Why Rafael Nadal will win the US-Open and win more Grand Slams than Roger Federer!

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FOLKERT HESSE

Roger Federer suffered a really hard loss yesterday against Novak Djokovic and finished the last Grand Slam of the year in the semi finals, a very disappointing end of the Grand Slam season 2010 for him.

But what might be the end of the Federer reign, might be the start of an even more dominant leader of the pack for the next years to come. Rafael Nadal will not only end this years rankings as No. 1, but he might be the first player in history to have double as many points as the no. 2 player. 

Rafael Nadal

And that shows how much he improved his game over the past years. While Roger Federer was not able to improve his backhand and his return game, Nadal worked with the same intensity on the weaker parts of his game, as he does in every match he plays on tour. He improved his serve speed, his backhand, the depth of his shots and his net game. And most importantly he is playing closer to the baseline which allows him to end the points quicker and make him move less. With his new and more aggressive game style he finishes his opponents faster and saves a lot of energy and therefore has fewer injuries.

The hard work and the courage to make some changes in his game and with his strings paid off and now he is in the US-Open final for the first time. And I am sure he won’t be there for the last time, if he stays healthy and keeps working on his game like he did. What will happen to Roger Federer remains to be seen and his fans can only hope that he will not blame and injury or illness for his loss, like he did after Wimbledon. If he is not willing to improve and work on his game anymore, he might not win another major. And then I can see Rafael Nadal passing him and winning more than 16 Grand Slams.

A disappointed Federer at the press conference after his loss to Djokovic

I am sure Nadal will win his 9^th Grand Slam title today, even though some stats might indicate a very close match between him and Novak Djokovic. But when it comes to the big matches on the big stage, Rafa was always there and was able to play at his best. But more than that he is able to will his way to success, and that is something that he does better than anybody else. Better than Novak Djokovic, even though Novak is in great form, holds a 7-4 hard court record against Nadal, won the last 3 meetings of the two, has the game-style to beat him on hard courts and should be loaded with confidence after defeating Federer.

But Nadal will be the fitter player, because he had much more time to recover after his semi-final win over Youzhny and has spent less time on the hard courts of New York so far. On top of that he has some other stats in his favor, that point him out as the favorite in this match. Nadal was broken only twice in more than 90 service games he played at the Open. He had 37 aces to the 22 of Djokovic, had only 11 double faults to Novak’s 24 and saved 88% of the break points against him compared to the 72% of Djokovic. So, he is clearly the better server in this match-up, which hasn’t been the case in the previous meetings. The stats on the return games are almost even. Both players are considered the best return players on the men’s tour and have proven it once more in this tournament.

But the key to Nadal winning tonight will be his new aggressive game, which makes him less vulnerable to the Djokovic offence. Nadal will not give him the opportunity anymore to take his balls on the rise and hit winners from both wings, because his serve is much better now and he himself takes the balls on the rise and gives Djokovic less time to get in position for winners.

So, I think we will see the Spaniard taking his first, but for sure not last, US-Open crown today. And this will make him the youngest career grand slam champion (winning all 4 slams) in history and only the second player in history to win 3 slams in a row in the same calendar year (after Laver).

And hopefully Roger will not quit and come back strong next year to challenge him…

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Best Matchpoint ever by Fernando Verdasco

By 

FOLKERT HESSE

Not all the internal affairs between two good friends and players from the same country and Davis-Cup teams are always good matches. But this one was! And it was the best match of this years US-Open so far.

Fernando Verdasco

When Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer met on Louis Armstrong Stadium at 4 p.m. in the afternoon they did not get all the attention form the New York fans right away. But 4 hours and 23 minutes later the stadium was packed with emphatic fans cheering as loud as they possibly could and rising from their seats to give both players a standing ovation for the best match at this US-Open, and maybe for all of 2010 so far.

It was Fernando Verdasco, who made several comebacks during this encounter between two good friends, and finished the match in a style the tennis world has not seen so far. It was the best and most spectacular matchpoint I have ever seen. It ended the match in the tie-breaker of the fifth set with the score of 7:4 for Verdasco.

