Tennis Weekly Series- Edition 3

Interviewer: So David Ferrer, how are you feeling? You went deep in Roland Garros reaching the semi-finals, had a week to prepare on grass, then played 3 weeks in a row on grass, winning s-Hertogenbosch and reaching a career best quarter-final in Wimbledon. Where are you going to rest now before the Olympics?
Ferrer: Rest? What rest? Who on earth thought of this hysterical notion? (bursts into laughter)

Player of the Week: David Ferrer
Rafa went fishing. Murray starred on Mock The Week. Federer relaxed in his Swiss Castle in Basel, grinning while constantly refreshing the new homepage of ATP.com in his new 50" multi-purpose Samsung TV. Djokovic was vigorously practising his new Federer impressions and burning print-outs of the latest ATP rankings and Daily Mail.
David Ferrer, meanwhile, was having none of it. A few days after losing to home favourite Andy Murray and spending a few says sightseeing in London Daveed was off to Sweden where he was seeded number 1. Last year he had reached the final of this clay 250 before losing to Soderling, but this year he was unstoppable! He brushed aside Bolelli 6-3 6-4 before dropping one set against fellow Spaniard Robredo to go through to the semis. Up against him was Dimitrov, the talented young Bulgarian who had shown plenty of promise, but Ferrer was too good winning 6-3 7-5 to cruise into the final. Up against him was 2nd seed Nicolas Almagro- the Spaniards love their clay don't they! Ferrer had a 10-0 record against Nicolas before the match, and this was ruthlessly extended to 11-0 as Almagro received a 6-2 6-2 battering. This is Ferrer's 5th title of the year, and cements his World Number 5 ranking

Finals of the Week:
We had a whooping 4 ATP 250 tournaments this week. It is also the first time in history that 3 top seeds have won 3 ATP tour level tournaments in 1 week.

Bastad 250: Ferrer (1) 6-2 6-2 Almagro (2)
Stuttgart 250: Tipsarevic (1) 6-4 5-7 6-3 Monaco (2)
Newport 250: Isner (1) 7-6 6-4 Hewitt
Umag 250: Cilic (2) 6-4 6-2 Granollers (7)

Match of The Week:
Isner (1) 7-6 6-4 Hewitt, Newport Final:
Number 1 Seed Defending Champion John Isner was up against former World Number 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the Newport final last Sunday. Hewitt, although not as tall as his 6"7 opponent, certainly had the tenacity and determination to match the home favourite, and the match promised to be an exciting match up. The 1st set was a tight affair, with neither player breaking serve (and only generating 1 Break Point each) before it went to a tiebreak. However it was the big-serving American who took advantage, attacking the Hewitt backhand and stepping up a gear to take the tiebreak 7-1. The 2nd set started with both players holding serve but in Game 3 a few unforced errors from the Aussie gave Isner the crucial break. From then on the result seemed a formality with the Australian not able to cope with Isner's huge serve, but Lleyton continued to fight and hold serve to keep himself in the match. Serving at 3-5 down Hewitt had to stave off a match point, before finally holding his game and forcing Isner to serve out the match 6-4 in the second set.
Congratulations to John Isner, winning his 1st title of 2012 so far and becoming the first person since Fabrice Santoro in 2008 to successfully defend his Newport title.

Hewitt loves his grass and took a WC to play Newport. What a warrior!

This is pretty good, thanks. I noticed that top seeds were doing really well but did not realize it was the first time three of them won in a single week.

Hewitt surprised me. I keep writing him off in my mind but he does pull these pretty decent efforts here and there still. Maybe he can last a bit longer.

I also liked your Roger refreshing ATP home page thing.

btw have you noticed that Dimitrov starts to put in more and more consistent results? He just beat Bennetteau in Gstaad. I think he'll start to accelerate towards to the top 20 now.

Let's hope the pattern continues - the Top 20 is in desperate need of some new faces, and Dimitrov would be a welcome addition, I think he's a great player to watch. But a bit of a way to go yet .....

lags72 wrote:Let's hope the pattern continues - the Top 20 is in desperate need of some new faces, and Dimitrov would be a welcome addition, I think he's a great player to watch. But a bit of a way to go yet .....

He has a long way to go, but he certainly has potential.
Today I am planning to do an article on the 'young guns' so watch this space!

summerblues wrote:This is pretty good, thanks. I noticed that top seeds were doing really well but did not realize it was the first time three of them won in a single week.

Hewitt surprised me. I keep writing him off in my mind but he does pull these pretty decent efforts here and there still. Maybe he can last a bit longer.

I also liked your Roger refreshing ATP home page thing.

Thanks Summer

laverfan wrote:Hewitt loves his grass and took a WC to play Newport. What a warrior!

Alas. this was a great tournament for him! He is still only 150 in the world though.

Good read

The Ferret just doesnt stop climbing those 'tennis trouser legs'! Amazing how a guy who has won 5 titles (and gone deep in lots of others) in 2012 is still only #5 ranking...just shows the strength of the 4 above him.

summerblues wrote:
I also liked your Roger refreshing ATP home page thing.

ha yeah me too, nice work!

Thanks Reckoner

Congratulations to John Isner, winning his 1st title of 2012 so far and becoming the first person since Fabrice Santoro in 2008 to successfully defend his Newport title. Cool

Santoro turned in his grave {retirement hostel}

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Congratulations to John Isner, winning his 1st title of 2012 so far and becoming the first person since Fabrice Santoro in 2008 to successfully defend his Newport title.

Santoro turned in his grave {retirement hostel}

Perhaps

Isner does like this surface, this faster grass suits his game well.

Dimitrov eased past L. Kubot (6-3 6-2) in Gstaad, will he be able to reach his first ATP final here?

Won't be easy as he will face Thomaz Bellucci who is an excellent clay courter...

Indeed Prostaff
I am looking out for Dimitrov, if he keeps this up he has a good chance to be Player of the Week in Edition 4, but he has a few difficult matches left, with Belluci and then probably Tipsarevic.