Mardy Fish struggled in Melbourne and is out of the Australian Open 2012. Fish lost to Alejandro Falla 6-7 3-6 6-7 and freely expressed his irritation that Falla was treated for cramps at the change of ends.
“I see that guy’s called the trainer three, four times, however many times he was out there. It’s hot and I’m down two sets to love and I’m looking for anything to sort of gain the momentum a little bit. They’re making the balls bigger and heavier. They’re making it to where it’s such a physical match now that you’re going to have guys that are going to abuse that a lot. So, yeah, I thought he was having some physical issues. But then in between on every point he was totally fine.
We have reached the last tournament of the ATP season featuring the 8 best players of the year competing for the ultimate honor in men’s tennis. Let’s take a look at the two groups and who will feature in each one.
Group A:
1. Novak Djokovic
3. Andy Murray
5. David Ferrer
7. Tomas Berdych
Group B:
2. Rafael Nadal
4. Roger Federer
6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Mardy Fish
Play is due to start on Sunday November 20, 2011 at 7 am Eastern time with coverage being streamed on the Tennis Channel in the US. First up is Group B with Federer vs Tsonga and later on Nadal vs Fish. There should be some very good tennis up on display during the week and it will be exciting to see which of the Top 4 will hold up best, or if a dark horse should emerge from the shadows to claim the title at this year’s year-ending championships. Stay tuned!
Mardy Fish is still going strong towards the end of 2011. Mardy has defeated Bernard Tomic to make the semifinals of the Japan Open. Im really surprised how good Fish has been playing in the second half of 2011. Hopefully he can improve over the summer and be ready for even better results at the Australian Open.
Labor Day at the US Open wasnt a great day for Mardy Fish. Fish was very upset after dropping his first service game in the final set of his match against Jo Wilfried Tsonga.
But it was hugs at the net in the end.
Mardy did his best to explain the incident in the pressroom:
“I was talking to the umpire. I probably shouldn’t have said that. Like I said, we were fired up,” Fish said.
Jo-Wilfried revealed himself to be completely unreasonable and probably a dumbass:
“I just hear he was a bit upset at somebody in my box,” Tsonga said. “So, you know, I think we are just here to play tennis. I just said, ‘Okay, I will go tell them to stop, and that’s it.’ There is no problem.”
“With Mardy, it’s all the time friendly. It’s good.”
Players at the US Open have been worrying about Hurricane Irene. Mardy Fish tweeted his Hurricane pack! The message associated with the picture was, “Bring it Irene!”
Mardy Fish v. Tobias Kamke- Enjoying by far the best year of his career, Mardy Fish will be looking to make a deep run in the 2011 US Open. In the first round he will be facing Tobias Kamke from Germany. Kamke will be no light task as the speedy Germany possesses an all around game with no overwhelming weaknesses. Kamke generates a ton of racket speed off both sides and will be looking to dictate play from the baseline by taking the ball early when given the opportunity. With this being said, Fish will undoubtedly have to work but should be able to make it through unscathed.
Prediction:Fish in 3
Roger Federer v. Santiago Giraldo- This first round match is about as lopsided as it gets. Giraldo is a defensive baseliner from Colombia who does not have any weapons to threaten Federer and really prefers the Clay courts to which his style of play is much better suited. Federer should be able to use this match to build form for the rest of the tournament. I don’t see any possible way for Federer to lose this match barring an injury.
Prediction: Federer in 3
Ryan Harrison v. Marin Cilic- This is an extremely intriguing matchup. You have the young American upstart in Ryan Harrison looking to breakthrough in a major for the first time and accelerate his already inclining career path. In contrast, Marin Cilic is attempting to regain the form that cemented his spot in the top 10 and spurred him to an Australian Open semifinal in 2010. Cilic has not won a grand slam match this season and this match very well could lead to his completion of a “grand slam”- losing in the first round of all four majors. Look for Harrison to relentlessly attack the Cilic forehand as it contains a lot of wrist action and is prone to breaking down. Overall, I think Harrison plays a more reliable, gutsy, confidence driven game and at this moment is in a better spot in his career despite being ranked lower.
Prediction: Harrison in 4
Gael Monfils v. Grigor Dimitrov- This is an absolutely fantastic first round match between quite possibly the future of men’s tennis in Dimitrov and arguably the most electrifying player on tour in Monfils. Dimitrov is surely going to give Monfils everything he can handle and really make him work hard to earn his passage through to the 2nd round. This match will really be predicated on whether the passive or aggressive Monfils shows up. If Monfils chooses to camp back 2 miles behind the baseline and retrieve with his exceptional defensive abilities, he really is not setting himself up with the best chance to win. Dimitrov has incredible shot making ability and if he is on, playing defensive is simply not going to work out for Monfils. If Monfils chooses to play more offensively, this could be a slugfest. I expect Monfils will draw substantial confidence from his performance against Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati and in the end find a suitable balance between offense and defense that will be too much for Dimitrov to counter.
Prediction: Monfils in 4
Ivo Karlovic v. Fernando Gonzalez- Many people might be surprised to find out that Fernando Gonzalez in fact still does play tennis being he has only played 6 tour level matches this season. Plagued by a knee injury in the first half of 2011, Gonzo faces a formidable challenge in the big serving Croatian. I really see this match as one that is going to be very difficult for Gonzalez to win. Only having played one hard court match this summer, Gonzo is lacking match play and there is no worse player to try to develop rhythm against than Karlovic.
Prediction: Karlovic in 4 (expect a few tiebreakers)
Kohlschreiber v. Stepanek- Stepanek has enjoyed greater success on the American hard courts than Kohlschreiber this summer and leads their head to head 4-1. Kohlschreiber is a personal favorite of mine but unfortunately the craft and finesse of Stepanek will prove too much for the German.
Prediction: Stepanek in 4 tight sets
Other Matches:
Malisse v. Granollers- Toss up match. Neither player has won a hard court match this summer and Granollers has not even played in a hard court tournament. This is a tough call, but I am going to say the X-man in five unentertaining sets.
Prediction: Malisse in 5
Monaco v. Seppi- This could be a long, drawn out match as both of these guys prefer to grind it out from the baseline. Monaco definitely has a greater ability to turn defense into offense and pull the trigger.
Prediction: Monaco in 5
Rounding off Day 1…
Montanes over Kukushkin in 5, Ferrero over Andujar in 3, Dolgpolov over Gil in 3, Petzschner over Ramos in 3, Fognini over Zeballos in 5, Llodra over Hanescu in 3, Tipsarevic over Gensse in 3, Nishikori over Cipolla in 3, Gasquet over Stakhovsky in 3, Haas over Dasnieres De Veigy in 5, Troicki over Falla in 4, Berdych of Jouan in 3, Anderson over Soeda in 3
Upsets: Sela over Bellucci in 4, Jaziri over De Bakker in 5
If you were to ask the casual tennis fan to name as many American male tennis players off of the top of their head as possible, most would easily name Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick, and John Isner. After these three, a blank would be drawn. The lack of resurgence from American male players since the end of the Sampras-Agassi era has been disappointing in the eyes of many fans to say the least. The only two American players to have reached a Grand Slam semifinal since 2003 are Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick. In the defense of American players, the male game has become very top heavy in recent years with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic becoming fixtures in the final four of majors.
The letdown of American male tennis players in the last 5-7 years is often viewed the wrong way. Many have been led to believe that there simply has been a lag in American talent. This statement is easily falsifiable. Currently, there are 10 Americans in the top 100 in the world. This is the most of any country apart from Spain, which has 13 men ranked in the top 100.
Now this begs question of has there actually been a letdown of talent or a failure of high expectations? I think undoubtedly the latter is the answer. Following the legacies of greats such as Agassi, Sampras, and Courier is no short task. It would be unreasonable to expect any group of any players from any country during any time period to achieve on the same level as these Americans did during the 80s’ and 90s.
If you go back in history, the only county since the beginning of the open era (1968) to achieve something comparable to what the Americans of the 1990′s achieved were Swedes in the 70s and 80s. Wilander, Borg, and Edberg combined for 24 grand slams over an 18 year period. The combination of Agassi, Sampras, Courier, collected 27 grandslams in 13 years.
A prime example of a player that has “failed” in the eyes of many Americans is Donald Young. When Donald Young was 15 people were sighting him as the next big star and a shoe in as a future number one based on his success at Junior National Championships in Kalamazoo which he was winning. Currently ranked 89th in the world, Young is 22 and already considered a bust. It is extremely premature to declare the career of a 22 year old a disappointment. Recently, many players have enjoyed their greatest successes near the end of their careers. Two examples of this are Mardy Fish, who has surged to a career high ranking of number 7 at age 29 and Jurgen Melzer, a journeymen Austrian who made his deepest career run in every single major coincidentally at the age of 29.
With players on the rise such as Mardy Fish, Ryan Harrison, Sam Querrey, Donald Young, John Isner, Alex Bogomolov Jr. , and Ryan Sweeting the future of American tennis appears to be very promising. And while this group of players will unlikely achieve the greatness of those in the 1990s, it would be wise to hold off on the bust word for a while.
The injury list for the US Open is growing by the day, so it is going to be a very interesting tournament. The only top male player not on the list is Roger Federer.
Novak Djokovic – Shoulder and general fatigue. Has had some issues with patella tendinitis this season
Rafael Nadal – Large burn blisters on fingers and left foot
Andy Murray – Sore arm
Mardy Fish – Heel
Tomas Berdych – Shoulder
Robin Soderling – Wrist – he has announced he will travel to NYC
Jo Wilfried Tsonga – Arm. Ultrasound showed no muscle tear after he withdrew in Montreal.
Andy Roddick – Recently pulled out of Montreal with an oblique but played in Cincinnati.
Milos Raonic – Recovering from hip surgery
David Ferrer – Recovering from hairline fracture in left hand
Tommy Robredo – Withdrawn – Ongoing groin issues
Sam Querrey – Withdrawn – Recovering from elbow surgery (spurs)
Juan Carlos Ferrero – Recovering from multiple injuries
Mardy Fish is having yet another strong tournament in the USA with a win over Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup. Fish won 6-3 6-7 6-0.
Radek Stepanek has performed amazingly well and has found a way to win the ATP Tour title in Washington.
Stepanek was a little lucky as Mardy Fish had to withdraw from the tournament, but he had a string of very solid wins, including the final where he beat Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4 to take the title.
This is Stepanek’s fifth title and his first ATP 500 win. At 32, he is the oldest player in the top 100.
Who would have expected that. Ernests Gulbis win the Los Angeles title by defeating Mardy Fish in the final. Ernests won 5-7 6-4 6-4.
Before the tournament began Ernests had been on a big losing streak and at this tournament he decided to bring back his part-time coach Guillermo Canas and now look at the results!
Congrats Ernests! Hopefully you can finally live up to your potential!
Mardy Fish has been able to win the Atlanta Tennis Championships after saving two match points. Mardy won 3-6 7-6 6-2 to take the title.
Fish was down 5-1 in the tiebreaker and saved two match points to come back and win the title in three sets.
“When you’re in that position, it’s almost over,” Fish said. “I was lucky to get out of it. I played some good points. I don’t think he missed any first serves there. I stuck some returns and put some balls in play.”
“I didn’t necessarily change anything tactically,” Fish said. “I took care of my serve games a little bit better once I lost serve in the first game of the second.”
Matthew Ebden of Australia won his second straight doubles title, teaming this week with Alex Bogomolov Jr., in a 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 super-tiebreaker victory over Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser of Germany.
There were some very interesting results today. Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray easily won through into the fourth, although Murray did twist his ankle mid way through the match but was able to close it out. Gilles Simon continued his impressive run with a strong win over Mardy Fish. I tipped Simon to be a very strong contender this year and he is living up to the hype.
Novak Djokovic continued his winning streak with a four set win over Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro is heading back from injury so expect better results from him later in the year.
The upset of the day belonged to Ivan Ljubicic who defeated Fernando Verdasco (16) 6-3 7-6 6-4.
Womens Singles:
In the womens side of the draw it was a bit boring today. All the top seeds pushed through, except Kaia Kanepi (16) who lost to Ekaterina Marakova in straight sets 6-4 7-5.
The other day we reported about Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish receiving a fine because they didnt play their doubles final in Rome, this was all due to Roddick’s shoulder injury. It seemed at the time that they were only fined because the ATP thought Andy was faking in injury to make sure he could play the French Open.
Well it has turned out that Andy was in fact injured and is now not even able to play at the French Open starting tomorrow.
Ohhhh this seems to yet be another big mistake from the ATP! Its about time that actually talked to the players more and took some advice.
It seems as though Andy Roddick has spoken out about his recent docking of prize money due to an injury.
“We’re going to have to beg for the money we’ve earned. Why should Mardy be punished when I can’t play? Mardy has played the (semifinal) match, he won the match, he earned the money, you can’t take away something he has already done. This is embarrassing for the tour.”
Andy was talking about the fine him and Mardy Fish received ($42,800) when they pulled out of the Rome doubles final.
David Ferrer decided that his poor play was because of a crying baby in the crowd. Ferrer lost his match to Mardy Fish and decided to lob a ball at the crying baby to get it to shut up.
Fish added, “ I didn’t see him do that. I obviously know that it’s going on. He’d probably take that one back if he could. He’s a very nice guy. Obviously flustered.”
Slovakian glamour girl, Daniela Hantuchova, is the latest to confirm her attendance at the Brisbane International in January.
The world number 19 was a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2008 and broke into the top 10 when she reached number 5 in August 2002.
She will be joined by French Open Champion Ana Ivanovic and reigning Australian Women’s Hardcourt Champion Na Li in the women’s draw.
The men’s draw boasts Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marcos Baghdatis, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Mardy Fish with the player cut off date, for the tournament ,on the 21 November.
Daniela Hantuchova said “I am really excited about returning to Australia and playing a strong field in the lead up to the Grand Slam.
“I took home some really nice memories last year. It was something very special for me.
“With my preparation this year and the quality field at the Brisbane International, I will be even more ready.
“I love Australia and have played in tournaments there since 2001. I am looking forward to playing in this new event and challenging some high quality players in the lead up to the Australian Open.”
