Tennis Self-Talk: Historical Examples and Solutions

I. Introduction

It’s been said that the mind is always with you or against you…Self-talk in us humans is instinctive, spontaneous and eternal. And perhaps so is our need for it.

In fact, one commentator remarked that if we opened up a person’s head, we would see a popcorn machine full of thoughts and emotions endlessly popping, perculating and colliding. And it’s no different in the game of tennis, as we all know.

II. Agassi’s formulation of the dilemma

Compounding the problem is the fact that tennis, in singles play at least, is probably the most solitary of sports…

Eight-time Grand Slam winner, Andre Agassi put it this way in his recent autobiography and follow-up interviews:

“Tennis is the loneliest of sports. In golf, you play the course – plus you have a caddie – and the game ends at 18 holes. In boxing, you have a corner man and a set number of rounds.

In tennis, you’re on an island, with no clock. You can’t sit on a lead. You have to win the last point to win a match.”

“But I will say this – I can confidently say that tennis is the loneliest sport that exists. You’re out there, you can’t talk to anybody, you can’t pass the ball, there are no time-outs. There’s no coaching, you don’t have to be good, you have to be better than one person and that one person is on the other side of the net.

It’s like you’re on an island. It’s not like boxing where we’re leaning on each other and you can feel each other. If you look at a tennis player it’s like solitary confinement out there, and what happens in solitary confinement? It always leads to self-talk.

You have those Lincoln-Douglas debates with yourself. You talk to yourself and you answer yourself and you tell me if you’ve ever seen another sport where an athlete talks to themselves as much as they do in tennis.”

Andre Agassi
From “Open: An Autobiography” (2009),
and Interview with Travis Smiley, Nov. 19, 2009

How then do we deal with the loneliness of this sport? The eternal self-talk?

The endless conversation with ourselves about the score, about errors, about losing, about letting ourselves and others down, etc.

How do we defeat the toughest opponent of all – ourselves?

III. Searching for some answers

It seems obvious that we cannot change who and what we are as humans. Thus, the road to solution appears to point to the fact that we need to manage self-talk, just as we are called upon in life to manage daily stress and worry. Indeed, if we do not actively manage our self-talk, it will most likely end up managing us…

One researcher, the late Dorothy Harris, Ph.D., Professor of Sports Psychology at Penn State, put it this way: “The only difference between the best performance and the worst performance is the variation of our self-talk…and attitudes we carry around with us.” So how do we manage our self-talk to better accomplish our “best performance”?

Perhaps some specific answers to this problem can be found in examples of others, in history and more recently, who have faced the issue. How have others at the highest level in tennis successfully dealt with the problem of self-talk? And can we try and model them? Can these examples help us to develop and implement an intelligent management strategy to address the problem of self-talk?

IV. A few examples and solutions

**Chris Evert and Diffusing Self-Talk -
Early in her career training, Chris Evert was taught by her father to diffuse any negative self-talk or body language. Any such verbal, or non-verbal clues, her father said, would only serve to motivate her opponent. In fact, he admonished that it was practically like handing your opponent a free point or two.

Chris admitted though, that like nearly all of us, she was bubbling with emotions and worries just under the surface. But she knew that for her temperament, she needed to find a consistent way to short-circuit whatever emotional self-talk she could in order to stay focused and stable with her relentless baseline game.

She in fact diffused her emotional self-talk so well that she was dubbed the “Ice Maiden”, in a magnificent career spanning 18 Grand Slam titles and a stunning 90% career win-loss record.

**John McEnroe and Leveraging Self-Talk -
John McEnroe is probably the epitome of the volatile fiery player who successfully used his explosive rantings and angry outbursts to spur him on to a higher level of play (We all remember that catchphrase: “You cannot be serious!”) .

In one sequence made famous in sports highlight reels, he explodes at a call by an umpire in Stockholm, Sweden in 1992 demanding: “Answer my question, jerk!”, and then slams his racket into a near-by juice cart. He won the tournament.

Leveraging self-talk in this way is probably not for many of us, but Mac found a way to make it work for him in a career spanning 7 Grand Slam singles titles, 9 Grand Slam doubles titles and some suburb shot-making and volleys. Getting angry for many players often makes them play worse, not better. But for some players of a certain temperament, negative and angry self-talk can elevate both confidence and relaxation of play, thus improving performance.

**Pete Sampras and Harnessing Self-Talk -
Pete Sampras who retired in 2003 with the then-record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles was known to harness positive self-talk, also called affirmations, to build his confidence and help his performance at key match times.

It was said that when he was behind and not playing well, he would remind himself that he was in this position before against the opponent and just needed to upshift gears. He would intentionally say to himself things such as: “Everthing is okay”, “I need to let go of that last point and focus on the next point”, “I need to stay focused on the present and prepare for the next point”, “I need to get aggressive with my feet”.

For certain player personality types, this personal pep-talk method encourages relaxation, lessens distraction and enables sharper focus.

**Gigi Fernandez and Coping with Self-Talk -
Gigi Fernandez is the Puerto Rican doubles player who won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles, 2 Olympic Gold Medals, and World Number One doubles rank before retiring in 1997. However, it was not all smooth sailing. At times, Gigi struggled with inconsistent hitting, poor shot selection and erratic serves and volleys. And she talked to herself.

To address this problem, Gigi’s coach designed specific computerized self-talk exercises to help her stay calm, relaxed and in control on court. Gigi coped with her situation by using specific verbal cues on the court: stay loose in the knees, relax the arm and hand on the forehand, and follow-though on the overhead. She was more focused also on her on-court rituals and tasks to re-direct her negative self-talk. Many players use such rituals and tasks as watching the ball, aiming at targets, split-stepping, etc.

**Jimmy Connors and Energizing Your Self-Talk -
Jimmy Connors is the eight-time Grand Slam winner who held the No. 1 World singles ranking for a record 268 weeks. Connors was a maverick, a showman and did things his “way”. He was called the “brat” of tennis and dubbed the “Showboater”. His gritty “never-say-die” court demeanor appealed to some, but some of his court antics and outbursts appalled others.

His self-talk and on-court emotions was different than others in that it was often directed at the crowd. Connors thrived on and manipulated the energy of the crowd, positive or negative, to drive his play especially in some of his greatest matches.

Most people recall that dramatic come-from-behind victory in 5 sets in the fourth round at the 1991 U.S. Open against Aaron Krickstein when Connors was age 39. In a stunning display of prowess and crowd inter-action, he was talking not only to himself but carrying on a conversation with the crowd and exploiting it to elevate his play.

How do these examples differ? How are they the same? Each of these players, and others, dealt with self-talk a little differently, perhaps in part based on their personality type or temperament style…Let’s look at that issue more closely…

V. Personality types or temperament styles of players, and their self-talk techniques

Solving fitness issues in tennis starts with classifying people as predominantly one body type or other such as endomorph-lean, ectomorph-stocky and mesomorph-athletic. Perhaps dealing with mental self-talk issues may also call for looking at player personality types or temperament styles. Obviously, no one fits perfectly into any one category and we all exhibit parts of all types. But it’s a starting point for analysis, I think.

Let’s look at four (4) categories of players who have shown extra-ordinary tennis results and, by implication, strong management of their mental self-talk. (Naturally, all these players possess extra-ordinary tennis talents which naturally accounts for some of their results regardless of their management of self-talk.) Nevertheless, classifying them into types and identifying their more-often-used techniques offers some insight into the problem:

A. The peaceful and stable player – examples: Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Kim Cljisters. Personality: Calm, quiet, deliberate. Primary technique: Diffusing self-talk

B. The fun and showmanship player – examples: Jimmy Connors, Serena Williams, Don Budge, Bill Tilden. Personality: Energetic, excitable, spontaneous. Primary technique: Energizing your self-talk

C. The angry or intense competitor - examples: John McEnroe, Pancho Gonzales, Boris Becker, Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova. Personality: Controlling, self-determined, focused. Primary technique: Leveraging self-talk

D. The intelligent order-and-accuracy player – examples: Roger Federer, Martina Hingis, Rod Laver, Pete Sampras. Personality: Analytic, disciplined, problem-solver. Primary technique: Harnessing self-talk

All these players, to some degree, also seem to use coping and re-directing techniques.

VI. A suggested framework for managing self-talk
Let’s re-list these strategic techniques as shown to us collectively by these players, and also consider our player personality type, as we frame an effective management strategy for our self-talk.

These techniques are, I think:
1. Diffusing, or by-passing, the most self-destructive self-talk, whenever possible as shown by Chris Evert
2. Energizing or “getting high” on their self-talk as with Jimmy Connors
3. Leveraging their self-talk as shown by John McEnroe
4. Harnessing self-talk as with Pete Sampras
5. Coping with and re-directing self-talk like Gigi Fernandez

As for each of us as players, we probably have to select our own primary technique and secondary techniques based on our unique self-talk situation…and decide when to do each and in what relative percentage to do each. Which techniques do you like best and which might work for you?

A helpful and vital step in the process might be for us as players to classify ourselves into one of the personality types above to help decide which technique to use and how often. Which player personality type do you think that you fit into?

For example, an “angry or intense competitor” type can tolerate and even benefit from frequent use of angry self-talk to spur him or her on to play better (e.g John McEnroe). Perhaps even intense grunting helps the play of some in this category (e.g. Maria Sharapova).

Conversely, a “peaceful and stable” player needs much more to keep an even keel, diffuse or by-pass negative self-talk and plod on (e.g. Chris Evert or Bjorn Borg). In contrast, an “order-and-accuracy” player might want to more often use positive self-talk affirmation to try and help fortify a game of precision (e.g. Pete Sampras).

VII. Conclusion
In summary, can we ever transform the loneliness of tennis or truly defeat our self-talk?

Probably not. But, as shown by successful player examples in the past, perhaps we can at least reduce feelings of solitary confinement by managing self-talk with effective strategic techniques. And perhaps we can sometimes even use our self-talk to better reach our match goals.

Gary Bala
Timeless Tennis: A Blog
—————————————————————————————
Resources:
1. Conversations with Champions, Jimmy Connors Presents: Tennis Fundamentals DVD (2006)
2. Mental Training for Peak Performance, Steven Ungerleider, Ph.D.
3. “Your Temperament and Your Tennis”, Dexter Godbey
4. For an interesting discussion of the Mental Self-Talk problem, visit:
Essential Tennis Podcast 97

Book Review: “Open: An Autobiography”, Andre Agassi

I recently completed reading Eight-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi’s highly publicized autobiography with some of those shocking revelations about recreational drug use and lying to tennis authorities about it.

Frankly, I was disappointed.

Although I have great respect for Agassi’s on-court accomplishments and skills, his magnificent work for charity and the sport, and his commentator’s insights into the game, I have diminished respect for some of his off-court actions over the years. And to some degree what he has admitted to in his book, and in follow-up interviews, leaves an unpleasant cloud over the sport, coming from a player with his stellar record – a record which to some extent has also been tainted.

Others have commented about how we as a society should probably not idolize sports stars. Indeed, I could not agree more that flaws, faults and failings of top stars should not be swept under the rug; rather, sports heroes have to be “called” on them, when necessary. They are, of course, only human like the rest of us, and at times need both compassion and help. Yet, we can still admire and exalt their on-court heroics without putting them on a pedestal and excusing their inexcusable actions.

In the book, Agassi comes across as a confused, lonely and depressed figure, driven to tennis by a hard-charging father, and equally demanding coaches. He, of course, grew to hate it. He turned to recreational drug use, it appears, in response to deepening depression.

Recreational drug use of a substance such as crystal meth, known as highly addictive, is not an acceptable option for depression, in my book. Agassi was wrong for taking that road, and should properly be “called” on it. The World Anti-Doping authorities and tennis federation also call it a banned substance, and he got away with it by using it and then by lying about it. Yes, we should be very compassionate, but that does not mean sweep it under the rug.

The proper option for people with clinical or other depression is get professional help.

Well, enough said.

As for the book itself, it essentially consists of 388 pages of first person “stream of consciousness” writing. The Chapters do not have descriptive headings, and there is no Table of Contents, no Index and no footnotes. There is no collection of color photos on photo paper in the book, as many other books offer such as Pete Sampras’s book A Champion’s Mind.

In fact, there is not really much analysis of the game and sport of tennis. Maddeningly little, in my view.

I was hoping for many more insights and analysis of the game and sport of tennis, including topics such as tennis’s growth, development and future, instruction and advice for young and up-and-coming players, and inside scoop into the pro game, and so on..A person with the caliber of his experience and accomplishments could have offered much more in that vein…

A lot of the “revealing” parts of the book seemed to consist of gripes and complaints about people in different parts of Agassi’s life: Brooke Shields, Nick Bollettieri, Illie Nastase, Jimmy Connors. He did not have very nice things to say about these folks… He even goes out of his way to call Pete Sampras a cheap tipper at a restaurant. Page 346.

He uses profanity and four-letter words a lot in the book.

He basically agrees in calling Connors a certain part of the rear of a human’s digestive anatomy (begins with “A”.) Page 121.

And a lot of the self-discovery and personal journey he describes in the book, while quite sincere, reveals in my opinion a confused, lonely and depressed person, though with great professional accomplishments, who needed help.

And the biggest letdown of all for tennis fans: his admission that for many years he hated tennis with a dark and secret passion. Page 3.

In conclusion, the bottom line for me: It’s an interesting read, but fell short of my expectations. The book – and the player too.

Gary Bala
Timeless Tennis: A Blog

2000-2009 The Decade in Tennis

As we push onto 2010, all manner of news organizations are feeling the need to sum up the decade that was.  Of course, there is an arbitrariness to picking years that end in nice round numbers like 0.  Not everything fits nicely in a decade.  Players like Stefan Edberg had the good years span across a decade boundary, thus having his good Wimbledon years in the late 1980s, but having his good US Open years in the early 1990s.  Some players, like Sampras have careers that mostly fit within a decade (1990 through 2002).

In any case, with men’s tennis taking a break, perhaps a decade long retrospective is good.

In the year 2000, the “Federer generation” began to make news and it happened at the US Open.  Intriguingly enough, although Roger Federer would become the best of his generation, he was something of a late bloomer.  Others of his generation would make a splash early on.

The first signs of the changing of the guards was the 2000 US Open when Marat Safin beat Sampras in straight sets. Up to 2000, Sampras had had a gaudy 13-2 record.  His only losses came to Stefan Edberg in 1992 US Open (a four set loss) and to Andre Agassi in the 1995 Australian Open (also a four set loss).  Indeed, the US Open would be a showcase for the Federer generation.

In 2001, Pete Sampras would again make the finals, but instead of playing the rangy, powerful Russian, Sampras played Lleyton Hewitt, who played like Agassi, but had the intensity of Connors.  This, too, was a straight set loss.  It was only in 2002 when Sampras finally met someone of his generation, namely, Agassi, that he finally won the US Open, his final Slam.  In 2003, Andy Roddick beat Juan Carlos Ferrero for his first and only major.  Both Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero are part of the Federer generation (which also includes Safin, Nalbandian, and Hewitt).

The beginning of the “naught”ies, that is the years following 2000 do not mark a clean break.  Indeed, the greatest American generation of players, which roughly started in 1990, were still having an impact.  During the 1980s, there were questions of American tennis.  Who would replace McEnroe and Connors?  Connors started playing well in 1974 and continued to play top tennis until 1983 though his career lasted nearly a decade longer.  Connors competitive fire, the desire to play tennis, far exceeded the quality of his results.  Players began to hit harder and steadier and move quicker.

Still, Connors was a bit lucky.  Because he was perhaps the hardest hitter of his generation (the 1970s) and because the modern power game didn’t really start to take grip until the 1990s, Connors was able to play through the transitional players who were learning to hit with Becker-like pace, but weren’t quite there yet.  That is, he played players where his flat style bothered them.

McEnroe, too, had his best years in the late 1970s to the early 1980s.  Though he would never reach the heights of those years, he was still someone to be feared, especially at Wimbledon and occasionally at the US Open.  McEnroe’s career might have had a nice hurrah had he beaten Agassi or Sampras in the semis of Wimbledon or the US Open respectively (both in the early 1990s).

Thus, as McEnroe and Connors both managed the occasional spark of brilliance long past the heights of their career, extending up to about 1990, they were soon replaced by the Bollettieri generation.  Although Bollettieri’s students were already making noise in the early 1980s, with two players, Jimmy Arias and Aaron Krickstein, it was Andre Agassi that became the iconic Bollettieri player: big forehand, so-so serve, not much of a volleyer.

The Americans of this generation included: Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Todd Martin, MaliVai Washington, and David Wheaton.  Although not all of these players trained at Bollettieri’s, the Bollettieri influence was undeniable.  These players played against each other.

The class of that field was Pete Sampras and then Andre Agassi.  Agassi, in particular, due to the ups and downs of his personal and professional career, had various times where he was simply not winning, and therefore, not putting his body through the wear and tear that a player like Sampras went through.

Indeed, other than Sampras, who, it should be noted, made 3 US Open finals in a row starting in 2000, and this, during a period of time when most felt Sampras had long past his prime.  However, post 2000 really was Agassi’s period.  With Sampras on the decline, and Agassi having rediscovered tennis, Andre had some of the best years of his careers in the early part of the decade, admittedly, in the friendly confines of Australia.

Perhaps it was the rust that other players had, or the time zone differences, or the heat.  The Australian Open was the one tournament were relative nobodies made it to the finals, often losing to Andre Agassi.

Let’s take a look at the Australian Open finals starting in 2000.

• 2000 Agassi d Kafelnikov
• 2001 Agassi d. Clement
• 2002 Johansson d. Safin
• 2003 Agassi d. Schuttler

In particular, Clement, Johansson, and Schuttler would never reach another Slam final again.  Indeed, if you look at Agassi’s career starting in 1999, you see that he won 5 of his 8 Slams during that period.  In 1999, he won the French and the US Open.  In 2000, 2001, 2003, he won the Australian Open.  He reached the finals of the US Open in 2002 and 2005.  Although everyone remembers Agassi way back in the late 1980s with the neon clothing, the “image is everything” ads, and the hair that Agassi now says was fake, Agassi’s primary success could arguably be placed in the 2000′s esp. if we cheat a little and take 1999 too.

Agassi was the first player to take advantage of the Sampras void.  Although Sampras played dominating tennis throughout the 1990s, it was mostly at the Slams, and mostly Wimbledon.  For as much as Sampras gets the GOAT label attributed to him, he didn’t play the kind of dominating tennis that Borg, Connors, or McEnroe played.  Sampras never won more than 2 majors in any year, and would have inexplicable lossses to nobodies at lesser tournaments, presumably to save his body for the majors.

Let’s take a look at the French Open.  The French is a strange beast.  Long seen as the “other” tournament, the French inspired players who mastered its gritty surface but struggled on other surfaces.  Thus, the history of tennis prior to the 1970s was really about grass-court tennis, dominated by the Australians and Americans.  Those players occasionally did well enough to win the French too.

During the 1980s, the clay court circuit would often feature dominating performances by the likes of Alberto Mancini and Thomas Muster, players that would do well in Monte Carlo and Rome and Hamburg, but then fizzle to bigger names in the French.  The 1980s had finalists that were recognizable.  Lendl and Wilander were great clay courters that nonetheless could play hard courts too and be relevant on many surfaces.  Those who primarily excelled on clay never managed to punch through at the French.

However, as the 1990s were moving along, the clay court specialists became even stronger, reinforcing the idea that clay court tennis is its own separate game.  These specialists were generally Spaniards or Argentines.  In 1998, Carlos Moya would defeat fellow Spaniard, Alex Corretja, for his one and only Slam.  I 2000, Gustavo Kuerten would win the 2nd of his 3 French Opens over Magnus Norman.  The following year, Kuerten would beat Corretja.  Neither Kuerten nor Corretja ever reached the finals of a Slam other than the French.

Let’s look at 2002-2005 French Open finals

• 2002 Costa d. Ferrero
• 2003 Ferrero d. Verkerk
• 2004 Gaudio d. Coria
• 2005 Nadal d. Puerta

Ferrero could be seen as a very good player and Nadal became a true champion, but Costa, Gaudio, Coria, and Verkerk? Coria was the number 3 seed, but could almost be considered a 1-hit wonder, a player that peaked for a year, and had maybe 2 other good years, but was otherwise irrelevant.  These years had to be seen as a bit of a low in tennis, where the best of the best were not contending.

Indeed, once Sampras started fading in the early part of 2000, there was a vacuum left.  This was particularly noticeable between November 2000 to February of 2004 when the following players were number 1: Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Andy Roddick.

Indeed, the lack of a dominant player was noticeable starting in 1996-1999 when Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Carlos Moya, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and Patrick Rafter would all spend time at number 1.  Admittedly, Sampras had a 102 week period during this time where he was number 1.

Then, came 2004.

Between 2004-2007, Roger Federer became the most dominant player the game has seen.  During this period, he won 11 Slams in 16 attempts.  In the other 5 Slams, he was a finalist twice, a semifinalist twice, and lost in the 3rd round to Gustavo Kuerten at the French.  During this period, he achieved the Small Slam three times: 2004, 2006, and 2007.  No other pro in the Open era has achieved it more than once.  Connors won 3 of 4 in 1974 (he was banned from the French Open) and Wilander won 3 of 4 in 1988 (Wilander never made the finals of Wimbledon).  Rod Laver, of course, won the Grand Slam in 1969.  He won in 1962 as well, but that was pre-Open era, when the best competition were playing pro tennis and banned from these tournaments.

In the latter half of the decade, a new group of players were starting to rise to challenge the Federer generation.  In 2005, Rafael Nadal won the first of 4 consecutive French Open finals.  In 2006, Andy Murray served notice by beating Roger Federer in the 2nd round of Cincinnati.  Roger Federer lost 5 times in 2006.  The other 4 losses?  Rafael Nadal.  (In Rome, Monte Carlo, French Open, and Dubai). Andy Murray would start to gain more attention in 2008 when he reached number 4.

In 2007, Novak Djokovic would reach the semifinals of 3 of 4 Slams, and in one, the US Open, he would make the finals, losing to Roger Federer.  Djokovic would become a solid number 3.  In 2008, Juan Martin del Potro would come out of nowhere to beat Andy Roddick and eventually reach the top 10.

The generation that followed Federer would include: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, and other players like Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych, Sam Querrey.  Because these players made strides in the middle of the decade, they are likely to have buzz in 2010 onwards.  Perhaps their success highlight the folly of breaking achievements into decades.

If Sampras’s record 14th Slam win defined the highlight of the 1990s (but stretched in 2002), then clearly, Federer’s 15 Slams with a career Slam defines the 2000s.  Few expected the challenge to Sampras to come so soon after Sampras had achieved the record.  Federer began the assault in 2004 and by 2009 had reached that record, while Sampras achieved the record over a 13 year period (1990 US Open to 2002 US Open).

Now that 2010 is mere weeks away, what will the next decade of tennis bring?

Looking Ahead to 2010

Now that the tennis season is over, let’s take a quick look back at 2009 and a quick look forward.

Roger Federer. Federer started off 2009 making it to yet another Slam final.  Although he started 2009 much like 2008, that is, struggling to find form, he still did his part by reaching the final.  Federer faced his long-time rival, Rafael Nadal.  Nadal had never reached the Australian Open final.  Despite a marathon win over Fernando Verdasco, Federer chose not to run Nadal ragged, testing his fitness.  Nadal, for his part, spun lots of serve to the Federer backhand.  Even so, Federer managed to get to a fifth set, where he inexplicably collapsed.  This lead to a tearful speech.

Federer took time off, including a scheduled match between Switzerland and the United States.  Although he didn’t have a particularly great hardcourt season (the first of two) nor a clay season, he did manage to peak at Madrid where he beat Rafael Nadal in the finals.  Then, the unexpected happened.  Nadal failed to reach the finals of the French.  Although Federer didn’t look on form, he got to the finals and beat Soderling, the player that knocked out Nadal.

Federer then took that win and had a pretty comfortable run to the Wimbledon finals where he faced a game Andy Roddick.  Roddick played the best he’s ever played against Federer, but in the end, that history of beating Roddick so many times gave Federer confidence that if he kept on holding, Roddick would crack.  Federer did win.

Federer had a good win in Cincinnati where he beat two of his top rivals, Djokovic and Murray.  He again made it to another Slam final, and came within a few points of likely winning the US Open (he was serving for a 2 set to none lead) when his game came apart somewhat and del Potro used his power to confound the Swiss.  Federer finally made it to the semis of the year-end championship where he lost to Davydenko.

Federer nearly had a fantastic year.  Had he beaten del Potro, he would have won 3 of 4 Slams.  However, when he lost to del Potro, the thought was that Federer was still fading.  Despite his usual consistency reaching Slams, Federer has looked inconsistent at times, and only brilliant here and there.  Even so, he played well when it counted.  It’s just the times he didn’t play well were as numerous as in 2008.

Oh yes, Roger also got married and his wife gave birth to twins.

Rafael Nadal. Rafa generally starts to wear down sometime in the middle of the US Open Series.  He typically starts off pretty well at the Australian Open, peaks during the clay events leading to the French, and generally culminates with a French victory.  Nadal started off the year with a win over Federer in his third different Slam (having beaten him at the French several times, and Wimbledon for the first time in 2008).

Although he had a very solid clay season, Nadal might point to a semifinal victory in Madrid that hurt him and Djokovic equally.  A semifinal that ran nearly 4 hours and match points to Djokovic before Nadal puled it out fatigued both players.  Nadal would lose to Federer in the finals and then do something that he just doesn’t do at the French.  He would lose to upstart Robin Soderling, a man he had beaten love and love only weeks before.  Soderling would show it was no fluke by reaching number 9 in the world.

Nadal would skip Wimbledon and play sparingly up to the US Open, winning no tournaments.  Although Nadal would reach the US Open semifinals, he would lose stunningly easily to del Potro, who would over power him 2, 2, and 2.

Nadal then took another break and played some of the indoors tournament and the year-end championship, winning no titles en route.  Nadal looked vulnerable on the faster surfaces and lacked his usual dominance, possibly due to weight loss meant to protect his knee long-term.  Nadal would get a key victory in the Davis Cup and help Spain win the cup for the second year in a row.

Novak Djokovic. By all accounts, 2009 was not a particularly good year for Djokovic.  Used to reaching the semifinals of the Slams as a solid number 3, he retired due to the heat at the Australian Open to Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals.  Although he played exceptionally well in the clay season, he could never get past Nadal who beat him Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid.  He then lost shockingly in the 3rd round of the French to Kohlschreiber.  Djokovic would then lose in Halle to Tommy Haas in the finals and then lose to him again in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

Djokovic would reach his only semifinal at the US Open where he lost tamely to Roger Federer, whose between the legs passing shot to set up match point was the highlight of the year.  Djokovic would then play a superb indoor/hardcourt season after the US Open, winning in Beijing, Basel and Paris (indoors) when players like Federer, Murray, del Potro, and Roddick would spend most of the post US Open tournaments recovering.  Only Nadal, who had some rest, actually played a fair bit of the post US Open season.

Djokovic lost his number 3 ranking to Andy Murray, partly due to some uneven play in parts of the year (early on and post French Open).  He would regain the number 3 ranking again by year’s end.  Although he didn’t perform well in Slams, he did win the most matches of any player in 2009.

Andy Murray. Murray would play some of his best tennis early in the year.  He took Verdasco to five sets, but blamed illness for his early loss at the Australian Open.  Murray would have his best clay court season ever, but mostly because he had been pretty inept on clay up until this year.  A quarterfinal appearance at the French Open was his best ever.  His semifinal loss to Nadal in Monte Carlo was his best showing at a clay event ever.

Murray would win 6 titles overall, but not reach a final of a Slam.  His best appearance was a semifinal loss to Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.  He would lose early to Marin Cilic at the US Open in the fourth round.  Much was expected of Murray in 2009.  Although he reached number 2 in the world, it was mostly due to Nadal losing early in the French and not playing Wimbledon.  Murray would eventually return to the ranking he started with, number 4 in the world.

Juan Martin del Potro. del Potro would take a surprising ascent to the top 10 during the lead up to the US Open.  del Potro would reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open losing easily to Federer in the quarterfinals.  He’d reach the semifinals of the French, pushing Federer to five sets, but lose.  Then, he’d inexplicably lose to Lleyton Hewitt who had worked hard to come back from surgery in the 2nd round of Wimbledon.  del Potro would then make his biggest leap to the top, taking Roger Federer out in five sets at the US Open to win his first Slam.

del Potro would show that power wins, hitting harder than both Nadal and Federer  during the US Open.  del Potro then reached the final of the ATP World Tour Finals but lost in straight sets to Davydenko.  del Potro also seemed a bit frail throughout the year.  He suffered in the heat in Washington DC and Toronto and took time off in the middle of the post US Open tournaments.  While del Potro peaked at the big events, he didn’t look particularly dominating in the smaller events.  This may be the “Sampras” strategy where Sampras (now the Serena Williams strategy) would lose in smaller events to save himself for the Slams.

The rest of the top 10. Nikolay Davydenko saw his ranking fall out of the top 10 due to injury and time away from the tour.  He ended the year on a high, beating Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, and del Potro in the last few weeks of the year.  Davydenko is a smaller guy who uses his ability to play near the baseline, and hit four strokes immensely well (sharp crosscout forehand/backhand, down the line forehand/backhand).

Andy Roddick hired a new coach in Larry Stefanki.  Stefanki had Roddick lose 15 lbs and work on his backhand and his net attack.

He played his best Slam in a while reaching the final of Wimbledon where he, once again, played Roger Federer.  Although he was expected to lose tamely to Roger, he managed to push Federer to the limit, in a five-set thriller.  Roddick expected to use this success to get him going to the US Open.  However, he would find himself struggling against fellow Americans, losing to Sam Querrey in Cincinnati and John Isner at the US Open.  Roddick would win only one title all year, a smaller event in Memphis.  Roddick complained about the long tour during Shanghai and was forced to retire.  He would not play the rest of the year.

Robin Soderling made the biggest splash ever, beating Rafael Nadal in the French Open.  Nadal had yet to lose on the Paris clay.  Nadal then complained about tendinitis in the knee.  Soderling showed that this victory was no fluke.  He would beat Davydenko in the following round (who beat Verdasco easily), then come from a break down in the fifth to beat Fernando Gonzalez (who beat Andy Murray), to reach his first final.  Losing to Federer in a Slam would become a habit for Soderling all year.  He’d lose to Roger in the fourth round of Wimbledon, then to Roger in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Like Gilles Simon the year before, Soderling would be given a berth in the ATP World Tour Finals when Andy Roddick decided not to play because of injury.  Soderling would make the most of his opportunity beating Rafael Nadal again then beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets.  He’d reach the semifinals, but lost to Juan Martin del Potro.

Fernando Verdasco moved his game to the top 10.  Although most pointed to his semifinal marathon against Nadal as the key match, others point to the Davis Cup final played about a month earlier where Verdasco delivered a key victory.  Long considered a bit mentally frail, Verdasco beefed up his second serve, and ended the year in the top 10.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also kept in the top 10.  Perhaps one of his more notable victories was over Roger Federer in the summer in Montreal when Federer was up 2 breaks in the third set, and still beat Federer.

What’s ahead? The same questions that people asked in 2009 still apply to 2010.  Many wondered if Roger Federer could come back and play sublime tennis.  The answer was, kinda, sorta.  Roger Federer reached all four Slam finals.  However, he still looked much like he did in 2008.  Part of the problems is the rest of the field catching up to Federer.  Many chose to play Federer by being steadier than him and letting Roger beat himself.  del Potro used power to attack Federer, and Davydenko used his quickness to beat him.

Roger claimed he was only at the midpoint of his career and that he was having a great practice and looked forward to a great 2010.  Roger has often showed great confidence.  Can he back it up in 2010?   He had been called GOAT at the French Open, but such talk disappeared after the US Open.

For Rafael Nadal, the question is: is Nadal done?  More and more players found themselves on the winning side against Nadal.  Although Nadal looked very tough leading up to the French, since the US Open, he’s looked vulnerable.  To be fair, Nadal has never looked great after the US Open.  He’s generally played solid, but not won tournaments.  This year, however, he seemed to struggle more in his victories.  Almagro and Robredo came close to beating Nadal this year, something that used to never happen.  Can Nadal return back to dominance, or is he having to deal with the fact that he might not be as good as he once was, and have to play differently to extend his career.

Novak Djokovic found himself struggling a bit early on.  People felt Andy Murray was passing him by.  However, Djokovic both played very well at the clay season and ended the year strong.  Still, his Slam performance was at a notch below what he’s used to.  Can he put in a better effort in 2010?  He added Todd Martin to his coaching staff this year and it seemed to help some.

Although del Potro looked like the guy most likely to leap to the number 1 spot, injuries and fitness are still a question for the tall Argentine.  But when he’s on, no one hits a forehand like del Potro.  Many felt he had the most upside of the newcomers.

Many people point to Andy Murray as a can’t miss prospect, but he plays the equivalent of a “pusher” game at the highest levels.  That means, he allows hard hitters to move him around while he gets shot after shot back.  Murray is capable of going toe to toe with the best players.  Witness his victory over Nadal at the 2008 US Open or a victory over him in early 2009.  Murray struggles on clay because his flatter style of hitting prevents him from getting as much consistency as a player like Nadal.  Clay tends to blunt his hitting style and leave him vulnerable to players like Gonzalez, del Potro, and Verdasco.  Many hope Murray learns to blend hard-hitting where he dictates point play with his defensive style.

Questions abound for Andy Roddick.  James Blake has already plummeted in rankings making Sam Querrey the second highest ranked American.  Querrey might have made more progress had he not suffered a freak accident short after the US Open that left him off the tour for the remainder of the year.  Can Roddick build on last year?  There’s a sense he’s running out of time.  He lacks the speed of the top players and their accuracy and inventiveness.  However, he still has a big serve.

Finally, can Nikolay Davydenko win in the Slams?  For a long time, it was he, not Djokovic, that was a solid number 3.  However, unlike Djokovic, Davydenko never played the Slams well.  For a man ranked as high as Davydenko, his endorsements are nowhere near what it should be.  He lacks photogenic good looks and more importantly lacks important victories.

2008 introduced the tennis world to Juan Martin del Potro.  Will 2010 bring someone new?  Or will someone already in the top 10 make a key breakthrough?  Or are the stalwarts at the top, Federer and Nadal, continue to show the dominance they’ve had for many years?

Spain Wins Davis Cup

You would think, with the year-end championship, this year called ATP World Tour Finals, which was played November 29th, that there would be no more tennis to be played.

Au contraire.

There was one last piece of unfinished business.  The Davis Cup Final.

Spain, again, found itself in the finals.  They were heavily favored on slow clay to beat the Czech Republic.  Last year, the Spaniards played the Argentines in Argentina.  The Argentines opted to play on hard courts because they thought Rafael Nadal would play.  However, in 2008, Nadal was injured.  Instead, they called on Fernando Verdasco to play the fourth tie (apparently, Ferrer who lost in straight sets was hurt) which he won in five sets.  This victory buoyed Verdasco who, up to then, was considered a man with a ferocious forehand but a timid mindset.

This year, Rafael Nadal played Tomas Berdych.  Although Nadal had not won a single set in the ATP World Tour Finals dropping 6 sets to Djokovic, Davydenko, and Soderling, Rafa found himself on familiar ground playing a player outside the top 10.  A subpar Nadal still knows how to beat non-elite players on clay.  This wasn’t even close.  A 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 drubbing put Spain on the board 1-0.

Alberto Costa, Spain’s Davis Cup captain, then made an unusual choice.  David Ferrer isn’t even the second best Spaniard.  Between Nadal and Ferrer, there is Verdasco and Tommy Robredo.  Perhaps Costa remembered last year’s Davis Cup where Ferrer lost tamely to David Nalbandian.  Perhaps Costa wanted Ferrer to redeem himself.  For whatever reason, Costa put his money on Ferrer.  For two sets, Costa’s decision looked like a poor one.  Stepanek was striking the ball well and took the first two sets easily, 6-1, 6-2.

But Ferrer hung in there and fought tough, taking the next two sets, 6-4 and 6-4, and finally took the fifth set, 8-6.

Spain up 2-0.

Although Lukas Dlouhy is one-half of one of the more successful doubles team (with Indian, Leander Paes), the Czech team decided to go with their singles players, pairing Radek Stepanek with Tomas Berdych.  The Spaniards went two lefties, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.  With power forehands, the Spaniards took the match in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Perhaps to entertain the locals, Nadal and Ferrer played the meaningless reverse singles.  The Czech team let some of their team savor a bit of the Davis Cup finals playing Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy (who normally plays doubles) instead of Stepanek and Berdych.

With that, most players gear up in December with a rigorous training regimen trying to get ready for 2010.  Andy Murray has already headed to Miami where he has spent the last two Decembers training.  No doubt Roger Federer has headed to Dubai to begin his training for 2010.  The ever-confident Federer posted to Facebook looking forward to a wonderful 2010.

There remains questions heading into 2010, many of which look like the questions heading into 2009.  Can Roger Federer come back?  Sure, he nearly accomplished the improbable Small Slam for the fourth time in his career, falling short by losing to Juan Martin del Potro.  But his game, when it’s off, always looks shaky.  Is the shank forehand a symptom of his movement?  Look at the crisper Davydenko.  Will Federer, someone who plays near the baseline like Davydenko, look to him as the model to beat players like Nadal and del Potro.

Can Andy Murray win a Slam?  Murray started off 2009 hitting as well as he ever had.  His ball striking turned passive as the year wore along, perhaps, in part, due to a wrist injury that manifested itself at the US Open.  Murray reached number 2 primarily due to Nadal not playing Wimbledon and losing early in the French.  However, with a resurgent Djokovic playing well at the end of the year, Murray slipped back to number 4.

Can Rafa play a full year?  2009 saw Rafa succumbing to injuries earlier than ever.  The rigorous clay circuit seemed to drain Rafa both physically and mentally.  Rafa saw his undefeated streak end at the French Open when surprising newcomer, Robin Soderling, took him out in four sets, and then took that win to his first final at a Slam ever.  Rafa took a big break, then lost to del Potro and Djokovic prior to the US Open.  Although he reached the semifinals of the US Open, Rafa had no answers to del Potro and lost tamely 2, 2, and 2.  Rafa struggled some in the indoor season, losing to Djokovic and Davydenko, then in the round-robin, he again fell to Robin Soderling.  Even so, Rafa tends to play well at the start of the year.  What changes will he make to get him more durability?  Or has Rafa’s grinding style finally caught up to him?

Is Novak Djokovic back?  Djokovic won more matches than anyone else in 2009.  But he had few Masters titles and poor Slam results.  He returned back to the semifinals of the US Open for the third year in a row, but looked a bit listless against Roger Federer.  After the US Open, Djokovic looked the most solid, beating Federer in Basel one week and Nadal in Paris the next.  However, Djokovic couldn’t get to the semifinal rounds of the ATP World Tour Finals, a fate that also befell Andy Murray.

Where is Andy Roddick?  Roddick complained about the grind of the tour in Shanghai.  He had to retire and did not play the remainder of the year.  Is Sam Querrey ready to come back?  A freak injury early in the Asian tour left Querrey unable to play the remainder of the indoor season.  Even so, Querrey remains the second highest ranked American player.  Roddick found himself unable to take his amazing Wimbledon final appearance and buoy that to better results.  Instead, Roddick found himself struggling against other Americans, including both Querrey and Isner, who knocked Roddick out of the US Open.

How will Juan Martin del Potro do in 2010?  del Potro beat many of the top players, including Federer, Nadal, and Murray.  Yet, he found himself a bit frail, suffering from injuries that took him off the tour for several weeks right around the US Open and right after the US Open as well.  del Potro was able to peak in most of the Slams, however, getting to the semifinals of the French Open and winning the US Open.

Is Robin Soderling ready to ascend the ranks?  Soderling showed his victory over Nadal wasn’t a fluke and managed to eke in the ATP World Tour Finals when Roddick bowed out due to injury.  Last year, Gilles Simon found himself in the same position.  His victory over Federer meant Federer was unable to make the semifinals.  Simon, however, regressed in 2009, basically unable to make forward progress and lost somewhat early in most tournaments.  Will Soderling be able to play well where Simon did not?

Will there be a surprise for 2010?  In 2007, Novak Djokovic came from nowhere to put himself at number 3.  In 2008, Andy Murray made a bid to move to the top of the rankings, and Juan Martin del Potro also came from nowhere to move himself to the top 10.  In 2009, del Potro continued to make progress.  2009 saw Davydenko returning to form late in the year as well as Djokovic.

Are there any players that are ready to make that leap in 2010?

Finally, what about American tennis?  Can Melanie Oudin make herself a top 10 player?  Can Querrey recover from a freak accident?  Does Isner have enough of a game to move higher in the rankings?  Is James Blake done for?

As we congratulate Spain for its second consecutive Davis Cup, we bid 2009 adieu.  Roger Federer reclaimed number 1, his first French title, and became a father.  As the holidays approach, let us reflect on the year of tennis just passed and look forward at another year of tennis ahead.