Hamburg Masters 2007 (Here we come :P)

[avalon]

admin said:

For those of you who didn't get to see the match.

He started off incredibly well and powerful. First game was great and the first game on JCF's serve came close to getting a BP too, so Marat looked confident and things were looking up.

He then started making some mistakes (mostly on his forehand as always) and JCF just did his best to drag Marat into his game and Marat unfortunately followed the path. Hence a break happened for the Spaniard. A couple of games later Marat equalized only to lose his own serve yet again straight away. 5-3 and the rest was just a question of technicality for Juanqui.

Second set was brilliant at times but mostly a battle against UEs and nerves and bad temper. He got totally sucked into Ferrero's style of playing which really doesn't suit him at all. He had many chances to break as well as JCF did but both managed to hold on to their serves.

Tie-break despite the score was a sight for sore eyes. Marat was not the only one breaking rackets, JCF sent one flying too and all in all it was pretty ugly. Marat started off badly and was 2-5 down at one point but managed to get out of the dump yet again or so we thought. Starting from 6 all it was just too much. Both getting nervous and set points followed by match points were totally neverending. All I can say is that he had at least 5-6 opportunities to win this set and it was all in his hands because Ferrero wasn't doing anything outstanding. But he simply didn't take them. Come on man, how many more chances did you need?

I just wanna say one thing. Despite the fact that I adore him to bits, yesterday's match left me very disappointed. I like matches like he had with Kolya in Rome when I can say he gave it his all and just on that particular day Kolya hapenned to be better. But yesterday it wasn't the case, Juan Carlos was nowhere as good as Marat during momentary flashes of brilliance and that is what's mostly frustrating

Ah well... nothing we haven't experienced before. Good luck in RG!!!!!!

Thanks for the run down of the match. I'm kinda glad it wasn't shown here. I don't think I would have come out of that tie break with 1. finger nails 2. a voice and 3. sanity.

An extra week at RG to get aquainted with the courts and practise. I see positives in all negatives ;D

[avalon]

;D a least there is something to smile about

[Annie]

Novak Djokovich def. Julien Benneteau 7/6 6/3

Gonzales def. PHM 7/5 6/4

Meltzer def. Gasquet 6/3 6/4 - sorry Annette

Ferrer def. Lyubicic 6/3 6/3

Igor - Nadal and Moya-Blake currently playing

[jenhatter06]

Go Carlos!

Moya d Blake 1-6, 6-3, 6-3

[Annie]

Rafa has extended his clay streak to 79 wins Defeated Igor Andreev 4/6 1/6

[jenhatter06]

have to do some doubling up after all the rain yesterday ...

Hewitt v Davydenko will be on center court after Federer v Ferrero

[Annie]

oh YAY ;D ;D ;D Means I have the time to run home from work and watch it ;D

[maribrasil]

I can't see the pics, Anne

[davis]

I know it's always a huge difference between watching a match on TV and watching it live and yesterday's conditions (freezing cold, late evening) surely had an impact about everybody's mood. My impression partly varied from Annie's and I'll tell you why:

Marat came to the completely empty Center Court and already looked as if he rather wanted to be anywhere but there before they even warmed up.
They started playing and the first headshake came after a lost point during the first service game! His whole body language from the beginning demonstrated that he clearly wasn't in the mood for the whole thing. He had a breakpoint in nearly all of JCF's service games but throughout the match he managed to convert only one - I've never seen anybody tank so many chances! We don't even have to start talking about the tie-break... JCF just had to keep the ball in the game, play solid and hope for a mistake by Marat - he didn't do much more than that and was hugely successful.
Marat complained, he argued with himself and his bench, he asked the umpire for permission to hit a ball against the roof... He was busier distracting himself than concentrating on his match.
Marat talked to himself a lot and since it was in Russian I couldn't understand it. According to a Russian girl who was one of the handful of people who endured the session he actually asked Sasha whether he could just resign at 12-12 in the tie-break since he didn't feel like playing anymore, stating that he didn't want to face Federer and get bagelled anyway. Plus, he constantly claimed he was cold - then why didn't he put more clothes on?
His whole performance was highly unprofessional and uninspired and I lost a lot of respect for him yesterday, I'm very sad to say

