Hamburg Masters Series Review

The clay court Masters Series events for this season can be put to bed as attention for the majority of top contenders turns to the Mecca of clay court tennis; Roland Garros beginning on May 27. World number one, Roger Federer, got his hands on the first Masters Series title of his 2007 season. In doing so, Federer ended Rafael Nadal’s extraordinary clay court win streak. Here’s a look at the week gone by…

Confidence restored? – Having parted ways with his coach and clearly lacking in confidence, Hamburg was always going to be an important tournament for Federer. Not least to regain some form and belief heading into the French Open. Hamburg has been a happy hunting ground for Federer in the past and it proved to be so yet again. Whether Federer can be entirely pleased with his performances during the majority of the week is debateable. What isn’t in question is that a long awaited victory over Nadal on clay is a significant victory for Federer and his French Open aspirations. The difference between a 0-6 and 1-5 head to head on clay is minimal in number, but vital in terms of psychology. Federer achieved a victory he had not yet managed in his illustrious career and a result that will most likely have to be repeated in a few weeks time if he wants to claim his first French Open title. Nadal was not the only Spaniard Federer defeated, he also put paid to Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer and Carlos Moya. As well as a first round win over Argentine Juan Monaco. Ferrero and Moya have seen better days, but are former French Open champions. However, the win that means most for Federer came in the final against the current French Open champion. Time will tell how significant this victory proves to be…

The King is dead? – No. Rafael Nadal’s 81 match clay court win streak is finally at an end. In the week where Nadal gained a measure of revenge over the last player to beat him on clay, Igor Andreev, the French Open champion fell one match short of winning all three clay Masters Series events in the same season. Was it the right decision to play in Hamburg? It was debated before Hamburg, during Hamburg and inevitably will be post Hamburg. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, Nadal did play, and did lose his streak but certainly not his aura. It takes more than one defeat to put paid to almost three years of clay court dominance and Nadal will arrive at the French Open as the rightful favourite. Whereas the win for Federer was important, the same significance cannot be attributed to the loss for Nadal. No player likes to lose but every player (even Federer and Nadal) does at some point and Nadal would have been well aware this day would come sooner or later. How he reacts to defeat will be an interesting development. The chances are he will react by claiming his third French Open title.

A good week for a pair of former number ones – Having lost in the first round of both Monte Carlo and Rome, not much was expected of Carlos Moya. A winner at Roland Garros in 1998, Moya defeated three of the world’s top 12; Tomas Berdych, James Blake and Novak Djokovic. Moya came from behind against Berdych and Blake and recovered well against Djokovic having failed to serve out the match initially. He then went on to test Federer in the last four but fell in a deciding set. If not much was expected of Moya, then even less was expected of Lleyton Hewitt. The fiery Aussie returned to action in Rome after a two month layoff and promptly lost in the opening round. It wouldn’t have been pleasing for Hewitt to see the draw he was faced with in Hamburg. Hewitt played the roll of underdog very well and defeated Agustin Calleri, Juan Ignacio Chela, Nikolay Davydenko and Nicolas Almagro on his way to the semi-finals. As if that wasn’t enough, Hewitt pushed Nadal to 7-5 in the 3rd and almost pulled off a major shock. Hewitt may not have ended Nadal’s streak but he can certainly claim to have softened up the Spaniard a touch for Federer in the final.

Last year’s news – It was a dreadful tournament for the last four from 2006. Defending champion, Tommy Robredo, lost out in his first and only action of the tournament against Nicolas Almagro. Robredo’s semi final victim from last year, Mario Ancic, could not even play in the tournament. Ancic has been suffering from glandular fever since late February and is only just beginning to take steps in what he hopes to be a return to action once the grass court season is underway. Last year’s finalist, Radek Stepanek, couldn’t advance beyond the first round, suffering at the hands of Arnaud Clement. Jose Acasuso was the best of a bad bunch, reaching the third round before being comprehensively outplayed by Robredo’s conqueror, Almagro.

Sports Magician will be previewing the critical La Liga action for the weekend of June 9.

ATP Masters Series - Hamburg Preview

The last clay court Masters Series event of the season begins in Hamburg today. It offers the last chance for a number of players to regain form or carry on momentum through to Roland Garros. Hamburg hope and expect to see King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, in action and looking to build further on his remarkable 77 match clay court win streak. Roger Federer arrives in Germany without Tony Roche as he looks for some much needed confidence going into the French Open.

Doubting Roger?
For the first time since becoming world number one, Roger Federer is in somewhat of a mini-crisis. For any other player going four tournaments without a title would be no cause for drama. However, Federer has become accustomed to winning titles routinely and regularly and his recent losses have clearly dented the invincibility that he often carries on tour throughout the year. Much focus has been placed on Federer possibly winning the Grandslam this year, but thoughts of such an achievement are far off at present after what has transpired over the past few weeks. Hamburg may prove to be the perfect place for Federer to regain form, having won the event on three occasions. On paper Federer’s quarter poses few risks, but many will be keen to see how he comes back from his shock loss in Rome with possible encounters with Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer awaiting him.

Djokovic continuing to roll
The second quarter of the draw offers Novak Djokovic another chance to continue what has been a very impressive season. The Serbian youngster has three titles to his name this season already and has reached at least the quarter-finals in six of his last seven events. Djokovic’s consistent level of performance make him a strong candidate to reach the last four and a possible encounter with Roger Federer. Former French Open champion, Carlos Moya, has failed to win a Masters Series match on clay this season and will be expecting to put that right against American Mardy Fish in the first round. Tomas Berdych faces Fernando Verdasco in the first round in a match that involves two talented but mentally suspect players.

Defending champion with work to do
Tommy Robredo capitalised on the absence of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in last year’s event to claim his first Masters Series title. The draw has not been kind to him and some difficult challenges lay ahead if he is to even reach the last four. The third quarter of the draw is, much like in Rome, packed with players who will believe they can come through it, those include; Nicolas Almagro, Juan Ignacio Chela, Guillermo Cañas and Nikolay Davydenko. Aside from those individuals there are a number of other capable players in need of form and confidence heading into Roland Garros. Jose Acasuso has underperformed all season and having made the quarter-finals in Hamburg last year has points to defend. Agustin Calleri, Andy Murray and Lleyton Hewitt are all in need of wins prior to the French Open. This quarter is likely to provide some of the best first round action in Hamburg with matches between Volandri/Murray, Hewitt/Calleri and Chela/Cañas.

King of Clay heading to Hamburg?
At the time of writing Rafael Nadal is expected to play in Hamburg but this may still yet change. Nadal has voiced his support of the Hamburg event following plans by the ATP to downgrade its Masters Series status. In order for that support to carry weight, the Spaniard, in addition to the other top players need to turn up and play. Providing Nadal does so, it’s futile to claim that he will have trouble with his draw. Nadal disposed of Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2 in the Rome final and Gonzalez is likely to pose the greatest threat to Nadal in this quarter. However, it’s a threat Nadal is well equipped to handle. The possibility exists for Nadal to meet the last man to defeat him on clay, Igor Andreev, in the third round. The home crowd will be hoping that Philipp Kohlschreiber can give the Germans something to shout about by at least reaching the third round for an encounter with Nadal. Germany’s top ranked player, Tommy Haas, is unable to play the event due to injury.

Sports Magician will be reviewing the Hamburg Masters upon the conclusion of the event.

Rome Masters Series Review

The second clay Masters Series event of the season is over and the King of Clay continues to reign over the rest of the field. The Rome tournament proved successful for the home nation, but the same could not be said for the world number one who lost more than just a tennis match this week.

• Tired and tested – Rafael Nadal’s clay win streak now stands at 77 wins as the Spaniard picked up his 3rd Masters Series title of 2007. Nadal has obliterated all before him on clay this season in even more impressive fashion than he had done for the past two seasons, but in the semi-finals he was given the biggest test he has received in the past few weeks. For the first time during the Euro clay season, Nadal began to look jaded against Nikolay Davydenko and the Russian pushed Nadal to the limit in an energy sapping three and a half hour encounter. Nadal was able to brush aside Fernando Gonzalez in the final, and the question now remains whether Nadal will play in Hamburg having shown the first signs of fatigue this week in Rome.
• Parting ways – In losing his 3rd round match with Italian Filippo Volandri, Roger Federer produced arguably his worst display since becoming world number one. Federer looked devoid of confidence and never at any stage during the match did he allow Volandri to think about the magnitude of the victory he was about to obtain. There is much to consider for Federer if he is to provide the required level of play to challenge Nadal come the French Open. Whatever it is he plans to mull over and work on will be done without his part-time coach, Tony Roche. Both parties went their separate ways following Federer’s exit in Rome.
• Forza Italia! – The past week was a great success for the home nation and the partisan Italian crowd. Filippo Volandri made full use of his wildcard by reaching the last four. In the process he defeated three players ranked inside the world’s top thirteen in the form of Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych. Volandri met his match in the semi-final against Fernando Gonzalez, who showed off a glimpse of his Australian Open form and won the match with relative ease. Aside from Volandri, Potito Starace also gave the home crowd something to shout about, knocking off Agustin Calleri and Juan Carlos Ferrero before succumbing to Davydenko in a tight three set battle.
• It was a good week for – Fernando Gonzalez gained some much needed confidence and momentum by reaching the final. Signs of Gonzalez coming back to life began against good friend and compatriot, Nicolas Massu. Down 4-2 in the 3rd set, Gonzalez came storming back to take the match and continued that level of play against Juan Ignacio Chela and Volandri in his quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
• It was a bad week for – Tomas Berdych, despite reaching the quarter-finals, let himself down with a feeble display against Volandri in the last eight. Berdych was unable to stem the momentum Volandri was riding from the home crowd and refused to adjust his tactics, continually looking for winners too early in rallies and never giving himself a chance to play his way into the match. Guillermo Cañas, having come through qualifying much was expected of the Argentine. However, a surprising loss in the second round to Gilles Simon meant that Cañas could not claim status as the number one ranked Argentine (which he would have done so by reaching the semi-finals). Marcos Baghdatis, leading Novak Djokovic 5-1 in the 2nd set and seemingly on his way to taking the match into a decider. It was not to be though as he went on to lose six straight games, thus losing the match 6-2 7-5.

Sports Magician will be previewing the Hamburg Masters later this evening.

Rome Masters Series Preview

The fourth Masters Series event of the season begins on Monday in Rome. For the past two years the Rome Final has produced the match of the past two seasons, Rafael Nadal was the victor on both occasions in five hour plus finals against Roger Federer (2006) and Guillermo Coria (2005) respectively. That won’t be the case this year, at least not of the five set variety as the final will be a best of three sets affair. Nadal looks to continue his phenomenal run on clay, while Federer is still in search of his first Masters title of the season, an unusual situation for him to find himself in. The draw has been made with one of the remaining question marks being where Guillermo Cañas (a likely qualifier) will end up in the draw, there are four spots available in the top half (Federer) and three in the bottom half (Nadal).

Testing quarter for Federer
Largely unimpressive in Monte Carlo, the world number one still reached the final without dropping a set. A similar vein of form may not yield the same results this time around. Rome is the scene of where Federer came as close as he has ever done to defeating Nadal on clay and he’ll be hoping to reproduce that level of play this time around. Federer’s first opponent is likely to be Nicolas Almagro, both players met in Rome last year at the quarter final stage with Federer progressing in three sets, 7-5 in the third. Almagro was a non-factor in Monte Carlo, having to retire against Tomas Berdych after defending his title in Valencia. Federer would have hoped for a less demanding opponent to begin his campaign. Should Federer progress he may well run into Richard Gasquet (3rd round) and Tomas Berdych or Jose Acasuso (quarter-final). The potential is there for Federer to be well tested if and when he reaches the final.

The Americans have arrived
Having skipped Monte Carlo, Rome sees the return of the two top ten Americans – Andy Roddick and James Blake. Neither will be expected to be a factor in the event and both have been drawn in the same quarter. One of the standout matches of the first round pits Igor Andreev against David Ferrer. Both players will feel that surviving their first round encounter could well propel them to the last four of the tournament. Two players in desperate need of form and confidence are Gael Monfils and Fernando Gonzalez. Monfils has a semi-final to defend from last year with the chances of him doing so being remote to say the least. Gonzalez has been in poor form ever since the Australian Open, but has a draw that will encourage him to believe he at least has a good chance to reach the last eight.

Could Cañas land here?
Three of the seven qualifier spots are placed in the third quarter of the draw. It may well be that Cañas ends up in the quarter and would be the favourite to come through it. This section of the draw is filled with a number of players who will believe that on their day they will have as much chance of coming through it as any other. These names include; Tommy Robredo, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Agustin Calleri, Marat Safin and Nikolay Davydenko. Hewitt and Murray have no matches on clay behind them this season and it remains to be seen how they perform. Safin, although with the ability to beat anyone on his day, has not had many of “his days” in a long while and there is little reason to believe that will change here. Davydenko, like Gonzalez, has been in poor form also and no longer playing with the consistency that has served him so well for the past two seasons. On paper, Tommy Robredo appears well placed to come through this section, although Ferrero and Calleri are more than capable of taking on that mantle too.

72 and counting…
Rafael Nadal fears no player on clay; he certainly won’t fear the draw he has received in pursuit of his third successive Rome Masters title. It’s hard to see any player in his quarter challenging him to a great extent and it will be a major shock should Nadal not be in the final, or indeed lifting the trophy. The best of the rest in the bottom quarter is headed by Novak Djokovic. Other notable names include former French Open champion, Carlos Moya, and a recent nemesis of Nadal away from clay, Mikhail Youzhny.

Sports Magician will be reviewing events in Rome upon the conclusion of the tournament.