 in the ranking of their country. The similarities end here.

And the differences? When Saviano was USA number 42 in 1983, he also occupied the 98th position in the world rankings. With the same ranking at a national level, poor Strode ranks number 624 today.

Nothing can better explain how and how much the geography of men’s tennis has changed over the years than the parallel between these two tennis players.

You understood correctly: in 1983 as many as 42 American tennis players featured among the first hundred in the world; while 26 other countries fought one another for the allocation of the 58 remaining places.

80

TENNISWORLD SA

Reading that ranking (of 3 January 1983) again, the first thing that stands out is that all five continents appeared in the Top 100 and that old Europe was represented by only 29 players. Even Africa could boast two Top 20: South Africans Johan Kriek (12) and Kevin Curren (17). Asia closed the list with Indian Ramesh Krishnan (100).

They were different times. Scrolling through the current ranking, we discover that it’s Europe that controls it, with as many as 71 players among the Top 100 and the remaining 29 places allocated as follows: 15 to South America (nine to Argentina, two each to Chile and Brazil and one each to Uruguay and Colombia), 12 to USA and two to Australia. Africa and Asia: not received.

How many times in the recent years have we debated the appropriate strategy to relaunch our tennis? Countless times, and with the most disparate assumptions. But are we really sure that it is the organisational model to make a difference?

THE “CASE OF SWEDEN”

Let’s take the case of Sweden, a leading nation in world tennis for at least a couple

USA and Australia, symbolic cases In order to find out (and understand) how such an upset was caused, it is interesting to analyse the course run in the fortunes of nations that have historically dominated world tennis. The emblematic cases are those of the United States and Australia. To get an idea of the importance of these two heavyweights in the history of tennis, let’s use some numbers: USA: 134 Slam tournaments and 32 Davis Cups won. Australia: 100 Slam tournaments and 28 Davis Cups on display.

Let’s begin with the United States.

At the time of the first ATP ranking (1973), they had 25 players in the Top 100. They first reached 30 in 1976 and in 1979 the astronomical figure of 40. They reached the peak of 42 in January 1983.

In 1987 it was back to 27 and in 1991 they fell below twenty for the first time with 19. In order to pass “dimension ten” we will have to wait until 1998 (9 Top 100), but already since 1995

of decades. Was it the pull of the Borgeffect or the basic work of the Swedish Federation that had a greater influence on the boom of Swedish tennis? Both factors were certainly important, but there is no doubt that without the explosion of the Borg-mania, the work of the Scandinavian Federation would have been much more difficult. It is not by chance that a country that had never produced much until the early 1970s soon saw a shower of titles with the advent of the Swedish bear: 11 Slams plus a Davis Cup in 1975.

After the retirement of the “Phenomenon”, there was already a new breed of phenomena − this time

the United States has closed the year with between eight and 13 players among the first hundred. The last ranking sees 12 USA players in the top 100 (plus four compared to last year), but a US player has not won a Slam tournament for six years now (since Andy Roddick in the 2003 US Open).

Australia’s turnabout is even more glaring.

Emerging from the successes of the wonderful 1950s and 1960s, the Kangaroos could boast 17 players among the first hundred, at the time of the first ranking drawn up by computer. In 1976 there are still 15, but for the first time no Australian tennis player is among the Top 10 (42-year-old Ken Rosewall is the best Aussie at 13th place in the ranking!). Two years later, in 1978, the best Australian would be John Alexander even at number 22. But we will have to wait for 1980 to see the first obvious signs of crisis. Only seven players in the first hundred and the best player, Paul McNamee, at number 33 in the ranking. Since then Australia has never had more than 10 players in the Top 100 and it has been saved by

with a small “p” − ready to give Sweden the splendour of 15 other Slams (eight Wilander, six Edberg, one T Johansson), plus six more Davis Cups and countless other results and placements at the highest levels. In this case, we can comfortably say that the pull effect was predominant with respect to the organisational model.

Of a different nature by contrast were the structures proposed by Spain and France.

In both cases, an organisational structure based on a strong synergy between central federations and private academies has produced huge results, despite the absence of the Champion-pull.

the isolated exploits of Cash, Rafter and Hewitt. Suffice it to consider that this great country, an icon of world tennis, had won 95 Slam tournaments until 1976 (Mark Edmonson at the Australian Open) and only five in 33 years: One Cash and two each Rafter and Hewitt (who was also the last to win a Major at Wimbledon in 2002).

We can now start drawing some conclusions. In 1983 the USA/Australia combination occupied 51 of the first hundred world rankings; today only 14.

Looking at the current ranking, we soon discover that the 37 places lost by the USA/Australia duo have all taken the route of the Old Continent.

Compared to 1983, Europe has gained 42 positions in the Top 100 (from 29 to 71). There were 12 European nations represented then; now there are 20. With the presence of a number of countries previously absent: Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Austria, Romania, Cyprus, Portugal, Ukraine and Lithuania. The only countries not represented compared to 1983 are Poland (Fibak) and Hungary (Taroczy).

TENNISWORLD SA

81

GEOGRAPHY OF TENNIS

Does quantity equal quality?

The most represented European nations in the Top 100 today are Spain (12 players), France (10), Germany (10) and Russia (6).

But does quantity also mean quality?

Not always.

While no-one can reasonably question the very high quality expressed by the Spanish and French movements, things

change if one looks for example at the case of Germany in a little more detail.

The best German player at the moment is Tommy Haas (17 in the ranking), but the ten Top 100 have an average ranking of 58,6. And there’s more. When analysing the Junior world rankings, one finds only five Germans among the first hundred (with Krawietz 12 and Schultz 16, both class of 1992).

Sweden: A critical time.

True, they have Soderling at number 10 in the ranking. But, for the second consecutive year, he is the only one present among the first hundred.

Incredible if one considers that − thanks to the post-Borg generation − between 1986 and 1990 – the Swedish presence in the Top 100 were always at least ten (with peaks at 12 in 1988 and 1990).

But it is not always a feast. Phenomena are not always born in Sweden.

The French model The Spanish system Let’s look at Spain. The Spanish system was capable of producing 12 Top Ten from 1990 to date: Emilio Sanchez, Sergi Bruguera, Albert Berasategui, Carlos Costa, Carlos Moya, Alex Corretja, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco. Two among these (Ferrero and Nadal) have even been Number One. It’s clear that in this case the phenomenon (Nadal) was produced by the system and not vice versa.

France has not produced phenomena such as Nadal, but starting from the 1980s the transalpine movement has experienced a steady growth. Certainly a champion such as Yannick Noah was some sort of a forerunner, returning some enthusiasm to an environment depressed by the non-results of the 1970s.

But the real difference – similarly to what happened in Spain – was made in this case by the French organisational model, which was capable of producing

10 Top Ten from 1982 onwards: Yannick Noah, Henri Leconte, Guy Forget, Cedric Pioline, Arnaud Clement, Sebastien Grosjean, Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon. Among these only Yannick was awarded a Major, but Leconte, Pioline (twice), Clement and Tsonga have been able to play for the title in the final. Not to mention that Italy’s cousins from beyond the Alps can boast three Top Ten (Mina, Obry and Herbert) in the Junior ranking.

NOT FOR SALE TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS

82

TENNISWORLD SA

TENNISWORLD SA

83

84

TENNISWORLD SA

0

22

3 550

0

15

7 Cermak, Frantisek (CZE) / Mertinak, Michal (SVK)

3 400

2

31

8 Moodie, Wesley (RSA) / Norman, Dick (BEL)

3 295

-1

12

9 Fyrstenberg, Mariusz (POL) / Matkowski, Marcin (POL)

2 975

-1

25

10 Soares, Bruno (BRA) / Ullyett, Kevin (ZIM)

2 470

0

24

11 Knowle, Julian (AUT) / Melzer, Jurgen (AUT)

2 430

0

23

12 Damm, Martin (CZE) / Lindstedt, Robert (SWE)

2 215

0

22

13 Aspelin, Simon (SWE) / Hanley, Paul (AUS)

1 610

0

17

14 Melo, Marcelo (BRA) / Sa, Andre (BRA)

1 540

1

26

15 Parrott, Travis (USA) / Polasek, Filip (SVK)

1 485

-1

22

16 Benneteau, Julien (FRA) / Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA)

1 270

0

3

17 Brunstrom, Johan (SWE) / Rojer, Jean-Julien (AHO)

1 005

2

33

18 Fish, Mardy (USA) / Roddick, Andy (USA)

1 000

-1

1

19 Blake, James (USA) / Fish, Mardy (USA)

965

-1

5

20 Bolelli, Simone (ITA) / Seppi, Andreas (ITA)

890

0

12

ATP TOUR, MOST MATCHES PLAYED 1 2 3 4 5

Djokovic, Novak (SRB) Murray, Andy (GBR) Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) Nadal, Rafael (ESP) Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS)

88 71 71 70 69

ATP TOUR, BEST WINNING PERCENTAGE 1 2 3 4 5

Murray, Andy (GBR) Nadal, Rafael (ESP) Federer, Roger (SUI) Djokovic, Novak (SRB) Sluiter, Raemon (NED)

0,873 0,857 0,851 0,818 0,800

TOURNAMENTS PLAYED

3 660

6 Mirnyi, Max (BLR) / Ram, Andy (ISR)

-5 8 1 5 13 20 0 80 -351 -277 0 5 3 -79 0

25 19 21 16 11 9 1 7 3 9 1 1 2 2 2

TOURNAMENTS PLAYED

14

POSITION MOVED

0

439 188 172 128 85 51 25 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1

POSITION MOVED

5 740

5 Kubot, Lukasz (POL) / Marach, Oliver (AUT)

Anderson, Kevin (RSA) De Voest, Rik (RSA) Van der Merwe, Izak (RSA) Klaasen, Raven (RSA) Wolmarans, Fritz (RSA) Anderson, Andrew (RSA) Andersen, Jean (RSA) Roelofse, Ruan (RSA) Janse van Rensburg, Benjamin (RSA) Coertzen, Hendrik (RSA) Janse Van Rensburg, Petri (RSA) O'Brien, Dean (RSA) Sacks, Gary (RSA) Nagel, Rainier (RSA) Jeske, Manfred (RSA)

POINTS

18

125 249 263 327 427 553 717 1 225 1 393 1 519 1 532 1 532 1 616 1 616 1 616

POINTS

0

24 26 24 24 22 24 20 16 27 24 26 31 20 17 28 27 12 33 33 28

NAME & NATIONALITY

5 950

4 Dlouhy, Lukas (CZE) / Paes, Leander (IND)

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

RANK

23

10 860 10 860 10 050 10 050 6 770 6 460 6 105 5 890 4 750 4 295 3 716 3 716 3 666 3 550 3 420 3 330 3 275 3 220 3 130 2 760

4 750 1 456 1 280 498 292 213 133 99 76 53 41 32 9 7 7 7 5

0 -1 0 2 -2 4 3 4 6 4 72 96 0 7 -9 9 6

27 21 33 17 17 8 12 7 8 14 6 3 2 2 3 9 2

ATP DOUBLE SOUTH AFRICA RANKING (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

9 47 56 139 235 300 410 495 594 696 787 868 1 246 1 343 1 359 1 392 1 444

NAME & NATIONALITY

0

Nestor, Daniel (CAN) Zimonjic, Nenad (SRB) Bryan, Bob (USA) Bryan, Mike (USA) Knowles, Mark (BAH) Dlouhy, Lukas (CZE) Bhupathi, Mahesh (IND) Paes, Leander (IND) Moodie, Wesley (RSA) Ram, Andy (ISR) Kubot, Lukasz (POL) Marach, Oliver (AUT) Norman, Dick (BEL) Mirnyi, Max (BLR) Matkowski, Marcin (POL) Fyrstenberg, Mariusz (POL) Fish, Mardy (USA) Mertinak, Michal (SVK) Cermak, Frantisek (CZE) Knowle, Julian (AUT)

RANK

9 510

3 Bhupathi, Mahesh (IND) / Knowles, Mark (BAH)

1 1 3 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

TOURNAMENTS PLAYED

23

POSITION MOVED

0

ATP SINGLE SOUTH AFRICA RANKING (09 NOVEMBER 2009)

POINTS

9 680

2 Nestor, Daniel (CAN) / Zimonjic, Nenad (SRB)

NAME & NATIONALITY

TOURNAMENTS PLAYED

1 Bryan, Bob (USA) / Bryan, Mike (USA)

RANK

POSITION MOVED

18 17 22 18 21 20 25 22 25 25 17 27 22 23 26 23 18 25 31 27 20 20 24 25 25 27 25 28 29 26 30 27 28 27 21 33 31 27 22 28 20 30 28 28 22 27 25 29 28 30

ATP DOUBLE RANKING (09 NOVEMBER 2009)

POINTS

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 -1 0 -2 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 -1 -1 5 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0 0 4 -1 0 -2 -1 2 -1 1

NAME & NATIONALITY

TOURNAMENTS PLAYED

10 340 8 845 8 300 7 140 6 050 4 500 4 430 3 360 2 985 2 935 2 780 2 675 2 400 2 310 2 175 2 055 1 845 1 840 1 690 1 655 1 625 1 600 1 575 1 390 1 380 1 340 1 305 1 260 1 175 1 150 1 137 1 135 1 090 1 066 1 032 1 030 1 021 1 021 1 015 1 015 980 957 954 948 945 928 915 901 879 875

RANK

POSITION MOVED

Federer, Roger (SUI) Nadal, Rafael (ESP) Djokovic, Novak (SRB) Murray, Andy (GBR) Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG) Roddick, Andy (USA) Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS) Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) Soderling, Robin (SWE) Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI) Simon, Gilles (FRA) Cilic, Marin (CRO) Stepanek, Radek (CZE) Robredo, Tommy (ESP) MonďŹ ls, Gael (FRA) Haas, Tommy (GER) Ferrer, David (ESP) Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS) Berdych, Tomas (CZE) Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI) Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP) Querrey, Sam (USA) Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO) Kohlschreiber, Philipp (GER) Almagro, Nicolas (ESP) Melzer, Jurgen (AUT) Troicki, Viktor (SRB) Monaco, Juan (ARG) Chardy, Jeremy (FRA) Montanes, Albert (ESP) Mathieu, Paul-Henri (FRA) Beck, Andreas (GER) Isner, John (USA) Andreev, Igor (RUS) Hanescu, Victor (ROU) Bellucci, Thomaz (BRA) Karlovic, Ivo (CRO) Tipsarevic, Janko (SRB) Blake, James (USA) Zeballos, Horacio (ARG) Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo (ESP) Becker, Benjamin (GER) Baghdatis, Marcos (CYP) Sela, Dudi (ISR) Lopez, Feliciano (ESP) Cuevas, Pablo (URU) Benneteau, Julien (FRA) Seppi, Andreas (ITA)

ATP DOUBLE TEAM RANKING (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

POINTS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

NAME & NATIONALITY

RANK

ATP SINGLE RANKING (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

Moodie, Wesley (RSA) De Voest, Rik (RSA) Coetzee, Jeff (RSA) Anderson, Kevin (RSA) Van der Merwe, Izak (RSA) Haggard, Chris (RSA) Klaasen, Raven (RSA) Wolmarans, Fritz (RSA) Roelofse, Ruan (RSA) Coertzen, Hendrik (RSA) Anderson, Andrew (RSA) Janse van Rensburg, Benjamin (RSA) O'Brien, Dean (RSA) Scholtz, Nikala (RSA) Andersen, Jean (RSA) Ramiaramanan, Lofo (RSA) Weideman, Rohan (RSA)

TENNISWORLD SA

85

86

TENNISWORLD SA

$0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $8 997 $13 792 $0 $0 $0 $5 000 $1 325 $25 940 $16 318

$6 545 586 $4 310 218 $3 658 841 $3 126 894 $2 491 514 $2 371 550 $2 343 481 $2 115 536 $1 642 145 $1 632 560 $1 614 464 $1 179 681 $960 149 $940 319 $923 619 $914 725 $898 384 $831 419 $821 742 $806 061

ATP TOUR, MOST MATCHES PLAYED 1 2 3 4 5

Djokovic, Novak (SRB) Murray, Andy (GBR) Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) Nadal, Rafael (ESP) Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS)

88 71 71 70 69

TOURS

POINTS

DATE OF BIRTH

NAME

PREVIOUS

477 92 33 26 22 21 11 10 6 0 1 1 0 2 5 0 3 1 1 4 1 0 4 4 4

24 20 6 5 9 5 3 4 3 0 1 1 0 2 2 0 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

WTA DOUBLE SOUTH AFRICA RANKING (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

77 140 246 314 424 452 611 805 867 907 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

78 143 251 315 423 452 605 801 862 898 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

Grandin, Natalie Scheepers, Chanelle Anderson, Kelly Du Plessis, Lizaan De Beer, Surina Potgieter, Christi Edwards, Tegan Marshall, Lisa Grant, Kim Moskal, Ksenia Fourouclas, Natasha Gorny, Monica Joubert, Dane Laing, Jessica Le Roux, Madrie Luksich, Veronique Luus, Welma Masite, Christine Morkel-brink, Mikayla Plant, Tracy Pondicas, Jade Rencken, Nicole Schickerling, Joanne Simmonds, Chanel Swanepoel, Bianca

TOURS

$636 149 $8 893 $152 976 $636 149 $0 $46 858 $825 $287 766 $144 784 $2 410 $87 678 $326 522 $118 633 $0 $2 000 $1 275 $460 255 $174 372 $181 173 $349 747

