Peter Luczak Interview

At the 2012 Australian Open, one of the more likable players on the tour Australian Peter Luczak is retiring from the tour. The clay loving Australian born in Poland, who came to Australia at a very young age via Sweden. He is known for his work ethic, down to earth manner His last event of the year was the Stockholm Open qualies, which he played after coming from the beach in Bahamas without training plus it’s the homeland of his wife.


Peter Luczak enjoying champagne

This interview was conducted in 2009 but most is still relevant. I’ll always be thankful as he’s the first ever player I interviewed. His time will always be appreciated for agreeing to an extensive interview.

How and when did you get into tennis?

I started playing tennis at around 5 or 6 years old, Ola my older sister played, we rode our bikes down to the club after school, they weren’t the greatest bikes, but whoever won got to ride the better bike. In addition to that we used to play on en-tout-cas ( a surface similar to clay, but cheaper), whoever lost had to sweep the whole court and lines after the match, instead of just doing your side of the court, initially it was me that sweeping the court and riding the worse bike home.

My uncle and father didn’t play the game in Poland, they played football and volleyball, as tennis was not a big game in Poland when they were children, but they played as well.

What were your memories of growing up in Melbourne, before you left for the USA ?

It was a normal childhood. I used to hang out with the guys, go to the horse races, watching the football (Australian football), went to the parties, but didn’t drink as I usually had tennis the next day and I always wanted to play the game. I wasn’t a childhood prodigy like Bernard Tomic, I used to have group lessons, mixed in with some private lessons before and after school. Then at the age of 18 there was drastic improvement and once I left school, I wanted to play tennis.

How did playing on the US college circuit help you as a player and as a person ?

My dad said that I should continue going to school and he didn’t have the money to support my career. So a tennis scholarship in the USA was perfect, getting an education and also developing my tennis without the financial burden. I had 3 offers, but chose Fresno, mainly because of an Aussie coach there called Michael Hegarty a Mount Waverley boy, which wasn’t far from me in Melbourne. He talked it up and was very convincing in getting me there.

When I got there it rained 10 days in a row, when on average it rained only 5 days a year in Fresno. I called home and said get me out of here, what’s going on, but I was very happy to have stayed on. It was a great experience, the units, the courts, gym was a 50m walk to all of the facilities. The team environment helped my overall development, it wasn’t just tennis, tennis, tennis, and there was a good social life, in addition to doing uni work. Yes, I was focused on tennis, but had other distractions, which were positive.

The college coach was great tactically, though he didn’t do much technically to my game. He made you feel good about yourself, worked very hard with brutal training sessions and he instilled the brutal training and hard work in me that continues today.

How were the early years of being on the ATP tour and did you have doubts that you’d be able to make it?

The final exams, I left with a smile on my face that lasted 3 days. It was a mixture of excitement, high confidence level and I thought it was just normal, competing, traveling and getting ready for the experience.

24 hour Greyhound bus rides, as I was not a rich kid at all. There were a group of 7 of us in a basement of a house, 2 beds, 1 couch, and the rest slept on the floor. Before the tournament we would play games of cards or chess to decide who would get a bed, once you lost your singles match, and then you were on the floor. I got the nickname of “Lucky Looch” and “Diablo” because I was always winning these games and getting the bed. One of the guys traveled with a stringer, so he was able to do all of our racquets. When it came to food, there were the 29c McDonalds burgers, I would have 5 of them in one sitting, eating 2 minute noodles and the free player lunch.


What are your favourite tournaments?

Båstad, Kitzbühel and the Australian Open.

What’s your worst hotel experience?

In Fes, Morocco. It was a single room, no window, dirty towels, cobwebs, TV didn’t work. 10 out of 32 players got food poisoning, it was a terrible week, but I won the tournament.


What are the best and worst ever matches you have played?


Hopefully the best ones are still to come, the ones in the past are hard to remember. But here are two of them. Playing Oli Rochus in Melbourne. I got a standing ovation from the crowd and I had goose bumps, looking up at the crowd singing the national anthem and Waltzing Matilda. Also in Melbourne 2005 when I took Thomas Johansson to 5 sets, I had psycho fitness levels, doing runs on the sand dunes, stair runs and there is a trail in Melbourne called the Kokoda trail. That year I was not going to lose a match because of fitness.

The worst was playing the Srich (Srichaphan) at Monte Carlo, before that I played my match against Michael Llodra, during the warm up, we were hitting serves, I lost concentration and hit him in the ear with a serve, and he was daydreaming. At 1-1 in the 1st set he retired as he lost his balance and I got booed off the court.

I totally choked against the Srich. It was my first big tournament and I thought I am going to beat the number 12 in the world. I couldn’t get a first serve in at 5-4 when serving for the match. I tried only to hit kick serves and served 4 double faults in the game, yet still held match point. It was very difficult to get over it, for the next few months I had flashbacks to that memory, we’ve all had experiences like that, such a tough mental experience.

You’re the Lone Ranger in the context of being an Aussie, which has clay as his favourite surface, which is the domain of the Spanish and South Americans. How do you get along with those guys and do you think there is a mutual respect for you going to play there on their surface?

For sure I have a huge respect for those guys but I can't talk for them but hopefully they respect me as well. I love the way they compete and give it their all on the court but still at the end of the day can look their opponent in the eye, shake hands and have a beer and a bite to eat.

How much of a setback was the stress fracture of the pelvis last year? You were ranked in the top 100 at the time and were unable to build upon your ranking during the clay season?

It was frustrating, as I worked hard, playing Challengers and was ranked between 70-80 and the start of 2008, made all the main draws of the clay events. I knew I wasn’t at 100 percent, but I kept playing and I didn’t know what it was. I had no clue and kept struggling with it, poor movement for 3-4 months, some days it was good and other days it was terrible, then it was all terrible. Then after losing to Melzer in the 1st round of Roland Garros, I had CTC scans, MRI scans, x-rays, they picked up that it was a stress fracture of the pelvis. Not knowing what the problem was after all that time, I was glad to find out and did the upper body rehabilitation.

During the enforced time away from the tour, what did you do to fill in the time?

I spent the time with the family, doing rehab. It was such a relief after a year to be pain free. It gradually got better after 3 and bit months. Hopefully it’s fine now and being able to play, compete, takes the pressure off whether I win or lose, it’s much better than being at home injured.

Did you come back too soon from injury to help Australia in the Davis Cup tie playoff?

No, I hadn’t played for 4 months. I had 10 days there in Chile with training 3 hours a day, great food, great hotel, being with the Aussie team. It was the perfect preparation.

Who are your best friends on tour?

The Gooch (Chris Guccione), Shannon Nettle, my former coach and still fishing companion, Stephen Huss, Ashley Fisher and Lleyton Hewitt, most of the Aussie guys.

Can you tell us how you met your wife Catarina?

She was working at the ATP event in Munich, doing the accreditation and at the practice court desk. I saw her daily and thought she was hot. A group of 7 including Wayne Arthurs, Jordan Kerr and Graydon Oliver, went out after we lost. I went up to her and had a crack and she knocked me back. She just thought I was like some of the other players, that wanted to have fun for the evening and then that’s it. Somehow I got her phone number and we just texted on and off for a few months. We met again at Kitzbühel, where she was working again. We met for lunch and dinner, then for the next four days we were hanging out. At the end of the week she asks “Does this mean we are going out”. I just answered, “Yeah, ok”. I was 26 at the time, it was my first serious girlfriend, it happened so fast, 3 months later she was pregnant, and it got very serious. My parents were shocked at first, being my first serious girlfriend and all. Mum was worried at first, but once she met Cat, then all was fine and our families get along very well.

How do you enjoy living in Sweden and how are your Swedish language skills these days?

I like it, the people are great. They have a similar sense of humour to the Aussies and are great to get along with. For now it’s a base, but once I finish with tennis, then we will return to Australia. My Swedish is terrible, 6 months ago when I was injured I was doing an intensive course and making some good progress, but the problem is the Swedes speak excellent English, making it harder to learn the language.

I know you are a big AFL fan (the Dons). What did you think of the Aussies qualifying for the World Cup in Germany? If the World Cup bid is successful how good would it be for football in this country?

I had pneumonia during the World Cup in 2006 and was Sebby (Sebastien) was born 2 weeks earlier. So I was on the couch enjoying the tournament, with my Aussie flag, going crazy, and fist pumping when the Aussies defeated Japan 3-1. I was gutted after the Italian match, going out like that, but the tournament was great.

