Chrstina McHale has defeated former WTA #1 Caroline Wozniacki for the second time, this time on grass in Eastbourne, in three sets. Earlier this week Caro says she believes she can win Wimbledon. This result will not help her momentum.
David Nalbandian snapped in the final of Queens, in what has to be one of the most outrageous displays of court craziness, when he kicked a piece of ad wood that busted the shin of a linesman, drawing blood. Nalbandian was defaulted from the event and fined and could face legal trouble. Tennis now as a new bad boy.
Roddick got a win, albeit a cheesy one when Querrey retired down 2-5 in the first set. It was Roddick’s first win since Miami.
Petra Kvitova the defending Wimbledon champ lost first round in Eastbourne too, falling to Ekaterina Makarova 75 64.
#1 seed Aga Radwanska also lost to Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 62 64.
Sister Urszula Radwanska scored another big win in the Netherlands, upsetting #4 seed Pennetta 61 61.
Brian Baker continues to impress, winning two Wimbledon qualifying matches, he just needs one more to make the main draw. Robby Ginepri was knocked out of qualies early.
Former doubles duo Eric Butorac and Jamie Murray reunited in Eastbourne but they lost to the Italians Bracciali/ Seppi 76 (10) 62.
Leander Paes is involved in a row about who will rep India in doubles, with Bhupathi stating he would rather play with Bopanna. Paes is playing this week with American Scott Lipsky but they lost in the Netherlands to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Dimitry Tursunov 62 75.
No tags
Mitch · June 20, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Looks like Roddick got seeded for Wimbledon, but he’ll likely face a top 4 guy in the third round, if he can make it that far.
Scoop Malinowski · June 21, 2012 at 12:32 am
That could help Roddick. Brian Baker defeated Teixeira and is in the main draw.
Dan Markowitz · June 21, 2012 at 3:00 am
Can you believe the Paes incident? Neither Bopanna or Bhuphati wants to play with him and he won’t play with lower-ranked Indian so he’ll miss playing in his record 6th Olympics. Btw, what’s happened to Stepanek and Paes, have they split.
Scoop, Spadea’s up in Westchester on Fri aft if you want to take a lesson. He’s switched to the new Donnay racquets. Apparently, Donnay says that the reason why so many players have tennis elbow is that Prince and other racket companies make cheap rackets. Vince says he can’t tell the difference too much between Prince and Donnay rackets.
Steve · June 21, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Scoop’s addiction to Volkl is legend!
Scoop Malinowski · June 21, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Dan pretty sure that Step is concentrating on singles for the FO, Wimb and OLY. They asked him in Miami about if they would stay together for the year because they were in the hunt for #1 ranking but Step made it clear that was not his priority. Tough luck for Paes but that’s what you get when your partner is a very very good singles player. Not sure if I can make it up tomorrow, with a friend’s passing yesterday.
Scoop Malinowski · June 21, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Got 9 Volkls at the moment )
Dan Markowitz · June 21, 2012 at 2:03 pm
I play with a Volkl, too, the Bridge 8. I liked it because it’s predecessors were light, but easy on the elbow. But this newest version, is a little heavy, 11.4 oz and I don’t see the ball popping off the strings. Got to experiment with a few other sticks.
What Volkl are you playing with these days, Scoop? Babolat, based in Boulder, is sending me there top-of-the-line Roddick shoe that I will review on this blog shortly. Is there a Babolat racket anyone is playing with these days that they really like? I never liked the head-heavy feel to Babolats. They seemed like baseline rally rackets rather than net rackets, and I do like to get up to net.
Steve · June 21, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Well, among my friends, the Pure Storm LTD is popular. It’s kinda of Bab’s take on a Wilson 6.1.
I tried the BB Pro(made by Volkl, I think). It was nice but a little floppy.