13/03/84 27/02/81 15/10/92 10/08/92 23/02/86 28/06/78 03/01/89 20/04/85 31/01/94 29/03/91 01/05/71 10/06/93 30/07/93 19/04/95 12/07/91 20/05/92 12/09/87 11/02/91 26/11/94 27/09/91 21/09/93 11/04/91 12/06/81 14/11/85 07/01/91

POINTS

$5 584 437 $3 601 325 $3 280 865 $2 240 745 $1 491 514 $2 324 692 $1 880 156 $1 827 770 $1 397 361 $1 630 150 $1 264 286 $844 162 $827 724 $902 819 $896 619 $713 450 $433 129 $655 722 $614 629 $439 996

Scheepers, Chanelle Grandin, Natalie Potgieter, Christi Simmonds, Chanel Du Plessis, Lizaan De Beer, Surina Edwards, Tegan Anderson, Kelly Fourouclas, Natasha Gorny, Monica Grant, Kim Joubert, Dane Laing, Jessica Le Roux, Madrie Luksich, Veronique Luus, Welma Marshall, Lisa Masite, Christine Morkel-brink, Mikayla Moskal, Ksenia Plant, Tracy Pondicas, Jade Rencken, Nicole Schickerling, Joanne Swanepoel, Bianca

DATE OF BIRTH

USA RUS RUS USA SRB DEN RUS BLR RUS BEL POL AUS ITA FRA RUS SRB ESP ITA RUS ESP

128 383 632 771 778 659 890 945 NR NR NR NR 0 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR 0 NR NR NR

NAME

Williams, Serena Safina, Dinara Kuznetsova, Svetlana Williams, Venus Jankovic, Jelena Wozniacki, Caroline Dementieva, Elena Azarenka, Victoria Zvonareva, Vera Clijsters, Kim Radwanska, Agnieszka Stosur, Samantha Pennetta, Flavia Bartoli, Marion Sharapova, Maria Ivanovic, Ana Martinez Sanchez, Maria Jose Schiavone, Francesca Petrova, Nadia Medina Garrigues, Anabel

TOTAL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

MIXED

PRIZE MONEY

130 383 660 730 779 784 926 943 1023 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

PREVIOUS

21 21 6 6 22 22 16 16 17 17 17 18 15 22 12 18 16 21 18 19

CURRENT

8520 8520 7440 7440 6180 6180 5610 5610 4730 4670 4600 4550 4180 4150 3801 3735 3620 3560 3540 3510

CURRENT

POINTS

ZIM USA USA USA ESP ESP AUS AUS TPE ESP ESP CHN SVK RUS BLR RUS USA USA ITA RUS

TOURS

NATIONALITY

NAME

17/02/79 21/08/76 26/09/81 17/06/80 16/05/80 12/08/82 30/03/84 26/03/71 04/01/86 21/09/73 31/07/82 08/01/86 23/04/83 15/07/89 31/07/89 08/06/82 23/03/85 10/08/73 23/06/80 07/06/88

DOUBLES

27 27 21 19 24 27 15 19 27 22 21 22 25 26 28 27 25 26 28 18 21 28 25 26 26 28 27 21 22 24 22 20 21 19 27 32 25 28 22 31 24 24 25 21 26 18 27 23 27 17

DATE OF BIRTH

1248 1235 1229 1223 1190 1172 1123 1119 1095 1094 1088 1087 1085 1036 1000 954 946 933 932 924 916 911 893 877 869 859 829 818 816 808 801 801 798 792 753 730 729 729 724 700 698 688 686 682 682 675 657 656 651 643

Black, Cara Huber, Liezel Williams, Serena Williams, Venus Llagostera Vives, Nuria Martinez Sanchez, Maria Jose Stosur, Samantha Stubbs, Rennae Hsieh, Su-wei Ruano Pascual, Virginia Medina Garrigues, Anabel Peng, Shuai Hantuchova, Daniela Kleybanova, Alisa Azarenka, Victoria Petrova, Nadia Mattek-sands, Bethanie Raymond, Lisa Schiavone, Francesca Makarova, Ekaterina

SINGLES

ROU BLR KAZ SUI AUT GER AUS IND ITA RUS EST CZE RUS ITA CZE POL GER GER CZE RUS SLO JPN ROU ITA FRA SUI USA GER USA GER BEL JPN LAT CRO UZB AUT UKR GBR GBR RUS ESP TPE ROU TPE CZE CRO RUS BLR BUL GBR

PREVIOUS

30/05/89 23/08/88 12/09/87 08/06/89 27/04/80 09/09/87 12/04/83 15/11/86 30/06/77 07/06/88 10/06/85 08/03/90 25/01/87 18/02/83 21/05/85 07/12/90 04/06/85 08/08/87 28/03/86 05/03/87 20/01/91 11/03/90 03/03/89 05/04/80 02/12/82 10/03/90 04/07/74 02/11/88 03/02/89 30/09/81 10/01/86 28/09/70 13/04/90 19/01/91 23/06/84 08/11/86 19/08/88 02/05/86 14/08/83 03/11/87 09/11/82 13/01/91 10/12/84 17/08/89 24/02/82 25/10/84 12/05/82 01/11/86 13/09/87 16/09/83

WTA RANKING SOUTH AFRICA SINGLE (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

NATIONALITY

Dulgheru, Alexandra Govortsova, Olga Shvedova, Yaroslava Bacsinszky, Timea Bammer, Sybille Petkovic, Andrea Dokic, Jelena Mirza, Sania Garbin, Tathiana Makarova, Ekaterina Kanepi, Kaia Kvitova, Petra Kirilenko, Maria Vinci, Roberta Hradecka, Lucie Radwanska, Urszula Groenefeld, Anna-lena Malek, Tatjana Zahlavova Strycova, Barbora Chakvetadze, Anna Hercog, Polona Morita, Ayumi Olaru, Ioana Raluca Brianti, Alberta Coin, Julie Voegele, Stefanie Craybas, Jill Goerges, Julia King, Vania Barrois, Kristina Flipkens, Kirsten Date Krumm, Kimiko Sevastova, Anastasija Martic, Petra Amanmuradova, Akgul Mayr, Patricia Kutuzova, Viktoriya O'brien, Katie Baltacha, Elena Kudryavtseva, Alla Parra Santonja, Arantxa Chang, Kai-chen Gallovits, Edina Chan, Yung-jan Zakopalova, Klara Sprem, Karolina Rodionova, Anastasia Yakimova, Anastasiya Pironkova, Tsvetana Keothavong, Anne

1 1 3 3 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

PREVIOUS

52 53 51 54 56 55 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 66 72 69 70 78 71 73 74 75 77 76 79 82 80 101 81 83 85 88 89 90 87 92 93 102 86 115 94 95 97 98 100 84

1 1 3 3 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

CURRENT

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

TOURS

18 19 19 27 20 17 17 20 21 24 24 25 21 16 18 24 27 4 21 22 14 16 18 21 24 23 21 26 25 21 26 20 25 25 25 21 22 24 25 22 22 25 22 22 26 24 22 28 16 24

POINTS

PREVIOUS

9075 7800 6141 5875 5585 5126 4820 3965 3560 3450 3415 3150 3045 2820 2541 2385 2375 2340 2300 2220 2077 2067 2035 2011 1985 1985 1940 1910 1880 1875 1780 1740 1680 1675 1645 1630 1605 1547 1540 1520 1505 1480 1456 1430 1425 1417 1396 1370 1303 1285

NATIONALITY

CURRENT

USA RUS RUS DEN RUS USA BLR SRB RUS POL FRA ITA AUS RUS CHN BEL ITA BEL FRA RUS FRA SRB GER RUS SVK FRA ESP ESP RUS SVK ISR UKR UKR ESP CAN CHN ARG HUN CZE HUN RUS CZE SUI RUS SVK ROU CHN ITA USA FRA

DATE OF BIRTH

TOURS

26/09/81 27/04/86 27/06/85 11/07/90 15/10/81 17/06/80 31/07/89 28/02/85 07/09/84 06/03/89 02/10/84 25/02/82 30/03/84 19/04/87 26/02/82 20/10/89 23/06/80 08/06/83 12/05/83 08/06/82 05/07/79 06/11/87 22/09/89 01/08/86 23/04/83 14/03/87 12/08/82 31/07/82 15/07/89 06/05/89 01/05/87 08/08/86 13/08/84 03/09/88 07/09/87 05/07/83 30/01/85 22/10/82 01/02/83 29/12/88 03/07/91 04/02/87 14/12/78 06/10/86 04/10/88 07/04/90 08/01/86 29/04/87 23/09/91 22/01/90

NAME

POINTS

Williams, Serena Safina, Dinara Kuznetsova, Svetlana Wozniacki, Caroline Dementieva, Elena Williams, Venus Azarenka, Victoria Jankovic, Jelena Zvonareva, Vera Radwanska, Agnieszka Bartoli, Marion Pennetta, Flavia Stosur, Samantha Sharapova, Maria Li, Na Wickmayer, Yanina Schiavone, Francesca Clijsters, Kim Razzano, Virginie Petrova, Nadia Mauresmo, Amelie Ivanovic, Ana Lisicki, Sabine Vesnina, Elena Hantuchova, Daniela Rezai, Aravane Martinez Sanchez, Maria Jose Medina Garrigues, Anabel Kleybanova, Alisa Cibulkova, Dominika Peer, Shahar Bondarenko, Kateryna Bondarenko, Alona Suarez Navarro, Carla Wozniak, Aleksandra Zheng, Jie Dulko, Gisela Czink, Melinda Benesova, Iveta Szavay, Agnes Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia Safarova, Lucie Schnyder, Patty Dushevina, Vera Rybarikova, Magdalena Cirstea, Sorana Peng, Shuai Errani, Sara Oudin, Melanie Cornet, Alize

NATIONALITY

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 11 13 14 15 18 16 17 19 20 21 22 25 23 24 44 30 28 26 27 31 29 32 33 34 35 36 38 37 42 39 40 41 48 46 43 45 47 49 50

DATE OF BIRTH

PREVIOUS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

NAME

CURRENT

WTA SINGLE RANKING (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

CURRENT

WTA DOUBLE RANKING (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

27/02/81 13/03/84 20/04/85 23/02/86 28/06/78 15/10/92 03/01/89 12/09/87 01/05/71 27/09/91 31/01/94 29/03/91 10/06/93 30/07/93 19/04/95 12/07/91 20/05/92 11/02/91 26/11/94 21/09/93 11/04/91 12/06/81 14/11/85 10/08/92 07/01/91

1040 509 247 169 103 90 49 23 16 14 1 16 1 1 1 0 13 0 0 1 1 1 0 7 1

31 10 20 9 7 6 12 9 3 4 1 2 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 1

ATP TOUR, BEST WINNING PERCENTAGE 1 2 3 4 5

Murray, Andy (GBR) Nadal, Rafael (ESP) Federer, Roger (SUI) Djokovic, Novak (SRB) Sluiter, Raemon (NED)

0,873 0,857 0,851 0,818 0,800

TENNISWORLD SA

87

ITF Junior Rankings

Wheelchair Tennis RSA

RANKING DATE: 9 NOVEMBER 2009

26 Nov 1992 04 Jul 1992 24 May 1992 19 May 1993 09 Feb 1992 04 Sep 1991 08 Mar 1992 31 Jan 1992 22 Feb 1991 18 Mar 1991 04 Aug 1992 22 Sep 1991 24 Jan 1992 08 Feb 1992 21 Oct 1992 26 Mar 1992 16 Mar 1992 22 Jul 1991 25 Feb 1992 05 Aug 1992

NAME

NAT

DATE OF BIRTH

SCHOLTZ, Nikala PIETERS, Hernus IVE, Grant MOOLMAN, Renier BOTHA, Jarryd ROWE, Kyle VAN VUUREN, Marlu Jansen KUHN, Warren BECKER, Pieter ROOS, Dion Paul EBERSEY, Brandon LYZWA, Michal DE JAGER, Jurgen FORTMANN, Stefan DE KLERK, Japie JESKE, Manfred CARIPI, Vasilios COMERFORD, Dylan BLAKEY-MILNER, Jason SCHOEMAN, Bernard LATEGAN, Adolf CLAASSEN, Jody Alan SMITH, Dudley MONTGOMERY, Wesley VISSER, Marthinus Christoffel EDWARDS, Tristan LATEGAN, Wihan O'KENNEDY, Francois GILBERTSON, Clayton ROSSOUW, Matthew KRUGER, Juan REYNECKE, Barend Hermanus FICK, Lourens SCHELLINK, Eben DE JAGER, Wiehahn PRIOSTE, Andrew BRINK, Gideon

RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA

05 Feb 1991 04 Jun 1993 18 Feb 1991 10 Apr 1992 14 Jan 1992 06 Feb 1991 17 May 1993 22 Oct 1993 08 Feb 1991 17 Jan 1993 10 Jan 1994 25 Jun 1992 24 May 1991 21 Sep 1992 09 Jun 1992 04 Dec 1992 28 Sep 1991 07 Jul 1993 07 Jan 1991 09 Sep 1991 03 Jul 1993 25 Oct 1991 01 Aug 1992 17 Feb 1993 16 Jan 1993 16 Mar 1992 27 Jul 1991 24 Nov 1992 08 Jun 1994 04 May 1995 30 Aug 1992 02 Jan 1993 10 Mar 1993 10 Dec 1992 17 Sep 1993 11 Jul 1992 19 Aug 1992

SOUTH AFRICAN BOYS POSITION

48 116 159 195 219 324 360 421 575 646 743 766 775 801 816= 875= 983= 989 993= 1006= 1095= 1143= 1251= 1251= 1364= 1407= 1424= 1589= 1725= 1725= 1725= 1945= 2078= 2078= 2078= 2078= 2078=

88

TENNISWORLD SA

RANKING

950 930 690 740 725 660 590 630 710 520 640 390 540 535 670 570 540 590 485 500

105,00 81,25 121,25 70,00 57,50 117,50 155,00 113,75 25,00 205,00 78,75 320,00 148,75 138,75 0,00 98,75 122,50 46,25 130,00 113,75

*1,055,00 1,011,25 *811,25 *810,00 *782,50 *777,50 *745,00 *743,75 *735,00 *725,00 *718,75 *710,00 *688,75 673,75 670,00 *668,75 *662,50 *636,25 *615,00 *613,75

SINGLES

DOUBLES

RANKING

395 230 190 150 150 110 105 85 65 50 40 40 40 35 40 30 20 10 25 25 20 15 10 10 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0

73,75 31,25 35,00 40,00 27,50 17,50 13,75 20,00 11,25 15,00 12,50 10,00 8,75 11,25 5,00 8,75 10,00 20,00 5,00 3,75 3,75 6,25 7,50 7,50 8,75 1,25 6,25 2,50 0,00 0,00 0,00 3,75 1,25 1,25 1,25 1,25 1,25

*468,75 261,25 225,00 190,00 177,50 127,50 118,75 105,00 76,25 65,00 52,50 50,00 48,75 46,25 45,00 38,75 30,00 30,00 30,00 28,75 23,75 21,25 17,50 17,50 13,75 11,25 11,25 7,50 5,00 5,00 5,00 3,75 1,25 1,25 1,25 1,25 1,25

ITF JUNIOR BOYS STATISTICS Most matches played 1 2 3 4 5

T Babos (HUN) I Khromacheva (RUS) M Grage (DEN) K Mladenovic (FRA) C Silva (CHI)

MEN’S SINGLES RANKINGS (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

Best winning percentage 53 51 49 48 47

1 2 3 4 5

A Khabibulina (UZB) O Terteac (MDA) J Abaza (USA) P Rohanova (CZE) P Ku (PER)

ITF JUNIOR GIRLS POSITION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

POINTS

POINTS

NAME

NAT

DATE OF BIRTH

MLADENOVIC, Kristina LERTCHEEWAKARN, Noppawan WATSON, Heather BABOS, Timea STEPHENS, Sloane TOMLJANOVIC, Ajla INOUE, Miyabi PERVAK, Ksenia NJIRIC, Silvia GAVRILOVA, Daria BOGDAN, Ana SILVA, Camila MCHALE, Christina HOGENKAMP, Richel KOLAR, Nastja BUCHINA, Yana ZANEVSKA, Maryna EMBREE, Lauren CEPELOVA, Jana PUTINTSEVA, Yulia

FRA THA GBR HUN USA CRO JPN RUS CRO RUS ROU CHI USA NED SLO RUS UKR USA SVK RUS

14 May 1993 18 Nov 1991 19 May 1992 10 May 1993 20 Mar 1993 07 May 1993 19 Nov 1991 27 May 1991 09 Jul 1993 05 Mar 1994 25 Nov 1992 30 Oct 1992 11 May 1992 16 Apr 1992 15 Jul 1994 07 Feb 1992 24 Aug 1993 10 Jan 1991 29 May 1993 07 Jan 1995

NAME

NAT

DATE OF BIRTH

SIMMONDS, Chanel IVE, Sarah FOUROUCLAS, Natasha SWANEPOEL, Bianca LAING, Jessica PLANT, Tracy VAN WYK, Veruska Monique WESSELS, Clorinda LUUS, Welma SHER, Kaylea Chana

RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA

10 Aug 1992 05 Jul 1993 31 Jan 1994 07 Jan 1991 30 Jul 1993 21 Sep 1993 19 Apr 1992 19 Jul 1993 20 May 1992 02 Sep 1993

SOUTH AFRICAN GIRLS POSITION

24 244 250 262 365 387 420 437 488 494=

A Collarini (ARG) A Murray (GBR) D Novikov (USA) R Nadal (ESP) M Zsiga (HUN)

SINGLES

DOUBLES

RANKING

1 260 900 970 870 770 570 650 720 600 660 630 640 530 575 580 560 470 530 520 610

195,00 255,00 127,50 163,75 60,00 210,00 122,50 45,00 150,00 75,00 85,00 65,00 130,00 75,00 67,50 85,00 173,75 102,50 102,50 12,50

*1,455,00 *1,155,00 *1,097,50 *1,033,75 *830,00 *780,00 *772,50 765,00 *750,00 *735,00 *715,00 *705,00 660,00 *650,00 *647,50 *645,00 *643,75 *632,50 *622,50 622,50

SINGLES

DOUBLES

RANKING

540 140 145 110 95 100 85 85 70 75

67,50 21,25 15,00 47,50 25,00 15,00 21,25 17,50 22,50 16,25

*607,50 161,25 160,00 157,50 120,00 115,00 106,25 102,50 92,50 91,25

Best winning percentage 88 71 71 70 69

1 2 3 4 5

T. Monteiro (BRA) S. Diez (ESP) U. Thomsen (DEN) H. Nys (FRA) M. Stropp (GER)

44 52 114 117 124 158 163 185 192 195 204 237 274 278 304 336 349 362= 369 390= 407= 407= 414= 458= 458= 467=

7 7 6 7 7 5 6 4 7 3 6 5 7 2 4 6 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2

7 7 6 7 7 5 6 4 7 3 6 5 7 2 4 6 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2

338 291 132 129 122 87 85 66 64 62 58 46 32 31 24 16 13 9 8 6 6 6 6 4 4 4

6 7 4 6 7 7 4 7 2 2

6 8 4 6 7 7 4 7 2 2

461 282 238 165 112 98 36 36 8 4

6 6 2 4 6 5 6 6

7 6 2 4 7 5 7 7

433 213 98 80 71 57 30 12

4 4 4

4 4 4

64 8 8

4

4

36

RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA

MATHONSI, Sydwell MONYAMANE, Desmond RAMOKOATSI , Frank MARIPA, Evans TSHIPUKE, Ishmael MARSH, Marshall SELEPE, Patrick ELS, Leon LETSOALO, Geoffrey BURGER, Hanno ANDERSON, Malcolm MOGOROSI, Daniel MAKWELA, Tsepo HUBBARD, Adrian MAKHUBELA, Amigo OPPERRMAN , Arrie CHABANGU, Simon RAVELE, Fhatumani RAMUEDI, Reckson NEKHALALE, Lwvhuwane MALATJI, Moses BUTHELEZI, Zakhele DU TOIT, Connie VUYO, Vimbayo SIGCU, Agahle JOHANNES, Shafiek

WOMEN’S SINGLES RANKINGS (9 NOVEMBER 2009)

POINTS

ITF JUNIOR GIRLS STATISTICS Most matches played 1 62 2 59 3

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

POINTS

SWE IND ARG AUS FRA FRA TPE ARG RUS FRA ARG TPE GER HUN AUS VEN GER GUA PER JPN

DOUBLES

TOTAL EVENTS

BERTA, Daniel BHAMBRI, Yuki VELOTTI, Agustin KUBLER, Jason MINA, Gianni OBRY, Julien HUANG, Liang-Chi COLLARINI, Andrea KUZNETSOV, Andrey HERBERT, Pierre-Hugues ARGUELLO, Facundo HSIEH, Cheng-Peng KRAWIETZ, Kevin FUCSOVICS, Marton TOMIC, Bernard SOUTO, David SCHULZ, Dominik URIGUEN, Julen BERETTA, Duilio UCHIYAMA, Yasutaka

SINGLES

RANKED EVENTS

DATE OF BIRTH

NATION

NAT

NAME

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

POINTS

NAME

RANK

ITF JUNIOR BOYS POSITION

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

20 39 44 55 72 81 119 120 144 160=

MONTJANE, Kgothatso MOREMI, Nancy DU TOIT, Celia VAN DER MEER, Rosalea MOOKETSI, Reilfwe MUANALO, Tshilitzi SIBANDA, Tsholofelo MADIKANE, Bongiwe QEKE, Amanda GROOTBOOM, Nolubabalo

RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA

QUADS SINGLES RANKINGS (6 JULY 2009) 16 33 49 54 56 59 67 72

SITHOLE, Lucas KEKAE, Stephen NIEHAUS, Stephanus Petrus DEGENAAR, Luan Johann MATHEBULA, David GALLANT, Fernando KONZANI, Ndikho MOKOBODI, Abigail

RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA RSA

BOYS’ SINGLES RANKINGS (2 NOVEMBER 2009) 14 BURGER, Hanno 34= MALATJI, Moses 34= BUTHELEZI, Zakhele

RSA RSA RSA

GIRLS’ SINGLES RANKINGS (2 NOVEMBER 2009) 9 SIBANDA, Tsholofelo

RSA

TENNISWORLD SA

89

SA DOUBLES RESULTS

in October and November 2009 VALENCIA OPEN 500

GRAND PRIX DE TENNIS DE LYON

Valencia, Spain

Lyon, France

2-8 November 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) Draw: 32 €2 019 000

26 October – 1 November 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) Draw: 32 €650 000

DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND

DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND

Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) d. (WC)Marc Lopez/Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo (ESP) 6-3 6-4

(WC)Julien Benneteau/Nicolas Mahut (FRA) d.

(1)Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman (RSA/BEL) 7-6(4) 7-6(3)

DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS (3)Frantisek Cermak/Michal Mertinak (CZE/SVK) d. Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) 3-6 6-4 (13-11)

VIRGINIA NATIONAL BANK MEN’S PRO CHAMPIONSHIP Charlottesville, VA, USA 2-8 November 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Kevin Anderson/Donald Young (RSA/USA) d. Alex Bogomolov/Somdev K. Dev Varman (USA/IND) 6-7(5) 6-4 (10-4) (3)Martin Emmrich/Andreas Siljestrom (GER/SWE) d. Raven Klaasen/Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 7-6(5) 4-6 (10-7) DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS Kevin Anderson/Donald Young (RSA/USA) d. (WC) Cory Parr/Todd Paul (USA) 6-3 6-4 DOUBLES – SEMIFINALS (3)Martin Emmrich/Andreas Siljestrom (GER/SWE) d. Kevin Anderson/Donald Young (RSA/USA) 6-4 7-6(8)

DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND

OPEN DE RENNES

Raven Klaasen/Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d.

(4)Prakash Amritraj/Alex Kuznetsov (IND/USA) 6-2 6-3

Andrew Anderson/Benjamin Janse van Rensburg (RSA) d. Ivo Klec/Pavel Vanis (CZE) 6-2 6-3

Rennes, France

DOUBLES – SEMIFINALS

Takanyi Garanganga/Admire Mushonga (ZIM) d.

(WC)Heinrich Heyl/Rainier Nagel (RSA) 7-5 6-4

Santiago Gonzalez/Simon Stadler (MEX/GER) d.

Raven Klaasen/Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 4-6 6-4 (10-5)

Manfred Jeske/Kyle Rowe (RSA) d.

Ivan Galic/Jeremy Jahn (AUT/GER) 7-5 5-7 (14-12)

IF STOCKHOLM OPEN

Hendrik Coertzen/Ruan Roelofse (RSA) d.

(3)Jiri Kosler/Richard Ruckelshausen (CZE/AUT) 6-2 7-6(7)

Stockholm, Sweden 19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) 32 draw €600 000 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND

Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) d. (3) Martin Damm/Robert Lindstedt (CZE/SWE) 7-5 2-1 ret.

(4)Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) d. (WC) Henri Kontinen/Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 2-6 6-3 (10-6)

DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS

DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS

Marcelo Melo/Andre Sa (BRA) d.

Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) 6-3 6-4

(4)Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) d.

Arnaud Clement/Robert Lindstedt (FRA/SWE) 7-6(3) 3-6 (10-7)

SAMSUNG SECURITIES CUP

DOUBLES – SEMIFINALS

Seoul, Korea

(1)Bruno Soares/Kevin Ullyett (BRA/ZIM) d.

(4)Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) 6-4 7-5

26 October – 1 November 2009 Surface: Hard $125 000+H DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND (3)Rik De Voest/Yen-Hsun Lu (RSA/TPE) d. (WC) Jae-Sung An/Yong-Kyu Lim (KOR) 7-5 6-0 DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS (3)Rik De Voest/Yen-Hsun Lu (RSA/TPE) d. Andis Juska/Dmitri Sitak (LAT/RUS) 6-4 6-3 DOUBLES – SEMIFINALS (3)Rik De Voest/Yen-Hsun Lu (RSA/TPE) d.

Thiemo de Bakker/Igor Sijsling (NED) 6-3 6-2 DOUBLES – FINALS (3)Rik De Voest/Yen-Hsun Lu (RSA/TPE) d. (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 7-6(5) 3-6 (10-6)

FLEA MARKET CUP

OPEN D’ORLEANS Orleans, France 19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) $125 000+H DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND (4)Kevin Anderson/Carsten Ball (RSA/AUS) d.

Jonathan Marray/Alessandro Motti (GBR/ITA) 6-4 6-3 DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS Ruben Bemelmans/Xavier Malisse (BEL) d.

(4)Kevin Anderson/Carsten Ball (RSA/AUS) 6-2 6-4

SOUTH AFRICA F1 – GNTA INTERNATIONAL OPEN

Chuncheon, Korea

TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

2-8 November 2009 Surface: Hard $100 000+H

Calabasas, CA, USA

Pretoria, South Africa

19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000

19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard Main draw: 32 Qualifying draw: 64 $15 000

DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND (2)Rik De Voest/Frederik Nielsen (RSA/DEN) d.

Prakash Amritraj/Alex Kuznetsov (IND/USA) 6-3 6-4 DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS Andis Juska/Dmitri Sitak (LAT/RUS) d. (2)Rik De Voest/Frederik Nielsen (RSA/DEN) 7-6(4) 6-3

90

DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS

TENNISWORLD SA

DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Raven Klaasen/Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d.

Tigran Martirosyan/Jesse Witten (ARM/USA) 6-3 6-3

Jean Andersen/Nikala Scholtz (RSA) d. (WC) Marlu Jansen van Vuuren/Jason Wolfson (RSA) 6-0 6-1 DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS Andrew Anderson/Benjamin Janse van Rensburg (RSA) d. (1)Alexander Satschko/Frank Wintermantel (GER) 6-3 6-4 Hendrik Coertzen/Ruan Roelofse (RSA) d. Manfred Jeske/Kyle Rowe (RSA) 6-1 6-7(4) (11-9) Jean Andersen/Nikala Scholtz (RSA) d. Gilles de Sousa/Yannick Jankovits (FRA) 6-3 6-2 DOUBLES – SEMIFINALS Andrew Anderson/Benjamin Janse van Rensburg (RSA) d. Joshua Crowe/Sean Thornley (AUS/GBR) 6-4 2-6 (10-2) Hendrik Coertzen/Ruan Roelofse (RSA) d. Jean Andersen/Nikala Scholtz (RSA) 6-2 7-5 DOUBLES – FINALS Andrew Anderson/Benjamin Janse van Rensburg (RSA) d. Hendrik Coertzen/Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-3 7-5

12-18 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) $75 000+H DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Kevin Anderson/Dominik Hrbaty (RSA/SVK) d. (1) Scott Lipsky/Rogier Wassen (USA/NED) 7-6(5) 6-3 DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS Kevin Anderson/Dominik Hrbaty (RSA/SVK) d.

David Guez/Josselyn Ouanna (FRA) w/o DOUBLES – SEMIFINALS Kevin Anderson/Dominik Hrbaty (RSA/SVK) d.

(4)Philipp Marx/Igor Zelenay (GER/SVK) 7-5 6-3 DOUBLES – FINALS (3)Eric Butorac/Lovro Zovko (USA/CRO) d. Kevin Anderson/Dominik Hrbaty (RSA/SVK) 6-4 3-6 (10-6)

TIBURON CHALLENGER QUALIFYING 12-18 October 2009 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND (1)Izak van der Merwe/Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) d.

Thomas Fabbiano/Matteo Marrai (ITA) 6-3 6-4 DOUBLES – QUALIFYING ROUND (2)Matt Reid/Igor Sijsling (AUS/NED) d. (1)Izak van der Merwe/Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) 7-5 6-2

SHANGHAI ATP MASTERS 1000

USA F25 – 2009 10SPORTAL.COM CLASSIC

Shanghai, China

Austin, TX, USA

12-18 October 2009 Surface: Hard Draw: 56 $3 240 000 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND

12-18 October 2009 Surface: Hard Main draw: 32 Qualifying draw: 64 $15 000

(5)Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman (RSA/BEL) bye

DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND

Simon Aspelin/Paul Hanley (SWE/AUS) d. Jeff Coetzee/Stephen Huss (RSA/AUS) 4-6 6-3 (11-9)

(WC)Edward Louies Oueilhe/Franklin Sherrill (USA) d. Michael Lane/Gary Sacks (USA/RSA) 6-1 4-6 (10-8)

DOUBLES – SECOND ROUND (5)Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman (RSA/BEL) d.

Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco (ESP) w/o DOUBLES – QUARTERFINALS Julian Knowle/Jurgen Melzer (AUT) d. (5)Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman (RSA/BEL) 4-6 7-6(6) (10-6)

RAKUTEN JAPAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009 Tokyo, Japan 5-11 October 2009 Surface: Hard Draw: 32 $1 226 500 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Stanislas Wawrinka (FRA/SUI) d. Jeff Coetzee/Rik De Voest (RSA) 6-2 6-4

NATOMAS MEN’S PROFESSIONAL TENNIS TOURNAMENT Sacramento, CA, USA 5-11 October 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND (1)Santiago Gonzalez/Travis Rettenmaier (MEX/ USA) d. (q)Raven Klaasen/Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 6-3 6-3

PTT THAILAND OPEN Bangkok, Thailand 28 September – 4 October 2009 Surface: Hard Draw: 28 $608 500 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Marat Safin/Gilles Simon (RUS/FRA) d. (4)Jeff Coetzee/Rik De Voest (RSA) 6-4 6-7(3) (10-4)

USA F24 – 2009 USTA FUTURES OF LAGUNA NIGUEL Laguna Niguel, CA, USA 28 September – 4 October 2009 Surface: Hard Main draw: 32 Qualifying draw: 128 $10 000 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Boris Bakalov/Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (BUL/GER) d.

Will Gray/Gary Sacks (USA/RSA) 7-6(4) 6-3

CHINA OPEN Beijing, China 5-11 October 2009 Surface: Hard Draw: 32 $2 100 500 DOUBLES – FIRST ROUND Lukas Dlouhy/Philipp Kohlschreiber (CZE/GER) d.

(3)Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman (RSA/BEL) 6-7(1) 6-3 (10-8)

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in October and November 2009

SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #288 (1)Alexander Satschko (GER) d. #1113 Hendrik Coertzen (RSA) 6-2 6-4 #1017 Benjamin Janse van Rensburg (RSA) d. #1349 (q)Fabiano de Paula (BRA) 6-3 6-4

Charlottesville, VA, USA 2-8 November 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #264 Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d. #332 Raven Klaasen (RSA) 6-4 6-4 #120 (4)Kevin Anderson (RSA) d. #320 Alex Bogomolov (USA) 6-0 6-2 #105 (2)Kevin Kim (USA) d. #440 (q)Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) 6-4 7-6(7) SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #116 (3)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #264 Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 6-2 1-6 6-2 #231 Donald Young (USA) d. #120 (4)Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-3 3-6 7-6(1)

FLEA MARKET CUP Chuncheon, Korea 2-8 November 2009 Surface: Hard $100 000+H SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #257 Rik De Voest (RSA) d. #240 Todd Widom (USA) 7-5 6-0 SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #126 (2)Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) d. #257 Rik De Voest (RSA) 6-4 6-3

USA F27 – THE FUTURES AT HIGHLAND PARK Birmingham, AL, USA 2-8 November 2009 Surface: Clay Main draw: 32 Qualifying draw: 128 $10 000 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #653 Michael Venus (USA) d. #UNR (q)Tucker Vorster (RSA) 6-3 7-5

GRAND PRIX DE TENNIS DE LYON Lyon, France 26 October – 1 November 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) Draw: 32 €650 000 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #123 (q)Kevin Anderson (RSA) d. #59 Simon Greul (GER) 6-4 4-6 7-6(3)

TENNISWORLD SA

BANGKOK QUALIFYING

#UNR Francesco Arciuli (ITA) d. #UNR Courtney Swartz (RSA) 6-3 7-6(2)

12-18 October 2009

28 September – 4 October 2009

SINGLES – FIRST ROUND

SINGLES – FIRST ROUND

#1564 (13)Gary Sacks (RSA) d. #UNR Olivier Sajous (HAI) 6-4 7-6(1)

#178 Dominik Meffert (GER) d. #UNR Jeff Coetzee (RSA) 6-2 6-2

SINGLES – SECOND ROUND

#194 (8)Rik De Voest (RSA) d. #UNR Levar Harper-Griffith (USA) 6-3 6-4

SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #51 (5)Julien Benneteau (FRA) d. #123 (q)Kevin Anderson (RSA) 7-5 6-2

#730 Andrew Anderson (RSA) d. #1377 (WC) Nikala Scholtz (RSA) 6-4 6-3 #824 Frank Wintermantel (GER) d. #1297 Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-3 6-4

#434 (2)Sebastian Rieschick (GER) d. #UNR Jean Andersen (RSA) 6-2 7-6(5)

SAMSUNG SECURITIES CUP

#675 (7)Gilles de Sousa (FRA) d. #UNR (q)Marlu Jansen van Vuuren (RSA) 6-1 6-2

#916 (3)Jeremy Jahn (GER) d. #UNR Steffen Solomon (RSA) 6-3 6-0

#UNR (q)Rainier Nagel (RSA) d. #UNR (WC) Manfred Jeske (RSA) 7-5 3-6 6-2

#UNR Rainier Nagel (RSA) d. #UNR Ivan Galic (AUT) 6-1 6-0

#890 Joshua Crowe (AUS) d. #1377 Grant Ive (RSA) 6-4 6-4 SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #288 (1)Alexander Satschko (GER) d. #1017 Benjamin Janse van Rensburg (RSA) 6-1 6-2

#UNR Mark Fynn (ZIM) d. #UNR Clayton Gilbertson (RSA) 6-1 6-0

#730 Andrew Anderson (RSA) d. #591 (4)Yannick Vandenbulcke (BEL) 6-4 6-2

Rennes, France

Seoul, Korea 26 October – 1 November 2009 Surface: Hard $125 000+H SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #121 (4)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #240 Rik De Voest (RSA) 6-2 2-0 ret.

