Monday, July 27, 2009

Davydenko captures his first title of the year in Hamburg

Nikolay Davydenko, Hamburg winnerVideo clips of this match: Start of First set | End of first set | End of match

Heading into yesterday’s Hamburg final, Nikolay Davydenko was a strong favourite to take the title in Hamburg over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. But for a moment there, it looked like it was going to be a close contest, a toe-to-toe baseline duel of big groundstrokes.

Mathieu came out firing perhaps knowing that anything less wouldn’t cut it against Davydenko, trying to push Davydenko around, to avoid the same being done to him. It was a clash of a similar brand of attacking tennis, rallies traded at lightning pace back and forth.

Mathieu went an early break up, and I was initially surprised that the Frenchman was able to play this brand of tennis and end up on the winning side of those rallies more often than not. He must have been playing right at the peak of his abilities. When I looked at the strengths and weaknesses of both players, it definitely looked like Davydenko was capable of doing everything a little better than Mathieu. Particularly in terms of movement and ability to change directions, not to mention that Davydenko loves to work with the pace he’s given with.

Mathieu’s run of form really only lasted about three or four games or so, and by then Davydenko had started to really find his form and timing. Because of his movement, it’s like Davydenko catches each ball at the top of the bounce, hitting it in the most favourable of positions even when being stretched out wide. But I also like how well he sets up for his strokes, how it seems like by the time he’s making contact with the ball, his feet are firmly planted in the ground, not still recovering from the sprint.

It’s no wonder that he can dash from side-to-side so quickly then when his feet are ready to move the other way as soon as he’s finished his stroke. Because he hits the ball at the top of the bounce, it also enables him better margin on the down-the-line shots that he likes so much, less chance of hitting the net.

It ended up being more of a showcase of Davydenko’s shotmaking from midway in the first set onwards which is where he really started to hit his straps. Consistently creating angles and accurate down-the-line shots to take Mathieu out of the court, and essentially out of the match, helpless to do anything but defend. As well as Mathieu can attack while being on the front foot in a rally, he’s nowhere near as good at turning defense into attack as Davydenko. If he’s stretched out wide, he’s not going to be hitting a down-the-line winner.

What he needed to do was try to keep Davydenko off-balance and limit his offensive options, but that’s a difficult task in itself if you consider how difficult it is to get Davydenko off balance. Davydenko doesn’t compromise as much as other players, he likes to take risks and he can because his movement and footwork is so good. He doesn’t block a whole lot of shots back preferring to take a full swing most times which I think is one reason why his return of serve is so good. He could be on the full stretch returning a serve that lands right on the line, down the T and he’ll still set himself up to take a full swing and return it with interest deep close to the baseline.

There was not a whole lot Mathieu could do, and it ended up being one-way traffic for Davydenko. Unfortunately for Mathieu, he started to run out of ideas after the end of the first set. He occasionally tried to make things happen but he was too far behind the baseline that instead, all he did was make things easier for Davydenko.

In the end, it was a relatively one-sided match for Davydenko after the first four games, which resulted in his first title of the year. His ranking took a hit earlier in the year after injury, meaning that he wasn’t able to defend some of his points, but I’d like to see him start to make a climb up the rankings again and edge closer towards the top 5, where he belongs.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Mathieu fails to serve out the match against Cuevas twice, but wins

Pablo Cuevas, from Hamburg semi-finalsThere were lawsuits filed, but in the end Hamburg lost their bid to keep their status as a Masters Series event, so subsequently the event ran as an Open 500 event. Now the event has been moved to the lull period in the calendar after Wimbledon, not leading up to any part of the season but rather an opportunity for players to build up ranking points and prizemoney.

It has been a memorable week for Pablo Cuevas, the 23-year-old qualifier from Uruguay who recorded his best career result in singles by reaching the semi-finals in Hamburg, recording upsets on the way over Jurgen Melzer, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Nicolas Almagro. Based on his performances this week, it is hard to believe that Cuevas was actually ranked below the top 100 prior to this tournament.

