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

Rafa ready for US-Open!

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Rafa finished his preparation for the US-hard-court season 2010 today in Manacor, Mallorca. Tomorrow morning he will head to Toronto, Canada for the first of two ATP-1000 tournaments he will be playing before the US-Open.

I have seen most of his practice sessions with different sparring partners and even though he has not trained for a very long time since his Wimbledon victory, he looks fit and ready to go for the only missing Grand Slam in his record books.

And maybe the reduced amount of intense training will make the difference this year and he will be healthy and on top of his game when the second week of the Open starts.

At one practice session I thought I have noticed a little limping when he was forced to go hard into the corners. But the next days he was ok again and I did not detect any kind of pain or injury that would hold him back. His last practice session today, where he trained with his good friend and doubles partner, Marc Lopez, he did not play too well, but neither he, nor his coach Toni Nadal, seemed to be concerned about it at all. Not even when Marc Lopez (ATP 730 !) won the only set they played today…

In all his training sessions he practiced a lot of serve and volley and net approaches, which shows that he is willing to make some changes in his game to get the only missing Grand Slam title in his, already outstanding, career. And with the French Open and Wimbledon in his bag, he carries a lot of confidence on his shoulders to try new things.

In general all of his practice sessions have been in a very good atmosphere and he seems relaxed and in a good mood. Even when the many fans or some local TV stations disturbed his training sessions he took it easy and did not get upset.

So, I think he is the clear favorite for the US-Open title this year and the New York crown would put him on the same page with players like Agassi, Borg, Lendl, McEnroe and Connors.

And if his knees will stay healthy for another 3 or 4 more years, he might catch up to players like Sampras, Laver and Federer, or even pass by them.

Vamos Rafa!

Rafael Nadal and his uncle and coach Toni during practice in manacor, Mallorca

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Federer Checks Out Paul Annacone!

by

Hartmut Hesse

After some disappointing results in the past months Roger Federer is training with Paul Annacone on a trial basis for a few days in Switzerland.

Annacone, who is the former coach of Pete Sampras has cut down his work for the British Tennis Federation and therefore has some spare time to share with Big Fed.

Since Annacone is a soft spoken guy and knows how to handle a talented players like Sampras and Henman, he might be the right guy to offer some humble suggestions to Federers game and training. Or to put it in other words, he might be the right coach not to disturb a genius at work too much… Since I don’t really think that Roger really wants a coach who pushes him too much. Federer is loaded with talent and he believes that he can beat anybody anywhere when he is confident, motivated and in a good mood.

So, it is good to know that Roger is realistic enough again to realize that his recent losses have not come because of injuries or some kind of sickness, like he mentioned in a press conference after he loss in Wimbledon…

Hopefully he will listen to Annacone and hopefully Annacone will have the nerve to push the big Fed to break a few more sweats in training.

But so far I have not seen a coach who dared to do so with King Roger.

We will see… but something big has to change for Roger to win the US-Open. He might not get lucky twice and have Nadal, Del Potro and Davydenko injured at the same time…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Where are you going Roger?

By  HARTMUT HESSE

What a turn around for Roger (and Rafa) in the past 4 months after winning the Australian Open in great fashion and looking at a possible Grand Slam for the 2010 season.

Now Rogers card house is shattered and he is only no. 3 in the world and 4000 points behind Rafa in the ATP Rankings and chanceless to regain the top spot by the end of the season. But it might be even more devastating for him, that he will realize now that all his great successs in 2009, with regaining his no. 1 ranking, winning the French and Wimbledon after a neck breaking loss to Rafa in the Australian Open Final, was only possible because Rafa did not play or was injured. After the loss at the Australian Open in 2009 Federer was down in tears and everybody was feeling with him and admired that he was not afraid to show his emotions. But I thought that it was a big mistake to show how fragile he really is, when he is playing “Mr. Cool” during his matches all the time. Now not only Nadal saw the weakness in Roger and that it is possible to break him down. Federer’s tears showed every other player how big this loss was and how afraid he was that he might not get Grand Slam victory no. 15 and break Pete’s record, even though he was still young enough. But at this time there was a player he just couldn’t beat anymore, Rafa Nadal. And Rafa was getting better and better and looked like he will wait in each and every big final for Roger. Then Federer got big,big help from the Gods of tennis, and Rafa was stoped with knee injuries and personal problems from his parents divorce. Without this help from destiny, I don’t think that Roger would have been able to beat Nadal in Madrid, take the titles at the French and Wimbledon from Rafa and his No. 1 ranking back.

But he did and everyone was saying how great a champion he is to come back like this. But he did it only because another, maybe even bigger champion… , was not there or able to fight back.

But now Rafa did all that with a healthy Roger in front of him. That is REALLY big!

So, I would like to know how Roger sees all this?!

He was talking of some health problems after Halle, but this makes it even worse, because he is not the only ATP player playing through the pain. Rafa had no time to celebrate his victories at home yet, because he is getting treatment for his knees right now. He had knee problems all year long and still got these great victories! How sweet these titles must feel for him now!?

