The Random Tennis News Thread

[The Special Juan]

First topic message reminder :

There's not really a thread up for random tennis news that perhaps doesn't require it's own topic.

First of all, it's sad to hear of the death of Brad Drewett, Chief Executive of the ATP. I don't know if anyone's mentioned that and I've missed it.

Secondly, here's an interesting bit of tennis gossip about Evert and Connors: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/04/tennis-connors-evert-idUKL3N0DL05G20130504

[The Special Juan]

Obscure tennis player tests positive:

http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/news/decisions/decision-in-the-case-of-fernando-romboli.aspx

[lydian]

Federer takes his hot-dog specialty to the kids of Rome:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/5/16/Rome-2013-Thursday-Feature-Federer-Kids.aspx

[The Special Juan]

Here's a superb article on Murray:

http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/may/18/andy-murray-french-open-wimbledon?CMP=twt_gu

[The Special Juan]

Is this the world's oldest-looking 17 year old? Nice hair.

http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/1295

[ryan86]

Have you not seen Danny Meeks, Ice Barrel Skater?

[The Special Juan]

Jimmy Connors will be taking "your calls" tonight on 5Live so if anyone has anything to ask him.........................................................................................

[The Special Juan]

Have you not seen Danny Meeks, Ice Barrel Skater?

I googled him. Some bloke with a massive moustache + hair combo?

[hawkeye]

Anyone wondering where Nalbandian is?

Papa. RT @nalbandiandavid Estoy feliz!!! Anoche nació Sossie, tanto la beba como Vicky están en perfectas condiciones pic.twitter.com/rR3fKIYHjt

[Haddie-nuff]

Congratulations David

[ryan86]

Have you not seen Danny Meeks, Ice Barrel Skater?

I googled him. Some bloke with a massive moustache + hair combo?

Apparently that's a photo of him when he was 18.

[The Special Juan]

Mahut won in Holland today, beating Wawrinka in straight sets.  In Eastbourne, "Deliciano" is a break up in the final set v Simon.

[The Special Juan]

Aha, Gilles is bagelled in the final set.  These two will meet again very soon at SW19.....

[Haddie-nuff]

Aha, Gilles is bagelled in the final set.  These two will meet again very soon at SW19.....

Given the terrible conditions they played in it was a good match.
It might be different at Wimbledon without the gusty winds

[time please]

Gilles Simon has been struggling with a heavy cold since the first match - he was really struggling in the last set against Seppi in the semi, and looked really awful against Tomic after a break for rain - he was blowing his nose and coughing between points.

[The Special Juan]

I wonder if the Fed is on a goodbye tour? He's playing in the event which gave him his first wildcard and is also playing in Hamburg. Both events are on clay which is odd.

[barrystar]

I wonder if the Fed is on a goodbye tour?  He's playing in the event which gave him his first wildcard and is also playing in Hamburg.  Both events are on clay which is odd.

 
Well, there's obviously something up, because this is a total change from his previous schedule and clay sandwiched between Wimbledon and USO Series is particularly weird.  I think that the possibilities are:
 
a. farewell tour
b. he is hunting points for the WTF - but he's never done that before, and he's looking at a max 750 points for a lot of effort on clay, more logical would be to concentrate on HC in the US, possibly seeing if he could get 250 from the Hall of Fame tournament on grass
c. he his pot-hunting, seeing how many more tournaments he can win - meh, he's matched Mac and Lendl/Connors are way too far away to catch.
 
I think the most likely option is that he's done a bit of thinking after not looking remotely like making the later stages at Wimbledon and RG, and, rather than decide to re-dedicate himself a la Tommy Haas (who has a lot less mileage match-wise under the belt) he's decided to wind it up with a farewell tour and make sure that he visits tournaments that have been good/important to him during his career.  Let's face it, if he's struggling to make Wimbledon and RG latter stages the HC slams are going to be even tougher given that so many more players excel on that surface, especially Djoko and Murray, and he pretty much knows he's got no hope of beating (a fit) Nadal anymore except possibly on grass.  Why should he bust a gut to try and get back when after last summer there's nothing important left to do?

If he was excessively worried about his slam record unless he could get an 18th on the board (likely?), Nadal's loss suggests that it's pretty safe from any current player.

