Tennis Prose




Jul/12

3

Kohlschreiber


About four years ago at the U.S. Open media center I had a conversation with a German media man and he told me he believed Philipp Kohlschreiber was a potentially elite ATP player just what he was missing to get him over the hump was a top quality coach. But paying the high salary for a big-time coach just wasn’t in his budget at the time.

The conviction of his voice in stating this assertion was persuasive.

Now it appears, Kohlschreiber could be about to prove those words true. By beating American Brian Baker, the German is in the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career.

There are other signs that Kohli is on the verge of his big breakthrough. Earlier this month Kohlschreiber defeated Nadal on grass on Halle. He has won four titles. His ranking right now is #30 and he could soon surpass his career high #22 in 2009. He has earned close to $5 million in career prize money.

Kohlschreiber’s coach now is Stefan Eriksson. Former player Patrick Kuhnen, the German Davis Cup captain, is also in his box.

Who knows, maybe the 29-year-old Kohlschreiber is about to pull a Thomas Johansson, Goran or Petr Korda move and win his first major at an advanced age. So far, so good.

25 comments

  • loreley · July 3, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    Kohlschreiber had Murray’s coach for while. But he didn’t play well under his guidance. Miles Maclagan is with Baghdatis now.

    I like Kohlschreiber. I like Mayer too. They are good players and most important for me, they are fair players. No dirty tricks. They are probably too nice to be on the very top.

    But Ferrer is nice too. Hopefully not too nice to beat Murray. 😉

  • TC · July 3, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    yeah, props to PK. On grass he’s weed killer.

    I was shocked that folks here thought that Baker would beat him.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 3, 2012 at 3:03 pm

    You might be right Loreley, Kohlschreiber might be too nice, not ruthless enough. He is a very fair player. I’ve seen him play many times and never saw him try and dirty tricks either. Very good player to watch with that fluid one hand backhand and nice service motion. He’s due for a big win at a major.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 3, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    Thomas, most of Tennis America is in love with the Baker story and we hoped he would do it.

  • Steve · July 3, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    According to an interview with Wilander he actually returned to his original two coaches this season after trying a highly touted international coach which didn’t work out.

    Kohlschreiber walked by me while walking to or from practice at the US Open during qualies. I was surprised that he was a slight guy, 5’10” maybe. Impressed by the power he can generate. I really do enjoy his style of play.

  • TC · July 3, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    Love the Baker story. I wonder if his rankings rise is bigger than a ‘back from injury’ Phillipoussis or Del Potro?

  • Dan markowitz · July 3, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    Ok, come on, Scoop. I know you’re exciting all the Euros
    On this blog, but Kohly ain’t going nowhere. When you can get into
    A slam quarters by beating Rasol and Baker, you’re one lucky dude. But Kohly has made a Spadea career in losing big tight matches. Maybe he’ll break No 22, but unless he plays Mayer in the next round, Kohly ain’t ever making a slam semis.

    I like Mayer’s game. He’s a smarter, less powerful but more mentally strong, Dolgopolov.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 3, 2012 at 4:33 pm

    Steve he is a pretty slim slight guy, but obviously a ton of talent in those bones. Wonder who the “highly touted international” coach was.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 3, 2012 at 4:41 pm

    Dan after Rosol KOed Nadal, I ain’t counting anything out. Kohlschreiber is in position to make the SFs. Who woulda ever thunk it?

  • TC · July 3, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    It’s a big ask against Tsonga. He’s just a beast, but I think it will go 4 or 5 sets.

  • loreley · July 3, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    The Euros made it to the Quarters. 😉

    But I agree, that Kohlschreiber was lucky with the draw. Mayer also.

    Baker was lucky with the draw as well. I like his story too. He came back from nowhere. It must be encouraging for all the players struggling.

    Kohlschreiber plays save percentage tennis. He hardly takes risks. I don’t see him beating a guy like Tsonga.

    Mayer plays unpredictable. But Djokovic is defending like mad. I don’t expect an upset.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 3, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    Tsonga should win Thomas but so should have Rafa. And Kerber should have defeated Lisicki by now but we’re deadlocked again at 3-3 in the third. What a brave effort by Lisicki.

  • TC · July 3, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    @lorely “He hardly takes risks.”

    Seen how he rips that backhand cross court? Seems like risky tennis to me 😉

    Remember he beat Federer on grass at Halle. On paper that’s massive.

  • loreley · July 3, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    He didn’t defeat Federer. He defeated Nadal, who was mentally spent from his history win at RG. Halle was too fast for Nadal anyways.

    Kohlschreiber plays percentage tennis. Nothing risky there. Of course not everyone has his backhand. But why do ppl praise one-handed backhands? Because it’s rare? Serve & volley is rare too.

  • Steve · July 3, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    It certainly feels like the Tsonga train can’t be stopped. Scoop, fans adore Tsonga, he will be a popular champion.

    He sometimes breaks out the one-hander too.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 3, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    Loreley, The best win I ever saw from Phil was when he beat Roddick a few years ago in Australia. Roddick was still a threat back then. He is capable of some big time tennis. What do you consider Phil’s greatest victory?

  • TC · July 3, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    My bad, he beat Nadal. Just checking you were paying attention 🙂

    One handers are not thata rare but rarely threatening. I won’t praise PK to the hilt but just to say he’s having the year of his life imo.

    Once he gets better draws on account of a better ranking he’ll be a bigger factor and he plays all the surfaces well.

  • loreley · July 3, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    I don’t watch him that often that I can tell you his biggest victory. I forgot that he had a big win against Roddick.

    He had big victories at Davis Cup though.

    Kohlschreiber is almost 29 years old & ranked between top-30 and top-60 over the years. Germans gave up on him.

  • TC · July 3, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    For strength and depth, they have a lot of good players in the top 200, but the average age must be late 20s. Stebe is good and I love Dustin Brown, but he’s too wild to really win much. If only the grass ‘season’ was longer.

    They had it too good with Becker, Stich and Graf.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 4, 2012 at 12:17 am

    Tsonga is already hugely popular Steve, he is one of the most colorful and charismatic performers in the sport today, a great ambassador for the sport too. Watched him in Miami, NY and he draws the crowds. People say he looks like Ali I think he looks more like a cross between Ali and Tyson, also he has the grace and athleticism of Ali and he certainly has the explosiveness of Tyson.

  • Andrew Miller · July 4, 2012 at 4:01 am

    Baker’s story is the best out there by far. There might be a durability question for him when he moves from the soft surfaces of clay and grass to the U.S. hard courts. I know U.S. players love hard courts, but they pose a question mark for Baker. Maybe with the huge serve he can negotiate even the hard courts well.

    As for Two P Phillipp Kohl..er, I think it’s a nice thought. But I don’t think this is the year of Thomas Johannson’s AO run. That said, if he thinks this is his moment, why not a semifinal, with Tsonga’s back taking Tsonga out and ending up with Phillipp playing the match of his life to beat Ferrer or Murray?

    You never know.

  • Thomas Tung · July 4, 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Phillipp is a fine player, almost always between 30-50 in the rankings, has given many top players rough matches over the years (even if he loses almost all of them). The only top player that routinely steamrolls Kohlschreiber is (no surprise) Roger Federer. As others have mentioned, plays very fair on the court. Usually has a good game plan against his opponent (one year on hard courts, his game plan was to out-topspin Nadal; it actually, and surprisingly, worked quite well, but Philipp got tight on the key points, blowing some sitters … lost 7-5 6-4 after being up a break in both sets). He’s always had a pretty good serve, and has upgraded it some 10mph or so over the last 6 years … also hits with a lot more spin than he did at the start of his career, and those changes have helped to keep him in the Top 50.

  • Harold · July 4, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    I’ll tell you one thing about Double D, either he is the nicest guy or a great practice partner, because during qualie week at the Open, he is always hitting with the top guys(Fed,Nadal) on Armstrong

  • Andrew Miller · July 4, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    Ferrer playing a very fine match vs. Murray. Murray playing very solid. Maybe this tempo – seizing small advantages per set and playing patiently – will push Murray towards the title. Part of me says we’ve seen this movie before, and it ends up with Murray playing passively at the biggest moments of semifinals or slam finals, and that Ferrer may hold this against Murray and beat him now. Dunno. That’s the excitement of tennis.

  • Andrew Miller · July 4, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    Well played by Ferrer, kudos to Murray.

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