It’s been reported that Ivo Karlovic has been admitted to a hospital suffering from viral meningitis. Initially, the illness was reported to have been a mild stroke, but the Karlovic family have since made an announcement to state the true illness.
The 34 year old Croat, notable on the Tour for his huge serve is currently recuperating at a medical facility in Miami, Florida.
We wish him a speedy recovery.
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Rafael Nadal moved into the final of the Barcelona Open after a comfortable straight sets win including a second set bagel over the promising Canadian Milos Raonic.
“I think it was my best match of the whole week,” stated Nadal after wrapping up the clash 6-4 6-0.
Almagro defeated Phillip Kohlschreiber in only 51 minutes to book his slot in the final, but has never beaten Nadal in nine attempts.
The Mallorcan is bidding to win the Barcelona title for the eighth time in nine years after his streak at Monte Carlo was ended by Novak Djokovic. He will be a very heavy favourite to secure the silverware.
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Translated from: “El Godó homenajea a Ferrero” (Marca, April 25, 2013)
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It was just before the second game of Rafa Nadal’s match against Benoit Paire at the Barcelona Open, tournament organizers paid tribute to the great clay courter Juan Carlos Ferrero, who shone in the early part of the century and lost in 2001 to Carlos Moya in one of the best French Open finals in recent times.
Ferrero, who retired from official competition last October after his final tournament in Valencia, of which is now director, was presented with a crystal trophy by Albert Agustí, president of the Catalan club and Albert Costa, tournament director.
‘Juanqui’, retired with 16 titles under his belt, including the 2003 French Open.
Watched by the royalty of Monaco, Novak Djokovic ended Rafael Nadal’s amazing 8 year winning streak at Monte Carlo with a dominant display.
Nadal suffered his first loss since a 2003 defeat at the hands of Gaston Gaudio. 10 years and 46 matches later, he fell to World #1 Djokovic in straight sets 6-2 7-6 in just under two hours.
“It’s such a great pleasure to win here, it’s very special,” said Djokovic, a native of Serbia but primarily based in the principality.
Djokovic, 25, wasted no time in setting out his intentions – racing out to take the first set 6-2 in 46 minutes.
The second set was a more competitive affair, with Nadal breaking the Djokovic serve and giving himself a chance to level up the match at 5-4. However, Djokovic broke straight back, forcing a tie-break, which he won at a canter – 7-1.
Nadal moves onto Barcelona next, with the next opportunity of a clash between the two titans coming at Madrid.
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Novak Djokovic booked his place in the Monte Carlo Masters final comfortabley overcoming an overmatched Fabio Fognini in straight sets 6-2 6-1 .
Fognini was subject to medical treatment as the Serb raced through a first set dominating every aspect of the match.
This was followed by a straightforward second set where the Serbian Slayer proved far too hot to handle and Fognini capitualated, drawing a close to the match in less than an hour.
Standing in Djokovic’s way of a first Monte Carlo title, is eight time champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal took his 46th consecutive win at Monte Carlo defeating the mercurial frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in straight sets.
Tsonga had opportunities but could not capitalise and made too many unforced errors at crucial moments in the match. Nadal took a first set littered with errors from the frenchman. The second set appeared to be a foregone conclusion as the Mallorcan stretched out to a 5-1 lead.
Not one to go quietly, Tsonga broke Nadal twice as he fought back valiantly to take the set to a tiebreak. Errors crept back in Tsonga’s game at critical moments and Nadal took over the tiebreak at 3-3 to clinch the match and another final slot.
It is ten years since Nadal lost a match at Monte Carlo (Gaston Gaudio, way back in 2003) but Djokovic will provide by far his sternest test since coming back from a seven month layoff.
As follows are the Friday results for the Men’s Singles at Monte Carlo…
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-4 6-3
Fabio Fognini (Italy) beat 7-Richard Gasquet (France) 7-6(0) 6-2
3-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 6-2 2-6 6-4
6-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat 13-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 2-6 6-3 6-4
Below are ten players age 24 or younger that could be risers in the rankings and bear watching. They are ordered by current official ATP ranking (as of March 4th), and thus before Indian Wells. I’m also including their birth month and year in parentheses.
#16 – Kei Nishikori (12/89) – Kei made a big leap in 2011, going from #98 to #25, but his rise was slower in 2012, finishing the year just six ranks higher at #19. But remember that he missed the French Open, as well as Madrid and Rome, so any points in those three tournaments should help his ranking. Like Milos Raonic, Kei is a good candidate to challenge Janko Tipsarevic and Richard Gasquet for a spot in the top 10 this year and should at least become a player regularly ranking the #10-15 range.
#17 – Milos Raonic (12/90) – Milos cruised up the rankings last year, from #31 to #13. He’s been holding steady in the mid-teens so far this season and hasn’t quite had that breakthrough performance, making it the 4R at the last two Slams and never going past the QF at an ATP 1000. Milos has played seven finals, winning all four ATP 250s and losing all three ATP 500s. Raonic is as good a candidate as any to play spoiler at a Slam or even contend for an ATP 1000, but he doesn’t seem to be able to get over the hump…yet. When he does he could be a similar player to Juan Martin Del Potro at his best.