[sirfredperry]

I reckon he's playing these two "extra" events simply cos he went out early at Wimbledon. The Gstaad organisers must be ecstatic. Will he get a cow again?
Don't reckon we should read too much into this. It's unusual for him to play just after a slam, but its donkey's years since he went out so early.

[barrystar]

You may, of course, be right - and he has said he plans to play for many years to come. Still, I do wonder if he had gone out early from Wimbledon in, say, 2005-2007, or 2009-2011, whether he would have chosen European Clay to make up for lost matches (he wouldn't have done in the Olympic years, obviously)? Even if I'm making too much of it, I definitely think that the choice of tournaments is a nod to where he is in his career.

[sirfredperry]

Well there's no doubt that he's short of points and that's meant he's played less and got more time on his hands.
Normally after the French and SW19 he would take a few weeks off. It's just that this year some of the time off has come during Wimbledon itself !
I guess after every loss we're gonna have the endless "Is this the end?/Are you gonna call it a day?" debate.

[Henman Bill]

From now on until the end of his career he is going to have to put up with "when will you retire" questions over and over again. This happened to Roddick until he eventually said to a journalist "YOU should retire".

Personally I'd be tempted to put out a clear statement e.g. "minimum 1 year, maximum 5, other than that haven't decided" and then just repeat that whenever asked. or just answer every time by saying "I don't know". Either way it'll get annoying.

[hawkeye]

I reckon he's playing these two "extra" events simply cos he went out early at Wimbledon. The Gstaad organisers must be ecstatic. Will he get a cow again?
Don't reckon we should read too much into this. It's unusual for him to play just after a slam,  but its donkey's years since he went out so early.

I agree. He hasn't had a two week workout at Wimbledon as usual and there is a long gap between now and Canada. Why not get a bit of love from a home crowd too.

Henman Bill. Federer has made his intentions clear and has said he wants to play at least until the next Olympics. But some people appear to be wishing his retirement earlier...

[Henman Bill]

Hamburg is a slight surprise, but especially Gstaad the week after, being an even lesser tournament, and clay even nearer the hard court season. The choice of European tournaments (which happen to be on clay) rather than US tournaments (which mean more travelling and/or time away from family and home) could be the issue here, not surface.

You would have thought at this stage of his career and age he wouldn't be playing 4 out of 5 weeks then a week off before the US Open.

My guess is he just wants to play and practice more and tune up his game, after an early Wimbledon exit and fairly early FO exit, he doesn't need the physical recovery time that would usually be required at this part of the season. Also, he doesn't want to be too rusty for the US masters (assume he's down for both or at least Cinci) and US Open.

He has a great record at Hamburg. In 2002 he beat Safin in straight sets there. Safin was already a grand slam champion and had been to no 1, Federer hadn't been close to either at the time. In 2004 he beat Coria which was a big result with Coria basically kicking ass on clay that year and was the #1 clay player that year.

In 2005 final he beat Gasquet in straight sets, revenging losing to him earlier than year at Monte Carlo.

In 2007 he beat Rafa in the final, and bagelled him.

In 2008 he played Rafa again, aiming for 5 out of 5 in finals, but lost in three, but then again that was a period when he was losing to Rafa on all surfaces

[hawkeye]

Oh Wow! He's paying Hamburg as well? I missed that...

[The Special Juan]

I'm not interested in when Federer "says" he's going to retire because I won't believe anything until it happens. That's not a criticism of the man, it's just that these legends will retire when they want. Sir Alex Ferguson said had no plans to retire early this year but lo and behold, he went when he wanted to. All I can really say is these are strange events to attend, especially Hamburg.

[barrystar]

I'm not interested in when Federer "says" he's going to retire because I won't believe anything until it happens.  That's not a criticism of the man, it's just that these legends will retire when they want.  Sir Alex Ferguson said had no plans to retire early this year but lo and behold, he went when he wanted to.  All I can really say is these are strange events to attend, especially Hamburg.

Quite - nobody wants him to go and we can only listen to what he says, but playing Gstaad and Hamburg is such a departure from his usual schedule that wagging eyebrows are hardly a surprise. Henman Bill may be right that the location (Europe) is what really attracts, but there's no doubt that Fed's thinking is different to any time in the last 9 years - and catching up with 'missed matches' at Wimbledon does not explain back-to-back clay tournaments in my view.

[summerblues]

I am of two minds on this; kind of similar as what was already said - not surprisingly.