But what about Roger? What will he make out of all this? If he is honest to himself he will have to realize that he will not win many more Grand Slams unless Nadal and Del Potro are injured. But his wife wants him to play for many more years, so his daughters can see him play. And he himself also said that he loves the game so much, that he wants to play much, much longer. But does he still love the game when he is losing against players he did not lose to before and takes the plane home after the first week of a grand slam?

Well, the US-Open and maybe the ATP Finals are another chance to fight back, but I doubt that he will win one of the events. Maybe he can take some motivation from trying to prove people wrong, when more journalists and experts see him going down. And with his talent he can still win Grand Slams in his 30’s, just like Pete Sampras. But if Nadal stays healthy he has a very big mountain to climb…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Nadal on Top of the World

by HARTMUT HESSE

Nadal wins his 8^th Grand Slam final and captures his second Wimbledon title to secure a big lead in the ATP world rankings.

He is now almost 4000 points ahead of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who is only ranked at No. 3 for the first time since 2003. And Federer is almost chanceless to take back the top spot from Rafa by the end of this season, which was one of his big goals for 2010 (having the No. 1 spot at the end of the year and breaking Sampras record of 286 weeks at the top of the ATP-Rankings).

What a great turnaround for Rafa Nadal who had to watch how Federer was taking everything away from him last year, while he was in pain about his knee injury and his parents divorce. When Nadal lost to Soderling last year at Roland Garrros due to his bad knees, Roger took this opportunity and captured his first French Open title. And when Nadal had to withdraw from Wimbledon as well and was not able to defend his title from 2008, Federer also took this title from him. But Rafa not only lost these two titles to Roger, he also lost his No. 1 world ranking to Federer without being able to fight for it. What a hard time for Rafa this must have been, especially if you consider that his knee problems could be career threatening.

So, he had to watch how Federer took everything away from him he had worked so hard for. Much harder than Federer ever worked, even though he is always telling everybody how hard he does. But I have seen both practice and I can assure you that Roger does not even come close to Rafas work ethic… He is all about talent.

But all this makes Nadals victories even sweeter and he will enjoy his place on top of the tennis world for the rest of the year. Even if Roger wins all 3 ATP 1000 events, the US-Open and the World Tour Finlas he will probably not be No.1 at the end of the year, because Nadal will play a much better hard court season than before and will also gain more points. And I don’t see him losing to Roger Federer by the end of this year and maby not so soon again at all, unless his knees hold him off again.

Maybe Roger will never be No. 1 again at all and it is time for a new generation of players like Berdych, Soderling and hopefully a soon recovered Del Potro. But if Nadals body is not breaking down, he might sit on top of the world for a long time. Maybe even longer than Pete Sampras…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

French Open preview 2010

The draw is out and with Nadal seeded at No. 2 there is not much doubt that he will meet Federer in the finals, even though both have some tricky match-ups on their way to the final weekend.

Especially Nadal might have two tough matches before a potential final with “Fed”. But after a very convincing clay court season from Nadal, I don’t have many worries that he will jump over those two hurdles. But those jumps might cost him a lot of energy and might open the door for Roger, who has a little easier draw.

So, since everybody expects Federer and Nadal at least among the last 4 players, who will be the other two players, who are most likely to join them in the semi-finals?

In Federers half of the draw, the top seeded players to meet him in the semi final are Murray and Tsonga. Both did not have a great clay court season this year and might not even get to the semi-final at all.

But there are some other dangerous players who are more confident on clay and had some good results this year already.

First of all it’s Mikhail Youzhny who won a tournament on clay this year already and climbed up the rankings lately. Now he is seeded at 11 and might be the big surprise in the semi finals.

The other hot players are Berdych, Baghdatis, Isner and De Bakker.

Berdych did not play well on clay this year but had a great tournament in Miami on hard court. If the conditions are hot and dry for the next 10 days he might get through, even though he has to beat Isner, and Baghdatis or Murray to reach the quarter final already.

Tsonga will face De Bakker in the 3^rd round and he lost to him this year on clay already. Youzhnys draw is much easier. He will not waste too much energy before he faces Tsonga or De Bakker. But all these players are very unpredictable. Especially Tsonga will face a lot of pressure infront of his home crowd.

If I had to pick a player in this part of the draw, it would be Youzhny. All the other players rely too much on good weather conditions (Berdych, Murray, Isner, Tsonga).

But all these players won’t give Roger much trouble in the semi final.

And before the semi final “Fed” might face Soderling or Cilic in the quarters. Also not much trouble for him, I think.

In Nadals part of the draw, his potential semi final opponents are Roddick, Djokovic, Ferrer and Ferrero. And besides these players are not many in this section of the draw, who have the potential for a surprise up-set or have made a splash in this years clay court season yet.

But Ferrer is probably the best clay court player behind Nadal and Federer this season. Ferrer would be a big challenge for Nadal and this match might go the full distance of five sets and cost Nadal a lot of Energy before the potential final with Roger.

