The Olympus U.S. Open series kicked off this week with the return of the ATP to Atlanta following a nine year absence.  With a 4-6,6-4,7-6 victory, Mardy Fish, the sixth seed, overcame John Isner, the second seed, to carry the Atlanta Tennis Championships.  Since capturing the Newport title, Fish has been on a roll and now has a ten match winning streak.  Atlanta is Fish’s fifth career trophy.

For Isner who played his collegiate tennis in the area, this was a homecoming.  The former Georgia bulldog had plenty of supporters in the stands.  With an ace, Fish sealed the first game of the match. Then, courtesy of a forehand error and a double fault, Fish had two break points on Isner’s initial service game.  However, Isner held for 1 all.  Serving at 2 all, Fish faced triple break point.  But, by provoking a few return errors from Isner, Fish got to deuce.  After erasing a fourth break point, Fish secured the game with an ace.  Yet, Fish’s next time out, with a double fault and two forehand miscues, he  gave Isner two more break chances.  Isner converted when Fish double faulted.  After easily consolidating, Isner jumped to a 5-3 advantage and eventually captured the set with an ace.

In the second set, Fish placed more pressure on Isner’s serve.  Therefore, Fish was rewarded with a break point when Isner netted a backhand crosscourt in the eighth game.  Still, Isner pulled out the game for 4 all.  But, subsequent to a love game by Fish, Isner committed three consecutive mistakes including a double fault to give his rival triple break point.  When Isner’s forehand volley sailed wide, Fish took the second set.

The previous set on a changeover, Isner received treatment to his right shoulder.  However, there were no signs of injury as Isner used his serve to get out of a 15-30 predicament his first game of the last set.  For his part, Fish was guarding serve comfortably, with a love game for 2-1. As a result of a double fault, Read the full story

The first week of play has come to a conclusion at the French Open.  While Andy Murray, the fourth seed, going out in the fourth round to Tomas Berdych was a shock.  The biggest eye popper was David Ferrer, the ninth seed, a definite threat to Rafael Nadal in the bottom half, being ousted in the third round in three sets by Jurgen Melzer.  With both Roger Federer and Nadal methodically working through their sections, the possibility of a final between these two is very much alive.

Despite stumbling at times, Federer, the defending champion, has pulled through all four matches in straight sets.  Robyn Soderling, the 2009 finalist, has played steady ball.  Soderling had no difficulty with Albert Montanes in the third round nor Marin Cilic in the fourth round.  Now, Soderling faces Federer in the quarterfinals and will get the opportunity to seek revenge for last year’s defeat.  Although Federer has an ATP 12-0 record against him, Soderling prevailed in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi this January.  Therefore, Soderling will not be intimidated.

The French will have to wait for their homegrown champion yet another year.  In the first round, Richard Gasquet went down to Murray in a thrilling five setter. Then, in the second round, Gael Monfils was sent packing in a marathon two day drama.  Lastly, in the fourth round, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was compelled to retire against Mikhail Youzhny due to a back injury.  Youzhny battles Berdych as the other quarterfinalist in the top half of the draw.

In the bottom half, after outlasting Mardy Fish in a five set brawl, Ivan Ljubicic could not withstand another assault from 22 year old Thomaz Bellucci.  Yet, in reaching the fourth round for the first time at a major, Bellucci’s prize is Nadal.

At the start of the tournament, Americans with authentic possibilities were likely Andy Roddick, John Isner and Sam Querrey.  The greatest hope was for Isner and Querrey, the latter had prevailed over the former in the finals in Serbia.  With no prior clay court competition, for Roddick, it was going to be an uphill battle to make it deep into the draw.  In the third round, Roddick was outplayed by qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili and went out in straight sets.  Similarly, in the third round, Berdych expedited Isner.  Still, there is a Stars and Stripes bearer into the second week, he is Bobby Ginepri ranked 98th.  After beating Querrey in the first round, Ginepri outfoxed former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round.  In the fourth round, Ginepri battles Novak Djokovic.  Djokovic has not been performing at his peak, needing four sets in the first round against Evgeny Korolev, had a tough second round match versus Kei Nishikori and another four setter against Victor Hanescu.  If that pattern continues, Ginepri has a good shot at an upset.

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The U.S. Open Series, a group of tournaments climaxing with the final major of the year, commenced this week in Indy.  Today, two Americans fought it out for an ATP 250 title at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships. Robbie Ginepri was victorious over third seed Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4.

For Querrey, this was his second final in as many tournaments.  Sam was looking to reestablish himself after going down to a player ranked 181 a couple weeks ago.  After a comfortable service game to start out the match, with a double fault, an error and a backhand down the line winner by Ginepri, Querrey faced triple break point.  Sam lost serve by making a double fault to give Robbie a 2-1 lead.  As Querrey donated a few  points to his cause with errors, Ginepri consolidated the break.  Serving at 4-2, Robbie splayed a forehand long giving Sam a break point.  However, with a couple of forehand errors from his opponent, Ginepri maintained the lead.  Then, after being ahead 40-0, Sam committed some additional double faults aiding Robbie to expand his to 5-2 and to take the first set.

