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.

Mardy I understand your pain!

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Caroline Wozniacki rips out an amazing serve to ace Mardy Fish at the Hopman Cup 2012.

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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!

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@bgtennisnation A bet is a bet. Burger King on me!

October 3, 2011 1:49 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@MardyFish

Mardy Fish

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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.”

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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

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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.

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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

Womens injuries so far:

• Serena Williams – Aggravation of toe injury
• Andrea Petkovic – Torn meniscus
• Kim Clijsters – Withdrawn – Abdominal muscle tear
• Venus Williams – Recovering from virus

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