Scoop Malinowski · June 21, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Volkl Tour 8 for topspin opponents, can really handle and control the ball well with it, it’s light and easily maneuverable. For harder flatter hitters I will pull out the Tour 9 which is heavier and better control. I have three Tour 9s, two of the V engine and one which is like a slightly heavier Tour 8. You can try some of these up in Newport Dan. Steve any time you want to hit you can test these Volkls too. I can tell you some good stories about people who I let demo my racquets. “I can’t miss with this thing!” yelled one friend.
Steve · June 21, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Did you ever try a Yonex?
Scoop Malinowski · June 21, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Yes back in 1999-2000 and liked it. It was a demo, should try it again.
TC · June 21, 2012 at 6:57 pm
I play with Yonex and love it.
Great weight and generous sweet spot.
Dan Markowitz · June 21, 2012 at 11:35 pm
I like the Yonex, but a little too head heavy for me as well. If you look at the players who come to the net and volley, singles players, you’ve got Llodra, Stepanek, Fish and Dolgo, most of them use the Wilson BlX which I’d like to try. But my experience with Wilsons in the past is that they’re very stiff.
Steve · June 22, 2012 at 3:19 am
The K factors 6.1s were stiff, with the BLX versions they softened and dampened it a bit. Will try the Amplifeel soon.
I find the Blades stiff.
The new Prestige MP is kind of amazing.
Steve · June 22, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Interesting 1st round match-ups:
David Nalbandian v 8-Janko Tipsarevic
Alex Bogomolov Jr v 22-Alexandr Dolgopolov
Ernests Gulbis v 6-Tomas Berdych
Fabio Fognini v Michael Llodra
Vasek Pospisil v Sam Querrey
Nikolay Davydenko v 4-Andy Murray
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v WC-Lleyton Hewitt
Philipp Kohlschreiber v WC-Tommy Haas
Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2012 at 1:20 pm
So many of those matchups can go either way. So many dangerous players in the game now, expect quite a few upsets.
Harold · June 22, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Can we lower our expectations of Gulbis? What a waste of talent. I myself will not chase down his matches at the Open anymore. Too disappointed in his effort.
All the money in your dads pockets, cant buy you a head or a heart.
Fed in Djoko’s side again. Murray might have the toughest quarter
Mitch · June 22, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Looks like we’ll have Isner Mahut again in the second round.
Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2012 at 2:38 pm
The Djok-Fed SF pairings at slams can’t be coincidental any more. Nor can Isner-Mahut III. Though these matches are superb for the sport. Wonder if Isner Mahut III will be on center court. Gulbis is a big disappointment, hard to see him ever putting it together. He has the talent but maybe not the single minded drive and hunger to be the best.
Steve · June 22, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Yeah, there are Gulbis fans on this blog that’s why listed it but I sometimes tune in when he’s playing another tall guy, that hits hard with little variety to see if anything sinks in for him. He’s too easily frustrated on court.
Did Tsonga really break a finger or a toe? I picked him at the beginning of the season to win this.
Dan Markowitz · June 22, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Are you saying Gulbis is a disappointment? The guy did get into the Top 20 I believe. That’s not too shabby. True disappointments are guys who never make it into the Top 100 when they had a lot of potential. Do you call Bogolmolov a disappointment?
Mitch · June 22, 2012 at 6:27 pm
Gulbis is definitely a disappointment. He has top 10 talent and should, at the very least, be a fixture of the top 30, like Gasquet and some of the other underachievers.
Harold · June 22, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Anyone that has an ATP point is not a disappointment to me. Knows how much work it takes.
Gulbis just plays with no fight
Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2012 at 12:18 am
Yeah it’s weird to call anyone in the top 1000 a disappointment, how hard it is to get a single ATP point. I respect them all, even the ones who don’t even come close to making it to the top 1000. The reason I call Gulbis a big dissappointment is this guy has the talent to be a slam contender. Two years ago when he did well in Masters Series almost beating Federer and Nadal, indicated how good a player he can be. It’s a shame he can’t play that well consistently. He should be right up there with Delpo and Berdych. I hope he can right the ship and fulfill his potential, and contending for titles, not losing first or second round and forced to play Challengers.
