Andre Agassi great matches - Part 1 (1990-1995)

He confessed his long blond hairs were a wig, to have used crystal meth and to have assumed, as a junior, performance-enhancing drugs given to him by his father. His revelations launched new shadows on the ATP directors: have they hided the dark secret under the carpet to avoid the toy broke itself?

Anyway, Andre invented a new way of playing, gifted tennis fans the greatest rivalry ever and one of the best matches in the history of this sport. This tribute is to the player and to his most unbelievable and remarkable matches.

Roland Garros 1990, final (l.toAndrés Gomez 6-3 2-6 6-4 6-4).
His first Grand Slam final. His first great complaint, wig or not wig. Gomez, after 27 majors played, secured the goal he has worked a lifetime to achieve. The Ecuadorean planned not to go to Paris, but he changed his mind when Lendl announced his intention to withdraw from the Roland Garros (and Gomez was thrice eliminated by Lendl in Paris). Agassi wore the same black and hot lava ensemble that prodded the authorities into announcing the possibility of a Wimbkledon-like dress code.
Although Agassi was a decade fitter and younger than his opponent, Gomez gained a critical break to 5-3 in the first set thanks to a combination of a backhand volley followed by an overhead spike. Then he slammed two aces, one on a second serve at set point. Gomez waffled in the second, was broken to love to 4 all in the third, but then he re-took control of the match with big serves and a patchwork game.


US Open 1990, final (l.to Pete Sampras 6-4 6-3 6-2).
The first Sampras, with a perfect flat backhand and lethal volleys, overwhelmed Andre making him realize he coulod hit even harder. Agassi, who was the favourite, never accepted this defeat.


Wimbledon 1992, final (w.to Goran Ivanisevic 6-7(8) 6-4 6-4 1-6 6-4).
The first, and last, success against Mister Ace at the Championships. Agassi, who in the past refused to play in London for the dress-code, reversed his misfortune refusing, after losing the first set, to be intimidated by Ivanisevic's 37 aces.

The final marked the first time dince 1985 two dark horses fought in the title match at Wimbledon, and the eight seeded Croat, the the tour's most high-powered server seemed to have the momentum when, after 2 hours and 50 minutes, the battle against the best power returner entered the final set. A second serve ace had guaranteed him the first set tiebreaker and, in the fifth, Ivanisevic served the 200th ace of his tournament in the fourth game adding two more to keep the set on serve to 3 all.



But Agassi remained focused and patient, waiting for one two loose points that could have opened him some chance to clinch the title in the tournament he once shunned.
And the patience paid. In the final game of the match, Ivanisevic double faulted to 0-30, recovered thanks to a pair of winners and then could only watched the whistling forehand passing shot from Agassi producing a match point. The second serve came on the next point, and Ivanisevic ruined all with excessive downsizing on an easy backhand volley.

So Agassi became the first American since John McEnroe in 1984 to win Wimbledon and the first 12th seeded player to appear in the Hall of Fame of the Championships.

Masters 1994, semifinal (l.to Sampras 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3).
In a match of incredibly high technical level, everybody realized that their rivalry would have become the greatest of all time. Pete served at his best, Agassi returned with astonishing attention. A rally was replied for months by televisions all around the world as a spot for tennis.

Australian Open 1995, final (w.to Sampras 4-6 6-1 7-6(6) 6-4).
Agassi's only success over Pistol Pete in a Grand Slam final (a coincidence who, years after, led Sampras say: “He lose against me even when he plays better because he knows I'm the best”).

Agassi completed his first Australian Open run with his second, back-to-back, major title and dethroning the top-ranked Sampras, arrived to the final with 14 gruelling sets played in the last three rounds, while Agassi had to drop a set yet.
Sampras earned further respect for the unashamed despair he displayed after his coach, Tim Gullikson, was hospitalized and then sent home to Chicago after the third round. And more, Sampras, the introvert, made personal history by coming back twice from two-sets-to-none deficits, and displayed his unique ability to show his vulnerability, cry and play perfect tennis in the fifth set of his quarterfinal against Jim Courier.

The opening set went to Sampras after Agassi, who had never gifted easy points in the key moments in the tournaments, fired off two unusual and bleeding doubles, the second of which came at set point, at 4-5 15-40. But Sampras let down the guard, and immediately went 0-4 down in the second.

In the third set, they traded breaks in the third and fourth games, and then arrived to the most umpredictable tiebreaks. Agassi dashed 3-0, but Sampras immediately captured 4 points in a row and gained a set point at 6-4 with a brilliant reflex volley. Agassi fought and found a winning forehand return down the line and benefitted from an overhit forehand from Sampras. Then was the round of Andre to have a set point, and he converted it by ending a long rally with a deft backhand volley. Sampras restarted to serve aces in the fourth set (three both in the third and seventh game), but the 28 final aces weren't enough. Agassi, who served his 10th ace on match point, registered a return twice as reliable as that of his opponent's and committed half the number of unforced errors.

Agassi, who with this title completed three quarters of career Slam, said after the match: “"He wasn't the best player in the world today," said Agassi, "but the reality is he's clearly ahead of everybody”.

For a Few Copies More

Andre Agassi confessed, in his autobiography that he tested positive to anti-doping tests but lied to the ATP to escape ban. The first player to complete the career Grand Slam in the Open era assumed an higjly addictive drug, the crystal methamphetamine: it’s not an enhancing-performance substance, but it’s meant for personal use, considered as a recreational drug like the cocaine.

He took the meth (possession of which carries a maximum five-year jail sentence in the US) in 1997, a period signed by doubts, falling form, and the ending of his turbulent marriage with the actress Brooke Shields. In his book, he so recalls the episode:

“Slim [his assistant coach at the time] is stressed too ... He says, You want to get high with me? On what? Gack. What the hell’s gack? Crystal meth. Why do they call it gack? Because that’s the sound you make when you’re high ... Make you feel like Superman, dude.

“As if they’re coming out of someone else’s mouth, I hear these words: You know what? F*** it. Yeah. Let’s get high.

“Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table. He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I’ve just crossed.

“There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness. Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful — and I’ve never felt such energy”.

But this isn’t the most shocking part of his confession. Andre would have lied to the ATP, and the tennis authorities would have accepted his lies interwoven with true parts; the American avoided a three months suspension after an autumn when he pulled out of the Roland Garros and didn’t bother to practise for Wimbledon. “I say Slim, whom I’ve since fired, is a known drug user, and that he often spikes his sodas with meth — which is true. Then I come to the central lie of the letter. I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim’s spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely. I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it.”

This story generates two reflexions. On the one side, about the role and the behaviour of the ATP, now attacked by player for the new stricter rules, although they have never accomplished a top-player suspension, except for Gasquet (excused anyway for his cocaine-filled kiss during a party). This result is the product of a substantial correctness in player’s mood, or this could imply that even nowadays ATP could cover some misconduct with the purpose of avoiding a collapse in the reputation of the sport? Probably we’ll know the truth in a decade or so, when the autobiographies of actual champs will be sold.

Agassi also said he has inside hated tennis, also if he invented a new way of playing, “the baseliner counter-attacker”, with the mood of Bjorn Borg and the feet on the baseline, with half-volley groundstokes and an extraordinary sense of advance. He felt tennis more than simply playing it.

“I was actually excited about telling the world the whole story”, he concluded. Also Boris Becker, in 2003, in his autobiography, confessed to have played for most of 1990 and 1991 under the effect of sleeping drugs, so implicitly diminishing Stefan Edberg’s triumph at 1990 Wimbledon. Perhaps has Andre’s happiness something to do with the certainty that such a scoop would make the sales grow?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Novak

Heading towards the Masters Cup, we review the season of the "Big Four". Let's start with the big entertainer Novak Djokovic.



Like many players, Novak Djokovic claims he doesn't pay much attention to the rankings. Probably he has some reasons. He's in the Big Four since 27 months, and considering the difficulty in breaking the duopoly of the “RR couple”, Novak has the chance of be n.3 or 4. And the implications in gaining or losing a position (respect to Andy Murray) are substantially non existent.

