Serena, Johansson Out of French; Gaudio, Coria Battle Off-Court
Posted on May 21, 2005
Mayer, Haas Heroes as Germany Reaches Final at ATP World Team CupGermany's Tommy Haas and Florian Mayer alternated the role of hero Friday at the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, edging Spain 2-1 to advance to the final against Argentina.
Haas stumbled at the first hurdle, falling 7-6(4), 6-4 to Spain's Tommy Robredo before Mayer evened the tie at 1-1 with a 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 comeback win over Dave Ferrer.
"At the beginning I just let him play too much because I was too defensive and played to much slice," said Mayer, who was at one point a set and 1-3 down in the second. "He likes that because he can just distribute the balls with his forehand. He's very good at that. If you start putting such players under pressure, then they get into trouble."
Haas then redeemed himself in the doubles, teaming with Alexander Waske to put Germany into the final with a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Robredo and Santiago Ventura.
In the days second match the singles and doubles fortunes were reversed for the U.S. as Vince Spadea put the lone "W" in the singles column for the Americans all week with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Joachim Johansson, and the Bryan brothers lost their first match of the week, going down 6-4, 6-2 to Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson.
Thomas Johansson earlier defeated American Jeff Morrison 6-1, 6-4 to contribute to the 2-1 win for Sweden.
Argentine last won the WTC in 2002, with Guillermo Canas the only player still on the current squad, while Germany last won in 1998 with Haas and Nicolas Kiefer on that squad also.
In Saturday's final Mayer will face Argentina's Guillermo Coria, and Haas will square off against Gaston Gaudio, with the doubles to be named later.
Davydenko, Melzer Reach Final at ATP St. Poelten
No. 4 seed Jurgen Melzer, spurred on by his homecountry fans in St. Poelten, reached his second career final Friday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over unseeded Christophe Rochus.
"I put a lot of pressure on his serve forcing him to come up with good shots to hold serves," Melzer said. "When we were rallying from the baseline I tried to come in as much as possible and it worked well."
Melzer is 0-1 in career finals.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko will also contest the final after easing past Argentine Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-2.
Davydenko has reached semifinals at Barcelona and the Masters Series-Hamburg during his French Open run-up, and now the championship match in St. Poelten.
"My body was tired and feeling strange but I managed to win it in the end which made things easier," Davydenko said. "In the second set, I got more into the match, started to play and feel better and fought every single point which allowed me to close the match easily."
Davydenko beat Melzer in their only previous meeting earlier this year in three sets at the Masters Series-Monte Carlo.
"I plan to make him run," Davydenko said. "He obviously wants to win in front of his home crowd."
The doubles final will be (3) Damm/Hood vs. (2) Arnold/Hanley.
Venus Versus Vaidisova in WTA Istanbul Final
Top-seeded Venus Williams will have her Roland Garros acumen tested Saturday against rising Czech teen and No. 2 seed Nicole Vaidisova in the final at the WTA stop in Istanbul.
Venus gained the final by bulldozing nervous qualifier Tszvetana Pironkova 6-1, 6-3.
"I think she has a good future ahead of her," said Williams on Pironkova. "She hits a nice ball, and she's very quick around the court. I think after she got rid of her nerves she was able to show more of her game."
The No. 39-ranked Vaidisova came from a set down to defeat No. 3 seed Anna Smashnova 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
"I started out slowly today, and it took me a while to get used to her game," Vaidisova said. "Once I found my rhythm I was feeling pretty good out there."
Both players are looking for their first title of 2005 in a first-time meeting.
"As the No. 2 seed in this tournament I kind of expected to at least get to the final, so to do that is really good," Vaidisova said. "I've never played Venus before so I'll just go out there and play my game."
In the doubles final, No. 4 seeds Marta Marrero and Antonella Serra Zanetti take on unseeded Austrian sisters Daniela and Sandra Klemenschits.
Dechy Exit Leads to All-Unseeded Final at WTA Strasbourg
It will be an all-unseeded final at the WTA stop in Strasbourg on Saturday after Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues upset No. 1 seed Nathalie Dechy, and Poland's Marta Domachowska defeated Dally Randriantefy in the Friday semifinals, both in straight sets.
"Dechy plays on the baseline and she loves to play fast, so I tried to put the balls high for her and she didn't seem to like it," Medina Garrigues said. "I knew if I played well, I could defeat her."
Medina Garrigues is seeking her third career WTA Tour singles title, winning in 2001 and last year at Palermo, Saturday against the schoolgirl Domachowska.
"I didn't practice too much in the last couple of weeks because of my exams, so I was not expecting to be in the final here," said the 19-year-old Domachowska, who just completed high school. "I tried to avoid long rallies, be aggressive and make her run."
Medina Garrigues won their only other career meeting easily earlier this year at Indian Wells.
"I can only hope she is as tired as I am," Domachowska said. "I hope I can play better against her than the last time we met. She's tough to play against, especially on clay. It will be hard for me to stay aggressive, but I'm prepared to do my best."
In the doubles final, Domachowska and Marlene Weingartner will face Rosa Maria Andres and Andreea Vanc.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
There is no "i" in "team" -- that was the message Gaston Gaudio had for countryman Guillermo Coria after the latter ducked out of their World Team Cup match Thursday against Chile. "If you come here you have to win. I'm fed up," said Gaudio of Coria ducking out, forcing an under-the-weather Guillermo Canas to substitute. "Let's be truthful, this isn't a team, because there's someone who makes decisions choosing the best for himself. I can understand that a player gets tired and decides to rest before Paris. I also did so on Tuesday against the Czechs but not in the most important match of all. Coria and I were the best team and if we were a real team this wouldn't have happened." Coria said he had the right to sit out a match, even if it was against the two-time defending champ Chileans: "I wasn't 100 percent in condition to play because I've been playing a lot of matches and that's why we formed a team of four singles players. We discussed this (on Wednesday) with Canas and (Juan Ignacio) Chela. Guillermo (Canas) told me it didn't matter, he asked me to play, I explained to him that I didn't feel good and the team understood...(Gaudio) was training and so didn't take part (in the conversation)...I haven't got any problems with Gaston, we respect, everyone knows we're not friends, but we still have a good enough team to win here. If I thought only about myself I'd have stayed in Barcelona or gone directly to Roland Garros. It's better to arrange things face-to-face and not say them to the press."...Lindsay Davenport has never reached the final at the French...Serena Williams pulled from the French Friday with her bad ankle: "I am very disappointed to be forced to withdraw. Roland Garros is a fantastic global event with great fans, and I look forward to participating in next year's tournament." Fantastic global event? Which WTA Tour PR flak wrote that statement for Serena?...Joachim Johansson pulled out of the French Open because of an injury to his right elbow, organizers said Friday...Seen (and heard) practicing Friday at Roland Garros were Andre Agassi with coach Darren Cahill, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty and Roger Federer (with the Swiss appearing to have an unhappy practice), Marat Safin hitting with Carlos Moya, an all-French bat-around with Richard Gasquet and Thierry Ascione, Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal sparring with Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, and Gustavo Kuerten raising the grunting decibel level against mellow fellow bellow-er Gael "Force" Monfils. Interesting to see Club Fed struggling on his hated Stadium Court against a player who has dominated him, as to say 'This is probably as difficult as it will get -- good practice.'...The U.S. finished last in their group at the World Team Cup...The first group of qualifiers Friday at Roland Garros on the men's side were Jarkko Nieminen, Sasa Tuksar, Lukas Dlouhy, Marcos Daniel, 2003 Roland Garros junior champ Stanislas Wawrinka, Dudi Sela, Novak Djokovic, and Tomas Behrend, with the final qualifying matches played Saturday...Look at the big brains at SI.com (Sports Illustrated), actually resurrecting their all-tennis page (as opposed to its usual lumping with "other sports") for the French Open. Jon Wertheim can sleep soundly again for two weeks...For those of you that can't get enough of Roland Garros, check out this stat page from Greg "The Remorseless Eating Machine" Sharko of the ATP: http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=/en/newsandscores/news/2005/rolandstats.pdf...Roger Federer has won an Open Era record 19 consecutive finals he has appeared in since losing to Jiri Novak in the Gstaad final on July 13, 2003...Roger Federer is 9-6 career at Roland Garros, never reaching the semifinals...In five weeks Rafael Nadal has climbed from No. 31 to 5 on the ATP Rankings. Nadal