Check out the video to see the whole point at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEuAyEkRwrM

But it was not only this match point that put an exclamation mark to this match. The whole match was hard to top in dramatics and shot making. Ferrer tok a 2 set lead which was sealed by a tight tie-breaker in the second set ending at 10:8 for Ferrer. And Ferrer was also up with a break in the fifth set and was leading 4:1 in the tie-breaker of the fifth set. But all that was not enough to beat Fernando Verdasco yesterday. The good looking Spaniard showed unbelievable willpower and never gave up, no matter what score. Especially against a master of footwork and fighting spirit, like David Ferrer, his performance was simply amazing.

He will be tired but loaded with confidence for his meeting with Rafael Nadal in the Quarterfinal. And the semi-final match against Nadal at the Australian Open 2 years ago, was probably the second best match of his career, even though he lost it.

Nadal has a great record against Verdasco but he never faced him with this much confidence yet. And with “only” Youzhny or Wawrinka waiting in a potential semi-final, he should not put too much pressure on himself to miss this great opportunity to reach his first US-Open final.

There are some great matches coming at us at the Open, Federer facing Soderling and Monfils against Djokovic today and tomorrow you should look out for Nadal against Verdasco!

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Surprise on Super Sunday at US-Open!

By 

FOLKERT HESSE

Not all of the matches lived up to their expectations on the first “Super Sunday” at the US-Open, but the fans saw some real good tennis and some upsets in the men’s draw.

The biggest splash was the 4 set win of Stan Wawrinka over Andy Murray, who was the 2^nd highest bet for bookmakers to take the title this year. And with Murray going down, we won’t see the much anticipated dream semi-final of the top four players in the world. The Scottish no. 4 seed is out now and this opens the door for a first win at the open for Rafael Nadal. I think Murray was the biggest mountain to climb, if he wanted to take his first US-Open crown and become only the second player after Rod Laver to win 3 consecutive Grand Slam events in one calendar year. A thing that not even the great Federer has done yet! But Murray’s early exit will also bring a new face to a Grand Slam semi final. One of the 4 players left over from the Murray – Berdych section of the draw, Wawrinka, Querrey, Youzhny or Robredo will now go to a maiden Grand Slam semi final. And after Youzhny took out US-boy John Isner in an exciting night session yesterday, the American fans will have to hope for Sam Querrey to be the one to take that spot in the semi final. He beat Almagro in convincing style yesterday and will now take on the second swiss player left in the draw, Stan Wawrinka. For sure this will be a close encounter, since both players will be loaded with confidence. Youzhny will take on Tommy Robredo, who is one of 6 Spanish players among the last 16 men remaining in the draw.

In the upper section of the top half of the draw, Rafa Nadal had a strong victory over Gilles Simon to join an armada of 3 other Spaniards to contest a semi final spot among them. Even though Gilles Simon was maybe not 100% focused during his match, because his wife had just given birth to their first son back in France and he was eager to get back home and see him for the first time, Nadal still showed a much improved form. He won in straight sets and never looked to be in danger throughout the whole match. He will now take on Feliciano Lopez, who won his match against Stakhovsky, due to a foot-injury the Ukrainian suffered in the second set.

Another surprise to me was the 4 set win from Fernando Verdasco over david Nalbandian. The serve and the forehand from Verdasco was too much and too good for Nalbandian yesterday. Nalbandian was never able to get into his game and form of the recent hard court events before the Open. But it was more that Verdasco did not allow him to and was able to control most of the points. He will face the 4^th Spaniard in this section, David Ferrer, who beat, … you guessed it right… another Spanish player, Gimeno-Traver, to advance to the next round. After he won the first set in a Tie-breaker he had an easy win in 3 sets and will be fresh for the match against Verdasco.

The development of the upper section of the draw is all playing into the cards of Rafa Nadal. His biggest threats have been Nalbandian and Murray and now they are both out of the tournament. Two players that have beaten him a few times already and know how to handle the pressure playing against him. But now there are only Spaniards left and 4 unexperienced players who never have even reached a semi-final in a Grand Slam event. For me it would be a very big surprise, if he would lose to any of these players and not go to his first US-Open final next Sunday.

In the women’s matches we saw relatively easy wins for Schiavone, Williams and Clijsters. Ana Ivanovic was not able to continue with her improved form from the first rounds and showed that her slump is not over at all yet. She still struggles with her ball toss on the serve and never found any consistency and confidence in her game. Another disappointing performance for her, and we all have to sit and wonder what will happen to her over the next years.

Pavyuchenkova had to take a medical timeout against Schiavone, but with the Russians you never know when it is “tactics’ or a real injury, and was chanceless against the Italian Roland Garros Champion. Shahar Peer was fighting like always, but Venus never lost her focus and was just tested in the first set that went to a tie-break. She took the second set 6:3 and will now face Schciavone for a spot in the semi finals.

The most exciting match was the night session between 2 of the fittest players on the WTA-Tour, Dementieva and Stosur. This was clearly the highlight of the women’s matches yesterday and even though it was not always a great mental performance of the two players, this match had all a night session in New York needs. And it ended not only with a great victory and turnaround from Sam Stosur, but also with a new record for women’s matches at the open. The match finished at 1:43 a.m. in the morning and therefore was the latest finished women’s match at the Open ever. Stosur won it in the third set tie-break after she was down by 0:3 and 3:5 in the set already and fought off 4 match points against her.

So, we did not see many of the close matches that were expected, but quite some exciting ones and some really good tennis.

Today there is more good tennis to come and I think this time we will some close matches for sure. Maria Sharapova will take on Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark, who stormed through her first rounds so far. This will not only be a great match-up from the sporty aspect, it will also be the match between Mrs. Russia and Mrs. Denmark, who will fight for the best dresses and style on the court… ;)

On the men’s side there will be a great match between Mardy Fish and Novak Djokovic, which is also a rematch for the last ATP-1000 event in Cincinnati, wich Fish won against Djokovic. In an all French affair, Gasquet will face Monfils, Soderling will be playing Montanes and the big Fed, who will meet Juergen Melzer from Austria, will also be in action today.

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Big Sunday at US-Open!

By 

FOLKERT HESSE

The tennis fans in the Big Apple are treated to a really tasty Big Burger of tennis this Sunday. With a lot of big stars in action and some very interesting match-ups this will be the first high light of this year’s Open. And because it is Sunday the stars will start at 11 a.m. already.

The first match on Center Court will be Ana Ivanovic against defending champion Kim Clijsters. Both have been very convincing in their first rounds and did not drop a set yet), which is not a big surprise for Kim Clijsters. But Ana Ivanovic has struggled for more than a year now and to see her back in form is good news for her fans. But unfortunately you never know how long it will last with her. But she has not much to lose against the 2 seed from Belgium, who is the tournament favorite to many, after Serena Williams had to cancel the Open due to injury. So Kim is the favorite in this one, but you never know what you get from Ivanovic and she might come up with a great match. And the guys will always have something to cheer when she plays anyways.

The next match on Arthur Ashe Stadium is Venus Williams against Shahar Peer. Venus is the last big hope for the US fans on the women’s side, and with her sister missing the tournament, she will be eager to bring another trophy to the Williams household. The No. 3 seed is the favorite in this match, but Shahar Peer is a great competitor and will not leave the stadium without showing the 20,000 a big fight. If Venus will be able to handle the pressure and will be able to thrive on the cheers of the New York fans, who always loved the Williams sisters, she will make it through to the quarters.

Where she will meet the winner of the Schiavone – Pavlyuchenkova “fight’. This match will be a great fight, which you can always expect when French Open Champion Schiavone hits the courts. But now she will meet another screaming and scratching player from Russia, who was a former No. 1 in the Juniors and has tons of potential. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, has a good hard court game and it will be very interesting to see how she will handle the backhand slice of Francesca, who will try to slow down the game and force her to miss her shots. This match will be on Luis Armstrong Stadium at 11 a.m. and might not get as much attention as it should, because the Clijsters – Ivanovic match will be taken place at Arthur Ashe at the same time.

The last women’s match today will be the night session at Arthur Ashe between Sam Stosur and Elena Dementieva. To me Stosur is one of the 3 big favorites for the title this year. With her kick serve she will give Dementieva a lot of trouble to get into the rallys on this surface. And if Sam Stosur is able to dictate with her forehand, I don’t see many chances for the Russian on her own serve either. But if Sam Stosur’s game would be predictable and if she would be mentally stronger, she would have won a few slams already. So, let’s see what we will get in this match. For sure two of the best athletes in women’s tennis.

On the men’s side there are even better matches coming up today and every one of them will be as unpredictable as the swirling winds on the courts yesterday. Even Rafa Nadal, who is one of 7 Spaniards among the 16 men in action today, is not the clear favorite in his match against Frenchman Gilles Simon. Simon beat him on a hard court once already and if he is still fresh enough after his 5 set win over Kohlschreiber, this could be a very exciting match on center Court. Simon has the game and the talent to take Nadal’s shots on the rise and play with the power that Rafa gives him. This could be a tough one for Nadal and even though Simon was struggling lately, and dropped out of the top 10, he will use the confidence from the first rounds to show the crowd a big fight.

The night session on center court will feature big American John Isner, who will take on Russian Mikhail Youzhny. Isner who is coming off a foot injury played very strong so far and is one of 3 men standing from a country that has been a strong tennis nation once. The other US players still in contention for the title, are Fish and Querrey, who are playing Djokovic and Almagro. From those three Isner probably has the best chances to advance to the next round, even though Youzhny is a fierce competitor and will try to fight Isner’s big serve and the NY crowd until the last ball is played.

But the biggest match-up on the men’s side will be between David Nalbandian and Fernando Verdasco. Former No.3 in the world, David Nalbandian, just made a great comeback from his Hip surgery and played a remarkable hard court season so far. Along with Mardy Fish, Andy Murray and Roger Federer, he showed the best form during the big hard court events before the US-Open. I see him as the favorite in this match, but No. 8 seed, Verdasco will fight like a Spanish bull to stay in the top 10 and reach a spot for this year’s ATP-Tour finals at the end of the year. This match could easily go 5 sets, but for sure it will bring us high quality tennis.

Another high quality match will be Andy Murray against Stan Wawrinka. Even though Wawrinka did not get the great results he looked for during the hard court season, he showed much better fitness and form in his matches. I expect a close one here, since both players breezed through their first two rounds without losing a set. This one could also go all the way to a 5 setter, but you still have to name Murray the favorite in this match-up. His double-handed backhand is still better than Wawrinka’s, who has one of the best single-handed backhands in the game.

The rest of the matches do not feature the big names in tennis, but are all interesting and wide open. The aggressive Llodra, who defeated Thomas Berdych will take on solid and experienced baseliner Tommy Robredo. Sam Querrey, who won 4 tournaments this year already, will play big hitting Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez will battle it out with Sergiy Stakhovsky in an all out offence match. The last match will hold another two Spanish players in the run for a spot to play the winner of the Nalbandian – Verdasco match. Here David Ferrer will play Daniel Gimeno-Traver and the internal affairs are always very interesting to see.

So, there is plenty of high quality action today and if the weather holds up, the New Yorkers and many fans on TV will be treated to a great day of tennis.

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Big 4 still alive at US-Open

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FOLKERT HESSE

Even though there have been some big upsets in the men’s draw of the US-Open, the big four are still alive and all look sharp and ready to win the title. But there are 3 more matches left for them to reach the semi-finals, with some difficult matches ahead of them to get there.

Nadal will have a tricky match against Simon, who beat Nadla on hard court already, before he runs either into Stakhovsky or Lopez. But the real trouble will come in the quarterfinal match, where he might face Ferrer, Verdasco or Nalbandian.

Andy Murray might get the easiest quarterfinal match against Isner, but will have his hands full in the next round against Wawrinka and then probably against Sam Querrey.

Djokovic has also some US boys in his way to a possible quarterfinal against Gasquet or Monfils. He will face Blake in his next match, who always had great support from the fans at the US-Open. And if he beats him he will face the most dangerous player in his section of the draw, Mardy Fish.

Roger Federer might have the toughest of all quarterfinal match-ups, but therefore some beatable opponents on his way to the quarters. He will face Mathieu in his next match and then the winner of Ferrero and Melzer, which is a very open match for me. But non of them should give him big trouble to reach the match against Soderling, that every looking forward to. Not only because he is the no. 5 in the world, he is the toughest player to face in the quarters for any of the top 4 players. He is very dangerous and has beaten Fed at a slam already. Something not many players have accomplished yet.

So, all top 4 players have their hands full, but things are looking good that the fans at the open will be treated to a “big 4” semi-final day. Something we haven’t seen in a long time at a grand slam.

FOLKERT

 HESSE

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Roddick and Berdych out of US-Open!

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FOLKERT HESSE


Two big upsets rattled the New York crowed yesterday and took the biggest hope of the US fans out of the draw. Andy Roddick not only lost in 4 sets to Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia, but this loss might have ended his hopes for another year end top ten ranking and a participation at the ATP-Tour Finals in London. And the way Roddick lost his match might have even more serious consequences for the A-Rod fans. A disappointed Roddick threw 4 of his Babolat rackets into the crowd when he left the court. And some of his fans might be afraid that he will throw the rest of the rackets soon… Roddick turned only 28 two days ago, when he came up with a convincing, but easy first round win to celebrate his birthday with the New York crowd. But it seems as if he is on the tour for ever and even though he worked with some of the finest coaches during this long career (Brad Gilbert, Jimmy Connors) he never lived up to his and the fans expectations after winning the first Grand Slam in the Big Apple at the age of 20. Not even the smart Larry Stefanki was able to fine-tune the hard-hitting Roddick. And when you look at the way Roddick played against Tipsarevic and in recent months, since he started working with Stefanki, it seems like his coach has tamed the danger out of the Roddick game. Once a fear less ball striker, Roddick was turned into a counter punching ball machine with a big serve, a good forehand, but no backhand and still no net game. And just keeping the ball in play was not enough yesterday, against a fearless Tipsarevic, who did not beat big A-Rod for the first time at a slam. He handed him his earliest exit at Wimbledon in 2008, where he also beat him in the second round. But this loss might be much more disappointing for Roddick, and it will be interesting to see how he will handle it this time?! If he handles it at all. He made enough money and he is a married man now who might want to think about kid and is tired of all the traveling… and another disappointment of not winning another major in his career. If he keeps playing he is very likely to change coaches one more time, since he followed that pattern a few times already.
We will see.

The other big upset and disappointment was the loss of Thomas Berdych against Michael Llodra in straight sets. Berdych was one of the big favorites of the tournament and everyone was looking forward to a potential matchup with Andy Murray in the Quarterfinals. But yesterday we have seen the old Berdych again, who is unpredictable and inconsistent. Everyone was seeing him as the potential new no. one, but potential was always the word that was used together with his name the most. And it seems like the story will continue for a bit more. Llodra broke him down with his serve and volley and constant net approaches and never allowed Berdych to take a breath or find his range. Now the door seems to be wide open for Andy Murray and fans can only hope for a semi final with Rafael Nadal.
Another big disappointment was the early exit of US crowd favorite Melanie Oudin. She will lose a lot of points after her run at last year’s open.
But there is a new player that made the American fans happy and gives hope for the future. 18 year-old Ryan Harrison defeated Ivan Ljubicic and after going through qualification already he won his 4th straight match yesterday. To beat former no. 3 Ljubicic on this surface is quite a thing and I can’t wait to see more of him. He might be ready for a few more upsets if he has enough gas left in the tank. His draw is good for at least to more wins, before he runs into Nadal… For sure a night session and something to look forward to for the American fans and US tennis in general.

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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2010 US-Open preview

By

FOLKERT HESSE

The 2010 US-Open will kick off tomorrow and it looks like the men’s and the women’s tournament will offer some very interesting matches and a possible first time US-Open Champion. Especially the men’sdraw is as open as it has not been in the past 7 years, since the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal started. And with Serena Williams not playing this year’s tournament, the women’s draw is also wide open for a surprise champion.

I want to start my preview with the men’s tournament, where Robin Soderling and Thomas Berdych might be two of the hottest candidates for a first Grand Slam title of their career, after reaching their first Grand Slam final this season in Wimbledon (Berdych) and Roland Garros (Soderling). Even though they have not been very convincing in the past hard court tournaments, I am sure that one of them will make a splash at the US-Open this year. Berdych won’t have many problems in his section of the draw, before he might run into Isner or Youzhny in the 4th round. A match against John Isner, especially at the US-Open, is always a tough one. But I think he will go through, due to his newly found level of concentration and confidence. If he plays Youzhny, I see even fewer problems for him. But in the Quarterfinals he will meet Andy Murray and that will be the match that determines if he is ready for the title this year. I see the match at 50% – 50%, but if Berdych wins this one I think he will reach the Final as well. If Murray wins it, I would still put my money on Nadal, if he gets to the semi final.
Which brings me to the top half of the draw and Nadal’s section. His draw is not easy, because he has red-hot David Nalbandian in his part of the draw. The good news for Rafa is, that Nalbandian has to beat the no. 2 and 3 spanish players (David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco) before he could earn a spot in the fourth round. And these two matches will cost the reignited Argentine a lot of energy, even though I see him as the favorite against both. But before Nadal plays him, he also has his hands full with Michael Kohlschreiber (who trained with Roger Federer to get ready for the US-Open…) and probably Ivan Ljubicic. But I believe Nadal will go through and will face Nalbandian in a tough fourth round, 5 set match. I think that it all depends on how many sets Nalbandian lost to Verdasco and Ferrer, if he has a chance to reach another Grand Slam semi final at the US-Open. But right now I would put my money on Rafa, even though his warm-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronta have not been very successful. I think Nalbandian will play 9 sets against Verdasco and Ferrer to reach the match against Nadala and will be very tired. On top of that his Uncle Toni will be on his side again at the Open, and he will be ready and motivated for some tough matches. So my finalist of the top half of the draw will be either Nadal or Berdych.
In the bottom half of the draw Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the top seeds. Novak Djokovic is running into Marcos Baghdatis or Mardy Fish in the fourth round, which both showed great form in the past hard court tournaments. And Fish beating Djokovic in Cincinnati. So there might be some surprises around the corner and this section is very hard to predict, since all three players are very unpredictable themselves. If Djokovic goes through he will face more trouble, with Roddick, Monfils or Davydenko. Roddick will have to play Monfils before the winner will face Davydenko. This is probably the toughest section of the men’s draw and I see 6 players with basically the same chances to reach the semi-final.
If I have to put my money now, I would say Djokovic against Davydenko with a slight edge for Davydenko to win it, if he does not lose too much energy against Roddick or Monfils.
The Russian will face the strongest man in the Federer section of the draw, and if you just look at the stats of the past 5-7 years, there could be only one man coming out of this section. And his initials are RF…
But stats are there to be broken and especially after his surprise early exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, there are some reasonable doubts. Even though he has the easiest section of the draw to reach the 4th round and the quarterfinals. He might face a former US-Open champion on his way to the fourth round with Lleyton Hewitt, and maybe plays another one in the fourth round (Ferrero). But both players have never given Roger too much trouble. The highest seed to reach the fourth round against him is Juergen Melzer, but he is not in good form and has not won many matches on hard courts this year. So, from all the top 10 players, Federer is the best bet to reach the quarterfinals. But that’s where the big test will come for him. He will most likely play Robin Soderling in the Quarters, who will have his hands full with De Bakker or Gonzales, and then Marin Cilic before he will have the honor to challenge the big Fed for a semi final spot. I see Federer a favorite for this match with 60%, because he will be very eager to take some revenge for his loss at the French Open, which was favored by many rain delays for Soderling. But with Soderling you never know. If he keeps hitting his winners, not even Fed has an answer…
If Soderling wins this match he will go to another Grand Slam final.
And who knows, it might be the two surprise first time finalists of the French and Wimbledon, who could meet in the final. It might be Berdych against Soderling. Like this at least one of them will have his first Grand Slam crown. And this could indicate a big change to come for 2011, in the Federer-Nadal-dominace of the past years.
But I would prefer another Federer Nadal final for this year’s Open. Berdych and Soderling still have some time left and I am sure the majority of the tennis fans would like to see the same final like I do. And if you just look at the stats, then it simply has to be Roger against Rafa.
Federer is always in the final… and he always played somebody else in the final for the past 6 years. So, why not Rafa?!? If Rafa wins, he would be the only player besides Rod Laver who won 3 consecutive Grand Slams in one year!

Here are some more interesting stats and facts about the past US-Open tournaments:

Nadal on his way to a career Grand Slam– Nadal, who captured his eighth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last month, is a US OPEN title away from completing a career Grand Slam. The 24-year-old Spaniard reached the semi-finals in Flushing Meadows the past two years. He would be the youngest player to accomplish the feat and he would become the seventh man to complete a career Grand Slam, joining Don Budge, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, and Roger Federer.

No.1 Update – Nadal enters the US-Open as the No. 1 player for the 59th week overall (as of Aug. 30) in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, the 10th-most (of 24 players). This past week he tied Jim Courier, who held No. 1 for 58 weeks. Nadal enters the US OPEN with a 3,530-point lead over No. 2 Federer and he is guaranteed staying No. 1 after the tournament.

FEDERER-NADAL DOMINATION -- Since Nadal won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2005, he and Federer have combined to win 20 of the past 22 Grand Slam tournaments (except '08 Aust. Open, Djokovic; ’09 US OPEN, del Potro). During that stretch, Federer has won 12 Grand Slam titles and Nadal eight.


2010 Wimbledon Rafael Nadal d. Tomas Berdych

2010 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal d. Robin Soderling

2010 Australian Open Roger Federer d. Andy Murray

2009 US OPEN Juan Martin del Potro d. Roger Federer

2009 Wimbledon Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick

2009 Roland Garros Roger Federer d. Robin Soderling

2009 Australian Open Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer

2008 US OPEN Roger Federer d. Andy Murray

2008 Wimbledon Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer

2008 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer

2008 Australian Open Novak Djokovic d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

2007 US OPEN Roger Federer d. Novak Djokovic

2007 Wimbedon Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal

2007 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer

2007 Australian Open Roger Federer d. Fernando Gonzalez

2006 US OPEN Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick

2006 Wimbledon Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal

2006 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer

2006 Australian Open Roger Federer d. Marcos Baghdatis

2005 US OPEN Roger Federer d. Andre Agassi

2005 Wimbledon Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick

2005 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal d. Mariano Puerta


Check out my next blog, where I will take a look at the women’s draw.

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

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Folkert Hesse Tennis

Roger back on track?

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FOLKERT HESSE

Roger Federer won the ATP-1000 Event in Cincinnati yesterday to capture his second title of the year. On his way to the final against Mardy Fish, he played only 2 full matches against Marcos Baghdatis and Nikolay Davydenko, which he won in straight sets. He had a bye in the first round and in his second round match Denis Istomin retired at 5:2 for Federer. In the next round Fed was even more lucky when he had a walkover, because Kohlschreiber was unable to play the match due to injury. Playing Mardy Fish in an ATP-1000 final can also be considered as quite lucky. By no means it was only luck that brought Roger back to winning ways on the ATP-tour, but he has seen tougher opponents on his ways to titles.
He himself was very pleased with his performance and was happy the way he was able to implement new strategies into his game, after having enough time after Wimbledon. He said that he was playing more aggressive than before and felt much fitter and healthier than before and during the Wimbledon tournament.
I have to say that I don’t see anything new in his game. I think that he played many slice backhands, because he does not have the confidence or aggression to play more top-spin. On top of that I don’t see any improvement in his fitness. Many times he looked tired and a bit slow to me. Nothing compared to the Federer of the old days…
But no matter what, this win will give him confidence for the US-Open, since the other favorites were not very convincing either. Berdych, Djokovic, Soderling and Nadal all need to improve a lot if they want to win the Open. It will be an interesting tournament this year with Nalbandian and Davydenko back in the game. Especially Nalbandian will be a big threat going into the US-Open unseeded. It is just too bad that Del Potro will not be able to defend his title. He could have made the draw even more open.
Let’s see who will be the Champion 2010…

FOLKERT HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Folkert Hesse Tennis

Rafa ready for US-Open!

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FOLKERT HESSE

Rafa finished his preparation for the US-hard-court season 2010 today in Manacor, Mallorca. Tomorrow morning he will head to Toronto, Canada for the first of two ATP-1000 tournaments he will be playing before the US-Open.

I have seen most of his practice sessions with different sparring partners and even though he has not trained for a very long time since his Wimbledon victory, he looks fit and ready to go for the only missing Grand Slam in his record books.

And maybe the reduced amount of intense training will make the difference this year and he will be healthy and on top of his game when the second week of the Open starts.

At one practice session I thought I have noticed a little limping when he was forced to go hard into the corners. But the next days he was ok again and I did not detect any kind of pain or injury that would hold him back. His last practice session today, where he trained with his good friend and doubles partner, Marc Lopez, he did not play too well, but neither he, nor his coach Toni Nadal, seemed to be concerned about it at all. Not even when Marc Lopez (ATP 730 !) won the only set they played today…

In all his training sessions he practiced a lot of serve and volley and net approaches, which shows that he is willing to make some changes in his game to get the only missing Grand Slam title in his, already outstanding, career. And with the French Open and Wimbledon in his bag, he carries a lot of confidence on his shoulders to try new things.

In general all of his practice sessions have been in a very good atmosphere and he seems relaxed and in a good mood. Even when the many fans or some local TV stations disturbed his training sessions he took it easy and did not get upset.

So, I think he is the clear favorite for the US-Open title this year and the New York crown would put him on the same page with players like Agassi, Borg, Lendl, McEnroe and Connors.

And if his knees will stay healthy for another 3 or 4 more years, he might catch up to players like Sampras, Laver and Federer, or even pass by them.

Vamos Rafa!

Rafael Nadal and his uncle and coach Toni during practice in manacor, Mallorca

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 HESSE

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Federer Checks Out Paul Annacone!

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Folkert Hesse

After some disappointing results in the past months Roger Federer is training with Paul Annacone on a trial basis for a few days in Switzerland.

Annacone, who is the former coach of Pete Sampras has cut down his work for the British Tennis Federation and therefore has some spare time to share with Big Fed.

Since Annacone is a soft spoken guy and knows how to handle a talented players like Sampras and Henman, he might be the right guy to offer some humble suggestions to Federers game and training. Or to put it in other words, he might be the right coach not to disturb a genius at work too much… Since I don’t really think that Roger really wants a coach who pushes him too much. Federer is loaded with talent and he believes that he can beat anybody anywhere when he is confident, motivated and in a good mood.

So, it is good to know that Roger is realistic enough again to realize that his recent losses have not come because of injuries or some kind of sickness, like he mentioned in a press conference after he loss in Wimbledon…

Hopefully he will listen to Annacone and hopefully Annacone will have the nerve to push the big Fed to break a few more sweats in training.

But so far I have not seen a coach who dared to do so with King Roger.

We will see… but something big has to change for Roger to win the US-Open. He might not get lucky twice and have Nadal, Del Potro and Davydenko injured at the same time…

FOLKERT

 HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Where are you going Roger?

By  


FOLKERT HESSE

What a turn around for Roger (and Rafa) in the past 4 months after winning the Australian Open in great fashion and looking at a possible Grand Slam for the 2010 season.

Now Rogers card house is shattered and he is only no. 3 in the world and 4000 points behind Rafa in the ATP Rankings and chanceless to regain the top spot by the end of the season. But it might be even more devastating for him, that he will realize now that all his great successs in 2009, with regaining his no. 1 ranking, winning the French and Wimbledon after a neck breaking loss to Rafa in the Australian Open Final, was only possible because Rafa did not play or was injured. After the loss at the Australian Open in 2009 Federer was down in tears and everybody was feeling with him and admired that he was not afraid to show his emotions. But I thought that it was a big mistake to show how fragile he really is, when he is playing “Mr. Cool” during his matches all the time. Now not only Nadal saw the weakness in Roger and that it is possible to break him down. Federer’s tears showed every other player how big this loss was and how afraid he was that he might not get Grand Slam victory no. 15 and break Pete’s record, even though he was still young enough. But at this time there was a player he just couldn’t beat anymore, Rafa Nadal. And Rafa was getting better and better and looked like he will wait in each and every big final for Roger. Then Federer got big,big help from the Gods of tennis, and Rafa was stoped with knee injuries and personal problems from his parents divorce. Without this help from destiny, I don’t think that Roger would have been able to beat Nadal in Madrid, take the titles at the French and Wimbledon from Rafa and his No. 1 ranking back.

But he did and everyone was saying how great a champion he is to come back like this. But he did it only because another, maybe even bigger champion… , was not there or able to fight back.

But now Rafa did all that with a healthy Roger in front of him. That is REALLY big!

So, I would like to know how Roger sees all this?!

He was talking of some health problems after Halle, but this makes it even worse, because he is not the only ATP player playing through the pain. Rafa had no time to celebrate his victories at home yet, because he is getting treatment for his knees right now. He had knee problems all year long and still got these great victories! How sweet these titles must feel for him now!?

But what about Roger? What will he make out of all this? If he is honest to himself he will have to realize that he will not win many more Grand Slams unless Nadal and Del Potro are injured. But his wife wants him to play for many more years, so his daughters can see him play. And he himself also said that he loves the game so much, that he wants to play much, much longer. But does he still love the game when he is losing against players he did not lose to before and takes the plane home after the first week of a grand slam?

Well, the US-Open and maybe the ATP Finals are another chance to fight back, but I doubt that he will win one of the events. Maybe he can take some motivation from trying to prove people wrong, when more journalists and experts see him going down. And with his talent he can still win Grand Slams in his 30’s, just like Pete Sampras. But if Nadal stays healthy he has a very big mountain to climb…

FOLKERT

 HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Folkert Hesse Tennis