As to yesterday's rather chaotic conditions: It rained cats and dogs in Hamburg, starting at around 12:30 pm and never stopping. All matches apart from the Center Court matches had to be suspended and for a long time we thought that Marat wouldn't play at all. Then the tournament rescheduled things and after the regular 4 Center Court matches, James Blake played Arnaud Clement before Marat entered the Court. It was 10 pm by then, freezing cold, and the 12,000 seat stadium was filled roughly with 100 fans who cared enough to stay. It was a pretty eery atmosphere, every sound echoing through the huge empty premises. We had all dressed up as warm as possible, thanks to Lena who lives close to the area and went home to bring sweaters, stockings, and socks for us. It felt a little bit like a camping trip, LOL! Its a shame that our endurance wasn't rewarded with a good match.

JUST TO CLARIFY: THIS IS BY NO MEANS THE OPINION OF ALL TGFR-GIRLS WHO WERE AT THE MATCH; THIS IS JUST MY OWN PERSONAL IMPRESSION

[Annie]

[taboo]

...ALMOST AS IF HE'S AVOIDING A CONFRONTATION WITH FEDERER! ...HE MUST BE REALLY LOW ON CONFIDENCE...THOUGH I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY, HE COULD PERFORM A LOT BETTER IF HE JUST WANTED TO!

[fancy]

i didnt see this match .... it wasnt broadcasted here
but i cant help being really really disappointed at the loss ... marat used to win more than jcf in their matches together ... really really sad it has been a long time and still he cant regain his confidence back..... come on marat u ve got a talent !!!

[Anne]

maribrasil said:

I can't see the pics, Anne

Huh?! I can see them.. Sorry.. For the interest ones who can't see them, I've got them from getty-images.. Why aren't they working?

[Annie]

OOP for today

Center Court starting at 11:00 CEST
Simon ASPELIN (SWE)
Julian KNOWLE (AUT) vs. Jonas BJORKMAN (SWE)
Max MIRNYI (BLR)

followed by
Roger FEDERER (SUI) vs. David FERRER (ESP)

followed by
Novak DJOKOVIC (SCG) vs. Carlos MOYA (ESP)

followed by
Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI) vs. Rafael NADAL (ESP)

followed by
Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) vs. Lleyton HEWITT (AUS)

followed by
Michael STICH (GER) vs. Goran IVANISEVIC (CRO) ;D

Court M1 starting at 11:00 CEST
Thomas MUSTER (AUT) vs. Henri LECONTE (FRA) ;D

followed by

Paul HANLEY (AUS)
Kevin ULLYETT (ZIM) vs. Augustin CALLERI (ARG)
Jarkko NIEMINEN (FIN)

followed by
Bob BRYAN (USA)
Mike BRYAN (USA) vs. Yves ALLEGRO (SUI)
Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP)

followed by
James BLAKE (USA)
Mardy FISH (USA) vs. Jonathan ERLICH (ISR)
Andy RAM (ISR)

Court M2 starting at 11:00 CEST
Sergi BRUGUERA (ESP) vs. Cedric PIOLINE (FRA) ;D

[jenhatter06]

.... disturbing and uber depressing to hear about Marat's attitude and comments -- hard to sleep last night, thinking about it ...

he's got to get out of this funk, change the attitude, and get the fight & fire back .... something else that had bothered me was last week when he made comments about being low on confidence and not having a good last couple months -- okay, so you realize a problem, but what are you going to do about it?? .... and he had seemed so much more with it and together in the first round - why didn't that stick?? ....

He's got the talent and the physicality, just got to get the heart & the mentality back up to speed. Wish they was some magic way to turn everything around, or at least getting him to realize how many of us there are that are still fighting for him. Even if that helped, though, he still has to want to do it, which I hope if for a long time yet.

C'mon Marat.