It would be possible for Australia to hold the World Cup and it would be great for the country if it happens.

How would you explain the lack of current depth in Aussie tennis?

It’s cyclical. 15 years ago there were plenty of Aussies in the top 100, now we don’t have any male in the top 100. South America wasn’t so strong then. France and Spain have good programs. There are 20 money events in France all year round and there are many Futures events in Spain, that they must be able to produce some players.

What’s your view on Tomic. Do you think the media are putting too much pressure and expectations on him?

A bit, but he is handling it well. He enjoys the hype and the press. He easily was the most popular player in the Burnie Challenger. He has a good temperament, but there is a long way to go, he is going in the right direction.

How much do you value Davis Cup? When you went to Argentina in 2002 as a hitting partner who was that for?

Davis Cup, then followed by the Slams. I would love to play in an Olympics one day. There was a mistake where it said I was the hitting partner for the Argentines, but it was for Australia.

Do you think it’s fundamentally wrong to give ranking points for Davis Cup?

The Aussies have always played it (The Poo has been indifferent), it’s natural. If you don’t have enough passion to play, then it’s ridiculous to have points for Davis Cup to motivate them to play. Guys like Nieminen can’t get points because of his nationality and a Spanish player ranked around 50 because of their depth, he isn’t likely to play Davis Cup and can’t get points.


What do you think about the length of season? They have been talking for years about reducing the season, but nothing has changed in this regard. What steps can they take to fix the calendar?

This is bit of a tricky one. If you would have asked me the same question 8 years ago when I first started playing on the tour I would have answered it very differently. The only thing I wanted to do back then was play tournies and I'd be upset if there wasn't one on in a particular week. But now being a bit older the body getting a few injuries from all the pounding over the years and having a family I wish I could see more changes my view. I'd love it if we got bit more of an off season, that one month in December doesn't really cut it especially when you are training through it trying to get ready for the Aussie summer.

I'd love it if the season would be shortened to maybe 9 months, but how do you do that. Do you just cram all the tournies into that time period, or do you cancel 1/4 of the tournies. I know they have been talking about making the season shorter but the question is how you do it. Maybe you just gradually do it over many years. I know the Oz Open started a week later this year, maybe you just push it back one week every year and cut one week off at the end of the year for the next few years. But doing that is screws up other things. Like the Aussie would no longer be played during our holidays. Maybe less people and definitely less kids would be able to come out and watch. How do you fit all the tour events and DC in a 9 month period etc. So as nice as it sounds it would be a pretty difficult thing to do. In the end the players choose how long or short they make their season. But I think I could crap on about this question for a long time.

You were a vocal critic of the flawed Round Robin concept. It seems the ATP aren’t looking out for or listening to the interests of the players, and working more so for the tournament directors. What’s your take on it?

Round Robin was rubbish, it wasn’t a fair system. They said it was meant to be for the fans. I mean you win, you progress, you lose, and you go home, what is simpler than that. It makes little sense that you lose 2 matches and have a chance of still being in. They realised it wasn’t working and had to be scrapped.

Currently with the Council having the big 3 on there, they have more of a say than in the past. Problem is that a lot of the guys didn’t know that you could approach a Council member, if they are unhappy with any issue. In theory the Council should raise the issue at the next meetings, and then they can decide on whether to vote on the change or leave as it is.

Willy Cañas said “The ATP practices discrimination from an economic standpoint, like any multinational corporation. It’s just another of millions that there are in the world. Point being that I accept it, but I'm not buying into it that it is a group of players that decide (players union) because it isn't like that”. Do you believe that Willy is correct on this particular issue?

Yes, I agree to an extent. The tournament directors (TD’s) and the players are in conflict. An example of this was that the players voted for players that have come back from a drug ban, shouldn’t be awarded wild cards on the comeback, but the tournament directors didn’t want that and then the deciding vote went in favour of the tournament directors.

The TD’s are worried about putting on a show and it’s a business for them, they have a different agenda, no tournament = no players, no players = no tournaments. The TD’s had too much power and it was important that the ATP won the lawsuit against Hamburg, we should be attempting to work together. At the moment there is too much conflict between the two groups, who are standing off against each other and I am unsure of how to fix it.

What’s your view of the new Entry Ranking system? It does not seem to be universally popular, but as they have to complete the 2009 season with this system. Is it possible to return to the old system in 2010?

They could go back to the old system, but the year has to be completed first. The ATP tried to make it simpler, but they have given too many points for the winner and the finalist relative to the other positions. The Top 50 will be harder to crack and with the greater weighting towards the winner and finalist, it penalises the consistent performer who makes a lot of quarter final appearances.

The players that did well early in the year are disadvantaged and it’s almost impossible to defend their points from 2008. An IS win was 175, once this is doubled it becomes 350 that has to be defended and to win an IS event this year the most that can be had is 250, therefore losing 100 points.

The ATP has not increased the points for the challengers to the same level for a 50k Challenger it has gone from 50 to 75. The TMS events have increased from 500 to 1000 and the Grand Slam from 1000 to 2000 points. It was easier to pad the ranking in challengers like Lu but you should be rewarded for doing well in the big events.

Do you think the ATP are doing a good job in trying to combat match fixing or is it just for show, because the players that have been suspended for betting, have been lower ranked and bet minimal amounts for the most part?

I'm really not sure if the ATP are doing a good or bad job. I think the difficult part is trying to catch and prove these guys are betting. The guys tanking and betting large amounts are not stupid and there is no way they would have any accounts linked to their name. So what can you do and the guys that were suspended were silly enough to not only bet on tennis in the first place but have an account in their name.

What are your short term goals for 2009, professionally and personally?

Make the main draw at Wimbledon, get back in the top 100 and stay healthy.


Word Association or first phrase

Lleyton Hewitt – Competitive
Collingwood (Aussie Football Team) - Annoying
The ATP – Love Tennis
Båstad – Favourite event
Grasscourt tennis – Enjoyable, but difficult
Clay – Claydogs, grinding
Kevin Rudd (Aussie PM) - Champion
Borscht - Shocking

Luczak was able to reach his goals for that season and many of the same things spoken about then have not been adequately addressed.

2011 Season in Review

With the completion of the 2011 Davis Cup final last weekend, finally the tennis circus has ended for the season. Fear not it’ll be back soon enough with their ludicrously short off season, which is a continuing problem that isn’t likely to resolved anytime soon due to the amount of conflicting interests involved in the organisation of men’s tennis, more on this later.

It might be a slight exaggeration that Novak Djokovic owned 2011. One of the best ever seasons compiled in the sport winning 3 of the Grand Slams and his only loss was at the Roland Garros semi finals to Roger Federer who needed to play his best ever match there to take him down. Just like human life has a beginning and an end Federer lost to Rafael Nadal in the final, it can be dressed up so many ways but the result will always be the same when Federer and Nadal play at Roland Garros. Nadal pounds Federer’s backhand into submission, then Nadal feasts on the scraps.


Novak Djokovic

Djokovic was able to carry his form from the 2010 Davis Cup win until the US Open, unsurprisingly his level faltered after that had some fitness issues combined with mental fatigue. How he ended the season shouldn’t take away from what he did in the first nine months. Djokovic previously used to have same amount of stamina as a teenage boy losing his virginity, but has made significant steps in improving his fitness levels. Yes, there was the change of diet eliminating gluten, the use of the hyperbaric chamber to get the benefits of training at altitude without having to go into the mountains and improves recovery times.

The biggest improvement has been his forehand, it used to break down under pressure, while not being to the level of his outstanding backhand which he is comfortable hitting down the line as well as crosscourt. After the disastrous coaching stint with Todd Martin where they tried to fix Djokovic’s serve, which lead to a loss of confidence that filtered through to the rest of his game. Marian Vajda who has done a great job in coaching Djokovic was able to get the serve back to its previous level at worst and improved at best. Combine these factors with his excellent defensive skills this was how he was able to dominate this season and go 6-0 over Rafael Nadal his closest rival. Djokovic beat him everywhere except indoors, hardcourt, clay and the grass. Nadal wasn’t willing to hit the forehand up the line often enough, therefore feeding Djokovic’s strength in addition to the aforementioned improvements in Djokovic’s game, it wasn’t surprising that Djokovic was able to go 6-0. It will be interesting to see how Djokovic backs up next season.

While Djokovic’s season was a highlight of the ATP, there weren’t many other highlights during the season. It’s hard to believe that they could homogenise the court surfaces any more than they have, but the ATP have managed to do so. As long as the court dimensions are the same and the singles net is the same height, then there should be different surface challenges. The ATP like this because it gives them predictability and easy to market the game from this perspective, in reality it’s the same style of tennis being played on all courts with the only challenge being the movement of the specific surfaces. I have explained previously how the current situation came about, the ball not being in play at all on grass or the indoor events at the end of season, so using a heavier ball and slowing down the court speeds. At this point in time the game has been solidified now they can make the faster surfaces slightly quicker, use a lighter ball and it will improve the diversity of the game not detract from it.

2011 was the classic more of the “same old shit” scenario. There wasn’t a first time Grand Slam finalist, any new TMS winners and the final 8 that qualified for the TMC have all participated previously. The average age of the top 200 is getting older which isn’t surprising due to the game becoming more physical as a result of surface homogenisation, the predominance of baseline tennis. The game has become even more speed endurance orientated and it usually takes players and athletes until their mid to late 20s that they reach their speed endurance peak, naturally there are exceptions. This plus there is more money in the game giving incentive to play the game for longer.

On the other hand there were 10 time first time winners at the lower level of the tour, some of these well overdue like Tipsarevic, and Florian Mayer. Ivan Dodig’s win in Zagreb was brilliant when he threw the racquet into the crowd thinking he won the match, but hadn’t done so. Younger players like Dolgopolov Jr and Raonic getting on the board. Big Kev Anderson winning the last edition of Jo’burg and Sweeting coming out of nowhere to win Houston.


Kevin Anderson (RSA) Johannesburg Outdoor Hard
Ivan Dodig (CRO) Zagreb Indoor Hard
Milos Raonic (CAN) San Jose Indoor Hard
Pablo Andujar (ESP) Casablanca Clay
Ryan Sweeting (USA) Houston Clay
Andreas Seppi (ITA) Eastbourne Grass
Alex Dolgopolov (UKR) Umag Clay
Robin Haase (NED) Kitzbühel Clay
Florian Mayer (GER) Bucharest Clay
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) Kuala Lumpur Indoor Hard



Andreas Seppi wins Eastbourne

One of the highlights of the season occurred in Eastbourne when the “South Tyrolean Sex Machine” Andreas Seppi won his first tournament. This was well overdue, in his previous final in Gstaad he managed the next to impossible feat of choking to Paul-Henri Mathieu after leading *5-3 in the 3rd set serving for the title. There aren’t many people who have managed that but two more will be mentioned later. He lost 4 games in a row and the title.

Seppi when asked what his best surface is, he said “the one I’m winning on”. The final was hilarious, gale like winds. Seppi played 3 sets earlier in the day, was up a set and a break, then Tipsarevic takes the 2nd set. There were a few drops of rain and Tipsarevic was bitching about the conditions. Seppi up *4-0 30-30 gives back the double break, then Seppi serves for the match at *5-3 and 15-0 then Tipsarevic retires.



Fabio Fognini Files

The Fog deserves his own section here as he was involved in some fine comedy this season.

Tommy Robredo:


The Fog reacts

Robredo in the Santiago semi final was very bad tempered both of them at their best with their antics. Robredo “vamosing” at the Fog’s errors, to which “The Fog” has words with Boredo calling him “hombre di mierda”, the literal translation “the shitman”. Once the match is done the Fog tries to shake Boredo’s hand who refused not once but twice and then was booed off the court.

Worst of all Santi Giraldo served for the title but choked and “the shitman” won the title to the amusement of the Chilean fans.

Blaž Kavčič:
There was a brilliant choke in the 2nd round in the match between Blaž Kavčič and Fabio “the Fog” Fognini. This probably should have had a separate entry and it may do so in the future. It’s hard to write about this as Kavčič is someone who I happen to like and “the Fog” is just the “the Fog”. He’d be top 10 in the world if it was down to strutting ability.

Kavčič takes the 1st set 6-1 and the only game Fog got was because he broke the Kavčič serve. Second set is going along the same path, a few breaks and Kavčič is up *5-2 has a chance to serve the match out, fails to do it at the first time of asking. Then in the Fog’s next service game he had 4 match points couldn’t convert any. After this Blaž loses the next 4 games and the set 7-5.

Third set was a breakathon and Blaž had another chance to serve it out at *5-4, loses his serve and then drops the 12th game to love and the Fog sneaks out another win. It’s annoying yet hilarious at the same time on a personal level. This should have been livestreamed just for the entertainment value alone, at the same time as a Blaž fan watching this on a computer could have done bad things to my health and sanity.

Albert Montañes:
The most entertaining match of the tournament from these smaller guys, this was the real RG final.



Montañes usual steady self with solid strokes and the Fog at times was more aggressive, hit some fine dropshots. Montañes served for it at *5-3 in the 5th but was tight as a drum. At 15-30 *6-7 Fog gets an injury timeout for what initially was believed to be cramps.

Commentators thought he was faking an injury, getting a massage during a service game will get some people off side and the crowd gave it to him after that, though mostly they were on his side during the match.

Fat Albert was paralysed by fear, wasn’t hitting any dropshots or moving the Fog around who managed to get double footfaulted only Gaudio, Echagarry and the Fog can do this.

Fog saved match points with dropshots and clean FH winners with his typical blase attitude. Somehow he wins the match, gets a mix of cheers and boos, but he was diagonised with a muscle problem and withdrew from the quarter final vs. Djokovic.
Fognini was the “Peoples Champion” at Roland Garros this year.


Fognini pleading for forgiveness

Retirements


Some of my personal favourites retired this season. The gaucho Marcos Daniel who had injury problems after playing Nadal at the Aus Open, couldn’t play a full season he wanted to play one last Roland Garros but was one out of the Entry List, players hadn’t withdrawn in time so he missed out. Now he is watching Internacional PA, enjoying life with the family, churrascos and always peaked for the Bogota Challenger.


Marcos Daniel

After complications with the back surgery Oscar “the King” Hernandez decided to leave the mere mortals of the tennis tour. His famous confrontation with Dani Koellerer in Santiago never gets old. Koellerer was mocking the grunt, in the process he earned the wrath of the King. He is working with his old coach Marcos Roy training the youngsters. The King got married and she makes a lovely queen.




King Oscar with Queen Rachel


Crazy Dani Koellerer was put into forced retirement banned for attempting to fix matches. There was collective joy around the tour when Crazy Dani was banned from the game. This guy had more incidents than Rocco Siffredi has had women.

He was involved in a fight with the late Federico Luzzi a fiery character. They’d been abusing each other the whole match, then Koellerer at the handshake spits on his hand. Luzzi gets pissed off and after the match there were punches thrown.

Andreas Vinciguerra got so pissed off with Koellerer at the Cordenons Challenger he walked off the court, asked for the tournament car to take him to the hotel getting defaulted in the process. Then little Flavio Cipolla wanting to punch him as well at Reggio Emilia, might have to do a separate entry on Koellerer later.

El Fashionista Stefan Koubek left the game, no one will match him for stylish fashion more on his career and style El Fashionista Stefan Koubek retires . Gaston Gaudio, the second last survivor of that Argentine golden generation and the surprising Grand Slam winner retired as well Gaston Gaudio. He is playing exhibitions against his best friend Mariano Zabaleta in Buenos Aires and del Potro.

2012 well the ATP will have a new chairman since Adam Helfant will be stepping down. Best things about him were that he managed to get some sponsors, he wasn’t a public figure and he wasn’t de Villiers. At the same time he voted that Madrid TMS should be blue clay, will gloat that he managed to reduce the season by 2 weeks next season which really isn’t anything to be proud of. The threat of strike action isn’t likely due to difficulties and lack of proper union representation
Schedule .

Roger Federer as the main player rep has already stonewalled the idea of a 2 year ranking system. There are more pressing issues than Nadal wanting a 2 year ranking system. There’ll be less fluidity between the rankings, in the process making it more difficult for players to breakthrough protecting the top players who the tournament directors rely on to make money.

In other words not good for the sport in any form, that's what they tried with round robin instead and that turned out so well, it's not getting off the ground.

Hopefully 2012 can be an improvement on 2011, some other players being able to step up to the next level. Whether Federer can continue his form at the end of this season through to the Australian Open, can Murray finally win his first Slam. Even among the gloom and doom there are moments of hilarity, inspiration and craziness which make the sport fun to follow.

Potential Player Strike and Scheduling Issues

Apologies for not posting much recently, a lack of motivation at this time of the season, along with some other things going on in the outside world have been of higher priority.

Adam Helfant CEO of the ATP is stepping down, the best things that can be said about him, were that he wasn’t Etienne de Villiers (Mr. Disney) the former supremo and unlike Mr. Disney he was prepared to work in the background. No matter who the CEO of the ATP is, there have been problems with the schedule and implantation of changes to benefit the sport, unlike the Round Robin tournaments which were pushed through quickly that only Ion Tiriac and de Villiers were in favour of.


Andy Murray
Andy Murray has been complaining about the schedule in the press and there’ll be a player meeting in Shanghai about possible strike action. This has been an ongoing problem with the length of season and complaints about the schedule, however little has been achieved in regards to this particular problem.

Formation of the ATP
In theory the ATP means (Association of Tennis Professionals) but the reality is that it’s more favour of the tournament directors. Initially the group was formed as a partnership between tournament directors and players with ex-IMG Mark Miles as the head. It established the 9 Masters Series events the lower level below the Slams as their major events, but as time went on the partnership waned to such a degree that they are conflicting against each other. As the next quote will show this is not a new problem . On March 10, 1999 former world No. 1 Thomas Muster told the German newspaper Die Welt: “I look at the ATP not so much as a representative of players but as a firm that in marketing even works against the players. I don’t like the way tennis is dominated by Americans. The problem is that tennis is governed by the Americans and financed by the Europeans. Changes must come quickly, and the future of our sport is at stake”. Muster highlighted the problems of the ATP as it stood then and little has changed.

There is a player meeting in Shanghai, will be interesting to see what comes out of it, something or a whole lot of nothing. Roger Federer who has always been smart with his scheduling won’t be present, rightly or wrongly he is seen as an influential figure within the game. One thing that needs to happen eventually is that the players have their own union, so they can negotiate without feeling compromised within the existing structure. An example of this when a player comes back from a drug ban, that player shouldn’t get wildcards into tournaments, but they were overruled by the ATP who were once again in favour of the tournament directors.

Potential for Players Union
Currently there is a distinct lack of player representation collectively, individually it would be too costly to negotiate, therefore a union is needed lead by a respected member and negotiator to fight for and push through their interests. There are problems with this naturally in an individual sport as the needs for the top players are different for the guys who are battling through on the Challengers and Futures. Accounting for these diverse interests a Player union is a better alternative to the current situation with the ATP.

Murray said “"We just want things to change, really small things. Two or three weeks during the year, a few less tournaments each year, which I don't think is unreasonable.". The intent of the statement isn’t necessarily bad or whiny even, but Murray is a top player who has greater flexibility when it comes to scheduling than say players like Dustin Brown, Yuri Schukin etc etc. He has the 4 Slams, only 8 of the TMS events are compulsory since Monte Carlo got downgraded, plus 5 !SG events, plus a couple of tune ups for the Slams. The top 50 is very much the promised land, 50-100 is a mix of ATP events and challengers, so there is room for flexibility albeit on a smaller scale.

Challenger Issues
Outside of the top 100 is where the other side to fewer tournaments hits the hardest.
A factor that tends to be overlooked is how relatively speaking the prizemoney for Challengers and Futures hasn’t increased proportionally over a significant period of time. Yes, there has been an increase in ranking points, but the prizemoney for Challengers should also be increased. These players due to economic necessity for the most part have to play more tournaments to get the experience, gain or defend ranking points dependant on the situation, therefore earn more money, if there were less tournaments then they’re impacted negatively.

This is the perfect situation for a well organised union to talk to their members with diverse interests. The top players want to play fewer tournaments and have a longer off season, for those complaining about exhibitions, all they are glorified training sessions. The benefits of a longer off season are that the body has more time to rest and recover from a hard season of travelling, playing events and with the increase of slow hardcourts the surface which produces the most amount of stress on the joints doesn’t help either. With a longer off season, then the players can have more time to build their speed endurance base which is essential for tennis these days, as the game has become more physical. The average age of the top 100 is higher due to the physical factor along with surface homogenisation, it takes longer to breakthrough than before, this isn’t surprising as modern tennis dictates this. It would be up to the union rep to present a case to the lower ranked guys that even though there are less events, that they would benefit in the long run physically and mentally. The competitive aspect of tennis is very tough and the week in, week out nature, contributes to mental fatigue as well and unlike golf, tennis is a physical sport and out of the other main global sports it does have the shortest off season.


It doesn’t matter that players have been getting injured before, but since it’s the top players the cash cows who make money for the tournaments then it gets highlighted, instead of simmering in the background. Whether people like these players or not, the top players do generate extra ticket sales, advertising and more revenue for the tournament, so the tournament directors aren’t happy if these guys are withdrawing from events, as for the fans they are not usually the first people considered, as it is usually the corporate and the sponsors that are taken care of first, before the average fan is considered. Fans have only one thing in common in that they like tennis, what one fan might complain and sigh none of the stars are so they won’t watch, while others will take the opportunity and appreciate the tennis is on offer and not just cause of the name.

Davis Cup and TMS issues
When the TMS events went to best of 3 sets finals instead of 5 sets this was done to appease the top guys who wanted more money for playing for best of 5 and also giving them 1st round byes, so they would commit to all of the events. The ATP threatened to ban these players from the next TMS event if they withdrew citing injury, this was never going to happen so it was done as an inducement. Indian Wells and Miami are well attended events but they should be reduced to 64 players instead of 96, no need for any event outside of the Slams to go longer than a week.

Davis Cup is another problem that needs to be addressed, it’s a wonderful competition but the players are never happy. They wanted the Davis Cup schedule as it is currently, Ricci Bitti agreed to it, now some of the guys are whining when they got the dates they wanted. Ranking points for playing Davis Cup ties is fundamentally wrong, but it’s something that isn’t going away any point soon. Maybe having 14 teams in the World Group instead of 16, where the finalists have a bye in the 1st round, then quarter finalists and 1st round losers would play off for the 12 spots in the World Group. The ITF make a lot of money from Davis Cup, the game has been around a lot longer than the players, no one is bigger than the sport, though we all have evolve with the times, but a biannual Davis Cup isn’t the answer.

As it stands currently the Australian Open is a clear example of who has prepared well in the off-season and this should be rewarded, but in reality the lead up for a Slam is too short and in an ideal world there would be a TMS before it, though that would involve a large restructuring of the tennis calendar. The Australian Open has to be in January, best time for the event, which spent many years resurrecting its reputation. Wimbledon would move back a week or so and give the players an extra week to adjust to the grass, but Wimbledon is generally all about its own interests and not necessarily for the game, even more so than the other Slams. Tennis is a global sport and this needs to be reflected in the calendar.


ATP Organisation

It’s unlikely that there’ll be significant changes at any point soon. For something like this to be discussed, this would mean disparate groups such as the ATP, ITF, tournament directors would have to come together and make compromises for the better of the sport, if there are enough forward thinking individuals within the respective organisations to do that. Except that this would never happen. Therein lies the problem there is less than zero leadership within the leaders of the tennis community and a convention of blind people have more vision than the ATP.

Tennis has previously had player strikes it happened at Wimbledon 1973 when 79 players of the ATP boycotted the event due to Niki Pilic being banned for not playing a Davis Cup tie. It’s an industrial dispute which needs to be sorted, it’s disappointing it’s taken this to highlight the problem. There has always been a hierarchy in society and tennis is no different in this regard. If the top cash cows aren't playing, then the product suffers, for this reason alone, not for the good of the players, fans or the game that significant changes would be made.

Farewell Gaston Gaudio thanks for the memories

With my lack of interest in the US Open, 5th set tiebreakers, Stupid Saturday and general ambivalence to this part of the season, from this perspective I tend to be more interested in the Challengers and the upcoming of the Australian Open. The next two articles will be about players that have retired and left the tennis world behind, neither will be easy to write.

What was your main motivation for your return?

Gaudio : Well... (smiles) when you're a player, you fuck more.

Humorous and amorous Argentine Gaston Gaudio last week officially decided to retire from tennis. This was as surprising as clouds in the sky on a rainy day, as he has been active since Kitzbühel Challenger 2010 where he lost to Pablo Andujar 6-0 6-2. It was not the best way for him to finish, but Kitzbühel was one of his favourite stops on tour especially the Londoner which is a fine drinking establishment. Gaudio on Kitz “I thoroughly enjoyed going there, we had an amazing time. I always wanted to win that tournament. We went there to party, because the night-life is wild, really wild. Everybody who went there played in the tournament, exploded at night, and next day they couldn´t play. I used to go out every night, get up at noon and on top of that I´d win. Total madness, I swear”. So, it’s apt that his last professional match was at a venue that he loved.




Gaston with childhood coach Roberto Carruthers

Pre Tennis
Coming out of Temperely in Buenos Aires province, Gaudio wasn’t solely focused on playing tennis as a junior. He played football and rugby union as well, no he wasn’t your Mascherano type of footballer. A combination of factors led to Gaudio deciding to becoming a professional player. His fathers business was going through some tough times economically plus the beginning of health problems. In addition his best friend Mariano Zabaleta who was number 1 junior in the world and Mariano Puerta doing well on the tour, Gaudio didn’t travel much to junior events but wasn’t far from the standard of Puerta who was making money, this was able to help out the family business through the difficulties.

This was not an easy ride. The AAT (Argentine Tennis Federation) who aren’t known for being competent with player development or tennis management showed this at an early stage. Before the “Golden Generation” Argentine tennis was struggling just with Franco Squillari and Hernan Gumy flying the flag. At the same time they managed to have Agustin Calleri, Juan Ignacio Chela, Guillermo Cañas, Zabaleta, Puerta and Gaudio all around the same age, yet the AAT had nothing at all to do with their development. There was an occasion when these guys were at a junior event in Spain, that the AAT didn’t have enough cash to get them back, yet they succeeded in spite of this incompetence.

Starting out on tour
If it wasn’t for Hernan Gumy helping Gaston out financially at the start of his career then the tennis world wouldn’t have seen one of the more different and expressive characters on the circuit. He started in 1996 like most players who don’t have IMG or a powerful federation he was playing in the Futures and Challenger circuit. Won his Futures event in 1998 then was able to win two challenger titles as well in that year the last being in Santiago defeating Karim “the dream” Alami during the Copa Ericsson/Copa Petrobras Series of challengers which were very hard fought events helping young South Americans toughen up before they joined the main tour and eased the financial burden.

In 1999 Gaudio made his first major impact on the tennis world he won 2 challengers then as a qualifier making the 3rd round at Roland Garros in the 2nd round defeated the “German Gigolo” Bernd Karbacher from 2 sets to 0 down. After that he lost to Alex Corretja who ended up with a 6-1 H2H record in their matches, which were enjoyable filled with some gorgeous single hand backhands but Corretja was mentally stronger. This was when Gaudio believed he could exist on tour and play with the good guys, “Yes, when I was 19 I played against Alex Corretja, one of the best players at that moment, and it was a very even match. That´s when I realised that I could play well. I remember that during the course of the match I would say to myself: ´This is Corretja?´ He didn´t seem all that special to me. That made me feel, that I could easily play (at that level).”



Alex Corretja and Gaston Gaudio milking a cow in Gstaad

Establishing himself on tour was the next challenge winning Braunschweig CH and making his first ATP final at Stuttgart losing to Franco Squillari. Gaudio wasn’t able to conquer Stuttgart losing in the final three times to Franco Squillari, Guillermo Cañas (both in 5 sets) and to Rafael Nadal. The winner of the event gets a new Mercedes straight from the factory. He joked “if I can’t win the title, then I’m going to steal the car”.

Winning the first title
It took a while for Gaudio to win his first title, but when it came in 2002 at Barcelona it was done in great style. Barcelona which is one of the most prestigious clay events on the tour the event has been won by Borg, Lendl, Vilas, Nastase, Muster, Wilander and Carlsson. He became the first Argentine to win there since Martin Jaite who was his coach at the time. He won it without losing a set beating some very impressive names, Moya one of the best on clay at the time, Hewitt who was number 1 in the world and thumping Albert Costa in the final, who ended up winning Roland Garros this year. This can be best summed up “Yes, I won Barcelona playing unbelievably”.


Gaston Gaudio wins Barcelona

64 W Albert MONTANES (ESP) 6-3 6-2
32 W Thomas ENQVIST (SWE) 6-4 6-2
16 W Carlos MOYA (ESP) 6-4 6-2
QF W Alberto MARTIN (ESP) 6-2 6-4
SF W Lleyton HEWITT (AUS) 6-4 7-5
FR W Albert COSTA (ESP) 6-4 6-0 6-2

Davis Cup
Davis Cup brings out different things in different players, some of them play well above themselves like Boris Becker, David Nalbandian and Dominik Hrbaty, then there were others like Stefan Edberg, Davydenko, Chela or Jürgen Melzer who played below their talents. Gaudio was different as he always has been coming from his background of team sports he loved the event, as Davis Cup has the habit of doing produced some of his best moments but also his worst career moments .

After having a comfortable start to his Davis Cup career playing home times on his beloved clay going 7-0 against players he should be beating. In 2002 he faced his first big pressure tie with Argentina playing Croatia in the quarter finals. Gaudio was the star of the tie defeating Ljubicic easily in straight sets, with the tie at 2-2 he chopped the big tree Ivo Karlovic in straight sets to take Argentina through to the semis.

Not long after this high Gaudio experienced the first low of his Davis Cup career playing against Yevgeny Kafelnikov in Russia on a fast low bouncing carpet a surface Gaudio wasn’t his best. This match was famous for one of the worst overrules in tennis, with the umpire being Jorge Dias who was well known for wanting to be part of theatre and lacking competency in his profession. Gaudio leads 5-1 in the 5th set with a match point which was overruled by Dias, naturally Gaudio and captain Gattiker go crazy at this decision, which the Russians didn’t protest the original call making the decision even more ridiculous. In spite of this Gaudio should have closed the match out, but the fragility which was never far from the surface got the better on this occasion.

What followed the next year in Malaga was the lowest point in Gaudio’s career. Argentina winning the Davis Cup is something they covet deeply, yet still haven’t done it. The team were in disarray with the main two players David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria missing the tie due to injury, there were rumours of Coria’s injury being exaggerated as to whether it’s true or not this is something that will never be known. Argentine squad were depleted to the point that Gaudio suffering from a lack of confidence and poor form was included due to his Davis Cup exploits.

In the opening match with Ferrero it was 4-4 in the 1st set, after this Gaudio didn’t win another game in the match. Ferrero was playing well but not that well, during the match Gaudio was getting heckled and jeered for a lack of effort. Naturally fans can boo or heckle if they pay their money and they don’t think he was putting in his best efforts. At the same time this must have been a horrible experience lacking confidence beforehand playing in a pressure match without the right mental balance. Tanking when playing for yourself is different, not that this was a tank at all because tanking in Davis Cup is not on. Gattiker needed to be a psychologist during this tie, but wasn’t capable.


Zabaleta was up 2 sets to 0 before cramping badly losing to Moya, after a horrid day 1 Argentina levelled after a doubles win plus Agustin Calleri coming in for Zabaleta playing lights out thumping Ferrero who was number 1 at the time. Calleri was blasting so many winners the Malaga crowd gave him a standing ovation. Gaudi has the chance to redeem himself but produces another poor performance losing in straight sets and Spain make the final. Yes, Gaudio was poor in difficult circumstances but the level of vitriol and abuse was intense. When he was back in Buenos Aires people would tell him what a shit performance it was, a disgrace and should never play Davis Cup again. Ironically Gaudio never played Davis Cup again this was more due to circumstances ( court conditions) or balance of the team.

After what happened in Malaga plus the following negative reactions from fans and press alike left Gaudio with a crisis of confidence. 2004 Gaudio reached the 2nd round of the Australian Open after giving Tommy Robredo a lesson, he played his nemesis Dominik Hrbaty in the next round. He asked me who won the match, I said Hrbaty his reaction summed it up “ Noo, not this guy I don’t want to play him”. Just wasn’t feeling it that day and got smoked in straight sets. He was talking about retiring thankfully this was not the case.

Rejuvenation
There were signs of life during the European clay season he was toying with Lleyton Hewitt at Monte Carlo leading 6-1 5-2 served for the match but choked as he did plenty of times in his career, while he lost the match it was the start of improvement. He reached the Barcelona final beating Moya on the way who was top 10 at the time losing to Tommy Robredo in the final where one of the most dodgy acts of gamesmanship occurred. Robredo up 5-4 serving for the title in the 5th set 15-40 calls for the trainer for cramps. First of all should only happen at change of ends, the umpire got conned by a bullshit move, while Robredo was celebrating the title better things were along the way for Gaudio. "The doubt prevails. But it was my fault: I got distracted afterwards. He used a great tactic, although I could never do something like that right" On a footnote the next time they played each other in Monte Carlo 2006 Gaudio hardly looked at Robredo in the face.