Dan Markowitz · June 23, 2012 at 3:03 am
Scoop,
The Gulbis ship has sailed I’m afraid. I liked him, too, colorful dynamic player. You have to wonder if Tomic or Dmitrov will be future Gulbis’. I wouldn’t put Dmitrov in his skill level, but certainly after Australia, this has not been a good year for Tomic so far. Raonic has shown much more break-through ability.
You don’t see the prodigious young talents today the way you did 5-6 years ago when Nadal, Djoko, Gasquet, Monfils, Tsonga and Berdych and Murray all came up. This has been a down year so far for the 4 young guns.
Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Dan; It really is hard for juniors to break in as pros. Can you name one junior who is like a can’t miss? Yuki Bhambri? Jordan Cox? Devin Britton? Dusan Lojda? Gastao Elias? Nick Lindahl? Jonathan Eyserric? Peter Polansky? Philip Bester? These were all junior stars who have not panned out as pros, they have made no impact whatsoever in the ATP level. Christian Harrison who was billed as more talented than Ryan has struggled to breakthrough in the Futures, I saw he was playing them this year in FL. It’s just very difficult for junior stars and young players today to make it. Can’t think of a single junior star who seems like a can’t miss. Seems the tennis pundits and insiders are being careful not to overhype or jinx them.
loreley · June 23, 2012 at 6:37 pm
I think I told enough about Gulbis here. He struggled with injury, health problems & coach changing the last 2 years. He & Gumy split before Roland Garros. He is trying it with Bresnik at the moment.
He could never take advantage when he had a higher ranking. Always happened something.
Gulbis actually defeated Federer in Rome 2010. Federer was the #1 at this time.
I agree that any player who made it into the top-100 achieved a lot. I think I said that in the past already. They play at Wimbledon, not the ppl from media or the fans.
Scoop Malinowski · June 24, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I forgot he beat Federer, he has slipped so far back into obscurity. THat was a huge win, Fed never plays poorly, Gulbis is just a monster when he’s ON. I saw the match too and still forgot it. Hope he can find the key. Maybe Gilbert or Cahill can coach him, I think BG could harness that talent.
loreley · June 24, 2012 at 4:37 pm
They have other duties, unfortunately.
Cahill is based in Las Vegas for team Adidas. Gulbis was practising there last year for a while when Gumy had to care about his family. He was also working with Gil Reyes.
Gilbert is coaching Querrey right now, but he doesn’t want to travel around the world nonstop too.
Cahill said, it’s wrong to think Gulbis doesn’t care. The opposite is the truth. Cahill and Gilbert like him a lot.
Ernests told at the begin of the season that the many different coaches confused him and that Gumy understands him best.
Right after his 5-set-loss against Kukushkin at Roland Garros some reporters talked with him. He said, if he knew what his problem is, he would be in the top-10.
Gulbis vs. Berdych is scheduled on Centre Court tomorrow.
Andrew Miller · June 24, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Brian Baker qualified for Wimbledon – will face Rui Machado, otherwise known as the man who lost to Ryan Harrison in the final round of USO qualies in 2010 and the man who won a set off Federer in Davis Cup, but who should probably be known as Portugal’s top player (Frederico Gil may disagree, but it is what it is), in Round 1 (barring any unforeseen last millisecond switches). Based on wikipedia. Machado seems like a beast in the Challengers and Futures and Qualifiers. Baker has a shot.
Got to wonder what it’s like down there in Future and Challenger world. Players there KNOW they are in the 2nd and 3rd tiers of the world’s best players, and that success there does not mean success in the top tier. Even when you’re successful in Challengers and Futures, you then have to qualify for tournaments, meaning you’ve already been raked over coals if you happen to win two qualifier matches and get the main draw. You’re probably already blistered and your feet hurt like heck, and you got some kind of shoulder pain that you know you’re supposed to check out but if you withdraw you won’t get the 1st round money. Your opponent is probably a guy like Monfils or some other European player who looks forward to taking advantage of their days of rest by beating you mercilessly. And as you shake hands at the net, they say good match.
The tour probably feels stacked against them. Yeah. they’re on tour. But the obstacles probably feel huge.
Added to that, you probably don’t have the honest coaching that says hey, let’s strengthen out that forehand, or let’s work on the backhand down the line. There’s an incentive to get better, but there’s not much a structure to do it. You have too much to do. You have to play doubles to pay for your hotel and your coach. You probably have to share a hotel room to cut down costs and again, pay for your hotel and your coach. You have no idea how long you’ll be in (fill in random name of city), only that you have scheduled a trip to (fill in random name of another random city) and you think you remember where you stayed last time, but aren’t exactly sure.
As for can’t miss prospects, well I got to say that the can’t miss guys haven’t pushed hard enough. The players who made the jump from potential to contenders – and i would put Andy Murray in that category because of his 3 slam finals – have gotten there because of serious improvement. Somehow Del Potro did it. Tsonga did it – he may only make semifinals of slams, but he makes it there and that’s an outstanding result. They’ve probably gotten some outstanding coaching and have physical fitness trainers, luxuries that keep them a step ahead of the field.
In a sense, the top guys are the 1% of the rankings world and they have benefits that the 99% can’t dream of. They have experience. They have support at every tournament (from their own). They have fan support because of popularity, that then works against any challenger. They have a lot of advantages of “incumbents”. They probably even have preferential treatment at the tournaments, because they define exactly what tournaments and have played them several times. Every single tournament is a homecoming for them.
The argument is that the top three players in the world are just better. But even to get to those top three players, the rest of the players have to actually make it there (you got to beat Lukas Lacko and some other players with fine games to get there).
The Djokovic-Federer-Nadal era has been interesting in that the opposition hasn’t risen to the challenge. Maybe in part it’s because they’ve been sportsmanlike. Djokovic, Federer, Nadal don’t go out of their way, for the most part, to rankle the rest of the ATP. Djokovic doesn’t say things like “my opoonent is a bad player.” It may be hard for the opponents to get up for the matches. And they may also not believe they belong.
But all things come to an end. Though it’s been interesting how players have been able to extend their playing years and improve their games well into the early 30s, age takes a toll. It did in the Sampras-Agassi era, and as with all great champions, and trust me when I say that change is not what I want but that it is inevitable, you can’t have it all, all the time, forever.
Nadal, Djokovic, Federer won’t always be at the top and in my opinion, based on their age, it’s coming to a close pretty soon for their dominance. I think that given all of them are older (and yeah, they’re also young but they’ve got serious mileage) we’re going to see in the coming years an equivalent of what happened in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 where the results at slams showed more parity before Federer consolidated his power over the rest of the field.
It’s already started. Federer has stopped dominating. He’s still a threat to win a slam, but he’s no longer the favorite and that’s clear because, even though his level is very high, Nadal and Djokovic’s level of play at slams is higher. The 2nd point to consider is that Federer’s results at age 27 started to reflect the wear and tear. He stopped winning 3 slams a year (though he made three finals or more per year still at the slams).
Dominance is not forever. The “prospects” have to be ready, because their opportunities are arriving on schedule.
2000
Australia: Agassi
French: Kuerten
Wimbledon: Sampras
US OPen: Safin (Unexpected)
2001
Australia: Agassi
French Open: Kuerten
Wimbledon: Ivanisevic (Unexpected)
US Open: Hewitt (Unexpected)
2002
Australia: Johannson (Unexpected)
French Open: Costa (Unexpected)
Wimbledon: Hewitt
US Open: Sampras
2003:
Australia: Agassi
French Open: Ferrero
Wimbledon: Federer
US Open: Roddick
2004:
Australia: Federer
French Open: Gaudio (Unexpected)
Wimbledon: Federer
US Open: Federer
Harold · June 25, 2012 at 12:33 am
Cahill wont say a bad word about any player under contract to Adidas
Michael · June 25, 2012 at 6:31 am
“will face Rui Machado, otherwise known as the man who lost to Ryan Harrison in the final round of USO qualies in 2010 and the man who won a set off Federer in Davis Cup, but who should probably be known as Portugal’s top player”
Not many people saw that match (at least the entire match) so why would he be known for that match ? He lost to a qualifier. It’s not like RH went on to be the next #1.
