As always, it's demotivating to blog each time Rafael Nadal got defeated.
In a match that looks like his worst-ever defeat in a Grand Slam tournament, the Mallorcan Matador lost 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to Juan Martin del Potro, who had beat him twice this year (Indian Wells and Montreal).
Del Potro played flawless tennis and Nadal said the Argentine fully deserved his win, while admitting that he was way below his best and was not in prime physical condition.
In another semifinal match, Roger Federer topped Novak Djokovic 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 with the help of what he called the "greatest shot of his life", a between-the-legs, back-to-the-net, crosscourt winner from the baseline.
In the men's doubles final, Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes celebrated another major victory by beating the no. 3 seeds, Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Leander Paes celebrated his ninth Grand Slam doubles! Seems like this guy never slow down!
Paes teamed with Lukas Dlouhy to capture the French Open title with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman.
It was 35-year-old Paes's fifth men's doubles Grand Slam.He has also won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, including the 2003 Wimbledon and Australian Open trophies with Martina Navratilova.
Navratilova was spotted at the stand sitting next to Bill Gates.
"Martina has been a soulmate for many years. We've been through a lot in life, especially me in the last eight years. She's been along with me, supporting me, guiding me at times," said Paes.
"When I was diagnosed with cancer and I couldn't play, she basically stayed away from the game and didn't play mixed doubles until I came back."
"Whenever I look at a person like Navratilova, she gives me a lot of inspiration. It was strange that just at the end of the second set when we were getting a bit nervous and a bit edgy, she came out there and was just making eye contact."
"Lukas served three doubles faults early in the third set. I told him at one point, Martina is out there. Come on. Have a look at her. She's inspiring us."
Paes and Dlouhy first teamed up at Roland Garros last year, losing in the last 16 to eventual champions Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna.
They then finished runners-up to Mike and Bob Bryan in the 2008 US Open final.
"We started playing together at Roland Garros last year. We lost then to the champions so we made it a point that we would come back and try and win it this year," added Paes.
Judging from the way they celebrated their win by hugging and hoisting each other into the air, they'll probably stick around for more Grand Slam moments like this.
In the women's doubles, Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual won their second consecutive French Open women's doubles title by beating Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1 on Friday.
(Via AP; Images by Patrick Kovarik/Matthew Stockman/AFP/Getty Images)
I'm still saddened by Rendy Lu's lost to Somdev Devvarman in the fourth rubber in last weekend's Davis Cup tie between Taiwan and India. His fluctuating performance is probably one of the reasons why I don't blog for days. But to be fair to Rendy, India already knew from the start that they had the extra edge over Taiwan.
With Grand Slam doubles specialists like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, and upcoming tennis star like Somdev Devvarman, they look like a tough team to beat.
Kudos to the Indian Davis Cup team for making it to the third round where they will be meeting Australia who narrowly beat Thailand.
However congrats to Thai no. 1 Danai Udomchoke for his perfect performance in the second and fourth rubbers which saw him beating Australian teenage player Brydan Klein and former world no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt.
The other two countries who made it to the third round tie of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 are Japan and Uzbekistan lead by Kei Nishikori and Denis Istomin respectively.
For complete results, click here. (Images via udn.com, hindu.com, zimbio.com)
But let us not forget that Rohan Bopanna is 2-1 in head-to-head against Lu over the last two years. Bopanna could steal a point in this second singles rubber if Rendy is to continue with his fluctuating game.
World's top doubles players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi is expected to have little problem in dealing with Yang Tsung-Hua and Yi Chu-Huan. The fourth and fifth rubbers are going to be tough and unpredictable. I do believe that Rendy will at least win a point from the two matches he's playing. To watch the Davis Cup tie live streaming online, click here. (Images posted by Elvis via menstennisforums.com)
Prakash Amritraj, Horia Tecau, Nikolay Davydenko and Mahesh Bhupathi
In keeping with tradition, Kingfisher Chennai Open Good Times Opening Party kicked off with a fashion show featuring the spring/summer collection of Manoviraj Khosla and Vivek Karunakaran’s uber-chic collection.
Players who did the catwalk were Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj, Nikolay Davydenko, Yves Allegaro and Horia Tecau.
Leander Paes
Mahesh Bhupathi
Here are more off court photos.
Leander Paes and dubs partner Lukas Dlouhy pose on elephant sculptures.
