Big 4 still alive at US-Open

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Even though there have been some big upsets in the men’s draw of the US-Open, the big four are still alive and all look sharp and ready to win the title. But there are 3 more matches left for them to reach the semi-finals, with some difficult matches ahead of them to get there.

Nadal will have a tricky match against Simon, who beat Nadla on hard court already, before he runs either into Stakhovsky or Lopez. But the real trouble will come in the quarterfinal match, where he might face Ferrer, Verdasco or Nalbandian.

Andy Murray might get the easiest quarterfinal match against Isner, but will have his hands full in the next round against Wawrinka and then probably against Sam Querrey.

Djokovic has also some US boys in his way to a possible quarterfinal against Gasquet or Monfils. He will face Blake in his next match, who always had great support from the fans at the US-Open. And if he beats him he will face the most dangerous player in his section of the draw, Mardy Fish.

Roger Federer might have the toughest of all quarterfinal match-ups, but therefore some beatable opponents on his way to the quarters. He will face Mathieu in his next match and then the winner of Ferrero and Melzer, which is a very open match for me. But non of them should give him big trouble to reach the match against Soderling, that every looking forward to. Not only because he is the no. 5 in the world, he is the toughest player to face in the quarters for any of the top 4 players. He is very dangerous and has beaten Fed at a slam already. Something not many players have accomplished yet.

So, all top 4 players have their hands full, but things are looking good that the fans at the open will be treated to a “big 4” semi-final day. Something we haven’t seen in a long time at a grand slam.

HARDY HESSE

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Roddick and Berdych out of US-Open!

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Two big upsets rattled the New York crowed yesterday and took the biggest hope of the US fans out of the draw. Andy Roddick not only lost in 4 sets to Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia, but this loss might have ended his hopes for another year end top ten ranking and a participation at the ATP-Tour Finals in London. And the way Roddick lost his match might have even more serious consequences for the A-Rod fans. A disappointed Roddick threw 4 of his Babolat rackets into the crowd when he left the court. And some of his fans might be afraid that he will throw the rest of the rackets soon… Roddick turned only 28 two days ago, when he came up with a convincing, but easy first round win to celebrate his birthday with the New York crowd. But it seems as if he is on the tour for ever and even though he worked with some of the finest coaches during this long career (Brad Gilbert, Jimmy Connors) he never lived up to his and the fans expectations after winning the first Grand Slam in the Big Apple at the age of 20. Not even the smart Larry Stefanki was able to fine-tune the hard-hitting Roddick. And when you look at the way Roddick played against Tipsarevic and in recent months, since he started working with Stefanki, it seems like his coach has tamed the danger out of the Roddick game. Once a fear less ball striker, Roddick was turned into a counter punching ball machine with a big serve, a good forehand, but no backhand and still no net game. And just keeping the ball in play was not enough yesterday, against a fearless Tipsarevic, who did not beat big A-Rod for the first time at a slam. He handed him his earliest exit at Wimbledon in 2008, where he also beat him in the second round. But this loss might be much more disappointing for Roddick, and it will be interesting to see how he will handle it this time?! If he handles it at all. He made enough money and he is a married man now who might want to think about kid and is tired of all the traveling… and another disappointment of not winning another major in his career. If he keeps playing he is very likely to change coaches one more time, since he followed that pattern a few times already.

We will see.

The other big upset and disappointment was the loss of Thomas Berdych against Michael Llodra in straight sets. Berdych was one of the big favorites of the tournament and everyone was looking forward to a potential matchup with Andy Murray in the Quarterfinals. But yesterday we have seen the old Berdych again, who is unpredictable and inconsistent. Everyone was seeing him as the potential new no. one, but potential was always the word that was used together with his name the most. And it seems like the story will continue for a bit more. Llodra broke him down with his serve and volley and constant net approaches and never allowed Berdych to take a breath or find his range. Now the door seems to be wide open for Andy Murray and fans can only hope for a semi final with Rafael Nadal.

Another big disappointment was the early exit of US crowd favorite Melanie Oudin. She will lose a lot of points after her run at last year’s open.

But there is a new player that made the American fans happy and gives hope for the future. 18 year-old Ryan Harrison defeated Ivan Ljubicic and after going through qualification already he won his 4^th straight match yesterday. To beat former no. 3 Ljubicic on this surface is quite a thing and I can’t wait to see more of him. He might be ready for a few more upsets if he has enough gas left in the tank. His draw is good for at least to more wins, before he runs into Nadal… For sure a night session and something to look forward to for the American fans and US tennis in general.

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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2010 US-Open preview part 2

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Today I want to take a look at the women’s draw of the 2010 US-Open.

It will be almost as interesting and wide open as the men’s draw, because Serena Williams and Justin Henin will miss the event due to injuries. This makes last years finalist and world no. 2, Caroline Wozniacki the top seed and one of the favorites for the title. It would be her first Grand Slam title and bring her very close to the no. 1 ranking as well. On top of that it will make her a lot richer, since she won the US-Open Series already and this will guarantee her an extra 1 Million Dollars if she takes the US-Open title. But her draw is not easy and it will be the question if she will be abler to handle the pressure of going into the tournament as the top seed or if the pressure and additional attention from the media will be too much for her. Winning the US-Open Series and last years experience of being in the finals will give her a lot of confidence and help her to handle all this.

But I still don’t see her reaching the final, because she will face some tough competition before she will reach a potential match-up with Maria Sharapova in round 4. And I see Maria winning this one in a thrilling night session. But before Wozniacki gets there she will have her hands full with some powerful tennis made in China. Kai-Chen Chang and Yuang-Jan Chan, both from Chinese Taipee, will test Mrs Wozniacki to the limit, because they have even better footwork than the blond Dane. It will not be enough to just keep the ball in play to beat these two great competitors from Taipee. And you never know, maybe one of the two will be the big story of this year’s Open, and take out both, Mrs. Denmark and Mrs. Russia and go all the way to the final!?!

But in the quartefinal there might be not another Mrs. Russia waiting, but at least great Russian footwork from Kuznetsova and more Chinese power footwork, in person of the no 8 seed, Na Li. So it is very likely that there will be a Chinese player reaching the semi finals from this section of the draw.

But today I would put my money on Mrs. Sharapova. She won the Open before, is in form and has the power to beat all the Chinese and Danish roadrunners.

In the next section of the draw, things look a lot clrearer to me, with jelena Jankovic being the highest seed here. She has a tough first round with Simona Halep and maybe a another tricky one with hard hitting Mirjana Lucic, but I think she will go through to face Janina Wickmayer from Belgium, last year’s surprise semi finalist, in the fourth round. This is a good match-up for her and she will win in two sets to face either Nadia Petrova or Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals. That will be a big fight for sure, but Jelena’s fitness will win the match for her.

The next section is the Venus Williams Section, which is also a very tough and open one, because there are plenty of up-coming players in this section. Very unpredictable, what is going to happen here!

Melanie Oudin, Polona Hercog, Tsvetlana Pironkova, Ksenia Pervak, Michelle Larcher de Brito and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will challenge the established players like Wiliams, Schiavone, Peer and Azarenka (who is also still very young…). This could be very likely a new face in a Grand Slam semi final. But if Venus is healthy, she will have the power to fight them all off and reach the semis, winning her quarterfinal match against Victoria Azarenka. But any of the new girls will make a break through soon. S, it could also be Larcher de Brito against Hercog… If de Brito screams her way to the semis, the WTA tour has a new star and Portugal a new heroe after Ronaldo choked at the World Cup…

But my money still goes to Venus here!

The last section of the draw holds the top 2 title favorites and a lot of headache players…

I see the highest seed in this section as the top favorites win the whole thing. That would be Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters, the defending champion. They will for sure meet in the quarterfinals, and I believe that the winner will take the title. Stosur has only one really tough match to get to the quarters and might have to play Safina (who should get her act together soon again..), Elena Dementieva or Daniela Hantuchova, But she is my favorite against each one of them, since all these players are very unstable and will cause their coaches a lot more headaches in the future. Kim Clijsters will face Marion Bartoli or Ana Ivanovic (another headache for coaches…) in her quarterfinal match, but if she is motivated and focused she will win easily.

My Money would go to Kim to reach the semi final, too, but I would rather like to see these two in the final…

If I have to put my money for the final and the winner, it would be Kim over Maria in three sets.

Let’s see if I am right...

Enjoy the Open!

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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2010 US-Open preview

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

The 2010 US-Open will kick off tomorrow and it looks like the men’s and the women’s tournament will offer some very interesting matches and a possible first time US-Open Champion. Especially the men’sdraw is as open as it has not been in the past 7 years, since the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal started. And with Serena Williams not playing this year’s tournament, the women’s draw is also wide open for a surprise champion.

I want to start my preview with the men’s tournament, where Robin Soderling and Thomas Berdych might be two of the hottest candidates for a first Grand Slam title of their career, after reaching their first Grand Slam final this season in Wimbledon (Berdych) and Roland Garros (Soderling). Even though they have not been very convincing in the past hard court tournaments, I am sure that one of them will make a splash at the US-Open this year. Berdych won’t have many problems in his section of the draw, before he might run into Isner or Youzhny in the 4^th round. A match against John Isner, especially at the US-Open, is always a tough one. But I think he will go through, due to his newly found level of concentration and confidence. If he plays Youzhny, I see even fewer problems for him. But in the Quarterfinals he will meet Andy Murray and that will be the match that determines if he is ready for the title this year. I see the match at 50% – 50%, but if Berdych wins this one I think he will reach the Final as well. If Murray wins it, I would still put my money on Nadal, if he gets to the semi final.

Which brings me to the top half of the draw and Nadal’s section. His draw is not easy, because he has red-hot David Nalbandian in his part of the draw. The good news for Rafa is, that Nalbandian has to beat the no. 2 and 3 spanish players (David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco) before he could earn a spot in the fourth round. And these two matches will cost the reignited Argentine a lot of energy, even though I see him as the favorite against both. But before Nadal plays him, he also has his hands full with Michael Kohlschreiber (who trained with Roger Federer to get ready for the US-Open…) and probably Ivan Ljubicic. But I believe Nadal will go through and will face Nalbandian in a tough fourth round, 5 set match. I think that it all depends on how many sets Nalbandian lost to Verdasco and Ferrer, if he has a chance to reach another Grand Slam semi final at the US-Open. But right now I would put my money on Rafa, even though his warm-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronta have not been very successful. I think Nalbandian will play 9 sets against Verdasco and Ferrer to reach the match against Nadala and will be very tired. On top of that his Uncle Toni will be on his side again at the Open, and he will be ready and motivated for some tough matches. So my finalist of the top half of the draw will be either Nadal or Berdych.

In the bottom half of the draw Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the top seeds. Novak Djokovic is running into Marcos Baghdatis or Mardy Fish in the fourth round, which  both showed great form in the past hard court tournaments. And Fish beating Djokovic in Cincinnati. So there might be some surprises around the corner and this section is very hard to predict, since all three players are very unpredictable themselves. If Djokovic goes through he will face more trouble, with Roddick, Monfils or Davydenko. Roddick will have to play Monfils before the winner will face Davydenko. This is probably the toughest section of the men’s draw and I see 6 players with basically the same chances to reach the semi-final.

If I have to put my money now, I would say Djokovic against Davydenko with a slight edge for Davydenko to win it, if he does not lose too much energy against Roddick or Monfils.

The Russian will face the strongest man in the Federer section of the draw, and if you just look at the stats of the past 5-7 years, there could be only one man coming out of this section. And his initials are RF…

But stats are there to be broken and especially after his surprise early exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, there are some reasonable doubts. Even though he has the easiest section of the draw to reach the 4^th round and the quarterfinals. He might face a former US-Open champion on his way to the fourth round with Lleyton Hewitt, and maybe plays another one in the fourth round (Ferrero). But both players have never given Roger too much trouble. The highest seed to reach the fourth round against him is Juergen Melzer, but he is not in good form and has not won many matches on hard courts this year. So, from all the top 10 players, Federer is the best bet to reach the quarterfinals. But that’s where the big test will come for him. He will most likely play Robin Soderling in the Quarters, who will have his hands full with De Bakker or Gonzales, and then Marin Cilic before he will have the honor to challenge the big Fed for a semi final spot. I see Federer a favorite for this match with 60%, because he will be very eager to take some revenge for his loss at the French Open, which was favored by many rain delays for Soderling. But with Soderling you never know. If he keeps hitting his winners, not even Fed has an answer…

If Soderling wins this match he will go to another Grand Slam final.

And who knows, it might be the two surprise first time finalists of the French and Wimbledon, who could meet in the final. It might be Berdych against Soderling. Like this at least one of them will have his first Grand Slam crown. And this could indicate a big change to come for 2011, in the Federer-Nadal-dominace of the past years.

But I would prefer another Federer Nadal final for this year’s Open. Berdych and Soderling still have some time left and I am sure the majority of the tennis fans would like to see the same final like I do. And if you just look at the stats, then it simply has to be Roger against Rafa.

Federer is always in the final… and he always played somebody else in the final for the past 6 years. So, why not Rafa?!? If Rafa wins, he would be the only player besides Rod Laver who won 3 consecutive Grand Slams in one year!

Here are some more interesting stats and facts about the past US-Open tournaments:

Nadal on his way to a career Grand Slam– Nadal, who captured his eighth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last month, is a US OPEN title away from completing a career Grand Slam. The 24-year-old Spaniard reached the semi-finals in Flushing Meadows the past two years. He would be the youngest player to accomplish the feat and he would become the seventh man to complete a career Grand Slam, joining Don Budge, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, and Roger Federer.

No.1 Update – Nadal enters the US-Open as the No. 1 player for the 59th week overall (as of Aug. 30) in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, the 10th-most (of 24 players). This past week he tied Jim Courier, who held No. 1 for 58 weeks.  Nadal enters the US OPEN with a 3,530-point lead over No. 2 Federer and he is guaranteed staying No. 1 after the tournament.

FEDERER-NADAL DOMINATION -- Since Nadal won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2005, he and Federer have combined to win 20 of the past 22 Grand Slam tournaments (except '08 Aust. Open, Djokovic; ’09 US OPEN, del Potro). During that stretch, Federer has won 12 Grand Slam titles and Nadal eight.
    

                                          

2010 Wimbledon                    Rafael Nadal d. Tomas Berdych


2010 Roland Garros               Rafael Nadal d. Robin Soderling


2010 Australian Open            Roger Federer d. Andy Murray


2009 US OPEN                      Juan Martin del Potro d. Roger Federer


2009 Wimbledon                   Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick


2009 Roland Garros              Roger Federer d. Robin Soderling


2009 Australian Open         Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2008 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Andy Murray


2008 Wimbledon                  Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2008 Roland Garros            Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2008 Australian Open           Novak Djokovic d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga


2007 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Novak Djokovic


2007 Wimbedon                   Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal


2007 Roland Garros            Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2007 Australian Open           Roger Federer d. Fernando Gonzalez


2006 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick


2006 Wimbledon                  Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal


2006 Roland Garros            Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2006 Australian Open           Roger Federer d. Marcos Baghdatis


2005 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Andre Agassi


2005 Wimbledon                   Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick


2005 Roland Garros              Rafael Nadal d. Mariano Puerta

Check out my next blog, where I will take a look at the women’s draw.

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Rafa ready for US-Open!

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Rafa finished his preparation for the US-hard-court season 2010 today in Manacor, Mallorca. Tomorrow morning he will head to Toronto, Canada for the first of two ATP-1000 tournaments he will be playing before the US-Open.

I have seen most of his practice sessions with different sparring partners and even though he has not trained for a very long time since his Wimbledon victory, he looks fit and ready to go for the only missing Grand Slam in his record books.

And maybe the reduced amount of intense training will make the difference this year and he will be healthy and on top of his game when the second week of the Open starts.

At one practice session I thought I have noticed a little limping when he was forced to go hard into the corners. But the next days he was ok again and I did not detect any kind of pain or injury that would hold him back. His last practice session today, where he trained with his good friend and doubles partner, Marc Lopez, he did not play too well, but neither he, nor his coach Toni Nadal, seemed to be concerned about it at all. Not even when Marc Lopez (ATP 730 !) won the only set they played today…

In all his training sessions he practiced a lot of serve and volley and net approaches, which shows that he is willing to make some changes in his game to get the only missing Grand Slam title in his, already outstanding, career. And with the French Open and Wimbledon in his bag, he carries a lot of confidence on his shoulders to try new things.

In general all of his practice sessions have been in a very good atmosphere and he seems relaxed and in a good mood. Even when the many fans or some local TV stations disturbed his training sessions he took it easy and did not get upset.

So, I think he is the clear favorite for the US-Open title this year and the New York crown would put him on the same page with players like Agassi, Borg, Lendl, McEnroe and Connors.

And if his knees will stay healthy for another 3 or 4 more years, he might catch up to players like Sampras, Laver and Federer, or even pass by them.

Vamos Rafa!

Rafael Nadal and his uncle and coach Toni during practice in manacor, Mallorca

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Federer Checks Out Paul Annacone!

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

After some disappointing results in the past months Roger Federer is training with Paul Annacone on a trial basis for a few days in Switzerland.

Annacone, who is the former coach of Pete Sampras has cut down his work for the British Tennis Federation and therefore has some spare time to share with Big Fed.

Since Annacone is a soft spoken guy and knows how to handle a talented players like Sampras and Henman, he might be the right guy to offer some humble suggestions to Federers game and training. Or to put it in other words, he might be the right coach not to disturb a genius at work too much… Since I don’t really think that Roger really wants a coach who pushes him too much. Federer is loaded with talent and he believes that he can beat anybody anywhere when he is confident, motivated and in a good mood.

So, it is good to know that Roger is realistic enough again to realize that his recent losses have not come because of injuries or some kind of sickness, like he mentioned in a press conference after he loss in Wimbledon…

Hopefully he will listen to Annacone and hopefully Annacone will have the nerve to push the big Fed to break a few more sweats in training.

But so far I have not seen a coach who dared to do so with King Roger.

We will see… but something big has to change for Roger to win the US-Open. He might not get lucky twice and have Nadal, Del Potro and Davydenko injured at the same time…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Where are you going Roger?

By  HARTMUT HESSE

What a turn around for Roger (and Rafa) in the past 4 months after winning the Australian Open in great fashion and looking at a possible Grand Slam for the 2010 season.

Now Rogers card house is shattered and he is only no. 3 in the world and 4000 points behind Rafa in the ATP Rankings and chanceless to regain the top spot by the end of the season. But it might be even more devastating for him, that he will realize now that all his great successs in 2009, with regaining his no. 1 ranking, winning the French and Wimbledon after a neck breaking loss to Rafa in the Australian Open Final, was only possible because Rafa did not play or was injured. After the loss at the Australian Open in 2009 Federer was down in tears and everybody was feeling with him and admired that he was not afraid to show his emotions. But I thought that it was a big mistake to show how fragile he really is, when he is playing “Mr. Cool” during his matches all the time. Now not only Nadal saw the weakness in Roger and that it is possible to break him down. Federer’s tears showed every other player how big this loss was and how afraid he was that he might not get Grand Slam victory no. 15 and break Pete’s record, even though he was still young enough. But at this time there was a player he just couldn’t beat anymore, Rafa Nadal. And Rafa was getting better and better and looked like he will wait in each and every big final for Roger. Then Federer got big,big help from the Gods of tennis, and Rafa was stoped with knee injuries and personal problems from his parents divorce. Without this help from destiny, I don’t think that Roger would have been able to beat Nadal in Madrid, take the titles at the French and Wimbledon from Rafa and his No. 1 ranking back.

But he did and everyone was saying how great a champion he is to come back like this. But he did it only because another, maybe even bigger champion… , was not there or able to fight back.

But now Rafa did all that with a healthy Roger in front of him. That is REALLY big!

So, I would like to know how Roger sees all this?!

He was talking of some health problems after Halle, but this makes it even worse, because he is not the only ATP player playing through the pain. Rafa had no time to celebrate his victories at home yet, because he is getting treatment for his knees right now. He had knee problems all year long and still got these great victories! How sweet these titles must feel for him now!?

But what about Roger? What will he make out of all this? If he is honest to himself he will have to realize that he will not win many more Grand Slams unless Nadal and Del Potro are injured. But his wife wants him to play for many more years, so his daughters can see him play. And he himself also said that he loves the game so much, that he wants to play much, much longer. But does he still love the game when he is losing against players he did not lose to before and takes the plane home after the first week of a grand slam?

Well, the US-Open and maybe the ATP Finals are another chance to fight back, but I doubt that he will win one of the events. Maybe he can take some motivation from trying to prove people wrong, when more journalists and experts see him going down. And with his talent he can still win Grand Slams in his 30’s, just like Pete Sampras. But if Nadal stays healthy he has a very big mountain to climb…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

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