Tennis World International n° 6 by Coppini Trading

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SOUTH AFRICA

www.tennisworldsa.com Issue number 6 | R39,95 including VAT ISSN 2075-6526

Monte Carlo The Return of Rafa

Desert Storm

How Ljubicic Conquered Indian Wells

The Comeback King Roddick Rocks Miami

On her way to the top

An exclusive inteview with Caroline Wozniacki

The Road to Roland Garros Why Roma Rules

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TENNIS WORLD SOUTH AFRICA Published by Matchball Tennis

Editor’s Letter

EDITOR & DIRECTOR Federico Coppini federico.coppini@matchballtennis.com

The Calm before the storm...

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In this issue

The clay holds many uncertainties for everyone, but more so for Roger than Rafa The clay court season has all the necessary ingredients for high drama, especially now that Rafael Nadal is back to his best. He looked good in Indian Wells and Miami – fit, fast and fearsome – but couldn’t quite make it to the final. However, it gave him the ideal preparation and confidence for his clay court campaign. He got off to the perfect start at Monte Carlo, losing only 14 games en route to the championship – a truly incredible feat! It’s been nearly a year since we’ve seen Nadal biting a trophy, and it’s good to have him back in the winner’s circle. He truly owns the Monte Carlo event now, having won it for the past six years. Nadal looks set to dominate the red dirt once again, and while this has always been a problem for Roger Federer, it could be particularly annoying this year. You see, with Nadal being ranked number three he could potentially meet Federer in the semi-finals of Roland Garros and the events leading up to it. It’s been many years since these two players contested anything other than the final of a tournament, and it will be sad if the climax of the competition is in the match preceding the final.

Caroline Wozniack

I was happily surprised by the victories of Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick at Indian Wells and Miami, as I am sure many other people were. Nobody expected that these two would rise to the top at those prestigious events, but they truly deserved it! Roddick really seems to have changed both his game and his attitude, and I hope that this new fire will make him competitive for one of the top three spots in the rankings. It’s certainly going to be a very interesting couple of months. As far as local tennis goes, South Africa is of course preparing for two major events – the Federation Cup and the Davis Cup. In Davis play we will face Finland, which is going to be very tough even though it is a home tie. The SA Fed Cup team is particularly young this year, and playing in Armenia is going to be a great experience for all of the players. The selectors are really looking to the future by opting for the youngsters, and I think it will pay off in the long run. One of the ladies going to Armenia is Chanel Simmonds, and she was kind enough to give us an interview. She told us a lot about herself and her game, and you can check it out on page 73.

Miami Masters

The quality of tennis in South Africa is definitely improving, and SATA is working hard to get more and more tournaments in the country. This will not only improve the amount and quality of the courts, but also encourage more players to get involved at a competitive level. We at Tennis World are also doing our best to make tennis as popular as possible in this beautiful country! As always, please send your comments and suggestions to federico. coppini@matchballtennis.com. We love hearing from you! Also be sure to check out our website at www.tennisworldsa.com, where you’ll find the latest tennis news as well as our “Guess the Winner” competition, where you can win some fabulous prizes. Until next time, happy reading!

Federico Federico Coppini federico.coppini@matchballtennis.com

Indian Wells

Contents

TennisWorld SA #6 NEWS

14 22 28 40 81

Monte Carlo Masters 1000 Miami Masters 1000 Indian Wells Masters 1000 Rome Masters 1000 South African Tennis Association (SATA)

PLAYER FEATURES 19 20 25 33 36 38

Tomaz Bellucci Tomas Berdych Andy Roddick Philipp Petzschner Bethanie Mattek-Sands Marin Cilic

FEATURES

60 65 66 68

Tennis Without Slams Andre Agassi Book Review Lewis Carroll’s Tennis Legacy Mirza Wedding

INTERVIEWS 8 70 73 76

Caroline Wozniacki Patrick Mouratoglou Chanel Simmonds Kevin Curren

PRO TALK 49 51 52 53 54 78 79

My Africa Mental Preparation – Service Shoulder Injuries The Federer Volley Physical Recovery SA Davis Cup Preview SA Fed Cup Preview

RANKINGS

44 ATP Rankings 46 WTA Rankings 96 SA Rankings MISC 58 Subscriptions

TENNISWORLD SA

number 1 in tennis*

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Caroline Wozniacki

but “ifII’dlikehaveall surfaces, to pick one, I’d say hard court or clay court.“

From Challenger to Contender

here It’s been an extraordinary six months for Caroline Wozniacki. In that period the Danish teenager has reached the US Open final and risen to world number two. David Cox caught up with her at the Miami Masters to find out more about this talented youngster. Regular followers of the tour will have been aware of Wozniacki’s potential since she was thrust into the spotlight four years ago, winning junior Wimbledon at just 15. Her solid counter-punching game continued to serve her well on the main tour as she became established in the world’s Top 20, but not everyone believed she had what it took to reach the very highest echelons of world tennis. That is, until recently.

Wozniacki was one of a cluster of highly talented teenagers in and around the world’s top ten, hoping to make a breakthrough and reach a Grand Slam final. That group included her close friend Vika Azarenka. Many thought Azarenka would be the one to step up but during a rollercoaster of a fortnight in New York, Wozniacki battled her way past French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and American starlet Melanie Oudin to take on Kim Clijsters in the final. Although she lost, Wozniacki had made her mark on the world stage. “Since the US Open I have been more and more recognized, not only in Denmark but all over the world,” she said. “Being in the spot-

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light is very nice but has its pitfalls as well.”

so I am glad to have her back on Tour.”

Clijsters’ fairytale run was one of the feelgood stories of the sporting year, but her great run had a dark undertone for the WTA tour. Had her success exposed a worrying lack of strength and depth on the women’s circuit?

There was more controversy when a string of injuries affected the year-end WTA Championships. This lead to widespread calls for the season to be shortened. However, Wozniacki remains pragmatic, accepting it is part and parcel of the life of a tennis player.

Wozniacki doesn’t think so. “Having Kim back is great for the game. I actually think that women’s tennis will improve because the competition is getting tougher. Kim is an extraordinary athlete, and always has been,

“I think that tennis players have a really hectic schedule, which is demanding,” she says. “I would prefer a shorter season, but you know, I am not the one in charge of deciding. I do what I do best, play tennis.”

I started playing “ at around age 4 or so. My dad taught me. “ 10

TENNISWORLD SA

Q: When did you start playing tennis and who was your first coach? I started playing at around age 4 or so. My dad taught me. Q: Does anyone else in your family play tennis? We are a very athletic family. When my brother started playing tennis, I picked it up as well. He turned out to be a soccer player, I chose tennis.

I usually wake up three hours before playing. I have a good breakfast then I go to the courts to warm-up. I often finish warming up an hour or so before the match. I always stretch and activate myself before stepping on court to play. After the match, it is always the same, cool-down, interviews, then a massage or I am seeing the physio. I always get a good dinner with family or friends.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to become a professional tennis player? I loved the game instantly. I always pushed my dad to play more and more with me. Pretty early on, I already wanted to play competitively.

Q: What’s your pre-match routine? Any superstitions before you go out there? I like to keep myself well-fed and be ready to play. My warm-up routine is always the same, so is my cool down routine. I am not that superstitious really, I like to follow my own schedule and rituals but I am not too particular about it.

Q: How many hours do you spend on the court every day? And in the gym? I practice twice a day, two hours per practice session, and usually an hour or so fitness. I also do boxing as cross-training, so I box for an hour every other day.

Q: How do you cope with the feelings after losing important matches? Because I always want to win, it sometimes is hard to lose a battle. But I try to learn from each match I play and try to stay objective about it.

Q: Can you talk us through a typical day when you’re playing a tournament?

Q: How about the off-court stuff – favourite music to chill out to? How do you like

to relax when not competing? Music-wise, everything but rap and country. I like tunes that make me dance and get me pumped up. When I’m home I’m happiest shopping or grabbing dinner with friends in Copenhagen. Q: Ideal holiday destination? Somewhere on a sandy beach with friends, jet skis and pretty sunsets! Q: Back to the tennis, how would you describe the strongest and weakest parts of your game? I am a fighter, I never give up. I need to improve my serve and I need to stay more aggressive. I am constantly working on my game though because I always find things that need to get better. Q: Favourite surface ? I like all surfaces, but if I’d have to pick one, I’d say hard court or clay court. Q: Most memorable tennis moment ? Either winning the Wimbledon Junior Championships a few years ago or playing the US Open final last year.

A warm & friendly Italian welcome!

THE STABLES LODGE T

he Stables Lodge is situated in an exclusive area of Stellenbosch, less than 5 minutes from the picturesque town centre. The lodge offers panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, with accommodation in 6 comfortable en- suite rooms. All rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, coffee/ tea making facilities, Radio/CD players as well as towels for the pool. One self-catering unit is also available. We also offer secure parking, a spacious public area, honesty bar with soft drinks and snacks as well as wireless internet.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast before heading out to explore the famous wine lands, or discover the area through many available excursions and day trips! Should you wish to relax then our quiet and welcoming garden around our lovely swimming pool is just the place. A beautiful atmosphere with a fusion of Italian and African styles, make this affordable stay one to be repeated!

Italian and English spoken. German in progress!

TENNISWORLD SA

Monte Carlo Masters 1000

He left all of his opponents broken and bruised on his way to the final, where he absolutely destroyed his good friend Fernando Verdasco. Yet he humbly protests: "I do not expect to win always, even on clay." By our correspondent in Monte Carlo Ubaldo Scanagatta

his year’s Monte Carlo Masters 1000 tournament was all about two numbers: 14 and 6. On his rampant run to the title, Rafael Nadal lost only 14 games in total. To put that into perspective, his opponent in the final, Fernando Verdasco, lost ten games in just one match against Tomas Berdych in the third round. The other number is how many times Nadal has now won the principality’s tennis title, all of those victories coming backto-back. He is the first player in the Open era to achieve this feat. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Rafael Nadal is back, and some would say he is better than ever. That might be overstating it a bit, but it’s hard not to be excited about the brutal display of power that the Spaniard put on at the Monte Carlo Country Club. At the very least, many of the doubts that had been plaguing the king of clay for the past year have now been erased. Yet some still linger: none of his fiercest rivals were playing at the tournament. Roger Federer decided to skip the event, and Juan Martin Del Potro, Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko all had to sit out due to injuries. The real test for Nadal will come when he faces one of them in a final, but until then this victory will keep him more than happy and, more importantly, confident. Besides, he ran into some of the 14

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best clay specialists in the world on his way to the final. Juan Carlos Ferrero has already won two titles on the red stuff this year, and David Ferrer has won a title and made a final. Together these two represent the tour’s best clay players, and they were both mercilessly beaten into submission by the rabid Nadal. That will go some way to making up for the absence of some of the other top dogs. Coming into the final nothing was certain, however. Verdasco had easily knocked out Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, the player who many thought the favourite to win the tournament, and he is no slouch on clay. But from the very first game it was clear that Nadal was in no mood to cut his friend any sort of slack. He barely allowed the struggling Verdasco room to breathe, and the match quickly became a replay of their clash at Roland Garros in 2008, where Nadal mutilated Verdasco 6-1, 6-0, 6-2. But after the battle the two gladiators were friends again, with Verdasco hugging his countryman at the net. “I hope one day Rafa gets tired of winning here,” he said afterwards. Nadal was a little sheepish at the awards ceremony, saying “sorry for today” to the smiling Verdasco. Although it was a tough loss for Verdasco, he can console himself with the knowledge that he will move back into the Top Ten after the

tournament. Nadal’s clay court travels have only started, however, and he still needs to defend his titles in Barcelona and Rome before he can break even for the year, but he likes his chances. “I [am] back to my best level [since] January,” Nadal said after the win. Of course in January the Spaniard won an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, where he beat Robin Soderling in the final. “And here probably was one of [my] best [performances] on clay, one of my best levels on clay, sure.” Spain was certainly well represented throughout the week, with three of the four semi-finalists hailing from that country. The Spaniards are of course well known for their love of clay, and this can clearly been seen from their outstanding results at both at Monte Carlo and Roland Garros. Since 1993, 15 Spaniards have reached the final in the principality, with 10 emerging victorious. The numbers for the French Open are scarcely less impressive, with 14 finalists and 9 winners over the same period of time. The Monte Carlo Masters 1000 tournament was, as always, a resounding success. Despite the inclement weather that plagued the region for the first few days, almost every session was sold out. While the crowds no

doubt enjoyed seeing Nadal back at his best, his utter domination did lead to a disappointing lack of exciting matches. The best contest of the week was probably between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which the Spaniard won 6-1, 3-6, 7-5. Tsonga has never played his best tennis on clay, but during that match he showed that he might just be getting used to it. By his own admission he has big plans for the surface, and with the French Open on the horizon, he will surely want to make good progress before his home Slam. The overwhelming attendance for all the singles matches was sadly not replicated on the doubles side of the draw, and the discipline’s continuing problems were accentuated by the fact that only a couple of hundred people saw the final between Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic and Mahesh Bhuphati/Max Mirnyi, which the latter duo won after Bhupati was forced to withdraw due to injury.

The Spanish Armada The Spanish have dominated the Monte Carlo Masters. Here’s what they’ve achieved since 1993: Year 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2003 2002 1998 1997 1996 1994 1993

Champion [ESP] Rafael Nadal [ESP]Rafael Nadal [ESP] Rafael Nadal [ESP] Rafael Nadal [ESP] Rafael Nadal [ESP] Rafael Nadal [ESP] Juan Carlos Ferrero [ESP] Juan Carlos Ferrero [ESP] Carlos Moyà [CHI] Marcelo Ríos [AUT] Thomas Muster [UKR] Andriy Medvedev [ESP] Sergi Bruguera

Runner-up [ESP] Fernando Verdasco [SRB] Novak Djokovic [SUI] Roger Federer [SUI] Roger Federer [SUI] Roger Federer [ARG] Guillermo Coria [ARG] Guillermo Coria [ESP] Carlos Moyà [FRA] Cédric Pioline [ESP] Alex Corretja [ESP] Albert Costa [ESP] Sergi Bruguera [FRA] Cédric Pioline

Score 6–0, 6–1 6–3, 2–6, 6–1 7–5, 7–5 6–4, 6–4 6–2, 6–7(2), 6–3, 7–6(5) 6–3, 6–1, 0–6, 7–5 6–2, 6–2 7–5, 6–3, 6–4 6–3, 6–0, 7–5 6–4, 6–3, 6-3 6–3, 5–7, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2 7–5, 6–1, 6–3 7–6(2), 6–0

TENNISWORLD SA

Monte Carlo Masters 1000

Monte Carlo Scorecard Gasquet 4/10

Cas

inò

The special effects were not enough to fill the gaps in his game, and the Frenchman obviously has a lot of work to do. There were glimmers of hope though, and he’ll be looking to regain at least some of his lost form before the French Open.

Seppi 6/10 Monte Carlo H arbour aris Cafè de P

Cafè de Par is & Casinò .

TENNISWORLD SA

Seppi didn’t technically “win” any matches during the week – he only reached the second round thanks to Olivier Rochus retiring in their opening match. He played well against Montanes until the third set, but then he completely fell apart. This is the time of the year that he really needs to collect as many points as he can, because once the clay court season ends it’s only going to get harder for the Italian.

Verdasco 9/10

Finally, Fernando, finally! After reaching almost a dozen Masters Series 1000 quarter-finals without ever progressing to the last four, the Spaniard goes one better and makes the final. His power and persistence saw him through the week, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough against Rafa.

Nadal 9/10

Hurricane Nadal once again slammed into the Monte Carlo Country Club, sweeping away anyone who dared stand in its way. He looked like a man among boys, and made even the best clay courters of the year look like nervous juniors. After a year of waiting, the King of Clay has finally reclaimed his throne.

Murray 3/10

Clay isn’t a good surface on which to be unsure of oneself, and Murray’s lack of confidence shone through for everyone to see. With no power and even less heart, it was a listless performance from the Scot, perhaps the worst of the past two months – and that’s saying something.

Djokovic 5/10

Firing Todd Martin didn’t exorcise any of the demons that are haunting Djokovic’s game. He made it to the semi-final, but not without several tantrums and mini-meltdowns. Against Verdasco he played the same kind of tennis we’ve seen from him in the past months, and with a ton of points to defend in the next weeks, it’s not a good time for the Serb to start falling apart.

Ferrer 7/10

Perhaps the best clay-court player we’ve seen this year after Nadal, Ferrer is recapturing some of the form that saw him reach the US Open semifinals a couple of years ago. It’s unlikely that’s he’ll again climb as high in the rankings, but he’s still and handful on clay – and one of the only players to break Nadal’s serve the whole week.

Nalbandian 6/10

Slowly but surely he’s getting back to where he was before his hip operation. He’s still not as fit as he needs to be and the consistency is lacking, but the Argentine is making real progress. Let’s hope he can stay healthy as he climbs back up the rankings.

TENNISWORLD SA

18 TENNISWORLD SA LAT E. GULBIS SUI 63 62

ROBERT, Stephane GULBIS, Ernests CHIUDINELLI, Marco HANESCU, Victor

4 5 6 7

ARG D. NALBANDIAN GER 63 61

KUBOT, Lukasz NALBANDIAN, David BECK, Andreas BYE

12 13 14 15

BYE ANDREEV, Igor

18 19

A. SEPPI ITA 76(3) 00 Ret'd ESP

ROCHUS, Olivier SEPPI, Andreas MONTANES, Albert

21 22 23

VERDASCO, Fernando

BYE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

ESP

F. VERDASCO [6]

J. BENNETEAU UKR 64 57 62

N. DJOKOVIC [1] 64 64

F. VERDASCO [6] 62 61

T. BERDYCH [10] 62 60

A. MONTANES 76(1) 36 60

M. CILIC [4] 67(4) 61 64

D. NALBANDIAN 46 63 76(5)

T. ROBREDO [12] 64 63

Rank 15 16 17 22 23 24 28 30

N. DJOKOVIC [1] 62 63

Winner Finalists Semi-Finalists Quarter Finalists 3rd Round 2nd Round 1st Round

€ 434,000 € 203,000 € 103,450 € 53,000 € 27,500 € 14,500 € 7,650

Pts. 1000 600 360 180 90 45 10

F. VERDASCO [6] 63 67(4) 60

Prize Money

CHAMPION

60 61

R. NADAL [2] 64 62

R. NADAL [2] 62 63

Llodra, Michael 65

Last Direct Acceptance

Lucky Losers

D. FERRER [11] 60 76(4)

P. PETZSCHNER 76(4) 62

D. FERRER [11] 63 62

I. LJUBICIC [8] 63 76(3)

CRO

BRA

ESP P. PETZSCHNER 63 26 62 GER

AUT J. MELZER [15] 63 62 FRA

D. FERRER [11] 62 64 ESP

AUS

A. GOLUBEV 62 76(2) KAZ

FRA

ITA M. LLODRA 63 63 FRA

I. LJUBICIC [8]

R. NADAL [2] 60 61

J. FERRERO [9] 61 36 75

R. NADAL [2] ESP

T. DE BAKKER 63 75 ARG

NED

M. BERRER 61 64 KAZ

GER

ARG J. MONACO [14] 75 75 FIN

ESP J. FERRERO [9] 60 63 ESP

B. BECKER 64 62 GER

AUS

ESP N. ALMAGRO 36 75 62 GER

Retirements/W.O. Rochus, Olivier (Lower Back)

R. NADAL [2] 61 60

M. BERRER 64 64

J. FERRERO [9] 63 64

J. TSONGA [5] 76(5) 75

J. TSONGA [5]

FRA

P. KOHLSCHREIBER 26 63 76(3) GER P. KOHLSCHREIBER 62 61 A. MURRAY [3] GBR

P. KOHLSCHREIBER 63 64

D. FERRER [11] 75 76(1)

Rafael NADAL [2]

F. VERDASCO [6] 62 62

F. VERDASCO [6] 57 63 62

A. MONTANES 64 64

D. NALBANDIAN 63 64

S. WAWRINKA [13] 61 64

N. DJOKOVIC [1] 62 63

Seeded Players Rank Seeded Players DJOKOVIC, Novak 2 9 FERRERO, Juan Carlos NADAL, Rafael 3 10 BERDYCH, Tomas MURRAY, Andy 4 11 FERRER, David CILIC, Marin 9 12 ROBREDO, Tommy TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried 10 13 WAWRINKA, Stanislas VERDASCO, Fernando 12 14 MONACO, Juan YOUZHNY, Mikhail 13 15 MELZER, Jurgen LJUBICIC, Ivan 14 16 BAGHDATIS, Marcos FOLLOW LIVE SCORING AT www.ATPWorldTour.com

ATP, Inc. © Copy right 2001

DOLGOPOLOV JR., Oleksandr

FRA

BENNETEAU, Julien

R. GASQUET FRA 62 46 62

GASQUET, Richard

ESP

GIMENO-TRAVER, Daniel

LOPEZ, Feliciano

26 27

T. BERDYCH [10] ESP 63 61

CZE

BERDYCH, Tomas

BAGHDATIS, Marcos

BEL

BOLELLI, Simone

A. MONTANES CYP 64 62

I. ANDREEV ITA 63 64

M. CILIC [4]

CRO

CILIC, Marin

RUS

YOUZHNY, Mikhail

V. TROICKI POL 46 62 62

TROICKI, Viktor

M. YOUZHNY [7]

SRB

ZEBALLOS, Horacio

T. ROBREDO [12] ARG 63 63

ESP

ROBREDO, Tommy

S. WAWRINKA [13] SUI 62 64

WAWRINKA, Stanislas

F. SERRA FRA 76(6) 36 64

ROU

FRA

SERRA, Florent

N. DJOKOVIC [1] BYE

SRB

DJOKOVIC, Novak

Monte Carlo, Monaco 11-18 April, 2010 Red Clay € 2,543,750 410

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters MAIN DRAW SINGLES

ATP Supervisor Gerry Armstrong, Thomas Karlberg

BYE

NADAL, Rafael

GRANOLLERS, Marcel FERRERO, Juan Carlos

BECKER, Benjamin

TOMIC, Bernard

SCHWANK, Eduardo

GREUL, Simon

ALMAGRO, Nicolas

KOROLEV, Evgeny

BYE

DE BAKKER, Thiemo

TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried

BERRER, Michael

MURRAY, Andy

BYE

KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp

MONACO, Juan

BELLUCCI, Thomaz

NIEMINEN, Jarkko

PETZSCHNER, Philipp

FERRER, David

GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo

LUCZAK, Peter

GOLUBEV, Andrey

MELZER, Jurgen

CHARDY, Jeremy

MATHIEU, Paul-Henri

FOGNINI, Fabio

BYE

LLODRA, Michael

LJUBICIC, Ivan

The Other Bellucci

N o, he’s not related to Monica Bellucci, if you really want to know. But on a good day, his tennis is almost as beautiful as the gorgeous Ms. Bellucci. Almost. For some years now Thomaz Bellucci has been quietly working his way up the rankings, and recently he broke into the Top 30 for the first time, and has been hovering threateningly around there ever since. The 22-year old has a monstrous serve, and proved that his ground strokes can also be deadly when he beat both Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Monaco en route to his second career title in Santiago.