Alberto Martin and Pablo Andujar show us Spain's other favourite sport.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the second round of the Chennai Open after beating Daniel Koellerer 6-2, 6-3.
A favourite to win at this tournament, Davydenko will next face Lukas Dlouhy, who needed three sets to beat Go Soeda of Japan.
Third-seed, Marin Cilic had little difficulty in making the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Alberto Martin in 91 minutes, while Bjorn Phau did not exert much in getting past Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-2, 7-5.
Indian player Prakash Amirtraj suffered a disappointing defeat to Rainer Schuettler 2-6, 6-4, 1-6 in 85 minutes, becoming the topic of criticism on continuing to falter despite getting the wild cards in succession in the event.
Rohan Bopanna who qualified for the event after beating Michael Berrer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 however lost in the first round to Denis Isomin 6-4, 7-6(3).
Thank you Esther for sharing this piece of interview via the media people at Tashkent Challenger.
So here you go:
An interview with Rohan Bopanna
India’s top tennis player Rohan Bopanna who has been performing exceedingly well in the doubles scene on the ATP Tour , is all set to partner leading doubles specialist Max Mirnyi of Belarus at the ATP Tour event at St Petersburg next week.
“I’m looking forward to play with Mirnyi, it’ll surely be a great experience for me to play with someone like him”, said Bopanna after entering the main draw of the Tashkent Open.
“I called up Mirnyi after he broke up with his regular partner Jamie Murray and he instantly agreed to play with me. I can surely learn a lot from his caliber and experience at the highest level”, said an elated Bopanna
Asked whether they will play in the future as well Bopanna replied, there is no commitment, but if they can do well and progress at St. Petersburg they will decide the future steps and hopefully continue partnerships on a long term basis.
Bopanna however added that his partnership with Aisam Qureshi would continue as they will be playing at the German and Slovak challengers in the next few weeks.
“Knowing each other for so long and our off court relationships have helped me and Aisam to pull off some very good matches, he said.
Expressing bitterness over being dropped for the Davis Cup for Romania, Bopanna said
“I was surprised at not being on the Davis Cup team for the tie against Romania, normally we have 5 players traveling on the Davis Cup team for the away tie, but for this tie only 4 players were sent to Romania."
"I’ve been in the team from 2002 and also have played singles all the while. I was told I was dropped because my performance was not good enough in the singles for a place in the squad," he added.
Bopanna, who was among the players who rebelled against the captaincy of Leander Paes, said
"He admitted that we have had differences in April, but I guess some grouses we raised have been sorted out, we need to have high team morale and good camaraderie amongst team members, which helps in close Davis Cup ties, this was missing," he added.
“Now that we are back to Group I and have to keep fighting to get back into the World Group."
On his rankings in the singles, Bopanna replied
“Many don’t know that my singles ranking has been affected because of my doubles performances. Many a times I can’t play qualifying in the singles as I’m playing in the finals of a doubles event."
"I’ve had to miss quite a few singles events as the qualifying is played on weekends, and so are the semifinals and finals of doubles.”
"But I guess that’s part of the profession, I’m playing well and will be playing at the Challengers in Germany and Slovakia , and also qualifying at Tashkent , will surely help my singles rankings. My performance at Newport, where I reached the quarterfinals in singles has been the best so far this year."
"I’m just trying to leave everything behind me and trying to improve my singles rankings and get back my place back into the squad for the tie which will take on the winners of Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei in April 2009."
Bopanna also added that travelling with his trainer Shyamal Vallabhjee, have helped him immensely to overcome his injuries.
“Shyamal who has also been a trainer of the South African cricket team, and also travels with Mahesh Bhupathi has done a great job for me in getting me out of injuries.”
"I’ve realized how important it is to have a trainer on the professional circuit, if I would have had a trainer before it would have been a boon, he said. I feel some times it is more good to have trainer on the tour than a coach," he added.
Ninth seed Tomas Berdych powered past Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in straight sets to win the Japan Open, his first ATP title of the season.
In the women's competition, top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark battled to a 6-2 3-6 6-1 win over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia to claim her third WTA title of the year.
Berdych, who shocked American second seed Andy Roddick and third seed Fernando Gonzalez on his way to the final, surprisingly had a one-sided 6-1, 6-4 victory over the fifth-seeded Del Potro.