CALABASAS PRO TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS Calabasas, CA, USA 19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #804 (WC)Bradley Klahn (USA) d. #1555 (WC)Gary Sacks (RSA) 6-7(4) 6-2 6-2 #581 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) d. #274 (2)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 7-6(3) 6-3 #271 (3)Luka Gregorc (SLO) d. #438 Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) 2-6 6-1 7-6(5) #284 (4)Raven Klaasen (RSA) d. #840 Roman Borvanov (MDA) 6-3 3-6 6-3 SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #494 Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) d. #284 (4)Raven Klaasen (RSA) 7-6(4) 6-3

OPEN D’ORLEANS Orleans, France 19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) €106 500+H SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #141 Stephane Robert (FRA) d. #125 (6)Kevin Anderson (RSA) 7-6(4) 7-6(3)

SOUTH AFRICA F1 – GNTA INTERNATIONAL OPEN Pretoria, South Africa 19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard Main draw: 32 Qualifying Draw: 64 $15 000

#434 (3)(q)Sebastian Rieschick (GER) d. #UNR (q)Rainier Nagel (RSA) 6-3 6-1 SINGLES – QUARTERFINALS #730 Andrew Anderson (RSA) d. #824 Frank Wintermantel (GER) 6-4 6-3 SINGLES – SEMIFINALS #730 Andrew Anderson (RSA) d. #863 Takanyi Garanganga (ZIM) 4-6 6-4 6-1 SINGLES – FINALS #730 Andrew Anderson (RSA) d. #434 (3)(q) Sebastian Rieschick (GER) 6-4 6-2

SOUTH AFRICA F1 QUALIFYING 19-25 October 2009 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #UNR Jean Andersen (RSA) d. #UNR Rudi Bartels (RSA) 6-2 6-0 #UNR Clayton Gilbertson (RSA) d. #UNR Hayward Scholtz (RSA) 6-0 6-1 SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #352 (1)Ivo Klec (SVK) d. #UNR Dimitri Terpizis (RSA) 6-2 6-0 #UNR Jonathan Hills (RSA) d. #UNR Schalk Buys (RSA) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 #UNR Jean Andersen (RSA) d. #UNR Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) 7-5 7-5 #UNR Steffen Solomon (RSA) d. #UNR Vladimir Makic (BIH) 6-0 6-1 #1349 (4)Fabiano de Paula (BRA) d. #UNR Theodore Ernest Vermaak (RSA) 6-1 6-0

#UNR Marlu Jansen van Vuuren (RSA) d. #UNR Jeroen Clayes (BEL) 1-6 6-3 6-4

#UNR Christoph Muller (GER) d. #1564 (13)Gary Sacks (RSA) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2

TOKYO QUALIFYING 5-11 October 2009 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #215 (8)Rik De Voest (RSA) d. #388 (WC)Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 6-4 7-6(3) SINGLES – QUALIFYING ROUND #189 (4)Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d. #215 (8)Rik De Voest (RSA) 3-6 6-3 6-4

OPEN DE RENNES 12-18 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) €64 000+H ($75 000+H) SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #130 (4)Kevin Anderson (RSA) d. #273 Olivier Patience (FRA) 7-6(6) 6-2 SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #130 (4)Kevin Anderson (RSA) d. #179 Julian Reister (GER) 7-6(3) 7-6(3) SINGLES – QUARTERFINALS #229 Dieter Kindlmann (GER) d. #130 (4)Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-2 7-5

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND CHALLENGER

NATOMAS MEN’S PROFESSIONAL TENNIS TOURNAMENT Sacramento, CA, USA 5-11 October 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #82 (1)Robert Kendrick (USA) d. #282 (q)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 7-6(5) 4-6 6-1 [Klaasen replaces (SE)Carlos Salamanca] #174 Jesse Witten (USA) d. #291 (LL)Raven Klaasen (RSA) 6-3 6-3

SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #194 (8)Rik De Voest (RSA) d. #989 Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA) 6-3 6-4 SINGLES – QUALIFYING ROUND #149 (4)Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d. #194 (8)Rik De Voest (RSA) 6-2 6-1

KENYA F1 Narobi, Kenya 28 September – 4 October 2009 Surface: Clay Main draw: 32 Qualifying draw: 32 $10 000 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #1462 (q)Ruan Roelofse (RSA) d. #818 (7)Motaz Abou El Khair (EGY) 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) #520 (2)Bogdan Leonte (ROU) d. #1144 Hendrik Coertzen (RSA) 6-4 6-4 SINGLES – SECOND ROUND #1284 Mohamed Safwat (EGY) d. #1462 (q)Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-4 6-3

USA F24 QUALIFYING 28 September – 4 October 2009

SACRAMENTO CHALLENGER QUALIFYING 5-11 October 2009

SINGLES – FIRST ROUND #1587 Gary Sacks (RSA) d. #UNR Achim Vladimirschii (MDA) 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4

SINGLES – FIRST ROUND

#UNR Rohan Weideman (RSA) d. #UNR David Maxwell (USA) 1-6 6-3 7-6(4)

#449 Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) d. #1741 (WC)Tyler Hochwalt (USA) 3-6 6-4 7-5

#UNR Giovanni Vaglietti (RSA) d. #UNR Eric Roberson (USA) 6-3 6-2

SINGLES – FIRST ROUND

#282 (4)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d. #369 Milos Raonic (CAN) 7-6(5) 6-2

SINGLES – SECOND ROUND

#201 Kyu-Tae Im (KOR) d. #199 Rik De Voest (RSA) 3-6 6-4 6-3

#291 (5)Raven Klaasen (RSA) d. #UNR (WC) Daniel Kosakowski (USA) 4-6 7-6(0) 6-2

#869 (5)Marcus Fugate (USA) d. #1587 Gary Sacks (RSA) 6-4 0-6 6-2

#278 Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (CAN) d. #151 (6)(SE) Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-3 4-6 6-4

SINGLES – SECOND ROUND

#UNR Giovanni Vaglietti (RSA) d. #UNR Rohan Weideman (RSA) 6-4 6-4

#449 Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) d. #274 (3)Tim Smyczek (USA) 6-4 6-2

SINGLES – THIRD ROUND

#282 (4)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d. #UNR (WC) David Martin (USA) 7-5 7-6(3)

#1064 (10)Holden Seguso (USA) d. #UNR Giovanni Vaglietti (RSA) 6-2 6-1

Tiburon, CA, USA 12-18 October 2009 Surface: Hard $50 000

GREAT BRITAIN F11 QUALIFYING 3-9 August 2009 SINGLES – FIRST ROUND

#UNR Gwinyai Tongoona (ZIM) d. #UNR Stephan Havenga (RSA) 6-4 6-4

[Sitak replaces Ryan Sweeting]

#UNR Rainier Nagel (RSA) d. #1377 (5)Heinrich Heyl (RSA) 7-5 6-1

#270 (q)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d. #335 (LL) Artem Sitak (RUS) 7-5 1-6 6-2

#UNR Clayton Gilbertson (RSA) d. #UNR Jason Wolfson (RSA) 7-5 7-5

SINGLES – SECOND ROUND

#UNR Mark Fynn (ZIM) d. #UNR Daniel Johannes Smith (RSA) 6-3 7-5

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USA F25 QUALIFYING

#UNR Tinashe Chikanda (ZIM) d. #UNR Pieter Becker (RSA) 6-4 6-2 SINGLES – QUALIFYING ROUND #352 (1)Ivo Klec (SVK) d. #UNR Jonathan Hills (RSA) w/o

#1684 Fredrik Ask (NOR) d. #UNR (WC)Kyle Rowe (RSA) 6-3 6-3

VIRGINIA NATIONAL BANK MEN’S PRO CHAMPIONSHIP

#UNR Marlu Jansen van Vuuren (RSA) d. #UNR Jason Gilbertson (RSA) 6-2 6-0

#133 (5)Roko Karanusic (CRO) d. #270 (q)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 6-2 4-6 6-3

#291 (5)Raven Klaasen (RSA) d. #913 Tim Bradshaw (GBR) 6-3 2-6 6-4 SINGLES – QUALIFYING ROUND #367 (8)Louk Sorensen (IRL) d. #449 Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) 6-3 6-2 #282 (4)Izak van der Merwe (RSA) d. #291 (5)Raven Klaasen (RSA) 3-6 6-1 6-2

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WTA Results in October and November 2009 TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS Bali, INA 4-8 November 2009 Surface: Hard (Outdoor) PREMIER $600 000 12RR/0q/0d On Sunday in Bali, in the final of the first WTA Tournament of Champions, this year’s champion in Strasbourg, 10th-seeded 22-year-old #44 Aravane Rezai from St. Etienne, France, defeated this year’s champ at Stanford & Monterrey, topseeded 25-year-old #12 Marion Bartoli of France (residence: Geneva, Switzerland), 7-5, retired, when Marion could no longer continue due to a bad left quad strain (Marion is shown during the match, and Aravane, with the hardware, in traditional Balinese attire afterward).

Aravane’s prize is $200 000; Marion’s is $100 000.

Aravane said: “It’s a big surprise to finish like that and I’m very sorry for her. She looks like she hurt a lot and I hope it is not a big injury... “[The match] was a good quality. It was a big level. We fight and it was pretty nice for the people watching. We are professionals and try to win the title, and that’s why it was a nice match.

“Winning here means so many things for myself.

I proved to myself I can be at a much better ranking and much better player on the tour, and also prove to so many people, my family, my parents, my coach, that I can do better and better.”

Marion said: “I started to feel my leg was pretty tight in the middle of the set. I started to feel some pain all over my quads and I thought maybe it was the stress and no reason to be serious. But then it hurt me a lot, especially each time I had to push and put some weight onto my left leg it was really getting worse and worse and at the end I couldn’t continue.

“It was a good match and I’m very sad to finish like this. The last thing you want to do is injury yourself in the last match of the season. But what can you do? I was trying my best and perhaps it was just too much.”

Marion and Aravane had met only twice before.

On red clay in the 1st round at Roland Garros in 2007, Marion defeated Aravane 6-2, 6-4. And a few weeks ago, on a hardcourt in the 2nd round in Tokyo, Marion won again, 6-4, 6-2.

WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS Doha, Qatar 26 October – 1 November 2009 Surface: Hard (Outdoor) PREMIER $4 500 000 8RR/0q/4d

On Sunday in Doha, Qatar, in the final of the 2009 WTA Championships, the 2001 year-end champion, 28-year-old 2nd-seeded #2 Serena Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, won the title again, by defeating her sister, the 2008 Doha champ, 29-year-old 7th-seeded #7 Venus Williams (same address) 6-2, 7-6(4) (both ladies are shown during the match, and Serena with the hardware afterward).

Serena’s prize is $1 550 000; Venus’s prize is $580 000.

Venus did not hold a break point against Serena during the match, while Serena converted 4 of 6 breakpoints she held against Venus. Serena put 67% of her 1st serves in the box, and won 89% of her 1st serve points, including 5 aces, with no double faults (Venus: 50% in, 66% 1st serve points won, 1 ace, 3 DFs).

Serena said: “Playing Venus in the finals was tough. Even though she wasn’t feeling good, she was getting every ball back. I can’t tell you how frustrating that is! Playing her is never easy.

Serena had not won a title outside of Melbourne, Flushing Meadows and Wimbledon since April, 2008. Serena said: “Now my losing streak in tournaments that aren’t Grand Slams is over!

Coming out here and doing well is so exciting.

I totally didn’t expect to come here and win. My practice at home wasn’t going so great, but I just kept fighting.”

Venus said: “I have to congratulate Serena for playing a great match today and having a great tournament. Last year I was able to win Wimbledon and the Sony Ericsson Championships, and it felt great. This year I came close to winning both, but it just didn’t work out for me. I’ll just continue to learn from everything and, more than anything, continue to enjoy what I do.”

Serena now leads Venus 13-10 in career matches, and Serena also won their last three meetings: on a hard court in this year’s Miami semifinals, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, on grass in the final of this year’s Championships at Wimbledon, 7-6(3), 6-2, and on Wednesday in the round robin prelims in Doha, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4).

WTA – KREMLIN CUP

BNP PARIBAS OPEN Luxembourg, LUX 19-25 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Indoor) INTL $220 000 32m/32q/16d

in

On Sunday in Luxembourg, in the final of the BNP Paribas Open, 20-year-old unseeded #70 Timea Bacsinszky from Lausanne, Switzerland, defeated this year’s winner in Charleston, 20-year-old 6thseeded #28 Sabine Lisicki from Berlin, Germany, 6-2, 7-5 (Timea is shown making friends with the very “arty” Luxembourg hardware). Timea’s prize is $37 000; Sabine’s is $19 000.

LF TO YOURSE T W O L L NEX U “A CAN YO DITION YOUR IS. ?

S E R N U FAIL ORY KE CO RECENT T OF A MISTA NEGATIVE MEM T E G R O H YOUR AND F HOUG STINCT R DOES THE T SIGNIFICANT N I R U ?O OW T YO HECK H BARRED U TRUS CAN YO TH NO HOLDS OWING TEST, C I L PLAY” W SING THE FOL U ?

H MATC

WTA – BEIJING CHINA OPEN Luxembourg, LUX 3-11 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Outdoor) PREMIER M $4 500 000 60m/32q/28d Beijing, in the final of the China Open, the 2006 China Open champion (and this year’s French Open champ), 24-year-old 6th-seeded #6 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), won the Beijing title a second time by defeating 20-year-old 12th-seeded #12 Agnieszka Radwanska from Krakow, Poland, 6-2, 6-4 (Svetlana is shown during the match, and with the hardware afterward). Svetlana’s prize is $775 000; Agnieszka’s is $387 750.

WTA – OSAKA & LINZ Japan 12-17 October 2009 Surface: Hard (Outdoor) INTL $220 000 32m/32q/16d Osaka, Japan, in the final of the Japan Open, this year’s finalist in Los Angeles, 25-year-old 3rd-seeded #14 Samantha Stosur from Gold Coast, Australia, won her first WTA singles title by defeating 29-year-old 4th-seeded #26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy (residence: London, England), 7-5, 6-1 (Samantha is shown with the hardware after the match). Samantha’s prize is $37 000; Francesca’s is $19 000.

Moscow, Russia

GENERALI LADIES

19-25 October 2009 Surface: Supreme (Indoor) PREMIER $1,000,000 32m/32q/16d

Linz, AUT

On Sunday in Moscow, Russia, in the final of the Kremlin Cup, last week’s finalist in Osaka, 29-year-old 8th-seeded #26 (and former #11) Francesca Schiavone of Italy (residence: London, England), defeated 21-year-old unseeded #66 Olga Govortsova from Minsk, Belarus, 6-3, 6-0 (Francesca is shown holding the Kremlin Cup).

Francesca’s prize is $157 427; Olga’s is $83 908.

Linz, Austria, in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz, 19-year-old 3rd-seeded #25 Yanina Wickmayer from Deurne, Belgium, defeated 19-yearold unseeded #54 Petra Kvitova from Fulnek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-4 (Yanina is also shown with the hardware after the match). Yanina’s prize is $37 000; Petra’s is $19 000.

Surface: Hard (Indoor) INTL $220 000 32m/32q/16d

T

o understand what is meant by instinct, you can use the pillow technique. Take a tennis player, make him lie on his back, then ask him to turn and, while he does so, throw a pillow at him from a distance of about three metres. If his reflexes are good, he will catch the pillow on the fly, or he will at least manage to protect his face, thus doing the only possible right thing.

This is called instinct.

But how can one think less and have less of a negative memory? Each of us, in good and bad, and in tennis as well, is always a prisoner of his past and memory − that is the awareness of what we are and have been; and of our mistakes too − is often the computer that leads and directs our personality.