is also the first teenager to win five ATP titles in a season since Andre Agassi won six in 1988, and the first player to win five claycourt titles in a season since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001. More good news for Nadal: In the Open Era, 20 players have notched their first Grand Slam crown in Paris, more than any other Grand Slam tournament...How sick is that Roland Garros stats file? Shark is a monster, still working out of the yellow notebooks...Maria Sharapova wants to follow Serena Williams into fashion design, but after her tennis career is over: "I love fashion and that's something I'd love to pursue after my tennis career. I want to be a fashion designer and have my own line. I've always been crazy for style and fashion. Ever since I was young I've always wanted to look really cool, so that is what I want to move into." Ahh, to be a teenager again...Don't count out the slumping Marat Safin in Paris, with the Russian saying he still has some fire: "My goal is the French Open. That's my goal for all of my career. I am trying to win it. I have always played well there but for some reason it just hasn't worked out. I was always missing something extra. I am going to prepare myself as much as I can for the tournament. I like the Paris atmosphere, the city, the people, the courts, all these things make it very special. It is the perfect tournament."...Brit PM Tony Blair is reportedly very upset that his back injury will not allow him to play tennis: "He's fine and it's business as usual," Mrs. Blair said. "I know he's got meetings tomorrow but he isn't allowed to play tennis at the weekend which he's very upset about...Men are never brave, are they? It's a prolapsed disc which is less serious than a slipped disc. He went in for a cortisone injection."...From the NCTimes.com: "ESPN is sending an armada of personnel to Paris for the French Open -- perhaps the most compelling of professional tennis' Grand Slam events. Dick Enberg will be there as host along with analysts Cliff Drysdale, Tim Ryan, Mary Carillo, Mary Jo Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver, and reporters Chris Fowler, Suzy Kolber and Kit Hoover. Over the course of two weeks, ESPN and ESPN Classic will carry 109-1/2 hours from Roland Garros, 80-1/2 live. Despite the talent and the number of hours, the success or failure -- ratings-wise -- falls squarely on the success of the American players in the event. "If the Americans get knocked out early, it hurts our second week of coverage a lot," said Bill Bonnell, ESPN's coordinating producer for Grand Slam tennis. "Certainly, we'll lose some viewers if the Americans are out." McEnroe said it's 50-50 if an American man will make it to the meat of the tournament ---- the second week. "No question, the Americans have been struggling," McEnroe said. "Andre Agassi played well in Rome. And Andy Roddick has been up and down...The American women have a better chance to advance than the men. But while there are some great stories, Carillo said there are problems for the American women when Lindsay Davenport is ranked No. 1 in the world, Serena Williams is No. 4 and Venus Williams is No. 13..."Obviously, if the Americans are out, it will affect what we do," Bonnell said. "Our biggest job is to make the viewers aware and get them to know the other players. Our job will then be to interview (Rafael) Nadal and players American viewers don't know. Our job will be to get the stories there." If the Americans are indeed gone, Bonnell will turn to what he calls ESPN's "Drama Unit" for interviews and features. "Dick Enberg is one of the greatest storytellers of all time," Bonnell said. "We've made a huge commitment to tennis, to tell stories so the viewers have something to grab on to."...Stop it with the Dick Enberg stories, ugh, how about just SHOWING SOME TENNIS instead. Those "profiles" get tiresome...ESPN has reached a new multi-year agreement with the French Tennis Federation for telecast rights to Roland Garros for Latin America, the Middle East, Israel and North Africa. The deal continues ESPN's coverage of the event in these markets -- more than 70 countries in total -- through 2008...Richard Gasquet speaking to the TimesOnline about his past antics: "When you act like an idiot, you don't do the right things, you don't practice well, you lose matches. It is a vicious circle. I came back to France and decided to return to zero; I went to the federation and asked (coach) Eric Deblicker to help me. He made things clear. When I got to 18, I needed an extra eye on me, rather than just my father's. He had made me very strong, very young, but he knew I needed something different. Had I been with Eric 18 months ago, I'm not sure it would have worked. Now it is right."