Friday, February 18, 2011

Gilles Simon Defeats Out of Form Davydenko in Marseille

It was supposed to be a nice contrast of styles, when Nikolay Davydenko and Gilles Simon drew each other in the first round in Marseille. The problem with this match-up is that the way Simon plays largely has to do with the way Davydenko plays, so when Davydenko seemed completely unsure of himself and lacking in confidence, it was a bad spectacle all-round. Simon only plays as well as he needs to, and he prefers to use the pace of his opponents.

Davydenko is definitely going through a rough patch at the moment. His game doesn’t even look the same as it did to his off days when he was in the top 5. When he makes large amounts of unforced errors, they’re different kinds of errors. He doesn’t have anywhere near the same amount of racquet acceleration. Short balls are usually the easiest shots for professional players, but it was painful the way Davydenko showed no confidence whenever he had a short forehand to put away for a winner. Instead it was more like, “Oh no, I should hit a winner off this” so he’d aim it near the line but not really try to hit a winner.

The match started strangely with four consecutive breaks. The first set was the battle of two very indecisive players that didn’t know what to do with the ball once they got into an extended rally. The execution of the shots felt half-hearted, which is what happens when you don’t fully believe in the shot you’re trying to hit.

Davydenko was making all kinds of uncharacteristic shot selections. It was the worst to begin with. Most of his shots landed in the middle of the court, the complete opposite from his trademark accurate game. He came into the net from approach shots that landed down the middle of the court, then predictably he’d lose the point up at the net. You know there’s something very wrong with Davydenko when he’s trying to come into the net before he’s even hit a good enough shot. Yet it’s also very strange. It’s more common to stick to a more typical game in poor form, but does he really think he has a better chance at shortening the points and using the net than playing his standard baseline game?

Still Davydenko being willing to extend the rallies and hit with wider margins from the lines than usual kept the match competitive in the first set. Both players returned serve well in the first half of the set. It was like everything was much easier for them when they didn’t have to think about actual rallies and point construction.

The match made a sudden turnaround after Simon became the first player to hold serve for 3-2. I would have thought that would have been the equivalent of a break of serve, but instead they both held serve from then onwards.

Despite the rather drastic change of holds/breaks, the match still had a similar feel to me. I never know what Simon is actually trying to do with the ball while playing. He plays with such a reactive mindset. Even if his tennis isn't defensive all the time, his shot selection is based so much on what his opponent feeds him. Davydenko fed him plenty of errors so he happily took advantage of it.

The first set tie-break was perhaps of the best quality in the match, with more of the typical rallies that I expected from the match. Davydenko had a set point but missed a routine forehand, a pattern which repeated itself many times in the match. Then Simon won the set with a return winner.

In the second set, Davydenko sprayed errors everywhere to go down a double break that by then, I had lost all interest. He tried to play something closer to his usual game, but the more aggressive play didn’t pay off. He was actually close to levelling the set again and recovering the break, but in the end, Simon was able to hold off Davydenko and finish the match later on.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Soderling Shows Good Form in Rotterdam, Defeating Youzhny

Robin Soderling isn’t anywhere near as much of an indoor specialist as he used to be, but in any case, he’s doing well this week in Rotterdam, bouncing back from a poor performance at the Australian Open in his loss against Alexandr Dolgopolov. Mikhail Youzhny also had a subpar Australian Open, losing to Milos Raonic in the 3rd round, but both players showed good form in this match. In a rematch of last year's final, Soderling defeated Youzhny 6-4 7-6(5).

They traded big shots against each other, but it wasn’t easy to hit winners, and most rallies ended up being long, drawn out, and competitive. It was a surprisingly complete display of tennis, complete in the sense that neither player showed an obvious weak side that leaked errors. Soderling also wasn’t as overly reliant on his forehand as usual, with his backhand sharing the workload, and winning just as many points with it.

Sometimes matches like this can be a little mind-numbing, and easy to take for granted. Especially since Soderling and Youzhny are top 10 players. There weren’t that many momentum swings in the match, instead it was hard-fought the whole match. Tactically they were playing aggressive but controlled tennis. It was very much, spot on.