When wearing his hat, he almost seems like a left-handed version of world number two Novak Djokovic. Certainly on clay – Bellucci’s favourite surface – he would give the Serb a go for his money, although the two have never met on the court before. This comparison would certainly have felt alien to Bellucci just over a year ago, when he was still playing qualifiers in order to gain entry into major tournaments. Now he is knocking on

the door of the Top 20.

Yet his talent has always been evident. In 2008, when Bellucci had only just cracked the Top 100, he walked onto Court Philippe Chatrier to face none other than Rafael Nadal. For a nail-biting first set, the Brazilian often looked capable of causing the greatest upset in the history of tennis, and although he went on to lose in straight sets, on that day he made his intentions clear: to compete with the very best players in the world for the sport’s highest honours. It’s worth remembering that 2008 was Nadal’s golden year at Roland Garros – he lost only four games to Federer in the final – so for Bellucci to score five games in a single set is an achievement not to be sneezed at.

That said, the Brazilian still has a long way to go, and he knows it. He’s yet to record a win over a Top 10 opponent (the closest he’s come is beating number 11 Fernando Gonzalez), and has performed poorly at Grand Slam level. The furthest he’s gone in a Major has been to

the second round, and his results in Masters Series 1000 tournaments has not been stellar either. His results away from his beloved clay have been lacking as well, and he really needs to start stepping out of his comfort zone if he is to truly succeed on a circuit that mostly features hard courts.

But if getting to the top is going to be a tough fight, he’s more than ready for it. He proved this much during his fourth round match against Nicolas Almagro in Key Biscayne. The contest came down to a tie-breaker in the third set, and Bellucci fought his vastly more experienced opponent every single step of the way, loudly exclaiming “vamos” at any given opportunity. Though he lost, the defeat didn’t dampen his spirits – it only spurred him on to work harder. Perhaps it is more than a coincidence that the last person to win the Chilean Open before it was moved to Vina del Mar was Gustavo Kuerten. The person who won it this year? Thomaz Bellucci. Perhaps fate has given a warning to the rest of the Tour.

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3 WC

omas Berdych is not even 25 years of age, but in tennis terms he’s already old. Tennis pundits had been aware of his talent since he turned pro in 2002, but it wasn’t until 2004 that he stunned the world by defeating Roger Federer at the Athens Olympics. For the next two years phrases like “the new Safin” and “guaranteed number one” followed him around, and his win at the Paris Masters 1000 event seemed to confirm what everyone had been saying about the young man. He seemed destined for greatness. His tennis was smooth and straightforward, a combination of power and grace that was a joy to watch. He soon built up a bevy of admirers, even among his peers, and tennis fans were excited about this new champion of tennis. But just like the man they were comparing him to – the troubled Marat Safin – he would find things much harder than everyone had anticipated. After Paris good results were hard to come by, and 2006 slipped by with the Czech not securing a single title. Though his ranking steadily hovered around the 20 mark, he found himself constantly faltering in big matches, especially in Slams, where he consistently failed to make it to the second week. Questions also arose regarding his training regimen, and though his ranking remained stable, his stock as a rising young star went into freefall. Soon very few people were paying him much attention, and the label of “the next Safin” fit uncomfortably well – except that he seemed to be reliving the Russian’s latter years, not his glory days. The next three years saw Berdych reach five finals, and he won three of them. But they were

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small tournaments – Halle, Tokyo, Munich – not the Grand Slams that his talent had promised seven years ago. Other perennial underachievers started waking up and passing him by, most notably Robin Soderling. The Swede also had an enormous amount of talent, but had never quite lived up to it, but in 2009 he shocked the world by ousting Rafael Nadal from Roland Garros and reaching the final of that tournament. Since then he has gone from strength to strength, progressing unstoppably through the draws in major tournaments until he ran into the likes of Roger Federer (who beat him in three of last year’s Majors). Maybe it was seeing Soderling do his talent justice that finally spurred Berdych into action. Maybe he had just had enough of being “pretty good”, who knows? In the 2009 off-season he started training like a madman, greatly improving his footwork, consistency and attitude. Once again people started noticing the Czech, whispering that maybe he was finally ready to play to his full potential. All they needed was a sign, and in Miami they got one. It might not be a Slam, but it is one of the “mini Slams” (Indian Wells being the other), and Berdych sent out a clear message to the Tour when he sent Roger Federer packing in one of the most competitive matches of the tournament: this time he means business. It seems that Tomas Berdych has come full circle. In 2004 it was his victory against Federer that alerted people to his young, raw talent, and now it is once again a win against the Swiss maestro that has grabbed people’s attention. This time, however, they will find a different Berdych – one who is more mature, fitter and finally ready to win. Come to think of it, maybe he isn’t so old after all…

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showing some good progress over the past year, however, and he closing in on the kind of form that saw him win the 2005 Masters 1000 tournament in Paris. Hopefully he will do his talent justice by performing at this high level for the rest of the year.

The Old Kid on the Block

As was the case in Indian Wells, it looked as if Nadal had been given a free pass to the finals – and probably the trophy – by the early exits of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Unfortunately it was not to be, and he lost his nerve in the semi-final against Andy Roddick. He played a solid tournament though, and the clay court season is sure to be a profitable one if he can build on the success he enjoyed on hard courts in March.

ome players improve with age, just like a bottle of good wine. It’s rare but it does happen. Andre Agassi is perhaps the best example – he won five Slams after the age of 28. Jimmy Connors is also worth a mention, since he won both Wimbledon and the US Open at the tender age of 30. So, at 28 years of age, Andy Roddick has at least some reason to think that the best years of his career are still ahead. After all, both of the examples we just mentioned were also American. It seems almost unthinkable that just before the start of the American hard court swing, on the eve of the Indian Wells tournament, Roddick told his friend Justin Gimelstob that he didn’t feel particularly inspired. Fate has a funny sense of irony, since the American went on play some of the most inspired tennis of his life over the next two weeks. Unfortunately, Roddick ran into a rabid Ivan Ljubicic in the final of Indian Wells, and even though he had his chances he eventually fell in two tight sets. But coming to Miami he had reason to believe that some good things were about to happen to him. It was in Miami, after all, that he so impressed Pete Sampras in 2001 by beating him in straight sets. It was also here that he ended his 11-match losing streak against Roger Federer in 2008. “I have a feeling that Andy’s best years are ahead of him. This is why I have accepted to work with him. He wants to win Grand Slam titles, and he will succeed,” declared Larry Stefanki, who many regard as the best coach in the world. He has been working with Roddick for more than a year. Perhaps the most important thing Stefanki has taught Roddick is to stay positive. The American has a history of losing confidence in himself during matches and after tough losses. The old Roddick would have fallen apart after that nail-biting loss to Federer at Wimbledon last year, but he kept his head high and pow22

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ered through the tough times. Even tough early losses at both the US and Australian Opens couldn’t keep him down for long. In the Miami semi-final against Rafael Nadal – a player against whom Roddick has struggled mightily in the past – A-Rod’s new self-confidence shone through for all to see. At the business end of a tight first set, he hit four consecutive forehand winners to get himself out of a huge spot of trouble. It was a match-changing moment, and he never looked back after that. There was no way he was going to lose to Tomas Berdych in the final – having come so far destiny was not about to let him down. Indeed destiny might have had a hand in ensuring that Roger Federer stayed out of Roddick’s way on his way to the title. The Swiss maestro has won 19 of their 21 encounters, and Roddick would not have fancied his chances this time around, even in magical Miami. Luckily for him, Federer bowed out early for the second tournament in a row. Even

in the face of a truly awesome performance by Tomas Berdych, Federer seemed assured of a spot in the quarter-finals. He was ahead several times during the course of the match, and had a match point on his own serve, but somehow victory eluded him in the end. Federer’s fans need not be alarmed, however, as the Swiss still played some pretty decent tennis, and was on the verge of victory numerous times in both the Indian Wells and Miami matches he eventually lost. He’s knocking on the door, which is more than can be expected after a lung infection and five weeks off. Berdych’s superb form carried him through to the final, where he ran out of steam against an unstoppable Roddick. The Czech has been

It was a pity that the final turned out to be such an anti-climax. With Venus Williams’ extended family streaming into her box for the contest, it looked as if she would fight tooth and nail for the title. Unfortunately she played some of the worst tennis we’ve seen all year, committing 30 unforced errors in just 15 games to lose the match in two easy sets. But we can forgive Williams this one slip-up, since it is just her second loss of the year. After being upset by Na Li in Australia, she went on to win in Dubai in Acapulco, and we’re sure that she will bounce back after this defeat.

Jo Wilfried-Tsonga, who Nadal beat in the quarter-finals, was also very impressive in Miami. He played some of the best tennis we’ve seen from him this whole season, and was very unlucky not to fare better against the Spaniard, having managed to carve out a number of break point opportunities. It looks like he is still getting used to his new racquet, and the lack of self-confidence he has with his new weapon showed at important times during the match. However, as the year progresses we should see much more of the Frenchman, especially during the clay season. While he is not at his best on the red dirt, he has stated that he wants to do great things on the surface. On the women’s side of things, we were delighted to see Kim Clijsters win her third title since her return and re-enter the Top 10. Although she received a brutal wake-up call at the Australian Open, where she won just one game against Nadia Petrova, in Miami she rediscovered the form that saw her win the US Open last year. The semi-final she contested against Justine Henin was by far the best match of the tournament, and it seems that the Henin-Clijsters rivalry is already back to the level it was some years ago. After leading comfortably in the deciding set, she allowed Henin to claw her way back into the contest and Clijsters had to win it in a tie-break in the end. “I don’t want to celebrate this victory because I know well that the result could have been exactly reversed,” Clijsters said after the match, with cameras revealing a particularly downcast Justine Henin.

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RECORDS AND STATS Most Singles Titles Male: 6 - Andre Agassi: 1990, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003 5 - Steffi Graf: 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996 Female: 5 - Serena Williams: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 Most Consecutive Titles Male: 3 - Andre Agassi: 2001, 2002 and 2003 Female: 3 - Serena Williams 2004, 03, 02; Steffi Graf 1996, 95, 94 Most Consecutive Matches Won Male: Female:

20 - Andre Agassi (Champion 2001, 2002, 2003; lost to Agustin Calleri in 2004 4th rd) 17 - Pete Sampras (Champion 1993, 1994; lost to Andre Agassi in 1995 final) 22 - Steffi Graf (Champion 1994, 1995, 1996; lost to Venus Williams in 1999 semifinal round) 22 - Venus Williams (Champion 1998, 1999, 2001; lost to Serena Williams in 2002 semifinal)

Most Times Seeded No. 1 at the Tournament 5 - Ivan lendl (85, 86, 87, 89, 90) Male: 5 - Roger Federer (04, 05, 06, 07, 08) 5 - Steffi Graf (88, 91, 93, 94, 96) Female: 5 - Martina Hingis (97, 98, 99, 00, 01) Unseeded Players Who Advanced to the Finals 2005: Kim Clijsters (winner) 1999: Sebastien Grosjean 1991: David Wheaton 1985: Tim Mayotte (winner) and Scott Davis Youngest & Oldest Winners Youngest Male: Youngest Female: Oldest Male: Oldest Female:

Andre Agassi, 1990 (19 years, 330 days old) Monica Seles, 1990 (16 years, 111 days old) Andre Agassi, 2003 (32 years, 335 days old) Chris Evert, 1986 (31 years, 44 days old)

Singles Players - Most Finals Men: 8- Andre Agassi; 4- Pete Sampras; 3- Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer 7- Steffi Graf, Serena Williams; 5- Chris Evert; 3- Gabriela Sabatini, Women: Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams Most Doubles Titles - Teams Men: 4 - Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde: 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 Women: 3 - Gigi Fernandez/Natasha Zvereva: 1994, 1995 and 1996 Most Doubles Titles - Individual Men: 4 - Todd Woodbridge (95, 96, 97, 00); Mark Woodforde (95, 96, 97, 00) 7 - Jana Novotna (89, 90, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99); 5 - Arantxa Sanchez V (92, Women: 95, 96, 97, 01) First Match Played Feb. 4, 1985 - Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere (4) d. Angeliki Kanellopoulou 6-3, 6-2 First Match on Stadium Court March 11, 1994 - Karin Kschwendt def. Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel, 6-3, 6-4 First Finals (1985) Men’s Singles: Women’s Singles: Men’s Doubles: Women’s Doubles: Mixed Doubles: 24

Tim Mayotte def. Scott Davis, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 Martina Navratilova def. Chris Evert, 6-2, 6-4 Annacone/van Rensburg def. Stewart/Warwick, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 G. Fernandez/Navritilova def. Jordan/Mandilikova, 7-6, 6-2 Gunthardt/Navritilova def. Fibak/Bassett, 6-2, 6-2

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TOURNAMENT HISTORY The dream of an international tennis tournament in Miami began in the 1960s, when top tennis players such as Jack Kramer, Frank Sedgman, Pancho Gonzalez, Pancho Segura and Butch Buchholz toured the country in a station wagon, playing tennis in darkened arenas and fairgrounds. It was before the days of Open tennis, and they traveled with a portable canvas court and plenty of hopes. Buchholz - an original member of the “Handsome Eight” (the first recognized pros of Lamar Hunt’s World Championship Tennis Circuit introduced in 1968) - competed until he was forced to retire from tennis in 1970 with chronic tennis elbow. In 1980, when Buchholz was executive director of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) - the player’s union - he met a vice president of the Thomas J. Lipton Company who liked his idea of creating a two-week players tournament. A sponsorship agreement would eventually be reached for $1.5 million a year for five years and Lipton would own the title. The “Winter Wimbledon,” as it was first dubbed, would be the first major tournament of the year (the Australian Open was then held in December). It was decided that the first tournament would be held at Laver’s International Tennis Resort in Delray Beach, 50 miles north of Miami. Buchholz was thinking first class all the way and brought in Alan Mills, tournament referee at Wimbledon, as head referee, and Ted Tinling, a well-known tennis fashion designer since the 1920s, as director of protocol. He then approached the ATP and Women’s International Tennis Association and offered prize money, a percentage of the ticket sales and worldwide television rights. In return he wanted the rights to run the tournament for 15 years. The associations agreed, but Buchholz remembers that he had his detractors in the beginning. “The tours and some of the top players were skeptical,” Buchholz said. “Even [tennis writer/TV analyst] Bud Collins said at the time we didn’t need another combined event. At one point, I was sure if we didn’t have a signed contract the tour would have altered this event and we would not have the same event we have today.” On Feb. 4, 1985, following 20 years of nurturing a dream to create a world-class tennis tournament, the first ball was struck at the International Players Championships and a new tradition in tennis began. Manuela Maleeva won the first point en route to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Angeliki Kanellopula. The first tournament turned out 84 of the top 100 men and 97 of the top 100 women. ESPN telecast the first weekend and the men’s semifinals, and ABC telecast the finals live. Networks from Australia, England, France, Italy, Japan, Sweden and West Germany also were present. The first champions were Tim Mayotte and Martina Navratilova. The women’s final between Navratilova and Chris Evert was a sellout. Only Wimbledon and the U.S. Open exceeded the $1.8 million in prize money. But Laver’s was in financial trouble, so Buchholz moved the 1986 tournament to Boca West, an Arvida property in Boca Raton. This tournament hosted 43 of the top 50 men and 46 of the top 50 women. A tradition of excellent tennis had been established. But then Arvida sold Boca West, and Buchholz was again searching for a home for his event. It was after that successful second year that thenDade County Manager and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Executive Director Merrett Stierheim helped pave the way for a move to Miami. Stierheim showed Buchholz locations at Flamingo Park, Tropical Park and Amelia Earhart Park, before Buchholz crossed the Rickenbacker Causeway and fell in love with the property that would become the Tennis Center at Crandon Park, a MiamiDade County Park that borders Key Biscayne.

Andy Roddick

Larry Stefanki who finally moulded Roddick into the best tennis player he could possibly be. He might no longer have the fastest serve on the tour, but every other part of his game has been honed to perfection – including his body. Roddick was never the most tactically-minded player on the tour, and he often let silly shot choices and rookie mistakes get the better of him, but with Stefanki’s help he has trained himself in the finer points of tennis tactics, and the results speak for themselves. Just when it seemed as if Andy Roddick had left his best tennis days behind him, he has re-emerged as one of the tour’s most dangerous players. Roddick has enjoyed being guided by some of the finest tennis minds on earth throughout his career, including the likes of Brad Gilbert and Jimmy Connors, but it was

Perhaps the greatest lesson Roddick has learned from his veteran coach is that attitude is everything. In the past the American let bad losses get to him, and he often fell apart in matches if they weren’t going his way. But he has learned to put those days behind him – not only the bad days, but the good ones, like the day he became world number one and the day

he was crowned US Open champion. One cannot rely on past successes on the ATP Tour, and Roddick has realised that he is not the same player now as he was then. Instead he is looking to the future, hoping to emulate the likes of Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors, who played some of their best tennis after the age of 28 (Roddick’s age). Last year Andy Roddick said that his goal was to “get back into the conversation.” When analysts and sports writers discuss who might win the next Grand Slam, he wants them to discuss him as a legitimate threat. We can honestly say that after winning titles in Brisbane and Miami, and amassing the highest number of wins of anyone on the ATP circuit in 2010, Roddick is definitely back in the conversation, and if his rivals aren’t careful, he might soon be dominating it.

Miami SCORECARD Murray 4/10 Sterile rallies, poor shot selection and an almost resigned passiveness cost Murray in this tournament. He played some poor tennis, but his attitude was ever worse than his game. At times it looked as if he honestly didn’t want to be on the court – didn’t even want to be playing tennis. A very poor performance from the Scot. Djokovic 4/10 Djokovic has lost his heart. He was booed off the court after a truly pathetic performance against Olivier Rochus, which likely played a large role in his decision to split with his coach, Todd Martin. But dumping Martin isn’t likely to solve his problems – he was struggling long before Martin came on board, and will probably continue to struggle without him. Like Murray, his body language was simply awful throughout the week. Both of these guys are playing – and acting – like toddlers.

Federer 4.5/10 For the second week in a row Federer has match points against an opponent but goes on to somehow lose the match. He was ahead several times in his fourth-round encounter against Tomas Berdych, but could never hold on to his lead. It’s probably mostly due to his lack of match practice, and he should be back to his best by the French Open. Nadal 6/10 So close, and yet so far. Nadal had this tournament in the palm of his hands but let it slip away by playing too defensively and losing his nerve at key moments during his semi-final against Andy Roddick. He keeps getting better with every tournament though, and the clay court season should provide him with his first title in almost a year. Soderling 7/10 At his explosive best for most of the tournament, Soderling lost steam against Berdych.

It’s a match that he could have, and should have, won. Despite his failure, he seems to be getting more consistent with his Masters 1000 results, and this should soon lead to a final or even a win. Berdych 8/10 Berdych has teased us all with his tremendous talent over the past five years, only to fall apart at the most vital moments in the most important tournaments. Now that he’s a bit older he seems able to manage his talent a bit better, and hopefully this will translate into a major breakthrough sometime soon. Roddick 10/10 The past eight months have been tough for Roddick, but he showed his character and resilience in Miami by playing the best match of his life against Nadal in the semi-finals. The coming clay season might not be his favourite time of year, but with Wimbledon on the horizon he has chosen the perfect time to rediscover his best tennis.

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SELA, Dudi

HANESCU, Victor

FALLA, Alejandro

MELZER, Jurgen

AUT

BAGHDATIS, Marcos

CYP

BYE

ROBERT, Stephane

BECK, Andreas

F. VERDASCO [10]

KOROLEV, Evgeny

KAZ

D. SELA ISR 63 63

BYE

LORENZI, Paolo CHELA, Juan Ignacio

J. CHELA ARG 64 36 76(3) FRA S. ROBERT GER 75 64

CRO

M. CILIC [7]

F. GONZALEZ [9] 67(4) 64 62

J. MELZER [23] 63 64

J. MONACO [22] 62 75 F. VERDASCO [10] 64 76(3)

M. BAGHDATIS [25]

ITA

BYE CILIC, Marin

J. MELZER [23]

R. SODERLING [5] 60 67(3) 62

P. PETZSCHNER 64 60 R. SODERLING [5] 61 62

TOP HALF FINALIST T. BERDYCH [16] 62 62

M. CILIC [7] 63 61

ITA Y. LU 67(5) 62 64 TPE

J. MONACO [22]

R. SODERLING [5] 76(5) 60

GONZALEZ, Fernando

BYE

FOGNINI, Fabio

LU, Yen-Hsun

BYE

ARG

MONACO, Juan

SRB

TIPSAREVIC, Janko

BYE

PETZSCHNER, Philipp

SWEETING, Ryan

AUS P. LUCZAK 63 76(4) ESP

SWE

LUCZAK, Peter

HERNANDEZ, Oscar

BYE

SODERLING, Robin

Seeded Players Seeded Players Rank FEDERER, Roger 9 GONZALEZ, Fernando 1 DJOKOVIC, Novak 10 VERDASCO, Fernando 2 MURRAY, Andy 11 LJUBICIC, Ivan 3 NADAL, Rafael 12 FERRERO, Juan Carlos 4 SODERLING, Robin 13 YOUZHNY, Mikhail 7 RODDICK, Andy 14 MONFILS, Gael 8 CILIC, Marin 15 FERRER, David 9 TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried 16 BERDYCH, Tomas 10 FOLLOW LIVE SCORING AT www.ATPWorldTour.com

Rank 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20

Prize Money Winner $605,500 Finalists $295,500 Semi-Finalists $148,100 Quarter Finalists $75,500 4th Round $39,800 3rd Round $21,300 2nd Round $11,500 1st Round $7,050

Pts. 1000 600 360 180 90 45 25 10

Retirements/W.O. Fish, Mardy - Retirement Gicquel, Marc - Retirement Koellerer, Daniel - Retirement Ljubicic, Ivan - Retirement Mayer, Florian - Retirement

Lucky Losers

Lapentti for Monfils

ATP Supervisor M Darby/C Sanches/T Barnes/T Karlberg

Last Direct Acceptance

Rochus, C-85

Printed at 18:47 on 3 Apr 2010

K.Clijsters [14] 6/2 6/1

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C.Wozniacki [ 2 ] 6/2 6/2

J.Henin 6/7(5) 6/3 6/4

30. MEDINA GARRIGUES, Anabel 31. WOZNIAK, Aleksandra 32. KIRILENKO, Maria

29. MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, Maria Jose

25. IVANOVIC, Ana 26. CIBULKOVA, Dominika 27. SZAVAY, Agnes 28. VESNINA, Elena

Semifinal

Final

K.Clijsters [ 14 ] 6/2 6/7(3) 7/6(6)

Semifinal

K.Clijsters [ 14 ] 6/3 7/5

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. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

C.Wozniacki [ 2 ] 1/6 6/1 6/4

ILHAN, Marsel

GER P. PETZSCHNER 63 61 USA

R. SODERLING [5]

BYE YOUZHNY, Mikhail

CUEVAS, Pablo

TUR M. ILHAN 62 62 URU

J. TIPSAREVIC [31]

M. BAGHDATIS [25] 62 64 M. CILIC [7] 63 64

RUS CHI

F. GONZALEZ [9] 64 64

F. VERDASCO [10] 36 76(4) 61

M. YOUZHNY [13]

F. GONZALEZ [9]

F. VERDASCO [10] 61 62

ROU

A. FALLA COL 76(4) 36 64

R. SODERLING [5] 61 64

C.Wozniacki [ 2 ] 3/6 6/3 6/4

ESP

M.Czink 3/6 6/1 7/6(6) T.Pironkova 6/4 6/2 C.Wozniacki [ 2 ]

BYE

M.Kirilenko [ 32 ] 4/6 6/2 7/6(4)

VERDASCO, Fernando

T. BERDYCH [16] 46 76(5) 64

DANIEL, Marcos

S. GIRALDO 63 62 BRA

M.Kirilenko [ 32 ]

M. YOUZHNY [13] 60 61

A.Cornet 6/3 0/6 6/2 A.Pavlyuchenkova [ 22 ] T.Paszek 7/5 6/3 6/4 6/2 A.Pavlyuchenkova [ 22 ] A.Pavlyuchenkova [ 22 ] 7/6(4) 4/6 6/3

T. BERDYCH [16]

T. BERDYCH [16] 63 64

F.Schiavone [ 15 ] 6/3 6/2

CZE

F.Schiavone [ 15 ]

BERDYCH, Tomas

GIRALDO, Santiago

V.Zvonareva [ 11 ] 6/2 6/3

BYE

MELLO, Ricardo

COL

V.Zvonareva [ 11 ] 6/1 6/2

M. YOUZHNY [13] 16 76(5) 75

S.Errani 6/1 6/0 M.Oudin 6/2 6/4 V.Zvonareva [ 11 ]

T. DE BAKKER NED 64 75

J.Henin 6/1 6/4

DE BAKKER, Thiemo

S.Errani 6/4 7/5

ANDERSON, Kevin

A.Kleybanova [ 24 ]

T. BERDYCH [16] 64 75

USA

RSA K. ANDERSON 63 61 BRA

D.Cibulkova [ 26 ] 6/0 6/2

RAM, Rajeev

J.Henin 6/4 6/4

SEPPI, Andreas

H. ZEBALLOS ITA 76(4) 62

BYE

SUI

J.Henin 6/3 6/2

ARG

S. WAWRINKA [19] 64 75

J.Henin 6/2 6/2 S.Arvidsson 6/2 6/4 D.Cibulkova [ 26 ]

ZEBALLOS, Horacio

WAWRINKA, Stanislas

S. WAWRINKA [19]

H. ZEBALLOS 62 63

E.Dementieva [ 5 ]

M. YOUZHNY [13] 61 10 Ret'd

V.Azarenka [ 4 ] 6/3 6/2

T. BERDYCH [16] 64 67(3) 76(6)

G. SIMON [20]

V.Azarenka [ 4 ] 6/4 6/2

FRA

BYE

L.Safarova 6/7(1) 6/4 6/3 A.Dulgheru 6/1 6/3 V.Azarenka [ 4 ]

SIMON, Gilles

ESP

K.Clijsters [ 14 ] 6/4 6/0

BYE LOPEZ, Feliciano

F. LOPEZ [29]

L.Safarova 4/6 7/6(3) 6/2

A. MONTANES [26]

M.Martinez Sanchez [ 29 ]

ESP

S.Peer [ 17 ] 6/1 6/0

MONTANES, Albert

K.Clijsters [ 14 ] 6/0 6/1

BYE

BERRER, Michael

M. BERRER 75 46 63 GER

K.Clijsters [ 14 ] 6/1 6/1

F. LOPEZ [29] 76(2) 75

P.Kvitova 6/4 6/4 A.Kudryavtseva 4/6 6/1 6/4 S.Peer [ 17 ]

F. SERRA 63 36 62

K.Clijsters [ 14 ]

F. SERRA FRA 64 64

LACKO, Lukas

S.Stosur [ 9 ] 4/6 7/5 6/2

SERRA, Florent

SVK

S.Stosur [ 9 ] 4/6 7/5 6/1

M. FISH 75 63

V.Razzano 6/3 5/0 RET C.Suarez Navarro 6/1 7/6(3) S.Stosur [ 9 ]

R. FEDERER [1] 76(2) 76(3)

MAYER, Leonardo

S.Stosur [ 9 ] 6/1 7/6(9)

CHI

V.Razzano 6/4 6/2

MASSU, Nicolas

FISH, Mardy

J.Zheng [ 20 ]

USA M. FISH 76(4) 64 ARG

E.Vesnina [ 28 ] 6/3 6/4

J.Jankovic [ 7 ] 7/6(3) 6/3

STARACE, Potito

BYE

M.Koryttseva 2/6 6/3 6/3 J.Goerges 7/6(3) 6/4 E.Vesnina [ 28 ]

ECU

MURRAY, Andy

J.Jankovic [ 7 ] 6/4 6/0

N. LAPENTTI ITA 75 63

LAPENTTI, Nicolas

GBR

Quarterfinals

M. FISH 64 64

75 64

4th Round

A. MURRAY [3]

Andy RODDICK [6]

R. FEDERER [1] 63 63

3rd Round

R. FEDERER [1]

2nd Round

SUI

J.Jankovic [ 7 ]

BYE

1st Round

FEDERER, Roger

JANKOVIC, Jelena (SRB) [ 7 ] B: BYE BARROIS, Kristina (GER) Q: KORYTTSEVA, Mariya (UKR) GOERGES, Julia (GER) Q: MORITA, Ayumi (JPN) B: BYE VESNINA, Elena (RUS) [ 28 ] ZHENG, Jie (CHN) [ 20 ] B: BYE Q: LEPCHENKO, Varvara (USA) RAZZANO, Virginie (FRA) WC: PIVOVAROVA, Anastasia (RUS) SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla (ESP) B: BYE STOSUR, Samantha (AUS) [ 9 ] CLIJSTERS, Kim (BEL) [ 14 ] B: BYE KVITOVA, Petra (CZE) GARBIN, Tathiana (ITA) DUSHEVINA, Vera (RUS) KUDRYAVTSEVA, Alla (RUS) B: BYE PEER, Shahar (ISR) [ 17 ] MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, Maria Jose (ESP) [ 29 ] B: BYE SAFAROVA, Lucie (CZE) KANEPI, Kaia (EST) DULGHERU, Alexandra (ROU) OLARU, Ioana Raluca (ROU) B: BYE AZARENKA, Victoria (BLR) [ 4 ] DEMENTIEVA, Elena (RUS) [ 5 ] B: BYE CRAYBAS, Jill (USA) WC: HENIN, Justine (BEL) Q: ARVIDSSON, Sofia (SWE) BRIANTI, Alberta (ITA) B: BYE CIBULKOVA, Dominika (SVK) [ 26 ] KLEYBANOVA, Alisa (RUS) [ 24 ] B: BYE MALEK, Tatjana (GER) ERRANI, Sara (ITA) OUDIN, Melanie (USA) Q: KRAJICEK, Michaella (NED) B: BYE ZVONAREVA, Vera (RUS) [ 11 ] SCHIAVONE, Francesca (ITA) [ 15 ] B: BYE VOEGELE, Stefanie (SUI) CORNET, Alize (FRA) KEOTHAVONG, Anne (GBR) PASZEK, Tamira (AUT) B: BYE PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia (RUS) [ 22 ] KIRILENKO, Maria (RUS) [ 32 ] B: BYE CZINK, Melinda (HUN) WC: RUS, Arantxa (NED) Q: PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana (BUL) WC: WATSON, Heather (GBR) B: BYE WOZNIACKI, Caroline (DEN) [ 2 ]

Sony Ericsson Open 2010 - Women's Singles

Miami, Fl, USA March 22-April 4, 2010 Hard, Laykold cushion plus $3,645,000 403 CHAMPION

17. PEER, Shahar 18. REZAI, Aravane 19. HANTUCHOVA, Daniela 20. ZHENG, Jie 21. BONDARENKO, Alona 22. PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia 23. LISICKI, Sabine 24. KLEYBANOVA, Alisa

Sony Ericsson Open MAIN DRAW SINGLES

GIMENO-TRAVER, Daniel

BYE

HARRISON, Ryan GOLUBEV, Andrey

KAZ

KARLOVIC, Ivo

D. GIMENO-TRAVER ESP 63 64 I. KARLOVIC [24] 63 67(5) 63 I. KARLOVIC [24] CRO

TROICKI, Viktor

SRB

BYE

NALBANDIAN, David

KUBOT, Lukasz

D. NALBANDIAN POL 63 62

DENT, Taylor

USA

SCHUETTLER, Rainer

BYE

NADAL, Rafael

T. DENT GER 61 64 R. NADAL [4]

N. ALMAGRO [33] 62 67(9) 63 J. CHARDY 46 64 62

V. TROICKI [30]

ARG

ESP

N. ALMAGRO [33] 64 75

R. NADAL [4] 76(5) 64

N. ALMAGRO [33] 64 36 76(3) T. BELLUCCI [27] 36 61 62 T. BELLUCCI [27] 63 64 CHAMPION

R. NADAL [4] 64 63

O. ROCHUS 62 67(7) 64

Andy RODDICK [6] 75 64

114

ARG E. SCHWANK 43 Ret'd FRA

SCHWANK, Eduardo

115

GICQUEL, Marc

116

CRO J. CHARDY 64 64 FRA

ANCIC, Mario

117

CHARDY, Jeremy

118

BYE

119

USA

QUERREY, Sam

120

BRA

BELLUCCI, Thomaz

121

BYE

122

SRB

KRAJINOVIC, Filip

123

BLAKE, James

124

BEL O. ROCHUS 76(2) 16 64 FRA

ROCHUS, Olivier

125

GASQUET, Richard

126

BYE

127

DJOKOVIC, Novak

128

S. QUERREY [21]

J. BLAKE 67(6) 64 64 USA

N. DJOKOVIC [2]

SRB

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Seeded Players Seeded Players Rank ISNER, John 25 BAGHDATIS, Marcos 21 ROBREDO, Tommy 26 MONTANES, Albert 22 WAWRINKA, Stanislas 27 BELLUCCI, Thomaz 23 SIMON, Gilles 28 KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp 24 QUERREY, Sam 29 LOPEZ, Feliciano 25 MONACO, Juan 30 TROICKI, Viktor 26 MELZER, Jurgen 31 TIPSAREVIC, Janko 28 KARLOVIC, Ivo 32 BENNETEAU, Julien 29 FOLLOW LIVE SCORING AT www.ATPWorldTour.com

TENNISWORLD SA

Rank 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

Prize Money Winner $605,500 Finalists $295,500 Semi-Finalists $148,100 Quarter Finalists $75,500 4th Round $39,800 3rd Round $21,300 2nd Round $11,500 1st Round $7,050

Pts. 1000 600 360 180 90 45 25 10

Lucky Losers

Lapentti for Monfils

Last Direct Acceptance

Rochus, C-85

Retirements/W.O. Fish, Mardy - Retirement Gicquel, Marc - Retirement Koellerer, Daniel - Retirement Ljubicic, Ivan - Retirement Mayer, Florian - Retirement ATP Supervisor M Darby/C Sanches/T Barnes/T Karlberg

TENNISWORLD SA

Printed at 18:47 on 3 Apr 2010

K.Clijsters [14] 6/2 6/1

7RXUQDPHQW &KDPSLRQ

A.Radwanska [ 6 ] 6/1 6/4

V.Williams [ 3 ] 6/3 6/1

Semifinal

Final

9. STOSUR, Samantha 10. PENNETTA, Flavia 11. ZVONAREVA, Vera 12. WICKMAYER, Yanina 13. BARTOLI, Marion 14. CLIJSTERS, Kim 15. SCHIAVONE, Francesca 16. PETROVA, Nadia

A.Radwanska [ 6 ] 7/5 7/5

113

BYE

Y.Shvedova 6/0 5/7 7/5

ALMAGRO, Nicolas

T. BELLUCCI [27]

D. NALBANDIAN 63 46 64 R. NADAL [4] 67(8) 62 62

ESP N. ALMAGRO [33]

D. FERRER [15] 62 64 D. FERRER [15] 76(5) 63

A.Radwanska [ 6 ] 7/5 6/0

M. LLODRA USA 62 62

112

P.Parmentier 6/3 3/6 6/3 E.Makarova 6/3 7/5 A.Radwanska [ 6 ]

FRA

LJUBICIC, Ivan

A.Ivanovic [ 25 ] 6/4 6/3

LLODRA, Michael

CRO

I. LJUBICIC [11]

A.Ivanovic [ 25 ]

D. FERRER [15]

111

Y.Shvedova 6/3 0/1 RET

ESP

A. RODDICK [6] 63 63

BYE

A.Petkovic 6/3 3/6 6/0

BYE

R. NADAL [4] 63 62

110

A.Petkovic 6/4 6/2 Y.Shvedova 6/7(1) 7/6(3) 7/5 S.Lisicki [ 23 ]

FERRER, David

B. BECKER 46 01 Ret'd

109

F.Pennetta [ 10 ]

J. FERRERO [12]

J. FERRERO [12] 40 Ret'd

GREUL, Simon BECKER, Benjamin

GER B. BECKER 63 62 GER

N.Petrova [ 16 ] 6/3 7/6(7)

ESP

D.Hantuchova [ 19 ] 6/2 6/4

FERRERO, Juan Carlos

108

D.Hantuchova [ 19 ] 6/1 6/4

MARCHENKO, Illya

I. MARCHENKO 63 76(3) UKR

P.Schnyder 6/2 6/7(3) 6/1 K.Date Krumm 7/5 3/6 6/4 N.Petrova [ 16 ]

B. BECKER 16 64 76(1)

D.Hantuchova [ 19 ]

BYE

J. FERRERO [12] 62 36 63

V.Williams [ 3 ] 1/6 7/5 6/4

107

V.Williams [ 3 ] 6/1 6/4

D. KOELLERER BEL 46 63 62

MATHIEU, Paul-Henri

FRA

S.Cirstea 7/5 7/6 R.Vinci 3/6 6/3 6/4 R.Vinci A.Medina Garrigues [ 30 ] 6/4 7/6(5)

AUT

ROCHUS, Christophe

T. ROBREDO [18] 63 46 64

V.Williams [ 3 ] 6/4 6/3

KOELLERER, Daniel

J. ISNER [17] 76(5) 26 76(5)

V.Williams [ 3 ]

106

V.Williams [ 3 ] 6/3 6/4

105

BYE

T.Bacsinszky 6/4 4/6 7/6(3)

M. RUSSELL USA 76(5) 64

ROBREDO, Tommy

T.Bacsinszky 6/2 6/2

RUSSELL, Michael

ESP

T. ROBREDO [18]

P.Hercog 6/3 6/0 T.Bacsinszky 6/4 6/4 N.Li [ 8 ]

P.Hercog 7/6(5) 6/3

UZB

104

A.Wozniak [ 31 ]

ISTOMIN, Denis

BENNETEAU, Julien

Y.Wickmayer [ 12 ] 6/0 6/1

FRA

P.Martic 7/5 5/7 6/4

J. ISNER [17]

A. RODDICK [6] 76(4) 63

Y.Wickmayer [ 12 ] 6/3 6/3

USA

BYE

J. TSONGA [8] 62 62

E.Baltacha 6/2 6/4 P.Martic 5/7 7/6(1) 6/3 A.Rezai [ 18 ]

ISNER, John

103

Y.Wickmayer [ 12 ] 6/1 6/3

BYE

S. STAKHOVSKY 63 76(5) J. BENNETEAU [32]

Y.Wickmayer [ 12 ]

102

Semifinal

GER

101

M.Bartoli [ 13 ] 6/4 7/5

KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp

HAJEK, Jan STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy

M.Bartoli [ 13 ] 6/2 6/4

CZE S. STAKHOVSKY 63 57 75 UKR

M.Bartoli [ 13 ] 7/6(2) 6/4

P. KOHLSCHREIBER [28] 66 Ret'd P. KOHLSCHREIBER [28]

G.Dulko 6/4 6/1 M.Rybarikova 3/6 6/4 6/2 M.Bartoli [ 13 ]

BYE

100

G.Dulko 7/5 6/2

MALISSE, Xavier

A.Bondarenko [ 21 ]

SUI F. MAYER GER 76(2) 16 62

M.Bartoli [ 13 ] 6/3 6/0

MAYER, Florian

A. RODDICK [6] 62 61

ANDREEV, Igor

A.Szavay [ 27 ] 6/0 6/0

CHIUDINELLI, Marco

J. TSONGA [8] 62 75

RUS I. ANDREEV 64 64 BEL

S.Kuznetsova [ 1 ] 6/2 6/3

A. RODDICK [6] 64 64

S.Peng 6/4 1/6 6/3 A.Molik 6/1 6/1 A.Szavay [ 27 ]

GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo

J. TSONGA [8] 64 63

BYE

S.Kuznetsova [ 1 ] 6/2 3/6 6/4

G. GARCIA-LOPEZ ESP 76(4) 62

RODDICK, Andy

S.Kuznetsova [ 1 ]

FRA

USA

KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana (RUS) [ 1 ] B: BYE PENG, Shuai (CHN) KING, Vania (USA) WC: MOLIK, Alicia (AUS) HARKLEROAD, Ashley (USA) B: BYE SZAVAY, Agnes (HUN) [ 27 ] BONDARENKO, Alona (UKR) [ 21 ] B: BYE DULKO, Gisela (ARG) GOVORTSOVA, Olga (BLR) HRADECKA, Lucie (CZE) RYBARIKOVA, Magdalena (SVK) B: BYE BARTOLI, Marion (FRA) [ 13 ] WICKMAYER, Yanina (BEL) [ 12 ] B: BYE BENESOVA, Iveta (CZE) Q: BALTACHA, Elena (GBR) COIN, Julie (FRA) WC: MARTIC, Petra (CRO) B: BYE REZAI, Aravane (FRA) [ 18 ] WOZNIAK, Aleksandra (CAN) [ 31 ] B: BYE ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA, Barbora (CZE) HERCOG, Polona (SLO) BACSINSZKY, Timea (SUI) Q: MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie (USA) B: BYE LI, Na (CHN) [ 8 ] WILLIAMS, Venus (USA) [ 3 ] B: BYE WC: LARCHER DE BRITO, Michelle (POR) CIRSTEA, Sorana (ROU) Q: KULIKOVA, Regina (RUS) VINCI, Roberta (ITA) B: BYE MEDINA GARRIGUES, Anabel (ESP) [ 30 ] HANTUCHOVA, Daniela (SVK) [ 19 ] B: BYE SREBOTNIK, Katarina (SLO) SCHNYDER, Patty (SUI) CHAKVETADZE, Anna (RUS) DATE KRUMM, Kimiko (JPN) B: BYE PETROVA, Nadia (RUS) [ 16 ] PENNETTA, Flavia (ITA) [ 10 ] B: BYE Q: RODIONOVA, Anastasia (AUS) PETKOVIC, Andrea (GER) SHVEDOVA, Yaroslava (KAZ) WC: TOMLJANOVIC, Ajla (CRO) B: BYE LISICKI, Sabine (GER) [ 23 ] IVANOVIC, Ana (SRB) [ 25 ] B: BYE BAMMER, Sybille (AUT) Q: PARMENTIER, Pauline (FRA) MAKAROVA, Ekaterina (RUS) Q: DELLACQUA, Casey (AUS) B: BYE RADWANSKA, Agnieszka (POL) [ 6 ]

CLEMENT, Arnaud

A. RODDICK [6]

A. RODDICK [6] 46 63 63

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. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64.

J. TSONGA [8]

Quarterfinals

FRA

4th Round

BYE

3rd Round

TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried

2nd Round

1st Round

Sony Ericsson Open 2010 - Women's Singles

Miami, Fl, USA March 22-April 4, 2010 Hard, Laykold cushion plus $3,645,000 403 BOTTOM HALF FINALIST

1. KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana 2. WOZNIACKI, Caroline 3. WILLIAMS, Venus 4. AZARENKA, Victoria 5. DEMENTIEVA, Elena 6. RADWANSKA, Agnieszka 7. JANKOVIC, Jelena 8. LI, Na

Sony Ericsson Open MAIN DRAW SINGLES

Indian Wells

Hats off up to those of you who bet that the Croat would win…Although we aren’t sure there are any such people out there. Nevertheless, we can’t remember a victory that was as well deserved. After beating Djokovic, Nadal and Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic can truly say that he deserves that Masters 1000 trophy that has eluded him for so long. From Indian Wells Fabrice Faith

ll right, we confess: we had no idea Ivan Ljubicic would win the title at Indian Wells. To be fair, we don’t even think a clairvoyant would have called this one, and anyone who took a bet on the big Croatian can surely retire as a millionaire now. What a wonderful birthday present for Ljubicic, though: his first Masters Series 1000 title only a day after her turned 31. For ten days he played like a 20-year-old, serving better than Andy Roddick and rallying with more intensity than Rafael Nadal – truly a performance worthy of the days when he was ranked number three in the world. When was the last time someone beat three Top 10 players in the same tournament? We certainly can’t remember. This time last year Ljubicic wasn’t even ranked in the Top 70, and now he’s in the Top 15. Suddenly, his goal of reaching the ATP World Tour

TENNISWORLD SA

Finals (where the best eight players of the year face off against each other) doesn’t look so unrealistic. So close, Andy, and yet so far There were many losers at the BNP Paribas Open, and Andy Roddick was the best among them, but that certainly won’t console the American. Playing on his favourite surface in front of a home crowd, and heading into his favourite part of a tennis match (a tie break), very few people would have thought that Roddick wouldn’t emerge victorious. Yet as has been the case so many times in the past, his nerve failed him. What Roddick needs is the kind of steely resolve that his one-time mentor Jimmy Connors had. We cannot imagine that old Jimbo would have lost that match – if it was the last thing he ever did, he would have found a way. Roddick will be kicking himself

over the fact that after making the final, and with Federer already out of the tournament, he couldn’t capitalise on his opportunities (and there were many). Will the real Nadal please stand up? Nadal had this tournament in the palm of his hands. Federer? Djokovic? Murray? Out, out and out, with Del Potro and Davydenko injured. Who could possibly stop the Spaniard from winning his first title for almost a year? Certainly not a 31-year-old Croat on the verge of retirement. You could try and explain his loss by saying that he is still struggling with his new, more aggressive forehand. You could say that he isn’t yet totally fit, or that he wasn’t comfortable on the fast hard court. Even if all of these excuses were true, they still can’t quite explain one thing: Nadal had this match in the bag, and he let it go. What was up with the slice back-

hands in the third set? We haven’t ever seen Nadal play that negatively. He was basically inviting Ljubicic to put him out of his misery. At this point there is only one thing that is keeping Nadal from winning tournaments, and that is Nadal himself. He needs to get his mindset right, get his confidence back, and start winning. Murray makes a mess, Djokovic falls apart Ljubicic’s victory was surprising, but Murray and Djokovic’s performances were shocking. The Scot was embarrassed in his first set against Robin Soderling, which he lost 6-1, and Djokovic was humbled when he lost a set 6-0 to the lowly Mardy Fish. What is going on with these two? It’s bad enough that they are playing so poorly, but their attitude on court is even worse than their shot making. Murray is grumpy and mopey, and drags himself from one end of the court to the other like some sulking toddler. Djokovic, on the other hand, overreacts at every single shot he misses, gesticulating like it’s all some sort of conspiracy against him. They aren’t doing themselves – or tennis – any good by acting like children. It’s especially annoying since both of these guys have been saying how much they’ve matured over the past year. Please guys, grow up! If it’s not a Slam, Roger doesn’t care Federer just never seems to bring his best tennis these days unless he’s playing a Slam. He was sloppy in Indian Wells, losing a set unnecessarily to Victor Hanescu and a whole match to Marcos Baghdatis. The match against the

Cypriot was especially confusing, since Federer had it all but won. He had several match points, but just couldn’t convert. We can cut him some slack since he’s had a lung infection recently, and hasn’t played much tennis of late, but we certainly hope that this doesn’t become a habit for him. Welcome back, Super Mario! Another Croat who made some waves in California was the popular Mario Ancic. The perpetually unlucky young man hasn’t played on the tour in a year thanks to a string of injuries, but luckily he seems to be healthy now. He had a good run to the third round, and we hope that this is the start of bigger and better things for Super Mario in 2010. Another noteworthy performance was that of 17 year-old Ryan Harrison, who received a wild card into the main draw (his ranking is a lowly 284). He had a solid win against fellow American Taylor Dent before bowing out against Ljubicic, but not before proving himself worthy of a spot on the men’s tour.

the final. It was a tough contest but Jankovic held firm, never allowing the world number two a chance to take control of the match. Like Jankovic, Wozniacki has yet to prove her worthiness at the number two spot, and like so many of her contemporaries she won’t be able to firmly sit among her generation’s greats until she has won a Slam. Stosur cracks the Top 10 It was a good week for Aussies at the BNP Paribas Open, with both Sam Stosur and Alicia Molik recording a series of solid wins. Stosur reached the semi-finals before falling to Jankovic, and finally reached the Top 10 for the first time in her career. Molik, on the other hand, is not even in the Top 100, and only entered the main draw thanks to a wild card. Molik has struggled throughout her career with injuries, but finally seems to be fit for play. We hope that Indian Wells marks only the start of a long-overdue comeback.

Jankovic the comeback queen It wasn’t quite as big a shock as Ljubicic’s win, but Jelena Jankovic certainly didn’t show any signs of life coming into the BNP Paribas Open. The Serb has had an awful year – never making a quarter-final – and had fallen off the map of women’s tennis before California revived her. Her path to the finals was also made considerably easier by the absence of Serena Williams and the defeat of her sister Venus. Instead she had to play the in-form Caroline Wozniacki in

TENNISWORLD SA

How the Mighty Have Fallen By Paolo Bertolucci

Monfils

4/10 Djokovic

Monfils was certainly not at his best in the Californian sun. Throughout his ugly loss to Simon Gruel he looked irritated and distracted, and didn’t mind showing the whole world how he felt. At times it seemed as if he wasn’t even trying, and while everyone has bad days from time to time, fans certainly weren’t happy with his lacklustre performance.

FEDERER, Roger

BYE

HANESCU, Victor

CHELA, Juan Ignacio

V. HANESCU ARG 63 76(4)

CLEMENT, Arnaud

FRA

LUCZAK, Peter

SUI

R. FEDERER [1]

ROU

BYE

BAGHDATIS, Marcos

CYP

ROBREDO, Tommy

ESP

BYE

STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy

ODESNIK, Wayne

SELA, Dudi

LEVINE, Jesse

BYE

STEPANEK, Radek

CZE

MONFILS, Gael

FRA

BYE

GASQUET, Richard

GREUL, Simon

S. STAKHOVSKY USA 61 64

R. STEPANEK [14]

KOUBEK, Stefan

NALBANDIAN, David

FRA

S. GREUL GER 76(6) 76(7) AUT D. NALBANDIAN ARG 62 76(2)

BYE

MELZER, Jurgen

AUT

TIPSAREVIC, Janko

SRB

BYE

DE BAKKER, Thiemo

J. MELZER [22]

NED

DANIEL, Marcos

T. DE BAKKER BRA 63 63

LU, Yen-Hsun

TPE

HERNANDEZ, Oscar

BYE

RODDICK, Andy

Y. LU ESP 61 62

USA

A. MURRAY [4] A. MURRAY [4] 64 64 A. MURRAY [4] 63 75

A. RODDICK [7]

A. MURRAY [4] 62 10 Ret'd

N. ALMAGRO 64 36 63

D. SELA 64 16 62

J. BLAKE 61 64 A. RODDICK [7] 63 75

R. SODERLING [6] 61 76(4)

J. TSONGA [9] 46 63 63

A. RODDICK [7] 76(5) 64

R. SODERLING [6] 63 64

R. SODERLING [6] 76(3) 64 R. SODERLING [6] 62 64

KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana

BYE

6/10

Nadal seems to have regained his explosiveness, but not his confidence. A red carpet had been laid out for him to the final, but he couldn’t capitalise on the early exits of all his major rivals. He played a solid match against Ljubicic in the semi-final, but was too passive in the third set, and that ultimately cost him the match. He’s knocking at the door though, and the clay season should be very interesting for him.

Ljubicic

10/10

Roddick

Fairy tales with happy endings exist in tennis too. One of the few things that eluded Ljubicic in is long and successful career was a Master Series 1000 trophy. Finally, he can sleep soundly at night. Two months ago it looked like Ljubicic was close to retirement, but he had a huge surprise in store for all of us. Well done, old boy!

7/10

Like Nadal, Roddick’s path to the final was helped by the early exit of Federer in his half of the draw. Unfortunately, he ran out of steam in the final. Some brutal serving from Ljubicic and a little hesitancy from Roddick was enough to ensure that the title stay out of the American’s hands. A solid effort, though.

GINEPRI, Robby

CORNET, Alize

FRA

SEPPI, Andreas

SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla

ESP

LORENZI, Paolo

CHAN, Yung-Jan

TPE

RUSSELL, Michael

VOEGELE, Stefanie

SUI

CHAMPION S. KUZNETSOVA [1] C. SUAREZ NAVARRO 64 46 61 C. SUAREZ NAVARRO 64 16 62 C. SUAREZ NAVARRO 64 36 61 Y. CHAN 60 75 A. SZAVAY [27] 63 62 A. SZAVAY [27]

BYE

SZAVAY, Agnes

HUN

CRO

KARLOVIC, Ivo

KLEYBANOVA, Alisa

RUS

BYE

ALMAGRO, Nicolas

PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana

ZVEREV, Mischa

AMANMURADOVA, Akgul

T. PIRONKOVA UZB 63 62

BLAKE, James

ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA, Barbora

CZE

GIMENO-TRAVER, Daniel

PETKOVIC, Andrea

BYE

FERRER, David

CLIJSTERS, Kim

TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried

PENNETTA, Flavia

BYE

LLODRA, Michael

BRIANTI, Alberta

MATOSEVIC, Marinko

KVITOVA, Petra

USA J. BLAKE 63 62 ESP

ESP

FRA

M. MATOSEVIC 63 60 AUS

MELLO, Ricardo

SHVEDOVA, Yaroslava

ZEBALLOS, Horacio

MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie

BYE

MONTANES, Albert

PEER, Shahar

LOPEZ, Feliciano

CIBULKOVA, Dominika

BYE

FRA P. MATHIEU 63 61 GER

MATHIEU, Paul-Henri

KUTUZOVA, Viktoriya

BECKER, Benjamin

ERRANI, Sara

GER

MAYER, Florian

MARTIC, Petra

KOROLEV, Evgeny

TOMLJANOVIC, Ajla

BYE

SODERLING, Robin

JANKOVIC, Jelena

ESP

E. KOROLEV 63 62 KAZ R. SODERLING [6]

RUS

ANDREEV, Igor

N. ALMAGRO 63 62 GER

D. FERRER [13]

MURRAY, Andy

RUS

ESP

F. LOPEZ [28] F. LOPEZ [28] 36 63 64

64 36 63

I. ANDREEV [32]

BRA R. MELLO 26 63 64 ARG A. MONTANES [24] 36 64 64 A. MONTANES [24] ESP

T. DE BAKKER 32 Ret'd

TOP HALF FINALIST A. RODDICK [7]

M. RUSSELL 62 75 USA

FRA J. TSONGA [9] 61 63

J. MELZER [22] 64 61

A. SEPPI 26 76(5) 63 ITA

J. TSONGA [9]

S. GREUL 16 62 63 J. MELZER [22] wo.

USA

I. KARLOVIC [23]

T. ROBREDO [18] 63 60

GBR

ITA

N. ALMAGRO 75 76(5)

A. RODDICK [7] 64 64

Nadal

MAIN DRAW SINGLES

T. ROBREDO [18] 36 63 75

A. RODDICK [7] 63 64

7/10

Finally, Marcos, finally! The Cypriot has been looking for a big win his entire career, seemingly always ending up on the wrong end of epic matches. This time, however, he managed to close things out. Granted, Federer essentially gave him the win in the end, but it’s good to see Baghdatis finally claim a big scalp. It’s just a shame he couldn’t follow it up with a win against Tommy Robredo.

BNP Paribas Open

T. ROBREDO [18] 75 06 64

J. TIPSAREVIC [30]

Baghdatis

Indian Wells, USA 8-21 March 2010 Hard WTA Premier Mandatory - $4,500,000

M. RUSSELL 46 63 62

G. MONFILS [12]

5/10

Murray has not been the same player since his devastating loss against Roger Federer in the Australian Open final. Errorprone, grumpy and utterly negative, it was only a matter of time before Murray lost in this tournament. It fell to Robin Soderling to do the dirty work in the end, and he humiliated the Scot a bit in the process as well.

Indian Wells, USA 8-21 March 2010 Hard $3,645,000 404 CHAMPION

76(3) 76(5)

T. ROBREDO [18]

UKR

Murray

BNP Paribas Open MAIN DRAW SINGLES

M. BAGHDATIS [27] 76(7) 61 M. BAGHDATIS [27]

D. SELA USA 62 62

5/10

It can happen to the best of us. Federer had his match against Marcos Baghdatis in the bag but seemed determined not to close it out. He botched numerous match points against an increasingly bold opponent and eventually faltered in the deciding set tie break. We can give Federer a pass on this one though, as it was his first tournament back since winning the Australian Open and recovering from a lung infection.

M. BAGHDATIS [27] 57 75 76(4)

ISR

Federer

Ivan LJUBICIC [20]

R. FEDERER [1] 63 67(5) 61

A. CLEMENT AUS 46 63 62

6/10

Well it was a long time coming. Djokovic had been playing awful tennis for months before Indian Wells and somehow always got away with it. He was spoiling for a loss, however, and eventually Ivan Ljubicic was the man who put him out of his misery. The Serb was lucky to even progress so far in the draw, as he should have lost against both Mardy Fish and Philipp Kohlschreiber in earlier rounds.

SWE

V. AZARENKA [3]

Jelena JANKOVIC [6]

V. AZARENKA [3] 61 75

62 64 M. MARTINEZ SANCHEZ [28] 76(4) 62

A. KLEYBANOVA [23] 64 16 76(4)

Y. WICKMAYER [13] 61 36 63

J. JANKOVIC [6] 64 64

P. KVITOVA CZE 63 64

F. PENNETTA [9] 63 63

V. ZVONAREVA [12] 64 75 S. PEER [17] 64 67(4) 61

DULGHERU, Alexandra

LARCHER DE BRITO, Michelle

Q 28

SVK

HANTUCHOVA, Daniela

BYE

VINCI, Roberta

OUDIN, Melanie

SAFAROVA, Lucie

GOERGES, Julia

BYE

WICKMAYER, Yanina

ZVONAREVA, Vera

BYE

S. STEPHENS 76(5) 76(7) USA

HRADECKA, Lucie

STEPHENS, Sloane

LAT A. SEVASTOVA 62 36 61 ESP

SEVASTOVA, Anastasija

LLAGOSTERA VIVES, Nuria

ITA

R. VINCI 36 63 60 USA

BEL

V. ZVONAREVA [12] 62 63 A. SEVASTOVA 62 64

CZE

BYE

SRB

IVANOVIC, Ana

RUS

PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia

BYE

CRO K. SPREM 62 46 63 USA

SPREM, Karolina

PERRY, Shenay

FRA

COIN, Julie

PASZEK, Tamira

BYE

STOSUR, Samantha

A. IVANOVIC [24] J. JANKOVIC [6] 62 62

S. STOSUR [8] 62 75 A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA [25]

S. ERRANI 75 64

A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA [25] 63 61 J. JANKOVIC [6] 26 76(6) 64

CRO

P. MARTIC CRO 76(4) 61

S. STOSUR [8] 63 60

J. COIN 64 63 AUT

TOP HALF FINALIST J. JANKOVIC [6] 63 76(2)

SRB

BAMMER, Sybille

RUS

D. CIBULKOVA [26]

S. ERRANI ITA 75 62

CZE J. GOERGES 75 36 63 GER

S. PEER [17]

UKR

SREBOTNIK, Katarina

BYE

S. STOSUR [8] 63 76(7)

S. PEER [17] 62 63

SVK

V. ZVONAREVA [12]

KAZ B. MATTEK-SANDS USA 75 75

ISR

BYE

MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, Maria Jose

Y. WICKMAYER [13] 62 64 Y. WICKMAYER [13]

F. PENNETTA [9]

AZARENKA, Victoria

ESP

D. HANTUCHOVA [21]

ITA

ROU A. DULGHERU 62 62 POR

R. VINCI 63 75

A. KLEYBANOVA [23] 67(5) 63 61

B. ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA GER 63 63 K. CLIJSTERS [14] 62 61 K. CLIJSTERS [14] BEL

S. BAMMER 36 75 61 AUT

M. MARTINEZ SANCHEZ [28] 64 64

A. KLEYBANOVA [23]

BUL

SLO

M. MARTINEZ SANCHEZ [28] 26 63 61 M. MARTINEZ SANCHEZ [28]

A. KLEYBANOVA [23] 26 76(2) 64

BLR

J. JANKOVIC [6]

S. STOSUR [8] 61 76(4)

62 64

J. JANKOVIC [6]

S. STOSUR [8]

AUS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Seeded Players Seeded Players Rank FEDERER, Roger 9 TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried 1 DJOKOVIC, Novak 10 VERDASCO, Fernando 2 NADAL, Rafael 11 FERRERO, Juan Carlos 3 MURRAY, Andy 12 MONFILS, Gael 4 DAVYDENKO, Nikolay 13 FERRER, David 6 SODERLING, Robin 14 STEPANEK, Radek 7 RODDICK, Andy 15 ISNER, John 8 CILIC, Marin 16 SIMON, Gilles 9 FOLLOW LIVE SCORING AT ATPWorldTour.com

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Rank 11 12 14 15 16 17 20 21

Prize Money Winner $605,500 Finalists $295,500 Semi-Finalists $148,100 Quarter Finalists $75,500 4th Round $39,800 3rd Round $21,300 2nd Round $11,500 1st Round $7,050

Pts. 1000 600 360 180 90 45 25 10

Retirements/W.O.

Lucky Losers

Starace - back Cuevas - back Moya - right foot Davydenko - wrist Greul - illness Last Direct Acceptance

Russell - 90

ATP Supervisor T Karlberg/C Sanches

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Seeded Players KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana WOZNIACKI, Caroline AZARENKA, Victoria DEMENTIEVA, Elena RADWANSKA, Agnieszka JANKOVIC, Jelena LI, Na STOSUR, Samantha

Rank 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Seeded Players PENNETTA, Flavia SHARAPOVA, Maria BARTOLI, Marion ZVONAREVA, Vera WICKMAYER, Yanina CLIJSTERS, Kim SCHIAVONE, Francesca PETROVA, Nadia

Rank 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Prize Money Winner $700,000 Finalists $350,000 Semi-Finalists $150,000 Quarter Finalists $64,700 4th Round $32,000 3rd Round $18,740 2nd Round $11,500 1st Round $7,050

Pts. 1000 700 450 250 140 80 50 5

Lucky Losers

Tanasugarn, Tamarine -Groenefeld, Anna-Lena

Last Direct Acceptance

81 - Barrois

Retirements/W.O. Chakvadatze - left ankle injury Lisciki - Left ankle injury

Players Representative

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Supervisor D Kelso/L Cecceralli/T Cho

Follow Live Scoring at www.sonyericssonwtatour.com

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Petzschner

BNP PARIBAS OPEN

EVENT INFORMATION

“

We’re here... We’re not going Anyplace... and we’re going for it.

” “

he world of professional tennis has come a long way since the beginning of its open era in the late sixties...only forty years ago. And, almost at the same time, a professional men’s tournament was emerging in the Southern California desert. Located in the second largest market in the country, it has evolved into the largest combined ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in the world next to the four Grand Slams. The BNP Paribas Open is a two-week combined ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier event featuring the top men and women professional players competing in a 96 singles draw and 32 doubles draw. The event is hosted at the magnificent Indian Wells Tennis Garden, located in the beautiful Southern California desert. Of the 23 sessions played, attendance is taken from only 20 sessions and in 2009 the event attracted over 330,000 tennis fans. The event offers equal prize money totaling $9 million. New owner,

Billie Jean King

Larry Ellison, CEO and co-founder of Oracle, purchased the BNP Paribas Open and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in December, 2009.

settings in the world, it is the second largest tennis stadium and boasts 16,100 seats. The site includes a total of 22 courts, a year-

If you are a fan of the sport of tennis or just sport it is difficult not to be seduced by Charlie Pasarell’s dream in the desert. If this is not tennis Camelot, you can see it from here.

”

Bill Dwyre, Past Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times

The Site – Indian Wells Tennis Garden Charlie Pasarell’s vision together with his partner Raymond Moore, the late Mark McCormack and former partners IMG was to build a $78 million, 89 acre state-of the-art tennis stadium with private funding in 2000. Considered to be one of the most spectacular

round tennis club membership and is the host site for USTA and collegiate events outside of the professional tennis. The beautiful landscaped grounds and stadium has also been the host site for musical artists Pavarotti, Bocelli, the Boston Pops, The Who, Tom Petty, the Eagles and the annual Indian Wells Arts Festival.

hilipp Petzschner is a strange guy. How else could we describe him? Let’s consider the facts: After seven years as a professional tennis player, Petzschner recorded only nine wins on the ATP World Tour. Now this in of itself isn’t so unusual – not everyone can make it on the main circuit, it’s a tough place to play. But what makes Petzschner’s case so strange is that after those seven years and nine wins he went to Vienna, won five straight matches – including a straight set win over Gael Monfils – and claimed the title in both the singles and the doubles. In that same year he boarded a plane in Austria and flew to Tokyo (a 9000km journey), and three hours after he stepped off the flight he beat a Top Ten player in the form of Stanislas Wawrinka. Now if that isn’t strange we don’t know what is. So what does the man himself say about all of this? “They normally call me Picasso. Because I’m pretty close between being a genius on the court and completely nuts. That’s what they say.” Like we said...strange. Petzschner was born in Bayreuth, the same town that fellow tennis player Florian Mayer hails from, and started playing tennis at the age of four. “My father used to play, so it was pretty clear from the beginning that I start playing tennis. And I kind of liked it. So I made my hobby into a job,” he remembers. At first it seemed as if Petzschner’s was going to be very successful in his new job. At junior level he reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, and in 2002 he won the singles title at Roehampton (beating Marcos Baghdatis in the final) and the doubles title at Roland Garros.

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Unfortunately once he turned pro the results dried up, and Petzschner started wondering if he should have chosen a career in football (his other passion) instead. Though he reached the quarter-final in Metz in 2003, becoming the youngest German since Tommy Haas to achieve this feat, his other ATP Tour-level experiences were less encouraging. Soon questions arose about his work ethic, and some people started thinking that he didn’t take his tennis seriously enough. “People used to say I am half-crazy, arrogant, that I don’t feel like working. That isn’t true. I like to go for walks in the park, play golf. I am an honest person and I could never spend time with people who have no sense of humour. These are all normal things,” Petzschner recalls with a shrug. After a string of different coaches and numerous on-court meltdowns where he threw away matches he had basically already won, most people wrote Petzschner off as a “could have been.” In 2006, Picasso suddenly underwent a change of heart. Tired of under-performing and realising that his career was slipping away from him, he decided to get serious, hiring coach Klaus Langenbach and working with Werner Krass, who helped him overcome an injury and become fitter than ever. At the 2007 US Open he was ready to start his second career, facing fellow German Benjamin Becker in an epic first-round encounter that he eventually won in the fifth set, earning him a second round clash against Tommy Haas. “The greatest moment of my sports career,” Petzschner says of his match

against Haas, “I qualified and then won that absurd match against Becker. Then it was against Haas, on the Grand Stand. A great match, great crowd, people went mad in the fourth. I lost in the fourth, but who cares!” By September 2009 Petzschner had reached his best-ever ranking of 35 and again beat a Top Ten player (this time the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco). He also reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at Wimbledon, and showed that his game is particularly suited to the grass courts of the AllEngland Club. Of course he has suffered some crushing defeats as well, but these usually only come against higher-ranked players, and Petzschner is now much more capable of taking any setbacks in his stride. This year he has already reached two semi-finals (in Memphis and Zagreb), and has his sights set on winning a second title – this time without having to qualify for entry into the main draw. Since becoming only the third qualifier to win a title in 2008, Petzschner has come a long way, in both his game and his attitude. Now firmly entrenched in the Top 100, the German is looking to make amends for past mistakes, and do justice to the incredible talent he neglected for so many years. “The last book I read is ‘Complete Idiot’. About a guy in his mid-thirties just making nonsense for his whole life. And just trying to build something.” Petzschner, too, is trying to build something, and from we’ve seen so far he’s doing a pretty good job.

