For my readers who don't enjoy, or are unfamiliar with, tennis, this post will likely be of no intrest. It contains no great humor or relevance to the world outside of tennis.
I ended up seeing all or parts of 16 (of the 31 total) singles matches at the SAP Open. After watching that much tennis, these are my impressions:
First I should say that, while I wasn't particularly impressed with Andy Murray to begin with, my respect for his game has grown as he managed to string together three impressive victories to win the title (beating, in turn, Robin Soderling, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt). He showed versatility, patience, and a tenacity that may make him a mainstay of the top 50.
For me the tournament began with disappointment as last year's runner-up (and my personal favorite), Cyril Saulnier, lost in the first round. I love the sytle of his game: the way he flows, how smooth he is, the beauty of his slice, and the overall cleanliness of his game. He plays an older breed of tennis--one where the shots are flatter and points are won through maneuvering his opponent, not by power. Unfortunately, he lacks that one big finishing shot that almost all men in the top 100 in the world posess. He has real trouble finishing off points that he's set himself up to win. He also lacks the typically huge serve of other top players. The result of all this is that he has to play more balls and work much harder to win points than most other players. And so, on the first day of the tournament, scrappy Bjorn Phau managed to neutralize the slice, hit extreme topspin, and generally run down enough balls to defeat Saulnier.
For those of you who don't know, my game is the virtual antithesis of Saulnier's. I'm an agressive hitter who moves in quick bursts. I don't generally glide about the court. Although my rotator cuff injury has hampered my serving somewhat, I otherwise don't hurt for weapons. My only problem with finishing shots is keeping them in play. Those of you who've seen me play are no doubt silently nodding your heads right now.
Also in the first round, I saw a type of match we don't much see anymore. Ivo Karlovic and Brian Wilson both served and volleyed in an interesting match won in two tiebreak sets by the upstart Wilson. The six-foot-ten Karlovic hit bigger serves, but Wilson volleyed better and played crisper. It was a fun match to watch and I'll be rooting for Wilson in the future.
In another type of match rarely seen these days, the matchup Paul Goldstein and Lleyton Hewitt pitted two counter punchers against each other. Neither generates all that much pace to begin with; and with both afraid that driving the ball plays into the other's strength, they slow-balled each other until the dominant Hewitt closed out the match.
The matchup of Dmitry Tursunov and Jonas Bjorkman held particular interest for me. You see, I'd beaten Tursunov in a handful of scrimmage matches back in my high school days. Granted he had just arrived from Russia, was two years younger, and was merely practicing. But, in my defense, he was already taller than me and serving into the 120 mph range. So I like to see Tursunov play--and win. It's nice to see people I actually played with make it into the top 50 in the world. Anyhow, Bjorkman is a bit past his prime; and though he played great, Tursunov eventually won in three. Unfortunately, Tursunov lost in the next round to the smooth serving Aussie lefty Wayne Arthurs.
In other first round action, Joachim Johannson, in his first major match after shoulder surgery, looked like less than a shadow of the former top ten player that he was two years ago in his loss to recent Stanford alum Sam Warburg.
Likewise could be said of Rainer Schuettler, who lost to Kristof Vliegen of Belgium. The way he's playing now, it's hard to imagine that Schuttler will return to the top ten.
In a surprising match, local teenager Sam Querrey almost beat tour veteran Vince Spadea. Although Spadea was not playing particularly well, Querrey nontheless impressed me with his poise and calmness in the spotlight of his first ATP tour match.
Another favorite of mine, Mark Philippoussis, managed to get his act together just enough to eek out a win over Tommy Robredo. I love the ease of motion and simplicity of Philippoussis' pure strokes. His mental game, however, leaves something to be desired. Robredo must be kicking himself after this loss. He was playing exceptionally well and really had Philippoussis on the ropes a number of times. But that's the risk in having to play a huge hitter like Philippoussis--he may hit a hot streak and run away with the match.
In the following round though, Philippoussis played remarkably average tennis while Robin Soderling played exceptionally well. I'd never seen Soderling play that well before. Soderling's play impressed me so much that I fully expected him to beat Scottish phenom Andy Murray in the next round. In truth, Solderling played well in that match--just not well as the match before. He had Murray beat and let him off the hook. But full credit to Murray for hanging in the match long enough to turn it around.
Wayne Arthurs served and volleyed beautifully, but eventually ran into giant killer Lleyton Hewitt. Arthurs' aced his way into a first set tiebreak, but Hewitt turned it on when it mattered.
I fully expected to see a Roddick vs. Hewitt Final; but Andy Murray felled two time defending champ Roddick in straight sets. Despite two nice wins, I still discounted Murray's chances of winning the title against Hewitt. Although Hewitt was clearly not at his best, Murray is to be congratulated on his first ATP tour title.
