Henk Abbink Reports From Monte Carlo: Day 3

Thank you Scoop. Today is going to be an even more amazing day with Novak, Andy and Rafa in the mix too. That photo by Daniel is not the front of the club. It is the entrance to the Hotel de Paris of (amongst others and most recently) Selena Gomez fame, but you are right all of Monte Carlo has that Rodeo Drive look and feel.

And to the Gulbis fanbase: Take a good look at that shot of Dutchman Jesse Huta Galung… you may want to see more of him too 😉

Nice pics!

The Tomic fans have vanished. It’s like he doesn’t exist.

Lorely,

Do you find Gulbis’s game exciting? To me, he seems pretty standard, kind of Djokovic-like. He doesn’t approach the net much; he doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the court; even in Indian Wells after his Delray conquest, Gulbis was more serious than Nadal until he smashed his hand against his racquet.

I like his game, but it’s not aesthetically-beautiful the way a Youzhny plays, for example, who just took the first set over Djoko. I mean, Gulbis strikes me as a big hitter, but a pretty standard European player along the likes of Djoko and Murray, who I don’t fine exceedingly interesting. Gulbis doesn’t have the flair and panache of a Tsonga, a Monfils or even a Gasquet.

I don’t know if I’d term a guy like Fish’s game exciting, Scoop, but I do like the fluidity of his service motion and his backhand. I like that he keeps a rapid style of play. His forehand is not an aesthetically-pleasing shot, but he certainly moves well for a big man and has soft hands at the net.

I wouldn’t say Fish’s game is electric, but he plays an aggressive game and he has variety to his game because he’s looking to move forward. Stepanek is a little like Fish, too, not necessarily exciting or beautiful to watch, but he plays aggressively and moves well at net with great touch.

What happened to Harry at Sarasota? Did you see his match? I see he lost in the first round.

You are blind when it comes to Gulbis, Dan. That’s nothing new.

A German Eurosport commentator said, that Gulbis is an elegant player.

Murray’s & Djoker’s tennis hurts my eyes. Ernests is way more agressive as they are. He is not a grinder like Djokovic & he has more shots & variety than Murray & he does show emotions. Did you never see him smashing his racket or going into discussions with the umpires? He is almost too emotional. His interviews are the best. I don’t think that he is more intelligent than other players, but he is for sure more intellectual. He has charisma.

Tsonga is a charismatic guy too, but I really hate his dancing after a win. WTA player Petkovic got judged when she danced in front of Sharapova. Double standard like so often.

Monfils is like the most french players very focused on his french fan base. Federer, Djokovic & Gulbis are more international. That makes them interesting for ppl from everywere.

Monfils’ tennis is sometimes eye-catching, but he is often just a pusher. His crazy sliding ruined his knees. He lost to Montanes yesterday. He’ll need a wildcard to get into French Open.

Obviously Gulbis goes for his shots but he’ll wait for for the right opportunity a little longer than, say, a Blake and he has a much better chance at making the shot. One hand he’s not intimidated by any of the top players but in his heart of hearts I don’t think he truly believes in himself in crunch time in a slam.
Both he and Gasquet can take out Federer but seem to crumble against Rafa.

I agree with Dan in that his strokes are ugly but extremely effective.

I also heard an announcer (or was it Hewitt?) say that Nadal hits the hardest in warm up. Hard than any other player. The intimidation begins in the locker room with his hopping around and wind sprints. You know you’re in for a long day.

Mentally tougher than Nadal? The guy’s always complaining about his knees or the length of the season. How about Kobe Bryant? The guy is 8 years older than Nadal and has played through countless injuries (my bet is he’ll come back next year at 35 after tearing his Achilles tendon and still be a strong player), and has hit big shots throughout his career.

As for Gulbis, I didn’t say he isn’t an exciting player, but yes, his forehand is a thing of thuggery. And while he plays aggressively and will hit the occasional dropper, I don’t see too much variety in his game. He’s not going to slice the ball or come to the net very much. Although, in Delray he seemed to play with more variety. I like the guy because he’s a character off the court and very athletic, but on it, I don’t see much flair or color, personality-wise.

And, yes, sorry, Scoop, I did see your Harry report after I posted under the Monte Carlo thread. Who’s Harry being coached by?

Nice pics and report Henk. 🙂 Gulbis cannot find the court today and Monaco can’t miss. I hope it isn’t a double bagel…

Raonic, Gulbis, Dimitov might win a slam, but it might be a kind of default slam when Djoko, Nadal, Andy and Del Po all move out of their prime years. The really big win would be to snare a slam in the next 2-3 years when these guys are still in their primes and I don’t think any of those three will. Raonic is no Murray, right now he’s not even a Todd Martin.

Jarkko a great player, no, never was and certainly isn’t now when he never challenges in a big event. Nieminen is a fitter Vince Spadea and no one called Vince great.

Here’s the question: Right now in a big match against the Top including Del Po, who has the best chance: Cilic, Gulbis or Dgo?

This Wawrinka and Murray match tomorrow could be something…

Dan, you must be one hell of a tennis player as you seem to have no respect whatsoever for the results of (other) players. With regard to Nieminen: If a guy, like Jarkko, manages to end the year in the Top 20, Top 30 or top 50 (8 out of 11 years, has beaten players like Djokovic and Agassi, reached 12 finals and has also shown to be pretty good on clay (like today), then in my book that is a great player. If you would have been courtside today, where he got almost the whole Court des Princes stadium behind him, because of better than great play, maybe even you would have enjoyed watching him against Raonic.

Don’t really see why you wish to compare players, you think nothing of, to American players like Spadea and Todd Martin. On top of that, the way you’re putting things, it’s like they’re not anywhere near being great players either.

You’re certainly entitled to adopting your very own standards in considering whether a player is great or not. I trust you will let me do the same.

Let me tell you a story, Henk. When I was writing “Break Point” with Vince, we stepped on the court once. I played Division III college tennis. I can handle myself–or could before I got some injuries I’m still dealing with–against some very good players. I played Satellites when I was 27 and I played matches against guys who were Top-300 players.

Anyway, I said to Vince, “Let me see if I can win a point against you.” I served three points and on every serve, Vince just stepped in and clocked a winner. So, is Vince Spadea a “great player?” Of course he is if I compare him against 99 per cent of tennis players. Unfortunately, guys like Spadea and Nieminem are not compared to guys like you or me, they’re compared to other guys who made it in to the Top 20 or Top 10.

So under this criteria, is Spadea or Nieminem a great player? No, not a chance. Spadea reached one slam quarters. Nieminem reached three slam quarters and has not gotten past the second round in the last 15 slams he’s played, losing in the first round 8 times. So Nieminem has had a good career, but I don’t think he’s had a great career.

Do you know of any tennis pundit who would declare that Todd Martin was a great player? And Martin reached two slam finals, I believe. So it’s not that I don’t have great respect for these players and I have a good inkling how extraordinary these players are, but they’re not great players.

That distinction if for the JMac’s, Connors’, Borg’s, Agassi’s, Becker’s etc. If you call Nieminem a great player, what do you call Martin, who clearly had a better career? And then what do you call the legends?

@Scoop. Good Klitschko story.

Thanks Tom. Safe travels to Madrid. We’ll be in touch. May make it to the wheelchair tournament there. Will soon post on wheelchair tennis too…and with regard to the “X Factor”, stay tuned for a short story with pics from “around the grounds”

My vote for “consistently hardest hitter on men’s tour” would be for Robin Soderling, but he’s been out with mono for more than a year now … Berdych certainly generates more power with less effort than Gulbis, Soderling, or Del Po, though.

Henk great stuff thanks for recommending this to me.