But before Nadal gets to the semi final he has to beat Verdasco in the quarters first, which will not be much easier than the semi final match up with Ferrrer. And I see another tricky match for him in the round of the last 16 with Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil. A lefty and a great clay court player, who has won on this surface this year already. Nadal faced him at the French in 2008 already, but now Bellucci is a much different player and way more dangerous for Rafa.

All in all Rafa faces more challenges on his way to a potential final with Roger and it will be crucial for him to save as much energy as possible.

Here are my picks for the quarters and the semis:

Quarterfinals:

Federer – Soderling:                        Federer in 3

Muray – Youzhny:                                    Youzny in 5

Ferrer – Djokovic:                                    Ferrer in 4

Nadal – Verdasco:                                    Nadal in 4

Semifinals:

Federer – Youzhny:                        Federer in 4

Nadal – Ferrer:                                    Nadal in 5

Check out my final prediction next time…

Hardy Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

www.HesseTennisTraining.com

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

Sweet Revenge For Nadal

It was the 21^st match between Federer and Nadal, and even though Nadal won 13 of the previous meetings, he has never been this eager to win against Roger like this time.

Too tough were the last 12 months since he lost the final against Roger in Madrid a year ago. His parents divorce and his knee injury ruined a great start of the season for him. He lost his first match at Roland Garros, was not able to defend his Wimbledon title and on top of that lost his no. 1 ranking to Federer again, who also took the French Open title from him. It was clear from the start, that Rafa would fight till the last drop of blood to beat Roger in the first meeting after one year of disappointments.

And it was probably the first time that Roger really had to prove something, even though he is clearly the no. 1 in the world with almost double as many points as Nadal. But a year ago he collected only his second win on clay against Rafa in Madrid. The only other time he beat him on clay was in wet and cold Hamburg, on a day Roger was not able to miss a shot in the last two sets of the match. And last year, Rafa had to play an extremely tough 4-hour match against Djokovic the day before. On tope of that too many other matches in the clay court season. Besides these two wins, Federer was always dominated by Rafa on clay and never really had a chance to win the French Open against him. And deep inside he probably knew that he would have not won the French Open by now, if Nadals knees had been fins last year and there would have been more harmony in his private life. And maybe Federer would not be no. 1 today…

Federer knew he had to prove a lot. And Rafa was eager to show the tennis world that Federer will not win the French Open, when he is healthy. Even minutes after the match he was sitting on his bench and pumped his fist again and again. This showed how much this win meant to him. It was a very, very sweet revenge after a year of torture.

So, there was a lot on the line this time. But more importantly, there was more to lose for Roger than to win. And for Rafa there was much more to win than to lose. And this is how they played. Both were very nervous, but in the crucial moments of the match, Rafa had more to win and therefore was more positive. And he was happy, healthy and not tired this time. And then it is nearly impossible for Roger to beat him.

Even though I think that Roger deserves to win the Grand Slam this year, I am afraid that it will not happen, because Rafa has gained so much confident through out the clay court season, that he will win in Paris as well. He planed his season much better this year and will be fresh and confident. On top of that Davydenko and Del Potro, the two players who could beat him on clay, will not participate at the French Open. It all went his way after the Australian Open, and that’s why he will win the French. Probably in the final against Roger, but Roger will not be happy with 2^nd place again…

Because then there is no doubt at all anymore, that his win at the French last year, was only possible because Rafa lost to Soderling.

Hardy Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

www.HesseTennisTraining.com

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

Finally Sam Stosur!

I always thought that Sam Stosur has the techniques. The fitness and the dedication to her sport to make it to the top of the WTA-Tour, but she never even made it into the top 10, or was able to play consistent enough to go deep in the tournaments. But now it seems as if things are clicking for her and she makes a step to the next level.

To see her and Justine Henin in the finals of Stuttgart today is a real pleasure for me. Finally two players on the women’s tour who really care about the sport and not only about their looks, their new tennis dresses, or their career as an actor or model after their tennis career.

And two players, who unlike many other players on the WTA-tour, have all the shots in their game that the men have. A kick-serve, a slice, a drop shot, a volley and variety in their game…

This should be a great final if Sam will be able to keep her nerves cool and calm. A thing she is always trying very hard, but sometimes kept her from getting that extra focus and energy for the big points in a match.

But now it seems as if she knows how to pace herself through a match and how to get ready for the important phases in a match. This was the one thing that was missing in her game and if she can keep it up like this, she will be very hard to beat for many other players on the WTA-tour, who are not as fit and technically perfect as her.

As a Tennis coach I would like to see her more aggressive on her forehand, finishing even more points at the net (after good forehands) and mixing up her serve a bit more. She has a great kick-serve (probably the best on the women’s tour!), but it will be even more effective if it comes a bit more as a surprise for her opponents (especially on grass and hard-courts).

And if she pumps herself up a bit more after winning big points, she will be much more of a threat for the other players and I see her cracking the top 5 soon.

For a tennis coach like me, it is always great to have players like her, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters on the tour, because they are great role-models for the juniors.

Let’s hope they will be the top 3 in women’s tennis soon… ;)

Hardy Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals