Kim Clijsters again in Final of US-Open

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Kim Clijsters played a great match last night against Venus Williams to reach her 3^rd consecutive US-Open Final and will meet Vera Zwonarewa tonight to defend last years title.

Kim Clijsters

After a good match against Sam Stosur, she even raised her level to another gear to beat the only American left in the men’s or women’s draw of the tournament. After losing the first set 4:6 she was able to break Venus in her first service game of the second set. But she was not able to serve out the set and had to go to a tie-breaker to decide the set in her favor with 7:2. The third set was a very close one, as well, but when Venus Williams, also a two time US-Open champion like Clijsters, had to serve at 4:5 to stay in the match, the pressure was to much for Serenas big sister and she was broken by a determined Kim Clijsters. On match point, Clijsters not only showed great tennis, but also big celebration after winning it. It was a great match point and a great match from both players who had to deal with swirling winds throughout the whole match and handled it great.

Now Kim Clijsters has to be named the clear favorite against the up-coming Russian, who reached this year’s Wimbledon Final already and played also a good match against no. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki to reach the US-Open final.

The match between the two blonds will take place after the men’s semi finals tonight at 7 p.m. .

HARDY HESSE

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Hartmut Hesse Tennis

Big Sunday at US-Open!

By 

HARTMUT 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.

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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2010 US-Open preview part 2

By 

HARTMUT HESSE

Today I want to take a look at the women’s draw of the 2010 US-Open.

It will be almost as interesting and wide open as the men’s draw, because Serena Williams and Justin Henin will miss the event due to injuries. This makes last years finalist and world no. 2, Caroline Wozniacki the top seed and one of the favorites for the title. It would be her first Grand Slam title and bring her very close to the no. 1 ranking as well. On top of that it will make her a lot richer, since she won the US-Open Series already and this will guarantee her an extra 1 Million Dollars if she takes the US-Open title. But her draw is not easy and it will be the question if she will be abler to handle the pressure of going into the tournament as the top seed or if the pressure and additional attention from the media will be too much for her. Winning the US-Open Series and last years experience of being in the finals will give her a lot of confidence and help her to handle all this.

But I still don’t see her reaching the final, because she will face some tough competition before she will reach a potential match-up with Maria Sharapova in round 4. And I see Maria winning this one in a thrilling night session. But before Wozniacki gets there she will have her hands full with some powerful tennis made in China. Kai-Chen Chang and Yuang-Jan Chan, both from Chinese Taipee, will test Mrs Wozniacki to the limit, because they have even better footwork than the blond Dane. It will not be enough to just keep the ball in play to beat these two great competitors from Taipee. And you never know, maybe one of the two will be the big story of this year’s Open, and take out both, Mrs. Denmark and Mrs. Russia and go all the way to the final!?!

But in the quartefinal there might be not another Mrs. Russia waiting, but at least great Russian footwork from Kuznetsova and more Chinese power footwork, in person of the no 8 seed, Na Li. So it is very likely that there will be a Chinese player reaching the semi finals from this section of the draw.

But today I would put my money on Mrs. Sharapova. She won the Open before, is in form and has the power to beat all the Chinese and Danish roadrunners.

In the next section of the draw, things look a lot clrearer to me, with jelena Jankovic being the highest seed here. She has a tough first round with Simona Halep and maybe a another tricky one with hard hitting Mirjana Lucic, but I think she will go through to face Janina Wickmayer from Belgium, last year’s surprise semi finalist, in the fourth round. This is a good match-up for her and she will win in two sets to face either Nadia Petrova or Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals. That will be a big fight for sure, but Jelena’s fitness will win the match for her.

The next section is the Venus Williams Section, which is also a very tough and open one, because there are plenty of up-coming players in this section. Very unpredictable, what is going to happen here!

Melanie Oudin, Polona Hercog, Tsvetlana Pironkova, Ksenia Pervak, Michelle Larcher de Brito and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will challenge the established players like Wiliams, Schiavone, Peer and Azarenka (who is also still very young…). This could be very likely a new face in a Grand Slam semi final. But if Venus is healthy, she will have the power to fight them all off and reach the semis, winning her quarterfinal match against Victoria Azarenka. But any of the new girls will make a break through soon. S, it could also be Larcher de Brito against Hercog… If de Brito screams her way to the semis, the WTA tour has a new star and Portugal a new heroe after Ronaldo choked at the World Cup…

But my money still goes to Venus here!

The last section of the draw holds the top 2 title favorites and a lot of headache players…

I see the highest seed in this section as the top favorites win the whole thing. That would be Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters, the defending champion. They will for sure meet in the quarterfinals, and I believe that the winner will take the title. Stosur has only one really tough match to get to the quarters and might have to play Safina (who should get her act together soon again..), Elena Dementieva or Daniela Hantuchova, But she is my favorite against each one of them, since all these players are very unstable and will cause their coaches a lot more headaches in the future. Kim Clijsters will face Marion Bartoli or Ana Ivanovic (another headache for coaches…) in her quarterfinal match, but if she is motivated and focused she will win easily.

