Tennis-X Clay Notebook: Masters Series, Fed-Nadal, Americans
Posted on May 15, 2006
By Compiled by Tennis-X.com Staff
The Masters Series DilemmaThe ATP is planning on rolling out a whole new tour schedule for 2008, with possible movement of the Slams on the calendar (unlikely according to Tennis-X communications with the ITF) and other seemingly hard-to-back-up change ideas. But one thing that can be controlled by the ATP is changing the Masters Series events so they are not back-to-back on the new calendar.
Both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal pulled with late withdrawals from Hamburg on Monday. Their awe-inspiring final in Rome was a testament to the top two's quality, and their pull from Hamburg a testament to the ATP's inability to control their top players playing their top tier of events.
"I am not injured, but exhausted physically and mentally. My back hurts and the risk is high to get injured," Nadal told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa after seeing doctors in Hamburg late Monday. "(Back-to-Back Masters Series) can't continue this way, changes must come."
This coming one day after the Rome final where the media asked Nadal directly if he would be playing Hamburg and he answered, "Yeah."
Apparently Nadal hadn't yet conferred with Uncle Tony to learn he was too tired to play.
American James Blake agreed that the back-to-back Masters Series are too much.
"That is superhuman, asking a little too much," Blake said, noting that injury pull-outs were growing and that in his opinion a calendar change couldn't come soon enough. "The game is different, more physical, we need more time off."
After an incredible field at Rome, Hamburg is missing Top 10ers Federer (fatigue), Nadal (fatigue), David Nalbandian (personal), Lleyton Hewitt (calf injury), and Andy Roddick (neck/back injury). If Federer and Nadal could suck it up for another week, they'd still get a full week of rest before the start of the French. But at the same time, fatigue does beget injury. Do Federer and Nadal get fined for withdrawing from Hamburg? Is it an injury problem, or disinterest that has the top players failing to support the ATP's attempt to establish a top tier of events? And why would that change suddenly in 2008 when the ATP changes the calendar? How does the ATP get the top players to buy into the Masters Series when the Slams, and staying uninjured in this modern era of tennis-as-rocket-ball, are their overall focus?
Checking the tennis message boards, even fans side with players against the ATP, applauding their favorites pulling from events so they don't get hurt, or to get enough rest for a Slam.
This will be one of the biggest challenges for the ATP when their roll out their new 2008 calendar, expected to be announced during this year's Masters Cup. Will simply re-instituting a year-end Bonus Pool be enough to get the top players to participate in their planned five Masters Series (instead of the current nine) for 2008, the five being combined men's and women's super events that the ATP hopes will put them on a Slam-like level? Can the ATP convince the top players to go the extra mile, that their scheduling has the players' best interests in mind?
Federer v Nadal Breakdown
Sure Roger Federer blew two match points against Rafael Nadal in the Masters Series-Rome final, his fourth straight loss to the Spaniard. Not great for the confidence going into another potential meeting at the French Open.
But Federer showed a new approach since his four-set loss in the Monte Carlo final -- in Rome successfully fighting off the high balls to his backhand from Nadal that have given him trouble, and successfully attacking the two-handed Nadal backhand.
"I played differently, which made it obviously a different match," Federer said. "I was working with my forehand way more in Monaco. Obviously, when he got to my backhand, he thought that was a safe option. Today I did more with my backhand, too."
In tight situations at the French, or against other opponents who might challenge Federer, or against Nadal himself, it will be interesting to see how the Swiss reacts to a similar situation of blown match points.
"I think the second (match point) was definitely rushed," said Federer on his two unforced errors off the forehand side. "I tried to hit a winner, why not, you know. I already had one match point so I thought, I mean, might as well go for it a little bit. I didn't try to totally hit a winner, but tried to play aggressive and I was a little late on it. The first one I was more disappointed about because I was in a good position, and I didn't want to go for the outright winner at all. I just tried to play solid and with a lot of spin to his backhand and long. I just couldn't get quite over it in time. So that was a pity."
Nadal was astounded, along with onlookers knowledgeable about Federer's weaknesses (which you in many cases need a magnifying glass to find) that his backhand, shaky in Monte Carlo, took on a new fearsome appearance in the Rome final.
"I think is different match because Federer play not the same like Monte Carlo. He change," Nadal said in his challenged English. "He play very good with his backhand, and in Monte Carlo he had mistake. With his backhand, he playing very good. With forehand, always same, no, unbelievable. And the serve, he was serving better, the second serve especially, much better here than in Monte Carlo."
Nadal noted that the two players are so close (on both hardcourt and clay) that, like the time Federer earned his only win over Nadal with a comeback from 0-2 sets down in the Miami final, only a handful of points separate them in big matches.
"It was complicated," said Nadal when asked to explain the win in Rome. "Maybe I played well the important points. I was aggressive when I needed to, when I needed to recover like when I was 4-1, and I think this is what made things change. But this is sports. It happened in Miami for him, and now it happened for me today...The sport is like this. One day you win and another day you don't."
A loss in four sets in their first meeting on clay last year at Roland Garros, a loss in four sets this year at Monte Carlo, and a loss in five sets in Rome. Oh-and-three, but Federer can smell it, he knows he's close.
"I guess it's a big pity for me because I came back well and in the end I should have won," said Federer after two match points and the Rome loss. "He caught me right on the finish line, so that was a pity in a way. But I already knew after Monaco I was extremely close. I think this is another step closer because I got even closer to the win today than back then. I'm on the right track. I improved a few things again for this match."
American Chances Slide the Right Way for Roland Garros?
Despite pulling from Hamburg this week with his neck/back injury, Andy Roddick is looking pretty solid entering the French Open, depending on how you want to spin his results at the Masters Series-Rome.
The positive spin: 'Andy blasted his way to the quarterfinals of a Masters Series claycourt event.'
The not-so-positive spin: 'Andy's draw in Rome parted like the red-clay sea with wins over Victor Hanescu who hasn't won a match, anywhere, in 2006; Marcos Baghdatis who was 0-4 on clay last year and choked like a junior after winning the first set; and Greg Rusedski, who doesn't exactly bring comparisons to Guillermo Vilas, before getting thumped by Gael Monfils.'
Other lowlights for Andy in Rome was playing so far behind the baseline he ran into linespeople with their backs against the wall; he was broken three straight times in one match; and during some points stumbled around like Wile E. Coyote on a cartoon oil slick.
As an aside, would American fans do anything but rejoice if Roddick in 2007 hired a temporary claycourt coach for three months and made a full go of the claycourt season, maximizing his talent?
Whichever spin you prefer, Roddick getting any kind of consecutive wins over the last six months is a nice sign for the legion of Andy fans.
The final test before Roland Garros will be the World Team Cup, the week before the French, where Andy and Robby Ginepri represent the U.S. against the hottest clay nations such as Argentina (David Nalbandian, Gaston Gaudio), Spain (David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco), Chile (Fernando Gonzalez, Nicolas Massu), and even Italy (Filippo Volandri, Davide Sanguinetti), some difficult wins which would be nice mental hurdles for the Americans to leap entering France.
Mardy Fish won the claycourt Houston title earlier this year, and Monday in Hamburg James Blake beat former French Open champ Carlos Moya. The Americans are starting to demand respect, or at least should be, counting on winning matches on the European clay instead of planning early flights back to the U.S.
Side notes: Speaking of Rome, did the Spaniards take turns keeping an eye on Tommy Robredo after his suicide-watch loss to Rusedski in the first round? Could Guillermo Coria have less confidence? Are Lleyton Hewitt and Maria Sharapova retired?