Anyway, although he has overhauled Andy Murray, who had surpassed him earlier this season, Novak Djokovic's year leaves around him an impression of unfinished, like he was caught in the middle of a growing process only half completed. It could be hard to understand how a season registering 17 quarters played out of 19 tournaments, with 13 semis and seven finals can be defined “disappointing”. But, for the third best player in the world, be the owner, in every sense, of the Belgrade Open (owned by his family) he won beating Kubot, and winning Beijing (over Marin Cilic) and Dubai (over David Ferrer) cannot compensate his lacks in the most important stages, where victory counted the most. For different reasons, he failed in the majors.

In Australia he confessed to have suffered the extra pressure he posed on himself, being the defending champion, combined with a growing unease with his new racket. The tournament ended with the heat exhaustion in the quarter against Andy Roddick, the same who defeated him at Wimbledon and went a backhand volley far from reigning on British lawns. Novak's season on the clay wasn't happier, and perfectly testified the hybrid condition of the Serb, great with lower-ranked opponents, but small with the best players: he's 4-9 with Federer, 5-14 with Nadal. His bleeding defeat against Nadal in the Madrid Masters semifinal, and the second surrendering in the title match in Rome, where the Serb was again defending champion, were the premises to a forgettable Roland Garros, where he failed to go through the quarterfinals (for the second and last time in the season: he lost in the first round in the first tournament he played this year, in Dubai).

Hard-court season in the United States went somewhere further, although he crashed before against the brightest Andy Murray admired in the last 12 months, then in the perfect match by Roger Federer.

The see-saw results, evaluation depending on what is potential is and what part of his potential remained unexpressed, were specular to his technical, tactical and characterial limbic progress. He has more virtues as imitator, as mimesis of someone else's style than capable of developing a really personal interpretation of the game.

He has a knack for upsetting many opponents with mid-match retirements and continuous, sometimes used as an excuse, calls to the trainer. The entertainer who hilariously joked and jousted with John McEnroe can also turn the public against him. He's definitely on the subtle red line between self-confidence and arrogance. But he's also a baseliner who dreams to become someone else, something else.



For this reason, in April he hired Gebhard Phil-Gritsch, who helped Muster become one of the fittest players in tennis, showing a determination in improving in an area where he used to appear weak, testifying his desire not to continue failing at the distance, as he did in four Grand Slam matches concluded with a retire in his young career. Before Us Open his coach, Marian Vajda, started to be joined by Todd Martin: one who certainly isn't a factor in the fitness matter (considered the amount of plasters and bandages he showed oncourt) but has a growing influence in the tactical evolution of Novak's game.

“We've put a lot of work into the legs, into my movement, because this is where I have a good feeling about my game. My advantage is my running ability. I like to be dynamic and show a lot of energy on the court” said to Paul Newman in an interview for “The Independent. “Before the US Open we had lots of time on the tennis court. We put a lot of work into it. I'm a temperamental player. I show my emotions, even in practice. When I get frustrated I throw my racket. Then I look at Todd and I'm kind of scared about what his reaction might be, what he's going to say. But he always says: 'The shot you made before the mistake was good. So keep it going.' He always tries to find the positive in everything. I think that's a great thing about him. He's going to bring a lot of freshness to the team.”

Martin is working to add variety to his game, to improve slice and volleys. Djoker, who played more than everyone else this year, 82 matches until now, usually arrived to the last part of the season without many points to defend, while this year he has to confirm the victory at the Tennis Masters Cup in London. On the grass he could need more easy points, more impact from his serve, he has to significantly the amount of direct points. Until now, in fact, he has an average of 5 aces per match, although he wins 73% of points on his first serve. Dynamism is probably the key to explain the 34% of 1st serve return points (42% of total return points won). Mentally he's positive, but not so cold: he saved 2 break points out of three and converted 4 out of 10.

On the grass of the O2 Center in London he needs to perfect these details to defend his title, and not to watch the dvd of the historical Wimbledon semifinal between his new “part time coach” and Malivay Washington.

New lights on Marcos Baghdatis

Marcos Baghdatis is back. The Cypriot won the Stockholm Atp 250 over Olivier Rochus 61 75. Baghdatis, who hadn’t such a joy since February 2007 (in Zagreb, w. over Ivan Ljubicic) is the tenth unseeded player to clinch a title this season. Is this enough to talk about a Renaissance of the ex Australian Open finalist? Is this a sufficiently bright signal to turn off the critics of who considers Marcos nothing more than a meteor who lived only a summer of unexpected glory?

Probably not, although a victory is always a victory and should mollify attacks and oppositions. Marcos won a decent tournament, but surely not an astonishing tournament. The only top-10 in the main draw, Robin Soderling, withdrawn in the semifinal for an elbow injury, and gave up the hope of improving his ranking points replacing the 115 points of the success at the Sunrise Challenger. The quality of the event is testified by the semifinal between Olivier Rochus (who was the 21th best player in the world, has two career titles and, although his one-handed backhand and smart strategies would deserve more, hasn’t reached the fourth round in a Grand Slam event since 2005) and the Gstaad champions, the 21 y.o. Brasilian Thonas Bellucci.


Apart from the level of his opponent, anyway, Baghdatis seemed regenerated. Certainly he doesn’t play “on the cloud” like in the glorious 2006, but he displayed a consistent performance, above all with serve. In the final he broke for the first time, after wasting two opportunities, and again in the sixth game. On his serve he registered two points out of three on his serve and 8 aces after 40 minutes, at the end of the first set. In the second Baghdatis, who had already beaten the Belgian 75 64 at the Italian Masters, clinched his fifth and decisive break to serve for the match at 65, sealing the success in 99 minutes thanks to the 15 aces, the 62% of points transformed on his serve and to the four break points saved out of six.

Phisycally Marcos appeared wirier, more zippy, showing precise strokes with perhaps less power than before. Touch is always the same: it can’t be lost, probably like the slight paunch. Generally, it seems coach Infantino is doing a good work.

In the end, this good victory is a small step towards the highest possible aim for Marcos, a stable stay in the top-30 with some raid in the top-20. The odds are against a possible come back of the Cypriot in the top-10 (he was n.8 at his best ranking). To reach his goals Marcos has to practice with a persistence he has never showed, because of his spirit and a series of injuries. And it would be difficult to understand if the injuries forced him to stuttering trainings, or his slightly lazy spirit, showing itself in his way of practicing, caused the injuries. He is definitely a nice guy, a natural entertainer that could only add positive effects for tennis. But he isn’t the champion capable of being a systematic danger for the Big Four as many had thought after the 2006 Australian Open.

Beauty will save the world

“Who's intelligent is meant to remain a nobody, only stupid people become someone. Men in 19th century must, is morally forced to be a creature without character”. This is an excerpt from the most intense molologue by Fedor Dostojevski, part of “Notes from the Underground”, the most intense novel by the Russian. This is the favourite novel of Janko Tipsarevic, the manifold Serbian player who reached at the Kremlin Cup the first semifinal in two years defeating Robbie Ginepri with a double 6-3. Tipso clinched the victory with an amazing 93 percent of his first-serve points and winning all 14 of his first-serve points during his last five service games.

The really interesting part of his history isn't in his career, in his results. But in what lays behind the court, in the relation between a curious and cultivated player with an as much cultivated coach, Alberto Castellani.

“The greatness of Notes From The Underground is that Dostojevski spoke about the unconscious and subconscious many years before Freud” once said to his coach. Castellani so described Tipso. He wants to know everything and dreams to explain you everything he knows. Other players calls him “the Small Professor”.

He loves Dostojevski. Last year, during the Kremlin Cup, Tipso defeated Mathieu and was meant to play against Marat Safin. But that night he went to the museum dedicated to him. A devotion he brings tattoed on his skin: “Beauty will save the world”, from The Idiot.

I remember him in Rome, in 2008, when he played against Fernando Gonzalez with sunglasses and a racquet with red strings. He's extremely talented, but has the rare value of being man before than athlete, of putting Janko ahead of Tipsarevic, life ahead of career.

Castellani started working with the Serb at the end 2005: Janko has fallen down to n.138 in the World Ranking and hasn't won since Wimbledon. He projected, and projects yet, a personalized practice from the technical, physical and mental point of view. Tipso works hard on his serve, works to play a metre or two more in front, to hit balls rising. His ranking improves, but the man remains ahead of the athlete, his absent-mindedness hasn't ceased to affect him and his results. Janko is an all surfaces player, but is above all a man with an umprecedented “literary hunger” so peculiar on a tennis court.

