Wk.6- Vanni, Veni, Vidi, Vici

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Most people get fifteen minutes of fame. Fifteen minutes where they are known and renowned, albeit briefly. Perfect example? Monica Lewinsky. Famous for something I can't talk about here, her name is still relatively household only due to the fact Monica Lewinsky jokes are still made, though I can't tell any of them here. She had her brief moment of fame and she milked it dry. Ahem.

"That’s the end of my two minutes of glory" said Tathiana Garbin after she defeated Justine Henin in the 2004 French Open. Henin had won the Australian Open and was the defending champion, as well as the world number one. She was, however, recovering from an illness. Garbin lost to Jie Zheng in the next round.

I have gone through the WTA BACKSPIN archives and found some references to that improbable upset [second only to Soderlingate]:

2004 Roland Garros Mid-way Report: "C'est La Vie"
Decade's Best: Roland Garros 2000-09
Backspin Time Capsule: 2004 Athens Olympics

Stakhovsky had his moment, too. These fifteen minutes are fleeting at the time and one would be wise to take advantage of them. Since then the Ukrainian has done not much. A talented junior with one big upset is his career in a nutshell.

Now to Luca Vanni. This week we focus on a finalist. Why? Because it's a fantastic story. He had never won a tour match before this. He isn't up and coming, he's down and gone. He was 1-1 in ITF doubles finals. This guy was 0-2 coming into the event and he had to get through qualifying. He is 0-0 in ATP Doubles. Last week we had Estrella and now this week we have Vanni. The headlines are likely to be dominated by the big guns and what big guns they have.



That is Rafa about ten years ago. Scary.

The Italian men and Women have been a breath of fresh air with a different approach to tennis. The intriguing thing is they all seem to play a different style. Fognini plays like nobody else and Vinci plays like this is the 1970's. Swashbuckling is the perfect way to describe Vinci. And then there is Errani and Seppi, who both play a very solid form of tennis. If the Russian women and Spanish men have had a dynasty [though both are fading fast now] then the Italians have had a small empire the past five years.

Italy has been strong in both the Fed and Davis Cup. The latest loss to France [Errani/Vinci were well beaten] may, as Todd says, signal the end of an era. They have Quinzi and Giorgi coming up, too. Previous both gendered empires include Australia from 1955-1980 [when my Evonne won her last slam in London] and America from 1995-2003 [when Sampras and Agassi began their descent], though France has had a long history of nearly great players.

Well I have rambled for long enough, I've mentioned my Evonne and now it is time to see what actually happened last week.



*WEEK 6 CHAMPIONS*
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
S: Stan Wawrinka d. Tomas Berdych 4-6/6-3/6-4
D: Rojer/Tecau d. J.Murray/Peers
MEMPHIS, USA
S: Kei Nishikori d. Kevin Anderson 6-4/6-4
D: Fyrstenberg/S.Gonzalez d. Sitak/Young
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
S: Pablo Cuevas d. Luca Vanni
D: Cabal/Farah d. Lorenzi/Schwartzman


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Luca Vanni, ITA
...Would it be anyone else? Precious few times will the player who reached the final but didn't win get the PoW award, but this week the rules shall be bent. Seeded sixth in the qualies, Vanni advanced to the final round in the qualies by beating a pair of Brazilians. Gimeno-Traver awaited him. Traver is an actual name, don't forget. He has been in the top fifty in the last couple years. He has been to the third round of a slam. He has played with the big boys. I believe he has upset Gasquet before. Vanni dismissed him 4 and 4. No problem. Next up was the main draw. Vanni took the top seed's spot when Lopez withdrew and that gave him a precious bye. He scraped past De Bakker 7-6,3-6,6-3 to get his first ATP victory ever. He needed a pair of breakers to edge slowly past Lajovic, who is a rising star and future Serbian number one. Next was another Brazilian in Sousa, but Vanni wasn't phased and came through 6-4,6-7,6-4 to register another win. But the final proved a bridge too far, sadly. He probably gets one or two more chances to bag a title. He better be ready to capitalize. Vanni probably gets one Backspin post his entire career. If he ever gets a mention on WTA BACKSPIN it would be no mean feat.

They're talking about Clijsters over there. She beat Petkovic 5-3 in a "friendly" match. Rennae Stubbs cheekily tweeted she should come back. I'm with Rennae on that one. You do know about Clijsters and the mystery Backspin correspondence, don't you? It wasn't me. I was in the archives in the basement of the Backspin HQ looking up old Wimbledon finals with a coffee at the time. I was in the middle of 2005 [good finals on both sides that year] when news reached my ears via the rescuing of the letter. Still, for more background on Backspin's connection with Kim -- a certain Ms. Clijsters -- that is the link to follow. Allegedly. [I can use her name, apparently, unless given different legal instructions to the ones I currently have.]

Before I went spectacularly off topic, I was talking about Vanni. It warms ones heart to see a player have a career week.
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RISER: Stan Wawrinka, SUI
...Two titles and a slam semi-final already for Wawrinka, so why is he rising? That 6-0 set he lost to Djokovic. That was unacceptable. He has recovered well from that egg-laying and won a title in Rotterdam despite a difficult draw. I judge a true champion not by how brilliant they are when things are going smoothly, but how they fight when they are playing badly. I judge them on their conduct, too. Wawrinka refused to let a drop in the rankings and an awful end to his Australian Open campaign dampen his spirits. He beat Glang in the first round in three sets before edging past GGL 6-7,6-4,6-2. Wawrinka has a match-up issue with the Spaniard, though he doesn't lose to him all that often. He beat Muller [what a resurgent year he's having] 7-6,6-3 and then beat Raonic in two breakers (7-3 and 9-7) to make the final. A come from behind win in the final sealed the deal. That backhand is a thing of beauty. It really is deadly. Wawrinka has that rare mix of power but the ability to maintain poise. He can hit balls with such power, but in ways that don't force him to compromise court position. He has strong volleys, helped by his one handed backhand. There is no huge hitter in the top four ranked guys in the world. Even Federer is not a big hitter like, say, a Berdych or a Tsonga but Wawrinka can live with their power and then some. He can also maintain his stance and balance a lot more easily than they can. Murray has more points to defend than Wawrinka overall this year. The rankings race to watch may well be the fight for fourth in the rankings. Murray and Wawrinka are the big contenders, but wildcards like Kei and Berdman may yet sneak in as number four.
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SURPRISE: Sam Querrey, USA
...In clichéd sports movies, a scout with a cool hat sees a pitcher, quarterback or guard from a poor background on his last shot. If he doesn't get chosen his life is essentially over. This is it. The big one. And I'm going to steal that one line that is always in those films: "When I first saw the kid I knew he had something special." It's true. Querrey came to my attention in 2008 and 2009. He was a big server but he also had this forehand. He had these big weapons and he knew how to use them. But he fell off the up escalator. He never broke that ceiling. He has had to start again. And here in America he has his best chance to win. He beat Becker in three sets, though the last two he cruised through. He beat up and coming Donaldson before beating Isner in two breakers 7-3 and 7-2. He was a better player than Kei, too. But, alas, this tournament was not to be the one. Querrey should do well in Miami and Indian Wells.
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FRESH FACE: Michael Krajicek, USA
...It's time to fully turn the spotlight onto talented American youngster Krajicek [distantly related to that Krajicek] after giving him a mention last week. America is not in desperate need of young talent, as they have it in abundance. Indeed what they lack is talented youngsters with their heads screwed on the right way. Five Americans made the quarterfinals in Memphis this week. Nishikori beat three Americans in three very long sets each time just to make the final. Krajicek was born and still lives a twelve-hour drive away from Memphis, in the Tampa area of Florida. He still couldn't get a wild card. He didn't lose a set in qualifying and looked supreme throughout. In the main draw, Krajicek beat Kukushkin 6-2,6-7,7-6 and won it 10-8 in that last set breaker. Next he eliminated Karlovic 7-6,4-6,6-4. It took the U.S. Open finalist and top five player Nishikori to bring him down, though he battled Kei to the end, eventually losing 4-6,6-3,6-4. Looks like this kid is the real deal. He is headed to the top 100 for sure and that is an achievement.
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DOWN: Andy Murray, GBR
...Murray never loses to Simon. He has beaten Muzza just the once. It's no Serena/Maria debacle, but Murray struggles against variety and power, especially on clay. Fernando Gonzalez once beat him in the French Open in the most one sided four setter ever 6-3,3-6,6-0,6-4. He mixed up his attack and he was aggressive. Roddick in 2009, the slam after that French Open, at Wimbledon is another example. He mixed up his tactics and won in four. Simon has no variety. He is a backboard. Murray hit a glut of errors and struggled to find his form throughout the loss. For a player who just lost a slam final, he is playing remarkably poorly. Simon was more aggressive than usual but a loss like that is still not a good sign or an acceptable defeat. Simon lost 6-2,6-1 to Berdman the next match. Ouch.
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UPSET: Dominic Thiem, AUT
...It isn't the victory, it's the score line that's so shocking here. Thiem is very talented and it isn't just his game that’s pretty. Ahem. He is strong mentally and he knows how to construct points. He also has a very good backhand which shone in his U.S. Open run last year. He looks a bit funny when he hits that backhand, but not everybody is as smooth as Gasquet.