...Sergi Bruguera on Roger Federer, speaking to the BBC: "He is like Pete (Sampras) but better suited to clay. He has better shots, he moves better on clay than Pete and he believes in himself more. So far he hasn't found the right way to play on clay, and to play five sets all the time when you are used to winning easily on the other courts, it's tough. That's what happened to Sampras. He was winning easily without suffering, and then on clay you can't. You have to suffer. It's difficult to change your mentality to adapt."...On Saturday Anna Kournikova, John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Jana Novotna are participating in the Mercedes Benz Classic exhibition at the Office Depot Center...Andy Roddick speaking to the TimesOnline on his new Lacoste gear: "I like the fashion, I like the fact it's a family, it's cool. Other than France, the U.S. is their biggest market and I'm 'Andy' to them now, not just some tennis-playing guy. The company were very professional and very impressive the way they sold themselves. They are not just a tennis brand."...Andy Roddick has also signed an agreement to wear Babolat shoes: "We are proud of our collaboration with Andy Roddick," Eric Babolat, President and CEO of Babolat said. "We have been with Andy since he was a junior. The fact that he?s choosing to play with our shoes is an additional show of confidence in the excellence of our products." So will they be painted Reeboks, or some other shoe?...Lleyton Hewitt on the spill that will make him miss the French Open: "I was carrying my change of clothes to put in the car and as I have gone down the steps I slipped," he told Channel Seven. "I was carrying stuff, which was probably a blessing...I probably would have broken my wrist if I was trying to save myself [from falling]."...John McEnroe speaking to the BBC on losing the 1984 French Open final: "It wasn't that I didn't want to win it before but I hadn't given it anywhere near the same importance as Wimbledon or the US Open. In 1992, in the Davis Cup final, I played Yannick Noah on an indoor clay court and I beat him in five sets. Six months later he won the French Open! He beat (Mats) Wilander who had beaten me in the quarters and I thought 'Wait a second, I can win this, I should win this.' That's why it was the ultimate disappointment because in the 1984 final, which I'd decided I had to win, I was so close and gave it away against (Ivan) Lendl."...From the New York Times on Roger Federer losing money by handling his own affairs: "If you add it all up, Maria Sharapova is probably making over 20 million bucks a year in off-court sponsorship deals, and Roger is not even close to that," said one agent, who did not want to be named because he did not want to spoil any chance of working with Federer in the future. "As far as I can determine, he's not even close to making 10 million off court, and you're talking about potentially the greatest tennis player ever." And Federer on his girlfriend being his manager: "In the beginning, sometimes we had issues where I think that, and she thinks this, and we're like 'O.K., let's not fight,'" Federer said, referring to (Mirka) Vavrinec. "At least if we fight about it, and we forget about it after, then we can cuddle each other, so it doesn't really make a difference. By now, it's no problem, but in the beginning, like in Wimbledon for that first time, you go through those times when she's so exhausted and is maybe irritated a little bit, like I was." Who else on tour can say they can cuddle with their manager when the day is done?...The Tennis Channel CEO Steve Bellamy on The Tennis Channel's effect on tennis in the U.S. in the upcoming cover issue story in Tennis Week: "A recent Scarborough Report shows that tennis fan interest in America is up 22 percent over the past two years, but in markets where The Tennis Channel has launched, that number is 33 percent. These markets aren't confined to particular regions or any other variable. That says tennis is growing 50 percent faster in terms of fan interest if the people in the market can get The Tennis Channel. We are an industry hoping for low single-digit growth, and in two years, The Tennis Channel has built a catalyst for 50 percent growth. I need to find the right metaphor here to do this stat justice and I can't. When the channel comes to a market, we immediately engage all the local people on the ground. The cable operator does Tennis Channel advertising on all of their cross-channel inventory, cable trucks get painted with tennis motifs, billboards go up, etc. In most cities, it is a grassroots marketing
bonanza that has as much or more impact than all the tennis on the air. I get the channel at my house, at my club and in my office, and it's like a fish tank. It is on morning, noon and night. I turn it on in the morning before I turn on the lights, and I turn it off at night after I have turned off the lights. Anecdotally, I speak to viewers all the time, and their comments are nearly always the same: (The Tennis Channel) leads them to play more tennis. It leads them to try new equipment, take more lessons, etc. The Tennis Channel is an incredible vehicle to tennis-cize America."