Castellani reveals endless conversations about the fundamentals of philosophy, about the roots of being a man: Does God exists? (Janko doesn't believe in it), Is truth possible?, Who created the universe?

They talks about Saint Augustine, Heidegger, the Italian Emanuele Severino, Nietzche (the philosopher preferred by Tipso). He knew Nietzche, the ideal of necessity of nichilism, but he thought it was not enough. So he read “Beyond Good and Evil”, “On the genealogy of Morality”, “Human, too human”, “The Gay science”. His mother was extremely satisfied of his son's progress.

The two often go to Belgrade: the pool where Janko and other Serbs practiced themselves during the war and the bombings from the anti-Milosevic force stays there yet. In Belgrade bombs couldn't target places guarded by crowds of civilians who massively reunited to save the pool and the city bridges. When evening empires vanished into sands, Janko remained the tambourine of a “melting pot” music, made of forehands and kalashnikov.

His meditations involves logic and the theory of the “everything flows” by Heraclitus, the deepness of “Achilles and the tortue” and the basis of the Western culture. Janko is fascinated by the extreme consequences of the “everything flows”: because if becoming means transforming itself in something different, this imply the destruction of the architraves of Parmenides: “It is necessary to speak and to think what is; for being is, but nothing is not”. Travelling through tournaments, in his bags there were racquets, shirts and everything necessary for the athlete, but also not less than six books about philosophy: Kant, Nietzche, ancient Greeks, but even Avicenna and Averroes.

The most striking aspect of his personality is his strong, radicated hate for mediocrity and “the right medium”. Horatian motto “est modus in rebus” doesn't fit to Janko, who wants everyone go beyond the limits. Castellani is half coach half teacher: latin, phisics, Einstein, black holes, art, Caravaggio. Even if Janko continues asking his coach to be stricter, he defeated Lleyton Hewitt in Australia. “I'm Serbian, we grow with rigid rules”. “Ok”, answered Castellani who doesn't believe in authoritarian methods. “If you need more strictness, you can give yourself a stricter discipline”. It's like to say, put your good and your evil ahead of you like a law and be so courageous to live respecting your law: a perfect nietzchean suggestion.

Castellani wasn't at Wimbledon; Janko went to the Championships with his trainer and manager and played the best tournament of his life. As Tim Roth wrote closing his American Pastoral, “could something be more perfect?”.

Personally, I don't think.

Something is rotten in Denmark

Once upon a time, tennis was a sport for gentlemen. Then John McEnroe, Jeff Tarango arrived and a certain level of bad behaviour started to diffuse and be tolerated. Now that more and more people tend to associate "personality", "character" with sudden eruption of fury, the mood of Ilja Bozoljac or the Austrian Daniel Koellerer, whose motto is "If you respect your opponent, you have already lost", are becoming common.

And proliferate where the luxury and artificiosity of top-class events leave his place to the not-glamorous tournaments belonging to the second or third tier circuit, like Challengers or Futures. The last episode is only another confirmation of this stigmatizable evolution. If we should give a title to this story, the only suitable would be: "Something is rotten in Denmark".

We are in Kolding, for the final of the local Challenger event. Ivan Dodig, n.195 in the world ranking, 24-years-old from Bosnia, is facing the British n.2, no more that Alex Bogdanovic, ranked just ten places above his opponent. Dodig was already lucky to escape a disqualification in the first round match: not yet satisfied to have staged a replica of the wordly famous monologue by Serena Williams during the Us Open semifinal, Dodig tried to do better and reserved the same "attentions" to one of Hamlet's compatriots on the stands. The supervisor "forgave" him, and Dodig, as every big actor does, preserved the greatest performance for the principal occasion.

Dodig won the first set in the final, while the second has to be decided in a tiebreaker. At 6-6, on Bogdanovic's serve, a first ball is seemingly out but the lineswoman doesn't call and the chair umpire confirmed: 7-6 Bogdanovic who, predictably, clinched the set at the very next point.

The furious Dodig shouted for a toilet break and, heading towards the locker room, bawled out against the lineswoman with clearly readable, but not referrable, words. The news arrived to the chair umpire who informed the supervisor. Clearly Dodig was disqualified and, to complete his performance, coming back to the court he threw the trophy reserved to the losing finalist against a wall and completely destroyed it.

In the end, he lost not only the match, great part of his reputation, but also the 75 points he would have gained as the tournament finalist.

This is his version, from his official website.

Bet on...Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko outclashed Rafa Nadal 7-6 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters final and clinch his 18th title, in a manner of style even more impressing than the score would suggest. The Russian, renewed after the bet enquiry, the scandal and the suspects followed the sadly famous Sopot first round match against Vassallo Arguello in 2007, is now the most testing opponent to verify a player’s fitness. And Nadal, playing his first final for five months, showed to have some way to go to find his best form: he managed only nine winners to the 28-years-old Rusian’s 35. Davydenko is certain to finish the year outside the top-5 for the first time since 2004. And is now the player with the best result not to have played a Grand Slam final yet.

Now the Russian is seventh in the Year-to-Date and improves his odds to go to London for the World Tour Finals. All players can add points from the Atp 500 in either Basel or Valencia in the week of 2 Novembrer and again at the Paris Masters. But Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko, Marin Cilic, Tommy Robredo and Radek Stepanek have all won two Atp 250 titles. And this could give some more chances for Robin Soderling, now n.9 in the YTD, now in Stockholm; because he won Bastad but has only 90 points from his second best performance in the ATP 250. So winning in Sweden, he could add 160 points to his ranking.

Now see more in detail the Year-to-Date situation this week limited to players yet uncertain of their qualification for the Finals.

Andy Roddick 4,330
Nikolay Davydenko 3,450
Fernando Verdasco 3,030
Robin Soderling 2,820
Fernando Gonzalez 2,780
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,640
Marin Cilic 2,205
Gilles Simon 2,105
Radek Stepanek 2,095
Tommy Robredo 2,040
Gael Monfils 1,975

Andy Roddick: The American, who has qualified six consecutive years for the Finals, is the highest-ranked player yet to clinch his 2009 berth. After the knee injury sustained at the Shanghai Masters, he is not scheduled to play until the Valencia Open 500 from 2 November.

Nikolay Davydenko: Like Tsonga, the Russian cannot count any more points earned at the 250s because he already counts titles in Kuala Lumpur and Umag. In Atp 500s he has now earned 815 points: he will add something improving the Beijing quarters (90 points)
Fernando Verdasco: Attempting to qualify for the first time, super-fit Spanish left-hander will come back oncourt during the week of 2 November in Valencia. He has 180 points from ATP 500s and can add 100 points in 250s but he should won a tournament to discard the Kuala Lumpur final.

Robin Soderling: Players immediately behind him have all won two ATP World Tour 250 tournaments, so cannot add to their totals outside the 500s and 1000s. But Soderling can add points at the 250 in Stockholm.

Fernando Gonzalez: Hard-hitting is next playing Basel, where he will attempt to add 500 points to his total. He played three 500s (with 405 points) but he has an available slot yet, having not played Monte Carlo.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: The powerful Frenchman added 500 points last week by winning in Tokyo. But he cannot add to his points tally at his next event in Lyon as he is already counting the maximum two 250-pointers from title wins in Marseille and Johannesburg. So his performances at the 500 in Valencia and Paris will be crucial.

Marin Cilic: Having maxed out his 250s with tournament victories in Chennai and Zagreb, he has low chances to go to London. He shouldn’t play until Paris, almost surely too late to maintain some hope, but he may obtain a wild card into Valencia or Basel
Gilles Simon: As a winner of just one 250 title this year in Bangkok, the French counter-puncher can ad at the 250 event in Lyon next week.

Radek Stepanek: The Czech, who last year appeared at the Finals as an alternate, cannot add points in Vienna due to his titles in San Jose and Brisbane. So he will look to Basel and Paris to make his move.

Tommy Robredo: Unable to count further points earned at the 250s due to his titles in Buenos Aires and Costa do Sauipe, Robredo is not scheduled to play again until the ATP World Tour 500 in Valencia.

