The Future – Junior Tennis #1

I think about lots of things: how do fax machines and cell phones work; why can’t I do maths, what was Osama Bin Laden’s favourite type of porn, how the hell is Jennifer Anniston not married, how can anyone find ‘Friends’ funnier than ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ (I’m especially looking at you Europe and you … women) and where will the next great crop of tennis players come from?

Novak Djokovic’s Ascent

For Novak, this has been an incredible year. To lose just one match, to Roger Federer at the French Open, and having two Grand Slams and the number one ranking under his belt, may seem to anyone like a lot of pressure to bear. I agree with the pressure, but I think he’ll do very well regardless. His tennis is simple, pure, powerful, and he hits as much topspin as needed to keep the ball in the court. Roger Federer took a lot more risks which Rafa Nadal countered successfully by keeping the ball in play. But this tactic did not fare well for either of them with Novak, who not only hit the ball hard but also safe.

It will be interesting how technique and tactics fare in the upcoming months. Physical health will also play a role. At the best of three sets anything can happen, but with matches extended to five sets, as in the Slams, it is quite unlikely. You have to play well and be superbly fit.

The Story Behind Charisma

Many people were impressed by young Charisma who is featured in this video (also on the homepage of OscarWegner.com). Below is a writeup from her father Chris:

In the Xmas of 2006 my wife Irene gave me a present with Oscar’s DVD’s and his book ‘Play Better Tennis in 2hrs’, of course I was very skeptical and I actually remember saying to Charisma’s mum ‘Why have you wasted money on this, I don’t need DVD’s or books to tell me how to play tennis…To this day I still regret saying those words.

The Tennis Experiment

I’m never making a bet with one of my junior players again – never.

“Mate, if you win the under 14’s – Austrian championships – then I’ll sign up for one of the futures tournies here and you can come and laugh your arse off,” I said.

This particular kid of mine went on to win the under 14 championships and I had to carry out my punishment.

Crap.

Mailbag

Since nothing is really going on, I figured now was as good a time as any for a post Wimbledon/pre-hardcourt season mailbag.

Ehhhh …

How dare you say nothing is going on! Yesterday I was out there grinding away on the claycourts in Stuttgart trying to rediscover the form that made me the sexy pick to win the 2010 Australian Open. But sadly, instead of scaring Federer in the quarters in front of a packed out centre court in Melbourne, I spent my Tuesday blowing a one set to love lead to a German kid who had never won an ATP tour match before. What the hell is going on with me?

Nikolay Davydenko

THE David Ferrer

A 5’9″ 29-year-old streetfighter who once described himself as the worst player in the top 100, just spent his weekend chopping the head off the US Davis Cup snake for another year.

(Tangent alert: The US Davis Cup team isn’t exactly your mother and fathers davis cup team. When I was growing up it mainly consisted of Agassi and his fake mullet, Sampras, Gordon Gecko Courier and maybe Johnny Mac or someone playing doubles. This snake was a god damn King Cobra. Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick’s rotting corpse stepping out there for the singles … despite their rankings, is a skinny sea snake at best. Although huge points for Courier’s wall street look. Heah Jim, “lunch is for wimps.”)

The Game of World Domination

My favourite board game is Risk. My favourite sport is Tennis. As for the Davis Cup, well this is basically ‘Risk’ played with tennis rackets.

The captain of each team – you – gets allocated a certain number of soldiers – the players – to start each tie – the game – and then has to place them in some sort of lineup – put them on countries – before going and attacking another country.

Two Tight Wimbledon Finalists Don’t Play Their Best

Maria Sharapove had a problem. She obviously had been coached to stay down on each groundstroke. Rather than the beautiful lift she showed for years, belting groundstrokes with a bit of a roil, her now flat groundstrokes sailed often out. Pressured by an inspired and outstanding opponent, gone was the confidence that she seemed to exude.

Power without topspin is too risky and errors accumulate.

Nadal had a somewhat similar problem. He tried to hit through Djokovic and Djoko responded with at times more topspin than Nadal Violent groundstroke exchanges led to more errors from Nadal than from Djokovic, especially on very important points. It surprised me that Nadal looked so unhappy and uptight. Perhaps his four previous losses this year to the same player predisposed him for a bad match. He was a picture of discontent when he briefly shook hands. Perhaps his coaching team had planned the wrong tactics, while Djokovic’s, perfect ones.

Djokovic v Nadal – The Facts

At the start of the Dawson and Downey trial on ‘A Few Good Men’, Captain Jack Ross sums up his opening remarks with the phrase, “those are the facts, and they are indisputable.”

With that in mind, here are the facts from the Nadal v Djokovic Wimbledon final:

A Running Diary of The Wild Horse v Murray

Murray v Nadal … Wimbledon semifinals … you know the history so let’s not stuff around.

Two things before we kick things off:

1. If I was lord/chairman/president/royal airforce commander or first sea lord of Wimbledon then I’m leaving half a dozen John Smiths under everyone’s seat, playing Tony D’Mato’s inches speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b7bgtu2O4E on the scoreboard screen during the warm-up and then showing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtAdneAfzcc while the players are taking their final warm-up serves … Like you wouldn’t wanna see that.
2. If you want to read an insane amount of dribble for the next 5-10 minutes, then keep reading.