samuel groth Archives - World Tennis Magazine

By Bob Greene

STARS

Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka 6-1 6-3 to win the Mutua Madrid Open women’s singles in Madrid, Spain

Roger Federer beat Tomas Berdych 3-6 7-5 7-5 to win the Mutua Madrid Open men’s singles in Madrid, Spain

Horacio Zeballos beat Martin Klizan 1-6 6-4 7-6 (6) to win the CNGvitall Prague Open 2012 by Noncore in Prague, Czech Republic

Yulia Putintseva beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-2 6-1 to win the Open GDF SUEZ de Cagnes-sur-mer Alpes-Maritimes in Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France

Fabrice Santoro beat Mark Philippoussis 6-3 6-4 to win the Grand Champions Brazil in Sao Paulo, Brazil

SAYING

“It is amazing to win here again. It has been a tough tournament. Tough to move, but you’ve got to try to make the most of it. Here there was some good tennis and some bad tennis, but you see that in all tournaments.” – Roger Federer, after winning the Mutua Madrid Open.

“The week was great until the last day. Right now I am really upset and I am sad because of how I finished it. I lost the final, but in a couple of hours I am going to see it in a more positive way. I had a great week, I beat a lot of great guys and made it to the finals.” – Tomas Berdych, who lost to Roger Federer in the final in Madrid, Spain.

“My whole thing is to play consistently. That’s what I’ve done the last couple weeks – and doing what I do best, which at the end of the day is playing tennis. I belong on a tennis court. That’s where I feel amazing.” – Serena Williams, after defeating Victoria Azarenka in Madrid.

“She was so much better than me today. I have to give her credit, she’s been showing great tennis the whole week.” – Victoria Azarenka, following her loss to Serena Williams.

“I am 39, I’ve played tennis for 36 of those 39 years and I hope that I can play tennis for many more decades. Tennis is something that I will love forever and I love that this (senior) Tour gives me the chance to continue my love affair with the sport.” – Fabrice Santoro, after winning his first ATP Champions Tour title.

“It feels great, After that blue clay, this clay seems like paradise. The most basic thing you have in our sport – the most important – is the movement. If you cannot be in balance for the ball, and to hit the ball, then everything becomes twice as difficult. That’s the biggest difference. Here you can actually be on the ball and slide well, where there you were slipping and falling down.” – Novak Djokovic, commenting on the red clay courts in Rome compared to the blue clay courts at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“I absolutely love clay. I grew up on clay. I played on hard court until I was 11, then until I turned 16 I only played on clay courts. I actually love the clay, but my results haven’t been stellar. I have won the French Open and lots of clay court tournaments, though. It’s really a myth about me not liking clay. I like it more than grass, which is weird.” – Serena Williams.

“There are exciting times ahead for me. I’m winning so many events and playing so well. I believe that I can win the slams.” – Roger Federer, after winning the Mutua Madrid Open.

STEALTHY SWISS

Slowly and quietly Roger Federer is making a move up the ATP Rankings. By beating Tomas Berdych in the Mutua Madrid Open final, the Swiss master surpassed Rafael Nadal and returned to the number two world ranking, the highest he has been since March 2011. It was Federer’s 20th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, tying Nadal’s record. Federer is the all-time leader with 258 Masters 1000 match wins. His third Madrid title was not a given; Berdych stretched Federer to the limit. But the 30-year-old won a tour-best fourth title of the season and increased his match record since last fall’s US Open to 45-3. “Confidence is coming back,” said Federer, who was playing his first tournament since early April. “I was away and it didn’t take much for me to get my confidence back, especially now that I’ve been playing so well for the past nine months.”

STATEMENT BY SERENA

Serena Williams of the U.S. celebrates after winning the Madrid Open final tennis match over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in Madrid Madrid Open tennis tournament — Serena Williams celebrates after downing Victoria Azarenka in the finals of Madrid. (REUTERS/Juan Medina)

There is no doubt about it: Serena Williams is back and dangerous – at least for the other women on the WTA Tour. The American veteran crushed the world’s top two-ranked players and won her second straight clay-court title. Her victory at the Mutua Madrid Open is her 41st WTA title, tying her with Kim Clijsters for 13th-most of the Open Era. She is two back of Justine Henin, Martina Hingis and Venus Williams for 10th place. In the final, Serena slammed 14 aces and had 26 winners to just six for Azarenka. The world’s top-ranked player had just one ace to go along with six double faults. Williams, who with the victory moved up to sixth in the world, won the first four games of the match. “I think Victoria is the player to beat,” Williams said. “She has won I don’t know how many tournaments this year alone. That’s an amazing amount. So if you look at the states, you just have to put her up there as the player to beat.” Her dismantling of Azarenka tied Serena with her older sister Venus for the most victories over a world number one among active players. Her title victory came after her quarterfinal 6-1 6-3 crushing of world number two Maria Sharapova.

SUCCESSFUL STOP

Sara Errani and Roberto Vinci are heading home with their biggest trophy to date. The Italians won their ninth doubles title, but their first premier crown, knocking off the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. “We played good tennis this week and were able to win our biggest title yet.” The win moved Errani and Vinci into the top 10 in doubles for the first time. Errani rose from 12th in the world to eighth, while Vinci moved up four spots in the rankings, from 13th to ninth. Errani said: “We have been working hard and trying to do our best to make the Olympics and the WTA Championships. We’re happy to win the title in Madrid. They played a very good match today but we found a way to win.”

STRUGGLING, BUT WINNING

Madrid brings out the best in Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. The two Poles won the Mutua Madrid Open for the second time, stopping the sixth-seeded team of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in the final. They captured the crown in 2008 and were runners-up in 2007 to brothers Mike and Bob Bryan. Fyrstenberg and Matkowski have reached three finals this year, winning two. They also won on the clay in Barcelona, Spain, and rise in the rankings to number four. The Polish pair fired 10 aces and won 87 percent of points on their first serves. “We won Madrid in 2008 and two weeks ago we won Barcelona, so we really love to play in Spain. I don’t know why, maybe because of the food,” joked Fyrstenberg. “We feel very good here.”

SANTORO SUCCESSFUL

The man known as The Magician is once again showing why he has that nickname. Fabrice Santoro won his first ATP Champions Tour title, besting Mark Philippoussis in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Using angles and touch, the Frenchman baffled his hard-hitting opponent. “This is magical for me,” Santoro said. “It’s been a special week. I think the level of tennis this week was very good, the court was great, the conditions are perfect and the final against Mark was a fantastic match.” Philippoussis was going for his first title of 2012. And while disappointed, the Australian said he was pleased with his achievements during the senior tour’s South American swing in Medellín, Colombia, and Sao Paulo. “I’ve had a great time this fortnight,” Philippoussis said. “I’m disappointed not to win today, but Fabrice played his best match of the week and he deserved to win.”

SLAMMIN’ SAMMY GROTH

Samuel Groth of Australia hit the fastest serve ever recorded at a professional tennis event when he fired a 163.4 mph (263 kph) ace at an ATP Challenger event in Busan, South Korea. The ATP does not officially recognize service speed records because of the variance in radar guns, but confirmed that the Busan tournament was using approved equipment and that other data gathered appeared within a normal range. Groth hit two other serves recorded at 157.5 mph (253.5 kph) and 158.9 mph (255.7 kph) in the same match. Despite the huge serves, Groth lost the second-round match to Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik. The fastest-recorded serve at an ATP World Tour or Davis Cup event of 156 mph (251 kph) was hit by Ivo Karlovic of Croatia during a Davis Cup tie against Germany in Zagreb, Croatia, in March 2011.

STOPPING AT THE BANK

Swiss banks don’t need to look far for a cash infusion. Swiss star Roger Federer passed the USD $70 million mark in career prize money – and that was before he won the tournament. Federer came into 2012 having earned a record USD $67,429,935 in his career. Rafael Nadal was second after the 2011 season with career earnings of USD $45,064,377. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic earned USD $12,619,803 last year to boost her career earnings going into 2012 to USD $32,882,760, fourth on the all-time list. Going into this year, Djokovic trailed Pete Sampras by around USD $11 million.

STEAMED

Several top players – including top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal – have threatened to skip the Mutua Madrid Open next year if the tournament continues the use of new blue clay courts. Djokovic said the players must be consulted in the future before tournaments can experiment with court surfaces. “They made a decision without the players agreeing on it, so this is a rule that has to be changed immediately,” Djokovic said after losing to fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic. “They tournament have done their job, they represent their own interests, so I cannot blame them. They are fighting for their own rights. The fault is from the people who gave them permission to do these things. This is just a clear example of hour our system does not work in favor of players.” Both Djokovic and Nadal complained about the slipper surface, and Djokovic lashed out at former ATP chief Adam Helfant, who allowed Madrid to switch to blue clay in order to make it easier for television viewers to follow the ball. “He made this decision on his own,” Djokovic said. “He didn’t really care about tennis, about what the players think.” Helfant, whose two-year reign ended last December, said he gave Madrid the green light only after he received assurances the blue courts would play the same as red clay surfaces. He said he made the decision after consulting the players and tournament officials and realized they couldn’t agree.