"In this condition and at this level of tennis, I think the most important thing is to... just be 100 percent on the court - then the results can come," said the 23-year-old Czech.
"I think it happened to me this week and I'm very happy for that. I'm really happy to win here, especially here in Tokyo, I hope I will be here next year."
Berdych, currently ranked 27th in the world, said his goal was to finish 2008 in or near the top 10.
Del Potro - ranked 12th after a blistering summer during which he won four titles - appeared to be off form, taking an injury time out during the first set and another before the start of the second set. Del Potro said he had taken some medication, but did not blame the loss on his illness, saying:
"He played much better than me. I was feeling confused (by his play), but he did a great match."
"After the first set I started to play a little better, but it was too late."
It was Berdych's first title since winning at Halle in June last year, and his fourth overall, after victories at Palermo in 2004 and Paris in 2005.
On the women's side, the 18-year-old Wozniacki added to her 2008 success, after winning in Stockholm and New Haven in August.
"I feel amazing. I just won another tournament. It's been an incredible year. This is my first title here in Japan and I'm very happy," said a jubilant Wozniacki, ranked 16th against Kanepi's 33rd.
"I think I improved a lot last year."
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy's bid for a second successive ATP title ended in disappointment after the top seeds were stunned by the Russian-German pair of Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev in the finals of AIG Japan Open in Tokyo today.
The unseeded Youzhny and Zverev beat the Indo-Czech pair 6-3, 6-4 to capture their second ATP title together.
It is the second time this year that Youzhny and Zverev have combined to deny Paes and Dlouhy a title win, having also done so when they claimed their maiden ATP title at Halle in June. (Via news.theage.com.au, Images via Yahoo! Sport, zimbio.com)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Novak Djokovic 7-6 (4), 6-4 to win the Thailand Open today, clinching his first career title and avenging his loss to the top-seeded Serbian in the Australian Open final.
The second-seeded Frenchman saved three break points in the last game before sealing his victory.
Playing in his second tour final after losing in Melbourne, Tsonga fired big forehands to outplay Djokovic at the baseline and at the net.
Djokovic, ranked No. 3 in the world, looked sluggish at times. He ended the match by lobbing Tsonga's serve long.
The $576,000 Bangkok tournament was only the Frenchman's second since returning from a three-month layoff following knee surgery.
In the men's doubles final, Top seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes combined to win their first team ATP title with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Americans Scott Lipsky and David Martin at the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Sunday.
The Czech-Indian duo fired five aces, won 74% of points on serve and converted two of four break points to secure the victory in 1 hr., 16 min.
"It’s a great feeling to win the whole thing and I think if we keep working like this we can win more tournaments," said Dlouhy.
"I think we played high-level tennis and when they came back in the second set we just stepped it up and we just focused on the basic things. I hope that we can keep it like this and we can enjoy the rest of the year and we are looking forward to playing the Masters Series events."
"It’s always special stepping on the court with Lukas because not only does he complement my style of playing but he’s also teaching me things," commented Paes.
"It’s interesting that, after playing for so many years, to have a partner who’s also teaching me a few things is really beautiful."
Individually, the 35-year-old Paes has now won 40 ATP doubles titles, while Dlouhy, 10 years his junior, has compiled five.
(Image via PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/Robert Cianflone/AFP/Getty Images)
American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan won their seventh Grand Slam men's doubles crown defeating India's Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (12/10) to take the U.S. Open title.
The Bryans, who ran through the tournament without losing a set, previously won Slam crowns at Roland Garros in 2003, the US Open in 2005, Wimbledon in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2006 and 2007.
Leander Paes, fresh from winning the U.S. Open, looks fresh as if he's just out from the shower.
Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Leander Paes of India won their first U.S. Open mixed doubles title by beating Liezel Huber of the United States and Jamie Murray of Britain 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the final yesterday.
Paes has won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, and Black has won three— but this was the first for each at Flushing Meadows and the first for them as a team.
They were seeded fifth at the U.S. Open. Huber and Murray were unseeded.
As always, it's demotivating to blog each time Rafael Nadal got defeated.
In another semifinal match, Roger Federer topped Novak Djokovic 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 with the help of what he called the "greatest shot of his life", a between-the-legs, back-to-the-net, crosscourt winner from the baseline.
Lots of love from Paes and Dlouhy