My Money would go to Kim to reach the semi final, too, but I would rather like to see these two in the final…

If I have to put my money for the final and the winner, it would be Kim over Maria in three sets.

Let’s see if I am right...

Enjoy the Open!

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

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Finally Sam Stosur!

I always thought that Sam Stosur has the techniques. The fitness and the dedication to her sport to make it to the top of the WTA-Tour, but she never even made it into the top 10, or was able to play consistent enough to go deep in the tournaments. But now it seems as if things are clicking for her and she makes a step to the next level.

To see her and Justine Henin in the finals of Stuttgart today is a real pleasure for me. Finally two players on the women’s tour who really care about the sport and not only about their looks, their new tennis dresses, or their career as an actor or model after their tennis career.

And two players, who unlike many other players on the WTA-tour, have all the shots in their game that the men have. A kick-serve, a slice, a drop shot, a volley and variety in their game…

This should be a great final if Sam will be able to keep her nerves cool and calm. A thing she is always trying very hard, but sometimes kept her from getting that extra focus and energy for the big points in a match.

But now it seems as if she knows how to pace herself through a match and how to get ready for the important phases in a match. This was the one thing that was missing in her game and if she can keep it up like this, she will be very hard to beat for many other players on the WTA-tour, who are not as fit and technically perfect as her.

As a Tennis coach I would like to see her more aggressive on her forehand, finishing even more points at the net (after good forehands) and mixing up her serve a bit more. She has a great kick-serve (probably the best on the women’s tour!), but it will be even more effective if it comes a bit more as a surprise for her opponents (especially on grass and hard-courts).

And if she pumps herself up a bit more after winning big points, she will be much more of a threat for the other players and I see her cracking the top 5 soon.

For a tennis coach like me, it is always great to have players like her, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters on the tour, because they are great role-models for the juniors.

Let’s hope they will be the top 3 in women’s tennis soon… ;)

Hardy Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

Miami Sony Ericsson Open Analysis

The first part of the hard-court season is finished with the finals of the Miami Open and the pros are preparing for the clay-court season already.

The tournament in Miami came up some surprise upsets for some of the big names and it also came up with a new name and some very familiar one’s.

Thomas Berdych is for sure the biggest surprise in this tournament. Not only that he beat Federer in a very close match going the distance and into a third set tiebreaker, by fighting off a match-point, he also kept going all the way to the final. This was a new Berdych, we saw in Miami. He was always considered as one of the next big stars in tennis and Nike gave him a huge contract at an early age. But he could never quite live up to his expectations. The one thing fans and experts were missing in his game, was the fighting spirit and the determination that a true champion needs. Too many matches he lost when it got into a deciding set or when the conditions were not easy and comfortable.

But here in Miami a different Thomas Berdych showed up. He grinded out the rallys from the baseline, he was much more patient with his shot selection and most of all he never gave up. If he can keep playing with the same attitude, he will finally silence all his critics and become a top 10 player soon. But it will not be easy to carry the momentum into the next tournaments, since the is a surface change from hard-courts to clay-courts. But his newly found qualities will help him even more on a surface like clay. So, it will be exciting to see how he will do in Monte Carlo when all the clay-court specialists show up.

Not only with him getting better and better, the men’s ranking is getting more interesting, because all the top 10 players a moving closer to each other. Soderling, Tsonga and Roddick are pushing the to 6 players and the top 6 did not do very well in the last to ATP-1000 events. With Daydenko and Del Potro injured and Djokovic and Murray not at their top level, it was only Nadal who showed some signs of form. Even Federer lost some points and opened the door for the other guys (Roger has many points to defend in the next months).

But besides Berdych, it was Roddick who showed the best form and (even with lucky draws in both tournaments) was the talk of the hard-court season so far. We will see how he can carry the form into the clay-court tournaments, if he plays many at all. But it should give him confidence to try a few more clay-court events this year, especially since his game became much more consistent and he lost some weight. This will all help him on the European clay-courts.

On the woman’s side there were not too many surprises even though the top 2 players of the tournament went out before the quarterfinals already. Kuznetsova was injured and for new world No. 2, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin was too big a bite, even though she won a set against the former world number one. So, it wasn’t really a surprise to see Henin and Clijsters in the semi finals. And again they showed their fans a thriller that was decided in a tiebreaker again. Just like in the beginning of the year in Australia. And it was the same outcome as well. Clijsters won again and then went on to take the title from a slightly injured Venus Williams 6:2, 6:1! With this win Clisters stormed back into the top 10 and for sure, Justine will follow her soon, especially considering the fact that we will be playing on clay in a few weeks. Serena was not playing in the tournament and if she is not getting back into shape soon, she will lose her No. 1 ranking. Probably to Kim Clijsters, if she decides to play a few more tournaments.

I think it is great to have the two Belgium champions back on the woman’s tour and I can’t wait to have one of the on the top spot of the rankings again.

But for sure we will see a big shuffle in both rankings, the woman’s and the men’s.

Exciting weeks are ahead of us and on top of that, I think the most interesting matches are played on clay, anyways.

Let’s see what happens and who will shine on the new surface!?

Hartmut Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals