By: Big T

Wednesday, a week ago, Tom and I got together to podcast episode 67. We recorded a hour and 15 minute podcast through Skype using a new program I had just bought the day before. When I went to edit it, I noticed that Tom and I were out of sync. This means that I would say something that I actually said 15 seconds later over Tom. There was nothing that I could do about it and therefore the podcast was lost. This can be a result of Skype since its famous problems surfaced the next day. Since we were both busy we decided to just podcast again the next week.

That day only came 8 days later since Tom was busy at work and I had a lot of chores and summer homework to do. So we got together on that Thursday. 15 minutes into the podcast I noticed that Tom’s voice kept on getting clipped. It got progressively worse to the point where whole sentences would be erased so after 35 minutes of recording we had to abandon that podcast too.

The plan was then that Marcus (who decided to take a secondary role in the podcast from now on) and I were supposed to podcast this week end. That never happened because of two reasons. We had further sound problems and technical problems this time not related to Skype and we got very busy again with family obligations.

Now school starts Wednesday and we already have to work on school work so time has run out. We would love to then start with our week end podcasts again but just this week end we are going to Germany for a big family party which will make us miss the second and third day of school and put us behind with work already. So the earliest that we will be able to podcast again will be at the end of the US Open if we are lucky. Tom on the other hand will be at the Open himself and therefore will also not be able to podcast but will definitely be enjoying himself.
I would have loved to do the normal Grand Slam coverage with previews, recaps, captions and competitions but this won’t be possible this time because of the school workload. I am so sorry about that and I hope that all you listeners will stick with us. We are missing a crucial time in tennis but after the open we will be back with great coverage. I won Davis Cup tickets for the Croatia-UK match up in Wimbledon. Out of pure luck this I will be there for Tim Henman’s last match as a professional player.

I hope everybody understands what has been going on. These technical problems can tear one apart. They take all motivation and confidence away. We will be back so stick with us.

By: Christopher Stromeyer

Tim Henman who is on free fall in the rankings right now falling to 92nd after being a top 40 player a year ago. He admitted that he does not have any long term visions at all and that things are just not getting better. The 33 year old Brit was supposed to play this week in New Haven but he was forced to retire so that he could compete at the US Open, which starts Sunday. Back problems and many other injuries have slowed him down and affected his game for a couple of years now. He said, “It’s just frustrating that my body has struggled to cope with what I’ve been asking it to do”. Henman says that he still has hunger for the game but that his family has made him look at things differently. Many expected him to retire at Wimbledon next year but it now looks like that was too hopeful. He announced that he is giving a press conference on Thursday in New York. The Times reported that the Brit will probably play the US Open and then retire at the Davis Cup Qualification match against Croatia in September at Wimbledon. Many will hate to see one of the last true serve and volley players to leave the tour. For more information click here and here.

Nadal will not Change Schedule to Catch up to Federer

Before Nadal’s retirement in Cincinnati and Federer’s win over Blake in the final Nadal had a considerable chance of catching up to Federer in the rankings. He was only about 1,500 points behind. Even though that might sound like a huge number it was not much since Federer still had to defend titles at the US Open, in Tokyo, in Basel, at the Masters Series event in Madrid and at the Masters Cup in Shanghai. At the same time Nadal, who had a poor end of season last year, had little to defend. Federer’s big chance was at Cincinnati since he had lost in the second round against Andy Murray there the previous year. He took the chance when all his big rivals fell early (Nadal, Djokovic, Roddick) and won the title with relative ease. This now puts him 2,100 points ahead of his immediate threat. Since Federer has so much to defend the Spaniard still has a chance to catch up but he told media that he would not add events to his schedule to do so. He said, “I am not thinking about number one”. The big question is when is Nadal’s opportunity going to be there. Many believe that it is now or never since Djokovic is slowly closing in. It now looks like Federer has the number one spot in his grasp, especially because he will probably perform better than his Spanish counterpart in the last couple of months of the season. For more information click here.
The ATP is Carrying Forward a Gambling Investigation

It did not look like the ATP was taking immediate action after the suspected max fixing incident a few weeks back where Davydenko was accused of purposely losing his match against Vassallo Arguello. The ATP now announced that they will be using BHA Integrity Team’s expertise to carry on the investigation. They also announced that two private investigators are on the case. BHA has a great tool for statistical analysis and it will apparently be included in this important process. Gambling is something that can kill any sport and it is great to hear that the ATP is doing something about it. The ATP Chairman, Etienne de Villiers said, �??We are committed to a thorough, fair and comprehensive ATP investigation.” This investigation will probably take months and it will be hard to find enough proof to convict any player or gambling organization but it is good to hear that at least something is being done. For more information click here.

Amelie Mauresmo Withdraws from US Open

Amelie Mauresmo continues to struggle with form and motivation problems. Her last WTA tournament was Wimbledon, as a defending champion, where she made a fourth round exit. She then performed poorly in a Fed Cup tie with France. She is now not expected to return to the courts until mid September in Bangkok. For a while now Mauresmo said that she is lacking the motivation to play on the tour. Just over a year ago she was the dominant player in the WTA tour and it looked like few could stop her. She had an appendix operation last February and she has since been suffering from serious after effects and a general lack of motivation. She said, “I need to take the necessary time off to get my motivation back and to get back to my top level.” The Frenchwoman is still working out to stay in shape but admitted to not picking up a racket at all in the last few weeks. Mauresmo has such strength and power that she can probably make a successful comeback but it awaits to be seen if she has the motivation to do so. For more information click here.

By: Christopher Stromeyer

By: Big T

Just 6 years and a month later tennis fans might be looking at a similar scenario. This time it is between Federer, who is getting closer and closer to achieving indisputable G.O.A.T. honors, and Novak Djokovic, a 20 year old Serb who is currently having a break out year. For over a year Djokovic has been considered as the most mature of his generation of “young guns” which includes players like Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and Jarkko Nieminem. In 2007 he became the first of the group to reach the top ten. He started out the year in spectacular fashion with a win in the opening week in Adelaide. He continued by finishing second in Indian Wells and winning the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. His run did not finish there as he went on to win on clay in Estoril. He then reached the semifinals in both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, losing both matches against Nadal. To that point the young Serb had already established himself as one of the best players on the tour and as one of the few players that could beat Roger Federer. That opportunity finally came in Canada, at the Rogers Masters, where he might have turned the tide of tennis history.

Roger Federer is not having his best year but nevertheless a great one. Before reaching Canada he had only lost to Nadal on clay two times, to Filippo Volandri and to Guillermo Canas on back to back Masters Series events in the Spring on hard court. For the first time in 4 years he has shown some irregularity on surfaces besides clay. Even though he lost surprising matches to Canas and Volandri he was still able to win 2 Grand Slam titles, defeat Nadal on clay and continue his unbeaten streak at Wimbledon. Every loss in a final so far this year has been to Nadal. That all changed in the Rogers Masters, which finished yesterday.

Both players had great runs to the final. Federer was able to dispatch most opponents easily and only had a little trouble with Ivo Karlovic and considerable difficulty with Lleyton Hewitt. It was Djokovic that had a dream run to the final. He beat Andy Roddick in the quarters and put out an unbelievable performance against Rafael Nadal in the semis. On the first Masters Series event of the US Open Series there was already a stellar final with the greatest player of the moment and a player who many believe to be Roger’s successor. It promised to be a great match and it did not disappoint. Beating Roddick and Nadal was not enough for the Djoko who put out a one in a lifetime show to defeat, upset and maybe dethrone Roger Federer. Federer had 6 set points in the first set after breaking Djokovic in the 11th game and going up 40-love. The Swiss has always been one of the better finishers on the tour but the Serb stayed in there and in some unknown way caused Federer to make more unforced errors than one is used to seeing. Novak carried on the momentum and took the tie break 7-2, capitalizing on his first set point. Federer almost always finds ways to come back when he is down. He did that in the second set by putting pressure on Djokovic’s serve. After being tied at 2-2 he won 4 consecutive games to take the set. It was then Djokovic’s turn to react. He did just that and got an early break in the third game of the third and final set. Federer made another comeback to level the match at 4-4. The match was then forced into a tie break where Djokovic again proved to be more precise and more aggressive. He took the tie break with a beautiful lob over Federer and finishing it with a score of 7-2. This was the fifth meeting between the two players and the first win for Djokovic who took the match 7-6(2), 2-6, 7-6(2).

