Big 4 still alive at US-Open

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Even though there have been some big upsets in the men’s draw of the US-Open, the big four are still alive and all look sharp and ready to win the title. But there are 3 more matches left for them to reach the semi-finals, with some difficult matches ahead of them to get there.

Nadal will have a tricky match against Simon, who beat Nadla on hard court already, before he runs either into Stakhovsky or Lopez. But the real trouble will come in the quarterfinal match, where he might face Ferrer, Verdasco or Nalbandian.

Andy Murray might get the easiest quarterfinal match against Isner, but will have his hands full in the next round against Wawrinka and then probably against Sam Querrey.

Djokovic has also some US boys in his way to a possible quarterfinal against Gasquet or Monfils. He will face Blake in his next match, who always had great support from the fans at the US-Open. And if he beats him he will face the most dangerous player in his section of the draw, Mardy Fish.

Roger Federer might have the toughest of all quarterfinal match-ups, but therefore some beatable opponents on his way to the quarters. He will face Mathieu in his next match and then the winner of Ferrero and Melzer, which is a very open match for me. But non of them should give him big trouble to reach the match against Soderling, that every looking forward to. Not only because he is the no. 5 in the world, he is the toughest player to face in the quarters for any of the top 4 players. He is very dangerous and has beaten Fed at a slam already. Something not many players have accomplished yet.

So, all top 4 players have their hands full, but things are looking good that the fans at the open will be treated to a “big 4” semi-final day. Something we haven’t seen in a long time at a grand slam.

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Roddick and Berdych out of US-Open!

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Two big upsets rattled the New York crowed yesterday and took the biggest hope of the US fans out of the draw. Andy Roddick not only lost in 4 sets to Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia, but this loss might have ended his hopes for another year end top ten ranking and a participation at the ATP-Tour Finals in London. And the way Roddick lost his match might have even more serious consequences for the A-Rod fans. A disappointed Roddick threw 4 of his Babolat rackets into the crowd when he left the court. And some of his fans might be afraid that he will throw the rest of the rackets soon… Roddick turned only 28 two days ago, when he came up with a convincing, but easy first round win to celebrate his birthday with the New York crowd. But it seems as if he is on the tour for ever and even though he worked with some of the finest coaches during this long career (Brad Gilbert, Jimmy Connors) he never lived up to his and the fans expectations after winning the first Grand Slam in the Big Apple at the age of 20. Not even the smart Larry Stefanki was able to fine-tune the hard-hitting Roddick. And when you look at the way Roddick played against Tipsarevic and in recent months, since he started working with Stefanki, it seems like his coach has tamed the danger out of the Roddick game. Once a fear less ball striker, Roddick was turned into a counter punching ball machine with a big serve, a good forehand, but no backhand and still no net game. And just keeping the ball in play was not enough yesterday, against a fearless Tipsarevic, who did not beat big A-Rod for the first time at a slam. He handed him his earliest exit at Wimbledon in 2008, where he also beat him in the second round. But this loss might be much more disappointing for Roddick, and it will be interesting to see how he will handle it this time?! If he handles it at all. He made enough money and he is a married man now who might want to think about kid and is tired of all the traveling… and another disappointment of not winning another major in his career. If he keeps playing he is very likely to change coaches one more time, since he followed that pattern a few times already.

We will see.

The other big upset and disappointment was the loss of Thomas Berdych against Michael Llodra in straight sets. Berdych was one of the big favorites of the tournament and everyone was looking forward to a potential matchup with Andy Murray in the Quarterfinals. But yesterday we have seen the old Berdych again, who is unpredictable and inconsistent. Everyone was seeing him as the potential new no. one, but potential was always the word that was used together with his name the most. And it seems like the story will continue for a bit more. Llodra broke him down with his serve and volley and constant net approaches and never allowed Berdych to take a breath or find his range. Now the door seems to be wide open for Andy Murray and fans can only hope for a semi final with Rafael Nadal.

Another big disappointment was the early exit of US crowd favorite Melanie Oudin. She will lose a lot of points after her run at last year’s open.

But there is a new player that made the American fans happy and gives hope for the future. 18 year-old Ryan Harrison defeated Ivan Ljubicic and after going through qualification already he won his 4^th straight match yesterday. To beat former no. 3 Ljubicic on this surface is quite a thing and I can’t wait to see more of him. He might be ready for a few more upsets if he has enough gas left in the tank. His draw is good for at least to more wins, before he runs into Nadal… For sure a night session and something to look forward to for the American fans and US tennis in general.

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

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2010 US-Open preview part 2

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Today I want to take a look at the women’s draw of the 2010 US-Open.