Gael Monfils: A winner of just one 250 title in Metz, Monfils can make ground at the 250 tournament in Vienna. He will also play in Valencia and Paris.

Thoughts from Shanghai

Safin and the handshaking
When you see Marat Safin walking with the shadows of his past glory beside him and with the end of his career approaching, playing against Mr Unstability Thomas Berdych you could expect everything but a straight match. The encounter filled up with the expectations. In the first set Safin dominated the match with 6 aces while Berdych was out-played and seemingly close to retirement. After that the Czech received treatment and finished to win the match. Safin refused to shake his adversary's hand. Later, in the press room, he confirmed once again his genuinity and spontaneity of tongue and mind, specular to his not-mediate, not-reflected tennis. ““Don't pretend that you are injured and then you start running around and start to hit winners and then all of a sudden you pull the hands up in the air after winning the match?...So then of course the guy will say 'No, I've been injured but then I felt a little bit better'.”
"Of course he will find 10,000 excuses. Still, it's not enough. You're playing or you're not playing”.

The mind goes to the frozen handshaking between Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe at the end of 1988 Us Open semifinal: certainly the two were never mistaken as British gentlemen. But they showed glimpses of genuine personality, also if, as Martin Amis once wrote, “personality” in tennis is too often synonymous with a “seven-letter epithet that begins with a and ends with e”.

The real question, now, is that: this simple act, sign of camaraderie, meant to testify the fair play, is become the showing, the parody of the fair play, of that really genuine spirit characterizing the “third time” in rugby. What should have been a feeling became a theatrical play. On the one side, you could see the mocking-bird of an exaggerated correctness, the ostentation of a sacrifice, the relinquishment of the natural, inner competitive instincts. An the vassal style handshakes too many times devoted to Roger Federer are there to demonstrate it. On the other, a frigid routine, a mechanical act that lost everything authentical. In an era of appearance and ephemeral celebrity, Marat Safin remains as an appreciable exception.

James Blake mistery
Entertaining and losing. James Blake's match against Rafa Nadal in Shanghai was similar to many other of his encounters when he surrendered to big stars. When he plays against Federer or the Mallorcan, he shows all his hybrid nature, of a 30-years-old promising youngster who doesn't want to be considered a savvy veteran. But he's deep, intelligent on and off court, the nearest to a philosopher you could meet in a tennis center. Yet, he hasn't hit his peak, in tennis and life. He could become an informed citizen, with an active role in the society, and a great player, even nowadays. Despite the Boris Becker theorem (you measure a tennis player's life in dog years) Blake is younger than his DoB. He changed his long-time coach and friend hoping to win his first Masters 1000 or reach a Grand Slam final. After his entertaining defeat against the Mallorcan champion, however, we can learn a lesson. He has an inner smile difficultly compatible with world-class tennis. His injuries, the death of his father made him a better and strongest man. His foundation for the research against cancer improved his altruistic spirit. He seems, in other words, too good-natured for harsh tennis matches. For him tennis is an important, but not dominant part of his identity; and sometimes it seems he tries not to hurt too much players considering success in sport as their principal reason of life.

Long is better. Or not?

Another big star was forced to retire from the Shanghai Master 1000 in as many days. After Andy Roddick, today Juan Martin Del Potro surrendered to a wrist injury continuing the curse that has seemingly affected him after his American triumph. Jurgen Melzer played consistently, without conceding anything to the Argentine, who was broken immediately to 0-2, but broke back to 2-3. They went on with serve until 6-5 Melzer; then the Austrian displayed the best game of his match coming up with a stunning, change-of-direction forehand winner straight down the line to bring up a set point. But he hit a backhand long on the next point and wasted another chance soon after. FinallyDel Potro had a shocker with the next couple of points and slapped a straight forward forehand volley well long of the baseline to concede the set at Melzer's third attempt. The second set last only for three games, then Melzer secured a third round against Feliciano Lopez.

The two injuries left open space for a rethinking of the more and more tiresome calendar. Players, and Roddick was one of the more critics, complained for the excessive length of the season and against the ranking reform. Atp, in fact, has forced the big to play the four Grand Slams, the Masters Series (Montecarlo maintained the status of MS but players were not obliged to guarantee their presence), four Atp 500, whose at least one after the Us Open, and two Atp 250 that went to compose the amount of their ranking points. If they cannot go to one of the “obliged tournaments” they’d receive a zero in their ranking. So, the big, to avoid a zero negatively affecting their hopes to play the World Tour Finals finished to compel themelves to a wearying tour of the world with no appreciable pauses for recovery, rest or make-up sessions. The times of Pat Rafter, who gifted himself a period of surfing in his home-country after the majors, seems far.

Moreover, if the intention will become true, things are meant to worse for players’ ankle. In the name of business, in fact, to attract biggest players until now deserting the events, four South American tournaments are thinking to pass from the clay to the hardcourt. Buenos Aires organizers are leading this reform project, so hoping to attract the Tandil-born “Palito”: it’s very harsh, in fact, to have an home grown champion and accept he prefers going play abroad in the same week. Next year the Buenos Aires open is programmed from 16th to 22th February, contemporarily with other two events, in Marseille and Memphis, where with all possibilities Del Potro will decide to play. “It’s simply a matter of surface” said Martin Jaite, the event organiser who talked with Del Potro’s father and his coach, Franco Davin. “In that period he’ll has been preparing for Miami and Indian Wells, the first Masters 1000 of the season”. With Buenos Aires, also Costa do Saouipe, Vina del Mar and Acapulco could change surface and make hardcourt the real common denominator of the season. The 2009 calendar is composed of 66 events: 21 on the clay, 6 on the lawn, 39 on hardcourts, indoor or outdoor. If the reform would “pass”, without considering a possible similar decision at Umag, the equilibrium would become 43-17. Effectively too much. The clay would become the second “victim” of business, after the lawn. Because tennis, as everything in the world, is bending itself to business and television. And reasons of money doesn’t contemplate the existence of specificity cubbies.

Critics could oppose to theese considerations the news that Nadal and Federer will be present at the Abu Dhabi exhibition, for the Capitala World Tennis Championships, starting the 31th december 2009. Their season will start before, they will gain more additional money. And, above all, they are the only two player to can manage their calendar freely, the only, or at least, who can afford a “zero” or two without visible counter-indications. Not everybody has such a privilege.

Hard night’s day for Mr.Ace

Lleyton Hewitt reduced John “Mr.Ace” Isner to a Volandri whatsoever in the first Shanghai Masters 1000 big match: Rusty won 6-2 6-4.



Long John had immediately the epiphany of his fate when Hewitt grabbed an early break to 2-1 with a perfect backhand lob (yes, you’ve read well) surprising the 6’9” giant fighting with the range of his groundstrokes. A second break and an easy hold gave Rusty the first set. Things seemed easier and easier for the Australian, while Isner’s serve improved for three service game before failing again; three break points in the same game were too much for the American who saved two but surrendered to the inside-out forehand from Hewitt who wasted two match points on Isner’s serve at 5-3 but closing easily in the next game.

While Davydenko defeated Kunytsin (in the less intriguing match of the day, the one I could never watch, despite the great respect due to a champion like Davydenko) securing a third round clash against Mano de Pedra Gonzalez and Tommy Haas overpowered Benjamin Becker, the lights of the stage were devoted to “Psycho”, a tennis drama in two distinct acts. In the first Marin Cilic decided to completely waste the few hopes to be in the eight elected for the World Tour Finals and gave space to Mr Instability, Thomas Berdych, as I resumed in the previous post. Not satisfied, the Czech now awaits for the wild-card Marat Safin. Would bookmakers accepts bets on the total amount of broken racquets in the match?

“French gift” could be the title of the second act of the drama. Principal characters Gael Monfils and PHM, alias Paul Henry Mathieu. The 23-years-old confirmed once more that without injuries he could firmly stand in the top-10. But he has three zero in his ranking points (he withdrew from Wimbledon and the Masters 1000 in Rome and Madrid) and has to be pleased with his berth fourteenth best player in the world. Today Mathieu, in the “2002 Davis Cup final” version tried, and succedeed in making everything elementary for La Monf, who broke twice and clinched the first set with a comfortable 6-2 after an unreturnable serve. Same scheme in the second. Tame double fault by PHM to hand Monfils the break to 2-1. Mathieu is returned the player uncapable to beat even the center keeper’s son and surrendered 6-2 6-2 when Monfils displayed a decent sliced backhand drop shot over the net: Mathieu could have done something more anyway.

