TMS Monte Carlo Main Draw

And the clay court season is under way. Interesting draw here at what is arguably one of the most beautiful venues on the tour. There doesn't seem to be a really bad seat in the place and everyone comes to play. Not to mention many players get their residency requirements in during this event.



[1] FEDERER, Roger SUI vs BYE
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
LEE, Hyung-Taik KOR vs BJORKMAN, Jonas SWE
MOYA, Carlos ESP vs [13] YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS







[12] FERRER, David ESP vs SIMON, Gilles FRA
[WC] BALLERET, Benjamin MON vs BENNETEAU, Julien FRA
TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS vs GAUDIO, Gaston ARG
BYE vs [6] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB






Looks like they want to set up a Djokovic vs Federer show down here. Djokovic is one of the few men Federer has kind of admitted disliking so that would be interesting to see. On the way to that possibility there are some interesting matchups.
I'm sure Federer wants to come out taking names. The most exciting match in his quarter is
Youzhny vs Moya. Moya can still pull some good tennis out of his butt and if he shows up here that may be one of the more interesting first rounds matches. The winner their showdown should face the winner of Federer's second round match.

In Djokovic's quarter there are several nice match ups starting with Ferrer vs Simon. David Ferrer hasn't been playing well lately after doing pretty well last year. I'm sure he'd like to win this opening round match and go on to face either Benneteau or Balleret.





Tursunov vs Gaudio is my star match up in this quarter. Gaudio desperately needs a win. Tursunov should be fresh since he didn't play DC this go around.If Djokovic comes out playing the same level of tennis he played in Miami he should beat either of them in the second round. But this is clay. Let's see how patient Djokovic can be and how good his conditioning is.

[4] GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI vs BYE
ANDREEV, Igor RUS vs ACASUSO, Jose ARG
MASSU, Nicolas CHI vs VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA
HENMAN, Tim GBR vs [16]FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP



Another random draw where they put Gonzalez and Massu in the same quarter. Random draw blah blah blah.
Andreev vs Acasuso is a nice undercard. Gonzalez hasn't shown much since Australia and it'll be interesting to see him here on the dirt. If Chucho comes to play Fena will be facing him in the second round.
Massu has been playing well of late but it's pick 'em in his match against Volandri.




Juan-Carlos Ferrero vs Tim Henman should see Juanqui meeting the winner of Massu/Volandri. This isn't an easy quarter for Fena since everyone but Henman can play on clay. Tough section.



[11] GASQUET, Richard FRA vs VERDASCO, Fernando ESP
QUALIFIER vs HRBATY, Dominik SVK
MONFILS, Gael FRA vs STEPANEK, Radek CZE
BYE vs [7] LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO





Gasquet, benched by Guy Forget for the deciding rubbers in DC play has seemed annoyed about suggestions he is the young gun left behind. I think that distinction goes to Monfils right now but I digress.
The Spaniards have a lot to prove after their dismal DC showing and I'm sure they want to send the message that it was all about the surface not them. Both Gasquet and Verdasco are said to be loaded with talent but it's rarely seen on a tennis court.







Stepanek should be facing Ljubicic in the second round but you never know with Monfils. He has been playing away from the main tour and we know he loves the dirt.
As I have often said clay is the great equalizer. What should happen isn't always what does happen. Another iffy section.

[5] ROBREDO, Tommy ESP vs BYE
CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA vs [WC] SERRA, Florent FRA
BECKER, Benjamin GER vs [WC] JOHANSSON, Thomas SWE
ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP vs [10] BERDYCH, Tomas CZE



When it comes to Tommy see what I said above about the men who played on the Spanish DC team. Almagro wasn't on that team and he's going deep at Valencia. That may give Berdych an edge in their match, but just. Unless lighting strikes Becker should be meeting the winner of Almagro/Berdych.



I do give Thomas Johansson credit though. At least he tries unlike the men from a certain country who develop mysterious injuries or fatigue when it comes to the early part of the clay season.







[14] BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP vs MIRNYI, Max BLR
QUALIFIER vs MELZER, Jurgen AUT(pictured below in bandana)
ROCHUS, Olivier BEL vs SODERLING, Robin SWE
BYE vs [3] DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS





Nice section. Weakest links may be Soderling and the man who makes it via qualifying. The Swedes come here and play. For that they get my respect. Not an easy section for Davydenko.






[8] MURRAY, Andy GBR vs BYE
GICQUEL, Marc FRA(pictured) vs MAYER, Florian GER (pictured below drinking water)
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs [9] NALBANDIAN, David ARG




Let's see if Mouth Almighty has his charge ready for clay. Since Americans have an aversion to the red dirt it'll be interesting to see how Murray does here. Neither Mayer nor Gicquel are pushovers and Nalbandian just had a nice tune up exho in Mallorca.

