It will be almost as interesting and wide open as the men’s draw, because Serena Williams and Justin Henin will miss the event due to injuries. This makes last years finalist and world no. 2, Caroline Wozniacki the top seed and one of the favorites for the title. It would be her first Grand Slam title and bring her very close to the no. 1 ranking as well. On top of that it will make her a lot richer, since she won the US-Open Series already and this will guarantee her an extra 1 Million Dollars if she takes the US-Open title. But her draw is not easy and it will be the question if she will be abler to handle the pressure of going into the tournament as the top seed or if the pressure and additional attention from the media will be too much for her. Winning the US-Open Series and last years experience of being in the finals will give her a lot of confidence and help her to handle all this.

But I still don’t see her reaching the final, because she will face some tough competition before she will reach a potential match-up with Maria Sharapova in round 4. And I see Maria winning this one in a thrilling night session. But before Wozniacki gets there she will have her hands full with some powerful tennis made in China. Kai-Chen Chang and Yuang-Jan Chan, both from Chinese Taipee, will test Mrs Wozniacki to the limit, because they have even better footwork than the blond Dane. It will not be enough to just keep the ball in play to beat these two great competitors from Taipee. And you never know, maybe one of the two will be the big story of this year’s Open, and take out both, Mrs. Denmark and Mrs. Russia and go all the way to the final!?!

But in the quartefinal there might be not another Mrs. Russia waiting, but at least great Russian footwork from Kuznetsova and more Chinese power footwork, in person of the no 8 seed, Na Li. So it is very likely that there will be a Chinese player reaching the semi finals from this section of the draw.

But today I would put my money on Mrs. Sharapova. She won the Open before, is in form and has the power to beat all the Chinese and Danish roadrunners.

In the next section of the draw, things look a lot clrearer to me, with jelena Jankovic being the highest seed here. She has a tough first round with Simona Halep and maybe a another tricky one with hard hitting Mirjana Lucic, but I think she will go through to face Janina Wickmayer from Belgium, last year’s surprise semi finalist, in the fourth round. This is a good match-up for her and she will win in two sets to face either Nadia Petrova or Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals. That will be a big fight for sure, but Jelena’s fitness will win the match for her.

The next section is the Venus Williams Section, which is also a very tough and open one, because there are plenty of up-coming players in this section. Very unpredictable, what is going to happen here!

Melanie Oudin, Polona Hercog, Tsvetlana Pironkova, Ksenia Pervak, Michelle Larcher de Brito and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will challenge the established players like Wiliams, Schiavone, Peer and Azarenka (who is also still very young…). This could be very likely a new face in a Grand Slam semi final. But if Venus is healthy, she will have the power to fight them all off and reach the semis, winning her quarterfinal match against Victoria Azarenka. But any of the new girls will make a break through soon. S, it could also be Larcher de Brito against Hercog… If de Brito screams her way to the semis, the WTA tour has a new star and Portugal a new heroe after Ronaldo choked at the World Cup…

But my money still goes to Venus here!

The last section of the draw holds the top 2 title favorites and a lot of headache players…

I see the highest seed in this section as the top favorites win the whole thing. That would be Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters, the defending champion. They will for sure meet in the quarterfinals, and I believe that the winner will take the title. Stosur has only one really tough match to get to the quarters and might have to play Safina (who should get her act together soon again..), Elena Dementieva or Daniela Hantuchova, But she is my favorite against each one of them, since all these players are very unstable and will cause their coaches a lot more headaches in the future. Kim Clijsters will face Marion Bartoli or Ana Ivanovic (another headache for coaches…) in her quarterfinal match, but if she is motivated and focused she will win easily.

My Money would go to Kim to reach the semi final, too, but I would rather like to see these two in the final…

If I have to put my money for the final and the winner, it would be Kim over Maria in three sets.

Let’s see if I am right...

Enjoy the Open!

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

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2010 US-Open preview

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

The 2010 US-Open will kick off tomorrow and it looks like the men’s and the women’s tournament will offer some very interesting matches and a possible first time US-Open Champion. Especially the men’sdraw is as open as it has not been in the past 7 years, since the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal started. And with Serena Williams not playing this year’s tournament, the women’s draw is also wide open for a surprise champion.

I want to start my preview with the men’s tournament, where Robin Soderling and Thomas Berdych might be two of the hottest candidates for a first Grand Slam title of their career, after reaching their first Grand Slam final this season in Wimbledon (Berdych) and Roland Garros (Soderling). Even though they have not been very convincing in the past hard court tournaments, I am sure that one of them will make a splash at the US-Open this year. Berdych won’t have many problems in his section of the draw, before he might run into Isner or Youzhny in the 4^th round. A match against John Isner, especially at the US-Open, is always a tough one. But I think he will go through, due to his newly found level of concentration and confidence. If he plays Youzhny, I see even fewer problems for him. But in the Quarterfinals he will meet Andy Murray and that will be the match that determines if he is ready for the title this year. I see the match at 50% – 50%, but if Berdych wins this one I think he will reach the Final as well. If Murray wins it, I would still put my money on Nadal, if he gets to the semi final.

