Andy Murray marks return with win in LA

Novak Djokovic was planning to play LA which is something the top 4 have avoided, waiting to play the hardcourt tournaments as late as possible, starting with Toronto, a Masters 1000, followed by Cincinnati, another Masters 1000, followed by a week off, an the US Open.  However, Djokovic cited personal reasons for not attending and there was a request for Andy Murray to play since he was already training in the US.

Andy Murray agreed to show up as the number 1 seed.  His first opponent was unheralded American qualifier, Tim Smyczek.  For a while, this match looked like it would be a decidedly one-sided affair.  Smyczek seems like a very steady player with no huge weapons, but then Murray’s not the kind of guy that always goes for his shots.   Murray took the first set, 6-1.  Then, Murray got broken a few times in the second and lost that 6-4.  Finally, he focused and won the third set easily, 6-2.

Remember Alejandro Falla?  The guy that almost beat Roger Federer?  He played Ernests Gulbis who has been recovering since he lost in the first round at the French Open.  Gulbis had saved some 5 match points, but was unable to beat Falla, falling in a third set tiebreak.  4-6, 6-4, 7-6(8).  Falla plays Murray in the quarterfinals.

Feliciano Lopez had a tough straight set win over Dudi Sela.  James Blake shows signs of winning again.  He, too, had a tough straight set win over Benjamin Becker.  The two meet each other in the quarterfinals.

The other two quarterfinals are recently married Janko Tipsarevic playing Marcos Baghdatis and Sam Querrey playing veteran Rainer Schuettler. Baghdatis, Querrey, and Schuettler all required three set wins to reach the quarterfinals.

Murray parts ways with coach Maclagan

In 2007, Andy Murray left Brad Gilbert and decided to work with someone closer to his style.  Brad Gilbert may have worked a number of years with Andre Agassi, but Gilbert is known to be “in your face”.  He not only coaches, but has a habit of dominating your life with his opinionated manner.  He worked briefly with Andy Roddick who won his only Slam underneath his tutelage, but even that success was not enough to prevent Roddick from deciding to end that relationship and Murray, who was tired of fighting with Gilbert for his ideas, also parted ways.

Murray had been criticized for his lack of fitness often bailing out of 5 set matches because he lacked the endurance to compete until the end.  He enlisted the help of Miles Maclagan plus an array of fitness/agility coaches and this ultimately lead him to a number 2 ranking, though that was more due to Nadal’s injuries than excellence on Murray’s part.  Murray would reach his first Slam final in 2008, then his second in 2010.  Still, he was the highest ranked player never to have won a Slam.  Djokovic may have had issues of his own, and he may have lucked out twice when he beat a mono-ridden Federer and faced an untested Jo-Wilfried Tsonga instead of Rafael Nadal, but he has his one Slam.

Murray announced yesterday that he was no longer working with Miles Maclagan,  It is unclear who he is working with.  He had been working with Alex Corretja, but it’s unclear whether he continues to work with Corretja.  One imagines that he is still with his physio and fitness staff, and the only person that has left is Maclagan.

This announcement comes at the heels of Federer announcing that he will work with Paul Annacone.  Federer never quite seems prepared to call a person his coach, but more as an advisor, much like his relationship with Jose Higueras.

Murray has not announced a replacement for Maclagan.  The timing is interesting because it’s just after Wimbledon and just starting the main hardcourt season leading to the US Open.  Murray took a wildcard into LA much like Roddick took a wildcard into Atlanta.

UPDATE: There is a rumor that not only is Murray parting ways with Maclagan but also Corretja, and that he is seeking to work with Darren Cahill.  Cahill coached Agassi after Agassi parted ways with Brad Gilbert.  Federer had sought Cahill’s services, but they never got to an agreement.

Federer looks to Annacone as coach

Roger Federer is a bit unusual when it comes to coaching.  Technically, Federer has done without a coach for a while.  He had had Jose Higueras on his team trying to find ways to beat Rafael Nadal, but parted ways when it didn’t seem to help his clay game that much.  He then looked to Darren Cahill, but Cahill decided he didn’t want to coach Federer.

So Roger did without.  Sort of.  He’s worked with Severin Luthi, the Swiss Davis Cup captain, who often travels with Federer, but is never openly acknowledged as his coach.

Roger is now planning to work with Paul Annacone.  Annacone coached Pete Sampras after Tim Gullikson passed away from cancer.  Annacone played during the McEnroe era and was a serve-and-volleyer.  Indeed, he pushed the notion of serve and volley so much that he would come to net as much as he could, even against another serve and volleyer.  It was unusual to see Annacone rush the net on return of serve against McEnroe.  It was an innovative idea, but ultimately didn’t pan out so well.

Annacone played college tennis at the University of Tennessee although, as with most college tennis, he was not a native of Tennessee (I believe he’s originally from New York).  During this time, he becamse NCAA champ.

After coaching Sampras, Annacone became head of coaching for the Lawn Tennis Association in Britain hoping to revive some semblance of good British tennis, at least someone decent after Andy Murray.  Britain would love it if they were Switzerland which is neither Spain nor France, but boasts Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli.  That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s much better than what Britain offers.

Annacone was let go earlier this year, which meant he was available for other jobs, and it seems Federer, the top man in Slam wins, now wants advice from the coach of the second man in Slam wins.

It’s not clear what Annacone will advise Federer to do.  Clearly, Annacone’s strengths are in serve and volley.  By the end of Sampras’s career, he was serving and volleying almost all the time.  However, Sampras had the benefit of having a serve that bailed him out of trouble.  Federer has a pretty good serve, but he’s one of those top players that doesn’t ace himself out of trouble.  Imagine if Sampras, at his prime, missed a great deal of his first serves on break points and was forced to hit second serves.  Sampras would probably not be the 14 time Slam champion.  It says something about Federer that he managed to win as much as he did, especially in recent years, without hitting huge serves on the big points (which isn’t to say he didn’t hit a few, just that he didn’t hit it reliably at the big points).

Like  many top players, Federer seems like a stubborn player.  In this day and age, Rafael Nadal is unusual.  He appears to be the rare player that listens to what his coach tells him to do.  Of course, this puts tremendous pressure on Uncle Toni to mold Rafa’s game into something positive rather than steer him to doing something that Rafa can’t manage.  More typical is a player like Boris Becker who sometimes wanted to beat a player in a certain way (say, hitting groundstrokes) rather than use his strength (serving and volleying).

There has been clamoring, especially from old timers, for Federer to bring serve and volley back to tennis.  They figure, if he’s the greatest, he can still win playing serve and volley.  Indeed, Federer used to serve and volley, especially on grass.  Federer used to be fearful of players like Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian, whose ground game he felt superior to his own.  It’s a credit to Federer that he built up his ground game so he could compete with them.  Despite being his contemporaries, both Hewitt and Nalbandian have struggled as they close in on 30 years of age.

About the only top player that I’ve seen rely on serve and volley is Michael Llodra.  It’s no surprise that he’s 30 years old and grew up during the Sampras era where serve and volley was still viable.  Sampras, Henman, and Rafter continued the tradition of top players that rushed the net.  But, but 2003 or so, when Federer began dominating the sport, the serve and volleyers disappeared.  The groundstrokers of today have become excellent passers.  But without someone highly ranked to serve and volley, how do we know how effective it is.

Another reason serve and volley has become rarer than one-handed backhands is because the style of play has some risk.  Ground play leaves the ball in a somewhat predictable manner and players adjust to the height and speed of the ball.  When one rushes the net, there is more risk.  If the approach is poor, or the serve is poor, a good returner or passer will dip that ball down low, and a volleyer will struggle with that shot.  Indeed, a volleyer needs to handle angled passing shots, lobs, hard hit shots directed at them.  The variety of shots they need to handle is tremendous and any little mistake means a volley sent out wide or into the net.  I believe this is one reason serve and volley has become more problematic for many players.

Given the quality of passing, the variability of the ball that you might encounter at net, players have become reluctant to go to net, especially off the serve.  In doubles, it’s still effective because the net man prevents a returner from standing 12 feet behind the baseline where the best returners like to return.  They have to stand in closer to the baseline, but they are also at risk of being aced more often as a consequence.

Is Federer looking to bring serve and volley back to his game?  Is he willing to make the biggest change since he decided he wanted to be a baseliner?  Or will Annacone merely bring subtle changes to Federer’s game because Federer believes that all he needs is a bit of tweaking in his game?

Federer returns back to play in Toronto, so that will be the first time we get to see if Federer has made any significant changes to his game.

Atlanta: Fish continues winning streak–beats Isner in 3

I would love to say something intelligent about the match, but a whirlwind storm hit my viewing area.  The 20 minutes was enough to take down power in a huge swath of area where I live.  I had expected my satellite to go down, and watch the match on ESPN 3, but with no power, no such luck.

Suffice it to say that Mardy Fish continues to do well, and beat a tough John Isner in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.

Currently, they are playing the finals of a qualifying match for the US Open qualifying rounds (looks like putting the winner of this in the main draw would be just too generous).  This is being held at the Atlanta site, much after the men’s final, and thus in somewhat better temperature (though it still seems humid).

This year, one of the wildcard qualifiers (yes, even the qualies of the US Open has wildcards) will be the winner of this event between Blake Strode and Cecil Mamiit.  Mamiit took the first set 6-2, but Strode took the second 6-4.  They appear to be at the level of good college players.  Indeed, Strode used to play at University of Arkansas.

Cecil Mamiit appears to have been on the pro tour, ranked as high as 72, but currently ranked around 400.  I’m not sure what the rules are for entering this competition, but clearly, although it’s open to everyone, it doesn’t seem closed to many.

Djokovic and Murray do a swap!

Next week, Los Angeles starts.  Novak Djokovic, who hasn’t played this event in recent memory, was scheduled to play.  One advantage of Djokovic playing would be getting some separation between him and Federer so he could secure the second seed at the US Open.  However, Djokovic has withdrawn from Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray, who was planning to return at Toronto, has taken a wildcard and will be the top seed at Los Angeles, also an event Murray hasn’t played in recent memory.

Murray, Querrey, Baghdatis, Lopez, Gulbis (who hasn’t played since the French Open), Tipsarevic, and Fish are the seeds.  Interestingly enough, Andy Roddick isn’t playing (he has played in LA in years past) and neither is Isner.  It’s been a while, indeed, since Querrey and Isner have been at the same tournament (Wimbledon was the last time the two played at the same tournament).

Murray has been training in Miami as he usually does when he is in the US.  He trains there in December, and goes back a few times (e.g., at Miami and also now, prior to the US Open series).

Atlanta: Fish upsets Roddick in straight sets (SF)

Mardy Fish had been having knee issues.  One of his best buds on tour, Andy Roddick, had advised him to lose weight.  Fish essentially hired a nutritionist and shaved 30 lbs off his 200 lb frame and now weighs under 170.  This is pretty impressive for a guy 6’2″.

Fish hasn’t had a great deal of success over Roddick.  They’ve met 10 times, and Roddick has won all but once, and that was the first time they met back in 2003.  However, it’s been two years since they last played, and Fish lost his weight earlier this year. Fish felt he had his chances to win, especially after his win in Newport.

Fish went to a tiebreak against Roddick in the first set.  Roddick had the early lead, but Fish managed to get it back and take the tiebreak 7 points to 5.  In the second set, early on, Fish was lamenting a pass that just clipped the net and didn’t go over.  However, Fish got a chance when he barely got to a shot, tossed a lob up, only to see Roddick smash it into the net!  Double break point.  And then Fish kinda pushed the ball back several times in a row and Roddick overplayed a backhand long to give the break to Fish.

Roddick was pressuring Fish on his own serve, when he got to net, hit an angle volley, and Fish chased it down to hit a severe angle passing shot.  That got Fish the lead and he held serve.  Roddick held serve followed by Fish, who close out the second set, 6-3.

Fish will now play John Isner in the finals.  Fish has only played Isner once, in San Jose, back in 2009, which he won.  Whoever wins, it’ll be an American.  Roddick, for his part, said that he didn’t have to win the tournament, and that getting back to the level he was playing at Miami is a process, one which he wishes to peak at the US Open.

Atlanta: Isner beats Anderson in 3 sets (SF)

Another day of stifling summer heat, and John Isner played Kevin Anderson.  The two have played 3 times in the pro ranks.  Anderson beat Isner en route to his only ATP final, a loss to Sam Querrey at the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas in 2008, but Isner beat him twice since then.  The two played three times in college as well, with Isner also having a 2-1 lead.  Anderson recently came from Chicago where he trained at nearby University of Illinois where he went to college (although he is originally from South Africa).

Isner won the first set, 6-3.  In the second set, Isner had a match point twice, one in the tiebreak, but Anderson saved match point then got a set point and took the second set in a tiebreak, 9 points to 7.  At this point, Isner looked very tired.  The two took a break and went off court.  About 10 minutes later, the two returned.  Cloud cover kept the sun out for a bit of time.  At 3-4 down, Anderson was serving to hold, but played a few nervous points off his forehand to get down break point.  He then double-faulted to go down 3-5.  It looked like Anderson might break back when he had Isner down 0-30.  However, Isner came back to win the game with distant thunder and lightning threatening to postpone the match.

This evening, Andy Roddick will play Mardy Fish in the other semifinals.

In Hamburg, Melzer had a pretty easy straight set win over Seppi.  He will face Andrey Golubev, who had a tighter 2 set win over Florian Mayer.  That event is being played on clay.

Atlanta – Friday Results: Big Servers Win

Caught in the heat wave that has gripped much of the nation, the Atlanta quarterfinals were played today.  Andy Roddick played a rematch of his very first final, coincidentally in Atlanta when he won his first final as a wildcard over Xavier Malisse.  Roddick played Malisse again (as a wildcard, but number 1 seed) and again won, but it did take three sets to do it: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Then, two tall guys.  Big John Isner had a pretty easy time beating fellow American, Michael Russell: 6-1, 6-2.

Kevin Anderson, who is like 6’8″, had a little tougher time, winning over Lukas Lacko.  Anderson apparently has played and beaten Donald Young three times this year.  The two are ranked near 100, so they often meet at the Challenger level.  Anderson did beat Young in Atlanta in the previous round.  The final score: 6-3, 6-4.

Although Tennis Channel could be covering the Mardy Fish-Taylor Dent match live, they aren’t (what, not cover two Americans, and cover a South African and a Slovakian instead?).  Mardy Fish is up 5-3 over Taylor Dent and serving for the match.

In Hamburg, organizers must be a little bummed out that none of the semifinalists, save Jurgen Melzer, is seeded.  The semifinalists are Melzer (the third seed), Mayer, Seppi, and Golubev.  Melzer is the third seed.  Today, sixth seeded Ferrero lost to Mayer and seventh seeded Bellucci lost to Seppi.

del Potro scheduled to return by Thailand in late Sept

Juan Martin del Potro has basically been off the tour since Indian Wells.  He got wrist surgery and was expected to be off the tour for at least 3-6 months.  del Potro has signed up to play in Thailand, but that is at the end of September.  The US Open starts the last week of August into the first week of September.  He is in the provisional draw.  It is unclear at this point whether del Potro will defend his title.  At this moment, due to winning the US Open and getting to the finals of the ATP World Tour Final, del Potro is still in the top 10, but he would fall out of it if he fails to play in the US Open.

Atlanta – Wednesday Results: Americans Roll

Today, four singles matches were played, and five Americans played, and in every match, the American won.  Taylor Dent took on fourth seed Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.  In the only all-American second round, Mardy Fish took on Robby Ginepri.  Fish continued to show the form that got him to the finals at Queen’s and win at Newport.  He beat Ginepri, 6-1, 7-5.

Michael Russell took on Rainer Schuettler.  Schuettler has been an Australian Open finalist as well as a Wimbledon semifinalist.  However, Russell showed that, despite an empty bag for his bag check, he had more than enough game for Schuettler, and won in three sets, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Finally, John Isner had to rely on tiebreak to beat Gilles Mulles in three sets: 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(7).  Isner was sporting a striped outfit, a big change from his Wimbledon whites.

Isner and Ginepri are both familiar to Georgia.  Ginepri is a native of Georgia while Isner spent four years at Georgia playing on the tennis team.