Championship Tennis Tours Blog

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Below is copy of New York Times article from last years Wimbledon.

There was Roger Federer escaping, just barely, in five sets, in the first match on Centre Court. There was the Queen of England’s first visit in 33 years, Rafael Nadal’s sore right knee, and, of course, the longest match in professional tennis history: the John Isner-Nicolas Mahut trilogy, as Roddick appropriately called it.

“If you guys are struggling for story lines,” Roddick told reporters, “you need to get a different job, fast.”

The last few years unfolded similarly at Wimbledon, said Roddick, who was part of the epic 2009 duel in the final with Federer. For reasons, he offered the tournament’s status as “the mecca of our sport,” a small percentage of interesting events and a large percentage of “fortunate coincidences” that “only add to the spectacle and drama inside these grounds.”

Now, after the traditional middle Sunday break, comes a Monday just as likely to be remembered. Some call the second Monday at Wimbledon the most exciting, intriguing and spectacular day on the sport’s calendar, a tennis nirvana.

Unlike at other Grand Slam tournaments, each of the 16 men and 16 women remaining in the singles draw play for berths in the quarterfinals on one day. And this second Monday, of all second Mondays, is bursting with promise, oozing potential.

The only comparable day in tennis, players said, is Super Saturday at the United States Open, when the men’s semifinals and the women’s final are played. If forced to choose between that day and the second Monday here, Roddick said he would choose Wimbledon, “purely on the basis of numbers.”

Top-seeded Serena Williams described the atmosphere in the locker rooms on the second Monday as intense. “No one really wants to go out,” she said. “Everyone is really fighting, really serious. It’s all business in there.”

This year, particularly on the women’s side, matchups that once were Grand Slam finals will take place in the fourth round. Like Williams’s bout against Maria Sharapova, a rematch of the 2004 final that Sharapova won, catapulting her out of anonymity.

Or Justine Henin’s meeting with Kim Clijsters, in the battle of the Belgians. It will be their 24th career match and their third this year, with the last two contests decided by third-set tie breakers.

“In our first career, we never played our best tennis against each other,” Henin said recently. “It’s a great opportunity for both of us. I mean, to play each other in a Grand Slam, it’s something we couldn’t have expected a year ago.”

Clijsters and Henin grew up together on tennis’s international stage, arriving and retiring almost simultaneously.

Henin played with touch, with feel, with slice shots so natural she seemed born to hit them. She made the Australian Open final earlier this year. Clijsters played with power and attitude, and after she gave birth, she won the United States Open last year, as if she never left.

They departed and returned for different reasons. Even their comebacks seemed timed.

Both listed winning Wimbledon among the reasons they returned, and when they came back, they became closer than before, like those years away from tennis had closed a gap between them. They teased each other with text messages and played in the Federation Cup.

Henin proved to herself that she could exist without tennis. Clijsters proved that she could have both tennis and the family that she wanted.

“The challenge is to find a good balance between that and being a tennis player again,” Henin said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve changed, but I grew up. I learned a lot of things.”

Clijsters and Henin will resume their rivalry on Court 1, so deep is this Monday madness. They will be followed by Novak Djokovic, the third seed, against Lleyton Hewitt, the rapidly ascending 15th seed, in a match many observers say is the most likely to produce an upset, mainly because Hewitt said his hip problems had disappeared.

On Centre Court, fans will find three matches of high quality: Roger Federer (1) against Jürgen Melzer (16), Williams versus Sharapova, and Andy Murray (4) against Sam Querrey (18).

Murray, in front of the home fans, has yet to lose a set. Querrey has recovered from a disastrous French Open, in which he cited mental lapses after losing and later admitted he had not tried his hardest in defeat. He won the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament before advancing to the second week of Wimbledon.

“I’m very proud of myself and the way I’ve been playing, and the way I’ve handled myself on the court,” he said. “This is what I’m going to do for the rest of the year.”

On Sunday, the remaining players each logged light practice time and rested their weary bodies for the second week. A second week that promises to be dramatic, if form holds.

A favorite? Serena and Venus Williams remain obvious choices. On the men’s side, where for only the second time in the Open era the top three seeds (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic) needed at least one five-set victory in the first three rounds to advance, the picture has been muddied. Each of those three could win it, but so could either Andy (Murray or Roddick) or Robin Soderling.

“It was kind of like this global event,” Roddick said.

He meant Isner-Mahut and the longest match. But he could have meant the tournament’s first week, this Monday or this Wimbledon.

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Roger Federer has been a dominant force at the U.S. Open since he won his first title there six years ago, losing only once since 2003.