Stanislas "the Manislas" Wawrinka needed three hours and ten minutes to subdue Lukas Kubot, but seven games sufficed him to go though to the third round. Andy Roddick was forced to retire when he was leading 4-3. The Swiss started masking his tiredness with fierce groundstrokes targeting the American backhand. Andy served well, wasted two breakpoints in the seventh game, but pulled up after the forehand winner from the Swiss. He asked for the injury time, but even after the treatment he limped badly and shaked hands with Wawrinka, who now will face Radek Stepanek (75 64 to Andreas Beck)

Trading places

Waiting for the big star entrance in the Shanghai Masters 1000, let’s take a look to the Race standing, essential to determine the eight eligible to play the first ATP World Tour Finals hosted in the prestigious O2 Arena in London.

With the result updated to today, not considering the first five place, because Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Del Potro, are all qualified, the ranking is:

6 Roddick 4410 (2190 Grand Slams – 1090 Master Series – 1130 Others)
7 Verdasco 3080 (1140 GS – 820 MS – 820 others)
8 Gonzalez 2690 (1350 GS – 595 MS – 745 others)

9 Soderling 2650 (1785 – 165 – 700)
10 Tsonga 2640 (810 -650 – 1180)
11 Davydenko 2360 (630 – 370 – 1360)
12 Cilic 2025 (810 – 280 – 935)

Cilic was defeated by Thomas Berdych in Shanghai, in a schizophrenic and psychotic match: the Czech squandered three set point in a thrilling first set tiebreaker won by Berdych 10-8. Then Cilic is perfect in the next set, breaking to 4-2 thanks to a whipping forehand winner across court and sealing the second 6-3. In the third Cilic broke twice in a row to 2-1 and 3-2 but went out of mind losing the last four games in a row. So he erased almost definitely all his chances to leave to London. Roddick, despite his astonishing defeat against Kubot in Beijing, is in pole position while Verdasco has lost a great chance losing in the Kuala Lumpir Masters 500 to Davydenko, who defeated Kunytsin in Shanghai. With two Masters 1000 and two Masters 500, played in the same week, Basel and Valencia and four Masters 250, it will be important to see how theese second tier events could determine the “list of the eight”. The players could insert four Masters 500 and two Masters 250 in the best other countable results. So Verdasco has to win a Masters 500 to gain 100 points, while Soderling and Gonzalez can improve their points reaching a final. A semi would be enough for Davydenko, having great chances, given his last form, to be in England.

My pick: Roddick, Tsonga and Davydenko.

The new coming from East

Novak Djokovic has won the Atp 500 in Beijing and is now certain to surpass Andy Murray becoming the third best player in the Atp ranking. It was a “schizophrenic” final against Marin Cilic, with the Croat displaying flat groundstrokes with his feet well inside the backline. But after an hour of rain delay the Djoker dashed and clinched the first set 6-2. The second set saw an alternation of breaks: 6 in all the match. Cilic near the net is quite disastrous and wasted an easy forehand to give Novak 3-3. Djoker lost serve twice in a row, but never Cilic succeeded in saving his and forcing the match to the third before losing the tiebreak.

Djokovic is now between the principal candidates for the victory at the Shanghai Masters 1000, where the Serb could clinch his fourth and most prestigious title of a not-so-memorable season. Anyway, Marin Cilic failed to live up with the expectations, grew after he outpowered Nadal in the semifinals.

The Croat is one of the best prospect now in the world-class-tennis: once he'll have solved his inner puzzle, and erased the mistakes in the key moments of a match, he would completely realize his potential.

A potential born in Medjugorje, where the first tennis court was built in 1991. Cilic started practicing football and handball, but sport became a secundary occupation because of the Balcan war. But his city, globally known for the Holy Mary apparition, and at the end of the war Marin started his new life and career.

He discovered tennis casually, thanks to Tanja, a cousin of him visiting Marin from Germany. He revealed his skills winning local tournaments and started feeling the need to compete with stronger adversaries. So he left home and went to Zagreb where he practiced with Goran Ivanisevic, the national hero capable to triumph at Wimbledon starting as a wild card in 2001. “Marin is great: he could become a top-10” said Ivanisevic. And his word is heavy. Years before he suggested to a British journalist to keep an eye on an English guy that would have become a champion: Tim Henman.

So Ivanisevic introduced Marin to Bob Brett, who holds an academy in San Remo, Italy, and was the artifex of Boris Becker title at Wimbledon in 1991. Brett appreciated Cilic's backhand, his trademark, and his intelligence. “He knows how to move his adversaries, to control the rallies without an astonishing power. He had a good comprehension of the game, and has a great and developped work-ethic” said Brett.

In 2006 the world discovered this rangy guy when he conquered the Roland Garros junior title and closed the season as junior n.2, behind Donald Young, in the world ranking.

From then, he started rising, conquering two title in career, at New Haven and Chennai and establishing as one of the most interesting twentysome players in the top-25. Now he needs only the last step, increase his forehand and manage better the key points. But time is on his part.

In modern tennis serve doesn't almost count - Part 3: game strategies

Recap of previous parts: in modern tennis the impact of serve is increasing, but has not yet become dominant in determining of results, as data for Grand Slam tournaments from 1980 to 2008 testified. Tennis is not a technology-driven sport, as swimming or Formula 1. Racquet evolution, in fact, has made easier hitting flat balls with great speed and power. But has at the same time changed the game strategies, as this third part demonstrates.

An extreme swing became possible thanks to new racquets producing rallies characterized by more-than-150kph groundstrokes. Inevitably, this development stressed stringings and strings, now realized in nylon or polyester synthetic for its superior durability and consistency compared to natural gut. The design of the new longer models, besides, has requested some adjustments in the biomechanical execution of serve and strokes. Hitting the ball nearer to the neck than in the face barycentre let the player develop greater power. This phenomenon is explained because with a fixed handle, the rim can bow on itself and the energy introduced through the rim deformation isn’t given to the ball. Hitting near the neck, the more it is the effective rigidness and the less the energy lost in the racquet deformation. Consequently, longer and oversize racquet has made available an unprecedented power surplus modifying, and consequently conforming, game strategies.

Foster Wallace again underlines that “composites’ lighter, wider heads and more generous centers let players swing faster and put way more topspin on the ball...and, in turn, the more topspin you put on the ball, the harder you can hit it, because there’s more margin for error. Topspin causes the ball to pass high over the net, describe a sharp arc, and come down fast into the opponent’s court (instead of maybe soaring out)”.

In modern tennis lifted strokes are almost disappeared or used as a desperate and extreme resources in defensive situations while backsping attacking approaches are considered as counter-productive. More elastic composites let the ball remain more time on the face letting the player experiment a greater control in the direction of the subsequent passing shot.

Besides, the improved physical preparation has favoured a standardized “Nick Bollettieri’s style” tennis, dominated by the serve-and-forehand scheme. The enlarged muscular mass allows superior arm rotations, until the extreme 6m rpm topsins by Rafa Nadal. Passing is becoming easier, because a player could hit with great advance, when the ball is yet raising after the rebound. More, the global diffusion of two handed backhands let players find acute angles unreacheable with a traditional backhand.

Theese opposite influences could explain why the opening game stroke isn’t rised to principal pointer in a tennis match. Because, on one side, muscular mass combined with the innovations in the racquet projects produced a widespread ease in displaying 200 (or more) kmh first serves. But, on the other hand, the same innovations increased the facility in returning to this bombing serves and turn the return from a defensive situation into an attacking opportunity.

A last annotation is referred to surfaces. The lawn is the most favourable to “bombers” for the low rebound angle, in spite of the constant slackening in its intrinsic speed, as the 2002 Wimbledon final brightly testifies: then Lleyton Hewitt defeated David Nalbandian and there wasn’t any serve-and-volley in the entire match. On the lawn, at Wimbledon, percentages of serve impact are in the last lustre slighty higher than the taxes registered at the Championships in the Borg and McEnroe era.