Everything about Cuevas is smooth and solid, a sign that he doesn’t really have any noticeable weaknesses especially on this surface. It’s not the type of game that immediately demands attention, but rather what he can do over extended rallies and points that really starts to look impressive.

He has heavy groundstrokes on both sides, and beautifully produced shots particularly on the backhand side, the shot which single-handedly dominated the early part of the semi-final match against Paul-Henri Mathieu. They exchanged large amounts of crosscourt backhands which allowed me to get a good look at the shot, and Cuevas looked so comfortable as if he could do this all day, replicating the same motion over and over. He doesn’t step in on his backhand, but rather waits for it and sets up for his wind-up.

Slowly he started to work over Mathieu with depth and angle, hitting heavily topspun shots that landed deep limiting Mathieu’s attacking options. Once he had opened up the court, that’s when he took the risk to go down-the-line, playing well and within himself at the same time. He doesn’t really possess a good flat down-the-line shot and prefers to hit it with a decent margin over the net, which means he really needs to construct his points to get that opening. So that’s what he did in the first set and a half working the angles in the backhand corner, aided by Mathieu’s lack of variation in shot selection.

A key reason and perhaps the biggest reason for Cuevas’ successes this week was the effectiveness of his serve, causing all kinds of problems for his opponents trying to deal with the ball kicking up high out of their strike zones. It was the combination of placement and spin that made it impossible to deal with. What can you do to deal with a serve that takes you metres outside of the sideline, if it’s placed so wide and short in the box? Not to mention that it usually takes a while to adjust to such special shots like that. So Cuevas found himself having a whole court open to him, and starting off the rally with a big advantage even if they engaged in one.

A set and a break up, and this looked like Cuevas’ match in convincing fashion, but it was a huge occasion for him, the opportunity to reach a final of an Open 500 event, and one with a prestigious history, having been a Masters event in previous years. Where Cuevas had looked so in control and convincing, he started to show more hesitation and unsure of himself, making these strange errors that he never looked close to making early on, shanking a couple of shots and hitting too close to the centre of the court. Though I should also give credit to Mathieu’s tenacity hitting those shots on-the-run so much better, putting in a lot of effort to hit that double handed backhand on-the-stretch that requires so much strength and balance.

I noted in the following game that Cuevas attempted to hit two forehand down-the-line shots, running around from the backhand corner, one of the most difficult shots in tennis because you really have barely any room to work with. And I was wondering why Cuevas would attempt to hit that shot, when he had not used it to find himself in a winning position originally. It was a panic shot obviously, and Cuevas was wondering the same himself motioning to himself to stick with the off-forehand.

Unfortunately for Cuevas, by now Mathieu had started to grow in confidence and was more willing to go down-the-line particularly on the forehand. All of his shots started to gain in pace and accuracy, and he was hitting the shoulder-high loopy balls so much better. Mathieu is definitely a player that runs on adrenaline in order to play better given that he’s not really one of those effortless players. He needs to generate power, and that requires energy and confidence to find that racquet head speed.

A lot of credit has to go to Mathieu for the positive body language that showed in the match, the belief that he could still win the match and raise his game, something that must have surely been intimidating for Cuevas. Every time I watch Mathieu play, I’m always impressed with how positive he is, how he is constantly trying to encourage himself regardless of the scoreline. So it doesn’t work much of the time, but that just impresses me even more that he doesn’t just drop those shoulders and start thinking about the past instead. He keeps himself in the moment instead.

The third set turned to be mostly a nerve wracking affair on both sides, where the quality of play from both players seemed to be largely dependent on the scoreboard. Strangely despite having a 45 minute delay from a leaking roof, once play had resumed at the start of the third set, it was like nothing had changed.

Mathieu continued to ride the wave of confidence, while Cuevas put in a very tame performance until Mathieu served for the match at 5-1, where Cuevas started to play more relaxed, loose tennis. It was a role reversal because it was Mathieu’s turn to tighten up squandering two breaks. Unbelievably as soon as the match leveled back to 5-5, Cuevas played a shocking game to give Mathieu yet another chance to serve for the match and this time he did so successfully.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Seeing Potential or Limitations?: Discussing Sam Querrey's Prospects

Sam Querrey, into the Newport finalThis time last year, Sam Querrey seemed to be on his way to making a steady rise up the rankings. Before his performance at the US Open last year where he lost to Rafael Nadal in the 4th round, perhaps it was hard to see what Querrey could develop his game into to become a consistent threat.

When it comes to spotting raw talent, it must be said that it’s not really my forte. When do you decide that some weaknesses are holes in a player’s game that can be considerably improved or whether it will end up being their achilles heel for the rest of their careers?

I recall commentators years ago mentioning how Dinara Safina’s movement was a big weakness. And it’s not like her ball-striking abilities impressed people in a way that Lindsay Davenport did. Should it be concluded that because of Querrey’s height, we can’t really expect him to be that mobile around the court?

It’s been documented in the past year that Querrey has been working on his fitness and movement. Watching him play, footwork should probably be just as much of a priority. I was having a look at his stroke production and it seemed to be very much an upper-body motion, particularly with one of his major weapons, the forehand.

With the top players, footwork and stroke production is really combined as one action in itself, so I guess I’d describe that as having as a fluid motion. But with Querrey, he’s trying to hit his forehand with as much force as possible with his racquet swing, while trying to maintain the right footwork in his movement and keeping his steps precise. I don’t think footwork comes naturally to him. It’s something he’s had to work on, and will need to continue to work on. He’s just so naturally relaxed in his approach to tennis that it bogs him down at times, although it would surely make him an excellent Davis Cup player.

The Newport semi-final contested between Querrey and Fabrice Santoro was an interesting contrast of styles, demonstrating two very different ways of taking control of points. Querrey using the natural power that he possesses on his groundstrokes, particularly his forehand to dominate points. But Santoro showed that there are other ways to take control of a point other than hitting hard, penetrating groundstrokes.

The intent wasn’t to place the ball out of Querrey’s reach, but rather to try to make Querrey stretch out for shots, hit shots off-balance then keep him moving around on the dead run, defending while being completely helpless. Those crosscourt short angle slices really work well to open up the court, particularly on the backhand side. Grass is definitely an excellent surface for Santoro, his slice shots skidding lower and being more difficult to punish for his opponents.

The problem was if Santoro couldn’t place the ball wide enough or deep enough, that allowed Querrey to take control of the points, and Querrey was patient enough to not give away too many errors. He was hitting the ball hard while realizing at the same time that often it’s not necessary to hit the ball close to the lines. In this particular match-up, he could afford to be patient. Patience is also something that Querrey has had to work on over the years, being less of a loose cannon in his shotmaking and waiting for the right shot to pull the trigger. He still makes a fair amount of errors although I feel that more of those are movement-related, where he struggles particularly on the dead run to do anything other than block the ball back.

In the end, the biggest difference in this match was the strength of Querrey’s serve. They popped up on the screen the serving statistics of all the entrants of the tournament, to show that Querrey was convincingly leading the ace statistics of all four semi-finalists, serving about twice as many as the second place scorer, Rajeev Ram.

Querrey has a nice and relaxed smooth service action, and it’s very efficient too. It doesn’t look like anything spectacular; it’s more of an upright motion than most of the good servers. He doesn’t throw his body weight into the shot as much but the simplicity of it allows him to hit his spots well (or at least he did in this match). He played a superb second set tie-break, hitting an unreturnable serve on every one of his service points, as well as stepping up his level on return as well to comfortably take the tie-break in the second set, and win in straight sets.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Roddick fights his way past Hewitt in a five set thriller

Andy Roddick, after his win over Lleyton Hewitt Before Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt stepped on court for their quarter-final showdown, they showed an interview from Roddick describing what it feels like to play against Hewitt.

