Tennis Times Online

Soderling a winner in Rotterdam

Sweden's Robin Soderling won the fifth, and biggest, title of his career today at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.  Soderling defeated Mikhail Youzhny in the finals (6-4, 1-0, ret.), a day after taking out Nikolay Davydenko in the semi-finals.

After ending 2009 on a high note at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Soderling started the 2010 season slowly, losing in the first round at both Chennai, India and the Australian Open.

If Soderling maintains decent form over the next few months, look for him to knock on the door to the top 5 in the ATP rankings, as he has very few points to defend. Between the 2009 Australian Open and French Open, Soderling had only a 3 - 7 record on the main tour, which included losing his opening matches in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo.

Blake Watch

In the past two weeks James Blake has seen his ranking reach a new low since his 2005 comeback from neck injury. Blake's ranking last week was 54 (up to 52 this week).

Looking at Blake's results over the past twelve months, he has reached two finals at ATP 250 level events (Estoril, Portugual and Queen's Club), but at the ATP 500 level and above, he has reached the Round of 16 only twice(!!) with no advancements beyond that round.

Federer defeats Davydenko in rollercoaster four-setter

Federer defeats Davydenko 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 in 2010 Australian Open Quarterfinal.

In the new decade, it is easy to wonder "what will motivate Roger Federer?" He has the career grand slam. He has the most grand slam titles of any male player. He holds the record for consecutive weeks ranked #1. He holds the record for consecutive grand slam finals. He holds the record for most consecutive grand slam semi-finals. There too many records to name them all, and many more will surely fall given a healthy Federer for a few more seasons.

With all of those records in his pocket, late Wednesday afternoon in Melbourne, Australia, in yet another grand slam quarterfinal, playing the hottest player on the ATP tour since the U.S. Open, Federer showed what motivates him. 

Nikolay Davydenko came out of the blocks playing the perhaps the best set and one-third of tennis of his 11 year professional career. A point from being down a set and two breaks, Federer benefited from a tight backhand from Davydenko on a short ball, and then was off to the races, from 1-3 down he won 13 consecutive games.  When Davydenko recovered to tighten the end of the match, Federer again elevated his game, serving beautifully to close the match out.

Yes, Federer showed what motivates him. He took the best punch thrown by the hottest player on the tour, wobbled a bit, but then rose again to deliver his own knockout blow.

What motivates Roger Federer? Getting to show why he is still the best.

John Isner Joins ATP Winners Circle

It has been over two years since John Isner reached his lone ATP World Tour level final in Washington, D.C. during the summer of 2007 (falling to Andy Roddick) and rode that momentum to a 3rd round appearance at the '07 U.S. Open, where he took the first set in a four set loss from eventual winner Roger Federer.

30 months later, Isner has reached his second ATP final in Auckland, New Zealand, and has come away a victor.

Isner is the first 1st-time American winner on the ATP Tour since Rajeev Ram won in Newport, Rhode Island last summer.

Murray showing fitness edge

Much was made of Andy Roddick's shedding 15 pounds before the 2009 season, especially as he had some of the best results of his career over the first half the season.

It seems Andy Murray is following Roddick's path - compare these two photos of the Scot, the first from just before the ATP World Tour Finals in London in November 2009, the second from a match during this week's Hopman Cup.

Murray trained in Miami during the offseason, and it appears the warm climate gave him an opportunity to burn off any hint of a fat cell from his face.

Before:

Murray in London, November 2009

After:

Murray in Perth, January 2010

Davydenko ousts Federer in Doha

2 down, 10 wins to go.

After losing his first twelve matches against Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko is now on a bona fide hot streak against the World #1, defeating him again in the semi-finals of Doha, Qatar.

In the January/February issue of Tennis Magazine, writer Tom Perrotta predicts that 2010 will make it clear that the best days of the Federer/Nadal rivalry are behind us, and in his online predictions he goes so far as to say that Fed will not claim a major this seaon (I don't agree with that - I think Federer is still more than a 2:1 favorite at Wimbledon against anyone except a fully in form Nadal).