Red clay stubbornly remains the less preferred surface for big hitters because there the serve pays less than everywhere else. The rebound angle, in fact, is more similar to an equilateral triangle, so the ball follows a direction with a 60 degrees inclination as to the clay, as Karlovic knows at his best, having lost twice matches in few months establishing new record aces: 55 against Lleyton Hewitt at the Roland Garros first round, the astonishing amount of 78 against Radek Stepanek in the first rubber of the Davis Cup semifinal. But in 12 occasions out of the last 13, when a player has equalled or increased the ace record, he has lost the match.

So, the form is evolving, but the substance of the “Game of the Kings” is always the same.

In modern tennis serve doesn't almost count - Part 2: evolution of racquets

The marginal relevance of the racquet “modernity level” could be superficially demonstrated simply regarding what amazing heights has achieved Roger Federer with a dated model. More specifically, we could start our analysis considering that the 80% of the serve efficiency is determined not by the tool details but by the rotation speed impressed by the player arm. It’s the so called “angular momentum”, obtained in the service movement with the trunk rotation (reaching its maximum in the point of greatest elbow bending) and the shoulder rotation. Passages from wooden frames to aluminium or fiber variations, the evolution of strings from natural bowel to synthetic matherials, the new oversized racquets hasn’t seemingly modified the potential serve speed. In a 1997 experiment conducted for Tennis.com, Mark Philippoussis produced two highly comparable serves with a wooden racquet and with the model he was using then.
The differences in racquet design introduced anyway a series of innovation to the game, changes that could coherently explain the data before presented. Wooden racquets, or the first aluminium models, like the one used by the pioneer Jimmy Connors, had a weight of more or less 450 gr while the modern tools weighs about 300 gr. As confirmed by studies focusing on baseball, conceptually extensible to tennis, is not an alleviation in se. A lighter racquet can be moved with increasing speed and rotation, but a quicker speed means a subtler margin of error and affects the ball behaviour in terms of intrinsic speed and rotation on itself. Daniel A. Russell, from Kettering University, Flint, Usa, highlighted a result disagreeing with the common sense. The highest ball speed isn’t registered when you have a quick swing and a light bat, neither when the bat is extremely heavy, because the rotation speed would drastically decrease, but there’s a window where increasing the weight cause a light decrease in swing speed bumping up, as a consequence, the ball speed exiting from the face.
This elements influenced the style of players, forced to adapt to new possibilities and situations. But this will be the argument of the next part of our dossier.

In modern tennis serve doesn't almost count - Introduction

“Unless you're one of those rare mutant virtuosos of raw force, you'll find that competitive tennis, like money pool, requires geometric thinking, the ability to calculate not merely your own angles but the angles of response to your angles. Because the expansion of response-possibilities is quadratic, you are required to think n shots ahead, where n is a hyperbolic function limited by the sinh of opponent's talent and the cosh of the number of shots in the rally so far (roughly)”.

If your thoughts on court are less analytical of David Foster Wallace's ones, the difficulties in answering increase. And the serve, as a fundamentral of the game but principally seen as the stroke to start and determine your game, becomes more and more relevant. But how much? A possible answer, a first rough evaluation of the importance of service in determining the result of a tennis match, could arrive analysing the percentage of tiebreaks played our-of the total amount of sets run off. The data presented here consider this percentage only in Grand Slam tournament since 1980 to 2008, so considering also the not-so-world class last Australian Open editions at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. This index has the advantage of being simple to be read and immediate to understand, giving a cleare image without implying an excessive sacrifice to euristic deepness.

	AO	RG	Wim	UsO
1980-84	18,2	10,5	18,2	12,9
1985-89	15,6	11,3	18,5	13,2
1990-94	12,5	11,7	17,9	15,1
1995-99	14,8	12,9	18,6	14,5
2000-04	15,3	13,1	20	16,8
2005-08	15,2	13,4	20,2	17,3

Tiebreak percentage has been measured, for every year, out of the number of sets effectively played, excluding so the ones not played or only half completed because of withdraws or walkovers. To give uniformity to theese data, letting us so to create solid comparisons, the fifth sets at Wimbledon, Paris and Melbourne finished with scores exceeding the 6-6 (8-6, 9-7...), considering that in those three Slams there isn't tiebreak in the last set, were counted as tiebreaks, because they are a even better demonstration of how much the result is anchored to serves.


The empirical data confirms that, in the three major not experiencing a surface change in the considered period, serve has stepped up his relevance but has never become really decisive. The Australian Open exception, with a slightly sinusoidal trend, appears largely due to the passage from lawn to hardcourts, because in the first nine years (in 1988 Australian Open weren't played), with the tournament hosted at Kooyong on the lawn, the registered percentage there and at Wimbledon are highly comparable.

The first image emerging from this analysis shows an increasing relevance of serve, but the moderated trend shows how in tennis, contrarily to other disciplines like swimming or Formula 1, techical evolution is less determining.

In the next days I'll try to give some possible answers to this phenomenon.

The season of comebacks

In Kuala Lumpur organisers has given wc to Marcos Baghdatis and Joachim “Pim-Pim” Johansson

Night is his demeanour. Marcos Baghdatis is remembered as well for the the latest ever finish at a grand-slam event as for parting hard. In 2008 his quarterfinal match against Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open ended at 4.33 am, when the night has come (and probably almost gone away) and the evening empires were vanishing. The extroverted Cypriot tamburine arrived, then 20-years-old, to play the Australian Open final against Roger Federer.



But he’s better known for his genuine sympathy, for his globe-trotter’s style considering aesthetic more relevant than result. Coming from a divided country, half Greek half Turkish, he summed up the Eastern and Western cultures, and gain enthusiastic fans from Athens to Rome to Kuala Lumpur.

His Hectorian battle against an “Achillesque” Agassi, at the last Us Open of his career, remains one of the best glimpse of his deepest essence. Marcos exuded the pleasure for being there and living such an emotion and the simple, slightly childish, hope that his entertainment didn’t end. But every bright dream comes to an end, and Andre won that match. Marcos was victim of the American’s play as well as of his cramps, signalling his flawless as a competitor an his not resolved hidiosynchrasis for the professional part of a professional athlete’s life.

He should encourage his relation with fitness. He should introduce more variation in his point construction strategies, because sudden down-the-line winners are only a counterproductive choice when you’re down a bit. And he should sacrifice a little part of his naivete and manage better the press conferences. Saying, before a clash against Nadal in Paris two year ago, that he can’t stand the Mallorcan game and that he saw a victory against him unlikely surely takes off pressures from your shoulder but give some more strength to your adversaries.

In Kuala Lumpur, where he was seeing engaged in club-hopping, but avoiding dance floor fearing injuries, he benefitted from a wild-card with another “desaparecido”, Joachim “Pim-Pim” Johansson.



Fitness was always his biggest problem, but for completely different reasons. Sidelined for shoulder surgeries, he decided to withdraw from professional tennis in 2008 deciding to comeback next October at the Stockholm Open. Now he’s facing the second ATP event since then and mantain the same old racquet he used when served 51 aces losing to Andre Agassi, the RDX500.

Intriguingly the 27 former top-tenner is opposed to Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of the Malaysian Open. They met each-other only once, at the 2004 Us Open semifinal. Then Johansson dated Jaslyn, Hewitt’s sister: a story finished in 2005. The Swede passed a pair of Chritmases at the Hewitt family home in Adelaide, practising and playing golf with him and his coach.

Davis Cup 2010: what a draw!

Rafa Nadal against Roger Federer on the Spanish clay (the odds that Costa will choose the “red” to host Switzerland are great), Novak Djokovic on front of his Serbian supporters facing Andy Roddick. Two hot-spots for the next Davis Cup first round, programmed for the weekend before the Indian Wells Masters 1000.

It will be a key decision for the actual n.1, winner this year over the Mallorcan in Madrid. In the last five years, Federer has never played the Davis first round ties; this time surface and hosting city could suggest him to go on with the same attitude, but the value he says to assign to the team competition could convince him to act differently. This is one of the last chances he has to lift up the Dwight’s Pot. And sacrificing a bit of condition towards Indian Wells could become an acceptable and sufferable counter-indication.

