Tennis Note #4

Four Reasons For Watching Tennis

Happy March! Before I dive into the four reasons, I wanted to give you some of my current reasons for watching tennis and an update. If you are not aware, a lot of tennis has taken place in the last 1.5 months. The last two weeks of January featured the first of the Grand Slams, the Australian Open. It was also the first time I did live commentary via @ByTheMinTennis. The experience was invaluable. From the 18 hours of commentary, I learned six lessons. However, I think the best moment of doing commentary came in a particular twitter exchange. I apologized to the fans that I had a time delay through ESPN coverage and one particular follower responded I should use Tennis Channel. Naturally, I respond that as a graduate student, I cannot afford to pay for it. His response made the 18 hours I dedicated to commentary, priceless.

Poor financially but wealthy talent wise. Good job.

This made me smile and honestly, live tweeting the matches made the Australian Open even more enjoyable. Let me quickly summarize some key headlines:

• Serena Williams captured her 6th title and 19th grand slam in total, against Maria Sharapova in their 19th meeting.
• Novak Djokovic captured his 5th title and 8th grand slam in total, against Andy Murray. The first two sets alone were 2.5 hours (7–6, 6–7).

Tense moments during the Murray v Berdych SF.

• The real winner of the AO: Kim Sears, in response to the twitter/vine explosion that occurred during a tense Murray-Berdych SF match.
• Tomas Berdych beat Rafael Nadal ending a 17 match losing streak.
• Wawrinka-Djokovic SF was lacking compared to their other incredible encounters.
• 20 yr. old Madison Keys beats a rejuvinated Venus Williams in the QF and holds her own against Serena in the SF despite her eventual loss.
• Andreas Seppi shocks Roger Federer in 3R.
• Young Aussie Success: Krygios in QF, Tomic in 4R, Groth in 3R

For those who do not know, tennis is not just the four Grand Slam tournaments. The season lasts all year with occasional breaks for Davis Cup/Fed Cup (‘World Cup of Tennis’) and much more recently, the International Premier Tennis League. The IPTL began last year during the typical off-season for tennis and featured former players with current players, separated in four franchise teams, which were determined by a draft. For upcoming tennis stars, there is the challenger/futures tour to build their ranking before they enter the ‘major leagues’. Basically, as a tennis enthusiast, you can understand why it is hard to follow other sports. Although, this year is the Women’s World Cup and Cricket World Cup so perhaps I will write a separate note on time management one day. This past month featured plenty of tennis with multiple tournaments every week.

Small typo on my chart, Memphis is not Series 500 anymore. Halle Open has been upgraded. I’ll fix it later!

The Race to London/Road to Singapore

The ranking system is based on points. The further you get in a tournament, the more points you gain. The summary chart above list the maximum points you can get from each type of tournament. As you can see, it is possible to be number 1 and not win a grand slam. For example, Caro Wozniacki has not won a grand slam title yet, but in 2010 and 2011, she ended the year at number 1. Another example would be Roger Federer last year. He did not win single grand slam but ended the year at number 2. If a player wins a title one year and only makes the semifinal the next year, their ranking points drop by the difference. Thus, there is huge incentive to defend points but also perform better at tournaments. In the end, tennis a race to the top. You need to perform better than others within the year but must maintain consistency over several years to remain in the top 10. This is probably why the Big Four is such a big deal. All these points lead to a year end tournament for the top eight players: ATP World Tour Final in London and WTA Tour Championship in Singapore. They face off in two groups of round robins and then have knockout rounds until one person triumphs.

Now, it is not possible to play all of those tournaments simultaneously. Typically, most top players will compete in the Grand Slams, Masters 1000 or Premier Mandatory/Five, a bunch of 500 Series/Premier and a few 250 Series/International tournaments. However, the Masters 1000 features top players, making it harder for less ranked players to even qualify. The tournaments with lower points tend to level the playing field and give you, the spectator, an opportunity to learn more about the other players. Also, in contrast to Grand Slams, these tournaments are best 2 of 3 sets.

Racket Rally: Most of the players I picked either retired or lost. At least, I had two go the final this week!

I think one of the most useful and fun ways to really jump into the entire season is playing this new fantasy tennis game called Racket Rally. I absolutely love it except it only confirms that I am not a risk taker, and should never invest in the stock market because I hate making decisions and never trust my gut instinct, which ends up being the right call. Sorry, had to rant a bit. My friends are beating me. In the end, it is a lot of fun and free. Currently, there are close to 3000 people participating, including sportswriters, so I encourage you to get involved! We can even make a league for dedicated readers of the Tennis Notebook. Grand Slams tend to host their own competitions that are free but have great prizes. Last year’s US Open Bracket Challenge was the closest I ever got to winning falling short right during semifinal and final predictions but was ranked 9/10846 participants before the surprise upsets for Djokovic and Federer. One day, I will win those tickets. One day. Hopefully soon. Please?

Why should I watch tennis any other time except for the Grand Slams?

(1)Jaw-dropping Tennis & (2)Unexpected Surprises

Have you heard of Ryan Harrison? Karolína Plíšková? Luca Vanni? I could keep going but for the new tennis fans and even occasional spectators, most of these names are probably a mystery. The only names you may know are Roger Federer or Serena Williams. This is unfortunate. Because these other players played great tennis to pull off upsets and rise through the ranks. These months between slams allow you to learn about new players and watch great tennis. Here is what you missed in the month of February.

• 34 yr. old Victor Estrella Burgos won his 1st title in Ecuador Open Quito against 33 yr. old Feliciano Lopez, who in 2014, ended in the top 15 for the first time. Final score: 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5)

Vintage Gasquet

• Richard Gasquet captured the title at Open Sud de France. This man has one of the most beautiful and powerful backhands in the game. This particular final ended in retirement from his opponent Jerzy Janowicz.
• 31 yr. old Guillermo Garcia Lopez captured PBZ Zagreb Indoors in Croatia against Andreas Seppi, the man who stunned Federer at the Australian Open. GGL can seriously hit winners when he is on top of his game.

Hot Shot of the Rotterdam final. Amazing touch.

• Stan Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych at Rotterdam to capture his first Series 500 title. He now has nine titles. Bigger news was Gilles Simon ending a 12 match losing streak against Andy Murray.
• Pablo Cuevas captured his third title at Brasil Open against qualifier Luca Vanni, a man who has never won an ATP Tour match. Honestly, I had never heard of the man until this tournament. With a final score of 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(4), he almost won. Even more interesting, Vanni received a bye in the draw when the top seed Feliciano Lopez dropped out and this helped him skyrocket through the draw.
• Kei Nishikori won his third Memphis Open title in a row. He dropped the first set in all his matches expect for the final against Kevin Anderson. I was more impressed by Americans Sam Querrey and Donald Young for getting to the semifinal. Even bigger story was qualifier Austin Krajicek, who saved two match points to knock out Ivo Karlovic. Ivo Karlovic is a hard man to break or beat in a tiebreak. Austin managed to do both.

Fognini’s match point against Nadal was absolutely incredible.

• David Ferrer beat Fabio Fognini at Rio Open in straight sets. In all honesty, this was not as high profile as the matches in the earlier round. Fognini played a 3.2 hour long match against Delbonis and needed nine match points to win. Nadal’s match against Cuevas followed, ending at 3:18 AM, six minutes shy of breaking the 2006 Tokyo Open for latest finish. Literally the same day, Fognini and Nadal met in the semifinal and the Italian stunned Nadal in three sets. He previously had a 23 match losing streak against Top 5 players. This loss ended Nadal’s 52-match win streak on clay court semifinal matches (12 years) and only his 25th loss in 346 matches on clay. #LongLiveKingofClay
• Ivo Karlovic won Delray Beach Open in straight sets against Donald Young. Donald Young has had incredible weeks of tennis and this was his first final since 2011, back when he reached a ranking of 39. He dropped to a ranking of 190 the following year but has slowing been building back and this year may be a breakout year if he can stay fit.

• An all French final in Marseille at Open 13 where Gilles Simon triumphed over Gael Monfils. A couple of years ago, these two played a 71 shot rally. Although, this is definitely not the longest rally ever played. That honor goes to Vicki Nelson and Jean Harper: 643 shot rally lasted 29 minutes in a tiebreak.

• David Ferrer won again, this time against Kei Nishikori at Acapulco in straight sets. He now has 4 titles this year and the season has only just begun. Player of the tournament was Ryan Harrison. He defeated defending champion Grigor Dimitrov and actually bageled (6–0) him in the last set. After his first top 10 win, he backed it up by beating Ivo Karlovic in two tiebreaks, one of which he won 7–0. This does not happen often. He eventually fell to Ferrer but it was the first time, in a long time, I watched Harrison keep control of his emotions, a true sign of maturity and growth. I look forward to more success for him.

• Dubai Duty Free Tennis featured another Roger Federer v. Novak Djokovic showdown but this time, Federer was #clutch. He saved 7/7 break points and broke 2/2 times. This is his first win in a final against Djokovic since 2012, 7th title in Dubai, and now has a 20–17 record against him. He also passed 9000 total aces (Ivo has the record for most aces hit). #VintageFederer The other major news of the tournament was #luckyloser 18 yr. old Borna Coric defeated Andy Murray 6–1, 6–3. Coric was in the news some time ago because of a comment he made in Times of India: When I’m at my best I am more like Djokovic game wise, when I’m not, I’m more like Murray. He later clarified his comments.

Vintage Rafael Nadal.

• Rafael Nadal FINALLY wins his first title of 2015 on clay in Buenos Aires against good friend Juan ‘Pico’ Monaco. He did not drop a set but I think Rafa’s best set was against Carlos Berlocq in the semifinal, first set tiebreak. He has down 1–6 in the tiebreak and came back to win it 9–7. He now is 3 titles behind Guillermo Vilas for most clay court titles and this is his 65th overall title, surpassing Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg. #VamosRafa
• Prior to Indian Wells, the first round of Davis Cup is this week. USA v. Great Britain will definitely prove interesting!

Why is Kim retired again? Yes, that is a very unique sound Petkovic makes when she hits the ball.

• The last champion of Proximus Diamond Games was Justin Henin in 2008. Since then, this tournament was an exhibition. This year it came back to life and Andrea Petkovic won the title after Carla Suárez Navarro withdrew with a neck injury. She ended up playing Kim Clijsters in an exhibition match. In Petkovic’s second round, she saved EIGHT match points. She returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2011.
• The PTT Thailand Open did not feature last year’s winner, Ekaterina Makarova. Instead, Daniela Hantuchová defeat Ajla Tomljanović in the final. She was also down two match points down in the third set of her semifinal match.

Dubai Final Highlights.

• Simona Halep won her tenth WTA title in Dubai and regained her rank at number 3. She had to beat Makarova in the QF, Caro Wozniacki in the SF, and finally, Karolína Plíšková, who has steadily been rising through the ranks. Plíšková ended last year at 24 and is currently ranked 13 and this rise occurred in the span of two months. Another player, Garbiñe Muguruza, beat her doubles partner Navarro before falling to Plíšková. Many seeded players fell, which is why I love watching tournaments like these where you can really see the future of tennis.
• Top seed Sara Errani won her 8th title at the Rio Open. I was more focused on Irina Begu, who I honestly never heard of and she is now ranked 33. She reached the SF.
• Acapulco featured a final between Timea Bacsinszky, who defeated Caroline Garcia. This is Timea’s second title and Caroline’s second appearance in a final. The semifinal matches were interesting. Maria Sharapova retired against Caroline before the match started with an injury. Timea faced #luckyloser Sesil Karatantcheva, ranked 158, who faced a 2 year doping ban back in 2006–07.

Doha Final Highlights

• Doha featured Lucie Safarova defeating Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. Both players played great tennis to get to the final. It was great to see Lucie win her sixth title and even better to see Vika in a final for the first time in a year. The tournament as a whole featured tremendous tennis in all the rounds. Azarenka dueled Wozniacki and Venus Williams to get to the final. Safarova battled past Petkovic and Navarro. Navarro actually took out first seed Petra Kvitova.
• There are two tournaments currently in play: BMW Malaysian Open and Monterrey.
• The Fed Cup first round also took place and the semifinals will occur in April.

Look at all this tennis. This was the month of February alone. Played all over the world, I pretty much had matches I could watch nonstop. Of course, I never watch all the tournaments, otherwise I would get nothing done. However, I keep track of the scores and choose which matches I want to watch. All of these matches are a warm up to the first massive tournaments: 3/9–3/22, Indian Wells (1000 points) and 3/25–4/5, Miami (ATP 1000/WTA 900 pts). You can watch these on ESPN3.

(3)The Drama & (4) The Awkward/Funny Moments

Tennis is not just about the game. It is about every single moment on and off the court. The best place to really follow all of this is on twitter. Between all the sportswriters I follow, I think I get some of the funniest commentary with my matches. I could talk about it but I thought I would just share. Here are some memorable moments in no particular order:

Notice anything wrong with Nadal’s shorts before he goes to change? Yup, they are on backwards.

Petkovic is hilarious. Go follow her on twitter.

Monfils, not only a showstopper for tennis but class act.

Racket smash for Dimitrov who was outplayed by Ryan Harrison.

If you have Vine, follow this account. If you have twitter, follow Ricky Dimon because this is just hilarious. I love chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani and his beautiful voice.

That awkward moment…

When that happened, I burst out into laughter.

Any match with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová is entertaining, packed with lots of dramatic falling and yelling. This was just the aftermath of her match.

Bugs are a problem in tennis sometimes.

Pablo Cuevas pretty much tanked his last game against Rafael Nadal. Boo from the crowd. Mostly because we were several minutes away from a new time record.

Not going to lie, whenever Djokovic plays and does this I pretend to have a staring contest and lose. Miserably.

This was hilarious. Vika’s funny character and mental strength has always been my favorite thing about her.

This was interesting.

Genie Bouchard’s new coach is Vika Azarenka’s old coach of five years. Don’t think anyone saw this coming.

Vika, herself, gets a new coach and after her performance, I truly believe she will be back in the top 10.

I have become more of a fan of Andy Murray because of how he defends his coach Amelie Mauresmo. Gender equality is an important conversation in tennis.

WTA superhero themed party to kick off Monterrey. #girlpower

Serena Williams: I'm Going Back to Indian Wells

I would like to add some context. For those who are not aware, Serena and Venus Williams have not played Indian Wells in 14 years. While Venus is not returning, Serena’s announcement is huge. What they went through in 2001 was absolutely atrocious. I have cued the clip towards the end when she won the match and her interview afterwards. From the minute her family walked onto the court to the finale, the crowd’s behavior was disgusting. It speaks for itself.

It speaks for itself.

Pro Tennis Has a Match-Fixing Problem in Its Lower Ranks

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