That loss came at the hands of the young Argentine giant, Juan Martin Del Potro in 2009, after a hard fought epic battle.

But Federer’s performance that year was still considered exemplary throughout—a straight sets victory over Novak Djokovic stands out.

When this year’s Open gets underway at the end of August, the Swiss will banish all thoughts of a fairly dismal season (by his standards), since winning his 16th Slam in Australia, and come out all guns blazing in the vast Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Unlike most players, who usually transfer mediocre performances at the Masters level and below, to the majors, Federer has a habit of “finding his game” when he steps out onto the Grand Slam stage.

However, this will become increasingly difficult as the new generation of players become more confident against him.

Federer’s recent losses against opponents he has previously dominated has greatly diminished his intimidating court presence.

The most high-profile defeats have come against two of the biggest hitters on the tour: Robin Soderling at the French Open and Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, both denying Federer title defenses at these majors.

Losses at Masters and regular events to players like Marcos Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt, have further put a dent in Federer’s armory.

His three main rivals: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray, have beaten Federer a combined 25 five times, but none of those wins have come at Flushing Meadows so far.

Djokovic came close in 2007, having held set points in the first two sets, but nerves were his undoing in that match. He exorcised those demons a year later by beating Federer in the semis of the Australian Open in straight sets and on a similar surface.

He has the resources and confidence to do it again on the faster hard blue courts of this year’s final Grand Slam.

Djokovic has further proved he is capable of this feat by defeating Federer in 2009 at the indoor tournament in the latter’s hometown of Basel—revenge for his second U.S. Open loss to the Swiss in 2009.

Nadal was also victorious over Federer in Melbourne, and has amply proved his amazing adaptability to different surfaces and his dominance over his premier rival at the top level.

And Murray, still looking for that elusive major, is fully capable of transferring his impressive Masters event record over his Swiss rival to his favorite Slam in New York. He has played Federer in one final at that major in 2008.

But what about the new crop of players mentioned earlier?

There are several who are capable of taking out Federer under the blistering sun and bright lights of this most glamorous of Majors.

Besides the emerging young guns, Del Potro, Robin Soderling, and Tomas Berdych (the ball punishers), and the experienced players in the top four, others can also do damage with good, solid tennis.

Here now is an analysis of what they must accomplish to follow in the footsteps of Federer’s Slam conquerors.

Consistency is the key.

Consistency in extended baseline rallies and on serve.

Players like Sam Querrey and Marin Cilic have the size to hit with tremendous pace from the back court, like the three mentioned above, and they both have explosive serves with which to win easy points.

It is a matter of believing in their abilities and minimizing mistakes.

Federer has shown over time that when pressured for an extended period during the match, the chances of beating him increase.

Confidence cannot be overemphasized.

When Soderling defeated Nadal at the French Open in 2008, he said afterwards that he imagined he was sparring on the practice court, not trading blows with arguably the greatest warrior the tennis world has ever seen.

And this approach worked.

The Swede had this calm air about him, and he basically let his ferocious game take its course. He must have had that mindset when he landed the second big scalp of his career against Federer at the same event a year later.

A player looking to carry confidence gained from a recent ATP event triumph, into the U.S. Open, is comeback kid, David Nalbandian. He has been sidelined with hip surgery and various injuries since May of 2009, and his return this year was sporadic at best.

Nalbandian, who won the tournament in Washington recently, has beaten Federer at the U.S. Open in 2003, during the latter’s breakthrough year, when he captured his first Wimbledon title.

He has also won against his rival at the Australian Open the year before, and lost once to him at the same event in 2004.

The revitalized Argentine will be looking to gain from his current momentum when he plays in his first Slam since January of 2009.

He certainly has the skills: the accuracy of his groundstrokes has few rivals, and the ability to move his opponent around the court with sharp angles recalls Andy Murray.

Renewed self-belief may pay dividends.

Capitalizing on Federer’s weaknesses is the last strategy his opponents should implement.

The first is the backhand.

It is most often the weakest shot of the Swiss, except when his opponent approaches to it on his way to the net. Federer has the ability to pass with ease from that wing, as Nadal, recalling the fourth set tie-breaker at the 2008 Wimbledon, would confirm!

Federer’s backhand is a beautiful stroke, but the truth is that under constant heavy barrage it does sometimes break down.

Murray is a master of targeting such weaknesses and has done so against Federer, albeit not yet at the Slam events.

However, this tactic would have been quite a challenge for him at the Australian Open this year, because Federer’s backhand was humming along quite nicely there.

It used be that very tall players were considered poor movers on court.

Del Potro put to rest this notion with his fluid movement against Federer in New York, and the way he was comfortably running around his backhand to hit explosive inside-out forehands to Federer’s weaker wing.

Others of similar height, like Cilic and Querrey, would have taken note of how the Argentine was able to use his long limbs to track down difficult balls and run around one wing to set up another.

They have similar games to Del Potro, and they now just need to confidently let their games flow from their racquets.

Federer’s second weakness is his impatience.

As an aggressive, fast-paced player, he likes to end points as quickly as possible, and tends to get flustered when more balls come back than he originally envisioned.

An opponent who can make him play extra shots will double his chances of success.

A clean ball striker like Marcos Baghdatis, on a similar comeback trail to Nalbandian, can extend Federer in long demanding rallies and force an unplanned change of tactics from the Swiss.

He has played him in a Slam final, taking a set, and beat him for the first time at the Masters event in Indian Wells this year.

Federer, who turned 29 on Sunday, has won a record 16 Grand Slams and is among the few to land all four majors in his career.

It is time for the new and the recently dominant to shine on the ultimate stage.

As the French open slowly fades away and the talk starts to focus on the upcoming Wimbledon Championships, the question everyone will be expecting an answer for is whether Federer will return to form and regain the world #1 spot or will Nadal be able to maintain his torrid run in Europe. Despite his lackluster performance in Paris against Soderling, Roger can expect the support of the masses as he reasserts his position in the confines of the AELTC.

The French Open was a brutal two weeks for our company as Chris who was to join me in Paris to help manage the tours had to stay back as his wife is expecting any day. It all worked out. The weather was actually pretty nice except for maybe a day or two, but there were no cancellations. The talk in Paris this year is whether the event will be moved from it’s current location on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement to a location 30 minutes outside Paris towards Euro Disney. I think this would be a very risky move. We’ll see what happens. The French were also trying to come down on tickets purchased and sold in the secondary market. This is a joke. They have partnered up with viagogo which is a complete and utter failure. They force people who want to resell their tickets to use only this site so they can get a cut on the resale and post their ticket for face value. No wonder you never saw any center court tickets on there except in the very rare chance. If you were lucky enough to secure a ticket to the mens final would you post it for face value on viagogo? I didn’t think so. I guess Capitalism is still a foreign concept to the French.

Please check out the blogs by our friends at essential tennis and fuzzy yellow balls .com. Great comtent for the tennis enthusiast.

With this one match, both players will again redefine their careers. Just by taking out Andy Murray I think Roddick and arguably given his career and new birth.  He’s played amazingly throughout this tournament with great victories and steady, strong tennis.  Not folding mentally like in recent memory.A USA sweep of Wimbledon with a Roddick win would be impressive considering it’s been so long since the Men’s side has produced any Championships since Roddick 2002 US Open victory over Hewitt.

Written by Byron Vale

The shadow of last year’s final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer looms large over Wimbledon 2009. The greatest match of all time they called it. How do you top that? You can’t. History cannot be repeated. That glorious match on a rain-interrupted Sunday afternoon is just a memory. It is now a part of Wimbledon legend, like the Borg-McEnroe tie-break, Becker’s victory in 1986 and Fred Perry’s three in a row. Using last year’s tournament as a guide to The Championships this year would be like driving a car using the rearview mirror. In fact the tennis landscape has changed so dramatically in a month that it may be most useful to start with a blank slate. The world number one and reigning men’s champion Rafael Nadal is currently undergoing intensive treatment on his knees and he may not be fit to defend his title. While Roger Federer, who had lost so much in the preceding 12 months, enters Wimbledon having won a first French Open and equalling the record for most Grand Slam wins. Before Nadal’s injury Andy Murray was considered the player most likely to break the Federer-Nadal duopoly. Now the Scot, who has won three titles this year, including two Masters events, on his way to a career-high ranking of three in the world, stands to gain most from the Spaniard’s absence. In the year of Fred Perry’s 100th birthday, could Wimbledon have a British champion again? Anything beyond the second round would be an improvement on last year for Novak Djokovic, but the world number four will not be happy unless he features at the business end of The Championships, not least because he has beaten Federer twice this year and challenged Nadal on his natural home, clay. A strong line-up in the men’s top 10 plus some dangerous unknowns – who would fancy drawing Marat Safin in his final Wimbledon appearance? – make The Championships in 2009 difficult to predict. If men’s tennis has been given an almighty shake, then the woman’s draw has been in a state of flux for some time. Three players have held the number one ranking already this year – two of whom have never won a Grand Slam – so victory at Wimbledon could provide someone with the impetus to take control of the game. Venus Williams must start favourite as she makes her second attempt at a Wimbledon hat-trick. The last time, in 2002, she was thwarted in the final by her sister, and Serena Williams appears the one most likely to derail her Championship ambitions again. A Wimbledon title, meanwhile, will give legitimacy to the claims of current number one Dinara Safina, who has now lost three Grand Slam finals and another former number one Jelena Jankovic. The French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has reached the quarter-finals three times at the All England Club but this is the first time she enters the tournament with Roland Garros under her belt. The glamour names on tour, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic, are fighting back from injury and indifferent form respectively. Both were eliminated early in 2008 and neither will be planning a repeat. While Andy Murray won’t be the only Brit flying the Union flag. British women will be well represented in the main draw, particularly worth watching will be Anne Keothavong and last year’s junior winner Laura Robson. The players are the same but different this year, and so is the All England Club. The roof over Centre Court has been completed, successfully tested and is ready for use. While the new sunken No.2 Court will also make its Championship debut. So many stories this year, so many possibilities, but on 5 July there will only be history again.

Good morning from Paris, Sunday, June 7th, the morning of the Men’s final to begin at 3pm local time…….just enjoying an amazing omlette with my wife from the sun drenched, tree lined, Place de la Sorbonne at a little cafe with the wifi access, le Tabac de la Sorbonne.  Ok Roger, here’s your chance, it’s 70 degrees and sunny, conditions are perfect…i hope you got a lot of rest, even if it’s not easy knowing the next day your going to play the match of your life  in front of a worldwide audience of millions and millions, which could ultimately determine your place as the finest male ever to pick up a racket…you’ll be joining a very exclusive list of just two, you and Andre Agassi who’ve won grand slam titles on all four surfaces.  Yes Rod, Roy, and Fred each won titles at each of the four grand slams, but only you and Andre will have done it on every type of playing surface. In addition, you’ll be tying Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam Titles…This city is a buzz with the visit of the Obamas whose motorcade is zipping throughout this city… we saw them actually flash by us last night while we were heading off for our nightly stroll, eat, stroll….We  saw the motorcade whiz by the Metro Odeon where we were standing, then we saw the first family again very very briefly by chance high up on the second level of the perch at the Notre Dame waving to the masses who gathered around to get a glimpse. Often in Paris if you stand in one spot long enough you’ll see something a bit disturbing…in the same area where one sees lookalike Techno Twins from the ATT commercials juggling fire sticks, there were a few homeless guys turned politicos commentating a bit too vociferously about Sarko and Obama and had to be physically removed, it was a bit of a mess…anyway I transgress….so Robin Soderling will be the biggest spoiler at this event in a long time if he can actually take  out Rafa and Fedex in the same tournament, with everything at stake, let’s just hope it’s not to be and Roger can finally lift the Coupe de Mousquetaires and once and for all and end all arguments about who really is the greatest player of all time. Allez Roger, let’s get it done!  Or else there we’ll have to put up a photo of Soderling and Kutnesova on our site (oy boy) and let’s not mention the sea of Red Swiss Flags and women crying in the streets………..uuuuugh, my omelette is getting cold

The ususal suspects have been taking care of business. One by one they continue their march into the thinner air…as the prestigious guest list of the second week party gets determined like a chic party in the upper east side.   Roland Garros is jammed packed, everywhere you go there’s people on top of people.  You go to a food stand, packed, a souvenir stand, packed, a “remote” practice court packed, the box office, the restrooms….it’s just packed.  “Plein comme un oeuf” as the French say.  The Tournament Directors have been drueling, conniving for years now on how to expand into the lush green woods of the neighboring Bois de Bologne situated just next door as this tournament over the past 15 years has grown too big for it’s shoe. It really is a problem as the tournament tries to strike a balance between having a Sport which is as they say “Reserve Pour Tous” (Reserved for everyone) a bit of a play of words, while maintaining something still that remains exclusive to the top paying corporate sponsors.   It’s perhaps the most international of the four slams as it sits squarely at the heart of Europe, and equal distance from many of the  world’s population centers.   In any event, I digress.   Today saw a quick end to the dreams of the French  Public to see a modern version of a yanick noah holding up the Coupe de Mousquataires…… French Player Josselin Ouanna, who I like to call Obama, cause it’s easier for me to remember, gave the local crowd a hero to encourage and cheer on…He should incredible grit hanging in to outduel Safin in the 2nd round only to be beaten soundly by Chilean strongman Fernando Gonzalez in straigh sets..