[15] NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN vs SAFIN, Marat RUS
VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL vs [WC] MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG vs VERKERK, Martin NED(Pictured below)
BYE vs [2] NADAL, Rafael ESP







Vliegen vs Mathieu caught my eye here. Will we see
Mathieu vs Safin Round 2? Will Marat decide it's worth his while to play well here? Who knows? But it's going to be fun.







Clay draws are more equal because the surface brings everyone to the same level. Clay favors the players who are patient, in good shape, know how to slide and know how to build points and think well on court. Vliegen made a nice statement during his interview on "ATP Tennis". A point on hardcourt can be over in three shots he said. On clay you have a lot more balls coming at you and you have to wait for your opening.

Again I applaud the Swedes for playing here and yes I'm rubbing it in. Tennisheads know their preferred surface and that clay is not it. Yet they come. Because of the leveling effect of the dirt every player has a chance and they take theirs. It's insulting to the sport for the American men not to even try and play much before Rome and why Murray's performance here is something to pay attention to. Will Brad Gilbert have him ready for a deep run? With the ATP trying to downgrade this and all but a few of the big clay tournaments Murray going deep here would allow Gilbert to name his price almost anywhere and make what the LTA is paying him look like chump change. It would also put the lie to the talk that American's can't play on clay because there are no professional level coaches able to teach it. The talk about Americans just not wanting to learn I can't deny because in this case actions are speaking louder than words. Maybe Murray has an advantage over other Brits because he's trained in Spain. I'm by no means a big fan of Brad Gilbert but there is really no excuse for the American's to not even show up here and try.

This is always an exciting tournament and this year should be no different.

Let the games begin!

Don’t Play Davis Cup – and Have Your Patriotism Questioned

During the just fnished Miami tournament Rafael Nadal announced that he would not be playing Davis Cup for Spain. ESPN’s court side reporter Pam Shriver found Emilio Sanchez in the stands and of course asked Spain’s Davis Cup captain how his team would fare without Rafa. I guess no one told Pam that Spain had managed to win against Switzerland with Rafa sitting on the bench.

Emilio was as diplomatic as he could be making nice noises about Rafa having to protect his foot managing to call Spain’s top player “fragile” as he did so. Needless to say the United States Davis Cup captain seized on his peer’s words saying Emilio was “bitter” about Rafa’s decision not to play. Of course Patrick McEnroe didn’t do a dance in the broadcast booth but he had to like his team’s chances with Rafa not even a threat to play in Winston Salem this weekend. Rafa made the trip to Switzerland and stayed the entire weekend to cheer his compatriots on.




I’m sure Patrick was less sanguine when Andy Roddick pulled up lame during his match against Andy Murray with a pain in his not so famous butt. Andy Murray, exhibiting behavior that can only be called “peckish” rolled over and played dead during his match against Novak Djokovic all the while shouting obscenities at his coach Brad Gilbert. Murray has now said that he was suffering from both a groin and leg injury and is unlikely to play Davis Cup for Britain against Belgium. I wonder how bitter John Lloyd is?

Normally I wouldn’t write about this except that a thread appeared on www.menstennisforums.com asking if today’s athletes are patriotic. It started when Rafa pulled out of Davis Cup and has now been expanded to include Andy Murray and the entire Russian DC team. Funny that no one questioned Andre Agassi’s or Pete Sampras’ patriotism when they refused to play Davis Cup because it was inconvenient for them to play for their country. Sampras famously had to be begged to play. Agassi didn’t make DC officials grovel as much as I recall. Sampras felt no one appreciated his play – there wasn’t enough press coverage- in Moscow during one tie and then got Davis Cupitis. I’m not sure what set Andre off.

People have a right to question athletes about any and everything and I wouldn’t deny them that. I think it’s a bit unfair to rag on Rafa about not playing Davis Cup when the reason his foot is in the shape it is is as a result of his playing himself into exhaustion and carrying Spain on his back in 2005. It was Davis Cup play that stopped him from playing the Australian Open in 2006 with the foot injury he is now understandably citing as reason for his not playing.



Nikolay Davydenko who for some reason is drawing fans ire is a man who played so much tennis in 2006 people wondered how he could even lift a racquet. He seems to be playing a more moderate schedule this year and is playing this weekend’s tie. Why the fans are after him I have no idea.

Andy Murray is also being called out for being a slacker. The entire history of Scotland and England is being dragged out as possible reasons why Murray isn’t playing. Murray isn’t the only one who’s alleged political beliefs are being used to explain his not playing. Catalunya’s quest for nationhood has also been thrown into the mix by those questioning Rafa’s decision. Davydenko’s Ukrainian ancestry is also part of the brew.