But this loss does not bode well for Federer's desire to win some of the "smaller" tournaments on the tour in 2010.  It is understandable that Federer will lose ground to the young guns, but Davydenko is Federer's contemporary on the tour - and if Fed can't maintain the mental and physical edge over his contemporaries, then he may find himself behind the rest of the pack must sooner than expected.

Federer Expresses Increased Desire for 2010

Roger Federer appears ready to expand his trophy case at the start of the new decade, but something about his comments doesn't quite ring true.  Federer's four titles in 2009 were all high quality (two majors and two Masters 1000 events), but when he says he "barely" played any smaller events, I'm not sure what he is referring to.

Federer played all but one of the Masters 1000 events in 2009, and while he took home two titles in his two finals, he lost in the semifinals of three (Indian Wells, Miami, Rome) and before the semis in Monte Carlo, Canada and Paris. Add to that finals losses at the Australian Open, US Open and Basel and we see a portrait of a player who is typically in contention on the final weekend of an event, but who is no longer the lock he was in previous years to walk away as the last man standing.

If Rafael Nadal can return to full health and form (not small "ifs"), Federer will be hard pressed to maintain the #1 ranking for 2010. Nadal caught and passed him in 2008, and was pulling away at the beginning of 2009. Federer's ascent back to the top spot was directly tied to Nadal's inability to defend any of the points from his 2008 Wimbledon title, and his never returning to full form after his post-Roland Garros layoff.

Tell me if you disagree.

Allez Justine!

You'll read this everywhere, but Justine Henin was successful in the first match of her "comeback", defeating Nadia Petrova 7-5, 7-6 in Brisbane, Australia.

"Comeback" is in quotes because I view Henin's return from 19 months off the tour as more of a return from an extended sabbatical as opposed to a unretirement.

Despite having not played since before the 2008 French Open, Henin would have been favored in the match with Petrova, against whom she carried in an 11 - 2 head-to-head record.  Henin won their three previous meetings in straight sets, and had lost a total of only 7 of the 27 sets they played (one match was a walkover for Henin).

A New Venus for a new Decade?

Over the weekend, Venus Williams lost to Maria Sharapova in straights sets in an exhibition match played in Thailand.  At the beginning of each tennis season, we wonder which Venus will appear at the Australian Open.  The Venus we see at Wimbledon each summer? Or the Venus we typically see the other 9 or 10 months of the tennis year.

Whatever we wish for, the numbers from the last decade don't offer much hope that the elder Williams sister will be a legitimate contender in Oz. Here's what they tell us:

For all of the talk of injuries and outside interests, Venus Williams missed just 4 of the 40 grand slam events played from 2000 - 2009. If we remove the 10 Wimbledons from those 36 slams in which she competed, we are left with the disappointing and revealing stat that Venus reached the semifinals or better in just 7 of those 26 events! With only one of the semifinals coming in the second half of the decade (2007 US Open)!

We seem to enter each grand slam event (outside the French) with commentators billing "The Williams Sisters" as the ones to beat and expected to be competing in the later rounds. Perhaps it is out of respect for Venus that the commentators continue to call her a contender on par with Serena, but the statistics have not born out Venus as a true threat outside Wimbledon in quite some time.

Mini-Tennis, Major Dollars

The short hard court lead up to the season's first grand slam event kicks off this week.  For the ATP, that means 250 level events in Brisbane (Australia), Chennai (India) and Doha (Qatar). Yet, one of these things is not like the others - Brisbane and Chennai's prize money pools are $372K and $398K, respectively. Doha's prize money pool is just over $1,000,000!

In fact, the total payout in Doha for the semi-finalists on ($380K) practically matches the payout at either of the other two events.  Is it coincidence that Doha's field features three top ten players -  Nadal, Federer and Davydenko, while Brisbane and Chennai feature one top ten player each - Roddick in Brisbane, Soderling in Chennai?