Thiem beat Gulbis 6-4,6-2. I can't remember the last time a recent slam semi-finalist was so outplayed by a player outside of the top thirty. Thiem is another face for the future. Federer's going to have competition at the 2020 Olympics. Gulbis is now 0-3 this year. Thiem could muster only four games against Stakhovsky, but this was still kind of an upset no matter how big an uber slump Gulbis is in.
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*Five things I liked this week...*
* - Tomljanovic and Pliskova are for real now. They've both had blink-and-you-missed it rises.
* - The American young stars have finally got it together. Now the question is can they do it off American soil?
* - Rojer/Tecau are back in the top ten and can easily push into the French Open higher seeds.
* - I enjoyed reading the honor roll of Memphis. How many of these previous winners have you heard of? Connors, McEnroe, Kriek, Edberg, Agassi, Lendl, Courier, Sampras, Chang and Roddick.
* - Kei is 8-4 in finals, but five of his titles have come in Memphis or Japan. So yes, Memphis and Japan do have something in common with one another.


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1. MEMPHIS SF – Nishikori d. Querrey 5-7, 7-6, 7-6
...Querrey served big and had chances here to claim a huge scalp. He even saved match points, showing a mental toughness we have rarely seen from him in recent time. Querrey can go into the big Masters events with confidence now. He'll be very dangerous. This match provided more evidence that Kei can be overpowered. He can be out-muscled.
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2. ROTTERDAM Final - Wawrinka d. Berdych 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
...Wawrinka is the best player in the world right now. Most titles this year and a semi-final, too. His variety was too much for Berdman to handle. He couldn't continue his first set form and slowly crumbled. A break point early in the third went to Wawrinka thanks to a dead let cord. The Swiss hung on to see it out.
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3. SAO PAULO Fina l - Cuevas d. Vanni 6-4, 3-6, 7-6
...Vanni finally went down, but it took an almighty effort from a proven dirt baller. The Italian served for it at 5-4 and though he says he is happy he may regret not taking that chance.
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*RIO, BRAZIL*
=SF=
Nadal [1] d. [4] Fognini
Ferrer[2] d. [5] Mayer
=FINAL=
Nadal [1] d. [2] Ferrer

...Nadal actually has a hard draw -- he opens with Bellucci, who will surely have the crowd on his side. Other big names lurk in his quarter like Almagro and Cuevas. I will justify this pick with four little words: it's Rafa on clay.

*DELRAY BEACH, USA*
=SF=
Anderson [1] d. [7] Johnson
Isner [2] d. [6] Querrey
=FINAL=
Isner [2] d. [1] Isner

...Isner is in America. All else is irrelevant. I said this last week. I stick by it. It has to pay off eventually.

*SAO PAULO, BRAZIL*
=SF=
Raonic [1] d. [6] Goffin
Wawrinka [2] d. [5] Simon
=FINAL=
Wawrinka [2] d. [1] Raonic

...I like the two hottest players on the tour to win through to the final, but Wawrinka is playing like he is in the top four. He should be too good. Also here is Vanni and Monfils.


Casey Dellacqua plays in Dubai. She already beat Siniaková in the first round and will play Safarova or Puig next. If she wins that she gets Venus. That is a tough draw, but just winning a couple matches would be huge. In the doubles, she plays with Stosur and they play Gronefield/Gorges in the second round after defeating Gajdosova/Lisicki.

Her rankings on the 16th are inside the top forty for both disciplines. She is 37 and 35 for doubles and singles, respectively.

Thanx all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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