Top Spin Blog » tennis

Federer Ends the Muller Miracle

Joe Samuel Starnes — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:33:53 +0000

Roger Federer beat Gilles Muller in three tight sets Thursday afternoon, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), ending the Luxembourgian’s run of seven straight wins that made him only the second qualifier ever to reach the quarterfinal. It was a well-played match. The New York Times reported that “Federer had 42 winners to his 19 unforced errors. Muller, who is ranked 130th in the world, also was solid. He had 46 winners to 32 unforced errors.” Muller takes home a check of $140,000, a big one when compared to his $74,581.

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Roddick and Blake Hoping to Renew U.S. Open Glory

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:23:34 +0000

It has been five years since Andy Roddick cradled the U.S. Open cup during that short window between Sampras’ retirement and Federer’s rise. In fact, it has been five long years since any American man has won any Grand Slam.

It seems like long odds that Roddick or James Blake or any of the other 17 American men in the tournament will break that streak this year, but I think Blake has the best chance based on the draw.

Roddick, seeded eighth, has a tough draw with the Magician, Fabrice Santoro, in the first round. This will be a big night match and could spell trouble for Roddick. He has a 2-1 record against Santoro, but the last time they played—a match in Paris on indoor carpet last fall—Santoro won in three sets.

If Roddick wins his first round, he could play the dangerous Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a French Open quarterfinalist earlier this year, looming in the second round. Gulbis is ranked 40^th, but has a big game and potential to win. Roddick has lost to lesser players than Gulbis this summer.

Blake, seeded ninth, faces fellow American Donald Young in the first round, certain to be another night match in the Ashe Stadium. Blake has a much better draw than Roddick. If successful in early rounds, Blake is on a track to meet the new world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarters.

Don’t count Blake out. He recently beat Federer in the Olympics, and he beat Nadal in 2005 when they last met in Flushing Meadows. (He has lost to Nadal in three sets twice this year, but has a 3-2 career record against him.) If any American is going to make a run deep to Super Saturday or beyond, my money is on Blake.

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Nineteen American Men To Take the Singles Court in U.S. Open

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:00:24 +0000

Three American men qualified for the U.S. Open this week, putting a total of 19 U.S. players into the men’s singles draw.

Qualifiers were Ryler De Heart, who won his final round in the qualies in a third-set tiebreaker, Ryan Sweeting and Robert Kendrick. They join six American wildcards Brendan Evans, Scoville Jenkins, Amer Delic, Jesse Levine, Sam Warburg and Austin Krajicek, and ten American men who were granted direct entry into the tournament based on their rankings.

Krajicek earned his bid by winning the 18-and-under national championship in Kalamazoo, Mich., earlier. The teenager from Brandon, Fla., will play for Texas A&M where he will be a freshman this fall.

The highest ranked American not to make the tournament is 30-year-old Kevin Kim, ranked 142 in the world. He lost in three sets in final round of the qualies to Sweeting. Alex Kuznetsov also lost in the final round of qualies, going down 6-4 in the third and final set.

Only seven of the American men in the Open are ranked in the top 100. The ATP World rankings of the U.S. players competing at Flushing Meadows as of Aug. 18 is as follows:

8. Andy Roddick

9. James Blake

35. Mardy Fish

53. Sam Querrey

62. Robby Ginepri

89. Bobby Reynolds

99. Donald Young

103. Vince Spadea

106. Jesse Levine (W)

113. Robert Kendrick (Q)

118. Wayne Odesnik

124. John Isner

133. Amer Delic (W)

168. Sam Warburg (W)

190. Brendan Evans (W)

196. Scoville Jenkins (W)

259. Ryler De Heart (Q)

276. Ryan Sweeting (Q)

892. Austin Krajicek (W)

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U.S. Open Kicks Off With Qualies

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:02:19 +0000

Most tennis fans consider the U.S. Open a two-week event, but in reality, there are three weeks of play starting Tuesday, Aug. 19, with the qualifying draws — what insiders refer to simply as the “qualies.”

The qualies are a battle of 128 players hoping to win three matches to earn one of 16 open spots at the Open table. For those who have cracked the top 100 before, the qualifying tournament is a dreaded sign that their game has fallen and may never get back up. Last year’s Open qualifying draw included longtime pro Andrei Pavel who is 0-5 this year and ranking has plummeted to 237. Other players, however, like Rainer Schuettler, who also played last year’s Open qualies, have proved you can play the qualies and still turn their careers around; Schuettler reached the Wimbledon semis this summer and is now ranked in the top 40.

But for less-accomplished players — youngsters on the way up and journeyman pros who’ve never cracked the top 100 — it is a chance to reach the main draw of the U.S. Open, perhaps the greatest feat of their tennis careers. Reaching the main draw also means a substantial payday for low-earning players: first round losers in the main draw earn $16,500, and a win or two can mean much more.

This tier of players is not appreciated by most tennis fans. Professional tennis at the minor-league level is a very tough row to hoe. While everyone obsesses over Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, there are legions of very talented players battling it out for peanuts and coveted-ranking points on the Challenger and Futures tours. Consider that the 147th best baseball player in the world earns a few million each year in a guaranteed contract that will be paid even if he injures himself in April and misses the season. In tennis, Sam Warburg, the American ranked 147th in the world as of Aug. 10, this year has earned only $68,201 and has career earnings of a mere $231,207. That’s a pittance when you consider the expenses of travel and training professional tennis demands. (Warburg was fortunate to be one of eight men granted a wild card into the main draw and will not play in this year’s qualies.)

For fans, the Open qualies are an excellent alternative for those who find attending the main draw of the tournament too crowded and too expensive. Attendance at the qualifying tournament is free, and there are always multiple matches taking place on the outer courts from which to choose. There are no binoculars required to see the matches, as is the case if you have upper level seats in the Arthur Ashe Stadium during the premiere matches. From the top sections of Ashe, the view of the court is about the same as a window seat from the airplanes taking off and landing at nearby La Guardia. At the qualies, you can sit in the front row for free and see some spectacular tennis at drop-shot range.

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Cahill: Roddick Should Bag 2008

Joe Samuel Starnes — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:33:56 +0000

Darren Cahill, retired Australian player and coach turned ESPN announcer, suggested during today’s broadcast of the Rogers Masters Cup in Toronto that Andy Roddick, fresh off a disappointing loss yesterday to No. 44 Marin Cilic, should take the rest of the year off — including skipping the U.S. Open — to get his game back together if he wants to win another Grand Slam. Even the overly garrulous Brad Gilbert was speechless.

Don’t bet on Roddick following Cahill’s advice. Roddick is already skipping the Olympics in order to focus on the U.S. Open. Two weeks after the Open final he will travel with the Davis Cup team to play Spain in Madrid. World No. 6 Roddick led the U.S. team to the Davis Cup championship last year, but has only one Grand Slam title to his credit, the 2003 U.S. Open.

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Qualies: The Forgotten Flight of the Grand Slams

Joe Samuel Starnes — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:59:35 +0000

Ask most anyone and they’ll tell you that Wimbledon starts on Monday. However, 128 men have been battling it out this week in the Wimbledon Qualifying in hopes of winning three matches to earn one of 16 spots at the big green table next week.

If a player is not within the top 100 or so in the world, pro tennis is a tough row to hoe. Consider that the 134th best baseball player in the world earns a few million each year in a guaranteed contract that will be paid even if he injures himself in April and misses the season. In tennis, Sam Warburg, the American ranked 134th in the world, this year has earned $59,956 and has a career earnings of only $222,962. What’s worse, Warbug, a 25-year-old from Sacramento, lost in the first round of the Wimbledon qualifying this week and won’t have a chance to earn a big check or ranking points there.

The 16 American men in this year’s Wimbledon qualies range in rankings from 126 to 334 in the ATP Rankings. Four survived to reach the final round of the qualies: Hugo Armando (248), Robert Kendrick (126), Kevin Kim (185) and Jesse Levine (138). They are all one win away from making the tournament.

Second round American losers in the qualies draw were Alberto Francis, Brendan Evans, Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Ryan Sweeting. First round losers were Scoville Jenkins (the only American to qualify for the French Open last month), Warburg, Rajeev Ram, Nicholas Monroe, Alex Kuznetsov, Todd Widom, K.J. Hippensteel (who I hope succeeds one day just to hear his name announced) and Jesse Witten.

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American Men Climb ATP Rankings

Joe Samuel Starnes — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:42:13 +0000

Of the eight American men in the top 100 of the ATP rankings released Monday, four rose, including two significantly, three dropped only slightly, and one, Andy Roddick, held his ground.

Robby Ginepri and Wayne Odesnik were the big movers. Of the highest ranked Americans, Roddick, held onto his number six spot, while James Blake moved up one point, bypassing David Nalbandian to take the seventh spot on the list, right behind Roddick.

Ginepri, who reached the fourth round of the French Open, made the biggest leap, moving 29 points to the No. 59 ranking, putting him into contention for an Olympic bid. Odesnik, who reached the third round in Paris, jumped ten points and cracked the top 100, settling at 96^th.

Also rising in the top 100 was Mardy Fish who moved three spots to 36.

The most significant drop of any American man in the top 100 was Donald Young, who fell five points to 88 after his first round French Open loss to Ginepri (the exact ranking held by Ginepri before the French Open). Sam Querrey dropped one point to 41, and John Isner dropped two points to 84.

Farther down the rankings, 25-year-old Amer Delic, a native Bosnian who now lives in Jacksonville, Fla., moved 20 points from 149 to 129 in the ATP Rankings. He did not play Roland Garros but won the Carson, Calif.,-challenger in late May. A huge move was made by 27-year-old Michael Yani who won the Yuba City Challenger last week by beating fellow American and world No. 134-ranked Sam Warburg. Yani jumped 105 points to take the 253^rd rung on the world ladder. It is the highest ranking ever for Yani, a native of Singapore who lives in Durham, N.C. He played college tennis for Duke.

The biggest drop in the top 200 by an American was suffered by Kevin Kim who fell 25 points to 188. For the complete rankings, visit the rankings section of the ATP website, undoubtedly the best web site in all of men’s tennis.

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No Live TV Coverage of Nadal-Djokovic Semi-Final

Joe Samuel Starnes — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:32:15 +0000

I’m sitting here at 8:30 a.m. ET listening to the first men’s semifinal between the world’s number two and three players on Radio Roland Garros over the web. The announcers are very good, just comparing Nadal’s dominance of Djokovic as a duck hunter who is stalking a duck and taking his time before shooting (Nadal is up 6-4, 2-1 and is rolling), but tennis is a game you have to see to enjoy. The match started at 7 a.m. ET, but is not being carried live on U.S. television, apparently due to the wisdom on NBC, whose “live” coverage begins at 10 a.m. today (of course, these are the same people who apparently think that Mary Carillo and Dick Enberg are good announcers). In a tournament that has been on virtually around the clock for two weeks, NBC is doing an injustice to American tennis fans who have followed the tournament for two weeks. If they don’t want to carry the semifinals live, they should let the Tennis Channel or Versus or another network would do it have the rights. To complain to NBC, e-mail them at nbcsportshelp@nbcuni.com.

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Early Start for Ginepri and Gonzalez on Monday at Roland Garros

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:24:53 +0000

Robby Ginepri and Fernando Gonzalez are the first match on Court Suzanne Lenglen at 11 a.m. Monday Paris time, 5 a.m. on the East Coast. Ginepri for his career is 0-3 against the Chilean, losing twice last year on grass (once at Wimbledon) and once on hard courts in New Zealand in 2005. They have never played on clay.

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Ginepri First American in French Open Sweet 16 Since 2003

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sat, 31 May 2008 13:30:41 +0000

Robby Ginepri, his right arm encased in an elaborate bandage brace, took to the Bull Ring (as Court No. 1 is known) and bested Frenchman Florent Serra in straight sets on Saturday, making Ginepri the first American to reach the Fourth Round of the French Open since Andre Agassi in 2003.

The 25-year-old who lives in Kennesaw, Ga., will see his ranking rise from 88 in the world into the sixties, and he could go even higher if he beats the winner of the Stanislaw Wawrinka-Fernando Gonzalez match which has gone to a fifth set. Ginepri’s play in Paris should not be underestimated. Previously a career 0-5 in Roland Garros, he has beaten two clay court specialists in Serra (in his home country, to boot) and Russian Igor Andreev, no easy feat. Ginepri’s closing out of a tight third set was key to allow him to get some much needed rest. If Ginepri can get past either a presumably tired Wawrinka or Gonzalez, he’ll most likely face Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Dare I say it, but I believe Ginepri has an outside chance to reach the finals if he keeps up this level of play and avoids injury.

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