ATP Previews: Lyon, Vienna, St. Petersburg; Safin Retirement Tour

by Staff | October 25th, 2009, 1:12 am
  • 14 Comments

Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon
Lyon, France
Surface: hard indoor

Seeds: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Ivan Ljubicic, Juan Monaco, Julien Benneteau, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Benjamin Becker, Al Montanes
ADHEREL
Floaters: None

Notes: One Top 10er in Tsonga; wildcards to oldies Arnaud Clement, Sebastien Grosjean, Michael Llodra (are there no French up-and-comers?); Algeria’s Lamine Ouahab gets directly in; Stan Wawrinka pulled, was supposed to be in?; oldie Ljubicic won Lyon in 2001, Mathieu in 2002; Soderling the defending champ but sidelined with elbow injury.

Bank Austria Tennis Trophy
Vienna, Austria
Surface: hard indoor

Seeds: (WC) Marin Cilic, Radek “The Worm” Stepanek, Gael “Force” Monfils, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Almagro, Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez, Jurgen Melzer, John Isner


Floaters: Janko Tipsarevic, Guillermo “G-Lo” Garcia-Lopez

Notes: (8) Isner vs. Tipsy in a tough opener, (3) Monfils vs. G-Lo; other wildcards to Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer, Stefan Koubek; Dudi “Where’s My Car?” Sela pulls?; defending champ Phil Petzschner is unseeded; F-Lo won in 2004.

St. Petersburg Open
St. Petersburg, Russia
Surface: hard indoor

Seeds: Mikhail Youzhny, Victor Hanescu, Viktor Troicki, Jeremy Chardy, Igor Andreev, Evgeny Korolev, Pablo Cuevas, Horacio Zeballos

Floaters: former No. 1 Marat Safin, Grand Slam runner-up Rainer Schuettler, Richard Gasquet, skank-picker-upper Ernests Gulbis

Notes: No. 30-ranked Youzhny top seed? Who-T-F is Zeballos?; lots of unseeded floaters; Safin vs. Gasquet first round; two-time defending champ Andy Murray misses out; Youzhny won in 2004, and Safin in 2000-01.


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14 Comments for ATP Previews: Lyon, Vienna, St. Petersburg; Safin Retirement Tour

jane Says:

Congrats to Youzhny and Baggy – two guys who haven’t exactly been playing their best but who both pockets titles this weekend. Good for them.

October 25th, 2009 at 12:54 pm


jane Says:

“Safin vs. Gasquet first round” Wouldn’t mind seeing this match.

Come on staff – you couldn’t think of a better nickname/zinger than this: “skank-picker-upper Ernests Gulbis”?

October 25th, 2009 at 1:14 pm


scineram Says:

WTF is Zeballos?

October 25th, 2009 at 3:57 pm


Duro Says:

Jane, did you see the Novak’s site lately? What a devoted fan that girl is… Great.

October 25th, 2009 at 4:20 pm


sar Says:

Yes she put on some nice videos, Duro. Congrats to Baggy and Youzhny who dont’ win much either. Tipsa got 91 thousand for his single’s play and half of 20 thousand for doubles. Bravo

October 25th, 2009 at 9:04 pm


Duro Says:

Hey, Sar! Look at “Dare to be Great” 0:59-1:00! Could it be any better than this? In Novak we trust! Alleeeez allez allez alleeez, No-leeee, No-leeee…

October 26th, 2009 at 10:08 am


jane Says:

I looked at the videos Duro, but generally I dislike the music choices, so I couldn’t watch them; I much prefer to watch a match, or a highlight reel. But surely that fan is dedicated! Hope Djoko can end the year on a high note again.

October 26th, 2009 at 10:36 am


Duro Says:

Jane, you couldn’t watch them because of the music!? I’m a bit disappointed…

October 26th, 2009 at 12:08 pm


jane Says:

Go SAFIN Go! Bagel in the first set. Win this title Marat. It would be the p-e-r-f-e-c-t exit.

October 30th, 2009 at 12:35 pm


jane Says:

I watched a bit of them Duro – but I prefer watching actual tennis matches than these sorts of “promotional” music video type things. Forgive me.

October 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pm


jane Says:

Boo – Safin’s out. :’ /

October 31st, 2009 at 11:57 am


Duro Says:

Jane, this was officially the slowest answer ever! But, I forgive you. Could you take a peek at the moment in the video described in my post 10:08 here? It’s the second in row in Novak’s site. This is why I love Novak and tennis! This is exactly how I like him to play!

October 31st, 2009 at 1:14 pm


jane Says:

Duro I watched the whole thing; love those down the line shots, like threading a needle, so precise! Really thrilling when Nole plays like that. The video showcases both his best aggressive play and his great defense. Those clay matches against Rafa this year, and even in 2008 – especially Madrid this year – were awesome. So close! Maybe next year Novak’ll get over the hump and win win win! Another slam for Djoko in 2010 yes? And one for Murray too. I’ll be a really happy tennis fan if that comes true. : )

Cheers to you!

October 31st, 2009 at 1:30 pm


Duro Says:

Jane, don’t worry about another slam. Next year is Novak’s. RG or USO. Sometimes it’s like an investment, not to collect so many points at slams the current year, so you could advance significantly the next one. Nole kept his number three ranking despite his relatively poor performances at slams, but he created the conditions for the advance next year. Maybe, this is the way. A big break through comes after such things. Best performances two years in a row brings you zero points. So, this might be a big chance. 23 years of age next year, his prime in sight. If he keeps improving, as he does lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes it in the end of the next year. You know what…
Alleeez allez allez alleeez, No2-leeee, No1-leeee…

October 31st, 2009 at 8:29 pm

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