#22 – Alexandr Dolgopolov (11/88) – Talk about an enigma. Alexandr looked like he was going to rise quickly when he made it to the QF of the 2011 Australian Open, but has been erratic since. Sometimes he looks like a top 10 player, sometimes he goes out in the first round of a tournament. He finished 2011 at #15 and 2012 at #18; he’s now #22, so the trajectory is not a good one. He needs to straighten things out – he’s going to turn 25 at the end of the year, so he should be playing at his best by now. That said, I see him more in the Gasquet/Cilic mold – very talented, but probably not a regular in the top 10.
#24 – Jerzy Janowicz (11/90) – Jerzy bust on the scene last year by making it to the final of the Paris Masters, plowing through Andy Murray and a few other top 20 players before David Ferrer taught the youngster a lesson. He followed up with a solid Australian Open, losing in the 3R to Nicolas Almagro. Jerzy is somewhat similar to Milos Raonic: A big man with a big serve, although his serve isn’t as good as Milos’s. That said, his overall game might be as good or better. Like Raonic, he could be a spoiler this year. I think he’ll have his ups and down but will finish the year in the top 20, maybe higher, and have a chance for big things in 2014.
#29 – Martin Klizan (7/89) – Martin Klizan, you ask? Well, he had a strong performance at the US Open last year – making it to the 4R – and then following it up with an ATP 250 win in St Petersburg, defeating Fabio Fognini. Klizan won’t be an elite player but he could be a perennial top 20 player.
#31 – Grigor Dimitrov (5/91) – Ah, Grigor, what a tease. He still hasn’t gone past the 2R at a Slam, but has risen about 30 spots in each of the last two years, finishing 106, 76, and 48 in 2010-12, and already has risen half that in this early season. Baby Fed is talented, although probably not talented enough to live up to his nickname. But I can’t help but like him – he DOES have some of Roger’s smoothness, and he’ll occasionally offer a backhand and/or dropshot reminiscent of the Great One. But let’s look at Dimitrov for what he is: A rising talent, but probably not an all-time great. At almost 22, it may be a bit too late for that. But I do have high hopes for Grigor. I think he could be one of a few players–along with Raonic, Janowicz, and Tomic, maybe one or two others–that will start taking tournaments from the Big Four in the next two or three years as they begin to age. In other words, a 21-year old Dimitrov might not be a challenge for a 25-year old Djokovic, but a 24-year old Dimitrov might challenge a 28-year old Djokovic.
Expect Grigor to firmly place himself in the top 20 by the end of this year, and perhaps vie for the top 10 next year. He may not be a future #1, but in another two or three years he could be one of the 5-10 best players in the game.
#40 – Benoit Paire (5/89) – For some reason I pair Paire (pun intended) with Klizan. Both will turn 24 in a few months, both seem to have similar upside – top 15-20 at best. Paire hasn’t won a tournament yet, although has made it to two ATP 250 finals, most recently losing to Richard Gasquet in Montpellier. Paire has yet to make it past the 3R at a Grand Slam and most recently went out in the 1R in Australia, so he needs to up his game a bit at the Slams.
#45 – Bernard Tomic (10/92) – The second great tease of this list. Bernard is one of the few players on this list that actually took a slight step back in the rankings, finishing 2011 at #42 and 2012 at #52. But that’s largely due to the fact that he made it to the QF of 2011 Wimbledon, although had an overall slightly better year in 2012 – and certainly played a fuller schedule. i think Tomic is ready to rise up the rankings and, like Dimitrov, could end the year in the top 20. He could suprise, though, and make it to another Slam QF this year.
#54 – David Goffin (12/90) – I can’t help but like David Goffin. He started on the tour late, but made his mark last year by making it to the 4R at the French Open and the 3R at Wimbledon. But he only played in three ATP 1000 tournaments, and only made it past the qualifications once, so this year could see a lot of points added. I don’t see an elite player but, like Klizan and Paire, he could find himself a regular place in the top 20.
#83 – Evgeny Donskoy (5/90) – He’ll be 23 soon, but he bears watching. Why? Well, in his first Slam that he made it past the Qualifications, he made it to the 3R, defeating Adrian Ungur and then Mikhail Youzhny before losing to Kei Nishikori. Yesterday he defeated Tatsumo Ito and will face Andy Murray in the 2R at Indian Wells, so his journey likely ends there. But again, he bears watching. He could rise quickly and enter the top 40-50 in short time.
Bonus player…
#330 – Nick Kyrgios (4/95) – Nick Kyrgios? Well, he’s 17 years old and is the highest ranked teenager in the ATP Race Ranking right now, which isn’t saying much but says something. He won the boys event at the AO and is now on the men’s tour. I know nothing about his skills but it is hard not to take notice of a 17-year old on the tour…let’s hope he does well!
Honorable Mentions – Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock, Rhyne Williams, Matthew Barton.
