Aces and Faults - yourtennisnews.com » Commentary

Novak Now World #3, Don’t Tell Him Though

anthony — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:33:46 +0000

It is a good thing that nobody told Novak Djokovic that if he beat Robin Soderling that he would have moved up to world #3, he would have choked given his history. He should win the China Open after Rafael Nadal lost meekly to Marin Cilic. The long season has taken its toll on the players as all of them lost prematurely in matches they should have won and Federer elected to pull out.

Idiot Coaches

anthony — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:57:55 +0000

Tennis coaches have to be one of the biggest farces in all of sports. It seems to be more prominant in the women’t game. For example, out on the practice courts, you will often see women ‘practicing’ by hitting the ball down the middle to each other. What does that improve, their ability to give their opponent a chance to change direction and take control of the point? Instead they should rally ad to ad or duece to duece court. This is a more realistic game situation.

Another time I took the front seats in a near empty stadium and the guy behind me asked me to move because his player couldn’t see him. His player was a top 10 Russian who shall remain nameless. He spent the whole match coaching her. She looked up to him before every point. His “coaching” amounted to berating her for every error.

Here is a good one, another coach had his player facing the back fence then tossed a ball and had her turn around and hit it back. Did he expect her to spend most of her match with her back to the court? How could this have possibly helped her?

I have heard coaches tell players to hit their slice backhands in a U shape. This keeps the ball up and after the bounce. Don’t they know the fundamentals of the stroke? Why don’t they have them work on a service toss? Why don’t they practice target hitting on their serves?

Have you ever wondered what their qualifications are? Look at the William’s father? He’s a great athlete but never even played college tennis. Does that qualify him to coach possibly two best players in the world?

So who do I like as a coach? Darren Cahill, Brad Gilbert, Larry Stephanky, Paul Annacone. A coach needs to be able to click with the player and develop a plan to improve their strokes, their footwork, and work out a game plan; not do stupid drills because they don’t know what they are doing.

Women’s Serves

Bad Luck In Asia

anthony — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:00:19 +0000

TodToday was not a great day for tennis. World no. 1 Safina lost to a challenger in Tokyo. Venus promptly did the same thing. Kimiko Date-Crumm, fresh from her first tour victory since emerging from retirement, also lost. The 39 year old proved she can still play after winning the tournament in Korea last week. Frankly, it shocks me, having watched her play at Carson, her game looks like it was honed on wooden racquets. She puts the P in push!

Also upset was Svetlana Kutsnetsova.

The 34-year-old Ai Sugiyama, who announced this month she will retire after 17 years on tour retired after feeling ill. This is the last singles match of her career. It’s been a great ride Ai, we enjoyed watching you. Farewell.

Perhaps the worst luck today was to fall upon Sam Querrey. While sitting on a glass table after practice in Thailand, he promtly broke the glass and fell through sustaining cuts on his forearm that required emergency surgery. He will be out at least a month. Can you say boneheaded? Buy that man a chair!

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Women’s Serves

anthony — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:58:01 +0000

Ana Ivanovich, former world no. 1., just lost to Lucie Saforova in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Ana has been self destrucitng all summer. I saw her sneak by journeywomen Vania King this summer in Carson. Her serve was not pretty. She looked happy to get through that one. Perhaps if her toss wasn’t clear into right field she would be able to do more with it. When the toss is so far to the right, you cannot hit the bomb down the center. Instead it will pull inside to the receiver’s strike zone.

I also think Sharapova’s best days are behind her. Also because of her serve. With the repaired right shoulder, she fears injury and it lacks the pop from before.

What about Dementieva? Her serve has been the butt of jokes for years. Again it looks like a toss problem. Most women’s serve are worse, and slower, than my hitting partners, who spent two years as a walk on at a D-I school before realizing he wouldn’t play top 6. So what does it look like the women are doing about it? Nothing, if my time hanging around the practice courts is any indication. Most of the time they hit to each other down the middle or have a partner serve to them and they work on their return games. You will seldom see them there with a basket of balls target hitting their serves.

Hats off to Serena, of poor attitude at the lineswomen, she and Venus have the only offensive serves in the game now.

Idiot Coaches

Jealous of Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin Announces Comeback

anthony — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:34:33 +0000

Barely a week after compatriot Kim Clijsters capped her comeback from retirement with a second U.S. Open title, Henin announced her return live on Belgian TV.

Henin was one game away from victory in the Wimbledon semifinals in 2007 before losing to Marion Bartoli. Henin’s coach Carlos Rodriguez, who also will make a comeback, believes she can take the grass-court title.

Henin’s announcement capped an about-face from her “definitive decision” to retire last year, followed in recent weeks by “no comment,” until a smiling admission Tuesday that she truly missed the game too much.

Her plans include exhibition tournaments in Charleroi, Belgium, and Dubai, to hone her skills ahead of a competitive return at the Australian Open.

As Clijsters has proved, breaking into the top tier is realistic. Clijsters won the U.S. Open in her third tournament since returning from a 2 1/2 -year retirement to get married and have a baby.

“Subconsciously, it might have had an impact,” Henin said of Clijsters’ success. “But it certainly was not the most important reason.”

Henin retired in May 2008, initially rejecting any thought of a comeback with a determination that marked her play in a decade-long career that produced seven Grand Slam titles. She said she was tired of nagging injuries and living in a bubble while chasing titles.

