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Showing posts with label Jamie Murray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jamie Murray. Show all posts

March 17, 2020

See You In September?

So I hear Paris is lovely in the fall...


As you well know by now, in the latest curve ball thrown at the tennis world, organizers of the French Open made the surprise announcement this afternoon that they'd postpone the 2020 event until the end of September, with the champions now crowned on October 3rd and 4th.

The decision did not go over well.


Chief among the complaints is that the decision seems to have been made unilaterally -- a point the U.S. Open seemed to latch onto in announcing it (so far) still expects to go on as planned just a few weeks now before the French. Players, leagues, and officials of other tournaments were apparently given little if any notice the shift was coming.


Of course, we shouldn't necessarily be surprised that Roland Garros was moved -- it's been just over a week since Indian Wells was called off and less than that since the ATP suspended all events for a month and a half. That took a lot of clay court tune-up events off the calendar and didn't put anyone back in action until the BMW Open in Munich at the end of April. And that was in the best case scenario -- with mandatory shutdowns spreading across the globe, and impacting a much broader range of businesses and events, there was no assurance that we'd have kicked the coronavirus in any significant way within that time frame.

Still, plopping the French at the tail end of the tennis season brings up a lot of questions.

For one thing, there's the surface -- the French Open clay, as we know, is way different from the hardcourts of New York, and players would certainly prefer more than one week's time to get acclimated to it before such a high stakes event. Of course, you might argue, the turnaround between Roland Garros and Wimbledon is also short, but for one thing, we did manage to squeeze in an extra week on grass in recent years to help the transition, and for another, according to the current schedule, there's no clay court tourney scheduled that week between Paris and the U.S. to get ready. Not exactly a huge opportunity to train back up.


Speaking of that current schedule, moving the French is kind of a slap in the face to the events that had already been scheduled in that window. Now many of the women's events at the time are in China -- ironically, and I wonder if it factored into Roland Garros' decision, one is in Wuhan -- and might be cancelled anyway, but the men's Laver Cup is a big one, already drawing a commitment from Roger Federer. Would he pull out in favor of a Major? Would he skip the Slam that he's probably not going to win anyway, especially as he's recovering from injury?

And what about the guy who does usually win in Paris? Rafael Nadal was a big part of Laver Cup last year -- if he skips, does it deal a blow to that event's prestige? What'll it mean for him as he gets ready to defend not just that title, but the U.S. Open as well?

But it's not just the very top players who are affected -- for those lower-ranked players who've been effectively furloughed without a paycheck during this suspension, this shift throws their schedules even further up in the air. How do they manage qualifying events? Do they skip smaller tournaments they'd planned around for a slim chance at picking up Slam ranking points? If the whole coronavirus crisis doesn't get resolved soon, how do they manage their careers?

There are several other options that might have been taken, though I'm not sure which one is best -- they might have allowed more time between the U.S. and French, we might have considered a different location or surface, it could have been cancelled altogether. Who knows, maybe the course Roland Garros took was the least of all evils, but at the very least those with the most at stake should have been consulted. And hopefully the next time they will be.

Anyway, here's a smattering of other reactions to the Roland Garros move from across the Twitterverse.







Posted by Kavitha at 8:54 PM 0 comments
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November 30, 2015

Davis Cup Final -- 111 Years in the Making

Things sure have been tense in Belgium the last few weeks, and certainly on topics much more important than tennis. But while the world's eyes stay focused on what's happening in Brussels -- and what's happened so recently in Paris and, of course, in so many other places across the globe -- just a couple dozen miles away from the capital city in Ghent, this year's Davis Cup championship was contested, thankfully without incident. And in a rematch of the 1904 final we got a glimpse of just how hungry these two teams were to return to glory.

I've talked before about how long it's been since either the Belgians or the British got this far at Davis Cup, and it kind of makes sense. While they both have their stars -- two-time Grand Slam champ and world #2 Andy Murray and 2014 comeback kid David Goffin lead the packs -- their second place players are little farther down the rankings. Aljaz Bedene, who rose all the way to #45 this year, didn't play for the Brits in this tie, making sub-hundred Kyle Edmunnd the other singles player. And while Steve Darcis has certainly scored some big wins in the past, he's still ranked just within double digits. So to put together full teams that can get through top rate talent all year long can be a bit tough, and against all odds these guys did it.

And their big guns came out firing from the start -- Goffin, just off a career high at #16 in the world, has been a little quiet lately and was tested mightily from the start. But after dropping his first two sets to the huge underdog Edmund, he rallied in the back half, losing just three games to give Belgium an early lead. But Murray was quick to get momentum back on his side -- against largely unheralded Ruben Bemelmans, a workhorse on the Challengers' Tour, he took the first two sets easily before having to battle through the third. Ultimately though he claimed victory in straight sets and drew the Brits even going into Day Two.

In the doubles rubber Goffin paired with Darcis and Murray with his brother Jamie -- a decorated veteran in the paired discipline. The elder Murray -- a finalist at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon -- narrowly missed making the semis at the year-end championships in London, but may have made up for it here. After splitting the first two sets with the Belgians, the doubles specialist was able to take the lead, and powered his team through to the 2-1 advantage, always key in these events. And in Sunday's premier match-up, the younger sibling got right back on court against Goffin, hoping for a repeat of his Paris Masters 6-1, 6-0 drubbing of his opponent. Things weren't quite so easy this time around, but Murray nevertheless persevered, overcoming Goffin's only break of the match in the third set, and clinching the win in just under three hours, securing the Championship for him and his country.


It was the Brits' first Davis Cup trophy since before the second World War, and in an era that's been so dominated by upstart teams, it's interesting to see the reversion this year. Whether the victory is a sign that British imperialism is back in the world of tennis remains to be seen, of course -- but with the kind of firepower they brought all year long, there's no reason there isn't more to come.
Posted by Kavitha at 1:22 PM 0 comments
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September 20, 2015

The Way, Way Back

Over the last couple years we've seen some new names and faces make some big statements at Davis Cup. Whether they ushered in a new era of domination on the world stage or finally rewarded efforts that had so far only been successful on the singles circuit, the countries that hoisted the trophies at the end of the year were breaking new ground.

But this year's final will turn back the clock more than a bit and bring back two teams who've long been missing from this battle. In fact, you have to rewind all the way to 1904 to find a championship contested by the two nations who'll be out for long-awaited glory this year.

Great Britain, in fact, despite deep talent over the years, last reached the Davis Cup final in 1978. And after years of being relegated to the World Group playoffs, the one-time world power finally made it back to the big leagues just last year. They were up against a tough Australian team, though, which might have been missing a recently verboten Nick Kyrgios, but still boasted young, albeit brash, talent from Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis -- so the Brits knew they had to bring their A-game. Andy Murray got off to a good start, easily handling Kokkinakis in the first rubber, but the lead was erased when Tomic felled Daniel Evans in four sets. On Day Two though, Murray teamed up with his brother Jamie and in a marathon doubles match against veteran Lleyton Hewitt and 2014 standout Sam Groth came back from dropping the fourth set tiebreak to claim the win and a 2-1 lead. The world #3, clearly over his surprise dismissal at the U.S. Open earlier in the month, went on to score another decisive win over Tomic on Sunday, clinching the tie for his country and, more importantly, their first trip to a Davis Cup championship in almost four decades.

There they'll face a team whose had an even longer drought at these events. Belgium's won just six ties at the World Group level and their only trip to the final came those hundred-plus years ago when they faced off against what were known as the British Isles at the time. But led by last year's comeback kid David Goffin, this year they've taken out the defending champion Swiss in their first round and then blanked the Canadians back in July. In this weekend's tie against Argentina, Goffin again put his team ahead with a tight win in the first rubber, but saw his team fall behind as Steve Darcis lost both his singles and Saturday's doubles rubber to Leonardo Mayer & Co. He kept Belgium alive though on Sunday, dropping just a handful of games to Diego Schwartzman, making Darcis' deciding match against Federico Delbonis that much more important. But this time Darcis stood up to the challenge -- after dropping the second set and failing to serve out the match in the fourth, he rolled through a tiebreak to pull off the win and give his teammates a chance they haven't had in a long, long time.

Of course the Brits won that championship a century ago by a score of 5-0, but something tells me this time around things could be a little closer. After all both teams have some real talent on their side and, perhaps, even a couple vulnerabilities. And with a chance neither has seen in several lifetimes, you can bet both will bring their very best to this year's final, and perhaps set a brand new stage for what's to come
Posted by Kavitha at 3:29 PM 0 comments
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