Tennis Acumen

Serbia to Host France For 2010 Davis Cup

PETE ZIEBRON

 
 Janko Tipsarevic clinched Serbia's semifinal tie against the Czech Republic.                                                              Pete Ziebron Images

The last few years Davis Cup, its format, its scheduling and even its relevance have been questioned loudly by current players, former players, broadcasters and the media.  For other players like Novak Djokovic and David Nalbandian, Davis Cup is viewed as mandatory and provides an opportunity to be remembered forever in their respective nations.

I asked Djokovic, the only player in the ATP Top 4 to play Davis Cup this year, in Cincinnati about his Davis Cup preparations, including playing doubles with Rafael Nadal in Toronto this summer:

•   "In some way helps as well, helps me get more practice for doubles because, you know, you never know. You might play doubles match as well in Davis Cup, which is very important. I haven't played doubles in Davis Cup for really two, two and a half years." 

Djokovic went on to elaborate on his love for representing Serbia in Davis Cup competition:  

• "We have big support of the country. You know, we don't get to play for team that often. It's individual sport, so it's something different. It's very special. You feel the team spirit. You have somebody sitting on your bench when you're on the changeover giving you advices, and then you have your colleagues from the team supporting you side court.  So it's much different than the other events. Makes it good."

Although Djokovic played in the doubles tie yesterday and lost, today he rallied from one set down to beat world #7 Tomas Berdych to level Serbia's tie with the Czech Republic and set the stage for the winner-take-all match between Janko Tipsarevic and Radek Stepanek.  On Friday, Tipsarevic defeated Berdych and was able to beat Stepanek in straight sets today, sending the nation of Serbia into a wild celebration as the Serbs surge into their first Davis Cup Final where they will host France for the 2010 Davis Cup.

France enjoyed the fact that they were hosting their 3rd consecutive tie, while their opponent Argentina made their 3rd consecutive trip to Europe in Davis Cup competition.  The second match on Friday was the most anticipated and involved David Nalbandian and Gael Monfils. Nalbandian, a Davis Cup warrior, who skipped Wimbledon to prepare for Argentina's 2nd round tie in Russia would most likely prefer a Davis Cup trophy than a Grand Slam title.  Monfils, on the other hand, also appreciates Davis Cup play, particularly when playing a tie at home, as he is able to feed off the energy of the crowd.

 French Davis Cup hero Gael Monfils.                                     Pete Ziebron Images

Monfils came into the semifinal tie with Argentina having won his 2 previous 2010 Davis Cup matches against Germany's Philipp Kohlschriber and Spain's David Ferrer.  With France leading the tie 1-0, Monfils extended the French stranglehold on Argentina with a strong 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Nalbandian.  France would sweep the tie, advanced to the 2010 Davis Cup Final and ended Nalbandian's hopes of leading Argentina to their first Davis Cup title.  France will now play their first road tie in Serbia on the weekend of December 3-5.

Notable victories in the 2010 Davis Cup World Group Playoffs:

• Kazakhstan advanced to the World Group for the first time as they swept a Stanislaus Wawrinka led Swiss squad 5-0.
• India, who lost 2 heartbreaking 5 setters on Friday, came from an 0-2 deficit to thrill their fans in Chennai and defeat Brazil.
• Austria rallied from 1-2 down to defeat Israel in         Tel Aviv.

Is Davis Cup relevant?  It is to Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, David Nalbandian, Gael Monfils, the French team, the Serbian team, the Kazakhstan team, the India team, the Austria team.  It is to the proud people from the 4 other nations that also won ties today.  It is to the practice players that get the opportunity to represent their nation.  It is to Ryan Harrison, a promising young American looking to have a breakthrough season next year.  It is to the fans in nations that do not have a tournament nearby and were able to attend meaningful matches over the weekend.  

Kindly keep Davis Cup exactly the way it is going forward.  Take it from world #2 Novak Djokovic: "It's very special." 

 

Rafael Nadal Completes Career Slam at US Open

PETE ZIEBRON

 
 9-time Grand Slam Champion Rafael Nadal.                Charles Gabrean Photography

Rafael Nadal defeated #3 seed Novak Djokovic 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 at the US Open to win his 3rd consecutive Grand Slam and 9th in his career.  More importantly, Nadal becomes the 7th man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.

In fact, the tennis record books have changed considerably since Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have been collecting major titles during the last 3 years.  Consider:

• 2008 Nadal wins Roland Garros & Wimbledon
• 2009 Federer wins Roland Garros & Wimbledon
• 2010 Nadal wins Roland Garros & Wimbledon

Prior to Nadal accomplishing the feat in 2008, it was last achieved by Bjorn Borg in 1978-1980.

• 2009 Federer completes career Grand Slam
• 2010 Nadal completes career Grand Slam

Andre Agassi became only the 5th man to win the career Grand Slam in 1999.

• 2010 Nadal wins 3 consecutive Slams in same calendar year: Roland Garros, Wimbledon & US Open

Rod Laver was the last to win 3 or more consecutive Slams in the same year when he won his 2nd true Grand Slam in 1969.  (Note: Roger Federer and Pete Sampras also won 3 consecutive Slams, though not in the same year: Federer accomplished the feat twice in 2005-06 at Wimbledon, US Open & Australian Open and in 2006-07 at Wimbledon, US Open & Australian Open, Sampras once in 1993-94 at Wimbledon, US Open & Australian Open.)

Rafael Nadal also came close to becoming the first man in 50 years to win the US Open without dropping a set, however Djokovic was able to steady his game after a 117 minute rain delay and take the 2nd set 7-5.

Uncharacteristically, Nadal was only 4 of 23 in break point opportunities for the match early in the 4th set before successfully breaking Djokovic in 2 of his next 3 break points later in the set to help seal the victory.  Meanwhile Djokovic was also able to break Nadal's serve all 3 times he had that opportunity in the first 2 sets. Nadal came into the match having been broken only twice in 91 service games.  

The primary reason that Rafael Nadal was able to hold serve comfortably was the increased velocity of his serve due to a slight change in gripping of his racquet.  Many times throughout the tournament, Nadal was crushing serves between 130-135 MPH, a full 10-15 MPH faster than in previous years in New York.  As a result, he was able to depend on the bigger serve to win more free points, most notably when serving at 15-30, up 5-4 in the 3rd set.  Nadal promptly hit 2 aces, painting the lines out wide to give himself set point and then delivered yet another serve that Djokovic stretched to touch but could not return.  The improved and more lethal serve got Nadal out of potential trouble late in the 3rd set and Djokovic was only able to win 2 games the rest of the way.

At age 24, Rafael Nadal now owns: a Career Grand Slam, 9 Grand Slam titles, 3 Davis Cup Championships, 18 Masters 1000 titles, an Olympic Gold Medal, 42 career singles titles and a powerful serve that can be utilized to further demoralize the competition going forward.

Caroline Wozniacki Continues Hot Streak at US Open

PETE ZIEBRON

 Caroline Wozniacki, winner of 3 WTA tournaments in August 2010.                                                                        Pete Ziebron Images

 Number 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki won 3 tournaments in the month of August and has continued her fierce play dropping only 3 games through the first 3 rounds of the 2010 US Open.  Three games lost in 6 sets of tennis!  Next up in the 4th round, 2006 US Open Champion Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova will present a new set of challenges to Wozniacki when they meet in the 4th round tomorrow.  However, consider the knuckleballs that Wozniacki has fended off in the last 3 weeks.  Despite being the top seed, Wozniacki's first match was scheduled for Tuesday night, after the men's match.  Wozniacki did not begin the match until 11:50 PM due to the fact that all of the day session matches went the distance, significantly delaying the start of the night session.

 Wozniacki came into the US Open on a torrid pace, winning 3 of her last 4 tournaments.  After being crowned Champion at the inaugural tournament in her home country of Denmark, Wozniacki immediately flew to Cincinnati and lost in her 2nd match.  However, she refused to blame the ambitious travel schedule for the loss: "It has (travel), of course, an effect, because you need to get your body ready.  But it's also very mental as well.  You just need to say to yourself, Okay, you have the match.  Just prepare for that.  It's the most important thing."

Following the loss in Cincinnati, Wozniacki arrived in Montreal and won the first of 2 titles in a 6 day span.  Due to excessive rain in Montreal, the Final was not played until Monday and Wozniacki defeated Vera Zvonareva to win the title.  Next, Wozniacki cruised through the field in New Haven, CT and beat Nadia Petrova on Saturday, 5 days following her win in Montreal and only 2 days before the start of the US Open.  "It's great. I've had two victories in two weeks and three victories in four weeks. I feel I'm in a great shape, playing well. Hopefully I can just continue the next couple of weeks at the US Open."

So far so good in New York as Wozniacki won her first 3 matches at the US Open by the scores of 6-1 6-1, 6-0 6-0 and 6-1 6-0 in an average of only 57 minutes per match.  After her 2nd win in New York, Wozniacki shared "I'm feeling great. I'm feeling good. I feel fresh. I feel like it's a new tournament. I'm all recovered from everything, and I'm just happy to be playing and to be injury free and everything is perfect........the atmosphere here is great. I really love playing here. I mean, it's a great feeling. Also coming back from last year, you know, being in the finals, coming back here and just, yeah, playing on the big courts, it's a great feeling."

Caroline Wozniacki hopes to take the next step in a repeat run to the US Open Finals in her 4th round match against Maria Sharapova tomorrow at Arthur Ashe Stadium.