It is beginning of the year and tennis fans have much to look forward to. The Nadal-Federer rivalry may start to be dieing down as Nadal just looks to be too much for Federer to handle. However, that may just open up the tour for new rivalries to form, maybe a Roddick-Federer rivalry. Whether or not that proves to be true there are many new and old faces to keep a look out for.
Andy Roddick:
American hopeful, Andy Roddick has started the year off well with a 9-2 record. His only losses have come to Roger Federer who is number two in the world and Andy Murray who is number four. His great start has moved him up three spots in the rankings awarding him with the number six ranking.
I believe Roddick is someone to look out for this year. He has changed his coach as well as his game. He no longer relies on his powerful serve but instead he has started to mix things up by coming up to net. He still uses his serve as a weapon but now when opponents figure out how to time it he will have something to fall back on, an actual game. Roddick also looked quite knowledgeable down in Melbourne, something that people often criticize him for. Maybe he has actually grown up, he does have a fiance. Or maybe it's the new body image or even the new coach; whatever Roddick has done it is working, he actually looks like a tennis player out there.
Gilles Simon:
He's young, he's fresh, he's french. What is it about Gilles Simon that seems so promising? Is it the fact that he is a Frenchman who was able to compete on a hard court surface, or was it the fact that he never seemed to give up when playing Rafael Nadal in the Quarterfinals in Melbourne. He was in every point, he tried to out hustle the king of hustling. He never gave up, which allowed him to stay in every point. He is currently ranked eighth in the world but I don't think we have seen the last of him.
I think Roland Garros could be an interesting tournament for Simon. He will have the home court advantage and the fact that surface is red clay could be an advantage. His speed could make him a dangerous threat in the tournament.
Fernando Verdasco:
Probably one of my favorite players to watch right now, Fernando Gonzalez has developed into quite a contender. His match against Nadal was one of the longest matches in Australian Open history, proving that his conditioning will allow him to compete with some of the best.
His semi-final lost to Nadal moved him up six spots in the rankings awarding him with the number nine ranking in the world. Although he and Nadal have similar games, I think that the Open will be Verdasco's most promising tournament. Although he lost to Nadal on a hard court I think mentally Verdasco won. At the Open if the two are on the same side of the draw Verdasco will walk into the showdown knowing he has a good chance to win, while Nadal will walk in remembering how much time and effort he put in to beat him. All in all I am excited for the tennis to come from Verdasco, he is older, wiser and fitter and will push any competitor to their brink.
Tommy Haas:
I have always enjoyed watching Tommy play and although we have not heard much from him lately, especially down in Melbourne I still believe he is a guy you do not want to have on your side of the draw. He lacks consistency; he is either on or off, but when he is on watch out. Every time he plays an opponent he gives it his all.
His old age of 30 could pose a problem when he has to face those young fellows like Simon, Nadal and Verdasco but it may also prove to be just what he needs to win. Having been on the tour for over a decade Haas knows what it takes to win. I think if given a good draw we could see some huge upsets on Haas' side of the court. He may start to receive some better draws having moved up in the rankings 14 spots to claim the number 65 ranking. Although that number seems awfully low, I think that if he is able to catch a break (not playing Nadal in the third round would be nice) he will continuously climb his way up the rankings.
Jo- Wilfried Tsonga:
Although his early exit in Melbourne cost him to fall in the rankings seven spots to the number fourteen ranking I still think that Tsonga is someone to watch out for. He has nothing to be ashamed of, pushing Verdasco to four sets in the quarterfinals. Although he lost the match I still like the energy and heart that he brings to the game.
The U.S Open will definitely be the most promising tournament because he hits a hard deep ball and on a hard surface that is not something you want to see on the other end of the court. Another thing that impresses me about Tsonga is how hard he has worked over the last year. Before the Australian open the name Jo-Wilifried Tsonga would have received a response such as, "Will got fried?" However, for tennis fans the name has become widely known, mostly because of his final debut last year at Melbourne. However, Tsonga did not want to be remembered as that guy who almost Novak Djkovic. Instead he has trained hard in the past year and it has really paid off.
Fernando Gonzalez
To many Americans this name brings with it a sour taste to one's mouth. He is mostly known as that guy who cheated James Blake in the Olympics, but although his character can be questioned his tennis most certainly should not. Although he too, has moved down in the rankings as well; he dropped four spots and now claims the number 18 ranking, he is not someone you should shrug off. He has been on the tour for a decade and has started the year off nicely with some big wins down under. In Australia he pulled out some big wins against Lleyton Hewitt and Richard Gasquet. Unfortunately for Gonzalez, his run ended in the fourth round when he faced Nadal, no shame in that. If he is able to get some breaks in tournaments and get his ranking up things may really start to heat up on the tour.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Whereabouts of Maria
With the women's draw looking so unstable you may ask yourself why hasn't Maria Sharapova tried to compete for the number one ranking; why let Serena Williams have all the fun?
Sharapova has been absent from the past two grand slam tournaments because of tough shoulder injury. Although she has reported that she is out on the court hitting and joked that had the Aussie Open been pushed back a few weeks she would be able to compete, she has mis-calculated. The Russian born, has recently dropped out of two WTA tournaments in Paris and Dubai, which are being held in mid February. Sharapova still does not believe that her shoulder is strong enough to compete at the level that is required of her.
Whether she is strong enough should not be the only question Sharapova is asking of herself. The other being, when she is ready to compete how will she measure up compared to the rest of the competition? To answer this question, if the womens draw stays the way it is now, which is no woman stepping up and holding onto the number one ranking for longer than a few months then I think Sharapova shouldn't have any problem re-joining the WTA tour. Sharapova is a strong enough competitor to give any of her oppenents a run for their money.
However, injuries can also affect your mentality and can cause athletes to change the way they play. Some pros may change their strokes for the better; getting rid of bad habbits that may have caused the injury in the first place. However, some pros may favor their injury forcing their game to change and they therefore will not be the same competitor they used to be.
Where will Maria stand? Will she be grouped together with those that are forced to retire at a young age because of an injury or will she prove that those two grand slam wins were not a fluke but rather something that proves just how strong and competative she really is? Only time will tell.
Sharapova has been absent from the past two grand slam tournaments because of tough shoulder injury. Although she has reported that she is out on the court hitting and joked that had the Aussie Open been pushed back a few weeks she would be able to compete, she has mis-calculated. The Russian born, has recently dropped out of two WTA tournaments in Paris and Dubai, which are being held in mid February. Sharapova still does not believe that her shoulder is strong enough to compete at the level that is required of her.
Whether she is strong enough should not be the only question Sharapova is asking of herself. The other being, when she is ready to compete how will she measure up compared to the rest of the competition? To answer this question, if the womens draw stays the way it is now, which is no woman stepping up and holding onto the number one ranking for longer than a few months then I think Sharapova shouldn't have any problem re-joining the WTA tour. Sharapova is a strong enough competitor to give any of her oppenents a run for their money.
However, injuries can also affect your mentality and can cause athletes to change the way they play. Some pros may change their strokes for the better; getting rid of bad habbits that may have caused the injury in the first place. However, some pros may favor their injury forcing their game to change and they therefore will not be the same competitor they used to be.
Where will Maria stand? Will she be grouped together with those that are forced to retire at a young age because of an injury or will she prove that those two grand slam wins were not a fluke but rather something that proves just how strong and competative she really is? Only time will tell.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The End of Melbourne, What's Next?
For the top players their schedule revolves around the Grand Slam schedule. They practice and train according to when the next tournament is taking place. So what do the other players do, well they actually participate in the ATP tour.
Take Jo- Wilfried Tsonga who is usually compared to a younger Muhammad Ali. He did not make it to the finals of the Australian Open like he did in 2008. However, he has been able to climb the rankings to number 5 without winning a major. How is that possible? He doesn't stop playing he enters tournament after tournament grasping every opportunity given. To Tsonga the end of the Australian open only signifies the beginning of the year, where he will hope to climb the ranks even higher.
It has only been a few days since the tournament came to a close and Tsonga has already reached the second round of the SA (South Africa) Tennis Open. He is the top seed in South Africa and has an 8-2 record on the 2009 tour already. Tsonga is hoping to win his third title on the tour and raise his ranking.
It is people like Tsonga who make the ATP strong. More top players need to enter more ATP tournaments, and not just enter them when it is convenient for them. The ATP tour could have better publicity if the pros were more willing to participate. More publicity would mean more fans, which would also mean more money for the tour. Everyone wins!
To accomplish this I think that the tour should set some requirements for the pros. Make them play a certain amount of tournaments a year. Do something that will force them to participate in more tournaments.
Take Jo- Wilfried Tsonga who is usually compared to a younger Muhammad Ali. He did not make it to the finals of the Australian Open like he did in 2008. However, he has been able to climb the rankings to number 5 without winning a major. How is that possible? He doesn't stop playing he enters tournament after tournament grasping every opportunity given. To Tsonga the end of the Australian open only signifies the beginning of the year, where he will hope to climb the ranks even higher.
It has only been a few days since the tournament came to a close and Tsonga has already reached the second round of the SA (South Africa) Tennis Open. He is the top seed in South Africa and has an 8-2 record on the 2009 tour already. Tsonga is hoping to win his third title on the tour and raise his ranking.
It is people like Tsonga who make the ATP strong. More top players need to enter more ATP tournaments, and not just enter them when it is convenient for them. The ATP tour could have better publicity if the pros were more willing to participate. More publicity would mean more fans, which would also mean more money for the tour. Everyone wins!
To accomplish this I think that the tour should set some requirements for the pros. Make them play a certain amount of tournaments a year. Do something that will force them to participate in more tournaments.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
No Surprise Down in Melbourne
In both men's and women's draws I am not surprised by the outcome. Serena's victory wasn't even a question as she seems to be dominating the WTA, awarding her the number one rank in the world. She deserves the ranking seeing that she annihilated Dinara Safina who was seeded one below her in the number three spot. However, by looking at the scores you wouldn't think that they has consecutive seeds as Serena plowed through in straight sets for an easy victory 6-0, 6-3.
The men's side, although much more interesting still was no shocker as Rafael Nadal outplayed Federer. Federer was no slouch on the court, hustling for every ball and trying to stay in every point but Nadal was just too good. It has gotten to the point that Federer has come to realize that Nadal is just better and that he has reached his peak while Nadal has many more stairs to climb. The difference in play was evident in the final fifth set as Federer appeared to run out of steam allowing the younger Rafa to win easily 6-2.
Although my money was on Rafa from the start I am surprised at his level of conditioning as he went from winning a 5 hour match with less than 48 hours of rest to winning another match in just over 4 hours.
He has really started the year off well and if he stays healthy I think that he just might be able to win all four grand slams in one year. He has proven victorious on clay at the French Open and has even been able to beat Federer at Wimbledon. The U.S Open, is now the only grand slam title that Rafa has not won. However, having a win in Melbourne under his belt should give him more confidence knowing that he can succeed on a hard surface. Wimbledon could also be a threat to ruining his hopes of winning every grand slam because although he is the defending champion you can never count Federer out when it comes to the grass surface. Federer has amazing results on grass having won five Wimbledon titles in a row.
The year of 2009 is starting to appear as a very interesting year for the men's draw. Questons arise such as, will Rafa win all four grand slams or will Federer be able to stop him? Or maybe, is there someone else out there who can threaten Nadal's dreams as going down in history, possibly Fernando Verdasco?
As for the ladies, will Serena be able to hold onto the number one ranking, or will it be tossed around like a hot potato? I cannot wait to see what the year has in tole for the tennis world.
The men's side, although much more interesting still was no shocker as Rafael Nadal outplayed Federer. Federer was no slouch on the court, hustling for every ball and trying to stay in every point but Nadal was just too good. It has gotten to the point that Federer has come to realize that Nadal is just better and that he has reached his peak while Nadal has many more stairs to climb. The difference in play was evident in the final fifth set as Federer appeared to run out of steam allowing the younger Rafa to win easily 6-2.
Although my money was on Rafa from the start I am surprised at his level of conditioning as he went from winning a 5 hour match with less than 48 hours of rest to winning another match in just over 4 hours.
He has really started the year off well and if he stays healthy I think that he just might be able to win all four grand slams in one year. He has proven victorious on clay at the French Open and has even been able to beat Federer at Wimbledon. The U.S Open, is now the only grand slam title that Rafa has not won. However, having a win in Melbourne under his belt should give him more confidence knowing that he can succeed on a hard surface. Wimbledon could also be a threat to ruining his hopes of winning every grand slam because although he is the defending champion you can never count Federer out when it comes to the grass surface. Federer has amazing results on grass having won five Wimbledon titles in a row.
The year of 2009 is starting to appear as a very interesting year for the men's draw. Questons arise such as, will Rafa win all four grand slams or will Federer be able to stop him? Or maybe, is there someone else out there who can threaten Nadal's dreams as going down in history, possibly Fernando Verdasco?
As for the ladies, will Serena be able to hold onto the number one ranking, or will it be tossed around like a hot potato? I cannot wait to see what the year has in tole for the tennis world.
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