NOT FOR SALE TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS

TENNISWORLD SA

Bethanie

Mattek-Sands T

olourful. This is how Bethanie MattekSands likes to define herself. Colourful like the extravagant leopard print outfits and strange hats she wears on the tennis court. “I love extravagant clothes and this is probably why I love Italy and designers like Cavalli, who do not hold back with colour,” she says. “I want to play in the Internazionali D’Italia soon… Sara [Errani] told me that shopping in Rome is fantastic!” Like Andre Agassi in the early 1990s, Sands

has to suppress her natural flair for colour whenever she goes to Wimbledon. She loves the Championships – her fourth round appearance there is her best Slam result to date – and doesn’t mind toning down her outrageous outfits for the opportunity to play on the lawns of the All England Club. “I am happy to be playing at Wimbledon. I love the tournament and attack game. True, everything is a little too white and traditional, but I have lots of fun.” Unlike most of her peers, Sands doesn’t have a coach. “I do everything by myself and I don’t mind,” she says of her situation. “Sooner or later I will have to rely on a coach. I just have to find the right one, maybe a former player or someone with experience. I want the best.” Of course a certain Mr. Federer is also famous for going coachless for years on end, so she’s

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in good company. Born in Minnesota, Sands moved to Florida with her entire family in tow once she realised that she wants to make tennis her life. “I am a competitive person and I realised soon enough that my future could not be behind a desk or in an office,” she remembers. “I love the freedom and adrenalin that sport can give. I can’t be without my family anywhere. They

have followed me and have believed in me and this makes it all easier.” American tennis is not in a very good state, however, and it was a big risk for her parents let their child dedicate her life to a sport that is struggling in their home country. Bethanie is all too aware of her sport’s difficulties: “Right now tennis isn’t doing too well in America. Serena and Venus’s return to

winning in Slams andisthe finals between them olourful. This how Bethanie Mattekhave been good fortoAmerican tennis. Colourful Maybe it Sands likes define herself. will bring some passion and a print desireoutto like back the extravagant leopard workand hard for tennis many young players.” fits strange hatsinshe wears on the tennis Sands “I haslove herextravagant own opinionclothes on everything, court. and thisand is has a pretty ideaItaly whyand tennis isn’t doing probably whyclear I love designers like well in the players she Cavalli, whoUS. do“Young not hold back like withme,” colour,” explains, discovered that are easshe says.“have “I want to play in thethere Internazionier D’Italia ways to soon… make money than sweating out ali Sara [Errani] told meitthat on the court with a isracquet in hand. In the past shopping in Rome fantastic!” sports could be a shortcut to becoming rich.” She doesn’t share the view of those Like Andre Agassi in the early 1990s,people, Sands however, and is happy to makeflair sacrifices for has to suppress her natural for colour her tennis. “Ishe am goes competitive and this lifestyle whenever to Wimbledon. She suits me I can travel lot andround I like loves theperfectly. Championships – hera fourth this becausethere I comeis into withresult people appearance her contact best Slam to and cultures different from mine.down Fromher each of date – and doesn’t mind toning outthem I can learnforsomething that makes meona rageous outfits the opportunity to play richer and more person.” Theamextenthe lawns of thecomplete All England Club. “I hapsiveto travelling be a huge py be playingcan at Wimbledon. fortournament many players, Iburden love the and but atSandsgame. doesn’t mind. Her sistack True, everything tera Alison, is also 22, is little toowho white and traoften manages to travel ditional, but I have lots with of fun.”her, and she

says Unlike they have most of a lotpeers, of funSands disher coveringhave newa coach. places doesn’t together. “I do everything by myself and I don’t mind,” she says of her situaSands“Sooner has enjoyed a great success tion. or later I willamount have toofrely on a on the Itour recent years, beating Ten coach. just in have to find the right one,Top maybe in singles and obtaining a careeraopponents former player or someone with experience. of 37th in theaworld. Ihigh wantranking the best.” Of course certainShe Mr. has Fealso won seven doubles is currently derer is also famous fortitles goingand coachless for rankedon12th theshe’s world thatcompany. discipline. Her years end,inso in ingood success has given her a new level of confidence.in“IMinnesota, would like toSands win the US Open”, she Born moved to Florida says without hesitation, there no with her entire family in“because tow once sheis reother tournament in the with the alised that she wants to world make tennis hersame life. atmosphere as that of person New York. a Slam “I am a competitive andIt Iisrealised as unique as the hosts it.”not Of course soon enough thatcity my that future could be beat thea US Open wearshe exactly what she hind desk or inshe an can office,” remembers. “I wants, is fine her. The that only sport occasion love thewhich freedom andbyadrenalin can other Ithan can getanywhere. the energive. can’tWimbledon be withoutthat my family getic have youngfollowed Americanmeto and wearhave all white is, as They believed in it turns out,makes her own me and this it allwedding. easier.” She married Justin Sands in November of last year. American tennis is not in a very good state, however, and it was a big risk for her parents let their child dedicate her life to a sport that is struggling in their home country. Bethanie is all too aware of her sport’s difficulties: “Right now tennis isn’t doing too well in America. Serena and Venus’s return to winning in Slams and the finals between them have been good for American tennis. Maybe

TENNISWORLD SA

Marin

Cilic

By Patrick Mouratoglou

His personality:

arin is a calm and thoughtful player, and although he is young he is very mature. He’s someone who has built his career – he hasn’t just come out of nowhere. This aspect of his personality is very important in order to understand the type of player he is and to analyze his game. The Croatian has taken his time to build himself up. He is indeed young, but he didn’t become known because of one big result. Year by year he’s grown, his ranking has gotten better, he’s built his way up at his own pace, with serenity. After these years of work, he’s built a very complete game with good baseline strokes on both wings. He’s good at net approaches, has efficient foot work and volleys very well. He also serves and returns well.

All in all, Marin is a very complete player but doesn’t have lethal strokes.

factors: quickness of movement, close proximity to the baseline and physical size.

Bob Brett (who has coached the likes of Goran Ivanisevic and Boris Becker) has been working with him for some years. Bob is a friend who I worked with for five years. I know his methods, and I know that he cares particularly about creating an aggressive game in his players, focusing especially on volleys and stroke repetition.

He is efficient with the forehand and the backhand and can move his opponents around from both wings. In general, however, his backhand is more secure and consistent, but his forehand more explosive. When he is under pressure it is often the forehand that breaks down.

Analysis: Marin sticks very close to the baseline during most rallies. Because of this he’s very efficient at counter-attacking, and it’s difficult to get him out of position. He moves well, especially when we consider that he’s very tall. His court coverage is incredible thanks to these three

Marin is a player that quickly moves up to the net. He doesn’t hesitate when he gets a short ball and has very good technique with his approach shots. Marin is also efficient with his serve. Considering he is 1,98m tall, it goes without saying that he has a potentially huge serve. He has worked hard to develop a solid serve that finds its mark 60% of the time (first serves), and it has great variation. Let me point out though that I think his second serve

is still not good enough. He kicks it systematically, and goes for his opponent’s backhand way too often, and it’s also not deep enough. This shot definitely needs some work.

Comments: Marin Cilic is a very complete player that covers the court exceptionally well, misses very few shots and is able to dominate from both wings. Generally he is very solid, but he still lacks penetration in his shots. I’d like to see him hurt his opponents more, opening up the court and hitting more winners. His serve is excellent but is still missing some power that I know he can deliver. He rarely serves faster than 200km/h, which is amazing considering his size. His second serve, like I mentioned earlier, needs work, but can be a real weapon if he uses more spin and depth.

Conclusion: Marin’s game is like him: applied, serious, workmanlike. In order for him to impose himself in Grand Slams, however, he will have to work even harder. He needs to build up a more significant arsenal of weapons and needs to develop more power – he needs to add some wildness to his game. In some ways he is the anti-Gonzalez. Gonzalez has the firepower and the wildness, but his game lacks structure. Marin is the exact opposite. That being said, Marin is only 20 years old and already is 10th in the world. He still has a lot to learn but we can be sure that he will work hard to learn what he needs to. 38

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t might not be as ancient as the Canadian Open, Monte Carlo and Cincinnati. It might not be as richly endowed as Miami and Indian Wells, or have the shine of the newcomers Shanghai and Madrid – but the Internazionali d’Italia is one of the most prestigious tournaments outside of the Grand Slams. Back in the early days of the Open Era, it could even measure up to – if not quite compete with – Roland Garros itself.

were never successful at a Grand Slam. During the same period, six players would reach the finals of Roland Garros but never win a Slam, and at the Australian Open seven men would reach the championship match, but never become champions. Even those who did win the Slams weren’t guaranteed a successful career, and players like Mark Edmondson (1976) and Brian Teacher (1980) were never able to reach the year-end Top Ten.

It would often upstage the Australian Open in boasting a much more talented field of players, as a quick perusal at the event’s hall of fame demonstrates. Among the finalists at the Foro Italico between 1969 and 1980, only two (1975 winner Ramirez and 1977 finalist Zugarelli)

In the years since, the Australian Open has raised its standards considerably and is now a fantastic Slam event. At the same time, the other Majors have widened the gap between themselves and the rest of the calendar to such a degree that there is no longer any point in

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comparing them to normal events. Bearing that in mind, Rome has had to readjust its goals in recent decades, especially in the face of competition from newer tournaments like Miami and Madrid. The challenge from Madrid seems particularly ominous, since moving the event from the autumn to spring has required the Internazionali d’Italia to adjust its own schedule to accommodate it. This has resulted in less favourable weather conditions and a bigger gap between it and Roland Garros. Prize money might be one way of measuring the prestige of a tournament, but it is definitely not the most important one. Consider the case of Wimbledon: it is the most anticipated tournament of the whole year, and it has nothing

to do with the amount of money on offer. It is the oldest Slam, with the richest traditions and the greatest champion’s list in the sport. Many measure the worth of the best players of all time by their success at this tournament alone. If we were to use these criteria to measure the importance of the Masters 1000 events – tradition, history and the quality of past champions – the Internazionali d’Italia is without doubt one of the best, if not the best, tournaments in its class.

he event was born 1930, the brainchild of an Italian tennis enthusiast from Lombardy, Count Alberto Bonacossa. It was relocated from Milan to the Foro Italico in

1935, and the tournament was suspended the following year thanks to international hostility against Italy following its invasion of Ethiopia. It was only in 1950 that the tournament began again. Success immediately returned to the Internazionali d’Italia thanks to the commitment of a talented organiser named Carlo Dalla Vida. In fact, the Roman event immediately acquired considerable prominence in the tennis world, as proven by the fact that the first five editions of the revitalised event went to Grand Slam winners like Jaroslav Drobny, Frank Sedgman and Budge Patty. In the years that followed the tournament consolidated its position on the tennis circuit. Much of its incredible success can be attrib-

uted to the great strength of Italian tennis at the time. They secured eight victories in the European zone between 1949 and 1961, and two consecutive finals at the end of this period. In the nineteen seasons that were to follow before the start of the Open Era, every winner (with one exception) of the Internazionali d’Italia was a Top Ten player at some point in their career. The women’s competition enjoyed similar success, with three victories for Margaret Smith, as many for Maria Esther Bueno, two for Doris Hart and one each for Maureen Connolly and Althea Gibson. The Open era did nothing to halt the tournament’s incredible record, and in 1971 the

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field at the Foro Italico outshone that of Roland Garros. It featured twelve Grand Slam winners (against nine for the French Open), including Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Roy Emerson and Tony Roche. The next years also saw Billy Jean King, Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert victorious in the women’s tournament. A few signs of crisis emerged in the 80’s. For a few years the field at the men’s event was poor, and the women’s tournament was moved around several times, and wasn’t played at all in 1986. However, the downturn was temporary, and since 1987 the women have been back at the Foro and both competitions have continually stood just behind the Slams in terms of prestige.

ince 1950, 72% of the victors at Rome had already won Slams or would go on to do so. If we only consider the Open Era, the number rises to 78%. The women’s side of things nicely mirrors the men’s, with 74% of Internazionali d’Italia champions being of Grand Slam calibre. On average, every four years the Roman tournament and the French Open have the same winner. Moreover, the hall of fame at the Internazionali also features all of the French Open winners who have won that Slam more than three times – Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Gustavo Kuerten and Rafael Nadal. Seventeen others have won both the Rome Masters and the French Open, including Rod Laver and Andre Agassi. In 90% of the cases, the winner of the tournament features in the

Top Ten at some point.

and Agassi, who never won Monte Carlo. So the Internazionali more than make up for its “youth” (when compared to Monte Carlo) with its high quality over the last sixty years.

No other Masters 1000 – and, more broadly, no other tournament aside from the Slams and the year-end Masters – boasts such impressive numbers. Miami and Indian Wells, the two American springtime events, can compete with Rome in terms of winners ranked in the Top Ten and Slam-calibre winners. That being said, both events were only born in the 1980s, and Rome has sustained its credentials for a much longer period of time. The two summer events in North America – Canada and Cincinnati – have histories as long as Roma, but their record, especially prior to the Open Era, is far less impressive. The Paris Masters in Bercy joined the fray in 1986,

With Rome having given us so much over the years, what can we possibly ask of it in 2010? Just the same thing we’ve always asked: a great champion. With a certain Spaniard on the war path, it’s likely that we’ll get our wish. But we can’t help that feel that a certain Swiss maestro is due a win here. He came breathtakingly close in 2006, where he was finally conquered by Nadal after five hours of brutal play. Perhaps this will be his year.

but only about half of its champions have ever seen their names on a Slam trophy. Madrid and Shanghai are so young that their records can’t really be compared to that of Rome. The Monte Carlo Masters has for long been the Internazionali’s main competition. Created in 1897, its early years saw the most acclaimed champions of the time, such as the brothers Doherty and Tony Wilding. Even in the years between the two World Wars the prestigious victories continued – Henri Cochet won twice, Bill Tilden once and Gottfried von Cramm twice. The glory days wouldn’t last

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forever though, and between 1953 and 1965 the tournament winner was ranked in the Top Ten only once. The event bounced back strongly in the Open Era, however, when the clay specialists made the principality one of their favourite destinations.

ince 1950, Monte Carlo has recorded 36 successes by Slam winners (versus 43 in Rome), and 37 victories by Top Ten players(versus 54). The two tournaments share many champions, like Sedgman, Borg, Wilander, Lendl and Nadal, but Rome features the likes of Hoad, Laver, Newcombe, Sampras

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ATP SINGLES RANKINGS 5 April 2010 Federer, Roger (SUI) Age: 28 Title: 1 13W – 3L POINTS 10,765 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) Age: 22 Title: 1 15W - 4L POINTS 7,630 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) Age: 23 Title: 0 16W - 4L POINTS 6,980 Murray, Andy (GBR) Age: 22 Title: 0 10W - 4L POINTS 5,845 Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG) Age: 21 Title: 0 3W - 1L POINTS 5,735 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS) Age: 28 Title: 1 14W - 3L POINTS 5,335 Roddick, Andy (USA) Age: 27 Title: 2 26W - 4L POINTS 4,780 Soderling, Robin (SWE) Age: 25 Title: 1 16W - 5L POINTS 4,595 Cilic, Marin (CRO) Age: 21 Title: 2 20W - 4L POINTS 2,980 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) Age: 24 Title: 0 14W - 6L POINTS 2,915 44

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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 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

Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI) Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS) Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO) Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP) Berdych, Tomas (CZE) Ferrer, David (ESP) Monfils, Gael (FRA) Stepanek, Radek (CZE) Haas, Tommy (USA) Isner, John (USA) Robredo, Tommy (ESP) Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI) Monaco, Juan (ARG) Querrey, Sam (USA) Simon, Gilles (FRA) Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) Melzer, Jurgen (AUT) Karlovic, Ivo (CRO) Baghdatis, Marcos (CYP) Bellucci, Thomaz (BRA) Montanes, Albert (ESP) Kohlschreiber, Philipp (GER) Almagro, Nicolas (ESP) Lopez, Feliciano (ESP) Benneteau, Julien (FRA) Troicki, Viktor (SRB) Tipsarevic, Janko (SRB) Becker, Benjamin (GER) Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo (ESP) Andreev, Igor (RUS) Kubot, Lukasz (POL) Hanescu, Victor (ROU) Chardy, Jeremy (FRA) Gulbis, Ernests (LAT) Mayer, Florian (GER) Seppi, Andreas (ITA) Mathieu, Paul-Henri (FRA) Petzschner, Philipp (GER) Berrer, Michael (GER) Blake, James (USA) Cuevas, Pablo (URU) Beck, Andreas (GER) Zeballos, Horacio (ARG) Rochus, Olivier (BEL) Fognini, Fabio (ITA) Serra, Florent (FRA) Greul, Simon (GER) Chiudinelli, Marco (SUI) Korolev, Evgeny (KAZ) Schwank, Eduardo (ARG) Mayer, Leonardo (ARG) Lacko, Lukas (SVK) Llodra, Michael (FRA) Robert, Stephane (FRA) Stakhovsky, Sergiy (UKR) Gicquel, Marc (FRA) Falla, Alejandro (COL) Sela, Dudi (ISR) Dolgopolov Jr., Oleksandr (UKR) Nieminen, Jarkko (FIN) Russell, Michael (USA) Starace, Potito (ITA) Gasquet, Richard (FRA) Luczak, Peter (AUS) de Bakker, Thiemo (NED) Marchenko, Illya (UKR) Beck, Karol (SVK) Istomin, Denis (UZB) Clement, Arnaud (FRA) Hajek, Jan (CZE) Chela, Juan Ignacio (ARG) Giraldo, Santiago (COL) Hernandez, Oscar (ESP) Ram, Rajeev (USA) Zverev, Mischa (GER) Granollers, Marcel (ESP) Golubev, Andrey (KAZ) Malisse, Xavier (BEL) Lorenzi, Paolo (ITA) Schuettler, Rainer (GER) Gimeno-Traver, Daniel (ESP) Koellerer, Daniel (AUT) Massu, Nicolas (CHI) Darcis, Steve (BEL) Brands, Daniel (GER) Fish, Mardy (USA) Lu, Yen-Hsun (TPE) Lapentti, Nicolas (ECU) Kavcic, Blaz (SLO)

ATP DOUBLES RANKINGS 5 April 2010

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

Nestor, Daniel (CAN) Age: 37 Title: 2 18W - 5L POINTS 12,280 Zimonjic, Nenad (SRB) Age: 33 Title: 2 17W - 6L POINTS 12,280 Bryan, Bob (USA) Age: 31 Title: 2 14W - 4L POINTS 9,940 Bryan, Mike (USA) Age: 31 Title: 2 13W - 4L POINTS 9,940 Dlouhy, Lukas (CZE) Age: 27 Title: 1 4W - 5L POINTS 7,145 Paes, Leander (IND) Age: 36 Title: 1 15W - 5L POINTS 6,520 Bhupathi, Mahesh (IND) Age: 35 Title: 0 7W - 6L POINTS 5,530 Knowles, Mark (BAH) Age: 38 Title: 0 2W - 3L POINTS 5,315 Moodie, Wesley (RSA) Age: 31 Title: 0 1W - 4L POINTS 4,415 Aspelin, Simon (SWE) Age: 35 Title: 1 15W - 5L POINTS 3,910

Norman, Dick (BEL) Kubot, Lukasz (POL) Marach, Oliver (AUT) Mertinak, Michal (SVK) Ram, Andy (ISR) Matkowski, Marcin (POL) Fyrstenberg, Mariusz (POL) Mirnyi, Max (BLR) Cermak, Frantisek (CZE) Hanley, Paul (AUS) Robredo, Tommy (ESP) Granollers, Marcel (ESP) Soares, Bruno (BRA) Melzer, Jurgen (AUT) Knowle, Julian (AUT) Benneteau, Julien (FRA) Ullyett, Kevin (ZIM) Kohlmann, Michael (GER) Butorac, Eric (USA) Lindstedt, Robert (SWE) Kerr, Jordan (AUS) Brunstrom, Johan (SWE) Rojer, Jean-Julien (AHO) Polasek, Filip (SVK) Kas, Christopher (GER) Ram, Rajeev (USA) Querrey, Sam (USA) Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) Lopez, Marc (ESP) Damm, Martin (CZE) Fish, Mardy (USA) Tecau, Horia (ROU) Melo, Marcelo (BRA) Cuevas, Pablo (URU) Llodra, Michael (FRA) Levinsky, Jaroslav (CZE) Vemic, Dusan (SRB) Clement, Arnaud (FRA) Isner, John (USA) Zeballos, Horacio (ARG)

NATIONAL ATP Singles The national ranking is the average ranking of the 3 best players of each country

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Spain: USA: Croatia: France: Russia: Serbia: Switzerland: Argentina: Czech Republic: Germany:

10 16 17,6 18 20 25,6 27,6 27,6 38,6 39,3

South Africa:

205,6

NATIONAL ATP Doubles The national ranking is the average ranking of the 3 best players of each country

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Usa: Poland: Austria: Czech Republic: Spain: India: France: Serbia: Brazil: Australia:

11,6 15 20,6 21,3 27,3 28 36,3 37,6 40,6 41,3

South Africa:

58,6

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Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings 5 April 2010 Williams, Serena (USA) Age: 29 Title: 1 10W - 1L POINTS 7,946 Wozniacki, Caroline (DEN) Age: 20 Title: 0 12W - 5L POINTS 6,375 Safina, Dinara (RUS) Age: 24 Title: 0 4W - 2L POINTS 6,150 Williams, Venus (USA) Age: 30 Title: 2 19W - 2L POINTS 5,876 Kuznetsova, Svetlana (RUS) Age: 29 Title: 2 17W - 5L POINTS 5,620 Dementieva, Elena (RUS) Age: 29 Title: 2 17W - 5L POINTS 4,965 Jankovic, Jelena (SRB) Age: 25 Title: 1 13W - 5L POINTS 4,900 Radwanska, Agnieszka (POL) Age: 21 Title: 0 14W - 6L POINTS 4,190 Azarenka, Victoria (BLR) Age: 21 Title: 0 14W - 5L POINTS 4,070 Clijsters, Kim (BEL) Age: 27 Title: 2 14W - 2L POINTS 3,860 46

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Stosur, Samantha AUS Bartoli, Marion FRA Wickmayer, Yanina BEL Sharapova, Maria RUS Li, Na CHN Pennetta, Flavia ITA Schiavone, Francesca ITA Petrova, Nadia RUS Peer, Shahar ISR Rezai, Aravane FRA Zheng, Jie CHN Zvonareva, Vera RUS Henin, Justine BEL Hantuchova, Daniela SVK Bondarenko, Alona UKR Kleybanova, Alisa RUS Lisicki, Sabine GER Martinez Sanchez, M. Jose ESP Cibulkova, Dominika SVK Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia RUS Kirilenko, Maria RUS Bondarenko, Kateryna UKR Vesnina, Elena RUS Razzano, Virginie FRA Szavay, Agnes HUN Cirstea, Sorana ROU Dulko, Gisela ARG Suarez Navarro, Carla ESP Wozniak, Aleksandra CAN Safarova, Lucie CZE Oudin, Melanie USA Medina Garrigues, Anabel ESP Errani, Sara ITA Shvedova, Yaroslava KAZ Petkovic, Andrea GER Dushevina, Vera RUS Czink, Melinda HUN Dulgheru, Alexandra ROU Schnyder, Patty SUI Bacsinszky, Timea SUI Hercog, Polona SLO Govortsova, Olga BLR Rybarikova, Magdalena SVK Vinci, Roberta ITA Garbin, Tathiana ITA Bammer, Sybille AUT Ivanovic, Ana SRB Peng, Shuai CHN Baltacha, Elena GBR Kvitova, Petra CZE Date Krumm, Kimiko JPN Sevastova, Anastasija LAT Makarova, Ekaterina RUS Martic, Petra CRO Groenefeld, Anna-lena GER Kerber, Angelique GER Kulikova, Regina RUS Flipkens, Kirsten BEL Voegele, Stefanie SUI Benesova, Iveta CZE Goerges, Julia GER Arvidsson, Sofia SWE Hradecka, Lucie CZE Tanasugarn, Tamarine THA King, Vania USA Zahlavova Strycova, Barbora CZE Zakopalova, Klara CZE Kudryavtseva, Alla RUS Brianti, Alberta ITA Coin, Julie FRA Olaru, Ioana Raluca ROU Malek, Tatjana GER Chakvetadze, Anna RUS Cornet, Alize FRA Zahlavova, Sandra CZE Parra Santonja, Arantxa ESP Barrois, Kristina GER Morita, Ayumi JPN Chang, Kai-chen TPE Mirza, Sania IND Sprem, Karolina CRO Chan, Yung-jan TPE Craybas, Jill USA Rodionova, Anastasia AUS Meusburger, Yvonne AUT Amanmuradova, Akgul UZB Duque Marino, Mariana COL Parmentier, Pauline FRA Kutuzova, Viktoriya UKR Perry, Shenay USA

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Doubles Rankings 5 April 2010

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

Black, Cara (ZIM) Age: 31 Title: 2 20W - 4L POINTS 9,015 Huber, Liezel (USA) Age: 34 Title: 2 21W - 4L POINTS 9,015 Williams, Serena (USA) Age: 29 Title: 1 6W - 0L POINTS 7,440 Williams, Venus (USA) Age: 30 Title: 1 6W - 0L POINTS 7,440 Stosur, Samantha (AUS) Age: 26 Title: 0 10W - 4L POINTS 6,505 Martinez Sanchez, Maria Jose (ESP) Age: 28 Title: 1 9W - 5L POINTS 6,410 Llagostera Vives, Nuria (ESP) Age: 30 Title: 1 9W - 4L POINTS 6,410 Stubbs, Rennae (AUS) Age: 39 Title: 0 8W - 5L POINTS 6,065 Petrova, Nadia (RUS) Age: 28 Title: 0 12W - 5L POINTS 5,155 Kleybanova, Alisa (RUS) Age: 21 Title: 0 11W - 6L POINTS 4,585

Ruano Pascual, Virginia Mattek-sands, Bethanie Peng, Shuai Zheng, Jie Hsieh, Su-wei Peschke, Kveta Yan, Zi Medina Garrigues, Anabel Raymond, Lisa Makarova, Ekaterina Kirilenko, Maria Dulko, Gisela Pennetta, Flavia Vesnina, Elena Schiavone, Francesca Chan, Yung-jan Zahlavova Strycova, Barbora King, Vania Niculescu, Monica Benesova, Iveta Chuang, Chia-jung Hantuchova, Daniela Groenefeld, Anna-lena Azarenka, Victoria Radwanska, Agnieszka Kudryavtseva, Alla Srebotnik, Katarina Hradecka, Lucie Kops-jones, Raquel Amanmuradova, Akgul Rodionova, Anastasia Garbin, Tathiana Dushevina, Vera Mirza, Sania Hlavackova, Andrea Jans, Klaudia Schnyder, Patty Rosolska, Alicja Spears, Abigail Bondarenko, Alona

ESP USA CHN CHN TPE CZE CHN ESP USA RUS RUS ARG ITA RUS ITA TPE CZE USA ROU CZE TPE SVK GER BLR POL RUS SLO CZE USA UZB AUS ITA RUS IND CZE POL SUI POL USA UKR

NATIONAL WTA Singles The national ranking is the average ranking of the 3 best players of each country

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Russia Usa Belgium France Italy China Slovakia Spain Ukraine Czech Republic

4,6 15,3 15,3 22 25,3 31,3 35,3 36 52 56,6

South Africa

361,3

NATIONAL WTA Doubles The national ranking is the average ranking of the 3 best players of each country

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

USA Spain Russia China Australia Taipei Czech Republic Italy Poland Belarus

2,3 8 13 14,6 18 24 24,3 30 43 49,6

South Africa

154,3

TENNISWORLD SA

Lionel Eric Tapscott “Doodles” (born 18 March 1894 in Kimberley, South Africa) was a South African cricket player who played in a few tests in 1923. His other passion in life was tennis, and his talent earned him a summons as the South African representative at the 1912 Olympic Games, where he did well for a number of rounds before losing in five sets to Bohemian Ladislav Zemla-Razny. Sheila Piercey (born 18 March 1919) was a South African tennis player who was also known as Sheila Piercey-Summers after her marriage. Alongside her fellow countryman Eric Sturgess she won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles: at Roland Garros in 1947 and 1949, and at Wimbledon in 1949. Raymond “Ray” Moore (born 24 August 1946 in Johannesburg) is a former South African professional tennis player. During his career he won 8 doubles titles and reached twelve finals. Moore took part in twelve Davis Cup ties for South Africa between 1967 and 1977. As the President of PM Sports Management, he was instrumental in transforming the Indian Wells tournament from the dusty dream of some 35 years ago to one of the most brilliant tournaments in tennis. Moore does not agree with today’s robotic women’s

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www.patleys.co.za

tennis, which he says seems to have come out of a production chain. A great champion of women’s tennis, he acknowledges the absence of women players who quit too soon, such as Amelie Mauresmo, and views Henin and Clijsters’ return very positively. Always sporting a fashionable haircut, not too tall, but athletically very strong, Moore tasted his first victories with a Spalding ‘Richard Pancho Gonzales’ in his hand. Few may know that Spalding designer Ralph Vincent Sawyer was the creator of many racquet frames since the 1950s. Later on the artist became a great designer and also worked for Bancroft, where he designed the legendary “Player Special” used by Martina Navratilova. Ray Moore also had great success in the 1970s with a Wilson T3000 similar to the one used by Jimmy Connors. Rosalyn Fairbank (born 2 November 1960 in Durban) has been living in San Diego for many years. She turned professional in 1978 and in 1990 achieved her best WTA ranking of 15. She won one singles title in her career (Richmond 1983) and numerous doubles titles. Her passion for tennis and sports in general drove her to write a successful book called Playing Tennis To Win The Mental Advantage. George H. Dodd was a talented South African tennis player in the 1920’s who, alongside Blackbeard, formed part of an almost invincible team. In 1920 he took part in the Olympic Games in Antwerp, where he was stopped in the quarter-finals by Japanese player Ichiya Kumagae after defeating then French number one Max Décugis. He lived in England for a long time but always travelled the world with

his family in tow, carrying with him a camera which he used to film everything from family scenes to sporting events. A number of his 8mm films were recently auctioned on a popular e-commerce network. Some of them feature tennis footage from Wimbledon in the 1950’s. TENNISWORLD SA

It’s All in the Mind

Mentally Preparing for the Perfect Serve

EIGHT SECONDS The serve is one of the most important strokes in tennis, and it doesn’t rely simply on your technique. It all starts in the head – here’s how to use it best.

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

Step one to hitting a fantastic serve is visualisation. Look at where you want to hit the serve and in your mind’s eye see yourself placing it exactly where you want it. Then measure how hard you want to hit the ball, how much power you feel the shot needs. Both of these images are already inside of you: stored somewhere in your brain is the memory of a time you hit a perfect serve. All you need to do is remember that serve, and imagine doing it again.

T A L O B Dinara

BwitAh Rafa and 50

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type of memory is a pinch: in eight seconds about one third of the feeling is lost. In the next eight seconds another third of what is left goes and on and on until there is nothing left to feel. Most humans operate with this same eight second clock so it is called the “time constant” of short-term memory.

By performing these exercises you are relying on something called “muscle memory”. There are two kinds of muscle memory, and a good example of the first kind is riding a bicycle. Everyone knows the expressions “it’s just like riding a bike”, and this kind of muscle memory is stored for very long periods of time. Generally a person will never forget how to do that certain action.

Short-term muscle memory is very important for a serve – if you remember how you just hit that ace, and visualise how you did it, chances are you can do it again if you concentrate. Once a person can truly “feel” their serve without thinking about it, it has become part of the long-term muscle memory, and it will be like riding a bike for many years. Much has been written about the mental processes that go on in the minds of strong servers, but it is a very controversial topic. Some of them focus on “feeling the rhythm” of the serve as if it were a melody, while others try to focus on physical characteristics, such as a certain way of standing. Whichever method is used, essentially it is about having a mental image of the movement and the senses involved in the perfect serve, and focusing on those just before the ball is struck.

The second kind of muscle memory is known as “short term” memory. Thoughts and sensations associated with this type disappear from our bodies and minds at a rate of about 30% every eight seconds. An example of this

Good servers have another thing in common: they have a very particular purpose for each serve. They always want to hit the ace or unreturnable serve, and they truly believe that they can.

IMPROVING YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY Exercise 1 Carry out a series of serves, paying particular attention to the following: 1) Together with your coach, choose two technical or technical-tactical objectives, making sure you have a primary and a secondary one 2) Execute the first serve and focus on the primary objective and partially on the secondary one 3) Maintain the follow-through position for one or two seconds in order to retain as much of the feeling in your memory as possible 4) Try to execute the next serve no later than eight seconds after the first 5) Before hitting the second serve, refocus on the primary and secondary objectives 6) Repeat the cycle Exercise 2 Pay particular attention to the management of the time between one serve and another: 1) Take 3-4 seconds to breathe and recover physiologically from the previous point 2) Take 3-4 seconds to decide how to set up, in broad terms, the point that you are about to play 3) Make a decision: it is crucial to know what we want to do before we act 4) Check your activation state: check if you are poorly energised or too nervous 5) If you are too nervous, breathe deeply for 3-4 seconds. Breathe with your stomach, not your chest 6) If you are too relaxed, hop a few times before serving and breathe with your chest, not your stomach 7) Hit your serve. It is crucial to have no thoughts in one’s mind at the moment of execution, except perhaps about the next shot TENNISWORLD SA

Shoulder Injuries

in Tennis M

ost tennis players will at some point in their careers suffer from shoulder pain or injuries. It is the most common overuse injury of the upper limb in tennis players. High profile players like Maria Sharapova have regularly struggled with their shoulders, which has lead to a lot of attention being focused on this type of injury. Shoulder pain is almost exclusively caused by the service action in tennis. The serve is the most important shot in tennis, not only because it sets up so many points but it also accounts for 45% of all the shots in tournament play. Shoulder injuries also plague other sports with overhead throwing actions like baseball, handball, javelin and cricket. A lot of research has been done on the shoulder in sports medicine and we are still not entirely sure about the cause of shoulder injuries in tennis players. We also did a study at the 2007 SA Senior Interprovincial tournament on 76 players, 20 of which had a history of shoulder pain related to tennis. In these players we could not find any specific factors that could cause shoulder injuries when we looked at service speed, grip positions, level of play, years of playing and difference in range of motion. Our studies confirmed a difference in range of motion in the dominant shoulder of the tennis players we tested, which is the same finding as a study in the USA which focused on baseball players.

By Dr. Morkel

but they are also the ones with more shoulder problems. Young players and coaches should not try short cuts when it comes to the service action and when it comes to focus on core exercises. There are other causes for shoulder pain in younger players, such as stress fractures. For older players osteo-arthritis, inflammatory arthritis and frozen shoulder might also be factors. When players start to develop shoulder symptoms on the serve, the following adjustments in technique and conditioning should be made: - Make the service toss-up position more to the right (for right handed players) - Focus rhythm of service, timing and leg drive - Change grip position on the racket to number two or one - Start a posterior capsule stretch program - Start a rotator cuff strengthening program

If the pain does not improve with a good stretching and strengthening program and the help of a physiotherapist or biokineticist, there could be other underlying causes for the shoulder pain and a proper evaluation with X-rays must be done.

It is important for tennis players to have the right technique and to remember the kinetic chain of the body that leads to a great serve. There are certain professional tennis players with abbreviated service actions that can generate a lot of speed on the serve,

X-rays and diagnostic ultrasound can exclude other pathologies like subacromial bursal impingement, os acromiale and biceps tendonitis. When these special investigations are still inconclusive, an MRI needs to be done to exclude pathology inside the shoulder joint.

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By Pietie Norval

hen people talk about Roger Federer and his brilliance, you’ll often hear about his high first serve percentage, the effectiveness of his second serve, his heavy forehand, his textbook onehanded backhand, his balletic movement and his Borg-like coolness. Rarely will you hear about his volleys. Why is this? I believe the game of tennis has moved away from coming to the net as a tactic for winning matches. Today it is only used as variation and Federer is probably the best exponent of that. Many tennis lovers have been greatly frustrated by Federer in the past. He often loses against Nadal from the back of the court, but every time he comes to the net or serves and volleys he wins the point. Why does he not come to the net more often if he is winning most of the points there? If you have been watching the duals between Federer and Nadal over the past five years, you will know that Federer goes to net very selectively, probably because of his respect for Nadal’s passing shots. Most of Nadal’s passing shots off the backhand side go cross court, so why does Federer not ex-

ploit this weakness of Nadal’s more often? It seems that in Federer’s mind going to the net is an unnecessary risk.

We might see Federer coming to net more often as he gets older because the length of some of the rallies he plays now will catch up to him. In the future it is likely that he will be looking to shorten his points, and coming to net is a good way doing this.

The distance between his head and the racquet head is too big, and this hurts him on low volleys. He pulls his left shoulder out just before he makes contact with the ball, and this makes the volley go down into the net. He uses “hands” in the shot, which means he breaks his wrist upon contact. You have to be strong to do this, and he is.

The Federer volley up-close: His basic technique on both volleys is very good. He makes it look very easy and sometimes acts very casually as he plays the shot. Because the volley is one of the most difficult shots in tennis, a lack of intensity on the shot will lead to mistakes, and Federer is often guilty of this. Having said that, he has great feel around the net, as his doubles success clearly proves.

Federer’s backhand volley looks to be the weaker shot of the two, but is still very good. Once again, his great movement hides his few weaknesses on the shot: - His backswing is slightly too long and too high, this makes it difficult for him to get enough stick on the ball. - He “over-slices” the volley. He does the same thing on his regular backhand slice, which is a result of the high backswing I already mentioned.

Federer’s forehand volley is very effective and he wins a lot of points with this shot. I think mostly because his movement is so good and the link between good movement and success on the volley is essential. He has three weaknesses on the forehand side:

It sounds terrible to mention any weakness in Federer’s game, seeing as he is the best player of all time. But he’ll need to work on this shot in the coming years, since he’ll probably need to use it a lot more, so it’s worth considering.

Stretching must focus on the joint capsule at the back of the shoulder and not on the front part of the shoulder. Physiotherapy, ice and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories can also be helpful with acute injuries.

Shoulder injuries in tennis players are overuse injuries caused by the service action and it should be prevented. A tight posterior (backside) joint capsule with a relative muscle imbalance in rotator cuff muscles is the cause for shoulder injuries in tennis players.

The Federer Volley

There is a place for arthroscopic surgery in shoulder injuries, but the majority of cases should be managed with the help of a good tennis coach, physiotherapist and biokinetisist.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE BETTER YOU WILL BECOMEâ&#x20AC;?

By Jaco Burger

The last couple of editions we talked all about training. This month I want to focus on the other side of the coin: recovery and regeneration. Do you think recovery is as important as training? Do you spend as much time recovering as you do training? Most athletes perform two or more training sessions per day at demanding intensities. During these sessions it sometimes happens that athletes push themselves beyond their physiological and psychological limits. This is the only way to reach new heights. On top of that they still have lives outside of tennis and will experience stress factors there as well. This will definitely increase the stress experienced during training or competition. Therefore it is vitally important that tennis

players maintain a good balance between their social lives, training sessions and recovery periods. Many coaches and trainers have said in the past that the harder you train the better you will become (â&#x20AC;&#x153;no pain no gainâ&#x20AC;?). Although there is merit in this statement there is a fine line to take note of. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;howâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;whenâ&#x20AC;? factors come into play here, and if training is approached in the wrong way the athlete will not reach the performance levels he/she desires. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a closer look at recovery and how it can help you as well as what you can do from your side to incorporate this into your preparation.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Proper recovery accelerates the regeneration rates between training lessons, decreases fatigue, enhances super compensation, and facilitates using heavy loads in training. It can even decrease the number and frequency of injuries because fatigue impairs coordination and concentration, leading to poor movement control.

â&#x20AC;? 54

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Tudor Bompa

Recovery is a multi-dimensional process that depends on intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Therefore it is much more complicated than most people realise. Maybe this is the reason that most athletes and coaches just decide to skip on it completely. Here are a few factors to be considered when you think about recovery: 1.AGE a.Older than 25 needs longer recovery periods after training. b.Younger than 18 needs longer rest between workouts to facilitate overcompensation (Nudel 1989; Rowland 1990; ShonerKolb 1990). 2.EXPERIENCE a.Experienced athletes will recuperate sooner due to faster physiological adaptation and more efficient movement (Noakes 1991). 3.GENDER a.Male tennis players recover faster than female tennis players mainly due to endocrinological differences, in particular the male hormone testosterone which accelerates recovery processes.

t %FQSFTTFE JNNVOF SFTQPOTF t 5IJT JO UVSOT BGGFDUT UJNJOH BOE OFVSPNVTDVMBS DPPSEJOBUJPO Obviously recovery and recuperation are not to be brushed aside. It will affect your tennis in a negative way if not looked after and managed properly. There are a multitude of recovery methods but I am only going to focus on some that might be practical for you. I am breaking them up into Natural means of recovery and Physiotherapeutic means of recovery. Natural Means of Recovery 1.ACTIVE REST (KINO THERAPY) t -JHIU JOUFOTJUZ BDUJWJUZ BU NBYJNVN PG .BYJNBM )FBSU 3BUF BOE TUSFUDIJOH :PVS .BYJNVN )FBSU 3BUF DBO CF DBMDVMBUFE CZ BHF t NJOVUFT JO EVSBUJPO

t 3FTFBSDI IBT TIPXO UIBU PG MBDUJD BDJE JT SFNPWFE CZ NJOVUFT PG MJHIU KPHHJOH BOE BO BEEJUJPOBM CFUXFFO NJOVUFT XIJDI BEET VQ UP JO NJOVUFT DPNQBSFE UP B SFEVDUJPO JO MBDUJD BDJE CZ QBTTJWF SFTU GPS NJOVUFT 2.PASSIVE REST/COMPLETE REST Complete rest is not there to replace active recovery but to complete the process. It must be done as follows: t IPVST TMFFQ QFS EBZ NVTU CF BU OJHIU BOE UIF CBMBODF DBO CF EPOF BT OBQT EVSJOH UIF EBZ

t $SFBUF B TMFFQJOH SPVUJOF BOE USZ OPU UP EFWJBUF GSPN JU t %P OPU HP UP CFE BGUFS t &BU B TNBMM DBSCPIZESBUF NFBM CFGPSF TMFFQ "WPJE QSPUFJO BOE GBU

Physiotherapeutic Means of Recovery 1.MASSAGE Massage is the systematic manipulation of soft body tissues and assists in removing toxic energy metabolism by-products and residual fluid build-up resulting from structural damages of muscle tissue. Kuprin (1982) addresses the need for massage before, during and after training. Massage is one of the oldest recovery methods

4.ENVIRONMENTAL a.Altitude higher than 3000m causes recovery to take longer. b.Extreme cold conditions slow recovery due to impaired Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone production at sub-maximal loads. 5.PSYCHOLOGICAL a.Factors such as negative coaching styles, fear, indecisiveness, lack of determination by a coach/trainer might stress the athlete or make him/her feel insecure. b.This can spur physiological problems such as t *OIJCJUFE NVTDMF HSPXUI BOE SFQBJS t *ODSFBTFE NVTDMF UFOTJPO t %FQSFTTFE JOnBNNBUPSZ SFTQPOTF

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around and certainly one of the most effective. Benefits of massage include t *ODSFBTFE CMPPE DJSDVMBUJPO t *ODSFBTFE MZNQIBUJD DJSDVMBUJPO t 4USFUDIJOH NVTDMF BEIFTJPOT LOPUT PS NJDSP USBVNB t 3FMJFG PG NVTDMF GBUJHVF t 3FNPWBM PG FYDFTTJWF TXFMMJOH 2.CONTRAST BATHING/SHOWERING This method creates a pumping action within the muscle through alternating vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels) and vasodilatation (widening of the blood vessels). This action penetrates muscle tissue to superficial depths. Believe it or not, this goes as far back as the gladiators of the Roman Empire. Keep the following in mind when performing contrast bathing: t $PME 8BUFS CFUXFFO EFHSFFT UIFSF JT NVDI EFCBUF BCPVU UIF UFNQFSBUVSF "OHJF $BMEFS TVHHFTUT EFHSFFT XIJMF NBOZ SFDPWFSZ DFOUSFT JO 4PVUI "GSJDB IBWF UIFJS CBUIT TFU PO EFHSFFT t )PU 8BUFS BU EFHSFFT t )PU XBUFS TVCNFSTJPO UJNFT MPOHFS UIBO DPME *G NJOVUF JO DPME CBUI UIFO NJOVUFT JO IPU CBUI t "MXBZT TUBSU XJUI DPME BOE FOE XJUI DPME BGUFS USBJOJOH DPNQFUJUJPO t 3FQFBU GPS NJOVUFT t *G CBUIT BSF OPU BWBJMBCMF ZPV DBO QFSGPSN UIF BCPWF JO B TIPXFS *U JT OPU FYBDUMZ UIF TBNF CVU UIF TBNF QSJODJQMF BQQMJFT I want to bring this a bit closer to home and make it relevant to you. If you have played junior tournaments in South Africa you will be aware of the tournament format and the load it places on your body. I have seen in the past number of years how players have to play up to three singles matches and 2 doubles matches in one day. This is an extreme example but it has happened a few times. The average I would guess is about 3 matches per day. This in itself is a lot of load on the body, especially if you still are a junior. The interesting thing is that people canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand why they get niggles and injuries. They look surprised when this happens. Even more interesting is that tennis players more often than not donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do any form of strength training and conditioning. In other words their bodies are not even properly prepared for this load.

