Chip and Charge

George's 2010 Predictions

2010-01-05T04:52:00.000-08:00

It only seems like a few days since London, but the 2010 tennis season is now upon us with the Aussie Open a little over two weeks away.

I always like to make some predictions about which players I think are likely to make an impact, and this year is no exception. I have been closely following some of the players working their way up at Challenger level, and I am sure one or two or these are gonna make a big splash on the ATP tour this season.

Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.

Good luck pronouncing this one guys. A real tongue twister of a name, but by all accounts, a very talented player. I noticed his steady rise of last year as he started to play a number of clay challenger events (winning 3), beating established top 100 players like Massu, Hernandez and Gabashvilli - players all very adept on clay. He is also improving on hard courts, and beat Yen-Hsun Lu in Tashkent, before qualifying for his first ATP of event of the season in St. Petersburg, reaching the second round. This year he is already hoping to go one better after qualifying for Brisbane, and beating promising youngster Bernard Tomic in the first round. He has a good temperament, moves well around the court and has a strong serve. I'm sure he will use his momentum to push himself firmly into the top 100 and become a consistent performer on the ATP tour by the end of the year.

Thiemo De Bakker

Was tipped for big things after winning the Wimbledon boys chamtionship in 2006, but has since struggled to fulfill his potential and live up to all the hype. 2009 however, showed some real signs of promise, and the young Dutchman clinched 3 Challenger titles on the bounce, leading to many believing that he was beginning to make the step up. Although in comparison to Dolgopolov his wins came against lesser opponents, he was actually the more consistent performer throughout the season, and went on a massive winning streak, taking many of his matches in straight sets. Perhaps his most notable scalp was Gael Monfils, who he beat in 4 sets in a Davis Cup rubber. He then lost to Tsonga in a tight 5 setter. Watching him, he is clearly a very talented player with a number of shots in his arsenal, and he can play on all surfaces very well, despite plying his trade mostly on the clay last year. He's now broken into the top 100. Don't be surprised to see him break the top 50 and push quite far in a couple of ATP events. He is already in the second round of Chennai! Here's Thiemo's Twitter by the way! Good way of keeping up to date with his progress. Anyone speak Dutch?! :-)

Higher up the rankings, spotting the next superstar is a tough ask. I keep coming back to Gael Monfils. His progress each year has been steadily improving. His closely fought MS final in Paris at the end of last season appears to show how far he has come. Only a few elite players really threaten to take MS tounaments because you need to beat the very best to win. Monfils is very very close to being part of this elite few. The Frenchman is a joy to watch as well as being hugely talented. Last year he played much more aggressively than usual and it began to pay dividends. Monfils knows better than anyone that this is his route to success. You only have to take a look at his booming serve and his flat powerful forehand to know that. On his day, Monfils is irresistibly good. If he stays free of injury (big if), then I fancy him to firmly break into the top 10 and stay there for a very long time. Some players peak later in their careers, like Lendl to name just one, and I think Monfils might be one of these rare gems who does exactly the same.

Other guys to watch are Sergiy Stakhovsky, who has hauled himself back into the top 100 (currently 60) and has the game to make some serious inroads this season. He already has good experience at ATP level, and I expect him to have more consistency this year. A great shotmaker with a good temperament. I tipped Jeremy Chardy to make progress last season and he did exactly that by winning his first ATP title in Stuttgart, after reaching his first final in Jonannesburg earlier in the year. He is very strong of both sides (forehand especially which can cause all sorts of damage) and has the talent to break firmly into the top 20. My outside bet is Evgeny Korolev who has taken a while to find his form but again, is now back in the top 100 and could have a real surge in 2010.

Weekly Preview

2009-02-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

I definitely think its important to note the action taken by the ATP to impose a record fine on the Dubai organisers for denying Shahar Peer (above) entry into the UAE. It's the right move, but I would have liked to have seen Dubai taken off the calendar altogether. As it happens, the mens tournament is going ahead as well and I really don't think it should - on moral reasons alone. Andy Roddick appears to share my belief and has duly withdrawn from the tournament in protest. Nice one Andy! At least the organisers have salvaged some integrity by granting Andy Ram a visa to compete in the doubles competition.

Along with the absence of the American, Federer, Nadal and Davydenko have also withdrawn through injury, therefore further weakening the field and making Djokovic and Murray clear favourites for the title. Beyond these two, it's a very open field.

In perhaps the most notable upset, Ivo Karlovic bowed out to Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(7), ranked a lowly 443 in the world - although in 2005 he was in a much more handsome position of 129. Nevertheless, it marks another poor outing for the Croat who is struggling to replicate his strong form of last season, despite serving a whopping 19 aces throughout the course of the match. Much has been noted of him trying to improve his baseline game to compliment his strong serving and volleying skills, but in this case it might be a classic case of "if it's not broke...."

Elsewhere, Marin Cilic survived a scare against Janko Tipsarevic who was a set up 6-2 and going strong on the second. The young Croat however, showed all his fighting qualities and mental fortitude, serving a better percentage than usual, especially at key stages during the match.

A couple of other first round matches are also looking very close, especially Marat Safin against Richard Gasquet. Both will be looking to get their seasons underway after disappointing starts, and the winner will be treated to a match with David Ferrer, who came through in three sets against former world number 3 Ivan Ljubicic, who continues to slip down the rankings.

Being an admirer of the clay, I am also interested to see how the week in Acapulco pans out, especially with such an interesting field. Tommy Robredo (below) yesterday captured his second title in as many weeks, and was aptly presented with a crowd of beautiful women to celebrate his success! What a lucky boy! Few would count him out of winning yet another title this week, although his possible fatigue may enable a host of other players to mount a serious challenge.

Gael Monfils will surely be a strong contender, and on the red stuff is arguably playing on his best surface. Also prone to injuries the clay should provide a much softer experience than the punishing hard courts of Marseille and Doha. He lines up against qualifier Olivier Patience in the first round, and should enjoy a routine passage into the next. Top seed David Nalbandian and fourth seed and defending champion Nicolas Almagro will also be tough guys to beat.

Lastly, in the only 250 event of the week, San Jose finalist Mardy Fish tops the bill. Sam Querrey, Ernests Gulbis and Jeremy Chardy will also fancy their chances.

Grigor Dimitrov def Thomas Berdych 3-6 6-4 6-3 R1 ABN AMRO Rotterdam - Star in the Making??

2009-02-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

Although most would agree that Thomas Berdych is suffering a massive crisis of confidence, I didn't really expect this 17 year old Bulgarian to trouble the burly but talented Czech. But after losing the first set, he stormed back to win 4-6 6-3 6-4 in what I imagine to be in hugely impressive fashion. I say imagine, because I didn't actually see the match. Berdych could have handed it on a plate.

But I don't think he did - the stats might tell the story. Berdych failed to convert 9 of 10 break points which indicates that he was either being painfully wasteful, or Dimitrov has the mental game to resist continual pressure on serve. Probably a combination of the two. Yet I can't think of many players who can save 9 of 10 break points (Rafa who?), no matter badly the other person is playing. Besides, Dimitrov smashed down 10 aces, I'm pretty sure a few of those came on break point.

The fuss over Dimitrov only really gathered pace after he won Wimbledon boys in July last year. Since then he has dabbled on the Challenger tour, rather unsuccessfully I might add, and before that, fell at the first round of qualifying for the Madrid Masters to Florent Serra. A big ask. No doubt the fuss will now escalate. A thread on MensTennisForums is already approaching 50 comments as I speak.

But the hype is immaterial, talent alone is never enough. Just look at Young and Tipsarevic. With Dimitrov I can't help but be I'm impressed by his steely resolve, his fighting spirit at one set down, and his ability to serve out the match after Berdych had just come through one hell of a sketchy service game. Maybe it's a one off. He might struggle to motivate himself for the lower ranking events, but somehow I don't think so. At 478 in the world, he will definitely have to work hard in Future and Challenger events, but don't be surprised to see this ranking reach the 200 mark come the end of the year. Expect too see him at Wimbledon too where he has earned a wilcard for his fruitful expoits last year!

It's definitely worth keeping an eye on this fella. I'm sure the ladies will be! ;-)

Weekly Review!

2009-02-05T04:09:00.000-08:00

The ATP calender is pretty unrelenting - even on the spectator. Scarcely after we have had time to absorb splendours of Australia, we are treated to three more ATP events, and while most top ten players are taking some much deserved respite, others are locked-horns and scrambling for points to kickstart their season.

For those players that can't wait for the clay season, Vina del Mar aptly caters for their needs, and it's no surprise to see strugglers like Juan Monaco (above) taking full advantage. The Argentine has made a swift passage into the quarter finals (bt Devilder 6-2 6-4 and Starace 6-3 6-3) where he will face an equally labouring Fernando Gonzalez. The clay has also thrown up a couple of surprises with lowly ranked Paul Capdeville and Pablo Cuevas battling through into the quarters, dispatching Eduardo Schwank and Albert Montanes respectively along the way. Other clay specialists Jose Acasuso and Tommy Robredo will also be in contention.

In Zagreb Igor Andreev buckled under the intense pressure of being the number one seed, meekly succumbing to 425 ranked Ivan Dodig in straight sets, whilst another Russian, Mikhail Youhzny is in freefall after losing to Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3 6-4. The progress of Serbian, Victor Troiki is also worth a mention after he cruised past Simone Bolelli and Ivan Ljubicic. Dmitrty Tursunov's faltering season also continued as he was ousted 4-6 6-4 6-4 by and hugely promising and rapidly improving Ernests Gulbis. A bad week for Russia!

The first ever ATP event in South Africa has proven to be a historical and cultural exercise as well as a regular event. While Marcos Baghdatis enjoyed a history lesson in Apartheid, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took time out visit some of the poorest children in Johannesburg's townships. On the tennis side of things, David Ferrer halted his recent decline as he stormed into the quarter finals (bt Sela 6-2 6-0 and Greul 6-3 6-4 ) where he will face an equally revived Baghdatis. Jeremy Chardy and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez have also made positive starts.

Shock of the Week
Without doubt Igor Andreev's inexplicable capitualtion to Ivan Dodig.

Business as Usual
Marin Cilic continued his superb run of form by reaching the quarter finals of Zagreb

Steady Progress
Victor Hanescu won his opening match and has a favourable draw now P.H. Mathieu is out

Lloyd loses patience with Brits on the fringe

2009-02-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

John Lloyd's job as Davis Cup Captain must be the most thankless task in the world. I doubt the Ukrainian public demand quite the same high standards we do, despite (with the exception of Murray) their pool of talent being very much the same.

Greg Rusedski's plans for a sensational and ill-advised return were this week rebuffed by an ever polite Mr Lloyd, who is now favouring a new and radical system to select his other two Davis Cup hopefuls. Lloyd plans to hold a six man tournament (supposedly involving Bogdanovic, Goodall, Ward, and as promised, Evans and Fleming, with the others being unsure of even making the tournament) to select his remaining two is perhaps a sign of his last straw with the sarcastically named Alex 'A Bog' Bogdanovic.

It's a fine ploy by Lloyd who has placed himself in a win-win situation. If Boggo comes out on top (presuming he is picked which is not a certainty) then Lloyd can be hailed for challenging the world 181 to produce his best tennis, and if he fails, his move to abolish the ranking entry system will have been wholly vindicated. Unfortunately that might be where the winning ends. Relying on a slowly improving Josh Goodall, a one-hit-wonder Chris Eaton or a faltering Alex Slabinsky will hardly give Lloyd the confidence he needs.

Perhaps 'Party Boy' Dan Evans (pictured above) will make the breakthrough after serving a record LTA ban for repeated misconduct, but at the tender age of 18, the young man from Birmingham is unlikely to show his best yet. Just ask Xavier Malisse what he thinks!

Whatever happens, I will be watching over this tournament with my eagle eye, and I admire John Lloyd for laying down the gauntlet for his perennially underachieving players. Let's see what happens.

Is Nadal human?

2009-02-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

I for one am now willing to admit I am wrong...

Although Rafa is No.1 in the world right now, I certainly failed to consider him as a serious contender to win the Australian open this year. And yes, while everyone was getting caught up in the big debate over whether Andy Murray should be the favourite, Nadal was quietly destroying people without getting caught up in such arguments involving mere mortals.

But questions need to be asked...

His knees have often been likened to breaksticks, likely to crumble with the softest touch, but yet he still going. Although he has worked to reduce the ridiculous amounts of spin he puts on his shots he still enjoys a good baseline rally, chasing down the impossible drop shot or darting across the court to send a running passing shot straight back at his demoralised opponent.

So if we are to consider Nadal human rather then some sort of tennis machine sent from the future to reduce Roger Federer to a whimpering mess, just exactly when is his motor going to start stalling?

Novak retires...again

2009-01-27T08:11:00.000-08:00

Yes the young Serb is quickly getting a reputation for having less endurance then a baby in a warzone (there are no puns intended towards Serbia there by the way) as he throws in the towel in yet another pivotal match.

And the man of steel...the man who can survive an entire season with glandular fever...the man who has only retired once in his career (you get the idea) Mr. Federer certainly had some harsh words to say:

"I'm almost in favor of saying, you know what, if you're not fit enough, just get out of here," Federer added. "If Novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth. Thanks to Andy that he retired in the end. Andy pushed him to the limits. Hats off to Andy."

I have to agree with the great man here as this makes it the forth time Novak has retired in a grandslam. After the shift over to wanting to look like Mr. universe in the vein of Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal I was certainly expecting Novak to put in the hours of sweat and toil during the off-season but i'm starting to ask the question:

What have you been doing all this time Novak?

Possibly the only player on tour to rival Novak's inability to scrap until the bitter end has to be Kei Nishikori but even he can be forgiven for still possessing a childlike frame and tender age and of course at 56 places below Novak that guy has a lot less to prove right now.

Murray falls to in-form Verdasco

2009-01-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

So the bookies favourite is down and out, and his chances of landing a maiden grand slam title have been put on hold - for the time being at least.

Fed and Novak, clearly riled by the pre-tournament suggestions that Murray should be favourite will tonight be lying smugly in their beds. Federer had stated that the predictions "were surprising to hear", whilst Novak had angrily enquired, "what is his ranking against my ranking?'.

Neither man went out of their way to hide their incredulous tone, thats for sure!

I always feared for Murray this week, especially after he succumbed to illness and burst out into cold-sores. After losing he cut a rather different figure to the 'muscle man' who had paraded himself half-naked around Mebourne Park, winning over many of the Australian faithful. After Verdasco had his way, he look tired and dejected.

So was it illness, nerves or just a crappy day at the office? A mixture probably. I very much doubt Murray had the favourite tag praying on his mind too much. In past five encounters his passive style has been enough, but considering Verdasco has begun the season with renewed vigour and confidence, perhaps a more aggressive approach was needed.

I am sure all the knee jerkers will be out for Murray after this, but I'm sure the classy Scot will recover. He can pick up tons of ranking points over the next few events and I fancy him to clinch a few more titles before a Grand Slam is really in his reach.

The "Djoker"

2009-01-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

Novak has always been known for his sense of humour and child-like imitations, even if these are known to rile his opposition.

However this photo taken of him during last year's Paris Masters is a complete mystery to all.

What could he possibly be doing!?

Has Mikhail Youzhny lost brain cells?!

2009-01-25T11:04:00.001-08:00

By George Kingsley

I'm not sure Mikhail Youzhny has fully recovered from the beating he gave himself last season. Ever since his frenzied racket attack during his match against Nicholas Almagro the Russian hasn't been the same player we all knew and loved!

Seriously, just look at his results since the Miami Masters. Despite a fairly decent showing at Wimbledon he hasn't got past the third round in ANY competition, and his highly respectable ranking of 11 has fallen to a lowly 40.

Has the talented backhand maestro inflicted one hit too many?! You really would have thought so!

Baghdatis is back!

2009-01-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

By George Kingsley

Since being at the centre in last years race row between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Marcos Bagdhatis will be delighted that the focus at Melbourne Park has shifted back to his tennis. A battling 4 set loss to Djokovic which ended at 2.30am is hopefully the start of a comeback which was persistently delayed by injuries last season. Today Bagdhatis looked more like his old self; competing for every point, smiling throughout and in stages playing some trully brilliant tennis.

Yet the racial violence which marred last years tournament has resurfaced, first in the match between Tipsarevic and Cilic where two men were arrested for a fight in a bar. and then the following day where 30 fans were arrested during the match between Delic and Djokovic. God knows why this sort of thing keeps on flaring up during the Aussie Open, the only explanation I can think of is that the the Aussie crowd are a little more accepting of the raucous crowd. The most we ever got at Wimbledon was the odd clever dick shouting 'come on Tim' a bit louder than everyone else!

Hopefully we won't see anymore of the nonsense we have seen this week but we see more of the Bagdhatis playing at the top of his game, because on his day, he is still a match for anyone.

Who will breakthrough in 2009?

2009-01-23T04:45:00.000-08:00

By George Kingsley

I imagine few expected Juan Martin Del Potro to make such a quick step last year, winning 4 titles in four consecutive events and another in Auckland last week. He is now showing the sort of consistency that elevated Djokovic and Murray up into the top 4. But who next?

Gael Monfils. The self-named 'Rat' (because he will run around all day apparently) has finally begun to put his game together and show some of the talent that took him to the top of the junior rankings. He is great to watch too, combining solid defence with flat and accurate groundstrokes he can outwit his opponents in a number of different ways. Backed up by a fantastic serve and a seemingly positive turn in his unfortunate run of injuries he is starting to look like the complete package. Ironically he has tweaked his 'Rat' counterpunching style to bring in more aggressive tactics into his game. He looks to be reaping the benefits, especially after he beat Nadal so impressively in Doha. Watch out for this lanky Frenchman, he is dangerous!

Jeremy Chardy. The good looking Frenchman made his name beating fat Dave Nalbandian at Roland Garros last year. Since then he has moved steadilly up the rankings beating plenty of established top 50 players along the way. His is armed with a superb forehand, a strong serve, and a very polished all round game. Don't be surprised to see him in the top 20 or better by the end of the year.

Marin Cilic. I suppose he has already started to make the breakthrough but I fancy Cilic to break the top ten this year and possibly clinch a Masters event if he plays consistently. He is nowhere near the finished article and if he continues to improve at this pace then he will be knocking on the door in the not too distant future.

(Kit has his own picks though. I believe he is completely in love with Kei Nishikori)

Suarez-Navarro downs Venus!

2009-01-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

George Kingsley 22.01.09

... In an absolute cracker! I probably wouldn't have bothered watching this if I hadn't have been waiting for Andy Murray. I naively thought to myself, 'the outcome is inevitable'. I also had the displeasure of watching Dellacqua versus Hantuchova a couple of days ago and it was probably the worst match I have ever seen (this is not an exaggeration), followed by Samantha Stosur who was only fractionally better.

This was a much better advert for womens tennis. A big powerful and experienced champion against a small and rather unassuming Spainiard. A no brainer surely? After losing the first set, the young Suarez-Navarro came storming out and took an early break. From there on she was absolutely exceptional, matching and bettering everything Venus could throw at her. Almost every point was closed out with a winner, it was a joy to watch.

Equally pleasing on the eye is her delightful one handed back-hand which was used to great effect, dragging Venus left right and centre and forcing her into numerous errors.

Big things beckon for this goofy and rather lovable little Spaniard. She is only 20. If she carries on like this then she will be playing the Venuses of this world a whole lot more often.

Hello and Welcome!

2009-01-22T07:03:00.000-08:00

Indeed, welcome to our new tennis blog! Chip and Charge may appear to many of you to be a rather strange choice of name, but we reckon it's got a good ring to it. (or maybe tennis terminology is getting the better of us) Our last blog was called 'Double Bagel' until we realised 3 other imginative people had conceived the same idea. We thought of it first, honest.

So why do a tennis blog? Well me and Kit are tennis fanatics. We spent most of our time at University boring our friends (and girlfreinds even more) about pointless tennis stats and whether 'such and such' a player was on the comeback trail in a recent challenger event etc etc. Yet what we haven't done is find a viable forum for our knowledge, until now that is.

The Australian Open is a good place to start. Not far into the season and already we being treated to some mouth-watering tennis. It can only get better. And don't just expect Grand Slam coverage, sometimes the more obscure matches in the so called lesser events are the ones to pontificate about!

We hope you enjoy it. :-)