That is why when we make an easy mistake, when we miss an important opportunity or lose a breakpoint, we end up playing the following points badly as well. Disappointment, wrath, the recollection of what has just happened, in other words the memory, demand a further negative tribute, unless we possess a remarkable mental strength.

THE AGONISTIC TRANCE And yet there are situations in which both the memory and the awareness of

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g n i y a l P e c n a r at

Can you do it?

oneself are blunt. This happens when the tennis player experiences absolute concentration and total harmony with himself, enjoying a special state of grace. “I thought I was in a trance!”

An agonistic trance.

In fact, that mental state in which everything comes easily and automatically is actually a hypnotic situation in which the player “forgets himself” and loses memory of everything, as if he had turned on the automatic pilot.

Right now we express ourselves completely at an agonistic level, in opposition to the “restraining mind”, that is the part of ourselves that often fills us with doubts and fears by making us think too much, hampering our potential.

If a player serves for the match in a moment of agonistic trance, right then he has the sensation of dominating the court thoroughly and of being able to direct the ball to the corner he has selected, with extreme ease. Nine out of ten times his serve will result in an ace or at least an effective shot!

By contrast, if he serves, dreading the possibility of a double fault, in most cases he runs the risk of actually doing it.

HOW TO ENGAGE THE AUTOMATIC PILOT If it is therefore true that we are all able to attain an agonistic trance, why don’t we engage the automatic pilot more often? Maybe because we ought to learn to keep our head free, to let ourselves be dominated by the pleasure of playing, to be absorbed by the beauty of the match without too many doubts, fears or excessive expectations.

Of course it is not a question of behaving on the court in a purely instinctive way, but rather of abandoning ourselves to playing with no fear. Some of the typical sensations of the agonistic trance can easily be detected and are often connected to: • lightness, as if it were possible to fly on the court; • no tiredness, either physical or mental; • smoothness of gestures, shots, movements; • ease in finding the ball: pleasure in hitting and “feeling” it; • psychologically sound self-confidence, even in case of a mistake; • little importance given to the outcome: the pleasure of playing, being challenged and fighting prevails.

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WITH THIS TEST YOU WILL FIND OUT IF YOU OU KNOW HOW TO “FORGET YOURSELF” ON THE COURT, OR HOW INCLINED YOU ARE TO KEEP EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL. DON’T BE SURPRISED IF SOME QUESTIONS SEEM NOT TO PERTAIN TO TENNIS; THEY ALLOW YOU TO VERIFY YOUR CAPACITY TO “LET YOURSELF GO”.

1. BEFORE A MATCH YOU REPEATEDLY CHECK a Racquets, shoes, clothing and more b Nothing: you don’t check anything c The shoe-laces or other details of your clothing that you have already verified d The conditions of your racquets

6. FOR YOU THE CLOCK IS a A friend that beats the rhythms of your day b A rival: you are always on bad terms with him c A tyrant: you are dominated by times and engagements d An optional: you often lose the notion of time

2. IN GENERAL, YOU CAN DEFINE YOURSELF AS a An idealist, a creative person, but at the same time with your feet on the ground b A thoughtful, dubious planner c An original, imaginative dreamer d Well-balanced, practical, realistic

7. DURING THE MATCH YOU HAPPEN TO THINK OF HOW TO PERFORM YOUR SHOTS TECHNICALLY a Never b Only after a mistake: you mime the faulty gesture by correcting it c Every now and then: you refresh your memory d Often, to recover your selfassurance

3. IN YOUR PLAY THERE ARE MAINLY a Long moments of creative improvisation b Tactics that you adopt, even if they demand an effort c Schemes that you needn’t think of, as they come spontaneously d Attempts at keeping every situation under control 4. YOU ARE MORE OFTEN ENCHANTED a Watching TV b Listening to your favourite music c In front of a shop window d Lost in the beauty of nature 5. IF A MATCH WERE TO CHALLENGE THE OCEAN, THE SENSATION THAT YOU WOULD OFTEN EXPERIENCE IS a Rowing against the stream b Resisting like a rock c Floating in the match d Swimming in the waves

8. IMAGINE YOURSELF IN THE STREETS OF AN UNKNOWN TOWN THAT YOU ARE VISITING a You rely continually on your map and check your location repeatedly b You check your map and follow a logical itinerary: but you also take detours c You are absent-minded, with your head in the clouds and you may lose your way d You allow your curiosity to lead you, ready to explore the things that attract you 9.

a b c

d

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10. YOU OFTEN HAPPEN TO LOSE a Something of minor importance b Very few things: you are not careless c Nothing, you’re the meticulous and ordered type d Sundries, cell-phone, keys, glasses; and if you find them you ask yourself: “Who put them there?”

11. DURING A MATCH YOU SUFFER FROM THE UNPLEASANT PRESENCE OF FEAR OF FAILURE a Hardly ever: you don’t fear faults very much b Sometimes, but you know how to face it c Often; it is not easy to get rid of it d Nearly always: it is your problem 12. A LITERARY OR FILM GENRE THAT YOU PREFER TO OTHERS a Novel; play; comedy b Political intrigue; inquiry c Fancy and imaginative d Detective; thriller; horror

13. DURING THE MATCH, WHEN YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN ONE SHOT OR ANOTHER, FOR INSTANCE BETWEEN A LOB AND A PASSING SHOT… a The doubt often causes you to make a mistake b There’s no need to choose: the choice comes automatically c You think about it, but you decide to trust your instinct d You think it over, sometimes you are efficient; sometimes you are not

a

b

c

THE CEREBRAL TACTICIAN

You think and worry too much. You are probably the victim of your “negative memory” since while you play and probably even before the match, you dwell on your limitations and weaknesses, thus running the risk of obtaining the opposite of your wish, that is a failure instead of a successful performance. Apart from tennis, by your nature and disposition you have been brought up to keep everything under control – you are a methodical, orderly and exact type and would like to foresee everything, while surprises and unforeseen events upset and bewilder you.

Your scant bent for instinctive play could be accounted for if you weren’t an experienced player yet; you cannot expect your play to be totally automated! But if this is not the case since you took up tennis long ago, then you must know that your restraining mind often causes your doubts, uncertainties and hesitations. Moreover, not only does that cerebral work make you doubtful and insecure, but it also drives you to spend more energy than necessary.

As you no doubt know, reasoning over tennis is not wrong, but if you think too much it may become a handicap, mainly when doubts and fears are the object of your thoughts. The same can happen when you do not let yourself go during a match but are inclined to control yourself continually.

The match often represents a problem for you, since you commit yourself mentally to finding a solution, a scheme that works, a tactic that may prove to be the winning one.

This is not wrong. In fact, if it is true that a match frequently becomes a chess game, particularly when the forces on the court appear well balanced, your inclination to make good use of your head may help you win that game. However, at times you seem to go too far in thinking and asking yourself questions that may hamper rather than help you.

Well, too often you do place your trust in the “restraining” mind and do not set the “running” mind free. This tendency might make you anxious and confused instead of as cool and clear as you would like to be. Moreover, even that pinch of extra perfectionism that labels you proves to be a limit.

HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED ON THE TENNIS COURT

On the court your body language will probably reveal the doubts and worries that grip you and make you look tense and as if you are busy controlling yourself, your shots and your emotions, thus representing a serious danger for a top-level experienced player. In conclusion, you do not seem to possess much determination and mental strength from a tennis point of view; this is a disadvantage, even if it does not prevent you from displaying good performances.

14. IN A MATCH YOU OFTEN THRIVE ON a Alternating moments, moods, game situations b The search for the right reading of the match, mainly in tactics c Confidence that depends on the success of your shots d Sensations and intuitions: you follow your nose, immersed in a special dimension.

Check the chart.

Each of your answers corresp onds to a colour.

Verify if you have scored a higher 1 number of blue, green, red orr 2 yellow dots, and then read the relevant interpret 3 ation. If there is no majority, and tw 4 o or three colou rs have scored the same number, 5 read the two or three relevant 6 IN TENNIS, A RIVAL THAT PRESSES interpretations.

7 AND ATTACKS YOU, ALLOWING YOU Bu t if you want to find A VERY SHORT TIME TO THINK… 8 out which profile resembles you most, keep in Confuses you and you can 9 mind that green prevails over the oppose few countermeasures 10 other colours (a nd therefore read Makes you like him: it is your the green profile) 11 . Blue prevails over red and yello own play 12 w. In case red an d yellow have the same score, refe Worries you, but it is not bad 13 r to the yellow profile. for you if he forces you to be 14 instinctive I Is the rival that you consider the most dangerous for you

THE CONTROLLER

YOUR AUTOMATIC PILOT

d

You seldom attain the ideal condition of an agonistic trance because – as you are in full control of yourself – you find it very difficult to let yourself go; when you are on the tennis court you have an excessive fear of making a mistake and you certainly think too much instead of abandoning yourself to the mere enjoyment of playing.

Therefore your automatic pilot often remains idle and disconnected.

THE SUGGESTION

You should try and trust your instinct and your automated shots, to free your mind by living your match more lightly (which does not mean superficially) and dramatising your victory or your defeat much less. When you are on the tennis court you need to feel like a cloud rather than like a stone. Allow the pleasure and joy of the play to prevail over tensions.

HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED ON THE TENNIS COURT

You give the impression that you are a bookkeeper busy squaring an account and carrying out your task carefully.

Actually someone like you, who knows how to make good use of his head, appears to his rival as a dangerous obstacle, not easy to overcome, except when he realises that the weight of your brain becomes a dead weight for you when, instead of letting your game take off, you ditch it by making your choices after too much thinking, thus not allowing your tennis instinct to enjoy your winning shot.

YOUR AUTOMATIC PILOT

It may happen, though not frequently, that you are in the perfect tennis condition, which is a positive consequence of an agonistic trance – maybe because you are in excessive control of yourself, or because you are by nature a rather rational and analytic person. In short, you do not seem to trust your automatic pilot enough, even if you may have attained a good tennis level.

THE SUGGESTION

It is therefore not advisable for you either to lose your tactical abilities or to turn into an instinctive player – all instinct and no head. Yet you should have more confidence in yourself, in your spontaneous good qualities and, like a leaf floating on the water, recover the pleasure of letting yourself go to some current promptings by granting space to your tennis creativity which you can/must not plan.

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INSTINCTIVE THINKER

INSPIRED AND CREATIVE

Obviously your problem is not that you think too much and allow doubts, tensions and fears to dominate you.

Moreover you are not a victim of perfectionism in tennis, but this does not exclude the possibility that you can reveal the personality of a sharp tactician, that you know how to use your head and occasionally connect the automatic pilot by playing instinctively. This does not mean playing recklessly, with no logic or profit. On the other hand the blending of the right amount of instinct and reason are often the successful recipe for good tennis. Anyway you could always refine your talent so as to be able to attain the agonistic trance; your capability of letting yourself be guided by trust and confidence in what I have defined “the running mind”, that is by a situation of thorough interior freedom, still has a good margin of improvement.

Maybe at times you lack the awareness that the more you trust yourself and the faster you slide into that condition of hollow mind (which does not exclude the possibility of thinking tactically), the more incisive and dangerous your play becomes. In short, once the automatic pilot is engaged, you often do the right thing.

The test cannot verify it, but you may also be an impulsive player, even too instinctive, not in the least free from frequent doubts, fears or uncertainties that grip you. The only undisputable fact is that you are not a perfectionist, you do not reason or reflect excessively and therefore it is not too much thinking that may possibly affect your performances in a negative way.

On the other hand − and this appears as a possibility − you are the sort of player who knows how to stay on the court with a totally free mind, and to attain frequently that state of agonistic trance which may help you to express the best of yourself. In conclusion, even off the court it looks like your nature and character will make you lose the “memory of yourself” so that you will fall under the spell of what is beautiful, gliding into a pleasant relaxation carried away by the pleasure of your emotions. This could make of you an ecstatic, creative being or, better still, a player that often and successfully places his trust in his own automatic pilot.

HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED ON THE TENNIS COURT HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED ON THE TENNIS COURT

You are a player difficult to understand because you can disguise some sides of your personality and confuse your rival, who cannot figure out if he is facing a onedimensional and predictable rival or one from whom to expect surprises. In short, it is not easy to discover what you think or do not think, what you are about to do, which is the tactic that you will make use of, since you often turn aside from what are thought to be firm schemes through some sudden variation and invention of the moment. Your rival cannot be sure . . .

If you are in an agonistic trance, your rival will think that you are almost invulnerable; he may think it impossible to catch you off guard or oppose you. If you dominate the situation, everything will be successful, even the most improbable shots. If the match is well balanced, nothing will affect you, not even the most problematic moments. On the other hand, if you are dominated in the score, you will fight with an always burning spirit. When instead you are not in an agonistic trance, you may look inattentive, almost absent-minded and perhaps also lazy but unpredictable if you possess an indisputable talent.

YOUR AUTOMATIC PILOT YOUR AUTOMATIC PILOT

Probably you are often in that state of agonistic trance which favours your best tennis. The problem may be that you have not learned well how to switch your automatic pilot on or off. In brief, you are still partly guided by it and do not handle the controls well, even if you have already found out that you do not profit by too much thinking.

Your tennis instinct works and is productive when you manage to detach your mind. Since you are able to drop it, and of abandoning yourself with pleasure to the joy of playing, it may happen that you find yourself in a positive situation of agonistic trance. Of course the tennis instinct must be coupled with calm, tranquillity and inner serenity.

THE SUGGESTION THE SUGGESTION

On the court you often suffer from some uncertainty that may make you tense and ineffective. Sometimes too much or too little thinking is detrimental to your performances.

You should avoid being too involved in the thought of the result; rather be free to express yourself in the mere pleasure of the play. This way you will attain more easily the positive condition of agonistic trance.

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Promise always to do what comes spontaneously from the technical or tactical point of view, when you feel the inner pleasure of expressing yourself on the court and of playing with the lightness of a feather. Look out: do not rely on your instinct when reasoning is needed. Agonistic trance and impulsiveness dictated by tension are completely different from each other.

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THERE ARE POINTS . . . AND THEN THERE ARE POINTS . . . BUT NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ONE CAN CALCULATE WITH ARITHMETIC PRECISION EXACTLY HOW MUCH EVERY SINGLE PHASE OF A MATCH CAN INFLUENCE THE FINAL OUTCOME. HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS THAT CAN HELP PLAYERS AND COACHES IN DOLING OUT EXACTLY THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EFFORTS DURING EACH ENCOUNTER.

THE BASIC SITUATION The importance of each point played within a given game can be measured by the actual influence it has on a player’s chances of winning that game.

In the following examples, let’s assume that the players are of equal skill and that each, when it’s his turn to serve, has a 60% probability of winning the point.

Let’s look at the first point of the game. At the beginning of the game, the probability that the server will win the game is 73,6%. If the server wins the first point (15−0) his chances of winning the game rise to 84,2%. He has therefore improved his probability of winning by 10,6%. But if he loses the point (0−15), the probability of winning the game drops to 57,2% (he loses 15,9%). Hence, taking an average of the two values (+10,6 and –15,9) we notice that winning the first point is of moderate importance (= 13,25%).

It is not surprising that the most critical situation is on the 30−40, or advantage out, when the server’s probability of winning the game is 41,5%. If the server wins the next step, the probability rises to 69,2%. If he loses the next step, the probability drops to zero. The importance of the point is high, i.e. 33,2%. It follows that 30−40 is 2,6 times more important than the first point of the game and 14 times more important than a point played on the 40−0.

Listed below are the 15 possible situations in a normal game (no tiebreak), with the importance calculated for each: 30−40 or advantage out: 33,2% 30−30 or 40−40: 22,1% 15−30: 21,2% 15−40: 19,9% 0−30: 17,5% 0−15: 16,5% 15−15: 15,9% 40−30 or advantage in: 14,7% 0−0: 12,7% 30−15: 12,4% 15−0: 10,2% 30−0: 6,36% 40−15: 5,9% 40−0: 2,36% One can then see that, generally, the most important points occur when the server is lagging behind in score. Note also the importance of 15−30, which is always overlooked.

Less important in the economy of the game are those situations that enable the server to choose a long-term strategy, i.e. the following: 40−15, 30−0, 40−0.

If, however, the server is ahead by a point (15−0, 30−15) the importance of the next point increases!

Things are very different when it is the receiver who leads by two points (0−30, 15−40).

THE TIEBREAK Calculations for the tiebreak situation bring few surprises. The most important occur when the score is close:

THE GAMES Now let’s take into account the importance of winning the game. The most important game is the one that could lead to the tiebreak.

6−5; 5−6: 50% 4−4; 5−5: 22,6% 5−3: 16,6% 3−2; 2−3; 2−2: 15,5% 4–2:14,5% 2−1; 1−2; 1−1: 13,7% 3–1: 13% 1−0; 0−1; 0−0: 12,4% 2–0: 11,9% 0–2: 8,7% 1–3: 8,6% 2−4: 8% 3−0; 0−3: 7% 4−1; 1−4: 6,2% 3–5: 5,9% 4–0: 4,8% 5−2; 2−5: 4,4% 5–1: 3,2% 0–4: 2,2% 1–5:1,1% 5−0; 0−5: 0,8% A logical question is: Why is the 5−3 more important than the 3−5?

On 5−3, if the server wins the next game, he also wins the set. If he loses the game, he has lost his serve and loses the advantage he has gained.

On a score of 3−5, if the server wins the game, this poses a lesser threat to the balance (superiority of the opponent) compared to the previous situation, because the former receiver will then serve for the set, with a psychological advantage.

6−5; 5−6; 5−5: 24% 5−4; 4−5; 4−4: 18,2%

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BY UBALDO SCANAGATTA

Coaches as in

football TENNIS PLAYERS ONCE STOOD ALONE. OR DID THEY, FOR IN SOME CASES HIS MOTHER AND/OR FATHER, OR PERHAPS EVEN THE OLD MASTER WHO PUT HIS FIRST LITTLE RACQUET IN HIS HAND, WHO GREW FOND OF HIM AND HAD TAKEN TO ACCOMPANYING HIM TO TOURNAMENTS BECAUSE HE WAS LITTLE AND A LITTLE PROMISING.

hen came the manager, just as in boxing. And one of the first was certainly Ion Tiriac, who invented a job for himself as an improvised “promoter” of that wild and reckless, but highly talented Ilie Nastase. Not just a great player, all flair, fantasy and unpredictability, but an indisputable character too.

T

A profession learned very well, and brought to much fruition by that big man with the big moustache of humble origins and no means, but extremely intelligent. What would Guillermo Vilas ever have been without Tiriac, the bear of the Carpathians, the Count Dracula of Brasov?

Tiriac, true pioneer of the managers of the racquet in lieu of the glove, was too Latin and too individualistic; he didn’t trust others enough to build a great management company as Donald Dell of ProServ and Mark “the Shark” McCormack of IMG, the International Management Group, were able to do in the United States.

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With the growing development of large sports management companies, tennis players, constantly followed by an agent, were no longer accompanied only by a coach or a trainer, but slowly over the years they would be joined – not necessarily in this order – by a masseur, a physiotherapist and/ or athletic preparer, a doctor, a psychologist and sometimes a dietician.

As far as I can recall, the first champions to feel the need to no longer be surrounded by a single man – on the model of young Bjorn Borg who lived in symbiosis with old Lennart Bergelin – but by an entire technical team were two Czechs strongly determined to make it, were particularly professional in their methodological approach. First, Martina Navratilova, born in 1956, somewhat distracted by too many intrusive girlfriends, followed by Ivan Lendl, born in 1960, the Frankenstein of Moravia, the man who never laughed and who left nothing to chance.

But while Navratilova changed more coaches, and partners, than Liz Taylor did husbands (from Sandra Haynie to Renée Richards, Nancy Lieberman, and the only boy, Mike Estep), Ivan – the first one to methodically change racquets with each ball exchange in order to always hit new balls with the same string tension – was also the first to choose his coach in relation to his main objective.

Ivan was known to be obsessed with the idea of a victory at Wimbledon. He knew his limits: the volley, the attack game that, on the grass of those times, seemed the only possible strategy to dominate the lawn courts of the All England Club. So he hired Tony Roche, the grass specialist.

Someone might say that so much determination did not pay off. But Lendl knows that he tried and he has no regrets.

Although he won at the Queen’s Barons Court, he was cruelly stopped in two finals (Becker in 1985 and Cash in 1987) and five semi-finals at Church Road.

Yet some twenty years later Roger Federer, already world number one, would follow in Lendl’s footsteps, by hiring the same Tony Roche. But only – listen to this – to draw from his forty years of experience on a totally different surface, red clay. Oh yes, because “Rock” had played three finals at Roland Garros, not just one, although he had only won in 1966.

Federer, unlike Lendl, did not need to improve his game on grass, but on clay. His goal was not to win at Wimbledon – too easy for him!

– but at Roland Garros. He had to find a way to beat Nadal, the king of “red” tennis, who was trained by another Tony, his uncle.

FEDERER SUCCEEDED IN 2009, HELPED BY NADAL’S LOSS AGAINST SODERLING, BUT WITHOUT ROCHE AT HIS SIDE, HAVING SACKED HIM A COUPLE OF YEARS BEFORE. In the meantime a couple of American youngsters had copied the Lendl example to put an end to the long famine. Their countrymen had been incapable of winning on the Roland Garros clay since the days of “Grandpa” Trabert (1954). The breakthrough came only 25 years later. Little Michael Chang (unforgettable 1989) was the first followed twice by Florida red Jim Courier (1991– 1992). Both had the intelligence to enlist the help of a former countryman, a Spaniard emigrated to America and an expert in the red marshes, José “Pepe” Higueras.

Since then, the ranks of marginal characters have been growing disproportionately around the players and the young champions, but the coach has always remained only one.

For a new era of tennis to open, one had to wait until this past year, 2009.

The ‘revolutionaries’ are or rather would be two boys born in May 1987, only seven days apart: Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

They have been the first two to decide not to rely only on one coach, but two; one for each surface type. And this at a time when the world number one doesn’t even have one!

Murray has been competitive on cement and grass for a couple of years, but on clay he has never achieved any significant results despite his Spanish experience and in spite of having changed many coaches (Leon Smith when he was a little boy prior to his exile to Barcelona, Pato Alvarez in Catalonia, Mark Petchey upon his return to treacherous Albion, Brad Gilbert from July 2006, the trio formed by coach Miles McLaghlan and physiotherapists Matt Little and Jez Green). And so, what did he do? He hired the wise Alex Corretja, the Spaniard who won in Rome, who lost in the final in Paris, one that knows more than most about red clay, but also game-plans and game strategies. He was world number two, and triumphed in the Masters Cup without having a proper shot! He had good backhand, but a brilliant tactical intelligence.

Novak Djokovic also succumbed to the prospect of recruiting someone else besides Slovakian Marian Vajda, a former ATP number 34 who has followed him for a long time (virtually since Ricardo Piatti made him understand that he would not have abandoned

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his adoptive son Ivan Ljubicic). Djokovic won the Australian Open in January 2008, crushing Federer in the semifinal (and then the Tsonga revelation) and made statements worthy of a number one. But then the results were not those which he had hoped for, although Djokovic has recently returned to number three behind the usual Fed-Nad pair. And so came the move of placing former world number five (or even four?), Todd Martin, alongside that old fox of cement Vajda. Yet if there was ever a surface on which Djokovic demonstrated his talent, and not only in Australia, then it was cement. That he might not have fully trusted Vajda, in the same way that Murray could perhaps be perplexed about the qualities of McLaghlan, is legitimate.

For this reason, and although the matter has been raised by several parties, I am not entirely sold on the idea that we may be moving towards an ever greater specialisation of the coaches, towards their use in an “American football way” where there are different coaches for the different game situations, in attack or in defence – albeit coordinated by a head-coach.

MURRAY AND DJOKOVIC, AND POSSIBLY EVEN FEDERER, HAVE PREFERRED TO SURROUND THEMSELVES WITH COACHES OF MODEST FAME AND EVEN LESS CHARISMA, IN ORDER TO BE FREE TO DEVELOP THEIR UNQUESTIONABLE PERSONALITY. They are thoroughbred horses, like Becker and Ivanisevic who preferred to have friends, or inconspicuous people, around them, rather than tough guys like Bob Brett. And it also suits Murray and Djokovic well – indeed very well – to integrate their existing relationships with the usual subordinates, with a few “expert consultants” more or less passing by a dozen weeks in the year and then each goes their separate way.

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Tell me what coach you have and I will tell you who you are. If you choose a low-profile one, or even don’t have one, it means that you prefer to do your own thing, but with a secretary. And then, for the big occasions, the Slams, you call in a valuable technician.

Someone who can have little influence on the end result – but this is my personal opinion, and as such, questionable – but can also serve as an excuse, as a decoy for the public who will say “goodness, he is serious about this” and for the press (I am thinking particularly of the British one) that otherwise won’t leave you alone.

My view remains the same. Coaches are important, very important for tennis players of modest stature (some Italians?) or for those who are going through very difficult psychological situations (for instance, an Agassi who had dropped to world number 140 and needed a Gilbert at that delicate moment of his career).

But if you have the physical and mental strength of a Williams (either one – Serena or Venus – makes little difference), the talent of Federer, the explosive nature of Nadal, the uncontrollable madness of Ivanisevic, the coolness of Sampras in the crucial moments, the formidable aggressiveness of Seles for whom the only tactic was to hit as hard from the right as from the left . . . if you have nobody behind you, or Richard Williams (and/or Oracene...), or an uncle Tony, a Martic, an Annacone, a Luthi or a Károly or – to go back to Murray and Djokovic – a McLaghlan or a Vajda makes very little difference. And with a Corretja and a Martin part-time, and in any event already rich and satisfied champions as well as very serious people, the same applies.

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REVIEWS

BABOLAT PURE DRIVE LITE

HEAD YOU TEK RADICAL PRO

THIS RACQUET IS THE FIRST DESCENDANT OF THE BETTER KNOWN PURE DRIVE – LIGHTER IN WEIGHT AND IN REBOUND. IT PROVIDES GOOD CONTROL AND IS PARTICULARLY SUITED TO FLAT SHOTS. PLAYING VOLLEY SHOTS AND SERVING ARE ENJOYABLE BECAUSE OF ITS HIGH MANOEUVRABILITY. BEST SUITED TO VERY YOUNG COMPETITIVE PLAYERS OR CLUB PLAYERS.

ANDY MURRAY IS THIS RACQUET’S EXCEPTIONAL TESTIMONIAL. OVERALL A MANOEUVRABLE HEAD WITH GOOD REBOUND. FLAT SHOTS ARE PREFERABLE TO TOPSPIN AND BACKSPIN. BEST PERFORMANCE AT THE NET WHERE IT IS TOLERANT BUT RESOLUTE. FOR WELL-TRAINED COMPETITIVE PLAYERS.

TECHNICAL SPECS

TECHNICAL SPECS

Make Model Material Head size Length Beam width String pattern Recommended string tension

Babolat Pure Drive Lite Gt graphite, tungsten 100 square inches 68,5 cm 23-25-25-23 mm 16x19

T

he Pure Drive had always represented a “range on its own”, on the strength of its numbers (it is still the French firm’s most sought-after model on the market) and its natural adaptability to a varied audience (the closest comparison being the Roddick version). With Pure Drive Lite, Babolat expands its lineage, introducing a young and fresh product, just like the Italian “azzurri” who endorse the model this year.

25-28 kg IN THE LAB

COMPETITORS Make Dunlop Fischer Head Prince Pro Kennex Tecnifibre Völkl Wilson Yonex

Model Aerogel 500 4D Pro No. One X-Lite 98 You Tex Speed Elite Ozone Tour Lite MP KI 5 280 T-Flash 285 PB 6 (K) Pro Team FX RQS 11

IN THE LAB Weight Balance point Swingweight String flexibility Stiffness Power Control Manoeuvrability

299 g (strung) 33 cm 305 65 65 38-C 64-A 83-A

The head (100 square inches), the medium beam width (variable between 23 and 25 mm) and the string patters (16 x 19) all belong to the family DNA. The differences occur primarily in the weight, close to 300 g when strung, and the remaining specs, reworked accordingly so as to achieve the right balance within a new dimension. The balance point leans accordingly towards the head of the racquet, at 33 cm, whereas the stiffness is confirmed rather high (65). The ratio between power level and control clearly favours the latter (64 to 38). Manoeuvrability is approved with full marks (83) and couldn’t be otherwise with an unstrung weight of 275 g. The machine instead gives inertia (swingweight) a modest score (305).

ON COURT The first exchanges confirm the outcome of the diagnostic. It is a conventionally “easy” racquet but conceals a mismatch between rebound and control. The former lags, or at least falls short of expectations, whereas the latter is at top

level. Transferred onto the court: the ball leaves the head with ease but loses some momentum before hitting the ground. It starts off fast, without much effort, but it struggles to grip.

This characteristic is even more evident in the acceleration. On the other hand, the shot is totally reliable. The control is very convincing, be it in attack or in defence, a situation in which the high tolerance of the racquet can be fully appreciated. At the baseline, drive shots or flat shots come out better than convoluted executions. However, a distinction is necessary between the backspin, which is unanimously liked – even though the effect is not one of the most vicious (it is challenging to try and make it travel close to the ground) – and the topspin, which is easy to transfer only when time allows an adequate preparation. Grips too close to a Western are forbidden.

In the volley, the excellent manoeuvrability makes anything possible. It is easy to defend oneself, especially with low volleys, and comfortably regain an attack position. The excessive tolerance of the head might cost you a few ‘15’ from above the shoulder, by making it possible to return otherwise winning shots.

The Pure Drive Lite performs best in smashes and serves. If handled with skill, it also returns that pleasing rustling sound on impact, which is typical of some custom-built racquets. Few distinctions between a flat first ball and the variants in slice or kick, all good nonetheless.

The target audience ranges from the young competitive player, to the average amateur, the instructor, all of them looking for a precious multipurpose “toy”.

Make Model Material Head size Length Beam width String pattern Recommended string tension

Head You Tek Radical Pro high module graphite, D30, teflon 100 square inches 68,5 cm 22-22-22-22 mm 16x19 24-28 kg

COMPETITORS Make Babolat Dunlop Fischer Prince Pro Kennex Tecnifibre Völkl Wilson Yonex

Model Aero Storm Tour Aerogel 300 Tour 4D Black Granite Tour Exo3 Graphite 100 Ki 5 315 T-Flash 315 PB 10 325G (K) Obra Tour RDIS 100 Mp

IN THE LAB Weight Balance point Swingweight String flexibility Stiffness Power Control Manoeuvrability

333 g (strung) 33 cm 335 56 57 43-B 58-B 63-A

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he motto of the Austrian firm reads ‘You Tek’, technology for you. And the Radical in question can only belong to this range of new heads inaugurated with the Speed Pro model for which Novak Djokovic is a testimonial. Radical represents a different branch of the Head collection that features among its sponsored players, athletes such as Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo. The Pro variant is specifically the one adopted by the Scottish player. A markedly competitive tool, that is able to mitigate its severe category traits through more democratic characteristics, such as the 100 square inch head.

IN THE LAB A 100 square inch head with a pattern of 16 vertical and 19 horizontal strings is in itself a guarantee for good rebound. If we add to this the indication of a remarkable weight (333 g strung), further assisted by a balance point leaning towards the head (33 cm), we have structural certainty that we are dealing with a powerful weapon. Inertia (swingweight) is considerable (335), especially when compared with competing models; stiffness is fairly low (57). The beam width is constant at 22 mm.

Interestingly, the diagnostic attributes more credit to the control value (58) than to the power level (43). This apparent contradiction will make the test on court all the more interesting. Finally, manoeuvrability is deemed moderate.

ON COURT Any doubts about the relative supremacy of power and control are soon cleared up. The

sweet spot is the undisputed judge, which is rather limited for a head of this size. When impact occurs fully in the centre, the ball leaves fast and heavy; it only takes a shift of a few centimetres, though, and the response of the head changes substantially. The previous comfort is replaced by a feeling of dryness and the shot loses depth and meanness. Shots are therefore precise and powerful, if carefully executed; delays and off-centre shots are however penalised with some intransigence.

In these situations it is better to be prepared and pull on the handbrake.

From the baseline, the Radical Pro feels rather generous with flat shots, whereas it struggles to transfer the ball in extreme “wraps”. All in all, top slices should be preferred to topspin effects; backspins run low but tend to rise after the bounce. What the head executes with mastery are closing shots prepared with a little anticipation.

Performance at the net is truly impeccable.

This racquet is easy to manoeuvre despite its weight, certain in the attack volleys and as certain in the insidious balls above the shoulder. A smash impacted with the right timing will be difficult to recover. The same applies to the serve. Considering the weight of this tool, though, a good acceleration is required to make a drive shot truly effective.

This will cause a high impact to occur and the mass will be fully transferred. The slice, kick and lift variants can deliver some satisfaction if supported by a good arm. This racquet is recommended for well-trained competitive players with a marked aptitude for volley play.

ON COURT ON COURT Power Control Manoeuvrability Baseline play Net play Serve Flat shots Spin Comfort Tactic Complete all-court Technique Drive shots, flat shots

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Power Control Manoeuvrability Baseline play Net play Serve Flat shots Spin Comfort Tactic Complete all-court Technique Drive shots, flat shots

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PO Box 521022, Saxonwold 2132 The Wanderers Cricket Stadium, Corlett Drive, Illovo 2196 Tel: 011 442-0500 Fax: 011 442-0503 email: info@satennis.co.za website: www.satennis.co.za SATA Magazine Liaison: Wendy Chadwick

South African Tennis Association Sata Tournament Calendar DECEMBER 2009 – MARCH 2010 DATES

TOURNAMENT

TYPE/STRENGTH

12–15

Gauteng North Junior Open

OR / 4

09–12

SWD Great Wilson Junior Open

OR / 2

13–17

Boland KeyHealth Sportsmans Warehouse

KeyHealth / 7

13–17

Boland KeyHealth Sportsmans Warehouse

Open

16–19

South West Districts Veterans Open

Vets

16–18

Gauteng North Junior

OR / 2

18–22

WP KeyHealth–Slazenger Classic

KeyHealth / 7

03–07

Border KeyHealth – SA Junior Open

KeyHealth / 8

05–08

Gauteng North Moot

OR / 2

05–08

Gauteng Central Junior Open

OR / 4

07–11

Eastern Province KeyHealth

KeyHealth / 7

08–10

Mpumalanga Junior Mini Masters

Mini / 3

09–12

Gauteng North Junior Open

OR / 5

09–12

KFC Western Province Junior Summer

OR / 5

15–18

Western Province Veterans

Vets

22–24

Free State Mini 1

Mini / 3

DECEMBER

JANUARY

23–29

Open Nationals

Open / 8

23/24 & 30/31

Gauteng East Open

Vets

30 Jan – 02 Feb

SATA Masters – under 12 & 14

A demanding but rewarding year

Two titles for SA in ITF Individual World Championships

African 14 & under Masters Three South African juniors played in the African 14 & under Masters in Egypt from 9–15 November 2009.

South Africa was represented by a team of Super Senior players at the ITF Seniors Competition hosted in Perth, Australia, in November 2009.

As 2009 draws to a close, I reflect on a demanding but rewarding year for South African tennis – a year in which we made significant progress both nationally and internationally. We look forward to building on these successes in 2010.

Janine Lieffrig added another title to her long list of wins when she successfully defended her title in the Women’s 70+ singles, defeating Mary Gordon from Australia. Janine beat her opponent 6–4, 6–2, thoroughly deserving her fourth World Championship singles title. Then, together with her long-time women’s doubles partner, Audrey van Coller, seeded number one, lost to the Australian pair of Nola Collins and Mary Gordon 4–6 6–3 2–6.

On behalf of the SATA Board and staff, I wish you a wonderful holiday with family and friends, an exciting and fulfilling New Year and, most of all, peace and goodwill.

– Ian Smith, CEO: SATA

FEBRUARY 01–07

The SA Open

02–05

SATA Masters – under 16 & 18

ATP 250

11–14

West Rand Open

Vets

13/14 & 20/21 & 27/28

GC Slazenger Junior Weekender 1

OR / 3

07 & 14 & 21

KZN Mini 1

Mini / 4

14 & 21 & 28

Western Province KFC Mini 1

Mini / 5

20/21 & 27/28

Gauteng North Mini 1

Mini / 5

MARCH 05–07

Border EC New Balance Mini 2

Mini / 3

07 & 13/14

Boland Sportsmans Warehouse Mini 1

Mini / 5

07 & 13/14

Boland Sportsmans Warehouse Mini 1

Open / 5

06–10

ITF SAVTA Nationals

Vets

06/07 & 13/14

Gauteng North Dros Curro Mini 1

Mini / 3

06–12

RVTA ITF Junior

ITF / Grade 2

13–19

SATA ITF Junior

ITF / Grade 2

20–22

Mpumalanga Mini 1

Mini / 4

26–29

Boland Junior

OR / 5

27–31

North West Province Junior Open

OR / 4

27–30

SATA High Schools Week

Schools

27–29

Western Mpumalanga Open

Open / 3

29 March – 03 April

ITF Seniors Mexico

Vets

30 March - 02 April

Gauteng North Milites

OR / 2

31 March – 05 April

Gauteng Central KeyHealth Series

KeyHealth / 7

30 March – 01 April

Western Province Junior Open

OR / 5

SATA reserves the right to make changes to this calendar. Please always check the website for updates.

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Jessica Motaung appointed to the board The South African Tennis Association (SATA) has pleasure in announcing the co-option of Ms Jessica Motaung to its board of directors.

Ms Motaung currently serves as the marketing manager for Kaiser Chiefs and through this and other sport-related interests, will bring the wealth of experience and knowledge she has gained from the sporting industry to tennis.

We welcome Jessica to tennis and know that her contribution to the administration and promotion of our game will be substantial.

Erratum – 2009 National Club Championships – Oudstudente came 4th in the Men’s B Section and 7th in the Women’s B Section and not Alumni as published.

From left – Back: Johann Koorts (Chairman SATA Board),Terrey Schweitzer (Coach), Matthew Rossouw Front:Wayne Montgomery and Kay-Leigh Nicholas THE RESULTS ARE:

MASTERS FINAL RANKINGS: MASTERS BOYS

WAYNE MONTGOMERY beat

S Mouline

MAR

6−2 6−0

1

Wayne Montgomery

RSA

beat

I Shabani

TAN

6−0 6−0

2

Mazen Ousama

EGY

beat

A Noureldin

SUD

6−0 6−1

3

Soufiene Mouline

MAR

beat

M Rossouw

RSA

6−0 6−1

4

Matthew Rossouw

RSA

beat

M Ousama

TUN

6−4 3−6 6−3

5

Kais Dghais

TUN

6

Guy-Orly Iradukunda

BDI

MATTHEW ROSSOUW beat

K Dghais

EGY

6−2 3−6 6−2

7

Adam Noureldin

SUD

beat

G-O Iradukunda

BDI

6−0 6−0

8

Ibrahim Shabani

TAN

lost

M Ousama

TUN

7−5 6−7(1) 2−6

MASTERS GIRLS

lost

S Mouline

MAR

4−6 5−7

1

Mayar Sherif

lost

W Montgomery

RSA

0−6 1−6

2

Marina Albert

EGY

3

Kay-Leigh Nicholas

RSA

KAY-LEIGH NICHOLAS

Having lost in the semifinals of the Women’s 65+ singles to Heidi Orth (Ger) 6–2, 6–7, 3–6 after a match point, Petro Kruger then teamed up with Heidi to win the women’s doubles event, beating the number three seeds Heather McKay and Helen Muir (Aus) 6–2, 0–6, 6–1.

South African results in the ITF team competitions held in Perth the week before are as follows: CUP

FINAL POSITION

Alice Marble Cup (W60) Kitty Godfree Cup (W65)

EGY

Althea Gibson Cup (W70) Von Cramm Cup (M60)

8th 5th Silver 5th

S Wong Hon Chan

MRI

6−3 6−1

4

Mona Jebri

TUN

Britannia Cup (M65)

12th

beat

I Rassif

MAR

4−6 6−2 6−3

5

Intissar Rassif

MAR

Jack Crawford Cup (M70)

11th

lost

M Albert

EGY

0−6 6−2 3−6

6

Nihel Adjali

ALG

beat

M Jebri

ALG

6−2 6−3

7

S Wong Hon Chan

MRI

beat

lost

M Sherif

EGY

1−6 5−7

8

Damaris Musera

KEN

Bitsy Grant up (M75)

9th

Gardnar Mulloy Cup (M80)

6th

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JUNIOR TENNIS

SA High Schools integrate with SATA

Pretoria Boys High Tennis For the past decade, Pretoria Boys High School (PBHS) has been one of the leading tennis schools in the country. During this time, the school has produced two Davis Cup players: namely Rik De Voest for South Africa and Christian Vituli for Kenya, U18 National Champion, Tucker Voster as well as numerous players who have represented their countries and provinces.

Six players have received tennis bursaries to American universities and many have represented their specific university locally at the top level.

Boys High’s first tennis team has done well.

They have twice won both the prestigious Wayne Ferreira Tournament and Grey College Festival; the Kearsney Festival once and the “150 year” Grey High Port Elizabeth Anniversary Festival, in which most of the top schools in the country participated.

The first team has also won the Pretoria and Johannesburg League several times.

2009 First Team Tennis, from left, back; J Sauer, P Ngwenzi front; N Carmichael, B Lock, T Edwards, W le Roux (Capt), A Jekel

Much of the team’s success has been the result of the professional and inspirational coaching of Mr Gerald Stoffberg, employed by the school as its head coach.

Annually, they enter eleven teams in the Pretoria League and each year play in the Menlo Park and Paul Roos Festival. PBHS co-hosts the annual Under15 National Festival with Afrikaans Seuns Hoër and Waterkloof Hoërskool.

The school caters for all levels of players and each player attends a twohour squad session

with the head coach. In addition, the first team (junior and senior) also attend specialised fitness sessions to improve their agility, speed, power and general fitness. Mr Stoffberg offers private coaching at the school on two afternoons a week.

PBHS has seven tennis courts set in beautiful, scenic surroundings. The boys have proved to be true ambassadors for the school, both on and off the court and have consistently endeavoured to play their best tennis.

Prior to 1994 South African schools tennis was run by a committee under the auspices of SATA with George Balios as the last chairman in office. Schools tennis was strong and tournaments were rated among the best in the country. Things changed drastically after 1994 as many people were forced to reconsider old mindsets. Past differences had to be settled and previously disadvantaged players recognised and incorporated into the system. A new sports organisation, USSASA (United Schools Sport Association of South Africa), was established by the government.

The ensuing period was a difficult one; while some embraced change with alacrity, others found it hard to change habits and customs that had worked well in the past.

From a schools tennis point of view, we felt left in the dark. School organising committees wanted to be part of the federation, but with the government taking control of all school sports, the federation found itself between the devil and the deep blue sea. Unfortunately many role players turned their backs on the game and vowed never again to be involved in the administration and organisation of the

sport. With the best of intentions, USSASA wanted to host multi-coded events, but this resulted in logistical nightmares during tournaments and it took some time to reach the high standards obtained in the past.

At some stage SASCOC announced that federations should be in charge of all sport in the country. USSASA was duly disbanded and schools seized the opportunity to make a fresh start. The High Schools Committee under the chairmanship of David Jaquire, requested Leon Freimond and Clark Coetzee to hold an indaba with SATA, with the aim of officially becoming part of the federation. Fortunately their request was granted and a meeting took place on Saturday 29 August 2009 at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg. Role players arrived from all over the country and could testify to the new spirit which had been born.

Many issues were discussed, the primary focus being the promotion of schools tennis nationally. An interim committee was elected comprising of David Jaquire, Jenny Koster, Kallie Cromhout, Jill Meyer and Sybrand Viviers.

David Jaquire

“A rather daunting task has been given to us.

We have to finalise a national constitution in consultation with SATA and we will also be looking at all provincial schools structures in the country. Selection for provincial and national teams will be standardised, and many more strategic activities are planned,” says David Jaquire.

The deadline for drawing up the constitution was the end of October 2009 and an annual general meeting is planned for 28 March 2010 in Pretoria to coincide with the High Schools Inter-Provincial Tournament. Official notice will be sent to all concerned.

Paul Roos Gymnasium Paul Roos Gymnasium is situated in Stellenbosch and currently has 1 170 boys enrolled. This boys-only school has a proud academic and sports tradition that extends over many years with many current learners and old boys excelling in various walks of life.

The school participates in the Boland Tennis League and also competes in tournaments across the country.

Paul Roos Gymnasium hosts the annual Bestmed Gerrie Berner Tennis Tournament during March when twelve of the strongest tennis schools from around the country compete for the trophy. The school also participates in the Kearsney College Tennis Festival, the Marilie Moolman Tennis Tournament in Cradock, the Pretoria Schools U15 Boys Tennis Tournament as well as the Grey College Tennis Tournament.

The first tennis team started to attend national tournaments in the 1990s, but since 2002 the team’s results have been astounding. With more

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than 24 victories out of the 30 tournaments played and as runner-up in most other tournaments, the team is a force to be reckoned with. Credit is due Paul Roos Team, from left: Wesley Montgomery, Francois O’Kennedy, Jurgen de Jager, Lourens to the legendary Fick, Berno de Villiers, Marc van der Merwe, Nelius Stephan (manager), Eben Schellink, Gerrie Berner (coach). In front Wayne Montgomery Gerrie Berner, the team’s coach and mentor for the past 15 years. The school recently both these titles, he represented South appointed the well-known coach Jacobus Africa at the Junior World Cup in the Czech Swanepoel to succeed Berner who is retiring.

Republic. He also participated in the Nike This year the Paul Roos first team consisted of Jurgen de Jager as captain, Berno de Villiers, Francois O’Kennedy, Wesley Montgomery, Marc van der Merwe, Wayne Montgomery and Eben Schellink. Lourens Fick and Brahm Moolman also represented the school in the first team.

Montgomery played in the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Championships and in the African Junior Championships (AJC) in Morocco earlier this year. After winning

Junior International Masters Tournament in the Dominican Republic where he reached the semifinals. Montgomery and van der Merwe are currently also the Junior National winners in the U14 and U16 age groups respectively.

Jan-Willem Kleynhans also represented South Africa in the U15 South African side which toured Europe in July.

PROFILE OF A CHAMPION

JODY CLAASSEN Western Province player Jody Claassen recently won the 2009 U18 Junior National Championships for the first time. Claassen was born on 25 October 1991 in Mitchell’s Plain and now lives in Strandfontein, Cape Town. Since he is the first in his family to play competitive tennis, his parents Wendy and Jonathan are mighty proud of their only son.

Jody attended Strandfontein Primary School where he played a variety of sports and unbelievably none of them was tennis! He was opening bowler and number three batsman for the school cricket team, right wing in rugby and striker in soccer.

He moved to Wynberg Boys High in 2005 where he has just completed his matric examinations. Claassen started playing tennis and table tennis in Grade 8 but dropped the table tennis after two years to concentrate on tennis. From as early as Grade 9 he not only played in the number one position but also captained the school’s first team.

Claassen has won 34 tournaments as a junior. He also won the 2009 National Championship and has represented Western Province five times at Interprovincial

Claassen has received many accolades from his school for his success in tennis, and his personal achievements have included being awarded school colours in Grade 8 for playing more than 80% of first team matches; receiving blues in Grade 9 for Western Province U19 schools level and honours awards in Grades 10 and 11 for representing South Africa in the U19.

This young man seems to make a habit of taking home the silverware and has won a staggering 34 tournaments as a junior player. However, he feels that his biggest achievements as a junior were winning this year’s National Championship and the five times that he represented Western Province at Interprovincial.

Claassen has already started playing ITF tournaments.He lost in round one of his first three but managed to make it to the quarterfinals in his fourth attempt.

Representing South Africa in the U19 schools team he played on clay in Austria and Slovakia – an experience he won’t forget in a hurry.

He is looking forward to moving abroad to study Sports Psychology at Elon University in North Carolina where he will continue to play college tennis.

Success doesn’t come easy and Claassen puts in a minimum of three hours practice a day, which includes fitness training with coach Stephan de Kock. He also plays club tennis and is the Western Province Cricket Club Champion.

“Dream big: nothing is impossible; always strive for perfection and never give up” is Claassen’s motto; and it is one which clearly works for him. Good advice for our upcoming junior players.

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DOUBLE ACE

JUNIOR TENNIS

Junior nationals results

Both boys were encouraged from an early age to try everything from soccer to karate and started playing tennis at age 4. Ryan knew from his early Playball days that he enjoyed tennis and started lessons with two friends when he was six and Brandon was only four. Private lessons subsequently followed and the boys then decided that they would both have to give up club soccer – which they loved – as there wasn’t enough time for both sports.

NIKE JUNIOR TOUR INTERNATIONAL MASTERS Boys singles: Girls singles: Boys doubles: Girls doubles:

Lloyd George Harris Kelsey Joffe L G Harris/B Laubser K Joffe/M Dickason

Four South African juniors jetted their way to sunny Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for the NJT International Masters in October 2009. The team, made up of Kelsey Joffe, Brandon Laubser, Kay-Leigh Nicholas and Wayne Montgomery, were accompanied by Coach Jason Smith and “Mom” Lorna Krog.

Boys and girls from over 26 countries participated in this prestigious international event and players from Spain, Russia and the Slovak Republic dominated the seedings. As the number 3 in the U14 section, Wayne Montgomery was the only South African to be seeded.

Under 14 Boys singles: Girls singles: Boys doubles: Girls doubles:

All four of our players progressed to the 2nd round in brutal heat with high humidity on the first day of play. Day two wasn’t such a lucky one as Kelsey and KayLeigh were both defeated. However, the two boys managed to secure their places in the quarterfinals with Brandon Laubser causing a major upset by outing the 7th seed Kim Leo Stutz of Switzerland 7-5 6-3. Unfortunately, his next opponent, Alex Molcan from Slovakia proved to be too strong and beat him 6-3 6-2.

Wayne Montgomery Lynn Kiro M Rossouw/W Montgomery E van Zyl/A Saunders

By defeating the 6th seed from Russia, Wayne Montgomery was the last seed standing in the boys under 14 draw to progress to the semi-finals. The South African youngster was probably the smallest player in this age group but felt it was to his advantage saying “As far as the heat is concerned, I’m small; I don’t get tired too quickly.”

Wayne lost to Ram Harel from Israel 6-0 6-2.

Congratulations to our players who definitely did us proud.

Ryan participates in the 800m and Brandon plays 1st team soccer and also participates in athletics and cross country.

When did you start playing tennis and why?

SATA’s premier event Junior Nationals was played in Bloemfontein from 28 September to 3 October 2009. Congratulations to the winners.

Under 12

What other sports do you play at school?

Who is your coach and how often do you have lessons/practice?

The boys are coached by Earl Grainger and they attend one private lesson and three squad sessions per week. Brandon has an additional weekly hour of private coaching with Brandon Kruger.

What tournaments have you won – singles/doubles?

Ryan and Brandon Laubser are brothers with a passion for tennis and currently have rankings in the top 5 of their age groups.

Both boys attend St Benedicts College in Bedfordview and Ryan at only 13 years old is the number 1 player for the High School whilst younger brother, 11-year-old Brandon is the top player for the Primary School.

They are modest of their many achievements and both boys have remained humble and well mannered. Parents Andries and Nadine are rightfully proud and encourage them all the way.

R: GC Wilsons Marks Park, GN Belgrave Grand Prix, GN Mini Series, GC Mini Series B: Nike Junior Tour SA Masters, GE KeyHealth Series, GC Wilsons Marks Park, GN Mini Series ,GE Mini Series ,GN Junior Grand Prix What has been your tennis highlights so far?

The brothers feel that winning any tournament is very rewarding and reaching the semis of the CAT u14 tournament was, for Ryan, a definite high. However, they both agree that their highlight was in the Nike Junior Tour SA Masters this year where Brandon came first and Ryan made it to the semi-final.

To help us get to know them better they answered a few of our questions:

Ryan and Brandon are right-handed players who prefer singles to doubles - however both would love the opportunity to partner their favourite player Roger Federer in a doubles match. These youngsters would like to eventually pursue a career in tennis and aim to work very hard towards this goal. They assured me that although they are both very competitive there is no sibling rivalry - they are good friends, great knocking partners and above all loving brothers to each other and younger sister Jenna!

OPEN TENNIS

Gauteng North futures results Week 1

Under 16

Boys singles: Marc van der Merwe Girls singles: Natasha Fourouclas Boys doubles: M van der Merwe/ M Jansen van Vuuren Girls doubles: E de Villiers/D Joubert

The Open Interprovincial Tournament The Open Interprovincial Tournament took place in Pretoria from 11–16 October 2009. Results are:

Under 18

Boys singles: Girls singles: Boys doubles: Girls doubles:

Jody Claassen Veronique Luksich J Claassen/B Schoeman W Luus/E Potgieter

From left:Wayne Montgomery, Brandon Laubser, Kelsey Joffe, Kay-Leigh Nicholas and Jason Smit (Coach) Photograph by Reg Caldecott

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Western Province Gauteng North Gauteng Central Gauteng North U18 Boland Free State Gauteng East North West Province

Men’s singles Jean Andersen (RSA) bt Yannick Bulcke (4)(BEL) 4–6, 7–5, 6–4 Men’s doubles Richard Ruckelshausen (AUT)/Ivo Klec (3)(SVK) bt Alexander Satschko (2)(GER)/ Frank Wintermantel (GER) 6–3, 3–6 (10–7) Women’s singles Chanel Simmonds (RSA) bt Davinia Lobbinger (BEL) 6–1, 6–0 Women’s doubles Welma Luus (RSA)/Erica Krisan (USA) bt Martina Caciotti (ITL)/Nicole Clerico (ITL) 6–1, 6–4 Week 2

Men’s singles Andrew Anderson (RSA) bt Sebastian Rieschick (3) (GER) 6–4, 6–2 Men’s doubles Andrew Anderson (RSA)/B Janse van Rensburg (RSA) bt Hendrik Coertzen (RSA)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6–3, 7–5 Women’s singles Irina Ramialison (FRA) bt Piia Suomalainen (FIN) 7–5, 6–2 Women’s doubles Sina Haas (GER)/Piia Suomalainen (FIN) bt Lucia Kovarcikova (3) (SUI)/Zuzana Linhova (CZE) 7–6(2), 6–0

Nationals photos by David Shekleton @ How’s That Shot Photography 110

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A year of triumphs, glory and honour for this sport of champions Stringing the 2009 Racquet of Wheelchair Tennis South Africa

TOURNAMENT RULE CHANGES Summary of rule/format changes for the 2009/2010 Tournament Season commencing on 1 December 2009 Age groups (Junior tournaments): • Worldwide it is a phenomenon that players

Racquet rankings Wheelchair Tennis South Africa (WTSA) currently has more than 350 active players, of whom many have achieved great things for the country this year. One of the most exciting triumphs for wheelchair tennis in 2009 is that South Africa has more players on the international world ranking than any other country.

SA’s next ace In September 2009, up and coming teenage champion, Evans Maripa won a gold medal at the Asia Pacific Youth Para Games in Tokyo.

WTSA is especially proud of the youngster since he only recently gained access to a tennis court and coaching.

A first for South Africa: Only the top eight players in the world are invited to the prestigious ‘Les Petit Ans’, the World Junior Masters in France, and this year South African Hanno Burger was one of them.

Hanno is currently number seven on the World Junior Rankings, and at only 14 years of age, he is tipped to become one of South Africa’s wheelchair tennis champs. The French invitation was particularly impressive as this was a first-ever for South Africa.

Wheelchair tennis started in 1976 with a single tennis ball and a dream. Disabled American Brad Parks discovered you could still hit a tennis ball over the net from the confines of a wheelchair.

This prompted his life’s mission, to create and promote the sport of wheelchair tennis. Thirty years later his tenacity has paid off and wheelchair tennis is now a flourishing sport of champions.

World Team Cup WTSA entered a men’s and women’s team in the 2009 World Team Cup held in Nottingham, England during July. This annual event – by qualification or invitation only – boasts a field from around 33 countries, and year after year continues to draw the top players from around the world. Team South Africa did exceptionally well and their performance gained an automatic entry into the 2010 event. The ladies’ team took eighth place – no small feat for the country – while the men’s team came eighth in World Group Two.

The voice of victory Held in great esteem by South African tennis fans, WTSA lists the 2009 accomplishments among their best to date, which include:

•

•

• Two of the country’s players are ranked in the top 20 players in the world • South Africa currently has an astonishing 80 players on the world ranking • WTSA hosted six international-level events held in various locations around South Africa in 2009 • There are over 30 development centres across South Africa that invite disabled people to try their hand at tennis

•

•

•

•

•

The 2010 base line To add to the already impressive list of ongoing international level events, South Africa will host six tournaments attracting worldwide teams in 2010. On the local front, WTSA will host a series of regional Future Stars tournaments aimed at beginner-level players in the country. Additionally, WTSA aims to open a minimum of 10 new training centres nationally to encourage and nurture local talent. These centres will serve to grow wheelchair tennis as a sport in Africa.

In 2010, WTSA will send a minimum of two teams to participate in the World Team Cup in Turkey in May. Colonial roots of Tennis

Thanking the sponsors

Yet another high-status invitation for four of the WTSA players was that of the world development camp in Britain. Nancy Moremi, Marshall Marsh, Leon Els and Lucas Sithole were fortunate enough to be among only 20 global players invited to this prestigious camp held in London in July. These young, up and coming players are considered to have the potential to be among the top players internationally, and under the guidance of one of the best coaches in the world, they were able to hone their skills.

Much of WTSA’s phenomenal growth can be attributed to the efforts of the Airports Company South Africa, the official sponsor of the sport. They have contributed R14 million to date. In 2009, WTSA was also fortunate to secure a secondary sponsor – the National Lottery Distribution Fund. The Airports Company South Africa has committed itself to continued investment in the sport as its flagship CSI project and this will ensure an increased awareness of the sport among the disabled community of South Africa.

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TENNISWORLD SA

•

•

Getting started WTSA has set up weekly coaching programmes at schools and disabled centres, as well as Future Stars Camps and Events at various venues nationally. The programmes and camps offer coaching that develops and supports young potential wheelchair tennis players from communities across South Africa.

For more information contact Karen Losch Tel: 083 325 1169 Fax: 086 651 6664 Email:karen@tennis.co.za

Drafted and distributed by SIMONSAYS communications and to contact on behalf of Wheelchair Tennis South Africa: 011 465 9815

born in the first three (3) months of the year have a distinct advantage over those born later in the year.

Many countries have questioned the practice of using 1 January as the changeover date.

In line with the new trend internationally, SATA has over a period of a year considered making adjustments to its age group structure.

After monitoring reports on implementation in other countries, it has been decided to implement these changes in South Africa.

Effective 1 December 2009, a player will, instead of changing age groups on 1 January of each year, change age groups on his/her birthday.

If the birthday falls during a tournament date, the player will change age groups at the start of the tournament.

In effect, a player will remain in his/her age group until the day before they turn 12, 14 and 16. On the day of their birthday they will migrate to the next age group, namely under 14, 16 and 18 An exception will be made for a player who turns 18 during the year and he / she will be able to continue playing in the previous age group till the end of that year (31 December).

Inevitably, the changeover will effect some positively and others negatively; however, once the first year of implementation has been completed, the system will be a much fairer one and will result in a variety which will be to the benefit of all concerned.

ITF, CAT, Nike and Tennis Europe will retain 1 January of the year as the day on which age groups are determined/ changed.

Guaranteed strengths: • Existing tournaments will continue to be awarded guaranteed strengths based on the previous year’s average strengths (as calculated across the respective age groups) and applied for the past tournament season.

• However, where a particular age group (under12, under14 etc) achieves a higher strength, based on the average ranking of the top eight (8) seeds, this age group strength will be increased to the actual strength. In the case of an age group strength being lower than the guaranteed strength, the guaranteed strength will still prevail.

• This system will still enable players to “plan” a tournament schedule based on

guaranteed strength, but will also reward players when a respective age group is higher.

• Only Keyhealth Series Tournaments (former Super 7s) will receive a guaranteed strength of seven (7).

• The maximum strength that any other ranking tournament will be able to achieve will be strength six (6), with mini-series being able to achieve a maximum of a strength five (5).

Mini-series doubles: • In many instances some provinces/regions host primarily mini-series events. While this is good for the region, it does have an impact on the player’s ranking as only singles are played at these tournaments • From 2009/2010 mini-series tournaments will be able to apply to host doubles and a minimum of 50% of the mini-series events within a region will be encouraged to host doubles, in order to enable the players to gain the “missing” 25% that has to be added to the final ranking points table.

Play-off matches: • Keyhealth Series events Platinum main draw: Play-off events will cease from the quarterfinal stage, with quarterfinal losers receiving position eight (8) points. This will apply to under 12, under 14, under 16 and under 18.

• Keyhealth Series Platinum qualifying draw and All Other Sections (Gold, Silver etc): All play-off matches to be completed in full.

• All other tournaments: Play-off matches to be completed in full.

• Play-off sign-in: Players who want to participate in the play-off section must sign-in immediately after losing their respective match (in any round) so as to be included in the remainder of the play-off competition. Players will no longer be “forced” to compete in the play-off section once they have lost. Players wishing not to continue with the play-offs will be awarded points up until the stage to which they progressed within the draw.

• In the event of a player being injured/ retiring from a match/play-off match, but wanting to continue to participate in the play-off rounds, he/she will be permitted to do this with the approval of his/her parent/coach. A doctor’s certificate will not be required.

• In the event of a player having to retire from a singles match and wanting to participate in doubles, a doctor’s certificate will have to be produced due to a retirement from one event.

• Doubles play-off matches will be on the same basis as the singles. Players losing

their first match will be required to sign-in to be included in the play-off competition.

SATA National Ranking: • The SATA National Ranking (inclusive of all age group results and open results) will be displayed on the SATA website by Monday 7 December.

• The age group ranking lists will still be produced, but will be known as age group seeding lists, as there will only be one official ranking, which will henceforth be known as the SATA National Ranking.

• SATA National Ranking and age group seeding lists will be available on the SATA website and will continue to be updated every Monday morning.

• A separate Nike list will also be available on the website. This will be known as the Nike 12s and Nike 14s. These age group tables will be updated on the same Mondays that Keyhealth results are added.

• The revised points tables and ranking formula will also be displayed on the SATA website.

• In summary, the SATA National Ranking will now comprise a player’s best six (6) tournament results, irrespective of which age group he/she achieved these points in. i.e. player can have a combination of age group results, ITF under 18 results and Open results (local or international).

A player’s national ranking will automatically be based on the best six (6) results achieved.

• The total population of tournament results that will be considered will be: SATA age group tournaments (under 12 etc); - SATA local Open tournaments; - Under 18 ITF Junior tournaments; - CAT under 14 Tournaments; - African Junior Championships (under 14, under 16 and under 18); - All ITF Men and Women Futures/Pro Circuit events; - All ATP Challenger and Tour Events; - All WTA Tour Events.

• A player’s age group seeding position will be determined according to filtering of that particular player’s best six (6) results. These results will be his/her best achieved and will not necessarily reflect results in that age group only. In this way players who are taking the risk and playing out of their age group or also venturing to participate in higher graded events, will automatically be able to retain an age group seeding position.

• In cases where a player decides to play up or out of his/her age group, the player’s total best six (6) points will still be used to determine his/her acceptance position in the higher age group.

• Players should view the revised ranking in such a way that it no longer reflects the best six (6) results in a particular age group, but the best six (6) results achieved across the board/all events played.

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The ATP World Tour Series 250 tournament carries prize money of R3.5-million and will feature some of the biggest names in tennis.

Gael Monfils, the charismatic Frenchman who is the current world number 13 has honoured a commitment he made to the South African Tennis Association earlier this year and Spaniard David Ferrer currently ranked number 18 will return to South Africa for his second visit.

Tickets range in price from R25 to R200 and are available from Computicket nationwide and the Montecasino Box Office. Hospitality packages are also available and further details may be obtained from Linda Nhando Linda@ circa.co.za or 084 682 4076.

F

ollowing the monumental success of this year’s tournament, Tsogo Suns Montecasino in Johannesburg will once again play host to the SA Open Tennis tournament for 2010.

The R3.5-million event will run from February 1 to 7, 2010 with the qualifying tournament taking place on January 30 and 31. The main singles draw will comprise of 32 singles players with 16 teams competing for the doubles title.

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“When you compare these prices with tickets for other international sporting events in our country, they are more than reasonable,” said SATA Chief Executive Ian Smith, “especially if one considers that many of the world’s best tennis players will be in action playing both singles and doubles during the week. If we look back at the success of last year’s event, we anticipate that the crowds will come out in full force for the tournament.”

Photographs courtesy of The SA Open.

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Subscribe before the end of December and you could receive an unforgettable Christmas gift!

Gauteng Central challenges parents The weather was gloomy on Saturday 31 October, but nothing could dampen the spirits of the seventy players who turned up for the fun Parent and Child Doubles Tournament hosted by Gauteng Central.

The parents sized each other up while the kids, unworried about rankings, seedings or tournament points, were all pretty relaxed.

Most couples comprised a parent and child, but individual entries were also accepted and partnered with the very able GC Development players which gave everyone a chance to participate. Couples were divided into six different groups, to play a round robin format.

The winners of each section were: Aidan and Artur Carrazedo, Vaughn and Glen Hunter, Jessica and Kim Wilson, Tremayne and Shane Mitchell, Nicole and Garth Robinson, Mickey Styles and Nompumulelo Montja In an exhibition match between the two highest-scoring winning couples, Aidan Carrazedo and Dad Artur narrowly beat Glen Hunter and son Vaughn in a tie-break.

However, it wasn’t about winning or losing – it was about fun, sportsmanship, making friends and who knows, maybe some of the parents now realize that in actual fact it is

Glen and Vaughn Hunter; Aidan and Artur Carrazedo

quite possible to miss that easy smash! With compliments of the province, delicious Prego rolls were served throughout the morning, adding to the relaxed atmosphere.

Says Mickey Styles, general manager of the Gauteng Central Provincial Tennis Association: “Events like this are a great way of giving something back to the players and parents.

No fun day is worth anything without giveaways and prizes and special thanks go to Altech NuPay for their generosity.”

This could quite possibly be the start of an annual event in the Gauteng Central calendar.

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CLUB PROFILE BEDFORDVIEW COUNTRY CLUB Bedfordview Country Club (previously Kensington Polytechnic) was founded in 1925 when a meeting was held at Rhodes Park Tearoom (as it is still known today) and a decision taken to form a Sports Club offering cricket, hockey, tennis, baseball, badminton, soccer, swimming and table tennis. The club remained at Rhodes Park until 1957, when the Johannesburg City Council decided that Kensington Polytechnic would have to change its name to Rhodes Park Sports Club. The die-hard club members did not approve and decided to move to the present premises, which had been vacated by Old Parks. In the mid-seventies it was decided to name it the Bedfordview Country Club. The Country Club has a membership of approximately 900 members and the tennis section over 100 members. Earl Grainger is the resident coach and has contributed significantly to the success of the tennis section with his input and all his junior squad players.

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A thriving Tennis section which brings numerous honours to the club at all levels of the game. Has approximately 80 members at present playing on eight courts. TENNIS LEVY R450.

The year 2009 was a significantly prosperous year for Bedfordview’s tennis. The men’s 1st team won the premier and the 2nd team won the 2.1 section in the Gauteng Central Egoli League. In the Gauteng East Winter League the men’s and ladies’ teams again enjoyed huge success with the 1st winning premier; 2nd winning 1.2 and the 3rd winning 2.1. In the combined Gauteng Mixed League the 1st team once again won premier; 2nd won 1.2 and the 4th won 2.2. The highlight of the club’s success was winning both the men’s and ladies’ sections of the Bundes League in August and thereby qualifying for the National Club Championships held in Durban, which the ladies’ team went on to win and the men’s team ended 2nd overall. Members who participated in the winning Bundes League teams were: Damon Gooch, Kevin Taylor (both players have just returned back from a four-year tennis scholarship in the USA),

Ngonidzashe Chizunza, Vasili Caripi, Ryan Kennedy and David Creamer. The ladies were Natasha Fourouclas, Tracy Plant, Rene Plant, Geniveve Luksich and Francesca Burns.

Bedfordview’s tennis success does not lie only in the strength of its players but also in the outstanding contribution of its social players.

Social tennis is held every Wednesday evening, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Sunday morning is the flagship social day when all eight courts are normally occupied.

Bedfordview also provides many players to both Central and Eastern Veteran provincial sides, with many players having represented South Africa at veteran’s level. It has also successfully hosted an ITF junior tournament.

All these factors, coupled with excellent tennis facilities, make Bedfordview one of the premier tennis clubs in South Africa today.

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