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This being said, the irony is that there is nothing in place to assist with recovery at tournaments. That is why I have tried in the last four years to travel to the tournaments that would allow me and set up a recovery station. Those of you who have been making use of this at the Super 7 and Nationals in Bloemfontein will know the difference it makes to your body when you get a sport massage every second day or so. Just in closing here are what the current Davis Cup players have to say about recovery, sport massage and ice baths:

For me personally massage helps a lot to get rid of lactic acid in my body. When I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get massaged regularly I can feel how my body gets tighter and tighter until it gets to a point where my movement is influenced. Ice baths help a lot and makes me feel fresh after a training session, gets the blood flow going

I hope that this will be of help to you and that you will make use of some of these ways of starting to recover more optimally. I am still working on taking recovery stations to every tournament in South Africa. I am positive that in time we will be successful in offering you this at every junior tournament around South Africa. If you are interested in finding out more about recovery and at which tournaments we will be going to this year or anything regarding strength and conditioning for tennis, please feel free to contact me at jaco@quickeningpulse.co.za '*5/&44 (3&&5*/(4 +"$0 #63(&3

Jeff Coetzee

After a hard training week I find it necessary to do an ice bath which helps in muscle recovery. I feel that a good massage helps even more to target specific problem areas which have become stiff and tight during training. By combining ice baths and massages into your program you will recover faster and it will allow you to train harder the next day zak van der Merwe

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A World Without By Enzo Cherici

ith the two North American Masters 1000 events behind us, it’s time once again to turn our attention to the European clay court season. As always the first major stop is in Monte Carlo, then it’s off to Rome, Madrid and finally the glorious dirt of Roland Garros. By the time we get to the Parisian clay everyone has already forgotten the first tournaments, however, and rightly so. The Slams are all that matter, after all – they are at the four pillars that support the rest of the calendar, and without them the sport would have nothing to rally around. But what if we suddenly found ourselves without the Slams? Certain sports have had to face the spectre of breakaway leagues, such as the Indian Premier League in cricket, and other sports have seen repeated clashes between its governing bodies and players. The National Hockey League in the US, for example, saw a lockout in 2004 which caused the entire season to be cancelled. Could the same thing ever happen to tennis? Probably not. But if it did, and the Slams were suddenly excluded from the tour, which tournaments would rise to the top of the ATP schedule? Who would be the king of the new tour?

One would imagine that if this were to happen, the rankings wouldn’t change much. However, we had a look at the performance of the current Top 10 players in the past 20 Masters 1000 tournaments, and what we saw truly shocked us. The rankings would look a lot different, that’s for sure. ATP Rankings 1

Federer

10765

Djokovic

7630

Nadal

6980

Murray

5845

Del Potro

5735

Davydenko

5585

Roddick

4780

Soderling

4595

Cilic

2980

Tsonga

2915

"UQ 3BOLJOH

Let’s first have a look at the way in which the ATP points are distributed across the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 tournaments:

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Points Breakdown

R16

R32

R64

R128

Grand Slam

2000

1200

720

360

180

Masters 1000

1000

600

360

180

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2008 was a magical year for Nadal with the Paris-Wimbledon double and the gold medal at the Olympics. But, as can be seen in the table above, his performance in Masters 1000 tournaments was also extraordinary. With three victories (Monte Carlo, Hamburg and Canada) and one final (Miami), the Mallorcan ended the year in first place in this special Masters-focused ranking with 3905 points (433.88 on average over nine tournaments played). Somewhat surprisingly, in second place we don’t find Roger Federer but Novak Djokovic who, with his two victories (Indian Wells and Rome) and one final (Cincinnati), managed to collect 3705 points (411.66 on average). One step down and still no sign of Federer. Instead we see Andy Murray’s name, thanks to his victories in Cincinnati and Madrid: 2880 points for him (320 on average), but a long way from the first two places. To find the Slam King we have to go down to fourth place – Federer won no Master Series titles, and reached only two finals (Monte Carlo and Hamburg, he lost to Nadal in both). In the end he got only 2595 points (1310 less than Nadal). Davydenko also put in some good performances, winning in Miami and ultimately collecting 2125 points). Tsonga comes in at six with his win at Bercy, and Roddick disappointingly occupies the seventh slot, with no wins and no finals. Juan Martin Del Potro doesn’t really feature, since he only found his rhythm in the second half of the year (in Rome he actually had to qualify for the event). Robin Soderling and Marin Cilic also don’t bear mentioning, having only really matured in 2009.

As we can see, each Grand Slam counts twice as much as a single Masters Series 1000 event. In order to match a Wimbledon win, for example, one would have to triumph at both Rome and Miami. A final at Roland Garros (1200 points), would be worth more than a victory at Indian Wells (1000 points). And a semi-final at the US Open (720 points) would surpass a hypothetical final in Monte Carlo (600 points). In short, if a player succeeded in winning all the Slams (of course an incredibly difficult achievement) they would get 8000 points, meaning that player would only need to pick up 2000-3000 points during the rest of the season to end the year as number one. To support this, let us briefly compare the 2009 performances of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Year

Player

Points

Grand Slam

Masters 1000

2009

Federer

10550

6400

3395

2009

Nadal

9205

2900

5280

2009

The Swiss champion ended the year in the top position, with a total of 10 550 points. Of these, 6400 were derived from the four Slam tournaments (two victories and two finals) and only 3395 from eight Masters Series 1000 appearances (he did not play in Shanghai). The balance of the points was made up from the 250 event in Doha (semi-final) and the year-end ATP World Tour Final. In short, 60.6% of the points obtained by Federer in 2009 came from Slam tournaments, whereas only 32.1% were from Masters 1000 events. Rafael Nadal’s case is quite different. The Mallorcan champion finished 2009 in second position, with 9205 points. Of these, only 2900 (31.5%) were obtained in Slam tournaments, and 5280 (57.3%) were earned in Masters 1000 events. It must be said that the Spaniard’s knee injury in mid June heavily affected his performance in the Slams along with the entire second half of the year. But even if he had hypothetically beaten Federer in a final at Wimbledon, he would have totalled fewer points in the four Majors (4900 versus 5600) than the Swiss champion. In that case, though, he would have finished the year as number one. From these initial observations it is clear that the influence of the Slams – which, we should remember, only occupy two months of the season – on the world rankings can be overwhelming. But this is not true for everyone, as Nadal’s situation demonstrates. With Federer devouring Slam after Slam, the Masters 1000 events take on a special significance for everyone else.

Indian Wells

Miami

Monte Carlo

Rome

Hamburg

Canada

Cincinnati

Madrid Indoor

Paris

Total

Average

Nadal

1000

180

1000

600

180

360

600

360

5280

586,66

Djokovic

180

600

360

180

600

360

1000

4480

497,77

Murray

600

1000

360

180

1000

360

3635

454,77

Federer

360

1000

180

1000

3395

424,38

Del Potro

180

360

180

360

600

180

1950

243,75

Davydenko

180

1000

1675

239,28

Roddick

360

180

360

1170

195

Tsonga

180

360

180

955

119,37

Soderling

180

575

71,87

Cilic

180

515

57,22

To see what the ATP ranking would look like without Grand Slams, let’s have a look at the performance of the Top Ten in Masters 1000 tournaments in 2008, 2009 and in this first part of 2010. 2008

Indian Wells

Miami

Monte Carlo

Rome

Hamburg

Canada

Cincinnati

Madrid Indoor

Paris

Total

Average

Nadal

360

600

1000

360

180

3905

433,88

Djokovic

1000

360

1000

360

180

600

3705

411,66

Murray

360

1000

180

2880

320

Federer

360

180

600

180

600

360

180

2595

288,33

Davydenko

1000

360

2125

236,11

Tsonga

1000

1280

213,33

Roddick

360

180

1105

184,16

Del Potro

22*

180

317

79,25

Soderling

500

55,55

Cilic

180

450

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Last year saw very little change in the Masters rankings, with Nadal again occupying the top spot thanks to his spectacular wins at Indian Wells, Monte Carlo and Rome. It’s interesting to note that while 2009 was considered to be a mediocre year for the Spaniard, he still managed to better his awesome 2008 numbers. Djokovic again sneaks into second place, reaching four finals (Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome and Cincinnati) and winning in Paris. He too improved over his 2008 performance, scoring 775 points more than in that year. Murray again comes in third, with Federer staying put in fourth place. It’s perhaps understandable that Federer doesn’t approach the Masters 1000 events with the same enthusiasm as his peers, since he often seems to use them as preparation for Slams – testing out his game rather than trying to play his best. However, with Djokovic and Murray investing so heavily in the Masters tournaments, it’s disturbing to see them display the kind of attitude we saw in Indian Wells and Miami this year. They are losing a lot of points, and unless they can seriously get their acts together, they might take a serious dive in the rankings. But let’s return to our initial question: what would the tour be like without Slams? Let’s look at the new rankings from Indian Wells in 2008 to Miami in 2010:

2009-2010

2008

2009

2010

Total

Average

Ranking ATP

Nadal

3905

5280

720

9905

495,25

Djokovic

3705

4480

115

8300

415

Murray

2880

3635

205

6720

353,68

Federer

2595

3395

135

6125

322,36

Roddick

1105

1170

1600

3875

276,78

Davydenko

2125

1675

3845

226,17

Del Potro

317

1950

2267

188,91

Tsonga

1280

955

270

2505

156,56

Soderling

500

575

720

1795

94,47

Cilic

450

515

115

1080

As in our smaller analyses, Nadal again comes out on top. His dominance is indisputable, gaining on average 80.25 points more than Djokovic, 141.57 more than Murray and a shocking 172.47 more than Federer. Roddick pays for his poor showing in 2008-2009 by coming in at fifth place. Davydenko’s consistency is impressive and he – along with Djokovic – are the only ones whose “Masters Ranking” echo their current ATP ranking. Del Potro and Tsonga have reasonable report cards, but nothing more than that. The Argentinean pays for his late arrival on the scene compared to his rivals, and Tsonga has steadily gone downhill since 2008. Soderling is improving, however, and has only recently started realising his true potential. Cilic disappoints, and is surprisingly unable to convert his recent Slam success into Masters 1000 success. So if the ATP Tour were to change overnight, and all the old rankings thrown out, Nadal would be the king of the world. However, if the focus were to shift to Masters 1000 events, Federer would surely concentrate on them in the same way that he has been concentrating on Slams, and it might only be a matter of time before he climbed back to the top spot. So in the end it seems that the more things change, the more they would stay the same.

Tell-all books in the sports world are not rare. Indeed hardly a month goes by without some sport somewhere being rocked by a scandal-ridden chronicle. The problem is that these accounts are almost always written by anonymous “insiders” or in-the-loop sportswriters – they are never written by the people who they are about. That’s why when Andre Agassi’s autobiography stirred up such furious controversy a few months ago it caught the attention not only of tennis fans, but of sports fans in general. A first-hand account of the tennis tour’s dirty secrets? Do tell, Mr. Agassi, do tell. I must admit I was expecting Open to be so chock-full of shocking revelations that the book would catch fire if I turned the pages too quickly. I opened my copy to the first page, ready to be delighted from the get-go by a career’s worth of interesting anecdotes. Instead, the book opens with Agassi in a conflicted and vaguely self-pitying mood. In fact, if I had to sum up the whole book in one phrase it would be exactly that: “conflicted and vaguely self-pitying.” He starts off by talking briefly about his last ever professional tournament, the 2006 US Open – his routine, his mixed emotions about retiring and a wonderful account of the now-legendary epic against Marcos Baghdatis. After that he starts from the beginning, chronologically taking us on a journey from his childhood to the end of his career. The one thing you’re likely to remember from this book is that Agassi hates tennis. “Surely not,” you might think, “nobody can be that good at something they hate.” But no, he hates tennis. He really, really hates it. Not since reading Eric Clapton’s biography have I been so surprised that someone so seemingly in love with what they were doing were so utterly miserable for most of their lives. He goes on about it a fair bit as well, and although it never gets openly irritating, his constant negativity does get a bit much sometimes. As far as the scandals go, well, there really aren’t that many. The much-discussed drug confession isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Agassi wasn’t even competing

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when he briefly dabbled in crystal meth, and subsequently failed an ATP drug test. Sure he lied to avoid a three month suspension, and that was obviously wrong, but the ATP is as much at fault as he is for ignoring the situation. Frankly I was much more shocked by John McEnroe’s revelations about the widespread cocaine use by players of his era in his autobiography.

By Philip Maré

Reports of Agassi’s intense hatred for his fellow players (especially Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Jim Courier and Pete Sampras) have also been vastly overstated. He was annoyed by Chang, largely indifferent to Courier and confused about his relationship with Sampras – at one point he even refers to them as being friends. The only person he really comes across as hating is Boris Becker, and he’s hardly the first player to make that confession. So as a tell-all book, Open isn’t very successful. But then again, Agassi never really says that it’s a tell-all biography, so we shouldn’t judge it as one. As a straightforward sports autobiography, it’s one of the best ones I’ve read in quite a long time. Agassi never lets his personal stories overwhelm his tennis anecdotes – which many writers, especially Becker, are guilty of – and the reader gets an excellent insight into what it takes to make it as a professional tennis player. The book is also excellently written, and the contribution of Pulitzer prize-winning journalist J. R. Moehringer – who assisted Agassi with the book – is evident throughout. Perhaps it would be fitting to compare Open to A Champion’s Mind, Pete Sampras’ autobiography. Like the ultimate outcome of their legendary rivalry, Sampras comes out on top when comparing the memoirs of the two players. Like Sampras himself, his book is much more tennis-focused than Agassi’s, and it provides a more complete portrait of top tennis player’s experience on the court. That being said, Open definitely wins as far as style is concerned, as it is a bit more colourful than Sampras’ account. After reading Open, I think even Andre Agassi himself would be happy with such a result.

Book: Open – An Autobiography Author: Andre Agassi Publisher: HarperCollins Date: 2009 Score: 8.5/10

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By Konrad Grass

veryone knows Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. You might think that you don’t, but you do. Ever heard of Alice in Wonderland? Well, the author of that book’s name was Lewis Carroll, who is actually a pseudonym for Mr. Dodgson. So why are we talking about Lewis Carroll in a tennis magazine? Well, it has something to do with tennis, naturally (we promise!). You see, Dodgson was not only an esteemed scholar, educator and man of religion, but also a fine mathematician and inventor. He authored a variety of pamphlets covering a whole manner of different topics including cards, backgammon, charades and of course, tennis. In 1883 Dodgson published a study entitled Lawn Tennis Tournaments. Many scholars think that the writing of the booklet was prompted by Dodgson’s conversations with Oxford tennis players during tea parties in the gardens of Christ Church. Apparently

WRITER AND MATHEMATICIAN Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born in Daresbury, England, on 27 January 1832. He died in Gilford on 14 January 1898. The author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass was also an outstanding mathematician, poet and a photographer. they complained about the fact that the prizes for the tournaments were awarded to lesser players who were favoured by lucky draws, whereas the stronger players had to fight each other early on in the tournament. Dodgson began to examine the game and immediately made some interesting conclusions. In a 32-player draw, the second-best player only had a 16/31 chance to eventually claim the prize theoretically earmarked for him. This would only happen if he ended up in the opposite side of the draw to the winner. Carroll also calculated that the probability of the best four being awarded a prize were 12 to 1. Carroll then began to analyse the matter, starting with a very simple hypothesis: if A beats B and C beats A, C will be stronger than both A and B. By following a logical mathematical system it is always possible – through a se-

ries of relations built on the various results – to establish the superiority of one player over the others, of a second over the remaining ones and so on. After a period of rigorous study he proposed a new way of playing tournaments. The draw would not be a direct knockout but an indirect elimination. Matches would create a relation between victories and defeats that would establish the superiority of one player over another until someone emerges as indisputably superior to all others. Assuming a 32-player draw, Carroll postulated a first round with a random draw, as was the practice at the time. It would therefore be A against B and C against D, E against F and so on until the thirty-first player (G) against the 32nd (H). After the first day no player would be eliminated, but there will be a second day in which the winners play one another, (A vs. C, and so on) and so do the losers (B vs. D etc.). At the end of the matches it would appear that C is the strongest of the four, having beaten both A in the second round and D in the first. A follows in turn, because he has beaten B but has lost against C. B is third, because he has beaten D but lost to A, who was beaten by C, and is therefore weaker than C. There remains

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D, who has lost to all and is eliminated at the end of the round, together with the other 7 players who have lost their two matches. The third round is reserved for matches between winners. Let us take the case of A. He could never aim to win the tournament because he has been beaten, but he can continue to play for a placement. There are 24 players left, and the unbeaten 8 play one another while the other 16 pair up. Two more rounds are played along the same logic as the first and the results continue to create relations of superiority and inferiority until there are only four players left. At the end of it all only one of them is unbeaten. Dodgson does not call this the winner, but the “First prize man”. Of course now there is a three-way tie for second place, and these players will play their own mini-tournament to allocate second, third and fourth place.

sion networks would also have a tough time deciding which matches to broadcast, since there would be so many. Nevertheless, it was Dodgson’s system that lead to the one we have today. In the 1927 Wimbledon tournament, the top eight players were seeded for the very first time, ensuring that they wouldn’t meet until later in the tournament, and that the two top seeds could only meet in the final. Today tournaments have as many as 32 seeds.

All of this might seem a bit complicated, and to be quite honest it is. In today’s world, where tournaments are usually allocated only a week and the tennis schedule is extremely hectic, it’s hard to see this sort of system working. The person coming in at third place could play up to eight matches, which is totally unrealistic in the modern game. Televi-

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Sania Mirza

the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, and throughout her career she has been roundly criticised by conservative Muslims for the tennis clothes she wears on court (she is a practicing Muslim).

their Fed Cup team? (No, Mirza has said repeatedly. She wants to play for India). Does the couple ever discuss the Mumbai attacks or the Taliban? Such and many other questions were so absurd they didn’t even warrant a response, and all the luckless couple could do was laugh them off.

hen Sania Mirza decided to play tennis as a little girl, she probably dreamed that one day she would be known all over India for winning a Grand Slam. Part of that dream came true when she won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009, and she is definitely known all over India – and by now, neighbouring Pakistan – for many things, but rarely for her tennis victories. The latest controversy she has found herself at the centre of is her own marriage. For most people it is a time of joy and excitement, but for Mirza the weeks leading up to her marriage were filled with a firestorm of media controversy. The reason why a simple marriage should cause so much fuss, in this case, is because Mirza (India’s top tennis talent) was set to wed Shoaib Malik (the ex-

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captain of the Pakistani cricket team). Now the long-standing feud between the nations of Pakistan and India is nothing new. Since the partitioning of British India in 1947 that created both countries, relations between India and Pakistan have veered between venomous rhetoric and open war. Of course the marriage between two private individuals has nothing to do with the realm of politics, but in this region of the world things are never quite so simple. As soon as the engagement became public, the normally docile Indian and Pakistani media outlets became a hotbed of tabloid journalism, and a series of ridiculous questions were endlessly debated. Would Pakistan steal Mirza for

Malik has also enjoyed his fair share of controversy, and he was recently given a year-long ban by the Pakistani Cricket Board for a number of issues related to the poor performance of the team. Perhaps more importantly, just before the marriage allegations arose that Malik had married Ayesha Siddiqui (also Indian) years before, and was acting dishonourably by now trying to marry Mirza. Malik strongly denied the claim, maintaining that he had planned to marry the young woman but was prevented from doing so. There have been rumours that he will pursue legal action against his accuser and her

family. So intense did the speculation become that there was talk about revoking Malik’s passport until the matter could be conclusively investigated. He has also been linked to several other beauties, such as Miss India and various Bollywood actresses. Yet despite all of this drama, the couple managed to tie the knot without (hopefully) suffering any permanent harm from the various sagas that plagued their wedding preparations. Who knows, maybe the wedding of this Indian and Pakistani sporting couple will promote a little peace and understanding in their homelands. Like a dove emerging from a swarm of hawks, they might provide future generations with an example of how the two nations are actually not that different. One can only hope.

When the wedding finally took place on April 11, both Mirza and Malik surely hoped that it would put an end to the matter. But if the history of these two sportspeople is anything to go by, that is unlikely. Mirza has an uncanny knack for unintentionally offending just about everyone on the subcontinent. It’s a large place, and there’s always someone who will take offense at whatever you do, but the verve with which some people have attacked her actions has at times been nothing short of astounding. In 2008 a huge furore erupted in her home country when an image of her relaxing with her feet up at the Hopman Cup was circulated. The problem was that an Indian flag appeared in the same photo, and many interpreted the proximity of her feet to the flag as an insult to the country. Some hard-liners even called for her to be charged and sent to prison. A couple of months before that she was forced to apologise to Muslim groups for unwittingly wandering onto

TENNISWORLD SA

A Coach's Wisdom:

An Interview with Where does your love for tennis come from? “I began to play when I was six years old, like many other children I suppose. My parents used to play and I used to join them at the club in Paris. Since then I never thought I could become anything but a professional tennis player. At a junior level I was among the best in France, but at 16 my parents decided that my education was more important, and I had to give up.” A tough choice… “My father was very successful in the field of alternative energy, thanks also to his studies, and he only wanted the best for me. I can understand that now, but the best for me was tennis. Having to put an end to my career as a player caused me great frustration, because as I said, I have always believed that tennis would be my life. So I worked for my father for 5 years and then explained to him that I did not wish to become his partner and that I preferred to follow my passion. He understood, and so I passed my exams as a coach and opened my academy” Which philosophy did you follow? “When I began, 15 years ago, the model was that of Bollettieri: taking in the highest possible number of players and putting them all under the same type of training, very tough, very physical. This way you destroy the majority, but those that survive are really strong. My idea was the exact opposite. Choosing few players, but choosing them well, based on their potential. Understanding what they need and do whatever possible to help them. It is a costly method, but I have always been convinced that it is the best. My first group included Marcos Baghdatis, Gilles Muller, Paul-Henry Mathieu, Ivo Karlovic, Mario Ancic, Corinne Parmentier, Dudi Sela. All very 70

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different from each other, but all with great potential.” How do you select players? Based on talent? “Not only, because there are many talented players between number 100 and number 1000 in the ranking. Talent is not what makes the difference. For me tennis is a way of expressing what you have inside. Just as in music or theatre. Also in tennis you need a technique to demonstrate what you are inside the court, your personality. I choose players based on their personality.” In many parts of the world a duality has developed between private academies and tennis federations. Do you believe that tennis federations will eventually

disappear? “I don’t. Firstly because federations have the money. And becoming a top tennis player is a very costly endeavour. Federations have money and they have power. There can be co-operation, as was the case with Marcos Baghdatis for example. The Cypriot Federation did not have the infrastructure to help him, so they invested by sending him to my academy, where I also invested in him.” Have you ever had any contact with the Italian Federation? “I have… but it was very complicated! The problem is that Federations are managed by politicians, who have political goals. They want to reap successes that make them look good. But as I said, Federations often have

a lot of money, and in the case of a young player with insufficient resources their contribution is critical.” What does the daily work routine at the Mouratoglou academy consist of? “It is not easy to describe, because work is different for each athlete. The question we ask ourselves, in all areas of our activity, is: ‘what does this player need’? If you can answer this question, you have solved the problem, but to do so you need to spend a lot of time with the players. Observe them, understand how they react emotionally, tenniswise, physically. Ours is team work. We need to know what the physical weaknesses are, where we need to focus the training …” Does each player have a personal trainer? “There is no need for that. Once you have understood what a player needs, you can plan the type of daily work, in all areas, and often the coach is enough to follow the course. But every day we need to take a step forward. One thing I have to say is that in my academy everyone gets what they deserve. With us you can have the best, but you must deserve it. Earn it a step at the time. We don’t give presents to anyone, because nobody gives you anything in real life. In the past I have made some mistakes, I have given too much to someone who did not deserve it, and in doing so I really did not help him.” You worked with Marcos Baghdatis for a long time, since was 13 until he turned 23. What did you learn from that experience? “I have realised that the only constraints we have are those we create in our own head. Let me tell you an anecdote. Marcos was still ranked number 250, and he was playing in a Challenger worth $100 000. He went through TENNISWORLD SA

Photo by Reg Caldecott

INTERVIEW:

the qualifiers, passed the first round, the second, reached the quarter-final, the semi-final, then the final. For him it was already a good result. The Challenger was in Slovakia, and in the final he found himself opposite Dominik Hrbaty, then world number 14. It looked like a tough match, almost impossible. I was there. As the match starts, in a moment Hrbaty goes to 5-1. Dominik was playing better in all respects: technical, tactical, physical. I thought to myself: ‘Marcos has no chance, he is going to lose’. Instead Marcos won that match. I don’t know how, don’t ask me, but he did it. And I am convinced that he won because he didn’t know that I had lost all hope inside of me. Had he known that, he would have lost.” You opened your academy when you were very young, at 23. Today you are 39, but that is still young. What are your goals for the future? “My goal is still the same as when I started: winning the Slams, reaching number one. Each player is a goal. A challenge. I am prepared to give all my players what they need to improve and reach the top. It is the most exciting thing you can do in your life.”

members do you have at the academy at the moment? “I follow 25 players and have a staff of 25. A good average, isn’t it?” Let’s talk about money. How much does it cost to join your academy? “Too much! I said it earlier: being a tennis player is a very expensive business. But from my point of view the academy in itself is not a business, and never will be…” Does your father help you financially? “He helped me a lot. Now I can rely on collateral activities that help me earn money, which I invest in the players rather than taking it for myself. Let me explain. If there is a tennis player who wants to work with me, and I with him, my goal is to take him to the top. To achieve this, it is important to improve his forehand, or his backhand, but also to provide him with the funds to train and travel. If his family is wealthy, they can pay, otherwise I can help him based on the results he achieves. I’ll say it again: the academy is not a business. If I had conceived it that way I would have got it all wrong. I ask nothing for myself. My goal is sports excellence, not financial success”.

Do you travel much around the tournaments? Do you follow any players in particular? “I follow Yanina Wickmayer and Aravane Rezai full-time. In the academy I have people who know me and the mechanisms of the academy perfectly well, people I trust 100%. They know what I want and I am sure they can manage the work even better than me.”

Do you prefer to work with players already established on the tour or with young players? “If I am on the tour from 1st January to 31st December it is because I like to work with the pros, such as Janina and Aravane. But it is just as interesting to build a player, and I can afford to do both.”

How many players and how many staff

You also follow young Bulgarian Grigor

Dimitrov, who many are already calling the new Federer… “Indeed, but for the moment he is a long way away from Federer! He is ranked 280 in the world. I know that people think highly of him and he is very talented, but he still needs to work very hard.” Would you like to work with some of the Italian players? “I have worked with Camilla Giorgi for three years. She has good potential. Very determined, great build …” But…? “There is always a ‘but’, all tennis players have one. But I don’t want to say anything negative, because our purpose is to solve problems, not to complain.”

Chanel Simmonds Q: When did you start playing tennis? Started playing at age 6. Q: Why did you choose tennis? I played a lot of different sports, including netball, karate, gymnastics and athletics but loved tennis the most. I had to decide on one sport to do well. Q: Does anyone else in your family play tennis? My mother played.

At times perhaps the challenge lies in being able to manage the parents, rather than the players… “Indeed, it is not easy. But it’s part of the job.”

Q: Who was your first coach? Jean de Villiers. He was my coach for eight years but now I am coached by Earl Granger.

Would you accept a young Italian player should one approach you? “Not right now, because I am full. Seriously. I don’t want to drop the quality of my proposition.”

Q: When did you realize you wanted to become a professional tennis player? When I started winning tournaments I realised I wanted to be a professional. I was about 14 at that stage.

Who is the player that you most admire? “I have always liked Patrick Rafter. Not only for his style, but also for his enthusiasm, the character that he has brought to tennis. Pat loves tennis. On the court he has always given himself 100%, and he is a very open, charismatic person. Technically speaking, he might not have been the best tennis player in the world, but he became world number one.”

Q: What music do you listen to? Hip hop, rock, heavy metal. Q: Do you listen to music before a match? Yes, to get myself pumped up. Q: What is your routine before a match? Do you have any superstitions? I practice on court for an hour before my match. Then I get changed into my match clothes and relax and listen to music until I have to play. I don’t really

have superstitions, but there is one specific outfit which I tend to lose in so I don’t wear it in my matches. Q: What is never missing from your tennis bag? My Roland Garros towel. Q: Can you explain a typical day when you’re playing a tournament? Warm up early in the morning. Play my match, stretch, have a shower, eat and practice if necessary. Have an early night for the next day’s match. No schoolwork for that day. Q: Do you have a boyfriend? How does your tennis affect your relationship? No, I find I don’t have enough time to be in a relationship. It is unfair on the other person as I travel extensively and my days at home are so full. Q: Do you ever play video games? What kinds do you like? I play games on my phone or my laptop. The Sims and a tennis game are my favourites. Q: Do you like reading? If so, what kind of books do you prefer? I don’t like thick story books. I prefer tennis books or magazines.

Q: Do you have a facebook page? Yes. Q: Do you have your own fan site? Not yet. Q: What do you feel during the most important moments of each match? I work hard at keeping my emotions in tact on the court, and try to focus on the moment and winning the next point. Sometimes I do think of what will happen if I win or lose this specific match, but get my focus back to the present moment. Q: How do you feel after losing important matches and how do you cope with that feeling? I feel disappointed, but I look at what happened in the match and try to learn from it for the next time. Q: What has been your most memorable tennis moment? When I played in the

TENNISWORLD SA

Photo by Reg Caldecott

ond name is Storm. Q: How would you describe, in one word, players like Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Henin, Sharapova and the Williams sisters? Winners.

Q: What could be changed to make tennis in SA bigger and better? We could do with more clay courts and even more tournaments. Q: What do you think of SA’s chances in the Federation Cup this year? I am positive, it is my first time playing so I am really excited that we will do well.

No because I prefer to stick to my routine of foods that I know. Q: What is your favourite movie? Twilight. quarter-finals of the junior French Open last year. Q: When was the worst patch of your tennis career? I have been lucky not to have a bad patch and have only improved. Hopefully I won’t have a bad patch anytime soon. Q: Who is the best player you’ve ever faced? The number three seed of the current Soweto $100 000 tournament ranked 77 in the world, Klara Zakopalova. Q: Who was the best player you’ve ever beaten? The number three seed of the current Soweto $100 000 tournament ranked 77 in the world, Klara Zakopalova. Q: Which is your favourite surface and why? I prefer clay because I prefer the slower courts. My game involves spinney shots which kick on the clay. And sliding is fun! Q: What is the strongest part of your game? What about the weakest? Forehand and serve are my strong points. I am 74

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working on my volleys and drop shots that I think can still improve. Q: How many hours do you spend on the court every day? And in the gym? On court training approximately six hrs a day and gym work an hour a day. Q: Could you walk us through a typical day of training for you? Get up at 5.30 and leave home at 6.30 to be at the courts by 7AM. On-court training for three hours and then I usually have a one-on-one with my coach for an hour, sometimes two hrs. Then I go to the gym, have lunch, do some schoolwork and at 4PM back on court for another two hour group session. I play tennis six days a week. Q: What is your least favourite part of training? I hate sweating, so I shower often during training. Q: What is your favourite food? Pasta. Q: Do you like tasting all kinds of different foods when you travel abroad for tennis?

Q: Who are your favourite actors/actresses? Jim Carrey. Q: What was the last electronic gadget you bought? iPod headphones. Q: Do you have a computer? A laptop which I take with on tours. Q: When you go on holiday, where is your ideal destination? Mauritius Q: When was your last holiday? I travel a lot, but my last holiday that did not include tennis was a weekend away at a game farm earlier this year. Q: Have you ever thought about what you will do when you stop playing tennis? Not thinking about that at the moment. Q: What do you think about the state of tennis in South Africa? We are improving as we are hosting more tournaments.

Q: Who is the nicest person on the tennis circuit? Christi Potgieter, my doubles partner. Q: Are there any players in particular you don’t get along with? I generally get on with everyone. Q: What is your favourite pastime? My music is my favourite. Q: Do you have any regrets about tennis or life in general? I would like to have more of a social life, but the tennis is my passion at the moment so I don’t have a problem sacrificing that part of my life.

Q: How was your 2009? Best year ever. Reached 14 on ITF juniors in the world, got to the quarters of French Open, won my first WTA professional tournament. Q: What string tension do you like to play with? 61 pounds.

Q: Who is the most beautiful tennis player in the world? Verdasco, I think he is gorgeous!

Q: Do you change your string tension when you changes surfaces? How drastically? Yes, only 2 pounds when I have to play on clay.

Q: Do you have a favourite internet site? Facebook.

Q: What kind of strings do you use? Prince Tour.

Q: Which is your favourite tournament? French Open.

Q: What grip size do you like? Three.

Q: Which is your dream about tennis? Winning the French open.

Q: What makes you angry during matches? I am very even-tempered but I don’t like it when I double fault, it is a free point I don’t like giving away.

Q: Which city do you most like to visit? London, the shopping is amazing! I go there often with my dad. Q: Who do you admire most in your life? My coach is a real inspiration for me. He has helped me a lot making the transition onto the professional scene. Q: When was your first kiss? 14 Q: Have you read Andre Agassi’s autobiography? What do you think about it? No, but I have heard about it. Q: What are your tennis goals for 2010? Want to reach top 350 WTA by the end of the year and top 200 by 2011.

Q: What is your first feeling when you step on the court for a match? Excitement. Previously I would get nervous but now I look forward to compete. Q: Do you keep a diary? No. Q: Do you read Tennis World SA? What suggestions do you have? Yes, love getting the magazine. Nice to read about how well South Africans are doing as well as reading up on the great international players.

Q: When was the last time you cried? Last week after I won the semi-finals of a tournament in Egypt when I was 3 – 5 down in the third set and won it 7 – 5 in the end. I had to play so hard. Q: What do you think your greatest strength is as a person? And weakness? I have a strong mind and am very determined – I don’t like losing. My weakness is sometime I am too stubborn. That is what my coach says! Q: Who is the best – Federer or Sampras? Clijsters or Henin or Serena Williams? Federer, Serena. Q: Do you have any nicknames? Channel and they call me Stormie as my sec-

TENNISWORLD SA

Photo by Reg Caldecott

Kevin Curren

the first two or three rounds. That is no longer the case.” Modern training methods have also played a large role in changing the way athletes approach the sport, says Curren. “It’s so different from techniques to the way the players now have teams of people who understand their individual bodies so much better. The mental side is also more sophisticated, with psychologists playing an integral role.”

evin Curren’s place in the annals of South African tennis history is secure. A four-time Grand Slam doubles winner and twice runner up in singles, Curren’s greatest disappointment is not that he fell short at the final hurdle in two Slam finals, but that he never had the opportunity to represent South Africa in the Davis Cup. Of all his doubles triumphs at Slam level, it’s hard for the Durbanite to choose which victory meant the most to him. “It just depends on when you reflect back. The first one (US Open) is always special. Twenty-two thousand people at the biggest stadium at the time. It was a full house and it was fantastic. I think the good news at the time was that Steve Denton and I didn’t have to face John McEnroe in the final. McEnroe is in my view the best doubles player of all time and had it not been for him and his form I may have won many more Slams. Even so, the final against Victor Amaya and Hank Pfister was a really good match. It went to five sets and I was still really young at the time.” Curren, who became a naturalised American in 1985, quit mixed doubles early in his career despite his feeling that he could have a lot of success in that form of the sport. In 1981 he won the US Open Mixed Doubles and repeated the feat in 1982, along with a title at Wimbledon. He says he made this decision in order to concentrate on singles, and also because of endorsement considerations. “Singles was always more important. The Grand Slams are where you separate the men from the boys. I cannot stress enough how different 76

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they are from regular tournaments,” Curren remembers. “You know in golf every tournament is played over four rounds so there is not much that differentiates the Majors. In tennis the Slams are over two weeks and for the men we play five sets instead of three so you could be out there concentrating for anything from two-and-a-half hours to five. The weather conditions can change a lot in a fortnight too. You can have dry, wet or overcast days as the tournament goes on or even on the same day sometimes. This is especially true of grass and clay.” One of the most remarkable things about Curren’s style of play was that, as a junior, he played with a double-handed grip. When he went to America he was forced to change it. Curren attributes his success with the doublehanded grip to Durban’s slower and heavier hard courts, but points out that the change was necessary because of the much quicker American courts and balls. “All the guys served and volleyed over there and at the time they were switching to new racquets and I found that I just didn’t have enough time so it was a case of adapt or die.” Curren taught himself how to use a forehand with heavy top spin. The likes of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe all employed the continental grip, but Current decided to emulate the western forehand which Bjorn Borg so effectively used. Another reason he decided to change to the single-handed shot was the additional reach

it provided. “With the way the kids open their shoulder these days I think they get double power with the racquet speed. Quite frankly you’re doomed if you come with double hands these days.” Kevin Curren is perhaps most famous for beating John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Stefan Edberg en route to the final at the 1985 Wimbledon, where he lost to a 17-year old Boris Becker. The 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win made the German the youngest ever male to win a Grand Slam. McEnroe joked with Curren at the time about losing to an unknown teenager, but he says there was more to the teenager than McEnroe had realised. “What John forgot was that Becker had actually won Queen’s that year, and he wasn’t there to see this young kid.”

Once ranked as high as five in the singles world rankings, Curren rates Warren Jacques as the biggest influence during his career. “I dealt directly with Warren. I was also very friendly with Fred Stolle, Cliff Drysdale and Ray Moore, but Warren was the main guy.” He also employed a psychologist, but only later in his career. He laments not having spent more time with a mental coach. “The perception was that if you go to a psychologist then something was wrong. It was only after a chat with Nick Faldo (former world number one golfer) that I did, but by then my career was in its twilight and it was too late for me.” Through most of the 1990’s South Africa boasted top ten singles players like Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coetzer, but today the country has no one ranked in the Top 100. Curren believes that the country needs more enthusiastic sponsors and better tennis academies, and points to Spain as an example of a country where there are tournaments held every week. “We don’t have a coordinated system and so our coaches, players and other role players are not on the same page. I think the worst thing was letting the Super Squad system go. That was great for identifying talent. Wayne Ferreira, Ellis Ferreira and Grant Stafford all came

out of that system. Since we have no system we are struggling to produce players. So kids either have to have exceptional talent, great coaching or all the luck in the world. As a result our kids are undercooked and the rest of the world is certainly ahead.” Curren is impressed with South African Tennis Association CEO Ian Smith, who he says is working very hard to get South African tennis back on track. “Tennis shouldn’t be in the state it is in (in this country). We’ve got great weather and plenty of tennis courts. Smith has reintroduced tournaments and Challengers so that’s at least a step in the right direction.” Former Sports and Recreation Minister Ngconde Balfour proved to be a stumbling block in a meeting to discuss the future of tennis in the country. Curren insisted that like everything else, tennis requires investment, and was disappointed that Balfour saw tennis as an elitist sport. In a career that lasted 14 years, Curren managed to earn more than $3 million. He puts this down to consistency. “For a long time I never lost to somebody below me in the rankings and at one time I was in the top ten of alltime on the money list. Of course that has now changed because of inflation, and don’t forget that when I reached the Wimbledon final I earned $75 000 dollars. I think the first round losers get close to that today,” he laughs. “It also helped that I reached the semi-finals in doubles and quarter-finals in singles on a regular basis.” For anyone considering a career in tennis, Curren believes that a ranking inside the top two hundred is needed for a comfortable lifestyle.

“Don’t forget that we see what the guys earn in prize money and yes, there are endorsement deals too but you have to subtract things like tax and travel expenses. It’s definitely not nice being number three hundred because then you’re maybe making only $20 000 a year. Then you have to stress about qualifying for the main draw of tournaments and that’s really hard.” There is no disputing that Curren was one of South Africa’s most successful tennis players, but who does he rate as the best to emerge from these shores? “It’s difficult to compare eras, but if you analyse and I had to go on the conversations I’ve had with the older guys as well then I’d say Eric Sturgess. He had an amazing record. He didn’t win any majors but all the older guys rate him very highly. Drysdale, Ferreira and myself would make that list and of course Johan Kriek.” Curren believes that Ferreira and Kriek were very gifted, and especially admires the latter’s talent. “He had a phenomenal record. Two Aussie Opens, a US semi, a French semi…but funnily enough struggled at Wimbledon.” Curren thinks Kriek didn’t feel comfortable with the soft, low bounce at the All England Club. Another striking similarity between Kriek and Ferreira, he says, was their mental capacity. “I think if Kriek had Drysdale’s mental toughness he may have won many more majors. I believe the same for myself.” Kevin Curren reached a career-high doubles ranking of number three and won his last doubles title in Seoul in 1992. He retired from the professional tour in 1993 and currently resides in Durban, but still travels to Wimbledon every single year.

After his loss to Boris Becker, Curren predicted that there would be an increase in the number of successful young players, but he warned that their careers would probably be shorter. So what does he think about his prediction 25 years on? “Well the younger players have definitely been on the mark. I mean just four years later Michael Chang broke Becker’s record for the youngest male Slam winner at Roland Garros. My comment has been especially true of the women’s game. Just look at Tracy Austin, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis and so on winning at the ages of 15 or 16. The men’s game has also been so. Look at Rafael Nadal as a very good example. It will be harder to have longer careers. In my time if you were fairly good you could cruise through TENNISWORLD SA

John-Laffnie De Jager

A Stern Challenge

inland is going to be an extremely tough Davis Cup Euro/Africa Zone Group I tie for us. However I feel we have got the tools to get the job done on the hard courts at Groenkloof from the 7th to 9th of May. After consulting with the players following last year’s disappointing loss to India at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena, we opted for an outdoor court again. This will allow our guys to take full advantage of the high altitude that has assisted us so many times at home in the past. It stands to reason that every Davis Cup captain would want his top-ranked players available. Just think how much weaker Switzerland is if Roger Federer is unavailable. I could potentially pick a squad consisting of Kevin Anderson, Rik De Voest, Izak Van Der Merwe, Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie. My eye cannot ignore Raven Klaasen, who has also performed well for us recently. Fritz Wolmarans is also starting to play well again. Given his massive serve he will always be hard to ignore at high altitude. This is great from my point of view as it forces me to have to leave guys out rather than scramble to put a team together. Wesley is our biggest concern after injuring himself at the start of the year in Australia but he tells me he is feeling well again. Rik is also providing me with a dilemma. Since the start of the year his singles ranking has dropped below Izak’s, but his doubles ranking has improved so much he is now ahead of Jeff! Speaking of which, Jeff and Wesley will be the preferred doubles combination. I always opt for combinations and records against specific opponents, especially when you consider how many average ATP Tour players become great Davis Cup players. The Finns will be tough. Jarkko Nieminen is their best-known player and I do not have to elaborate on what he can do. Nieminen is playing well since coming back from injury but he is no longer the solo performer in a one-man team. These days they have got a young kid named Henri Kontinen, who in my view actually won the tie for them against Poland. However, he has never played at high altitude so that will test him. Nieminen has the game to be successful at high altitude, but we saw at the SA Tennis Open that he clearly does not like it and hopefully that will play into our hands. The neutral observer may feel that Finland have the upper hand in singles, but I think it will be very even and come down to our doubles rubber, where I feel we have the advantage. Let us hope that next month I am talking about a World Group Play-off match. Wish us well.

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Greer Leo-Smith

Hope for the Future T

he Euro/Africa Group II Fed Cup tie in Armenia presents us with an even greater challenge than last year in Turkey. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves last time but it will be difficult for us as we are without Chani Scheepers and Natalie Grandin. Natalie was our star last year but she is maid of honour for Nicole Rencken on May 2nd, so it is perfectly understandable. I must stress that her absence will be a massive blow to our strength. Even so I am looking forward to this clash. Our aim is to go over there and perform well, while hopefully causing a few upsets along the way. We are focusing on a five-year plan and that is why the makeup of the squad is so young. Three of our members are from the Under 18 group, while Natasha Fourouclas is from the Under 16 group. The other girls are Chanel Simmonds, Kelly Anderson and Christi Potgieter, who impressed at last year’s Soweto Open. We could have gone with players who have more experience – particularly those living overseas – but I think we need to improve tennis by exposing our juniors to the intensity of competition at the highest level. I am excited to see how the girls blossom. Chanel should be slightly more used to the overseas travel, while I think Natasha has had just one overseas trip before. Of course we are taking a risk because we may not maintain our position this year, but the board and selectors share my optimism for the future. We have some exciting prospects at Under 14 and Under 16 level, and if these players can be nurtured I think our Fed Cup

girls could be flying high in the next few years. The future is definitely bright. We are going to have tough competition in Armenia. We must not be under any illusions. Considering our inexperience I know expectations are unlikely to be high. That said, last year we were the envy of the other nations thanks to our tremendous team spirit. There is no doubt that this enthusiasm pulled us through in Turkey. All the girls had fun and I am hoping we can emulate that same unity and atmosphere this year as we look to surprise a lot of people. Another challenge for us has been acquiring information about the Orange Fitness & Ten-

nis Club (OFTC) in Armenia. It is here where we are going to come up against the hosts as well as Finland, Georgia, Greece, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Norway. On the red clay courts at the OFTC I am particularly wary of the Georgians. I see them as the favourites. We are going there to be competitive and to learn as we aim to give our girls more international experience and exposure. Next month I shall report back on how things unfolded. Hold thumbs for us please – it is always comforting knowing that the nation is one hundred per cent behind you, especially when you are far away from home. We are going to do our best to make South Africa proud.

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