"It's a fight. Everything is a fight. Lleyton's not going to give you anything. A lot of guys you can get on top of, you can get on top of their game, you can look for holes in it. Lleyton doesn't really have a lot of holes. He's pretty solid off both sides. He volleys well. You're definitely not going to get on top of him mentally."

That's what the match turned out to be, a battle between two seasoned professionals on the tour, two guys that know exactly how to play the big points pushing each other to find their best tennis when they needed it most. Hewitt hasn't enjoyed as much success as he would have liked the last couple of years, but mentally and subsequently strategically his game yesterday brought back memories of what it was like when he was near the top of the game.

In the recent couple of years, Hewitt had reverted to a slightly more defensive game, a product of the hesitancy which often affected his game. More than anything, I felt watching Hewitt playing well, suddenly his game looked far more simple than it had in recent times, more assured of himself and punishing short balls with more authority, quick to spot openings in the court as if it was obvious that he should hit it there.

Because of his amazingly consistent return of serve, his ability to dip returns at his opponent's feet and his excellent counterpunching abilities, he's able to create more opportunities for himself than most, as well as put his opponents under immense pressure. Players know when they play Hewitt that they have to attack against him, yet they know that if they don't put him away that he has them exactly where he wants them - in position to hit his targets, using pace and angle to redirect it with accuracy.

What Hewitt wants to do is to crush his opponents mentally, to have them feel like they've done everything they can in a point then to run it all down and turn it into a counterpunching winner right at the end. It's clear it's the kind of point he enjoys the most and he celebrated one of these with his loudest 'Come on' of the match.

But Roddick is mentally strong as well, and he was fully prepared for the battle. Roddick played almost a perfect match tactically, looking to keep Hewitt off-balance in a variety of ways. First there was the much-improved slice backhand, which worked great as an approach shot deep and skidding low after its bounce, but also to mix up the play in the baseline rallies.

When he hit through his backhand, he hit it as confidently as I'd ever seen with great accuracy, quick to go down-the-line whenever he sensed the opportunity to avoid getting pinned on the backhand corner. I feel like the slice backhand has made a major resurgence this tournament with Roddick, Haas, Murray now alongside Federer making the shot a very effective weapon on its own. In fact, that makes it all four semi-finalists that have utilised the slice backhand.

When Roddick was with Connors, it looked like Roddick was rushing the net, more with the intent of pouring pressure on his opponents but these days it's like he naturally finds himself up there, building up the point and thinking of a point as a whole rather than simply taking an aggressive mindset. It's as if he has earned the right to make it up there, rather than trying to bluff his way up there.

Roddick was in front almost the entire match long, and Hewitt looked down and out at the start of the fourth set but it went right down to the wire in the fifth set. In a way the match became somewhat aligned to their well-known reputations, Roddick as being an excellent front-runner and Hewitt being one of the best fighters on the tour.

What I liked most about the match were some of the amazing shots that both players came up with under pressure, Roddick in particular. Half-volleys that landed on the line and amazing depth on his groundstrokes, most surprisingly on the backhand side. Hewitt isn't as good as he used to be on the big points but he still has the heart.

It wasn't at all like a typical Roddick match, where you would expect one service break to seal the deal and that added the element of unpredictability to the match, and in turn it forced both Roddick and Hewitt to fight their way out of difficult situations. There was no room for cheap errors here. Hewitt started off hesitantly in his first service game costing him the first set, then it turned into an epic battle after that. As the match progressed, Hewitt started to read Roddick's serve better winning more than half the points on Roddick's second serve and sometimes even being able to connect with the first serve on the middle of his racquet.

I was certain when the match was prolonged to a fifth set that it was going to turn into another Hewitt classic, one of those great comebacks that we were used to seeing purely because of his five-set record. But Roddick didn't allow himself to be deterred by the loss of the fourth set after the initial break of serve. Maybe his utmost respect for Hewitt's competitive abilities allowed him to remain positive in the fifth set, and in the end he was the deserving winner for playing the better tennis overall, for showing more creativity in his shot selection as well as executing his shots better and more consistently.