Hi Steve,
It's been nice to see generation next having a good week. If these are the players who are going to step onto centre stage over the next few years, there's a lot of fun tennis to be played. Looking at players 20 and under, the group that seems to be emerging is Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils.
Nadal's week wasn't that great, of course, but he's already shown what he can do. Monfils and Djokovic never arrived -- Monfils tore a ligament in his right foot and is hoping to be back at Cincinnati; Djokovic hasn't played since retiring in the final of Umag two weeks ago with breathing problems.
They were missed: Monfils is all loose-limbed athleticism, pulling out unexpected shots from everywhere and covering the court with leaps and bounds. He can be as expressive as his game when pumped up, as he was in winning three consecutive five-setters at Roland Garros or the paddle tennis championships on a whim at Las Vegas. Djokovic has a solid all-round game anchored by a big forehand, and may be the toughest one mentally -- not in the indefatigable way Nadal is, but in sheer ruthlessness. Consider that he called for the trainer or took a bathroom break five times when these two played each other at the US Open last year, and afterwards described Monfils as "a really good friend of mine."
That's the other interesting thing about this group -- there are already all kinds of criss-crossed friendships and rivalries. Nadal and Gasquet are the two rival prodigies; reportedly, Nadal once played Gasquet with a foot injury because he had retired in their previous contest and didn't want to be accused of ducking the matchup. Gasquet and Monfils are friends and Davis Cup partners. Djokovic and Murray are friends -- and future Davis Cup partners?
Because those who did play this week all ended up in the same half of the draw, they clashed often and some of this history had a chance to come into play.
Berdych cited having known and played Nadal since juniors as one of the things that gave him confidence in their match on Thursday, where his impressive commitment to rushing the net and Nadal's forehand troubles combined to give Berdych the win. He's already the big bomber of the crew, but showed an extra dimension when he came in to finish points off and negated Nadal's speed by serving-and-volleying..
Soft-spoken but self-possessed in press conferences, Berdych had a note of conviction in his voice when he talked about wanting to reach the top of the game. But he also pointed to lack of consistency as a barrier -- and those words proved prescient when he came out flat against Gasquet yesterday.
Gasquet's game, meanwhile, may take a similar arc to Justine Henin-Hardenne's: everyone talks about the sublime backhand, but he hit more forehand winners against both Berdych and Murray (12 versus 2 on the backhand side against Murray), and it may ultimately turn out to be his more powerful flank.
He'll get his fifth shot against Roger Federer tomorrow, unless Fernando Gonzalez can produce a stunning upset this evening. Federer has had lapses in both his last two matches, so there may be an opening for Gonzalez as well. When you read Too Soon to Panic -- which is more deep and less laugh-out-loud funny than its prequel -- you might like a great line about Stefan Edberg on an off-day... something about a finely-tuned piece of machinery that's been used and overwound. If you had clockwork toys as a kid, you'll know exactly what he means -- and it's a perfect description of how Federer's slumps also feel.
Gasquet played a very solid game against Murray, taking good care of his service games and capitalizing of Murray's continuing problems on the first serve. Murray was playing his 10th match in 11 days and frequent stares at his right hand suggested the blisters that appeared in the Washington final may have been troubling him.
But plenty of experienced pros earlier this week had trouble answering the questions posed by Murray's elastic game. He struggled only when closing out a match, dropping serve in all four matches and needing to go to a third set against Jarrko Nieminen in the quarters. But he did keep his cool each time, and also spontaneously decided to shorten points by coming to net against Nieminen and Carlos Moya.
Had Brad Gilbert been allowed to coach him during the match, on the other hand, he'd have got all the credit for that. See what a little self-reliance can do for tennis players?
Kamakshi