The eventual winner will face France or Germany. The Bleus has the ground chance and greater odds to pass through, considered the ranking gaps, nonetheless the “debutant” Simon and Monfils encountered poor figures respectively against Berdych (in the WG first round loss to Czechs) and against the 2006 Wimbledon junior champion, the Dutch Thiemo De Bakker, in the playoff. Tsonga saved French honour and pride and will prepare the tie against Germany (reminding the thrilling 1982 World Cup semifinal) with a perfect record of 6-0 in Davis cup rubbers. In a match probably played on the clay, Kohlschreiber could become the strenght of Germans, while Haas, handing glimpses of his old style and standards at Wimbledon, could face difficulties in best-to-5 singles with long rallies. Besides, he hasn’t played in Davis since 2007 when he surrendered with a periodic 2-6 to Igor Andreev.

Russia and India appears like a generational clash. Without Safin, Russia based his hopes on the always reliable Davydenko and on Andreev, also if he became the icon of the Israelian fall with the sticker labelling “Russia” melancholically pending from the back of his shirt. Tursunov is the best doubles player, but this seems a point already assigned to India: Bhupathi and Paes played 25 Davis doubles and lost only twice, being unbeaten since 1996. Devvarman, the ex Ncaa Champion, and the child prodigy Yuki Bhambri, junior n.1, doesn’s anyway seems a real menace for Tarpishev’s men.

For the third time in four years the draw has coupled Argentina and Sweden, i.e Robin Soderling, firt man to beat Nadal at the Roland Garros, and Juan Martin Del Potro, recent Us Open champion over an unusually nervous Roger Federer. In the previous four meetings, host team has always won. This time, above all if Nalbandian won’t be present, as it seem possible, the rule appears meant to be confirmed. The match will be played in Sweden, probably on the most ice-like surface among the regular ones.

In the low part of the draw Novak Djokovic could search his revenge over Andy Roddick, who defeated the Serb three times this season. The pot gave the Serbian the home advantage, but they have to choose the surface, and that’s not such an easy decision to make. They should actually opt for the clay: in this case, Patrick McEnroe could decide to give Sam Querrey, one of the rare Americans with some decent result on this surface, his Davis debut.

So we could see a thrilling derby, with not so negligible geopolitical meanings and implications, betweens Serbs and Croats. Karlovic and Cilic should overpower Ecuador (seeing the ranking, the feeblest team in the World Group). South Americans, led by the Lapentti brothers, would have had some chance playing at home. Against Brazil, Nico defeated Bellucci in his 37th Davis tie; in Croatia he won’t repeat the miracle.

Chile awaits eagerly the possible revenge in Israel to forget an embarassing defeat haunting them even nowadays. In the Yom Kippur, Dudi Sela stunned Fernando Gonzalez and Israel gained an historical passage to the World Group. And this year semifinal was only the last chapter of a marvellous tale. Now the match will be played on South American clay with the significant uncertainty about the presence of Mano de Pedra. The best Chilean player announced in March his intention to break the contract with the Federation after the president made public the amount granted to players. He lost the last three matches, but the captain Gildemeister promised to try everything possible to convince him come back.

In the last tie of the draw, the finalists of Czech Republic will travel to Belgium hoping in a great day of the proverbially fickle Stepanek and Berdyck. Belgium, instead, is praying to recover their n.1, Krzystof Vliegen (famous for a dramatic comeback against Safin from 0-6 1-3 in 2007 Montecarlo Masters), missing the playoff against Ukraine.

Off topic: Andy Murray is more and more resolute to abandon Great Britain to his destiny in the Euro/African group II. In the playoff against Poland the Scotster won his two singles but saw his wrist problem worsening, and it wasn’t enough. Great Britain is pathologically uncapable to put beside him another decent player: they unuccessfully tried Goodall, Eaton, Bogdanovic and so on. But a single, eloquent data, remains: when the contributions of Messrs Henman, Rusedski and Murray are taken out of the country's Davis Cup results for the last 20 years, Britain have failed to win a single match.

The curse of the aces

Croatia lost to Czech Republic in the Davis Cup semifinal 0-3. Probably they have paid the not so lungimirant choice to play on the indoor clay at Porec, in the same arena where they outreached the United States in June, when Blake surrenderd twice, after as many epic five setter, to Cilic and Karlovic. The miracle hasn't repeated, fatally obstacled by another unalterable, infallible law of modern tennis: the curse of the aces record.

In 12 of the last 13 matches when a player equalled or improved the record for the greatest number of aces served in a single match, he finished to lost the encounter. All the top-5 record holders established this not-envied primate losing the match. Ivo Karlovic had already got the byline on this sub-Hall of Fame-category twice. In 2005 he surrendered to the Italian Daniele Bracciali after hitting 51 aces: the double-specialist from Tuscany won 6-7 7-6 3-6 7-6 12-10.

On the grass, you could object, serving so many aces could be easier than on slower surfaces, and anyway that was not an absolute record: the unlucky Swedish Joachim Johansson, now retired after a series of injuries, lost to Andre Agassi, the best returner in the modern era, 67 76 76 64, at the 2005 Australian Open R16. This year he did better against Hewitt, capable to show his "Rusty" face coming back from two sets down against the Croat and surviving to 55 aces.

The same fate attended Richard Krajcek at the 1999 Us Open: 49 aces and a defeat in a dramatic five setter against Yevgeny Kafelnikov (7-6 7-6 3-6 1-6 7-6). Goran Ivanisevic, with his venomous left-handed first serve held the record until 2003, ex aequo with the Australian Mark Philippoussis (only exception to the rule, having he won against Agassi that match), losing notwithstanding 46 aces, to Magnus Norman in 1997 Wimbledon 2R; on the same grass, on the SW19 Central Court he had already failed to win the 1992 final to Andre Agassi: 37 aces hadn't helped Mister Ace, so labelled after the 1477 aces served in a single season. Even Guga Kuerten lost to the Canadian Daniel Nestor in a Davis Cup rubber when he served a respectable amount of 46 aces.

Until two days ago, the absolute record in tennis belonged to the American Ed Kauder, who served 59 aces against his compatriot Ham Richardson in the 1955 Usa Championships first round, on the grass at Forest Hills. Obviously it was Richardson to win 6-2 3-6 9-11 10-8 6-0.

Ivo Karlovic has established a threshold diffilultly surmountable in the immediate future: 78 aces (to be clear, 19 games and a half played so that his adversary doesn't touch the ball) against Radek Stepanek, in the first singles rubber of the Davis semifinal, losing 76 67 76 67 16-14 after six hours of foolish war of nerves, in the longest Davis Cup rubber since the tiebreak was introduced in 1989, conferming all the fears of the Croat giant in the "jeu decisif". Yet this conclusion, this solution should have been likened to by the 6'10" NBA-style batsman. Last year he played 57 tiebreak out of 58 matches, and this year he's already reached quota 40.

Inevitably, if you consider that he, at 30th August, he registered the 87% of first serve points and only 22% of 1st serve return points. Practically, he doesn't return while the others have to see his serve before imagining to touch the ball or send it to the other side of the net. His mental strength sustaining him in serving like a machine (against Stepanek he displayed 210 km/h angled aces after over five hours like he had just finish finish his warm-up rallies) usually abandons him when he most needs it: he's the recordman of five setters played in career and, at the same time, the player who has lost most of them.

In this few data we could see the essence of Ivo, with his contrasts and his solid work ethic. You can't arrive to be n.14 in the world ranking, you can't defeat Roger Federer as he did last year in Cincinnati without maximize your physical and technical skills.







Evidently you can't expect a 207 cm player has in the feet speed his atout. But now he's effectively an extremely better player respect to 2003, when he revealed to the world defeating the title-holder Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon. He was a journeyman, then, a 24-years-old at his first Grand Slam match and at his 11th Atp-level tournament. He lost the first set, but he dug deep and blitzed the Australian wrapping-up a 1-6 7-6 6-3 6-4 win. Hewitt became the first defending Wimbledon men's champion in the Open era to lose in the first round and only the second to exit so early in the tournament 126-year history after Manolo Santana, beaten by Charlie Pasarell in 1967.