Gaudio lost another 1st round match in Hamburg to Federer, after the 1st set, Gaudio settled down played some classic clay tennis plenty of engaging rallies 7-5 in the 2nd, then serving to stay in the match at 4-5 dropped serve to lose as Federer won the event.

World Team Cup the week before Roland Garros Gaudio won a couple of matches against Verkerk or Hewitt, but nothing to suggest that he was going to perform one of the most surprising, enjoyable Roland Garros tournament victories with a bizarre final that’ll be very difficult to beat for the drama it created. Gaudio had never been past the 4th round at any Slam before 2004 Roland Garros nor did he achieve it afterwards. The potential was always there when in the mood the single hand backhand is a work of art, can drive well high or low, ability to change direction, feel on the backhand dropshot, slice wasn’t used so often but used well. The big key to his improvement was the forehand which was used mainly to set up the play for the backhand to finish off. Now the forehand was able to win more points outright with this shot and Franco Davin a calming influence all contributed.

As an unseeded player Gaudio wasn’t going to get an easy Very tough first rounder with fellow Argentine Cañas in 5, took out the seed Jiri Novak in 5 sets. Gaudio settled down took out Enqvist and Andreev without too much fuss. The quarter final with Hewitt was just brilliant Gaudio hardly any errors at all, the backhand working its magic, no shenanigans about how crap he was playing when the ball missed by the strings by 0.000001mm. Hewitt knew he was beaten by the better man and the Aussie commentators didn’t want to admit it though they weakened eventually. Next up was David Nalbandian in the semi final it was another brilliant showing from Gaudio, both guys were working the angles with the backhand. Gaudio took the 1st set, Nalbandian served for the 2nd set but Gaudio fought back to get into the tiebreaker, once he won the TB he was seeing the ball so well and Nalbandian had an injury problem as well though he knew early in the 3rd set the fork was in there.


Gaston Gaudio wins Roland Garros

R128 Guillermo Canas (ARG) 72 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
R64 Jiri Novak (CZE) 14 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
R32 Thomas Enqvist (SWE) 65 6-0, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4
R16 Igor Andreev (RUS) 77 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
Q Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 12 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
S David Nalbandian (ARG) 8 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-0
W Guillermo Coria (ARG) 3 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6

Gaudio vs. Coria
Yes, this has been a very long article before mentioning the man he beat in the final Guillermo Coria. There are just some things that aren’t meant to happen. Pineapple shouldn’t be on pizza, the sun doesn’t spin around the earth, Stoke will never play good football and only altitude sickness you will get in the Netherlands isn’t through the mountains. These two were just never meant to get on, they had a few incidents and the press loved stirring it up as well since it was good copy.

Coria was the kid who was bred to play tennis, whereas Gaudio wasn’t necessarily. Coria got support from the AAT whereas Gaudio and players from his generation didn’t. Before Roland Garros Coria booked a hotel for the celebration for winning the title as he was clearly the hottest player in 2004 on clay and expected to win over his foe. In Viña del Mar Coria won a close match they were giving each other some verbal shots. Gaudio got the revenge in Buenos Aires he unfurled an Independiente flag (the football team he passionately supports) and jogged towards Esteban Cambiasso, the team’s star who was celebrating Gaudio’s triumph. Coria swears that, while Gaudio was going towards Cambiasso, he “hit” him in the face with part of the flag.

While these were tasty the best one was in Hamburg 2003 where they played the semi final Coria won the 1st set, then Gaudio won the 2nd set. Coria then called for the trainer claiming he was cramping, he got treatment and afterwards was running around faster than he did before. It was a brilliant con job which Gaudio lost concentration losing the last 6-0. After the match they had to be separated as to whether Gaudio hit him as was allegedly claimed. The best answer for his was when Gaudio’s friend Lucho Horna who played Coria after the incident when Coria was whining he said “ shut up, I’m not Gaudio I will hit you”.

With all this bad blood before the final which both of them wanted to win so badly impacted negatively on the match itself, Gaudio was so nervous could hardly get the ball in court for 2 sets. Coria was very comfortable cruising along, then the French crowd were bored started doing the wave which relaxed Gaudio who started playing better. One moment when Gaudio hit a dropshot which Coria couldn’t quite make he pulled up short at 4-4 in the 3rd, this was when the fun started. After 90 minutes Coria cramps gets treated for it, definitely not due to lack of fitness more like anxiety and pressure.


Coria vs. Gaudio

Gaudio plays better wins the next 2 sets against a guy who can’t move. The 5th set was one of the most ridiculous, bizarre and crazy things to happen on a tennis court. Gaudio so nervous can’t hit the ball into court against a guy who at times can’t run, then explode with others. Coria has 2 match points gets tight, then the moment came 7-6 15-40 on Coria’s serve, Gaudio drills a backhand winner and the moment where his dream became reality. The Paris crowd loved the celebration high fiving the spectators, it was a popular win one because he was a huge underdog, two Coria wasn’t universally liked by his peers because of his sneaky weasel like antics. He was unable to complete his speech at the presentation breaking down in tears, it didn’t help that the father of Argentine tennis Guillermo Vilas was there to present the trophies.


Gaudio and Coria will always be linked together through this bizarre match, the mutual loathing they had even the fact that Franco Davin had been Coria’s coach previously. Coria was expected to win Roland Garros but never did, yet there is a delicious irony that Gaudio who choked many matches was able to come back from 2 sets down and 2 match points to win Roland Garros. He was never expected to win one, Coria and Nalbandian were meant to be the Slam winners, it’s good to upset the conventions in cases like this.

Gaudio had a good 2005 winning 5 titles all on clay, his Roland Garros defence ended in the 4th round against David Ferrer. He was leading 4-0 in the 5th set, yet got upset and said to Javi Piles the coach of Ferrer “ Don’t worry I’m not going to win today”. He was due to play Nadal if he won that match, if the good Gaudio showed up then perhaps a fun match but that’s in the land of “what if”. Though earlier in the year he managed to beat Nadal 0-6 6-0 6-1 in Buenos Aires, the crowd decided to welcome Nadal to the big leagues.

The beginning of the end
This was start of the decline of Gaudio’s career 2004 and 2005 were big seasons winning and playing a lot more matches, it was natural that a letdown was going to occur. There were more injuries as well, once his ranking fell down into the hundreds, he ended up playing challengers plus the odd main tour event. There were still glimpses of the talent at 2007 Roland Garros had Hewitt 2 sets up, but lacked the match practice combined with the frail nerve cost him. He last two titles were at Challenger level in Tunis and San Remo it was good that he wasn’t so proud that he wouldn’t go down to Challengers couldn’t imagine too many other Grand Slam champions doing this, well Agassi did it.

Quotes

- Those speaking of you and not knowing a tiny thing of tennis begin make up stories about you. A pile of things change that you would have liked not to change. But guess what? I won Roland Garros (hahahaha, laughing with his eyes shining)... and what I like is that it bothers some people but it's my achievement and it only has to make me and my people happy.

- On playing Nalbandian at RG. “They’re (Nalbandian and Kuerten) the Galacticos (Real Madrid) and I’m the Valencia. They have a special talent and in the top 10.”

Q. You mentioned Valencia. They have two titles.
GASTON GAUDIO: I'm just asking for one title, not two.

- Q. The foot faults, we’ve got to ask you a bit about the foot faults. There were a few of them. They were annoying weren’t they?

(Gaudio) It is, but it’s fun for the crowd.
(Gaudio) Maybe I should move the line a little bit forward.

Q. Or maybe you should move your foot a little bit back?

(Gaudio) I’m going to try with that one. I never thought about that one before.

Gaston Gaudio didn’t leave tennis fans indifferent, at times the skill level was brilliant and breathtaking, at others it wouldn’t be acceptable for Under 13 Division C tournament in Tierra del Fuego. For those who wanted lessons in Argentine Spanish in how to curse then Gaudio was a perfect teacher, while he was embarrassed with some of the stuff that came out of his mouth. Yet, he is very quietly spoken in interviews when decides to give them.


Mariano Zabaleta, Gaston Gaudio and Luis Horna all retired now

There are players who have won more titles, have more money and fangirls but Gaudio was very much like his idol Menotti it wasn’t about winning say like Bilardo, he had to win well or in style, if he didn’t that would irritate him. He knew that himself, people either liked him or hated him, after he won Roland Garros the same people that wanted to piss on him would be the first to perform oral sex acts if they could.

