Who's Your Daddy? - Monte Carlo Review 2007

The first Masters Series event on clay reached its conclusion yesterday, and told us a familiar tale. Here’s what we learned from the past week, much of which we knew already.

• Undisputed – Rafael Nadal. 20 years old. 5 clay Masters Series titles. 67 matches unbeaten on clay. Sets lost in Monte Carlo this year – none. King of Clay. You get the picture, don’t you?
• White-flag Roger? – During Sunday’s final, arguably for the first time in their five encounters on clay, Roger Federer looked resigned to defeat during periods of the second set. Has frustration finally boiled over for the world number one? Rafael Nadal stands between him and tennis immortality and Monte Carlo showed us that Federer is as far away from Nadal on clay as he has been to date. Federer had not looked particularly impressive throughout the week, although showed signs of improvement in his matches with David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero. That progression came to a grinding halt against Nadal, with the Spaniard yet again imposing his will on the match at the most pivotal moments and took what proved to be a crucial first set lead. Suddenly all talk of a calendar year Grand Slam has died a death, for the time being at least, as it’s hard to see past Rafael Nadal for the French Open in anyone’s book.
• Revenge is sweet – One of the most intriguing matches of the week was the semi-final between Nadal and Tomas Berdych. After a spicy affair in Madrid last year, where Berdych was victorious and literally silenced the Madrid crowd, a war of words ensued during the aftermath. A meeting on clay was the perfect way for Nadal to extract a measure of revenge, and he did just that in the first set, winning 6-0. The second set was a tighter affair, with Berdych hitting some fine winners, but ultimately crumbled at the business end, losing the match 6-0, 7-5.
• The real Juan Carlos Ferrero standing up? – Back in 2002/2003, Ferrero was the man to beat on clay. A player touted for at least three French Open titles in his career, to date, he has one and an additional final appearance. Injuries and illness (as well as the development/maturation of other players on tour) have robbed the tennis world from seeing the same Juan Carlos Ferrero subsequently that we used to see back then. Every now and then, he has shown glimpses of what he once was, and that was evident in Monte Carlo this week. Ferrero reached the semi-finals, where he blew a good chance to take a stranglehold of his match with Federer. Ferrero will be looking to continue this type of form over the coming weeks, starting in Barcelona this week where a possible early encounter with Guillermo Cañas awaits him.
• Ran out of Gas-quet – Having fought his way through energy sapping matches with Fernando Verdasco and Ivan Ljubicic, Richard Gasquet’s challenge ran out of steam against a thankful Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-finals. Gasquet led by a set, 4-2, 40-15, when the week’s events took its toll on him (which included a final in doubles with Julien Benneteau). To his credit, Gasquet soldiered on and even engineered a break back point in the 3rd set, but Ferrero raised his game when he needed to against a tired opponent and prevailed.
• No-show from South America – No clay court event is complete without a number of South Americans in the latter stages (usually of the Argentine variety). That wasn’t the case in Monte Carlo. Seven South Americans began the event (5 Argentines & 2 Chileans), and by the 3rd round, all were packing their bags. The poor tournament in Monte Carlo reflects the current poor performance of the marquee players from South America. David Nalbandian has struggled for form and fitness all season, as has Jose Acasuso. Gaston Gaudio is still taking baby steps in his attempt to recover some of the form he showed on clay in 2004/2005. Bar Guillermo Cañas (who may not be able to play in Rome as his ranking was not high enough on the cut off date to make the main draw), the Argentine who can be happy with his efforts this season is Juan Ignacio Chela. Chela won a clay court title in Acapulco and made the quarter-finals of both hard court Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami. The Chilean duo of Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu are also experiencing difficulties. Massu has been devoid of form dating back to the second half of last season and although his fighting spirit still remains intact, that hasn’t been enough for him to produce consistent results thus far this season. Gonzalez, a revelation at the Australian Open this year, hasn’t come anywhere close to replicating his form of 2006, nevermind his outstanding displays in Melbourne. His current squeeze, Gisela Dulko, has been experiencing a similar vein of form, only for a lot longer.

Sports Magician will be previewing the Rome Masters, which begins on May 7.

Davis Cup Quarter-Finals Preview

This week attention turns from the individual battles on the ATP Tour to the collective battles in Davis Cup competition. The World Group is at its quarter-final stage, with one match in particular possibly holding the key to the destination of the Davis Cup in 2007. With the squads already in place, here is a preview of this week’s four quarter-finals, with the draw to follow in the coming days.

Russia v France

The 2006 champions meet France in the Davis Cup for the third successive year and the Russians will expect to continue their recent dominance over France. The most memorable of their recent meetings took place in Paris during the 2002 final; where Mikhail Youzhny recovered from two sets down to win Russia’s first Davis Cup title against Paul-Henri Mathieu, a defeat that many believe Mathieu has never truly recovered from.

Russia are a formidable outfit, boasting a squad of Nikolay Davydenko, Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev, and having already overcome a difficult obstacle in the form of Chile away from him, Russia will be confident of continuing their excellent home record of 12 successive victories (dating back to the Davis Cup final 2005 v USA).

The French come into the quarter-final off the back of a comfortable home success against Romania. France have made one change to their squad from that victory, with Paul-Henri Mathieu replacing Sebastien Grosjean. The rest of the squad consists of Richard Gasquet, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. France have a good recent away record in Davis Cup with 7 victories in the last 10 away ties, however that good run is unlikely to continue in Russia.

The Russians have chosen to play indoors on clay and have the luxury of being able to excel as a group on any surface. The French are no strangers to clay, after all the Mecca of clay court tennis resides in France (Roland Garros). Russia could make a case for any four of their players to be involved in singles action at some point over the weekend, whereas the French will be reliant on Richard Gasquet to lead their singles charge.

The edge in the doubles lies with the French; however the overwhelming strength of the Russians in the four singles battles is liable to make that a moot point. Anything other than a Russian victory will be shock despite the fact that France are no pushovers.

Belgium v Germany

In order to progress to the semi-finals, Belgium will have to achieve something in Davis Cup that they never have before, beat Germany. Seven previous encounters have proved fruitless for the Belgians and they have opted to play indoors on clay in the hope of reversing that trend. Belgium have not been to the last four of the Davis Cup since 1999 and it has been an even longer wait for Germany (1995). Both nations recorded home victories in the first round over Australia and Croatia respectively. The Belgian side is led by Olivier Rochus and backed up by Kristof Vliegen, Christophe Rochus (Olivier’s brother) and Dick Norman. German hopes lay firmly at the door of Tommy Haas who up until the recent the recent Miami Masters had been in excellent form, including the first round of Davis Cup where he recorded two crucial singles victories over Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic. Haas is joined by Florian Mayer, Alexander Waske and Michael Kohlmann.

As in the first round, Germany will rely on Tommy Haas to do the bulk of the work and he holds a 2-0 record versus Olivier Rochus and a 1-0 record against Kristof Vliegen. The victory over Vliegen was on clay, whereas the two wins over Rochus were on hard court. Vliegen proved to be the Belgian hero in the first round with his 5th rubber win against Lleyton Hewitt, the scenes of joy at the conclusion of the match painted a picture of how Davis Cup can elevate the level of players who may not be used to producing such performances on the tour week to week.

Tommy Haas is likely to be the defining factor in the tie and should he be able to produce the high level of performance that he has in recent times, then Germany should find a way to move onto their first Davis Cup semi-final in 12 years.

USA v Spain

This meeting has lost some of its lustre with the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal from the Spanish squad. The timing of the withdrawal was perhaps not the best as later that same evening; Nadal produced an excellent display against one of the up and coming stars of the ATP Tour, Juan-Martin del Potro. It has led to questions about just how committed Nadal is to the Davis Cup cause at present; a competition he has always claimed is close to his heart. The reason for his absence is a precautionary one rather than a recently picked up injury, and with a busy clay court season ahead in the coming weeks, certainly there is validity in the caution. However, that may not satisfy all Spanish supporters who were hoping to see Nadal lead their Davis Cup challenge in 2007.

His absence makes further strengthens the chances of the Americans to progress, who already would have been expectant even with Nadal’s inclusion. The tie will be played indoors on hard court, the speed of which is liable to cause a great deal of trouble for the Spaniards. The USA comes into the tie with a very settled squad of Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers. It will be the 6th successive tie that the Americans have been able to call on the same squad line up. The Spanish come to America with David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.

Without Nadal, Spain still boast a good squad, but as with the French in Russia it’s unlikely that they will have enough firepower to take out the Americans. The USA have not won the Davis Cup since Pete Sampras led them to victory in Russia in 1995, and their continued progress in the competition will be based largely on the outcome of the quarter-final between Sweden and Argentina.

Both Andy Roddick and James Blake hold winning head to head records over David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo, and with the doubles edge with the Americans in the form of the Bryan brothers who are 10-1 in Davis Cup doubles action, the USA are rightly seen as strong favourites to advance further in the competition.

Sweden v Argentina

The destination of this year’s Davis Cup could well be decided based on the outcome of this tie, should Argentina progress it is highly likely they will meet the USA in Argentina and also have the possibility of playing the final at home, where Argentina are unbeaten since 1998. However, before Argentina can look ahead to home draws late in the competition they will first have to overcome Sweden away on what is sure to be a very fast playing court surface.

Argentine captain, Alberto Mancini, has already commented that a good first serve on this court effectively ends the point, so don’t expect to see too many or any long rallies in Sweden this weekend. Argentina are boosted by the return of David Nalbandian, the Argentine who has carried his side for a large part of the past two years missed the first round needing time off to rest his aching limbs following a late finish the 2006 season and with no sustained preparation for the 2007 season. Argentina can also count on the services of Guillermo Cañas, fresh off an appearance in the Miami Masters final and having quickly elevated himself into the top 30 after returning from suspension last season. The squad also consists of young starlet Juan-Martin del Potro and doubles specialist Sebastian Prieto.

Sweden will be looking for a measure of revenge having suffered a 5-0 loss in Argentina last year and playing on a surface more suited to their skills they will be confident of their chances to progress further in the competition. A big loss for Sweden is their inability to call on Joachim Johansson due to injury, the big serving Swede would have caused Argentina all kinds of problems on this court. Led by Mats Wilander, the Swedish team comprises of Robin Soderling, Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt.

The respective head to heads lie in Argentina’s favour, with Nalbandian holding a 3-1 lead over Soderling and a 1-1 tie with Johansson. Cañas has a 2-0 lead over Johansson while having never met Soderling. However, there is a limit to how much can be read into these previous meetings as not one of them was on a surface as speedy as the carpet surface will be in Sweden. With Cañas possibly being somewhat fatigued after playing a lot of matches in the past few weeks at Indian Wells and Miami, it remains to be seen how great a part Juan-Martin del Potro will have to play in proceedings.

What We Learned From Indian Wells & Miami

The first two Masters Series events of the season have been consigned to history as the tour moves on to the European clay court season, here’s a look back at the past few weeks from both Indian Wells and Miami.

No Titles For Federer – Huh? Really? Yes, it’s true, world number one Roger Federer came away from Indian Wells and Miami without defending either of his titles. Guillermo Cañas was the man to stop Federer in both tournaments, winning in straight sets at Indian Wells before coming back from behind in the 3rd set in Miami and prevailing in the deciding set tie-breaker. The results do not bode well for Federer going into the clay court season as he looks to dethrone King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. Cañas’s defensive skills proved to be too much resistance for Federer to overcome and on that basis it’s hard to see him being able to get the better of Nadal (an even better defender than Cañas) on the naturally slower clay courts. Last year in Rome, Federer came close to beating Nadal on clay, failing to convert on two match points. He’ll be hoping to engineer such a position again and finally breaking his Nadal hoodoo on clay. Federer also comes into the clay season burdened with the pressure and endless questions about whether he can complete the calendar year Grand Slam (winning all four slams in the same season).

Confidence Boost For Nadal – Coming into these two Masters events, Rafael Nadal had been visibly low on confidence and momentum. Having not won a title since Roland Garros 2006 or been in any final since Wimbledon 2006, his triumph at Indian Wells came as a huge boost for his morale. Despite his barren run, Nadal’s career stats still read very impressively, at just 20 years old, Indian Wells provided him with his 7th Masters title. Having defeated Novak Djokovic in the final of Indian Wells, Nadal was unable to repeat the success in Miami. The Serb reversing the straight sets defeat he suffered by triumphing in Miami which included a dramatic last game where Nadal brought out the best in his defensive qualities forcing Djokovic to play at his very best to see the match out. Nadal now returns to where he is most comfortable, the clay courts. The Spaniard hasn’t lost on clay since April 2005 (losing to Igor Andreev in Valencia), spanning 62 consecutive victories. It’s stating the obvious; Nadal is the man to beat on clay until further notice.

Young Gun Making Big Strides – Novak Djokovic added his name alongside Tomas Berdych of the ‘young guns’ to win a Masters Series title. The Serb has had a fantastic few weeks, first making the Masters Series final at Indian Wells before losing to Nadal, and then backing that up with the title in Miami. Djokovic was mightily impressive in both his semi-final with Nadal and final with Cañas, winning both matches without dropping a set and dictating large parts of both encounters. Now with a career high ranking of 7, Djokovic has set his sights on being in Shanghai for the season end Masters Cup.

Justice Being Served – Guillermo Cañas isn’t just winning on the court, he’s winning off the court too. The Argentine who returned to the tour at the back end of last season has been re-establishing himself among the elite of the game ever since. Cañas produced two stunning wins over Roger Federer to further rubber stamp his return to top level tennis, but whereas at Indian Wells he was unable to back up the win versus Federer, there were no such mistakes in Miami. Cañas knocked off three top ten players (Federer, Robredo & Ljubicic) on his way to the Miami final, but ultimately it proved to be one match too many (having played nine matches in total in Miami). Cañas is now ranked 29 and will be looking for a top 20 spot by the time Roland Garros commences. Off the court, Cañas continues the battle to clear his name of the 15 month suspension he has previously received. The CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) examined his case initially and reduced the sentence handed down by the ATP tribunal, and now the CAS will further examine Cañas’s contention that part of his case against the ATP’s decision was not fully explored.

The Past Few Weeks Have Been Good For – Andy Murray, along with Djokovic, Murray is another youngster fast moving up in the rankings and made the semi-finals of both Indian Wells and Miami (losing to Djokovic on each occasion). Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentine more suited to hard courts than clay, made the last eight of both tournaments, losing to Nadal (Indian Wells) and Ljubicic (Miami). Chela has taken time off from the successful on tour show, TenisPro, led by compatriot and fellow professional, Mariano Zabaleta. In addition to making himself unavailable for Davis Cup duty in 2007 to concentrate fully on his singles career, Chela has picked up a title in Acapulco and with two good showings during these hard court Masters events, has upped his ranking to 23.

The Past Few Weeks Have Been Bad For – James Blake, the American was unable to make any impact in either tournament, losing early in both events to Frenchmen, Julien Benneteau and Florent Serra. David Nalbandian, the Argentine has fallen out of the top 10 having failed to defend his semi-final points from Miami in 2006. With his season yet to get off the ground, he will be hoping that a return to Davis Cup action this week might ignite the rest of his season. Nalbandian has invariably saved much of his best tennis for Davis Cup, and he will need to improve greatly on his recent performances if that is to be the case again.

Sports Magician will be previewing this week's Davis Cup Quarter Finals shortly.