'TENNIS, PACE YOURSELF'

A 2014 US Open match between Roger Federer and Marcel Granollers came up with a rather unusual score line and I have always been fascinated by tennis scores. 

Federer won the match by the score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 which looks like a total domination despite a first set loss, however perhaps Rog was simply a little slow to get his brilliant game going.

The score reminded me of a fascinating match between my first tennis hero, Bjorn Borg of Sweden and South African legend Johan Kriek.

Borg was being smashed by Kriek in the semi finals of the 1980 US Open when something sparked a Swedish fight back . Kriek lead 6-4, 6-4, with at least a runner's up speech already written in his head. 

How's a score line of 6-1, 6-1, 6-1in the last three sets sound Johan ?? Borg could come back like no other ......

In 1987 at Wimbledon Swede Mikael Pernfors lead Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 before finding a way to lose. So what is it with a 6-1 score line ? 

I remember vividly once at my local Club Championships a student lost by the score of 0-6, 6-1, 6-3. She couldn't believe that after a love first set domination she could lose . My reply was simple. 

"So how much energy did your opponent expend with a love reply in the first"? 

A puzzled response.

If you lose a set 6-0 or 6-1 you are either being dominated or you haven't woken up yet, many times it's just that, you have got off to a slow start, the brekky is still being digested. 

You are by no means out of it by losing a set to 0 or 1 or over the line by being a set or two up by the same score , it's simply where you are at mentally, physically or otherwise in certain stages of the match. 

Federer won the last three sets 1,1 and 1 against the Spaniard, he had woken up after the first, but Connors ? He was elsewhere in the first two and a half sets against the Swede, two totally different scenarios, tough to make sense of.

 Funny game tennis, many swings and roundabouts, stay focused, eat a good brekky and maintain a level head. Regardless of the score, play each ball like the first shot, there are no memories on a tennis ball, just an imprint in the mind. 

Show the game and your opponent you are smarter than the scoreboard.......

'NEVER SAY DIE' ( NENAD ZIMONJIC )

Some players in World Tennis simply know how to play their opposition to such an extent that no matter what the situation in the match is, well, they always still believe they are a chance.

Take Serbia's double's genius Nenad Zimonjic and the way in which he handles the greatest ever doubles combination of the Bryan Brothers from the US.

In 2009 alone Zimonjic won nine doubles titles with Daniel Nestor and in five of those finals they beat the Bryan brothers. In the Cincinatti final they won 15-13 in the third set super tie breaker. Whilst I do not have the match details in front of me I am certain they saved at least one match point, possibly several. 

In the Davis Cup Quarter final of 2013 against the US Zimonjic was paired with Ilija Bozoljac who at the time was ranked World number 900 plus in singles and 102 in doubles.

This match will certainly go down in history as a win for the heart and not necessarily the talent as Serbia won this match against the Bryans 15-13 in the fifth set, a marathon match where Zimonjic somehow took his partner's level from that of a Challenger level player to that of a World beater. Such is the talent of Nenad.

In the same month in Monte Carlo in 2013 Zimonjic paired with Julien Benneteau of France and in the final against the Bryans' they saved an incredible seven match points before taking the match 14-12 in the final set super tie breaker. How is it possible to work your way through that many match points and simply not miss ? 

I believe it's a gift of not just the technical ability of a player but more so of the mind. It's an ability to not fear losing and that is a rarity.

At the Indian Wells Championships of 2016 Zimonjic paired up with another Frenchman in Edouard Roger-Vasselin who won the French Open Mens Doubles of 2014 with Benneteau. In the quarter finals they played the Bryan brothers once again and rather incredibly the Bryans' lead the third set super tie breaker 9-2.

From that stage you would have to be questioning whether there was any light at the end of the tunnel yet somehow Zimonjic and his French partner found a way to level at 9-9, save another match point and win the breaker and the match 14-12. 

That's a total of 15 match points that the Bryans' held over Zimonjic and his French partners' in two tournaments yet they could not convert one of them.

Nenad Zimonjic seems to have a remarkable ability to fight his way out of impossible situations against the most successful doubles combination of all time. The Bryans eventually reached the magical number of 100 tournament titles but surely would have got there a lot quicker without the magician from Serbia who weaved most of his magic throughout his career when he seemed to be down and out against Bob and Mike.

That Davis Cup Doubles match in 2010 will surely go down as one of the best wins in Davis Cup history as it was pivotal at the time with both teams sharing the opening two singles matches. Bozoljac's ranking alone defied logic as someone who could even bother a team of the Bryan's ability, but he was playing with Nenad, that was the difference.

Nenad Zimonjic is a Tennis Professional who never knows when he is beaten and he may just own the record for most match points saved in the World of Mens Doubles. Genius............

'PARIS, CLAY, BORG, RAFA. ( SOME STATISTICS ) PART 1

Many years before Rafa Nadal commenced a dominant run at the French open in Paris which has netted him 11 titles there was a fellow from Sweden who may just own the record for lack of games against in one particular year.

Bjorn Borg possessed a game that was nothing short of perfect for the clay courts of Europe yet he was brilliant enough to switch to the grass of Wimbledon and be successful with it. He is the only male player to have lifted both the trophies at the French Open and Wimbledon in three consecutive years, 1978 to 1980. 

Borg was known as the 'passing shot King', a reference to his ability to find a winner with remarkable accuracy and he was ridiculously patient. There is a well documented rally between Borg and Vilas in the 1978 French Open final that lasted 86 shots. The Swede was in no hurry to win.

Bjorn Borg owned a backhand that the sport of tennis will probably never see again due mainly to the uniqueness of it as it had a two handed strike but a one handed follow through. I believe that this motion was why Borg could create so much angle and topspin. The shot was in a word, brilliant.

Borg won the French Open as an 18 year old in 1974 against Orantes in five sets and picked up a grand total of 120,000 French Francs ( Euros ) which if converted to Australian dollars was perhaps around $30,000. A nice pay day for an 18 year old in the early 70's but dwarfed by today's pay days for the pros.

In 1975 Borg was far more dominant and beat the World's second best clay court player Guillermo Vilas 2,3 and 4 in the final but there was no such thing as inflation back then. The Swede's pay day was exactly the same as the year before of 120,000 Francs courtesy of BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris ). 

Borg lost in the quarters to Panatta the following year and did not play in 1977 due to tennis politics and World Team Tennis contractual requirements. This whole farce was documented in Borg's biography which is a book I could recite almost to the word, I read it that often.

The Swede returned in 1978 and was obviously keen to make up for his absence because he may just own the all time record for games against in a Grand Slam tournament with his effort that year. 

Borg lost just 32 games for the entire tournament which culminated in a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 victory in the final over Vilas.

Only Rafa has ever got close to that sort of dominance on the clay in Paris.

Nadal, the modern day Bjorn Borg, no risk...…. 

' PARIS, CLAY, BORG, RAFA' ( SOME STATISTICS ) PART 2

Tennis prize money was beginning to increase in 1978 as Borg picked up exactly 200,000 French Francs that year for the title, an increase of 80,000 from his '74 and '75 triumphs. 

In 1979 Borg won again, this time over Pecci in four sets in the final but he didn't have it all his own way that year losing several sets along the way. Borg earned 208,000 Francs that year.

In 1980 the Swede's form in Paris mirrored his efforts from '78 as he lost just 38 games for the entire tournament which included a straight sets 4, 1 and 2 win over his best mate Vitas Gerulaitis in the final. Borg pocketed 220,000 French Francs for that win, around $35,000 Australian dollars.

Borg's last victory in Paris came the following year against Lendl in the final where the Czech tested him but Borg closed out the match 6-1 in the fifth set. Prize money again was on the improve that year as 271,000 French Francs went the Swede's way.

Borg lost just 39 games up until that deciding match but was pushed all the way by a man who went on to claim three French Open titles himself after Borg retired.

So for a total of six French Open titles Borg won just a tick over one million French Francs and when broken down into Australian currency was just over a quarter of a million dollars. 

The amount however that he picked up playing around the World in matches that did not own any ranking points was outrageous to say the least. From memory he once picked up around US $600,000 for a week of exhibition matches. Considering it was in the mid to late 70's that was a ridiculous amount of money but it typifies why the pros played those types of matches back then on a regular basis. 

The man from Sweden was a marketer's dream yet if you look at his official prize money earnings they resemble that of an 'average' pro of today ranked around the 50 mark who can make that amount within two years or even less.

Playing exhibitions with Federer, McEnroe and the likes up until just a few years ago would have no doubt netted him way more than what he took home for each of his six French Open titles. Longevity in tennis has it's rewards.

It is interesting to note that in Borg's final year of success in Paris there was a 16 year old kid also from Sweden who won the junior French Open boys championship. Mats Wilander took out the title in 1981 perhaps inspired by his hitting sessions with Borg during that year in which he become the World's best junior.

Quite remarkably Wilander won the Mens title in Paris the following year, a feat which I am certain will never be repeated but again it was perhaps inspired by Borg's no show in 1982. Out of respect for the sudden retirement of Borg it may just have given Mats the incentive to keep the title in Swedish hands.

Before Rafa there was Borg and I was fortunate enough to see him at his best when I was a kid and it left a lasting impression on me.

Borg may have been a type of robot from the baseline that we see so regularly today yet he did it with a flair that I have perhaps only seen once since and that was from a fellow by the name of Andre Agassi.

BB and AA, must be something to do with the initials and the long flowing locks....

'SOMETHING SPECIAL'

In 1984 at the French Open in Paris there was a gentleman by the name of Hans Gildemeister from Chile who owned a rather interesting style of playing, he hit with two hands off both sides. Hans went into Roland Garos un seeded in '84 as his ranking had dipped quite dramatically from his career high of 12 in 1980. He in fact sat outside the top 100 for his shot at the title in Paris in '84.

Gildemeister was not just a singles player however as he reached World number 5 in doubles in 1987, the year he actually retired. He won 23 doubles titles in his career, 17 of those were with 1990 French Open Mens Singles Champion Andres Gomez of Ecuador. Hans was a remarkably talented tennis player as he had to be to survive in the Borg era of the 70's and early 80's. 

He in fact played Borg in the quarter finals at Roland Garos in 1979 losing in straight sets though the final set was 7-5. Anyone who knows tennis will realise that if you managed to get to five games all against Borg on clay you were a gifted tennis player, to say the least. So back to the draw of 1984 and Gildemeister started his campaign with a straight sets win over the '79 finalist Victor Pecci and then won even more convincingly against Brad Gilbert in round two.

In the third round Hans was drawn to meet Swedish Davis Cup hero Henrik Sundstrom, the number 9 seed, a tough assignment on clay as the Swede was known for the brutal amount of spin he put on the ball. On clay that is tough to deal with. It is unclear just how Gildemeister actually did it as footage of this match is not available yet he lead Sundstrom by a score that would have any tennis die hard searching for the video for tactical ideas.

It is set in concrete that Hans Gildemeister of Chile lead Henrik Sundstrom of Sweden in the 1984 French Open, round three by the score of 6-2, 6-0, 5-1, 30-0. He then lost. Yep he LOST from there. How did that happen ??! It is uncertain what on earth went on in that match from that point that seemingly had the Chilean cruising to an easy straight sets upset victory against one of the fancies for the title in '84.

At 5-1 up in the third set Hans Gildemeister was receiving Sundstrom's serve and won the first two points then after that his whole game fell apart. There were no fewer than 12 unforced errors in a row from Gildemeister from that point on which later Sundstrom would in fact describe as a 'choke'. Not quite sure about the etiquette of players back then however can you imagine that being said now days of an opponent ? Would go down about as well as a fish milkshake.....

For history's sake the final score in that particular match was 2-6, 0-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to Sundstrom and he would go on to win his next match in straight sets before the great Jimmy Connors found a way to hit through the topspin with his flatter style of play and beat him in straight sets.

I would give anything to watch what transpired from the 5-1, 30-0 moment in this match as it may in fact be the all time greatest comeback and 'choke' in the history of tennis.

There have in fact been more high profile matches such as the Davis Cup final of 1996 where Boetsch defeated Kulti after trailing 6-7, 0-40 in the final set in the fifth and deciding match but that particular match was tight throughout. The Gildemeister/ Sundstrom match was ridiculously one sided for the first three sets yet it went the way of the player who needed an alarm clock inside his head to wake him up before posting an outrageous comeback victory.

Sometimes in tennis a player can almost pace himself to a win even when victory it seems is not even on his agenda but we as spectators are non the wiser as to what is going on in their thought process. Did Faldo's win against Norman at the Masters in Augusta in 1996 have the same type of feel to it do you think ? After all the scoring was similar if you compare them.

Norman lead by six shots going into the final round yet shot a 78 whereas Faldo shot 67, there's an eleven shot discrepancy not unlike the twelve shot 'discrepancy' from the Gildemeister/ Sundstrom match.

The match in Paris in '84 will without a doubt go down as one of the all time greatest tennis comebacks from a seemingly impossible position yet the match was not a high profile one that people still talk about as they do the Norman/ Faldo result. Coming back from those types of losses is however where the mind comes into play.

Can you imagine the devastation ? It would be a tough thing to recover from.

For history's sake again, Gildemeister recovered, he won another nine doubles tournaments. Norman won three more including a million bucks in one particular event which required a birdie on the final hole for victory. The Swede Niclas Kulti went on to win the pivotal doubles with Bjorkman in the Davis Cup finals of '97 and '98 which set Sweden up for their two titles of those years.

A tough thing is professional sport. We as spectators simply look at it and offer our thoughts, "he choked, he's got no heart" or  "he's in the zone, he's a freak show".

A professional sportsman is a genius whether he wins a match or loses because he owns a mind to compete against the World's best and that requires something special.......

'THE ITALIAN JOB'

Another post from a while back which for some reason I placed in a folder as a draft copy.

Two Italian Tennis Professionals lead a rather glamorous lifestyle on the World Tennis Tour and sometimes their score lines don't make a whole lot of sense.

I give you the following examples...…

The Italian Job was the title of a movie made in the year I was put on this earth, 1969, one of the all time great movies. In fact the lead actor Michael Caine put in a one liner that was once voted the greatest of all time " You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off "!

The movie was about a group of gangsters plotting to steal 4 million dollars worth of gold in Italy and escape with it to Switzerland, absolute classic.

So what's it got to do with tennis ? Nothing, but it reminds me of two Italian 'gangster' tennis professionals from Italy, Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi, interesting characters. I wrote a chapter recently on Fabio.I swear the man who could double as a clothes fashion model had a night out with a 'fan' at the clay court event in Barcelona in April where he forfeited his match after trailing 0-6, 0-4. How else would you explain that effort ?

In Brazil in February he lost the second set 0-6 to Bedene, a Slovakian ranked 103 before winning the third 6-1. In Monte Carlo in April he lost the third and deciding set in the Round of 16 to Tsonga 0-6 but at the French Open against Monfils he won the fourth 6-0 before losing the last 2-6. In Germany in July he lost to Krajinovic of Serbia 4-6, 0-6 . What happened there Fabio ? The Serb was ranked 149.

In Cincinatti in August he lost a Quarter Final to Raonic 0-6, 1-6 but pocketed $80,000 before moving on to the US Open in New York. Fabio offered very little resistance again and got smashed by a guy ranked 89, Mannarino of France 3-6, 4-6, 1-6. He did however 'earn' $60,000 for a second round showing. Not a bad few weeks for Fabio as far as prize money was concerned but it did nothing for his reputation as a match or set 'tanker'.

Enough about Fabio, let's move on to his fellow countryman Andreas Seppi. In Davis Cup against Argentina in January this year he played Berlocq, a man ranked 13 places behind him. After winning the first 6-4 he then put all his toys back in the toy box and went home, 0-6, 2-6, 1-6. Five weeks later in Indian Wells he lost to Stan 'The Man' Wawrinka 0-6, 2-6  then met Berlocq again in Romania in April. The Argentinian smashed the Italian to love in the first before Seppi staged a fight back winning the second 6-2 but then lost the third in a breaker.

In July in Hamburg Seppi beat Monaco by the strangest score of 1-6, 6-0, 7-6 which asked two questions, how does a score like this happen and what is it with the Italians and their bagels ??

 In the Moselle Open in France just last week Seppi took on Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in the first round, a match that Seppi would have fancied his chances. Seppi is currently ranked 26 places higher than the Dutchman however it seems as though Andreas may just have found a 'fan' the night before. For reasons only known to the Italian he found himself down 0-6, 1-4 before doing a 'Fabio' and shaking hands with an 'injury' stated withdrawal.

So the questions need to be asked of these two 'gangsters'. Do you guys meet with 'foul play' the night before the matches you withdraw from when you are receiving an absolute pounding from your opposition ? And why so many bagels in your playing career ?

Perhaps a movie can be made one day about these two Professionals from Italy who are fantastic tennis players but can make the headlines for some 'indifferent' score lines in various matches. I would pay good money to go see 'The Italian Job Part 2'..........