Youzhny’s ability to control rallies was better than I thought. He was the player changing directions more often in this match, particularly when they traded backhands where Soderling would usually hit it back crosscourt but with good pace, while Youzhny had the additional option of nailing it down-the-line more often. His backhand was the best aspect of the match.

Soderling wasn’t as dominant as usual. By that, I mean the match wasn’t played on his terms as much as usual, and probably in the past, he would have been easily frustrated. But now, Soderling is pretty good at playing patient tennis too, so he hung in there and showed some respect towards Youzhny’s shots by waiting until the right moment to pull the trigger. There wasn’t much difference between the two, apart from a couple of points. This was a good display of top 10 level tennis.

It was one of those matches that bring forth the argument that the players these days have fewer obvious weaknesses. They have shots that can break down on their bad days, yes, but opponents can no longer relying on peppering one side knowing that they can’t be punished.

Is the modern era of tennis actually more exciting this way? I think what makes a tennis match exciting is once you get involved in it, then it reaches another level to simply appreciating it. Like holding your breath or showing a seed of doubt whenever a ball goes to a player’s weaker side, or getting excited whenever it goes to their stronger side. Or watching momentum swings, and seeing how a player stringing a couple of points together can suddenly turn into great form for the rest of the match (or the opposite could be said for poor play). I guess that’s why many people like the flashy players. It’s not only about the winners.

Momentum swings and drama are also make for great viewing, and there wasn’t that much of it in this match. It was a good quality match, but sometimes a little bit of imperfection can actually make a match better. Maybe a combination of more awful shots followed by great shots, would be good. I really am turning into a fussy tennis watcher. Oh well, I’m sure there will be plenty of Robin Soderling matches in the future that have them.

By the way, I am definitely covering up for my decreasing attention span these days by going more off-topic than ever. I hope it is not too obvious.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Marin Cilic defeats Jurgen Melzer in Rotterdam

I’ve selected a very standard title for my new post and that seems fitting for a match like this. It wasn’t a pretty match, and I can’t remember any memorable rallies. But in the end, Marin Cilic was the more solid player and defeated Jurgen Melzer 6-2 6-4.

Cilic hasn’t had a good last 12 months after a maiden semi-final appearance at the Australian Open last year and cracking the top 10. He was also awful against Florian Mayer last week. Keeping in mind that I would possibly do a piece on him after this match, I took a closer look at his overall game.

Outwardly it looked similar to the way it always did, except a more unspectacular version of it. The same kind of low intensity game based on ball-striking and accuracy (though not so much on accuracy anymore). He was particularly passive to begin with, mainly focusing on getting the ball into the court. It took a while before he took it up another notch, taking the ball earlier on some of the shorter balls and hitting with better depth. It was good that he did that on occasion otherwise I would have thought he was warming up.

He comes across as so workmanlike that I’m not even sure if he likes playing tennis. I just assume he does, because he made it this far and apparently players in Croatia are harder working than the Brits for example because they had a tougher time growing up. That means there is more benefit for them to be successful.

His game was always lacking spark though. He’d change directions so smoothly that it just looked like he was casually rallying with his opponent. He relied so much on timing. His winners don’t catch the eye as much as Melzer’s winners do on a better day. You have to look closer. Melzer had some eye-catching errors today though. This season, he’s been confidently swinging away on his groundstrokes regardless of whether he’s been playing well or not. He’s been making a lot of rash errors. He hit a forehand that was out wide today by the equivalent of half the width of the court, timed in the middle of the strings. I suppose that’s proof he was trying to hit all kinds of shots that he wasn’t prepared for, in terms of footwork.

Anyway, it just wasn’t Melzer’s day. He didn’t have much success returning Cilic’s serve and he tried to improve his consistency in the second set, but it still wasn’t good enough. He takes big swings at the ball especially on the forehand, and he’s known more for his explosiveness than accuracy. Going up 0-30 at 3-3 on Cilic’s serve ended up being more of a mental hindrance. It was a huge disappointment for him even though he didn’t really do anything special to go up 0-30, so it wasn’t like a drop in level. He smashed a racquet once it got back to 30-30, then began to shout at himself almost every point from then onwards, and gave a sarcastic clap at the changeovers.

He was probably already in a bad mood to begin with though. The match had barely started and Melzer asked the umpire a couple of times to get the people to talk more quietly, especially those sitting near the court. A quick camera shot of the stadium shows that the stadium was reasonably empty. Melzer is known for finding every little thing that goes on externally annoying.

Sometimes Cilic’s calm approach gives him a disadvantage against more inspired players, but today it was surely the better approach. Some might say it is just a personality difference, but I’m pretty sure that playing with a relaxed demeanor would affect the way you move around the court, and the energy around the footwork as well. Then again, to put in a more simplistic manner, he was the more solid of the two players and was subsequently rewarded. He also won plenty of free points on his serve.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Ivan Dodig Continues His Great Run in Zagreb

Every now and then, certain players find inspiration playing in their home country. There were numerous Croatian players in the draw of Zagreb, including the top two seeds, Marin Cilic and Ivan Ljubicic but in the end it was Ivan Dodig carrying the flag for Croatia at the last hurdle.

It’s always a great story for the tournament when stories like these happen, and it reels in the crowds too. Judging from the turnout in the semi-finals, people in Zagreb are incredibly patriotic to the point where they couldn’t even be bothered watching the second semi-final between Florian Mayer and Michael Berrer even though they had tickets for it. For me, I always approach these sudden improvements of form in a cynical manner. It’s a different life playing in front of a packed stadium cheering for you, compared to the little courts where no one really cares.

The fans got their money’s worth with Dodig and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez playing out a three hour marathon against each other, with Dodig making a surprising comeback from a set and a break down to win 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4. Every game seemed to be long and drawn out, until the third set where both players were too exhausted to give their full effort in every game, not to mention that Dodig had an early break and solely relied on that.

This match was played late at night in my timezone, so I really could have used a scoreboard on my stream that didn't disappear off the screen all the time. So I could actually feel the importance of a point. Has anyone watched a match without a scoreboard before and noticed how there is absolutely no drama in it, and also how incredibly difficult it is to follow?

I hadn’t watched Dodig play before until this match, but this commentator I was listening to obviously had from the sounds of it. He reminded me constantly that Dodig is a fighter, a very dogged competitor, difficult to put away, etc. The match had only just started so I couldn’t really notice myself. However, he did do a dive to retrieve a dropshot later on so there’s a piece of evidence. Also he won this match from a losing position so he was obviously a better fighter than Garcia-Lopez.

His groundstrokes are laboured, not effortless, and he puts a lot of energy into his movement. I also borrowed that statement off the commentator. His stroke production and movement reminds me a lot of Florent Serra, who also puts in a lot of effort behind everything, but Serra can hit the ball harder. Their shot selection is not that similar. Dodig hits typically deep shots and moves the ball around the court without the intention of ending the point (most of the time).

I didn’t really have a preference between the two, but I liked the contrast. Garcia-Lopez has some of the cleanest strokes I’ve seen. The closest player I can think of in terms of stroke production like that would be Tommy Haas. Both rely on clean shotmaking based on timing and their groundstrokes aren’t heavy enough. The problem with Garcia-Lopez seems to be that he doesn’t play with the same intensity levels and focus as many of the other players, and he tends to throw in some awful errors at times. Sometimes he likes to hit a backhand down-the-line when there was no way he should have hit one. I have a feeling he used to play like that much more often, before he made his rise up the rankings.

He can find surprisingly good angles on the inside out forehand. It’s not exactly a textbook shot, but it has to be a strength if he runs around to hit it this often. He positions his feet well while hitting it, and it helps that he's light on his feet. Without as much movement preceding the shot, his forehand isn’t as good from the other side of the court, when trading crosscourt.

Garcia-Lopez was playing relatively well in this match. He was the one making the majority of the winners. Just a slightly better performance in the crucial moments would have won him the match. Then again, it’s incredibly common in tennis for matches to be decided in this way.