First, it could be that he wants more match time.  He has played 35 matches so far this year.  This is the first time since 2000 that he played fewer than 40 matches through Wimbledon.  He may feel that that he needs more match practice; and it may not matter to him so much where he gets it.  He took long breaks earlier in the year and came back saying he wanted to be "difficult to beat" - but it has not worked out that way.  Maybe he is now even second guessing his decision a bit and feels that he needs matches to be battle tested.

Second, it does have a feel of a bit of a good-bye tour unfortunately - while it may make sense to add to his schedule, the tournament choices themselves seem a bit odd.

However, he has been consistently saying he wants to play at least through Rio, so I am hopeful he will stick to that.

[The Special Juan]

Good news with Ivo Karlovic returning to the tour for the first time in a while after his illness. He did well in getting to the later stages of the tournament (QF or SF, can't remember) but ran into John Isner. Predictably it was a close affair but Isner won 7-6 7-6. Still, it's good to see Karlovic back whether you're a fan of him or not.

[The Special Juan]

I tried some Sugarpova when I was away. It was surprisingly good!!

[ryan86]

Possibilities of a Mahut - Isner final I see. Of the 8 completed sets at Newport today, 7 have went to a tiebreak.

[The Special Juan]

I hear Sharapova has split with her coach and is now working with Jimmy Connors of all people. Surely that can't be true?

[Dave.]

It is.

Never thought I'd see that. Never.

[The Special Juan]

It is official!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23301940

[Dave.]

Well if a British man can win Wimbledon....  

[The Special Juan]

Martina (not that one) is back!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23337481

[The Special Juan]

Anne Keothavong has retired. Her career highlights include...... errr..... Anne Keothavong has retired.

[Guest]

Anne was never going to reach the heights of 2009 and that knee injurt knocked the wind right out of her sails. Shame really.

[The Special Juan]

Hingis/Hantuchova won 6-1 6-1 yesterday. Not a bad tour comeback!!

[The Special Juan]

Granollers beats Monaco in the final of a tournament in Austria despite being bagelled in the first set. I'm saying nothing

[laverfan]

Granollers beats Monaco in the final of a tournament in Austria despite being bagelled in the first set.  I'm saying nothing

Winning it agrarian style, Bad Crop, Good Crop!

[The Special Juan]

Granollers beats Monaco in the final of a tournament in Austria despite being bagelled in the first set.  I'm saying nothing

Winning it agrarian style, Bad Crop, Good Crop!

Good one!!

[ryan86]

606v2 favourite Pablo Carreno-Busta has cracked the top 100 today!!

He's only about dozen matches off cracking another 100 this season as well... 100 matches.

[The Special Juan]

I can vaguely remember he did or did not do something at the French Open? Something to do with Federer?

[The Special Juan]

DelPo beats JIsner in 3 to win in Washington. He lost the first 6-3 but won 6-2 6-1 in the last two. That's another title for the big man but for all his titles, he's only ever won one really big title. For a player as good as him, I'd expect more but he does have quite a few 500s to his name, perhaps more than Murray?

[ryan86]

I can vaguely remember he did or did not do something at the French Open?  Something to do with Federer?

Yep, lost to him in the first round. He started the year ranked in the 600's and then went on a 37 match winning streak through a mixture of Turkish and Spanish futures events. He then made the semis of a 250 in Portugal and has now one two Challengers in the past month and a bit.

[ryan86]

Looks like Brian Baker is making his comeback in Aptos this week.

[The Special Juan]

I can vaguely remember he did or did not do something at the French Open?  Something to do with Federer?

Yep, lost to him in the first round. He started the year ranked in the 600's and then went on a 37 match winning streak through a mixture of Turkish and Spanish futures events. He then made the semis of a 250 in Portugal and has now one two Challengers in the past month and a bit.

Ah I remember now, thanks for jogging my memory. He's certainly on the up then, although I hazard a guess at most of those events being on clay?

[ryan86]

I think most of the Futures at the start of the year were hard, but since then the majority have been clay. The Segovia challenger he just won though was on hard, though from the stream it looked like a very slow hard.

[The Special Juan]

Ah this is sad news.  Tsonga is out of the USO with a bad knee injury.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23713229

[laverfan]

Tsonga... I will miss his smile at USO 2014.

[JuliusHMarx]

Tsonga... I will miss his smile at USO 2014.

He's going to miss next year as well?!

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