Stanislas Wawrinka inflicated a straight sets 6-1, 6-2 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Masters, Monte Carlo.
Going into the match with an 8-4 Head to Head advantage, Murray had a poor service day and was severely punished by the Swiss Number 2.
Murray’s game was uncharacteristically littered with unforced errors. In all, twenty four and he highlighted this during the post match press conference as the main reason for the manner in which he capitulated.
Wawrinka, who showcased his talent during a tough loss to World #1 Novak Djokovic in Australia, again showed that when at his best, he is more than capable. After a tough opening service game, where was forced to save a break point, he went on to dominate the match convincingly, breaking Murray on three consecutive occasions during a one sided opening stanza.
Murray was better in the second set, but not good enough to check a range of winners from all around the court as Wawrinka refused to take the foot of the gas. A miserable performance was brought to an end by the scot netting for Wawrinka to take the match 6-1, 6-2.
Stan now takes on JW Tsonga in Round 4, while Murray flies to Madrid to prepare for the next masters event in the European clay swing.
As follows are the Thursday results for the Men’s Singles at Monte Carlo, including one or two surprises:
Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat 5-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 6-4 4-6 7-6(4)
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat 14-Juan Monaco (Argentina) 4-6 6-2 6-2
7-Richard Gasquet (France) beat 9-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 7-5 6-4
13-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat 2-Andy Murray (Britain) 6-1 6-2
Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-2 6-4
3-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat 16-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-2 6-4
Fabio Fognini (Italy) beat 4-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-2
6-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Jurgen Melzer (Austria) 6-3 6-0
For those who aren’t familiar with the term, “mid-carders” is used in Boxing and MMA to describe fighters who aren’t super high profile and don’t main event, but fill up the rest of the card.
A lot of them fighters made a living being exciting mid-carders, putting on good fights, and became fan favorites.
I feel that right now, tennis is lacking in that regard. The “main eventers” are all there (with the exception of Nadal who is injured), and the top 5-7 is still exciting filled with great players (many argue the top 4 is the best ever, and it has a solid case), but beyond that, I feel the list is growing thin.
The biggest indicator is the somewhat dull nature of the AO (even on paper) in the first week, where not a lot of intriguing match-ups are taking place, something that is actually quite unusual. Of course, the second week is where things get really interesting, but we’ve always had good encounters in the first 3 rounds, something that has been missing recently (again, this is strictly on paper, as sometimes matches can surprise us.. like Nadal-Rosol).
To highlight my point, allow me to look at the list of players ranked between 11 and 20:
11 Almagro, Nicolas
12 Monaco, Juan
13 Isner, John
14 Cilic, Marin
15 Raonic, Milos
16 Simon, Gilles
17 Wawrinka, Stanislas
18 Nishikori, Kei
19 Kohlschreiber, Philipp
20 Dolgopolov, Alexandr
I don’t know about you, but that’s a truly underwhelming list of players to me. For people ranked so high, none of these players have done anything of note as of late.
It gets even worse the further you go down the list. Here are those ranked between 21 and 30:
21 Haas, Tommy (GER)
22 Querrey, Sam (USA)
23 Seppi, Andreas (ITA)
24 Verdasco, Fernando (ESP)
25 Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS)
26 Janowicz, Jerzy (POL)
27 Fish, Mardy (USA)
28 Mayer, Florian (GER)
29 Melzer, Jurgen (AUT)
30 Klizan, Martin (SVK)
Again, no disrespect to any player, but with the exception of Fish (who’s injured, and maybe an in form Haas or Youzhny, would you get excited to see any of them in action?
While it’s been quite a great time for tennis at the top (the slams being split among the top 4 last year was great), with Federer pushing father time, Nadal’s knees pushing hospital doors, and no exciting young talent showing any real promise, the tour might suffer greatly in two years, with only Novak and Murray to carry it (I’m sure that won’t be 100% accurate as someone will emerge, but you get the point).
The difference between the tour now and say, 2-3 years ago, is that back then, in addition to the top 4 and the perennial top 10’ers like Del Potro, Tsonga, Berdych (and Soderling, who was still playing), you had the older generation who still had some tennis in them to make things interesting. Davydenko was still a force (at least by his standards), Roddick still had good tennis in him, Hewitt was less washed up than he is now, Nalbandian and Gonzalez still knew how to swing a racquet, etc…
This might not feel like a big deal now, but these players actually added depth to the tour, so when you get a 4th round match-up between say, Federer and Hewitt (2010 AO), it meant something, regardless of whether or not the outcome was in doubt (even at last year’s AO, Djokovic vs. Hewitt had a big-time feel to it).
With the older generation hanging up their racquets completely (Safin, Roddick, Gonzalez), or not having much left in them, the lack of up-and coming players to occupy their spots in the top 20/top 30 became quite evident, and as a result, we’re all just killing time waiting for the second week of a GS for things to become interesting. Think of it this way, how many matches/potential matches not involving Novak, Fed or Murray are you looking forward to this week?