Perhaps also what turned the match around was Dodig’s injury and fatigue, which resulted in a change of tactics. He took an injury timeout somewhere in the second set, then he started to hit the ball more accurately and constructing points better. He could have ended up playing overly risky tennis in a way that doesn’t match his game, but instead he played smarter tennis. His volleys were also surprisingly good for a solid baseliner, and by the third set he was coming into the net consistently to finish off points. I remember a serve-and-volley he did in the third set, where he was on the service line and he lunged far and low and somehow managed to hit a winning volley off it.

Once Dodig had the break in the third set, he tanked away some of the return games, but he was able to remain strong enough on serve surprisingly even holding his nerves well enough to serve out the match to love.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Tommy Robredo Cruises in Santiago, defeating Maximo Gonzalez

I’m not quite sure how Tommy Robredo has slipped down to a ranking of 40 over the past year, apart from stating the obvious that he isn’t playing as well as he used to. That’s what the ranking suggests. A closer look at his rankings breakdown suggests that he’s not doing as well in the optional events as he used to.

2011 is a new year though, and he has gotten off to a good start with a 4th round result at the Australian Open (losing to Roger Federer) and now reaching the semi-finals of Santiago.

He will fancy his chances of going further in this draw with the remaining players in the draw having never won a title before. He faces Fabio Fognini in the semi-finals, then potentially the winner of Potito Starace and Santiago Giraldo. Though I think it would make a nice headline if Santiago Giraldo won in Santiago.

In today’s match, he defeated Maximo Gonzalez quite comfortably 6-3 6-1. This was the first time I had seen Gonzalez play before, so I had my eyes firmly focused on him rather than Robredo, out of curiosity. I like to scout players too. The signs were promising to start with. Gonzalez has nice heavy groundstrokes, and when he matches up with Robredo, he appears to be the stronger of the two. Stronger, not better. More penetrating in his groundstrokes. If we just looked at groundstrokes while they were warming up, and not accuracy or the ability to be aggressive with it, then Gonzalez would be more impressive. The heaviness of his groundstrokes reminds me a little bit of Jose Acasuso, but with nowhere near as much pace.

The match was even for the first half of the set, and I kept expecting Robredo to make more inroads into the return of serve. Mostly because Gonzalez’s serve is quite awful. I think even I have more a fluid motion than that (but mine is jerky in general too). It comes from the same school of serving that Juan Ignacio Chela graduated from, before he changed it into something much better midway into his career. He has his racquet back and his service motion halfway complete before he even tosses the ball up, then he briefly pauses as the ball goes up and finishes off the motion. The serve often lands in the middle of the box. Robredo generally returns serve quite far behind the baseline though, so it didn’t get punished that much. Except somewhere in the second set, when Robredo hit a backhand down-the-line return winner that he surely didn’t mean to hit.

While I’m currently into making player comparisons with myself, I was also amused to see that Gonzalez sometimes lifts his left leg up a little bit while hitting a forehand, just like I do but to a lesser extent. He does it particularly when hitting it aggressively. But he’s better than me. He can plant his left leg when he’s in a more defensive stance, which is good otherwise he wouldn’t have made it into this (clay) event.

In any case, I thought Gonzalez was playing better than his ranking of 140, until his game went downhill quickly after he missed many break points in one game. Suddenly he began to make plenty of awful errors, trying to play overly aggressively above his ability, and not digging very deep. His movement isn’t as good as Robredo’s. If he’s further behind the baseline then it needs to be more defensive. If he has more time, then he can go for it. Wow, I can relate to these points. Trying to hit a winner while going backwards is never going to work. I constantly mumble that to myself while playing.

I thought Robredo served quite well, for his standards. He has an accurate serve, and can get good angles on the wide serve on the ad court. He’s a good server for his height. Though I should also point out that Gonzalez’s return of serve is a weakness. He needs more time to hit good shots.

They tried to motivate the players before the match started by playing Eye of the Tiger, which I seem to remember was Hewitt’s favourite song to listen to before matches. Or was it Nadal? They liked to play rock music in the changeovers, even while players were walking out from their chairs. I think they only stopped it once they got closer to the baseline. Most tournaments playing music these days go with pop music, so this was a little different from the usual. I liked hearing Faith No More’s Epic.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Where does the blog go from here?

The Australian Open may be over, but this blog will continue to roll on, with regular articles of any sort. Just in case that wasn't clear.