May 2008
Report: Henin to retire Wednesday (AP)
DecoTurf Chosen for NCAA Division I Tennis Championships
Doubles team of twins heroic in fire (AP)
Penn Introduces New Pro Penn+
Tennis Channel Adds US Open to Grand Slam Lineup
The years last masters series on clay bring the tour to Hamburg, Germany this week. Many players will be looking to get some last minute preparation as the French Open is only 2 weeks away! Sadly this maybe the last year the tour holds a masters series in Hamburg, as the revamped 2009 calender looks to strip Hamburg of its masters series status, as the event is typically very cold and too close to the French Open, resulting in many player withdrawals.
One player that surely will not be happy about this down grade is Roger Federer. The Swiss virtuoso has claimed 4 masters series shields at the event, making it his most successful clay court tournament. Simply put, Hamburg is the way Federer likes it. Cold and quick, making it more like a hard court. If the last few French Open finals provided weather similar to Hamburg, then I am sure the Swiss would have 1 of not 2 French Open crowns. However the hot and slow conditions of the last few year in Paris clearly favoured Nadal and his grinding game style.
Both Federer and Nadal will be looking to impose their last stands of dominance on the tennis scene this week. Since both made the finals last year, it is very important to their rankings that a good showing is put forth this year as well. Particularly for Nadal as he lost 465 points with his injured 2nd round exit in Rome, he can not afford the same type of incident this week. Even though R-Fed is defending champ, he has a little bit more breathing room now, as Nadal is playing serious catch up.
Tour Veterans Carlos Moya and Lleyton Hewitt will look to progress deep in the event, as they both made the semi-finals last year. Moya will certainly be looking for a great week again, because if he loses early as he has been doing as of late, he will take a big hit in the rankings and being almost 32 years of age, it only gets harder to come back. Hewitt on the other hand has troubles of a different natural, the Aussie has been battling a troubled hip flexor and his is in doubt for the event. It seems as though all the years of grinding away has finally caught up with the 27 year old. Do not be surprised if Nadal follows suit and ends up like Hewitt in the coming years.
On to the draw break down and like I say for every masters series, good matches are always on the horizon. Potential clashes to look for are Federer versus David Ferrer in the quarter-finals, Nadal and Andy Murray in the 3rd round, and Djokovic and Nicolas Almagro in the quarters. The draw looks much easier for all the top guys this week as opposed to Roma last week. If Nadal is healthy and the blister on his foot has recovered then he should breeze through the draw as per usual. Federer has an easier road as well. Both Nadal and Djokovic are on the other side of the draw and R-Fed’s biggest worries of the week should be Ferrer on his road to his fifth final. Again I’m that is on paper, Roger has not been in the greatest form this year, and loses to Stepanek and Mardy Fish are becoming more and more regular. It will also be interesting to see how Djokovic does this week, as he is coming off of a long week in Roma. Historically, Novak does not play well in a tournament after he as made the final the previous week.
As always please check back regularly as we will have daily updates and comments. Please check out the link below to the official tournament site. Our to the French Open is almost here, and this week in Hamburg will prove to be another week of world class tennis.
Masters Series Hamburg: http://www.dtb-tennis.de/AmRothenbaum/
Technorati Tags: Andy Murray, Carlos Moya, David Ferrer, Lleyton Hewitt, Nicolas Almagro, Novak Djokovic, Rafeal Nadal, Roger Federer
USTA, ESPN and Tennis Channel Announce Landmark Television and Digital Media Partnership for US Open and Olympus US Open Series
The second masters series on clay this week provided many shocking results. Upsets were clearly the order of play. Frustrated Spaniard Rafa Nadal went out in his opening match to countrymen Juan Carlos Ferrero. The Mayorcan native looked out of sorts from the onset of the match, and a severe blister that developed last week in Barcelona hampered Rafa’s movement throughout the second round encounter. Rafa looks to be in trouble with the Hamburg masters coming up next week.
The implications of Nadals loss will be very evident on his ranking, as he will lose 465 points because he was the defending champ in Roma. As well because Roger Federer progressed deep in the tournament the point gap is even more widened. Nadal stands to drop another 555 points behind Federer in his quest for the number one ranking. Perhaps now Rafa’s main concern should be fighting off number three ranked Novak Djokovic as the Serbian in making a strong case for the number 2 spot.
No result can ever be greater than a Nadal loss on clay, but this years edition of the Roma masters also had some pleasant surprises. Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake moved through the draw in convincing fashion and progressed to the semi and quarter-finals respectively. This will surely boost the confidence level of both Blake and Roddick as they look to improve on their dismal French Open records.
The play of relatively unknown Stanislas Wawrinka has been outstanding as of late. The number two ranked Swiss has made the semi and finals of his last two events and as a result in will move into the top 10 for the first time. Its not like Switzerland does not have enough to cheer about already, as the country now looks to have two super stars to follow.
TheATPblog.com’s player for the month of May, Nicolas Almagro also had a great tournament. He progressed to the quarter-finals and improved on his already impressive clay court record. As I’ve mentioned in the past Almagro will be a rough customer to deal with at the French this year. If can seize the moment, sky is the limit for this Spaniard.
Roger Federer also had good tournament results this week. I can not say he had great week as he did not win the title. At this stage and level that R-Fed is at, every week comes with great expectations and some sort of hardware has to be taken home. Frankly, Federer losing to the aging none clay court player Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals is a bad loss.
Great result for Djokovic as he claimed his 1st masters series title on clay. I would not put him as a favourite just yet for the French Open crown as his road to the title in Roma included 2 retirements and a pretty easy draw. I still put Federer and Nadal ahead of Djokovic in terms of French Open favorites.
On a closing note the ATP and masters series organizers need to serious look at how harmful the calender is for players. As a result of the condensed calender, Roma had retirements in 5 matches as players are starting to break down because they are forced to play back to back weeks. Having two retirements in the semi-finals was disappointing for everyone involved in the tournament and seriously needs to be looked into.
Technorati Tags: Andy Roddick, James Blake, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Nicolas Almagro, Novak Djokovic, Radek Stepanek, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka
Sharapova, WTA compromise on photo shoot (AP)
Recent winner Safina out of Italian Open (AP)
US Open to air on ESPN, Tennis Channel (AP)
Mauresmo withdraws from Italian Open (AP)
Fatigued Henin out of Italian Open (AP)
US-Spain Davis Cup semi to be in Madrid (AP)
Babolat Storm Limited Specs:
- Weight:11.3 ounces
- Head light balance of 305mm
- Slightly thinner than 200 g Dunlop
- Flex is 65
- Babolat leather grip, which is also called natural grip
- Colour of the racquet is: black with yellow trim
Technorati Tags: Babolat Storm Limited