Is all of this fair? Probably not. The politics involved probably have more to do with those of tennis rather than nationhood. Davydenko made some comments last year about who is Russian and who isn’t. Emilio Sanchez became DC captain in Spain after the prior coaching team was tossed out and he is known to be a favorite of the most powerful man in Spanish tennis. And Murray is just trying to put some kind of positive spin on his churlish behavior in Miami by citing injury. If he was so badly hurt that he couldn’t defend himself against Djokovic how can he possibly play Davis Cup?



Davis Cup has been a problem child for tennis since the Sampras and Agassi boycotts of the previous generation. The athletes today can’t be faulted for me-firstism when these two greats got away with it for years. The game has changed, there are more tournaments and more money than ever. The athlete owes it to himself to put his health ahead of an event like Davis Cup which offers no ranking points and comes at admittedly awkward times of the tennis year. If some of the talked about changes come about – rankings points and only playing every two or four years things will probably change. Until then there will always be drama around DC ties with a lot of it taking place off court.

Note: I haven’t discussed Fed Cup yet but Maria Sharapova announced that she will not be playing Fed Cup due to shoulder problems and a hamstring issue. I wonder if her patriotism will be questioned…oh wait.

Leaving Las Vegas

Yesterday I wrote about Etienne de Villiers falling on his sword and reversing what was undoubtedly the worst decision for men's tennis in recent memory. I also wrote about James Blake’s seeming unawareness that as a player rep he is supposed to uphold the letter of the law when it comes to how players and management interact. I wonder what they’re teaching those folks at Harvard? Things seemed to be simmering down when I posted my thoughts and I went about my day thinking everything was settled.

But I was wrong. It seems de Villiers did not fall on his sword mouthing “mea culpa” voluntarily but that he was pushed. Ironically it was not by the Vice President of the Player’s Council but the very players whose views the Player’s Council is supposed to represent. Despite their conciliatory public remarks both Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin are said to have threatened to pull out of the tournament if de Villiers didn’t reverse his decision. Russian tennis guru Shamil Tarpischev is also said to have expressed his opinion. Since Marat and Lleyton were the other two semi finalists one can only imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth that took place among the powers that be in the ATP. I’m sure the hallways of ATP headquarters were full of men and women dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes while they waited for their leader to make the only logical decision he could make. I’m told the sword wound is superficial and should heal nicely.

Good for them and the other players who are also said to have read the riot act to the numbskulls trying to perpetrate this particular fraud. It seems the players are going to have to stand up for themselves when and if this situation arises again. Twice in as many weeks is a bit much no?

Adding fuel to the fire the reigning Prince of Tennis also spoke out. He didn’t say much about the situation last week in Buenos Aires where another player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, showed he has a moral compass and refused pretty much the same offer the ATP made to James Blake but after he was asked about it he had plenty to say.

"Everybody knows I was against it (the round robin system) in the first place," said Federer. "It's actually very disappointing to see things like this had to happen first before you realise that the system is not going to work.

"Nothing against Etienne de Villiers, he's trying his best, but all I hope is he doesn't change the integrity of the game.

"I've always said you have to keep tennis the way it is and not try to change and mix it up and try too many things at the same time. He's burned his hands on that, that's for sure, and I doubt it's going to happen next year, the round robin system.

"It's going to be interesting to see their (the ATP's) reaction now because they're definitely under pressure. I think it's a bad situation that happened."

http://www.eurosport.com/tennis/atp-dubai/2007/sport_sto1104980.shtml

Roger has been against the round robin system and has said so before. It must burn de Villiers because his brain trust came up with the round robin idea so that paying fans would get to see the likes of Roger, Rafa, Roddick, Blake, Davydenko and other stars more than once during an event. It didn’t matter that this shafted the lower ranked players like Korolev or Lapentti because frankly who cared the reasoning had to have gone. I guess it didn’t occur to them that everyone in the top five was once a struggling up and coming player. Until Roger Federer beat Pete Sampras no one was paying much attention to him. With the changes the ATP is contemplating up and coming Roger doesn’t even get to play the then Prince of Tennis Sampras.

I wanted to post the ATP’s official statement which had been posted on www.tennischannelopen.com but it’s no longer there. I went to the ATP site and I didn't see it there either. Fortunately mmmm8, one of the posters at talkabouttennis.com did post a link to the official statement. I tested the link, it still works. I also saved a copy just in case the link stops working.




http://www.tennischannelopen.com/atp_statement.aspx



Here is the link to the public comments by Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt along with the only timeline I’ve seen. It’s a long read but it’s worth it.

http://tennisworld.typepad.com/travelblogue/2007/03/merrygoroundrob.html

I also tested this link and it works.

