Per Antoni Nadal his nephew's fifth consecutive win at Monte Carlo was nice but he can do better.
"He played a good third set, but it's obvious he must play better than this week," said Nadal senior.
"He was missing a little confidence in his game and you could see that his serve was incredibly weak. But it's the first tournament on clay this season for him and I hope that with some more matches, it'll get better.
"We know that there's a lot of work to do before Roland-Garros. But he still won. It's a very important tournament for us and to win for a fifth time is incredible."
Meanwhile Jose Higueras has said that his former charge needs to change.
“When you stop improving, you deteriorate; in tennis it’s always like this” says the coach, who was prohibited by contract to speak about the Swiss last year. “But Federer continues just as before. His backhand, which today seems weak, is good, but the players have grown accustomed to it and that’s why it’s less effective, now it seems to play worse.”
Roger’s immobility contrasts with Nadal’s aptitude for reinvention. “In two years, (Nadal) is a completely new player, he has improved and changed his style. Federer keeps on being the same: now others can attack him. He has stagnated.”
It’s not only a problem of competition, but also of philosophy. “Tactics always work better if they win - it’s a question of confidence. Federer can improve his style of play, he doesn’t always use the most appropriate style. When I was with him, he played two brilliant matches, the semifinals and final of the US Open.”
“He was aggressive, he approached the net well, he was very fast, that’s why he won, this is the way he always has to be.” Higueras says on Federer’s current game, which has problems of strategy when he doesn’t cover the backhand, his worst shot, to optimize his resources. “The backhand has always served him well, it is a big shot, but the players know it. His forehand is more devastating and more difficult to defend,” says Higueras.
Thanks to the good people at the GoToTennis blog for the translation of the original article in Spanish. They provide a link to the original article.
There was also a flurry of anticipation about pictures of Roger Federer's wedding being available to the public. A Swiss publication made a donation to the Roger Federer Foundation for the rights. The Swiss newspaper Blick reports that Roger wore a Tom Ford suit, and that Mirka wore an Oscar de la Renta dress. Once again thanks to the gototennis blog for the scans.
Dinara Safina officially becomes the WTA number one today. Some feel that Dinara's statement regarding her ascension to number one was too self effacing. I think it was honest. She knows she has not been the best player this year and that she is for now Slamless. There's no pleasing everyone. She is number one based on her point total alone. If anyone has any doubt who the players feel are the top of the heap check out Sabine Lisicki's reaction to beating Venus Williams in Charleston last week. At any rate here is the WTA top ten.
1 (2)
SAFINA, DINARA RUS 8951
2 (1)
WILLIAMS, SERENA USA 8272
3 (3)
DEMENTIEVA, ELENA RUS 7391
4 (4)
JANKOVIC, JELENA SRB 7350
5 (5)
WILLIAMS, VENUS USA 7102
6 (6)
ZVONAREVA, VERA RUS 6270
7 (7)
IVANOVIC, ANA SRB 1745
8 (8)
AZARENKA, VICTORIA BLR 4646
9 (9)
KUZNETSOVA, SVETLANA RUS 4308
10 (10)
PETROVA, NADIA RUS 3840
The woman I thought was going to challenge for the top position, Vera Zvonareva severely twisted her ankle last week and is back in Russia for a complete evaluation.
End Notes
American gossip site TMZ.com has published unofficial pictures of Andy Roddick's wedding to Brooklyn Decker. Here are a few.