"When I was younger" Karlovic said, "my parents haven't so much money to rent the courts, so the only thing I could afford was entering when everyone else was gone out and try serving for hours". This training undeniably helped him, but it's not his only quality. Serving so many aces, in such a long match, is a demonstration of character and tenacity. Besides, the lack of mobility forced him to learn coming to the net, to avoid playing defensive strokes from the baseline. Also if he built a decent forehand, Karlovic perfected an efficient net play, with precise back-spin approaches, helped by his frightening "wing-span".

And here comes the contrasts of his personality. His vaguely menacing silhouette hide a witty man: "I's so tall that in Usa they mistake me for an NBA champion. But there's an advantage of being 6'10": when I go out with my friends it's impossible that we lose ourselves. I'm their navigator. Contemporarily I can't hide myself from the police if I should get into trouble".

He showed the same wit against Tommy Haas at Stockholm two years ago, in a drop serve, a sort of tribute to Michael Chang and his underhand serve in the 1989 Roland Garros final that drove Lendl mad.



The fragile giant, the King of Aces often falling down one step from victory, has to fight with stutter, reduced but not completely erased yet. But he just recorded some rap songs and in July he realized a duet with Novak Djokovic.

Giant achievement

This simple headline testifies the greatness of Juan Martin Del Potro, capable to dethronize the five times reigning champion and by many indicated as the Goat (even if this label appears at least controversial, not to say stupid).

I saw this 6'6 shy Argentine two years ago, in Rome. He lost in the qualification rounds: he withdrew cause of a back injury, one of a long series of physical inconvenients. My first impression, seeing this young and tall guy with timid green eyes and long straight blond hairs was probably the same I had admiring Tsonga: will he be able to continue his development? He was capable to thwart his teenager adversaries in the juniors event, but his fragile skeleton would be able to support his ambitions, his dream of greatness? Monday I had the answer, the most astonishing answer I could expect to receive.

His stunning forehands should be labelled as non conventional weapons, he could impress an extremely heavy rotation causing a lethal acceleration, above all when he hit inside-out from the center of the baseline to the right angle. The appearent lazy mood hided an iron-made self confidence, not nocked by the tough openings, when Federer started the nth repeat performance meant to satisfy his narcissistical ego. Exceptional variations, chopped cross-court backhand passing shots, volleys and demi-volleys: although he continued to serve with percentages you could register in a provincial championship first round, that showing off seemed enough. But it was not. Del Potro believed in himself till the last point, his game was not the most agreeable to aesthetically educated eyes, but got is job done.

Roger lost his match at 5-4 30 all in the second set on the first of two carbon-copy down the line forehand passes. He started quarreling with the chair umpire and the Hawk Eye and simply lost his mind. His show, so perfect, so straight, transformed itself in an improvised and scheming performance. The King felt the earth sliding down his shoes, saw his narcissistical ego shattered with the mirror of his apparently asettical beauty. Palito multiplied his forehand winners, as many stabs to the ex-King wounded pride. So rattled was the Swiss to launch an unusual before than angry complaint towards Jake Gerner, the umpire, after he allowed the Argentine a call late (he took a lot longer than what is allowed) in the third set: "No, it’s too late,” an angry Federer said. “I wasn’t even able to challenge after two seconds and he takes ten seconds every time. Do you have any rules in there?”

And reprimanded a gesticulating Gerner in this way: "“Don’t do that with your hand. Don’t tell me to be quiet. I don’t give a s*** what he said. Don’t f***ing tell me the rules.”

The match, surely not the most enchanting of this edition (for real spectacle see Navarro-Dent, the best show of the 2009 Us Open), was by no doubt the greatest upset in the last ten years. Roger, benefitting from the Roddick indecent backhand volley, found a real contender for his next Grand Slam campaigns. Anyone who beats Nadal and Federer on consecutive days is a force to be reckoned with.

His renewed consciousness made him the most possible danger for the Big Four in the big events, cause they would face him in quarters. He can now win other slams, probably not on the clay, because his fisiological lack of horizontal mobility, and his scarce confidence in his backhand that brings him hit forehands from the left side and cover more free court. But on hardcourts and on the grass he's a menace for everyone, above all for the half-dull Djokovic or the Higueras-like Murray of this period.

Honour to Del Potro

The Goat (or what many considers as the Goat) lost to the best of his generation, beaten in the previous 6 meetings (also if he went two sets up at the 2009 Roland Garros with 2 hours and a half of incredible tennis).



Federer-Del potro was not the most thrilling of the Grand Slam final, the game quality was complessively a bit more than decent; but surely it has been the best Us Open final since 1999 when Agassi surprised Martin coming back from 2 sets to 1 down (the last concluded with a five setter before the yesterday's clash). This was anyway the most surprising final since 2000, when another first-timer, Safin, stunned Pete Sampras. So Del Potro, 20 years and 355 days old, has become the fifth youngest player to win this tournament

Roger Federer lost a great chance. For 90 minutes he played almost perfectly, also if not in the enchanting and intriguing way he defeated Djokovic in the

semifinals. But incredibly the Swiss went out from the match at 5-4 30-0 in the second set. He was nervous for an ace not validated because Del Potro, ready

to return, complained that he was disturbed by something not better defined while Federer was launching the ball. And then, when an astonishing down-the-line

passing shot bounced on the line, Federer claimed the ball was out but the Hawk Eye confirmed the umpire decision.

From there Roger has never been the same, and the match developed very similarly to the recent Australian Open final. Del Potro started hitting his proverbial

forehands with stubborness and precision, he "drew the lines" more and more. It was surprising how often the Palito went hitting his forehands on the

backhands side and how many kilometres he ran to cover the court. Palito from the secon set displayed all his full force groundstrokes that overpowered Nadal

and definitely abandoned the shackles affecting him in the first set.

DP served not so well (even if he concluded with the 65% of first serves), because he handed 22 break points, saving 17 of them. Federer was conditioned by

the only 13 aces, by the less than 50% of points on his second serve and above all by the 11 double faults. But in the third Federer gave a glimpse of what inexperience could do when DP gifted the Swiss two consecutive breaks because of two bleeding double faults in a row. As had been the case in 2005 (vs. Roddick) and ’06 (vs. Agassi) US Open finals, upon losing the second set Federer had hit back to regain the lead.

The World No. 6 defied his heavy legs to continue to work Federer and was rewarded with a break of serve to love in the fifth game and, in the fourth set tiebreak was gifted an early mini-break by a Federer double fault and did not look back. A bit off topic: Federer had yet to lose a tiebreak in a Grand Slam final before facing del Potro, and was 166-4 in career when he wins first sets.

But Federer continued to lose chances on break points, in what revealed to be his Achilles heel against Nadal and against the Argentine and costed him dearly. While Del Potro, in what would be his last service game of the final, showed no signs of nerves holding to love. In the end Roger handed him two match points he saved before serving the 11th double fault of his match and seeing the last backhand flow long.

Amazing Roger

Roger passed through to his 17th Grand Slam final in the last 18th majors after a 76 75 75 victory after Novak Djokovic. But in everyone's minds, more than the winners, more than the aces or the diffulties on his serve (3 points out of the first 16), more than his records, will remain the between the legs passing shot to go 65 040 on Djoko's serve in the final set. A solution he already showed succesfully against the Italian Bracciali in Dubai and against Schalken in Holland. Here's the point.



Probably he learnt this stroke from the Magician Fabrice Santoro who used the same weapon against the Swiss in the 2005 Us Open 2nd round.



In the other semifinal, Del Potro profited from a stuttering Nadal, affected by an abdominal strain making him multiplicate errors with serve, too many counter-strategical doublefaults handed the Palito fundamental breaks, and with his forehand, traditionally his most solide side.



The fifth seeded from Tandil will now play his first Grand Slam final. And Federer will now face a "debutant" in a major final for the third time in a row in Flushing Meadows, after Djokovic and Murray, the sixth considering all the four majors.

Now Federer, defeating Del Potro, would become the first to conquer six Us Open title in a row since Bill Tilden (1920-1925), and the fourth to win six Grand Slam titles after the same Tilden, Richard Sears (who won American Championships from 1881 to 1887) and the legendary William Renshaw (six times winner at Wimbledon in the period 1881-1886). But, above all, he would become the first to win two Grand Slam titles at least six times.