The Serb has always been praised for having a very complete game, similar to the one of the current world number 1. Even though he did not play a good second set he was superior to Federer in many ways. He was more consistent throughout the match, showed a great ability to play well on set and match points and was more consistent in the tie breaks. Federer has always been praised for his mental game, especially his ability to play big on important moments, but this time the man who threatens to be his successor was better in that regard. Throughout the match Djokovic executed a reverse cross court forehand to Federer’s backhand (his only notable weakness) which produced some great results. For the first time since 1994 (Boris Becker) a player was able to beat the top three players in the tour in the same tournament. It is no small achievement as Djokovic beat the three styles that dominate tennis today on the surface where none of them is favored. He overcame Roddick’s huge serve, Nadal’s powerful and heavy ground strokes and Federer’s variety of perfect strokes. The former young gun showed everyone that he can play on all surfaces, beat all the dominant styles and beat even the most mentally tough players on the tour. He does so by playing maturely and consistently. The perfect game to become the next world number 1.

Djokovic is known to be the “Joker” or “Djoker” because of his ability to throw jokes at will. During the match he refrains from doing so and plays great tennis but after winning such a great match he did not hold back. It all started out with a huge mistake by the announcer. By now most tennis fans, and especially the people working at tennis tournaments, know that the new star in tennis is Serbian. The announcer seemed to think otherwise. He said, “And with you, the new champion….. from Croatia, Novak Djokovic!”. A blunder that he should probably get fired for. Novak didn’t mind at all and just corrected him politely. He then went back to his joking way by saying, “Roger, don’t get angry with me, but I have to tell you: you can’t win everything”. He went on to say, “It’s a dream to heave beaten who is probably the best player in history”. He then also said that it was great to win two tie breaks against the most mentally tough player in the world. he finished by saying, “I played amazing tennis”. Federer responded by saying, “He is definitely one of the best players in the world and he deserved to win.” We know that he is one of the best players but the big question is: is he the best? and did he dethrone Roger Federer?

The victory put his amazing year just a step further into an extraordinary one. It put him third in the world, displacing Roddick. Tennis fans should now call the big two of Federer and Nadal, the big 3 since Djokovic proved that he is at that level. He showed the world that he could beat Federer and that he has everything to become the great player that everyone expects him to be. In a year where Federer showed irregularities for the first time since becoming world number 1 the last thing he needed was being beaten by a player that threatens to dethrone him. Tennis fans can’t call it the decisive match that marked the end of one reign and started the next yet for a few reasons. First of all we have to wait a few years to see what happens. When Federer beat Sampras he was defeating the King of Grass. This time Federer was not playing on his favorite surface, but on one of his favorites. One could also argue that it was not a Grand Slam and that Federer was not at the top of his game. Another good argument is that when Sampras was beaten by Federer he was at the end of his career, while Federer is not. On the other hand Djokovic did not only beat Federer but also Roddick and Nadal. He was also able to expose Federer’s weaknesses which few have been able to do. It was a terrible loss for the world number one but not a career breaking one. This match can be remembered anywhere from the first time that Djokovic beat Federer to the one where Djokovic started his run to becoming G.O.A.T. Chances are that it will be remembered for something, but what, no one is sure. Djokovic will, if everything goes as expected, be world number one at one point in his career. It awaits to be seen if he will take that position from Federer or from someone else. Federer, on the other hand, still has the talent to win at any moment. Even if he does not continue to dominate the tennis world like he is doing now he will still win more Grand Slams and make small steps to being G.O.A.T. A new prince has been born, now all tennis fans can do is see if he will some day dethrone the current king and become one himself.

By: Christopher Stromeyer

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=BW7ol9_xsQA

marcus

Having a little problem linking article to this page…so let me get back to it later.

Just want to get a shout out to Mike DeLeon, who has not been well as of late, but is doing much better now. Speedy recovery to you Mike from your friends at TWR.

More later…

Champagne Kimmy Clijster’s secret marriage is made public.

At the same time Lindsey Davenport is considering a comeback from retirement.

Meanwhile, a struggling Amelie Mauresmo is considering skipping the US Open.

David Nalbandian hires a new coach and sets his sights back on the top 10.

And last, Pistol Pete Sampras and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario are inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

This, and not much more, all follow on my first solo podcast attempt. All I can say is it’s not as easy as it looks.

By: Big T