Friday 28 August 2015

'C'MON RAFA'

In case you haven't heard the latest, Rafa did not want to play doubles with Nick K at a recent Nike promotion event, he asked to be paired up with someone else, that's if what you read is correct. The following clip is Nadal at around the same age as Nick is now, Wimbledon 2007.
The rather comical set of circumstances stem from Nadal being too busy with his own pedantic routine to even realize that his opponent went to pick up a new racket from his bag. Players do this with each ball change.
Rafa obviously did not appreciate the break in his routine so then he let Soderling know in his own little way, by showing him the new balls however when you watch it I would question the timing of it. It was gamesmanship for anyone who knows anything about tennis.
So my point is this. Rafa apparently did not appreciate Robin Soderling's apparent lack of respect for his pedantic routine. Yet if Rafa actually looked up to see what his opponent was doing rather than have his head clearly in his own little zone he would have seen that he didn't have anyone to serve to.
A player is quite within his rights to grab a new racket and quite often you will see a player do it perhaps a little late and then offer an apology to the opponent. It's usually accepted.
Rafa is a rather complex character and his routines are the things legends are made of but they sometimes can wear a little thin as he takes the full 25 seconds between points with usually not a lot to spare.
So this incident was not a verbal stoush like the Wawrinka/ Kyrgios one that gathered many headlines but it was one that was interesting to say the least. Rafa has obviously made it clear that he did not appreciate Nick's effort against Stan but Rafa has to remember that at around the same age he possessed some attributes that could have been tidied up also.
Some players need to rewind the clock and look at their own silly ways before passing judgement on others.....
Silly sport tennis......

soderling imite nadal


Sunday 23 August 2015

'FED VS NOVAK'

So another title on the ATP tour is about to be contested by Fed and Novak, just for a change, this time in Cincinnati. If you did the sums on current form you would probably pick Roger to win this one as Novak has struggled all tournament just to get to the final. The thing about Novak however is that he usually finds a way to win no matter the opponent or the situation.
I do hope Roger wins this event as he is at the age where most players sit back and enjoy retirement but the Swiss genius seems far from satisfied with his achievements. No matter who wins this particular event it will be interesting to look at the statistics and just what the difference was in the end. There is usually a whisker in it as far as points for and against are concerned and there may just be an ounce of luck that separates a tie breaker win or a break of serve opportunity.
I love looking at tennis statistics, it puts the game into perspective. Most of the top players do not actually lose to an opponent, they are simply beaten by a better one that thinks their way through things just slightly more efficiently.
Roger I believe has never lost a tournament final, he was just beaten by a genius on the day.
This time I am not going to tip either way but I am hoping for a Federer victory, one for the 'old blokes'........

*** The straight sets win to Federer by the score of 7-6, 6-3 I suppose was not a real surprise as previously mentioned, Novak had struggled all tournament. Federer won 20 of 27 net approaches, that's 5 games alone won by coming to the net.
Roger also used the chip charge tactic to perfection which when you think about it, well it's rather obscene to be doing that to the World number one's serve. To stand well inside the baseline to receive serve, chip it ,then set up for a volley is a tactic that will bother any player.
Taking time away from a baseliner is something that should be looked at by players and coaches, it has more than an ounce of merit.
A 7-6, 6-3 win is a tight match yet a 7-1 tiebreaker score is a statement that you are not waiting for a mistake from the opposition, you are taking the game on. Roger knows he is not young enough to be playing from the baseline all day and he has found a unique style that affords him shorter points.
Not every player has the volleying ability of Fed but perhaps net rushing can still be looked at for future playing styles. At least it can break up the monotony of baseline tennis. It would be disappointing to see it cease when the Swiss genius finally hangs up the racket as baseline robots are a dime a dozen.
The 'old bloke' had a win which should give all the other old blokes some heart to hang around and keep the young blokes honest......

Saturday 15 August 2015

'DID STAN PROVOKE NICK' ?

Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Stanimal's Comeuppance..

This two minute clip tells the whole story.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_VE5IxXpok

A heated match with call controversies. A couple live wires at play, both with history of being on court snits. NK is starting to bug out just like all of us do when we feel we're getting tooled. SW is getting emotionally distracted and impatient with NK bugging out, just like all of us do when we have an opponent acting out.

Some times we let it go. Other times we do what SW did, which is bark out our dissatisfaction at our opponents behavior (long storied and ugly history of this in pro tennis btw)

I don't know about you, but when you stop play and publicly call out an already obviously agitated opponent, do you expect things to mellow out or escalate? Maybe the calling out helps your opponent see the errors in his ways and he chills. Maybe the calling out agitates him further and not being one to let anyone get over on him, he retaliates... with emphasis.

NK took the latter approach. Please spare me the Stan is a victim here bs. He gives as good as he gets out there  (just ask Mirka and RF who've been around him for years..he has never had a pleasant on ct disposition and has been getting in to it with opponents his whole career)

Obviously what NK said was way over the line and deserving of a fine and possibly more. I'm near certain if SW keeps his trap shut and doesn't provoke him, we're not talking about any of this.

When you provoke an obviously agitated person, whether on a tennis court or driving down the street, you're taking a huge risk...and you don't get to determine how they're gong to respond. Sometimes you'll get lucky and nothing will happen, sometimes you will get a raging lunatic and all bets are off. SW got lippy with an agitated NK and he got back a lot more than he bargained for. We all did.

Tennis has wanted a bad boy for a while now. Well, careful what you wish for. This kid is wildly talented, yet super volatile. Fasten your seat belts everyone. This is gonna be quite a ride these next few years..

Kids Today...Sheesh..

Peace
 
That piece was courtesy of a fellow by the name of Barry Buss who writes about tennis in the US. Not a bad view of it all......

Sunday 9 August 2015

'A WORK IN PROGRESS'

A while ago I decided to get to work on my European memories of 1991 as best I could which in some ways has been surprisingly easy to remember. I am still trying to piece together the exact tournament and travel path that Pete, Brett and myself used way back then which has been a challenge but I am getting there.
I firmly believe that tennis is a sport that needs credibility in many ways and there is no better way to teach a student of the game than to share some ideas that I believe have merit. Tennis however is a sport with many perceptions and every 'coach' has his or her own way of doing things, each to their own.
I am sticking with my perception that this sport is not one that should be taken lightly by any budding young player or any parent of a player showing potential. Reality should be the number one thing considered when looking at putting all your eggs into one basket, so to speak.
If any player should be under any illusions as to how tough tennis can be then I would suggest a European visit and a look at some tournaments either as a spectator or a player, or both. It may just help to place things on a shelf inside the mind that can be accessed at times when playing competition.
The three years I had off the game from age 18 to 21 did not help my cause but I played a hell of a lot of tennis from age 12 to 18 so you usually have an idea of your own ability by then. I believe that I was under no illusions going into that trip in '91 as a 21 year old but I suppose I just wanted to finally give myself the ultimate test as a 'tennis player'.
If you never test yourself then you will never have an understanding of who you are as a player. My book will one day be written but until then I will keep posting my thoughts on tennis. Thank you for reading.
Regards GT

Friday 7 August 2015

'LUCKY INDEED'

In 2010 Spaniard Albert Montanes was ranked a career high 22 in the World in singles but has now dropped to 106. He still makes a handy living though. At the Kitzbuhel tournament currently being played in Austria Albert was part of a series of circumstances that lead to him making the quarter finals of the main draw. He didn't however start in the main draw.
Albert played the qualifying event as his ranking was not high enough and he won his first round match 6-0, 6-0 against a Swiss player by the name of Jannis Liniger who is currently ranked 824. The Spaniard's second round match was against Victor Hanescu of Romania who has been as high as World number 26 in 2009. Montanes won this encounter 3 and 2.
The final qualifying match in Austria was against Kenny De Schepper of France currently ranked 144 in singles, a winnable match you would think for Montanes. Things though didn't go according to ranking and the man ranked 38 places below his more fancied opponent came away with a hard fought 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 win. The victory put him into the main draw and Montanes out of it, briefly anyhow.
The beauty of tennis is that it can give players a second chance whether it be through injury or other reasons but there are usually 'lucky losers' in most tournaments. If a player loses in the qualifying event they can still receive a spot in the main draw if a player does not show and luckily for Albert his name came up trumps in Austria.
The funny thing about his lucky loser's position in the draw was that it actually became a better position to be placed in than the player who beat him in the last round of qualifying. De Schepper lost first round of the main draw easily to fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 2 and 2 who is now into the semi finals. Albert received a fairly decent first round match up against Melzer of Austria ranked 166 and won in two tight sets then won easily against Schwartzman 1 and 3.
The quarter final match for Montanes saw him take on number 1 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria who sits at World number 21 currently, a player on the rise. After a close first set which saw a tie break win to Thiem the Spaniard retired injured at 2-3 down in the second set. For his part in the rather fortunate entry into the main event Albert picks up around $12,000 Euros which was not even on his radar 4 days earlier.
I wonder what these guys do when they pick up a bonus like that and do they go out and have a spend up on some 'bonus cash' or do they simply put it into their rather lavish bank accounts ? Albert has won over five and a half million dollars in prize money in his career but 'only' one hundred grand so far this year.
At almost 35 years of age I would suspect Mr Montanes would be banking every cent he can as his playing days are almost numbered.
His spending days will be plentiful in the near future I would imagine.....

Tuesday 4 August 2015

'BIG BUCKS'

At Wimbledon this year Australian Tennis Professional Marinko Matosevic lost in the first round to Liam Broady who is currently ranked 182 in the World. For that loss to a local which drove the English spectators into a frenzy Marinko picked up just shy of thirty thousand English pounds, that's not a bad day's work in any man's language.
In the lead up to Wimbledon the Aussie who doesn't really own a real Aussie name lost in the first round of qualifying at Nottingham to Greg Zemlja who at the time was ranked 297. Prior to that he lost in the first round at the Topshelf Open in the Netherlands to Pospisil but picked up five thousand euros and he also lost in the opening round of the French Open to Bellucci. That draw in Paris was a real tough one but picking up twenty seven thousand euros would perhaps ease the pain of an early loss.
In May in Geneva another first round loss netted him four thousand euros and in Portugal a few weeks earlier he didn't trouble his opponent too much either but pocketed another four thousand euros. In fact in April this year Marinko picked up over sixteen thousand euros in three straight first round tournament losses, Houston and Barcelona being two more tournaments he contested. 
At Indian Wells in the US in March Matosevic picked up another ten thousand US dollars for another first round loss, this time to the Frenchman Roger-Vasselin who at the time owned a ranking of 145. In February Marinko faired much better in Mexico as he lost in the round of 16 to Ferrer and earned 18,000 euros for his efforts.
At Delray Beach in the same month Marinko beat Isner in the first round in a huge upset then managed only four games against Nishioka from Japan ranked 154, work than one out. He did pick up $8,000 US for that tournament, not bad for two matches. 
So to the figures; Throw in another couple of events that I won't bore you with the details of and Marinko has a singles win / loss ratio this year so far of 3-15, that's if the ATP site is correct. Now what does a player of Marinko's standard bank after that many losses as opposed to wins ? Try a cool $217,964 US dollars. I believe that the figure next to a professional tennis player's name is US Dollars, correct me if I am wrong. A large chunk of that actually came from winning a first round match at the Australian Open in January this year, $60,000.
So there you have it, you don't actually have to win regularly to make a living as a pro tennis player, Marinko Matosevic is living proof, he lives the dream though, big time. Some call him 'Mad Dog' in reference to his rather strange on and off court mannerisms which if you have had the pleasure to witness, well you will understand the nick name.
'Mad Dog' is living proof that you simply just have to win now and then and not consistently like Roger and Novak who's bank accounts dwarf Marinko's by a long way. He has however won just a tick under two million dollars which has seen him travel around the World more than a few times hitting tennis balls at some rather lavish venues.
The biggest factor that goes with the above information is the ranking factor that sees a player walk into the main draw of some events yet play qualifying in others.
All that really needs to happen is for a tennis professional to sneak inside the top 100 players in the World and stay there for as long as possible, that will guarantee a sizeable bank account.
Pretty simple really.........

Sunday 2 August 2015

'ANYONE CAN HIT A BALL'

I had a great week last week hitting with a kid who I believe is a very talented young tennis player who typifies the young breed of tennis player now days. The biggest factor however I find with all these kids is their lack of knowledge on how to actually play tennis as opposed to their very refined hitting skills.
 Katelyn hits the ball beautifully off both sides and possesses a serve that had me envious of the easy nature of her action. I have not seen a kid of her age hit the ball that well for many years and I take my hat off to her coach who has worked on her superb technique.
The next step for Katelyn however has to be her on court decision making as you can only get away with a good technique for so long before opponents start testing factors beyond that. I have seen many tennis players who can hit the ball well but lack the ability to either construct a point or test their opponent beyond having a rally.
In saying that I do believe that you have to start somewhere just like you do when you first pick up a racket and hit against the wall. What's the first thing you do ? You hit it so it can come back to you, that in itself works the technique. When you get a little more refined with your shots you start moving the ball around, testing yourself, testing your mind, becoming adventurous.
So surely that's what should be on every students' agenda when it comes to tennis improvement but even more perhaps from the person teaching them the game. I wonder how many new students of the game are actually being taught how to play tennis as opposed to simply being taught how to hit a ball. The two should surely go hand in hand.
 The thing I enjoy most about hitting with new students of the sport is the challenge of putting ideas into the mind more so than actually breaking a shot down into 4 or 5 different parts that can become rather monotonous. Sometimes a session can be better spent with two tennis balls and structured point play rather than a basket of balls and a lecture on how much more I know about the game than a young kid.
I remember a session I once had in Perth when I thought I knew it all as a 15 year old, one of the greatest lessons I ever learned from a man who knew the game better than most. He taught me more how to play a point than how to hit a ball.
I wish young Katelyn all the best with her tennis and send her a big thank you for hitting the old bloke back into some form. A pleasure also to be hitting at my old local tennis club. I used to ride ten kilometres several times a week to hit there with as many opponents as I possibly could to gain some variety.
Tough sport tennis but can be made easier if we get taught how to play from the start rather than how to just hit it. Anyone can hit a tennis ball, not many can play tennis...........