Tennis Weekly Series- Edition 4

Tennis is more than just a sport. It's an art, like the ballet. Or like a performance in the theater. When I step on the court I feel like Anna Pavlova. Or like Adelina Patti. Or even like Sarah Bernhardt. I see the footlights in front of me. I hear the whisperings of the audience. I feel an icy shudder. Win or die! Now or never! It's the crisis of my life.
Bill Tilden 1926

Match of The Week:
John Isner(1) vs Andy Roddick (4):
The battle of the big servers in the Atlanta semi-final's was a thrilling tie on paper, and matched it's billing with an engrossing encounter. The American crowd were wildly enthusiastic, cheering on both home favourites. John Isner had come into this tournament off a confidence boosting win in Newport, and started well against Roddick holding his serve with ease. However after 5 games, with the set on serve, the heavens opened and rain poured to stop play. After a 45 minute rain delay it was Roddick who came out stronger, winning the next 4 out of 5 games to take the first set 6-4 as Isner's forehand went astray. The second set was an even closer affair with the two big servers solid on serve until the tiebreak. Unsurprisingly tiebreak specialist John Isner was on form in the breaker again- taking the crucial minibreak to clinch it 7-5. As so the match went into the decider, with all to play for. Both players were strong on serve early on but in the 8th game Isner's groundstrokes began to falter and he had to rely on his huge serve to save 4 break points. Nevertheless it was A-Rod in the ascendency and in the 10th and ultimately final game he broke Isner to seal the semi-final 6-4 in the deciding set. Both players are scheduled to play Olympics Singles next week, while Roddick and Isner will pair up in the doubles for the USA.

Shock of the Week:
Haas vs Simon (2):
Hamburg was handed a mighty shock in round two as the defending champion and second seed crashed out to German veteran Tommy Haas in three sets. Haas, who was ranked 49 when they played (but now upto 35 after reaching the final!) was a heavy underdog for the match and this tag seemed justified as he made a sloppy start, giving up a break early on and going on to lose the 1st set 6-4. However he roared back in the 2nd set and broke Simon in the pivotal 8th game to take the 2nd set 6-3. With the match hanging in the balance a topsy-turvy 3rd set followed with both players finding it difficult to hold on to their serve. However once again it was Haas who stepped it up a gear when it counted, breaking late on in the 7th game to complete the upset. This was a big loss for Giles Simon who now drops to 14 in the rankings.

Player of the Week: Thomaz Belucci
It was a sensational week for Belucci as a tournament win in Gstaad propelled him 20 places in the rankings to world number 40. The Brazilian, who loves playing on clay, was well suited to the surface and entertained the Swiss crows with some magical play throughout the week. In Round 1 he dismissed Slovakian Blaz Kavcic 6-1 6-1 and advanced to face Russian Mikhail Youzhny in round 2. The Russian was seeded fourth for this event, but this did not intimidate Thomaz, who clinched the deciding set 6-4 to advance to the quarters. Here he came across 5th seed Feliciano Lopez, who's big lefty serve is a huge threat on it's day. Luckily for Belucci Lopez was out of form and committed far too many unforced errors as Belucci cruised to a 6-3 6-3 win. In the semi-final the young Brazilian was up against 'baby-Fed' Grigor Dimitrov who had looked impressive all week. However on clay Belucci was too strong taking both sets in tiebreakers to advance to the final for the second time in 3 years. In 2009 he won the title, beating Beck in the final, but this time he was up against tougher proposition in Serbian number 2 and number 1 seed Janko Tipsarevic. The first set was neck and neck between the two as Tipsarevic edged a breaker, but Belucci came back strongly to seal the final 2 sets 6-4 6-2 and win his 3rd ATP tour title. Well done to Belucci

Quote(s) of the Week:
Andy Murray: I laugh a lot; just not in front of you guys, your questions aren't that funny.
British number 1 Andy Murray reveals why he doesn't laugh more during press conferences.

Keep 'em coming.

These are good.



emancipator

emancipator wrote:Keep 'em coming.

These are good.

I second that.

Good article IMBL

Atleast we have something in this dry period.

Really enjoyed reading IMBL. Great summary of the week's tennis events.

Echo everyone else - please keep these articles coming

I thought that quote would be attributed to Raphael Nadal.

Nice work IMBL.

Thanks for the feedback guys

Hey IMBL there's a rumour going around that you are actually amritia3ee.

Is that true?

What's that

bogbrush wrote:I thought that quote would be attributed to Raphael Nadal.

lol
Rafa's English isn't yet that good, his first language is still spanish.
I liked that quote from Tilden though, really showed how tennis hasn't changed that much throughout the ages: it's still a battle, still a 'dogfight' if you were.

It Must Be Love wrote:What's that

amritia3ee is the nickname of a poster who used to grace these boards - apparently your old nickname, according to rumour?

IMBL - I do think these weekly reviews deserve a lot of credit. They are extremely well-written, they bring a lot of 'colour' to what might otherwise be a set of purely factual match reports and hence make for a very enjoyable read.

Particularly liked the quote of the week. I wonder whether Andy had been saving that one for a while, ready to use at a suitable moment - or did he maybe just come up with it there & then on the spot (?). Either way, it was a clever quip I thought .....

lags72 wrote:IMBL - I do think these weekly reviews deserve a lot of credit. They are extremely well-written, they bring a lot of 'colour' to what might otherwise be a set of purely factual match reports and hence make for a very enjoyable read.

Particularly liked the quote of the week. I wonder whether Andy had been saving that one for a while, ready to use at a suitable moment - or did he maybe just come up with it there & then on the spot (?). Either way, it was a clever quip I thought .....

Thank-you Lags

As for the Murray thing, I think it may have been pre-prepared. His popularity has risen over the past month or so, but one of the criticism remains he doesn't laugh/joke a lot. With this quote he was killing two birds with one stone- dismissing the theory he doesn't laugh- and also making a joke out of it.

Good stuff