Although Querrey opened the second set strongly with a love service game, Ginepri also continued to play well.  Querrey’s best opportunity to break presented itself with Ginepri serving at 2-3.  After being down 15-40, with some winners, Sam got to deuce.  Yet,  with Querrey unable to clean up his errors, Ginepri held for 3 all.  Then, with the score 4 a piece and leading 40-0, Querrey made a double fault and missed two forehands for deuce. Robbie went on to earn a second break point in the game when Sam misfired on a forehand crosscourt.  Ginepri converted when Querrey double faulted for the ninth time.  Robbie closed out the match with a love game to acquire his second Indy title.

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The 17^th session of the Delray Beach Championships, an ATP 250 World Tour event, will take place from February 21 thru March 1, 2009 at the Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center.

The 32 person singles’ draw features Tommy Haas, the 2006 champion along with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist. Other familiar names taking the court include Americans Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri and the always charismatic, Vince Spadea.

The finalists at the Mutua Madrelena Masters Madrid were Frenchman Gilles Simon ranked 16th and Brit Andy Murray ranked fourth. Murray trumped Simon 6-4, 7-6 to obtain his second career masters’ shield.

Although Simon was a first time participant at a Masters’ series event final, he had won 5 out of 6 career finals and showed no signs of jitters. Aided by various unforced errors from his opponent, Simon held serve without difficulty his first two times out 2-1. For his part, Murray had no problems on his service games. Content with hitting from the baseline, the Brit kept the ball in play and tried to exploit the Frenchman’s forehand weakness. Thus, the rallies were usually exhaustive and decided by errors. Finally, Simon blinked in the fifth game, committing three consecutive forehand unforced errors to give Murray triple break point. After saving the second break point with a backhand crosscourt winner in a 33 stroke rally, Simon mistimed a backhand to hand Murray the break 2-3. Thereafter, Murray’s serve was the deciding factor. With excellent placement and speed, Murray never faced a break point, wrapping up the first set with an ace.

After a tough hold to start the second set where he erased a break point, Simon became more aggressive on Murray’s second serve with partial success. Up 3-2 with Murray serving, Simon saw a sliver of daylight after making a backhand volley winner for 15-30. Yet, with a couple of aces, Murray pulled off the game 3-3. Play after play, Murray had Simon running sideline to sideline, but the Frenchman stayed firm. Fittingly, the set was settled by a tiebreak. With a deep service return producing an error from Murray, Simon took a 2-0 lead. However, with a backhand down the line winner, Murray soon wiped out the advantage. Enamored with the dropshot, Murray had kept it in check throughout the match. But, with the score tied 4-4, Andy pulled out the dropshot which Gilles tracked down for a winner. Then with a crosscourt forehand winner, Simon arrived at double set point 6-4. Unfortunately, with two forehand miscues, Simon failed to capitalize on these opportunities 6-6. A backhand crosscourt winner gave Murray championship point. Once more, Murray resorted to the dropshot. Despite getting to the ball, Simon was unable to convert the volley.

Although Murray defeated second seed Roger Federer in the semifinals, Gilles was the giant killer this week. Close to being ousted in the first and third rounds, Simon survived tiebreaks against Igor Andreev and Robby Ginepri respectively to move on. Moreover, in the quarterfinals, the diminutive Frenchman returned Ivo Karlovic’s gargantuan serves adroitly to win 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, a task at which his predecessor Novak Djokovic had failed. Yet, the week’s marquee match was Simon’s semifinal against world number one, Rafael Nadal. After being bludgeon in the first set, Simon retooled his game to twice break Nadal in the second set and force a third. Then after being down 2-4, Simon pushed the set to a tiebreak and prevailed after Nadal had a minibreak 3-6, 7-5, 7-6. In addition to improving his ranking, Simon has positioned himself as a contender for a spot at the year end championship.

One has to look no further than the coverage of the French Open men’s semifinal to understand the reason why the major networks are losing viewership. In their desire to capture revenues, these organizations have failed to keep in mind their audience.

At the odd hours that the French Open is transmitted, only an avid fan would care enough to watch. Therefore, as one such fan, I feel slighted when instead of viewing live action, I am presented with pre-recorded programs. Gone are the days when television had a monopoly on this sort of information. Nowadays, with up-to-the-minute data a click away on the internet, this medium is running the risk of becoming obsolete in the world of sport.

From the outset on May 25^th , I followed the competition on the Tennis Channel. Early on in the tournament, ESPN (ABC’s sister station) picked up where that network left off, making it a seamless transition. Then on June 2, as the Tennis Channel terminated its programming, I expected ESPN to show the next match, Croatian Ivan Ljubicic versus Frenchman Gael Monfils. Instead, there was a replay of the calamity of Maria Sharapova vis-à-vis Dinara Safina, culminated with the annihilation of American Robby Ginepri by Chilean Fernando Gonzalez. Any fan with computer access was probably aware of the results of these completed matches.

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