Which brings me to the top half of the draw and Nadal’s section. His draw is not easy, because he has red-hot David Nalbandian in his part of the draw. The good news for Rafa is, that Nalbandian has to beat the no. 2 and 3 spanish players (David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco) before he could earn a spot in the fourth round. And these two matches will cost the reignited Argentine a lot of energy, even though I see him as the favorite against both. But before Nadal plays him, he also has his hands full with Michael Kohlschreiber (who trained with Roger Federer to get ready for the US-Open…) and probably Ivan Ljubicic. But I believe Nadal will go through and will face Nalbandian in a tough fourth round, 5 set match. I think that it all depends on how many sets Nalbandian lost to Verdasco and Ferrer, if he has a chance to reach another Grand Slam semi final at the US-Open. But right now I would put my money on Rafa, even though his warm-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronta have not been very successful. I think Nalbandian will play 9 sets against Verdasco and Ferrer to reach the match against Nadala and will be very tired. On top of that his Uncle Toni will be on his side again at the Open, and he will be ready and motivated for some tough matches. So my finalist of the top half of the draw will be either Nadal or Berdych.

In the bottom half of the draw Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the top seeds. Novak Djokovic is running into Marcos Baghdatis or Mardy Fish in the fourth round, which  both showed great form in the past hard court tournaments. And Fish beating Djokovic in Cincinnati. So there might be some surprises around the corner and this section is very hard to predict, since all three players are very unpredictable themselves. If Djokovic goes through he will face more trouble, with Roddick, Monfils or Davydenko. Roddick will have to play Monfils before the winner will face Davydenko. This is probably the toughest section of the men’s draw and I see 6 players with basically the same chances to reach the semi-final.

If I have to put my money now, I would say Djokovic against Davydenko with a slight edge for Davydenko to win it, if he does not lose too much energy against Roddick or Monfils.

The Russian will face the strongest man in the Federer section of the draw, and if you just look at the stats of the past 5-7 years, there could be only one man coming out of this section. And his initials are RF…

But stats are there to be broken and especially after his surprise early exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, there are some reasonable doubts. Even though he has the easiest section of the draw to reach the 4^th round and the quarterfinals. He might face a former US-Open champion on his way to the fourth round with Lleyton Hewitt, and maybe plays another one in the fourth round (Ferrero). But both players have never given Roger too much trouble. The highest seed to reach the fourth round against him is Juergen Melzer, but he is not in good form and has not won many matches on hard courts this year. So, from all the top 10 players, Federer is the best bet to reach the quarterfinals. But that’s where the big test will come for him. He will most likely play Robin Soderling in the Quarters, who will have his hands full with De Bakker or Gonzales, and then Marin Cilic before he will have the honor to challenge the big Fed for a semi final spot. I see Federer a favorite for this match with 60%, because he will be very eager to take some revenge for his loss at the French Open, which was favored by many rain delays for Soderling. But with Soderling you never know. If he keeps hitting his winners, not even Fed has an answer…

If Soderling wins this match he will go to another Grand Slam final.

And who knows, it might be the two surprise first time finalists of the French and Wimbledon, who could meet in the final. It might be Berdych against Soderling. Like this at least one of them will have his first Grand Slam crown. And this could indicate a big change to come for 2011, in the Federer-Nadal-dominace of the past years.

But I would prefer another Federer Nadal final for this year’s Open. Berdych and Soderling still have some time left and I am sure the majority of the tennis fans would like to see the same final like I do. And if you just look at the stats, then it simply has to be Roger against Rafa.

Federer is always in the final… and he always played somebody else in the final for the past 6 years. So, why not Rafa?!? If Rafa wins, he would be the only player besides Rod Laver who won 3 consecutive Grand Slams in one year!

Here are some more interesting stats and facts about the past US-Open tournaments:

Nadal on his way to a career Grand Slam– Nadal, who captured his eighth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last month, is a US OPEN title away from completing a career Grand Slam. The 24-year-old Spaniard reached the semi-finals in Flushing Meadows the past two years. He would be the youngest player to accomplish the feat and he would become the seventh man to complete a career Grand Slam, joining Don Budge, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, and Roger Federer.

No.1 Update – Nadal enters the US-Open as the No. 1 player for the 59th week overall (as of Aug. 30) in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, the 10th-most (of 24 players). This past week he tied Jim Courier, who held No. 1 for 58 weeks.  Nadal enters the US OPEN with a 3,530-point lead over No. 2 Federer and he is guaranteed staying No. 1 after the tournament.