He made it to round two of the USO main draw and took Verdasco to five (before petering out and losing the fifth 6-0) in 2008. Which seems more significant. And I briefly chatted with him about that match and he remembers it well. (He even corrected me on what court it was played on and this was years later. I sometimes mix up 7 and 11).
But I don’t really think of him for that match either. I think of him as the guy that always throws his racket at least once during a match.
loreley · June 25, 2012 at 7:52 am
Didn’t Cahill critize Gulbis when he played the US Open in 2009? I’ve been told, that he said on ESPN, that Gulbis doesn’t work hard enough. Reportedly the Latvian turned down his help when he was without coach at that time.
Like I said, I didn’t hear it, because I don’t watch tennis via ESPN. Maybe it’s just gossip.
loreley · June 25, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Gulbis defeated Berdych 7-6 (5), 7-6,(4) 7-6 (5) 🙂
It was a great match.
Harold · June 25, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Welcome back Ernie. Gilbert was saying hes changed his forehand. Hits it like Cilic now.
Great win, keep it going
Scoop Malinowski · June 25, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Biggest win for Gulbis in a couple years. He has shown his brilliance once again. Watch him lose to the qualifier next round though )
loreley · June 28, 2012 at 11:10 am
He lost against Janowicz 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-9.
Gulbis fired 39 aces and made more points. Stats look good, but he still lost.
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/stats/day10/1208ms.html
I expected a difficult match for Gulbis. Because I know how the guy plays. Gulbis defeated him in Davis Cup some years ago. Said afterwards that he reminds him of Berdych.
Big serve and heavy groundstokes.
Ben Rothenburg from NYT knew him too.
https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/218066581295607808
Ernests was rather calm and played well, but after an early break by Janowicz the 2nd set was gone. Try to get a break back from a big hitting guy.
The youngster kept fighting like hell. Gulbis lost the tiebreak in the 4th set. I guess that cost him the match. Gulbis fired 4 aces in a row to reach the tiebreak, but failed to win the match there.
Ernests had even some chances in last set, but the guy was unstoppable after he won that crucial tiebreak.
The Qualfier will play Flo Mayer of Germany next. Mayer had a 5-set battle as well against Petzschner. I doubt that Janowicz can repeat his effort. It will be his 6th match in Wimbledon. But who knows.
Scoop Malinowski · June 28, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Loreley thanks for the details. I know Janowicz is a strong player and spoke with him at the Polish consulate two years ago before the US Open. He is a big Karlovic type player who made the finals of boys US Open (l. to Berankis in final of SF). Very good player just hasn’t been able to establish himself, and from what I hear isn’t the most deep pocketed young tennis player regarding financial backing. Gulbis has trouble with motivation for matches like this against no names on outer courts, like many players do. If all Gulbis matches were on big courts vs. big name players, his ranking and results would be very different. He has to find a way to incite his motivation and inspiration. The ATP JJ is a dangerous player and this could be his breakout.
loreley · June 28, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Thank you for the informations about Janowicz. So you know him too. The most have no clue about him and think Ernests should have defeated him in straight sets.
I agree with you about Gulbis, that he plays better against the big names.
He said in his post match interview after his win over Berdych, that he was happy that he got a high ranked guy. The higher, the better, he said. It helps him to focus.
I’m not sure if he can’t motivate himself when it is a random player on a outer court. But I know that these guys are really tougher to play. Guys like Berdych are very businesslike. They don’t kill themself, like these random guys, who play like maniacs.
Put any top guy on an outer court and look what happens. Murray for example. Won’t happen though.
A few weeks ago Ernests would have lost against Janowicz in straight sets. His game his back since he is with Bresnik.
Maybe you want to read his presser after his win against Berdych.
http://freedomtennis.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/ernests-gulbis-june-25-2012/
He has to find a way to beat this random guys soon or he is out of tennis.