Tennis Acumen

Kazakhstan Victorious Again in July as Andrey Golubev Claims Hamburg Title

PETE ZIEBRON

The Federation of Tennis of the Republic of Kazakhstan celebrated its first ATP Champion today - Andrey Golubev, as well as a Wimbledon Ladies Doubles Championship from Yaroslava Shvedova earlier this month. 

Andrey Golubev, Russian by birth who lives and trains in Italy and became a citizen of Kazakhstan 25 months ago, won the 2010 German Open Tennis Championships without dropping a set.  The victory was the first in Golubev's career and he will earn 500 ATP points and 228K EURO for his accomplishment as he defeated 3rd seed and world #15 Jurgen Melzer 6-3 7-5 today in Hamburg.  Golubev, who came into the tournament ranked #82, will enjoy a springboard up the ATP charts to #37 which will gain him direct entry into Masters 1000 competition.

The Hamburg tournament, which only a few years ago was a prestigious Masters 1000 event that preceded Roland Garros, was void of three of its seeds as #2 David Ferrer, #4 Gael Monfils and #14 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez all withdrew due to injury prior to the start of the tournament.  This fact made little difference to Golubev who on his 23rd birthday on Thursday, defeated defending champion, top seed and world #6 Nikolay Davydenko in the 3rd round for his first victory against a Top 10 opponent.  Goluvev then continued to steamroll the competition throughout the remainder of the week, culminating in triumph.

Golubev, along with Evgeny Korolev, who was the world #46 in February, and Mikhail Kukushkin are former Russian citizens who have recently acquired Kazakh passports as the Federation of Tennis of the Republic Kazakhstan seeks to gain entry into the World Group of Davis Cup competition as well as have representation at the Olympics going forward.  Golubev's title was the first for Kazakhstan on the ATP Tour.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has also recruited three women to play under their flag on the WTA Tour as well as for Fed Cup and Olympic tennis competition, Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva and Russians Yaroslava Shvedova and Galina Voskoboeva.  Karatantcheva achieved notoriety as a 15 year-old in 2005 when she defeated Venus Williams in the 3rd round at Roland Garros and advanced to the quarterfinals.  Shvedova, the world #32, teamed with American Vania King to win the Wimbledon Ladies Doubles Championship earlier this month and she also reached the quarterfinals this year at Roland Garros.  

Shvedova spends part of her year practicing in Kazakhstan because of the quality of the facilities there.  When asked why she chooses to be in Kazakhstan and if the opportunity to play Fed Cup impacted her decision to shift allegiances, she replied: "Yeah, to play Fed Cup, to have opportunity (to play at the) Olympic Games.  Like this it's because they're helping a lot.  It was a good decision for me.  I was thinking about (th)is before, but they came to me and I said straightaway yes."

In addition to future Fed Cup matches and the Olympic competition, Shvedova teamed with Golubev this January to represent Kazakhstan at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia a few weeks before the 2010 Australian Open.  The Kazakh duo recorded impressive victories over Germany and Russia in round-robin play and only a narrow loss to Great Britain prevented them from advancing to the Hopman Cup Final.

Although Shvedova will need to wait until 2011 to compete again in the Fed Cup, Andrey Golubev will lead Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup World Group playoffs as Switzerland will visit the National Tennis Center in Astana, Kazakhstan on September 17-19.

 

 

 

 

7 Spaniards Hold Titles in 2010 as Almagro & Montanes Win on Clay

PETE ZIEBRON

 David Ferrer, one of 7 Spanish players to win a title thus far in 2010, won earlier this year in Acapulco. - Charles Gabrean Photography

 

Nicolas Almagro won his first title in 17 months as he stunned Robin Soderling -in Sweden- 7-5 3-6 6-2 to win the SkiStar Swedish Open today in Bastad.  Moments later, Albert Montanes defeated Gael Monfils 6-2 1-2 RET at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany to win his 2nd title of the year.

With today's respective victories, 7 different Spanish players have won a total of 14 titles (11 on clay courts) on the ATP Tour in 2010.  BLUE = Hard Court  ORANGE = Clay Court  GREEN = Grass Court

    Feliciano Lopez     Johannesburg, South Africa

    Fernando Verdasco San Jose, CA, USA

    Juan Carlos Ferrero     Costa do Sauipe, Brazil

    Juan Carlos Ferrero     Buenos Aires, Argentina

    David Ferrer Acapulco, Mexico

    Rafael Nadal Monte-Carlo, Monaco

    Fernando Verdasco Barcelona, Spain

    Rafael Nadal Rome, Italy

    Albert Montanes     Estoril, Portugal

    Rafael Nadal Madrid, Spain

    Rafael Nadal ROLAND GARROS Paris, France

    Rafael Nadal      WIMBLEDON Wimbledon, England

    Nicolas Almagro     Bastad, Sweden

    Albert Montanes     Stuttgart, Germany

Meanwhile, Spaniards that have recorded titles this year in doubles include: Santiago Ventura (2), Marcel Granollers, Albert Montanes, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Rafael Nadal, Marc Lopez (2) and David Marrero.    

Despite the fact that the next Major will be contested on a hard court at the US Open, the tournaments played this week in Sweden and Germany were played on a clay surface.  The clay court campaign continues to roll on in Europe as next week's International German Open ATP 500 in Hamburg will be contested concurrent to the ATP 250 Atlanta Tennis Championships in the United States.  In fact, two additional ATP 250 clay tournaments will be hosted in Switzerland and Croatia the week after Hamburg.  Only on August 1 - 4 weeks prior to the US Open - at the Legg Mason ATP 250 in Washington, DC will the hard courts have an exclusive booking on the ATP calendar.

 

Nalbandian & Djokovic are Road Warriors, France Sweeps Spain, New Czech Heroes

PETE ZIEBRON

 David Nalbandian - Argentina Davis Cup Hero (Charles Gabrean Photography)

David Nalbandian, playing his first tennis in 3 months, defeated Nikolay Davydenko in 3 tight sets to open Argentina's tie with Russia in Moscow on Friday and then swept Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets today to cap the visitor's Davis Cup victory, sending Argentina into the semifinals where they will play France, a winner over Spain.

Nalbandian, whose ranking has dipped to #153 mostly due to inactivity on tour and a nagging hamstring injury, won all 6 sets that he played against world # 6 Davydenko and  #14 Youzhny in their own backyard at Olympic Stadium in Moscow. To open the tie, Nalbandian edged Davydenko 6-4 7-6(5) 7-6(6) and then capped Argentina's advancement into the semifinals in the 5th and deciding rubber with his 7-6(5) 6-4 6-3 conquest of Youzhny.  The last action Nalbandian saw on tour was a loss in the Rolex Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in the quarterfinals to Novak Djokovic in April.

Djokovic provided Davis Cup heroics of his own, leading Serbia to victory over Croatia in the hostile environment at Spaladium Stadium in Split.  In the opening match of the tie, Djokovic edged Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(3) 6-4 6-1, gaining revenge for his loss to Ljubicic earlier this year at Indian Wells, where Ljubicic would go on to record the greatest win of his career at the BNP Paribas Masters 1000.  Croatia would level the tie in the second singles rubber however the Serbian doubles team of Janko Tipseravic and Nenad Zimonjic would win their match, setting the stage for Djokovic to close out the tie.  Novak Djokovic relished the opportunity and destroyed Marin Cilic 6-3 6-3 6-2 in the 4th rubber and clinched victory for Serbia, who advanced into the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time ever and will play the Czech Republic, a winner over Chile.

Despite the lack of world #8 Tomas Berdych and crafty veteran Radek Stepanek on its roster, the Czech Republic ventured to Coquimbo, Chile in quarterfinal Davis Cup action.  In an effort that both illustrates and personifies the Davis Cup, its current format and the opportunities it provides to lesser known players, world #247 Ivo Minar and #94 Jan Hajek won their matches on the initial day of competition to stake the Czechs to a 2-0 lead.  Yesterday, Hajek teamed with doubles specialist Lukas Dlouhy, the #5 doubles player in the world to defeat the Chilean team of Nicolas Massu and Jorge Aguilar to secure advancement for the Czechs.  What an absolute thrill for Minar, Hajek and Dlouhy to be able to lead their nation into the semifinals of the 2010 Davis Cup!

Gael Monfils, elevated to French #1 for the tie against Spain due to an injury to Jo-Wilfried-Tsonga, held on for dear life to defeat David Ferrer in 5 sets to begin the tie.  Monfils held a 2 sets to love lead before Ferrer came storming back.  Although Ferrer broke Monfils late in the 5th set to get back on serve, Monfils broke back to win the match.  Next, unheralded Michael Llodra enjoyed the greatest 24 hours of his life and further embodied the spirit of Davis Cup competition as he rallied from dropping the first set tiebreaker to Fernando Verdasco to win the next 3 sets, giving France a commanding 2-0 lead over the 2-time defending Davis Cup Champions.  Yesterday, Llodra teamed with Julien Benneteau to defeat Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez in 4 sets to give France its first Davis Cup victory over Spain since 1923.  Gilles Simon and Benneteau completed the sweep of Spain with dead rubber victories over Nicolas Almagro and Lopez respectively.

France will host Argentina who will be travelling to Europe for the third consecutive time (1st round @ Stockholm, Sweden, 2nd round @ Moscow, Russia, 3rd round in France) in the 2010 Davis Cup.  Meanwhile, Serbia will host the Czech Republic, who will hope to have Wimbledon Finalist Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek healthy and available for the semifinal tie on the weekend of September 17-19.

 

 

Serbia @ Croatia Highlights Davis Cup Weekend

PETE ZIEBRON

World #2 Novak Djokovic leads Serbia against Croatia this weekend in Davis Cup action.  (Charles Gabrean Photography)

In the most intriguing of the 4 Davis Cup ties this weekend, Serbia travels to Split, Croatia to battle for the right to play the winner of the Chile - Czech Republic tie.  This will be the first time that these nations, both part of former Yugoslavia will meet in Davis Cup competition and the matches will be played on a hard court.

Right out of the gate, Novak Djokovic will take on Ivan Ljubicic, followed by Viktor Troicki against Marin Cilic.  Djokovic, who became the second ranked player in the world this Monday, will attempt to duplicate his Davis Cup heroics once again against Croatia.  In the first round of the 2010 Davis Cup, Djokovic defeated Americans Sam Querrey and John Isner in singles action to help seal the win for Serbia.  Djokovic outlasted Isner in five tough sets in the 4th rubber to give Serbia their 3rd and clinching victory in the tie.

Croatia breezed to a 5-0 whitewashing of Ecuador in their first round tie.  Ivo Karlovic and Marin Cilic won their singles matches on the first day of competition and then combined to win the doubles giving Croatia the insurmountable margin of victory over their guests from South America.

Injuries have taken their toll on the Czech Republic - Chile tie to be played on clay at Coquimbo Stadium in Chile.  The Czechs will be without Wimbledon Finalist Tomas Berdych who is citing an abdominal strain as well an ailing Radek Stepanek whose left knee is still keeping him out of action.  Meanwhile, the injured right knee of Fernando Gonzalez will keep him on the sidelines for the tie.  This will be the first meeting between the nations since 1967 when the Chileans won in Prague.

In the top half of the Davis Cup draw, Spain (sans Rafael Nadal) travels to neighboring France where they will play on a hard court in Clermont-Ferrand.  Another explosive match is featured to open play when Gael Monfils takes on David Ferrer.  Unfortunately for the French, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be unable to compete due to a knee injury he suffered at Wimbledon.  Spain leads the series 5-1.

Finally, Russia will host Argentina at Olympic Stadium in Moscow where the tie will be contested on a hard court.  In yet another sizzling opening match, Nikolay Davydenko will face David Nalbandian.  Although both men have been sidelined for the majority of 2010, the tilt promises to be intriguing. Russia leads the series 3-2 and in their last meeting, Marat Safin defeated Jose Acasuso in the 5th and deciding rubber to win the 2006 Davis Cup Final for Russia.

This weekend's winners will advance to play in the 2010 Davis Cup semifinals on September 17-19.

 

Mahut & Falla Duel in Intriguing 1st Round Match at Newport

PETE ZIEBRON

Nicolas Mahut and Alejandro Falla, two players off the radar on the ATP Tour, yet who made news two weeks ago at Wimbledon for their dramatic 5 set, 1st round losses to John Isner and Roger Federer respectively, will meet in the 1st round at the Hall of Fame Championships tomorrow in Newport, Rhode Island.  Mahut who needed a Wild Card to gain entry into the event donated his shirt and one shoe from his epic 11 hour 5 minute match at Wimbledon to the Hall of Fame. 

 Mahut, who will be making his 5th appearance at the tournament this year, reached the Newport Final in 2007 and lost to countryman Fabrice Santoro.  It was the second grass court final Mahut lost that year as he also got to the Queens Club Final in London only weeks earlier and lost to Andy Roddick.  Alejandro Falla, the tournament's #2 seed will be making his debut in Newport this year.  His tennis heroes as a youth were grass court legends Pete Sampras and Boris Becker.

 Two weeks ago Falla held a 2 sets to love advantage over another grass court master, top seeded Roger Federer in the 1st round at Wimbledon but was unable to win the match.  It was actually the 3rd time in 5 weeks that Falla faced Federer, also losing to him in the 2nd round at Roland Garros as well as the 2nd round on grass in Halle, Germany.

Later this year, Falla and his hard hitting countryman Santiago Giraldo look forward to hosting the United States in Davis Cup action as the World Group Playoffs will be contested on September 17-19 in Bogota, Columbia.  Falla sports a 27-7 record in Davis Cup competition, including an 18-2 mark in singles.  The Columbians have selected clay as their surface of choice and hope to stymie the American effort.

Mahut defeated Falla in their only previous meeting 7-5 6-4 on a hard court in 2007 in Chennai, India.  **Falla defeated Mahut in a 2005 Challenger in Cordoba, Spain on a hard court 6-3 7-6(8).

 

7.6.10  Nicolas Mahut defeated Alejandro Falla 6-3 1-6 6-3 in 1 hour and 23 minutes.  Mahut who held serve for 68 consecutive games in the 5th set against John Isner at Wimbledon had his serve broken twice in the 2nd set by Falla.  Meanwhile, Mahut hit 5 aces in today's match, far less than the 103 he belted against Isner.  Mahut advances to the 2nd round and will face Canadian Frank Dancevic in the 3rd match on Center Court on Wednesday.

 

 

Federer's Latest Funk Started at Indian Wells: An Analysis

PETE ZIEBRON 
 
 
 16 time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer 

- Charles Gabrean Photography 

Roger Federer's prolonged title drought in 2010 started at 

the BNP Paribas Masters 1000 at Indian Wells in March. 

Following his victory over Andy Murray at the Australian

Open, Federer was unable to play the tourney in Dubai

due to a lung infection and lack of match play coming

into Indian Wells certainly impacted his timing.

Despite having 3 Match Points in a 3rd round match 

against Marcos Baghdatis, Federer was unable to 

capitalize and Baghdatis snatched victory away

from Federer to claim the biggest victory of his

career. I sat in the first row, on the server's line

 for this match and at times, Federer raised his level

 of play to win the big points. At other times, especially

 at the most crucial points of the match, Federer's 

 forehand went sailing long or out wide by large margins.

As a result, the crowd did not believe what it was seeing. 

In fact, it reminded me of Rafael Nadal spraying balls

beyond the doubles alley last year in Cincinnati in his

second tournament back following injury.

According to Federer, no need for the alarms to sound:

"Well, I mean, I could be sitting here an hour earlier and

saying how comfortably I won the match in straight sets 

not playing great, but moving forward. Always a very 

fine line.That's not why I don't like to now beat myself 

up too much after a loss like this. ........So it's just like 

one of those matches that just happens, you know.  

You play good most of the time, and then you just 

don't play so well when you really have to. The

match almost looked like I wasn't playing all that 

great, and then I could have still won the match."

Following an earlier than expected departure at Indian 

Wells, Federer again had a Match Point in his 4th round

tilt against Tomas Berdych at the Masters 1000 in Miami

and was not able to win the match. Berdych capitalized 

on his good fortune and advanced to the Final where he 

lost to Andy Roddick. However Federer's loss to Berdych 

would give Berdych the confidence necessary the next 

time he faced Federer in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, 

where he would record his second consecutive win, 

following 8 consecutive defeats, against the 6 time 

Wimbledon Champion.

Federer had this to say about his loss in Miami: "Yeah

it was a tough match. Look, it's no secret I've struggled

the last, what is it, five matches I've played here in the 

States. It's disappointing, I think, my performance

overall, if I've got to analyze right now after the match.

But I fought as much as I could under the circumstances

with my game having issues at the moment. Definitely

lacking timing. I don't know where that comes from 

because I played so nicely in Australia. So it's 

disappointing to not be able to back it up. Maybe the

break was quite long. I'm kind of used to those things,

and I still, you know, think that I could have done much

better."

In a curious scheduling maneuver, Federer elected to skip 

the initial clay court event of the season, the Masters 

1000 tourney in Monte-Carlo where he was a 3 time

 Finalist. Instead Federer opened his clay campaign at 

the Masters 1000 in Rome where he was stunned by

 Ernests Gulbis in his first match. In lieu of Monte-Carlo, 

Federer played a 250 tournament in Estoril, Portugal, 

which he won in 2008. This year, Federer lost in the

 semifinals to defending Champion Albert Montanes.

Next, as defending Champion of the Madrid Masters

1000, Federer got revenge over Gulbis in a quarterfinal

match and advanced to the Final where he lost to 

Rafael Nadal in a rematch of last year's Final. At 

Roland Garros, defending Champion Roger Federer 

fell to Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals in a rematch

of last year's Final. This loss ended Federer's amazing

streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal 

appearances.

Prior to Wimbledon, Federer met Lleyton Hewitt in the 

Final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

Surprisingly, Federer lost to Hewitt in the Final, ending

his 5 title winning streak at this event. Nonetheless,

Federer headed to Wimbledon seeking his 17th Grand

Slam title and 7th Wimbledon crown which would have

tied him with Pete Sampras.

Federer survived two sloppy matches in the opening

rounds at Wimbledon, steadied his game in the next

two matches and then crashed out in the quarterfinals

against Tomas Berdych, whom he donated a 4th round

Masters 1000 match to earlier this year in Miami.

With the unexpected loss at Wimbledon, Federer will

fall to #3 in the rankings, a position he has not occupied

since November 16, 2003. Meanwhile, after appearing in

23 straight Grand Slam semifinals or better, Federer has 

now failed to get to the semis in his last 2 Slams. 

Despite having 62 career titles, Federer has won only 2

in the last 52 weeks, the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati last

August and the Australian Open this January.

Federer will take a 2 week vacation when he leaves 

Wimbledon and then get ready for the North American

hard court season. During his vacation time, Federer

will be able let minor injuries to his back and right leg

heal. These are injuries that started to give him problems

in his Finals loss to Hewitt in Halle.

Following Federer's 6-3 6-1 6-0 loss in the 2008 Roland

 Garros Final to Rafael Nadal and the subsequent loss to 

Nadal in the Wimbledon Final, Federer was blasted by 

many members in the media. Many doubted that he 

would ever be able to win the Roland Garros crown and

 some wondered if he would even be able to win 

another Grand Slam.

Since his loss to Nadal at Wimbledon in 2008, when he

was supposedly finished as a Slam contender, Federer

went on to win each Grand Slam once and appeared in

2 other Slam Finals. Again, now, the media is doubting 

his ability to win Grand Slams. Why?