FEDERER-NADAL DOMINATION -- Since Nadal won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2005, he and Federer have combined to win 20 of the past 22 Grand Slam tournaments (except '08 Aust. Open, Djokovic; ’09 US OPEN, del Potro). During that stretch, Federer has won 12 Grand Slam titles and Nadal eight.
    

                                          

2010 Wimbledon                    Rafael Nadal d. Tomas Berdych


2010 Roland Garros               Rafael Nadal d. Robin Soderling


2010 Australian Open            Roger Federer d. Andy Murray


2009 US OPEN                      Juan Martin del Potro d. Roger Federer


2009 Wimbledon                   Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick


2009 Roland Garros              Roger Federer d. Robin Soderling


2009 Australian Open         Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2008 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Andy Murray


2008 Wimbledon                  Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2008 Roland Garros            Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2008 Australian Open           Novak Djokovic d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga


2007 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Novak Djokovic


2007 Wimbedon                   Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal


2007 Roland Garros            Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2007 Australian Open           Roger Federer d. Fernando Gonzalez


2006 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick


2006 Wimbledon                  Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal


2006 Roland Garros            Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer


2006 Australian Open           Roger Federer d. Marcos Baghdatis


2005 US OPEN                      Roger Federer d. Andre Agassi


2005 Wimbledon                   Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick


2005 Roland Garros              Rafael Nadal d. Mariano Puerta

Check out my next blog, where I will take a look at the women’s draw.

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Some Motivation for frustrated Tennisplayers!

Don‘t Quit !

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Author unknown

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Roger back on track?

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Roger Federer won the ATP-1000 Event in Cincinnati yesterday to capture his second title of the year. On his way to the final against Mardy Fish, he played only 2 full matches against Marcos Baghdatis and Nikolay Davydenko, which he won in straight sets. He had a bye in the first round and in his second round match Denis Istomin retired at 5:2 for Federer. In the next round Fed was even more lucky when he had a walkover, because Kohlschreiber was unable to play the match due to injury. Playing Mardy Fish in an ATP-1000 final can also be considered as quite lucky. By no means it was only luck that brought Roger back to winning ways on the ATP-tour, but he has seen tougher opponents on his ways to titles.

He himself was very pleased with his performance and was happy the way he was able to implement new strategies into his game, after having enough time after Wimbledon. He said that he was playing more aggressive than before and felt much fitter and healthier than before and during the Wimbledon tournament.

I have to say that I don’t see anything new in his game. I think that he played many slice backhands, because he does not have the confidence or aggression to play more top-spin. On top of that I don’t see any improvement in his fitness. Many times he looked tired and a bit slow to me. Nothing compared to the Federer of the old days…

But no matter what, this win will give him confidence for the US-Open, since the other favorites were not very convincing either. Berdych, Djokovic, Soderling and Nadal all need to improve a lot if they want to win the Open. It will be an interesting tournament this year with Nalbandian and Davydenko back in the game. Especially Nalbandian will be a big threat going into the US-Open unseeded. It is just too bad that Del Potro will not be able to defend his title. He could have made the draw even more open.

Let’s see who will be the Champion 2010…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Roger back on track?

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Roger Federer won the ATP-1000 Event in Cincinnati yesterday to capture his second title of the year. On his way to the final against Mardy Fish, he played only 2 full matches against Marcos Baghdatis and Nikolay Davydenko, which he won in straight sets. He had a bye in the first round and in his second round match Denis Istomin retired at 5:2 for Federer. In the next round Fed was even more lucky when he had a walkover, because Kohlschreiber was unable to play the match due to injury. Playing Mardy Fish in an ATP-1000 final can also be considered as quite lucky. By no means it was only luck that brought Roger back to winning ways on the ATP-tour, but he has seen tougher opponents on his ways to titles.

He himself was very pleased with his performance and was happy the way he was able to implement new strategies into his game, after having enough time after Wimbledon. He said that he was playing more aggressive than before and felt much fitter and healthier than before and during the Wimbledon tournament.

I have to say that I don’t see anything new in his game. I think that he played many slice backhands, because he does not have the confidence or aggression to play more top-spin. On top of that I don’t see any improvement in his fitness. Many times he looked tired and a bit slow to me. Nothing compared to the Federer of the old days…

But no matter what, this win will give him confidence for the US-Open, since the other favorites were not very convincing either. Berdych, Djokovic, Soderling and Nadal all need to improve a lot if they want to win the Open. It will be an interesting tournament this year with Nalbandian and Davydenko back in the game. Especially Nalbandian will be a big threat going into the US-Open unseeded. It is just too bad that Del Potro will not be able to defend his title. He could have made the draw even more open.

Let’s see who will be the Champion 2010…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM