ARG players: Gaudio,Acasuso,Nalbandian,Coria, etc

[lena]

The swiss court has published the full text of his decision of G. Canas Case vs. CAS

full text link, but court languages was french
jumpcgi.bger.ch/cgi-bin/JumpCGI?id=22.03.2007_4P.172/2006

One of the main sentence is: The ATP can not forbid his members by sign a specific paper to contest doping decisions of the sports arbitration board.

[lau]

I´m too lazy to try to get something from that with my poor french LOL

I´m guessing (as I have no idea about the whole text) that this court decision is good for Cañas,....right?

EDIT: Now I realize it´s the decision they made in March Hahahahaha. Thanks for posting it, lena but I thought it was something new, I was already thinking to myself 'wooow, this swiss justice is really fast!!' ROTFLMAO ;D ;D ;D

[lena]

lau said:

I´m too lazy to try to get something from that with my poor french LOL

I´m guessing (as I have no idea about the whole text) that this court decision is good for Cañas,....right?

EDIT: Now I realize it´s the decision they made in March Hahahahaha. Thanks for posting it, lena but I thought it was something new, I was already thinking to myself 'wooow, this swiss justice is really fast!!' ROTFLMAO ;D ;D ;D

yeah, this is the complete text of it , well, the speed of justice (here in europe) is like the swiss one

But with this text someone is more clear:

The world of sports have a "CANAS LAW" now !!!! It means the CAS is not the end and this is good for every sportsman and woman in the world who will fight against a CAS decision ;D

And I think it is good for Willi, because he can now argue against the CAS decision. His case is so confused, there are so much other people involved, like the doctor and the pharmacist, that I think the CAS decision was not right. How can someone “control” any kind of medicine which was given by a doctor because of some illness .... And as much I understand and know about this, the doctors prescription was ok, but the pharmacist mixed up some medications…..

So on which point did Canas make a mistake Should the sportsman check all the pills at the RED LIST of pharmacy An other pro Canas fact is (IMHO), that the medicine he was taken was not able to push his performance but rather to slow down him

[lau]

Thanks lena
When I talked about fast justice I thought the CAS reviewed the case (which is supposed to be doing now) and everything went back to the swiss justice and they already had another decision on the case, hahaha. In fact..., both the CAS and the swiss justice would have been reeeeeally fast in that case LMAO ;D ;D ;D
And yeah...., Willy´s case doesn´t make much sense..., from the beginning. And I´m please he´s taking this to the last consequences. They took a lot away from him, and I´m not talking about ranking points and money. I still hear/read comments about him as a 'doper' here and there....
Anyway, he´s doing what he usually does in a tennis court. As I read somewhere, most athletes don´t get where he is getting, legally speaking, because they are tired, don´t have the money to do it, their sanctions are already over and/or they want to forget the whole thing and get over it and focus on them. So, I somehow admire that he didn´t let things as they were after his suspension was over.

[hellanvodka]

Rome Masters
1st round Acasuso (ARG) d. Verkerk (NED) 63 75
Lau is happy now! Congrats& Vamos!

[lau]

hellanvodka said:

Rome Masters
1st round Acasuso (ARG) d. Verkerk (NED) 63 75
Lau is happy now! Congrats& Vamos!

LMAO! Yes I am, haha ;D ;D ;D
I didn´t watch the match though...., too busy lately...

[Annie]

Trial opens in tennis player's suit over steroid ban

By JEFFREY GOLD, Associated Press Writer
June 19, 2007

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) -- The lawyer for Guillermo Coria told a jury Tuesday that the young tennis player lost two seasons, millions of dollars and his reputation because of "sloppy manufacturing" that tainted a multivitamin with a steroid.

Trace amounts of a steroid, not listed on the label, led to a mandatory suspension for Coria, Coria lawyer Will Nystrom said.

"To make matters worse, Guillermo was branded as a cheater," Nystrom told an eight-person jury hearing Coria's case against Universal Nutrition, maker of a multivitamin the player took.

If Coria prevails, some experts believe it would be the first time a world-class professional athlete proved that a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs was caused by product contamination. The Argentine was once ranked No. 3 in the world.

Sports management executive Gavin Forbes told the jury Coria's suspension for testing positive cost the young pro at least $10 million in prize money, bonuses, appearance fees and endorsement deals.

"He was a very marketable young guy," Forbes said. "We can only assume, since he was one of the biggest stars, it was because he had a taint to his name."

Coria's swift rise to No. 90 in his first year, and then to No. 47, was a rare achievement, Forbes said. He noted that after his suspension ended in 2002, Coria quickly regained a place in the top eight in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Forbes said his firm, IMG, was interested in Coria before he turned pro in 2000 at age 18, but lost to a competitor. IMG signed Coria after his suspension.

"He's an exceptional tennis player who has something special. Very few of them have it, and it's usually the champions," Forbes added.

Forbes acknowledged that Coria has played little since 2005. Beset by injuries, Coria slipped out of the top 100 in 2006, and currently is ranked 347th by the ATP.

Richard Grossman, a lawyer for New Brunswick-based Universal in central New Jersey, said the company is not to blame for any contamination. He told the jury Universal took care to prevent steroids from being mixed into batches of vitamins.

He said the bottle of multivitamins that Coria took had brown pills, but that pills retained from that production cycle were yellow and do not change color. Grossman said he cannot explain why, but noted that he does not have that burden in this trial.

Coria's lawyer said Universal is missing records from when the multivitamins were manufactured.

Coria was suspended in 2001 at age 19 for two years. It was eventually reduced to seven months after a lab test showed the multivitamin was tainted with steroids, Nystrom said.

Coria was out of tennis from August 2001 to March 2002. He reached his highest ranking, No. 3, in May 2004.

Dressed casually in a white short-sleeve, button-down shirt, the 25-year-old player listened to a translation of the proceedings in Spanish through a headset, as did his wife, Carla.

Coria is expected to testify Wednesday, Nystrom said. The trial is estimated to last about 10 days.



Updated on Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007

Photos from the jury selection

[davis]

Quick result...

Coria settles lawsuit over steroid ban with vitamin maker

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) -Tennis star Guillermo Coria on Wednesday settled his lawsuit against a New Jersey-based vitamin maker he blamed for a positive steroid test that cost him millions in earnings.

Terms between Coria and Universal Nutrition, which had denied making tainted pills, were not disclosed.

The deal came as the 25-year-old Argentine was to testify on the second day of the trial.

Coria had charged that a contaminated multivitamin not only kept him from competing for seven months in 2001 and 2002, but besmirched his reputation and cost him at least $10 million in prize money, bonuses, appearance fees and endorsements.

Coria, once ranked No. 3 in the world, did not speak to reporters as he left the courtroom. Lawyers for him and the company declined to give any details on the deal.

The deal was announced by state Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz after about five hours of closed-door negotiations between the two sides, which at times appeared to include Coria and members of his family.

The judge said the parties agree with the finding of a tribunal of the ATP, the governing body of men's tennis, that the positive test was caused by ``inadvertent and unknowing ingestion of a banned substance.''

``Parties further agree that Universal's products were safe as formulated to the label, and met all FDA standards,'' Ferencz said.

Court was then adjourned. Coria hugged his lawyers, shook hands with Universal personnel, and the judge, who said, ``Good luck to you.''

[davis]

Marat isn't the only one with a new coach:

Former world number three David Nalbandian, now ranked 24, has hired Argentine Martin Jaite as his coach.
"I believe I need the extra help and experience that Martin has to try to lift my tennis back to the levels I reached at one time," said the 25-year-old Nalbandian.

Martin used to be Top 10 player in the late 80s/early 90s (and he was actually quite cute back then, with a huge mop of curls on his head ) Good luck, David! ;D

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Good luck to David as well then!!!!!!!

The Argentine coaches are doing great on the market right now

[hellanvodka]

NALBANDIAN LEAVES THE ROWS BEHIND

It would probably not be too difficult to enter an ATP Tour locker room and find players willing to admit they would be glad to see the back of David Nalbandian.

Lleyton Hewitt, for one. The Australian became embroiled in a sustained war of words with the prickly Nalbandian in the build-up to their Davis Cup tie in Buenos Aires last year.

"No one is friends with Hewitt and he does not bother me at all," smirked Nalbandian as Hewitt anguished over whether to attend the tie at all, citing security concerns.

Even Tim Henman, of whom Nalbandian once opined: "All this selling himself as a gentleman is rubbish. He is the worst rubbish there is."

In the press rooms, too, there would be few sighs of the despair at the passing of another of the game's great characters, no full-colour feature spreads left unfilled.

Nalbandian reached the heady heights of world number three last season after an extraordinary run which yielded two grand slam semi-final appearances and a further three in Masters Series events.

But now Nalbandian is experiencing the downside of such success. Niggling injuries and exhaustion have meant he has been unable to defend most of those points.

Now Nalbandian languishes outside the world's top 20. The game may be ready to render him something of an after-thought, but the Argentinian insists he is not done yet.

"When I play well I still feel I can beat anyone," says Nalbandian, who has still managed to reach the fourth round of both the Australian and French Opens, hinting his demise has been exaggerated.

"I have got to try to put things back together on court. I have been doing it well but there is a long way to go.

"Confidence is gone and it is not easy to get back that kind of confidence.

"I am not defending many points now. That part is gone now and it is a pretty tough year for me. But I am getting back healthy slowly, and practising hard to get back to the same level as last year."

Nalbandian is still a hero in his native Argentina, having slowly built his career after arriving on the scene in dramatic fashion by reaching the 2002 Wimbledon final as a virtual unknown.

He retains huge Davis Cup ambitions for his country following the defeat in Moscow, even if the rigours of that competition have directly affected his status in the world rankings.

"I put all my goals on the Davis Cup last year and we lost the final," added Nalbandian.

"I had tendinitis in my knee and it made it a little bit uncomfortable for me.

"The year finished very late but the Davis Cup has always been very important for me.

"Hopefully we will give ourselves another chance of winning it. For me it would be just as big as winning a grand slam."


oh David!!!!

[Su]

Have you ever saw on youtube a David Nalbandian's video where he sings???
If not, go there and see because it's hilarious!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r4_D0jtqms

I never imagine that I would see him doing something like this!

Good luck for AO David!

[davis]

Gaston Gaudio, who is ranked No. 183 in the world at the moment and needs Wild Cards to get into any ATP tournaments, had to record yet another loss in Vina del Mar: He went down 36 06 against Spaniard Ventura.

I'm usually rather careful in saying this, but: *whispering* maybe it's time to stop playing professional tennis?!

Gaudio hasn't even managed to get past the first round in Challengers lately; it's horrible to follow his seemingly hopeless struggle.

[safinette]

Here's what Gaston thinks about his current situation:

www.sportinglife.com/tennis/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=tennis/08/01/26/TENNIS_Arg-Gaudio.html

[davis]

Steve Tignor on Juan Martin Del Potro. Interesting read.

Head over Height
Posted 08/26/2008 @ 11 :56 AM

Yesterday afternoon I spent 10 minutes watching Juan-Martin Del Potro of Argentina practice. These things happened: An older man walked up next to me and asked, “How old is this guy? He looks 35.” I told him he was 19. He couldn’t believe it. Meanwhile, Del Potro hit a dozen serves, at half-speed. He had a long, laughing conversation with the guy who was picking up balls for him. He finished by standing still in no-man’s land and belting forehands as flat and hard as he could, mostly right into the tape. He signed a bunch of autographs.

It’s unlikely those last forehands were designed to help Del Potro’s technique in any way. They seemed to be a final chance for him to get loose and work out any remaining nerves before his opening match, which was a few hours away. But my first thought when I saw Del Potro engaged in that match, on Louis Armstrong Stadium against his countryman Guillermo Cañas, was that the idea had backfired. Del Potro looked suspiciously like he had in practice: He was standing straight up, not bending his knees, not moving his feet, and hammering forehands into the net.

Del Potro came into the Open as the Nadal of the ATP's second-tier: Making the most of the big guns’ trip to Beijing, the Argentine had come of nowhere to win four straight tournaments, two on clay and two on hard courts. Well, not out of nowhere, exactly—let’s say halfway out of nowhere. Del Potro, 6-foot-6 with long arms, a rocket forehand, and a surprisingly smooth two-handed backhand, has been a much-touted prodigy for a few years. But coming into this summer he seemed to have reached the point where we could say he was “failing to live up to expectations.” Del Potro had suffered injuries, defaulted matches, and said something about Andy Murray’s mother while they were playing a heated match in Rome. He was physically imposing, but the more important question had yet to be answered: What kind of head was this kid going to have?

I felt like he’d gone a long way toward answering that question with his serenely confident and tactically sound victory over Andy Roddick in the final in L.A. in August. Now, in the first two sets against Cañas, I thought I had spotted a much more serious flaw: Del Potro was a terrible tennis player. I knew he wasn’t quick, but I hadn’t realized how choppy his footwork was. I knew his forehand would never win any style points, but I hadn’t realized how stiff the whole operation was, particularly the high take-back. Add in the fact that he was at sea with his transition game and struggled when he had to hit on the run and I began to think: If this is the future of tennis, I’m getting out of the game.

It all came to a head for Del Potro midway through the second set: A racquet head, that is. After losing yet another winnable point, the Argentine used his considerable height and leverage to bring his racquet to the DecoTurf and cave in one side of the head. This, it turned out, was what he had needed to do to loosen up. From then one, Del Potro was a different player. He came back from 0-3 down in the second to beat his scrappy opponent in four sets. By the end, the younger man was utterly dominant.

There were two major reasons for Del Potro’s turnaround in this match. To start, he has become fitter in the last year. This in turn allowed him to be more patient, even against a grinder as sedulous as Cañas. The last three sets unfolded primarily like this: Del Potro would establish himself on top of the baseline and push Cañas off his. From there he’d slowly move him around, careful now to get down for the ball and play with margin; then he’d attack when the opportunity arose. Cañas had no answer for this simple plan, no way to hurt Del Potro, and seemingly no clue about how to regain control of his own baseline.

So is Del Potro, in the end, more head than height. Has his recent run been a product of his less-obvious competitive skill rather than his obvious gifts of size and reach? And if so, is that a good thing for his future? Coaches will tell you that it’s whats upstairs that counts most.

Beyond that, do you want to watch someone whose game, as of today, lacks polish and personality rise to the top of the sport? It's been the great of purists for decades, that size will eventually trump style, but it hasn't happened yet. We’ll see how Del Potro develops—he may look 35, but he really is still just 19. I will say this: It was a rare pleasure to see a young pro today put himself through the mental hoops needed to regain his composure after he had completely lost it. I'd watch that again.