Baghdatis is Crazy

In a changeover in his second round match last night, Marcos Baghdatis of Cypress smashed four racquets after being frusturated with the way he was playing against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

            Baghdatis lost the first two sets to Wawrinka fairly easily and missed a short sitter volley to lose his serve in the beginning of the third set. He was furious on the bench and completely destroyed his first racquet and then took three more out of his bag, one at a time, and destroyed those also.

Watch the video you have probably never seen a meltdown like this before, it is quite comical as well. 

A new Murray?

Last night in his first round match inside Hisense Arena, Andy Murray appeared to be a completely different man. When Murray went down a break to the teen American Ryan Harrison, I waited for the headshaking and pouting to begin. Then when Murray went down a second break, I waited for the headshaking, cursing, and racquet abuse. Most tennis fans wonder whether Murray has the patience to deal with any coach, better yet a strong-willed coach in Ivan Lendl. One match into the 2012 Australian Open, and spectators can already notice a change in Murray’s demeanor on the court. I found it crazy not seeing Murray scream at the top of his lungs when he missed an easy forehand into the bottom of the net.

            On court, Murray did what he has always done, which is grind out every point, counterpunch and defend and ware down the opponent. This was a big test for Murray. Not only was it the opening round of a Slam with a new coach, it was scorching on the court. Murray was also taking on Harrison whom he never had played before, or even hit with.

            The American came out on fire hitting his backhand all over the court for winners compared to the normal Harrison we are use to seeing by pushing his backhand right to the middle of the court and going from offense straight to defense.

            Harrison was able to take the first set pretty easily, and I thought he could keep going strong in the match. Murray never showed negative emotion, and as a result won the match in 4 sets which is key if he wants to keep having great results. If his emotions are in check and he is always positive that could be the biggest improvement to his game. Murray stayed patient when he was down, instead of pulling the trigger and releasing all of his emotions.

The Coach of Andy Murray, Ivan Lendl

            Tomorrow when Andy Murray takes the court again, pay attention to his body language over the course of the match and see if you notice something different. If Murray develops his demeanor into something similar to Roger Federer on court, you might see him in more tournament championships.  

       Tomic Storms Back for Upset     

In my preview of the Australian Open, I talked about a few matches I really liked and thought would be great. One of the matches was the crowd favorite Bernard Tomic against the 22^nd seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

            The 19-year-old Australian came from two sets down to upset Verdasco 4-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 7-5 in 93 degree heat in the match of the day for day one of the Australian Open. The victory marked the second time in Tomic’s career that he was able to rebound from two sets behind for a victory and also kept his record of getting through the Austral Open first round alive for a fourth consecutive year.

            Tomic came out tense in the beginning missing some easy shots and Verdasco played very aggressive hitting his forehand with vicious pace and spin for winners and didn’t feel much pressure the first set. The second set Tomic came out with a different mindset and started going for his shots. Tomic had chances to win the second set when Verdasco fell behind 0-40 to give Tomic three set points when serving at 5-6, but Verdasco fought off the set points and eventually won the second set tiebreaker. The young Australian came out on fire in the third set and broke Verdasco’s serve and cruised through the third set and the fourth set was very similar. With the score even now at two sets apiece, both players did their best to bring the best of their games out for the fifth and final set despite feeling fatigued. The last set was an absolute battle and Tomic gained control in the 11^th game of the set when Verdasco hit a forehand long and lost his serve. After 4 hours and 11 minutes, Tomic hit a penetrating forehand to the corner and had finally secured the match.

Verdasco congratulating Tomic after the match

            It will be very interesting to see how Bernard Tomic will play in his next match tomorrow coming off such playing such a long match in that heat yesterday. Tomic’s next opponent is the 6’6 American Sam Querrey, who relies on his serve and Tomic is a guy who likes waiting for his opponent to make mistakes, so the contrast in styles are completely different. Expect this match to be another entertaining one as well as a night match, so the Aussies can get fired up!

      Can Nadal Beat Djokovic in 2012?    

            After winning the 2010 U.S. Open, Rafael Nadal had captured every Grand Slam tournament in tennis, and his world number one ranking points wise was way ahead of any other player. It was all good for him entering the 2011 season until his terrible losing streak against Novak Djokovic last season. The Serbian crushed Rafa six times in a row on finals. Nadal lost some of his length of shot since Djokovic knows how to move around the court and how to take the ball earlier. The aggression from Djokvic caused Nadal to play shorter  most points during the year, rather than dictating.

            Nadal doesn’t like being stuck in a backhand cross-court rally, he wants to be dictating play with his forehand. Djokovic, with his heavy topspin forehand, can take Rafa off the court and force heavy pressure to his backhand. In the six matches last year, Djokovic received many short balls and put them away with ease.

            Besides just the groundstrokes, Nadal struggled holding his own serve against Djokovic. He was content with spinning his second serve in with nothing on it, and after the first meeting, Djokovic realized how to take advantage of it in order to take the lead in the point.

            In order to regain his winning ways and confidence against the Djoker, Nadal will have to improve in a few areas in his game for 2012; His serve, backhand, ball movement, mental game, and match preparation.

            Nadal’s serve has really improved the last few years, but he can definitely get stronger at it. In 2011, he won 71% percent of his first serve points, but against Djokovic that number was way down. After the Australian Open, he will have more time to improve on his serve and increase the whip on his serve. His backhand will need to improve or at least keep this shot deeper because Djokovic will keep running him off the court. I’m sure Nadal has been watching a lot of film of last year’s matches and noticing at times he is off balanced with this shot. Rafa needs to keep the ball much deeper and has to play with a better margin for error. Also, he has to have belief that he can take down Djokovic because he looked dejected at the end of many of their matches last year.

            Rafa needs to find his way back to victory against Novak Djokovic early in the 2012 season. He certainly has the game to take Djokovic, but it all depends on if he truly believes he can take him down after going 0-6 in finals against him last year. Maybe in two Sundays from now Nadal and Djokovic will be playing in the 2012 Australian Open Final.

2012 Australian Open Men's Preview

            Last season, it was really hard to believe and witness the rise of another Roger Federer so soon after Federer himself. The Australian Open is the first opportunity for Novak Djokovic to prove all the doubters wrong, who still don’t believe in his ability after one of the best season’s we have ever seen in the sport finishing with a 70-6 record including wins at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. The crazy thing is that Djokovic told the media earlier this week that he wants to have a better season than last year.

            Djokovic is one of the many big story lines coming into the event, but among the draw (http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/r1s1.html) are other compelling story lines. Can Roger Federer rebound in 2012 and add another title to his record-breaking 16 Grand Slam championships. Was last year a decline for Federer? Or what condition is Rafael Nadal’s body in heading into the first big tournament of the year? His shoulder has been bothering him the last few weeks, but he feels it is not any problem. (http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=tennis/12/01/12/TENNIS_Australian_Open_Nadal.html) Another question people always ask is, where are the top four in the draw? This year the draw is completely different from any major in recent memory. If the draw holds form, Djokovic and Andy Murray will meet in the semis and Federer and Nadal will meet in the other semi, which hasn’t happened at a major since the 2005 French Open.

The Draw:

First Quarter

            Djokovic will use his first few matches to see were his game is at and test his fitness level early in the year. He doesn’t face any sort of threat until Radek Stepanek in the third round, Djokovic has won his last five matches against Stepanek. Andy Roddick poses some weapons against Djokovic, but Roddick hasn’t played a match in a couple months. As mentioned in the previous post, Milos Raonic has the game to make a big run in the tournament and he is in this quarter. The quarterfinal matchup will most likely be Djokvic against world number 5, David Ferrer of Spain. Ferrer should be able to take a set in that quarterfinal match, but Djokovic’s game will wear down the Spaniard.

Second Quarter

            This is Andy Murray’s quarter to win, but he will have an extremely tough opening match against teen American Ryan Harrison. This quarter doesn’t have the depth of great players compared to the other ones, but they have two of the most athletic players in the game. Frenchman Gael Monfils is the most entertaining guy in the sport to watch right now and he has played a lot of long matches in his career. If Monfils can engage in long rallies with Murray in the possible round of 16 encounter, he has good chances to pull off the upset. The other guy is Jo-Wilfried Tsgona also of France, Tsgona has had great success in Australia in the past finishing as the runner-up in 2008. Other than Monfils and Tsonga, there should not be any other dangerous foes for Murray besides his first round test with the young Harrison.

Third Quarter

            This is the most talented quarter with the likes of Mardy Fish, Juan Martin Del Potro, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Sam Querrey, Bernie Tomic, Fernando Verdasco, Jurgen Melzer, Ivo Karlovic, and of course Roger Federer. There are two first round matches I really like in this quarter, the hometown teen favorite Bernie Tomic against one of the top Spanish players Fernando Verdasco and then the aggressive playing Jurgen Melzer of Austria against the tallest player in the game Ivo Karlovic at 6’11.

            Federer missed the warm up tournament in Doha last week but it isn’t a big issue. He doesn’t have any challenging opponents until Verdasco in the fourth round, but Fernando has never beaten Roger before. What might help Federer most are his opponents. The highest ranked American Mardy Fish will have to face a dangerous player in Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round with the winner to see Federer. You can basically pencil in Federer’s name into the quarterfinals because he has been to the quarterfinals in his last 30 Grand Slam appearances. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fish or Del Potro made it to the semis beating Roger.

Bottom Quarter

            Rafael Nadal, like his fellow top seeds, should be able to find his range early from the draw he has. His first big test will come in the fourth round against either John Isner, David Nalbandian, or Nikolay Davydenko. Rafa will probably be rooting for someone else to get to the fourth round instead of the American Isner, who nearly took out Nadal in the French Open last year.

            Tomas Berdych, the Czech, is on the other half of this section and I feel he has the only shot in this draw to take out Rafa other than Isner, however, Berdych hasn’t had much success against Nadal in majors over his career.

PREDICTIONS:

Semifinals: Djokovic over Tsonga; Federer over Nadal

Final: Federer over Djokovic

Expect Big Things From Raonic in 2012

There are a lot of young studs in professional tennis that can really make their mark on the sport in the 2012 season, no one more than Milos Raonic of Canada. Last year, was the first full season for Raonic in pro tennis and he came out really successful by getting his year-end ranking to number 31 in the world.

            Raonic has extreme potential to be one of the best players in the world within the next few years. Most experts have him winning a Grand Slam event (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, or U.S. Open) sooner rather than later. Raonic’s serve has been compared to the likes of big guys like John Isner and Ivo Karlovic, and getting those free points via aces will help him sustain energy in long, grueling matches.

            Milos Raonic’s game is similar to Andy Roddick when his career started. The huge serve and bullet forehands are exactly how Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open at age 21, the same age Raonic is now. The two weaknesses that could hold Raonic back for now is his backhand to be inconsistent at inopportune times and his movement around the court, being a big guy he’s not a natural defender.

            The best chance Raonic has at winning a Grand Slam in 2012 will be at the Australian Open. He had a lot of success in first appearance there last year with a 2^nd round straight-set win over Michael Llodra, a 3^rd round win over Mikhail Youzhny, who was ranked 10^th at the time, and a loss in the round of 16 to the fifth ranked player in the world, David Ferrer in four sets. He can do really well in Australia because it’s the first major of the year, some talented players can come out flat this early in the year and it is extremely tough to mount a big comeback in the summer heat in Melbourne. Raonic won his warm-up tournament in preparation for Australian at the Chennai tournament in India. In the finals he beat the ninth ranked player in the world, Janko Tipsarevic, who said that it is only a matter of time before Raonic is among the elite players in the world.

            Let’s see what Raonic is capable in 2012, I think all the tennis experts, and Tipsarevic, could be right.