Hope he can enjoy watching Independiente, hanging out with Mariano Zabaleta, spending time with the friends and family, Bariloche in the winter, his apartment in Miami and the bars of Palermo (not the Sicilian city) . There was no fanfare with the statement, it was sensibly done in the manner “I wanted to make sure that I didn’t want to come back, so I took my time with it”.

Personally I’m not a fan of cats, but I loved “El Gato”’s tennis even in the bad moments like Malaga which made the Roland Garros win so special as it came out of nowhere and all the sweeter for it.

Thanks very much for reading this very long post, wasn’t easy to write but every chapter has to have a beginning and end.

Båstad and Stuttgart Tournament with fan reports from Choupi

The summer clay season is upon us starting this week from Båstad and Stuttgart. Luckily enough there will be fan reports from my special reporter Choupi in Stuttgart, as it's always better to get fan reports and I will cover Båstad. The reports will be in the comments of this post.

It's still disappointing that both of these are competing against each other, it was better when they were separate. Båstad only has 28 player draw, but that makes sense so they can spend more time at the beach and at Pepes Bodega in the evening. Lets say this is not the place to take your girlfriend.

Båstad


Onto Båstad itself, there are the usual suspects here Söderling who played shit all event last year, but ended up losing to Almagro in the final. These two characters are quite combative and their matches have some spice about them, needless to say both are a big chance of winning the title. Almagro loves an IS clay event and wouldn't be surprised if he has trained to peak for this event.

Nicolas Almagro 2010 Swedish Open Champ


Not that it always goes to seeding but Ferrer who looms in Almagro's section will be the big danger. He's on his way from Texas and with the bye shouldn't be required until Thursday enough time to adjust. Boredo two time champ coming back from injury will be moonballing, hooking and using all forms of gamesmanship.

Young Brazilian Swede Lindell plays arriba Riba, he has a very aggressive game, would like to see how he has developed since the last time I saw him vs. Nieminen in Båstad. Kavčič has a good chance to get back on track after a poor DC performance against Starace. The court isn't too fast, but can still get some good bounce on serve and shots.

Vinciguerra too bad he never could win this event. He has been injured for so long, hasn't retired as of yet but would be good if he won a match here.

As for who wins the event, doesn't matter too much as long as it's not Robredo.

Stuttgart (Choupi Reports)

Stuttgart the home of Mercedes and whoever wins the event gets a free Mercedes, though most of the players here could afford to buy one. The players who have played Davis Cup not exactly sure how their motivation is for the event. Monfils is the top seed and now he is coachless after splitting with Roger Rasheed.

Gimeno-Traver who has had an awful year so far but hasn't paid the price will do so now unless he can defend his semi final points from last season. Lacking confidence it's hard to get out of it, got to play through, losing becomes a habit as well. It will be tough for him against Kubot, but possible to win this match.

Seppi back on the clay, he has been playing some Bundesliga matches, he should have too much for Elvis Granollers, there are some good opportunities. Giraldo vs Melzer and Lurch vs. Monfils aren't bad first rounders at all.

Not sure who I think will win this, but they'll enjoy the car.

Great to see King Oscar Hernandez back playing again.

Looking forward to the fan reports

Davis Cup Quater Finals, Play off Review, Canada comes back from 0-2

Davis Cup QF and Playoffs

There weren't any magical Davis Cup results this weekend either in the World Group or playoffs. This was the time where the top players who don't give a shit about Davis Cup (Djokovic can be excused this time) turn up so they can get their Olympic qualifications for next year.

Sweden vs. Serbia

Ever since Robin Söderling withdrew from the tie any chance the Swedes had of winning the tie went out the window. Djokovic was included just to cover any moves by the Swedes, though Thomas Enqvist isn't that smart to pull something like this enough. Lindell isn't up to Davis Cup level yet, especially on indoor surfaces and Vinciguerra was on the way out.

Aspelin/Lindstedt won the doubles which was the best they could've hoped for not to lose 5-0. Very comfortable weekend for the Serbians, though Ryderstedt did as well as he could in singles. The Serbs had fun partying in Halmstad and Båstad, now they will play at home for the semis vs. Argentina.

Argentina vs. Kazakhstan

Russia A couldn't win in Argentina, let alone Russia B. Cool and heavy conditions on clay against a team where Golubev has been on a run of 14 straight losses in fact his last win was over Berdych in the 1st round of Davis Cup.

Hope Russia B enjoyed the fine women and steaks of Buenos Aires. Argentine fans are happy, cause at least this is one team that could win unlike their footballers at the moment.

USA vs. Spain

Spain showed their superior player depth in addition to the fact the surface wasn't as quick as they'd have liked and the bounce was too high. LaLo who is having an excellent year his work with Berasategui has produced some solid form, yes he is still a burro but got give him pops for the improvement. He was able to carry his Wimbledon form and fried the Fish in the 1st tie. Ferrer the warrior too solid for Roddick.

Bryan Bozos got the US on the board as per usual. Ferrer stepped up to the plate closed the deal against Fishy. Sure Mardy has a lot of weight, moves a whole better than he did, but the technical deficiencies of the forehand are still there when he plays the better players who can expose him on that side

Germany vs. France

This tie was set up from the first match where Flo Mayer was up 2 sets to 0, but had some issues with cramping or maybe a muscle strain which allowed Gasquet to come back taking the match. Once Gasquet took the lead, then the French continued their dominance over Germany in Davis Cup play, but they aren't getting it done vs. Spain.

Playoffs

Switzerland vs. Portugal

Federer should learn from Söderling if he doesn't want to do the Davis Cup thing. Söderling played the first tie and Sweden preserve their World Group status, but it's the same old stuff with him. He says he wants to win Davis Cup, but got to play the event before he can win it.

Rarely they played in the Swiss German part of the country, normally they play in Romandie. Bern is a pleasant place and indoors they were never losing this at all.

Portugal with Gil and Machado love Davis Cup, and Machado played above his level against Federer. Winning a set against Federer indoors for a guy who has played 3 indoor matches before the weekend was excellent, but Fed was just cruising through this.

Italy vs. Slovenia

Seppi was out for Italy, and there was a small chance for Slovenia to win this, but this was lost after day 1 when the chances were on offer that these weren't taken. It's not easy to win in Italy, but not mission impossible.

Žemlja took the first set against the Fog 6-1 with good aggressive play, which is how he has to play as his defensive skills are average at best, and this came back to haunt him. The Fog started to play better, but Žemlja started making too many mistakes and being defensive which is not the way he plays at his best, as his poor footwork get exposed which the Fog did.

This meant Kavčič had to step it up over Starace. Blaž started well, hitting good length and not letting Starace into the match. Then Kavčič dropped the level, got a bit passive and Starace took advantage serving better especially on the ad side. He was using the kicker to the backhand pushing Kavčič further back into the court, dominated the rallies and worked his excellent dropshot to full effect.

With Starace was playing well, the DC captain didn't offer any solutions at all. Kavčič needed to stand closer to the baseline on ad side, as Starace jumped to left on the kick serve, return the ball down the line taking advantage of the positioning. Forcing Starace to vary it up and taking away his drop shot.

Ecuador vs. Canada

canada were down 0-2 losing their best player Raonic to hip surgery before the tie didn't help them. It was good to see Vasek Pospisil and Phil Bester able to turn around their first day losses to seal the comeback win for Canada, would be good if they could make World Group, though that isn't happening with Raonic.

Too bad many of the top players believe they are bigger than the sport.

Tennis Nickname Reference List

Since there are many silly names that are used for some of the players. This post will highlight some of them, yes some are obvious and not very witty, but a few are a bit different. If anyone wants an explanation as to how they came about, then please ask in the comments section and these will be address how some of these came about.

We all know why Radek Stepanek is sexy and why Andy Roddick looks like Donald Duck when he whines like a baby.

Radek Stepanek



The bottom one goes across to see the extra names, enjoy or be confused by the listing.

Wimbledon Review :125 years of Wimbledon and the people making the schedule are the same age then the tournament

Some things change and other things don't this applies to Wimbledon. What didn't change was the moronic scheduling not the fact that Serena Williams was whining about being on court 2, suck it up princess. There is a baseline, a net and a set of lines you have to hit over and in between. The tournament finished on time, and the rain fucked up the doubles schedule. Yes, doubles is lower down the food chain, but there shouldn't be best of 5 doubles matches until the final. Phillip Petzschner summed it up perfectly "125 years of Wimbledon and the people making the schedule are the same age then the tournament! It’s a fucking joke". They hadn’t completed their first round match while others were in the third round.

There were the usual rumblings about how the grass played during the tournament, as has been stated many times they've changed the makeup of the grass using heavier balls which has changed the dynamics of Wimbledon. To the point where it's only Wimbledon in name, this has been reflected for years and only new people to the game or delusional would state otherwise.

Andy Murray once again came up short at Wimbledon which was unsurprising. Murray has an interesting relationship with the British press, they build him up for 2 weeks of Wimbledon where everyone becomes an instant expert on the sport. He has a very dry wit, but due to bad experiences with the press, apart from the usual he wins he's British, he loses he's Scottish. Not a surprise he made the semis and Nadal took him out. If he's going to win a Slam, then it will be either Aus Open or US Open.

Bernie Tomic

Bernard Tomic a young man who has divided quite a lot of people mainly cause of his attitude. Personally never had a problem with Tomic though can see why he would be annoying to others. This was his breakthrough event, the grass is perfect for his game. He can move on the surface, which is where he struggles badly on the clay. The funky forehand while not as funky as Florian Mayer's is more effective on this surface. Tomic has plenty of variety, mixes up it with some junk like Murray and Dolgopolov, this stuff works to bring the ballbashers out of rhythm, while Tomic will never be Usain Bolt and the serve needs to improve, he has a great understanding of how to play tennis, the stuff you can't teach. He was never beating Djokovic, but excellent showing against him.

Novak Djokovic became world number 1 when he defeated Tsonga in the semi finals. Whether people like him or not, yes he's cocky, can't perform fake humility well but he's been the man since the Masters at the end of 2010 to now and thoroughly deserves to be top of the tree. What has led to such improvement within this timeframe, there are a few factors. First of all, he has managed to almost get back his old service motion which was tinkered with by Todd Martin and contributed to stagnation at best and regression at worst. He changed his diet where gluten was eliminated, this has given him more energy, surprise surprise the time outs haven’t been a factor whereas before if he had dandruff he’d call for the trainer. Another important factor is the improved forehand, previously the forehand would break down or used as a rallying shot. He has improved the stroke to a level where he can hit it with more pace and penetration, while having a good safety margin.

For those who don’t understand yes the Grand Slams has 2000 points, but the Masters events which there are nine of them winning those events, players get 1000 for winning. Djokovic won the Aus Open and four of the Masters events plus the Masters Cup, therefore it’s logical he reached the top of the tree with the rolling 52 week rankings for when a player starts their career.

Rafael Nadal made the final which was a fine effort, considering he took faking to levels Sergio Busquets would have been proud of in the match against del Potro. Before the 1st set tiebreaker acting as if he tore ligaments in his foot, then after 9 minutes comes back on court, moves like there isn’t anything wrong with him. The timeout rules are a joke, have been since Shuzo Matsuoka went over with cramps at the US Open acting like he had been shot. The rules need to be changed, want to get treatment before a change of end then forfeit the game, naturally players will take advantage of loopholes. At the same time this was from the winner of the ATP Sportsmanship Award which has much credibility as a North Korean election, let’s see regularly going over time in between serves, constant delay of the game, faking injury timeouts (Petzschner at Wimbledon, Fed at Madrid). Yes, that’s the epitome of great sportsmanship.

Novak Djokovic

Djokovic was too good for Nadal as he has been 4 times this year. With Djokovic’s improved fitness and forehand plus having the confidence of defeating him in all of their matches this season. The second set from Djokovic was brilliant, defending very well when he had to and attacking the short balls that Nadal was feeding. He had a lapse in the 3rd set, but was able to retain enough focus despite some nerves to break for *5-3 and served it out for a deserved title. The match wasn’t brilliant at all, but Djokovic was at a much higher level and deserved to win the crown.

First time since 2002 there was a non Fedal winner of Wimbledon. Any doubts that were lingering about Djokovic reaching the number 1 spot in the world were crushed today. As for how long he’ll stay there, who knows and it’s not really relevant it doesn’t matter whether it’s 3 hours or 3 years reaching number 1 in the world is a fine achievement.

Previously I’ve called Djokovic the poor man’s Ivan Lendl and still hold this particular viewpoint. Both aren’t pretty to watch, ruthlessly efficient, very good at what they do and making the most of their abilities. Lendl would have loved these grass courts, but players can only exist in their era, no amount of tennis nerdishness is going to change this.

The tournament itself wasn’t interesting, the distinctive nature of Wimbledon has pretty gone in the way the game is played on grass. It’s at a point now where the game has been saved from all serving machines brutalising the sport, now they can quicken the surface up and use lighter balls.

Not even Fabio Fognini can save Wimbledon Preview

Onto the third Slam of the year, it's a mix of the traditional, annoying and hyperbolic. As much as they have homogonised the surface speeds and nuances required to play on the surfaces. It's still good that each Slam has its own characteristics.

There are a few things to rant about when it comes to Wimbledon. The grass itself is a lot different than it used to be, whether this is a good thing or not depends on your viewpoint. How it came about is very important, in the 80s it was serve/volley tennis the grass bounced low, the areas which received wear and tear was at the net and not the baseline. This started to change after Agassi's title which was his best ever Slam win, winning it from the baseline against massive servers and solid volleyers when it was fast. What happened with Sampras, Ivanisevic, Krajicek, Todd Martin these guys on the grass were just the serve players, that were no points being played at all, it was just serve tennis where they might as well have played tiebreakers. The contrast to this was the fact that watching guys who had no clue how to play on grass (aka grasscourt gimps) is as amusing as the claycourt clowns.

After these developments at Wimbledon, they changed the composition of the grass which made it more durable not a bad thing, but it changed the way the game was played on grass. It became a lot slower and less of a challenge to adjust to the surface than previously, lets say Ivan Lendl would have had a hardon seeing the grass as it is currently. Pretty much the only thing that can't be adjusted is the movement on surface which is something say Davydenko and del Potro will always struggle with. You know it has changed when Marat Safin was thankful for the organisers in slowing it down so he could make the semis there one year. Personally it's better from the horrible days of just serving bombs, but like anything fixing that problem by using heavier balls, changing the composition, it takes away in other areas. They could easily quicken it up a bit, though with the weather there's only so much that can be done

Weather forecast for London isn't looking very good, but this is England and summer so this is to be expected. Fortunately they have a roof, so some play will happen. This will provide plenty of mental challenges to the players and fans. Hopefully the weather is shit, so they can play on Sunday it's not the 10th century anymore. It's only for two weeks of the year that the locals have to put up with the tournament, they have another 50 weeks where it's not an issue.

Wimbledon will be the focus for most of the sporting world, nearly most functionally literate people whether they have an interest or not in the sport knows Wimbledon. Because of this we have the massive rise in comparison to Zimbabwean inflation rates of the instant experts. They only watch tennis for 2 weeks of the year, forget the rest of the tennis season exists and know everything about anything when it comes to the sport, these kinds of people exist everywhere just like idiots. This where the English press want to claim Andy Murray as British and the quality of articles surrounding him become even more banal than usual. I'd like Andy Murray to win a Slam, just not at Wimbledon, but we all know as soon as he loses he becomes Scottish.

Onto the tournament itself, it will be between the usual suspects. Which grass court gimp will win the most matches is of greater interest. Best thing about this draw is that Mikey Russell and Daniel Gimeno-Traver will be on TV. Perhaps Kavčič can win a match then play Murray in the 2nd round, he has never won on grass before and no time like the present. His countryman Žemlja plays Slovak pretty boy Lacko who qualified, not the easiest one. Bolelli once again lucked out as a Lucky Loser, only way he can make Slams these days, at least he is a good guy and has a pretty wife. Too bad there won't be streams to see Ramirez-Hidalgo on grass because that's something that needs to be seen.

Isner-Mahut again, hehehehehehe. Lucky I'm not a conspiracy theorist as this match came about again. There isn't a way that they'll equal the drama of 70-68 from last year, it will be interesting to see whether they put it on court 18 or not.

It won't take long for commentators to say Wimbledon is the title that all players want to win. Thomas Muster, Yannick Noah, Gaston Gaudio, Vilas they don't want to return their Slam titles just for a Wimbledon, sure maybe for Lendl this might be the case but doesn't cover the whole tennis world.

As for who will win the event, the FC Basel supporter with the Super Mario lookalike for a father. But there will be rain.