During her retirement, Henin became a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and focused on vaccinations for children.

But she said she couldn’t fight a competitive spirit that still burns. Henin was the first female player to retire at No. 1, having earned nearly $20 million in prize money and holding the top ranking for all but seven weeks since Nov. 13, 2006 until her retirement.

We look forward to the excitement of her return. Let’s just hope that there are no more “abdominal strains”.

Clijsters KO’s Venus

Carly Gullikson wins mixed!

anthony — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:53:02 +0000

Carly Gullickson, 22, won the 2009 US Open mixed doubles event, partnering with Travis Parrott. They formed their winning combination only two days before the tournament began and then received a wild-card entry even though they’d missed the deadline.

She is the daughter of former major league baseball player Bill Gullickson who was on hand for the victory.

Clijsters KO’s Venus

anthony — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:10:59 +0000

Kim Clijsters does not even have a world ranking but she had enough great tennis in the to knock Venus Williams out of the US Open last night.

In just her third tournament back after having a baby, the 26-year-old Belgian prevailed in a remarkably undulating match 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 to make the final eight.

Given a wildcard by the USTA, she has kept her part of the deal and is one match away from possibly taking on Venus’s younger sister in the semi-final.

Clijsters’ brilliant movement and piercing groundstrokes are still there, and so is the perspective on life that seems only to be helping her.

This was their 11th meeting, but the first since the quarterfinals of 2005 at Flushing Meadows, prior to Clijsters going into self-imposed exile.

There is no doubt Kim is prepared for her ’second coming’, having gone into training well before she took part in the ceremonial afternoon to celebrate the Wimbledon Centre Court roof back in mid-May.

The results from her two tournaments before this return to Grand Slam action suggested as much, but the hours of training cannot hone fully the competitive intensity needed.

This would go some way to explain the bizarre imbalance in the first two sets, with lapses of concentration having been evident in her matches last week. At the start it looked like a rare humiliation was on the cards for Williams, even for one whose record at the major events has become distinctly average outside of Wimbledon.

The first set was done in 27 minutes, Williams struggling to land in more than half her first serves and Kim hammering winners off anything that was short. Yet, from the start of the second, it looked as though Clijsters’ mind was wandering towards the other responsibilities in life, like feeding baby Jada.

Her serve deserted her, but it returned as quickly, allowing her to conserve the break she secured for 2- 1 in the third. Williams forced two break points at 5-4 down, but Clijsters’ forehand came through when she needed it.

Earlier, Serena Williams triumped in barely an hour in a 6-2, 6-0 win over Daniela Hantuchova.

Dent Reincarnated

anthony — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:12:32 +0000

After 4 hours, five sets, Taylor Dent grabbed the umpire’s microphone and thanked the U.S. Open crowd.

Dent kept his inspiring comeback story on track with a victory over Spain’s Ivan Navarro: 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (9).

Dent won on his fourth match point, with a backhand return winner past Navarro that brought the fans at the Grandstand court to their feet. Really, they had been on their feet through most of this match, a fight between a pair of serve-and-volleyers who played a lot of short points.

Dent had the bigger game. He finished with 121 winners and 50 unforced errors, with his serve topping out at 147 mph. One of his serves, a 138-mph offering, broke the strapping on the net.

None of this seemed possible two years ago when the 28-year-old, once ranked as high as No. 21, was bedridden with a back injury that some doctors said would never allow him to play tennis again. He underwent surgery and is back.

Ranked 195th and playing in his first U.S. Open since 2005, Dent’s best has been good enough so far. Next is a third-round match against No. 2Andy Murray.

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Safina survives – barely

anthony — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:30:10 +0000

Safina rallied to beat No. 167 Olivia Rogowska, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4. She would have become the first top-seeded woman to lose in the first round of the US Open.

Safina trailed 0-3 in the third set and had to fight off two break points in the fourth game. She trailed 2-4 until breaking the 18-year-old Aussie twice, and went on to win the last four games.

There were 15 service breaks in the match, including six in the first set, 113 unforced errors and 24 double faults. Safina will play Kristina Barrois in the second round.

Rogowska broke Safina three times in the first set and was down a mini-break early in the tiebreak, but eventually took the set when Safina double-faulted on set point. Safina took control in the second set, breaking Rogowska three straight times, but battled from behind again in the third.

Rogowska broke Safina in the second game and fought off three break points in the third for a 3-0 lead. Safina then faced the reality of a 4-0 deficit before fighting off two break points in the fourth game.

Rogowska again broke back for a 4-2 lead and again seemed headed for what would have been the Open’s biggest upset in years. But Safina broke twice more and ultimately held serve at love to wrap up the comeback.

She came to the US Open after losing to Aravane Rezai, then ranked No. 39, in the round of 32 at Toronto. She had reached the final the week before at Cincinnati before losing to No. 5 Jelena Jankovic.

Rogowska was making her debut in the main draw at the US Open. She had moved up more than 500 places in the rankings in the past year. Her biggest ever win came earlier this year when she beat, No. 47 Maria Kirilenko, in the first round at Roland Garros.

Easy 1st Round for Roger

anthony — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:59:06 +0000

Roger seems set for yet a sixth US Open title. Coming off a title at the last masters with Victories over Novac and Murray he looks unstoppable. Plus he basically has a first round bye playing the winner of the NCAA’s. Plan on seeing Roger on the final Sunday.

Roger Denied!