I’m not sure why the official statement was removed from the Tennis Channel Open website. I thought it was a sign that someone at the ATP understood the cloud over the tournament and men's tennis and thought it best to give fans the ATP perspective at the source so to speak. Maybe they had second thoughts in light of what was coming out. I don’t know. I do know that both Nicolas Lapentti, who is coming back from injury and Evgeny Korolev got to play as far as they could in the tournaments they entered which is what tennis is all about.

The ATP by removing their official statement from the web site of the tournament that was affected is sending the wrong message to both players and fans. I don't think this is quite what Roger had in mind when he spoke about waiting to see the ATP's reaction. It is an interesting one, but not one that enhances the decisions made by the ATP brass.

As for Blake I hope he is heeding the calls of his fans. James' fans have been openly pleading with him to stop talking because his comments are making it hard for them to defend his actions in this situation. The comments made by one of his peers about Blake, instead of being forgotten, are now back in the tennis public's awareness. They were not flattering and James' actions here have thrown dirt on his pretty much squeaky clean image.

I didn’t think this situation would result in three posts but apparently there’s no end to the ATP Follies.

As the situation warrants I’ll return to the subject.

When You Dig A Grave For Someone Dig Two Holes

This bit of folk wisdom might be remembered by TPTB in tennis as the first Grand Slam of the season moves into it’s second week. Lets look at the men and women who will be playing today and tomorrow.

On the womens side we have the following matchups in the quarter finals:

Nicole Vaidisova vs. Lucie Safarova

Serena Williams vs. Shahar Peer

Kim Clijsters vs Martina Hingis

Maria Sharapova vs Anna Chakvetadze

Lucie Safarova? Shahar Peer? Anna Chakvetadze? Oh yeah, and Serena Williams? In some circles Nicole Vaidisova is a surprise quarter finalist as well. That means five of the eight quarterfinalists were supposed to be knocked off by their supposed betters long before this stage of the event. But they are here and proves what one blogger said about the Australian Open – it’s the quirky one, the one where relatively unknown players can make a name for themselves with the tennis viewing public and hopefully kick start their careers. Some make the big time – remember that kid named Martina Hingis – and some don’t. Remember Tsvetlana Pironkova?

When the draw first came out everyone wondered why Hingis had such a tough draw while Amelie and Kim’s main job would be to make their matches appear competitive. Now Amelie is off to figure out what went wrong and Kim is said by many to have a lock on the trophy. Ironically that overweight, slow and unfocused player named Serena Williams is also being talked about as hoisting the trophy which would be her first since 2005 at the same venue.

Truth be told if Li Na had not choked and sprayed her way to 65 unforced errors in the second and third sets of her match against Martina and played the same level of tennis she played in the first set she would be the one facing Clijsters and bring to six the number of women who should not be there.


The mens side has it’s own share of the drama.

The semi’s feature the following men:

Mardy Fish vs Andy Roddick

Roger Federer vs Tommy Robredo

Nikolay Davydenko vs Tommy Haas

Rafael Nadal vs Fernando Gonzalez

Anyone who tells you they expected to see Fish, Robredo, Haas and Gonzalez in the quarters is lying.

Anyone who tells you they knew Rafael Nadal was making it to the quarters is also lying. No one thought he’d survive his brutal draw which featured men who had made his life miserable last year. Robert Kendrick, James Blake and Tomas Berdych are all on their way to the next tournament or back home to find out what the hell went wrong while Rafa is facing a man in Fernando Gonzalez who decided he’d had enough of the partying and wanted to be at the top of his sport. He’s been the most improved player since last summer and roars into the quarters after a near perfect match against Lleyton Hewitt – you remember him, the guy who had the rebound ace tuned to suit his game?-and a three set victory over James Blake who was supposed to make the world safe from a twenty year old from Mallorca who doesn’t play text book tennis and yet found himself in the Wimbledon final last year, a feat that has rattled former Wimby king Pete Sampras. There’s something wrong about a thirty something year old man calling out a twenty year old no?

Roger Federer is still the prohibitive favorite to make it to the mens final. His road to the quarters hasn’t been that difficult. On the way he mercilessly pounded a young Serbian named Novak Djokovic into the ground and then pleasantly shook his hand when it was over. Class guy.

Ironically on the women’s side people are fantasizing finals that don’t include the media darling and number one seed Maria Sharapova. She hasn’t had to do much since a tiny French woman and the Australian summer almost brought her to her knees. Those cup cake draws aren’t the best thing when you hit the quarters and semis. Ask that other Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

The argument about whether draws are fixed, random, or just plain wacky will never end. I am one of those who always find it odd when the same players always get the same tiptoe through the tulips while their peers have to bite and claw their way into the later stages of a tournament. Others believe that some players are just lucky. Whatever you believe the old people had it right. When you set out to bury someone you’d better dig a hole for yourself because as everyone knows what goes around comes around.